Asperger
Asperger, Hans
World War 2 active service
World War II (1939-1945). The Second World War had two main effects on the development of psychology. Firstly, a diaspora of Jewish intellectuals from Europe arrived in Great Britain and the United States, and secondly, psychological research was funded, and used extensively during the war.\n\n1. The diaspora. The diaspora refers to the scattering of Jewish people around the world before, during and following the Second World War. This scattering of intellectuals had a pronounced effect, not because of the psychologists who fled, but also because of the many US or UK psychologists who came into contact with many new ideas for the first time. This included not only fellow psychologists, but also philosophers, linguists and novelists. As well as the Jewish diaspora, a large number of gentile intellectuals also left Germany and mainland Europe before and during the war, often for New York or London, where they interacted and greatly influenced the existing scholars. According to Peter Robinson, who edited a volume of essays dedicated to Henri Tajfel “…it is thanks to the émigrés of Henri's generation that the field gained a foothold in the academic world” (Robinson, 1996, p. xi). 2. Applications of psychology. Unlike the First World War, when the application of psychology began only towards the end, psychology was used almost immediately from the beginning of World War II. Also, unlike World War I, where most psychological input was in the selection of recruits or treatment of 'shell shock', during World War II psychologists contributed in a variety of different areas. For instance, psychologists worked on: • Personality psychometrics – Psychologists devised tests used for the selection of 'officer material' and in the main combatant forces. In the UK, the War Office Selection Boards were set up in 1942 for this purpose, and by 1945 some 100,000 applicants for officer rank had been psychometrically tested. Also, during the war factor analytic techniques first applied on a mass scale – for instance, H.J. Eysenck studied 700 patients at the Mill Hill Emergency Hospital during the war. This research was the basis for his subsequent theory of personality. • Psychiatric disabilities of war – For instance, work at the Tavistock Clinic on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Psychoanalytic theories. • Attitude research - large research programs on attitude change and persuasion were funded by the American Army during the war. Related research on leadership and group behaviour was also extensively funded during this period. • Interaction with equipment – World War II was unique in its reliance on human operation of new technology, in areas as diverse as air traffic control, radar or code breaking. This led to psychological research into topics such as vigilance, training, stress and decision making. During this time, some old concepts (e.g. attention) were investigated with new vigour, while new concepts (e.g. stress) were developed as explanatory concepts. • The rapid development of neuropsychology in the 1950s was very much based on studies of combat victim's head wounds and their subsequent psychological functioning. Written by: Course Team
Views: CONTEXTS,
Allport,
Asperger,
Bartlett,
Csikszentmihalyi,
Erikson,
Eysenck,
Freud Anna,
Festinger,
Gibson,
Heider,
Lazarus,
Kanner,
Mayo,
Lorenz,
Maslow,
Milgram,
Tajfel
Autism
Autism is a profound disorder that affects physical, social, and language skills. The term itself refers to a state of increased self-absorption, which seems to go along with language problems and problems in developing normal social relationships, shown by reluctance to engage in physical contact or displays of affection. There are also difficulties in developing normal social attachments to significant adults in the child's life, though there can also be very strong attachments developed to particular objects. Other symptoms can involve compulsive body movements such as rocking, limited reactions to sound or pain, and a strong desire to maintain a particular environment (with great distress shown at the possibility of change).
Treatment
Treatment. There are a number of different forms of treatment for psychological disorders, reflecting the wide range of backgrounds of those working with patients. Clinical psychologists might use behaviour therapy or cognitive-behaviour therapy. Psychoanalysts draw upon methods such as dream analysis, or (with children), play therapy. Psychiatrists are trained in the use of physically-based therapies such as drug treatment (though they might also make use of any of the above treatments, if trained in their use). For further information on these different approaches, see perspectives on PSYCHOANALYSIS, PSYCHIATRY, NEUROPSYCHOLOGY.
Asperger adhered, throughout his work, to the idea that certain children were biologically pre-disposed to autism, and that it ran in families - both views which are widely accepted in current work.
Asperger was born in Vienna in 1906 and trained in medicine and paediatrics.
On the research side, Asperger carried out detailed individual case studies, including some invaluable studies spanning more than 30 years.
Asperger made the claim that the condition he described was a significant and separable syndrome affecting children, but possibly persisting into adulthood. (Asperger later conducted follow-up studies which confirmed this view).
He developed an interest in working with 'difficult' children, using an approach known as 'remedial pedagogy' developed at the University Paediatric Clinic in Vienna.
The main emphasis in these studies was on individuals who are socially eccentric, difficult or aloof, but in intellectual terms, averagely or even exceptionally able.
Some have suggested that Asperger was himself mildly autistic. He was a quite, reserved man who arguably shared some of the traits he described.
The major focus of Asperger's interest was in less severely affected or 'high functioning' children.
He was influenced by the systematic psychiatry recently developed by Eugen Bleuler.
He certainly identified closely with the children he worked with and stressed the positive value of the 'autistic' view of the world, again prefiguring current traits. Asperger was made Professor of Paediatrics in Vienna after the war.
While highly respected in Austria, it was only in the 1970's that Asperger's work was brought to a much wider audience, partly through the interest of the British child psychiatrist, Lorna Wing.
These children had been referred to the clinic for what nowadays would be referred to as behavioural problems such as uncontrollable or anti-social behaviour at home or at school.
It seems that among the children referred to his clinic, there were a substantial number who these days would receive a diagnosis of an autistic spectrum disorder.
With colleagues at the Vienna clinic, Asperger developed a specialised programme of treatment and education for the children. While the treatment included a medical dimension, the main focus was on a structured programme of education.
Based on his research and therapeutic work with these children, Asperger published a doctoral thesis entitled 'Autistic Psychopathy in Children' (1944).
It is through Asperger's pioneering work that psychologists and psychiatrists now agree on a distinctive sub-type of autism known as Asperger's syndrome.
Prepared by a member of the course team Sources: Frith, U (Ed) 1991 'Autism and Asperger's syndrome' Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Paradiz, V (in press) Elijah's Cup Asperger, H (1944) Autistic Psychopathy in Children' ( reprinted in translation in Frith 1991 (Ed) Autism and Asperger's Syndrome)
Top