tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57262913848012204132024-02-21T23:01:39.465+05:30Lens to PsychologyLet's discuss PSYCHOLOGYSanthosh K Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045168814437402413noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-61847390191986431532016-11-11T17:12:00.001+05:302016-11-11T17:12:54.064+05:30POSITIVE INK: The positive in "Disease Positive"I've always bee...<a href="http://psychons.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-positive-in-disease-positive-ive.html?spref=bl">POSITIVE INK: The positive in "Disease Positive"<br />
I've always bee...</a>: The positive in "Disease Positive" I've always been somewhat fascinated by the concept of looking at the positive side of ...Dr.K.R.Santhosh, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03682057833342058900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-26463983891911806392016-07-28T14:58:00.002+05:302016-07-28T15:15:59.885+05:30Figure-Ground Perception <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Consolidated by </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Akshata
Jayant Chonkar (<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">1630221)</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>I CEP-B<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Christ University, Bangalore</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Figure-ground
perception has evolved from the Gestalt school of thought. Figure–ground
organization is a type of perceptual grouping which is a vital necessity for
recognizing objects through vision. <b><u><o:p></o:p></u></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Perceptual
organization is a construct of the Gestalt School of thought. Gestalt theory
was first developed in the early 1900s by Austrian and German psychologists.
Some of the notable founders of Gestalt theory include Max Wertheimer, and Kurt
Koffka. One of the main beliefs of Gestalt theory is that a something as a
whole consists of interacting parts that can be separated, analyzed, and
rearranged in the whole. In other words, the whole is different from the sum of
its parts. Max Wertheimer and scientists with him believed that humans have an
inborn tendency to construct meaningful perceptions from fragments of sensory
input. This theory of perception proposes that people make sense of the world
around them by taking separate and distinct elements and combining them into a
unified whole. For example, if you look at shapes drawn on a piece of paper,
your mind will likely group the shapes in terms of things such as similarity or
proximity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">People
automatically focus on some objects in the perceptual field to the exclusion of
others. What we focus on is the figure, and what fades away is the the
background.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When a
person sees buildings, cars, trees, people, etc.- all these objects are
perceived as figures in front of backgrounds of the sky, or other buildings,
etc. When figure-ground relationships are ambiguous, or capable of being
interpreted in various ways, our perceptions tend to be unstable, shifting back
and forth. An example of this would be a reversible figure, which is a drawing
that one can perceive in different ways by reversing the figure and ground. In
some examples, a shift occurs in our perceptions of what is figure and what is
ground. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNRV0cqJUZf1GKuVkjqD7ocxTMEvWXQL6o3VGs0pJqTr3gqothCIhaeYjDuPsFYe2dPhWraKRvprrlmaCaPors_q4oW6_ZmeTxil8EPIXWpYVq6gJqYFLIzspw8KgDY8EQN3C9h7K1SnE/s1600/Figure+ground+perception.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNRV0cqJUZf1GKuVkjqD7ocxTMEvWXQL6o3VGs0pJqTr3gqothCIhaeYjDuPsFYe2dPhWraKRvprrlmaCaPors_q4oW6_ZmeTxil8EPIXWpYVq6gJqYFLIzspw8KgDY8EQN3C9h7K1SnE/s200/Figure+ground+perception.png" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Psychologists
have created different kinds of stimuli in order to study how people separate
figure from ground. The interpretations that people derive from these stimuli
are real, even though the objects are ambiguous or are nonexistent.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The
"faces or vases" illustration is one of the most frequent
demonstrations of figure-ground. What you see depends on whether you see the
white as the figure or the black as the figure.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If you see the white as the figure, then you
perceive a vase. If you see the black as the figure, then you see two faces in
profile. Most people are able to reverse their perceptions and switch back and
forth between the vase and faces images.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When
looking at a visual scene, people tend to look for ways to differentiate
between the figure and the ground. Some ways that people accomplish this
include: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Blurriness:</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Objects in the foreground tend to
be crisp and distinct while those in the background are blurry or hazy. </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Contrast:</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> High contrast between objects can
lead to the perception of figure and ground The Rubin vase is one example. </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Size:</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Images that appear to be larger
will be perceived as closer and part of the figure while those that are smaller
will seem further away and part of the background. </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Separation:</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> An object isolated from everything
else in a visual scene is more likely to be seen as a figure versus background.</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Law of common fate</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">: Elements seen moving together are perceived as
belonging together</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">All
of these laws help us understand how people transform raw visual inputs into
meaningful displays</span><br />
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<b>Bibliography</b></div>
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure–ground_(perception
<o:p></o:p></div>
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http://study.com/academy/lesson/figure-ground-perception-definition-examples.html
<o:p></o:p></div>
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https://www.verywell.com/what-is-figure-ground-perception-2795195
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Introduction to Psychology,
Clifford T. Morgan, Richard King; 7th Edition; McGraw Hill Educatin Pvt Ltd<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Psychology- Robert A Baron; 5th
edition; Pearson Publications<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Psychology: Concepts and
Connections- Spencer A. Rathus ; 7th Edition; Thomson and Wadsworth<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
</span><br />
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Psychology- Saul Kassin; 2nd
Edition; Hall</div>
</div>
</div>
Santhosh K Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045168814437402413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-6265178516117963142016-07-26T15:36:00.001+05:302016-07-26T15:36:17.212+05:30BASIC CONCEPTS OF SENSATION<div style="text-align: justify;">
Consolidated by </div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As defined by
APA Glossary of Psychological Terms, sensation is the process by which
stimulation of a sensory receptor gives rise to neural impulses that result in
an experience, or awareness of, conditions inside or outside the body. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In simpler words
sensation can be explained as the process by which our sense organs receive
inputs from our environment. Hence, the classical human senses – sight, sound,
taste, smell and touch– register the sensory inputs that evoke our respective
sense organs. But it is important to note that the scope of sensory experience
is much wider than the basic functions of these five senses, as sensory
information can also be in the form of light, pressure, vibration, heat and pain.
These are the stimuli to which our nervous system reacts through sensory
receptors.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">stimulus</i>
is a physical influence that initiates and provokes a reaction. It can be
specific information that is received by the sensory organs, and the resulted
experience is a sensation. Stimuli can vary in type and intensity. Different
sense organs respond to different stimuli, and the intensity of the stimulus
decides whether it can be deducted by the sensory receptors. This is the core
subject matter of the branch of psychology called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">psychophysics</i>, which studies the physical characteristics of stimuli
in relation with our psychological reaction to them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Sensory
receptors</span></i><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> are the specialized structures that
react to a physical stimulus. A group of receptor cells is called a sense
organ. These receptors vary in classification –taste, gustatory, odour,
olfactory, etc. – but perform the same basic function of being in contact with
the physical stimulus to receive information, decode this information into
creating neural impulses or signals, and transmit these impulses to sensory
cortices of the brain for it to interpret them. This interpretation is called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">perception</i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">.</b> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sensation and perception are often explained
as one unit. These are two interrelated but distinct parts of a continuous
process. Sensation is a physical response of detecting and translating the
sensory information into signals going up to the brain (bottom-up processing),
while perception<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is a psychological
response that follows it by analysing and interpreting these signals and makes
sense of them based on our experiences and expectation (top-down processing).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A stimulus has
to be strong enough to be detected by the sense organs. For that, it has to
have the smallest level of intensity to be registered by our senses, which is
called an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">absolute threshold</i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">.</b> However, at such low levels, it may
be difficult to detect a stimulus if noise (any disturbance or distraction in
the form of background stimulation that interferes with other senses) is present
in the environment. Therefore, an absolute threshold is defined as a level of
stimulus that is detectable 50 percent of the time. These thresholds may vary
with age.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The minimum
change in stimulus intensity required to detect the difference in sensory
experience 50 percent of the time is called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">difference
threshold</i> or a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">just noticeable
difference</i>. Ernest Weber observed that the size of difference threshold is
a constant proportion of the original stimulus magnitude. This relation is
called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Weber’s Law</i> and is expressed
as ∆I / I = K, where ∆I represents the difference threshold, I represents the
initial stimulus intensity and K signifies the proportion that remains constant
despite changes in I. For examples, if two cell-phones are playing music with
the intensity of 100 units, and one’s volume is increased just enough for it to
be noticeably louder, the increased volume would have the intensity of 110
units, and the just noticeable difference would be 10. The Weber fraction in
this would be 10/100 = 0.1. This being a constant proportion, a person’s
difference threshold can be predicted for any level of intensity using the law.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Due to repeated
exposure to a stimulus, our sensitivity to it decreases. This happens through <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sensory</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">adaptation</i>, which is an adjustment our brain makes to accustom
itself to an unchanging stimulus. This happens when a strong odour in a room
can no longer be smelled after a while. It is not because the smell vanishes,
but our nerve cells fire less frequently in response to the continuous
exposure, and we adapt to it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">BIBLIOGRAPHY:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Feldman, Robert S.
(1986) Essentials of Understanding Psychology. New York City, NY, USA:
McGraw-Hill<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Education. (pp. 91-96)</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Myers, David G. (2009)
Psychology – 9th edition in modules. New York City, NY, USA: Worth Publishers.
(pp. 225-231)</span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> Glossary of
Psychological Terms – American Psychological Association.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> URL: </span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://www.apa.org/research/action/glossary.aspx"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">www.apa.org/research/action/glossary.aspx</span></a></span></div>
Dr.K.R.Santhosh, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03682057833342058900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-62464502360832454682015-03-24T11:17:00.001+05:302015-03-24T11:17:10.028+05:30PROBLEM SOLVING THERAPY<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Information gathered by Sonam &
Aparna<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">II Year M.Sc.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Department of Psychology,<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Jain University,
Bangalore</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Problem Solving
Therapy is a brief intervention used in family therapy where the client and the
therapist work together to identify and define the problems, solve these
identified problems by coming up with practical solutions and improve the
client’s general approach to problems. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It is also
called as <i>talk therapy</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Sessions in
Problem Solving Therapy usually last for four to eight sessions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It is associated
with creative thinking. Steps in creative thinking include:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Orientation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Preparation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Incubation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Illumination<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Verification<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The problem is
explained to every member of the family and the focus is on the client’s
general approach to the problem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Problem Solving
Therapy involves seven steps. They are:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">1) <b>Problem
orientation:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In this step, the
client’s attitude to solve the problem is evaluated. It must be noted that this
is different from the actual problem solving skills they possess. There is an
assessment of the client’s thoughts and feelings regarding the problem and also
their ability and awareness about their strengths to solve problems. These two
elements will determine how a client will respond in a stressful situation. All
the dimensions about the problem are identified. To check whether the thoughts
about problems are emotional or intellectual also becomes essential in this
step. It is believed that many problems are created because people think about
it emotionally rather than intellectually.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The kind of
orientation about the problem that the individual has is also assessed. There
are two kinds of orientation. They are:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Positive
orientation - A person with a positive problem orientation is rational and
effective in their problem solving style. They think about the positive aspects
of the problem. They are also capable of bringing about a positive and
effective problem solving style.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Negative
orientation - Persons with negative problem orientation are impulsive, careless
or avoidant in their problem solving style. They make immediate decisions
without being ready to think about possible solutions. They also may ignore or
deny the problem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">2)<b> Recognizing and identifying the problem</b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Problem solving
therapy aims to develop positive problem orientation in the client which can be
achieved by helping the client recognize and challenge the negative
orientation, and by motivating the client to believe in their ability to solve
problems through positive experiences. In this step, the client is taught to
recognize a problem so that the client’s can begin to solve the identified
problem. This can be done by:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Making the client report the current
problem and making a problem list</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Learning how to track problem indicators
and helping them understand the interconnection between thoughts, emotions,
behavior and physical symptoms.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Educating the clients about some
procedures to solve problems. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Using a checklist</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This process of
recognizing and identifying will help in the production of a list of problem
areas which will serve as the foundation of the client and therapist working
together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">3) <b>Selecting
and defining a clear problem:</b> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The focus of
this step is to assist the client to select one clear problem that has to be
solved first from the list of problems that have been identified in the problem
list. Once the problem is selected, the client has to clearly define it so that
possible solutions can be found and worked on. A problem has to be chosen in
such a way that it also solves other related problems. The client is then asked
to define the problem from his/her own perspective. While defining the problem,
the client understands all the aspects related to the problem, for example, <i>what is the problem? When does it occur?
Where does it occur? How does it occur? Why is that problem a problem? Who is
involved? What have you done to solve the problem in the past? Do you have
control over the problem?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">4) <b>Generate solutions:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In this step, a
process of brainstorming happens to create as many solutions as possible for
the problem. The client is asked to generate solutions that are practically
relevant and has a chance of solving the problem. Every solution that the client comes up with
is written down and the potentiality of each solution is identified.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">5) <b>Decision making:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In the decision
making step, as a consequence of the brainstorming process, the client checks
the pros and cons of the relevant solutions which was generated and hence, a
decision is made as to which solution out of the listed can be implemented
effectively and accurately. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This stage can become
difficult for the clients, therefore, the therapist has to assist the client a
systematic way to sort the solutions by using decision making guidelines.
First, checking if there are solutions that can be discarded immediately
(initial selection). Then, similar solutions are grouped together to determine
the options available (grouping solutions) and finally, choosing very few (2 or
3) solutions which will have to be evaluated in depth (weighing the advantages
and disadvantages).<span style="background: white;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">6)
<b>Creating or implementing a SMART action
plan:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
achievable steps are identified. In this step, the client creates and then
implements the action plan. The action plan should be Specific, Measurable,
Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. Each family member including the children
can be approached to establish the procedures that they want to follow. The
client can also include a time-line. Targets reached have to be reviewed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">7)
<b>Reviewing the </b></span><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">progress of the process:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This step
basically reviews the client’s progress with the action plan. The therapist has
to check if the clients are underway with their plans, if the plan has the
desired impact on solving the problem, to check if any more needs to be done to
make the plan more workable and to check if any areas or skills of the client’s
needs to be repaired/fixed or improved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Advantages of Problem Solving
Therapy:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It
improves problem solving skills, communication, coping skills and reductions in
family conflict. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Problem solving therapy
is systematic and pragmatic.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Allows the client to
come up with different solutions by himself/herself. Focus is on the client.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Disadvantages of PST:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It is too scientific
and less humanistic. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">References:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">University of
Auckland, (2015) from http://www.problemsolvingtherapy.ac.nz/index.php?p=steps</span></div>
Dr.K.R.Santhosh, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03682057833342058900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-75125252327135485712015-03-16T05:12:00.001+05:302015-03-16T05:12:25.969+05:30COMPARISON BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL THERAPY AND MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: right;">
Information gathered and presented by:</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<b>Tumchobeni and Beni</b></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
Students of M.Sc.Psychology,</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
Jain University,</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
Bangalore</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">In
individual therapy, the person who seeks treatment will be an individual.
However in family therapy, there will be two or more individuals who seek
therapy. The goal of individual therapy is for the therapist to provide some
emotional healing for the client. The goal of couple therapy is for the
therapist to help the two partners provide emotional healing for <i>each
other</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">In
individual therapy, the therapist may focus on understanding one person’s view
and experiences. This is to help them to know what they want and to communicate
that assertively and clearly. In family therapy, the therapists will likely focus
on what both people want, how they can communicate that and do something about
it. In a family therapy, it may involve some negotiating and compromises. It
also mostly focuses on communication skills. As with individual clients, you
try to help them come to an understanding of what’s going on for them, how this
came to be a problem, and why it has continued. For couples, you do the same,
but you help them both see what’s been happening in their relationship, how it
came to be and how each of them has been a factor in it, and why it has
continued.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">In
individual therapy the therapists traditionally meet their clients once a week
for 50 minutes or so. This helps the therapist in providing some stability for
the client, and creates a place where the client regularly pauses in life to
reflect, evaluate their progress toward their goals, and make decisions. It may
be seen as a weekly review to assess the personal life goals as well as the
progress toward them. Family therapy is often much more flexible, the therapist
may see the client for more than an hour and may meet clients once a month or
after few months. This helps as a way to reduce relapse into problems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">When
it comes to the effectiveness of the therapy, there are many studies that show
the effectiveness of the many therapies available in individual therapy.
Sometimes studies may show one kind of therapy is better than another for a
specific problem. More often they show most therapies can help with most all
problems. As for family therapy, according to a study done by Liddle et al.
(2002) report that the transition from “distressed” to “non-distressed” after
treatment occurs for 35% (Jacobson et al., 1984) to 41% (Shaddish et al., 1993)
of couples. In other words, they get better, but generally only a third or so
are in the “normal and happy with their relationship” range. The issue for
studies of the effectiveness of therapy is that when married couples in treatment
are compared to married couples on a wait-list, the couples on the wait-list
decline into the “very distressed” range while they wait for therapy. Thus, the
treatment really has only to halt the decline in order to yield significant
results, and a statistically significant result may not mean much (Gollan and
Jacobson’s chapter in Liddle et al. 2002). However, Johnson & Greenberg
(1994), however, using the Emotion Focused Therapy they developed, found much
better results. Cloutier et al. (2002) found 62% of couples were improved (less
distressed) when they finished six to ten sessions of Emotion Focused Therapy.
However, 77% were improved two years later, meaning they were in the “normal
and happy with their relationship” range) at the end of six to ten sessions of
Emotion Focused Therapy, while 64% were recovered with two years of follow up.
Thus, with specific couples therapy treatments shown to work, about
three-fourths get better, and two-thirds are “healed” after only six to ten
sessions of work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">ADVANTAGES OF
FAMILY AND MARITAL THERAPY</span></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The
main advantage of Family and Marital therapy is that it involves the entire
family during the therapy sessions. It </span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">tries to make each other understand and help
one another handle his or her problems. It </span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">gives each member an opportunity to share
information and be part of the solution. This helps in leading to a greater
sense of commitment among the members of the family. In the therapy couple/
partners participation allows the therapist to get more information which can
greatly improve the effectiveness of treatment, also help the therapist observe
and plan approach to look into the various problems. Family and Marital therapy
is </span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">also beneficial in
terms of dealing with parent child conflicts. It is difficult for parenthood
sometimes especially when there is no common ground between the child and the
parent, in such situation the therapist becomes a neutral person and offers
common ground and help foster peace. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Family and Marital therapy helps individuals and their household handle
many issues other than of psychologically based alone. It can be used to
understand how each household functions, to identify strengths and weaknesses
that exist in each household system and help set goals and develop approaches
to tackle challenges. It is beneficial in the improvement of communication
skills and strengthening the entire community. Family therapy plays a big role
in helping those with struggling with substance abuse, eating disorders and
depression, severe mental illness, couple problems and parenting concerns. All
in all the advantages is that it </span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">teaches
family members about how families function in general and, in particular, their
own functions. It helps the family focus less on the member who has been
identified as ill but focus more on the family as a whole and helps in
identifying conflicts and anxieties and develop strategies to resolve them.
This therapy works in strengthening all family members so they can work on
their problems together and teach ways to handle conflicts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">INCORPARATING INDIVIDAUL THERAPY TO FAMILY AND
MARITAL THERAPY</span></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Just like in Individual therapy which focuses on one
person, at times in Marital and Family therapy it may require incorporating
this individual technique in dealing one members of the family to facilitate
change, confront barriers that interfere among the members of the family and
increase positive attitude to look into the problem and solve it.</span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Individuals are equally
important in a family so it is necessary to look into their area of concern and
conflict and involve them for effective result in the therapy.</span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Individual therapy allows people to speak without worry
of being judged by a partner. This technique can be used in the Family and
Marital therapy as well so as to allow
the individual express freely and also in this way help the therapist get
information and allow him/her arrange the approach to tackle the challenge/
problems. In Individual therapy, therapist assigns the individuals certain
works or exercise to complete by the therapist in the process of counselling as
part of therapeutic process. Likewise, in Family and Marital therapy, each member
can be assigned tasks, for example, maintaining separate dairies or notes for
couples, use of reinforcement for enhancing positive behaviour for children etc</span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">. </span><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Similar to Individual
therapy, in Family and Marital therapy psychological assessment can be used as
well; for example screening test, Self Report Questionnaires and Family Heath
Questionnaires.</span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><b style="line-height: 150%;"><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">References:</span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Niolon R (November 21, 2010) what’s the
difference between couples and individual therapy. Retrieved from
http://www.psychpage.com/family/library/couple_therapy_genera.html <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span lang="EN-IN" style="background: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Family Therapy (2014). Retrieved on 8.02.14 from
http://www.webmd.com/balance/family-therapy-6301</span></div>
Santhosh K Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045168814437402413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-52839145127974528402015-03-12T23:30:00.001+05:302015-03-12T23:30:31.947+05:30Defining Family Counselling from a systems framework<div style="text-align: right;">
<b>-Neha and Ramaa</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Family is an interconnection of people who rely on each other for emotional, mental, monetary, physical wellbeing and various such purposes. Some families are very strong and seem perfect in terms of mutual understanding or support whereas there are other families who are a little bit weak at their base and need some guidance from somewhere. But as it is mostly seen that people are not very open and do not find it important to take help form outside as it is very commonly thought to keep it within the boundaries of the family. But that scenario is changing and there a major emphasis on family counselling rises.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In a general context, family counselling can be defined as a type of therapy used to resolve the problems within the family and help them get along well with the other members. It does not restrict to only issues concerning fights between the members, but also how to deal with issues such as taking care of someone with any kind of mental health issue also. The purpose of such services is to maintain or improve the functioning of the family. Counselors may work with the entire family or can even work with just one parent or child depending upon the situation. Sometimes it can also include the extended family.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Murray Bowen in one of the pioneers of Family Therapy. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Bowen’s System Theory</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The family systems theory is a theory introduced by Dr. Murray Bowen that suggests that individuals cannot be understood in isolation from one another, but rather as a part of their family, as the family is an emotional unit and all are interconnected and interdependent.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
According to Bowen, a family is a system in which each member had a role to play and rules to respect. System is an assembly of objects related to each other, i.e. it is a group interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements forming a complex whole. The system looks at both i.e the individual as a separate being and a family as a whole to uderstadn the case.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Each member of the system is expected to respond to each other in a certain way according to their role, which is determined by relationship agreements. They all exhibit a coherent behavior which will bring out a trait of the system. This inter connection between the elements will create the structure of the family.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
There is a boundary of the system which helps to develop a pattern of interaction between the members of the family. Patterns develop as certain family member's behavior is caused by and causes other family member's behaviors in predictable ways. Maintaining the same pattern of behaviors within a system may lead to balance in the family system, but also to dysfunction. For example, if one member of the family is experiencing stress then the others in the family needs to take responsibility and make things work. Changes in the role can help but over doing them may cause dysfunction again.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
There are eight interlocking concepts in Dr. Bowen's theory:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
1)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Triangles: The smallest stable relationship system. Triangles usually have one side in conflict and two sides in harmony, contributing to the development of clinical problems.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
2)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Differentiation of self: The variance in individuals in their susceptibility to depend on others for acceptance and approval.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
3)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Nuclear family emotional system: The four relationship patterns that define where problems may develop in a family:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<ul><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuLtxfs3XFo9SEM0jy4sB2TzpkhK0L_NAHsCY-ieQ8Z8YnR0KCBz1qxTVKGd2KESAv1du6d03x3AxfY_hCZD7m_F7uCZrSB-t_89RvQ8bDAJfif1NcjKxeUbKLeDvDnXbYW8JsyufDd1I/s1600/Neha+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuLtxfs3XFo9SEM0jy4sB2TzpkhK0L_NAHsCY-ieQ8Z8YnR0KCBz1qxTVKGd2KESAv1du6d03x3AxfY_hCZD7m_F7uCZrSB-t_89RvQ8bDAJfif1NcjKxeUbKLeDvDnXbYW8JsyufDd1I/s1600/Neha+1.jpg" height="320" width="309" /></a>
<li>Marital Conflict</li>
<li>Dysfunction in one spouse</li>
<li>Impairment of one or more children</li>
<li>Emotional Distance</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
4)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Family projection process: The transmission of emotional problems from a parent to a child.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
5)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Multigenerational transmission process: The transmission of small differences in the levels of differentiation between parents and their children. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
6)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Emotional cutoff: The act of reducing or cutting off emotional contact with family as a way managing unresolved emotional issues.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
7)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Sibling position: The impact of sibling position on development and behavior.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
8)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Societal emotional process: The emotional system governs behavior on a societal level, promoting both progressive and regressive periods in a society.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
According to Bowen, family is a system of interconnections where one person influences another and thus leads to dependence among the family members. His model is very straight forward which states that families are bounded by interconnections. But then I would also like to add a few essential points and make my own model which would support his idea that people in the families are influenced by one another but then they are also bound by mutual respect, love, trust, understanding and friendship which will help families share a very healthy relationship with one another. The inclusion of smaller elements helps us define the system better.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Ice9uaWcRGULIpvuVgjOr6sPwlRLi_fzAHClyXSCv6hC1gDkPSxZ-DlyyfgfDHXyDcMAovTMB6IRwrsXEetKC76gaoGn9dreG-yMVgqqdXjHuTRmeveilv6JrpX94_-uYOhPwk_KLWk/s1600/Neha+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Ice9uaWcRGULIpvuVgjOr6sPwlRLi_fzAHClyXSCv6hC1gDkPSxZ-DlyyfgfDHXyDcMAovTMB6IRwrsXEetKC76gaoGn9dreG-yMVgqqdXjHuTRmeveilv6JrpX94_-uYOhPwk_KLWk/s1600/Neha+2.jpg" height="233" width="320" /></a>Family counselling, according to us based on systems framework is the understanding of the family in terms of its structure and behavior. It is a type of therapy wherein a therapist is understanding the functioning of a family by not only understanding the situation but also by taking into consideration the smaller aspects which affects and individual and thus in return affects the family as a whole. For example, if a child in a family is not happy with the behavior of the parents then the child can start to become emotional numb towards them just to protect himself/herself. We have tried explaining the model in a diagrammatic from where an emphasis is given both to the structure and the dynamics of the family system. If one member of the family is showing any kind of dysfunction then the others should take responsibility otherwise the entire mechanism comes to a standstill. Apart from the structure and the functioning another important aspect of family counselling is the way the members of the family interact. If there is any malfunction in the interaction than higher are the chances for the system to break down. </div>
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<br /></div>
<br />Dr.K.R.Santhosh, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03682057833342058900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-90873811729690116712013-10-12T17:12:00.002+05:302013-10-19T18:33:42.663+05:30A SHORT HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Psychology</b> has a long past, but a
short history. Concern with
“psychological issues” extends back into antiquity. Some of the areas which contributed to the
development of Psychology as a separate discipline are <b>philosophy</b>, the <b>natural
sciences</b> and <b>medicine</b>. The history of
modern psychology began only about 130 years ago. Thus, in the history of scientific endeavor,
Psychology is a relatively new discipline.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For
a long period, philosophers worked a lot to understand thinking and
behaviour. Many of the basic areas of
psychology, such as learning, motivation, personality, perception and
physiological influences on behaviour were first discussed by philosophers. Many departments of Psychology originated in
departments of philosophy, which later got an independent status.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As
an independent science, Psychology’s history began in 1879 at Leipzig, Germany,
when the “father of Experimental Psychology“, Wilhelm Wundt established the
first Psychological Laboratory there.
His inquiries circled around the formation of sensations, images and
feelings. Aiming this, Wundt carefully
measured stimuli of various kinds (lights, sounds and weights). He used <b>introspection</b> (looking inward) to
probe his reactions to them. He called
his approach as <b>experimental self observation</b>, which combined trained
introspection with objective measurement.
He used this method to study vision, hearing, taste, touch, reaction
time, memory, feelings, time perception etc.
Edward B. Titchener took the ideas of Wundt to America, where it came to
be called as <b>structuralism</b>, as it concentrates on the structure of mental
life. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">It soon became
clear that introspection was a poor way to answer many questions.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The biggest problem was that structuralists
were studying the contents of their own minds.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Outputs of the enquiry will be subjective to the person who experiences
it.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">However, introspection still has a role
in Psychology.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The study of hypnosis,
meditation, drug effects, problem solving and many other topics would be
incomplete if people did not describe their private experiences.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">William James,
an American Psychologist, broadened psychology to include animal behaviour,
religious experience, abnormal behaviour and a number of other interesting
topics.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">His book “Principles of
Psychology” made it a serious discipline.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">According to James, consciousness was an ever-changing stream or flow of
images and sensations.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">It is not a set
of lifeless building blocks as structuralists claimed.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Mind in an individual functions to adapt to
the environment where s/he lives.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">His
school of thought was called <b>functionalism</b>.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Functionalists were strongly influenced by Darwinian principle of natural
selection.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">They tried to find out how
thought, perception, habits and emotions aid human adaptation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Functionalists
also aided the growth of Educational Psychology and Industrial Psychology.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">According to functionalists, learning makes
us more adaptable, and they urged psychologists to help improve education.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">After functionalists, Psychology is applied
to improve industrial aspects, such as personnel selection, human relations and
machine design.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">When
John.B.Watson started to talk about the importance of scientific approaches in
Psychology, structuralism and functionalism were challenged.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">He found animal behaviour can be studied
without asking questions, but simply by observing the relationship between
stimuli (events in the environment) and an animal’s responses (any muscular
action, glandular activity, or other identifiable behaviour).</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Conditioned response concept developed by the
Russian Physiologist Ivan Pavlov empirically supported his ideas.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Following Watson, B.F.Skinner commented that
human behaviour was a response and it could be understood by taking into
account what the environment did to the organism before and after the
response.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The school of thought was named as
<b>behaviourism</b>.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><b>Gestalt</b> school
of thought emphasized the idea that “the whole is greater than the sum of its
parts”.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Gestalt Psychology tried to
study experiences as a whole.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The view
point was first advanced by the German Psychologist Max Wertheimer.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The school was developed in Germany, with
particular interest in perceptual problems and how they could be
interpreted.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Gestalists believed that
behaviour was a creative process of synthesis that was more than or different
from the sum of its constituent parts.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">For
instance, movie, a series of still pictures, is watched by us as a continuous
moving image.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Sigmund Freud,
the proponent of Psychoanalytic school of thought, believed that mental life is
like an iceberg.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Human behaviour is
influenced by vast areas of unconscious thoughts, impulses, and desires which
cannot be known directly (as majority of the area of an iceberg is under the
ocean, and a tip can only be seen).</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Freud theorized that many unconscious thoughts are of a threatening,
sexual or aggressive nature.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Hence they
are repressed (actively held out of awareness).</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">However, they may be revealed by dreams, emotions or slips of the
tongue.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">According to Freud, all
thoughts, emotions and actions are determined and nothing is accidental.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Childhood has importance in a person’s later
personality development.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Freud
introduced a psychotherapeutic method called <b>Psychoanalysis</b>, which is used to
explore the unconscious roots of emotional problems.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><b>Humanistic</b>
school of thought is considered as the third force in Psychology, as it
influenced the discipline’s development after behaviourism and
psychoanalysis.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Carl Rogers and Abraham
Maslow are the two proponents of the school.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Humanists, as Freud, believed that past experiences affect personality,
but stood against the view that unconscious forces had a role in it.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">They stressed free will, the human ability to
freely make choices.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Humanists stressed
that the psychological needs (of love, self esteem, belonging, self-expression,
creativity and spirituality) are as important as our physiological needs for
food and water.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">A unique concept of
humanistic approach is Maslow’s description of self actualization.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Self actualization is the need to develop
one’s potential fully, to lead a rich and meaningful life, and to become the
best person one can become.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Each human
being has this potential.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><b>Positive
psychology</b>, the most recent school, is the scientific study of optimal human
functioning, the goals of which are to better understand and apply those
factors that help individuals and communities to thrive and flourish. It gives importance to the strengths, virtues
and well being of the individuals. As a school of thought it came to existence
when Martin Seligman, in his 1998 presidential address to members of the
American Psychological Association, put a call out to applied psychologists to
return to their roots and focus on not only curing mental illness, but also on
making the lives of people more productive and fulfilling, and identifying and
nurturing talent. According to positive
psychology, humans are self-righting organisms who are constantly working to
adapt to their environments. Strengths develop as a result of internal and
external forces and as part of the human driving force to meet basic
psychological needs. All people have
the capacity for strength development and for growth and change. Strength
development is a lifelong process that is influenced by the interaction of
individual’s heredity and the cultural, social, economic, and political
environments in which they find themselves. All people have a reservoir of
strengths, some of which have been tapped and others have been left unexplored
and unrecognized. These strengths can be learned or taught.</span></div>
<h1>
References<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><w:sdtpr></w:sdtpr></span></h1>
<div class="MsoBibliography">
<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>BIBLIOGRAPHY <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->Coon, D. (1992). <i>Introduction to Psychology:
Exploration and Application.</i> New York: West Publishing Company.<o:p></o:p><w:sdtpr></w:sdtpr></div>
<w:sdt docparttype="Bibliographies" docpartunique="t" id="5040580" sdtdocpart="t">
<w:sdt bibliography="t" id="111145805">
<!--[if supportFields]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:
EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA'><span style='mso-element:field-end'></span></span><![endif]--></w:sdt></w:sdt><br />
<div class="MsoBibliography" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">Magyar-Moe, J. L. (2009). <i>Therapist's Guide to the Positive
Psychological Interventions.</i> New York: Elsevier.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Santhosh K Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045168814437402413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-45752390206675215272012-09-10T12:11:00.003+05:302012-09-10T12:11:59.017+05:30Insight Vs Action Therapies in Psychology<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Psychotherapy is a social interaction in which a trained professional tries to help another person, the client or patient, behave and feel differently. The therapist follows procedures that are to a greater or lesser extent prescribed by a certain theory or school of thought. It is important to note that the people who seek or are sent for professional help have probably tried non professional avenues to feeling better and have failed to obtain relief. Before most individual go to a psychotherapist, they have confided in friends or in a spouse, perhaps spoken to the family doctor, consulted with a member of clergy and may be tried several of the vast number of self-help books and programmes that are so popular. For most people in psychological distress, one or more of these options provide enough relief, and they seek no further help. But for others these attempts fall short, and individuals are left feeling helpless, often hopeless. These are the people who go to mental health clinics, university counselling centers and the private offices of independent practitioners.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Psychotherapies</b> can be <b>insight therapies</b> or <b>action</b> (behavioural) <b>therapies</b>. Insight therapies, such as psychoanalysis, Humanistc etc., assume that behaviour, emotions and thoughts become disordered because people do not adequately understand what motivates them, especially when their needs and drives conflict. Insight therapies try to help people discover the true reasons they behave, feel and think as they do. However, <i>insight</i> is not exclusive to the insight therapies. The action therapies too bring insight to the individual, but more importance is given to the overt behaviour and its modification. The newer cognitive therapies, such as CBT and REBT are a blend of insight and behavioural therapies. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
From Davison, G.C. & Neale, J.M. (2003). Abnormal Psychology. John Viley & Sons, Inc.</div>
</div>
Santhosh K Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045168814437402413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-72134927288916624852012-04-10T12:06:00.000+05:302012-04-10T12:06:13.595+05:30SOCIO-CULTURAL PROSPECTS OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Recent findings by Social
Psychologists denote that there is enough importance of satisfying social
relationships and support from others for our health and happiness. They also identified that well being and
happiness are the two entities that has to be kept optimal, and the normalcy of
these two differs socially as well as culturally. Further inquiries regarding this across
diverse cultures revealed that in order to acquire these, people, in general,
have a tendency budge through potential dark side of affluence and
materialism. Such materialistic people,
those who sacrifice fulfillment of important psychological needs in their
pursuit of fame and fortune, would also sacrifice their own happiness and life
satisfaction. The establishment and
advancements made by Humanistic Psychology theorists such as Maslow, Rogers
etc. resulted in the development of theories and practices involved in human
happiness. Based on these theories, and
out of the chemistry occurred during their formation, a new stance in Psychology
emerged. Martin Seligman, in 1998 called
this new area as Positive Psychology. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Historically, Psychology has had
an inclination to discuss more about the mysterious negatives of the cognitive,
conative and affective experiences of the mankind. The reason behind this may be the human
tendency to perceive negative aspects as more authentic and real. It may also be due to the love of mysteries
and a predisposition to be more external in locus that held up “bad is greater
than the good” feeling. However, the call
made by Martin Seligman about the new perspective of Positive Psychology resulted
in a paradigm shift; that is to offset this negative image of human nature with
a more balanced view. It does not deny the negative, nor does it suggest that
all of Psychology focuses on the negative. Rather, it gives a chance to enquire
empirically the ordinary human strengths and virtues. Moreover, it studies the optimal human
functioning and aims to discover and promote the factors that allow individuals
and communities to thrive. It addresses positive aspects of experience to
improve the quality of individual and community life.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Positive Psychology is the
scientific study of personal qualities life choices, life circumstances and
socio-cultural conditions that promote a life well lived, defined by criteria
of happiness, physical and mental health, meaningfulness and virtue. The origin of the term “positive” shall be
traced back to Maslow’s Motivation and Personality. As aforesaid, it is not a new major, but the
same old one, with a realistic and balanced view of human nature that includes
human strengths and virtues without denying human weakness and capacity for
evil. Positive psychology covers topics
such as well-being, happiness, positive emotions, psychological health,
personal strengths, positive experiences and states (mindfulness, flow, creativity),
positive environments and the positive characteristics of individuals, groups,
institutions and communities.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
A major goal of Positive Psychology is to restore balance within the
discipline of Psychology. Seligman and
his colleagues have proposed that happiness as a central focus of Positive
Psychology. In his book, Authentic
Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for
Lasting Fulfillment, Seligman outlines three ways to increase happiness: get
more pleasure out of life, become more engaged in what one do and find ways of
making life feel more meaningful.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Pleasure enhancement shall be
done, in his opinion, through Savouring (awareness of pleasure and of giving
deliberate conscious attention to the experience of pleasure; e.g. Sharing with
others, Memory building, Self‐congratulation, Sharpening perception,
Absorption), Mindfulness (can be developed through meditation and mindfulness
based therapies. Through mindfulness we can focus our perspective and sharpen our
experience of the present moment), and avoidance of forming habits (Rapidly
repeated indulgence in the same pleasure does not work. Neurons are wired to
respond to novel events, and not to fire if the events do not provide new
information). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Engagement results from nurturing
relationships (strong personal relationships among the friends and family have
the greatest impact on satisfaction with life), identification and usage of
personal strengths (cultivating and using strengths at work, in familial, social
and cultural life and in leisure time) and seeking out ‘flow’ experiences (flow
or a state of joy, creativity and total involvement would make the problems
disappear leaving with feeling of transcendence).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The third method of finding
meaning is achieved by keeping a gratitude diary (to write down each day three
things that went well and why), thanking a mentor (writing a letter of thanks
to someone, such as a teacher or grandparent), learning to forgive (letting go
of anger and resentment by writing a letter of forgiveness to a person who had
done a wrong), weighing up one’s life (taking time to think about the major
facets of one’s life such as family, work, finances, health and play),
performing small acts of kindness (creates a measurable boost to happiness
levels and enhances the connection), and finding a connection to a larger
purpose (using personal strengths in a voluntary capacity. Religion, philosophy or spirituality are a
source of meaning for many people)</div>
</div>Santhosh K Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045168814437402413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-47286029309709647162011-11-21T15:22:00.001+05:302011-11-21T15:44:55.117+05:30PRE-NATAL DEVELOPMENT<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Two kinds of sex cells or gametes are involved in human reproduction: the male gamete or the Sperm cell and the female gamete or the Ovum. When semen is deposited in the vagina the spermatozoa travels through the cervix and body of uterus, into the fallopian tube. Fertilization of ovum usually takes place in the fallopian tube. The first sperm that penetrates fully into the egg, donates its genetic material (DNA). The egg then polarizes and therefore repels any additional sperm. The resulting combination is called zygote.<br />
<b>THE INITIAL STAGES OF HUMAN EMBRYO-GENESIS</b><br />
The embryonic period in human beings at fertilization (penetration of the egg by the sperm) and continues until the end of 10th week of gestation (8th week by embryonic age). The embryo spends next few days traveling down the fallopian tube. It starts out as a single cell zygote and then divide several times to form a ball of cell called a <i>Morula</i>. Further cellular division is accompanied by the formation of small cavity between the cells. This stage is called a <i>Blastocyst</i>. Up to this point there is no growth in the overall size of the embryo, as it is confined within a cyclo-protein shell, known as <i>Zona pellucida</i>.<br />
The Blastocyst reaches the uterus at roughly the fifth day after fertilization. It is here that lysis of pellucida occurs. This allows the trophectoderm cells of Blastocyst to come into contact with, and here to, the endometrial cells of uterus. The trophectoderm will eventually give rise to extra-embryonic structures, such as placenta. Placenta and membranes are collectively referred to as conceptus or “product of conception”.<br />
<b>PRE-NATAL DEVELOPMENT</b><br />
Prenatal development takes place during three periods: Germinal, Embryonic and Fetal periods.<br />
<b>Germinal Period </b><br />
It is a period between conception and implantation (attachment to uterine wall – about 14 days). The period occurs in the initial period of human embryogenesis<br />
<b>Embryonic Period</b><br />
The period extends from 2 weeks to 8 weeks after conception. Fourteen days after conception, the Blastocyst implants itself in the uterine wall. The embryonic period begins at the end of 2nd week. The embryo develops from a round layer of cells across the centre of Blastocyst. At 18 days embryo is about 0.0625 (1/16)thof an inch long. During its early weeks, human embryo closely resembles those of other vertebrate animals. The embryo has a tail and traces of gills, both of which will soon disappear. The head develops before the rest of the body. Eyes, nose and ears are not yet visible at one month, but a backbone and vertebral canal have formed. Small buds that will develop into arms and legs appear. The heart form and start beating: other body systems begin to take shape.<br />
<b>The Fetal Period</b><br />
The period extends from 8 weeks through remainder of pregnancy. By the end of the embryonic period (2 months), the fetus has developed the first bone structure and distinct limbs and digits that take in human form. Major blood vessels form and internal organs continue to develop. By the end of the first trimester (1/3rd length of pregnancy or 12.7 weeks).The fetus is about 3 inches long: most major organs are present, a large head and face are well developed, and heart beat can be detected with a stethoscope.<br />
By the end of 4th or 5th period (month) can usually feel that movement. The skin of fetus is covered with fine hair, usually shed before birth. At the end of 5th month, fetus weighs about 1 pound and is about 12 inches long. It sleeps, wakes, sucks and moves its position. At the end of 6th month eyes, eyelids and eyelashes form. The fetus eyes are light sensitive and he/she can hear uterine sounds and respond to vibrations and acoustical stimulation.The head and body of the fetus become more proportionate during 3rd trimester .Fat layers form under the skin. By the end of 8th month, the fetus weighs about 5 pounds and is about 18 inches long.<br />
By the end of the 9th month, the nails have grown to the end of fingers and toes. The skin becomes smoother and is covered with a protective waxy substance called <i>Vernix Caseosa</i>.The baby is ready for delivery.</div>
</div>Santhosh K Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045168814437402413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-9929209024729554182011-04-06T14:07:00.002+05:302011-04-06T14:18:13.150+05:30SEXISM<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sexism is a term coined in the mid-20th century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the belief or attitude that one sex is inherently superior to, more competent than, or more valuable than the other. Sexism primarily involves hatred of, or prejudice towards, either sex as a whole, or the application of stereotypes of masculinity in relation to men, or of femininity in relation to women.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">BENEVOLENT SEXISM<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Benevolent sexism is a term which denotes “positive” ideas and attitudes of men towards women, which are based on the assumption that men must take care of and sacrifice themselves for women (Thaindian News, 2011).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a chivalrous attitude toward women that feels favorable but is actually sexist because it casts women as weak creatures in need of men's protection (Yahoo! Answers).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like hostile sexism, it is an ideology that supports gender inequality, and in some ways benevolent sexism can be even more insidious.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Benevolent sexism may seem harmless, noble, or even "romantic," but studies suggest that benevolent sexist attitudes of men towards women in our society have negative impacts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such affection or protection cannot be called as innocent since women are here assumed to be inferior to men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Benevolent justifications for discrimination (e.g., "Women should forego a career because they excel at childcare") are more likely to be accepted than hostile justifications (e.g., "Women should forego a career because they lack ability"). However, women who are more likely than men to reject hostile sexism, they often endorse benevolent sexism -- especially in countries high in hostile sexism, where male protection is most appealing. Ironically, it may be that high levels of hostile sexism among men lead to high levels of benevolent sexism among women</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></span></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">HOSTILE SEXISM<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hostile sexism, as opposed to benevolent sexism, is a negative emotion directed specifically towards women, such as anger, resentment, etc. Hostile sexism has three sources: dominant paternalism, or a need to control women; competitive gender differentiation, which is an emphasis on the differences between women and men and a devaluation of women; and hostile heterosexuality is viewing sex a resource and women as controlling sex for their own purposes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hostile sexism is the type that results in men believing that women are inferior. Women are far more likely to be opposed to hostile sexism than men are. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hostile Sexism is the traditional idea of sexism involving negative feelings towards women. Individuals high in hostile sexism are more likely to endorse items such as “Women are too easily offended” and “Once a women gets a man to commit to her, she usually tries to put him on a tight leash.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>High hostile sexists are likely to have less favorable attitudes towards women in a nontraditional role (career woman).<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">There is a correlation between hostile sexism and benevolent sexism in men, meaning that men who have hostile sexist attitudes, such as thinking a woman's place is in the kitchen, also tend to have benevolent sexist attitudes, such a believing women should be protected by men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to Glick et al (2000), male dominance creates hostile sexism, but men's dependence on women fosters benevolent sexism--subjectively positive attitudes that put women on a pedestal but reinforce their subordination. Research done by Glick et al (2000) in a sample of 15,000 men and women from 19 nations showed that (a) hostile sexism and benevolent sexism are coherent constructs that correlate positively across nations, but (b) hostile sexism predicts the ascription of negative and BS the ascription of positive traits to women, (c) relative to men, women are more likely to reject hostile sexism than benevolent sexism, especially when overall levels of sexism in a culture are high, and (d) national averages on benevolent sexism and hostile sexism predict gender inequality across nations. These results challenge prevailing notions of prejudice as an antipathy in that benevolent sexism (an affectionate, patronizing ideology) reflects inequality and is a cross-culturally pervasive complement to hostile sexism.</span></span></div></div>Santhosh K Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045168814437402413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-44157308486124573052010-11-23T08:23:00.000+05:302010-11-23T08:23:04.855+05:30Biological Rhythms<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Biological rhythms are the regular fluctuations in our bodily processes and in consciousness over time. Many of these fluctuations occur over a course of a single day and are therefore known as circadian rhythms (from the Latin words “around” and “day”).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">Most people are aware of their fluctuations in energy level, alertness and mood over the course of a day, and research findings indicate that such shifts are closely related to the changes in underlying bodily processes. In addition, the circadian rhythms seem to shift with age; as people grow older, their peeks often tend to occur earlier in the day. These cyclic changes in our bodily processes –are related to task performance. In general, people do their best work when body temperature and other internal processes are at or near their personal peaks.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">SUPRACHIASMTIC NUCLEUS </span></u></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">(SCN): </span></b><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">This structure located in the hypothalamus, also known as a biological clock, plays a major role in the circadian rhythms. It appears that individual cells in this structure tick-or in other words keep track of time. This biological clock responds to light. Morning resets our biological clock, synchronizing it with the external world. This is necessary or else our clock seems to operate in a 25 hour cycle; thus if it were not reset each day, our internal biological rhythms would get farther and farther out of synch with the world around us.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">PINEAL GLAND</span></u></i></b><span style="font-size: 13.0pt;">: For long term biological rhythms, such as mating season and hibernation another structure in the mid brain, the pineal gland, seems to play an important role. This gland which sits on he top of the mid brain, just in front of the cerebellum, secretes a hormone known as melatonin. It’s connected to SCN and secretes melatonin in response to input by SCN.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Melatonin influences several structures in brain, regulating the production of hormones, affecting many basic physiological processes. It is secreted mostly at night; so when nights are long, larger amounts are secreted. High levels of melatonin seem to trigger hibernation in many species. When days get longer, lower level of melatonin gets many species to enter into their summer phase or spring phase; they become more active and begin to seek a mate.</span>Santhosh K Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045168814437402413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-40008478123856454592010-10-31T10:39:00.003+05:302010-10-31T10:50:38.594+05:30Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">Abraham Maslow proposed a hierarchy of needs to account for the range of human motivation. The base level in the hierarchy of needs is the physiological needs, pertaining to thirst, hunger, sleep and other drives necessary to the maintenance of life. Their needs must be adequately satisfied before higher ones can be considered.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">If these requirements are reasonably satisfied, then the motivation for safety emerges, such as the needs for security, protection and freedom from danger.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">If the physiological and safety needs are satisfied, the individual move up to another position in hierarchy, in which the psychological or social motives begin. At this point we find the motivation for love and belongingness, which includes having friends, a family, sexual relationship and membership in a group.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">When the motivation for love and belongingness is achieved the individual is prompted to still another level, called self-esteem. It includes achievement, competence, approval, recognition, prestige status, etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">Maslow was extremely interested in the highest level of his hierarchy, which he called self actualization. It is the fulfillment of our unique potentials. According to Maslow and other humanistic psychologists, it is the self initiated stirring to become what one is capable of being; the motive for, reaching ones full potential, for expressing ones unique capabilities. Self actualization which comes under the category of <st1:place w:st="on">Meta</st1:place> needs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgabdYFxNMvl3i7hOwm1lZV-NBnqfkz6thRb1t0B-uGWFM2GwGFJtRHLP6is2ykKrksFw_K8FaHLm5PzYeVBP9WTpt3nfjV2pgwdfJxy2zS2cabkQmKgkVtnAr4UKpMnsiWejn1fm1lYSs/s1600/need+hierarch.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgabdYFxNMvl3i7hOwm1lZV-NBnqfkz6thRb1t0B-uGWFM2GwGFJtRHLP6is2ykKrksFw_K8FaHLm5PzYeVBP9WTpt3nfjV2pgwdfJxy2zS2cabkQmKgkVtnAr4UKpMnsiWejn1fm1lYSs/s320/need+hierarch.bmp" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><st1:place w:st="on"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">META</span></u></b></st1:place><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;"> NEEDS</span></u></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">In Abraham Maslows theory of personality, meta needs are the higher human needs which include justice, beauty, honor, order and self actualization. Metaneeds cannot be dealt with, according to the theory, until the pro-potent needs are fulfilled.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings;">Ø<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">Wholeness(unity)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings;">Ø<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">Perfection(harmony)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings;">Ø<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">Completion(ending)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings;">Ø<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">Justice(fairness)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings;">Ø<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">Uniqueness(individuality) <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings;">Ø<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">Autonomy(self sufficiency)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><br />
</div>Santhosh K Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045168814437402413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-6678027250002449422010-09-25T10:20:00.001+05:302010-09-25T10:21:36.782+05:30THE EXTRA SENSORY PERCEPTION –“THE SIXTH SENSE”<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>E</b>xtrasensory perception—ESP—is defined by parapsychologists as the acquisition by a human or animal mind of information that could not have received by normal, sensory means. Some researchers, however, take issue with the term "extrasensory perception." They protest that the phenomena may not be "perception" at all, as the receiver of this information does not know if the knowledge is right or wrong when he or she first perceives it. It takes a corroborating incident to convince anyone that he or she has perceived anything via extrasensory means. Some parapsychologists prefer to say "paranormal cognition," but this term is subject to the same sort of criticism if the receiver is not instantly certain of the validity of the information. Besides, the researchers insist that the material in their field will eventually merge with present-day physics, so the adjective "paranormal" may be considered a misnomer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Contrary to common usage, a parapsychologist is not a psychic, a mentalist, an astrologer, or one who gives psychic readings. A parapsychologist is generally a member of the Parapsychological Association, which was founded in 1957 and elected an affiliate of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1969. A parapsychologist is a scientist who is seriously interested in the paranormal (or anomalous phenomena), which includes telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, psychokinesis, hauntings, reincarnation, and out-of-body or near-death experiences.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTgtWNHgmwuCxypDwTgveSKzY8A35ivxY0F9fobHR-tKRECrMWnvXXkf91pj60GmyfFENDygvubWHV0skETf_9Uer7ZusXqjzR7UoIsnogiyC9UkmWkDWRRxZsehGafLbP48Q7_qjavUw/s1600/untitled.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTgtWNHgmwuCxypDwTgveSKzY8A35ivxY0F9fobHR-tKRECrMWnvXXkf91pj60GmyfFENDygvubWHV0skETf_9Uer7ZusXqjzR7UoIsnogiyC9UkmWkDWRRxZsehGafLbP48Q7_qjavUw/s1600/untitled.bmp" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #414141; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">*Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment in the film "The Sixth Sense"</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Here are brief definitions of the areas of ESP that are studied by parapsychologists:</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Clairvoyance</b> is the awareness, without physical aids or normal sensory means, of what is going on elsewhere. In recent years, clairvoyance has sometimes been called remote viewing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Out-of-body</b> <b>experience</b> (also called astral projection) is the apparent projection of the mind from the body, often with the seeming ability to travel great distances in a matter of seconds.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Precognition</b> (premonition) is the obtaining of information about the future that could not have been gained through normal means.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Psychokinesis</b> (telekinesis) is the ability of movement of objects, seemingly caused by some force unknown to physical science. The direct action of mind on matter is the parapsychologists' current nominee as the energy involved in poltergeist cases—those bizarre occurrences when bottles and crockery float through the air, fires break out on living room tables, or disembodied voices cackle threats and obscenities.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Telepathy</b> is the ability of transference of thought from one mind to another. Distance and time seem unable to affect this phenomenon.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Even from these brief definitions, it becomes apparent that many attributes of parapsychological, or psi, phenomena overlap. It has long been a contention of serious parapsychologists that each of these types of phenomena is but a single aspect of the life and the universe of which humans are a part. If such parascientific phenomena as the projection of the astral self, the ability to glimpse the future, and the facility to convey telepathic impressions are established, the boundaries of humankind's universe become limitless.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">_______________________</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">*</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #414141; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8px; line-height: 9px;">AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS</span></div>Santhosh K Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045168814437402413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-79010617717956776712010-08-11T14:03:00.002+05:302010-08-11T14:03:37.969+05:30COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE IN PSYCHOLOGYThe word cognition refers to perception of world around us, some aspects of learning, memory, and comprehension of our social environment. In other words, cognition refers to the processing of information that we receive through the senses. Such processing is the basis of the experience we have, which we call mind. Differences in the ways we process information may lead to differences in behaviour. According to cognitive perspective, humans can best be characterized as information processing organisms. In seeking to understand why people behave as they do, the processes that are most relevant to examine are how people take in information through their senses and how they process it to yield any behaviour. Learning and storage in memory of what is learned provide the basis of thinking. But how learning progresses may reflect innate human tendencies interacting with a given environment.Santhosh K Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045168814437402413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-60756243360172510672010-08-11T14:01:00.000+05:302010-08-11T14:01:02.433+05:30FIGURE GROUND PERCEPTION: PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATION<div style="text-align: justify;">Perception is the organizing process by which we interpret our sensory input. According to this principle, a figure is perceived in relationship to its background. The perception of the object or figure in terms of colour, size, shape, intensity and interpretation etc. depends upon the figure ground relationships. Figure ground organization is probably inborn, since it is the first perceptual ability to appear after cataract patients regain sight. Even 5-month old babies respond to figure-ground patterns. In normal figure-ground perception, only one figure is seen. In reversible figures, however, figure and ground can be switched. According to Gestalt psychologists, a number of factors influence the perception of a figure. Some of them are</div><br />
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1. Nearness: Stimuli that are near each other tend to be grouped together.<br />
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2. Similarity: Stimuli that are similar in size, shape, colour, or form tend to be grouped together.<br />
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3. Continuation: Perception tend toward simplicity and continuity.<br />
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4. Closure: the tendency to complete a figure, so that it has a consistent overall form. <br />
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Apart from these, learning and past experience greatly influence the perception of figure.Santhosh K Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045168814437402413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-62741328923356638332010-08-11T13:59:00.000+05:302010-08-11T13:59:25.136+05:30PSYCHOLOGY: INDIAN AND GREEK PHILOSOPHICAL BACKGROUND<div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One of the first stones laid for the foundation of scientific psychology when an ancient Greek physician Alcmaeon (BC 700), put forward the proposition that mental life is a function of brain. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The greatest scholar of ancient Greek, Aristotle, considered heart as an organ responsible for spiritual processes. Aristotle was the first to give the systematic exposition of psychological concepts on his discourse “on the soul”. Socrates compared his own vies with those of his predecessors, analyzing and evaluating them in detail. His discourses regarding this may be seen as the first psychological enquiries. He talked about the unity of the soul and body, which was entirely controversial to the view points of his master Plato. Plato was one of the preliminary proponents of dualism, which explained that soul and body are two separate entities.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The ancient Indian thoughts too supported heart as the principal organ of mental activity, the cardiocentric view. In India, the most influential documents were Vedas. It is generally agreed that Vedas reach their culmination in the ‘Upanishads’. ‘Vedantas’ take further the objective idealistic trend already present in ‘Upanishads’. All these are currently identified as the part of Hindu philosophy. Synopsizing these collections of philosophical doctrines, the self was not the mortal body, but a special intuitive consciousness in which the external and internal were not distinguished. This was given the name ‘Atman’, which is identical with Brahmin – the boundless cosmic consciousness, the base of the world. The individual soul or the soul of one human being is not ‘Atman’. Its divine nature is obscured by the constant stream of sensory perceptions and bodily urges. Only through the knowledge and strict moral discipline can the soul be become free and thereby be identified with the ‘Brahman’.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Apart from Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism got developed and flourished in ancient India. Jainism considered that soul was locked in the body, and therefore, unfree. Buddhism did not agree with the existence of a soul as a separate entity. According to Buddhism, mental-spiritual life is a stream, of never repeated moments, of different states, following one upon another.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Yoga, another school of thought, suggested the control of all the mental activity, which darkens knowledge, in order to attain true knowledge. Yoga elaborated a system of techniques which can be practiced regularly to make this a reality. It included eight fold way and begins with regulation of mental functions, attention and thought.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">There are some other schools too, such as, Sankhya, Purva Meemamsa, Nyaya, Vaisheshika etc. These schools also dealt soul as a subordinate aspect of their prime concern with metaphysics and ethics.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div>Santhosh K Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045168814437402413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-37664385542235112402010-08-11T13:57:00.000+05:302010-08-11T13:57:25.382+05:30SCHOOLS OF PSYCHOLOGY: STRUCTURALISMPsychology’s first major theoretical position or school came from the writings of Wilhelm Wundt, a professor of philosophy, who founded the first formal laboratory of Psychology at the University of Leipzig, in Germany, in 1879. Wundt’s laboratory was the site of formal research conducted by many students such as Tichener, Weber etc., who became some of the most renounced psychologists in the world. According to Wundt, the subject matter of psychology was immediate conscious experience. The mind is the sum total of various mental experiences (thoughts, feelings, sensation, attention etc.) and consciousness is the total sum of the mental experiences. Psychologists thus should seek to understand the structure of the mind. Therefore, the school came to be known as structuralism. The structuralists hoped to develop a sort of “mental chemistry” by analyzing experience into basic “elements” or “building blocks”.<br />
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To study the elements of the mind Wundt developed “introspection method” – a method in which trained individuals report in detail on their conscious experiences in response to specific stimuli (e.g., sounds, optical illusions, other visual stimuli) that are presented to them under controlled conditions. Wundt’s studies led him to conclude that there are three basic elements; which he called sensations (the direct products of external stimulation), images (sensation like experience produced by the mind), and feelings (the emotional component of an experience).Santhosh K Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045168814437402413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-26200705307494870022010-08-11T13:54:00.000+05:302010-08-11T13:54:50.049+05:30PHILOSOPHICAL ORIGINS OF PSYCHOLOGY<div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">How we behave and why we behave so are questions that have aroused curiosity from time immemorial. In the earliest period of the history of psychology, they were answered quite unscientifically, merely on the basis of superstitions and speculations as follows:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It was believed that a person’s behaviour was the result of his fate which was bound to be influenced by the movements of the planet. In case we know the position of planets at any particular moment, we could tell and predict the behaviour of the person by evaluating his horoscope. Besides the role of planets, demons, spirits, ghosts and other supernatural forces were also held responsible for varying human actions. In this way, the cause and forms of human behaviour were being located in something outside the human being.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Greek philosophers are credited to look inside the human beings for clues to behaviour. Socrates believed that inquiry into the nature of the cosmos is futile. As a result, he tried to adopt a question answer method of peeping into the nature of man. Plato drew a sharp distinction between mind and body, assigning the former by far the key role for generating behaviour. Aristotle’s concept of the soul proved a corner stone in Psychology for centuries. He viewed the ‘soul’ or the ‘psyche’ meaning ‘life’ and considered the mind as a living moving phenomenon that directs the activities of the body. However, he considered mind and body as united and thus brought Psychology into the realm of Biology.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Roman Stoics and Epicureans contributed to the development of Psychology in ways that paralleled the fate of natural sciences in Rome. Both these philosophies were limited in scope and were expressed mainly in Roman religious practices. They did not follow the Greek attempts to devise a comprehensive system of human knowledge. Rather, they formulated somewhat general attitudes towards life. However, the psychological implications of these views were limited.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the discussion regarding the philosophical origins, the thoughts formulated in India cannot be kept isolated. Much of the knowledge of ancient India comes from the Vedas, the Book of Knowledge. The Vedas are a collection of lessons, hymns, poetry and prose that were compiled from oral recitations. The Hindu philosophies have important implications regarding psychology. According to the Hindu philosophy, the individual is characteristically a part of a greater and more desirable unity. Individual growth is away from individuality and toward an emergence into the bliss of universal knowledge. This assertion of individuality is seen not as meaningful in itself, but rather as an activity to be minimized and avoided. Sensory and mental events are unreliable. Truth lies in transcending sensory and mental activities and voiding consciousness. In short, the integrity of the individual person is questionable, because the individual occupies an insignificant place relative to the entire, harmonious complexity that is the cosmos. The Hindu philosophy seems to have an extreme coincidence with the humanistic view and the centrality of the individual self, which has been expressed in the west recently.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Buddhist philosophy is another deeply influenced one, which became very popular in China, Japan and South-East Asia, but founded by the Indian Philosopher and Teacher, Siddhartha or Gouthama Buddha (563-483 BC). Buddha’s preaching sounds almost behaviouristic and materialistic. It guided the followers to strive, through ascetic self-discipline and careful training, to attain the happiness of annihilating individual consciousness. Again the importance is given to move beyond individuality, as it is in the Hindu philosophy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div>Santhosh K Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045168814437402413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-76437040201994209522010-08-09T00:33:00.000+05:302010-08-09T00:33:50.580+05:30Origins of Psychology<div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The term psychology was coined in the sixteenth century from the Greek word “psych” which means “mind” or “soul” and “logos” means “study”. The initial meaning of Psychology was thus, “the study of the soul”, and in the earlier period Psychology was the branch of Philosophy. By late 19th century, when Psychology emerged as a science, it had become the “science of mind”. Beginning in the second decade of the twentieth century, many psychologists abandoned the study of mind in favour of the study of behaviour. Consequently, by 1920, Psychology became “the scientific study of behaviour”. However, by 1960s, there was a revival of interest in studying the mind. Thus it became, “the science of behaviour and mental processes”.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>The philosophical Roots of Psychology:</strong> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">This can be traced back to more than 2000 years ago, when Buddha and Confucius focused on the powers and origin of ideas. In other parts of the world, Socrates, his student Plato and Plato’s student Aristotle pondered whether mind and body are connected or distinct. These ancient philosophers set the stage for the development of the science of Psychology through their reliance on observation as a mean of knowing about people.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is during seventeenth century, philosophers introduced the idea of dualism – the world is divided into two elements (here, mind and matter). The mind accounted for our thoughts and feelings, Matter referred to our physical being, our bodies. Mind and matter were believed to be completely independent of each other. Mind was believed to be the part of God’s domain. Therefore, it was only studied by theologians, while matter was studied by other scholars in universities. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In contrast there were other philosophers who suggested that mind can influence body and body can influence mind. This view is known as Interactionism.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Rene Descartes, a French philosopher suggested that there was a link between mind and body, and perceptions. He said that mind and body interact through the Pineal gland, which is found deep within the brain. His approach to understand human behaviour was based on the assumption that the mind and body influence each other to create a person’s experience.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Toward the end of seventeenth century, the British Philosopher John Locke contributed yet another important concept to the foundation for modern psychology. He said that infants come to this world with blank minds, with no experience (tabula rasa or blank tablet). Later, whatever experiences a person has in life are written into this blank tablet. Knowledge, thus, is the result of a building up of experiences.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>The Scientific Roots of Psychology:</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">By the nineteenth century, scientists were making progress in answering questions about the nature of Psychological processes that Philosophers are having difficult with. One such remarkable name was of Johannes Muller who described how electrical signals were conducted by nerves within the body. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Herman Von Helmholtz, a German Physiologist, showed how receptors in the eyes and ears receive and interpret sensations from the outside world. Gustav Fechner demonstrated that our perceptions of physical stimuli like the loudness of a sound or brightness of a light are related in lawful, predictable ways to the physical energies of these stimuli. He used the technique called Psychophysics to quantify the relationship between physical stimulation and mental experiences. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Psychology as we know it today was born in a laboratory in Germany in the late 1800s, when Wilhelm Wundt ran the first true experiments in psychology’s first lab. By 1879, he founded the first formal laboratory for research in psychology at the University of Leipzig. Because of this and many other contributions, Wundt is described as the founder of experimental psychology. Alexander Bain, another philosopher founded the influential journal Mind in 1876. G. Stanley Hall took psychology to America. He founded the first laboratory of psychology at Johns Hopkins in 1883. He started the American Psychology Association in 1892 and then became its first president. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div>Santhosh K Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045168814437402413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-1956395572885843992010-08-08T23:54:00.001+05:302010-08-08T23:55:39.165+05:30Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development<div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jean Piaget(august 9,1980), a professor of psychology at the university of Geneva from 1929 to 1954 was a swiss developmental psychologist who is most well known for organizing cognitive development in to a series of stages. Piaget's theories of psychological development have proved influential. Among others, the philosopher and social theorist Jurgen Habermas has incorporated them into his work, most notabily in the Theory of Communicative Action. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Piaget's theory of cognitive development is a stage theory – a type of theory suggesting that all human beings move through an orderly and predictable series of changes. According to Piaget, children are active thinkers who are constantly trying to construct more accurate or advanced understanding of the world around them. In other words, from this perspective, children construct their knowledge of the world by interacting with it. Children build such knowledge through two basic processes – assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation involves modifying one’s environment so that it fits into one’s already developed ways of thinking and acting. Accommodation involves modifying oneself so as to fit in with existing characteristics of the environment. In general, children will try for equilibration – the tendency of the developing individual to stay “in balance” intellectually, by filling in gaps in knowledge and by restructuring beliefs, when they fail to test out against reality.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The first stage of cognitive development lasts from birth until somewhere between eighteen and twenty-four months. During this period, termed the sensorimotor stage, infants gradually learn that there is a relationship between their actions and the external world. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sometime between the age of eighteen and twenty-four months, toddlers acquire the ability to form mental images of objects and events. At the same time, language develops to point at which they begin to think in terms of verbal symbols-word. Thinking is limited to immediate sensory experiences and motor behaviours. It is a trial-and error type of thinking. Infants know objects only in terms of their direct action upon the objects. Thus, a nipple is something to be sucked and so forth. The infant functions according to the principle “out of sight, out of mind”. This is because, infants are incapable of mentally constructing symbol or represent the object that is no longer visible.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Piaget's second stage – the preoperational stage – extends from two to seven years. During this stage, children become increasingly capable of symbol formation. E.g. 4 year old child uses cigar box to represent a cart etc. Other symbol systems used by children at this time include language, gesturing, mental imagery and representational drawing. Reasoning in this stage is neither inductive nor deductive, but transductive (from particular to the particular). Egocentrism, inability to take the point of view of another person, will be evident. Pre-operational children assume that others see the world just as they themselves see it. This is not selfishness, but an intellectual limitation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The third stage – concrete operational stage – extends from seven to twelve years. In this phase, children’s thinking is limited by their reliance on what can observe in tangible. They may understand the abstract concepts such as democracy. Decentration, or the child’s ability to shift his/her attention from one perceptual attribute to another, becomes generalized and applicable during this period. Reversibility, child’s ability to mentally retrace his or her actions or thoughts (think backward), is understood. Conservation, the ability to understand the physical properties remain same so long as noting has been added or taken away, skills develop. Children in this age will be able to appreciate jokes. Concrete operational thinker is able to define a class and list all members (classification ability) of the class. There will be a loss of egocentrism. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The final stage of cognitive development, during which individuals may acquire the capability for deductive or propositional reasoning is called Formal operations. During this period, major features of adult thought make their appearance. The adolescent become capable of several forms of logical thoughts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">All the theories in psychology are subjected to careful scientific testing, but grand theories such as piaget's require especially careful assessment, because they are so sweeping in nature. Piaget’s theory is highly insightful in many ways-but that, like virtually every theory, it should be revised in the light of new evidence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div>Santhosh K Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045168814437402413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-27485670891329206742010-08-03T11:11:00.000+05:302010-08-03T11:11:03.456+05:30What is psychology?Psychology is memory, stress, therapy, love, persuasion, hypnosis, perception, death, conformity, creativity, learning, personality, aging, intelligence, sexuality, emotion and many, many other topics (Coon, 1999).<br />
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Psychology<br />
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Psyche = Mind;<br />
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Logos = Knowledge or study.<br />
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<strong>A Working Definition</strong><br />
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Psychology is the science of human and animal behaviour (Coon, 1999; Morgan et al, 1986). It includes the application of science to human problems (Morgan et al, 1986).<br />
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The above definition indicates that Psychology is a science. A science is a body of systematic knowledge that is gathered by carefully observing and measuring events. It studies about human and animal behaviour. Behaviour is anything we do – eating, sleeping, talking, thinking, dreaming, gambling, taking drugs, watching TV, learning Spanish, basket weaving, reading, sneezing etc. Behaviour can be classified into covert and overt. Psychologists are interested in both visible behaviour and hidden mental events.<br />
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Much of the overt behaviour can be studied by direct observation. <br />
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E.g.: Running will help a person move faster than walking.<br />
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But to study about the internal events, other precise measuring tools have to be used. <br />
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E.g.: Depth of a person’s happiness or sadness cannot be measured by mere observation.<br />
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Measurement in Psychology is often more difficult than it is in sciences such as physics and chemistry because many of the things psychologists study cannot be measured directly by physical scales. However, not everything in Psychology is so difficult to measure. For example, it is easy to count the number of times a person behave in one way in one situation, and another way in another situation. <br />
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The definition also indicates that Psychology has an applied side. It can be used to solve “real-life” problems. Basically, even though the area of application varies, the importance goes to find working solutions to the problems and to apply it. <br />
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<strong>Empiricism</strong><br />
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Psychologists try to be objective in their observation. Therefore, they have a special respect for empirical evidence, information gained from direct observation and measurement. Whenever possible, psychologists settle disputes by collecting data (observed facts) that can be verified by two or more independent observers. The observations are systematic. It is also a young science. However, some of the observations are very difficult in Psychology. Due to ethical and practical concerns, many of the questions are still unanswered. <br />
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<strong>Goals of Psychology</strong><br />
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The goals of Psychology are to describe, understand, predict and control behaviour. Describing behaviour means to make a detailed record of behaviour. Understanding denotes to state the causes of behaviour. Prediction is the accurate of forecast of behaviour. Prediction is especially important in psychometrics, a specialty that focuses on mental measurement, such as personality and intelligence testing. Control means altering the conditions that influence behaviour in predictable ways.<br />
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The ultimate goal of Psychology is to accumulate information to help humanity (Kimble, 1989). <br />
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<strong>References:</strong><br />
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Coon, D (1999), Introduction to Psychology: Exploration and Application, 6th ed., West Publishing Company.<br />
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Morgan, C. T.; King, R. A.; Weisz, J.R. & Schopler, J (1993), Introduction to Psychology, Tata McGraw-Hill Edition.Santhosh K Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045168814437402413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-90296193741296272812010-05-19T07:53:00.000+05:302010-05-19T07:53:12.626+05:30Subliminal Perception<div style="text-align: justify;">Perception of a stimulus presented below the threshold for conscious recognition is called subliminal perception. Subliminal means below the normal limen or threshold or limit. An experiment done on the college students can be taken as an illustration for subliminal perception. A set of college students was shown a cartoon character flashed on a screen. The cartoon was paired with photographs of faces expressing joy or disgust. The faces were flashed at a speed that made them undetectable. Since the students have not previously seen the cartoon character, they were forming a first impression. Apparently, the students chose more negative terms to describe the cartoon character that had been paired with a disgusted face.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Many firms have tried subliminal method of advertisements. In one such attempt, the words “Eat popcorn and Drink Coca-cola” were flashed in theatre screens for 1/3000 second every 5 seconds during movies. In the period of 6 weeks the messages ran, the firm claimed an increase of 57.5 percent in popcorn sales and an 18.1 percent increase in Coca-cola sales. However well-controlled experiments have shown that subliminal stimuli are basically weak stimuli. More over, subliminal advertisements have proved largely ineffective. Even so, advertisers still use subliminal messages</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>Santhosh K Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045168814437402413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-87101770922191629832010-05-14T14:26:00.005+05:302010-05-14T14:43:07.173+05:30SIGNAL DETECTION THEORY in Psychology.<div align="justify">Signal Detection theorystates that the perception of sensory stimuli involves the interaction of physical, biological and psychological factors. The intensity of the signal, the degree to which the signal can be distinguished form background noise and the psychological factors like motivation, expectations and learning together will determine the perception.</div><div align="justify">The intensity of the stimuli is just one of the factors that determine whether people will perceive sensory stimuli or a difference between two signals. Another is the degree to which the signal can be distinguished from background noise. It is easier to hear a friend in a quiet room than in one where people are clinking silverware and glasses and engaging in competining conversations. The quality of a person's bilogical sensory system is still another factor. Here we are concenred with the sharpness or acuteness of the individual's sensory system. We consider whether sensory capacity is fully developed in diminished because of illness or advanced years.</div><div align="justify">Signal detection theory also considers psychological factors such as motivation, expectations and learning. One psychological factor in signal detection is focusing or narrowing of attention to signals the person deems important.</div><div align="justify">Signal detection theory emphasizes the psychological aspects of detecting and responding to signals. The relationship between a physical stimulus and sensory response is more than mechanical or mathematical. Training, learning, motivation and many other psychological states such as fatigue or alertness influences the detection of signals to a large extent.</div>Santhosh K Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045168814437402413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5726291384801220413.post-2912016822468441722010-05-13T15:09:00.003+05:302010-05-13T15:29:57.398+05:30Psychology as a SciencePsychology, like other sciences, seeks to describe, explain, predict and control the events it studies. Psychology thus seeks to describe, explain, predict, and control behaviour and mental processes.<br />Psychological theories are based on assumptions about behaviour and mental processes, contain statements about the principles and laws that may govern them and allow us to derive explanations and predictions. Many psychological theories combine statements about behaviour (such as eating or aggression), mental processes (such as attitudes and mental images), and anatomical structures or biological processes. For instance, many of our responses to drugs such as alcohol and marijuana can be measured as overt behaviour, and they are presumed to reflect the biochemical actions of these drugs and our (mental) expectations about their effects.<br />A satisfactory psychological theory allows us to predict behaviour and mental processes. For instance, a satisfactory theory of hunger will allow us to predict when people will or will not eat. A broadly satisfying comprehensive theory should have a wide range of applicability. A broad theory of hunger might apply to human beings and lower animals, to normal-weight and over-weight people, and to people who have been deprived of food for differing lengths of time. If our observations cannot be adequately explained by, or predicted from a given theory, we should consider revising or replacing that theory.<br />In psychology, many theories have been found to be incapable of explaining or predicting new observations. As a result, they have been discarded or revised. For example, the theory that hunger results from stomach contractions may be partially correct for normal-weight individuals, but it is inadequate as an explanation for feelings of hunger among the overweight. Contemporary theories focus also on biological variables and situational variables.<br />The notion of controlling behaviour and mental processes is controversial. Some people erroneously think that psychologists seek ways to make people do their bidding--like puppets on strings. This is not so. Psychologists are committed to a belief in the dignity of human beings, and human dignity demands that people be free to make their own decisions and choose their own behaviour. Psychologists are learning more all the time about the various influences on human behaviour, but they implement this knowledge only upon request and in order to help an individual or organization.Santhosh K Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12045168814437402413noreply@blogger.com0