Freud and hypnosis: Report of post-rejection use

The development of hypnosis as a therapeutic and experimental method was significantly influenced by Sigmund Freud's announced rejection of the technique late in the nineteenth century; however, a Hungarian-born hypnotist, Franz Polgar, related in his little-known autobiography that he served as Freud's assistant for six months in 1924. Possible factors related to this seeming paradox are discussed, including the evidence that many of Freud's psychoanalytic colleagues were then actively interested in hypnosis and the negative value associated with the modality had been lifted during the time when Polgar reported that Freud himself was utilizing the method. This is a historically important account of the interface between two prominent therapeutic techniques.     

A Family of Strict/Tolerant Logics

Journal of Philosophical Logic - Strict/tolerant logic, ST, evaluates the premises and the consequences of its consequence relation differently, with the premises held to stricter standards while...     

Enhancing School Engagement in At-Risk,Urban Minority Adolescents Through a School-Based,Adult Mentoring Intervention

ABSTRACT

The current study investigated whether a 5-month, adult mentoring intervention delivered by school personnel could enhance the school engagement of ninth grade urban minority adolescents. Compared to 20 at-risk students who did not receive an intervention, 20 at-risk students who were randomly assigned to mentoring exhibited significantly less decline during the first year of high school in perceived teacher support and decision making and were less likely to enter the discipline system. The effects were stronger and included sense of school belonging for participants who were “mentored as intended.” Moreover, mentee and mentor reports of relationship quality were associated with changes in mentored participants' school-related cognitions and behaviors. The findings indicate that adult mentoring may help to prevent normative declines in urban minority youths' school engagement.     

Prayer and the Theologian of the Cross: Julian of Norwich and Martin Luther

This article constructs a dialogue between Julian of Norwich and the concept of “theologian of the cross,” as found in Martin Luther and his recent interpreters. Since she is Catholic and medieval, one might begin by suspecting that her theology is not acceptable to someone who follows Luther's teaching in the Heidelberg Disputation. However a closer look will suggest that what she has to say is largely in accord with Luther's standard for a theologian of the cross. Put more positively, Julian is a theologian of the cross, in spite of her use of different language and concepts from those of Luther. The focus of the article is the subject of prayer: what Julian teaches about it, and what may be inferred about prayer from Luther's dramatic theses in his disputation.     

Conscience and the Project of a Psychoanalytic Science of Human Nature: Clarification of the Usefulness of the Superego Concept

Although the usefulness of the superego concept has been challenged by objections to the structural theory and to applying a one-person language only to the patient, we need a concept of the conscience to understand clinical phenomenology and clinical decisions and the results of treatment. Using understanding of shame dynamics as an example, fragmentation of theory and technique can be seen as resulting from the confusion of one part of the conscience for the whole. Mainstream views consider primarily the postoedipal part of the conscience dealing with guilt; Kleinian views consider the pre-oedipal dynamic of projected rage and fear of persecution; and Kohutian thinking excludes the ego Ideal altogether. A comprehensive view of conscience is necessary to avoid such fragmentation and confusion.     

Junior Tennis Players’ Preferences for Parental Behaviors

The purpose of this study was to identify junior tennis players’ preferences for parental behaviors at competitions. Eleven focus groups were conducted with 42 high performance Canadian tennis players (M age = 13.5 yrs, SD = 1.2 yrs). Analysis revealed several themes describing athletes’ views of supportive parental behaviors. Specific preferences were that parents should not provide technical and tactical advice, but they should comment on effort and attitude, provide practical advice, respect tennis etiquette, and match nonverbal behaviors with supportive comments. By providing a children's perspective, these findings offer guidance to enhance parental involvement in tennis.     

Positive and Negative Religious Beliefs Explaining the Religion–Health Connection Among African Americans

Theory and literature suggests that the reason religiously involved people tend to have good health outcomes is because they have healthy lifestyles and behaviors in accord with religious beliefs. Other literature suggests that religious involvement may play a negative role in health outcomes due to beliefs about illness originating as punishment for sins. These ideas were tested as part of a theoretical model of the religion–health connection in a national sample of African Americans. Outcomes included a variety of health-related behaviors. Study participants (N = 2,370) randomly selected from a U.S. national call list completed a telephone survey assessing religious involvement, health behaviors, and demographic characteristics. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze study data. Findings indicate that perceived religious influence on health behavior mediated the relationship between religious beliefs and behaviors and higher fruit consumption and lower alcohol use and smoking. Belief that illness is the result of punishment for sin mediated the relationship between (a) religious beliefs and higher vegetable consumption and lower binge drinking and (b) religious behaviors and lower vegetable consumption and higher binge drinking. These findings could be applied to health education activities conducted in African American faith-based organizations, such as health ministries, in the effort to eliminate health disparities.     

The past tense inflection project (PTIP): speeded past tense inflections, imageability ratings, and past tense consistency measures for 2,200 verbs

The processes involved in past tense verb generation have been central to models of inflectional morphology. However, the empirical support for such models has often been based on studies of accuracy in past tense verb formation on a relatively small set of items. We present the first large-scale study of past tense inflection (the Past Tense Inflection Project, or PTIP) that affords response time, accuracy, and error analyses in the generation of the past tense form from the present tense form for over 2,000 verbs. In addition to standard lexical variables (such as word frequency, length, and orthographic and phonological neighborhood), we have also developed new measures of past tense neighborhood consistency and verb imageability for these stimuli, and via regression analyses we demonstrate the utility of these new measures in predicting past tense verb generation. The PTIP can be used to further evaluate existing models, to provide well controlled stimuli for new studies, and to uncover novel theoretical principles in past tense morphology.