Look, no hands!

Contrary to Vaesen's argument that humans are unique with respect to nine cognitive capacities essential for tool use, we suggest that although such cognitive processes contribute to variation in tool use, it does not follow that these capacities are necessary for tool use, nor that tool use shaped cognition per se, given the available data in cognitive neuroscience and behavioral biology.     

Fromm's Impact on Interpersonal Psychoanalysis: A Well Kept Secret

Erich Fromm was one of the founders of the William Alanson White Institute in New York City and an important contributor to the development of the interpersonal approach to psychoanalysis. Many of Fromm's ideas about psychoanalysis have found their way into the mainstream of analytic thinking. Much of what he taught in supervision and in his lectures had to do with the role of the analyst, the analyst's use of himself in the analytic process and the necessity that the analyst experience what his patient is experiencing. From did not necessarily use terms like projective identification but his understanding presaged much of what analysts talk about today. Fromm himself did not write much about clinical practice. And while he repeatedly expressed his respect for Freud he was explicit in his disagreements. Fromm rejected the notion of the analyst as a blank mirror. Instead, analysis requires a passionate wish for truth both in the analysand and the analyst. Fromm calls this passion biophilic, implying that the unconscious does not only harbor destructive drives that need to be tamed; it also harbors creative drives which, while also irrational, are constructive and need be liberated through the analysis.     

Spatial and Temporal Details in Intentions: A Cue to Detecting Deception

Research into lying about intentions is relatively new. Studies have suggested that lying about intentions can be detected with statement analysing methods. This article describes two experiments. The first experiment investigates how much spatial and temporal detail is given by people who are discussing a true or false intention in a 26‐question interview. The results showed that those with a true intention gave more spatial and temporal details. The second experiment examines these details in a one‐question interview and whether the amount of temporal detail given can be manipulated by the phrasing of the question. The results showed that the amount of detail is much lower in these short interviews, but can be increased with specific phrasing. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Working with incest survivors

The purpose of this paper is to convey more widely the existence of this kind of specialist group in the NHS. We also wish to show some of the advantages and disadvantages in setting up such a group to other professionals who may be considering the possibility of starting an incest-survivors group. The paper describes the group which ran at the Psychiatric Day Hospital at the Whittington Hospital for forty weeks: how we adopted the group structure; some of the problems we faced; and some of the emotional issues generated in therapists and patients. Conclusions are drawn about the usefulness of such a group.     

Psychiatric pain and deliberate suffering

In public opinion and in medical practice the suffering of psychiatric patients is often considered self‐induced. Freudian psychoanalysis embraced this notion but managed to reconcile it with the pleasure principle only by positing an instinctual craving for death, to which Freud reduced instances of deliberate and repetitive suffering. In a simultaneous but separate line of thought, he also reduced all habits, including self‐destructive ones, to masturbation and all inhibitions of constructive drives to inhibitions of masturbation. This article explores this seeming paradox.

The transition from a paranoid‐schizoid position to a depressive one begins with the dawning assumption of ownership of certain aspects of one's being, with the correlative attribution of other aspects to the world outside the self. Inevitable errors in this process create tensions that may be discharged by suffering, either by atonement or by assuming ownership of the pain that one's dependency might otherwise inflict on one's objects. Eros serves Thanatos to preserve self‐ownership. Pragmatically, owning one's fate can feel more important than enjoying it, a fact the author dubs the “Principle of Ownership”; and illustrates with a number of literary and clinical vignettes.

The idea that psychiatric suffering is self‐induced contributes to the stigma that so commonly attends it. Ironically, this same idea makes psychological treatment possible: if painful adjustments replace relationships, then new relationships may have the power to correct them.     

The Symbolic Process of Recidivist and Non-Recidivist Children as Assessed by the Kahn Test of Symbol Arrangement

A detailed evaluation of deprived children on symbolic performance and specific levels of adjustment using the Kahn Test of Symbol Arrangement (KTSA) was undertaken. Thirty long-term (Recidivist) and 30 short-term (Non-Recidivist) hospitalized children between 13 and 16 years of age were randomly chosen from a hospital population and compared using the weighted sum of scores of the KTSA. Generally, the findings indicate that children of the Non-Recidivist group possessed significantly greater total weighted symbolization scores than those of the Recidivist group. Of the nine subhypotheses pertaining to specific levels of adjustment, using the symbolization subcategories of the KTSA, Recidivists differed significantly from Non-Recidivists in seven. These results suggest that length of immobilization of children in a hospital setting has a distinct negative effect on symbolization performance, particular perceptual and conceptual processes, and response style.     

“Turning a blind eye” on sexual abuse,boundary violations and therapeutic practice

This article explores the themes related to ‘turning a blind eye’. This is first discussed in terms of the marvellous benefits of turning a blind eye and not seeing; this is followed with a discussion about the dangers of seeing and encountering the erotic. History and myth are referenced. Sex is special: the most powerful of all sensual experiences and therefore brings with it the power to transform or distort the mind. The link is made between pivotal developments in psychoanalysis and blindness to erotic manifestations in both patients and therapists. There follows a detailed discussion of the correspondence between Jung and Freud concerning the former’s severe boundary violations with Sabina Spielrein. From there, I discuss later developments within psychoanalysis which continues the theme of ‘turning a blind eye’. I bring this theme up to date with a clinical example of my own illustrating a multiple reluctance to see sexual abuse. The discussion concludes with thoughts about seeing and not seeing erotic material and/or sexual abuse prompted by the grave of Jimmy Savile. I conclude this article with some additional ideas stimulated by the discussion following my original lecture.     

Selection Practices in Canadian Firms: An empirical investigation

Using 7 years of data from Statistics Canada's Workplace and Employee Survey, this study examined the types of selection tools used with 23,639 employees in 6,693 Canadian firms. While 79% of these employees were given an interview during the selection process, only 10% were given a test on job‐related knowledge and 9% were given a personality test. Using logit analysis, job‐ and organization‐level variables were examined as predictors of the type of selection tools used. The size of the organization, an in‐house human resource department, the presence of a union and occupation were significant predictors of the use of a test on job‐related knowledge in the selection process. The implications and plausible explanations of this theory to practice gap are discussed.     

Schools and the twenty-first century labour market: perspectives on structural change

ABSTRACT

The focus of this article is the youth labour market and how changes within it have (negatively) affected the economic prospects of young Britons. It suggests ways in which schools and colleges can respond to such change in order to optimise the life chances of their students. The paper reviews the perspectives of two important groups of people well-placed to offer informed views to educationalists: policy commentators close to the political and academic debates surrounding youth employment; and, HR professionals with first-hand experience of recruitment. Synthesising perspectives, the paper highlights three key changes demanding attention: the growing complexity of the labour market; increased competition for entry level employment; and, the changing requirements of employers who increasingly seek new employees well placed to be personally effective in applying knowledge and skills in changing situations. The paper concludes by offering a framework for structuring school provision to optimise the school to work transitions of young people.