Just how stable are stable aesthetic features? Symmetry,complexity, and the jaws of massive familiarization

Using both group- and individual-level analyses, we explored the complex and dynamic effects of basic visual features on aesthetic judgment. Specifically, the mediating influence of familiarization on the combined effects of complexity and symmetry on aesthetic judgment was examined. Experiment 1 showed that symmetry and complexity are indeed powerful determinants of aesthetic judgment. Experiment 2 demonstrated that massive familiarization generated contrast effects for complexity: participants familiarized to simple stimuli subsequently judged complex stimuli more beautiful and participants familiarized to complex stimuli subsequently judged simple stimuli more beautiful. In contrast, moderate familiarization in Experiment 3 did not elicit the above effects. Group-level analyses were augmented with judgment analyses of individual response patterns resulting in a more comprehensive assessment of aesthetic judgment.     

Ausbildungs- und Berufserfahrungen älterer Psychoanalytiker

Based on the discussion about the crisis of psychoanalysis and in particular of psychoanalytic training, 145 (female and male) analysts older than 70 years of age were interviewed about their training and professional experiences as well as about their attitudes towards psychoanalysis. This older generation is of great interest because their training generally took place prior to 1967 and preceded the introduction of guideline therapy (cost coverage by the general health insurance) and under much less formalized conditions, which can be seen almost as a contrast to the current circumstances and conditions. This research has shown that especially personal or content and value-based motivations (personal problems, therapeutic experience, interest in the subject, the desire for depth, self-realization and expansion of the situation perceived as restrictive of their former profession) were the main determining factors for the choice of career. The training analyses were, despite some exceptions, of substantial length even then (an average of 544 h), but often had a lower frequency (30% had less than 3 h per week). Since the age limitation for running a psychoanalytic practice within the general health services (formerly 68 years) is no longer compulsory, the results of this study regarding the professional life of older psychoanalysts are of special interest. Of the respondents 45% are still running their own practice and 22% are working as training analysts.     

Der Ideologiebegriff bei Marx und die heutige Kontroverse über Ideologie und Wissenschaft in den sozialistischen Ländern

Marx and Engels inherited and developed the 18th Century notion of ideology as distorted consciousness. Although they did not speak explicitly of a ‘proletarian ideology’, they did develop the elements which Lenin then elaborated. His failure to develop a theory of ideology has left this task to contemporary Marxists (e.g., Althusser) and Marxist-Leninists (e.g., Choruc), who often do this in the process of criticizing non-Marxist theories. A lively discussion took place in the 1960's in Poland (Schaff and Bauman) and in the Soviet Union (Jadov and Julina). One of the results has been to cast doubt on the systemic validity of the principle of party-mindedness (partijnost').     

Die rhythmischen Schwankungen der Reaktionszeit beim Menschen

Zusammenfassung Die Reaktionszeit des Menschen unterliegt spontanen Schwankungen im Jahresrhythmus, im Menstruationszyklus der Frau sowie im Tagesrhythmus. Darüber hinaus wird die Reaktionszeit vom zentralen Atemrhythmus, von kardio-vaskulären Afferenzen im Herzrhythmus sowie von bestimmten Phasen des Alpha-Rhythmus im Elektroenzephalogramm beeinflußt. Auch die vegetativen Gesamtumstellungen, wie sie als sog. reaktive Perioden unter chronischer Reizbelastung auftreten, gehen mit periodischen Schwankungen der Reaktionszeit einher.

---

Rhythmical variations of the reaction time in man

Summary The reaction time in man shows spontaneous variations in annual rhythm, in the menstrual cycle, and in diurnal rhythm. The reaction time is also influenced by the central respiratory rhythm, by cardiovascular afferent patterns of the heart rhythm, and by certain phases of the alpha rhythm in the EEG. Moreover, the periodic oscillations of the vegetative system (reactive periods) caused by chronic stress are accompanied by periodic changes of the reaction time.