Dynamic Systems Theory and Psychodynamic World View

Dynamic Systems Theory and Psychodynamic World View Emma Levey Psychodynamic world view The psychodynamic view focuses on underlying subconscious and unconscious processes, as well as the conscious. Emphasis is placed on stage progression, overcoming conflicts, and emotions (Miller, 2011, p. 106/134) with the most famous psychodynamic theory being that of Freud (Miller, 2011, p.110). Four criteria will be outlined and illustrated with Freudian examples, before considering whether an article fits within the world view. The first criterion is that of human nature, of which humans are passive and active. Humans are passive due to the role underlying forces play in driving humans to act and they are active through coping with these forces and attempting to obtain and maintain equilibrium through reducing conflict. The ego is the most active personality structure as it self-organises through regulating stimulation arising from the self and the environment, actively deciding the behaviour to exhibit and continuously processing information (Miller, 2011, p. 134). The second criteria concerns qualitative or quantitative development, with both being used in this world view. Qualitative development is shown through in two ways, with the first being that the world view advocates stage development, for example the stages of sexual drive dominance in Freud’s theory. The second way is through acquisition of defence mechanisms and new structures, such as the superego (Miller, 2011, p. 134). However, quantitative change is also possible, as the strength of defence mechanisms and of the structures (such as the ego), can differ which results in potential for quantitative change (Miller, 2011, p. 134). With regards to nature and nurture, the psychodynamic view takes an interactionist stance. Nature is evident via a focus on biological maturation through changes in hormones and biological, unconscious and powerful drives. These drives motivate (e.g. via the Id, Ego and Superego structures) children’s development and behaviour to achieve drive satisfaction (Miller, 2011, p. 111-112). However, nurture-based influences (e.g. parents) also play a part by affecting expression of these nature-based drives. This interaction of nature-based drives and nurture-based constraints dictates drive expression within the environment, with interaction at a young age setting the pattern for learning and coping in later life (Miller, 2011, p. 120, 134-135). Nurture effects are seen to be more important in the first five years of life than later life as the child is particularly impressionable at this time (Miller, 2011, p. 135). The final criteria is teleology. Development is seen to have an endpoint (Dixon Lerner, 1999), which in Freud’s theory is maturation, and is unidirectional as it progresses towards this endpoint. Regression through stages is possible and often frequent, occurring when anxieties become too difficult to cope with (Dixon Lerner, 1999; Miller, 2011, p. 115). Finally, causality is multidirectional due to the interactional effects of nature and nurture resulting in a causal effect on development. Salvatore, S., Eleonora, L. P., Marco, L. (2013). Trauma and the Father Image: Fantasies and Complexes in the Rorschach Test. The Open Psychology Journal, 6, 1-5 doi: 10.2174/1874350101306010001. In the interpretation of the Rorschach test, the features of the table IV inkblot evoke a dimension of authority, morals and related emotions. Interestingly, the father figure is related to ego development and also guides towards maturity via more evolved emotions such as feelings of shame and guilt. In some cases these feelings are found to be lacking in adults experiencing depression. The aim of this work is to analyze the relationship between the representational world in relation to the father figure and depressive mood disorders. The group of subjects is composed of 25 patients who had a psychiatric diagnosis of Depressive episode. The presence of specific phenomena brings out the complexes, the uneasy and conflictual relationship with the father figure submerged in the unconscious thus emerges. Shock is thereby manifested in relation to the black in which the large, dark, and blurred stimulus is perceived as sinister, threatening and dangerous. The trauma emerges in the result of a relationship with a father who has not allowed the child to manage similarities and differences. From the nature of the answers of the Rorschach protocols, it emerges that the symbolic abilities of subjects are not fully developed or have been attacked by an early trauma. Human nature in this article was both active and passive. Passive nature is shown by the example of the unconscious drives as â€Å"The presence of specific phenomena brings out the complexes, the uneasy and conflictual relationship with the father figure submerged in the unconscious thus emerges† (Salvatore, Eleoniora Marco 2013, p. 1); with the â€Å"specific phenomena† in this case being the inkblot used to elicit an underlying response concerning the father. Human nature is active through participants â€Å"subjectively organizing the content and form of the stimuli presented to him† (2013, p. 1). Active self-organization is shown through dealing with the self (e.g. father anxiety) and the external inkblot stimulus which enables participants too actively â€Å"express his feelings and give shapes and meaning to what he sees† (2013, p. 1). The active environment can be seen in the Rorschach test which â€Å"prompts the translation of things and feelin gs into words† and due to the external father’s negative influences on â€Å"space for the imagination† resulting in the statement that â€Å"symbolic abilities of subjects are not fully developed† (2013, p. 1-2). In this retrospective study, neither qualitative nor quantitative change was considered, so speculation into both should be done. Potential evidence for qualitative change concerns the inkblot used, which requires a developed imagination ability due to its intensity. Thus, use of this inkblot is linked with â€Å"the emergence of a new level of mental functioning† and the acquisition of a new qualitative skill, â€Å"the ability to imagine† (Salvatore et al., 2013, p. 1). Other qualitative change could be the development of a new defence mechanism to aid coping with negative father experience. Quantitative change could concern an increase or decrease in ego strength, as a result of the father being â€Å"related to ego development† (2013, p. 2). Thirdly, Salvatore and colleagues (2013) emphasize nurture through their focus on father influence. The inkblot used evokes â€Å"father figure symbolization† with the father’s importance shown as he becomes â€Å"the receptacle holding the feeling of omnipotence† (Salvatore et al., 2013, p. 1). The importance of early nurture experience is shown as the â€Å"compromised paternal representation, formulated in the inner world at an early age† influences adulthood as it exists timelessly in the â€Å"perpetuated unconscious† (2013, p. 5). Also, participants lacked symbolic ability due to â€Å"an early trauma† emerging as â€Å"the result of a relationship with a father† (2013, p. 1). As nature is not directly considered, one potential way in which its effects could be seen concerns the participants with depression and the fathers relation to ego development via more evolved emotions, which are â€Å"lacking in adults experiencing depre ssion† (2013, p. 2). As depression is a chemical imbalance, this could be seen as a mediation effect of nature (via depression), upon evolved emotions influenced by the father (nurture) resulting in less advanced development due to this interaction. Concerning teleology, it can be implied that maturity is considered to be the developmental endpoint as the father figure and his relationship with the ego â€Å"guides towards maturity† (Salvatore et al., 2013, p. 2). This also implies unidirectional development, as development proceeds towards maturity. In contrast with the criterion, the article advocates unidirectional causality as it focuses on early father impact upon progression towards maturity â€Å"as the father figure (†¦) guides towards maturity via more evolved emotions such as feelings of shame and guilt,† and no mention is made of causality derived from the person (2013, p. 1). This may be due to the retrospective nature of the study as participants are purely reflecting on their relationships with their fathers. Also, no explicit mention of regression is made. In conclusion, the article of Salvatore and colleagues (2013) is psychodynamic due to its acknowledgement of various required criteria, such as human nature. However, for it to completely fit in the world view it also should have considered, multidirectional causality, regression and explicitly considered qualitative and quantitative change within the study. Dynamic Systems Theory Dynamic systems theory (DST) is a holistic view due to behaviour only being understood through considering the multiple and mutual interaction of all system levels in self-organizing systems, with the organism-in-context as the unit of analysis (Miller, 2011, p. 414). Four DST criteria will be presented and an article which fits within DST presented and discussed. In DST, human nature is active and inseparable from the active environment, and thus the person and environment should not be considered separate due to their constant interaction within the developmental system. The active individual is shown through its ability to construct behaviour through experience within a part of the larger system (Miller, 2011, p. 421) and also through self-organisation (change through the organisms own activities) (Thelen Smith, 2006, p. 259 cited in Lerner, Lewin-Bizan Warren, 2011, p. 28). The environment is active through the role of experience and its participation with the organism in mutual interaction. This interaction is important in determining development as the environmental task and the motivations and skills of a person both control and influence the developing factor at a certain time and situation, within the larger system. The second criteria concerns change, which is constant, given and based upon the continuous interaction of the individual and the environment. Change can be on a small or large scale, with smaller scale change having the potential to cause large scale system changes. It is also considered on a moment-to-moment time scale or over a longer period (Miller, 2011, p. 417). Change can be quantitative and qualitative, although qualitative change often results due to an accumulation of underlying quantitative change until a critical threshold is passed, resulting in a novel qualitative skill emerging (Miller, 2011, p. 417, 421). The third criteria concerns the nature nurture distinction, which is redundant due to DST’s interactionist stance (Thelen Smith n.d, cited in Lerner et al., 2011, p. 28; Miller, 2011, p. 418). As such, nature and nurture are equally important in development as change occurs due to the organism-context relation. Developmental diversity is the result of differences in the timing of this interaction (Lerner et al., 2011, p. 29). The final criteria is teleology. Regression is seen as possible because the system can regress to a previous attractor state if required. Multiple possible endpoints exist due to the infinite ways in which system parts can combine and result in developmental paths (Thelen Smith, 1998, 2006 cited in Lerner et al., 2011, p. 30). Both the ability to regress and the concept of multiple end points suggests multidirectional development. Finally, causality is configural as development concerns bidirectional relationships â€Å"within and across fused levels of organisation† which change over time (Lerner et al., 2011, p. 29). Granic, I., O’Hara, A., Pepler, D., Lewis, M. D., (2007). A Dynamic Systems analysis of parent-child changes associated with successful â€Å"real-world† interventions for aggressive children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 35, 845-857. doi:10.1007/s10802-007-9133-4. Studies have shown that improved parenting mediates treatment outcomes for aggressive children, but we lack fine-grained descriptions of how parent–child interactions change with treatment. The current study addresses this gap by applying new dynamic systems methods to study parent–child emotional behavior patterns. These methods tap moment-to-moment changes in interaction processes within and across sessions and quantify previously unmeasured processes of change related to treatment success. Aggressive children and their parents were recruited from combined Parent Management Training and Cognitive-behavioral programs in â€Å"real world† clinical settings. Behavioral outcomes were assessed by reports from parents and clinicians. At pre- and post-treatment, home visits were videotaped while parents and children discussed consecutively: a positive topic, a mutually unresolved problem, and another positive topic. Results showed that significant improvements in chil dren’s externalizing behavior were associated with increases in parent–child emotional flexibility during the problem-solving discussion. Also, dyads who improved still expressed negative emotions, but they acquired the skills to repair conflicts, shifting out of their negative interactions to mutually positive patterns. The article fits in with the criteria of human nature as it constantly considers the parent (environmental influence)-child interactions throughout the study, with â€Å"The parent-child interactions of children who showed clinically significant improvements (IMPs) were compared to those of children who did not improve (NIMPs)† (Granic et al., 2007, p. 847). This therefore shows parent and child to be equally important and inseparable as the analysis focuses on their interaction instead of separate effects. Another example of the environment and the child as inseparable and active is flexibility, â€Å"the ability to shift from one emotional state to another according to contextual demands (2007, p. 846). This shows the active child’s role in shifting emotional states and the environment’s role as a trigger. One way in which the article adheres to DST’s concept of change concerns real-time interactions, which are â€Å"the proximal engines of development† (Granic et al., 2007, p. 846), showing this moment-to-moment change to be important. This is further supported by tmeasurement of â€Å"moment-to-moment changes in interaction processes with and across sessions† (2007, p. 845). Granic and colleagues used multiple time scales by also focusing on a longer twelve week period, showing a focus on continuous change (2007). Both qualitative and quantitative change are evident. Quantitative change can be seen in the measurement of increases or decreases in anti-social behaviour across pre- to post- treatment. Qualitative differences were shown as â€Å"children were classified as â€Å"Improvers† (IMPs) or â€Å"Non-Improvers† (NIMPs) based on a combination of the information† from the two quantitative measures (2007, p. 850). Thus, children’s qu alitative improvement status in anti-social behaviour was determined by quantitative changed in measure scores passing a threshold (e.g. 20 points reduction in one measure) to determine which group they were classified as. The interaction of nature and nurture, required for the third criteria of DST, is also shown in this article, as it focuses upon â€Å"how parent-child interactions change with treatment† (Granic et al., 2007, p. 845) thus showing an integration of child and environment (in the form of the mother and the effect on the treatment). These interactions were the main focus in the study, showing there to be an interaction between nature and nurture in explaining the behaviour targeted in the article (anti-social behaviour) as the researchers applied â€Å"dynamic systems methods to study parent-child emotional behavioural patterns† (2007, p. 845), as â€Å"parent-child interactions were observed and videotaped† (2007, p. 848). The final criteria is teleology. Despite there being no specific reference to multiple end points, it was suggested that of an infinite number of combinations of system parts is possible, as â€Å"the dyad’s trajectory(†¦) is plotted in real time on a grid representing all possible behavioral combinations†, suggesting multiple developmental paths with different endpoints (Granic et al., 2007, p. 850). Regression was considered as whilst IMPs showed increased flexibility from baseline, NIMPs showed a â€Å"decrease in flexibility†(2007, p. 854). Multidirectionality of development is also seen due to the ability to regress and also because state-space grids â€Å"were constructed separately for each dyad†, showing different trajectories (2007, p. 850). Finally, bidirectional, configural causality was shown as behaviour improvements were â€Å"associated with increases in parent-child emotional flexibility† with the consideration that â€Å"recip rocal parent-child warmth and affection may be a cause of improvements in children’s aggressive behaviour† (2007, p. 845/854). This showed parent (environment) and child to exert an interactional causal effect on externalizing behaviour. In conclusion, the above article fits within the DST world view due to its consideration of the environment and a child as a constant interaction, its focus on multiple change time scales, nature-nurture interaction, and its multidirectional view on causality and development. References Dixon, R. A., Lerner, R. M. (1999). A history of systems in developmental psychology. In M.H. Bornstein, M.E. Lamb (Eds.) Developmental Psychology: An advanced textbook. Fourth Edition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Granic, I., O’Hara, A., Pepler, D., Lewis, M. D., (2007). A Dynamic Systems analysis of parent-child changes associated with successful â€Å"real-world† interventions for aggressive children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 35, 845-857. doi:10.1007/s10802-007-9133-4 Lerner, R.M., Lewin-Bizan, S., Warren, A.E.A. (2011). Concepts and theories of human development. In M.H. Bornstein, M.E. Lamb, (Eds.) Developmental Science: An advanced textbook. Sixth Edition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. Miller, P. H. (2011). Theories of Developmental Psychology. New York, NY : Worth. Salvatore, S., Eleonora, L. P., Marco, L. (2013). Trauma and the Father Image: Fantasies and Complexes in the Rorschach Test. The Open Psychology Journal, 6, 1-5 doi:10.2174/1874350101306010001

Is It Necessary to Have a Debut?

They say, when you reach the age of eighteen, you will be on the legal age. You are free to decide everything that you want; free to go on adults places and be who you wanted to be. It is also in this age that every teenagers long for. That is why; having a debut is one way of celebrating this occasion. But is it really necessary for us to have this? For my own perspective, having a debut on your legal day is something that is not necessary in our life. I understand that we celebrate our 18th birthday through because you have this reason that is your way of showing you are very grateful that you have finally reached this age. But isn’t it too expensive to have this? Is it really important that you have these 18 candles and 18 roses on that day? Can we just show our gratitude in just a simple dinner shared with our family? Don’t get wrong, when I was on this age. I was also grateful that I celebrated my birthday having a debut party with my friends. To tell you honestly, it was not me or my family who organized it. It was my college friends. It was a surprise for me. And just by being frank, that was the first birthday in my life that I wasn’t with my family but it was very unforgettable day. I never planned to have a debut nor ever dreamed of having one. It’s just that God might put me into a place where I am being valued. And it is something that I am thankful of. For the details of my debut, I have also these 18 candles and 18 roses. Instead of having a dance with these 18 handsome boys, who are my friends, they sang a song which will represent our love and friendship for each other. They planned everything on my birthday. From the dress I wore on that day to the car I rode on that place and to the food we’ve ate. Everything was so perfect. Except that my family is not there. Oh I forgot to tell you. They’ve also invited some of my High school friends. That was really surprising. Though they don’t know each other, they still managed to plan everything for a surprise. One year later, it was my birthday again; I will be on the age of 19. But what I realized is that being 19 have no difference when you are 18. Except that you have added 1 more year in your life. Some of my friends have already forgotten my birthday. They will no longer remember it unless they’ve seen it on Facebook. At this point, I thought about having a debut is not necessary. We can be as grateful as we are in our everyday life. We can thank everyone not only in our 18th birthday but we can have it every day. We may not have everything that we want on our birthday but at least we may have nothing.

First Time in Church

Theological foundation 100 February 13, 2013 Reflection Paper #1 The content of the worship is very different from the way I am used to in Islamic mosques. The priests started by saying â€Å"We bless ourselves for prayer in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit† and the crowd responded with an Amen, and then a person started to read from the bible. Every time the priest or the person finished the reading, people said â€Å"The word of the Lord. † People kept repeating what the priest was saying until he started to read the Gospel.When he stared reading the Gospel, people crossed themselves on the forehead, the lips and the chest with their thumbs to show that Christ is on their mind. Then the priest started to bless the bread and wine, and every person got to drink and eat from them. Then the priest asked people to show a sign of peace by greeting people who are next to each other saying â€Å"Peace be with you. † At the end, the Priest blessed eve ryone and ended the Mass by telling people to go forth and spread the word, and the response was â€Å"Thanks be to God. Music was played for most of the time during the mass. The songs played were in fact really pleasant to listen to and reassuring. The orchestra was behind the stage, so it was almost impossible for people to see them playing the music, and I think it is the way it is just to prevent any distraction to people. I was not actually sure that the songs were in English because I did not understand what the crowd was saying although I had the notes I was given when I entered the church. I actually had a wonderful experience in the Catholic Church.Although I was so nervous and did not expect to be amazed by Christianity at all, there were several things that I really liked and wished that everyone even non-Christians considered to do as human beings. When the priest asked the people to show peace and great each other, everyone looked around him and started to hug the per son next to him saying â€Å"peace with you†. These three words have a great impact on any person who hears them, and makes him feel that he is loved by others and a part of a community.Although no one probably knew the other, they were ready to prove that they are united despite the differences between them. There were many times where I was confused and did not understand what other people were doing. First of all, I did not understand what everyone was singing nor the words repeated after the priest. The songs for some reason did not sound English at all; I wish I could understand them because they were really amazing. Secondly, I did not get the part of blessing the bread and wine. n other words, why would People wait in line just to get one piece of bread to eat? What is so special about it? Also, when getting the piece of bread, the priest was holding people’s heads and repeating some words, and then they crossed on their heads and chests, why is that and what ex actly did the priest say? Lastly, when people were on their way out of the church, they immersed their fingers in the water in the small fountain in front of the exit and crossed again on their head and chest.I did not know why people did that especially nothing seemed unique in the water. After everyone was gone, my friends and I interviewed the leader of the mass. Honestly, I do not know what his name was but he was such a nice person. The clothes he was wearing helped me to distinguish which one was the priest among the people even before the mass started. I expected the priest to be wearing a black dress because this is what I had seen priests wearing, but this priest was wearing a white dress and another green dress above it to distinct him from the other people.Amazingly, he was not wearing any hat like most priests in other churches do, which is a bit strange because I thought all priests wear hats. He was really nice and welcomed us to ask him any question him we had in mind . His broad definition of grace was â€Å"the undeserved love of God. ’’ It is the kindness from God we do not deserve; there is nothing we have done, nor can ever do to earn this favor. From interviewing two of my Christian friends, they both defined grace as the favor that God gave to humanity by sending Jesus Christ to die on a cross, and delivering eternal salvation.Finally, I could not ask the priest many questions because he seemed busy, and I actually was so nervous to keep the talking going. Instead, I just ask one of my friends to tell me about his experience with how god’s grace has changed his live. He said that God’s grace has helped him feel so much better about himself and made him feel strong, confident, and happy. He said that he always trusted god whenever he had troubles, and his life was transformed significantly. He did not know how exactly he overcomes his troubles and depression, but believed that god’s love and power always helped him.

The Murder Of Emmett Till - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 725 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2019/08/15 Category History Essay Level High school Tags: Emmett Till Essay Did you like this example? Because if we in America have reached the point in our desperate culture where we must murder children, no matter what reason or what color, we dont deserve to survive and probably wont. ?†¢ Timothy B. Tyson. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Murder Of Emmett Till" essay for you Create order The Emmett Till death situation changed a lot of lives in 1955 till this day. There has been many situations where African-American kids or young men have been killed for small things. The cause of all this is lynching and de facto segregation. A few effects are major. Forces people to acknowledge at racism when his mother had an open casket of him, helped black community unite as a black people, and has powerful influence on the world today. By law it was illegal to have an open casket ,but his mom was determined to have it. One of the reasons they didnt want her to open the casket was because of the stench, because of the smell.   She said it herself, she wanted to world to see what those men had done to her son because no one would have believed it if they didnt the picture or didnt see the casket. No one would have believed it. When they saw what happened, this motivated a lot of people that were standing, what we call on the fence, against racism. It encouraged them to get in the fight and do something about it. Many say that that was the beginning of the civil rights era. We as African-Americans or black people were already fighting for equality ,yet this helped bring together the whole nation. Including whites, Jews, Italians, and even Irishmen jumping in the fight, saying that racism was wrong. Legally colored people were freed In 1863 ,but throughout the world we are still in search of equality til this day. After the lynching of Till and his killer being let off this started a monumentis movement. The momentum and mobilization that followed Tills murder fed the next stage of the movement. One hundred days after his death Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery city bus and was arrested for violating Alabama bus segregation laws. Which soon lead to a calling for a citywide bus boycott in which affected the world. Coming only one year after the Supreme Courts landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education mandated the end of racial segregation in public schools, Tills death provided an important catalyst for the American civil rights movement. Tills lynching united in grief, solidarity and anger the black communities of Mississippi and Chicago. For many years nearly 200 anti lynching bills were presented to the congress and they were all turned down or blocked. The lynching Emmett gave the NAACP a much better vehicle for its anti-lynching campaign. Sixty years later, at a time when race relations are once more at the front of the American minds, Tills name is still invoked as a reminder of the worst consequences of ignoring the problem. Not coincidentally, his story has inspired a resurgence of interest from historians and scholars. Emmett Till is historical figure around the world.   His casket got donate to the Smithsonian people are going to come from all over the world. Theyre going to view this casket, and theyre going to ask questions. Whats the purpose of it? Young kids will get a chance to hear the story. Then theyll be able to perhaps, a lot of these young kids perhaps, they will dedicate their lives to law enforcement or something like that. They will go out and do their best to help the little guys that cant help themselves. Because in Mississippi, in 1955, we had no one to help us, not even the law enforcement. No one to help us. I hope that this will inspire our younger generation to be helpers to one another. Sa id in an interview by his cousin Simeon Wright. Now during this time we are going through modern day lynchings. With the police killing blacks and getting away with it. We have came a long way in history as a people ,but we have to keep fighting for equality. Like Mr. Wright said it start with the younger generation. We need to fight to get a better population of black lawyers, judges, congress, etc. This would make people like Mamie Till and her family proud.