Functional psychology

Neuroscience, Psychology, and Religion has centered on the connection between religion and science, specifically focusing on the “soul.” The beginning chapters explored the historical philosophies surrounding the concept of the soul while later chapters have sought to reconcile recent discoveries in neuroscience with common theory. Within these chapters the authors presented a “physicalist” understanding of the soul, contrary to Descartes’ dualist view of the brain/soul. Though neuroscience…

When I first signed up for the class, I did it on a whim. I had always wanted to study abroad at some point during my college years, and I have always been interested in mental health issues, so I decided to take this class. Even though it was a rather rash decision to go to the Netherlands, I was interested in learning about how “European socialists” and the always liberal Dutch people deal with many social issues impacting the society, and I was eager to know if their approach can be helpful…

Depictions of sexuality is a key element that intersect in the format of both Ali, Fear Eats the Soul (1974) and Maedchen in Uniform (1931). While the films are released over 40 years apart, both these films depict sexuality and explore sexual taboos in Germany. Ali, Fear Eats the Soul, directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, is a tale of interracial love and explores the impact of racism on human relationships. Leontine Sagan’s Maedchen in Uniform contains themes of lesbian relationships and…

The emotional pendulum that kids go through during the crazy years of adolescent hood is easily more intense then that of a middle age woman going through her menopause stage. The only real difference is that the middle age woman has years of experience and even though her body might not have ever been through this exact type of feeling, they still have the knowledge of how crazy life’s tenures can be. As for a kid they have no past experience with any of what is going to happen next in life. It…

The psychoanalytical lens is a way of understanding the human mind and the characters within a story. Many different theories have contributed to psychology, but “most psychological criticism of the last century lands at the doorstep of Sigmund Freud” (Gillespie 1). Freud was the father of a psychoanalysis, helped explain human behavior, and came up with a way to treat mental illnesses. Freud focused much of his ideas on psychic forces having an influence on human behavior (Gillespie 2). He had…

Growing up, there was never much for me to do. I was the only child for a while, up until the age of four or five; the most critical and memorable ages for a child, I still remember those kindergarten days on the playground, no one would really play or interact with me. They would call me names, like weird or tomboy because I was the only girl playing in dirt, and talking to myself. I didn’t play tag with the other girls or talk about boys or dolls and other unimportant things that five year…

Summary: Social psychologists have been debating the question “Are our social perceptions often inaccurate” for many years, each coming to their own conclusion. Social psychologists Lee Ross and Richard Nisbett argue that people’s perceptions are indeed often inaccurate, due to a “dispensationalist bias” (“Are Our Social. . .”). However David C. Funder believes that our perceptions are not often mistaken and that their behavior is due to their dispositions. Ross and Nisbett would argue that the…

A thief was going to break into a nice house with a fenced in yard. Before the thief snuck over the fence, he noticed that there was a “beware of the dog” sign posted on the fence. The thief then decided not to break into the home for fear of getting caught or hurt because of the dog that the warning spoke of. This is a pure example of using common sense. Common sense is a behavior that one learns from experiences throughout life and how that person applies those experiences to determine…

For nearly 40 years, students have been expected to understand history and wrestle with complex choices of social mores of our time. This has been expected in the past and present but students don’t gain this knowledge from teachers because they are trying to avoid racial controversy. The book has been in controversy since being in the classroom study as early as 1963. The book uses profanity and racial criticism which people believe shouldn’t be allowed in schools. Regardless of the profanity,…

Maturity: the state, fact, or period of being mature. But is it more than that? Is it the way you act? The words you use? Is maturity really a fact, or is it just an idea? What makes maturity, maturity? What does being mature mean? What makes you mature? Many people have these questions at least once in their lives, when they see the distasteful couple making out in the halls or the class clown that just can 't seem to understand why everybody hates his "funny" jokes. Why is it that you…