Analysis of psychological assumptions made in a newspaper article

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Psychology Coursework

                                        Word Count: 962

The source

The source is taken from the Daily Mail (3rd November 2009). It concerns the feelings of a woman whose sister was murdered by her father and uncles in an ‘honour killing’.

Psychological issues

The first psychological issue is that dreams are a way for the unconscious mind to express suppressed thoughts. This is evident in the article where Nuray says he sister was “restless and unhappy”. This issue is supported by Freud’s work on the interpretation of dreams, saying that dreams illustrate the logic and suppression of the unconscious mind.

The second issue is clear in the source where it describes the accused as sitting ‘impassively in the dock’. It assumes that the killer has a delayed moral development because he is not showing any emotion after killing his daughter. This relates to Kohlberg’s research on moral development which states that criminal’s moral development is delayed.

The third psychological issue is that the death of a family member is a stressful experience. The article states that Nuray ‘let out a long piercing howl of anguish’  This issue is supported by Homes and Rahe who developed the social re-adjustment scale which said that death of a family member is a stressful event.  

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Evidence and Research

Issue 1: Dreams

Freud's theory begins with the concept of repression, a cognitive process through which we deny wishes, fears, and thoughts that are threatening to us (make us anxious). Repression creates an unconscious, an aspect of us that is outside of our waking awareness. The repressed material does not remain static in the unconscious mind because there are no constraints in the unconscious mind, therefore this material can be a source of emotional or unwilled behaviour.  The repressed thoughts and fears come forward when we sleep. In Nuray’s case this is her sister’s ...

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