Ramakrishna: Mystical, Erotic, or Both?

The lengthy psychoanalytic discourse on Ramakrishna is traced from Romain Rolland's dialogue with Freud on the spiritual to later uses of applied psychoanalysis by Sudhir Kakar, Jeffrey Masson, and Jeffrey Kripal. Basic problems in applying psychoanalysis to great spiritual figures such as Ramakrishna are illustrated through an analysis of Kripal's Kali's Child. Newer approaches to deal more adequately with the spiritual self and psychopathology are cited.     

Do Scholarships Help?

Some 897 successful and unsuccessful applicants for support from the Citizens Scholarship Foundation of America were surveyed. Responses from 515 applicants suggest that these relatively small awards do not change the educational plans of the recipients. Students most frequently report that such awards diminish the financial burden placed on student and family; post-secondary educational choices usually are unchanged by the availability or absence of small scholarships. Even if the scholarships were larger, it appears that the effect would be similar. Fewer than one-third of the students report that a larger scholarship would cause a significant change in post-secondary education.     

Temporal dynamics of need satisfaction and need frustration. Two sides of the same coin?

We study the dynamics of need satisfaction and need frustration by examining how need satisfaction and need frustration change over time and how these changes relate to changes in motivation. To investigate this, volunteers were assessed daily during a delineated activity, resulting in a total sample of 77 volunteers and 467 completed daily diaries. Bayesian confirmatory factor analysis on the within-person level confirmed a bifactor solution: autonomy, competence, and relatedness were distinguished by three specific factors, but the majority of variance was explained by two strongly correlated (need satisfaction and need frustration) factors. The strong correlation between need satisfaction and need frustration further translated in the development of their relationship over time. That is, Bayesian latent growth curve modelling revealed a simultaneous, yet opposite, growth curve. Contrary to our expectations, neither of them could be related to behavioural internalization or externalization. These results imply that, at the within-person level, momentary need satisfaction and frustration are difficult to distinguish, and affecting one may automatically affect the other. Also, the relationships within the self-determination framework, such as the proposed link between need satisfaction and behavioural internalization may be better reframed with attention to the time-frame in which they occur.     

Initial validation of self-reported trajectories in military veterans

Previous research suggests that functioning after potentially traumatic events tends to follow discrete trajectories. This research is limited in that longitudinal data can be difficult to collect. The aim of the current study was to examine self-reported trajectories in military veterans using an online survey. Consistent with longitudinal work, those who reported chronic distress reported higher symptoms of PTSD and Depression, higher negative affect, lower social support, and less satisfaction with life than those on a resilient trajectory. Two change trajectories demonstrated intermediate scores on relevant measures. These results provide support for a retrospective method to assess trajectories of posttrauma functioning.     

ASSESSING WOMEN'S FEMINIST IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT Studies of Convergent, Discriminant, and Structural Validity

Researchers have called for increasing sophistication in the assessment of women's feminist identity development (Enns & Hackett, 1990; Hackett, Enns, & Zetzer, 1992) to understand important psychological processes. This series of studies examined recent efforts to operationalize Downing and Roush's (1985) model of feminist identity development. Specifically, the psychometric properties of two existing measures—the Feminist Identity Development Scale (Bargad & Hyde, 1991) and the Feminist Identity Scale (Rickard, 1987)—were examined in two studies with separate samples of women (total N = 486). Results of Study 1 indicated the strengths and significant limitations associated with each scale (e.g., low internal consistency for some subscales, item-subscale inconsistency). A composite measure (derived from these scales) with better overall psychometric properties is described. In Study 2, we found good support for the composite instrument's internal consistency, as well as convergent, discriminant, and factorial validity in a sample that included a wide age range and nonstudent community residents.