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Children in grades 1, 4, 7, and 10 (N = 80) and institutionalized and non-institutionalized retardates ( N = 80) made up 3 wishes they hoped would come true. With increasing age, children wished for abstract or intangible human conditions rather than for concrete or tangible possessions; wished for things consistent with adult rather than child status; and made altruistic wishes, benefiting others rather than themselves. Age and IQ differences in frequency of the 3 types of wishes were discussed in terms of differential rates of conceptual, social and emotional development, generally, and the adverse experiences of retardates, in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the wishing activities of children and adolescents. Indicator of the areas of dissatisfaction and levels of aspiration; Age difference in the frequency distribution of wishes; Form of request in obtaining responses.

Examines the oral and written wishes expressed by rural and city school children. Method used in obtaining expressions of children; Sex and age differences in both oral and written expressions; Consistency of rural and city children in expressing wishes.

This paper aims at a partial reconciliation of two conflicting themes as to the pervasiveness of the acceptance of success values by differentiating between adolescents' wishes and expectations with respect to their future achievement. Adolescents' wishes tend to transcend their awareness of limitations (restricted opportunities and self-ability) while their expectations are definitely affected by their perception of social reality. Thus, if an assertion is made in terms of expectations, the view of the class differential values is supported, whereas the position of the common values is supported when adolescents' wishes are used. Men on's hypothesis regarding the genesis of lower class deviation is examined in terms of the discrepancy between wishes and expectations. A possible way of resolving the controversy is suggested by the author. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has frequently been observed that various projective tests tend to emphasize different aspects of the personality. One projective test may emphasize content of one kind while another may tend to diminish this content and focus attention on another kind. The practical significance of these differences in content should be considered in the light of the degree to which a particular projective test favors the occurrence of ego defenses. Thus a subject's views on marital relations are probably considerably different as portrayed in his dreams and in his responses to a personality inventory In the former case, the subject has so little control of his assumed public role or so little concern for preserving it that he will express some attitudes and desires that he may never act out On the other hand, in the personality inventory the responses may be influenced by the impression that the subject wishes to give of himself. There have been few investigations of the specific interrelationships between various projective procedures which may vary in the degree to which they arouse ego-defending mechanisms. It would appear that in dreams the subject is less concerned with maintaining his idealized self-concept of adequacy and maturity and more concerned with escaping threat to his safety.

In the study of motivational determinants of perception, there is a tendency to identify motivational with wish fulfilling. Once it has been demonstrated that needs and values may systematically affect perceptual organization, it is tempting to conclude that perception is the servant of the organism's wishes and at all times strains for the satisfaction of these wishes as far as stimulus conditions will permit. It is true that under some conditions of deprivation, perceptual selectivity favors goal objects and sources of satisfaction, but the evidence is mounting that such is by no means the general rule. Experiments on the perceptual effects of food deprivation provide one example. It is necessary to put the interpretation of motivational factors in perception on a basis broader than is provided by a principle of autistic wish-fulfillment or a single-minded application of the theory of defense mechanisms. Whether perception will appear to be wish-fulfilling and defensive, overvigilant, or realistic depends at least in part on the frequency with which positively and negatively valued hypotheses have been confirmed in the past. No matter how strong the motivational support for any given perceptual hypothesis, confirmation or nonconfirmation from the environment continually modifies the strength of the hypothesis.

One criticism of the theory of instincts as the basis of human behavior was that lists of instincts were based almost entirely upon the opinions and chance observations of psychologists rather than upon objective investigation. While the discarding of lists of instincts undoubtedly has marked a step in advance in the theory of social psychology, another and similar laxity remains, the tendency of social psychologists to create in lieu of instincts lists of wishes, dispositions, desires,prepotent reflexes and the like. There are at least twenty-three different desires given by social psychologists. Only one, sex, is accepted by all. The various lists range from four to fourteen as the total number of desires. These lists as they now stand are open to some serious challenges. No method is stated by which desires were discovered. Even as opinions the lists are weak. They do not represent consensus of opinion as to what constitutes innate human nature. As opinions, the lists are weak also in that all have been made by men. Women social psychologists are few in number, but it is altogether probable that if they were to make lists of desires, there would be a difference from those made by men.

The article attempts to measure the determinants of vocational wishes, preference, and choice and the factors governing them. Vocational preference, according to the author, is not a sudden event, taking place within a relatively small time-span in the course of a lifetime, but rather a process of development that often extends over many years. In this context, the author assumes that an individual never reaches the ultimate decision at a single moment in time, but through a series of decisions over a period of many years; the cumulative impact is the determining factor. Further, the study of vocational preference is usually carried out along one of three lines: an inquiry into the respondents interests, an inquiry into his value orientations, or an inquiry into his actual preference by means of lists of occupations. The article concludes that an occupation list drawn up to establish the various lines of preference in the occupational world will only be of use when it is constructed in a systematic way.

The article studies the personalities and interests of mental defectives compared with those of normal children. Institutionalized adult defectives belong to the experimental group and the control group consisted of normal children in the public schools. Subjects were asked about their fears, wishes, practicality, and level of aspiration. Results of the study suggested that the adult defective can make social adjustment better than a normal child.

The article presents a case of a 31-year-old housewife presented when 27 week pregnant with complaints of restlessness and voices debating in her head. Autoscopy occurring during pregnancy is described. The parts played by excessive narcissism, wish fulfillment and the use of visual imagery are commented upon. The patient's description of seeing objects as being doubled shows an underlying mechanism which has similarities to the process in Capgras' Syndrome. Narcissism, wish fulfillment and a predominance of visual imagery have contributed to patient's complaint.

The article presents views of the author on an article titled "The Intergenerational Encounter: A Method in Treatment" by Walter Haas, published in the previous issue of the journal "Social Work." The article describes an unusual and obviously sadistic session in which the client "confronts" that is, verbally attacks, his aged parent. The session may be dramatically interesting, but as a practitioner in the field the author would seriously question its therapeutic value. Rather, he suspects that such sessions may be truly harmful to the parent, as indicated by researcher Elaine M. Brody in his letter published in the previous issue of the journal "Social Work." According to the author, there are several reasons for this. Firstly, the encounter or attack strengthens and supports the client's fantasy that his problems would be solved if he could just tell off his parents. The fantasy of the "magic word," "magic wand," or "magic pill" is well known to any experienced therapist and one of his goals must be to help the client relinquish these infantile wish-fulfilling devices. To encourage and abet, as Haas does, is to intensify the pathology. Secondly, by encouraging acting out of this kind, the therapist is not helping the patient face the fact that most of his problem is based on distortion and misunderstanding and that his therapy in part must be a re-learning and re-evaluation of past experiences.

The article is a narrative by the author regarding the extension of her new year wishes. The author is thinking of happiness in relation to nurses living in sixty-three different countries under various social, economic and political conditions, striving each in her own way to make the life of other individuals happier. The author states that all through the coming year it is her most sincere wish that each one of may in her own way light tomorrow with today.