Fall/Winter 2012 Newsletter

Dr. Rod Bassett Presented at The 2012 CAPS East Regional Conference In Chambersburg

CAPS stands for Christian Association for Psychological Studies. CAPS members serve as psychologists, educators, psychiatrists, physicians, marriage and family therapists, social workers, psychiatric nurses, professional and lay counselors, researchers, psychological assistants, interns, pastors, chaplains, theologians, pastoral counselors, and students. CAPS encourages in-depth consideration of therapeutic, research, theoretical, and theological issues. The association is a forum for creative new ideas. Dr. Bassett presented 5 total research projects at the CAPS conference in Chambersburg, PA, November 9th—11th, that were conducted with students from Dr. Bassett's Research Practicum Course (PSY 407) and Graduate Research Course (PSY/EDC 601). Two of the research projects in the area of Psychology are listed below.

Exploring the Psychological Topography of Self-Sacrifice

Rodney L. Bassett, Shavaughn Bartz, Monique Bonnett, Sarah Mix, Laura Scavo

Abstract

Unmitigated Communion (UC), the tendency to self-sacrifice for the well-being of another or the relationship with that other, has recently been bifurcated into UC-self and UC-other (Bassett & Aubé, 2012). With UC-self, this sacrifice is motivated by self-serving tendencies. With UC-other, such sacrifice is more altruistically motivated. A study was done with a rather heterogeneous sample to more carefully consider some of the covariates of each type of UC. In addition to assessing both types of UC, information was collected regarding: self-silencing, tendencies toward shame and guilt following transgressions, divided self, functional and dysfunctional versions of dependency, externalized self-esteem, and perfectionism. Generally, UC-self showed a pattern of connections that seemed to constrain well-being. However, the pattern for UC-other seemed to be more complex.

Remorse and Self-Concealment: And the Man and His Wife hid themselves from the Presence of the Lord (Genesis 3:8)

Rodney L. Bassett, Paige Langless

In this study, we considered the relationship between four types of remorse (guilt, shame, sorrow, and brokenness) and a person's level of self-concealment. Certain types of remorse, presumably the more functional types, should yield a lower level of self-concealment than would other, less functional types of remorse. Shame is extremely egocentric, and, according to Bassett et al. (2011) is more debilitating than other kinds of remorse. Therefore it was predicted the highest levels of self-concealment would be associated with shame. In contrast, the other three types of remorse seem to have more functional qualities and therefore were predicted to be associated with lower levels of self-concealment.