General Psychology
Chapter 1. Development of Psychology as a Science
Branches of Psychology
Different Schools of Psychology
1. Structuralism – Wilhelm Wundt, fist psychologist
and father of experimental psychology
● Views psychology as the study of
conscious experience.
● Started with the premise that all complex
substances could be analyzed through their
component elements: Sensations, Images,
Feelings
2. Functionalism – William James
● Focuses on the operations or functions of
conscious activity (e.g. thinking and
learning)
3. Associationism – Aristotle (Primary)
– Edward Thorndike,
John Lock, Thomas Hobbes
● concerned with the factors of learning such
as remembering and thinking.
4. Behaviorism - John Watson
● defines psychology as the science of
behavior and not of consciousness
● psychology based upon stimulus-response
connections
5. Gestalt Psychology - Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang
Kohler, Kurt Koffka
● maintains that psychology should study the
whole pattern or behavior or experience or
the perception of organized configuration.
● Fundamental principle- the whole is greater
than the sum of its parts.
6. Psychoanalysis - Sigmund Freud
● insists on human desires and primitive
impulses as the central factors of behavior
●Libido Theory – sex urges in the
unconscious constitute the main human
drive.
7. Purposivism - William Mcdougal
● believes that objects, movements, and
behavior have a definite purpose.
1. General Psychology – explains the underlying
principles of human behavior – the study of how and
why people behave this way or that way.
2. Comparative Psychology – treats on the behavior
and mental process of the different species. This is
also known as animal psychology where the
activities of both man and animal are compared and
differentiated, particularly in relation to genetic and
evolutionary theories.
3. Developmental or Genetic Psychology – study of
human behavior in all its aspects of growth and
development.
4. Child Psychology – study of human behavior from
its post-natal beginnings up to early adolescence.
5. Adolescent Psychology – study of the behavior of
man from puberty to later life, approximately from
12-20 years old.
6. Senescent Psychology – study of human behavior
in old age.
7. Consumer Psychology – concerned with the
investigation of the varied facets of marketing and
buying behavior, effects of advertising, studies of
mass media, and other problems arising from the
relationship between buyer and seller.
8. Abnormal Psychology – scientific study of human
behavior and the etiology or cause of personality
defects, or man’s behavior which deviates from the
average reaction, hence abnormal.
9. Dynamic Psychology - scientific interpretation of
mental phenomena emphasizing internal drives and
motives as the cause of behavior.
10. Psychiatry – psychology applied in medicine. It is
concerned with the treatment of mental diseases.
11. Business Psychology – study of the principles of
psychology as applied to business and deals
particularly with the behavior of consumers.
12. Social Psychology – study of the behavior of
groups of individuals in their relationship to other
groups.
13. Cognitive Psychology – concerned with the mental
processes involved in acquiring and using
knowledge.
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 1
 14. Forensic Psychology or Legal Psychology -
application of the principles of human behavior to
law or any legal proceedings.
15. Community Psychology – dedicated to promote
health at the community level.
Areas of Specialization in Psychology
1. Clinical Psychology – dedicated to the diagnosis
and treatment of emotional and behavioral disorders.
2. Counseling Psychology – dedicated to helping
people with educational, job or career, and social
adjustments.
3. Educational and School Psychology – deals with
learning, motivation, and other subjects in the actual
educational processes together with the practical
application of psychological principles to education.
4. Experimental and Physiological Psychology –
study on basic psychological processes as
sensation, perception, learning, memory, cognition,
motivation and emotion.
5. Industrial-Organizational Psychology – themselves or others.
concerned with methods of selecting, training,
counseling, and supervising personnel in business
and industry.
6. Forensic Psychology – concerned with behavior
that relate to our legal system. Forensic
psychologists work with judges and lawyers who are
trying to improve the reliability of witnesses and jury
decisions and are also consulted about the mental
competency of accused people.
Methods of Psychological Research
1. Introspection Method – subjective method of
observation introduced by St. Augustine. The
psychologist studies himself, records his own
feelings and experiences and later interprets them.
2. Observation Method – visual and oral method of
examining, describing, and interpreting the reactions
of individuals and groups in a laboratory, classroom,
or out-of-school situations. The most widely used
method in the study of behavior is observation.
Kinds of Observations:
a. Uncontrolled or Informal. This method of
observation does not follow any particular scope
of behavior to be observed.
b. Naturalistic Observation. An observation of
things as they naturally happen is the
naturalistic observation method.
c. Controlled or Formal Observation. Follows
certain rules, in gathering materials in order to
draw the best conclusions. In this method,
certain requirements or specifications delimit the
activity of the observer.
3. Life-History Method – Psychological research
makes use of life-history methods, which involves
extensive studies of individuals by tracing the
development of a particular for of behavior.
There are three basic forms:
a. The Daybook Method. A careful record of day-
to-day activities.
b. The Clinical Method. Contains information
concerning the emotional and personality
adjustments of human beings.
c. The Biographical Method. An analysis of the
records of people’s lives as written by
4. Survey Method or Group Method - Through written
questionnaires or interviews, data are obtained from
a large group particularly that group which will
constitute a representative sample. This is used in
obtaining norms surveys and opinion polls.
5. Experimental Method – Used to study behavior
which can be brought into the laboratory and studied
under controlled conditions.
6. Statistical Method – deals with the collecting and
handling of numerical data, and the making of
inferences from such data.
Levels of Investigation
1. Biological Level. Concerned with the bodily bases
of behavior. Biological variables relevant to the study
include generic processes, age, brain, pathology,
drugs, hormones, nutrition, illness fatigue, and bodily
injury.
2. Psychological Level. Concerned with
understanding the nature and role of psychological
variables in human behavior.
3. Sociological Level. Concerned with the effects of
socio-cultural conditions upon the behavior of
individuals and groups.
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 2

Chapter 2: Determinants of Human Behavior
HEREDITY. The process by which various characteristics are
transmitted to the individual at the time od fertilization. During
fertilization, two living germ cells (sperm and egg) unite to
produce a new individual. Within each of the germ cells or
gametes are genetic materials consisting od chromosomes
and genes. The chromosomes (meaning colored bodies) are
found within the nuclei of cells. Chromosomes are found in
Recent Studies on Chromosomes:
pairs. They carry the genes which determine hereditary
characteristics.
Chromosomes. Carry the hereditary units we receive from
our parents and transmit to our offspring that are found in the
nucleus of each cell in the body. Most body cells contain 46
chromosomes. At conception, the human being receives 23
chromosomes from the father’s sperm and 23 chromosomes
from the mother’s ovum. These 46 chromosomes form 23
pairs, which ae duplicated each time the cells divide. Each
chromosome is composed of many individual hereditary units
called genes.
Gene. A segment of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), which is
the actual carrier of genetic information.
SEX-LINKED GENES. Male and female chromosomes
appear the same when examined under the microscope,
except for pair 23. Pair 23 determines the sec of the individual
and carries genes for certain traits that are called sex-linked.
A normal female has two similar-looking chromosomes in pair
23, called X chromosomes. A normal male has one X
chromosome in pair 23 and one that looks slightly different,
called a Y chromosome. Thus, the normal female
chromosome pair 23 is represented by the symbol XX, and
the normal male pair, by XY.
Chromosomal Abnormalities.
1. Turner’s Syndrome – In rare cases, a female may
be born with only one X chromosome instead of the
usual XX. Females with this condition fail to develop
sexually at puberty. They are usually of normal
intelligence but they show some specific cognitive
defects. They do poorly in arithmetic and on tests of
visual form perception and spatial organization.
2. Klinefelter’s Syndrome – There are cases when
the twenty-third chromosome fails to divide properly
and the developing organisms ends up with an extra
X or Y chromosome. An individual with an XXY
twenty-third chromosome is physically a male, with
penis and testicles, but with marked feminine
characteristics. His breasts are enlarged and his
testes is small and do not produce sperm.
3. Type XXY - Man with extra Y chromosome. They
are taller than average and are reported to be
unusually aggressive.
1. Thomas Bouchard, a psychologist from the
University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, studied 60
pairs of twins – real twins from one ovum, who had
been separated at birth and brought up in different
families. Bouchard made these human subjects
undergo hundreds of tests: IQ tests, tolerance tests,
self-control, etc – to see if they had any genetic base
and the team concluded that “there is”
2. Professor Jean Medioni, professor of psychology
at the University of Toulouse, claims that the studies
carried out on the twins by Bouchard do not allow
one to study the direct influence of heredity. All they
gave are variations found in a person as a function
of the variation in the genetic patterns of a given
group. He maintained that a change in the control
group would yield a different result.
3. Jonathan Beckworth from the Department of
Molecular Biology at Harvard also points out that the
studies on twins are biased for the simple reason
that the families in whish the twins grew up all have
pretty similar backgrounds. Some of Bouchard’s
sample had also been in contact with each other
before the tests took place.
4. Hugh Girling, in charge of the study from a British
team from University College, London retracted its
statement that they had discovered a link between
schizophrenia and genetics in the families they had
been studying. He believes that although they have
long studied our own nature as human beings, they
have not had much success with the results because
we are quite complicated animals.
5. Francis Strayer, Professor of Genetic Biology in
Toulouse University, says that a gene is only a
chemical factory where proteins are made which will
play a precise role in a specific organ of the body
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 3
 and which will not work properly without the
cooperation of millions of other genes.
Events During the Process of Fertilization
When a fertilized egg or zygote is abot to divide, its
chromosomes and genes are doubled. A complete set is
passed on to each daughter cell. Through this process of
chromosome replication and cell division, all cells except
the reproductive cells receive identical inheritance.
Sometimes, instead od remaining together as parts of a
single organisms, the cell separates. They develop to
form identical twins. Siamese twins come from an
incomplete separation of the two identical cells. The
process of cell division continues with the chromosomes
being always replicated as described.
At the time of puberty, the reproductive cells develop and
undergo a kind of division called meiosis. Instead of
chromosomes being split and doubled prior to cell
division, one member of each pair goes to each new cell.
Instead of the original 46 chromosomes, each
reproductive cell, male or female, will have only 23
chromosomes.
Behavior genetics. A branch of both psychology and
genetics concerned with the inherited bases of behavior.
Francis Galton introduced the twin study which is one of
the widely used method of studies of hereditary
influences on behavior. Identical twins are exactly alike in
hereditary endowment because they developed from a
single fertilized egg. While Fraternal twins develop from
separate eggs and are no more alike in heredity than are
ordering siblings.
What is inherited?
1. Physical Traits. We inherit many physical traits from
our parents and ancestors. Some of the physical
traits known to ne hereditary are color and shape of
the eyes, color and texture of the hair, color or shade
of the skin, etc.
2. Mental Traits. Many scientists believe that level of
intelligence and special talents are inherited. Studies
made of certain families show that both desirable
and undesirable traits can be inherited.
ENVIRONMENT. There nmhj are two sources of
environmental influences which act upon the organism: a.
Internal environment. Stimuli acting within the organism.
Includes the intracellular system consisting of physical and
chemical forces within the cell that influence the genetic
materials of the nucleus, and the extracellular system
consisting of the blood and the lymph and the pressure that
surround the cells influence their growth and development.
b. External environment. Stimuli acting outside the
organism. It can be divided into two phases:
1. Prenatal Environment – consisting of the amniotic
fluid that surrounds the fetus and the materials provided and
removed by the mother’s body;
2. Postnatal Environment – consisting of the various
complex types of stimulation that confront the child after birth.
3. Social Environment – includes all the human
beings who influence us in one way or another.
Training. Closely attached to environment and includes all of
the social, educational, cultural, moral and religious agencies
with which the child comes in contact. Training in the proper
environment can make individuals very different from what
they otherwise would have been.
Efforts of the Will. Will is one’s capacity to direct and to
restrain thought, action, and emotion. The will realizes or
disregards the opportunities which environment and training
represent.
Sex. It is also asserted that individual differences may be
attributed in part at least to sex. Apparent differences
between the sexes in ability to achieve success in certain
areas of work or study are attributable to such circumstances
as traditional attitudes, interests, and opportunities to
succeed.
TYPES OF GENE-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION –
Danidoff (1987) points to three major types of gene-
environment interactions:
1. Passive. The child-rearing policies of fathers and
mother are influenced, in part by the same genes
that shape heir offsprings. This type is noticeable
during childhood and declines at adolescence.
2. Evocative. Some qualities of the child’s intellect and
personality that are shaped by heredity evoke
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 4
 predictable responses from environment. This type
remains throughout life.
3. Active. People seak out experiences that harmonize
with their intellects, motives, and personalities which
are influenced by their heredity.
Genetic Engineering. A method of changing the inherited
characteristics of an organism in a predetermined way by
altering its genetic material to synthesize increased yields of
compounds, to form entirely new compounds, or to adapt to
different environments. Other uses of this technology which is
called recombinant DNA technology, includes gene therapy
which involves supplying a functional gene to a person with a
genetic disorder or with other diseases such as AIDS or
cancer.
Chapter 3. The Physiological Foundation of Behavior
THE NERVOUS SYSTEM – the most complex and elaborate
system of structures in the human body. It is composed of a
group of interrelated and interrelating units that enable man to
receive stimuli from the environment and to make the
necessary and appropriate responses to such stimuli. It
regulates the behavior of the whole individual to enable him to
survive.
The nervous system of all vertebrates has two main divisions:
1. Central nervous system – composed of the brain
and the spinal cord.
2. Peripheral nervous system – part of the nervous
system outside the brain and the spinal cord which
includes all the nerves and ganglia.
The neuron. The basic unit of the nervous system. Each
neuron is composed of a cell body which contains a nucleus.
The cell body performs the work of metabolism. The cell
processes are the axons and the dendrites. The dendrites
receive the impulses from other neurons or receptors and
conduct impulses towards the cell body. The axon conducts
neural impulses away from the cell body.
The neurons may be classified according to their function:
1. Afferent or sensory neurons – these carry messages
towards the central nervous system from the
receptors such as the eyes, ears and other sense
organs.
2. Efferent or motor neurons – these carry messages
from the central nervous system to the muscles and
glands.
3. Connecting or association neurons – these are
‘middlemen’ between neurons. They are between
the sensory and motor neurons. Most of them are
found within the central nervous system.
Glia cells or neuroglia. The most abundant cells,
outnumbering the neurons 10 to 1. Glia cells are smaller than
neurons. Their function is to provide support to the neurons.
The Synapse. The only way that a neuron can communicate
with other neurons is through the synapse. Each synapse
acts like a small calculator that register electric signal. At the
end of each axon are button-like swellings called terminal
buttons. They contain small packets called synaptic vesicles
where chemical transmitter substances are stored.
The Nerve Impulse. This is wave of electro-chemical
disturbance propagated along a nerve fiber. The minimum
voltage needed to trigger an action potential or nerve impulse
is called the threshold. Once threshold is reached, the
membrane permeability no longer depends on the strength of
the stimulus. If the threshold is reached, all the membrane
permeability changes will occur, but if the threshold is not
reached, they will not occur at all. This is called the all-or-
nothing law.
The Central Nervous System.
The brain and spinal cord together make up the central
nervous system. They are protected from external damage by
being enclosed in the cranium and the vertebral column. The
largest number of nerve cells is found in the central nervous
system. The rest of the neurons are found outside the brain
and the spinal cord, and are part of the peripheral nervous
system which is composed of all the nerve fibers connecting
the receptors with the central nervous system.
The brain. The portion of the nervous system that is encased
in the cranial bones. It is composed of soft nerve tissues
covered by three membranes, together known as the
menenges. There are three major subdivisions of the brain:
the hindbrain, the midbrain, and the forebrain.
1. The hindbrain. Within the hindbrain are the medulla
oblongata, cerebellum, and pons varoli.
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 5
 2. The midbrain. Contains nerve tracts that connect
the cerebrum with the brain stem and the spinal
cord.
3. The Forebrain. This is the highest part of the brain
which is divided into three main parts: the thalamus,
limbic system, and the cerebrum.
The spinal cord. Composed mainly of nerve connections
running between the brain and the various [arts of the body. It
is a long, tapering tube which occupies the hollow interior of
the vertebral column, through the opening of which the spinal
nerves enter and emerge from the cord.
The Peripheral Nervous System. It is composed of nerves
that connect the brain and the spinal cord to the periphery of
the body. It has two subdivisions;
1. Somatic nervous system – Controls all striated
muscles – the muscles which contract when we
walk, talk, write, make all types of voluntary motions,
and make involuntary adjustments in posture and
other reflex functions. It controls most of what we
call behavior.
2. Autonomic nervous system – It regulates the
“automatic” actions of the viscera necessary to keep
the body in operation and to produce the species. It
controls the heart action, digestion, excretion,
salivation, etc.
The Endocrine Glands. In the human body are many
glands which are composed of cells that specialize in
secreting highly complex chemical substances called
hormones. A hormone is a secretion of a gland that is
carried by the blood all over the body and regulates
certain body processes.
1. The Pituitary Gland. Secrets hormones that act on
particular endocrines and stimulate their growth and
activity.
2. The Thyroid Glands. Influences the rate of body
metabolism especially oxidative or respiratory
processes in all cells of the body.
3. The Parathyroid Glands. Secrete parathormone, a
hormone necessary to control the balance of various
minerals in the bloodstream especially calcium.
4. The Thymus. Inhibits sexual development during
childhood, but ceases to function after.
5. The Adrenals. Has two parts; the medulla which
secretes adrenalin and cortex which is considered
as an amazing endocrine factory since it produces
very many different hormones (sex hormones, those
that act in regulating carbohydrates and protein
metabolism, and those that act in regulating salt and
water balance).
6. Islets of Langerhans. Secret insulin whish is needed
in the regulation of blood sugar by the cells.
7. The Gonads. Refer to the ovaries for the female and
testes for the male which produces sex hormones.
Chapter 4. Human Development
Growth refers to quantitative changes – increase in size and
structure. An individual grows physically as well as mentally.
Development refers to the qualitative changes. It may be
defined as a progressive series of orderly, coherent changes:
progressive because the changes are directional, they lead
forward rather than backward – orderly and coherent,
because a definite relationship exists between a given stage
and the stages precede or follow it.
Prenatal Development. During the period of pregnancy, the
organism passes through three stages of development:
1. The Germinal Stage. Starts from conception and
ends after the second week.
2. The Embryonic Stage. Begins when the zygote
implants itself in the uterine wall and lasts until the
eighth week.
3. Fetal state. Starts at the third month and extends up
to the period of birth.
Factors affecting Prenatal Development
Hurlock (1982) states that the following factors affect prenatal
development.
1. Maternal Nutrition. The mother’s diet must contain
sufficient proteins, fats, and carbohydrates to keep
the child healthy.
2. Vitamin Deficiency. Deficiency of vitamins C, B6,
B12, D, E and K is especially likely to interfere with
the normal pattern of prenatal development.
3. Maternal Health. Maternal health conditions are
known to have a great effect on the unborn child.
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 6
 4. Drugs. Pregnant women are advised to take no
drugs without their doctor’s knowledge.
5. X-ray. When used in early pregnancy, x-ray and
radium are usually damaging to the unborn child.
6. Alcohol. If used frequently and heavily, it is likely to
damage the child’s physical and mental
development.
7. Tobacco. Maternal smoking effects the fetal heart
rate and the chemical content of the fetal blood.
8. Maternal Emotions. In mild maternal stresses, fetal
activity and fetal heart rate increase.
9. Uterine Crowding. In multiple births, crowding may
limit fetal activity which is important for normal
development.
The Neonate. A newly-born individual especially in its first
month of life.
Motor Development follows a sequence of development
from general to specific. Development also proceeds from
head toward tails or cephalocaudal. There is a universal
tendency for all vertebrates to develop faster at the head
(cephalic) than at the tail (caudal). The earliest areas that are
sensitive to stimulation are the face and the neck.
Development also proceeds from the central to the more
outlying parts of the organism or proximodistal. In this
sequence, first the whole leg, then the knee, next the ankle,
and finally the toes become capable of independent
movement.
Language Development. Language includes every means of
communications in which thoughts and feelings are
symbolized so as to convey meaning to others. The newly
born infant communicates;
1. Crying. It means many things as he grows older; it
will mean specific situations.
2. Cooing. A baby makes many simple sounds during
the first months of life like grunts of pain, squeals of
delight, yawns, etc.
3. Babbling. A verbal practice that lays the foundation
for developing the skilled movement required in
speech.
4. Syllables will combine to form words.
Language development is influenced both by maturation and
environment. Some factors that influence speech
development are:
1. Sex. Girls tends to speak earlier and more skillfully
than boys.
2. Socioeconomic status. Children from higher
socioeconomic groups speak earlier, express
themselves better, and talk more than those from the
lower groups.
3. Family relationship. A healthy family relationship
facilitates speech development.
4. Number of siblings. An only child requires language
earlier than those siblings close in age.
5. Health. Severe and prolonged illness during the first
two years of life delays the beginning of speech and
the use of sentence by 1 and 2 months.
Cognitive Development involves changes in how
children underhand and think about their world as they
grow older. Researches show that children understand
and think about their world in qualitatively different ways
as they pass through various stages of cognitive
development.
PIAGET’S THEORY. Jean Piaget made observations in
order to figure out what goes on in child’s mind. He
argued that (1) we cannot understand learning without
understanding thinking, and (2) that children think
differently from adults. He assumed that stages are
organized around a dominant theme and that each stage
contains qualitatively different behaviors. He sis not state
that all children go through the stages at exactly the
same ages, but stated that all children go through the
same stages in the same order. These four stages
identified by him are:
1. SENSORIMOTOR STAGE which extends from birth to
about 2 years old. Its main theme is discovering
relationships between sensations and motor behavior.
Infants who are in their first 4 months of the sensorimotor
stage lack the concept of object permanence. This is
observed when an object placed in front of him and is
later hidden from view, he or she will not search for it
visually or manually. Object permanence is knowledge
that objects continue to exist even hen they can no
longer be experienced. Object permanence develops
during the sensorimotor stag. Infants usually start
searching for concealed objects somewhere between 8
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 7
 and 12 months of age. The development of object
permanence paves the way of new learning.
2. PREOPERATIONAL STAGE which extends from about 2
to 7 years of age. Its dominant theme is discovering
operations, which are plans, strategies, and rules for solving
problems and for classifying information. Preoperational
children have the basic mental abilities for doing mental
operations. They can form mental images and they can
represent things symbolically with words. But preoperational
children are only beginning to discover the logical mental
operations that will characterize their later thinking.
3. CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE extends from about
7 to 11. Its main theme is extending mental operations from
concrete objects to purely symbolic terms. Concrete
operational children have learned the principle of
conversation which means that they correctly use mental
operations about concrete objects. They also use operations
to form mental maps of their environment.
4. FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE extends from about 13
years of age on into adulthood. Its main theme is the ability to
consider many possible solutions to a problem and the ability
to systematically test those possibilities. One of the major
achievements of cognitive development is the mastery of
language, a central component of human intelligence.
ERICKSON’S THEORY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT.
Development, Erickson says, functions by the epigenetic
principle. This principle says that we develop through
predetermined unfolding of our personalities in eight stages.
Each stage involves certain developmental tasks that are
psychosocial in nature.
Erickson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development
Each of Erickson’s stages of development is characterized by
one of two primary outcomes.
1. Age: First Year
Central Psychological Issue or Crisis:
TRUST VS MISTRUST
Infants learn to trust or mistrust that their needs will be met
by the world, especially by the mother.
2. Age: Second Year
Central Psychological Issue or Crisis:
AUTONOMY VS SHAME AND DOUBT
Children learn to exercise will, to make choices, and to
control themselves, or they become uncertain and
dobt that they can do things by themselves.
3. Age: Third to Fifth Year
Central Psychological Issue or Crisis:
INITIATIVE VS GUILT
Children learn to initiate activities and enjoy their
accomplishments, acquiring direction and
purpose. If they are not allowed initiative, they feel
guilty for their attempts at independence.
4. Age: Sixth Year through Puberty
Central Psychological Issue or Crisis:
INDUSTRY VS INFERIORITY
Children develop a sense of industry and curiosity and are
eager to learn, or they feel inferior and lose
interest in the tasks before them.
5. Age: Adolescence
Central Psychological Issue or Crisis:
IDENTITY VS ROLE CONFUSION
Adolescents come to see themselves as unique and
integrated persons with an ideology, or they
become confused about what they want out of life.
6. Age: Early adulthood
Central Psychological Issue or Crisis:
INTIMACY VS ISOLATION
Young people become able to commit themselves to
another person, or they develop a sense of
isolation and feel they have no one in the world
but themselves.
7. Age: Middle age
Central Psychological Issue or Crisis:
GENERATIVITY VS STAGNATION
Adults are willing to have and care for children and to
devote themselves to their work and the common
good, or they become self-centered and inactive.
8. Age: Old age
Central Psychological Issue or Crisis:
INTEGRITY VS DESPAIR
Older people enter a period of reflection, becoming assured
that their lives have been meaningful and ready to
face death with acceptance and dignity. Or they
are in despair for their unaccomplished goals,
failures, and ill-spent lives.
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 8
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The ability to respond emotionally is present in the newly-born
infant. The first sign of emotional behavior is general
excitement due to strong stimulation. Maturation and learning
play an important role in emotional development. In general,
three kinds of learning contribute to the development of
emotional patterns during childhood. These are trial and error
learning, learning by imitation, and conditioning. The child
must be maturationally ready before any learning can take
place. With the maturation of the nervous system and
muscles, he develops the potential for many differentiated
reactions, but his learning experiences will determine which of
the reactions he will actually employ.
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Social development means acquisition of ability to behave in
accordance with social expectations. The process by which a
child learns to live with other human beings and by which he
acquires behavior and thought patterns characteristic of his
culture is called socialization.
Foundations of Social Behavior Laid in Childhood
Atkinson et al. (1996) enumerate the following characteristics
as foundations of social behavior:
1. Imitation. The baby becomes a part of the social group
by imitating others.
2. Shyness. By the third or fourth month, the baby can
distinguish between familiar people and strangers.
3. Dependency. The more the baby is cared for by one
person, the more dependent he becomes on that person.
4. Acceptance and authority. Whether the baby will learn
conform to the requests of those who are in authority will
depend on how insistent the persons in authority are.
5. Rivalry. Rivalry depends on associations with other
babies or children.
6. Attentions seeking. During the second year, the baby
tries to get the attention of adults by crying, grabbing, or
hitting them and doing forbidden things.
7. Social Cooperation.
8. Resistant behavior. Unless the baby is given
opportunity to be dependent, resistant behavior will lead
to negativism.
MORAL DEVELOPMENT
Children usually take over the standard of conduct of their
parents. They learn how to reach other people according to
accepted standards of what is right and good and to resist
temptation to o against the rules of acceptable behavior.
There are two points of view concerning the development of
moral character: (1) that the development of moral training is
a result of social learning – the child gradually accepting the
norms of culture as he becomes old enough to have the
necessary experiences and necessary discriminations, or (2)
that the developmental process has large maturational
components, so that the stages are more nearly spontaneous
products of development, each stage arising from the one
before.
TYPES OF DISCIPLINE USED IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
Psychologists agree that there is no one prescribed discipline
for all children. Children are affected differently by the various
types of discipline they receive. There are three types of
discipline:
1. AUTHORITARIAN. Parents or guardians formulate rules
and inform children that they are expected to abide by them.
It is the exercise of power without warmth, encouragement,
and explanation. The children are not given the opportunities
to express their opinions. If children fail to conform to the
rules, they are subject to corporal punishment. Their reason
for breaking the rules is not taken into consideration.
2. DEMOCRATIC. This principle emphasizes the rights of the
child to know why rules are made and to have an opportunity
to express their opinions if they believe a rule is unfair.
Attempts are made to have the children understand the
meaning of the rules and the reasons the social group
expects them to abide by them. In this type of discipline, if
ever punishment is to be made, it is commensurate to the
misdeed. Appreciation for attempts to conform to social
expectations comes in the form of praise and social
recognition which prove to be very rewarding.
4. PERMISSIVE. This type of discipline is just the opposite of
authoritarian discipline. It developed as a revolt against the
authoritarian way of governing many adults have been
subjected to during their own childhood. It is the abdication of
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 9
power and the offering of warmth, encouragement and
explanation. In this disciplinary technique, it is believed that
the children would learn from the consequences of their acts,
how they are not punished for willful breaking of rules, nor are
they rewarded for behaving in a socially approved way. This
form of discipline is rarely if ever used by adults in our
country.
EFFECTS OF DISCIPLINE ON YOUNG CHILDREN
Studies on the effects of discipline upon young children have
shown that children are affected differently by the various
types of discipline on children’s behavior, attitudes, and
personalities are enumerated below:
1. Effects on behavior. Children of parents who are strict and
authoritarian are overly obedient, and submissive to adults
but aggressive in peer relationships. Children brought up
under democratic discipline learn to restrain behavior they
know is wrong, and are more considerate of the rights of
others. Children or permissive parents become selfish,
disregard the rights of others and are aggressive and
unsocial.
2. Effects on attitudes. Children whose parents are either
authoritarian or permissive tend to resent those in authority.
In the former case, they feel they have been treated unfairly.
In the latter case, they feel that they should have warned
them that not all adults will accept undisciplined behavior.
Democratic discipline may lead to temporary anger but not to
resentment. The attitudes formed as a result of child-harming
methods tend to become generalized to spread to all persons
in authority and to persist.
3. Effects on personality. The more physical punishment is
used, the more likely the child is to become sullen, obstinate,
and negativistic. This results in poor personal and social
adjustments, which are also characteristics of children
brought up permissively. Those brought up with democratic
discipline make the best personal and social adjustments.
ADOLESCENCE
● extends from 12 years old to late teens and defined
as a time of passage from childhood to adulthood.
● often called as a period of “storm and stress” (a time
of heightened emotional tension resulting from
physical and glandular changes that are taking place.
● A point where emotional instability occurs from time to
time, which is a logical consequence of the necessity
of making adjustments to new patterns of behaviors
and to new social expectations.
● Indications of emotional maturity at late adolescence
period includes not “blowing up” emotionally in the
presence of others and waits for a right time and
place to ‘let off’ emotional steam in a socially
acceptable manner.
V. SENSATION and PERCEPTION
Sensation
In order for sensation to occur, two factors are necessary;
1. Stimulus - any form of energy capable of exciting the
nervous system (e.g. light and sound waves, and the
chemical energy that causes the sensation of taste and
smell).
2. Receptor – specialized nerve ending capable of
responding to energy.
Senses – these are the mechanisms which convert
stimulus energy into neural energy.
✓ There are five primary senses: vision, hearing,
smell, taste, and the skin senses.
1. Vision – the sense organ for vision is the eye.
o The eye – the sense of sight and is arranged like
a camera to focus on light reflected from or
generated by objects outside the body onto a
sheet of receptor cells called the ‘retina’ located
at the back of the eye.
Structure of the Eye
1. Sclera (outer coat) – a tough opaque layer of connective
tissue used to protect the inner structure of the eye. It
helps to maintain the shape of the eyeball.
2. Cornea – a thin and transparent layer forming the outer
layer of the front eyeball which gathers light rays to
enable them to pass through the pupil.
3. choroid coat (middle layer) – pigmented layer which
contains some of the blood vessels that supply the eye
with blood. It also absorbs imperfectly focused light rays.
4. Iris – a circular arrangement of muscles that contract and
expand to change the size of the pupil depending upon
the amount of intensity of illumination in a process called
‘light or dark adaptation’. The color of the eye is due to
the pigments in the iris.
5. Pupil – the central opening of the iris
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 10
 6. Retina (inner layer) – contains approximately
115,000,000 rods and 6,500,000 cones which are light
sensitive cells which serves as the receptors in the eye.
● Rods – shaped like cylinders which functions
chiefly under the conditions of ‘low illumination’
and send information to the brain about
movement and about white, gray and black but
not about the color.
● Cones – conical and tapered in shape which
functions in ‘bright light’ and provide information
not only about movement and black and white
dimension but also about color.
● Fovea – most sensitive part of the retina which
contains only cones tightly packed together.
● Blind spot – the region of the retina where
there are no rods and cones.
7. Vitreous Humor – the inside cavity of the eyeball is filled
with transparent substance.
8. Aqueous Humor – the space between the cornea and
the iris is filled with this
● Accommodation – the lens becomes thinner to bring
far away objects into focus and thickens to focus on
nearby objects.
Defects of Vision
1. Presbyopia – a special form of farsightedness which
occurs with advancing age. The lens hardens which
results to failure in accommodation. A person with this
defect cannot focus clearly on nearby objects and must
wear glasses that will help the lens do whatever purpose
it can no longer do for itself.
2. Farsightedness/hyperopia – caused by shortened
eyeball, making the distance from the lens to the retina
too short. The lens will focus at a point behind the retina.
A person with this defect is able to clearly see objects
from afar but not the near ones. This condition can be
corrected through the use of ‘convex lenses.
3. Nearsightedness/myopia – the eyeball is elongated and
the distance from the lens to the retina is too long. The
light is then focused in front of the retina. Since people
with this defect cannot thin out enough to bring far
objects into clear focus, concave lenses are used to
cause the light rays to converge farther back in the eye.
4. Astigmatism – a structural defect of the eye generally
caused by an irregularity in the shape of the cornea
which bends the incoming light in various ways so that
the lens receives an irregular image to pass along to the
retina. This defect can be corrected through the use of
ground lenses which compensate for the irregularities in
the eye.
5. Colorblindness – poor color vision caused by inherited
lack on one or another of the three types of cones. It may
also be caused by deficiencies in the nerves that relay
messages from the cones to the brain. Men are more
vulnerable with this defect than women.
2. Hearing – the human being’s most vital channel of
interaction with the environment.
Structure of the Ear
1. Outer Ear – the visible part of the ear composed of
the Pinna, Auditory Canal and the Tympanic
Membrane/Eardrum
2. Middle Ear – an air-filled chamber that is connected
to the pharynx by the eustachian tube. This serves
to equalize the pressure on the two sides of the
eardrum. It is composed of three small bones or
ossicles: malleus (hammer), incus (anvil) and the
stapes (stirrup).
● Oval window – the bones are hinged into a
system of levers so that the movement of the
eardrum is transmitted to this membrane.
● Round window – another membrane which lies
just below the oval window in the wall of the
middle ear chamber.
3. Inner Ear – composed complicated chambers and
canals called collectively as the series of the
labyrinth.
● Cochlea – fluid-filled bony structure shaped like a
snail shell and is called the ‘organ of hearing’.
Composed of three canals: cochlear canal, tympanic
canal and the vestibular canal.
● Basilar Membrane – a membrane which separates
the cochlea from the tympanic canal.
● Corti – a collection of hair cells that are the
receptors for hearing.
Hearing Defects
1. Conduction deafness – produced by some defects
in the system of bones and membranes that conduct
sound stimulus to the inner ear.
● Conductive deafness – this is the
collective term used to describe deafness
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 11
 due to inability to transmit vibrations
through the external and middle ear.
2. Nerve deafness – a kind of deafness which results
from damage to the nerve themselves or to the
delicate parts of the cochlea
3. Smell – at the very top of the nasal passages lies the
‘olfactory epithelium’ – the membrane that contains the
receptors sensitive to smell.
- the olfactory sense adapts to a constantly presented stimulus
(adaptation to a constant smell is quite complete within a
few minutes) and;
- responds to a reduction of olfactory stimulation with an
increased sensitivity to odors.
● Olfactory rods – receptors for smell
4. Taste
- the receptor cells for taste are located in the taste
buds on the upper surface of the tongue
- these cells are specialized cells with hair-like
processes on their outer end.
- they respond to four basic taste sense: sweet, salty,
sour and bitter.
5. The Skin Senses
- the skin has four separate senses: pain, pressure, coldness and
warmth.
- the nerve endings in the skin come in four general forms: free
nerve endings (little branches), globular bulbs, egg-
shaped corpuscles and in the form of baskets
surrounding root hairs.
● Pressure Sense – slightly bending or
slightly stretching of the surface of the skin.
Sensitivity to pressure stimulation varies on
the different surfaces of the body.
● Sense of pain – arises from extreme
stimulation of many different kinds of stimuli
in a wide variety of bodily areas.
- the actual stimulus to pain is
probably the destruction of nerve
tissues produces by insults to the
tissues (e.g. blows, cuts, pricks,
etc.)
- the receptors for pain are ‘free
nerve endings’ widely but
unevenly distributed throughout
the body.
● Sense of cold – appears to be simply the
stimulation of cold receptors which are very
responsive to temperatures which are
cooler than the body and the warmth
receptors respond to stimuli that are
warmer than the body.
- Paradoxical heat – a sensation of
hotness yielded from the
simultaneous excitation of the
warm and cool sense receptors
✓ Another set of senses include equilibrium, kinesthesis,
and organic sense.
1. Kinesthesis – the sense of bodily movement
- The receptors for kinesthesis are nerve endings
found in the parts of the body such as in the
muscles (stimulates when muscles are
stretched), tendons (when muscles contracts
putting pressure on the tendon) and in the
linings of the joints between our bones
(stimulated through movement of the bones).
2. Equilibrium – the static sense
- Two kinds of receptors give information about
movements of the head and permit a sense of
balance of the body: the semicircular canals
and the vestibular canal located in the inner ear
next to the cochlea.
3. Organic Sense – gives the result of the sensitivity of
the visceral and other internal organs of the body.
- Visceral organs include the stomach, intestines, sex
structure, throat, heart and lungs.
- When the sensory fibers of these organs are
stimulated as a result of the activities these organs
perform, the nerve impulse are sent to the brain,
thus giving rise to this sensation.
- This sensation is related to the biological drives and
emotions which includes the feeling of nausea or
stomach cramps, thirst, hunger, bladder tensions
and the like.
Perception
According to Chaplin (1985), perception is;
- The process of knowing objects and objective events by
means of senses. This sensory input is composed of
nerve impulses.
- They carry a sort of ‘raw’, undigested information about
the environment which individuals later convert into
meaningful information.
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 12
- In general, it is the organization of sensory input into
meaningful experiences.
● Perceptual Constancy – the perception of an object
and all of its property as constant and unchanging in
spite of the continuously changing sensations of
these properties outline the scope of object
constancies.
- Size constancy – observation that the size of
objects does not appear to change in spite of the
change in the size of the image reaching the retina.
- Shape constancy – the tendency to see an object
in standard shape regardless of the viewing angle
- Location constancy – the apparent stability of
objects in space despite the changing location of
the retinal pattern reaching the eye. Objects retain
their ‘same’ position even as we move about.
Attention and Perception
Attention – a perceptual focusing which is characterized by
not perceiving things at once but rather selecting certain
objects to perceive while ignoring others (Hilgard, 1971).
- The direction of perception toward certain selected
objects which is directed by a number of stimulus
conditions (Sartain (1967):
● An intense stimulus is more likely to be noticed
than the one that is less intense.
● A changing stimulus is more likely to be noticed
than the one that does not move.
● A repeated stimulus is more likely to be noticed
that the one that is not repeated.
● A contrasting stimulus is more likely to attract
attention that the one that is not contrasting.
- Attention can either be;
● Voluntary – involved whenever one intentionally
looks or listens (e.g. you go downtown to buy shoes
and as you walk along the streets, you pay
particular attention to displays in the shoe stores.
● Habitual – stems from motives which is related to
drives, interests, attitudes, prejudices and
aspirations (Munn, 1969).
- For example, the recurring interest in food and
drink and a mother’s readiness to hear her
baby.
Depth Perception
-This is the ability to see three-dimensional space and to
accurately judge distances.
-the study of perception would be incomplete without considering
perceiving the third dimension – distance and depth.
Simple principles for depth perception
1. Depth factor of relative position or
superposition – near things appear in front of
and hence cover up part of more distant objects.
2. Linear perspective – objects appear smaller
when farther away than when near. It accounts
for the convergence of the image of parallel
lines as they become more distant.
3. The light and shadows upon parts of an object
also give depth cues. They help define the
contours of three-dimensional objects.
4. Lack of clarity or the presence of haze – this
also conveys information on depth where distant
objects appear hazy, while near objects are
clear and distinct.
5. Relative motion cues to depth - an additional
stimulus-produced cue to depth is the relative
movement of near and far objects when the
observer is moving with respect to the objects.
Personal Factors in Perception
The way we perceive objects is greatly determined by
personal factors such as motives, emotions, attitudes, and
frame of reference.
● Motives – we tend to perceive objects which are
relevant to our motives, whether they are potentially
satisfying or potentially threatening.
● Emotions – the effect of emotion to perception is
especially apparent during times of crisis. Hostile
feelings, anxiety, or a desire to influence how we
perceive another people’s behavior. People often
perceive in accordance with prevailing emotions.
● Frame of reference – a change in this factor will
change the way we perceive an object. Sartain
(1967) defines this as the system of related
categories in terms of which judgements are made.
Errors in Perception
Under certain stimulus conditions, certain errors of perception
occur in nearly everybody.
● Illusion – a perception which is common but usually
considered mistaken. It is an error in perception
which depend on stimulus conditions and occurs in
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 13
 normal individuals. When we experience this, we
perceive certain events which do not correspond to
the objective situations.
● Hallucinations – false perceptions that occur under
abnormal conditions. Visual or auditory
hallucinations are usually experienced by people
under the influence of drugs or persons suffering
from psychosis or other forms of personality
disorders.
Extrasensory Perception
- This involves the belief that information may be
transmitted through channels other than the known
sensory mechanisms.
● Telepathy - motions of though transmissions
from one individual to another.
● Clairvoyance – knowledge of happenings at
another time or place
● Precognition – predictions of future events
● Psychokinesis – the ability to move inanimate
objects through mental power
VI. INTELLIGENCE
Meaning of I.Q. (Intelligence Quotient)
- IQ is a single core which indicates the individual’s
general intellectual level.
- It is an expression of an individual’s ability level at a
given point in time, in relation to his age norms (Anastasi,
1990).
Mental Retardation or Feeblemindedness
- This is a general term used to refer to hundreds of
conditions that share common symptoms of subnormal
intellectual functioning and impaired adaptive behavior
that seem to originate during the developmental period of
the individual.
Classifications
1. Severe Mentally Retarded – used to be called
‘custodials’, are considered to be the ones lowest in
intelligence having IQs below 25 and as adults, have
mental ages of less than 3 years. They are
incapable of learning to any noticeable degree,
behavior is on a very primitive level and they seldom
acquire coherent speech.
2. Moderate Mentally Retarded – used to be called
‘trainables’, are higher in scale of intelligence than
the custodials. They have IQs between 25 and 50
and as adults, they have a mental age of that of 3 to
8 years old. They cannot learn how to read, spell or
do arithmetic and seldom acquire speaking
vocabulary.
- They are incapable of academic learning but
are capable of self-help which includes going
to the comfort room, eating, and cleaning
oneself.
3. Mild Mentally Retarded – used to be called the
‘educables’, have IQ of 50 to 70, and as adults, have
mental age of 8 to 11 and 12 years old.
- The high grade educable can usually complete
the first three or four grades of elementary
school but fails frequently and is considered
stupid by teachers and fellow students.
The Borderline Defective, Low Average, Normal or
Average, etc.
1. The Borderline Defective – according to IQ level,
those individuals between 70 and 80 are of such
inferior intelligence that their adjustment is
borderline. Their educational capacity is about the
seventh-grade level and are quite capable of
following routine if sufficient patience is exerted to
establish. It is said that many borderline individuals
are found in the routine activities of modern industry.
2. Low Average – used to define people with IQ
between 80 and 90. This group can learn all the
basic skills – reading, writing, and motor activities
but frequently with some difficulty. In the school
situation, more difficulty is encountered in
developing motivation.
3. Normal or Average – these are individuals who
have IQ scores between 90 and 110, or the average
intelligence. 50 percent or more of the population
falls into this category.
- Individuals in this group have the capacity for
relatively easy accomplishment of all the skills
demanded in everyday life. Most finish high
school and a substantial percentage start
college.
- College work is usually difficult, particularly if
there are any deficiencies in background
preparation or motivation.
- Moreover, many individuals from this group are
found in the professions.
4. High Average – the group with an IQ score of 110-
120. It is a ‘survival of the fittest’ if the members of
this group wish higher education.
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 14
 - They roughly constitute the bright-average
range and include a large number of college
graduates and have careers in business and
technical work.
5. Superior – the group with IQs of 120 to 130 include
the largest number of those with the capacity for
reasonably easy accomplishment of the schooling
necessary for professional scientific work.
6. Very Superior – those with IQs of 130 to 140.
- Excellence in learning is likely to appear in
areas where the individual can strike out on his
own without support of teachers or schools.
Gifted Persons; Geniuses; Prodigies
1. Genius - this term is commonly used to refer to
those who manifest very superior general
intelligence often defines as 140 or greater and who
have demonstrated their superiority through an
unusually high level of achievement in an
intellectually demanding pursuit.
2. Prodigy – generally refers to individuals who have
achieved special distinction in a specific enterprise,
usually at an early age, but without the requirement
of superior psychometric intelligence.
- To be classified as a prodigy, one would not
need to exhibit a very high IQ (though many
such individuals do), but would have learned
some specific skill rapidly and to a high level,
such as that in music, painting or the theatrical
arts.
3. Gifted – a person who shows an IQ greater than
130 can be classified as gifted but would not be
classified as ‘genius’ unless he had already reached
a high level of achievement in an enterprise that
required the application of his intellectual powers.
Emotional Intelligence
Success in life is a function not only of one’s I.Q. (Intelligence
Quotient) but also of his Emotional Quotient (EQ). While
some people are endowed with a lot of both, some only have
a little of the other (Goleman, Daniel, proponent of Emotional
Quotient).
Emotional Intelligence refers to the ability such as being able
to:
● Motivate oneself and to persist in facing frustrations;
● Control impulse and delay gratification;
● Regulate one’s mood and keep the stress from
swamping the ability to think and to communicate
well, and;
● Empathize and to hope.
Five Components of Emotional Intelligence
1. Self-awareness – this means that a person knows
his feelings and based on these emotions, can make
decisions.
2. Managing moods - aside from being aware of his or
her feelings, an emotionally intelligent person is said
to be adept at managing their own moods. Studies
show that young children who are able to delay their
gratification are more likely to be better achievers at
adulthood than those who cannot do so.
3. Motivation – refers to the ability to remain optimistic
and persistent in spite of setbacks and rejections.
● Pessimist – a person who easily gives up
on his goals believing that there is
something inherently wrong in himself.
● Optimist – a person who looks at a
setback as a flaw, not in himself, but in the
situation.
4. Empathy – involves sensing what others feel even
without being told. People with empathy tend to get
along well with others since they have the ability to
read unstated emotional cues.
5. Social Skill – being socially effective means that
being good at handling conflict and emotional upset
in a relationship.
As a summary, I.Q. itself simply indicates a person’s potential
and what field of profession where he can reasonably be
expected to excel. E.Q., on the other hand, determines
whether one can become a star performer in the workplace.
VII. LEARNING
- Learning is defined as a form of adaptation, mode of
adjustment, and a change in behavior.
- Learning is defined as the mental activities by means of
which knowledge and skills, habits, attitudes, and ideals
are acquired, retained, and utilized resulting in the
progressive adaptation and modification of behavior
(Bugelski, 1986).
How Learning Takes Place
There are several hypotheses concerning the process of
learning which attempt to explain how learning takes place.
1. Classical Conditioning (Ivan Pavlov, 1849-1936)
- The simplest of all forms of learning
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 15
- Pavlov was the first to conduct systematic studies on
conditional responses.
- In his famous experiment on the dog, food, and bell, he
discovered the ‘conditional reflex’. This conditioned
reflex is explained by the fact that the dog has already
been conditioned to associate the ringing of the bell with
the meat because in the past, meat was presented every
time the bell was rung.
- According to Keeton (1969), the new stimulus (sound of
the bell ringing) had apparently been associated in the
dog’s nervous system with the original stimulus (sight,
smell or taste of meat) and the same response is now
given to both. Conditioning is the associating, as a result
of reinforcement, of a response with a stimulus with
which it was not previously associated.
- In classical conditioning, the organism learns to respond
to new stimulus in the same or similar way it responds
to the old unconditioned stimulus. Conditional
responses are usually associated with incidents.
2. Instrumental Conditioning or Operant Conditioning
(Edward Lee Thorndike and B.F. Skinner)
- Instrumental conditioning involves a selection from many
responses of the one that habitually will be given in
stimulus situation. It allows the learner to discover how
his behavior affects the environmental and vice versa.
● Instrumental Conditioning by Edward Lee
Thorndike (1898)
- His experiments involved puzzle boxes and hungry
cats as subjects.
- The hungry cat was placed inside the puzzle box
and outside the box, the food was served as a
reward if it could open the door through pushing the
button or pulling a string. After many trials, the cat
managed to learn the responses instrumental in its
escape. After a few trials, the cat was able to
perform the correct action as soon as it was placed
in the box.
- Thorndike refers to this as ‘trial and error learning’.
- From his experiments, he formulated the law of
effect – in cases of the cats, they had the tendency
to retain actions that led to their freedom whereas
those which bring discomfort were not repeated.
● Operant Conditioning by B.F. Skinner (1951)
- In his experiments, he used two kinds of responses
– respondents and operants.
● Respondents – reflexive responses that
can be elicited by a known effective
stimulus.
- Examples include motor acts and emotions
● Operants – are ordinary kinds of bodily
responses that an organism emits in the
course of his behavior without being
stimulated by a specific external stimulus.
- They are reactions emitted by a subject
when it adapts to environmental conditions
or when it solves a problem.
- Examples include doing homework and other learning
activities (most of learning activities are operant in
character).
- In his experiment, Skinner is famous for his experiment on
a rat which learned to press the lever in order to obtain
food. The rat placed inside the box has some contraptions
that controlled the release of its food showed exploratory
behavior through touching various places.
- Accidentally, it pressed the lever which yielded the food
pellet (reward). Because of this, the rat had the tendency
to press the lever again which made the reaction became
reinforced.
● Operant behavior – the subject’s increase for
pressing. This is especially apparent since it
operates on the environment to produce a desired
result.
Thus, in operant conditioning
● the organism plays an important role in the learning
process;
● responses seem to be modified by reward or
punishment
● a response that is rewarded tends to be repeated
● a response followed by a punishment tends to be
avoided
The Principle of Reinforcement
● a reinforcement is any stimulus event that will maintain
or increase the strength of a response.
● In classical conditioning, reinforcement elicits the
response while in operant conditioning, reinforcement
follows response.
● Positive reinforcers – increase the probability of
response (e.g.food)
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 16
 ● Negative reinforcers – when negative reinforcers are
terminated, it increases response probability (e.g.
shock)
3. Insight Learning
- The process of solving a problem through perceiving the
relationship essential to its solution (Hilgard, 1983)
- The earliest and best-known experiments on insight
learning were done by Gestalt Psychologist Wolfgang
Kohler to describe problem-solving by grasping
relations, especially if the solution is arrived at suddenly.
- In observing chimpanzees, Kohler saw a quick
relationship that allowed a quick relationship that
allowed the animal to solve a problem, to acquire a new
response in one burst of insight.
- The characteristics of insight learning depend upon the
capacity of the individual to organize and see
relationships among different factors.
- In problem-solving situations, the mental manipulation
of concepts which are related to the thinking process
develops into a pattern of response which can be used
to solve the problem intelligently.
- Although insight learning appears to be spontaneous, it
relies not only on present experiences but also upon
past experiences.
● Aha experience – insight comes dramatically
and has been called as the ‘aha experience’
since it can come as a sudden discovery of a
solution to a problem (Hilgard and Atkinson,
1975). This usually comes with puzzles or
riddles that make good party games.
TYPES OF LEARNING
Learning may be classified according to outcomes or
products sought;
1. Rational Learning – this type of learning is clearly
intellectual in nature and involves the process of
abstraction by which concepts are formed.
- The outcome sought in this type or learning is
knowledge.
- This involves school activities such as gaining an
understanding of a philosophical principle, solving
originals in geometry, and application of a scientific laws
are intellectual in nature and involve general concepts,
judgement, reasoning, understanding of relationships
and reflective thinking.
2. Motor Learning – in this type of learning, the outcome
sought is skill which may be defined as the adaptation of
movement to stimuli resulting in speed and precision of
performance.
- Skills may vary from simple muscular reaction to complex
motor processes. However, it always involves the
development of patterns of neuromuscular coordination
and adjustment of perceptual situation.
- Many aspects of school activities use motor learning in
forms of skill development such as drawing, writing,
industrial arts, gymnastics and playing various musical
instruments where the goal is physical or muscular skill.
3. Associational Learning – involves the development of
associative patterns by which ideas and experiences are
retained, recalled, and recognized through the process of
linking together or establishing relationships between and
among these ideas and experiences so that one will
serve as the stimulus for the revival and recall of the
other or others previously experienced.
- This type of learning is primarily manifested in the
functioning of the process of association and memory.
- The outcome sought in this in this type of learning is the
acquisition and retention of facts and information.
4. Appreciational Learning - involves the process of
acquiring attitudes, ideals, satisfaction, judgement and
knowledge concerning values as well as the recognition
of the worth and importance which the learner gains from
participating in learning activities.
- Involves the acquisition of a taste for, the development of
liking for, and the expression of enjoyment of certain
aspects of life such as literature, music, fine arts, and the
like.
- This type of learning is determined in large measure by
training and experiences, constructive imagination, and
the process of association and understanding which are
necessary for the formation of appreciation.
- The outcome sought in this in this type of learning is
appreciation or aesthetic improvement.
LAWS OF LEARNING
These are attempts to state the more fundamental conditions
favorable to the learning process. They are designed to make
learning a continuous and effective process of development
when properly handled.
- Thorndike proposed three (3) primary laws of learning;
law of readiness, exercise and effect, which became the
basis of secondary laws.
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 17
1. Law of Readiness – this law is related to maturation.
- This law states that other things being equal, when the
individual is ready to act, to do so is satisfying and not to
do so is annoying.
- For instance, a child is ready to answer a question and
he is not called upon, he becomes annoyed because he
was ready to act but was not called upon.
2. Law of exercise – this law is made up of two parts:
● Law of use – asserts that the more frequently a
modifiable connection between a situation and
response is used, the stronger the connection is.
● Law of disuse – asserts that when a modifiable
connection between a situation and response is not
used over time, the strength of that connection is
weakened.
3. Law of Effect – this law supplements the law of
exercise. It asserts that connections which are pleasant
tend to be repeated and strengthened, and those that are
unpleasant tend to be avoided or weakened.
- According to Thorndike, this is the fundamental law of
teaching and learning.
Thorndike’s Five Secondary Laws on Learning
In addition to the three major laws, Thorndike formulated five
(5) secondary characteristics for the purpose of amplifying the
basic laws.
A. Law of Mind-set – refers to the mental condition of
the individual when the reaction is made to a
situation.
B. Multiple Response – this means that in a situation
where some elements are new, the learner will
respond in one way, and if such response does not
prove satisfactory, he will try one response after
another until the appropriate response is attained
(trial and error learning).
C. Partial Activity – designates the fact that an
element or an aspect of a situation may be
‘prepotent’ in causing a response. This involves a
selectivity in learning where a learner may select the
important elements from a situation instead of
responding in an unselected or random way.
D. Analogy – this indicates that when a situation
involves a stimulus for which the learner has no
native or acquired response, he may react by
interpreting the situation in the light of similar
experiences, and adjust himself as best as he can.
E. Associative Shift – this is related to conditional
reflex. When stimuli occur together frequently, the
response elicited by one will tend to become
attached to the other as well. When the response
occurs frequently together, the stimulus for one
tends to suggest the other as well.
Other Laws of Learning
1. Law of Apperception (Herbart) – this law refers to the
application if past experiences of the pupil in forming a
new connection or integrating his past experiences with
the new situation. Learning proceeds from the known to
the related unknown. Apperception is the process of
assimilation of the new by the old.
2. Law of Association (Kant) – a new connection is
formed through the association of the past and the new
situations. It is the process of relating two or more
experiences to each other.
3. Law of use and Disuse (Gates) – this law explains that
the use of connection strengthens the response; the
stronger the connection, the more prompt, easy and
certain the response will be. It weakens when the
connection is not used.
4. Law of Frequency and Recency (Watson) – this law
states that the more frequently the connection is
exercised, the stronger the connection will be. The
response or connection most frequently made will be
retained. When several responses are made to a
problem situation, the one most recently made will be
selected.
- Watson believes that recency is less prepotent than
frequency and is very essential.
5. Law of Intensity (Carr) – the more intense of vivid the
exercise, the stronger the connection will be. An intense
connection will be remembered longer than one less
intense.
- Carr assumed that all responses are retained but some
are strengthened and are therefore more likely to be
aroused when a situation is presented.
6. Law of Primacy (Watson) – this law states that the first
learned act will be better remembered than acts learned
later.
7. Law of Forgetting (Ebbinghause) – according to this
law, forgetting is typically rapid during the time shortly
after learning and less rapid during subsequent periods.
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 18
- Moreover, forgetting is less rapid if the material is
meaningful, if there is overlearning or if there is not
intervening activity between learning and recall.
RETENTION AD TRANSFER
● Retention – refers to the extent to which material
originally learned still persists. When a child initially
performs an act, we say that he has acquired that
particular behavior. Repeating the act later implies
that the child remembered or retained what he
acquired (Deese, 1967).
● Transfer – this occurs when learnings acquired in one
situation is used in a new or different situation.
Almost all educational and training programs are
built upon the basic premise that human beings have
the ability to transfer what they have learned in one
situation to another (Deese, 1967).
● Transfer of learning (Morgan and King, 1986) – a
term used to refer to the influence that learning one
task may have on the subsequent learning of
another. If the transfer is practicable, positive
transfer has transpired.
● Compartmentalization – a separation or a
phenomenon where there is no transfer. One
learned thing does not transfer to bolster or to
hamper a person in a later situation.
MEMORY AND FORGETTING
Herman Ebbinghause - a German psychologist who
pioneered in the studies involving memory.
● Memory – this is a term used to label the way facts are
impressed, retained, and later recalled. This can also be
referred to as the storage and retrieval of information
such as learning.
- Evidence for memory can be found in different tasks like
recall, recognition and relearning
● Recall – the most difficult of these tasks since
most of the related stimuli are absent
● Recognition – involves differentiation of the
familiar from the unfamiliar.
● Relearning – an attempt to regain material or a
skill that has been partially or completely lost.
● Forgetting – a failure to retain what was learned. It
refers to the extent that learned materials are lost.
Theories of Forgetting
1. Passive Decay Through Disuse – this theory assumes
that lapse of time is responsible for forgetting.
VIII. MEMORY AND THINKING
Deterioration or decay of the connections in the
brain is the reason for forgetting.
2. Interference Effects – interference of present learning
with what has been [previously learned leads to
forgetting.
● Retroactive inhibition – a kind of interference
where the subsequent learning interferes with the
remembering of the initial learning.
● Proactive inhibition – a kind of interference that
where initial learning interferes with the subsequent
learning.
3. Absence of Adequate Stimulation – the inability to
recall some event in the past is due to the absence of
appropriating stimuli.
4. Obliteration of the Memory Trace – this occurs
because of certain conditions other than time. One
example is the effect of emotional shock which prevents
consolidation. In this theory, the engram is disrupted
before consolidation has taken place.
5. Motivated Forgetting – this may be illustrated by
repression. According to this principle, some of our
memories become inaccessible to recall because of the
negative effect on us.
- This is evident when we try to forget an unpleasant
experience but are not completely successful. In daily
affairs, motivated forgetting is manifested in cases when
one forgets appointments, he expects will be unpleasant.
- The bases for motivated forgetting are not fully
understood yet, so we should not conclude a person is
deliberately lying.
FACTORS AFFECTING LEARNING
1. Maturation or Readiness – effective learning occurs
when the learner is already matured or ready to do so.
2. Intelligence – success in school is generally closely
related to the level of intelligence.
3. Opportunities for Learning – children who are given
with the opportunities to learn are more likely to gain
more experiences and skills than those with limited
facilities.
4. Environmental Conditions – school facilities and
conditions are also factors affecting learning.
5. Health of the Learner – this likely affects the ability of
the learner to learn and his power to concentrate
6. Emotional factor – emotional attitudes and factors can
have adverse effects upon learning.
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 19
The Thinking Process
- Thinking formally refers to the mental manipulation and
combination of images that use symbols as inner
representations of objects and events.
- It consists of symbolic mediation – thinking fills the gap
between a stimulus situation and the response of the
person to it. Symbolic means that thinking is done with
processes within us that are symbols or representations.
In cognitive psychology,
● Thinking is described as the mind processing the
information it perceives, organizes, remembers, and
uses.
● Memory is a term used to label the way facts and
past experiences are impressed, retained, and later
recalled.
- as a by-product of learning, it is what is left over or
retained after an interval of time.
Memorizing – a kind of learning which focuses largely
around verbal material. It is a process of making an
immediate experience so that it may be of use in the future.
• rote memorization – a verbatim learning by
repetition. It is memorizing a material without
understanding
• serial memorization – illustrated in memorizing a
poem or lines in a drama.
Building Blocks of Thought
Imagery – in part, thinking consists of imagining things:
we form images of situations. On the other hand, some
individuals have complete pictorial images of things
(eidetic or photographic memory).
The Concept of Memory – every individual responds
differently to the same learning techniques: some people
have better memory while some don’t.
- some psychologists argue that both sexes have no
difference when it comes to memory, but others believe
that females have better memory.
- in terms of age, children and adolescents are more adept
in word and rote memorization but are less adept in
learning materials in accordance to its intellectual
content.
- memory is at its best from twenty to thirty years old and
from then on, the curve of learning decreases steadily
but slightly until later the middle age.
- memory becomes poor in senescence because of the
general deterioration of the organism as a whole.
Memory Experience – those that one remembers
because these events occurred within one’s own
personal experience without someone’s help.
• Reintegrative Memory – events of the past a
person remembers that are taught in schools. It
reconstructs a past occasion not only in terms of
its content but also its setting in time and place.
Conceptual Thinking – a thinking people engage in
which involves the mediation of concepts (abstractions).
• Concept – a symbolic construction that
represents some common and general feature
or attribute of objects.
Verbal Thinking – the act of using words for concepts.
For most people, thinking is a verbal matter since it
involves words as well as the concepts for which the
words stand.
Convergent and Divergent Thinking
• Divergent thinking – people think in different
directions, sometimes searching, sometimes
seeking variety. A unique feature of this
operation is that production of variety of
responses.
• Convergent thinking – the information leads to
one right answer.
Problem-Solving – directed or problem-solving
thinking is considered the highest type of our mental
functions.
Stages in Problem-Solving
1. Preparation – working out what the problem
really is through gathering facts and materials
that seem relevant to the problem.
2. Incubation – after some failure in solving the
problem, the thinker temporarily gives up but
doing and learning other things at the same time
which may provide solution to the problem.
3. Illumination – a sudden and completely new
idea for a solution is an insight which the ‘Aha! I
have it’ as the reaction of the thinker.
4. Evaluation – the thinker tests the idea to
determine if it really works (if not, he will begin
again the process).
Factors Affecting Problem-Solving. The success of a
person in solving problems depends on some personal
factors within the individual rather than on the problem itself.
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 20
 1. Intelligence – the ability to solve problems is one of
the ingredients of intelligence.
2. Motivation – it gives directness to thoughts that
seem relevant to the solution of the problem.
3. Set – the way people are used to doing things
(habit) produces a readiness (set) to go about a new
problem in a way.
4. Functional fixedness – the tendency to think of
objects in the way they usually function.
Reasoning – a kind of problem solving that
requires the most thinking. Thinking can only be
considered reasoning when logic rules are strictly
followed.
Creative Thinking – this kind of thinking involves
extraordinary, instead of conventional solutions.
The important bases of creative solution-making is
imagination.
• Free-association – a kind of creative
thinking characterized as a sort of running
thought that is always present when no
particular reason to think can be identified.
Such thoughts are free in the sense of not
being purposely directed to some end.
• Problem-oriented creative thought –
more readily manipulated for controlled
observations.
• Brainstorming- a kind of creative
endeavor which involves grouping people
to solve a problem in a free environment.
THEORIES OF THINKING
1. Piaget’s Theory. His theory describes the stages in the
development of adult thinking. He stated that each
individual perceives and structures reality according to
our available mental tools or thinking processes. His four
stages are: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete
operational, and formal operational.
According to Piaget, our thinking processes change
radically, though slowly, from birth to maturity. He pointed
out three influences on the development of thinking.
a. Motivation – the unfolding of the biological
changes that are genetically programmed in
each human being at conception.
b. Activity – the increasing ability to act on the
environment and learn from it.
c. Social Transmission – interacting with the
people around us and leaving from them.
2. Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development –
child’s cognitive development depends much more
on the people in the child’s world.
• a major factor in learning is language since it
does not only provides a means of expressing
ideas and asking questions but also provides
the categories and concepts for thinking.
• Vygotsky believes that cognitive development
occurs through the interaction of the child with
more capable members of the culture, adults, or
more able peers who serve as guides and
teachers providing information and support
necessary for the child to grow intellectually.
• Some problems can be solved independently by
the child, but others are beyond his mental
capabilities and this stage is called the zone of
proximal development (the middle point). This is
the area where the child cannot solve a problem
alone nut can be successful under adult
guidance or in collaboration with a more
advanced peer.
IX. MOTIVATION
✓ This term is derived from the word ‘motive’ which means
the ‘inner state that energizes, activates or moves and
that which directs behavior towards our goals.
✓ Other terms used to describe motivation are ‘drive’,
‘needs’, or ‘desire’.
✓ It starts when a person perceives a need that must be
satisfied which occurs when some form of stimulus
attracts a person’s attention to the need. When the
person perceives the need, he is motivated to act in
order to satisfy.
Drive – a physiological condition which impels the
organism to become active. It is unlearned and is
engaged in for immediate satisfaction. The gaining of
satisfaction reduces tensions and promotes the
feeling of pleasantness while the non-fulfillment of it
leads to annoyance.
Motive – something that incites the organisms to
action or that sustains and gives direction to action
once the organism has been aroused. It can be
regarded as characterizing those internal conditions
or forces that tend to impel an individual toward the
attainment of certain goals by causing one stimulus
pattern to be more forceful than another or by
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 21
 enabling the individual to desire strongly. Motives
may make a person work hard to reach his goal.
Goal – refers to a substance, object, or situation
capable of satisfying a need and toward which
motivated behavior is directed.
Need – the lack of something required for the
survival, health, or well-being of the individual.
Classification of Motives
1. Physiological or Survival Motives – are those
directly related to normal body functions such as the
need for air, food, water, excretion of wastes, rest,
protection from the extremes of heat and cold, sleep
and avoidance of pain.
- they are sometimes called primary motives and are
defined as physiological and innate.
a. Hunger – the strength of the hunger drive
can be measured by discovering how much
resistance an organism will endure or
overcome in order to reach food that will
alleviate the hunger state.
b. Thirst – the dryness of the membranes of
the mouth results from a deficiency of water
in the tissues and a decrease in the
secretions of the salivary glands. The thirst
drive is satisfied by drinking water.
c. Recovery from Fatigue – the urge to sleep
or rest when tired is a sign that the body
needs rest and relaxation. Sleep and rest
help to establish and maintain homeostasis
or organic equilibrium.
d. Maintenance of Temperature Normalcy –
a human being is a warm-blooded animal
with a body temperature of 98.6 degrees
Fahrenheit which should be maintained.
e. Maintaining Proper Elimination – the
process of elimination of waste matter is
taken care of by the body through the
proper functioning of specialized organs as
they are activated by adequate internal
stimuli.
f. Avoidance of Pain – the need to avoid
tissue damage is essential for the survival
of any organism.
2. Psychological or Social Motives – those which
arises as a result of interaction with other people.
The so-called motives substantially depend on social
groups and concern social dominance, conformity to
societal norms and obedience to authority. The
common psychological or social motives that leads
us to affiliate and interact with others are the need
for security, social approval, affection, sex and
dependence.
a. Affectional drive – this is the drive to have
contact with or be near some object or
person that provides comfort and warmth.
b. Need for security and safety – the urge
for security is one of the most powerful
socializing forces. It motivates individuals to
be cooperative and thereby builds a society
that enables people to live together in
peace and harmony.
c. Sex urge – classified as a social motive
since it involves another person. The
society sets the pattern for acceptable
modes of sexual gratification.
d. The need for affiliation – this is the desire
to connect or associate oneself with others.
e. Gregariousness – the desire to be in the
company or in the presence of other
people.
f. Dependency or succorance – the need to
seek aid, protection, and sympathy from
another, the need to depend on others,
need to have someone to look up to and
depend for help.
g. Social approval – the desire for group
approval or for others to think well of us.
3. Ego-integrative or personal motives – these are
the motives built around the “self” which must be
satisfied. They have to do with the individual’s need
for self-respect, self-esteem, the desire for prestige,
and status in the eyes of others, or the desire for
power.
a. Recognition – the need for frequent
tangible proof that they are getting ahead.
Related to this motive are the drive for
prestige and the drive for status.
• prestige need – the desire to feel
better than other persons with
whom one compares himself; it is
a desire to attain a personality of a
greater status
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 22
 • status drive – the need to have a
high rank in the society, to be
respected by people we know and
not to be considered inferior, to be
highly regarded by others.
b. The Power Drive – (dominance) the need
to control and influence others, to seek or
compel the obedience of others, to
determine their fate.
c. Achievement drive – the drive to
accomplish something in order to have a
feeling of having done something
worthwhile or important. it is also defined as
the striving of an individual to succeed in
what he undertakes.
d. Autonomy – the drive for independence,
the need to resist the influence of others. It
also refers to the desire to do what one
feels he can do.
e. Defensiveness drive – desire of one to
defend oneself from blame, criticism,
ridicule and censure, the desire to preserve
one’s good name, to avoid failure shame
and humiliation.
Theories of Motivation
Theory of Sequential Development (Abraham H.
Maslow).
The organization of basic needs is helpful in
understanding the variety of needs of an individual. The
presents seven levels arranged in a hierarchy. Arranged
from lowest to the highest, they are;
▪ physiological needs (hunger, thirst, etc.)
▪ safety and security needs (stability, order, etc.)
▪ belongingness and love need (affection,
affiliation and identification)
▪ esteem and prestige needs (recognition, self-
respect, honor)
▪ cognitive needs (need to know, understand
curiosity)
▪ aesthetic needs (need for beauty, order,
symmetry)
▪ self-actualization needs (need for self-
fulfillment)
- Maslow’s hierarchy is a kind of ideal description of the
way needs emerge. As gratification at one level occurs,
the next level or levels become proportionately more
important. It explains why people are likely to be
motivated most strongly by what they do not have.
- Finally, very few people ever achieved complete self-
actualization but there is the need to live to our potential
and to reach our potential goal.
Psychoanalytic Theory (Sigmund Freud)
Father of Psychoanalysis, he considers personality to
have three structures: the ID, EGO and the SUPEREGO.
His contention is that the behavior that we manifest is the
product of these three structures.
▪ ID. The amoral part of the personality which is
described as primitive and unconscious. It is the
savage, animalistic nature of man such as the
sex drive and the urge to destroy. Left to itself,
the ID would seek immediate satisfaction for
those motives as they arise without the moral
standard of the right and wrong. This is the
pleasure-seeking part of the personality.
▪ EGO. sometimes called the ‘self’, this consists of
ways of behaving and thinking that are socially
acceptable. It delays the satisfaction of the Id and
channels the libido into socially-approved outlets.
It is partly unconscious because it is in
communication with the id. It works on the reality
principle and functions as the executive with veto
powers of all that the id attempts to energize in
seeking fulfillment of its desires.
▪ SUPEREGO. Corresponds to what is commonly
referred to as ‘conscience’. It is the moral part of
the personality which consists of restraint,
represents the ideal rather than the real. Its main
function is to inhibit the impulses of the id,
restrains the activity of the ego and is mainly
concerned with deciding whether something is
right or wrong so that it can act in accordance
with the moral standards authorized by the
agents of the society. Thus, the superego is a
personality structure which strives for perfection
rather than pleasure.
Defense Mechanisms – these are the ways to reduce the
anxieties caused by the frequent conflict of the id with the ego
and the superego.
- adjustments made unconsciously to escape recognition
of oneself from factors that will threaten self-esteem.
-
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 23
Principles Governing Human Behavior (Sigmund
Freud)
1. The Pleasure Principle – man is a pleasure-
seeking animal, it is not a duty to seek pleasure but
rather that every act is motivated by the desire for
pleasure and to some degree by the avoidance of
pain. Being in a pleasant state of existence
(euphoria) is a basic principle of Freud.
2. Reality Principle – man not only seeks pleasure but
is also bounded with limits of reality which tells him
that to postpone immediate pleasures in favor of
more important future pleasures.
3. Tension Reduction Principle – Man will become
tightened up in somewhat the same fashion as a
rubber band or rope pulled in opposite directions
which causes unhappiness due to pain. The way to
avoid this painful force is to reduce the tension or to
remove it, or to become so strong that the pressure
becomes relatively weak and tolerable.
4. Polarity or Duality Principle – everything in life is
manifested in two dissimilar qualities: right-wrong,
good-bad, up-down, man-woman, life-death, etc. We
are continuously being confronted with making
decisions between doing or not doing certain
activities.
• Pole Reversal – best illustrated in the
terminologies of psychoanalysis, sadism
(pleasure from making others suffer) and
masochism (pleasure from making one’s self
suffer)
5. Repetition-Compulsion Principle – man is a habit-
forming animal. He is inclined to repeat that which is
successful. The longer he does so, the more fixed
this becomes as his modus operandi in daily life.
Superiority and Inferiority Theories (Alfred Adler)
1. Inferiority Principle – man is born into the world
feeling incomplete and unfulfilled, with a deep sense
of inferiority. Most of humanity wants to go beyond
where it is, but once having attained a desired goal,
one has only temporary feeling of satisfaction and
success.
2. Superiority Principle – man wishes to be superior
and his superiority wishes to grow out of
feelings of being inadequate or inferior. To Adler,
there is only one drive, and that is the desire for
superiority.
Need Theory (Henry Murray) – Famous for his
projected test known as Thematic Apperception Test
(TAT) which is an instrument used to measure human
psychological needs. He was able to identify 20 needs
which he believes are present in every individual
although may vary in strength and intensity. When these
needs are not fulfilled, it places the individuals under
stress and in order to relieve himself from the tensions,
one has to strive for appropriate actions.
Theory of Functional Autonomy of Motives (Gordon
Allport) – the motives of a person develop in his attempt
to satisfy other motives, continue to function
automatically, despite the sense of further reinforcement
of physiological conditions originally responsible for
them.
X. EMOTIONS
✓ Comes from the Latin word ‘movare’ which means to stir
up, agitate, upset or move.
✓ It is the descriptive term referring to variations in the level
of arousal, affective state or mood expressive moments
and attitudes.
✓ A feeling which is accompanied by characteristic
behavioral or physiological events.
✓ The integrated reaction of the total organism involving
minute physiological, neural, and glandular changes in the
entire human being and not just a part of him.
Aspects of Emotion
1. Physiological Aspect – the outward manifestations of
emotions in our body is very common.
- circulatory system – when excited, the speed and
strength of the heartbeat is increased.
- respiratory system – gasping for breath and sighing are
the external manifestations of these changes.
- excretory system – an example of a duct gland
stimulated by emotional response is the sweat gland.
• The nervous system and emotions – the autonomic
nervous system is the most affected part of the emotion. It
keeps the internal environment in balance. The
sympathetic stimulation is responsible for increased
heartrate and respiration, adrenal output, blood pressure
and slowing down of salivation and digestive functions.
• The brain and the emotions – the cortical and
subcortical structures of the brain have been found to be
related to emotion.
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 24
 ✓ hypothalamus – identified as the ‘seat of emotions.
It serves as the ‘control center’ for sympathetic and
parasympathetic systems.
✓ thalamus – consists of subcortical tissues below the
cerebral cortex, receives impulses from the whole
body, serves as a relay from the body to the cortex.
Emotions Affect Memory Retention
✓ amygdala – important in modulating memory for
events according to their emotional importance,
regardless of whether the nature of emotion is
pleasant or aversive.
✓ hippocampus – the ‘prime memory center’ which
helps the amygdala enhance the memory
THEORIES OF EMOTION
James-Lange Theory of Emotion
William James – American philosopher and psychologist
✓ this theory states that the common-sense view
involves three steps;
1. the person perceives the situation that evokes
the emotion
2. he becomes aware of the emotion
3. reacts to the emotion
✓ James proposed that in an emotional experience, we
first perceive the situation, second, we react, our
heart pounds and we find ourselves running away
from a situation and then we realize we are afraid
and feel afraid.
Carl Lange - Danish physiologist and psychologist
✓ proposed the same explanation in the occurrence of
an emotion.
✓ Thought that emotion is not due to the perceived,
physiological changes that occur, the emotion
follows.
✓ This viewpoint emphasizes that we feel sorry
because we cry; afraid because we tremble, and not
the other way around.
The James-Lange Theory did not explain adequately the
nature and function of emotion but its greatest
contribution would probably be the emphasis laid on
bodily changes accompanying emotions.
Hypothalamic Theory of Emotions
✓ hypothalamus is the control center of the neural
activity involved emotion.
✓ Walter B. Cannon – noted that physiological
changes accompanied different emotions, hence
bodily changes alone cannot account for the different
human feelings.
✓ This view states that an emotional sequence should
be described as follows;
1. The organism perceives a situation to be
fearsome
2. The hypothalamus takes over and at the
same time impulses go out from this control
center to the brain and other parts of the
body.
3. Hence, we have the awareness and feeling
of fear at the same time that the bodily
changes and the action of running away are
taking place.
✓ The greatest contribution of this theory is the
recognition that a control center for emotions is
located in the hypothalamus of the brain.
Activation Theory of Emotions (D.B. Lindsley)
✓ States that emotion is a heightened state of activity
of the nervous system, particularly the cerebral
cortex.
✓ Heightened activity – refers to the increased rate of
discharge of neural impulses.
✓ Sensory feedback from the muscles to the CNS
increase activation.
✓ This theory also tried to show the relation of motives
to emotions. Motives and emotions occur at certain
levels of activation.
Limbic System and Emotion (E. Gelhorn)
✓ According to this theory, we have a visceral brain that
comprises the limbic system composed of a variety of
neural centers lying in the old area of the cortex and
the hypothalamus.
✓ Visceral Brain – refers to interpretations of feeling
arising from the internal organs of the body.
✓ This theory holds that while the cortex is engaged in
intellectual interpretation of verbal and related
symbols, the limbic system makes interpretations in
terms of emotion or feelings that go with the
emotional experience.
Control of Emotions
1. Outward Manifestations – in our effort to control our
emotions, we learn to suppress or modify our overt
responses (Gilmer). People’s actions are governed by
social sanctions and taboos.
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 25
2. Emotional Situations – since most situations trigger
emotional responses, we try to avoid or change the
situation which would give rise to an undesirable
response.
3. Temperament – some people are more emotional and
temperamental than others. Emotional control can be
attained through patient and persistent effort to overcome
the bad habit. One can begin with a self-analysis and a
genuine desire to improve his emotional responses.
4. Emotional Suppression – A healthy balance between
emotional release and suppression may sometimes
prevent a person from certain undesirable actions.
Emotional control can incur calculated risks, but the
emotionally healthy individual should learn to live with
such limitations.
5. Teaching Emotional Control – in teaching emotional
control, two things should be emphasized;
a. children must learn to face reality
b. emotional problems need time for their solution
✓ Emotional control also calls for awareness of reality
and a choice between alternatives that may not
altogether be satisfactory.
6. Expecting Emotional Situations – as we grow older,
we learn to develop emotional responses that are
sanctioned by the society. For proper emotional
adjustment, we experience these expected emotional
situations.
✓ Part of emotional control involves a general
awareness of the types of emotional problems one
has to encounter and what emotional reactions are
expected to the individual meeting the problem.
XI. PERSONALITY
✓ derived from the Latin words ‘per sonare’ which
literally means ‘to sound through’
✓ It is a pattern of habits, attitudes, and traits that
determine an individual’s characteristics, behavior
and traits. It is the dynamic organization within the
individual of those psychological systems that
determine his characteristic behavior and thoughts
(Allport, 1990).
✓ Personality is the end result of the typical ways in
which a person reacts: the product of his motivation,
emotions, feeling tones, style of thinking and attitudes
(Encyclopedia International (1967).
✓ It is partly inborn, partly acquired.
• Such biological factors as the endocrine
glands and nervous system are largely
responsible for the inborn aspects.
• The acquired aspects are picked up chiefly
from the people with whom we associate,
either through imitation or through hostile
reactions when we are thwarted.
Components of Personality
1. Habits – reactions so often repeated as to become fixed
characteristics or tendencies. Good habits result from
choice and are acquired through effort.
2. Attitudes – certain ways of viewing things gained from
the environment, changed by the working of the mind,
and the imagination and somewhat influenced by the
physical endowment, particularly by the emotions. It
may be positive or negative, favorable or unfavorable,
learned or acquired.
3. Physical Traits – includes facial appearance, height,
weight, physical defects, complexion, strength and
health.
4. Mental Traits – include our ability to control the mind.
Floyd Allport lists the following mental abilities;
a. problem-solving ability
b. memory and learning ability
c. perceptual ability
d. constructive imagination
e. special imagination
f. soundness of judgement
g. general adaptability
5. Emotional Traits – these give an individual the capacity
to face different situations in life, and still maintain his
composure. He is said o have a stable personality.
6. Social Traits – these give an individual the ability to get
along with others – to be sociable and friendly.
7. Moral and Religious Traits – these are the standards
for a person’s action and behavior. His moral traits are
manifested by his conduct. His religious traits guide his
actions according to his beliefs.
THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
Theory of Body Types (William Sheldon)
This theory relates personality with bodily constitution,
health, and vigor.
✓ Endomorphic Components – the prominence of
intestines and visceral organs, and fats are in
proportion to height. Viscerotonic – persons
seeking comfort, love to find food and eat too much.
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 They are sociable and are greatly interested in
seeking affection.
✓ Mesomorphic Components – refer to bones and
muscles. Such individuals are strong, tough, and
athletic, well-built and proportionate. Somatotonic –
persons who are energetic, likes execise, direct in
manners, tend to be aggressive and self-assertive.
✓ Ectomorphic Component – individuals who tend to
be long, thin, and poorly developed. Such people are
generally physically weak. Cerebratonic –
characterized by excessive restraint, inhibition, and
avoidance of social contacts.
Theory Based on Body Build and Strength (Ernest
Kretschmer)
✓ Asthenic Type – those who are thin, tall, emaciated
and look very sickly and weak. They want to be
alone because of frailty, tend to cough or show signs
of other physical illnesses.
✓ Pyknic Type – the opposite of asthenic and are
called ‘human ball’ because of their short statute and
round solid body. This type of person never walks
but waddles like a duck or rolls like a ball.
✓ Athletic Type – in between the asthenic and pyknic
type, the athletic types are those who have extreme
body build. Such individuals are strong and robust
and has the stamina for real hard work. He is a
picture of good health and his personality is often the
object of envy.
✓ Dysplastic Type – are those persons who cannot
be classified among the three types above.
Psychological Type Theory (Carl Jung)
✓ Introverted individual – this type of person tends to
withdraw into himself in times of emotional stress or
conflicts. His characteristics includes shyness and
preference to work alone.
✓ Extroverted individual – this type of person tends
to be very sociable, well-dressed and outgoing. His
decisions and actions are determined primarily by
objective relationships. His attention and interest are
centered on the immediate environment, and he
tends to lose himself among people.
Theory Based on Body Chemistry, Endocrine
Balance and Temperaments (Galen)
✓ Sanguine – warm-hearted and pleasant, looks alive
and is very optimistic
✓ Phlegmatic – listless, slow, unexcitable, calm
cautious and thinks twice before doing anything.
✓ Melancholic – one who suffers from depression and
sadness because of having too much black bile. He
is very pessimistic.
✓ Choleric – easily angered or temperamental as
influenced by his yellow bile. He is serious, easily
provoked, and aggressive when he fails.
Theory of Personality by Birth Order (Maxine
Abrams, 1978).
✓ First-Borns – can keep secrets than the other
siblings. they are conscientious, task-oriented,
responsible and high achievers. Because of strong
parental influence, they are jealous of the latter-
borns so they spend the rest of their lives in a
subconscious effort to regain the spotlight.
✓ Middle-Borns – they are diplomatic and skillful in
interpersonal relationships because of the
interpersonal give-and-take they share with the older
and younger siblings. The middle of three girls tend
to be the most difficult because of an attempt to get
parental attention especially from the father.
✓ Later-Borns – they are very creative, charming and
playful, very popular and often spoiled. They are
sometimes deprived because of constantly receiving
hand-me-downs and financial leftovers. Some
develop low sense of responsibility.
✓ Only Child – very dependent but may enjoy a high
sense of self-esteem and optimism, reflecting the
unchecked attention of two adults who praise him as
he grows. Others may have difficulty with
interpersonal relationships as they are accustomed
to having their way. They tend to take advantage of
others due to their charm and charisma.
Superiority and Compensation Theory (Alfred Adler).
✓ Emphasized that the drive for superiority or power.
✓ The concept of compensation – being aware of a
weakness, we may strive especially hard to
overcome it by excelling in other fields.
Trait Theory (Gordon Allport)
✓ Assumed that a multiplicity of needs is never quite the
same from one individual to the next. This theory can
be distinguished in two important respects;
a. Uniqueness of Personality – each person has a
unique background of childhood experiences,
develops a set of traits that are unique to him.
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 27
 b. Functional Autonomy of Motives – each
person acquires or learns motives as part of
satisfying other motives.
XII.PERSONALITY DISORDERS AND
MALADJUSTMENTS.
Frustration
✓ these are experiences which are part of our everyday
lives. They occur when goal achievement is blocked.
✓ It can be described as the thwarting of motivated
behavior directed at a goal.
✓ It is a response, emotional in nature, that is presumed to
be made by a person when his motivated behavior is
interfered with.
Conflict
✓ the simultaneous occurrence of two mutually antagonistic
motives or impulses.
✓ The state of discomfort or stress caused by an
individual’s experiencing two or more desires or needs
that are incompatible.
Adjustments
✓ the ability of an individual to overcome his frustrations
and conflict in life which depend on the degree of
frustration tolerance (the ability to tolerate frustration and
its accompanying anxieties).
Adjustment Mechanism
These are devices which serve the purpose of protecting the
self from threat or discomfort.
✓ Repression – an unconscious process wherein shameful
thoughts, painful experiences or distasteful tasks are
pushed down into the subconscious state of mind.
✓ It is the refusal to think about something because we
find the thoughts unpleasant.
✓ Suppression – the deliberate, conscious control of
unpleasant experiences and undesirable thoughts or
impulses. This serves the same purpose as repression
but involves the conscious intent of the individual.
✓ Projection – the process of shifting the responsibility for
an act or thought from oneself to an outside agency or to
another person. A person may also blame someone else
for his own failure, thus relieving him from the tensional
situation.
✓ Displacement – a special form of projection which is
defined as the shifting of a response or reaction from its
original object to another which is less dangerous. Most
often, the motive in displacement is aggression, which for
some reason the person cannot vent on the true object.
✓ Reaction Formation – the unconscious attempt to
reverse the original behavior by a substituted activity.
This takes place where the original behavior or impulse is
heavily laden with guilt feelings.
✓ Rationalization – a device whereby the individual
provides plausible reason for his behavior, rather than
the actual reasons which are too painful to acknowledge.
✓ Fantasy – a mental mechanism whereby a person
substitutes imaginary satisfactions for real satisfactions.
The failures and frustrations of everyday life sometimes
become difficult to bet and it is quite common for people
to seek escape in self-created, fanciful worlds.
✓ Identification – used to cope with frustration by
identifying with someone else. An individual makes
himself feel like, or act like another person.
✓ Regression – is defines as a return to more primitive
modes of behavior. There are two interpretations for
regression;
• Retrogression – a return to behavior once
engaged in
• Primitivition – simply a more primitive kind of
behavior where one does not actually return to
earlier behavior but results to a childish
behavior following frustration.
✓ Compensation – the exaggeration of a desirable trait to
reduce feeling of inferiority caused by an undesirable
trait.
✓ Sublimation – an inner defense mechanism by which
more primitive and less socially acceptable forms of
motive gratification are replaced and are then further
developed by socially more acceptable forms.
Psychological Disorders or Abnormal Psychology
Abnormality
✓ Defined as a behavior that is unusual, causes
distress to others and makes it difficult for a person
to adjust to his or her environment. Statistically,
abnormality means any deviation from the average.
✓ abnormality is equated with maladjustment and/or
personal distress. Behavior that is distressful to the
person and impairs functioning is abnormal
behavior.
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The Neurotic Personality
✓ Neurotic is a term traditionally applied to a class of
behaviors that has been described as deviating from
conventional ways of responding.
✓ Psychotic – when deviations become extremely
severe. It implies that something is wrong with a
person’s psyche or nervous system.
1. Anxiety Disorders – once described as ‘neurosis’. It
manifests itself principally in diffused and consciously
experienced feeling of anxiety an apprehension for which
there seems to be no specific basis in reality. The
condition may be chronic and continuous, with the patient
always tense and worried, easily upset, and preoccupied
with future calamities or past errors.
2. Conversion Disorders – The neurotic reaction is the
most intriguing and diagnostically apparent of
adjustments through the illness.
• Hysteria – a behavior disorder in which
psychological conflicts are converted into
physical symptoms. It represents a learned
reaction to frustration.
3. Dissociative Disorders – dynamically, this reaction is
identical with conversion, except that the patient’s flight is
into unawareness rather than into sickness. The principal
common aspect of all dissociative reactions is an
interruption or breakdown of the conscious contact with
reality, thus giving rise to some loss of personal identity:
a brief amnesia, a fatigue state, development of multiple
personality, or somnambulism.
4. Phobic Disorders – a phobia is an irrational dread of an
object, person, act or situation. It is an irrational dread
that may be developed toward any imaginable aspect of
the environment. Phobic reactions are neurotic
adjustments in which the outstanding symptom is the
development of disabling phobias.
5. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders – the symptoms that
make up this reaction are organized around a core of
obsessions and compulsions.
✓ Obsession – a useless or irrational thought
which persistently forces itself into the
consciousness of the individual.
✓ Compulsion – useless or irrational acts which
the person feels compelled to carry out and are
also manifested occasionally in normally
adjusted persons.
Example: handwashing, throat-clearing and
mumbling.
✓ There are compulsions (some are criminal type)
that are very disturbing to the individual unless
carried out:
• Coprolalia – the impulse to utter obscene
words
• Kleptomania – an irresistible impulse to
steal
• Pyromania – the urge to set fires
• Homicidal Mania – compulsion to kill
6. Depressive Disorders – the neurotic depressive
disorder is always precipitated by a saddening stress
situation to which the depressive reaction is immediate
and severe. This causes lack of sleep, restlessness, lack
of concentration and tension.
7. Hypochondriasis – an all-dominating preoccupation of
the bodily processes where the patient expresses the
suspicion that he or she suffers from all kinds of disease
offers odd explanations for his bodily processes and
complains of specific and nonspecific aches and pains.
Sociopathic Personality Disturbance
People in this category are not mentally ill in the sense that
they experience anxiety or have bizarre thoughts. Rather,
they are people who feel little guilt over their violations of the
rules, laws, and mores of their culture.
1. Antisocial Reaction (Psychopathic deviate) – persons
in this category have little feeling for others or for the
rights of others. They display no sense of responsibility
and are incapable of loyalty. They are generally without
conscience, selfish, adept at rationalizing their immoral
behavior thus, can be called ‘morally insane’.
Psychologists believe that this syndrome is related to the
psychological rejection within the family such as a child
who has not been given affection does not learn how to
show affection.
2. Sexual Deviations – exhibitionism involves exposing
one’s sexual organs to the view of others.
• Fetishism – occurs when sexual excitement is
produced by the sight, touch, or smell of an
article of clothing or some part of the body not
usually associated with sexual activity.
• Homosexuality – the sexual desire for
members of the same sex.
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 29
 • Pedophilia – involves sexual interest in
heterosexual or homosexual activity with a child
• Necrophilia – involves sexual interest with
dead bodies.
• Sadism and Masochism – terms used fr
sexual pleasure derived from giving pain to
another (sadism) or receiving pain from another
(masochism).
• Voyeurism – the compulsion to look at scantily
clothed or naked bodies, usually of the opposite
sex.
• Zoophilia – a desire for sexual relations with
animals.
3. Drug Dependency – excessive dependency on drugs is
an important category of behavior or disorders. In both
cases, the person has a need for the drug, or a
psychological dependence.
• Alcoholism – habituation or addiction to
alcohol.
Psychotic Personality
Psychoses are much more serious psychoneuroses since
there is usually a marked psychological deterioration.
Common symptoms include hallucinations and delusions.
Organic Psychoses – are attributed to malnutrition,
alcohol, drugs, syphilis, senility, disturbance of
metabolism, abnormal functioning of the endocrine
system causing injury or damage to the CNS.
• Senile – innate lack of durability of the nerve
cells in the brain, toxic an hereditary influences,
chronic dietary deficiency especially in vitamins,
mineral elements, accumulated effects of
emotional shock, and prolonged use of alcohol.
• Psychoses due to disturbances of
circulation – this rises when there is an
inadequate supply of blood to the brain which
may alter the pattern of normal circulation. The
most prevalent of these disturbances is cerebral
arteriosclerosis or hardening of the arteries.
• Psychoses due to trauma – ‘trauma’ means
injury or wound. Brain injury may be attributed
to a blow on the head, surgery or electric shock,
and brain injury suffered at birth. Common
symptoms are delirium, personality disorder,
mental deterioration, and convulsive seizures.
• Psychoses due to infection – syphilitic
infection (paresis) causes damage or
destruction to the tissues of the brain and
nervous system which is attributed to the
spirochetal microorganism treponema pallidum.
Mental symptoms include loss of judgement,
memory defects, weakening of intelligence, and
difficulty in calculating.
• Psychoses due to intoxication – excessive
use of alcohol results in Korsakoffs psychosis
and chronic alcohol deterioration.
• Psychoses due to new growth, nutrition and
endocrine imbalance – there is still a doubt as
to the actual reason for the spontaneous
appearance of new growths in the brain.
physiological signs of this condition include
persistent headache and pulsating, vomiting
and vision impairment. Psychological symptoms
include stupor, depression, clouded
consciousness, disorientation and listlessness.
• Psychoses due to unknown origin – these
may be due to some unknown origin or
hereditary causes. Examples include ‘shaking
palsy’ and Parkinson’s disease. They are
chronic, progressively degenerative, and most
frequently appear between the ages fifty and
sixty. Manifested symptoms include muscular
rigidity, involuntary rhythmic tremors of hands
and arms, yet special senses and intelligence
remain unimpaired.
• Huntington’s Chorea – this is believed to have
been cause by hereditary factors. Characterized
by chronic movements which consist of jerky,
irregular, squirming motions, facial grimaces
accompanied by smacking of the tongue and
lips. Memory and judgment is impaired and the
patient becomes irritable and unable to maintain
attention.
Functional Psychoses.
These are mental disorders which are not associated
with organic pathology but are the results of poor
adjustment and severe conflicts.
• Affective Reactions (Manic-Depressive
Psychosis) – the extreme ups and downs of moods.
Such a change in moods does not manifest
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 30
 simultaneously but there is a shift of moods from
mania to depression. The manic individual is unduly
elated and active, constantly in motion, talking or
shouting (referred to as pressure of activity/speech).
He also shows irritability, anger, and abusive
behavior when he is blocked. Hallucinations consist
of voices calling the patient derogatory names.
• Paranoiac Reactions or Paranoia – a type or
psychotic reaction in which there is good contact
with reality except in the area of well-systematized
delusion. There is little or no intellectual
deterioration. The elaboration of the delusion is
logically constructed so that if the basic premise is
granted, all consequent thinking is reasonable. The
personality remains intact yet suspiciousness is very
relevant in a person experiencing this reaction.
• Schizophrenic Reactions – this literally means
‘splitting of the mind’. An earlier term ‘dementia
praecox’ was used for this which means ‘youthful
insanity’. It occurs in youth, often in individuals
ranging from teenhood up to the middle years of life.
a. Simple Schizophrenia – characterized by
general mental retardation, the individual
oftentimes indulges in fantasy, stares into
space, has no ambition, walks aimlessly,
extremely introverted and takes no interest
in what is going on around him.
b. A Hebephrenic Schizophrenia – notable
for silliness and general incongruity of
actions. One acts like a child and giggles at
anything.
c. Catatonic Schizophrenia – involves
peculiar posture, waxy flexibility, and
negativism. The individual may hold a
particular posture for many hours: when the
posture is changes by someone else, the
person usually resists the change and
when he is released, resumes the former
position.
d. Paranoid Schizophrenia – has delusions
of grandeur or persecution. The individual
often has hallucinations and
unsystematized delusions that are not
coherent.
• Involutional Reactions – this begins later in life
which commonly victimize women in menopausal
age at 44 to 55 age and men at 55-65 years of age.
a. Paranoid type – similar to the paranoid
reactions described above
b. Agitated depression – crying, moaning,
lamentations, wailing, restless pacing,
wringing of hands, and attacks on one’s
body like hair-pulling.
Psychotherapy
This is any procedure designed to alleviate behavior
disorders (mental illness, adjustment problems) by
psychological means. It involves social interaction between a
therapist and client aimed at changing the client’s behavior. It
employs discussions, interviews, play activities, and changes
in the patient’s environment.
Insight Therapy – focuses on the individual as a whole
which aims to help the person gain insight into hos or her
problems and life. The general view is that when people
recognized the causes of their discomfort, they will take
the necessary steps to develop more adaptive behaviors.
a. Psychoanalysis - a method of treatment by
psychological means developed by Sigmund Freud.
His emphasis on unconscious motivation behavior
influenced by motives not in awareness is one of
Freud’s concept which is generally accepted in
today’s psychology. Freud believed in the following;
• personalities are shaped by events in the early
childhood and children go through developmental
stages
• a traumatic event that occurs in any of these
stages can have a lasting effect on the child
• we have been taught that some events or
experiences we witness are bad an unacceptable
• in response, we attempt to repress them into our
unconscious, but these thoughts or emotions
fight to enter our consciousness
• Freud believed that anxiety results whenever
these unconscious thoughts threaten to break
into our consciousness,
According to Freud, people can only be helped when they
recognize and deal with their repressed feelings. Hence, the
aim of the therapy is to help people identify these ‘hidden
emotions’ and bring them into the open. In this way,
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 31
 repressed feelings that are the cause of unhappiness and
maladaptive behavior are covered.
• Hypnosis – Freud used the state of
unconsciousness induced by the words and actions
of the hypnotist whose suggestions are ready
accepted by the subject or client. But Freud later
found that this gate is not effective, so he found
other gates into the unconscious.
• Free Association – a method that involves having
clients talk about whatever thoughts come into their
mind without worrying about how much sense it
makes or it structures.
• Dream Interpretation – the second method used to
uncover repressed feelings. Freud believed that
during sleep, our defenses are relaxed and
repressed feelings come close o the level of
consciousness. However, because our defenses are
not completely lifted, the repressed emotions are
expressed in a disguised from in dreams. Thus, the
therapist must look beyond the expressed content
(manifest content) to determine the true meaning
(latent content) of the dream.
b. Humanistic Therapy – puts emphasis on self-acceptance.
Humanistic (existential) psychology sees a man as having
purpose, values, options, and the right and capacity for self-
determination, rather than being a helpless victim of his
unconscious or of environmental reinforcement. Out of his
freewill, he can maximize his potential for growth and
happiness. Humanistic Psychologists believe that the root of
many disorders is childhood.
• Client-centered therapy (Carl Rogers) – the
focus is on the client’s feelings and attitudes. The
therapist does not give advice or try to interpret.
This was originally called ‘non-directive therapy’
which emphasized the responsibilities of the client.
The therapist needs to be nondirective and merely
reflecting or restating the words of the client.
c. Gestalt Therapy – emphasized self-awareness. It borrows
ideas from both psychoanalytic and humanistic theories.
Fritz Perls (1970) explained that our actions are often
influenced by emotions and thoughts of which we are
unaware of. These unconscious forces may lead us to have
unsatisfying social interactions.
Thus, Gestalt therapy proposes that in order to improve our
adjustment, we must become more aware of ourselves; we
must understand both the figure and the ground that
influence our behavior and feeling.
Specific Therapies – more concerned with specific
symptoms. These therapies do not delve deeply into the
person’s personality or seek insights. Rather, they attempt to
change specific problematic behaviors or beliefs.
a. Cognitive Therapies – believe that behavior is guided
by metal events such as attitudes, beliefs, expectations,
and appraisals. Therefore, behavior and feelings that are
out of touch with reality are signals that the person is
operating with faulty attitudes, expectations or evaluation
of situations. The aim of cognitive therapy is to identify
and change these faulty thoughts on the presumption
that changes in thought will lead to changes in behavior
and feelings.
• Rational Emotive Therapy (RET) – a type of
cognitive therapy developed by Albert Ellis. He
believes that our problems are not the result of how
we feel but rather are the results of how we think
and believe determines how well we will adjust to
our environment. He said that the way we feel
depends on the way we interpret events rather than
on the events themselves.
b. Behavior Therapies – are based on the assumption that
maladaptive behavior is learned through the same
process by which other behaviors are learned. Many
behavior therapists believe that it is a waste of time to
focus on internal events like emotions and attitudes,
therapy will be more effective if it concentrates on
behavior.
• Modeling Therapy – states that we learn new
behavior by watching others and modelling their
behavior. Imitation plays an important role in this
type of therapy.Albert Bandura and his associates
have used the modelling technique to reduce a
wide range of phobic behaviors. The procedure
generally involves showing clients a series of
pictures of a model interacting with the feared
object. Watching these models over a period of
time does reduce the severity of client’s phobia.
(Source: Sanchez, C., Abad, P., and Jao, L. (2014). General
Psychology. Fourth Edition. Rex Book Store: Manila,
Philippines.)
MAINSTAY REVIEWS – GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 32