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Commentary on the papers of the special issue identifies and discusses four themes: 1) strategies to bridge the gap between science and practice, 2) sources of community science questions of interest, 3) choice and quality of methods, and 4) epistemology and useful language for community science. The commentary identifies some limitations in the models proposed by the special issue authors, and proposes renewed attention to ecology, context and process in community change initiatives, calling for a common set of community level measures as one strategy to advance a community centered science agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information on 'Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology' as of March 2004. The journal publishes empirical and conceptual papers which aim to increase understanding of people and organizations at work. Its domain is broad, covering industrial, organizational, engineering, vocational and personnel psychology, as well as behavioural and cognitive aspects of industrial relations, ergonomics, human factors and industrial sociology. The editorial team reminds readers that research based on student samples is not usually acceptable, unless students are the most relevant population with which to test the research question/s. However, a little further comment and qualification concerning the nature of the data is needed in order to clarify the team's stance, and also to draw attention to some exceptions. One particular concern here is to discourage studies where causal hypotheses in well-researched areas are tested using entirely self-report survey data from a sample numbering perhaps in the low hundreds, the composition of which is characterized more by availability than special relevance to the research question/s. So, if a study used only cross-sectional self-report data but included some kind of experimental manipulation, other things being equal it could be publishable. A more general, and very important issue concerns the distinction between quantitative and qualitative data. The journal explicitly encourages papers based on the latter, and has done so for quite some time.

In this paper, Christian Morgner provides a critical reading of Niklas Luhmann's thinking as ignoring human beings or even as antihumanist. Here, he presents an alternative view that centers on Luhmann's idea of the child or human being as a medium. To explain Luhmann's use of these ideas to conceptualize the child and the consequences for research, Morgner refers to the translation of Luhmann's paper "The Child as the Medium of Education" and to as yet unpublished material from his famous card‐box reference system. Drawing on these materials, Morgner can more clearly illuminate Luhmann's novel perspective and how it could inform further theoretical development, supported by new analysis of existing research in other fields, including developmental psychology, education, philosophy, and sociology. He concludes that, far from neglecting the human, Luhmann's theory takes human being very seriously and acknowledges its key role as a form‐giving medium in addressing the challenges faced by contemporary society. This renewed perspective should be of particular interest to educational theorists, enabling them to more freely apply his ideas in various settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale, aims & objective Tools for the assessment of the quality of research studies tend to be specific to a particular research design (e.g. randomized controlled trials, or qualitative interviews). This makes it difficult to assess the quality of a body of research that addresses the same or a similar research question but using different approaches. The aim of this paper is to describe the development and preliminary evaluation of a quality assessment tool that can be applied to a methodologically diverse set of research articles. Methods The 16-item quality assessment tool (QATSDD) was assessed to determine its reliability and validity when used by health services researchers in the disciplines of psychology, sociology and nursing. Qualitative feedback was also gathered from mixed-methods health researchers regarding the comprehension, content, perceived value and usability of the tool. Results Reference to existing widely used quality assessment tools and experts in systematic review confirmed that the components of the tool represented the construct of 'good research technique' being assessed. Face validity was subsequently established through feedback from a sample of nine health researchers. Inter-rater reliability was established through substantial agreement between three reviewers when applying the tool to a set of three research papers (κ = 71.5%), and good to substantial agreement between their scores at time 1 and after a 6-week interval at time 2 confirmed test-retest reliability. Conclusions The QATSDD shows good reliability and validity for use in the quality assessment of a diversity of studies, and may be an extremely useful tool for reviewers to standardize and increase the rigour of their assessments in reviews of the published papers which include qualitative and quantitative work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The absence of a sociological discourse about children in the past meant that child and family social work has largely relied on psychological interpretations of children and their behaviour. However, since the 1990s, the sociology of childhood has been developed in the UK. The aim of this paper is to explore the relevance of the sociology of childhood in understanding looked-after childhoods and in informing contemporary social work practice with looked-after children and young people. The central argument of this paper is that, in order to fulfil professional responsibilities and to implement current and forthcoming UK social policies for looked-after children, social work needs to employ broad understandings of children, young people and looked-after childhoods. The paper goes on to discuss the ways in which a social work approach drawing on the sociology of childhood can offer such a conceptualization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on the paper entitled "The Individual and the Influence of Social Settings: A Psychoanalyitc Perspective on the Interaction of the Individual and Society," by R. D. Hinshelwood. The paper describes a patient's process of taking in a hated object which dominate her internal world in a hostile way and reflects on social psychology.

This paper reconsiders the work of the Scottish biologist, sociologist, and town planner Patrick Geddes and his most famous intellectual disciple: the American independent scholar Lewis Mumford. It is argued that existing interpretations of their work, ranging from a dismissal of the two men as eccentric polymaths to the speculative emphasis on the importance of psychological theories in Mumford's oeuvre, are fundamentally flawed. Examining their writings and the letters they exchanged during their 17-year correspondence, this paper shows that the only way we can appreciate the scholarly conventions underpinning Geddes's and Mumford's work, as well as the context in which it was produced, is by looking to the principles of classical sociological theory. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the program for social psychology presented by Floyd Allport in his Social Psychology of 1924. It contextualizes Allport's program in terms of intellectual currents of the time and the views of his teachers at Harvard University, specifically the philosopher Ralph Barton Perry and the psychologists Edwin B. Holt and Hugo Münsterberg. Finally, the paper analyzes responses to Allport's program at the time and later, retrospective responses. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We review the problems of citation analysis. Most of them have either not been studied or have received only cursory attention. Since major error results when these problems are not taken into account, users of citation-based literature should proceed cautiously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commercialization of emotions is not a new phenomenon but in Denmark there is a new general trend to tell and sell personal stories in the media. Personal deprivation and crises are also major topics in sports media. This paper focuses on sports biographies as a book genre that is reviving in popularity. The paper approaches the topic through the biographies of one Danish athlete: the former professional cyclist, Jesper Skibby, who writes about his doping disclosure and shares his personal dilemmas as a former elite sportsman. The thematic text analysis orientates around social interactions, emotions, and personality constructions. Inspired by microsociology with a Durkheimian flavor of Goffman and Hochschild, themes including 'face work,' 'interaction rituals,' and 'emotions management' are discussed. The analysis claims that sharing personal information in the media is not only a means of confession and reclaiming status but is also business and management - on an intimate level. Telling the story of the corrosion of a sporting character has become a hot issue, an entertainment, and not least a commercial commitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a confluence of unique values and activities, the collective practice of community psychology is difficult to characterize in a simple way. Increasingly, however, professional contexts are laden with pressure to define any practice-from library work to medical interventions-in the orderly, compact language of traditional science. This trend has historically been resisted in the field by those sensing a fundamental lack of fit between the fluid, emergent aspects of community psychological practice and the fixed, precise language of classic science. In response to this “language-practice gap,” some have attempted to adapt the traditional language of science to better fit the field’s practice, while others have explored alternative languages of practice seemingly more indigenous to the messy “swamp” of actual communities. While the former effort leaves some theoretical contradictions intact, the latter tends to discount scientific identity entirely. This paper proposes a potential step forward by resituating questions of disciplinary language and identity within a current philosophical discourse where the nature of social science itself remains sharply contested. This suggests shifting attention away from “should webe a science?” to “what kindof science might we be after all?”; in turn, alternative languages may be re-cast as legitimate contributors to a kind of science more authentic to human communities-even a viable “science in the swamp.” One such language-philosophical hermeneutics-is presented as a particularly valuable supplement to traditional science. Illustrations highlight ways that hermeneutics may advance the formal language of the field towards a closer fit of what actually happens in practice, while preserving and even bolstering the empirical rigor and scientific identity of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper examines some of the major topics that legal psychology began to focus on at the end of the last century.Aim: The purpose is to contend that such topics (the reliability of ear-witness testimony, the conducting of identification parades/line ups, the interviewing of suspects, the interviewing of vulnerable witnesses/victims) are deserving of greater attention in this new century.Conclusions: Legal psychologists should be brave enough to research with methodological rigour complex, real-world topics of importance to society and to advise relevant professional groups on how to improve their performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the disciplinary status of social psychology through an analysis of the history of the boundary relations of psychology, sociology, and social psychology. After outlining some research on the nature of scientific disciplines, on the role of rhetoric in the constitution of disciplines, and on “boundary work,” I consider the singular importance of social psychology as a discipline for the analysis of boundary relations, examining its units of analysis and its “disciplining.” The boundaries of the disciplines of social psychology were seen as fluid, contingent, local, and contestable, reflecting the thematic preoccupations, disciplinary origins, and meta-theoretical commitments of social psychologists, of the parent disciplines, and of those who represent disciplinary practices. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present article we analyze a series of studies designed to detect the caries preventive effect of Duraphat by means of meta-analysis. Meta-analysis is a collection of statistical methods designed to investigate and to summarize a series of investigations. It may be a valuable tool to complement traditional narrative reviews. During the last years meta-analysis has attracted increasing interest in sociology, psychology and medicine. In order to find previous studies concerned with the clinical effects of Duraphat we applied a systematic literature search. Papers were included independent of results when they fulfilled a checklist of well defined methodological selection criteria. In order to aggregate the results of the Duraphat- studies we used different complementary statistical approaches: Firstly, the so-called file drawer problem is considered. This may help to get a better insight into the problem of underreporting non-significant results or publication bias. It was found to be very unlikely that underreporting of non-significant results could reverse the conclusion into an overall null-result. After that, the inhomogeneity between studies is investigated. The overall variation of caries reduction R is separated into two components: A between study component of variance and a variance pertaining to the individual studies (random effects model). It was found that the overall variation is dominated by the between studies variation and not by the sampling variation. Due to the pronounced variation between studies the confidence interval of the overall effect size IR =0.38) is quite large (95%-Cl: 0.19-0.57). The heterogeneity of our studies naturally suggested exploring possible sources thereof by investigating the dependence of caries reduction on variables characterizing the studies. It was found that caries reduction is negatively correlated with study duration. This finding provided a study-duration-adjusted effect of caries reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the nature of educational studies is considered and discussed. Following some introductory comments, the paper deals with philosophy, psychology and sociology in relation to education. This is followed by a section on social psychology and the paper ends with a section on the history of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through an elaboration of Stinchcombe's model of the structure of functional explanations, this paper attempts to integrate the notions of equilibrium structures, structural contradictions, and social conflicts. It proposes that two variables of an unquestionably empirical nature can account for the distinctions among the three structural forms: (1) the emergence of a double loop in the basic structure of functional systems and (2) the embodiment of systemic, mechanical forces in the intentions and actions of persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three studies were conducted in order to investigate antecedents of individuals' preoccupation with person descriptors, such as personality traits, physical-ethnic characteristics, or external characteristics, in Studies 1 and 2 subjects had to rate, for a given list of traits, how important each of the traits was as a prerequisite for performance within an academic context. Subjects who Here relatively inexperienced in writing term papers (Study 1) or in taking major exams (Study 2) showed a higher mean in rated importance of the traits than did those who were relatively experienced However, no differences between experienced and inexperienced subjects occurred if they had to rate the same trait list with respect to each trait's general desirability, i.e. where the traits were simply rated as such, without any reference to a performance realm. This finding clarifies an important aspect of the theory underlying this work, in the third study subjects were encouraged to make use of overt, visible aspects in describing how to recognize a foreign language speaker. The number of physical ethnic and material characteristics mentioned in subjects' descriptions was positively correlated with the number of mistakes subjects made in a foreign-language translation task, particularly when subjectively felt press with respect to translating was high and subjects' performance in translating was salient. Implications of these findings are discussed within a concept framework dwelling on the societal origins of the use of person-descriptor terms (Wicklund, 1986a,b). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has suggested the need to reexamine die value-stance of sociology. In adopting the ideology of science, it eschewed experimentation as a basic methodological device. Yet, this paper has also suggested that there is a tendency to confuse the extra-scientific values and norms of science with the scientific method. Thus, the greatest danger to scientific objectivity may not lie so much in sociological experimentation as the inability of the sociologist to separate scientific from value decision-making. Value decisions, undiscriminated and rooted in the ideology of pure science, can be as inhibiting to the effective use of the scientific method in expanding the boundaries of knowledge as any other institutionalized norms. The paper also sugegsted that experimentation had much to oiler sociology. But in failing to imitate the physical sciences in this regard, it may have sacrificed a tool important to its development. A possible means of reconciling ideological and methodological differences over this issue might lie in the development of systematic methods by which to examine the values as well as the methodology which underlie any research effort. The investigator could review the values implicit in his research in much the same way as he now reviews the steps involved in his application of the scientific method. Much could be learned. Human intellectual experience suggests that we proceed more efficiently when the grounds for our behavior are set down, cares fully reviewed, and criticized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents some questions for the attention of medical sociologists. Some medical educators, admittedly few, still subscribe to the view that they alone are competent to provide role models for medical students and that, therefore, no matter what the subject, the proper training of the physician requires that a physician teach it. Others, adopting a less extreme standpoint, appear to be prepared to accept the behavioral sciences on trust as it were, even while retaining some of these reservations and often questioning the relevance of sociological theory and method to the practical problems of health and illness. While there are then a few medical educators with reservations, it appears that the vast majority nowadays consider that sociology, psychology and anthropology, and perhaps other allied disciplines, have an acknowledged place somewhere in the medical curriculum. It is not proposed in this paper to enter into the general debate on whether the behavioral sciences have anything to contribute to medicine and should be incorporated into medical training.

Research conducted during the last few years has investigated the relationship between these personality variables and several dependent variables including performance on classroom tests, preference for certain degrees of risk, estimation of future success, persistence at tasks, and several others. The extent of these findings has seemed substantial enough to warrant the use of achievement-motivation variables as predictors of performance in applied as well as laboratory studies. This is not to imply that the reported findings are always consistent or that significant differences are always discovered. Since the theory of achievement motivation does appear to be of considerable potential use in several areas, any attempt at clarification would seem to be a contribution in a practical as well as a theoretical sense. In this paper one such attempt will be reviewed and data will be presented that seem to clarify some of the inconsistencies in the literature. In particular, control-of-reinforcement theory, originally devised by Julian Rotter, will be reviewed and an attempt will be made to show how a consideration of this theory along with the theory of achievement motivation can aid in understanding the conditions under which both theories apply.

Discusses the objectives of the periodical "British Journal of Social Psychology." Ground rules guiding any methodology; Capacity of the periodical to juxtapose papers using contrasting, even conflicting methods and epistemologies; Commitment of researchers to a paradigm or mode of investigation.

There are considerable (and growing) bodies of literature within sociology and psychology addressing the various ways in which masculinities are socially constructed and interactional, yet rarely are the two disciplines presented together. In this paper, we provide a selective integrated review of the literatures within psychology and sociology focusing on the social construction of masculinities. Rather than providing an exhaustive overview, this review places selected key sociological and psychological frameworks and empirical findings on masculinities in dialogue, providing insight into areas where scholars of masculinities may benefit from considering cross-disciplinary incorporation of key findings within their scholarship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts of social behavior research. They include "Theories of Embodied Knowledge: New Directions for Cultural and Cognitive Sociology?," by Gabriel Ignatow, "Radical Interactionism: Going Beyond Mead," by Lonnie Athens, "Towards a Dynamic Model of the Psychological Contract," by René Schalk and Robert E. Roe.

Private information is at the heart of many economic activities. For decades, economists have assumed that individuals are willing to misreport private information if this maximizes their material payoff. We combine data from 90 experimental studies in economics, psychology, and sociology, and show that, in fact, people lie surprisingly little. We then formalize a wide range of potential explanations for the observed behavior, identify testable predictions that can distinguish between the models, and conduct new experiments to do so. Our empirical evidence suggests that a preference for being seen as honest and a preference for being honest are the main motivations for truth‐telling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the emotional aspects of participation within social welfare contexts. The focus is on individual professionals, such as social workers and children's rights workers and their articulation, management and negotiation of the emotional when working with children and young people. The institutions of welfare are also shown to be ambiguous in their approaches to participation. Lastly, the dimensions of power that are enacted in relations between professionals and children reveal some of the complex dynamics in this fraught area of social welfare policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increase in interest for German scientific psychology followed the rise of liberalism in late nineteenth-century Spain. This paper deals with Spanish scholars' endeavors to participate in German psychology: It outlines the intellectual and institutional background of Spanish preoccupation with German philosophy and psychology, and deals with the personal experience and testimony of two Spanish philosophers, Eloy Luis André and Juan Vicente Viqueira López, who traveled to Leipzig, Berlin, and Göttingen between 1909 and 1914 to gain firsthand experience in the nascent science of psychology in Germany at that time. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The latter decades of the 20th century saw C.G. Jung doubly marginalized, both by Psychology's academic establishment, for whom he was beyond the scientific pale, and by critical psychologists for whom he was, to simplify, beyond the ideological one. In this paper, I will suggest that there are two respects in which Social Psychology should reconsider his position. Firstly his own, albeit largely covert, Social Psychology, has affinities with critical Social Psychology; secondly, in the subject matter sense, Jung's own social psychological significance in the mid-20th century and beyond itself requires attention in its own right. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Case study research has been used increasingly in psychology and sociology in recent years. It provides researchers with an opportunity to explore a situation involving one individual or several individuals over time from multiple points of view. Methods: This literature review explains case study research as a method and summerises its scientific merit, also providing an example of its use. Results: Case study research offers occupational therapists a scientific methodology that can be used to understand and develop occupational therapy practice. Conclusion: This paper argues that case study research should be used more extensively by occupational therapists as the method respects the basic principles of occupational therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Treatments of sources of Adam Smith's sociological theory of the self and associated ideas inThe Theory of Moral Sentimentstypically refer to classical antecedents or the work of his teacher Francis Hutcheson or his contemporary David Hume. During the seventeenth century, however, many books on the passions were published in London that arguably constitute an important but neglected source of Smith's treatment of moral sentiments. These works are largely forgotten today but at the time were widely read. They are not philosophical, partly devotional and predominantly psychological. Although Smith does not refer to these works his argument resembles theirs in many places. The importance of the seventeenth-century books on the passions, apart from their role in the history of psychology, is their bearing on contemporary economic practices. In this paper the connections between Smith and one of these books, Thomas Wright'sThe Passions of the Minde in Generall, are indicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on interviews with 37 women with HIV infection, this paper explores women’s perceptions of HIV/AIDS in relation to other traumatic life events. Employing a biographical disruption framework, this paper demonstrates how women reconstruct the meaning of HIV infection in light of other disruptive life situations. Findings indicate that despite initial disruption, in retrospect, many of the sample women did not consider HIV to be the most devastating event in their lives. Rather, violence, mother-child separation, and drug use were deemed more disruptive than HIV infection. Several factors, including race, drug use and abuse histories, social support and diagnosis, were central to women’s differential assessment of HIV in relation to other disruptive events. Results are discussed in terms of the practical and theoretical implications of the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates three conflicting reconstructions of the historical relationship between personality and social psychology and addresses questions they raise regarding the subdisciplinary status of personality in the 1920s and the way in which the field gradually emerged as a separate area of psychology. Contesting claims that Floyd Allport first connected social psychology to a separate “branch” of personality psychology in the 1920s, I argue that he drew upon earlier work of psychologists and sociologists who treated personality as a central topic of social psychology. I compare Floyd Allport's views with those of Gordon Allport, who endeavored to establish personality as a separate subdiscipline. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colorism, like whiteness is capital, is rooted in the institution of slavery and has resulted in the preference of light skin. Because colorism is part of the historical construction of whiteness, the consumption of whiteness is commodified through various markets. Current manifestations of racialized beauty, that is, skin bleaching and photo editing apps such as FaceTune and Snap Chat reinforce colorism and impact conceptualizations of beauty. This literature review surveys how colorism and racialized beauty are reproduced to reinforce whiteness as a form of capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neo-Weberian closure theory developed principally by Parkin appears at first glance to suffer from two opposing weaknesses — that its central concept of exclusion is either too broad or too narrow. This paper demonstrates that these objections are spurious. It then uncovers several real problems which have not yet been examined by the critics of closure theory. These problems have to do with Parkin's conceptions of usurpation, of the withdrawal of services, and of property, as well as with the ambiguity in the politics of Parkin's closure theory. The paper corrects these weaknesses and clarifies this ambiguity and concludes that closure theory so-corrected provides a promising framework for going beyond analyses focused narrowly on one particular means of domination and one particular set of monopolization and exclusion rules to a focus on monopolization and exclusion per se. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dependency associated with depression involves at least two forms of social behavior: (a) needs for nurturance/protection and close attachment, and an inability to function independently and (b) being (de)valued, fear of disapproval, and social status. In many studies, measures of dependency combine these two dimensions. This paper argues that this has led to confusion on the salient dimensions related to depression. It is suggested that behaviors currently regarded as dependent, and linked to depression, are better understood as forms of involuntary subordination that involve judgments of personal inferiority, and submissive-appeasement behavior. This paper presents preliminary evidence that social status, and its associated features of negative self-other comparisons and submissive behavior, may be particularly relevant to depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes that attitudes should be viewed as strategies for meeting personal needs; they serve psychological functions. After reviewing the early functional attitude theories proposed by Katz and by Smith, and some of the problems associated with them, a new functional approach is outlined. This neofunctional approach distinguishes two principal sources for the benefit related to attitudes: the attitude's object and the attitude's expression. Within these two major categories, specific functions are described based on the author's research and that of earlier functional theorists. The personality, situational, and domain characteristics likely to influence the functional value of attitudes are also discussed. Strategies suggested by this approach for changing attitudes are briefly considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the old heredity-environment controversy in psychology. This paper describes the case that the behavioral geneticist has built and criticizes this work from the standpoint of a developmental psychologist who has studied the effects of the family and child-rearing practices. Most of all, however, this article attempts to refire enthusiasm for undertaking studies that will investigate the process by which family life and parent behavior affect the child. It is expected that this new work by the behavioral geneticists will serve as a challenge to develop theories, research designs, and measures that will clarify the nature of family socialization and show its effect.

Although social psychology has increasingly influenced counseling psychology, the impact that counseling psychology has had or could have on social psychology is less well developed. This paper considers factors that have limited counseling's influence on social psychology. In addition, contributions that counseling can make to social psychology are presented. It is argued that both disciplines have evolved to investigate the behavior of "normal" individuals in social contexts. It is concluded that there is much to be gained by both specialties in a fuller and more comprehensive integration and understanding of the findings and methods of the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reader is taken on a journey spanning some 25 years devoted to the author's involvement in stress research as a sociologist of health. The starting point is work on life stressors, moving to the distinction between tension and stress and the concept of generalized resistance resources. In the course of the story, consideration is given to the difference between the study of diseases and of dis-ease. The next step taken is the formulation of the salutogenic problem and its implications for health research, in contrast to the traditional study of pathogenesis. Finally, the meaning of the sense of coherence, an orientation to the world as comprehensible, manageable and meaningful, and hypothesized to be a core variable in shaping coping with stressors and thereby influencing health status, is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author arranges some of the major treatments of alienation within a coherent framework. He introduces a distinction between disassociation (certain specified objective conditions) and alienation (a specified experience) and articulates the relationship between these two by presenting a series of intervening psychological issues. A typology of human association is presented, and it is argued that especially two types of disassociation (i.e., marginality and subordination) and, to some extent, another (i.e., privilege) may be productive of alienation These conditions are considered at the cultural, social, and psychological levels of analysis. Variables connecting these conditions and alienation include the perception of the condition, evaluation, integration, blame, and response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moscovici has ushered in the 'era of social representations', widely welcomed as a European alternative to what are increasingly regarded as the shortcomings of mainline' American social psychology. The rapid and enthusiastic adoption by many psychologists of Moscovici's theoretical approach has not so far evoked a great deal of critical appraisal of the ideas he put forward. The present paper seeks to make a start in filling this gap by an examination of the conceptual structure and sonic of its underlying assumptions. There appear to be a number of internal inconsistencies and some doubt concerning the logical status of social representations'. It is suggested that clarification of such issues, together with the establishment of closer links with the findings of neighbouring disciplines, would help to strengthen what is undoubtedly one of the most stimulating new departures in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents personal observations concerning the different purpose and methods of a psychologist working in different sectors of community functioning including education, psychological healing, institutional management, business administration, finance, and military installations. Each of these sectors of community work required its own specific purpose and methods which were often conflicting. It is concluded that there are many different legitimate roles and functions for psychologists working in the community, and that those working in one area should be understanding and tolerant of different professional applications in other areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses three issues from a follow-up descriptive stud of the referral of 22 black, ‘high-risk’ adolescents for psychiatric hospitalization, and their readjustment to the community. The first issue concerns the effects of labeling upon the adolescent's readjustment. We found differences between those labeled mentally retarded and those labeled as underachievers in their readjustment to the community. Second, several variables were identified as influencing referrals for hospitalization, subsequent readjustment, and discharge placement. The final issue deals with the effects of the therapist's willingness to extend themselves to culturally different families upon parental involvement in the adolescent's therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes that prior to developing community mental health programs in established medical centers it would be beneficial to examine the institution in which the programs must exist. Four variables which were found to be of particular importance are discussed with an emphasis placed on viewing each variable in its historical perspective. Two large medical complexes in the Los Angeles metropolitan area are compared on each of the four variables to demonstrate how the history of the institutions has determined their current functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper attempts a fresh evaluation of the psychoanalytic approach to the study of war. Man's increased rationality in his technology has not been matched by an increase of rationality in his social relations has become a depressing cliche. It has for some time been apparent that psychoanalysis, as the discipline most concerned with man's irrationality, might provide some explanations. Unfortunately, psychoanalysts who have attacked the problem have tended toward a narrow parochialism and extremism, assigning exclusive responsibility to one or two mechanisms and ignoring or rejecting the contributions of other sciences. For psychoanalytic theory to have any relevance to the causes of war, several conditions must obtain namely, it must postulate motives which might be satisfied by war, it must demonstrate that these motives do indeed become engaged in the cognitive idea of war, the institutional structure of the society must be such as to allow for the politically effective implementation of these attitudes.

One of the factors which affects an individual's motivation to perform on a group task, as well as his feelings of accomplishment and satisfaction, is the clarity of the social structure within which the individual functions psychologists B.R. Raven and J. Rietsema in a recent experiment were concerned with some effects upon a group member of the clarity of the group's goal and the path to that goal. With a very ingenious method, utilizing a tape recording, they were able to induce two degrees of goal clarity the subject (S) was given the task of cutting out geometrical figures presumably to be used by the other members of his group in constructing some three-dimensional objects. While S was involved in his paper cutting, he was permitted to hear, over a loud speaker, what the others were doing with the pieces he had provided. One half of the Ss were given, through the recorded discussion, a clear picture of the goal the others were working toward and what they were doing to achieve it. The recording heard by the other Ss presented the group task as quite vague and ambiguous.

The article comments on the development of the social sciences in Poland. The organization of periodicals is always linked with the structure of scientific institutions. This also holds true in Poland, and it is therefore useful to sketch the organization structure of the social sciences in order to understand the functioning of periodicals in scientific life. Polish scientific institutions are set up in several departments. The divisions among different institutions and organizational sections shape the character and functions of social science periodicals in Poland. The periodicals published by the universities and the Polish Academy of Sciences are of an academic character, i.e., they deal with theoretical studies, information on the advancement of science, methodological problems, etc. Periodicals issued by ministerial institutes which are subordinate to central institutions deal rather with practical problems, applied research in economics, sociology, psychology, social politics and the like. In turn the periodicals of scientific associations deal more with regional problems. This division is not entirely strict, for a number of periodicals devote part of their space to theoretical problems, a part to practical problems and a part to local matters.

Investigates the problems in communicating about analytical techniques in psychoanalysis. Search for a more widely acceptable connotation about the elements which make up such ineffable analytic situations and techniques; Objective expression of subjective interpersonal experiences; Foundation for structural expressions of the bipolarity of the whole object intrapersonal experiences.

This article presents information related to price theory. The purpose of this note is to present some tentative reflections on the "heretical" branch of economics referred to as "Institutional Economics." Scholar John S. Grambs has pointed out in his title volume, "Beyond Supply and Demand," there is currently no unanimity among the so-called institutionalists on methodology and psychological assumptions. In light of such confusion and inconsistencies it is necessary to state as explicitly as possible the variant of "institutionalism" with which this paper deals. Specifically, it deals with the institutional theory embodied in the writings of college teacher Clarence E. Ayres, which the author believes is institutionalism in the only true sense of that term. It might be better to refer to it is the "economics of technology," or the "economics of the life process," or the "theory of technological-institutional process." All of these phrases are accurate enough, but since they are also rather clumsy, the author has said that he will settle for the more informative phrase of "Ayresian institutionalism."

This article examines how radio programs and motion pictures are conceived as communications. Two basically important questions arise, referring to the person who is communicating, and the subject that is being communicated. But these issues do not completely cover the complex psycho-social problems of films and radio. There are at least three characteristics of the communicative situation created by the mass media which make it unique: 1) size, diversity, and psychological complexity of the audience; 2) dynamic, creative, and selective character of the audience reaction; and, 3) the uniquely evocative character of the stimulus values.