Posts Tagged ‘psychology’
Book Review: Psychology, theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling
Posted by Nick Roy in Theories of Counseling Wednesday, 10 March 2010 18:46 No Comments
In his Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling Mark R. McMinn stresses the importance of the use of the Christian faith in the psychological counseling. Concentrating on the practical aspect of the integration of theology, psychology and spirituality in counseling, the author gives practical examples of how these areas can be integrated in order to serve one ultimate purpose – to help people. He uses cognitive therapy as theoretical foundation for his work. He stresses the importance of trust and understanding between the counselor and the patient in order to achieve necessary effect, especially when we speak about Christian counseling.
Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling
References
McMinn, M. (1996). Psychology, theology, and spirituality in Christian counseling. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
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Psychology Is Sinful Human Beings Sinfully Thinking About Sinful Human Beings
Posted by Nick Roy in Psychotherapy, Theories of Counseling Sunday, 28 February 2010 12:02 No Comments
Contemplating the given statement begs the question, what does “sinfully thinking” actually mean? As Entwistle (2004) unpacks in the text, human nature is affected by the Fall and therefore the statement is correct in its declaration that humanity is sinful. This will always be the true when referring to the nature of humanity. To say that contemplating the inner workings of humanity, that is, what makes men and women think, act, and make a choice is a sinful act, asks for further definition.
Looking back into the history of the Church in regards to psychology will find that the care and healing of the soul was central to Christianity and the Church, long before our modern view of psychotherapy came into being (Entwistle, 2004). Viewing psychology, or soul care, as sinful is to make the statement that the Church of antiquity was wrong in its mission to care for human beings.
Entwistle (2004) proposes that the study of psychology is a study of God’s works and is therefore a way to learn about the God who created the universe and its inhabitants. What should be asked of this original statement is how one interprets psychology based upon worldview perspective. Defining psychology as a sinful endeavor lies in a Christian combatant perspective from Entwistle’s (2004) Enemies model. The perspective that theology and psychology must be in opposition with clearly defined territory stems from a fairly recent debate after the Enlightenment and Darwinism (Entwistle, 2004). Thus, one must recognize that this statement does not stem from a Biblical concept, but from a territorial debate from the very recent nineteenth century.
References
Entwistle, D.N. (2004). Integrative approaches to psychology and Christianity. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock.
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The Purpose of Dreams
Posted by Nick Roy in Psychology 101 Saturday, 23 February 2008 01:58 No Comments
Dreams may be the one way that our brain organizes and stores our memories. The time we spend dreaming could be a period when the brain can reorganize and review our day’s events and connect our new experiences to older ones. During dream time, the body is shut down so the brain can do this without additional input coming in or risking the body reacting out the day’s memories. This usually occurs during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, or stages 1 and 2 sleep. It is widely held that people who are deprived of REM sleep tend not to remember what they just learned during the day.
How do dreams start? Do dreams start in our brains? A dream is a form of perception stimulated by some particular sensation. If our eyes are closed and our body’s are shut down, where is the sensation coming from? Can dreams be a form of extrasensory perception (ESP)?
Two main theorists that were prominent in the study of dreams. First there was Sigmund Freud. He believed that dreams were a way to preserve sleep. He was widely contradicted. Carl Jung, an early follower of Freud, later broke away to form his own thinking on a variety of psychological topics. He believed that dreams were a way of helping to develop a persons personality that remained undeveloped while awake. If one was shy when awake, they will be shy while in our dreams.
This contradicts Freud’s ID and Ego theory. The Ego, our conscious state, is the control factor that has the ID, inner desires, under control. The ego suppresses the inner desires so that the only way for it to be released is while dreaming. If our inner desires are so suppressed, our dreams could take on a life of their own.
For example, a successful business person is always busy and on the go. Deep in the mind, they have certain desires, such as being in a biker bar, shooting pool and having a beer with friends. An interesting place to dream about. For those successful business people that their inner desires are so suppressed that their dreams take on a life of their own almost like astral projection, projecting oneself to a place that they really want to be. It is like being in two places at the same time.
Another school of thought that I happen to believe in is that dreams have a sought of problem solving function. By dreaming we work through our issues that we were having trouble with during the day. This probably explains why so many great ideas come about when one was sleeping. One wake up and immediate go turn on the computer and start writing down their newfound thoughts. If we can’t dream, our problems go unresolved, and our stress levels begin to rise which could then lead to self-destruction.
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Describe Hindsight Bias
Posted by Nick Roy in Psychology 101 Saturday, 23 February 2008 01:56 No Comments
When interviewing job candidates, many interviewers tend to be overconfident of their gut feelings about the job applicants. The overconfidence stems from past cases where their hunches have proved right in the past. Maybe a job applicant did all of the right things to present a favorable impression, and the interviewer relied heavily on that favorable impression. This bias causes interviewers to reject applicants that have succeeded elsewhere. This is an example of hindsight bias, or the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it.
It is very easy to find yourself criticizing an outcome after it already happened. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, commentators mentioned about why the victims in the second tower did not evacuate after the first plane hit. Whether it is the dot com bubble bursting, a recession looming about, a terrorist attack, or even hiring your next employee, we are all subject to being a Monday morning quarterback, also known as hindsight bias.
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thinking critically about psychology
Posted by Nick Roy in Psychology 101 Saturday, 23 February 2008 01:54 No Comments
All science is based on curiosity, a passion to explore and understand without misleading or being misled. For example, is there life after death? Do ghosts and demons really exist? When it comes to questions related to paranormal psychology there are more skeptics than believers. Some skeptics can turn into believers if they have a first hand experience combined with other evidence of something paranormal. To become a believer in paranormal psychology requires a scientific attitude, which involves curious skepticism to understand what is really going on.
One can acquire the tools needed for researching the topic of paranormal, such as thermal imaging cameras or digital electronic recorders to gather evidence. If something was captured on camera, the researcher would experiment to try and recreate the phenomena. If the phenomena cannot be recreated, you have solid evidence to report that there is something paranormal in the research environment you are investigating.
When dealing with topics such as the paranormal, there will be skeptics. Skeptics can turn into believers if they have a first hand experience. Such crazy sounding ideas do find support when subjected to a scientific attitude. Other researchers can further experiment with the time of day. For example, some researchers in this field believe that most spirits manifest during the early morning hours.
To test this, researchers can use a concept called dead time to try and communicate with a spirit. Dead time is where you turn off all electronic devices and electricity such as lights. The environment should be completely dark and quiet.
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