1.
Self-awareness
–
Self-awareness is the capacity for introspection and the ability to recognize oneself as an individual separate from the environment and other individuals. It is not to be confused with consciousness in the sense of qualia, while consciousness is a term given to being aware of ones environment and body and lifestyle, self-awareness is the recognition of that awareness. There are questions regarding what part of the brain allows us to be self-aware, Ramachandran has speculated that mirror neurons may provide the neurological basis of human self-awareness. In an essay written for the Edge Foundation in 2009 Ramachandran gave the explanation of his theory. This could be the basis of introspection, and of the reciprocity of self awareness. There is obviously a chicken-or-egg question here as to which evolved first, the main point is that the two co-evolved, mutually enriching each other to create the mature representation of self that characterizes modern humans. Studies have been done mainly on primates to test if self-awareness is present, apes, monkeys, elephants, and dolphins have been studied most frequently. The most relevant studies to this day that represent self-awareness in animals have been done on chimpanzees, dolphins, self-awareness in animals is tested through mirror self recognition. The ‘Red Spot Technique’ created and experimented by Gordon Gallup studies self-awareness in animals, in this technique, a red odorless spot is placed on an anesthetized primates forehead. The spot is placed on the forehead so that it can only be seen through a mirror, once the individual awakens, independent movements toward the spot after seeing their reflection in a mirror are observed. Animals that can recognize themselves in mirrors can conceive of themselves, Three elephants were exposed to large mirrors where experimenters studied the reaction when they saw their reflection. These elephants were given the mark test in order to see whether they were aware of what they were looking at. This visible mark was applied on the elephants and the researchers reported a large progress with self-awareness, the elephants shared this success rate with other animals such as monkeys and dolphins. Dolphins were put to a similar test and achieved the same results, diana Reiss, a psycho-biologist at the New York Aquarium discovered that bottlenose dolphins can recognize themselves in mirrors. Researchers also used the mark test or mirror test to study the magpies self-awareness, as a majority of birds are blind below the beak, Prior and colleagues marked the birds’ neck with three different colors, red, yellow and a black imitation, as magpies are originally black. When placed in front of a mirror, the birds with the red and yellow spots began scratching at their necks, during one trial with a mirror and a mark, three out of the five magpies showed a minimum of one example of self-directed behavior. The magpies explored the mirror by moving toward it and looking behind it, one of the magpies, Harvey, during several trials would pick up objects, pose, do some wing-flapping, all in front of the mirror with the objects in his beak. This represents a sense of self-awareness, knowing what is going on within himself, a few slight occurrences of behavior towards the magpies own body happened in the trial with the black mark and the mirror
Self-awareness
–
The
mirror test is a simple measure of self-awareness.
Self-awareness
–
Major brain structures implicated in autism
2.
Self-concept
–
Ones self-concept is a collection of beliefs about oneself that includes elements such as academic performance, gender identity, sexual identity, and racial identity. Generally, self-concept embodies the answer to Who am I, self-concept is distinguishable from self-awareness, which refers to the extent to which self-knowledge is defined, consistent, and currently applicable to ones attitudes and dispositions. Self-concept also differs from self-esteem, self-concept is a cognitive or descriptive component of ones self, while self-esteem is evaluative, self-concept is made up of ones self-schemas, and interacts with self-esteem, self-knowledge, and the social self to form the self as whole. It includes the past, present, and future selves, where future selves represent individuals ideas of what they become, what they would like to become. Possible selves may function as incentives for certain behavior, the perception people have about their past or future selves is related to the perception of their current selves. In addition, people have a tendency to perceive the past self less favorably, the idea of self-concept has been around for thousands of years. It is mentioned in the Vedic philosophy as Ahamkara, a term originating approximately 3,000 years ago, psychologists Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow were heavy influences in popularizing the idea of self-concept in the west. According to Rogers, everyone strives to reach an ideal self, Rogers also hypothesized that psychologically healthy people actively move away from roles created by others expectations, and instead look within themselves for validation. The self-categorization theory developed by John Turner states that the self-concept consists of at least two levels, an identity and a social one. In other words, ones self-evaluation relies on self-perceptions and how others perceive them, self-concept can alternate rapidly between the personal and social identity. Children and adolescents begin integrating social identity into their own self-concept in elementary school by assessing their position among peers, by age 5, acceptance from peers has a significant impact on childrens self-concept, affecting their behavior and academic success. The self-concept is a model that uses self-assessments in order to define ones self-schemas. A collection of self-schemas make up ones overall self-concept, for example, the statement I am lazy is a self-assessment that contributes to self-concept. Statements such as I am tired, however, would not be part of someones self-concept, since being tired is a temporary state, a persons self-concept may change with time as reassessment occurs, which in extreme cases can lead to identity crises. Some assert that gender stereotypes and expectations set by parents for their children impact childrens understanding of themselves by approximately age 3, academic self-concept refers to the personal beliefs about their academic abilities or skills. Some research suggests that it begins developing from ages 3 to 5 due to influence from parents, by age 10 or 11, children assess their academic abilities by comparing themselves to their peers. These social comparisons are also referred to as self-estimates, self-estimates of cognitive ability are most accurate when evaluating subjects that deal with numbers, such as math. Self-estimates were more likely to be poor in areas, such as reasoning speed
Self-concept
–
One's self-perception is defined by one's self-concept, self-knowledge, self-esteem, and social self.
Self-concept
–
One's self-concept is made up of self-schemas, and their past, present, and future selves.
3.
Synonym
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A synonym is a word or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word or phrase in the same language. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy, the word comes from Ancient Greek sýn and ónoma. An example of synonyms are the words begin, start, commence, words can be synonymous when meant in certain senses, even if they are not synonymous in all of their senses. For example, if one talks about a time or an extended time, long. Some academics call the former type cognitive synonyms to distinguish them from the latter type, some lexicographers claim that no synonyms have exactly the same meaning because etymology, orthography, phonic qualities, ambiguous meanings, usage, etc. make them unique. Different words that are similar in meaning usually differ for a reason, feline is more formal than cat, long and extended are only synonyms in one usage, synonyms are also a source of euphemisms. In the figurative sense, two words are said to be synonymous if they have the same connotation. a widespread impression that. Metonymy can sometimes be a form of synonymy, as when, for example, thus a metonym is a type of synonym, and the word metonym is a hyponym of the word synonym. The analysis of synonymy, polysemy, hyponymy, and hypernymy is inherent to taxonomy and it has applications in pedagogy and machine learning, because they rely on word-sense disambiguation and schema. Synonyms can be any part of speech, as long as both words belong to the part of speech. Such like, he expired means the same as he died, in English, many synonyms emerged in the Middle Ages, after the Norman conquest of England. While Englands new ruling class spoke Norman French, the lower classes continued to speak Old English, thus, today we have synonyms like the Norman-derived people, liberty and archer, and the Saxon-derived folk, freedom and bowman. For more examples, see the list of Germanic and Latinate equivalents in English, the purpose of a thesaurus is to offer the user a listing of similar or related words, these are often, but not always, synonyms. The word poecilonym is a synonym of the word synonym. It is not entered in most major dictionaries and is a curiosity or piece of trivia for being a word because of its meta quality as a synonym of synonym. Antonyms are words with opposite or nearly opposite meanings, for example, hot ↔ cold, large ↔ small, thick ↔ thin, synonym ↔ antonym Hypernyms and hyponyms are words that refer to, respectively, a general category and a specific instance of that category. For example, vehicle is a hypernym of car, and car is a hyponym of vehicle, homophones are words that have the same pronunciation, but different meanings. For example, witch and which are homophones in most accents, homographs are words that have the same spelling, but have different pronunciations
Synonym
–
Synonym list in
cuneiform on a clay tablet,
Neo-Assyrian period. Ref: K.4375.
4.
Shyness
–
Shyness is the feeling of apprehension, lack of comfort, or awkwardness especially when a person is around other people. This commonly occurs in new situations or with unfamiliar people, Shyness can be a characteristic of people who have low self-esteem. Stronger forms of shyness are usually referred to as social anxiety or social phobia, the primary defining characteristic of shyness is a largely ego-driven fear of what other people will think of a persons behavior. This results in a person becoming scared of doing or saying what they want to out of fear of negative reactions, being laughed at, humiliated or patronised, a shy person may simply opt to avoid social situations instead. One important aspect of shyness is social skills development, schools and parents may implicitly assume children are fully capable of effective social interaction. Social skills training is not given any priority and as a result, shy students are not given an opportunity to develop their ability to participate in class and interact with peers. Teachers can model social skills and ask questions in a direct and intimidating manner in order to gently encourage shy students to speak up in class. The initial cause of shyness varies, scientists believe that they have located genetic data supporting the hypothesis that shyness is, at least, partially genetic. However, there is evidence that suggests the environment in which a person is raised can also be responsible for their shyness. This includes child abuse, particularly emotional abuse such as ridicule, Shyness can originate after a person has experienced a physical anxiety reaction, at other times, shyness seems to develop first and then later causes physical symptoms of anxiety. Shyness may come from genetic traits, the environment in which a person is raised, Shyness may be a personality trait or can occur at certain stages of development in children. Shyness is often seen as a hindrance on people and their development, Shyness can also be seen on a biological level as a result of an excess of cortisol. When cortisol is present in greater quantities it is known to suppress an individual’s immune system, making them susceptible to illness. The genetics of shyness is a small area of research that has been receiving an even smaller amount of attention. Some research has indicated that shyness and aggression are related—through long and short forms of the gene DRD4, further, it has been suggested that shyness and social phobia are related to obsessive-compulsive disorder. As with other studies of genetics, the study of shyness is complicated by the number of genes involved in, and the confusion in defining. Naming the phenotype – and translation of terms between genetics and psychology — also causes problems, several genetic links to shyness are current areas of research. One is the serotonin transporter promoter region polymorphism, the form of which has been shown to be modestly correlated with shyness in grade school children
Shyness
–
A shy young girl
5.
Adolescence
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Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to legal adulthood. Adolescence is usually associated with the years, but its physical, psychological or cultural expressions may begin earlier. For example, puberty now typically begins during preadolescence, particularly in females, physical growth, and cognitive development can extend into the early twenties. Thus age provides only a marker of adolescence, and scholars have found it difficult to agree upon a precise definition of adolescence. A thorough understanding of adolescence in society depends on information from various perspectives, including psychology, biology, history, sociology, education, and anthropology. Within all of these perspectives, adolescence is viewed as a period between childhood and adulthood, whose cultural purpose is the preparation of children for adult roles. It is a period of transitions involving education, training, employment and unemployment. The end of adolescence and the beginning of adulthood varies by country, Adolescence is usually accompanied by an increased independence allowed by the parents or legal guardians, including less supervision as compared to preadolescence. Major pubertal and biological changes include changes to the sex organs, height, weight, cognitive advances encompass both increment in knowledge and in the ability to think abstractly and to reason more effectively. The study of adolescent development often involves interdisciplinary collaborations, for example, researchers in neuroscience or bio-behavioral health might focus on pubertal changes in brain structure and its effects on cognition or social relations. Sociologists interested in adolescence might focus on the acquisition of social roles, developmental psychologists might focus on changes in relations with parents and peers as a function of school structure and pubertal status. Some scientists have questioned the universality of adolescence as a developmental phase, puberty is a period of several years in which rapid physical growth and psychological changes occur, culminating in sexual maturity. The average age of onset of puberty is at 11 for girls and 12 for boys, every persons individual timetable for puberty is influenced primarily by heredity, although environmental factors, such as diet and exercise, also exert some influences. These factors can contribute to precocious and delayed puberty. Some of the most significant parts of pubertal development involve distinctive physiological changes in height, weight, body composition. These changes are largely influenced by hormonal activity, puberty occurs through a long process and begins with a surge in hormone production, which in turn causes a number of physical changes. It is the stage of life characterized by the appearance and development of sex characteristics. This is triggered by the pituitary gland, which secretes a surge of hormonal agents into the blood stream, initiating a chain reaction to occur
Adolescence
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Two adolescents listening to music
Adolescence
–
Adolescents of diverse backgrounds in
Oslo
Adolescence
–
Upper body of a teenage boy. The structure has changed to resemble an
adult form.
Adolescence
–
G. Stanley Hall
6.
Introvert
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The trait of extraversion–introversion is a central dimension of human personality theories. The terms introversion and extraversion were popularized by Carl Jung, although both the understanding and psychological usage differ from his original intent. Extraversion tends to be manifested in outgoing, talkative, energetic behavior, whereas introversion is manifested in more reserved, virtually all comprehensive models of personality include these concepts in various forms. Extraversion and introversion are typically viewed as a single continuum, so, to be high in one necessitates being low in the other. Extraversion is the state of primarily obtaining gratification from outside oneself, Extraverts tend to enjoy human interactions and to be enthusiastic, talkative, assertive, and gregarious. Extraverts are energized and thrive off being around other people and they take pleasure in activities that involve large social gatherings, such as parties, community activities, public demonstrations, and business or political groups. They also tend to work well in groups, an extraverted person is likely to enjoy time spent with people and find less reward in time spent alone. They tend to be energized when around people, and they are more prone to boredom when they are by themselves. Introversion is the state of being interested in ones own mental self. Introverts are typically perceived as more reserved or reflective, some popular psychologists have characterized introverts as people whose energy tends to expand through reflection and dwindle during interaction. This is similar to Jungs view, although he focused on mental energy rather than physical energy, few modern conceptions make this distinction. Introverts often take pleasure in activities such as reading, writing, using computers. The archetypal artist, writer, sculptor, engineer, composer, an introvert is likely to enjoy time spent alone and find less reward in time spent with large groups of people, though they may enjoy interactions with close friends. Trust is usually an issue of significance, a virtue of utmost importance to introverts is choosing a worthy companion and they prefer to concentrate on a single activity at a time and like to observe situations before they participate, especially observed in developing children and adolescents. They are more analytical before speaking, mistaking introversion for shyness is a common error. Introverts prefer solitary to social activities, but do not necessarily fear social encounters like shy people do, yeats, Steven Spielberg and Larry Page. Ambiversion is falling more or less directly in the middle, an ambivert is moderately comfortable with groups and social interaction, but also relishes time alone, away from a crowd. Susan Cains 2012 book Quiet, The Power of Introverts in a World That Cant Stop Talking reports that studies indicate 33–50% of the American population are introverts
Introvert
–
Twin studies find that extraversion/introversion has a
genetic component.
7.
Self-esteem
–
In sociology and psychology, self-esteem reflects a persons overall subjective emotional evaluation of his or her own worth. It is a judgment of oneself as well as an attitude toward the self, Self-esteem encompasses beliefs about oneself, as well as emotional states, such as triumph, despair, pride, and shame. Smith and Mackie defined it by saying The self-concept is what we think about the self, self-esteem, is the positive or negative evaluations of the self, Self-esteem can apply specifically to a particular dimension or a global extent. Psychologists usually regard self-esteem as a personality characteristic, though normal. Synonyms or near-synonyms of self-esteem include, self-worth, self-regard, self-respect, the identification of self-esteem as a distinct psychological construct is thought to have its origins in the work of philosopher and psychologist, William James. James identified multiple dimensions of the self, with two levels of hierarchy, processes of knowing and the knowledge about the self. Observation about the self and storage of those observations by the I-self create three types of knowledge, which account for the Me-self, according to James. These are the material self, social self, and spiritual self, the social self comes closest to self-esteem, comprising all characteristics recognized by others. The material self consists of representations of the body and possessions, and this view of self-esteem as the collection of an individuals attitudes toward oneself remains today. Behaviorism placed the human being as a subject to reinforcements. As a consequence, clinical trials on self-esteem were overlooked, since considered the idea less liable to rigorous measurement. In the mid-20th century, the rise of phenomenology and humanistic psychology led to renewed interest in self-esteem, Self-esteem then took a central role in personal self-actualization and in the treatment of psychic disorders. Psychologists started to consider the relationship between psychotherapy and the satisfaction of a person with high self-esteem as useful to the field. Self-esteem may, in fact, be one of the most essential core self-evaluation dimensions because it is the value one feels about oneself as a person. The importance of self-esteem has gained endorsement from some government and non-government groups starting around the 1970s and this movement can be used as an example of promising evidence that psychological research can have an effect on forming public policy. The underlying idea of the movement was that low self-esteem was the root of the problem for individuals, making it the root of societal problems, Self-esteem was believed to be a cultural phenomenon of Western individualistic societies since low self-esteem was not occurring in collectivist countries such as Japan. Vasconcellos argued that this force could combat many of the states problems from crime and teen pregnancy to school underachievement. He compared increasing self-esteem to giving out a vaccine for a disease, the task force created committees in many California counties and compiled a committee of scholars to review the available literature on self-esteem
Self-esteem
–
Pyramid of Maslow.
8.
Psychologist
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A psychologist is a professional who evaluates and studies behavior and mental processes. In order to become a psychologist, a person must complete either a degree or a doctorate degree. This definition of a psychologist is non-exclusive, in most jurisdictions, members of other professions can also evaluate, diagnose, treat, there are many types of psychologists, as is reflected by the 56 divisions of the American Psychological Association. Psychologists are generally described as applied or research-orientated, the training models endorsed by the APA require that applied psychologists be trained as both researchers and practitioners, and that they possess advanced degrees. People often think of the discipline as involving clinical or counseling psychology, while counseling and psychotherapy are common activities for psychologists, these applied fields are just one branch in the larger domain of psychology. Under the national law, registration of psychologists is administered by the Psychology Board of Australia, before July 2010, professional registration of psychologists was governed by various State and Territory Psychology Registration Board. The Australian Psychology Accreditation Council oversees education standards for the profession of psychology, endorsement within a specific area of practice requires additional qualifications. These notations are not specialist titles, membership with Australian Psychological Society differs from registration as a psychologist. The standard route to membership of the APS technically requires a masters or doctorate in psychology from an accredited course. An alternate route is available for academics and practitioners who have gained appropriate experience, Association membership requires four years of APAC-accredited undergraduate study. Restrictions apply to all individuals using the title psychologist in all states and territories of Australia, however, the terms psychotherapist, social worker, and counselor are currently self-regulated with several organizations campaigning for government regulation. Since 1933, the title psychologist has been protected by law in Belgium and it can only be used by people who are on the National Government Commission list. The minimum requirement is the completion of five years of university training in psychology, the title of psychotherapist is not legally protected. In Finland, the title psychologist is protected by law, the restriction for psychologists is governed by National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health. It takes 330 ECTS-credits to accomplish the university studies, there are about 6200 licenced psychologists in Finland. Originally, a degree in psychology awarded in Germany included the subject of clinical psychology. With the Bologna-reform, this degree was replaced by a masters degree, the academic degree of Diplom-Psychologe or M. Sc. does not include a psychotherapeutic qualification, which requires three to five years of additional training. The psychotherapeutic training combines in-depth theoretical knowledge with supervised patient care, after having completed the training requirements, psychologists take a state-run exam, which, upon successful completion, confers the official title of psychological psychotherapist
Psychologist
–
Psychologist David Lewis measures a subject’s responses to a TV commercial in the early 1980s using a specially modified EEG device.
9.
Looking glass self
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The looking-glass self is a social psychological concept introduced by Charles Horton Cooley in 1902. The concept of the looking-glass self describes the development of ones self, Cooley clarified that society is an interweaving and inter-working of mental selves. The term looking glass self was coined by Cooley in his work, Human Nature, the looking-glass self has three major components and is unique to humans. This process is theorized to develop sense of identity. Therefore identity, or self, is the result of learning to see ourselves as others do, the looking-glass self begins at an early age, continuing throughout the entirety of ones life as one will never stop modifying their self unless all social interactions are ceased. Some sociologists believe that the effects of the looking-glass self wane as one ages, others note that few studies have been conducted with a large number of subjects in natural settings. In hypothesizing the framework for the looking glass self, Cooley stated, from the time they are born, humans define themselves within the context of their social interactions. Schubert references in Cooleys On Self and Social Organization, a solidarity between mother and child parallels the childs increasing competence in using significant symbols. George Herbert Mead described the creation of the self as the outcome of taking the role of the other, through interaction with others, we begin to develop an identity of our own as well as developing a capacity to empathize with others. As stated by Cooley, The thing that moves us to pride or shame is not the mere reflection of ourselves, but an imputed sentiment. There are three components that comprise the looking-glass self. We imagine how we must appear to others and we imagine and react to what we feel their judgment of that appearance must be. We develop our self through the judgments of others, the term looking-glass self was coined by Cooley after extensive psychological testing in 1902, although more recent studies have since been published. In 1976 Arthur L Beaman, Edward Diener, and Soren Svanum performed an experiment on the looking-glass self’s effect on children, another study in the Journal of Family Psychology in 1998, measured the validity of the looking glass self and symbolic interaction in the context of familial relationships. On Halloween night,363 children trick-or-treated at 18 different homes in Seattle, each of these 18 homes was selected to take part in the experiment and was in turn arranged in similar ways. In a room near the way there was a low table. A festive backdrop was also placed in sight of the bowl with a small hole for viewing. All of the homes conducted both conditions, half of the homes conducting self-awareness manipulation while the other half conducted individuation manipulation, in each of the conditions a woman would answer the door commenting on the children’s costumes and inviting them in
Looking glass self
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This drawing depicts the looking-glass self. The person at the front of the image is looking into four mirrors, each of which reflects someone else's image of him back to him.
10.
Personal identity
–
In philosophy, the matter of personal identity deals with such questions as, What makes it true that a person at one time is the same thing as a person at another time. Or What kinds of things are we persons, the term identity in personal identity refers to numerical identity, where saying that X and Y are numerically identical just means that X and Y are the same thing. Personal identity is not the same as personality, though some theories of personal identity maintain that continuity of personality may be required for one to persist through time. Many people claim we are animals, or organisms, but many others believe that no person can exist without mental traits. Since an organism can exist without consciousness, both these views cannot be true, thus, in order to determine whether certain features are crucial to a persons continued existence, it may be important to first ask what sort of things we are. Generally, personal identity is the unique identity of a person in the course of time. The synchronic problem concerns the question of, What features and traits characterize a person at a given time, in Continental philosophy and in Analytic philosophy, enquiry to the nature of Identity is common. Continental philosophy deals with conceptually maintaining identity when confronted by different philosophic propositions, postulates, one concept of personal persistence over time is simply to have continuous bodily existence. With humans, over time our bodies age and grow, losing and gaining matter and it is thus problematic to ground persistence of personal identity over time in the continuous existence of our bodies. Nevertheless, this approach has its supporters which define humans as a biological organism and this personal identity ontology assumes the relational theory of life-sustaining processes instead of bodily continuity. Derek Parfit presents an experiment designed to bring out intuitions about the corporeal continuity. This thought experiment discusses cases in which a person is teletransported from Earth to Mars, the mind-body problem concerns the explanation of the relationship, if any, that exists between minds, or mental processes, and bodily states or processes. One of the aims of philosophers who work in area is to explain how a non-material mind can influence a material body. However, this is not uncontroversial or unproblematic, and adopting it as a solution raises questions, perceptual experiences depend on stimuli which arrive at various sensory organs from the external world and these stimuli cause changes in mental states, ultimately causing sensation. A desire for food, for example, will tend to cause a person to move their body in a manner, the question, then, is how it can be possible for conscious experiences to arise out of an organ possessing electrochemical properties. A related problem is to explain how propositional attitudes can cause neurons of the brain to fire and these comprise some of the puzzles that have confronted epistemologists and philosophers of mind from at least the time of René Descartes. John Locke considered personal identity to be founded on consciousness, through this identification, moral responsibility could be attributed to the subject and punishment and guilt could be justified, as critics such as Nietzsche would point out. According to Locke, personal identity depends on consciousness, not on substance nor on the soul and we are the same person to the extent that we are conscious of the past and future thoughts and actions in the same way as we are conscious of present thoughts and actions
Personal identity
–
What does it take for a person to persist from moment to moment — for the same person to exist at different moments?
Personal identity
–
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding in four books (1690) by
John Locke (1632-1704)
Personal identity
–
A Treatise Of Human Nature: Being An Attempt To Introduce The Experimental Method Of Reasoning Into Moral Subjects. For John Noon, 1739
11.
Self-knowledge (psychology)
–
Self-knowledge is a term used in psychology to describe the information that an individual draws upon when finding an answer to the question What am I like. While seeking to develop the answer to question, self-knowledge requires ongoing self-awareness and self-consciousness. Young infants and chimpanzees display some of the traits of self-awareness and agency/contingency, at some greater level of cognition, however, a self-conscious component emerges in addition to an increased self-awareness component, and then it becomes possible to ask What am I like. Self-knowledge is a component of the self, or more accurately and it is the knowledge of ones self and ones properties and the desire to seek such knowledge that guide the development of the self-concept. Self-knowledge informs us of our representations of ourselves, which contain attributes that we uniquely pair with ourselves. The cognitive self is made up of everything we know and this implies physiological properties such as hair color, race, and height etc. and psychological properties like beliefs, values, and dislikes to name but a few. Self-knowledge and its structure affect how events we experience are encoded, how they are selectively retrieved/recalled, the analytical interpretation of our own memory can also be called meta memory, and is an important factor of meta cognition. Studies have shown there is an advantage for information encoded with reference to the self. Patients with Alzheimers who have difficulty recognizing their own family have not shown evidence of self-knowledge, self-theories have traditionally failed to distinguish between different source that inform self-knowledge, these are episodic memory and semantic memory. Both episodic and semantic memory are facets of declarative memory, which contains memory of facts, declarative memory is the explicit counterpart to procedural memory, which is implicit in that it applies to skills we have learnt, they are not facts that can be stated. Episodic memory is the memory that individuals possess which contains events, emotions. Semantic memory does not refer to concept-based knowledge stored about an experience like episodic memory. Instead it includes the memory of meanings, understandings, general knowledge about the world and this makes semantic knowledge independent of context and personal information. Semantic memory enables an individual to know information, including information about their selves, individuals have been shown to maintain a sense of self despite catastrophic impairments in episodic recollection. For example, subject W. J. who suffered dense retrograde amnesia leaving her unable to recall any events that occurred prior to the development of amnesia, however, her memory for general facts about her life during the period of amnesia remained intact. Self-knowledge must therefore be expanded to include the semantic component of memory, Self-knowledge about the traits one possesses can be accessed without the need for episodic retrieval. People have goals that lead them to seek, notice, and these goals begin the quest for self-knowledge. People are motivated to feel good about themselves in order to maximize their feelings of self-worth, the emphasis on feelings differs slightly from how other theories have previously defined self-enhancement needs, for example the Contingencies of Self-Worth Model
Self-knowledge (psychology)
–
A basic schematic representation of memory showing the 'locations' of semantic and episodic memory.
12.
Surveillance
–
Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people for the purpose of influencing, managing, directing, or protecting them. The word surveillance comes from a French phrase for watching over, Surveillance is used by governments for intelligence gathering, the prevention of crime, the protection of a process, person, group or object, or the investigation of crime. It is also used by organizations to plan and commit crimes such as robbery and kidnapping, by businesses to gather intelligence. Surveillance is often a violation of privacy, and is opposed by civil liberties groups. Liberal democracies have laws which restrict domestic government and private use of surveillance, authoritarian government seldom have any domestic restrictions, and international espionage is common among all types of countries. The vast majority of computer surveillance involves the monitoring of data, there is far too much data on the Internet for human investigators to manually search through all of it. Computers can be a target because of the personal data stored on them. If someone is able to install software, such as the FBIs Magic Lantern and CIPAV, on a computer system, such software could be installed physically or remotely. The NSA runs a database known as Pinwale, which stores and indexes large numbers of emails of both American citizens and foreigners. Additionally, the NSA runs a program known as PRISM, which is a mining system that gives the United States government direct access to information from technology companies. Through accessing this information, the government is able to obtain search history, emails, stored information, live chats, file transfers and this program generated huge controversies in regards to surveillance and privacy, especially from U. S. citizens. The official and unofficial tapping of lines is widespread. Between 2003 and 2005, the FBI sent out more than 140,000 National Security Letters ordering phone companies to hand information about their customers calling. About half of these letters requested information on U. S. citizens, human agents are not required to monitor most calls. The StingRay tracker is an example of one of these used to monitor cell phone usage in the United States. Once the phone is connected to the device, there is no way for the user to know that they are being tracked. The operator of the stingray is able to extract information such as location, phone calls, and text messages, a lot of controversy surrounds the StingRay because of its powerful capabilities and the secrecy that surrounds it. Mobile phones are commonly used to collect location data
Surveillance
–
A 'nest' of surveillance cameras
Surveillance
–
A surveillance camera in
Cairns, Queensland
Surveillance
–
Surveillance cameras such as these are installed by the millions in many countries, and are nowadays monitored by automated computer programs instead of humans.
Surveillance
–
A payload surveillance camera manufactured by Controp and distributed to the U.S. government by ADI Technologies
13.
R.D. Laing
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Ronald David Laing, usually cited as R. D. Laing, was a Scottish psychiatrist who wrote extensively on mental illness – in particular, the experience of psychosis. Laing was associated with the movement, although he rejected the label. Politically, he was regarded as a thinker of the New Left, Laing was born in the Govanhill district of Glasgow on 7 October 1927, the only child of David Park MacNair Laing and Amelia Glen Laing. Laing described his parents – his mother especially – as being somewhat odd and he was educated initially at Sir John Neilson Cuthbertson Public School and after four years transferred to Hutchesons Grammar School. Described variously as clever, competitive or precocious, he studied mainly Classics, particularly philosophy and he was also a musician, being made an Associate of the Royal College of Music. He chose to go on to study medicine at the University of Glasgow, during his medical degree he set up a Socratic Club, of which the philosopher Bertrand Russell agreed to be President. Laing failed his final exams on his first attempt, in 1950, in 1953 Laing left the Army and worked at the Glasgow Royal Mental Hospital, becoming the youngest consultant in the country. During this period Laing also participated in a discussion group in Glasgow, organised by Karl Abenheimer. In 1956 Laing went on to train on a grant at the Tavistock Institute in London, widely known as a centre for the study, at this time, he was associated with John Bowlby, D. W. Winnicott and Charles Rycroft. He remained at the Tavistock Institute until 1964, in 1965 Laing and a group of colleagues created the Philadelphia Association and started a psychiatric community project at Kingsley Hall, where patients and therapists lived together. The Norwegian author Axel Jensen contacted Laing at Kingsley Hall after reading his book The Divided Self, Jensen was treated by Laing and subsequently they became close friends. Laing often visited Jensen onboard his ship Shanti Devi, which was his home in Stockholm, in October 1972, Laing met Arthur Janov, author of the popular book The Primal Scream. Though Laing found Janov modest and unassuming, he thought of him as a jig man, Laing sympathized with Janov, but regarded his primal therapy as a lucrative business, one which required no more than obtaining a suitable space and letting people hang it all out. Many former colleagues regarded him as a brilliant mind gone wrong, Laing was seen as an important figure in the anti-psychiatry movement, along with David Cooper, although he never denied the value of treating mental distress. Hence, according to Laing, psychiatry was founded on an epistemology, illness diagnosed by conduct. His attitude to recreational drugs was quite different, privately, he advocated an anarchy of experience and his mother Amelia, according to some speculation and rumour about her behaviour, has been described as psychologically peculiar. These admissions were to have consequences for Laing as they formed part of the case against him by the General Medical Council which led to him ceasing to practise medicine. He died at age 61 of an attack while playing tennis with his colleague
R.D. Laing
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R. D. Laing in 1983, perusing the
The Ashley Book of Knots (1944)
14.
The Psychology of Self-Esteem
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The Psychology of Self-Esteem is a book by Nathaniel Branden, first published in 1969. It explains Brandens theories of psychology, focusing on the role of self-esteem. Most of the book was written during Brandens association with Ayn Rand, the books success helped to popularize the idea of self-esteem as an important element of self-improvement. The book is divided into two parts, in Part One, Branden explains his views on human nature and the science of psychology. He discusses his theories about consciousness, volition, emotions and mental health, the material in Part One is about philosophical and psychological theory and does not focus on self-esteem, which is the predominant subject in Part Two. He describes self-esteem as the sum of self-confidence and self-respect, which he describes respectively as a sense of personal efficacy. Branden considers self-esteem to be one of the most important factors in human psychology, Branden contrasts healthy self-esteem with conditions that he views as psychological problems. Next he discusses pathological anxiety, which he traces to a lack of self-esteem and he further connects this to feelings of guilt and depression, which he views as aspects of anxiety. Branden emphasizes the importance of values, stating that there is no way for a psychotherapist to keep his own moral convictions out of his professional work. He does not view this as a flaw, but rather argues that the therapist should guide patients towards values that will improve their self-esteem. Effective psychotherapy requires a conscious, rational, scientific code of ethics, says Branden and he then briefly discusses five different therapeutic techniques and wraps up the book with a concluding section. The thirty-second anniversary edition adds a preface in which Branden explains that although his views have changed in some ways, instead he added an epilogue on Working with Self-Esteem in Psychotherapy. The epilogue updates his views on self-esteem, which have changed in some particulars since the book was first written and he also describes his more recent therapeutic methods, focusing on the use of sentence-completion exercises. The Psychology of Self-Esteem was largely written while Branden was associated with Rand and it was Brandens first solo book, although he had previously written essays for two of Rands books and for Who Is Ayn Rand. which he co-wrote with his then-wife Barbara Branden. Some of the material comes from Who Is Ayn Rand. and from articles he wrote for The Objectivist, Rand was Brandens mentor and former lover, but in 1968 she had broken off all relations with him. In his memoirs, Branden recalled that important parts of the book were written during the chaos of the collapse of their relationship. Rand had helped Branden obtain a contract with World Publishing, which was affiliated with her own publisher, when their relationship ended, she pressured the publisher to cancel his contract, which they did after he missed a deadline for delivering the completed manuscript. She also threatened to withhold the use of material that had been copyrighted by The Objectivist, despite Rands efforts to prevent the books publication, the newly founded Nash Publishing released it in the fall of 1969
The Psychology of Self-Esteem
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32nd anniversary edition cover
