Religious self and secular self: Clinical transitions

Clerical people, returning to secular life, may undergo shifts in self-experience, including alterations in internal object relations. Self-psychology, positing the importance to health of cohesion of all aspects of self, provides a theoretical model for exploring such shifts and their facilitation through psychoanalytic psychotherapy. A case of a released Roman Catholic priest is discussed to illustrate dynamic processes. Emphasis is on a clinical approach that does not require conversion of religious and spiritual self-experience into drive derivative formulations     

Relationships among defensive styles, cognitive styles, processing styles, and attentional styles of normal adolescents

Cognitive and psychodynamic theorists agree that an individual's personality and behavior are determined by both cognitive and dynamic processes. This study examined the relationship among three cognitive approaches--cognitive style, attentional style, and processing style--and examined their relations to defensive style. Adolescents from Grades 11 and 12 (146 boys, 164 girls) were examined in groups for cognitive style (Group Embedded Figures Test), attentional style (Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style), processing style (a sequential/simultaneous processing test battery), and defensive style (Defense Mechanism Inventory). Least squares completely randomized two-way analyses of variance (or analyses of covariance where applicable) were employed to assess the relations among the three cognitive measures and/or between the cognitive measures and defensive style. While most comparisons were nonsignificant, a significant relationship was observed between sequential processing and field-dependence and between simultaneous processing and field-independence. Also, a trend was noted between field-independence and ideational defenses and between field-dependence and repression-based defenses.     

Maladjustment in statistical minorities within ethnically unbalanced classrooms

Ascertained if being a member of a statistical minority influences children's adjustment in school, as measured by the AML, a teacher-administered adjustment rating scale. Teachers from a southwest school district evaluated elementary students on aggressive, acting-out behaviors, moody-internalized behaviors, and learning difficulties. Analyses conducted on 376 students revealed significant effects of statistical minority status on certain dimensions of adjustment ratings for both Hispanic and Anglo students. Hispanic students in the statistical minority received poorer ratings on the moodiness dimension of the AML than nonminority Hispanic students. Anglo students in the statistical minority received poorer ratings on the aggression dimension of the AML than nonminority Anglo students. These results were interpreted in terms of cultural differences in coping with statistical minority status. Traits commonly exhibited within a culture may intensify and be perceived as maladaptive when stress resulting from being a minority occurs. Implications of the finding that statistical minority status within the school environment influences adjustment are discussed.     

Values of Postpartum Women from the Inner City: An Exploratory Study

An exploratory study of the values of inner-city postpartum women was conducted. Subjects were largely single, with many on/or going on public assistance. Each subject was given the Rokeach Value Scale and asked to prioritize the terminal values (goals) in terms of herself and the instrumental values (means) in terms of what she would like to teach her child. Rankings were compared to corresponding rankings compiled by a national sample, considered a more traditional era, and by marital status within the postpartum mother sample itself. Economic values were ranked higher by inner-city mothers than by the national sample. The top terminal value was family security and the top instrumental value was responsible. When compared by marital status, the only significant difference was the higher ranking of mature love given by married women. Results suggests that the values of the inner-city single postpartum mother can be conceptualized as a mosaic incorporating values shared with the mainstream and values adapted to the conditions of poverty.     

Explicit contamination in “implicit” memory for new associations

In one view of implicit memory, priming arises from modification of preexisting representations; however, the role of such representations is currently in doubt following findings of implicit memory for newly formed associations. Closer consideration of studies reporting this effect, and of others that have failed to obtain it, suggests that such priming might result from the employment of explicit memory strategies. With measures designed to permit exclusion of such strategies, three experiments using lexical decision and stem-completion tasks found no evidence of truly implicit memory for unrelated pairs. Instead, priming was found only in those subjects (50% of the total in one experiment) who reported using explicit memory in stem completion. Contrary to previous conclusions, the results indicate a role for established representations in explaining implicit memory.     

Test Anxiety, Self-Awareness, and Cognitive Interference: A Process Analysis

ABSTRACT Participants performed a cognitive task under evaluative, self-awareness, and neutral conditions, Task performance was determined jointly by trait test anxiety and situational factors. Test anxiety led to poorer performance in both evaluative and self-awareness situations, relative to the neutral situation. We examined the cognitive activity variables that might mediate the effects of test anxiety and situational variables on performance, and identified a significant cognitive mediator of the main effect of test anxiety, but not for the Test Anxiety x Situation interaction effect. Therefore, the current experiment offered some support for Sarason's (1980) cognitive interference theory, as well as integrating test anxiety and self-awareness research.     

Managers' alcohol use: Roles and symbolic functions

Alcohol was used widely by a representative sample of managers in the private business sector. Manager's perceptions of the roles and the symbolic functions played by alcohol are reported. The inclusion of the roles and symbolic functions in change strategies are advocated.This study was funded by the Alcoholic Liquor Advisory Council of New Zealand. The author would like to acknowledge the work of Ruth Houghton and Prue Toft in conducting the original study.     

The recovering female alcoholic: A family affair

Supported by a review of relevant literature and a case study, the author argues that family therapy intervention enhances the likelihood of a female alcoholic's positive prognosis. With a basis in systems theory, family therapy views the family as a system and, hence, perceives the alcoholism as a symptom of that family. A profile of the female alcoholic, how her drinking affects her family, and the role that family therapy plays in the recovery process are examined.