This paper presents a theoretical and methodological approach to studying the ways in which psychotherapy patients create and interpret mental representations of their therapists and the psychotherapeutic process both during therapy and after termination. A network of measures, The Therapist Representation Inventory, was developed to specify the interrelationships between the stylistic, functional and formal properties of such symbolic evocations across different states of consciousness and in different situations. It includes a method of examining the ability to formulate a concept of the psychotherapist and guidelines for interpreting both the thematic content and conceptual level of that object representation. The second scale measures the ability to specify the formal properties of therapist representations, as distinct from their particular contents. The third instrument seeks to identify the functions which therapist “introjects” serve for a given individual. Normative data, based upon a sample of 206 psychotherapists who themselves have been patients in psychotherapy and/or psychoanalysis indicate that the vividness of the representation and the use of the representation for the purpose of continuing the therapeutic dialogue are significantly correlated with self-perceived improvement.

This article presents a psychodynamic framework and research methods for investigating the significance of patients' internal representations of therapy-with-their-therapists. In this article, 2 instruments developed for this purpose--the Therapist Representation Inventory and the Intersession Experience Questionnaire--are introduced, and their psychometric characteristics are described. Also, findings from a series of studies conducted with these instruments are summarized. Finally, the types of questions these instruments appear to be well suited to are proposed for addressing in future research.

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Acceptance of the Warren Commission Report among college students was predicted from 2 measures of personality presumably independent of political attitudes. Interpersonal trust and belief in internal vs. external control of reinforcement were the 2 measures. Both are conceptualized in social learning theory as broad generalized expectancies. Each personality test and the Warren Commission Questionnaire were given to students at widely spaced times by different examiners. Ss with consistent attitudes of disbelief of the Warren Report were significantly less trusting and more external. Within sexes, trust is a predictor for males and females, but internal-external control only for males. The study adds to the literature on the contribution of personality variables to understand public reactions to sociopolitical events.