Concepts

    This page will provide some definitions and examples of several concepts which are important to the work I have been doing.

Trained Incapacity. Theories such as continuity theory (Atchley, 1989) emphasize a human bias towards resisting to change. Family stress and ambiguous loss researchers assert that individuals and families will do everything they can to maintain the status quo and resist change (Boss, 1999; McCubbin, et al., 1998). When individuals find a coping style that seems to work, most will cling to it, resisting new pressure to change. Trained incapacity is a sociological concept describing a case where ones abilities function as inadequacies or blind spots (Merton, 1968). Where training and skills have been successfully applied in the past, under changed conditions these may lead to an inadequate flexibility. An example of trained incapacity in ambiguous loss is the useful function of a mastery orientation for fighting against the odds when confronting a terminal disease. At some point, such competencies can become obstacles preventing adjustments needed to cope with building tensions. Each of the process variables can be seen as a two-edged sword, at times helping and other times hindering the adjustment process. Some individuals may need to moderate an overly rigid mastery orientation, while others may need to increase an overly acquiescent orientation (Boss, 2006). For some, mastery may need to be increased at one point in the process and then moderated subsequently. Such adjustments require a flexibility that is difficult for most individuals or families to achieve. For the religious-sexual orientation conflict a testimony or conversion to a religious view that precludes homosexuality, while bringing stability and meaning to life, can subsequently lead to depression and self-destructive behavior due to chronic stress and inability to achieve socio-emotional-physical intimacy needs.

Pile-up is discussed in family stress literature. It involves accumulation of demands from a number of stressors that may be simultaneous working on a family (McCubbin, et al., 1998). Boss (1999, pp.50-52) provides an example of a woman who was sad and hopeless, dealing with the loss of a relationship with a business partner. Her stress was not just due to the latest loss in her life but also from unresolved stress of five other dramatic unresolved losses during her life. Black women confronting a divorce will confront the same transitional issues as other divorced women, but may carry an added burden or adjustment capacities due to struggling with racism and sexism. Some experiencing the loss of a loved one to Alzheimer’s may simultaneously feel stress due to both ambiguous loss and care giving burden. Pile-up can lead one past the limits of their tolerance which can ultimately facilitate change and healthy adjustment. The inverse of pile-up seems to be sleep, rest, peaceful vacations, etc., which may have the effect of alleviating stress to a degree that it can be tolerated and coped with. Pile-up leading to a discontinuous change, while being devastating to a marriage or job or other things, also has the potential to provide a needed change in a dysfunctional system. 

Resilience. Researchers have looked at resilience as both a process and a trait (e.g. Luther, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000). Boss (2002, 2006) suggests that resilience is a process involving tolerance of ambiguity and adaptability, but not resignation or stoicism (Boss, 2002). Within the irresolvable stressor paradigm this suggests that resilience is the response to stress which eventually leads to the emergence of new adaptive possibilities beyond the either/or model (Swallowtail/Butterfly --> transcendence). Those in the earlier systems (Fold/Cusp) stoically hold on to their attachments; while those in the emerging systems (Swallowtail/Butterfly) move on to new adaptive insights that will eventually alleviate and possibly transcend the situation. The process of resilience can therefore be defined as the process involved in the expansion from the fold/cusp (one-way, either/or) systems to the swallowtail/butterfly (both/and) system dynamics. The increase in the meaning variable (d − salience of ambiguity) over time is a crucial part of this process, facilitating the emergence and stability of the compromise mode (Zeeman, 1976 [1977 reprint]). At first the compromise mode is fragile, but it becomes more stable as the meaning variable becomes integrated with the other process variables. Achieving a stable compromise mode also involves moderating the support variable (e.g. tempering mastery, cf. Boss, 2006).

Alienation. The term alienation has multiple meanings and usages. Perhaps the most useful meaning is different from the way the word is commonly used. Rather than referring to how others may alienate us, it deals with how we are alienated from ourselvse by believing in a reality which prescribes ourselves in various ways. Alienation was popularized in sociology through Karl Marx' work describing how the common worker was alienated and exploited, often unaware of how his self-alienation contributed to perpetuating the system of abuse. Berger (1967) uses the term to describe the conflict dynamics between modernization and religion. Alienation, used in this way, is when the objective reality promoted by groups (e.g. cultures, religions, institutions) and adopted by individuals within those groups conflicts with some of those individuals’ essential natures. Individuals are often unaware of the exploitative nature of the social structure to which they trust and conform. For example, many individuals who remain single their whole lives believe true happiness can only be found in a relationship, some competent women don't pursue the study of math or physics because 'women's brains don't work that way', some men may feel like they can't be cry because 'men are not emotional', some Black individuals believed societies view that they were inherently inferior intellectually and therefore did not attempt to gain higher educations, some same-sex attracted (gay, lesbian, bisexual) individuals who belong to conservative religions believe happiness can only found through a heterosexual marriage. Synonyms for this type of alienation include self-estrangement and false class consciousness. The process of stereotyping can be useful in understanding alienation. We try to understand the world by making generalizations or categorize the world from what we experience. These categories (i.e. stereotypes) then become objectified in our minds or in society. Once objectified, they limit and constrict how we view the world. When society objectifies its truths, it creates pressure which restrict the roles, boundaries, and possibilities people see open to them until they hit a catastrophe point where they are forced to break out of the confines placed on them by these objectifications.

Dissonance & Ambivalence. ...