Psychological Perspectives of Understanding Essay Example for Free

Psychological Perspectives of Understanding Essay Introduction This booklet will introduce you to the main psychological perspectives to the understanding of a child’s behaviour development. Each perspective will be described in as much detail as possible, and the theorist that are linked to them. The main perspectives are; * Psychodynamic * Freud * Behaviourist * Skinner * Cognitive * Piget * Humanist * Rogers, Maslow, Cooley and mead * Social learning The psychodynamic perspective This perspective is very much based on the early work of Sigmund Freud. It is believed that behaviour is made from a child’s subconscious feelings, which all come from life experiences. It is viewed as a child’s problem as an outward and visible symptom of invisible conflicts. All the conflicts may come from trauma, loss, or from a strained/troubled relationship with parents or carers. Children do not have any inner resources that help them understand their feelings completely so they may be shown in inappropriate and difficult behaviour. Sigmund Freud said that â€Å"when a child’s too painful or too difficult feelings are left untalked about, they leak out in difficult and challenging behaviour or in neurotic symptoms.† The source of a painful feeling is buried under a defensive mechanism that is very hard to find in a child; because of this most children do not understand why they are behaving this way. A psychodynamic assessments are always carried out by psychiatrist as they use techniques that are designed to provide an insight into their past. To do this they use the response of the child to make inferences about sub-conscious motives for behaviour. Once they have understood the child’s behaviour the psychologists will start an intervention which will help the child express their feelings instead of it coming through their behaviour. These can be done through the following;  * Build a supportive relationship with a significant adult * Help the child to talk about what they are feeling in an secure environment * Express painful feeling through drama, storytelling, play or cartoons The behaviourist perspective This perspective is based from the work Skinner. It was said â€Å"Law of Effect† is the behaviour that leads to strengthened behaviour which is ignored or unsatisfying which is all weakened. Behaviourists claim that all behaviour of children are learned and can be changed by systems, such as rewards or punishment. There are two types of rewards behaviourists use, these are informal and formal. * Informal – acknowledgement or praise * Formal – clear targets for example stickers, tokens or points which all then lead to bigger rewards. The behaviourists also claimed that the behaviour requires a scientific approach which is completely based on objectivity and experimentation. The methods they were use were considered to be unscientific, so instead it was all placed on observations on their behaviour rather than a searches for the cause of the behaviour through the child’s past. Behavioural assessments in schools involve observation and recording of a child’s behaviour. When they are observing it is all taken down on an observation checklist, which includes the following titles; * Antecedent * Behaviour * Consequences All this is then used to form a baseline for a post-intervention can be assessed. The Cognitive perspective This perspective shows how a child’s develops understanding what is around them. This refers to different mental activities such as; * Listening * Speaking * Learning * Understanding All the theories of cognitive development concentrate on developments of  their intellectual skills. All the skills that we have are the ones that have been learnt through cognitive development. If none of the children have cognitive skills then they wouldn’t be able to put past experiences or plan future events, cognitive development is very much concerned with how the mental processes work and develop. There were two psychologists who studied cognitive development, there name was Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. Jean Piaget was a psychologist who looked at a child’s developing their reasoning skills. Piaget carried out detailed observations of them and as his work started taking shape on how our understanding a child’s intellectual skills and as a result of this he has made changes in education. Piaget understood that cognitive developments occurred in stages, his research concentrated on how children learn and start to gain an understanding of their stage of development to be able to learn new concepts. He identified a four-stage process of cognitive development all the way through childhood. He stated that every child would go through each stage but not at the same time, but he also said that some children would sometimes never reach the later stages. The four stages are; * Sensorimotor stage (0-2 years) * Children at very young ages start to learn by their own activity and movement. Everything babies touch or see they put into their mouths or hold them tight and they examine them closely. A child develops an understanding through something called schema. Schema is a mental construction which contains all the information a child has about a particular aspect of the world. * Pre-operational stage (2-7 years) * At this stage children start to show evidence of thinking but it’s not logical thinking, they are not able to perform mental operations. Children will start to use symbolic behaviour such as pretend play, language and drawings. * Concrete operations stage (7-11 years) * At this stage children are able to understand any ideas in a much more logical way but they sometimes still find it hard to understand concepts. * Formal operational stage (age 12 to adult) * At this stage children are able to think in a way which is more abstract and logical way, they can use reasoning skills; they are applying a general principle to a particular situation. Children are more flexible in the way they think. There are two people who have been highly interested in cognitive styles of therapy. Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis, Aaron Beck has used methods of cognitive behavioural therapy to treat many people who have or are suicidal, depressed or may have personality disorders. Whereas Albert Ellis looked at the different ways to change their behaviour my using methods of Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy, he used this to show his patients that their feelings were results of different habits by conditioning rather than being realistic. Therapists that use this approach use training and role-play techniques to modify their behaviour. The humanist perspective This perspective makes positive aspects of development and growth, this emphasises a person’s unique experiences to a personal thoughts. There are four psychologists that are specialised in this perspective, these four are; * Carl Rogers * Rogers developed the concept on self-esteem. According to him everyone has an idea of what someone’s ideal self should be. He believed that if your image of your self is the same as your ideal self then you have good self-esteem. Rogers said that the development of self-esteem all depends on positive regard from others, the effect of a child’s self-esteem will come from their parents’ unconditional love and affection. Children will start to cope with different situations as they get older, for example a sense of achievement or failure in either sports or their educational skills. Rogers also considered cultural factors, gender and physical attributes to come to his conclusion. * Abraham Maslow * Maslow’s theory is based on individuals that are being motivated through seeking to develop through five levels of need. The most basic needs are physiological which are survival instinct, which is then followed by safety needs, belonging and loving needs, self-esteem needs and at the very top is personals achievements and growth. * Cooley * Cooley proposed â€Å"looking glass† theory, which means that the behaviour from children to others acts like a looking glass which gives us a reflection of ourselves. It raises people’s self-esteem. * Mead * Mead had the view that everyone has two aspects â€Å"I† and â€Å"me†. This means that â€Å"I† is the social responses of individual and â€Å"me† being the responses and attitudes of others. It was important of the communication with others for the development of self-esteem. The Social learning perspective Social psychology looks at aspects of development such as behaviour such as being in a group, leadership, non-verbal behaviour and aggression. The social perspective looks at the environment, interactions with others that have influenced the child’s behaviour and attitudes. Bandura theory emphasises on the environment and the social steps of learning. His view is that it would be part of a child’s self development, is what they have observed and imitated from people around them.

Destiny, Fate and Free Will in Homers Odyssey :: Homer, Odyssey Essays

Fate and Free Will in Homer's Odyssey When we look at Greek Mythology we often run into the gods of that era. Sometimes they are merely backdrops to the human element of the story but in stories such as The Odyssey the gods play a prominent if not vital role to the central themes of the story. Fate has a place in the Greek world but its place is not the same as it is in other scenarios or worlds. It is important to understand the word before we discuss it. Fate as far as Greek mythology goes is not just fate. By most standards fate means that things occur for an unknown reason that no one has any control over. However, in the world of Greek Mythology fate does not just happen. The gods engineer fate and they interfere to make things happen that might not otherwise have happened. Since the players do not always know of the gods' involvement, things may actually appear to be fate but in reality be engineered happenings. Â  Free will on the other hand is not engineered. It speaks to the concept of having full authority over one's aspirations and ultimate direction. The key there is "ultimate." The gods can make up the plan and choose the path, but the people had to walk it. Therefore, fate and free will are not mutually exclusive and they both go on throughout The Odyssey. In The Odyssey life is one's own responsibility; instead of leaving all things up to fate, the characters had a significant influence upon his or her own existence. In The Odyssey the gods are responsible for controlling many aspects of where the story goes, but the people still have to choose to go. The gods in The Odyssey are who held Odysseus captive for over eight years. They were responsible for his capture in the first place and then refused to let him go for almost a decade. When they finally decided he should be allowed to find his way home they made it known to his captor Kalypso. However Odysseus still had to choose to leave. Kalypso tried to keep him by offering immortality. "You would stay here, and guard this house, and be immortal" (Homer 267). Odysseus could have stayed but he chose to go. Some say that the gods knew Odysseus would not stay and that is why they decided to let him go.

American Literature and Research

Society affects the lives of people who live in it. It dictates how they should behave and establishes norms that are expected to be obeyed otherwise people who do not fulfill the expectations are considered as deviant, rebellious and society’s outcasts. Society, however, is susceptible to change, as it is highly shaped by the events and its resulting pervasive ideas, occurring in certain periods of time.The three stories, â€Å"The Vanishing American Hobo† by Jack Kerouac, â€Å"Harrison Bergeron† by Kurt Vonnegut and â€Å"Soldier’s Home â€Å"by Ernest Hemingway clearly illustrates how society changes and how it affects the people in it and how people attempts to suppress deviance. The story â€Å"Soldier’s Home† is a story of a young man who returns as a changed man to Oklahoma in 1919 after the First World War. This story was first published in 1925. The young soldier Harold â€Å"Krebs† enlisted in the Marines and goes to war f or two years.When he returns home it is very obvious that he is not the same hopeful, slick, religious young man in the picture who goes to a Methodist College and enjoys college lives with fraternity brothers anymore. Now he is passive and refers to himself as not part of the â€Å"Kingdom†. Moreover, it seems he does not want to be involved with life in general, the reason is that,† He did not want consequences †¦. he wanted to live along without consequences,† therefore he withdrew (Hemingway 2007).Around him there is an air and sense of loss, he even has to lose his own war stories as he had to tell lies about his experiences since people in his town decided they have had enough of the stories of atrocities related by the soldiers who came home earlier than him. Moreover, there are so many things that he does not want to take part anymore even courting as it states, â€Å"He did not want to have to do any courting† (Hemingway 2007). It is pretty ob vious that the war had changed Krebs, and the line â€Å"he couldn’t make her see it†, when he comforts his mother after telling her that he does not love her, hinted to the reason (Hemingway 2007).The war had taught him a lot of things including stifling his emotions. And most importantly, he could not explain to his mother what he had gone through in the war, he could not make her understand and see the horror the war has exposed him. But his family, especially his parents, could not see why he has to act that way while the other soldiers in the neighborhood had clearly moved on, having good jobs and getting married, and so they pressured him to go back to the normal society. The First World War brought many countries into a global armed conflict that was considered the first devastating and horrible event in all of human history.People died by the thousands and many suddenly find themselves losing their family and friends. The soldiers, especially, are daily exposed not only to the hardships of war but the terror and anxiety that accompanies it. Trench warfare specifically exposed the soldiers to a very harsh, stagnant and extremely dangerous environment. Right before their eyes skulls and brains were blown away. An example of a horrible incident is when a man who had the top of his head blown away was groaning like an animal for three hours before he died (Hemingway Lecture Notes).Soldiers surrounding him cannot avoid being affected by such painful human torture, as they were helpless to ease his pain. No wonder that an incident like this made many soldiers who return home after the war broken, without hope and suffer emotional numbness and disbelief like Krebs did. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs it is normal that soldiers experiences a kind of trauma (shellshock and post traumatic stress disorder) after the war since it is indeed a very shocking human experience.Soldiers feel somehow dissociated from what they know is  "normal life†. It is possible that the other soldiers like Charley Simmons who easily adjusted to normal life in Oklahoma did not suffer as much as Krebs did. Studies revealed that soldiers do not experience the same kind of trauma as not all of them are exposed to more â€Å"prolonged, extensive, and horrifying† situation as Krebs probably was. However, society put pressure on them by expecting them to move on, to forget the war (â€Å"National Center† 2007).The short story â€Å"Harrison Bergeron† reflects the 1950’s conformity lifestyle and the rebellious protestation of a young boy against it. It was published in 1961. The story describes the hopeful and desperate attempts of that society to eliminate differences and to achieve equality especially in terms of intellect and physical appearance. If any man has above normal average intelligence, they put a metal handicap radio in his ear which in every 20 seconds, a noise from the government transm itter will interrupt his thinking, so that he cannot use his intelligence for his advantage.If a woman is beautiful, a hideous mask covers her face to conceal her beauty. Moreover, people are burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot to keep them from being graceful in their movements or to reduce their strength. The point is, anything that can make them look as superior from every body else are made into a handicap. They do not want â€Å"to go back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else† (Vonnegut 2005).Moreover, the idea of disobeying the law, when Hazel suggested that they made a hole to take out some lead balls from the birdshot canvas bag, was an unthinkable thing for according to George, â€Å" The minute people start cheating on laws, what do you think happens to society†( Vonnegut 2005)? They believe that cheating on laws brings social upheavals that they do not like. The strange thing is that Hazel and George and the peop le around them seem to get used to the idea of conformity, as George states,† I don't notice it any more. It just a part of me† (Vonnegut 2005).However, their son, Harrison, is put into jail and eventually killed for rebelling against it. As the Handicapper General attacked their son on TV, parents of Harrison were not able to help him. Two are several forces that led into the conformity of the 1950†s: the Korean conflict and the threat of communism. But the underlying root cause of it all is the fear of the terrors of war that they previously experienced in the Second World War. Therefore to avoid any conflict, social conformity is encouraged since they believed that conformity is unity.The place of men and women in society were clearly defined: women stay home while the men go out to work and achieve the American dream. This is being depicted by Hazel and George Bergeron: Hazel stays at home while George works. Men are especially drawn to the collective idea of à ¢â‚¬Å"organization man†; they were expected to work in corporations, to put on flannel suits and pursue the American dream. The American dream is like the Handicapper General that dictates the ideas and dreams of the people. Every one is encouraged to think and act alike and was preoccupied with the lure of consumerism and materialism.Conformity are also seen in the sameness of house designs , like the one in Levittown and the sameness of appetite, as Americans began to be obsessed with fast foods. Conformity was especially achieved with the aid of Television. As in the story, all of the action occurred in front of the Television (Costello 2007). However, the young generations are beginning to rebel, as symbolized by Harrison, but the force of conformity was so strong that parents are in bondage to it, unable to extend the necessary psychological and emotional help that their children desperately needed.The â€Å"Vanishing American Hobo† was published in 1960. It tells of the experiences of the hobos as they travels like vagabonds from place to place across America usually with back packs on their backs. They are a people who choose to live as exiles of society, who sleep just anywhere, to experience the freedom that they desire, â€Å"There's nothing nobler than to put up with a few inconveniences like snakes and dust for the sake of absolute freedom† (Kerouac 2008). But freedom from what?Obviously from their restrictive society who dictates what they should do or have. According to Kerouac, the hobo â€Å"is born of pride, having nothing to do with a community but with himself and other hobos and maybe a dog† (Kerouac 2008). This means that they are proud of their lifestyle or subculture, that they deliberately do not want to associate with society and maintain little intimate interest with other people, aside from the hobos like them. The author laments that they are quickly becoming a vanishing lot because of the police and the m edia.The police, riding in their tax-paid police, cars searches for them everywhere suspecting them as possible spies against the government while the media, on the other hand, portray them as â€Å"the rapist, the strangler, and child-eater† so that adults and children stay away from them and no longer provides them with the food that they need (Kerouac 2008). This shows clearly the attempts of the government to suppress the subculture that they symbolizes and to force them back to what is â€Å"normal†.In the wake of the conformity of the 1950’s arises the Beat generation. â€Å"Beat generation† is attributed to Jack Kerouac. Though it could mean being defeated or weary of life â€Å"like being pushed up against the wall† or implying a sense of being used or raw Jack would also like it to refer to what is beatific (The Beat Generation Lecture). Jack and his friends, in ushering in the beat generation, encourages the protest of the 60’s aga inst the established society of materialism, where everyone are encouraged to own cars and decent homes.The generation, having experienced uncertainties of the Depression and the terror of war in childhood, is a disillusioned lot who desperately wants to hold on to something that they can believe in(Beat Generation Lecture Notes; Abieva [no date]). They do not find such meaning in the collective conformity of the 1950’s, the generation of their fathers. In fact, they do not trust this collective society who was responsible for the bad circumstances of depression and global wars.The hobos, particularly, are glorified as people who defy the restrictive and demanding norms of society in pursuit of freedom. They symbolize the solitary desire of that generation, to be left alone, to figure things out for themselves, to search for meaning. As the period was compounded by hysteria of the rise of communism, it seems that the right thing to do in that generation, to preserve ones indi vidual identity, is to quit that society.Attempts were made to discourage this deviance (subculture) as what McCarthy did in his pursuit against communism. The media and police were effective tools for suppression (Abieva, [no date]). The three stories therefore clearly give an insight into the societies in the periods of American history following just after turbulent struggles. The horrors and uncertainties of the Wars and Depression molded the consciousness of the people, and as they try to cope with the challenge of their era, it therefore changed their way of thinking and lifestyle.People become united for certain causes and also united in their sufferings. However, some people do try to get out of its safe mold, to carve a life according to the dictates of their own minds. To be different is what scares most people so that society always attempts to suppress this deviance back to conformity by exerting force or pressure. Works Cited Abieva, Natalia. Protest and Experiment in t he Literature of the Beat Generation. Fairfield University. [no date]. Accessed November 4, 2008 Costello, Mr. Conformity Notes: 1950s Lecture On Society. Canfield Foundation Website. March 2007. Accessed November 4, 2008 < http://servtlc. access-k12. org/ achievement/Fifties_Conformity. htm> Hemingway, Ernest. â€Å"Soldier’s Home†. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. 2007. Accessed November 4, 2008 Kerouac , Jack. â€Å"The Vanishing American Hobo†.Cloud Bird Trail Home. 2008. Accessed November 4, 2008 â€Å"National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder â€Å". United States Department of Veterans Affairs. May 2007. Accessed November 4, 2008 Vonnegut, Kurt. â€Å"Harrison Bergeron†. West Valley College. September 2005. Accessed November 4, 2008

The Holocaust And The Nazi Regime During World War II Essay

Introduction The Second World War is seen by the modern world to be the most famous war that shaped the communities of the world today, but for the Jewish community in Europe at the time this was the war to fight for their own existence. The Holocaust was the systematic extinction of six million Jews by the Nazi regime during World War 2. Of the millions of Jewish people that lost their lives there were many that did resist and did escape the Nazism and Nazi racial policy that was conducted on the Jewish lives throughout the war. There were different ways the Jews did resist through different dimensions of wellbeing, through uprising in the ghettos and camps in a stretch to revolting against their German captivators whilst secretly keeping their spiritual and religious beliefs as something that the Nazis could never physically take from them. The Jews showed resistance to German control also by escaping the camps, and creating Armies and Partisan Groups to fight back. 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