Normative Ethics after Pragmatic Naturalism

Philip Kitcher presents an ambitious account of pragmatic naturalism that incorporates an explanatory story of the emergence and development of ethics, a metaethical perspective on progress, and a normative stance for moral theorizing. This article contends that Kitcher's normative stance is incompatible with the explanatory and metaethical components of his project. Instead, pragmatic naturalists should endorse a normative ethics that is experimental, grounded in practice, and acutely aware of cognitive and informational limitations. In particular, the ethical project would benefit from endorsing empirical work on participatory democracy for the identification of mechanisms to guide us on deep moral conflicts.     

THE FATHER,THE FATHER FUNCTION,THE FATHER PRINCIPLE: SOME CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOANALYTIC DEVELOPMENTS

The author discusses Freud's thinking on the role of the father, as well as that of later French theoreticians. To illustrate his remarks, he draws on the poetry of Carlos Drummond de Andrade (1912–1987), a Brazilian poet whose work often dealt with themes of the father, the family, and his own paternal relationship. The author also discusses the psychic formation of the father principle and how this may be evident in the clinical analytic setting, even when the analyst's approach privileges field theory, intersubjectivity, or other concepts emphasizing the relationship between analyst and patient.     

The Family Story Technique and Intrafamily Analysis

The Family Story Technique (FST) was devised because of its promising versatility in the assessment among family members of affect, interactional patterns, and outlook on the future. The FST makes use of ten selected TAT cards and a modification of Fine's scoring system. Reliability of scoring in terms of per cent agreement between two scorers was found to range from 67% to 100% for usable categories. Potential usefulness of the FST in family diagnosis and family patterning of interactions is illustrated by a case presentation of family FST scores.     

Coping Strategy Profiles Used by Salespeople: Their Relationships with Personal Characteristics and Work Outcomes

Sales research to date has focused on coping styles as measured by problem-focused coping (PFC) and emotion-focused coping (EFC), but it has excluded time management perceptions and behaviors as ways of coping with stress (Srivastava and Sager 1999; Strutton and Lumpkin 1993). This study examines a coping model that integrates EFC, PFC, and time management behaviors in the rubric of a profile. The profile allows for practice of several coping behaviors simultaneously. Using data gained from salespeople, four tentative coping strategy profiles are developed and examined relative to personal characteristics and job outcomes. Study results suggest that salespeople who are able to better handle stress use time management behaviors more often in addition to using high levels of PFC and low levels of EFC.     

Does body satisfaction differ between gay men and lesbian women and heterosexual men and women? A meta-analytic review

Studies investigating body image satisfaction among groups of different sexual orientations (i.e., gay men, lesbian women, and heterosexual men and women) have produced equivocal findings. To synthesise the available research, 27 studies (20 published and 7 unpublished) were meta-analysed (N=5220). Comparisons between heterosexual (n=1397) and gay men (n=984) produced a small effect size, with the former being slightly more satisfied with their bodies. An even smaller difference was observed for studies comparing heterosexual (n=1391) and lesbian women (n=1448), with greater levels of body satisfaction being evidenced by the latter group. Tests of homogeneity for each effect size were found to be highly significant. In an attempt to identify variables that may be responsible for the observed heterogeneity, the following categorical factors were assessed: the measures used to evaluate body satisfaction, date of study (1980s versus 1990s+), publication status (published or unpublished), and body weight. The results of this exploratory search for potential moderator variables as well as limitations of the current meta-analysis are discussed.     

The Marriage Contract

This article is intended to serve as an introduction to the concept of the marriage contract, which has proved to be a useful clinical tool for clarification and treatment of troubled marriages. Transactional as well as intrapsychic factors are important aspects of marital dynamics. The contract concept employs both these behavioral parameters and facilitates therapeutic intervention at both levels.