Psychoanalysis in Postmodern Times: Some Questions and Challenges

As a consequence of the invitation to contribute this piece of writing, I acknowledge having a postmodern attitude, rather than subscribing to postmodernism as an ideology. The purpose behind this article is to reflect on the impact of postmodern times on psychoanalysis from the starting point of my own conception of psychoanalytic theory and practice. This article looks, in some detail, into the problem of truth in psychoanalysis, the issue of theory building in psychoanalysis in its relation to psychoanalytic practice, and the challenges for psychoanalysis as a pluralistic discipline. It repeatedly states that psychoanalysis evidences extreme theoretical and practical diversity, but no pluralism understood as an attitude and methodology of dialogue between theoretical orientations and practical approaches. The current challenge in psychoanalysis is, precisely, to go beyond postmodernism and to build a true pluralism on the basis on interdisciplinary exchange and collaboration.     

Individual Differences in Diving: Intelligence,Personality, and Underwater Adaptation

Diving is an activity that is carried out in an extreme environment with extraordinary psychophysical demands. It requires the divers to undergo an adaptive process in order to survive, to be able to take advantage of their capabilities, and to achieve an efficient performance. In this ex post facto study, data from a sample of military personnel participating in scuba diving courses (N = 649) were analyzed. Our aim was to verify the role of individual differences in the adaptation to an extreme and hostile environment. The results indicate the existence of psychological variables that differentiate between divers and the general population, those who pass or fail the diving course, and between groups of divers who obtain differential levels of performance in underwater tasks. These findings support that dispositional characteristics have utility for the identification of suitable personnel for professional diving.     

A development of Freudian metapsychology for schizophrenia

The author states that psychoanalysis has much to contribute to schizophrenia. Beginning with a development of Freudian metapsychology, he addresses the in‐depth psychopathological study of a session (the first on the couch) with a schizophrenic patient who hears voices and feels that he is being watched. Since the symptoms appear at the level of the heard word and the visual image – key to Freudian metapsychology – he delineates a circuit for the word and one for the image, describing a blockage in both and the consequences of these. Furthermore, with regard to the patient's progress, he demonstrates first a quantitative improvement in symptoms, and later qualitative changes in his functioning. He shows how, over a time, functioning is improved in a once‐a‐week on‐the‐couch setting after two years of face‐to‐face treatment.     

得失情境下他人参照点及心理距离对自我-他人利益权衡的影响

以福利权衡率(WTR)为利他程度的指标,通过3个实验逐步深入地考察了得失情境下他人参照点及心理距离对自我-他人利益权衡的影响。实验1的结果表明,得失情境并未改变被试的WTR。实验2引入他人底线、现状和目标三个参照点变量,发现被试获益情境下的WTR高于损失情境,且WTR从高到低依次为他人临近底线、目标和现状;他人临近底线时,被试在获益情境下的WTR高于损失情境,而他人临近现状和目标时,个体在得失情境下的WTR无显著差异。实验3进一步引入心理距离变量,发现心理距离较近他人的WTR高于较远他人,且与得失情境和参照点发生了复杂的交互效应,得失情境的主效应消失了,但总体上并未改变实验2发现的参照点效应。这些结果对于更深入地理解得失不对称效应、三参照点理论及社会折扣和自我-他人决策差异研究的相关发现具有一定的启示意义。     

试析元代汉人对伊斯兰教的"解读"--以定州《重建礼拜寺记》碑为例

元代是伊斯兰教在中国大发展的时期,在中国伊斯兰教史上占有重要地位。本文以元代定州《重礼拜寺记》碑为中心,考察了元代汉人对伊斯兰教的认识与理解,指出在元代,汉人尤其是士大夫阶层业已开始以儒家思想来阐释伊斯兰教,这在中国思想史上尚属首次,在某种程度上促使伊斯兰教走上了非文化自觉意义上的调适之路。其开山之功,意义重大,不容抹煞,值得深入探讨。     

1993~2013年常驻高海拔地区军人心理健康状态的横断历史研究

研究为探索常驻高海拔地区军人心理健康水平如何随社会年代变迁而改变,运用了横断历史元分析的方法,对1993年至2013年38篇采用90项症状自评量表(SCL-90)的文献调查数据进行分析,考察了11454名常驻高海拔地区军人在该量表上9个因子得分随年代变化的趋势.结果发现:(1)SCL-90的7个因子均值与年代负相关,且不受期刊类型等的影响.20年来,7个因子下降了5%~15%不等.其中,强迫变化最大,抑郁、焦虑、人际敏感、偏执和精神病性均变化明显.这说明,常驻高海拔地区军人心理健康虽有所波动但整体水平逐步提升,变化幅度大致属于中等程度.(2)当年军费占GDP比值、居民消费水平指数与SCL-90部分因子均值负相关显著;5年前的居民消费水平指数与7个因子显著负相关.这说明,国防建设的经济投入和居民消费水平可能是影响常驻高海拔地区军人心理健康水平的重要因素.     

Perceptual reasons

The two main theories of perceptual reasons in contemporary epistemology can be called Phenomenalism and Factualism. According to Phenomenalism, perceptual reasons are facts about experiences conceived of as phenomenal states, i.e., states individuated by phenomenal character, by what it’s like to be in them. According to Factualism, perceptual reasons are instead facts about the external objects perceived. The main problem with Factualism is that it struggles with bad cases: cases where perceived objects are not what they appear (illusions, broadly speaking) or where there is no perceived object at all (hallucinations). The main problem with Phenomenalism is that it struggles with good cases: cases where everything is perfectly normal and the external object is correctly perceived, so that one’s perceptual beliefs are knowledge. In this paper we show that there is a theory of perceptual reasons that avoids the problems for Factualism and Phenomenalism. We call this view Propositionalism. We use ‘proposition’ broadly to mean the entities that are contents of beliefs and other doxastic attitudes. The key to finding a middle ground between Phenomenalism and Factualism, we claim, is to allow our reasons to be false in bad cases. Despite being false, they are about the external world, not our phenomenal states.     

Typing versus thinking aloud when reading: Implications for computer-based assessment and training tools

The goal of this study was to assess the impact of modality of production of think-aloud protocols on reading strategies. Readers in two studies spoke or typed protocols for narrative or science texts and completed comprehension tests for each text. Human judges identified the presence of paraphrasing, bridging inferences, and elaborating within the protocols. Reading comprehension skill was assessed with the Nelson-Denny test. With respect to narrative texts, paraphrasing and bridging were less frequent when readers were typing than when they were thinking aloud. With respect to science texts, less-skilled readers made bridging inferences more frequently when typing than when speaking. Conversely, skilled readers generated more paraphrases than bridges when typing thoughts but not when speaking. These results have implications for computer-based tools for reading assessment and intervention.     

Goal orientation, motivational climate, and dispositional flow of high school students engaged in extracurricular physical activity

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of goal orientation, motivational climate, and dispositional flow in physical education lessons on extracurricular involvement in physical activity. Questionnaires were administered to 1,103 (792 athletes; 311 nonathletes) secondary school students (M age = 14.3 yr., SD = 0.7). Analysis showed significant mean differences between groups on goal orientation and dispositional flow in physical education lessons, but none for perception of motivational climate. These findings suggest that dispositional variables are related to extracurricular involvement in physical activity.