BENEVOLENT TRANSFORMATION: AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE PSYCHOLOGIS

The present study investigated the operation of a specific defensive style, benevolent transformation. Benevolent transformation was defined as the reversal of negative, aggressive material into its opposite. Four groups of subjects were studied. Two of these groups were members of helping professions (clinical psychology students and pastoral counseling students) and two were not directly involved in helping professions (graduate economics students and graduate engineering students). To study benevolent transformation five cards of the Thematic Apperception Test were selected for their negative and aggressive "pull." The Buss-Durkee Aggression Scale was then administered as an index of self-reported hostility. Subjects were also asked to hypothesize as to the nature of this study in terms of its aggressive or helpful qualities. It was hypothesized that: (1) relative to control groups, clinical psychology students and pastoral counseling students will display a significantly greater degree of the defensive posture of benevolent transformation; (2) relative to control groups, clinical psychology students and pastoral counseling students will score significantly lower on the Hafner-Kaplan Aggression Scale; (3) relative to control groups, clinical psychology students and pastoral counseling students will score significantly lower on the Buss-Durkee Aggression Scale; (4) relative to control groups, clinical psychology students and pastoral counseling students will to a significantly greater degree identify the task they have just performed in terms of a helping attitude. Results confirmed the first hypothesis (p < .0001). The second hypothesis was partially supported since only the members of the psychology group scored significantly lower than the control group on the Hafner-Kaplan Aggression Scale (p < .0002). Hypothesis number three was not supported. The lowest mean score for guilt was reported by the psychology group, which was significantly different from the score of the engineering group (p < .0453). Confirmation was also obtained for hypothesis number four (p < .05). In addition it was noted that guilt correlated positively with the Hafner-Kaplan Aggression scores and negatively with benevolent transformation scores. The results point to the observation that helping professionals transform negative and aggressive material as an adaptive coping mechanism, defending against feelings of aggression and hopelessness. Thus, guilt may be neutralized by the defensive posture of benevolent transformation.