Constructive Thinking and Burnout among Secondary School Teachers

The present study investigated the relationship between Epstein’s (1998, Constructive thinking: The key to emotional intelligence. London: Praeger publisher.) components of constructive thinking and burnout as experienced by a sample of Dutch secondary school teachers. A postal questionnaire was sent to teachers from randomly selected secondary schools. The response rate was 54.1% (N=433). Four components of constructive thinking significantly contributed to the explained variance in emotional exhaustion (17%), depersonalization (21%), and personal accomplishment (20%). The results of the study suggest that secondary school teachers’ maladaptive thinking processes prevent them from rational thinking during their work, which significantly contributes to the onset of burnout. Burnout intervention programs for teachers are likely to be more effective when the participator’s maladaptive thinking system is taken into consideration. This stems from the idea that personality factors are a probably easier point of departure to tackle burnout symptoms than organizational factors.     

Die Handhabung der Übertragung

Zusammenfassung. Freud hat die Handhabung der übertragung als das schwierigste wie das wichtigste Stück der analytischen Technik bezeichnet. Mit Handhabung meinte er nicht den Umgang mit der übertragung im allgemeinen einschlie?lich der übertragungsdeutungen, sondern etwas Spezifischeres und Zupackendes, das sp?ter den Ruch des Nicht-Analytischen bekam. Der Autor zeigt den wichtigen Stellenwert des Terminus bei Freud und untersucht seine Entwicklung von der Ichpsychologie über Ferenczi und A. Balint bis hin zu Gill und Thom?. Er konstatiert eine erhebliche Bedeutungsverschiebung und -erweiterung. W?hrend Freud damit das energische Eingreifen des Analytikers an dramatischen Wendepunkten der Analyse gemeint hatte, schl?gt der Autor vor, die Handhabung der übertragung heute als eine ubiquit?re Dimension des analytischen Arbeitens zu betrachten. Sie bezieht sich auf den Handlungsaspekt des analytischen Tuns und nicht auf das Deuten im engeren Sinn. Damit wird der Beitrag des Analytikers zur Interaktion thematisiert. Wenn wir diesen Beitrag, d.h. alle Aspekte des Analytikerverhaltens, als Handhabung der übertragung qualifizieren, so erschlie?en wir sie als Elemente des intersubjektiven Geschehens und der übertragungsbeziehung und machen sie der Deutungsarbeit zug?nglich. Die Handhabung der übertragung ist der genuin Freud’sche Ausdruck für das, was Balint und Loch die psychoanalytische Beziehungskunst genannt haben – komplement?r zur Deutungskunst.

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The handling of transference

Summary. In Freuds opinion the handling of transference is the most difficult and important part of psychoanalytic technique. By handling he did not mean dealing with transference and transference-interpretations in general but something more specific and grasping, that has been regarded as non-analytic later on. The author shows, how important the term was to Freud, and explores its development from ego psychology, Ferenczi and A. Balint to Gill and Thom?. He finds a lot of changes and conceptual clarification. Whereas Freud used the term for the vigorous interventions of the analyst at dramatic turning points of analysis, the author suggests to consider the handling of transference as a ubiquitous dimension of analytic work. It refers to the aspect of action in analysis, not to interpretation, and therefore means the contribution of the analyst to interaction. In qualifying this contribution, that is all aspects of the analysts be- haviour as a handling of transference, we make them accessible as elements of the intersubjective process and the transference relationship, and with that we become able to analyse them. The handling of transference is the genuine Freudian term for what Balint and Loch called the art of relating (Beziehungskunst) – complementary to the art of interpretation (Deutungskunst).

     

Time‐of‐day variation of visuo‐spatial attention

Time‐of‐day variation of visuo‐spatial attention in relation to body temperature and subjective arousal was assessed. At five different times of day, alertness, covert, and overt orienting of attention were assessed in fifteen healthy subjects. Based on previous studies reporting a tight coupling of alerting and orienting the present study investigates potential attentional asymmetries induced by diurnal variations of arousal. Both covert and overt orienting of attention improved in the course of the day. However, no asymmetries between left and right visual hemifields could be detected. Covert orienting additionally covaried with body temperature, indicating a quite close relation between the attentional arousal and orienting system. Conversely, overt orienting only improved due to repeated testing but did not correlate with body temperature suggesting a partial independence of both modes of attentional orienting. It can be assumed that due to limited diurnal variations of arousal in the participants and practice effects caused by repeated testing, no attentional asymmetries could be provoked.     

Evolution of Cultural Interbehavior in a Turn-Based Matching-to-Sample Procedure

The Psychological Record - Kantor’s (1982) analysis of cultural interbehavior focuses on shared stimulus–response functions that are conventional across individuals and established...     

Like a camera in the sky? Thinking about God increases public self-awareness and socially desirable responding

Believers describe God as a strategic social agent who perceives human thoughts and actions. Thinking about God therefore might make believers feel as if their behavior is being monitored, a possibility we call the supernatural monitoring hypothesis. Three studies offered new and converging empirical support for this hypothesis using two variables that are sensitive to perceived social surveillance: public self-awareness and socially desirable responding. For believers, the effect of an explicit God prime on public self-awareness was comparable to the effect of thinking about how other people view oneself (Experiment 1). An implicit God concepts prime increased public self-awareness (Experiment 2) and socially desirable responding (Experiment 3) among believers. These studies offer the first direct evidence that thinking of God triggers perceived social surveillance.     

Effects of three training types on vitality among older adults: A self-determination theory perspective

ObjectivesTo investigate effects of endurance, functional and strength training on subjective vitality in older adults. Using the self-determination theory (SDT) framework we tested the moderating effects of autonomy support and mediating effects of need satisfaction on participants’ changes in vitality.DesignParallel-groups randomized controlled trial.Methods138 older adults (M = 74.2 years, SD = 4.5) were randomized to a training group or wait-list control, with assessments at baseline, at 7 weeks (short term), and 16 weeks (long term). Mixed models provided estimates of treatment effects, with covariates for moderating effects of autonomy support and mediating effects of need satisfaction (autonomy, competence, relatedness). Inferences were based on uncertainty in standardized effect-sizes (ES) in relation to a smallest important ES of 0.20.ResultsAt short term, effects on vitality were moderate for endurance training (ES = .70, ±.44), and small for functional (ES = .54, ±.36) and strength training (ES = .21, ±.47). At long term only endurance training had a clear effect on vitality (ES = .27, ±.38). Perceived autonomy support moderated the effect of endurance training at short term (ES = .66, ±.66), and functional training at long term (ES = .23, ±.40). Change in competence mediated the effect of functional and strength training at long term, while in endurance training high perceptions of autonomy support moderated the mediation effect of competence on vitality.ConclusionsEndurance training is recommended for increasing subjective vitality in older adults. Moderating effects of autonomy support and mediating effects of need satisfaction are partially consistent with self-determination theory.     

Book Review

How Nature Works: The Science of Self‐Organized Criticality Per Bak Copernicus, Spring‐Verlag New York, Inc., New York, NY., 1996, cloth; pp. 212, bibliography and index; $27.00 USD

Networks of Meaning: The Bridge Between Mind and Matter is published by Praeger, Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, CT, USA; 1998; 232 pages, ISBN: 0275960358, $55 USD.