Countertransference: Our new royal road to the unconscious?

In this paper I am tracing the history of countertransference and how it has informed the current debate about self‐disclosure as a pivotal instrument of analytic work. Now that the analyst's “subjective factor”; has been understood as a central influence on the analysand and as a vital source of information about the analysand's intrapsychic life, I argue that certain currents in the relational school of psychoanalysis confuse the analyst's subjectivity with his personality. While becoming more “real”; with a patient may enliven a stale analytic dialogue, it ought not be confused with, or take the place of, an analysis of unconscious desires and phantasies. I claim that a two‐person psychology can exist only within a tripartite structure in which the analyst does not lose sight of his complex function of being the carrier, observer, and conveyor of the unconscious currents holding both participants in check.     

Medicine: The first step on the road to holiness?

The connections of Medicine and Religion are thoroughly documented in the primitive societies, and it comes as no surprise to see them together. Here we describe the true story of a Portuguese physician of the late 19th century whose image today is venerated in such a way as to compare him to a saint and to bestow upon him miraculous powers of healing. We propose that modern day physicians can learn from the example of this man that the role of doctor encompasses not only scientific and technical mastery but, most of all, piety, humanity and compassion.     

The failure to respond to changes in the road environment: Does road familiarity play a role?

Road signs do not necessarily lead to the right response. Especially when signs are changed, drivers may not always detect new signs and may therefore fail to respond correctly to the situation indicated. The present driving simulator study investigated whether road familiarity (increased exposure to the same road) influenced failure to respond to a change in road signs. In order to study the failure to respond, participants were presented with a change in the road lay-out (as indicated by a road sign) in the last of a series of simulated drives. The change introduced was the conversion of a normal road into a No-Entry road. Results show that several participants failed to respond to this change. However, the failure to respond was not simply the result of familiarity with the road or prior exposure to precisely the same road, but seemed to be influenced by expectations induced by the road design. Additional safety measures such as the placement of additional road signs reduced the failure to respond. An auditory in-vehicle message gave the best results. Interestingly, both in the case of additional signs and of the in-vehicle message, a general warning was sufficient, without the need to specify the precise traffic situation.     

Is writing affected by spelling performance and beliefs about spelling?

This study examined relations between self-efficacy and outcome expectancy beliefs and spelling and writing performance. Perceptions about spelling and writing were assessed in 258 collegeage participants. Spelling performance was measured through a 50-item spelling test and writing performance by a holistically scored writing sample. The most highly correlated variables included spelling outcome expectancy and writing outcome expectancy, spelling selfefficacy and writing self-efficacy, spelling performance and spelling self-efficacy, and spelling and writing performance. A causal model relating perceptions, spelling performance, and writing performance was proposed and its appropriateness estimated. Direct effects on spelling were found for spelling self-efficacy, while spelling self-efficacy had indirect effects on writing performance and spelling had a direct effect on writing performance. The causal model was discussed in terms of changing conceptions of writing instruction and traditional views of the role of spelling as a necessary component of good writing.     

The road traveled,the road ahead,or simply on the road? When progress framing affects motivation in goal pursuit

The present research examined the dynamic interplay between the framing of one's progress from an initial state toward an end state (i.e., framed as the distance traveled from the initial state to the current state -‘to-date’ versus framed as the distance left from the current state to the end state -‘to-go’) and construal level in influencing motivation in goal pursuit. In three experiments we found that both state and chronic differences in experienced construal level modulate the impact of progress framing on motivation at a specific stage in goal pursuit, i.e., when consumers are halfway between the initial and end state, but is less consequential at the initial or end stages. This modulation shows that type of framing only affected motivation of people with an abstract, but not a concrete mindset. Under these conditions, progress framed in terms of to-date produced increased motivation compared to a to-go frame. Moreover, perceived goal distance was found to mediate the impact of progress framing on motivation for individuals with an abstract, but not a concrete mindset.     

Written object naming,spelling to dictation,and immediate copying: Different tasks,different pathways?

Politeness theory posits that speakers can use verbal probabilities (e.g., there is a chance, it is likely) to hedge bad news. So far, only indirect evidence supports that claim: From the hearer's standpoint, verbal probabilities are interpreted either as plain likelihood-communication devices or as face-management devices, resulting in different risk perceptions. The present research aims to test more directly the postulate of politeness theory by focusing on the effects of speakers' intentions on risk communication. In three experiments, participants communicated a probability by choosing an expression from a list of verbal probabilities. Results consistently showed that polite speakers communicated a different risk magnitude than informative speakers. Further findings indicate that the effect of the speakers' intention depends on the valence of the uncertain outcome. The theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed.     

Why is Gandhi Wise? A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Gandhi as an Exemplar of Wisdom

This study explores cross-cultural differences in why Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi is nominated as an historical exemplar of wisdom. We compare the answers of emerging adults (aged 18–30) from three populations: Indian citizens, Canadian citizens, and Indian immigrants to Canada. Chi-square analyses showed that these groups emphasize significantly different aspects of Gandhi’s wisdom: Canadian citizens see Gandhi’s wisdom as practical and intellectual; Indian citizens see Gandhi’s wisdom as practical and benevolent; Indian immigrants to Canada consider Gandhi to integrate benevolent, intellectual, and practical aspects of wisdom; they also differ significantly in attributes associated with their implicit theory about his wisdom. Participants who know more about Gandhi also claim that he had a greater impact on their own lives. These findings suggest that historical exemplars of wisdom are filtered through the sociocultural contexts of each participant’s own lived experience, but that they still can be an inspiration in personally meaningful ways.     

Shared road is double happiness: Evaluation of a “Share the road” sign

A road sign with the text «Share the road» and a picture of a smiling cyclist and a passing car was evaluated in a before–after study with surveys among cyclists and car drivers. The sign was set up at two sites on a test road near Oslo in summer 2014. A similar road was used as a comparison. About two thirds of the participants on the test road had noticed the sign. The majority liked it and agreed with its message. Cyclists have more often noticed the sign than car drivers have and they were somewhat more positive towards the sign. Effects on self-reported behavior and the perceived behavior of others were evaluated by comparing changes from the before- to the after-period between test and comparison road. Self-reported behavior of both cyclists and car drivers has improved on the test road after the sign was set up, especially in overtaking situations, and these results are in accordance with how cyclists and car drivers perceived each other’s behavior. The general perception of other road users has improved as well. The results are most likely representative of similar roads with a large proportion of car traffic that is related to recreation and a relatively low level of conflict.     

Mahatma Gandhi’s Pragmatic Spirituality: Its Relevance to Psychology East and West

M. K. Gandhi is no academic psychologist; but his philosophy and practice of pragmatic spirituality have important implications for psychology in general and Indian psychology in particular. Psychology as taught and practised in India is mostly Western and not Indian psychology. Indian psychology is an emerging system of psychology with its roots in classical Indian thought. According to Gandhi, the person is instinctively brute, but inherently spiritual. Consequently, he/she has on the one hand natural attraction to sensory gratification and indulgence, selfish desires and craving. On the other hand, he or she aspires for self-realization. Human development is a dialectical process where people seek to find a workable synthesis between sensory indulgence and spiritual aspirations, between egotistic selfishness and altruistic urges. Gandhi’s life provides an excellent case study of the ways of spiritual development. The techniques he crafted like satyagraha and the strategies he followed in his public life give us insights into how spirituality can be applied to improve human condition. The applications are not India specific, but universal. Therefore, psychologists from the East as well as from the West can join in exploring Gandhian ideas and techniques of psycho-spiritual development and their relevance to today’s troubled world.     

Bringing the behavioral sciences to the law: Tell it to the judge or talk to your legislator?

The empirical data generated by behavioral scientists is frequently targeted for presentation in courts in order to influence decision making. However, legislative bodies, rather than the courts, may be the most appropriate forum to consider such evidence. This article discusses the comparative reception of social science evidence in judicial versus legislative arenas.     

An examination of message-relevant affect in road safety messages: Should road safety advertisements aim to make us feel good or bad?

Drawing upon the multiple roles of affect posited by Elaboration Likelihood Model, the current paper examines the effectiveness of message-relevant affect. Specifically, humourous and fear-evoking anti-drink driving messages are examined in terms of perceptions of relative influence on self and others (i.e., the third-person effect) and their performance on a range of persuasion outcomes. The influence of involvement, response efficacy, and gender on persuasion outcomes is also examined. Participants (N = 201) viewed two advertisements and completed two questionnaires: the first, assessed pre-exposure attitudes and behaviour and immediate-post exposure attitudes and intentions; the second, 2–4 weeks later, assessed attitudes and behaviour. The results revealed, as predicted, interactions of the key variables and evidence of the greater persuasiveness of negative appeals immediately after exposure whilst greater improvement of positive appeals over time. The findings highlight the importance of continuing the exploration of positive appeals as a persuasive alternative to negative appeals.     

Psychology and Culture: Back to the Future?

Psychology has a poor record in addressing cultural phenomena. One response is to turn to ancient concepts from local traditions and to use these as alternative analytic categories to explain behavior. However, there are problems with such an approach. These concepts will be read from the vantage point of the present and interpreted differently so as to propose different diagnoses (and solutions) for contemporary social problems. As an alternative, rather than using ancient resources as analytic categories in the explanation of behavior, we could instead examine how they are used as categories of practice as people actively make sense of their social context and themselves. Attending to such contemporary ‘lay’ usage (and the contestation it entails) allows for a more dynamic conception of cultural processes than is typical in psychology. More generally, I believe that it is possible to use our psychological constructs so that we can see the distinctive particularities of the phenomena before us in new and interesting ways, and in ways that respect their cultural specificity. This claim is illustrated through reference to recent work using the concept of social identity to illuminate aspects of Hindu pilgrimage.     

Immigrant intelligentsia and its second generation: Cultural segregation as a road to social integration?

This article deals with the recent wave of migration from the former USSR to Israel, analyses immigrant intelligentsias strategies of action in the public sphere. The authors argument is that by adopting a seemingly separatist course of action and founding educational, cultural, scientific, and political institutions inspired by traditions brought from the country of origin, what the immigrants actually do is try to integrate themselves into the host society as its distinctive but equal members. Thus it is the strategy of cultural segregation that enables the immigrant intelligentsia to occupy its own place in the multicultural mosaic of contemporary Israeli society.     

Movement control in older adults: does old age mean middle of the road?

Old age is associated with poorer movement skill, as indexed by reduced speed and accuracy. Nevertheless, reductions in speed and accuracy can also reflect compensation as well as deficit. We used a manual tracing and a driving task to identify generalized spatial and temporal compensations and deficits associated with old age. In Experiment 1, participants used a hand-held stylus to trace a path. In Experiment 2, participants steered along paths in a virtual reality driving simulator. In both experiments, participants were required to stay within the boundaries while we manipulated task difficulty by changing path width or movement speed. The older group showed worse performance in the highly constrained conditions. Corner cutting effectively reduces the curvature of bends but yields a greater risk of error (i.e., clipping the path or road edge). Corner cutting is thus less risky on wider paths, and we found that corner cutting increased for both age groups in both tasks when paths were wider. Crucially, we observed a greater degree of corner cutting in the young group compared with the old, suggesting the old group compensated for decreased motor skill with "middle-of-the-road" behavior. Enforcing increased speed caused all participants to increase corner cutting. Thus, older participants showed spatial compensation for decreased skill by biasing their position toward the middle of the path in both a manual and steering task. External constraints (narrow paths and fast speeds) prevented this strategy and revealed age-related declines in skills central to manual control and driving.