What was going on when I was born?

A picture caption in Metropolitan Report on June 18 with an article about a proposal for a domed stadium in Queens misidentified the hearing at which City Council President Carol Bellamy testified. It was a meeting of the city's Concessions Review Committee.

Across the industrial belt, from the auto plants in the Middle West to the steel mills in the Northeast, the threat posed by President Reagan's tax plan seemed clear: Smokestack America was to be the sacrificial lamb in the effort to cut taxes for individuals and foster development of faster-growing sectors of the economy. But in the last few weeks, some prominent industry executives, along with some Wall Street analysts and private economists, have raised strong doubts that the plan would deal as crippling a blow to the industrial heartland as initially thought. Although the President's proposal would scale back billions of dollars in investment incentives, many depressed companies have accumulated enough tax losses to keep themselves immune from tax changes for years. And others would find the cutback in investment incentives at least partly offset by the lowering of the corporate tax rate. Furthermore, many smokestack companies are no longer as capital-intensive as they once were. And customer orders to the smokestack industries are not expected to dry up because of the loss of tax benefits.

A CHINESE silk screen hangs over the couch in the consulting room of James Hillman, a Jungian analyst. The screen depicts a sage sitting on a bamboo deck, casting a doleful, cantankerous gaze at some exquisite birds. That image is a fitting emblem for Dr. Hillman, for he proposes to make one of the main goals of therapy the heightening of people's esthetic appreciation of the world around them. And in appraising the state of therapy in general, Dr. Hillman's outlook is as doleful and cantankerous as the Chinese sage's visage. Such views come naturally to Dr. Hillman, who many see as the most imaginative and important of contemporary Jungian thinkers. Dr. Hillman is the leading spokesman for the trend within the Jungian movement to make therapy more art than science. And although he remains a controversial figure, among his following are many influential Jungians, and he has found an even larger audience beyond the ranks of Jungians. Like Carl Jung himself, Dr. Hillman sees the mission of psychology as stirring people's souls, in the fashion of philosophy and religion. In his most recent work, for example, he challenges therapists as being too limited in their focus.

The Mesa Petroleum Company, citing a number of complex accounting practices and tax rules, said yesterday that it would report an after-tax gain of about $83 million, or $1.22 a share, for the quarter ended June 30 as a result of its attempt to acquire the Unocal Corporation. Because Mesa's chairman, T. Boone Pickens Jr., failed to gain control of Unocal - and because the battle for the company was long and costly - many financial analysts had expected Mesa to report a loss of as much as $20 million from its dealings. In its statement, Mesa referred particularly to its accounting treatment of several aspects of the transaction with Unocal.

A music review of Caramoor yesterday gave an incorrect date for the festival's end. Performances will continue through Aug. 25.

SEYMOUR PAPERT, a professor of mathematics and education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a major pioneer in the use of computers in elementary and secondary schools. Mr. Papert, a student of the late Swiss educator and psychologist Jean Piaget, is the creator of LOGO, the computer language most widely used with young children. His writings, including his book ''Mindstorms,'' published by Basic Books, have had considerable influence among educators in this country. Mr. Papert recently discussed his views on computers and education in an interview. Following are excerpts from that discussion: Q. What is your impression about the way computers are being used in most elementary schools today?

The hijackers of the Trans World Airlines jet separated the American servicemen from the other passengers and intended to kill them one by one, some of the former hostages said here today. They said the decision to kill the Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem was part of an effort to force the Shiite Amal militia to cooperate in the hijacking. Mr. Stethem was beaten, then shot to death by the gunmen in the early hours of the hijacking. The former hostages said that Mr. Stethem and the others had been brought to the first-class section of the aircraft to be killed, and that the diver was apparently chosen at random. Pressure on Militiamen ''We weren't told the specific reason,'' said Dr. Arthur W. Toga, a 33-year-old researcher in the neurology department of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. ''But he was the sacrificial lamb. They weren't getting the action they needed at the airport. It seemed to me that man was picked almost at random.''

After a 20-hour Cabinet meeting, the Israeli Government declared an economic emergency today and imposed sweeping austerity measures intended to break the country's 260 percent inflation. The Histadrut, Israel's labor union federation of 1.6 million members, immediately responded by calling a nationwide general strike for Tuesday. It said the Government ''has gone too far.'' With 90 percent of the labor force in the Histadrut, the entire country, including harbors and airports, is expected to be shut down by the strike. Services will operate on an emergency Sabbath schedule.

In his first public appearance since Federal authorities closed his bank on June 21, Kuang Hsung J. Chuang, chairman and president of the failed Golden Pacific National Bank, told a news conference yesterday that the bank's depositors, creditors and shareholders would get back all their money if the Government liquidated the bank judiciously. Golden Pacific 'is a sound, good bank - in no way is it insolvent,' he said. Asked to comment, an official of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corproation, which is liquidating the bank, said, 'We hope he is right, only time will tell.' The official, Christie Sciaca, said much would depend on whether Mr. Chuang would cooperate with the F.D.I.C. in making assets held outside the bank available to the bank's depositors and other creditors. At his news conference, Mr. Chuang said he would cooperate.

International Israel decided to release 300 of its 735 Lebanese and Palestinian detainees, mainly Shiite Moslems, over the next two days, according to officials in Jerusalem. Freedom for the detainees, whom Israel has been holding without charges for up to 20 months, was the principal demand of the Lebanese Shiites who hijacked an airliner and took a group of Americans hostage. [Page A1, Column 6.] A plan ''to isolate'' Beirut's airport will be pressed, the United States announced in response to the hijacking of the Trans World Airlines jet. The campaign will be diplomatic, and there was no sign that any American military action would be taken, at least at this time. [A1:4.]

A special Federal appeals court ruled today that the Exxon Corporation had overcharged customers who bought oil from a Texas field and that the company must pay about $1.9 billion in refunds and interest to the Government. The decision represents a major victory for the Energy Department, which is pursuing hundreds of cases involving the elaborate system of price controls inspired by the oil crises of the 1970's. The controls were removed in January 1981. The judgment, upholding a 1983 Federal district court decision, is believed to be the biggest monetary award ever entered against a single defendant. Exxon could try a number of maneuvers to reduce its liability.

International Israel declared an economic emergency and imposed sweeping austerity measures intended to break the country's 260 percent inflation. But a federation of 1.6 million workers, or 90 percent of the nation's labor force, responded by calling a general strike for today. The Government announced an 18.8 percent shekel devaluation, price increases for subsidized products and a spending cut of $750 million, as well as a freeze on wages and most prices. [Page A1.] Companies Exxon was ordered to pay the U.S. about $1.9 billion for overcharging customers under the Federal system that controlled oil prices until 1981. The decision represents a major victory for the Energy Department, which is pursuing hundreds of such cases. But Exxon could ask the special Federal appeals court to reconsider its decision or appeal to the Supreme Court. And if it does have to pay, it could try to reduce its liability. [D1.]