CHILDREN

Just when I was beginning to lose my focus on Psychology, I witnessed an incident that put me back into perspective. A child crying in the hospital as her mother was wheeled into the emergency room. One often hears of the fragility of a child's mind but seldom sees it firsthand. Children work in strange ways that is beyond our comprehension. What we can understand is when they imitate our behavior and try to be like adults. We can also understand them when they behave like the opposite of adults and throw childish tantrums, but what we fail to grasp is when the blend in their adult-like maturity with their childlike innocence.

They have their mother's blue eyes and their father's sharp sense of hearing but what they see and listen is entirely different from what we look at or hear.Most importantly, their perceptions and reactions to situations are unfathomable. The little girl shrieks in pain, her face turns red and she cannot wrap her head around the fact that her mother is injured. Yet, when her mother is wheeled out, she inhales deeply and looks into her eyes and says- "get well soon". Strength radiates through her small four feet frame, even as she wipes those endless tears away.

"You are strong" is a phrase that people have been consoling me with for the past few weeks, given the recent hospital experiences that I have been through, and I cannot think of a less befitting phrase than that. Over the months, I have mastered,shall I say, the art of repressing feelings and ignoring those questions and doubts that are bursting through the surface of my sub-conscious. It is somehow easier to pretend that these questions of an uncertain future and the moral dilemmas, are of no importance and it is best to forget them altogether. It is easier to suppress the turmoil brimming inside, threatening to burst into my consciousness and engulf me in a process of self-realization. Instead, I put on a smile on my face, a cheer in my voice and live out my day through its mundane routines. For this, I am complimented each day as being "a strong girl."

The little girl did not hesitate to face her fears. She cried in pain in spite of the stares from strangers. She embraced her pain and felt it pierce into her. She allowed herself to be honest with her feelings but when her mother came in she knew she had to be there for her and so she wiped her tears and looked at her. Her eight year old mind was still unable to accept that her mother's condition and yet she displayed the unnerving strength of a mature adult. This blend of emotions is so becoming of the children around us. They work in strange ways and we continue to be baffled by them.

It is this wonderful nature of children that enthralled me to unravel their psychological mysteries.

INSANITY

That. It is a disease.
A disease of the mind
That will allow you to overcome who you are
In order to become something that you are not.

That. It is a change
A change so different that it terrifies you
more than those around you
who cannot stand to see you this way

That. It is a belief
A belief so untrue
but it fuels you
and your delusions.

That. It is a system
to which you unwillingly submit
because you enjoy the pain it transmits
even though you know it hurts you.

That. It is your life now
Even though it is something you never dreamed of
It is your worst fear and you can't even look into a mirror
For you have now entered your black world

And you believe you will never be rescued.

MIRRORS OF CULTURE

Culture has always been a fluid, dynamic term that is conventionally associated with art, literature, architecture, language, tradition and ancestry. One working definition of culture, as given by the Britannica Encyclopedia, is the totality of socially transmitted behavioral patterns, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought. Through the ages, culture has been defined in terms of aesthetics, social norms and linguistics but what if there was a neurological explanation to this complex system?

Italian researcher Giacomo Rizzolatti and his colleagues have identified a group of neurons called Mirror Neurons in the frontal lobe of the brain. A mirror neuron is fired when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action being performed by another. Thus, the neuron "mirrors" the behavior of the other, as though the observer were itself acting. Such neurons have been directly observed in primates, humans and other species including birds. This is the basis of imitative behaviour. Neuroscientist Vilayanur Ramachandran, Director of Cognitive Research Center, University of California, believes that the mirror neurons are the basis of culture and civilization.

The mirror neurons are a subset of the motor neurons and they are triggered when an individual observes another performing an action. However, not all the observed actions are imitated, as the sensory receptors of our skin send a stronger message to the brain, inhibiting the signals triggered by the mirror neurons. V. Ramachandran and his colleagues devised an experiment where the skin receptors of the participants were desensitized. As hypothesized, the desensitized participants were found making involuntary movements when they were made to observe individuals performing certain actions. This established the role of the mirror neurons in imitative behavior or as V Ramachandran puts it “the neurons are adopting to the other person’s point of view.”

V Ramachandran then made a historical observation. Seventy five thousand years ago there was a sudden emergence and rapid spread of a number of skills that are unique to human beings like tool use, the use of fire, the use of shelters, language, the ability to understand an individual’s mind and interpret behaviour. Even though the human brain had achieved its present size almost three or four hundred thousand years ago, the emergence of mirror neurons was seen only seventy five thousands year ago. V Ramachandran attributes the rapid development of human civilization to this sudden emergence of a sophisticated mirror neuron system, which allowed one to imitate other people's actions. Hence, when there was a sudden accidental discovery by one member of the group, like the use of a particular tool, it spread rapidly across the population, and was transmitted down the generations.

The imitation of complex skills is now known as culture and it is the basis of civilization.

Psyched!

Once I had multiple personalities, but now we are feeling well.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute.
I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not sure.
The best thing about being schizophrenic is that I'm never alone.
Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean people aren't out to get you!
Hypochondria is the only illness that I don't have.


Hello, welcome to the psychiatric hotline:
If you are obsessive-compulsive; please press 1 repeatedly.
If you are co-dependent, please ask someone to press 2 for you.
If you have multiple personalities, please press 3,4, and 5
If you are paranoid delusional, we know who you are and what you want. Just stay on the line so we can trace the call.
If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a little voice will tell you which number to press.
If you are depressive, it doesn't matter which number you press. No one will answer.

"I see you were last employed by a psychiatrist," said the employer to the applicant. "Why did you leave?"
"Well," she replied, "I just couldn't win. If I was late to work, I was hostile. If I was early, I had an anxiety complex. If I was on time, I was compulsive."

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BAD-DAY MOODY? Bipolar Mood Disorder

Sixteen year old Monica Thompson had a rather strange routine. She would wake up early in the morning only to find her face covered with tears and hands bruised with scars. She had a difficulty in recalling the events of the previous night but would easily fall into her daily charade of being cheerful and active. She was an excellent student, a favorite amongst her friends and a good daughter. Her life seemed perfect but she would still find herself crying most of the time and sometimes she experienced uncontrollable anger and would throw chairs and books around her room. Apart from this abnormality, Monica was a perfectly healthy teenager.


What she or her family didn’t realize was that Monica was suffering from Bipolar Mood Disorder.

This disorder is the “common cold” of psychological disorders. Moods are emotional states and mood disorders are psychological disorders in which individuals experience swings in their emotional states that are extreme and prolonged (Baron, 2002). Mood disorders affect 21.3% of women and 12.7% of men at least once in the course of their lives.

In a bipolar disorder, as the name suggests, a person undergoes mood swings that are poles apart- Mania and Depression.

It is characterized by irritability, euphoria, hostility, decreased or increased sleep, change in appetite, suicidal thoughts and behavior, grandiose and lofty planning during mania and crying spells during depression.

Although these symptoms seem easily identifiable abnormal behavioral patterns, it is in fact rather difficult to spot a person suffering from this disorder.

The case of Monica Thompson for instance is how bipolar disorder is manifested in most people. They may be able to still function normally in certain situations such as their academic performance and daily chores but there is a consistent decline in their efficiency. Usually their inefficiency is interpreted as a ‘rough’ period or a bad day.

These constant ‘blues’ are generally ignored and the person usually does not seek help. Self injury and the attempts of suicide are signals for attention and help but in most cases these go unnoticed.

The affected individuals themselves are seldom aware of their condition. They know something is ‘wrong’ but cannot put their finger on it. The may be unable to comprehend the reasons that urge them to behave in strange ways and the fear of rejection prevents them from voicing their troubles.

As a concerned friend or family member, one must be quick to react to the registered changes. If the above mentioned symptoms occur for everyday for one week or longer, it is advisable to seek immediate help.

Counseling and therapy are sure ways of overcoming the disorder. Along with this, the person requires a trusted and loving friend or parent to stimulate the progress. An outlet for their frustration, a shoulder to cry on, and a model to look up to is what they need the most.

With constant care and guidance, one can fight the bipolar disorder and return to their happy and healthy life.

Luckily for Monica, her mother discovered her problem, which had stemmed out of a molestation incident that she had experienced in her childhood, and with regular therapy she was able to overcome this malady.

OPERATE YOUR WAY THROUGH An Introduction to Operant Conditioning

WHAT IS LEARNING?


Learning is one process that transcends all other human mental and behavioral processes. Apart from our instincts (inborn patterns of behavior that are biologically predetermined), all other thoughts, beliefs, actions and even emotional responses are learnt.

Learning has been defined as a relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs due to experience and practice and is not a result of the organism’s temporary state or maturation.

Behavioral psychologists study learning in terms of stimulus-response relationships. A stimulus such as a spider when associated with a loud noise results in a response of screaming out of fear. This is an example of a type of learning known as Classical Conditioning (Ivan Pavlov, 1927). Here, two stimuli are paired together to bring about a response to a stimulus that previously did not emit that type of behavior.

OPERANT CONDITIONING

However, not all patterns of behavior have been learnt by combining stimuli. How did we learn to study and do well on a test or how did we learn to stop making tantrums every time we needed attention? We learnt this through the consequences we experienced each time we displayed any of these behaviors. The praise and recognition we received on an excellent test score or the spanking our parents gave us when we kicked our feet in the air and cried out for attention helped us learn an appropriate conduct of behavior.

This type of learning, which gives importance to the response, is called Operant Conditioning. It is the process in which a voluntary response is strengthened or weakened, depending on its favorable or unfavorable consequences (Feldman, 2004). In other words, it is the concept of rewards and punishments.

We continue or learn to continue those behaviors that are rewarded or reinforced and we discontinue or learn to discontinue those behaviors that are punished.



EXPERIMENTS OF OPERANT CONDITIONING

Edward L. Thorndike was the forerunner of this concept. He experimented on cats by putting them in a cage that had a lever which opened the door. Outside the cage was a plate of food. The cat wandered around the cage and accidently stepped on the lever. After a few more trails, it automatically stepped on the lever to get to its food. Hence, behavior had been learnt as the action of stepping on the lever had been rewarded with food.

B.F Skinner took the experiment forward and built a Skinner box where rats or pigeons were placed and taught to press a button or peck a key to obtain food. Skinner formalized the concept of reinforcements (stimuli that increase behavior), and punishments (stimuli that decrease behavior).

RELEVENCE

Through these simple experiments a whole new dimension has been added to learning. Most of our actions are determined by the consequences we experience. Whether it is the angry glare of a friend who we just jibbed or the appreciation received by our boss on winning an important deal, we are constantly adjusting out behaviors to suit the consequences.

As intelligent beings with higher cognitive capacities, we are quick to form a relationship between the action and its outcome. We not only learn what to do and what not to do but also learn to expect consequences. For example, if making yourself look attractive won you a hot date, you not learn that attractiveness helps in dating but you also learn to expect a good date each time you make yourself look attractive.

In conclusion, our lives operant around our experiences and outcomes. The much used phrase ‘we learn from our experience’ is more than apt to describe operant conditioning.