1

CHAPTER FOUR
MEMORY AND FORGETTING

2
 Learning Outcomes
• Define memory and forgetting.
• Describe the stages and memory structures
proposed by theory of memory.
• Explain the processes that are at work in memory
functions.
• Identify how learned materials are organized in
the long term memory.
• State the factors underlying on the persistence,
and loss of memory.
• Explain different theories of forgetting.

3
 Meaning and Processes of Memory
• It is the retention of information/what is learned earlier
over time.
• It is the way in which we record the past for later use in
the present.
• Memory is a blanket label for a large number of
processes that form the bridges between our past and
our present.

4
 Processes of Memory
• It is the mental activities we perform to put information into
memory, to keep it there, and to make use of it later.
• This involves three basic steps:
a) Encoding
b) Storage
c) Retrieval
a) Encoding
- the term encoding refers to the form (i.e. the code) in
which an item of information is to be placed in memory.
- the process by which information is initially recorded in
a form usable to memory.
- In encoding we transform a sensory input into a form or
a memory code that can be further processed.
5
 Cont…

b) Storage
• To be remembered the encoded experience must leave some record
in the nervous system (the memory trace); it must be squirreled
away and held in some more or less enduring form for later use.
• Storage is the persistence of information in memory.
c) Retrieval
- is the point at which one tries to remember to dredge up a
particular memory trace from among all the others we have stored.
- In retrieval, material in memory storage is located, brought into
awareness and used.

Memory is the process by which information is encoded

(phase 1), stored (phase 2) and later retrieved (phase 3).
6
 Stages/Structure of Memory
According to Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968), memory has three
structures:
1. Sensory Memory/Sensory Register
2. Short-Term Memory
3. Long Term Memory
1) Sensory Memory/Sensory Register
• It is the entry way to memory (first information storage area).
• It acts as a holding bin, retaining information until we can select
items for attention.
• It gives us a brief time to decide whether information is
extraneous or important.
• It can hold virtually all the information reaching our senses for a
brief time.
7
 Cont…
• For instance,
– Visual images (Iconic memory) remain in the visual
system for a maximum of one second.
– Auditory images (Echoic memory) remain in the
auditory system for a slightly longer time, by most
estimates up to two second or so.
• Information is accurate representation of the
environmental information but unprocessed.
• Most information briefly held in the sensory memory
simply decays from the register.
• However, some of the information that has got attention
and recognition pass on short-term memory for further
processing. 8
 Short-Term Memory
• It holds the contents of our attention.
• It consist memories of the by-products or end results of
perceptual analysis.
• Also called working memory, immediate memory, active
memory, and primary memory.
• It has four characteristics:
– It is active (workspace to process new information )there is
consciously processing, examining, or manipulating information
– Rapid accessibility: Information is readily available for use
– Preserves the temporal sequence of information: maintain
the information in sequential manner for a temporary period of
time
– Limited capacity: the magic number seven plus or minus 9
 Cont…
Chunking
- grouping or packing of information into higher order
units that can be remembered as single units.
- It expands working memory by making large amounts
of information more manageable.
- The real capacity of short-term memory, therefore, is not
a few bits of information but a few chunks.

• STM memory holds information received from SM for up

to about 30 seconds by most estimates.
• It is possible to prolong STM indefinitely by rehearsal-
the conscious repetition of information.
• Material in STM is easily displaced unless we do
something to keep it there.
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 Long Term Memory

• It is a memory system used for the relatively permanent

storage of meaningful information.
• The capacity of LTM seems to have no practical limits.
• The vast amount of information stored in LTM enables us
to learn, get around in the environment, and build a sense
of identity and personal history.
• LTM stores information for indefinite periods. It may
last for days, months, years, or even a lifetime.

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 Sub Systems of LTM
• Declarative/ explicit memory- the conscious recollection of
information such as specific facts or events that can be verbally
communicated. Divided into two:
– Semantic memory- factual knowledge like the meaning of words,
concepts and our ability to do math. They are internal
representations of the world, independent of any particular context.
– Episodic memory- memories for events and situations from
personal experience. They are internal representations of personally
experienced events.
• Non-declarative/ implicit memory- behavior is affected by prior
experience without that experience being consciously recollected.
One of the most important kinds of implicit memory is procedural
memory. It is the how to knowledge of procedures or skills: Knowing
how to comb your hair, use a pencil, or swim.

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 Serial Position Effect
• The three-box model of memory is often invoked to
explain interesting phenomenon called the serial
position effect.
• If you are shown a list of items and are then asked
immediately to recall them, your retention of any
particular item will depend on its position in the list.
• That is, recall will be best for items at the beginning of
the list (the primacy effect) and at the end of the list
(the recency effect).
• When retention of all the items is plotted, the result will
be a U-shaped curve.
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 Factors Affecting Memory
- Ability to retain: good memory traces left in the brain by past
experiences.
- Good health: good health can retain the learnt material better
- Age of the learner: Youngsters can remember better than the aged.
- Maturity: Very young children cannot retain and remember complex material.
- Will to remember: Willingness to remember helps for better retention
- Intelligence: More intelligent person will have better memory
- Interest: will learn and retain better.
- Over learning: over learning will lead to better memory.
- Speed of learning: Quicker learning leads to better retention,
- Meaningfulness of the material: it remain in our memory for longer
period
- Sleep or rest: after learning strengthens connections in the brain and
14
helps for clear memory.
 Forgetting

• The apparent loss of information already encoded

and stored in the long-term memory.
• The first attempts to study forgetting were made by
German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus
(1885/1913).
• There is almost always a strong initial decline in
memory, followed by a more gradual drop over time.
• Furthermore, relearning of previously mastered
material is almost always faster than starting from a
scratch
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 Theories of Forgetting
• Psychologists have proposed five mechanisms to
account for forgetting:

1) The Decay Theory

2) Replacement of old memories by new ones
3) Interference
4) Motivated forgetting
5) Cue dependent forgetting

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 Cont…
The Decay Theory
• memory traces or engram fade with time if they are
not accessed now and then.
• In decay, the trace simply fades away with nothing
left behind, because of the passage of time.
Interference Theory
• It occurs because similar items of information
interfere with one another in either storage or
retrieval.
• There are two kinds of interference :
– In Proactive Interference, information learned earlier
interferes with recall of newer material.
– If new information interferes with the ability to remember
old information the interference is called Retroactive
Interference. 17
 Cont…
New Memory for Old/ Displacement Theory
- This theory holds that new information entering memory
can wipe out old information, just as recording on an audio
or videotape will obliterate/wipe out the original material.
Motivated Forgetting
- Sigmund Freud maintained that people forget because they
block from consciousness those memories that are too
threatening or painful to live with, and he called this self-
protective process Repression.
Cue Dependent Forgetting
• When we lack retrieval cues, we may feel as if we have lost
the call number for an entry in the mind‘s library.
• In long-term memory, this type of memory failure may be
the most common type of all.
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 Improving Memory
• Pay Attention: It seems obvious, but often we fail to remember
because we never encoded the information in the first place.
• Encode information in more than one way: The more elaborate
the encoding of information, the more memorable it will be
• Add meaning: The more meaningful the material, the more likely it
is to link up with information already in long-term memory.
• Take your time: If possible, minimize interference by using study
breaks for rest or recreation. Sleep is the ultimate way to reduce
interference.
• Over learn: Studying information even after you think you already
know it- is one of the best ways to ensure that you‘ll remember it.
• Monitor your learning: By testing yourself frequently, rehearsing
thoroughly, and reviewing periodically, you will have a better idea
of how you are doing.
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 Chapter Five
Motivation And Emotion

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 Chapter Outline
• Definition of motivation
• The two types of motivation
• Theories of motivation
• Types of conflicts of motives
• Definition of emotion
• Three elements of emotion
• Theories of emotion

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 Definition and Types of Motivation
• It is a factor by which activities are started, directed and
continued so that physical or psychological needs or
wants are met.
• The word itself comes from the Latin word ‘Mover‘,
which means -to move.
• Motivation is what -moves people to do the things they
do.
Types of motivation.
– Intrinsic motivation is a type of motivation in which a
person acts because the act itself is rewarding or satisfying
in some internal manner.
– Extrinsic motivation is a type of motivation in which
individuals act because the action leads to an outcome
that is external to a person.
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 Approaches to Motivation
• The sources of motivation are different according to the
different theories of motivation.
• There are many causes of behaviour. People perform behaviour for
a number of reasons.
• Psychologists have been studying the causes of behaviours and
have developed various theories that explain the why of these
behaviours
• Some of these theories are
• Instinct approaches
• Drive-reduction approaches
• Arousal approaches
• Incentive approaches
• Cognitive approaches
• Humanistic approaches
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 Instinct Approaches to Motivation
• It focused on the biologically determined and innate
patterns of both humans and animals behavior.
• According to this approach, people and animals are born
with programmed sets of behavior essential to their survival.
• Motivation is evolutionarily programmed through inborn
instinctual behavior patterns.
• According to this instinct theory, in humans, the instinct to
reproduce is responsible for sexual behavior, and the instinct
for territorial protection may be related to aggressive
behavior.
• One important thing by forcing psychologists to realize that
some human behavior is controlled by hereditary factors. 24
 Drive-Reduction Approaches
• This approach involved the concepts of needs and drives.
• A need is a requirement of some material (such as food or
water) that is essential for the survival of the organism.
• When an organism has a need, it leads to a psychological
tension as well as physical arousal to fulfill the need and
reduce the tension. This tension is called drive.
• It proposes just this connection between internal
psychological states and outward behavior.
• In this theory, there are two kinds of drives:
– Primary drives (biological needs)are those that involve
survival needs of the body such as hunger and thirst,
– Secondary drives (acquired drives) are those that are
learned through experience or conditioning, such as the
need for money, social approval.
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 Cont…

- Behavior is motivated by desires to reduce

internal tension caused by unmet biological
needs, such as hunger or thirst.
- Internal drives “push” us to behave in certain
ways.
- Robert Woodworth & Clark Hull: Drives are
triggered by internal mechanisms of
homeostasis→ Internal state of balance.
- Limitations: All behaviors are not always
motivated purely by physiological needs.
26
 Arousal Approaches
• Explain behavior in which the goal is to maintain or increase
excitement.
• People take certain actions to either decrease or increase levels
of arousal.
• People are motivated to maintain an optimal level of arousal
• Each person tries to maintain a certain level of stimulation and
activity.
• As with the drive-reduction model, this approach suggests that
if our stimulation and activity levels become too high, we try to
reduce them.
• But, in contrast to the drive-reduction perspective, the arousal
approach also suggests that if levels of stimulation and activity
are too low, we will try to increase them by seeking
stimulation. 27
 Incentive Approaches
• suggest that motivation stems from the desire to attain external
rewards.
• The desirable properties of external stimuli: account for a
person‘s motivation.
• Embedded in behavioral learning concepts as association and
reinforcement.
• Many psychologists believe that the internal drives proposed by
drive-reduction theory work in a cycle with the external
incentives of incentive theory to ‘push’ and ‘pull’ behavior,
respectively.
• Hence, at the same time that we seek to satisfy our underlying
hunger needs (the push of drive-reduction theory), we are
drawn to food that appears very appetizing (the pull of
incentive theory).
• Rather than contradicting each other, then, drives and
incentives may work together in motivating behavior. 28
 Cognitive Approaches
• Suggest that motivation is a result of people‘s thoughts,
beliefs, expectations, and goals.
• Cognitive theories of motivation draw a key difference
between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
• Intrinsic motivation causes us to participate in an activity
for our enjoyment rather than for any actual or concrete
reward that it will bring us.
• In contrast, extrinsic motivation causes us to do
something for money, a grade, or some other actual,
concrete reward.

29
 Humanistic approaches to motivation
• Maslow suggested that human behavior is influenced by a
hierarchy, or ranking, of five classes of needs, or motives.
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
• People have strong cognitive reasons to perform various actions.
• Motivation to realize their highest personal potential.
• He said that needs at the lowest level of the hierarchy must be at
least partially satisfied before people can be motivated by the ones
at higher levels.
• Maslow‘s five Hierarchies of needs for motives from the bottom to
the top are as follows:
30
31
 Conflict of Motives and Frustration
• Based on the sources of motivation and the importance of the
decision, people usually face difficulty choosing among the
motives.
• These are just a few of the motives that may shape a trivial
decision.
• When the decision is more important, the number and strength of
motivational pushes and pulls are often greater, creating far more
internal conflict and indecision.
• refers to negative emotional state (depression, anger, anxiety,
etc) that develop when a person is unable to make a choice
between two or more alternatives.
• There are four basic types of motivational conflicts.
• Approach-approach conflicts
• Avoidance-avoidance conflicts
• Approach-avoidance conflicts
• Multiple approach-avoidance conflicts
32
 Cont…
Approach-approach conflicts
- exist when we must choose only one of the two
desirable activities.
Avoidance-avoidance conflicts
- arise when we must select one of two undesirable
alternatives.
Approach-avoidance conflicts
- happen when a particular event or activity has both
attractive and unattractive features
Multiple approach-avoidance conflicts
- exist when two or more alternatives each have both
positive and negative features.
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34
 Emotions
Definition of Emotion
- Latin ”Emovere" → “To excite, stir up or agitate.”
- It refers to a strong feeling about something.
- the ‘feeling’ aspect of consciousness, characterized by
certain physical arousal, certain behavior that reveals the
feeling to the outside world, and an inner awareness of
feelings.
- Emotions are feelings such as happiness, despair, and
sorrow that generally have both physiological and
cognitive elements influencing behavior.
- While motives are internally caused, emotions are
responses to an external stimulus.
35
 Three Components of Emotion
The physiology of emotion
- when a person experiences an emotion, there is physical
arousal created by the sympathetic nervous system.
- Bodily arousal: The heart rate increases, breathing becomes more
rapid, the pupils of the eye dilate, and the moth may become dry
- ANS: Consists of two parts:
o Sympathetic Nervous System: Activated in response to external
threats and arouses the body for action.
o Parasympathetic Nervous System: Supports activities that maintain
the body to restore energy.
• It calms down the body to maintain energy by slowing heart rate,
lowering blood pressure, and so on.
36
 Cont…
The behavior of emotion
- tells us how people behave in the grip of an emotion.
- Characteristic overt expressions of emotions.
- There are facial expressions, tone of voice, touching,
posture, Body gestures, body movements, and actions
that indicate to others how a person feels.

Subjective experience or labeling emotion

- it involves interpreting the subjective feeling by giving
it a label: anger, fear, disgust, happiness, sadness,
shame, interest, surprise and so on.
- Also called cognitive component, because the labeling
process is a matter of retrieving memories of previous
similar experiences, perceiving the context of the
emotion, and coming up with a solution- a label. 37
 Theories of Emotion
James- Lang Theory of Emotion
- This theory of emotion is based on the work of
William James & Carl Lang (1885).
- In this theory, a stimulus of some sort (for example,
the large snarling dog) produces a physiological
reaction. This reaction, which is the arousal of the -
fight-or-flight‖ sympathetic nervous system
(wanting to run), produces bodily sensations such as
increased heart rate, dry mouth, and rapid breathing.
- James and Lang believed that physical arousal led to
the labeling of the emotion (fear).
38
 Physiological
Stimulus arousal
(High blood Emotion
(e.g. snarling pressure, high (fear)
dog) heart rate,
sweating)

39
 Cont…

Cannon-Bard theory of emotion

- Developed by Physiologists Walter Cannon and (1927) and
Philip Bard (1934) .
- theorized that the emotion and the physiological arousal
occur more or less at the same time.
- Cannon, an expert in sympathetic arousal mechanisms, did
not feel that the physical changes aroused by different
emotions were distinct enough to allow them to be
perceived as different emotions.
• Bard expanded on this idea by stating that the sensory
information that comes into the brain is sent
simultaneously (by the thalamus) to both the cortex and
the organs of the sympathetic nervous system.
• The fear and the bodily reactions are, therefore,
experienced at the same time-not one after the other.
40
 Physiological
arousal
(High blood
pressure, high
Stimul heart rate,
us Sub- sweating)
cortical
(e.g. brain -
snarlin activity
g dog) Emotion
(fear)

41
 Cont…
Schechter-Singer and Cognitive Arousal Theory
• They proposed that two things have to happen before
emotion occurs: the physical arousal and labeling of the
arousal base on cues from the surrounding environment.
• These two things happen at the same time, resulting in
the labeling of the emotion.

42
 Cognitive appraisal

Stimulus
(e.g. snarling dog) Emotion (fear)
Physiological arousal
(High blood pressure,
high heart rate,
sweating)

43
CHAPTER SIX
PERSONALITY

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 Chapter outline
• Define personality
• The natures of psychoanalytic theory
– The structures of personality
– psychological defense mechanisms
• The essence of the trait theory of personality
– the five factor model of personality
• The essence of humanistic theory of personality

45
 Meaning of Personality
• The word personality is derived from the word “persona”, which has
Greek and Latin roots and refers to the theatrical masks worn by
Greek actors.
• The unique pattern of enduring thoughts, feelings, and actions that
characterize a person.
• Terms:
– Character: value judgments made about a person‘s morals or
ethical behavior.
– Temperament: enduring characteristics with which each person is
born, such as irritability or adaptability.
• both character and temperament are vital personalities.
 Theories of Personality
• Personality is one of the relatively young sub-fields of
psychology.
• Personality theories showcase several ways in which the
characteristic behavior of human beings can be
explained.
• Specific questions psychologists ask & methods they use
to investigate often depend on types of theories they
take.
• Even though there are a number of theories in
personality, we will focus on the major three.

47
 Theories of Personality
Three major theories of personality
❑The psychoanalytic theory of personality
❑The trait theory of personality
❑Humanistic theory of personality
- Each of these perspectives on personality attempts
to describe different patterns in personality,
including how these patterns form and how people
differ on an individual level. 48
 Psychoanalytic Theory
• Formulated by the Austrian physician named Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939).
Assumption
– personality is formed within ourselves, arising from basic
inborn needs, drives, and characteristics.
– He argued that people are in constant conflict between their
biological urges (drives) and the need to tame them.
– In Freud's view, personality has three parts which serves a
different function and develops at different times: the id, the
ego, and the superego.
• According to Freud, the way these three parts of personality
interact with one another determines the personality of an
individual.
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 Personality Structures
Id: If It Feels Good, Do It-
• The first and most primitive part of the personality in the
infant is the id.
• The Id is a Latin word that means “it “.
• The id is a completely unconscious amoral part of the
personality that exists at birth, containing all of the basic
biological drives; hunger, thirst, sex, aggression, for example.
• When these drives are active, the person will feel an increase
in not only physical tension but also in psychological tension
that Freud called libido, the instinctual energy that may come
into conflict with the demands a society‘s standards for
behavior.
50
 Cont…
• When libidinal energy is high, it is unpleasant for
the person, so the goal is to reduce libido by
fulfilling the drive; Eat when hungry, drink when
thirsty, and satisfy the sex when the need for
pleasure is present.
• Freud called this need for satisfaction the pleasure
principle, which can be defined as the desire for
immediate satisfaction of needs with no regard for
the consequences. The pleasure principle can be
summed up simply as “if it feels good, do it.”

51
 Cont…
Ego: The Executive Director-
• According to Freud, to deal with reality, the second part
of personality develops called the ego.
• The ego, from the Latin word for “I”, is mostly conscious
and is far more rational, logical and cunning than the id.
• The ego works on the reality principle, which is the need
to satisfy the demands of the id and reduce libido only in
ways that will not lead to negative consequences.
• This means that sometimes the ego decides to deny the id
its drives because the consequence would be painful or
too unpleasant.

52
 Cont…
Superego: The Moral Watchdog
• Freud called the third and final part of the personality, the
moral center of personality, the superego.
• The superego (also Latin, meaning ”over the self”)
develops as a preschool-aged child learns the rules,
customs, and expectations of society.
• There are two parts to the superego:
– The ego-ideal is a kind of measuring device. It is the sum of all
the ideal or correct and acceptable behavior that the child has
learned about from parents and others in the society. All
behavior is held up to this standard and judged by the
conscience.
– The conscience is part of the personality that makes people
pride when they do the right thing and guilt, or moral anxiety
when they do the wrong thing.
53
 Defense Mechanisms
• For Freud, our personality is the outcome of the continual
battle for dominance among the id, the ego, and the
superego.
• This constant conflict between them is managed by
psychological defense mechanisms.
• Defense mechanisms are unconscious tactics that either
prevent threatening material from surfacing or disguise it
when it does.
• Some of the psychological defense mechanisms are
discussed below.
54
 Cont…
Repression
– banishing threatening thoughts, feelings, and
memories into the unconscious mind.
Denial
– refusal to recognize or acknowledge a threatening
situation.
Regression
– involves reverting to immature behaviors that have
relieved anxiety in the past.
Rationalization
– giving socially acceptable reasons for one's
inappropriate behavior.
55
 Cont…
Displacement
– involves expressing feelings toward a person who is less
threatening than the person who is the true target of
those feelings.
Projection
– involves attributing one's undesirable feelings to other
people.
Reaction formation
– involves a tendency to act in a manner opposite to one's
true feelings.
Sublimation
– involves expressing sexual or aggressive behavior
through indirect, socially acceptable outlets. 56
 The Trait Theory of Personality
• It is a combination of stable internal characteristics that people
display consistently over time and across situations.
• Trait theorists seek to measure the relative strength of the
many personality characteristics that they believe are present
in everyone.
Assumptions
– Personality traits are relatively stable, across situations, and
therefore predictable, over time.
– Personality traits are relatively stable across situations
– People differ in how much of a particular personality trait
they possess; no two people are exactly alike on all traits.
• The result is an endless variety of unique personalities.
57
 The Big five Theory
❑Robert McCrae and Paul Costa
❑is also known as the five factor model
❑is known as OCEAN for short

58
 Cont…

Openness: a person‘s willingness to try new things and be open

to new experiences.

Conscientiousness : refers to a person‘s organization and

motivation, with people who score high in the dimension
being those who are careful about being in places on time and
careful with belongings as well.

Extraversion: is a term first used by Carl Jung, who believed

that all people could be divided into two personality types:
extraverts and introverts. Extraverts are outgoing and
sociable, whereas introverts are more solitary and dislike
being the center of attention. 59
 Cont…

Agreeableness: refers to the basic emotional style of a person,

who may be easygoing, friendly, helpful, cooperative and
pleasant (at the high end of the scale) or grumpy, crabby,
hostile, self centered and hard to get along with (at the low
end).

Neuroticism: refers to emotional instability or stability.

People who are excessively worried, overanxious and
moody would score high on this dimension, whereas those
who are more even-tempered and calm could score low.

60
 Humanistic theory of personality
( Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow)
✓ Emphasize people‘s inherent goodness and their
tendency to move toward higher levels of functioning
instead of seeing people as controlled by the
unconscious.
✓ Assume people have conscious, self-motivated ability to
change and improve, along with people‘s unique creative
impulses.
✓ Psychology to focus on the things that make people
uniquely human, such as subjective emotions and the
freedom to choose one‘s destiny
✓ is regarded as the third force in psychology 61
 Carl Rogers and Self-Concept
Assumption
– human beings are always striving to fulfill their innate
capacities and capabilities and to become everything that
their genetic potential will allow them to become.
– This striving for fulfillment is called self-actualizing
tendency.
– An important tool in human self-actualization is the
development of an image of oneself or the self-concept.
– The self-concept is based on what people are told by
others and how the sense of self is reflected in the words and
actions of important people in one‘s life, such as parents,
siblings, coworkers, friends, and teachers.
62
 Cont…
✓ The self concept is an important element in this theory
❖ The real self
• One‘s actual perception of characteristics, traits,
and abilities that form the basis of the striving for
self-actualization.
❖ The ideal self
✓ The perception of what one should be or would
like to be.
✓ Rogers believed that when the real self and the ideal self
are very close or similar to each other, people feel
competent and capable. Otherwise anxiety and neurotic
behavior can be the result.
63
 Conditional and Unconditional
Positive Regard
• Rogers defined positive regard as warmth, affection, love, and
respect that comes from the significant others (parents,
admired adults, friends, and teachers) in people‘s experience.
• Positive is vital to people‘s ability to cope with stress and to
strive to achieve self-actualization.
• Rogers believed that unconditioned positive regard, or love,
affection and respect with no strings attached, is necessary for
people to be able to explore fully all that they can achieve and
become.
• Unfortunately, some parents, spouses, and friends give
conditional positive regard, which is love, affection, respect
and warmth that depend, or seem to depend, on doing what
those people want.
64
 Cont…

• For Rogers, a person who is in the process of self-actualizing,

activity exploring potentials and abilities and experiencing a
match between real and ideal selves is a fully functioning person.

65
Chapter 7: Psychological Disorders
and Treatment Techniques

66
 Learning Outcomes
• Describe how psychological disorders are defined, as
well as the inherent difficulties in doing so.
• Identify the nature of psychological disorders.
• Explain the causes of psychological disorders.
• Identify the different types, characteristic features of
psychological disorders.
• Explain different theories to explain the nature of
abnormality.
• Discuss the treatment techniques.
67
 Nature of Psychological Disorders
• Three main criteria:
– Abnormality: It deviates from the typical behavior in
society/norm (Deviation from normality)
– The context in which „abnormal" behavior occurs
must be considered before deciding that it is
symptomatic of psychological disorders
– Mal-adaptiveness:It disrupts the personal and social life
of an individual (maladaptiveness or adjustment
problems)
– Personal distress: A personal feelings of stress, anxiety,
tension and other unpleasant emotions (personal
distress)
68
 Definition
• Is a condition characterized by abnormal
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
• it is a pattern of behavioral & psychological
symptoms that causes significant personal
distress, impairs ability to function in one or more
important areas of life, or both.
• Psychopathology is the study of
psychological disorders, including their
symptoms, etiology (i.e., their causes), and
treatment.
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 Causes of Psychological Disorders
The biological Perspective
✓ Abnormalities in the function of chemicals in the brain, called
neurotransmitters, may contribute to many psychological
disorders.
✓ Over activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine, perhaps caused
by an overabundance of certain dopamine receptors in the brain,
has been linked to the bizarre symptoms of schizophrenia.
Psychological Perspectives
✓ Three approaches are usually examined in this perspective

The Psychoanalytic Approach

✓ Abnormal behavior is caused by the ego's inability to manage
the conflict between the opposing demands of the id and the
superego

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 Cont…

The Learning Approach

✓ Most mental and emotional disorders arise from
inadequate or inappropriate learning.
✓ People acquire abnormal behaviors through the
various kinds of learning
The Cognitive Approach
✓ Self-defeating thoughts lead to the development of
negative emotions and self-destructive behaviors.
✓ Thinking patterns in one way or another affects our
emotional and behavioral wellbeing in either
positive or negative ways.
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 Types of Psychological Disorders
Mood Disorder
✓ are characterized by a serious change in mood from
depressed to elevated feelings causing disruption to life
activities.
✓ general emotional state or mood is distorted or
inconsistent with your circumstances and interferes with
your ability to function
✓Depressive disorder is characterized by overall
feelings of desperation and inactivity.
✓Elevated moods are characterized by mania or
hypomania. The cycling between both depressed and
manic moods is characteristic of bipolar mood
disorders.
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 Includes
• Major Depression (also known as depression or
clinical depression)
– is characterized by depressed mood, diminished interest
in activities previously enjoyed, weight disturbance,
sleep disturbance, loss of energy, difficulty
concentrating, and often includes feelings of
hopelessness and thoughts of suicide.
• Dysthymia
– is often considered a lesser, but more persistent form of
depression.
– Many of the symptoms are similar except to a lesser
degree. Also, dysthymia, as opposed to Major
Depression is steadier rather than periods of normal
feelings and extreme lows 73
 cont…
• Bipolar Disorder (previously known as Manic-
Depression)
– is characterized by periods of extreme highs (called
mania) and extreme lows as in Major Depression.
– Bipolar Disorder is sub-typed either I (extreme or
hypermanic episodes) or II (moderate or hypomanic
episodes).
• Cyclothymia
– Like Dysthymia and Major Depression, Cyclothymia
is considered a lesser form of Bipolar Disorder
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 Anxiety Disorder
• Anxiety is a normal reaction to stress and can be
beneficial in some situations
• involve excessive fear, irrational anxiety or
abnormal or inappropriate anxiety.
• are the most common of mental disorders and
affect nearly 30 percent of adults
– Phobia which refers to an intense and irrational fear
of an object, person or place is an example of anxiety
disorder
– Zoophobia, Lygophobia, hydrophobia, autophobia,
acrophobia, agoraphobia are common examples
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 Includes
• Panic Disorder
– is characterized by a series of panic attacks.
– is an inappropriate intense feeling of fear or discomfort
including many of the following symptoms: heart
palpitations, trembling, shortness of breath, chest pain,
dizziness.
• Agoraphobia
– literally means fear of the marketplace.
– It refers to a series of symptoms where the person fears,
and often avoids, situations where escape or help might not
be available, such as shopping centers, grocery stores, or
other public place.
– Agoraphobia is often a part of panic disorder if the panic
attacks are severe enough to result in an avoidance of these
types of places.
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 Cont…
• Specific or Simple Phobia and Social Phobia
– It represent an intense fear and often an avoidance of
a specific situation, person, place, or thing.
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
– It is characterized by obsessions (thoughts which
seem uncontrollable) and compulsions (behaviors
which act to reduce the obsession).
– Most people think of compulsive hand washers or
people with an intense fear of dirt or of being
infected. such as checking, counting, cleaning, or
bathing
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 Cont…
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
– It occurs only after a person is exposed to a traumatic event
where their life or someone else's life is threatened.
– The most common examples are war, natural disasters, major
accidents, and severe child abuse. Once exposed to an
incident such as this, the disorder develops into an intense
fear of related situations, avoidance of these situations,
reoccurring nightmares, flashbacks, and heightened anxiety
to the point that it significantly disrupts their everyday life.
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder
– It is diagnosed when a person has extreme anxiety in nearly
every part of their life.
– It is not associated with just open places (as in agoraphobia),
specific situations (as in specific phobia), or a traumatic
event (as in PTSD).
– The anxiety must be significant enough to disrupt the
person's everyday life for a diagnosis to be made.
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 Personality Disorders
✓ Is a rigid and unhealthy pattern of thinking,
functioning and behaving.
✓ Characterized by trouble perceiving and relating
to situations and people
✓ Characterized by an enduring pattern of thinking,
feeling, and behaving which is significantly
different from the person's culture and results in
negative consequences.
✓ Maladaptive or inflexible ways of dealing with
others and one's environment
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 Nine Types of Personality Disorders
• Paranoid (includes a pattern of distrust and
suspiciousness).
• Schizoid (pattern of detachment from social norms
and a restriction of emotions).
• Antisocial (pattern of disregard for the rights of
others, including violation of these rights and the
failure to feel empathy).
• Borderline (pattern of instability in personal
relationships, including frequent bouts of clinginess
and affection and anger and resentment, often
cycling between these two extremes rapidly).
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 Cont…
• Histrionic (pattern of excessive emotional behavior
and attention seeking).
• Schizotypal (pattern of discomfort in close
relationships and eccentric thoughts and behaviors).
• Narcissistic (pattern of grandiosity, exaggerated
self-worth, and need for admiration).
• Avoidant (pattern of feelings of social inadequacies,
low self-esteem, and hypersensitivity to criticism).
• Obsessive-Compulsive (pattern of obsessive
cleanliness, perfection, and control).
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 Treatment Techniques
✓ Treatment of mental illnesses can take various forms.
They can include
✓ Medication,
✓Talk- therapy,
✓a combination of both,
✓ and can last only one session or take many years to
complete.
✓ Psychotherapy consists of the following:
• A positive, healthy relationship between a client or patient
and a trained psychotherapist
• Recognizable mental health issues, whether diagnosable
or not
• Agreement on the basic goals of treatment
• Working together as a team to achieve these goals
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 Treatment Approaches
Psychotherapy
✓ Involves providing psychological treatment to individuals with some
kind of psychological problems .
❖ Goal
✓ to help the client reduce negative symptoms,
✓ gain insight into why these symptoms occurred
✓ work through those issues
✓ reduce the emergence of the symptoms in the future.
❖ Issues to be considered in Psychotherapy
o Empathy
✓ Involves being able to understand his or her client's feelings,
thoughts, and behaviors
o Being Neutral
✓ The therapist must be non judgmental in his approach.
✓ If the therapist is judgmental, the client does not feel safe talking
about similar issues again.
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 cont…
• Cognitive Therapists: look at dysfunctions and
difficulties as arising from irrational or faulty
thinking.
• Behavioural models look at problems as arising
from our behaviors which we have learned to
perform over years of reinforcement.
• The psychodynamic camp look more at issues
beginning in early childhood which then motivate us
as adults at an unconscious level.
• Most mental health professionals nowadays are
more eclectic in that they study how to treat people
using different approaches. These professionals are
sometimes referred to as integrationists. 84
 Treatment Modalities
❖A therapist and a client
✓ Therapy is most often thought of as a one-on-one
relationship between a client or patient and a
therapist.
❖Group Therapy
✓ individuals suffering from similar illnesses or
having similar issues meet together with one or
two therapists.
✓ Is helpful in making clients develop the feeling to
belong, understood, and know that there is hope

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 cont…
❖Family/ Couple therapy
• In this type of treatment, the issues to be worked
on center around the relationship.
• There is often an educational component such as
communication training, and couples and families
are encouraged to work together as a team rather
than against each other.
• The therapist's job is to facilitate healthy
interaction, encourage the couple or family to
gain insight into their own behaviors, and to teach
the members to listen to and respect each other
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See you next week…