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2006> |
Course
Description |
Psychoanalysis and Cognitive Science;
The Narrative as Integrator of Multiple Emotional and Verbal Systems
Wilma
Bucci
Adelphi
University, N.Y.
In its focus on inference from verbal behavior to the operation of an underlying 'psychical apparatus', psychoanalysis may be characterized as the first cognitive science. Cognitive scientists have, however, generally not acknowledged their intellectual debt to psychoanalytic ideas, and psychoanalysts have not sufficiently incorporated current scientific findings in their theoretical and clinical work. This course will focus on the discovery of the "talking cure", as the fundamental contribution of psychoanalysis that has stood the test of time and the domain in which rapprochement between the fields of psychoanalysis and cognitive science may best be achieved. How is it that words, symbols, abstract representations of meanings, spoken in a particular interpersonal context, have the power to bring about actual change in physiological and emotional systems? That discovery was seen as revolutionary in the time of Charcot, Janet, Breuer, and Freud (1895), and has retained its power and influence, to this day. In place of the abstract drive and energy concepts of the Freudian metapsychology, the course accounts for the integration of emotion and motivation with language through the theory of multiple coding and the referential process. The theory provides an account for the operation of the talking cure that is supported by current work in experimental psychology, psycholinguistics, and affective neuroscience, and that provides a basis for empirical research.
Lectures: The morning lectures will outline seminal ideas of psychoanalysis that have influenced cognitive science; then provide a basic background on the theory of multiple coding and the referential process that provides a new account for the operation of the talking cure; and then introduce empirical research methods based on this theory.
Small Group Sessions: The small group sessions will provide an in depth account of our empirical methods of discourse analysis, and results supporting the theoretical model. The research methods include new computerized techniques for providing a visual image of discourse patterns in psychotherapy sessions as well as in other discourse forms including literary works. Students will have an opportunity to acquire a basic grounding in the research methods that will permit their application of these methods in English and potentially in other languages.
General background reading
Bucci, W. (1997) Psychoanalysis and Cognitive Science: A multiple code theory. N.Y.:Guilford Press.
Lecture 1: Historical and philosophical overview of the relation between psychoanalysis and cognitive science
The first lecture will present an overview of the topics of the course, covering several views of the role of theory and research in psychoanalysis, and issues such as mind-body interactions, processes of memory and emotion, and the nature and operation of unconscious processes.
Required Readings
Optional Readings
Damasio, A. R. (1999). Commentary on Panksepp. Journal of Neuro-psychoanalysis, 1:38-39
LeDoux, J. (1999). Psychoanalytic Theory; Clues from the Brain. Commentary on Panksepp. Journal of Neuro-psychoanalysis, 1:44-49
Lecture 2: Contributions of psychoanalysis to cognitive science
This lecture will cover psychoanalytic ideas already incorporated, implicitly or explicitly, in cognitive psychology, as well as ideas whose inclusion would benefit the cognitive field. We also briefly note aspects of Freud's theories that are widely rejected or questioned, including the drive and energy model of the metapsychology, and the specific clinical theories such as the theory of the Oedipus complex, penis envy, psychosexual stages, and the death instinct.
Required Readings
Optional Readings
Lecture 3: Introduction to the theory of multiple coding and the referential process (Powerpoint presentation)
Humans, like all species, are multiple format emotional information processors; in humans the language function is overlaid on an already complex and multi-leveled system. Adaptive functioning requires integration of systems in pursuit of the individual's overall goals; this integration can be achieved to only a limited degree. This lecture introduces the basic concepts of multiple code theory, including the subsymbolic and symbolic nonverbal systems and the verbal mode, and the concept of the emotion schemas; and outlines the operation of the referential process connecting the systems, as this applies in psychotherapy and other discourse forms. We also provide evidence from neurospsychology and experimental psychology for this model.
Required Readings
Bucci, W. (2002) The Referential Process, Consciousness, and the Sense of Self
Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 22, 766-793
Optional Readings
Bucci, W. (2001) Pathways of emotional communication. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 20, 40-70.
Lecture 4: The referential process and the emotion schemas; theory and research. (Powerpoint presentation)
Our research program is based on the premise that movement through the phases of the referential process (or failures of such progression) will be indicated by changes in discourse contents and style. In this lecture we focus on the role of narrative in expression of emotional experience, and cover measures of Referential Activity, including scales and computerized measures.
Required Readings
Bucci, W. & Maskit, B. (2005) A weighted dictionary for Referential Activity. In J.G. Shanahan, Y. Qu, & J. Wiebe (Eds.) Computing Attitude and Affect in Text; Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer; pp. 49-60.
Optional Readings
Nelson, K.L., Moskovitz, D.J. & Steiner, H. (In press) Narration and Referential Activity are Associated in Autobiographical Memories. Discourse Processes.
Bucci, W., Kabasakalian-McKay, R., Graham, E.A., and the RA Research Groups (2004) Scoring Referential Activity: Instructions for Use with Transcripts of Spoken Texts. Derner Institute, Adelphi University, Garden City, N.Y.: First electronic edition
Lecture 5: Application of referential process measures in psychotherapy and other discourse forms; Empirical applications. (Powerpoint presentation)
The psychoanalytic situation is an ideal naturalistic discourse context for study of the integration of somatic, emotional and linguistic processes. The fifth lecture covers empirical measures of the referential process in relation to effectiveness of psychoanalytic treatment, in other clinical contexts, and in literary studies, using computerized dictionaries, and also introduces the Automated Referential Process-Scans, applied using the new Discourse Attributes Analysis Program. The lecture will also include a summary of the major points of the course.
Required Readings
Optional Readings
Bucci, W. (1997) Psychoanalysis and Cognitive Science; A Multiple Code Theory;
Last Words: 1) The Tower of Babel; 2) The Dead Man's Tale
Assignments
Students who take the course for credit will be asked to write a brief (5-7) page paper discussing either (a) their reactions to the course; in particular how their views on the relationship of psychoanalysis and cognitive science have changed based on the course; or (b) a suggestion for a new application of the measures of the referential process in an empirical research design.
Wilma Bucci, Ph.D.
Wilma Bucci, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Derner Institute of Adelphi University; and Chair of the Research Associates of the American Psychoanalytic Association (RAAPA). She is a Member of Faculty of the Research Training Programme of the International Psychoanalytical Association and Visiting Professor in Psychoanalytic Research, at the University College, London. She received the 2006 Scientific Award from the American Psychological Association Division of Psychoanalysis (Div. 39). She is an Honorary Member of the American Psychoanalytic Association, the New York Psychoanalytic Institute and Society, and the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (IPTAR); and is Director of Research at the The Bernard L. Pacella Parent Child Center at The New York Psychoanalytic Society.
In a number of publications, she has pioneered application of the findings of cognitive science to psychoanalysis, and has also argued for better integration of emotional and interpersonal variables in experimental work in cognitive psychology. She has many publications including clinical, theoretical and research papers. A basic statement of her theoretical contribution, Psychoanalysis and Cognitive Science: A multiple code theory (1997) was published by Guilford Press; a recent chapter on "Basic concepts and methods of psychoanalytic process research" was published in the Textbook of Psychoanalysis, American Psychiatric Press (2005). Her empirical work has taken a major step forward through her recent collaboration with Bernard Maskit, the developer of the Discourse Attributes Analysis Program, which provides the new 'telescope' that is needed for looking through discourse to underlying emotional experience to examine her theoretical claims.