Historicizing the Role of Psychologists in the U.S. Military: Introduction to Issue on Coercive Interrogations and the Mental Health Profession

This special issue addresses the disturbing events that emerged in the aftermath of 9/11 in the United States with regard to the role of mental health professionals in coercive interrogations of detainees held in detention centers and military “black sites.” While other professional associations condemned such practices, the American Psychological Association maintained a position of collaboration, despite activist members' protests.

These events will be examined in an effort to reconstitute our history as a profession through the actions of what Freud called “nachtraeglichkeit’, (deferred action) in which the unassimilated experiences of the past relationship between psychology and the military will be used to transform our perceptions and future directions. This introduction also summarizes the papers in this issue. These include a history of the interrogation practices and the controversy within the APA; a history of the long-standing relationship between the profession of psychology and government, military, and intelligence organizations; analyses of the psychology of torture and evidence of how this psychology is manifested in the consulting room; a comparison of psychological structures within the population and mental health professions in the United States today and Argentina during recent totalitarian regimes; and an interview with Robert Lifton, eminent psychohistorian, psychiatrist and political activist.     

Longitudinal Associations among Parental Acceptance,Familism Values,and Sibling Intimacy in Mexican‐Origin Families

Prospective associations among parent – adolescent acceptance and familism values in early and middle adolescence and sibling intimacy in late adolescence and young adulthood were assessed in 246 Mexican‐origin families. Older sibling gender and sibling gender constellation were investigated as moderators of these associations. Sibling intimacy was stable over time and younger siblings with older sisters reported higher levels of sibling intimacy than those with older brothers. As predicted, stronger familism values were associated with greater sibling intimacy, but this link was evident only for older sisters and for girl‐girl dyads. The links from mother‐ and father‐acceptance to sibling intimacy also depended on the gender constellation of the sibling dyad: Higher levels of maternal warmth were associated with greater sibling intimacy for older sisters and girl‐girl sibling pairs but higher levels of paternal warmth were linked to greater sibling intimacy only for older siblings in mixed‐gender sibling dyads. Findings are consistent with prior research on the role of gender in family relationships but extend this work to encompass the effects of both parents' and siblings' gender, as well as the role of sociocultural values in parents' socialization influences.     

Poor,Rural Women: Spirituality,Religion, and Wellness Across the Life Span

Researchers have suggested strategies in the spiritual domain for improving wellness. This study explored relationships among spirituality, religiosity, and wellness for poor, rural women in early adulthood, early–middle adulthood, and middle–later adulthood. Implications for evidence‐based strategies to improve wellness for poor, rural women across the life span are provided.     

Fit Happens Globally: A Meta‐Analytic Comparison of the Relationships of Person–Environment Fit Dimensions with Work Attitudes and Performance Across East Asia,Europe, and North America

In this cross‐cultural meta‐analysis, we examine the relationships between person–environment [P–E] fit and work attitudes (organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and intent to quit) as well as job performance based on 96 studies (110 independent samples) conducted in East Asia, Europe, and North America. We compare the results across cultures while focusing on 4 dimensions of P–E fit (person‐job fit, person–organization fit, person–group fit, and person–supervisor fit) separately and jointly. Findings suggest that the effects of rational fit (person–organization and person–job fit) are (relatively) stronger in North America and, to a lesser extent, Europe than in East Asia. However, the effects of relational fit (person–group and person–supervisor fit) are (relatively) stronger in East Asia than in North America. This highlights that in collectivistic and high power distance (vs. individualistic and low power distance) cultures, relational (vs. rational) fit is more salient in influencing employees’ perceptions about their work environments. Results are less clear concerning job performance. What is common across cultures is that, regardless of which dimension of P–E fit is being considered, fit happens and high levels of fit lead to positive outcomes, confirming the universal relevance of fit phenomenon.     

Obituary: Gillian O. Howie, 1965–2013

The present special issue of Sophia on ‘feminist philosophy of religion’ is dedicated to Gillian O. Howie who died in 2013. This essay is a short obituary touching on Howie’s philosophical and personal legacy. The intention is to give a brief overview of Howie as a courageous woman with boundless intellectual curiosity and passionate commitments to feminist activities; these include writing and living her philosophical vision for creating a just society with collective political action. Howie inspired both women and men in philosophy—especially, but not only, feminist philosophers of religion—with her work on the critical role of sexual difference in life today.     

INSIGHTFULNESS AND LATER INFANT ATTACHMENT IN CLINICALLY DEPRESSED AND NONCLINICAL MOTHERS

The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the relationship between maternal insightfulness and sensitivity and subsequent infant attachment security and disorganization in clinically depressed and nonclinical mother–infant groups. Nineteen depressed mothers with infants ages 3 to 11 months participated in this study. Twenty nonclinical mother–infant dyads were matched to the clinical sample according to infant sex and age. Maternal depression was assessed using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (American Psychiatric Association, 1994), insightfulness using the Insightfulness Assessment (IA), and sensitivity using the Maternal Sensitivity Scales (M.D.S. Ainsworth, 1969). IA classifications and subscales were considered separately. Later infant attachment was assessed by the Strange Situation Procedure (M.D.S. Ainsworth, M.C. Blehar, E. Waters, & S. Wall, 1978). Depressed mothers tended to have less securely attached children than did nonclinical mothers. Within the clinical sample, the insightfulness categories correlated slightly moderately with attachment security, but were not related to attachment disorganization. Within the nonclinical sample, the IA categories were slightly moderately associated with attachment security and with disorganization. On IA subscales, relationship patterns differed in clinically depressed and nonclinical mother–infant dyads. These findings provide the first evidence of the predictive power of the IA categorization and subscales on subsequent infant attachment. They also may allow the development of different foci of intervention for enhancing insightful caregiving.     

Fame,Narcissism, and the Capacity for Intimacy: A Daughter’s Reflection

In a culture in which fame has come to be viewed as the pinnacle of human achievement, it is natural to assume that celebrity status must be deeply gratifying to the person who has achieved it—a source of exceptional and stable self-esteem. In this article, I draw on my experience of my father’s celebrity at the peak of his career as a source of insight into the reality of fame as a psychological phenomenon, highlighting the paradoxical relationship between the larger-than-life public image of the celebrity and the way in which that person actually experiences himself or herself and is experienced by intimate others. I suggest that the drive behind the achievement of fame is typically a feeling of deep personal inadequacy, and a desperate hope that public acclaim will ease this self-doubt. But, in truth, no amount of public admiration can promote genuine feelings of self-acceptance where early parental love has failed to do so. The article then explores why we humans, as a species, are deeply invested in the glorified images of our celebrities, ascribing them godlike qualities, and taking comfort in the illusion that they have achieved an enviable state of grace.     

Working with chronic and relentless self‐hatred,self‐harm and existential shame: a clinical study and reflections

This paper is the first of a two‐part series which explores some of the theoretical and experiential reference points that have emerged in my work with people whose relationship to their body and/or sense of self is dominated by self‐hatred and (what Hultberg describes as) existential shame. The first paper focuses on self‐hatred and the second paper focuses on shame. This first paper is structured around vignettes taken from a 14‐year analysis with a woman who was bulimic, self‐harmed and repeatedly described herself as ‘feeling like a piece of shit’. It draws together elements of Jung's concepts of the complex and symbol, and Laplanche's enigmatic signifier to focus on experiences of ‘inner otherness’ around which we are unconsciously organized. It also brings Jung's understanding that emotion is the chief source of consciousness into conversation with Laplanche's approach to the transference which is that by being aware that they do not ‘know’, the analyst provides a ‘hollow’ in which the patient's analytic process can evolve. These combinations of ideas are linked speculatively to emerging understandings of the neuroscience of perception and throughout the paper clinical material is used to illustrate these discussions.