Challenging behaviour and learned helplessness

Introduction Challenging behaviour can be defined as a ‘Culturally abnormal behaviour(s) of such an intensity, frequency or duration that the physical safety of the person or others is likely to be placed in serious jeopardy, or behaviour which is likely to seriously limit use of, or result in the person being denied access to, ordinary … Read more

Critical elements of forming collaborative client relationships in psychotherapy

Introduction Throughout the years it is likely that many changes have occurred in the way that psychotherapy is conducted. While much earlier in its history, it seems that theory and technique might have been the primary, and in some cases the only, focus in the treatment situation. However, the change that has arguably occurred is … Read more

False memory – effects of adding multiple sensory imagery

Introduction False memory (FM) research has been abundant during the past three or four decades. FM has been demonstrated on varying tasks such as verbal reports of incidents being affected by language manipulation (Loftus and Palmer, 1974), semantic word-list recall tests (Roediger and McDermott, 1995), and the creation or implantation of childhood false memories via … Read more

Review of study on self-esteem, stress, coping, and depression

The transition to and journey through college has often been found to be a period that creates considerable stress in the lives of students. There are many factors that could help mitigate stress. In this study researcher, Chris Eisenbarth, is curious about the protective role self-esteem plays in the relationship between stress and depressive symptoms. … Read more

Marlin’s PTSD in Disney’s Finding Nemo

The movie I decided to analyze is Disney’s Finding Nemo.  Although the characters are all ocean creatures,  we can infer that the main character, Marlin, Nemo’s dad, displayed signed of post traumatic stress disorder.  Post traumatic stress disorder is a mental health condition that is triggered by experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event.  The event … Read more

The Relationship between Classical Conditioning, Environmental Cues and Drug Tolerance

For centuries human behavior has been dictated by contextual cues, like nonverbal behavior that we observe from another, the context of the environment we are in, or specific stimuli which force us to behave in a certain way. In his study with rats, Siegel was the first to introduce the link between classical conditioning, the … Read more

The Mandela Effect: A Fake Phenomenon

Many people to this day have claimed to have experienced false memories, or recollections of events that did not actually occur. Perhaps these people are experiencing the Mandela Effect: the phenomenon in which people have clear memories of events that did not occur or misremember significant dates or facts. After Nelson Mandela’s death in 2013, … Read more

Cognitive Behavior Therapy for children who have experienced trauma

Little, Akin-Little, and Gutierrez (2009) emphasize the need for school psychologist to acquire training on meeting the needs of children and adolescents who have experienced trauma. Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TF-CBT) is one of three interventions that is empirically supported within the trauma field. Most research has supported the effectiveness of TF-CBT among sexually abused … Read more

A Nature vs Nurture Debate on Aggression

“Aggression” is a familiar term in common everyday language, as well as a key concept in the study of social psychology. The word “aggressive” could be used to define a person assaulting another or a carnivorous animal seeking its prey. For the benefit of this paper, the more narrow definition in psychology is most appropriate … Read more

Nature v nurture

Charles Darwin first proposed the theory of evolution in his book “On the Origin of Species” that gave a better understanding of how animal species evolved over time. Gregor Mendel’s work laid the foundation for genetics, which was formerly considered as an alternative to Darwin’s theories. Nevertheless, particular combinations of both Charles Darwin’s ideas on … Read more

Annotated Bibliography and Outline

August 8, 2018 Axelrod, S. D. (2012). “Self-awareness”: At the interface of executive development and psychoanalytic therapy. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 32(4), 340-357. doi: 10.1080/07351690.2011.609364 The primary topic of interest that Axelrod presented in his research was focused on executive consultation and how it is typically and primarily used by firms and employees who hold leadership roles. … Read more

The True Nature of Antisocial Personality Disorder

At some point, every person has declined to attend a social event or rejected an outing with friends simply because they wished to stay home. Often times, young people especially will hastily advertise these kinds of ‘antisocial tendencies’ without realizing that their wording is off. Many people believe that antisocial personality disorder is the act … Read more

Nature vs. Nurture: To what extent are we governed by our genetic makeup or upbringing?

Introduction: The nature vs. nurture debate has interested scientists throughout history. The debate goes back as far as the Greek classical period in which Plato favoured nature, whilst Aristotle sided with nurture. The argument developed among ancient psychologists because of their interest in how individuals obtained their knowledge. In 1869 however, English Polymath, Francis Galton, … Read more