After the Second World war, behaviorist ideas began to be displaced by cognitive psychology, and therapists turned their attention to the way in which thoughts influence emotions and their treatment. Amongst the first of these was Albert Ellis, who had originally...
Psychology
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A cognitive approach
The post-war psychological theory came with a demand for even more rigorous scientific methodologies, and psychoanalysis was subject to several studies. Aaron Beck was one among a number of psychoanalysts who became disillusioned with the psychodynamic methods of...
Cognitive–behavioural therapy
Beck structured a method of breaking the vicious cycle of negative thoughts that lead people to depression by getting patients who suffer from depression to engage in an analysis of their negative thoughts and compare them to reality. This process changes the view...
Automatic thoughts
Beck’s cognitive theory of depression, defined the triad of irrational, negative beliefs about oneself, one’s future, and the world as ‘automatic thoughts.’ These automatic thoughts are central to many kinds of mood and anxiety disorders, including...
Learned helplessness theory
Beck’s Cognitive Theory of Depression breaks the mold of thinking about mental health by introducing the concept that we can change our perception and break the cycle of negative thoughts. Research into the causes of depression was conducted by psychologists such as...
Positive psychology
Learned helplessness theory stemmed from many years of research into the depressive illness, which had personal importance for Seligman, whose experience of depression led him to recognize he himself was prone to pessimism and melancholy. He was convinced to follow...
The flow
One of the aspects identified by positive psychologists, eminently Seligman, as essential to a good and happy life is a sense of satisfaction. This can be more than just the satisfying feeling of completing something successfully. It was psychologist Mihály...
Mindfulness and meditation
Techniques of psychotherapy have occasionally been influenced from outside mainstream psychological practice altogether, in particular the meditation practices associated with several Asian traditions. Interest in exotic cultures was spurred by the hippies of the 60s,...
The relevance of psychology
Psychology established itself as a distinct branch of science less than 150 years ago but has become a significant part of modern culture. Psychological theories are part of mainstream thought, and terms such as ‘inferiority complex’ and ‘OCD’ a part of our everyday...
Clinical and health psychology
A given and widely known application within the field of clinical psychology is the treatment of mental disorders. A psychologist works with patients who suffer from mental health problems, whether these are caused by a specific disorder, or simply an emotional...
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Performance
The earliest social psychology studies were conducted in 1898 by Norman Tripplett in the USA. Although he found that people performed better when cycling in groups, he also noted that they would perform worse when isolated. In experiments with children trying to turn...
Social loafing
A study of how being part of a group affects behavior was carried out not by a psychologist, but rather by an agricultural engineer. In 1913, Max Ringelmann found that a group of men exerting force together exerted less force than if they were working alone. But it...
Working in groups
The modern field of Social Psychology is widely considered to have been founded upon the work of Kurt Lewin, a Jewish psychologist who immigrated to America in 1933. Lewin's had a background in Behaviorism and Gestalt psychology. He was among the first to study groups...
Field theory
Lewin was reluctant to provide a strictly scientific basis for the theories he developed, and felt that the influences affecting a group's behavior could be expressed mathematically as 'forces' comparable to those in physics and mechanical engineering. Under different...
Teams and leaders
Lewin's detailed studies of groups and their dynamics led Lewin to develop ideas that not only inspired new fields of behavioral psychology but also influenced the management practices of organizations. Of particular importance were 'cohesion' - the processes that...
Free Course in Semiology
A completely and truly free course on Semiology (Semiotics). Learn about the meaning of signs, how and why did the field emerged. What is the relationship between the street signs and the signs that we use every day - words.
