Comparative identity and evaluation of socio-political change: Perceptions of the European Community as a function of the salience of regional identities

Using questionnaire data concerning perceptions of the European Community (EC) in Scotland and Andalucia we explored how the EC is perceived, and a European identification adopted as a function of the salience of these ‘regional’ identities. Drawing on the work concerning the concept of ‘comparative identity’ (Ros, Cano & Huici, 1987) it is argued that disidentification with the ‘nation-state’ (i.e. Britain and Spain respectively) is a useful way of measuring the salience of such regional identities in the self/concept. We predicted that such identities would be more salient in Scotland than in Andalucia and that in Scotland the salience of subjects' regional identities would be associated with beliefs concerning the need for strategies of regional empowerment in its relation to the nation (Britain). We further predicted that the EC would be judged as a function of this comparative identity so that in Scotland (but not in Andalucia), a European identification would be associated with what may be called ‘social change’ beliefs (e.g. beliefs concerning the need for changing aspects of the region's relationship with the nation). Supportive evidence is found for all these predictions. However, no support was found for our prediction of a correlation between the Scots' regional identification and their European identification. The paper concludes with a discussion of the utility of the concept of comparative identity. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

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.     

DEATH AND DEPRIVATION

Abstract:  The view that death is the loss of a person's future is less defensible than many philosophers have thought, in part because it is often presented as a response to an indefensibly crude Epicurean doctrine. But the most direct argument for this view suffers from two sorts of ambiguity – the first concerning what it is to "have" a future to lose, the second concerning what the loss consists in. However, another conception of what is lost is possible, and this alternative, which is more congenial to the Epicurean outlook, does not depend on considerations about the future.