The Journal of Mind and Behavior

Volume 13, Number 2, Spring

Residual Asymmetrical Dualism: A Theory of Mind-Body Relations
Arthur Efron, State University of New York at Buffalo
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Spring 1992, Vol. 13, No. 2, Pages 113-136, ISSN 0271-0137
Progress in understanding the mind-body problem can be made without attempting to solve it as one unified problem, which it is not. Pepper’s “Identity Theory” solution to the problem is now seen as not necessarily clarifying for the question of dualism. Residual asymmetrical dualism is proposed as a theory offering one very good way to think about this set of problems in a variety of modes of inquiry. These include neurophysiological research on the amygdala by LeDoux, research in the phenonenon of hearing and learning while under general anesthetic, Gendlin’s methods of focusing upon the body during therapeutic procedures and during creative composition of poetry, and Dewey’s position concerning “primary experience” versus a “secondary pseudo-environment” inhabited by the civilized human. Residual asymmetrical dualism is not a value-neutral theory: it is based on a determination that bodily intelligence must ultimately guide mental functioning if survival and well-being are to be secured. It leads to take actions within society to carry out whatever steps are needed to alleviate the mind-body split whenever such a split is harmful to human interaction.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Arthur Efron, Ph.D., Department of English, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14260.

Toward a Model of Attention and Cognition, Using a Parallel Distributed Processing Approach Part 3: Consequences and Implications of the Sweeping Model
Gregory Christ, University of Ottawa
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Spring 1992, Vol. 13, No. 2, Pages 137-156, ISSN 0271-0137
This paper discusses the consequences of the Sweeping Model of attention and cognition, outlined elsewhere (Christ, 1991b). The models’ implications for various information processing activities are examined. According to this model, to remain flexible, the neural network requires a state like sleep, which would include activity corresponding to dreaming. Several of the characteristics of dreaming are related to the different physiological stages of sleep. Other aspects of the model discussed are state dependent learning and confabulation. Finally, additional supporting evidence concerning arousal and scope of attention, polyopia, and shifts of attention and PGO spikes are considered, then some general predictions and research directions are outlined.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Gregory Christ, School of Psychology, 125 University, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 6N5.

Being at Rest
Douglas M. Snyder, Los Angeles, California
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Spring 1992, Vol. 13, No. 2, Pages 157-162, ISSN 0271-0137
The observer’s importance as a subject in his or her reference frame, specifically the experience of being at rest in this frame, is pointed to by the discrepency between the experience of centrifugal force and the lack of fundamental significance of this force in Newtonian mechanics. There is nothing that is physical in nature that can serve as the basis for explaining this descrepancy. In addition, the observer’s being at rest for himself or herself in a reference frame is a central aspect of both special and general relativity. As a subject, the observer is fundamentally at rest, and this being at rest allows for the measurement of motion in the physical world.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Douglas M. Snyder, Ph.D., 459 North Spaulding Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90036.

Neurophysiological Speculations on Zen Enlightenment
Gerhard H. Fromm, University of Pittsburg
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Spring 1992, Vol. 13, No. 2, Pages 163-170, ISSN 0271-0137
Inhibitory mechinisms play a major role in the organization and function of the nervous system. A variety of inhibitory mechanisms heighten contrast and focus attention in sensory processing. Similarly, the precision of motor activity is controlled by a number of inhibitory mechanisims that limit action in time and space. A review of the literature on Zen suggests that Zen meditation involves a deliberate enhancement of some of those inhibitory mechanisms by psychological means. This intuitive application of basic principles of brain function could account for the successful application of Zen concepts and techniques to the martial arts as well as the creative and performing arts.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Gerhard H. Fromm, M.D., Department of Neurology, University of Pittsburg School of Medicine, 325 Scaife Hall, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania 15261.

Toward an Improved Understanding of Sigmund Freud’s Conception of Consciousness
Thomas Natsoulas, University of California, Davis
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Spring 1992, Vol. 13, No. 2, Pages 171-192, ISSN 0271-0137
This article seeks to render Sigmund Freud’s unfamiliar conception of consciousness more evident and accessible; because Freud was the greatest theorist psychology has so far known, and because present-day psychologists stand in special need of a variety of conceptual frameworks in whose terms they can give coherent and cogent expression to their different hypotheses pertaining to consciousness. The three main sections respectively address (a) Freud’s complex property of intrinsic consciousness, which characterizes each instance of every conscious psychical process and includes qualitative content, direct (reflective) awareness, and tertiary consciousness; (b) the cognitive contents of purportedly pure, or contentless, emotions and feelings; and (c) certain limits and variations of Freud’s intrinsic consciousness. A special effort is made to be faithful to Freud’s own conception of consciousness; though the discussion includes clarification, explication, and extension of parts of his conception that are undeveloped, summarily stated, or implicit. In fact, Freud’s conception of consciousness is treated here as something very much alive today. Implications are drawn and developed that Freud probably never thought of. However, note that the conception presented does not belong to the author of this article. Rather, I present here Sigmund Freud’s own conception of consciousness as he might have developed it judging from the part of it that he did express.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Thomas Natsoulas, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California 95616.

Book Reviews

Current Studies on Rituals: Perspectives for the Psychology of Religion
Book Authors: Hans-Gunter Heimbock and H. Barbara Boudewijnse (Editors). Amsterdam and Atlanta: Editions Rodopi, 1991
Reviewed by T.L. Brink, Crafton Hills College
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Spring 1992, Vol. 13, No. 2, Pages 193-194, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] This is a well edited and well done book of 12 chapters. The editors and authors are scholars from the Netherlands. One nice editorial touch is a common bibliography. Although there is no index, each article is so highly internally organized, it is very easy to find something specific.

Requests for reprints should be sent to T.L. Brink, 1103 Church Street, Redlands, California 92374.

Artificial Intelligence and Human Reasoning
Book Author: Joseph Rychlak. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991
Reviewed by Harwood Fisher, City College of the City University of New York.
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Spring 1992, Vol. 13, No. 2, Pages 195-198, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] The main pourpose of Joseph Rychlak’s book is to show that predication and oppositionality differentiate human reasoning from the “cognitive processing” of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its computer simulations. Human reasoners predicate-signifying their ideas within a broader context. They also think dialectically, conceiving ideas in terms of simultaneously opposing possibilites, from which they intentionally select meanings.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Harward Fisher, Ph.D., School of Education, City College, 136 Street and Convent Avenue, New York, New York

Vygotsky’s Sociohistorical Psychology and Its Contemporary Applications
Book Author: Carl Ratner. New York, 1991
Reviewed by Milton L. Anderson, San Jose State University, Emeritus
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Spring 1992, Vol. 13, No. 2, Pages 199-202, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] It is a real joy to see a book published by a psychologist that doesn’t accept the standard definition of psychology as the study of the behavior or the experience of the individual. It is almost the “official” definition of psychology that the isolated individual is the proper unit of analysis and object of study. Psychology has become, not a social science, but an a-social if not anti-social science, in its ignoring and denial of the social context in the development and existence of everything we call human. This is a book for all of us who know that the self-contained, isolated individual does not exist in the real world.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Milton L. Anderson, Ph.D., 52 South 15th Street, San Jose, California 95112.

The Hermeneutics of Life History: Personal Achievement and History in Gadamer, Habermas and Erikson
Book Author: Jerald Wallulis. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1991
Reviewed by T.L. Brink, Crafton Hills College
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Spring 1992, Vol. 13, No. 2, Pages 203-204, ISSN 0271-0137
Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] Psychohistory is a multidisciplinary field of interest to historians, biographers, clinicians, and those who dabble in psychoanalyzing culture. There are the classic studies (Freud’s study of Leonardo da Vinci), mass market samples (the several studies of Nixon), and even some thorough and judicious examples (Hester’s study of Hitler). This work focuses on the most widely known examples of psychohistory within scholarly circles, Erik Erikson’s studies of Martin Luther and Mahatma Gandhi. Wallulis chose Erikson as an example of “hermeneutically situated and hermeneutically informed social science” (p. 96).

Requests for reprints should be sent to T.L. Brink, 1103 Church Street, Redlands, California 92374.

Toxic Psychiatry: Why Therapy, Empathy and Love Must Replace the Drugs, Electroshock, and Biochemical Theories of the “New Psychiatry”
Book Author: Peter Breggin. New York: St Martin Press, 1991
Reviewed by Seth Farber, Network Against Coercive Psychiatry
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Spring 1992, Vol. 13, No. 2, Pages 205-210, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] Psychiatrist Peter Breggin’s book is a major contribution to the corpus of works, beginning in 1961 with Thomas Szasz’s The Myth of Mental Illness, that are critical of the medical model or paradigm of human behavior and of the practices that are generated by that model. Breggin reveals in particular that the biological-genetic version of the medical model and the practices that seem to be justified by this paradigm are destructive to human well-being. Since it is evident, as Breggin demonstrates, that this model serves political and social ends which conflict with its scientific and cognitive interests, it is appropriate to regard this model as an ideology.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Seth Farber, Ph.D., 172 W. 79th Street, Apt. 2E, New York, New York 10024.

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