Psychology Discovering Psychology: The Science of Mind (Essay Sample)

Applying Psychology In Chosen Field
[student’s name]
[University]
Applying Psychology In My Chosen Field
My journey to psychology began a few years ago, when I encountered the book "What Happy People Know" by Dr. Dan Baker, director of the Life Enhancement Program at Canyon Ranch. It was a cheesy title for a book, but reluctantly, I opened it and read the first few pages – and never put it down until I finished it. The book’s main goal was to redefine happiness and to help people achieve it. I relate this because I have always been fascinated by what people call as "happiness" and why it is so elusive, and this book provided a gateway for the study of psychology – a scientific basis on why so many people are unhappy, and what they can do to finally achieve a sense of joy and well being. For this paper, I have chosen to explore three phenomena – the fear circuitry, the fight or flight mechanism, mirror neurons and the role of positive psychology in the future of psychology.
Dr. Baker is a medical psychologist – one who looked at the physiological basis for behaviors and emotions we call as fear, love, etc. Until this book, I thought psychology was an impractical science, its researches meant only to address mental health problems. I thought of Sigmund Freud, probably the most popular psychologist of all time, as a dark and cynic man. Psychology just wasn’t worth the time and effort. Or so I thought. Dr. Dan Baker changed everything for me and made me discover a side of psychology that had the potential to change lives – one that I could use to make the world a better place.
Dr. Baker is part of a growing number of professionals who practice positive psychology. It stems from humanist psychology because of its emphasis on the study of the "normal and healthy… [and the potential to] learn more about human behavior from studying outstanding individuals than by studying people with severe problems ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "ISBN" : "9780618185504", "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Cacioppo", "given" : "John T.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Freberg", "given" : "Laura A.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2013" ] ] }, "publisher" : "Cengage Learning", "publisher-place" : "Wadsworth", "title" : "Discovering Psychology: The Science of Mind", "type" : "book" }, "locator" : "829", "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=220fb8e2-075c-4d2a-862c-4ba4c606d81f" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Cacioppo & Freberg, 2013, p. 829)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Cacioppo & Freberg, 2013, p. 829). Topics of study in positive psychology focused on the dynamics of "positive emotions, positive traits, and positive institutions" ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "ISBN" : "9780618185504", "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Cacioppo", "given" : "John T.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Freberg", "given" : "Laura A.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2013" ] ] }, "publisher" : "Cengage Learning", "publisher-place" : "Wadsworth", "title" : "Discovering Psychology: The Science of Mind", "type" : "book" }, "locator" : "830", "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=220fb8e2-075c-4d2a-862c-4ba4c606d81f" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Cacioppo & Freberg, 2013, p. 830)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Cacioppo & Freberg, 2013, p. 830). It underscored optimism and the possibility that things can be better. I believed that life always offers this possibility, and positive psychology provides me a model for the kind of work I want to do in the future. Just like humanists, I believe that there is so much potential for good in the human being. I believe that humans are meant to contribute something to the world, after all, we have been able to unlock the many secrets of the universe. But unlike humanists, I did want to understand why human beings were capable of harming his fellow, why it is possible for us to self-destruct.
Positive psychology is unique, not because of the theories it has created, or the methodologies it has developed, but rather, in its capability to integrate various perspectives of psychology in order to provide answers to age-old problems that has baffled philosophers – happiness, love, belongingness, optimism, etc. It has provided answers to the "why’s" more than the "how’s" of human behavior. Much of what is utilized in positive psychology has already been discovered by other movements in psychology. For example, positive psychologists believe that the biggest enemy of happiness is fear, yet they also recognize the reality that the fear is hard wired in our brain. Biological psychology identifies a fear circuit ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "ISBN" : "9780618185504", "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Cacioppo", "given" : "John T.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Freberg", "given" : "Laura A.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2013" ] ] }, "publisher" : "Cengage Learning", "publisher-place" : "Wadsworth", "title" : "Discovering Psychology: The Science of Mind", "type" : "book" }, "locator" : "795", "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=220fb8e2-075c-4d2a-862c-4ba4c606d81f" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Cacioppo & Freberg, 2013, p. 795)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Cacioppo & Freberg, 2013, p. 795) in our brain, wherein the amygdala serves to identify and remember risks, allowing us to adequately respond to possibly threatening stimulus. This circuit triggered the fight or flight mechanism in early humans where "heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration all increase, while nonessential functions, like digesting food, are inhibited. Stored energy is released, and blood is shunted from the surface of the body to the muscles needed for exertion" ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "ISBN" : "9780618185504", "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Cacioppo", "given" : "John T.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Freberg", "given" : "Laura A.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2013" ] ] }, "publisher" : "Cengage Learning", "publisher-place" : "Wadsworth", "title" : "Discovering Psychology: The Science of Mind", "type" : "book" }, "locator" : "798", "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=220fb8e2-075c-4d2a-862c-4ba4c606d81f" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Cacioppo & Freberg, 2013, p. 798)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Cacioppo & Freberg, 2013, p. 798). In the olden times, this condition would enable our ancestors to run off from a predator, but today, it could kill us. Today, the activation of "this fear system is often harmful, because the threats we face today are generally abstract" ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Baker", "given" : "Dan", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Stauth", "given" : "Cameron", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2003" ] ] }, "publisher" : "Rodale Inc.", "publisher-place" : "New York, New York, USA", "title" : "What Happy People Know: How the New Science of Happiness Can Change Your Life for the Better", "type" : "book" }, "locator" : "28", "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=2f6cc71a-8462-4e1b-9b66-99862b6c24d9" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Baker & Stauth, 2003, p. 28)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Baker & Stauth, 2003, p. 28) and has can lead to chronic stress and general decrease in health, with health defined as "not just the absence of disease but instead as the ability to respond to the challenges of being alive" ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "ISBN" : "9780618185504", "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Cacioppo", "given" : "John T.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" }, { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Freberg", "given" : "Laura A.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2013" ] ] }, "publisher" : "Cengage Learning", "publisher-place" : "Wadsworth", "title" : "Discovering Psychology: The Science of Mind", "type" : "book" }, "locator" : "805", "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=220fb8e2-075c-4d2a-862c-4ba4c606d81f" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "manualFormatting" : "(as quoted in Cacioppo & Fre...