Psychological processes and the social construction of knowledge

Daniele Cardelli is founder, president and director of the International Master School of Soul Studies.

He is a philosopher-analyst teacher, founder and president of the association Anima and Polis and of the AFA – Associazione Filosofi Analisti “Nous” (Association of Philosopher-Analysts “Nous”), recognised by the MISE Ministry for Economic Development and included in the special list for the issue of certificates of quality and professional qualification www.studisullanima. it.

Adjunct Professor of Psychology of Form at the University of Catania, SDS of Architecture in Syracuse since 2016, formerly Lecturer at the Institut CG Jung in Zurich and at the University of Florence, where he taught as Adjunct Professor with continuity, for almost ten years, Psychology of Politics and Cultural Analysis of Myths and where he then also carried out integrative teaching (holding seminars) in Analytical and Archetypal Psychology in the course of Dynamic Psychology at the Faculty (school) of Psychology.

In 2003, he founded in Florence the Circolo Carl Gustav Jung – Libera Università Junghiana www.cgjung.it of which he is president; he has been a member of the International Association of Jungian Studies (IAJS). In 2004 he created, again based in Florence, the School of Philosophy of the Self and Analysis of the Deep – International School (and Confederation) for Selfphilosophy, which in 2011 also took the

name of International Master School of Soul Studies. In 2007, he set up the promotional committee for the International University Centre for Soul Studies, which later gave birth to the Free International University of Soul Studies, of which he is director www.unianima.org .

He trained as an Analyst of the Deep, Archetypal Analyst at the Association of Maieutics and Archetypal Analysis.
He is the creator and one of the founders of the International Confederation of Psychoanalysis JHAPA – Jung Hillman Archetypal Psychoanalysis Association – International Association of Philosophy, Psychology and Archetypal Psychoanalysis, of which he is president and teaching analyst.

He established and inaugurated the C.S.P.S. Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies on Security and in 2016, with offices in Florence, Syracuse and Santiago de Chile, he founded the James Hillman Institute www.istitutojameshillman.org which he directs.

In November 2013, he founded the Italian and International Confederation of Psychology and Political Psychoanalysis, the Psychopathology Community, the Centre for Counselling, Treatment and Therapy in Politics and he is the creator and director of the first Institute of Psychology and Psychoanalysis in Politics: School of Politics and Administration, Laboratory of Ideas, Training and Political Participation, Observatory on Public Administration www.confederati.org .

“Existential, spiritual and affectivity counsellor” and expert in “Political and management mentoring” for administrations, institutions, organisations and companies. He is the creator of the first “Professional Identification Service”.

With the term “Ecopsiconalysis” he indicates a psychoanalysis more linked to the ecology of the relationship between subject, places and environment and since 2016 he has been leading the Seminars of Curative Architecture – Ortigia Master School and the project “ArTchetipi – archetipi nell’arte e nell’architettura”, a research and didactic laboratory for the study and analysis of images and figures in art, in the built environment and in the landscape.

www.architetturacurativa.org

TABLE AND DEFINITION OF CONTENTS

The course consists of 4 modules:

Module 1 – Psychological Processes and Psychodynamics of Socialisation

• This first module introduces some fundamentals of social psychology and in particular aims to draw attention to the processes and psychodynamics of socialisation, as well as to the different interpretations of the socialisation process in the various psychological fields of behaviourism, developmental psychology, interpersonal psychology, cognitivism and form psychology as well as systemic and phenomenological psychology; the structures of social organisation, notions of sociopathy and resocialisation processes are also explored.

On this basis, it will be possible to better understand the functioning of various psychological processes – causal attribution, social empowerment, self-regulation, social dimensions and the concept of the self, the theory of self-categorisation – and to understand the construct of ‘knowledge’ as a paradigm of complexity – mental structures organised according to a criterion of progressive complexity (J. Piaget) and a mechanism of transition from the concrete empirical to the more universal abstract one – and of knowledge as a result of the three fundamental human interests according to the theory of J. Habermas.

• Module 2 – Psychological Processes and Fundamentals of Psychoanalysis and Analytical Psychology

This second module introduces the keys to understanding social and cognitive processes through the ideas, lenses, interpretative and operational methods of Psychoanalysis – Unconscious and Consciousness, Id, Ego, Super-Ego, removal, developmental stages in childhood, causality principle, associative method, psychic complex, Sigmund Freud’s structuring of the Unconscious, impulse and libido theory (sexuality), the Oedipus complex, theories and dynamics of the setting, lapsus, everyday psychopathologies and the interpretation of dreams – of Analytical Psychology (also known as “Jungian Psychology” or “Jungian-oriented Psychoanalysis”): the ego, the structure of the Unconscious in Carl Gustav Jung, the Self and the total man, the Individuation Process, the mechanism of Projection and especially the projection of the Shadow, the mechanism of Introjection, the ideas of Shadow, Person, Soul and Animus, psychological types, introvert-extrovert, the Finalistic Principle, the interpretation of dreams as a foundation for the process of individuation, the method of amplification, active imagination, immanence and transcendence as processes of consciousness, the value of myths and archetypes for a profound reading of psychic phenomena and psychological processes.

• Module 3 – Psychological Processes and Foundations of Archetypal Psychology and the Valence of the “Social Construction” of Knowledge

As a development of the above ideas we come to the identification of a new field of Psychology that James Hillman calls “Archetypal Psychology” (of archetypes).

The attempt to bring the very ancient ideas of “Anima” and “Anima Mundi” back to the centre of psychological and philosophical investigation, as well as the most characteristic terms of his thought – “Psychic Polycentrism”, “Psychology in Transparency”, “Making Soul”, “Politics of Beauty”, “Acorn Theory”, “Imaginal” – invite a fundamental reversal of perspective with respect to the more traditional ones of psychoanalysis, renewing it profoundly (if not actually subverting it) and putting the focus on caring for the world outside – the fundamental and curative importance of politics, economics, architecture, schools and the ‘social’ as a basis for knowledge, self-knowledge, greater and more widespread well-being – as well as on the world inside:  a true viaticum for the ‘social construction’ of knowledge also from the point of view of depth psychology.

• Module 4 – Psychological processes and interpretation of psychic, individual and social phenomena

The symbolic language of the psyche and the constitutive factors of identity; the subject-object duality as the basis of relationships and knowledge; the “principle of otherness” as the basis of social understanding (learning to think 360°);  the centrality of work – “guaranteed work” – for the full development of the personality, the work we enjoy as a basis and factor for psychological health – “service for professional individuation” -, antidote to alienation and motivation to be in life and in the world; the fundamental importance of motivation and pleasure for living and antidote to drug addiction; the importance of social relations and interactions for psychological health: “Man is by nature a social (political) animal” Aristotle; mechanisms of propagation and diffusion of messages and moods; the virality of social and the mechanism of social propagation; psychologies of the masses; positive and negative examples of social dynamics and organisation; organisational hierarchies; human resources in the city of Humanism and the Renaissance; the value of Inclusiveness; “Politics as therapy for social instances, “Curative Architecture” and circular, ecological and sustainable Economy; hints of affective education for the construction and identification of the total man.

The course focuses on the psychological processes and the psychological and social mechanisms that allow individuals to become aware. The course’s topics will be approached through the lens of Social Psychology – with special focus on psychosocial and psychodimanic processes for awarness: social Self, social empowerment – Psychoanalysis, Analytical and Archetypal Psychology.

Many specific terms in Psychoanalysis will be treated in depth as well as the ideas and tools offered by Carl Gustav Jung’s Analytical Psychology – “Personal and Collective Unconscious”, “Self”, “Persona”, “Introverted and extraverted”, “Process of Individuation” – and by James Hillman’s Archetypal Psychology.

Following these orientations, a relevant part of the course will be reserved to the analysis of social phenomena that lead to awareness: the research and the individuation of one’s own most corresponding endeavour or professional activity, the analysis of public administration, private entreprises and organisational relations and dynamics. Particularly, the factors that promote human resources, socially inclusive persectives and empowerment based on policies able to take care of the individual, the diverse cultural and territorial identities, but also “curative architecture” and sustainable economics topics, aspects, and dynamics will be highlighted.

Cases of analysis, reflections, discussions about events in individual, collective, global, and local lives will help to support the connection of the theoretical corpus of knowledge presented by the lecturers with the personal and professional context of each student, in order to have the most meaningful, highest-level learning experience.

In relation to course

The course aims to provide students with the tools and methods for studying and investigating psychological processes, primarily from the perspective of social psychology, and analysing their functioning from the perspective of the various approaches to psychology, including psychoanalysis, analytical psychology and archetypal psychology.

In order to build a solid theoretical and methodological basis capable of supporting the student in the reading of the themes proposed and analysed during the course, the tools characteristic of the above-mentioned orientations and disciplinary areas will be explained in detail. The course therefore aims to provide the most appropriate means to be able to carry out a deep analysis of individual and collective psychic phenomena, certainly including those of one’s own experiences; in this sense it is the aim of the course to facilitate the development of an awareness able to better read and manage one’s own emotions and to offer hints and tools useful for one’s own emotional life and for one’s own professional and working identification and realisation.

With regard to specific knowledge
The course deals with themes that are useful for analysing the motives and dynamics of psychic action, both individual, social and collective, with special emphasis on knowledge as an existential goal and as an indispensable factor in self-care.
Through synchronous sessions, situations are analysed, cases (social-political as well as individual experiences) are brought up and examples are discussed to show the concrete application and field applicability of the tools offered during the course.

A. Knowledge and understanding
▪ Knowledge of the main psychological ideas, terms, methods and theories of the course ‘Psychological processes and the social construction of knowledge’.
▪ Knowledge of the main methods and mechanisms of psychic functioning and in particular the processes and psychodynamics of socialisation, the different interpretations of the socialisation process in the various psychological fields and the terms of the psychoanalytical approach to the study of psychic and social phenomena.

▪ To acknowledge the value of knowledge as a goal and a healing factor for the personality.
▪ Understanding of social dynamics and the fundamental importance of work, especially work that a person likes and corresponds to.
▪ Understanding dynamics in organisational and socio-political contexts.

B. Applied knowledge and understanding
▪ Ability to read psychic and social phenomena from an analytical, archetypal and curative perspective.
▪ Ability to analyse everyday individual and social psychic events as a pathway to self-knowledge and knowledge of things.
▪ Ability to analyse the relationship between positive subjectivity and the functionality of organisational contexts and to be able to assess all “human resources” in group dynamics and social relations.
▪ Ability to provide answers and solutions to problems identified in relation to individual psychological processes as well as collective and socio-political processes.
▪ Ability to summarize what has been learned and relate it to relevant contexts.

C. Autonomy of judgement
▪ Ability to choose tools and methods useful for the study and analysis of psychic phenomena according to the specificities of the context.
▪ Ability to read individual and social psychic processes in an autonomous way with respect to the cultural context of reference.
▪ Ability to provide solutions to psychological problems with independence and autonomy from the dominant thinking of the historical moment.

D. Communication skills
▪ The ability to explain scientific terms and the main themes concerning psychology and particularly the orientation of social psychology and analytical-archetypal psychology using the specialist language of the sector.
▪ Ability to understand the main features of verbal and non-verbal communication.

E. Learning ability
▪ Ability to independently investigate the main scientific-methodological issues affecting psychology.
▪ Ability to find sources useful for study and further research
of psychological phenomena.

A. Use of tools and terminology specific to the discipline under study and particularly of the psychosocial and psychoanalytic orientation. Use of advanced textbooks, knowledge of some characteristic themes of the subject studied.

B. Professional approach to work and possession of appropriate skills to develop arguments, support them and solve problems within the subject studied.
Ability to gather and interpret information useful for making independent judgements.

C. Through the analysis of case studies and practical examples, the mechanisms and processes underlying attitudes, thoughts and words, evaluations and choices, and the dynamics of intrapsychic and relational life will be highlighted.

D. Ability to communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to interlocutors of various levels, specialists and non-specialists. Students will be provided with some useful indications and methodologies useful for having public speech (also in multimedia form) using appropriate vocabulary and communication methods

E. Students will be educated and helped to ‘understand deeply’, to interpret psychic language symbolically and semiotically, to grasp the hidden and more authentic and effective meanings, to read beyond the surface of psychic phenomena, individual and social, to know how to understand the language of that psychology which is not by chance called ‘depth psychology’, fundamental for the knowledge and understanding of Being in its complexity and totality.

DIDACTICS PROVISION

• 8 hours of recorded video lessons available on the platform;
• 4 hours of synchronous meetings on the platform;
• Podcasts of all the above-mentioned video lessons.

INTERACTIVE DIDACTICS

• 1 course orientation forum;
• 4 in-depth thematic forums (1 per module);
• Possibility to carry out work in groups;
• 4 structured e-activities (described below).

SELF-LEARNING

Supplementary teaching materials are possible for each module: thematic in-depth studies, any articles and handouts indicated by the lecturer, open access readings, online resources, reference bibliography, etc.

• Carl Gustav Jung: “L’io e l’Inconscio” ed. Bollati e Boringhieri, Torino, or Carl Gustav Jung, “Coscienza, Inconscio e Individuazione”, ed. Bollati e Boringhieri, Torino
• James Hillman, “Politica della Bellezza”, ed. Moretti e Vitali, Bergamo, or James Hillman (interview with Silivia Ronchey), “L’anima del mondo”, ed. Bur.

Access to the final examination is subject to the following 4 e-activities:

1. Case and problem analysis in the following areas: business, organisational, political-economic-social contexts.
2. Reading and understanding the deep psychic language of psychological processes and psychic phenomena.
3. Analysis of cases and issues of individual experience.
4. A brief outline of experience “in the field”: psychological processes in the working and professional environment.

The assessment of learning will take the form of an oral interview on the course contents and on the final report submitted, if any. The grade (min 18, max 30 with possible honours) is determined by the level of performance for each of the following dimensions of the oral interview: mastery of contents, appropriateness of definitions and theoretical references, clarity of argument, command of specialist language.

Italian