Transference across gender lines

Four clinical examples of oedipal-based transference across gender lines are presented with the aim of illustrating (1) its existence, (2) the defenses against its emergence, and (3) the use of the analyst's gender as both an organizer of and resistance to certain transference manifestations. Factors that contribute to the availability for analysis of cross-gender transference are discussed, as are the resistances and other obstacles to its actualization.     

Psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic science, and psychoanalytic research--1986

The present standing of psychoanalysis as a science and the vitality of psychoanalytic research effort are reviewed. The two are interdependent, since the possibilities for empirical research rest on the necessary assumption that psychoanalysis is indeed enough a science to be susceptible to knowledge advance by the (research) methods of science. Concerning our status as a science, I review attacks on our scientific credentials (both from within our ranks and without) by the logical positivists, by the hermeneuticists (a rubric comprising a variety of hermeneutic, phenomenological, exclusively subjectivistic, and/or linguistically based conceptualizations of our field), and the most recent by the philosopher of science, Adolf Grünbaum. I try to demonstrate what I feel to be the failure of each of these assaults, and why I feel there is no reason to see psychoanalysis as anything other than a scientific psychology and, therefore, in theory amenable to empirical research approaches. I then review the history and the current status of these systematic research efforts in psychoanalysis, and the reasons why these have been far less in scope and in accomplishment than has been possible or than has been needed. Here I have focused especially on research involving technique and our theory of change and cure--i.e., research on the analytic process; on what changes take place (outcome) and how those changes come about or are brought about (process).     

Drinking practices among black and white alcoholics and alcoholics of different personality types

In order to examine the effects that race and personality type have on self-reported drinking practices, samples of 49 White and 49 Black male alcoholics were matched on age and education, and classified into two personality types according to MMPI scores. The results of multivariate and univariate analyses of variance yielded significant main effects. White alcoholics reported a greater: (a) use of alcohol for symptomatic relief of psychological distress, (b) loss of motor control and tendency to engage in destructive acts, and (c) daily consumption of beverage alcohol than Black alcoholics. Alcoholics with psychiatric-appearing MMPI profiles reported greater: (a) social benefits of alcohol use, (b) alcohol use for symptomatic relief of psychological distress, and (c) perceptual distortions associated with alcohol withdrawal than alcoholics with characterlogical-appearing MMPIs. Results were discussed in terms of need to control confounding effects of biosocial variables in cross-cultural research and implications that these effects may have on the generalizability of alcoholic personality typologies.     

Validity of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory in the assessment of affective disorders

The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) was administered to 270 adult outpatients with major affective disorders at the same time that a semistructured, diagnostic interview was conducted by a clinician. The mood of the patient was then rated, and the clinician completed the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and the Mania Rating Scale. A consensual diagnosis was arrived at by the team of investigators using DSM-III criteria. Significant correlations were found between four MCMI affective scales and the global mood state of the patient. Analysis of covariance indicated that the MCMI affective scales are significantly related to DSM-III affective disorders even after the effect of the current mood of the patient is partialled out. The clinical usefulness of each of the scales is discussed.     

A comparison of two measures of egocentrism

This study examined the relationship between two prominent measures of egocentrism, Enright's Adolescent Egocentrism Scale (AES) and Elkind's Imaginary Audience Scale (IAS), in a sample of 458 adolescents, between 10 and 15 years old. Both correlational and factor analyses indicated that the two measures assess distinctly different phenomena. As predicted, IAS scores were correlated with self-reported levels of shyness, nervousness, and social skills. These results provide partial evidence for the validity of the IAS as a measure of self-consciousness, though not necessarily egocentrism per se. The validity of the AES was not examined.     

The sociobiology of bereavement: a reply to Littlefield and Rushton

This article offers a critique of Littlefield and Rushton's (1986) application of sociobiological principles to bereavement following the death of a child. The following general issues are considered: (a) whether behavior is always adaptive and (b) the distinction between proximate and ultimate explanations. It is argued that grief is a maladaptive by-product of another, adaptive feature and that hypotheses about the severity of grief are best derived from proximate considerations rather than genetic relatedness. The use of a single-item rating scale to measure grief is questioned, and it is noted that interspouse reliabilities reported in the article were low, a problem not solved (as claimed) by aggregation. Criticisms are made of the specific hypotheses, notably in terms of their origins in sociobiological theory. It is argued that functional hypotheses are not alternatives to proximate mechanisms, but enable some proximate mechanisms to be viewed from the perspective of evolutionary biology.     

The role of visual information in control of a constrained locomotor task

The nature of visually guided locomotion was examined in an experiment where subjects had to walk to targets under various conditions. Target distance was manipulated so that subjects had to (a) lengthen their paces in order to hit the target; (b) shorten their paces; (c) make no adjustments to their standard pace length at all. They did this under four visual conditions: (a) normal vision; (b) with vision restricted to a "snapshot" each time the foot that was to be placed on the target was on the ground; (c) with a snapshot each time the foot to be placed was in the swing phase; and (d) no vision after departure fro the target. The results show that the subjects succeed in reaching the target in most cases. However, the smoothness and fluidity of their movements vary significantly between conditions. Under normal vision or where visual snapshots are delivered when the pointing foot is on the ground, locomotion is smoothly regulated as the subjects approach the target. where snapshots are delivered when the pointing foot is in the swing phase, regulation becomes clumsy and ill coordinated. Where no vision is available at all during the approach, adjustments are made, but these are least coordinated of all. The results show that well-coordinated visual regulation does not require continuous visual guidance but depends on intermittent information being available at the appropriate times in the action sequence. Such timing is often more important than the total amount of information that is available for guidance.     

Specific forms of facial EMG response index emotions during an interview: from Darwin to the continuous flow hypothesis affect-laden information processing

Previous research has demonstrated that mild negative emotional imagery and unpleasant sensory stimuli lead to greater electromyographic activity over the brow muscle region than mild positive imagery and stimuli, even in the absence of significant changes in visceral and general facial EMG activity. Previous research has not addressed whether electromyographic responses over the brow region are a sensitive and specific index of emotions, however, since a multiplicity of events lead to changes in brow activity. In this research, facial electromyographic and audiovisual recordings were obtained while individuals were interviewed about themselves. Afterwards, individuals were asked to describe what they had been thinking of during specific segments of the interview marked by distinctive electromyographic responses over the brow region in the context of ongoing but stable levels of activity elsewhere in the face. The results are interpreted in terms of a continuous flow hypothesis of affect-laden information processing.     

Social contagion of binge eating

A social psychological account of the acquisition of binge eating, analogous to the classic social psychological work, "Social Pressures in Informal Groups" (Festinger, Schachter, & Back, 1950), is suggested and tested in two college sororities. In these sororities, clear evidence of group norms about appropriate binge-eating behavior was found; in one sorority, the more one binged, the more popular one was. In the other, popularity was associated with binging the right amount: Those who binged too much or too little were less popular than those who binged at the mean. Evidence of social pressures to binge eat were found as well. By the end of the academic year, a sorority member's binge eating could be predicted from the binge-eating level of her friends (average r = .31). As friendship groups grew more cohesive, a sorority member's binge eating grew more and more like that of her friends (average r = .35). The parsimony of a social psychological account of the acquisition of binge eating behavior is shown. I argue that there is no great mystery to how bulimia has become such a serious problem for today's women. Binge eating seems to be an acquired pattern of behavior, perhaps through modeling, and appears to be learned much like any other set of behaviors. Like other behaviors, it is under substantial social control.