Social and Physical Aspects of Human Understanding - Article Example

Sports Psychology: Introduction: Albert Schweitzer's experiences with pain led him to write: 'Pain is a more terrible Lord of Mankind than Death itself' (Schweitzer, 1937). Pain is a multi dimensional experience and has a sensory, emotional, cognitive component. Pain management approaches that address all these three factors are likely to be more successful and popular. The World Health Organization estimates that 22% of people experience some form of pain (Gureje et al 1998). "Pain is defined as an emotional and sensory experience resulting from actual or potential damage." (Merskey and Bogduk 1994). Acute pain is symptomatic and lasts only until the resolution of the cause of the pain (redorbit.com, 2006) and it is this form of pain that the athlete must overcome in order to reach his sports goals. Therefore the athlete will use a series of psychological methods and imagery to overcome the initial pain. The two most common approaches are disassociation, which is to think of something else, something better and nicer to reach the completion of the goal. The other is to associate with the pain, to come one with it and to overcome it. The associative approach is the most aggressive and the thesis of this practical will argue the most effective for a professional athlete. Social and Physical aspects of Human Understanding: The union of soul and body is no chastisement of the soul but a salutary bond through which the human soul will reach its full perfection. This is not a theory forged expressly for the particular case of the soul. Rather, it is the case which is necessarily governed according to metaphysical principles, and their scope is universal. The less perfect is ordered toward the more perfect as toward its end; it is for it; not against it' Each creature exists for its own act and its own perfection'. Individuals exist for the perfection of the universe' The reason for the existence of a determined substance or determined mode of existence is never to be found in an evil but in a good (Gilson, 1957, 190). This analysis of the human, as represented by Aquinas, as argued by Gilson portrays a notion of a higher purpose for each individual. This purpose links to the soul and is an integral part of God's creation. Aquinas' theory is entrenched in religious thought from the Catholic Church of the 13th Century; where science, theology, philosophy and politics where within the church's domain and the central belief is that man was created for God's purpose and life and death was His domain. The following exploration will consider the theological and philosophical concerns of Aquinas in relation to the individual and the idea of the body and life and attaining knowledge through education. The theological concern of Aquinas' theory is the attainment of perfection, because in the nature of being each is at a different level of perfection with God as the Supreme Being. This is a very important part of Aquinas' five ways, the basis of his cosmological and teleological arguments. The fourth and fifth ways also prove God, but also deal with humanity's desire to attain perfection and intellect, which is especially important for the philosophical; hence will be discussed in the following section. This is a similar approach to that taken by top athletes, they take their physical experiences and use this to promote self-awareness and a heightened state of consciousness and promote the best result by using associative imagery techniques to overcome the pain and reach their goals. Mental imagery refers to all those quasi-sensory or quasi-perceptual experiences of which we are self-consciously aware, and which exist for us in the absence of those stimulus conditions that are known to produce their genuine sensory or perceptual counterparts, and which may be expected to have different consequences from their sensory or perceptual counterparts (Richardson, 1969, p. 2-3). In short Aquinas' theory demonstrates that humanity was given freewill and the ability to attain knowledge in order to achieve the determined level of knowledge, perfection and understanding akin to the level of God; it is this that creates man in God's image and it is such understanding which allows for the furtherance of the mind to overcome mental and physical barriers to reach their level of perfection. Therefore how does this apply to sports psychology' The answer is that Aquinas would argue that the mind controls and overcomes the pain, as this brings the individual closer to perfection. To associate with our body's pain and to let the mind overcome the pain barrier to achieve perfection is the goal of the athlete and the argument that mind over matter can be the only way to achieve the best sport's goals. Therefore this discussion is going to argue that association with the pain is the best method for attaining this self-perfection and reach the sports goals, because to go the fastest or to make a tackle to overcome pain is necessary; otherwise the body will stop itself and the sporting outcome is mediocre. This is the reason why disassociation is not as effective, because association is an offensive approach to overcoming the pain barrier, whilst dissociation is a defensive mechanism to blot out a boring or unpleasant experience. Dissociation is often described as the ability to pull away from pain or unpleasant experiences. This is the skill we use when we first start exercising and the exercise feels either painful or boring. We let our mind wander to last year's vacation or which new sports car we are going to buy. It works pretty well as we focus on the kind of wheels we want on our new car. The next thing you know the painful experience is over and you have succeeded in your athletic task (Wilson, 2000) A professional athlete should not think like this otherwise will it not result in failure, because a defensive approach will result in an approach where the goal and reason for the pain is blocked out. This is a primitive approach to psychological pain and is the approach an abused child would take; as opposed to an athlete reaching a goal of perfection in his sport. Results: The results supported this thesis, where the associative pain athletes had a slightly longer average than those who disassociate (See Appendix 1). Yet, if it were not a mere skater's but an actual race or sport's related activity the difference would be higher, because a skater's squat would be classed as dull and boring and not an attainment of perfection. This thesis is supported by the work of Wilson (2000) who argued that disassociation is a tool used by abused children or individuals who are completing a tedious task and will get bored if they focus on it. Therefore the individual disassociates to complete a task: However, there is more to know about dissociation and how it interacts with the zone of optimal performance. Dissociation is a naturally occurring primitive defense mechanism which most people possess. It is the skill that gets used and is highly developed when dealing with overwhelming trauma in life. When abuse occurs to a child, he uses the defense of dissociation to pull away from the pain and abusive experience because it is the only tool for escape that most children have under those conditions (Wilson, 2000). Observation To record my finding I used the observation technique to record the pain threshold of my subjects, a group of students in a sport psychology class. I used the visual representation of the data collected and kept a checklist of the target behavior. I then give an explanation of the data, followed by an analysis. Observational or social learning, which is also know as the social learning theory is related to the observer's behavioral changes that take place after viewing the behavior or a model. The behavior of an observer may be affected by the negative or positive consequences, also know as vicarious punishments or vicarious reinforcement of a model's behavior. Observational learning, which is primarily based on Albert Bandura's work (1966) believes that since observers can only acquire perceptual and other implicit responses which resemble the sequences of modeling stimuli while they are occurring, therefore, the symbolic processes that mediate subsequent behavioral reproductions must play a prominent role in observational learning. With the help of experiments, Bandura and his colleagues were able to demonstrate that for learning to take place, the application of consequences was not necessary, rather it could occur simply by observing someone else perform an activity. Limitations Although the observation method of watching the group and writing down the time of Skater's Squat for each different subject and defining the individual by either a disassociative or associative pain subject was quite effective, but the limitations of this observation were the shortage of time we could closely observe if there was indeed a difference in whether the way an individual overcame pain resulted in a longer skater's squat. This way that the sport's professional associates pain is important in identifying which reaction to overcoming the pain barrier is most effective. The written record of observation, performance and participation does not provide us with enough data for research hypotheses. The target checklist and the written observations do not reveal much information as the subject was observed for a few minutes in each class scene. However, greater number of observational sessions, spread over longer periods of time would surely reveal accurate information of the behavioural attitudes to overcoming the pain barrier. Thus we conclude that observing behavior in a natural setting is an important part of the evaluation process and observations should occur in familiar places so that the individual is comfortable and has the opportunity to demonstrate typical behavior. Observations add a critical dimension to the psychological evaluation process, particularly when they are used in conjunction with objective tests, behavioral checklists, interviews, questionnaires and a video tape in natural or familiar settings along with other evaluation strategies. These studies require careful characterization of behavioral variation and outcomes. Such characterization is becoming increasingly complex and requires sophisticated methodologies which can capture behavior with precision at multiple levels of analysis. Observational Theory: The chief observational techniques used in psychological research are the naturalistic observation, systematic assessment and experimentation. This naturalistic observational strategy refers to the collection of data without manipulating the environment. The researchers look for cause-and-effect relationships between events and patterns of behavior. Psychological researches chiefly use the naturalistic observation as an exploratory technique, to gain insight and ideas for later testing. The limitations for this method are that it is a descriptive method and not explanatory, which means that without the controlled conditions of a laboratory, conclusions about cause-and-effect relationship cannot be drawn. This method can take a lot of time and it is difficult to code results in an appropriate manner for statistical analysis. A social psychologist can also observe effective processes of personality with the help of an interview which can be with an individual or a group. According to Ann Lewis (1992) group interviews, as compared to individual interviews, may generate richer responses by allowing the participants to challenge the views of others. The time duration of an interview, whether long or short can also influence the data collected for research. Another technique, the analogue behavioral observation involves the measurement of an individual's overt behavior in a contrived situation that is analogous to situations, that he is likely to encounter in his natural environment. The aim is to derive valid estimates of the individual's behavior in a current or future environment. This observational strategy can be useful in detecting important functional relations in clinical assessments. However, analogue behavioral observational instruments can be sensitive to change; their validity can erode over time and is affected by numerous sources of variance. Observing the problem behavior of an individual and describing the condition that surrounds it is called 'direct assessment' which includes the events before 'antecedent' and after 'consequence' to the individual behavior of interest. Whereas, 'indirect assessment' relies on interviews with the ones who have direct contact with the individual. But with this observation strategy there is a chance that the information given by others might not be that accurate and therefore, would not help in correct data collection to carry out the research. The key to the observations in this research was the participants following the instructions for their group. If the individual failed to do this then this will adversely affect the results; therefore if a person in the disassociative group actually associated with the pain then this would give an incorrect tabulation. The instructions were clear; however it was up to the individual to follow them therefore the further limitation of human error is added. Association The technique involves associating with or being totally aware of the discomfort and pain you are experiencing during this exercise and then coping with it using relaxation. During the performance of the endurance exercise we want you to use this technique. ' As you feel the discomfort increasing, remind yourself to relax. Block out all the outside thoughts and concentrate on the internal feelings of your body and as you feel the discomfort increase take that as the cue to concentrate harder on relaxing. Now get into the skier's squat and we will begin. Disassociation: This technique involves disassociating or cutting oneself off, from the sensory feedback one normally receives from his or her body. This requires you to think about other things so as to take your mind off any discomfort or pain you may be feeling. ' Focus your attention on things other than what you are doing by making up a story. Make up a story on any subject you like, think it through and visualise the scenes as clearly as you can. See every detail and feel every emotion of this trip you are taking through your mind for example a holiday with a friend. Make up your own story and images. Now get into the skiers squat and we will begin. Appendix 1: ' Time in seconds ' Associative ' Disassociative ' 40 ' 11 ' 52 ' 20 ' 55 ' 25 ' 64 ' 30 ' 72 ' 39 ' 78 ' 45 ' 82 ' 53 ' 83 ' 63 ' 85 ' 70 ' 90 ' 87 ' 90 ' 104 ' 92 ' 106 ' 95 ' 110 ' 97 ' 110 ' 100 ' 117 ' 115 ' 117 ' 120 ' 119 ' 120 ' 120 ' 123 ' 135 ' 125 ' 137 ' 130 ' 137 ' 153 ' 140 ' 154 ' 164 ' 154 ' 170 ' 190 ' 183 ' 223 ' 199 ' 225 ' 219 ' 236 ' 230 ' 240 ' 236 ' 242 ' 247 ' 274 ' 260 ' 280 ' 303 ' 294 ' 310 ' 300 ' 340 ' ' ' ' Total 4873 ' 4756 ' 143.3235294 ' 139.8823529 Bibliography: ''''''Ahsen, A. (1984). ISM: The triple code model for imagery and psychophysiology. Journal of Mental Imagery, 8, 15-42. ''''''Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman & Company. ''''''Beauchamp, M., Bray, S., & Albinson, J. (2002). Pre-competitive imagery, self-efficacy and performance in collegiate golfers. Journal of Sport Sciences, 20, 697-705. ''''''Callow, N. & Waters, A. (2005). 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