Eddy Elmer: Quick-reference psychology lists and charts

"Adults with low levels of MAO, an enzyme in the brain, tend to be gregarious, drink heavily, indulge in drugs, like fast car, and seek out the excitement of rock concerts, bars, and other places of public entertainment. People with low MAO also pursue an active, varied sex life. They seem to be physiologically wired to create drama and excitement. This may begin in infancy; newborn babies with low levels of MAO are more excitable and crankier" (p. 172).

May be responsible for some people's lovesickness. MAO inhibitors seem to be able to reduce lovesickness in those who don't have enough phenylethylamine (neurotransmitter type substance) in brain (Fisher, p. 53-4).

Biological rhythms

Ultradian (<24-hour cycle; e.g. REM/non-REM sleep cycle; BRAC)
Circadian (24-hour cycle; e.g. sleep-wake cycle)
Infradian (>24-hour cycle; e.g. menstrual cycle)
Circannual (generally annual cycle; e.g. hibernation)

Stability of the Big 5 personality traits over time

General conclusions: personality traits from all 5 of these factors are stable in adults; stability is higher for adults 30+ than for young adults; and stability goes down over longer time periods

These maturational effects seem universal, and only modestly affected by historical experience

From Friedman and Downey, in Sexual Orientation and Psychoanalysis, 2002, p. 46: "Genetic influences significant for all five major personality traits, although less so than for IQ. Interestingly, as was the case for IQ, reared-apart twins studies indicate that shared environment—that is, the familial environment of rearing—has little or no influence on the emergence of many core personality traits." I think this is a fair assessment; however, where there are major conflicts present in someone's life, these natural, inborn traits may not come through (ie, they may be masked by the conflicts and the defensive behaviours/traits that come about as a result).

Ageing and cognitive abilities

Development of children's conceptions of death (Maria Nagy's classification)

Common defence mechanisms

Unconscious, or partly conscious, maneuvers by which we avoid or minimise anxiety due to unpleasurable/troubling/potentially troubling id impulses* , superego injunctions (including injunctions from the conscious conscience), or realistic dangers (cf. Charles Rycroft, A Critical Dictionary of Psychoanalysis, Oxford, 1995). Usual pattern (from strictly Freudian perspective): Id impulse or superego injunction (including injunctions from conscience) —> emotion (including signal anxiety) that results from threat of id impulse being let loose or from superego's injunctions —> defence mechanism.

* Id impulses include strong feelings of attachment to objects (and the powerful feelings that are aroused when those objects are lost). Note also that in some people, id impulses are awakened prematurely because of sexual abuse during childhood.

Superego, cf. Rycroft: "The part of the ego in which self-observation, self-criticism, and other reflective activities develop. That part of the go in which parental introjects are located. Since Freud maintained that self-observation is dependent on internalization of the parents, these two definitions tally. The super-ego differs from the conscience in that (a) it belongs to a different frame of reference, i.e. metapsychology not ethics; (b) it includes unconscious elements; and (c) injunctions and inhibitions emanating from it derive from the subject's past and may be in conflict with his present values [...] Some accounts of psychoanalytic treatment give as one of its aims modification of the super-ego in the direction of greater tolerance and realism, while others describe the transfer of its functions to the ego."

Conscience, cf. Rycroft: "Either a person's system of moral values or that part of a person which he experiences as voicing moral values. The word properly refers only to conscious values and conscious 'still, small voices' and should not be confused with the super-ego which differs from it in being partly unconscious and in containing imperatives to which the individual does not consciously subscribe."

[In general, psychoanalytic treatment has the following goals: (1) To make conflicts conscious so that they no longer haunt someone unconcsiously; (2) To help the person choose a less disruptive defence mechanism if the conflict doesn't go away after catharsis; and (3) "modification of the super-ego in the direction of greater tolerance and realism, while others describe the transfer of its functions to the ego" (Rycroft).]

Note: References to "internal stressor" in the chart below means conflict between what id wants and what ego will allow to be expressed; "emotional conflict" means conflict between one's conscious moral values (ie conscience) and injunctions from superego; "external stressors" is the same as "realistic dangers" as in Rycroft's definition above. Note that some people experience conflicts even when nothing happened to them in the past to create superego injunctions. Some people, for instance, are simply genetically predisposed to interpret their experiences (eg, his experiences with objects such as his mother) in an exaggerated or negative way, thereby creating in their minds a distorted image of certain objects, conflicts, etc. Others have a certain cognitive style that also causes distorted perceptions. This is why object relations theory is interested not only in what actually happens to someone in life, but on how the person perceives those events (how he perceives his interactions with his objects, etc.)

acting out	I'm upset that my wife make more money than I do, so to punish her I refuse to do any household chores.
aim inhibition	Excerpt from http://www.coldbacon.com/defenses.html: "Placing a limitation upon instinctual demands; accepting partial or modified fulfillment of desires. Examples: (1) a person is conscious of sexual desire but if finding it frustrating, "decides" that all that is really wanted in the relationship is companionship. (2) a student who originally wanted to be a physician decides to become a physician's assistant. Aim inhibition, like the other mechanisms, is neither healthful nor pathological, desirable nor undesirable, in itself. It may be better to have half a loaf than no bread, but an unnecessary aim inhibition may rob one of otherwise attainable satisfactions. Note that the first example could include the mechanism of displacement, and the second, rationalization. Up to a point, mutual idealization can make for a happy relationship; however, unrealistic expectations of another person based upon this mechanism can lead to serious disappointment."
affiliation	I just broke up with my girlfriend and I turn to my best friend to talk and for support.
aggression
altruism	I am depressed so I go out and volunteer at a nursing home to feel better.
anticipation	There is a rumour that I may be fired from my job, so I anticipate the worst and start looking for a job well in advance of any bad news.
ascetism	I live a life of simplicity and avoid ordinary, earthly, corporeal pleasures.
autistic/schizoid fantasy	I am bored with the relationship with my girlfriend, and so I spend excessive time daydreaming about a relationship with Rachel Hunter instead of thinking of new ways to spice up my current relationship.
avoidance	Excerpt from http://www.coldbacon.com/defenses.html: "A defense mechanism consisting of refusal to encounter situations, objects, or activities because they represent unconscious sexual or aggressive impulses and/or punishment for those impulses; avoidance, according to the dynamic theory, is a major defense mechanism in phobias."
compartmentalisation
compensation	Stalin was a very short, weak-looking man. To compensate, he focussed on becoming a ruthless military dictator. This can become neurotic, as in the case of over-compensation (Adler's term).
controlling	From BehaveNet, http://www.behavenet.com: "In this neurotic defense the individual attempt to use manipulation and management of external objects to control anxiety."
conversion	I hate to play the piano, but my mother forces me to take lessons. I end up develop paralysis in my arms, even though there is no physical cause (ie, no physical disease).
counterphobia	Deliberately approaching one's fear/phobia.
deflection	Someone mentions something that I am embarassed about, and I change the topic by focussing the conversation on someone else.
denial	From Glenn Campbell, http://www.defencemechanisms.net: "The attempt to deal with a disturbing fact by denying its existence or refusing to accept its significance." My best friend dies in an accident and I insist that I feel o.k. psychotic denial when reality testing is grossly impaired.
devaluation	I didn't get the job I interviewed for. I insist that the interview was an absolute moron who doesn't know how to do his job and can't spot talent when he sees it. I am jealous of my classmates because they are better students than I am. As a result, I make fun of their physical appearance, comment on their social ineptness, and otherwise behave in a cruel, catty, aggressive way towards them.
disavowal/negation	From Andrew M. Colman, Oxford Dictionary of Psychology, 2001: "[A] process whereby one continues to defend oneself against a formerly repressed wish, thought, or feeling that has come to consciousness by disavowing or disowning, as when a patient says during therapy 'You might expect me to have felt angry with him, but I never felt any anger'. Sigmund Freud expounded his theory...'Only one consequence of the process of negation is undone—the fact, namely, of the ideational content of what is repressed not reaching consciousness. The outcome of this is a kind of intellectual acceptance of the repressed, while at the same time what is essential to the repression persists.'"
displacement	The judge finds me guilty of speeding in traffic court. I hold my tongue so I don't get an even harsher fine. I walk outside and when I am approached by a frail old vagrant for a quarter, I scream, curse, and spit at him. Definition cf. Coleman, Oxford Dictionary of Psychology (2001): "[D]efence mechanism involving redirection of emotional feelings from their original object to a substitute object related to the original one by a chain of associations. . .[T]he substitute object may be less threatening than the original one."
dissociation	DSM-IV: "The individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors with a breakdown in the usually integrated functions of consciousness, memory, perception f self or the environment, or sensory/motor behaviour." One type is isolation of affect; see below.
distortion	From BehaveNet, http://www.behavenet.com: "This narcissistic defense mechanism often involves psychotic efforts to reshape the external world with hallucinations and delusions."
extreme doubt and confusion	I cannot trust my own judgment or perceptions and leave things perpetually unresolved in the hope that someone else will be able to make a decision or solve a problem for me.
fixation	Remaining frozen at a particular developmental period in order to avoid facing future conflicts (?)
foreclosure	From Andrew M. Colman, Oxford Dictionary of Psychology, 2001: "[A] defence mechanism first identified in 1956 by...Jacques Lacan...involving the expulsion of a fundamental signifier, such as the phallus as a fundamental signifier of the castration complex, from a person's symbolic universe. It may be a defence mechanism specific to psychosis, and it differs from repression inasmuch as the foreclosed signifier is not integrated into the person's unconscious and does not re-emerge from within as a neurotic symptom but may return in the form of a psychotic hallucination. The idea is traceable to an article in 1894 by Sigmund Freud...'There is, however, a much more energetic and successful kind of defence. Here, the ego rejects the compatible idea together with its affect and behaves as if the idea had never occured to the ego at all.'"
forgetting	I had an extramarital affair over which I felt very guilty. I was able to reconcile with my wife, but every time she brings up the topic of the affair, I honestly cannot remember key details of the affair.
help-rejecting complaining	My friends and I are all well-educated, but the friends have well-paying jobs while I work at Burger King. I am jealous. I constantly ask them if they will help spruce up my resume, help me look for a better job, etc. When they offer the help, I tell them their advice is stupid and does not apply to me.
hypercomplaint	From Glenn Campbell, http://www.defencemechanisms.net: "The attempt to relieve anxiety by overemphasizing ones problems. Hypercomplaint is the defense of relentless pessimism and unproductive complaining. The person wants to see his situation as worse than it is to provide an excuse for his failures."
hypochondriasis	From BehaveNet, http://www.behavenet.com: "This immature defense mechanism makes use of somatic illness or pain to avoid unacceptable impulses." In order to avoid going to therapy and deal with my attachment issues, I constantly complain of being too sick to go—even too sick to think about these issues. The hypochondriasis helps take my mind off the issues which obviously need attention.s
humour	DSM: "The individual deals with emotional conflict or external stressors by emphasizing the amusing or ironic aspects of the conflict or stressor." My pants fall down in the middle of the street, and I just stand there laughing at myself.
idealisation	DSM: "The individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by attributing exaggerated positive qualities to others." I don't want to accept that I am a victim of spousal abuse, so I talk endlessly about what a wonderful man—what a god—my husband is.
identification	According to Moore and Fine (in Psychoanalytic Terms and Concepts, Yale U Press, 1990), "is often used in a generic sense to refer to all the mental processes by which an individual becomes like another in one or several aspects" (p. 102). The three kinds of identification include: internalisation, introjection, and incorporation.
*identification with the aggressor aka* Stockholm syndrome**	My father abuses me and I start acting like him in order to make him think better of me (and, hence, not abuse me). Sometimes, the purpose is (unconsciously) to make oneself believe that the aggressor is actually a good person.
incorporation	Implies "swallowing up/ingesting" something from the external world in order to destroy it (cf. S.Frosh, Key Concepts in Psychoanalysis, NYU Press, 2002/3). I hate my father so much that I start behaving like him [get better example]
instinctualisation
intellectualisation	My husband just died and instead of acknowleding my feelings of grief and crying, for instance, I tell myself it makes no logical or philosophical sense to be upset because he is gone and being upset will not bring him back.
introjection/introjective identification	Opposite of projection. Involves taking in something (an object or an object's emotions) from the outside, external world and making it a part of your phantasy life. Implies a certain bodily symbolisation of the object (cf. S.Frosh, Key Concepts in Psychoanalysis, NYU Press, 2002/3). My husband dies and I cope with the unbearable grief by starting to act like him.
isolation of affect	In describing to her therapist the time she was raped, Carol describes the events matter-of-factly without experiencing and showing any of the negative feelings she felt during the assault.
moralisation
negation/disavowal	From Andrew M. Colman, Oxford Dictionary of Psychology, 2001: "[A] process whereby one continues to defend oneself against a formerly repressed wish, thought, or feeling that has come to consciousness by disavowing or disowning, as when a patient says during therapy 'You might expect me to have felt angry with him, but I never felt any anger'. Sigmund Freud expounded his theory...'Only one consequence of the process of negation is undone—the fact, namely, of the ideational content of what is repressed not reaching consciousness. The outcome of this is a kind of intellectual acceptance of the repressed, while at the same time what is essential to the repression persists.'"
omnipotence	I feel that I am physically-unattractive, uglier than most people. To cope, I insist that I am much, much smarter than they will ever be.
passive aggression	My boss refused to give me a raise, but if I express my anger about this, he might demote me. So instead, I deliberately quit doing all the little extra things I did before even though they weren't in my contract. When he becomes upset and says I'm not doing my job, I tell him sheepishly, "I am doing exactly what my job description entails".
projection	A husband is cheating on his wife. His wife finds out and he says, "How dare you invade my privacy. Don't you trust me?" The husband is the one harbouring the guilt (because he is the true cheat), but he is fully disavowing the feeling in himself and instead saying it's his wife who is the cheat. He basically completely distances himself from his unacceptable feelings.
projective identification	Here, you don't fully disavow the emotion or conflict you don't like. Instead, you maintain a part of it in consciousness, project it onto someone else for purposes of maintaining an identification with them. Through this identification, you self extends into them, and you can then deal with your unacceptable feelings by addressing them in the other person. Thus, the husband who is a cheat himself will become constantly suspicious of his wife. He will hound her all the time and make her feel guilty for this—in effect punishing her, or, more rightly, punishing himself through her.
racket emotions	I live in a family where anger cannot be expressed. So, when I am angry, I express sadness instead. Definition: Defence mechanism whereby a person experiences a particular emotion in place of an emotion that they believe they are not allowed to express
rationalisation	An adult has sex with a prepubescent child and insists he did it because she needed to learn about sexuality. EG, sour grapes phenomenon.
reaction formation	DSM-IV: "The individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by substituting behaviour, thoughts, or feelings that are diametrically opposed to his or her own unacceptable thoughts of feelings." eg. I dislike you so much that I shower you with affection. The diametrically opposed substituted behaviour, thoughts, or feelings are usually excessive or over-zealous.
regression	"It's not my fault. She started it."
reparation	Dealing with feelings of emotional conflict due to a given act by using by words or behavior designed to make amends for the consequences of a given act. Differs from restitution in that the latter involves bringing things back to a previous state of affairs. Differs from undoing in that the latter is an act by which the person tries to undo the original act itself.
repression	DSM-IV: "The individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by expelling disturbing wishes, thoughts, or experiences from conscious awareness. The feeling component may remain conscious, detached from its associated ideas."
restitution	I stole a lot of money from my best friend. I start paying him back, with interest. Differs from reparation in that the latter involves compensation or making amends, and not necessarily bringing things back to the way they were at a previous time. Differs from undoing in that the act is very obviously one by which the person pays back (in some way) the person he wronged.
reversal	Reversal of an instinctual aim, usually from passive to active (eg, from sadism into masochism, voyeurism into exhibitionism).
self-assertion	From BehaveNet, http://www.behavenet.com: "The individual deals with emotional conflict or stressors by expressing his or her feelings and thoughts directly in a way that is not coercive or manipulative." I am very angry with my best friend because he never pays for dinner. Instead of yelling at him and worsening the situation, I calmly but firmly voice my concerns.
self-observation	From BehaveNet, http://www.behavenet.com: "The individual deals with emotional conflict or stressors by reflecting on his or her own thoughts, feelings, motivation, and behavior, and responding appropriately." I cheated on my girlfriend and feel awful. I reflect on why I would behave this way, gain some insight, and use this insight to keep myself from doing this again.
splitting	DSM-IV: "The individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by compartmentalizing opposite affect states and failing to integrate the positive and negative qualities of the self or others into cohesive images. Because ambivalent affects cannot be experiencing simultaneously, more balanced views and expectations of self or others are excluded from emotional awareness. Self and object images tend to alternate between polar opposites: exclusively loving, powerful, worthy, nurturant, an kind-or exclusively bad, hateful, angry, destructive, rejecting, or worthless.
stoicism	I have severe emotional difficulties and refuse to see a therapist, insisting that I can/must/should "deal with it on my own."
sublimation	I'm angry at my boss, but instead of punching him in the face, I go for a punching bag or a Bobo doll or I go paint a masterpiece (a socially-acceptable behaviour).
substitution	Excerpt from http://www.coldbacon.com/defenses.html: "[T]the individual secures alternative or substitutive gratification comparable to those that would have been employed had frustration not occurred."
suppression	DSM-IV: "The individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by intentionally avoiding thinking about disturbing problems, wishes, feelings, or experiences."
symbolisation	From Glenn Campbell, http://www.defencemechanisms.net: "The attempt to resolve complex inner conflicts by replacing them with external symbolic objects. Symbolization is the attempt to relieve inner conflict by investing in external symbols. To try to repair my low self-esteem, I buy a flashy new sports car. To express my feelings for my country, I salute the flag and sing its anthem. A symbol is an outside object, neutral in itself, to which I attribute an emotional value or abstract meaning. The object can then be bought, sought, rejected or otherwise manipulated as though it was a container of all the feelings and meaning I have given to it."
turning against the self	I direct my saddistic impulses towards others against myself, thus becoming a masochist (this example is called "moral masochism).
undoing	Dealing with feelings of emotional conflict due to a given act by using words or behavior designed to symbolically negate it or magically cause the act to not have happened. Differs from reparation and restitution in that the latter are defences by which the person responds to the consequences of the act. In undoing, the person tries to undo the original act itself.

Notes:

Identification, according to Moore and Fine (in Psychoanalytic Terms and Concepts, Yale U Press, 1990), "is often used in a generic sense to refer to all the mental processes by which an individual becomes like another in one or several aspects" (p. 102). The three kinds of identification include: internalisation, introjection, and incorporation.
Internalisation: Often used synonymously with introjection. Simply refers to the basic process by which that which is in the outside world takes on an internal, mental representation. Precedes both incorporation and introjection. Not a defence mechanism.
Introjection: Opposite of projection. Involves taking in something from the outside, external world (an object or an object's emotions) and making it a part of your phantasy life. Implies a certain bodily symbolisation of the object (cf. S.Frosh, Key Concepts in Psychoanalysis, NYU Press, 2002/3)
Incorporation: Implies "swallowing up/ingesting" something from the external world in order to destroy it (cf. S.Frosh, Key Concepts in Psychoanalysis, NYU Press, 2002/3). I hate my father so much that I start behaving like him [get better example]

	Example: Cougar (Puma)
Kingdom	Animalis
Phylum	Chordata
Class	Mammalia
Order	Carnivora
Family	Felidae
Genus	Felis
Species	F. coloris
Common Name	Cougar

Central nervous system	Brain (encephalon)	Forebrain	Telencephalon (Cerebral hemispheres)	Neocortex
				Basal ganglia
				Limbic system
			Diencephalon	Thalamus
				Hypothalamus
		Mesencephalon—midbrain
		Hindbrain	Metencephalon	Cerebellum
				Pons
			Myelencephalon—medulla oblongata
	Spinal cord
Peripheral nervous system	Somatic (skeletal) nerves
	Autonomic ganglia and nerves		Sympathetic division
			Parasympathetic division

Eddy's quick-reference psychology lists and charts: Part I

Eddy Elmer

Please note: This information is just for study purposes. The data and figures in here are not meant to be quoted. This is a continual work in progress, so many sections are only partially complete.

Taxonomy of life (zoological)

Molecular hierarchy

Major brain divisions

3 crudest divisions, as used in everyday general conversation

Specific brain parts to know

Specific brain events to know

The menstrual cycle

Role of MAO (monoamine oxidase) in behaviour

Biological rhythms

Stability of the Big 5 personality traits over time

Ageing and cognitive abilities

Development of children's conceptions of death (Maria Nagy's classification)

Common defence mechanisms