Values of fathers for themselves and their newborns

The paternal role has been neglected in parenting research. The present study focused on the values of fathers of newborns. Values of fathers of newborns drawn from the inner-city lower-class were compared with values of fathers of newborns drawn from the middle class. Highest goals of fathers from both groups for themselves were economic ('family security'); values for their children were morally focused ('honest'). Inner-city fathers placed a higher value on a clean and obedient child, whereas middle-class fathers placed a higher value on a loving and imaginative child. When values of these fathers were compared with values of a similar sample of mothers of newborns, socioeconomic status remained an important predictor of values. Sex of parent was significant in the inner-city sample as these fathers placed a higher valuation on goals associated with autonomy than did inner-city mothers.     

I am not an animal: mortality salience, disgust, and the denial of human creatureliness

The present research investigated the need to distinguish humans from animals and tested the hypothesis derived from terror management theory that this need stems in part from existential mortality concerns. Specifically, the authors suggest that being an animal is threatening because it reminds people of their vulnerability to death; therefore, reminding people of their mortality was hypothesized to increase the need to distance from animals. In support, Study 1 revealed that reminders of death led to an increased emotional reaction of disgust to body products and animals. Study 2 showed that compared to a control condition, mortality salience led to greater preference for an essay describing people as distinct from animals; and within the mortality salient condition but not the control condition, the essay emphasizing differences from other animals was preferred to the essay emphasizing similarities. The implications of these results for understanding why humans are so invested in beautifying their bodies and denying creaturely aspects of themselves are discussed.     

Origins of the ethical attitude

This paper seeks to explore the genesis of the capacity for an ethical attitude, personally and professionally. As analysts working in intimate clinical settings, ethics is at the foundation of our professional lives, as it is at the foundation of our humanity and what it is we struggle towards in our own personal development. The ethical attitude presupposes special responsibilities that we choose to adopt in relation to another. Thus, a parallel situation pertains between caregiver and child and between analyst and patient: they are not equal partners, but nevertheless are in a situation of mutuality, shared subjectivity, and reciprocal influence. The basic premise of this paper is that the analytic attitude is an ethical attitude, and that the ethical attitude is a developmental achievement, and as such it may reach beyond the depressive position.     

Effects of social support and battle intensity on loneliness and breakdown during combat

A sample of 382 Israeli soldiers who developed combat stress reactions (CSR) during the 1982 Israel-Lebanon War were compared with groups of carefully matched controls who did not develop CSR. Lack of social support from officers was found to be related to greater feelings of loneliness and greater likelihood of CSR in soldiers. Lack of social support from buddies was found to be related to greater loneliness. Intensity of battle was also found to be related to greater feelings of loneliness and increased likelihood of CSR. A path model was tested and supported. The model suggests that battle intensity and officer support lead to CSR directly and indirectly by causing increased feelings of loneliness. Possible cognitive and psychodynamic explanations for the findings are offered. The limitations of making causal statements from retrospective perceptions is discussed.     

Haptically perceiving the distances reachable with hand-held objects

Nine experiments are reported on the ability of people to perceive the distances reachable with hand-held rods that they could wield by movements about the wrist but not see. An observed linear relation between perceived and actual reaching distances with the rods held at one end was found to be unaffected by the density of the rods, the direction relative to the body in which they were wielded, and the frequency at which they were wielded. Manipulating (a) the position of an attached weight on an otherwise uniformly dense rod and (b) where a rod was grasped revealed that perceived reaching distance was governed by the principal moment(s) of inertia (I) of the hand-rod system about the axis of rotation. This dependency on moment of inertia (I) was found to hold even when the reaching distance was limited to the length of rod extending beyond an intermediate grasp. An account is given of the haptic subsystem (hand-muscles-joints-nerves) as a smart perceptual instrument in the Runeson (1977) sense, characterizable by an operator equation in which one operator functionally diagonalizes the inertia and strain tensors. Attunement to the invariants of the inertia tensor over major physical transformations may be the defining property of the haptic subsystem. This property is discussed from the Gibsonian (ecological) perspectives of information as invariants over transformations and of intentions as extraordinary constraints on natural law.     

Social Involvement as a Mediator of Disaster-Induced Stress1

This study examined individuals either personally or indirectly exposed to disaster and hypothesized that social involvement would differentially mediate the effect of exposure on the mental health of male and female victims. The study reinterviewed individuals previously interviewed just prior to disastrous floods and the discovery of unsafe levels of dioxin. Results indicated that males and females differ in their response to disaster exposure. Males showed increased symptoms of alcohol abuse and depression as a result of either personal, or both personal and indirect, exposure to disaster. In contrast, females' s]ymptomatology was not directly elevated by personal disaster exposure. Both sexes were sensitive to demands for support as a mediator of disaster effects. That is, victims both personally exposed to disaster and heavily relied upon by network members were far more likely to somatize (females) or abuse alcohol (males) than personally exposed individuals subject to more moderate network demands. Although excellent spouse support attenuated male symptomatology, its presence was associated with an exacerbation of symptoms in personally exposed females. Results suggest the importance of considering both the positive and negative consequences of social involvement because, for women in particular, very strong social ties may be more burdensome than supportive in times of extreme stress.     

The role of reality testing in psychoanalysis: followup of 22 cases

As part of a prospective, longitudinal study of psychoanalytic outcome, 22 patients were evaluated for changes in their level of reality testing. These patients had been accepted for supervised psychoanalysis with candidates in training by senior analysts who had diagnosed them as neurotic. Psychological tests given prior to the beginning of analysis indicated, however, that more than one third of our sample demonstrated serious distortions in their perceptions of reality. When psychological tests administered one year after the completion of analysis were compared with these pretreatment tests, no significant improvement was found in the level of reality testing for the group as a whole. However, when excluding two patients who had suffered major traumas in the year following psychoanalysis, significant improvement in reality testing was found for the remaining 20 patients. Post-treatment interviews with the treating analysts revealed that in the course of analysis itself, approximately one third of these patients showed some disturbance in reality testing; only three of these patients showed significant improvement in the level of their reality testing during treatment. These findings suggest that while patients may not present clinically with evidence of impaired reality testing, such evidence may be available in psychological testing, and may become apparent in the course of the treatment.     

Does the War End When the Shooting Stops? The Psychological Toll of War1

The unremitting conflict between Israel and its neighbors has created a situation that often exposes soldiers to the repeated stress of a number of wars. Studies conducted by the Research Branch of the Mental Health Department in the Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps have focused on the long-term mental health effects of such trauma. This article brings together the findings of a recent series of studies that examine the effects of both single and repeated exposure to the stress of battle, in terms of: (a) psychiatric breakdowns on the battlefield (Combat Stress Reaction); (b) enduring symptomatology (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder); and (c) the reactivation of previous traumas. Additional findings highlight the transgenerational effects of trauma as evidenced in the susceptibility of offspring of Holocaust survivors to combat stress reactions.     

Coping with war captivity: The role of sensation seeking

This study examines the implication of both sensation seeking and the subjective appraisal of captivity in the long-term adjustment of ex-prisoners of war (ex-POWs). 164 Israeli ex-POWs and 184 comparable controls were studied, 18 years after their participation in the Yom Kippur War. The findings indicate that high-sensation seekers adjusted better than low-sensation seekers to the stresses of captivity. Low-sensation-seeking ex-POWs reported more PTSD symptoms, more severe psychiatric symptomatology, and more intense intrusive and avoidance tendencies. High- and low-sensation-seeking POWs differed also in feelings when taken prisoner, subjective assessment of suffering in prison, ways of coping with prison, and emotional states during captivity. The present study supports the postulation that sensation seeking is an important stress-buffering personal resource. The role of coping styles in long-term adjustment following war captivity is discussed.