Civil Disobedience: A Sign for Jonah

The authors were tried on 9 January at Banbury Magistrates Court for alleged offences committed during a CND demonstration at a base where nuclear-armed bombers are on constant alert. Though they were fined for trespass and breaking a by-law, they were found not guilty of criminal damage. Brother Richard's counsel, Dr John Finnis, Praelector in Jurisprudence in Oxford University, had submitted (substantially on case law) that they had 'lawful excuse' for their actions. The Crown Prosecution Service will almost certainly try to get the Court's important decision reversed. This is the text of the defendants' own last words to the Court.     

AdJusting Jonah

In this article, I engage the theme for the WCC Busan assembly – “God of Life, Lead Us to Justice and Peace” – through a reading of the story of Jonah that listens for the currents and vibes in and from Oceania. I circle around the story of Jonah with a double‐edging (AdJusting) reading: first, listening for justice (Just ing) in the story of Jonah and second, shifting (Adjusting) the way we hear (read, view) Jonah. I hear Jonah's Wrath as a call for justice, with calm and respect of someone who is angry but at peace. Jonah did not agree with G*d from the start, seeing that Nineveh was not as wicked as G*d claimed, and at the end of the story Jonah is silent because he did not want Nineveh's countless cattle (like pigs in my culture) to be destroyed.     

The Fantasy Questionnaire: A Measure to Assess Creative and Imaginative Fantasy

This article reports the construction and validation of a comprehensive self-report measure of fantasy. Unlike previous measures of fantasy, which focus on psychopathology, we conceive fantasy as a trait with positive connotation. Principal component analysis (N = 318) and confirmatory factor analyses (N = 345) were conducted using 2 sociodemographically diverse samples. The results provided support for a 2-factor conceptualization of the construct, with the dimensions imaginative fantasy and creative fantasy. Imaginative fantasy refers to vivid imagination and absorption in these images and daydreams. Creative fantasy refers to the activity of using fantasy to create new ideas. The trait measure showed good internal consistency, test–retest reliability, discriminant and convergent construct validity, as well as incremental validity. Moreover, in 3 behavioral studies, we put fantasy scores in relationship with behavioral data to provide further proof of validity. A comprehensive measure of fantasy can contribute to our understanding of individual differences in inner experiences, creative processes, and problem solving.     

Jonah and Applied Psychoanalytic Dialogue: Introduction

This introduction to a series of fascinating papers on the biblical book of Jonah provides a brief schematic outline of the narrative as well as an orientation to the place of the book in the Jewish liturgy. An explanation is given for why a secular psychoanalytic audience might well be interested in such an effort at applied psychoanalysis. This rationale has to do with the story's universal as well as particularistic significance. Jonah himself may be viewed as attempting to escape from dialogue, but this lively and engaged psychoanalytic dialogue examines and debates the meaning of his story.     

The Fantasy Engagement Scale: A Flexible Measure of Positive and Negative Fantasy Engagement

Despite the prevalence of fantasy activities in day-to-day life, there has been little systematic psychological research on fantasy. Existing work is scattered across numerous fantasy-related topics and are rarely viewed as a collective body of work. We propose a scale of fantasy engagement that addresses this scattered and often-contradictory literature by assessing both positive and negative aspects of fantasy engagement. Across four studies we develop and validate the Fantasy Engagement Scale, establishing its reliability, validity, and applicability to topics including well-being, escapism, and mental imagery. The results begin to reconcile contradictions in the existing research and have implications for future work on fantasy specifically and for studies of fantasy-related activities.     

Fantasy Proneness: Developmental Antecedents

ABSTRACT Wilson and Barber (1981) identified a “personality type” characterized by an extensive and deep involvement in fantasy that they termed “fantasy prone personalities” This study investigated the developmental antecedents of fantasy proneness as part of a larger research project designed to examine the construct validity of the fantasy prone personality Fantasy prone (n= 21, upper 4% of college population), medium range (n= 20) and nonfantasy prone persons (n= 18, lower 4% of college population) were selected with the Inventory of Childhood Memories and Imaginings (Wilson and Barber, 1981) Subjects completed quantitative pencil and paper measures of early life experiences and participated in individual semi structured interviews Strong support for the construct validity of fantasy proneness and confirmation of previous findings regarding the developmental antecedents of extensive adult fantasy involvement were secured While six fantasy prones reported being severely physically abused during childhood, abuse was not reported in other groups Fantasy prones also reported greater frequency and severity of physical punishment, greater use of fantasy to block the pain of punishment, more thoughts of revenge toward the person who punished them, greater loneliness, and a preference for punishing their own children less severely than did the comparison groups, suggesting compensatory and adaptive functions of fantasy involvements     

Morality,Perspective, and Fantasy: A Comment on Sarah Buss

A response to Sarah Buss's article, ‘Some Musings about the Limits of an Ethics that Can Be Applied,’ focusing on issues connected with Buss’s claims about human insignificance, and the indifference to self that the recognition of insignificance allegedly engenders.     

Fantasy formation: a child analyst's perspective

Unconscious fantasy is the principal unit of psychoanalytic investigation. Though individual fantasies, either conscious or unconscious, may emphasize drive, defense, or superego interests, all fantasy life develops from a limited number of themes; these themes concern drive-related issues, experiences of helplessness, or combinations of both. Fantasy formation and fantasy content undergo developmental change. Sensorimotor, behavioral memories occur prior to fantasy and are influential in determining repetitive behavioral enactments. The complexities of infant behavior do not require the postulation of fantasy or representational memory. A complex, innate, instinctual organization of the newborn, similar in many respects to that of other newborn mammals, and distinct from the psychological organization of the older infant, is suggested as an explanation of these phenomena.     

Fantasy proneness and psychopathology

Fantasy prone persons ("fantasizers") selected from "normal" populations report experiences associated with psychopathology in clinical populations (e.g., fantasies that reach hallucinatory proportions, difficulty discriminating reality from fantasy). In Study 1, we administered objective (MMPI) and projective (Rorschach) measures to high fantasy prone individuals (upper 4% of college population), medium fantasy prone individuals (middle range), and nonfantasizers (lowest 4%). Subjects who were fantasizers appeared to use fantasy for defensive or adaptive purposes compared with others and produced 8/9 modal code types on the MMPI. On the basis of the MMPI findings, a subset of fantasizers could be described as exhibiting a significant degree of psychopathology. In Study 2, a second sample of fantasy prone individuals could not be distinguished from comparison groups in contacts with professionals for help with psychological problems, use of psychotropic medication, or number of close friendships. Although fantasizers perceived themselves as less well adjusted than comparison subjects and reported greater difficulty in distinguishing fantasy from reality, most fantasizers rated their psychological functioning as adequate and above and did not differ from less fantasy prone subjects in ratings of positivity of self-concept. As demonstrated in Study 1, a subset of fantasizers did appear to be more pathological than other subjects were, with three fantasizers reporting a history of psychiatric hospitalizations. It is estimated that between 10 and 20% of fantasizers exhibit significant signs of maladjustment/psychopathology; however, as a rule, fantasy proneness does not appear to be antecedent to severe manifestations of psychopathology.