Abstract
During the early part of the 20th century, the distinction between learned and inherited behavior seemed much clearer than it does today. The view that any type of behavior was either learned or simply developed without learning seemed straightforward. This paper explains that studies based on these expectations led investigators to conclude that rat-killing behavior among cats is learned rather than instinctive, that human fears are all acquired, or that intelligence is completely the result of experience. Learning theorists were maintaining, at this point, that most behavior is learned and that biological factors are of little or no importance. The behaviorist position that human behavior could be explained entirely in terms of reflexes, stimulus-response associations, and the effects of reinforcers upon them, entirely excluding ?mental? terms such as desires, goals and so forth, was advanced by J. B. Watson in his 1914 book, "Behavior: An Introduction to Comparative Psychology." This paper provides a discussion of Watson?s life, followed by an examination of behavioral psychology and an assessment of its impact on modern psychoanalysis in the conclusion. Also includes a graphic.

From the Paper
"John B. Watson was an American psychologist who was responsible for codifying and publicizing behaviorism. From Watson's perspective, behaviorism was an approach to psychology that was restricted to the objective, experimental study of the relations between environmental events and human behavior. Watsonian behaviorism became the dominant psychology in the United States during the 1920s and '30s. Watson received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Chicago (1903), where he then taught. In 1908 he became professor of psychology at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., and immediately established a laboratory for research in comparative, or animal, psychology. About this time he articulated his first statements on behaviorist psychology, and in the epoch-making article "Psychology as a Behaviorist Views It" (1913) he asserted that psychology is the science of human behavior, which, like animal behavior, should be studied under exacting laboratory conditions."

Tags:conditioning, erikson, operant, response, skinner, stimulus

Abstract
This paper is an exploration of personality psychology, and the various methods different theorists have to approach it. Freud, a psychoanalyst, believes that all personality is based upon the mind, while Skinner, a behaviorist, believes that all personality is based upon behavior. As the paper addresses these psychologists, it also attempts to address the personality of the writer.

From the Paper
"Personality psychology is as broad in nature and approach as it is in the emotions which we typically use to describe it. It can focus completely on the mind (as with psychoanalysis) or on the body and behavior (as with behaviorism). Through these separate approaches to personality, one can analyze themselves, their emotions, and their actions in entirely diverse methods of scrutiny. The following will discuss the central theories of Sigmund Freud and B.F. Skinner to evaluate the personality and motivations of the author. One important personality theorist whom even those who are unacquainted with psychology are familiar with is Sigmund Freud, who lived from 1856 to 1939. Freud published extensively during his life."

Tags:personality, freud, skinner

Abstract
This paper addresses topics in the history of psychology, specifically tensions between behaviorism and cognitive psychology. It describes a number of schools of psychological thought, including behaviorism, gestalt theory, cognitivism, and observational learning theory. These components all play a part in the development of the modern psychologist's outlook on the human mind and human behavior.

Abstract
This paper relates that evaluating and comparing human personality theories requires an examination of the history of psychology and an appraisal of the most prominent theorists. The author points out that Sigmund Freud and Carl Rogers have influenced psychology profoundly with distinctly different approaches to therapy. The paper explains that Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis and Carl Rogers' humanistic therapy each have their strengths and weaknesses, but humanistic psychology seems to have much greater potential than Freudian analysis.

From the Paper
"In evaluating personality theory, it is important to examine the professional history and experiences of the theorists themselves, for these factors inevitably influence the formulation of their theories. We are all products of our own distinctive life experiences, and famous psychologists are no exception. Sigmund Freud and Carl Rogers were each influenced consciously and subconsciously by their own unique heredity, their respective professional environments, and a host of other personal, educational, and professional circumstances and events. The respective theories of personality they each constructed reflect all of these influences. Robbins (1999) notes that psychoanalysis was founded by Sigmund Freud more than a century ago."

Tags:rogers, and, freud

Abstract
The Rorschach or ink-blot test is the second-most used personality test. This paper examines the history of the test, its validity and reliability, and how it is scored. The paper expresses a fairly critical view of the test, while providing a number of sources to back it up.

From the Paper
"The Rorschach Inkblot Test was introduced in 1921 by the Swiss Psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach. It uses the phenomena of pareidolia to examine the intricacies of the human mind, with a set of primary foci on the expressive capacities and potential mental disorders of its subjects. While initially disregarded as a serious instrument of evaluation, by 1947 it was ranked fourth out of twenty procedures in a study of instruments used by clinical psychologists (Louttit and Brown, 1947) and more recent studies show that it is second only to the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory in regularity of use."

Tags:historical, measures, personality, psychology

Abstract
This paper details the psychological theory of Abraham Maslow. The paper discusses his hierarchy of needs, listing each need and providing examples, as well as showing how the hierarchy is built. There is an expanded section detailing what is meant by self-actualization as well as what Maslow called "peak experiences." A full listing of the B-values are given, as well as numerous other traits and characteristics of self-actualized people. Also explained are Maslow's other hypothesized needs, such as the cognitive, aesthetic, and neurotic needs, and how these all interact with his hierarchy of needs. The paper introduces Maslow as a visionary and pioneer of humanistic psychology who came from a world dominated by psychoanalysis and behaviorism and emerged to provide the world with a more positive, instructional, and human view of mankind and his place in nature.

From the Paper
"These theories shared in common an approach to understanding human nature and behavior that were based directly outside the subjective needs, beliefs, and values of the individual. In grossly simplified terms, the individual was viewed either as a locus in the environment where current stimuli reacted with past reinforced behavior patterns to produce a response or as an almost helpless entity, where deep in the primitive recesses of the human brain a battle was fought for psychological control. Where forces of the good "superego" were beating back the evil armies of the "id" (sex and aggression) and whichever side was winning the battle at any given time would manifest itself in the person's overt behavior. Abraham Maslow was a visionary who pioneered the field of "humanistic" psychology. Aptly named because its primary goal was to center the field of psychology around the individual person to treat them as wanting, feeling, needing, spiritual, and unique beings and to guise psychological theory in terms that took this into account."

Tags:clinical, gestalt, personality, rogers, theorist, therapy, values

Abstract
This paper considers the diagnostic validity of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The evolution of the current diagnostic category, its reliability and validity,and points of controversy are discussed. Particular attention is given to the high degree of co morbidity observed in individuals diagnosed with PTSD and the implications of co morbidity for diagnosis and conceptualisation.

Outline
The Evolution of the PTSD Diagnosis
Diagnostic Reliability
Co morbidity
Conclusion

From the Paper
"During the late 1800s and early 1900s, investigations among combat veterans, the bereaved, and survivors of natural disasters, described a range of trauma-related conditions such as 'combat neurosis', 'post-traumatic mental complications', and 'fright neurosis' (Saigh, & Bremner, 1999). These early investigation described various types of trauma reactions including heightened levels of anxiety and physiological arousal, sleep disturbance, recurrent experiences of reliving the event, somatic complaints, mood disturbance and changes in personality."

Tags:complex, dsm, ptsd, neurosis

Abstract
The paper gives a brief outline of the philosophical roots of inquiry into the human mind and the shift to 'scientifically valid' experimentation advocated by enlightenment scholars such as Descartes. The paper explores whether the conditions in laboratory experiments are artificial and, if so, does this affect the validity of results when applied to real world conditions.

From the Paper
"As the study of the human mind shifted its focus from philosophical introspection to scientific inquiry problems of "confounding variables" arose contaminating certain aspects of psychological experiments. This led researchers to a shift the experiments into the laboratory, resulting in increasingly artificial and controlled conditions. Problems encountered when applying results from the laboratory to "real world" conditions are valid concerns that require consideration. In this essay I will give a brief outline of the history of the shift to laboratory-based experiments in psychology, examine the reasoning behind the increasingly controlled experimental conditions, discuss whether these conditions limit generalisability and consider the value of such experiments in defining aspects of human behavior in "real world" conditions."

Tags:dependent, descartes, external, internal, validity, variable

Abstract
This paper explains that the nature-nurture controversy is the continuing debate over whether the individual's various traits and characteristics are influenced more by inborn factors, or nature, or by cultural influences and other aspects of experience, or nurture. The author points out that, today, scientists view human development as a combination of nature and nurture, while the British philosopher, John Locke, in the 1690s, suggested that the human infant is like a blank slate, or "tabula rasa", on which experience in the form of human learning writes messages on the infant's unformed mind. The paper relates that Sigmund Freud's theory of development states that human development is the product of both internal urges and external conditions, particularly children's sexual and aggressive urges, and how parents handle them.

From the Paper
"Many professions have solicited the assistance of psychologists in trying to predetermine the psyche of potential persons for areas such as employment and placement. The legal profession has sought out psychologists on both sides to prove their theories of the mental abilities, behavior explanations or predictions of behavior of a defendant or plaintiff. "Society has let the pendulum swing wildly back from nurture to nature, leaving behind a number of bewildered social scientist. Yet we still love to phrase everything in terms of one influence or the other, rather than both." In the educational profession, understanding the balance or affect of both nature and nurture is essential to designing an effective plan for each pupil's advancement."

Tags:Piaget, freud, locke, erickson, watson

Abstract
This paper explains that Behavior Therapy and Rational Emotive Therapy were developed around the middle of the 20th century. The paper begins by discussing Behavior Therapy, which focuses on the client's behavior, it draws from classical and operant conditioning procedures and works to abolish maladaptive behaviors through replacing these with more adaptive ones. The paper then explains that Rational Emotive Therapy, on the other hand, moves to replace irrational beliefs that are causing distress or discomfort in the client's life with more rational beliefs. These two therapies have both differences and similarities which are discussed further within this paper.

From the Paper
"Behavior Therapy was introduced into the psychological world during the 1950s to counter the criticisms of psychodynamic theories of this era. Designed to focus upon observable behavior, Behavior Therapy (BT) strayed from the focal point of unconscious mental processes in which psychodynamic theory was based and laid a different foundation (the belief that maladaptive behaviors become linked with certain stimuli through chance) that would be followed for years to come (Carlson, Buskist & Martin, 2000). BT drew from previous psychological works such as Pavlov's classical conditioning and Skinner's operant conditioning principles and by the 1970's it became the preferred treatment approach to many presented psychological disorders."

Tags:compare, contrast, psychology, treatment