Convergent Validity of the Defense Mechanisms Manual and the Defensive Functioning Scale

This report, describing a peculiar reaction of two psychiatric patients to the Rorschach test, tries to relate this phenomenon to some other Rorschach phenomena, already known and previously described.     

“We may be pirates,but we are not protesters”: Identity in the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Radical activist organizations face the complex task of managing their identity so as to draw political attention but also to appear legitimate and thus gain public support. In this article we develop a picture of the identities of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) members, a group mostly known for their direct action against whaling, via a thematic analysis of material from the SSCS website and interviews with SSCS members. In online commentary, founder Captain Paul Watson establishes several deliberately paradoxical notions of who the Sea Shepherds are. We relate these identity statements to interviews with core activists to examine how they manage the identity conflicts resulting from the group identity, such as being seen as “pirates” and “hard lined vegans.” We found that SSCS positions themselves as a diverse and unstructured organization, yet distinctively passionate and willing to take action where others will not. The implications of this research are discussed in relation to the importance of understanding the constraints and conflicts around political activist identities.     

Affective forecasting and self-rated symptoms of depression,anxiety, and hypomania: Evidence for a dysphoric forecasting bias

Emerging research has examined individual differences in affective forecasting; however, we are aware of no published study to date linking psychopathology symptoms to affective forecasting problems. Pitting cognitive theory against depressive realism theory, we examined whether dysphoria was associated with negatively biased affective forecasts or greater accuracy. Participants (n=325) supplied predicted and actual emotional reactions for three days surrounding an emotionally evocative relational event, Valentine's Day. Predictions were made a month prior to the holiday. Consistent with cognitive theory, we found evidence for a dysphoric forecasting bias—the tendency of individuals in dysphoric states to overpredict negative emotional reactions to future events. The dysphoric forecasting bias was robust across ratings of positive and negative affect, forecasts for pleasant and unpleasant scenarios, continuous and categorical operationalisations of dysphoria, and three time points of observation. Similar biases were not observed in analyses examining the independent effects of anxiety and hypomania. Findings provide empirical evidence for the long-assumed influence of depressive symptoms on future expectations. The present investigation has implications for affective forecasting studies examining information-processing constructs, decision making, and broader domains of psychopathology.     

A Practical Theory of Persuasion Based on Behavioral Science Approaches

Abstract

The Action Theory of Persuasion, based on a synthesis of sequential decision models and preference models, offers a practical understanding of persuasion as it is employed in personal selling. Conceptualized so as to reflect the state of mind of the person being persuaded, this theory summarizes persuasion into nine specific tactics. Examples of how the theory applies to personal selling situations are given, and an overall strategy of persuasion is outlined.     

The Counselor Selling Method: Concepts and Constructs

The concepts, constructs and theoretical underpinnings of the counselor selling method are presented. The method is based on a contingency approach to selling and has three components—personality knowledge, microskills and strategies, and processes. Personality knowledge is based upon dimensional personality theory, transactional analysis theory and Berne's PAC model. Microskills and strategies are derived from work in the counseling field. Finally, the sales process is adapted from the Ivey and Matthews meta-model of counselor interviewing. The components are empirically tested and the implications are discussed.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Treatise on Nature and Grace by Nicolas Malebranche, translated with an introduction and notes by Patrick Riley Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992. Pp. xviii + 226. £30.00. ISBN 0–19–824832–6

Queen Christina of Sweden and Her Circle. The Transformation of a Seventeenth‐century Philosophical Libertine by Susanna Akerman, Brill's Studies in Intellectual History, 21 Leiden, E. J. Brill 1991, Pp. xv + 339. $82.86

John Locke: A Letter Concerning Toleration in Focus edited by John Horton and Susan Mendus, London: Routledge, 1991. Pp. viii + 196. Cloth £35.00 ISBN 0 415 02205 3. Paperback £10.99 ISBN 0 415 06082 6

The Pillars of Priestcraft Shaken: The Church of England and its Enemies, 1660–1730 J. A. I. Champion Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History, Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp. 268. £35.00 ISBN 0–521–40536 X.

Philosophy, Religion and Science in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries edited by John W. Yolton, Rochester, New York: Rochester University Press, 1990. Pp. xx + 539. ISBN 1–878822–02–2.

Philosophy, Science and Religion in England 1640–1700 Edited by Richard Kroll, Richard Ashcraft and Perez Zagorin Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp. xv + 287. £37.50 ISBN 0–521–41095–9.

Opinion and Reform in Hume's Political Philosophy by John B. Stewart Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992. ISBN 0–691–08626–5.

The Enlightenment by Roy Porter (Studies in European History) London: Macmillan, 1990. Pp. xi + 95.

Adam Smith and His Legacy for Modern Capitalism by Patricia H. Werhane New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Pp. xiv + 219. £27.50.

D'Artagnan und die Urteilstafel: über ein Ordnungsprinzip der Europäischen Kulturgeschichte (1, 2, 3/4) by Reinhard Brandt Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1991. ISBN 3–515–05905–0

Frege Philosophy of Mathematics by Michael Dummett London: Duckworth, 1991. Pp. xiii + 331. Price £35. ISBN 0 7156 0886 X.

Pierre Duhem: Philosophy and History in the Work of a Believing Physicist By R. N.’D. Martin La Salle: Open Court, 1991. ISBN 0–8126–9160–1. (Paper) $19.95. ISBN 0–8126–9159–8. (Cloth) $44.95.     

“That Time of Year Thou May’st in Me Behold”: An Analyst Encounters Aging

I interweave literature and life experience to describe the tension between accepting and negating the changes inherent in aging. I consider the costs and the increasing strains of holding onto the illusion of perpetually keeping life the same in the face of inescapable existential realities: diminishment, vulnerability, relinquishment, loss, and an approaching end. I emphasize the importance of acceptance, love, and memory, and embracing the moments we have as they are.     

“There Was a Child Went Forth” Commentary on Paper by Steven Stern

In this discussion of Stern's rich and thoughtful contribution to the dialogue between unified- and multiple-self theories, I refer to his earlier conceptualization of repeated and needed relationships. I thus highlight how his current model strikes me as shifting his emphasis toward identificatory factors, both in development and in clinical process, and away from the working through, or negotiation of, repetitions of relational configurations. Through Stern's clinical examples, I engage dialogue about how his construct of an “intersubjective self” relates to the qualities of multiplicity he accounts for in his theory. And I consider the implications for clinical technique of favoring identificatory influences over the analyst's living through the experience of transference repetitions with the patient and thereby introducing ameliorating responses from within, rather than from a stance more external to, embeddedness in transference–countertransference repetitions.