Astrology and Scientific Method Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Astrology and Scientific Method - Essay Example For instance, in much of the world winter months are much colder and have much less daylight than Summer months, so it could be that babies who are first learning to walk and experience the world in June, when they can go outside and experience a great deal of sunlight, open spaces and so on, might generally have a different makeup from babies who are at that stage of their development in December, when they have little daylight and no open spaces. This could lead to their being a general difference in character between people born in December and those born in June, but would obviously be heavily related to how fast someone develops, the climate they live in and so on. And so far, there is very little reason to suspect this is true. The scientific method is one of the most important ways of understanding the world that humans have. Its basic idea is that you create a hypothesis, for instance, objects with mass attract each other. Then you perform experiments, and see if the results match or do not match your hypothesis. Using that example, if you drop a ball and it falls, it confirms the hypothesis, but if it does not then it denies it. One of the most important things about the scientific process it that any rule must be true one hundred percent of the time – if a ball ever just hovers in the air when dropped, one would have to re-think gravity. Things must also be repeatable – another person must be able to conduct the same experiment and get the same result. Astrology fails these tests in many ways – firstly, no astrologer would ever tell you that their horoscopes are true for every single person born under that sign every time a horoscope is published. Furthermore, astrology is not base d on observation of things that occur in the real world, nor does it use experiments to see if its finding are accurate. In light of everything I have learned about astrology, I would say that the line from â€Å"Julius

WHAT PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY HAS TO CONTRIBUTE TO OUR UNDERSTANDING OF Essay

WHAT PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY HAS TO CONTRIBUTE TO OUR UNDERSTANDING OF ADDICTION - Essay Example Most methods, however, still maintain that it is the personality trends, whether conscious or unconscious, that drive human behavior. Applying psychodynamics as a tool to analyze the nature of drug addiction can be accomplished with a comprehensive understanding of the theoretical perspectives from recognized leaders in the field. Addiction can be described as a complex process and set of behaviors with multiple determinants and multiple functions. Drug addiction is understood to be an adaptive pursuit for providing relief from painful feelings and to create the illusion of control (Bell et al). Recognizing this type of addiction as a means to mentally alter the perception of reality and as a mechanism to suppress negative emotions can be directly tied to Sigmund Freud, arguably the most influential figure in psychology, theorized that the basis of personality centered around three distinct characteristics in which he labeled the id, the ego, and the superego. Freuds analysis of the dimensions of personality development is that the unconscious (the id) is completely intact from birth and, essentially, acts as the center for subliminal instinct and desire. The ego, on the other hand, acts as a regulatory structure in personality that functions both consciously and unconsciously in order to logically assess the drives of the id. The ego, according to Freud, bridges the gap between id and superego to prevent a person from acting unrealistically to the demands of the external environment. The superego, therefore, is the personality component that weighs morality against decision-making. Each of the traits of these personality constructs theoretically work together to create a harmonious relationship between the unconscious and the conscious. According to Freud, an overactive id would dominate both the ego and superego resulting in behaviors based not on logic, but on satisfying the