Alexis Dempsey had frequently wished that she could understand herself better. However the fight with her boyfriend the previous night really made her wonder what was driving her behavior. For no real reason at all, she had gotten annoyed with him at a party and had start to criticize him. Whenever he responded by asking her what her problem was, she had gotten really angry. She shouted at him that he was a total loser and hat she did not want to see him again. She stormed out of the party and had gone home. By the time she reached home, although, she was miserable. She really did like her boyfriend, and she did not want to end the relationship. She wondered why she's gotten to the fight and why, in generally, she was acting more and more aggressively with others. She wished she could find a way to reduce her combativeness and strengthen her relationships with important people in her life. She has gotten some arbiratory insights from browsing the Web and looking at some of the self-help books at her local bookstore, however mostly she ended up being confused.

1) What subfields of psychology might be of maximum relevance to Alexis's problem, and describe why?

2) If Alexis were to seek practical advice about making changes in her own life, which view-points on psychology do you think would be most helpful, and describe why?

3) What do you think about the Alexis's strategy of surfing the Web and looking at self-help books at the bookstore to better understand herself? Describe the dangers of this approach?

4) What advice would you offer Alexis to help her resolve her problem?