Psychology and Cognitive Sciences Questions and Answers

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  How might a strengths-based approach, like positive psychology, be more effective in working with clients suffering from mental illness?
  Strength-based approaches have been shown to offer numerous advantages. Because they focus on the individual and emphasize their strength and self-determination, such approaches build on the...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Discuss the two ways in which mindfulness is usually taught.
  One of the most common ways mindfulness—defined as concentrating one's attention to one's physical and emotional experiences at the present moment—is taught youth and adults alike is through...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Are you able to tell when someone is being honest with you? Are you able to tell when someone is being honest with you?
  Your question sounds more like it belongs in the psychology group because many theories have been advanced regarding such human behavior. There are documented physiological changes that occur when...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Describe some of the differences among perception, memory and imagination.
  This is a fascinating question. Recently a lot of scholars from all disciplines have been working on this topic - philosophy, history, and psychology. Here are some thoughts on each of these...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Outline 2 challenges to the basic assumptions of classical conditioning.  What are some practical implications of these challenges?
  This is an important question, because people are complex. In other words, there is not only one way to help people. Hence, the assumptions of classical conditioning can be very reductionistic in...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Discuss the different errors involved in attribution. Attribution: explanation of causes of behavior.
  Attribution (in psychology) is a term which denotes how individuals explain behavior, their own and the behavior of others. Attribution can be internal (causes are from within, personality or...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  In contrast to Freud, on what did Erikson place greater emphesis?
  Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist, created psychoanalysis and founded clinical psychiatry as we know it today. His theories have been challenged and changed but remain the base of modern...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  What role does memories serve in our lives? explain
  Memories serve a very important function in our lives. To examine the importance of memories though, one must understand their functions in different capacities. First, memories are important in...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  What is the definition of psychosocial task?
  When we think of psychosocial development and psychosocial tasks, we usually think of Erikson and his stages of psychosocial development. In this theory, human development is defined as going...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  What is actually learned in classical conditioning according to traditional Pavlovian approach?
  The traditional Pavlovian classical conditioning teaches us that a response can be achieved by association. In humans, it means that a person can achieve a behavior, or respond to a situation in a...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  How might memory be influenced by internal and external factors?
  Short-term and long-term memory can be influenced by both internal and external factors. The time and place where the memory occurred can have an impact on its formation. Internal factors...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Why is educational psychology considered a science?  
  While psychology is generally considered a “soft science” (meaning not provable by scientific means or physical laws), educational psychology has produced many years of data through experimentation...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  What is the role of the "mythological hero" in psychotherapy?  Please explain this idea. from The Myth of the Birth of the Hero by Rank
  Application of Rank's The Myth of the Birth of the Hero most directly relates to child and family therapy. In his studies, Rank looked at the qualities and similarities of well known literary and...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  What is the difference between 'patience' and 'tolerance', according to psychology? i want to relate the 'concept of patience' in the noble Quran to the concept of tolerance in positive psychology.
  Patience and tolerance initially appear to be relatively similar; however, upon closer examination, they are actually quite different experiences. According to some psychologists, patience and...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  What is the definition of cognitive task?
  Cognition--from which "cognitive task" derives, is the scientific term that essentially means "the process of thought." Cognitive tasks therefore, are the actions which help define cognitive...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  How does perception affect hearing and sound. 
  "Sound" refers to a type of wave that emits from particles when they vibrate. Humans can hear only a certain range. What you hear at any given moment depends on how your brain decides to process...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  How can you distinguish between dementia, delirium, and amnesiatic disorders?
  Dementia involves symptoms of loss of brain function, including memory, as well as distortions in personality that are out of character. Patients may also lose the ability to perform basic motor...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Discuss Maslow’s concept of conative, aesthetic, cognitive, and neurotic needs
  According to humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow, all individuals strive to become self-actualized, or reach their fullest potential; however, in order to do so, a series of needs must first be...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  How is a schema related to constructive processing?
  A schema (plural schemata) is any pattern of thought, idea, or habit that exists in a structured form (Wikipedia). Constructive processing is the conscious examination and absorption of outside...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Compare and contrast clinical and counseling psychology.
  Clinical and counseling psychology both require similar graduate level training, which includes academic coursework in all of the major areas of psychology (developmental, psychopathology, social,...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Define engulfment, implosion, and petrification in R.D. Laing's The Divided Self. How can we apply these on a schizophrenic patient?
  In simple terminology: Engulfment is the feeling of being trapped and washed away by the ideas of others. You could feel engulfed, for example, when you are part of a very pushy family or society...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Define and provide original examples from your own experience of: (a) an absolute threshold (b) a difference threshold (c) adaptation
  All three of these terms relate to the perception of stimulus. I can't give you original examples based on your experiences, of course, but I can think of a few common ones and you can add your...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Compare and contrast Piaget and Vygotsky's views on the stages of development? This question is a little difficult to answer since Vygotsky doesn't really have "stages" like Piaget does in his theory.
  The developmental theories of Piaget and Vygotsky are not only different in nature, but different in approach, and you are right in that they are difficult to compare. The best way to approach the...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Briefly describe the Gestalt principles of similarity, proximity, and closure. Provides simple diagrams illustrating each of these principles. Explain how each principal relates to the fundamental Gestalt principle of simplicity.
  Gestalt principals have to do with what is known as "visual perception." It's how people view visual information and organize what they see. Gestalt, in German, means form or shape. By nature of...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Describe the theory of Classical Conditioning
  The classical conditioning theory was proposed by Ivan Pavlov in the early part of the 20th century. The gist of the theory is that behavior can be learned by instinct with the application of a...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  In psychology, what is a "schema?"
  "Schema" is usually used to mean any cohesive thought or behavioral pattern. Any collected or organized group of ideas, habits, or knowledge can be classified as a schema (Wikipedia). New knowledge...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Explain the psychological importance of understanding one's  development as an infant, child, or adolescent. Explain the psychological importance of understanding one's  development as an infant, child, or adolescent.
  I think that it is extremely important to understand the psychological development of an individual. I think that one does not go far in the field of psychology without examining the experiences...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Describe the theory of operant conditioning.
  The theory of operant conditioning is defined as an approach used in behavioral sciences with the purpose of creating or extinguishing a behavior based on the application or retention of stimuli....

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Eexplain how classical conditioning may account for the development of a specific phobia Making specific reference to such terms as UCS, CS, UCR, and CR and stimulus generalization.
  The Russian Scientist, Pavlov, demonstrated “conditioning” of dogs in an experiment involving exposure of the dogs to meat powder (the unconditional stimulus, or UCS), resulting in salivation (the...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Counseling is a necessary application of psychology to modern society. Discuss with examples.
  Psychology is the science behind or the study of the mind and behavior. One of the main goals of applied psychology is to benefit society. A huge component of psychology is the drawing of...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Explain the five needs in Maslow’s hierarchy.
  Beginning at the base of Maslow's pyramid, the first type of need is physiological needs. These are the obvious things, like food, water, and sleep that we need in order to survive. After we have...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  As a parent, how might you use positive or negative reinforcement to bring about desirable changes in the behavior of a child? As a parent, how might you use positive or negative reinforcement to bring about desirable changes in the behavior of...
  Positive reinforcement is something that parents use all the time with children. This can be something as simple as praising your child when he or she acts in the way you want. So, if you want...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Identify 2 approaches to helping a client using Person Centered Therapy. Counseling
  Since its introduction in the 1940s, "Person Centered Theory" in counseling and therapy has been utilized in many more current therapeutic practices. Generally speaking, Person Centered Theory...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  What factors influence reactions to stress?
  Stress is caused when your body thinks it is in harm’s way. Originally and in nature, this meant physical nature. Stress can now be caused by all kinds of non-life-threatening pressures. Our...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  According to contemporary psychology, what is actually learned druing classical conditioning?
  Ivan Pavlov defined Classical Conditioning in 1927. Pavlov used dogs as subjects and exposed them to a neutral stimulus (in this case a ringing bell) followed by an unconditional stimulus (meat...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  How does parental stress impact the quality of interactions children have with their parents?
  Unfortunately, I can answer this from experience. My children were 4 and 6 at the time of my divorce. Prior to my divorce, the stress both I and their father were feeling was quite overwhelming....

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Psychology Can you help me understand the defenition of Archetypes?
  Archeypes are stock characters that have existed as long as humans have been telling stories. The most common archetypes are the hero and the villain. Most specifically, the callow youth hero and...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Elaborate on the five-factor model of trait personality theory.
  In 1992 Costa and McCrea published their Five Factor Model (FFM) or so called “Big 5” broad categories or dimensions of personality types. The authors sought to explain certain academic behaviors...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Generate two (2) original examples which support the idea that memory is constructive, not merely a passive replication of experience.
  This is a great question and you are right that our memories are not passive but very active. Many scholars from different field have been working on this topic. Here are two examples of how our...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  I need an idea to create an experiment that violates a nonverbal social norm.
  Your question is a bit hard to understand. It would be helpful to know what you want to study. Without that piece of knowledge, all I can do is offer you some suggestions of possible experiments of...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  What is psychotherapy and how is it utilized?
  Psychotherapy is a spoken therapy, used by individual therapists or sometimes in group therapy designed to increase or improve the mental health of a patient by working on weaknesses or practicing...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  What is metacognition and cognition?
  Cognition can be defined as the mental ability or a set of mental processes that are involved in thinking, reasoning, perception, comprehension, making judgments and decisions, etc. In simplest...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  What perspective in psychology, either historical or current, makes the least sense to you? and why?
  Given the scope of such a question, I imagine answers could be across the board, so I will try to narrow mine to a field of psychology with which I believe I have immediate personal and...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Can someone give me a good fun fact about the science of psychology? can you give me a fact that has to do with psychology and explain it to me and where you go it...because i cant find anything
  A fun fact about psychology? Here's one: Did you know that in the 17th century, doctors believed that hysteria, or hysterical actions, were caused by "disturbances" in a woman's uterus? The word...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
   In the elementary classroom of today,what would be some possible, practical applications of cognitive development from Vygotsky's point of view? In the elementary classroom of today,what would be some possible, practical applications of...
  Vygotsky's theories are easily applicable in elementary school. Think, for example, of the "zone of proximate development (ZPD)." A child who is not yet able to identify symbols as representing...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Describe two of the contemporary approaches to psychology. compare how each approach views the cause of behavior.
  Existential Psychology Existential Psychology is a contemporary approach that was popularized by Dr. Irvin Yalom. Existential psychology is based upon the premise that all psychological inquiries...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  How can a passive- aggressive personality reflect an individual's shame?
  The passive- aggressive personality is intricate, and extends into many different domains. Shame can be a part of this personality. Perhaps, the shame, or embarassment, at not being successful at...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Explain violent behavior in children using a modern perspective of psychology.
  Violence among children and adolescents is often analyzed under the two main currents of psychology: Cognitive and behavioral. The cognitive branch of psychology studies the biological and...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Explain in detail the difference between Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder and Dissociative Identity Disorder.    
  These three types of mental illness are different in both symptoms and known causes. Schizophrenia has genetic precursors, and is neither trauma or chemically induced. The schizophrenic has...

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• Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  Crystal received her SAT score from her counselor. She scored two standard deviations above the mean. What does this indicated about Crystal's score?
  To know what this says about her score, we first have to understand a couple of statistical terms. First of all, mean in the average score. Standard deviations are set marks that are based around...

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