MAX EITINGON'S RISE AND DECLINE: THE BERLIN YEARS

Max Eitingon's main achievement was the foundation of the Berlin psychoanalytic Poliklinik that served both as an outpatient center and a training institute. Another area of his responsibility was the Verlag, the International Psychoanalytic Press. By 1926, he occupied several leading positions, including presidency of the International Psychoanalytical Association and editorship of the major psychoanalytic journal of the time. The basis of his power was his personal relationship with Freud, as well as his monetary wealth, which he put into the service of the Freudian cause. By 1932, he had suffered an overall setback, however, with the Berlin Institute losing its best teachers, the Verlag barely escaping bankruptcy, and the journal's editorship returning to Vienna.     

Touch attitudes in cross‐sex friendships: We're just friends

Results from this survey indicated that within heterosexual cross‐sex friendships, perceptions of friendship intimacy for females were more strongly tied to their positive attitudes toward: enacting and receiving more touch, enacting and receiving more safe haven (e.g., caretaking) touch, and perceiving touch as more sexually arousing, when compared to males. Females were more motivated not to touch their cross‐sex friends in public regardless of intimacy perceptions and did not positively perceive safe haven touch if they did not have a romantic partner. It is argued that males' and females' attitudes toward touch in cross‐sex friendships diverge due to evolved differences related to parental investment and the manner in which they are socialized to perceive their roles in cross‐sex friendships.     

LAUNCHING A CAREER IN PSYCHOLOGY WITH ACHIEVEMENT AND ARROGANCE: JAMES McKEEN CATTELL AT THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, 1882–1883

The scientific career of eminent experimentalist and psychological tester James McKeen Cattell (1860–1944) began at the Johns Hopkins University during the year (1882–1883) he held the university's Fellowship in Philosophy. This article opens by sketching the scope of Cattell's lifetime achievement and then briefly reviews the historical attention that his life and career has attracted during the past few decades. It then outlines the origins and evolution of Cattell's “scientific ideology,” traces the course of events that led to his fellowship, reviews his earliest studies at Johns Hopkins, and analyzes in some detail his initial laboratory successes. These laid the groundwork for his later distinguished work as a psychological experimentalist, both in Europe and America. It concludes, however, that even as Cattell's early experimental achievements impressed others, the personal arrogance he exhibited during his year in Baltimore served to alienate him from his colleagues and teachers. Over the long run, this arrogance and his often‐antagonistic approach to others continued to color (and even shape) his otherwise distinguished more than 50‐year scientific career.     

WORK ENGAGEMENT: A QUANTITATIVE REVIEW AND TEST OF ITS RELATIONS WITH TASK AND CONTEXTUAL PERFORMANCE

Many researchers have concerns about work engagement's distinction from other constructs and its theoretical merit. The goals of this study were to identify an agreed‐upon definition of engagement, to investigate its uniqueness, and to clarify its nomological network of constructs. Using a conceptual framework based on Macey and Schneider (2008; Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 1, 3–30), we found that engagement exhibits discriminant validity from, and criterion related validity over, job attitudes. We also found that engagement is related to several key antecedents and consequences. Finally, we used meta‐analytic path modeling to test the role of engagement as a mediator of the relation between distal antecedents and job performance, finding support for our conceptual framework. In sum, our results suggest that work engagement is a useful construct that deserves further attention.     

Indirect interception actions by blind and sighted perceivers: The role of modality and tau

Vernat, J.‐P. & Gordon, M.S. (2011). Indirect interception actions by blind and sighted perceivers: The role of modality and tau. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52, 83–92. Acoustic and visual interceptive actions were tested in this research by comparing the performance of blind, blind‐folded, and sighted individuals. An indirect interception method was employed in which the participant had to roll an intercepting ball towards a moving target on a perpendicular track. The interception task used conditions that varied the speed, rolling distance, and target size/intensity. While performance was highly consistent and accurate for visual participants in this research, the blind and blind‐folded participants demonstrated much more performance variability in response to changes in speed and distance. Manipulation of target size and intensity did not affect judgments, however performance tended to be more accurate at shorter distances and with faster target speeds. Results from this research are discussed in terms of their implications for tau in acoustic interception, and the use of spatial and temporal cues for guiding interceptive actions.     

The structure of self–other overlap and its relationship to perspective taking

Two studies tested whether “self–other overlap” is a multidimensional construct, with only some dimensions affected by perspective taking. In Study 1, participants (n = 132) completed several previously used measures of self–other overlap for their best friend and acquaintance. Factor analyses revealed 2 distinct dimensions of self–other overlap—perceived closeness and overlapping representations. Perceived closeness but not overlapping representations was generally associated with relationship quality. Study 2 (n = 118) manipulated perspective taking of a stranger. Results replicated a factor structure similar to Study 1, and found that perspective taking had different effects on the 2 dimensions of overlap. These results are discussed with regards to the debate over self–other overlap as a mediator of perspective taking's pro‐social effects.