Growth in emotional intelligence. Psychotherapy with a learning disabled girl

This paper describes the once-weekly psychoanalytic psychotherapy of a girl, called Ellie, aged eight at the start of her treatment. Ellie had a learning disability and displayed difficult behaviour at school and at home. In her therapy, Ellie grew in emotional intelligence, more in touch with and able to express her feelings. Her behaviour improved and so did her capacity to learn. In the therapy there were certain limitations to progress and this is discussed in terms of how Ellie's disability affected the basic achievements of emotional development, including a mind with a solid ‘reality ego’, able to contain anxiety, and able to maintain depressive functioning. The importance of parallel parent work, to share observations and understanding of the child's functioning is discussed. Difficulties for both child and parents in dealing with the pain of difference and how this limits emotional intelligence are discussed. The author hopes that this paper will encourage the offering of psychoanalytic psychotherapy to children and young people with learning disabilities, who are significantly more likely to suffer from mental health problems than their peers.     

Book reviews

Kast, Verena. Father-Daughter, Mother-Son: Freeing Ourselves from the Complexes that Bind Us
Edinger, Edward F. Melville's Moby-Dick: An American Nekyia
Edinger, Edward F. The New God Image: A Study of Jung's Key Letters Concerning the Evolution of the Western God Image
Dreifuss, Gustav & Riemer, Judith. Abraham, The Man and the Symbol
Storr, Anthony. Feet of Clay: A Study of Gurus
Taylor, Eugene. William James on Consciousness Beyond the Margin
Shulman, Helene. Living at the Edge of Chaos: Complex Systems in Culture and Psyche     

项目等距呈现过程中的系列位置效应

以中国汉字为材料,利用刘英茂提出的向前和向后联想的方法,证明在不同呈现时间和不同间隔时间条件下,系列位置曲线中首因效应和近因效应性质的分化过程。结果说明,系列位置曲线的近因部分对时间变化更为敏感,表现为绝对记忆的性质。系列位置曲线中首因效应和近因效应性质的分化,取决于项目呈现时间、项目间隔时间和系列包含的项目数。     

合体汉字字形识别过程探索

该研究用微观发生范式探索了合体汉字和假字的字形识别过程 ,结果发现 :(1 )部件字、真字和假字的正确提取率随呈现时间增长而提高 ,字形刺激的特征加工是一个有序的发展过程 ,对字形的识别加工过程受字形熟悉性和字形结构方式的影响 ;(2 )在左右型字刺激和上下型字刺激中 ,经常首先从右部件或下部件中提取笔画或笔画组合 (称首特征 ) ,而且首特征的提取不受字形熟悉性影响。根据以上结果可以推测 ,字形结构属性在字形识别加工的最初阶段先于特征获加工 ,字形熟悉性则对首特征提取后的特征或部件加工过程产生影响。     

Assuming a Position: Women and Men as Moral Critics in Their Own War Zone

In their search for an authentic moral self, women and men may at some time in their lives assume a position of resistance. Men are most likely to assume this position in the sphere of war. It is not clear, however, where or when women would be expected to assume such a position or what the nature of that position might be, and how far it could be likened to that of the resisting man. This paper explores the idea that choosing to be a single mother can be a position by and from which women can voice their moral criticism. Such position is comparable to the (known and well-studied) position taken by men who show their moral criticism by refusing to participate in a specific battle during a morally controversial war. The paper begins with an examination of the philosophical and psychological concepts of separate and connected moral positions available to resisting men and women in the spheres of war and family. The conclusions are based on data from two samples of resisters in the spheres of war and the family: 36 soldiers (30 years old on average) who decided to take a stand as selective conscientious objectors (SCOs) during a morally controversial war and 50 (biologically) mature single women (over age 30) who chose to become pregnant and to remain unwed mothers. The conceptual and methodological questions regarding this comparison are discussed.     

听力正常人与聋人短时记忆的比较研究

以视觉系列呈现,自由回忆的方法比较了听力正常人与聋人对分别被强化的厂类相似性汉语字表的短时记忆获得量。从总的平均获得量来看,两组结果没有显著差异,而从每一编码维量在短时记忆的加工过程中的作用来看,两组被试都显示出了形、义两维编码维量的作用最强,而音码的作用相对比较弱。两组被试也都显示出了明显的系列位置效应,但聋人组的次级记忆容量明显地低于听力正常组,而初级记忆容量两组没有显著差异。并对可能的机制进行了讨论。     

Anogenital distance and dominance status in male house mice (Mus domesticus)

Factors influencing the tendency to be aggressive were investigated in male house mice using a series of paired encounters. Body size, body lenght, body temperature, age, and anogenital distance were measured on all males. Paired encounters were conducted using a standard mouse cage as an arena. Across 64 males involved in 224 encounters, the tendency to be dominant and win encounters was significantly correlated only with anogenital distance (r = 0.383). These findings suggest that there are significant behavioral effects in male mice that could parallel the intrauterine position and related prental hormone effects that have been elucidated in female house mice and other rodents. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Triangulation mobility of auto‐theft offenders

This research paper presents an examination of the journey to and from crime for auto‐theft offenders in the UK. For 852 offences, ‘wheel’ distances are calculated for triangles formed by offenders' home location, theft location, and vehicle disposal location. The study demonstrates typical isosceles mobility triangles; distances travelled to and from home locations are roughly equal, whereas distances between theft and disposal points were shorter. Distances travelled by offenders under 17 years old and offences involving drug and drink were shown to be shorter than comparison groups. Prolific offenders tend to travel further, although there is significant variation in this subgroup. Explanations and implications are discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Distance patterns and disposal sites in rural area homicides committed in Finland

The present study examined offender characteristics, distance patterns, and the nature of disposal sites in rural area homicides. Pre‐trial investigation files of cases where victims' bodies were found in rural areas in 1994–2005 (n = 46) and forensic psychiatric examination reports of the offenders were content‐analysed. Psychopathy Check List‐Revised was used to assess psychopathy. Investigators of these homicides filled out a questionnaire on the offender's familiarity with the body disposal area, and MapInfo was used to measure offender/victim‐residence‐to‐crime‐to‐body‐disposal‐site distances. Rural area homicides more frequently involved multiple offenders who were significantly younger than offenders in other homicides. Of the victims, 73% were found in woods and 27% in water. Offenders were familiar with disposal sites in over half of the cases. The victim's gender, close relationship with the offender, and the offender's violent crime history were associated with longer homicide‐scene‐to‐body‐disposal‐site distances. The number of inhabitants and offender's violent crime history were related to longer offender‐residence‐to‐body‐disposal‐site distances. Offender's age, intelligence, or psychopathology bore no significant association with the distance patterns. The results can be applied when searching missing persons in homicide investigations and in prioritising suspects in rural area homicides. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Symbolic conceptions: the idea of the third

The idea of the third which appears in Jung's concepts of the transcendent function and the coniunctio also occurs in several psychoanalytic theories concerning the emergence of reflective and symbolic thought in childhood development (defined here as the development of 'imaginal capacity'). Noting the way this process is often conceived in terms of the metaphor of sexual intercourse leading to 'conception', this paper suggests that such images need to be understood as symbolic conceptions of the meaning-making functions of the human mind. This leads to a different view of psychoanalytic theories that attempt to account for the development of imaginal capacity in terms of the Oedipus complex. It is suggested that a) these functions must be operative in the mind before the Oedipal situation can become meaningful and b) that psychoanalytic theories are themselves symbolic conceptions which, like mythological narratives, seek to communicate and comprehend psychic reality through imaginal forms.