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William james contributions to psychology essay
Emotional response theory
William james contributions to psychology essay
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Being the “quintessential American” in relative terms, means to be the perfect, ideal example of quality and class. I view it as a standard or way of life. As Americans, we should hold ourselves to that high of a standard in everything that we do, and that is exactly what William James did in life and in his work as a psychologist. There are many psychologists through history that have been exceptional and standout from the pack such as, Freud, Maslow, Skinner, Jung and many more. All are widely known buy none stand out as much as William James did. Psychological Thinking/Theories James stated that “our physical response to a stimulus is a primary component of emotion.” This theory that I would say James is best known for is the Theory of
Emotion. An example of this theory would be getting a feeling of anger because a person punched you. We get angry because if we did not, guilt and shame would take over and cause us to question our pride. We take action for the sensations we feel. William James was known for much more than just the theory of emotion, though. James's lectures on pragmatism and the fact that they were published had a great impact on many areas in psychology. James had a couple of ideas that have contributed to cognitive and Gestalt psychology. William James William James looks like he had a fantastic upbringing. He lived in New York City with his liberal and wealthy family. He had a very involved father who invested his time and I’m sure his money into him. He went on to study medicine at Harvard University and later taught physiology. All of this being said right here shows that he lived a pretty great life. He was a quality guy that had a great family and it showed. He had a brother, Henry James, who was a novelist and he would visit Europe quite a bit.
Courageous. Willing. Patriot. These meaningful words define who John Hancock was to America. Born on January 23, 1737, Hancock demonstrated leadership qualities since youth. He played a major role in the American Revolution, as a leading figure, Massachusetts, as a successful governor. Hancock was a true patriot, through his courageous acts of defiance to Britain, pooling his funds to support the Revolution, and leading the Second Continental Congress. Hancock risked his life and the welfare of the people he loved to stand up for his, and the colonist’s freedoms and natural rights they deserved. John Hancock was a people’s man, adored by everyone in Massachusetts, and most of The Second Continental Congress; which allowed him to succeed greatly at leading the revolution.
Unknown, to James at this point he did not realize that he was having a problem with a psychological theory called behaviorism. Now this theory is one that is saying human behavior is developed through learning experiences which in this case would apply to James. His behavior as an adult was reflected by the way he was treated as a kid by his father and mother because they fought all the time. They never truly paid any attention to him, which in terms taught him how to stay out of their way and learn how to steal and burglarize places without getting caught. Therefore, within the psychological theory of behaviorism Behaviorists saw crime as something that is a learned response to life’s situations such as James situation which led him to a life of crime because of his parents. Although, he was never truly mistreated, he did not receive his father attention due to the fact of the way his father was treated as a child growing up an abusive household. Therefore, he did not want to place his son in the same situation. There is also the fact that James could be suffering from the psychodynamic theory which says that a person’s personality can be controlled by their unconscious mental process and that is grounded in them in early childhood. These entire things such as the id, ego, and superego
The quintessential American is someone who has aspirations, able for self-improvement, and self invention. Jay Gatsby and Oprah Winfrey show all these qualities. They never settle for less, have goals, and they reinvent themselves. From humble background to exciting new lives. They show that anyone can be anything they want to be, if they put their mind to it. Instantly, their lives changed for the better with only one change in their lives. Jay leaving his home, and Oprah being recognized for her voices. These two show qualities of perseverance, strength, and willingness that everyone needs to become the quintessential American.
Americans are defined by the respect they have for their country and its government, in taking advantage of their freedoms and rights that they gain by showing respect through allegiance, pride, and loyalty.
William James analysis of emotion revolves around his theory that an emotion is nothing more than the senses and feelings we experience in our bodies that come about after we perceive something. He says that " … the bodily changes follow directly the perception of the exciting fact, and that our feeling of the same changes as they occur is the emotion". He gives several premises to back up this theory.
America has always been looked at as “The New World” where people from all over come to fulfil their dreams. Their dreams may not have been exceptional, but only to have enough to survive, have a house where their children could be raised and feel free and protected. Now, according to Webster’s online dictionary Americanism is defined as a custom, trait, belief, etc., peculiar to the United States of America or its citizens, but to me it means so much more.
... really awakened the people and society on the whole to work on creating and establishing the real American identity. “The American Dream, the belief that everyone in the US has the chance to be successful, rich and happy if they work hard,” (Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Third Edition). Emerson and Thoreau are the men who made the American Dream come true in New England in the 1830s and continued through the 1840s and 1850s, but the energy that had earlier made Transcendentalism a unique movement to create American Identity had subsided for several reasons.
William James is considered by many people to be the most insightful and stimulating of American philosophers, and the second of the three great pragmatists, the link between Charles Sanders Peirce and John Dewey. William James was born in New York City on January 11, 1892 and would later become a leading American psychologist and philosopher in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He was the oldest of five children in the household and a sibling to Henry James, who later became a famed novelist and writer (A&E Television Networks n.d.). His mother complained that “the trouble with him is that he must express every fluctuation of feeling, and especially every unfavorable symptom, without reference to the effect of those around him.” His life culminated in a reconstruction of spirituality and consciousness in relation to physiology and neuroscience. His life was also spent in perpetual diagnosis of backache, eyestrain, and nervous disorders. Unlike his siblings Garth Wilkinson, Robertson, and Alice, James’s psychological distress and physical disorders
James was an authoritarian parent. He was controlling, in-charge and no one questioned him. He would play the role of the doting father. When his children made mistakes, he made a point to criticize them. He often compared them to other kids that he felt were “more perfect.” When his often unspoken expectations were not met he would yell and scream striking fear into his entire family. “He’s not a warm, fuzzy kind of guy, and he’s not going to inspire feelings of intimacy. But when his system works, he can boast about one thing: His recruits tend to obey” (Dewar).
I believe the U.S is exceptional primarily because there are some countries out there that don’t provide as much opportunities as the U.S does. John’s statement in order for the U.S to be exceptional, they would have to keep getting great. With that said, he would agree to the use of Manifest destiny. For the Native Americans, the use of Manifest Destiny would force them out of their living space. I do not feel like white settlers were justified for taking their land because people should not be forced to leave their home for other’s
American exceptionalism is a belief that the United States is different from other nations around the world and as such superior; the term was coined by Alexis de Tocqueville in 1831, yet the philosophy of American superiority can be traced all the way back to the days before the United States was even an idea. They saw their new culture as “A city upon a hill” and sought to achieve moral and spiritual perfection. With this moral superiority the colonists, later Americans, saw a duty presented upon them by God and nature to instill such superior values into other cultures and the world. One such example can be clearly seen in the work of St. John de Crèvecoeur in Letters from an American Farmer where the narrator “Farmer James” states his belief
Henry James, one of America¡¯s major novelists and critics, has produced many great works, such as Portrait of a Lady, The Wings of the Dove, The Golden Bowel and The Ambassadors. His method of characterization is ¡°a complete objectification of characters.¡±¢Ùand he focuses on the inner life of characters rather than external action and environment to explore the mind and inner activities of the characters through their dialogues, mental conflicts, thoughts on man and events instead of the complex plot. So his writings do not present readers a series of events as traditional novels do. Especially in his final and ¡°major phase¡±, the very subtlety and complexity of characterization is almost to deliberately depicting degree. Thus people call him a psychological realist and consider him as the founder of psychological realism. James believes that reality lies in the impressions made by life on the spectator, and not in any facts of which the spectator is unaware. So by making the conscious part of the artist the final measure of experience, James shifts the ground of realistic art from the outer to the inner world. His short story Paste is one of typical examples reflecting his such writing techniques and theories on literary creation.
Emotion is the “feeling” aspect of consciousness that includes physical, behavioral, and subjective (cognitive) elements. Emotion also contains three elements which are physical arousal, a certain behavior that can reveal outer feelings and inner feelings. One key part in the brain, the amygdala which is located within the limbic system on each side of the brain, plays a key role in emotional processing which causes emotions such as fear and pleasure to be involved with the human facial expressions.The common-sense theory of emotion states that an emotion is experienced first, leading to a physical reaction and then to a behavioral reaction.The James-Lange theory states that a stimulus creates a physiological response that then leads to the labeling of the emotion. The Cannon-Bard theory states that the physiological reaction and the emotion both use the thalamus to send sensory information to both the cortex of the brain and the organs of the sympathetic nervous system. The facial feedback hypothesis states that facial expressions provide feedback to the brain about the emotion being expressed on the face, increasing all the emotions. In Schachter and Singer’s cognitive arousal theory, also known as the two-factor theory, states both the physiological arousal and the actual arousal must occur before the emotion itself is experienced, based on cues from the environment. Lastly, in the cognitive-mediational theory
Every country today differentiates each other through having a unique identity of which the elements are cultures, tradition and religion. Even a country like America was once under the rule of the British. However this did not last as long as it did in India as the people fought back and won what is today called “The War of Independence.” During the time the British ruled various countries they had taught the people under them their ways of conducting every activity in life. In America even after the British were gone the way people lived their lives were still the way they had learned from the British. One such ways of conduct was vividly observable in written literature. Then began the argument that the literature in America should be written differently from how the British would. In 1837 Ralph Waldo Emerson delivered a speech called The American Scholar at Cambridge, Massachusetts to criticize how the Americans still kept alive what they had learned from the British and to remind people the real American culture in every aspect of their lives. Emerson stated that every citizen in America has the right to freedom and to display their own culture. In literature he suggested that scholars can form a new way of writing through nature than memorizing the writings of other authors. The writings of the other authors were present before young scholars in books that limited new ideas. Such history had occurred because of the actions gone wrong by the people in accepting the influences of the Europeans. Emerson was therefore a transcendentalist.
Another one of Aristotle’s philosophy was regarding the emotion and selective perception that summarized by B.R. Hergenhahn in History of Psychology’s text book (p.56- 57). Aristotle brought the awareness on emotion when he proposed that without emotion, humans could be missing on what is relevant (S.Nancy, 1989). He suggested that emotions influenced and intensified one’s behavior. For instance, people who are afraid tend to run faster after being threatened by a snake as compared to leisurely jogging. When people are angered they have a tendency to pick a fight because emotion can drive one’s motive of action. Anger can be excited from the injury that someone has caused and fear does elicited when facing danger and both happened because of the presence of cognition process. Aristotle added that the emotion cannot be blind feelings but intended by directed states.