Psychology Thought: Sensory Adaption, Memory, and False Memory Syndrome - Assignment Example

Psychology Thought Paper Sensory Adaption The term sensory adaption is used to refer to the method through which human body adapts and becomes comfortable with the impact of particular stimuli after being in contact with the stimuli for a certain period of time. Sensory adaption takes place as a result of diminishing sensitivity of different receptors of senses because of being overly in contact with particular stimuli. As the process of sensory adaption takes place, the unpleasant impact of being in contact with particular stimuli diminishes and the human senses become comfortable with the impact of the stimuli. For example: a major example of sensory adaption is that way an individual’s body becomes comfortable with the temperature or the weather. When human body comes in contact with hot water, the first experience is unpleasant and the body may experience a burning sensation, but as the body continues to be in contact with hot water, the body becomes comfortable with the temperature of the water. Memory Memory is a component of human body that comprises of three process including encoding, storage and retrieval. Encoding takes place when an individual processes information into his/her memory. For example: Remembering what was taught in class lectures due to access concentration towards the lecture defines the process of encoding. Information is then stored in three types of memory in three stages. Class lecture is stored first in the sensory memory though the sense of hearing. The lecture is then transferred to the short term memory with the assistance of process of rehearsing and in this stage human beings generate meaning of the information obtained. The lecture learned is then transferred to the long term memory where the stored lecture is recalled by students when they give exams or respond to instructor’s questions. False Memory Syndrome The False Memory Syndrome is a psychological condition that is mostly experienced by adults and those suffering from this condition tend to believe certain events to be true while those events may not have actually occurred and this memory impacts the entire lifestyle of an individual. These memories are created due to certain psychological treatments such as hypnosis and during the treatment the individual may fail to alienate these memories from reality and perceive them to be true. For example: An individual may be hypnotized and made to believe that he/she may have conducted a murder in his/her life. The individual accepts that he/she may have conducted a murder and may go at lengths to prove that he/she may have killed somebody. Or the individual may try to refrain from stimulus that may be unpleasantly attached with the memory. For example: the individual may panic on the voice of police sirens as he/she may fear that the police is there to arrest them for a murder that may have not actually taken place. REM Behavior Disorder REM Behavior Disorder is even recognized as REM sleep behavior disorder and is characterized by the agitated movements conducted by the subject during sleep during the sleep phase called REM (Pastorino 132). For example: People tend to kick or shuffle in the bed during sleep, they even tend to walk during their sleep, these agitated movements during sleep occur as a consequence of a particular dream. These movements can be both harmful to the sleeper as well as any other person around him/her. David McClelland's Need for Affiliation David McClelland devised a need based theory which has been quite helpful in understanding why are people driven to operate in a particular manner. One of these needs identified by the theorists was an individual’s need for affiliation. This means that certain all individuals are motivated to conduct certain behaviors in order to gain affiliation with other individuals or a group of individuals. For example: Since childhood I have experienced a need to be associated with those who represent the high income earning group and due to this I have been through some of the best educational institutes in order to attain a degree and obtain a high paying level job so I can live a life like those who are quite rich and for the same purpose I even spend money in the same manner. David McClelland's Need for Power David McClelland was true in believing that all individuals are driven by the need of power or the need to be in authority and due to this they are involved in certain behaviors. This theory of need can be used by managers in motivating their subordinates in order to attain organizational aims and objectives. There are certain individuals who prefer being close to the top level management, they try to impress the top level management through various sources of power including expert power. They use their expertise to make the top level management think that they need that particular employee. The main aim of individuals who experience higher need for power is to gain recognition by others and the need to control resources. All individuals experience all kinds of needs identified by McClelland, but certain individuals experience higher degree of need for power and others might experience lower need for power. Moral Development - Kohlberg 3 Levels of Morality/Criticisms Kohlberg defined a three level model of development of an individual’s morality, it starts at a very young age when children differentiate between rights and wrong in accordance to the punishment and rewards they attain for their actions. For example: as a child I learned the difference between right and wrong when I was either scolded for concentrating more on leisure time and rewarded when I scored high in exams. According to the second stage, an individual distinguishes between right and wrong when he/she is labeled as good and bad for his/her activities. For example: when I conducted activities that are considered pro-social by society members, I was referred to as a good child and vice-versa. In the last stage, moral development occurs when an individual uses ethical guidelines to differentiate between right and wrong. For example: while making decisions I consider the good of the society and then take any action or decision. Works Cited Pastorino, Ellen, and Susann Portillo. What is psychology?: essentials. Australia: Wadsworth Cengage, 2010. Print. Read More