Impulse Control - Coursework Example

IMPULSE CONTROL Impulse control The situation that Joe explains about his fear for spiders cannot be categorized as phobia. There are a number of things that cannot qualify Joe’s condition as phobia. The fact that the condition that was caused by an experience that Joe had when he was still a child and thus carried the fear of the repetition of the same experience as he grew up it does not in any way interfere with his daily life. A phobia is in most cases described as the fear of things that in real sense have very little or no threat or danger to human existence. Fears are defined as an emotional response to actual or expected danger. Phobia does fit in the same definition only that it does with an individual’s quality of life and decision making. Joe’s condition is not a phobia because his fear of spiders does not stop him from going to the basement. Prejudice can simply be defined as the baseline attitude towards members of certain groups. The aspects of prejudice include stereotype beliefs, tendency to discriminate against members of certain groups, and negative feelings towards members of the group.Allportargues that prejudice in most cases involves the prejudgment of certain individuals in accordance to the groups in which they belong. He gives a scale with five types of prejudices that are common in the society. There is a general difference in how Raymond Cattell and Gordon Allport approach researching personality. Allport uses the idiographic approach while Cattell uses the nomothetic approach. Under the idiographic approach an individual is always treated as a unique entity with a unique history and characteristics. Nomothetic approach on the other side advocates for researches that individuals are viewed as groups of individuals. Nomothetic approach assumes that a human being is always a complex inclusion of multiple universal laws (Dovidio, 2007). The nomothetic approach is usually suitable in the study of a large number of people. Idiographic approach, on the other hand, believes in the uniqueness of individuals and that’s why it is always used in studying the traits of individuals in the singular. Using an idiographic approach has a number of advantages. One of the advantages is that it enables researchers to have a more complete and global understanding of a person. By using idiographic approach researchers can be able to get results that can lead to experimental investigation and study of behavior. Using the nomothetic approach also has some advantages. One of the advantages is that this approach is that it adheres to the deterministic, law abiding aspect of science. Nomothetic approach can also be instrumental in prediction and control of human behavior. This approach can also be more appropriate in the reduction of discrimination because of the ability to result in nomothetic findings on prejudice and discrimination. The disadvantage of using the nomothetic approach is that it can lead to the superficial understanding of an individual. The disadvantages of using the Idiographic approach lie in the fact that it is always not easy to generalize findings and are sometimes unreliable and unscientific. The Big Five factor theory is the most common used approach to psychology researchers in the modern world. The division of the theory into five main factors makes it easier for the theory to be used for psychological research when compared to other approaches such as Cattells model or Eysencks model. Many psychology researchers have augured that Cattell’s model is too complex to be used during the research process while the Eysencks model is too limited to be effective. This is the reason as to why most psychology researchers would opt for the Big Five factor theory.The Big Five factor theory cannot be said to limit research in any way. The five dimensions used in the theory have been discovered to touch on a wide range of personality areas. Given the complexity of human personality the Big Five factor theory usually makes it easier for there to be easy categorization and analysis of human personality aspects. According to Hans Eysenck genetic factors usually play a very big role in the formation of an individual’s personality. However, he still agrees that the environment can have some minimal impact on an individual’s personality. Eysenck’s claims can be proved by the studies that have proved the existence of temperament among children at their very early stages. This study aimed at proving that some traits are hereditary since at that early is the environment cannot be said to have much influence on an individual. The other studies are the hereditary studies that show a high variation of trait of people living in the same environment. If the environment was the main determinant of personality, then there would not be such a high variance in traits. Walter Mischel gives a different view of human personalities and behaviors from traditional personality theories. Mischel was in complete disagreement with the argument of human behavioral persistence. In his opinion human behavior is always influenced by the situation they are in. His studies led to the realization that people act differently when faced with different situations, therefore, he argues that the situation should not be seen as an error of measurement of human behavior, but a real determinant of the behavior of human beings (Nevid, 2009). Another philosopher and behaviorist by the name Skinner also came up with a different explanation of human behavior. In his opinion human behavior has nothing to do with internal factors and processes such as heredity. According to Skinner human behavior has nothing to do with their free will. However, he argues that human behaviors are shaped by the consequences and repercussions of the same. To Skinner the term “free will” is an illusion that has never existed (Staats, 1996). Human beings behave in a certain way because they want to achieve something or because they fear that something that is not desirable can happen if they do not behave in that manner. References Dovidio, J. (2007). On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years After Allport. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons. Nevid, J. S. (2009). Psychology: Concepts and applications. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. Staats, W. W. (1996). Behavior and Personality: Psychological Behaviorism. New York: Springer Pub. Co. Read More