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In this developmental psychology podcast episode, we’ll be looking at What Parents Should Know About Screen Time? This is a great podcast episode that you should find very useful. This episode has been sponsored by Developmental Psychology: A Guide to Developmental and Child Psychology. Available on all major eBook retailers and you can get the paperback, hardback and large print copies from Amazon or your local bookstore or local library. Note: as always nothing on this podcast or website is parenting, professional, medical or any sort of professional advice. What Parents Should Know About Screen Time? As a little prelude to this psychology podcast episode, I want to say the content of this episode is not necessarily the whole truth because as we know there is no such thing as scientific truth. Since we cannot be 100% certain of anything but this article does have research support. I’ll include a reference at the bottom. In addition, as people interested in psychology it is always important for us to have modern attitudes and update our opinions and attitudes when new research comes to light. Otherwise, we risk falling prey to the media bias and other undesirable outcomes. For example, the types of headlines that say technology is destroying families. I understand where those headlines could be coming from since this was the thinking back in the 70s and 80s. But I strongly believe it’s fair to say that after the COVID-19 pandemic technology has saved a lot of families. Generally Screen Time Does Not Affect Well-being In the grand scheme of things for most children screen time doesn’t affect their wellbeing positively or negatively. (Dienlin & Johannes, 2020) This could mainly be down to the hedonic treadmill, this proposes that people’s levels of happiness soon return to normal after a happy evevnt, as well as humans are very resilient creatures. And this we’ve spoken about a lot on the podcast before. Our resilience is partially explained by the hedonic treadmill. Furthermore, if we consider the horrors that past generations have had to deal with. For example, wars, famines and other situations. We have to admit that screen time really doesn’t seem like that much of a threat to our wellbeing. However, if we dive into developmental psychology a little further then yes, we know that excess levels of screen time can be associated with depression, anxiety and other mental health difficulties. Yet for another teenager or child, screen time means they can live in a more connected and vibrant world. As the screen media allows them to experience things that wouldn’t get to in the real world. For example, watching videos or photos of far away countries, or talking to friends they don’t get to see too often. Also, there is a need for balance because of course if a child spends hours on screen media. Then this can lead to fatigue because they’re going to bed late. As well as their school grades can fall because they aren’t studying as well. So, yes, balance is needed. Nonetheless, returning to the point about screen media and mental health difficulties. Sometimes children who seem to be suffering from the ill effects of screen media are actually using screen media as a symptom of their possible condition. Since children can use the media to hide from their suffering. In this case, screen media is a symptom of the condition and not the cause. Meaning we, as people interested in psychology, need to make sure we don’t focus our attention too much on the screen media as we could miss the real underlying difficulties and the causes. Conflict of Screen Media, The Need For Balance and Good Relationships: Personally, I really do recommend that you look at the Psychology Today article I’ve linked to in the developmental psychology reference section. Because it goes into depth about how much screen time is good. Spoiler Alert: we don’t know how much screen time good. However, the entire point of this psychology podcast episode is sometimes parents are rightfully concerned about their children so they might argue with them about the amount of time they spend looking at their screens. This is completely reasonable and I support the motivation behind it! However, constant and chronic arguments about this topic can actually do its own harm. Since this arguing can create a lot of conflict. Leading to a possible strained relationship between the caregiver and the child. In addition, if a caregiver doesn’t have a good relationship with their child and they try to impose rules. Then this will result in the child rebelling because this will be seen as unfair. But if there’s a healthy relationship with the child then they’re much more likely to follow these rules. Therefore, I’m trying to say caregivers should try and focus on building a strong healthy relationship with their child. As this is a protective factor against mental health difficulties and parents do need to pick their battles. And sometimes screen time is not the best battle to pick. Finally, I wanted to wrap up this developmental psychology and clinical psychology podcast episode by saying, there is no such thing as a perfect parent. Therefore, please do not get stressed out about this topic. Just do the best you can, find a balance and develop a good, healthy relationship with the child. If you enjoyed this psychology podcast episode and want to learn more, please check out: FREE AND EXCLUSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET- https://www.subscribepage.com/psychologyboxset Developmental Psychology: A Guide to Developmental and Child Psychology. Available on all major eBook retailers and you can get the paperback, hardback and large print copies from Amazon or your local bookstore or local library. Developmental Psychology References Dienlin, T., & Johannes, N. (2020). The impact of digital technology use on adolescent well-being . Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 22(2), 135–142. https://doi.org/10.31887/DCNS.2020.22.2/tdienlin https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/tech-happy-life/202105/3-things-parents-should-know-about-screen-time I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

We're going to looking at the clinical psychology topic of How Do Narcissists Use Cult Leader Tactics? In this episode of The Psychology World Podcast. This episode has been sponsored by Social Psychology: A Guide to Social and Cultural Psychology. Available from all major eBook retailers and you can get the paperback, large print and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore or library if you request them. How Do Narcissists Use Cult Leader Tactics? People high in narcissism have very high self-esteem but it comes from an insecure place. Meaning when their self-esteem is threatened, this causes them to become defensive and hostile. As a result, they try to influence and control others around them so other people don’t threaten their self-esteem. In fact, the tactics narcissists use to control and manipulate others have a lot of similarities with cult leaders. Leading us onto the topics below. Act Larger Than Life It shouldn’t surprise you that narcissists and cult leaders both act larger than life. Since this seems them seem wonderful with innate goodness and they have special knowledge that nobody knows about. As well as they believe that nobody is above them. For cult leaders, this makes sure the cult members don’t question them. For narcissists, acting larger than life means the people around them don’t threaten their self-esteem because they’re special and gifted with secret knowledge. Questioning Is Not Tolerated In cults, questioning is horrified because if you question the cult, its leader and its purpose. Then you will quickly become ostracised and socially excluded. Because in the eyes of the cult, you’ve committed heresy, since how dare you question the all-knowing leader! As a result, narcissists can use the same trick because if they exclude or become rageful at people who question them. Then the people around them will know not to question the narcissist and this gives the narcissist some level of control over their behaviour. Additionally, the reason why questioning is so terrible for narcissists is because this is a direct threat to their unsecure self-esteem. Because you could be implicitly implying in your questions that they’re wrong and they don’t know what they’re talking about. This will almost certainly decrease their self-esteem. Lies Are Repeated So Often With the cult leader being in such high regards and never ever being in the wrong. This means they repeat their lies so repeat that the cult member believes it. Therefore, narcissists can do the same. All they need to do is keep telling those around them the same lie and how wonderful they are, and overtime the people around them will start to believe it as the truth. Their Righteousness Justifies the Means Continuing on with the fact that the cult leader is perceived to be righteous and almost divine in some cases. It should come as no surprise, and you only need to look at some cults in the past 50 years to see this, that cults take part in some activities that normal people will shunt. Because it goes against their moral and ethical code. Yet the reason why the cult members don’t have a problem with this is because the cult leader says it’s fine. Thus, the cult members believe it must be okay because the leader said so. Additionally, if we think about it narcissists do some immoral behaviours at times. For instance, shouting, screaming and occasionally attacking people that threaten their self-esteem. But if the narcissist has control and influence over those around them then these other people will most probably deem their behaviour as reasonable. Meaning the narcissist’s righteousness justifies the end. Independence Is Punished A while ago, I was reading an article on the psychology of cults on Psychology Today and I remember this point being raised in one way or another. The writer of the article showed the point perfectly because when she was invited into a cult and she wanted to socialise. The cult leader moaned at her because she was inferring with God’s time. Consequently, cult members are meant to be dedicated to the cult and they are meant to be one with the cult. Otherwise, they are punished for their independence. This punishment can include social exclusion and ostracism and people prefer to keep social bonds even bonds that are bad for us. (Psychology of Relationships) Finally, narcissists can control others around them using this trick because if the narcissist punishes someone for not being devoted to them. Then this could cause the narcissist to have stronger influence and control over this person. Overall, I really hope you’ve enjoyed this psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more and support the podcast, please check out: FREE AND EXCLUSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Social Psychology: A Guide to Social and Cultural Psychology. Available from all major eBook retailers and you can get the paperback, large print and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore or library if you request them. Have a great day! Social Psychology and Clinical Psychology References https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/narcissism-demystified/202103/9-ways-many-narcissists-behave-cult-leaders Social Psychology: A Guide to Social and Cultural Psychology by Connor Whiteley. Psychology of Relationships: The Social Psychology of Friendships, Romantic Relationships, Prosocial Behaviour and More Third Edition by Connor Whiteley. I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

In this clinical psychology episode of the podcast, you'll hear about What Your Client Can Do To Help Their Psychotherapy? This psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Clinical Psychology by Connor Whiteley. Available on all major eBook and audiobook retailers and you can get the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon or your local bookstore. What Can Your Client Do To Help Their Psychotherapy? This episode is designed for people who are and aren't Clinical psychologists. So, a lot of people might be thinking a therapist shouldn't need help to deliver therapy to a client or mental health sufferer. But as I talk about in my books unless a person wants to change then psychotherapy is useless because therapy is all about the relationship between the Client and therapist. Therefore, there are a number of things your client can do to help their therapy be successful. That's the focus of this episode. Understand the Rules Firstly, whether you're in therapy or you're a clinical psychologist. You need to make sure the client understands the rules. For example, payment schedule, the boundaries of the professional relationship, how confidentiality works and lots more. This is important because it allows the client to know how therapy works and what they can and can't do. Knowing this helps to prevent bad situations later. Be Honest In psychotherapy, honesty is critical because the therapist needs to know what's happening and they need to know various pieces of information. Of course, depending on the psychological model they use. Like, a psychoanalyst would focus more on the cognitive unconscious and childhood. Whereas a cognitive behavioural therapist would want to know about your thinking patterns and cognition. Overall, it is so important for Clinical psychologists to develop a rapport with their clients and encourage them to be honest. And it's critical for the client to be honest with the therapist so they can help you the best they possibly can. Be Open Leading on from the last point, clients need to be open with their therapists too. For example, telling them when something is wrong, they don't think the therapy is working or they're going to have problems paying for the therapy. These types of concerns need to raised so solutions can be created. For Clinical psychologists, this means being kind and approachable as well as making sure the client knows they can talk to you. For the client, this means finding a therapist in the first place that you feel comfortable with. And we all have these difficulties at some point so don't feel ashamed. Apply What You've Learnt In Psychotherapy During a client’s therapy sessions, they will learn things. For example, how to cope in a certain situation, a number of better and good coping mechanisms, patterns of behaviours or thoughts they need to watch out for and more. But all of this is useless if the client doesn’t use anything they’re learnt in therapy. Therefore, it is critical for clinical psychologists to get their clients or patients to understand the importance of practising and applying what they’ve learnt in their lives outside of therapy. Then to clients and other people in therapy, it’s up to you to use what you’ve learnt. Since if you apply this knowledge to your life then it should improve. Do The Homework Following on from the last point, one method that clinical psychologists use to get to their clients to apply their knowledge in their personal lives is to give them homework. Another benefit of this homework is a clinical psychologist can use it to start a series of habit forming behaviours that get the client to apply their knowledge automatically. And as psychotherapy can take several months, this time frame gives the psychologist a lot of time to get this habit to form. This homework is optional because my clinical psychology lecturer was terrible at setting homework but as I mention in my Clinical Psychology book, setting homework depends on the therapeutic model used as well. In my opinion from all research into clinical psychology and therapy I’ve done, I strongly believe a clinical psychologist should set homework if they want to. Since you can only deal with so many difficulties and develop so many skills in a session. Equally, I strongly believe a client should do the homework if it’s given to them. As the therapist is giving them the homework for their own benefit and it should help. What Can Your Client Do To Help Their Psychotherapy? Wrap Up Overall, I really hope you’ve enjoyed this psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more and support the podcast, please check out: FREE AND EXCLUSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Clinical Psychology. Available on all major eBook and audiobook retailers and you can get the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon or your local bookstore. Have a great day! Psychology Reference https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-recovery-coach/202105/10-ways-help-your-therapist-help-you-more I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

In this clinical psychology episode of The Psychology World Podcast, you’ll hear about Why Not to Say to Someone with Anxiety. This is a great and very useful podcast episode. Please enjoy! This psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Formulation in Psychotherapy. Available on all major eBook retailers and direct from me. And you can get the paperback and hardback copy from Amazon or your local bookstore and libraries! 3 Things Not to Say to Someone with Anxiety (Or Any Mental Condition for that Matter!) Don’t Say Just ‘Calm Down’ or ‘Relax’: It’s perfectly natural for us to say this to someone when we see them stressed out. Because we want them to relax and calm down. We don’t want to see our friends and family in distress. And in people without anxiety saying these things can be okay. But this doesn’t help as we probably know from personal experience. For example, the other night, I was in distress over my exams and I was told just to calm down. This wasn’t helpful and this wasn’t going to solve my problem. Therefore, whilst I don’t have anxiety. Saying this to me just wasn’t helpful. And telling a person who suffers with anxiety to calm down is even worse for two reasons. Firstly, you are basically implying you don’t care about this person. Or you don’t care enough about the person to sit down with them and talk about their concerns. Secondly, this is a pointless phrase. Since when people are anxious find it very hard to relax because their sympathetic nervous system is activated, and they are experiencing the fight or flight response. And this is designed to override reasoning. Meaning, trying to reason with them is pointless. Instead, you should ask open-ended questions about how they’re feeling. As this shows you care about the person and you’ll start to understand why they’re feeling the way they do. Don’t Enable an Unhelpful Coping Behaviour There are a lot of different angles we can come from at this point. For example, don’t encourage an anxious person to drink alcohol just because it takes the edge off. Since this could develop alcohol dependency with the anxious person believing they need alcohol to be okay. Skip these next two paragraphs if we’re sensitive to certain topics. Another example, very quick, is self-harming behaviour. Instead of allowing or avoiding the person who’s doing it. Try and be helpful and help them find another way to cope with it. Then another example is it’s normal to want to protect your loved ones from the thing that scares them. For instance, if your brother is scared of people. But your mother makes sure he avoids other people. Then this seems logical and protective. Yet over time, this is harming him. Since anxiety feeds off avoidance. And for lack of a better term, the longer this brother avoids people, the worse his anxiety will get. In addition, this happens because as a child if your parent keeps protecting you from a particular thing. Then you start to form an association between the thing and danger. Instead, it’s important to gently and firmly hold them to account. You do this by supporting them and slowly introducing them to the stimuli or thing that makes them anxious. For instance, you could say to them: “How about I introduce you to one or two people? I’ll be there the whole time to support you,” And things similar to that. Don’t Say I’ve Got Problems Too This point is just comical, and I have spoken about this months ago on the psychology podcast. So, I know this is perfectly logical because we do all have our own problems and issues. And you might want to remind them of that fact to comfort them. However, when you say this to an anxious person or anyone. You are clearly dismissing them and you are implying saying that you don’t care about them. And you don’t even care enough about them to sit down and talk about their difficulties. Instead, you sit down and listen to their difficulties and see what they have to say. I really hoped you enjoyed this clinical psychology episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE AND EXCLUSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Formulation in Psychotherapy Have a great day! Clinical Psychology Reference https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-savvy-psychologist/201911/have-loved-one-anxiety-never-do-these-four-things I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

In this clinical psychology episode of the podcast, we’re going to be looking at my reflection of Diversity Within Clinical Psychology and Clinical Psychology In Health Settings This episode of podcast has been sponsored by Biological Psychology: Third Edition Diversity Within Clinical Psychology Friday 30th November 2020 For a change, I wanted to talk about diversity in the field of clinical psychology, because I truly believe it's great there’s at least one professional where women are in highly paid positions. However, the problem with the field o clinical psychology is the vast majority are white middle-class women. Although, the one benefit of this, if we go by stereotypes, is women tend to more open to difficulties, and talking then than men in my opinion. Yet this is still very problematic because every class tends to have a certain experience and it is this commonality that makes people ‘click’ and this helps the therapeutic alliance. Therefore, if I needed therapy then I would find this difficult with a white middle-class woman to some extent. As yes, I am middle class and white but I am male. So, I would have been exposed to different societal pressures, expectations and experiences. Therefore, I might be more open to talking to a male but I’m not sure. But I know other men would prefer to talk to men. I would elaborate but I have some more personal thoughts on this topic. Additionally, black people would probably be more comfortable talking to a fellow black person. Since they can discuss their own black experiences. And the same goes for members of the LGBT+ community. Overall, it is imperative that we increase diversity within clinical psychology so we can help clients get the best therapist for them and they can have a very good therapeutic relationship and this increases the likelihood of having successful therapy and living better lives. Clinical Psychology In Health Settings Friday 4th December 2020 So, I’ve just watched the first 30 minutes of an episode of My 600LB Life. I don’t normally watch it but this makes its way into this clinical log because this female on the program had a medication condition that was caused and maintained by her obesity. Now, this is a prime example of the biopsychosocial model. Due to the female could have a medical operation to fix her medical condition. Yet this is useless as unless her mental processes are changed to become healthier then she will get obese once more, and her medical condition will return. Therefore, this highlights the immense importance of coming away from the biomedical model and towards the biopsychological model and formulation. As demonstrated in this case, the psychological causes of obesity must be treated as important as the physical factors. Or the physical factors will only be maintained and never end or be rerated. I really hope you enjoyed this clinical psychology reflection and I would love to show your own reflection in the comments! If you want to support the podcast, please check out the links below: FREE AND EXCLUSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Biological Psychology: Third Edition Have a great day!

In this clinical psychology episode of the podcast, we’re going to be looking at my reflection of My Carl Jung Interview on Episode 61 and The Positives of Video Games. This episode of podcast has been sponsored by Psychology of Relationships: The Social Psychology of Friendships, Romantic Relationships, Prosocial Behaviour and More Third Edition. Episode 61 of The Psychology World Podcast Reflection Friday 13th November 2020: Yesterday, I recorded and interviewed New York Times and USA Today Best-selling author J. F Penn and we talked about Carl Jung, the psychology of religion and much more. However, the reason why the interview has made its way into this reflective log is because this gave me a chance to improve my interview skills as I haven’t interview someone for ages. This is always useful since as a clinical psychologist I would be interviewing clients about their difficulties. Whilst, I was very organised and the interview went great. I must confess I did stutter a lot in some sections. Now, I’ve never seen this as a problem per sat but this is a skill I need to work out in the future for my hopeful clinical psychology career. In addition, I wanted to reflect on a particular part of the interview where Joanna and I were discussing Carl Jung and his ideas about alchemy. This I loved because he believed in short, that people were base metals and could grow and develop into beautiful things. This idea I love because it is a great way to think about people, and as clinical psychologists, it is our jobs to not only help people further their own personal difficulties. But to help them to live more fulfilled lives. Yet it is our job to help them to realise their full potential so they can turn from base metals into something beautiful and precious. Without making this sound like a self-improvement thing! Positives of Video Games In Clinical Psychology Saturday 21st November 2020 As a quick entry into this reflective log, I wanted to talk about a new study, I quickly spoke about the psychology news section of The Psychology World Podcast. I read about a new study that found playing video games for longer can increase well-being. Now, I’ll fully admit the effect of this was small. But an effect is still an effect and the methodology was very good. Therefore, I wanted to discuss the findings in relation to clinical psychology. Whether it be at an individual, interpersonal or family level. Video games can conflict for several reasons. Yet one of these ideas is the parents quite rightfully being concerned about their child’s wellbeing in relation to gaming. Now, I’m going to keep this quite general, and I’ll ignore other factors here. However, if this reason is a source of conflict within the family and contributes to difficulties and other outcomes as outlined in systemic therapy. This, as clinical psychologists or who those wanting to become, we have to inform the parents about the growing amount of research supporting playing video games and wellbeing. Also, there can be a social aspect to online. This is especially relevant during the second UK lockdown. Of course, all research has limitations and I’m not saying we should encourage people to play video games for long periods of time. Since people still need real human contact, exercise, going outside, etc. However, I believe this piece of research and other studies like it should have an awareness in clinical psychologists. Since video games can be a source of conflict within families. I really hope you enjoyed this clinical psychology reflection and I would love to show your own reflection in the comments! If you want to support the podcast, please check out the links below: FREE AND EXCLUSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Psychology of Relationships: The Social Psychology of Friendships, Romantic Relationships, Prosocial Behaviour and More Third Edition. Have a great day!

In this episode of The Psychology World Podcast, we’re looking at the biological and abnormal psychology topic of How Drugs Affect Behaviour? This is a great episode! This psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by: Biological Psychology Third Edition. Extract from Biological Psychology Third Edition by Connor Whiteley. COPYRIGHT 2021 This has to be one of my favourite biological psychology topics because looking at the effects of drugs on behaviour means we can apply all this knowledge to our everyday life. Since drugs are a massive problem in the world. Therefore, drugs can either facilitate (agonists) or inhibit (Antagonist) synaptic transition. The Case of Epilepsy: This condition is a great way to look at the effects of drugs because epilepsy, which causes seizures, are caused by abnormal electrical signals in the brain. Thankfully, they can be treated with Anti-epileptic drugs. (AEDs) These reduce the likelihood of a seizure by alternating or reducing the excessive electrical activity in neurons. As well as different AED works in different ways and have different effects on the brain. In more detail, these drugs work by attaching themselves to the surface of the neuron. Afterwards, they affect the neurotransmitter responsible for sending the abnormal messages to the brain. For example, some AEDs affect the sodium channels where they bind themselves to sodium channels on neurons. Like: phenytoin and Lamotrigine. Whereas other AEDs block calcium channels. Like: topiramate and Lamotrigine. Dopamine and Mental Health: Another way how neurotransmitters can impact behaviour is by causing mental conditions, and I talk about this topic a lot more in Abnormal Psychology 3rd Edition. But the levels of dopamine in the body can have a number of effects on our behaviour. For example, too little dopamine can cause: · Tremor and ability · Feeling lethargy and misery as seen in depression. · Cravings and withdrawal · Lack of attention and concentration as seen in ADHD This can be seen in Methylphenidate (Ritalin) as it blocks the reuptake of dopamine but in a more gradual and more controlled way. This is often prescribed for people with ADHD. Meaning this boosts the concentration of dopamine in the body. Allowing the dopamine levels in the body to return to ‘normal’ levels. Also, addictive substances increases dopamine activity in certain areas of the brain as seen in “the reward pathway” as mentioned in Aron, Fisher and Brown (2005) Whereas, too much dopamine in the body can cause: · Hallucinations and paranoia like in Schizophrenia. · Uncontrolled speech and movement like in Tourette’s. · Agitation and repetitive action as seen in OCD. · Over excitement and euphoric like when people are experiencing mania. Additionally, almost all abused drugs stimulate dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens as well as stained busts of dopamine inhibit cells that release the neurotransmitter GADA. This is thought to be one of the causes of Schizophrenia. Please see Abnormal Psychology 3rd Edition for more information. Although, something I love about psychology is sometimes pieces of facts contradict each other. Sometimes a lot, sometimes only slightly. For example, activity in the nucleus accumbens probably contributes more to the ‘wanting’ of a drug than people actually liking it. Yet it has a role in both. This is supported by the fact, addition is based heavily on someone wanting a drug as the amount of pleasure decreases during addiction. Biological Psychology of Alcohol: Alcohol and its effects are well known and people love it. Personally, I don't drink because of its taste let alone its side effects. However, alcoholism is a problem that's going to be the focus of this section. Therefore, alcohol is a drug that has long historical use and is used widely throughout the world. As well as alcoholism or alcohol dependency is the continued use of alcohol despite medical or social harm even after a person has decided to quit or decrease drinking. For example, if a person has decided to give up alcohol but they can't. Then chances are they have an alcohol difficulty. And if you're read my Abnormal Psychology or Clinical Psychology book then you know I prefer the term condition or difficulty over the term problem. Since that word can be as damaging as the condition itself. Furthermore, alcohol has a number of physiological effects: · Inhibition of sodium across the member · Expansion of the surface of the membranes · Decrease serotonin activity This is one reason why alcohol is a depressant. · Enhanced response by GAGDA receptor · Blockage of Glutamate receptors · Increased dopamine activity To treat addiction, Antabuse, this blocks the conversion of acetaldehyde to acetic acid, and methadone are used but many people do not respond to other treatment, so medication has been used to reduce cravings instead. Surprisingly enough, alcoholism isn’t just one type. In fact, there are two different types of alcoholism and compared to type 1, type 2 alcoholism starts faster, sooner, usually more severe, and it affects more men than women. Causes of Alcoholism: There are several causes of alcoholism, including cognitive and social factors, but in terms of biological causes. There are genetic influences on alcoholism because genes have an impact on impulsiveness, responses to stress and overall calmness. Yet some risk factors for alcoholism include: · Family history · Feeling low intoxication after moderate drinking · Immense stress relief after drinking I really hoped you enjoyed this biological and abnormal psychology episode. If you want to learn more, please check out the links below: FREE AND EXCLUSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Biological Psychology Third Edition Abnormal Psychology: The Causes and Treatments of Depression, Anxiety and More Third Edition. Both books are available on all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback, large print and hardback copies from Amazon or your local bookstore. You can direct the eBook directly from me here. I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

In this episode of The Psychology World Podcast, we’ll be looking at the social psychology topic of Why People Don’t Help Others? Using an extract from my new book. I really hope you enjoy this psychology episode as much as I do. This podcast episode has been sponsored by Psychology of Relationships: The Social Psychology of Friendships, Romantic Relationships, Prosocial Behaviour and More. Third Edition. Available from all major eBook retailers, direct from me and you can order the paperback, hardback and large print versions from Amazon and your local bookstore. Extract from Psychology of Relationships By Connor Whiteley. COPYRIGHT 2021 CONNOR WHITELEY. CHAPTER 10: WHY PEOPLE DON’T HELP? In the last chapter, we looked at the Bystander Effect and three factors behind Bystanderism. So, in this chapter, I wanted to investigate the topic of why people don’t help in more depth because Bystanderism isn’t the answer to everything. Rationality of Not Helping: To answer this question, Bickman (1972) ran a study where the participants were led to believe they were in an experiment with two other participants/ confederates. Subsequently, the participants heard a bookcase fall on top of one of the confederates, and the participants believed the other confederate could or couldn’t help the person. Also, they heard the other confederate interpret the event as an accident or not. In short, as a participant would have heard the bookcase fall on another person and if it was an accident or not, as well as if you were needed to help rescue the person. The results showed participants were a lot more likely to help if the confederate deemed it to be a definite emergency and they couldn’t help them. This makes sense because if someone is trapped; it wasn’t urgent and you weren’t needed to help. Chances are you aren’t going to help because you’re not needed. And yes, I can hear the numbers of readers saying “Yes I would still help,” I agree I want to think that but chances are we won’t. When Do Numbers of Bystanders Increase Helping? I quite like the study below because in psychology we hear a lot about the negative sides of social group (Social Psychology 3rd Edition) and the Bystander Effect. Therefore, I always love studies that turn the current research consensus on its head. Since we think the number of Bystanders only decrease helping, but it can increase helping in certain situations. Greilemeyer & Mugge (2015) conducted an experiment where they told students they needed 1 or 4 people to do an experiment. As well as the participants believed they were alone or 10 other people that received the request. The hypothesises were: · If one person is needed the number of bystanders should decrease helping as supported by Latane & Darley (1968) · When others are needed, the more bystanders there are, there should be an increase in helping. Their results showed the participants thought helping made ‘less sense’ when one person was needed but many were available. As well as when many were needed and only 1 was available. This was caused by the diffusion of responsibility in the first scenario. Whereas when the opposite was true when many people were needed, and many were available. This increased helping. Again, I think this study has a lot of real-world applications because if multiple people are needed to help. Then what’s the point of one person trying? Also, I would love to think that I would still try and chances are I probably would. Yet it is still interesting to consider. A Social Psychology Final Study: Lastly, Harari, Harari & White (1985) studied rape scenario on a university campus to see if men alone or men in groups would help. The results showed men in groups overwhelming helped. Probably due to feeling safe and the norm is to help. Critical Thinking: Nonetheless, the study was far from perfect because helping is naturally strong in a natural setting. Since humans are inclined to help others. You’ll see in the next chapter on Altruism how true that can be sometimes. Additionally, there was no discussion of ethics in the study because these weren’t briefed, and informed consent wasn’t obtained before the study. Furthermore, when someone cries rape, you know its an emergency so the generalisability of the findings might not be as high as you think it is. Due to the results of the study can only be generalised to situations that are clearly an emergency. On the positive side, participants who thought they would have to talk to the participant later helped faster. In addition, the number of confederates had no impact on this. (Gottlieb & Carver, 1980) Lastly and perhaps the most interesting finding is public self-awareness reverses The Bystander Effect. I talk a lot more about self-awareness in Social Psychology. Yet I think this is an interesting finding as it could mean the way to get more people to help others, could be to make them more aware of themselves in these situations. Since if people know they’re being watched, and let’s face it judged by others, for their actions then it might make more people help others. For example, if a person was walking in a street and they saw an elderly lady fall over and no one, including the elderly woman saw that person, then there’s a chance they would avoid the situation, and hope someone else would help. However, if that person thought about the negative judgements other people would be giving them for not helping. Then maybe, just maybe they would help. It’s an interesting idea to think about. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE AND EXCLUSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Psychology of Relationships: The Social Psychology of Friendships, Romantic Relationships, Prosocial Behaviour and More. Third Edition. Available from all major eBook retailers, direct from me and you can order the paperback, hardback and large print versions from Amazon and your local bookstore. Have a great day! I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

In this clinical psychology episode of the podcast, we’re going to be looking at my reflection of Comments on Psychology of Religion and Psychology TV Programmes. This episode of podcast has been sponsored by Developmental Psychology: Third Edition. Comments on Psychology of Religion Reflection Friday 23rd October 2020 This week I finished reading a new book on the psychology of religion. Now, originally I wasn’t going to do a reflection because I tend to religion and politics are best to avoid unless you the person. Although, I will do a brief reflection. Therefore, the book mentioned a lot of interesting things. Like, children aren’t inheritably more likely to believe in God. This is supported by Paiget’s theory as the god concept is rather abstract, and children don’t tend to form abstract thought until age 11. Also, it mentioned that religion doesn’t naturally make you moral. There are other factors as well as it expanded upon topics of religious socialisation and the restrictive morals of religion. Anyway, linking this book to clinical practice, I want to stress that when we’re in clinical settings and in therapy sessions. We must respect [people belief’s and we must not be prejudice or discriminate against them. It is their right to believe. Therefore, in clinical settings, we must culturally adapt our sessions and be mindful of our reflectivity. To try and ensure the client benefits as much as possible from the therapy. Consequently, if we need to change how the therapy is done slightly to make it more approachable or how the setting to make the client more comfortable then we should, or at least, consider it. At the end of the day, it is our job as clinical psychologists to help the client live a better happier life and their religion will impact this in one way or another. Reference The Psychology of Religion by Vassilis Sargoglou. Psychology TV Programme Reflection Friday 30th October 2020 Usually, I’m not much of a ‘psychology’ TV programmes because 99% of them tend to get psychology completely wrong. However, I’ve recently discovered a new ‘drama’ I guess you could call it that, and it was very good. It was called Evil. In short, it’s a clinical psychologist who is hired by the catholic church to assess ‘miracles’ and other supposed holy things. Like, demonic possession. Also, I like it because it has pretty dark scenes. Nevertheless, the reason why I’m talking about it in a reflective journal is because this fictional programme clearly shows how mental conditions can manifest, as well as lead people to believe they’re demonically possessed. Where they could be psychotic or suffer from schizophrenia. Overall, this highlights the need with clinical psychology to be respectful of people's beliefs and we need to acknowledge that mental conditions can manifest in different ways. Finally, I like that this program shows briefly the pressure that some legal professionals put on clinical psychologists as expert witnesses to sat the ‘right’ thing. I know this is rare but it reminds us that we never ‘bow down’ to that pressure. Or we risk the integrity of the profession, let alone ourselves. I really hope you enjoyed this clinical psychology reflection and I would love to show your own reflection in the comments! If you want to support the podcast, please check out the links below: FREE AND EXCLUSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Developmental Psychology: Third Edition. Have a great day!

This episode of The Psychology World Podcast is on the developmental psychology topic of Can Children Learn From Video. I really enjoy this episode and hopefully so will you! Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by: Developmental Psychology: A Guide to Developmental and Child Psychology. Available on all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback, large print and hardback version of the book from Amazon, your local Book Store or your can buy the eBook directly from me. Extract from Developmental Psychology: A Guide to Developmental and Child Psychology by Connor Whiteley. COPYRIGHT 2021 CONNOR WHITELEY. CHAPTER 30: Can Children Learn From Video? Young Children and Video Diving into this topic in more depth, the short answer is no young children cannot learn from video. One possible reason is because the video content often gives an inaccurate representation of the real world. But even when the video is realistic young children still have trouble learning from the video. For example, videos are perfectly polished, so the viewer rarely gets to see what it’s really like in the real world where it’s recorded. Does Screen Media Affect Language? Since the studies explain the range of interesting results about this topic, it’s better if we just dive into them. Learning from Video: Infants Robb, Richert & Wartella (2009) researched 12 to 15-month-old infants who watched a DVD that was designed for word learning for 6 weeks. Their results showed word learning didn’t have an increase in their language abilities. More specifically, it didn’t increase their increased receptive or expressive vocabulary. But this did rely on reporting from parents, so take the results with a pinch of salt. However, 56% of parents said the baby video did “positively affect development” (p. 7, Rideout, 2007) But I have no idea how they would know that? How would parents know the DVD impacted positive and it wasn’t the natural maturation of their child that was responsible for this positive development. Consequently, parents might not be the best source of information about what babies are learning from video. I can certainly agree with that point! Another study of interest is Zimmerman, Christakis, & Meltzoff (2007)’s correlational study, remember we CANNOT establish cause and effect here. The researchers interviewed 1,009 parents of 2 to 24-month-old infants by telephone to ask about babies’ TV viewing habits, and parents completed a vocabulary checklist for the child using the MacArthur CDI. The results showed for infants under 16 months each hour a day of TV viewing was associated with a 17 point drop in their vocabulary score. However, this was not the case for toddlers. I think this study is interesting because the results are possibly alarming, but this is correlational research, and we don’t know exactly what’s happening here. But more research should be done into this area. The final study we’ll look at is DeLoache et al., (2010) who studied 72 infants aged 12 to 18 months and they were put into groups and they watched: a video with parent interaction, a Video with no interaction, no video with just a parent teaching the infant words or they were a control group, no teaching or video. Afterwards, there were two tests: the initial visit and the final visit. During the initial visit, the infants were tested on 13 words from the video and the words they didn’t know became their personal ‘target’ list. Afterwards, during the final visit, the infants were tested on their personal list and they were presented with objects in one order. Then the reverse order and the infant had to choose the object correctly both times for them to be credited with learning the word. A bit harsh! The results found the infants learnt very little from the baby videos and instead they learnt significantly more through parent-child interaction. However, the parents were assessed as well. Their assessment found a significant correlation between how much parents liked the video and how much the parents thought their children learned. With a Pearson coefficient of r = .64, and a p-value of p <.01) Nonetheless, there was no correlation between how much parents thought their infant learnt and how well they did on the post-test. In conclusion, parents may overestimate what their children are learning from videos. Toddlers and Video: So far, we’ve spoken a lot about how video affects infants, but what about toddlers? To answer this question, the search task was created by Troseth, Saylor, & Archer (2006) who studied 24-month-old toddlers and these toddlers followed the instructions of people hiding behind a toy on the video. So, the toddler thought the toy was talking to them. The results showed the toddlers were 33% more likely to remember and use the information offered by the video. Although, when the person in the video was interactive with the toddler and responding to them, this was done through CCTV. The toddlers were able to learn the information presented by the video. Again, toddlers learn through interaction. This is further supported by a word learning study by Roseberry et al (2013) where toddlers learnt a set of new verbs by someone teaching it to them live or being taught the verbs through a skype video call, or a pre-recorded video. The results showed the toddler learned the words from the live interaction and the interactive video call, but not from the pre-recorded videos. Meaning toddlers learn from interactive video and not pre-recorded ones. Nevertheless, as much as I love these studies, it isn’t always practical to use a video call. So, can children ever learn educational content from pre-recorded videos? They might be able to if the interaction is ‘surrounding’ the video. For instance, an interaction is happening between the parent and child while they both watch the video? After all, this is similar to a child having their parents read a book to them, and this helps their reading. Content Matters: I’ve really enjoyed this chapter and I hope you have too. All in all content matters because the videos have to be age-appropriate and interactive content, like Dora the Explorer, is better than fast-paced or adult-directed content. I really hope you enjoyed this developmental psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE AND EXCLUSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY EBOOK BOXSET Developmental Psychology: A Guide to Developmental and Child Psychology. Available on all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback, large print and hardback version of the book from Amazon, your local Book Store or your can buy the eBook directly from me. Have a great day! I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

In this clinical psychology episode of the podcast, we’re going to be looking at my reflection of Genetic Treatments For Mental Health Conditions? I loved this podcast episode! This episode of podcast has been sponsored by Social Psychology: A Guide to Social and Cultural Psychology Third Edition. Genetic Treatments for Mental Health Conditions Reflection Friday 17th October 2020: This week for my biological psychology module seminar, I had to read a paper called: Plomin and College (2001): Beyond Inheritance and I really wanted to reflect on this paper. As it mentioned Clinical psychology in a passing note. Due to it mentioned that if psychology can find specific genes. Then it’s possible to find genetically based treatment options for mental conditions. Personally, I can understand the logic as it would be amazing, cheaper and much more effective than current biological treatment. If we had a magic bullet where we could give someone a drug that targets specific genes, and the mental conditions goes away. However, as my podcast audience and readers know, I am a massive opponent to the biomedical model. And this is what this idea would mean. It would be reductionist and propose that everything is down to ‘simple’ genetics. Whilst, completely informing the cognitive and social factors because how would a genetic treatment help a depressed person with a negative cognitive style or someone with a bad parental relationship? Therefore, in my opinion, I love the simple idea of this tiny paragraph. As it could save people time as you might only need to take this treatment one. It could save services money as this treatment is a magic bullet. As well as it could prevent the service or organisation from confounding the mental condition. Since the client spends virtually no time with the service. On the other hand, I strongly believe in this is a reductionist way of thinking. That reinforces the biomedical model. And it neglects the social and cognitive factors that are just as important as the genetic factors. Therefore, I want to wrap p this entry by stressing the importance of the biopsychosocial model. So, we acknowledge the different factors and how they interact. Also, I want to emphasise the importance of formulation as instead of creating a magic bullet for the type of condition. Where were label people. We need to acknowledge that they are a person and we need to tailor make a treatment for them and their unique difficulties. I really hope you enjoyed this clinical psychology reflection and I would love to show your own reflection in the comments! If you want to support the podcast, please check out the links below: FREE AND EXCLUSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Social Psychology: A Guide to Social and Cultural Psychology Third Edition. Have a great day!

In this social psychology episode of the podcast, we’ll be looking at What Social Groups Do for Individuals. This episode has been sponsored by Social Psychology: A Guide to Social and Cultural Psychology Third Edition. Extract from Social Psychology: A Guide to Social and Cultural Psychology Third Edition by Connor Whiteley ©2021 Chapter 3: What Groups Do For Individuals? Throughout the book, you’re going to see a lot about social groups and their negative side from social influence to intergroup relationships. You’re going to see quite a bit of negativity surrounding social groups. So, in this chapter, I wanted to stress that social groups can benefit us a lot. Interdependence: Firstly, being a part of a social group gives us more interdependence and people can often achieve more in groups than alone. (Thibaut & Kelley, 1959) I certainly know this from doing group projects at university because depending on the members of the group. A presentation or report can take half the time. A classic example of this idea is trade unions (Veenstra & Haslas, 2000) because people who identify highly with the union are more willing to take part in conflicts compared to if they were alone. Even people with low identification with groups are willing to take part in the action when it's in their own interest. I did this in 2020 when Audible was (and still is as of January 2021) abusing authors by hiding return data and encouraging customers to read an entire audiobook that they loved and return it. Yes, it’s great for the customers but authors are losing a lot of money to this ‘great’ benefit to customers. Therefore, as I’m a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors and I identify highly with the group. I took action by signing some petition, cancelling my audible membership and telling people about the conflict. Affiliation, similarity, and Support: Another great benefit of being a part of a social group is grouping together with people who have the same attitudes. (Bairister & Leary, 1995) and the same problems. This is a great benefit because it allows people to come together and talk about their attitudes. When it might not be a good thing to talk about their attitudes with other people. For example, I would talk about my dislike for Brexit with my family and friends, but I wouldn’t talk about that topic to a lot of other people. Furthermore, social groups allow people to feel understood, less alone, and befriended. This can be seen in people that are sad since they seek support. (Gray, Ishii & Ambady, 2011) Terror Management: I Think This Benefit Has Definitely Been Proved By The COVID-19 Pandemic Because Let’s Face It We Are All Going To Die. Therefore, People Look For Structure To Confront The Inevitability Of Death. (Greenberg Et Al, 1986) This Is Provided by group norms, identifiers, values and human company. Also known as social groups. Need for Social Identity: We’ll discuss social identity a lot more in a few chapters time but social groups are great at providing us with social identity. This is very important for reducing subjective uncertainty about the world. (Hoggs et al, 2008) Optimal Distinctness: Let’s face it people love to be special and people want to be different and unique. This is where optimal distinctness comes in because people need to distinguish themselves (Brewer, 1991) but we need to affiliate with others as well. Therefore, being a part of a group means we get to affiliate with others, but we get to be distinct members of that group and wider society as a whole. Strategies for Optimal Distinctiveness: There are a lot of ways to achieve optimal distinctiveness. For example, people can identify with a subgroup of a mainstream group. This allows us to be distinctive and socialize with other people. (Hornsey & Jetten, 2004) Another strategy is to identify with a non-mainstream group and this is where my strategy comes in. As I’m an author and authors are hardly mainstream, so I get to socialise with other authors. Yet I’m distinctive in terms of I write books and I run my own creative global empire/ business. You might have your own idea about this strategy. For example, if you’re in the UK then during your university years you might have belonged to a non-mainstream society. (club) I remember one of my friends belonging to the Quidditch society, and yes that is the sport from Harry Potter. Finally, people can achieve optimal distinctiveness by making themselves unique with a distinct role. So, you might be the leader of the social group or you might make yourself important in the group. Like: in my university’s baking society I’m treasurer in 2020-2021. Other Benefits of Social Groups Are: · Positive consequences for the self · They give us the motivation to protect the group I really hope you enjoyed today’s social psychology episode. If you want to support the podcast and learn more, please check out: FREE AND EXCLUSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Social Psychology: A Guide to Social and Cultural Psychology Third Edition Have a great day! Social Psychology Reference Whiteley, C (2021) Social Psychology: A Guide to Social and Cultural Psychology. CGD Publishing.