People & Concepts

Carl Jung - Collective Unconscious & Archetypes
     Collective unconscious is a part of the unconscious mind in human beings. It contains inherited instincts, urges, and memories common to all people. A general definition that everyone has which may include what's good and bad.
     Archetypes are the models of inherited ideas based on the experiences of one's ancestors, which shapes one's perception of the world. An example would be Superman. Superman is considered an archetype of a hero and what goodness should represent.

Alfred Adler - Inferiority Complex
     Inferiority complex is a pattern of avoiding feelings of inadequacy rather than trying to overcome their source. This can be shown when you first start a job. You feel inferior because you are new and aren't quite sure of how things work, but once you get an idea of how everything works, and start to be good at it, you feel better about yourself. The satisfaction that comes from learning simple tasks sets up a pattern of overcoming inadequacies, a pattern that persists throughout life.

Karen Horney - Women vs. Men & Psychoanalysis
     Karen Horney did not believe Freud's idea of "penis envy." She felt Freud had found that women were jealous of men's power in the world. She feels that though women may occaisonally have "penis envy", men also have the same envy of women, which she called "womb envy." Horney felt that men were jealous of a woman's ability to have children. The way in which men are driven so hard to succeed in life is a substitute for the fact that they cannot carry, nurture and bear children.
     Psychoanalysis is the study of human psychological functioning and behavior, although it can also be applied to societies. Horney believed that cultural and social factors are very important in designing the personality of children. She agreed with some of Freud's ideas of psychoanalysis but differs on them slightly.

Clinical Trials - Ethical or Unethical?

     We all know that in psychology there are certain guidelines that researchers must follow when conducting an experiment. These guidelines are put in place to ensure that the experiment is ethical, mainly for the participant's sake. The ethical guidelines are created by the APA (American Psychological Association) in which every research experiment must follow to be considered legal. Such experiments may be clinical trials for a new medication for a certain disease or disorder. When clinical trials are conducted they are legally considered ethical because they follow the rules. Click here for a quick video on the safety and ethics of clinical trials. However, what if you look at ethics of a clinical trial based on a personal perspective?

     In a typical clinical trial, there are a number of participants (that qualify for the clinical trial with a disease or disorder) who are broken up into two groups. One group will actually get the new medication and the other group will get a placebo (a fake imitation of the drug), the placebo group is also known as the control group. The participants in these trials don't know if they are actually getting the placebo or the real drug. So if this medication does have outstanding results, half of the people in the trial could be cured or have a great health improvement, while the others have no results at all. The point is, some people feel that clinical trials are unethical because the people who are given the placebo get no benefit, if there is a benefit to the drug. Yet again, people know they may be given the placebo before participating in a clinical trial.

     Personally, I feel that clinical trials are completely ethical. Clinical trials allow people to participate and be a part of finding a cure and helping others, while possibly helping themself as well. I wouldn't change anything about how they are set up because they need that control group to determine the effects of the drug.

     So what do you think? In your own mind of what is right or wrong, do you agree with how clinical trials are conducted?