On 25th May 2020, the class of 5PSYH attended a webinar conducted by Mr Sibin Raj. The topic for the same was ‘The High-functioning Individual: From Intelligence to Mind Reading’. The session began with a single question: What makes human beings so complex and unpredictable? Throughout the course of the next couple of hours, the class and Mr Sibin would attempt to answer this very question.

 First, the participants engaged in a discourse about the mind with him. He rightly stated, “Our mind manifests as our overall personality.” Plenty of approaches have strengthened the grounds of this statement in the past, including the psychodynamic approach, humanistic approach and cognitive-behavioural approaches. Upon some discussion, they moved on to the question, why  homo sapiens, are high-functioning people? One of the most unique aspects of humans is that we have the ability to think about thinking. This very factor distinguishes us from the rest of the animal species. We are able to engage in recursive thinking and are able to break down bigger issues into smaller, manageable parts unlike anybody else. Mr Sibin went on to state the attributes of a high-functioning individual. They are intelligent, emotionally healthy, humorous and resilient among other characteristics.

Mr Sibin explained that humans possess a reservoir of practical knowledge which enables us to develop survival skills and common sense, therefore ensuring that we fare better than any other species. Next, he spoke about humour as a defence mechanism. According to Freud, humans use humour as a means of detachment and expression of unacceptable aggressive and sexual impulses. In this way, individuals are able to control their instincts and keep the id’s desires in check.

He went on to discuss the ‘theory of mind’, which is the ability of humans to attribute various mental states to ourselves and others. These mental states include beliefs, desires and intentions. Even our decisions are based on this theory. First, we gather information about a specific issue followed by imagining specific outcomes of our decisions and hence, noticing the stimulated mental states. We then make informed and stimulated decisions. Finally, they discussed the various components of the theory of mind before closing the session with the explanation of ‘enactment imagination’ or e-imagination.

Overall, this was definitely an informative session to have had. To have Mr Sibin talk to the partocipants about such engaging and unique topics truly helped to understand the subject of psychology deeper than just classroom learnings. It was absolutely an interesting and fruitful session for everybody involved.