Coping and Defending: Processes of Self-Environment Organization investigates coping and defending within the context of personal-social psychology, with emphasis on processes of self-environment organization. Topics range from ego and stress to personality theory, family, and child rearing.Comprised of 13 chapters, this book begins with a discussion on theories and conceptualizations of ego, paying particular attention to its logical constraints as state; the neomechanical personal man; rational choice; and continuity and discontinuity in states. Subsequent chapters explore coping, defense, and fragmentation as ego processes; immanent value in personality theory; problems and perspectives in investigating ego processes; and the interregulation between structures and ego processes. The next section is largely devoted to empirically based findings concerning the development of ego processing; the link between stress and processing; and processing in families. The final chapter describes research aimed at developing and improving coping and defense scales based on personality inventories. This monograph will be of interest to developmentalists, cognitivists, personologists, clinicians, and social psychologists, as well as sociologists and perhaps anthropologists.

PrefaceAcknowledgments1. Preview2. Past Definitions Of Ego Freud's Main View of Ego Freud's Second View of Ego Formulations of the Positive Ego and Its Development Piaget's View of Ego3. Conceptualizations Of Ego: State And Entity Competence as an Example of Ego State Logical Constraints of Ego as State Neomechanical Personal Man Role of Rational Choice Hierarchy and Organization The Question of Development Discontinuity and Continuity in States Applicability Across Time and Cultures Summary of Arguments in Regard to Ego as State4. Conceptualizations Of Ego: Processes, Functions, Regulations Ego Processes: Coping, Defense, and Fragmentation The Logical Constraints of Ego as Processes Constructionist Man The Place of Rational Choice Hierarchy and Organization The Question of Development Continuity and Discontinuity Across Time and Cultures Summary of the Arguments in Regard to Ego Processes5. Immanent Value In Personality Theory Is a Value Choice Inevitable for the Personality Theorist? Goals as Criteria for Immanent Value in Personality Theory Criteria for Choosing Values in Personality Theory Examination of Various Utopian Personalities Conclusion6. Investigating Ego Processes: Problems And Perspectives The Nature of Research Verification Observing Processes Methodology of Studying Processes Areas of Application7. Configurations Of Ego Processes And Cognitive And Moral Structures Coordination of Processes and Structures Background of Previous Empirical Work The Cognitivists' View of Personality and Structures Empirical Analyses Conclusion8. The Development Of Ego Processes The Structures' Empowerment of Ego Process Development The Question of a Developmental Taxonomy Empirical Description of the Development of Ego Processing Conclusion9. Stress And Ego Processing The Difficulties of Stress Research The Uses of the Word Coping in Stress Research Empirically Based Understandings About the Processing of Stress The Ego Process Model and Stress Empirical Studies Conclusion10. The Family, Ego Processes, And Child Rearing Past Formulations of the Meanings of Families to Children Family Interaction from the Ego Process View Empirical Findings Conclusion11. Implications, Limitations, And Perspectives Suggestions for Evaluating This Work Implications Limitations and Perspectives12. The Haan Model Of Ego Functioning: An Assessment Of Empirical Research Introduction Studies Employing Ego Ratings Studies Using Empirically Derived Scales Theoretical Implications Methodological Problems and Research Lacunae13. Paper And Pencil Measures Of Coping And Defense Processes Method Results DiscussionAppendix A. Procedures Of Ego Rating Preliminary Instructions Definitions of Ego ProcessesAppendix B. Q Sort Of Ego Processes: Coping And Defense Item ListingAppendix CAppendix DAppendix EReferencesSubject Index