Category Archives: psychology guide

Cognitive Psychology: 7 Techniques for Studying the Brain

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cognition

This post will be dealing with a more science oriented approach to psychology known as cognitive neuroscience, which is a  branch of psychology that involves intensive study of the brain as well as behaviour. The human brain is a lot more than a mass of grey goop; it is an extremely complicated organ consisting of a team of 50 billion neurons (each of which link up to 10,000 more neurons!) that work around the clock to control every thought, action, and perception we have. Your brain is responsible for literally everything you think and know about yourself and the world you live in, and is therefore the holy grail of psychology, as everything that is knowable has it’s roots in the brain. Even though we all have a brain, we are not born with an instruction manual on how to use it, or how it works. So we spend the rest of our lives letting it work on autopilot, outside our conscious control – do we control the brain, or does the brain control us?

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Jungian Psychology: Glossary of Key Concepts

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mandala

A 'Mandala' drawn by one of Jung's patients.

Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) was a famous Swiss psychiatrist who began his exploration of the unconscious while he was a pupil of Sigmund Freud in his early psychiatric years; he credited for being the father of analytic psychology, which was an evolution of  Freud’s school of psychoanalytic thought. Jung developed many psychological theories which are still widely studied and researched to this very day, and was responsible, along with Freud, for making the concept of the unconscious known to the world through extensive analysis of his patient’s dreams.

Among Jung’s many theories are the concepts of the collective unconscious, archetypes, the anima/animus, synchronicity (meaningful coincidences), psychic phenomenon and introverted and extraverted personality types. Jung also developed the use of word association tests as a means of investigating the link between a patients conscious thoughts and their unconscious fears and desires. Jung believed that the process of individuation – the integration of the conscious and unconscious mind – was the only way for a ‘splintered’ man to become whole, and was therefore the ultimate goal of psychotherapy. He developed a method for achieving individuation which he termed Active Imagination – the confronting of unconscious archetypes by method of dream analysis and drawing of mandalas.

Carl Jung was a remarkable individual who blazed a fiery trail in the field of psychology that none have matched since. He is most well known for his extensive studies on Eastern philosophy, the occult, and psychic phenomena; his Collected Works comprises of nearly 20 volumes. American mythologist Joseph Campbell picked up the pieces that Jung left behind him, and formed his theory of the monomyth – the single myth that all myths draw from – which was inspired by Jung’s concept of archetypes who he had developed from his examining of The Tibetan Book of the Dead. My thought is also hugely influenced by Jung, and so I thought a glossary of his most used terms and concepts would be useful for readers of this blog who are unaware of his work; hopefully this post sparks a flame of interest in you, and results in you choosing to seek out the wisdom of Carl Jung for yourself.

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Psychology 101 – Development II: Social Development

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schoolThis is part 2 of the 2 parter on human development. This chapter focuses on social development, which are changes in interpersonal thought, feeling and behaviour throughout the life span. We will journey through the different relationships people form throughout life, from intimate attachments in infancy through to adulthood, to sibling and peer relationships; the development of beliefs and feelings about themselves and others; and the way these beliefs and feelings about themselves and others; and the way these beliefs and feelings are expressed in different social contexts.

By the end of this chapter of Psychology 101, you should be able to:

  1. Explain the importance of attachment in early development
  2. Describe the socialisation process
  3. Describe the role of peer relationships in social development
  4. Explain how social cognition develops across the life span
  5. Distinguish between the different theories of moral development
  6. Describe how social development continues throughout life.

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Psychology 101 – Development I: Physical and Cognitive Development

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development

You’ve grown up so fast!

The following is Part 1 of a 2 part series on development. Part 1 focuses on physical and cognitive development in humans; we will begin by exploring three basic issues. Firstly, we will discover the extent that the development process is the product of either nature or nature. Secondly we will discuss evidence for critical periods in psychological development. And finally, we will consider whether development occurs in stages or in a continuous, gradual change. After all of this, I will outline the most important psychological model of development that we have in cognitive psychology – Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.

By the end of this chapter of Psychology 101, you should be able to:

  1. Describe some of the basic issues in developmental psychology
  2. Distinguish between the three main types of research design used by developmental psychologists
  3. Describe how physical development occurs across the life span and discuss its impact on psychological functioning
  4. Describe how perceptual and cognitive development occurs in infancy, childhood and adolescence

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Psychology 101 – Motivation

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motivationThis chapter in the Psychology 101 series focuses on motivation, the driving force behind behaviour which leads us to pursue some things and avoid others. Firstly we will take a broad approach and examine each of the major perspectives on motivation ranging from the psychodynamic to the evolutionary model. Finally we will zoom in a little and consider some of the most important individual motives that guide human behaviour.

By the end of this chapter of Psychology 101, you should be able to:

  1. Distinguish among the different theoretical perspectives on motivation
  2. Describe how eating behaviours are regulated
  3. Describe how sexual motivation involves hormones and social and cultural factors
  4. Distinguish between the two clusters of psychological motives

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Psychology 101 – Language

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languageLanguage needs no introduction, as it speaks for itself…

…

Language is the system of symbols, sounds, meanings and rules established by society and is the primary mode of communication for humans. This chapter will begin by considering the ways language and thought shape each other. Then we will examine the elements of language, how people use it in everyday life, and how children acquire the capacity to think and communicate with words. In so doing, we enter into one of the most intriguing debates in all of psychology: the extent to which the capacity to acquire language is innate. The chapter will conclude by considering whether we are alone among species in the capacity to use symbols to think.

By the end of this chapter of Psychology 101, you should be able to:

  1. Describe language and outline its basic elements
  2. Explain how language develops.

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