Sampson among the Philistines.

Comments on E. Sampson's (see record 2001-16333-002) linking individualism and collectivism to religious origins. The author comments critically on Sampson's grouping of all branches of Christianity in his critique of Protestant individualism. He points out theological subtleties and their historical roots to demonstrate the heterogeneous nature of Christianity and the relative similarity of Christian and Jewish intellectual traditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sampson at last and applied.

Comments on E. Sampson's (see record 2001-16333-002) linking individualism and collectivism to religious origins. The author provides a framework for applications of Sampson's theory to the practice of professional psychology, especially as to how the other is represented, imagined, understood, and experienced. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Critique of Kiesler articles.

Comments on 2 articles by C. A. Kiesler (see PA, Vols 68:11029 and 70:4077) that indicated the self-perpetuation of hospitalization in mental patients and that suggested the superiority of alternative care over hospitalization. The present author argues that deinstitutionalization has been effective for private sector patients, who generally have high levels of prior functioning and intact support systems, but that this policy harms public sector patients, who are generally the most ill, the poorest, and the most vulnerable. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Critique of rational-emotive philosophy.

Comments on rational-emotive therapy (RET) and its relationship to rational-emotive psychology (REP) as discussed by P. W. Sharkey (see record 1982-26956-001) and A. Ellis (see record 1982-26947-001). The present author concurs with Sharkey's view that REP is not logically or epistemologically necessary to the conduct of RET. Critical analysis reveals logical and philosophical confusion in Ellis's response and confirms Sharkey's findings of conceptual difficulties in REP. One source of the confusion is thought to be the dependency on the world view of logical positivism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Critique of Bramel and Friend.

Comments on D. Bramel and R. Friend's (see record 1982-08638-001) reexamination of the Hawthorne studies of industrial workers and on subsequent interpretations of these studies, particularly those by E. Mayo and G. F. Lombard (1943). Bramel and Friend's Marxist perspective is criticized as illogical and based solely on invalid inference. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Critique of Relational Psychoanalysis.

Psychoanalysis today is largely a psychology of consciousness: Post- and neo-Freudians form a marginalized community within North America in comparison to contemporary relational and intersubjective theorists, who emphasize the phenomenology of lived conscious experience, dyadic attachments, affective attunement, social construction, and mutual recognition over the role of insight and interpretation. Despite the rich historical terrain of theoretical variation and advance, many contemporary approaches have displaced the primacy of the unconscious. Notwithstanding the theoretical hairsplitting that historically occurs across the psychoanalytic domain, one is beginning to see with increasing force and clarity what S. Mitchell and L. Aron (1999) referred to as the emergence of a new tradition, namely, relational psychoanalysis. Having its edifice in early object relations theory, the British middle school and American interpersonal traditions, and self psychology, relationality is billed as "a distinctly new tradition" (Mitchell & Aron, 1999, p. x). What is being labeled as the American middle group of psychoanalysis (C. Spezzano, 1997), relational and intersubjective theory have taken center stage. It may be argued, however, that contemporary relational and intersubjective perspectives have failed to be properly critiqued from within their own school of discourse. The scope of this article is largely preoccupied with tracing (a) the philosophical underpinnings of contemporary relational theory, (b) its theoretical relation to traditional psychoanalytic thought, (c) clinical implications for therapeutic practice, and (d) its intersection with points of consilience that emerge from these traditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Construct validity: A Critique.

"The renaming of the process of building a theory of behavior by the new term 'construct validity' contributes nothing to the understanding of the process nor to the usefulness of the concepts. The introduction into discussion of psychological theorizing of the aspects of construct validity discussed… creates, at best, unnecessary confusion and at worst, a nonempirical, nonscientific approach to the study of behavior." Terminology of logical behaviorism and techniques of an "operational methodology" are preferred. "It is… recommended that the formulation of construct validity, as presented in the several papers noted in this critique, be eliminated from further consideration as a way of speaking about psychological concepts, laws, and theories." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Critique of the Seville Statement on Violence.

Provides a critique of the Seville Statement on Violence (see record 1995-05738-001), which addressed the problem of whether violence and war are biologically inevitable. The author argues that the statement discredits psychology and scientists because it uses science to pursue political objectives and casts a shadow of scientific and social disrepute on work done on war and violence from an evolutionary perspective. The author believes that endorsement of the Statement by the American Psychological Association can diminish the association's reputation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Critique of the act frequency approach to personality.

Evaluates the act frequency approach (AFA), noting that retrospective self-reports rather than behavioral acts are studied; act context and meaning are not considered; the AFA self-report inventories are incompletely developed and are psychometrically unsound; the AFA claim of absolute measurement of dispositions is insupportable; many of the self-report act statements used are technically unacceptable or conceptually unwarranted; the research agenda of the AFA primarily involves only "internal analyses" of self-report "act" inventories and indices and proposes the further creation of "act" inventories to index thousands of conceptually unorderable dispositions. Were the problems involved in the current implementation of the AFA to be resolved, various large conceptual problems presently besetting the approach then would have to be confronted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation.

Criticizes and reformulates the learned helplessness hypothesis. It is considered that the old hypothesis, when applied to learned helplessness in humans, has 2 major problems: (a) It does not distinguish between cases in which outcomes are uncontrollable for all people and cases in which they are uncontrollable only for some people (universal vs personal helplessness), and (b) it does not explain when helplessness is general and when specific, or when chronic and when acute. A reformulation based on a revision of attribution theory is proposed to resolve these inadequacies. According to the reformulation, once people perceive noncontingency, they attribute their helplessness to a cause. This cause can be stable or unstable, global or specific, and internal or external. The attribution chosen influences whether expectation of future helplessness will be chronic or acute, broad or narrow, and whether helplessness will lower self-esteem or not. The implications of this reformulation of human helplessness for the learned helplessness model of depression are outlined. (92 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Happiness Donut: A Confucian Critique of Positive Psychology.

An empirically based version of the good life as proposed by positive psychology is a donut with something missing at the core--the moral map. This paper addresses ramifications of this lacuna, and suggests ways to narrow the gap between science and life. By applying an extended version of the self-regulation theory of Higgins to a cross cultural analysis of the good life as envisioned by Seligman and Confucius, respectively, this paper sheds light on the culturally encapsulated value judgments behind positive psychology, examines issues at stake in an empirically based version of the good life, and suggests, for future research, alternative approaches that may better fulfill the promises of positive psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress and experimental ulcer: Critique of psychological literature.

Although several authors have claimed that the psychological procedures of conflict, conditioned fear, and avoidance could be used to develop ulcers in rats, the present authors' evaluation of these procedures suggests that the physical factors of shock and food deprivation were the primary agents responsible for the observed lesions. It is concluded that a convincing demonstration that psychological factors per se are sufficient to induce ulcers and the pathophysiological changes necessary for their formation is lacking at present in the experimental literature. (French summary) (49 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Critique and metacritique in psychology: Whence and Whither.

Do mainstream psychologists think critically? And are the many critiques of the mainstream made by its (theoretical and philosophical psychology) critics “on target”? Answering both questions (critical and metacritical, respectively) requires consensus about what critical thinking consists in, and there seems to be little consensus in sight. I begin by accepting Slife, Yanchar, and Reber's (2005) claim that “rigorous thinking” itself is insufficient for critical thinking in and about psychology, and I then consider various suggestions made by critics of the mainstream about thematic assumptions (or content categories) that should be included in critical thinking about the mainstream. After identifying three areas of mainstream research in which some of these assumptions seem to have been challenged from within the mainstream, I conclude by considering how both critique and metacritique may be combined, repositioned, and/or recontextualized, to advance the important cause of (meta) critical thinking in and about psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Response to Joseph Masling's (2003) Critique of Stephen A. Mitchell.

Joseph Masling (2003; see record 2003-09630-001) criticized Stephen A. Mitchell (1997, see record 1997-36625-000; 2000) for (a) recommending that the analyst be more active and involved, thereby increasing the risk of sexual involvement with the patient, and (b) Mitchell's belief that empirical data have little to contribute to psychoanalysis. There are no data supporting the hypothesis that the analyst's activity increases the risk of sexual violation. The author hypothesizes that the risk of such sexual acting out is a function primarily of the unique, unresolved psychopathology of the individual analyst, rather than either the model of treatment used or the opportunity for such a violation. The author does agree that Mitchell's belief that empirical data have little to contribute to psychoanalysis is ill advised. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teacher rating forms: Critique and reformulation of previous validation designs.

Maintains that typical teacher rating form (TRF) validation studies are adequately designed to determine TRF validity only when it is assessed on the empirical, or criterion-related, validity model. The construct validity model, however, is more appropriate for assessing TRF validity, and this model requires different validation designs. The strongest construct validity design requires random assignment of students to a multisection course, which is not typically done. Where random assignment is impossible, repeated measurements correlational designs (panel designs) are recommended. (French abstract) (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Haidt's Moral Intuitionist Theory: A Psychological and Philosophical Critique.

Jon Haidt's (2001) proposal (see record 2001-18918-008) for a moral intutionist theory of morality is criticized on psychological and philosophical grounds, including (a) the apparent reduction of social influence to one kind, overt compliance, and the virtual ignoring of the role of persuasion in moral and other decision making; (b) the failure to distinguish development of a psychological entity from its deployment or functioning; and (c) the failure to consider, in distinguishing cause and reason as explanatory concepts, the motivating power of reasons. Arguments for an evolutionary approach to morality are also faulted on the grounds that they assume that adaptation is served by nonmoral rather than moral (fairness- and benevolence-based) criteria. Finally, the authors suggest that an intuitionist approach such as that of Haidt may obscure important aspects of moral decision making. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Critique of APA Accreditation Criterion II: Cultural and Individual Differences.

The Committee on Accreditation of the American Psychological Association has published standards, and more recently issued a report, describing the content and implementation of Criterion II: Cultural and Individual Differences. The authors believe that these documents do not fully address important concerns of doctoral training and internship programs in professional psychology. Among these are inadequacies of criterion definition and the focus of compliance judgments. The authors believe that in the determination of compliance, more emphasis could be given to available normative data, site visitor threshold judgments, and annual program reports. In the experience of the authors, accredited professional psychology programs are highly supportive of the goals of Criterion II, and a resolution of these issues would lead to increased understanding and probably a higher level of compliance. Specific recommendations to facilitate this process are offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Etude Critique de Deux Rejets Méthodologiques Chez B. F. Skinner.

Acritical discussion of Skinner's rejection of hypothetico-deductive methods, which he considers as inadequate, and of psychophysical explanations, interesting in his view, but only as a parallel to the study of behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comments on Finley's "Critique of rational-emotive philosophy."

Reply to Finley's (1987; see record 1988-00015-001) critique of rational-emotive philosophy, which claims that Ellis's (1981) response to Sharkey's (1981) criticisms of rational-emotive psychology reveals logical and philosophical confusion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

现代性风险与知识批判

现代性风险与知识的自反性密切相关.现代性与科学知识的互构意味着反思和化解现代性风险,必须依赖合理的知识策略.任何对绝对真理和终极知识的断言都只能加剧风险.必须承认知识的有限理性,寻求自然科学、社会科学与人文科学三者在实践过程中的融合与汇通,实现知识与价值的批判和自我批判.