Review of Fury on earth: A biography of Wilhelm Reich.

Argues that Fury on Earth is the finest book on Reich's work and his life. It is a professional piece of scholarship that may well, until the Reich Archives are finally opened, remain definitive on the subject. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Helene Deutsch: A psychoanalyst's life.

Reviews the book, Helene Deutsch: A psychoanalyst's life by Paul Roazen (see record 1992-97543-000). In this biography of over 391 pages, Paul Roazen describes the life of Helene Deutsch, seen by many historians of psychology as one of Freud's best-known and favourite students and a major contributor to psychoanalysis in her own right. Each of the three sections in the book concentrates on a major episode and station in her life: Poland, Vienna, and finally Massachusetts. Roazen carefully describes Helene's family background, her circle of friends, her romance with Felix Deutsch, and of course her relationship with Freud. The book reads much like a shortened psychoanalysis of Helene Deutsch herself. A good biography should not only describe an individual's contribution to a profession, but also this contribution should become understandable as an outgrowth of the cultural heritage, the Zeitgeist, and the unique life history of the individual. Roazen has clearly succeeded in doing that. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Autonomy in the extreme situation: Bruno Bettelheim, the Nazi concentration camps and the mass society.

Review of book: Paul Marcus (Au.) Autonomy in the extreme situation: Bruno Bettelheim, the Nazi concentration camps and the mass society. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1999, 232 pp.. Reviewed by D. Patrick Zimmerman. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Left-handedness and life span": Reply to Halpern and Coren.

A convincing case for longevity differences between right- and left-handers remains to be made. The new, positive archival data cited by D. F. Halpern and S. Coren (see record 1994-00695-001) must be interpreted cautiously, as they themselves elsewhere acknowledge, in the light of other new and negative archival data. More significantly, a new prospective study comparing death rates within same-age cohorts (the only valid way to assess mortality differences) corroborates prior reports that fail to show a right-hander advantage. Finally, the evidence Halpern and Coren present for additional categories of "risk factors" purportedly associated with left-handedness is as problematic as that presented in their original article. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the pitfalls of "Ptolemaic" psychology: A reply to Sawusch and Mullennix.

In their reply to the present authors (see record 1986-05428-001), J. R. Sawusch and J. W. Mullennix (see record 1986-05440-001) proposed a counterinterpretation of the authors' results regarding conceptualizations of selective adaptation with speech and described some previously unpublished data that they took to be inconsistent with the present authors' unified adaptation-level account of selective adaptation and contrast effects. It is argued that this counterinterpretation requires a series of purely ad hoc assumptions that render the 2-stage theory of Sawusch and P. Jusczyk (see record 1982-00351-001) almost completely vacuous. It is also shown that the new data of Sawusch and Mullennix are definitely not incompatible with an adaptation-level account. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On "the science of prevention."

Comments on the article by J. D. Coie et al (see record 1994-09654-001) regarding the conceptual framework for a national research program based on the science of prevention. Although a national agenda for research into the primary prevention of mental and emotional problems is needed, it is argued that the agenda should be developed independent of a model committed to individual defect over social injustice, biogenetic causes over social learning, micro- over macrointerventions, and traditional processes over positive outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Three men: An experiment in the biography of emotion.

Reviews the book, Three men: An experiment in the biography of emotion by Jean Evans (1954). The unusual quality of Evans' writing lies in the happy blend she has achieved of the good qualities of both artist and scientist. The first two "portraits" in this book are of men at least a significant portion of whose lives was lived under conditions of real poverty. In the case of the third man, however, this was not the case. "Martin Beardson's" father was a prosperous business man, his mother an "upper class" woman of "genteel tradition." "Except for brief periods, and then only in recent years, Martin has never known deprivation in terms of food, clothing, and comfortable shelter. By realistic standards he also enjoyed many luxuries . . . . Yet Martin has always had a sense of poverty no less poignant than if he had been a slum child, and a sense of grievance no less biting than if he had lived all his life on the periphery of want" (p. 195). This is a book that will be read with pleasure and pondered with profit by many scientists and professionals in clinical, social, and dynamic psychology, in sociology, psychotherapy, social work, and a number of other related fields. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The legacy of Kenneth B. Clark to the APA: The Board of Social and Ethical Responsibility for Psychology.

The American Psychological Association faced many challenges beginning around 1965, including the challenge to make psychology more inclusive of traditionally underrepresented groups. The larger context of social unrest and public and political focus on social problems framed these challenges. This article describes the events that led to the establishment of the Board of Social and Ethical Responsibility for Psychology in 1972 and highlights the role of Kenneth B. Clark in those events. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The "I," the "we," and the "when": A meta-analysis of motivational primacy in self-definition.

What is the primary motivational basis of self-definition? The authors meta-analytically assessed 3 hypotheses: (a) The individual self is motivationally primary, (b) the collective self is motivationally primary, and (c) neither self is inherently primary; instead, motivational primacy depends on which self becomes accessible through contextual features. Results identified the individual self as the primary motivational basis of self definition. People react more strongly to threat and enhancement of the individual than the collective self. Additionally, people more readily deny threatening information and more readily accept enhancing information when it pertains to the individual rather than the collective self, regardless of contextual influences. The individual self is the psychological home base, a stable system that can react flexibly to contextual influences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"The tenacity of historical misinformation: Titchener did not invent the Titchener illusion": Correction.

Reports an error in the original article by G. Burton ( History of Psychology, 2001[Aug], Vol 4[3], pp. 228-244). In this article, the author asserted that a motivation textbook by R. C. Beck (see record 1979-32908-000) falsely listed a monkey as one of the objects in which L. Albert was tested for generalization of his supposed fear of fuzzy objects. In fact, Beck accurately indicated that the monkey was used during the pretest to determine Albert's preexisting fears; Beck did not claim that the monkey was used during the generalization phase. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 2001-07674-002.) Some well-known psychological "facts" are actually false, but dispelling them is difficult. One such false fact is that Titchener introduced the illusion depicting a circle ringed by smaller circles, which appears larger than an equivalent circle surrounded by larger circles. A review of contemporary sources indicates that Ebbinghaus probably introduced this illusion in the 1890s, although not in any explicit publication, and Titchener neither had nor asserted any authorship of this figure. There are also 3 other illusions that are sometimes labeled the Ebbinghaus illusion... (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An interrogation of the relational turn: A discussion with Stephen Mitchell.

The point of this commentary is to engage in a discussion about relational ideas with the leading exponent of this position, S. Mitchell (see record 1998-00310-001). He has set forth important views that are recognized and discussed by contemporary analysts. The author's engagement in this dialogue grows out of her interest in increasing clarity, consistency, and greater warrant and rationality for the position that ultimately emerges. The author initially addresses the writings of a couple of important hermeneutic philosophers to highlight their ties to an Enlightenment tradition, a tradition that Mitchell suggested most contemporary philosophers eschew. She then takes up the issue of validity and utility because it is believed that these issues are often entangled in the psychoanalytic discourse. Lastly, the author addresses what she thinks is a serious divergence of views; her interest is in establishing psychoanalysis on an empirical base, one that is consistent with data emerging from the neurobiological sciences, and she stresses the need to join both the hermeneutic and scientific aspects of psychoanalysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"The psychology of life after death": Reply.

Responds to I. Stevenson's (1981) criticism of the author's (see record 1981-25195-001) discussion of life after death. The author argues that he does not consider himself an expert on survival of the human personality after death and he defends his choice of reference materials. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On "Stress-induced recovery of fears and phobias."

Jacobs and Nadel (1985) proposed a neurobiological theory to explain the etiology of phobias. Their theory, however, is based on questionable assumptions about clinical fears. The present article is a critique of these assumptions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivated closing of the mind: "Seizing" and "freezing."

A theoretical framework is outlined in which the key construct is the need for (nonspecific) cognitive closure. The need for closure is a desire for definite knowledge on some issue. It represents a dimension of stable individual differences as well as a situationally evocable state. The need for closure has widely ramifying consequences for social-cognitive phenomena at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and group levels of analysis. Those consequences derive from 2 general tendencies, those of urgency and permanence. The urgency tendency represents an individual's inclination to attain closure as soon as possible, and the permanence tendency represents an individual's inclination to maintain it for as long as possible. Empirical evidence for present theory attests to diverse need for closure effects on fundamental social psychological phenomena, including impression formation, stereotyping, attribution, persuasion, group decision making, and language use in intergroup contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A rebuttal to the conclusions of David S. Holmes's article: "Meditation and somatic arousal reduction."

Argues that D. S. Holmes's (see record 1984-25288-001) review of studies assessing the effect of meditation on somatic arousal was seriously flawed because he attempted to establish artificial differences between similar states and cited the literature in an incomplete, inaccurate, and biased manner. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Another example of a paradigm clash: A reply to Bixenstine's "criticisms."

Responds to V. E. Bixenstine's (1977) critique of W. W. Tryon's (see record 1977-04654-001) article on models of behavior disorder. The formal analysis paradigm from which Tryon operated is restated, and the way in which Bixenstine operated from the different phenomenology paradigm is demonstrated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A response to Richard Lettieri's "The ego revisited."

R. Lettieri (see record 2005-08806-004) maintained that a modern conflict theory needs a concept of an ego. This commentary is in response to that suggestion. Because the construct of the ego has been seriously criticized in the psychoanalytic literature, such a suggestion must first address the tenability of the criticisms before such a recommendation can be actualized. In this response to Lettieri's paper, I try to do just that. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Psychosocial development and life experiences in adulthood: A 22-year sequential study": Correction.

Reports an error in the original article by K.-J. Van Manen and S. Krauss (Psychology and Aging, 1997 [Jun], Vol 12 [2], 239–246). Figures 4, 5, and 6 on pages 243 and 244 were inadvertently transposed with their captions. Corrected versions are presented. (The following abstract of this article appears in record 1997-06412-004.) In this study, a model was tested postulating reciprocal relationships between psychosocial development and life experiences in adulthood. A sequential design compared college alumni (n?=?99) who were age 20 in 1966, age 31 in 1977, and 42 in 1988 (Cohort 1) with college alumni (n?=?83), who were 20 in 1977 and 31 in 1988 (Cohort 2). Path analyses testing specific hypotheses provided partial support for the reciprocal model. For Cohort 1 men, lower socioeconomic levels at age 31 were associated with higher industry versus inferiority scores age age 42. For Cohort 1 women, higher identity scores at the age of 31 predicted full-time homemaker status by age 42. The findings from 20 to 31 years were more consistent for Cohort 2, with college psychosocial scores predictive of greater success and commitment in the areas of occupation and family life.… (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Unmasking visual masking: A look at the "why" behind the veil of the "how."

Proposes theoretical integration of a mechanistic, causal analysis and behavioral analysis of visual masking phenomena. It is shown that several known aspects of visual masking are more adequately explained when a behavioral analysis complements a mechanistic analysis. Pertinent findings concerning the mechanisms of visual masking are presented and discussed in an evolutionary and functional context of naturalistic visual behavior characterized by the maintenance and changing of foveations required for visual inspection of static and dynamic visual scenes. (100 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)