The Predictive Power of Horney’s Psychoanalytic Approach: An Empirical Study

This study investigated the construct validity of a measure of Karen Horneys (1945) psychoanalytic theory that postulated three neurotic trends: compliant, aggressive, and detached. Her theory was operationalized by the Horney-Coolidge Type Indicator (HCTI). One hundred seventy-two adults completed the HCTI and the short form of the Coolidge Axis II Inventory, a measure of the three DSM-IV personality disorder clusters. Multiple regression and canonical correlation analyses revealed significant and differential patterns of the three HCTI dimensions with the three clusters. Because Paris (1994) has noted that Horneys neurotic trends may today be conceived of as personality disorders, one implication of the present findings is that Horneys dynamic theory can be valid and useful in the general understanding of personality disorders from a cluster perspective.     

Nationalism,Patriotism, and Support for the European Union

Does attachment to a nation enhance or dampen support for the European Union (EU)? Using the 2003 and 2013 ISSP national-identity modules, we isolate and provide multi-item measures of two distinct types of national attachment—nationalism and patriotism. We find that they are positively related yet have divergent effects. We validate the measures showing that nationalism increases, and patriotism decreases, support for nationalistic policies (anti-immigration and protectionism) as expected. We then test the effects of nationalism and patriotism on EU attitudes and find that nationalism increases, and patriotism decreases, opposition to the EU. The presence of a neo-nationalist political party enhanced the effects of nationalism on opposition to the EU, underscoring the importance of political rhetoric in shaping nationalistic EU opposition. In further support of the rhetoric hypothesis, the most-educated nationalists are most likely to oppose the EU in countries with a neo-nationalist political party and vote for such parties when present.     

Intellectual similarity of virtual twin pairs: Developmental trends

Virtual twins (VTs) are same-age unrelated siblings reared together from infancy who replicate twinship, but without the genetic relatedness. A 2005 report from the ongoing Fullerton Virtual Twin Study found an IQ intraclass correlation of .26 (p < .01, n = 113 pairs) and a within-pair difference of 13.22 IQ points. The average age of VTs in that study was 8.10 years (SD = 8.56, range: 4.01-54.84 years). An opportunity to retest members of 43 VT pairs, 1.70-8.96 years after their time 1 assessment, allowed additional analyses of genetic and environmental influences underlying general intellectual development. A decrease in the VT IQ correlation and an increase in the within-pair difference were indicated, consistent with increasing genetic and/or non-shared environmental influences and decreasing shared environmental influence on general intellectual development throughout childhood.     

“Compliance” to “Concordance”: A Critical View

Advocates of “concordance” describe it as a new model of shared decision-making between physicians and patients based on a partnership of equals. “Concordance” is meant to make obsolete the notion of “compliance,” in which patients are seen as, ideally, following doctors’ orders. This essay offers a critical view of concordance, arguing that the literature itself on concordance, including materials at the web site of Medicines Partnership, the implementation arm in Great Britain of the concordance model, is full of contradiction; concordance, in fact, harbors an ideology of compliance. The essay suggests that an improvement in patient medication use will more likely come from a frank consideration of the relation of compliance issues and commercial ones, and that a key question across domains is, “how are patients/health agents/consumers persuaded to acquire certain drugs and take them as directed?”     

The Interplay of Empathy and Individualism in Support for Social Welfare Policies

Public support for government welfare programs is grounded in two potentially conflicting factors: a belief in individualism which undermines support for welfare assistance and the capacity for empathy which potentially enhances support. However, empathy is an expensive psychological commodity subject to pervasive up- and down-regulation. This article examines the degree to which a belief in individualism affects the expression of compassionate support for a person in need among those with the capacity for empathy. In two online survey experiments, empathic ability powerfully increases support for a welfare recipient and social welfare policies when it does not conflict with individualism. But, empathic ability decreases compassion and support for government welfare among strong individualists. Evidence that individualists down-regulate empathy for someone in need of government assistance is consistent with the conservative view that welfare promotes dependency and undermines individual agency. In contrast, charitable assistance is not associated with long-term dependency, and we find that empathy is up-regulated by strong individualists to generate charitable support for the same individual to whom they denied government assistance. The up- and down-regulation of empathy in response to someone in need of government welfare helps illuminate the sharp divisions over social welfare policy among the American public.