The Healthy-Mindedness and the Sick-Soul Distinction
Healthy-mindedness and its relations to religion is a popular topic in the novel “The Varieties of the Religious Experience” by William James. The religion of the healthy-mindedness comes into light in the fourth and fifth lecture where James describes the healthy minded individuals as having a thought process that minimizes or sometimes ignores the evil of existence. James does not seem to agree with the healthy-minded ways but he does dissect them for the reader. James does a great job at showing individuals in their bare religious states. The Healthy-mindedness is only one type of individual James discovers and projects in this way. James indicates that the sick soul individuals are very much too aware of the evil in existence. In James's mind these sick-soul individuals are far better off than the healthy-minded. This may be due to the sick soul being better at coping with devastating life experiences than the healthy-minded. For example a healthy-minded individual who has a diseased relative is either forced to face death and may not be able to handle the loss, or try to keep it out of their mind.
The healthy-minded could be labeled as optimistic, happy, and hopeful. However like mentioned earlier these individuals can ignore evil. James makes this clear in this passage, “When happiness is actually in possession, the thought of evil can no more acquire the feeling of reality than the thought of good can gain reality when melancholy rules. To the man actively happy, from whatever cause, evil simply cannot then and there be believed in. He must ignore it; and to the bystander he may then seem perversely to shut his eyes to it and hush it up.”(p.88) This behavior could b...
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...thy-minded individuals, what advantage and disadvantage qualities do they both have from a psychology point of view.
Trying to understand the healthy minded and its implications on the individual in a healthy way is important to understand the thoughts of individuals and how they can either be manipulated or changed. These thoughts can cause a individual a significant amount of harm and frustration throughout their lives. It is in a psychologist best interest to research and understand these thoughts and behaviors and use the most strategic way of changing them. This is a very good way of understanding some of these thoughts processes that individuals go through and change as they grow and adapt to the world. If there are better ways of thinking and if they can be helped it is a psychologist duty to try and implement it into society for us to be better as a whole.
Additionally, Humanistic Psychology studies how people value themselves. Today’s Psychologists are often faced with problems when diagnosing patients, and utilizing a Humanistic approach to their prognosis facilitates a more broad study of what may be occurring. Taking a step back, Jake is having a tough time with his classes; his classes are now more difficult than before, and they might be affecting how Jake perceives his own values. I.e. because Jake feels more nervous, he could be losing his sense of control, which goes against his personal growth and affects his values and image of himself. Applying the humanistic approach to Jake, his fulfillment as a student is his personal growth. However as the difficulty of his classes increase, so does his own personal perception on how much he is growing. For Jake, realizing that he’s not suited for a particular difficult class is upsetting and induces anxiety. Modern day Psychologists would concur because Jake is feeling less valued and lacking a proper humanistic view of himself, he is feeling uncomfortable, and thus more
For over a century, marijuana has been illegal in the United States and in a lot of cases it remains prohibited because it has been prohibited for so long. Laws in California and Colorado are currently popular in the media because they are legalizing and taxing marijuana production and distribution. After adding sales and excise taxes to the sales price in these states, consumers are purchasing marijuana legally for a lower price than its black market price. Revenue gained from taxes in these states is being put towards such things as education and regulation of the substance. The responsible disbursing of marijuana tax is being exemplified in California and Colorado. Be that as it may, people continue to argue against legalizing and taxing marijuana for such reasons as its negative health effects, the ability of individuals to evade taxes on cannabis, and its legalization spreading to other states. Those opposed to changing marijuana laws stand firm in their beliefs that spending tax dollars on incarcerating and policing marijuana users and distributors is beneficial to society. In turn, the current state of affairs remains unchanged, funneling billions of untaxed dollars in to the black market each year. If marijuana were legalized, the black market would see no other outcome than losing that capital to its competitor, state governments and hopefully the federal government as well. The theory that collecting taxes on marijuana, otherwise purchased untaxed through the black market, boosts state economies more than spending tax revenues on policing it as an illegal substance is a difficult theory to disprove.
An individual’s imagination of an object or place can change how they perceive the world around them. Karen Armstrong in her essay “Homo Religiosus” talks about how “a poem, a play, or indeed, a great painting has the power to change our perception in ways that we may not be able to explain logically but that seem incontestably true” (25), which is implying that it is definitely possible to change our false, impractical perceptions into accurate, practical perceptions. Daniel Gilbert extends on this idea by discussing how in order for positive views to actually be valid “they must be based on facts that we believe we have come upon honestly” (135). To what extent does an individual need to experience various situations in order to gain several perspectives of one thing? To what extent do we need to change in order to obtain a different perspective compared to someone else? An individual’s outcome from various events in their life causes them to create either an optimistic or pessimistic response to the event “by unconsciously cooking the facts and then consciously consuming them” (135). In the essays “Homo Religiosus” by Karen Armstrong and “Immune to Reality” by Daniel Gilbert, both authors discuss how change in an individual’s life by means of the psychological immune system, their emotions, and their interpretations can provide them with different perceptions which is beneficial to having an abundance of knowledge.
Molitior Nancy “The 411 on Clinical Psychologists: Here’s the Truth” Your mind your body. 20 Nov 2009. Web. 14 Feb 2014
Who would have ever thought that Psychology would play a major role in our everyday lives. You would think that psychology is strictly a run down of the brains way of functioning and mental disorders truth be told , it is actually way more than that. Psychology deals with everything from the way we sleep to the way that we think. You could say that with out psychology we would not know why we do the things we do nor would we be able to fully understand ourselves and interactions with others. Psychology is the study of our minds and every broad aspect of it. In my opinion the three major concepts that people should know about would be : Nature vs. Nurture, Right brain/left brain functioning, and Social norms . These three concepts explains our ways of thinking, our behavior and development as well as our daily encounters.
Making rational assumptions about the human behavior is important because it guides people about how to predict, understand, explain, and control behavior (Psychology Today). In other words, an individual trained in the field of psychology gains huge insight about the human behavior. Consequently, she/he can interpret certain behaviors and detect the problematic ones. In fact, this is the main principle of psychology. I personally enjoy my knowledge on psychology to regulate my personal relationships through predicting, understanding, explaining and rarely controlling the behaviors of others. For example, when I used to work as a tutor for middle school children, regulating their behavior often allowed me to connect them on a different emotional level. I was able to help my students to focus on schoolwork without making them feel overwhelmed. Considering these reasons, it would be accurate to state that learning about psychology is really helpful in terms of making rational assumptions about the human
Humanistic psychology relies on client centred therapy and the idea that each individual has the potential to achieve a position in their psyche named self actualisation. Humanistic psychology differs from psychodynamic theory in that it is optimistic about the human psyche and does not view conflict as inevitable. Humanistic psychology assumes people attach meaning to their unique perspectives on the world and that behaviour is strongly influenced by this. Carl Rogers defined the healthy personality as being one that had congruence between the perceived self and the experienced self and that the individual in question experienced unconditional positive regard from their parent or guardian. He defined an unhealthy personality as being one which lacked these components. Abraham Maslow alternatively suggested a hierarchy for which a person’s healthy personality could be measured by stages of psychological and physical needs (see diagram 2). He suggested that, for a person to achieve self actualisation and become a fully functioning person, they must first satisfy all the needs of each level in the pyramid before moving onto the next
According to Rene Dubos in his book, So Human an Animal, Dubos defined health as “a quality of life, involving social, emotional, mental, spiritual, and biological fitness on the part of the individual, which results from adaptations to the environment.” This conception of health has changed my overall understanding of how I, therefore, perceive health. Many people when talking about health consider the condition of their physiques and overlook the condition of their minds. However, health is not only about enhancing one’s physical aspects of health, but it also means being healthy in mind as well. An unhealthy mind result in a damaging body. Excellent mental health helps us make the most of life and enjoy it.
I maintain that psychology was created for mental disorder, but we understand that in life comes changes that we never thought would happen as an accident or a genetic disorder of birth, so we know that having the basic knowledge in psychology would help you to perform better your work As an Occupational
The legalization of marijuana will have a huge impact on the economics of the United States to the point that I feel that government will assist in the continuation of these companies. If it is passed in the government the selling of marijuana could generate millions of dollars in tax revenue. Colorado is the latest state that has approved the selling of marijuana for recreational use. This topic has been tossed around by the officials for years now. Legislators in Colorado have “consider excise and sales taxes on marijuana of up to 30 percent combined” (Frosch, 2013). With the rapidly growing market and marijuana industry rules and regulations had to be put into place. Even this tax charge needs to be implemented and enforced. “These taxes are set high enough to finance the administration of new laws, but not so high that customers are driven back to the black market” (Frosch, 2013). There are many financial benefits as a state can help pay for the enforcement and other fundamental issues. One bad thing about taxing so high is that you can simply crowd out the regulated market. It is important to find the right balan...
“Arresting people for marijuana possession costs the United States between $1.19 billion and $6.03 billion annually” (Wegman). “These costs include police, judicial, legal, and corrections expenses. Incarcerating marijuana offenders costs the United States an estimated $600 million per year” (Wegmen). Less tax payer money would be going into prisons and jails, which benefits the state. The amount of money that the state uses to put people in prison or jail for marijuana possessions is outrages. “ Marijuana legalization in Washington significantly freed up law enforcement resources; marijuana possession arrests dropped from 5,531 the year before legalization to 120 the year after” (Becket). “Howard Wooldridge, a former police detective from Michigan who co-founded LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition), said, ‘Marijuana prohibition is a horrible waste of good police time. Every hour spent looking for pot reduces public safety’” (Lee). Instead of arresting people for marijuana, police officers could focus on serious crimes including rape, assault and homicide. The state would be able to save countless amounts of tax payer money making the tax cost go down plus prisons are for criminals not lazy pot
Several states have allowed the sale of cannabis for medicinal purposes, but only two have done so for recreational purposes. In 2007 the U.S. Government made approximately six million dollars in tax revenue from the sale of alcohol. If marijuana was to be legalized in every state, it is estimated that the government could generate an additional 10 billion to 120 billion dollars a year. Alcohol can only be consumed in a limited amount of ways and only serves one purpose, but there are numerous possibilities for the manufacturing of cannabis. The plant is unique because it can be used to make products such as paper, rope, and clothing. One of the reasons people who oppose cannabis and alcohol do so, is because the use of the substances by minors . They are overlooking one obvious fact; minors have always found ways to consume marijuana and alcohol, regardless of restrictions. In Colorado, a pioneering state for cannabis legalization, it was found that the teen use marijuana decreased once recreational use became regulated. Alcohol and cannabis can be sold in the same manner, so they both have the potential to positively affect the economy. Both can also be illegally sold. Marijuana is generally sold in an underground black market and home made alcohol, called moonshine, is sold in a similar fashion. The ATF and DEA both serve as forces to regulate this illegal sale. If laws pertaining to
In conclusion The Legalization of Marijuana would benefit the U.S government and it would be more effective in controlling the drug usage. The prohibition of Marijuana has only been costing taxpayers billions of dollars every year and it hasn’t benefited the Economy. The Education and treatment would be the effective way to address Marijuana problems, whereas The Legalization of Marijuana would benefit and boost our economy especially during this economic recession; therefore the Legalization of Marijuana may be the beginning United States Economy re-form; due to the fact that Marijuana Legalization would help subsidize our Economy.
No longer restricted to addressing mental health alone, psychologists now aim to promote both mental and physical health, address behavioral pathogens that are risk factors for major chronic diseases, and improve the public’s quality of life (Thorn, 2006). If there was a health care system where clients and patients were routinely screened for major psychological problems that cause suffering, then there would no longer be controversy about how this screening should be conducted, who is qualified to do this screening, and what psychological problems constitute disorders (Thorn,
This psychology perspective emphasizes individuals ' inherent drive towards self-actualization, the process of realizing and expressing one 's own capabilities and creativity. It helps the client gain the belief that all people are inherently good. It adopts a holistic approach to human existence and pays special attention to such phenomena as creativity, free will, and positive human potential. It encourages viewing ourselves as a "whole person" greater than the sum of our parts and encourages self exploration rather than the study of behavior in other people. Humanistic psychology acknowledges spiritual aspiration as an integral part of the human psyche. It is linked to the emerging field of transpersonal psychology. As per usual, there are advantages and limitations to this particular theory. One of the greatest strengths of humanistic psychology is that it emphasizes individual choice and responsibility. Humanistic psychology satisfies most people 's idea of what being human means because it values personal ideals and self-fulfillment. Finally, humanistic psychology provides researchers with a flexible framework for observing human behavior because it considers a person in the context of his environment and in conjunction with his personal perceptions and feelings. As with any viewpoint, humanistic psychology has its critics. One major criticism of humanistic psychology is that its concepts are too vague. Critics