Ethics and the sexual countertransference

In this paper I shall suggest that, in addition to 'conscience', the archetype of Eros plays an important part in 'benign relatedness' and that this is what constitutes an ethical attitude. I also propose that the idea of 'benign relatedness' can provide us with a workable concept for those serving on Ethics Committees especially when our Code of Ethics is unclear or limited. I attempt to show that the analytic attitude is essentially ethical and define what I see as the analytic attitude as a way of demonstrating this. By discussing the neurotic sexual countertransference and unconscious identity I hope to clarify the main reasons for unethical enactments. I use examples of ethical problems, including a personal experience, to illustrate the kinds that occur and lastly I discuss how mourning plays an important part in the resolution and avoidance of these problems.     

Recognition memory for realistic synthetic faces

A series of experiments examined short-term recognition memory for trios of briefly presented, synthetic human faces derived from three real human faces. The stimuli were a graded series of faces, which differed by varying known amounts from the face of the average female. Faces based on each of the three real faces were transformed so as to lie along orthogonal axes in a 3-D face space. Experiment 1 showed that the synthetic faces' perceptual similarity structure strongly influenced recognition memory. Results were fit by a noisy exemplar model (NEMO) of perceptual recognition memory. The fits revealed thatrecognition memory was influenced both by the similarity of the probe to the series items and by the similarities among the series items themselves. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (MDS) showed that the faces' perceptual representations largely preserved the 3-D space in which the face stimuli were arrayed. NEMO gave a better account of the results when similarity was defined as perceptual MDS similarity, rather than as the physical proximity of one face to another. Experiment 2 confirmed the importance of within-list homogeneity directly, without mediation of a model. We discuss the affinities and differences between visual memory for synthetic faces and memory for simpler stimuli.     

A Spirit in Need of Rest: Luther's Melancholia,Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,and Religiosity

Male melancholia, rooted in early childhood experiences of perceived mother-loss, is intrinsically linked to religiosity. The Protestant Reformer Martin Luther suffered from melancholia that was related to, and exacerbated by, a corresponding obsessive-compulsive disorder. This essay makes a case for Luther's melancholia being grounded in both childhood beatings (at least one of which was carried out by his mother) and his subsequent search for an identity. Luther's melancholia also gave rise to life-long struggles with obsessive-compulsive anxieties. His religion, in which he believed he had discovered both an identity and a means for relief from his inner struggles, actually exacerbated his melancholia. He realized as an older man that religion had indeed become his substitute obsession and that a major part of his self had died. An argument for how Luther's melancholia and obsessive-compulsive disorder could have been alleviated is offered.     

Spare the rod: The figure of the dominatrix in the literary canon

The commonly cited maxim, “Spare the rod and spoil the child” is often traced incorrectly back to the biblical book of Proverbs when its point of origin lies instead first in Langland’s Piers Plowman and then, in the highly satirical and sexualized text of Samuel Butler’s Hudibras. Thus, from a religious origin, it has metamorphosed into a woman-man relationship. Indeed to follow the evolution of this phrase is to uncover the extent to which the disciplining impulses of religious rhetoric are eroticized in one Western European literary theme, that of feminine dominance, from the tenth century when the word Dominatrix appeared in the writings of Hroswitha of Gandersheim. The period leading up to the 1650s, when Butler turned the phrase into one line of a heroic iambic couplet in the middle of a stanza on an amorous jaileress, was also a time when medical research on human and animal anatomy and physiology had unravelled the pathways of libido-lifting buttock-beating. Far from demonizing woman the literary image of the whip-wielding mistress did not degrade the female sex but instead apotheosized the dominatrix as a major erotic image of the twentieth century.     

Wittgenstein on the Resurrection

Wittgenstein probably did not believe in Christ's Resurrection (as an historical event), but he may well have believed that if he had achieved a higher level of devoutness he would believe it. His view seems to have been that devout Christians are right in holding onto this belief tenaciously even though, in fact, it's false. It's historical falsity, is compatible with its religious validity, so to speak. So far as I can see, he did not think that devout Christians should believe that it doesn't really matter whether or not that alleged historical event occurred.     

An Empirically Keyed Scale for Measuring Managerial Attitudes Toward Women Executives

A scale (MATWES) is presented providing reliability and some validity measures regarding managerial attitudes toward women executives. Methodology used demonstrates an empirical approach to scale development through the employment of a projective test for item generation and the use of a panel of women executives who served as Q-sorters to select the items. The use of the Scale as a research instrument and its value in minimizing researcher bias in its construction are discussed.     

Comment on Halo Effects in Rating and Evaluation Research

This paper considers the existence of halo effects in individuals' evaluations of target communicators across different dimensions. Halo effects result from raters' inability to discriminate among conceptually distinct and theoretically independent aspects of a target's behavior. Halo error has also been defined as the influence of global attitudes on evaluations of individual attributes of a person (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977). The primary consequence of this “top‐down processing” is to cause dimensional rating intercorrelations to be inflated. The first part of this article discusses current conceptions of halo error and suggests several potential sources of halo error. The measurement of true and illusory halo is then considered and recommendations for minimizing halo error in communication measurement are outlined.     

Use of the insanity defense: A survey of attorneys in wyoming

Attorneys in the State of Wyoming were surveyed to determine their reported use of the insanity defense during the preceding 5 years. They were asked about the success, defined as “benefit to the defendant,” of the insanity defense at various stages that occur before trial. The attorneys reported that the insanity defense is used throughout the various stages preceding trial, with more use and benefit to the defendant being reported than previously suggested. This was particularly true for the earlier stages in the criminal justice process. The attorneys were also asked various attitude questions related to the insanity defense. Defense lawyers were more in from of the insanity defense and expressed attitudes that supported the insanity defense while prosecuting attorneys were relatively more opposed to the insanity defense and expressed attitudes consistent with this view.     

Exploring the Structure of Adolescent Problem Behaviors and the Associated Adult Outcomes

This study expands on previous research on adolescent problem behaviors by examining whether different constellations of problem behavior in adolescence differentially impact outcomes during emerging adulthood. Data from the in-home interviews of waves 2 and 3 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) were used to examine these relationships. Latent class analysis, using nineteen problem behaviors measured at wave 2, identified three classes of adolescents representing “low risk, abstainers,” “sexually-active, experimenters,” and a “high risk, diverse behavior” group. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were then used to identify class differences (measured at wave 3) in social stability, general health and service utilization, and criminal justice system involvement during emerging adulthood. Important class differences in the likelihood of negative outcomes during early adulthood were identified. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.