E-Es
Eating Disorder: any psychological illness where the symptoms are expressed in terms
of harmful eating patterns.
ECT: see Electroconvulsive (Shock) Therapy.
Echoic Memory: memory store for the auditory sense modality.
It prolongs auditory stimuli 2-3 seconds for processing into short-term memory.
Echolalia: a form of speech where the same sound or phrase is repeated.
Infants’ first attempts to form words - eg: “mamama”, “dadada” - can be described
as echolalia. However, it can also be a symptom of Schizophrenia, with sufferers
compulsively repeating senseless words or phrases that were spoken by someone else.
It is also sometimes found in the speech of people with Autism.
Eclectic Approach: where a psychologist or therapist will use the most appropriate
models and techniques from whatever school or field, regardless of academic boundaries,
to meet their clients' needs.
Ecological Validity: aka external validity. See validity.
Economic Determinism: the thesis, as advanced by Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels (1848)
- though they did not explicitly use the term - that economic factors underlie all
of society's decisions.
Thus, the social relations specific to a particular mode of production are said to
structure social relations between classes and are held to be the base underpinning
the legal and political systems. This implies that all political, cultural, and social
life can be predicted from the prevailing relations of production.
Efferent Nerve: conveys impulses to sense organs from the spinal cord or brain.
Ego: generally, an individual's sense of self - though there are numerous connotations/sub-meanings
related to the term. Sigmund Freud (1923) applied something of a different, quite
specific meaning to 'ego'. To avoid confusion, in Integrated SocioPsychology Susan
Blackmore’s (1999) term selfplex is preferred as the idea of ‘self’.
Ego Defence Mechanisms: see Selfplex Defence Mechanisms.
Ego State: used in Transactional Analysis, the term is used to describe an individual's
state of mind at any given point of time.
Egocentricism: the inability to see an object or situation from anything but one’s
own point of view.
When the RED vMEME is totally dominant in the selfplex, that is when someone is most
likely to uninhibited egocentricism.
Elaborative Rehearsal: one of the 2 types of rehearsal identified by Fergus Craik
& Robert Lockhart (1972) in their Levels of Processing model of memory. It involves
the deep and meaningful analysis of information, rather than simply repeating it
over and over.
Electra Complex: Carl Gustav Jung’s (1913) female version of Sigmund Freud’s Oedipus
Complex (1899). According to Jung, the young girl in the Phallic Stage desires sexual
intimacy with her father, just as Freud’s Oedipal boy wants such relations with his
mother.
However, Freud (1920) explicitly rejected Jung’s version because it "seeks to emphasise
the analogy between the attitude of the two sexes". Freud persisted with his own,
more complex view that the "feminine Oedipus attitude", produced by penis envy, leads
the young girl to desire having the father’s baby as a compensation for her lack
of a penis.
Jung’s championing of the Electra Complex was almost certainly one of the final factors
in the complete breakdown in the relationship between Freud and himself. Nonetheless,
many notable commentators on psychological theory, who should know better, confuse
the issue, when discussing Freud’s theory, by erroneously presenting the Electra
Complex, as defined by Jung, as Freud’s concept.
Electroconvulsive (Shock) Therapy (ECT): a form of therapy for mental illness in
which brief electrical shocks are usually applied to the non-dominant hemisphere
of the patient’s cerebrum.
Eliminative Materialism: the radical claim that our ordinary, common-sense understanding
of the mind is deeply wrong and that some or all of the mental states posited by
common sense do not actually exist. René Descartes (1650) famously challenged much
of what we take for granted; but he insisted that, for the most part, we can be confident
about the content of our own minds. Eliminative materialists go further than Descartes
on this point, since they challenge of the existence of various mental states that
Descartes took for granted
Emergent Materialism: a theory which asserts that the mind is an irreducible existent
in some sense, albeit not in the sense of being an ‘ontological simple’, and that
the study of mental phenomena is independent of other sciences.
The view can be divided into emergence which denies mental causation and emergence
which allows for causal effect.
Emergentism: the concept of new or unexpected properties or qualities emerging as
a result of combinations or rearrangements of existing elements.
An example is the conscious mind emerging from complex neuro-physiological and bio-chemical
components.
Emic: a culturally-specific value, philosophy or behaviour.
Emotion Work: is the management of one's own feelings or "work done in a conscious
effort to maintain the well being of a relationship" (Arlie Hochschild, 1979).
Examples of emotion work include showing affection, apologizing after an argument,
bringing up problems that need to be addressed in an intimate relationship - or any
kind of interpersonal relationship - and making sure the household runs smoothly.
Cultural norms often imply that emotion work is reserved for females.
Emotional Labour: the term ‘emotional labour’ was first used by the sociologist
Arlie Hochschild (1983) to describe emotional regulation wherein workers are expected
to display certain emotions as part of their job, and to promote organisational goals.
The intended effects of these emotional displays are on other, targeted people, who
can be clients, customers, subordinates or co-workers.
Empiricism: a broad-based philosophical position grounded on the fundamental assumption
that all knowledge comes from experience and observable reality, as opposed to logical
reasoning or a priori categories.
Encoding: the changing of sensory input into a form or code which can be processed
by the memory system.
Encoding Specificity Principle: an explanation for enhanced memory recall.
The concept that memory is best when there is a large overlap between the information
available at the time of retrieval and the information in the memory trace.
Endocrine System: governed by the autonomic nervous system, the endocrine system
is a system of ductless glands in the body that produce hormones.
Endogenous: to do
with internal causes - eg: Endogenous Depression might be the result of hormonal
changes.
Endorphin: a neurotransmitter that acts as the body’s natural painkiller by inhibiting
the release of substance P, a neurotransmitter involved in the transmission of pain.
Endorphins function effectively as natural opiates.
Neurons that release endorphins are activated by the perception of pain.
Enneagramme: reputedly with its roots in Suffiism, the Enneagramme describes 9 different
patterns of thought, feeling and action and the relationships between the types.
Each of the 9 types is rooted in a specific viewpoint or belief structure that largely
determines what is important to a person and how that person interacts with the world
to fulfill their hopes and dreams. Very basically, the 9 types are:-
- Type 1: Perfectionist - driven to do the right thing
- Type 2: Helper - needing to be needed
- Type 3: Achiever - efficent, goal-driven and focussed on being a 'winner'
- Type 4: Individualist - craving self-expression and emotional depth
- Type 5: Observer - perceptive and capable of synthsesising information in new ways
- Type 6: Questionner - vigilant for threats from the environment
- Type 7: Adventurer - has a surplus of plans and ideas and is eager for experiences
and/or material goods
- Type 8: Leader - driven to control self and the environment, capable of both domination
and protectiveness
- Type 9: Peacemaker - good at seeing all points of view and easily distracted from
personal needs and priorities
Personality typing models, such as the Enneagramme, for the most part tend to describe
centres of gravity.
The Paris-based L'Institut Français De L'Ennéagramme has been
working on a project to explore how Enneagramme typing fits with the vMEMES of Spiral
Dynamics. The Article, 'Spiral Dynamics and The Enneagram', captures some of their
work.
Environment of Evolutionary Adaptiveness: the EAA is the period in our ancestral
past when many of the adaptive changes associated with the evolution of human behaviour
took place - between 35,000-3,000,000 years ago.
Epigenetic Modification: the influence of environmental factors as to which genes
are turned on and off.
Unsurprisingly epigenetic effects tend to increase with age.
Epiphenomenon: a secondary symptom of something.
Episodic Memory: a subdivision of long-term memory which contains information about
personal events - ie: episodes in your life.
Epistemology: the study of knowledge - especially the scope and methods of acquiring
knowledge and testing its validity.
Equilibrium: the term is used in the behavioural sciences as a synonym for balance,
with several different applications...
- The point at which opposing biochemical reactions are stable - ie: homeostasis.
- In Jean Piaget’s (1923) theory, the cognitive state whereby the information available
to a child (memes) is in balance (at least, temporarily) with the existing schemas.
- A state of balance between parts within a social system and/or in relation to its
external environment.
According to Vilfredo Pareto (1935), a social system is in equilibrium
if, when it is subjected to some modification, a reaction tend to take place, tending
to restore it to its previous ‘normal’ state.
Equipotentiality: Karl Lashley’s (1929) notion that the cerebral cortex as a whole
is equipotential - for some processes such as learning or problem-solving, as opposed
to those processes being a function of brain lateralisation. In other words, each
part of the brain potentially could be involved in the function.
Equity Theory: developed originally as a psychological approach to employer-employee
relationships by J Stacy Adams 91962), Equity Theory was used by Elaine Walster,
G William Walster & Ellen Berscheid (1978) to develop Social Exchange Theory more
completely.
In essence Equity Theory proposes that where one partner in a relationship
gets significantly less out of the relationship than the other - ie: the relationship
is unequitable - then the partner with less will strive to establish/restore a balance.