Please read chapter 13. After reading the chapter, please respond to the following questions:
What were three (3) things from the chapter that you found interesting? Why were they interesting to you? What one (1) thing did you find the least interesting? Why?
What did you read in the chapter that you think will be most useful to in understanding the history of psychology?
How, in what ways, does this chapter relate (build on) to the previous chapters?
What topic would you like to learn more about? Why ?
What ideas did you have while reading the chapter?
Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Chapter 13
The first thing I was interested in knowing was that modern clinical psychology emerged from World War II. This caught my attention because I was not aware of this information. Shortly after the war the credentials of training on how to become a clinical psychologist was discussed. The outcome of the training model was a combination of scientific expertise along with expertise in diagnoses and treatment of mental disorders. It was determined that the clinical psychologist had to earn a PH.D. Degree and had to complete a research-based doctoral dissertation. I think I found this so interesting because of the qualifications. They were developed a little after World War II and there a fairly if not the same today. I find that quite interesting. However, the requirements were set at a high standard so I can understand why they haven’t been changed.
The second thing I found interesting was about Humanistic psychology being developed and how it was thought. Humanistic psychology sometimes called psychology’s “third force”, because it rejected the determinism of psychoanalysis and behaviorism and proposed that humans are free to develop and control their own lives, rather than being tied to their past. Humanistic psychologists believe that all humans have the potential for personal growth and self-actualization, a concept investigated by Abraham Maslow. He studied real life examples of self-actualization people. Self-actualizers perceive reality as it is. They’re independent, creative, spontaneous, moral, and unique. I found this statement quite catching being that I look at myself in this manner. I think that there are a lot of self-actualizers out there in the world; it’s just hard to distinguish who’s not afraid of being themselves.
The third thing I found interesting happened to be about the production of a new training model for clinicians. This one focused more on practice than a research-based dissertation. This required one to receive a Psy.D. degree, a doctorate in psychology rather than a Ph.D. Today. APA accredited programs are based on both models of the training model. I think this was interesting to me because it is a two sided model. And I agree that there should be more practice in the field rather that a research-based dissertation.
The one thing I found least interesting would of had to been the business aspect of psychology. However I know that this is an important aspect of psychology and that the business world does rely on psychological aspects. I think the most useful information from this chapter would be the material about the emergence of clinical psychology. I think it’s a great thing to know the knowledge of the ones that created this discipline. I think that this chapter relates and builds off the previous chapter by going more into the development of the several approaches discussed. I would like to know more about the conferences that developed the models for psychology, along with the humanistic psychology.
Terminology: humanistic psychology, clinical psychology, self-actualizers, Abraham Maslow, Humanistic psychologists, “third force”, dissertation, clinical psychologist
This chapter builds off of the last chapter by going further into clinical psychology. It is basically just an extension of the last chapter and builds off all the other chapters by diving further into diagnostic psychology. This is where psychology really started to show what it was capable of. They showed that they could help people through therapy and other strategies. This chapter also goes back to how psychology relates to businesses and industries which was talked about in previous chapters.
The first thing that I found interesting was in the side grey box. I have always been interested in how asylums came about. I think that learning about what all happened in those places is fascinating. It surprises me that even though they didn’t have much evidence to support lobotomies that they still did them and that they became wide spread. I didn’t really know much about prefrontal leucotomy which is a roughly means of cutting of white matter in the prefrontal area of the cortex. This sounds almost worse than the lobotomy. Moniz created the prefrontal leucotomy and he even said that it should be done unless it is an extreme case, and that it should be a last resort.
The second thing that I found interesting was self-actualization, which was thought of by both Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. I think that this is interesting because I am in psych of personality and we have been talking about these two guys and there theories. I think that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is really interesting, which has self-actualization at the top. Self-actualization is when someone reaches their full potential and in life you are always trying to achieve this step. Maslow didn’t think that many people ever reached this stage in life and actually went as far as to say that less than 2% ever got to experience it. He did say that some people could experience peak experiences, which were just a short lived self-actualization where everything seems to just flow together.
I also thought that Carl Roger’s idea of client centered therapy was interesting because like I said I have already learned some about him in psych of personality. He came up with the idea of self-disclosure and how both the client and the therapist have to reveal intimate details about themselves to build trust and to ultimately reach their full potential. He first said that in order for client centered therapy to be successful that the therapist must be honest and genuine. Second he believed that he therapist must be accepting of the client and think the bets of everyone. Third he said that the relationship must have empathy and reflection.
Really the whole part on industry and business was unimportant to me or uninteresting. I had a hard time reading it because it isn’t the branch of psychology that I am interested in. In particular I didn’t really like reading about Cattell and his history. I am not the person that enjoys learning about what happened to the people as they grew up, but I am more interested in what they were able to accomplish.
I think that it is most important to take away that psychology was growing and expanding to so many different areas of the world. Like in this chapter specifically psychology was breaking into industry and businesses along with clinical needs. Psychology was becoming very adaptive to all areas of study and I think that that is one of the most important things to remember because it shows that psychology was finally succeeding in getting praise for their work or at least noticed for it.
The thing that I found most interesting was the ideas on self-disclosure and how it can benefit a relationship. I would like to learn about other research done in this area and the results that they were able to get from it. Like is it more beneficial to self-disclose or not? This to me is just interesting in terms of personality and how self-disclosing can be hard for some people. Self-disclosure was also running around in my head with idea. Like has anyone ever looked into the health conditions related to it or has anyone decided if it is important to us. I just think that this would be worth looking into. I also thought about if I had ever had a peak experience, and I think that I have. For example, when I played soccer in high school there was times where I just felt on top of my game and like everything was just flowing together.
Terms: clinical psychology, asylums, lobotomy, prefrontal leucotomy, Moniz, Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, self-actualization, peak experiences, full-potential, self-disclosure, empathy, reflection, Cattell, industrial psychology.
All in all I thoroughly enjoyed chapter 13. To me the most interesting section was on lobotomies. I think many people enjoy learning about this stuff because it is so gruesome and mind blowing. I’ve learned about this several times in the past, but it always is fun to read up on it and learn even more. I did not know all of the background information on this subject so it was very intriguing and I wanted to learn more. The whole procedure was introduced by two American scientists Jacobsen and Fulton, they showed that surgical damage to the frontal lobes of chimps could have a beneficial effect and could decrease aggression. Egas Moniz, a very well-known psychologist of this time, was inspired by this procedure and took to it without any question. He called this a prefrontal leucotomy and did it by drilling holes on both sides of the scull and then sticking a leucotone into each whole and moving it side to side; this would sever brain tissues connecting the two lobes. Out of twenty patients who were suffering from manic depression or obsessive compulsive disorder fourteen of twenty improved even though they lost much of their personality in the process. Egas won a Nobel peace prize for this and further inspired Freeman and Watt who didn’t take as close of precautions. Eventually this became a very popular procedure nearly 18,000 people underwent it. Like I said earlier this whole concept is mind blowing to me I don’t understand why people underwent it when they saw how painful it could be/how detrimental it could be to one’s personality. Even though I have learned a lot about lobotomies I think that they are really cool and it would be fun to spend my time researching even more on this topic.
Chapter 13 related to previous chapters because it expanded on behavior therapy. In the intro we learned more about how clinical psychology emerged near the end of World War II, we then learned about the emergence of modern psychology, Watson and his little Albert study were mentioned again, and we learned about a few different psychologists who demonstrated removing conditioned fears from people. Pavlov was brought up because his principles were used to treat alcoholism and hysteria. But then the chapter took on a new subject: the humanistic approach to psychology.
I thought this section was very interesting because I learned more about two psychologists who I didn’t know much about before. I think the reason why this subject area was especially interesting was because it is a completely new approach to psychology and it focuses less on “human behavior being reduced to repressed instinct/conditioning processes, it rejected the idea the individuals past histories limited their futures, and it denied psychoanalysis and behaviorism” rather it focuses on “free will and a sense of responsibility and purpose, a lifelong search for meaning in one’s life, and an innate tendency to grow toward self-actualization to reach one’s full potential.” I think the whole concept of humanistic psychology is the most important part of the chapter and will be important in understanding the whole history of psychology.
With this approach I was first intrigued by Abraham Maslow who compared historic individuals who seemed to be actualized, and looking for similarities between them. What he found was that self actualizers perceived reality accurately, they are independent/creative, spontaneous and natural, they thought of work as a career/calling rather than a job, they had strong moral codes, and they peak experiences of enjoyment and satisfaction. Maslow’s approach is very positive and focuses on happiness, optimism, and creativity rather than mental illness.
Carl Rogers on the other hand created client centered therapy where he rejected the idea that it is important to dive into client’s past history, rather a therapist must create the right therapeutic environment which included: therapist must be genuine/honest, therapist must be accepting of the client as a person/avoid labels, therapist must have empathy, and last they must use reflection to rephrase conversation and lead the client to think the therapist understands them. I really liked the ideas of Rogers and to me it just seemed like all of these approaches were derived from being a good person/friend which ideally is what one wants from a therapist.
I didn’t really enjoy the last half of the chapter on the psychology behind business. Honestly business is very boring to me so when I saw this heading I was immediately turned off from reading it. I understand there are probably important things to learn through the psychology of business but personally I have no desire to know about it. The only part from this section that I enjoyed reading was a little bit on the Hawthorne studies that showed how productivity changes in workers when they are given better working conditions.
Terms: lobotomies, Jacobsen, Fulton, Moniz, leucotone, Freeman, Watt, Humanistic Psychology, Pavlov, Watson, self-actualization, Rogers, Maslow, peak experience, client centered therapy, empathy, reflection, Hawthorne studies
In my opinion, chapter thirteen wasn't as interesting and exciting to read as chapter twelve was. I enjoyed learning about mental illnesses and the progression of the treatment alot more than I enjoyed reading about the psychology practitioners and the evolution of behavioral and humanistic psychology. However, I did find a few things interesting in this chapter.
The first thing that struck my interest was in fact Behavior and Humanistic Thearpies. I found behavior and humanistic therapies interesting because they kind of go hand in hand with on another. Behavior therapy said that an individual's dysfunctional behavior was a direct result of unlearned behaviors in the past. They used conditioning principles to alter the behavior of an individual in a clinical setting, they also believed that if conditioning was the problem, then it was the solution as well. I thought this method was a very smart and effective discovery on their part. Behavior Therapy was highly effective with sertain anxiety problems and also on patients with nervous disorders. The Humanistic approact originally started as a revolt, and also criticized the idea that human behavior could be reduced to repress biological instincts on simple conditioning processes. This method also rejected the idea that an individual's past history limited what their futures could be. This relates to Behavior Therapy because they both relate past events to their present and future actions. They both say that what they did in the past shouldn't affect what happens in the future, and shouldn't restrict them from recieving the treatment they deserve. The second topic in this chapter that I found interesting was Maslow's idea of self-actualization. I remember previously learning about this in a number of different psychology classes I've had here at UNI, and I always have found it interesting, and to make alot of sense actually. The self-actualization theory is basically a pyramid of "needs" one needs to meet in order to reach their full potential in life. Some meet it sooner than others, and everybody's method of meeting them are different. One can't fully be happy Maslow said unless these needs are met. I found this theory to be rather interesting because who would've ever thought that there was a pyramid of needs that should be met in order for one to be happy? But, the "topics" of the levels of pyramids make sense, and if they are all met one should be happy, and if they're not then there is definitely something wrong. The third topic I found interesting in this chapter was the background of Carl Rogers. He was raised in a very conservative Protestant family, who considered all pleasures to be sinful in life. He had a major appreciation for science as a child and all through his stages of growing up, he went to college at the University of Wisconsin to study agriculture. Soon after graduating UW he decided he wanted to be a minister instead and moved to New York to attend the Union Theological Seminary. But, soon after starting that he decided to pursue a degree in psychology. I found it interesting that he went from being raised in an extremely strict household and wanting to become a minister to studying psychology, two very different things.
The topic in this chapter I didn't really care for was the section on the Business of Psychology. It didn't keep my interest what so ever! Probably because I don't like business at all, and reading about anything that has to do with business bores me alot, even if it is in the area of psychology. This chapter ties into the previous because it is explaining more in depth how they treat some behavior issues and who developed these methods. Some thoughts I was having while reading this chapter included me remembering learing about the idea of self-actualization, and also remembering learning about Behavior Therapy and Humanistic Psychology. I thought these two methods were interesting.
Terms: Behavior Therapy, Humanistic Psychology, Carl Rogers, Self-Actualization
After reading chapter thirteen the first thing that I found interesting was how clinical psychology came about. The reason this was interesting was because it talks about how clinical psychology comes from World War 2 and how there were so many psychological casualties that they needed to create a new division of psychiatry to treat these people. The reason I found this particularly interesting was because in chapter 12 they talked about treating people with psychological casualties from World War 2 by using mesmerism, or “hypnosis”, to treat their psychological problems.
The next thing that I found interesting about this chapter was reading more about Maslow’s hierarchical model of needs and self-actualization. I just find this interesting even though we have already learned about it in previous classes I find it interesting how he tried to break down human behavior by showing that we all have needs that need to be met before going into more self-actualizing needs. It’s just interesting to think about the things that you do in life that follows this model. A good example that I thought of today was when a friend wanted to go hang out but I hadn’t eaten lunch yet so I took care of my primitive need before moving on to my social needs that I desire.
The final thing that I found interesting was Carl Rogers and his client-centered therapy. Client-centered therapy was an approach that dove into the client’s past history in order to have therapy be more effective. The reason I found this particularly interesting was because the other class I am in is also talking about client-centered therapy with drug addicts. From what I have learned this is a much better approach to therapy because the therapist is being genuine and treating the individual as a person and not so much as a client.
The one thing that I didn’t like about this chapter was that it wasn’t as interesting as the chapter before it that dealt with mental illness and how they would treat the mentally ill. This made it so that only parts that really related more closely to mental illness and had good case studies were interesting to me and the rest just didn’t seem to stick out that well.
This chapter builds onto the other chapters by continuing a little bit by where the last chapter left off. This chapter talks somewhat about clinical psychology and how it further progressed after World War 2 and how psychiatrist dealt with these cases of mental illness. A topic that I would like to learn more about after reading this chapter would be more on the works of Abraham Maslow. I found his thoughts to be creative and interesting and wanted to look more into his work. The idea that I had was pertaining to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model and it made me wonder if the needs could be different for different people. The thought is that most people need food but what if someone is a drug addict? Could their needs be different than most people? What if someone had a self-actualization of food? What I mean is if chefs could want to make the best food and eat the best food; even though it is a primitive need, it could be their self-actualization of their life.
Terms: clinical psychology, World War 2, psychological, psychiatry, mesmerism, Abraham Maslow, hierarchical needs, self-actualization, primitive needs, Carl Rogers, client-centered therapy, therapy, mental illness, case studies.
While reading I was very upset and interested in knowing how Eysenck was able to publish his paper about the Freudian approach to therapy. I want to know what he was wrong about (later discovered by Bergin in 1971). How could someone publish a paper that was so boldly stating that the method of therapy that had been used for many years is actually working against recovery? Why wasn’t his paper reviewed earlier and stopped before the damage had been done? We know now that the Freudian approach isn’t ordinary because other forms of therapy are more effective, but I am interested in knowing how the Freudian style therapy fell so quickly and with seemingly no fight. Don’t get me wrong, I am glad it happened so that behavioral therapy could emerge and a more humanistic approach to therapy could become popular. This will probably be my research topic for the topical blog this week.
I was interested in reading about the conditioning of fear and how Mary Cover Jones was able to remove a boy’s fear of rabbits. It’s a very interesting time because this is what is now known as exposure therapy and is used to help people overcome fears and phobias. I have a personal relation to this subject because I was assisted in overcoming a fear as a child. I remember going to a psychologist and partaking in tasks to attempt to apply Joseph Wolpe’s systematic desensitization (I asked a lot of questions as a kid to find out who created this therapy).
Progressive relaxation has also been proven as a helpful tool in the process of systematic desensitization because of the need of relaxation in between exposure to stimuli that might make the patient nervous. I know that within systematic desensitization, you create the anxiety hierarchy to describe and visibly show what causes you the most distress. These different techniques all seem like common sense to me but I know they must have taken lots of deep thought and application to be refined to what they are today. Though I very much enjoyed what behaviorist psychology did, I think I have shown more interest to the humanistic approach and its idea of allowing the patients to become more aware of their problems and learning to overcome them with the help of a “coach”.
I really enjoyed reading about Abraham Maslow’s outlook on psychology. On page 428 there is a short excerpt of Maslow talking about the new direction of psychology and how it should look. While there is a need today for clinical work, it feels like Maslow was looking to better the modern person’s life rather than just fixing others. This is very relatable to me because I am extremely interested in Subjective Well-being, Flow, and Happiness. The humanistic approach to psychology is similar to the topics that I am most interested in. I feel like this was the real true start of social psychology because this was a man interested in knowing about the patterns in personality and how that can be used in a positive manner to help boost others’ lives. Maslow was interested in people and what made them who they were, and this was the early existence of positive psychology (once again, what I am very interested in). I wouldn’t mind doing further research on Maslow and his foreshadowing of positive psychology. Up until now, I wasn’t aware of how progressive he was with the ideals of positive psychology.
I have to put it somewhere that I am a huge fan of empathy (if that is possible). I would consider it one of my better traits and I really do strive to see the point of view of others. I’m very happy that Rogers put this as a necessary component to client-centered therapy. I believe that we live in a world where if you don’t see eye to eye, then you are wrong. People seem to think that putting yourself in someone’s shoes is almost an insult. You are not to lower yourself to someone’s standards or it is a direct insult that you might be wrong from another point of view. I wish the skills of empathy were more widely used.
This is all very relatable to what we have previously learned because this is finally getting to the part of history where we, as students, can really relate. The current world of psychology is forming seemingly right before our eyes as we read about the behaviorist, humanistic, and client centered therapies of the 1900’s. We also read about the uprising of I/O psychology, which should be relatable by most people in the psychology department. UNI offers a certificate of I/O psychology and is very unique (I would suggest taking either Industrial or Organization Psychology if you haven’t already). We are also getting to that point in history when many applicable theories are arising, such as those produced by the hawthorn studies.
Terms: Eysneck, Freudian, Mary Cover Jones, systematic desensitization, Progressive relaxation, humanistic, behaviorist, Abraham Maslow, positive psychology, empathy, I/O psychology.
The first thing I found interesting about Chapter thirteen was the section on the humanistic approach to psychology. I find the discipline to be drastically different from the approaches taken before this movement. Of course, it was the flaws in previous psychological disciplines that motivated Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers to formulate a whole new school of psychology, however, the stark contrast between the two is still shocking. While Freud focused on cognitive and psychological deficits, Maslow argued that a positive approach to the human psyche would lead to a healthier psychology. I think that this illustrates the vast diversity among subfields in psychology. Although we are one science, there is nothing beyond history that unite it as a single discipline.
I particularly found Maslow's hierarchy of needs to be interesting. The hierarchy of needs, a pyramid that states the most basic needs at the bottom and progresses to self-actualization, is still around today, known by psychologists and laypeople alike. I am currently enrolled in Dr. Maclin's Motivation and Emotion class, where I recently learned that there is not a lot of empirical support for the hierarchy of needs, although it remains a popular theory. Despite the criticism, I think it's important to learn the history behind this theory and to learn why it has become so prominent. Regardless of its low validity and resulting low application in modern society, knowing what influenced the positive psychology movement can help put modern, valid findings into perspective.
Lastly, I enjoyed reading about Carl Rogers' conception of unconditional positive regard. I think that client-centered therapy has stuck around for a number of therapists in modern times, but the concept of unconditional positive regard is usually limited to the scope of a mother's love for her child. However, if therapists can sustain a positive attitude of their patients (no matter how ''messed up'' they seem to be), Rogers believed the patient would benefit more from the therapy. Again, this method contrasts starkly with that of Freud-- who believed we had to delve into a patient's dark past in order for the patient to benefit from therapy. Instead of probing the patient on perceived deficits, the therapist exhibits empathy and reflection.
I didn't particularly enjoy reading the beginning of the chapter on the history of modern clinical psychology. While I recognize the importance of clinical psychology and that it led to practices like humanistic psychology, it is not my primary interest. Moreover, this part of the chapter contained a lot of psychological jargon, and while I understood most of it, it seemed pretty cold and outdated. Perhaps I am oversimplifying this time in psychology and focusing on the gruesome facts of war, but I still found it hard to focus during these parts.
For further research, I am interested in looking further into either humanistic/positive psychology and their modern application or the Eysenck study.
I think this is an important chapter in the realm of history of psychology. Although the entire field of psychology is much, much more than just clinical psychology, clinical psychology is one of the main applications of psychology. Most assume, for example, that psychology majors are interested in clinical psychology and plan on becoming therapists or counselors of some sort. While people who make such assumptions don't have a full grasp of the field, they are certainly pointing to the fact that clinical psychology is a central part of the field.
Terms: Humanistic psychology, Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, hierarchy of needs, positive psychology, psychoanalysis, unconditional positive regard, client-centered therapy, empathy, reflection, Eysenck study
Chapter 13
One of the first things that I really liked about this chapter was the section on Abraham Maslow and his ideas of self-actualization. Although I'm not sure if I fully agree with all the ideas of the Humanistic Approach, I have always enjoyed talking about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and the biological instincts associated with it. What I really enjoyed from this chapter however, was the heavy emphasis of the importance of the self- actualization step at the top of the hierarchy. I really had no idea that this step was so important to human living, or that it could come and go throughout a lifespan. A person may be self-actualized one minute and then digress in the hierarchy less than a minute later. I'm sure there are times when I have reached self-actualization but it's an interesting phenomenon to think about; a time when a person has reached their full potential in life.
Another section that I enjoyed reading in this chapter dealt with progressive relaxation. This is something that I had heard of before but really thought was an interesting concept and was rather excited to learn more about it in this chapter. Something that I was unaware of was what the technique was specifically used for, which the chapter explains is patients with nervous disorders. Although the treatment is used as a step in systematic desensitization, this step is one of the most important because it teaches clients how they can use their own mind to calm themselves down. This treatment works by using an anxiety hierarchy created by the patient. The anxiety hierarchy is a list of situations that begin with the least anxiety they could experience and gradually become worse and worse situations in which their anxiety would be greater. The patients would then be taught how to keep calm while imagining those situations. The most interesting part is that within a few sessions, the patients were almost immediately relaxed. What I really find interesting is the fact that patients are taught to use their own minds to relax themselves from phobias that their own minds create in the first place.
A third thing that i find interesting is that Hawthorne effect. I really find it amusing that people didn't think of this effect earlier but I suppose their wasn't as much research on people before behaviorism and the ability to run research on mass amounts of industrial workers. It's really a common thing to think about and understand and I believe that's why I find it so interesting; it's very relatable. Anytime we know we are being watched we act a specific way as if to please the person who is watching us or do what is expected. However, if we don't know that we are being watched or studied, we have less pressure put on us, thus we act a bit different. A friend gave me a good example of this the other day. Every day to her 8am class she would wear sweats and a tshirt with her hair in a pony tail. However, she was recently listed on Cedar Falls Crushes by an anonymous admirer. She now wears jeans and a nicer shirt and always does her hair before this class because she knows that this guy will be watching her.
If I had to pick something that I didn't life from this chapter I would have to pick the section titled Psychology and the World of Business and Industry. Although I admit that business is something that everyone should be at least semi-familiar with in today's economy, I find the subject rather boring. It'll admit that it is interesting to find out some of the things that we can do with a psychology degree, the majority of the section was focussed on men in power, texts they wrote, and the business decisions they pioneered. Learning about the men in power is relatively interesting, simply because I feel like they are important to know about. However, The business decisions they created were rather uninteresting due to their lack of relativity I'm sure.
Something that I think is one of the most important topics to understand from this chapter is systematic desensitization. As discussed in the chapter, systematic desensitization has become one of the bets known and most effective behavior therapy techniques. Knowing that behaviorism is continuing to become more and more popular in the psychological world, I really think that in order to become a successful psychologist, this theory must be known about, especially considering the phobias that people are dealing with on a daily basis and finally coming to terms with.
This chapter does a great job relating to the previous chapter because it develops psychology as a science even further. Chapter 12 really discussed in depth how we came to see mental health and some of the ways we can test and even treat it. This chapter continues on those ideas and discusses the practitioners who were responsible for the development of treatments and hypothesis of mental health.
If I could learn more about something specific from this chapter I would want to learn more about Carl Rogers' idea of Client-Centered Therapy. Although it's not one of the things I found the most interesting from the chapter I really think that Rogers had some great ideas that had major impact on clinicians, especially his new reflection techniques.
While reading this chapter there were a few specific ideas that I had. Most of them revolved around the idea of what I want to do with my psychology degree. I'm still not sure if I'd like to go to grad school or if I'd like to go off of my other major. This chapter made me really think a lot about pursuing therapy and if I thought I could even make a good therapist and follow the ideas of Rogers' client centered therapy.
Terms: Carl Rogers, practitioners, client-centered therapy, reflection, self-actualization, Abraham Maslow, Hawthorne effect, anxiety hierarchy, progressive relaxation.
The first thing I found interesting in this chapter was Maslow's heiarchy of needs. This model proposed that a series of needs system; arranged in a pyramid with the lower level of needs at the bottom and the self-actualization at the top. Reaching the top required satisfying all the needs below it, going from physiological needs, safety needs, need for love and belonging, and the needs for self esteem, in that order. When one reached the top, Maslow argued this would produce a healthier psychology. I found this interesting because I agree with the steps to reaching the top; that self esteem is the highest tier needed for self-actualization. I also find it interesting this is the first time a model like this has emerged in psychology.
The second thing I found interesting was the history of Carl Rogers. I have learned about his client-centered therapy in Applied Psychology so it was interesting to hear his personal history and what influenced this type of therapy to emerge. I found it very interesting that he first entered college to become a minister and ended with psychology. If you think about, a minister is not far from a therapist, for they meet with individuals and couples to discuss issues.
The third thing I found interesting was engineering psychology. Engineering psychology is the creation of machines designed for efficient human use. I really enjoyed the airplane cockpit example, it put things more into perspective. The example stated that this would be like making seats that would reduce the possibility of pilots falling sleeping, or machines that would produce less perceptual errors. This is also interesting because I can think of a few machines that have probably been produced from this type of engineering, machines that have helped humans. However, I also found it interesting because many believe machines are going to take over the world, replacing humans.
One thing I found useful in understanding psychology is the section about the recreation of the APA. The APA is so highly recognized and known, especially throughout the psychology world I feel understanding the recreation of it helps understand the history of psychology. This chapter also discusses the creation modern clinical psychology, which is very important in understanding the history of psychology. Modern clinical psychology is a large basis of what is taught in school, therefore understanding its beginning is very important to understand where and why it is the way it is in the present.
This chapter builds on the previous chapter by still discussing items that occurred post war, especially World War II. It builds on the idea that post war did a lot of psychological damage on those directly and indirectly involved with the war, and how clinicians and the government handled these issues.
While reading this chapter I was really like to learn more about Maslow's heiarchy of needs because it is very interesting to me.
From this, it made me wonder where I would stand on Maslow's heiarchy of needs and if I have met all the requirements to make it to the top.
Terms Used: Maslow, Maslow's heiarchy of needs, Carl Rogers, client-centered therapy, engineering psychology, APA, modern clinical psychology, World War II
I didn't enjoy Chapter 13 as much as the previous chapters but nonetheless, it was interesting to learn about the origins of modern psychology and also has psychology was first introduced into the business side of things.
The first thing that I enjoyed reading was how world war II sort of boosted the realm of clinical psychology into an accepted practice and independent profession. Until WWII, organized psychiatry controlled the mental health services in America. However, in WWII, the need for therapy boomed. Mental health experienced a boom in WWI but in this time it was mostly for testing. It wasn't until WWII that many returning soldiers sought treatment for the psychological damage they had experienced during battle. Actually, after the war ended, 44,000 veterans were housed in the VA hospital for some sort of mental disorder compared to 30,00 veterans who were suffering from a physical injury. This helped clinical psychology become more accepted in the general society and it also called for more training of clinical psychologists in the graduate schools.
The next thing that I found particularly interesting was this chapter's close-up. This close up started by discussing how the psychoanalysis introduced my Freud started the movement of private practices used to treat patients with less serious disorders. This meant, though that the seriously ill were still being housed in the asylums which we learned in last chapter were not always the best. As the book says "'treatment' often amounted to restraint and sedation" in these facilities. Because of this, psychiatrists were being pressured into producing procedures that had measurable effects. Sometimes this led to premature procedures, with no scientific evidence of support. One of the biggest examples of this is the lobotomy. The lobotomy was first introduced by Egas Moniz, after he had seen the procedure done on monkeys. Many know that the lobotomy, although it did help reduce some symptoms, it often created worse symptoms which led to patients entering a permanent zombie like state. In Moniz's defense, he stated that a lobotomy should only be done in extreme circumstances and all other treatments have failed. Interestingly enough, Walter Freeman did not feel this way. He completed several of lobotomies, even after some patients DIED during this procedure. I just really liked how this close up highlighted that even when psychology "fails" is still helps advance the science.
Lastly, I really enjoyed reading about the humanistic approach to psychotherapy. Humanistic psychologists are different than most in that they do not believe that human behavior can be reduced to repressed biological instincts (like behaviorists do). In addition to that, humanistic psychologists do not believe that one's pasts controls their futures. So, very bluntly, humanistic psychologists disagree with the core concepts of both behaviorism and Freud's psychoanalysis. Rather, the humanstic approach to psychology states that human are born with free will, a sense of responsibility and a sense of purpose. This approach believes that humans are aiming to reach self-actualization. One of the msot famous humanistic psychologist was Abraham Maslow, who is very famous for creating the infamous Maslow's hiearcy of needs. It was interesting to me that Maslow started off researching behavior in primates. Another famous humanstic psychologist was Carl Rogers who is famous for creating the client-centered therapy. In this form of therapy, there was no need to bring up the patients past. Rogers did not like to use the word "patients" when referring to his clients. I liked this because, as a nursing home employee, we prefer to call our clients residents rather than patients, this gives them a sense of control which is favorable for their improvement in daily activities. Rogers had three rules to his client centered approach. You mustbe genuine, warm, and show empathy. I think that the humanistic approach to psychology is very cool because it focuses on the clients' strengths rather than their weaknesses. It also never "writes off" a client for their past behavior and works toward giving them a sense of control over their mental illness. More therapies should be like this one, i think.
It was difficult for me to get through the readings discussing industrial psychology. This has never been a real interest to me and business is not my strong suit. I did however find the Hawthorne studies, and eventually the Hawthorne Effect to be interesting. The Hawthorne studies were done in Hawthorne Illinois at the Western Electric Plant. Originally, these studies were done to examine the effects on lighting on worker productivity. The owner's of the Plant initiated this study because they believed that there would be a positive correlation between the two which would help their business with the selling of more light bulbs. However, no correlation was found. Workers remained at the same level of production, no matter the level lighting. What was found from this study was the Hawthorne Effect. The Hawthorne Effect is the term given to the tendency for performance to be affected because people know they are being studied for a research project. In other words, when workers know they are being watched, and their outcomes measured, they are most likely to be more productive.
I already touched a bit on how the chapter built from previous chapters, but to restate myself, this chapter did a very good job of comparing the humanistic approach of psychotherapy to behaviorism and psychoanalysis. Chapter 13 also summarized Chapter 12 at the beginning which made it easier to follow.
While reading this chapter, I thought about how I could use a humanistic approach to better the lives of the residents at the nursing home that I worked out. Now that I have read the chapter, I would like to research more about the clinical techniques used for treating WWII victims.
Terms used: clinical psychology, asylums, humanistic approach, Carl Rogers, Walter Freeman, Abraham Maslow, Maslow's hiearchy of needs, lobotomies, behaviorism, psychoanalysis, Hawthorne Effect.
After reading chapter 13 there was some interesting things that I enjoyed. I would say that chapter 12 was probably one of the better chapters in the book, so chapter 13 had its work cut out for it. This chapter had a lot of things that dealt with last chpater when it came to taling about Freud. The type of psychology that this chapter talked about had a direct correlation to what Freud discovered in his psychoanalysis experiments from the last chapter. I liked how this chapter tied in, so well because I feel like the last couple chapters it was hard to relate one to the next. Anyway, there were three things that I liked from the chapter. One of them was the section on labotimiess. I usually do not read the "close-up" sections of the text because most of the time there are not the most fun to read. I remembered that we had talked in class about the labotomies that the men had performed, so it was interesting to get the history of who and how they were performed on patients. The second thing that I liked from the chapter was the section on Carl Rodgers. He created this new thing called client-centered therapy which revolutionized psychology today. He had an interesting life story growing up in a strict prospeterian family. I was thinking about doing my topical blog on that, but for this blog I would talk more about his therapy. The third thing that I found to be interesting while reading the chapter was the section on the hawthorne studies. We have talked about these studies in many of my other classes, but we never talked about the history of them, so it was interesting to finally understand how this effect came about. The one thing that I found to be the least interesting was the section on engineering psychology. I thought that it was interesting to read about, but it just was not my favorite section from this chapter. I will talk more about engineering psychology later in the blog. I will also talk about how this chapter relates to the last chapter, how this chapter helped me in the understanding of psychology, something that I would like to learn more about, and then some thoughts that I had while reading the chapter.
The first thing that I liked about the chapter was the section on labotomies. I liked this section because it had to relate so much to the last chapter and what Freud was talking about. The advent of psychoanalytics lead to these men trying to figure out a way to treat the mental ill. Labotomies were meant for the most severe of patients. Ones that had tried drugs and other treatments, but none of those things had helped. Moniz was the first person to do the procedure, and like I said he would only do it on the most severe of patients. His goal was to cut away tissue in the frontal lobe that had to deal with agression. His method of doing so was to drill holes in the temples, and then cut away the tissue that was effecting the patient. He had only done this experiment of twenty of his patients, and urged not to let anyone perform this procedure because it could be very harmful to the patients. There were two americans that did not listen to his words, and those two men were Freeman and Watt. They had seen his procedures and thought that there was a better way of performing the procedure. They created there own device that was more in the shape of an ice pick. Their procedure would be diffrent than the Moniz in the sense that they would come in directly through the eye socket in order to perform the procedure. This was more dangerous because of the fact that they had a greater risk of hitting a major attery. Unlike Moniz, Freeman and Watt thought this procedure should be performed on all the people that they could get their hands on. It went from performing on the severely mentally ill, too anyone who had a mental illness. Freeman had become so good at the procedure that he would perform them while in front of a major audience. After it was all said and done, there had been over 19,000 procedures that had been done on various patients. The downside is that some of those patients had become virtual zombies because of the damage that the operation had done. I remember that we had talked about this subject in class, so it was interesting to read about finally from a historical perspective.
The second thind that I liked from this chapter was the section on Carl Rodgers. He was the founder of the client-centered therapy. Carl grew up in a very strict household. I remember a qoute from the book that talked about how when Carl took his first drink of pop that he actually felt sinful. The aspect of the theory is not hard to grasp. What Carl wanted was to have the client and the therapist have a real connection. That both of them were fully committed to the therapy. Instead of scientific reasoning, Carl, thought that the only thing that the therapist and the client needed was the right environment. Carl, thought that there was three important things that the environment needed to be successful for outcome. The first thing was that the therapist had to be genuine and honest with the client. Which meant that the therapist was aware of the clients feelings, instead of having that singualar attitude that you would see on TV. The second thing that Carl thought that was needed was that the therapist should have a warm regard for the client. This meant that the therapist wouldl except the client for who they were, and did not judge them based off there condition. Simply put, Carl thought that the therapist should not label their client. The last thing that Carl felt that the environment needed was that the therapist should show empathy towards their patient. This meant that the therapist had to know the clients experiences through their eyes. This was very hard to do, and one of the easiest ways to do this was a technique that Carl used and that was refection. Reflection is when the therapsit rewords something that the client said, and making the client feel as if the therapist really understood what they were talking about. This type of humanistic psychology was much different than the Freudian psychology that we had talked about in the last chapter in the sense that the Freudian psychologist would have one controllign attitude over his/her client. After Carl's development, many clinical psychologist took after his methods and used them within their practice.
The third that I enjoyed from this chapter was the section on the Hawthorne studies. We had talked about them so much in some of my other classes that I was interested when I came across the reading in this chapter. The Hawthore studies came up when researchers were studying worker productivity. Women were put under tests to see how well they acccomplished a task. They found out that the women were performing at a high rate, but they did not kow why. The researchers came to the conclusion that the women were under the hawthorne effect. The hawthorne effect states that people perform better when they are being watched. Mainly because they is the evaluation aspect of being watched. The researchers had thought is was funny when the women were happy to be in a special research room when they were being tested, but the researchers thought that this would have no effect on how well they would work. The hawthorne section was long, but it did not take much to learn about the topic. Like I had said before, it was interesting to read about this subject because we are learning about it in my organizational psychology class right now as well. It is fun to see the applicaton of the effect in two different fields of psychology.
The one thing that I did not like was the section on engineering psychology. It was a small section at the end of the chapter that talked about how you can relate engineering to psychology. One of the ways that the book talked about was that a cock pit could be created in such a way that the pilot would not be under as much fatigue when flying. I liked reading about it, but there was not as much information on the subject that I would have liked. It is pretty self explanatory, but since it was lacking information it was the reason that I chose this section to be my least favorite from the chapter.
This chapter realtes to this chapter in a lot of ways which is why I enjoyed reading it. One one that I liked was in the section of the labotomies, and in the section of Carl Rodgers. Labotomies came about because of Freudian belief that one had severe mental illness, and that drugs were not the only ways to treat a client. The second reason that it relates to this chapter is with Carl Rodgers. Carl Rodgers developed the Huamnistic treatment of psychology that was more open wwitht the client. This was way different than the Freudian way of practicing because that was more straighforward and scientific when diagnosing a patient. Those were just a couple ways that this chapter was built off of the last.
This chapter helps in my understanding of psychology because I got a good look in how psychology is progressing through the timeline. I found this more evident when I was reading about Carl Rodgers and his Humanistic psychology that he developed. His way of treating his clients is the way that we do it today, and now I know the history behind why psychologists treat their patients. It is cool to get to get the history on how one man changed the way that we treat our patients in the field of psychology today.
One thing that I would like to learn more about would be the history on Carl Rodgers. I like his client-centered therapy section, but I would like to learn more about him as a person. The book made him seem as if was an interesting man, so it would be interesting to see if I could dig up anymore research on him in a topical blog research paper. I know that he grew up in a really strict, but what threw me off was the quote that I read about when he felt sinful after hs first sip of pop.
Some thoughts that I had while reading the chapter had to do with the labotomies section. Moniz had won a nobel prize with his research and his prodecures that he conducted. I was just thinking about all the other research that could had been if it were still allowed to work on humans that were severe in case. I know that it is unethical and would never be reversed, but I just wonder what problems or diseases that could have been cured if it were allowed to test on people like Freeman and Watt did.
Terms: Carl Rodgers, Client-centered therapy, empathy, reflection, engineering psychology, Humanistic psychology, Moniz, Freeman, Watt, labotomies, Freud, Hawthorne studies, hawthorne effect,
The first subject that interested me was about Joseph Wolpe, either I skipped over his name before or we haven’t seen him much in the textbook so far. He created a procedure called systematic desensitization, which is actually one of the best known and most effective behavioral therapies. He initially started off as a medical doctor being trained in traditional psychoanalysis, but became bored or dissatisfied with the procedures. I found that to be interesting, I often like to think everything happens for a reason and here we have a well educated doctor who during his career changed his mind and ended up creating something historically well-known. What he ended up doing in his therapies was gradually weaken the fear by drastically changing the environment, and then slowly bringing back the original feared environment. I personally found this interesting because I can see its benefits, I’ve actually used some form of this technique myself and a lot of mental persuasion with my own fears. I also think it’s very important for people studying psychology to not forget this term; it’s so easy to not realize how fearful someone can be of a situation no matter how silly it may seem to you.
The second subject I found most interesting was Abraham Maslow, to me he looked at psychology in a more upbeat and cheerful way. Typically the stereotype that comes along with psychology is someone wearing a lab coat that walks around and judges everybody and tries making them see the things that are wrong with themselves. Maslow looked at the positive side of human beings and the way their minds and spirits work.
The third subject I found most interesting was Carl Rogers, I didn’t know that he grew up in such a controlled environment and I couldn’t help wonder if that had anything to do with the way he turned out, not to mention that he studied history ( which he’s now plays a huge role in) and wanted to be a minister. The minister part doesn’t surprise me because a main part of that is helping people with a given dilemma. With Roger’s client-therapy it really just reminded me of sitting down with a person who isn’t there to judge you, who isn’t putting themselves higher then you, and is simply just easy to talk to and wants to hear your troubles.
The subject I found to be least interesting was probably the Psy. D. Degree, I just didn’t really care that much, it talked about the Boulder Model which I already read and I’ve learned a little about Psy. D. Degrees and there actually not talked about that much so I just didn’t find it as informational or beneficial as other readings.
I think the main thing from this chapter in helping understand the history of psychology is the fact psychology as a whole really took off in so many different directions during this time. Here we have psychology being incorporated into businesses, industrial needs, and clinical work. Psychology was finally getting the acceptance and recognition into so many different areas of society and people were actually seeing the importance and reaping the benefits from it.
This chapter really just picked up where the last chapter left off; in chapter 12 clinical psychologists were still struggling to establish themselves as independent professionals, in other words they weren’t seen as their own practice or field in psychology; they still had to supervised by psychiatrists. Chapter 13 just elaborates on this issue and how it was solved with the Boulder Model.
I would like to learn more about Carl Rogers and his client-based therapy because I was just drawn to his ideas and views, so I would say it’s more of his thinking fits into my way of thinking.
I really enjoyed the Hawthorne Effect, I think it actually has an underlying importance and I couldn’t help think about applying that study to everyday life. This is really stretching the effect but I couldn’t help thinking about my teen years. Growing up my dad always instilled in us the importance of telling the truth and the disappointment that would come with lying or doing something we knew we shouldn’t. A lot of my friends just received punishments and that was it, I however would get to sit down and talk with my dad about my actions. So to me, when I was presented with a not so wise choice, I always felt like he was right there with me and I would always ask myself if I get caught or if I lie do I want to feel that disappointment. So to me it was more of an unseen ‘supervisor’ always standing around me. Which almost makes me wonder if by certain parenting styles or behavioral techniques we could possibly change the outcomes of certain troubled adolescents, they’re going to make mistakes, but let them, but also instill in them that it’s their own disappoint that they’re going to have to face at the end of the day, not some punishment that eventually goes away.
Terms: business psychology, industrial psychology, clinical psychology, boulder model, Joseph Wolpe, systematic desensitization, Abraham Maslow, Hawthorne effect, Carl Rogers, client based therapy, psy d.
I really enjoyed the section on the emergence of modern clinical psychology. I think in some cases we do not do enough for our veterans. It was really nice to read about an area where psychology could help with the mental effects of war. A soldier's life, during active duty and combat, is a very stressful environment. Especially in bigger wars, such as WWII, these stressful environments changed baseline behavior of these men. With 44,000 men suffering from various mental health disorders, it was big for the government to step in and help clinical psychology.
The second section that I found really interesting was the close up on medical strategy. I think it is interesting to see the various reasons that operations such as the lobotomy were performed with little scientific backing. It helps me understand why these procedures were used when they had little evidence of success. I think it is a very touchy situation when you talk about going into the brain and cutting something to try to reduce psychoactive behavior. You never know what exactly is going to happen which is why we moved away from this. After reading this section, I have a better understanding of those times.
I also really like the section on behavior therapy. More specifically, systematic desensitization. I have seen this in other classes and other sections and it really interests me. The fact that it can be so successful intrigues me. I also like the fact that it doesn't involve medication. I think that we should, if possible, always start with a form of behavior therapy. Though it takes more time, I think it is a better option than jumping to a medication, which I think happens a lot today. I believe you are just numbing or cutting out the anxiety and not actually fixing it.
I really did not like the section on researchers and practitioners. Though it did contain some valuable information, I thought it was a slow and boring read. I hate sections that just throw a lot of years and dates at you because there is no way that I will remember that stuff. I think they all just really confuse me as much as they help.
This chapter builds on other because it explains how certain fields in psychology came about and why. It tells us how modern clinical psychology was born out of the need to help the many soldiers with mental issues. It really goes to show you how each field came about for a certain reason. It reminds me that new fields can emerge as we evolve as a society. Psychology can continue to try and better our society and the people in it.
I would really like to know more about behavior therapy techniques. They really interest me because they require no medication. It is a natural form of therapy that takes more time and effort. Though it may take longer, it solves the core of the problem and it usually stays that way for the rest of the individuals life. I think this field is innovative and we need to get back to using more forms of these therapies.
My main ideas while reading this chapter were about how psychology contributes to society. Many of times psychology has stepped up out of necessity in order to help our country. It was very important for clinical psychologists to help after the war. New reasons will continue to emerge and psychology, as a whole, should be ready to tackle these problems.
terms: clinical psychology, systematic desensitization, behavior therapy, practitioner, researcher, medical strategy, lobotomy, procedures,
I found the division between the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society to be very interesting, because I think this was the point in time when researchers and practitioners began to diverge, and that has caused a rift in the field of psychology that is still a problem today. I believe that practitioners and researchers ought to work hand in hand, but because of psychology's rough past, one is forced to choose one route or the other.
I really like the fact that Eysenck called out traditional psychotherapy methods like Freud's method, because Freud developed psychoanalysis and psychotherapy without any substantive research to back it up. Eysenck, on the other hand, conducted objective research that favored other therapies like behavioral therapy.
I always forget that Freeman didn't actually invent the original lobotomy, but that his transorbital lobotomy was only an innovation on Moniz's original lobotomy. I don't know why, but I like reading about Freeman. Even though I don't agree with his practices, I find the stories about him to be very interesting.
One thing in which I was not particularly interested was the field of humanistic psychology. This field seems like a sham that is overly optimistic. For one, there is no quantifiable objective way to tell if somebody has reached self-actualization; nor is there a clear cut scientific definition of self-actualization. Finally, I do not even believe that a person is capable of reaching self-actualization.
I don't like the fact that the Vail model allows people to get a doctorate of psychology degree without producing a research dissertation, because that contributes to the division between psychological researchers and practitioners. Perhaps if a person going to school to be a clinical psychologist were made to do research, that person would be more inclined to hold positive regard for researchers and research in general.
Terms:
American Psychological Association, American Psychological Society, Researchers, Practitioners, Diverge, Psychology, Eysenck, Psychotherapy, Freud, Psychoanalysis, Objective, Behavioral Therapy, Freeman, Lobotomy, Transorbital, Moniz, Humanistic, Self-Actualization, Vail Model, Doctorate, Dissertation, Clinical.
While reading chapter 13 I found a number of different things interesting. I enjoyed reading about the chapter because it was about some of the early psychologists. I learned a lot of stuff that I had not learned before reading this chapter. Some of the stuff in this chapter I have heard some details about but this chapter helped to refresh my memory.
One thing I really found interesting was the boulder model. The reason the model was called the boulder model was because the criteria for the boulder model were come up with while the Committee on Training in Clinical Psychology (CTCP) was in Boulder, Colorado for an intensive conference. There were 71 psychologists and other professionals. The boulder model had three primary forms of expertise that clinical psychologists should have. The first was that they should be experts in the diagnosis of mental disorders, they should be skilled psychotherapists, and they should be able to complete high quality research. This model became known as the scientist-practitioner model because it combined training in the science with practice of psychology. There were certain criteria for the training for the Boulder model. The first was an understanding of psychometrics, psychopathology, and psychotherapy. A dissertation was needed that involved empirical research. Finally a year long internship closes out the training. I think the Boulder model is interesting because of the way it is set up. It is interesting how the Boulder model is still used today when it was started in the summer of 1949.
The next thing I found interesting in this chapter was the humanistic approach to psychotherapy and how Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers fit into it. This section got my attention right away when it talked about how the humanistic approach came to be. The humanistic approach started as a revolt. This new approach denied the assumptions of psychoanalysis and behaviorism. This approach was interesting to me because the main characteristics were free will and a sense of responsibility and purpose. This section talked about how people go through life looking for a meaning or a purpose for their life. People would try to reach their fullest potential which is known as self-actualization. Maslow was best known for his hierarchy of needs. I had learned about this hierarchy of needs previously in other classes but it was good to read about it again because I did not really remember what the hierarchy consisted of. Maslow also studied primates.
The next thing I found interesting while reading chapter 13 was how psychology impacted the world of business and industry. There were a number of people that began writing for companies and about advertising. The Army testing program, which was successful, was the beginning of an era of testing. After the Army testing psychologists were hired to produce tests and evaluations for employee selections. This was interesting to me because later on these tests were found to not have much reliability or validity. This time period has been referred to as the testing boom. Walter Dill Scott created the first company to provide psychological consulting services. His company only lasted a few years because he was named the president of Northwestern University. Cattell was worried about the growing number of people that were saying they were experts of psychology. These people were basically running scams so Cattell decided to create a nation wide network of PhD psychologists that would provide testing and experimental methodology. This would become known as the Psychological Corporation.
I really enjoyed reading this chapter it really helped me learn about how the psychological profession grew over time. I found a lot of things interesting. I think I would like to learn more about Abraham Maslow and his work with primates. I find animal testing to be interesting and I would like to know more about how his research helped him to create the hierarchy of needs.
Terms: Boulder Model, CTCP, psychotherapists, scientist-practioner model, psychometrics, psychopathology, psychotherapy, dissertation, empirical research, Abraham Maslow, humanistic approach, Carl Rogers, hierarchy of needs, psychoanalysis, behaviorism, self-actualization, Army testing program, testing boom, Walter Dill Scott, reliability, validity, Cattell, and Psychological Corporation.
When I read through this chapter I found a lot of various things interesting. I really liked the section on Carl Rogers and client-centered therapy. This perspective utilizes gestalt therapy, which encourages the patient not to let the past affect the present. Gestalt therapy focuses on the “here and now,” rather than past experiences. A key element of the humanistic approach is for the client to focus on their strengths instead of weaknesses. Client-centered therapy was a good introduction to the field because it changed the client-psychologist dynamic. Instead of the therapist looking down on a client and acting as a higher power, the client and the therapist were equal. This approach allowed the two to work together to solve the client’s problems. In some ways, it also opened the door for the client to take control and lead the therapy session.
To me, client-centered therapy seems like the best approach. The client will feel comfortable and relaxed. They will be able to influence how the therapy is going and what is talked about. They will also most likely feel less threatened by the therapist when the two are on the same level. Rogers believed that it was essential for the therapist to be accepting of the client as a person. This meant that the therapist needed to have a warm regard for the client. The therapist must show empathy to the client. A separate technique is one called reflection, which is rephrasing what the client is saying in order for them to understand it in another way. I like the humanistic approach and client-centered therapy because they seem to get to the root of the problem and they require things of a therapist that make sense: to accept the client for who they are and not to isolate the client with their own knowledge.
The second thing that I liked reading about was the development of the doctorate of psychology degree (Psy.D.). I am interested in the Psy.D. because that is most likely what I would get if I were to attempt to get a doctorate degree. I think it is fair that if someone does not wish to specialize, or even do, research that they should not have to. If a psychologist wants to only do clinical work, why should they good through all the schooling that is geared towards research? I can understand why some people who have Ph.D.’s would dislike the Psy.D., but I do not think that there should be any stigma or lack of prestige associated with the Psy.D. degree. Everyone should be allowed to do what they want and other people should not judge them. Therefore, I do not really understand why people with Ph.D.’s need to bash on the Psy.D. degree and vice versa. I just want everyone to get along.
The third thing that I liked was the Hawthorne studies. I like them because they show where research can become corrupted. Basically the people being researched gave the researchers everything they wanted to hear. Researchers found that when the lights were dimmed, productivity increases. Later the lights were brightened and productivity rose again. The researchers found out that the reason was not because of levels of lights, but because merely have a presence and instituting a change will affect the productivity of the group. I found this concept to be fascinating.
I did not like the sections on the development of the humanistic approach. I felt like this part of the chapter was boring and drug on forever. I really did not take much away from that section and would have preferred not to have read it. The part that I think will help me most in this chapter was the fact that client-centered therapy was introduced and spread quickly. I think that this movement changed the dynamics between a client and the counselor.
Terms: Carl Rogers, Client-centered therapy, Humanistic therapy, empathy, reflection, Psy.D., Hawthorn Studies
I thought the study by Hans Eysenck was very interesting. He found that patients without therapy had a 72% recovery rate within two years, while patients undergoing either psychotherapy or eclectic therapy had lower recovery rates than that, 44% and 64% respectively. This surprised me to see that the results were lower for those receiving treatment than those who did not. If three quarters of patients recover on their own within two years, are we too quick to prescribe drugs and expensive therapies? The book mentioned that Eysenck’s methods may not have been very good, and his study was flawed. If this is the case, why was his brief paper on the subject so widely accepted and not questioned? I would like to see some data on current treatments for problems such as depression, PTSD, etc. Have there been any studies that were done with more precision since Eysenck?
I found the section on Lobotomies to be quite interesting as well. I have learned about the procedure in the past and learned all about Freeman and his zeal over the procedure. What I didn’t know was that the Lobotomy was actually developed by Carlyle Jacobsen and John Fulton, initially on chimpanzees. I had always wondered who thought it would be a good idea to destroy human brain tissue to see what would happen, never thinking that they may have used animal subjects first. The procedure was brought to human patient use by a respected Portuguese neuropsychiatrist by the name of Egas Moniz. He used the procedure sparingly and only with the worst patients for whom nothing else seemed to do any good. The book states it well, “As another lesson in the dangers of presentism, it is easy to dismiss some of these therapies as the misguided ideas of quack doctors. It is important to keep in mind, however, that the psychiatric community was honestly attempting to provide some relief to patients, at the time when nothing else seemed to work and patients were clearly suffering.” (p. 445) I think it is really easy to look at Freeman and think about how crazy he was and that he was only after money. I think it is important to take from this that many aspects of the medical field were once unthinkable and will someday be thought of as crazy. I think about chemotherapy. Right now, it is the best option for most patients, but it causes them to feel much sicker than they were feeling without it, weakens the immune system, and destroys body tissues. I think when we find a better cure for cancer we will look back on some of the current treatments in much the same way as we see Lobotomies today.
I think it is very neat the way psychology is used in businesses and industry. It is helpful to see and remember that the science of psychology extends beyond rats and the mentally unstable. The textbook mentioned major psychological studies involved in Coca-Cola, education applications, the Army, and many more. It is cool to see this field thriving in many situations, proving that it is an important form of study.
The first thing I found interesting about this chapter was the section on the Eysenck Study. Hans Eysenck examined the effectiveness of insight approaches to psychotherapy. He looked at people who were found to be neurotic and found that 72 percent of people got better without therapy, 42 percent got better with psychoanalysis, and 64 percent got better with eclectic therapy. This meant that no therapy was better than either of these two methods and there was no evidence to support psychotherapy. Later, the methods Eysenck used were found to be questionable, but his study had already changed psychotherapy by that point.
This is interesting to me because as a psychologist you hope that whatever method you use works for your patients. You choose your orientation because you believe it is the best one out there to treat people with. I can't imagine how psychologists felt after this study was published. I imagine that they were shocked and were unsure of what to do. I also think they probably questioned Eysenck's results.
The second section that interested me was the close up on lobotomies. At a conference in London, two American scientists Carlyle Jacobsen and John Fulton reported that surgical damage to the frontal lobes of chimpanzees decreased their aggressive behavior. The animals seemed to be the same otherwise. Egas Moniz heard the presentation and thought that this procedure could be used with psychotic patients. Moniz developed the prefrontal leucotomy. Moniz conducted the procedure on twenty patients and found that it was largely successful. The patients did become passive and apathetic later on, but it was supposedly better than how they were before. Walter Freeman and James Watt did this procedure in the United States and were much less careful about it, doing as many procedures as possible. Freeman invented a procedure called the transorbital lobotomy, where he used a device similar to an ice pick and stuck it through the eye socket of the patient. About 2 percent of Freeman's patients died from surgery. Since the 1950's the occurrences of lobotomies have decreased.
This section interested me because I have known about lobotomies for a long time, but I never thought about how they came about. It makes sense that it was first discovered to work with animals, but I wonder how they decided to sever the brains of monkeys. The use of lobotomies in psychiatric culture is a very interesting and very sad one. I feel bad that doctors basically removed the personalities of thousands of patients, but it was thought to be the best solution at the time.
The third section I liked was the one about the Hawthorne Study. This was an experiment done on the role of lighting on productivity. Throughout the day, the light levels would increase or decrease, and researchers would look to see if the workers were more or less productive given the level of light. It turned out, however, that the workers would always increase their productivity at these points because they knew they were being monitored when the lighting changed. It turns out there are also some alternative explanations for what happened. The test said that the women who were chosen for this assignment were very excited about it, but it turns out that two of the five were removed for insubordination. Another problem is that the output was measure by the week and not by the hour, women were actually putting in extra work during the crucial period than was shown. This means they were not as productive as it was led to believe.
This section interested me because I learned about the Hawthorne Study before, but never about the problems and alternate explanations. I believe that as a principle, the human factor theory still holds true, but this experiment may not have been the best example of it.
The section I did not find interesting was the one about the Boulder Model. In the summer of 1949 there was a conference in Boulder, Colorado for clinical psychologists and other professionals. The conference created a blueprint for clinical training. It was decided that clinical psychologists should be experts in diagnosis of mental disorders, should by psychotherapists, and should complete high quality research. This was called the scientist-practitioner model.
This did not really interest me because, while it was important to psychology, it didn't really show what the effects were with patients. It showed that influence with the APA increased, but didn't say what the implications of that were, or what they were able to do with their increased influence. I feel like this section could have talked about a lot more, but decided not to.
I think learning about the challenges psychologists were going through at this time will help me to better understand psychology. They were not being treated as well as they should, and Eysenck came along and almost completely discredited them. This must have been a very tough time for psychologists, and I'm surprised they were able to come through it.
This chapter builds on the previous chapter in that this is what came next in the history of psychology. We had just established psychoanalysis and now we are creating new and different techniques for treating people.
I would like to learn more about Carl Roger's childhood. It sounds like he had a tough time, which is always interesting to me.
While reading this chapter I kept thinking about what it would be like to have a lobotomy. Both the pain from having a pick stuck in your eye, and the lasting damage that would cause. I can't imagine that people who had these done really were able to enjoy life of experience much after this procedure. I feel like they became very docile creatures. If you take away our personality, are we really the same person?
terms:
Eysenck Study, Hans Eysenck, Lobotomies, Jacobsen, Fulton, Moniz, prefrontal leucotomy, Freeman, Watt, transorbital lobotomy, Hawthorne Study, human factor theory, Boulder Model, scientist-practitioner model
I really enjoyed reading chapter thirteen. It took a what we have learned from the past chapters and applied them to a more modern era of psychology that is close to what we have today. I really enjoyed around four main topics. Those are; the changes WWII had on psychology and the development of the VA hospital in aid of that, systematic desensitization, the humanistic approach, and finally the hierarchy of needs. First the changes WWII had on the world are so huge that it is just an overall phenomenon that should be more well known. It struck a cord in my heart knowing that at such a time of aversion psychology implemented something new and aided in the help. My mother had worked in VA hospitals in the past and I was unaware of the psychological presence at that time and their portion in the development of the hospitals for Veterans. Systematic Desensitization is something that I am learning about in my abnormal psychology class at the moment, therefore, I enjoy learning about the start of it. Wolpe is someone that I am unaware of, so hearing a fresh name is nice in the history of psychology. It also made me think about how he developed the idea using cats and shock. It surprised me that the story of a dog and a bell it popular but this is not? Why is this not just as popular? The progressive relaxation also tied into this topic, I would like to learn more about these two areas of practice. I found it connecting to what we have learned in the previous chapter about treatment, is it somewhat like hypnosis? Relax and hypnotize can be similar! Overall, learning how therapy evolved is a nice gateway to what we do today. To know where we are, we have to know where we came from. It made me think about. The humanistic approach and the hierarchy of needs have always been a strong interest of mine. I really enjoy how Maslow breaks it down into the simplistic 3 needs. He puts everything down to a model that I feel everything can tie back to, and sometimes I feel as if things get to complex. We do things because they are driven, they are driven because of our needs. I took a motivation and emotion course and this was a topic that made me conceptualize psychology on a simplistic level. I really like the idea of self-actualization, and they could have elaborated more. Psychology is a majority about behavior, and this structure is basic and easy to follow. I really agree with these three basic needs and feel that we function off of them. I love learning about this topic and feel it is something that is beneficial to understand in relation to understanding psychology as a whole. The final part that I did not like about the chapter was on the last page. It was a short clause that stated there were parts of this chapter not elaborated on such as, school, forensic, and educational psychology. I want to learn about them not just know they are there. It doesn't even say they will be discussed further in this text book. The application and treatment are huge topics, but the author could have pushed some information on the other topics in a broad sense. Psychology is evolving and the text focuses in on foundational stuff, and briefly mentions other new topics, I would like to know more.
Key words: VA Hospitial, forensic, educational psychology, school psychology, self-actualization, systematic desensitization, Wolpe, progressive relaxation, hierarchy of needs, Maslow, humanistic approach,
One thing I found interesting and always do when I read about the medical strategies used back in the nineteenth century are the practices of psychiatry in asylums. When I talk about strategies I’m referring to the use of the popular lobotomy. A technique that came into widespread practice with little support and a lack of scientific basis, with almost no evidence of effectiveness.
It was a practice that started with the report of surgical damage to the frontal lobes of chimpanzees. Saying that the damage “could” have a beneficial effect, for the animals showed aggressive behavior before. After the surgery (severing of the frontal and lower brain) the chimps seemed to have had no impaired mental functions. It was during a presentation that a neuropsychiatrist by the name of Egas Moniz thought to apply the procedure to seriously disturbed psychotic patients. Almost skipping what we would call in today’s society the trial studies, going right from a few animal specimens directly to human use. In order to apply this to humans Moniz developed a procedure known as prefrontal leucotomy, in which he used a device called a leucotone. A process that consisted of drilling small holes on both side of the head above and in front of the temples, where the leucotone would then be inserted and moved around in an attempt to sever brain tissue. Out of twenty cases reported it was said that only fourteen of the twenty improved, leaving the other later to become listless, apathetic, and emotionally passive. What I find funny is back then that was a small price to pay to cure life-threatening symptoms, even more so when it came from the doctors themselves (Moniz).
It wasn’t till an American by the name of Walter Freeman, a neurologists, that the Moniz procedure was spread across America. During this expanding Freeman completed as many surgeries as he could and eventually renamed the procedure a lobotomy. In 1946 he invented a new technique called a transorbital lobotomy. A process that involved inserting an ice pick like rod through the eye sockets into the prefrontal and frontal lobes, enabling greater numbers of fibers to be cut. The process although faster than that of Moniz’s it also had a higher risk of damaging and severing an artery. Even with the higher stakes and the occasional deaths, Freeman promoted this technique around the country doing demonstrations while others observed. Despite Moniz’s word for using the procedure on only those with extreme cases and after everything else had failed, Freeman’s method became a way to simply manage disagreeable patients. A prime example of this is the ever so popular One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest a novel in 1962 then late into a movie in 1975.
While reading this chapter particularly that of the lobotomy, a few things came across my mind. The first of which was how can an individual, at least from the reading, such as Freeman who was a neurologist, think that blindly moving a rod around inside some ones skull could fix any kind of illness correctly? Any kind of procedure at the time had to be painful if the patient wasn’t given enough narcotics. It’s also good to know that psychologist don’t have the same mind sit as they did back then when it came to the recovery from surgery (small price to pay). I think knowing that is important in understanding how far we have come, cause if we were still using those methods today we would have a different outlook on modern day medicine. Just knowing about the modern day practices that were used in mental institutes I think gives us a better grasp on what not to do in future studies and how to go about making the life’s of those less fortuning more at ease.
Terms: lobotomy, transorbital lobotomy, Walter Freeman, prefrontal leucotomy, leucotone, Egas Moniz
After reading this chapter I found three things interesting. The first thing I found interesting was the development of modern clinical psychologists. It didn’t form like most of the other branches of psychology. They formed from experiments and in labs clinical psychology formed because of a need for it. We had so many soldiers back from WWII in need of treatment of mental wounds. The second thing I found interesting was the close-up on lobotomies, transorbital, and otherwise. I have always been fascinated by the treatment for the mentally ill in the 1920’s and 1930’s. The one that is the most interesting are lobotomies. It is so drastic of a procedure yet it was done so often in that time period. The third thing I found interesting was humanistic psychology. It is like the optimistic form of psychology. I found it interesting that there is a term for basically fulfilling your dreams; self-actualization. The thing I found least interesting in this chapter was the boulder model. I’m interested in psychology and not so much the committees formed for it.
The most useful information in this chapter is the part on clinical psychology. Clinical psychology is very relevant in today’s society so the history of it is important. This chapter builds on previous chapters because the previous chapter talked of the mentally ill. This chapter gets into lobotomies and the development of clinical psychology. Clinical psychology has treatments for the mentally ill. I would like to learn more about the behavior therapy. We talked about it in my abnormal psychology class some and it intrigued me. We talked about using systematic desensitization as therapy for people with irrational fears. While reading this chapter I was thinking about the health care system back in the 1920’s and 1930’s. I don’t know much about it but I feel like it was pretty rough.
Terms: clinical psychologists, lobotomies, transorbital, humanistic psychology, self-actualization, abnormal psychology
After reading this chapter I found three things interesting. The first thing I found interesting was the development of modern clinical psychologists. It didn’t form like most of the other branches of psychology. They formed from experiments and in labs clinical psychology formed because of a need for it. We had so many soldiers back from WWII in need of treatment of mental wounds. The second thing I found interesting was the close-up on lobotomies, transorbital, and otherwise. I have always been fascinated by the treatment for the mentally ill in the 1920’s and 1930’s. The one that is the most interesting are lobotomies. It is so drastic of a procedure yet it was done so often in that time period. The third thing I found interesting was humanistic psychology. It is like the optimistic form of psychology. I found it interesting that there is a term for basically fulfilling your dreams; self-actualization. The thing I found least interesting in this chapter was the boulder model. I’m interested in psychology and not so much the committees formed for it.
The most useful information in this chapter is the part on clinical psychology. Clinical psychology is very relevant in today’s society so the history of it is important. This chapter builds on previous chapters because the previous chapter talked of the mentally ill. This chapter gets into lobotomies and the development of clinical psychology. Clinical psychology has treatments for the mentally ill. I would like to learn more about the behavior therapy. We talked about it in my abnormal psychology class some and it intrigued me. We talked about using systematic desensitization as therapy for people with irrational fears. While reading this chapter I was thinking about the health care system back in the 1920’s and 1930’s. I don’t know much about it but I feel like it was pretty rough.
Terms: clinical psychologists, lobotomies, transorbital, humanistic psychology, self-actualization, abnormal psychology
The first thing that I found interesting from this chapter was the section on Psychology and the World of Business and industry. I found this section most interesting because this is a career path I have considered and reading about how it originated was beneficial. In the 1920s, psychologists began working in big industries and businesses as consultants. Not only did they work with big industries and businesses, psychologist banned together and made companies of their own that would provide many different services. The first company was The Scott Company but soon failed. Studies were done and it was found that given care and healthy work conditions, workers and production would prosper to the fullest. What mattered most though was that the employees were made to feel important.
The second thing I found interesting was the reorganization of APA. I know the psychology field had to work its way from the ground up but it’s odd to think that APA was not always thought of as important. Because of APA’s new recognition, the visibility for professional practitioners. This was different because APA was previously dictated by teachers. It was believed that APA was becoming too focused on professional practices that other societies were established.
One of the last things I found interesting is how World War two paved the way for today’s clinical psychology. After the war, treatments for mental illnesses were needed. Because of this, conferences were held to for the training of clinical psychology. This training was done under the supervision of David Shakow. Clinical psychologists were getting Ph.D.’s and proceeded to complete research doctorial dissertation. In the 1930’s, Moniz began the controversial lobotomy as a treatment.
While reading this chapter, I found all sections interesting. I am finding the chapters easier and easier to relate to and therefore more interesting. This chapter continues to build on the history of psychology and how it formed to what it is today. While reading this chapter I couldn’t help but think about the video on lobotomy I watch a couple of weeks ago. Some of the information didn’t sound as familiar as I would have expected to I would like to do more research in that area.
Terms: The Scott Company, APA, clinical psychology, David Shakow, Moniz, lobotomy
The Hawthorne Effect was covered in this chapter, and I almost skipped over it because I thought that I had read enough tidbits about it. I was surprised to read the additional information offered about the alternative reasons for increased productivity in the workers. I did not know that two of the women in the RATR study were replaced for questionable reasons. They may have been replaced with “ringers” – employees with above average productivity levels, and one of those two workers in the RATR even became the leader of the team. It was also interesting to learn that the output of the team was measured by the month and not by the hour, hourly output results showed an actual decrease in productivity. To me, the Hawthorne Study illuminates the need for peer review in order to test the statistics measured by a study (in this case, production numbers). I wonder if the researchers would have used the hourly measures if those numbers had shown that the production levels were up. Instead, the hourly numbers did not support their findings, and they decided to use monthly numbers. It makes me wonder if anyone had actually voiced the concern that “yeah, monthly production numbers are higher but they are working more hours…” –in other words, I do wonder if the researchers knew that numbers were down, but still reported the productivity as higher.
I enjoyed reading about client-centered therapy, because I related it to of all of the self-help books on the market, many of those books promote self-actualization techniques. Dr. Carl Rogers’ client-centered therapy was not as interested in finding the effects of one’s past or one’s environment, but focused more on assisting a client (through the therapy) to realize the goals they had for themselves and to help them to visualize a path to reaching those goals. That made a lot of sense to me, because many people do not have a clear idea of how to achieve the goals they want and talking those things out might help them to understand a way to those goals. This reminded me of “talk therapy” from the previous chapter. I do think that this more optimistic approach was the right direction for counseling, but it seemed to lose favor with the psychology crowd; and the text says that it seemed too self-centered and was not considering the importance and the needs of the community.
Then there was the part about lobotomies, which are always interesting to read about (for the shock value). Doctors now use lasers to perform lobotomies with precision. Dr. Walter Freeman was performing a high number of lobotomies without any precision or visualization of the brain as he did it. Maybe he did feel that he was helping people, because the lobotomies were probably performed more for the sake of the families and the caregivers of the patient. The lobotomies reportedly neutralized aggression in uncontrollable patients, and they were able to render the patients lethargic. I am sure it was easier to deal with a lethargic and compliant family member, rather than a hostile person with an actual personality. The saddest thing is that the patients probably were not agreeing to these procedures, more likely it was the state or their guardians making them have that done as a way to get rid of the problem. There was a reported 2.5% death rate, and again I am sure no one really cared that troublesome person had died. I do wonder how many more patients died but were reported as died of other causes like meningitis or stroke at a later date, but may actually have died as a result of the procedure.
This is the chapter that leads us to where we are today in the field of psychology. I was most interested in Dr. Carl Rogers’ ideas on self-actualization and client-centered therapy. The text does say that those methods fell to the fringes of psychology, but I believe that self-actualization is still being promoted today. I wonder how many modern psychologists are inspired by that method.
Terminology:
Hawthorne Effect, RATR study, client-centered therapy, self-actualization, Dr. Carl Rogers, lobotomy, Dr. Walter Freeman
I found this chapter to be somewhat interesting which surprised me because based off of its title I thought it was going to be very dull. The first thing I found captivating was Joseph Wolpe's systematic desensitization and progressive relaxation. He came across systematic desensitization while reading research from studies that Mary Cover Jones had performed. It is one of the best known and more effective behavior therapy techniques. He began by studying the phobic reactions of cats by shocking them whenever they reached for food. He guessed that fear and eating were incompatible responses so he attempted to replace the fear responses by substituting eating responses. He would feed them in a room that looked somewhat like the original room where the shock occurred and would put them in another room that looked more like the original room. The fear response was eventually weakened and replaced by the approach to food. I think this is very beneficial for psychologist because essentially it is reversing what caused the phobia to occur. The therapist will have to figure out the cause and do what they can to try to reverse it. Wolpe later figured out how to apply progressive relaxation to humans. Wolpe would have clients create an "anxiety hierarchy" which is a list of anxiety increasing situations. He would then have the patients relax and imagine the least anxiety provoking situation then gradually go up the hierarchy. What he found was that after a few sessions the anxiety situations produced less anxiety. The clients could finally relax. This is beneficial too because once the doctor knows what increases the most anxiety they can treat that as well.
The other part of this chapter I found interesting came from the close-up article on lobotomies. In the 1930's new medical treatments (lobotomy) appeared to help individuals who needed more help than just restraint and sedation. Lobotomies were started by Egas Moniz when he read a paper written Carlyle Jacobsen and John Fulton that was presented at the Second International Congress on Neurology. They performed brain surgery on the frontal lobes of chipanzees. What they found was that before the surgeon the chimps were aggressive but it disappeared once the surgery was completed. Moniz thought that the surgery could help those who were seriously disturbed. By 1936 he had done the surgery on twenty patients mainly with manic-depression or obsessive-compulsive disorders that were severe. A majority of the patients ended up being listless, apathetic and emotionally passive. Although thsi happened he thought the benefits outweighed the negatives. The lobotomy led to the development of the transorbital lobotomy. This was led by Walter Freeman and James Watt. What Freeman and Watt did was put something similar to an icepick through the eye sockets and into the frontal and prefrontal lobes. It increased the risk of cutting a major artery but the surgery could be done faster and more fibers could be cut. I found the transorbital lobotomy and the lobotomy to be interesting because it amazes me that although they believed they were helping people that they didn't see the harm they were doing. Personalities of these people changed because they removed parts of their brain. It also makes me think about how far scientist and psyhcologists have come over the years. Now we treat people with OCD and depression with little pills and therapy.
For the majority of this chapter I found that most of it was repetitive. I feel that in most psychology classes Carl Rogers and his idea of self-actualization is talked about quite frequently. The Vail Conference and the Boulder Conference is something else that is discussed in a few of my classes. This chapter fits in with the other chapters because it shows that psychology has drastically improved. This chapter also mainly discusses those who practice psychology instead of just the therapy aspects of it.
Terms: Joseph Wolpe, Systematic desensitization, progressive relaxation, Mary Cover Jones, behavior therapy, anxiety hierarchy, lobotomies, Egas Moniz, Carlyle Jacobsen, John Fulton, Second International Congress on Neurology, Manic Depression, Obsessive-Complusive Disorder, transorbital lobotomy, Walter Freeman, James Watt, Carl Rogers, Self-actualization, Vail Conference, Boulder Conference
The first interesting topic from chapter 13 was Behavioral therapy. It is the idea that behavior can be learned and unlearned. It was interesting to learn about Mary Cover Jones, who in the 1920’s was a pioneer in behavioral therapy. She combined Watson’s ideas with her own and created a procedure she called “direct conditioning.” She used this technique to help cure a young boy from his fear of rabbits. First Jones made sure the boy was calm and relaxed then she slowly exposed the child to a bunny and each time moved it a little closer. The method of conditioning was growing throughout the 1920’s and 30’s. Pavlovian techniques were being used by researchers in Russia to treat alcoholism. However, instead of using a dog, human participants were given electoral shocks when consuming alcohol. Wonder how effective that procedure was! In the US, O. Hobart and Willie M. Mowrer believed, “If conditioning is the problem, then is also the solution.” In other words we have the ability to learn and change behavior. In the 1950’s as behavioral therapies continued to grow, Joseph Wolpe a medical doctor was influenced by Jones’s direct conditioning created a new procedure for behavioral therapy and called it systematic desensitization. He was able to study fear in cats (by shocking them) and then afterwards slowly desensitize their fear. Wolpe eventually applied this procedure towards people and called it progressive relaxation. Instead of shocking them, he used relaxation to treat phobias. Wolpe first relaxed his patients then gradually exposed them to the source of their anxiety until they learned to relax in the presence of the fear. This technique has been very successful and used for many behavioral therapies.
The second interesting topic was the humanistic approach towards psychotherapy; this down-to-earth view expresses the human need to have meaning in life. It gives us a free will to discover who we are, so we can feel some sort of self-actualization. Abraham Maslow set a hierarchy of needs pyramid from lowest to highest with self-actualization on the very top. In order to achieve self-actualization, the needs below it have to be fulfilled. Maslow believed those who were fortunate enough to feel accomplished pleasure in life have reached their peak experience. I think self-actualization is affected by a person’s socioeconomic status. It is much harder for many people living in poverty to find the resources to reach their full potential.
The third interesting topic was Carl Rogers, who created client-centered therapy. While attending Columbia Teachers College, Rogers became influenced by Leta Hollingworh’s ideas about education, in which he became interested in doing child guidance. This led Rogers into becoming a clinical psychologist. Years later Rogers joined the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute at La Jolla where he was able to expand his idea on group client-centered therapy sessions. Rogers didn’t think it was necessary for clients to reflect on their past. It was a more important that clients felt comfortable in their environment. Rogers wanted to help his clients find the path towards self-actualization. This meant therapists needed to be genuinely caring individuals, who are willing to be honest with their clients. Reflection is a way therapists could help clients by rephrasing their statement so they could have a better understanding of the problem and at the same time give them a since of self-control. The humanistic approach of therapy chose not to use labels and instead believed in treating clients as human beings. According to Rogers, empathy and the ability to emotionally understand what the client is going through was one of the most important characteristics a therapist should have.
This chapter relates with previous ones by expanding the practice of psychology by applying it in business and organizations. The improvement of client well-fare also became more important.
The Hawthorne studies would be interesting to learn more about, and how behavior changes when we know we are being observed by others.
Terms used: Mary Cover Jones, Joseph, Wolpe, Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, systematic desensitization, progressive relaxation, self-actualization, peak experience, client-centered therapy, empathy, reflection