The Relationship between Psychology and Movies Essays -- Good Will Hunt

Movies are most of the time related to a human being’s life. Movies apply psychology to their plots. For example, movies like the StepMom directed by Chris Columbus, and Good Will Hunting directed by Gus Van Sant show us that psychology is part of our lives in a day to day base. It could go from a divorce to a person who is scared to take a step in life. The textbook, Psychology: Core Concept, by Philip G. Zimbarbo, Ann L. Weber, and Robert L. Johnson, utilizes examples from these movies. We are going to see how these movies relate to the core principles of psychology. In Chapter four, we see how psychology starts all the way from the beginning of our lives. It shows how we as organisms change over time. We go from being a zygote to an embryo and then to a fetus. Then we go into behavior performance since we are born until we die. We start with little things like responding to sounds, recognizing our moms, moving from side to side, walking, talking, playing, and so forth. One big aspect of our life is learning to talk. We start out babbling, and then go into our one- word two-word stage, until we are able to learn grammar. Another aspect of our life is cognitive development. This is where our thinking changes. This theory comes from the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget. We start out by assimilating information. We assimilate through out our lives. Then there are stages we go through from birth to adulthood. The first stage is the Sensorimotor Stage which is from birth to the age of two. In this stage, the child relies heavily on innate motor response to stimuli. (pg.133.) Then there is the stage call Preoperational Stage which is from the age of two to about seven years. In this stage we learn to use our language in a well developed mental representation. (pg134.) Then there is the stage from seven to eleven years this is call the Concrete Operational Stage. In this stage, is capable of understanding conversation but still is incapable of abstract thought (pg.134.) The last stage is the Formal Operational Stage. This stage is from about 12 years and on. This stage is when our abstract thought appears. Then it continues to social and emotional development. This is where they child develops a theory of mind which is an awareness that other people’s behavior may be influenced by beliefs, desires, and emotions that differ from one’s own (pg. 137.) This makes up... ...his chapter. Matt Damon plays Will Hunting, a boy genius who was severely abused as a child and has been in trouble with the law ever since. He works as a janitor in a school. While working he solves an impossible mathematical problem on the blackboard. When the math professor, Lambeau, finds out that it was the janitor that solve the math problems he was amazed. This led him to go to Will’s court hearing and get him to be release under his supervision. Will is in court for The court had him meet a therapist. He first sees a psychiatrist who did not help him. Then he had hypnosis that did not work either. Then he meets the therapist who was played by Robin Williams. Sean helps Will Hunting change his life. Both Will and Sean are haunted by the past. These led to Will believing in Sean and the therapy starts to work. Also their similarity of the meaning of the world. will live life with a wonderful philosophy that he could go through the rest of his life without having to r eally know anyone.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Psychology is involved in all aspect of our lives. It answers many questions. Through movies like the ones mentioned above we are able to how psychology works.

Politics provides Essay

Unreasonable – Politics provides good examples of unreasonable slippery slope arguments. Here is a statement pulled from the blogs on Barack Obama’s campaign website: â€Å"†In order to bring change, you must vote,† Phillips said. † This assumes that if people vote something will change. Say the issue is the 35% tax rate. By this argument if people vote, the tax rate will change from 35%. Suppose the ballot issue says vote yes to keep taxes at 35% or vote no to eliminate taxes altogether. If 65% of voters vote yes, then nothing has changed. The tax rate is still 35% despite the fact that people voted. This example is an unreasonable argument because even if all of the people vote change may not happen, especially if one of the voting options is to keep things the same. Another example would be a vote to keep a certain elementary school open or to close it. The options make it such that voting may sustain instead of change. Reasonable – Science and medicine provide good examples of reasonable slippery slope arguments. Take the osteoporosis issue, if you don’t drink milk you might get osteoporosis. Inadequate calcium is a factor in bone loss. Bone loss is a factor in osteoporosis. Milk is a good source of calcium. Therefore it is reasonable to conclude that not drinking milk might put a person at risk for osteoporosis if they are not getting calcium through other sources. Milk also has Vitamin D which is needed for healthy bones. Other sources of calcium may not contain adequate amounts of Vitamin D. Calcium and Vitamin D together promote healthy bones. Milk is a good way to get calcium and Vitamin D together. Examining the food pyramid and other dietary guidelines in print will state these conclusions with scientific citations which hold more weight than the personal opinions expressed in the political example. 3) When faced with an analogy, why would it be important to be certain about how similar the two things really are? Provide an example of a false analogy and explain what specifically makes them fallacious. False analogy – Here is an example from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: â€Å"The book Investing for Dummies really helped me understand my finances better. The book Chess for Dummies was written by the same author, was published by the same press, and costs about the same amount. So, this chess book would probably help me understand my finances. † The problem with this analogy is the subject matter, chess vs. investing. In this analogy the reader is led to believe that common characteristics of the two books (publisher, author, production cost) provide a common purpose. The purpose of the first is to learn how to invest. The purpose of the second is to learn how to play chess? Unless chess and investing share common principles and characteristics, then reading a book about one does not give any insight into the other. By this logic, then if you shop at Walmart and find pair of shoes on sale for $14. 99 and a coffee maker on sale for $14. 99, then you might conclude that coffee makers are just like shoes. Another problem with this analogy, what if a person is looking for the definition of capital gains. Dummies books have glossaries, but the glossary of Chess for Dummies does not have the term capital gains, or any other investing related terminology. If it did, it would no longer be a book about Chess. Investing and playing chess are similar in that they require knowledge of process, skill at choosing moves or stocks, and a certain amount of luck to win or make money. In that sense investing is like chess. But to say that the reason that investing is like chess is because a couple of books on the subject share similar titles and similar production costs fails the test of logic. References Hass, C. Morning News. www. BarackObama. com, Blogs. Retrieved October 1, 2008, from http://my.barackobama. com/page/communi ty/post/stateupdates/gGxjRP Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Fallacies. Retrieved October 1, 2008, from http://www. iep. utm. edu/f/fallacy. htm#F alse%20Analogy www. WebMD. com. Arthritis: Osteoarthritis Basics. Retrieved September 30, 2008, from http://www. webmd. com/osteoarthritis/gu ide/osteoarthritis-basics www. WebMD. com. What Is Osteoporosis? What You Need to Know. Retrieved September 30, 2008, from http://www. webmd. com/osteoporosis/guid e/osteoporosis-menopause

Demonology, Criminology, the Pathological Perspective, and...

Demonology, Criminology, the Pathological Perspective, and Sadism No matter what happens in our lives, our bodies will always be surrounded or involved in numerous acts of deviance. Whether someone acts under the influence of the devil, or if we do something to bring pleasure to ourselves, something will be seen as deviant behavior. Whether it is caused or chosen, deviant behavior is a regular part of life. Every deviant has logic behind his or her behavior. Whether they do it for power, control, hatred, or anger, there is some type of reasoning for their actions. Why demonic deviants seen as evil? Why is sadism silenced? Why is deviance looked at as a bad thing? Demonic deviance rose in the middle as a way to describe those who were†¦show more content†¦After Marvin Wolfgang’s research, many see the point of the idea of the three-strike system, only severely punishing criminals after their third felony. California, who was one of the first states to adopt this law, s aw their crime rate significantly drop within a decade. Since then many other states have adopted the same system. The theorists in today’s society are deciding that we should resort to deterrence, and rational punishment as opposed rehabilitation. We are resorting the ideas of James. Q. Wilson, who believes that deviants know that if they’re caught they will be punished. This is Wilson’s â€Å"new realism† (Images of Deviance and Social Control 84). Even more prevalent though, in today’s society is the pathological perspective. A large amount of medical discoveries are being made today to help prevent, or control diseases. People are starting to become more and more comfortable with the idea of the pathological perspective. One of the most recent findings is hyperkinesis. A child who experiences symptoms such as â€Å"hyperactivity (excessive motor activity), short attention span, and restless or fidgety behavior† is to be diseased rather t han bad (Images of Deviance and Social Control 146). Even cures for small pox and polio have been discovered. Today, more and more research is being funded in order to find the causes to deviance. The pathological perspective is the most accepted theory for deviance today. Deviance