EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY CCA
SESSION 1: INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
In the first week of the Exploring Psychology CCA, we learnt a brief overview of what psychology is, and the history and origins of psychology
Definition of Psychology
Psychology is often represented as the Greek symbol psi Ψ, meaning soul during the time of the ancient Greeks, thus, it is also referred to as the study of the soul It is the scientific study of observable behaviour and mental processes It seeks to understand how people think and act and encompasses a wide range of topics, from cognitive processes to social interactions and mental health
Behaviours are observable actions, while mental processes, also known as cognition, are internal thought processes An example of a mental process can be memory or thinking, which we can easily observe in our everyday lives Psychology is a very broad field, often broken down into several different branches Each branch is centred on a specific subfield, and differs in terms of what it studies or what perspective it typically takes All of these areas of psychology share the goal to help describe, explain, predict, and sometimes change how people behave and think
Among the various branches of psychology, the IB course focuses on the sociocultural approach, biological approach and cognitive approach While pure psychology focuses on the pursuit of knowledge and the expansion of theoretical frameworks, applied psychology harnesses that knowledge to address practical challenges and improve human well-being
HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY
During ancient times, it was the Greek philosophers, namely, Aristotle, who first thought about consciousness He believed consciousness stemmed from the heart, as people without their heart or otherwise “soul”, would die They pondered about the subject, engaging in many discussions from a philosophical point of view that formed the foundations of, and spurred the development of what we know today as ‘psychology ’
As scientific outlook was gradually developed, philosophy started losing its prominence, as did the soul Psychology began to be defined as the ‘the study of mind’
During the 19th century, German psychologists Wilhelm Wundt and William James solidified psychology as a distinct field of study
ORIGINS OF PSYCHOLOGY → OTHER SUBJECTS
The theory of localisation of mental functions in the brain, and the science of character reading from the 19th century were based on the ideas of Franz Joseph Gall.
He developed a method to measure bumps on the skull for predicting mental traits This approach (Phrenology) was based on the idea that the brain serves as the organ of the mind, and different areas of the skull correspond to specific mental functions However, phrenology was rejected due to its inaccuracies
Biology was a leading factor in the development of psychology. Researchers dissected deceased prison inmates to advance scientific knowledge This biological aspect remains essential to psychology
Soon, this foundation evolved into neuroscience, which emerged from the joining of these disciplines (However, this practice, notably dissecting deceased inmates, raises ethical concerns now).
Concluding: We look forward to what the future of psychology may look like, with the rapid involvement of AI technology currently The future holds no boundaries
SESSION 2: BODY LANGUAGE AND BEHAVIOUR
Dr Jennifer Hartley visited our CCA and taught us about body language She taught that our feet are the most accurate part of our body in showing our intentions or emotions For example, if you’re bored in class check where your foot is pointed. Ms. Hartley explained that it is likely that at least one of our feet may be pointed towards the exit unconsciously, due to our desire to leave Also, if your foot is directed towards the person you’re talking to - it may indicate attraction.
Moreover, Dr Hartley claimed that by only looking at the feet of a couple, she can notice who likes whom more and can even predict if either of them are cheating or not She also taught us a game - we counted and made a specific act or sound on a specific number - aimed at distracting us from our own body language. The game was very interesting because we got to know how body language works and how often we unconsciously display body language We really enjoyed this session The idea that Dr Hartley can infer a large amount of information just through a person’s feet was very interesting and somewhat intimidating
SESSION 3: PERSONALITY AND LOCUS OF CONTROL
WHAT WE‘VE LEARNT ABOUT
The Locus of Control is the degree to which a person perceives an outcome as being based on their own actions or those of external forces It exists along a continuum from a more internalised orientation to a more externalised orientation
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a popular personality assessment tool based on Carl Jung's theory of psychological types It was developed by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers during World War II It is commonly used as a fun and interesting way to learn about details of different personalities During the session, everyone completed an MBTI test and discovered their personality type We also learnt about our personal strengths and weaknesses, and learned about famous individuals with similar personalities, and explored career paths suggested for their personality type.
EVALUATION OF PERSONALITY AND LOCUS OF CONTROL
We enjoyed an interesting LoC activity where we first wrote our names along a scale of how much control we believed we have over the events in our own life and then completed a Locus of Control questionnaire. Once completed, we found that our scores mostly matched where we placed our names on the scale It was valuable since we were given a chance to reflect on how much control we have within our lives, and how that matches our own beliefs
The MBTI test is more accurate than other historical methods or beliefs regarding personality, such as blood types or astrology which are based more on superstition than scientific assessments, and have minimal impact on our actual personalities
LIMITATIONS OF LOCUS OF CONTROL AND MBTI
The LoC and MBTI results are not a fixed assessment of our entirety, rather, they can be used to help us understand our own patterns of thought and behaviour
Evidence supporting the LoC is correlational - it shows patterns of behaviour related each locus, but these do not have absolute predictive power and must be interpreted with caution
MBTI depends on the self-report method, which can be inaccurate Furthermore, the MBTI does not entirely include all aspects of personality, and personalities are not static - they develop over time
In fact, the test often gives people different results These make the results of MBTI unreliable, and lacking in validity
However, both the LoC and MBTI tests can be used as a nice way to start a conversation or superficially understand someone
The MBTI is used by companies to categorise and understand personalities and their typical patterns of behaviour Again, the LoC and the MBTI tests are just a guide, not a definitive indicator of personality
SESSION 4/5: PRESENTATIONS
In the 4th and 5th weeks, we were actively engaging in research and got to make group presentations about psychological concepts not covered in the IGCSE and IB curricula These topics come from many different areas of psychology We explored: cute aggression, the placebo effect, Stockholm syndrome, déjà vu, the Dunning-Kruger effect, and seasonal affective disorder
③ Stockholm syndrome: People seomtimes develop positive feelings toward their captors or abusers over time In a bank in Stockholm, robbers captured employees of the bank as hostages. However, as they spent time together, the employees developed sympathy towards the robbers A person with Stockholm syndrome may continue to have positive feelings towards their captor, but they may also experience flashbacks, depression, anxiety, and PTSD
④ Déjà vu: Refers to a strange feeling where one feels like they have been in a certain situation before It originates from French, meaning, ‘already seen’
① Cute Aggression: Although the name of the phenomenon seems contradictory and unfamiliar, it is actually quite a common behaviour Imagine a kitten, or a newborn baby Adorable, right? Ever wanted to just squeeze them tightly? When you see something cute your positive emotions can rapidly rise In an effort to balance these emotions, aggression may be stimulated in response, which makes you want to squeeze it, grit your teeth, etc. This is what cute aggression is.
② Placebo Effect: When you have a bad headache in school, you go to the medical centre, and they may give you Tylenol or other medicine. You may quickly feel better and you think, ‘’oh, the medicine relieved my pain’’
But has it? Tylenol takes around 45 minutes to work, however the act of taking medicine can mentally relax you, tricking your brain into believing the pain has gone before the medicine actually kicks in
This effect seems to happen when there is miscommunication between the parts of our brain that play a role in memory recollection and familiarity Most people experience déjà vu with no bad health effects, but in rare cases, it can be a sign of a neurological disorder
⑤ Dunning-Kruger Effect: This explains why people with little ability may overestimate their competence When someone first starts learning something, they believe they are highly competent in that area, as they do not realise how much they still don’t know As learn more, they realise this, and begin to lose confidence in their ability Confidence increases again over time with further development of the particular ability.
⑥ Seasonal Affective Disorder: Seasons can influence one’s likeliness to experience depression Typically, in the colder seasons of Autumn and Winter, reduced sunlight may trigger chemical reactions in the brain, potentially leading to depression It’s important to spend time outdoors and get some sunlight!
Being provided with an opportunity to research some psychological concepts, and extend our knowledge of psychology further developed our interest in the subject As the presentations were not formally assessed, and focused on topics that intrigued us, we could freely share our newfound knowledge without feeling stressed or pressured
Listen to the song ‘Deja vu’ by Olivia Rodrigo!WHAT WE DID:
In the 6th session, we learned about memory and techniques for memorising, with some fun word-recall activities We tried to memorise 20 words first before learning any techniques, and then again after learning We found it much easier after we had learnt some techniques!
We learnt three techniques: the Mnemonic Linking System, The Memory Palace, and The Major System.
DETAILS:
The Linking System is a technique that focuses on visualising each item and how they interact with the next item you want to remember, in a story-like fashion The more bizarre the visualisation, the better
The Memory Palace employs a similar technique of visualising objects, but it focuses on placing them within a familiar spatial map Although it requires more time to create, this method can effectively retain larger amounts of information for extended time, as humans are very good at remembering spatial information You select a familiar location, e g your school, and mentally map out a path through it Then, you associate each item you want to remember with a specific location within this mental space, exaggerating the images and making them interact with the environment The Major System is a more complex method for memorising numbers by converting numbers into letters, and assigning an image to combinations of these
EVALUATION:
Overall, we believe the Linking System and Memory Palace techniques are useful in our daily lives as these help us break down and store essential information, like learning speeches, formulas, and names. We found the Major System to be less practical due to its complexity Memorizing these numerical representations can be challenging to use effectively
SESSION 7: PSYCHODYNAMIC, FREUDIAN THEORY
In Week 7 we learnt about the psychodynamic approach and the Freudian theory The session was packed full of new and intreresting concepts that opened a different perspective of how humans operate Despite the content not being part of the curriculum, we recognised that the content had an impact on our understanding of how the human mind operates
We learnt about psychologist Sigmund Freud, widely regarded as one of the most influential and controversial thinkers of the 20th century Our exploration, then shifted to the concept of the ‘psyche’ and its components: the id, ego, and superego.
These components develop over the course of our early lives The id acts as the ‘devil’ on your shoulder in the unconscious early stages of development, it follows the ‘pleasure principle’, seeking immediate enjoyment The superego develops later, acting as the ‘angel’ on the other shoulder - it is our moral guide
The ego is our conscious awareness within reality, and is the middleman between the two forces of id and superego This correlated with Freud’s theory of child development which described five distinct stages, each with its own particular ‘conflict’ and area of focus within the body. The concept of child development provided us with a new perspective of adult behaviours, which could be traced back to unresolved conflicts or traumas during earlier stages of life Finally, we ended the session by investigating the legacy of the Freudian theory in today’s world We learned about, and had a go at interpreting dreams using a dream interpreter website. Although this idea lacks much scientific backing, the activity demonstrated how Freudian theory prompted further exploration of the subject
When we first learnt about psychodynamics and Freudian theory, it is undeniable that the things we learnt came as a shock to us. The idea that babies are born id-focused, and develop towards superego was fascinating That we live our lives balancing these two forces through our ego sounded a little sad too. We were able to link it back to our own lives, thinking of when we made past choices that were sometimes not good It was also a little comforting to think about how although we weren’t born perfectly, we develop the ability to balance our impulsive desires with what is morally correct
SESSION 8: ART THERAPY
As it was nearing the end of term we were all feeling tired, so our 8th session was focused on mindfulness activities to help rest our minds These activities included writing a ‘never-sent postcard’ and colouring flowers, while listening to relaxing lo-fi background music This session was enjoyable as we got to do something different and it was a perfect way to draw a close to the CCA and the spring term. Moreover, we learnt that art therapy can be used to help examine and discuss mental health Through expression, we’re able to develop a greater understanding of our emotions and begin a healing process
The ‘mindful colouring’ activity let us focus on the present, undisturbed, without the stress of thinking about academies and schoolwork It allowed a break from screens, to simply enjoy a focused and calming activity. We also turned off the lights, allowing the natural sunlight to further improve feelings of relaxation
We really enjoyed this session as it gave us a time to destress and relax after a long week of lessons, assessments and practicals We have thoroughly enjoyed each Thursday session of this term SPECIAL
The ‘never-sent postcard’ acted as a way of relieving some pent-up emotions about a particular person or situation. It made us feel more relaxed as we wrote a letter to a person or situation that we struggled with Since it was private and was not shown to any other person, we could express our feelings honestly It was a way of alleviating stress and making the feelings towards that certain person or situation better Also, the calming music helped to create a peaceful atmosphere
