Introduction to Psychology
Fall 2014
Years back, while at the age of eight, I went through a tough experience that still lingers in my mind today. These events took place on the beaches along the Pacific coast where I almost drowned. It occurred during my family’s vacation when my parents decided that we should spend time at the coast together. At the beach, the waters seemed calm. Without my parents’ permission or watch, I decided to venture deeper into the continental shelf. Suddenly, a huge wave appeared from nowhere, swept me off balance and its backwash dragged me further into the deeper waters.
With little swimming experience, especially in treacherous waters, I was bound to drown. There was no lifesaver in sight and hence I was in more danger. I was doing my best to float and look around for help. Finding nothing in sight to help me, I struggled to swim back to the shore, but I was quickly developing fatigue, hampering my chances of making it there. Luckily for me, some tourists spotted me, alerted the lifeguard while quickly heading in my direction. I was then brought to the shore where paramedics administered first aid. It was only then that I realized I was out of danger, though the memory remains very fresh until today.
This event has had a significant effect in my life since it was a near-death experience I underwent. This event can also be described and analyzed in terms of three distinct psychological perspectives. First is the behavioral perspective. This perspective solely focuses on behaviors learnt over time. Observable behaviors form its basis; hence, there is no emphasis on internal states (De, 2009). In reference to this event, behaviorism is seen by my desire to go deeper into the continental shelf. This behavior is seen at the beach where different groups of people compete to go furthest into the ocean. Behaviorism is also shown when I almost drowned. The natural response to swim back to the shore is a psychological behaviorism response to danger.
The second perspective is the cognitive approach. This perspective focuses on psychological functions like memory, attention, and perception as well as mental processes like problem solving, decision-making and thinking (Peterson, et al., 2002)). It likens the human mind to a computer system as able to conceptualize information and how it is acquired, stored, and used. In terms of this event, I acquired information concerning the dangers at a coastal beach. Hence, I am able to avoid these dangers using this information. Moreover, the other people’s responses to my distress calls show cognitive psychology, as they were able to process that I was in danger and needed help.
The other perspective depicted in this event is psychodynamic psychology. This approach focuses on the role of childhood experiences and the unconscious mind to explain certain behaviors (Gabbard, 2014). According to this perspective, an individual’s behavior and feelings are affected by childhood experiences as well as unconscious motives. The unconscious mind contains behaviors, feelings, thoughts, and memories that most people are not aware of, but influence daily activities (De, 2009). In this event, psycho-dynamic psychology is evident with the reflex action to get out of the water. This memory still is stored in the unconscious mind and though I may not be aware of it, it would have an influence on my future beach activities. In addition, making distress calls is also a function of the unconscious mind.
Though it was an event that any person would want to forget, I gained important lessons from it. It terms of psychology, there are two ways through which I learned these lessons. The first method is through the classical conditioning. This method involves learning certain behaviors through stimuli occurring naturally together with a paired response (Henton & Iversen, 2011). Through this method, I acquired behaviors concerning response to danger and signs of it. For instance, through the huge wave, I am able to determine the danger posed by different wave sizes. Through this experience, I also learnt a lesson on the safety techniques of swimming at the beach.
The second method through which I acquired lessons is operant conditioning. This process takes place through rewarding or punishing certain behaviors. It creates an association of a certain behavior and its consequence (Henton & Iversen, 2011). In this event, getting away from my parents watch resulted in a near-death experience. After receiving first-aid at the shore and ensuring that I was fine, they reprimanded me for that behavior. On the other hand, they thanked the lifeguards and the tourists who came to my rescue. In this case, good behavior is met with good reward.
It has been years since the event took place. Therefore, the accuracy of this memory depends on several factors. The memory could be accurate because it shaped certain aspects of my behavior. Through psycho dynamism, this experience had an influence in my holiday activities; therefore, the memory is likely to be accurate. Moreover, it is stored in the unconscious mind, therefore increasing accuracy. Conversely, it may be eroded with time due to other numerous experiences I have undergone since the age of eight. The human mind tends to remember events that took place in the recent past than those that came much before (Winograd, 2006).
References
De, C. D. (2009). Psychological perspectives on ethical behavior and decision making. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Pub.
Gabbard, G. O. (2014). Psychodynamic psychiatry in clinical practice. American Psychiatric Pub.
Henton, W. W., & Iversen, I. H. (2011). Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning: A Response Pattern Analysis. New York, NY: Springer New York.
Peterson, G. W., Sampson Jr, J. P., Lenz, J. G., & Reardon, R. C. (2002). A cognitive information processing approach to career problem solving and decision making. Career choice and development, 4, 312-369.
Winograd, E., Emory Cognition Project Conference, & Emory Cognition Project conference on flashbulb memories. (2006). Affect and accuracy in recall: Studies of "flashbulb" memories. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.
