Clinical applications of Rorschach-based visual imagery reactivity

A diverse set of findings from recent research suggests the value of visual imagery techniques in clinical practice.     

Word and nonword superiority effects in a letter detection task

Subjects searched for predesignated consonant letters embedded in strings of consonants, consonants and vowels, or consonants and numbers. In Experiments 1-3, detection was quicker in the consonant-vowel and consonant-number strings than in the consonant strings. Apparently, vowels and numbers were less confusable distractors than are nontarget consonants. Experiment 4 tested whether psychophysical or categorical information about letters and numbers enabled subjects to process consonant-vowel and consonant-number strings more quickly. Results indicated that psychophysical characteristics of target and distractor letters mediated both word and nonword superiority effects.

     

Monitoring source in an unconscious plagiarism paradigm

Current laboratory paradigms used to assess unconscious plagiarism consist of three tasks. First, participants generate solutions to a puzzle task with a partner (initial generation task); second, they recall their individual contribution (recall-own task); and third, they attempt to create new solutions that were not offered previously (generate-new task). An analysis of these tasks indicated that they differ in terms of the source monitoring they require. The two generative tasks require less differentiated information (e.g., familiarity) and relatively lax decision criteria. The recall-own task, however, demands more differentiated information and more extended decision criteria. In two experiments, factors known to influence source monitoring were manipulated. Consistent with the analysis, no effects were associated with the generative tasks. Recall-own plagiarisms increased when self- and other-generated solutions were difficult to distinguish (Experiment 1) and decreased when the two sources were easier to distinguish (Experiment 2).     

The effects of special education labels on teachers' behavioral observations,checklist scores,and grading of academic work

This study addressed the question: Do special education labels bias teachers' evaluations of children? Thirty primary level teachers were given different labels for the same child: learning disabled, educable mentally retarded, emotionally disturbed, normal, or no label. Teachers made behavioral observations from the same video-tape, completed a checklist, and graded the same academic work purportedly completed by the target child. Teachers' behavioral observations and grading of the academic work were not influenced by the special education labels, but the checklist scores were. Implications for the philosophical debate about the effects of labeling and for methods of classroom data collection by teachers are discussed.     

Rorschach-based indices of visual imagery reactivity

A method using a specially developed Rorschach-based procedure was applied in conjunction with a visual imagery technique in evaluating protocols of 40 outpatient subjects. The subjects were divided into Reactor and Nonreactor groups, according to how productive in clinically significant material their responses were in the imagery condition contrasted to a conventional administration of the Rorschach. A scoring method correctly classified 35 of the 40 subjects as being Reactors or Nonreactors. In addition to previously demonstrated utility as a research tool, the method may be used in clinical situations.     

The authentic function of psychoanalytic theory: an overview of the contributions of Hans Loewald

Loewald believes that psychoanalytic concepts can be redefined and reinterpreted, seen anew in the face of new data and ways of seeing, thus becoming transformed and transformative. Although he anticipated much of what is new in psychoanalysis in the last thirty years, he also anticipated a more recent integrative trend and a return to classical theory--a return to Freud. This paper summarizes and discusses Loewald's major writings, and argues that his work demonstrates the authentic meaning of psychoanalytic metapsychology.     

Lloyd Strickland: Proofs of God in Early Modern Europe: An Anthology

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion -     

Does Death Render Life Absurd?

In this paper, I assess the claim that death renders life absurd. First, I characterize absurdity as something we perceive in situations involving extreme disharmonies which strike us as unexpected or unacceptable. Next, I outline several potential disharmonies which death might introduce into our existence (such as the disharmony between our dignity and capacities, and the undignified annihilation which death promises), but suggest that these examples need not be seen as necessarily absurd; there are perspectives available to us from which these facts can appear to be acceptable aspects of life. Finally, I consider a more problematic case of absurdity—that human beings allegedly fail to grasp the truth of their mortality—but suggest that the underlying disharmony here can be eliminated provided we develop an authentic attitude toward death (and that this is possible, despite some objections). In short, I argue that none of the most obvious potential absurdities which might arise from our mortality are strong enough to entail the claim that death inevitably renders life absurd, at least on one plausible and interesting interpretation of that claim.