Religion,psychology, and mental health: The problems of partnership

While a current and increasingly popular trend is toward partnerships between religion and psychology in the area of mental health, and especially toward the use of psychological ideas and techniques by pastoral counselors, modern psychology and traditional religion are divided in significant ways over several normative issues. Too often these issues are minimized or overlooked. But unless these issues—which carry significant sociocultural implications as well as implications for our definitions of individual well-being—are acknowledged and subjected to critical considerations, partnerships between religion and psychology must be far more cautiously constructed and must be subjected to far more systematic thinking about the differences which separate the two.This article is based on a paper delivered at the Seventh Annual Clinical-Community Conference on Psychology and Religion at the University of Maryland in November, 1978.     

Sociopolitical development

This paper examines theories and concepts relevant to sociopolitical development (SPD). As an emerging theory, SPD expands on empowerment and similar ideas related to social change and activism in community psychology—oppression, liberation, critical consciousness, and culture among them. SPD is the process by which individuals acquire the knowledge, analytical skills, emotional faculties, and the capacity for action in political and social systems necessary to interpret and resist oppression. Equally as important is a vision of liberation that is an alternative to oppressive conditions. All of these concepts have been underemphasized in the social change literature of U.S. community psychology. In our view, sociopolitical development is vital to human development and the creation of a just society. As part of identifying and illustrating concepts and processes relevant to SPD theory, we will draw from the words of young African American activists who were interviewed as part of a research study.     

Rethinking priming in social psychology: Insight from James' notions of habits and instincts

Research on priming is commonly taken to establish that much of human behavior is automatic and caused by largely subconscious processes. This research has recently come under increased scrutiny as some classic studies have proved difficult to replicate. In this essay, we bring the views of William James to bear on priming. Though James leaves room for instinct and habit, he rejects the view that human psychology is ultimately mechanistic on the grounds that it is naïvely simplistic. James is also able to explain why priming studies are bound to face replicability issues: human behavior unfolds in a dynamic multifarious constellation of interrelationships among people, consciousness, and the world. To offer researchers a productive direction for studying cognition, we conclude by briefly introducing an approach known as enactivism – an approach that resonates with the ideas James puts forth.     

POUR UN PROGRAMME INTERNATIONAL DE RECHERCHES PSYCHOLOGIQUES

For an international program of psychological studies. — We live at a time of a rapid accumulation of psychological data as contrasted with disproportionately slow development of psychology as a scientific system. Progress in the practical utilization of psychological research findings appears equally inadequate in the face of the quantitative explosion of the research. Having established a multitude of concrete facts, we are unable to agree on any but a few general statements. Each area of psychology has developed a host of “miniature theories”, but there is little, if any, agreement among them. The deplorable theoretical state makes it equally difficult to establish a valid hierarchy of research problems that might enable us to discriminate between fundamental and secondary issues. The relative isolation of the “miniature theories” has led to an atomization of research into “miniature projects”, or else into mutually irrelevant topics. In effect, the research potential of psychology is being largely dissipated. The history of psychology has recorded many attempts to develop great theoretical systems, of which three proved most successful. These were : the associationist psychology of either the S-S type, based on the idea of mental connections, or the S-R type; the Gestalt psychology based on the idea of structure; and psychoanalysis, based on the idea of dynamic tendencies. Each has greatly contributed to the development of psychological studies without being able, however, to account for all by then established facts. The net effect has been a general disenchantment with theory. Nevertheless, the fundamental ideas underlying these systems have come to be generally acknowledged. Attempts to develop new entities from various pieces of these systems have produced numerous theoretical constructs of an eclectic character, which only increased the atomization of psychology. The growing atomization of psychology has been a source of concern for many scholars. At the xviith Congress of Psychology in Washington, this situation was extensively discussed by G. Allport. In continuation of his ideas, it may be suggested that there seems to be real prospects of defeating the atomization of psychology, and of integrating it into a coherent system, provided psychology is approached as a science of man. This would require us to abandon the heritage of Hume's philosophy, which has caused us to view psychology as a science of phenomena, processes, reactions or behaviors, while disregarding the fact that these are merely manifestations of man's goal-oriented and organized activity, resulting from his continuous effort to adjust his relationships with the environment. Such a reorientation would enable us to establish a definite hierarchy of problems, with the main emphasis resting on the structure of man's activity and the mechanisms by which this activity is orientated and organized. As a result, the gap between psychological theory and practical application would be narrowed down, a circumstance of great significance for the social prestige of psychology as a science. An organized effort is needed to overcome the present atomization in psychology. A particularly great responsibility rests on the International Union of Psychological Science. The present author suggests the following objectives for the IUPS in this respect : further efforts should be made to improve the methods of scientific information; a co-operation should be sought with other international institutions responsible for research on man; specially interesting appears to be the UNESCO initiative to investigate the basic development trends in the sciences of man; an international program of scientific research work in psychology should be drawn up.     

Religion and the Human Genome

The study of human genetics, now greatly accelerated by the federal Human Genome Project, raises important religious questions about human health, two of which are explored. To the first question—whether to terminate a pregnancy for genetic reasons—it is suggested that a pregnancy with a serious genetic defect may be considered at the same level of moral gravity as pregnancy from rape or incest, thereby permitting termination. To the second question—whether genetic predispositions negate personal responsibility—it is argued that genes affect but do not determine personality and behavior.The author wishes to thank Ian Barbour, Gene Fowler, Olivia White, Ted Peters, Brent Waters, and Russell Willis for many helpful criticisms of an earlier draft of this article. Appreciation is also expressed to Memphis Theological Seminary for granting a study leave during which this article was written.     

道教文化与心理健康研究刍议

心理学领域已经越来越多地关注道教的理念与实践对个体心理健康的影响。道教经典中蕴含了对人类心性的解读,以及试图恢复身心健康的方法。荣格等心理学家从中提取可发掘的心理学要素,并对之做出了相应的诠释。人本主义心理学、超个人主义心理学、社会心理学以及认知神经科学等流派与方法都已经或正在为认识道教与心理健康关系发挥着积极作用。然而现阶段相关研究尚未充分,若深入理解道教生命中心主义的特殊追求与信仰认同模式,并以此视角更精确地分析心理测量与实验生成的各项指标,则生出具有本土特色的宗教心理学范式可期。     

An Exploration in the Will Psychology of Otto Rank: Human Intentionality and Individuality

The author explores the meaning and the importance of the will in Rank's relation-based self-creative, self-constructive psychology and argues for the consideration of the concept of the will in psychoanalysis. The paper shows that Rank's concept of the will explains what gives a human being the impetus to choose an action, positive or negative. When validated by the other, this will, the power of intention, enables a person to create his/her unique individuality. The paper reviews Rank's definition of will and traces the evolution of his ideas of intentionality in his writings. Further, the author discusses how Rank attempts to capture the subtle movements of the human mind as suffused with struggles and dynamic interplay between external and internal forces.     

说明心理学的形态、特征与评析

说明心理学以心理、行为现象背后的本质、规律、发生机制的说明为己任,其发展先后呈现出心理-心物关系的说明、刺激-反应关系的说明、认知心理-神经机制的说明、进化心理机制的说明等形态,在方法论上则带有鲜明的科学主义特征。它致力于人的自然本性的研究,构筑了作为自然科学的心理学样态,与理解心理学一道推动了心理学的独立、成熟。未来心理学还需摒弃蕴含于说明心理学与理解心理学之中的非此即彼的思维方式,确立心理学的整合视野。     

Publication patterns in developmental psychology: Trends and social networks

Interest in publication patterns has been steady. Journals have instituted policies in an effort to curb bias and provide globally representative research. This study aimed to examine if publication patterns were present in two developmental psychology journals. It also explored the social networks of prominent authors and the prevalence of informal author–editor relationships, searching for any potential power groups. Data were taken from empirical articles published between 2005 and 2014 in Child Development (CD) and The International Journal of Early Childhood (IJEC) data points were geographical authorship affiliation, informal author relationships as established by co‐publishing, and connections to journal editors via identical affiliation. Results confirmed the previously established North American dominance in published research. In CD a strongly interlinked social network was identified between authors over the 10 years, with 15 chief influentialists binding groups of authors together. Results suggest that patterns are still present in published research in the realm of developmental psychology. To conclude, the potential implications of these patterns within developmental psychology are presented.     

Self Research in Educational Psychology: A Cautionary Tale of Positive Psychology in Action

Recent calls for a positive psychology that would deemphasize human pathology and dysfunction in favor of building an understanding of positive features of human life and human flourishing make two assumptions that the author questions in this article. First, he challenges the assumption that disciplinary psychology has been fixated on pathology and dysfunction by considering work in educational psychology that, both historically and currently, espouses the characteristics of positive psychology as articulated by its major advocates. Second, through a brief, critical consideration of research on the self in educational psychology, he contests the assumption that psychology has sufficient resources to develop into the positive psychology envisioned by its promoters. He argues that psychology's emphasis on the individual, whose core self resides in a deep, internal psyche, radically strips psychology of the historical and sociocultural resources that enable self-development, constrain self-understanding, and constitute the self.     

A theory of emotions: Emotionality as the expression of the self's intentionality

The central theme of this article is the self's quest for personal meaning. The author contends that traditional psychotherapeutic assumptions, such as essentialistic thinking and psychological reductionism—in which clinicians and other social scientists regard the self as an essentialistic entity rather than as an intentional being—have mitigated against meaningful encounter between client and therapist. The author argues for the importance of the long neglected roles of passion, courage and commitment in psychotherapy and human development. He offers a self theory from an existential and intentional position which address these concerns. In this endeavor the author employs philosophical and literary argument, in addition to psychological evidence and clinical case study.This article is based upon a presentation made at the VII World Congress of Social Psychiatry, Lisbon, Portugal, October, 1978.     

The fish: A lost symbol of sexual liberation?

This essay explores the sexual symbolism of the fish and its associations with the ministry of Jesus. His unconventional relationships with women, as well as the traditional accounts of his physical healings, are viewed from a perspective of intrapsychic psychology. These activities are then compared to the work of Freud and some vocational similarities between the two men are posited. The symbolic connotations of the fish and its reflection of unconscious processes are seen as mythological vehicles of liberation from sexual repression and concomitant social oppression.For his assistance, the author wishes to thank Dr. David M. Moss of the Coventry Association for Pastoral Psychology in Atlanta, Georgia.     

Otto Rank's Conception of the Will

Rank is the only psychoanalyst to introduce the concept of will as central to an understanding of human psychology. The function of willing and the clear uniqueness of each individual challenge the causal, deterministic thinking of Freudian psychoanalysis and thereby the predictability of behavior. Thus, for the individual will means choice, and therefore moral responsibility for one's own acts. It also means the opportunity to create the new. The very formation of the individual self as it separates and differentiates itself from the maternal matrix is a creative act—one which inevitably precipitates a certain, but normally manageable, amount of guilt because of empathic feelings for the one who has been left—originally the mother. Beyond the creation of self, the will, through its creative role, helps to allay the inevitable human fear of the final separation, namely death by producing those manifestations of civilization—art, literature, music, and science—which in their generative capacity insure immortality.     

Thoughts and feelings and things: A new psychiatric epistemology

Epistemology — the study of knowledge — is a philosophical discipline with close ties to psychiatry. When epistemologists address specific questions about how knowledge is actually realized by human beings, their philosophy must be informed by empirical studies of the sort psychiatrists now take up in a variety of forms. As this paper describes, psychiatrists can likewise improve their understanding of human psychology through a deeper appreciation of philosophical analysis in epistemology.The aim of this article is to introduce a unifying framework within which the experience from different approaches to psychiatry — (1) the conceptual schemas of cognitive psychiatry, (2) the mental structures of psychoanalytic psychiatry, (3) the categorical forms of existential psychiatry, and (4) the neural pathways of biological psychiatry — can all be applied productively to the central question of epistemology. By establishing a broad understanding of the problem of knowledge, this new view of epistemology is developed within the idiom of each psychiatric approach. In addressing themselves to a unitary problem, these diverse psychiatric approaches are themselves revealed, not as competing points of view, but as complementary views of a single subject. The result is a new epistemology that can not only bring the insights of psychiatry to philosophy, but can also contribute to the care of patients when psychiatrists bring this broader view to their clinical work.     

Nondirectiveness and genetic counseling

Nondirectiveness is the generally required and professed standard for genetic counseling. However, studies are lacking in the field of human genetics and in other disciplines which address either the theory or practice of this type of therapeutic procedure in the context of genetic counseling. Moreover, there is no indication the further development this concept has undergone in client-centered therapy has been acknowledged in human genetics. This could be due tot he historical development of genetic counseling, its inherent conflicts and often undefined goals, and the latent need of human geneticists to defend themselves against being accused of eugenic tendencies. Nondirectiveness and directiveness, however, can neither adequately describe what takes place in genetic counseling, nor can they — according to their original meaning — be used to define an ethical standard of genetic counseling. Starting with the writings by Carl Rogers (1942), an experiential approach is described, in which counseling is seen as a process of influence, which is wished by all the persons involved, during which activities are oriented toward the experience of the client, and which allows the counselor to communicate openly and directly with the client. The present study illustrates the use of the experiential approach in genetic counseling and shows that it can uphold the principle of ethics, which nondirectiveness demands and, at the same time, prevent the inevitable and unresolvable contradictions. This means that in their training genetic counselors must learn to recognize and constantly reflect on the influence they can and want to exert. In order to be able to use this influence in a responsible manner, genetic counselors must also learn to have a certain degree of flexibility so that they are able to check at any time how their client responds to this influence.     

Political and clinical developments in analytical psychology, 1972‐2014: subjectivity,equality and diversity—inside and outside the consulting room

Utilizing Jung's idea of theory as a ‘personal confession’, the author charts his own development as a theorist, establishing links between his personal history and his ideas. Such links include his relationship with both parents, his sexuality, his cultural heritage, and his fascination with Tricksters and with Hermes. There follows a substantial critical interrogation of what the author discerns as the two main lines of clinical theorizing in contemporary analytical psychotherapy: interpretation of transference‐countertransference, and the relational approach. His conclusion is that neither is superior to the other and neither is in fact adequate as a basis for clinical work. The focus then shifts to explore a range of political and social aspects of the clinical project of analytical psychology: economic inequality, diversity within the professional field, and Jung's controversial ideas about Jews and Africans. The author calls for an apology from the ‘Jungian community’ for remarks about Africans analogous to the apology already issued for remarks about Jews. The paper is dedicated to the author's friend Fred Plaut (1913‐2009).     

A survey of recent publications in pastoral psychological fields

The author calls attention to a number of recent publications to assist pastors in selecting titles which will prove most helpful to them. He discusses books of general interest on religion and ministry, books on counseling and psychotherapy, books on psychology and personality, and books in theology, ethics and philosophy.Dr. Hunter is Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, and serves as Book Review Editor ofPastoral Psychology.     

Reciprocal maturities: Spirit and psyche in pastoral counseling and spiritual direction

This article uses a model for integrating spiritual and psychological maturity (Conn, 1989) in theological anthropology to contend that there is a reciprocal relationship not only between spiritual and psychological maturity but also between pastoral counseling and spiritual direction. I review Christian spirituality in terms of maturity in relationship: to self, to others, and to God. Next is an examination of the prevailing attitude in pastoral counseling toward spirituality and spiritual direction. Then Conn's integration is assessed — of spirituality with psychology, of spiritual direction with pastoral counseling — as a combination of spiritual and hermeneutical perspectives on the maturing self.     

Does psychology make a significant difference in our lives?

The intellectual tension between the virtues of basic versus applied research that characterized an earlier era of psychology is being replaced by an appreciation of creative applications of all research essential to improving the quality of human life. Psychologists are positioned to "give psychology away" to all those who can benefit from our wisdom. Psychologists were not there 35 years ago when American Psychological Association (APA) President George Miller first encouraged us to share our knowledge with the public. The author argues that psychology is indeed making a significant difference in people's lives; this article provides a sampling of evidence demonstrating how and why psychology matters, both in pervasive ways and specific applications. Readers are referred to a newly developed APA Web site that documents current operational uses of psychological research, theory, and methodology (its creation has been the author's primary presidential initiative): www.psychologymatters.org.