Issues of Power, Control, and Status in Group Interaction: From Ferenczi to Foucault

Examination of the issues of power, control, and status in human interaction is made from the works of Kafka, Ferenczi, and Foucault. Ferenczi's confusion of tongues theory as a model is used to describe the dynamics of charismatic group leadership in training group for analyst group candidates.     

From I: A/M to “Who am I?”—Aggregation/Massification and Trauma-Based Affects and Object Relations in Groups: A Response to Earl Hopper

Hopper's portrayal of the fourth basic assumption of Incohesion: Aggregation/Massification has two components: (1) a revision of Turquet's theory of BA Oneness to incorporate the polarity of aggregation and massification stemming from annihilation anxiety; and (2) a conception of the difficult patient as having an encapsulated psychosis. Hopper's theory of the encapsulated psychosis offers an important but incomplete perspective in explaining borderline and narcissistic pathology, as well as psychological trauma. In this response to Hopper, I suggest that the fourth assumption is in fact a still more primitive state of boundary opening and closing. I also see a need to differentiate trauma as such from borderline pathology, and further hold that the relationship between Hopper's British Independent theory and trauma theories based on dissociation needs to be clarified.     

Living with Contradictions: The Taken-for-Granted in Israeli Political Discourse

Two apparently contradictory ideas are closely linked in Israeli political discourse: Israel is powerful and independent and Israel is vulnerable and dependent. This study used content analysis and focus groups, as well as existing survey data analyzed by others, to explore how this paradox has been reflected in newspapers and conversations during six different time periods from 1948 to 1996. The goal was not to explain the paradox but to examine its consequences for Israeli perceptions of U.S. policy in the Middle East—and, in the process, to explore Israeli self-images. The nature of U.S. strategic interests was originally treated as problematic and in need of political discussion, but in the past 25 years these interests have become taken for granted. Surprisingly, even after the end of the Cold War, a critical discourse moment in which a reexamination of U.S. interests in the Middle East would seem inevitable, the U.S. role remains taken for granted and largely unexamined. The strong/vulnerable paradox explains this absence of discussion: Examining U.S. interests too closely upsets the delicate balance that keeps the sense of vulnerability in check.     

The more, the merrier? Numerical strength versus subgroup distinctiveness in minority groups

Evidence attests to the efforts made by minority groups to defend and promote ‘distinctive’ attributes that potentially define the ingroup. However, these attributes are often only available to a prototypical minority within the minority category. In two studies we tested the hypothesis that, under certain conditions, large projected increases in the numerical strength of a ‘distinctive’ attribute (emotional intelligence in Study 1; ingroup language in Study 2) within a minority category can paradoxically evoke less-than-positive reactions from those who already have the attribute. Findings confirmed that while a large projected increase in the numerical strength of a ‘distinctive’ attribute was viewed positively when the comparative context focused on the inter-category relation with a majority outgroup, this increase was viewed less positively, and as undermining their own identity, in a narrower intra-category context. Implications for identity management strategies in minority groups are discussed.     

Recognizing discrimination explicitly while denying it implicitly: Implicit social identity protection

Past research suggests that members of devalued groups recognize their groups are discriminated against. Do the implicit responses of members of these groups demonstrate the same pattern? We argue that they do not and that this is due to a motivated protection of members of devalued groups' social identity. Study 1 demonstrates that, at an explicit level African-Canadians recognize that their group is discriminated against, but at an implicit level African-Canadians think that most people like their group to a greater extent than do European-Canadians. Study 2 replicates this implicit finding with Muslim participants while demonstrating that, when affirmed, this group difference disappears. Study 3 demonstrates that implicit normative regard can predict collective action over and above implicit attitudes and explicit normative regard. The implications for changing the status quo are discussed.     

Shared space: Different age groups’ perspectives

BackgroundShared spaces, in the context of road transport, often refer to areas shared by unprotected and protected road users and intended to facilitate a living city space for every-one. A basic idea behind shared spaces is to create traffic safety by inducing some uncertainty. This study investigates how young, middle-aged, and elderly pedestrians experience shared space, as well as whether and, if so, how two shared space designs (without and with large flowerpots) affect this experience.MethodThirty-seven participants, divided into three age groups, participated in the study, conducted in Fisherman’s Square, Västervik, Sweden. An adjacent non-signal-regulated pedestrian crossing was used as a control. Two studies – visual scanning and Q studies – were combined. In the visual scanning study, eye-tracking examined how the two designs affected the participants’ visual scanning behaviour (i.e., what participants looked at) as pedestrians. In the Q-study, Q-methodology was used to examine how the two designs affected the participants’ experiences as pedestrians.ResultsThe visual scanning study showed that different age groups were affected in different ways by designs without and with large flowerpots in the shared space. While the middle-aged participants always glanced more often at traffic-relevant objects, and young participants always glanced equally often at traffic-relevant and non-traffic-relevant objects, the elderly participants changed their visual scanning behaviour depending on the design. Without large flowerpots deployed, the elderly participants glanced more often at traffic-relevant than non-traffic-relevant objects. No such difference was obtained when large flowerpots were deployed. The Q-study showed that participants, regardless of age, experienced no great uncertainty in this shared space. The perceived uncertainty, which nevertheless existed, was reduced with large flowerpots deployed to recreate the traditional division with clear zones where pedestrians could stay in relatively car-free areas while motor vehicles had clear paths to travel along.ConclusionThe results suggest that shared space, without large flowerpots, succeeded in inducing some uncertainty, especially among middle-aged and elderly pedestrians. However, deploying large flowerpots seemed to decrease this uncertainty, especially among elderly pedestrians. The major concern prompted by these results is how this decreased uncertainty affects traffic safety. Shared space also needs to be studied from the car driver’s perspective to understand the interaction between different road user groups.     

大学生的基本兴趣及其与专业承诺的关系

该研究调查了1304名来自18个不同专业领域的大学生的基本兴趣和专业承诺,并用回归法分析了特定基本兴趣与专业承诺之间的关系.结果发现：（1）大学生的31种基本兴趣在二维空间中呈现近似圆形的排列,且基本兴趣结构上的性别差异不明显;（2）在14个专业领域内大学生的特定基本兴趣能显著预测其专业承诺,所解释的变异量平均为20％,接近中等水平的效果大小;（3）在不同专业领域内基本兴趣对专业承诺的影响效果大小有所不同.     

Show them the money? The role of pay,managerial need support,and justice in a self‐determination theory model of intrinsic work motivation

The link between money and motivation has been a debated topic for decades, especially in work organizations. However, field studies investigating the amount of pay in relation to employee motivation is lacking and there have been calls for empirical studies addressing compensation systems and motivation in the work domain. The purpose of this study was to examine outcomes associated with the amount of pay, and perceived distributive and procedural justice regarding pay in relation to those for perceived managerial need support. Participants were 166 bank employees who also reported on their basic psychological need satisfaction and intrinsic work motivation. SEM‐analyses tested a self‐determination theory (SDT) model, with satisfaction of the competence and autonomy needs as an intervening variable. The primary findings were that amount of pay and employees' perceived distributive justice regarding their pay were unrelated to employees' need satisfaction and intrinsic work motivation, but procedural justice regarding pay did affect these variables. However, managerial need support was the most important factor for promoting need satisfaction and intrinsic work motivation both directly, indirectly, and as a moderator in the model. Hence, the results of the present organizational field study support earlier laboratory experiments within the SDT framework showing that monetary rewards did not enhance intrinsic motivation. This seems to have profound implications for organizations concerned about motivating their employees.     

Searching for certainty: Religious beliefs and intolerance toward value-violating groups

Religiosity has been consistently linked to prejudice toward a variety of outgroups. This article proposes that this is the case only when religiosity reflects a specific aspect of seeking guidance and security in daily practices and complex sociocultural norms. Outgroups that challenge the epistemic certainty that belief in God provides are rejected in an effort to protect this certainty. The results from two studies found that uncertainty avoidance was related to belief in God and this belief mediated the relationship between uncertainty avoidance and intolerance within the context of general human rights (Study 1), and the derogation of value-violating groups (e.g., homosexuals or followers of other religions) but not of groups that pose no threat to religious values (old or poor people) (Study 2). The interpretative dimension of religiosity (i.e., the way in which people process religious content) is not connected to security seeking, as reflected in the lack of a correlation with uncertainty avoidance and with different prejudice measures. The results are discussed in relation to past research on religiosity and prejudice, and suggest that for people who avoid uncertainty, only those types of religious beliefs that provide a sense of certainty are linked with intolerance toward value-violating groups.     

Unfamiliar face matching: Pairs out‐perform individuals and provide a route to training

Matching unfamiliar faces is known to be difficult. Here, we ask whether performance can be improved by asking viewers to work in pairs, a manipulation known to increase accuracy for low‐level visual discrimination tasks. Across four experiments we consistently find that face matching accuracy is higher for pairs of viewers than for individuals. This ‘pairs advantage’ is generally driven by adopting the response of the higher scoring partner. However, when the task becomes difficult, both partners' performance is improved by working in a pair. In two experiments, we find evidence that working in a pair can lead to subsequent improvements in individual performance, specifically for viewers whose accuracy is initially low. The pairs' technique therefore offers the opportunity for substantial improvements in face matching performance, along with an added training benefit.