If psychoanalysis emerged just before World War I to deal with the repressions of Puritanism, the hedonistic age has its counterpa...rt in sensitivity training, encounter groups, "joy therapy," and similar techniques that have two characteristics essentially derived from a hedonistic mood: they are conducted almost exclusively in groups; and they try to "unblock" the individual by physical contact, by groping, touching, fondling, manipulating. Where the earlier intention of psychoanalysis was to enable the patient to achieve self-insight and thereby redirect his life--an aim inseparable from a moral context--the newer therapies are entirely instrumental and psychologistic; their aim is to "free" the person from inhibitions and restraints so that he or she can more easily express his impulses and feelings.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Both gossip and joking are intrinsically valuable activities. Both are essentially social activities that strengthen interpersonal... bonds--we do not tell jokes and gossip to ourselves. As popular activities that evade social restrictions, they often refer to topics that are inaccessible to serious public discussion. Gossip and joking often appear together: when we gossip we usually tell jokes and when we are joking we often gossip as well.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
A concern with parenting...must direct attention beyond behavior. This is because parenting is not simply a set of behaviors, but ...participation in an interpersonal, diffuse, affective relationship. Parenting is an eminently psychological role in a way that many other roles and activities are not.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
While most of today's jobs do not require great intelligence, they do require greater frustration tolerance, personal discipline, ...organization, management, and interpersonal skills than were required two decades and more ago. These are precisely the skills that many of the young people who are staying in school today, as opposed to two decades ago, lack.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It is not stressful circumstances, as such, that do harm to children. Rather, it is the quality of their interpersonal relationshi...ps and their transactions with the wider social and material environment that lead to behavioral, emotional, and physical health problems. If stress matters, it is in terms of how it influences the relationships that are important to the child.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Authority is not a quality one person "has," in the sense that he has property or physical qualities. Authority refers to an inter...personal relation in which one person looks upon another as somebody superior to him.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Although pretend play is important, it is still the means to an end, not the end itself. Do not make the mistake of thinking a con...trived, pretend drama can substitute for real interpersonal comfort in dealing with important emotional issues.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »