Psychoanalytic goals,therapeutic action,and the analyst's tension

The author draws a distinction between the goals of psychoanalysis and its therapeutic action. Goals are consciously (or at least preconsciously) held by the analyst, and can be clearly articulated. Ideas about the mechanism of therapeutic action, in contrast, are hypothetical constructs, and cannot be completely spelled out. This is bound to leave analysts in a state of tension; we are certain about what we are trying to do, but what we are actually accomplishing is elusive. This tension may be optimal for the analyst, because attention must be paid simultaneously to the idiosyncratic relationship in the dyad and to the broader purposes of the analytic engagement.     

Equality in hiring permanent resident foreign nationals in the United States: when loyalty is the question, but not the issue

Permanent resident foreign nationals, who have been legally admitted to the United States, have the right to work. However, when deciding the constitutionality of a state statute that requires citizenship for a public domain job, the rights of permanent residents to seek gainful employment are balanced against the rights of state governments to ensure that important sovereign functions are entrusted only to their citizens. Several important Supreme Court decisions have been 5/4 split decisions because of this tension and dissenting judges have countered that the majority rulings were based on presumptions, and not facts, that citizens are more loyal than permanent residents. The judges have also disagreed about the level, within a civil service hierarchy, below which a citizenship requirement is unconstitutional. This article reviews United States court decisions for relevant issues and solutions, and shows how empirical studies in the area of human resource management can help resolve the issues that have caused the dissent. The analysis will be useful to legal and human resource professionals in the U.S. and other countries affected by surging global migration.     

Joyce's Argument with Himself/Or, Reading Joyce's Inside Narrative

James Joyce's argument with himself about where he should practice his art and with what literary tradition he should identify—Irish, British, or European—is represented by several of the characters and episodes in his short story The Dead.In the main character, Gabriel Conroy, Joyce represented the conflicts that he himself experienced. But in many of the minor characters Joyce also reflected parts of his own wishes and fears.In this story, Joyce rejects the possibilities of artistic identification with Ireland and England, and, in the dynamics of the tale, arrives at the understanding that to fulfill his artistic aspirations, he must make an identification with the great European tradition, and also live in Europe; if he stays in Ireland or attempts to be an English author, he will be, as he portrays Gabriel to be, paralyzed, imitative, and a failure as an artist. Joyce himself took the decisive path that Gabriel could not choose.     

The relationship between out-of-school activities and positive youth development: an investigation of the influences of communities and family

There is growing evidence that participation in constructive leisure activities facilitates positive youth development. Empirical evidence also supports the influence of families and communities on positive developmental outcomes for adolescents. This study examined the relationship among attitudes toward family and community, participation in structured out-of-school activities, and pro-social behavior. As predicted, community aspects such as opportunities available and the attitudes the youth held toward the community, as well as their attitude toward family were predictive of activity involvement. Activity involvement, in turn, was predictive of pro-social behavior. Attitude toward family was also predictive of attitude toward the community. Attitude toward community was a direct predictor of the positive developmental outcome of pro-social behavior, although contrary to the original hypothesis, family influences did not have a direct effect on pro-social behavior. Implications for continued practice and change for a variety of sectors in the positive youth development field such as educators and educational institutions, youth-serving organizations, families, and policy makers are discussed, along with recommendations for continued research in this field.     

Hierarchical number estimation

We investigated number estimation using dot patterns grouped by proximity into larger clusters. Participants estimated the number of dots and clusters in separate trials. Estimation was most accurate when the numbers of elements on both scales were the same. When the number of elements on the unattended scale was higher, overestimation occurred. Conversely, when the number of elements on the unattended scale was lower, underestimation occurred. In Experiment 2, response cues were blocked to reduce any tendency toward attending the irrelevant level. The results were essentially unchanged, indicating response confusion alone cannot account for the effect. The data support the existence of an opposite scale effect in which the number of elements at the unattended level influence the processing of number.The preliminary results of the two experiments were presented at the Annual Meeting of The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, April 29–May 4, 2001, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA     

Visual short-term memory load suppresses temporo-parietal junction activity and induces inattentional blindness

The right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) is critical for stimulus-driven attention and visual awareness. Here we show that as the visual short-term memory (VSTM) load of a task increases, activity in this region is increasingly suppressed. Correspondingly, increasing VSTM load impairs the ability of subjects to consciously detect the presence of a novel, unexpected object in the visual field. These results not only demonstrate that VSTM load suppresses TPJ activity and induces inattentional blindness, but also offer a plausible neural mechanism for this perceptual deficit: suppression of the stimulus-driven attentional network.     

Schizophrenia and the Developmental Moratorium

Jay B. Sisun is a Clinical Research Assistant at Taunton State Hospital. Glen A. Eskedal is the Chair and Professor of Education and Human Services at Suffolk University. Of challenge to developmental psychologists and mental health practitioners is the management of positive and negative symptoms associated with schizophrenia and their effects on mastering psychosocial developmental tasks. The intent of this article is to provide specific information pertinent to understanding this disorder, to understand the age-appropriate struggle for individuation, and to offer recommendations for effective treatment.