Toward optimum group placement from the perspective of the self or self-experience

This paper offers referring and prospective group analysts/therapists a way of conceptualizing optimum placement. This approach, using the charts provided, will aid in determining the patient's current needs based on past and present selfobject functions, deficits/ derailments, and traumatizations. The charts also offer the group analyst/therapist a tool with which to evaluate the present selfobject functions, impingements, and traumatizations that may be available in a prospective group to determine whether the match is appropriate or whether group should be the treatment modality of choice. When the interviewing analyst/therapist has taken all of the current and past selfobject functions and traumatizations into account, the patient can be expected to benefit from the most growth-enhancing placement available.     

The uncanny mirror: a re-framing of mirror self-experience

Mirror self-experience is re-casted away from the cognitivist interpretation that has dominated discussions on the issue since the establishment of the mirror mark test. Ideas formulated by Merleau-Ponty on mirror self-experience point to the profoundly unsettling encounter with one's specular double. These ideas, together with developmental evidence are re-visited to provide a new, psychologically and phenomenologically more valid account of mirror self-experience: an experience associated with deep wariness.     

Report on a leaderless group: Winging it by tape

Pastoral Psychology -     

Personality and "success" among a selected group of lawyers

As part of a larger study, eleven subjects--male, Caucasian, native-born, early 70s, lawyers, life-long (since 1922) participants in the Terman Study of the Gifted--were interviewed. From the edited tapes, seven qualified raters evaluated Various measures of life success and completed a 100-item Q-sort for all subjects. In general, the very highest successes were related to contentment, self-confidence, openness and spontaneity, a wide range of cultural interests, and relative freedom from pervasive feelings of hostility, irritability and dissatisfaction. The general results are corroborated by Terman Study data available for these same subjects for years 1922, 1927, and 1940. Some implications of these findings for child-rearing, marriage and the possible governance of one's life are explored.     

Emotional interaction in a group of preterm infants at 3 and 6 months of corrected age

Twenty preterm infants (birthweight<1500 g) and 20 healthy fullterm infants were compared with respect to emotional interaction with their mothers in a face‐to‐face situation at 3 months of age and in a feeding situation at 6 months of age (ages corrected for preterm birth). The assessed outcome was analysed with respect to infant variables (group, gender, gestational age, birthweight and neonatal risk factors) and maternal variables (age, education and parity). The outcomes at 3 and 6 months of age were also compared with findings of Griffiths’ testing at 10 months of age. At 3 months of age, the findings reveal no significant difference between the two groups with respect to emotional interaction. Maternal variables are more important for this interaction than are infant variables. The mother's level of formal education has a significant impact in both groups. In the group of fullterm infants, significantly lower scores for interaction are obtained by first‐time mothers in comparison with multi‐parae mothers. At 6 months of age, the difference between fullterm and preterm infants is significant. The preterm infants and their mothers now relate to one another more poorly than is the case for the fullterm dyads. These findings suggest that the difficulties encountered by the preterm infant emerge with time. Emotional interaction at this age and the results of Griffiths’ testing 4 months later are significantly correlated. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Living and dying with aids: Report of a three-year psychotherapy group

Group therapy is used to help patients deal with the painful emotional responses to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. This paper describes an ongoing group for persons with AIDS conducted for three years by the authors. Educative, supportive, and intensive psychodynamic models were combined in the group. Population characteristics, psychological issues, problems, and advantages of this group are discussed. This multi-modal approach has been found to be a useful and effective approach to the emotional problems of AIDS.     

Efficacy of "talking books" for a group of reading disabled boys

No significant differences in proficiency of reading-listening comprehension among 24 reading-disabled boys in Grades 4, 5, and 6 were noted after hearing "talking book," taped stories, and teacher-read presentations.     

Evaluating "baby think it over" infant simulators: a comparison group study

To test the efficacy of Baby-Think-It-Over (BTIO) infant simulators, two versions of a sexuality education program were compared. While the program was designed to include BTIO as an important teaching technique, two schools (49 students) opted not to use them. These students completed all elements of the program except the BTIO activities. Their results were compared to students from three similar, neighboring schools that completed the regular program (including BTIO). Knowledge about sex, attitudes toward teen sex, parent-adolescent communication, and sexual behavior were measured on self-report instruments at the beginning and end of the three-week program. No significant differences were found between the two groups on any of the four measures on the pretest or posttest. This study and similar recent reports call into question the educational value of expensive infant simulators.     

The control of "classroom attention": a group contingency for complex behavior

Cumulative time measures of classroom attention, as delineated by the teacher, were taken of four elementary classes (kindergarten, third, fifth, and sixth grades) and of 16 randomly chosen students in these same classes. Each class of students was viewed as an individual responding organism. Base rates showed considerable variability. Explicit instructions alone concerning student attention produced temporary increase for some students and for some grades. Adding group contingencies (i.e., contingencies dependent on the attention of every student in the class) and token-mediated reinforcement to class achievement of a gradually increasing attention criterion raised group measures to a consistent 70 to 85% level of time attending to task as instructed, and raised individual student measures to a stable 90 to 100% level. Reversals and other data indicate that the elementary teacher can, by herself and with little effort, maximize what she considers the "paying-attention behavior" of all her students by her less-than-precise measure and consequation of the attention of the class as a whole.     

试论佛教"六和"与团队建设

两千年来僧团因标举佛陀"六和"精神而和乐清静,虽历经劫难却发展不息.与之形成对比的是,我国企业建立的各种"团队"因缺乏符合国人特质的"团队精神"而往往以失败告终.本文回顾佛陀关于"六和"精神的教诲,认为在建设团队中,唯有以"六和"精神为导向,方可实现建立团队时的初衷.