Exploring the similarities and differences between person-centred and psychodynamic therapy

Person-centred therapy is compared to the psychodynamic approach defined by Hans Strupp and Jeffrey Binder. Their broad-based time-limited version is chosen because it is a precise manual ofhow to practise that has been assembled from 30 years of research and practice experience. It is demonstrated that person-centred practice and theory are psychodynamic in a general psychoanalytic sense because they refer to unconscious processes. Furthermore, it is proposed that person-centred practice could be enriched by reconsidering the differences to and similarities with psychodynamic therapy, thereby establishing greater clarity about each form of practice and further defining the boundary between these similar forms of relationship and feeling-oriented work.     

论渐修与顿悟的同异

学界一般认为 ,南、北禅宗的主要区别之一就是南顿北渐。本文认为 ,所谓渐修与顿悟 ,实际上是一个修行过程线上的两个不同点 ,即事物变化时的量变和质变。北宗所追求的也是刹那间的顿悟成佛 ,却强调渐修的重要 ;南宗默认渐修过程的存在 ,却强调顿悟。由于强调点不同 ,导致了南北二宗兴衰的不同。     

Private wishes: Gender similarities and differences

Preference for a variety of “private wishes” were investigated in two studies. In Study 1, two college samples and two samples of pedestrians selected 10 out of a list of 48 wishes. In Study 2, two college samples rated 20 wishes. Although ethnicity data were not gathered, the populations from which the samples were drawn are ethnically diverse. Correlations of preferences between women and men within samples averaged .86 in Study 1 and .85 in Study 2, indicating a great deal of similarity between genders in their overall wish preferences. By far, the largest gender difference was for the wish “To have sex with anyone I choose.” Men consistently preferred this wish across all samples and age groups. These results point to sexuality in its interpersonal context as a primary focus of difference in the inner emotional lives of women and men.     

Understanding spatial transformations: similarities and differences between mental rotation and mental folding

Mental rotation and mental folding, two widely used measures of spatial ability, both require the dynamic spatial transformation of objects with respect to their internal spatial structure. Traditionally, however, these two skills have been considered quite distinct, based primarily on factor analyses of psychometric data. This paper reviews the similarities and differences between mental rotation and mental folding from a variety of perspectives, including their definitions, component cognitive processes, neurological bases, developmental trajectories, malleability, predictive validity, and psychometric properties. We conclude that mental rotation and mental folding are similar in many respects. However, the tasks differ in whether they require rigid or non-rigid transformations of objects. In addition, mental rotation shows robust sex-related differences whereas mental folding does not. We also identify specific questions for which research is lacking.     

Dreaming and waking: similarities and differences revisited

Dreaming is often characterized as lacking high-order cognitive (HOC) skills. In two studies, we test the alternative hypothesis that the dreaming mind is highly similar to the waking mind. Multiple experience samples were obtained from late-night REM sleep and waking, following a systematic protocol described in Kahan (2001). Results indicated that reported dreaming and waking experiences are surprisingly similar in their cognitive and sensory qualities. Concurrently, ratings of dreaming and waking experiences were markedly different on questions of general reality orientation and logical organization (e.g., the bizarreness or typicality of the events, actions, and locations). Consistent with other recent studies (e.g., [Bulkeley and Kahan, 2008] and [Kozmová and Wolman, 2006] ), experiences sampled from dreaming and waking were more similar with respect to their process features than with respect to their structural features.     

Psychotherapy training in Europe: similarities and differences

This paper gives a brief overview of the survey of European Psychotherapy training that was carried out by a team of European researchers. It sketches the current situation in each country and provides a brief quote from informants in each country, giving the flavour of the problems each is struggling with.     

New-born infants' perception of similarities and differences between two- and three-dimensional stimuli

The new-born baby' ability to detect similarities and differences between three-dimensional stimuli and their two-dimensional representations is investigated in three experiments, using both visual preference and habituation procedures. In Expt 1 new-borns strongly preferred (looked more at) complex objects to their photographs. This preference was found with monocular viewing, and suggests that motion parallax is a salient cue in the detection of the differences between the two- and three-dimensional stimuli. The results from Expt 2 support the view that, for the new-born, the differences between objects and their two-dimensional representations are more detectable or salient than their similarities. These conclusions were further supported by the results from the last experiment, using simpler stimuli, although the preference was for the two- rather than the three-dimensional stimuli. The results suggest that studies which use only two-dimensional stimuli may provide only limited information about the course of perceptual development, at least in the first few months from birth.     

Unmixing the mixing cost: contributions from dimensional relevance and stimulus-response suppression

When participants repeat the same task in a context in which the task may also switch (a mixed block), performance deteriorates compared to when there is only one task repeating (a pure block). Three experiments were designed to assess how perceptual and motor transitions influenced this mixing cost. Experiment 1 provided three pure block baselines for perceptual and motor transitions. Experiments 2 and 3 examined these transitions in a mixed block. Results show that most of the mixing cost comes from two factors: (a) episodic interference in the mixed block when the stimulus changes and the response repeats, and (b) increased suppression in mixed blocks affecting trials where stimulus-response mappings repeat. We propose that these mechanisms are strategically applied when adopting a sustained "switching set" in mixed blocks. The purpose of this set would be to avoid perseveration errors in the most demanding trials (the task-switching trials), but remaining active during task-repetitions. Results regarding the mixing cost are thus relevant to the assessment of models of task-switching, which at present mainly rely on data from task switch trials.     

Contentment and tranquility: Exploring their similarities and differences

ABSTRACT

Two studies explored the similarities and differences between contentment and tranquility. In Study 1, in a sample of college students (N = 154), we examined the degree to which contentment and tranquility were associated with different types of pleasurable activities. Whereas contentment was positively associated with mastery activities, tranquility was negatively associated with mastery activities. Tranquility was strongly positively associated with spiritual activities. In Study 2, in a sample of college students (N = 176), using both trait and daily diary assessments, we examined the degree to which contentment and tranquility were associated with the degree to which participants focused on the process–versus the outcome–of activities, as well as their level of acceptance. Both contentment and tranquility were positively associated with acceptance. Tranquility was also positively associated with a focus on process. Based on the results of the present research, we update our theories about contentment and tranquility.     

Smiling in photographs: childhood similarities between sexes become differences constant in adulthood

Contemporary published photographs of 1639 children, 200 older teenagers, and 304 adults in North America were analyzed for the smiling pattern (full, partial, or none) exhibited by individuals by sex. For each of the three age groups and for both sexes, most individuals posed with a full smile. No statistically significant differences in smiling pattern were present between the sexes for photographs of children at preschool and grade-school age. By teenage years, and even more for the adults, there were statistically significant differences between the sexes with regard to a smiling facial expression. In those cases, more female than male subjects smiled fully, whereas more male than female subjects did not smile. Examination of photographs of well-known persons longitudinally through adulthood showed that individuals tended to be consistent in smiling pattern. There was no significant sex difference for this relative constancy of facial expression in posed photographs.     

Mnemonic differences and similarities across opposing social groups: The linguistic conflict at the University of Leuven as a case study

In the 1960s, a historical event occurred at one of Europe's most prestigious universities: The Dutch-speaking students forced the French-speaking students to relocate and establish their own university. We compared the extent to which members of each social group developed elaborate memories of the events surrounding the conflict and whether they were associated with differences in rehearsal type (media, conversational, rumination) and initiating conditions (importance, political engagement, and negative/positive emotions). All participants were university students at the time of the conflict. We found that Dutch-speakers exhibited more elaborate memories compared to French-speakers and that importance was associated with elaborate memories only for the Dutch-speakers. However, positive emotions appear to be critical in the formation of elaborate memories across the social groups. We found no such associations for negative emotions. We discuss these results in terms of the social/cognitive processes transcending social group membership in understanding how individuals remember past conflicts.     

Gender-related sexual attitudes: Some crosscultural similarities and differences

We tested the hypothesis that males differentiate love and sex more strongly than females, and that the magnitude of this gender difference is augmented in homosexuals and diminished in married heterosexuals. American and Swedish subjects sorted statements describing behaviors of love, sex, and services into two piles on the basis of perceived similarity. The results of all three studies were consistent with the predictions. In addition, the findings suggest that Americans differentiate love and sex more strongly than Swedes.     

Multiculturalism and truthfulness: negotiating differences by finding similarities

Our cultural disagreements can often be anticipated, negotiated and resolved using shared methods of moral reasoning. This claim is incompatible with any extreme version of communitarianism or strong ethical relativism, which hold that one's culture is the final arbiter of good, bad, right and wrong, or that the rights of the community should trump individual rights within that community. This view is discussed and found to be implausible using the example of common grounds for responding to different cultural views about being truthful in medical practice. Its implausibility stems from difficulties individuating cultures, and accounting for intercultural goals, values and methods. Given our increasingly diverse populations, problems arise as clinicians from one culture try to care respectfully and compassionately for people from other groups. Yet working from shared values and goals, we can use some bridging methods such as discussing grim news in the third person. Claims that something is a cultural belief or attitude, moreover, cannot always be taken at face value. Various meanings of ‘multiculturalism’ are distinguished.     

Sequential modulations of stimulus-response correspondence effects depend on awareness of response conflict

In two experiments, sequential modulations of prime—target correspondence effects were investigated in a metacontrast paradigm. Primes were either unmasked and thus consciously discriminable, or entirely masked and thus indiscriminable. Mirroring similar findings from Eriksen- and Simon-type tasks, the influence of prime—target correspondence was reduced in trials that followed a noncorresponding prime—target pair, which suggests that prime-induced response activation can be temporarily suppressed after an incompatible trial. This sequential modulation was independent of prime discriminability in the current trial, but it occurred only when the prime, and thus a conflict between the primeinduced and the deliberately to-be-selected response, was consciously experienced in the preceding trial. This suggests that the suppression of automatic response priming is not an immediate consequence of response conflict, but an intention-mediated strategy.     

Interbehavioral psychology and radical behaviorism: Some similarities and differences

Both J. R. Kantor's interbehavioral psychology and B. F. Skinner's radical behaviorism represent wellarticulated approaches to a natural science of behavior. As such, they share a number of similar features, yet they also differ on a number of dimensions. Some of these similarities and differences are examined by describing their emergence in the professional literature and by comparing the respective units of analysis of the two approaches-the interbehavioral field and the three-term contingency. An evaluation of the similarities and differences shows the similarities to be largely fundamental, and the differences largely ones of emphasis. Nonetheless, the two approaches do make unique contributions to a natural science of behavior, the integration of which can facilitate the development of that science and its acceptance among other sciences and within society at large.     

Conceptualizing similarities and differences between purpose in life and self‐affirmation

Individuals contend with a variety of threats in daily life and may attempt to deal with them using various cognitive strategies. Two constructs borne from different literatures, purpose in life and self‐affirmation, serve to promote well‐being and to protect individuals from such threats. While self‐affirmation has often been examined as a manipulation, purpose has, until recently, been considered a dispositional resource. However, both self‐affirmation and purpose seem to confer similar advantages in response to threat. This paper reviews the evidence for the protective benefits of both purpose in life and self‐affirmation, describes the mechanisms by which each confers these advantages, and considers the boundary conditions of each. Key similarities and differences are discussed, and we argue that there are broad gaps in the literature regarding where and when these constructs might operate differentially, or why these differences exist. We conclude with a call to researchers to explore empirically how and when these important interventions might be differentially beneficial to those who cultivate them.     

Forecasting exponential growth and exponential decline: similarities and differences

Previous research has demonstrated adults' difficulties with explicitly forecasting exponential processes. Exponential growth is usually grossly underestimated, whereas exponential decline is forecast more accurately. By contrast, the present study examined implicit knowledge about exponential processes and how it is affected by function type (growth versus decline) in samples of 7-, 10-, 14-year-olds, and adults (N=80). Different indicators of the quality of forecasts were investigated. As opposed to previous findings, participants of all age groups estimated exponential decline less adequately than exponential growth. This effect could be attributed mainly to the fact that, in relation to fitted exponential functions, the starting value, or intercept, of the function was approximated well for exponential growth but badly with regard to exponential decline. The accuracy of the non-linear component in forecast functions barely differed between function types within the same age group. Furthermore, even 7-year-olds appeared to have a preliminary understanding of exponential processes, while both intercepts and exponents of forecasts became more accurate with age. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Interactions between stimulus-stimulus congruence and stimulus-response compatibility

According to a central claim of Kornblum's dimensional-overlap model, response-related processes do not start before stimulus-related processes have been completed, which implies an additive relationship between effects of stimulus-stimulus congruence and stimulus-response compatibility. Three experiments were conducted to test this prediction. In Exp. 1, additive effects of color-word congruence (Stroop effect) and irrelevant spatial S-R compatibility (Simon effect) were in fact obtained. However, interactions between congruence and compatibility were observed in Exp. 2, where flanker-target congruence was varied, and in Exp. 3, where inter-level congruence of multi-level letters was manipulated. It is argued that these findings are inconsistent with the seriality assumption of the dimensional-overlap model, but that they support models claiming a temporal overlap of stimulus and response processing instead.