Cognitive Intervention

The three professional articles I selected on different cognitive approaches to working with an issue or issues that I might encounter as a human service worker are; Futurics by Young Boa, Radical Behaviorism and the Rest of Psychology by John C. Malone Jr. and Natalie M. Cruchen, A Humanistic Psychology for the New Millennium by Carl Goldberg. One of the articles will explore how people develop and change. It will also demonstrate that emotions not only affect learning abilities and motivation, but also play an active role in human development as well. The second article will cover radical and traditional psychology such as radical behaviorism which is an alternative to the traditional treatments performed in the past. Lastly, the third article will discuss how psychology for the past century has not lived up to its mandate as a trusted guide to society.

Futurics, has been written in a manner that BaeХs thoughts address social-cultural, biological, cognitive and moral development ideologies. He focuses on personality differences that are found between people and the traits that seem to emerge among people and how people develop in stages. He also focuses on how people learn and adopt to change in their lives. The article discusses Freud, Erikson, Piaget and Kohlberg with their selected Human Development Theories. The reader learns that Freud was one of the first pioneers of psychology and he was the first to introduce a model on human mental development. To cover a brief point in history about Freud he believed that the beginning of life the child is helpless and dependent on it family for survival. The child will learn to experience love and hate relationships with the people around him as it develops, favoring different parents in each state of its mental and physical development. This belief Freud thought to be connected with hidden mental frustration that could create psychological problems throughout life.

Radical Behaviorism and the Rest of Psychology by John C. Malone Jr. and Natalie G. Cruchen is an article that discusses an alternative to the traditional treatments of the mind that avoids some of the insoluble problems raised by those views B.F. Skinner attempted. Some of the forms discussed are radical behaviorism, distinctly the minority position which was the Тrest of psychologyУ which Skinner called ТtheoreticalУ. The article states that there are only two kinds of behaviorism which are mythological and radical. The entire article is written in a manner that the reader is reading annotated excerpts from one of the books B.F. Skinner wrote in regards to how people view cognitive psychology.

A Humanistic Psychology for the Millennium written by Carl Goldberg is an article that discusses ten responsibilities that are based on humanistic values. This article states, that today psychology is in a serious crisis and with that stated I will briefly discuss what the article states to be of most urgency: 1) The availability of a language of health is crucial in our theories and practices, 2) PsychologyХs denial and reduction of social problems, such as evil cannot be avoided, 3) The most difficult patients are usually treated by the least experienced therapist, 4) The lack of knowledge by psychoanalysis and psychotherapist in the field of empirical research, 5) Incompetent therapist who are not qualified for clinical apprentership,6) Far less skill and attention are directed toward uncovering the conditions conducive to behaving responsibly, 7) The lack of responsibility on the part of psychotherapist has created a subversive impact on society, 8) There is to much contribution to the already overabundant selfishness of this age, 9) Society today is stuck on being a culture that is commercialist avoiding reality ,10) The audience for the context being taught in lectures are those who are privileged or will educate only. The main idea of the article is that in order to be a humanistic psychologist one needs to promote a leadership that teaches society how to cooperate with each other and how to rejoice on otherХs well being.

Erik Erikson developed his theory in the eight stages of personality development. His theory is somewhat different from FreudХs in that Erikson focused more on social interactions rather than internal sexual stimulus as the mental developer of people. His stages include trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. doubt, shame initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs.self-difussion, intimacy vs. isolation, generatively vs. stagnation and ego integrity vs. despair. Erikson stated,У Human development is accomplished through a sequence of stages, and each stage develops on top of another through timeУ. Basically, what he meant to say is that through time each stage will develop on top of one another. For example, in order for the person to gain the confidence and strength needed to continue on they need to pass through the first stage and move on. He believed that the ego had a general balancing function to keep everything in perspective.

Piaget theory expands on that of Erikson on Cognitive development during the early years of childhood. He states, ТThis is the period when the infant basically grows from a reflex dominated infant to a dynamic functioning infantУ. He believed that the infant slowly discovers that it is one among many, which in turn reduces its egocentrism. Lawrence Kohlbergs theory on moral development expands on PiagetХs theory in that they are in sequential order and allow only forward moving development with one difference that his stages can occur at varying times between developing people. His moral development stages include punishment obedience orientation instrumental relativist orientation, good boy nice girl orientation, law and order orientation, social contract orientation and universal ethical principal orientation.

As my point of interest I have chosen behavioral therapy after conducting my internet search on three cognitive behavioral approaches. On applying this method with an elderly participant who has had a small stroke and is fearful of falling, causing her to resist her physical therapy treatment. The therapist has to be sensitive and create an appropriate approachable environment, because the elderly participant has become anti-social in the therapy place, the therapist must create more moments of interaction. The elderly needs to receive positive reinforcement for being involved in their physical therapy. These methods of behavior therapy done correctly, can replace those feelings of fear with positive actions.

The connections, between good health, security and theory will instill the idea pf proper feelings or trust and less fear. The goal of behavior model therapy is to stop bad behavior by enforcing adaptive behavior, which allows the client to live a more enjoyable life. It is about conditioning