WHAT IS HISTORY X CARR

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Consider E H Carr’s seminal work What Is History? (1961). In a chapter titled ‘Causation in History’, Carr admits that determinism introduces serious complications in historical analysis. However, he emphasises that historians focus on fruitful generalisations, or what Carr calls ‘real’ causes. To illustrate, imagine that Smith, walking to buy a pack of cigarettes, is killed by a drunk driver speeding around a blind corner. While it is true that had Smith not been a smoker, he would not have died, we cannot generalise the proposition, ‘smoking caused Smith’s death.’ It is much more useful, certainly in the context of history and everyday life, to say that the real cause of Smith’s death was the drunk driver, the speed of the vehicle, or the blind corner. This is why historians cite the Treaty of Versailles or the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939 as a cause of the Second World War and not Hitler’s being born

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DMHC

Perception is also fundamental to how we treat chronic depression, major trauma or other psychological disorders. These disturbances lead to changes in how people see the world around them, and when those perceptions are changed through psychological intervention, it reduces their symptoms. For instance, people who have had car accidents may experience feelings of anxiety or panic when they see the same model car that was involved in their accident on the road. Exposure therapy allows these patients to reexperience traumatic reminders while maintaining a calm mood, effectively pairing the reminder with a different set of expectations. The same basic principle is evident in treatments for depression. Depressed people tend to see their failures as diagnostic of their personal abilities or character, while their successes are passed off as mere chance. Changing how people interpret these events – sometimes viewing failure as a result of uncontrollable factors and success as reflective of their own personal qualities – helps to alleviate excessive negative self-perception and, in turn, improve feelings of depression. Rather than expecting failure, these individuals may sometimes expect success.

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