Text 1. What is Psychology?
Psychology is the study of behavior. Clinical psychology is the study of the behavior of a particular individual. Whereas the general psychologist is interested in the general behavioral, characteristics of man and animals, such as learning or emotion or color vision, the clinical psychologist is primarily concerned with the total behavioral picture presented by the individual before him-his client or patient. His task is the evaluation of the personality and of the factors, which arc most important to the harmonious integration of that personality.
In approaching his subject matterthe individualthe clinical psychologist is likely to differ from his colleague, the general psychologist, in several ways. The problem of the clinician is, in most cases, a practical one: Where should Johnny go to school? How can Mary be induced to stop sucking her thumb? What lies behind Mrs. Smith's so-called "nervous spells"? Confronted with such questions, the clinician uses all the scientific knowledge at his disposal. But he draws heavily also on his experience with large numbers of cases he has seen and on his experience with things that have worked or have failed in similar cases. Provided with a sound training in the basic sciences pertinent to psychology, the clinician relies to a very great degree on his insight into personality, and he will use many and varied procedures to aid him in gaining this insight.
Text 2. A Clinical Psychologists: the Scope of Responsibilities
In practice, the clinical psychologist is less like the general psychologist than he is like the clergyman or the personnel manager or the physician. The concern of each of these is the proper evaluation of an individual at a given time and in a given set of circumstances. It is true that each of these counselors will approach the individual in his characteristic way. The personnel manager may make his evaluation in terms of the probability of success on a particular job he has in mind; the physician may be concerned principally with the possibility of disease. Essentially, however, the primary task is the
Without this understanding, counsel and guidance and treatment arc very likely to be in error, and great harm may result.
Although the evaluation of the other fellow's personality is as old as man, the refinements of procedure that characterize present-day clinical study have developed over a long and labored path. Clinical psychology, which represents a high technical refinement of personality evaluation, is relatively a new professionso new, in fact, that it is often misunderstood by practitioners in other professional fields and by the general public. In order to avoid such misunderstanding, it is important to consider what its sources have been.
Until recent years, psychologists themselves have been slow to develop standards of training and experience to act as criteria of professional standing and excellence. Because of this the term "psychologist" has been used by a wide variety of persons, from palm readers to efficiency engineers, and from sexologists to college professors of long academic standing. The American Psychological Association, particularly its section of applied psychology, and many smaller organizations of trained and responsible psychologists have worked very hard since the beginning of the century to give the term "psychologist" a real and standard meaning.
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Text 3. Family Life: Plan For Your Future
The influences we receive white young dramatically shape our character. They affect the very core of our being. White none of us can choose to be born into a great, loving and secure family, we all must learn to live and adapt to life as it is given to us. Much of your future will be
decided by the choices you make in life. Career, marriage and family are all important decisions that you will face one day. Practice making good decisions early in life. Consequences follow our choices. Poor choices lead to bad consequences, some of which may affect your entire life. One day you may choose to have a family of your own. Who will raise your children and give them their sense of values? Witt you be able to give your children a stable home where they can live in love and security with a mother and father?
Consider these facts in how you choose to live your life. Living together before marriage is becoming increasingly common in America. But research has shown that the chances for divorce are almost twice as high for couples living together before marriage, as those who don't.
Children of divorced parents are statistically more likely to show behavior problems, emotional difficulties, and tower academic performance.
What kind of home do you want to provide for your future family? Will it be better or worse than your own? Do you want a tasting marriage and children who can grow up in a stable home? What kinds of influences help move you toward this goal? This is important...read on.
Text 4. What's So Funny? The Psychology Behind Jokes and Laughter
Laughter is universal, it has nothing to do with what language we speak, which culture we were raised in, or what our religious faith is. We ail laugh. Psychologists have compared laughter to speaking in tongues ( () ; - ): we can't control what we laugh at, or the sounds that come out of our mouth. we know is that we laugh, and that laughter transcends all of our differences.
Scientists have studied laughter by going out into public places and observing people in social settings, by searching for "the perfect joke" and studying its effect on the brain of its recipient, and by hooking people up to an MRI(magnetic resonance imaging - ) machine and studying brain activity as they listen to both real and "fake" (jokes not meant to funny) jokes. What they've discovered about laughter is a bit surprising. And it may explain why certain people make us laugh easier than others can.
