The Impact Message Inventory–Circumplex (IMI–C): A Replication Study of Its Circumplex Structure in a Dutch Sample

The 56-items Impact Message Inventory–Circumplex (IMI–C) has been developed to describe the interpersonal styles of target persons in terms of the 2-dimensional interpersonal circle, divided in 8 subscales (octants). The IMI–C is based on the assumption that a target person's interpersonal styles can validly be measured by assessing the internal (cognitive and emotional) reactions of the IMI–C respondent (e.g., therapists), interacting with the target person (e.g., psychotherapy patients). This replication study tested the circumplexity of a computer-delivered Dutch IMI–C. The computer-delivered Dutch IMI–C approached circumplexity in a large clinical sample (N = 812) of psychotherapy and psychiatric patients, after removing 3 items from the Submissive octant scale. These 3 items clearly disturbed the IMI–C circumplex structure. It is concluded that, even with the inevitable problem of nested data, circumplexity was approached sufficiently to justify the interpretation of the IMI–C at the octant level, provided that the 3 troublesome Submissive items are removed from the calculations of octant scores. Our replication test of the Dutch IMI–C circumplexity might be an impetus for researchers in the United States to invest in the further validation of the original American version.     

Neurotic Nucleus and Test Anxiety

Undergraduate university students (N = 103) participated in a study of the relationship between test anxiety and the variables of trait anxiety, self-esteem, locus of control, mental ability, and gender. Results indicated bivariate associations between total test anxiety and the other measures except for mental ability. Further analyses revealed independent relationships between the “worry” component of test anxiety and the variables of trait anxiety, intemality, chance, and mental ability. We also found independent associations between the “emotionality” aspect of test anxiety and the measures of trait anxiety and chance.     

Factor Analysis of a French-Canadian Form of the Parental Attitude Research Instrument

We analyzed the factorial structure of a French version of the Parental Attitude Research Instrument (PARI), a questionnaire designed to measure parental attitudes toward child rearing and family life. Principal component analysis with varimax rotation of data of a sample of 98 French-Canadian mothers revealed three factors: Authoritarian-Control, Hostility-Rejection, and Democratic Attitudes. Results were compared with the findings of Schaefer and Bell (1958), and of Zuckerman, Barrett-Ribback, Monashkin, and Norton (1958). We determined that a French translation of this questionnaire had the same factorial structure as the English original.     

The Buddhist Roots of Watsuji Tetsurô's Ethics of Emptiness

Watsuji Tetsurô (1889–1960) is famous for having constructed a systematic socio‐political ethics on the basis of the idea of emptiness. This essay examines his 1938 essay “The Concept of ‘Dharma’ and the Dialectics of Emptiness in Buddhist Philosophy” and the posthumously published The History of Buddhist Ethical Thought (based on lectures given in the 1920s), in order to clarify the Buddhist roots of his ethics. It aims to answer two main questions which are fundamentally linked: “Which way does Watsuji's legacy turn: toward totalitarianism or toward a balanced theory of selflessness?” and “Is Watsuji's systematic ethics Buddhist?” In order to answer these questions, this essay discusses Watsuji's view of dharma, dependent arising, and morality in Hīnayāna Buddhism. It then proceeds to Watsuji's fine‐tuning of the concept of emptiness in Mādhyamika and Yogācāra Buddhism. Finally, this essay shows how Watsuji's modernist Buddhist theory connects to his own systematic ethical theory. These two theories share a focus on non‐duality, negation, and emptiness. But they differ in their accounts of the relations between the individual and the community, between the “is” and the “ought,” and between hermeneutics and transcendence. These findings give us hints as to Watsuji's origins, pitfalls, and possibilities.     

Adherence to exercise prescriptions: effects of prescribing moderate versus higher levels of intensity and frequency.

Sedentary adults (N = 379) were randomly assigned in a 2 x 2 design to walk 30 min per day at a frequency of either 3-4 or 5-7 days per week, at an intensity of either 45%-55% or 65%-75% of maximum heart rate reserve. Analyses of exercise accumulated over 6 months showed greater amounts completed in the higher frequency (p = .0001) and moderate intensity (p = .021) conditions. Analyses of percentage of prescribed exercise completed showed greater adherence in the moderate intensity(p = .02) condition. Prescribing a higher frequency increased the accumulation of exercise without a decline in adherence, whereas prescribing a higher intensity decreased adherence and resulted in the completion of less exercise.     

Conflict(s) of Interest in Peer Review: Its Origins and Possible Solutions

Scientific communication takes place at two registers: first, interactions with colleagues in close proximity—members of a network, school of thought or circle; second, depersonalised transactions among a potentially unlimited number of scholars can be involved (e.g., author and readers). The interference between the two registers in the process of peer review produces a drift toward conflict of interest. Three particular cases of peer review are differentiated: journal submissions, grant applications and applications for tenure. The current conflict of interest policies do not cover all these areas. Furthermore, they have a number of flaws, which involves an excessive reliance on scholars’ personal integrity. Conflicts of interest could be managed more efficiently if several elements and rules of the judicial process were accepted in science. The analysis relies on both primary and secondary data with a particular focus on Canada.     

Danger and safety: The analyst as analytic subject

Abstract

This paper considers questions of danger and safety in the analytic relationship in light of the contemporary recognition of analysis as a co-participatory process. In the interest of safety, the psychoanalyst has the responsibility to be persistently curious, particularly about the problems derived from his contact with the analysand. Information about the analyst's impact must be taken to heart; it must be experientially considered. As the process unfolds, the analyst presumes that a portion of its effect will be negative. The analyst aspires not to preempt all negative impact but to create an analytic environment in which the analysand's conscious and unconscious communications about impact may be attended to. The analyst's ability to receive such information is crucial in the establishment of a reliable process capable of addressing and surviving the unanticipated dangers that inevitably emerge and securing the analysand for further self articulation. The analyst can simultaneously attend to being the analyst and being a subject of analysis by regarding all communications from the analysand as representing, at least in part, interpretations of the analyst and the analyst's participation. Illustrative material is presented.