What happens to representatives during family constellations? Attempts at explanation and comparison with other difficult-to-explain phenomena

IF 2.3 3区心理学 Q2 PSYCHOLOGY, EXPERIMENTAL

New Ideas in Psychology Pub Date : 2025-02-09 DOI:10.1016/j.newideapsych.2025.101147

Yolanda Alonso , Gonzalo-Andrés Jiménez

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Abstract

Despite the considerable controversy surrounding family constellations, this psychotherapeutic method has experienced significant growth over the past thirty years. Traditionally, family constellations are conducted in a group format in sessions called “constellations”, wherein certain individuals act as representatives for the family members of other participants. During these sessions, a phenomenon known in some literature as “surrogate perceptions” normally occurs, in which the representatives experience internal states that align with significant attitudes or life situations of the individuals they represent. Although there is substantial anecdotal evidence for this phenomenon, it has not been empirically studied, lacks a logical explanation, and appears to contravene the principle of locality in physics. This paper draws comparisons between surrogate perceptions and other exceptional phenomena documented in scientific literature, such as extended states of consciousness, telepathy, and synchronicity. It also critically reviews various attempts to explain the phenomenon, including theories involving mirror neurons, quantum physics, embodied memory, the collective unconscious, and formative causation. The paper provides a description of surrogate perceptions as changes triggered in an interpersonal process in which the explicit request to put oneself in the place of another specific person plays an essential role. Finally, potential avenues for future research are outlined.

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在家庭星座中代表会发生什么？试图解释和比较其他难以解释的现象

尽管围绕家庭星座存在相当大的争议，但这种心理治疗方法在过去三十年中经历了显着的增长。传统上，家庭星座是以小组形式进行的，称为“星座”，其中某些人作为其他参与者的家庭成员的代表。在这些会议中，一种被一些文献称为“代理感知”的现象通常会发生，在这种现象中，代表们经历的内部状态与他们所代表的个人的重要态度或生活状况一致。虽然这一现象有大量的轶事证据，但它还没有经过实证研究，缺乏逻辑解释，而且似乎违反了物理学中的局部性原则。本文比较了代理知觉和科学文献中记载的其他特殊现象，如扩展意识状态、心灵感应和同向性。它还批判性地回顾了解释这一现象的各种尝试，包括涉及镜像神经元、量子物理学、具身记忆、集体无意识和形成因果关系的理论。本文描述了在人际关系过程中引发的替代感知变化，其中明确要求将自己置于另一个特定的人的位置起着至关重要的作用。最后，对未来的研究方向进行了展望。

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来源期刊

New Ideas in Psychology Multiple-

CiteScore

4.80

自引率

3.80%

发文量

期刊介绍： New Ideas in Psychology is a journal for theoretical psychology in its broadest sense. We are looking for new and seminal ideas, from within Psychology and from other fields that have something to bring to Psychology. We welcome presentations and criticisms of theory, of background metaphysics, and of fundamental issues of method, both empirical and conceptual. We put special emphasis on the need for informed discussion of psychological theories to be interdisciplinary. Empirical papers are accepted at New Ideas in Psychology, but only as long as they focus on conceptual issues and are theoretically creative. We are also open to comments or debate, interviews, and book reviews.