Abstract
This contribution is an essay about the notion of family identity reflecting shared significant experiences within a family system originating a set of signs used in social communication within and between families. Significant experiences are considered as experiences of events that have an immediate impact on the adaptation of the family in a given socio-ecological and cultural context at a given historical time. It is assumed that family history is stored in a shared “family memory” holding both implicit and explicit knowledge and exerting an influence on the behavior of each family member. This is described as transgenerational family memory being constituted of a system of meaningful signs. The crucial dimension underlying the logic of this essay are the ideas of adaptation as well as self-reproduction of systems.
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Notes
Varela et al. (1974). Autopoiesis – The organization of living systems, its characterization and a model. Cybernetics Forum, 10, 7–13.
In microbiology this is described as apoptosis; according to Steller (1995, p. 1445) “Most, if not all animal cells have the ability to self-destruct by activation of an intrinsic cell suicide program when they are no longer needed or have become seriously damaged.”
Bateson et al. (1956) describe this form of incongruous communication in close emotional relationships and the perceived inability to escape this communication as a communicative dilemma representing a risk factor of schizophrenia for the receiver of such messages.
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Work on this paper was partly inspired by findings of the project “Intergenerational relations in Luxembourg: Solidarity, Ambivalence, Conflict?” funded by The Luxembourg Research Funbd (FNR/06/02/11).
The present paper is a theoretical reflection and involves no animal nor human studies.
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Ferring, D. The Family in Us: Family History, Family Identity and Self-Reproductive Adaptive Behavior. Integr. psych. behav. 51, 195–204 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-017-9383-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-017-9383-9