Positive psychological approaches to therapy

The term positive psychology has become widely used in recent years to refer to the new movement among psychologists who have turned their attention to positive human functioning. In this article we will review what the emerging field of positive psychology tells us about therapeutic practice. The positive psychology movement has led to a questioning of the fundamental assumptions underlying the practice of psychological therapy, and it is our view that the emerging positive psychology research is supportive of those therapeutic approaches which serve to facilitate the client's ability to hear their own inner voice.     

Fantasy,defense, and the representational world

This paper discusses the manipulation of mental representations, particularly in relation to the psychoanalytic concepts of conscious or unconscious fantasy. A distinction is made between the unconscious phenomenal (experiential) aspect of representations and the nonexperiential, quasi-structural aspect. The concept of the representational world is described and elaborated, and its development is seen as a consequence of the infant's interaction with itself and the external world. Processes such as identification and projection can be seen in terms of changes in self and object representations, and the same is true for all the mechanisms of defense. The content of unconscious wishes is transformed, by use of such mechanisms, into representations that are acceptable to consciousness. Major transformations of unconscious representational content occur in the process of creating unconscious (preconscious) fantasy, and further transformations are frequently needed before such (preconscious) fantasies are permitted access to consciousness. The concept of projective identification is considered in the light of the ideas put forward in the paper.     

Hemispheric differences in visual search of simple line arrays

Summary The effects of perceptual organization on hemispheric visual-information processing were assessed with stimulus arrays composed of short lines arranged in columns. A visual-search task was employed in which subjects judged whether all the lines were vertical (same) or whether a single horizontal line was present (different). Stimulus-display organization was manipulated in two experiments by variation of line density, linear organization, and array size. In general, left-visual-field/right-hemisphere presentations demonstrated more rapid and accurate responses when the display was perceived as a whole. Right-visual-field/left-hemisphere superiorities were observed when the display organization coerced assessment of individual array elements because the physical qualities of the stimulus did not effect a gestalt whole. Response times increased somewhat with increases in array size, although these effects interacted with other stimulus variables. Error rates tended to follow the reaction-time patterns. The results suggest that laterality differences in visual search are governed by stimulus properties which contribute to, or inhibit, the perception of a display as a gestalt. The implications of these findings for theoretical interpretations of hemispheric specialization are discussed.     

Gender,status and the use of power strategies

The present study examined the effects of gender and status on the use of power strategies. The experiment consisted of a computer‐based problem‐solving task performed in pairs, where participants interacted with simulated long‐distance partners. Participants were 36 female and 38 male undergraduate students, who were assigned to be influencing agents and were required to convince their partners to accept their help in the problem‐solving process. Status was manipulated by the extent to which partners were dependent upon the participants' resources. Partners were either same sex or other sex. Results indicated an interactive effect of agent gender by status. Men used more frequently ‘masculine’‐typed and less frequently ‘feminine’‐typed strategies than did women in low status positions, whereas in high status positions no significant gender differences in power strategy choices were found. These findings suggest that gender differences and similarities vary according to social contexts. Implications of the findings for both theory and practice are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The use of altruism and forgiveness in therapy

This study investigates the relative likelihood of psychotherapists promoting altruism and forgiveness as therapeutic agents as compared with other techniques. One hundred and five therapists were asked to rate the relative likelihood of fostering altruism, forgiveness, direct expression of feelings, vicarious ventilation of feelings, and self-reinforcement in response to treating four presenting problems where a fictitious client had been hurt by another. Results indicated that, for the most part, altruism and forgiveness were likely to be promoted significantly less often than the other three therapeutic alternatives by the therapists sampled. The association of altruism and forgiveness with religious values and their disassociation from selftheory are posited as possible explanations for the findings.     

Hume's refutation of the cosmological argument

Conclusion Let me summarize the results of this paper in a way that seems fitting to Hume's discussion of the cosmological argument. There are some philosophers who adopt the most stringent empiricist principles. Such men and women would reject any notion of necessity that is not analytic, and for this reason they would never admit a proof of the necessary existence of anything. Other philosophers, though empiricists, are not so dogmatic. They question the need for, not the coherence of, necessary existence. They believe that the material universe is nothing over and above the sum of its material parts and, thus, see no reason to conclude that a necessary being exists based on PSR. Still others are driven by a rationalist persuasion. They would gladly recognize the existence of almost anything provided it be proven by reason and argument. When they confront the cosmological argument they do indeed find it compelling but still see no reason to conclude that God, or any transcendent being, necessarily exists. The entity established need be nothing more than the universe itself. Therefore, as Hume has demonstrated, no philosopher need accept the conclusion of the cosmological argument.