Key Concepts in Psychology: Conditioning, Learning, and Personality
Defense Mechanisms
According to Freud, anxiety is the price we pay for civilization. As members of society, we must control our impulses and not act on them. Thus, we protect ourselves from experiencing negative feelings, like guilt and anxiety, through defense mechanisms. Defense mechanisms are unconscious mental operations that minimize anxiety by denying or distorting reality.
Example: Repression is the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from
Read MoreUnderstanding Interpersonal Dynamics and Social Connections
Key Concepts in Social Interaction and Group Formation
Interpersonal Dynamics and Social Connections
Artist’s Circle: A small group of peers who work together for an extended period (a collaborative circle).
Five-Factor Model: A model of the primary dimensions that structure individual differences in personality.
- Extraversion: The degree to which an individual tends to seek out social contacts.
- Agreeableness: The degree to which an individual tends to respond positively across situations.
Relationality:
Read MoreUnderstanding Newborn Assessment and Child Development
Apgar Score: Newborn Assessment
The Apgar score is a standard scoring system that allows hospitals to quickly and objectively assess the state of a newborn.
- Appearance (color of the child)
- Pulse (heart rate)
- Grimace (reflex irritability)
- Activity (muscle tone)
- Respiration (respiratory effort of the baby)
Understanding Child Development
Physical Development and Health
Reflexes: Automatic, involuntary, innate responses to stimuli.
Visual Preference: The tendency of an infant to look at certain stimuli more
Read MoreUnderstanding Psychosexual Development Stages
Psychosexual Development
The individual goes through different stages of evolution in which changes occur in themselves and their relationships with others. These are called stages of evolution of the libido; libido is the energy that corresponds to sexuality.
In these phases, the individual seeks various forms of sexual satisfaction and fantasies.
Latency Stage
It is a stage that is used in acquiring the necessary skills for life. They forget childhood sexual experiences, and this allows for schooling.
Read MorePsychological Disorders: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatments
Understanding Psychological Abnormality
Abnormality emphasizes that psychological disorders exist on a spectrum, characterized by the 4 D’s:
- Dysfunction: Impairment in normal functioning.
- Distress: Emotional pain, suffering, or discomfort experienced by oneself or others.
- Deviance: Infrequent behaviors that deviate from societal norms.
- Dangerousness: Behaviors that result in harm to oneself or others.
Cultural Relativism: Norms and values are culturally specific; there are no universal standards for abnormality.
Read MoreUnderstanding Social Identity and Stratification
The Social Dimension
Personal identity allows us to recognize ourselves as individuals, while social identity allows us to share certain values with other persons. The protagonist of social identity are the characteristics we ascribe to groups. Several characteristics define a group:
- Interaction: Mutual members have regular relations within their internal structure.
- Awareness: Awareness of the group leads them to differentiate themselves from others.
- Shared Goals and Values: Existence of goals, values,