June 2006 Clio’S Psyche Page 1 Clio’S Psyche Understanding the "Why" of Culture, Current Events, History, and Society
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June 2006 Clio’s Psyche Page 1 Clio’s Psyche Understanding the "Why" of Culture, Current Events, History, and Society Volume 13 Number 1 June 2006 Fawn M. Brodie Evidential Basis of 25-Year Retrospective Psychohistory Remembering Fawn McKay The Evidential Basis of Brodie (1915-1981) Psychohistory in Group Process Peter Loewenberg John J. Hartman, Ph.D. UCLA University of South Florida I first met Fawn McKay Brodie in 1966 when The application of depth psychology to I invited her for lunch at the urging of Isser Woloch, history—psychohistory—has evolved along three my colleague in French Revolutionary history, who distinct, not always integrated or compatible paths: had the genial idea that we should recruit her to the psychobiography, the history of childhood, and the UCLA History Department. She was smart, dynamics of large group interactive processes. The perceptive about psychoanalysis, honest, in touch purpose of this paper is to take the last approach, with herself, engaging, and delightful. The next year large group process, and review an aspect of the she joined our department as a Lecturer. Fawn empirical, systematic research on small groups, remained a colleague and we nurtured an increasingly which has informed our current understanding of deep friendship for the ensuing 15 years until her psychohistory. It is my contention that small group death in 1981. empirical research may form an empirical evidential (Continued on page 29) (Continued on next page) Freud’s Leadership and Slobodan Milošević and the Viennese Psychoanalysis Reactivation of the Serbian Chosen Trauma Kenneth Fuchsman University of Connecticut Vamık D. Volkan University of Virginia In his recently translated memoirs, Viennese psychoanalyst Isidor Sadger writes: “Freud was not Slobodan Milošević emerged in my mind as merely the father of psychoanalysis, but also its the prototype of a political leader who activates and tyrant!” (Isidor Sadger, Recollecting Freud inflames his large-group’s “chosen trauma” during [Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2005], p. the mid-1990s when I was writing, Bloodlines: From 40). However extreme, this is political language. Ethnic Pride to Ethnic Terrorism (1997). A chosen Others have described Freud as the leader of a trauma is the shared mental representation of an “religious” group. It is worth examining Freud not event in a large group’s (i.e., an ethnic or religious only as the originator of psychoanalytic theory and group’s) history in which the group has suffered a technique, but also as the political leader of what he catastrophic loss, humiliation, and helplessness at the called “the psychoanalytic movement.” hands of enemies.Turn Whento the nextmembers page of for a victim group Through the strength of his ideas, the persua- are unable to mournIN THISsuch losses ISSUE and reverse their (Continued on page 26) (Continued on page 19) Page 2 Clio’s Psyche June 2006 IN THIS ISSUE Fawn Brodie Retrospective Milošević Symposium Milošević and Serbian Chosen Trauma............................1 Recollections and Analysis……………………………….1 Vamik Volkan Robert D. Anderson Herbert Barry III Responses by...................................................................21 Newell G. Bringhurst Betty Glad Michael Britton Alenka Puhar David Greenberg Henry Lawton David Lotto Howard Stein Peter Loewenberg Elizabeth Wirth Marvick ____________________________________________ Sara M. Patterson Jennifer Jensen Wallach E. Victor Wolfenstein Freud’s Leadership of Psychoanalysis……..….………..1 Ken Fuchsman Evidential Basis of Psychohistory Donald Carveth: Psychoanalytic Sociologist…………..66 Evidential Basis of Psychohistory………………………..1 Paul H. Elovitz John J. Hartman Our Sports Idols..………………………………………74 Responses by……...............................................................5 Book Review by Dan Dervin Rudolph Binion Paul H. Elovitz Richard Booth Kenneth Fuchsman The Art of Psychobiography...........................................77 Donald Carveth Henry Lawton Book Review by Henry W. Lawton J. Lee Shneidman Cocks and Knapp Letters to the Editor........................ ..78 Hartman’s Responses........................................................17 Bulletin Board.................................................................80 base for this aspect of psychohistory, and I wish to to integrate psycho-dynamically-derived categories demonstrate this by taking one small aspect of my with systematic group observation bringing an in- own research as representative. I then wish to de- depth richness to what was being said and how this scribe some methodological pitfalls about the impli- could be understood at multiple levels. These cate- cations of this research for speculations in psychohis- gories involved aspects of hostility, affection, author- tory. The first of these caveats concerns the relation ity relations, and ego-state distress, thus bringing also between small group psychology, large group psy- a conceptual integration of interpersonal and intra- chology, and historical change. The second involves psychic issues to the study of groups, a very current small and large group psychology and developmental psychoanalytic approach. Mann’s system focused changes and conflicts from human childhood. first on the relationship with the leader of unstruc- tured self-analytic groups which lent another psycho- I wish to begin with a reminder about the dynamic aspect to the task as this approach very methodology of small group observation which be- much resembled the analysis of transference in gan with the simple noting of who talked to whom in psychodynamic therapy. Gibbard and I retained the groups and how much. From this simple beginning same scoring categories but allowed for both member complex-scoring systems of group interaction arose. to leader and member to member interactions to be There was Ted Mills’ sign process analysis, Freed recorded. Bales’ interaction process analysis, Timothy Leary’s circle technique, Dick Mann’s member-to-leader- The number of interactions scored in each of scoring system, Gibbard and Hartman’s process these studies was huge. Mann studied four twenty- analysis scoring system, and Bales’ SYMLOG sys- session groups and Gibbard and I studied two 40 ses- tem for multiple level observation of groups. Each of sion groups. Gibbard and Hartman’s data consisted of these systems employed a systematic scoring system forty boxes of IBM cards, each holding 2,000. This of group interactions, which could then be subjected constituted 80,000 group interactive scores. We were to complex statistical treatment to discover trends in the second largest computer user at the University of individual and group performance. Michigan in 1969. The entire Physics Department, including researchers at the cyclotron, was first! Mann’s system was unique because it sought June 2006 Clio’s Psyche Page 3 These large numbers of observations were reduced history rests on an empirical evidential base. My de- by methods like Factor Analysis in the case of indi- sire is to show that the development of small groups vidual role assessment and by complex graphing and can be demonstrated to follow a course dictated by moving averages in the case of group development. solutions to the expressions of distress experienced and expressed by group members. Psychohistory Two psychohistorical principles, empirically takes the next inferential step and concludes that demonstrated in this initial research are: Proposition large groups follow a similar but not necessarily I: groups develop in ways that can be measured as identical functional path and finally that what we call reactions to emotional distress. Proposition II: groups develop solutions to reduce distress and return history progresses in the same way for similar rea- sons. the group to homeostasis in adaptive and defensive ways. These solutions involve the exercise and dis- With Mann and Gibbard in 1975, I studied tribution of power, decisions about social closeness the development of small (25 member face-to-face) and intimacy, and the accomplishment of work to time-limited groups. Percentage profiles for each sustain the group’s stated conscious mission. This category for the sum of all speakers to all members model is, of course compatible with the basic propo- for each session were derived from the raw data. A sitions of the modern Freudian psychoanalytic con- session was designated as above or below the median flict model, General Systems theory, as well as a ho- for that category (medium splits). Statistical analysis meostatic model in diverse fields like physiology and yielded four major phases in each of the two groups. the history of revolutions. Both groups taken together had three peaks of ex- pressed distress that coincided with four phases of I wish to focus on empirical findings to high- each group independently arrived at by another statis- light the idea that the group process aspect of psycho- tical treatment, factor analysis. Quoting from our previously published work, Clio’s Psyche “Briefly the first phase marks the group’s reaction to a leader who does not lead in the customary manner Vol. 13 No. 1 June 2006 [of a teacher in a classroom]. This reaction leads to a ISSN 1080-2622 revolt against the authority of the leader and the Published Quarterly by The Psychohistory Forum structure of the course.” We go on to say, “The next 627 Dakota Trail, Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417 phase involves an attempt to create … new values of Telephone: (201) 891-7486 e-mail: [email protected]