Isakower-like experience on the couch: a contribution to the psychoanalytic understanding of regressive ego phenomena

Since Isakower's original contribution of 1938, Isakower phenomena have been viewed as primitive experiences involving maternal breast, womb, and face imagery. This clinical report harks back to the less well-known hypothesis with which Isakower concluded his paper: he suggested that these perceptual experiences are related to childhood oedipal masturbatory fantasies at the time of going to sleep. In this paper four Isakower-like phenomena experienced by a patient on the couch are reported in the dynamic context in which they occurred. It is argued that these phenomena constitute a type of regressive ego experience that defends against oedipal conflict.     

The relative contribution of content and context factors on the interpretation of conditionals

Previous research showed that conditional reasoning is affected by the content and the context of the studied problems. In this study, we investigate in detail the relative effect of three factors, namely the number of alternative or disabling reasons, speaker control, and pragmatic type, on the interpretation of conditionals. These factors were subject to prior research, but mostly in a fragmented way. This study indicates that some important nuances must be added to earlier findings. The number of alternatives and disablers, the speaker control, and the pragmatic type of conditional statements all have a considerable effect on how we interpret these sentences and reason with them, but they do not have equal weight. Alternatives/disablers play a significant but very limited role on the interpretation of conditionals, while the influence of speaker control and of pragmatic type is far more imperative.     

The influence of action observation on action execution: Dissociating the contribution of action on perception,perception on action,and resolving conflict

For more than 15 years, motor interference paradigms have been used to investigate the influence of action observation on action execution. Most research on so-called automatic imitation has focused on variables that play a modulating role or investigated potential confounding factors. Interestingly, furthermore, a number of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have tried to shed light on the functional mechanisms and neural correlates involved in imitation inhibition. However, these fMRI studies, presumably due to poor temporal resolution, have primarily focused on high-level processes and have neglected the potential role of low-level motor and perceptual processes. In the current EEG study, we therefore aimed to disentangle the influence of low-level perceptual and motoric mechanisms from high-level cognitive mechanisms. We focused on potential congruency differences in the visual N190 ? a component related to the processing of biological motion, the Readiness Potential ? a component related to motor preparation, and the high-level P3 component. Interestingly, we detected congruency effects in each of these components, suggesting that the interference effect in an automatic imitation paradigm is not only related to high-level processes such as self-other distinction but also to more low-level influences of perception on action and action on perception. Moreover, we documented relationships of the neural effects with (autistic) behavior.     

Transitional phenomena, projective identification, and the essential ambiguity of the psychoanalytic situation

Ambiguity, which is an intrinsic and essential aspect of the psychoanalytic situation, is related to the concepts of transitional phenomena and projective identification. The analyst's feelings of uncertainty that accompany this ambiguity are contrasted with a "pathological certainty." The consequences of the loss of ambiguity and the role of the analyst's countertransference in this process are described.     

The role of person versus situation in life satisfaction: a critical examination

Two main theoretical approaches have been put forward to explain individual differences in life satisfaction: top-down (i.e., personological) and bottom-up (i.e., situational). The authors examine the relative merit of these 2 approaches and the psychological processes underlying top-down models. Consistent with a top-down approach, meta-analytic findings indicate that Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness are related to both various domain satisfactions and life satisfaction; however, consistent with a bottom-up approach, domain satisfactions are strongly linked to life satisfaction but only weakly linked to each other. Path analyses based on meta-analytic estimates did not support a simple "direct-effects" top-down model but supported both (a) a temperament-based top-down model and (b) an integrative model that incorporates the direct influence of domain satisfactions on life satisfaction.     

The benefits of a critical stance: a reflection on past papers on the theories of reasoned action and planned behaviour

In this paper, I reflect on past papers published in the British Journal of Social Psychology (BJSP) that have played a role in the development of the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). I focus on seven papers that fall into five categories: (1) those that critique the TRA/TPB for taking insufficient account of social factors; (2) those that critique the models on the grounds that many social behaviours are 'habitual'; (3) those that critically examine the construct of perceived behavioural control; (4) those that argue for the importance of affective factors, which appear to be overlooked in the TRA/TPB; and (5) those that argue for the importance of studying the role of moderating factors and interaction effects in the TRA/TPB. I conclude that BJSP's traditional focus on criticism and theory development is one that benefits the journal and the field.     

Group process and group phenomena on the Internet.

This article identifies group processes and group phenomena in discussion lists on the Internet and examines the differences and similarities with the processes in small and large groups. Group dynamics and phenomena, such as boundaries, cohesion, transference, scapegoating, and the leader's role are addressed. Large group features, such as alienation, vulnerability, and the vast amount of issues discussed in parallel are described. There are similarities between the discussion list and small groups on issues of cohesion and group norms, and in the psychological mechanisms of transference and scapegoating. There are differences regarding the contract, boundaries, leaving the group, and extra-group socialization. Although many of the phenomena described resemble a large group, a discussion list on the Internet maintains the illusion of being a small group and frequently acts like one. While a virtual therapy group would be somewhat different from a real group, it could nonetheless be useful.     

The contribution of memory to differences in situation awareness in expert and non-expert drivers

Situation awareness (SA) is knowing what is going on in the environment: identifying objects, understanding how they interact and predicting future events. It is important in the context of driving as it is related to hazard perception. Driving-related SA may help explain expert drivers’ superior driving skill, but it is important to understand whether this is because expert drivers have better memory for driving-related tasks, whether superior memory performance is task specific, and the degree to which any effect is attributable to experience vs. expertise. On-road paramedics were compared with non-expert drivers. The participants engaged in an SA driving task where they were required to describe a vide taped driving situation after the screen cut to black. We measured their SA, memory and demographic driving variables. The starting SA of World, Action and Schema was re-developed to better reflect driving SA, into World, Action, Other-Agent Action, Projection, and Rationale. Driving expertise predicted each category of SA, except the Action category, independently of other experience variables. Similarly, expertise also predicted SA categories independently of any of the memory tasks. We concluded that expert drivers have better driving-SA than non-expert drivers and this is not due to better memory for driving tasks, or ‘time-on-road’. This finding is important in driver training because if we can harness the SA skills that expert drivers demonstrate, we could potentially implement them in better driver training programs.     

科学无神论在社会主义核心价值中的地位和作用

社会主义核心价值的基本内容包括富强、民主、文明、和谐、无神论思想包含在这些内容之中并起到重要作用。国强民富离不开科学技术,无神论是科学技术的理论前提和方法论起点;民主而不是神主。以人为本而不是以神为本,是无神论思想的根本体现;无神论是最初的也是最基本的文明成果;一个无神论基础上的社会和谐是真实而长久的和谐。