Sometimes time seems to pass so quickly, especially when we feel happy. When we are not in such a good mood, time drags on. Although the passage of time is the same, our perception of time can be very different. The psychology of time goes further and shows us how different perceptions of time can influence our behavior.
Good Samaritan Experiment
The Good Samaritan experiment gives us insight into how our perception of time can influence our behavior. In this experiment, some lecturers were told that they had to go to another building to give a talk. While others were told they had plenty of time to get there, others were told they were too late.
On the way, they met a disheveled man lying on the floor in rags. Most of the teachers, who were told they had enough time, began to help. However, most of those who were told they were late passed him by.
It follows that people behaved differently because of the time they thought they had. Those who were in a hurry thought only about the future . They were focused on the obvious lateness and for this reason were not helpful. On the contrary, those who had time were more focused on the present and even stopped to help.
The psychology of time confirms that the perception of time influences our behavior.
Is time a luxury?
Time flies, and we rush with it. We find ourselves hostage to a crazy race, living in a race with each other. In economics, speed and acceleration are considered important competitive factors, and this is especially true in the microelectronics industry. The half-life of knowledge is increasingly shortening, new products flood the market with ever shorter cycles, replacing the previous generation.
Time to develop your own self. Buddhist monks do not know property and temporary stress. Their goal is to learn absorption so that they can eventually dissolve into nirvana.
In his essay “Reminiscences of Excess,” the German writer Hans Magnus Enzensberger is the first to name what everything depends on: “Time. It is the most important of all luxury items. Paradoxically, it is the managerial elite who are among those who can least freely manage the time of their own lives. And this is not primarily a quantitative issue, although many of this layer work up to 80 hours a week; rather, they are enslaved by multiple obligations. They are expected to always be ready to give advice and act. Although otherwise they are bound by their meeting schedule, which is drawn up years in advance.”
The carousel spins faster and faster - and quality inevitably remains decisive. Therefore, the automobile industry has to carry out expensive actions, for example, recalling already sold-out cars that have manufacturing defects.
Different ideas about time
Based on the results of the Good Samaritan study, two researchers, Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd, delved deeper into the psychology of time. Their work culminated in the categorization of different time perspectives. According to Zimbardo and Boyd, there are six time perspectives, and people tend to lean towards one in particular and are more oriented towards some than others.
Educational Psychology
This sub-discipline of psychology focuses its research on learning processes, deepening and analyzing the most effective methods so that students can realize their full potential in each area, as well as their cognitive skills. In addition, school psychologists pay special attention to children with special needs. From students who have learning difficulties to children who do not fit well into the educational context. Its goal is to learn how human learning develops, in an educational context. To do this, various methods related to the effectiveness of teaching and learning are analyzed
Its goal is to learn how human learning develops, in an educational context. To achieve this, various methods related to the effectiveness of teaching and learning are analyzed.
Lev Vygotsky made a great contribution in this direction. Using a constructivist vision, he proposed a scaffold or immediate zone of development, which is to find each learner's potential level of development. In this case, the teacher will be the driving force for the student to solve the problems he presents for himself. Bruner and David Wood also supported this theory.
Currently, educational psychology has acquired such importance that it is even considered an independent discipline. Because he has his own research and theories.
Positive past
People who are more inclined towards the “positive past” remember the past with joy. They actively try to remember the past by repeating memories over and over again . They tend to be warm, sentimental, friendly and more confident. As a rule, they almost never experience anxiety or depression and are not prone to aggression. They love music, old movies, family gatherings, reunions and group celebrations. They usually keep items from the past that have symbolic meaning to them.
Respect individual differences
Scientist Fritz Reheis complains in his book “The Productivity of Slowness” that the capitalist economic system is taking over more and more areas of life, imposing its own logic on it, which is far from a reasonable approach. Take, for example, the threatening state in which the ecological systems of most countries find themselves. “Systems have their own time,” he writes. “The proper time of a system is the time required for the system to return to equilibrium on its own, after intervention from the outside.” Affected ecosystems include not only the natural environment; The human body as an ecological system can only develop when its individual characteristics are respected. The high injury rates among workers who work shifts speak volumes.
Master of his time In rural areas, life flows in a different rhythm. This Greek peasant does not see much difference between work and rest. He can stop whenever he wants.
Negative past
Another type of time is the "negative past". For those more oriented to this perspective, their past becomes meaningless. They are trying to get rid of bad experiences from the past that they do not recommend to anyone. They usually don't have many friends, and the few they do have describe them as unhappy, depressed, anxious, and quite shy. Sometimes they get so upset that they lose control and often end up breaking things. They don't usually exercise or do anything fun. They also have difficulty controlling their impulses.
Time as an object of pleasure
The longing for everything real is growing. Regional agricultural markets are becoming increasingly popular among residents of large cities. The slow food movement, which emerged in the 1980s, is expanding. in Italy. Under the snail logo, it brings together gourmets and critics of globalization who, quite deliberately, take time to enjoy themselves. From the slow food movement, the Cittaslow town union emerged in 1999. Literally translated, it means “slow city,” but the movement’s German coordinator, Manuela Sillius from Nuremberg, explains: “It means a city that is good to live in.” Cittaslow targets communities with fewer than 50,000 inhabitants. The city of Hersbruck in Franconia has already become a member of this union, which in Italy includes 80 localities; it will be followed by Wald-Kirch from the southern part of Baden and the Bavarian town of Schwarzenbruck.
“Time is a precious gift given to us so that we become smarter, better, more mature, more perfect. Time is peace, and war is nothing more than a wild waste of time, an escape from time made out of senseless impatience.” (Thomas Mann to Emil Belzner, 1950)
Hedonistic gift
Another perspective of time is the “hedonic gift.” This type of person tends to be more creative and have many friends. They are energetic and love adventure. When they go to a party, they stand out the most and make everyone laugh. They are the life and soul of the party. Their motto is: “If you love it, do it.” Because of this, they usually don't hold a job for very long. They are too impulsive. They also like to engage in extreme and dangerous sports.
All new models
“A lot of time and money could be saved if companies knew how to wait,” says Munich historian Karlheinz Geisler. It’s bad when companies overtake themselves due to excessive haste and when their new models look old next to the newest ones. Sometimes buyers ignore an entire generation of products so as not to waste time reading yet another instruction manual.
As a rule, we do not enjoy the luxury of time at all - which is why people and nature suffer. Thus, the Bundestag Commission “Protection of Man and the Environment” recalls that when intervening in nature, human time scales must be correlated with time scales in nature, for example, one must take into account how long the decomposition processes of waste take or how long it takes for an ecosystem to regenerate.
Fever and bustle on the stock exchanges On the stock exchanges, the movement of virtual capital has become more important than the creation of real values. To survive, concerns are forced to accelerate their growth.
Acceleration, as a fashionable drug and a symbol of high status in society, lost its popularity after the collapse of the so-called “new economy”. According to recent surveys, almost half of Europeans feel threatened by the faster pace of life, especially by the increasing flow of information on television and the Internet. Therefore, it is not surprising that today, in the era of email and SMS, handwritten letters are coming back into fashion.
Fatalistic gift
People who tend to fall into the category of "falistic gifts" often lack confidence. This can often make them depressed and anxious. They always look down and are not very lively. Their motto is: “What will be will be.” Unfortunately, this type of person often engages in dangerous practices such as drug use. They think that their fate is already decided and that nothing they do will ever change that.
Is conflict approaching?
Peter Glotz, who studies interpersonal communication, fears a “conflict between acceleration and deceleration,” i.e. between the majority of society (two thirds), the top of which are information processing specialists, and the minority (one third), incapable of competition - the unemployed and voluntary outsiders. According to the Austrian philosopher Peter Heintel, this struggle is already in full swing: “Those who are just a little slower than others and who do not have new technologies are already considered mentally retarded today.”
At the end of the book “Slowness,” the writer Milan Kundera concludes: “Our era has sold its soul to the devil - speed, which is why it forgets itself so quickly.”
Prepared from Reader's Digest materials
See also:
- Psychology of pain
- Psychology of fear
- Psychology of envy
- Psychology of resentment
Future
Other people are more "future" oriented. They are realists and usually think about their immediate benefits and future costs. They may forego instant gratification for a greater reward in the future.
These people usually have many acquaintances, but few friends. They are very concerned about consequences and therefore do not like change, surprises or excitement. They always plan everything and make a lot of lists. They typically wear watches and seem to spend their lives depending on the second hand. They are characterized by caution and avoid unnecessary risks.
History of psychology
Psychology originated with the Greek philosopher Plato, who, having proven himself very advanced in his time, proposed that the brain is the mechanism of all mental processes. I then postulated in my theory of soul-body dualism that the rational soul was in the head and other parts such as the emotional and desires were at the height of the heart and diaphragm. About 50 years later, Aristotle, who studied in Plato's school, tries to refute Plato's idea and argues that it is not the brain that is responsible for mental processes, but the heart. This opposition gives rise to some rivalry between these philosophers, but thanks to the evolution of science in subsequent centuries, we can say that Aristotle was wrong in this case.
Later, in 1774, the German physician Franz Mesmer, after much research, offers a cure for some diseases that were discovered in the human mind. The treatment offered by Mesmer was to change a person's concentration, initially this method was called mesmerism, but later with the contributions of James Oreide was known as hypnosis.
Ten years after Mesmer's discovery, anatomist and physiologist Franz Gall proposed an idea about personality. He suggested that depending on the shape of a person's skull and the placement of bumps on his head, a person's personality traits could be known.
In 1834, Weber's Law—a law introduced by German psychologist Ernst Heinrich Weber—was promulgated and proposed a theory of human perception.
Paul Drill was tasked with discovering an area in the left frontal lobe that plays a critical role in language development, and detailing what happens when this area of the brain is damaged (Broca's Aphasia); Later, Carl Wernicke conducted an investigation of the frontal lobe, and published his theory, which states that damage that is created in a certain area of the frontal lobe destroys the ability to understand or produce language (Wernicke's Aphasia).
A few years later, Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, begins to show his theories about the unconscious, the defense mechanisms that work on it, and his theories of personality. At this stage, psychoanalysis occurs and a new era of psychology begins.
Areas of study in psychology
This health science deals with the study of such important and important issues for humans as: memory, attention, perception, thinking, language, intelligence, development, personality, sexuality, learning, behavior and motivation. All these are complex mental phenomena characteristic of humans. The study of psychological functions allows psychology, as a scientific discipline, to explore and contribute to any area in which a person develops. Therefore, it is not surprising that it is present in every aspect of our lives.
The study of psychological functions allows psychology, as a scientific discipline, to explore and contribute to any area in which a person develops. Therefore, it is not surprising that it is present in every aspect of our lives.
Below we look at some of the most important areas of study in psychology. We are talking about various specific areas of study in which a number of psychological factors predominate. For a psychologist, each of these areas of study is established as a specialty appropriate to the context and needs in which each individual's behavior develops.
This violates the idea that psychology is specifically concerned with psychopathology and mental disorders. It is also used to help us have a better understanding of ourselves, our potentials, skills, behavior, sensations, emotions, etc.
The job of a psychologist, in any case, is to apply his knowledge to the problems of both people and groups of people. With the aim of promoting satisfactory solutions. This is based on research into the principles of human behavior.
Psychology is also interested in how we relate, how we make decisions, and how we face the problems of everyday life. This also uses the knowledge we have about the functioning of the brain and the entire central nervous system. Let's take a look at some of the most characteristic psychology study majors
