Sensory empathy and enactment1

The authors propose the concept of sensory empathy which emerges through contact between analyst and patient as they get in touch with an area concerning the primary bond. This area is not so much based on thoughts and fantasies as it is on physical sensations. Sensory empathy has to do with that instrument described by Freud as pertaining to the unconscious of any human, which enables one person to interpret unconscious communications of another person. The authors link this concept to that of enactment precisely because the latter concerns unconscious, early elements that fi nd in the act a fi rst meaningful expression. It involves both analyst and patient. In other words, the authors wish to emphasize the importance of the analytical process maintaining contact with that immense fi eld of human interaction that can be defi ned as primary sensory area and which becomes intertwined with the evolution of affects. Clinical examples are provided to clarify these hypotheses.     

小学低年级汉语儿童语言能力的发展轨迹:认知能力的预测作用

对177名小学一年级学生进行了长达一年的三次追踪,通过多层线性模型探索了儿童汉字识别、口语词汇和限时阅读理解能力的发展轨迹及复合语素意识、正字法意识和快速命名能力对三者的预测作用,结果发现：（1）三种语言能力均随时间呈现显著的线性增长趋势,汉字识别的个体差异逐渐缩小,口语词汇的个体差异相对稳定,而限时阅读理解成绩的差异逐渐扩大;（2）三种认知能力对汉字识别和限时阅读理解的初始成绩均有显著的正向预测作用,复合语素意识不仅能预测口语词汇的初始成绩,还能正向预测限时阅读理解的发展速度。     

Anticipated Regret and Time Perspective: Changing Sexual Risk-taking Behavior

In two studies we test the effects of anticipated affective reactions such as regret on behavioral expectations and behavior. These effects were examined in the context of sexual risk-taking behavior. More specifically, we tested the impact of the anticipated feelings associated with unsafe sex on sexual risk-taking behavior. We assumed a difference between the feelingsabout unsafe sex and the feelings people anticipate to haveafter this behavior. Two studies tested the hypothesis that respondents who are induced to focus on their anticipated, post-behavioral feelings are more likely to report negative feelings such as regret and to adopt safer sexual practices than respondents who are asked to focus on their feelings about the behavior itself. Study 1 shows that anticipated feelings after unsafe sex were more negative than feelings about the behavioral act itself, and that respondents who were asked to consider these anticipated feelings expressed stronger expectations to reduce their risk in future interactions. Thus, asking respondents to take a wider time perspective, and to consider the feelings they would haveafter having had unsafe sex, resulted in ‘safer’ behavioral expectations. Study 2 replicates the findings of Study 1, and also yielded a reliable effect of the time perspective manipulation on actual, self-reported behavior. Respondents who were asked to report on their anticipated feelings after unsafe sex showed less risky behavior in the five months following the experiment than the remaining respondents. Thus, the induced focus on post-behavioral emotions increased the likelihood of preventive behavior. Implications of these findings for behavioral intervention programs are discussed.     

The paedophile and his inner world: Theoretical and clinical considerations on the analysis of a patient1

The main feature of the treatment of the paedophile is the distance that separates the analyst from the patient. However hard the analyst tries to understand his patient, the paedophile's world appears to him, especially at the beginning of the treatment, incomprehensible, disheartening and distant. This paper describes the analytic therapy of a paedophile patient. The psychopathological organization that dominates his inner world originates from a delusional nucleus in which an object (a child or an adolescent) is idealized and worshipped in place of the parents. This object promises all manner of pleasure and happiness. The positive outcome of this patient leads one to believe that, if analytically treated, some paedophile patients are open to therapeutic transformation.     

The importance of seeing what is not there: A quasi‐signal detection analysis of positive and negative behavior in newlywed couples

Partners scrutinize each other's behaviors to identify the quality of their relationship. Because people's perception of their partners' behavior is imperfect, they face a signal detection problem for which there are 4 outcomes: hits, misses, false alarms, and correct rejections. Research confirms the importance of hits, misses, and false alarms for relationship quality, but nothing is known about correct rejections. In a prospective study among newlywed couples, it was predicted and found that people are good at detecting the absence of partner behavior, especially negative partner behavior, and that these correct rejections are important for relationship quality above and beyond hits. Happy partners see reality in a way that maintains their happiness, which includes seeing what is not there.     

Reflections on the setting in the treatment of adolescents1

The author focuses on the signifi cance of the setting for the development of the psychoanalytic process, especially in the case of adolescents who request analytic treatment. Her main goals are to specify: a) how the setting is confi gured with this type of patients; and b) to what extent it contributes to the creation of an inner space that may internalize a fi gure with reverie‐a good object that will metabolize the bad and thus enable identifi cation. The setting, which is considered the necessary context for analytic work, is defi ned as bearing two facets: that of the analyst, which must be constant and stable, and that of the adolescent, which will progressively change provided that the analyst maintains a fi rm context that contributes to make the adolescent feel contained and accepted. It is such a feeling that will enable the unfolding of the analytic process. The author emphasizes the importance of the presence of the analyst (his or her voice, the manner of his or her speech, and so on), and the need for the analyst to comply with the rules he or she has established together with the patient. She presents a clinical case to illustrate this conceptualization.