易学思维之葩掇拾

本文选取《易》四卦探析其思维特征:从《泰》、《否》剖辨其因果思维,《泰》之以"果"示"因"更属辩证逻辑思维,从而否定C·G荣格关于《易》不从"因果关系论事"的判断。以《蛊》卦之"蛊"不训"弊乱"而应训如钱钟书先生所证之"事"、"事业",论定《蛊》属于创造性思维范畴,继承前辈事业,在自己的努力实践中创新业,立新功。以《》卦辞"不利即戎"断句或连读,探析前人关于战争的两种思考,一是果决地抓住战机打击敌人,如周武王讨伐纣之《牧誓》所示;一是先安顿内部,"施禄及下"以得民心,如《左传》"曹刿论战"所示,是"攘外必先安内"的战略性思考。     

思维风格测验在大学生中的初步应用

本文介绍了斯腾伯格的心理自我管理理论并使用斯腾伯格所编制的思维风格问卷对大学生的思维风格进行了测量,比较了思维风格在性别、文理科、地域等方面的个体差异,得出了中国大学生在思维风格方面的一些特点;研究了思维风格与一般智力的关系,发现思维风格与智力相关很低,说明思维风格是一种独立于智力的特质;同时对思维风格量表的信、效度及量表的结构进行了探讨。     

Bion’s discovery of alpha function: Thinking under fire on the battlefield and in the consulting room

This paper has traced Bion’s discovery of alpha function and its subsequent elaboration. His traumatic experiences as a young tank commander in World War I (overlaid on, and intertwined with, childhood conflicts) gave him firsthand exposure to very painful emotions that tested his capacity to manage. Later, in the 1950s, after his analysis with Melanie Klein and marriage to Francesca Bion, he undertook the analysis of psychotic patients and learned how they disassembled their ability to know reality as a defense against unbearable emotional truths in their lives. This led Bion to identify an aspect of dreaming that was necessary in order for reality experience to be given personal meaning so that one may learn from experience. Simultaneous with working out this new theory of dreaming, Bion also revisited his World War I experiences that had remained undigested and all these elements coalesced into a selected fact – his discovery of alpha function. In subsequent writings, Bion explored the constituent factors of alpha function, including the container/contained relationship, the PS?D balance, reverie, tolerated doubt and other factors which I have termed the ‘Constellation for Thinking’.     

Understanding alexithymia within a psychoanalytical framework

The object of this paper is to provide a metapsychological definition of alexithymia as described in 1967 in terms of operational thinking and negative hallucination. This is a familiar and established concept in the fields of psychopathology, psychology, and of clinical and psychosomatic medicine. From a psychoanalytic and psychosomatic point of view, the term is conceptually close to P. Marty's “operative thinking”, as described in 1963, even though we know they do not belong to the same epistemological field: on one hand Neuroscience, Psychiatry and the objectalization of the symptom at different levels, and on the other, as regards mechanical functioning, a psychoanalytic clinical approach within the dynamics of the relationship between transference and counter‐transference. The present authors consider that Freudian metapsychology, as now complexified by Andrè Green, allows for a metapsychological approach to alexithymia insofar as it relates to Marty's operative thinking. Thus does Green’s conceptualization of the mother’s negative hallucination, of negative introjection, of a psychically ‘dead (and insecure) mother’, now provide us with the opportunity to describe, in metapsychological terms, the genesis of this particular mode of psychical functioning. Given the mother’s negative hallucination produces a host structure as a background to negativity that will fit future object representations, we will assume that in the case of … future operational or alexithymic …?, this negative hallucination will pathologically and defensively involve the endo‐psychic perception of affect.     

An all‐or‐nothing thinking turns into darkness: Relations between dichotomous thinking and personality disorders1

Dichotomous thinking is an individual's propensity to think in terms of binary opposition. While this thinking style may be useful for quick decision‐making, some clinical psychologists have indicated that such a style is related to personality disorders. Oshio (2009 ) revealed that the Dichotomous Thinking Inventory (DTI) has significant positive correlations with borderline personality and narcissism. This study examines whether dichotomous thinking is associated with cluster A, B, and C personality disorders. The participants comprised 152 Japanese undergraduates (84 male and 68 female). They completed the DTI and Ten Personality Styles scale (10 PesT; Nakazawa (2006 )), developed from the definitions of personality disorders in the DSM‐IV. Structural equation modeling supported the hierarchical factor structure of personality disorders. The dichotomous thinking effects “cluster” level of disorders more than other levels. The results indicated that thinking dichotomously may lead to wide‐ranging personality disorders.     

A Liberation Psychology Approach to Acculturative Integration of Migrant Populations

This paper describes an acculturative integration approach that stresses the contribution of liberation psychology. Immigrant integration is a challenge for receiving countries in the Western world due to the frequent asymmetrical and oppressive conditions suffered by newcomers in their new settlements. The cross-cultural perspective connects integration with psychological acculturation, emphasizing harmony between acquisitions of the new culture while maintaining cultural heritage, and creating opportunities for intergroup relationships. In turn, liberation psychology permits an understanding of the acculturative transition as an empowerment and self-construction process by which immigrants acquire a new vision of the world and of themselves, transforming both structural conditions and themselves. From this perspective we conceptualize acculturative integration as the process by which newcomers become an accepted part of the new society through a reflexive and evaluative process, changing their social references and position, rebuilding their social and personal resources, and achieving a new agency in coherence with their new challenges and goals. In this process, they acquire critical thinking about unequal conditions, gain capacities to respond to the inequalities, and take effective actions to confront them. We illustrate this process using the narratives of nine Moroccan women who are living in asymmetrical and oppressive local contexts in Andalusia, the southern-most region of Spain.     

Criminal thinking patterns, aggression styles, and the psychopathic traits of late high school bullies and bully-victims

This study explored the current psychological characteristics and criminal behavior history of individuals who retrospectively reported being bullies, bully-victims, victims, or controls (i.e. neither victims nor bullies) during their last 2 years of high school. College students (n = 960) completed measures of criminal thinking, aggression, psychopathy, and criminal behavior online. We predicted bullies and bully-victims would demonstrate the highest scores for criminal thinking, proactive aggression, psychopathy, and have the most criminal infractions. Bullies and bully-victims had significantly higher scores on criminal thinking, aggression, psychopathy, and criminal behaviors than victims or controls. Additionally, men were significantly higher in criminal thinking, aggression, psychopathy, and had more criminal acts than women. There were no gender by bully group interactions. Logistic regression analyses differentiated bully-victims from bullies. Bully-victims tended to be male, higher in criminal thinking, and higher in reactive aggression. In addition, bully-victims were distinct from victims, showing higher criminal thinking and higher proactive aggression.     

Competences and occupational standards for systemic family and couples therapy

This article reports on the recent government initiative of 2007–2010 to delineate, for the major forms of psychological therapy, expected professional standards of practice and conduct in workplaces (the national occupational standards) and to specify expected levels of competent practice (the competences). The article focuses on the processes and outcomes of this initiative for systemic therapy and its clinical and political relevance. The rationale, research and consultation processes by which these formulations were achieved are described and the outcomes of the work are reported. We also discuss their wider implications, including the various ways in which these achievements might be used and their potential value for the field of systemic family and couples therapy.     

Are intelligence and creativity really so different? : Fluid intelligence, executive processes, and strategy use in divergent thinking

Contemporary creativity research views intelligence and creativity as essentially unrelated abilities, and many studies have found only modest correlations between them. The present research, based on improved approaches to creativity assessment and latent variable modeling, proposes that fluid and executive cognition is in fact central to creative thought. In Study 1, the substantial effect of fluid intelligence (Gf) on creativity was mediated by executive switching, the number of times people switched idea categories during the divergent thinking tasks. In Study 2, half the sample was given an effective strategy for an unusual uses task. The strategy condition interacted with Gf: people high in Gf did better when given the strategy, consistent with their higher ability to maintain access to it and use it despite interference. Taken together, the findings suggest that divergent thinking is more convergent than modern creativity theories presume.