Psycholosy (Counterconditioning theory) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Psycholosy (Counterconditioning theory) - Essay Example For example, a psychologist named Ivan Pavolov conducted a famous psychological experiment on dogs. He conditioned dogs to understand that when a bell was rang (the stimulus), the dogs began to salivate in reaction to learning that the bell meant food. This was an extremely important part of understanding classical conditioning. Phobias are an irrational fear of an object or setting. Often, this will cause shock with a person in that they are completely unable to function with the phobia present. One of the ways in which therapists work to help clients overcome their phobia is using behavioral therapy. One of the techniques, which are used, is the exposure technique. The basis behind exposure technique is for the therapist to expose the client to the phobia in which they are experienced in a controlled setting. This is often done in a systematic routine starting with a low threat stimulus working up to complete exposure. For example, if a therapist was working with a client who had a fear of flying in airplanes, they might start by showing a video of an airplane flying. Next, they would try a flight simulator. These cognitive restructuring steps would build upon one another resulting in the final step of actually riding on an airplane. While this is similar to flooding technique that starts at the extreme of the phobia where exposure technique is done in increments. ... de Jong, Jasper A.J. Smits Affiliation Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University Source Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, Vol 42(1), Mar, 2011. pp. 117-121. ISSN 0005-7916 Descriptors *Disgust; *Exposure Therapy; *Fear; *Phobias; Arachnida Abstract The present study examines the relative contributions of changes in state fear and disgust emotions to improvements in spider phobia observed with exposure-based treatment. Sixty-one treatment-seeking spider fearful individuals underwent a one-session exposure in vivo treatment. Growth curve analyses indicated that treatment was associated with significant improvements in state fear and disgust reactions to a live spider and self-reported trait spider phobia symptoms. Mediation analyses demonstrated that changes over time in state fear and disgust each explained unique variance in improvements in phobic symptoms over time. Examination of the effect size of the mediated pathways suggests that changes in fear and changes in disgust are important to reductions in the severity of spider phobia symptoms during exposure-based treatment. The implications of these findings for conceptualizing the role of fear and disgust emotions in the maintenance and treatment of spider phobia are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) Methodology Empirical Study; Interview; Quantitative Study Electronic; Print Electronic Journal; Peer Reviewed Journal Journal Article Accepted Date: Jul 29, 2010; Revised Date: Jul 27, 2010; First Submitted Date: Apr 20, 2010 20110117All rights reserved.. Elsevier Ltd.. 2010. 10.1016/j.jbtep.2010.07.007 In this study, there was an experiment run in order to see whether exposure therapy worked on treating arachnophobia. They had a sample size of

Description of personal warm-up Essay Example for Free

Description of personal warm-up Essay Before training or playing a match in my sport I will always follow a warm-up program. This warm-up will help prevent injury such as muscle pulls and tears. As well as being physically prepared it will also help me be mentally prepared which is especially important in a match situation. My warm-up consists of a few running drills and then into a set of stretches followed by some skilled drills. It is very important to do some running drills before stretching as muscles need to be stretched when warm to prevent injury. A simple 3 minute jog would warm the muscles enough for stretching. Stretches These are the stretches that I would go through. Each stretch has a diagram, to demonstrate how the stretch is done, and the names of the muscles being stretched. Neck muscles (Sternocleidomastoid and scalenes) Shoulder muscle (Deltoids, Trapezius and Triceps) Spine Quadriceps (Rectus temoris and Sartoius) Hamstrings Gluteus Maximas (Gluteuls) Groin (Pectinus, Odducta longas and Odducta magnus) Skilled drills The final part of my warm up consists of practicing skills with my teammates. There are many forms that we can practice skills with. Grid work Grid work will be set out with players on four corners facing each other as shown in the diagram. = players = running path The players will run to the opposite corner of the grid with a rugby ball and pass it on the player facing them. They can pass it on in number of ways; * A simple pass * A pop pass for the player to run onto * A high pass for the player to jump for * A gut pass Lateral passing Another drill that can be used is the lateral passing drill. Rather than passing forward in grid work, lateral passing consists of passing backwards down a line like a match situation. Players should be in several groups of about 3 to 6 and they should line up at two opposite ends as shown in the diagram. = players = running path = ball path Each group should run to the other end while passing the ball along the line. The distance should be enough for the ball to go down the line 3 times. Benefits of a warm up If a warm up is carried out in the right way it can give many benefits: * Loss of muscle stiffness * As haemoglobin releases oxygen easier at higher muscle temperatures there is facilitated oxygen utilization by the muscles * Speed and force of contraction is increased as the higher temperature of the muscle gives it more energy * Vascular beds dilate in the active tissues increasing blood flow * As muscles are warmed there is reduced resistance which allows a greater economy of movement * Reduces chance of injuries such as tears, pulls etc. Cool down A cool down is just important as the warm up and should always be done after training or a match. I will always cool down after a match or training with my team by simply jogging for 5-10 minutes. This will gently decrease my body temperature. I will also do a series of stretches for 5-10 minutes. Benefits of a cool down A cool down will give a number of benefits: * Reduce the chances of DOMS (Delayed-onset muscle soreness) * Decrease the level of adrenaline in the blood * Helps in the release of lactic acid in the muscles

The Role of Hamartia in Oedipus the King Essay -- Oedipus the King Oed

The Role of Hamartia in Oedipus the King Literary tragedy has roots that extend two and a half millennia into the past, but throughout this history the genre's defining characteristics have remained the same. At the very core of tragedy lies an uncertainty over the cause of the tragic predicament. The leading candidate for an explanation of this cause often comes under the name of hamartia, a Greek word that translates into "a defect in character", "an error" or "a mistake." However, the most common conception (or misconception) of this notion is that it involves "a moral or intellectual weakness," a view that often leads scholars to regard hamartia as the answer to questions of tragic flaw. Care must be taken in making this assumption since no element in tragedy bears easy explanation and since the exact nature of hamartia itself is impossible to pinpoint.   Ã‚  Ã‚   In this spirit of uncertainty and as Aristotle's conception of the "ideal" tragedy, Oedipus the King revolves around just such an elusive "why". This play, like all tragedies, defies our notions of cause and effect--no single action or fault of the hero could have rightly vaulted him into the intense shame of incest and patricide. In the incessant search for what could have created this downfall, one line of thought gives responsibility for Oedipus' story to the heavy hand of destiny. If this theory is to be believed, his entire life can be viewed as a confirmation of a prophesized fate, much as a reading of the text is a fulfillment of the story we already know. Whether a prewritten destiny dictated the king's actions, or whether he earned this destiny with the faulted life foreseen by the gods, an analysis of Oedipus' behaviors may suggest why he was forced to f... ...sible to call Oedipus' faults an object of Sophocles' exploration. Perhaps, too, the great tragedian sought to illustrate the consequence of such behaviors by associating them with a doomed individual. Though it is difficult to imagine Sophocles offering an Aesop-like lesson, the Greek tragedies always served a civic function to the audience that gathered to view them. Thus it may be reasonable to believe that this drama meant to illuminate the faults that could lead to downfall in the ancient world, and even to caution against them. The unpredictable influences destiny and divinity surely played a role in Oedipus' decline, but just as significant a contribution to the tragic predicament came from his own failings. Works Cited: Sophocles. â€Å"Oedipus the King.† The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 5th ed. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston. Bedford/St. Martin’s. 1999.

Negative Body Image Essay

A study showed that women experience an average of 13 negative thoughts about their body each day, while 97% of women admit to having at least one â€Å"I hate my body† moment each day (raderprograms). Teens today are faced with many pressures: how they dress, who their friends are, who they are going to date, and most importantly, what they look like. In today’s society, body image is more than just the mental picture a person has of what their body looks like. For many, body image is also a reflection of how they feel about themselves and their lives. People with a negative body image believe that if they do not look right, other things, such as their personality, intelligence, social skills, or capabilities, also are not right. They think that if they fix their bodies, all their other problems will disappear. This can result in unhealthy weight management practices and an unhealthy relationship with food. People excessively diet and exercise out of fear of gaining weight. The media today portrays stick thin women with beautiful faces and size 0 bodies, but the truth is, the majority of runway models meet the Body Mass Index (BMI) criteria to be considered anorexic (raderprograms). When influenced by role models like these, teenagers start to feel inferior if they do not look the same. In turn, when put under the pressure of women in the media, teenagers will most likely develop a negative body image, eating or mood disorder, or other unhealthy addictions if they feel their bodies do not â€Å"measure up† to those of women portrayed. Negative body image is a serious issue that can be greatly influenced by today’s media. Body image refers to a person’s feelings about how attractive their body is. Celebrities like Kate Moss are 30+% under their ideal body weight, along with this, adolescent girls are more afraid of gaining weight than getting cancer, losing their parents, or nuclear war (raderprograms). Research has shown that media exposure to unattainable physical perfection is detrimental to people, especially women, and that the detrimental effects are currently more the rule than the exception (An Intervention for the Negative Influence on Body Esteem 405-418). Negative body image affects all aspects (physical, mental, social, and spiritual) of the body negatively and cause problems like depression, anxiety and social anxiety. Roughly half of the women in the U. S. wear size 14 or larger though most standard clothing retailers only cater to size 14 and smaller (raderprograms). Having a negative body image can be detrimental to a person’s self-esteem; they will always scrutinize themselves in mirrors and be envious to other’s bodies, whether it is celebrities, friends or even complete strangers. Many people with a negative body image will start to diet to control their weight and get it to where they want it to be. At any given time, one in every three women and one in any four men are on a diet (raderprograms). People diet to be thinner and more attractive, to look like people they see in the media. A People magazine survey showed that 80% of female takers felt that women in movies and television programs made them feel insecure about their bodies (raderprograms). The media is very negative towards people who are not as small as models and (most) actresses. The average U. S. model weighs 117 lbs and is 5’11†, while the average U. S. woman weighs 140 lbs and is 5’4† (raderprograms). The media also is a very strong advocate of dieting and especially diet pills. While dieting can be done healthily, some teenagers abuse dieting; 73% of teenage girls who abuse diet pills and 79% of teenage girls who self-purge (the act of forcibly making themselves vomit or abusing laxatives to not absorb calories) frequently read women’s fitness and health magazines (raderprograms). People who diet have an increased amount of depression due to body image and not getting the results they expect. Thirty-five percent of â€Å"occasional dieters† progress into pathological dieting (disordered eating) and as many as 25% advance to full blown eating disorders (raderprograms). Medical researchers believe that 80 percent of all eating disorders started with a diet (The Causes of Negative Body Image). Media causes teens to feel insecure and have low self-esteem. It is one of the leading causes of Eating Disorders in the United States. Eating Disorders affect 10+ million females and 1+ million males (raderprograms). Many teens suffer from eating disorders and it majorly affects a person’s life. â€Å"When you have an eating disorder at a young age, you can’t shake it easily. I’ve suffered with anorexia and bulimia since I was 12 years old, along with severe depression and anxiety disorders. It was largely influenced by the media and the pressure to be thin. You’re always pre-occupied with the voices telling you not to eat this, or not to eat that because you want to be thin, right? It’s always there and it’s hard. You know what you’re doing is wrong, but man does it feel so right. † (Billstein). For females between the ages 15-24 who suffer from anorexia, the mortality rate associated with the illness is twelve times higher than he death rate of ALL other causes of death (raderprograms). When a person develops an eating disorder they may also become addicted to exercise along with restricting calories. Exercise addiction is maladaptive, causing more harm than benefits. People become addicted to exercise in order to be thinner. This is usually paired with an eating disorder or negative body image. A person will exe rcise and burn off every calorie that they have consumed during the day and run their calorie count into the negatives so they do not absorb any calories at all. â€Å"I feel in control of my body when I exercise. I can see exactly how many calories I have burnt out of my body; being able to burn the small amount of calories that I have managed to eat just feels good. † (Billstein). About 10% of gym users have exercise addiction. Another disorder that ties in with eating disorders is Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD). BDD is â€Å"imagined ugliness†, where a person picks apart everything about themselves until their self-esteem is very low, making them susceptible to mood disorders. It is the gateway drug to eating disorders and negative body image, depression, anxiety and other altered mood disorders. 0% of people diagnosed with eating disorders also suffer from BDD. â€Å"When I look at myself in the mirror, I don’t see what other people see. I see a girl with a large forehead, big thighs, a fat stomach and beady little eyes. I hate my body so much that what I see is totally transformed and disgusting. I don’t want to look like this, that’s why I resorted to o ther things that I could control: eating and how much. † (Billstein). When a person has depression, anxiety, eating disorders or other altered mood disorders they may become addicted to unhealthy activities. An unhealthy addiction that many people, teenagers primarily, form is self-harm. It has many names: self-injury, self-injurious behavior, self-abuse, self-cutting, and repetitive self-harm syndrome. It is most often called self-mutilation. Regardless of what name a person uses, it is the intentional destruction or alteration of one’s own body tissue without conscious suicidal intent (How Negative Body Image Affects the Body and Mind). Self-harm consists of any bodily injury whether it be cutting, burning, scratching, picking or preventing the healing of wounds. Individuals self-harm to release pain. Some people say they self-mutilate because they are emotionally numb and it helps them feel something. When cutting, the person feels in control of the pain, while on the inside, they cannot control mental pain from disorders or depression. Those who cut feel a relief afterwards but it gets more intense of an addiction the longer it goes. They experience strong cravings to harm themselves and withdrawals when in recovery. â€Å"I cut because I can control it. I’m not saying that it’s a good thing, but I’m in recovery and I have relapsed. It takes control of your mind; you’re in a sad state when you take that blade to your skin. You have the scars forever to remember the times you’ve been through, but they show strength not weakness. They’re battle scars and they show that you’ve conquered, not been defeated, you’re still alive and here, and that’s beautiful. † (Billstein). 90% of self-injury individuals begin harming themselves during their teen years or younger. (Cutting: Self Injury Facts & Statistics). Only 4% of women in the world truly think they are beautiful (raderprograms). There are some positive body image influences in the media including Dove skincare. They have the ‘Real Beauty’ campaign showing moderate to plus size models in a positive atmosphere. There is a drastic difference between Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ campaign (Figure 1) and Victoria’s Secret’s new ‘Love My Body’ campaign (Figure 2). Some forms of media are only positive to a certain weight group (i. e: ‘Love My Body’ campaign). Women should not be ashamed of their bodies, they should embrace them and show off their best features. â€Å"You’re going to be in this body for the rest of your life, so you might as well learn to like it† (Billstein). Figure 1 (Rana). Figure 2 (McDonell-Parry). Overall, negative body image is a very dangerous issue to have because it can lead to destructive behaviors like eating disorders, low self-esteem, mood disorders, exercise addiction and other unsafe body disorders. When teenagers are put under the pressure of women in the media, they are at a higher risk of developing a negative body image, eating or mood disorders and other unsafe addictions if their bodies are not as slim.

Desiderius Erasmus Essay

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (27 October 1466 – 12 July 1 536), known as Erasmus of Rotterdam, or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, social critic, teacher, and theologian. He was most widely known for his critical and satirical writings. He attempted to reform the Church and because of that, was prosecuted by many people. I am going to consider for and against his deeds and make my own Judgement. Most of the opinions differ. Erasmus became humanist because of his education and morality. He was an intelligent and strong- minded person. He travelled a lot, so that he became a European scholar with huge knowledge of classical literature. Erasmus believed that education could change the world and I strongly agree with him. In his work â€Å"Adages† (1500) he aimed to make classical learning opened to a public and more than 800 sayings in Latin and Greek were explained, which means that he really tried to achieve the goal of reflecting every aspect of the Christian humanism. Later, he created â€Å"New Testament in Greek† (1 516), which was the first ork available in Greek, not in Latin, with lots of notes and explanations, in cosequence of, all public got a great opportunity to access this testament and become more educated. He lived as a devout Christian, but was concerned with the corruption that had spread through the religious positions of the Church. However, Erasmus believed that religious revolt led directly to anarchy; therefore he took the side of neither the Pope, nor the reform radical, Martin Luther. In all his criticism of clerical follies and abuses, he had always carefully hedged himself about with protests, that he was not attacking church institutions themselves and had no enmity toward the persons of churchmen. The world had laughed at his satire, but only a few obstinate eactionaries had seriously interfered with his activities. He had a right to believe that his work so far had commended itself to the best minds and also to the dominant powers in the religious world. His criticism of the Church was therefore heard throughout Europe. He preferred reasoning to bloodshed, unlike many others of his time. While he did not criticize the Church as much as Luther had, he did call for an end to the corruption that had seeped to the core of the Church. However, it is thought that Erasmus tried to undermine the Church, destroy its form. Again, in those â€Å"Praise of Folly’ he argued with popes who claimed to be the Christ representatives on earth: ‘Practically no class of man lives so comfortably with fewer cases; for they believe they do quite enough for Christ if they play their part†¦ y means of every kind of ceremonial and display†¦ for them it is out of fashion to pertorm miracles, teaching the people is too much like nard work†¦ and praying is a waste of time’. Without formally speaking out against the Pope, Erasmus implies that the Pope put on a facade as an all-knowing, all-powerful mortal. He states here that the Pope has no true knowledge as to what God expects from his worsh ipers. He cannot believe that these lucky scientists find people to believe them’. With this last statement, he calls to the people of the Church to not accept everything that is told to them from corrupt authority fgures. He gives an attack on the standarts of the members of the Church. Also, in his second edition of the â€Å"New Testament in Greek† he weakened the Church because he undermined the authority of it by criticising texts on which it relied. Finally, I came to conclusion that Erasmus and other Christiam humanists attempted to reform the Church by calling to the return to the simplicity of the first Christians. They tried to stop the corruption. Erasmus tried to broaden and clear the minds of people. In his â€Å"Freedom of the Will† (1524) he stated that humankind could choose his own density. So, he did not want to undermine the Church completely but make it easier to understand. He changed the education bases. From the â€Å"Handbook of a Christian soldier† (1 503): ‘Charity does not consist in many visits to churches, bowing own in front of statues of saints, in the lighting of candels or repeating set prayers. Of these things God has no need. Charity is to love your neighboor’. In my personal opinion, Erasmus was a great man. He reasoned while others fought. He was courageous in his criticism of the Church. He was a pacifist and a man of tolerance. He was disdainful of cardinals who were too much involved with making money and concerns of the world. Erasmus has Just fighted for his views of life, not paying attention on his enemies. Bibliography: â€Å"AQA History AS† https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasmus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasmus#Early_life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Desiderius_Erasmus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canons_Regular