This book is a joint effort of like-minded researchers to define the concept of process within a psychological setting. Although minor differences exist as regards choice of background theory, their common focus is on personality in a broad psychodynamic context. Their definition of personality rests on a series of test instruments that have been validated during decades of thorough and vigorous empirical work. These were originally designed to open up micro-processes underlying the adaptation to or construction of reality, and have subsequently proven diagnostically efficient. Coming from both sides of the Atlantic, the contributors have their background in psychological as well as medical institutions. The contributions in the book are examples of a vital source sustaining our efforts to get a more profound understanding of the vicissitudes of the human mind.

Table of Contents

Introduction; What is perceptgenesis really about?; Percepigenesis: its origins, accomplishments and propects; A mosaic of seven perceptgenetic themes; A note on the concept of stimulus in perceptgenetic theory; Defence mechanisms in psychosomatic groups: a heuristic model; Defense mechanisms and posttraumatic symptoms among male Bosnian and Croatian refugees in psychiatric treat-ment; Influence of gender and age in the defense mechanism test among adolescents and adults; Mature and immature defenses. A study of repressors and trait anxiety groups; Heart rate variability during the meta-contrast technique; Perceptgenetic techniques in the study of cognitive styles and defense mechanisms: from assessment toward psycho-therapy; Which type of norm for S-CWT research?; Pilots and ground officers investigated by process tests of creativity, extraversion, and stress control; Vision forming and brain storming: different aspects of creativity captured by a perceptgenetic measurement and other measurements of creativity; Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue: microgenesis in the 21st century; Actualisation and causality.