Identity, culture, and feminism: Golda Meir - Israel's prime minister (1969-1974).

Like most historical leaders, Israel's fourth prime minister, Golda Meir, is a controversial figure. Some consider her the worst prime minister in Israel's history, who was responsible for Israel's lack of preparedness for the Yom Kippur War, and others perceive her to be the only 'man' who stood in the way of Arabs' countries victory over Israel. Some view her to be conservative, not brilliant, dogmatic, masculine, and racist, and some others, as a simple, modest, warm, and empathetic woman. The authors bridge between these two conflicting views by employing theories of identity, culture, and gender role bias to investigate how Golda Meir's early age trauma caused by pogroms against Jews, cultural transition between Russia, the USA, and Mandatory Palestine, and serving as a powerful woman leader in an all-men political system, influenced her personal and political behaviour and her public image.

Psychobiographical reflections on Viktor von Weizsäcker within the cultural framework of salutogenesis and medical anthropology.

This article explores the life of Viktor von Weizsäcker (VvW, 1886-1957), a German medical doctor, philosopher and founder of the Heidelberg School of Anthropological Medicine, from a psychobiographical and salutogenic perspective. The authors use salutogenesis and sense of coherence (SOC), and take crucial cultural, historical, and socio-structural frameworks into account to explore the life during the 19th and 20th Centuries in Germany. They present the exploration of a strong SOC in the life of VvW and show how SOC is created within the tight family bonds of the family clan, which has produced many extraordinary theologists, philosophers, scientists and politicians over six generations. In a complex, interconnected and holistic way, SOC is evident in von VvW's individual life, and is also shown to be a family resource. This article contributes to psychobiography in three ways: it develops the salutogenetic perspective in psychobiography, explores the life of VvW within a specific sociocultural context, and investigates the life from a salutogenetic and socio-cultural perspective. Finally, conclusions are drawn, and recommendations for theory and practice are given.

A psychobiographical analysis of Empress Dowager Cixi: exploring the femininity castrated complex.

In Chinese culture, there is a widely circulated phrase, 'A hen crows in the morning'. This phrase is used to humiliate women who steal power and engage in the political field. It demonstrates the complicated relationship between women and power in the context of Chinese culture. Women are not completely excluded from the politics, but women in power are often stigmatised. This study explores the life of Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908), the last female dominator in Chinese history, takes psychobiography as the research method, and attempts to understand the complicated relationship between women and power in Chinese culture through analysing Cixi's life from the perspective of complex and cultural complex theory which originated with C.G. Jung and analytical theory. The research findings show that humiliating and suppressing women with political talent can trigger their complexes, both personal and cultural. This study attempts to propose the femininity castrated complex to better describe the conscious and unconscious psychological dynamics impacting on women within patriarchal, political Chinese culture. This complex further relates to (1) denying her biological sex in order to avoid accusations of superego and, (2) the relationship with her son who is not only her son, but also her enemy regarding (political) power.

Promoting psychobiography: models and perspectives from multiple countries.

This article promotes and advocates for the integration of psychobiography into academic training in psychology. While psychobiography has been foundational to the discipline of psychology since Freud's study of Leonardo da Vinci, its procedures and methods have been sorely neglected in academic psychology. Following a brief introduction to psychobiography, the authors provide a historical review of the specialty area, review the current scope of psychobiographical training in psychology, and summarize the benefits of psychobiography to both the training of students and the broader psychology field. Next, models and examples of psychobiography integration across three continents and five countries are provided. The article concludes with specific recommendations for advancing psychobiography in academic psychology.

Challenges and coping of couples in intercultural romantic love relationships.

This study explores the romantic love in intercultural couples and investigates the qualities that challenge them and help them succeed in their relationships. It uses a qualitative research design within the hermeneutical interpretative research paradigm, aiming to understand the phenomenon of love from different cultural perspectives. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed through content analysis. Qualitative quality criteria and ethical considerations were applied. Ethical consent was provided by Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. The findings represent the views of couples on their love and their relationship, in particular the challenged experienced and the coping strategies to overcome them. Challenges highlighted are the non-acceptance of the relationship by family members and friends; disagreement on cultural values, norms, rules, and rituals; communication in a third language; no language in common with family members; differences in concepts, such as religion, love, feelings, communication; building a common future, and minor differences in personality traits. The participants use individual and joint coping mechanisms to deal with challenges and stressors. These coping mechanisms include attitudes and behaviours regarding culture, awareness, faith and religion, learning, future orientation, and fighting together for the relationship. Conclusions are provided and recommendations for leading intercultural romantic relationships are given.

The love of pets in managing remote work challenges during Covid-19.

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, a large number of employed individuals all over the world were obliged to work remotely during lockdown. This article focuses on the coping mechanisms which individuals used to manage this difficult situation, specifically the impact which loving and caring for pets had on the way in which people dealt with the challenges of the remote-working environment. Methodologically, this qualitative study used a phenomenological research design to understand the lived experience of the participants in the study. Ten qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with pet owners during the Covid-19 lockdown period in South Africa. The sample was recruited using purposeful and snowball sampling techniques. Data were analysed through content analysis while qualitative quality criteria were applied. Findings show pets supported their owners in many different ways during the pandemic and only the animal's presence supported the owners at home physically, psychologically and emotionally. They helped to reduce the stress of their owners and create a homely atmosphere. Pets played a specific role in providing love, companionship, strong emotional and affective bonds and by creating experiences of comfort, positive as well as negative distraction from work, and physical presence. The experience of love was one major aspect of the relationships between pets and humans. Conclusions are drawn and recommendations are given with regard to future research, highlighting how organisations and consultants can use the positive influences of pets in remote-working scenarios.

Self-compassion, mental health shame and work motivation in German and Japanese employees.

In Germany, more than two-thirds of employees report mental health issues, while in Japan, more than half of the country's workforce are mentally distressed. Although both countries are socio-economically developed in similar ways, their cultures differ strongly. This article investigates mental health constructs among German and Japanese employees. A cross-sectional design was employed in which 257 German and 165 Japanese employees completed self-report scales regarding mental health problems, mental health shame, self-compassion and work motivation. T-tests, correlation and regression analyses were conducted. Results show that German employees have significantly higher levels of mental health problems, mental health shame, self-compassion and work motivation than Japanese employees. While many correlations were similar, mental health problems were associated with intrinsic motivation in Germans, but not in Japanese. Shame was associated with both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in Japanese, but not in Germans. Self-compassion - defined as a complex of compassion, humanity, care and unconditional, compassionate love - was associated with gender and age in Japanese, but not in German employees. Lastly, regression analysis uncovered that self-compassion was the strongest predictor of mental health problems in Germans. In Japanese employees, mental health shame is the strongest predictor of mental health problems. Results can guide managers and psychologists in internationalised organisations to effectively approach employee mental health.

The meaning of love and its bittersweet nature.

Love is the core of human experience and central to our meaning in life and wellbeing, yet it is also a complex concept full of ambiguity and contradiction. The main purpose of this paper is fourfold: Firstly, we want to clarify questions such as 'What is the meaning of love?' and 'Why is meaning of love so important to us?' Secondly, we want to explain why love is both suffering and essential for our happiness and mental health. Thirdly, we identify the major types of love and clarify which types are constructive and which are destructive. We also identify the key dimensions of true love. Finally, we emphasise that love does not always mean happiness; rather, it is meant to be a school to teach us important lessons and to make us complete. Therefore, we need to embrace suffering and at the same time cultivate the constructive types of love to improve our mental health and to make the world a more compassionate place.

Psychobiographical trends: Untold stories and international voices in the context of social change.

OBJECTIVE: This article describes the increase of publications in the area of psychobiography, thereby analysing the trends in the articles published in the special issue on psychobiography and social agency and activism. It further highlights the specific approaches taken by autobiographers who write psychobiographical accounts of extraordinary individuals and "everyday heroes" in their attempt of creating social impact in specific socio-cultural groups, societies or even on a global level. METHOD: This is a conceptional article which comments on the trends presented in this special issue. RESULTS: This article presents a discussion of the special issue and its impact. CONCLUSIONS: New trends in psychobiography are discussed and show the way forward for psychobiography.

Creativity and Psychopathology: An Interdisciplinary View.

Since ancient philosophy, extraordinary creativity is associated with mental disorders, emotional and cognitive destabilization, and melancholia. We here summarize the results of empirical and narrative studies and analyze the most prominent case of a highly creative person who suffered from dysthymia and major depression with suicidality. Hereby, we focus on the interaction of different phases of the creative process with "bipolar" personality traits. Finally, we offer an interdisciplinary interpretation of the creative dialectics between order and chaos. The results show that severe psychopathology inhibits creativity. Mild and moderate disorders can inspire and motivate creative work but are only leading to new and useful solutions when creators succeed in transforming their emotional instability and cognitive incoherence into stable and coherent forms. The cultural idea that creativity emerges in dialectical processes between order and chaos, is also to be found in the psychologic interplay of coherence and incoherence, and in neuro-scientific models of the dynamics between tightening and loosening of neuronal structures. Consequences are drawn for the psychotherapeutic treatment of persons striving for creativity.

Key concepts for managing organizations and employees turning towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) brings radical changes for employees, organizations and societies. These changes are accompanied by unforeseeable challenges on cognitive, affective and behavioural levels, as well as fundamental questions that require a response. Work and meaning of work are changing. Organizations have to address employees' perceptions, and deal with rapid technological innovation, new work and employment concepts, as well as global and local power shifts. This conceptual article proposes selected key concepts for managing organizations and employees, namely creativity, positive emotions and solution-focus as keys to meaning-making in the 4IR. The aim of this article is to explore selected key concepts in managing 4IR organizations on a conceptual level and to stimulate future theoretical reflections and discourses of positive psychology (PP) and positive organizational psychology (POP) impacts within the 4IR transformations. Conclusions are drawn and provides recommendations for theory and practice.

Positive intercultural management in the fourth industrial revolution: managing cultural otherness through a paradigm shift.

The authors argue that a paradigm shift in intercultural management is needed to withdraw from a problem-oriented perspective - stressing the differences and difficulties of intercultural interactions - and foster a solution-oriented, positive psychology perspective, taking PP1.0 and PP2.0, the first and second wave of positive psychology, into account. This Positive Intercultural Management (PIM) perspective, thereby provides new directions to intercultural management during the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The article contributes to filling the void of PIM by demonstrating and promoting the positive, complementary and synergistic experiences in intercultural management interactions. On the basis of negotiated culture and intercultural synergy, the article describes and discusses positive factors contributing to PIM, such as interculturally competent actors; organizational structures such as intercultural tandems; and negotiated processes mediated by boundary spanners. It further addresses previously discussed challenging issues, such as cultural othering and awareness in intercultural management. Practical implications relate to key actors in PIM, such as managers or consultants, who need to change the perspective from problem-focused to solution-orientated PIM in international and global management contexts, in order to steer intercultural negotiation processes so that they promote complementarity and synergy.

Positive transformation towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution: empirical evidence from a technology company.

This article explores the question of how organizations can transform constructively and positively towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). It presents insights into the state of the art on 4IR, positive psychology movements PP1.0 and PP2.0 and particularly on German organizations in the 4IR within the South African context. The study uses a qualitative research approach and presents findings from a study conducted with 16 managers across top, middle and lower management levels in a German engineering organization, based in South Africa, operating in Southern Africa. Findings, discussion, conclusions and recommendations provide insights into emerging themes on the 4IR from perspectives that take the context of discourses on the 4IR in developed and developing countries into account. Findings show the importance of five main themes when transforming into the 4IR: (1) Employee management; (2) Innovative technological and systemic change; (3) Work organization; (4) Environment and (5) Network and cooperation. Human communication and connectivity and a balanced human-machine interaction seem to build the core framework for constructive socio-technological change and a meaningful work environment. Thereby, a focus on the positive transformation requires working through the challenges and dark sides of the 4IR as well as a contextual and culture-specific approach to finally create a meaningful, healthy and optimal functioning work environment for the employees.

Sense of coherence in systemic family therapy trainees in times of change.

This study aimed at qualitatively exploring the development of a sense of coherence (SOC) among systemic family therapist trainees (FTT) over a 3-year period. It was conducted in a private family therapy training institute in central Germany. The sample consisted of 66 trainees. The components of SOC and their general health played an important role in the development of FTTs throughout the three training years. Findings show that the SOC component of meaningfulness (motivation) was most frequently mentioned and most important to participants' personal and professional development, followed by comprehensibility (understanding of self, others and the context) and finally by manageability (coping with challenges based on personal, social and professional resources). The three SOC components fostered a positive self-care approach in FTTs and improved health and well-being over the 3 years. Visions of FTT at the end of the training show that they aim at personal and professional growth and development in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).

Holistic wellness in the life of Angela Merkel: a call to revise the wheel of wellness in the light of new positive psychology movements and socio-cultural changes.

Holistic wellness theories conceptualise wellness as a multidimensional and synergistic construct. The term wellness refers to a way of life oriented towards optimal health and wellbeing in which body, mind, and spirit are integrated by the individual to live life fully within the human and natural community. The proposed Wheel of Wellness Model incorporate five life tasks that are influenced by seven life forces that are, in turn, influenced by global events. In this study, the model is employed to explore the life of Angela Merkel from a psychobiographical and holistic wellness perspective. Merkel was purposively selected as an extraordinary leader who demonstrated exceptional coping abilities and wellness. Findings show that Merkel's wellness is particularly strong in terms of spirituality and self-direction. Suggestions are proposed how to expand the WoW in the context of latest positive psychology developments and with regard to socio-cultural changes within contemporary societies.

"Care for the Common Home": Responses to Pope Francis's Encyclical Letter.

This article aims to build awareness of the growing global crisis in social, economic and environmental terms from different disciplinary approaches. The authors respond to the message of Pope Francis presented in his Encyclical Letter published in 2015. The article provides a short current overview of the discourse and presents three hypotheses anchored in the disciplines of Psychology, Health and Theology for a deeper discussion of Pope Francis's viewpoints on the challenges to humankind and how to address them. It thereby contributes to the discourse on health and religion with regard to the Pope's message to the world community. The article leads to an interdisciplinary conclusion and directions for future research and practice.

"Can One Put Faith and Work in the Same Sentence?" Faith Development and Vocation of a Female Leader in the Engineering Profession.

Faith has been pointed out as a possible resource in strengthening individuals' health and well-being at work. The aim of this article is to gain in-depth knowledge of the faith development and vocation of a selected female leader in a male-dominated work context. The article contributes to research on faith development in women leaders, based on Fowler's faith development theory. This is a single case study grounded in a qualitative research design. In-depth qualitative data were gathered through observation and interviews over 18 months. Findings showed the development of faith across a women leader's life span and highlight that faith and vocation are important resources that provide strength, meaningfulness and a vision.

A Longitudinal Case Study: The Development of Exceptional Human Experiences of Senior Ecclesiastical Professionals in the Catholic Church.

Exceptional human experiences (EHEs) impact on health and well-being and can contribute to enhanced intercultural and interreligious awareness and understanding. The aim of this longitudinal study was to explore the development of EHEs in a group of senior professionals in the German Catholic Church. Exceptional human experiences were measured through the EEQ in pre- and post-test questionnaires which were qualitatively analysed. The results of this study reflect an increase in the frequency of positive spiritual experiences and visionary dream encounters, as well as a more positive evaluation of these spiritual phenomena. The findings seem to suggest that it is possible to raise people's awareness of spiritual practices and to enhance intercultural and interreligious competence through training interventions.