Freud, Oedipus and the Hebrew Bible

The current paper examines the question of why Freud employed Greek rather than Hebrew foundation legends, specifically the story of Oedipus, as a basis for psychoanalysis, Freud's choice of Oedipus emanates from his deterministic view of the universe, paralleling the Greek rather that the Biblical story of creation. In the Biblical account God precedes and creates nature with no sign of an Oedipal conflict. In the Greek account, nature precedes the gods and the Oedipal conflict is inherent. Freud's choice has implications for his view of human psychology.     

WHEN THE ANTIDOTE IS THE POISON:

Abstract— The theory of ironic processes of mental control holds that both the most and the least desired effects of attempts to control one's own mental states accrue from two processes an intentional operating process (a conscious, effortful search for mental contents that mil produce a desired slate of mind) and an ironic monitoring process (an unconscious, automatic search for mental contents that signal a failure lo produce the desired Mate of mind) Although the monitoring process usually functions just to activate the operating process, during stress distraction, time urgency, or other mental load, the monitor's effects on mind can supersede those of the operator, producing the very state of mind that is least desired An individual's attempts lo gain mental control may thus precipitate the unwanted mental states.     

THE SIMILARITY OF BRAIN ACTIVITY ASSOCIATED WITH TRUE AND FALSE RECOGNITION MEMORY DEPENDS ON TEST FORMAT

Abstract— Event-related potentials (ERPs) were compared for correct recognitions of previously presented words and false recognitions of associatively related, nonpresented words (lures). When the test items were presented blocked by test type (old, new, lure), waveforms for old and lure items were different, especially at frontal and left parietal electrode sites, consistent with previous positron emission tomography (PET) data (Schacter, Reiman, et. al., 1996). When the test format randomly intermixed the types of items, waveforms for old and lure items were more similar. We suggest that test format affects the type of processing subjects engage in, consistent with expectations from the source-monitoring framework (Johnson, Hashtroudi, & Lindsay, 1993). These results also indicate that brain activity as assessed by neuroimaging designs requiring blocked presentation of trials (e g, PET) do not necessarily reflect the brain activity that occurs in cognitive-behavioral paradigms, in which types of test trials are typically intermixed.     

SIGNIFICANCE TESTING IN PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH:

Abstract— Empirical surveys show that reports of significance tests appear in the vast majority of articles in psychological research journals and are relied on by both investigators and journal reviewers when making decisions about replication of experiments and submission and acceptance of research reports Evaluation of claims by critics that significance testing is, nonetheless, counterproductive yields suggestions for improvements of prevailing practices, but also the recommendation that decisions about significance testing versus alternative procedures should remain the province of the individual investigator, unconstrained by mandates or prohibitions by publishers or officials of scientific associations. The prime focus for efforts toward improvement of research design and data analysis in psychology and other behavioral sciences should be upgrading the mathematical and general scientific preparation of students preparing for research careers in these fields     

Referenzsemantik in der Partnermodellierung

How can we explain that an assertion on something perceived can be understood in the same manner by somebody who cannot perceive that scene? This problem bases the interest in computational linguistics in how listener modeling could possibly be harmonized with reference semantics. Mental images substituting real perception appear as a way out. The architecture of the listener model has to be adapted to the creation and use of such pictorial data structures. Furthermore, the relation between the latter and a verbal (i. e., propositional) representation must be understood. The resulting architecture of a listener model with reference semantics can be employed to solve communicational problems from three general classes in a better way, as is demonstrated by an example implementation.     

Socialization in an International Context

The globalization of the world economy, the widespread expansion of corporations into overseas markets and the increased use of expatriate and repatriate job assignments have all fundamentally changed the context in which organizational socialization now takes place. This article examines the distinctive socialization issues made salient by this organizational context change. The paper reviews existing theoretical and empirical research, provides hypotheses to guide future socialization research in this area and discusses the implications of an international context for the management of organizational socialization programmes.     

Probative v. prejudicial value of eyewitness memory research

A commentary is given on Ebbesen and Konecnis (1996) critical review ofeyewitness memory research and their conclusions that expert testimony hasgreater prejudicial than probative value and should not be admissible incourt. Selective attention is given to issues of admissibility, researchprocedures, face validity, voice identification, lineup fairness, showupsand lineups, and common knowledge. It is concluded that Ebbesen andKonecnis review is a necessary contribution to the field of eyewitnessmemory research. However, the psycho-legal conclusions drawn from thisreview appear to reflect a negative predisposition rather than a balancedscientific appraisal of the literature.     

Family Functioning and Mental Illness: A Comparison of Psychiatric and Nonclinical Families

The primary objective of the present investigation was to examine adaptive functioning in the families of patients with a wide range of psychiatric disorders. Seven dimensions of family functioning, as measured by the Family Assessment Device (FAD), were compared across families of patients with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (n = 61 ), bipolar disorder (n = 60 ), major depression (n = 111 ), anxiety disorder (n = 15 ), eating disorder (n = 26 ), substance abuse disorder (n = 48 ), and adjustment disorder (n = 46 ). Families in each psychiatric group were also compared to a control group of nonclinical families (N = 353 ). Results indicated that regardless of specific diagnosis, having a family member in an acute phase of a psychiatric illness was a risk factor for poor family functioning compared to the functioning of control families. However, with few exceptions, the type of the patient's psychiatric illness did not predict significant differences in family functioning. Thus, having a family member with a psychiatric illness is a general stressor for families, and family interventions should be considered for most patients who require a psychiatric hospitalization for either the onset of, or an acute exacerbation of, any psychiatric disorder.