Leadership and regressive group processes: A pilot study

Various perspectives on leadership within the psychoanalytic, organizational and socio‐biological literature are reviewed, with particular attention to research studies in these areas. Hypotheses are offered about what makes an effective leader: her ability to structure tasks well in order to avoid destructive regressions, to make constructive use of the omnipresent regressive energies in group life, and to redirect regressions when they occur. Systematic qualitative observations of three videotaped sessions each from N = 18 medical staff work groups at an urban medical center are discussed, as is the utility of a scale, the Leadership and Group Regressions Scale (LGRS), that attempts to operationalize the hypotheses. Analyzing the tapes qualitatively, it was noteworthy that at times (in N = 6 groups), the nominal leader of the group did not prove to be the actual, working leader. Quantitatively, a significant correlation was seen between leaders’ LGRS scores and the group’s satisfactory completion of their quantitative goals (p = 0.007) and ability to sustain the goals (p = 0.04), when the score of the person who met criteria for group leadership was used.     

The path or the goal? Decision vs. information focus in biased information seeking after preliminary decisions

Research on the phenomenon of selective exposure to information demonstrates that after preliminary or final decisions, people show a preference for supporting rather than conflicting information (confirmation bias). In this article, we examine conditions that increase or decrease distortions in the search for information. We report on four experiments indicating that the confirmation bias is influenced by whether people focus on their decision or on the presented pieces of information during the information search. Focusing on the decision, for example, because a reward for a correct decision is promised or simply because participants repeatedly think of it, increases the confirmation bias. On the other hand, if participants focus on the available pieces of information because they have to invest money in order to search for information or because they have to evaluate the individual pieces of information, the confirmation bias decreases. Implications for theoretical understanding and interventions for decision-making situations are discussed.     

Uncovering an existential barrier to breast self-exam behavior

The present research applies an analysis derived from terror management theory to the health domain of breast examination, and in doing so uncovers previously unrecognized factors that may contribute to women’s reluctance to perform breast self-examinations (BSEs). In Study 1, when concerns about mortality were primed, reminders of human beings’ physical nature (i.e., creatureliness) reduced intentions to conduct BSEs compared to reminders of humans’ uniqueness. In Study 2, women conducted shorter exams on a breast model (an experience found to increase death-thought accessibility) when creatureliness was primed compared to a uniqueness and no essay condition. In Study 3, after a creatureliness prime, women performed shorter BSEs when a placebo did not provide an alternative explanation for their discomfort compared to when it did. Advances for theory and breast self-exam promotion are discussed.     

Evidence for the DTA hypothesis II: Threatening self-esteem increases death-thought accessibility

Three studies assessed the impact of self-esteem threat on death-thought accessibility (DTA). Increased DTA resulted from three distinct types of self-esteem threat. Studies 1 and 2 employed negative feedback procedures in which participants were told that they scored below average on an intelligence test (Study 1), or that their personality was incongruent for their desired career path (Study 2). In Study 3, participants were led to believe that they would give an ill prepared speech in front of their peers. In Studies 1 and 2 DTA was assessed via reaction times on a lexical decision task, while Study 3 employed a word-fragment completion task. Study 3 demonstrated the DTA buffering effect of fortifying self-esteem via self-affirmation. Discussion focused on general implications for TMT, self-esteem, and mental health.     

It’s not just what you say but when you say it: Self-presentation and temporal construal

Three experiments demonstrated that the use and effectiveness of self-presentation strategies are affected by time. In Experiment 1, participants used more indirect self-presentation statements for the distant than near future, but used more direct self-presentation statements for the near than distant future. In Experiment 2, participants for whom indirect self-presentation strategies were made accessible rated a future interview as more temporally distant than those for whom direct self-presentation strategies were made accessible. In Experiment 3, participants rated their self-presentation attempts as more effective if they used direct strategies for the near future and indirect strategies for the distant future. Implications for studying the timing of self-presentation and its relation to temporal construal levels are discussed.     

Inferring latent class lexicographic rules from choice data

A lexicographic rule orders multi-attribute alternatives in the same way as a dictionary orders words. Although no utility function can represent lexicographic preference over continuous, real-valued attributes, a constrained linear model suffices for representing such preferences over discrete attributes. We present an algorithm for inferring lexicographic structures from choice data. The primary difficulty in using such data is that it is seldom possible to obtain sufficient information to estimate individual-level preference functions. Instead, one needs to pool the data across latent clusters of individuals. We propose a method that identifies latent clusters of subjects, and estimates a lexicographic rule for each cluster. We describe an application of the method using data collected by a manufacturer of television sets. We compare the predictions of the model with those obtained from a finite-mixture, multinomial-logit model.     

LÉVY HIERARCHY IN WEAK SET THEORIES

We investigate the interactions of formula complexity in weak set theories with the axioms available there. In particular, we show that swapping bounded and unbounded quantification preserves formula complexity in presence of the axiom of foundation weakened to an arbitrary set base, while it does not if the axiom of foundation is further weakened to a proper class base. More attention is being paid to the necessary axioms employed in the positive results, than to the combinatorial strength of the positive results themselves.     

Prayer as Therapeutic Process Toward Aliveness Within a Spiritual Direction Relationship

This article underscores the potential benefit of a specific form of Christian prayer that creates space within a spiritual direction relationship for the creation of inner images that reveal a person’s unconscious relational longings and co-created representations of God. In this specific type of prayer that can be facilitated by mental health professionals and pastoral counselors, imagery of God’s presence is created in the space between a Christian spiritual director and a Christian directee while they are open to inner experiences that reveal God’s presence interacting with infantile processes toward aliveness. Aliveness is understood using Winnicottian notions in dialog with theories proposed by Allan N. Schore, affective neuropsychologist and Clinical Faculty at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Ann Belford Ulanov, Jungian Analyst and Professor of Psychiatry and Religion at Union Theological Seminary and W.R.D., British psychoanalyst in the Objects Relations School. Ideas of transitional space, good enough mother, holding environment, aggression, creativity, and play are set alongside theories of affect regulation, the developing brain, co-created objective God images, the relational nature of God and being received as good while illuminating three prayer experiences during one 30-year-old Asian American woman’s 16-month therapeutic process toward aliveness.

J. Robert Oppenheimer: A Faith Development Portrait

J. Robert Oppenheimer was among the most important and enigmatic figures in 20th century science. He is best known for successfully directing the Manhattan Project that produced the first atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan at the end of World War II. Subsequently, he became a scientist and statesman who advised the United States government in the areas of atomic weapons development and public policy. He later became subject to an investigation in 1954 into his previous political affiliations and his personal behavior that ended in the revoking of his security clearance. This essay seeks to chronicle Oppenheimer’s coming of age as a public intellectual with a view toward his own psychological history and most especially in relationship to the stages of faith development articulated by James Fowler and colleagues. Moreover, though not conventionally religious, Oppenheimer’s life and thought were permeated with themes and ideas of a religious and ethical nature that shaped his adult character and informed his view of the world. This essay was originally presented at The Richardson History of Psychiatry Research Seminar at Weill Cornell Medical College.     

The Metallic Womb

This study of malevolent narcissism examines the relationship between the Washington Snipers, Muhammad and Malvo, from the perspectives of attachment theory and Kleinian theory. Muhammad embodied a perverted understanding of manliness. Malvo was desperate for the love of a father, and fused with the omnipotent destructiveness of John Muhammad. Together they embarked on a failed Quest, recreating the original infant/caregiver scenario, which in their experience was about destruction and death, rather than gratitude and life. Malvo and Muhammad were perfect together, merged into one unit devoted to murder. Their victims were random and multiple, like their early caregivers.