Some Thoughts I Can't Help Thinking

Specific reactions to the Heppner and Anderson, Keeney and Morris, and Gelso articles are offered. Also, some general thoughts on counseling research are provided.     

Some findings on prospect and refuge: I

Prospect and refuge theory suggests that preferences for environments are based on prospect (the unimpeded opportunity to see) and refuge (the opportunity to hide). This article reports two experiments on how well four factors derived from prospect and refuge theory predicted responses of comfort or liking. The factors were prospect (depth of view), refuge (presence of protective regions in front of the observer or occluding edges that might indicate possibilities of escape), direction of light (either front lighting or back lighting), and venue (natural or built environments). Exp. 1 had 16 landscape scenes and 29 participants; Exp. 2 had 16 landscapes, 14 rooms, and 18 participants. Empirical support was obtained for the claim that people will like gazing out over scenes of distant mountains. For venue, built scenes were preferred over scenes of nature. Results for refuge were ambiguous, and those for di rection of light were nill.     

G.I. Gurdjieff: Some references to love

New developments in the Gurdjieff. teaching (the Work) have raised questions about the authentic line of the teaching. James Moore in his article “Moveable Feasts: The Gurdjieff Work”; (Religion Today 9 (2), 1994: 11–16) argues that, in terms of the dialectic between personal endeavour and supernal grace, Gurdjieff's teaching is based on making effort rather than receiving grace, working rather than being worked upon. The article looks at some references to love made by Gurdjieff and by some of his pupils. It suggests that, although absent from Work teaching in the Gurdjieff Society in London from the 1950s to the 1980s, grace was an element of Gurdjieff s teaching, and that new practices may serve to restore grace.     

A contribution toward interbehavioral analysis I. Some general concepts

The Psychological Record -     

I. Some criticisms of the katzian metatheory of semantics

C. Fred Alford contends that the manner in which I objected to Feyerabend's democratic relativism is vulnerable to Feyerabend's rhetorical strategy, and that a better strategy would be to show that Feyerabend fails to demonstrate that democratic relativism is desirable. I reply in defense of the ‘plausibility’ issue on the grounds that Feyerabend's theory lends itself to uses (and abuses) beyond Utopian critique (in Alford's sense). I argue that it is the fact that critics ‐ myself included ‐ have assumed the burden of demonstrating the impossibility of Feyerabend's political theory that has led to the stalemate Alford describes, and that we may retain the ‘plausibility’ question while avoiding the stalemate by placing the burden of argument on Feyerabend to show that his theory is plausible.     

Family Sculpting: I. Some doubts and some possibilities

Family sculpting is reviewed within the context of general doubts that confront family therapy, in particular the need for a certain act of faith in therapy, and the search for some sort of underlying theory. Family sculpting is most often used in reference to the psychoanalytic tradition of family therapy, but here the case is made for more serious attention to structural approaches. The potential of family sculpting is further explored in a number of other respects: its concreteness, its portrayal of ambiguity and its use with students, workers and other groups.     

Some Characteristics of the Written Speech of Stutterers: I.

Abstract

(Bühler, Charlotte. The Child and his Family. Translated by Henry Beaumont. New York: Harper, 1939. Pp. 187.) Reviewed by Walter L. Wilkins     

PSYCHOMOTOR EXPRESSION AND PERSONALITY STUDY: I. Some theoretical and methodological considerations

In this introductory article in a series of experimental reports an attempt is made to classify the psychomotor and expressive techniques on the basis of the amount and the quality of mediating processes involved in performance. Furthermore, psychomotor variables occurring in different types of technique are presented, and suggestions are made for an experimental study of psychomotor and expressive techniques.     

Some Lasting Consequences of US Psychology Programs in World Wars I and II

Applied research in psychology not only has contributed directly to societal advances but often has fostered basic research as well. Prominent examples are the programs directed by Yerkes in World War I to develop the Army Alpha test and several programs in World War II, including The American Soldier that assessed soldiers' attitudes during the war; a program for selecting agents for the Office of Strategic Services; and the Aviation Psychology Program to select and classify applicants for flight training in the Army Air Forces. Highlights of these programs are presented here, with special attention given to by far the largest, the Air Forces program. After World War II, many of the hundreds of psychologist veterans became prominent research psychologists. Most became university professors. Among those who continued to work in applied settings was John Flanagan who had served as Chief of the Army Air Forces Psychology Branch. (After the war, Saul Sells succeeded Flanagan as Head of the Aviation Psychology program.) Flanagan founded the American Institutes for Research (AIR), the earliest mission of which was to select flight personnel for civilian airlines. Another part of the AIR mission was to enhance civilian air safety by assuring the widespread use of Flanagan's critical-incident procedures (or near-accident reports) that now serve to reduce accident rates in a variety of industries as well as in aviation.     

Some Lessons I Have Learned From 25 Years in Clinical Neuropsychology: A Letter to My Grandchildren

The practice and study of clinical neuropsychology is considered an empirical enterprise. However, such an approach may result in missing the more humanistic or phenomenological side of the experience of brain dysfunction. This addresses a personal journey rather than a professional and scientific one. In doing so, the limits of the discipline and the suffering and value of the experience of the illness are presented. An earlier version of this article was presented as the Presidential Address for the Division 40 (Clinical Neuropsychology) of the American Psychological Association in August of 2003.