Alone Together: Solitude and the Creative Encounter in Art and Psychoanalysis

This paper examines aspects of solitude in relation to creativity and personal transformation, especially as it pertains to artists and their objects. It argues that solitude is a core feature of the human condition and that it is inseparable from relatedness. Both solitude and relationship are layered and dynamically interactive states. The paper also considers the relational needs that art objects serve for their creators and specifically addresses the uniqueness of women's solitude. Finally, a clinical case is presented to illustrate the interplay between solitude and relatedness in psychoanalysis.     

Shakespeare,Psychoanalysis and Creativity: Commentary on Paper by Lauren Levine

This discussion speaks to the creative dimension in the clinical encounter described by Levine in her paper. In particular, it addresses the creativity necessary to move beyond impasses in the treatment. The positive and negative associations to enactments are discussed as well as the creative possibilities offered in dreamwork and the analytic relationship.     

From negative reactivity to empathic responding: Infants high in negative reactivity express more empathy later in development,with the help of regulation

Empathy has great effect on human well‐being, promoting healthy relationships and social competence. Although it is increasingly acknowledged that infants show empathy toward others, individual differences in infants’ empathy from the first year of life have rarely been investigated longitudinally. Here we examined how negative reactivity and regulation, two temperament traits that predict empathic responses in older children and adults, relate to infants’ empathy. Infants were studied at the ages of nine (N = 275) and 18 (N = 301) months (194 infants were studied at both ages). Empathic responses were assessed by infants’ observed reactions to an experimenter's simulated distress. Negative reactivity (fear, sadness, and distress to limitations) and regulation (soothability and effortful control) were assessed by parental reports. Negative reactivity was also examined by infants’ observed reactions to an adult stranger (fear) and during interaction with their mothers (displays of sadness/distress). When examined cross‐sectionally, infants’ fear and distress to limitations associated with self‐distress in response to others’ distress. In contrast, when examined longitudinally, early sadness and distress to limitations, but not fear, associated with later empathic concern and inquisitiveness. Moreover, this longitudinal relation was moderated by infants’ soothability and was evident only for children that had high soothability by the later time‐point. Our findings suggest that infants who at an earlier age show negative reactivity, react later in development with more empathy if they achieve sufficient regulation abilities. By that, the findings stress the developmental nature of temperament–empathy relations during infancy.     

Parental discipline and affection and children's prosocial behavior: genetic and environmental links

The authors investigated genetic and environmental contributions to the relationships between children's (N=9,319 twin pairs) prosocial behavior and parental positivity and negativity toward them. Children's prosocial behavior was rated by parents at ages 3, 4, and 7 and by teachers at age 7. At each age, parents described their feelings and discipline toward each twin. Parental positivity was indexed by positive feelings and positive, non-coercive discipline, and parental negativity was indexed by negative feelings and coercive, punitive discipline. Genetics and the environment both contributed to individual differences in prosocial behavior and in parenting. At all ages, parental positivity correlated positively, and parental negativity correlated negatively with prosocial behavior. Genetic factors largely mediated the negative correlation between prosocial behavior and parental negativity. Shared environmental effects contributed mainly to the positive relationship between prosocial behavior and parental positivity. This pattern was found both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. The findings point to the importance of children's characteristics and of the parent-child relationship in family processes.     

Motivation for agreement with parental values: desirable when autonomous,problematic when controlled

Two studies examined the well-being and parenting correlates of autonomous and controlled motivations for agreement with parental values. We hypothesized that autonomous motivation would be associated with subjective well-being, whereas controlled motivation would be associated with agitation and guilt. Study 1 involved 399 Israeli youth (mean age = 23.8) and Study 2 involved 131 Israeli adolescents (mean age = 16.9). Results of both studies supported the hypotheses. The findings suggest that only autonomous motivation for agreement with parents’ values is positively associated with well-being. This effect is over and above the extent of agreement between offspring values and perceived parents’ values, and highlights the importance of distinguishing between autonomous and controlled endorsement of values.     

Desiring Castration: A Reformulation of Castration Theory Illustrated with a Transgender Case

ABSTRACT

This article reviews Freud’s theory of castration, as well as critiques of the theory. I then offer my own elaboration of castration theory, proposing that castration fantasies are universal and refer to a sense of incompleteness—about the body as well as psychic attributes—in both males and females. Such fantasies, I argue, deal with the gap between what one is and what one would like to be and are frequently expressed in envy toward perceived privileges belonging to persons of the opposite sex, same sex, and different generation. Furthermore, these fantasies are intimately tied to object relations. A case of a transgender male who desired castration is presented to illustrate this expanded theory and its usefulness.     

Sexual fantasizing in males and females

Sexual fantasizing during intercourse, masturbation, and nonsexual activity was examined in 30 males and 30 females, American students at Tel-Aviv University. Each subject responded individually to questionnaires involving general background information, sexual activity, daydreaming frequency and attitudes toward daydreaming, and a sexual fantasy scale. The results indicated that virtually no man or woman denied having sexual fantasies. Any observable sex differences were in kind rather than amount of fantasy. Women had more submission fantasies, whereas men reported more performance fantasies. This difference was interpreted as reflecting social sexual stereotypes. In support of a cognitive skill model, it was found that sexual fantasizing proliferates along with increases in both sexual and daydreaming experience. Sexual passivity was related to a greater degree of fantasizing during sex. On the whole, the findings suggest that sexual fantasizing is a universal occurrence which in itself is not necessarily related to psychopathology.     

Technology,Perversion, and Dehumanization: Response to Discussions of My Paper

In this paper, I expand my claim that technological advances are significantly altering self-definition and relationship. I address the mixed reactions to the concept of perversion and argue that, despite its problematics, the term should be retained. I respond to Kieffer’s and Coen’s request for additional clinical material and highlight Hartman’s many misreadings of my paper.