Dealing With Complexity Differently: From Interaction-Dominant Dynamics to Theoretical Plurality

We describe how the work of Guy Van Orden has been deeply influential in a variety of ways and focus on 2 important features: measurement and context. The centrality of these variables in understanding how psychological regularities emerge in our investigative contexts, and evolve into theories, recommends a different way of dealing with complexity. We argue that the Van Orden approach has, as one possible consequence, a plural approach to psychological phenomena. We end by describing what this means for cognitive science.     

Cultural Trauma and Countertransference Experiences of Therapists Dealing With Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Response to Kathleen McPhillips

My response to Kathleen McPhillips’s paper focuses on the pervasiveness of vicarious trauma for those working with survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Attempts to avoid the impact of vicarious trauma may in fact lead to denial, dissociation, or amnesia. Cultural trauma, as unearthed by the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse Commission, can also be linked with the wider theme of Australia’s history of migration. Migrants who came to Australia fleeing various forms of trauma, have, at times, felt betrayed by the new country. This sense of betrayal is compounded if, for example, institutional sexual abuse suffered by their offspring, is ignored or denied. The abuse suffered by children in Australian institutions has led to trauma on both personal and cultural levels. Healing, therefore, may require both individual help, and ethical responsiveness on a more collective level. The Royal Commission serves to provide a container for its examination. Such public recognition is but one step in processes of reparation that need to take place on individual and cultural levels. McPhillips’s work may also serve as a vital part of this process.     

From Termination to the Evolution of a Relationship: A New Understanding

Much of the psychoanalytic literature on termination is steeped in ideals of autonomy, independence, and permanent cessation of contact. Although more recently some modified perspectives on termination have been offered, literature from various fields including contemporary psychoanalytic models, infancy research, and neuroscience supports a more extensive reconceptualization. After reviewing the literature, this article proposes replacing the concept of termination with the more flexible idea of multiple possible evolutions of the analytic relationship depending on the particular pair and their context. A clinical illustration is offered to support this perspective.     

A Time to Learn: A Comparison of Policies Dealing with Clergy Sexual Misconduct

This is the first article to compare a variety of religious organizations’ codes of conduct when dealing with clergy sexual misconduct. The comparison of codes from Catholic, Protestant and Jewish institutions provide a valuable indication of how this important and complex set of issues is being approached. Moreover, the sharing of information contained in this article will encourage clergy based organizations to learn from the practices of others in order to improve their regulatory procedures. In addition, it is hoped that as religious institutions learn from each other, stronger and more effective responses will be developed to address clergy boundary violations.     

New parents at work: Jobs, families and the psychological contract

Interviews with seven women and six men who had recently returned to work after becoming first-time parents were carried out to examine experiences of the policies, practices and attitudes of their employers towards new parents, and to assess how far they felt able to discuss their circumstances and changed expectations with their managers. Findings pointed to considerable differences in the attitudes of employers to the men and women. Almost all the women had changed to part-time work, but arranging this had not been easy and some had found it difficult to come to terms with a difference in status. Many of the respondents had reservations about discussing their positions and altered expectations with their managers, and it seemed unlikely that mutually beneficial psychological contracts could be negotiated without changes in organisational cultures and policies. The findings have implications for our understanding of organisational careers and for career-planning interventions in organisations.     

New Approaches to the Study of Childhood Language Disorders

Not long ago, poor language skills did not necessarily interfere with the quality of a person's life. Many occupations did not require sophisticated language or literacy. Interactions with other people could reasonably be restricted to family members and a few social or business contacts. But in the 21st century, advances in technology and burgeoning population centers have made it necessary for children to acquire high levels of proficiency with at least one language, in both spoken and written form. This situation increases the urgency for us to develop better theoretical accounts of the problems underlying disorders of language, including dyslexia. Empirical investigations of language-learning deficits largely focus on phonological representations and often ask to what extent labeling responses are "categorical." This article describes the history of this approach and presents some relevant findings regarding the perceptual organization of speech signals-findings that should prompt us to expand our investigations of language disorders.     

Greek Thought: A Guide to Classical Knowledge

Book Information Greek Thought: A Guide to Classical Knowledge. By Jacques Bruschwig and Geoffrey, E. R. Lloyd. MA, Belnap Press. Cambridge. 2000. Pp. xv + 1024. Hardback, US$49.00.     

Dealing with dissonance: A review of cognitive dissonance reduction

This article provides an overview of research about cognitive dissonance reduction. Over the past 60 years, researchers have produced significant theoretical and empirical contributions from cognitive dissonance theory. One of the challenges that remains for dissonance theory going forward is a deeper examination of the process of dissonance reduction. I describe the various reduction strategies that have been investigated followed by models that have been proposed to understand an individual's use of dissonance reduction strategies. I then highlight a series of factors that can help us move research about dissonance reduction forward. These factors can be broadly subsumed under characteristics of the reduction mode and characteristics of the dissonance arousal. I conclude by suggesting that examination of these factors in studies that present multiple reduction modes to participants will provide a better understanding of the process of dissonance reduction.     

From Treatment to Empowerment: New Approaches to Youth Mentoring

Traditional approaches to formal youth mentoring have focused primarily on improving the lives of “at‐risk” youth through the assignment of individual mentors who are typically disconnected from youth's communities. Similarly, research in the field of formal mentoring has emphasized the dyadic relationship between the mentor and the mentee, with less attention paid to the broader relational contexts in which such relationships unfold. The current paper proposes a new framework that expands the scope of mentoring interventions to include approaches that build on and cultivate informal supports and empower youth to identify and reach out to networks of potential supportive adults, thus increasing the reach of youth mentoring.     

Family Adjustment to Childhood Cancer: A Systematic Review

This systematic review integrates qualitative and quantitative research findings regarding family changes in the context of childhood cancer. Twenty-eight quantitative, 42 qualitative, and one mixed-method studies were reviewed. Included studies focused on family functioning, marital quality, and/or parenting in the context of pediatric cancer, were written in English, and were published between 1996 and 2009. Overall, qualitative findings show that families alter roles, responsibilities, and day-to-day functioning to accommodate the needs of children with cancer. Although some degree of family reorganization is normative, the extent and impact of these changes varies. Quantitative work shows that mean levels of family functioning (e.g., cohesion, flexibility) are similar between families facing cancer and normative or comparison samples. However, families follow different trajectories of improvement, decline, or stability in family closeness and marital quality. Parenting has received limited quantitative research attention, but qualitative work suggests that parents perceive deeper bonds with ill children and may spoil or overprotect them. Conclusions support future work examining the influence of family-level variables on the adjustment of individual family members.