Funder’s First Law | SimplePsych Week 1
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” -Albert Einstein (maybe)
This is to be the beginning of a series which I call “SimplePsych”. In it I will explore the material I learn each week in my psychology courses (adult development, abnormal psychology, positive psychology, and personality theory), making connections and summarizing the main concepts in simple terms.
This is both to my benefit and the benefit of the reader. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the process of learning can be improved if the one who is learning a material puts that material into simple language effectively (Pipes, 2017). This is also a concept reportedly utilized by physicist Richard Feynman (Gleick, 2014).
Thus, in doing this I will learn more effectively from my courses. And the reader will benefit from dipping their toes into the world of psychology.
First, a bit of background on me. My name is Cameron Stumpf and I am a psychology major at George Fox University. I have already earned my associate’s degree in psychology and am now working on my bachelor’s.
I am passionate about this field and the good that it can bring to the world. My area of focus is clinical psychology, where I one day would like to work with youth who are experiencing significant psychological difficulty in their lives. Within this area of the field, I am passionate about helping those with depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.
I also like to think of myself as fairly good at writing, so if it seems as though I am struggling with this series it is because I am more accustomed to rigorous academic writing.
Remember, the goal is to use basic language, so the simplistic and potentially dull writing style that results is intentional. But I will try my best to make it interesting and relevant. With all of that said, here is week 1.
Main Points From Each Course
Adult Development:
- Aging is influenced by the interaction between many factors.
- The sub-field faces the challenge of explaining the interaction between genes and environment on development, whether certain aspects of a person are more stable or whether they can change over time, whether change happens smoothly or in bigger jumps, and whether there are aspects of development that everyone faces or whether culture plays a role.
- Each of these dichotomies works along a spectrum, where both sides have an affect.
- Selective Optimization with Compensation (explained later).
Abnormal Psychology:
- The DSM-V, the universal standard used for diagnosing and treating mental disorders, is imperfect.
- There are pros and cons to diagnosis.
- Diathesis-Stress model: disorders can be explained by the interaction between predispositions and distress/disturbance.
Positive Psychology:
- Positive psychology looks into strengths, happiness, and other “good” aspects of psychology.
- A strengths-focused approach can build people up before disorders arise, preventing mental illness before it starts.
Personality Theory:
- Personality is based on the interaction between behavior, thoughts, and feelings.
- There are no perfect indicators of personality.
Connections
One of the great parts about taking multiple psychology courses is seeing the connections between them all. For instance, Funder (2016) coins a concept which he calls “Funder’s First Law.” This “law” states that strengths and weaknesses are so connected that one can’t usually exist without the other. For example, he speaks about how personality psychology is very inclusive in nature. However, in being so broad a topic it also loses focus. With a strength comes a weakness. There is always a trade-off, it seems*.
This applies to my adult development course as well. Our textbook speaks about Selective Optimization with Compensation (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2019). This process happens as someone is aging.
For example, noticing that he is losing his sharp eyesight, an aging man might engage in activities and behaviors that will strengthen eyesight., He may also try making up for the decrease in ability by enlarging the font size on his phone. He selects a skill he wants (eyesight), optimizes is (perhaps by eating carrots and exercising his sight), and compensates for any decline (increasing the font size).
In doing this, however, he loses the ability to focus as heavily on other skills. After all, people have limited cognitive resources. Maybe as a result of this his physical strength declines. One skill increases (or is maintained), another decreases.
His strength becomes his weakness.
Abnormal psychology reflects this principle as well . While there are advantages to diagnosing or labelling someone with a mental disorder (an abnormal condition), so too are there disadvantages (Whitbourne, 2017). While they may find a more focused treatment, they’ll have to face the stigma of their condition and it may even affect employment opportunities if it is on their official health record.
And positive psychology may promote good things like fulfillment and wellbeing, but in doing so they ignore a large population of people that find those things difficult to achieve in their current condition. This is the trade-off with a strengths-focused approach (as opposed to a problem-focused approach).
Strengths are inseparable from weaknesses.
Another big connection between all these subfields is the biopsychosocial model. Each subfield acknowledges that biology (our bodies), psychology (our minds), and social context (other people) are all major factors in behavior, development, and emotion/thought. And these are precisely the points where there can be cross-over within each field.
The biology of adult development may have an effect on mental health.
And the psychological implications of mental health may have an effect on one’s social standing due to stigma.
Which in turn can affect one’s personality after a significant period of time.
Everything is connected.
That’s all I have for week 1! I’m still working out some of the bugs with the format and content of this series, so do provide me with any feedback you have. And feel free to ask questions about what I’m learning! The more I engage with the material, the more I will remember. And I believe the more that people learn about psychology, the better they will be not only with interpersonal interactions, but at understanding themselves.
*I’m also a nerd and I enjoy how this concept relates to alchemy’s law of equivalent exchange. In order to obtain something, something of equal value must be given.
References
Cavanaugh, J. C., Blanchard-Fields, F., (2019). Adult development and aging. Boston, MA: Cengage.
Funder, D. C. (2016). The personality puzzle. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Gleick, J. (1992). Genius: The life and science of Richard Feynman. New York, NY: Pantheon Books.
O’Toole, G. (2011, May 13). Everything Should Be Made as Simple as Possible, But Not Simpler. [web log comment]. Retrieved from https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/05/13/einstein-simple/
Pipes, T. (2017). Learning from the Feynman technique. Retrieved from https://medium.com/taking-note/learning-from-the-feynman-technique-5373014ad230
Whitebourne, S. K. (2017). Abnormal psychology: Clinical perspectives on psychological disorders. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
