The Predictive Power of Horney’s Psychoanalytic Approach: An Empirical Study

This study investigated the construct validity of a measure of Karen Horneys (1945) psychoanalytic theory that postulated three neurotic trends: compliant, aggressive, and detached. Her theory was operationalized by the Horney-Coolidge Type Indicator (HCTI). One hundred seventy-two adults completed the HCTI and the short form of the Coolidge Axis II Inventory, a measure of the three DSM-IV personality disorder clusters. Multiple regression and canonical correlation analyses revealed significant and differential patterns of the three HCTI dimensions with the three clusters. Because Paris (1994) has noted that Horneys neurotic trends may today be conceived of as personality disorders, one implication of the present findings is that Horneys dynamic theory can be valid and useful in the general understanding of personality disorders from a cluster perspective.     

Intellectual similarity of virtual twin pairs: Developmental trends

Virtual twins (VTs) are same-age unrelated siblings reared together from infancy who replicate twinship, but without the genetic relatedness. A 2005 report from the ongoing Fullerton Virtual Twin Study found an IQ intraclass correlation of .26 (p < .01, n = 113 pairs) and a within-pair difference of 13.22 IQ points. The average age of VTs in that study was 8.10 years (SD = 8.56, range: 4.01-54.84 years). An opportunity to retest members of 43 VT pairs, 1.70-8.96 years after their time 1 assessment, allowed additional analyses of genetic and environmental influences underlying general intellectual development. A decrease in the VT IQ correlation and an increase in the within-pair difference were indicated, consistent with increasing genetic and/or non-shared environmental influences and decreasing shared environmental influence on general intellectual development throughout childhood.     

“Compliance” to “Concordance”: A Critical View

Advocates of “concordance” describe it as a new model of shared decision-making between physicians and patients based on a partnership of equals. “Concordance” is meant to make obsolete the notion of “compliance,” in which patients are seen as, ideally, following doctors’ orders. This essay offers a critical view of concordance, arguing that the literature itself on concordance, including materials at the web site of Medicines Partnership, the implementation arm in Great Britain of the concordance model, is full of contradiction; concordance, in fact, harbors an ideology of compliance. The essay suggests that an improvement in patient medication use will more likely come from a frank consideration of the relation of compliance issues and commercial ones, and that a key question across domains is, “how are patients/health agents/consumers persuaded to acquire certain drugs and take them as directed?”     

What Virtual Twins Reveal About General Intelligence and Other Behaviors

The Fullerton Virtual Twin Study has been assessing the behaviors of an unusual sibship since 1982. Virtual twins (VTs) are same-age, unrelated siblings reared together since infancy. They replicate the rearing situation of twins but without the genetic link, enabling direct assessment of shared environmental effects on behavior. An updated analysis of IQ data, based on an increased sample of 142 VT pairs (7.87 years, SD=8.22), is presented. Intraclass correlations of .28 (IQ) and .11 (subtest profile) indicated modest shared environmental influences on intelligence. Findings from the Twins, Adoptees, Peers and Siblings (TAPS) project that studies virtual twins and other kinships are described.     

Perceptions of virtual reality among therapists who do not apply this technology in clinical practice

Research has documented the usefulness of virtual reality (VR) in treating a number of psychopathologies. Despite its recognized clinical utility, VR remains underutilized in clinical practice. For the purpose of this study, 262 therapists who reported that they did not currently use VR in psychotherapy were surveyed about their perceptions of the use of this technology in clinical practice. Results suggest that reluctance in using this technology stems from beliefs about the required training, equipment, and financial costs and from unfamiliarity with the various benefits and applications of VR. The significance of promoting greater use of this new technology is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Understanding myth: A response to Bryan Rennie

Bringing together a decade of research on religion in prisons, hospitals, universities and, more recently, at the Millennium Dome in 2000, in this paper I look at some of the ways in which sacred spaces in public institutions have changed over time, particularly in terms of how they are produced, designated, and used. The substance of these transformations can be encapsulated in the phrase ‘from Chapel to Prayer Room. Behind the various changes that I outline, I am particularly concerned to explore how the changes in the way sacred space is used contributes to new political struggles, particularly when it comes to issues of ownership, appropriation, and design. I also explore the particular contests that lie behind the separate provision of religious spaces for Muslims.     

Book reviews

The Story of Gotama Buddha (Jatakanidana) translated by N. A. Jayawickrama, Oxford, Pali Text Society, 1990, xvi, 141 pp. ISBN 0 860 293 5, £4.95.

Dan Cohn‐Sherbok, Issues in Contemporary Judaism. London, Macmillan Academic & Professional, 1991. ISBN 0 333 535 37.

Raymond L. Weiss, Maimonides’ Ethics— The Encounter of Philosophic and Religious Morality. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1991. ISBN 0 226 8915 26.

Peter Harrison, ’Religion’ and the Religions in the English Enlightenment. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1990, 277 pp. ISBN 0 521 38530 X, £35 (U.K.).

Michael Dames, Mythic Ireland. London, Thames and Hudson, 1992, 272 pp. ISBN 0 500 01530 9, £14.95 (hardback).

Stephen and Robin Larsen. A Fire in the Mind: The Life of Joseph Campbell. New York, Doubleday, 1991, 636 pp. ISBN 0 385 26635 9. $30.00 U.S.