Researching of Behavioral Science

Development across the Lifespan

The Concept of Attachment in Childhood

People are fond of building attachments in various stages of life. These attachments are critical as they help people find something to lean on whenever they need live assistance. As the concept of behavioral science illustrates, Attachment can involve a strong emotional bond between two people, making them feel safe and dependent on one another (1). This is the same thing when a baby is born, as an infant develops a deep connection with the mother or their immediate primary care provider at that tender age. However, in situations where mothers are not present for the baby at a young age, the bond can also spur between the infant and the primary caregiver they have at that moment.

The same way older individuals will rely on their attachments with one another is similar to how a baby will depend on their primary caregiver. This comes with significant impacts and benefits that studies have certified essential for a baby’s future growth, survival, and development (2). As the baby develops strong emotions toward their caregiver, they also create the same sense and characteristics, which intricately form part of their life. This is essential for a person’s ability to have a meaningful relationship with others even as they become adults (2). At the same time, the strong connection that helps these individuals to form loyal relationships with one another also contributes to their ability to maintain such relationships. Ultimately, having a suitable attachment with Caregivers at an early age creates a critical framework and a foundation that shapes how individuals will relate to and maintain healthy relationships in the future.

On the other hand, lacking a strong and dependable attachment at an early age limits one’s ability to develop and sustain good relationships with others. Whenever a child’s relationship at an early age becomes hostile and unfavorable, they create the concept that no good thing can come out of bonds with others. They lose strong emotional Attachment and develop a sense of fear instead of bonding with the caregivers for emotional support and developing behavioral features that promote their ability to form bonds. They imagine themselves encountering the same challenges they had in their previous relationships and are afraid to create another at a later age. This is visible in a situation where a child is experiencing issues like insecurity and oppressive caregivers. In this case, a child grows without trust in any relationship, losing confidence and building emotional and behavioral issues.

Moreover, Attachment also influences our ability to regulate our emotions and cope with stress. Whenever a child has a positive and secure attachment at an early stage, their capacity to manage and cope with emotional factors like stress strengthens (3). However, lacking a secure attachment exposes them to severe issues when handling emotional issues. Therefore, they fail to manage and regulate their emotions even after adulthood. These illustrations offer a viable insight into how attachments serve as a template for future human relationships and the ability to cope with emotional issues. This necessitates developing a better, secure, and positive attachment between a baby and their caregivers to help them survive, thrive, and grow good connections with others in the future.

Relevancy of the Concept of Conform and Obey to the Medical Setting

The medical setting’s reliability in offering efficient and quality care relies on several factors. For example, caregivers’ ethical practices and conformity to the various medical ethics and standards are core principles that set the grounds for quality and reliable care. Those critical elements can be linked to people conforming and obeying. Baby will always rely on their parents or guardians, serving and obeying the commands and advice they get from those who care for them. This is because they believe and develop a sense of safety and confidence in their providers. The same happens in the medical setting, where caregivers are viewed as the primary authorities that patients can depend on to get well. Thus, it forces patients to comply with their medical advice and treatment plans (4). At the same time, much of this comes from caregivers and physicians having the knowledge and expertise that ordinary people cannot comprehend in medicine. Adhering to their advice is the only way to attain those necessary skills and expertise.

Furthermore, people are fond of conforming to social norms and expectations of their societies when it comes to health. This also plays a critical role in enhancing care provisions, as healthcare professionals learn and understand the social norms their patients hold on to, which might influence how they respond to care services and treatment plans. In a community that values healthy living, abiding with environmental sustainability policies and a healthy feeding process, advising patients to maintain a healthy diet that can allow them to prolong their wellness and overall health can be easy. This means that what patients perceive as socially acceptable is easy to enforce, even in healthcare settings. Healthcare providers must understand these factors and tailor their services to cover all aspects of patient’s needs, values, and core beliefs.

The concept of conformity and obedience can impact building an effective means to serve and promote quality care. Healthcare providers must comprehend and follow various strategies that will help them align with the patient’s values and expectations. Care providers who have developed a better way to understand and respond to issues caused by conformity and obedience have successfully promoted effective and quality care services (5). This is because they can understand what will motivate their clients to accept or deny their care or treatment plan. Doing so and understanding how to address associated issues offers medical caregivers a better chance to encounter significant benefits of this concept of compliance and obedience. It is a critical factor that allows them to offer more personalized medical care, not undermining patients’ beliefs and behaviours (4).

In addition, conformity and obedience can help care providers promote a healthy lifestyle, like healthy food, excise, and regular medical checkups, which are vital indicators to confirm a quality and health care outcome. When the physician or nurse of a given patient can lure them into overcoming societal norms that hinder their ability to comply and obey reliable medical procedures and treatment plans, the promotion of high-quality care can be easy, as the level of difficulty of overcoming barriers of resistance reduces. In that case, they stand on the safer side of succeeding in providing quality care. These factors make the tendency to conform and obey a significant factor to understand in the medical environment settings. The primary aim is to have a reputable care team that can tailor their Care offering while following the critical aspects of patients’ ability to comply and obey.

Risk Factors for Dementia

Mental health issues like dementia still cause significant problems, undermining the mental well-being of most people and overall human health across the globe. It exposes individuals to severe health issues and associated symptoms, impacting one’s mental wellness. It also causes problems to the patients’ emotional properties and affects other areas of their social life (6). At the same time, it is an ongoing process that worsens with time, exposing the person attacked to severe issues without a reliable treatment that can help individuals overcome them (6). The mystery of dementia, however, does not just end with the impacts it brings to the victims. It impacts it. Instead, its primary causes remain a mysterious phenomenon that has raised significant challenges. This is why its existence is solely defined by potential risk factors that are believed to be responsible for its occurrences.

Schorlas has identified various risk factors associated with dementia. Genetic factors are the most related risk factors, as studies prove certain genetic elements promote the occurrence of mental issues. APOE ε4 gene, for instance, is among the genetically identified factors responsible for this issue (7). Still, scholars and medical experts emphasize that this is not the only factor that can be relied on when discussing dementia. It is just among the many other factors under scrutiny to identify how they apply to the emergence of this significant mental health issue. Nevertheless, it offers a viable insight into this matter and paves the way for more analysis of identifying the numerous risk factors associated with dementia.

Advancing age has also been proposed as the critical factor that promotes one to develop dementia. Various issues come with old age, more so on an individual’s health and well-being. As people age, their ability to fight disease-causing factors grows weak. Dementia is no exception, as Luo et al. (6) show that several individuals with old age have witnessed numerous cases of the condition. Most people diagnosed with the issue fall in the age bracket of 65 years and above. This is a pattern that suggests there might be a link.

Human lifestyle also contributes to the emergence of dementia. Humans are responsible for their well-being in many ways, with healthy practices and habits among the core variables promoting human health. However, when one deviates from medical recommendations and healthy living habits, like smoking or forgoing physical exercise, they expose themselves to various health issues. Similarly, dementia is also likely to develop when one fails to undertake and implement healthy behaviors.

Social and environmental factors are also associated with dementia. Studies have identified various social life variables and ecological issues that promote mental health issues. Lacking appropriate healthcare and intervention facilities to deal with mental problems will likely enhance dementia issues. These facilities are needed to diagnose, identify, and take proper actions against dementia before it overwhelms individuals. In addition, a lack of education and awareness about the issue limits individuals from understanding their health status. This means they are likely to develop the problems like dementia but fail to recognize them to take appropriate action in leveraging it before it is too late.

The Cognitive Model

Meaning

Human behaviors can be interpreted and defined in several ways, including how people think and their attitudes. Scholars have adopted various ideas and explanations to illuminate this concept. Nonetheless, the cognitive model stands out in offering a reliable and unique description of human behaviours. This theory targets cultivating and uncovering what entails human thoughts and attitudes by linking them to various factors, including the ability to impact emotions, behaviours, and overall well-being. The theory asserts that people do not just respond to external events (8). Instead, people will react to environmental events based on how they perceive them after analyzing how they impact and define their thoughts, beliefs, behaviours, and expectations (8). This offers a viable ground that can be used to understand human behaviours based on how events impact their emotional triggers. Instead of judging or rebuking people for their behaviors, it is necessary to know how they have reacted based on how the situation affects their inwardly integrated elements like emotions and perceived wellness.

In the concept of the cognitive model, human beliefs and expectations can either alleviate or worsen one’s emotional distress. In light of this provision, the cognitive model serves as a critical concept that can be utilized to understand and address issues that impede the development and maintenance of mental health. For example, this theory helps to understand that negative thoughts about situations can be the key promoters of distressful emotional experiences. Nonetheless, they are automatic and unconscious factors, meaning people cannot even realize that they are developing and holding on to them. Still, their impacts are vivid. They can trigger overreaching emotional consequences, including sadness, stress, anger, or even anxiety, as individuals fail to recognize they are holding on to negative feelings that trigger these factors (8).

At the same time, they cause significant detriments like maladaptive behaviors and further reinforce the negative thought patterns when one develops these issues of anxiety, stress, and anger. Luckily, there are cognitive therapies to help individuals leverage their strengths and create a vital strategy to reduce and cope with negative feelings. Central to the significance of these cognitive therapies is the ability to help individuals identify and modify these automatic and unconscious feelings that define their behaviors and emotions. Ultimately, they help individuals find ways to adapt and work with a conscious mindset about negative thoughts.

Due to its significance in cognitive therapy interventions, the cognitive model has been the central pillar that guides and supports interventions toward various mental health issues. According to (8), it has been implemented in many therapy centers and situations where patients have shown signs of depression, anxiety disorder, eating disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Therapists and psychological experts have implemented the concept to help people survive depression as they learn to overcome the negative feelings that make them depressed. In such a situation, someone might feel pessimistic about the world and the people around them. Instead of leveraging the opportunity to build positive relationships, they hate and regret their lives (8). However, understanding and reducing such thoughts through awareness helps individuals later their mindset and focus on positive reviews.

The Cognitive Model and Social Anxiety

Social anxiety is a detrimental mental issue that combats different groups of people. Understanding its underlying concepts and working towards resolutions is gaining significant progress, thanks to a cognitive model exploring its cause. The notion of the cognitive model highlights its cause by pinpointing the negative and distorted feelings surrounding the issue. It always comes from intense fear and persistent feeling that the world around one is not favorable. Socially anxious people think the world is constantly scrutinizing and judging every step they take (8). They end up living desperate lives characterized by isolation and anxiety. Consequently, these negative thoughts affect human well-being, impacting substantial aspects of life like work and education and ruining the potential relationship one might rely on.

However, the cognitive model offers a reliable framework to understand that these feelings of fear are unjustified and vases solely on inaccurate thoughts about environmental settings that hamper healthy living. When someone fears interacting with others or is afraid to undertake potential practices that can make a massive impact on their life, their thoughts will be deeply consumed by ideas that do not fit or match their area. Therefore, they will remain isolated and inactive, fearing that they might embrace themselves in front of others. This is where cognitive therapy is an essential intervention to identify such feelings and comprehend that they are not what they seem to be rather than thoughts deeply tangled in one’s mindset.

The cognitive model allows cognitive therapists to provide a different mindset based on reality rather than imagination. The process involves implementing various programs and strategies that help clients be open-minded and conscious about their surroundings (8). It works in three plans, cognitive restructuring, exposure therapy, and behavioural experiments. The first approach, cognitive restructuring, allows individuals to understand their beliefs and the fundamental factors that define them. This is critical to help them pinpoint how such feelings exist in their mind and how they impact them.

On the other hand, exposure therapy marks the initial steps that therapists implement to gradually expose patients to feared social situations, with the specific aim of helping them develop coping strategies. These play a significant role in overcoming the negative feelings that individuals will showcase in the face of their feared stimuli, which is needed to overcome avoidance behaviours (8). Moreover, cognitive therapists initiate behavioural experiments, targeting the patient to understand the validity of negative beliefs through real-life experiences (8). The most critical point from these illustrations is that cognitive therapy relies heavily on the cognitive model to get a comprehensive and practical framework for understanding and treating mental health issues. In this light, social anxiety is not an exception.

The Ideas of ‘Behaviourists’

The psychological treatment sectors are critical areas of medicine and care provisions that require intensive analysis and intervention procedures. It has no single or fixed intervention criteria but relies on multiple and highly flexible elements. However, there are potential ideas that have helped define psychological treatment frameworks, with the opinions of behaviorists, such as B.F. Skinner and John Watson provide vital information to help overcome treatment challenges for various psychological conditions. In behaviorism, the importance of observable behavior and how they relate to and are influenced by environmental factors have given insight into how intervention for some psychological issues can be addressed (10).

Caregivers have used the concept to offer reliable interventions by understanding human behaviours and directing influential environmental factors to help define their actions to a reputable line. In cases like anxiety, depression, or even affection, behavior therapy has been instrumental in helping these people alternate environmental factors that promote their sufferings to embrace better ones.

The concept of operant conditioning falls among the significant aspects of behaviourism, which has been integral in addressing mental health issues. It is a process that involves rewards, rewarding people for their good behaviours and punishing them for bad ones (9). This has been a critical pillar that Skinner introduced to help psychologists develop and implement effective behavioural therapies (9). In action, operant conditioning encourages care proffer to reward their patients for positive and reputable behaviours. This contributes by developing good behaviours and actions among their patients while discouraging those that might lead to punishment. The techniques integrated into this process include positive reinforcement, token economies, and contingency management. The approach has effectively provided a positive outcome in suppressing the destructive behaviors that might expose one to drug addiction, among other behavioural issues.

Moreover, the concept of behaviorism incorporates the idea of classical conditioning. This concept suggests pairing a stimulus with a response to define the behaviors of individuals (9). There are various things that people fear and things that they have a positive feelings towards. This means people will always avoid engaging with things that make them uncomfortable or at risk. Consequently, they develop a sense of fear, stress, or anxiety if they are exposed to such feared stimuli. This is the notion that classical conditioning cultivates. It is widely used in the behavioural treatment of mental issues like treating anxiety disorders or phobias (9).

In the implementation process, patients are exposed to things they fear (feared stimuli). However, the care professionals also introduce relaxation techniques to help them cope with such fear (9). This process primarily aims to help patients overcome the anxiety of the setting or their surroundings by associating them with relaxation and hope. In practice, the evidence and critical insights emphasized the importance of behaviourists’ ideas, such as B.F. Skinner and John Watson and their impacts on promoting quality therapy interventions. This applies to both concepts that behaviourism delves into, operant conditioning and classical conditioning.

The Scientific Method to Understand Human Behaviour

Childhood Adversity

What a child experience at an early age impacts their future life. Childhood adversity is not an exception. It involves all the negative experiences children encounter during childhood (12). This can range from household dysfunction, abuse, and neglects to any other factor that can make a child’s life unbearable. These factors not only impact children at their younger age. Instead, studies have proven that their impacts extend to adulthood. For example, individuals who experience childhood adversity may be at an increased risk of developing mental health conditions. The most common mental health associated with this includes depression and anxiety and physical health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes (12).

The horrible early childhood memories caused by childhood adversity impact their ability to fight these health conditions as they lack support from those close to them. Mental health issues require significant approval to leverage, including those who are close to the person offering enough care and understanding. However, people who underwent childhood adversity at an early age are likely to lose such comfort provided by guardians or related family members. They develop a mindset that all these people are hostile and nothing good can come on out of one. This impedes their capabilities and possibilities to overcome mental health issues.

Childhood adversity is also linked to changes and brain and nervous system damage. This comes from the impacts these people endure due to the pain and associated issues caused by the horrible experience. When exposed to chronic health issues due to the overreaching experiences they underwent as a child, they become more likely to develop a condition of dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis (12). This is the part responsible for the stress regulation capabilities. The dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis causes more health issues, including changes in cortisol levels. These conditions also present problems of their own, they are likely to expose one to severe mental health issues and overwhelming physical health issues (12). This makes childhood adversity a significant element for study to comprehend the connection better ad to present possible recommendations to help overcome the potential problems of childhood adversity.

The evidence supports that childhood adversity influences future development and mental health issues. However, other factors also apply. Some people can show a high sense of resilience and overcome challenges caused by undergoing this horrible early childhood experience. In addition, factors like the genetic characteristics of an individual can also make them resilient to overcome potential mental health issues. Still, that does not deter researchers and children’s guardians from initiating better ways to protect children from encountering childhood adversity.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Most mental health or cognitive illnesses are promoted by negative thoughts or feelings that do not promote a healthy and positive mindset. This is the central focus of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Its primary aim is to assist patients who are developing and overwhelmed with negative thoughts and feelings to change and focus on enhancing positive ones (11). With this in its core targets and emphasis, CBT offers a viable solution and treatment for most mental health issues related to the impacts of one’s thoughts. This means it can be implemented at cognitive therapy centres to help patients with social anxiety, a widespread problem resulting from the extensive buildup of negative thoughts towards others and their environment. CBT allows them to build a positive mindset that differs and informs individuals of the reality around their ideas. It is aimed to help patients understand that the negative feelings they are holding on to are just a set of imagination based on inaccurate information, which they can effectively leverage if they choose to do so.

A large amount of literature has proved the reliability of CBT in intervening and leveraging the issue of social anxiety. Guo et al. (11) found that CBT is essential in helping patients with social anxiety more than other intervention approaches aimed to do the same. It follows an evidence-based practice that is fundamental in identifying and arresting mental health issues that bring social anxiety. At the same time, the approach includes reliable intervention programs like introducing adaptive measures that help patients adapt to negative thoughts, gradually increasing their interest and ability to let go of the ideas. Despite its significance and promising procedures to overcome the challenges caused by social anxiety, other factors can impact its effectiveness. The level of expertise and experience the caregiver or the therapist provides is how effectively this CBT intervention can influence a patient’s outcome and provide a reliable solution (11).

Moreover, the patient’s needs and motivation to over6the issue can similarly enhance or decrease the effectiveness of CBT in offering a reliable outcome. Those inclined to overcome the problem and willing to put their best have a reliable chance to develop much fate4 and overcome the issue of social anxiety.

People also have unique ways of responding to medical treatment plans, which also applies in CBT programs when addressing the issue of social anxiety disorder. While some people can positively and highly responsive to the program, it might not work for some people. This means the program is effective but cannot be assumed to work for everyone. When it fails to attain a desired goal for a patient, other therapy approaches can be recommended. For example, therapists can explore other options like medication and interpersonal therapy (11). This indicates that individuals’ needs and preferences also apply to overcome mental health issues like social anxiety.

Cognitive Biases and Heuristics

The effectiveness and reliability of medical care provisions rely on several factors that caregivers and medical experts must be aware of to overcome. Among these potential factors that care providers must keep an eye on is the cognitive biases and heuristics. These are potential mental issues and shortcuts that can impede quality care, leading to errors in thinking and improper decision-making process. When care providers have been compromised in their thoughts and mindset, the possibility that they will offer reputable and well-informed decisions and care services diminishes. For example, confirmation bias, a common tendency to seek out and interpret information to confirm one’s beliefs, has been observed in healthcare systems on multiple occasions. However, it comes with overreaching detrimental issues that expose patients to severe risks of unsafe and poor-quality care. It can lead to diagnostic errors and inappropriate treatments (10). This happens at the cost of a patient’s quality and safe care needs. Given these issues’ rise and potential impacts, physicians must be keen observers and attentive to the biases and heuristics to maintain top-notch quality care.

Moreover, caregivers and medical experts are sometimes prone to biases like the availability heuristic. Under this, physicians can be caught up in behaviors like overestimating the likelihood of events that are easily recalled from memory. Consequently, these can lead to issues like overestimating treatment and diagnosis (10). This occurs as medical givers can be deeply rooted and reliant on treatments that are more salient in their memory, which leads them to order a test or prescribe a treatment plan that does not reflect their level of expertise but unreliable interventions that endangers patients’ well-being.

Building a complete awareness of these biases offers the actioner an essential ground to rely on their well-informed judgements and leverage their level of expertise to provide quality and reputable care services. When one becomes aware of these biases, the primary reason behind a successful care provision is that one will be informed and build a comprehensive knowledge on identifying them before they impact an individual’s ability to think and act normally. After all, early identification of a problem is a reliable way to work on mitigating them before they develop into a more significant issue. This paves the way to stick to good quality and high-standard care practices. Attaining this sense of understanding and knowledge about these biases requires integrating and adopting various steps to succeed.

Caregivers might seek diverse sources of information and training programs t equip them with the necessary expertise behind these biases (10). They may also develop considerable experience or knowledge by being a creative, fast thinker and developing the ability to consider alternate explanations for diagnosed symptoms. Similarly, they may be engaged in frequent self-reflection and monitoring to understand themselves further. Investing and focusing on these practices provides safer and considerably effective ways to overcome potential biases that might impede quality care.

References List

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