Training Psychology Graduate Students to Prepare Psychological Affidavits for Political Asylum Seekers

ABSTRACT

The growing population of asylum seekers has created a political and social justice crisis in the United States. It is important that the psychological profession respond to this crisis. This paper describes a program that trains psychology graduate students to prepare psychological affidavits in support of the asylum seekers legal case. We describe how we began the program, its current structure, and the challenges and benefits of the program for both the instructors and the students. Our hope is that other mental health professionals will find our work helpful in setting up programs of their own.     

Dependence on Wrongdoing in the Consumption of Meat: A Kantian Analysis

Kant's ethics is used by some as a defence of the exploitation of animals and is criticised by others for not recognising any moral relevance of the plight of animals. These appeals overlook the broad applicability of Kant's principles. In this article, I argue that Kant's ethics implies a duty to abstain from most meat and some other animal products derived from farming. I argue that there is a Kantian principle not to choose goods that have been derived from wrongdoing, with certain qualifications. This principle isolates the wrong of using others to commit wrongdoing on one's behalf. As has been argued by others, Kant's ethics implies that animal farming as we know it in our society almost universally involves wrongdoing and the slaughter of animals is especially tied to wrongdoing. I argue for a broad sense in which these ideas together imply that choosing farmed meat, and probably other animal products, is treating animal industry workers as mere means. Thus, we have a Kantian duty to abstain from these products.     

Escaping the Dark Side of Curiosity

Curiosity as a clinical entity has been a neglected subject in the psychoanalytic literature. Freud never addressed the issue of curiosity systematically. His interest was in trying to account for children's sexual questioning. Nevertheless, hinderance to internal curiosity—this is to say, that which intimidates and abates the appetite for an exploration of one's motives—is part and parcel of psychoanalytic inquiry. And, arguably, there is no greater clinical challenge for the analyst than trying to treat an analysand who appears to lack an interest in the underlying causes of his unhappiness. The problem of impeded self-inquiry is usually exacerbated in people with more serious emotional disturbances. My position here is that in studying the conditions that mitigate against curiosity in a seriously disturbed patient, we gain access to an enlarged version of the curiosity problems of our less disturbed patients. Here I interpret my clinical impressions about problems with curiosity with ideas from the writings of Martin Buber and Albert Camus.     

Correlates and implications for agreeableness in children

This study is an examination of the relationship between agreeableness and other constructs related to children's social relationships. Third through 6th graders (N = 76; 46 boys, 30 girls) completed self-reports on agreeableness (based on the adult version of the NEO Personality Inventory Manual; Costa & McCrae, 1985), social skills (Social Skills Rating System for Children; Gresham & Elliot, 1991), empathy (Feshbach, 1990) and trust (Children's Trust Scale; Imber, 1973). Using multiple regression, agreeableness was predicted by social skills, empathy, and trust for girls. There were no significant predictors of agreeableness for boys. The discussion focuses on the mutability of childhood personality.     

The politics of certainty: Conceptions of science in an age of uncertainty

The prestige of science, derived from its claims to certainty, has adversely affected the humanities. There is, in fact, a "politics of certainty". Our ability to predict events in a limited sphere has been idealized, engendering dangerous illusions about our power to control nature and eliminate time. In addition, the perception and propagation of science as a bearer of certainty has served to legitimate harmful forms of social, sexual, and political power. Yet, as Ilya Prigogine has argued, renewed attention to the irreducible reality of time has brought us to "the end of certainty". As we enter the age of uncertainty, there is disagreement about how science should be understood and communicated. Some scientists cling to the ideal of certainty, while others emphasize the creative potential of spontaneity, novelty, and surprise.