pyschology

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Introduction Psychology can be defined as studying the mind and behavior. Ideally, it is the study of the mind, how it works, and how it affects an individual's behavior. In the psychology field, there are several current trends and issues under research and already researched. In this assignment, the analysis will be on five articles. Article 1 Henriques, G. (2017). Achieving a unified clinical science requires a meta-theoretical solution: Comment on Melchert (2016). American Psychologist , 72(4), 393-394. This article is a response to another researcher’s article on leaving behind a preparadigmatic past and integrating all the fields of psychology into one “Unified Clinical Science”. The author states that Melchert proposed that all biopsychosocial domains of functioning are intertwined thus giving a common thread for the single unification theory. The rebuttal is that this has already been taught in all domains of psychology and evolutionary theory and belief that psychological processes are mediated by neurological structures are already part of the practice of learning psychology in all subdisciplines. It is suggested that a clear definition of psychology regarding key terms, concepts, and categories involving life, mind, culture, consciousness, self, and behavior. Despite the truly extraordinary complexity of human behavior, research has advanced dramatically in recent years, and a new scientific understanding of human psychology has emerged that is fundamentally different from what existed previously. There are many scientific advances that exemplify this new perspective, but two developments have been critical in establishing the behavioral sciences as paradigmatic disciplines that are now consistent with the rest of the natural sciences. Without these developments, the behavioral sciences likely would have not yet unified around a paradigmatic understanding of human psychology. One of these developments is theoretical, whereas the other is technical. The theoretical development links psychology with the single greatest theoretical advance ever in biology, namely, evolutionary theory. Every major perspective in psychology currently accepts evolutionary theory. Every major perspective accepts the idea that psychological processes are mediated in some way by neural structures. Every training program is also required to teach students about the biological, learning and developmental, and social and cultural bases of behavior (i.e., they are already “biopsychosocial”). And all American Psychological Association– approved programs require psychologists to adopt an evidence-based approach, an aspect of which means consulting the best available research when providing assessment and intervention. Thus, one can argue that, in many ways, the field very much exists along the lines of how Melchert claimed it should. The author proposes his own Tree of Knowledge System in which physical, biological, psychological, and social dimensions integrate behaviorism, cognitivism, emotionfocused therapy, and the psychodynamic approach grounded in the science of human psychology. He claims this will make it possible to include the habit system, experiential system, relationship system, defensive system, and justification system. The author states that his own ToK theory is what is missing from another author’s proposal. The ToK System is a system that seems to have found the common basics for many subdisciplines in psychology that all fields start with when they begin

explaining how they get to their own proposed theories. I believe in would be the best place for researchers to start if they feel a unified perspective id needed in psychology. Article 2 Vall-Roqué, H., Andrés, A., & Saldaña, C. (2021). The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on social network sites use, body image disturbances and self-esteem among adolescent and young women. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry, 110, 110293. https://doi- org./10.1016/j.pnpbp.2021.110293 his study aimed to determine the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on social network sites (SNS) use and to explore whether SNS use is associated with body image disturbances and low selfesteem. Vall-Roque, Andres, and Saldana examined the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on social media usage and self- esteem. The study was done by questionnaires that asked questions about social media use, self-esteem, and satisfaction of one’s body. The participants were asked about their social media use before the pandemic and after the pandemic began. The study included ages 14-35 and had 2601 participants. A total of 2601 women living in Spain aged 14-35 years completed questionnaire measures of SNS use, self-esteem, body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness. In the survey, participants were asked about their use of SNS at the moment of answering the survey and before lockdown A cross-sectional and retrospective design was used: in the survey, participants were asked to report their use of SNS at the time of answering the survey and before lockdown. Data were collected from the period of May 12 until May 17, 2020. At that time, the Spanish population was allowed to engage in individual sport activities for a limited time per day. In 26 provinces (comprising 51% of the Spanish population), from May 11 on, it was also permitted to visit friends and family living in the same province, still with social distancing measures. Participants were recruited through various social media platforms (Twitter, Instagram and Facebook) and through personal contacts of the research team. Study advertisements outlined that the researchers were interested in understanding the impact of COVID-19 and its associated lockdown on SNS use and mental health. A statistically significant increase was found in the frequency of use of all studied SNS (Instagram, YouTube, Tok-tok, Twitter and Facebook) during lockdown, as well as in the number of women following appearance-focused Instagram accounts. Moreover, significant relationships were found between the frequency of Instagram use and body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness and low self-esteem in the younger age group (14-24), and between the frequency of Instagram use and drive for thinness in the older age group (25-35). Following appearance-focused accounts on Instagram was related to body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness in the younger group, and only to drive for thinness in the older group (25-35). Following appearance-focused accounts on Instagram and a higher frequency of use of Instagram significantly predicted higher levels of drive for thinness. Here was a significant increase in the frequency of use of SNS and in the number of women following appearance-centered accounts on Instagram during lockdown. This might be a consequence of forced social distancing. This increase may have allowed users to widen the topics range of the followed accounts on Instagram. The frequency of use of Instagram was positively associated with body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness and low self-esteem among Generation Z participants. In the Generation Y group, the frequency of use of

Instagram was only associated with drive for thinness. However, effect sizes were very small, hence these results should be interpreted with caution. Following appearance-focused accounts on Instagram was found to be associated with drive for thinness in both age groups, and the effect size in this case was stronger, even though still small. Our hypothesis stating that following appearance-focused accounts on Instagram and a higher frequency of use of Instagram would predict higher levels of drive for thinness was confirmed. These results align with previously published literature (. Taking into consideration the lockdown's associated changes in SNS use stated above, these results might have significant implications, as they might indicate that the detrimental effects of SNS could have been exacerbated during the pandemic, and COVID-19 might be linked to increased drive for thinness and risk for eating disorder behaviors relative to media effects. These results suggest that lockdown has had an impact on SNS use, and this might be linked to increased drive for thinness and eating disorder risk among adolescent and young women Article 3 Tibber, M. S., Zhao, J., & Butler, S. (2020). The association between self-esteem and dimensions and classes of cross-platform social media use in a sample of emerging adults—Evidence from regression and latent class analyses. Computers in Human Behavior, 109. https://doi-org./10.1016/j.chb.2020.106371 Tibber, Zhao, and Butler examined if social media access and sites can play a negative role on mental health and self-esteem. This study was done by the use of questionnaires, questions were asked about how often the participants were on social media, how much time they spend on social media when they are on social media sites, and how the participants relationships on social media are. Self-esteem was measured using the Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSES). This scale uses positive and negative statements about the participants relationships with themselves. This study was done on ages 18-30 and was written in English. The authors had 183 participants and it was found that daily use of social media sites and comparing oneself to others was great. Looking more closely at this, if the participant used social media for more than 3 hours per day, this was the range that was more associated with lower self- esteem. One interesting pieceof this study was that the authors found that the younger the social media user, the more vulnerable they were to any negative side effects of social media use. There is growing interest in the role of social media use in young people's mental health, and self-esteem has been hypothesized as a potential link in this association. However, existing studies have tended to use basic indicators of use in isolation and single-platform data, and further, have not controlled for other key variables. To address these limitations, emerging adults completed online questionnaires on social media engagement and self-esteem. In line with the interpersonal-connection-behaviors framework we explored online behaviors that putatively connect and disconnect users, e.g., meeting new people and engaging in social comparisons, There is growing interest in the role of social media use in young people's mental health, and self-esteem has been hypothesized as a potential link in this association. However, existing studies have tended to use basic indicators of use in isolation and single- platform data, and further, have not controlled for other key variables. To address these limitations, emerging adults completed online questionnaires on social media engagement and self-esteem. In line with the interpersonal-connection-behaviors framework we explored online behaviors that putatively connect and disconnect users, e.g., meeting new people and engaging in social comparisons.

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Article 4 Melchert, T. P. (2016). Leaving Behind Our Preparadigmatic Past: Professional Psychology as a Unified Clinical Science. American Psychologist, 71(6), 486-496. doi:10.1037/a0040227 Melchert’s article address whether professional psychology needs to remain as a field where traditional theoretical foundations are used as a basis for their framework or if their needs to be one unified clinical understanding of human psychology used. The main question addressed in this article concerns whether PP needs to undergo a fundamental transition from the era when the traditional theoretical orientations provided the main conceptual foundations for clinical education and practice to an era based instead on an integrated scientific understanding of human psychology. Such a transition would be of historic importance for the field and would result in major changes to PP education and practice. Evaluating whether such a transition needs to take place, however, requires an appreciation of the nature of theory and research in the field. Therefore, this article begins with a brief historical review of theory and research in psychology, so that the earlier approaches can be contrasted with the current scientific understanding of human psychology. In explaining the history of how professional psychology got started through individual’s such as John Locke, Freud, discovery of Broca’s area in the brain relating to speech, Melchert mentions that all these breakthroughs in research and study shifted to separate paradigms once a breakthrough was made and ended up being their own school of thought, focusing on that one aspect instead of integrating them to expand further. This ended up making professional psychologists choose one theoretical approach to pick and work with when they are entering their careers. Melchert believes the field of psychology should be based on human psychology and starts with the evolutionary theory as a base for his argument. It was noted that the evolutionary theory was responsible for sensation, perception, classical and operant conditioning, basic logical and probabilistic reasoning, and moves to triune brain theory where the brain goes through its own revolutions, and then more modern science regarding fMRI, MRI, CAT scans, and more discovering how the brain reacts and changes under different circumstances. There is no given suggestion for how to integrate all the fields to one, just a suggestion that it needs to be done. The recent transition of the behavioral sciences to a unified paradigmatic approach to understanding human psychology compels PP to reexamine its curriculum and clinical frameworks and guidelines so that any aspects that have become outmoded can be updated or replaced. Professional psychologists would all agree that PP is a science-based profession that needs to keep current with scientific advances and update educational and clinical practices that are no longer supported by the best available scientific evidence. Identifying changes that are needed at this point for PP to keep current with scientific advances will require extensive discussion. Central among the topics that need to be addressed is the theoretical basis for clinical practice. The theoretical foundations underlying PP have been unclear throughout the history of the field, and there has been no consensus regarding the appropriate theoretical orientation or framework that should be applied to inform clinical practice. This problem now appears to have been effectively resolved, however, by the underlying science having reached a unified paradigmatic understanding of human psychology. To facilitate discussion on this and related topics, the following issues are suggested as implications of the current scientific understanding of human psychology that PP could consider for possible integration into education and practice in the field

The article does exactly what Henriques (2017) stated, it does not give a suggestion on how to unify the field, but rather an explanation as to why it should be unified as opposed to the current structure that seems to pit one professional psychologist against another because they are forced to chose one theoretical approach and use it for their practice. I do agree with the author that because we now have so much technology at our disposal, turning it to more of a clinical field would be a definite possibility. I do not believe it to be the only answer though. Turning it into a clinical field only may possibly reduce the quality of care given to patients seeking help in the form of face-toface therapy. Article 5 Mevissen, L., Ooms-Evers, M., Serra, M., De Jongh, A., & Didden, R. (2020). Feasibility and potential effectiveness of an intensive trauma- focused treatment program for families with PTSD and mild intellectual disability. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 11:1, 1777809, Doi: 10.1080/20008198.2020.1777809 This is a journal article found in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology, the study had 4 hypotheses; “1- a significant decrease in PTSD symptoms and trauma-related daily life impairment in parent(s) as well as in children, 2- a significant increase in general mental health in parent(s), 3- a significant decrease in parental stress and 4 – was that the treatment effects would be maintained at six- months follow up”. The participants of the study were six families, 9 parents between the ages of 33 and 48 years of age and ten children ranged between 2 and 16 years, Mid- Bif (Mild intellectual disabilities or borderline intellectual functioning) was reported in all ten children and six of the parents. The treatment was an intensive trauma therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EDMR). This started with an impatient program lasting six weeks and the whole therapy lasted 8 weeks. A psychiatry center for children and adolescents is where the treatment was held. The measurement of the third baseline was taken, which then was followed by the start of the EDMR therapy. The first treatment measurement was taken after one week of an intensive EDMR therapy course. For parents the results showed that there was significant decrease in trauma symptoms, trauma-related daily life impairment and generally psychopathology. Children significantly decreased daily life impairments and trauma symptoms during the treatment. At the first baseline measurements, DSM-5 PTSD criteria was met by seven of the parents out of the nine. Within the first treatment week symptom criteria was no longer met by four parents, PTSD criteria was no longer met by the parents except for one, at six month follow up there were no parents that fulfilled the criteria for PTSD. According to the children’s results, full PTSD criteria was met by two of the sixchildren at the first measurement of baseline, within their first EDMR treatment week PTSD criteria was not met by any of the children, and this continued at follow up. As for trauma memories EDMR was not needed as lower levels of distress became neutral during treatment. During the study not one of the 19 family members decided to not drop out, the present results were in support of the hypothesis. The results of decrease in PTSD, an increase in mental health and results maintaining at follow up all support the effectiveness of trauma-focused therapy. Limitations to the study were that the baseline length in the study lacked an allocation, However, the baseline length varied between three and six weeks and the treatments were spread over one year. A strength of the study was that the DITS-ID clinical interview was valid and very reliable, due to the length of the study the analysis offered more information for more clinical practice. The findings of the study

were encouraging due to the fact that problems which are considered difficult to resolve can be helped to be treated as the KINGS-ID program offers more treatment programs for individual patients. The study appeared to be convincing as it was set in a real-life professional clinic based on a real treatment program, compared to other studies this was a fully completed study by all participants with no dropouts, this meant the results gave strong evidence to support trauma-focused therapy. The sourced article is up to date being 2020 and it is useful as it is a clinical research article that also focuses on parents and children who have both suffered traumatic events. The article supports the effectiveness of psychological therapies and shows that trauma-focused treatment appears to also have a long-term effect on patients. What interests the reader is that some of the parents had suffered with PTSD since childhood, so to find out the results would show a dramatic positive effect on their lives. The hypothesis is clearly stated within the study and there is plenty of statistical data. The article also grabs the reader by stating that it is the first study to investigate this treatment, this article has a useful outcome and has helped understand how trauma- focused treatment can be effective, it is also important to helping vulnerable families.

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