Through the Iron Curtain: analytical space in post-Soviet Russia

This paper discusses the experience of working as an analyst in post-totalitarian Russia in order to explore some of the general theoretical and clinical issues involved in working in a different cultural and linguistic context, and the particular problems encountered in the Russian cultural context. It describes how the Soviet regime worked actively to create a new totally collective mentality through the destruction of individual differences and the collectivization of private space, and the effects this produced in the individual and collective psyche. It examines the difficulties encountered when working with Russian analysands in creating and maintaining the setting, in preserving boundaries, in creating analytical space, and in working with certain particular transference-countertransference dynamics. It focuses on the contrast between my own Western experience of space and the spatial experience of the analysands, and describes the process of helping them use analytical space to interiorize and create a new experience of psychic space. The paper uses dreams to illustrate some of these dynamics, and the particular psychic problems associated with the traumas created by totalitarian regimes.     

The Tortilla Curtain: War on the Table of the Poor

Abstract :  This essay approaches the concept of borders from a geopolitical perspective, focusing particularly on the dividing curtain between the USA and Mexico. Corn serves not only as Ariadne's thread but also as a symbol of food in general, to be problematized and not taken for granted. The author highlights God's imperative for us to take the side of the poor: to satiate their hunger and quench their thirst. This stands in clear contradiction to the current evil economic system that has reduced food to a weapon of mass destruction, through the simultaneous overproduction of food and hunger.     

The history of psychology in former Yugoslavia: An overview

The development of psychology in the country formerly known as Yugoslavia reflects different paths in the three republics of Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia due to their distinct cultural and historical backgrounds. Although Marko Marulić, a Croatian Renaissance humanist, was credited with the introduction of the term “psychology” in the sixteenth century, psychology as a discipline was not introduced until the late nineteenth century. The establishment of psychology in academe and experimental work between the two World Wars were initiated by Yugoslavian students who were educated in prestigious laboratories in the West–Austria, England, France, and Germany. Immediately after World War II Yugoslavian psychology was influenced by Soviet experiences, but a “westward” shift followed Tito's breakup with Stalin. In the context of a unique nonaligned and nondogmatic form of communism, Yugoslavian psychology grew rapidly, providing contributions to diverse and primarily applied fields.     

The Wall: On the psychology of the reunification of Germany

The fall of the Berlin Wall, which separated West Germans and East Germans for decades, led to emotional catastrophe among the reunited peoples. The authors conducted a psychological research program in Berlin to analyze individual and interpersonal processes in the reunification. They describe four categories used to pinpoint different (largely unconscious) levels of coping and defense strategies used to deal with the changes: control, splitting, symbiosis, and integration.Thomas Krauss, Dr. phil., is a family therapist and teaching supervisor. From 1985–1990 he worked as scientific employee at the Free University Berlin. Angelika Fass, Dr. phil., is a family therapist and teaching supervisor. From 1986–1991 she worked as scientific employee (research and lecturer) at the Technical University in Berlin. Reprint requests should be sent to the authors at Markt 2, D-29493 Schnackenburg, Germany.Translation by Ann Brandt.     

Gender,the Perception of Aggression,and the Overestimation of Gender Bias

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the gender of aggressor, target, and observer influences the perception and evaluation of aggression. One hundred seventy-one university students (predominantly White) read 1 of 8 vignettes that described an aggressive act. The aggressor–target gender combinations and the aggressive act were varied. Data did not support the hypothesis that, because of the impact of gender stereotypes, participants would perceive more aggressiveness in men's aggression than in women's aggression. Participants rated women's aggression as more acceptable than men's aggression, and male participants considered the aggression more acceptable, apparently because they saw the act as less aggressive. In addition, participants estimated how most men/women would perceive and evaluate the aggression. Results suggest that people overestimate how biased others are toward members of their own gender.     

Time went by so slowly: Overestimation of event duration by males and females

In three experiments, 469 subjects watched a short videotape of a bank robbery and later estimated the duration of the tape. Subjects invariably overestimated the durations. Accuracy of time estimation was unrelated to amount of free recall (Experiment 1) or accuracy of memory (Experiment 2). Females overestimated to a greater degree than males (Experiments 2 and 3). A more stressful version of the event produced greater overestimates than a less stressful version (Experiment 3). The relationship between induced arousal and time estimation appears to be different for men and women.     

Overestimation of the projected size of objects on the surface of mirrors and windows

Four experiments investigated judgments of the size of projections of objects on the glass surface of mirrors and windows. The authors tested different ways of explaining the task to overcome the difficulty that people had in understanding what the projection was, and they varied the distance of the observer and the object to the mirror or window and varied the size of the mirror. The authors compared estimations of projected size with estimations of the physical size of the object that produced the projection. For both mirrors and windows, observers accurately judged the physical size of objects but greatly overestimated the projected size of the same objects. Indeed, judgments of projected size were more similar to physical than to projected size. People were also questioned verbally about their knowledge of projected size relative to physical size. The errors produced for these conceptual questions were similar to those found in the perceptual estimation tasks. Together, these results suggest that projections of objects on mirrors and windows are treated in the same way and that observers cannot perceive such projections as distal objects.     

这殿后来的荣耀必大过先前的荣耀——杭州基督教崇一堂新堂落成典礼暨《爱的人生》首发式

“万王之王,万主之主,唯有你配得敬拜和赞美……”2005年5月5日9点30分,在熟悉的赞美歌声伴随下,杭州基督教会崇一堂新堂落成典礼暨《爱的人生》首发式正式拉开序幕,丁光训主教,中国基督教两会咨询委员会主任韩文藻同工,中国基督教三自爱国运动委员会主席季剑虹长老,中国基督教三自爱国运     

Overestimation of the effectiveness of cardiopulmonary resuscitation as a function of CPR certification level

67 college students holding three different levels of certification in CPR estimated the survival rates of people given this procedure. Students not certified in CPR estimated the survival rate to be 51.2%, those previously certified estimated 43.8%, and those currently certified estimated 27.0%. Although knowledge of CPR was associated with greater accuracy, all three groups significantly overestimated the actual survival rate of 10%.