Conceptual and methodological issues in the study of Internal Representation: A commentary on Infant Mental Health Journal,volume 10.3

This commentary raises issues about the current state of research on internal representation, using the Special Issue of the Infant Mental Health Journal on “Internal Representation and Parent-Infant Relationships” as a point of departure. Current research is praised for its emphasis on subjectivity and intersubjectivity in relationships, for integrating viewpoints from a variety of disciplines, and for the development of innovative investigatory approaches. At the same time, however, an overemphasis on quantitative methods is cited as possibly raising the risk of prematurely limiting an investigation of these issues that is broad-based enough to reflect their intricacy in actual experience. Instead, a more varied approach is sought, in which operationalizability is viewed as one of many potential sources of methodological validity rather than as the most important one. More purely clinical and theoretical approaches are particularly appropriate to the study of internal representation and intrafamilial relationships because access to personal, interior experience must rely on such forms as language and the techniques of clinical inquiry.     

The influence of the Y-chromosome of Rb/1Bg mice on agonistic behaviors

Males of the Rb/lBg and C57BL/10Bg strains, as well as of the Bl0RblF, and RblBlOF1, reciprocal hybrids, were tested for aggression over three daily trials beginning at 50 days of age. The BlORblF, hybrids were sired by Rb/lBg males, and the RblBlOF, hybrids were sired by C57BL/10Bg males. The mean scores for the agonistic acts of chase, wrestle, flank-bite (but not tail rattle or attack), and the mean “aggression” score (but not mean latencies to first agonistic act or first attack) were significantly higher for BlORblF, than for RblBlOF, hybrids. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that some aspect(s) of the Rb/lBg Y-chromosome strain can influence the occurrence of some of the motor patterns of offense but not defense. The Y-chromosomes of the DBA/1, DBA/2, CBA, and PHH inbred strains have a similar effect on agonistic behaviors.     

Historical inferences from ethnohistorical data: Boasian views

Just before Boasian anthropologists turned from trying to reconstruct North American prehistory to synchronic work on social organization and on the psychological integration of intact cultures, they considered the validity of traditional/folk accounts. Robert Lowie, editor of the official journal of the American Anthropological Association, categorically rejected any use of such data, twisting the carefully delimited claims made for them by the anthropologists engaged in disentangling American ethnic groupings, who were unwilling to throw out all data except those provided by professionally trained (that is, Boasian) anthropologists. Rather than the “refutation” (in the Popperian sense) this episode has been taken to represent, it exemplifies a problematic along with the appropriate methods for the problematic being dropped as other problematics and methods become fashionable.