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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1975

Symposium on The Ego and the Id after fifty years. The past and future of ego psychology.

Having six roots in ordinary observation and introspection, ego psychology has a long pre-Freudian history, which influenced Freud's first usages of Ich. His works before 1923 contain much that is substantively ego psychology; The Ego and the Id was not a paradigm change but a consolidation of pre-existing ideas. The structural theory replaced a model (topographic) which Freud actually used very little, especially clinically, and he failed to remedy its gravest methodological faults. The ego-id model is an integral part of metapsychology, and will pass out of use as the latter dies, with no detriment to clinical psychoanalysis.

Cognition↗
PubMed1992

Ego-strength revised: a comparison of the MMPI-2 and MMPI-1 versions of the Barron Ego-strength scale.

This study evaluated the equivalence of the original MMPI and the shortened MMPI-2 versions of the Barron (1953) Ego-strength scale, an important research scale. Three hundred fifty-five subjects took the MMPI-2 and the 16 MMPI-1 items dropped from the original scale. The omitted items appear to contribute little to the original scale. The revised version compares favorably with the old in terms of internal consistency, and the two versions are highly intercorrelated. Confirmatory Factor Analysis indicates that four of Stein and Chu's (1967) five groupings of the original items provide a reasonably good fit for the MMPI-2 as well. Compared to the original, the new version was slightly more correlated with other paper-and-pencil measures of psychological health and well-being.

Ego↗
PubMed1977

Susceptibility to motion sickness and ego closeness, ego distance as measured by the autokinetic response tendency.

This paper reports results from one phase in an ongoing study of the relationship between vestibular function and various aspects of personality, cognitive style and symptom formation in mental illness. In the experiment reported here a measure of autokinesis was shown to relate to motion sickness experience as judged by actual stimulation in a rotating chair. Low and intermediate sensitive subjects showed less autokinesis than the most motion sick individuals (two-way analysis of variance F = 5.735, P = 0.006). Males in this sample showed a significantly greater autokinetic tendency than females (two-way analysis of variance F = 6.995, P = 0.011).

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Mobilizing ego strengths.

In certain special situations in psychoanalytic treatment there is a need to mobilize ego strength: (1) those patients who are "so infantile" that they need ego strengthening to mature sufficiently to cope with their lives; (2) patients who regress partially during psychoanalysis and cannot progress without analytic intervention to help strengthen their ego; (3) those patients with a strong tendency toward regression whose egos need immediate strengthening in analysis to prevent an immobilizing regression; (4) those patients for whom a stressful reality situation so undermines their confidence that they fall into a severe regression and need to be helped out of this as an emergency to avoid permanent trouble, such as flunking out of school or getting fired from their jobs. All attempts to mobilize ego strengths require an especially thorough understanding of the psychodynamics and especially of the transference and countertransference. In addition, the patient's ego must be assessed as having the potential for more effective functioning. Usually the patient has been unable to realize this potential because of the various degrees of regression, and the analyst has already made exhaustive analytic interpretation of the unconscious material, including the transference and resistance. He may then shift to a more direct approach, pointing out the patient's ego strengths and giving him an accurate picture of the way he can use these strengths toward his own goals. The aim is to help the patient use his own willpower and ego functions gradually to work on and finally resolve some of his neurotic problems. Accurately and honestly mirroring the patient's ego potentials, encouraging him to use his ego, and providing examples of how others have used their own willpower in comparable situations are usually helpful. The analyst must not impose his own values or goals on the patient but must work with the goals, problems, and strengths the patient has. Seven analytic cases are presented to illustrate different ways of helping the patient to mobilize and utilize his own ego strength. We are not suggesting any new "technique," but only that there is something, which can be recognized as willpower, that can be mobilized for therapeutic effect; the appeal is make primarily by the usual procedure of pointing out reality but with encouragement to the patient in coping with both external and internal stresses, these latter being most often regressive tendencies.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1976

Masochism, the ego ideal, and the psychology of women.

Psychoanalytic advances have led to refinement and reformulation of early models of female personality development. Masochism was taken as a point of departure for a study of the psychology of women and earlier hypotheses of a masochistic and inferior female psychic structure. Masochism is a residue of unresolved infantile conflict and is neither essentially feminine nor a valuable component of mature female function and character. Though the female might be more predisposed to masochism, there is no evidence of particular female pleasure in pain. It is important to distinguish between masochistic suffering as a goal in itself, and tolerance for a discomfort or deprivation in the service of the ego or ego ideal. Initial hypotheses of a diminished female libido, ego tendencies toward arrest and rigidity, relative inability to sublimate, and a deficient superego are incomplete and obsolete theoretical propositions. The female ego and superego are different from but not inferior to the male. Female development cannot be described in a simple reductionism and overgeneralization. Femininity cannot be predominantly derived from a primary masculinity, disappointed maleness, masochistic resignation to fantasied inferiority, or compensation for fantasied castration and narcissistic injury. Castration reactions and penis envy contribute to feminine character, but penis envy is not the major determinant of femininity. Penis envy variously impedes and fosters femininity but penis envy is more closely related to the girl's bisexual masculinity. The female Oedipus complex is central to feminine development, but has significant normative roots in primary and positive feminine identifications and individuation. Contemporary contributions to the psychology of women have emphasized concepts of gender and sexual identity, body image and self-representation, psychosexual response and empathic motherliness, etc. The female superego includes an ego ideal with feminine ideals and values and regulates feminine interests. The maternal ego ideal consolidates overdetermined maternal attitudes, guides the formation and integration of maternal attitudes, and directs the developmental achievement of "the ordinary devoted mother." Conflicts between the maternal ego ideal and infanticidal impulses are ubiquitous and clinically significant. Current theoretical amendments conceptualize mature female autonomy, pride, and self-esteem. Female creativity may be exemplified in many and new forms in addition to motherhood. The capacity to sublimate and to foster sublimation in children is a prerequisite for normal motherhood. Femininity evolves under the influence of parents and culture, with unique developmental challenges and transformations, and a universal psychobiological core linked to functions and roles that should be neither idealized nor devalued.

Ego↗
PubMed1979

Ego development and sex attitudes in heterosexual and homosexual men and women.

A comparison was made of heterosexual and homosexual men and women utilizing Loevinger's concept of ego development and focusing on the relationships among ego levels and attitudes toward homosexuality and on personal sex guilt and other sociosexual variables. Previous comparative studies were critically analyzed with respect to the adequacy of definition and description of sampling procedures, and the appropriateness of research question. A pilot study reported here concerns the development of a measure of "attitudes toward homosexuality." The major study utilized 200 subjects who completed an anonymous and lengthy questionnaire. This sample was relatively young, well-educated, white, and Protestant. Self-ratings on the two Kinsey-type scales clearly differentiated the self-identified primarily heterosexual and homosexual groups. In this study there were no significant differences in ego levels between the heterosexual and the homosexual groups, suggesting that ego development and sexual orientation development are independent phenomena. Among both homosexual and heterosexual subjects there were low but significant correlations between higher levels of ego development and more positive attitudes toward homosexuality. More negative attitudes toward homosexuality were correlated with higher levels of personal sex guilt for heterosexual and homosexual men and for heterosexual women. Our measure of sex guilt proved to be related to ego level only for heterosexual males, although the measure of this construct requires additional research and refinement. Other correlates of these variables are also reported.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Ego development in women with histories of sexual abuse.

As many as a third of the women in this culture experience sexual abuse prior to reaching age 18. Recent literature and research have presented divergent views related to the impact of early abuse on ego development, with arguments supporting both ego fragmentation and ego acceleration. This preliminary study compared the level of ego development, as measured by Loevinger's Washington University Sentence Completion Test (SCT), of 30 women with histories of childhood sexual victimization, and 30 women with no history of abuse. Results indicated no significant difference between the ego levels of the sexually abused and nonabused groups, with a slight trend toward higher ego development in the abused group. Factors contributing to these findings are discussed and recommendations for future research are suggested.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Difficulties of describing human relationships with the help of psychoanalytic descriptive models: a critique of ego-psychology].

Progress of psychotherapy and of related behaviour sciences makes evident the importance of a better understanding of human relations. But psychoanalysis finds it hard to describe interpersonal processes without transference. In order to remain within the conceptional frame of metapsychology it has to see interaction between individuals as the oral, aggressive or sexual cathexis of an object or as satisfaction or denial of the subject by the object. The structure of the "ego", which--in analogy to medical thinking--is conceived as an organ with its functions, is considered to have no interpersonal activities. The "ego" of the classic psychoanalytic theory is chiefly occupied with itself. It has to care for its egoistical interests and to guarantee its self-preservation. As an auxiliary and meanwhile popular concept the "self" has been introduced to describe object-relations. This concept is not sharply defined. Due to its metapsychological implications it produces additional theoretical difficulties. Linguistic studies show that every inventory of words implies a certain insight into reality. For this reason the metapsychological machine-like concept of psychic structures does not permit new ideas about interpersonal relations. If we leave metapsychology and base on colloquial speech we see that the experience of "I" is much more related to persons than the rather autistic concept of the "ego" shows. Further we learn that self-preservation cannot be an egoistical interest; it depends on the attachment to others. All feelings of self-esteem depend much more on interpersonal relations than on "narcissistic regulations". From these experiences three conclusions are derived: a) One of the main qualities of the ego is the relatedness to persons. b) The concept of narcissistic regulation as a successor of primary narcissism is no longer useful. Narcissistic traits develop as the secundary compensations if the individual failed to build up satisfactory interpersonal relations. c) The revision of (a) ego-psychology and (b) theory of narcissism asks for modifications of the therapeutic technique, where now the interest is especially concentrated on interpersonal problems instead on the pathology of the ego.

Drive↗
PubMed1992

Relationships among an older adult's life review, ego integrity, and death anxiety.

The frameworks of Erikson (1963) and Butler (1963) were used to design this descriptive study that investigated the relationships among life review, ego integrity, and death anxiety in older adults. Three hypotheses were proposed: (a) the greater the life review, the higher the ego integrity; (b) the greater the life review, the lower the death anxiety; (c) the higher the ego integrity, the lower the death anxiety. The sample consisted of 115 female and male volunteers between the ages of 65 and 93. The participants filled out the Life Review Questionnaire, Adult Ego Development Scale, Death Anxiety Scale, Death Preparation Scale, and a Personal Information Sheet. Life review, while not positively correlated with ego integrity, was found to have a negative correlation with death anxiety. Also, religious subjects were found to be more prepared for death than those who did not practice. Implications for therapy and future research are discussed, as well.

Aged↗
PubMed1976

Evaluation of ego strength based on certain Rorschach variables.

Despite the importance of the assessment of ego strength for appropriate assignment of clients for psychotherapy and/or rehabilitation, existing techniques have not fulfilled expectations. A method for assessing ego strength through the Rorschach Test independent of clinical criterion is proposed. In addition to certain variables of Klopfer's RPRS (M+, FM+, FC+ plus CF+), sharply preceived space responses are included. They constitute a highly intercorrelated global measure of ego strength and are also highly correlated to a relatively independent Rorschach variable of global ego efficiency, i.e. integrated whole responses. In accordance with prediction, non-controlled color responses as well as accuracy of form perception did not correlate in a non-clinical sample with either measure of ego strength.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Continuity of individual adaptation from infancy to kindergarten: a predictive study of ego-resiliency and curiosity in preschoolers.

In this longitudinal study, individual differences in security of attachment at 18 months and effective autonomous functioning at age 2 years were related to the dimensions of ego-control and ego-resiliency at age 4--5 years. The kindergarten or nursery school teachers of 26 children completed California Child Q-Sorts. The children were also given a short form of the Block's laboratory battery (Banta's curiosity box, level of aspiration, motor impulse control delay of gratification, the Shure and Spivack Preschool Interpersonal Problem-solving Test, and the Lowenfeld mosaics). Following the Blocks, composited ego-resiliency and ego-control scores were derived from each data set. Children earlier classified as securely attached were, as predicted, significantly higher on ego-resiliency on both laboratory and Q-sort composites. They were also higher than anxiously attached infants on 3 independent measures of curiosity. An independently composited index of competence from 2-year tool-using measures also correlated significantly with later resiliency, as did 2-year measures of mothers' support and quality of assistance. The data provide initial links between the infant's quality of attachment, the toddler's effectiveness in a problem-solving situation, and competence during the preschool years.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1978

The relationship of women's sex-role identity to self-esteem and ego development.

The present study examined the relationship of women's sex-role identity to self-esteem and ego development. One hundred fifty-three female undergraduate students at the University of Maryland were the volunteer Ss for this study. During class time these persons completed the Index of Adjustment and Values, used to measure self-esteem, and the Sentence Completion Test, ussed to measure ego development. From this pool of Ss four sex-role identity groups were determined: androgynous women, feminine women, masculine women, and undifferentiated women. Twenty-five from each group were randomly selected to comprise a final sample of 100 women. Results of the self-esteem analyses supported previous findings that androgynous women possess a higher degree of self-esteem than stereotypically feminine women and undifferentiated women, but revealed no significant difference in self-esteem between androgynous and masculine women. In contrast, the level of ego development of androgynous women was not significantly different from that of feminine and undifferentiated women but was significantly higher than that of masculine women. Overall results support the theory that a combination of masculine and feminine characteristics is beneficial for women in terms of both self-esteem and ego development.

Ego↗
PubMed1978

Ego defences and affects in women with breast symptoms: a preliminary measurement paradigm.

Terms derived from psychoanalytic theory such as the concepts of ego defences and affects, have often been regarded as inaccessible to operational analysis and measurement and therefore devoid of empirical meaning. However, these explanatory terms are frequently employed in hypotheses concerning the determinants of behaviour and outcome in naturally occurring illnesses, such as breast cancer as well as other life crises and stress situations. The results of the present study demonstrate not only that it is possible to operationally define and measure the ego defences and affects associated with the crisis induced by finding a breast symptom suggesting cancer and awaiting biopsy, but also that on the basis of such measurement, behaviour related to breast cancer can be predicted and hypotheses concerning the relevance of these variables to aetiology put to the test. The operational definitions and measurement methods described could also be modified for application in other crisis situations to which ego defences and affects are thought to be pertinent and the results of these operations compared empirically to determine the extent of their convergence. the methods can be used by independent observers with different theoretical and professional backgrounds. The delay by women in reporting breast symptoms to their doctors was strongly related to a combination of non-rational, unconscious psychological factors. Those who delayed used the ego defences of denial and suppression, not intellectualization-isolation, and verbally expressed depression but not anxiety while showing behavioural manifestations of anxiety. Conscious factors such as fear and education were unrelated to the length of delay. These findings have important implications for educators and doctors concerned with the early detection of breast cancer.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1992

The Ego Impairment Index and schizophrenia: a validation study.

This study is an extension of our work on a new scale, the Ego Impairment Index (EII; Perry & Viglione, 1991). The index is theoretically based on Beres's (1956) model of ego assessment and was empirically developed on a sample of melancholic, depressed outpatients, diagnosed according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed. [DSM-III]; American Psychiatric Association, 1980). The EII is derived from the Rorschach Inkblot Test and offers a single composite score of ego impairment. This study validates the use of the EII with a heterogeneous sample of schizophrenic patients. In support of the trait-like characteristics of the scale, the EII continues to be expressed as a single factor, with a correlation of .98 when comparing the original factor derived from a melancholic population with this sample of schizophrenic patients. Significant correlations were also found between the EII and other clinical indices, including the Magical Ideation Scale, the Schizophrenia Index, and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). Finally, the EII was found to differentiate between a paranoid subgroup and a mixed undifferentiated/disorganized subgroup who theoretically have more ego impairment. These results offer support for the use of the EII as an empirical means of quantitatively and qualitatively assessing thought disorder within a theoretical framework. Further research is needed to understand the application of the EII across different diagnostic groups and its relationship to other indices of psychological disturbance.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

The association between patterns of family functioning and ego development of the juvenile offender.

The present study revealed an association between the family configurations of cohesion and adaptability and juvenile offenders' level of ego development. This association was explained by four post hoc comparisons which revealed that functional perspectives of family cohesion and adaptability by the juvenile offender and one or both parents were associated with higher levels of ego development. Lower levels of ego development were associated with (a) shared dysfunctional perspectives of the family dimensions by the juvenile offender and both parents, and (b) a functional perspective of the family dimensions by the juvenile offender which was not shared by either parent. These results were based on 61 nonchronic juvenile offenders and their parents who were assessed by the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales II. The offenders' level of ego development was assessed by the Washington University Sentence Completion Test.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Form creation in rat: an ego-psychological approach to creativity.

The recent ego-psychological approach to form in art is utilized to understand the significance of form creation to artistic creativity in general. Two kinds of form in art are discussed--"good form" and "perfect form". The first is explained as the means used by the artist's ego to facilitate the expression and communication of latent meanings; the second, as the means used by the artist's ego to order disparate mental elements and to reconcile those opposite wishes, ideas, and emotions, whose opposite valences may endanger the integrity and cohesion of the self. In line with the assumptions presented in the paper, creativity and neurosis are described as two different methods used by the ego to solve the same underlying problems.

Art↗