Subjective education in analytic training: drawing on values from the art academy

Abstract: Kernberg and others have observed that psychoanalytic education has tended to promote the acquisition of theoretical knowledge and clinical technique within an atmosphere of indoctrination rather than of exploration. As a corrective, he proposed four models that correspond to values in psychoanalytic education: the art academy, the technical trade school, the religious seminary and the university. He commended models of the university and art academy to our collective attention because of their combined effectiveness in providing for the objective and subjective education of candidates: the university model for its capacity to provide a critical sense of a wide range of theories in an atmosphere tolerating debate and difference, and the art academy model for its capacity to facilitate the expression of individual creativity. In this paper, I will explore the art academy model for correspondences between artistic and analytic trainings that can enhance the development of the creative subjectivity of psychoanalytic candidates. I will draw additional correspondences between analytic and artistic learning that can enhance psychoanalytic education.     

Narratives of therapeutic art-making in the context of marital breakdown: older women reflect on a significant mid-life experience

This paper explores the narratives of three women aged 65–72 years. They reflected on an episode of therapeutic art-making in midlife, which addressed depression associated with marital crisis and breakdown. The narrative analysis focused upon on the ways in which participants narrated the events leading up to their participation in therapeutic art-making; the aspects of therapeutic art-making that continued to be given significance; the characters given primacy in the stories they told about their journey through therapy and marital breakdown; meanings, symbolic and otherwise, that participants ascribed to their artwork made during this turning point in their lives; and aspects of the narratives that conveyed present-day identities and artistic endeavors. The narratives revealed the complexity of the journey through marital breakdown and depression into health, and showed that therapeutic art-making could best be understood, not as a stand-alone experience, but as given meaning within the context of wider personal and social resources. Participants looked back on therapeutic art-making that occurred two decades earlier and still described this as a significant turning point in their personal development. Art as an adjunct to counselling/therapy was not only symbolically self-expressive but provided opportunity for decision-making, agency and a reformulated self-image.     

ANIMALIA,HOMO, AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Abstract. I selectively and critically review the state of knowledge about human evolution and the place of humans vis‐à‐vis living apes, with emphasis on bipedal posture and locomotion, expansion of the brain and associated cognitive capacities, speech, tool behavior, culture, and society. I end with a personal perspective on God and Heaven.     

Different Media for Organizational Communication: Perceptions of Quality and Satisfaction

We examined the satisfaction in and perceived quality of information about one’s job, business unit, and company, as well as perceived quality of urgent news (i.e., news about changes in business and generally considered legally sensitive material), communicated via different media. Results from 598 fulltime employees revealed that rich media (e.g., face-to-face) was most related to satisfaction in information about one’s job and business unit and in perceived quality of information from the supervisor; lean media (e.g., company newsletter) was most related to satisfaction in and quality of information from top management, while moderate media (e.g., e-mail) was only significantly related to perceived quality of urgent news. Trust in top management was positively related to satisfaction in and quality of information shared by management. Lean media most strongly related to quality of urgent news, over and above rich communication.The authors would like to thank Monica Moloney for her support on this project.     

Modern racism and neo‐liberal globalization: the discourses of plausible deniability and their multiple functions

Recently, considerable energy has been focused on extending the mandate of anti‐racism. Modern (or symbolic) racism and discursive psychology have argued that racism has taken on more covert forms. A longitudinal examination of newspaper coverage of two important race‐related newsprint stories in New Zealand (involving Winston Peters, Tuku Morgan and New Zealand First) identified discourses of ‘plausible deniability’ involved in warranting or defending statements about minorities against accusations of racism. We discuss implications of symbolic politics for minorities who are perceived to have violated societal norms, and show how nationalism is used as a framework for denying racist intent. Analyses of historical context show how ‘race’ forms only one lens from which to view issues of intergroup relations. While the press was sensitive to issues of racism, they demonstrated little awareness of concurrent issues of neo‐liberal economics, or market fundamentalism. Anti‐racism may be motivated not only by the ideals of egalitarianism, but also by underlying dynamics of economic power in a global economy. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Biotechnology in the Japanese media: Comparative analysis of newspaper articles on genetic engineering in Japan and Europe

The present study examined how the representations of biotechnology using genetic engineering have been developed in Japan relying on media analysis. Specifically, using the online database of the Asahi Shimbun , one of the major opinion-forming newspapers in Japan, the annual numbers of articles concerning biotechnology were tallied from 1985 to 2000, and an analysis was conducted of the content of 850 articles from 10 particular years. Specifically, a framework in which a biotechnological issue was presented was focused on; the changes of dominant frames and the relationships between frames and specific biotechnological applications (e.g. medicine, agrifood and cloning) were investigated. The results showed that: (i) the number of articles increased sharply in particular since 1996–1997; (ii) although general attitudes toward biotechnology were persistently positive, a frame of biotechnological article became more diverse (i.e. the prospect frames were considerably dominant in the earlier phases, but the concern frames also became prominent in the later phases); and (iii) several articles were found which reported cloned animals in a frame of emotional attachment, a frame unique to Japan. These results were compared with those of European countries and discussed from a perspective of the theory of collective symbolic coping.     

What Kind of Paintings Inspire Children when Viewing Art?

Viewing art inspires creativity, which can encourage learning in art education. A previous study revealed that the type of artwork and the way art is viewed affects adults' inspiration; however, no study exists concerning the way children are inspired by viewing art. Thus, the current study aimed to examine whether children's age group/grade level, art style (figurative or abstract), and artwork creators (children or adults) influence children's inspiration, and whether the effects of the art style and creators vary by children's age group/grade level. An online questionnaire survey was conducted with the help of 600 pairs of parents and their elementary-school-aged children. They were asked to view eight paintings that differed in terms of the artists and their individual style and they then rated their inspiration experience when viewing each artwork. The results revealed that children were more inspired when viewing abstract, rather than figurative, paintings, and the effect of the type of painting differed in the third and sixth grades. Additionally, children gained more inspiration by viewing paintings created by children rather than by adults; a difference observed in all grade levels.     

Portraits as displays

Cynthia Freeland’s investigation of four kinds of ‘fidelity’ in portraiture is cut across by more general philosophical concerns. One is about what might be called the expression of persons--the persons or ‘inner selves’ of portrait subjects and of portrait artist: whether either is possible across each of the four kinds of fidelity, and whether these two kinds of expression are in tension. More fundamental is the problem of telling how self-expression is at all possible in any of these forms. Finally, she wonders how photography affects all these questions. This comment addresses portraiture not so much in terms of the four fidelities, but with another quartet of concepts: four ordinary types of ‘display’, in terms of which we see how artists’ self-expression is possible in all these forms, also including photography. Its key idea is that portraits are displays simply by being pictures or sculptures, which are kinds of artifacts, hence things that we perceive as having intentional affordance: that is, as being intentionally made ‘for’ something.

传媒介入医患纠纷的原因及作用探析

探讨传媒介入医患纠纷的原因及作用。经过分析发现,竞争的需要、经济的需要和受众的需要是传媒介入医患纠纷的主要动机和原因。总体而言,对传媒介入医患纠纷应持肯定态度。它在将医患矛盾进行公开化,唤起公众对医患纠纷问题的重视,提升公众参与意识,以及促进解决结果的公平性与公正性等方面发挥了积极作用。