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The purpose of this paper is to outline and examine a few basic functions which ideology performs for the individual and for society. In order to progress in this direction, it might help to agree on some basic conceptual definitions. To begin with, some effort must be made to arrive at a satisfactory definition of ideology, since that term occupies a rather central place in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hypothesis that there is a relationship between a person's being psychologically unable and unwilling to live with something in himself and being defective in his psychologically living with the same thing in other people is presented to explain frequently observed clients' reactions The meaning of the concept of acceptance and the interpersonal and interpersonal dynamics of the defect are discussed. Four case abstracts and one example from the experiences of a psychotherapist are described as a way of giving the hypothesis and discussion additional meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the cold war mentality. The interesting point is that both the United States and Soviet Union have been making tentative unilateral gestures over the past few years. These gestures have been largely abortive because they were not graduated and continued as part of a consistent, carefully thought-out policy, rather they were used more as ammunition in the cold war; they were not publicly announced in advance of their commission; the possible forms of reciprocation were not spelled out. Graduated reciprocation in tension-reduction seeks its justification in social science considerations. It assumes that if carefully graduated unilateral actions were maintained over a sufficient period, pressures of public opinion both internal and external would force reciprocation.

The article reports that research is always conditioned by two chief problems: first, the problem of knowing what is most important to discover and, second, the problem of knowing how to go about discovering it. All sciences, even the most exact sciences, are limited by their techniques and especially by their technologies, far more than they are by their phenomena. The field and science of psychology or social psychology is not the exception but the rule in these difficulties. The study of any problem that will make a real contribution to the field of psychology or social psychology will need to be on a broader base.