A plea for more intervision

The author presents an argument for tolerance, mutual understanding and reconciliation in psychotherapy, instead of a continued emphasis of schools. Psychotherapists' work with clients is proposed as a likely area for mutual understanding, rather than continued emphasis on their particular theories and academic matters. Psychotherapeutic intervision groups in which a small number of therapists voluntarily discuss their cases with peers from various backgrounds have become increasingly common again in recent years.Slightly revised version of a presentation made at the Georgetown Family Center Symposium in November 1995.     

The curative fantasy in group psychotherapy

The concept of a curative fantasy includes patient's conscious and unconscious hopes and expectations of what is necessary for their relief of suffering. On entering group psychotherapy these elements emerge in the treatment matrix. This paper describes how patients with significant deficits in their intrapsychic organization express their curative fantasies through the development of selfobject transferences. The concept illuminates aspects of patients entering and forming a group as well as some elements in unanticipated terminations.     

Differentiation of brain damage among low IQ subjects with three projective techniques.

Using a battery of three projective techniques (Rorschach, Hand Test, Bender-Gestalt) only slight discrimination was found between low IQ subjects classified according to the presence or absence of brain trauma (exogenous vs endogenous), while substantial discrimination was obtained between the same subjects categorized in terms of "lower" (60-74) and "higher" (75-89) FS WAIS IQ. All four groups used in this study had been first equated on sex and age. Results were interpreted as supporting the position that some sort of brain impairment underlies most or all retardation. Question was raised concerning the efficacy of projective techniques for diagnosing organicity in subjects of average or better intelligence.     

Age comparative factor analysis of ability variables in adulthood and old age

The generality of ability factor structure in adulthood and old age was investigated using simultaneous maximum likelihood procedures. Data were analyzed for 198 young individuals (age range of 15–32 years), 156 younger old individuals (age range of 53–68 years), and 156 older old individuals (69–91 years). Variables were nine tests marking three ability factors: Verbal Comprehension, Sensitivity to Problems and Semantic Redefinition. Results indicated no changes in the number of factors and no psychologically important shifts in salient factor loadings. Increasingly larger factor covariances, however, were obtained in the two older groups. The results supported the generalizability of ability structures to late life at the level of factor loadings. The implications of these results for the dedifferentiation hypothesis were not clear cut. The consistency of the number of factors across age groups precluded strong support for this hypothesis, The increased factor covariances could be construed as modest support for this hypothesis, but other interpretations were possible.     

The sensing of retinal motion

The apparent relative motion of physically stationary objects that frequently occurs as the head is moved in a frontoparallel plane is almost always in the direction expected from the projection into the distal world of the relative motion of the images on the eye. It is hypothesized that this is the result of the perceptual underestimation of the depth between the objects. If a perceptual overestimation of the depth were produced, it was predicted that the apparent relative motion would be in a direction opposite to that expected from the projection of the retinal motions. This prediction was tested using the binocular disparity cue to produce perceptual overestimation of the slant (depth) of a luminous line. In this case, perceived slant was the indicator of perceived depth, and perceived rotation concomitant with the motion of the head was the indicator of perceived relative motion. The results support the prediction and also provide some support for a theoretically derived equation specifying the relation between these two perceptual variables.