Review of General Psychology

The article presents several new ideas concerning frameworks in psychology. At a general level, this includes proposals for a definition of the term framework and a simple, attribute-based metaframework. There is also a description of the way frameworks can act as bridges, maps, and models. The bulk of the article concerns PsyFrame, a new framework for psychological ideas. Several uses of PsyFrame are described, including PsyBridge (a database format), PsyMap (a graphical way of summarizing a psychological idea), and PsyModel (a way of constructing integrated psychological models). Overall, this article is descriptive rather than prescriptive. Hence, it concerns new ways of approaching and representing psychological ideas, rather than promoting a particular way of doing psychology.

Recent articles calling for a scientific study of magic have been the subject of widespread interest. This article considers the topic from a broader perspective and argues that to engage in a science of magic, in any meaningful sense, is misguided. It argues that those who have called for a scientific theory of magic have failed to explain either how or why such a theory might be constructed, that a shift of focus to a neuroscience of magic is simply unwarranted, and that a science of magic is itself an inherently unsound idea. It seeks to provide a more informed view of the relationship between science and magic and suggests a more appropriate way forward for scientists.

A comparative analysis suggested that two indigenous theories of aesthetic emotions, the Indian rasa and the Chinese notion of savoring, share in common the two defining characteristics of emotion refinement—detachment and self-reflexivity (Frijda & Sundararajan, 2007), but that these two aesthetic traditions differ in ways that correspond to the ontological/epistemological divide between the ancient Greeks (and other Indo-European languages) and the Chinese as predicted by Nisbett (2003). Implications of this investigation for theory and research on emotions are discussed.

Few investigators have explored connections between attachment theory and goal orientation theory. Although the theories differ in important ways, we suggest there is a striking similarity in their depiction of an adaptive pathway leading from stress to learning goals and constructive strategies, and a contrasting pathway leading from stress to self-validation goals and defensive strategies. We review evidence from two leading investigators—Mario Mikulincer in adult attachment theory and Carol Dweck in goal orientation theory—to show that, following failure and other setbacks, learning as compared to self-validation goals are more likely to lead to cognitive openness, problem-solving, support-seeking, and adaptive emotion regulation. The theories differ in their understanding of the views underlying learning and self-validation goals, and those differences have led to qualitatively different interventions. We suggest how attachment and goal orientation theory interventions can be integrated to maximize optimal functioning in stressful conditions.

Psychologists played a major role behind the widely publicized and popular idea of a crisis among girls. In this paper, several topics basic to the girl-crisis movement are examined. Suggested by the works of psychologists Carol Gilligan and Mary Pipher, the topics are voice, self-esteem, and psychology's role in harming girls. Expected sex differences in voice and self-esteem were not found. The girl-crisis notion that contemporary psychology has colluded in harming girls is at odds with the arc of the profession. The wide divergence between the basic claims of the girl-crisis movement and these findings are discussed. Further critique is recommended.

To understand psychological functions of writing, in which words achieve a certain permanency, we discuss Petrarch's memoir of his ascent of Mont Ventoux, Galileo's scientific account of the laws governing falling bodies, and Cervantes's fictional account of Don Quixote's confrontation with windmills. In each case, written words function as cues, instructions to the reader, to construct scenes in the imagination. We analyze the writing of Jane Austen's (1813/1980) Pride and Prejudice and find three categories of cues: utterance, thought, and observation. These are essential to fiction, but a comparable range of cues occurs in other genres, which have different purposes and can draw on cues in different proportions. Fiction is, perhaps, distinctive in reaching imaginatively toward psychological laws.