Gods and REMS: The implications of recent dream research for the psychology of religion

Throughout history dreams have been primarily the province of religion. People in many cultures have looked to dreams as sources of spiritual insight and divine revelation. The relationship between traditional religious views of dreams and modern psychological views of dreams has long interested psychologists of religion—for dreams are a uniquely fertile subject for comparing religious and psychological understandings of human experience. In recent years there have been many revolutionary discoveries in dream research, discoveries that have taken us far beyond the seminal works of Freud, Jung, and the early sleep laboratory researchers. This essay describes the work of three leading contemporary dream researchers (neurophysiologist J. Allan Hobson, psychologist Stephen LaBerge, and anthropologist Barbara Tedlock) and evaluates the implications of their findings for our understanding of the religious dimensions of dreams. The essay concludes with some reflections on the valuable role of dream study in the psychology of religion. The primary claim is that recent dream research can make important contributions to current psychology of religion discussions about such issues as interdisciplinary inquiry, hermeneutics, the cross-cultural study of religious experience, the cultural and religious context of modern psychology, and the practical concerns of pastoral counselors.This essay is based on a paper presented on November 25 at the 1991 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Kansas City, Missouri.     

The ‘crisis’ in social psychology,an empirical approach

The preponderance of empirical research in social psychology has ofren been a central issue in the ‘crisis literature’. However, no extensive empirical study has ever been undertaken vis a vis the ‘crisis’ in social psychology. In two studies, factors effecting the perceptions of social psychologists of their discipline were investigated. Although in the first study, among Dutch social psychologists, four hypotheses were tested and confirmed, a large part of the total variance in the perception of the ‘crisis’ remained unexplained. In the second study, both a worldwide sample of active social psychological researchers as well as a sample of authors of the ‘crisis literature’ were surveyed. The stances of both groups differed considerably. Although a majority of the active researchers did not agree that a crisis is at hand in social psychology, a large minority did. The active researchers agreed with many of the criticisms of social psychological research and theorizing. Attitudes on nine central issues, including the functioning of the editor/reviewer publishing system, predicted a large percentage of the total variance in the subjects' attitude toward the existence of a ‘crisis’ in their discipline.     

An overview of issues in infant and developmental research for the creation of robust and replicable science

In the last few years, the field of psychology has been challenged with a crisis in the rigor and reproducibility of the science. The focus of these issues has primarily been in social, cognitive, and cognitive neuroscience psychology, however, the area of developmental research is not immune to these issues. This paper provides an overview of the “replication crisis” and the choices made by researchers that are often not noted in methods, thus making the replication of studies more difficult. In this review we discuss issues of researcher flexibility in the data design and selection of sample size, collection, and analysis stages of research. In each of these areas we address examples of bias and how developmental researchers can address these issues in their own research.     

Cultural unconscious in research: integrating multicultural and depth paradigms in qualitative research

Culturally focused research has gained momentum in many disciplines, including psychology. However, much of this research fails to pay attention to the unconscious dynamics that underlie the study of culture and culturally influenced human beings. Such dynamics may be especially significant when issues of marginalization and oppression are present. Therefore, this paper seeks to contribute a framework for understanding cultural dynamics, especially unconscious cultural dynamics, within depth psychological qualitative research influenced by Jungian and post‐Jungian scholarship. Inquiry that is approached with a commitment to making the unconscious conscious seeks to empower and liberate not only the subject/object studied but also the researchers themselves. Following a brief review of multiculturalism in the context of analytically informed psychology, this paper offers several case examples that focus on researchers' integration of awareness of the cultural unconscious in their study of cultural beings and topics.     

Psychological Science in Australia

This paper is a brief account of the Australian Strategic Review of the Psychology Discipline and its Research. Issues discussed include Australia's contribution to world research in psychological science, research funding, the age and qualifications of researchers, the social and economic benefits arising from the applications of research outcomes, multidisciplinary issues, the role of psychology in industry, links between the discipline and the profession of psychology, professional training, cross-cultural issues, and educational issues. Priorities for development of research and postgraduate training are identified, and include human factors and other areas related to technological change, clinical psychology with particular attention to health psychology, industrial and organizational psychology, and neuroscience and physiological psychology.     

Developmental psychology and psychoanalysis: I. The context for a revolution in psychoanalysis

After describing the manner in which the integration of psychoanalysis and developmental psychology became a central problem for ego psychology, the author examines the conditions that make it possible for new research and theory in developmental psychology to contribute to a revolution in contemporary psychoanalytic theory. They include: (1) the emergence of a state of "crisis" in American psychoanalysis centering on questions of the nature of early development and how it can be known; (2) the explosive growth of developmental research on early childhood dealing with issues at the heart of that crisis; and (3) the presence of a new generation of psychoanalysts and psychoanalytically oriented researchers capable of bringing that research to bear on those issues.     

Author gender differences in psychology citation impact 1996–2018

Academic psychology in the USA is a gender success story in terms of overturning its early male dominance but there are still relatively few senior female psychology researchers. To assess whether there are gender differences in citation impact that might help to explain either of these trends, this study investigates psychology articles since 1996. Seven out of eight Scopus psychology categories had a majority of female first-authored journal articles by 2018. From regression analyses of first and last author gender and team size, female first authors associate with a slightly higher average citation impact, but extra authors have a 10 times stronger association with higher average citation impact. Last author gender has little association with citation impact. Female first authors are more likely to be in larger teams and if team size is attributed to the first author's work, then their apparent influence of female first authors on citation impact doubles. While gender differences in average citation impact are too small to account for gender-related trends in academic psychology, they warn that male-dominated citation-based ranking lists of psychologists do not reflect the state of psychology research today.     

Ambivalence under scrutiny: Returning to the future

Abstract

This Special Issue on the study of ambivalent processes in psychology integrates issues from contemporary evolutionary, cognitive, and cultural psychology with new directions of formal models that are available in qualitative mathematics. Tribute is paid to the pioneer of the study of ambivalence—Else Frenkel-Brunswik. Her work antedates most of our contemporary efforts in this field. Becoming free from the limits of its obsession with numbers in lieu of “measurement”, psychology at our time faces the challenge of investigation of dynamic psychological complexity. Contemporary mathematics—which is qualitative in its nature—provides new opportunities for psychology. New mathematical models—based on topology (Morse functions) and from intuitionistic formal logic (theory of locales)—are shown to provide promising new directions for future research on ambivalence. The emphasis on mathematical tools as enablement devices for psychological theorizing leads psychology to the need to create new kinds of generalized understanding of complex psychological processes.     

西方理论心理学研究的新特点

理论心理学研究的复兴是近年来西方心理学发展的新特点。西方理论心理学研究的重点,并不是通过理论化的简单转向来克服心理学发展中的困难,或以总体的、一般的抽象术语重新发明元理论,而是力图在提高理论研究方式的科学化水平基础上,加强对具体的、中等水平的亚理论问题的整合性学术探讨。进一步寻求心理学理论研究走向繁荣的学科内在发展机制。     

Web-based administration of a personality questionnaire: Comparison with traditional methods

The World-Wide Web holds great promise as a mechanism for questionnaire-based research. But are data from Web-based questionnaires comparable to data from standard paper-and-pencil questionnaires? This study assessed the equivalence of the Ruminative Responses Scale in a Web-based format and in a paper-and-pencil format among introductory psychology, upper-level psychology, and non-psychology students. Internal consistency coefficients were comparable across the groups. The participants in the Web sample reported higher levels of self-focused rumination than did the other groups. Women in the Web sample reported more self-focused rumination than did women in the other groups. In the Web sample, results did not covary with access location. These results suggest that findings from Web-based questionnaire research are comparable with results obtained using standard procedures. The computerized Web interface may also facilitate self-disclosure among research participants.     

心理学本土化的后现代反思

心理学本土化目前在我国的发展面临很多困惑,究其原因,主要在于现代心理学的科学主义倾向明显,导致很多研究者在对心理学学科性质、研究方法、研究对象等根本问题上存在严重的认识偏颇。要解决心理学本土化过程中的困惑,需要重新对心理学的学科性质、研究方法、研究对象等基本问题进行反思。后现代主义心理学在一定程度上能够给予本土心理学研究者以思考,帮助其重拾学术自信,促进研究者在未来的心理学本土化研究中更好的开展相关的工作,进而产生更多的学术创新。     

儿童早期"心理理论"发展研究中的几个基本问题

儿童"心理理论"的发展研究是当今发展心理学中最活跃的领域之一.近年来,该领域的研究重点已逐渐由一般的发展描述,转向关于"心理理论"的缘起与发展机制的研究.由此,有许多密切相关的关于早期"心理理论"发生发展及其评估的基本问题,横亘于研究者面前,迄今仍悬而未决,并引发诸多争议.如何解决这些问题并理顺它们之间的关系,将极大地影响着该领域今后的研究进展.     

我国近十年来心理学研究中HLM方法的应用述评

以2002-2011年中国期刊网收录的50例应用多层线性模型(HLM)的心理学期刊论文为研究对象,从样本描述、模型发展与规范、数据准备、估计方法与假设检验4个角度进行文献计量和内容分析,对我国心理学研究中HLM方法的使用现状进行评估。结果表明,HLM方法主要用于管理、发展和教育心理学,绝大多数应用都是两层模型且层2样本量较大。HLM方法在广泛应用的同时仍存在忽略前提假设检验、分析过程中的重要信息和结果报告不完整等问题,随后提供了4条建议。     

新生代员工自杀意念的产生机理

新生代员工的自杀意念正在引起研究者的关注.本研究立足于职业健康心理学和积极心理学视野,汲取自我决定理论和生命意义理论的思想精髓以构建“动机-生命意义”模型,系统考察社会、组织和个体因素对自杀意念的综合影响,对揭示无精神疾患员工自杀意念产生的影响机制和心理动力机制、促进研究范式从病理取向转向积极取向具有重要的理论价值;此外,还有望开发出一套“社会-组织情境→动机→生命意义”干预方案,引导企业与政府反思其现有管理体系,帮助管理者审视其管理哲学并改善其管理行为,针对尚无自杀意念或意念处于萌芽期的员工,多层次、多途径构建员工自杀的一级防控体系和心理援助机制,促进员工与企业、社会的整体和谐发展.     

新媒体研究述评及其心理学研究取向

新媒体的横空出世,对人们的生活带来极大影响。针对新媒体自身的一些问题及其影响,国内外进行了一系列研究。在综观相关研究成果基础上,介绍了新媒体的内涵与外延、特征及新媒体时代的起始时间,并主要介绍了新媒体的研究焦点,包括新媒体对人们生活方式及生活质量的影响,影响人们对新媒体态度及行为背后的心理因素分析。最后,在综合评价已有研究的基础上,提出应进一步加强新媒体的心理学研究取向,同时指出新媒体研究问题的具体深入化、方法的多元化及研究的本土化是未来的研究趋向。     

Research Integrity Practices from the Perspective of Early-Career Researchers

Unavailability of published data and studies focused on young researchers in Europe and research integrity issues reveals that clear understanding and stance on this subject within European area is lacking. Our study provides information on attitudes and experiences of European researchers at early career stages (doctoral and postdoctoral level), based on a limited sample of respondents (n = 27). The study provides both quantitative and qualitative results for the examined issues. The data suggest that awareness and interest of the younger researchers surveyed in research integrity issues is high, however, it is often based on self-initiatives, with many of the respondents not having adequate training or any possibility to obtain it. Our attitude survey conducted within the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers indicates that only 22 % of respondents had an opportunity to obtain relevant training (significantly less than in a study conducted in the U.S.), and that only one third believed that institutions and supervisors regularly paid attention to it. Further, we noted certain differences between disciplines. The study also reveals that many younger researchers felt they faced problems due to the misconduct of their senior colleagues and the existing institutional culture. The results of the study indicate a need for better prevention mechanisms, training and raising awareness activities. Preferably, junior researchers should be given an active role in shaping the integrity culture. It should be noted that the presented results should be considered in the context of the limitations stemming from the small-scale survey. This paper encourages further research activities on research integrity practices to provide stronger evidence on the attitudes and experiences of young researchers in Europe and other parts of the world.     

What is the status of theoretical psychology in Australia and New Zealand? An investigation of contemporary teaching and research issues

Theoretical investigation has a contested focus on conceptual, philosophical and non‐empirical issues in psychology that is rarely examined empirically. This paper explores the status of theoretical psychology as scholarly research and its location in the curricula of Australian and New Zealand psychology departments. Nine self‐identified theoretical psychologists and 2 psychological society representatives were interviewed. Participant responses and an examination of department websites indicated that theoretical psychology and advanced theoretical units are offered mainly in third year and honours levels. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed contrasting views of theoretical psychology as a subdiscipline or distributed throughout the curriculum, challenges to theoretical psychology as teaching and research activities, and a need for debate about the place of theoretical teaching and research in the discipline. The study recommends further empirical investigations to evaluate the presumed utility of reflexive, critical and metatheoretical skills and to assess anecdotal reports of “theory in decline”.     

Sponsored research in the counseling psychology literature

Elliott and Shewchuk (1996) assert that counseling psychology should have considerable potential to influence national healthcare and public policy. A mechanism for realizing this potential entails being responsive to national, state and private funding initiatives for reaearch and other programmatic activities. To examine the extent to which counseling psychology resarch reflects an involvement in these initiatives, we studied the rate of sponsored research in three journals traditionally associated with mainstream counseling psychology research. We compared this rate with that observed in oher applied and theoretically oriented psychological journals. In comparison with the research published in the other outlets, results indicated that the mainstream counseling psychology literature has a disproportionately low level of sponsorship from national and federal sources. The scant representation of federally-funded research in the counseling psychology literature may effectively preclude full participation in addressing and setting national funding priorities and other health care and public policies germane to the field. Several issues are raised and discussed in light of these findings.     

男同性恋的身体意象：特点与理论分析

对男同性恋身体意象的研究有近30年的历史。男同性恋比男异性恋更容易出现负面身体意象、身体不满意和进食障碍等。男同性恋追求瘦而有肌肉的理想身体。针对这些特点, 研究者提出一些理论假设进行解释, 包括性客观化理论、内化同性恋污名、性别角色假设、进化心理学假设和AIDS/HIV假设等。未来研究要进行整合的和多样化的研究取向, 方法上采用以网络调查为主的定量研究和以现象学分析为主的定性研究。最后, 国内研究要更注重文化特异性。     

Psychological jurisprudence and the information processing paradigm

The purpose of this article is to further recent work in the psychology of jurisprudence. After summarizing the value positions that are central to a jurisprudence that emphasizes the role of law in the everyday lives of individuals, we examine the interaction between the tenets of that philosophy and the paradigmatic content of psycholegal research. We propose that one dominant perspective, information processing, assumes that legal actors are imperfect processors of social information and proceeds to document biases and propose ways for the law to minimize shortcomings in human cognition. After summarizing the emerging theory of psychological jurisprudence, we discuss the information processing paradigm in psychology and law, illustrating its contributions with three recent studies. Next, we present an empirical analysis of abstracts from the last 5 years of empirical research to demonstrate that there is a representative body of information processing research in psychology and law. Following this is an in-depth assessment of a sample of cognitive and social cognitive studies, detailing the scientific and normative issues that make up this literature. Finally, we conclude with some recommendations for jurisprudential theorists and psycholegal researchers which will integrate the philosophy of psychology and law with its empirical underpinnings.