Zwischen Tod und Urszene

Are there psychoanalytic ideas about what it means to be fully and creatively alive? Thoughts about this are prompted by Winnicott’s account of living by compliance or by creative apperception. A necessary aspect of independent, creative aliveness is a capacity to be interested in what disturbs our usual thought processes. Clinical examples show the truth of this for therapists in the clinical situation and it applies to life in general as well. Being fully alive involves a particular use of memory so as to move actively up and down one’s life experiences between past and present and also the ability to extend this imaginatively into the future, including particularly the experience of one’s own death which is ultimately and inescapably ‘uncanny’. Such freedom of internal movement makes it possible to see the present as a point of encounter between the past and the future. The past is bounded by the primal scene and the future by death, which represent the beginning and end of time. The present is thus also an encounter between time and timelessness. To tell a dream in an analytical session is to bring the timelessness of the unconscious into a time-bound framework. A clinical example shows how a sense of this crossover between time and timelessness helped a patient use his dream experience to develop a greater sense of aliveness. Vermeer’s painting of ‘The Kitchen Maid’ pouring milk is analysed as a visual representation of the intersection of time and timelessness. A case in a clinical seminar is described, which produced a disorienting sense of timelessness in the seminar group. The seminar leader then needed to help the discussion stay poised at a crossing-point between timelessness and time. A discussion of the myth of Orpheus considers Orpheus’ compulsion to look back at Eurydice as a failure of aliveness because he could not dream Eurydice at the intersection between the timelessness of the underworld and the linear temporality of everyday existence.     

Does bullying others at school lead to adult aggression? The roles of drinking and university participation during the transition to adulthood

This study uses a three‐wave longitudinal study of young Australians to identify developmental processes underlying the relationship between school bullying and physical aggression in early adulthood. The central question is whether and how drinking and participation in work or university study disrupt or entrench aggressive pathways from school bullying to adult aggression. Self‐report data were collected from 88 females and 63 males (N = 151) during childhood (age 10), adolescence (age 14), and early adulthood (age 20). Participants who bullied other students during childhood and adolescence, or during adolescence only, reported more physical aggression during early adulthood than those who never bullied. However, those who had bullied during adolescence only reported significantly higher adult aggression if they were also drinking at above‐average frequencies. Conversely, participation in university, compared to being in the workforce, was associated with significantly less adult aggression among the at‐risk groups. Findings suggest that particular contexts during early adulthood can offer youth on aggressive trajectories (as evidenced by bullying at school) unique opportunities to turn their behaviour around. Other contexts, however, may exacerbate aggressive behaviour patterns.     

Paternal Postnatal and Subsequent Mental Health Symptoms and Child Socio‐Emotional and Behavioural Problems at School Entry

Research on the effect of paternal mental health problems, particularly on young children, is based predominantly on clinical levels of depression. Furthermore, potential mediators such as marital discord have often been overlooked. This longitudinal community study assessed the association between paternal mental health symptoms in a community sample (N = 705) assessed at 3 months postnatally (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale) and 36 months (General Health Questionnaire) and children's socio‐emotional and behavioural problems at 51 months (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) as reported by mother, father and teacher. Controlling for socioeconomic status and maternal mental health symptoms at 3 and 36 months, paternal postnatal depressive symptoms predicted more father‐reported child problems at 51 months but, in contrast to previous findings, not mother‐reported problems. Paternal mental health symptoms at 36 months predicted both maternal and paternal reports of child problems at 51 months controlling for both paternal and maternal postnatal symptoms. Paternal mental health symptoms at 3 and 36 months were not significant predictors of teacher‐reported child problems. Postnatal marital discord and paternal mental health problems at 36 months both mediated the relationship between paternal postnatal symptoms and later child emotional and behavioural problems. Child gender did not moderate the relationship. Implications for interventions are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Counselor Feedback Training Model: Teaching Counseling Students Feedback Skills

Giving and receiving feedback is an important counseling skill; therefore, it is crucial to focus on this skill within counselor training. This article presents the Counselor Feedback Training Model, a developmental approach designed to assist counselor educators in teaching counseling students how to give and receive feedback.     

Learning Impacts of a Digital Augmentation in a Science Museum

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the effects of using digital augmentation to enhance an exhibit device to influence conceptual understanding about a science topic in a science museum setting. In particular, the study considered how students in Grades 6–8 engaged with the device that was available in both augmented and nonaugmented (control) conditions. Results show increased cognitive (critical thinking) skills when the digital augmentation was present that we hypothesize led to increased conceptual gains. We illustrate how this research contributes to three important areas of need identified in informal science literature: the need for evidence of conceptual and cognitive gains; the need for understanding how digital platforms improve the learning experience; and the need to demonstrate how designed interactive devices may impact higher order skills such as critical thinking and theorizing.     

Web-Based Surveys: Best Practices Based on the Research Literature

ABSTRACT

Over the last 10 years, Web-based surveys have developed a reputation as an easy and economical method of collecting data. However, as with all research methods, there is a need for careful design and planning. This article reviews the literature on the use and effectiveness of Web surveys. It explores the similarities and differences between Web surveys and postal or telephone surveys, the opportunities and limitations of Web surveys, and the use of Web surveys in visitor studies research. Design tips are provided to assist users to make the best possible use of this important new tool.     

Knowing through the felt-sense: a gesture of openness to the other

In the discussion of children’s spirituality and education, David Hay and Brendan Hyde place emphasis on the felt-sense. Originally identified by the psychotherapist Eugene Gendlin, the felt-sense is a way of knowing that involves attentiveness to the body and body wisdom. Although emphasised by Hay and Hyde, the felt-sense does not feature strongly in the academic discussion of children’s spiritual education. This article compares Gendlin’s use of the term ‘felt-sense’ with that of Hay and Hyde, and discusses understandings of the felt-sense and body wisdom gathered through interviews with focusing, shiatsu and yoga practitioners, and through the author’s encounters with these practices. The article considers synergies between the notions of ‘felt-sense’ and ‘bildung’, as described by Gadamer, and concludes that their shared openness to the other points to ‘a way of being’ for the educator which may hold the greatest value for spiritual education, given the complexity of post-secular spiritual identity.     

Gender Differences and Cognition Among Older Adults

The more replicated findings about gender difference in cognitive performance suggest female superiority on visuomotor speed and language ability and male superiority on mechanical and visuospatial tasks. Generally, group strengths found in the early school years become more established at adolescence and remain stable through adulthood. The current study tested whether the patterns established in the early years remained among 30 adult subjects. We also utilized a series of exploratory analyses to determine if observed gender differences were impacted by the covariance present between all cognitive tests. Results suggest that although the patterns established in the early years remain stable through time for males, the established patterns for females are altered with age. Our findings are compelling in supporting a male advantage on visuospatial tasks among older adults. These findings are discussed in terms of common variance between test instruments as a possible source of difference. Our finding that the gender effect tended to increase when common variance was controlled argues that this methodology may enhance the ability to detect domain specific effects.     

Obtaining guilty knowledge in human intelligence interrogations: Comparing accusatorial and information-gathering approaches with a novel experimental paradigm

Substantial research has assessed interrogations seeking to obtain a criminal confession, and consequently much has been learned regarding the potential problems with confession evidence. However, an increasing focus on counter-terrorism, and therefore intelligence interrogations, reveals an obvious gap in the literature. Intelligence interrogations are primarily focused on collecting information from individuals as opposed to a confession linked to an alleged event, and little of the extant psychological literature can speak directly to such a scenario. The current research developed an experimental paradigm to test interrogation approaches in an intelligence-gathering context, providing a method for gathering empirical data on human intelligence collection. In the first implementation of this paradigm, accusatorial and information-gathering interrogation strategies were tested using a procedure high in psychological realism. Results indicate that an information-gathering approach yields more relevant information than an accusatorial approach and leads to more diagnostic impressions by third party observers.