Psychological variables in student activism: The radical triad and some religious differences

Thirty-six male students, drawn from a sample of 1195, were interviewed to obtain a personal history. A battery of projective psychological tests (Rorschach and TATs) were also administered to them. The students were divided into four groups of nine each, Jewish radicals (JR), Christian radicals (CR), Jewish moderates (JM), and Christian moderates (CM), to test the significance of religious background as it related to political outlook. Eight significant psychological variables were found and defined. No differences were found between JMs and CMs. Radicals differed from moderates on three variables: negative identity, masochistic surrender, and treating people as concepts. In addition, JR subjects demonstrated consistently a wandering fantasy, flight from the mother, the mother as salient, and machismo as psychological variables. CRs were not characterized by any of these variables. As with both groups of moderates, the father of the CRs was psychologically salient, but unlike the moderates, CTs perceived their fathers as flawed. The possible dynamic meaning of these configurations is discussed, as are their possible relationship to radical behavior and radical political ideology.This study was supported by grants from the American Jewish Committee and The National Science Foundation (GS35307A).Director of Resident Education, McLean Hospital. M.D., Harvard Medical School; residency training at Boston Veteran's Administration Hospital and Beth Israel Hospital in psychiatry. Psychoanalytic training, Boston Psychoanalytic Institute. Major interest: depression.Director of Training for Psychology Interns. Ph.D., Brandeis, 1960; Master's degree, University of Illinois. Major interest: schizophrenia.Professor of Political Science, Smith College. Major interest: modern European history — applying psychoanalytic methods to historical and social problems like student activism.     

Out of Darkness into Light? Introducing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

On 13 December 2006, the General Assembly of the United Nationsadopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities(CRPD) and an associated Optional Protocol. The formulationof the CRPD has been hailed as a great landmark in the struggleto reframe the needs and concerns of persons with disabilityin terms of human rights. The CRPD is regarded as having finallyempowered the world's largest minority to claim their rights,and to participate in international and national affairs onan equal basis with others who have achieved specific treatyrecognition and protection. This essay interrogates the intellectualantecedents of the CRPD and its continuity and discontinuitywith 25 years of international law and its struggles with disabilityand human rights. It then explores the text of the CRPD, criticallyexamining its potential contribution to the realisation of therights of persons with disability.     

Explaining Institutional Change: Policy Areas,Outside Options,and the Bretton Woods Institutions

I propose and test a theoretical framework that explains institutional change in international relations. Like firms in markets, international institutions are affected by the underlying characteristics of their policy areas. Some policy areas are prone to produce institutions facing relatively little competition, limiting the outside options of member states and impeding redistributive change. In comparison, institutions facing severe competition will quickly reflect changes in underlying state interests and power. To test the theory empirically, I exploit common features of the Bretton Woods institutions—the International Monetary Fund and World Bank—to isolate the effect of variation in policy area characteristics. The empirical tests show that, despite having identical membership and internal rules, bargaining outcomes in the Bretton Woods institutions have diverged sharply and in accordance with the theory.     

Listening to voices: The use of phenomenology to differentiate malingered from genuine auditory verbal hallucinations

The experience of hearing a voice in the absence of an appropriate external stimulus, formally termed an auditory verbal hallucination (AVH), may be malingered for reasons such as personal financial gain, or, in criminal cases, to attempt a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. An accurate knowledge of the phenomenology of AVHs is central to assessing the veracity of claims to such experiences. We begin by demonstrating that some contemporary criminal cases still employ inaccurate conceptions of the phenomenology of AVHs to assess defendants' claims. The phenomenology of genuine, malingered, and atypical AVHs is then examined. We argue that, due to the heterogeneity of AVHs, the use of typical properties of AVHs as a yardstick against which to evaluate the veracity of a defendant's claims is likely to be less effective than the accumulation of instances of defendants endorsing statements of atypical features of AVHs. We identify steps towards the development of a formal tool for this purpose, and examine other conceptual issues pertinent to criminal cases arising from the phenomenology of AVHs.     

The anti-discriminatory tradition in Virginia school public choice theory

Public Choice - This paper studies the practice of Müsadere in the Ottoman Empire. Müsadere refers to the expropriation of elites—often tax farmers or administrators—by the...     

Practice tips for managing challenges in parenting capacity assessments in child protection court

Courts frequently rely on parenting capacity assessments to make decisions about visitation and case progress in child protection court. Although these evaluations can provide valuable information to courts, they often involve assessing areas of human behavior that are not clearly defined in the literature. For example, mental health professionals are often tasked with identifying risk and protective factors for child maltreatment while identifying factors that can impede progress towards reunification. Although some of these factors may be easy to identify and assess (e.g., symptoms of mental illness or substance abuse), others may be more challenging. For example, factors such as denial and minimization about risk factors and maltreatment, a parent(s)’ ability to protect their child(ren) from future incidents of maltreatment, the parent(s)’ potential for change, and the consideration of what is in the best interest of the child are hard to assess. This article will provide a summary of the research in these areas, provide tips for managing these areas, and highlight directions for future investigation that will help inform parenting capacity assessments in child protection court.