Jonathan Anglin's Archive

Of all of the theories of psychology we have studied so far, humanistic (third force) psychology is by far the most important to me. I enjoy studying the effects of depression and other negative areas of the human psyche, though my interest in the positive areas is far greater. I think humanistic psychology is a stepping stone to a greater understanding of human life. Finally we have a collection of thoughts based on past experience and older theories, rather than thoughts that simply contradict another theory. Humanistic psychology builds from other theories and uses what we have learned from them to build on. The focus on each human being as being an individual in charge of their own life is extremely appealing to me, as I believe that even with God in the universe, we are still responsible for our lives and it is up to us to live to our highest potential.

I find psychoanalytical thinking to be very prevalent within modern thinking through almost every modern movie. With examples like the new star trek with its’ good versus evil stance and a hero who’s life is extremely evident of a fatherless childhood. It is interesting to notice how so many movies and general media use examples from these classic archetypes of psychological disturbance in order to garner a greater reaction from their audiences. Psychoanalytical thought can even been seen in something as abstract as movie critiques, as many critics tend to comment on movies based on their ability to address issues of the psyche that all humans can relate with. I personally find it interesting how humans seem to naturally find great interest in such issues, especially since the induction of modern media. It would be interesting to study how influential such thoughts were before television and radio came about.

In this clip Frasier Crane (psychiatrist character) discusses how he will be getting revenge on a coworker via conditioning. This example is interesting to me as I find it funny how one conditioned response (revenge seeking) can lead to a second response that in turn involves conditioning. I find it interesting how so many interactions with others can involve conditioned responses, without us ever even realizing such conditioning ever took place, it was simply “how we were raised”.

P.S. I am interested to hear what others have to say about my view of revenge as a conditioned response, so fire away!

Frasier Crane Conditioning

I find evolutionary psychology to be a bit strange. As was stated in class, I have a very hard time getting behind the thinking that we can understand how something like religion can be affected by evolution, when we don’t even fully understand how certain aspects of the human body work with evolution. While I absolutely believe there is knowledge to be gained from approaching how our minds work from an evolutionary standpoint, I would not go so far as to introduce it as a whole new realm of science. I think that evolutionary psychology has the potential to help nail down some big issues (ie. inherited religious preference) though I don’t find it to be as important to the field as something like biological psychology.

An interesting bit of information we covered in class was during the video regarding facial expressions. I found that video to be most entertaining and informative. I had read before about how humans have similar facial expressions for different responses species-wide, so seeing real examples was great. I found the idea that the monkeys have some of our original facial expressions to be pushing the limits of my belief a bit. After all, could the monkeys not have simply observed humans making expressions (especially those of fear when a monkey jumps out of a tree and lands in front of you) to begin copying them? If we take a look at dogs for instance, we can see they have a marked knowledge of what state of awareness we are in (fear, happiness, anticipation) and react to it, could not a far more intelligent monkey copy simple facial expressions? In any case, I found the video to be quite thought provoking, if a little one-sided.

Though I do feel a bit of  a “going with the flow” in writing about the Greeks, I do find their civilization, along with that of Rome, to be of particular interest to me. In the context of rooting out ways of thinking along with modern technological advances that have, in some from or fashion, relation back to the Greeks, I have a particular interest. I have always found it interesting how some things from a past civilization may be carried into the next, while other ideas and technology may be shut down, regardless of its benefit to society. A prime example of this would be (and I know, its kind of weird that I actually know this) Greek sanitation and plumbing. In their prime, the Greeks had full on sewer systems, aqueducts for cleaner water to be distributed from major sources, and they didn’t just throw waste into the streets because they had individual building plumbing which connected to the sewers (within the city, where most of this technology was utilized). Comparing all of these sorts of physical advancements to society to modern society, we can see amazing similarities (Colorado river aqueduct anyone?). Though how does this affect the way in which people think today?

There is a continuing theme within our history of building upon the work of those from the past. Taking the best and brightest ideas and making them even better to benefit society. A huge portion of this sort of thinking came from the Greeks. They encouraged technological advancement and societal advancement much like we do today. My argument lies within the technological advancement that we see with the Greeks, and I will expand on that thought. In order for modern science to come up with better ways of say, transporting water and giving individual housing plumbing, it had to start with an example. And the Greeks gave us these examples, and many more, though I have not personally studied such inventions. It is important to reinforce that within all of this technological advancement there is a constant mindset of wanting to better society, as well as self. This too, the Greeks encouraged (to a point, but that is another discussion on politics and greed). It is this frame of mind that both our society and that of the Greeks share that is so important. We can see from history during the middle ages when such advancement and other ways of thinking were so shunned by society at large, and how stagnant a society can become when alternative ideas are not encouraged and argued. For societies to advance, there must be an ability to share alternative ideas and ways of life, without such things it becomes exceedingly difficult to move forward. That is why I think we live in such an amazing time, when technological advancement it exploding and alternate ways of thinking are becoming an individual necessity. It is such thinking that will continue to carry us forward, hopefully to a better end than that of the Greek civilization.

A “personal” definition, now that’s a difficult one. When I really think about it, I have so many examples of other peoples “good life” that I never really think about which one, if any, match up with mine. I hear about all these movie stars living their “amazing” lives up in the clouds, then quite the opposite, my own grandfather recalling his best days back in the 1930’s when he was just a kid playing with his homemade scooter from a plank of wood and some old wooden wheels he found. Two very different ideas of the good life, and yet each equally important to the individual.So I suppose the question is, should my definition of the good life really be based on what I have been told, surrounded by, and influenced by? After all, each of those experiences and alternate thoughts from so many different people have got to have some validity, if so many people think of unlimited wealth and no worries as the good life, why shouldn’t I?

Well, I have a little bit of simple reasoning to share. If I had all of the money I could ever need, what would I do? If my finances were never even a speck on the radar of my thoughts, how would I spend my life? This question has been posed to me many times, usually in relation to career choices. I thought about it for quite a while, and I just couldn’t figure out what I would do. Until something hit me, with all that money and no worries, why should I be the only one to enjoy it? As a matter of fact, I couldn’t enjoy it even if I wanted to with no one else to share in that happiness. And there I believe I have my answer. With no worries, no requirements, and not even a thought about losing anything, what could make me happier than to share that with others? Nothing, that’s what. So I have my answer, my “good life” is found in helping others. In sharing what I have been blessed with, and helping others to realize how good it feels to give back.

No Worries.

That is the end of my official blog, but exercising that “subjective” part of the assignment one more time, did anyone else have Frank Sinatra songs going through their head the entire time they were writing their blog?