Category: Psychology

The Oedipus complex is felt to be one of Freud’s most well-known and controversial theories. This essay will analyse Freud’s definition of the Oedipus complex and will attempt to explain why it is so controversial. Freud’s theory of infantile sexual development will be discussed, as the Oedipus complex is an . . . Read more

When I was a young child, people always used to squabble over whether I was more like my mother or my father. Some people swore that not only was the physical resemblance to my mother similar, but our personalities were eerily identical. Others argued that my father and I were . . . Read more

Psychological disorders are a part of abnormal behavior that scientists have yet been able to completely comprehend nor understand. However, they have discovered that anxiety plays a key role in the onset, and continued existence, of these disorders. With continued study and research, scientists have been able to classify different . . . Read more

The fathers in the video played different roles during the birth of their children. Manoel Oliveira wasn’t present during the birth of his son Sydney, while David Kaufman was with his wife Barbara from the start of labor until the end of delivery. There are varying reasons for the different . . . Read more

Addictions and mental illnesses are the primary parts of abnormal psychology. Abnormal psychology is misunderstood among people of the world today. Most people do not understand the scientific reasoning or actual illness behind the symptom(s). People also tend to judge or mock things that they haven’t experienced or do not . . . Read more

Biology is an important part of a psychology course. Psychobiology is the area of psychology that focuses on the biological foundations of behavior and mental processes. The effects of drug addictions, behavioral disorders, sleep disturbances, memory, alterations in conscious awareness, and pain are all examples of the necessity of psychobiology . . . Read more

1. Introduction. Stress is a very complex phenomenon. It is very much a personal condition and individuals vary in their ability to cope with different forms and levels of stress. In fact, we all need some level of stress, as a stimulus, to get going and live (Green 1993). However, . . . Read more

For many years the word “schizophrenia” has provoked enormous discomfort. Invested with meaning at once surreal and feared, it is still used as an instrument of ridicule in ordinary conversation, in the media, and even among professionals themselves. The word itself is ominous and evokes visions of madness and asylums. . . . Read more

The teen brain consists of four main components that contribute to development. The first component is the corpus callosum, which is a nerve table that joins both sides of the brain. Although it is not completely stated what it is responsible for it is believed that it controls intelligence, consciousness, . . . Read more

Graeme Gordon. Stereotyping is a form of pre-judgment that is as prevalent in today’s society as it was 2000 years ago. It is a social attitude that has stood the test of time and received much attention from social psychologists and philosophers alike. Many approaches to or theories of stereotyping . . . Read more

Cognition is the process involved in thinking and mental activity, such as attention, memory, and problem-solving. In this essay on cognitive development, I will compare and contrast the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky, who were both influential in forming a more scientific approach to analyzing the cognitive development process of . . . Read more

The theory of Cognitive Dissonance states that when individuals are presented with information that implies we act in a way that contradicts our moral standards, we experience discomfort (Aronson, Wilson, and Akert, 1998, P. 191). This is considered Cognitive Dissonance. A psychological term used to describe the mental conflict that . . . Read more

Anxiety Disorder. Psychoanalysts believe that anxiety disorders are caused by internal mental conflicts often involving sexual impulses. These impulses cause an overuse of the ego’s defense system that fails over time. This shows that the unacceptable impulses the ego has blocked are the generalized anxiety disorders. These blocked impulses cause . . . Read more

What is the true study of modern human emotion, thought, and behavior, psychology, or philosophy? This question’s answer does not come easily to its solicitor; in fact, the two seemingly different subjects have a distinct and discernible relationship to one another. “Some things are up to us and some are . . . Read more

A picture is worth a thousand words. You’ve heard it so many times that it sounds trite. But a picture really IS worth a thousand words. And if a dream is a very special kind of picture, how much is IT worth? Maybe more? What about very simple pictures and . . . Read more

In October this year (1998), an accident occurred in Gothenburg, Sweden, where approximately 67 individuals died. About 200 people were gathered in a room when the place took fire. Having only one exit, people rushed at the same time towards the entrance. The entrance was blocked and people were falling . . . Read more

Intelligence has always been a major and controversial issue for psychologists. Intelligence has three major areas of debate: its definition, its measurement, and its heritability (Source: Weinberg, 1989). The title of this essay asks specifically about the measurement of intelligence, but this thereby requires an investigation into the definition of . . . Read more

Introduction. Understanding the Narcissistic Phenomenon. The so-called ‘narcissistic personality disorder’ is a complex and often misunderstood disorder. The cardinal feature of the narcissistic personality is the grandiose sense of self-importance, but paradoxically underneath this grandiosity, the narcissist suffers from a chronically fragile low self-esteem. The grandiosity of the narcissist, however, . . . Read more

How do representations of space affect our relationship to a place? To answer this question, we should perhaps ask ourselves an equally important question: how can we probe nature to learn about it without changing it. By analyzing this question using six main representational themes – cartographic, political, Cartesian perspectivalism, . . . Read more

A psychologist is a person who counsels and works to help understand people’s problems. Therefore, to understand this career, one must know the definition/duties, education/training, working conditions, salary, and job outlook in order to be successful. As a result of studying the characteristics of this career, one will become more . . . Read more

Both classical conditioning and psychodynamic theory have played a pivotal role in the development of social psychology. For nearly all of the past century they have shaped and influenced the way psychologists, philosophers, and ordinary people have felt about the nature of the human psyche. It is because of this . . . Read more

INTRODUCTION. The behavioristic approach has exerted a strong influence on American Psychology. The basic ideas of behaviorism are: human behavior is a product of the Stimulus-Response interaction and that behavior is modifiable. It has triggered scientific experiments and the use of statistical procedures. Most importantly, it has turned the attention . . . Read more

No single theory of personality can adequately explain the full function of human behavior. Psychodynamic approaches often come under a lot of criticism as they fail to be explicit about the underlying bases of the theory. Cognitive theories are not very comfortable with explaining emotions and behavioral theories have difficulty . . . Read more

Stereotyping is a form of prejudgment that is as prevalent in today’s society as it was 2000 years ago. It is a social attitude that has stood the test of time and received much attention from social psychologists and philosophers alike. Many approaches to or theories of stereotyping have thus . . . Read more

Five major theoretical bases for counseling in psychology are biological, learning, cognitive, psychodynamic, and sociocultural. Each one of these perspectives searches for answers about behavior through different techniques and researching a client’s childhood or adult life experiences looking for answers to different kinds of questions. Due to the different types . . . Read more

Cognition is the process involved in thinking and mental activity, such as attention, memory, and problem-solving. In this essay on cognitive development, I will compare and contrast the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky, who were both influential in forming a more scientific approach to analyzing the cognitive development process of . . . Read more

The task of trying to quantify a person’s intelligence has been a goal of psychologists since before the beginning of this century. The Binet-Simon scales were first proposed in 1905 in Paris, France and various sorts of tests have been evolving ever since. One of the important questions that always . . . Read more

Abraham Harold Maslow was born on April 1, 1908, in Brooklyn, New York. He was the oldest of seven children born to his parents, who were uneducated Jewish immigrants from Russia. His parents, wanting the best for their children in the “new world”, pushed him hard in his academic studies. . . . Read more

The Behavioural Model sees the cause of abnormality as the learning of maladaptive habits. It aims to discover, by laboratory experiment, what aspect of the environment produced this learning, and it sees successful therapy as learning new and more adaptive ways of behaving. There are two kinds of basic learning . . . Read more

Explain the key concepts of the humanistic/phenomenological perspective. To what extent are these concepts derived from other perspectives and other social sciences? The humanistic perspective was founded by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. The humanistic psychologists believe in the growth potential of healthy individuals and believe that people must strive . . . Read more

Describe and evaluate the contributions of cognitive psychology to the understanding of one cognitive process you have studied. Cognitive psychology has greatly contributed to the study of learning. The cognitive perspective posed the theory that learning is more than just reactions based on consequences and that it does indeed involve . . . Read more