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Psychology
The Short Version
Neurosis
in psychiatry, a broad category of psychological disturbance,
encompassing various mild forms of mental disorder. Until fairly
recently, the term neurosis was broadly employed in contrast with
psychosis, which denoted much more severe, debilitating mental
disturbances. The two terms were used regularly until 1980, when the
American Psychiatric Association released a precise listing of known
mental disorders excluding the two broad categories of “mild” and
“serious” mental disorders. Neurosis, according to Sigmund Freud , arose
from inner conflicts and could lead to anxiety . In his formulation, the
causal factors could be found roughly in the first six years of life,
when the personality, or ego, is weak and afraid of censure. He
attributed neurosis to the frustration of infantile sexual drives, as
when severe eating and toilet habits and other restrictions are
parentally imposed (see Oedipus complex ), which appear in adulthood as
neurotic symptoms (see psychoanalysis ). Other authorities have
emphasized constitutional and organic factors. Among the psychoanalysts,
Alfred Adler and H. S. Sullivan stressed social determinants of personal
adjustment, and Karen Horney emphasized insecurity in childhood as
causes of neurosis.
Until 1980, neuroses included anxiety disorders as well as a number of
other mild mental illnesses, such as hysteria and hypochondria . Anxiety
disorders are fairly common, and generally involve a feeling of
apprehension with no obvious, immediate cause. Such intense fears of
various situations may be severe enough to prevent individuals from
conducting routine activities. Phobias, the most common type of anxiety
disorder, involve specific situations which cause irrational anxiety
attacks. For instance, an individual with agoraphobia (fear of open
spaces) may be too anxious to leave their house. Obsessive-compulsive
disorder occurs when an individual relentlessly pursues a thought or
action in order to relieve anxiety. Panic disorder is characterized by
anxiety in the form of panic attacks, while generalized anxiety disorder
occurs when an individual experiences chronic anxiety with no apparent
explanations for the anxiety. Post-traumatic stress disorder , occurring
in the wake of a particularly traumatic event, can lead to severe
flashbacks and a lack of responsiveness to stimuli. Anxiety disorders
are usually accompanied by a variety of defense mechanisms , which are
employed in an attempt to overcome anxiety. Hypochondriasis and hysteria
(now generally known as conversion disorder) are classified today as
somatoform disorders, and involve physical symptoms of psychological
distress. The hypochondriac fears that minor bodily disturbances
indicate serious, often terminal, disease, while the individual
suffering from conversion disorder experiences a bodily disturbance such
as paralysis of a limb, blindness, or deafness with no clear biological
origin. Treatment of neurosis may include behavior therapy to condition
an individual to change neurotic habits, psychotherapy, and group
psychotherapy . Various drugs may also be employed to alleviate
symptoms.
Oedipus complex
Freudian term, drawn from the myth of Oedipus , designating attraction
on the part of the child toward the parent of the opposite sex and
rivalry and hostility toward the parent of its own. It occurs during the
phallic stage of the psycho-sexual development of the personality,
approximately years three to five. Resolution of the Oedipus complex is
believed to occur by identification with the parent of the same sex and
by the renunciation of sexual interest in the parent of the opposite
sex. Freud considered this complex the cornerstone of the superego and
the nucleus of all human relationships. Many psychiatrists, while
acknowledging the significance of the Oedipal relationships to
personality development in our culture, ascribe love and attraction
toward one parent and hatred and antagonism toward the other not
necessarily to sexual rivalry but to resentment of parental
authoritarian power.
Oedipus Folklore
(ed´ipes, e´di-) , in Greek legend, son of Laius, king of Thebes, and
his wife, Jocasta. Laius had been warned by an oracle that he was fated
to be killed by his own son; he therefore abandoned Oedipus on a
mountainside. The baby was rescued, however, by a shepherd and brought
to the king of Corinth, who adopted him. When Oedipus was grown, he
learned from the Delphic oracle that he would kill his father and marry
his mother. He fled Corinth to escape this fate, believing his foster
parents to be his real parents. At a crossroad he encountered Laius,
quarreled with him, and killed him. He continued on to Thebes, where the
sphinx was killing all who could not solve her riddle. Oedipus answered
it correctly and so won the widowed queen's hand. The prophecy was thus
fulfilled. Two sons, Polynices and Eteocles, and two daughters, Antigone
and Ismene, were born to the unwittingly incestuous pair. When a plague
descended on Thebes, an oracle declared that the only way to rid the
land of its pollution was to expel the murderer of Laius. Through a
series of painful revelations, brilliantly dramatized by Sophocles in
Oedipus Rex, the king learned the truth and in an agony of horror
blinded himself. According to Homer, Oedipus continued to reign over
Thebes until he was killed in battle; but the more common version is
that he was exiled by Creon, Jocasta's brother, and his sons battled for
the throne (see Seven against Thebes ). In Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus,
Oedipus is guided in his later wanderings by his faithful daughter,
Antigone.
Anxiety
anticipatory tension or vague dread persisting in the absence of a
specific threat. In contrast to fear, which is a realistic reaction to
actual danger, anxiety is generally related to an unconscious threat.
Physiological symptoms of anxiety include increases in pulse rate and
blood pressure, accelerated breathing rates, perspiration, muscular
tension, dryness of the mouth, and diarrhea. Freud postulated that
anxiety was a result of repressed, pent-up sexual energy, but later came
to view it as a danger signal alerting the ego to excessive stimulation
and causing repression. Anxiety disorders include observable, overt
anxiety, as well as phobias and other conditions where a defense
mechanism has been set up to disguise the anxiety from both the sufferer
and the observer. In generalized anxiety, the individual experiences
long-term anxiety with no explanation for its cause; such a condition
may be called free-floating, since it is not linked to a specific
stimulus. Panic disorder involves sudden anxiety attacks which are
manifested in heart palpitations, shortness of breath, or fainting. The
individual with a phobic disorder can identify the stimulus that causes
anxiety: such stimuli as enclosed space, heights, and crowds become
imbued with greatly exaggerated anxiety and are carefully avoided by the
phobic individual. Obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD) are
characterized by obsessions (mental quandaries) and compulsions
(physical actions) that engage the individual excessively. Extreme
anxiety may be experienced if the person does not carry out the
compulsion or attempts to ignore the obsession. Post-traumatic stress
disorder occurs when an individual has recurrent dreams, flashbacks, or
panic attacks after a particularly traumatic experience.
Defense Mechanism
in psychoanalysis, any of a variety of unconscious personality reactions
which the ego uses to protect the conscious mind from threatening
feelings and perceptions. Sigmund Freud first used defense as a
psychoanalytic term (1894), but he did not break the notion into
categories, viewing it as a singular phenomenon of repression. His
daughter, Anna Freud , expanded on his theories in the 1930s,
distinguishing some of the major defense mechanisms recognized today.
Primary defense mechanisms include repression and denial , which serve
to prevent unacceptable ideas or impulses from entering the conscience.
Secondary defense mechanisms generally appearing as an outgrowth of the
primary defense mechanisms include projection, reaction formation,
displacement, sublimation, and isolation.
Denial
in psychology, an ego defense mechanism that operates unconsciously to
resolve emotional conflict, and to allay anxiety by refusing to perceive
the more unpleasant aspects of external reality. In the psychoanalytic
theory of Sigmund Freud , denial is described as a primitive defense
mechanism . Anna Freud studied the widespread occurrence of denial among
small children and explained that the mature ego does not continue to
make extensive use of denial, because it conflicts with the capacity to
recognize and critically test reality. Most people employ denial at some
time in their lives when coping with stressful situations, such as the
death of a loved one. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross 's influential theory
describes denial as the first stage of a dying person's progress in
coming to terms with terminal illness. In such instances, denial may be
considered adaptive. It is considered maladaptive, however, when it
becomes delusional. In recent years, the term is used more generally, to
describe the suppression of reality rather than a particular defense
mechanism in the Freudian sense.
Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder
(PTSD), mental disorder that follows an occurrence of extreme
psychological stress, such as that encountered in war or resulting from
violence, childhood abuse, sexual abuse, or serious accident. The
stressful event is usually followed by a period of emotional numbness
and denial that can last for months or years. After that period,
symptoms such as recurring nightmares, “flashbacks,” short-term memory
problems, insomnia, or heightened sensitivity to sudden noises may
begin. In some cases outbursts of violent behavior have been observed.
The usual treatment for PTSD is individual psychotherapy, including
anxiety management, or group psychotherapy with others who have the
disorder. Some anti-anxiety and antidepressant drugs are being studied
for their effectiveness. Certain traits (a history of depression,
shyness, impulsivity) appear to heighten a person's risk of experiencing
PTSD after a traumatic event. In those who do experience it, there is
growing evidence that actual physical changes occur in the brain. The
hippocampus, a structure that lies deep in the brain and that is
associated with memory, has been found to be smaller in PTSD victims. It
has been hypothesized that excesses of cortisol, a steroid hormone
released during periods of extreme stress, may damage nerve fibers in
the area or actually kill the nerve cells. However, the role of cortisol
is not completely understood; studies of concentration camp survivors
found abnormally low levels of cortisol rather than abnormally high
levels.
Post-traumatic stress disorder was referred to as “shell shock” after
World War I and as “battle fatigue” after World War II and was
traditionally thought of as a condition of war veterans. Studies of
Vietnam veterans and Nazi concentration camp survivors have added
greatly to the knowledge of PTSD. The National Vietnam Veterans
Readjustment Study (1988) estimated that 31% of the males and 27% of the
females who served in the Vietnam War had symptoms of PTSD. Estimates of
civilian populations put the rate of PTSD at 10% (women) and 5% (men) in
the 15 to 54 age group. Childhood sexual abuse, sexual abuse, and
assault are common causes of PTSD in both military and nonmilitary
women. In 1989 the U.S. Congress created the National Center for
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder for the study and treatment of PTSD.
Hysteria
(hister´ee) , in psychology, a disorder commonly known today as
conversion disorder, in which a psychological conflict is converted into
a bodily disturbance. It is distinguished from hypochondria by the fact
that its sufferers do not generally confuse their condition with real,
physical disease. Conversion disorder is usually found in patients with
immature, histrionic personalities who are under great stress. Women are
affected twice as frequently as men. Symptoms, which are largely
symbolic and which relieve the patient's anxiety, include limb
paralysis, blindness, or convulsive seizures. The specific physical
disorder usually does not correspond to the anatomy; e.g., an entire
limb may be paralyzed rather than a specific group of muscles. The
person may also appear to be unconcerned about the illness, a condition
French psychiatrist Pierre Janet called la belle indifference (1929). At
the end of the 19th cent., great advances were made in the understanding
and cure of hysteria by the recognition of its psychogenic nature and by
the use of hypnotism to influence the hysteric patient, who is known to
have a high degree of suggestibility. The Austrian physician Josef
Breuer , the French psychologists J. M. Charcot and Pierre Janet, and
Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud were pioneers in the investigation
of hysteria through hypnosis. Freud concluded that hysterical symptoms
were symbolic representations of a repressed unconscious event,
accompanied by strong emotions that could not be adequately expressed or
discharged at the time. Instead, the strong effect associated with the
event was diverted into the wrong somatic channels (conversion), and the
physical symptom resulted. Psychoanalysis has had reasonable success in
helping patients suffering from conversion disorder.
Hypochondria
(hipekon´dree) , in psychology, a disorder characterized by an
exaggeration of imagined or negligible physical ailment. The
hypochondriac fears that such minor symptoms indicate a serious disease,
and tends to be self-centered and socially withdrawn. Continually
seeking professional help to reinforce his fears, the hypochondriac
never feels he is receiving adequate care. Contemporary theorists have
arrived at similar conclusions, suggesting that the physical ailments of
hypochondriacs were a form of escape from psychological stress. The
disorder is technically known as hypochondriasis, and is classified as a
somatoform disorder, or one in which a psychological problem manifests
itself in a physical ailment.
Psychoanalysis
name given by Sigmund Freud to a system of interpretation and
therapeutic treatment of psychological disorders. Psychoanalysis began
after Freud studied (1885-86) with the French neurologist J. M. Charcot
in Paris and became convinced that hysteria was caused not by organic
symptoms in the nervous system but by emotional disturbance. Later, in
collaboration with Viennese physician Josef Breuer , Freud wrote two
papers on hysteria (1893, 1895) that were the precursors of his vast
body of psychoanalytic theory. Freud used his psychoanalytic method
primarily to treat clients suffering from a variety of mild mental
disorders classified until recently as neuroses (see neurosis ). Freud
was joined by an increasing number of students and physicians, among
whom were C. G. Jung and Alfred Adler . Both made significant
contributions, but by 1913 ceased to be identified with the main body of
psychoanalysts because of theoretical disagreements with Freud's strong
emphasis on sexual motivation. Other analysts, including Melanie Klein
and Jacques Lacan , also have contributed greatly to the field.
Psychoanalysis and its theoretical underpinnings have had an enormous
influence on modern psychology and psychiatry and in fields as diverse
as literary theory, anthropology, and film criticism.
Unconscious
in psychology, that aspect of mental life that is separate from
immediate consciousness and is not subject to recall at will. Sigmund
Freud regarded the unconscious as a submerged but vast portion of the
mind. In his view, the unconscious was composed of the id, which
accounts for instinctual drives, acts as the motivating force in human
behavior, and contains desires and wishes that the individual hides or
represses from conscious recognition; and part of the superego, the
system that acts to restrain and control id impulses. Conscious
cognitive processes, such as thinking, are performed by the ego and part
of the superego (see psychoanalysis ). Conflict between conscious and
unconscious impulses are said to give rise to anxiety , then to defense
mechanisms , which counteract this anxiety. To tap the unconscious,
Freud used a variety of techniques, including hypnosis, free
association, and dream interpretation. C. G. Jung expanded on the
Freudian concept, adding the idea of an inherited unconscious, known as
the collective unconscious. The idea of the unconscious has been
rejected by some psychological schools, although it is still used by
many psychoanalysts. The term unconscious is also used to describe
latent, or unretrieved, memories, or to describe stimuli too weak to
enter an individual's conscious awareness.
Consciousness
in psychology, a term commonly used to indicate a state of awareness of
self and environment. In Freudian psychology, conscious behavior largely
includes cognitive processes of the ego, such as thinking, perception,
and planning, as well as some aspects of the superego, such as moral
conscience. Some psychologists deny the distinction between conscious
and unconscious behavior; others use the term consciousness to indicate
all the activities of an individual that constitute the personality. In
recent years, neuropsychologists have begun to investigate the links
between consciousness and memory, as well as altered states of
consciousness such as the dream state. See also defense mechanism ;
psychoanalysis .
Association
in psychology, a connection between different sensations, feelings, or
ideas by virtue of their previous occurrence together in experience. The
concept of association entered contemporary psychology through the
empiricist philosophers John Locke, George Berkeley, David Hume, and
David Hartley , and the British associationist school of James Mill ,
John Stuart Mill , and others (see associationism ). Translated into the
stimulus-response terms of behaviorism , association has been thought of
as the basis of learning and conditioning. Paired experience and the
principle of reinforcement are often invoked to explain associative
learning. However, Gestalt psychologists, who believe that association
between items is dependent on their relations to each other, interpret
association as an aftereffect of perceptual organization. Psychoanalysis
uses a technique known as free association, in which the client
expresses thoughts exactly as they occur, even though they may seem
irrelevant. This procedure is designed to reveal areas of conflict and
to bring into consciousness traumatic events that have been repressed,
the theory being that earlier thoughts and associations can be derived
from current thoughts with similar patterns of association.
Associationism
theory that all consciousness is the result of the combination, in
accordance with the law of association , of certain simple and ultimate
elements derived from sense experiences. It was developed by David
Hartley and advanced by James Mill .
Behaviorism
school of psychology which seeks to explain animal and human behavior
entirely in terms of observable and measurable responses to
environmental stimuli. Behaviorism was introduced (1913) by the American
psychologist John B. Watson , who insisted that behavior is a
physiological reaction to environmental stimuli. He rejected the
exploration of mental processes as unscientific. The conditioned-reflex
experiments of the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov and the American
psychologist Edward Thorndike were central to the development of
behaviorism. The American behaviorist B. F. Skinner contended that all
but a few emotions were conditioned by habit, and could be learned or
unlearned. The therapeutic system of behavior modification has emerged
from behaviorist theory. Therapy intends to shape behavior through a
variety of processes known as conditioning. Popular techniques include
systematic desensitization, generally used on clients suffering from
anxiety or fear of an object or situation, and aversive conditioning,
employed in cases where a client wishes to be broken of an unhealthy
habit (such as smoking or drug abuse). Other behavior therapies include
systems of rewards or punishments, and modeling, in which the client
views situations in which healthy behaviors are shown to lead to
rewards.
Behavior Therapy
or behavior modification, in psychology, treatment of human behavioral
disorders through the reinforcement of acceptable behavior and
suppression of undesirable behavior. The technique had its roots in the
work of Ivan Pavlov , a Russian physiologist who observed that animals
could be taught to respond to stimuli that might otherwise have no
effect on them. B. F. Skinner developed the technique in the United
States, using positive or negative reinforcers to encourage desirable
behavior and punishments to discourage undesirable behavior. Behavior
therapists believe that, in many cases, behaviors can be learned or
unlearned through basic conditioning techniques; unlike traditional
psychoanalysis, the method has little regard for the unconscious
processes underlying personality disorders. Behavior therapy uses such
techniques as aversive conditioning, where unwanted habits are paired
with unpleasant stimuli, and systematic desensitization, where a
stimulus that causes anxiety is paired with a pleasant one.
Gestalt
(geshtält´) [Ger.,form], school of psychology that interprets phenomena
as organized wholes rather than as aggregates of distinct parts,
maintaining that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The
term Gestalt was coined by the philosopher Christian von Ehrenfels in
1890, to denote experiences that require more than the basic sensory
capacities to comprehend. In 1912, the movement was given impetus in
psychology by German theorists Max Wertheimer , Wolfgang Köhler , and
Kurt Koffka as a protest against the prevailing atomistic, analytical
psychological thought. It was also a departure from the general
intellectual climate, which emphasized a scientific approach
characterized by a detachment from basic human concerns. According to
the school, understanding of psychological phenomena such as perceptual
illusions could not be derived by merely isolating the elementary parts
for analysis, because human perception may organize sensory stimuli in
any number of ways, making the whole different from the sum of the
parts. Gestalt psychologists suggest that the events in the brain bear a
structural correspondence to psychological events; indeed, it has been
shown that steady electric currents in the brain correspond to
structured perceptual events. The Gestalt school has made substantial
contributions to the study of learning, recall, and the nature of
associations, as well as important contributions to personality and
social psychology. Gestalt therapy, developed after World War II by
Frederick Perls, believes that a person's inability to successfully
integrate the parts of his personality into a healthy whole may lie at
the root of psychological disturbance. In therapy, the analyst
encourages clients to release their emotions, and to recognize these
emotions for what they are. Gestalt psychology has been thought of as
analogous to field physics.
Dream
mental activity associated with the rapid-eye-movement (REM) period of
sleep. It is commonly made up of a number of visual images, scenes or
thoughts expressed in terms of seeing rather than in those of the other
senses or in words. Electroencephalograph studies, measuring the
electrical activity of the brain during REM sleep, have shown that young
adults dream for 1 12 to 2 hours of every 8-hour period of sleep.
Infants spend an average of 50% of their sleep in the REM phase (they
are believed to dream more often than adults) a figure which decreases
steadily with age. During dreams, blood pressure and heart rate
increase, and breathing is quickened, but the body is otherwise
immobile. Studies have shown that sleepers deprived of dream-sleep are
likely to become irritable and lose coordination skills. Unusually
frightening dreams are called nightmares, and daydreams are constructed
fantasies that occur while the individual is awake. Studies have
demonstrated the existence of lucid dreaming, where the individual is
aware that he is dreaming and has a degree of control over his dream.
Sigmund Freud , in his pioneering work The Interpretation of Dreams
(1900, tr. 1913), was one of the first to emphasize dreams as keys to
the unconscious. He distinguished the manifest content of dreams the
dream as it is recalled by the individual from the latent content or the
meaning of the dream, which Freud saw in terms of wish fulfillment. C.
G. Jung held that dreams function to reveal the unconscious mind,
anticipate future events, and give expression to neglected areas of the
dreamer's personality. Another theory, which PET scan studies appear to
support, suggests that dreams are a result of electrical energy that
stimulates memories located in various regions of the brain.
Psychotherapy
treatment of mental and emotional disorders using psychological methods.
Psychotherapy, thus, does not include physiological interventions, such
as drug therapy or electroconvulsive therapy , although it may be used
in combination with such methods. This type of treatment has been used
in one form or another through the ages in many societies, but it was
not until the late 19th cent. that it received scientific impetus,
primarily under the leadership of Sigmund Freud . Although Freud's
theoretical formulations have come sharply into question, his treatment
method involving individualized client-psychologist sessions has been
used in modified forms for years (see psychoanalysis ). Behavior therapy
aims to help the patient eliminate undesirable habits or irrational
fears through conditioning. Techniques include systematic
desensitization, particularly for the treatment of clients with
irrational anxieties or fears, and aversive conditioning, which uses
negative stimuli to end bad habits. Humanistic therapy tends to be more
optimistic, basing its treatment on the theory that individuals have a
natural inclination to strive toward self-fulfillment. Therapists such
as Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow used a highly interactive
client-therapist relationship, compelling clients to realize exactly
what they are saying or how they are behaving, in order to foster a
sense of self-awareness. Cognitive therapies try to show the client that
certain, usually negative, thoughts are irrational, with the goal of
restructuring such thoughts into positive, constructive ideas. Such
methods include Albert Ellis's rational-emotive therapy, where the
therapist argues with the client about his negative ideas; and Aaron
Beck's cognitive restructuring therapy, in which the therapist works
with the client to set attainable goals. Other forms of therapy stress
helping patients to examine their own ideas about themselves.
Psychotherapy may be brief, lasting just a few sessions, or it may
extend over many years. More than one client may be involved, as in
marriage or family counseling, or a number of individuals, as in group
psychotherapy .
Group Psychotherapy
a means of changing behavior and emotional patterns, based on the
premise that much of human behavior and feeling involves the
individual's adaptation and response to other people. It is a process
carried out in formally organized groups of three or more individuals
who seek change, whether their problem is alcoholism, overeating, or
poor social skills. The composition of a group may be heterogenous or
homogeneous with reference to the age of the members or the type of
problem. The therapist may be directive or nondirective, allowing the
group to set their own agenda for discussion. The group becomes a
“sample” of the outside world, reproducing conditions of interpersonal
relationships; its members jointly participate in observing personal
motivation and styles of interaction. They also participate in
attempting new behaviors and dealing with the consequences of such
behaviors, with the intended result that they will eventually be able to
employ these behavior patterns outside the group. In observing the
totality of the events that take place in group therapy, the process by
which elements of personality are developed in each member is also
studied.
Group Psychotherapy
Section: Origins of
Group Therapy
The technique of formally organized group therapy is said to have been
devised by J. H. Pratt in 1905. Pratt was holding general-care
instruction classes for recently discharged tuberculosis patients when
he noticed the impact of this experience on their emotional states. In
1925 psychoanalyst Trigant Burrow became dissatisfied with individual
psychoanalysis, and began experimenting with group techniques. Burrow
hoped to decrease the authoritarian position of the therapist, and to
more thoroughly examine interpersonal interactions. The application of
group therapy methods to prison inmates and discharged mental hospital
patients was pioneered by Paul Schilder and Louis Wender in the 1930s.
At that time group therapy was found to be particularly useful in the
treatment of children and adolescents. The development of group therapy
was given impetus during World War II, as a result of the large number
of soldiers requiring treatment.
Group Psychotherapy
Section: Types of
Group Therapy
There are various types of group therapy; approaches include behavior
therapy, psychoanalytic therapy, sensitivity training, or Gestalt
psychology (see psychotherapy ). The composition of groups varies as
well, with family therapy and marriage counseling common forms in recent
years. Peer group therapy usually consists of a group of individuals who
have similar problems, and can be mediated by a psychoanalyst or by the
members themselves. Many people seeking help prefer this sort of group
therapy over individual therapy, largely because of the comfort derived
from knowing that others share their problems. The approach is
nondirective, and in some cases, the individual can continue attending
sessions whenever they are needed. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a
well-known peer support group, run entirely by members. AA has been
influential in the formation of similar groups, particularly support
groups centered on addictions.
Cognitive Psychology
school of psychology that examines internal mental processes such as
problem solving, memory, and language. It had its foundations in the
Gestalt psychology of Max Wertheimer , Wolfgang Köhler , and Kurt Koffka
, and in the work of Jean Piaget , who studied intellectual development
in children. Cognitive psychologists are interested in how people
understand, diagnose, and solve problems, concerning themselves with the
mental processes which mediate between stimulus and response. Cognitive
theory contends that solutions to problems take the form of algorithms
rules that are not necessarily understood but promise a solution, or
heuristics rules that are understood but that do not always guarantee
solutions. In other instances, solutions may be found through insight, a
sudden awareness of relationships. Cognitive psychologists have tried to
reach a greater understanding of human memory (see memory ) and
language. In recent years, cognitive psychology has become associated
with information processing, which examines artificial intelligence in
computers to find out whether they are capable of problem solving in
ways similar to humans. Information processing theory studies the
parallels between the human brain and the computer, in the ways that
both can receive, process, store, and retrieve information.
Memory
in psychology, the storing of learned information, and the ability to
recall that which has been stored. It has been hypothesized that three
processes occur in remembering: perception and registering of a
stimulus; temporary maintenance of the perception, or short-term memory;
and lasting storage of the perception, or long-term memory. Two major
recognized types of long-term memory are procedural memory, involving
the recall of learned skills, and declarative memory, the remembrance of
specific stimuli. For long-term memory to occur, there must be a period
of information consolidation. The process of forgetting was first
studied scientifically by Hermann Ebbinghaus, a German experimental
psychologist, who performed memory tests with groups of nonsense
syllables (disconnected syllables without associative connection).
Ebbinghaus showed that the rate of forgetting is greatest at first,
gradually diminishing until a relatively constant level of retained
information is reached. Theories to explain forgetting include the
concept of disuse, which proposes that forgetting occurs because stored
information is not used, and that of interference, which suggests that
old information interferes with information learned later and new
information interferes with previously learned information.
In some instances, memory loss is an organic, physiological process.
Retrograde amnesia , i.e., the failure to remember events preceding a
head injury, is evidence of interrupted consolidation of memory. In
anterograde amnesia, events occurring after brain damage e.g., in head
injury or alcoholism may be forgotten. Memory loss may also result from
brain cell deterioration following a series of strokes, cardiovascular
disease, or Alzheimer's disease (see dementia ).
Physiologically, learning involves modification of neural pathways. PET
scans and related studies have shown certain parts of the brain, such as
the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex and a structure called the
hippocampus, to be particularly active in recall. Computer models of
brain memory are called neural networks . In a study using genetic
manipulation, a mouse with enhanced memory capabilities has been
produced.
Manic-Depressive
Disorder
or bipolar disorder, severe mental disorder involving manic episodes
that are usually accompanied by episodes of depression . The term was
introduced by the German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin in 1896. The manic
phase of the disorder is characterized by an abnormally elevated or
irritable mood, grandiosity, sleeplessness, extravagance, and a tendency
toward irrational judgment. During the depressed phase, the person tends
to appear lethargic and withdrawn, shows a lack of concentration, and
expresses feelings of worthlessness, self-blame, and guilt. The dual
character of manic-depressive disorder has given it the name bipolar
disorder, in contrast to the unipolar depression symptomatic of the
majority of mood disorders. The symptoms range in intensity and pattern
and may not be recognized at first. Individuals suffering from bipolar
disorder may have long periods in their lives without episodes of mania
or depression, but manic-depressives have the highest suicide rate of
any group with a psychological disorder.
Depression
in psychiatry, a symptom of mood disorder characterized by intense
feelings of loss, sadness, hopelessness, failure, and rejection. The two
major types of mood disorder are unipolar disorder, also called major
depression, and bipolar disorder, whose sufferers are termed
manic-depressive (see manic-depressive disorder ). Close to 20% of
Americans are likely to suffer major depression at some time, and women
tend to be more susceptible to the disorder than men. Major depression
is likely to interfere significantly with everyday activity, with
symptoms including insomnia, irritability, weight loss, and a lack of
interest in outside events. The disorder may last several months or
longer and may recur but it is generally reversible in the short run.
Bipolar disorder is much rarer, affecting only about 1% of the U.S.
population; women and men tend to be equally susceptible. Its sufferers
alternate between states of depression similar to that which is
experienced in unipolar disorder and mania, which is characterized by
intense euphoria and frenetic activity. Bipolar disorders are often
interspersed with periods of relatively normal behavior, which may last
for long periods of time between episodes of depression or mania.
Manic-depressives have an extremely high rate of suicide, and episodes
of the disorder tend to recur. Other types of depression are recognized,
with characteristics similar to the major mood disorders, but not as
severe: they are adjustment disorder with depression, dysthymic
disorder, and cyclothymic disorder. Medical evidence suggests that
depressive states may be connected to deficiencies in the
neurotransmitters norepinephrine and serotonin , and there has been
success with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for major depression, and
drug therapy particularly lithium for manic-depression. In recent years,
theorists have argued that many depressed individuals depend upon others
for their self-esteem, and that the loss of one of these emotional
supports often precipitates a depressive reaction. A number of
psychologists contend instead that depression is a result of learned
helplessness, which occurs when a person determines through experience
that his actions are useless in making positive changes. Other theorists
have shown that genetic factors play a major role in depression.
Manic-Depressive
Disorder
Section: Incidence
Estimates suggest that about 2 million Americans suffer from bipolar
disorders. Symptoms usually appear in adolescence or early adulthood and
continue throughout life. The disorder occurs in males and females
equally and is found more frequently in close relatives of people
already known to have it.. It has had notable incidence among creative
individuals, affecting such artists as Hector Berlioz, Gustav Mahler,
Ernest Hemingway, and Virginia Woolf.
Manic-Depressive
Disorder
Section: Treatment
Therapy includes lithium (to control mania and stabilize mood swings),
anticonvulsant drugs such as valproate and carbamazepine, and
antidepressants . Electroconvulsive therapy has been useful in cases
where other treatments have had little success. Psychotherapy can
provide support to the patient and the family.
Learning
in psychology, the process by which a relatively lasting change in
potential behavior occurs as a result of practice or experience.
Learning is distinguished from behavioral changes arising from such
processes as maturation and illness, but does apply to motor skills,
such as driving a car, to intellectual skills, such as reading, and to
attitudes and values, such as prejudice. There is evidence that neurotic
symptoms and patterns of mental illness are also learned behavior.
Learning occurs throughout life in animals, and learned behavior
accounts for a large proportion of all behavior in the higher animals,
especially in humans.
Learning Section:
Models of Learning
The scientific investigation of the learning process was begun at the
end of the 19th cent. by Ivan Pavlov in Russia and Edward Thorndike in
the United States. Three models are currently widely used to explain
changes in learned behavior; two emphasize the establishment of
relations between stimuli and responses, and the third emphasizes the
establishment of cognitive structures. Albert Bandura maintained (1977)
that learning occurs through observation of others, or models; it has
been suggested that this type of learning occurs when children are
exposed to violence in the media.
Classical
Conditioning
The first model, classical conditioning, was initially identified by
Pavlov in the salivation reflex of dogs. Salivation is an innate reflex,
or unconditioned response, to the presentation of food, an unconditioned
stimulus. Pavlov showed that dogs could be conditioned to salivate
merely to the sound of a buzzer (a conditioned stimulus), after it was
sounded a number of times in conjunction with the presentation of food.
Learning is said to occur because salivation has been conditioned to a
new stimulus that did not elicit it initially. The pairing of food with
the buzzer acts to reinforce the buzzer as the prominent stimulus.
Operant Conditioning
A second type of learning, known as operant conditioning, was developed
around the same time as Pavlov's theory by Thorndike, and later expanded
upon by B. F. Skinner . Here, learning takes place as the individual
acts upon the environment. Whereas classical conditioning involves
innate reflexes, operant conditioning requires voluntary behavior.
Thorndike showed that an intermittent reward is essential to reinforce
learning, while discontinuing the use of reinforcement tends to
extinguish the learned behavior. The famous Skinner box demonstrated
operant conditioning by placing a rat in a box in which the pressing of
a small bar produces food. Skinner showed that the rat eventually learns
to press the bar regularly to obtain food. Besides reinforcement,
punishment produces avoidance behavior, which appears to weaken learning
but not curtail it. In both types of conditioning, stimulus
generalization occurs; i.e., the conditioned response may be elicited by
stimuli similar to the original conditioned stimulus but not used in the
original training. Stimulus generalization has enormous practical
importance, because it allows for the application of learned behaviors
across different contexts. Behavior modification is a type of treatment
resulting from these stimulus/response models of learning. It operates
under the assumption that if behavior can be learned, it can also be
unlearned (see behavior therapy ).
Cognitive Learning
A third approach to learning is known as cognitive learning. Wolfgang
Köhler showed that a protracted process of trial-and-error may be
replaced by a sudden understanding that grasps the interrelationships of
a problem. This process, called insight, is more akin to piecing
together a puzzle than responding to a stimulus. Edward Tolman (1930)
found that unrewarded rats learned the layout of a maze, yet this was
not apparent until they were later rewarded with food. Tolman called
this latent learning, and it has been suggested that the rats developed
cognitive maps of the maze that they were able to apply immediately when
a reward was offered.
Multiple
Personality
a very rare psychological disorder in which a person has two or more
distinct personalities, each with its own thoughts, feelings, and
patterns of behavior. The personalities often are direct opposites and
dominate at different times, with abrupt transitions triggered by
distressful events or memories. Each may be entirely unaware of the
other but aware of unexplained gaps in remembered time. In psychiatry
the condition is known as dissociative identity disorder. The term
“split personality,” denoting schizophrenia , refers to an unrelated
disorder in which the split (separation) is between thought and feeling.
Multiple personality was first recognized and described by the French
physician Pierre Janet in the late 19th cent. Public awareness of the
disorder increased in contemporary times after a case was the subject of
The Three Faces of Eve (1957). In the 1980s and early 90s, such factors
as recognition of child abuse, public interest in memories recovered
from childhood (whether of actual or imagined events), allegations of
so-called satanic ritual abuse, and the willingness of many
psychotherapists to assume a more directive role in their patients'
treatment, led to what came to be regarded as a rash of over diagnoses
of multiple personality.
The cause of multiple personality is not clearly understood, but the
condition seems almost invariably to be associated with severe physical
abuse and neglect in childhood. It is believed that amnesia , the key to
formation of the separate personalities, occurs as a psychological
barrier to seal off unbearably painful experiences from consciousness.
The disorder often occurs in childhood but may not be recognized until
much later. Social and psychological impairment ranges from mild to
severe. The primary treatment is psychotherapy to help the individual
integrate the separate personalities.
Schizophrenia
(skitsefre´nee) , group of severe mental disorders characterized by
reality distortions resulting in unusual thought patterns and behaviors.
Because there is often little or no logical relationship between the
thoughts and feelings of a person with schizophrenia, the disorder has
often been called “split personality.” However, the condition should not
be confused with multiple personality , a disorder in which the
individual has two or more distinct personalities that dominate at
different times. In 1896, the German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin grouped
what were previously considered unrelated mental diseases under the term
dementia praecox. It was not until 1908, however, that an influential
essay by Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler corrected Kraepelin's theory
that the disease was an organic brain deterioration and thus incurable.
Bleuler introduced the term schizophrenia to replace dementia praecox,
emphasizing the dissociative phenomena in the mind and avoiding the
implications of early onset and progressive brain deterioration.
Schizophrenic disorders generally begin in the late teenage years or
early adulthood and tend to occur in withdrawn, seclusive individuals.
The lifetime prevalence worldwide has been estimated to be just under
1%, and the disorder affects 1.5 to 2 million people in the United
States alone. Symptoms include disturbances of thought, both in form and
content (see delusion ), and disturbances of perception, most commonly
appearing as visual or aural hallucinations .
There are five major types of schizophrenia listed by the American
Psychiatric Association in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders. The most severe are disorganized (hebephrenic)
schizophrenia, characterized by hallucinations, delusions, inappropriate
laughing and crying, incoherent speech, and infantile behavior; and
catatonic schizophrenia, characterized by physical rigidity or
hyperactivity. Paranoid schizophrenics can often function relatively
normally, although they may be disturbed by persecutory delusions and
hallucinations, and they tend to exhibit argumentative behavior. The
presence of a combination of symptoms from other types is classified as
undifferentiated schizophrenia. Residual schizophrenia is constituted by
minor symptoms, which occur as an active episode diminishes.
The cause of schizophrenia is unknown. Genetic factors appear to be
involved in producing susceptibility to the condition, with studies
among identical twins showing a 50% concordance rate, a figure that has
been confirmed by the results of adoption studies. Biochemical research
suggests that high levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine, or excessive
numbers of receptors for dopamine, may be at the root of schizophrenia.
Medical imaging studies have revealed various physical and physiological
anomalies in some patients. Other research has focused on mistiming of
neural responses to stimuli in the brain. Many researchers maintain that
a combination of influences, including such environmental factors as
viral illness or malnutrition in the patient's mother during pregnancy,
may lead to schizophrenia,
Antipsychotic drugs (see psychopharmacology ), sometimes in conjunction
with psychotherapy, have greatly improved the treatment of
schizophrenia. Hospitalization is sometimes needed initially to provide
basic personal needs (safety, food, and hygiene) while acute symptoms
are treated. Most patients return to the community with varying degrees
of independence and with good prospects for long-term remission of
symptoms.
Delusion
false belief based upon a misinterpretation of reality. It is not, like
a hallucination, a false sensory perception, or like an illusion, a
distorted perception. Delusions vary in intensity, and are not uncommon
among substance abusers, particularly those who use amphetamines,
cocaine, and hallucinogens. They also occur frequently among individuals
who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease , Huntington's disease
, or schizophrenia , and during the manic stage of bipolar disorder (see
depression ). Some common delusions include persecutory delusions, in
which the individual falsely believes that others are plotting against
him; delusions of thought broadcasting, where the individual believes
his thoughts can be transmitted to others; delusions of thought
insertion, in which the individual believes that thoughts are being
implanted in his mind; and delusions of grandeur, in which the
individual imagines himself an unappreciated person of great importance.
Libido
(libe´do, -bi´-) [Lat.,lust], psychoanalytic term used by Sigmund Freud
to identify instinctive energy with the sex instinct. For Freud, libido
is the generalized sexual energy of which conscious activity is the
expression. C. G. Jung used the term synonymously with instinctive
energy in general. Many psychiatrists now feel that Freud overemphasized
the concept of libido as the determinant of personality development and
did not adequately emphasize the results of socializing forces. The term
drive is often used instead of libido but without the sexual
implications of the latter. See psychoanalysis .
Extroversion and
Introversion
terms introduced into psychology by Carl Jung to identify opposite
psychological types. Jung saw the activity of the extrovert directed
toward the external world and that of the introvert inward upon himself
or herself. This general activity or drive of the individual was called
the libido by Jung, who removed from the term the sexual character
ascribed to it by Sigmund Freud . The extrovert is characteristically
the active person who is most content when surrounded by people; carried
to the neurotic extreme such behavior appears to constitute an
irrational flight into society, where the extrovert's feelings are acted
out. The introvert, on the other hand, is normally a contemplative
individual who enjoys solitude and the inner life of ideas and the
imagination. The extreme introvert's fantasies give him or her libidinal
satisfactions and tend to become more meaningful to him than objective
reality. Severe introversion is characteristic of autism and some forms
of schizophrenia . Jung did not suggest strict classification of
individuals as extroverted or introverted, since each person has
tendencies in both directions, although one direction generally
predominates. Influenced by Jung, Hans Eysenck conducted research on
large samples of individuals, creating more objective classifications
for extroversion and introversion.
Autism
(ô´tizem) , a developmental disability resulting from a neurological
disorder that affects the normal functioning of the brain. It is
characterized by the abnormal development of communication skills,
social skills, and reasoning. Males are affected four times as often as
females. Children may appear normal until around the age of 30 months.
Symptoms, which vary widely in severity, include impairment in social
interaction, fixation on inanimate objects, inability to communicate
normally, and resistance to changes in daily routine. Characteristic
traits include lack of eye contact, repetition of words or phrases,
unmotivated tantrums, inability to express needs verbally, and
insensitivity to pain. Behaviors may change over time. Autistic children
often have other disorders of brain function; about two thirds are
mentally retarded; over one quarter develop seizures. The cause of
autism remains unclear, but a psychological one has been ruled out.
Neurological studies seem to indicate a primary brain dysfunction, and a
genetic component is suggested by a pattern of autism in some families.
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