Hartmann's "Ego Psychology and the Problem of Adaptation"

Hartmann's monograph is an argument for the problem-solving value of all aspects of the mind and for the subordination of intelligence to the organism's larger, primarily social purposes. Hartmann proposed that, in psychoanalytic treatment, intelligent reflection serves one's largest purposes by taking respectful account of non-rational but adaptive ways of appraising reality, with a view toward making the best use of non-rational as well as rational propensities. He regarded it as the kind of thinking that the sociologist, Karl Mannheim, had recommended to government planners faced with immensely complicated, incompletely masterable forces. Hartmann's view of the role of the intellect in analytic treatment suggests that therapists should maintain both their demand for intelligent reflection and their hopefulness about other kinds of work that may be going on sub rosa.     

Attitudes toward male and female homosexuality and sex-role stereotypes in Israeli and American students

Although the legal and psychiatric status of homosexuals has drastically changed, public prejudice about homosexuality has not disappeared. Former studies have developed the idea that homophobia is closely related to conservatism in sex-role polarization. The present research investigated sex differences in attitudes toward male and female homosexuality and sex-role polarization in a cross-cultural perspective, comparing young, educated Israelis and Americans. One-hundred seventy students participated in the study, completing a sex-role survey, an attitude toward homosexuality questionnaire, and a social desirability scale. The results indicated that Israelis were more homophobic and more conservative in their sex-role polarization than Americans. Men were more homophobic and more generally conservative in sex-role orientation than women. A positive relationship was found between sex-role polarization and rejection of homosexuality within each of the samples. The results could not be attributed to social desirability. The significance of these findings is discussed in the context of sex differences and differences between Israeli and American cultures.The research reported here was conducted for an M.A. thesis of the second author under the supervision of the first author (in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master's degree in psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem).     

THE NATURAL GOD: A GOD EVEN AN ATHEIST CAN BELIEVE IN

Abstract. In this paper, I attempt to dissolve the theism/atheism boundary. In the first part, I consider last things, according to mainstream science. In the second part, I define the Natural God as the Force of Nature—evolving, unifying, maximizing—and consider Its relation to last things. Finally, I discuss our knowledge of the Natural God and Its relevance to our personal lives. I argue that we can know the Natural God through scientific reason combined with global intuition, and that this knowledge, from the perspective of last things, may help us achieve universal love, ethical action, and personal salvation.     

The use of metaphors in psychotherapy

Metaphors are used in everyday language and play a role in the therapeutic domain. This paper: 1) Examines the linguistic structure of metaphors for its therapeutic relevance. 2) Introduces the concept and use of metaphoric kernel statements. 3) Describes strategic and tactical applications of metaphor in guided metaphoric imagery work, storytelling and metaphoric tasks. 4) Demonstrates the efficacy of metaphor in treatment of cases of traumatic and highly anxiety-provoking issues.     

The time-line genogram: highlighting temporal aspects of family relationships

The genogram, or family diagram, is an assessment tool widely used by clinicians to study family members and their relationships over several generations. The standard genogram format is limited, however, because it does not show temporal patterns directly. An alternative, the Time-Line Genogram (TLG), which plots time on the vertical axis to display life events and changes in relationships when they actually occurred, highlights temporal aspects of family history that the standard format sometimes obscures.     

Academic engagement of elementary school children with learning disabilities

Variability of attention-to-task and its relation to instructional contexts for children with learning disabilities was investigated. Twenty-four mainstreamed children were observed in both the regular class and the resource room. Student behaviors relating to academic engagement and the situational contexts in which they occurred were coded. Significant differences in rate of engagement were found for classroom setting, type of instruction, and level of peer involvement, indicating that degree of attending is not stable but a function of the context in which it occurs. Implications for the assessment of attentional problems and instructional practices, especially as related to the resource room program, are discussed.     

Sex reversal in female Betta splendens as a function of testosterone manipulation and social influence

In Experiment 1, female Betta given daily injections of testosterone (T) for 9 weeks acquired anatomical features characteristic of males as indicated by changes in fin length, body coloration, and gonadal morphology. These findings suggested that a potential for sex reversal exists in females of this species. In Experiment 2 we measured changes in aggressive behavior during testosterone-induced anatomical changes. Aggression decreased toward females and increased toward males as treatment with T progressed. The final displays of aggressive behavior and anatomical characteristics of fish injected with T resembled those of typical males. In Experiment 3, female Betta primed with T injections for 3 or 6 weeks and permitted to interact socially with females continued to display characteristics of sex reversal after T supplementation ceased. Sex reversal in isolated fish injected with T for 3 or 6 weeks was not sustained, and fish receiving only the control vehicle showed negligible change in both the isolated and community conditions. We discuss the results in terms of similarities with the sex change process found in isolated communities of coral reef fish.     

Analog and semantic models of judgments about the months of the year

This study tested undergraduates’ ability to judge cyclic relations between the months of the year, days of the week, and buildings around a campus square. On each trial, a pair of month, day, or building names was presented. Subjects judged whether the second stimulus was closer to the first going forward or backward in time (or clockwise/counterclockwise around the square). For all three contents, response times and errors increased as the second stimulus approached the direction boundary. The results can be explained by the types of analog models used to account for the symbolic distance effect for bipolar continua. In contrast, semantic models of the symbolic distance effect appear to be poorly suited for explaining how cyclic comparisous are made.