CLICK HERE 🎠 GET PREMIUM

General Psychology and Life Skills

(PsyL 1011)

October, 2019
Chapter One: Essence of Psychology
▪ Definition of Basic Concepts
▪ Goals of Psychology
▪ Historical Background of Psychology
▪ Theoretical Perspectives in Psychology
▪ Branches of Psychology
▪ Research Methods in Psychology
▪ Applications of Psychology
1.1. Definition of Psychology and Related
Concepts
Brainstorming Questions

• What comes to your mind when you hear about the word
psychology?
• Have you ever heard about, read or listened to anything
related to psychology?
• What was its content about?
• Did you appreciate it? Why?
• What do you expect from the course in psychology?
 …
• The word "psychology" is derived from two Greek words
'psyche' (Ψ) and ‗logos‟. Psyche refers to mind, soul or
sprit while logos means study, knowledge or discourse.
• Psychology is the scientific study of human behavior and the
underlying mental process
– Science: psychology uses scientific methods (scientific
procedures and empirical data to study behavior and
mental processes.
– Behavior: overt or observable actions, such as talking,
facial expressions, movement, etc and
covert or unobservable behavior such as
thinking , feelings and memory which are
hidden, and generally considered as a mental
process.
 What makes psychology different
from other behavioral Sciences?
• Unlike some behavioral sciences like sociology
and Anthropology, psychology deals about
individual’s behaviours than the behaviors of a
group.
• Unlike other sciences that deals about one or
some dimensions of human behaviour,
psychology deals about all dimensions of
human behaviour.
 1.2. Goals of Psychology
• Why do you think is psychology important?
• What do you think a psychologist is doing when studying
behavior and mental processes?

As a science, psychology has four goals;

• Description: describing individuals behaviour
• Explanation: understanding and telling the cause
• Prediction: determining what will happen in the future and
• Control: modifying or changing the behavior from undesirable
to a desirable one
 1.3. Historical Background and Major
Perspectives in Psychology
Dear student, can you imagine how long has psychology
been around and where did it begin?
▪ Psychology is a relatively new field in the realm of sciences.
▪ It began as a science of its own in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany,
with the establishment of a psychology laboratory in the
University of Leipzig by Wilhelm Wundt (father of modern
psychology).
▪ Wundt developed the technique of objective introspection to
scientifically examine mental experiences.
▪ Previously, the study of human subjective experiences were
under the field of philosophy alone.
 Schools of thoughts in psychology
What do you think is a school of thought?
• In psychology, a school of thought is a system of thinking
about human behaviour.
• Once psychology begun to use the scientific method, it then
went through successive developments in which different
schools of thought emerged at different times.
• These schools of thought can be categorized as old and
modern as described below.
 1.3.1. The five early schools of psychology
1. Structuralism
View - psychology is a study of structure of mind.
Founder - Edward Titchener based on Wundt‘s ideas
Goal - to analyze the units or elements of mental process
such as; sensations, images, & feelings.
Method - introspection (looking inward into our consciousness)
2. Functionalism
Views - psychology is a study of function of the mind
Founder - William James.
Goal - examine how the mind allows people to function in the
real world; – how people work, play, and adapt
Methods - methods other than introspection including
questionnaires, mental tests & objective descriptions.
 .
3. Gestalt psychology
View - psychology is a study of the whole mind than its parts
(images, sensations, and feelings).
Founders - Max Wertheimer and his colleagues.
Goal - studying the whole pattern of sensory activity and
the relationships and organizations within their pattern.

• All the three schools of though try to examine the conscious

human mind; which is an internal, no-visible, and hidden
experience of human beings.
 .
4. Behaviorism
View - psychology is the study of observable and measurable
behaviors: not about hidden mental processes.
Founder - John B. Watson is the founder of behaviorism.
Other proponents include E. Thorndike and F. Skinner.
Goal - to observe the effect of the environment on behavior.
Method - observation and experiment
❖All the four schools of thought discussed so far were focusing
on human mind and behavior as conscious experiences
 .
5. Psychoanalysis
View - psychology should study about the components of the
unconscious part of the mind: not about the tips of mental iceberg.
Founder - Sigmund Freud.
• He realized that some physical illnesses of hysteria patients has
emotional non-physical causes. He called these “ conversion
reaction” or illnesses due to conversion of emotional problems.
• He also underscored that that conflicts and emotional traumas
that had occurred in early childhood can be hidden or
unconscious and then will remain to affect later behavior.
Goal – to uncover the hidden wishes, passions, guilty secrets,
unspeakable yearnings, and conflict between desire and duty.
Method - clinical case studies (hypnosis, free association, &
dream analysis)
• We are not aware of our unconscious urges & thoughts; they make
themselves known in dreams, slip of the tongue, accidents & even jokes.
 1.3.2. Modern schools of psychology
• Perspectives are the different assumptions or ways of explaining
behaviors. Take the following case to see different explanations
by those different perspectives.
Case: On the playground, a 6 year old Sam pushes little Sara off
her bicycle and rides away on it.
1. Psychodynamic perspective
It has its origins in Freud's theory of psychoanalysis, but
many other psychodynamic theories exist. It emphasizes on;
– the unconscious dynamics within the individual such as
inner forces, conflicts or instinctual energy.
– The role of childhood experiences in shaping adult personality
– The role of intrapersonal conflict in human behavior
Psychodynamic view tries to dig below the surface of a person's
behavior to get into unconscious motives; psychodynamists
think of themselves as archaeologists of the mind.
 2. Behavioral Perspective
• It emphasizes on the role learning experiences play in shaping
the behavior of an organism. It is concerned with how the
environment affects the person‘s actions.
• Behaviorists focus on environmental conditions (e.g. rewards,
& punishments) that maintain or discourage specific behaviors.
• The behavioral perspective is sometimes called the "black box"
approach in psychology because it treats the mind as less
useful in understanding human behavior.
• This means, behaviorists are only interested in the effects of
the environment (input) on behavior (output) but not in the
process inside the box.
 3. Humanistic Perspective

▪ According to this perspective, human behavior is not

determined either by unconscious dynamics or the
environment. Rather it emphasizes the uniqueness of human
beings and focuses on human values and subjective
experiences.
▪ This perspective places greater importance on the individual‘s
free will.
▪ The goal of humanistic psychology was helping people to
express themselves creatively and achieve their full potential
or self-actualization (developing human potential to its fullest).
 4. Cognitive Perspective
• It emphasizes what goes on in people's heads; how people
reason, remember, understand language, solve problems,
explain experiences and form beliefs.
• This perspective is concerned about the mental processes.
• The most important contribution of this perspective has been
to show how people's thoughts and explanations affect their
actions, feelings, and choices.
• Techniques used to explore behavior from a cognitive
perspective include electrical recording of brain activity,
electrical stimulation and radioactive tracing of metabolic
activity in the nervous system.
 5. Biological Perspective
• It focuses on how the body affects behavior, feelings, and
thoughts. It holds that the brain and the various brain
chemicals affect psychological processes such as learning,
performance, perceptions, the experience of emotions, etc.
• This perspective underscores that biology and behavior
interact in a complex way; biology affecting behavior and
behavior in turn affecting biology.
• It also emphasizes the idea that we are physical beings who
evolved over a long time and that genetic heritage can
predispose us to behaving in a certain way.
• In a manner that our eyebrows evolved to protect our eyes, we
may have evolved certain kinds of behavior patterns to protect
our bodies and ensure the survival of our species.
 6. Socio-cultural Perspective-
• It focuses on the social and cultural factors that affects human
behavior.
• As a fish cannot leave without water, human behavior cannot
be understood without sociocultural context (the social and
cultural environment) that people "Swim" in every day.
• For instance, social psychologists examine how group
membership affects attitudes and behaviors, why people (like
spouse, lovers, friends, bosses, parents, & strangers) affect us
• Cultural psychologists also examine how cultural rules and
values affect people's development, behavior, and feelings.
• This perspective holds that humans are both the products and
the producers of culture, and our behavior always occurs in
some cultural contexts.
1.4 Branches /Sub fields/ of Psychology
Where do psychologists employed to work after graduation?
Psychology has very diverse fields/branches/sub fields which
psychologists can pursue. Some of which are;
A. Developmental psychology – It studies the physical, cognitive
and psychological changes across the life span.
B. Personality Psychology – it study about individual differences
which focuses on the relatively enduring traits &
characteristics of individuals.
C. Social Psychology –deals with people‘s social interactions,
relationships, social perception, and attitudes.
D. Cross-cultural Psychology - examines the role of culture in
understanding behavior, thought, and emotion.
E. Industrial psychology – applies psychological principles in
industries & organizations to increase the productivity.
F. Forensic psychology - applies psychological principles to
improve the legal system (police, testimony, etc.
G. Educational Psychology - concerned with the application of
psychological principles & theories to improve education process
H. Health Psychology - applies psychological principles to the
prevention and treatment of physical illness and diseases.
I. Clinical Psychology - is a field that applies psychological
principles and psychotherapeutic techniques to the prevention,
diagnosis, and treatment of psychological disorders.
J. Counseling Psychology - has the same concern as clinical
psychology but helps individuals with less severe or milder
(simpler) emotional & personal problems.
 1.5. Research Methods in Psychology
Definition of terms
• Research - is a scientific method of acquiring knowledge and
solving problems.
• Scientific method - a process of testing ideas through
systematic observations, experimentations, and statistical
analysis.
• Hypotheses - is a tentative proposition about the relationship
between two or more variables or phenomena.
• Theory - is an integrated set of principles about observed facts
that is intended to describe and explain some aspects of
experience.
 Steps in scientific research
1. Defining the Problem - noticing something attention catching
in the surrounding for which one would like to have an
explanation. E.g., Students’ dropout
2. Formulating the Hypothesis - after having an observation on
surroundings (perceiving the problem), you might form an
educated guess about the explanation for your observations,
putting it into the form of a statement that can be tested.
3. Testing the Hypothesis - at this step, the researcher employs
appropriate research methods and collects ample data
(information) to accept or reject the proposed statement.
4. Drawing Conclusions - the step in which researchers attempt
to make generalization or draw implication from tested relations
5. Reporting Results - at this point, the researcher write up
exactly what s/he did, why s/he did, and what s/he found. So
that, others can learn from what s/he already accomplished.
The findings allows others to predict and modify behavior.
 Major types of research methods
A.Descriptive research - in this type of research, the researcher
simply records what s/he has observed. It includes;
i. Naturalistic observation: it is a method in which subjects are
observed in their natural environment to get a real (not artificial)
picture of how behavior occurs. Limitations of naturalistic
observation are observer effect and observer bias.
ii. Case study: is a technique in which an individual is studied in great
detail. It provides tremendous amount of data about a single case
or individual. But the result can‘t be applied to others
iii. Survey: is used to collect data from a very large group of people.
It enables to address hundreds of people with the same questions
at the same time, but it needs a careful selection of a
representative sample of the actual population.
 B. Correlational research
▪ Is a research method that measures the relationship between
two or more variables.
▪ A variable is anything that can change or vary - scores on a test,
the temperature in a room, and so on. For example, a
researcher might be curious to know whether or not smoking is
correlated to life expectancy.
▪ Though correlation tells researchers if there is a relationship
between variables, how strong the relationship is, and in what
direction the relationship goes, it doesn‘t prove causation (which
means it doesn‘t show the cause and effect relationship).
▪ For example, if there is a relationship between smoking and
lung cancer, this doesn‘t mean that smoking causes lung
cancer.
▪ Relationships may be positive, negative, or zero.
 C. Experimental Research
• It is a research method that allows researchers to study the
cause and effect relationship between variables. In experimental
research, one or more factors are believed to influence the
behavior being studied, while all other factors are held constant.
• Experiments involve at least one independent variable and one
dependent variable. The independent variable (IV) is the
manipulated, influential, experimental factor. The dependent
variable (DV) is the factor that is measured in an experiment. It
can change as the independent variable is manipulated.
• For example, a researcher may need to know whether or not
class size (IV) has an effect on students achievement (DV).
• Experiments also involve randomly assigned experimental/
treatment groups and control/baseline groups. An experimental
group is a group whose experience is manipulated.
• Although experimental research is useful to discover causes of
behaviors, such research must be done cautiously.
 Chapter Two: Sensation and Perception
• Meanings of Sensation and perception
• Sensory thresholds and sensory adaption
• Perception
• Selectivity of perception: Attention
• Form perception
• Depth perception
• Perceptual Constancies
• Perceptual Illusion
 2.1 Meanings of Sensation and Perception
• What do these statements suggest to you?
“I heard but I didn’t listen”
“I touched but I didn’t grasp”
▪ Sensation is the process through which sense organs detects
stimulus from the environment and the receptor cells in the
sense organs recode the physical energy or stimulations in to a
neural message a phenomenon called transduction and sends
the nerve impulses to the brain.
• Perception is the process that organizes sensations into
meaningful patterns. It is the process whereby the brain
interprets sensations, giving them order and meaning.
• Thus, hearing sounds and seeing colors is largely a sensory
process, but forming a melody and detecting patterns and
shapes is largely a perceptual process.
 2.2 The Sensory Laws
• Sensory threshold and sensory adaptation are the two general
laws of sensation, that explain how sensation works.
• How much intense must a stimulus be for you to detect it?
• Sensory threshold is the minimum point of intensity a sound
can be detected. There are two laws of sensory threshold: The
law of absolute threshold and the law of difference threshold.
➢Absolute threshold (Limen) is the minimum level of
stimulation that can be detected. E.g., a cup of coffee
require a certain amount of sugar before you could detect a
sweet taste.
➢In addition to the intensity of the stimulus, absolute
threshold is also affected by physical and psychological
factors of the individual such as response-bias.
➢Thus, psychologists define absolute threshold as the
minimum level of stimulation that can be detected 50 % of
 Difference threshold
• Difference threshold or just noticeable difference (JND) is the
minimum amount of change in the intensity/amount of a
stimulus needed for us to recognize that a change has
occurred. E.g., a cup of coffee require a certain additional
amount of sugar in a cup of coffee to detect an increase in its
sweetness.
• Like in absolute threshold, the difference threshold for a
particular sensory experience varies from person to person
and from occasion to occasion.
• Thus, psychologists formally define the difference threshold as
the minimum change in stimulation that can be detected 50
percent of the time by a given person.
 Sensory Adaptation
• Your senses are constantly bombarded by stimulation, but why
do you notice only certain stimuli?
• Sensory adaptation is a tendency of our sensory receptors to
have decreasing responsiveness to unchanging stimulus.
• Sensory adaptation lets you detect potentially important
change in your environment while ignoring unchanging aspects
of it. For example, people living in “Kera”/Addis Ababa stopped
noticing the bad smell of that environment.
▪ We may not adapt extremely intense sensations
▪ Adapting harmful stimuli might be harmful or even fatal
 2.3.Perception
• Perception is a meaning making process
• The major characteristics of the perceptual process includes;
▪ Selectivity of perception (attention),
▪ Form perception,
▪ Depth perception,
▪ Perceptual constancy, and
▪ Perceptual illusion.
1. Selectivity of perception (Attention): refers to the
perceptual process that selects certain inputs for inclusion in
your conscious experience, or awareness, at any given time,
ignoring others.
 …
• The selectivity of perception implies, that our field of
experience is divided into what is known as - Focus & - Margin.
• Events or stimuli that you perceive clearly are the focus of your
experience and other items or stimuli that you perceive dimly
or vaguely are in the margin of your attention.
• Attention shifts constantly. What is in the focus of your
attention one moment may be in margin; and what is in the
margin may become in your focus.

• What factors do you think determine your attention?

• Paying attention is in general a function of two factors: factors
external to the perceiver and factors internal to the perceiver.
• External factors refer to factors that are generally found in the
objects or stimuli to be perceived.
• Some of the external characteristics of objects that determine
whether you are going to attend them or not are size and
intensity, repetition, novelty (or newness), and movement.
• In general, stimuli in the environment that, are bigger and
brighter, more frequently occurring, or newer or moving are
likely to get your attention.
• Paying attention is not determined only by the characteristics
of objects.
• Even when a stimulus is bigger, brighter, new frequent, or
moving, you may not give it attention if you are not
psychologically ready to attend to it. Hence, attention giving
also depends on your psychological states as an observer.
• Psychologists have identified two important psychological
factors:
▪ Set or expectancy and
▪ Motives or needs.
2. Form perception
• Visual sensations, provide the raw materials that are to be
organized into meaningful patterns, shapes, forms, and
concepts or ideas or form perception.
• The meaningful shapes or patterns or ideas that are made
perhaps out of meaningless and discrete or pieces and
bites of sensations refer to form perception.
• To perceive forms (meaningful shapes or patterns), you
need to distinguish a figure (an object) from its ground (or
its surrounding).
 What helps us to separate the figure from the
ground in our visual perception?
I. Contours in Form Perception
You are able to separate forms from the general ground only
because you can perceive contours. Contours are formed
whenever a marked difference occurs in the brightness or color
of the background.
II. Organization in Form Perception
When several objects are present in the visual field, we tend
to perceive them as organized into patterns or groupings. As
Gestalt psychologist said - the whole is more than the sum of
its parts.
Organization in perception partially explains our perception of
complex patterns as unitary forms, or objects.
How do we organize sensory data in form Perception?
 Some laws of perceptual organization?

I. Law of Proximity: The laws of proximity says that items which

are close together in space or time tend to be perceived as
belonging together or forming an organized group.
II. Law of similarity
• According to the law of similarity, similar items tend to be
organized together. E.g., three dots in a ring/ circle is seen as a
triangle. However, grouping according to similarity, does not
always occur. Similarity is competing with the organizing
principle of symmetry, or good figure.
 III. The law of good figure:
It is a tendency to organize things to make a balanced or
symmetrical figure that includes all the parts. E.g., six
dots in a circle may be seen as a hexagon, star or
another symmetrical figure.
IV. Law of Continuity
It is the tendency to perceive a line that starts in one way
as continuing in the same way. E.g., a line that starts
out as a curve is seen as continuing on smoothly
curved course.
V. Law of closure
• The law of closure refers to perceptual processes
that organize the perceived world as complete by
filling in gaps in stimulation.
 VI. Law of Common Fate
• It is the tendency to group objects as part of the same group,
that move together, or seem to move together, and in the same
direction. E.g., we often see flocks of birds or herds of cattle, or
boys or girls playing together as one group.
 3. Depth Perception
While form perception is our understanding of the world from two-
dimensions (height & width), depth perception is our judgment of
the world from the third dimension (distance or depth of objects)
Depth perception depends on the use binocular cues (require
two eyes) & monocular cues (require one eye).
There are two kinds of binocular cues: retinal disparity and
convergence. The two kinds of binocular cues require the
interaction of both eyes.
Retinal disparity is, the degree of difference between the image
of an object that are focused on the two retinas. The closer the
object, the greater is the retinal disparity.
Convergence is the degree to which the eyes turn inward to focus
on an object. The closer the objects are the greater the
convergence of the eyes.
 Monocular cues
People who have lost sight in one eye may still have good depth
perception with monocular cues, mentioned below.
A.Accommodation - change in the shape of the lens that lets you
focus the image of an object on the retina. The closer the object
the greater the accommodation of the lens but, prolonged
accommodation can alter your depth perception.
B.Motion parallax - the tendency to perceive ourselves as
passing objects faster when objects are closer to us than when
they are farther away.
C. Pictorial cues – are cues which artists use them to create
depth in their drawings and paintings.
Pictorial cues include Interposition, Relative size, Linear
perspective, Elevation, Shading patterns, Aerial perspective,
and Texture gradient
 .

FIGURE 4.41 The apparent motion of objects viewed during travel depends on their
distance from the observer. Apparent motion can also be influenced by an observer’s
point of fixation. At middle distances, objects closer than the point of fixation appear to
move backward; those beyond the point of fixation appear to move forward. Objects at
great distances, such as the sun or moon, always appear to move forward.
 Pictorial cues …
A. Interposition: object that overlaps another object appears closer.
B. Relative size: if two people have the same height and one casts a
smaller image on your retina, you will perceive that person as farther
away.
C. Linear perspective: parallel objects seem to get closer as they
further away.
D. Elevation - Objects that are higher in your visual field seem to
be farther away. If you paint a picture, you create depth by
placing more distant objects higher on the Canvas.
E. Shading patterns: areas that are in shadow tend to recede,
while areas that are in light tend to stand out.
F. Aerial perspective (clarity of objects): Closer objects seem
clearer than more distant ones.
G. Texture gradient: the nearer an object, the more details we can
make out & the farther an object, the fewer details we can make out.
FIGURE4.38 (a) Linear perspective. (b) Relative size. (c) Light and shadow. (d) Overlap.
(e) Texture gradients. Drawings in the top row show fairly “pure” examples of each of
the pictorial depth cues. In the bottom row, the pictorial depth cues are used to
assemble a more realistic scene.
4. Perceptual Constancies
The image of a given object focused on your retina may vary in
size, shape, and brightness. Yet we continue to perceive the
object as stable in size, shape, and brightness because of
perceptual constancy.
This adaptive process of perceiving the world as stable object
includes;
▪ Size constancy - makes you interpret a change in its retinal
size as a change in its distance rather than in its size.
▪ Shape constancy - assures that an object of known shape
will appear to maintain its normal shape regardless of the
angle from which you view it.
▪ Brightness constancy - we perceive the object as having a
constant brightness though the amount of light reflected
from a given object can vary.
 Size constancy

We perceive all three doors as rectangles

and all three hands as equal in size.
 .

Shape constancy. (a) When a door is open, its image actually forms a trapezoid. Shape
constancy is indicated by the fact that it is still perceived as a rectangle. (b)With great
effort you may be able to see this design as a collection of flat shapes. However, if you
maintain shape constancy, the distorted squares strongly suggest the surface of a sphere.
 5.Perceptual Illusion
Illusions are misperceptions or false perceptions of an object,
which include;
• Visual or Optical illusions are physical stimuli that
consistently produce errors in perception. E.g., Moon illusion
and Muller-Lyer illusion on length of lines.
• Visual or auditory hallucinations (sensory experiences and
perceptions that do not corresponding to the reality).
• Delusions are unfounded beliefs that are strongly held despite
a lack of evidence for them. The three common types are;
▪ A delusion of persecution is a belief that dangerous
enemies are persecuting you.
▪ A delusion of grandeur is a belief that you are unusually
important, perhaps a special messenger from God or a
person of central importance to the future of the world.
▪ A delusion of reference is a tendency to interpret all sorts
of messages as if they were meant for yourself.
Extra Sensory Perception (ESP) or Paranormal Ability
ESP is perception that occurs independently of the known sensory
processes. Usually included in this category of phenomena are;
• Telepathy or thought transference between persons - The
ability to read the minds of others & know what they’re thinking.
• Clairvoyance - The ability to see events without being
physically present. Supernormal awareness of objects or events
not necessarily known to others; and
• Precognition - The ability to see into the future.
• Mediumship - The ability to communicate with spiritual world
and talk to the deceased.
• Clairgustance - The paranormal ability to taste a substance
without putting it in mouth.
 CHAPTER THREE

LEARNING AND THEORIES OF LEARNING

 3.1. Definition, Characteristics and Principles of
Learning
3.1.1. Definitions of learning
• Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior
occurring as a result of experience or practice.
• The above definition emphasizes four attributes of learning:
-Learning is a change in behavior.
-This change in behavior is relatively permanent
-This change in behavior is because of experience, or practice
- The learning is not directly observable but manifests in the
activities of the individual
 3.1.2. Characteristics of learning
• Learning is continuous modification of behavior throughout life.
• Learning is pervasive, it reaches into all aspects of human life.
• Learning involves the whole person, socially, emotionally &
intellectually.
• Learning is often a change in the organization of experiences.
• Learning is responsive to incentives.
• Learning is an active process.
• Learning is purposeful.
• Learning depends on maturation, motivation and practice.
• Learning is multifaceted.
 3.1.3. Principles of learning
Individuals learn best;
• When they are physically, mentally, & emotionally ready.
• When they have meaningful practice and exercise, and
• When it is accompanied by a pleasant or satisfying feeling
• Things learned first create a strong unforgettable impression.
• Things most recently learned are best remembered.
• The principle of intensity implies that a student will learn more
from the real thing than from a substitute.
• Some abilities and skills that may help individuals to learn.
• Things freely learned are best learned - higher intellectual and
moral advancement occur when learning is through freedom.
 3.2. Factors Influencing Learning
• Motivation
• Maturation
• Health condition of the learner
• Psychological wellbeing of the learner
• Good learning conditions
• Background experiences
• Length of the working period
• Massed and distributed learning
Do learning materials, teaching styles, teaching methods, and medium
of instruction affects learning like the factors listed above? Why?
3.3. Theories of Learning and their Applications
1. Behavioral Theory of Learning
• Behavioral theory of learning believes that learning occurs as a
result of stimulus-response associations.
• Behavioral theories emphasize on observable behaviors, seek
laws to govern all organisms, and provide explanations which
focus on consequences.
• There are two major behavioral theories of learning. They are
known as classical and operant conditioning.
 1 A. Pavlov’s Classical conditioning theory
• It is sometimes called learning through association.
• Classical conditioning focuses on the learning of making
involuntary emotional or physiological responses to stimuli that
normally elicit no response. E.g., fear, increased heartbeat,
salivation or sweating at the sight of a hyena.
• Through the process of classical conditioning, humans and
animals can be trained to act involuntarily to a stimulus that
previously had no effect - or a very different effect - on them.
• Classical conditioning involves conditioned reflexes. E.g., the
production of saliva (conditioned reflex) in a response to food.
• In short, classical conditioning (sometimes called substitution
learning ) is 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.
 Basics of Classical Condition
To demonstrate classical conditioning, we must first identify stimuli
and responses.
▪ Neutral stimulus: A stimulus that, before conditioning, does
not naturally bring about the response of interest.
▪ Unconditioned stimulus (UCS): A stimulus that naturally
brings a particular response without having been learned.
▪ Unconditioned response (UCR): A response that is natural
and needs no training (e.g., salivation at the smell of food).
▪ Conditioned stimulus (CS): A once neutral stimulus that has
been paired with an UCS to bring about a response formerly
caused only by the UCS.
▪ Conditioned response (CR): A response to the CS.
 Principles of Classical Condition
A. Stimulus generalization is a process in which stimuli that
are similar to the original stimulus begin to produce the
same responses. For example, a dog conditioned to
salivate to a dinner bell (CS) might also salivate to a door
bell, a telephone bell.
B. Stimulus discrimination is the ability to differentiate
similar stimuli and responding only to a specific stimulus.
E.g., the dog salivates only in response to the dinner bell
instead of the doorbell or the telephone bell.
 …
C. Extinction
If a CS is repeatedly presented without presenting the UCS
(meat), the CR will diminish and eventually stop occurring. This
process is called extinction. But extinction only inhibits the
CR, it does not eliminate it.
D. Spontaneous recovery is the reemergence of an
extinguished conditioned response after a period of rest and
with no further conditioning. For example, if the dog respond to
the dinner bell after experience of extinction by salivating.
 1 B. Operant/Instrumental conditioning
• Operant conditioning also called Instrumental conditioning is
learning in which a voluntary response is strengthened or
weakened, depending on its consequences.
• In operant conditioning, the organism's response operates or
produces effects on the environment. These effects, in turn,
influence, whether the response will occur again.
• Unlike in classical conditioning, operant conditioning applies to
voluntary responses, in which an organism performs deliberately
to produce a desirable outcome.
 …
According to Skinner, a response (operant) can lead to three types
of consequences: (a) Neutral consequence (b) Reinforcement
or (c) Punishment.
(a) A neutral Consequence that does not alter the response.
(b) A reinforcement strengthens the response. A reinforcer is any
event that increases the re-occurance of a behaviour.
There are two basic types of reinforcers.
Primary reinforcers: Food, water, light, stroking of the skin, and a
comfortable air temperature are naturally reinforcing because
they satisfy biological needs. Primary reinforcers have the
ability to strengthen a behavior without prior learning.
Secondary reinforcers: They reinforce behavior because of their
prior association with primary reinforcing stimuli. Money, praise,
applause, good grades, awards, and gold stars are common
secondary reinforcers.
.
 Positive and Negative reinforcement
• Both primary and secondary reinforcers can be positive or
negative.
• Positive reinforcement is the process whereby presentation
of a stimulus makes behavior more likely to occur again.
• Negative reinforcement is the process whereby termination of
an aversive stimulus makes behavior more likely to occur. The
basic principle of negative reinforcement is that eliminating
something aversive can itself be a reinforcer or a reward.
• For example, if someone nags you all the time to study, but
stops nagging when you comply, your studying is
likely to increase- because you will then avoid the nagging.
Negative reinforcement involves escape & avoidance learning.
• In Escape learning animals learn to make a response that
terminates/stops a noxious, painful or unpleasant stimulus.
• In Avoidance Learning, which refers to learning to avoid a
painful, noxious stimulus prior to exposure.
Schedules of reinforcement
• When a response is first acquired, learning is usually most
rapid if the response is reinforced each time it occurs. This
procedure is called continuous reinforcement.
• However, once a response has become reliable, it will be more
resistant to extinction if it is rewarded on an intermittent
(partial) schedule of reinforcement, which involves reinforcing
only some responses, not all of them.
 There are four types of partial/intermittent schedules.
1.Fixed-ratio schedules: Reinforcement occurs after a fixed
number of responses. It produce high rate of responding.
Employers use fixed ratio schedules to increase productivity.
2. Variable-Ratio Schedule: Reinforcement occurs after some
varying number of responses. It produces extremely high
steady rates of responding. The responses are more resistant
to extinction than when a fixed ratio schedule is used.
3. Fixed Interval Schedule: A fixed interval schedule of
reinforcement occurs only if a fixed amount of time has passed
since the previous reinforcer.
4. Variable Interval Schedule: A variable interval schedule of
reinforcement occurs only if variable amount of time has
passed since the previous reinforcer.
 ..
c) Punishment - is a stimulus that weakens the response or
makes it less likely to recur.
• Punisher can be any aversive (unpleasant) stimuli that
weaken responses or make them unlikely to recur.
• Like reinforcers, punishers can also be primary or
secondary.
• Pain and extreme heat or cold are inherently punishing and
are therefore known as primary punishers.
• Criticism, demerits, catcalls, scolding, fines, and bad
grades are common secondary punishers.
Positive and negative punishment
• The positive-negative distinction can also be applied to
punishment. Something unpleasant may occur following some
behavior (positive punishment), or something pleasant may be
removed (negative punishment).
• The Pros and Cons of Punishment
Immediacy, consistency and intensity matter are important for
effectiveness of punishment.
• Immediacy – When punishment follows immediately after the
behavior to be punished.
• Consistency- when punishment is inconsistent the behavior
being punished is intermittently reinforced and therefore
becomes resistant to extinction.
• Intensity- In general terms severe punishments are more
effective than mild ones. However, there are studies that
indicate that even less intense punishments are effective
provided that they are applied immediately and consistently.
 When punishment fails?
• People often administer punishment inappropriately or
mindlessly.
• The recipient of punishment often responds with anxiety,
fear or rage.
• The effectiveness of punishment is often temporary,
depending heavily on the presence of the punishing person
or circumstances.
• Most behavior is hard to punish immediately.
• Punishment conveys little information. An action intended to
punish may instead be reinforcing because it brings
attention.
 Shaping
Shaping is an operant conditioning procedure in which
successive approximations of a desired response are
reinforced.
In shaping you start by reinforcing a tendency in the right
direction. Then you gradually require responses that are
more and more similar to the final desired response.
The responses that you reinforce on the way to the final one
are called successive approximations.
 …

Skinner’s process of Successive approximation and Shaping behavior

by means of reinforcement and punishment.
 Application of the behavioral learning theories
• Conditioning study behavior
• Conditioning and classroom behavior
• Managing Problem Behavior
• Dealing with anxieties through conditioning
• Conditioning group behavior
• Conditioning and Cognitive Processes
• Shaping Complex Behavior
2. Social Learning Theory (Observational learning)
• According to Bandura, human learning consists of observational
learning, which is learning by watching the behavior of another
person, or model. It is also called a social cognitive learning.
Bandura identifies three forms of reinforcement that can encourage
observational learning. First, the observer may reproduce the
behaviors of the model and receive direct reinforcement.
• Second, the reinforcement need not be direct - it may be
vicarious reinforcement as well. The observer may see others
reinforced for a particular behavior and increase his production.
• The final form of reinforcement is self-reinforcement, or
controlling your reinforcers. In this sort of reinforcement the
learner does not get external rewards but the students value
and enjoy their growing competence .
Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment
Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory of Learning

B
 …
• Social cognitive theorists believe that in human beings,
observational learning cannot be
fully understood without taking into account the thought
processes of the learner.
• Bandura mentions four conditions that are necessary before an
individual can successfully
model the behavior of someone else:
1. Attention: the person must first pay attention to the model.
2. Retention: remembering the behavior observed.
3. Motor reproduction: replicating the action.
4. Motivation: learners need a motivating factor to
demonstrate what they have learned.
 Implications of Social Learning Theory
1. Students often learn simply by observing other people.
2. Describing the consequences of behavior involve discussing
with learners about the rewards and consequences of actions
3. Modeling provides an alternative to shaping. Instead of using
shaping, it can provide a faster, more efficient means for
teaching new behavior through the four essential conditions;
attention, retention, motor reproduction, and motivation.
4. Teachers and parents must model appropriate behaviors and
take care that they do not model inappropriate behaviors.
5. Teachers should expose students to a variety of other models.
6. Students must develop self-efficacy to accomplish school tasks.
7.Teachers should help students set realistic expectations for their
academic accomplishments.
8. Self-regulation techniques provide an effective method for
improving student behavior.
 3. Cognitive Learning Theory
• Cognition refers to all the mental activities related with
thinking, and knowing, activities which include
perception and memory.
• In both CC&OC, the emphasis was on observable
responses. However, because the knowledge that is
inside people’s head is not observable, it was not
seriously considered.
• The emphasis on cognitive approach to learning is on
the acquisition of information through interaction; not
via R-S or S-R association and the ways of dealing with
information.
 .
Both classical and operant conditionings have traditionally been
explained by the principle of contiguity i.e. the close association of
events in time and space.
Contiguity has been used to explain the association of a CS and
UCS in classical conditioning and the association of a behavior
and its consequences in operant conditioning.
In cognitive learning, learning occurs in the mind independent of any
clearly defined association/consequence. It may take two forms:
1. Latent learning
2. Insight learning (gestalt learning or perceptual learning)
For half a century, most American learning theories held that learning
could be explained by specifying the behavioral ―ABCs –
Antecedents (events preceding behavior), Behaviors, and
Consequences
 …
Latent Learning
• Latent learning is defined as learning that occurs in the
absence of any obvious reinforcement or noticeable behavioral
changes.
• Learning is said to be “latent,” or hidden, because it is not
exhibited unless a reinforcement/condition of some kind is
introduced to reveal it.
• In a classic experiment, Tolman and Honzic (1930) placed three
rats in mazes and observed their behavior each day for more
than two weeks.
• ‘Rat-A’ always found food at the end of the maze. ‘Rat-B’ never
found food. ‘Rat-C’ found no food for ten days but then received
food on the eleventh.
Tolman’s Experiment
 …
• ‘Rat-A’ quickly learned to head straight to the end of the
maze without going blind alleys, whereas ‘Rat-B’ did not
learn to go to the end.
• But, Rat-C was different. For ten days it appeared to follow
no particular route. Then, on the eleventh day it quickly
learned to run to the end of the maze. By the next day,
Rat-C did the same, like Rat-A which had been rewarded
from the beginning.
• Rat-C had demonstrated latent learning, learning that is
not immediately expressed. A great deal of human learning
also remains latent until circumstances allow or require it
to be expressed.
 …
• Insight Learning
It is a cognitive process whereby we reorganize our
perception of a problem. It doesn’t depend on conditioning
of particular behaviors for its occurrence. Sometimes, for
example, people even wake up from sleep with a solution to
a problem that they had not been able to solve during the
day.
• In a typical insight situation where a problem is posed, a
period follows during which no apparent progress is made,
and then the solution comes suddenly.
• What has been learned in insight learning can also be
applied easily to other similar situations.
• Human beings who solve a problem insightfully usually
experience a good feeling called an 'aha' experience.
Kohler’s insight Experiment on Chimps
 CHAPTER FOUR

MEMORY AND FORGETTING

5.1 Memory
5.1.1 Meaning and Processes of Memory
• Memory is the retention of information 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.
 Processes of Memory
a) Encoding: refers to the form (i.e. the code) in which an
item of information is to be recorded/placed in memory.
In encoding we transform a sensory input into a form or a
memory code that can be further processed.
b) Storage: It is the location in memory system in which
material is saved. Storage is the persistence of information
in memory.
c) Retrieval: is the point at which one tries to remember a
particular information (brought into awareness and used)
from among all the others we have stored.
 5.1.2 Stages/Structure of Memory
• Memory structure refers how information is
represented in memory and how long it lasts and
how it is organized.
• Many cognitive psychologists relate the mind to a
digital computer that takes items of information in
processes or in stages, and then produces an output.
• Models of memory based on this idea are
Information processing models/theories.
• Like computer, we also store vast amounts of
information in our memory storehouse. From this
storehouse, we can retrieve some information onto a
limited capacity of working memory (consciousness).
 Three Stages of Memory

• Three memory stores that differ in function,

capacity and duration
 .
According to Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968), memory has three structures:
1) Sensory Memory/Sensory Register: It is the entry way to memory,
where information stay for a brief time (until we select it for attention).
• Sensory memory hold virtually all the information reaching our senses
for a brief time. 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.
• The information stored in sensory memory is a fairly accurate
representation of the environmental information but unprocessed.
• Most information briefly held in the sensory memory simply decays
from the register. Those information that has got attention and
recognition pass on short-term memory for further processing.
 .
Short term memory is distinguished by four characteristics:
• It is active - information remains in STM only so long as the person is
consciously processing, examining, or manipulating it. People use STM
as a “workspace” to process new information and to call up relevant
information from LTM.
• Rapid accessibility - Information in STM is readily available for use. The
difference between STM and LTM is the difference between searching for
information in an open computer file versus file stored on the hard drive.
• Preserves the temporal sequence of information-STM usually helps
us to maintain the information in sequential manner for a temporary
period. It keeps information fresh until it goes to further analysis and
stored in LTM in meaningful way.
• Limited capacity-the number of items that short-term memory can
handle at any one time is small - about “7 plus or minus 2” pieces of
information at a time (Miller,1956).
 ...
• According to most models of memory, we overcome this
problem, by grouping small groups of information into larger
units or chunks.
• Chunking is the grouping or “packing” of information into
higher order units that can be remembered as single units.
• Chunking expands working memory by making large amounts
of information more manageable.
• A chunk may be a word, a phrase, a sentence, or even a visual
image, and it depends on previous experience.
• STM memory holds information (sounds, visual images, words,
and sentences and so on) 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.
 .
2) Short-term Memory: is part of our memory that holds the
contents of our attention.
• Unlike sensory memories, short-term memories are not brief
replicas of the environmental message. Instead, they consist of
the by-products or end results of perceptual analysis.
• STM is important in a variety of tasks such as thinking, reading,
speaking, and problem solving.
• There are various terms used to refer to this stage of memory,
including working memory, immediate memory, active memory,
and primary memory.
• Maintenance Rehearsal: Repeating information silently to prolong
its presence in STM
• Elaborative Rehearsal: Links new information with existing
 3. Long Term Memory
It is a relatively permanent storage of meaningful information.
The capacity of LTM seems to have no practical limits. The LTM is
assumed to be composed of different sub systems:
• Declarative/explicit memory-the conscious recollection of
information such as specific facts or events that can be verbally
communicated. Declarative memory is subdivided into semantic and
episodic memories.
– Semantic memory-memories of meaning of words, concepts and
our knowledge of the world, independent of any particular context.
– Episodic memory-memories of events and situations.
• Non-declarative/implicit memory-refers to memory without
awareness; memory that affects behavior but cannot consciously be
recalled.
• One of the most important kinds of implicit memory is procedural
memory (habitual responses).
 .
• 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.
• According to Serial Position Effect or the three-box model, the first few
items on a list are remembered well because short-term memory was
relatively “empty” when they entered. The last few items are remembered
for a different reason: At the time of recall, they are still sitting in STM.
• The items in the middle of the list, however, are not so well retained
because by the time they get into LTM, it is already crowded. As a result
many of these items drop out of STM before they can be stored in LTM.
 Semantic Networks
A complex web of semantic associations that link items in memory
such that retrieving one item triggers the retrieval of others as well .
 5.1.3 Factors Affecting Memory
Memory is a process which includes learning, retention and
remembering. These processes are important for good memory.
Eleven Factors that Influence Memory Process are as follows:
a. Ability to retain/past experience
b. Good health
c. Age of the learner
d. Maturity
e. Will to remember
f. Intelligence
g. Interest
h. Over learning
i. Speed of learning
j. Meaningfulness of the material
k. Sleep or rest
 5.2 Forgetting
5.2.1 Meaning and Concepts of Forgetting
• In our daily living, we encounter so much information. If we
attempt to encode, store & recall all the info, we are in trouble.
• Hence, we are selective in storing and forgetting information.
Sometimes we are motivated to forgot something and recall
what we want to remember. Psychologists call this
phenomenon as motivated forgetting.
• Psychologists generally use the term forgetting to refer to the
apparent loss of information already encoded and stored in the
long-term memory.
• According to Ebbinghaus (1885), the most rapid forgetting
occurs in the first hours, and particularly in the first hour f
learning. After nine hours, the rate of forgetting slows.
• Furthermore, relearning of previously mastered material is
almost always faster than starting from a scratch.
 The Forgetting Curve

Hermann Ebbinghaus
first began to study
forgetting using
nonsense syllables

Nonsense syllables
are three-letter
combinations that
look like words but
are meaningless
(ROH, KUF)
 5.2.2. Theories of Forgetting
Psychologists identified the following five mechanisms of forgetting:
The Decay Theory: The decay theory holds that 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: Interference theory holds that forgetting occurs
because similar items of information interfere with one another in either
storage or retrieval. It may be proactive or retroactive.
In Proactive Interference, information learned earlier interferes with recall
of newer material. In Retroactive Interference, new information interferes
with the ability to remember old information
New Memory for Old/ Displacement Theory: This theory holds that new
information entering to memory can wipe out old information. This works
for STM, where the capacity for information is limited to seven plus or
minus chunks. It cannot work for LTM having virtually unlimited capacity.
 .
Motivated Forgetting: According to Freud, it is blocking of
those memories from consciousness that are two threatening
or painful to live with, and he called this self-protective
process of Repression. Today many psychologists prefer to
use a more general term, motivated forgetting.
Cue Dependent Forgetting: refers forgetting due to lack of
retrieval cues in which we may feel as if we have lost the call
number for an entry in the mind‘s library.
That may also explain why remembering is often easier when
you are in the same physical environment as you were when
an event occurred.
 5.3. Improving Memory
• Some simple mnemonics/memory aids are useful, but
complicated ones are often more bothersome than benefitting.
A better approach is to follow some general guidelines.
• Pay Attention: We often fail to remember because we never
encoded the information in the first place.
• Encode information in more than one way/Add meaning:
The more elaborated (meaningful) the material, the more likely
it is to link up with information already in long-term memory.
• Take your time: Minimize interference by using study breaks
for rest. Sleep is the ultimate way to reduce interference.
• Over learn/Practice : Studying information even after you
think you already know it.
 …
• Monitor your learning (SQ3R): By testing yourself frequently,
rehearsing thoroughly, and reviewing periodically, you will have
a better idea of how you are doing
• Increase the Depth of Processing
• Hierarchical Organization
• Verbal Mnemonics
• Method of Loci
• Peg-Word Method
• Minimize Interference
• Utilize Context Effects
 CHAPTER FIVE

MOTIVATION AND EMOTIONS

 5.1. Motivation
5.1.1. Definition and types of motivation
• Motivation is a force/factor that initiate, direct and
persist peoples’ behaviour towards purpose.
• For example, hunger cause the person to get up, go
into the kitchen, and search for something to eat.
• The hunger causes the action (getting up), directs it
(going to the kitchen), and sustain the search (finding
or preparing something to eat).
 Types of motivation
• It is possible to categorize motivation into two:
intrinsic and extrinsic 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.
• Motives are also frequently divided into:
(a) physiological, primary, or organic motives,
such as hunger, thirst, and need for sleep;
and
(b) personal, social, or secondary motives, such
5.1.2. Approaches to motivation (theories of
motivation)
➢ It explains about the sources of our motivation. Some of these
theories are instinct, drive-reduction, arousal, incentive,
cognitive, and humanistic.
a) Instinct approaches to motivation
Focused on the biologically determined and innate patterns of
both humans and animals behavior. It realize that some
human behavior is controlled by hereditary factors.
For example, animals are governed by their instincts to do things
such as reproducing, migrating, nest building, mating and
protecting their territory, early researchers proposed that
human beings may also be governed by similar instincts.
The early theorists and psychologists listed thousands of
instincts in humans including curiosity, flight (running away),
pugnacity (aggressiveness), and acquisition (gathering
possessions).
 b) Drive-reduction approaches to motivation
• 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.
• Drive-reduction theory proposes just this connection between
internal psychological states and outward behavior. In this
theory, there are two kinds of drives.
– Primary drives are those that involve survival needs of the
body such as hunger and thirst
– Secondary (acquired) drives are those that are learned
through experience or conditioning, such as the need for
money, social approval.
• This theory also includes the concept of homeostasis, or the
tendency of the body to maintain a steady-state.
 c) Arousal approaches: beyond drive reduction

Arousal approaches seek to explain behavior in which the

goal is to maintain or increase excitement.
• According to arousal approaches, 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.
 d) Incentive approaches: motivation’s pull
Incentive approaches suggest that motivation stems from the
desire to attain external rewards, known as incentives.
• In this view, external stimuli such as grades, money, affection,
food, or sex - account for a person‘s motivation.
• Many psychologists believe that the internal drives “push”
proposed by drive-reduction theory work in a cycle with the
external incentives of incentive “pull” theory.
• 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 (the pull of incentive theory).
• Rather than contradicting each other, then, drives and
incentives may work together in motivating behavior.
 e) Cognitive Approaches: the thoughts behind motivation
• Cognitive approaches to motivation suggest that motivation is
a result of people’s thoughts, beliefs, expectations, and goals.
➢For instance, the degree to which people are motivated to
study for a test is based on their expectation of how well
studying will pay off in terms of a good grade.
• 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.
❖ Compare students studying for grade and for knowledge
 f) Humanistic approaches to motivation
Maslow rejected the dominant theories of psychoanalysis and
behaviorism in favor humanistic view.
Maslow suggested that human behavior is influenced by a
hierarchy, or ranking, of five classes of needs, or motives. He
said that needs at the lowest level of the hierarchy must be
satisfied before people can be motivated by the higher levels.
Maslow’s five Hierarchies of needs for motives from the bottom to
the top are as follows:
1. Physiological needs - are biological requirements for human
survival, e.g. air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep.
2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law,
stability, freedom from fear.
 …
3. Love and belongingness needs - the third level of human needs
is social and involves feelings of belongingness. Examples
include friendship, intimacy, trust, and acceptance in a group,
receiving and giving affection and love.
4. Esteem needs - the need to be respected as a useful, honorable
individual; which Maslow classified into two categories:
(i) esteem for oneself (dignity, achievement, mastery,
independence) and (ii) the desire for reputation or respect from
others (e.g., status, prestige).
5. Self-actualization needs - realizing personal potential, self-
fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences. A
desire ―to become everything one is capable of becoming‖.
The following figure shows how our motivation progresses up the
pyramid from broadest(most fundamental) to higher-order ones.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
 5.1.3. Conflict of motives and frustration
• Based on the sources of motivation and the importance of the
decision, we usually face difficulty in choosing among motives.
• 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.
• There are four basic types of motivational conflicts.
Approach-approach conflicts - exist when we must choose
only one of the two desirable activities. Example, going to a
movie or a concert.
Avoidance-avoidance conflicts - arise when we must select
one of two undesirable alternatives. Someone forced either to
sell the family home or to declare bankruptcy.
 …
• Approach-avoidance conflicts - happen when a particular
event or activity has both attractive and unattractive features,
e.g., a freshman student wants to start dating but she, at the
same time, is worried that this may consume her study time.
• Multiple approach-avoidance conflicts - exist when two or
more alternatives each have both positive & negative features.
• E.g., you must choose between two jobs. One offers a high
salary with a well-known company but requires long working
hours and relocation to a miserable climate. The other boasts
advancement opportunities, fringe benefits, and a better
climate, but it doesn‘t pay as much and involves an
unpredictable work schedule .
 5.2. Emotions
5.2.1. Definition of emotion
• Emotion is a negative or positive feeling generally in
reaction to stimuli that are accompanied by
physiological arousal and related behavior
• Emotion is a complex reaction pattern, involving
experiential, behavioral, and physiological elements,
by which an individual attempts to deal with a
personally significant matter or event.
• It is the feeling aspect of our consciousness.
 Emotion
Components of emotion
• Physical component – physiological arousal
(internal body state accompanying the emotion)
• Cognitive component – the way we interpret a
stimulus or a situation
• Behavioral component – outward expression of the
emotion (facial expressions gesture, body posture,
tone of voice)
 .
• The physiology of emotion - when a person
experiences an emotion, there is physical arousal
created by the sympathetic nervous system. The heart
rate increases, breathing becomes more rapid, the
pupils of the eye dilate, and the moth may become dry.
• Although facial expressions do differ between various
emotional responses, emotions are difficult to
distinguish from one another based on outward bodily
reactions alone.
• The behavior of emotion - tells us how people behave in
the grip of an emotion. There are facial expressions, body
movements, and actions that indicate to others how a
person feels.
• Frowns, smiles, and sad expressions combine with hand
gestures, the turning of one‘s body, and spoken words to
produce an understanding of emotion.
• People fight, run, kiss, and yell, along with countless other
actions stemming from the emotions they feel. Facial
expressions can vary across different cultures, although
some aspects of facial expression seem to be universal.
• Subjective experience or labeling emotion is the third
component of emotion and it involves interpreting the
subjective feeling by giving it a label: anger, fear, disgust,
happiness, sadness, shame, interest, surprise and so on.
• This component is 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.
• The label a person applies to a subjective feeling is at least in
part a learned response influenced by that person‘s language
and culture. Such labels may differ in people of different
cultural backgrounds.
 Basic Emotions
• The revised model of basic emotions includes:
– Happiness
– Surprise
– Sadness
– Fear
– Disgust
– Anger
Anger
Disgust
Fear
Happiness
Sadness
Surprise
 Theories of emotion
I. James-Lang Theory of Emotion
• 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).
Simply put, “I am afraid because I am aroused,”
“I am embarrassed because my face is red,” and
“I am in love because of my heart rate increases when I
look at her or him.”
 .
II. Cannon-Bard theory of emotion
• Physiologists Cannon and (1927) and Bard (1934) theorized
that the emotion and the physiological arousal occur more or
less at the same time.
• For example, the fear and the bodily reactions are, therefore,
experienced at the same time-not one after the other.
“I am afraid and running and aroused!”
 .
III. Schechter-Singer and Cognitive Arousal Theory
The early theories talked about the emotion and the physical
reaction, but what about the mental interpretation of those
components?
• In their cognitive arousal theory, Schachter-Singer (1962)
proposed that two things have to happen before emotion
occurs: the physical arousal and labeling of the arousal.
• These two things happen at the same time, resulting in the
labeling of the emotion.
• For example, if a person comes across a snarling dog while
taking a walk, the physical arousal (heart racing, eyes opening
wide) is accompanied by the thought (cognition) that this must
be fear. Then and only then will the person experience the fear
of emotion.
• In other words, “I am aroused in the presence of a scary dog;
therefore, I must be afraid.”
 James- Stimulus
Physiological arousal
Emotion
trembling
Lange snake increased heart rate fear
theory
Physiological arousal
trembling
increased heart rate
Cannon- Stimulus Sub-cortical
bard snake brain -activity
Emotion
theory fear

Physiological arousal
trembling
increased heart rate
Schechter Stimulus Emotion
fear
- singer Cognitive interpretation
theory “I feel afraid!”
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
CHAPTER SIX

PERSONALITY
“One of the greatest regrets in life is
being what others would want you to
be, rather than being yourself”.
Shannon L. Alder

What does the above quotation reflects?

 6.1. 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.
• Personality has been defined in many different ways, but
psychologists generally view personality as the unique
pattern of enduring thoughts, feelings, and actions that
characterize a person.
• Personality should not be confused with character and
temperament, however, both character and temperament
are vital components of personality.
 6.2. Theories of Personality
Though there are different theories of personality, we will see
only three.
6.2.1. Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality
• According to Freud, 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/domesticate
them.
• In Freud's view, personality has three structure/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.
 .
Id: If It Feels Good, Do It
.Exist at birth, all psychic energy resides in the id
.The seat of biologically based drives (hunger, sex, aggression
.It is completely unconscious, amoral, impulsive,
& irrational part of the personality
.It seeks immediate gratification/pleasure/reduce tension/libido
“Eat when hungry, drink when thirsty, and satisfy the sex when needed”

Ego:The Executive Director

.The ego begins to emerge during infancy when the child start learning.
.Ego devise logical and realistic strategies for meeting needs.
.It balances the conflicting demands of the id and the superego.

Superego: The Moral Watchdog

.The conscience/individual’s internalized moral standards.
.The superego develops from the ego as 3-to 6-year-old children
internalize the moral standards and values.
• 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.
• Psychological problems often arise when the individual’s supply of the id,
the ego, and the superego are unbalanced.
• To defend itself against anxiety, the ego adopts unconscious coping
devices called defense mechanisms such as;
– Repression: (banishing threatening thoughts, feelings, and memories
into the unconscious mind).
– Denial: is refusal to recognize or acknowledge a threatening situation.
– Rationalization: giving socially acceptable reasons for one's
inappropriate behavior.
– Displacement: involves expressing feelings toward a person who
is less threatening than the actual target of those feelings.
– Projection: attributing one's unacceptable feelings to other people.
– Reaction formation: acting the opposite from one's true feelings.
– Sublimation: expressing sexual or aggressive behavior through
indirect, socially acceptable outlets.
– Regression: returning to an earlier stage form of behavior.
 6.2.2. The trait theory of personality
• Psychologists who take the trait approach see personality as a
combination of stable internal characteristics that people display
consistently over time and across situations.
• Trait theorists seek to measure the relative amount of
personality characteristics that they believe are present in
everyone.
• The trait approach to personality makes three main assumption:
1. Personality traits are relatively stable & predictable over time.
2. Personality traits are relatively stable across situations, and
they can explain why people act in predictable ways.
3. 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.
 .
• Though the history of the trait theory of personality has come
through different stages, our attention here will be paid on the
five-factor model (OCEAN) or the Big Five theory.
– Openness: being intelligent, creative, inquisitive, flexible, and broad-
minded….
– Conscientiousness: Being competitive, self-disciplined, organized,
consistent, and deliberative...
– Extraversion: being active, conversational, assertive, and seeking
inspiration.The opposite end of extraversion is introversion.
– Agreeableness: being considerate, good-natured, helpful, tolerant,
and sympathetic rather than antagonistic…
– Neuroticism: easily experiencing negative and unpleasant emotions,
such as fear, anxiety, distrust, unhappiness, and insecurity…
 6.2.3. Humanistic theory of personality
• Humanistic approaches to personality emphasize
people‘s inherent goodness and their tendency to move
toward higher levels of functioning instead of seeing
people as controlled by the unconscious, unseen forces
(psychodynamic approaches), and a set of stable traits
(trait approaches).
• 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.
Carl Rogers and Self-Concept
• Like Maslow, Rogers believed that human beings are always
striving to fulfill their innate capabilities and to become what
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.
 .
Real and Ideal Self
• Two important components of the self-concept are the real
self (one‘s actual of characteristics, traits, and abilities that
form the basis of the striving for self-actualization) and the
ideal self (the perception of what one should be or would
like to be).
• The ideal self primarily comes from those important,
significant others in one‘s life, most often the parents.
• Rogers believed that when the real self and the ideal self
are very close or similar to each other, people feel
competent and capable, but when there is a mismatch
between the real and ideal selves, anxiety and neurotic
behavior can be the result.
 .
Conditional and Unconditional Positive Regard
• Rogers defined positive regard as warmth, affection,
love, and respect that comes from the significant
others (parents, friends etc.) in people’s experience.
• Positive regard 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.
• Although “self-actualization” and “to be fully functioning” are
highly related concepts, there are some subtle differences.
• Maslow’s self-actualization is a goal that people are always
striving to reach.
• In Rogers's view, only a person who is fully functioning is
capable of reaching the goal of self-actualization. To be fully
functioning is a necessary step in the process of self-
actualization.
• Maslow listed several people that he considered to be self-
actualized people, for example, Albert Einstein, Mahatma
Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt, Nelson Mandela a to this list.
• In Roger's view, these same people would be seen as having
trusted their true feelings and innermost needs rather than just
going along with the crowd, a description that certainly seems
to apply in these three cases.
 CHAPTER SEVEN

PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS
AND TREATMENT TECHNIQUES
 Nature of Psychological Disorders
▪ There are three main criteria for determining whether a person
has a psychological disorder: abnormality, maladaptiveness,
and personal distress.
1. Abnormality (What Is Normal? )
▪ Abnormal behavior is a behavior that deviates from the
behavior of the “typical” person or the norm.
▪ A society’s norm can be qualitative and quantitative.
▪ When someone’s behavior violates the norm, standards, rules
& regulations of the society, it is more likely to be a
psychological disorder.
▪ The context in which “abnormal” behavior occurs must also be
considered before deciding that it is symptomatic of
psychological disorders.
Statistical Abnormality: Having extreme scores on some
dimension, such as intelligence, anxiety, or depression
2. Maladaptiveness
▪ Maladaptive behavior creates a social, personal and
occupational problem.
▪ These behaviors seriously disrupt the day-to-day activities of
individuals.
3. Personal Distress
▪ Our subjective feelings of anxiety, stress, tension and other
unpleasant emotions determine whether we have a
psychological disorder.
▪ But, the criterion of personal distress, is not sufficient for the
presence of psychological disorder. Because some people’s
feeling looks like distressed by its own.
▪ Hence, behavior that is abnormal, maladaptive, and personally
distressing might indicate that a person has a psychological
disorder.
Psychological Disorders are also called mental illness, or mental
health disorders, refers to a wide range of mental health
disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior.
According to DSM-IV, a mental disorder is a clinically significant
behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in an
individual and that is associated with present distress or disability
or with a significantly increased risk of suffering death, pain,
disability or loss of freedom.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM): is the primary set of
rules used for diagnosing (labeling) psychological disorders.
DSM—Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders -
Published by American Psychiatric Association used by clinicians
and researchers to diagnose and classify mental disorders
7.2. Causes of Psychological Disorders
Prehistoric times:
• Abnormal behavior as demonic possession
• Early societies viewed the human body and mind as a
battleground between external forces of good and evil.
• Abnormal behavior was typically interpreted as a victory
by evil spirits and the cure for such behavior was to
force the demons from a victim’s body. Example:
• Trephination: is a kind of traditional surgery system
where the persons digging out the skull of the victims
so as to relies out the evil spirit from the head.
Trephination
Exorcism: this is a kind of praying by persons standing
in front of the victim.
 The emergence of the scientific model
Ancient Greece and Roma
• Even though their theories now may seems strange,
early Greek philosophers established the foundation for
the systematic approach to psychological disorders.
• Hippocrates (460-377 B.C) believed that, there were
four important bodily fluids that influences physical and
mental health. These are, black bile, yellow bile,
phlegm, and blood.
• An excess of any of these fluids could account for
changes in an individual’s personality and behavior.
 7.2. Causes of Psychological Disorders
(Based on Perspectives)
7.2.1 The Biological Perspective
Abnormalities in the work of neurotransmitter chemicals in the
brain is found to contribute to many psychological disorders.
E.g., over activity of the dopamine has been linked to the
bizarre symptoms of schizophrenia
Biological causes also include genetic inheritance, medical
conditions, brain damage, exposure to environmental stimuli,
and hormonal imbalances etc.
Figure 12.8

FIGURE 12.8 Dopamine normally crosses the synapse between two neurons, activating the second cell.
Antipsychotic drugs bind to the same receptor sites as dopamine does, blocking its action. In people
suffering from schizophrenia, a reduction in dopamine activity can quiet a person’s agitation and
psychotic symptoms.
 7.2.2 Psychological Perspectives
A. Psychodynamic theory of abnormality
• All behavior, thoughts, and emotions, whether normal
or abnormal are influenced to a large extent by
unconscious process.
• Behavior is affected by childhood experiences and
particularly within the family
• Abnormal behavior happens when the intra psychic
conflicts are beyond the ego defense mechanism
strategies. Behavior is the result of early fixations
B. Behavioral theory of abnormality
• Abnormal behavior as the product of learning and
association. Example: depression may in part due to
extinction.
Figure 10.6

FIGURE 10.6 The approximate relationship between the id, ego, and superego, and the levels of
awareness.
 .
C. Humanistic theory of abnormality
• Failure or challenges while some one strives to fulfill
his/her potential
• Incongruence between the real or actual and ideal
self.
D. Cognitive theory of abnormality:
• Traumatic life experiences and stressful life events
• Distorted perceptions
• Faulty way of thinking (irrational thinking)
• Faulty way of information processing
 Other Theoretical Causes of Anxiety Disorders

• Humanistic-Existential: Unrealistic self-image

conflicts with true self
 7.2.3 Socio-cultural perspective
▪ Disturbance in intimate relationships or marital problems
▪ Social Conditions: Poverty, homelessness, overcrowding,
stressful living conditions
▪ Family Factors: Parents who are immature, mentally ill,
abusive, or criminal; poor child discipline
▪ Problems in extended relationships
▪ Political or social unrest
▪ Discrimination towards one’s social group
▪ Social labeling
 7.3. Types of Psychological Disorders
A psychological disorder is a condition characterized by abnormal
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
Psychopathology is the study of psychological disorders, including
their symptoms, etiology (i.e., their causes), and treatment. The
term psychopathology can also refer to the manifestation of a
psychological disorder.
DSM-IV Classification of Major Types of Psychological Disorders
1. Anxiety disorders: Feelings of fear, apprehension, anxiety, and
distorted behavior
2. Somatoform disorders: Complaints about physical symptoms,
affecting different areas of the body with no physical cause
3. Mood(affective) disorders: Being dominated by emotional extremes
4. Dissociative disorders: Disturbances or changes in memory,
consciousness, or identity
5. Personality disorders: When normal traits become extreme
6. Schizophrenia (the Most Severe Mental Illness): a group of
psychological disorders characterized by hallucination and delusion,
grossly impaired social, emotional, cognitive, perceptual functioning.
7. Sexual Dysfunctions and Deviations (paraphilia): trouble in
engaging and enjoying sexual relationships
8. Eating disorders – Wrong eating pattern or behaviour
9. Substance use disorders – abuse and dependence
 In this section we will try to see only mood disorder, anxiety
disorder and personality disorder.
1) Mood Disorders
▪ Mood disorders are characterized by a serious change in mood
from depressed to elevated feelings causing disruption of life.
▪ 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.
▪ If you have a mood disorder, your general emotional state or
mood is distorted or inconsistent with your circumstances and
interferes with your ability to function. You may be extremely
sad, empty or irritable (depressed), or you may have periods of
depression alternating with being excessively happy (mania)
 .
The type of mood disorder include Major Depression, Dysthymic
Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, and Cyclothymia.
1) Major Depression (also known as depression or clinical
depression) is characterized by depressed mood, diminished
interest in previously enjoyed activities, weight & sleep
disturbance, loss of energy, difficulty concentrating, and often
includes hopelessness and thoughts of suicide.
2) Dysthymia is often considered a lesser, but more persistent
form of depression. Many of the symptoms are similar except
to a lesser degree. Dysthymia is steadier rather than periods of
normal feelings and extreme lows.
3) Bipolar Disorder (previously known as Manic-Depression) is
characterized by periods of extreme highs (called mania) and
extreme lows as in Major Depression.
4) Cyclothymia: Like Dysthymia and Major Depression,
Cyclothymia is considered a lesser form of Bipolar Disorder.
 2) Anxiety Disorders
• Anxiety is a feelings of apprehension, dread, or uneasiness normal in
reaction to stress and can be beneficial in some situations. It can alert us
to dangers and help us prepare and pay attention.
• Anxiety disorders differ from normal feelings of nervousness or
anxiousness, and involve excessive fear or anxiety. Anxiety disorders are
the most common of mental disorders and affect nearly 30 percent of
adults at some point in their lives.
• However, anxiety disorders are treatable and a number of effective
treatments are available. Treatment helps most people lead normal
productive lives.
• Anxiety disorders can cause people into trying to avoid situations that
trigger or worsen their symptoms. Job performance, school work and
personal relationships can be affected.
• In general, for a person to be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, the fear
or anxiety must:
▪ Be out of proportion to the situation or age inappropriate
▪ Hinder your ability to function normally
 .
Anxiety Disorders categorize a large number of disorders where the primary
feature is abnormal or inappropriate anxiety. The disorders in this
category include Panic Disorder, Agoraphobia, Specific Phobias, Social
Phobia, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder,
and Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
a) Panic Disorder ( may be with or without Agoraphobia): is a sudden state
of anxiety for brief moments, intense, unexpected panic (panic attack)
occur in the absence of actual danger. Panic attack includes feelings like
one is having a heart attack, going to die, or is going insane.
b) Agoraphobia (fear of public places). 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.
c) Specific or Simple Phobia and Social Phobia represent an intense fear
and often an avoidance of a specific situation, person, place, or thing. To
be diagnosed with a phobia, the person must have suffered significant
negative consequences because of this fear and it must be disruptive to
their everyday life.
 .
d) Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) 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. These
obsessions and compulsions are disruptive to the person's everyday life,
with sometimes hours being spent each day repeating things, which were
already completed such as checking, counting, cleaning, or bathing.
e) Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) occurs only after a person is
exposed to a traumatic event such as war, natural disasters, major
accidents, and severe child abuse. Once exposed to such incidents, 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.
f) Generalized Anxiety Disorder 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 .
 3) Personality Disorders
• A personality disorder is a type of mental disorder in which you have a
rigid and unhealthy pattern of thinking, functioning and behaving. A
person with a personality disorder has trouble perceiving and relating
to situations and people.
• Personality Disorders are characterized by an enduring pattern of
thinking, feeling, and behaving which is significantly different from the
person's culture and results in negative consequences. This pattern
must be longstanding and inflexible for a diagnosis to be made.
• There are around nine types of personality disorders, all of which
result in significant distress and/or negative consequences within the
individual:
1) Paranoid (includes a pattern of distrust and suspiciousness).
2) Schizoid (pattern of detachment from social norms and a restriction
of emotions).
3) Schizotypal (pattern of discomfort in close relationships and
eccentric thoughts and behaviors).
4) Antisocial (pattern of disregard for the rights of others, lacks a
conscience (superego) including violation of these rights and the
failure to feel empathy), selfish, many are delinquents or
criminals.
5) 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).
6) Histrionic (pattern of excessive emotional behavior and attention
seeking).
7) Narcissistic (pattern of grandiosity, exaggerated self-worth, and
need for admiration).
8) Avoidant (pattern of feelings of social inadequacies, low self-
esteem, and hypersensitivity to criticism).
9) Obsessive-Compulsive (pattern of obsessive cleanliness,
perfection, and control).
 7.4 Treatment Techniques
• Treatment of mental illnesses can take various forms. They
can include medication, talktherapy, a combination of both,
and can last only one session or take many years to
complete.
• Many different types of treatment are available, but most
agree that the core components of psychotherapy remain
the same.
• Psychotherapy consists of the following:
1. A positive, healthy relationship between a client or patient and a
trained psychotherapist
2. Recognizable mental health issues, whether diagnosable or not
3. Agreement on the basic goals of treatment
4. Working together as a team to achieve these goals
 Psychotherapy (treatments for disorders)
• Providing psychological treatment to individuals with some kind of
psychological problems is psychotherapy. When providing
psychotherapy, there are several issues to be considered.
• First and foremost is empathy. It is a requirement for a successful
practitioner to be able to understand his or her client's feelings,
thoughts, and behaviors.
• Second, being nonjudgmental is vital if the relationship and treatment
are going to work. Everybody makes mistakes, everybody does stuff
they aren't proud of. If your therapist judges you, then you don't feel
safe talking about similar issues again.
• Therapists approach clients from slightly different angles, although
the ultimate goal remains the same: to help the client reduce
negative symptoms, gain insight into why these symptoms occurred
and work through those issues, and reduce the emergence of the
symptoms in the future.
Treatment (Psychotherapy) Approaches
Although, treatments for disorders vary according to the type,
severity and nature of the disorder and clients’ condition
generally treatments can be grouped in to two broad categories
- biomedical and psychological treatments
A. Biomedical therapies
Refers Somatotherapy includes pharmacotherapy; biology-
based treatments)
▪ Psychiatric medications (psychoactive drugs)
• Antianxiety drugs
• Antidepressant drugs
• Antipsychotic drugs
• Mood stabilizers
▪ Shock therapies such as Electroconvulsive therapy
▪ Psychosurgery such as Deep brain stimulation
B. Psychological approaches
Include Cognitive, Behavioral, Psychodynamic, and Humanistic therapies.
• Therapists who lean toward the cognitive branch will look at dysfunctions
and difficulties as arising from irrational or faulty thinking. In other words,
we perceive the world in a certain way (which may or may not be
accurate) and this result in acting and feeling a certain way.
• Those who follow more behavioral models look at problems as arising
from our behaviors which we have learned to perform over years.
• The dynamic or psychodynamic camp stem more from the teaching of
Sigmund Freud and look more at issues beginning in early childhood
which then motivate us as adults at an unconscious level.
• Humanistic therapy: reject psychoanalytic and behavioral approaches;
focus on the development of human potential, responsibility for oneself,
unconditional positive regards, and trust in natural processes.
• Cognitive approaches appear to work better with most types of
depression, and behavioral treatments tend to work better with phobias.
• Most mental health professionals nowadays follow biopsycho-social or
eclectic approach in how to treat people using different approaches.
• These professionals are sometimes referred to as integrationists.
• Treatment Modalities
Therapy is most often thought of as a one-on-one relationship between a
client or patient and a therapist. This is probably the most common
example, but therapy can also take different forms.
• Often time‘s group therapy is utilized, where individuals suffering from
similar illnesses or having similar issues meet together with one or two
therapists. Group sizes differ, ranging from three or four to upwards of 15
or 20, but the goals remain the same.
• The power of group is due to the need in all of us to belong, feel
understood, and know that there is hope. All of these things make group
as powerful as it is. Imagine feeling alone, scared, misunderstood,
unsupported, and unsure of the future; then imagine entering a group of
people with similar issues who have demonstrated success, who can
understand the feelings you have, who support and encourage you, and
who accept you as an important part of the group.
• It can be overwhelming in a very positive way and continues to be the
second most utilized treatment after individual therapy.
• Therapy can also take place in smaller groups consisting
of a couple or a family. In this type of treatment, the issues
to be worked on are centered around the relationship.
• There is often an educational component, like other forms
of therapy, 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.
• Sometimes therapy can include more than one treatment
modality.
 .
For the individual who suffers from depression, social anxiety, and low
self-esteem, individual therapy may be used to reduce depressive
symptoms, work some on selfesteem and therefore reduce fears
about social situations.
Once successfully completed, this person may be transferred to a
group therapy setting where he or she can practice social
skills, feel a part of a supportive group, therefore improving self-
esteem and further reducing depression.
The treatment approach and modality are always considered, along
with many other factors, in order to provide the best possible
treatment for any particular person.
Sometimes more than one is used, sometimes a combination of many
of them, but together the goal remains to improve the life of the
client.
 CHAPTER EIGHT

INTRODUCTION TO LIFE SKILLS

.
 8.1. Nature and Definition of Life skills
Life skills are “abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that
enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and
challenges of everyday life.” (WHO).
It is also defined as “behavioral changes or behavioral
development approach designed to address a balance of three
areas: knowledge attitude and skills” (UNICEF).
Life skills are tools at our hands that help us prevent, improve,
and manage mind and behavior for effective psychological
functioning.
Life skills are essentially those abilities that help to promote
mental well-being and competence in young people as they
face the realities of life.
Hence, students who are able to understand and use these skills,
along with their educational qualifications, will be better placed
to take advantage of educational & employment opportunities.
 8.2. Goals of Life Skills
• To live in harmony with ourselves and others around us, select
the goods from the bad, choose gold from soil, simplify life etc.
• To update our skills and knowledge of dealing with life events
and lead a smooth and successful life at home and work
places.
• To empower young people to take positive action to protect
themselves and promote health and positive social
relationships.
• To enable explore alternatives, consider pros and cons and
make rational decisions in solving each problem or issue as it
arises.
8.3. Components of Life Skills
1. Critical thinking
2. Self- confidence
3. Self-awareness
4. Self- esteem
5. Decision making
6. Interpersonal relationship
7. Reflective communication
8. Peer resistance
9. Knowing rights and duties
10. Problem solving
11. Stress management
 1. Critical thinking
• It refers to thinking more effectively within
curricular subject areas, understanding the
reasoning employed, assessing independently
and appropriately, and solving problems
effectively.
• It involves, as well, improved thinking skills in
dealing with real life problems in assessing
information and arguments in social contexts and
making life decisions.
 2. Self-confidence
It is the degree to which one can rely on his/her
ability to perform certain behavior alone or in
public.
It is individual‘s trust in his or her own abilities,
capacities, and judgments, or belief that he or
she can successfully face day-to-day challenges
and demands.
3. Self-awareness
It is self-focused attention or knowledge.
It is the knowledge and understanding of one‘s
strengthens and weaknesses. Self-awareness
involves monitoring our inner worlds, thoughts,
emotions, and beliefs.
It is important, because it is a major mechanism
influencing personal development.
 4. Self-esteem
It is the degree to which we perceive ourselves positively or
negatively; our overall attitude toward ourselves, which can be
measured explicitly or implicitly.
It involves the degree to which the qualities and characteristics
contained in one’s self-concept are perceived to be positive. It
reflects a person’s physical self-image, view of his or her
accomplishments and capabilities, and values and perceived
success in living up to them, as well as the ways in which
others view and respond to that person.
The more positive the cumulative perception of these qualities
and characteristics, the higher one’s self-esteem.
A reasonably high degree of self-esteem is considered
an important ingredient of mental health, whereas low
self-esteem and feelings of worthlessness are common
depressive symptoms.
 5. Decision-making
It is a processes involved in combining and
integrating available information to choose,
implement and evaluate one out of several
possible courses of actions.
Responsible Decision Making refers making
decision after examining the choices &
consequences in view of one’s values and goals.
 6. Interpersonal relationships
It is the relationships a person have with others
persons. They are social associations, connections,
or affiliations between two or more people having
various levels of intimacy and sharing, and implying
the discovery or establishment of common ground.
• It involves developing & nurturing supportive
networks; ending relationships constructively; and
helping individuals to relate with people in positive
ways.
7. Reflective communication
It is attending communications with thoughtful and
due attention to reflect on one‘s own thinking,
behaviors and interaction with others.
It requires expressing ourselves verbally & non-
verbally; our opinions, desires, needs & fears;
and advice and help.
 8. Peer pressure resistance
Indicates individual‘s abilities and skills to confront
negative influences from his/her group members.
Take Pleasure & Pride in saying NO when one wants to
say “no”.

9. Knowing rights and duties

It refers to one‘s knowledge and understanding of
rights and duties of individuals, groups, institutions
and nations allowed to do or not to do by law
and/or a culture.
10. Problem solving
Refers to the process of identifying a discrepancy
between an actual and desired state of affairs,
difficulties, obstacles and complex issues and then
taking action to resolve the deficiency or take
advantage of the opportunity.
It is the process by which individuals attempt to
overcome difficulties, achieve plans that move them
from a starting situation to a desired goal, or reach
conclusions through the use of higher mental functions.
11. Stress Management
• Recognizing effects of emotions on others and ourselves.
• Being aware of how emotions influence behaviors.
• Able to respond to emotions appropriately.

How to Cope with Stress

• Recognize sources of stress in our life
• Recognizing how these affect us
• Identifying ways that help to control our levels of stress
• Learning how to relax to minimize tensions
 Group the following into thinking, working, social
and learning skills. Discuss the grouping in class.
a b c d
▪Decision • ICT • Citizenship
making • Agility and ▪Cooperation
• Social
▪ Self- adaptability ▪ People
• Receiving and responsibility
knowledge Management
giving • Cultural
▪ Critical ▪ Time
feedback awareness
thinking
• Handling
management
▪ Accessing and
• Social
criticism ▪ Organization
analyzing development
• Innovation/expl ▪ Negotiating
information • Respecting
oration ▪ Leading by
▪Stress • Learner diversity
influence
management autonomy • Networking
 The Four Pillars of Education
Learning to Know: Developing Reasoning
It relates to cognitive life skills such as critical thinking, problem solving
and decision making skills. It thus refers to both the acquisition of
knowledge as well as the use of knowledge.
Learning to Be: Enhancing Agency
It relates to self-management life skills related to self awareness, self
esteem & self confidence, and coping skills.
Learning to Live Together: Building Potential Through Social Capital
It relates to communication skills, Negotiation skills, Refusal skills,
Assertiveness skills, Interpersonal skills, Co-operation skills & Empathy skills.
Learning to Do: Functioning and Capabilities
It refers to central human functional capabilities of “Life”, “Bodily Health”,
“Bodily Integrity” and “Control over one’s Environment”.
.
 CHAPTER NINE

INTRA-PERSONAL AND
INTERPERSONAL SKILLS
 INTRA-PERSONAL AND INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

1. Self-Concept and Self-Awareness

2. Self-esteem and self-confidence
3. Self-Control
4. Anger Management
5. Emotional Intelligence and Managing Emotion
6. Stress, Coping with Stress and Resilience
7. Critical and Creative Thinking
8. Problem Solving and Decision Making
 …
• Self-concept is one’s description and evaluation of oneself, including
psychological and physical characteristics, qualities, skills, roles, and so
forth. Self-concepts contribute to the individual’s sense of identity over
time. Also called self-appraisal; self-assessment; self-evaluation; self-
rating
• Self-awareness is having a clear perception of your personality, including
strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation, and emotions.
• Self-esteem refers to an individual's overall self-evaluation. It is the
judgment or opinion we hold about ourselves. It is the extent to which we
perceive ourselves to be worthwhile and capable human beings.
• Self-confidence is the person’s trust in oneself and in one‘s ability or
aptitude to engage successfully or at least adequately with the world.
• Self-control is the ability to be in command or direction of one’s long-
term goals and to restrain or inhibit one’s impulses. Choice of the short-
term outcome is called impulsiveness.
 ...
• Anger Management is the ability to manage state of emotion where a person is
irritated by block of interests, loss of possession or threats to personality. When
anger is not controlled, conflict becomes worse and we may no longer be able to
think clearly.
• Emotional Intelligence is ability to identify, assess, and manage the emotions of
oneself, of others, and of groups. People who possess a high degree of emotional
intelligence know themselves very well and are also able to sense the emotions of
others. They are affable, resilient, and optimistic.
• Stress generally refers to two things: the psychological perception and physiological
response to stressors/pressure . Stress involves changes affecting nearly every
system of the body, influencing how people think, feel and behave. Stress mainly
comes from three categories of stressors: catastrophes, significant life changes, and
daily hassles.
• Coping With Stress or Stress management is the use of specific techniques,
strategies, or programs for dealing with stress. There are two ways of dealing with
stress: problem focused and emotion-focused .
• Resilience is the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or
challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral
flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands. It means "bouncing back"
from difficult experiences.
 …
• Critical Thinking a is a form of directed, problem-focused thinking in
which the individual interprets, analyze, and evaluate or test ideas or
possible solutions. It requires the use of self-correction and monitoring to
judge the rationality of thinking .
• Creative thinking the mental processes leading to a new invention,
solution, or synthesis in any area. A creative solution may use preexisting
elements (e.g., objects, ideas) but creates a new relationship between
them. Products of creative thinking include, for example, new machines,
social ideas, scientific theories, and artistic works.
• Problem solving is a process in which we perceive and resolve a gap
between a present situation and a desired goal, with the path to the goal
blocked by known or unknown obstacles. In general, the problem
situation is one not previously encountered, or where at least a specific
solution from past experiences is not known.
• Decision-making is a selection process where one of two or more
possible solutions is chosen to reach a desired goal. The steps in both
problem solving and decision-making are quite similar. In fact, the terms
are sometimes used interchangeably .
 CHAPTER TEN

ACADEMIC SKILLS
 ACADEMIC SKILLS
1. Time Management
2. Note-taking and Study Skills
3. Test-Taking Skill
4. Test Anxiety and Overcoming Test Anxiety
5. Goal Setting
6. Career Development Skill
 .
• Time management skill is the ability to plan and control how someone
spends the hours in a day to accomplish his or her goals effectively.
• Note taking skill is an essential skill of learning which involves staying
organized before, during, & after taking notes and using a note-taking
format (such as summary, outline, Cornell, Chart, concept map, or
question methods) that works well with your learning style.
• Test-Taking Skill includes Planning your study time and setting study
goals, Cram Strategically, organize information, Control Your Test Anxiety,
take enough rest, Examine previous tests and prepare accordingly, apply
SR3Rs during preparation…etc
• Test anxiety is a negative mood characterized by bodily symptoms of
physical tension and apprehension about a test/exam going to take place
in the future. Test anxiety can cause a host of physical, emotional,
behavioral and cognitive problems.
• To reduce test-anxiety; Pay attention to your self-talk, Identify
thoughts that lead to feelings of anxiety, and Challenge your
‘anxious’ thinking
 …
• Goal Setting is the process of imagining, planning and implementing the
big picture of one‘s destination. Goal setting gives someone direction and
motivation, as well as increasing satisfaction and self-confidence in their
performance.
• Career management skills are competencies, which help individuals to
identify their existing skills, develop career learning goals and take action
to enhance their careers.
CHAPTER ELEVEN

SOCIAL SKILLS
 Social Skills
1. Understanding cultural Diversity
2. Gender and Social Inclusion
3. Interpersonal Communication Skills
4. Social Influences
5. Peer Pressure
6. Assertiveness
7. Conflict and Conflict Resolution
8. Team Work
9. Overcoming Risky Behavior
 ...
• Culturally diversity/Multiculturalism is defined as: “…a system of beliefs
and behaviors that recognizes and respects the presence of all diverse
groups in an organization or society, acknowledges and values their
socio-cultural differences, and encourages and enables their continued
contribution within an inclusive cultural context which empowers all within
the organization or society. The key to manage diversity is to capitalize
more effectively on our capacity for multiple social identities.
• Nations, right groups, nation leaders and scholars have been demanding
more rights for women and inclusion of developmental activities.
Therefore, women should benefit from education, economy, leadership
system, development programs and legal system. Build a culture of
gender inclusion across implementing the following is important.
• Interpersonal communication is the process by which people exchange
information, feelings, and meaning through verbal and non-verbal
messages: it is face-to-face communication.
 .
• Social influence occurs when one person (the source) engages in some
behavior (such as persuading, threatening or promising, or issuing orders) that
causes another person (the target) to behave differently from how he or she
would otherwise behave.
• Assertiveness is a communication style. It is being able to express your
feelings, thoughts, beliefs, and opinions in an open manner that does not violate
the rights of others.
• Conflict is an incompatibility of goals or values between two or more parties in a
relationship, combined with attempts to control each other and antagonistic
feelings toward each other. The three main sources of conflict: economic, value,
and power.
• Conflict can result in destructive outcomes or creative ones depending on the
approach that is taken. Given interdependence, three general strategies have
been identified that the parties may take toward dealing with their conflict; win-
lose, lose-lose, and win-win.
• Teams are groups of people with complementary skills who are committed to a
common purpose and hold themselves mutually accountable for its
achievement.
• Taking risks is fairly common in adolescence. Yet, risky behaviors can be
associated with serious, long-term, and–in some cases–life-threatening
consequences.
.