Motivation and Affectivity

Unlike animals that are being predominantly reactive acting instinctively, the man is a being par excellence active, intervening on the environment in which lives through the experience, capacity forecasting and planning, and especially under the impulse of its multiple needs continue amplification.
Human relationships with the environment, in the complex process of adaptation, are due to his cognitive abilities (perception, representation, thinking, memory, imagination), but also to his setting functions.
Between processes in an adjustment of human activity, will have a supreme position, but should not be minimized the importance of motivation and emotionality, the two basic components , fundamental for all human actions.
Motivation is defined as the phenomenon of mental set that consists of all domestic needs (arising as a result of energy imbalances) which supports and triggers human activity.
Affectivity is the set that reflects the relationships between subject and object in the form of subjective experience, that results from satisfying or unsatisfying a necessity.
So, if motivation can be considered the engine of our mental life, affectivity constitute its energetic support , an echo or resonance in a subject of acting stimuli from the outside or inside, depending on the individual's internal state at a time. Affectivity reflects the relationship between the subject and the object, which justifies why the same object causes different emotional experience.
As an entity in the same time biological, psychological and social man is normally characterized by a multitude of necessity, reasons, interests, beliefs, but that may not meet the full and immediate, which cause them a diversity of emotional experience simpler or more complex, positive or negative.
Motivation and emotionality, which have an inborn base , evolve from simple forms to more complex forms and vary under the influence of environmental conditions. To organic and biological needs, gradually add the security, affiliation, self accomplishment and esteem needs as the pyramid needs created by the American psychologist Abraham Maslow shows.
All these types of needs may signal at a time, a state of saturation or supra saturation, which causes different emotional experience: either dissatisfaction, inconvenience, or delight, pleasure.

Aspects of Emotional Intelligence

Our emotions are factors that most influence the way in which we react, take decision report our own value system and, last but not least, communicate with others.
Thus, if we would control our emotions, we have things under control, regardless of context. Emotional intelligence redefines the image of the world and man. Today we know that emotions are the most important human resources and how the human brain is built enables the person primarily to love.
Reduced to its essence, emotional intelligence has three components: knowledge of their own emotions, "management" and their understanding and consideration of other emotions.
Assuming that emotions are in full awareness, despite the fact that some of them say things about us that we don't want to hear, the most difficult would be to learn to manage them constructively to achieve a particular purpose.
In this process is essential to understand the fact that every emotion has both a positive side and a negative, and this is true of emotions traditionally considered negative, such as anger.
If the negative side of anger is related to the fact that they leave on people,it strains the body and affects reason, the positive side regards the self-protective function which it has for the individual and the ability to mobilize to action.
The modality in which you realize that the dosage of your own emotions has a determining role in how you are perceived by others represents a key factor in emotional intelligence.
People who have a high EQ generally know how to direct very well their actions in life

Cognitive characteristics of children with Down syndrome

Individuals with Down syndrome presents a relatively weak auditory memory; they are more favored in visual processing being able to copy or draw shapes or images, but omitting some internal details.
Abilities to receive language are more developed than those of expression, that is they are able to understand what they are told than to talk.
They approach social behavior almost normal, although they are limited in their ability to understand social boundaries imposed.
Children with Down syndrome show hearing losses that may seem a lack of attention, but they can not perceive some soft sounds or subtle phonetic indices. Instead, demonstrates well-proven space and visual skills and visual and space memory relatively well-developed,they have the ability to gesture with their hands.
They are able to give account of the emotions of others, although the strategies they use differ from those of normal people.
These children have an increased interest for music, and live strong emotions when listening to music.
In conclusion, we can say that they present visual , spatial and social skills well-developed but relatively weak auditory processing skills in language and in maintaining attention. In other words, are able to see and do things than to listen and speak.
Difficulties in expression occur very early in development, given that these children appear to delay the shift from speaking poorly to words and this deficit deepens in childhood.

Educating children with disabilities

Special psycho-pedagogy deals for children with disabilities. It studies the mental peculiarities of different categories of persons with disabilities, the evolution and development of mental activity, methods of recovery and capitalization of the residual human potential.
Psycho-pedagogy specific tasks are primarily educational and instructive and pursues the early educational and informative recovery leading to the formation of behavior and social skills necessary to adapt.
The recovery methodology is specific to each type of disability and it takes into account the severity of the diagnosis,the age of the subject and the opportunities for recovery.
It is totally wrong and inefficient the takeover and simplified methods and techniques used in the education process of normal children.
It is necessary to use certain programs and manuals tailored to the requirements and objectives of special education.
In recent years important psycho-pedagogical progress has been made in science that led to the development and diversification of special psycho-pedagogy.

The sources of burnout

There are several sources that leads to burnout. One source refers to insufficient clarification of roles and responsibilities. Normally staff feels caught in the middle when receives conflicting messages from different superiors, when requirements exceed the resources and skills or when the tasks do not coincide with their aspirations and skill.
If we see some requirements as unclear responsibilities it will be obvious the conflict between them and resources.
Lack of adequate information on the tasks to be fulfilled and so their failure will result in a decreased self-esteem and affect the sense of personal fulfillment.
Another source of exhaustion refers to the blocking of creativity in work, exclusion from decision-making cycle and limitations on the discretion of work. The unknown always causes alarm and standoff from taking decision that concern personal staff can be stressful because they do not know what to expect.
Nobody knows someone's job better than the person concerned, and organizations should be open to their suggestions and to enable them to improve work environment in certain limits.
Paradoxically, a source of exhaustion can be boredom as the starting point. The circumstances leading to the emergence of boredom relates to the existence of a low variety of tasks and opportunities for expansion of knowledge. Thus, employees become uninterested in their job, which will become for them a source of conflict. And this scheme fits in the scheme mismatch between resources and requirements.

Characteristics of Children with Autism

People with autism are isolated in their world, appear to be indifferent, unable to establish an emotional connection with others. They may be unable to understand the thoughts, feelings and needs of others. Often, language and cognitive concepts are delayed, and the communication and social relationships are difficult.
The characteristics of children with autism are:
- no eye contact
- seems not to hear
- the body is in unusual positions
- systematically repeats words he/she hears
- do not show happiness, sadness
- does not initiate games
- remains fixed on a single activity or object
- frightened by certain sounds, noises
- stimulates himself: swings, waves hands, claps one's hands
- has the same pattern of play
- wants things to remain in the same position
In order to make a diagnosis not only symptoms must be taken into consideration but also the relations between them. The specialist puts the diagnosis.

The effects of burnout on the organization

The effects of burnout on the organization results from increase staff dissatisfaction, absenteeism, staff fluctuation and reduce productivity.
More than just a physical environment, the organization is primarily a social environment, a community of people characterized by common ideals. It may be said that people compile the organization and each one has his meaning in this broad mechanism. It is then easy to understand how corruption can affect an entire piece. Tired individuals, who are permanently in a state of tension, unmotivated or unhappy do a major disservice to the organization in which they work. State of gratitude and satisfaction of employees is in direct relationship with the organization's prosperity.
One of the issues of the organization is the negative attitude the employees have towards it. This attitude is manifested in attempts of sabotage , assuming risks that can hurt both the organization and individual. An exhausted person identified the organization as the enemy and its activities will focus on the challenge of damages. Employee should not necessarily be bad on purpose, it is quite enough not to think a certain action.
Some employees which are in a state of exhaustion begin to oppose any changes to their current state, others seek solitude and do not express their opinions anymore. Withdrawal from society and the refusal to express opinions is a form of standoff.
Once the burnout installed the self-esteem decreases due to dissatisfaction at work. A combination of dissatisfaction and a decrease of self esteem due to breakdown can have serious consequences for individuals who seek satisfaction in the consumption of alcohol and drugs. Staff absenteeism and fluctuation are less damaging ways for the individual but with adverse consequences for the organization.
In the event of exhaustion in an organization is necessary to use strategies of intervention, made after a complete analysis of the sources of burnout, factors and determinants of the characteristics of organization and personnel.

Massage as a means of medical recovery

Massage is one of the oldest therapeutic tools. The massage is defined as a systematic set of operations, manual or mechanical, exerted on the soft parts of the body, able to produce physiological and therapeutic effects for the body. This maneuver has a passive trophic action on muscle mass.
Massage improves blood and lymphatic circulation and stimulates the contraction of muscle fibers. Massage is an easy to and very effective means for warming muscles before exercise. It is prescribed for this purpose before intensive gym sessions.
The massage is used as a means of removing fatigue. In recovery massage is especially recommended as a means for stimulation in muscle atrophy caused by:
- long time immobilization
- joint pain
- nervous disease, paralysis
The massage is indicated in heart muscle, defined as the muscle fatigue that is associated with severe vertebral, and other flat foot deformity.
Massage may have preventive effects on the installation of a defect.
The massage is completely contraindicated in infectious diseases, in any acute inflammatory process.

The effects of burnout on the individual

Not all individuals live the same the burnout phenomenon, but once it appears brings some common characteristics. Visible physical signs are increasing beatings heart, breathing and perspiration, and those less visible are: irritability, insomnia, anger and lack of interest in daily activities.
From an emotional point of view feelings of impotence and loss of hope, moral and low self esteem appear.
Burnout attacks health of the individual and physical fatigue leads to decrease body immunity,to a worsening of disease symptoms and slight increase in risk of infection.
If physical fatigue attacks health, the emotional fatigue has consequences in interpersonal relationships,decreasing the communication and raising a barrier between people.
A person emotionally exhausted will not feel the need to communicate with colleagues and customers, more he will see them as enemies as sources of the stress he lives.
Exhaustion attacks also satisfaction and work efficiency. Fatigue does not allow the person to manifest at its maximum capacity. The exhausted person doesn't reaches his potential and is liable to commit mistakes. And so the work efficiency decreases, and satisfaction on the work performed is diminished.
The person is not satisfied by her work, not only because she doesn't have achievements but also because fatigue prevent her from feeling anything.
Exhaustion dries enthusiasm and motivation and leads to depression, the feelings of impotence and anger and stimulating irritability and a more serious consequence is to recourse in order to solve the problem to the consumption of alcohol and drugs.

Stages of burnout

Burnout is considered to be a multidimensional phenomenon that consists of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and low personal fulfillment.
A good understanding of the development of these stages is a prerequisite for developing effective intervention strategies.
Accumulated empirical evidence suggests that burnout is a process that develops gradually over time. Below are the stages of burnout, some of their characteristic and a characterization of what the individual feels in each stage.

1. The first stage is characterized by a disagreement between demands and resources that leads to feelings of emotional distress. In this stage the individual feels impoverished with work, morning tired, exhausted, frustrated, and it comes difficult to work with people.

2. In the second stage the person develops a set of negative attitudes and behaviors such as the tendency to treat clients in a detached and mechanical way or the cynical concern to meet their own needs. The person becomes professional insensitive , treats people as objects , do not care what happens to them and may feel that others blame him for their problems. This stage is called depersonalization.

3. The third stage comprises a decrease in worker's efficiency to achieve his goals. Thus a decrease of personal fulfillment and feelings of incompetence and self-bending appears. The person reaching this stage can not effectively cope with problems, considers himself not to have a good influence on others, can not understand and pity others,and doesn't consider his work attractive anymore.

The Burnout Syndrome

Burnout is the final stage of a prolonged state of stress lived by an individual , without possibility of release. A stressful situation that repeats forever, can not be changed and does not give the individual an opportunity for defense against stressful factors will inevitably lead to burnout.
Depletion is characteristic of a person unable to cope successfully with stress,who leads a bad management of stressful situations. This inability is temporary and is related with the perception of the situation. The situation is perceived as threatening, difficult or impossible to control or changed, and living it as a permanent condition of life considerably reduce any possibility of releasing the stress.
Exhaustion can be viewed as an imbalance, perceived by the individual between resources and requirements.
Resources refer to the individual possibilities, namely skill and abilities he has and which ensure him that optimal adaptation to the environment.
Requirements are all factors in the environment to which the individual has a certain responsibility.
Burnout is a state of contradiction between individual and environment, or between individual resources and excessive demands that unbalance adaptive function.
It should be noted that burnout is not synonymous with stress. Stress is a physical or psychological pressure that result from requirements that exceed the resources.
Burnout, however, marks a situation which is in process of deterioration ,coming from a deficient management of stress. It is a response to a chronic situation of prolonged stress, opposite to the occasional reactions to acute stress.

Positive Psychology

Positive psychology as a new method of approach to human psychic, appeared relatively recently, namely after 1999. This approach focuses the psychology to the evidence and develop of the positive qualities of people.
In this respect, positive personalities are researched, it focuses on the positive and validating experience and prevent imbalances.
The most important contribution of positive psychology is the psychological change of purpose and focus on the strengths of human traits, away from the notion of disease and activation of human potential.
One of those who founded the positive psychology, Martin Seligman, says that positive psychology is: "the scientific study of human power and it's virtue".Positive psychology gives to the human personality the following positive traits :
- the subjective feeling of inner comfort of inner well;

- the optimism may be an important factor of the positive human character;

- self-satisfaction by the need for competence, the need for attachment, the need for autonomy in the exercise of individuals;

- wisdom is the ability to organize knowledge and motivation in relation to information and experiences;

- creativity and talent, to ensure achievement of excellence, namely, by cultivating their tends to achieve outstanding performance in activities;

- mature defenses that reduce conflict and discord that can occur during the processes of knowledge.

Traits of temperament

Temperament refers to the energy -dynamic size of the personality and is expressed in features of the intellectual activity and affectivity and in the outer behavior.
Temperamental traits are easily to observe and identify and they are said to be related to biological aspects of the person, especially the nervous system and endocrine.
The four temperaments type are: sanguine ,choleric, phlegmatic and melancholic - each of the four types of temperament corresponded to a different humour.

The sanguine has the following characteristics: optimism, sociability, courage, joy, good mood, open , impressionability, sensitivity, adaptability, politeness, speed of reactions, capacity of decision, activism, energy, self-satisfied, weakness and emotional instability.

The choleric has the following characteristics : reactivity emphasized, intense emotional processes, the richness and intensity of reactions, the pleasure of submitting resistance, emphasized volitional traits, excitability, irritability, aggression, dissatisfaction, anger, excitement, tendency to dominance, contrariness, tend to oppose.

The phlegmatic has the following characteristics : balance, tend to be happy, calm, good mood, tolerance, patience, perseverance, attachment, low reactivity, monotony, convenience.

The melancholic has the following characteristics : seriousness, sense of debt,intense emotional development, sensitivity, dependence, obedience, authenticity, perseverance, confidence, pessimism, insecurity, sadness, low reactivity.

Theories about intelligence

Jean Piaget defined intelligence as a superior form of optimum, effective adaptation to new and problematic situations by restructuring the experience data.
Intelligence is a general skill that provides adaptation to the problematic situations that do not have solutions.
Ability to anticipate the possible solutions on a permanent restructuring base of the learned behavior - this is the essence of intelligence.
Intelligence is not a psychological process , but it uses psychological processes, in particular the cognitive process, to do the adaptation: the thinking, memory, language, imagination and perception adaptation.
One of the signs of the intellectual level is the degree of efficiency, this is one of the most important criteria in comparing people.
Intelligence assessment involves all aspects of behavior : success in school, in different social activities, efficiency in solving tasks, overcoming other, success in career and in interpersonal relationships.
In defining intelligence experts use the following abilities of individuals:
- to understand complex ideas;
- to adapt effectively to environment;
- to learn from experience;
- to overcome successfully the obstacles;
Spearman considers that performance in tasks depends on a general factor called factor g and of one or more individual factors. The g factor represents the intelligence.
Thurstone believes that intelligence is composed of more primary abilities. These skills operate more or less independent.
Gardner identifies the following components of the intelligence: musical intelligence, the body intelligence and the interpersonal intelligence.