Freud's 'problem': COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE & PSYCHOANALYSIS WORKING TOGETHER ON MEMORY

The first part of this paper discusses the development of Freud's views on memory from the time of the Project up to the formulation of the second topography. Freud's attempts to match his psychological views with an organic model were necessarily inconclusive, but in the process many innovative ideas about memory can be seen to resonate with recent developments in cognitive neuroscience. A brief discussion of perceptual identity, internal perception and Freud's affect theory introduce the central theoretical idea in the second half of the paper, namely that Identification can be seen as a form of memory. Modern memory theory is linked with the superego, following which the author proposes that internal objects might be renamed 'memory-objects' and that these can be understood in terms of the distinction made in cognitive neuroscience between implicit and explicit memory and between different parts of the brain, in particular the amygdala, the basal ganglia and the hippocampus. Klein's 'memory in feeling' and the views of Fairbairn and Ogden in relation to the dynamic nature of internal objects are briefly discussed. The paper ends with a few comments on the aberrations of memory and some implications of the implicit memory-object system.     

Euthanasia,the terminal patient,and the physician's role

A random sample of Cleveland clergy was asked to assess 1) the terminal patient's views on death, 2) the desires of some terminally ill patients to find an easy and dignified death, and 3) the role the physician ought to play in treating terminal patients. Protestant clergy more than their Catholic counterparts are substantially in favor of 1) disclosure of terminal illness, 2) allowing an easy death for the terminal patient at his request, and 3) facilitating the role of the physicians in cases of terminal illness. Fundamentalist Protestants are less approving than liberal Protestants. Clerics who saw their role extend beyond man's spiritual need approve of the physician's disclosure of terminal illness and his cooperation with patients who request with-holding or terminating medical treatment.This work was supported by the office of Research Development at Bowling Green State University and the College of Arts and Sciences.     

Collegiate year of eligibility, sex, and sports achievement motivation

The relations among year of eligibility, sex, and achievement motivation were investigated with 88 athletes representing three levels of collegiate eligibility (Year 1, Year 2/3, and Year 4) by sex. Participants were given Achievement Motivation subscales for Sporting Environments (approach-success practice, approach-success competition, failure-avoidance practice, failure-avoidance competition). A 3 x 2 analysis of variance showed significant main effects for year of eligibility and sex, and an interaction for age x sex for the failure-avoidance competition scores. Mean approach-success and failure-avoidance practice scores were not significantly different. Fear of failure may be less for male athletes in Year 4 of eligibility.     

The Relationship Between Dysfunctional Interpersonal Tendencies, Derailment Potential Behavior, and Turnover

Managerial derailment, which includes failure in the form organizational exit, poses costly consequences for organizations. We investigated the relationship between dysfunctional interpersonal tendencies, derailment potential behaviors, and actual managerial derailment in the form of voluntary and involuntary turnover. Data were from an archival database of high-level managers working for a global retail organization, including self-report interpersonal tendencies, 360-degree feedback data, and personnel history (N?=?1,796). Managers who exhibit the dysfunctional interpersonal tendencies associated with ??moving against people?? were more likely to enact derailment potential behaviors. As a result, these managers were more likely to be fired or quit. This study advances our understanding of the managerial derailment process by providing evidence of the positive relationship between derailment potential behaviors and both voluntary and involuntary turnover as well as the potential for ??moving against?? people to result in derailment. Our results may help to inform the selection, promotion, and training strategies employed by practitioners and potentially reduce the costs associated with losing high-potential executives. This is one of the first studies to provide evidence of the relationship between derailment potential behaviors and turnover, and in a rarely obtained sample of high-level managers. Additionally, derailment potential ratings were collected before managers?? exit from the organization, thus helping to overcome retrospective bias evident in prior studies; managers who ultimately derail were perceived as having exhibited behaviors consistent with the potential to derail before organizational exit.     

Cohen’s Conservatism and Human Enhancement

In an intriguing essay, G. A. Cohen has defended a conservative bias in favour of existing value. In this paper, we consider whether Cohen’s conservatism raises a new challenge to the use of human enhancement technologies. We develop some of Cohen’s suggestive remarks into a new line of argument against human enhancement that, we believe, is in several ways superior to existing objections. However, we shall argue that on closer inspection, Cohen’s conservatism fails to offer grounds for a strong sweeping objection to enhancement, and may even offer positive support for forms of enhancement that preserve valuable features of human beings. Nevertheless, we concede that Cohen’s arguments may suggest some plausible and important constraints on the modality of legitimate and desirable enhancements.     

Is anxiety about health associated with desire to exercise, physical activity, and exercise dependence?

There are significant gaps in the literature regarding the behavioural consequences of health anxiety. Although past research indicates that health anxiety is associated with distinctive maladaptive behaviours, such as reassurance seeking, the relationship between health anxiety and wellness-related behaviours, such as physical activity, has not been adequately examined. Given that health anxiety is associated with excessive attempts to ensure health and avoid illness, health anxiety could be potentially related to extreme physical activity, known as exercise dependence. Using the cognitive behavioural model of health anxiety as a framework, this exploratory study investigated the relationships between health anxiety, exercise desire, physical activity, and exercise dependence.Undergraduate university students (n = 144) completed a battery of online measures. Results indicated that only the perceptual component of health anxiety, namely hypervigilance to somatic symptoms, was related to exercise desire and components of exercise dependence. Implications of the findings are discussed and future research avenues are explored.     

The construction of counselling psychology in Britain: A discourse analysis of counselling psychology texts

Counselling psychology is a relatively recent arrival on the professional psychological scene in Britain. This paper examines the ways in which this new branch of professional psychology has been constructed by the counselling psychology community. Articles which embodied this construction process from the 1990 and 1996 volumes of the journal Counselling Psychology Review were subjected to discourse analysis. The main themes of the 1990 articles concerned the construction of identity and legitimation, achieved largely through representations of similarity with and difference from related professions at a general level, whereas in the 1996 articles, the emphasis was on more fine-grained constructions of similarity and difference. Implications for the future construction of counselling psychology are considered.