Psychology Articles

Cheat Sheet / Updated 10-24-2022

Living with obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, poses challenges, not the least of which is making sure you don’t let your OCD define you. If OCD is part of your life, make the effort to focus on other health needs as well. Learn about what the disorder is and the many forms it takes so that you can start overcoming the disorder.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 08-29-2022

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) can help you find a greater understanding of how you think and behave. CBT can help you identify what emotions are bubbling up inside you and teach you some practical strategies to help reduce the negative ones that don't serve you well.

Article / Updated 08-08-2022

In Sigmund Freud's model of the human personality, each of us behaves according to these three key elements: Id: The seat of our impulses Ego: Negotiates with the id, pleases the superego Superego: Keeps us on the straight and narrow Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis in psychology, would have been a great Hollywood screenwriter. His "story" of personality is one of desire, power, control, and freedom. The plot is complex and the characters compete. Our personalities represent a drama of sorts, acted out in our minds. "You" are a product of how these competing mental forces and structures interact. The ancient Greeks thought that all people were actors in the drama of the gods above. For Freud, we are simply actors in the drama of our minds, pushed by desire, pulled by conscience. Underneath the surface, our personalities represent the power struggles going on deep within us. The id, ego, and superego each have their own idea of what the outcome of this drama should be. Their struggles are fueled by powerful motives, and each one is out for itself. I want, therefore I am The initial structural component and first character in Freud's drama of personality is the id. Have you ever felt overpowered by an incredibly strong urge, impulse, or desire? A new car, sexual desire, a dream job? The answer is probably a resounding "Yes!" Where does such desire come from? According to Freud, desire comes from the part of your personality called the id, located in the expanses of our mind. So look around, and look deep within. Look at your co-workers, look at your boss. It's in all of us, even the quiet elderly man at the bus stop. Underneath that quiet, grandfatherly demeanor lurks a seething cauldron of desire. The id contains all of our most basic animal and primitive impulses that demand satisfaction. It's the Mr. Hyde emerging from the restrained Dr. Jekyll. It's that little devil that sits on your shoulder, whispering temptations and spurring you on. Whenever you see a selfish, spoiled child in the grocery store demanding a toy and throwing a tantrum if he doesn't get his way, you'll know that's the id in action! The id is a type of "container" that holds our desires. Relentlessly driven by a force Freud called the libido, the collective energy of life's instincts and will to survive, the id must be satisfied! We're all born with the id in full force. It's unregulated and untouched by the constraints of the world outside of our minds. When a baby gets hungry, does she sit quietly and wait until someone remembers to feed her? Anyone who's ever gotten out of bed in the middle of the night to feed a baby knows the answer to that. But don't give the id a bad rap. Where would you be without desire? Your desire pushes you through life; it leads you to seek the things you need to survive. Without it we'd die, or at the very least, we'd be really boring. So keep in mind that a large part of your personality consists of your desires and your attempts to satisfy them. Enter the ego Wouldn't it be nice if you could get everything you wanted, whenever and however you wanted it? Unfortunately, most of us know otherwise. We all know how frustrating it can be when a desire goes unmet or gets stifled. Well, you can blame your ego for that. The ego is Freud's second mental apparatus of personality. The ego's main function is to mediate between the id's demands and the external world around us — reality, in other words. Does the Rolling Stones' song "You Can't Always Get What You Want" come to mind? So far, it seems that, if it wasn't for reality, we would be a lot more satisfied. Even though the ego finds itself in conflict with the id, satisfaction is not abandoned. The ego is like a sports agent for a really talented athlete. Even though the athlete may demand a multimillion-dollar contract, the agent reminds him that he could price himself out of a job. So the ego negotiates with the id in order to get it what it wants without costing it too much in the long run. The ego accomplishes this important task by converting, diverting, and transforming the powerful forces of the id into more useful and realistic modes of satisfaction. It attempts to harness the id's power, regulating it in order to achieve satisfaction despite the limits of reality. The final judgment As if the ego's job wasn't hard enough, playing referee between the id and reality, its performance is under constant scrutiny by a relentless judge, the superego. While the ego negotiates with the id, trying to prevent another tantrum, the superego judges the performance. Superego is another name for your conscience. It expects your ego to be strong and effective in its struggles against the libido's force. Usually, our conscience comes from our parents or a parental figure. As we grow, we internalize their standards, those same standards that make us feel so guilty when we tell a lie or cheat on our taxes. But does everyone have a conscience? There are certain people throughout history who have committed such horrible acts of violence that we sometimes wonder if they are void of conscience. How can serial killers such as Ted Bundy or Wayne Williams commit such horrible crimes? A strong bet is that they lack the basic capacity to feel guilt, so nothing really prevents them from acting out their violent fantasies. A famous psychiatrist once said that evil men do what good men only dream of.

Article / Updated 08-04-2022

Psychological tests are part of the entire psychological assessment process. Assessment is a set of scientific procedures used to measure and evaluate an individual’s behavior and mental processes. Psychologist Anne Anastasi (1908–2001), a past president of the American Psychological Association, defines a psychological test as an objective, standardized sample of behavior or mental processes. Nearly all topics in psychology can be measured with a test. Clinical tests Clinical psychologists (psychologists who work with mental disorders and abnormal behavior) typically use clinical testing as a way to clarify diagnoses and assess the scope and nature of a person’s or family’s disturbance and dysfunction. Specific tests are designed to assess the extent to which a patient may or may not be experiencing the symptoms of a particular disorder. These are diagnostic tests. Behavioral and adaptive functioning tests are two types of clinical tests that determine how well a person is doing in her everyday life and whether she exhibits specific problem behaviors. A common instrument used with children is the Child Behavior Checklist, which assesses the extent of a child’s behavior problems. Another commonly used clinical test is the Conner’s Parent Rating Scale, which detects attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. In addition to disorder-specific inventories and tests, a wide variety of tests designed for other purposes lend themselves to the diagnostic process. Intelligence tests are designed to measure intelligence, but they can also show signs of cognitive dysfunction and learning disabilities. Personality tests are designed to measure personality, but they can also provide helpful insight to the types of psychological problems an individual is experiencing. Educational and achievement tests Educational and achievement tests measure an individual’s current level of academic competence. Glen Aylward, chair of the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, identifies three major purposes of this type of testing: Identify students who need special instruction. Identify the nature of a student’s difficulties in order to rule out learning disabilities. Assist in educational planning and approach to instruction. A typical educational/achievement test assesses the most common areas of school activity: reading, mathematics, spelling, and writing skills. Some tests include other areas such as science and social studies. A popular achievement test in use today is the Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Battery, Revised. The test consists of nine subtests, measuring the standard areas of instruction but in more detail (mathematics is broken down into calculation and applied problems, for example). When a student has a hard time in school, it’s not unusual to administer an achievement test. Sometimes, students have a difficult time because they have a learning disability. Part of identifying a learning disability is assessing the student’s achievement level. Other times, a student struggles because of non-academic difficulties including emotional problems, substance abuse, or family issues. An achievement test sometimes helps to tease out these non-academic problems. Personality tests Personality tests measure many different things, not just personality. Numerous tests are designed to measure emotion, motivation, and interpersonal skills as well as specific aspects of personality, according to the given theory on which a test is based. Most personality tests are known as self-reports. With self-reports, the person answering questions about herself, typically in a pencil-and-paper format, provides the information. Personality tests are usually developed with a particular theory of personality in mind. A test may measure id, ego, or superego issues, for example, if it originates from a Freudian view of personality development. MMPI-2 Perhaps the most widely used personality test in the United States is the MMPI-2, The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, 2nd Edition. Almost all American psychologists are trained to use the MMPI-2, which is considered to be a very reliable and valid instrument. A patient’s results from a MMPI-2 test provide rich information about the presence of psychopathology and level of severity, if present. The test’s results also reveal information about the emotional, behavioral, and social functioning of the test taker. A lot of psychologists use the MMPI-2 as a way to check the accuracy of their observations and diagnoses. The MMPI-2 test consists of 567 individual items and produces a score on nine clinical categories or scales. If a score is over a specific cutoff, it usually gets the attention of the psychologist administering the test. Psychologists consider such scores to be of clinical significance. The MMPI-2 covers a wide variety of areas, including depression, physical complaints, anger, social contact, anxiety, and energy level. Projective personality tests Projective personality tests are a unique breed of test. When most people think of psychological testing, these kinds of tests come readily to mind. The stereotype involves sitting across from a psychologist, looking at a card with smeared ink or a picture of somebody doing something on it, and answering questions like “What do you see here?” (You can take a free, mock personality test at here.) Projective personality tests are based on the projective hypothesis, which states that when presented with ambiguous stimuli, people project parts of themselves and their psychological functioning that they may not reveal if asked directly The idea is that many people can’t exactly describe what’s going on mentally and emotionally because of psychological defense mechanisms. Projective tests get past the defenses and penetrate the deep recesses of the psyche. Perhaps the most popular projective personality test and maybe even the most popular psychological test of all time is the Rorschach Inkblot Test (RIT). The RIT consists of ten cards, each with its own standard inkblot figure. None of these inkblots are a picture or representation of anything. They were created by simply pouring ink onto a sheet of paper and folding it in half. The only meaning and structure the cards have are provided by the projections of the test taker himself.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 05-02-2022

Want to find out more about how to be the person you’ve always wanted to be? This Cheat Sheet tells you how to act "as if." Explore how to behave without giving the game away. Try a few easy exercises that will strengthen your body.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-27-2022

Being a successful athlete is about more than just physical strength and agility — your mind plays a key part in your winning performance. You can use sports psychology techniques to build confidence and improve your focus. Sports psychology isn’t limited to athletes — as a coach, you can use sports psychology to help your athletes achieve their goals.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-19-2022

Your dreams are trying to tell you something. If you can interpret your dreams, they offer you greater self-awareness, knowledge, and success. Don't overlook the details in your dreams — messages may be lurking there. Keep a dream diary to uncover themes and insight in your dreams. Study the meanings of common dreams, because they represent situations most people experience at some point in life.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-12-2022

Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) give medical professionals clues to help make proper diagnosis of the disabling condition. The right medications, a good attitude, and positive affirmations can help to relieve the overwhelming signs of PTSD.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-08-2022

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) involves many helpful thoughts, practices and alternative perspectives that can change how you see yourself and your world for the better. As well as aiding recognised conditions, CBT can help you to transform how you feel about yourself generally, and you can become more forward thinking and constructive with regards to past, present and future.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-07-2022

Social psychology uses the tools of science to understand why people behave as they do. Whether it’s why they are attracted to some people, but not others, why they are not convinced by an elegant political argument, but are persuaded by a celebrity endorsement, or where their prejudices come from, social psychology can help you to understand why people interact the way they do. This Cheat Sheet will give you some pointers in answering some of the key questions.