Dreams - What do dreams mean, why would we have them?
Dreams To the common dictionary a dream is defined as "a series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep." I agree with this statement because these things do occur in dreams. But what do dreams mean, why would we have them? And are they healthy for us? Dreams are vivid images and ideas that do, in fact, express emotions. Despite this, the most important factor of dreaming is the meanings it conveys about ones personal life. In my opinion all dreams have a significant meaning. . . "One of the things that we're familiar with in dreaming is the sense that familiar or prosaic objects are being put in very bizarre circumstances or situations" (King). I believe that having dreams is the best way of really discovering who you are. Dreams are uncontrollable, which makes them all the more frightening, tantalizing and vividly expressing who you are. Dreams seem to be the human subconscious speaking out and taking control. Dreams can express happiness, and sadness in ones life. I myself have experienced dreams which have made me come to realizations about myself. In keeping a dream journal you can communicate your ultimate creativity. Although dreams are the best form of communicating ones own wishes, it is the hardest thing to interpret. In my opinion, every dream has a hidden meaning. What though is the meaning
Discuss biological explanations of schizophrenia
'Research into schizophrenia shows that there is a major genetic component but the fact that concordance rates between identical twins is never 100% means that there must be environmental contributions.' Discuss biological explanations of schizophrenia. (30 marks) Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder involving the loss of contact with reality and a range of symptoms. There is considerable evidence that genetic factors are involved. This view considers that certain individuals possess certain genes which predispose them to schizophrenia. This means that it is inherited and we would expect to find that relatives have similar chances of developing the disorder. Indeed research has found that first degree relatives of people with schizophrenia are 18 times more likely to be affected than the general population. Monozygotic twins would be expected to have the same chance of having schizophrenia as they carry the same genes. Research by Gottesman and Shields has found high concordance rates (where both twins have the disorder) in monozygotic twins than in dizygotic. However if schizophrenia was solely caused by genes then we would expect a 100% concordance in monozygotic twins. Since this is not found then other factors must play a part. Mz twin studies have the advantage of controlling for genetics but the disadvantage of not controlling for environment. One way to get
Outline and Evaluate research (theories/ and studies) into the relationship between stress and physical illness.
Outline and Evaluate research (theories/ and studies) into the relationship between stress and physical illness. 18 marks Stress is an example of a behavior and experience explained in physiological and psychological terms. Recently awareness has been highlighted concerning harmful effects of stress on our lives and how it can be managed and prevented. Stress is often associated with anxiety, strain, tension, distress and fatigue. The effects of stress include biochemical physiological and psychological changes, most show with ill health or unusual behavior. Therefore medical and psychological research findings in this area are crucial in aiding our understanding of the issue. Stress is usually the way we perceive stressors e.g. divorce, and the way we feel we are able to cope with things. If we cannot cope with the situation we are faced with, then we experience psychological and physiological responses to the stressor. In the short term, stress can be quite stimulating and motivating. In the long term stress can result in illness and even death. During a state of stress, the sympathetic area of the nervous system stimulates the adrenal medulla to release the hormones adrenaline and non-adrenaline into the bloodstream. These hormones stimulate heart rate and cause the body to use extra energy resources in the body. This enables the body to deal with the stressor by
Compare the observation method to any other method
Compare the observation method to any other method. The observation method has many strengths and weaknesses. One of the strengths for a covert observation is that people are in their natural environment and as they don't know that they are being observed they are acting in their natural way, so there are no demand characteristics, unlike the experimental method. The experimental method has a real problem with this as in a laboratory experiment there is no hiding the fact that they are being observed, therefore may act in the way they think the researcher wants them too instead of acting in the way they normally would. Another difference between the observational method and the experimental method is that the observational method mostly uses qualitative data for their research and the experimental method mostly uses quantitative data. There are strengths and weaknesses of each way of collecting data. Qualitative data is subjective and is useful as it gives an in depth explanation of what the participant is feeling or why they may act the way they act, so giving more understanding to the research. The weaknesses of qualitative data is that it has to be interpreted and this is where you loose validity. Also it can be harder to interpret qualitative data because it is words and people's thoughts on a subject, where as quantitative data is objective and generates
Is Psychology a Science?
Is Psychology a Science? Psychology is commonly defined as 'scientific' study of human behaviour and cognitive processes. Broadly speaking the discussion focuses on the different branches of psychology, and if they are indeed scientific. However, it is integral in this to debate to understand exactly the major features of a science, in order to judge if psychology is in fact one. There must be a definable subject matter - this changed from conscious human thought to human and non-human behaviour, then to cognitive processes within psychology's first eighty years as a separate discipline. Also, a theory construction is important. This represents an attempt to explain observed phenomena, such as Watson's attempt to account for human and non-human behaviour in terms of classical conditioning, and Skinner's subsequent attempt to do the same with operant conditioning. Any science must have hypotheses, and indeed test them. This involves making specific predictions about behaviour under certain specified conditions, for example, predicting that by combining the sight of a rat with the sound of an iron bar banging behind his head, a small child will learn to fear the rat, as is the case of Little Albert (1923). Also, empirical methods are used in scientific fields to collect data, relevant to the hypothesis being tested, as is the case in many psychological experiments, such as the
Discuss research relating to bystander behaviour.
Lyndsey Paterson Discuss research relating to bystander behaviour (24 marks) The murder of Kitty Genovese and the bystander behaviour that was apparent that night triggered a great deal of research to explain bystander behaviour. Latane & Darley suspected that the fact that the number of possible helpers was so large might actually have contributed to their lack of intervention. They processes that might explain the reluctance of others to 'get involved' in situations such as the Kitty Genovese incident. The Diffusion of Responsibility explanation suggests that the more witnesses there are to a person needing help, the less anyone witness feels responsible for giving help. Latane & Darley conducted a lab based experiment using male university students seated in individual cubicles connected by an intercom system, believing they had come to take part in a discussion on collage life. Students were lead to believe they were on their own, alone with one other participant who would later appear to have an epileptic seizure, or an increasing number of other participants. Help was less likely and slower to be given when participants believed that other potential helpers were available. The findings from this study support the notion of diffusion of responsibility as, as suggested the more witness there were to the victim needing help, the less the participant felt a sloe
Outline one theory of the function of sleep
A) Outline one theory of the function of sleep (6 marks) One theory of sleep is the Restoration theory proposed by Oswald et al in 1966, which suggests that the function of sleep, especially REM sleep is to restore the energy levels and to repair the brain and body. Restoration can be physical and psychological. Physical restoration indicates that sleep is necessary to restore biological processes in the body through REM sleep and Stage 4/NREM sleep. NREM sleep is when the body's processes are restored such as hormone levels and REM sleep is when the brains processes are restored, such as protein synthesis. Psychological restoration says that sleep is a vital function as it restores psychological functions and helps to avoid the ill effects that lack of sleep causes. B) Outline and evaluate one or more studies relating to the theory of sleep in part A (18 marks) Restoration theory has been supported by numerous studies and ideas, which concern both physical and psychological restoration. In terms of the physical restoration theory Horne (1988) said that the main function of REM and stage 4 sleeps is to restore brain functioning, because body repair occurs mainly when the body is a period of relaxed wakefulness (NREM sleep). This is supported by the evidence that babies sleep longer than older people, as they need more REM sleep to assist the development of the control
Describe and Evaluate Psychodynamic, Behaviourist and Humanist Theory of Psychology
Describe and Evaluate Psychodynamic, Behaviourist and Humanist Theory of Psychology Psychology is a relatively new science, having only been officially recognised for a hundred years or so. In this short time there have been many different theories and approaches. In this essay three of the main approaches are discusses and positive and negative ideas of the three are given. The three approaches in discussion are Psychodynamics, Behaviourism and Humanism. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) developed an approach to psychology referred to as psychoanalysis. Other psychologists refer to Freud's theories as psychodynamics of the mind. Freud believed that different mental forces operate in the mind. He expanded his ideas to state that conflicting mental forces can cause inner conflict. Freud believed that a large amount of the processes that occur in the mind happen on an unconscious level. Freud believed that many people were unaware of the thoughts and processes of the mind. Freud argued that slips of the tongue and accidental damage caused by a person had roots in the unconscious and were expressing themselves without the subject being aware. Freud would argue that when a child accidently calls a teacher 'mum' the child unconsciously relates to the teacher as a mother. This mistake is termed a Freudian slip. Freud states that thoughts and memories were held in the unconscious by a
Behavioural Study of Obedience - Stanley Milgram
Behavioural Study of Obedience Stanley Milgram 963 Many atrocities had been committed in the Second World War. Many culprits were put on trial for their lives in Nuremberg, at the end of the war. The chief defence was that they were only following orders from somebody above. This argument, followed to it's extreme would absolve every person involved in an atrocity, leaving only Hitler as the only person who could be found guilty (as he took orders from no one)! Naturally, with feelings running high at the end of the war, this defence was rejected outright, and many defendants were found guilty and hanged. Popular opinion for some time after the end of the Second World War was that there was something in the German character that made them particularly cruel. This is a dispositional view. People are genetically determined to act in a certain fashion, or are brought up to act in a certain fashion. Milgram questioned this dispositional view of the German character. He felt that the situation that many people had found themselves in had led to their cruel behaviour. It would follow from this, that most people, regardless of nationality, would perform cruel acts upon another, under certain situations. The defence for many of the war criminals had been they had been following orders. Milgram, reasoned that people could commit atrocities when they are given orders by somebody
Psychology the factors of Smoking
Psychology Assignment 1 Describe & discuss how each psychological perspective explains smoking using empirical evidence to support your answer. Introduction This assignment is to explain the effects of smoking in each of the five different perspectives. Psychodynamic, Behaviourist, Humanistic, Cognitive and Biological perspective. Psychodynamic Perspective The oral stage is the first of Freud's psychosexual stages, in which it explains the infant's development during the first year of their life, during which the infant focuses on satisfying hunger orally. Sigmund Freud believed that during this stage of development the person can become either fixated/relative in the oral stage of development, the mouth is the focus of the libido. In which an infant's sexual pleasure and comfort centres on sucking, chewing, biting and accepting things into the mouth during this psychodynamic stage. Infants are naturally and adapted in the oral stage from birth, but if the mother weaned too early or too late; this may fail to be resolved later in life. This can then lead to oral fixation; these people such as smokers may then constantly "hunger" for activities involving the mouth (Sigmund Freud gross). The psychodynamic explanation for smoking is when a child has been over indulged in the oral stage they tend to be oral fixated in this particular stage which can dominate them as adults
