Interpersonal Acceptance and Rejection Across the Lifespan: An Introduction to the Proceedings of the 11th International Congress on Interpersonal Acceptance and Rejection

Abstract

This article introduces the special issue of TOPIC dedicated to the Proceedingsof the 11th International Congress on Interpersonal Acceptance and Rejection (ICIAR 2026), held in Napoli, Italy, from 17 to 19 June 2026, under the auspices of the International Society for Interpersonal Acceptance-Rejection (ISIPAR). The congress coincided with the 20th anniversary of ISIPAR and brought together 179 authors from 20 countries across five continents, for a total of 88 scientific contributions. After contextualising the congress within the historical development of Interpersonal Acceptance-Rejection Theory (IPARTheory), an overview of the scientific programme was presented, including the two keynote addresses and the main thematic areas covered by the submitted contributions. Particular attention is devoted to the keynotes included in the programme. The introduction concludes with a reflection on the epistemic and ethical dimensions of scientific inclusion, with reference to the barriers experienced by several colleagues in accessing the congress due to visa restrictions and in the hope that the message conveyed by the proceedings of the conference will reach the widest possible audience.