Crossing the Threshold: First Impressions in Psychoanalysis and Negotiation

This paper explores the role that first impressions play in two different relational contexts: psychodynamic treatment and negotiation. Although the goals of therapy and negotiation are very different, both endeavors rest on the capacity of the participants to engage in a process of constructive dialogue, and to get things done via a relationship. We argue for the utility of an interdisciplinary conversation between psychoanalysis and negotiation, and specifically suggest that exploring these similarities and differences about first steps in building a working relationship may be instructive for practitioners in both professions.     

Focal retrograde amnesia and the episodic-semantic distinction

This article reports a review of focal retrograde amnesia (FRA), or the phenomenon of organically based severe memory loss restricted to retrograde, or pretraumatic, memory. Cases of FRA are classified according to the type of memory loss: episodic, semantic, or both. A few different clusters of the disorder were identified. Lesions to either the anterior temporal lobes or the posterior/visual cortex can result in an FRA that devastates retrograde episodic memory, while having smaller effects on semantic memory. A number of left-hemisphere patients have FRA confined to semantic memory. There are several additional examples of FRA following minor cerebral trauma that disrupts either episodic memory alone or both episodic and semantic memory that are not accompanied by evidence of structural brain lesions. We discuss these different profiles of FRA and their implications for the understanding of memory retrieval.     

Infants’ scanning of dynamic faces during the first year

This research investigated infants’ scanning of a talking, socially engaging face. Three- to four-month-olds looked equally at the mouth and eyes whereas 9-month-olds attended more to the eyes than mouth. These findings shed light on information infants’ seek from dynamic face stimuli.     

The erosion of CVD diamond by diamond particles

This paper describes the damage features generated by the high-velocity impact of diamond particles on diamond produced by chemical vapour deposition (CVD). Two types of diamond grit - angular and cubo-octahedral - were used to impact the surface of the diamond target at a mean impact velocity of 268?m?s^?1. The main damage features were elastic-plastic radial and lateral cracks. Distorted Hertzian ring cracks were also seen on samples impacted with cubo-octahedral diamond grit. This indicates that, in contrast to previous experiments by the authors using silica sand erodent, Hertzian damage can be generated at this velocity when the mechanical properties of the erodent and target are comparable. Fragmentation of the diamond grit occurred on impact; however, the extent of the degradation was much reduced compared with the silica sand erodent.     

Greed 1

Abstract

This paper discusses the supervisor's responsibility in addressing the vulnerability or wounds of the therapist. Supervisors have much to keep in mind as they conduct their work, not least the client for whose benefit supervision is deemed to be an essential aspect of good practice. Their responsibility towards the client often entails careful exploration of the experience of the counsellor, both through their counter-transferential response to the client and their own personal circumstances. The extent to which the supervisor has a mandate to discuss the psychological well-being, personal difficulties, or organizational conflicts of their supervisee depends on both contractual agreements and the working alliance. The need to recognize counter-transference responses is generic but when they highlight the internal conflicts of the counsellor, the supervisor must decide how far they can or should pursue the unravelling of such conflicts. Therapist difficulties (Schroder & Davis, 2004 Schröder, T. and Davis, J. 2004. Therapists' experience of difficulty in practice. Psychotherapy Research, 14: 328–345. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) provide a framework for understanding ways in which therapeutic practice is affected by the emotional response of the therapist.     

Malice through the looking glass: Reflections and refractions of envy,greed & jealousy

A great deal of time, effort and money is involved in the training of counsellors; hence it is most important that the selection process discriminates between those candidates who are likely to achieve the standard required at the end of the training and those who are not. This paper discusses some of the issues pertinent to the selection of candidates for training as counsellors. It considers the question of whether counsellors are born or made, in other words whether anyone can be a good counsellor given the right training or whether they have to be suitable before they start. The paper uses Kohutian concepts to address issues of narcissism, as well as considering equal opportunities and personal development.     

Models,Models, and Models

Michael Dummett famously maintained that analytic philosophy was simply philosophy that followed Frege in treating the philosophy of language as the basis for all other philosophy (1978, 441). But one important insight to emerge from computer science is how difficult it is to animate the linguistic artifacts that the analysis of thought produces. Yet, modeling the effects of thought requires a new skill that goes beyond analysis: procedural literacy. Some of the most promising research in philosophy makes use of a variety of modeling techniques that go beyond basic logic and elementary probability theory. What unifies this approach is a focus on what Alan Perlis called procedural literacy. This essay argues that the future spoils in philosophical research will disproportionally go to those who are procedurally literate.     

Facial memory deficits in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

Prenatal exposure to alcohol may lead to a range of neurobehavioral effects, including impaired learning and memory. Although children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) exhibit both verbal and nonverbal memory impairments, their memory for faces has not been as thoroughly investigated and the extent literature provides inconsistent results. The aim of the current study was to determine whether difficulties in face memory exist in children with FASD and whether the difficulties are mediated by task demands. To address this, we used two measures of immediate and delayed facial recognition memory, the Children's Memory Scale (CMS) and Test of Memory and Learning (TOMAL). Compared to typically developing controls, children with FASD showed memory deficits on all tests and were more likely to perform in a clinically significant range. As well, children performed more poorly on the CMS compared to TOMAL, a finding consistent with the greater difficulty of the CMS task. Our results are consistent with our hypothesis that children with FASD show impairment in facial memory, particularly on demanding memory tasks.     

On the persuadability of memory: Is changing people's memories no more than changing their minds?

The observation of parallels between the memory distortion and persuasion literatures leads, quite logically, to the appealing notion that people can be ‘persuaded’ to change their memories. Indeed, numerous studies show that memory can be influenced and distorted by a variety of persuasive tactics, and the theoretical accounts commonly used by researchers to explain episodic and autobiographical memory distortion phenomena can generally predict and explain these persuasion effects. Yet, despite these empirical and theoretical overlaps, explicit reference to persuasion and attitude‐change research in the memory distortion literature is surprisingly rare. In this paper, we argue that stronger theoretical foundations are needed to draw the memory distortion and persuasion literatures together in a productive direction. We reason that theoretical approaches to remembering that distinguish (false) beliefs in the occurrence of events from (false) memories of those events – compatible with a source monitoring approach – would be beneficial to this end. Such approaches, we argue, would provide a stronger platform to use persuasion findings to enhance the psychological understanding of memory distortion.