Based on your topic from week #13 and #14, and based on your research sources, I would like you to synthesize your findings and write an informative stand-alone post about your topic.
By stand-alone I mean something your family can read and understand without having to go back to your sources to get additional information or information needed to clarify what you are talking about. Keep in mind that you are completing a college course and you know a great deal about the topic so you need to take ownership of the material and write with an authority (or command) of the topic.
List one question you still have about this topic. "One question I still have about this topic is...."
Make sure to use the terms and concepts we have covered in class so far as well as those you learned from your research.
At the bottom of your post provide links or reference for the three sources.
List the terms and concepts you used in this post.
Let me know if you have any questions.
--Dr. M
Stand alone:
Intelligence:
Goddard wanted to learn more about intelligence and how it related to genetics. goddard followed the Kallikaks family over several generations and tracked back also to determine if this family shows if intelligence can be passed on. The charts showed when the non-feebleminded chain was broken when introducing a feebleminded individual into the genetics line, then more generations were found to carry that feebleminded trait. a couple factors that were not taken into consideration were what individuals they were being compared to and what labled this family as feeble. When testing certain family memebers, the ones that were living in lower SES economic situations and had no schooling were being compared to those who had schooling, a wealthy family, and a safe environment. These situations help support the investigation of nature and nurture on intelligence. Nature is provided by your parents as your foundation. Nurture is what you do with that foundation and how it is molded by the surroundings and enviornment. One way that this is tested today is in twin studies. By taking twins at birth and raising them both in opposite environments and then comparing their IQ scores, they can sortof determine weather the difference is because of Nature or Nurture. This theory of Intelligence and Genetics being connected still has not been figured out fully. psychologists today are still working towards deciding how close they are related.
One question i still have: I am still questioning how an external environment can shape Intelligence over time. And how intelligence would vary to different environments.
Sources: http://psych.fullerton.edu/nsegal/twins.html
http://allpsych.com/journal/iq.html
http://www.iq-tests.eu/iq-test-Genetics-versus-environment-400.html
Terms: goddard, Kallikak, Twin studies, Nature, Nurture, IQ, Genetics
A lobotomy is a surgical procedure that was used mostly in the 1950’s as a way of treating mental illness. It was developed by Walter Freeman after he did research on another scientist who had developed a procedure called the transorbital lobotomy. The transorbital lobotomy was developed by Moniz, and was a timely procedure which involved drilling a hole into the side of a patients head and carefully severing connections in the brain. Freeman had somewhat of a thirst for fame and did not want his procedure to take as long as the one developed by Moniz; so was born the frontal or ‘ice pick’ lobotomy. It took only a few moments to perform the procedure and patients were usually released the next day. Freeman would insert an ice pick (he later developed his own tools) into the eye sockets of the patient and knock the pick up into the brain with a hammer. He would then rotate the pick from side to side, as well as up and down, destroying parts of the brain. Many patients who had this procedure done were very zombie-like afterwards and had little personality. The procedure, however, became very popular and Freeman was even doing them out of the back of his car at one point. It wasn’t until a woman died during a lobotomy that Freeman was put to a halt in his procedures. Lobotomies are still performed today but in a much safer and less frequent manner. There are still stories emerging about people who have had lobotomies and how their lives were severely altered whether it was for the good or for the bad.
One question I still have is why people are continuing to get lobotomies done if there has been research as well as many results showing what happens to most people after a lobotomy is performed.
Terms: lobotomy,(frontal, transoribital), Freeman, Moniz, mental illness, procedure
Sources:
1. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5014080
2. http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/lobotomy.html
3. http://www.psychologicalscience.com/history/2011/04/topical-blog-week-13-due-friday.html
Progressive relaxation is a technique that was invented by Edmund Jacobson and is used to help reduce anxiety and stress by relaxing a variety of different muscle groups throughout the body. Muscle tension tends to come hand in hand with anxiety and stress, so when relaxing the muscles you will have a better chance of lowering these problems. This usually helps to reduce the tension in the muscles which in turn reduces anxiety and depression which in turn prevents more tension and so on. It is like one big circle. The technique is not only used for people with anxiety and stress but is also used to help those who have tension headaches, backaches, muscle spasms, insomnia and many more problems. This technique may even help with everyday problems and helps to increase overall self-esteem, concentration, and even helps with creativity. It can help to reduce heart rate and blood pressure as well. The technique usually involves a patient lying on their back with their eyes closed and maintain a steady breathing rate. They are told to focus on relaxing their body and then begin to relax each group of muscles individually until all parts are completely relaxed. Eventually, individuals can take part in this procedure without the assistance of a therapist and it gets easier over time. This is a good type of therapy because such a wide variety of individuals can benefit from it. In a way it seems to be similar to hypnosis.
One question I still have about the topic is how do the muscles help with problems like stuttering and irritable bowel syndrome? I would like to know more detailed information, like the anatomical part of how it all works.
Terms used: Progressive relaxation, Edmund Jacobson, hypnosis
http://www.hypnos.co.uk/hypnomag/jacobson.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_muscle_relaxation
http://cas.umkc.edu/casww/relaxatn.htm
We, as humans, are incredibly fragile, yet durable beings. One factor that shows us this in very vivid ways is the effect that wars and being a refugee. We hear some amazing stories of survivors and some other stories of being forever changed. When we look at the mental effects of these traumatic events there are some common underlying themes and disorders. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that has risen in prevalence in recent wars, and has become especially common in our veterans returning from the wars in the Middle East. It appears that our soldiers have increased risks of developing this condition when they are assigned to multiple deployments to these conflict areas. Now that we have evidence supporting the cause of this we should begin taking preventative measures against this, right? Wrong. Because our military is shrinking, along with its budget, research has shown that we are redeploying soldiers who are already suffering from mental stressors. Since we know of probably causes of the increase of this mental condition and yet no preventative measures have been taken the next best thing we can do is treat these individuals the best we can. Just like the field of psychology, this needs to develop from simple head knowledge to practical, measurable means. Psychology progressed from Wundt’s basic research to Henry Goddard and IQ testing. In the same way our military and government need to move from their head knowledge to implementing practical measures to help our veterans. Some steps have been taken through the Resilience program to help soldiers adapt back to civilian life by changing the way they view the world. They’re trying to move it from having an us vs. them mentality or imagining the worst possible scenario to having a more balanced, realistic view of life. This is simply one emerging idea of how to treat these patients. However, in psychology there was a lot of adaption among the various fields of psychotherapy. There was Abraham Maslow and his client based therapy which focused on building up the client and helping them self actualize. There was also Freud who looked into a person’s subconscious to try and dig up their current mental issues. In this same way, the mental health field will have to try and discover which particular therapy greatest aids these mentally scarred veterans. In the scientific community there is always additional research taking place. In the area of traumatic events there has been a lot of ground covered lately, especially with all of the natural disasters taking place all over the world. In psychology cognitive-behaviorism is the most current method of psychotherapy. However, thankfully, science is an ever progressing field and advances are continually being discovered every day. Hopefully, we will continually strive for further beneficial, practical practices that will help out the less fortunate.
One remaining question that I have about this topic is what it exactly looks like for mental trauma to be passed on from one generation to another and to have long lasting negative effects. The only example that I can think of that exhibits anything remotely like this would be our grandparents or great-grandparents after the great Depression. This bad economic time period left that particular generation permanently scarred and left them being tight with money, extremely resourceful, and distrusting of the government/banks. When this generation raised their kids then some of these traits were obviously passed down, like thriftiness for example. This is the only example that I can think of and I would really like to get a look at another example dealing with war, refugees, or displaced persons. Would fear be something passed down from generation to generation? Maybe hatred? This is what I would like to learn more about.
1) http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/infomark.do?action=interpret&type=retrieve&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&docId=A210920895&prodId=AONE&source=null&version=1.0&userGroupName=uni_rodit&finalAuth=true
2) http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/infomark.do?action=interpret&source=null&prodId=AONE&userGroupName=uni_rodit&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&docId=A211566897&type=retrieve&version=1.0
3) http://content.epnet.com/pdf23_24/pdf/2009/APH/01Sep09/47135449.pdf?T=P&P=AN&K=47135449&EbscoContent=dGJyMNHX8kS
4) http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/infomark.do?action=interpret&source=null&prodId=AONE&userGroupName=uni_rodit&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&docId=A91088424&type=retrieve&version=1.0
Terms: Wundt, Abraham Maslow, Freud, Henry Goddard, IQ testing, subconscious, self actualize, client centered therapy, cognitive-behaviorism
Humanistic approach to psychology paved the way for the Client Centered therapy. Humanistic views are considered "holistic" views and was pioneered by Carl Rogers and Maslow.
Humanistic views are all about the client- reaching self- actualization (reaching one full potential) and peak experiences (highs/enjoyment). Humanisitc psychologists not only look at through the eyes of being an observer, but they try to look through their clients eyes as well.
This view of psychology isn't taken very seriously- kind of like the chiropractics of doctors.
Rogers believed in empathy, reflection and accepting the client as a person. He also chose not to label people. His client centered therapy fit in nicely with the humanistic view because it's all about the client and realzing their own worth. Humanistic views believe that people perceive according to their own experiences. Their experiences affect their personality and lead them to change their behavior to satisfy the self.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanistic_psychology
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/276011/humanistic-psychology
http://web.cortland.edu/andersmd/human/menu.html
terms: self actualization, Maslow, Rogers, empathy, humanistic, reflection,
Clinical Psychology
Clinical Psychology is the largest area of psychology. This field of clinical psychology is focused mainly on treating patients with mental disorders. It is basically the treatment of a patient by researching their thoughts, talking to them, and finding where the mental problems lie within. There are many different aspects of clinical psychology as well. It can take up to 10 years to get your degree in clinical psychology. There are two different types of clinical psychology. There is the Ph.D. which is more along the lines of reasearching. There is also the Psy. D. which is more along the lines of actual practice of psychology. Carl Rogers, one of the main advocates and psychologists for clinical psychology is important to the history of it. He enforced the client-centered therapy to allow for clinical psychology to take off with the comfortable environment surrounding the patient. Clinical psychologists today can make many differnt amounts of money but many make six figures or more. Clinical psychology is a growing branch of psychology and has a positive future.
http://psychology.about.com/b/2009/06/15/what-is-clinical-psychology.htm
terms: clinical psychology, Carl Rogers, client-centered therapy, phD, psyD, mental illness
Alan Turing is a man who did a tests concerning artificial intelligence in the 1940’s. Alan Turning was a pioneer of the computer science field. Through his observations in his field, he wondered could computers think? Could they reason? Are they smarter than humans? To test this he developed what he called the Turing Test or Imitation game. During this test there are three subjects involved, A) a woman B) an interrogator C) a man or a woman. The interrogator is in a separate room and has to decide which person is male and female. The computer is then thrown into the mix to see how results compare.
Apparently they have found some of these ideas in Descartes writings as well. Descartes thought that machines could not think. He argued that it was inconceivable that a machine could put together words in a sentence to meaningfully answer whatever is felt. Turing however felt differently. He felt that within 50 years the computer would be able to play the imitation game with the human not having more than a 70 percent chance of beating the computer.
Turing was not entirely wrong. Recently there was a Jeopardy game played by two of the best human jeopardy players, Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings. The computer ended up beating them extremely badly, however there were instances of error on the computer’s part that humans would not of made. For example, repeating already given and incorrect answers. Maybe Descartes was right about computers not being able to think, but I don’t know if that is fully true because they did beat two of the best Jeopardy players at their own game. When thinking about this, I think the main difference in computers and human thinking is consciousness and self awareness. Computers have neither and that is the difference.
One question I still have about this would be, should IBM have gotten to keep the 77,000 dollars the computer won.
http://www.uni.edu/yates/Cog%20Psych/Turing%20Test.pdf
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing-test/
http://www.popeater.com/2011/02/16/watson-jeopardy-ken-jennings-brad-rutter/