Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Psychology and Sociology

Emotional Reactions to Health Loss

Emotional reactions to the loss of health are frequent and varied. Common reactions include:

• Anxiety: Feelings of worry or fear.
• Aggressiveness: Displays of rage.

When faced with unpleasant emotions, people often employ psychological strategies known as defense mechanisms. These are automatic, unconscious reactions to emotionally challenging situations, designed to help individuals cope.

Common Defense Mechanisms

• Denial: Refusing to acknowledge the reality of the situation.
• Manic Defense: Reacting with excessive excitement or happiness to mask distress. These two mechanisms are common initially but tend to fade as the illness becomes more apparent.
• Repression: Suppressing awareness of the illness.
• Regression: Adopting

Language Localization and Brain Areas

Language localization: Identification of circuits involved in language-related activities within the hemispheres. The Wernicke-Geschwind model influences the cortical localization of language.

Wernicke's Area

An area of the left temporal cortex; Wernicke's area is considered the center of language comprehension.

Expressive Language

Concerning the production of language, related to writing or speaking.

Broca's Aphasia

A disorder of speech production without a deficit related to language comprehension. For example, a patient asked about a dental appointment responds with choppy and unintelligible speech: "Yes ... Monday ... and Dick Pope ... Wednesday at nine o'clock in the morning ... and at ten in the morning... Continue reading "Language Localization: Broca's and Wernicke's Areas Explained" »

Understanding Key Theories of Intelligence

The Triarchic Theory by Sternberg is composed of the componential subtheory (process data acquisition, process implementation, and metacomponents), the experiential subtheory (intelligence operation applied to new experiences and automaticity), and the contextual subtheory (practical intelligence: selection, modification, and adaptation as basic mechanisms of operation). The primary focus of this theory is to determine the functioning of intelligence.

The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, by Gardner, proposes various types of intelligence. Each type has distinct features and functions, which can be described, explained, and evaluated independently.

This theory presents a pluralistic conception of the... Continue reading "Understanding Sternberg, Gardner, and Feuerstein's Theories of Intelligence" »

The Landscape of Emotional Life

• Affective processes (emotions and feelings)
• Affective states (mood and bodily states)

Defining Emotion

Emotion is an internal emotional reaction of some duration, with a beginning and an end, directed toward an object (concrete or abstract). It is classified as positive or negative (pleasure vs. displeasure) and accompanies cognition and learning.

Key characteristics of emotion include:

1. No universally accepted definition.
2. Accompanied by autonomic, endocrine, and skeletomotor responses.
3. Dependence on subcortical areas such as the hypothalamus and brainstem (e.g., amygdala).

Key Affective Concepts

Affective Process

A psychological experience or response with a beginning and an end, aimed at a specific object.

Affective State

A... Continue reading "Neurobiology of Emotion: Brain Mechanisms and Theories" »

Personality: Key Aspects

Personality encompasses the total sum of inherited and acquired psychic qualities that are characteristic of a person, making them unique. It can be understood through three main components:

1. Total Psychic Qualities: The inherited and acquired psychic qualities that define an individual and make them unique.
2. Temperament: A person's reaction to stimuli, stemming from their constitutional psychic abilities and qualities, as the way a person reacts depends basically on their inheritance.
3. Character: The distinctive behavior patterns characteristic of an individual.

Understanding Culture

The term culture refers to the lifestyle of any society, not just to areas that society considers higher or more desirable. There is no society... Continue reading "Human Nature: Personality, Culture, and Fundamental Needs" »

What is Reason?

Reason is the human capacity that allows us to understand ourselves and the world around us. It enables us to express this knowledge through language. Our language is primarily auditory, relying on our sense of hearing. However, reason depends on other capacities:

• Senses
• Memory
• Imagination
• Will

Emotions and Feelings

Every human being is an individual unit. All we know of reality is perceived through sentient intelligence and emotional affect. Through mutual recognition, we realize our participation in the world of intersubjectivity. True dialogue requires cordial reason.

Emotions: Our capacity to connect with others and integrate them into our lives generates feelings and emotions. These are generally pleasant, but can sometimes be... Continue reading "Understanding Human Reason and Emotions" »

Individual and Society: Tensions and Harmony

Tensions in the Individual-Society Relationship

Rejection

When the majority social group does not accept or recognize certain individuals as full members, it often leads to actions considered deviant from societal norms. Factors motivating social rejection include religious, cultural, and racial differences.

Self-Exclusion

The opposite of social rejection is self-exclusion. This tension arises when an individual does not identify with the community's parameters, feels dissatisfied with their surroundings, and ignores cultural norms. This can stem from incomplete family socialization, severe childhood trauma, or an abrupt societal change.

Marginalization

Resulting from social rejection and self-exclusion,... Continue reading "Individual and Society: Tensions, Harmony, and Human Behavior" »

Current Theories of the Century

Psychoneurological Theory:

This theory proposes studying cognitive processes and brain activity through sophisticated technologies, such as scanners and electroencephalograms. Its proponents are reductionists. The goal of this theory is to explain intelligence in scientific terms. Behind every thought, there is a biological correspondence, and this thought can be observed through science. Every intelligent behavior seeks to understand how intelligence manifests as a thought.

Information Processing Theory:

This theory uses information technology to explain how intelligence is produced. It suggests that we process information like a computer: we receive information, process it, and generate a response. It draws comparisons... Continue reading "Current Theories of the Century: Understanding Intelligence" »

Understanding Social & Emotional Development

Social Skills and Communication

• Social Skills: Support, confidence, positive self-image, proactive assertiveness.
• Communication: Active listening, empathy, openness, awareness.

Effective social behavior and communication, therefore, tend to decrease adjustment conflict.

Personal Boundaries and Self-Knowledge

• Personal Boundaries: Authenticity, validation, support, physical and emotional affection.
• Self-Knowledge and Expression Boundaries: Authenticity, assertiveness, detachment.

Emotional Reactions and Mental Health

Adjustment Reactions

• Motivated Reaction: A reversible, short-lived response to stressful circumstances and their underlying reasons.
• Brief Depressive Reaction: Transient depressive symptoms,

Understanding Intelligence

Intelligence, as described in cognitive perceptual learning, suggests that our behavior is increasingly sophisticated. It explains a part of everything. This perspective posits that it's not always necessary to present stimuli for intelligence to develop. Intelligence involves manipulating symbols abstractly. This is evident in science, technology, art, philosophy, and poetry.

Prominent definitions of intelligence include the work of Alfred Binet, which explains a person's IQ. IQ, calculated by dividing mental age by chronological age and multiplying by 100, doesn't fully represent intelligence. Wilhelm Stern and David Wechsler offered similar definitions, emphasizing intelligence as the operational capability to address... Continue reading "Understanding Intelligence: Cognitive Abilities and Beyond" »