This paper argues that productive and co-operative thinking best happens in the context of spatial, rather than linear relations. The latter is characterized by illusions of merger and polarity, the former by a capacity to tolerate similarity and difference. This capacity is manifested in the activity of ‘bearing witness’; an activity vital to the mature psychological development of the individual and the development and maintenance of a just society. The author seeks to develop Foulkes’s ‘model of three’ with insights gained from contemporary group-analytic and post-Kleinian thinking. The paper concludes that the witness, in bearing and being the bearer of difference, is key in the development of a mature, thinking group.
This paper builds on investigations, outlined in previous papers, into essay anxiety amongst late adolescent ‘A’ level students (Barwick 1995, 2000), where the author suggested that a student's experience of uncontained aggression –‐ in particular, sexualized aggression –‐ appears to be a strong contributory factor in essay writing anxiety. In this paper, examples of essay anxiety are broadened to include students at primary, secondary, undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Further, drawing upon contemporary post‐Kleinian thinking regarding the oedipal situation, the author suggests that many of the problems students encounter in their efforts to write may be prompted by unresolved oedipal issues. Conflicts arising from such issues may produce writing blocks or other neurotic essay symptoms. The author includes for consideration his own anxiety in preparing to present a paper at a conference. Some attention is also given to ways of alleviating essay anxiety, with particular reference to the use of transitional space.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.