TY - JOUR

T1 - Exploring implicit mentalizing as an online process

AU - Fogtmann Fosgerau, Christina

AU - Schöps, Antje

AU - Bak, Poul Lundgaard

AU - Davidsen, Annette Sofie

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - Therapists’ implicit mentalizing skills are essential in the treatment of mental disorders, and implicit mentalizing is considered a general social competence for understanding other people. However, no methods have been developed to tap into implicit mentalizing as a live or online process displayed in interactions. The aim of this article is to demonstrate how online implicit mentalizing processes can be explored by applying the method of conversation analysis (CA). CA uses a sequential approach to study the establishment of understanding in interactions between people. In this article, we show that a systematic exploration of implicit mentalizing processes can be done by applying this sequential approach and the underlying knowledge of CA on interactional phenomena and their functions and meanings. We demonstrate our method by thoroughly analyzing three extracts from recordings of dinner conversations at a residential care school. We make a theoretical link between mentalizing processes and the phenomenological understandings of intersubjectivity and empathy, and we suggest that this phenomenological understanding could develop the understanding of implicit mentalizing as a phenomenon. This would, in addition, be fully compatible with CA as a method for grasping implicit mentalization.

AB - Therapists’ implicit mentalizing skills are essential in the treatment of mental disorders, and implicit mentalizing is considered a general social competence for understanding other people. However, no methods have been developed to tap into implicit mentalizing as a live or online process displayed in interactions. The aim of this article is to demonstrate how online implicit mentalizing processes can be explored by applying the method of conversation analysis (CA). CA uses a sequential approach to study the establishment of understanding in interactions between people. In this article, we show that a systematic exploration of implicit mentalizing processes can be done by applying this sequential approach and the underlying knowledge of CA on interactional phenomena and their functions and meanings. We demonstrate our method by thoroughly analyzing three extracts from recordings of dinner conversations at a residential care school. We make a theoretical link between mentalizing processes and the phenomenological understandings of intersubjectivity and empathy, and we suggest that this phenomenological understanding could develop the understanding of implicit mentalizing as a phenomenon. This would, in addition, be fully compatible with CA as a method for grasping implicit mentalization.

KW - assessment of mentalizing

KW - conversation analysis

KW - empathy

KW - implicit mentalizing

KW - online mentalizing

KW - phenomenology

U2 - 10.1080/19012276.2017.1374204

DO - 10.1080/19012276.2017.1374204

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85029684637

VL - 70

SP - 129

EP - 145

JO - Nordic Psychology

JF - Nordic Psychology

SN - 1901-2276

IS - 2

ER -