Sigmund Freud....

what can i really say about him? at one point i think he's a very strange, sexist, and just an dirty old man. but some of his studies (on little hans) does really shock me. towards the end his interpretations did make alot of sense to me. its so surprising how he gain so much from using his theories to cure a little boy.

throughout the discussion in class, many questions come to mind. how can freud interpret what little hans says?? like does those fantasies really symbolize the sexual drives, death-wishes, and phobias?
i was thinking that hans is just like ordinary boy where he loves his mom more because she took care of him, not because he wanted to sleep with her. and later as he grow up, his ego will develop (normally) and sooner or later little hans would recover from his fears.

nevertheless, freud brings up another side of psychology (more of a dark side view.) without him, we probably still believe in demonalogy. his studies may cause stirrups in his years, but it really create a concrete base to the study of psychoanalysis, psyhchosexual development, and so on.

Sigmund Freud, One of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century.


Freud’s education is very interesting to me. When Freud was young he was a child prodigy, and was expected from his parents. Freud began his education in 1873 at the University of Vienna to study medicine, a path he didn’t want to take. He originally concentrated in biology, physiology, and neurology. His Jewish background played a determining role in his career choice because medicine and law were the only professions open to Jews in Vienna at the time. The University of Vienna is where he starts doing research in physiology and worked with Ernst von Brücke. Brücke introduce Freud into neurology, followed by Wilhelm Fleiss, a doctor from Berlin who inspired Freud's interest in psychology. Freud became interested in hysteria by working with Jean-Martin Charcot, a Parisian neurologist known all over Europe for his studies of hysterics and use of hypnosis.



What is in the Historical and Cultural Context is new to me. Freud study medicine, but the fact that he adopted belief in mechanism is very new to me. “Life understood through understanding underlying physical laws of chemistry and physics.” I don’t really know what it means and how it influences him into “deterministic psychology.”

Assessment: “Best of the Century” By Albert Ellis

Psychotherapy that has been around for a few hundred years, within those years’ researches and technologies has help change modern psychotherapy from what it was in the past.


Major modification between modern psychotherapy and 19th century therapy are the therapist. In the past they were forced to be loyal to one thought, but presently most therapists blend treatments into their theory and apply them. I find this to be a major change because if therapists change it will lead to revolution on the therapy itself. Today millions of people attend psychotherapy sessions such as regular individual and group therapy, seminars, and workshops. Along with improvement in technology such as computer-assisted materials or self-help books widely accepted by experts, have become very successful and helpful. Onwards, in the 20th century advances international relationships have expanded in many countries. For therapists to cope with clients of different culture and background they must develop special methods; therefore Multicultural Therapy swiftly replaces one-culture attitude. Following, psychotherapy has encourages steps to other support groups that aid in the field of addictions. The therapy has reached many areas for instance education, business, and labor areas. Last but not least, the most common factor in psychotherapy today is religious and spiritual issue. Differently, in the past this factor has been rejected. Religious and spiritual issues are important part of human condition, emotional, and spiritual health. This delicate concern possibly will contribute much to helping people with trouble.


This article brings up 20 breakthroughs in psychotherapy, and I pick 5 that I find most important, and interesting.


Breakthrough #1: Martina Homer, this helped clarify the question of why men are more successful than women. The experiment show dramatic changes in performances between male and female in competitive situation. Participants are place in a close and separate room, where woman performs well, and scores higher on her tests. However, when you put the two people together, the man stands out, whereas woman becomes nervous.


Breakthrough #2: Harry F. Harlow’s research with monkeys showed that love and care from mother had major impacts on emotional and academic development. He also proved that females love their infants, but males tend to be uncaring or slightly abusive. Even though others find his research to be offensive because he interprets monkey behaviors to be similar to humans, but I agree with him. This research supports one of my beliefs that the reason humans do the things they do because of the impact of early day’s experiences.


Breakthrough #3: Robert Epstein demonstrates that “creativeness” is not mystical, but it’s an expansion of what you already know- it’s organized and predictable. Epstein came up with 4 techniques to boost creativity; capturing, challenging, broadening, and surrounding. I find this breakthrough important and interesting because it can be use as a source to help develop creativity in youngsters.


Breakthrough #4: Martin Seligman, the person who developed the theory of “learned helplessness.” His research showed that unconditional punishment has major impact on emotions and cause of depression. Again Seligman’s findings confirm part of my beliefs that childhood experiences can influence who you are and what you do.


Breakthrough #5: Hans Selye, the first researcher to identify “stress.” His laboratory research showed that the body responds to stress in very specific way, and the foundation of understanding the stress plays a part in illness, mood, and performances. I agree with Selye when he mention that “our aim shouldn’t be completely avoid stress, but learn how to cope and live with it.

The Big Issue

The three "Big Issues" in psychology i discover today are..

• Rational VS Irrational
• Change VS Stability
• Nurture and Nature

Today we fill out a survey that will help us understand ourselves- are the person we believe we are? Throughout the survery i avoid marking disagree or agree strongly because i believe in every area there's always a exception.
According to the results, I'm pretty satisfy with my results because it turn out similar to what I believe. I tend to be an irrational person (10/25,) believing that most people have no explanation to their behviors. I'm a person who believes that people can change over time (11/25), with the aid of nuture (8/25.)

Why do we do the things that we (want) do?


We do the things that we do because our personality shapes us. Our childhood experiences, is more likely to influence you as a child. In addition, our behavior is also control by the culture and social influences. On the other hand, I think the reasons for our actions and behavior is basically because we're happy about it- we find it entertaining, challenging, motivating etc.

Why I take IB Psychology...


The reasons I take IB Psychology are firstly, I have great interest of why people behave in certain way. Most of the time when I watch movies or read novels I often become curious and together surprise of the characters' behavior and their consequences. I've observed that different people has different ways of dealing with certain problems, so I wanted to study the diversity of people.


My ideal and future career is something that combines art and psychology (i.e. advertisements, graphic designs, creative, if not a psychologist or counserlor is also a good choice.) By taking psychology it would help me develop my art works too, and vice versa. Ms.Aloha (my 8th grade English teacher, and TCNJ Coordinator) once told me that "...in the future art and designing is not only about how our work is presented, but it's about the audience themselves and how they absorb our piece of art..."
It's great if I know who my audience or clients is and in what ways is best to be able to present my ideas to reach them. If I really acheive my goal in working in one of my ideal careers, by getting to talk to different people, listen to various conflicts, share experiences, and exchange thoughts, it will help me reflect myself. I can use those informations to help others as well as reflecting with myself.

My aunt, who just graduated her master on social science...assure me that in the future they'll be giving out liscensce to people studying in this field. If we really do have a liscense it's a great benefit for taking this course. We can give advice to clients (just like doctors, except the fact of we won't be giving out pills.)

I believe that almost everything has to do with human,and mostly is based on psychology, I wanted to do a deeper study of human mind, emotion, behavior etc., so there's no reason why not to take IB Psychology.