Psychology is the scientific study of the human mind, how it generally functions, with much attention to those brain functions affecting behavior in a given context. This field of study has a number of professional specializations. Depending on the specific aspects of the brain and the area of functionality (School, Area of work) of the individuals affected, because people interact with different activities, these different activities engage different parts of the human mind. Eventually, the parts engaged are affected differently. There are more than ten professional psychological specialties, for example, Clinical Neuropsychology, Clinical Health Psychology, School Psychology, Clinical Child Psychology. Psychology as a career require some basic academic qualifications, then to specialize in a particular field of the profession will need a master in the specific line of professionalism. That is, the most basic academic qualification is an undergraduate degree in psychology in a BPS accredited psychology course. Alternatively, if one does not have psychology degree they can complete a BPS accredited conversion course. You will then realize the essential Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC). For a more specialised psychological career a one has to go for a doctorate and a master’s degree and in the area of specialization
Cognitive behavior psychology is one on the most practiced psychological profession, this primarily because the profession is applicable to all the human resource departments globally, it involves interaction with employees of different professions and invites an annual salary of more than seven hundred thousand dollars. Because of its popularity, it will be used as the main point field of specification. The focus of this paper is on Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), B.F Skinner as one of the disorders under the psychological profession of cognitive and behavior, and how learning and memory form specialized areas in the field of Psychology. OCD is a mental health condition, characterized by a person having obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors. The person feels the need to keep checking things repeatedly, perform some ‘rituals’ like; hand washing, checking if a stove has been turned off or counting things; or the repetition of some specific thoughts (Clark, 2007) .
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With reference to the podcasts, the first case study is an interview of Bobby, a girl who has been living with OCD from as far back as she can remember. She remembers having ‘checking behaviors’ from when she was three years old. The other podcast in focus is one that aims at demystifying and focusing on the positives of B.F Skinner. Essentially, he is credited with being the father of Operant Conditioning (McSweeney and Murphy, 2014). Operant conditioning is a theory which states that, when pleasant consequences follow certain behaviors, then the behaviors are likely to be repeated and the opposite; when unpleasant consequences come after some behaviors then the behaviors have a high likelihood of being stopped. In the interview, Bobbi is being questioned on OCD; she is asked for recommendations that she would give to people affected by, or those who think that they may be afflicted with, OCD. Amongst the recommendations, she gives is the use of Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy. This is a technique used to assist individuals with disorders whose triggers are based on high level of anxiety and results in the victim engaging in forms of repetitive behaviors with the aim of reducing the anxiety (Clark, 2007) . ERP derives its concept from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which mainly focuses on the establishment of individual coping techniques that are aimed at providing solutions to current problems and altering unhelpful patterns in cognitions, emotional control, and behaviors. This is the point whereby, the podcast on Bobbi’s OCD and the one discussing Skinner’s techniques, come together to report on specialization in psychopathology and learning and memory.
The exposure part of ERP suggests that individuals who find themselves with high levels of anxiety, caused by the exposure to provoking stimuli, will end experiencing extremely high levels of their anxiety if they are left exposed to the stimuli for lengthy periods of time. When the anxiety is at its highest, and can no longer go any higher, it is bound to come down slowly. In regards to OCD, for example, if an individual is driven to feel the need to wash their hands because they believe their hands are dirty, then they should avoid washing their hands and remain with their supposed dirty hands (Forman, 2007) . If possible, intentionally make them dirtier and wait out, as long as possible with dirty hands until the anxiety caused by the dirty hands dissipates into the disappearance.
On the contrary, avoidance may be an alternative. This is the compelling need for the person faced with a stimulus that provokes anxiety to avoid the stimuli so as to escape the anxiety it causes. B.F Skinner’s theory of operant condition provides the rationale for this. Operant conditioning refers to the way an organism responds to what is presented (sometimes intentionally and unnaturally) to them in their environment. It is a form of learning presented by the natural consequences brought about by the actions of the organism while reacting to the stimulus. In the hand washing situation, avoiding the stimuli that provoke anxiety, dirty hands, by washing them, removes the unpleasant emotions (McSweeney and Murphy, 2014). This can be seen as a reward, whereby the individual feels good every time they wash their hands and thus will keep on doing it. The reward reinforces the avoidance behavior. In this case, avoidance and escape are viewed as negative reinforcements; when the need to wash, hands is fulfilled, there is the removal of the unpleasant symptom, feeling of dirty hands, which in turn leads to the need to wash hands every time they feel dirty.
According to Skinner, all human behavior is learned and can be unlearned so as to be replaced by new behaviors. Unpleasant behaviors that were learned and became habits can be unlearnt and replaced with more pleasant and constructive habits. This is the case when it comes to the treatment or control of OCD. In Bobbi’s podcast, she mentions that at a young age, her family realized that she was plagued by a condition but did not know about OCD. It is probable that if they knew about OCD and also about learning and unlearning behaviors and Skinner's theory of the reward system, they would have implemented some of these strategies to help her control her OCD. For instance, if Bobbi was encouraged to become vocal whenever she felt that her hands were dirty, she was encouraged not to avoid or escape from the anxiety causing stimuli. Then, the parents would come up with a reward system for Bobbi every time she fulfilled this difficult task, Bobbi would learn that not engaging in obsessive rituals and in adulthood would take advantage of these positive memories.
After this research, the most interesting thing that I have learned that I previously did not know before is the fact that very many people are against B.F Skinner's strategies. It is surprising because learning and mental disorders have very distinct and direct links that after the research I feel like it is almost impossible to separate the two (McSweeney, 2014) . In a real world everyday scenario, my thoughts are directly to a friend who has been biting his nails for over twenty years, during this research I took the time to find out that he was not obviously born a ‘nail-biter’ and that if he learnt earlier on using operant conditioning through rewards or punishments, he would not be biting his nails. He is currently applying Skinner’s strategies in his own ways to kill the habit and slowly, but surely it is going away. A hot topic that emerges in connection with the two specialties is the fact that Skinner considers free will an illusion. Operant conditioning is considered ineffective for the treatment of some disorders .
As a conclusion, research assignment has raised my interest in both psychology specialty areas. The learning/memory area is interesting because I was able to see the connection between the two. Memory is often acquired instantly, while the learning process occurs slower. I found the specialty area of disorders to be interesting because it is one of the leading causes of disability and mortality. I also find it to be very important because it is an epidemic that affects many people directly and indirectly. Although both of the specialty areas were of interest to me, I could only see the psychopathology and a career possibility. I feel that psychopathology is more of a threat nowadays and that people need to the support and treatment of trained psychologists.
References
Clark, D. (2007). Cognitive-behavioral therapy for OCD (1st ed.). New York: Guilford Press.
Forman, E. M. (2007). A randomized controlled effectiveness trial of acceptance and commitment therapy and cognitive therapy for anxiety and depression. . Behavior modification, 31(6) , 772-799.
McSweeney, F. K. (2014). The Wiley Blackwell handbook of operant and classical conditioning. NY: John Wiley & Sons.
