The neglected object: A history of the concept of dreams in Polish psychiatry and psychology in the interwar period, 1918–1939

The development of the concept of dreams in interwar Polish psychiatry and psychology was influenced by Western European concepts as well as by sociocultural factors of the newly independent state. Few Polish psychiatrists addressed the subject of dreams. They were influenced mainly by Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic concept of dreams, but also by Alferd Adler's, Carl Gustav Jung's, and Wilhelm Stekel's ideas. Nevertheless, they approached psychoanalysis critically. The most comprehensive concept of dreams in Polish psychiatry was oneiroanalysis by Tadeusz Bilikiewicz. Oneironalysis was a method of dream analysis based on psychoanalysis but it rejected the psychoanalytic method of free associations and challenged psychoanalytic approaches to the interpretation of dream symbols. Polish psychologists were even less interested in dreams than psychiatrists. Problems with dreams, the most elaborate psychological work by Stefan Szuman consisted of an outline of epistemological problems with general theories of dreams and a harsh critique of psychoanalysis. The neglect of the subject of dreams in Polish psychiatric society can be seen as connected with the social and professional reception of psychoanalysis in Poland. Psychoanalysis was met with opposition from conservative scholars and publicists presenting nationalistic and anti-Semitic attitudes. It was also criticized by the biologically oriented majority of psychiatrists of the Polish Psychiatric Association. In the case of psychology, the most influential Polish psychological school, Lvov-Warsaw School, promoted Brentanian intentionalism, introspection, and psychology of consciousness, therefore, leading to psychologists' reluctance to explore unconscious states like dreams.     

Science in Poland

The Nencki Institute in Warsaw was founded in 1918 to honor one of Poland’s most distinguished biochemists, Marceli Nencki. Since its inception, the institute has evolved from a confederation of privately supported laboratories to a center of research productivity intimately associated with the Polish Academy of Sciences. Early relations with Pavlov’s laboratory laid the foundation for the emergence of a Polish School of Neurophysiology under the leadership of Jersy Konorski. The impact of Konorski and his colleagues has transformed the interpretation of conditioning to include a systematic physiologic basis that more adequately considers the psychology of learning processes. The prestige of the Nencki Institute within contemporary Eastern European and Soviet science was achieved despite the economic pressures on a new nation and its total devastation of World War II. Moreover, the more than 60 years of scientific work in an independent Poland have provided a critical transition between Eastern and Western research efforts, and the Nencki Institute has filled a leading role in facilitating communication among scientists.     

Let's Nuke the Transpersonalists: A Response to Albert Ellis

In a 1986 article, Albert Ellis proposed to use rational-emotive therapy (RET) to save the world from religious and psychological fanatics and nuclear war. However, Ellis's article was marred by inaccurate, illogical, and absolutist attacks on religion and non-RET psychologies and claims for RET. This article attempts to correct those errors and to provide a more balanced view of religion, RET, non-RET therapies, and the role of psychology in averting nuclear war.     

Genocide and ethnic cleansing. Psychoanalytic and social-psychological viewpoints

The author tries to set ethnic cleansing and genocide in relation to both psychoanalytic understanding of the human mind and of groups, and to certain aspects of modern society and modernism. Following the Polish sociologist Zygmund Bauman, he claims that genocidal situations can be a product of certain properties of modern society which under certain situations (i.e., under totalitarian conditions) can come into being. Malignant group processes can then cause more-or-less organized cruel acts. The worst example is the Holocaust during the second world war, but the problem has seen new, sad repetition in recent years (i.e., Bosnia Herzegovina). Psychoanalysis can shed light on and partly explain how individuals and groups under these circumstances can change and then execute cruel acts, often on a mass-scale. The importance of prevention is stressed. An aspect of this is the afterwork (including the work of grief) after the atrocities, so as to prevent the next generations continuing the cruelties.     

20世纪的美国现象学心理学简评

20世纪中叶逐步形成与发展的美国现象学心理学以胡塞尔现象学为哲学基础,总体上体现为一种内源性研究取向,强调反思和描述人的心理现象的结构与意义,主张发展作为人文科学的心理学,坚持把“生活世界”作为心理学研究的重要根基,重视意识“意向性”的心理学价值,发展特有的心理学研究程序与方法。处于非主流心理学地位的美国现象学心理学对心理学的发展产生了一定贡献,但其影响又是有限的。     

On the Importance of Attribution Theory in Political Psychology

Attribution theory, which was initially applied to the study of academic achievement, has generated a large amount of research in psychology. Judgments of causal responsibility, an important facet of attributions, have since been studied in a variety of other contexts, revealing that they pervade our understanding of the social world. The present paper considers the many ways in which causal judgments, particularly attributions of responsibility, influence political life. Examining scholarship primarily from the fields of psychology, political science, and sociology, I discuss how perceptions of responsibility are linked to ideology and how they influence policy attitudes (welfare, affirmative action, abortion, gay rights) and perceptions of international conflict (beliefs about terrorism and war). An argument is made for increased communication among fields and a more systematic application of attributional models to the study of political judgments.     

Philosophy in Poland: Varieties of Anti-Irrationalism. A Commitment to Reason without the Worship of Reason

Philosophia - I shall elaborate more on the idea of anti-irrationalism proposed by the Polish analytic philosopher Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz, a prominent member of the Lvov-Warsaw School of philosophy...     

Contextualism: Is the act in context the adequate metaphor for scientific psychology?

According to some, psychology as it has been practiced is based on a world view known as mechanism. Individuals from a number of different areas of psychology, most recently within the behavior-analytic community, have strongly argued that psychology should be based on a different world view, contextualism. They emphasize a variety of characteristics that, in their view, differentiate a contextualistically based psychology from one based on mechanism. We examine these characteristics and find them to be of dubious value for differentiating a contextualistic approach to psychology from others. One proposal of some advocates of contextualism is that contextualistic approaches should develop independently from most of the remainder of psychology, which they regard as mechanistic. This proposal is said to be derived from the metaphilosophy of Pepper (1942). We evaluate this proposal and reject it. We go on to suggest that the mechanis-tic/contextualistic dichotomy is too constraining to realistically describe various approaches to psychology.     

Introduction: Meaning,measurement, and correlates of moral development

Morality has again become an important focus of research in different scientific disciplines: from biology (ethology), neuropsychology and evolutionary psychology to social psychology, business ethics, and political philosophy. One of the reasons for this renewed interest, no doubt, stems from the tragedies that human beings, individually or in groups, inflict upon the lives of one another and the world at large, e.g., (civil) war, the extinction of species and ecological destruction, climate change, and last but not least – the financial crisis. Moral destitution and collapse, a lack of respect for human dignity and worth, deficits in proper moral functioning at all levels of the world community often discounted or masked by transparent excuses and vacuous rationalizations, are viewed as a principal cause of the social, societal and ecological crises with which we are confronted today. The key to solving these crises must lie, at least partly, in a better understanding and active deployment of morality. However, morality is not only an important topic of study for its potential relationship with antisocial behaviour, but also for its relationship with prosocial behaviour (helping, sharing, etc.). Relationships of morality with both types of negative and positive conduct shed important insight on moral (dis)functioning. Developmental psychology is charged with the specific task of illuminating the growth and evolution of moral functioning in human beings.     

战争伦理:一种世界观念

战争伦理主要论及战争如何受到道德强制,或者说,它涉及道德的进步如何影响到战争。同时,与人类其他活动相比,战争行为更具国际性,因此,战争伦理作为抑制战争的一种道义力量,也更易成为一种世界观念。可以将战争伦理分为军事伦理、军备伦理、军人伦理三个层面,分别代表基于人、武器以及人与武器相结合而采取的行动———作战之上的伦理规范,它们都是随着时代的发展而发展的。     

再论我国心理学的分化现象

我国心理学正处于分化过程之中,其中两个明显的例证就是:基础心理学与应用及人文心理学的分化,以及对心理学研究和服务成果的评价标准摆脱SCI的束缚.这背后深层的原因在于,若以科学哲学认识论的视角,人类的知识大致可分为可靠有用的知识和无用虚幻(伪科学)的知识,可靠知识又可进一步分为科学的知识和非科学的知识.心理学从诞生之日起...     

Clara and William Stern's conception of a developmental science

Clara and William Stern were two pioneers of developmental psychology who are now almost forgotten, although their works have miraculously survived war and exile. The Sterns' theoretical conception of development and their extensive empirical work were inspired by the new discipline of child psychology which had been established in the nineteenth century. In this contribution we present the Sterns' academic work in developmental psychology with the aim of setting a counterbalance to the present mainstream in this discipline. We wish to show that it is certainly worthwhile to take a look back into history, and that “old” does not necessarily mean “obsolete”.     

Report of the Working Group on Education and Training

Prepared by the Working Group on Education and Training from the November 1995 Georgetown conference sponsored by the Association of Medical School Psychologists, this paper focuses upon the education and training of psychologists and education and training of other health care professionals about psychology in academic medical settings. Seven specific topic recommendations are offered that help psychologists define their educational and training missions into the next century.     

FEPSAC's role and position in the past and in the future of sport psychology in Europe

ObjectivesOn the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the European Federation of Sport Psychology (FEPSAC), this article aims to give an overview of the development of sport psychology in Europe and the role FEPSAC played in this period, and draw some conclusions for the future challenges facing FEPSAC.MethodHermeneutical interpretation of historical documents available from FEPSAC and other sources.Results and conclusionIt is argued that sport psychology in Europe developed independently from the discipline in America, but also with great variety, due to different cultural, linguistic, and psychological traditions. The separation of Europe in two socio-economical and political blocks after World War II even strengthened these differences. When sport psychology started to recover after the damages of the war, a continental organisation was established as a logical consequence of the historically related differences. The strategic orientation of FEPSAC in the period of the two blocks is characterised by a diplomatic balance and high respect of the language and cultural differences, necessary requirements to allow maintaining the mutual exchange in areas of common interest. After the fall of the Berlin wall, the major strategic goals of FEPSAC revolved around: keeping contact with the Eastern European sport psychologists despite the economic difficulties in these countries; finding a common European understanding and giving this a voice in the world; and the support of the young generation and the development of sport psychology as a professional field. Unification and diversification are identified as the future challenges FEPSAC will be facing when attempting to remain the leading sport psychology organisation in Europe.     

An overview and analysis of journal operations, journal publication patterns, and journal impact in school psychology and related fields

This article describes the results of three studies designed to understand better the journal operations, publishing practices, and impact of school psychology journals in recent years. The first study presents the results of a survey focusing on journal operations and peer-review practices that was completed by 61 journal editors of school psychology and aligned journals. The second study presents the results of review and classification of all articles appearing in one volume year for nine school psychology journals (i.e., The California School Psychologist, Canadian Journal of School Psychology, Journal of Applied School Psychology, Journal of School Psychology, Psychology in the Schools, School Psychology Forum, School Psychology International, School Psychology Quarterly, and School Psychology Review). The third study employed multilevel modeling to investigate differences in the longitudinal trends of impact factor data for five school psychology journals listed in the Web of Science (i.e., Journal of School Psychology, Psychology in the Schools, School Psychology International, School Psychology Quarterly, and School Psychology Review). The article addresses implications for authors, editors, and journal editorial teams as well as the status and impact of school psychology journals.     

Benedykt Bornstein’s Philosophy of Logic and Mathematics

The aim of this paper is to present and discuss main philosophical ideas concerning logic and mathematics of a significant but forgotten Polish philosopher Benedykt Bornstein. He received his doctoral degree with Kazimierz Twardowski but is not included into the Lvov–Warsaw School of Philosophy founded by the latter. His philosophical views were unique and quite different from the views of main representatives of Lvov–Warsaw School. We shall discuss Bornstein’s considerations on the philosophy of geometry, on the infinity, on the foundations of set theory and his polemics with Stanis?aw Le?niewski as well as his conception of a geometrization of logic, of the categorial logic and of the mathematics of quality.     

The impact of the American War on Terror on Malaysian Islam

This essay provides an introductory discussion of the impact of the American war on terrorism on Malaysia, a Muslim country with a long record of parliamentary democracy and one of the most developed in the Muslim world. With a discussion of a possible decades-long US military and political engagement with the Muslim world as a background, the essay presents a detailed account of the impact of the US wars in Afghanistan, the Philippines and Iraq on Malaysian national politics, particularly on its political Islam. It is argued that the war on terrorism has benefited Mahathir Mohamad, helping to reverse his declining political fortunes following his sacking of Anwar Ibrahim as his deputy, which influenced his retirement from politics. The essay explains the reasons, external and domestic, for Malaysia's participation in the global war on terrorism and the extent of its involvement, including its leadership role in anti-terrorism in the Muslim world. It also discusses the views of Mahathir and Anwar on the roots of Muslim terrorism and what it will take to overcome this problem. Both believe the resolution of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict is crucial to the defeat of terrorism in the Muslim world. The essay concludes with an examination of the possibility of Malaysia entering a new phase in its war on terrorism as Abdullah Badawi, Mahathir's successor, and Anwar appear to have convergent views on political Islam and on the importance of democracy as a tool to fight terrorism.     

Poland translated: the post-communist generation of writers

This article is concerned with writing in Poland since the collapse of Communism. It focuses mainly on the generation of Polish writers who made their debut around the time of the collapse of Communism and whose work has since begun to appear in English translation. It considers the changing focus of the post-Communist generation of writers, asks how the translations of their work represent Poland to the world and what these works might indicate about changes within contemporary Polish literary and political culture. In particular the article looks at recent fiction from Polish Women Writers and themes in recent writing including the ideas of Poland as Post-Communist, Post-nationalist, Post-Jewish and Post-German.     

School psychology: Its educational and societal connections

School psychology can be viewed either as a pragmatic response to the pressing and immediate needs of the schools ore as an outgrowth of ideological and technological forces in society. This paper argues that beliefs more than needs shaped the history of the profession. School psychology emereged because professional educators held psychological beliefs (and because a psychological testing technology was available to turn those beliefs into practice). Thus, adherence to psychological and developmental principles made age-grading and appropriate response to the sudden influx of large numbers of new students into the schools, and the acceptance of child-centered educational theories led logically to the study of individual children's needs, especially of those who were atypical. Both educators and psychologists subscribed, at least in principle, to the mainstream social ideology of individualism. School psychology became a means for translating such national values (e.g., individualism) and educational principles (e.g., individualized instruction) into school practice.