P-Q

 

Paradigm: in the broadest sense, a representative model or example of a theory or methodology. According to Thomas Kuhn, it is a general theoretical orientation accepted by the majority of scientists in their particular field.

 

Paralinguistics:

 

Passionate Love:

 

Parental Investment: Robert Trivers' concept is that any animal parent tries to balance the effort (time and resources) it puts into having and rearing an offspring successfully with the limitations that may impose on future reproductive success.
In mammals the female usually makes the greater parental investment via pregnancy and early child reading. If the male commits himself to support the female in having the child, that may limit his ability to have offspring with other females.
Although Trivers developed his concept from many and various animal studies, it effectively describes the human condition in this respect.

Perceptual Positions: developed by John Grinder & Judith DeLozier from earlier work by Grinder & Richard Bandler, the 4 positions are:-

• 1st Position: one's self
• 2nd Position: to be another - to dissociate from self and adopt another's views and values, so that you can see you as he/she sees you
• 3rd Position: to be an observer - to associate into a position where you can see the relationship between the 1st and 2nd Positions
• 4th Position: Meta-Position - to associate into a position where you can see everything from all angles

The 4th/Meta-Position was added by Robert Dilts & Tod Epstein in the late 1980s. Dilts' Meta-Mirror is a powerful conflict resolution tool working the 4 positions.

 

Peripheral Nervous System:

 

Periphery:

 

Personalisation:

 

Phenotype: the observable characteristics of an individual resulting from interaction between the genes they possess and the environment. In other words, how the genotype develops in life. (For example someone has the genetic potential to develop an IQ of, say 105; but, because of learning experiences and opportunities, their IQ, when measured, is only 98.)

Philosophy: the academic study of knowledge, thought, and the meaning of life.

Phobia: an excessive fear of a specific object or situation which is irrational and disproportionate.

Phrenology: a pseudo-science developed by Franz Josef Gall in the early 19th Century, it was based on the assumptions that:-

• the more developed a mental function was, the larger the corresponding area of the brain was
• the skull shaped itself around the brain

On these bases, Gall 'read' mental capacity, emotions and personality from the bumps on a person's head. Although there are still practicing 'phrenologists', the concept has been completely discredited scientifically.

Pineal Gland: a very small endocrine gland located in the brain which produces Melatonin.

 

Pituitary Gland: the so-called 'master gland' of the endocrine system because it produces the largest number of different hormones and it controls the secretion of several other endocrine glands.

 

Polarisation:

 

Pons: a structure in the hindbrain containing the reticular formation and associated with arousal and sleep. It connects the midbrain and the medulla.

 

Positive Punishment:

Positive Reward:
 

Pre-Menstrual Syndrome:

 

Predictive Validity:

Present State-Desired State Planning: an NLP concept which drew originally upon Carl Rogers' concept of Self and the Ideal Self. In its most basic form, it deals with identifying who and what you are now, who and what you would like to be and the changes needed to achieve the Desired State. At an organisational level, it can bring in standard planning processes but a key element is to balance off changes in the people with changes in the systems and resources (and vice versa).

 

Presupposition: something taken as true for a condition or state to exist. NLP has between 9 and 13 key presuppositions - depending on the 'guru' being referred to.

 

Prime Directive: Don Beck's concept that there is an innate programme which, in a healthy person experiencing progressively more complex (but not abnormal) Life Conditions, causes vMEMES to emerge in the hierarchical order of Clare W Graves' Spiral. To some extent the Prime Directive reflects the drive to Self-Actualisation Abraham Maslow propounded.

 

Psyche:

Psychiatry: the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness by a medically-trained person (as opposed to a psychologist).

 

Psychoanalysis:

 

Psychoanalytic Theory: the cohesive set of models developed by Sigmund Freud. He saw the mind as having 3 components:-

• Id: this comprises the innate sexual and aggressive instincts, works on the 'pleasure principle' and requires immediate gratification
• Ego: the conscious, rational element which works on the 'reality principle' and takes into account the environment - note: this is a different meaning to ego as ‘self’
• Superego: effectively conscience and the sense of morality

Freud charts the sequential development of these 3 components during childhood over 5 sequential 'psychosexual' stages:-

• Oral: satisfaction is obtained from eating, sucking, etc (0-18 months)
• Anal: the challenge of toilet training places emphasis on the anal region (18-36 months)
• Phallic: the discovery of pleasure in the genitals (3-6 years)
• Latent: the phase when boys and girls spend little time with each other (6 years to puberty)
• Genital: the onset of sexual activity as a key source of pleasure (puberty onwards)

Over- or under-gratification at each stage can lead to 'psychosexual fixations' to which people may regress in later life in stressful conditions. Such stress can be caused by the failure of the Ego to resolve conflicts between the Id and the Superego. To protect itself, the Ego has a number of 'defence mechanisms' - such as:-

• Repression: where threatening thoughts are kept out of consciousness
• Displacement: unconsciously moving impulses away from a threatening object to a less threatening object - the 'kicking the cat' syndrome
• Projection: the attribution of one's own undesirable characteristics to another
• Denial: the refusal to accept the existence or reality of a threatening event
• Intellectualisation: the de-emotionalisation of a threatening event by thinking logically/rationally about it

In Integrated SocioPsychology the ego defence mechanisms are termed selfplex defence mechanisms to avoid the confusion caused the term ‘ego’.

The above is a very basic description of the key Freudian concepts. He created a considerable volume of works describing, developing and elaborating on these ideas and putting forward his own case histories Psychoanalysis as a means to resolve the conflicts and fixations he identified. (The principal work on defence mechanisms was documented by his daughter, Anna.)
Freud's core concepts were developed in Victorian times and, in the modern 'sexually-enlightened' age, his emphasis on issues to do with sex can seem a little quaint - obsessive, even! Yet for all the attempts to debunk Psychoanalytic Theory - especially by psychologists supporting Behaviourism - Freud remains a seminal figure in the development of Psychology. His Id can be seen as typifiing the self-expressive side in Spiral Dynamics - especially the RED vMEME - while the deveopment from Ego to Superego represents the conforming/self-sacrificing elements of the Spiral.

 

Psychodynamic Theory: an approach that emphasises the processes of change and development, with Dynamics being what drive us to behave in particular ways. The Psychoanalytic Theory of Sigmund Freud was the first Psychodyamic Theory of modern Psychology and underpins to some degree or other almost all Psychodynamic approaches developed since.

Ostensibly Psychodynamic might seem very similar in concept to Cognitive-Developmental; but, in practice, the two approaches are usually very different.

Cognitive Developmental tends to focus on how the mind works - eg: memory, attention, perception, intelligence and - and tends to be based on hard, experimental research. Psychodynamic, on the other hand, has an emphasis on motivation and morality and is often based on observation and inference. That said, Lawrence Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development is often considered a Cognitive-Developmental theory. The Graves Model and its Spiral Dynamics build can be seen as both Cognitive-Developmental and Psychodynamic.

 

Psychology: there have been several attempts at producing an adequate definition over the years. One which seems to be currently very much in vogue is 'the science of mind, behaviour and experience'.

 

Psychometric: the measuring of 'things psychological' - such as intelligence, aptitudes, personality (temperament), etc.

 

Psychopathology:

Psychosis: a severe mental condition where the patient has lost touch with reality and lacks insight into their condition - eg: Schizophrenia. The term 'psychosis' remains in use even though the distinction between it and neurosis has been dropped from the major Psychiatry classification systems.

 

Psychosurgery:

Psychotherapy: a psychological (as opposed to medical) treatment of mental or emotional problems.

 

Psychoticism: the third of Hans J Eysenck's Dimensions of Temperament is attributed to the levels of testosterone in the body and, therefore, has a biological sex attribution to it. Men will tend to be more 'Psychoticist' while women will tend towards the other end of the scale, Impulse Control. Usually.