Personal Growth and Behavior

UNIT 1. Becoming a Person: Foundations 1. The Benefits of Positive Psychology, Michael Craig Miller, The Harvard Mental Health Letter , January 2002 Researchers, especially psychologists, are shifting their focus from human frailties to positive human qualities. In the realm of positive psychology, researchers hope to understand positive human experiences at both the personal and the societal level. What positive psychology is and what it means to the average person are featured in this article. 2. The Trouble With Self-Esteem, Lauren Slater, New York Times Magazine , February 3, 2002 Psychologists have long maintained that low self-esteem is problematic. New research suggests that inflated self-esteem also presents its own litany of problems. Whether pride indeed comes before a fall is examined in this article. 3. Repression Tries for Experimental Comeback, Bruce Bower, Science News , March 17, 2001 Sigmund Freud proposed an unconscious part of the psyche where we repress memories that we are trying to forget. Modern scientists are finding ways to measure these elusive memories, but the debate continues as to whether the unconscious exists. 4. Why Our Kids Are Out of Control, Jacob Azerrad with Paul Chance, Psychology Today , September/October 2001 America's children seem ruder and whinier than ever. Why? Jacob Azerrad and Paul Chance claim that parents often reinforce negative rather than positive behavior from their children. The children respond in turn with continual pestering and whining to get their own way. 5. In Search of a Leader, Linda S. Demorest and Deona Grady, Women in Business , March/April 2002 Leaders share common personality traits such as intelligence, charisma, persistence, and optimism as well as particular skills such as the ability to motivate and manage others. Using famous leaders as examples, the authors explore the qualities that make leaders different from other people. UNIT 2. Determinants of Behavior: Motivation, Environment, and Physiology 6. The Tangled Skeins of Nature and Nurture in Human Evolution, Paul R. Ehrlich, The Chronicle of Higher Education , September 22, 2000 Are we slaves to our genes or does culture modify our psyche and behaviors? According to Paul Ehrlich, attributes of an organism are the product of the interaction between biology and culture or learning. 7. Nature vs. Nurture: Two Brothers With Schizophrenia, Norman L. Keltner, Christopher A. James, Rani J. Darling, Lisa S. Findley, and Kelli Oliver, Perspectives in Psychiatric Care , July/September 2001 The case of two brothers with schizophrenia is presented. Each brother was affected by multiple but sometimes different causal factors, leading the author to discuss various implications for the nature/nurture controversy. 8. The Personality Genes, J. Madeleine Nash, Time , April 27, 1998 Does DNA shape behavior and personality ? Is there a gene that causes some individuals to seek novelty? Molecular biologists who believe the answer is yes are busy pursuing the study of genetic influences on our personalities. 9. Where We Come From, Nancy Shute, U.S. News & World Report , January 29, 2001 By studying DNA, some humans are now capable of tracing their various inherited or ancestral roots. The usefulness of such knowledgegood or badis not yet fully understood. 10. The Secrets of Autism, J. Madeleine Nash, Time , May 6, 2002 Scientists believe that autism may well have genetic roots. Various causes such as childhood vaccinations, abnormal brain development, and heredity are explored as sources of autism. 11. Altered States of Consciousness, Susan Greenfield, Social Research , Fall 2001 Susan Greenfield details the organization, plasticity, neurochemistry, and relationship to consciousness of the brain and concludes by examining the difficulty of building models of the brain via computers. 12. Brain-Based Learning, Ruth Palombo Weiss, Training & Development , July 2000 Ruth Palombo Weiss elaborates upon how the brain is involved in attention, pattern perception, emotions, memory, and motivation. She provides tips on how learning methodologies can take advantage of this knowledge. 13. Resolved: No More Dumb Resolutions, Jennifer Huget, Washington Post , January 2, 2002 It is easier to start a new behavior than to give up an old behavior. How to motivate ourselves by using small steps and other techniques is revealed by Jennifer Huget in this insightful article on goals and how to achieve them. UNIT 3. Problems Influencing Personal Growth 14. The Biology of Aging, Geoffrey Cowley, Newsweek , Special Issue, Fall/Winter 2001 As people mature they progress through a variety of age-related changes, some biological and some psychological. Geoffrey Cowley examines these changes and makes predictions about just how long we can live. 15. Fetal Psychology, Janet L. Hopson, Psychology Today , September/October 1998 Birth may be a significant occasion, but it is only one milestone in a series of important developmental events, many of which precede birth. Janet Hopson reviews the latest findings on just how fascinating and significant fetal life is. 16. Four Things You Need to Know About Raising Baby, Joanna Lipari, Psychology Today , July/August 2000 Modern research with infants is demonstrating that babies are not the passive receptacles we once thought they were. Joanna Lipari reveals four myths about infants and how science has altered our thinking about raising babies. 17. Childhood Is for Children, Johann Christoph Arnold, USA Today Magazine (Society for the Advancement of Education) , July 2001 The pressure for children to achieve appears to be undermining childhood. Parents and schools are pressuring children to grow up too fast. Johann Arnold suggests that we ought to let children be children. 18. Parenting: The Lost Art, Kay S. Hymowitz, American Educator , Spring 2001 Parents blame schools and schools blame parents for children's misconduct and failure. Kay Hymowitz explores this complicated web of blame and helps the reader to understand better today's parents and their relationship to their children. 19. Disarming the Rage, Richard Jerome, [read more]