“Uterus Loquitur”: Trauma and the Human Organism in Ferenczi’s “Physiology of Pleasure”

The paper reconstructs Ferenczi’s unique and largely neglected physiology of pleasure. It highlights the prominent place of the libido in Ferenczi’s writings, the transition from the physiology of use to the physiology of pleasure and the role of trauma in Ferenczi’s work with a special emphasis on the beauty and plasticity of the body, the relations between its organs as well as the adaptive potential, the Orphic powers, and the natural vigor of the human organism. Ferenczi’s theoretical assumptions and his powerful images of the human organism are examined in the light of Goethe’s, Schopenhauer’s, and Nietzsche’s philosophies.     

Construct Validity of the Relationship Profile Test: Correlates of Overdependence,Detachment, and Healthy Dependency in Low Income Urban Women Seeking Medical Services

Four categories of paintings (N = 200), done by schizophrenic patients, art students, and education students were rated by judges (N = 13) as to whether the painter was schizophrenic or normal. There was significant agreement in correctly identifying paintings, but the percent correct, greater than chance, was only 9.99%. Judges did best on paintings with “human content.” Intelligence scores were related to correct identification of two paintings, while art experience related to proportion was judged schizophrenic for all four paintings. Stepwise regression analysis suggested that intelligence scores were artifactually related to painting scores but art experience was not.     

Basic and applied research in developing countries: The search for an evaluation strategy

Although activities in basic and applied research in developing countries (DCs) are guided by universal scientific principles, there are important differences in the way in which science is practiced from that of the industrialized world. Isolation from the mainstream of scientific activity, the need for the development of an indigenous scientific capacity, the lack of a critical mass of researchers with respect to most fields of knowledge, and the urgency of developing better and more efficient communication channels, are some of the aspects that set apart the scientific activity of the developing world. In particular, the need to develop local "new" science aimed at solving pressing problems of a local nature suggests the existence of a different set of conditions from those found in scientifically-advanced countries. In the present article we look at the ways the special circumstances of science in DCs will affect the application of evaluation criteria, using bibliometric data on research in Mexico as an example.     

Assessment of long-term psychosocial sequelae among POW survivors of the Korean Conflict

Psychological and psychiatric assessments were performed among 20 prisoner-of-war (POW) Korean-Conflict survivors. Results revealed extraordinary biological and psychological abuse with weight losses exceeding 35% of preservice weights and long-term cognitive, emotional, and behavioral sequelae. The full range of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms was seen in 90% to 100% of the cases with high prevalence of co-morbidity, specifically mood (75%), other anxiety (45%), and alcohol abuse (20%) disorders. Documented by clinical investigators at POW release and now more than 30 years later, symptoms of apprehensiveness, confusion, detachment, and depression reflect the persistence of psychiatric morbidity over time.     

GEORG GRODDECK: “THE PINCH OF PEPPER” OF PSYCHOANALYSIS

The life and works of Georg Groddeck are reviewed and placed in historical context as a physician and a pioneer of psychoanalysis, psychosomatic medicine, and an epistolary style of writing. His Das Es concept stimulated Freud to construct his tripartite model of the mind. Groddeck, however, used Das Es to facilitate receptivity to unconscious communication with his patients. His “maternal turn” transformed his treatment approach from an authoritarian position to a dialectical process. Groddeck was a generative influence on the development of Frieda Fromm-Reichmann, Erich Fromm, and Karen Horney. He was also the mid-wife of the late-life burst of creativity of his friend and patient Sándor Ferenczi. Together, Groddeck and Ferenczi provided the impetus for a paradigm shift in psychoanalysis that emphasized the maternal transference, child-like creativity, and a dialogue of the unconscious that foreshadowed contemporary interest in intersubjectivity and field theory. They were progenitors of the relational turn and tradition in psychoanalysis. Growing interest in interpsychic communication and field theory is bringing about a convergence of theorizing among pluralistic psychoanalytic schools that date back to 1923 when Freud appropriated Groddeck’s Das Es and radically altered its meaning and use.     

Skill development and cognitive approaches to educating young children

A variety of early childhood education programs have been established in the last decade that differ markedly in their philosophical and theoretical foundations. This article illustrates how distinct foundations are reflected in all program variables in a unified program. Two unified early childhood education programs are contrasted: a skill development program based upon behaviorist theory, and a cognitive growth program based upon cognitive developmental theory. Implications of unified programs for classroom behavior and the school psychologist are discussed.     

Book reviews

Techniques of Photostimulation in Biology. Edited by B. H. Crawford. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company. 1968. Pp. 317. £5 17s.

The Figure-ground Phenomenon in Experimental and Phenomenological Psychology. By Jan C. Bauman. Stockholm: Published by the author. 1968. Pp. 269.

Methods for the the Measurement of Psychological Performance. (IBP Handbook No. 10). By S. Bieshevel. Oxford and Edinburgh: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1969. Pp. iv + 98. 20s.

Experimental Neuropsychology—A Laboratory Manual. By Benjamin L. Hart. San Francisco. W. H. Freeman and Company. 1969. Pp. 102. £2.

Studies in Cognitive Development. Edited by D. Elkind and J. H. Flavell. London: Oxford University Press. 1969. Pp. xix + 502. 84s.     

Effect of MAO A deficiency on different kinds of aggression and social investigation in mice

Monoamine oxidase A (MAO A) degrades serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline, factors critically involved in the regulation of aggression. Different kinds of aggression were investigated in Tg8, a transgenic mouse strain lacking a functional MAO A gene. MAO A-deficient mice differ from wild-type C3H/HeJ (C3H) in terms of showing higher territorial, predatory and isolation-induced aggression. Tg8 demonstrated shorter latencies to cricket killing and to the first attack after 6 weeks isolation than C3H mice. In the resident-intruder paradigm, MAO A-lacking mice were more aggressive than C3H when tested as intruders. In contrast to C3H, attack in Tg8 mice did not depend on different aggressiveness of intruders of BALB/c, A/Sn and C3H strains. Tg8 mice displayed no increase in aggression but demonstrated reduced social investigation towards anesthetized, as well as towards juvenile BALB/c males. Thus, MAO A deficiency in Tg8 mice is accompanied by increased expression of different kinds of aggression, as well as by disruption of normal pattern of social interaction.     

Serotonin metabolism and serotonergic receptors in Norway rats selected for low aggressiveness to man

Selection of Norway rats (24–27 generations) for low aggressiveness to man resulting in the loss of aggressive responding to handling markedly influences the brain serotonergic system. In “domesticated” Norway rats levels of serotonin in the midbrain and hypothalamus and 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid in the hypothalamus were higher than in non-selected aggressive rats. The activity of the key enzyme in serotonin biosynthesis, tryptophan hydroxylase, in midbrain of rats with genetically determined lack of aggressiveness to man was higher than in aggressive animals, although there was no difference in tryptophan hydroxylase activity in the hypothalamus. B_max and K_D of [³H]spiperone-specific binding in frontal cortex membranes were increased in tame rats. No significant differences in B_max and K_D were found between “domesticated” and aggressive rats in [³H]serotonin binding in the frontal cortex.     

COLOR SPACE OF NORMALLY SIGHTED AND COLOR-DEFICIENT OBSERVERS RECONSTRUCTED FROM COLOR NAMING

Abstract— An experimental procedure based an the color-naming method introduced by Boynton, Schafer, and Neun (1964) was used to study the color appearance of equilumtnant spectral stimuli in observers with congenital red-green color deficiencies, as well as in normal trichromats. Subjects' responses (choice of one or more labels from the set red, yellow, green, blue, and white) were converted to numeric scores, which were used to estimate subjective difference between pairs of colors Individual subjects' matrices were processed by means of multidimensional scaling. As in the direct rating of color dissimilarities in normal trichromats. (Sokolov & Izmatlov, 1983), and color-deficient observers (Paramei Izmailov, & Sokolov, 1991), these indirectly obtained measures yielded a color space in which three dimensions appear to be necessary and sufficient. The dimensions are interpreted as evidence for red-green, Mae-yellow, and achromatic (saturation) sub-systems. Based on the color-naming technique, three-dimensional spaces were reconstructed for the color-deficient observers. These results were compared with those obtained by Helm (1964). It is argued that retaining more than one (blue-yellow) dimension in the color spaces of such observers provider additional information indicating preservation of residual red-green discrimination accompanied by finer discrimination of chroma than in normal trichromats. The spherical model of color discrimination developed for normal trichromats (lzmailov & Sokolov, 1991) is shown to be valid for color-deficient subjects as well and may be useful as a framework for differentiating proton and deutan types of color deficiency. Color-naming functions, which seem not to reveal a differentiation between protans and deutans, provide results form which this differentiation can be extracted in reconstructed color spaces.