Personal meaning as therapy: The roots and branches of Frankl's psychology

In recent years, Victor E. Frankl, the Viennese psychiatrist who is the founder of what has come to be known as the Third Viennese School of Psychology — Freud and Adler constituting the founders of the other two schools — has emerged as the leading proponent in psychotherapeutic circles of the centrality of the experience of “meaning” in mental health.” The goal of human life, argues Frankl, is to find meaning and order in the world for “me” personally and “us” collectively — both as an individual and a social sense of purpose and orderliness of the inner and outer environment. This paper attempts to identify—within the framework of the Jewish mystical tradition — the sources and origins of Frankl's scientific constructs in psychotherapy, and their manifestations in psychoreligious therapeutics.     

Isobias curves in some detection tasks

Signal/noise ratio was varied in three tone-detection tasks while other conditions were held constant, generating 9 8-point and 12 12-point isobias plots. These plots were compared with the theoretical isobias curves associated with seven proposed bias measures. Each of the proposed measures covaried with signal/noise ratio in at least half of the data. For two of the plots, none of the measures was invariant. It is clear that different subjects respond quite differently to change in discriminability, and the implications of this for bias measurement are discussed.     

Emotional deceit: False words versus false action

What speaks louder, false words or false action? Raters assessed the anxiety level of 10 actors portraying their actual anxiety level and simulated displays of high anxiety. Raters were required to base judgments on either video cues alone or audio cues alone. Findings indicate that false words speak louder than false action, with audio-based judgments generating greater judgmental error in both straight and dissembled anxiety conditions. Although raters expressed equal confidence in judgments based on either verbal or nonverbal cues, results indicated that verbal cues played a larger role in emotional deceit. Differences between real and simulated anxiety cues were delineated, suggesting ways of detecting emotional deception. Results were discussed in light of current thought regarding channel contribution in deception.     

Response tempo and separable--integral responding: evidence for an integral-to-separable processing sequence in visual perception

Three experiments were conducted to examine the relation between response tempo and separable-integral responding. A restricted classification paradigm, in which similarity-based (integral) and dimensionally based (separable) classifications were pitted against one another, was used with the dimensions of length and density (all experiments) and size and brightness (Experiment 3). The subjects were college students (Experiments 1 and 2) and kindergarten, second-, and fifth-grade children (Experiment 3). In all three experiments, rapid responding was associated with fewer dimensional and more similarity responses than was slow responding. This result held when response tempo was simply measured (Experiments 1 and 3) and when it was manipulated by the experimenter (Experiment 2). The results were interpreted to be consistent with models of dimensional processing in which holistic, integral processing precedes analytic dimensional processing.     

Cognitive performance deficits induced by exposure to response-independent positive outcomes

Private secondary school students differing in achievement motivation took part in a learned helplessness experiment using a triadic design and noncontingent rewards. A clear learned helplessness effect was observed in both high and low achievement motivation groups. The findings confirmed those from an earlier study using younger subjects drawn from a lower socioeconomic background. However, the results of both experiments were quite different from those of another recently reported investigation using university students that found facilitation as well as an interaction between achievement motivation level and treatment (Jardine & Winefield, 1981). It is concluded that the development of learned helplessness probably depends on the kind of environment in which noncontingent outcomes are experienced.     

Training in child and adolescent group therapy: Two surveys and a model

Although group therapy is widely used in the treatment of children and adolescents, there has been little attention paid to establishing training standards and developing comprehensive programs for training psychiatry fellows in child and adolescent group psychotherapy. The authors conducted two surveys of child and adolescent training programs. After reviewing the literature, they present the data from their surveys, compare similarities and differences, and discuss trends. Finally, they propose a model for training in child and adolescent group therapy.     

Playfulness and humor in the psychoanalytic relationship

This paper, which was presented at the Postgratuate Center for Mental Health, New York, February 10, 1990, is a much abbreviated version of Playfulness in the Psychoanalytic Relationship,Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 26(1), 74–95, 1990.     

Group cohesion: A new multidimensional model

Based upon a careful perusal of all major theoretical reviews and most available controlled, empirical studies from the last 30 years, a five factor model of group cohesion is proposed. These factors are: attraction and bonding; support and caring; listening and empathy; self-disclosure and feedback; and process performance and goal attainment. To understand more fully the complex phenomenon of group cohesion, certain preconditions to the cohesive therapy group must be considered. The most significant of these are: selection of suitable participants; a balanced composition of the group; and effective orientation, training, and contracting. Important early group conditions are: resolving conflict and rebellion; constructive norming and culture building; and reducing avoidance and defensiveness. This new, generic, multidimensional model of group cohesion should prove of great value both to the clinician and the researcher in the group psychotherapy field and related areas.The author is indebted to the following colleagues for constructive criticisms of earlier versions of this report: S. Budman, R. R. Dies, K. R. MacKenzie, W. E. Piper, M. A. Richardsen, and I. D. Yalom.