The term hypnosis is often shrouded in misconception, myth, and apprehension because most views about hypnosis are influenced by entertainment stage shows. These shows often highlight participants’ engaging in strange and often embarrassing behaviors. However, hypnosis is consistently reported to be an effective and reliable technique in many domains (including medicine, dentistry, and psychology) for
Cognitive psychologists argue that over time, task-related knowledge is organized into information-rich representations or chunks, a process termed chunking. Dechunking refers to when well developed chunks are broken down into a number of smaller chunks or bits of information. Chunking is a fundamental building block of human memory and underlies the learning of perceptual and
The definitional problems associated with terrorism must first be addressed by looking at the etymology of the terms associated with terrorism—words such as terrorize, terrorist, freedom, guerilla, insurgent, and insurrection—and how often those terms are incorrectly interchanged in the media, causing confusion and misunderstanding. The Oxford English Dictionary (1933) offers the following definitions: Freedom. Exemption or release
Biological organisms cannot repeat a movement exactly the same way across practice trials or attempts. In other words, there is an inherent amount of imprecision in the motor systems of animals, including humans. This variability can be considered a source of error. Second, in any attempt to solve a new motor problem, whether a young
Fatigue is an overwhelming sustained feeling of exhaustion and decreased capacity to complete physical and mental work. It is multidimensional with emotional, behavioral, and cognitive components. Feelings of fatigue are associated not only with disease states but also with healthy functioning. Approximately 20% of adults worldwide report current fatigue. When examined in terms of physical
Gender, race, ethnicity, and social class are the most commonly used categories in sociology. They represent the major social statuses that determine the life chances of individuals in heterogeneous societies, and together they form a hierarchy of access to property, power, and prestige. Gender is the division of people into two categories, “men” and “women.”
Protective factors or strength factors represent conditions that reduce the likelihood an individual will engage in antisocial behaviors. On the contrary, criminogenic risk factors represent characteristics of an individual or his or her circumstances that increase the likelihood of engaging in criminal or other antisocial activities. A history of conduct disorder, school failure, substance abuse
A self-schema is a cognitive structure involving some aspect of the self that is considered important to the individual, such as exercising or participating in a sport. It is derived from generalizations based on past experience. Self-schemas are not only an important part of our overall self-concept (i.e., how we think of ourselves) but they
Contemporary definitions of self-criticism are typically characterized by negative evaluations of the self, often as a result of failing to meet expectations and standards. Individuals who are self-critical typically demonstrate greater depressive symptoms. However, historically self-criticism was not attached to a notion of vice and negative functioning but rather conceptualized as adaptive and essential to
Self-doubt has been defined as uncertainty about one’s abilities, potential for success, or competence in performance situations. As self-doubt concerning personal abilities increases, global self-esteem tends to decrease because self-doubt presents the threat to global evaluations of oneself. Hence, self-doubt can lead to both self-handicapping (i.e., creating or claiming obstacles that reduce the probability of