Gratitude is conceptualized as a moral affect that is analogous to other moral emotions such as empathy and guilt. Gratitude has 3 functions that can be conceptualized as morally relevant: (a) a moral barometer function (i.e., it is a response to the perception that one has been the beneficiary of another person's moral actions); (b) a moral motive function (i.e., it motivates the grateful person to behave prosocially toward the benefactor and other people); and (c) a moral reinforcer function (i.e., when expressed, it encourages benefactors to behave morally in the future). The personality and social factors that are associated with gratitude are also consistent with a conceptualization of gratitude as an affect that is relevant to people's cognitions and behaviors in the moral domain.

Is gratitude a moral affect

The American Journal of Psychiatry has received a number of letters in response to my earlier “Framework” article (1). Some of these are reprinted elsewhere in this issue, and I have answered them briefly there. However, one issue raised by some letters deserves a more detailed answer, and that relates to whether biology is at all relevant to psychoanalysis. To my mind, this issue is so central to the future of psychoanalysis that it cannot be addressed with a brief comment. I therefore have written this article in an attempt to outline the importance of biology for the future of psychoanalysis.

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Biology and the Future of Psychoanalysis: A New Intellectual Framework for Psychiatry Revisited

Investigated several possible models to explain the seemingly discrepant relations between self-esteem and conduct problems, as both low self-esteem and exaggerated levels of self-esteem, thought to be captured by narcissism, have been associated with aggressive and antisocial behavior. Our sample consisted of 98 nonreferred children (mean age = 11.9 years; SD = 1.68 years) recruited from public schools to oversample children at risk for severe aggressive and antisocial behavior. Results indicated that certain aspects of narcissism (i.e., those indicating a need to be evaluated well by, and obtain status over, others) were particularly predictive of maladaptive characteristics and outcomes such as low self-esteem, callous-unemotional (CU) traits, and conduct problems. In addition, the relation between narcissism and conduct problems was moderated by self-esteem level, such that children with relatively high levels of narcissism and low self-esteem showed the highest rates of conduct-problem symptoms.

The relation of narcissism and self-esteem to conduct problems in children: a preliminary investigation.

Homo Economicus Goes to War: Methodological Individualism, Rational Choice and the Political Economy of War

The Diagnosis of Autism.- Early Symptoms in Autism.- Autism and "Theory of Mind".- Social or Cognitive or Both? Crucial Dysfunctions in Autism.- The Etiology of Autism.- Recent Neurobiological Findings in Autism.- Chromosomes, Genes and Autism.- Autism: Inmmunologiral Investigations.- The First Evaluation: Treatment Begins Here.- Educational Evaluation.- Principles for Directing Both Educational Treatment and Research.- Help for the Family.- Phannacotherapy in Autism: An Overview.- Autism: Non-Drug Biological Treatments.- Psychodynamically Oriented Psychotherapy in Autism.- Comprehensive Treatment Program for Autistic Children and Adults in Denmark.- Exchange and Development Therapies (E. D. T.) for Children with Autism: A Treatment Program from Tours.- The Nature of Behavioral Treatment and Research with Young Autistic Persons.- Treating Autistic Children at Home: A London Based Programme.- The REBECKA-Project: A Short Summary.- Habilitation for Children with Autism: A Swedish Example.- Steps Towards the Organization of Services for Autistic Children and Their Family.- State-of-the-Art Programming in Massachusetts: A Brief Description of the May Institute.- Autism: Specific Problems of Adolescence.- Pharmacotherapy of Adolescent Problems.- Educational Issues in Adolescence.- Psychotherapeutical Help in Adolescence.- Autistic Adults.- Addendum: Is the Primary Lesion in Autism Related to the Locus Coeruleus?.- Autism: Diagnosis and Treatment. The State of the Art, May 1989.- Contributors.

Diagnosis and treatment of autism.

In this slender volume Mrs. Klein has set herself the task of exploring the earliest sources of two attitudes—envy and gratitude. Using poetic illustrations, as well as her own psychoanalytic language, she draws a clear and intricate picture of what she means by these two words. Observations taken from the analyses of four adult patients further illuminate her subject matter. Her perceptive and thoughtful discussion should enrich our understanding of emotional states and thereby contribute to our therapeutic effectiveness, even though most of us who are not at home in Kleinian psychology may find the reading a bit arduous. One contribution of the book is the author's sensitive appreciation of the complex fusion of affects and fantasies which comprise both envy and gratitude, and her attempt to distinguish them from other affective states or attitudes. It is this complexity, in addition to her reconstructive method, which makes it difficult for

Marjorie Hayes

Papers

Envy and Gratitude.