Sado-masochism as a defense against merging: Six case studies

This paper reports on several patients who use sado-masochism as a defense against an unconscious wish for and fear of merging. The sado-masochism can be expressed as a sexual perversion or in a difficult ungratifying interpersonal relationship. These relationships have some of the quality of addictions in that the patients have a compulsive need to continue them and find it extremely difficult to leave them. Therapy must focus on helping the patient become more separate, rather than on other problems which may also be present. Initially, the therapist needs to take an educational stance in regard to the process the patient must complete, rather than the more traditional analytic stance.     

Psychotherapy with families of psychosomatic patients

Paradigmatic complexes in family psychotherapy have been indicating a revolutionary change and the creation of new paradigms for the past thirty years. Starting with the application of the general systems theory and the development of those concepts that have been emerging regarding psychosomatic illnesses we discuss the epistemological confusion created, the methodological problems and the dissociation between theory and practice. We suggest a double process of investigation of the family structure using a knowledge of the basic attitudes and the development of a psychotherapy programme within the family of the psychosomatic patient.     

On the comparison of TAT and free speech techniques in personality assessment

Schnurr, Rosenberg, and Oxman (1992) recently compared the free speech samples and Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) responses of 95 normal adults. They concluded that the two techniques are not interchangeable, and that the TAT, which proved superior in the prediction of individual differences, may be preferable to free speech instructions for eliciting data in content analytic studies. We disagree with both conclusions. Various forms of narrative speech samples may be highly correlated, so long as psychologically meaningful, well-validated, and higher order content categories are used. The use of first-order content categories is less likely to contribute to the study of personality.     

Proximal and Distal Predictors of Homophobia: Framing the Multivariate Roots of Outgroup Rejection1

A proximal-distal theoretical framework was developed to examine the multivariate roots of homophobia. Using data from a sample of 288 undergraduates who had participated in a computer-assisted panel study over a three-year period, the effects on homophobia of distal and proximal family factors (e. g., parental education and family environment), distal and proximal individual factors (e. g., personality constructs and current beliefs), and proximal individual-situational factors (e. g., acquaintance with homosexuals) were tested in regression analyses. Both analyses employing sets of variables varying in proximity to the homophobic attitude and hierarchical regression employing variables contributing significantly in each set supported the proposed framework. All sets predicted significantly when regressed separately on homophobia; the sets containing the distal factors contributed most weakly, and the sets containing the proximal factors contributed most strongly. In hierarchical regression analysis, this pattern maintained such that the incremental increase in r² decreased with the addition of each more distal set, with the most distal factors failing to contribute significantly to the prediction. The importance of study findings for attitude change efforts is discussed.     

Paternal empathy in the transference/countertransference relationship

This paper explores the process of paternal empathy within the context of the transference and countertransference relationship. The masculine and feminine elements of paternal responsiveness are described with implications for therapeutic resonance and mirroring. Case material illustrates the author's thesis.     

Ethnotherapeutic empathy (EthE)—Part I: Definition,theory, and process

This paper introduces the concept of ethnotherapeutic empathyin working with ethnoculturally different patients to increase the efficacy of therapy. This form of empathy is used instrumentally to get to know the patient's inner problematic images, anxieties, fears, depressive affect, suffering, hurt, disillusionment, rage, joy, and triumph. Clinical empathy with ethnic patients is instrumental in that it is purposive:it sets out to achieve what might be called patient-comprehending(that is, finding out the nature of the patient's problems) using this as guide to intervening—a form of creativity-in-action. Ethnotherapeutic empathy utilizes active ego processes, in contrast to the passive processes implied in artistic appreciation and surrender. This article presents the definitions of empathy, and associated intrapsychic and social factors, as well as physiological responses in empathie responding. The implications for clinical practice with patients of differing ethnocultural and racial groups are discussed. The article develops a foundation for understanding the therapeutic matrix of applied ethnotherapeutic empathy which is detailed in the second part of this article (Ethnotherapeutic Empathy [EthE]—Part II: Techniques of Vicarious experiencing Across Cultures).     

Adaptation, teleology, and selection by consequences

This paper presents and defends the view that reinforcement and natural selection are selection processes, that selection processes are neither mechanistic nor teleological, and that mentalistic and vitalistic processes are teleological but not mechanistic. The differences between these types of processes are described and used in discussing the conceptual and methodological significance of “selection type theories” and B. F. Skinner's radical behaviorist view that “operant behavior is the field of intention, purpose, and expectation. It deals with that field precisely as the theory of evolution has dealt with another kind of purpose” (1986, p. 716). The antimentalism of radical behaviorism emerges as a post-Darwinian extension of Francis Bacon's (and Galileo's) influential view that “[the introduction of final causes] rather corrupts than advances the sciences” (Bacon, 1905, p. 302).     

Momentary maximizing in concurrent schedules with a minimum interchangeover interval

Eight pigeons were trained on concurrent variable-interval variable-interval schedules with a minimum interchangeover time programmed as a consequence of changeovers. In Experiment 1 the reinforcement schedules remained constant while the minimum interchangeover time varied from 0 to 200 s. Relative response rates and relative time deviated from relative reinforcement rates toward indifference with long minimum interchangeover times. In Experiment 2 different reinforcement ratios were scheduled in successive experimental conditions with the minimum interchangeover time constant at 0, 2, 10, or 120 s. The exponent of the generalized matching equation was close to 1.0 when the minimum interchangeover time was 0 s (the typical procedure for concurrent schedules without a changeover delay) and decreased as that duration was increased. The data support the momentary maximizing theory and contradict molar maximizing theories and the melioration theory.     

How much can people really change?

The basic purpose of pastoral counseling, and counseling in general, is to help people change. Therefore, it's critically important to understand the nature of change and to have realistic expectations with respect to how much people can change. To expect too little change can lead to underachievement and despair, whereas to expect too much change can cause needless frustration and an abiding sense of failure. This article discusses behavioral change, its potential and its limits, from the point of view of genetic potential and offers some specific pastoral implications.     

Gods and REMS: The implications of recent dream research for the psychology of religion

Throughout history dreams have been primarily the province of religion. People in many cultures have looked to dreams as sources of spiritual insight and divine revelation. The relationship between traditional religious views of dreams and modern psychological views of dreams has long interested psychologists of religion—for dreams are a uniquely fertile subject for comparing religious and psychological understandings of human experience. In recent years there have been many revolutionary discoveries in dream research, discoveries that have taken us far beyond the seminal works of Freud, Jung, and the early sleep laboratory researchers. This essay describes the work of three leading contemporary dream researchers (neurophysiologist J. Allan Hobson, psychologist Stephen LaBerge, and anthropologist Barbara Tedlock) and evaluates the implications of their findings for our understanding of the religious dimensions of dreams. The essay concludes with some reflections on the valuable role of dream study in the psychology of religion. The primary claim is that recent dream research can make important contributions to current psychology of religion discussions about such issues as interdisciplinary inquiry, hermeneutics, the cross-cultural study of religious experience, the cultural and religious context of modern psychology, and the practical concerns of pastoral counselors.This essay is based on a paper presented on November 25 at the 1991 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Kansas City, Missouri.