Positive and Negative Utopia
(1984)
Erich Fromm
(1984)
Starting from the classical psychoanalytic view that, in human evolution, an overlap of sexual maturation and dependency [489] occurred, the oedipal situation is regarded as an innate behavioral sequence that also includes appropriate parental responses. An integration between this level of development and the earlier sequence of symbiosis and separation is attempted. In this connection, Bowlby’s concept of the subsidiary at-tachment figure plays a central role. The links between pathological developments at the oedipal level and those at the earlier level are investigated, and clinical examples are provided. In many cases, the Oedipus complex is considered to be the culmination of a bad symbiosis. The hypothesis is then put forth that the Oedipus complex, as a pathological structure, is an historical phenomenon which arose when cultural devel-opments interfered with the appropriate parental responses. It is suggested that these developments were the changes which took place after the advent of agriculture, in particular the changes in family and character structure connected with the peasant adaptation. Finally, the relevance of these problems to training analysis is discussed.
Group dream work and healing
(1984)
Reply
(1984)
Psicoterapia e formazione
(1984)
Commento
(1984)
Group process as drama
(1984)
Discusses the traditional application of therapy and training models to the mechanisms and functions of small groups, arguing that culturally based alternative models reflect more accurately the relationship between the groups and the outlying culture of which they are a part. It is contended that groups symbolize a form of collective art in the context described by E. FROMM (1956), and that stages or forms of idiosyncratic group processes parallel the unfolding of dramatic performances. Stages of group development, including orientation, polarization and conflict, sharing and agreement, resolution, and dealing with termination issues, are outlined based on the ways in which they parallel theatrical or cinematic structures such as the unfolding of a plot. The roles of group members and group leaders, the processes of self-disclosure and experiencing emotion, and the framing effect of the group are described in dramatic terms. Implications of this dramatic group encounter perspective are discussed in terms of whether arrival of a stage of closeness and performance is necessary for effective group work, the type of learning that takes place within groups, and techniques for the training of group leaders, facilitators, and therapists.
Societally transmitted stereotypes are examined as one of the types of cognitive factors that condition the motivation of human actions. Aspects discussed include the mechanisms by which stereotypes become part of an individual's system of values, and their effect on man's >social character< (as defined by Erich FROMM). Four pragmatic functions of stereotypes are identified and analyzed: socially integrative, defensive, ideology-forming, and political. All are characterized by a >screening off of social facts<, which is a major element of irrationality in human motivation.
Explores Gibbs's (1977, 1979) hypothesis that mature levels of moral reasoning are related to affirmative coping with human needs while conventional reasoning is related to abortive coping. In one study of 28 women and another of 70 adults, an interview questionnaire was used to assess ability to deal with FROMM's existential needs.
M. Maccoby's (1972) attitude scale, which measures E. FROMM's (1973) concept of >biophilia< (emotional commitment to life), was administered to 45 university students, 54 Ss from groups for unemployed youth, and 58 young conservative activists. Ss also completed an environmentalism scale. Results suggest that emotionalism played only a small part in environmentalist attitudes and that conservatives were not less biophilic than the other groups. Thus, findings do not support the FROMM-Maccoby theory.
A major claim of opponents to abortion is that they are >prolife.< The validity of this claim is assessed in an investigation of attitudes to abortion, utilizing a questionnaire developed by Michael Maccoby to operationalize Erich FROMM's concept of >biophilia< (The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness, New York: Holt Rinehart, 1973). A modified form of Maccoby's questionnaire was developed, and also a scale of conservatism specifically designed for Australian conditions. These questionnaires and others on attitudes toward and social desirability of abortion were completed by a random cluster sample of 200 residents of Sydney. Antiabortionists were highly likely to be conservative and slightly likely to be prolife after the effects of conservatism were partialled out; they were also more likely to be Roman Catholics and frequent church attenders. Approval for abortion was high on all questions; only 16 percent of the sample both opposed unrestricted abortion and said the matter would have an important bearing on their vote. 1 Appendix, 14 References.
M. Maccoby's (1972) attitude scale, which measures E. FROMM's (1973) concept of >biophilia< (emotional commitment to life), was administered to 45 university students, 54 Ss from groups for unemployed youth, and 58 young conservative activists. Ss also completed an environmentalism scale. Results suggest that emotionalism played only a small part in environmentalist attitudes and that conservatives were not less biophilic than the other groups. Thus, findings do not support the FROMM-Maccoby theory.
Reviews Freud's case study in obsessionalism, >The Rat Man<, and discusses the positions on aggression held by M. Klein, D. W. Winnicott, and E. FROMM. It is suggested that aggression as instinct, reaction, or embedded in individuation has theoretical and clinical reality. The degree of health or pathology in aggressive experience is seen as a function of previously learned patterns and innovation in current interpersonal experience. Destruction is viewed as a pathological aggressive expression of any level of development.
Comments on >Psychoanalytic Theories of Gender Identity<, by Ethel Spector Person and Lionel Ovesey
(1984)
The Poet as Dreamer
(1984)
Termination in the Dora Case
(1984)
Sexual Issues in the Transference and Countertransference between Female Therapist and Male Patient
(1984)
The Fine Edge of Violence
(1984)
Homosexual Cross-Dressers
(1984)
Conflict and Conflict Inhibition in Women: Theoretical Considerations and Clinical Applications
(1984)
Intimacy, Autonomy and Gender: Developmental Differences and their Reflection in Adult Relationships
(1984)
La vérité souffre violence
(1984)
The Concept of Violence
(1984)
L'impératif de la solidarité dans un monde rétréci et menacé, du point de vue d'un génétitien
(1984)
Contends that E. FROMM's (1947) work adds an important dimension to the analysis of human behavior in groups because he explains the complex interplay of unconscious dynamics with historical, cultural, and social forces. A destructive ideology can be looked at as a closed system that is based primarily on an unconscious need for symbiosis and regressive fantasy notions. The psychological basis for these ideologies can be found in the social character as has been described by FROMM. In FROMMian terms, ideology elaborates an unconscious escape mechanism of sado-masochism, destructiveness and automation-like conformity.