Obituaries: Leo Joseph Postman (1918-2004).

Presents the obituary of Leo Joseph Postman, one of the most prolific psychologists of the last century. With over 250 publications to his credit, Postman died on April 22, 2004, of heart failure in Marblehead, Massachusetts, at the age of 85. His life and career accomplishments are discussed. Postman is best known for his interests in perception, serial learning, memory, and interference theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The Robot's Rebellion: Finding Meaning in the Age of Darwin.

Review of book The Robot's Rebellion: Finding Meaning in the Age of Darwin by Keith E. Stanovich (see record 2004-95228-000). In his interesting scholarly book, The Robot's Rebellion, Stanovich leads us on a journey to find meaning in a world populated by mortal biological vehicles, the robots, put on earth to replicate their masters' selfish genes. If the genes do a satisfactory job programming the robots, then the genes replicate in perpetuity and are, therefore, immortal. Stanovich's basic assumptions are: a) vehicles are designed to replicate genes; b) at least in human animals, the brain houses two minds; c) the first mind, System 1 or The Autonomous Set of Systems, evolved much earlier in evolutionary history than did the second mind, System 2 or the Analytic System; d) System 1 is associative, parallel, fast to respond, and designed to automatically serve its genetic master; e) System 2 is rule-based, serial, slow to respond, not aware of System 1 functioning but sometimes privy to System 1 output, controls executive functioning, and is capable of self-evaluation and leading the rebellion against its genetic master; and, f) memes, culturally generated ideas passed on by nongenetic means, can sometimes be as effective as System 1 at squashing the rebellion. These assumptions are derived from work in cognitive science and evolutionary biology, and provide a solid foundation for the book. Both the metaphor and the basic assumptions are embedded in detailed and informative reviews of decision theory, evolutionary psychology, memetic theory, rational philosophy, and utility theory. The interweaving of metaphor and review provides a framework that allows Stanovich to make inferences to help the general reader understand "the implications of modern science" (p. xi). He also develops criteria to evaluate memes that are needed in his quest to find meaning in human existence. In combination with the basic assumptions, these criteria are used to create an ethical ideology that will be embraced by some readers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reach and posture hand preferences during arboreal feeding in sifakas (Propithecus sp.): A test of the postural origins theory of behavioral lateralization.

Sixteen sifakas (11 Propithecus verreauxi coquereli, 2 Propithecus verreauxi verreauxi form majori, and 3 Propithecus tattersalli) were videotaped as they fed on leaves in an arboreal context. The hand used to feed and the hand used to maintain postural stability was coded. For each subject, the lateral bias of the hand used to feed was opposite the hand used in postural support. Seven sifakas displayed no bias for feeding or posture-related hand use, 7 sifakas displayed significant feeding-related reach preferences for pulling branches to the mouth (5 left- and 2 right-hand preferences), and 9 sifakas exhibited significant hand preferences for postural support (2 left-, 7 right-hand preferent). Although these data do not strongly support the postural origins theory of behavioral lateralization, the modal preference pattern for sifakas that displayed significant hand preferences for posture and feeding involve a left bias for feeding and a right bias for postural support. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Roles of Sexual Objectification Experiences and Internalization of Standards of Beauty in Eating Disorder Symptomatology: A Test and Extension of Objectification Theory.

This study extends the literature on eating disorder symptomatology by testing, based on extant literature on objectification theory (B. L. Fredrickson & T. Roberts, 1997) and the role of sociocultural standards of beauty (e.g., L. J. Heinberg, J. K. Thompson, & S. Stormer, 1995), a model that examines (a) links of reported sexual objectification experiences to eating disorder-related variables and (b) the mediating roles of body surveillance, body shame, and internalization of sociocultural standards of beauty. Consistent with hypotheses, with a sample of 221 young women, support was found for a model in which (a) internalization of sociocultural standards of beauty mediated the links of sexual objectification experiences to body surveillance, body shame, and eating disorder symptoms, (b) body surveillance was an additional mediator of the link of reported sexual objectification experiences to body shame, and (c) body shame mediated the links of internalization and body surveillance to disordered eating. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Keeping It Real: A Grounded Theory Study of African American Clients Engaging in Counseling at a Community Mental Health Agency.

Few studies have examined African American clients' subjective experiences in counseling from their perspective. This study used a constructivist paradigm, grounded theory methodology, and dimensional analysis to develop a model of clients' subjective experiences in counseling. Derived from clients' perspectives, the model suggests that the African American participants in this study engaged in an ongoing assessing process. Initially, they assessed client-therapist match, which was influenced by 3 factors: salience of Black identity, court involvement, and ideology similarity between client and therapist. These clients then assessed their safety in therapy and their counselor's effectiveness simultaneously. Clients in turn used information obtained from their assessing process to monitor and manage their degree of self-disclosing along a continuum. The model has important implications for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experiences of Autonomy and Control Among Chinese Learners: Vitalizing or Immobilizing?

Various cross-cultural researchers state that autonomy is not valued in Eastern cultures and, hence, is unlikely to predict optimal study functioning and well-being. In contrast, self-determination theory (SDT; R. M. Ryan & E. L. Deci, 2000) maintains that autonomous or volitional study motivation is universally important and should predict better learning and higher well-being, even among Chinese students. Two studies were conducted to shed light on this controversial issue. Findings from both studies indicated that autonomous study motivation positively predicts adaptive learning attitudes, academic success, and personal well-being, whereas controlled motivation was associated with higher drop-out rates, maladaptive learning attitudes, and ill-being. In addition, Study 2 revealed that parental autonomy support versus psychological control is related to more adaptive learning strategies and higher well-being and that these effects were mediated by students' relative autonomy for studying. The importance of defining autonomy as an intraindividual, phenomenological experience versus an interpersonal, culturally bounded value is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A model for teaching psychotherapy theory through an integrative structure.

This article discusses a model for teaching psychotherapy theory through an integrative structure from the start of graduate students' training. This model articulates an ordering structure for the reputed 400+ so-called "theories" of psychotherapy. The rationale for such a structure highlights one dimension among several--that is, the recognition that a vast majority of mental health practitioners describe their orientation as eclectic or integrative. Professionals in training are encouraged to use this structure as an organizing principle to create the underpinnings for future professional development. The structure informs all aspects of a graduate-level course, including its syllabus, the textbooks selected, the reader, learning objectives, and tools for learning outcome assessment. (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)     

Creating Space: The Fourfold Dynamics of Potential Space.

Winnicott conceived of potential space primarily in terms of the vicissitudes of illusion and reality. Loosened from its ties to illusion and reality, potential space is depicted in terms of 4 interrelated, dialectical processes (surrender-generation, recognition-negation, care-quiescence, and disruption-repair), which can be found, in part, in Winnicott's formulations. Reformulating potential space in terms of these fourfold pairs captures the complexity and paradox of the presence and absence of self-states in successful and failed developmental and psychoanalytic interactions. In addition, these 4 interpersonal dynamics more adequately extend the concept of potential space to all phases of human life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment, Self-Esteem, Worldviews, and Terror Management: Evidence for a Tripartite Security System.

On the basis of prior work integrating attachment theory and terror management theory, the authors propose a model of a tripartite security system consisting of dynamically interrelated attachment, self-esteem, and worldview processes. Four studies are presented that, combined with existing evidence, support the prediction derived from the model that threats to one component of the security system result in compensatory defensive activation of other components. Further, the authors predicted and found that individual differences in attachment style moderate the defenses. In Studies 1 and 2, attachment threats motivated worldview defense among anxiously attached participants and motivated self-enhancement (especially among avoidant participants), effects similar to those caused by mortality salience. In Studies 3 and 4, a worldview threat and a self-esteem threat caused attachment-related proximity seeking among fearful participants and avoidance of proximity among dismissing participants. The authors' model provides an overarching framework within which to study attachment, self-esteem, and worldviews. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)