Psychology

Erikson's theory of psychosocial development identifies eight stages in which a healthy individual should pass through from birth to death.

This theory argues that a strong bond to one primary caregiver in the first years of life is critical to development. If bonding is strong and we are securely attached, then feel safe to explore the world.

Freud’s theory of psychosexual development claims that as we grow up, we pass through five critical phases which are defined by our sexual drive, also called libido, concentrating at specific erogenous zones.

Lawrence Kohlberg's theory claims that our development of moral reasoning happens in six stages

Piaget's theory argues that we have to conquer 4 stages of cognitive development. Only once we have gone through all the stages, at what age can vary, we are able to reach full human intelligence.

This theory argues that community and language play a central part in learning. Vygotsky believed that children develop independently of specific stages as a result of social interactions.

John B. Watson famously claimed that if he were to be given a dozen healthy infants, he could shape them into anything; doctors, lawyers, artists, beggars, or thieves, regardless of their background or genetic predispositions.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer argued that stupid people are more dangerous than evil ones. This is because while we can protest against or fight evil people, against stupid ones we are defenseless — reasons fall on dead ears.

Introversion and extroversion (or extraversion) are terms first coined by psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung in Switzerland of the 1920s. According to Jung, an extrovert seeks intensive contact with the outside world. An introvert instead turns the psychic energy inwards.

Psychotherapy holds out the promise of being able to help us with many of the problems that ruin our lives: anxiety, self-hatred, shame and confusion... But how exactly does it work? On what basis can it help us?

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a theory in psychology. It argues that there are five stages of human needs that motivate our behavior.

Why do we want the things we want? One psychological explanation is that we often actually don't know what we want, but instead imitate others.

Classical conditioning is a mental manipulation to reprogram natural body functions. It is a way of learning where a stimulus that triggers a biological response is paired with a new stimulus that then results in the same reaction.

A schema is a cognitive framework or concept that helps organize and interpret information. Jean Piaget, who coined the term, argued that we construct our experiences into schemata so we can make sense of the world.

It's to Anna Freud we owe the genius term 'defensiveness' to describe how most of us get some of the time.

Sigmund Freud, the inventor of psychoanalysis, appreciated the many ways in which our minds are troubled and anxious. It isn't us in particular: it's the human condition.

You've probably seen the pyramidal diagram of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It's straightforward enough but, it might be a bit too subjective to really measure human needs.

Freud is one of the most famous psychologists ever, but a lot of the things he taught are just… well, wrong. So why do we still spend so much time talking about this dude in psychology classes?

Self-determination theory argues that people are motivated to learn, grow and change their lives, if their three basic psychological needs are satisfied: competence, connection, and autonomy

Operant conditioning is based on the idea that we can increase or decrease a certain behavior by adding a consequence.

Working in Vienna at the turn of the 20th century, he began his career as a neurologist before pioneering the discipline of psychoanalysis, and his influence towers above that of all other psychologists in the public eye. But was Sigmund Freud right about human nature? And were his methods scientific?