POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

GRADUATE SCHOOL

MASTER IN PSYCHOLOGY

Towards a Healthier Mind: the Effects of the Application

of Psychological Thoughts and Concepts on creating a

more Positive Attitude of Employees towards Work

By Joshua J. Batalla - IP

2014

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Table of Contents

Introduction 2 Hypothesis 3 Significance of the Study 3 Definitions of Terms 4 Discussions 5 - 6 Summary 7 Reference 7

Introduction

A meaningful life includes meaningful work, a lot of times people tend to focus on the personal lives of the individual to explain certain behavioral patterns. But let us face it, we spend majority of our waking times at work and most of the thinking processes, strong emotions that we felt and bonds we have created took place in the work environment. After 8 hours of strenuous work it will depend on your day outcome your emotions for the consequent scenarios that would took place. This is called the “spillover effect”. It is important to explore why do some people became more successful than others, why do some people tend to manage stress much more efficiently and why do some people tend to develop more social cohesiveness than others being in the same environment with them. There must be something different on the way they think, feel and act. Renowned psychologist invested countless number of hours conducting experiments to test their hypothesis, some experience near death scenarios only for them to discover where people draw out their strengths to carry on. Assimilating their theories into the industrial setting tend to improve the efficacy, emotional resiliency and advancement toward growth and the need for self-actualization of the employees.

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Hypothesis

“There is strong correlation between the education of psychological thought in creating a more resilient, objective and creative workforce”

Significance of the Study

This is study is useful with people in all walks of life from students, teachers, entrepreneurs and professional workers. Its intended audience is people with no background in psychological concepts, those who are struggling with work and those who wants to advancement in their

careers.

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Definitions of terms

Work - An activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result

Job - An unfulfilling but necessary way to make money

Career - An opportunity to advance from one position to a better position

Calling - A fulfilling and socially useful activity

Existential-Humanistic Approaches

– Is a term applied to the work of certain late 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual.

Cognitive Behavioral Approaches

– Is a psychotherapeutic approach that addresses dysfunctional emotions, maladaptive behaviors and cognitive processes and contents through a number of goal-oriented, explicit systematic procedures.

Industrial/Organizational Psychology

– Application of Psychological Concepts for the betterment of human dignity in the workplace

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Main Discussion:

“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by

answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible. “ – Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for meaning

The principle above is an excerpt from Viktor Frankl’s best-selling book. When asked how he felt in regards of the success of his book Frankl expressed his sadness that a lot of people seems at lost with meaning about their lives. I would like to tell you the story of the life of Mr. Viktor Frankl at the tender age of 16, he gave his first public lecture, “On the meaning of life.” At a young age, Frankl had become convinced that the human spirit is what makes us unique and the reducing life and human nature to “nothing but” along the lines of many existentialist philosophers and psychiatrist of his time denied or discounted any such spirit. He became a very successful neurologist and psychiatrist. His theory was developed in the academe but was further confirmed by his experiences in the war, in the holocaust. His whole family was sent to a concentration camp in Prague. This was the beginning of three dark years of imprisonment during which Frankl lost his wife, Tilly, his parents and his brothers to the horrors of the Nazi prison camp. He nearly died from typhoid fever and kept himself going by reconstructing his manuscript on bits of paper stolen from the camp office. How could he – every possession lost, every value destroyed, suffering from hunger , cold and brutality, hourly expecting extermination – how could he find a life worth preserving. He survived because he has found meaning, as well as others who were with him in the concentration camp.

Surely the amount of responsibility and pressure that we have in our work doesn’t compare to what frankl and his colleagues experienced in the Nazi concentration camp. but it made him survive the most extreme environment surely it could be applied in the workplace. Below are the list of principles that makes up the Existential approaches:

1. We are free to choose our attitude toward everything that happens to us2. We can realize our will to meaning by making a conscious, authentic commitment to

meaningful values and goals3. We can find meaning in all life’s moments4. We can learn to see how we work against ourselves and can learn to avoid thwarting our

intentions5. We can look at ourselves in a distance to gain insight and perspective as well as to laugh

at ourselves6. We can shift our focus of attention when we are coping with difficult situations7. We can reach beyond ourselves and make a difference in the world.

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“Between the stimulus and response there is a space. The freedom to choose how we would respond, on that response lies our growth and happiness”.

An existential approach doesn’t limit human potential. As long as you give meaning with whatever you are doing everything is possible. In life you only gain may it be bad or good event there is a meaning attached into it, the only time you lost something is when you fail to recognize that meaning. Existential Theories can provide individuals meaning in their work

Cognitive Behavioral therapy is the contemporary form of behavior therapy it gives emphasis on the role of cognition in all mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating. CBT has been used globally in treatment of depression and anxiety. Feeling of sadness is very common in the workplace due to its high pressure environment. Mr. Aaron T. Beck is the key proponent of CBT he is renowned psychiatrist specializing in treatment of depressed patients. The best thing about CBT is that same as with existential approaches it is anti – deterministic. Mr. Beck has been in a lot of trials in which he managed to overcome cognitively.

Below are the major assumptions of cognitive behavior therapy:

1. An organism needs to process information in an adaptive way in order to survive

2. Psychological distress is the ultimate consequence of the interaction of innate, biological, developmental and environmental factors

3. It is our cognitions which include our thoughts and beliefs and the manner in which we perceive a situation, that are the basis for what we believe, how we act and how we feel.

4. The cognitive model proposes that dysfunctional thinking is common among psychological conflicts

He asserted that people exhibit dysfunctional thoughts that are not necessarily proven. If it remained unchecked it will become and individuals core life principle. It will become deeply incorporated to the individual life that he will accept it as a general truth.

It assumes that our thinking colors our feelings between the even and our response lies the mind. Self-blaming and overgeneralized explanation of bad events are often integral part of the vicious cycle of depression. The depressed person interprets a suggestion as criticism, disagreement as a dislike, praise as flattery, friendliness as pity. Ruminating on such thoughts sustains negative thinking.

The cognitive model is depicted below; it shows how the core principle affects the way the individual viewed certain scenarios:

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If such thinking patterns can be learned, then surely they can be replaced. Cognitive behavioral therapy promotes education to impart the way dysfunctional thinking affects our lives it may the goal of CBT is for people became wary of the thoughts that automatically came in their mind and devised a way to have a more healthier way of thinking. Cognitive behavioral theories can help align the individuals thinking toward their goals

This concept had been tested to be effective on several levels of the society, it has provided treatment in the clinical settings and it provided support in the societal setting. It could also

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provide insight and growth in the industrial setting. Organizations is the convergence of people with similar goals, thus psychological care must also be present in the workplace.

Conclusions

We have seen the importance of work in or lives, it sustains our needs thus it is inevitable that we feel the pressure that came along with it. The growing technological advances in the

workplace also adds up with the stress levels as manager counts to the last minute the amount of work you have done, how you have spent the companies time and how you waste your time. The workplace also becomes the rendezvous point of different individuals with varying viewpoints thus conflict is also inevitable. By applying the methods of the existentialist we have learned to that everything that is happening in our lives has meaning and we only gain from it. From the concepts of CBT we have drawn out that there are thoughts that are no necessarily true but it incapacitates us and tend to inhibit us in achieving our true potential. Thus by applying this concepts we can have a more healthier mind and a more positive attitude towards our work.

Recommendations

The researcher recommends a more extensive study of the theoretical concepts mentioned in this term paper. To know but not to do is not knowing at all. So the best way for the reader to

assimilate the information provided in this paper is to live it through they will see significant changes in their lives.

Published Books References:

David G. Myers, Psychology 10th Edition, 2013Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for meaning, 1984Alex Pattakos, Prisoners of our Thoughts, 2010Michael G. Aamodt, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, 2010Gerald Corey, Theory and Practice of counseling and psychotherapy, 2009Jess Feist, Theories of Personality, 2008

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