New approaches to understanding unconscious processes: Implicit and explicit memory systems

Cortina, Mauricio; Liotti, Giovanni

doi:10.1080/08037060701676326

Cited by 28 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The fundamental change has been in thinking of unconscious processes as primarily adaptive and only secondarily defensive. The defensive function corresponds to Freud's dynamic unconscious (Cortina & Liotti, 2007). Neuroscience and contemporary cognitive science highlight various types of memory.…”

Section: Conscious and Unconscious Motivationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Use of Attachment Theory in the Clinical Dialogue with Patients

Cortina¹

2013

Psychodynamic Psychiatry

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Attachment theory specifically addresses the ability to use an attachment figure as a haven of safety and base of exploration. While many other relational issues are important during development, a foundation of trust based on having positive expectations that others will be available when needed is clearly relevant in the practice of psychotherapy. Yet many patients come in with histories of insecure or even disorganized attachment and have suffered different forms of maltreatment. Understanding affect-regulating strategies, defensive processes, and transference and countertransference patterns associated with insecure or disorganized patterns is enormously useful during the clinical exchange. In addition to paying attention to affect regulation strategies, it is important to note that two other motivational systems may become coopted for defensive purposes in order to cope with disorganized attachment: the caregiving system and the ranking system (the latter being the legacy of dominance hierarchies we observe in primates). The other theme in this article is the importance of paying attention to a cooperative and social engagement motivational system (sometimes referred sometimes to as a social or affiliative motive) in building a therapeutic alliance. This prosocial motive is not about safety (attachment) but about sharing and developing positive social relations with others (Cortina & Liotti, 2010). The article explores the significance of building on this cooperative and social engagement system when there is not a foundation of trust based on a secure attachment history.

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Section: Conscious and Unconscious Motivationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Use of Attachment Theory in the Clinical Dialogue with Patients

Cortina¹

2013

Psychodynamic Psychiatry

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“…The traditional concept of instinct also does not always emphasize the enormous importance of the role of experience, which allows the organism to respond flexibly to different environments. This experience is carried forward during development as a series of mostly unconscious expectations coded at implicit levels (Cortina and Liotti, 2007;Fosshage, 2005;Renn, 2012). Nonetheless, we occasionally lapse into the old language of instinct for the sake of brevity and to avoid the repetitive use of the more accurate, but more cumbersome, language of motivational systems.…”

Section: Definition Of Termsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Evolutionary Outlook on Motivation: Implications for the Clinical Dialogue

Cortina¹,

Liotti²

2014

Psychoanalytic Inquiry

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A taxonomy of basic motivational systems (reptilian, mammalian, and neo-mammalian), that emerged in phases during the course of millions of years, is proposed. These different phases did not replace each other, but became reorganized in the brain at different hierarchical levels. It is argued that (a) humans are an ultracooperative species and (b) high degrees of cooperation put strong selective pressures toward the development of sophisticated forms of intersubjective communication. These two developments had cascading effects on human evolution, creating both the conditions upon which humans were able to understand intentions, gestures, emotions, and, ultimately, the minds of others, and the emergence of language and symbolic forms of cultural evolution. Possible evolutionary steps that led to this ultracooperative survival strategy and some of their genetic mechanism, with special emphasis on a multilevel model of selection, are described, and the implications for psychotherapy and psychoanalysis are explored. SUMMARYSocial instincts (motivational systems) among primates can be grouped into five major categories: systems that regulate ritualized dominance and submission displays (dominance hierarchies), systems that regulate care-seeking (attachment) and care-giving behaviors, systems that regulate cooperative behaviors toward members of a troupe, and systems that regulate sexual behaviors. Nonsocial instincts are, of course, also part of mankind's evolutionary heritage. These ancient reptilian systems evolved to maintain physiologic equilibrium, regulate fightflight-freeze responses, activate predatory behaviors, explore the environment, protect territorial boundaries, and reproduce sexually.Although different forms of cooperation exist among primates, dominance hierarchies based on competition are the main form of social organization in nonhuman primates and cooperation is limited to dyadic interactions or small-scale levels of cooperation, such as helping members with close genetic ties or defending territorial boundaries. Helping nonkin members of a group is rare. By comparison, altruistic cooperation in humans is directed at kin and nonkin members alike, and is widespread. Explaining how prosocial form of cooperation evolved among human (hominin) ancestors has been one of the great scientific challenges of modern times. We address this question in two parts. AN EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH TO MOTIVATION 865First, we describe four interrelated evolutionary strategies that emerged among hominin ancestors that converged in the modern human species to create ultracooperative adaptive strategies: cooperation in helping raise the young (cooperative breeding), the emergence of enduring sexual bonds, the emergence of shared prosocial norms that supported an egalitarian ethos among nomadic hunter gatherers, and an very delayed sexual maturation and prolonged adolescence (life history strategies) that support cultural learning and the remarkable adaptive flexibility of our species.Second, we turn to formal genetic explana...

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“…These theorists argue that dissociated aspects of the patient's self will become enacted in the therapy relationship, and then be available for symbolic formulation in the mind of the therapist as the therapist engages interpersonally with the patient. These emerging theories imply that the therapist's willingness to enter into the Downloaded by [UQ Library] at 10:20 02 November 2014 patient's dissociative state promotes a way of knowing-an implicit knowing that occurs nonverbally and even nonconsciously in the dissociative field (Cortina & Liotti, 2007).…”

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resonance in the Dissociative Field: Examining the Therapist’s Internal Experience When a Patient Dissociates in Session

Strait

2014

Smith College Studies in Social Work

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New approaches to understanding unconscious processes: Implicit and explicit memory systems

Cited by 28 publications

References 12 publications

The Use of Attachment Theory in the Clinical Dialogue with Patients

The Use of Attachment Theory in the Clinical Dialogue with Patients

An Evolutionary Outlook on Motivation: Implications for the Clinical Dialogue

Resonance in the Dissociative Field: Examining the Therapist’s Internal Experience When a Patient Dissociates in Session

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