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Effects of subliminal activation of Oedipal fantasies on competitive performance. A replication and extension.

A subliminal psychodynamic activation experiment was conducted in which the effects of five subliminal stimuli were sought on the dart-throwing performance of male subjects. The stimuli consisted of the following messages, each accompanied by a congruent picture: BEATING DAD IS OK, BEATING DAD IS WRONG, BEATING HIM IS OK, BEATING HIM IS WRONG, and PEOPLE ARE WALKING. The first two stimuli were intended to activate competitive motives within the context of the Oedipus complex; the next two, competitive motives outside that context; and the last was intended as a control stimulus. BEATING DAD IS OK led to greater dart-throwing accuracy than each of the other four conditions, which in turn did not differ from each other. This finding replicated a result reported by Silverman, L. H., Ross, D., Adler, J., and Lustig, D. (J. Abnorm. Psychol., 87: 341-357, 1978) and is in keeping with the formulation that the activation of oedipal motives can affect competitive performance. Neither a subject variable (fear of success) nor the differential effects of two experimenters was found to interact with stimulus conditions in affecting dart scores.

Adult↗

What is sublimated in sublimation?

Sublimation has always been an elusive idea in psychoanalytic thought. This is because psychoanalysis is most systematic as a clinical psychology, while sublimation signifies an obverse of neurosogenesis. Nevertheless, the idea of sublimation remains a concern of psychoanalysis inasmuch as sublimation entails a version of socialization and cultural experience that answers to various principles of psychoanalytic theory. For reasons developed here, the creation and experience of art figure prominently in reflections on sublimation. Clinical material from the analyses of several artists is presented to demonstrate how neurosis takes a toll of sublimation and how sublimation takes a toll of the analytic process. Sublimatory experiences are then reconstructed from the devices of art. Two achievements of sublimation are especially noted: reduction of the ordinary instrumental functions of affects, and heightened consciousness of endopsychic processes.

Creativity↗

Healthy personality: toward a unified theory.

It is argued that healthy personality is potentially as identifiable a pattern as is any diagnostic category and is not equivalent simply to "normality." In moving toward a theory of psychological health one needs to examine structure and dynamics with respect to the functions of instigation, regulation, meaning, and style. Psychoanalytic theory is taken as a point-of-departure. Viewed as a theory of neurosis, psychoanalysis does not provide an adequate treatment of ego-constructive functions, components of the superego (aside from conscience in a negative sense), or human motivation. Humanistic theory helps by focussing on health, although it falls short with regard to motivation. The essential properties of healthy humanness emerge as integration among the structures of personality and progression in the dynamics of personality functioning. Four major pathways in development are outlined to highlight how health differs from other patterns.

Biological Evolution↗

Paradoxical and less paradoxical effects of thought suppression: a critical review.

The process of consciously trying to avoid certain thoughts is referred to as thought suppression. Experimental research has documented that thought suppression may have paradoxical effects in that it leads to an increased frequency of the to-be-suppressed thought intruding consciousness. It has also been claimed that suppression has disruptive effects on episodic memory (i.e., a less paradoxical effect). The present article critically evaluates studies on the paradoxical and less paradoxical effects of thought suppression. More specifically, the issue of whether thought suppression plays a causative role in the development of various psychopathological symptoms is addressed. While laboratory studies have come up with highly consistent findings about the paradoxical effects of thought suppression, there is, as yet, little reason to believe that such effects are implicated in the etiology of obsessions, phobias, or other psychopathological conditions. Relatively little work has been done on the alleged memory effects of thought suppression. The studies that have examined this issue have found mixed results. Accordingly, the case for the amnestic power of thought suppression is weak. Alternative explanations and competing theories are discussed, and it is concluded that research concerned with the psychopathological consequences of thought suppression would benefit from development of better taxonomies of intrusive thinking and cognitive avoidance strategies.

Anxiety Disorders↗

I like myself but I don't know why: enhancing implicit self-esteem by subliminal evaluative conditioning.

On the basis of a conceptualization of implicit self-esteem as the implicit attitude toward the self, it was predicted that implicit self-esteem could be enhanced by subliminal evaluative conditioning. In 5 experiments, participants were repeatedly presented with trials in which the word I was paired with positive trait terms. Relative to control conditions, this procedure enhanced implicit self-esteem. The effects generalized across 3 measures of implicit self-esteem (Experiments 1-3). Furthermore, evaluative conditioning enhanced implicit self-esteem among people with low-temporal implicit self-esteem and among people with high-temporal implicit self-esteem (Experiment 4). In addition, it was shown that conditioning enhanced self-esteem to such an extent that it made participants insensitive to negative intelligence feedback (Experiments 5a and 5b). Various implications are discussed.

Adult↗

Unconscious learning. Conditioning to subliminal visual stimuli.

The role of consciousness in Pavlovian conditioning was examined in two experiments in which visually masked neutral words were used as the conditioned stimuli (CS) and an electric shock as the unconditioned stimulus (US). The inter-stimulus interval (ISI) was established individually. A detection threshold was used in Experiment 1 and an identification threshold in Experiment 2. The primary dependent variable was the skin conductance response (SCR). Results showed that the conditioned response (CR) was acquired by 58% of participants who perceived stimuli above the identification threshold, 50% of participants who perceived stimuli below the detection threshold, and 11% of participants who perceived stimuli below the identification threshold, but above the detection threshold. These results suggest that consciousness of the CS-US contingency is not a necessary condition for acquiring a CR of the autonomous nervous system (ANS).

Adolescent↗

From seeing to being: subliminal social comparisons affect implicit and explicit self-evaluations.

The authors hypothesize that social comparisons can have automatic influences on self-perceptions. This was tested by determining whether subliminal exposure to comparison information influences implicit and explicit self-evaluation. Study 1 showed that subliminal exposure to social comparison information increased the accessibility of the self. Study 2 revealed that subliminal exposure to social comparison information resulted in a contrast effect on explicit self-evaluation. Study 3 showed that subliminal exposure to social comparison information affects self-evaluations more easily than it affects mood or evaluations of other people. Studies 4 and 5 replicated these self-evaluation effects and extended them to implicit measures. Study 6 showed that automatic comparisons are responsive to a person's perceptual needs, such that they only occur when people are uncertain about themselves. Implications for theories of social cognition, judgment, and comparison are discussed.

Affect↗

[Defusion].

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Defense Mechanisms↗