Reviews

F ranz , M arie -L ouise von . Projection and Reflection in Jungian Psychology.
N eumann , E rich . Creative Man.
H all , N or . The Moon and the Virgin.
K rohn , A lan . Hysteria: The Elusive Neurosis.
B oss , M edard . Existential Foundations of Medicine and Psychology.
H anly , C harles . Existentialism and Psychoanalysis.
S harp , D aryl . The Secret Raven: Conflict and Transformation in the Life of Franz Kafka.
H icklin , A. (Ed.). Psychosomatische Medizin.
B ertherat , T hérèse ,; B ernstein , C arolle . The Messenger of the Body.     

The effects of late-life spousal bereavement over a 30-month interval

Self-report measures of grief, depression, and general psychopathology were studied in widows and widowers over a 2.5-year period following death of their partner. A comparison sample of men and women was also followed for the same period. Differences in severity of depression and psychopathology previously reported at 2 months postloss (Gallagher, Breckenridge, Thompson, & Peterson, 1983) diminished to nonsignificant levels at 12 and 30 months. However, significant differences between bereaved and comparison subjects on measures of grief were still apparent 30 months after spousal loss. A main effect of gender for depression and psychopathology (but not for grief) was found at 2 and 12 months: Women reported more distress than men regardless of bereavement status. Results indicate that the experience of grief persists for at least 30 months in both older men and women who have lost their spouse.     

Therapeutic effectiveness of differentially targeted humorous remarks in group psychotherapy

Video records of five different sessions of a single therapy group were scored for the occurrence of laughing, smiling, and talking. Successive five-minute intervals were also scored for therapeutic level through ratings derived from the Hill Interaction Matrix. Humorous remarks were categorized according to humor target: self, other in group, and generalized other. Results indicated that the vast majority of humorous remarks were directed at some specific target, and that over 50% of these remarks were negative in tone. Results also revealed that remarks targeted at others in the group tended to decrease therapeutic effectiveness whereas remarks targeted at individuals or institutions not presently in the group were found to increase therapeutic effectiveness. Selftargeted remarks were found to produce inconsistent effects. These findings are discussed in terms of their significance for a more general analysis of group humor as well as in terms of their more specific implications for therapeutic interventions.     

A comparison of the predictive validity of typical and maximal personality measures

Most personality tests are based on concepts assessing typical performance, and tests of this sort have not been generally successful in predicting criterion behaviors with useful levels of efficiency. Ability tests, which call for maximal performance, have been much more successful as predictors of criterion outcomes. Following a model derived from ability tests, predictors requiring separate typical and maximal self-reports of emotional expressivity were compared to measures of typical and maximal emotional expression in the laboratory. For angry expression, self-reports of maximal expressivity tended to outpredict self-reports of typical expressivity for both typical and maximal laboratory measures of angry expression. Although similar trends were observed for elation, the advantage of maximal self-report measures over typical self-report measures was negligible. Results were discussed in terms of both experimental and clinical implications.     

Hypertension reduction through forgiveness training

The objective of this study was to determine if patients with diagnosed stage-1 hypertension could benefit by a forgiveness training program to achieve measurable reductions in anger expression and blood pressure. Twenty-five participants were randomly divided into wait-listed control and intervention groups. The control group monitored blood pressure while the intervention group participated in an 8-week forgiveness training program. At the end of eight weeks, the wait listed group became an intervention group. Those who received forgiveness training achieved significant reductions in anger expression when compared to the control group. While reductions in blood pressure were not achieved by all the participants, those participants who entered the program with elevated anger expression scores did achieve significant reductions in blood pressure. It is suggested that forgiveness training may be an effective clinical intervention for some hypertensive patients with elevated levels of anger.     

Ear differences in simple reaction time: The influence of attentional factors

Simple motor reaction times (right-handed) to tape-recorded consonant-vowel syllables were obtained from 12 subjects under two conditions of monotic stimulation: “expected” presentation (subject informed as to ear of presentation) and “random” presentation (ear of presentation varied randomly). Significantly faster left ear reaction times were obtained in the “expected” condition. The rank order of subjects' standard dichotic listening task scores correlated negatively with reaction time ear differences in the “expected” presentation condition. Results are discussed in terms of existing theories of response lateralization in simple reaction time tasks, and an expanded hypothesis is offered. Specifically, it is suggested that two or more distinct but potentially overlapping mechanisms may be responsible for observed asymmetries in monotic auditory perception. Both an attentional or lateralized motor response bias and an inherent lateralization of function may operate side by side, differentially activated by task demands, mode of stimulus presentation, and nature of stimuli.