Writing Assignment
Which school of psychology do you agree with most? In your paper (at least 5, well-written sentences), provide 3 reasons WHY you agree with it the most.
I agree most with the psychodynamic perspective among the schools of psychology. The school is oriented in believing that the human behavior is influenced by the different mental conflicts that are locked in the sub-conscience. The school of thought is more convincing because of the fact that the personality of an individual is inside the individual and is controlled by the interaction between the superego, the ego, and the id. Additionally, the school proposes that most of the feelings and behavior are determined by the childhood experiences. Finally, the school suggests that all behaviors have a reason or cause. As such, this school of psychology majorly addresses the behaviors studied in psychology.
Design a correlational study looking at the relationship between how many hours students study for a test and their test grade. Who are your participants? How many participants do you have? What data are you going to collect from them? How will you plot the data? What type of correlation do you expect to find between the two variables?
The participants of my correlational study are eight, grade seven students. The data I am going to collect from them includes the number of hours spent doing personal study before a test and the grades obtained from the specific test. The data will then be plotted on a line graph with the marks obtained being on the Y-axis and the number of hours spent studying on the X-axis. The correlation expected from the two variables is that the more the hours spent studying, the higher the marks obtained in the test. However, slight variations are expected for the exceptions where some students study hard and fail the test while others have prior knowledge of what is tested without having to study for the test.
Create a case study (must be different from one in class). Pick a hemisphere, lobe, and at least one other specific brain structure, and describe the symptoms you’d see in a person with damage to those areas.
After the plane crash, Jones was suspected to have had a head injury where the cerebrum, right hemisphere, and the frontal lobe were damaged. The following symptoms were used to ascertain the damages.
Unconsciousness for a few minutes.
Nausea.
Headache.
Difficulty in sleeping.
Loss of balance.
Prolonged sleeping periods.
Drowsiness and fatigue.
Right Hemisphere (ASHA 96)
Difficulty in maintaining attention.
Deficits in visual attention.
Loss of memory.
Poor organization and systematic arrangement.
Difficulty in identifying problems and their daily impact.
Frontal Lobe
Loss of social awareness.
Impulsiveness and irritability.
Emotional instability.
Disinhibition.
Provide an example of how you’ve been classically conditioned. Be sure to label all the stimuli and responses.
Classical conditioning involves learning a given behavior through association. I am classically conditioned to check out my phone once I feel a vibration. The vibration is the unconditioned stimulus associated with the conditioned stimulus of my phone vibrating when a text message is received. As such, when I feel an external vibration from an object, say, a car engine, I am conditioned to reach for my phone and confirm if there is a received text message. Therefore, the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) is now associated with the conditioned stimulus (CS), and the result is a conditioned response (CR).
Provide an example of 3 types of defense mechanisms that either you or someone you know have used.
There are different defense mechanisms. Some of those that I have identified with include repression, projection, and displacement. Repression is an unconscious mechanism that is employed to keep the threats from becoming conscious by the individual’s ego such as Oedipus complex to repress same-sex parents. On the other hand, projection has the victims subject their feelings, thoughts, and feelings toward the other people to cause guilt (Beresford 112). Finally, displacement redirects the impulses to a target that is powerless such as beating up a pet.
Write a case study of a patient with a psychological disorder we discussed in class.
Social phobia is a psychological disorder that is manifested in social anxiety. John experienced shyness throughout his boyhood and later in his teenage years; he still experienced social anxiety. He always averts eyes when meeting with anybody before shaking their hand. After marriage, he gladly let the wife take over the daily family responsibilities, thereby avoiding all the social responsibilities except at his workplace. John has had no friends he can call his own apart from those his wife knows from his workplace. John’s disorder results from the anticipation that he cannot do well in social events and interactions. The more he got anxious about a situation and paid attention to it, the more he failed to perform well. The treatment for John would require that he identifies with some cognitive strategies to help him rethink and relearn what impact he had on himself. Later, he should engage in group therapies to help him deal with the social phobia (Fonseca 15).
Define the fundamental attribution error. Provide an example of when you either committed this error yourself or observed someone else committing this error. Explain how it is an example of the fundamental attribution error.
Fundamental attribution error is an error committed when a person places emphasis on personality instead of considering the external factors associated with the situation. It is also referred to as the correspondence bias in social psychology. I committed the error by assuming that my brother had not done his chores because he was lazy. Instead, I should have considered alternative explanations such as he was sick or tired. I committed the fundamental attribution error by associating the undone chores to the laziness personality instead of considering other external factors such as sickness. Understanding fundamental attribution error allows social harmony among individuals.
Works Cited
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). “Right Hemisphere Brain Damage.” American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2016. Web. Retrieved from http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/RightBrainDamage/
Beresford, Thomas. Psychological Adaptive Mechanisms: Ego Defense Recognition in Practice and Research. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. Print.
Fonseca, Christine. Raising The Shy Child: A Parent's Guide To Social Anxiety: Advice For Helping Kids Make Friends, Speak Up, And Stop Worrying. Waco, Texas: Prufrock Press, Inc., 2015. Print.
Rao, Vani and Sandeep Vaishnavi. The Traumatized Brain: A Family Guide to Understanding Mood, Memory, and Behavior after Brain Injury. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015. Print.
