A Functional Analysis of 2004 Ukrainian Presidential Debates

Political leaders’ debates are an important and highly visible instances of public argumentation. As such, they merit scholarly attention. This essay applies the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse to analyze televised presidential debates from the Ukraine in 2004. Overall, this analysis revealed that acclaims were the most common function, followed by attacks and then defenses. Policy was addressed more often than character in these debates, as expected. The incumbent candidate acclaimed significantly more and attacked less than the challenger. The incumbents used past deeds significantly more often to acclaim – and less to attack – than the challengers. Finally, general goals and ideals were used more as the basis for acclaims than attacks in these debates. Implications of these results are discussed.     

Anger in Wikipedia: Perceived intentionality and threat appraisal as mediators of anger about man‐made attacks

The online encyclopedia Wikipedia has established strict guidelines for the objectivity of content. At the same time, Wikipedia includes articles on negative events, such as disasters or man‐made attacks. These events can elicit strong emotions, which in turn may spill over into Wikipedia articles. Previous research has shown that Wikipedia articles on man‐made attacks contain more anger‐related content than Wikipedia articles on disasters. Building on these findings, we aimed to investigate whether the threat that Wikipedia authors experience when they learn of an attack is relevant as a factor in explaining the anger effect. Threat is known to elicit active and engaged reactions, such as anger, which is why it is a likely explaining factor. Our research also aimed to replicate the findings from the linguistic analysis of the Wikipedia articles using controlled scenario‐based laboratory experiments. Three studies demonstrated that man‐made attacks (terrorist attack, shooting rampage) elicited more threat, more anger, and more expressions of anger‐related content in Wikipedia texts than nature‐made disasters (earthquake, flood) and man‐made disasters (train accident). Moreover, threat was relevant as a factor in explaining the effects on anger and anger‐related content in the Wikipedia texts. These mediations could be explained by the perceived intentionality of the event. This research highlights the findings that perceived intentionality and threat are relevant mediating factors for feelings and expressions of anger after man‐made attacks.     

The Psychology of Leadership Destabilization: An Analysis of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Debates

When contesting for political office, leaders do not only seek to build their own following but also to engage in attacks to destabilize opponent leaders. However, research has yet to explore and explain the nature of attacks that seek to destabilize a leader's influence. Building on the identity leadership model which sees leadership as flowing from a leader's capacity to promote a sense of shared identity with followers, we argue that a leader can be destabilized if followers come to see the leader as defiling, devaluing, dividing, and destroying this shared sense of “us.” To explore these ideas, we analyzed the attack rhetoric used by Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump during the 2016 U.S. presidential debates to examine how they sought to subvert each other's leadership. Our analysis supports the proposed model and sheds light on the hitherto underexplored topic of leadership destabilization. Moreover, by helping us understand the ways in which principles of identity leadership can be weaponized to destabilize leadership, the analysis defines an important agenda for future research.     

Étude des victimes des attentats du 13 novembre 2015, pris en charge au centre du psychotrauma de l’institut de victimologie

The care of a victim is a multidisciplinary care. However, we have few data regarding the impact of these different supports on the terrorist attacks victims, especially in France. Thus, we’ve carried out a clinical survey in order to assess the psychopathological development among 27 patients regarding to their perception of the sociomedical, psychological, judicial and police support they got. An assessment has been made based on the sociodemographic and psychopathological data of the subjects we included. We made the assessments 3 and 12 months after the terrorist attack, regarding to depressive, traumatic, peritraumatic (dissociation and distress) symptoms, sleeping disorders and the perceived quality of social support. Otherwise, they answered a subjective inventory of the quality of the help, support and care they were offered after the attack. Those data confirmed that the traumatic, peritraumatic, depressive and sleeping disorders were severe after such a traumatic event. We stated the fact that the clinical development was partly positively correlated with the favourable perception of the different supports. The welcoming and support from the various actors in victimology are key features in lowering the avoidance and improving the perception of the social support, which we know are two essential criteria in the traumatism development. We propose lines of thoughts to find a proper grasp of those extreme situations, likely to affect any segment of the population.     

Validity and reliability of the panic attack symptoms and cognitions questionnaires

The present article reports on the development and validation of two self-report instruments designed to assess the symptoms and cognitions associated with panic attacks. The Panic Attack Symptoms Questionnaire (PASQ) as well as the Panic Attack Cognitions Questionnaire (PACQ) successfully differentiated a group of anxiety-disordered individuals with panic attacks from a group of anxiety-disordered individuals without panic attacks. Reliability estimates based on Cronbach's alpha were adequate, and two discriminant functions designed to determine whether each of these questionnaires contributed uniquely to the separation of individuals with and without panic attacks beyond that provided by standard measures of anxiety and depression supported the validity of these questionnaires. The PASQ and PACQ appear to be useful vehicles for assessing the presence and severity of panic attacks.     

Children's Cognitive Responses to the Somatic Symptoms of Panic

The purpose of this study was to test Nelles and Barlow's (1988) hypothesis that spontaneous panic attacks are rare or nonexistent prior to adolescence as children lack the ability to make the internal, catastrophic attributions (i.e., thoughts of losing control, going crazy, or dying) characteristic of panic according to the cognitive model (Clark, 1986). Conceptions of panic attacks, including the understanding of symptoms and causes, and cognitive interpretations of the somatic symptoms of panic were examined in children from Grades 3, 6, and 9. A significant main effect for grade was found for conceptions of panic attacks, with third graders receiving significantly lower scores than sixth and ninth graders. However, the majority of all children, regardless of age, tended to employ internal (e.g., I'd think I was scared or nervous) rather than external (e.g., I'd think I was feeling that way because of the temperature or the weather) explanations of panic attacks. No significant grade differences were found for the tendency to make internal versus external and catastrophic versus noncatastrophic attributions in response to the somatic symptoms of panic. When presented with panic imagery in a panic induction phase, children, regardless of age, made more internal and noncatastrophic attributions. Finally, internal attributional style in response to negative outcomes and anxiety sensitivity were found to be significant predictors of internal, catastrophic attributions. The challenge that these findings pose to Nelles and Barlow's hypothesis, and their relevance for understanding children's cognitive interpretations of panic symptomatology are discussed.     

The effects of collective anger and fear on policy support in response to terrorist attacks

ABSTRACT

Both correlational and experimental studies examined how perceived emotional responses of the majority of Americans to 9/11 affect individuals’ support for government counter-terrorism policies (i.e., military intervention, anti-immigration, restricting civil liberties). Study 1 found associations between perceived collective emotions (i.e., anger, fear) and individuals’ own corresponding emotions and those between perceived collective anger and counter-terrorism policy support. Individuals’ own anger mediated the associations of collective anger with policy support. Using experimental manipulations, Study 2 showed that collective anger had a significant effect on individuals’ own anger and one significant and two marginal effects on counter-terrorism policy support. Individuals’ own anger mediated one of the marginal effects of collective anger on policy support. Implications of these findings are discussed in the context of terrorist threat.     

Say hello to the scream extractor: working with an autistic child with psychotic mechanisms

This paper describes the first two years of intensive psychotherapy with a six-year-old boy diagnosed with autism. I explore the many ways in which he retreated from reality, most frequently by taking refuge inside the maternal body or flying off into an imaginary space world. He fragmented his identity and that of his objects by using the discourse of fictional characters. Everything was externalised; there was little transmutation of material available for thought. I consider his dilemma – the wish to fuse with the object and the fear of being engulfed; the omnipotent denial of the need for an object and of the parental relationship, leading to an inability to make links. The paper discusses working with a child who experienced any ‘paternal’ firmness as persecuting and destructive. The softer, receptive maternal mind of the therapist was more easily tolerated. He gradually began to internalise a more benign combined object, as he became more able to bear separateness from the other.     

Psychoanalysis and psychoanalysts in France between 1939 and 1945

France was affected by a deep psychoanalytic silence, both in theoretical and clinical fields, throughout the four years of German occupation. The psychoanalytic Institute closed its doors and the Revue française de Psychanalyse interrupted its publication as soon as the armistice was declared in 1940. Some people, e.g. Rudolf Loewenstein or Princess Marie Bonaparte emigrated, others fought, for instance, Sacha Nacht or Paul Schiff. Daniel Lagache went on with his researches under the auspices of the University of Strasbourg which had sought shelter in Clermont-Ferrand. René Laforgue cooperated with the German occupier; after the Liberation of France in 1944 he was discarded from a group in which, a few years before, he may have entertained the hope of playing an outstanding role. Quite a few of those he analysed remained faithful to him - which was to have an important bearing on the evolution of the psychoanalytic movement in France after 1945. In 1945, indeed, the new generation emerging from the last convulsions of the war, were to gather around the most influential potential leaders: Sacha Nacht and Jacques Lacan. Only after the latency of those silent years, only after those years of violent struggles and cowardice, would the psychoanalytic elaboration appear, along with the institutional feuds to which they gave rise - in a conflictual climate amounting to the scission of 1953.