On Psychology

Illustration in Psychopathology

By: JZ Murdock

Narrated by: JZ Murdock

A brief history of psychology and the sciences as related to field theory. Also includes an article on synesthesia/schizophrenia.

"Notes on Albert's Mind, Field Theory and Contextualism"

Years passed. Man remained ignorant of man. Psychology was one day, many days, born. Man applied past skills to present whims. Psychology was oriented toward ideas and systems that were additive in nature, these seeming the most secure means of study. Or, was it additive in the sense that cause and effect were just so very apparent and quite so easy to discuss and observe? Is what is easy always right?

It is true that many times, the simplest answer is the right answer. However, this very accepted view leads some to feel uneasy and to question the basic concepts as to their dimensionality within the "context" of their own daily life. And then came the behavioral mechanisms: It would see that some precepts in the fledgling pseudoscience, psychology, had not held up very well under not even very intense scrutiny.

"Synesthesia/Schizophrenia"

In past years the study, control, and understanding of schizophrenia has been greatly hampered by lack of information, inappropriate tools (like no computers of sufficient complexity for handling of compilation and dissemination of data), obviously a lack of appropriate software for such research, and perhaps most simply, the incorrect approach.

Since we must always reconsider, reevaluate, and redirect our attempts at helping the schizophrenic individual, this paper is directed toward this effort at seeing the schizophrenic person through the "filter" of a "normal" condition such as synesthesia.

©1984 JZ Murdock (P)2018 JZ Murdock

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ - in Technicolor!

Has nobody at all left a review for this insightful and enlightening piece of genius with its thorough citations, impeccably researched and cognitive immersion, contemplating the potential tie between synesthesia and neuropsychology? I am merely a grapheme synesthete, a 'lucky' recipient of biopolar disorder, and I would love to contact this book's author. As I have the Audible version, by both tone, confidence and peer-reviewed citations, I was unaware that I was listening to a doctorate professor relating his research on the potential for the existence and potential overlap of synesthesia and neuropathy, aside from just schizophrenia.

I'd like to contact the author, and wonder if he is a part of any of the Synesthesia groups on Facebook to carry out controlled studies which may lend credibility or falsification to his conjecture of "mental illness" and whether it's prevalence has specific correlations. If not, why not move further on with this research? Which pairing of senses seems most tied to neuroses? Of each, is there a particular genetic history of either synesthesia, mental illness or both? Of graphemes, for example, there had been research done on numerous historians such as Kandinsky, Beethoven and others had different graphic color sequences, yet specific letters, such as "o" (for example) have been interestingly consistent throughout time. There's work to be done here! 🧐 🧬 🔅

I'm surprised this is a man with a B.A. in Psychology - I'd thought he was a neuroscientist throughout my Audible listen(!) I should've known better - he's much more interesting than the white coats. I'd love to smoke a joint (or take psychedelics!) with JZ, go bass fishing and bring my dog to WA to discuss more - I did afterwards download the kindle version so that i have all the chief material for which to study on my own.

I also encourage Mr (should be "Dr") Murdock to proceed in earning a master's and doctorate, as degrees hold esteem which warrant much more vsignificant scientific credibility among the stuffy but enjoyable community of students or colleagues with whom he could advance this interesting concept.

For now, a Facebook Synesthesia group could shed additional light on these speculative hypotheses.

Best,
Shan
K-949 Training for Humans with Dogs
Costa Mesa, CA

* I will have to edit this to include a photo of my grapheme-based alphabet and numerical system for enjoyment (and to actually finally use a marker set of hundreds of colors which I have owned for years, yet haven't used yet).

FYI, thanks to my grapheme, I am (or was, when I was younger than my ancient 45 years) EXCEPTIONAL at Wheel of Fortune. I can tell by the colors of the turned letters what a sentence, phrase or word will be. Additionally, I find it easy to spot spelling errors in articles, books, papers, etc. Thre screen here on my mobile is so small, I'm going to use that excuse or autocorrect should I misspell anything(!)

Before I was a Certified Professional, Fear-&-Intimidation-free Dog trainer (basically all Pavlovian and Skinnerian-trained in that the dog is always right, and if a behavior is performed ineffectively, it is the fault of the handler (myself), and not the dog), I was a Copywriter (B.S.) and Graphics Designer (B.A.) I much prefer dog training's nuances and scientific basis. I did, however, minor in Psychology.

I wish this author well through COVID in that "initial outbreak zone", and do plan to check out his website.

Interesting book on psychology

On Psychology, Illustration in Psychopathology
By: JZ Murdock, Narrated by: JZ Murdock, Length: 1 hr and 49 mins

This book consists of a brief explanation of psychology theory and synesthesia. It is quite interesting. I would recommend this book to people interested in psychology, students, psychiatrists or psychologists. Even if you are not directly interested in psychology, this could also be good for self-improvement. Author and narrated did a good job, I liked the book and hope there will be an opportunity to listen more on this field. It is easy to follow. You can listen to it in one go since it is 1 hr and 49 mins long.

My hope is that this review helps in your decision whether to obtain this book.
*This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Brilliant and thought provoking

"More knowledge is always better than less"

I couldn't agree more. This intellectual piece is brilliantly written and thought provoking. I will be listening to it many times in order to grasp every thought and nuance of the paper. It is not only well written but well read and is a pleasure to ingest. Many of the topics and ideas covered can be applied to life, no matter who you are. I highly recommend taking some time to listen and ruminate on this delightfully intelligent work.

Determining understanding and treatment of schizophrenia

In its most general sense, this study provides a written account of the difficulty involved in developing a consistent measure of evaluating human behavior. Various theories have been developed that attempt to explain behavior through observation and theoretical study.
Specially, in considering schizophrenia, concepts and treatment information available currently fail to allow for appropriate understanding of this mental health disorder and consequently, there is no evidence based practice available that addresses the needs of this specific population.
In considering technical aspects of this study’s presentation,the narration is performed by the author Murdock. generally, I prefer an author to narrate his or her own written work as they have a more personal stake in its success. In this instance, I believe a narrator should have been selected. The author although knowledgeable of the subject matter does not do well in holding the listeners interest. There were times when I found the information to be more lectured in nature with the voice quality being rather monotone.

Interesting text with poor recording quality

'On Psychology' is an updated version of author JZ Murdoch’s 1984 psychology papers. They have been updated with contemporary references and with additional information. Murdoch presents a paper on his study of Schizophrenia and how understanding and (potential) treatment of it can be achieved through Synesthesia (a disorder when the body confuses senses and things like sound are experienced as colours, or similar). It is a very interesting and well researched (and referenced) paper. While it does get complex, it does ease the reader into the complexity, explaining things along the way. I am not in a position, and don’t know enough, to say if anything present here is right or wrong, that is what peer review is for, but it is certainly an interesting idea.

Murdoch narrates his own work, and he is good. Not great, but certainly workable. He is well paved and has a voice that is easy enough to listen and follow. However the recording itself is very tinny sounding. Murdoch, not being a professional, or even regular, narrator, likely doesn’t have a good quality audio set up for the recording and it is very clear in the final product. The recoding itself is rather low-fi which severely detracts from the final overall product.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this review voluntarily.