‘Caesura’ as Bion’s discourse on method1

The author contends that Caesura, one of Bion’s last works, can be read as the equivalent of Descartes’s Discourse on Method. In this compact and complex text, the dictate of ‘methodical’ and ‘hyperbolic doubt’– so called because it is taken to the extreme form of application to the faculty of thought itself – which, for Descartes, represents the fundamental principle of philosophical and scientific research, is reflected in the formula of ‘transcending the caesura’. Bion directs his attention successively to the pairs of opposing concepts that structure psychoanalytic discourse and demonstrates their paradoxical and non‐separative logic. The binary system of producing meaning is deconstructed through the systematic use of non‐pathological – i.e. not static but dynamic – reversible perspective. A viewpoint that appears natural, self‐evident and primary is plunged into crisis and proves to be founded on what the punctuation mark of the slash excludes. Yet the new point of view does not supplant its predecessor, but supplements it. The conceptual opposition is not overturned, but merely destabilized in such a way as to maintain a creative tension that generates new thoughts. By this technique of wrong‐footing the reader, Bion achieves what is tantamount to a Kuhnian revolution: the transition from Freud’s semiotic or evidential paradigm to an aesthetic one, centred on emotional experience – to a ‘science of at‐one‐ment’. Working with the antithetical concepts of censorship and caesura, the author illustrates some clinical implications of this radical shift.     

Children's note taking as a mnemonic tool

When given the opportunity to take notes in memory tasks, children sometimes make notes that are not useful. The current study examined the role that task constraints might play in the production of nonmnemonic notes. In Experiment 1, children played one easy and one difficult memory game twice, once with the opportunity to make notes and once without that opportunity. More children produced functional notations for the easier task than for the more difficult task, and their notations were beneficial to memory performance. Experiment 2 found that the majority of children who at first made nonmnemonic notations were able to produce functional notations with minimal training, and there was no significant difference in notation quality or memory performance between spontaneous and trained note takers. Experiment 3 revealed that the majority of children could transfer their training to a novel task. The results suggest that children’s production of nonmnemonic notes may be due in part to a lack of knowledge regarding what task information is important to represent or how to represent it in their notes rather than to an inability to make functional notes in general.     

Looking through the eyes of the powerful

Across four experiments, we test the idea that power decreases metastereotyping, and that this effect is mediated by reduced perspective taking. Metastereotypes refer to the beliefs that members of group A share about the stereotypes that members of specific outgroup B typically have about ingroup A. We propose that the dominant psychological orientation of the powerless is aimed at seeing how others see them. In an intergroup situation they are therefore inclined to activate and apply metastereotypes. In the first three experiments we consistently find that low power leads to more metastereotyping than high power and control (in Experiment 3). Specifically, we show this effect with three different manipulations of power, namely a role manipulation (Experiment 1), experiential priming (Experiment 2), and parafoveal priming (Experiment 3). In the fourth experiment we uncover the mediating role of perspective taking. Together these findings provide strong evidence that powerlessness leads to metastereotyping.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">My Way</Emphasis> and Life’s Highway: Replies to Steward,Smilansky, and Perry

I seek to reply to the thoughtful and challenging papers by Helen Steward, Saul Smilansky, and John Perry. Steward argues that agency itself requires access to alternative possibilities; I attempt to motivate my denial of this view. I believe that her view here is no more plausible than the view (which she rejects) that it is unfair to hold someone morally responsible, unless he has genuine access to alternative possibilities. Smilansky contends that compatibilism is morally shallow, and that we can see this from the “ultimate perspective.” In reply, I explore the nature of “zooming” arguments, and I contend that even from a somewhat more detached perspective, important features that distinguish us from mere animals can be discerned (even in a causally deterministic universe). Finally, I seek to address Perry’s defense of classical compatibilism. My main objection to his form of compatbilism is that agents must be construed as having a certain kind of “baggage”—even on his own account.

Chimpanzees do not take into account what others can hear in a competitive situation

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) know what others can and cannot see in a competitive situation. Does this reflect a general understanding the perceptions of others? In a study by Hare et al. (2000) pairs of chimpanzees competed over two pieces of food. Subordinate individuals preferred to approach food that was behind a barrier that the dominant could not see, suggesting that chimpanzees can take the visual perspective of others. We extended this paradigm to the auditory modality to investigate whether chimpanzees are sensitive to whether a competitor can hear food rewards being hidden. Results suggested that the chimpanzees did not take what the competitor had heard into account, despite being able to locate the hiding place themselves by the noise.     

未来取向应对的双阶段序列模型及其时间透视机制

最近的研究表明, 未来取向应对对于应激管理起着不可忽视的重要作用。但预先应对和预防应对的关系及其作用机制, 一直是困扰应对研究者的重要问题。我们的前期工作显示, 序列模型比平行模型能更好地表征预先应对和预防应对的内在关系, 时间透视比威胁知觉更能解释预防应对的前因。本项目首次以时间知觉和内隐态度为切入点, 探索未来取向应对机制的理论模型。研究内容拟包括：(1)以大学生就业为情境, 构建未来取向应对的双阶段序列模型; (2)以大学生入学适应为情境, 用内隐认知充实和验证未来取向应对的序列模型; (3)用时间折扣模型的任务范式, 探讨未来取向应对不同阶段的时间透视机制：(4)用威胁性和中性的阈下面孔作情绪启动, 验证未来取向应对不同阶段的时间透视机制。本研究为发掘预先应对和预防应对的关系及其内在机制, 及基于未来取向应对的干预在心理健康和教育领域的应用奠定了基础。     

Validation of the Japanese Version of the Modified Balanced Time Perspective Scale: Factor Structure,Reliability, and Validity Results1

A balanced time perspective (BTP) is defined as a frequent and equal tendency to think positively about both one's past and future. A BTP is related to greater psychological well-being, such as life satisfaction and wisdom, and these BTP associations may vary cross-culturally, although few studies of BTP in non-Western countries exist. In order to advance cross-cultural comparisons of BTP, an important methodological step is to validate BTP measures in different cultures. This study aimed to develop and validate a Japanese version of the modified Balanced Time Perspective Scale (mBTPS). Japanese participants (N = 1,020, aged 18–79 years) completed the mBTPS-J, along with Japanese versions of the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI-J) and measures of well-being (life satisfaction and wisdom scales). Factor analysis of the mBTPS-J resulted in a 27-item mBTPS-J consisting of Past, Present, and Future subscales. Correlations between the relevant mBTPS-J and ZTPI-J subscales, and with the well-being measures, supported both convergent and predictive validity, respectively. The demonstrated psychometric strengths of the mBTPS-J will allow for specific testing of important cross-cultural questions.     

Tomorrow I’ll be me: The effect of time perspective on the activation of idealistic versus pragmatic selves

It is widely accepted that the self-system is dynamic and consists of multiple selves that emerge under different contexts. The present research describes two types of diverging self-conceptions, the idealistic and pragmatic selves. Building on a synthesis of construal level theory with research on the self, we propose that a more distal time perspective activates an idealistic versus a pragmatic self. Self-activation, in turn, influences the preference between two major motives: maximizing identity versus instrumental benefits. A series of five studies supported this conceptualization by demonstrating that: (a) distal rather than proximal time perspective enhances the preference for identity over instrumental benefits; (b) people construe themselves as relatively more idealistic than pragmatic when primed with a distal than proximal time perspective, and (c) self-activation mediates the effect of time perspective on preference. The studies also investigate boundary conditions and process measures that shed light on the interface between time, self, and preference. The final section discusses the theoretical implications for the literatures on construal level, self, and justice and the practical implications for organizational behavior, political psychology, and human decision-making.     

Working memory deficit in children with mathematical difficulties: a general or specific deficit?

This study examined whether children with mathematical difficulties (MDs) or comorbid mathematical and reading difficulties have a working memory deficit and whether the hypothesized working memory deficit includes the whole working memory system or only specific components. In the study, 31 10-year-olds with MDs and 37 10-year-olds with both mathematical and reading difficulties were compared with 47 age-matched and 50 younger controls (9-year-olds) on a number of working memory tasks. Compared with the age-matched controls, both groups of children with MDs performed worse on tasks tapping the central executive (e.g., visual matrix span) and the phonological loop (e.g., word span). More important, the MD group performed worse than the younger controls on the counting span task, whereas the group with comorbid mathematical and reading difficulties performed worse on the counting span task and the visual matrix span task. These findings provide support for the assumption that children with MDs have a working memory deficit. More specifically, children with MDs have a central executive deficit connected to concurrent processing and storage of numerical and visual information.