凯利的个人建构理论:在香港与中国大陆教学中的问题

本文讨论了在香港和内地文化背景下 ,进行凯利的个人建构理论教学中发现的一些问题。在介绍凯利的思想时 ,中国学生通常倾向于借助具体的术语来理解理论 ,用定量化的方法来看待数据。这种情况似乎与建构主义心理学的精神相背离。但是 ,这种情况也表现出一些改变的迹象 ,更广义地讲 ,这是普通心理学主流的一部分 ,即定性的方法是富有吸引力的。作者认为 ,更多地考虑凯利理论的哲学假设和定性思想的价值 ,将能赢得更多的学生热衷于该理论在广为不同的实际情景中的应用前景。当然 ,凯利的理论中有一些术语还存在着翻译的问题 ,但这是可以解决的。     

Categorization response time with multidimensional stimuli

Categorization response time (RT) was examined in three separate experiments, in each of which exemplars varied on two physical dimensions. Three different types of stimuli were used: (1) horizontal and vertical line segments of varying length that were joined at an upper left corner, (2) rectangles of varying width and height, and (3) circles or semicircles of varying size with a radial arm of varying orientation. No evidence was found that stimulus familiarity or the category prototypes played any special role in determining categorization RT. Instead, RT decreased with distance from the stimulus to the categorization decision bound.     

Helping unemployed graduates

Careers advisers in higher education have recently had to give more of their attention to graduates who have been unsuccessful with their job applications. As a result, a group of advisers ran a short course in December 1976 for unemployed graduates, which took the form of a Lift Planning Workshop followed by sessions on self-presentation techniques. Subsequent monitoring showed that participants felt that they both had benefitted from the chance for self-evaluation and had improved their techniques of applying for jobs.     

Center of mass perception: Perturbation of symmetry

Bingham and Muchisky (1993) found that observers were very accurate in determining the location of the center of mass in planar objects. Systematic errors were affected primarily by object orientation, while random errors varied with the amount of symmetry. Radial and axial reflective symmetry affected errors in different ways. In the current study, we investigated the different effects of axial reflective versus rotational symmetry. All random errors decreased with increasing rotational symmetry. Axial reflective symmetry further reduced errors in the direction perpendicular to the axis. We replicated the effect on systematic error of orientation. However, we also found an effect of the perturbation of symmetry that suggested that observers used an approximation to symmetry. To investigate this possibility, we constructed a series of objects in which axial reflective symmetry was established and then perturbed by varying amounts. We found that systematic errors were structured by the underlying approximate symmetries, and we discuss the problem of quantifying symmetry.     

Freud's Deshi: The coming of psychoanalysis to Japan

This paper presents an account of four Japanese men, three of whom had an audience with Freud and who, with differing experiences and ambitions, returned to Japan to practice and develop psychoanalysis. Only two received any formal training, and two were strongly influenced by Buddhist thought. Freud gave no clear sign as to whom to appoint as leader, leaving the situation unsettled. This may have contributed to the continuing split and rivalry between groups, a split which was not resolved until the formation of the Japanese Psychoanalytic Society for trained analysts and the Association for interested laymen in the 1950s. From the beginning the development of psychoanalysis in Japan was informed by a paradox: the need to get Freud's approval and hence appear orthodox, while assimilating some of the concepts to the dictates of the culture. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.