Louis L. Lunsky

Bio: Louis L. Lunsky is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Psychoanalytic theory & Jargon. The author has an hindex of 21, co-authored 38 publications receiving 9670 citations.

Childhood and Society.

Abstract: Erik Eriksen is a remarkable individual. He has no college degrees yet is Professor of Human Development at Harvard University. He came to psychology via art, which explains why the reader will find him painting contexts and backgrounds rather than stating dull facts and concepts. He has been a training psychoanalyst for many years as well as a perceptive observer of cultural and social settings and their effect on growing up. This is not just a book on childhood. It is a panorama of our society. Anxiety in young children, apathy in American Indians, confusion in veterans of war, and arrogance in young Nazis are scrutinized under the psychoanalytic magnifying glass. The material is well written and devoid of technical jargon. The theme of the volume is that it is human to have a long childhood which will leave a lifelong residue of emotional immaturity in man. Primitive groups and

Identity and the Life Cycle.

Abstract: This monograph is the first of a series published under the rubric ofPsychological Issuesthat deals with the analytic theory of behavior. The republication of this selected paper was deemed necessary because of its pregnant observations and because of repeated references to it in both the psychiatric literature and discussions. The title is self-explanatory and is the theme of all of Erik Eriksen's unique contributions. Eriksen believes each man completes a continuum of individual life cycles. With each life cycle there is an emergence of socially definable identity. Identity formation is dependent on the process by which society identifies the young individual. The social process moulds generations in order to be reinvigorated. This interdependence of the individual aspiration and societal striving is indispensable to human life. The author adumbrates a concept of epigenesis by which he synthesizes and "dovetails psychosexual and psychosocial" development. He believes in the innate development

Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason.

Abstract: Michel Foucault takes the reader on a serendipitous journey in tracing the history of madness from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Utilizing original documents, the author recreates the mood, the place, and the proper perspective in the history of madness. Madness or folly is viewed as part of the human condition and to be examined and illuminated through one of its many facets. At the end of the Middle Ages madness was seen either as a tragic or comic phenomenon. The Renaissance, with Erasmus' Praise of Folly , demonstrated how imagination and its derivatives were to thinkers of that day. The French Revolution introduced the so-called medical approach. Madness is a ubiquitous phenomenon that has common roots not only in medicine but in poetry and tragedy. Shakespeare brilliantly describes psychological phenomena with even greater clarity than Tuke or Wills. The author weaves a fascinating history showing the changing pattern of

The Self and the Object World.

Abstract: This volume is the second monograph to be published by the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association and deals with the ubiquitous problems of identity. Identity is defined as the ability to experience one's self as something that has continuity, uniqueness, and sameness. The vicissitudes of identity have been assessed by other authors, but they have never integrated this data into orthodox psychoanalytic theory. The author brings this theme within the mainstream of psychoanalysis. Dr. Jacobson is a brilliant clinician and is able to articulate her ideas with simplicity. She graphically harmonizes object relations, psychosexual development, and ego maturation and its role in the development of self. She redefines such basic assumptions as infantile narcissism, masochism, the distinction between ego and self, and self and object representations. She traces the development of identity from the early infantile period to the postadolescent period. To illustrate her concept she discusses her theories

Introduction to the Work of Melanie Klein.

Abstract: This volume is based on a series of lectures given by Mrs. Segal at the London Institute of Psychoanalysis. The purpose of the text was to introduce psychiatric trainees to Melanie Klein's contributions. The author presents a brilliant and cogent analysis of Melanie Klein's remarkable contributions. The study of adult neurotics led Freud to discoveries about childhood and infancy. Melanie Klein, in her work with children, was led to the discovery that the Oedipal theme and superego occurred at a much earlier age than Freud had suspected. In attempting to illuminate the early roots of these complexes, Klein formulated two earlier positions: the paranoid-schizoid position and the depressive position. These two positions are phases of our psychological development and occur during the oral mode of communication. The paranoid-schizoid position, which occurs in the first four months of the infant's development, is characterized by his relationship to part objects (breasts) and

Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being.

Abstract: Reigning measures of psychological well-being have little theoretical grounding, despite an extensive literature on the contours of positive functioning. Aspects of well-being derived from this literature (i.e., self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth) were operationalized. Three hundred and twenty-one men and women, divided among young, middle-aged, and older adults, rated themselves on these measures along with six instruments prominent in earlier studies (i.e., affect balance, life satisfaction, self-esteem, morale, locus of control, depression). Results revealed that positive relations with others, autonomy, purpose in life, and personal growth were not strongly tied to prior assessment indexes, thereby supporting the claim that key aspects of positive functioning have not been represented in the empirical arena. Furthermore, age profiles revealed a more differentiated pattern of well-being than is evident in prior research.

A Theory of Development From the Late Teens Through the Twenties

Abstract: Emerging adulthood is proposed as a new conception of development for the period from the late teens through the twenties, with a focus on ages 18-25. A theoretical background is presented, Then evidence is provided to support the idea that emerging adulthood is a distinct period demographically, subjectively, and in terms of identity explorations. How emerging adulthood differs from adolescence and young adulthood is explained. Finally, a cultural context for the idea of emerging adulthood is outlined, and it is specified that emerging adulthood exists only in cultures that allow young people a prolonged period of independent role. exploration during the late teens and twenties.

The Theory of Communicative Action

Abstract: In a preferred embodiment an apex seal for a rotary combustion engine is disclosed having a hollow, thin wall, tubular, metal core member embedded in an extruded composite metal-carbon matrix. The seal is adapted to slidably engage the slot of the rotor in which it rides, and to sealingly engage the rotor housing against which it is spring and gas pressure biased. The incorporation of the hollow tubular core in the extruded seal permits a reduction in weight with no significant loss in flexural strength or wear resistance. It also provides gas pressure balance, end to end.

A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality

Abstract: Past work has documented and described major patterns of adaptive and maladaptive behavior: the mastery-oriented and the helpless patterns. In this article, we present a research-based model that accounts for these patterns in terms of underlying psychological processes. The model specifies how individuals' implicit theories orient them toward particular goals and how these goals set up the different patterns. Indeed, we show how each feature (cognitive, affective, and behavioral) of the adaptive and maladaptive patterns can be seen to follow directly from different goals. We then examine the generality of the model and use it to illuminate phenomena in a wide variety of domains. Finally, we place the model in its broadest context and examine its implications for our understanding of motivational and personality processes. The task for investigators of motivation and personality is to identify major patterns of behavior and link them to underlying psychological processes. In this article we (a) describe a research-based model that accounts for major patterns of behavior, (b) examine the generality of this model—its utility for understanding domains beyond the ones in which it was originally developed, and (c) explore the broader implications of the model for motivational and personality processes.