Parent-child conversations about science: the socialization of gender inequities?

This study investigated the family as a context for the gender typing of science achievement. Adolescents (N = 52) from 2 age levels (mean ages = 11 and 13 years) participated with their mothers and fathers on separate occasions; families were from predominantly middle-income European American backgrounds. Questionnaires measured the parents' and the child's attitudes. Each parent also engaged his or her child in 4 structured teaching activities (including science and nonscience tasks). There were no child gender or grade-level differences in children's science-related grades, self-efficacy, or interest. However, parents were more likely to believe that science was less interesting and more difficult for daughters than sons. In addition, parents' beliefs significantly predicted children's interest and self-efficacy in science. When parents' teaching language was examined, fathers tended to use more cognitively demanding speech with sons than with daughters during one of the science tasks.     

Introductory commentary

Abstract

Harriet Pappenheim. Einführender Kommentar.

Seit zwanzig Jahren führte die Postgraduate Psychoanalytic Society jedes Jahr eine Konferenz durch, zu der die Psychoanalytiker der Umgebung eingeladen wurden. Gut bekannte Gelehrte und Kliniker aus den Vereinigten Staaten wurden zum Vortragen ihrer Arbeiten eingeladen. Die Schwerpunkte waren auf neue, im Entstehen begriffene Aspekte der Psychoanalyse gerichtet, die nach unserer Meinung weiter studiert und beleuchtet werden sollten.

Harriet Pappenheim. Un Comentario introductorio

En cada uno de los últimos veinte años, la Postgraduate Psychoanalytic Society ha organizado la Conferencia Científica Anual en la ciudad de Nueva York a la cual la comunidad psicoanalítica del área ha sido invitada. Clínicos y colegiales prestigiados de todas partes de Estados Unidos han sido invitados a presentar trabajos y en todas las conferencias el foco ha sido las nuevas áreas que van emergiendo en psicoanalisis, que desde nuestro punto de vista, requirieron mayor elucidación y estudio.     

Breakthroughs and Phallacies: Commentary on Paper by Dianne Elise

This is the third in a series of papers comparing the work of three contemporary theorists, each of whom is associated with the intersubjective turn in psychoanalysis: Jessica Benjamin (Gerhardt, Sweetnam, and Borton, 2000), Christopher Bollas (Gerhardt and Sweetnam 2001), and Darlene Ehrenberg. This paper describes aspects of the work of Ehrenberg and attempts to show how her trailblazing ideas of the therapeutic relationship and its nuanced particularities bear on issues in intersubjectivity theory. Ehrenberg's distinctive twist lies in her painstaking exploration of the processes of mutual influence in the ongoing therapeutic interaction and their bearing on the analytic process. The manner in which Ehrenberg attempts to integrate both interpersonal and intrapsychic perspectives and uses the interpersonal as a way of locating the intrapsychic is another focus of this inquiry. Moreover, the sense conveyed through Ehrenberg's voice—a voice both sensuous and strident, tender and provocative—in her attempt to make living, breathing contact in the moment with patients otherwise deadened to their own desire is also examined as bearing on issues associated with the intersubjective turn. While our own authorial positioning is never quite declared, our object relational biases exert their influence throughout our reading of her work, not surprising for a paper on intersubjectivity.     

Book Review: Managing Mental Health in the Community: Chaos and Containment

Abstract

The British Association of Counselling first introduced a Code of Ethics and Practice for Counsellors in 1984. It has subse-quendy been revised three times. The codes have to be sufficiently broad to be accepted by the membership of BAC, who come from a wide range of theoretical backgrounds. Inevitably this means that the codes do not satisfy everyone nor do they resolve all ethical dilemmas. This paper focuses on sections of the codes which are unsatisfactory, or inadequate for psychodynamic counsellors. It also looks at the influence of psychodynamic counsellors in changes to the clauses on sexual exploitation. Finally the absence of any mention of dual and multiple relationships is discussed.     

Active inference, sensory attenuation and illusions

Active inference provides a simple and neurobiologically plausible account of how action and perception are coupled in producing (Bayes) optimal behaviour. This can be seen most easily as minimising prediction error: we can either change our predictions to explain sensory input through perception. Alternatively, we can actively change sensory input to fulfil our predictions. In active inference, this action is mediated by classical reflex arcs that minimise proprioceptive prediction error created by descending proprioceptive predictions. However, this creates a conflict between action and perception; in that, self-generated movements require predictions to override the sensory evidence that one is not actually moving. However, ignoring sensory evidence means that externally generated sensations will not be perceived. Conversely, attending to (proprioceptive and somatosensory) sensations enables the detection of externally generated events but precludes generation of actions. This conflict can be resolved by attenuating the precision of sensory evidence during movement or, equivalently, attending away from the consequences of self-made acts. We propose that this Bayes optimal withdrawal of precise sensory evidence during movement is the cause of psychophysical sensory attenuation. Furthermore, it explains the force-matching illusion and reproduces empirical results almost exactly. Finally, if attenuation is removed, the force-matching illusion disappears and false (delusional) inferences about agency emerge. This is important, given the negative correlation between sensory attenuation and delusional beliefs in normal subjects—and the reduction in the magnitude of the illusion in schizophrenia. Active inference therefore links the neuromodulatory optimisation of precision to sensory attenuation and illusory phenomena during the attribution of agency in normal subjects. It also provides a functional account of deficits in syndromes characterised by false inference and impaired movement—like schizophrenia and Parkinsonism—syndromes that implicate abnormal modulatory neurotransmission.     

A Comparison of Selected Behaviors of Identical Twins,One Blind from Birth

The purpose of this study was to compare differences in mental-emotional, fine perceptual-motor and gross motor behaviors of a set of 13 year-old identical twins, one of whom was blind from birth. In general, the blind twin was superior in performances where total body involvements were minimal and fine manipulative movements of the hands and/or fingers were stressed. The blind twin also appeared to be more well-adjusted emotionally than the sighted twin.     

Sitting With Eros and Psyche on a Buddhist Psychoanalyst's Cushion

This paper's psychoanalytic view of love rests on the assumption that adult erotic life has its origins in the early mother/baby sensual/relational matrix. Under optimal conditions, erotic sensuality is enlivened by developing capacity for empathy so that passionate pleasure involves mutuality and intersubjective attunement compatible with Buddhist views of interbeing and compassion.     

Denominational Variations Across American Jewish Communities

This article explores the Jewish identity of different Jewish denominational identification groups using the Decade 2000 Data Set with its 19,800 interviews of Jewish households in 22 American Jewish communities. We relate the Jewish identity of individuals in each denominational group (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform/Reconstructionist) to the denominational composition of the community. Communities are clustered via k‐means cluster analysis based on their denominational profiles. We examine the extent to which individual Jewish identification varies by the denominational composition of the community in which an individual resides, finding that considerable variation exists in Jewish identity measures depending on the type of denominational profile that exists in the individual's community. That is, Orthodox Jews, for example, behave differently in a community with a significant Orthodox population than in a community with few Orthodox, but many Reform Jews. Implications for Jewish communities, as well as for the broader interreligious community, are considered.     

Community Screening for Preschool Child Inhibition to Offer the ‘Cool Little Kids’ Anxiety Prevention Programme

Temperamental inhibition has been identified as a key risk factor for childhood anxiety and internalizing problems. An efficacious early prevention programme for shy/inhibited children has been developed; however, accurate, efficient and acceptable screening is needed to support wider implementation. We explore community screening options in the context of a trial implementing the Cool Little Kids prevention programme for anxiety disorders. In comparison to the Australian Temperament Project's inhibition scale, we examine the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire's (SDQ) ability to screen for inhibited preschool children. Parents of 6307 children aged 3 to 6 years enrolled in preschool programmes from eight socio‐economically diverse districts in Melbourne, Australia, first completed the measures of inhibition and SDQ. Parents with inhibited children then enrolled in the Cool Little Kids randomized trial (n = 545). Of these, 88% provided feedback about inhibition screening. Parents allocated to the intervention also provided feedback on the Cool Little Kids parenting programme. Results demonstrated that parents of preschool children (i) find inhibition screening acceptable, (ii) take up this parenting programme and (iii) report favourable feedback. The SDQ emotional symptoms subscale demonstrated acceptable sensitivity but insufficient specificity to identify inhibited preschool children. Presenting parents with a brief, validated inhibition scale could be a low‐cost option for identifying inhibited preschool children in the community to offer early anxiety prevention. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.