Toward a mechanistic psychology of dialogue

Traditional mechanistic accounts of language processing derive almost entirely from the study of monologue. Yet, the most natural and basic form of language use is dialogue. As a result, these accounts may only offer limited theories of the mechanisms that underlie language processing in general. We propose a mechanistic account of dialogue, the interactive alignment account, and use it to derive a number of predictions about basic language processes. The account assumes that, in dialogue, the linguistic representations employed by the interlocutors become aligned at many levels, as a result of a largely automatic process. This process greatly simplifies production and comprehension in dialogue. After considering the evidence for the interactive alignment model, we concentrate on three aspects of processing that follow from it. It makes use of a simple interactive inference mechanism, enables the development of local dialogue routines that greatly simplify language processing, and explains the origins of self-monitoring in production. We consider the need for a grammatical framework that is designed to deal with language in dialogue rather than monologue, and discuss a range of implications of the account.     

Robert I. Watson and the development of the history of psychology: An introduction

A symposium to honor Robert I. Watson, Sr., was held at the 1981 annual meeting of the American Psychological Association. Eugene S. Mills presented a brief introduction.     

Toward a truly international psychology: beyond English only.

It is contended that the development of a truly international psychology is obstructed at this point by the massive disregard of contributions that are published in languages other than English. The role of English as a mutually agreed-on principal medium of international communication in psychology is endorsed. At the same time, 11 suggestions are presented to overcome the linguistic isolation from the communities of psychologists in which languages other than English are used to disseminate findings and conceptions.     

Toward a psychology of positive youth development

This article analyzes the development of initiative as an exemplar of one of many learning experiences that should be studied as part of positive youth development. The capacity for initiative is essential for adults in our society and will become more important in the 21st century, yet adolescents have few opportunities to learn it. Their typical experiences during schoolwork and unstructured leisure do not reflect conditions for learning initiative. The context best suited to the development of initiative appears to be that of structured voluntary activities, such as sports, arts, and participation in organizations, in which youths experience the rare combination of intrinsic motivation in combination with deep attention. An incomplete body of outcome research suggests that such activities are associated with positive development, but the developmental processes involved are only beginning to be understood. One promising approach has recorded language use and has found that adolescents participating in effective organizations acquire a new operating language that appears to correspond to the development of initiative.     

James Hillman: Toward a poetic psychology

InThe Dream and the Underworld James Hillman continues to deepen and to refine Jung's recovery of the spontaneous image-making of the soul. Hillman's contribution lies in his imaginai reduction-relating of images to their archetypal background in Greek mythology. Myth is seen as the maker of the psyche, and, in turn, the soul-making ispoesis-a return to the imaginal and poetic basis of consciousness. Dreams, understood poetically, are neither messages to be deciphered and used for the benefit of the rational ego (Freud) nor compensatory to the ego (Jung); they are complete in themselves and must be allowed to speak for themselves. Hillman also sees dreams as initiations into the underworld of death-the other side of life where our imaginal substance is unobstructed by the literal and dualistic standpoints of the dayworld.The author ofImagination is Reality: Western Nirvana in Jung, Hillman, Barfield and Cassirer(Spring Publications, Inc.: University of Dallas, Irving, Texas, 1980)     

The dimensionality of charisma

The lack of conceptual and operational definitions has proved to be a stumbling block to empirical research on charismatic leadership. In this study, a scale is created measuring House's (1977) nine charismatic effects. Factor analysis of the scale yields three dimensions analogous to expert power, referent power, and job involvement. These three constructs are then used to predict subordinate ratings of leaders' charisma.The author would like to acknowledge the assistance of Mr. Philip Koek in the collection of data and Ms. Dawn Voigt for help with data analysis.     

Why the self is empty. Toward a historically situated psychology

This article presents a contextualized treatment of the current configuration of self, some of the pathologies that plague it, and the technologies that attempt to heal it. Of particular interest is the historical shift from the Victorian, sexually restricted self to the post-World War II empty self. The empty self is soothed and made cohesive by becoming "filled up" with food, consumer products, and celebrities. Its historical antecedents, economic constituents, and political consequences are the focus of this article. The two professions most responsible for healing the empty self, advertising and psychotherapy, find themselves in a bind: They must treat a psychological symptom without being able to address its historical causes. Both circumvent the bind by employing the life-style solution, a strategy that attempts to heal by covertly filling the empty self with the accoutrements, values, and mannerisms of idealized figures. This strategy solves an old problem but creates new ones, including an opportunity for abuse by exploitive therapists, cult leaders, and politicians. Psychology's role in constructing the empty self, and thus reproducing the current hierarchy of power and privilege, is examined.