Medusa complex

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Medusa complex is a psychological complex revolving around the petrification or freezing of human emotion, and drawing on the classical myth of the Medusa. [1]

A complex is a core pattern of emotions, memories, perceptions, and wishes in the personal unconscious organized around a common theme, such as power or status. Primarily a psychoanalytic term, it is found extensively in the works of Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud.

Medusa monster from Greek mythology

In Greek mythology, Medusa was a monster, a Gorgon, generally described as a winged human female with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Those who gazed upon her face would turn to stone. Most sources describe her as the daughter of Phorcys and Ceto, though the author Hyginus makes her the daughter of Gorgon and Ceto. According to Hesiod and Aeschylus, she lived and died on an island named Sarpedon, somewhere near Cisthene. The 2nd-century BCE novelist Dionysios Skytobrachion puts her somewhere in Libya, where Herodotus had said the Berbers originated her myth, as part of their religion.

Contents

Origins

The term Medusa Complex was coined in 1948 by Gaston Bachelard [2] to cover the feeling of petrification induced by the threat of the parental gaze. [3] A mute, paralysed fury responds to the danger of the obliteration of an individual consciousness by an external Other (and perhaps by the corresponding internalised desire to obliterate the subjectivity of others in turn). [4]

Gaston Bachelard French writer and philosopher

Gaston Bachelard was a French philosopher. He made contributions in the fields of poetics and the philosophy of science. To the latter he introduced the concepts of epistemological obstacle and epistemological break. He influenced many subsequent French philosophers, among them Michel Foucault, Louis Althusser, Dominique Lecourt and Jacques Derrida, as well as the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu.

Gaze a steady intent look

In critical theory, sociology, and psychoanalysis, the philosophic term the gaze describes the act of seeing and the act of being seen. The concept and the social applications of the gaze have been defined and explained by existentialist and phenomenologist philosophers; Jean-Paul Sartre, in Being and Nothingness (1943); Michel Foucault in Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (1975) developed the concept of the gaze to illustrate the dynamics of socio-political power relations and the social dynamics of society's mechanisms of discipline; and Jacques Derrida, in The Animal that Therefore I Am (1997) elaborated upon the inter-species relations that exist among animals and human beings, which are established by way of the gaze.

Developments

Later writers have developed Bachelard's idea in various ways.

Attachment theory dynamics of long-term relationships between humans

Attachment theory is a psychological model attempting to describe the dynamics of long-term and short-term interpersonal relationships between humans. "Attachment theory is not formulated as a general theory of relationships; it addresses only a specific facet": how human beings respond in relationships when hurt, separated from loved ones, or perceiving a threat.

Marion Jean Woodman was a Canadian mythopoetic author, poet, analytical psychologist and women's movement figure. She has written and spoken extensively about the dream theories of Carl Jung.

Fight-or-flight response

The fight-or-flight response is a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event, attack, or threat to survival. It was first described by Walter Bradford Cannon. His theory states that animals react to threats with a general discharge of the sympathetic nervous system, preparing the animal for fighting or fleeing. More specifically, the adrenal medulla produces a hormonal cascade that results in the secretion of catecholamines, especially norepinephrine and epinephrine. The hormones estrogen, testosterone, and cortisol, as well as the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin, also affect how organisms react to stress.

See also

Bruno Bettelheim was a 20th century child psychologist. An early writer on autism, Bettelheim's work focused on the education of emotionally disturbed children, as well as Freudian psychology more generally. Much of his work was discredited after his death, due to accusations of plagiarism, fraudulent academic credentials, and allegations of abusive treatment of patients under his care.

Gargoyle sculpture of a grotesque being or animal on a building, often used as a waterspout

In architecture, a gargoyle is a carved or formed grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls and eroding the mortar between. Architects often used multiple gargoyles on a building to divide the flow of rainwater off the roof to minimize the potential damage from a rainstorm. A trough is cut in the back of the gargoyle and rainwater typically exits through the open mouth. Gargoyles are usually an elongated fantastical animal because the length of the gargoyle determines how far water is directed from the wall. When Gothic flying buttresses were used, aqueducts were sometimes cut into the buttress to divert water over the aisle walls.

Golem animated anthropomorphic being

In Jewish folklore, a golem is an animated anthropomorphic being that is magically created entirely from inanimate matter. The word was used to mean an amorphous, unformed material in Psalms and medieval writing.

Related Research Articles

Cultural bias is the phenomenon of interpreting and judging phenomena by standards inherent to one's own culture. The phenomenon is sometimes considered a problem central to social and human sciences, such as economics, psychology, anthropology, and sociology. Some practitioners of the aforementioned fields have attempted to develop methods and theories to compensate for or eliminate cultural bias.

<i>King Lear</i> play by William Shakespeare

King Lear is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It depicts the gradual descent into madness of the title character, after he disposes of his kingdom by giving bequests to two of his three daughters egged on by their continual flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. Derived from the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological pre-Roman Celtic king, the play has been widely adapted for the stage and motion pictures, with the title role coveted by many of the world's most accomplished actors.

Assertiveness is the quality of being self-assured and confident without being aggressive. In the field of psychology and psychotherapy, it is a learnable skill and mode of communication. Dorland's Medical Dictionary defines assertiveness as:

Face validity is the extent to which a test is subjectively viewed as covering the concept it purports to measure. It refers to the transparency or relevance of a test as it appears to test participants. In other words, a test can be said to have face validity if it "looks like" it is going to measure what it is supposed to measure. For instance, if a test is prepared to measure whether students can perform multiplication, and the people to whom it is shown all agree that it looks like a good test of multiplication ability, this demonstrates face validity of the test. Face validity is often contrasted with content validity and construct validity.

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"Medusa's Head", by Sigmund Freud, is a very short, posthumously published essay on the subject of the Medusa Myth.

Paul Willem Pruyser (1916–1987) was a Dutch-American clinical psychologist at the Menninger Clinic, influenced by James, Freud, Otto, and Winnicott, one of the most famous contributors to the psychological theories of religion. He created the Psychology and Culture model, which discusses the three "Worlds" in which people live — The Autistic, The Illusionistic, and The Realistic. In his book The Minister as Diagnostician (1976), Pruyser affirmed the theological expertise and clinical authority of hospital chaplains on interdisciplinary healthcare teams.

A father figure is usually an older man, normally one with power, authority, or strength, with whom one can identify on a deeply psychological level and who generates emotions generally felt towards one's father. Despite the literal term "father figure", the role of a father figure is not limited to the biological parent of a person, but may be played by uncles, grandfathers, elder brothers, family friends, or others. The similar term mother figure refers to an older woman.

Shakespeares influence

Shakespeare's influence extends from theatre and literature to present-day movies, Western philosophy, and the English language itself. William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the history of the English language, and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He transformed European theatre by expanding expectations about what could be accomplished through innovation in characterization, plot, language and genre. Shakespeare's writings have also impacted a large number of notable novelists and poets over the years, including Herman Melville Charles Dickens, and Maya Angelou, and continue to influence new authors even today. Shakespeare is the most quoted writer in the history of the English-speaking world after the various writers of the Bible; many of his quotations and neologisms have passed into everyday usage in English and other languages.

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Regan (<i>King Lear</i>) character in King Lear

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Cordelia (<i>King Lear</i>) character in King Lear

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Counterconditioning is functional analytic principle that is part of behavior analysis, and involves the conditioning of an unwanted behavior or response to a stimulus into a wanted behavior or response by the association of positive actions with the stimulus. For example, when training a dog, a person would create a positive response by petting or calming the dog when the dog reacts anxiously or nervously to a stimulus. Therefore, this will associate the positive response with the stimulus.

The European Mathematical Psychology Group (EMPG) is an informal association of scientists in mathematical psychology. The group was founded in 1971 in Paris; it has not been formally organized as a society, although has been described as the "European branch" of the Society for Mathematical Psychology. It holds a meeting each year in a European city, and beginning at the 23rd meeting, has published a proceedings from that meeting as an edited volume. As of 2001, there were approximately 100 attendees.

June Machover Reinisch is an American psychologist who has helped advance the public's general knowledge of human sexual activity. From 1982 to 1993, she was director of the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University. Her research at the Institute focused on sexual and psychosexual development. She has published more than 100 scientific papers in such journals as Science, Nature, JAMA, American Psychologist, Hormones and Behavior, MMWR, JPSP, Archives of Internal Medicine, and the British and American Journals or Psychiatry.

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Ophelia complex is the term used by Gaston Bachelard to refer to the links between femininity, liquids, and drowning which he saw as symbolised in the fate of Shakespeare's Ophelia.

William Thomas Heron was a professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota. He co-authored six papers with B.F. Skinner in the 1930s, making him Skinner's most frequent co-author during the latter's career. He is known for an experiment he conducted in 1952, in which he and a graduate student attempted to test the validity of extrasensory perception.

References

  1. ↑ Craighead, W. Edward; Nemeroff, Charles B., eds. (2004-04-19). The Concise Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science (3rd ed.). New York Chichester: Wiley. ISBN   9780471220367.
  2. ↑ F. Gleyzon, Shakespeare's Spiral (2010) p. 209
  3. ↑ J-P Sartre, Saint Genet (2012) p. 268
  4. ↑ A. Passo, Novel Configurations (1994) p. 215
  5. ↑ W. Craighead ed. The Concise Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioural Science (2014) p. 1044
  6. ↑ P. Bennett ed., Montreal 2010 (2012) p. 1593
  7. ↑ Waltzing with Medusa
  8. ↑ L. Shamas, We Three (2007) p. 36
  9. ↑ results, search (2010-03-19). Shakespeare's Spiral: Tracing the Snail in King Lear and Renaissance Painting. UPA.
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