COMMENTARY: THE IMPACT OF PSYCHOLOGY ON THIRD WORLD DEVELOPMENT

Parts of the basic conceptual framework of Western psychology have been imported, sometimes blindly, into the design of many Third World countries' education, industry, law and health services. Psychology needs to demonstrate its relevance to the particular sociocultural conditions of these countries and to development policy in each of these fields. This requires close collaboration with other social sciences. Theories and techniques developed in Western societies (e.g., pre-school enrichment and aptitude testing) need to be unpackaged so that Third World policy-makers can decide which aspects are most relevant to their goals. Revitalization of endogenous cultural development is essential for developing a valid and socially acceptable psychology. This requires both sensitivity to the cultural load of Western psychology and systematic exploration of distinctive indigenous concepts.     

THIRD THOUGHTS ON GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN ANTISEMITISM

The last forty years have seen an explosion of scholarly writings on the subject of German and Austrian antisemitism, in contrast to the paucity of such publications in the preceding decades. While some interpretations, like those derived from Marxism and Freudian psychoanalysis, have declined in favour, there has been an increase in sophisticated studies of local developments and of the role of antisemitism in party political, associational and cultural life. This has resulted in a much better understanding of the temporal, geographical and ideological fluctuations of antisemitic sentiment, and of its general place in the political development of Germany and Austria.1     

BIOMEDICAL ETHICS: MUSLIM PERSPECTIVES ON GENETIC MODIFICATION

Technology pertaining to genetically modified foods has created an abundance of food and various methods to protect new products and enhance productivity. However, many scientists, economists, and humanitarians have been critical of the application of these discoveries. They are apprehensive about a profit‐driven mentality that, to them, seems to propel the innovators rather than a poverty‐elimination mentality that should be behind such innovations. The objectives should be to afford the most benefit to those in need and to prevent hunger around the world. Another major concern is the safety of genetically modified food. Muslims, as well as those in other religious communities, have been reactive rather than proactive. Muslims must connect scientific knowledge and ethical behavior based on faith. In Islam, there is no divide between the two. God has commanded us to seek knowledge and make discoveries to better our lives and our environment. We are trustees of this world and everything in it. The poor, the sick, and the wayfarers have a right to be fed and cared for. God reminds Muslims continuously that the earth and all the heavens belong to God; therefore, no one should feel hunger, no one should suffer or be prevented from sharing this bounty.     

ALTERNATIVE WORK SCHEDULES: TWO FIELD QUASI-EXPERIMENTS

In the first ( N = 140) of two quasi-experimental field studies, trial group employees were changed from a 5/40 to a 4/40 work schedule for four months then returned to a 5/40 schedule. In a second study ( N = 102), trial group employees were changed from 5/40 to flextime. Reactions were evaluated using a model for understanding the impact of work schedules. The effects of schedule changes matched those anticipated by pre-intervention surveys of employees. Factors related to organizational effectiveness were enhanced where specific organizational needs were met. Interference with personal activities was reduced where employees had experienced specific difficulties. The most powerful effect, however, was on worker attitudes toward specific work schedules. In addition, a mild positive (perhaps Hawthorne) effect was evident for a wide range of general worker reactions.     

SUPPRESSION OF SELF-STIMULATION: THREE ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES

Four boys with autistic-like behavior were treated for self-stimulatory behavior with three different treatment procedures—time-out, differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO), and overcorrection. All four boys showed a rapid response to the overcorrection procedure. Three boys demonstrated some evidence of decrement in responding with time-out. During the DRO procedure, one showed a modest decrease, two showed no change, but one exhibited a consistent increase in responding under this condition. A multiple baseline applied to one of the subjects failed to reveal any generalization of suppression from one setting to another. A strong but not perfect relationship was found between a frequency and a duration measure of self-stimulation. There was some evidence of negative side effects for one boy during overcorrection and for another during time-out. None of these negative side effects was enduring. There was also some indirect evidence that overcorrection facilitated appropriate play.     

A NEUROBIOLOGICAL NON ALTERNATIVE: REJOINDER TO LEWIS,BAUMEISTER, AND MAILMAN

Certain misrepresentations of our theory of self-stimulatory behavior by Lewis, Baumeister, and Mailman (1987) are corrected and several questions raised by the commentators are answered. Their proposed neurobiological alternative is considered briefly and judged to be insufficiently detailed, inadequate in scope, and therefore premature.     

RELIGION AS A LANGUAGE: EXPLORING ALTERNATIVE PATHS IN CONVERSATION WITH POSTREDUCTIONIST ANTHROPOLOGIES

New scientific approaches to religion have delivered a considerable number of theories aimed at explaining it, despite its cognitive and adaptive oddities. These efforts were built on available theoretical frameworks, including those from cognitive science, biology, and anthropology. Many voices have raised criticism against several aspects in the cognitive and evolutionist program, even if recognizing their legitimacy and the fruits collected to date. A pressing issue is whether the problem with the new scientific study of religion is related, to some extent, to the use of outdated views on human evolution, mind, and behavior. If this is the case, then a deep revision concerning current models is required. The new direction proposed should account for more complex aspects of human nature following multilevel models, and a specific human feature—language—that could better explain religion as a meaning system. Understanding religion as a language might open an alternative path inside cognitive studies that is closer to how it is lived by believers.     

MULTIPLE-CHOICE AND CONSTRUCTED RESPONSE TESTS OF ABILITY: RACE-BASED SUBGROUP PERFORMANCE DIFFERENCES ON ALTERNATIVE PAPER-AND-PENCIL TEST FORMATS

We present an example of an innovative constructed response test format–a write-in/mark-in paper-and-pencil test–as an alternative to the traditional multiple-choice paper-and-pencil test, with the potential for reducing subgroup differences. We present subgroup differences data on these 2 paper-and-pencil test formats on an operational promotional exam in a sample of African American and White firefighters. The tests were designed to measure the same content domain. Using within-subjects data that compared the performance of 13 African American and 14 White fire captains, and between-subjects data that compared the performance of 21 African American and 49 White fire captains, several results were in the predicted direction such that subgroup differences were reduced on the constructed response test. However, these results did not reach statistical significance. Therefore, the study points to the need for additional research to further evaluate the promise of the constructed response test format.     

A BEHAVIORAL-EDUCATIONAL ALTERNATIVE TO DRUG CONTROL OF HYPERACTIVE CHILDREN

A behavioral procedure for controlling hyperactivity without inhibiting academic performance is described. Using a time-sample observational method, the hyperactivity displayed by three school children was recorded during math and reading classes. Concurrently, math and reading performances were measured. The study consisted of two baselines, one while the children were on medication and the second while they were off medication. A multiple-baseline design across the two academic subject matters was used to assess the behavioral intervention, which consisted of token reinforcement for correct academic responses in math and subsequently math and reading. Discontinuation of medication resulted in a gross increase in hyperactivity from 20% to about 80%, and a slight increase in math and reading performance. Introduction of a behavioral program for academic performance, during no medication, controlled the children's hyperactivity at a level comparable to that when they were on drugs (about 20%). At the same time, math and reading performance for the group jumped from about 12% during baseline to a level of over 85% correct. Each child performed behaviorally and academically in an optimal manner without medication. Contingency management techniques provided a feasible alternative to medication for controlling hyperactivity in the classroom while enabling the children to grow academically.     

QUANTUM INTERACTIVE DUALISM: AN ALTERNATIVE TO MATERIALISM

Abstract. René Descartes proposed an interactive dualism that posits an interaction between the mind of a human being and some of the matter in his or her brain. However, the classical physical theories that reigned during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are based exclusively on the material/physical part of Descartes' ontology, and they purport to give, in principle, a completely deterministic account of the physically described properties of nature, expressed exclusively in terms of these physically described properties themselves. Orthodox contemporary physical theory violates this condition in two separate ways. First, it injects random elements into the dynamics. Second, it requires psychophysical events, called Process 1 interventions by John von Neumann. Neither the content nor the timing of these events is determined, even statistically, by any known law. Orthodox quantum mechanics considers these events to be instigated by choices made by conscious agents. This quantum conception of the mind‐brain connection allows many psychological and neuropsychological findings associated with the apparent physical effectiveness of our conscious volitional efforts to be explained in a causal and practically useful way. According to this quantum approach, conscious human beings are invested with degrees of freedom denied to the mechanistic automatons to which classical physics reduced us.     

COUNTERTRANSFERENCE DREAMING: LIFE IN THE INTERSUBJECTIVE THIRD

In this paper the author asks, “How long is the life of an intersubjective field?” She proposes that it is possible for the field to remain active and instructive even after formal sessions have ended: This occurs in her case of Carla, a young woman who terminates prematurely. Carla enters treatment in a downward spiral of severe trauma symptoms that began subsequent to her rape, a decade earlier. Although Carla’s symptoms diminish and the analysis continues to be productive, it suddenly ends in an impasse, leaving the analyst perplexed and feeling professionally insufficient. Months later, she has three dreams pertaining to Carla and her rape. Largely employing Jessica Benjamin’s recognition theory and her representation of the intersubjective third, as well as contemporary Bionian thinking, the paper depicts how countertransference dreaming is one example of how the intersubjective field can carry on the psychoanalytic function—even outside of formal treatment.