COUNTERTRANSFERENCE DREAMING: LIFE IN THE INTERSUBJECTIVE THIRD

In this paper the author asks, “How long is the life of an intersubjective field?” She proposes that it is possible for the field to remain active and instructive even after formal sessions have ended: This occurs in her case of Carla, a young woman who terminates prematurely. Carla enters treatment in a downward spiral of severe trauma symptoms that began subsequent to her rape, a decade earlier. Although Carla’s symptoms diminish and the analysis continues to be productive, it suddenly ends in an impasse, leaving the analyst perplexed and feeling professionally insufficient. Months later, she has three dreams pertaining to Carla and her rape. Largely employing Jessica Benjamin’s recognition theory and her representation of the intersubjective third, as well as contemporary Bionian thinking, the paper depicts how countertransference dreaming is one example of how the intersubjective field can carry on the psychoanalytic function—even outside of formal treatment.     

Cognitive representation of personal stereotypes

A production task analogue of the traditional multiple choice trait checklist method was used to investigate stereotypes. Subjects were asked to supply rather than to select the most characteristic attributes of specified social groups. In a departure from tradition, stability of the content of stereotypes was analysed for personal stereotypes held by individuals rather than for social stereotypes shared by a cultural group. In contrast to the widely held belief that social stereotypes are fixed and unchanging, personal stereotypes were found to be only moderately stable over time. Only about two-fifths of the most characteristic attributes were duplicated in sessions separated by one week, and only about one-fifth of the most Characteristic attributes were duplicated in sessions separated by one-month or two-month intervals. Findings also supported the notion that general attributes, most characteristic attributes, and least characteristic attributes of a social category are not totally redundant and are represented quasi-independently in memory. Only about half of the most characteristic responses had also occurred on free response protocols and over half of the least characteristic responses tended not to be polar opposites of the most characteristic responses. It was the case, however, that with a production analogue of the multiple-choice trait checklist, trait-adjectives were the most frequent class of person information and accounted for between 50 and 60 per cent of the responses. However, eleven other classes of person information also occurred. Empirical results were applied toward a reexamination of the concepts of stereotype (data structure for the most characteristic attributes of a social group) and stereotyping (rigid procedures for processing data structures) and to a conceptual analysis of how stereotypes and social categories are structurally related.     

Can I use TA? Should I use TA? Should I not use TA? Comparing reflexive thematic analysis and other pattern‐based qualitative analytic approaches

Thematic analysis methods, including the reflexive approach we have developed, are widely used in counselling and psychotherapy research, as are other approaches that seek to develop ‘patterns’ (themes, categories) across cases. Without a thorough grounding in the conceptual foundations of a wide variety of across‐case analytic approaches, and qualitative research more broadly—something rarely offered in counselling training—it can be difficult to understand how these differ, where they overlap, and which might be appropriate for a particular research project. Our aim in this paper is to support researchers in counselling and psychotherapy to select an appropriate across‐case approach for their research, and to justify their choice, by discussing conceptual and procedural differences and similarities between reflexive thematic analysis (TA) and four other across‐case approaches. Three of these are also widely used in counselling and psychotherapy research—qualitative content analysis, interpretative phenomenological analysis and grounded theory. The fourth—discourse analysis—is less widely used but importantly exemplifies the critical qualitative research tradition. We contextualise our comparative approach by highlighting the diversity within TA. TA is best thought of as a spectrum of methods—from types that prioritise coding accuracy and reliability to reflexive approaches like ours that emphasise the inescapable subjectivity of data interpretation. Although reflexive TA provides the point of comparison for our discussion of other across‐case approaches, our aim is not to promote reflexive TA as ‘best’. Rather, we encourage the knowing selection and use of analytic methods and methodologies in counselling and psychotherapy research.     

Effect of collectivistic cultural imperatives on Asian American meta-stereotypes

The present study explored self-perceptions and meta-stereotypes along two dimensions, individuation and sociability, within a sample of Asian American and European American students. For both ethnic groups, meta-stereotypes in dimensions of individuation and sociability appear to be exaggerated forms of self-perceptions along these dimensions. Both Asian and European Americans distinguish between self-perceptions of sociability and individuation, showing that sociability and individuation are two independent constructs. Asian Americans, however, perceived that others who expect a certain level of sociability from their ethnic group would also expect the same level of individuation. Implications of these findings for the perpetuation of Asian stereotypes are discussed.