Applying Psychology Terms to Direct Experience - Essay Example

Applying Psychology Terms to Direct Experience While working as children psychiatrist, John Bowlby made various observations that led him come with the attachment theory in 1958. John Bowlby defined attachment as long-term psychological intimacy between or among particular human beings (Holmes 2). John realized that children always require being close to their caregivers. This provides them with a place they can run to seek help and attention in the event they succumb to distress. According to John, detachment of a child from the mother at early age is very dangerous to the child’s growth. Closeness of the giver to the particular child works to assure the child about security and safety (Holmes 3). As demonstrated by O’Keefe, central route to persuasion involves persuasion process committed through extensive elaboration and explanation of the concepts to the receiver (139). To achieve the mission of persuasion in the central route to persuasion, the receiver takes time to involve in extensive and relevant thinking, thorough examination and scrutiny of the subject and mission of the persuasion. Central route to persuasion becomes effective only when the receiver has significant motivation, interest, and ability to think about the issue (O’Keefe 139). Lack of motivation and interest in the message conveyed can compromise receiver’s ability to scrutinize the message and eventual unsuccessfulness of the persuasion mission. Bystander effect is a psychological phenomenon describing situations when human beings fail to perceive and exercise their sense of responsibility when confronted with certain situations when in a group of people (Putman 71). This phenomenon first came into being 1964 when a stranger pursued and killed Kitty Genovese after parking her car and marching towards her house with her neighbors watching. Despite Kitty screaming, none of the neighbors starring at the incident thought of calling a police or taking any rescuing measure. Bystander effect and depending on individual’s courage can compel one into helping or not helping a person in serious need. It occurs due to assumption and diffusion of responsibility especially due to the presence of many people near the scene of emergency. According to DeLamater and Myers, reactance theory states that some targets of certain persuasion missions may reject the particular message of persuasion especially when satisfied that the given persuasion intends to compromise their independence and freedom of choice (219). To reassert control, the given target of persuasion that is sensing threat to his/her independence will begin to behave in the manner that directly contradicts the intended objective(s) of the given persuasion. According to Fehr, Sprecher and Gordon, Elaine Hatfield who developed the compassionate love theory illustrated that this kind of love involves strong feelings and expression of mutual respect, affection, trust and attachment between or among two or more people (4). Compassionate love develops when the concerned individuals have mutual understanding and respect for each other. Compassionate love manifests through actions, words and expressions, but must be through some form of motivation and knowledge about certain situation or circumstances. The finality of compassionate love involves giving of oneself for the good of others (Fehr, Sprecher and Gordon 4). My experience I began abusing drugs and related substances when I was fifteen years old and in the first level of high school. I majorly smoked bhang and used hard alcoholic drinks that involved spirits and strong beer. As a young person, I did not work but still managed to access the drugs by either using pocket money given by my father or stealing some of father’s money when placed in an open area. Sometimes I relied on my fellow colleagues with whom we abused and strongly addicted to the drugs. I did not consider as good any day that I missed to access and use any of the drugs. I could behave and look as if sick and depressed when I did not get to use the drugs. However, I did not want my parents to realize that I was using drugs and related substance. This forced me to behave in abnormal manner contrary to my real personality that finally made my father realize that something was wrong with me. He did not let me know about his anxiety with my general, but conducted investigations that took long time until he realized that I was using drugs and related substances. I did not start engaging in drugs and substance abuse because I wanted or enjoyed, but the driving forces related to my past childhood experiences when my parents divorced. While I was a child, I enjoyed strong attachment to my mother, but lost all when I became seven years old and upon the divorce of my parents that saw my mother leave me with my father. When I was below five years, my intimacy with my mother triggered behaviors that depicted concepts and frameworks of the attachment theory. My mother was an accountant before the time I was born. Her commitment to ensure good life compelled her to resign from her work and take care of me. Through my entire infancy, I was always near my mother who showed me a lot of love and care. The bond between two of us was strong to the extent that she could not easily leave me behind when going anywhere. At three years old, my mother assumed that I was stronger and mature, and started to look for another job while leaving her university graduate sister as my caregiver. Although the mother’ sister was a frequent visitor to our home and I knew her well, she was not very close to me as she was committed to schoolwork. I recall two occasions when I felt very insecure and lonely, and cried for entire period when mother was out on her mission to look for a job. My restlessness and discomfort could not allow me to eat any kind of food and my health deteriorated significantly. This touched my mother’s heart and she stopped looking for job but instead decided to open a shop, which she knew would keep us near each other. The attachment was very serious to the extent that I could not leave my mother to start school when I was five years old. It took my mother significant efforts that involved encouraging me to play with other children then slowly taking me to school in company of the playmates who were already going school. I still felt uncomfortable and would not spend the whole day in school until I reached seven years old that I gained confidence and could be away from my mother within certain period. Upon the divorce of my parents when I was seven years old and that saw my mother leave me with my father, I began developing abnormal behavior that made me withdraw completely from the society. I felt very depressed and could better be lonely than be with any person. I missed the love and care that I received in abundance and without limit from my mother. My condition did not change even when I was in elementary school until I finished. Even though my condition began to improve when I joined high school, feelings of desolation, depression and destitute were strong inside me. I tried to overcome the condition but I found it to be very difficult and finally began using drugs when still in the first level in high school and fifteen years old. The main purpose for indulging into the use of drugs and related substances was to help me forget some of the experiences I had with my mother. In addition, I abused drugs and related substances with thoughts that they would help me become sociable in line with reducing depression. The principles of reactance theory became clear to me when my father had discovered that I was abusing drugs and related substances, and began to advice me stop the behavior. I was only sixteen years old and in level two in high school. During that time, I received many persuasive messages including television and radio advertisements, and parental advice and threats intended at discouraging me from using drugs. These persuasions demoralized my self-esteem and made me feel isolated and unwanted by the society that brought me into the world. I felt that I could not stop using the drugs and considered all persuasions as mere intrusion into my private life and compromising my freedom and independence. Instead of reducing consumption of the drugs, I increased my daily consumption with view to reduce stress and depression emanating from continuously piling pressure and apparent rejection by the society. Having failed to heed to the pieces of advice given by my father, I increased the rate of consumption of the drugs and related substances due to confidence developed because my father knew about my condition and there was no reason to hide anything. One day in the evening when about to leave school for home, I consumed what became to be excess drugs that began to overreact in my body. When consuming the drugs, I was with two of my friends who also consumed the drugs in substantial quantity. However, I left the two friends back in school and rushed out of the school with intentions of arriving home quickly and get to rest before the reactions of the drugs within my body could reach a dangerous level. On leaving school and on my way back home, I increasingly became subconscious and collapsed helplessly along the street. This is when I learnt about the power and social impact of the bystander effect. On seeing me collapsing on the street, passersby gathered and crowded the scene where I was lying. None of the large multitude could take any action as they assumed not know what happened to me or what caused me to collapse. The crowed increased in size with some people coming as some leave the scene. While the crowed still surrounded me, two of my friends with whom we had consumed the drugs arrived. Even though we all appeared to have taken the drugs in nearly equal quantities, the two of my friends did not exhibit any signs of unconsciousness. Despite being conscious, the two friends did not take any significant action to help me. They seemed surprised by the starring crowed that involved some people stop their vehicle by the road side to come and witness the incident, but took no action of picking and driving me to hospital in their cars. The two of my friends were also unable to make emergency call to the police, school administration, my parents or hospital. They feared that making such call would set them up and translate to inviting trouble for themselves. No one in the crowed wished to help me, as none was ready to bear the responsibility of ensuring that I regained my consciousness. The two friends continued to stare together with the crowd until police officers who were on patrol came, picked and drove me to hospital where I received treatment for two days and discharged. On leaving the hospital and resuming my normal schooling, I engaged in discussion that employed concepts of the central route to persuasion. The persuasion was about change in behavior and delivered by my English teacher who also headed the department of guidance and counseling in my former high school. The purpose of persuasion was to convince me stop the use of drugs like bhang and alcohol. The English teacher invited me into the guidance and counseling room after receiving information concerning my collapse and the cause as contained in the report developed by the doctor who treated me. During the session, the teacher informed and elaborated to me that drug use was very dangerous to my health and general future. He explained that drug such as bhang would affect my psychological system and even render me mad. He further used a certain chart illustrating the appearance of the internal organs of a smoker to demonstrate to me how my lungs, heart and liver would look like should I continue to smoke. He went on to explain how alcoholism would affect my internal body organs and general health. This he accomplished by dipping a piece of raw meat into a glass of laboratory ethanol just to demonstrate how my internal body organs would appear. The teacher continued to explain to me how the drugs could affect my concentration in class and compromise my academic performance. He elaborated to me that my future life relied on what I did at that time and that bad behaviors would lead to worse life. He instructed me on the possible and practical manner I could stop using the drugs irrespective of the level of addiction. He then gave me time to think and decide on what was good for me. Within one week of thorough thinking and soul searching, along side practicing the strategies to stop using the drugs, I decided never again to abuse drugs. On receiving information about my health situation and level of depression I suffered to start abusing drugs and related substances, my mother developed compassionate love that saw her seek to reconcile with my father. Her compassionate love especially after receiving information about my health related to the great affection, respect and attachment we had for each other. She came with intention to restore our past relationship and offer me psychological comfort even as I was in the process of recovering and trying to stop abusing the drugs and related substances. Works Cited DeLamater, John D, and Daniel J. Myers. Social Psychology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. Print. Holmes, Jeremy. John Bowlby and Attachment Theory. New York, NY: Routledge Publishers. 2012. Print. Fehr, B. A., Sprecher, S., & Gordon, L. U. (2009). The science of compassionate love: Theory, research, and applications. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. O'Keefe, Daniel J. Persuasion: Theory & Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006. Print. Putman, Daniel A. Psychological Courage. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2004. Print. Read More