The Angel, The Devil and Tom's Ego

This is a good one for all you cartoon lovers out there. My 6 year daughter and I (I am still a kid a heart!) were watching the cartoon network yesterday October 29th when a good Tom & Jerry skit came on that relates to our psychology class. As usual in this episode Tom (the cat) is chasing Jerry (the mouse) all around the house and yard. And as usual Jerry is getting the better of Tom, that is, until another no named junk yard cat comes into the picture. From here the no named cat and Tom fumble and battle for a while over who is to catch poor little Jerry. Eventually, after blocking each others way of catching Jerry, Tom and the no named cat stop fighting and manage to work together to catch Jerry. Jerry is caught by the two cats and put on a chopping block to be split in half for each cat to have. Tom picks up an axe draws a line on Jerry's little body marking the mid point, and then psychology comes into play. Tom starts to think, do I split Jerry in half with the axe or should I use the axe on the junk yard cat instead and take all of Jerry for myself. At that moment a little angel appears on one of Tom's shoulders and a little devil on the other shoulder. The angel tells Tom be nice to the junk yard cat and share little Jerry with him. The little devil on the other hand says to Tom the heck with the other loser cat, whack him with the axe, and take Jerry for your self. Naturally Toms chooses the devils route and the episode goes from there.

This episode of Tom and Jerry is a classic example of one of Sigmund Freud's beliefs on how one's personality was developed and functioned. Freud was always interested in how the unconscious mind and thoughts influenced peoples thoughts and actions. Our psychology book talks about Freud's divisions of the personality in the chapter on theories of personality. Freud believed that personality itself could be divided into three parts: the Id, ego, and superego. The id of ones personality is present at birth and entirely unconscious. The id states if it feels good, go do it, without regard for the consequence. That process is the pleasure principle of one's personality. This represents the little devil on Tom's shoulder in our cartoon, saying the heck with the consequences just do it. Now on the other end of Freud's spectrum was the superego. The superego in personality is a person's conscience (NOT conscious) mind using morals as a basis for making decisions. The superego stops to think about the consequences and what is wrong or right. This is our little angel on Tom's shoulder or ours saying use morals and a conscience to make the right decision. In the middle of the id and the superego is the ego. The ego is Tom's mind thinking should I do it or not. The ego is our part of personality that works on the reality principle. The reality principle basically says if I can do something and NOT worry about the consequences maybe I should do it, maybe I should not. The ego is always torn between the Id (the little devil) and the superego (angels on ones shoulder).

Overall I think this episode of Tom & Jerry was good example of psychology in particular using Freud's personality theory. By the way, do you really think Tom or that other cat really caught Jerry this time?

Stress

Here is a good article about stress and health from the Charlotte Observer. It is from the "Parade" section of the newspaper and was found on sunday October 25. The article asks the question "can stress make you sick ?". Well the simple answer is yes. Whether the stress comes from work, family, relationships or financial problems it may lower your immunity and your ability to function properly. The article confirms stress is linked to your heart, weight and can increase your risk for depression. When your body is under high levels of stress the human body produces hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol that can raise your blood pressure and heart rate. Although this increase in hormones is okay in the short term it can be damaging if the stress is ongoing. The article states for example "job stress has been found to increase cardiovascular risk by up to 50%". Stress can lead to headaches, skin problems and it may be linked to a person being more susceptible to certain cancers associated with viruses.

Our psychology book has an entire chapter devoted to stress. The part of the chapter that I beleive ties in best with this article is found under the physiological factors of stress and the general adaptation syndrome. The general adaptation syndrome or G.A.S. for short was proposed by the psychologist Hans Selye. Basically your body goes through 3 stages when dealing with stress: alarm, resistance and finally exhaustion. Just like the artical states in the alarm stage your body produces hormones to help ward off and cope with the stress. In the resistance stage your body continues to help the body fight off stress. Then negative side effects from the ongoing stress start to effect your body in the exhaustion stage. Both the article and the chapter in the book list ways to help manage stress. As always, exercise and eating healthy foods are extremely important along with getting enough sleep, managing your time wisely and simply devoting good old time to just having fun and play.