|
Special fields of psychologylanguage, and tests that are designed for group administration. The early intelligence scales yielded a mental-age score, expressing the child’s ability to do as well as average children who were older, younger, or equivalent in chronological age. The deviation IQ used today expresses the individual’s position in comparison to a representative group of people of the same age. The average IQ is set at 100; about half of those who take the test achieve scores between 90 and 110. IQ scores may vary according to testing conditions, and, thus, it is advisable to understand results of the tests as falling within a certain range, such as average or superior. Interest Inventories. Self-report questionnaires on which the subject indicates personal preferences among activities are called interest inventories. Because interests may predict satisfaction with some area of employment or education, these inventories are used primarily in guidance counseling. They are not intended to predict success, but only to offer a framework for narrowing career possibilities. For example, one frequently used interest inventory, the Kudor Preference Record, includes ten clusters of occupational interests: outdoors, mechanical, computational, scientific, persuasive, artistic, literary, musical, social service, and clerical. For each item, the subject indicates which of three activities is best or least liked. The total score indicates the occupational clusters that include preferred activities. Objective Personality Tests. These tests measure social and emotional adjustment and are used to identify the need for psychological counseling. Items that briefly describe feelings, attitudes, and behaviors are grouped into subscales, each representing a separate personality or style, such as social extroversion or depression. Taken together, the subscales provide a profile of the personality as a whole. One of the most popular psychological tests is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), constructed to aid in diagnosing psychiatric patients. Research has shown that the MMPI may also be used to describe differences among normal personality types. Projective Techniques. Some personality tests are based on the phenomenon of projection, a mental process described by Sigmund Freud as the tendency to attribute to others personal feelings or characteristics that are too painful to acknowledge. Because projective techniques are relatively unstructured and offer minimal cues to aid in defining responses, they tend to elicit concerns that are highly personal and significant. The best-known projective tests are the Rorschach test, popularly known as the inkblot test, and the Thematic Apperception Test; others include word-association techniques, sentence-completion tests, and various drawing procedures. The psychologist’s past experience provides the framework for evaluating individual responses. Although the subjective nature of interpretation makes these tests particularly vulnerable to criticism, in clinical settings they are part of the standard battery of psychological tests. Interpretation of Results The most important aspect of psychological testing involves the interpretation of test results. Scoring. The raw score is the simple numerical count of responses, such as the number of correct answers on an intelligence test. The usefulness of the raw score is limited, however, because it does not convey how well someone does in comparison with others taking the same test. Percentile scores, standard scores, and norms are all devices for making this comparison. Percentile scoring expresses the rank order of the scores in percentages. The percentile level of a person’s score indicates the proportion of the group that scored above and below that individual. When a score falls at the 50th percentile, for example, half of the group scored higher and half scored lower; a score at the 80th percentile indicates that 20 percent scored higher and 80 percent scored lower than the person being evaluated. Standard scores are derived from a comparison of the individual raw score with the mean and standard deviation of the group scores. The mean, or arithmetic average, is determined by adding the scores and dividing by the total number of scores obtained. The standard deviation measures the variation of the scores around the mean. Standard scores are obtained by subtracting the mean from the raw score and then dividing by the standard deviation. Tables of norms are included in test manuals to indicate the expected range of raw scores. Normative data are derived from studies in which the test has been administered to a large, representative group of people. The test manual should include a description of the sample of people used to establish norms, including age, sex, geographical location, and occupation. Norms based on a group of people whose major characteristics are markedly dissimilar from those of the person being tested do not provide a fair standard of comparison. Validity. Interpretation of test scores ultimately involves predictions about a subject’s behavior in a specified situation. If a test is an accurate predictor, it is said to have good validity. Before validity can be demonstrated, a test must first yield consistent, reliable measurements. In addition to reliability, psychologists recognize three main types of validity. A test has content validity if the sample of items in the test is representative of all the relevant items that might have been used. Words included in a spelling test, for example, should cover a wide range of difficulty. Criterion-related validity refers to a test’s accuracy in specifying a future or concurrent outcome. For example, an art-aptitude test has predictive validity if high scores are achieved by those who later do well in art school. The concurrent validity of a new intelligence test may be demonstrated if its scores correlate closely with those of an already well- established test. Construct validity is generally determined by investigating what psychological traits or qualities a test measures; that is, by demonstrating that certain patterns of human behavior account to some degree for performance on the test. A test measuring the trait “need for achievement,” for instance, might be shown to predict that high scorers work more independently, persist longer on problem-solving tasks, and do better in competitive situations than low scores. Controversies. The major psychological testing controversies stem from two interrelated issues: technical shortcomings in test design and ethical problems in interpretation and application of results. Some technical weaknesses exist in all tests. Because of this, it is crucial that results be viewed as only one kind of information about any individual. Most criticisms of testing arise from the overvaluation of and inappropriate reliance on test results in making major life decisions. These criticisms have been particularly relevant in the case of intelligence testing. Psychologists generally agree that using tests to bar youngsters from educational opportunities, without careful consideration of past and present resources or motivation, is unethical. Because tests tend to draw on those skills associated with white, middle-class functioning, they may discriminate against disadvantaged and minority groups. As long as unequal learning opportunities exist, they will continue to be reflected in test results. In the U.S., therefore, some states have established laws that carefully define the use of tests in public schools and agencies. The American Psychological Association, meanwhile, continues to work actively to monitor and refine ethical standards and public policy recommendations regarding the use of psychological testing. 8. Development psychology Developmental Psychology study of behavioral changes and continuity from infancy to old age. Much emphasis in psychology has been given to the child and to the deviant personality. Developmental psychology is particularly significant, then, in that it provides for formal study of children and adults at every stage of development through the life span. Developmental psychology reflects the view that human development and behavior throughout the life span is a function of the interaction between biologically determined factors, such as height or temperament, and environmental influences, such as family, schooling, religion, and culture. Studies of these interactions focus on their consequences for people at different age levels. For example, developmental psychologists are interested in how children who were physically abused by their parents behave when they themselves become parents. Studies, although inconclusive, suggest that abused children often become abusive parents. Other recent studies have focused on the relationship between the aging process and intellectual competence; contrary to the traditional notion that a person’s intellectual skills decline rapidly after the age of 55, research indicates that the decline is gradual. American studies of adulthood, building on the work of Erik Erikson, point to stable periods with a duration of 5 to 7 years, during which energy is expended on career, family, and social relationships, punctuated by “transitional” periods lasting 3 to 5 years, during which assessment and reappraisal of major life areas occurs. These transitional periods may be smooth or emotionally stormy; the “midlife crisis” is an example of such a transition. Whether such transitions are the same for men and women, and whether they are universal, is currently under study. 9. Social psychology Social Psychology branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the behavior of individuals as influenced, directly or indirectly, by social stimuli. Social psychologists are interested in the thinking, emotions, desires, and judgments of individuals, as well as in their overt behavior. An individual’s inner states can be inferred only from some form of observable behavior. Research has also proved that people are affected by social stimuli whether or not they are actually in the presence of others and that virtually everything an individual does or experiences is influenced to some extent by present or previous social contacts. Development of Theory. Social psychology is rooted in the earliest intellectual probes made by individuals into their relations with society. Many of the major problems of concern to contemporary social psychology were recognized as problems by social philosophers long before psychological questions were joined to scientific method. The questions posed by Aristotle, the Italian philosopher Niccol Machiavelli, the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, and others throughout history are still asked, in altered form, in the work of present-day social psychologists. The more recent history of social psychology begins with the publication in 1908 of two textbooks—each having the term social psychology in its title—that examine the impact of society on the development and behavior of individuals. One of these was written by the British psychologist William McDougall, and the other by the American sociologist Edward Alsworth Ross. McDougall framed a controversial theory of human instincts, conceived of as broad, purposive tendencies emerging from the evolutionary process. Ross, on the other hand, was concerned with the transmission of social behavior from person to person, such as the influence of one person’s emotions on another’s in a crowd, or the following of fads and fashions. Another textbook on social psychology, published in 1924 by the American psychologist Floyd H. Allport, had an important influence on the development of social psychology as a specialization of general psychology. Allport extended the principles of associative learning to account for a wide range of social behavior. He thus avoided reference either to such mysterious social forces as were proposed by Ross or to the elaborate instinctive dispositions used by McDougall and his followers to account for social behavior. Through the remainder of the decade, the literature of social psychology continued to be devoted to similar discussions and controversies about points of view, and little empirical work, that is, work relying on experience or observation, of theoretical or practical significance was done. Early Experimentation. In the 1930s empirical research was first undertaken on such matters as animal social behavior, group problem- solving, attitudes and persuasion, national and ethnic stereotypes, rumor transmission, and leadership. The German-American psychologist Kurt Lewin emphasized the necessity of doing theoretical analysis before conducting research on a problem, the purpose of the research being to clarify explanatory mechanisms hypothesized to underlie the behavior being studied. The theory proposes an explanation of certain behavior and allows the investigator to predict the specific conditions under which the behavior will or will not occur. The investigator then designs experiments in which the appropriate conditions are methodically varied and the occurrence of the behavior can be observed and measured. The results allow modifications and extensions of the theory to be made. In 1939 Lewin together with two of his doctoral students published the results of an experiment of significant historical importance. The investigators had arranged to have the same adults play different leadership roles while directing matched groups of children. The adults attempted to establish particular climates—that is, social environmental conditions—of democratic, autocratic, or completely laissez-faire leadership. The reactions of the children in the groups were carefully observed, and detailed notes were taken on the patterns of social interaction that emerged. Although the experiment itself had many deficiencies, it demonstrated that something as nebulous as a democratic social climate could be created under controlled laboratory conditions. The originality and success of this research had a liberating effect on other investigators. By the end of World War II, an outpouring of experimental research involving the manipulation of temporary social environments through laboratory stagecraft began. At the same time, important advances occurred in nonexperimental, or field, research in social psychology. The objective rather than the speculative study of social behavior is the current trend in social psychology. Research Areas. Social psychology shares many concerns with other disciplines, especially with sociology and cultural anthropology. The three sciences differ, however, in that whereas the sociologist studies social groups and institutions and the anthropologist studies human cultures, the social psychologist focuses attention on how social groups, institutions, and cultures affect the behavior of the individual. The major areas of research in social psychology are the following. Socialization. Social psychologists who study the phenomena of socialization, meaning the process of being made fit or trained for a social environment, are interested in how individuals learn the rules governing their behavior toward other persons in society, the groups of which they are members, and individuals with whom they come into contact. Questions dealing with how children learn language, sex role, moral and ethical principles, and appropriate behavior in general have come under intensive investigation. Also widely studied are the methods by which adults learn to adapt their patterns of behavior when they are confronted by new situations or organizations. Attitudes and Attitude Change. Attitudes have generally been regarded as learned predispositions that exert some consistent influence on responses toward objects, persons, or groups. Attitudes are usually seen as the products of socialization and therefore as modifiable. Because the behavior of a person toward others is often, although not always, consistent with his or her attitudes toward them, the investigation of how attitudes are formed, how they are organized in the mind, and how they are modified has been considered of great practical as well as theoretical importance. The discovery that attitudes follow from behavior as well as vice versa emerges from the well-tested assumption that people desire to preserve logical consistency in their views of themselves and their environments. A number of theories of cognitive consistency have become important in social psychological thinking. These theories stress the idea that individuals have a personal stake in believing that their own thoughts and actions are in agreement with one another, and that perceiving inconsistency between one’s actions and thoughts leads to attempts to reduce the inconsistency. Through research, social psychologists attempt to understand the conditions under which people notice an inconsistency and the conditions under which they will attempt to reduce it by changing significant attitudes. Studies support the consistency-theory prediction that the attitudes of a person about a group of people can often be changed by inducing the person to change his or her behavior toward the group; the attitude change represents the efforts of the person to bring his or her ideas about the group into agreement with how he has just acted toward its members. Social Affiliation, Power, and Influence. The factors that govern whether and with whom people will affiliate, as well as whether and how they will attempt to influence or be influenced by others, have received much attention by social psychologists. Researchers have determined, for example, that if people are unsure of how they should feel or behave in response to a new or unpleasant situation, they will seek the company of others who may be able to provide the lacking information. Social psychologists have also found that firstborn and only children are generally more inclined to join groups throughout their lives than are those born later. Group Structure and Functioning. Social psychologists have studied many issues related to questions of how the group and the individual affect one another, including problems of leadership functions, styles, and effectiveness. Social psychologists investigate the conditions under which people or groups resolve their conflicts cooperatively or competitively and the many consequences of those general modes of conflict resolution. Research is conducted also to determine how the group induces conformity and how it deals with deviant members. Personality and Society. Some social psychologists are particularly concerned with the development and consequences of stable individual differences among people. Differences in the degree of achievement motivation have been found to be measurable and to have important consequences for how a person behaves in various social situations. Systems of attitudes toward authority, such as the notion of the authoritarian personality, have been found to relate to attitudes toward ethnic minorities and to certain aspects of social behavior. A personality syndrome known as Machiavellianism, named after the Italian political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli, has been used to predict the social manipulativeness of people in interaction and their ability to dominate certain interpersonal situations. Investigative Techniques Numerous kinds of research methods and techniques are being used in social psychology. The tradition of theory-based investigation remains strong in the discipline. In recent years rigorously exact mathematical models of social behavior have been used increasingly in psychological studies. Such models are projections, based on theory and in arithmetic detail, of social behavior in a possible system of social relationships. Other techniques include the questionnaire and the interview, both used widely in public opinion polls and studies of consumer preferences. These two methods pose a considerable challenge to investigators. The kind of control of the environment that is possible in the laboratory is not available in the field, and the effects of subtle variables that can be observed in experiments are easily obscured by other variables that may exist in natural environments. Frequently, behavior in natural settings is systematically observed, or computers are programmed to simulate social behavior. Special techniques are used for analysis of statistics and other data and for attitude measurement as well as measurement of social choice and interpersonal attractiveness. Also important is psychophysiological measurement, that is, the measurement of shared mental and physiological characteristics. Cross- national and cross-cultural research is one of the modern techniques, designed to provide comparisons of behavior between nations and cultures; the same research study is carried out in several different countries in order to determine the cross-cultural validity of the research. In the study of social behavior in animals, a laboratory environment facilitates controlled experimentation, that is, experimentation considering the previous history of the animals as well as their present environmental conditions. Simple behavioral acts, such as a pigeon pecking at an object, can be isolated and schedules of reinforcement—that is, repetition of stimuli—can be maintained. Social psychological research with animals has led to important new techniques for their training. Applied Social Psychology The principles developed in laboratory and field research in social psychology have been applied to many social situations and problems. Applied researchers and consultants have worked to ameliorate problems found in ethnic relations, international relations, industrial and labor relations, political and economic behavior, education, advertising, and community mental health. Industries, organizations, schools, and task groups of many kinds regularly use the services of applied social psychologists to improve interpersonal relations, to increase understanding of relations between members of groups in conflict with one another, and to diagnose and help correct problems in group and organizational productivity. 10. Psychiatry and mental health Psychiatry is the realm in which medical science and psychology join to provide help for persons whose mind (as one says) is disturbed and whose behavior does not conform to accept social patterns. Psychopathology and clinical psychology are integral sub-fields of this branch of medical psychology which, of necessity, also includes neurology, mental deficiency or retardation, forensic psychology, certain aspects of abnormal psychology, social psychology and psychotherapy. Mental illness has been recognized as such since the days of Aristotle and Hippocrates, and its long modern history has been able described by some scientists. Mental Health, state characterized by psychological well-being and self- acceptance. The term mental health usually implies the capacity to love and relate to others, the ability to work productively, and the willingness to behave in a way that brings personal satisfaction without encroaching upon the rights of others. In a clinical sense, mental health is the absence of mental illness. The Mental Health Movement Concern for the mentally ill has waxed and waned through the centuries, but the development of modern-day approaches to the subject dates from the mid- 18th century, when reformers such as the French physician Philippe Pinel and the American physician Benjamin Rush introduced humane “moral treatment” to replace the often cruel treatment that then prevailed. Despite these reforms, most of the mentally ill continued to live in jails and poorhouses—a situation that continued until 1841, when the American reformer Dorothea Dix campaigned to place the mentally ill in hospitals for special treatment. The modern mental health movement can be traced to the publication in 1908 of A Mind That Found Itself, an account of the experience of its author, Clifford Whittingham Beers, as a mental patient. The book aroused a storm of public concern for the mentally ill. In 1909 Beers founded the National Committee for Mental Hygiene. Public awareness of the need for greater governmental attention to mental health services led to passage of the National Mental Health Act in 1946. This legislation authorized the establishment of the National Institute of Mental Health to be operated as a part of the U.S. Public Health Service. In 1950 the National Committee for Mental Hygiene was reorganized as the National Association for Mental Health, better known as the Mental Health Association. In 1955 Congress established a Joint Commission on Mental Illness and Health to survey the mental health needs of the nation and to recommend new approaches. Based on the commission’s recommendations, legislation was passed in 1963 authorizing funds for construction of facilities for community-based treatment centers. A similar group, the President’s Commission on Mental Health, reported its findings in 1978, citing estimates of the cost of mental illness in the U.S. alone as being about $17 billion a year. Scope of the Problem According to a common estimate, at any one time 10 percent of the American population has mental health problems sufficiently serious to warrant care; recent evidence suggests that this figure may be closer to 15 percent. Not all the people who need help receive it, however; in 1975 only 3 percent of the American population received mental health service. One major reason for this is that people still fear the stigma attached to mental illness and hence often fail to report it or to seek help. Analysis of the figures on mental illness shows that schizophrenia afflicts an estimated 2 million Americans, another 2 million suffer from profound depressive disorders, and 1 million have organic psychoses or other permanently disabling mental conditions. As much as 25 percent of the population is estimated to suffer from mild or moderate depression, anxiety, and other types of emotional problems. Some 10 million Americans have problems related to alcohol abuse, and millions more are thought to abuse drugs. Some 5 to 15 percent of children between the ages of 3 and 15 are the victims of persistent mental health problems, and at least 2 million are thought to have severe learning disabilities that can seriously impair their mental health. In addition, according to the President’s Commission, the list of mental health problems should be extended beyond identifiable psychiatric conditions to include the damage to mental health associated with unrelenting poverty, unemployment, and discrimination on the basis of race, sex, class, age, and mental or physical handicaps. Prevention Public health authorities customarily distinguish among three forms of prevention. Primary prevention refers to attempts to prevent the occurrence of mental disorder, as well as to promote positive mental health. Secondary prevention is the early detection and treatment of a disorder, and tertiary prevention refers to rehabilitative efforts that are directed at preventing complications. Two avenues of approach to the prevention of mental illness in adults were suggested by the President’s Commission. One was to reduce the stressful effects of such crises as unemployment, retirement, bereavement, and marital disruption; the second was to create environments in which people can achieve their full potential. The commission placed its heaviest emphasis, however, on helping children. It recommended the following steps: 1) good care during pregnancy and childbirth, so that early treatment can be instituted as needed; 2) early detection and correction of problems of physical, emotional, and intellectual development; 3) developmental day-care programs focusing on emotional and intellectual development; 4) support services for families, directed at preventing unnecessary and inappropriate foster care or other out-of-home placements for children. Treatment Care of the mentally ill has changed dramatically in recent decades. Drugs introduced in the mid-1950s, along with other improved treatment methods, enabled many patients who would once have spent years in mental institutions to be treated as outpatients in community facilities instead. (A series of judicial decisions and legislative acts has promoted community care by requiring that patients be treated in the least restrictive setting available.) Between 1955 and 1980 the number of people in state mental hospitals declined from more than 550,000 to fewer than 125,000. This trend was due partly to improved community care and partly to the cost of operating hospitals; in an effort to save public money, some large state mental hospitals have been closed, forcing alternatives to be found for patients. This is generally considered a progressive trend because when patients spend extended periods in hospitals they tend to become overly dependent and lose interest in taking care of themselves. In addition, because the hospitals are often located long distances from the patients’ homes, families and friends can visit only infrequently, and the patients’ roles at home and at work are likely to be taken over by others. The psychiatric wards of community general hospitals have assumed some of the responsibility for caring for the mentally ill during the acute phases of illness. Some of these hospitals function as the inpatient service for community mental health centers. Typically, patients remain for a few days or weeks until their symptoms have subsided, and they usually are given some form of psychotropic drug to help relieve their symptoms. Following the lead of Great Britain, American mental hospitals now also give some patients complete freedom of buildings and grounds and, in some instances, freedom to visit nearby communities. This move is based on the conclusion that disturbed behavior is often the result of restraint rather than of illness. Treatment of patients with less severe mental disorders has also changed markedly in recent decades. Previously, patients with mild depression, anxiety disorders, and other neurotic conditions were treated individually with psychotherapy. Although this form of treatment is still widely used, alternative approaches are now available. In some instances, a group of patients meets to work through problems with the assistance of a therapist; in other cases, families are treated as a unit. Another form of treatment that has proven especially effective in alleviating phobic disorders is behavior therapy, which focuses on changing overt behavior rather than the underlying causes of a disorder. As in the serious mental illnesses, the treatment of milder forms of anxiety and depression has been furthered by the introduction of new drugs that help alleviate symptoms. Rehabilitation The release of large numbers of patients from state mental hospitals, however, has caused significant problems both for the patients and for the communities that become their new homes. Adequate community services often are unavailable to former mental patients, a large percentage of whom live in nursing homes and other facilities that are not equipped to meet their needs. Most of these patients have been diagnosed as having schizophrenia, and only 15 to 40 percent of schizophrenics who live in the community achieve an average level of adjustment. Those who do receive care typically visit a clinic at periodic intervals for brief counseling and drug monitoring. In addition to such outpatient clinics, rehabilitation services include sheltered workshops, day-treatment programs, and social clubs. Sheltered workshops provide vocational guidance and an opportunity to brush up on an old skill or learn a new one. In day-treatment programs, patients return home at night and on weekends; during weekdays, the programs offer a range of rehabilitative services, such as vocational training, group activities, and help in the practical problems of living. Ex-patient social clubs provide social contacts, group activities, and an opportunity for patients to develop self-confidence in normal situations. Another important rehabilitative facility is the halfway house for patients whose families are not willing or able to accept them after discharge. It serves as a temporary residence for ex-patients who are ready to form outside community ties. A variant is the use of subsidized apartments for recently discharged psychiatric patients. Research Many different sciences contribute to knowledge about mental health and illness. In recent decades these sciences have begun to clarify basic biological, psychological, and social processes, and they have refined the application of such knowledge to mental health problems. Some of the most promising leads have come from biological research. For example, brain scientists who study neurotransmitters—chemicals that carry messages from one nerve cell to another—are contributing to knowledge of normal and abnormal brain functioning, and they may eventually discover better treatment methods for mental illness. Other researchers are trying to discover how the brain develops—they have learned, for example, that even in adults some nerve cells partially regenerate after being damaged—and such research adds to the understanding of mental retardation, untreatable forms of brain damage, and other conditions. Psychological research relevant to mental health includes the study of perception, information processing, thinking, language, motivation, emotion, abilities, attitudes, personality, and social behavior. For example, researchers are studying stress and how to cope with it. One application of this type of research may help to prevent mental disorders; in the future, psychologists may be better able to match people (and their coping skills) to work settings and job duties. Research in the social sciences focuses on problems of individuals in contexts such as the family, neighborhood, and work setting, as well as the culture at large. One example of such work is epidemiological research, which is the study of the occurrence of disease patterns, including mental illness, in a society. 11. Forensic psychology and criminology The study of abnormal behaviour often leads to special investigations into the origins or causes of crime. This in turn will lead to the psychological study of criminals and also of the victims of crime. The literature on this topic is growing and there exist now a number of useful indexing services to help with the retrieval of particular contributions from many countries. While most of these indexes and abstracts are orientated towards the work of, and happenings in, the courts, all of them contain, references to the behaviour of criminals or social deviants. Criminology and penology abstracts has been in existence since 1960; its abstracts are arranged under broad subject heading which include psychology, psychopathology, psychiatry, social behaviour of groups. 12. Psychology, religion and phenomenology The long traditional links between religions and psychology go back to classical antiquity. They received much impetus in the middle ages and again during the many periods of religious and political fervour that stirred Europe during the past six centuries, reaching various climactic peaks through seers, visionaries and martyrs. Every one of these advocated social reforms on earth to attain a new heaven, or threatened new hells should the reforms not be adopted. All were persecuted by the established religious or political power, or both; then as now, the defenders of the status quo almost invariably accused the challengers of being madmen or psychopaths. It is all a matter of firmly held beliefs uttered from pulpits,chancery ballconies and soap boxes as well as printed in broadsides, pamphlets, or large books, or smeared on the walls of houses with a wide brush 13. Parapsychology Psychical Research, also parapsychology, scientific investigation of alleged phenomena and events that appear to be unaccounted for by conventional physical, biological, or psychological theories. Parapsychologists study two kinds of so-called psi phenomena: extrasensory perception (ESP), or the acquiring of information through nonsensory means; and psychokinesis (PK), or the ability to affect objects at a distance by means other than known physical forces. Psychical research also investigates the survival of personality after death and deals with related topics such as trance mediumship, hauntings, apparitions, poltergeists (involuntary PK), and out-of-body experiences. The name of this field of investigation is taken from the Society of Psychical Research, founded in England in 1882 and in the U.S. in 1884; both groups continue to publish their findings today. Historical Development Among the early achievements of the British group was the investigation of hypnotism, a field later claimed by medicine and psychology. The society also investigated phenomena produced at spiritualistic seances and the claims of spiritualism. Psi phenomena to be investigated were classified as either physical or mental. The physical effects, or PK, include the movement of physical objects or an influence upon material processes by the apparent direct action of mind over matter. The mental manifestations, or ESP, include telepathy, which is the direct transmission of messages, emotions, or other subjective states from one person to another without the use of any sensory channel of communication; clairvoyance, meaning direct responses to a physical object or event without any sensory contact; and precognition, or a noninferential response to a future event. One of the first specific investigations in the field was the examination, by the British chemist and physicist Sir William Crookes, of the phenomena produced at seances held by the Scottish medium Daniel Dunglas Home. Home, a physical medium, held his seances in full light, and the validity of the paranormal phenomena he produced has never been successfully impugned. The contents of verbal utterances by mental mediums were also studied. Significant early research involved the American medium Leonore E. Piper, whose apparent psychical gifts were discovered by the American philosopher and psychologist William James. Other lines of investigation dealt with psychic experiences that seemed to occur spontaneously in everyday life, and involved the controlled testing of persons with apparently outstanding ESP abilities. Rhine’s Laboratory In the U.S., one of the earliest groups to become active in parapsychology was the Parapsychology Laboratory of North Carolina’s Duke University, which began publishing literature in the 1930s. There, under the direction of the American psychologist Joseph Banks Rhine, methods were developed that advanced psychical investigations from the correlations of isolated and often vague anecdotal reports to a mathematical study based on statistics and the laws of probability. In the experiments dealing with ESP, Rhine and his associates used mainly a deck of 25 cards, somewhat similar to ordinary playing cards but bearing on their faces only five designs: star, circle, cross, square, and wavy lines. If a subject correctly named 5 out of the shuffled deck of 25 concealed cards, that was considered pure chance. Certain subjects, however, consistently named 6 out of 10 cards correctly; so Rhine and his associates concluded that this demonstrated the existence of ESP. In their experiments on PK, the group used ordinary dice that were thrown from a cup against a wall or tumbled in mechanically driven cages. In these tests, an apparent relationship was found between the mental effort of subjects to “will” particular faces of the dice to appear upward and the percentage of times the faces actually did so. The results obtained in many individual experiments and in the research as a whole, Rhine and his workers decided, could not reasonably be attributed to the fluctuations of chance. Rhine retired from Duke University in 1965 and transferred his research to a privately endowed organization, the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man. Since that time parapsychology has become better established in other universities, as illustrated by the offering of credit courses in the subject in increasing numbers. In addition, independent research centers continue to be founded, among them the American Society for Psychical Research, with headquarters in New York City. The Parapsychological Association, an international group of scholars actively working in the field, was formed in 1957 and was granted affiliation status by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1969. Criticisms Although parapsychologists are increasingly employing and refining scientific methodologies for their observations, one of the chief criticisms of their work is that experiments in psi phenomena can rarely be duplicated. Under the most rigorous laboratory controls, for example, experiments on phenomena such as out-of-body experiences—in which individuals demonstrate an apparent ability to locate their center of perception outside their bodies—indicate that even reputable psychics are rarely able to duplicate earlier, high-scoring performances. The scores of such individuals, in fact, tend to drop to the level of probability the more the experiment is repeated. Nonparapsychologists find psi experiments even more difficult to repeat, and a majority of conventional scientists dismiss parapsychology findings as unscientific or at best inconclusive. A similar criticism is based on the claim by most parapsychologists that psi phenomena occur beyond the law of causality, which is one of the fundamental premises of any scientific investigation. Indeed, results of psi experiments often turn out to be far from or even contradictory to the original predictions. Parapsychologists admit that psi phenomena fall so far outside ordinary comprehension that they are often unsure whether an ESP event or a PK event has occurred; Rhine himself stated that one kind of event could not occur without the other. Because these phenomena are difficult to define or isolate when they appear to happen—and, further, because the phenomena occur only for a select group of observers—most scientists think that psi investigations fall far short of the rules of objectivity required by the scientific method. As a result, many parapsychologists, rather than trying to demonstrate the reality of psi phenomena to a skeptical scientific community, have turned to exploring how such phenomena might actually work; they even have drawn on quantum physics for empirical support. Some workers in the field object to the very notion of repeatability of experiments as foreign to the nature of psi phenomena; they consider the scientific method, as currently understood, too restrictive a formulation for exploring the unknown. 14. Industrial Psychology Psychologists in industry serve many roles. In the personnel office, they assist in hiring through testing and interviewing, in developing training programs, in evaluating employees, and in maintaining good employee relations and communications. Some psychologists do research for marketing and advertising departments. Others work in the field of human engineering, which involves designing machines and workplaces to make them more suitable for people. School Psychology Psychologists in the educational system give most of their attention to counseling and guidance. They help students plan their school and work careers. Educational psychologists deal with the processes of teaching and learning; for example, they may investigate new methods of teaching children how to read or to do mathematics, in order to make classroom learning more effective. Clinical Psychology Many applied psychologists work in hospitals, clinics, and private practice, providing therapy to people who need psychological help. By testing and interviewing, they classify their patients and engage in all forms of treatment that are not exclusively medical, such as drug therapy and surgery. A special contribution of clinical psychology is behavior therapy, which is based on principles of learning and conditioning. Through behavior therapy, clinical psychologists try to change the behavior of the patient and to remove unpleasant or undesirable symptoms by arranging the proper conditioning experiences or the proper rewards for desired behavior. A patient with a phobia about dogs, for example, might be “desensitized” by a series of rewards given for closer and closer contact with dogs in nonthreatening situations. In other forms of therapy, the psychologist may try to help patients better understand their problems and find new ways of dealing with them. Vocabulary Contents Physiological psychology - ïñèõîôèçèîëîãèÿ. Èçó÷àåò ïñèõèêó â åäèíñòâå ñ åå íåéðîôèçèîëîãè÷åñêèì ñóáñòðàòîì - ðàññìàòðèâàåò ñîîòíîøåíèå ìîçãà è ïñèõèêè. Psychoanalysis - ïñèõîàíàëèç. Îñíîâûâàåòñÿ íà èäåå î òîì, ÷òî ïîâåäåíèå îïðåäåëÿåòñÿ íå òîëüêî è íå ñòîëüêî ñîçíàíèåì, ñêîëüêî áåññîçíàòåëüíûì. Behaviourism - áèõåâèîðèçì. Íàïðàâëåíèå â àìåðèêàíñêîé ïñèõîëîãèè ÕÕ â., îòðèöàþùåå ñîçíàíèå êàê ïðåäìåò íàó÷íîãî èññëåäîâàíèÿ è ñâîäÿùåå ïñèõèêó ê ðàçëè÷íûì ôîðìàì ïîâåäåíèÿ, ïîíÿòîãî êàê ñîâîêóïíîñòü îðãàíèçìà íà ñòèìóëû âíåøíåé ñðåäû. Gestalt psychology - ãåøòàëüò-ïñèõîëîãèÿ. Ïðîãðàììà èçó÷åíèÿ ïñèõèêè ñ òî÷êè çðåíèÿ öåëîñòíûõ ñòðóêòóð - ãåøòàëüòîâ, ïåðâè÷íûì ïî îòíîøåíèþ ê ñâîèì êîìïîíåíòàì. Cognition - êîãíèòèâíàÿ ïñèõîëîãèÿ. Èñõîäèò èç òîãî, ÷òî ëþáàÿ àññîöèàöèÿ ìåæäó ñòèìóëîì è ðåàêöèåé ñîçäàåòñÿ ñíà÷àëà â ìîçãå. Tests and Measurements - òåñòû Development psychology - âîçðàñòíàÿ ïñèõîëîãèÿ. Îòðàñëü ïñèõîëîãèè, èçó÷àþùàÿ çàêîíîìåðíîñòè ýòàïîâ ïñèõè÷åñêîãî ðàçâèòèÿ è ôîðìèðîâàíèÿ ëè÷íîñòè â ñâÿçè ñ âîçðàñòîì - íà ïðîòÿæåíèè îíòîãåíåçà ÷åëîâåêà îò ðîæäåíèÿ äî ñòàðîñòè Social psychology - ñîöèàëüíàÿ ïñèõîëîãèÿ. Èçó÷àåò ïñèõîëîãè÷åñêèå îñîáåííîñòè è çàêîíîìåðíîñòè ïîâåäåíèÿ è äåÿòåëüíîñòè ëþäåé, îáóñëîâëåííûå èõ âêëþ÷åíèåì â ãðóïïû ñîöèàëüíûå è ñóùåñòâîâàíèåì â íèõ, à òàêæå ïñèõîëîãè÷åñêèå õàðàêòåðèñòèêè ñàìèõ ýòèõ ãðóïï. Psychiatry and mental health - ïñèõèàòðèÿ è ïñèõè÷åñêîå çäîðîâüå. Îáëàñòü êëèíè÷åñêîé ìåäèöèíû, èçó÷àþùàÿ ïñèõè÷åñêèå áîëåçíè Forensic psychology - ñóäåáíàÿ ïñèõîëîãèÿ. Îáëàñòü ïñèõîëîãèè þðèäè÷åñêîé, èçó÷àþùàÿ êðóã âîïðîñîâ, îòíîñÿùèõñÿ ê ñóäîïðîèçâîäñòâó. Ñriminology - êðèìèíîëîãèÿ. Ðhenomenology - ôåíîìåíîëîãèÿ. Parapsychology- ïàðàïñèõîëîãèÿ (ïñèõîòðîíèêà). Èìåíîâàíèå ãèïîòåç è ïðåäñòàâëåíèé, îòíîñÿùèõñÿ ê ïñèõè÷åñêèì ÿâëåíèÿì, îáúÿñíåíèå êîèõ íå èìååò ñòðîãîãî íàó÷íîãî îáîñíîâàíèÿ. Industrial Psychology - èíäóñòðèàëüíàÿ ïñèõîëîãèÿ. 2. Physiological psychology Perception - âîñïðèÿòèå Certain skills - îïðåäåëåííûå íàâûêè Innate - âðîæäåííûé Perception - âîñïðèÿòèå Nervous system - íåðâíàÿ ñèñòåìà Circulatory system - ãîðìîíàëüíàÿ ðåãóëÿöèÿ Central nervous system - öåíòðàëüíàÿ íåðâíàÿ ñèñòåìà Spinal cord - ñïèííîé ìîçã Peripheral nervous system - ïåðèôåðè÷åñêàÿ íåðâíàÿ ñèñòåìà Glands- æåëåçà Muscles - ìûøöà Sensory - ÷óâñòâèòåëüíûé Neuron - íåéðîí Somatic system - ñîìàòè÷åñêàÿ ñèñòåìà Autonomic system - âåãåòàòèâíàÿ ñèñòåìà Sympathetic division - ñèìïàòè÷åñêèé îòäåë Parasympathetic division - ïàðàñèìïàòè÷åñêèé îòäåë Knee-jerk reflex - ðåôëåêñ êîëåííûé (ïàòåëëÿðíûé) 3. Psychoanalysis Unconscious - áåññîçíàòåëüíîå Conscious - ñîçíàòåëüíîå Latent dream - òàéíûå (ëàòåíòíûå) ìûñëè Manifest dream - ÿâíûå ìûñëè Instinctual drives - îñíîâíûå èíñòèíêòû Infantile sexuality - èíôàíòèëüíàÿ ñåêñóàëüíîñòü Adult sexuality - âçðîñëàÿ ñåêñóàëüíîñòü Oral, anal and genital zones - îðàëüíàÿ, àíàëüíàÿ è ôàëëè÷åñêàÿ ñòàäèè Oedipal period - ýäèïîâ êîìïëåêñ Ñòðóêòóðíûå êîìïîíåíòû äóøè: Id - Èä (îíî) “ñîäåðæèò âñå óíàñëåäîâàííîå, âñå, ÷òî åñòü ïðè ðîæäåíèè. Èä ðåçåðâóàð ýíåðãèè äëÿ âñåé ëè÷íîñòè, ñîäåðæàíèå Èä áåññîçíàòåëüíî Ego - ýãî - òà ÷àñòü ïñèõè÷åñêîãî àïïàðàòà, êîòîðàÿ íàõîäèòñÿ â êîíòàêòå ñ âíåøíåé ðåàëüíîñòüþ. Ðàçâèâàåòñÿ èç Èä ïî ìåðå òîãî, êàê ðåáåíîê íà÷èíàåò îñîçíàâàòü ñâîþ ëè÷íîñòü. Ýãî çàùèùàåò Èä. Superego - ñóïåðýãî. Ðàçâèâàåòñÿ è Ýãî. Ñëóæèò ñóäüåé èëè öåíçîðîì Ýãî. Thinking - ìûøëåíèå Motor control - ìîòîðíûå êîíòðîëü Defense mechanisms - çàùèòíûå ìåõàíèçìû Repression - ïîäàâëåíèå Projection - ïðîåêöèÿ Reaction formation - ðåàêòèâíûå îáðàçîâàíèå. ßâíàÿ è îáû÷íî áåññîçíàòåëüíàÿ èíâåðñèÿ æåëàíèÿ Anxiety - òðåâîæíîñòü Analytical psychology - àíàëèòè÷åñêàÿ ïñèõîëîãèÿ Libido - ëèáèäî - ïîëîâîå âëå÷åíèå Personal unconscious - ëè÷íîå áåññîçíàòåëüíîå Collective unconscious - êîëëåêòèâíîå áåññîçíàòåëüíîå Archetypes - àðõåòèïû. Ïñèõè÷åñêèå ñòðóêòóðû, ôîðìû áåç ñîáñòâåííîãî ñîäåðæàíèÿ, êîòîðûå îðãàíèçóþò è êàíàëèçèðóþò ïñèõîëîãè÷åñêèé ìàòåðèàë. Persona - ïåðñîíà. Ýòî òî, êàêèìè ìû ïðåäñòàâëÿåì ñåáÿ ìèðó Neurosis - íåâðîç Primary trauma of birth - ïåðâè÷íàÿ òðàâìà äåòñòâà Mental, emotional and sensory powers - ìåíòàëüíàÿ, ýìîöèîíàëüíàÿ è ÷óâñòâåííàÿ ñèëà Situation neuroses - ñèòóàöèîííûé íåâðîç Character neuroses - íåâðîòèê Complex unconscious fantasies in children - êîìïëåêñ áåññîçíàòåëüíûõ ôàíòàçèé â äåòñòâå Death instinct - èíñòèíêò ñìåðòè. Ïîä íèì ïîíèìàþòñÿ ïðèñóùèå èíäèâèäó - êàê ïðàâèëî, áåññîçíàòåëüíûå - òåíäåíöèè ê ñàìîðàçðóøåíèþ è âîçâðàòó â íåîðãàíè÷åñêîå ñîñòîÿíèå. Depressive position - äåïðåññèâíîå ñîñòîÿíèå Paranoid position - ïàðàíîèäàëüíîå ñîñòîÿíèå 7. Gestalt psychology Associationism - àññîöèàòèâíàÿ ïñèõîëîãèÿ 8. Cognition psychology Attention - âíèìàíèå Perception - âîñïðèÿòèå Memory - ïàìÿòü Reasoning - ìîòèâàöèÿ Judgment - ñóæäåíèå Imagining - âîîáðàæåíèå Thinking - ìûøëåíèå Speech - ðå÷ü Psycholinguistics - ïñèõîëèíãâèñòèêà. Íàó÷íàÿ äèñöèïëèíà, èçó÷àþùàÿ îáóñëîâëåííîñòü ïðîöåññîâ ðå÷è è åå âîñïðèÿòèÿ ñòðóêòóðîé ñîîòâåòñòâóþùåãî ÿçûêà, èëè ÿçûêà âîîáùå. Intelligence - èíòåëëåêò 7. Tests and Measurements Achievement tests - òåñò äîñòèæåíèé Aptitude tests - òåñò íà ïðîôïðèãîäíîñòü Intellegence tests - òåñò óìñòâåííûõ ñïîñîáíîñòåé Verbal abilities - ñïîñîáíîñòè íà âîñïðèÿòèå âåðáàëüíîãî (çíàêîâîãî) ìàòåðèàëà Infant intelligence tests - òåñòû íà îïðåäåëåíèå óðîâíÿ èíòåëëåêòà äåòåé Interest inventories - îïðîñíèêè ïðîôîðèåíòàöèè Objective Personality tests - îáúåêòèâíûå êà÷åñòâà ëè÷íîñòè Social extroversion or depression - ñîöèàëüíûå ýêñòðîâåðñèÿ è èíòðîâåðñèÿ Personality types - ïñèõîòèïû Projective techniques - Ïðîåêòèâíûå òåñòû Validity - âàëèäíîñòü. Óêàçûâàåò, ÷òî èìåííî òåñò èçìåðÿåò è íàñêîëüêî õîðîøî îí ýòî äåëàåò. Criterion-related validity - êðèòåðèàëüíî-ñâÿçûâàþùàÿ âàëèäíîñòü Construct validity - êîíñòðóêòèâíàÿ âàëèäíîñòü 9. Social psychology Emotions - ýìîöèè Desires - æåëàíèÿ Social Affiliation - ñîöèàëüíàÿ àôôèëèàöèÿ (ñòðåìëåíèå áûòü â îáùåñòâå äðóãèõ ëþäåé) Influence - âëèÿíèå 10. Psychiatry and mental health Patterns - îáðàç æèçíè Depressive disorders - äåïðåññèÿ Organic psychoses - îðãàíè÷åñêèé ïñèõîç. Ãëóáîêèå ðàññòðîéñòâà ïñèõèêè, ïñèõè÷åñêîé äåÿòåëüíîñòè; ïðîÿâëÿþòñÿ â íàðóøåíèè îòðàæåíèÿ ðåàëüíîãî ìèðà, âîçìîæíîñòè åãî ïîçíàíèÿ, èçìåíåíèè ïîâåäåíèÿ è îòíîøåíèÿ ê îêðóæàþùåìó. 13. Parapsychology Extrasensory perception (ESP) - ýêñòðàñåíñîðíîå âîñïðèÿòèå Psychokinesis (PK) - ïñèõîêèíåç Trance mediumship, hauntings, poltergeists (involuntary PK) - òðàíñîâûé ìåäèóìèçì, òåëåïàòèÿ, ïîëòåðãåéñò Out-of-body experience - îïûò âíå òåëåñíîãî ñîçíàíèÿ Hypnotism - ãèïíîç (òåõíèêà âîçäåéñòâèÿ íà èíäèâèäà ïóòåì ôîêàëèçàöèè åãî âíèìàíèÿ ñ öåëüþ ñóçèòü ïîëå ñîçíàíèÿ è ïîä÷èíèòü åãî âëèÿíèþ,, êîíòðîëþ âíåøíåãî àãåíòà - ãèïíîòèçåðà, âíóøåíèÿ êîåãî ãèïíîòèçèðóåìûé áóäåò âûïîëíÿòü. LITERATURE 1. Borchardt D.H. How to find out in Psychology. Pergamon Press 1984 2. Stedman`s concise Medical dictionary. First Webster`s New World Edition 1987. 3. Encarta Encyclopedia.1996 4. Íèêîøêîâà Å.Â. Àíãëî-ðóññêèé ñëîâàðü ïî ïñèõîëîãèè. Ì: ÐÓÑÑÎ, ÈÏ ÐÀÍ, 1998 5. Ðèâêèí Â.Ë., Ìîðîçîâ Í.Â. Ðóññêî-àíãëèéñêèé ìåäèöèíñêèé ñëîâàðü- ñïðàâî÷íèê ñ òîëêîâàíèÿìè. Ì: ÐÓÑÑÎ, 1996 6. Ñëîâàðü ïðàêòè÷åñêîãî ïñèõîëîãà. Ìèíñê: Õàðâåñò, 1998 7. Õðåñòîìàòèÿ ïî ïñèõîëîãèè ëè÷íîñòè. Ñàìàðà: Èçäàòåëüñêèé Äîì “Áàõðàõ”, 1996 Ñòðàíèöû: 1, 2 |
|
