Category: Psychology Essay Examples
See our collection of psychology essay examples. These examples are to help you understanding how to write a psychology essay. The realm of pop psychology certainly overlaps the science of psychology, but there are large areas of the two that rarely meet. But many topics in popular psychology may offer students a great opportunity for an essay. Be sure to check our list of psychology essay topics.
One of the wider detours off the scientific path that personality theory has taken is that the characteristics of a person’s body determine personality. Sometimes known as physiognomy, the idea that facial features and body shape are accompanied by certain personality traits dates back at least to the …
The brain is the main organ involved in consciousness, thought, emotion, motivation, learning, memory, judgment, control of basic biological functions, and almost everything else that makes a person human. Structurally, it is more complex than any other natural object yet discovered; the difficulty of even approximating the complexity …
After more than a century of trying to infer brain function by looking at behavior or the effects of brain damage, we now have an array of tools that allows researchers to pinpoint the location of various functions as they happen. The first modern technique to be developed …
Brainwashing is a term frequently used in the popular media to refer to a phenomenon known among psychologists as coercive persuasion. Essentially, the term refers to a set of strategies used to forcibly change someone’s belief system, so they will adhere to a new set of beliefs and …
As we have gained more knowledge about the functioning of the brain and the key role played by neurotransmitters in that functioning, it has become clear that a variety of psychological disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, various anxiety disorders, and many others, are associated with abnormal levels of specific …
Arguably the best-known linguistics professor in the world, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Noam Chomsky has become better known in his later years as a political commentator and dissident. In 1957, at the age of 29, he published a monograph entitled Syntactic Structures, which radically altered the study …
Dr. Chopra is the leading advocate of ayurvedic medicine, also known simply as ayurveda, a healing system said by its followers to be the ancient medicine of India and to represent practices that are over 5,000 years old. In fact, most of it appears to date back only …
Although behavior therapists tend to focus attention on external stimuli and consequences as causes of maladaptive behavior, they also recognize that many disorders, including depression and anxiety, can be rooted in how clients perceive themselves and the world around them. As cognition (thinking) is a form of behavior, …
Leon Festinger (1919–1990) believed that individuals strive for internal consistency, with thoughts, beliefs, and feelings matching one’s actions. In everyone’s life, however, there will inevitably be occasions when actions are not consistent with beliefs. On these occasions, according to Festinger, an individual experiences cognitive dissonance, or discomfort, caused …
Cold reading is a technique used by mediums, psychics, faith healers, and fortune-tellers to persuade complete strangers that they know all about them. Doing a cold reading does not require any advance information about the person, as opposed to a hot reading. A hot reading involves finding out …
“There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies, and statistics.” That famous quotation is frequently attributed to Mark Twain but was actually (according to Twain himself, anyway) the work of British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli. Whoever said it, it remains familiar because it captures a widespread suspicion …
Craniosacral therapy (also known as cranial therapy) is a fringe approach whose advocates claim that it is effective as a treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), chronic fatigue, disorders of the central nervous system, and a variety of physical illnesses. Craniosacral therapy purportedly involves the gentle movement of the …
Any substance that slows down normal brain function and reduces overall central nervous system (CNS) arousal is a depressant. Most depressants appear to act on the brain by affecting levels of the neurotransmitter gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA), a neurotransmitter that serves a primarily inhibitory function in the brain …
In 1950, a pulp science-fiction writer named L. Ron Hubbard created the most successful psychotherapy-themed cult of all when he published a book called Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. In it, he claims to have done extensive research into the human mind, resulting in the discovery …
At approximately 3 a.m. on March 13, 1964, in New York City, thirty-eight people watched from their apartments as a young woman named Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death outside. None of them moved to help her, despite the fact that her murder was a slow one, in …
Of the various known organic (as opposed to social) causes of mental retardation, the genetic mutation known as Down syndrome is second only to fetal alcohol syndrome in prevalence and incidence. Ordinarily, the gametes (ovum and sperm) each possess 23 chromosomes, which results in the usual human complement …
Published by the American Psychiatric Association, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) is the standard reference book used by American psychiatrists and clinical psychologists for classifying and diagnosing mental disorders. The current edition, the DSM-IV, was published in 1994 and revised slightly in …
Public Law 94-142 (P.L. 94-142), the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, is the only piece of federal legislation widely known among psychologists and their students by its numerical designation, perhaps because its impact on the nation’s educational practices and on the profession has been so profound. Prior …
Emotional intelligence (sometimes referred to as EQ) is the ability to perceive, understand, express, and control emotions. The concept was popularized in a 1995 book by Daniel Goleman, in which he argues that emotional intelligence counts more for success in life than IQ does. The book was specifically …
Epilepsy is a brain disorder in which the primary symptom is the experience of seizures. In a seizure a cluster of neurons in the brain begins to signal abnormally; frequently this involves a synchronous pattern of firing by cells that would not normally be firing in unison. This …
