Social perspective taking and use of discounting in children's perceptions of others' helping behavior

The authors investigated the relationship between children's ability to take the social perspective of another and their use of the causal attribution principle known as discounting in assessing others' kindness in helping. The participants (N = 153), 7 to 16 years old, were interviewed in a township bordering Johannesburg. Each participant was administered 2 perspective-taking tasks and a series of vignettes, based on prosocial versus self-interested motives, assessing perceptions of kindness in helping. A significant relationship was established at p < .01 between social perspective-taking ability and use of discounting, such that participants at higher perspective-taking levels judged helpful behavior as significantly less kind than did their peers when the behavior was motivated by self-interest. This finding is interpreted in terms of literature suggesting that advances in perspective taking facilitate the recognition of the manipulative function of externally offered incentives. Observations are made regarding the cross-cultural investigation of these variables.     

Assessing the Child's Cognitive Home Environment Through Parental Report; Reliability and Validity

In a series of investigations with poor minority families, we examined the reliability and validity of the StimQ, an office-based interview of children's cognitive home environment. Researchers and practitioners alike recognize the importance of assessing meaningful dimensions of children's early experiences, particularly in families where children may be at risk for later cognitive delay. To date, methodological approaches to the study of parenting have most often relied on home visits and/or labour-intensive observations and coding. Our findings suggest that valid and reliable data about the cognitive environments of poor children can be obtained through maternal report, thereby offering applied scientists a useful alternative to assessing children's early experiences. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parallel process and projective identification in psychoanalytic supervision

In the present paper I explore the notion of the parallel process, a controversial concept in psychoanalytic supervision. I suggest that the parallel process is essentially the operation of the defensive process of projective identification, which in some quarters is similarly viewed with skepticism and/or is mistakenly seen as primarily a malignant defense operating exclusively in severe character pathology (Kernberg, 1975; Mendelsohn, 2009). Further, I present several vignettes of psychoanalytic supervision where a series of parallel processes occurred, and I suggest that these parallel enactments are the result of the projective identifications which stimulated them. I agree with critical writers who say that simply suggesting the presence of a parallel process in the supervision adds no new information to the supervision, but I show how an exploration of the parallel enactments, which includes (1) exploring the patient-therapist dyadic dynamics, (2) a narrowly focused exploration of the dynamics of the therapist/presenter, and (3) and an exploration of the dynamics of the therapist-supervisor dyad, can enrich the treatment, as well as the supervision. Finally I suggest that while the projective identification that occurs in the supervisory dyad does not always lead to a parallel process, every parallel process is the result of projective identification(s). I further suggest that while every parallel process does not lead to an enactment via projective identification, enactments can only occur via the parallel process instigated by projective identification.     

Do Verbal Interactions with Infants During Electronic Media Exposure Mitigate Adverse Impacts on their Language Development as Toddlers?

The goal of this study was to determine whether verbal interactions between mothers and their 6-month-old infants during media exposure ('media verbal interactions') might have direct positive impacts, or mitigate any potential adverse impacts of media exposure, on language development at 14 months. For 253 low-income mother-infant dyads participating in a longitudinal study, media exposure and media verbal interactions were assessed using 24-hour recall diaries. Additionally, general level of cognitive stimulation in the home [StimQ] was assessed at 6 months and language development [Preschool Language Scale-4] was assessed at 14 months. Results suggest that media verbal interactions play a role in the language development of infants from low-income, immigrant families. Evidence showed that media verbal interactions moderated adverse impacts of media exposure found on 14-month language development, with adverse associations found only in the absence the these interactions. Findings also suggest that media verbal interactions may have some direct positive impacts on language development, in that media verbal interactions during the co-viewing of media with educational content (but not other content) were predictive of 14-month language independently of overall level of cognitive stimulation in the home.     

The peer supervisory group for psychoanalytic therapists

The recent interest in peer supervisory groups for psychoanalytic therapists raises important questions regarding both psychoanalytic training and group process. The present paper explores these issues and suggests that there exists a continuum from case-centered peer supervisory groups to process-centered peer supervisory groups. Transference and countertransference and the recognition of parallel processes in psychotherapy supervision are examined in their relation to the supervisory group experience. The authors suggest that the model a therapist employs regarding the role of countertransference will most likely influence the kind of peer supervisory group that s/he will choose. Further, there are specific techniques, as well as experiences, which may foster alteration of the group's psychic organization. Illustrative case examples are provided throughout.