Herbert m. Lefcourt (1936-2011)

Presents an obituary for Herbert M. Lefcourt. In the summer of 1963, with a freshly minted PhD degree in his hands, Lefcourt moved to Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Along with several other young faculty members from the United States, Herb had been recruited to help establish a new PhD program in clinical psychology at the University of Waterloo. Over the ensuing years, it became recognized as one of the leading clinical programs in North America. Ever an optimist with a zest for life, Herb focused on the positive side of human nature in his research interests. While others studied stress and distress, Herb was more interested in the personality traits of people who are particularly resilient, able to withstand adversity without succumbing to illness and depression. Later in his career, his interests turned to the study of the sense of humor, again conceptualized as a personality variable with important implications for mental and physical health. Herb retired from the university in 1996 and was awarded the honorific of Distinguished Professor Emeritus. He had a very enjoyable retirement, pursuing his many interests, which included international travel, hiking, woodworking, literature, film, and classical music, and enjoying his summer cottage on Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron. He is remembered as an energetic teacher who, in addition to having an eclectic command of the theory and research, drew on his vast knowledge of literature, film, and current events to make his lectures interesting, informative, and thought-provoking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

A personal encounter with psychology (1937-2002)

An undergraduate assistantship with Abraham Maslow, research with Solomon Asch, and an indirect exposure to Ernest Nagel's philosophy of science encouraged Howard H. Kendler to become involved with methodological issues in psychology. Graduate training with Kenneth Spence led to an active research career that was initially immersed in the latent learning controversy and later, with the collaboration of his wife Tracy Kendler, in the extension of the Hull-Spence model of cognitive development. Methodological concerns from a variety of sources encouraged Kendler to express his ideas on the methodology and history of psychology as well as its role in ethical and social policy issues. A productive symbiotic relationship is created from the interaction of democracy, natural-science psychology, and moral pluralism.     

与胡塞尔的谈话(1931-1938年)

这是胡塞尔与耶格施密特修女于1931-1938年之间的谈话记录.当时,在国家社会主义的影响下,胡塞尔越来越过着离群索居的生活,耶格施密特修女是为数极少的坚持与其来往的朋友.在耶格施密特修女每次谈话之后记撰下来的这些记录中,有胡塞尔对其现象学和哲学的反省,也有他对德国以及欧洲时局的忧虑,还有他对他的那些学生和朋友的评论,特别还包含有胡塞尔在其公开发表的著作中极少谈及的对于基督教的思考.可以说,这些珍贵的谈话记录给人们勾勒了胡塞尔晚年的思考和生活状况,也在很大程度上使胡塞尔的形象更为丰满.     

Qualitative research in psychology: Attitudes of psychology students and academic staff

Qualitative research is experiencing a resurgence within the field of psychology. This study aimed to explore the range of attitudes towards qualitative research in psychology held by students and academics, using the model of attitudes by Eagly and Chaiken as a framework. Twenty‐one psychology students and academics were interviewed about their attitudes towards qualitative research. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. While qualitative research was described as inherent to the psychology profession and useful for generating rich data, some participants felt that this approach was not well respected or considered as legitimate as quantitative methods. Reflecting common misperceptions about qualitative research, participants also expressed concerns that qualitative research was too subjective and had limited generalisability. Furthermore, some participants felt that they lacked the skills and confidence necessary to conduct qualitative research. Large investments in time and resources were identified as barriers to undertaking qualitative research. Identifying attitudes towards qualitative research provides a basis for future work in dispelling myths, promoting attitudinal change and increasing both the use and teaching of qualitative approaches in psychology.     

Gender perspective in the context of Spanish academic psychology

The purpose of this study is to analyse the evolution of gender perspective in the context of the Spanish academic Psychology. The last three decades were analysed. In each decade, the study describes the groups and individuals who have contributed to the analysis of gender perspective in Psychology, the sponsoring institutions, and the most frequently used research strategies. Likewise, the study analyses the development of topics and areas in these three decades. The general trend shows that the interpretation of sex/gender has moved away from being considered an individual and internal factor to a more dynamic approach that analyses sex/gender through behavioural practices.     

Contexts and experimentalism in the psychology of Gabriele Buccola (1875-1885)

Gabriele Buccola, since his untimely death, often has been mentioned as the first Italian psychologist who developed a strict program of laboratory research. Buccola, a Sicilian of Albanian ancestry, is a "case" in the history of Italian psychology. A self-taught positivist, he established a relation with the major representatives of the European positivism. Kraepelin mentions him as one of the precursors of his project of applying experimental psychology to psychopathology. Buccola actually carried out research on the psychological, chemical-biological, and psychopathological "modifiers" of reaction times, following an experimental program dealing mainly with the differential study both of basic and superior psychological processes, with mental hygiene ends. Historians of psychology agree in considering Buccola the first Italian laboratory psychologist to plan a program of research that was close to European psychological experimentalism.The present article, starting from an outline of Buccola's role in the rising Italian scientific psychology, recontextualizes his experimentalism in an international sphere. This operation, which is carried out through a careful survey of Buccola's entire production-both theoretical and more properly scientific-is based on the search of the Darwinian, Spencerian, and Haeckelian evolutionist themes emerging from Buccola's program of research-a program that was influenced by the variegated European experimental panorama and characterized by the vision of science as a knowledge capable of transforming the nature of man and of society.