SAGE Journal Articles

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Article 1: Olds, D. D. (2006). Identification: Psychoanalytic and biological perspectives. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 54(1), 17–46. doi:10.1177/00030651060540012001

URL: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00030651060540012001

Learning Objective: 1 & 2

Summary: Abstract: In recent attempts to bring psychoanalysis into greater contact with other sciences, a number of works have explicated neural science concepts and phenomena—affect, memory, consciousness—for the psychoanalyst. These efforts have helped analysts build a more scientific foundation for their theory and practice. A related task remains—namely, to take psychoanalytic concepts and see how they relate to other sciences. The concept of identification has a long history in psychoanalytic theory. It is seen in parent-child interactions, in teaching and mentoring relationships, and in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. Neuropsychology and evolutionary biology have explored the phylogenetic precursors of identification, while genetics and infant observation provide insights into individual processes of identification. Finally, neuroscience, particularly recent studies of mirror neurons, offers information about the biological mechanisms of imitation and the relationship of imitation to identification. Findings from these sciences are presented in an effort to further the psychoanalytic understanding of identification, especially its biological underpinnings.

Questions to Consider:

1. Compare and contrast psychoanalysis and cognitive science. Cognitive Domain:

2. In psychoanalytic thinking, the term ______ means that the focus has been on the apparent fact that representations of objects and object relations are stored in the mind. Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

  1. id
  2. ego
  3. transference
  4. internalization

3. A new viewpoint on imitative learning and some other types of motor learning, including language, makes use of the recently described phenomenon of ______. Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

  1. mirror neurons
  2. individual neurons
  3. cortical readout
  4. premotor cortex
     

Article 2: Kernberg, O. F., & Michels, R. (2016). Thoughts on the present and future of psychoanalytic education. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 64(3), 477–493. doi:10.1177/0003065116654273

URL: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0003065116654273

Learning Objective: 1, 2, & 3

Summary: Abstract: This paper originated in a series of dialogues between the authors over a period of approximately one year, focused on present problems (and possible solutions) in psychoanalytic education, internationally but particularly in the U.S. Both authors have been involved in psychoanalytic education and governance over many years and share a concern with where psychoanalysis presently stands and where it is going. They share the experience of being part of what today is a significant minority of psychoanalysts involved in academic pursuits, thus being situated at the boundary between psychoanalysis and university-based psychiatry as professions. Having been involved in the leadership of both psychoanalytic and psychiatric organizations, they share an interest in organizational theory, an additional joint interest influencing their approach to institutional aspects of psychoanalysis. Despite these commonalities, however, they have been identified as having differently shaded positions and views within psychoanalytic politics: Robert Michels, as relatively conservative regarding controversial issues in psychoanalytic institutional functioning and governance, and Otto Kernberg as inclined toward rapid change regarding these issues (Auchincloss and Michels 2003; Kernberg 2014). This difference determined a dynamic of particular interest in their dialogue: the extent to which mutual respect yet differing viewpoints might issue in an analysis and joint recommendations that might be of interest to the field. In what follows, their achievement in that direction is spelled out in some detail.

Questions to Consider:

1. Historically, psychoanalysis has been a major scientific enterprise dealing with fundamental issues in psychology, particularly the influence of ______ on psychological functioning. Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

  1. mirror neurons
  2. neurological processes
  3. external processes
  4. unconscious processes

2. Today, the psychoanalytic community is engaged in ______ academic pursuits. Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

  1. expanded
  2. limited
  3. scientific
  4. numerous

3. Describe the current state of psychoanalytic theory and explain why you believe it is so, and then provide discussion as to how well current culture seems to understand just what psychoanalysis really is. Cognitive Domain:
 

Article 3: Johanssen, J. (2016). Media research and psychoanalysis: A suggestion. International Communication Gazette, 78(7), 688–693. doi:10.1177/1748048516655730.

URL: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1748048516655730

Learning Objective: 1 & 2

Summary: Abstract: This short commentary outlines psychoanalysis as a theory and method and its potential value to media research. Following Dahlgren, it is suggested that psychoanalysis may enrich the field because it may offer a complex theory of the human subject, as well as methodological means of doing justice to the richness, ambivalence and contradictions of human experience in relation to media. The psychoanalytic technique of free association and how it has been adapted in social research is suggested as a means to open up subjective modes of expression and thinking—in researchers and research participants alike—that lie beyond rationality and conscious agency.

Questions to Consider:

1. To define it, psychoanalysis, then, is the study of personality and behavior determined by ______ connected with experiences as a child. Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

  1. dreams
  2. memories
  3. conflict
  4. trauma

2. The authors say that psychoanalysis offers a language with which to decode or decipher how a participant might really “tick” or claiming to know something that the participant is not aware of Cognitive Domain:

True

False

3. Explain why Sigmund Freud encouraged his patients to freely associate. What did he hope to accomplish and why? Explain your position as to whether or not this helps understand one’s personality. Cognitive Domain: