Bridging the gap between intentions and behavior: Implementation intentions, action control, and procrastination

In the context of Ajzen’s (1991) theory of planned behavior, the antecedents of intentions are better understood than the antecedents of behavior. The current study aimed to improve the understanding of the transition from intentions to behavior. Based on the work of Gollwitzer (1993), Kuhl and Beckmann (1994), and Lay (1986) we proposed a model of mediators (i.e., implementation intentions) and moderators (i.e., action-state orientation and trait procrastination) in the intention-behavior relation. The model was applied to job seeking, and tested using longitudinal survey data of a sample of unemployed individuals in The Netherlands (N = 175). Support was found for the proposed mediating role of implementation intentions in the relation between job search intention and job search behavior. The proposed moderating roles of action-state orientation and trait procrastination were not supported.     

Intending and Causing

In much of the contemporary discussion of end of life cases, active killing is forbidden doctors, whereas the passive bringing about of death is, e.g., a rather common occurrence in our hospitals. In the former sorts of cases, doctors are held to be causes of death; in the latter sorts of cases, they are held not to be. If they did not cause a death, even though they did passively bring it about, we cannot use casual responsibility for a death in order to raise possible questions about moral responsibility for that death. I here look at part of this insistence that doctors are not a part cause of death and call it into question.     

Parent–adolescent attachment and procrastination: The mediating role of self-worth

Within the theoretical framework of attachment theory, the author examined associations between adolescents' procrastination and their attachment relationships with both mothers and fathers, and explored the potential mediation role of self-worth in these associations. Participants were 384 Chinese adolescents (49.6% boys, average age 15.13 years) from public schools in Shanghai, China. They completed self-report measures of 3 dimensions of parental attachment (i.e., trust, communication, and alienation), general self-worth, and procrastination. The results indicated that both paternal and maternal trust and paternal communication were negatively associated with higher levels of procrastination whereas both paternal and maternal alienation were positively associated with procrastination. In addition, self-worth mediated the associations among 3 dimensions of parental attachment and procrastination. The findings highlighted the importance of parental attachment-based intervention strategies to reduce procrastination among adolescents.     

治疗糖尿病创新药物研究

本论文从治疗2型糖尿病药物应用现状出发,通过对2型糖尿病病理的认识,新发现的主要受体和相关药靶等方面进行分析。指出随着对糖尿病认识的深入发展,治疗糖尿病创新药物研究的发展趋势也发生了相应的变化,就是从局部治疗到全身综合考虑,从药物外部直接地干预到增强自身调节功能。为治疗2-型糖尿病药物发展指明了方向。     

Are Some Psychotherapies Much More Effective Than Others?

In a previous paper we had reported on the examination of comparisons of 18 metaanalyses of active treatments with each other (Luborsky, Rosenthal, Diguer, et al., 2001). These metaanalyses gave a small and nonsignificant mean level of difference between types of treatments. The smallness of this correlation confirms Rosenzweig's (1936) expectation that because of the large overlap in effective ingredients of different psychotherapies, comparative studies of psychotherapies would show little difference. Such a comparison that includes psychoanalyses seems a long way off, but if outcomes of psychoanalyses are defined similarly to those in the other psychotherapies, the expected differences in outcomes may also be small.     

Internet Discussion Forum Summary

Articles Discussed in this forum:
'Symbolic attitude and reverie: problems of symbolization in children and adolescents' by Gustav Bovensiepen and 'Response to Gustav Bovensiepen' by Donald Kalsched     

为了更好地工作：工作恢复的内涵及实现机制

工作恢复是保障员工持续有效应对工作要求,支撑员工“更好地工作”的资源补充机制,也是近年来职业健康心理学研究中的一个热点主题。本文在澄清工作恢复概念的界定和梳理工作恢复影响因素的基础上,着重围绕工作恢复的实现机制进行了分析和探讨。最后,围绕工作恢复相关研究的现状及未来方向进行了总结和展望。     

From active imagination to active life: at the roots of Jungian social activism

Our traditional Western worldview is often unconsciously based on a polarized, dichotomous perspective. However, many of Jung's ideas hint at a deep interrelation between opposites, such as inside and outside, which are, as the principle of synchronicity shows, rooted in a conceptualization of psyche and matter conceived as intertwined. Another pair of philosophical concepts, traditionally considered as opposites, needs further investigation: that between imagination and reality. If we are lucky in our daily practice as analysts, we can use imagination as a powerful tool to help people discover themselves as individuals and to get in deeper, more lively and responsible touch with reality. This paper explores the difference that Jung outlined between ‘active imagination’ and ‘passive fantasies’, and the transformative power of taking an active part in what imaginatively happens – he called it ‘active participation’ – rather than being passively overwhelmed by invasive fantasies. It is argued that it makes a great difference whether we become the actors and not just the spectators of our lives, and this is linked with the core of the individuation process in which, if individuals discover their particular place and meaning in the universe, they can live an ‘active life’, playing a heartfelt and responsible role in the collective world to which they belong. These ideas are at the heart of Jung's work, and they represent one of the roots of Jungian social activism.     

Chaos and self-organization: emergent patterns at critical life transitions

A feeling of chaos can accompany many real-life events over which we have little or no control, and latent developmental needs may create tension that manifests in symptoms of depression or anxiety. Particularly at critical life transitions, conflicts may arise which have no obvious solution. From an analytic perspective, recent scientific models from the area of complexity theory can prove illuminating as analogies to Jung's archetypal view of the individuation process. Throughout life, human beings, like many complex, open systems, pass from disordered phases to more complex stages of order. This paper shows how the scientific concept of self-organization can be compared with our physical and psychological developmental processes. From embryology, the model of the 'epigenetic landscape' (C.H. Waddington) is introduced as an analogy to Jung's individuation process, with a clinical example to illustrate these parallels. The emergent nature of behaviour and development is seen from the viewpoint of the organism as a dynamical system, and Jung's concept of the archetype viewed as an emergent property of the activity of the brain/mind.