Psychology As Storytelling Essay -- essays research papers

<a href="http//www.geocities.com/vaksam/">Sam Vaknins Psychology, Philosophy, Economics and Foreign Affairs Web SitesStorytelling has been with us since the age of campfire and besieging wild animals. It served a number of important functions amelioration of fears, communication of vital information (regarding survival tactics and the characteristics of animals, for instance), the satisfaction of a sense of order of magnitude (justice), the development of the ability to hypothesize, predict and introduce theories and so on.We are all endowed with a sense of winder. The world around us in inexplicable, dumbfound in its diversity and myriad forms. We experience an urge to organize it, to "explain the wonder away", to order it in order to know what to expect adjoining (predict). These are the essentials of survival. But while we have been successful at imposing our minds structures on the outside world - we have been much less successful when we seek to cope w ith our internal universe.The relationship between the structure and functioning of our (ephemeral) mind, the structure and modes of operation of our (physical) brain and the structure and conduct of the outside world have been the case of heated debate for millennia. Broadly speaking, there were (and still are) ii ways of treating itThere were those who, for all practical purposes, identified the origin (brain) with its product (mind). Some of them postulated the institution of a lattice of preconceived, born categorical knowledge about the universe - the vessels into which we pour our experience and which mold it. Others have regarded the mind as a dumb box. While it was possible in principle to know its input and output, it was impossible, again in principle, to understand its internal functioning and management of information. Pavlov coined the word "conditioning", Watson pick out it and invented "behaviorism", Skinner came up with "reinforcement". B ut all ignored the psychophysical question what IS the mind and HOW is it linked to the brain?The other camp was more "scientific" and "positivist". It speculated that the mind (whether a physical entity, an epiphenomenon, a non-physical principle of organization, or the result of introspection) - had a structure and a limited set of functions. They argued that a "users manua... ... inaccessible, recesses of his mind. He feels that he is being reintegrated, that "things fall into place". In psychodynamic terms, the energy is released to do productive and positive work, rather than to induce distorted and destructive forces.c. The Purgatory Principle - In most cases, the client feels sinful, debased, inhuman, decrepit, corrupting, guilty, punishable, hateful, alienated, strange, mocked and so on. The plot offers him absolution. Like the highly symbolic figure of the Saviour before him - the clients sufferings expurgate, cleanse, absolve, and atone for his sins and handicaps. A feeling of hard won achievement accompanies a successful plot. The client sheds layers of functional, adaptive clothing. This is inordinately painful. The client feels dangerously naked, precariously exposed. He then assimilates the plot offered to him, thus enjoying the benefits emanating from the previous two principles and only then does he develop new mechanisms of coping. Therapy is a mental crucifixion and resurrection and atonement for the sins. It is highly religious with the plot in the role of the scriptures from which console and consolation can be always gleaned.