Suicide in Maine: A Social Psychological Approach

ABSTRACT: This paper reports the results of a field study on five proximal social psychological variables derived from Farber's theory of suicide: Hope in the Future Time Perspective; Demands for Interpersonal Giving; the Availability of Succorance; Demands for the Exercising of Competence; and the degree of Toleration of Suicide. The subjects were mature, long-term residents of counties of Maine that proved stable in their relative rate of suicide. The value for each variable was assessed by a questionnaire devised for this purpose by the author. The differences between the mean scale scores for the high and low suicide areas were analyzed by t-tests. The between group differences for all variables were significant at or beyond the .01 level of significance. A correlational study indicated that the relationship among the five variables was compatible with Farber's theory of suicide. The research generally offers strong support for Farber's theory of suicide at the social psychological level of analysis.     

Clinical Pragmatism in Bioethics: A Pastoral Approach

This paper addresses the integration of the philosophical school of American Pragmatism, as articulated by John Dewey and others, with the disciplines of bioethics and pastoral care. It suggests new avenues for theological reflection in the bioethical enterprise. It was first presented as the inaugural Anton. T. Boisen Lecture in Pastoral Care and Education in 2004 under the auspices of Continuum Hospice Care, New York.Curtis W. Hart, M.Div., is Director of Pastoral Care and Education, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Center and Lecturer in Public Health, Medicine and Psychiatry, Division of Medical Ethics at Weill Medical College, Cornell University. Correspondence to Curtis W. Hart, Cuh9001@nyp.org.     

Body Image in Adulthood: A Projective Approach

A sample of 210 persons varying by age (young adults, middle-aged, older adults), gender, and relationship status (single or involved) were administered the Holtzman Inkblot Technique (HIT) and Geriatric Draw-A-Person (G–DAP) to ascertain projectively assessed aspects of body image in adulthood. Results suggested that both the HIT and G–DAP were sensitive to the effects of age and gender, wherein young adults scored higher on both HIT Barrier and Penetration than both middle-aged or older adults. In addition, G–DAP scorns favored young adults. Hilt Penetration scores varied by both age and relationship status.     

Reviewing Videotape in Supervision: A Developmental Approach

The authors review the extant literature on the use of videotape technology in supervision and, on the basis of an empirically supported developmental model of supervision, offer guidelines to supervisors on the use of videotape feedback. Suggestions are also offered for future research in this area.     

Achievement Emotions: A Control-Value Approach

Emotions are ubiquitous in achievement settings. Apart from test anxiety research and attributional studies, psychological research has neglected these emotions. We argue that more research on the functions, origins, and regulation of achievement emotions is needed, addressing both outcome emotions related to success and failure, such as hope, pride, anxiety, shame, and hopelessness, and activity emotions such as the enjoyment and boredom experienced in achievement settings. Using Pekrun’s (2006) control-value theory of achievement emotions as a theoretical framework, we first outline a three-dimensional (object focus × valence × activation) taxonomy of achievement emotions. We then summarize research on the individual and social origins of these emotions, arguing that control appraisals, value appraisals, achievement goals, and related contextual factors are of specific relevance for achievement emotion arousal. Next, the importance of emotions for achievement behavior and performance is addressed. In conclusion, we discuss the regulation and modification of achievement emotions and their relative universality across genders, settings, and cultures.     

Group Psychotherapy: A Behavioral Approach

Abstract

This clinical report highlights some of the processes arising in a therapy group of persons with persistent and chronic psychiatric illnesses as they cope with the stress of their long–standing therapist’s impending retirement. Members were initially disbelieving that the therapist would leave and were also concerned about their future care, particularly in terms of medications. Gradually they were more able to experience their feelings of loss and their genuine caring for the therapist and the group, using higher level defenses and increasing their ability to tolerate strong affects. They became increasingly able to demonstrate empathy, notably in their ability to consider the therapist’s emotions. The clinical material also illustrates the therapist’s personal involvement, countertransferences and expressions of concern.     

Barren Rorschachs: A Conceptual Approach

A discussion is presented of five Rorschach protocols that appear to meet the criteria proposed by Exner and Weiner (1982, p. 31) for "brief and barren" Rorschach protocols. The protocols were obtained from a social service agency treating abused, neglected, disturbed, and delinquent youths. An attempt is made to bring to bear a conceptual approach to these Rorschachs, so that they may be seen as clinically valuable and revealing, hence not "invalid" diagnostic protocols. Emphasis is placed on the subjects' approach to the task, the subject-examiner interaction, and the meaning of the subjects' ostensibly peripheral comments. Recommendations are offered regarding ways to maximize the clinical utility of such protocols.     

Teaching Creation: A Modular Approach

Abstract. The present article describes a modular approach to teaching Genesis 1–3 that values depth over breadth even in an introductory class. The module allows students to learn about the text and its original context by orienting discussion around contemporary issues of practical concern. Specifically, the creation‐evolution debates provide an opportunity for students to learn about contemporary political, social, and legal implications of interpreting Genesis 1–3. The conflict of traditional and modern values emerges also in issues surrounding gender and autonomy in Genesis 2–3. This pedagogical approach challenges various student worldviews to promote discussion and greater intellectual sophistication. The correlation of the text with ongoing contemporary issues engages student interest and motivates learning. It also allows the class to explore both the ancient text and its interpretation in diverse communities. Finally, the module allows considerable flexibility for student and teacher interest and the needs of a given class. Several additional resources related to this article appear online at: http://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/journal/article.aspx?id=11063 . These include (1) a schedule of possible readings, assignments, and lesson plans, (2) selections from ancient commentary on Genesis 2–3 from scattered sources, and (3) a bibliographic essay noting the usefulness of selected resources related to the module.     

Marital Satisfaction: A Validation Approach

It was hypothesized that the desire for equity in relationships and the desire for validation from significant others are common human concerns which affect marital relationship satisfaction. Sixty married couples completed a series of questionnaires which assessed equity in 23 areas of the marital relationship, global equity in the marital relationship, relationship satisfaction, perceptions of relationship stability, understanding from spouse, validation from spouse, assistance from spouse in intellectual and emotional growth, frequency of stimulating conversations between the marital pair, frequency of affectionate touching from spouse, and sexual satisfaction in the marital relationship. Subjects who felt validated by their spouses reported more relationship satisfaction, greater relationship stability, more assistance from their spouses in intellectual and emotional growth, and greater sexual satisfaction than did subjects who did not feel validated by their spouses. Overall, equitably treated subjects reported more relationship satisfaction, greater relationship stability, more assistance from spouse in emotional growth, greater sexual satisfaction, and a greater frequency of affectionate touching from their spouses than did inequitably treated subjects. However, these differences between equitably treated and inequitably treated subjects applied primarily to non-validated subjects.     

Conceptualizing Psychopathy: A Psychodynamic Approach

Drawing from analytic theory and clinical conceptualization, three major types of psychopathy are detailed: Superego deficit, aggression driven, and sadism. The types of psychopathy are discussed in terms of their overlap with personality disorders. The range of sadism is charted from the enjoyment of inflicting pleasure to the borderline manifestations in compulsive reenactments in psychopathic patients. Two categories of antisocial behavior— low social intelligence and poor impulse control—are elaborated clinically as inconsistent with the psychodynamic formulation of characterological psychopathy. The divergence between psychodynamic and behavioral approaches to antisocial behavior is discussed, and unresolved enigmas in the formulation of psychopathy are outlined.     

Categorizing Smells: A Localist Approach

Humans are poorer at identifying smells and communicating about them, compared to other sensory domains. They also cannot easily organize odor sensations in a general conceptual space, where geometric distance could represent how similar or different all odors are. These two generalities are more or less accepted by psychologists, and they are often seen as connected: If there is no conceptual space for odors, then olfactory identification should indeed be poor. We propose here an important revision to this conclusion: We believe that the claim that there is no odor space is true only if by odor space, one means a conceptual space representing all possible odor sensations, in the paradigmatic sense used for instance for color. However, in a less paradigmatic sense, local conceptual spaces representing a given subset of odors do exist. Thus the absence of a global odor space does not warrant the conclusion that there is no olfactory conceptual map at all. Here we show how a localist account provides a new interpretation of experts and cross-cultural categorization studies: Rather than being exceptions to the poor olfactory identification and communication usually seen elsewhere, experts and cross-cultural categorization are here taken to corroborate the existence of local conceptual spaces.     

Syntactic Priming: A Corpus-based Approach

The present study is a corpus-based investigation of syntactic priming, i.e. the tendency to reuse syntactic constructions. On the basis of data from the ICE-GB corpus, I analyze two different pairs of syntactic patterns, the so-called dative alternation and particle placement of transitive phrasal verbs. Although it has sometimes been argued that only experimental data can contribute to studies of priming, the analysis shows that (a) the corpus-based results for datives are very similar to the experimental ones; (b) priming is also obtained for the verb-particle construction, a construction hitherto not explored in the priming literature and (c), most importantly, in line with much previous psycholinguistic and corpus-linguistic work, priming effects turn out to be strongly verb-specific such that some verbs are much more resistant or responsive to priming than others. I conclude with a discussion of how corpus data relate to experimental data and how the corpus-based findings can contribute to psycholinguistic model building.This paper is dedicated to Günter Rohdenburg on the occasion of his 65th birthday I thank (in alphabetical order) Doris Schönefeld (Ruhr University of Bochum), Anja Steinlen (University of Southern Denmark) and Stefanie Wulff (University of Bremen) for comments on a previous draft of this paper. In addition, I have benefited a lot from discussion with Benedikt Szmrecsanyi (University of Freiburg) and from the very detailed and useful comments of one anonymous reviewer, which made it possible to improve the paper considerably. Naturally, all remaining inadequacies are my own.     

Internet Addiction: A Logotherapeutic Approach

Internet addiction (IA) is both the most rapidly growing addiction and the least understood addiction ( Watson, 2005 ). For counselors, treatment issues surrounding the disease are also growing. At the forefront is the lack of understanding concerning treatment protocol to manage the challenging recovery and maintenance stages after IA behavior has been controlled. The authors discuss Viktor Frankl's logotherapy as an effective approach to treating IA.