La Psychanalyse D'Aujourd' hui (Psychoanalysis of Today), Vol. I Edited by S. Nacht

In-depth group interaction occurred and was utilized by the leader in crisis-waiting-list groups where there was (1) minimal preparation of members; (2) frequent turnover of membership; and (3) little attention given to composition. Patients responded to the interpretation of negative and positive transferences and the here and now approach. The author concludes that the benefits of a nondirective leadership approach with this kind of group is often underutilized.     

Misdirected by the gap: the relationship between inattentional blindness and attentional misdirection

In several of our articles we have drawn analogies between inattentional blindness paradigms and misdirection. Memmert (2010) however, has criticized this analogy and urged for caution in assuming too much of a close relationship between these two phenomena. Here we consider the points raised by Memmert and highlight some misunderstandings and omissions in his interpretation of our work, which substantially undermine his argument. Debating the similarities and differences between aspects of misdirection and inattentional blindness is valuable and has the potential to highlight the utility of these two phenomena. However, it is important not to be misdirected by subtle differences between particular instances of each phenomenon, at the expense of failing to detect the opportunities that these phenomena present for extending our understanding of attention and awareness.     

The dual impact of Freud's death and Freud's death instinct theory on the history of psychoanalysis

Since I have ranged over a rather large territory in this presentation I will summarize my main points. I claim that the very way Freud created psychoanalysis made it impossible for it to continue to grow and develop as a unified movement after his death. Unlike other sciences, psychoanalysis had no way of differentiating its basic findings from what is yet to be discovered. I then reintroduced my differentiation between heretics, modifiers, and extenders, claiming that after Freud’s death there was less opportunity for heretics and more space for modifiers. I assigned a crucial role to the fact that Anna Freud did not succeed in expelling the Kleinians. In the second part of the paper I presented the view of those who made use of Freud’s death instinct theory and those who opposed it. Many analysts preferred to ignore dealing with it rather than state their opposition. My presentation was biased in favor of those who chose to work with the death instinct as a clinical reality,highlighting Ferenczi’s construction. I made the claim, so far as I know never made before, that Freud’s death instinct theory had a traumatic impact on the psychoanalytic movement because it greatly limited the belief in the curative power of our therapeutic work. After his announcement of the dual-instinct theory Freud withdrew his interest in psychoanalysis as a method of cure. By doing so he inflicted a narcissistic wound on psychoanalysis. I believe that the creativity of psychoanalysis will improve if we face this difficult chapter in our history.     

Discrimination thresholds for haptic perception of volume, surface area, and weight

The present study investigated the human ability to discriminate the size of 3-D objects by touch. Experiment 1 measured the just noticeable differences (JNDs) for three tasks: (1) discrimination of volume without availability of weight information, (2) discrimination of volume with weight information available, and (3) discrimination of surface area. Stimuli consisted of spheres, cubes, and tetrahedrons. For all shapes, two reference sizes were used (3.5 and 12 cm(3)). No significant effect of task on the discriminability of objects was found, but the effects of shape and size were significant, as well as the interaction between these two factors. Post hoc analysis revealed that for the small reference, the Weber fractions for the tetrahedron were significantly larger than the fractions for the cube and the sphere. In Experiment 2, the JNDs for haptic perception of weight were measured for the same objects as those used in Experiment 1. The shape of objects had no significant effect on the Weber fractions for weight, but the Weber fractions for the small stimuli were larger than the fractions for the large stimuli. Surprisingly, a comparison between the two experiments showed that the Weber fractions for weight were significantly larger than the fractions for volume with availability of weight information. Taken together, the results reveal that volume and weight information are not effectively combined in discrimination tasks. This study provides detailed insight into the accuracy of the haptic system in discriminating objects' size. This substantial set of data satisfies the need for more fundamental knowledge on haptic size perception, necessary for a greater understanding of the perception of related properties, as well as of more general perceptual processes.     

Haptic perception of wetness

In daily life, people interact with textiles of different degrees of wetness, but little is known about the mechanics of wetness perception. This paper describes an experiment with six conditions regarding haptic discrimination of the wetness of fabrics. Three materials were used: cotton wool, sponge-structured viscose and thin viscose. Two ways of touching were investigated: static touching, in which only thermal cues were available, and dynamic touching, in which additional mechanical cues were available. For dynamic touching, average Weber fractions for discrimination were around 0.3, whereas for static touching, they ranged from 0.34 to 0.63. The results show that people can make use of the additional mechanical cues to significantly improve their discrimination performance. There was no significant difference between Weber fractions for the three materials, showing that wetness can be judged as a separate perceptual quantity, independent of the material.     

Haptic pop-out of movable stimuli

When, in visual and haptic search, a target is easily found among distractors, this is called a pop-out effect. The target feature is then believed to be salient, and the search is performed in a parallel way. We investigated this effect with movable stimuli in a haptic search task. The task was to find a movable ball among anchored distractors or the other way round. Results show that reaction times were independent of the number of distractors if the movable ball was the target but increased with the number of items if the anchored ball was the target. Analysis of hand movements revealed a parallel search strategy, shorter movement paths, a higher average movement speed, and a narrower direction distribution with the movable target, as compared with a more detailed search for an anchored target. Taken together, these results show that a movable object pops out between anchored objects and this indicates that movability is a salient object feature. Vibratory signals resulting from the movable ball were found to be a reasonable explanation regarding the sensation responsible for the pop-out of movability.     

Influence of intake of sweet solutions on the analgesic effect of a low dose of morphine in randomly bred rats

The time course for the development of morphine tolerance, following prolonged sweet intake, was examined in randomly bred Sabra rats. Exposure to 3% glucose in 6 mM saccharin solution increased drinking by about three times as compared to rats supplied only with water. Suppression of the analgesic effect of morphine was already detectable after 24 h of intake and became progressively more marked within the next 5 weeks. These results support an active interaction between sweet consumption and endogenous opioids in randomly bred rats.     

Nature,culture and social psychology

It is proposed that ideas about ‘nature’ and ‘culture’, key concepts in structural anthropology, have an important bearing on assumptions underlying rival theoretical approaches in social psychology. Experimental social psychologists tend to make the tacit assumption that they are dealing only with nature, while ethogenists like Harré explicitly concentrate on culture and treat nature as irrelevant. Others like Tajfel and Moscovici occupy a middle ground, being concerned with both aspects. Perhaps the most radical critic is Gergen, whose rejection of nature and culture is discussed in detail and shown to be largely based on western cultural beliefs. It is further suggested that mainstream experimental social psychology, epitomized by Aronson's The Social Animal, is equally culture-bound, although masquerading as the study of nature. This contention is supported by an account of predominant failure of replication in a not greatly dissimilar culture. It is concluded, with Doise and Berry, that we need ‘multiple social psychologies’, and with Tajfel and Pepitone that social psychological research must consider the wider system within which social behaviour takes place.     

NYBORG'S ANALYTICAL ROD-AND-FRAME SCORING SYSTEM: A COMPARATIVE STUDY IN ZIMBABWE*

Witkin's method of scoring the Rod-and-Frame Test (RFT), most generally used, has been criticized by Nyborg. On the basis of studies with Danish students he provided evidence that RFT performance is multi-determined, and devised a new scoring method to take this into account. The present study, conducted in Zimbabwe, replicated and extended Nyborg's work. The RFT scores of 80 subjects differing in ethnicity, sex and type of course were analyzed employing both Witkin's and Nyborg's methods. Our results confirm Nyborg's finding that factors other than frame dependence are involved in RFT performance, as indicated by differences in response patterns as a function of ethnic group, sex and type of course. It is suggested that Nyborg's scoring method is a valuable tool for the purpose of clarifying the nature and sources of cultural differences in RFT performance.