INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?
 The scientific study of behaviour and mental processes.

WHAT IS SCIENCE, MIND & BEHAVIOUR?

Science - An objective way to answer questions based on observable facts, data and well-
described methods.
Mind—thoughts, feelings, sensations, perceptions, memories, dreams, motives and other
subjective experiences.
Behaviour—observable actions of a person or animal.

SUBFIELDS OF PSYCHOLOGY
The subfields of psychology allow psychologists to explain the same behaviour in multiple ways.

1. Behavioral Genetics - Studies the inheritance of traits related to behavior.

2. Behavioral Neuroscience - Examines the biological basis of behavior.
3. Clinical Psychology - deals with the study, diagnosis and treatment of psychological
disorders.
4. Cognitive Psychology – Study of higher mental processes.
5. Counselling Psychology - focuses primarily on educational, social and career adjustment
problems.
6. Developmental Psychology - Examines how people grow and change from the moment of
conception through death.
7. Educational Psychology - Concerned with teaching and learning processes, such as the
relationship between motivation and school performance.
8. Environmental Psychology - Considers the relationship between people and their physical
environment.
9. Evolutionary Psychology - Considers how behaviour is influenced by our genetic inheritance
from our ancestors.

TRAINING IN PSYCHOLOGY
 The lowest level is a Bachelor’s degree.
 The second level is a Master's degree (This is the lowest level that allows you to practice but
you generally need some type of supervision).
 Most practicing psychologists have a Ph.D. or Psy.D. (This is the only level for full licensure
and independent practice).
WORKING AT PSYCHOLOGY
1. Psychologist
2. Psychiatrist
3. Counselors
4. Social Workers

PSYCHOLOGIST VS. PSYCHIATRIST

 They are similar in that both may work in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.
 The difference is that a psychiatrist is a medical doctor who may prescribe medication,
while a psychologist generally has a Ph.D. and cannot prescribe medication.

THE ROOTS OF PSYCHOLOGY

 Could be traced back to ancient Greeks as they considered mind to be a suitable topic for
contemplation.
 17th-century philosopher John Locke believed that children were born with minds like
“blank slates” and their experiences determine the kinds of adults they would become.
 But psychology as a scientific discipline is generally considered to be in the late 19th
century.
PERSPECTIVES OF PSYCHOLOGY
EARLY PSYCHOLOGY
1. Structuralism
2. Functionalism

STRUCTURALISM

1. Wilhelm Wundt opened the first experimental laboratory devoted to psychological

phenomena in Leipzig, Germany in 1879.
2. His aim was to study the structure of the mind.
3. His perspective is known as Structuralism, focused on uncovering the fundamental mental
components of:
a. Perception
b. Consciousness
c. Thinking
d. Emotions
e. other kinds of mental states and activities.
4. Structuralists used a procedure called introspection in order to study the structure of the
mind in which subjects are asked to describe in detail what they are experiencing when they
are exposed to a stimulus.

DRAWBACKS OF STRUCTURALISM
 Not a truly scientific technique.
 People had difficulty describing some kinds of inner experiences, such as emotional
responses. This is because our memories are inaccurate and at times filled with
exaggerations.
FUNCTIONALISM

William James (1890)

 William James led the functionalist movement.

 They concentrated
o on what the mind does and how behaviour functions
For example, examining the function of the emotion of fear in preparing us to deal
with emergency situations
o how people satisfy their needs through their behaviour.
o how the flow of thoughts in our conscious minds permits us to adapt to our
environment.
NEUROSCIENCE OR BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
 It considers:
o how people and nonhumans function biologically
o how individual nerve cells are joined together
o how the inheritance of certain characteristics from parents and other ancestors
influences behaviour
 This perspective includes the study of heredity and evolution, which considers how heredity
may influence behavior; and behavioral neuroscience,
 It focuses on the interaction between biology and emotions, thoughts, and behaviours
 Neuropsychologist study a variety of human processes including perceptions, eating,
reproduction, sleeping, learning, memory, and language.

PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE (UNDERSTANDING THE INNER PERSON)

 The origins of the psychodynamic view are linked to one person: Sigmund Freud. Freud was
an Austrian physician in the early 1900s.
 They argue that behaviour is motivated by inner forces and conflicts about which we have
little awareness or control in our unconscious minds.
 He believed that his patients' problems were caused by repressed memories of childhood
trauma.
 More concern about internal factors such as Consciousness, sub consciousness, super
consciousness.
BEHAVIORAL PERSPECTIVE (OBSERVING THE OUTER PERSON)
 Proponents of the behavioural perspective rejected psychology’s early emphasis on the
inner workings of the mind.
 Instead, the behavioural perspective suggests that the focus should be on observable
behaviour that can be measured objectively.
 John B. Watson was the first major American psychologist to advocate a behavioural
approach.
 He believed that that it was possible to elicit any desired type of behaviour by controlling a
person’s environment.
 The behavioural perspective was championed by B. F. Skinner, a pioneer in the field. What is
behaviourism all about?

COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE (IDENTIFYING ROOTS OF UNDERSTANDING)

 The approach that focuses on how people think, understand, and know about the world.
 Many psychologists who adhere to the cognitive perspective compare human thinking to
the workings of a computer, which takes in information and transforms, stores, and
retrieves it. In their view, thinking is information processing.

HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE (UNIQUE QUALITIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES)

 Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, were central figures in this perspective.
 This perspective suggests that all individuals naturally strive to grow, develop, and be in
control of their lives and behaviour.
 The emphasis of the humanistic perspective is on free will, the ability to freely make
decisions about one’s own behavior and life. The notion of free will stands in contrast to
determinism, which sees behavior as caused, or determined, by things beyond a person’s
control.
 Humanistic psychologists,
o maintain that each of us have the capacity to seek and reach fulfilment.
o are interested in studying how people flourish through happiness, spirituality and
motivation.
PSYCHOLOGY’S KEY ISSUES AND CONTROVERSIES
1. Free-will vs. Determinism
2. Nature vs. Nurture
3. Observable behaviour vs. Internal mental processes
4. Conscious vs. unconscious causes of behavior.

1. FREE-WILL VERSUS DETERMINISM

 Free-will (choices made freely by an individual) - The idea that behavior is caused
primarily by choices that are made freely by the individual.
 Determinism - The idea that people’s behavior is produced primarily by factors outside
of their will full control.

2. NATURE VERSUS NURTURE

 Nature (heredity) - How much of people’s behavior is due to their genetically
determined nature.
 Nurture (environment) - the influences of the physical and social environment in which
a child is raised.

However, every psychologist would agree that neither nature nor nurture alone is the sole
determinant of behavior; rather, it is a combination of the two. In a sense, then, the real
controversy involves how much of our behavior is caused by heredity and how much is caused by
environmental influences.

UNDERSTANDING HOW CULTURE, ETHNICITY, AND RACE INFLUENCE BEHAVIOUR

 Cultural difference
 Race difference
 Ethnicity difference

PSYCHOLOGY’S FUTURE
 By the growing understanding of the brain and the nervous system with scientific advances
in genetics, it will allow psychologists to focus on prevention of psychological disorders
rather than only on their treatment
 Psychology’s influence on issues of public interest also will grow. The major problems of our
time—such as violence, terrorism, racial and ethnic prejudice, poverty, and environmental
and technological disasters—have important psychological components
 As the use of scientific evidence, the public’s view of psychology will become more
informed.
 Emerging of new sub fields of psychology such as consumer psychology, social neuroscience,
criminal justice.
 PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH TO PERSONALITY
 The pioneer of this approach was Sigmund Freud.
 It is based on the idea that personality is primarily unconscious and motivated by inner
forces and conflicts about which people have little awareness.
Unconscious – a part of the personality that contains the memories, knowledge, beliefs,
feelings, urges, drives, and instincts of which the individual is not aware.
 Because the unconscious disguises the meaning of the material it holds, the content of the
unconscious cannot be observed directly.
 It is therefore necessary to interpret clues to the unconscious— slips of the tongue,
fantasies, and dreams—to understand the unconscious processes that direct behavior.

STRUCTURING PERSONALITY: ID, EGO & SUPER EGO

 ID - The raw, unorganized, inborn part of personality whose sole purpose is to reduce
tension created by primitive drives related to hunger, sex, aggression, and irrational
impulses. (Mostly pleasure seeking)
 EGO - The part of the personality that provides a buffer between the id and the outside
world as it strives to balance the desires of the ID and the realities of the objective, outside
world.
In a sense, then, the ego is the “executive” of personality: It makes decisions, controls
actions, and allows thinking and problem solving of a higher order than the ID’s capabilities
permit.
 SUPER EGO - The personality structure that harshly judges the morality of our behavior. It
represents the rights and wrong of society as taught and modeled by a person’s parents,
teachers, and other significant individuals. The superego helps us control impulses coming
from the id, making our behavior less selfish and more virtuous.
DEVELOPING PERSONALITY: PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES

Psychosexual stages: Developmental periods that children pass through during which they
encounter conflicts between the demands of society and their own sexual urges (in which
sexuality is more about experiencing pleasure and less about lust).

According to Freud, if we are not able to resolve the conflicts that occur at a particular
psychosexual stage, we may become locked in that conflict throughout life—something he
called fixation.

Fixations are conflicts or concerns that persist beyond the developmental period in which they
first occur. Such conflicts may be due to having needs ignored, such as weaning the child too
early or being too strict during toilet training.

THE FIVE STAGES

1. Oral Stage - the baby’s mouth is the focal point of pleasure. During the first 12 to 18 months
of life, children, suck, eat, mouth, and bite anything they can put into their mouths.
To Freud, this behavior suggested that the mouth is the primary site of a kind of sexual
pleasure and that weaning (withdrawing the breast or bottle) represents the main conflict
during the oral stage.
If infants are either overindulged (perhaps by being fed every time they cry) or frustrated in
their search for oral gratification, they may become fixated at this stage.
For example, fixation might occur if an infant’s oral needs were constantly gratified
immediately at the first sign of hunger rather than if the infant learned that feeding
takes place on a schedule because eating whenever an infant wants to eat is not always
realistic.
Outcomes: Fixation at the oral stage might produce an adult who was unusually interested
in oral activities—eating, talking, smoking—or who showed symbolic sorts of oral interests
such as being “bitingly” sarcastic or very gullible (“swallowing” anything).
2. Anal stage - From around age 12 to 18 months until 3 years of age a child enters the anal
stage.
At this point, the major source of pleasure changes from the mouth to the anal region, and
children obtain considerable pleasure from both retention and expulsion of feces.
Outcomes: If toilet training is particularly demanding, fixation might occur. Fixation during
the anal stage might result in unusual rigidity, orderliness, punctuality—or extreme
disorderliness or sloppiness—in adulthood.

3. Phallic stage – Begins at around 3 Years. Now interest focuses on the genitals and the
pleasures derived from fondling them.
Oedipal Conflict is a hurdle of personality development which a child needs to negotiate.
The Oedipal conflict is a child’s intense, sexual interest in his or her opposite-sex parent.
Outcomes: If difficulties arise during this period, however, all sorts of problems are thought
to occur, including improper sex-role behavior and the failure to develop a conscience.

4. Latency stage – Begins typically around 5 or 6 until puberty. (latent means hidden).
Freud thought that most sexual impulses are repressed during the latent stage, and sexual
energy can be sublimated towards school work, hobbies, and friendships.
Much of the child's energy is channeled into developing new skills and acquiring new
knowledge, and play becomes largely confined to other children of the same gender.

5. Genital stage - From puberty to death.

The focus during the genital stage is on mature, adult sexuality, which Freud defined as
sexual intercourse
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH & PSYCHOANALYSIS
The psychodynamic approach includes all the theories in psychology that see human functioning
based upon the interaction of drives and forces within the person, particularly unconscious, and
between the different structures of the personality.

Freud’s psychoanalysis was the original psychodynamic theory, but the psychodynamic
approach as a whole includes all theories that were based on his ideas, e.g., Jung (1964), Adler
(1927) and Erikson (1950).

The words psychodynamic and psychoanalytic are often confused. Remember that Freud’s
theories were psychoanalytic, whereas the term ‘psychodynamic’ refers to both his theories and
those of his followers. Freud’s psychoanalysis is b

oth a theory and therapy.

 DEFENSE MECHANISM
WHAT IS DEFENSE MECHANISM?
 Unconscious strategies that people use to reduce anxiety by distorting reality and
concealing the source of the anxiety from themselves.
 Defence mechanisms are simply ways of coping with difficult feelings; your mind's way of
dealing with stress
 These little mental tricks, distortions of reality, help you meet your needs in socially
acceptable ways.

FREUD’S CONTRIBUTIONS
 Played a key role in linking personality and culture
 Drew public attention to psychological factors
 Freud’s emphasis on the unconscious has been partially supported by current research on
dreams and implicit memory

CRITICISM ON FREUD’S THEORY

 Lack of compelling scientific data to support it.
 The lack of evidence as it is built on unobservable concepts.
 Stages of personality of Freud does not provide an accurate description of personality
development.
 He derived his theory from a limited population (His theory was based almost entirely on
upper-class Austrian women living in the strict, puritanical era of the early 1900s, who had
come to him seeking treatment for psychological and physical problems).
 HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE
 This perspective focuses on thinking and emotions.
 They emphasize people’s inherent goodness and their tendency to move toward higher
levels of functioning. It is this conscious, self-motivated ability to change and improve, along
with people’s unique creative impulses, that humanistic theorists argue make up the core of
personality.
For example, “So, while forcing, racketeering, and murder may be bad acts, they don’t make
you a bad person.”
 Humanistic perspective also referred as “the third force” of the psychology.
 They believe that individuals possess personal choice and can rise above the unconscious
desires.
 Humanistic psychologists study behaviour, but not by reducing it to components, elements,
and variables in laboratory experiments. Instead, they look for patterns in people’s life
history.

THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF HUMANISM

1. A human being should be viewed holistically, not reductively. (He is more than just a sum of
his or her parts).
2. Social interactions are key in the development of a human being. (Behaviour is influenced by
the environment).
3. People are aware of their past experiences and use them to inform present and future
behaviour.
4. Human beings have free will and make conscious choices. They are not driven by instinct or
impulse alone.
5. Human beings have intentional goals and seek to create meaning in life.
KEY COMPONENTS OF HUMANISM
1. Self-directed learning –
o Self-directed learning is a trait in every adult but in varying degrees and different
learning circumstances and does not necessarily mean all learning is due to the learner,
but it could also involve others as well.
o Self-directed learning occurs in an orderly fashion as initiated by the learner, Cross
(1992):
1. identification of the problem.
2. Acceptance of the need to learn.
3. Formulation of objectives.
4. Finding reliable resources for proper learning.
o Self-directed learning allows the learners to select the stimuli to which they wish to
respond, in their own preferred ways
2. Self -esteem –
It is related to how we feel about ourselves. It is the component of personality that
encompasses our positive and negative self-evaluations.
For example, a good student may have high self-esteem in academic domains but lower
self-esteem in sports
3. Self -actualization - a state of self-fulfilment in which people realize their highest potential,
each in a unique way.
4. Self-Evaluation -
5. Free will -

CONTRIBUTORS OF HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY

CARL ROGERS

 Rogers developed a client-centred therapy or Person-centered therapy.

 Clients should guide the direction of therapy as they are capable of choosing a healthy
direction for their lives
 Unconditional positive regard involves providing wholehearted acceptance and
understanding, and no disapproval, no matter what feelings and attitudes the client
expresses. By doing this, therapists hope to create an atmosphere that enables clients to
come to decisions that can improve their lives.
ABRAHAM MASLOW

 Developed a concept called “hierarchy of needs”

 A theory describing human needs from the most basic to the existential
 COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE
 The Cognitive perspective studies mental processes, including perception, thinking,
memory, and judgment.
 Cognitive psychologists believe that one cannot fully explain behaviour in terms of stimulus–
response connections.
For instance, when a boy turns to a girl on a date and says, “You are so beautiful,” a
behaviorist would probably see that as a reinforcing (positive) stimulus. Yet, the girl might
not be so easily fooled. She might try to understand why the boy is making this statement at
this particular time and wonder if he might be attempting to influence her through the
comment.
 Tolman’s cognitive map

HOW COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY IS DIFFERENT FROM BEHAVIOUR PSYCHOLOGY?

 First, cognitive psychology acknowledges the existence of internal mental states disregarded
by behaviourists
 Cognitive psychologists claim memory structures determine how information is perceived,
processed, stored, retrieved and forgotten
 Also Cognitive psychology encompasses perception, categorization, memory, knowledge
representation, language and thinking processes.
THE MAJOR COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGISTS
 Jean Piaget (1896-1980) – Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (4 Stages)
 Lev Vigotsky
 Noam Chomsky
 Wolfgang Kohler - Concept of insight
Insight - a sudden change in the way one organizes a problem situation; typically this is
characterized by a change in behaviour from random responding to rule-based responding
Mental set - an individual uses to organize their perception of a particular situation, such as
a problem
 Jerome Bruner

LEARNING - IN COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, THE PROCESS OF GATHERING INFORMATION AND ORGANIZING

IT INTO MENTAL SCHEMATA.

In cognitive memory terms

 Recall – To retrieve information with a minimum of external cues.
 Recognition – An ability to correctly identify previously learned information.
 Relearning – Learning again something that was previously learned. Used to measure
memory of prior learning.
 Priming – Facilitating the retrieval of an implicit memory by using cues to activate hidden
memories.

KEY IDEAS IN COGNITIVE

 Cognitive processes interact with each other and with non-cognitive processes
 Emotions may affect decisions
 Working memory capacity contributes to reading speed
 Perception contributes to memory decisions
 SOCIAL-CULTURAL OR SOCIOCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

 It is the study of how the social situations and the cultures in which people find themselves
influence thinking and behavior.
 Psychologists of this perspective are particularly concerned with how people perceive
themselves and others, and how people influence each other’s behavior.
For instance, social psychologists have found that we are attracted to others who are similar
to us in terms of attitudes and interests.
 Understanding why humans behave the way they do.
 Groups Can Affect Behavior.
 Examining cultural difference.

SUB FIELDS OF SOCIOCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

 Cultural psychology
 Social psychology
 Cultural-historical psychology

CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY
 Culture - the common set of social norms, including religious and family values and other
moral beliefs, shared by the people who live in a geographical region.
 Cultural psychology is the study of how psychological and behavioural tendencies are rooted
and embedded within culture.
 A cultural psychologist would be interested in how the social practices of a particular set of
cultures shape the development of cognitive processes in different ways.

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
 The scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are influenced by the
actual, imagined, or implied presence of others.
 Social psychology typically explains human behaviour as a result of the interaction of mental
states and immediate social situations.

CULTURAL-HISTORICAL PSYCHOLOGY
 According to Lev Vygotsky, the culture in which we are raised significantly affects our
cognitive development.
 He believed that parents, peers and the culture at large were responsible for the
development of higher order functions.
 He stresses the importance of social norms and culture
 Proposes that children learn behaviour through problem-solving interactions with other
children and adults.
 Through these interactions, they learn the values and norms of their society.
IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF SOCIAL- CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE
 Conformity - a change in beliefs or behavior that occurs as the result of the presence of the
other people around us.
 Social norms - the ways of thinking, feeling, or behaving that are shared by group members
and perceived by them as appropriate. Many of the most important social norms are
determined by the culture in which we live.
 Individualism - is about valuing the self and one’s independence from others.
 Collectivism – is about being interdependent.
For example, In Western cultures norms promote a focus on the self, or individualism,
whereas in Eastern cultures the focus is more on families and social groups, or collectivism.

SOCIOLOGIST VS. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGIST

 Social psychology studies how people act, think, and feel in the context of society. That is,
how people's behaviours, thoughts, and feelings change because of other people.
 Sociologist has study society as a whole, their focus is on organizations and how those
organizations impact the individuals within them.
 Sociologists are more focused on society, and social psychologists are more focused on the
individual.
 BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
 The approach that views behaviour from the perspective of the brain, the nervous system,
and other biological function
 Psychobiology—is the application of the principles of biology to the study of mental
processes and behaviour.
 Subfields of biological psychology:
o Behavioural neuroscience.
o Cognitive neuroscience.
o Neuropsychology.
 Focus of Bio psychologists
o Study the communication between the brain, glands and muscles.
o Examine the role of genes in influencing our personality, intelligence, or tendency to
develop psychological disorders
o focus on the functions of the nervous system, including the effects of
neurotransmitters, brain trauma and disease on individual behaviour.

KEY ASSUMPTIONS OF THE BIOLOGICAL APPROACH

 Dualism – the mind is fundamentally different from the mechanical body. (the view, that
mind and body are distinct, the two could interact via the pineal gland in the brain).
 Materialism - the assumption that all behaviour has a physiological basis.
 The belief that mind and body are a single entity
 Localization of function - the assumption that specific functions are associated with specific
areas of the brain.
 Heredity - the biological transmission of characteristics from one generation to another.
 Natural selection - the evolutionary process by which those random variations within a
species which enhance reproductive success lead to perpetuation of new characteristic
 EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY
 It is the study on how behavior is influenced by our genetic inheritance from our ancestors.
 The evolutionary approach suggests that the chemical coding of information in our cells not
only determines traits such as hair color and race but also holds the key to understanding a
broad variety of behaviors that helped our ancestors survive and reproduce.
 Sub field of psychology that applies the Darwinian theory of natural selection to human and
animal behaviour
 Evolutionary psychologists use evolutionary theory to understand many different
behaviours including romantic attraction, stereotypes and prejudice, and even the causes of
some psychological disorders.
 The evolutionary approach is important to psychology because it provides logical
explanations for why we have many psychological characteristics

EXAMPLES
 Why go through childbirth?
 Why do we want to adopt babies and not the elderly?
 Why have sex?
 Why is sex pleasurable and why do we humans go out of our way to have sex?
 Sex is the proximal evolutionary mechanism to achieve the distal evolutionary goal of
guaranteeing reproduction

A KEY IDEAS OF EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY

 Fitness -the extent that having a given characteristic helps the individual organism survive
and reproduce at a higher rate than do other members of the species who do not have the
characteristic.
 BEHAVIOURAL PERSPECTIVE

EARLY THEORIST IN BEHAVIOR PSYCHOLOGY

 First behaviorist – J.B.Watson
 Most famous behaviorist – B.F.Skinner
 Most famous Russian theorist - Ivan pavlov
 Famous on working with animal and human - Thorndike’s Law of Effect

IVAN PAVLOV
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
 A type of learning in which a neutral stimulus comes to bring about a response after it is
paired with a stimulus that naturally brings about that response
 Classical conditioning includes two requirements
1. First, a natural relationship must exist between a stimulus
2. Then the stimulus that elicits the reaction is paired with a neutral stimulus

TERMINOLOGY IN CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

1. Neutral stimulus - A stimulus that, before conditioning, does not naturally bring about
the response of interest
2. Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) – A stimulus that naturally brings about a particular
response without having been learned.
3. Unconditioned response (UCR) – A response that is natural and needs no training
4. Conditioned stimulus (CS) - A once neutral stimulus that has been paired
with an unconditioned stimulus to bring about a response
formerly caused only by the unconditioned stimulus.
5. Conditioned response (CR) – A response that, after conditioning, follows a previously
neutral stimulus

IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

 Extinction : the disappearance of a previously learned behaviour when the behaviour is not
reinforced.
 Spontaneous recovery : the reappearance of a Conditioned Response (CR) that had been
extinguished
 Stimulus generalization :the organism that is being conditioned learns to associate other
similar stimuli with the conditioned stimulus
 Stimulus discrimination ; the ability to differentiate between stimuli.
J.B.WATSON

 Who is considered the father of the psychological school of behaviourism.

 Behaviourism = the science of observable behaviour
 Rejected the concept of the unconscious and the internal mental state of a person
 Behaviourism and applying it to child development
 Little Albert’s experiment
 This experiment demonstrated how emotions could become conditioned responses.

OPERANT CONDITIONING
 Learning in which a voluntary response is strengthened or weakened, depending on its
favourable or unfavourable consequences.
 In other words a response that is followed by a reinforcing stimulus is more likely to occur
again
 Edward Thorndike
 B.F. Skinner
EDWARD THORNDIKE

THORNDIKE’S LAW OF EFFECT

 Edward Thorndike was the first psychologist to formally study the consequences of
behaviour
 He worked on animal behaviour and the learning process
 He created famous theory “ the law of effect”

THORNDIKE ‘S PUZZLE BOXES

THE LAW OF EFFECT

 The law of effect states that responses that create a satisfying effect are more likely to
occur again, while responses that produce a discomforting effect become less likely to
occur.
 The law of effect has two parts:
1. The law of exercise
2. The law of effect
B.F.SKINNER

 Father of operant conditioning

 A form of learning in which a voluntary response is strengthened or weakened
depending on its association with either positive or negative consequences.
 The ideas of stimulus and response, along with the application of rewards or
reinforcements, to train pigeons and other animals.

IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN OPERANT CONDITION

 Reinforcement: the process by which a stimulus increases the probability that a
preceding behaviour will be repeated.
(E.g. pressing the lever is more likely to occur again because of the stimulus of food).

 Reinforcer: any stimulus that increases the probability that a preceding behavior will
occur again.
(E.g. food is a reinforcer) (E.g. Bonuses, toys, and good grades)

 Primary reinforcement: that which satisfies some biological need and works naturally,
regardless of a person’s previous experience.
(E.g. Food for a hungry person, relief for a person in pain)

 Secondary reinforcement; is a stimulus that becomes reinforcing because of its

association with a primary reinforcer.
(E.g. Knowing the value of money as it allows us to obtain other desirable objects)

 Positive reinforcement: A stimulus added to the environment that brings about an

increase in a preceding response
(E.g. If food, water, money, or praise is provided after a response, it is more likely that
that response will occur again in the future).

 Negative reinforcement: an unpleasant stimulus whose removal leads to an increase in

the probability that a preceding response will be repeated in the future.
(E.g. If you have an itchy rash (an unpleasant stimulus) that is relieved when you apply a
certain brand of ointment, you are more likely to use that ointment the next time you
 have an itchy rash. Using the ointment, then, is negatively reinforcing, because it
removes the unpleasant itch).

 Punishment: a stimulus that decreases the probability that a prior behavior will occur
again.

 Positive punishment: weakens a response through the application of an unpleasant

stimulus.
(E.g. spanking a child for misbehaving or spending 10 years in jail for committing a crime
is positive punishment).

 Negative punishment: consists of the removal of something pleasant.

(E.g. when an employee is informed that he has been demoted with a cut in pay because
of a poor job evaluation)

 Discriminate stimuli – a behaviour is reinforced in the presence of a specific stimulus,

but not in its absence.
(E.g. determining when someone’s friendliness is not mere friendliness, but a signal of
romantic interest).

 Stimulus generalization – an organism learns a response to one stimulus and then

exhibits the same response to slightly different stimuli.
(E.g. an organism learns a response to one stimulus and then exhibits the same
response to slightly different stimuli).

 Shaping – the process of teaching a complex behavior by rewarding closer and closer
approximations of the desired behavior.

Steps in the Shaping Process

 Step 1: Reinforcing any behavior that is at all similar to the behavior you want the
person to learn.
 Step 2: Reinforce only responses that are closer to the behavior you ultimately want to
teach.
 Step 3: Reinforce only the desired response.
(E.g. Making lions learn jump through hoops)
(E.g. the organization of most textbooks is based on the principles of shaping. Typically,
information is presented so that new material builds on previously learned concepts or
skills).
BIOLOGICAL CONSTRAINTS ON LEARNING
 Biological preparedness - we are biologically more likely to become afraid of objects and
situations that have posed a threat to previous generations.
(E.g. snakes, spiders, heights, drowning, etc.)

 Instinctive drift - Animals can most easily learn and retain behaviours that draw on their
biological predispositions, such as horses’ inborn ability to move around obstacles with
speed and agility
(E.g.: it’s impossible to train pigs to pick up a disk, because they are biologically programmed
to push objects like it along the ground).

USING BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

 Behaviour modification - A formalized technique for promoting the frequency of desirable
behaviours and decreasing the incidence of unwanted ones.
(E.g. Couple arguments about chores at home)
 Parents use this to teach their children right from wrong
 Therapists use it to promote healthy behaviours in their patients.
 Animal trainers use it to develop obedience between a pet and its owner
BASIC STEPS IN BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION
1. Identifying goals and target behaviours (Define desired behavior)
Examples for Goals (A decrease in weight? An increase in the use of language? A reduction
in the amount of aggression displayed by a child?).
Examples for target behavior (Goal to increase study time --- Target behavior “to study at
least 2 hours per day).

2. Designing a data-recording system and recording preliminary data.

This will help to determine whether behavior has changed.

3. Selecting a behavior-change strategy.

This might include the systematic use of positive reinforcement for desired behavior (verbal
praise or something more tangible, such as food), as well as a program of extinction for
undesirable behavior (ignoring a child who throws a tantrum).

4. Implementing the program

Consistency is the most important aspect of program implementation.
(E.g. For example, suppose a mother wants her son to spend more time on his homework,
but as soon as he sits down to study, he asks for a snack. If the mother gets a snack for
him, she is likely to be reinforcing her son’s delaying tactic, not his studying).

5. Keeping careful records after the program is implemented.

6. Evaluating and altering the ongoing program.

 THE OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING
LEARNING THROUGH IMITATION

WHAT IS OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING?

Learning by observing the behaviour of another person, or model.

VICARIOUS REINFORCEMENT
 Our tendency to repeat or duplicate behaviours for which others are being positively
rewarded.

USE OF VICARIOUS REINFORCEMENT

 Vicarious reinforcement is when a person imitates the actions of another person when they
see that the person being positively rewarded for their actions.
 Vicarious reinforcement is a motivator.

VICARIOUS REINFORCEMENT
 Characteristics of the models: similarity, age, sex, status, prestige, simple vs. complex
behaviour
 Characteristics of observers: Low self-confidence, low self-esteem, reinforcement for
imitation
 Reward consequences of behaviour: Directly witnessing associated rewards
OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING THEORY
 Observational learning occurs in four distinct steps
o Attention
o Retention
o Motor reproduction
o Reinforcement

Attentional Processes
 Developing cognitive processes to pay attention to a model- more developed processes
allow for better attention
 Must observe the model accurately enough to imitate behaviour

Retention Processes
 To later imitate behaviour, must remember aspects of the behaviour
 Retain information in 2 ways:
o Imaginal internal representation: Visual image
Ex: Forming a mental picture
o Verbal system: Verbal description of behaviour
Ex: Silently rehearsing steps in behaviour

Production Processes
 Taking imaginal and verbal representations and translating into overt behaviour- practice
behaviours
 Receive feedback on accuracy of behaviour- how well have you imitated the modelled
behaviour?
 Important in mastering difficult skills
Ex: Driving a car

Incentive and Motivational Processes

 With incentives, observation more quickly becomes action, pay more attention, retain more
information
 Incentive to learn influenced by anticipated reinforcements
OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING THEORY
 Observational learning may have a genetic basis
 Mirror neurons
OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING THEORY
 Relational learning style
 Analytical learning style

SELF-EFFICACY
 High self-efficacy
 Believe can deal effectively with life events
 Confident in abilities
 Expect to overcome obstacles effectively
 Low self-efficacy
 Feel unable to exercise control over life
 Low confidence, believe all efforts are futile

ASPECTS OF THE SELF: SELF-REINFORCEMENT AND SELF-EFFICACY

 Self-reinforcement: Rewards or punishments given to oneself for reaching, exceeding or
falling short of personal expectations
Ex: Pride, shame, guilt
 Self-efficacy: Belief in ability to cope with life
 Meeting standards: Enhances self-efficacy
 Failure to meet standards: Reduces self-efficacy
APPLICATION OF SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY: BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION
 Fears and phobias
 Anxiety
 RESEARCH IN PSYCHOLOGY

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

 is the set of assumptions, rules, and procedures scientists use to conduct research.
 also free from the personal bias or emotions of the scientist

THE FOUNDATION OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

1. Critical thinking - The process of objectively evaluating claims, propositions, and
conclusions to determine whether they follow logically from the evidence presented.

Characteristics exhibit in critical thinking

– Independent thinking: When thinking critically, we do not automatically accept and believe
what we read or hear.

– Suspension of judgment: Critical thinking requires gathering relevant and up-to-date

information on all sides of an issue before taking a position.

– Willingness to modify or abandon prior judgments: Critical thinking involves evaluating new
evidence, even when it contradicts pre-existing beliefs

PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE
1. Basic research - is research that answers fundamental question about behavior
2. Applied research - is research that investigates issue that have implication for everyday life
and provides solutions to everyday problems.

THE RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

– a specific and falsifiable prediction about the relationship between or among two or more
variables, where a variable is any attribute that can assume different values among different
people or across different times or places.

WHAT ARE THE ETHICAL PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH?

• Philip Zimbardo designed Stanford Prison Experiment
• ethical standards in psychological research are motivated by two main principles:
• minimized harm
• informed consent

CONDUCTING ETHICAL RESEARCH

– Research in psychology may cause some stress, harm, or inconvenience for the people who
participate in that research
– How do researchers protect human participants’ and animals’ rights?
CHARACTERISTICS OF AN ETHICAL RESEARCH PROJECT USING HUMAN PARTICIPANTS
 Trust and positive rapport are created between the researcher and the participant.
 The rights of both the experimenter and participant are considered, and the relationship
between them is mutually beneficial.
 The experimenter treats the participant with concern and respect and attempts to make the
research experience a pleasant and informative one.
 Before the research begins, the participant is given all information relevant to his or her
decision to participate, including any possibilities of physical danger or psychological stress.
 The participant is given a chance to have questions about the procedure answered, thus
guaranteeing his or her free choice about participating.
 After the experiment is over, any deception that has been used is made public, and the
necessity for it is explained.
 The experimenter provides information about how he or she can be contacted and offers to
provide information about the results of the research if the participant is interested in
receiving it
 The experimenter carefully debriefs the participant, explaining the underlying research
hypothesis and the purpose of the experimental procedure in detail and answering any
questions

APA CODE OF ETHICS

– Legality
– Institutional approval
– Informed consent
– Deception
– Debriefing
– Clients, patients, students, and subordinates
– Payment for participation
– Publication

APA CODE OF ETHICS GUIDELINES FOR USING ANIMALS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH

– Legality
– Supervision by experienced personnel
– Minimization of discomfort
 APPLYING PSYCHOLOGY IN THE 21ST CENTURY

EVERYDAY ISSUES
 What are the causes of terrorism?
 How can people best cope with an economic crisis?
 Why do eyewitnesses to crimes often remember the events inaccurately, and how can we
increase the precision of eyewitness accounts?
 Does texting while driving impair people’s driving ability?
 what are the roots of obesity, and how can healthier eating and better physical fitness be
encouraged?

WHY DO WE STUDY PSYCHOLOGY?

 Does behaviour depend on one’s culture and gender?
 Is psychology potentially dangerous?
 Can laboratory experiments illuminate everyday life?

POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
 Why Positive Psychology?
The aim of Positive Psychology is to catalyse a change in psychology from a preoccupation
only with repairing the worst things in life to also building the best qualities in life.” (Martin
Seligman)
 How can we help ourselves and others—individuals, communities, and society—become
happier?

BASIC CONCEPTS OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

 Optimism - Hopefulness about successful future outcomes
 Greater self-efficacy - the belief in their own competence to produce desired outcomes

THE DIMENSIONS OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

 Positive subjective states
 Positive individual traits
o talents
o strengths
THE SCOPE OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
 emotional intelligence
 subjective well-being
 resiliency
 peak performance

WHY FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE?

 to cure mental illness,
 to identify and cultivate genius and talent, and
 to increase fulfilment in people’s lives.

THE GOOD LIFE

 Positive Connections to Others
 Positive Individual Traits
 Life Regulation Qualities