The Moral Status of Deprogramming

ABSTRACT  In this paper I examine some of the issues surrounding the moral status of the therapy known as 'deprogramming'. I argue against the extreme view that all deprogrammings are morally impermissible. In certain instances deprogramming is morally justified because it is quite capable of restoring the conditions needed for the exercise of autonomy. The view of autonomy I am following is that constructed by Gerald Dworkin, wherein two conditions must be met in describing a person as autonomous—authenticity and procedural independence. Autonomy of another type, described by Dworkin as authenticity plus substantive independence, may be lost by persons involved in cults but in those instances deprogramming as reconstructed in this paper is not a morally justified measure.     

Toward a Woman-Centered Perspective of Careers: The Quilt Metaphor

The author proposes the artist and her quilt as a metaphor for the woman and her career. She suggests that quilts and quilting provide a woman-centered context to help counselors gain an understanding of women's lives and work.     

The Future of the Past: The Contemporary Significance of the Nouvelle Théologie

Abstract:   The nouvelle théologie was a noticeably diverse movement, but if it had a core it was not in opposition to Thomism, or in a claim that patristic sources were to be privileged in theology. Rather, it was in a serious examination of all historical theological resources that both recognized their diversity and partiality but also sought to find in them resources for the renewal of theology. In contrast to the situation into which the nouvelle théologie developed, the danger for theology today is not a captivity to a particular historical source, but a refusal to engage seriously with any historical material, because it is seen as irrelevant, or positively harmful, to the theological task for various reasons. The chastened traditionalism of the nouvell théologie might thus be seen to have something to say to our own day, as well as its own.     

Incorporation of an invasive object

The author discusses the experience of 'being invaded' that is sometimes communicated by certain severely disturbed patients. The complaint can sometimes be couched in terms of bodily suffering and such patients may state that they have the experience of a 'foreign body' inside. It is suggested that these patients have suffered severe early failure of containment of their projections, while at the same time they have incorporated primitive characteristics of the object that have been powerfully projected into them. An object that invades in this way, it is suggested, experiences a compulsive need to expel unbearable states of mind using others as a repository. The infant incorporates these violent projections as part of his own mental representational system, and normal identifi cation processes are disrupted. There follows impairment of the development of the sense of self. Clinical examples of how the invasive experience manifests itself in the analytic setting and in the transference and countertransference are presented. It is argued that this highly complex form of early subject-object interaction (prior to the differentiation of psyche-soma) is more likely to be found in severely narcissistically disturbed individuals. Some refl ections on the origins of invasive phenomena are given.     

Adult Detection of Children's Selfish and Polite Lies: Experience Matters

Five groups of participants (N = 150) with differing amounts of experience working with children were assessed on their ability to detect children's lying or truth telling. Children's lies were told for antisocial reasons (i.e., self‐serving lies) and for prosocial reasons (i.e., to benefit others). Overall, adults were more accurate at identifying children's dishonest statements than their true statements, and children's antisocial lies were detected more accurately than were their prosocial lies. While adults without experience were poor at detecting child lie tellers and truth tellers, adults with extensive child experience were better at distinguishing children's lies and truths.     

A Functionalist Theory of Properties

I consider a grand, yet neglected proposal put forward by Shoemaker—a functionalist theory of all properties. I argue that two possible ways of developing this proposal meet with substantial objections. However, if we are prepared to endorse an ontology of tropes, one of these functionalist analyses can be developed into an original and informative theory of properties.     

Effects of participation in a longitudinal study of dating

Participation in interviews has the potential to change beliefs about dating relationships. Changes in beliefs should vary as a function of how much participants think and talk about their relationships. Participants (N= 464) were randomly selected for an interview study from households in a large Southwestern U.S. city. Participation should have positive effects on beliefs when thinking or talking is high and negative effects when thinking or talking is low. As predicted, talking moderates the association between participation and conflict, and thinking moderates the effects of participation on satisfaction and friendship‐based love. Results differed for men and women. Under conditions of low talk and high thinking, participation has negative effects. Implications of the effects of participation are discussed.