Goal pursuit in young adulthood: The role of personality and motivation in goal appraisal trajectories across 6 years

The aim of this longitudinal study was to examine changes in the appraisals of personal goals during young adulthood, and to investigate personality and motivation as predictors of goal appraisals. Israeli young adults (N = 284, 46% female) were assessed four times during ages 23–29 and reported on their goal appraisals (goal investment, goal momentum and goal stress), personality (efficacy and self-criticism) and motivation (autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, amotivation). The results showed mean stability for goal investment and momentum, whereas goal stress declined. Efficacy predicted higher goal investment and momentum 6 years later, while self-criticism accounted for individual differences in goal stress. Autonomous motivation predicted higher goal investment and momentum, while amotivation related to higher goal stress.     

Composition and consistency of the desired affective state: The role of personality and motivation

Using longitudinal and experience sampling designs, the consistency and composition, and personality and motivational predictors, of the desired affective state are explored. Findings indicate that, while the desired affect is relatively malleable throughout one semester, it is relatively stable throughout 1 week. Personality and motivations/goals were related to the content of the desired affective state. Extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, and conscientiousness were related to the content of the desired affective state. In addition, higher-order goals predicted the content of the desired affective state. Our results suggest that the content of the desired affective state may be largely dependent on personality, motivation, and, potentially, an interaction between personality and motivation.     

Gendered pathways to romantic attachment in emerging adults: The role of body image and parental support

This study analyses the impact of body image and perceived parental behaviour (support and negativity) as factors that contribute to romantic attachment in emerging adulthood. In a 11-year longitudinal study on 144 females and 114 males, we assessed body image, body mass index, and perceived father's and mother's support and negativity during adolescence (at ages 14 and 17) and in emerging adulthood (age 21). At the age of 25, romantic attachment was assessed. Results of path analyses revealed that females' positive body image was consistently linked with greater parental support over time and contributed to low avoidance in romance at the age of 25, whereas perceived negativity with fathers mediated by body image contributed to more avoidance in females' later romantic relationships. In contrast, parental support and negativity during adolescence and young adulthood had no impact; only a positive body image resulted in males' low avoidance in later romantic attachment at the age of 25. The findings point to gendered socialization for males and females and highlight the importance of body image for an adaptive romantic outcome in emerging adulthood.     

Attentional modulation of a figural aftereffect.

Evidence is reported that indicates that adaptation of the Schroder staircase is affected by attention. In previous work it has been shown that if subjects adapt to an unambiguous staircase, responses to an ambiguous test figure are biased towards the opposing perspective. In the current work, subjects adapted to superimposed upright and inverted Schroder staircases. Both staircases were centered on a common fixation point and were of different sizes and colors. Attention to each staircase was controlled by asking subjects to detect color changes in the line segments that defined one or the other staircase. Responses to an ambiguous test figure depended on which of the adapting staircases was attended.     

Access to psychoanalytic ideas in American undergraduate institutions

To determine the prevalence of teaching about psychoanalytic ideas in the undergraduate curricula of 150 highly ranked colleges and universities, a software-based search was conducted to find references to psychoanalytic content in published course catalogues. Results showed that psychoanalytic ideas were represented somewhere in the curricula of most (though not all) of these schools, and that overall there were many times more courses featuring psychoanalytic ideas outside psychology departments than within them. The data also suggest that there are regional differences in the likelihood an undergraduate will encounter psychoanalytic ideas at these schools. Though psychoanalytic ideas are available in some form in most of these schools' psychology departments, the average number of courses per school is small. At the same time, psychoanalytic ideas have found applications in many areas of the humanities and social sciences. The nature of the presentation of psychoanalytic ideas in these areas, however, may often be unfamiliar to clinically oriented analysts, as seen in examples of the courses that were found. Challenges and opportunities of the current academic climate vis-à-vis organized psychoanalysis are described and various suggestions made regarding how analysts can engage the academic world to its benefit.     

A Preliminary Investigation of the Role of Religion for Family Members of Lesbian,Gay Male,or Bisexual Male and Female Individuals

Religious faith is an important aspect of many people's lives, but the doctrinal teachings of many faiths are that homosexuality is a sin. Little is known about the impact of these teachings on the family members of lesbian, gay male, or bisexual male and female (LGB) individuals. Eighty‐eight family members of LGB individuals were surveyed regarding the role of religion in acceptance of their family member and how they reconciled any conflicts between religious beliefs and family member's sexual orientation. The most commonly identified theme was believing that the unconditional love associated with God extended to their LGB family member. Implications for counselors are discussed.     

Outcome value and early warning indications as determinants of willingness to learn from experience

In this study of willingness to learn from experience, it was hypothesized that managers would show a negative outcomes bias, that is, a stronger tendency to initiate "learning-from-experience" processes after negative outcomes than after positive outcomes. Another aim of the study was to explore the impact of the existence of early warning signals about decision outcomes on the magnitude of the negative outcome bias. Eighty-three managers were asked to read vignettes describing a managerial decision and its outcomes. The outcomes were either positive or negative, and in half of the cases early warning signals existed that made it possible to predict potential negative outcomes while in the other half there were no such signals. The managers were asked to evaluate the need for a learning-from-experience process in general and to rate the degree to which several specific learning processes should be instituted in each of the scenarios. As hypothesized, a negative-outcome bias was found. The more negative the outcomes described, the stronger the managers' inclination to recommend a more intensive learning process. Similarly, a need to ensure control and follow-up procedures was reported mostly after negative outcomes. The existence of early warning signals before the decision was taken did not influence the motivation to learn. Theoretical implications regarding the impact of negative outcomes in general and implications for understanding learning from experience processes in particular are discussed.     

Über Einsamkeit, Narzissmus und Intimität

Zusammenfassung Die komplexe Wechselwirkung zwischen narzisstischer Verwundbarkeit, adoleszenter Entwicklung und der F?higkeit zu intimer Beziehung wird aus der Perspektive der unterschiedlichen, jedoch aufeinander bezogenen Erlebnismodalit?ten von Sein und Tun dargestellt. Die hier entwickelte Sicht auf die Einsamkeit beginnt mit einer kritischen Neubewertung des Konzepts der Selbstbezogenheit in Verbindung mit den Schwierigkeiten, Intimit?t herzustellen. Die Schwierigkeiten entstehen im Misslingen der in der Entwicklung vorgezeichneten Integration der beiden Erlebnismodalit?ten in der Zeit der sp?ten Adoleszenz und des jungen Erwachsenenalters. Die Einsamkeit im Leben der Erwachsenen, ihre besondere Auspr?gung und subjektiv erlebte Natur sind determiniert durch die spezifische Modalit?t ihrer prim?ren Organisation. Zur Illustration der Bedeutung der Einsamkeit in der Anwesenheit des Objekts und der paradoxen Unf?higkeit, mit dem Objekt und ohne es zu sein, wird klinisches Material pr?sentiert.

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On loneliness, narcissism and intimacy

Summary The complex interplay between narcissistic vulnerability, adolescent development, and the capacity for intimate relatedness is viewed here from the perspective of two distinct but interrelated experiential modes of Being and Doing. I offer a view of loneliness that begins with a critical reappraisal of the concept of narcissistic relatedness in association with difficulties in establishing intimacy. These difficulties are due to failures in the developmentally prescribed integration of the experiential modalities of Being and Doing during the course of late adolescence and young adulthood. The type of loneliness encountered in adult life, its particular cast and subjectively experienced nature, are determined by the specific modality around which it has become primarily organized. Clinical material is presented to illustrate the meaning of loneliness in the presence of the object, and the paradoxical inability to be both with the object and without it.

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Vortrag gehalten im Michael-Balint-Institut, Hamburg (Juni 2000). Frühere Versionen wurden vor der Israel Association for Psychotherapy (Februar 1989), der Israel Psycholanalytic Society (Dezember 1989), dem Sigmund Freud Institut, Frankfurt a. M. (M?rz 1990) und der Asian-Australian Psychoanalytic Conference (Januar 1995) gehalten. Aus dem Englischen übersetzt von Dr. Heinrich Vedder, Hamburg

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"Es ist nicht gut, dass der Mensch allein sei; ich will ihm eine Gehilfin machen" (Genesis 2:18).