Book reviews

Books reviewed:
Dale Mathers, An Introduction to Meaning and Purpose in Analytical Psychology
Jane Cabot Reid (ed. & narrator), Jung, My Mother, and I: The Analytic Diaries of Catharine Rush Cabot
Heather Formaini (compiler), Landmarks. Papers by Jungian Analysts from Australia and New Zealand
Neil Russack, Animal Guides in Life, Myth and Dreams: An Analyst's Notebook
Rose–Emily Rothenberg, The Jewel in the Wound
Judith Edwards (ed.), Being Alive, Building on the Work of Anne Alvarez     

Internet Discussion Forum Summary

Articles Discussed in this forum:
'Symbolic attitude and reverie: problems of symbolization in children and adolescents' by Gustav Bovensiepen and 'Response to Gustav Bovensiepen' by Donald Kalsched     

Chaos and self-organization: emergent patterns at critical life transitions

A feeling of chaos can accompany many real-life events over which we have little or no control, and latent developmental needs may create tension that manifests in symptoms of depression or anxiety. Particularly at critical life transitions, conflicts may arise which have no obvious solution. From an analytic perspective, recent scientific models from the area of complexity theory can prove illuminating as analogies to Jung's archetypal view of the individuation process. Throughout life, human beings, like many complex, open systems, pass from disordered phases to more complex stages of order. This paper shows how the scientific concept of self-organization can be compared with our physical and psychological developmental processes. From embryology, the model of the 'epigenetic landscape' (C.H. Waddington) is introduced as an analogy to Jung's individuation process, with a clinical example to illustrate these parallels. The emergent nature of behaviour and development is seen from the viewpoint of the organism as a dynamical system, and Jung's concept of the archetype viewed as an emergent property of the activity of the brain/mind.     

Creativity and Aging: Personal Journals and the Creation of Self

This article considers the writing of personal journals as a process through which an individual constructs a linguistic representation of one's self, with the self constituting a narrative. Rather than a fixed narrative, one's life exists as a narrative subject to revision and reinterpretation. Through journal writing, then, one constructs and reconstructs his or her identity. Berman finds the value in personal journals not only in the themes that surface but also in the creative process they reveal. In this article, he examines passages from five journalists that demonstrate this process of creating and revising meaning in one's life.     

The effect of Neuroticism in the process of goal pursuit

This study examines the link between Neuroticism and work motivation under work conditions that provide clear behavioral expectations. Within a two-phase correlational laboratory setup, participants (N = 158) worked on a simple task with specific, high goals that were linked to monetary rewards. Structural equation modeling analysis largely supported the postulated model. Focusing on antecedents and consequences of goal commitment, we found that Neuroticism was indirectly related to the attainment of assigned goals via motivational variables in the process of goal pursuit. Independent of cognitive ability, positive and negative effects of Neuroticism were evident in the motivational process, which forms an explanation for the close-to-zero relationships to performance outcomes. Two facets (Anxiety, Self-consciousness) seem to offer explanations for the contradicting effects of Neuroticism in the process of goal pursuit.     

Meditative dialogue: tuning in to the music of family therapy

Meditative dialogue is a mindfulness method through which families and their therapists are able to access the present moment and develop acceptance, non‐judgmental attitudes and attunement with one another and with the music that is always present in their lives. This process can be used to deepen empathic connections, tap into creative forces and loosen and encourage embodied and flexible interactions that alter patterns and cultivate openness to possibility and to change.     

Intergenerational transmission: The individuation process and the capacity for intimacy of adult children of holocaust survivors

This article deals with the intergenerational processes of adult children of Holocaust surviors. By exploring their level of individuation from the parental family and their capacity for intimacy with spouses, the research findings reveal that: Adult children of survivors are emotionally more interconnected to their parents than are their counterparts (using the MIS). Adult children of survivors have a lower intimacy capacity with their spouses in comparison with the control group. These findings are explained from an intergenerational perspective regarding a post-traumatic population.Received PhD from University of Wisconsin-Madison. Current research in the individuation process throughout adulthood, and the post-traumatic effect of Holocaust survivors.     

The differential effect of background music on memory for verbal and visuospatial information

Background music is a part of our everyday activities. Considerable evidence suggests that listening to music while performing cognitive tasks may negatively influence performance. However, other studies have shown that it can benefit memory when the music played during the encoding of information is also provided during the retrieval of that information, in the so-called context dependent memory effect. Since controversial results may be attributed to the nature of the material to be memorized, the aim of the present study is to compare the potential effect of consistent background music on the immediate and long-term recall of verbal and visuospatial information. Experiment 1 showed that instrumental background music does not benefit nor decrease recall of a list of unrelated words, both at the immediate and the 48-hours-delayed tests. By contrast, Experiment 2 revealed that the same background music can impair immediate and therefore long-term memory for visuospatial information. Results are interpreted in terms of competition for neurocognitive resources, with tasks mostly relying on the same brain hemisphere competing for a limited set of resources. Hence, background music might impair visuospatial memory to a greater extent than verbal memory, in the context of limited capacity cognitive system. In conclusion, the nature of the material to be learnt must be considered to fully understand the effect of background music on memory.     

The psychoanalytic process: motives and obstacles in the search for clarification

One motive for regarding psychoanalysis as a "process," and for attempting to define its exact nature, is to enable analysts to clarify their criteria for distinguishing authentic psychoanalysis from other therapies that resemble it or are derived from it. In the present climate of theoretical pluralism, any list of defining qualities that could win wide acceptance would of necessity be cast in terms of such general quality as to limit its utility as a precise template. Another motive for holding on to the "process" concept arises from the unpredictable nature of analytic progress in even the most satisfactory cases.     

The Adult Self: Process and Paradox

This paper defines the adult self as an identity-in-a-mutuality-of-relating, a reality that is at once a process and a paradox. As an identity-in-a-mutuality-of-relating this self has 5 characteristics, each of which is also a process and a paradox: it is a body-self; it is rooted and disclosed in feeling; it is a felt sense of depth; it has its own clear boundaries and exists in intimacy; and it is its own responsible process of experiencing. The fullness of the adult self lies in self-actualization and self-reflection, and here this self is most a process and most a paradox.     

The influence of alexithymia and music on the incidental memory for emotion words

Alexithymia is a multifaceted personality construct which encompasses difficulties in identifying and expressing feelings along with an externally oriented cognitive style. We investigated whether congruent vs. incongruent emotional musical priming (happy and angry music) during encoding would moderate the effects of alexithymia on recognition rates. We found that high alexithymia scorers recognized fewer joy and anger words than low scorers. Angry music decreased recognition rates in high alexithymia scorers compared to low alexithymia scorers. The congruency and incongruency effects between music and words depended on alexithymia level. The anger deficit in high alexithymia scorers and the possible support provided by happiness cues are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Anxiety and motor performance: More evidence for the effectiveness of holistic process goals as a solution to the process goal paradox

ObjectivesRecent research has reported the benefits of using holistic rather than part process goals to avoid the negative effects associated with the conscious processing of task relevant information by skilled but anxious athletes. This experiment compared the efficacy of these two goal focus strategies in a neutral condition and a competitive condition in which cognitive state anxiety was elevated.DesignLaboratory-based experimental design using a mixed model with between (process goal groups) and within-subjects (neutral and competitive) conditions.MethodThirty male and female undergraduate students aged between 19 and 44 years of age completed 896 practice repetitions of a race car driving simulation using discovery learning. Participants were then placed in either a holistic or part process goal group using stratified random assignment. The practice phase was followed by neutral and competitive conditions, during which driving performance and psychophysiological measures were collected.ResultsAnalysis of variance of lap times and driving errors revealed that the holistic process goal group outperformed the part process goal group in the competition condition. Analysis of psychophysiological measures suggested that the performance of both process goal groups in the competitive condition was associated with the investment of compensatory effort.ConclusionsCompared to part process goals, holistic process goals confer performance benefits for skilled athletes who perform under competitive pressure.     

Music as a Therapeutic Medium for Occupational Engagement: Implications for Occupational Therapy

Music is a meaningful occupation; a summary of current literature and the authors’ experiences regarding health and wellness benefits and potential for music as a therapeutic medium in occupational therapy practice is presented. An interview and a summary of the authors’ experiences illustrate the role for music and its benefits for occupational therapy. These benefits are described through three themes which emerged: (a) music as a means of increasing group cohesion toward common goals, (b) music as a means of increasing socialization, and (c) music as a meaningful occupation can empower individuals to enhance and embrace wellness and recovery.     

Countertransference as active imagination: imaginative experiences of the analyst

Active imagination is at the heart of Jung's elucidation of depth psychology. Yet, in the discourse of present day analytical psychology theory it is not always given the serious attention accorded to some other Jungian concepts. Active imagination emerges spontaneously within the 'third' area--the imaginal or dynamic field--in-between patient and analyst. It is commonly regarded as the patient's experience but I am proposing that, looked upon as the analyst's experience as well, active imagination offers a distinctly Jungian way of understanding some forms of countertransference. I am describing what I think many present-day analytical psychologists already do in their clinical practice but, as far as I know, it has not been theorized in quite this way before. The intention is to exploit the unique contribution of our Jungian heritage by reframing certain profoundly symbolic countertransference-generated imagery as active imagination. In this article these are differentiated from other less complex forms of imaginative countertransference through examples from clinical practice. The point is that such countertransference experiences may activate the symbolic function in the analyst and thus contribute to the mediation of emergent consciousness in the analysand.     

积极想象的理解与应用

本文探讨了积极想象的含义、运用条件、操作步骤、本质特征、应用拓展, 并对积极想象、催眠、自由联想三种无意识心理治疗技术进行对比。积极想象技术已经发展出多种形式, 与艺术疗法、身体因素相结合, 应用范围也从个体形式发展到团体形式, 还应用于理解和处理医患之间移情、反移情关系等问题。理解和应用积极想象时, 应从方法论意义上运用, 把握其本质特征, 并同时加强荣格分析心理学与中国思想文化之间的理论联结。     

The central executive as a search process: priming exploration and exploitation across domains

The trade-off between exploration and exploitation is common to a wide variety of problems involving search in space and mind. The prevalence of this trade-off and its neurological underpinnings led us to propose domain-general cognitive search processes (Hills, Todd, & Goldstone, 2008). We propose further that these are consistent with the idea of a central executive search process that combines goal-handling across subgoal hierarchies. In the present study, we investigate 3 aspects of this proposal. First, the existence of a unitary central executive search process should allow priming from 1 search task to another and at multiple hierarchical levels. We confirm this by showing cross-domain priming from a spatial search task to 2 different cognitive levels within a lexical search task. Second, given the neural basis of the proposed generalized cognitive search process and the evidence that the central executive is primarily engaged during complex tasks, we hypothesize that priming should require search in the sense of a self-regulated making and testing of sequential predictions about the world. This was confirmed by showing that when participants were allowed to collect spatial resources without searching for them, no priming occurred. Finally, we provide a mechanism for the underlying search process and investigate 3 alternative hypotheses for subgoal hierarchies using the central executive as a search process model (CESP). CESP envisions the central executive as having both emergent and unitary processes, with one of its roles being a generalized cognitive search process that navigates goal hierarchies by mediating persistence on and switching between subgoals.     

系统论指导个体化肿瘤综合治疗

从系统论的理论出发,指出对于肿瘤的综合治疗,应该强调整体性和个体化的原则,在进行恶性肿瘤的综合治疗中,必须考虑具体患者的具体病情。     

In search of the nonconscious sources of goal pursuit: Accessibility and positive affective valence of the goal state

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that the mere priming of the representation of a goal state motivates people to pursue this state to the extent that it is associated with positive affect. In Experiment 1, all participants completed an affective priming task in which the goal concept of “socializing” was primed and tested for positive valence. Subsequently, they were given an instrumental task which provided the opportunity to pursue that state. It was established that participants put more effort in the task to attain the primed goal state when the implicitly assessed affective valence of the state was more positive. Experiment 2 replicated and extended these effects by showing that a stronger association of the goal state with positive affect—as assessed by the EAST—led to more effort to attain the state, but only when “socializing” was primed.     

Signs and the process of interpretation: sign as an object and as a process

Historically the words representation and symbol have had overlapping meanings, meanings that usually disregard the role played by the interpreter. Peirce’s theory of signs accounts for these meanings and also for the role of the interpreter. His theory draws attention to the static and dynamic nature of signs. Sign interpretation can be viewed as a continuous dynamic and evolving process. The static and dynamic nature of signs helps us understand the teaching–learning activity as a process of interpretation on the part of teacher and students. The paper attempts to explain the classroom interpretation process on the part of the actors involved using the Peircean theory of signs.