The beginnings of psychology differ significantly from contemporary conceptions of the field. Modern psychology covers a range of topics, looking at human behavior en mental processes from the neural level to the cultural level.

The need to understand psychology

Psychology was not separate from philosophy until the late 1800s.
<ul>
<li>During the 17th century, philosopher Rene Descartes introduced the idea of dualism - that the mind and body were two entities that interact to complete the human experience.</li>
<li>While early philosophers relied on methods such as observation and logic, today's psychologists use scientific methodologies to draw conclusions about human thought and behavior.</li>
<li>Physiological research on the brain and behavior also contributes to psychology.</li>
</ul>

The Beginnings of Psychology

<ul>
<li>During the mid-1800s, a German physiologist Wilhelm Wundt outlined many of the major connections between the science of physiology and the study of human thought and behavior.</li>
<li>He viewed psychology as the study of human consciousness and tried to apply experimental methods to study internal mental processes.</li>
<li>His processes are known as introspection and seen as unreliable and unscientific today, but it helped to set the stage for future experimental methods.</li>
<li>The opening of his psychology lab In 1879 is considered to be the official start of psychology as a separate scientific discipline.</li>
</ul>

Psychology as a Separate Discipline

Edward B. Titchener found psychology's first major school of thought.
<ul>
<li>According to the structuralists, human consciousness consisted of smaller parts. Trained subjects would break down their reactions to the most basic sensation and insights.</li>
<li>Structuralism was unreliable, limiting, and subjective, but was noted for its emphasis on scientific research.</li>
<li>Titchener died in 1927, and his ideas of structuralism with him.</li>
</ul>

Structuralism

William James was one of the major American psychologists during the mid to late 1800s.
<ul>
<li>His classic textbook "The Principles of Psychology" became the standard text in psychology and served for the basis of functionalism.</li>
<li>Functionalism was about how behavior works to help people live in their environment. Functionalists use methods, such as direct observation.</li>
<li>While structuralists tried to break down mental processes into their smallest parts, functionalists thought consciousness was a more continuous and changing process.</li>
<li>Functionalism influenced later psychologists and theories of human thought and behavior.</li>
</ul>

Functionalism

<ul>
<li>Austrian physician Sigmund Freud proposed a theory of personality that emphasized the importance of the unconscious mind.</li>
<li>He believed early childhood experiences and unconscious impulses contributed to the development of adult personality and behavior.</li>
<li>He claimed psychological disorders are the result of unconscious conflicts becoming extreme or unbalanced.</li>
</ul>

Psychoanalysis

Psychology changed significantly during the early 20th century. Behaviorism rose to dominance and rejected the emphasis on both the conscious and unconscious mind.
<ul>
<li>Behaviorism aimed to make psychology a more scientific discipline by focusing only on observable behavior.</li>
<li>Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov proposed that behaviors could be learned through conditioned associations.</li>
<li>Psychologist John B. Watson outlined the basic principles of behaviorism in his 1913 paper 'Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It.'</li>
<li>Psychologist B.F. Skinner furthered the behaviorist perspective of operant conditioning, which showed the effect of punishment and reinforcement on behavior.</li>
<li>Behavioral psychology is still used in therapeutic techniques such as behavior analysis, behavioral modification, and token economies. Conditioning is used in situations ranging from parenting to education.</li>
</ul>

Behaviorism

The first half of the 20th century was dominated by psychoanalysis and behaviorism. In the second half, a new school of thought, known as humanistic psychology, emerged. It is also referred to as the "third force" and emphasizes conscious experiences.
<ul>
<li>Psychologist Carl Rogers is considered to be a founder of this school of thought. He believed strongly in the power of free will and self-determination.</li>
<li>Psychologist Abraham Maslow contributed with his famous hierarchy of needs theory of human motivation. The theory suggests that people are motivated by progressively complex needs.</li>
</ul>

The Third Force

Cognitive revolution took hold in psychology during the 1950s and 1960s and began to replace psychoanalysis and behaviorism as the main approach to the study of psychology. Psychologists were more concerned with what was going on inside the mind.
Since then, cognitive psychology remains the dominant are of psychology and researchers continue to study things such as perception, memory, decision-making, problem-solving, intelligence and language.

Cognitive Psychology

Since 1960, psychology continues to develop new ideas and perspectives. Recent research in psychology looks at many aspects of human experience, from biological influences on behavior to the impact of social and cultural factors.
Today, psychologists focus on a specialty area or perspective, drawing from diverse theoretical backgrounds.

Psychology Continues to Grow

Understand yourself and those around you.

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Psychology

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Personal Development

health

Health

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Mental Health

problemsolving

Problem Solving

The Origins of Psychology: History Through the Years

People have loved puzzles since the stone age. It is a phenomenon that is now becoming a craze.
Being able to solve puzzles provides us with an ‘aha’ moment and improves our pattern recognition, memory and other cognitive skills. Puzzles help us in many diverse cognitive abilities and also helps to reverse age-related cognitive decline. The fun, satisfactory nature of various puzzles help us exercise our brains.

Puzzles and Cognitive Abilities

The ability to solve complex puzzles involves being able to process, match and synthesize a lot of different kinds of information at the same time.
Mathematics and Music are two areas that are different yet have connections in puzzle solving.

Math And Music

Paradoxically, the more you get inside a puzzle with seriousness and increased effort, the harder it becomes. Just like the losing chess player who is leaning too close to the board, solving puzzles is not about sheer effort, but a playful, relaxed state of mind.
Being able to be non-serious and enjoying the moment helps form the necessary connections that are hindered if the mind is in stress.

A Playful State of Mind

We've all had those satisfying "aha!" moments -- while poring over a crossword at the breakfast table, or adding up the Sudoku numbers during a long commute. Now, researchers are taking a closer look at those satisfying little breakthroughs to figure out how the brain works to solve problems.

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Science & Nature

Solving Puzzles Satisfies The Nimble Brain

When a loving mother holds the newborn baby in her arms for the first time, she intuitively knows to care for the child. A relationship is formed, a bond created. The child will emerge in abilities, babbling, creating imaginary scenarios, the capacity to collaborate, feel pain, understand emotions, discuss differing positions, argue convictions, until the child grows up and can meet the mother in an adult relationship of empathy, intimacy, and perspective-taking.
The mother-infant dance will shape the child's affiliative bonds throughout life.

Love sets the stage

The neurobiology of affiliation is the new scientific field that describes the neural, endocrine, and behavioral systems sustaining our capacity to love. There are three factors in the neurobiology of bonding: 
<ul>
<li>Oxytocin that drives both care and prejudice </li>
<li>The affiliative brain </li>
<li>Synchrony.</li>
</ul>

The neurobiology of bonding

Oxytocin - a large molecule produced by neurons in the hypothalamus - is known for coordinating bonding, sociality, and group living. Oxytocin targets mainly the amygdala, a center for fear and vigilance, the hippocampus, and the striatum, a locus of motivation and reward.
Oxytocin is released through the central part of the neuron as well as its extensions, called dendrites. The dendrites increase oxytocin release whenever attachment memories are used and prime us for a lifetime. Early attachment memories help us move without fear. It imprints the infant's brain with distinct social patterns.

Oxytocin and attachment

Oxytocin pair bonds, group sharing, and consoling behavior, and is also very sensitive to danger. It protects against threats based on the nuances of social behavior. Oxytocin activates the alarm systems of the fight-or-flight response. 
The same oxytocin that supports love and kindness, also underlies prejudice, parochialism, and out-group derogation.

Oxytocin integrally involved

It is the brain structures that enable mothers to care for their offspring.
<ul>
<li>Mammalian mothering is underpinned by the oxytocin-amygdala-dopamine triangle. The oxytocin-producing hypothalamus is at the top for sociality, and the two arms are 'scare' and 'bliss.'</li>
<li>The oxytocin-amygdala 'line' makes a mother extremely attuned to signs of infant safety and danger.</li>
<li>The role of the oxytocin-dopamine 'line' is to bond the mother to her baby so she can tolerate sleepless nights, physical pain, and endless chaos.</li>
<li>The oxytocin-primed hypothalamus sends another projection to the ventral tegmental area (VTA), the brain's dopamine factory, and the striatum, where dopamine receptors abound, to make the infant the most rewarding stimulus for its mother.</li>
</ul>

The affiliative brain

The neural network is not enough to transmit the knowledge, linguistic competencies, social cognition, executive functions, and mental abstractions we obtained. Humans have additional higher-order systems that enable planning, resonance, and the ability to communicate and share effect.
<ul>
<li>The empathy network enables parents to feel the infant's pain.</li>
<li>Through the embodied simulation network, the parents represent the infant's motions and emotions in their own brain.</li>
<li>The mentalizing network allows parents to reflect and give meaning to the infant's nonverbal signals.</li>
<li>The emotion-regulation network helps parents multitask, set long-term goals, and plan their parenting according to their culture.</li>
</ul>

The neural network is insufficient

It is a process and it describes the coordinated action in the service of the group’s survival and resilience. Social cohesion makes ants so resilient. By coordinating behavior, the strength of the group is far greater than its individual members.
<ul>
<li>Humans departed to some extent from this coordinated rhythmic submission. We continue to instill energy and purpose during work, dance, and cultural rituals. But coordinated action through the synchrony of the crowd also propels us to derogate, fight, and kill.</li>
<li>Humans have a unique ability to synchronize via the coordination of facial signals without physical touch. Partners synchronize their gaze, smile, or emotional expression that leads to cooperation.</li>
<li>Face-to-face synchrony requires intimacy and intent, reflection and awareness, and necessitates effort.</li>
</ul>

Synchrony is not a system

Human love can react automatically to the smallest sign of danger and cause endless cycles of aggression and destruction. There are three types of solutions based on the work of great thinkers. Each saw fear and cruelty under pressure and the destruction brought by war.
<ul>
<li>The 'face' (Levinas) solution: Face-to-face interactions echo the other's emotions and create empathy.</li>
<li>The 'light' (Freud) solution: The triumph to the human spirit is the belief that the 'light of knowledge' can overcome the nastiness of our nature.</li>
<li>The 'humor' (Kundera) solution: While the truth is solemn, humor is suggestive, nonsensical, and unnerving. It is a fine panacea to the pompous 'together we stand.' Practice a good laugh.</li>
</ul>

A solution to the human condition

communication

Communication

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Love & Relationships

Why ‘care’ and the ‘scare’ are inseparable when you love someone

Any event that triggers our anger can be only seen by us completely, as it lights up various ‘bulb’s inside our minds, triggering many sleeping emotions, which are invisible to others and that makes them feel we are overreacting to the event.
They are oblivious of the inner fireworks that went off with the spark, and the string which pulled your past traumatic experiences.

Anger And The Trauma String

It happens when other people's bad experience is reimagined by you, sparking memories of your own similar experience, triggering strong reactions. 
Deeply buried events that were supposedly forgotten are resurfaced, leading to traumatic feelings that can be hard to understand by others, like grief, frustration, helplessness and agitation.

Vicarious Trauma

Anger, surprisingly, can be constructive, an active ingredient to energize and motivate a person. It can be useful and powerful if channelled in the right way. The adrenalin that flows during a fit of anger can blind a person if not handled appropriately.
If left unchecked, anger can lead to nightmares, chronic anxiety, and panic attacks.

Anger Is Good

To regulate your emotions, our breath is the best place to start.
Taking a few deep breaths grounds you and makes you calm and relaxed. Deep breathing helps us to metabolize our stress hormones, regulate our emotions and release tension.

Breathe To Regulate Emotions

Apart from deep breathing, Aromatherapy helps calm the nervous system, as it treats the olfactory nerve which passes through the brain’s limbic system, the part where we process our memories and emotions. The use of Eucalyptus oils adds to its effectiveness.
Crying helps release toxins, as does exercising which releases sweat.

Ways To Treat Anger

The feeling of community, to share stories, and feel validated is a great way to release stress and anger.
Breaking the silence and the isolation, the traumatized person gains new perspective, support and even new friends. Any group that is joined, a music group, virtual chat room, or a religious/spiritual group provides a healthy outlet.

Support Communities

An outlet that works wonders is expressing your inner anger and trauma by drawing, painting, singing or just talking with your friends and well-wishers.
Colours on a blank canvas are cathartic. Expressing yourself in a neutral setting provides a healthy space to let out your inner negative energies.

Paint Your Blues

Focusing on a particular activity or project is a way to quell and heal your inner dragon. 
Whether it’s a house project, fixing cars or gardening, a positive contribution that adds value can be very empowering. Simple gestures of giving, kindness and gratitude also help.

Pick A Hobby

Are you experiencing increased emotions of anger, anxiety, and fear? Learn why and what you can do about it.

Traumatized and Angry: Why am I having a surge of emotions?

We are biologically programmed to have some sort of mental crisis in the age group of 45 to 55 (the midlife).
Just as bodily changes occur during puberty and the teen years, the mind undergoes developmental stages of adjustments, with functions switching on and then switching off at a later stage of life.

Midlife Crisis

The teen years are a time when refinements in synapses and the brain wiring are happening, along with various biological changes due to the highly conspicuous social and psychological transformation. The brain is on overdrive due to a high level of diverse engagements like:
<ul>
<li>Romantic relationships.</li>
<li>Intimate bondings.</li>
<li>Independence from the family.</li>
<li>Exploring a career path.</li>
</ul>

The Young And The Restless

Any illness, physical or mental can be compounded by psychological stress and anxiety. Adolescence to adulthood comprises a tsunami of psychological changes.
These psychological and biological changes are in fact programmed developments of the body that may be parallel or corresponding to the changes that occur during midlife.

Stressful Life Changes

The adolescence principles seem to apply at our later stages of life, when we begin to lose neurons and synapses, reducing our ability to learn or grasp new information.
The biological transformations of the young and the elderly are like two sides of the same coin, and there is a complex interplay and connectedness between these two sides, which can lead to mental health issues.

Humans Have An Expiration Date

The decreasing body functions and ‘wear and tear in men who are in the plateau of midlife, is a normal occurrence and is experienced by everyone in varying degrees. The biological clocks inside us are keeping time for the onset of decline.
Simply put, midlife crisis is real and common.

Peak, Plateau and Downslide

Are you the person you used to be? Find out how neurobiology contributes to midlife crises and other major life changes.

"Is Having A Crisis Normal at My Age?"

It is common knowledge that we need to sleep to be our best. And constant sleep loss has serious effects, including death.
Sleep is a neurological activity, and still, sleep-deprived creatures suffer serious malfunction in other parts of the body, outside the nervous system. Chronic sleep deprivation can result in heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes.

Consequences Of Too Little Sleep

Sleep, according to deep research on flies, has a function of reversing the ancient biochemical process of oxidation. Without sleep, there is no restoration possible.
Sleep studies prove it is worse than starvation, as early studies (19th century) conducted on puppies showed that they died in about five days if deprived of sleep and kept in motion.

No Sleep  =  No Restoration

... or ROS is a molecule that builds up in the intestines of animals that are denied sleep.
<ul>
<li>Studies conducted on fruit flies and mice showed rising levels of ROS when kept in sleep deprivation.
</li>
<li>Antioxidants, when given to sleep-deprived flies, made them healthy and active again, proving that the artificial restoration is possible.
</li>
</ul>

Reactive Oxygen Species

Researchers have found that sleep deprivation is not just about the mind, or the nervous system, but affects our gut, blood composition and other parts of the body which seem unrelated to sleep.

The Body Is One

Going without sleep for too long kills animals but scientists haven’t known why. Newly published work suggests that the answer lies in an unexpected part of the

Why Sleep Deprivation Kills

The difficult emotions we feel when we're alone actually transform us into intense observers, aware of subtle details that normally go unnoticed.
Most of the time, this is uncomfortable (because we are social creatures), but it can also lead to creative breakthroughs if we accept it.

Solitude and Creativity

Digital tools are a weak substitute for a physical community. And screens don’t allow for touch, which is a powerful form of communication.
Physical contact, from friends, loved ones, even acquaintances and strangers, has the ability to lower cortisol levels and ease anxiety.

Touch - a powerful form of communication

A great way to fight loneliness is to work toward a larger goal, one that is centered around teamwork and collaboration.
Focusing on a shared vision helps disrupt the lonely brain’s destructive loops, allowing us to let our guard down and reintegrate ourselves into the social fold.

Work towards something larger

Through the lens of work from writer Olivia Laing and artist Edward Hopper, we explore how solitude can turn us into keen observers and fuel creativity.

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Time Management

Finding a Creative Spark Within Solitude

When you are at a concert and you get to the part with a refrain from your favorite song, you are swept up in the music. The performers and audience seem to be moving as one. 
Research has shown there is a synchrony that can be seen in the brain activities of the audience and a performer. And the greater the degree of synchrony, the more the audience enjoys the performance.

Performer - audience synchrony

The synchrony between the brain activity of a performer and his audience shows insights into the nature of musical exchanges: we dance and feel the same emotions together, and our neurons fire together as well. This is especially true when it comes to the more popular performances.
Synchronous brain activity was localized in the left hemisphere of the brain (temporal-parietal junction). This area is important for empathy, the understanding of others’ thoughts and intentions, and verbal working memory used for expressing thought.

Dancing to the same emotions

The right brain hemisphere is most often associated with the interpretation of musical melody.
In the right hemisphere, synchronization is localized to areas involved in recognizing musical structure and pattern (the inferior frontal cortex) and interpersonal understanding (the inferior frontal and postcentral cortices).

Music and the right hemisphere of the brain

These are brain cells that are thought to enables a mirroring or internalization of others’ thoughts and actions.
They manage movement and respond to the sight of it, giving rise to the notion that their activity during passive observation is a silent rehearsal for when they become engaged in active movement.

Mirror neurons

Synchronized brain responses among music listeners have been measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in some studies, while other researchers have examined the coordinated actions of performers by tracking the electrical activities of their brain using electroencephalography.

Measuring synchronized brain responses

The observed degree of synchronization between the performer and audience was connected to the enjoyment of the music.
This provides a powerful means by which music promotes positive social behavior. Music commands greater attention when it is pleasant, which could contribute to one’s feeling of being swept away when listening to a favorite piece.

Music promotes positive social behavior

Scientific American is the essential guide to the most awe-inspiring advances in science and technology, explaining how they change our understanding of the world and shape our lives.

Music Synchronizes the Brains of Performers and Their Audience

Should humanity face a nuclear apocalypse of worldwide war, we need to understand which foods might be safe for survivors to eat, and how long the foods will last.
To understand this, we need to ask what makes food spoil.

Understanding how long food lasts

Most foods spoil because of the growth of microbes. Preserving food is an attempt to limit microbial growth. Food can be preserved by drying, salting, chilling, or storing in air-tight containers.
<ul>
<li>Drying is the most effective because microbial growth is inhibited.</li>
<li>Salting is effective because it removes moisture, creating an environment where microbes cannot survive.</li>
<li>Sugar coating can prevent bacterial cells from functioning correctly.</li>
<li>Storing in air-tight containers is less effective because there are probably a lot of microbes on the food before you put it in the container. Some microbes are anaerobic, meaning they don't need oxygen.</li>
</ul>

Why foods go bad

Preservatives are used in foods to extend their shelf lives. One of McDonald's Big Mac in Iceland is an example of a long-lasting processed food. It has been on display since 2009, in a glass box. Preservatives that has been discontinued by McDonald's are:
<ul>
<li>calcium propionate that prevents mold growth on bread.</li>
<li>sorbic acid that also inhibits mold from cheese</li>
<li>sodium benzoate, which inhibits the growth of bacteria in the Big Mac special sauce.</li>
</ul>

Food preservatives

<ul>
<li>Twinkies will last no longer than similar treats. One Twinkie has been kept in a time capsule for up to 44 years.</li>
<li>Honey is almost impossible to spoil because it is high in sugar and low in water. Some honey samples are 3,000 years old.</li>
<li>Very fat-rich foods like butter and cheese, tallow or oils can last for a long time. Bog butter, a highly fermented butter, is up to 4,000 years old.</li>
<li>The world's oldest champagnes, 200-year-old bottles of Clicquot, was perfectly palatable.</li>
<li>Ancient frozen flesh may look perfectly edible but quickly becomes putrid after defrosting.</li>
<li>Fish is even worse at surviving the freezing process. Meat tends to have all kinds of microorganisms, which makes it unsuitable for long periods of storage.</li>
</ul>

Potential foods

<ul>
<li>Unless a nuclear or chemical incident has contaminated the food, all foods that are not in the fresh aisle can be eaten with confidence. That is tinned or dried foods and even frozen foods. Vacuum packed would also be useful.</li>
<li>Slow-dried food could still harbor microbes. Spray-dried or freeze-dried foods, like instant coffee grounds and fine powders, will last longer.</li>
<li>Food designed for space travel could be right. Space food is dehydrated and vacuum-sealed.</li>
<li>General-purpose army rations are good for three years at 80F (27C).</li>
<li>Other food replacements to consider are Huel. Huel is a company that offers a complete diet in powder form, uses freeze-drying and milling to create powders with no moisture in them.</li>
</ul>

Apocalypse foods

Should the human population disappear tomorrow, what might future archaeologists find of the food we eat? And, most importantly, would any of it still be edible?

food

Food

The food that could last 2,000 years

Medical services are always going to be at high demand, no matter the area or the circumstances. One way to ensure that people have faster access to medical services, especially in times of crisis, is by using the telehealth, which can be defined as the remote access of health care services by means of telecommunications technology. 
One of the health care services provided is the telemedicine or the fact of being able to have a virtual check with your doctor.

Telehealth

Among the most known telehealth services:
<ul>
<li>patient portal: you have the possibility to keep track of your health record while being able to communicate securely with your doctor</li>
<li> virtual doctor appointments: extremely useful for persons who do not need an in-person physical examination</li>
<li> store and forward: this kind of service enables the electronic transmission of medical documents</li>
<li>remote patient monitoring: it allows your doctor to monitor your health from the comfort of your home by using wearable devices</li>
<li>mobile health: through mobile health applications, you can keep better track of your health.</li>
</ul>

Telehealth services

Among the benefits of the telehealth:
<ul>
<li>better access to medical care: especially for individuals with mobility issues or living far from a doctor</li>
<li>improves care quality</li>
<li> reduces care cost: you do not need to travel anymore</li>
<li> increases patient's satisfaction: especially by saving time.</li>
</ul>

Telehealth and its benefits

Telepharmacy refers to the delivery of pharmacy services to the comfort of your home. 
Furthermore, there are medications that do not even need a prescription, making it even easier to order and get them by using telepharmacy.

Telepharmacy

The biggest limitation that telehealth implies refers to the fact that for certain conditions, it is absolutely necessary that the individuals go for a face-to-face check to the doctor. 
However, if your care provider and insurer offer you the possibility of telehealth, it is worth taking a chance with it.

Telehealth and its limitations

Telehealth provides access to medical care over the internet and can result in faster treatment and less patient stress. Here's what you should know.

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Technology & The Future

What is telehealth? How technology is improving the future of medicine

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