The development of contemporary Spanish psychology

Spanish psychology has developed greatly in the last decades, both in academic and professional aspects. But its history during the 20th century includes not only positive periods but also others clearly regressive, which impeded scientific work and tried to return to a more philosophical orientation. Since the establishment of a psychology degree in the country, a great expansion has taken place, and other significant achievements have been made by some émigré Spanish psychologists in Latin‐American countries after being reinstalled there after a civil war that strongly affected the evolution of contemporary Spain. The main lines of the picture are drawn here.     

Personality and organizational culture as determinants of influence

How can individuals attain influence in organizations? Prior research has identified structural determinants of influence, such as formal authority and position in a social network. However, indirect evidence suggests that influence might also stem from personal characteristics. The authors tested whether influence can stem from the fit between the person and his or her organization (P-O fit). Consistent with expectations, extraverts attained more influence in a team-oriented organization, whereas conscientious individuals attained more influence in an organization in which individuals worked alone on technical tasks. Further, these effects held up after controlling for formal authority, job performance, and demographic characteristics, such as gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The multiple ways in which individuals can gain influence are discussed.     

当代世界宗教发展趋势问题(节选)

根据我们对当代宗教的了解,特别是宗教与政 治具有密切关系的特征,可以认为宗教具有以下的 发展趋势: 其一,宗教将继续面临来自内外的挑战 一方面,它的内部将继续发生分化。随着生活 现代化、世俗化的发展,传统宗教将进一步衰落, 人们对宗教的冷漠态度仍然会继续下去。各个宗教 内部的调整、更新、改革,仍会继续进行下去,自     

Achieving ego integrity: Personality development in late midlife

Using data from two longitudinal studies of educated white women, we explored precursors and correlates of ego integrity versus despair, which is the last developmental stage in Erikson’s theory of adult development. The women comprising Study 1 graduated from Smith College in 1964 (N = 42); the women comprising Study 2 graduated from Radcliffe College also in 1964 (N = 50). In both studies, hierarchical regressions indicated that women who had resolved their regrets at age 53 achieved higher levels of ego integrity at age 62, and those who had resolved their regrets at age 62 also had higher concurrent levels of ego integrity. Further, in study 2, generativity at age 53 was found to predict ego integrity at age 62.     

The development of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was constructed at the University of Minnesota before and during World War II. In its developmental phase, the MMPI was conceputalized as an efficient way of detecting psychiatric disturbance. The test's construction was made possible by atypical cooperation between psychologists and psychiatrists, within the context of a crisis in the U.S. public mental health care system. The MMPI was designed to meet the diagnostic needs of psychiatrists. As such, it represented the operationalization of medical hegemony. However, the interpretation of the MMPI shifted significantly after the war, reflecting organizational reform in clinical psychology and changing professional relationships between psychologists and psychiatrists.     

The development of Addiction-Prone Personality traits in biological and adoptive families

This project investigated the predictors of Addiction-Prone Personality (APP) scores in youth and young adults from biological (N = 328, 53% female) and adoptive (N = 77, 53% female) families. The development of offspring’s APP traits was examined from three different angles: (1) patterns in biological and adoptive families, (2) offspring’s vs. parent’s perceptions of familial environment, and (3) different points in the life span. The offspring’s APP scores were found to be significantly predicted by parents’ APP scores in both biological and adoptive families. Parents’ APP scores and offspring’s gender consistently showed significant direct influences on offspring’s APP scores in biological families. The familial care factor (maternal and paternal care, family cohesion, and family adaptability) was found to be the consistent significant predictor of offspring’s APP scores in adoptive families even when offspring became older. These results are consistent in showing that the social environment plays an important role in the development of Addiction-Prone Personality traits.     

Personality,faith, development,and work attitudes

Drawing upon the developmental work of Loevinger and Fowler, the author speculates upon the existence of work attitudes that accompany each stage and explains how the attitudes influence people's orientations toward work and family.     

The canary in the mind: on the fate of dreams in psychoanalysis and in contemporary culture

Dreams have been central in the birth and evolution of psychoanalysis. This paper explores the remarkable story of the relationship between dreams and psychoanalysis as a modern version of the long history of dreams in most healing traditions. But psychoanalysis seems to have turned away from dreams as central inspiration in a way parallel to the general culture’s turn away from dreams and the reality of inner life. Yet modern postindustrial culture is transfixed by a version of “dream life” in ways just beginning to be understood (e.g., in the transformation of ancient interest in the inner screen to the external screen). Working with dreams in psychoanalytic psychotherapy was a creative and revolutionary act for our forebears. It is even more so today, in ways that are discussed in this paper.Dr. Paul Lippmann is training and supervising analyst and faculty member at the William Alanson White Institute and faculty member of the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. He is also Director of the Stockbridge Dream Society.     

The item structure of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire across method and culture

Since its publication, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) has endured much criticism of its psychometric properties. As the most stringent of these attacks has derived from hierarchical factor analytic studies it is reasonable to ask whether the inadequacies reported accrue to the questionnaire itself or to the problematic features of factor analysis as a method. A further feature of empirical studies that are critical of the EPQ is that they are, by-and-large, based upon non-British samples. As the EPQ was constructed in Britain it is quite conceivable that cultural artifacts are responsible for the inconsistent findings of Canadian and American researchers. This paper offers a brief review of some of the critical research and reports a study in which the item structure of the EPQ is explored by non-metric multidimensional scaling techniques upon a sample of Irish adolescents. The MDS configuration was then compared with the higher order factor analytic results of American researchers to examine invariance across method. A clear item structure emerges supporting the Eysencks' theoretical model although items of the P scale are less homogenous than would be ideal for a psychometric tool.     

Bernstein's theory of movement behavior: historical development and contemporary relevance

In present-day movement science, N. A. Bernstein's formulation of the problems of motor control is often taken as the starting point. The reliance on Bernstein has not brought agreement among his followers, however. In this article, the authors pose the following question: Does the disagreement arise from the structure of his work itself or from incomplete exploitation of his thinking? By using, inter alia, Bernstein's 24 English and German articles, the authors present an analysis of the development of Bernstein's theory of movement behavior, against the backdrop of the scientific progress in the Soviet Union in Bernstein's time and the clashes between Soviet politics and science. Bernstein addressed in his early articles the measurement and biomechanical analysis of movements. His experimental data soon indicated the need for a new understanding of the organization of movements, which he formulated in terms of coordination. Because of political problems, his work was interrupted; but after being "rehabilitated" and again allowed to work, Bernstein aimed to explain how animals find and optimize the solutions to motor problems. The structure of the theory that ensued was comprehensive exactly by virtue of his repeatedly shifting focus between the different aspects of the organization of movement: More important than the answers he gave were the questions he asked. Moreover, the way he approached those questions may help scientists solve pressing problems in present-day movement science.     

Personality development and growth in women across 30 years: three perspectives

This article addressesthree questions about personality development in a 30‐year longitudinal study of women (N = 78): (1) To what extent did the women maintain the same position inrelation to each other on personality characteristics over the 30 years, and what broad factorswere related to the amount of change in their rank order? (2) Did the sample as a whole increaseor decrease over time on indices of personality growth, and did they change in ways distinctive towomen? (3) Were experiential factors associated with individual differences in the amount ofchange? Results showed that personality was quite consistent while also showing that timeinterval was positively related to rank‐order change and age was negatively related to rank‐orderchange. Over the period from age 21 to age 52, the women increased on measures ofnorm‐orientation and complexity and showed changes on measures of Dominance andFemininity/Masculinity consistent with the hypothesis that changing sex roles would lead toincreases in Dominance and increases, then decreases, in Femininity/Masculinity. A third set ofresults showed that changes in Dominance and Femininity/Masculinity were associated with lifecircumstances such as marital tension, divorce, and participation in the paid labor force. Theimplications of the findings for personality development and growth are discussed.     

Full pockets,empty lives: a psychoanalytic exploration of the contemporary culture of greed

This paper offers a psychoanalytic exploration of the dynamics of greed in individual lives and ways that those dynamics both reflect and influence the surrounding culture. The paper discusses the contradictions associated with the consumerist pursuit of wealth and goods, and finds evidence for the failure of such pursuit to provide the satisfaction that is anticipated. It also examines the implications for psychoanalytic theorizing on the ways in which ongoing social forces and institutions contribute to shaping the psyche.     

Personality development in emerging adulthood: integrating evidence from self-ratings and spouse ratings

The authors examined self-ratings and spouse ratings in a young adult newlywed sample across a 2-year interval. Rank-order stability correlations were consistently high and did not differ across the 2 types of ratings. As expected, self-ratings showed significant increases in conscientiousness and agreeableness--and declines in neuroticism/negative affectivity--over time. Spouse ratings yielded a very different pattern, however, showing significant decreases in conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, and openness across the study interval. Spouse ratings also showed evidence of a "honeymoon effect," such that they tended to be more positive than self-ratings at Time 1. This effect had dissipated by the 2nd assessment; in fact, the spouse ratings tended to be more negative at Time 2. Analyses of individual-level change revealed little convergence between self- and spouse-rated change, using both raw change scores and reliable change index scores. Finally, correlational and regression analyses indicated that changes in spouse ratings were significantly associated with changes in marital satisfaction; in contrast, changes in self-ratings essentially were unrelated to marital satisfaction. These results highlight the value of collecting multimethod data in studies of adult personality development.     

Personality – a resource or risk for successful development

Personality as a resource or risk for development was discussed in the light of the results of the ongoing Finnish Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (FJYLS) which the author has conducted since 1968 when the participants (N = 369, b. 1959) were 8 years of age. A general hypothesis presented within a two‐dimensional framework of self‐control and activity was that the child’s high self‐control of emotions and behavior would be associated with adaptive behavior in adulthood. The results have provided evidence in support for and limitations to the hypothesis. High self‐control was a resource and low self‐control was a risk for development, but there were gender differences that came out consistently in variable‐oriented and person‐oriented analyses. A resource factor for male adult social functioning was, compared to females, a broader construct of self‐control in childhood covering both more passive (compliant) and active (constructive) behavior; only active well‐controlled (constructive) behavior was a resource for female functioning. A risk factor for female functioning was low self‐control combined with passivity (internalizing behavior), whereas low self‐control combined with activity (externalizing behavior) was a risk factor for male functioning. Childhood self‐control was not directly associated with adult psychological functioning such as well‐being but indirectly through social functioning such as career development. Low self‐control in childhood was an antecedent of criminal behavior but only for those male offenders who committed offences in adulthood, not for those who had limited their offending to adolescence.     

Judgments of the lucky across development and culture

For millennia, human beings have believed that it is morally wrong to judge others by the fortuitous or unfortunate events that befall them or by the actions of another person. Rather, an individual's own intended, deliberate actions should be the basis of his or her evaluation, reward, and punishment. In a series of studies, the authors investigated whether such rules guide the judgments of children. The first 3 studies demonstrated that children view lucky others as more likely than unlucky others to perform intentional good actions. Children similarly assess the siblings of lucky others as more likely to perform intentional good actions than the siblings of unlucky others. The next 3 studies demonstrated that children as young as 3 years believe that lucky people are nicer than unlucky people. The final 2 studies found that Japanese children also demonstrate a robust preference for the lucky and their associates. These findings are discussed in relation to M. J. Lerner's (1980) just-world theory and J. Piaget's (1932/1965) immanent-justice research and in relation to the development of intergroup attitudes.