Opening to the otherwise: The discipline of listening and the necessity of free‐association for psychoanalytic praxis

It is argued that only free‐association methodically opens the discourse of self‐consciousness (the representations available to reflective awareness) to the voicing of the repressed. The method is key to Freud's originality and the sine qua non of any genuinely psychoanalytic process. Clinical procedures which do not prioritize a steadfast and ongoing commitment to this method (instead emphasizing either interpretative formulations, as decisive acts that appear to fix and finalize the meaning of a particular lived experience, or the vicissitudes of transference‐countertransference in the immediate treatment situation) all too readily entrap the treatment, limiting its capacity to divulge the power of unconscious processes. Influenced by Laplanche, Freud's 1920 principles of lifefulness and deathfulness (the binding and unbinding of psychic energy in representations) facilitate an understanding of the unique significance of free‐associative discourse in opening the representational textuality of self‐consciousness to the voicing of that which is otherwise than representationality and reason. The ‘otherwise’ is intimated as the returning force of the repressed, as the ‘unfathomable navel’ of ‘thing‐presentations,’ experienced and expressed within the text of awareness, yet not translatable into the law and order of its logical and rhetorical reflections. Free‐associative discourse thus affects self‐consciousness in a way that is radically different from other creative procedures (‘psychosynthetic’ or integratively interpretive). In this respect, the status of free‐associative praxis as necessary for a genuinely psychoanalytic process is justified.     

AFFECT,SYMPTOM, FANTASY,DREAM: CLINICAL AND THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

A symptom being studied in the process of analysis can be seen as not unlike the unconscious affect it sprang from. The author presents a case in which a symptom, premature ejaculation, was analogous to the unconscious affect of guilt, which itself seemed to be a premature defensive transformation of a deeper current of anger. Guilt was interpreted as if it were a psychic premature ejaculation, a defensive derailment of anger. Fantasy and dream seemed to be engaged in similar transformations, with a fantasy of “premature incarceration” not unlike the symptom itself in its analogous functioning. Analysis of affect, symptom, fantasy, and dream in complex, integrative analytic process led not only to resolution of the symptom itself, but also to a deeper understanding of the mind's complex functioning in general.     

Implicit health associations across the adult lifespan

Objective: Explicit reports of one’s health self-concept (e.g. rate your overall health) are commonly used in research and clinical practice. These measures predict important health outcomes, but rely on conscious introspection so may not fully capture the different components of the health self-concept (e.g. more automatic components) that relate to actual health. This study examined the health-implicit association test (health-IAT), and how it may add to our prediction of health from self-reports.

Design: 1004 participants (ages 18–85) completed this web-based study with the health-IAT (assessing self-healthy implicit associations) and explicit assessments of health.

Main outcome measures: Self-reported measures of physical functioning.

Results: The health-IAT was valid and reliable. Older age was correlated with stronger self-healthy implicit associations. Although the health-IAT did not incrementally predict self-reported markers of physical functioning when only controlling for explicit health self-concept, it was an incremental predictor once age was entered for all four models tested.

Conclusions: The health-IAT appears to be a valid and reliable new measure that assesses implicit self-concept relating to physical health. Results reveal the potential value of assessing implicit health self-concept in both research and practice, especially when taking into account age.     

新颖语义联结形成的右半球优势效应

新颖语义联结形成是创造性思维的重要加工过程。采用谜题型歇后语为材料,直接操控语义联结的新颖性,通过两个实验考察汉语新颖语义联结形成的神经机制。实验1采用fMRI记录谜题型歇后语阅读理解过程的神经活动,结果显示相对于寻常语义关联条件,新颖语义关联条件更强地激活了右侧颞上回,该脑区可能与新颖语义信息的激活有关。实验2采用ERP技术在语义关联性判断任务中考察新颖语义联结形成神经加工的时空特征,结果显示相对于寻常语义关联条件,新颖语义关联条件在右侧颞区和右侧额区诱发了更正的晚期正成分,可能分别反映了新颖语义信息的激活以及选择与整合。研究结果支持了新颖语义联结形成的右半球加工优势效应。     

Time,space, and process in Anne Conway

ABSTRACT

Many scholars have drawn attention to the way that elements of Anne Conway’s system anticipate ideas found in Leibniz. This paper explores the relationship between Conway and Leibniz’s work with regard to time, space, and process. It argues – against existing scholarship – that Conway is not a proto-Leibnizian relationist about time or space, and in fact her views lie much closer to those of Henry More; yet Conway and Leibniz agree on the primacy of process. This exploration advances our understanding of Conway’s system, and the intellectual relationships between Conway, More, and Leibniz.     

Multilevel analysis of individual differences in regularities of grapheme–color associations in synesthesia

Grapheme–color synesthesia is a neurological phenomenon where visual perception of letters and numbers stimulates perception of a specific color. Grapheme–color correspondences have been shown to be systematically associated with grapheme properties, including visual shape difference, ordinality, and frequency. However, the contributions of grapheme factors differ across individuals. In this study, we applied multilevel analysis to test whether individual differences in regularities of grapheme–color associations could be explained by individual styles of processing grapheme properties. These processing styles are reflected by the type of synesthetic experience. Specifically, we hypothesized that processing focusing on shape differences would be associated with projector synesthetes, while processing focusing on ordinality or familiarity would be associated with associator synesthetes. The analysis revealed that ordinality and familiarity factors were expressed more strongly among associators than among projectors. This finding suggests that grapheme–color associations are partly determined by the type of synesthetic experience.     

Creating a dialogic space for prospective teacher critical reflection and transformative learning

This research highlights the pedagogical significance of dialogic spaces in supporting critical reflection and transformative learning among prospective teachers in the United States. It finds that, with elucidation of the multiple voices and texts from prospective teachers’ field experience, teacher educators can stimulate deep reflection to springboard transformative learning. It also finds that ePortfolios have strong potential to support a dialogic approach to reflection. However, it is also clear that, absent systematic observation and careful follow-up dialogue, the potential to move from reflection to transformative learning is limited. The findings will help teacher educators rethink the design and practice of supervision with ePortfolios, reinforcing that critical dialogue between the supervisor and the prospective teachers is key to supporting prospective teachers’ critical reflection and transformative learning, and to improving their teaching practice.     

‘Pre-crime’, Prevent,and practices of exceptionalism: Psychotherapy and the new norm in the NHS

Section ’26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 places a duty on local authorities and public sector institutions to have ‘due regard to the need to Prevent people from being drawn into terrorism’. Accordingly, NHS staff are now required to attend a Workshop to Raise Awareness of Prevent (WRAP), ensuring they are trained to spot the ideological symptoms and psychosocial vulnerabilities thought to predict extremist activity. In this paper, I suggest that the insertion of counter-radicalisation duties into the work of psychotherapists and other mental health professionals is not simply to be understood as an attempt to forestall and avert extremist activity. Rather, drawing on the work of Georgio Agamben and Judith Butler, I argue it can be viewed as an innovative tactic of governmentality whose technologies of surveillance ensure a culture of conformity in the NHS through which a ‘state of exception’ can be established and normalised. I illuminate this by examining two interrelated aspects of the Prevent duty: one, the decision by the government to embed Prevent within the existing rhetoric and practice of ‘safeguarding vulnerable children and adults’; and two, its discursive representation of the consulting room as ‘pre-criminal space’. I conclude by suggesting that the government’s determination to allow ‘no ungoverned space in which extremism is allowed to flourish’ targets the limits of acceptable speech and so the very conditions for radical thought and critique on which psychotherapy depends.     

An Embodiment Perspective on Number–Space Mapping in 3.5‐Year‐Old Dutch Children

Previous research suggests that block adding, subtracting and counting direction are early forms of number–space mapping. In this study, an embodiment perspective on these skills was taken. Embodiment theory assumes that cognition emerges through sensory–motor interaction with the environment. In line with this assumption, it was investigated if counting and adding/subtracting direction in young children is related to the hand they use during task performance. Forty‐eight 3.5‐year‐old children completed a block adding, subtracting and counting task. They had to add and remove a block from a row of three blocks and count a row of five blocks. Adding, subtracting and counting direction were related to the hand the children used for task performance. Most children who used their right hand added, removed and started counting the blocks at the right side of the row. Most children who used their left hand added, removed and started counting the blocks at the left side of the row. It can be concluded that number–space mapping, as measured by direction of adding, subtracting and counting blocks, in young children is embodied: It is not fixed, but is related to the situation. © 2016 The Authors Infant and Child Development Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Geometric representation of association between categories

Categories can be counted, rated, or ranked, but they cannot be measured. Likewise, persons or individuals can be counted, rated, or ranked, but they cannot be measured either. Nevertheless, psychology has realized early on that it can take an indirect road to measurement: What can be measured is the strength of association between categories in samples or populations, and what can be quantitatively compared are counts, ratings, or rankings made under different circumstances, or originating from different persons. The strong demand for quantitative analysis of categorical data has thus created a variety of statistical methods, with substantial contributions from psychometrics and sociometrics. What is the common basis of these methods dealing with categories? The basic element they share is that the sample space has a special geometry, in which categories (or persons) are point masses forming a simplex, while distributions of counts or profiles of ratings are centers of gravity, which are also point masses. Rankings form a discrete subset in the interior of the simplex, known as the permutation polytope, and paired comparisons form another subset on the edges of the simplex. Distances between point masses form the basic tool of analysis. The paper gives some history of major concepts, which naturally leads to a new concept: the shadow point. It is then shown how loglinear models, Luce and Rasch models, unfolding models, correspondence analysis and homogeneity analysis, forced classification and classification trees, as well as other models and methods, fit into this particular geometrical framework.