Psychology Reflective Journal

Date: 18/09/2012 Tuesday
Aims: Highlights
Aspect caused
Most important things

What I have done
What I have learnt
How I found the lesson

Introduction to psychology
Perspectives of psychology

What we can learn
In the first unit, we’ll explore the goals of psychology, the major approaches that are used to understand behavior and answer questions, the historical roots of psychology, current research areas, and possible careers in the broad field of psychology.
We want to know, how is human behaviour “working”, how we can remember and on turn why we forget?
My position as a student studying social studies makes this an important issue for me. There is very close connection and co-operate to other subjects as sociology, politics and our work in care sector. I would say, that psychology is somewhere in the middle. As a care worker, study of psychology can help me better understand and empathize to client’s behaviour with different levels of dementia.
What do psychologists study?
First lesson has been presented idea of psychology; basic views and definitions. What does psychology mean? How can we explain the psychology as subject or science? First think is the study of people’s mind, knowledge of behaviour. According to British Psychological Society, usually definition is ‘the scientific study of behaviour’. Psychology is the systematic, scientific study of behaviours and mental processes.
There are some views in psychology. We can speak about several ‘perspectives’; points of view, stances for academically arguing and theoretical approach: * Biological – e.g. doctor, nurse * Cognitive – e.g. teacher, early years practitioner * Evolutionary – “where we come from”, our evolution from ‘caveman’ * Social psychology – e.g. social/care worker, what about we thinking * Humanist psychology – e.g. therapist, what about human wishing
Therefore we can speak about schools and theories: * Psychodynamic approach * Behaviourist approach * Cognitive * Humanistic * Social Psychology * Social Constructionist * Evolutionary approach
This is first view inside the psychology, how wide is field of psychology. We can find many applications of psychology in our life, e.g. clinical, counselling, educational, forensic, health, occupational and sports psychology.
Psychology can help to us understand many answers of basic questions about our behaviour, how people feeling and thinking, what can we remember and why.
This difference forced me to reflect on the aims of this course—how communication skills are not generic, but differ according to time and place.

Date: 24/09/2012 Tuesday
Aims: Nature vs. Nurture

Nature - nature view of humans and their behaviour,
- knowledge of instincts
- essentially biological

Nurture - we learn our behaviour from others - collective impact of all environmental factors that affect growth and behaviour
(Penguin Dictionary of Psychology)

Naturist research: * Freud - much of our behaviour is instinctual * Rain - brain abnormalities may contribute * Dement & Kleitman - sleep & dreams are biologically driven * Gould - intelligence was inherited * Sperry - how we process information

Nurturist Research: * Milgram (Ps were obedient to an authority figure). * Zimbardo (Ps had learned over their life what prison guards and prisoners behave like - what their social roles consist of. They were therefore in a position to fulfil that role when they were assigned to one of those groups). * Piliavin (the situation we are in and the presence, or absence, of others influences our pro-social/altruistic behaviour). * Tajfel (being the member of a group influences us to behave in a discriminatory way). * Rosenhan (only the situation determines whether we are viewed as insane or not) * Gardner & Gardner (we learn language and therefore so can a chimp, rather than there being a biological basis to language development). * How much influence nature or nurture plays? * In what contexts is nature or nurture important? * With what behaviours is this debate relevant? * Both nature and nurture are required in the process of human development. * To attempt to separate the influences of one or the other is to create a false dichotomy.

The balance of nature and nurture in influencing how a child grows up varies depending on where they live
New scientists’ study found how strong environmental factors are in determining each characteristic, compared with the influence of DNA, differs significantly across the country. (research on King’s College London)

A dichotomy is a splitting into two. Thus a false dichotomy is a process of creating an artificial splitting of something that should not be separated, e.g. nature and nurture.
The argument is that certain cultural differences may have originated in biological differences but that social factors have overridden this.
A common theme in Psychology, and indeed in many other disciplines, is the question of whether certain human characteristics are due primarily to nature (adaptations occurring through the evolutionary process) or nurture (the influence of learning). Ultimately it is foolish to attempt to separate the two factors because they are both linked together - we learn to adapt to the environment and therefore this is passed on through biological inheritance to future generations who are then endowed with certain characteristics. To attempt to separate the two is to create a false dichotomy. However Biologists, Geneticists, Psychologists, Sociologists and Philosophers still argue about the degree to which nature or nurture influences a phenomena and how they each play their own part.

A new series of "nature-nurture" maps produced by the team revealed that some areas are "environmental hotspots" for particular traits, but in other places the same attribute is mainly governed by genetics. For example, across most of the country 60 per cent of the variation in children 's behaviour at school - whether they were unruly or not - was down to their genes. But in London environment played a greater role - possibly because wealth varies so dramatically within communities, meaning twins growing up on the same street are more likely to fall in with different groups of friends who could influence their behaviour. Dr Oliver Davis, who led the Wellcome Trust-funded study, published in the Molecular Psychiatry journal, said: "There are any number of environments that vary geographically in the UK, from social environments like health care or education provision to physical environments like altitude, the weather or pollution. “The message that these maps really drive home is that your genes aren’t your destiny. There are plenty of things that can affect how your particular human genome expresses itself, and one of those things is where you grow up." * The debate about heredity and environment (or the nature - nurture debate) is concerned with some of the most fundamental questions that human beings ask about themselves. * In its broadest sense, the debate is both about the human species as a whole (compared with other species) and about individual differences between people. * Plomin believes that it is at the level of individual differences that the nature—nurture debate takes place. * Nativists (such as Descartes) believe that heredity determines certain abilities and capacities, whereas empiricists (such as Locke) believe that the mind, at birth, is a tabula rasa, which is gradually `filled in ' by learning and experience. * Examples of nativism in psychology include the Gestalt * psychologists, Gesell 's concept of maturation, and Chomsky 's LAD. * Behaviourism represents a very influential and extreme form of empiricist theory within psychology. * To ask, `is it nature or nurture? ' is to ask an oversimplified question about a very complex issue. `How much? ' is a more complex question, concerned with the relative importance of heredity and environment; it presupposes that both are involved, consistent with an interactionist position. * The `How much? ' question is linked to the `individual differences ' form of the debate, and it is still concerned with trying to quantify their relative contributions. This is the main focus of behavioural genetics, which uses methods such as twin studies, adoption studies, and other studies of family resemblance. * `How do they interact? ' is a third question, which is concerned with qualitative issues, i.e. the ways in which heredity and environment influence each other. * Within genetics, `nature ' refers to `inheritance ': differences in chromosomes and genes transmitted from parents to offspring. * While genetic variability is the raw material of evolution, evolution does not imply genetic variation within a species, and vice versa. * The basic units of hereditary transmission are genes, large molecules of DNA. They occur in pairs and are situated on the chromosomes. * Genes have two major functions: self-duplication and protein synthesis. The body 's non-reproductive cells duplicate through mitosis, while the reproductive/germ cells duplicate through meiosis. * Genes come in two forms, structural and regulator. Structural genes code for proteins and enzymes and form the basis of classical genetics. Regulator genes (the majority) communicate closely with the environment and change in response to it. * In a psychological context, `environment ' usually implies external, post-natal influences impinging on a passive individual. This is a very inaccurate view. * The environment of individual cells is the cluster of cells to which it belongs, and the cytoplasm of the cell is the environment for the cell nucleus. Everything that happens after fertilization is environmental. * Instead of seeing the environment as separate from the individual, people may be seen as making their own environments. This can happen by (i) eliciting a certain response from other people, due to behaviour or biological characteristics (gene—environment correlations); (ii) non-shared psychosocial experiences; (iii) attaching their own meaning to events or experiences; (iv) an interaction between the facilitativeness of the environment and the individual 's vulnerabilities (gene—environment interaction). * The thirty-year longitudinal study by Werner et al. of nearly seven hundred children in Hawaii supports the hypothesis of interaction between individual vulnerability and environmental facilitativeness very well. * A distinction is made between macro-and micro-environments; children cannot choose the former but can choose or create the latter, through niche picking and niche-building. * Even genetically very simple characteristics, such as the disease PKU, involve an interaction with the environment, such that the effects of the gene (the phenotype) can be prevented by environmental intervention: the link between the genotype and phenotype is not direct and straightforward. * Pharmacogenetics studies interactions between individuals and drugs, and cancer genetics studies the interactions between genes and environment as they affect the risks of developing cancers. * Biologists have recently made claims to have identified the genes for criminality, manic-depression, schizophrenia, alcoholism, high intelligence, and homosexuality. These are interpreted as ending the nature—nurture debate — in favour of nature. * These claims appeal to supporters of eugenics. * LeVay and Hamer cite a linkage study, showing the same marker in thirty-three out of forty pairs of gay brothers. They conclude that a region of the. X chromosome probably contains a gene that influences male sexual orientation, although the gene itself has not been identified. * But genes specify proteins, not behavioural / psychological phenomena. * This kind of research raises fundamental questions: why is the research seen as so important, what are its social and political implications, will society become more or less tolerant of homosexuality if it is found that `gays can 't help it '?

02/10/12 Tuesday
Sigmund FREUD
Most known psychoanalyst on the world is Sigmund Freud; former of modern Psychology science. He was born in small town in Moravia (Czechoslovakia), studied medical school and university in Vienna.
Biography
* Work * Psychoanalyst * self-analysing * …

1. Biography
1856 - 6 May: Sigmund Freud is born. His birthplace is Freiberg (nowadays Pribor) in Moravia (the Czech Republic). His father Jacob is 41 and has two children from a previous marriage. Sigmund 's mother is 21 and this is her first born.
1859 - The economic crisis ruins Jacob 's business. The family settles in Vienna, in Leopoldstadt, the Jewish neighborhood.
1865 - Sigmund is admitted to the Gymnasium (secondary school) a year ahead his time.
1873 - award on graduation from secondary school. He is already able to read in several languages. Start his studies at Vienna University.
1876 - His first personal research in Trieste, on sexual glands of anguilas. Joins Brucke 's laboratory.
1877 - Publishes the result of his anatomical research on the central nervous system of a specific larva.
1881 - A delayed award of a doctor 's degree in medicine.
1882 - He meets Martha Bernays (of family of Jewish intellectuals) and intends to get married with her.
1884 - Discovers the analgesic properties of cocaine. Freud himself uses cocaine as a tonic.
1885 - Hold a temporary position in a private clinic where hypnosis is used.
1896 - Freud’s father died, he started SELF-ANALYSIS (40y. old)

2. Work a. Topographical model of mind * Conscious * Preconscious * Unconscious
S. Freud ‘draw’ explanation model of human mind like as iceberg. Only small part of our mind is above the line, what can be see and accessible. Second part [predstavuje] our memory, what is storage for all information. b. Structural model of mind * Conscious * Preconscious * Unconscious c. Psychosexual stages * Oral * Anal * Phallic * Latency * Genital
‘Freud’s concept of sexuality is thoroughly elastic, and so vague that it can be made to include almost anything.’ (Carl Jung, 1960)

X. Bibliography (selected works)
(1891) On Aphasia 1891. London and New York, 1953.
(1893) On the Psychical Mechanism of Hysterical Phenomena. [with J. Breuer] SE 2, 3-17
(1894) The Neuro-Psychoses of Defence. SE 3, 43-61
(1895) A Project for a Scientific Psychology. SE 1, 283-397
(1895) Studies on Hysteria. [with J. Breuer]. SE 2
(1896) The Aetiology of Hysteria. SE 3, 189-221
(1898) Sexuality in the Aetiology of the Neuroses. SE 3, 261-285
(1899) Screen Memories. SE 3, 301-322
(1900) The Interpretation of Dreams. SE 4-5
(1901) On Dreams. SE 5, 633-685
(1904) The Psychopathology of Everyday Life. SE 6
(1905) Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious. SE 8
(1905) Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. SE 7, 125-245
(1907) Delusions and Dreams in Jensen 's Gradiva. SE 9, 3-95
(1908) The Sexual Enlightenment of Children. SE 9, 131-139
(1908) Character and Anal Erotism. SE 9, 169-175
(1908) On the Sexual Theories of Children. SE 9, 207-226
(1908) "Civilized" Sexual Morality and Modern Nervous Illness. SE 9, 179-204
(1908) Creative Writers and Day-Dreaming. SE 9, 143-153
(1909) Analysis of a Phobia in a Five-Year-Old Boy. SE 10, 3-149
(1909) Notes upon a Case of Obsessional Neurosis. SE 10, 153-249
(1910) - Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis. SE 11, 3-55
(1910) Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of his Childhood.SE 11, 59-137
(1910) The Antithetical Meaning of Primal Words.i SE 11, 155-161
(1910) A Special Type of Choice of Object made by Men. SE 11, 165-175
(1911) Psycho-Analytic Notes on an Autobiographical Account of a Case of Paranoia (Dementia Paranoides). SE 12, 3-82
(1912) On the Universal Tendency to Debasement in the Sphere of Love. SE 11, 179-190
(1913) Totem and Taboo. SE 13, 1-161
(1914) The Moses of Michelangelo. SE 13, 211-238
(1914) On the History of the Psycho-Analytic Movement. SE 14, 3-66
(1915) Thoughts for the Times on War and Death. SE 14, 275-300
(1915) Instincts and their Vicissitudes. SE 14, 111-140
(1915) Repression. SE 14, 143-158
(1915) The Unconscious. SE 14, 161-215
(1916-17) Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis. 1916-1917. SE 15-16
(1917) Mourning and Melancholia. SE 14, 239-258
(1919) The Uncanny. SE 17, 219-256
(1920) The Psychogenesis of a Case of Homosexuality in a Woman. SE 18, 147-172
(1920) Beyond the Pleasure Principle. SE 18, 7-64
(1921) Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego. SE 18, 67-143
(1923) The Ego and the Id. SE 19, 3-66
(1923) A Seventeenth-Century Demonological Neurosis. SE 19, 69-105
(1924) The Economic Problem of Masochism. SE 19, 157-170
(1925) A Note upon the "Mystic Writing-Pad". SE 19, 227-232
(1925) An Autobiographical Study. SE 20, 3-70
(1925) Negation. SE 19, 235-239
(1925) Some Psychical Consequences of the Anatomical Distinction between the Sexes. SE 19, 243-258
(1926) Inhibitions, Symptoms and Anxiety. SE 20, 77-174
(1926) The Question of Lay Analysis. SE 20, 179-258
(1927) The Future of an Illusion. SE 21, 3-56
(1928) Dostoevsky and Parricide. SE 21, 175-196
(1930) Civilization and its Discontents. SE 21, 59-145
(1931) Libidinal Types. SE 21, 217-220
(1931) Female Sexuality. SE 21, 223-243
(1933) New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis. SE 22, 3-182
(1933) Why War? SE 22, 197-215
(1936) A Disturbance of Memory on the Acropolis. SE 22, 239-248
(1937) Analysis Terminable and Interminable. SE 23, 211-253
(1937) Constructions in Analysis. SE 23, 257-269
(1938) An Outline of Psycho-Analysis. SE 23, 141-207
(1938) Some Elementary Lessons in Psycho-Analysis. SE 23, 281-286
(1939) Moses and Monotheism. SE 23, 3-137

Date: 09/10/2012
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY APPROACH
Aims: Cognitive research Visual illusions Perceptions

Cognitive approach is process, what to do in our brain, also called brainstorm. Father of cognitive psychology is Ulric Neisser. He pushed psychology in the ‘right’ direction. He take many theories together and call them INTERNAL PROCESSES.
Internal processes are ‘run’ in our brain, if we looking for it as ‘machine’ or ‘computer’. Processes run in memory, what is basic storage for information, place for learn, remembering and forgetting.
Pattern recognition / recognize danger, how survive, recognize basic things, recognize symbols
Cognito
* to apprehend, understand, knowlwdgw * focus on internal mental processes or cognitions of the mind

Assumptions * The mind determines behaviour * The mind is an information * Cognitive processes are examples of hypothetical constructs

* how info received from our senses is processes by the brain * how this directs, how we behave * scientific, cognoitive psychologist use laboratory experiments * there is use reductionism and detereminism

Inattentional blindness * selective looking * eyewitness testimony – demonstrates how the cognitive process of memory can be distorted by other info supplied after an event * memory isn’t merely a tape recording but is a dynamic process which can be influenced by many events such as leading questions

Visual illusions
Illusions can fall into one of 4 groups: ambiguities, distortions, paradoxes, factions

Mechanisms * perception is the process by which we recognize what is represented by the information provided by our sense organs * rapid, automatic, unconscious process * We get the finished product, not the details of the process

‘The perception of form is entirely a matter of experience.’ (John Ruskin, 1890)

TEMPORARY NOTES

Problems faced by psychologists when researching this issue
1) Not using a biased sample which might be biased against one or more cultures (Gould)
2) Can the study separate inherited & learned behaviour? (Bandura; imitative/non-imitative aggression).
3) Ethics - certain research may need to be done but it is ethical? (Zimbardo)
4) Maybe it is impossible to separate the two influences on human behaviour. To do so may create a false dichotomy (the creation of a false spliting of an issue; both nature and nurture are required for either to exist).
5) Lack of controls. (Deregowski failed to control the differences in culture in his perception experiments – this mean that he was unable to compare the two cultures and make any conclusions about whether perception was learned or not)
6) Realism or validity of research. (Zimbardo’s mundane realism, behaviour is a product of the situation, demand characteristics)
7) Artificiality (a form of validity) in research. (Schachter & Singer gave adrenaline injections, were these a valid way of creating emotional arousal in Ps?)
8) Valid measures of behaviour. (Gardner & Gardner believed that chimps had learned to communicate – but critics said that slow motion film showed the chimps merely mimicked the human teacher).

Bibliography: (selected works) (1891) On Aphasia 1891. London and New York, 1953. (1893) On the Psychical Mechanism of Hysterical Phenomena. [with J. Breuer] SE 2, 3-17 (1894)  The Neuro-Psychoses of Defence. SE 3, 43-61 (1895)  A Project for a Scientific Psychology. SE 1, 283-397 (1895) Studies on Hysteria. [with J (1896)  The Aetiology of Hysteria. SE 3, 189-221 (1898)  Sexuality in the Aetiology of the Neuroses (1899)  Screen Memories. SE 3, 301-322 (1900)  The Interpretation of Dreams. SE 4-5 (1901)  On Dreams. SE 5, 633-685 (1904)  The Psychopathology of Everyday Life. SE 6 (1905)  Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious. SE 8 (1905)  Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. SE 7, 125-245 (1907)  Delusions and Dreams in Jensen 's Gradiva. SE 9, 3-95 (1908)  The Sexual Enlightenment of Children. SE 9, 131-139 (1908)  Character and Anal Erotism. SE 9, 169-175 (1908)  On the Sexual Theories of Children. SE 9, 207-226 (1908)  "Civilized" Sexual Morality and Modern Nervous Illness. SE  9, 179-204 (1908)  Creative Writers and Day-Dreaming. SE 9, 143-153 (1909)  Analysis of a Phobia in a Five-Year-Old Boy. SE 10, 3-149 (1909) Notes upon a Case of Obsessional Neurosis (1910)  - Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis. SE 11, 3-55 (1910)  Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of his Childhood.SE 11,  59-137 (1910) The Antithetical Meaning of Primal Words.i SE 11, 155-161 (1910) A Special Type of Choice of Object made by Men (1911) Psycho-Analytic Notes on an Autobiographical Account of a Case of Paranoia (Dementia Paranoides). SE 12, 3-82 (1912) On the Universal Tendency to Debasement in the Sphere of  Love. SE 11, 179-190 (1913) Totem and Taboo. SE 13, 1-161 (1914) The Moses of Michelangelo. SE 13, 211-238 (1914) On the History of the Psycho-Analytic Movement. SE 14, 3-66 (1915) Thoughts for the Times on War and Death (1915) Instincts and their Vicissitudes. SE 14, 111-140 (1915) Repression. SE 14, 143-158 (1915) The Unconscious. SE 14, 161-215 (1916-17) Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (1917) Mourning and Melancholia. SE 14, 239-258 (1919) The Uncanny. SE 17, 219-256 (1920) The Psychogenesis of a Case of Homosexuality in a Woman. SE  18, 147-172 (1920) Beyond the Pleasure Principle. SE 18, 7-64 (1921) Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego. SE 18, 67-143 (1923) The Ego and the Id. SE 19, 3-66 (1923) A Seventeenth-Century Demonological Neurosis. SE 19, 69-105 (1924) The Economic Problem of Masochism. SE 19, 157-170 (1925) A Note upon the "Mystic Writing-Pad". SE 19, 227-232 (1925) An Autobiographical Study. SE 20, 3-70 (1925) Negation. SE 19, 235-239 (1925) Some Psychical Consequences of the Anatomical Distinction between   the Sexes. SE 19, 243-258 (1926) Inhibitions, Symptoms and Anxiety. SE 20, 77-174 (1926) The Question of Lay Analysis. SE 20, 179-258 (1927) The Future of an Illusion. SE 21, 3-56 (1928) Dostoevsky and Parricide. SE 21, 175-196 (1930) Civilization and its Discontents. SE 21, 59-145 (1931) Libidinal Types. SE 21, 217-220 (1931) Female Sexuality. SE 21, 223-243 (1933) New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (1933) Why War? SE 22, 197-215 (1936) A Disturbance of Memory on the Acropolis (1937) Analysis Terminable and Interminable. SE 23, 211-253 (1937) Constructions in Analysis. SE 23, 257-269 (1938) An Outline of Psycho-Analysis. SE 23, 141-207 (1938) Some Elementary Lessons in Psycho-Analysis. SE 23, 281-286 (1939) Moses and Monotheism. SE 23, 3-137 Date: 09/10/2012