Elena's Legacy. Texts written by Elena, excerpts from texts she liked, her artworks.: Psychology Fields

Psychology Fields

The text below addresses fields studied in the social science – psychology – the scientific study of the mind and behavior.

Alternatively, other articles on the Website cover Gestalt psychology, most common theories and provide a general overview.

Introduction

The present essay, and illustrated literature review, aims at discussing some psychological fields and subjects, namely neuroscience, the psychology of play, personality psychology, evolutionary psychology, sports psychology, cognitive, moral and organizational psychology. Other sub-disciplines, such as computational, abnormal, social, cultural, developmental, as well as, mathematical psychology lie outside of the scope of the paper at hand, and are consequently excluded from the current discussion. Of course, it would most likely be impossible to address all psychological topics in a single publication.

As would be noted by Captain Obvious, relationships are full of psychology. Some marriages are happy and long lasting, such as Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, and Kiss’ lead singer Gene Simmons and model Shannon Tweed, while other unions end in loud divorces, such as Tiger Woods and Jesse James’ infidelities that broke down their families with Elin Nordegren and Sandra Bullock, respectively. Outside of romantic realms, friendships also differ between individuals. Although rumored to have become quite estranged to one another, Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow were said to be nearly best friends, while female rappers Lil’ Kim and relative newcomer Nicki Minaj engaged in a public, while mostly implicit, feud. But enough celebrity gossip, it is now time to turn to academics.

Neuroscience

Neuroscience is often taught in psychology programs, and it is difficult to imagine studying the human mind without paying attention to the human brain. Nevertheless, neuroscience has traditionally been considered a part of biology and studies the nervous systems (the central and peripheral nervous systems, which include the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves). The science takes advantage of neuroimaging techniques.

The main neuroimaging methods are MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging – takes advantage of BOLD {Blood Oxygen Level Dependent} signal level changes), PET (Positron Emission Tomography) and CAT (Computerized Axial Tomography) scans. Other techniques neuroscientists employ are electrophysiology, lesion studies and TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation). The example pictures below illustrate some of this methodology.

Psychology of Play Games or Psychological Game Theory

Whether they have to do with the gaming industry, sports or any other entertainment, games are very popular among all age groups.

But what about psychology? Interestingly, game theory is looked at, not only in economic, but also in psychological research. As foreshadowed in one of the introductory paragraphs, why do some people stay alone for lengthy periods of time or go through awful divorces, while others live in blissful happiness forever after? Psychology attempts to answer such and dissimilar questions empirically, with experiments. The expression ‘playing games’ can signify engaging in the strategy, competitive undertaking, literally, but also in different senses.

For instance, individuals who engage in multiple romantic relationships simultaneously may be called players. Further, attitudes such as playing hard to get, likewise fall under that category. Some believe that human interaction should be based on trust and communication; others remain of the opinion that without strategy, one lacks social competence. While the real answer may represent a proven fact, the path one takes is a matter of personal choice. So, how are such and other choices made?

Making decisions matters in everyday life as much as in academic, literary settings. Perhaps one of the best-known papers on the subject is the one by Tversky and Kahnemnan (1979) explaining prospect theory. Additionally, Dufwenberg et al. (2011) point to the importance of label and valence framing in making decisions.

The authors notice that in addition to emotions and beliefs, the motivating factors in making choices include guilt aversion and reciprocity. Further, if beliefs change, motivation may follow suit. Cognitive Psychology Cognition. Cognition refers to internal mental processes such as thought and comprehension. For instance, cognitive psychologists could look at something like inferring meaning from words spoken. The situation is evident in the study by Coll-Florit and Gennari (2011), in which they show how durative and non-durative events are processed semantically. Basically, psychologists are often trying to theorize and compartmentalize even the most mundane of activities.

Research and the literature documents cases every year, where new discoveries are made. In such fashion, Goodwin and Johnson-Laird (2011) propose a novel theory of Boolean concepts. In their work, Boolean elements are defined as negation, conjunction and disjunction. Language is a common topic in cognitive psychology, as well as, evidently, linguistics. For example, Hay and coauthors (2011) looked at word acquisition in infants.

Naturally, memory is also of the cognitive processes realm. By the same token, Schneider and Anderson (2011) talk about a model of Hick’s law based on memory.

Hick’s law refers to the time it takes a person to react and make a choice given a set of alternatives.

Other topics falling under the rubric of cognition are perceptual interpretations. Eriksson and Simpson (2011) explain that feelings of unfairness are exacerbated when there is one singled out losing party. What’s more the likelihood of such a situation is increased with perceptions of being ostracized, especially in those individuals who are particularly sensitive to such circumstances.

Moral Psychology Rai and Fiske (2011) discuss the implications of morality from a psychological standpoint. Their account explores universal moral relationships and the different ways in which these appear to be crafted and interpreted across cultures. Furthermore, the authors provide four moral motives that guide behavior: unity, hierarchy, equality and proportionality.

Evolutionary Psychology

The debate of intelligent design and religion versus Darwin and gradual evolution based on observations of Galapagos finches (natural selection and survival of the fittest), has resulted in many, sometimes fiery, discussions. Evolutionary psychology, commonly abbreviated EP, believes that the human mind has evolved in order to adapt to its environment (Bolhuis et al., 2011). However, the authors argue for a revision of views traditionally established in the discipline, questioning the high modularity, as well as, behavioral maladaptiveness in modern settings.

Organizational Psychology

Around the time of writing the present contemporary version of a manuscript, the movement that started in New York, known as Occupy Wall Street, has attracted global attention and even spread internationally. Although the demands remain unclear, wealth distribution appears to be of interest to protesters. A reader may ask what the news has to do with psychology. The answer is simple: fields such as work or organizational psychology, as well as industrial relations, have experience in dealing with discontent and frustration situations. Along these lines, Berry et al. (2009) relate that organizational psychology has the potential to reduce worldwide poverty.

One such illustration is the Global Task Force for Humanitarian Work Psychology established with that particular goal in mind. For example, the discipline sheds light on such aspects of the association between foreign aid and developing economies: the recipients and international helpers may differ in motives and perceptions (i.e. individualistic vs. collectivist societies stress different kinds of achievement; loans may help in the short term but stress work-life balance and other unexpected or socio-cultural consequences, etc.).

The idea presented in their report coveys that organizational psychologists possess, and can transmit, the tools necessary to foster development by individuals and positive change in institutions. They point that at times, more could be done on the part of the people who stand to benefit from their own countries’ development. The writers also credit Hugo Munsterberg with initializing the field back in 1913. Similar to other branches of the social science, organizational psychology is multidisciplinary, drawing on research and theory from closely related sub-disciplines.

A question may be asked, what about job selection? Is it a question of commerce, psychology or sociology studies? The response depends on the facet one looks at. Thus, in business courses one may be instructed on how to write a successful curriculum vitae (CV or resume), cover letter and the best strategies to find a successful job. An industrial psychology Professor may be better suited to explain the most appropriate behavior during an interview, while ironically enough, it is the English composition teacher that may be most apt at actually drafting, writing, editing and proofreading the documents.

Courses on organizational behavior or behavior in organizations relate a lot of psychology as it applies in the workplace. Many changes have taken place though generations (e.g. the flattening of organizational hierarchy and authority in management styles) and the subject matters outlines such insights as personality traits (extroversion vs. introversion) and team work types and how these apply to processes in corporations. Such and other knowledge are of great importance in facilitating labor relations.

Sports psychology

Health psychology is an ideology looking at health mechanisms and illness prevention. Health psychologists often draw their knowledge on medicine, biology and other pure and applied applications. Conversely, as the appellation indicates, sport psychology focuses on the human mind and behavior as related to sport.

Denison and Winslade (2006) explain that practitioners of the discipline are often other specialists than that of the psychology profession, and focus on developing enhanced performance for elite athletes. To illustrate, their work discusses goal setting as a motivational force and also raises an important point of medicalization of behaviors.

The concept they describe, narrative therapy, focuses on linguistics as they relate to psychology, sport and treatment. In what seems reminiscent of cognitive-behavioral therapy, different expression may lead to restructuring of thoughts, which in turn facilitate performance. Also, according to the publication, the need for the alternative approach arises from the unquestioned authority of scientific truth, that the authors see as dictating a way of speaking, and thus, formulating concepts and ideas.

Societal influences at large are also discussed, such as the internalization of the thin ideal broadcasted by the media (glamor magazines, television, fashion shows, public figures, image-makers and so on) resulting in perceptions that may lead to dissatisfaction with one’s own body, and even to serious conditions such as eating disorders (i.e. e. anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and paradoxically, binge eating). The message one gets from their article is one of empowerment and autonomy for sportspersons.

Early in high school, one is reminded that goal setting is an important technique, but that in order to motivate, goals must be realistically attainable, and achievement – measurable. More precisely, the acronym S.M.A.R.T. has been popularized, stating that goals should be: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. Interestingly enough, while human motivation is a large area of study in psychology, the ability to motivate oneself and others is often cited as one element of emotional intelligence. Personality Psychology Moreover, personality psychology looks at such interesting dimensions as the Big Five (also known as the FFM – Five Factor Model – or extroversion, openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness and neuroticism continuums).

Further, abnormal psychology even states that personality disorders (Axis II of the DSM IV-TR – Diagnostic and Statistics Manual Four – Revised Version) represent extremes of personality variations, and thus, are largely incurable. In addition, personality psychology may explain economic and academic success parallel to cognitive ability (Almlund et al., 2011). IQ (Intelligence Quotient – Most common tests include the Wechsler {WISC, WAIS the former for children, the latter for adults} and Stanford-Binet scales) and other measures of intelligence have often been associated with scholarly and occupational achievement, but the researchers attests that personality traits also act as determinants. However, the paper outlines the situationist view, according to which, personal characteristics matter little, and outcomes depend mostly on environmental and surrounding circumstances.

Developmental, or child psychology as it is sometimes called, studies the growth and development of the individual throughout the lifespan. Prominent theorists include Jean Piaget, Sigmund Freud, Erik Eriksson, Lev Vygotsky, Lawrence Kohlberg and Carol Gilligan. Most of these authors provided division of development into stages.

Conclusion: An Internet sensation, Ray William Johnson, is a widely popular comedian reviewing viral videos such as ‘ZOMG KITTY!!!!’, vlogging and producing music. On top of being highly entertaining, his shows demonstrate human psychology, or at least as it applies to Web culture, pretty well. Additionally, the artist’s songs are cartooned music videos, somewhat reminiscent of the style of the clips of the band Gorillaz.

References:

Almlund, M., Duckworth, A. L., Heckman, J. & Kautz, T. (2011). Personality psychology and Economics. IZA Discussion Paper Series, DP No. 5500: 1-254.

Berry, M.O., Reichman, W., Klobas, J., MacLachlan, M., Hui, H. C. & Carr, S.C. (2009). Humanitarian work psychology: The contributions of organizational psychology to poverty reduction. Journal of Economic Psychology, 1-8.

Bolhuis, J. J., Brown, G. R., Richardson, R. C. & Laland, K. N. (2011). Darwin in mind: New opportunities for evolutionary psychology. PLoS Biology, 9 (7): e1001109.

Coll-Florit, M. and Gennari, S. P. (2011). Time in language: Event duration in language duration. Cognitive Psychology, 62: 41-79.

Denison, J. and Winslade, J. (2006). Understanding problematic sporting stories: Narrative therapy and applied sport psychology. Junctures, 6: 99-105.

Dufwenberg, M., Gachter, S. and Hennig-Schmidt, H. (2011). The framing of games and the psychology of play. Games and Economic Behavior, 73: 459-78.

Eriksson, K. and Simpson, B. (2011). Perceptions of unfairness in allocations between multiple recipients. Cognitive Psychology, 62: 225-44.

Goodwin, G. P and Johnson-Laird, P.N. (2011). Mental models of Boolean concepts. Cognitive Psychology, 63: 34-59.

Hay, J. F., Pelucchi, B., Estes, K. G. and Saffran, J. R. (2011). Linking sounds to meanings: Infant statistical learning in a natural language. Cognitive Psychology, 63: 93-106.

Kahneman, D. and Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect Theory: An analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica, XLVII: 263-29.

Rai, T. S. and Fiske, A. P. (2011). Moral psychology is relationship regulation: Moral motives for unity, hierarchy, equality and proportionality. Psychological Review, 118 (1): 57-75.

Schneider, D. W. and Anderson, J. R. (2011). A memory-based model of Hick’s law. Cognitive Psychology, 62: 193-222.

Elena's Legacy. Texts written by Elena, excerpts from texts she liked, her artworks.

Saturday, January 27, 2018

Psychology Fields

Psychology Fields

Introduction

Neuroscience

Psychology of Play Games or Psychological Game Theory

Evolutionary Psychology

Organizational Psychology

Sports psychology

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