Psych 101: How Psychology Shapes Our World

"Psychology may seem like a dry, academic subject. However, it is the study of what every one of us experiences every second of our lives: the workings of the human brain. There are many false ideas and prejudices in the world which could be alleviated by the most basic understand of psychology. In this article we will explore some of those basic ideas and see how they explain many things we all experience ourselves or witness in others. 

 Do you believe in ghosts? If you do, you will see them; if you don't, then you won't. The brain has countless dis-positional biases which color our perception of the world. When your brain receives data (or sensory input) from the external world, it never merely presents it to you as is. Every human being evolves over a lifetime their own unique set of biases and predispositions, and everything you think and experience is filtered through those. To return to the opening example, our peripheral vision is only 15% accurate. Therefore, when you move your head it can often seem as if you are seeing something moving out of the corner of your eye. If you are aware of this simple physiological fact and not already predisposed towards the supernatural, you will more than likely ignore the phenomena. However, many people would feel that they really did see something moving on the edge of their vision. Of course, when they look towards it, there is nothing there. Some of those people, if sufficiently predisposed, may go on to interpret that as a ghost. This may also be the root of the idea prevalent among the ancient Greeks that all matter was a living entity. 

 In addition, there is also the issue of precedent. Once you have interpreted one of these physiological phenomena as a ghost, you will be more likely to interpret similar phenomena in the same manner in the future. This is because the brain, though immensely powerful, is also very lazy. It is resource intensive, consuming around 20% of our daily energy supply and nutrients. Therefore it has to run as efficiently as possible in order to not waste any precious resources. So, when you face a situation or experience, your brain conducts a search through your memory for a previous incidence of this, and prompts you to react in the same manner. Hence if you were bitten by a dog as a child, your brain will induce a level of anxiety when a dog barks at you because it is preparing your fight or flight mechanism. This will introduce adrenaline into your system which, if not dissipated by the physical exertion of running away, will remain for a while and produce feelings of stress. So people in such a situation are not behaving illogically, they are merely at the mercy of their central nervous system. 

 How we view the world is also a cultural phenomena conditioned by the prevalent views of the day. In the middle ages, anyone hearing voices was judged to be possessed by demons or evil spirits and would have some appalling physical ritual inflicted on them, often ending in death. In the twenty first century, people who hear voices are judged to be suffering from a symptom of mental illness. In some people with schizophrenia there is a fault in the auditory canal which can make their own internal thoughts sound as if they are being whispered in their ear by an invisible entity with a different voice to their own. Sustained experience of this would obviously be very distressing and disorientating, especially if the person was not aware of the physiological origins of the phenomena. Talking to yourself in public has long been seen as a sign of madness when in fact there is nothing unusual about giving voice to your thoughts – everyone does it at one time or another. Further to this, many people in the street can nowadays be seen holding one way conversations, they just happen to be attached to a mobile phone. 

 In conclusion, it can be seen that many social or behavioral phenomena which can appear to have no logical source are in fact due to easily understandable psychological factors. A greater understanding of these facts would benefit both individuals who are subject to these phenomena, and also the wider problem of prejudice and ignorance about mental illness among society at large.Cortisol, a stress chemical, and adrenaline into your central nervous system. This results in the aforementioned 'fight or flight' mechanism. Once you have extricated yourself from the situation these chemicals begin to dissipate, although this process takes about half an hour. If you return to the situation within thirty minutes, the chemicals will immediately shoot back up to maximum level making you stressed or fearful again. This is why some people are in an almost constant state of stress or anxiety, because they rarely have a long-term break from the triggers.  

 Also, these chemicals don't just disappear, they have to go somewhere. The effects of this can be headaches, sickness, sweating, increased heart rate etc, which can induce the much misunderstood 'agitated behavior'. As we have already discovered, whenever your brain encounters a situation it scans for something similar in order to decide how to react. So, the more often you become stressed, the more often your central nervous system will react in the same way again. Therefore, in order to avoid this cycle, you have to remove yourself from the triggers for a sustained period of time, certainly more than half an hour, before you will be able to return and deal with them calmly and rationally. We can't control all the external events in our lives, or the actions of other people, but we can control the way that we react to them.  

 In conclusion, it can be seen that many social or behavioral phenomena which can appear to have no logical source are in fact due to easily understandable psychological factors. A greater understanding of these facts would benefit both individuals who are subject to these phenomena, and also the wider problem of prejudice and ignorance about mental illness among society at large. "

Moving these articles to my main Psych 101: Account for better management. Yes,  This article is mine.