Book review

Cecile Beizmann. Handbook for Scorings of Rorschach Responses. New York: Grune & Stratton, 1970, 244 pages, $9.50. Reviewed by Henry Hoey

Donald S. Marshall, & Robert C. Suggs, (Eds.). Human Sexual Behavior. New York: Basic Books, 1971. 302 pages, $10.00. Reviewed by Russell Eisenman

Calvin S. Hall & Gardner Lindzey. Theories of Personality. 2nd ed., New York: Wiley, 1970, 622 pages, $9.95. Reviewed by Eric C. Theiner

Mary R. Haworth. The CAT. New York: Grune & Stratton, 1966, 322 pages. $10.75. Reviewed by Russell Eisenman

Milton Kramer (Ed.). Dream Psychology and the New Biology of Dreaming. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, 1969, 459 pages, $17.00. Reviewed by Thomas W. Allen

Humberto Nagera (Ed.). Basic Psychoanalytic Concepts on the Theory of Dreams. The Hampstead Clinic Psychoanalytic Library, Vol. II. New York: Basic Books, 1969. Reviewed by Dr. Rose Palm

Mortimer Schiffer. The Therapeutic Play Group. New York and London: Grune & Stratton, 1969. 214 pages, $8.75. Reviewed by Irving R. Stone

James O. Palmer. The Psychological Assessment of Children. New York: James Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1970. 474 pages, $12.50. Reviewed by Max R. Reed     

Book Reviews

Nathan Ackerman (Ed.). Family Process. New York: Basic Books, 1970, 431 pages, $10.00. Reviewed by Robert J. Craig, Ph.D.

John Annett. Feedback and Human Behavior, Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1969, 196 pages, $1.45. Reviewed by Thomas W. Allen

Seymour Fisher, Editor. Body Experience in Fantasy and Behavior. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1970, 690 pages, $12.50. Reviewed by Irving R. Stone

C. C. Harrington. Errors in Sex-Role Behavior in Teen-Age Boys. New York: Teachers College Press, 1970, 109 pages, Cloth $4.75, Paper $2.95. Reviewed by Andrew M. Barclay

M. R. Haworth. The Primary Visual Motor Test. New York: Grune & Stratton, 1970, 174 pages, $10.75. Reviewed by Sarah A. Alleman, Ph.D.

H. Hendin. Black Suicide. New York: Basic Books, 1969, 176 pages, $5.95. Reviewed by Henry P. Hoey, Ph.D.

E. A. Hirsch. The Troubled Adolescent—as He Emerges on Psychological Tests. New York: International Universities Press, 1970, 645 pages, $15.00. Reviewed by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi

David Hunt. Parents and Children in History: The Psychology of Family Life in Early Modern France. New York: Basic Books, 1970, 226 pages, $6.95. Reviewed by Christopher Fried

Max L. Hutt. The Hutt Adaptation of the Bender-Gestalt Test. Second Edition. New York: Grune and Stratton, 1969, vii + 192 pages.

Max L. Hutt, and Robert G. Gibby. An Atlas for the Hutt Adaptation of the Bender-Gestalt Test. New York: Grune and Stratton, 1970, 285 pages. Reviewed by Spencer B. Sterne

Elias Katz. The Retarded Adult at Home; A Guide for Parents. Seattle: Special Child Publications, 1970, 185 pages, $3.95. Reviewed by Jon D. Swartz

Boris M. Levinson. Pet-Oriented Child Psychotherapy. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, 1969, 202 pages. Reviewed by Thomas W. Allen

R. A. Lucas. Men in Crisis, A Study of a Mine Disaster. New York: Basic Books, 1969, Pp. 352 pages, $10.00. Reviewed by Eric C. Theiner, Ph.D.

Leo Madow and Laurence H. Snow (Eds.). The Psychodynamic Implications of the Physiological Studies on Dreams. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C. Thomas, 1970, xv, 167 pages, $10.50. Reviewed by Leon J. Whitsell, M. D.

A. McGhie. Pathology of Attention. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1969, 192 pages. Reviewed by Jeffrey G. Shapiro, Ph.D.

Frank J. Menolascino (Ed.). Psychiatric Approaches to Mental Retardation. New York: Basic Books, 1970, 764 pages, $17.50. Reviewed by Irving R. Stone

Tony Parker. The Frying-pan. A Prison and its Prisoners. New York: Basic Books, 1970, 222 + xvii pages, $6.95. Reviewed by Ray A. Craddick

P. Roazen. Freud—Political and Social Thought. New York: Knopf, 1968, 322 pages, $6.95. Reviewed by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi

Herbert C. Schulberg, Allen Sheldon, and Frank Baker. Program Evaluation in the Health Fields, New York: Behavioral Publications, 1969, 582 pages, $19.95. Reviewed by George Stricker

Erwin Singer. Key Concepts in Psychotherapy (Second Edition). New York: Basic Books, 1970, xxiii + 402 pages, $6.95. Reviewed by Leonard Ullmann

J. D. Sutherland and H. S. Gill. Language and Psychodynamic Appraisal: A Development of the Word Association Method. London: Research Publications Services Ltd., 1970, 144 pages, $3.00. Reviewed by Ray A. Craddick

Irvin D. Yalom. The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy. New York: Basic Books, 1970, 386 pages, $10.00. Reviewed by Gordon Filmer-Bennett     

Book reviews and books received

Mavis Klein: Lives People Live. Chichester: Wiley, 1980. £11.75 hardback; £5.75 paperback.

T.L. Brink: Geriatric Psychotherapy. London: Human Sciences Press, 1979. £5.50.

Park O. Davidson and Sheena M. Davidson (eds.): Behavioral Medicine: Changing Health Lifestyles. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1980. $26.52.

Natalie Jane Woodman and Harry R. Lenna: Counseling with Gay Men and Women. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1980. £5.40.

Sara Delamont Sex Roles and the School London: Methuen, 1980. £2.95.

Robert Crone and John Malone: Continuities in Education. Slough: NFER, 1979. £5.95.

Robert F. Stahmann and William J. Hiebert Premarital Counseling. Lexington, Massachusetts: Lexington, 1980. £11.50.

Carole Sutton: Psychology for Social Workers and Counsellors - an Introduction. London: Routledge &; Kegan Paul, 1979. £7.95 (hard-back); £4.95 (paperback).

Patricia Rowan: What Sort of Life? Windsor NFER, 1980. £5.50.

A.G. Watts, D.E. Super, and J.M. Kidd (eds.): Career Development in Britain: Some Contributions to Theory and Practice. Cambridge: CRAC/Hobsons, 1981. £19.80.     

The VIIIth International Congress of the Rorschach and Projective Techniques at Zaragoza,Spain, August, 1971

Henry E. Adams and William K. Boardman. Advances in Experimental Clinical Psychology. Elmsford, N. Y.: Pergamon Press, 1971, 219 pages, $11.50. Reviewed by Sol L. Garfield

L. B. Ames, R. W. Metraux, and R. N. Walker. Adolescent Rorschach Responses. Rev. Ed.) New York: Bruner/Mazel, 1971, 319 pages, $10.00. Reviewed by Donald B. Colson, Ph.D.

Rudolf Arnheim. Toward a Psychology of Art: Collected Essays. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1972, 369 pages, $3.95. Reviewed by Ray A. Craddick, PhD

Harriet Linton Barr, Robert J. Langs, and Robert R. Holt, Leo Goldberger, George S. Klein. LSD: Personality and Experience. New York: Wiley-Interscience, 1972, 247 pages, $10.00. Reviewed by Russell Eisenman

Marta Olivetti Belardinelli. Identificazione e proiezione: Natura e caratteristiche. Bologna: Cappelli Editore, 1971, 212 pages. Price not given. Reviewed by Luciano L'Abate

Henry B. Biller. Father, Child and Sex Role. Lexington, Massachusetts: D. C. Heath, 1971 xi, 208 pages, $12.50. Reviewed by A. Barclay, Ph.D.

Herbert L. Collier. The Psychology of Twins. Phoenix: Herbert L. Collier, Ph.D., Ltd. 1972. 145 pages, no price given. Reviewed by Edward S. Filicky, Ph.D.

W. Grant Dahlstrom, George S. Welsh, and Leona E. Dahlstrom. An MMPI Handbook, Volume I: Clinical Interpretation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1972. 507 pages, $18.75. Reviewed by Jerome D. Pauker, PhD

Hans J. Eysenck (Ed.). Readings in Extraversion-Introversion, 3 volumes. New York: Wiley Interscience-John Wiley, 1971, 1411 pages, $41.50 set. Reviewed by Eugene J. Loveless, PhD

Hans J. Eysenck and Sybil Eysenck. Personality Structure and Measurement. San Diego: Robert Knapp, 1972. 365 pages, no price given. Reviewed by Russell Eisenman

Charles A. Kiesler. The Psychology of Commitment. New York: Academic Press, 1971, xii + 190 pages, $9.95. Reviewed by Lita Linzer Schwartz

Edgar A. Levenson. The Fallacy of Understanding: An Inquiry into the Changing Structure of Psychotherapy. New York: Basic Books, 1972, 236 pages, $7.95. Reviewed by Lois Ann Levin, Ph.D.

Eugene E. Levitt and Aare Truumaa. The Rorschach Technique with Children and Adolescents. New York: Grune and Stratton, 1972, 146 pages, $7.95. Reviewed by Robert Allen, PhD

S. R. Maddi and P. T. Costa. Humanism in Personology. Chicago: Aldine-Atherton, 1972, 200 pages. Cloth, $7.75; Paper, $3.75. Reviewed by Ernest Kramer, Ph.D.

James F. Masterson. Treatment of the Borderline Adolescent: A Developmental Approach. New York: Wiley &; Sons, 1972, 289 pages, $13.50. Reviewed by Leo Goldberger, PhD

James F. Masterson. Treatment of the Borderline Adolescent: A Developmental Approach. New York: John Wiley &; Sons, 1972, 289 pages, $13.50. Reviewed by Irving R. Stone

Peter Mittler (Ed.) The Psychological Assessment of Mental and Physical Handicaps. London: Methuen; New York: Barnes &; Noble, 1970, 857 pages, $25.00. Reviewed by Leon J. Whitsell, MD

H. Nagera (Ed.). The Hampstead Clinic Psychoanalytic Library. Vol. IV. Basic Psychoanalytic Concepts on Metapsychology, Conflicts, Anxiety and Other Subjects. New York: Basic Books, 1970, 233 pages, $7.50. Reviewed by George Athey, Jr., PhD

A. S. Neill. Neill! Neill! Orange Peel! New York: Hart Publishing Co., 1972, 538 pages, $10.00. Reviewed by Irving R. Stone

Donald P. Ogdon. Psychodiagnostics and Personality Assessment: A Handbook. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services, 1967, paperbound, 96 pages, $7.50. Reviewed by Eleanore Kay

B. G. Rosenthal, The Images of Man. New York: Basic Books, 1971, 244 pages, $8.95.

I. Chein, The Science of Behavior and the Image of Man. New York: Basic Books, 1972, 348 pages, $12.50. Reviewed by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi

Joseph S. Roucek (Ed.). The Slow Learner. New York: Philosophical Library, Inc., 1969, 373 pages, $10.00. Reviewed by Leon J. Whitsell, M.D.

Aron W. Siegman and Benjamin Pope (Eds.) Studies in Dyadic Communication. New York: Pergamon Press, 1972, 336 pages, $13.50.

Joseph D. Matarazzo and Arthur N. Wiens. The Interview: Research on its Anatomy and Structure. Chicago: Aldine·Atherton, 1972, 183 pages, $9.75.

Albert Mehrabian. Nonverbal Communication. Chicago: Aldine·Atherton, 1972, 226 pages, $9.75. Reviewed by David C. Murray     

Cover

Cover: Drawing of Camp Century © Robert Magis/National Geographic Stock.

Original caption: ‘Cutaway View of Camp Century’. Reproduced with permission from National Geographic Magazine.     

Reliability and Validity of the Fear of Intimacy Scale in China

Clarence G. Schulz and Rose K. Kilgalen. Case Studies in Schizophrenia. New York: Basic Books, 1970, 288 pages, $8.95. Reviewed by Edward S. Filicky, PhD

D. W. Winnicott. Playing and Reality. New York: Basic Books, 1971, xiii + 169 pages, $6.95. Reviewed by Barney Greenspan, Ph.D.

Dirk L. Schaeffer. Sex Differences in Personality: Readings. Belmont, California: Cole Publishing Company, 1971, 180 pages (paperback), $3.50. Reviewed by Laura Barbanel

B. B. Wolman (Ed.). The Psychoanalytic Interpretation of History. New York: Basic Books, 1971, x, 240 pages. Reviewed by Henry P. Hoey

D. W. Winnicott. Therapeutic Consultations in Child Psychiatry. New York: Basic Books, 1971, 410 pages, $15.00. Reviewed by Shanti Tayal, Ph.D.

Donald M. Uhlin. Art for Exceptional Children. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown, 1972, 146 pages, $3.50, paperbound. Reviewed by Florence Diamond

J. L. Gewirtz (Ed.) Attachment and Dependency. New York: Halsted Press, 1972, 251 pages, $10.95. Reviewed by Leonard B. Olinger, PhD

R. H. Woody and J. D. Woody. Clinical Assessment in Counseling and Psychotherapy. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1972, 370 pages. Reviewed by Dale D. Simmons, Ph.D.

Paul Ekman, W. V. Friesen, and Phoebe Ellsworth. Emotion in the Human Face. New York: Pergamon, 1972, 191 + xii pages. Reviewed by Clifford H. Swensen

Anthony Storr. Human Destructiveness. New York: Basic Books, 1972, 127 pages, $5.95. Reviewed by Norman Tallent

Henry V. Dicks. Licensed Mass Murder: A Socio-Psychological Study of Some S. S. Killers. New York: Basic Books, 1972, xiii + 283 pages, $7.95. Reviewed by Rolland S. Parker, PhD

T. R. Young. New Sources of Self. Elmsford, New York: Pergamon Press, Inc., 1972, 114 pages, $6.50. Reviewed by Ray A. Craddick

James N. Butcher, (Ed.) Objective Personality Assessment: Changing Perspectives. New York: Academic Press, 1972, 212 pages, $6.95. Reviewed by James H. Johnson

Donald P. Kent, Robert Kastenbaum, and Sylvia Sherwood. Research Planning and Action for the Elderly. New York: Behavioral Publications Press, 1972, 569 pages, $19.95. Reviewed by Margaret Mercer, PhD

Rupert Wilkinson. The Broken Rebel: A Study in Culture, Politics and Authoritarian Character. New York: Harper and Row, 1972, 390 pages, $12.95. Reviewed by Emanuel Berman

Alfred B. Heilbrun. Aversive Maternal Control. New York: John Wiley &; Sons, 1973, 324 pages, $15.95. Reviewed by Albert I. Rabin, PhD

Irla Lee Zimmerman, James M. WooSam, with Alan J. Glasser, Clinical Interpretation of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. New York: Grune &; Stratton, 1973, 224 pages, $7.95. Reviewed by Ronald E. Smith, PhD

Hilde Bruch. Eating disorders: Obesity, Anorexia Nervosa and the Person Within. New York: Basic Books, 1973, 396 pages, $12.50. Reviewed by David C. Murray

Edith G. Neisser. Mothers and Daughters. Harper and Row, 1973, 396 pages, $10.00. Reviewed by Pamela Osborne Munter

Rudolf Arnheim. The Genesis of a Painting: Picasso's Guernica. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973, 145 pages, 70 illustrations, $5.95, paper. Reviewed by Florence Rand Diamond     

Cover

Cover Credit: Robert Platzgummer, http://www.mingamanga.de/.     

“Opening the Heart”: An Interview with Steve Parker

In this interview, Dr. Parker talks about how important Jungian psychology has been to him, especially following his heart attack, and how he has worked with his dreams and symbolism to guide his recovery. His work has led him to build a stone labyrinth at his wilderness home outside Fairbanks, Alaska. Artwork and photographic images illustrates his healing adventure. A brief video can be viewed at: http://jungcurrents.com/stone-sanctuary.     

Resilient,Undercontrolled, and Overcontrolled Personality Prototypes Among Persons With Spinal Cord Injury

Brendan Maher (Ed.). Clinical Psychology and Personality (The Selected Papers of George Kelly). New York: Wiley, 1969. 361 pages + viii, $8.95. Reviewed by Wilson H. Guertin

L. J. Bischof. Interpreting Personality Theories. New York: Harper &; Row, 1970. 653 pages, $10.95.

L. A. Pervin. Personality—Theory, Assessment and Research. New York: Wiley, 1970. 632 pages, $9.95. Reviewed by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi

Michael Cole &; Irving Maltzman, Editors. A Handbook of Contemporary Soviet Psychology. New York and London: Basic Books, Inc., 1969, 832 pages, $25.00. Reviewed by Irving R. Stone

Edwin I. Megargee and Jack E. Hokanson. The Dynamics of Aggression. (Individual, Group and International Analyses) New York: Harper &; Row, 1970. 271 pages, $3.95. Reviewed by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi

Pat Powers and Wade Baskin (Eds.) New Outlooks in Psychology. New York: Philosophical Library, 1968, 512 pages, $12.00. Reviewed by Spencer B. Sterne

Salo Rosenbaum and Ian Alger, (Eds.). The Marriage Relationship, Psychoanalytic Perspectives. New York: Basic Books, 1968. 366 pages, $10.00. Reviewed by S. G. Vandenberg

Rudolph Wittenberg. Postadolescence: Theoretical and Clinical Aspects of Psychoanalytic Therapy. New York: Grune and Stratton, 1968. 138 pages, $6.50. Reviewed by Sarah A. Alleman

Liam Hudson. Frames of Mind. New York: Norton, 1968. 134 pages, $5.50. Reviewed by Russell Eisenman

Irving L. Janis, George F. Mahl, Jerome Kagan, &; Robert R. Holt. Personality: Dynamics, Development, and Assessment. New York: Harcourt, Brace, &; World, 1969. 859 pages, $9.95. Reviewed by Andrew M. Barclay     

The HEXACO–60: A Short Measure of the Major Dimensions of Personality

According to Jung anima and animus are functions, themselves largely unconscious, mediating between the ego and the deeper unconscious. Their manifestations in projection (also in dream, myth, etc.) are called the soul image. The soul image and the functions which it represents usually have sexual characteristics contrary to those of the conscious personality and are compensatory and complementary thereto.

Kinaesthetic responses in the Rorschach test are generally regarded as carriers of projections from the unconscious. Therefore, when personality imbalance and increased liability to projection occur as in neurosis, the proportion of contrasexual Ms should be larger in neurotic than in normal groups. Using four groups containing each 100 adult subjects: healthy women, neurotic women, healthy men and neurotic men, the hypothesis was tested and confirmed, affording some confirmation to Jungian theory.     

Book reviews

E1 Evangelio de San Bernabé: un evangelio islámico español. Luis F. Bernabé Pons, 1995 Alicante, University Press 260 pp., hb. n.p. ISBN 84 7908 223 2

Muhammad and Jesus. William. E. Phipps, 1996 300 pp., pb. £14.95, ISBN 0 334 02630 X

Arabic Grammar and Qur'anic Exegesis in Early Islam.. C. H. M. Versteegh, 1993 Leiden, E. J. Brill xi + 230 pp., hb. ISBN 9004098453.

Religious Truth for Our Time. William Montgomery Watt, 1995 Oxford, Oneworld 109 pp., pb. £5.95, ISBN 1 85168 102 7

Dialogue of Life: a Christian among Allah's poor. Bob McCahill, 1996 Maryknoll, New York, Orbis Books 109 pp., pb. $13, ISBN 1 57075 066 1

Questioning the Secular State: the worldwide resurgence of religion in politics. David Westerlund (Ed.), 1996 London, Hurst & Company xii + 428 pp., pb. £14.95, ISBN 1 85065 241 4

Religion and Globalization. Peter Beyer, 1994 London, Sage Publications vi + 250 pp., pb. $21.95

A Critique of the Origins of Islamic Economic Thought. Yassine Essid, 1995 Leiden, E. J. Brill 257 pp., hb. n.p., ISBN 90 04 10079 2

Muslims in the Margin: political responses to the presence of Islam in Western Europe. W. A. R. Shadid & P. S. van Koningsveld, 1996 Kampen, KOK Pharos 288 pp., hb. F169.90, ISBN 90 390 0520 6

Muslim Eurasia: conflicting legacies. Yaacov Ro'i (Ed.), 1995 London, Frank Cass xii + 330 pp., hb. and pb., $47.50, ISBN 0714646156     

Book reviews

Nietzsche and Buddhism: a study in nihilism and ironic affinities. Robert G. Morrison, 1997, Oxford, Oxford University Press x + 250 pp., hb ISBN 0 19 823556 9, £32.50

Chong Yagyong: Korea's challenge to orthodox neo‐Confucianism. Mark Sftton, 1997, Albany, NY, State University of New York Press, >xv + 232 pp., pb ISBN 0 7914 3174 6, US$15.95

Fatalism in Ancient India. Sukumari Bhattacharji, 1995, Calcutta, Sarmistha Roy for Baulmon Prakashan xxviii + 356 pp., hb Rs250, ISBN 81 86552 02 2

The Vimalakirti Sutra (from the Chinese version by Kumarajiva). Burton Watson (Trans.), 1997, New York, Columbia University Press xii+ 168 pp., hb £18.00 ISBN 0 231 10656 4

Zhouyi, the Book of Changes‐a new translation with commentary. Richard Rutt, 1996, Richmond, Curzon Press xii + 498 pp., hb (Price not given), ISBN 0 70007 0467 1     

Psychophysiological Reactions to the Response Phase of the Rorschach and 16PF

Sylvia Anthony. The Discovery of Death in Childhood and After. New York: Basic Books, 1972, $6.95. Reviewed by Louise Bates Ames

B. Klopfer, M. M. Meyer, and F. B. Brawer (Editors), Developments in the Rorschach Technique, Vol. III. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovarovich, 1970 Reviewed by A. I. Rabin

Mireille Monod, Manuel d'Application de Test du Village. (Manual for the village test). Neuchatel (Switzerland): Delachaux &; Niestle, 1970. Reviewed by S. G. Vandenberg

Florence Roswell and Gladys Natchez. Reading Disability: Diagnosis and Treatment. (2nd ed.) New York: Basic Books, 1971, 277 pages, $6.95. Reviewed by Jules C. Abrams, PhD

M. Gardiner (Ed.) The Wolf-Man by the Wolf-Man. New York: Basic Books, 1971, 370 pages, $10.00. Reviewed by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi

N. J. Hale, Jr. Freud and The Americans – The Beginnings of Psychoanalysis in the United States, 1876–1917. New York: Oxford, 1971, 574 pages, $15.00. Reviewed by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi     

Preliminary evidence of attenuated blood pressure reactivity to acute stress in adults following a recent marital separation

Objective: This study explores cardiovascular reactivity during an acute-stress task in a sample of recently separated adults.

Design: In a cross-sectional design, we examined the association between adults’ subjective separation-related distress and changes in heart rate and blood pressure across the acute-stress laboratory paradigm in a sample of 133 (n = 49 men) recently separated adults.

Main outcome measures: Heart rate (HR) and Blood pressure (BP) were recorded across a resting baseline period, a math stressor task, and a recovery period.

Results: Multilevel analyses revealed that adults who reported greater separation-related distress exhibited higher initial BP and a slower linear increase in BP across the study period. In addition, adults reporting greater separation-related distress evidenced significantly slower declines in diastolic blood pressure (DBP) following the acute-stress task. HR reactivity was not moderated by separation-related distress.

Conclusions: In recently separated adults, preliminary evidence suggests that the context of the stressors may reveal differential patterns of problematic reactivity (exaggerated or blunted responding). Greater emotional intrusion and hyperactivity symptoms may index increased risk for blunted cardiovascular reactivity to general stressors. This pattern of reactivity is consistent with models of allostatic load that emphasise the deleterious effect of hyporesponsivity to environmental demands.     

Book reviews

The Psychological Attitude of Early Buddhist Philosophy. Lama Anagarika Govinda, 1991, Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass, Rs 125

The Law of Karma: a philosophical study. Bruce R. Reichenbach, 1990, Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, pp. xiv + 238, $38.00

Religious Philosophy of Tagore and Radhakrishnan. Harendra Prasad Sinha, 1993, Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers 188 pp., Rs. 150

Scripture, Canon and Commentary: a comparison of Confucian and Western exegesis. John B. Henderson, 1991, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, xii + 247 pp. $32.50

Chan Insights and Oversights: an epistemological critique of the Chan tradition. Bernard Fauré, 1993, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, ix + 322 pp. £45

Reason and Tradition in Indian Thought: an essay on the nature of Indian philosophical thinking. Jitendra Nath Mohanty, 1992, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 306 pp. £37.50

Avicenna. L. E. Goodman London, Routledge, 1992, xii + 240 pp. £12.99

Becoming Bamboo: Western and Eastern explorations of the meaning of life. Robert E. Carter, 1992, Montreal, McGill‐Queen's University Press, xvi + 224 pp. £22.95     

The non-symbolic level of psychical reality

Freud introduced the concept of psychical reality as a consequence of abandoning the theory of seduction, and although this meant a turning point in his theoretical thinking he never defined the concept concisely and systematically. Thus it is possible to delineate at least two meanings of psychical reality that run through Freud´s writings as well as the writings of contemporary analysts. On the one hand psychical reality encompasses the whole field of subjective experiences. On the other, it is understood more narrowly as a transformation of experiences in the unconscious.

Substituting the idea of different meanings ascribed to Freud´s concept this article proposes to differentiate between levels in the psyche with the main focus on the unconscious level of the dream and of phantasy and the real unconscious. Starting from the most superficial level of subjective reality the text moves to that of fantasy formation illustrated by primarily Freud´s text on `A child is being beaten´. Adding Laplanche´s translational model the article ends up at the deepest level represented by the late Lacan and his concept of the real Unconscious.

The paper concludes that the term real points to something exceeding symbolization and the imaginary—thus escaping comprehension—and yet is absolutely indispensable to the organization of unconscious processes.     

Deduction chains for common knowledge

Deduction chains represent a syntactic and in a certain sense constructive method for proving completeness of a formal system. Given a formula , the deduction chains of are built up by systematically decomposing into its subformulae. In the case where is a valid formula, the decomposition yields a (usually cut-free) proof of . If is not valid, the decomposition produces a countermodel for . In the current paper, we extend this technique to a semiformal system for the Logic of Common Knowledge. The presence of fixed point constructs in this logic leads to potentially infinite-length deduction chains of a non-valid formula, in which case fairness of decomposition requires special attention. An adequate order of decomposition also plays an important role in the reconstruction of the proof of a valid formula from the set of its deduction chains.     

Book Reviews

Ibn Rushd (Averroes). Arabic Thought and Culture Series. DOMINIQUE URVOY, 1991. London, Routledge. 156 pp.

Logic and Aristotle's Rhetoric and Poetics in Medieval Arabic Philosophy Vol. VII. Islamic Philosophy and Theology Texts and Studies. DEBORAH L. BLACK, 1990. Leiden and New York, E. J. Brill. 290 pp.

Philosophy and Science in the Islamic World. C. A. QADIR, 1990. London, Routledge 1990. 218 pp.

Understanding the Chinese Mind: The Philosophical Roots. ROBERT E. ALLINSON, 1989. Hong Kong and Oxford, Oxford University Press. 316 pp.

On Justice: An Essay in Jewish Philosophy. L. E. GOODMAN, 1991. New Haven, Yale University Press. 288 pp.     

On the origin of worries about modern health hazards: Experimental evidence for a conjoint influence of media reports and personality traits

Objective: Worries about health threatening effects of potential health hazards of modern life (e.g. electric devices and pollution) represent a growing phenomenon in Western countries. Yet, little is known about the causes of this growing special case of affective risk perceptions termed Modern Health Worries (MHW). The purpose of this study is to examine a possible role of biased media reports in the formation of MHW.

Design: In two experiments, we investigated whether typical television reports affect MHW. In Study 1, 130 participants were randomly assigned to a film on idiopathic environmental intolerance (IEI) or a control film about cystic fibrosis. In Study 2, 82 participants were randomly assigned to either a film on the dangers of electromagnetic fields or a control condition.

Main outcome measures: Increases in MHW after sensational media reports.

Results: In Study 1, only participants high on the personality trait of absorption revealed increased MHW after watching the IEI film. In Study 2, specifically worries about radiation were found to be elevated after watching the film on the dangers of electromagnetic fields compared to the control film.

Conclusion: The results of both studies reveal a significant and specific influence of sensational short mass media reports on MHW. The influence of potential moderators such as absorption remains to be clarified.