Collective Trauma,Implicit Memories,the Body,and Active Imagination in Jungian Analysis1

This presentation attempts to show the healing potential underlying the inclusion of the patient's body in the analytic process, while honouring and revisiting the understanding of the psyche-body connection described by Jung in his early work. In addition, the author offers reflections on the impact of collective trauma whose aftermath, among others, has been the disappearance of thousands of people, consequently breaking the family genealogy, leaving hundreds of children stripped of their roots and true identity. Referencing clinical material, the author describes how the process of translation and integration—from the sensory-perceptual to the conceptual-symbolic—can be halted on account of collective trauma occurring at an early stage in development. Moreover, it is shown how the potential of the archetype or image schema, linked to the somatic-affective early experiences encoded as implicit memories, can be recovered, when Embodied Active Imagination is included in the analytic work. The patient's bodily gestures and somatic experience may bridge the gap between the preverbal-implicit knowledge and the emergence of emotions and images that allow for the creation of a new symbolic narrative.     

Meta-analytic studies of leadership: Added insights or added paradoxes?

This research examines the extent to which meta-analysis of leadership research fulfills its promise to bring order into a body of literature characterized by inconsistent, equivocal findings. Manual and computer searches yielded 14 meta-analyses which clustered around the following leadership topics: (1) theories of leadership (n=7); (2) leadership in small groups (n=2); and gender differences in leadership (n=5). In all three categories, the results of the meta-analyses were as inconsistent as those of primary research. Differences in the types of meta-analystic techniques used, differences in judgment calls including decisions defining the research domain, establishing criteria for inclusion of studies, coding characteristics and selection of potential moderators are, at least in part, responsible for the differences observed. In addition, areas of leadership research which have produced sizable bodies of empirical studies such as the effects of power on leadership outcomes, leader effectiveness as well as the effects of leadership competencies and leadership contexts on leader-follower relations have not been subjected to statistical aggregation and summarization of results across studies. Recommendations for improving the quality of meta-analytic research on leadership are offered.     

Combating business crime in Sweden: A performance audit

This article describes an extensive audit of the work of government agencies against business crime in Sweden, as an example of a performance evaluation by an auditing institution. Business crime was shown to be a major and growing social problem. Manifold measures are required, and these must be directed and coordinated by the Government and the Riksdag. The cooperation of the commercial sector is also needed. The investigation was made by the Parliamentary Auditors of Sweden, which is the smaller of the two auditing institutions in the country. The method used in the investigation can be described as an “interactive” one. The intention was to create a thorough understanding of the issue and a shared approach to the problem. This aim seems to have been achieved to a great extent. Karin Rudberg is one of the audit directors at the Office of the Parliamentary Auditors of Sweden. She is an eonomist with experience in investigations of many different fields, such as restructuring government agencies, evaluation of energy research policies, and analyses of the Swedish industrial structure and labor market.     

Attentional bias to threat: Roles of trait anxiety, stressful events, and awareness

Attentional biases for threat stimuli were assessed in high and low trait anxious subjects (n = 66) using a probe detection task. To examine the effects of trait anxiety and situational stressors, each subject was tested three times: Under no stress, laboratory-induced stress, and examination-induced stress. To evaluate the role of awareness, half the word stimuli were presented very briefly (14 msec) and masked, and the other half were presented for 500 msec without a mask. Results showed that high trait anxious subjects under exam stress showed an attentional bias towards unmasked threat stimuli compared with low trait subjects. This effect was not found under lab-induced stress, suggesting that the attentional bias for unmasked threat in high trait subjects may be a function of a prolonged stressor, rather than a transient increase in state anxiety. The results from the masked exposure condition were not predicted; high trait anxious subjects shifted attention towards the spatial location of threat words despite lack of awareness of their lexical content, but this bias was only apparent in the no-stress condition. The results are discussed in relation to recent cognitive theories of anxiety.     

Sensorimotor synchronization: Motor responses to pseudoregular auditory patterns

Musically trained and untrained subjects (N=30) were asked to synchronize their finger tapping with stimuli in auditory patterns. Each pattern comprised six successive tonal stimuli of the same duration, the first of which was accented by a different frequency. The duration of interstimulus onset intervals (ISIs) gradually increased or decreased in constant steps toward the end of the patterns. Four values of such steps were used in different trials: 20, 30, 45, and 60 msec. Various time-control mechanisms are hypothesized as being simultaneously responsible for subjects’ incorrect reproduction of the internal temporal ratios of the stimulus patterns. The mechanism of assimilation (of a central tendency) led subjects to enforce a regular (isochronous) structure on the patterns. The influence of other time-control mechanisms (distinction, subjective expression of an accent, sequential transfer) was expressed mainly in differences between intertap onset intervals (ITIs) and the corresponding ISIs at the beginning of the patterns. The duration of the first two ITIs was in the majority of the trials in an inverse ratio to the ratio of the respective ISIs. The distortions resulting from the timing mechanisms concerned were more pronounced in the performance of nonmusicians than in that of musicians.     

Sensorimotor synchronization: Motor responses to regular auditory patterns

Subjects (N = 32) were asked to synchronize a motor response with tones in auditory patterns. These patterns were created from six tones and six intertone intervals of equal duration. The pitch of the first tone differed from the others. It was found that subjects used three types of timing in their motor response: (1) the first intertone interval was prolonged and the second interval was shortened, (2) the second intertone interval was prolonged and the first interval was shortened, and/or (3) the first interval and the second interval were of approximately the same length. The prolongation of the fifth interval was observed during all three types of timing. The results are explained using the concept of suprasegmental control of timing, which explains a prolongation of intervals at critical control point of the patterns. The occurrence of three different strategies of timing is discussed in connection with similar principles in musical performance.