Josh Marshall's Archive

Third Force Psychology

2 Commentsby   |  04.23.13  |  Student Posts

This has really been the blog post and part of the year that I’ve been looking forward to all semester after first looking over the syllabus. Humanistic Psychology is the branch of psychology that I have been most interested in learning about. Carl Rogers’ Client Centered Therapy approach was completely unheard of at the time, and his approach even became its own school of thought. Maslow and Rogers work has greatly contributed to the Psychology field and their humanistic view of therapy puts more emphasis on the fact that the client knows themselves best, and they are capable of revealing their problems themselves if in the right environment. With the switched emphasis on the individual (self-actualization, creativity, individuality), third force psychology offers a more optimistic outlook regarding the client and their personal, mental and psychological growth throughout therapy. As for me, someone who has experienced being in therapy first hand, the client-therapist relationship is very important as well as the environment that is formed. When I first read about humanistic psychology I could relate to it because I felt as if that was the type of therapy that I experienced and received much help from. I am an advocate of this style of therapy, and I believe that it is directly on point with its style and direction throughout the course of therapy.

Psychoanalysis

0 Commentsby   |  04.11.13  |  Student Posts

With the main premise behind psychoanalysis being to make the unconscious conscious, there are many techniques that therapist may use in hopes of achieving this goal. Ink blots, dream analysis, and free association are just a few of the techniques that may be used. What really intrigues me most is dream analysis. When I think of dream analysis, the first thing I think about is this clip from Space Jam that I always enjoyed growing up. In the movie, aliens from outer space have come down and stolen the talent from NBA players in order to play bugs bunny and the Looney Toons, but that’ a different story for a different post. Anyways, in this clip the basketball players are having all sorts of  medical tests run on them as well as seeing therapists to try and find out what is wrong with them. In the scene, the therapist is having them, individually, lie down on a couch and is having them talk about their lives as he analyzes them. He is working with dream analysis as well as free association in hopes of bringing something from the unconscious out into the open in order to better understand what is wrong with the basketball players psychologically. Although this is a more humorous clip and analogy, I still think that it is relevant in terms of what psychoanalysis looks like, and what the main objective of it is.

Behaviorism

0 Commentsby   |  04.02.13  |  Student Posts

The study of behaviorism is a particular study that first caught my attention in my first psychology class here at ACU, Intro to Psychology. Before this time, I had never heard behaviorism or really put much thought into the idea of learned and reinforced behaviors as a study. I can vividly remember learning about Pavlov’s theory, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and negative and positive reinforcement and punishment and just being vastly intrigued by this field of study. You can see the principles of behaviorism being used today in several places. For me, I love sports, and the first place I see this in sports is in football. In attempts to “make the game safer”, fines are being issued out for hits that were perfectly legal five years ago.  This is a perfect example of negative punishment. The league is taking money away from players in order to reduce the likelihood that they will repeat their behavior. There have been players like James Harrison who have had to completely alter their style of play, and there are players like Ed Reed who are simply taking the fines as they come as he continues to play hard knock football the way he always has. There are going to be two outcomes to this approach, either they fold under what they are “being taught”, or they will ignore the attempt at learned behavior.

As I have learned more about this field the more I have come to understand the power that comes with this style of therapy. Many people can be considered to be in a vulnerable state when they enter into therapy, and there is much power available to the therapist with behavior therapy. The powers to manipulate and control others who essentially need you more than you need them. The power to be able to teach someone or something to act a certain way if you know how to play your cards right. It takes a person of integrity and responsibility to make sure they are conducting their practice in a helpful manner and not one of manipulation.

This field continues to be greatly interesting to me and I plan to continue learning, understanding, and applying behaviorism to my own future experiments and experiences.

Blog Post #3

1 Commentby   |  03.05.13  |  Student Posts

I’m going to have to follow the lead of many of my peers as I reiterate that the topic of evolution has the potential to cause a variety of emotions to surface based on what you believe, and where you are in your own personally understanding and development. For a both Christians and Evolutionists, anger can arise as this debate has been ongoing for centuries now between “Science v. Religion”. Growing up in the Church of Christ, I can’t help but feel as if the theory of evolution was presented to me with extreme bias against it, as it was supposed to serve as a theory with the sole purpose to disprove Christianity. From as early as I can remember, without even forming my own opinions on the topic, I believed that the theory of evolution meant that there was no God. In my ignorance I believed that for quite some time as I continued to hear sermons on disproving evolution and other people talk about the topic. It wasn’t until I began to look into the theory of evolution that I realized that God and the theory of evolution co-exist, and that I believe there to be truth from both perspectives.

Plato and Aristotle both did not believe in evolution. They believed that God’s creation was fixed, never to improve and never to degenerate. The only way for creation to ever vary would be by the act of God changing it. Charles Darwin, on the other hand, believed and endorsed human evolution. My thought is, “why can they not co-exist and both be correct”? As a believer, I truly believe that God created the world the way it is described in Genesis, but I also believe he created is with the capacity to change, to adapt, and to evolve as part of his creation. It is important to be aware of this truth when dealing with the idea of evolution. As a race we have evolved from a people who used to light up our houses by candles, to people who can flip a switch to provide an entire city electricity. As we continue to learn and explore and find new discoveries about our brains and our capabilities, we also continue to adapt as a result.

Although I do not agree with all that comes with the evolutionary theory, I still think that it is something that is important to look at and be aware of as it affects every human being in some form or fashion.

Blog #2

2 Commentsby   |  01.30.13  |  Student Posts

Growing up in the twentieth and now twenty-first century culture, it is easy to get lost in how advanced our society is and lose sight of where our advances originated from. Ancient Greece has influenced cultures all around the world for centuries now, and we are no exception. The Greeks have been cited for laying the foundation of many things that bring us joy in our western culture, and several of these influences have intrigued people enough to the point in which they chose to make a career out of it. Things such as art, architecture, math, science, medicine, literature, theater, engineering, philosophy, and warfare have all been a part of our culture almost all the way back to the forefront of our existence as a country. Today, we study their tactics, we learn from their theories, and we continue to be amazed by the brilliance of the work that they did with such limited resources.

When I think of ancient Greece, I think of the Persian War, I think of tales of heroics such as Troy, the Illiad, and the Odyssey. Great philosophers come to mind such as Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, and Hippocrates. I am not rich in my knowledge of Greek history, but even knowing what little I do know about these men and their contributions to society, I can see their influences on our culture through mathematics, medicine, and theory. Movies have been made, books have been written, and much what we have learned from the Greeks has become mainstream entertainment for all to enjoy. Much of what is taught in schools can be traced back to some form of Greek philosophy and that is a testament to how profoundly we have been impacted by this group of people.

American culture has truly reaped the benefits of the foundation that was laid by the Greeks. With roots from Christianity, democracy, and philosophy, Americans intelligence and ways of thinking have been greatly challenged and expanded due to the work and knowledge that was provided by the ancient Greece. It’s just a shame that we too often lose sight of where our influences came from.

Blog #1 – The Good Life

4 Commentsby   |  01.20.13  |  Student Posts

When people ask the question what is the “good life”, one must first understand that there is not any clear coat answer to this question. The way that someone answers this question is totally dependent on that in which they place value and what they deem to be good. Because of this, it is almost inevitable that this will be answered differently, to some degree, by every person that responds.

As for me, I would describe the “good life” as a life where I am able to find joy in all that I do. In my job, in my relationships with other people,  in my personal life, and in my faith. If I am able to find joy in these areas of my life in which I place high value, then I am indeed living, by my terms, the “good life”. Happiness is the key to a satisfying and fulfilling life, and if you can achieve happiness, however it is that you define that,  then that’s how you live the “good life”. I think that is a complex question with a rather simple answer. However, this is simply my opinion on the matter.

Josh Marshall's Comment Archive

  1. Josh Marshall on Blog post number 6
    12:31 pm, 04.24.13

    I like this post, plain and simple. You took a very interesting angle in your approach to this topic and I think that it is very well presented. How often growing up did we make decisions based on what we knew our parents wanted for us, rather than what we wanted for ourselves? I think you are exactly right when you say that many parents want to program their children to be what they want them to be, thus hindering the “true potential” of their child. Great post Bobby, I greatly enjoyed reading it. Aryup!

  2. Josh Marshall on Third Force Psychology
    12:24 pm, 04.24.13

    I like your take on third force psychology. This is a very descriptive and easy to read manual for what humanistic psychology is all about and how it relates and works with the other two schools of psychology. Very well thought out and well written!

  3. Josh Marshall on Psychoanalytic thinking
    1:33 pm, 04.12.13

    I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on our “sinful nature”. Although I am also a big fan of spiderman (really the reason I began to read your post), I mostly enjoyed your take on how our shadow self basically is what we have dubbed our sinful nature. It’s our struggle of being earthly beings with a heavenly purpose. I really do not see it as an extreme example as much as I see it as an example of the reality in which we live in. Thanks for your thoughts!

  4. This is a very intriguing observation. Even as a guy who has often been dragged into watching this chick flick (I have to say this for manhood purposes), I must say I have seen it multiple times and never would have realized the connection between the characters and the archetypes that they are associated with. Great observation, and great application to psychoanalytic thought!

  5. Very interesting take on the effects on consumers through behaviorism in the media. I couldn’t agree more that we are most easily manipulated through our emotions and that marketers have become increasingly successful at discovering new angles at which they can attack the emotions and essentially the wallets of consumers. Unfortunately, most advertisements are used for personal gain rather than the helping a person or cause that needs it. Great post, thanks for sharing.

  6. Josh Marshall on Blog #3
    10:35 pm, 03.05.13

    I like how you point out the fact that there is so little we actually understand the overall concept of evolution. There is so much more out there to be found than what we know or are aware of, and I agree that the research done through evolutionary psychology could help us to define some big issues in our lifetime. However, I also agree that the importance of this “branch” of psychology is minimal in comparison to others. Also, very good observation about the dogs and how they are able to learn human responses and how to react on them. I had not previously thought of that, and found this entire post to be interesting and informational. Thanks for sharing.

  7. Josh Marshall on Blog Post #3
    10:22 pm, 03.05.13

    I thought your post was very well thought out. I agree in the sense that I personally do not fully agree with evolutionary psychology, but at the same time, you have to respect the progress that mankind has made as far as adapting to what has been made available to us. I also think that our behaviors and thoughts are results of what we encounter that forms our ideals and beliefs. Although our ancestors may have contributed to certain areas of our development, I do not think that they can be directly linked to how we behave and or think. Well done, I couldn’t agree more!

  8. Josh Marshall on Blog Post Number 2
    2:30 pm, 01.31.13

    Very interesting take on the contrasts of conversation styles of the Greeks and modern day humans. I think that it is safe to say that communication has evolved drastically away from that of theory and reasoning and has been directed more towards relational matters. You bring up a great point in saying that the things that they would indulge in deep conversation about is easily accessible by our fingertips on the internet. With so much time that has passed between then and now, we are rich with answers to virtually almost any question that may be asked, because of our resources.

  9. Josh Marshall on Blog #2
    2:08 pm, 01.31.13

    Well said! The correlation between gladiators and modern day sports are very similar. Granted the stakes were much higher for the gladiators, but the “kill or be killed” mindset is still prevalent in current sports. The gladiators fought for their lives, and football players play for a living. They are different, but are still the same basic concept of it being a lifestyle of survival.
    I thought this was very well thought out and that you put it into an interesting perspective. Thanks for sharing!

  10. Josh Marshall on The Good Life
    12:14 pm, 01.21.13

    Casey,

    I like the fact that your took a more religious view to this question. It is one thing that I am personally greatly looking forward to as well. This world is corrupted with sin and pain almost everywhere we look. Whether it is chronic illness, emotional, or mental pain, we are surrounded by it. The fact that Jesus was so willing to come to earth and die for you and for me so that one day we might get a chance to live the “good life” continues to astound me. Yes indeed, what a good life we have inherited from our Lord and Savior!