Psychology

 What are phobias? A phobia is an excessive and irrational fear reaction. If you have a phobia, you may experience a deep sense of dread or panic when you encounter the source of your fear. The fear can be of a certain place, situation, or object. Unlike general anxiety disorders, a phobia is usually connected to something specific. The impact of a phobia can range from annoying to severely disabling. People with phobias often realize their fear is irrational, but they’re unable to do anything about it. Such fears can interfere with work, school, and personal relationships. An estimated 19 million Americans have a phobia that causes difficulty in some area of their lives. Seek the help of your doctor if you have a fear that prevents you from leading your fullest life. Causes Genetic and environmental factors can cause phobias. Children who have a close relative with an anxiety disorder are at risk of developing a phobia. Distressing events, such as nearly drowning, can bring on a p...

 How are mental processes defined? Although this is obviously an important question to the field of psychology, psychologists rarely define exactly what they mean by the term. This is a problem because it is not clear exactly what mental processes refer to in the world. The unified theory of psychology posits that there are distinct domains of mental processes that need to be separated and then interrelated to understand the human mind (see here for how to interrelate them). First, there are the basic “brain-behavior” relationship patterns that we see in animals. Consider that every morning, when I turn the light on in my fishes’ tank, they swim to the top, anticipating being fed. We can explain their activity in terms of evolution, their learning history, and the way their brains process information. Fields like animal behavioral science and computational neuroscience tell us that the brain is an information processing system that coordinates overt action based on things like risk...

  Cognitive dissonance: What to know Overview Effects Examples How to resolve Summary Cognitive dissonance is a theory in social psychology. It refers to the mental conflict that occurs when a person’s behaviors and beliefs do not align. It may also happen when a person holds two beliefs that contradict one another. Cognitive dissonance causes feelings of unease and tension, and people attempt to relieve this discomfort in different ways. Examples include “explaining things away” or rejecting new information that conflicts with their existing beliefs. Read on to learn more about cognitive dissonance and its effects. What is cognitive dissonance? Many people experience feelings of unease and tension with cognitive dissonance. The psychologist Leon Festinger published his theory of cognitive dissonance in his 1957 book, A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Festinger proposed that people experience discomfort when they hold conflicting beliefs or when their actions contradict their belie...