When it comes to choosing the right therapist, there is a lot to consider. Many individuals who enter into therapy may not be aware of the several variables that can affect the outcome of that intervention–such as the theoretical orientation of the therapist and the rapport the client has with their therapist. So, choosing the […]
Exploring Personality Types For more than 2000 years, philosophers and psychologists have been interested in individual personalities, how they form, and what makes one person different from another. The first attempt to categorize personality types came from the Greeks, which organized four personality types: • Choleric • Phlegmatic • Sanguine • Melancholic As time passed, […]
Are people innately selfish or not? On its face, this question appears easy and straigh1tforward. “Of course individuals act selfishly!” One may protest. But is that really the whole story? For decades, and even arguably centuries, an interdisciplinary approach has been taken to answer this seemingly easy question. Philosophers, psychologists, biologists, and neuroscientists have all […]
Often times, whether in work or family life—or even in politics—when things go wrong, someone usually, as it’s popularly said, “takes the blame.” In psychological terms, attributing blame falls under the large umbrella of attribution theory—or, when one “seek[s] causes for others’ behavior or circumstances.” Attribution appears to be well within the realm of average […]
In the wake of the deadliest terrorist attack on western soil since September 11, 2001, a debate has been raging over whether or not western countries should accept refugees from Syria amidst the continued fighting in that country. Although both sides of the debate may have sound arguments, what remains clear is that a seeping […]
In March 1964, a bar manager named Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death in the Kew Gardens district of New York City. Thirty-eight residents from a nearby apartment complex witnessed and reported her murder, yet no one intervened. Initially, many wondered: Why did no one help? Are humans cold and uncaring, or was something else going on? […]
Many people have heard of B.F. Skinner. His name has been referenced countless times in popular television shows and movies. And although the field of psychology, as both a profession and a scientific area of study, has moved on to other paradigms and theories, there remains a kernel of truth in Skinner’s work that is […]
Biological determinists argue that what you are born with is what you get. Sure, genetics don’t determine everything about your nature, but there is basically no escaping the traits that your parents passed down to you, or so the biological determinist would say. This type of thinking has had various names throughout the years—“essentialism,” “determinism,” to […]
In the discipline of social psychology, there is probably not a bigger, more influential name than Phillip Zimbardo. Zimbardo (who actually attended James Monroe High School in New York with another famous social psychologist, Stanley Milgram) became interested in the claims of abuse that had been occurring throughout America’s prisons. Zimbardo left his mark on the psychology […]
From its inception, the field of psychology and almost all of its practitioners have focused on mental pathologies—that is, an individual’s psychological problems. For decades, many psychologists have believed that the point of psychology should be to focus on a person’s—to use the parlance of Freud—“neurosis,” in other words, to focus on one’s “mental problems.” […]