From Psychical treatment to psychoanalysis: considerations on the misdating of an early Freud text and on a hitherto overlooked addition to it (here reproduced)

Freud's early paper Psychical (or mental) treatment, first published in a family reference book for educated lay persons, was reproduced in the Gesammelte Werke with a stated publication date of 1905. This date was subsequently called into question owing to certain parts of the subject-matter (the use of hypnosis and suggestion in 'mental treatment'), and the contribution was erroneously assigned, for instance by James Strachey, to the year 1890. This error is corrected in the present paper. Furthermore, the existence of a second edition of this reference book, which contains an addition to Freud's text and appeared in 1918-19, has previously gone unnoticed. The first edition had been published in 1905-6. Freud's contribution must, however, have been written at an appreciably earlier date. The probable time of its genesis is discussed. Freud's new text is reproduced (in English translation) for the first time in an appendix to this paper.     

The mechanism underlying inhibition of saccadic return

Human observers take longer to re-direct gaze to a previously fixated location. Although there has been some exploration of the characteristics of inhibition of saccadic return (ISR), the exact mechanisms by which ISR operates are currently unknown. In the framework of accumulation models of response times, in which evidence is integrated over time to a response threshold, ISR could reflect a reduction in the rate of accumulation for saccades to return locations or an increase in the effective criterion for response. In two experiments, participants generated sequences of three saccades, in response to a peripheral or a central cue. ISR occurred across these manipulations: saccade latency was consistently increased for movements to the immediately previously fixated location. Latency distributions from individual observers were fit with a Linear Ballistic Accumulator model. ISR was best accounted for as a change in the accumulation rate. We suggest this parameter represents the overall desirability of a particular course of action, the evidence for which may be derived from a variety of sensory and non-sensory sources.     

学习困难和优秀学生延迟满足能力的跨情境比较实验研究

探讨学习困难学生(学困生)和学习优秀学生(学优生)在三种不同情境下——独自操作、单一团体操作和混合团体操作,延迟满足能力的差异.结果表明:(1)在延迟满足实验中,被试变量(学优生、学困生)与情境变量(独自、单一团体、混合团体)的交互作用显著;(2)在独自操作和单一团体情境下,学优生延迟满足能力显著高于学困生,混合团体则不存在这种差异;(3)学优生的延迟满足能力在独自操作和单一团体时水平较高,而混合团体的成绩则显著的低于单一团体,学困生的延迟满足能力在单一团体和混合团体时水平较高,而单独操作成绩则显著低于混合团体.本研究一方面拓展了对延迟满足能力的群体比较研究,同时,对学困生的心理教育实践也有指导意义.     

Rod Cocking's legacy: The development of psychological distancing

Thirty years of work on psychological distancing is discussed in this article. The psychological construct of psychological distance was applied to the development of children's developing representational abilities over 30 years ago [Sigel, I. E. (1970). The distancing hypothesis: A causal hypothesis for the acquisition of representational thought. In: M. R. Jones (Ed.), Miami symposium on the prediction of behavior, 1968: Effect of early experiences (pp. 99–118). Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami Press]. The construct has changed knowledge in three areas: (1) changes in the child's developmental status as a result of reflection on general properties of interactions with the world as well as maturation, (2) the effects of different modes of formal instruction in schooling on the development of children's thinking, and (3) the relationship of one's beliefs about how development occurs to behaviors with children that create “distancing experiences” for children. The distancing construct itself has been broadened further as the notion of psychological distance has been applied to areas as diverse as delay of gratification, divorce, video game play, and resolution of interpersonal conflicts [Cocking, R. R., & Renninger, K. A. (Eds.) (1993). The development and meaning of psychological distance. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum]. The distancing construct was evident in Rod Cocking's own program of psychological inquiry. However, much of his legacy to the field lies in his Educational Testing Service (ETS) work that extended the usefulness of this construct for other researchers working in a variety of domains of development and in his ability to see the implications of research from this perspective for the lives of children.     

A practitioner's notes on the free-associative method as existential praxis

Freud's pre-1914 texts demonstrate why he consistently asserted that his free-associative method was the sine qua non of his discipline. Prior to 1914, Freud's theorizing was intimately and inextricably connected to his lived experience with the discovery of this method. After 1914, he became more speculative in this thinking and writing; his models of the “mental apparatus” and its functioning drew increasingly on conceptual sources other than his experience with free association. The four fundamental coordinates of his discipline (the methodical disclosure that self-consciousness is repressive, the nonlinear “time of the mind,” the significance of our sensual embodiment or libidinality, and the formation of the repression barrier by the incest taboo) are all closely tied to free-associative experience. By contrast, post-1914 theoretical preoccupations (from object relations to the structural-functional model, and other formulations generated after Freud's life) are comparatively divorced from such experience. These conceptual edifices imply a conventional depiction of the theory–practice relationship, which is radically challenged by free-associative discourse. The notion of praxis is introduced as contesting the prevailing depiction of practice as an application of theory, and as serving to rescue psychoanalysis from the somewhat “sterile debates” over its scientific status and over the relevance of metapsychological speculation to clinical treatment. Against the normative ideology of theory and practice, the lived experience of free-associative discourse, with its potential for change and healing, can only be understood in terms of this notion of praxis, and this justifies Freud's claim to have initiated “a critical new direction in science.”     

Alice in Systems Wonderland: A Children's Systems Learning Guidebook Accompanying Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

The author proposes the development of systems learning guidebooks to accompany famous children's classic books. Children's classic books can make excellent bases for children's learning guidebooks on systems thinking and global ecology, because they are fun to read and well known worldwide. If such learning guidebooks are properly designed with humor and entertaining aspects, they could stimulate children to learn more about systems thinking. Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is chosen as a pilot case for developing such a children's guidebook. The systems learning guidebook that accompanies Alice's Wonderland shall be entitled Alice in Systems Wonderland and will help its readers look at the Alice's Wonderland story with a systems perspective.     

The transmission of attachment across generations: The state of art and new theoretical perspectives

The paper reviews the body of research testing the intergenerational transmission of attachment and the theoretical shift from the linear or mediation model (van IJzendoorn, 1995), according to which parental sensitivity is the main factor responsible for the correspondence between maternal and infant's attachment, to the ecological model of the transmission of attachment (van IJzendoorn & Bakermans‐Kranenburg, 1997). This latter model has prompted researchers, over time, to identify potential mediators, other than caregiver's sensitivity, of the established association between parental representations regarding attachment and infant's attachment, as well as the potential moderators of the transmission process. Each of these two research domains will be carefully explored; lastly new perspectives on the intergenerational transmission of attachment and relevant areas of research needing more investigation are highlighted.     

Deliberative Pedagogy: Ideas for Analysing the Quality of Deliberation in Conflict Management in Education

Institutions worldwide respond to the need to recognise the value of educating children and young people to handle or solve conflicts in communication. But how do they or we know that an event is correctly interpreted as a conflict? How can people analyse the quality of deliberation when handling or solving conflicts in communication in education? I discuss these questions and argue that the notion of conflict cannot be defined only in terms of incompatibility, clash, opposition and/or disagreement; it also has to encompass negativity in the approach to the other. I also argue that the quality of deliberation can be analysed through a deliberative pedagogical approach, which takes into account structural features of deliberation and required dispositions of the participants, and that our knowledge of conflicts emerges holistically and is interpersonal and objective. I begin by giving an account of some institutional responses to conflicts. Then I discuss the notion of conflict and define it, inter alia, in terms of incompatibility, disagreement and negativity. Finally, I discuss ideas for analysing the quality of deliberation in communication when handling or solving conflicts in education.     

The Influence of Bloomfield's Linguistics on Skinner

Bloomfield''s “Linguistics as a Science” (1930/1970), Language (1933/1961), and “Language or Ideas?” (1936a/1970), and Skinner''s Verbal Behavior (1957) and Science and Human Behavior (1953) were analyzed in regard to their respective perspectives on science and scientific method, the verbal episode, meaning, and subject matter. Similarities between the two authors were found. In particular both asserted that (a) the study of language must be carried out through the methods of science; (b) the main function of language is to produce practical effects on the world through the mediation of a listener; and (c) a physicalist conception of meaning. Their differences concern the subject matter of their disciplines and their use of different models for the analysis of behavior. Bloomfield''s linguistics and Skinner''s functional analysis of verbal behavior are complementary approaches to language.     

Children's rights and school psychology: Children's right to participation

The Convention on the Rights of the Child detailed an international imperative to fulfilling, protecting, and respecting the rights of every child. In particular, the Convention set out a clear mandate for guaranteeing opportunities for children to be heard on all matters of concern to them. The attainment of these goals involves respecting and valuing children as active participants in the educational process. If fully implemented, the right of children to express views and have them taken seriously, throughout the school environment, would represent one of the most profound transformations in moving towards a culture of respect for children's rights, for their dignity and citizenship, and for their capacities to contribute significantly towards their own well-being. These values and principles are consistent with those of the school psychology profession, thus, school psychologists are encouraged to be at the Center of the process advocating and actualizing the Convention in schools throughout the world.     

The PDQ-8: Development and validation of a short-form parkinson's disease questionnaire

Abstract

The Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39) is a disease specific measure of health status which covers eight dimensions of ill-health, and contains 39 questions. The development of the questionnaire has been outlined in full elsewhere and is briefly outlined in this paper. Psychometric techniques are used here to derive a single index figure from the PDQ-39, transformed to a score range from 0 (good health) to 100 (poor health). A sub-set of items is then selected from the PDQ-39 to create a shorter form version, the PDQ-8. Each item selected is the one most highly correlated with the overall domain score to which it contributes: in cases where more than one item correlated equally strongly with the total then the item which received the highest completion rate was selected. The items were summed together and transformed onto a score from 0 to 100. The results gained from the single index gained from the PDQ-39 are compared with that gained from the PDQ-8, and are found to be remarkably similar. The use of the PDQ-8 is recommended over the PDQ-39 where a shorter form measure is required and where a single index measure of overall health status is acceptable or desirable.     

The peculiarity of the dialectical ideas of the Second Teacher,a prominent representative of the Muslim Renaissance

This paper investigates the development of dialectical concepts about the universe, being, metaphysics, scientific methods, and the knowledge of philosophers. The methods it uses are mainly theoretical and empirical methods, such as analysis and synthesis. Within the boundaries of the designated topic, it offers a systematic analysis of the historical periodization of Arab Muslim philosophy from the eighth century to the twentieth. The paper examines the activities of the prominent philosopher and mathematician Abu Nasr Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Farabi, showing the circumstances of his borrowing certain forms, concepts, and structures from ancient Greek philosophers. The paper's main conclusion is that al-Farabi is a Second Teacher in modern philosophy, meaning the continuation in his works of the search for a scientific approach to the study of various forms of being.     

MOURNING,DREAMING, AND THE DISCOVERY OF THE OEDIPUS COMPLEX

The author argues that the structure of mourning and the structure of the Oedipus complex are triadic, the latter being obvious and easy to conceptualize, while the former is quite subtle. When it is the father who is mourned, the son must repeatedly invoke the dead object so that libidinal cathexis can be reinvested in living objects. Such was the situation in which Freud found himself in 1896 when his father died—the triadic nature of the Oedipus complex ironically not yet discovered by him. In the author's belief, Freud's mourning and his attendant rich dream life occurring between 1896 and 1897 gave him access to the unconscious raw material that would eventually help him conceptualize the triadic structure at the instinctual core of the Oedipus complex.     

The Creativity Matrix: Spotlights and Blind Spots in Our Understanding of the Phenomenon

In this paper, we organize past and present theories and models of creativity by using a new conceptual framework—the creativity matrix—with the aim of highlighting the dimensions of creativity we know a lot about and those we tend to either ignore or find difficult to study. This matrix is formed by bringing together a developmental model of creativity (the 4 C's) and a structural one (the 5 A's). We start by briefly describing these two conceptual frameworks, and then, we proceed to exploring the matrix itself by describing how the 5 A's are dynamically organized at each “level” of the 4 C's. Importantly, our overview of the matrix is informed by existing models and concepts that address one of more of the C's and the A's. This gives us a unique opportunity to take stock of what has been studied so far and, toward the end, consider new avenues for the development of theory and research agendas within creativity studies.     

The perils of Perrin,in the hands of philosophers

The story of how Perrin’s experimental work established the reality of atoms and molecules has been a staple in (realist) philosophy of science writings (Wesley Salmon, Clark Glymour, Peter Achinstein, Penelope Maddy, …). I’ll argue that how this story is told distorts both what the work was and its significance, and draw morals for the understanding of how theories can be or fail to be empirically grounded.

The development of personal autonomy throughout cultures

It is argued here that autonomy entails universal psychological needs pertaining to agency and identity formation, expressed in different ways over different developmental periods. As children develop skills and abilities related to psychological needs for self-expression and competence, they will claim areas related to the exercise of these abilities, in accordance with the possibilities afforded by different cultural environments. The development of a sphere of autonomous functioning is postulated to be central to conceptions of personal freedom and rights, placing limits on the legitimate actions of authorities and other social agents. Concepts of personal freedom and associated rights are often constructed in the context of conflict, in which children's attempts to claim personal freedom is met with opposition by parents or other authorities. Evidence is reviewed indicating that the developmental pathway toward autonomy shows many similarities across diverse cultures that are only beginning to be recognized and systematically investigated.     

The Efficiency of the Group Rorschach Test in the Psychiatric Screening of Marine Corps Recruits

In a study to extend the theory of cognitive dissonance into the area of person perception, 108 male freshmen dormitory students were led to believe that they either would or would not be sharing a room in the future with a negative other. They were also informed that they were either low, moderate, or high in similarity to this negative other. The major response measure was the extent to which the negative first impression changed in a more positive direction. A 2 × 3 ANOVA showed that both the proximity and similarity manipulations had the predicted effect. However, the trend in similarity was not linear, as hypothesized. Similarity was also found to be a more salient source of dissonance than proximity.     

The rise of the child's voice; the silencing of the spiritual voice

In recent years the notion of the child's voice has gained prominence, particularly influenced by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989 which outlined rights for children on an international scale. Many countries, including the UK, subsequently legislated for the child's voice to be heard in a variety of arenas including the education system. Despite the concept of the child's voice now being firmly established within schools in England, this paper argues that one aspect of their voice is not being heard: their spiritual voice. Drawing on evidence from research, this paper proposes that a variety of factors have culminated in a tendency towards a silencing of the child's spiritual voice. It argues that this silencing is an important one which should be acknowledged and rectified if educators in all schools are to treat the concept of the whole child seriously, and fully value their well‐being.     

The Concept of Freedom of Belief and Its Boundaries in Egypt: The Jehovah's Witnesses and the Baha'i Faith Between Established Religions and An Authoritarian State

A number of new religious communities have been emerging in Egypt since the second half of the nineteenth century. The most important of them—both numerically and in terms of the attention they attract—are the Baha'i Faith and the Jehovah's Witnesses. Both groups have been officially dissolved and face strong opposition from the established religions as well as a number of legal problems. Egyptian courts have dealt with Baha'is and Jehovah's Witnesses in a number of contexts, and have on these occasions had to discuss the question of how the principle of freedom of belief, which has been part of all Egyptian constitutions since 1923, affects the status of religious minorities not recognised by the state. Their arguments allow interesting conclusions not only about the prevailing understanding of the principle of freedom of belief, but also about the relationship between Islam, the Coptic Orthodox Church and the state.