Inner images and delineations of parental figures reported by psychotherapeutic outpatients

Psychotherapeutic outpatients (10 men, 20 women) were tested with the Inner Images of Parental Figures. Each subject imagined first his mother and then his father. Questions were asked about size, look, and spatial and emotional distance of the imagined parent. The patient was then asked to describe the personality of each parent by underlining at least 20 of 85 adjectives in a list called Family Climate Scale. This originally consisted of four factors, Closeness, Spontaneity, Distance, and Chaos, but the two administered were Factor I (positive traits) and Factor II (negative traits). Emotional distance correlated positively with Factor I and negatively with Factor II. For the maternal figure there was a correlation with distance in metres and Factor I scores. The Inner Images of Parental Figures may be a valuable complement in psychotherapy, mapping out emotional relations between patients and their parents.     

Perceptual processes that may create stick figures and balance

A series of experiments looked at the pattern of dot placements created when people individually placed a single dot inside empty outline figures. The superimposed results were found to compare better with the predictions of Blum's grassfire model than with a size-constancy process. The pattern of superimposed dots conformed to the stick figure of the outlined contours. A perceptual model based on spatial harmonic analysis of complex visual scenes is offered as an explanation for the pattern of results.     

Holistic processes in the perception and transformation of disoriented figures

Two experiments tested whether mental rotation of complex, hierarchical stimuli occurs holistically or separately at global and local levels of structure. Large (global) letters were constructed from spatial arrangements of small (local) letters. Reflection conditions (normal vs. reflected) were produced by varying the two levels independently. The task was structured so that subjects could rotate one level of the stimulus in some conditions but had to rotate both levels in other conditions. Experiment 1 showed that rotation rate was not affected by the number of levels that had to be rotated to make a reflection decision. This result implies that the rotation of global and local levels occurred together rather than sequentially. Experiment 2 showed that the rotation of the two levels was holistic as opposed to parallel and independent. The results also demonstrate that global information is processed faster than local information regardless of whether or not a rotation is performed. These findings are discussed in relation to theories of mental rotation and global precedence.     

The relationship of parental attachment and psychological separation to the psychological functioning of young adults

The authors explored the interrelations between attachment patterns and psychological separation from parents as well as the contribution of these variables to adaptive psychological functioning. Among 153 university students in Greece, there was a positive association between security of attachment and freedom from guilt, anxiety, and resentment toward one's parents (conflictual independence); in contrast, there was an inverse relation between security of attachment and independence from parents in relation to emotional, functional, and attitudinal independence. Compared with the insecurely attached students, the securely attached students also scored higher on measures of self-esteem and lower on measures of anxiety and loneliness.     

Rated funniness and dissimilarity of figures Divergence from expectancy

Abstract.— Three experiments were conducted to test whether funniness of a stimulus could be interpreted as a function of divergence from expenctancy concerning the stimulus as a member of different classes.
Stimuli were combinations of two moving, successive, non-representational figures projected onto two screens. Funniness of the figure to the right was rated, as was divergence in qualities between the figure to the right and the preceeding one on the left. The main prediction was that data would show a decrease after an increase in funniness with increasing divergence for a certain right-hand stimulus. An increase should reflect a series of similar classes, a decrease a transition to another series. In some instances a decrease did occur after an increase, as predicted; in others the series of combinations seemed to overlap. Funniness could be interpreted as formulated initially.     

A genetically informed study of the processes underlying the association between parental marital instability and offspring adjustment

Parental divorce is associated with problematic offspring adjustment, but the relation may be due to shared genetic or environmental factors. One way to test for these confounds is to study offspring of twins discordant for divorce. The current analyses used this design to separate the mechanisms responsible for the association between parental divorce, experienced either before or after the age of 16, and offspring well-being. The results were consistent with a causal role of divorce in earlier initiation of sexual intercourse and emotional difficulties, in addition to a greater probability of educational problems, depressed mood, and suicidal ideation. In contrast, the increased risk for cohabitation and earlier initiation of drug use was explained by selection factors, including genetic confounds. ((c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).     

Ambiguous figures and representationalism

Macpherson (Nous 40(1):82–117, 2006) argues that the square/regular diamond figure threatens representationalism, construed as the theory which holds that the phenomenal character is explained by the nonconceptual content of experience. Her argument is the claim that representationalism is committed to the thesis that differences in the experience of ambiguous figures, the gestalt switch, should be explained by differences in the NCC of perception of these figures. However, with respect to the square/regular diamond and some other ambiguous figure representationalism fails to offer a unified account of how representational content makes them ambiguous. In this paper, I aim, first, to offer a representationalist account of ambiguous figures and, second, to examine and rebut Macpherson’s arguments. My main point is that in each ambiguous figure Macpherson discusses there are differences in representational content that can explain differences in phenomenal character or content. The representational differences are due to the ways the Cartesian frame of reference in which perceptual content is always cast cuts the figure, underlying different properties of the figure with respect to the axes of the Cartesian frame of reference.     

Ambiguous figures and representationalism

Ambiguous figures pose a problem for representationalists, particularly for representationalists who believe that the content of perceptual experience is non-conceptual (MacPherson in Nous 40(1):82–117, 2006). This is because, in viewing ambiguous figures, subjects have perceptual experiences that differ in phenomenal properties without differing in non-conceptual content. In this paper, I argue that ambiguous figures pose no problem for non-conceptual representationalists. I argue that aspect shifts do not presuppose or require the possession of sophisticated conceptual resources and that, although viewing ambiguous figures often causes a change in phenomenal properties, this change is accompanied by a change in non-conceptual content. I illustrate the case by considering specific examples.     

Illusory depth from moving subjective figures and neon colour spreading.

If a pattern of concentric circles, interrupted so as to produce the perception of a subjective bar extending from the centre to the periphery of the pattern, was slowly rotated in a plane perpendicular to the line of sight, observers reported seeing the bar slanted in depth and moving over complete and stationary concentric circles. When the interrupted concentric circles were completed by red segments--thereby giving rise to a neon colour-spreading effect--observers reported seeing a reddish bar, which sometimes appeared to be slanted in depth, moving behind the plane of the concentric circles. A combination of the two patterns was found to originate a compelling percept of a unitary bar slanted in depth: part of the bar (the subjective half) appeared to be located in front of its inducing elements, whereas the other part (the neon-like half) appeared to continue behind them. When translatory instead of rotary motion was used, the bars did not look slanted in depth: however, the neon bar appeared either behind or in front of the inducing lines, depending on the luminance contrast between the segments and the inducing lines themselves.     

Separating perceptual processes from decisional processes in identification and categorization

Four observers completed perceptual matching, identification, and categorization tasks using separable-dimension stimuli. A unified quantitative approach relating perceptual matching, identification, and categorization was proposed and tested. The approach derives from general recognition theory (Ashby & Townsend, 1986) and provides a powerful method for quantifying the separate influences of perceptual processes and decisional processes within and across tasks. Good accounts of the identification data were obtained from an initial perceptual representation derived from perceptual matching. The same perceptual representation provided a good account of the categorization data, except when selective attention to one stimulus dimension was required. Selective attention altered the perceptual representation by decreasing the perceptual variance along the attended dimension. These findings suggest that a complete understanding of identification and categorization performance requires an understanding of perceptual and decisional processes. Implications for other psychological tasks are discussed.     

Perceived parental behaviours and motivational processes among adolescent athletes in intensive training centres: A profile approach

Parental behaviours influence athletes’ psychological functioning in different ways. To date, research has typically explored parental behaviours one by one, and few papers have simultaneously considered sets of parental behaviours. The objectives of this study were to: (a) identify parental behaviours using a person-centred approach and differentiating mother’s and father’s behaviours; (b) explore the changes of parental behaviour profiles across the season; and (c) examine the prospective impact of parental behaviour profiles at the beginning of the season on athlete scores of motivation, satisfaction, and frustration of basic psychological needs at the end of the season. A longitudinal two-wave measurement design (beginning and end of a season) was used in the study. A sample of 226 French athletes completed self-reported questionnaires: (a) at the beginning and end of the season to measure the behaviours of their parents; and (b) at the end of the season to assess their motivation, satisfaction, and frustration of basic psychological needs. Latent profile transition analysis revealed three parental behaviour profiles: (a) moderate parental involvement; (b) moderate to high parental involvement; and (c) moderate mother’s involvement and low father’s involvement. The profiles were based on associated patterns of four mother’s and father’s behaviours: (a) directive behaviours; (b) active involvement; (c) praise and understanding; and (d) pressure. The three parental behaviour profiles remained stable across the season (i.e., inter- and intra-individual stability). Athletes who reported the moderate parental involvement profile at the beginning of the season had lower scores of controlled motivation and frustration of autonomy as well as higher scores of satisfaction of competence and relatedness at the end of the season than their counterparts from the two other profiles. This study contributes to enriching the complex picture of parental involvement in the sport to help sport organisations identify parents at risk of impeding their child’s development.     

Children's sense of belonging and parental social capital derived from school

Parents' chance to seek help from other parents of schoolchildren attending the same school is an aspect of parental social capital. This social capital is supposed to contribute to schoolchildren's present sense of belonging to their school, society, and country. The relationship between social capital and a child's sense of belonging may vary as a function of the child's prior sense of belonging. Social capital may give a deeper encouragement or positive effect to children with higher prior sense of belonging (the strength building perspective) or to children with lower prior sense of belonging (the need fulfillment perspective). The author surveyed 289 parents and their schoolchildren in Grades 4-9 in Hong Kong, China, to ascertain which of the two perspectives holds. The results indicated that parental social capital was more highly associated with a child's present belongingness if his or her prior belongingness was high rather than low. This interaction effect is supportive of the strength building perspective.     

Prototype formation from imaged, kinesthetically, and visually presented geometric figures

The issue of prototype formation from simple geometric figures presented in various modes was studied in four conditions. Base figures and their exemplars were scaled in terms of their physical similarity, which was considered to reflect cognitive similarity. Geometric exemplars were visually presented, imaged by the subject, and kinesthetically presented. Following initial presentation, a recognition task was given in which some old items, some new items, and the prototype (also a new item) were presented in the same modality as originally perceived. The results indicate that prototype formation spans a wide class of human experiences and that internal representations of geometric figures derived from experiences with one modality tend to be second-order isomorphic with similar experiences derived from another modality.