Some thoughts about thought disturbance in adolescence

One of the principal aims of adolescence is the development of the capacity to think for oneself. The authors explore the difficulties caused by disturbances of thinking in borderline adolescents, pointing out the role that the analyst can take in promoting better functioning of their patients' mental processes. Two cases are explored, one through a supervision and the other through direct clinical experience. Both illustrate the efforts of the analyst to carry out 'management in the area of thinking' with those borderline patients who have not received help from their parents to think, and still need to be shown how mentation takes place. The authors propose some changes in technique in order to implement this improvement, including sharing with the patient the way in which the analyst thinks about him. Thinking itself can be an important integrating factor for these patients.

Une des tâches principales de l'adolescence est de développer la capacité à penser par soi-même. Les auteurs explorent les difficultés occasionnées par des troubles de la pensée chez des adolescents borderline et soulignent le rôle que peut jouer l'analyste pour favoriser un meilleur fonctionnement des processus psychiques chez ces patients. Deux cas sont étudiés dans cet article ; dans l'un, le matériel est extrait de séances de supervision, dans l'autre, il est tiré directement de la situation thérapeutique. Ces cas mettent en évidence les efforts de l'analyste pour aider le patient à mieux fonder ses processus de pensée ; dans les états limites, le patient bien souvent n'a jamais pu bénéficier de l'aide de ses parents dans ce domaine et devra encore apprendre comment mettre en ?uvre l'idéation. Les auteurs proposent quelques modifications techniques afin de faciliter l'activité mentale chez ce type de patient, visant notamment à lui faire part de la manière dont son analyste pense à lui. La pensée en elle-même peut être un facteur important qui favorise l'intégration psychique chez ces patients.

Uno degli scopi principali dell'adolescenza e' lo sviluppo della capacita' di pensare per se stessi. Le autrici esplorano le difficolta' causate dai disturbi del pensiero in adolescenti borderline, sottolineando il ruolo che l'analista puo' avere nel promuovere un miglior funzionamento dei processi mentali dei loro pazienti. Vengono riportati due casi, uno attraverso l'esperienza di supervisione e l'altro attraverso l'esperienza diretta del lavoro clinico. In entrambi i casi viene illustrato lo sforzo dell'analista di portare avanti il 'management nell'area del pensare' con quei pazienti bordeline che non sono stati aiutati dai loro genitori a pensare, e che ancora hanno bisogno di capire come prende luogo il processo del pensare. Le autrici propongono dei cambiamenti nella tecnica per poter implementare tale miglioramento, compreso il condividere con il paziente il modo in cui l'analista pensa a lui. Il pensare puo' essere di per se' un importante fattore di integrazione per questi pazienti.

Eines der Hauptziele der Adoleszenz ist die Entwicklung der Fähigkeit, für sich selber zu denken. Die Autorinnen betrachten die Schwierigkeiten, die durch Denkstörungen bei Borderline- Jugendlichen verursacht werden, und stellen die Rolle heraus, die Analytiker einnehmen können, um ein besseres Funktionieren der mentalen Prozesse ihrer Patienten zu fördern. Es werden zwei Fälle betrachtet, einer durch Supervision und der andere durch direkte klinische Erfahrung. Beide illustrieren die Bemühungen der Analytikerin, 'Management im Bereich des Denkens' auszuführen mit diesen Borderline-Patienten, die von ihren Eltern keine Unterstützung zu denken erlangt hatten, und denen noch gezeigt werden muss, wie Denkprozesse stattfinden. Die Autorinnen schlagen einige Veränderungen in der Technik vor, um diese Verbesserung zu implementieren, einschliesslich dem, dass man dem Patienten mitteilt, wie die Analytikerin über ihn denkt. Denken selbst kann ein wichtiger integrierender Faktor für diese Patienten sein.     

Survey Feedback as a Tool for Changing Managerial Culture: Focusing on Users' Interpretations - A Case Study

This article presents a case study in a savings bank in which a change of managerial culture is conducted over several years. A survey feedback was carried out where special attention was paid to subordinates' perceptions on managerial behaviours of the immediate manager. This intervention intended to stimulate and facilitate changes of managers' values, competences, and practices by means of providing them with relevant feedback from subordinates and by developing a team-centred process of climate analysis and change. However, perceptions and interpretations developed by managers and their subordinates about the actions undertaken emphasized political processes and power games, which caused emotional reactions such as fear, suspiciousness, and discomfort. In light of this situation, the aims, meaning, and process of the intervention, as understood and interpreted by the participants, were taken as the focus of a subsequent target of analysis and intervention. Information obtained on participants' views and the process of their deconstruction are presented. Some suggestions are made to improve professional practice, and research questions are raised that should be incorporated into the research agenda in the near future.     

Technical intelligence in animals: the kea model

The ability to act on information flexibly is one of the cornerstones of intelligent behavior. As particularly informative example, tool-oriented behavior has been investigated to determine to which extent nonhuman animals understand means-end relations, object affordances, and have specific motor skills. Even planning with foresight, goal-directed problem solving and immediate causal inference have been a focus of research. However, these cognitive abilities may not be restricted to tool-using animals but may be found also in animals that show high levels of curiosity, object exploration and manipulation, and extractive foraging behavior. The kea, a New Zealand parrot, is a particularly good example. We here review findings from laboratory experiments and field observations of keas revealing surprising cognitive capacities in the physical domain. In an experiment with captive keas, the success rate of individuals that were allowed to observe a trained conspecific was significantly higher than that of naive control subjects due to their acquisition of some functional understanding of the task through observation. In a further experiment using the string-pulling task, a well-probed test for means-end comprehension, we found the keas finding an immediate solution that could not be improved upon in nine further trials. We interpreted their performance as insightful in the sense of being sensitive of the relevant functional properties of the task and thereby producing a new adaptive response without trial-and-error learning. Together, these findings contribute to the ongoing debate on the distribution of higher cognitive skills in the animal kingdom by showing high levels of sensorimotor intelligence in animals that do not use tools. In conclusion, we suggest that the 'Technical intelligence hypothesis' (Byrne, Machiavellian intelligence II: extensions and evaluations, pp 289-211, 1997), which has been proposed to explain the origin of the ape/monkey grade-shift in intelligence by a selection pressure upon an increased efficiency in foraging behavior, should be extended, that is, applied to some birds as well.     

关于《易传》美学—文学思想的若干问题——兼论《易传》是我国最早作专书批评的文章—文学理论著作

《易传》作者有意表明了对《易经》的研究与评价的立场 ,《易传》文本包含有关美学—文学思想的内容。在前人研究的基础上 ,本文拾遗补阙 ,论述《易传》之“美”有美在自然、自然美高于艺术美、美乃自然而然、无所为而为等方面的内容以及阴柔之为美及其含蓄的特征 ;又 ,关于“修辞立其诚”的意义及其影响 ,关于“衰世之意”、“忧患”著书的意义及其对司马迁“发愤著书”说的影响等等。论述结合了与古今中外美学—文学理论的比较 ,加强证明了《易传》实为《文心雕龙》之先导 ,是我国最早作专书批评的文章—文学理论著作。     

Knowledge and knowledge gaps in semantic memory of technical artifacts

Two hypotheses have been considered regarding the relation between knowledge and semantic knowledge gaps: a “knowledge clash” hypothesis predicting more awareness of knowledge gaps with increasing knowledge, and a “knowledge deficit” hypothesis whereby the relation is the opposite. In order to examine these hypotheses, graduate and undergraduate students were asked to state what they knew and what they did not know about a sample of familiar and unfamiliar artifacts. None of the above hypotheses accounted for the results. Instead, knowledge was found to be differently related to various types of unknown features: increasing knowledge was related to less unknown features of the artifacts' function and to more unknown features about contingency relations. Unknown features of the artifacts’ behaviors were frequently reported in the two knowledge conditions. The results suggest new strands of research on the metacognition of “not knowing.”     

Changes in ego development in the wake of September 11

In a longitudinal study using the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT), we examined changes in ego development in response to the events of September 11, 2001. A sample of 24 individuals responded to the WUSCT in both the summer and fall of 2001, before and after the events of September 11. A significant decrease in mean ego level was found following September 11, as well as more equivocal support for an increase in variability in responses to the WUSCT.     

对《周易》的心理学思想研究的几点浅见

《周易》是中国最古老的文化典籍之一,其中蕴含着丰富的心理学思想。对《周易》心理学思想已有研究进行梳理,可以从研究成果、研究热点、研究领域、影响范围、应用性等方面分析已有研究的特点。已有研究的不足体现在:研究人员少;系统性差;经验化强,严谨性差;表面化;个人化;存在空白点;经、传混淆;重义理,轻象数等方面。在此基础上,明确了今后该领域研究的总体指导原则,并尝试提出了具体建议:加强多学科合作研究;加强实证性研究;加强多领域全方位研究,构建完整体系;加强《周易》在组织管理心理学和健康心理学等应用领域的研究;注意限定语境;继续推进国际化,规范学术翻译。     

Manipulation of exercise to rest ratio within set duration on physical and technical outcomes during small-sided games in elite youth soccer players

Training practices for elite soccer players should take into account specific technical, tactical and physical components. As a consequence of these demands small-sided games (SSGs) have become a popular conditioning tool that replicate the demands encountered during match play. The aim of this investigation was to examine how the manipulation of exercise to rest ratio, within the same overall duration, affected both physical and technical outcomes during SSGs in elite youth soccer. Twelve elite youth soccer players participated in three variations of eight minute 6v6 SSGs. The three variations included eight minutes continuous, 2 × 4 min and 4 × 2 min. Players perceived the continuous 8 min block as the hardest (4.5 ± 1.5 AU), followed by the 2 × 4 min (3.9 ± 1.4 AU) and the 4 × 2 min (3.3 ± 1.4 AU), although no difference in mean HR or physical measures via GPS analysis between SSGs was evident. From the technical perspective, only goals scored reached significance, with post hoc analysis identifying the number of goals scored were significantly higher during the 4 × 2 min and 2 × 4 min SSGs compared to 8 min continuous block. These results show that subjective ratings of exertion differed between conditions, but only minor technical manipulations were observed by adjusting work to rest ratios, with no significant effect on physical performance.