The Subjective Experience of Children with Disruptive Behavior Problems as Reflected in “Person Picking an Apple from a Tree” Drawings

ABSTRACT

This study administered the “Person Picking an Apple from a Tree” drawing task to inquire into the subjective experience of children with Disruptive Behavior Problems. A total of 40 4th-6th grade students from an elementary school in Crete participated: 20 children showed signs of Disruptive Behavior Problems according to their teacher’s reports, and the other 20 did not. The drawings and verbal narratives were analyzed using a qualitative method. Findings present differences in two central themes: the environment as a context was duller, and self-agency representations showed less agency and subjectivity in the first group. The discussion deals with the findings in terms of object relations and agency theories. Therapeutic implications, study limitations, and future research are also discussed.     

Collective Victimhood and Social Prejudice: A Post-Holocaust Theory of Anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism represents one of the most penetrating forms of prejudice, yet social research has failed to address the causal underpinnings of the phenomenon. To this end, we empirically test the notion that anti-Semitism builds on the legacy of the Holocaust. Standing as the benchmark for collective suffering, the Holocaust creates competition over recognition of the status of the victim. Upward comparisons between victimized ingroups with other victimized outgroups trigger social prejudice. Victimhood, thus, creates an antagonistic view of the Jews that, in turn, fuels anti-Semitic prejudice. We test this theory using data from Greece—the European nation with the highest proportion of anti-Semites—leveraging two survey experiments and a natural experiment. Our results confirm our theoretical expectations, showing that perceived victimhood fuels anti-Semitism. The findings of our research carry important implications for dealing with anti-Semitism and for combating various forms of outgroup prejudice.