Power cut in the countertransference

This paper is an attempt to describe and understand a certain type of defence that I shall call a 'power cut' because of its crippling and anti-relational nature. I will take extracts from a baby observation to show how this type of defence can be adopted from the beginning of life, followed by vignettes from my work with a young child and an adult patient which addresses the particular kind of difficulty the analyst has to face with patients who resort to such a defence. I am arguing that while defending from another, the patient is able to destabilize not only the connection between himself and this other, the analyst, but also that between the analyst and the analyst's internal world. I understand this as the violent re-enactment of the patient's uncontained and split off primitive experience. I see recovery from 'power cuts' as the main challenge for the analyst who is helping the patient to recover from an early failure in containment which has led to defective splitting. Only when the unthinkable experience of 'power cut' can become an experience that can be lived through and converted into a deintegrate, may integration be achieved.     

Sonu Shamdasani interviewed by Ann Casement

Abstract :  Sonu Shamdasani interviewed by Ann Casement about Jung's  The Red Book: Liber Novus  in the course of which they range over issues to do with what drew Shamdasani to Jung; how he came to be involved in editing, translating and publishing  Liber Novus ; why he is so passionate about it; where it stands in relation to Jung's other work; some of the central figures that appear in the book such as  Philemon  and  Izdubar ; what  Liber Novus  might offer training candidates and succeeding generations of Jungians; how it has changed Shamdasani's own impression of Jung and what he hopes this enormous project will achieve; why Jung did not publish it in his own lifetime and whether he was mistaken in not doing so; and what impact the publication of  Liber Novus  will have on Jung's reputation worldwide as well as within the Jungian community.     

第二语言句子加工的ERP研究

研究者对第一语言句子加工的事件相关电位(ERP)进行研究,提出了句子加工三阶段模型及对应的ERP成分。第二语言(L2)句子加工的ERP研究结果很不一致。首先,从句子加工的ERP反应模式上来看,大多数研究发现L2学习者的ERP反应模式和母语者有质的差异,少数研究发现L2学习者加工L2句子的ERP模式类似母语者,但其反应的时间进程、波幅或分布与母语者有显著差异。被试的学习年龄、熟练程度以及学习者的两种语言的相似性程度可能是影响第二语言句子加工ERP反应的主要因素。     

Testing the redintegration hypothesis by a single probe recognition paradigm

The lexicality effect in verbal short-term memory (STM), in which word lists are better recalled than nonwords lists, is considered to reflect the influence of linguistic long-term memory (LTM) knowledge on verbal STM performance. The locus of this effect remains, however, a matter of debate. The redintegrative account considers that degrading phonological traces of memoranda are reconstructed at recall by selecting lexical LTM representations that match the phonological traces. According to a strong version of this account, redintegrative processes should be strongly reduced in recognition paradigms, leading to reduced LTM effects. We tested this prediction by contrasting word and nonword memoranda in a fast encoding probe recognition paradigm. We observed a very strong lexicality effect, with better and faster recognition performance for words as compared to nonwords. These results do not support a strong version of the redintegrative account of LTM effects in STM which considers that these LTM effects would be the exclusive product of reconstruction mechanisms. If redintegration processes intervene in STM recognition tasks, they must be very fast, which at the same time provides support for models considering direct activation of lexico-semantic knowledge during verbal STM tasks.     

Challenged Expectations: Mere Exposure Effects on Attitudes About Transgender People and Rights

Social categorization processes may be initiated by physical appearance, which have the potential to influence how people evaluate others. Categorizations ground what stereotypes and prejudices, if any, become activated. Gender is one of the first features people notice about others. Much less is known about individuals who may transgress gender expectations, including people who are transgender. Using an experiment, this study investigates whether the attitudes that people have about transgender people and rights are influenced by information and facial images. We hypothesize that mere exposure to transgender people, via information and images of faces, should be a source of prejudice reduction. We randomly provide participants with vignettes defining transgender and also randomize whether these vignettes come with facial images, varying the physical features of gendered individuals. We find our treatments have lower levels of discomfort and transphobia but have little effect on transgender rights attitudes. We further find that the impacts are stronger among Democrats than among Republicans. Our findings support the argument that people are in general unfamiliar with transgender people, and the mere exposure to outgroups can be a source of prejudice reduction.     

Examining subjective and physiological responses to norm violation using text-based vignettes

In this article, we describe a paradigm using text-based vignettes for the study of social and cultural norm violation. Towards this aim, a range of scenarios depicting instances of norm violations was generated and tested with respect to their ability in evoking subjective and physiological responses. In Experiment 1, participants evaluated 29 vignettes on how upsetting, excusable and realistic the described behaviour appeared to be. Based on those ratings we selected and extended three norm violation vignettes for Experiment 2 in which participants' physiological responses were obtained in addition to their subjective ratings. In both studies, the vignettes were successful in eliciting negative responses to norm violations and were significantly affected by the perceivers' level of ethnocultural empathy. The trait measure of cultural empathy further predicted facial electromyography (EMG) activity at muscle sites associated with disgust (M. Levator Labii), thereby suggesting a potential moral response to norm-violating scenarios. We discuss the methodological merits and implications of this vignettes paradigm for investigating perceived norm transgressions and make recommendations for future work.     

Pokemon gaming causes pedestrians to run a red light: An observational study of crossing behaviours at a signalised intersection in Taipei City

Since the launch of the smartphone game “Pokemon Go”, the worldwide craze has led to numerous traffic crashes and injuries resulting from falling or tripping. This paper investigates the effects of several smartphone distracting activities (gaming, talking, texting, Web surfing, and listening to music) on the street-crossing behaviours of pedestrians in Taipei City, Taiwan. A field study using video cameras was conducted to observe pedestrian crossing behaviours (e.g., crossing time, sudden movements, running a red light, and walking outside the crosswalk) at a selected signalised intersection. Data such as phone features, distracting activities, and personal attributes of the pedestrians were obtained in interviews conducted after pedestrians had completed crossing the street. In total, 1995 pedestrians engaging in various smartphone activities were observed. Results indicate that unsafe crossing behaviours were more prevalent among those playing “Pokemon Go”. Texting via instant-message apps appeared to be the second-most risk distracting activity. Results of the logistic models reveal that contributing factors to unsafe behaviours include being a student, phone screen of 5 in. or larger, and having an unrestricted 4G Internet data allowance. Two interaction terms (gaming × students, and gaming × unlimited 4G data allowance) in the models appear to be important determinants of unsafe crossing behaviours. The current research suggests that to prevent potential crashes and injuries, smartphone gaming while crossing the street should be prohibited.     

What is The Red Book for analytical psychology?

Abstract: The Red Book enters the field of analytical psychology belatedly, yet presents itself as a foundational text. In this paper, I try to estimate how it will affect the field and to reflect on how it can be used by contemporary readers and clinicians. Jung's own works remain the baseline for theorizing and teaching the fundamental perspectives of analytical psychology, and yet the field has grown far beyond his own contributions. Is this late inheritance of central value or only of peripheral interest for the field? It can be used in various ways and certainly shows many interesting features that link it to Jung's later works, but does it detract or does it add? And if it adds, what does it add? In The Red Book, Jung is speaking to us from the grave. What is he saying? In this paper, I explore how it can be used as an inspirational text for keeping alive the spirit of the ancestors in the field and for linking the present to the deep past.     

易、庄哲学中“通”的观念及其当代启示

"通"是中国传统哲学与文化中的重要语词之一,也是重要的思想与哲学的概念和观念之一。《周易》哲学中的"穷变通久"观念,庄子哲学中的"道通为一"的观念,都是中国古代哲学的对"通"所作出的智慧性的哲学思考。就学术史而言,章学诚《释通》一文则比较全面地阐释了中国传统文化中"通"的观念,以及"通"与"专"的辩证关系。本文则在传统哲学思想的基础之上,提出了"通性"的哲学思考,希望能以"通"为核心观念建立当代中国哲学的"通"论。     

Jung's Red Book and its relation to aspects of German idealism

The late nineteenth century saw a renaissance of interest in the thought of the German Romantic philosopher, F.W.J. Schelling. This paper takes Jung's engagement with Schelling and his awareness of Schellingian ideas and interests (notably, the mysterious Kabeiroi worshipped at Samothrace) as its starting-point. It goes on to argue that a key set of problematics in German Idealism - the relation between freedom and necessity, between science and art, and ultimately between realism and idealism - offers a useful conceptual framework within which to approach Jung's Red Book. For the problem of the ideal is central to this work, which can be read as a journey from eternal ideals to the ideal of eternity. (Although the term 'idealism' has at least four distinct meanings, their distinct senses can be related in different ways to Jung's thinking.) The eloquent embrace of idealism by F.T. Vischer in a novel, Auch Einer, for which Jung had the highest praise, reminds us of the persistence of this tradition, which is still contested and debated in the present day.