Essays on Branches of Psychology

Contentions in the psychological literature abound when it comes to intrapsychic phenomena, and self-deception is no exception. Self-deception is understandably difficult to measure, since it is difficult to discern whether a person is subconsciously aware of the truth or not. It is even further to...

Known as one of the most intensively studied theories, Cognitive Dissonance (CD) theory was developed by American social psychologist Leon Festinger in 1957. He proposed individuals have a core belief system that affects attitude and actions. When conflict to this core arises, a person naturally...

Cognitive dissonance is an individual’s psychological discomfort caused by two inconsistent thoughts. It refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviors. This then produces a feeling of mental discomfort leading to a change in one of the attitudes, beliefs or behaviors to reduce...

In Australia, 15 per cent of children under 16 is affected by chronic illnesses with an average of 770 children under 15 years diagnosed with cancer each year. There are studies on the development of ill children, yet it is often forgotten that living with...

Introduction In the field of Psycholinguistics, language acquisition is a sensitive topic which distinguished scientists have argued upon. In (1957) in book B.F. Skinner – one of the pioneers of behaviorism- proposed one of the earliest scientific explanation concerning the language acquisition topic; his theory...

Introduction The Pursuit of Happiness is a truly inspirational movie that focuses on overcoming hardships in life to achieve happiness and success. The movie revolves around the life of Chris Gardener who invests all of his money on making portable density scanners. Although these scanners...

For me, it is normal for a person to be shy in a certain situation. However, experts also say that being too shy is not good for our mental health. And, if your shyness feels like it is with you, there are a number of...

What is psychology, what is science, is psychology considered science or art? We can easily answer the first two questions but to decide whether psychology is science or art has been a never-ending debate. Psychology has earned its place when Wilhelm Wundt set up the...

Introduction Nature can be defined as to what abilities we present with at birth, ability can be determined by our genes; including those that we develop with age. Both a biological and evolutionary perspective support the model that our behaviour is determined by nature. Nurture...

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” We all need forgiveness, and we all need to give forgiveness. Forgiveness can transfer anger and hostility into peace and healing. Forgiveness can help people overcome feeling of depression...

Racism is defined as prejudice, discrimination, and antagonism directed towards someone of a different race. However, when a definition of subconscious racism is searched for, the majority of articles suggest that people of color are the only victims of subconscious racism. When someone brings up...

For centuries before psychology appeared on the scene, philosophers struggled to understand evil and antisocial acts, while students of jurisprudence wrestled with issues of criminal law and punishment. The American Psychological Association (2013) notes ‘Forensic Psychology’ is the application of psychology to the criminal and...

Forensic psychology is a very interesting field of study if someone wanted to dive into a criminal’s mind and investigate their mental stability to stand trial. The definition of forensic psychology according to the American Psychological Association is “the application of clinical specialties to the...

Forensic psychology is defined as research and practice that is relating to the behaviors of criminals and cause of crime, as well as the application of the law and justice systems. My interest in this field of psychology began with my desire to help others,...

The word forensic was derived from a Latin word forensis which means forum, a place where trials were conducted in the Roman times; the word is currently being used to denote a relationship between one professional field like psychology with the legal system. Bartol and...

When I attended a sitting of Cork District Court, I witnessed an offender who was pleading not guilty to threatening to murder his partner. The man was found to be not guilty due to a hung jury (6 believed he was innocent and 6 believed...

Introduction Community wellbeing is dependent on a number of factors. The aspect of wellbeing itself encompasses good health among members, stable economic conditions, mental wellness among residents, environmental health among others. Combined together, the mentioned elements affect or rather determine the outcome of growth and...

Everybody has to face a stressful situation or traumatic incidents at some point in their lives but people deal with these difficult situations differently. Some people get drained, emotional and exhausted while others cope and deal head on with the situation. People generally adapt well...

The term resilience literally means to ‘bounce back’ from adverse conditions. Resilience as a concept can be viewed from two different perspectives that are, resilience as a personal trait and resilience as a process. Resilience can be described as a relatively stable personal characteristic or...