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Diplomas / Degrees

Certificate in Psychoanalysis, Postgraduate Center for Mental Health (1985)
Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, University of Tennessee (1981)
B.A., Rutgers College (1976)

Recent Courses

Advanced Topics In Social Psychology
Assessment Of Personality
Case Seminar Viii
Continuing Doctoral Thesis Supervision I
Continuing Doctoral Thesis Supervision III
Continuing Doctoral Thesis Supervision IV
Doctoral Thesis Supervision I
Doctoral Thesis Supervision II
Doctoral Thesis Supervision III
Foundations Of Psychoanalysis III: Structural Theory & Object Relations
Motivation And Emotion
Ongoing Dissertation Supervision
Ongoing Doctoral Thesis Supervision
Psychoanalysis
Psychological Research 1
Psychological Research II
Psychological Research III
Psychological Research IV
S/T: Evolutionary Psychology
Self Psychology
Techniques Of Psychotherapy
Techniques Psychotherapy
Theories Of Personality

Personal Statement

My scholarly and research interests have always evolved from the challenges of daily clinical practice. For almost three decades of clinical practice I noticed how many of my patients either engage in acts of sexual infidelity or have become victims of sexual betrayal. My clinical experiences with those patients inspired my interest in the psychology of love triangles and the conflicts people have about making monogamous sexually exclusive relationships work. I started noticing how frequently men live dual track sex lives and how many women fall in love with such married men. I started noticing how many men in committed relationships develop anger management problems in dealing with the sexual commitments and sexual frustrations of long-term relationships. I have developed clinical approaches that target these difficult issues.

My research and scholarship draws on Freud' seminal insights into human sexuality made current by new developments in contemporary evolutionary psychology. I look at romantic relationships developmentally in terms of issues of early attachment and the oedipal conflict as well as in terms of adult personality variables like narcissism and attachment style that predict many aspects of adult romantic relationships. I use the experimental technique of mindset priming to see how activating unconscious conflicts around love triangles effect attitudes towards infidelity, pornography, revenge, jealousy, and death related thoughts. I am interested in working with any students who are interested in investigating any aspects of adult romantic relationships or human sexuality as well as the childhood antecedents of these issues. I am also interested in working with students who are interested in looking at these issues in cross-cultural perspective.

In my clinical/ theoretical scholarship I have been building bridges between psychoanalysis and evolutionary psychology in trying to understand the mind's reproductive system and what are our uniquely human adaptations for reproductive advantage.

Teaching Specializations / Interests

Techniques of Psychotherapy
Psychology of Emotion
Evolutionary Psychology
Working with Emotions in Adult Romantic Relationships

Research Interests

How personality variables interact with experimental activation of unconscious conflicts in regard to adult romantic relationships.

Books

Josephs, L. (1995). Balancing Empathy and Interpretation.

Josephs, L. (1992). Character Structure and the Organization of the Self.

Recent Articles

Showing first 5 of 11. View All

Lawrence Josephs. (2010, 1). The evolved function of the oedipal conflict. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, in press

Josephs, Lawrence. (2010, 1). The co-evolution of sexual desire, narcissistic vulnerability, and adaptations for reproductive advantage. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry

Josephs, Lawrence and Shimberg, Jessica. (2010, 1). The dynamics of sexual fidelity: Personality as a reproductive strategy. Psychoanalytic Psychology

Miller, A. & Josephs, L. (2009, 1). Whiteness as Pathological Narcissism. Contemporary Psychoanalysis

Hunyady, Josephs, & Jost. (2008, 12). Priming the Primal Scene: Betrayal Trauma, Narcissism, and Attitudes Towards Infidelity. Self and Identity

Conference Presentations and Papers

Showing first 5 of 7. View All

Josephs, L. (21 February 2009). The Adaptive Function of Sexual Greed. Greed, Sex, Money, Power, and Politics, Mount Sinai Hospital

Josephs, L. (16 May 2008). Neurotic Self-deception as a Reproductgive Strategy. Karen Horney Institute

Josephs, Lawrence (21 April 2007). Narcissistic Scars: The Dynamics of Cheating, Mate Poaching, and Mate Guarding. Postgraduate Psychoanalytic Society, NYC

Josephs, L. (15 March 2007). Seduction and Betrayal: An Ovverlooked Relational Dynamic. On-Line Seminar: International Association of Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy

Josephs, Lawrence (05 October 2006). The Analyst's Badness. Online Colloquiuum, International Association of Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy

Professional Activities

North American Editorial Board of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis: 2/07 - 2/11.

Organizing Committee for the Annual Symposium of the Psychoanalytic Consortium: 1/09 to present