Relational Levels of the “Container-Contained” in Group Therapy

The cornerstone of W. R. Bion's theory of individual and group development is that thinking is a primary emotional need, and it matures in the context of social communication. Bion (1970) formulated the essential relationship between thinking and communicating in terms of the container-contained relationship. Bion (1970) described three types of communication, occurring on different levels of development: commensal, symbiotic, and parasitic. These patterns involve normal and pathological variations of the container-contained and call for different expressions of the therapist's subjectivity. In this paper, I describe each of these alterations as they apply to group therapy and to therapeutic activity. I include case examples of how I utilize the conceptual framework in my work.     

The Therapeutic Factors Inventory: Development of a Scale

Although Yalom's (1995) framework of the therapeutic factors facilitating outcome in group has been accepted by group specialists, no empirically based instrument assesses all of these factors. The Therapeutic Factors Inventory (TFI), with 11 scales based on the therapeutic factors, has been designed to fill this gap. This article summarizes the development and preliminary reliability testing of the TFI. Each scale of the instrument demonstrated high internal consistency; however, one scale obtained unacceptably low test-retest reliability. Further validity testing is needed. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Rewarded remembering: dissociations between self-rated motivation and memory performance

People often claim that they perform better in memory performance tasks when they are more motivated. However, past research has shown minimal effects of motivation on memory performance when factors contributing to item-specific biases during encoding and retrieval are taken into account. The purpose of the present study was to examine the generality of this apparent dissociation by using more sensitive measures of experienced motivation and memory performance. Extrinsic motivation was manipulated through competition instructions, and subjective ratings of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were obtained before and after study instructions. Participants studied a series of words, and memory performance was assessed by content recall (Experiment 1) and source recall (Experiment 2). Both experiments showed dissociation between subjective ratings of extrinsic motivation and actual memory performance, so that competition increased self-rated extrinsic motivation but had no effects on memory performance, including source recall. Inconsistent with most people's expectations, the findings suggest that extrinsic motivation has minimal effects on memory performance.     

Intervention Groups for Adolescents With Conduct Problems: Is Aggregation Harmful or Helpful?

Past research has suggested that the aggregation of deviant peers during treatment may cause harmful effects (T. J. Dishion, J. McCord, & F. Poulin, 1999). This study compared the effectiveness of problem-solving skills training groups in which all members had conduct problems (pure group condition) with groups that consisted of adolescents with and without behavior problems (mixed group condition). Participants were 139 sixth- and seventh-graders (mean age = 12.7; 63% male; 55% White) enrolled at public middle schools. Pre-, post-, and 6-month follow-up data were collected, along with intervention process variables. Results showed that, contrary to the deviancy training hypothesis, adolescents in the pure-group condition engaged in more adaptive in-session behavior and received lower scores on the parent and teacher ratings of externalizing behavior at postintervention than those in the mixed-group condition. Mediation analyses showed that the deviancy training that occurred in the mixed-group condition accounted for their worse postintervention scores, findings consistent with the deviancy training hypothesis.     

Job Insecurity Spillover to Key Account Management: Negative Effects on Performance,Effectiveness, Adaptiveness,and Esprit De Corps

Most of the existing research on outcomes of job insecurity has identified individual-level burdens such as reduced attitudinal attachments toward work and well being. Far fewer studies have examined work-related outcomes that are of substantial concern to organizational success. In this paper, we investigated four new work-related outcomes of job insecurity that are part of the literature on key account management (KAM): customer performance, effectiveness with customers, adaptiveness to changing competitive conditions, and esprit de corps. A total of 353 U.S. based employees participated. The findings of this research suggest that job insecure workers perceive their organizations to be ineffective in delivering on all four KAM outcomes.     

Individual Accountability in Cooperative Learning Groups at the College Level: Differential Effects on High,Average, and Low Exam Performers

Over a three-semester period in a large undergraduate human development course, students were assigned to 5–7 member groups to work together in preparing for an exam in one of the five content units in the course. Their exam performance was tracked over three units: a baseline unit in which students worked only individually, a unit in which they worked in cooperative teams, and a follow-up unit in which the formal cooperative team structure was removed. Three different bonus-credit contingencies were used in the cooperative learning unit across the three semesters: (a) awarding full bonus credit to each individual in the group if the group as a whole improved its exam performance by the specified amount, (b) awarding partial bonus credit to each individual in the group if the group as a whole improved it exam performance by the specified amount and full bonus credit to each individual who also improved by the specified amount, and (c) awarding full bonus credit to an individual in the group if both the group and the individual improved exam performance by the specified amount. The three contingencies produced somewhat similar patterns of change for low and average performers, but the high performers fared better under the last two contingencies than under the group-only contingency.     

同事评价教师绩效的结构验证性因素分析

考察了教师绩效同事评价结果的因素结构。通过文献回顾、开放式调查、关键事件访谈和理论分析,提出了教师绩效的结构,通过验证性因素分析验证了同事评价教师绩效的结构。发现教师绩效包含6个维度,即职业道德、职务奉献、助人合作、教学效能、教学价值与师生互动,前3个维度组成关系绩效,其余维度组成任务绩效。关系绩效与任务绩效有较高的相关。     

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.     

意象活动与自尊水平关系的研究

在当今的许多团体心理辅导和训练中,关于苹果意象的活动常常被用于测量团训参与者的自尊水平。但其科学性一直没有得到实证研究验证。该研究采用了这种意象想象技术,同时用SES量表测量其自尊程度。并通过对测量结果的统计分析,揭示了苹果意象大小与自尊水平之间的关系。     

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.