Event Title
Exploring The Identity Fantasies of Adopted Preadolescents: The Use of a New Superhero Appreciation Test (SAT)
Location
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Start Date
7-4-2010 4:00 PM
End Date
7-4-2010 5:30 PM
Description
One of the most prominent themes in the journey of adopted individuals is the search for identity. Preadolescence is a time when children begin this process and use fantasy to explore their thoughts and feelings. The comic book, and Superman’s life and heroic journey, in particular, capture a child’s fantasy, and provide substance for the study of unconscious process and psychic development. The present pilot study investigates the narratives of four adopted children, ages 10 – 13, based on their responses to a new Superhero Apperception Test (i.e., Superman comics) and the Early Memories Test.
The measures of assessment include the New Measure of Psychic Experience (N-MOPE) (Newirth, 2003, Bahat, 2006), and the Assessment of Self-Descriptions (AS-D) (Blatt, 1987). The N-MOPE, a measure of the construction of meaning through language, that integrates the Kleinian concepts of the paranoid-schizoid and the depressive positions as different models of thought, symbolic activity and experience, and Matte-Blanco’s concept of the principles of symmetry and asymmetry as parallel systems of logical thought, are applied to the children’s SAT responses. The AS-D, which assesses the subjective experience of the self along the dimensions of agency, interpersonal relatedness, and cognitive and affective capacities, is applied to the children’s Early Memory narratives.
Learning Objectives:
Investigate the applicability of a new apperception test to study the intrapsychic fantasies of adopted youth at the initial stage of identity formation
Apply the N-MOPE and AS-D to clinical and research data
Exploring The Identity Fantasies of Adopted Preadolescents: The Use of a New Superhero Appreciation Test (SAT)
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
One of the most prominent themes in the journey of adopted individuals is the search for identity. Preadolescence is a time when children begin this process and use fantasy to explore their thoughts and feelings. The comic book, and Superman’s life and heroic journey, in particular, capture a child’s fantasy, and provide substance for the study of unconscious process and psychic development. The present pilot study investigates the narratives of four adopted children, ages 10 – 13, based on their responses to a new Superhero Apperception Test (i.e., Superman comics) and the Early Memories Test.
The measures of assessment include the New Measure of Psychic Experience (N-MOPE) (Newirth, 2003, Bahat, 2006), and the Assessment of Self-Descriptions (AS-D) (Blatt, 1987). The N-MOPE, a measure of the construction of meaning through language, that integrates the Kleinian concepts of the paranoid-schizoid and the depressive positions as different models of thought, symbolic activity and experience, and Matte-Blanco’s concept of the principles of symmetry and asymmetry as parallel systems of logical thought, are applied to the children’s SAT responses. The AS-D, which assesses the subjective experience of the self along the dimensions of agency, interpersonal relatedness, and cognitive and affective capacities, is applied to the children’s Early Memory narratives.
Learning Objectives:
Investigate the applicability of a new apperception test to study the intrapsychic fantasies of adopted youth at the initial stage of identity formation
Apply the N-MOPE and AS-D to clinical and research data