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Psychology

Psychology and dreams

For ages, scientists have performed intensive experiments to try to understand the human mind. The operation of the human mind has been mysterious for many decades. For example, have you ever thought of how a person dreams? I am sure this question has crossed everyone’s mind in one situation or another. Our dreams leave us disoriented, scared, and confused. In other instances, dreams leave us with some satisfaction especially when we dream about our goals. Psychology comes to our rescue and helps us find some answers to these mysterious questions. For instance, psychology helps us unfold the dream mystery by suggesting that our dreams represent our unconscious wishes which we are afraid to express in real life. Psychology also suggests that our dreams are a result of hypothetical situations that our brain creates when we sleep. The dream mystery is just one of the questions psychology helps us to answer. The following questions add to the list of difficult questions whose answers can only be found with the help of psychology. How does our brain memory work and why do some situations help us remember long-forgotten events? What is intelligence and why should we care about its application in our lives? What is self-actualization and how can we realize our full potential? Psychological studies were developed to offer answers to these mysterious questions (Plotnik, 2013).

Some of psychology’s big questions help society solve different challenges faced by individuals. A perfect example is the establishment of rehab centers. The process of intervening in the thinking process of a person was facilitated by the question “can the brain be programmed to think differently?”. This psychological question now enables us to reprogram the minds of drug addicts, the depressed, and any other person who has a psychological disorder. Another psychology’s big question that has made a great impact on our daily lives is “how can we improve our thinking?” (Fiske, 2010). Scientists and other scholars have used this knowledge to advance their understanding, and evidently, they have come up with amazing innovations such as computers and robots. The question is also applied in schools where tutors use answers from psychology to enhance the thinking skills of their students.

An article by Drasgow advances our knowledge about psychology. We all need psychology in our lives, and Drasgow’s report provides us with information on how we can conduct a psychological experiment. The book starts by stating that to perform a psychology experiment; you need to clarify the question you need to answer. This is the most challenging stage since most of us do not find the specific issue we need to address. We view a psychological problem broadly whereas we should see specifics in the challenge. For example, when rehabilitating a drug addict, we should put more effort into addressing the issue of how the individual can successfully adapt to a drug-free lifestyle. The book covers the need for professionals to conduct psychological assessments. These tests produce results that help us gauge the individual’s performance under different conditions and circumstances. The tests determine the present functioning of the individual, and this helps the psychiatrist predict possible future outcomes. The book further explains the classification of psychological assessments. Psychological tests are primary divide into four main classifications namely behavioral evaluation, clinical interview, assessment of intellectual functioning, and personality assessment. In addition to these classifications, achievement in school and career are also additional examples of the psychological test (Drasgow, 2015).

Psychology takes different approaches when addressing human and animal behavior. The diversity in psychology is a result of the belief that no one’s perspective is correct. Each perspective covers a different aspect of the psychology sector. Several theories were developed with the aim of tackling specific areas in the thinking processes of both humans and animals. Schneider’s article states that there are four main classifications of psychological theories. Sigmund Freud’s efforts lead to the development of psychodynamic theories. Psychodynamic theories emphasize mainly focus on the effects of childhood memories and the unconscious mind on the personality of an individual. Examples of psychodynamic theories include Erik Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development and the psychosexual stage theory by Sigmund Freud. The two theories believe that character builds up in a series of steps as one grows. These theories explain some situations we encounter in our lives. For example, individuals who experienced hardships during their childhood years are likely to make wise decisions when they mature. Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow developed another theory known as the humanist theory. This theory illustrates how personal experiences and free will influence the personality of a person. In practice, the theory explains to us why some of our experiences can change our behavior. One of the most discussed areas in psychology is trait theory. The trait theory emphasizes that certain specific traits can alter the behavior and personality of a person. Eysenck was the first to work on the trait theory, and he came up with Eysenk’s three-dimension theory which explained that traits like aggression and empathy could affect the personality of a person (Schneider, 2014). Skinner and Watson had different views about the personality of a person. The two believed that character was influenced by the interaction between a person and the environment. They developed the behavioral theory that is used to study the impacts of the environment on an individual’s behavior. Their theory explains to us why people from different geographical regions tend to behave differently.

References

Drasgow, F. (Ed.). (2015). Technology and testing: Improving educational and psychological measurement. Routledge.

Fiske, S. T., Gilbert, D. T., & Lindzey, G. (Eds.). (2010). Handbook of social psychology (Vol. 2). John Wiley & Sons.

Harley, T. A. (2013). The psychology of language: From data to theory. Psychology press.

Plotnik, R., & Kouyoumdjian, H. (2013). Introduction to psychology. Cengage Learning.

Schneider, K. J., Pierson, J. F., & Bugental, J. F. (Eds.). (2014). The handbook of humanistic psychology: Theory, research, and practice. Sage Publications.

 

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