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General Psychology (Psych 1011)

Adugna Temesgen, PhD

Academic year 2021

Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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ESSENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY

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 Definition of Psychology

⚫ The word psychology comes from two Greek words, ‘psyche’ and
‘logos’ to mean life and explanation respectively

⚫ Symbolically represented using Greek letter ᴪ (psi), read as ‘sy’

⚫ Psychology is defined as the scientific study of mind and behavior.
⚫ Behavior: overt actions & reactions, e.g., facial expression

⚫ Mental process: covert & hidden experience, e.g., thinking

⚫ Common sense vs scientific procedure in the study behavior and mental

process
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 Goals of Psychology

⚫ In studying Psychology, psychologists aim at:

Observing the behavior and noticing everything about it, and describing

what/where/to whom it does happen

Finding reasons and explain why the observed behavior is happening

Predicting what will happen in the future

Controlling how can behavior be changed from undesirable one, e.g., such

failure to a desirable one such as academic success

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 Historical foundations of psychology

⚫ Psychology is founded as a discipline in 1879 in Germany by Wilhelm Wundt, a

father of psychology
⚫ A new realm of science

⚫ Historically, it is classified as early and modern schools of thought

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 Early schools of thought

⚫ Structuralism
⚫ Founder is Edward Titchener

⚫ Views psychology as a study of structure of mind

⚫ Analyze human mind as a combination of elements such as images, feelings &

sensations

⚫ Use introspection method to help look inward into our consciousness

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 Early schools of psychology

⚫ Functionalism
⚫ Williams James was its founder

⚫ Views psychology as a study of function of the mind

⚫ That is. how the mind allows people o function in the real world, e. g., how people play, work

⚫ Functionalists stress psychological processes allow humans to adapt surrounding, i.e

they based their ides on the works of Darwin

⚫ Apply questionnaire, mental test & objective description methods of research to

analyze how human mind functions

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 Early schools of psychology

⚫ Gestalt psychology
⚫ Founded by Max Wertheimer and his associates it in 20th century

⚫ Views psychology as a study of the whole mind Believe in as connected to

the word gestalt to whole & configuration of pattern
⚫ That is, mind should be thought of as a result of the whole pattern of sensory
activity & relationships
⚫ They held the view that the whole is greater than sum of its parts

⚫ Human mind is more than the sum of sensations as well as adaptive

functions
⚫ Mind is greater than images, sensations & feelings

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 Early school of psychology

⚫ Behaviorism
⚫ Proponents are John B. Watson (founder), E. Thorndike & F. Skinner.

⚫ Behavoralists explain behavior in terms stimulus, response and reinforcement

⚫ Views psychology as the study of observable and measurable behavior.

⚫ This school is characterized by

⚫ Focus on behavior, not hidden mental process

⚫ Stimulus-response associations and conditioned response

⚫ All behaviors are learned, not inherited

⚫ Learners are passive and reactive; dependent on stimulating environment

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 Early schools of psychology

⚫ Psychoanalysis
⚫ According to this school Psychology studies about the unconscious part of the
human mind such as in dreams, slip of the tongue, apparent accidents
⚫ Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is the founder of this school of thought.

⚫ He used clinical case studies (hypnosis and dream analysis) as a method

⚫ As a reminder, the schools differ in terms of:

⚫ Object, i.e., mind (both conscious and unconscious) and behavior

⚫ Goal
⚫ Method of study

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 Modern schools of psychology

⚫ Psychodynamic perspective
⚫ Rooted its origin in Freud's psychoanalysis theory and focus on

unconscious drives/dynamics

⚫ The psychodynamic approach emphasizes:

⚫ The influence of unconscious mental behavior on everyday behavior

⚫ The role of childhood experiences in shaping adult personality

⚫ The role of intrapersonal conflict in determining human behavior

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 Modern schools of psychology
⚫ Behavioral Perspective
⚫ Stresses learning experiences as shaping the behavior.

⚫ Focus on environmental conditions (e.g. rewards) to maintain specific behaviors.

⚫ Sometimes called the "black box" as it focus on what goes in to and out of the

box, but not on the processes that take place inside

⚫ Interested in the effect of the environment (input) on behavior (output), but not in

the process inside the box.

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 Modern school of psychology

⚫ Humanistic Perspective

⚫ Hold the view that human behavior is not determined either by

unconscious dynamics or the environment, rather focuses on human values

and subjective experiences.
⚫ This perspective places greater importance on the uniqueness of human

being and individual‘s free will.

⚫ The goal of humanistic psychology was helping people to achieve their full

potential or self-actualization

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 Modern schools of psychology
⚫ Cognitive perspective
⚫ Cognitive psychologists study how people perceive, process, and remember

information (mental processes).

⚫ Contribute to show how people's thoughts and explanations affect their

actions, feelings, and choices.

⚫ Techniques used to explore behavior from a cognitive perspective

include:
⚫ electrical recording of brain activity

⚫ electrical stimulation

⚫ radioactive tracing of metabolic activity in the nervous system

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 Modern schools of psychology

⚫ Biological Perspective

⚫ It focuses on studying how bodily events affect behavior, feelings & thoughts.

⚫ Underscores that biology and behavior interact each other in a complex way

⚫ It also emphasizes the idea that we are physical beings who evolved over a long

time and that genetic heritage can predispose us to behaving in a certain

way, e.g., eyebrows evolved to protect our eyes.

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 Modern schools of psychology

⚫ Socio-cultural Perspective
⚫ It focuses on social situations, including how cultures and social norms

influence our behavior

⚫ They also hold the view that our behavior always occurs in socio-cultural

contexts
⚫ Examples include:

⚫ Why authority and other people (like spouse, lovers, friends, bosses, parents, and
strangers) affect each of us

⚫ How cultural rules and values (both explicit and unspoken) affect people's
development, behavior, and feelings.

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 Branches
S/n Sub-field of psychology
Explanation
1 Developmental Study human physical, cognitive and psychological changes across lifespan
2 Personality a field focuses on the traits and peculiar characteristics of individuals
3 Social deals with people‘s social interactions, perceptions & relationships
4 Cross-cultural examines the role of culture in understanding behavior, thought, and emotion
5 Industrial applies psychological principles in industries and organizations’
workplace with the goal of improving performance

6 Forensic applies psychological principles to understand the behavior of judges,

attorneys, courtroom juries, & others in the criminal justice system to solve
crimes
7 Educational applies psychological principles and theories in educational process.
8 Health applies psychological principles to the prevention and treatment of
physical illness and diseases
9 Clinical a field that applied to assess, diagnosis, and treat mental/ psycho. disorders
10 Counseling deals with treating individuals with less severe problems than those treated
by clinical psychologists
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 Relation to other fields

⚫ Knowledge of psychology has practical applicable in the following contexts

⚫ Health and medicine

⚫ Education, e.g. which method of educating children are effective

⚫ Business

⚫ Law, e.g., in guiding court ruling during criminal trials, i.e., how to best detect

deception

⚫ Social and other areas, e.g. add knowledge of how driver’s behavior affects safety

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 Research methods in psychology
⚫ Employing the scientific method allows psychologists to objectively and systematically
understand human behavior
⚫ Psychology use scientific methods to generate, accumulate, and report scientific knowledge
as well.
⚫ Psychologists use descriptive, correlational and experimental research designs to understand
behavior
⚫ Descriptive method, i.e., systematic recording of the behavior through, & provide snapshot of
current state of affairs
⚫ Naturalistic-observation of subjects in their natural setting
⚫ Case study- collection of detailed data on single case/individual not applicable to others
⚫ Survey- collection of data from large group
⚫ Correlational-study not causation, but relationship b/n two or more variables

⚫ Experimental: study casual relationships b/n dependent & independent variables

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 Steps Of conducting research in psychology

1. Defining the problem

2. Formulating the hypothesis

3. Testing the hypothesis
4. Analyzing the data, drawing conclusions and implications
5. Reporting results or the write up

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SENSATION AND PERCEPTION

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 Sensation

⚫ Definitions
⚫ Sensation is the process of receiving information from the environment through

receptor cells in our sensory organs.

⚫ Examples of sensations include brightness, the pitch of tone or a bitter taste

⚫ A stimulus or an environmental information exists in many forms such as air,

vibrations, gases, chemicals, lactile pressures

⚫ Transduction is the conversion of stimuli detected by receptor cells to electrical

impulses that are transported to the brain.

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 Sensation & perception difference

When you look at this image, you may see a duck or a rabbit.
The sensory information remains the same, but your perception can vary dramatically.

Sensation Perception

⚫ Awareness resulting from the ⚫ Interpretation of sensation, or

stimulation of a sense organ determining what stimulus is

⚫ Receiving ⚫ Example (visual) organizing the black

⚫ Example (visual) detecting the black mark into letters

mark (seeing colors) NB: could not occur with out

sensation of some kind

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Laws of sensation: sensory thresholds

Absolute threshold Difference threshold

• The minimum amount/intensity at • The minimal change in stimulation that

which a stimulus can be detected 50 can be reliably detected 50 percent of
percent of the time the time (jnd also the just noticeable
• Factors: intensity, physical & difference, which is the ability to detect the

psychological states of the stimulus smallest change in a stimulus about 50% of

the time)
• E.g. a certain amount of sugar
• It is about detecting changes in the
required before you could detect a
intensity of a stimulus other than its
sweet taste
presence.
• It is only about presence of intensity

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 Laws of sensation: sensory adaptation

⚫ A decreased sensitivity to a stimulus after prolonged and constant exposure.

⚫ This creates a tendency of our sensory receptors to have decreasing responsiveness to

unchanging stimulus, and
⚫ The ability to adapt to the things that don’t change around us/survival/

⚫ Examples:
⚫ When you step into a swimming pool, the water initially feels cold, but after a while you stop noticing it.
⚫ Noticing a noisy fun as one first enters a room, yet the noise seems to fall after a short time

⚫ We ignore the sounds that cars make every day.

⚫ Note that our senses do not adapt completely to extremely intense sensations, such as severe pain

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 Perception

⚫ Definition

⚫ Perception is the process of interpreting and organizing the incoming information in

order that we can understand it and react accordingly.

⚫ That is, the process of perception involves:

⚫ selecting and identifying information from the environment.

⚫ the interpretation of information from the environment

⚫ organizing sensations into meaningful patterns

⚫ the act of knowing through sensation

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 Characteristics of the perceptual processes

⚫ Selective attention

⚫ From perception

⚫ Depth perception

⚫ Perceptual constancy

⚫ Perceptual illusion

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 Selective attention
⚫ A process in which consciousness is focused on particular stimuli, or the ability to

focus on some sensory inputs while tuning out others (ignoring other noises)

⚫ Selective attention also allows us, for example, to focus on a single talker at a party

while ignoring other conversations that are occurring around us

⚫ Input from the environment was coming into your ears all the time, but we respond
to certain stimulation ignoring the other noises.
⚫ Selective perception divides the surrounding into a focus (stimuli that you receive
clearly) and a margin (that you receive dimly/vaguely) with the possibility that what
is in the focus may shift into the margin and vice versa
⚫ Paying attention is a function of two factors: external factors & repetition

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 Selective attention

⚫ Illustration on focus and margin

Consider that your perceptual field is a football game. While you are dimly aware of the tangle of players
and the activity of the blockers during the play, it is the ball carrier and his movement that stands out
clearly to you your attention is mainly focused on him. But at the same time, sensory inputs are coming in
from your cold feet, from your stomach as a result of the last uncomfortable food you ate, and from the
fellow behind you who is smoking a cigar. The crowd is also shouting. While the play is going on, you are
probable not aware of any of these sensory inputs. Only when the play is finished or time is called that you
perceive how cold your feet are, and how noisy the crowd is. The fact that you perceive how cold your feet
are, and how noise the crowd is when the play is finished or time is called illustrates another characteristics
of attention, that it is constantly shifting. Attention shifts constantly. What is in the focus of your attention
one moment may be in margin; and what is in the margin may become in your focus.

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 Selective attention
⚫ Factors of attention getting
⚫ Bigger in size and brighter in intensity, e.g., advertisements are written in big and block
letters.
⚫ Frequently occurring to the senses, e.g., slogans, advertisings, and announcement are
repeated continuously to audiences and spectators.
⚫ Novel enough to creating contrast with the one in the perceptual field, e.g., guest

⚫ Moving rather than stagnating (because moving objects are instinctively felt dangerous or
threatening and you are reflectively respond to them to defend yourself).
⚫ Brightness of example color of dress (intensity)

⚫ Psychological factors/states:

⚫ Set or expectancy (readiness to certain kind of input, e.g., phone call or child crying etc.)
⚫ Personal motives and needs

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 Form perception

⚫ Form perception
⚫ The perception of form is one of the most important processes required in vision

⚫ Such perception involves recognizing how distant objects are from the pattern of
stimulation on our retinas
⚫ Applies only for two-dimensional world

⚫ Following are features of form perception based on Gestalt principle

⚫ Figure and ground
⚫ Similarity
⚫ Proximity
⚫ Continuity
⚫ Closure

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 Form perception

Figure and ground

• This is a tendency to organize the visual field
into objects (figures) that stand apart from
surroundings (ground)
• Examples include
• Pictures (figure) hang on a wall (ground)
• Words (figure) seen on a page (ground)
• Two faces, seen in either case, organized as
image (figure) against a ground (see image in
the right hand side)

• A marked difference occurs in the brightness

or color of the background.

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 Form perception
Similarity

X Y X
• Holds the view that stimuli that are similar to
each other tend to be grouped together
X Y X
• Example, you are more likely to see three
X Y X
similar columns among the XYX characters
in the right hand image than you are to see X Y X
four rows.

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Form perception
Proximity

• This is a tendency to group nearby figures

together.

• Do you see four or eight images in the right

hand side?

• Principles of proximity suggest that you

might see only four.

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 Form perception
Continuity
• Principle of continuity leads us to see most
lines as following the smoothest

• As an example, in the right hand image, most

people see a line of dots that moves from the
lower left to the upper right, rather than a line
that moves from the left and then suddenly
turns down.

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Form perception

Closure

• Closure leads us to see a single spherical

object at right rather than a set of

unrelated cones.

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 Depth perception

⚫ The visual receptor cells on the retina detect shape, color, motion, and depth

⚫ Depth perception is the ability to perceive three-dimensional space and to accurately judge distance.

⚫ The ability to perceive depth occurs through the result of binocular and monocular depth
cues.
⚫ Binocular depth cues: depth cues provided by the coordination of both eyes (retinal disparity
and convergence)

⚫ Monocular depth cues are depth cues that help us perceive depth using only one eye

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 Depth perception: binocular cues

⚫ Binocular disparity
⚫ is the degree of difference between the image of an object that are focused on the two retinas,
a depth cue resulting from slightly different images produced by the retina of the left eye and
the retina of the right eye.
⚫ The closer the object, the greater is the retinal disparity
⚫ To demonstrate retinal disparity for yourself, point a forefinger vertically between your eyes.
Look at the finger with one eye closed. Then look at it with the other closed. You will notice
that the background shifts as you view the scene with different views of the same stimulus

⚫ Convergence
⚫ is the degree to which the eyes turn inward to focus on an object that is less than 50 feet away
⚫ As you can confirm, the closer the objects are the greater the convergence of the eyes.
⚫ You will be able to feel your eyes converging if you slowly bring a finger (held vertical) closer
to your nose while continuing to focus on it.
⚫ You should notice an increase in ocular muscle tension as your finger approaches nose.
⚫ For example, drinking alcohol impairs depth perception by disrupting the normal
convergence of the eyes.

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 Depth perception: monocular cues
⚫ Although the best cues to depth occur when both eyes work together, we are able to see
depth even with one eye closed
⚫ A various monocular cues that help us judge depth at distance
1. Accommodation:
-change in the shape of the lens that lets focus the image of an object on the retina
- the greater the accommodation of the lens, the closer the object, but prolonged
accommodation can alter your depth perception. For example, the more distant object
will look farther away than it is.
2. Motion parallax
-The tendency to perceive ourselves as passing objects faster when they are closer to us than
when they are farther away. You will notice this when you drive on a rural road. You
perceive yourself passing nearby telephone poles faster than you are passing a farmhouse.
texture gradient, affects depth perception because the nearer

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Depth perception: monocular cues (cont’d …)

3. Texture gradient The nearer an object, the more details we can

Is when the texture of a surface receding in the make out, and the farther an object, the fewer
distance changes in clarity, blurring at further details we can make out. (you can see very
distances. blade of grass near you)

5. pictorial cues -Used by artists such as Leonardo da Vinci

formalized pictorial cues 500 year ago to create
depth in their drawings and paintings look more
realistic

6. Interposition
When one object overlaps another object, we
view it as closer.
At right, because the blue star covers the pink
bar, it is seen as closer than the yellow moon.

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 Depth perception: monocular cues (cont’d ...)
6. Relative size
• Assuming that the objects in a scene are the
same size, smaller objects are perceived as
farther away.
• At right, the cars in the distance appear
smaller than those nearer to us.

7. Aerial perspective
• Objects that appear hazy, or that are covered
with smog or dust, appear farther away
(Closer objects seem clearer than more
distant ones).
• Artistically painted, the picture in the right
used aerial perspective to make the clouds
more hazy and thus appear farther away.

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8. Linear perspective
Depth perception: monocular cues (cont’d ...)
Parallel lines appear to converge at a distance;
e.g., railroad tracks seem farther apart as they
get closer, and when they appear closer
together, we determine they are farther away
This leads us to believe that, given two similar
objects, the distant one can only cast the same
size retinal image as the closer object if it is
larger.
9. Relative height/Position/elevation
• Objects that are higher in your visual
field seem to be farther away
• The fence posts at right appear farther away
(smaller and higher up in the picture).

10. Light & Shading patterns

• The eye receives more reflected light from
objects that are closer to us
• Areas in light tend to stand out, while areas
that are in shadow tend to recede
• We see the images in the right as extending
and indented according to their shadowing.
If we invert the picture, the images will 42
 Perceptual constancy

⚫ Perceptual constancy is the ability to perceive a stimulus as constant despite changes in

sensation.
⚫ Color constancy: Though the amount of light reflected from a given object can vary, we

perceive the object as having a constant brightness, e.g., white shirt appears
equally bright in dim light or bright light.
⚫ Shape constancy: Perceived shape of an object remains constant despite changes in the

shape of the retinal image of that object, e.g., we never see a door changing shape as
it swings, though we see rectangle when closed and line when open
⚫ Size constancy: Perceived size of an object remains constant despite changes in the size

of the retinal image of that object

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 Perceptual illusion
(serious corrections are required on the statements appear on pp 37of this course module)

⚫ Although our perception is very accurate, it is not perfect.

⚫ Illusions demonstrate that our perception of the world around us may be influenced
by our prior knowledge.
⚫ Illusion refers to misapplication of visual clues, and occurs when the perceptual processes
that normally help us correctly perceive the world around us are fooled by a particular
situation so that we see something that does not exist or that is incorrect.
⚫ EXAMPLE:
⚫ A man looks out of his window and is horrified by what he perceives to be a monstrous animal
on a distant mountain. He learns only later that the monster was actually an insect on his
window. Because he perceived the animal as far away, he assumed it was relatively large.
And because he never had seen such a creature, he assumed that it was a monster.

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Perceptual illusions (cont’d…)

Illusion Description Image

Optical In the snake like pattern (left) the green strips look
illusion brighter than background, but they are not
Our accurate perception of visual constancy has been
fooled

Moon illusion -The monocular depth cues of position and aerial

perspective create the illusion that things that are lower
and more hazy are farther away.
-Therefore, this illusion shows that the moon is
perceived to be about 50% larger when it is near the
horizon than when it is seen overhead (at its zenith),
despite the fact that both moons are the same size and
cast the same size retinal image. 45
 Perceptual illusion (cont’d…)

Illusion Description Image

Mueller-lyre The Mueller-Lyre illusion makes the line

illusion segment at the top of the left picture appear
shorter than the one at the bottom. The illusion
is caused, in part, by the monocular distance
cue of depth, which indicates that the bottom
line looks like an edge that is normally farther
away from us, whereas the top one looks like
an edge that is normally closer.

Ponzo illusion -The top yellow bar seems longer than the
bottom one, even though both bars are of the
same length
-This illusion is caused by a failure of the
monocular depth cue of linear perspective:
The topmost bar therefore appears longer.

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LEARNING AND THEIRIES OF LEARNING

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 Learning

⚫ Definition
⚫ Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior occurring as a result

of experience or practice. Explicitly put:

⚫ Learning is a change in behavior

⚫ Change in behavior is relatively permanent

⚫ The change is because of experience or practice

⚫ Learning is not directly observable but manifests in the activities of individual

⚫ Learning is not change due to growth, maturation, illness, fatigue, or use of drugs
and intoxication

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 Learning
⚫ Characteristics
⚫ Continuous modification of behavior throughout life

⚫ pervasive, it reaches into all aspects of human life.

⚫ Involves the whole person, socially, emotionally & intellectually.

⚫ Often a change in the organization of experiences.

⚫ Responsive to incentives

⚫ An active process

⚫ Purposeful

⚫ Depends on maturation, motivation and practice.

⚫ Multifaceted

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 Learning
⚫ Principles
⚫ Individuals learn best when they are physically, mentally & emotionally ready to learn.

⚫ Students learn best and retain information longer when they have meaningful practice.

⚫ Learning is strengthened when accompanied by a pleasant or satisfying feeling.

⚫ Things learned first create a strong impression in the mind that is difficult to erase.

⚫ Things most recently learned are best remembered.

⚫ The principle of intensity implies that a student will learn more from the real thing than

from a substitute.

⚫ Individuals must have some abilities and skills that may help them to learn.

⚫ Things freely learned (with the greater freedom) are best learned, higher moral progress

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 Learning
⚫ Factors influencing learning
⚫ Motivation

⚫ Maturation

⚫ Health condition of the learner

⚫ Psychological wellbeing of the learner

⚫ Good working conditions

⚫ Background experiences

⚫ Moderate length of the working period

⚫ Learning that spreads across time with reasonable time gaps brings better results

compared with crammed learning that occurs at once or within short span of time.

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 Learning theories

⚫ Behavioral learning theories

⚫ Cognitive learning theories

⚫ Social learning theories

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Behavioral learning theory
⚫ Believes in that learning occurs as a result of stimulus-response
associations
⚫ Emphasize observable behaviors

⚫ Seek laws to govern all organisms

⚫ Provide explanations which focus on consequences

⚫ Has two major theories

⚫ Classical conditioning

⚫ Operant conditioning.

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 Behavioral learning theory: Classical conditioning

⚫ Also called substitution learning

⚫ The association of two stimuli (unconditioned and conditioned)
⚫ It also involves substituting (pairing) a neutral/CS in place of natural stimulus/UCS.
⚫ Pavlov is a Russian psychologist who demonstrated experiment on dog using food,
bell sound, and conditioned the dog to salivate after hearing bell sound.
⚫ Important terms of the theory
⚫ Neutral stimulus (NS) stimulus that does not naturally bring about the response of interest
⚫ Unconditioned stimulus (UCS): A stimulus that naturally brings a particular response
⚫ Unconditioned response (UCR): A response that is natural and needs no training.
⚫ Conditioned stimulus (CS): A once neutral stimulus paired with an unconditioned
stimulus to bring about a response formerly caused only by the unconditioned stimulus.
⚫ Conditioned response (CR): A response that after conditioning/training elicited by
previously neutral stimulus

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 Behavioral learning theory
Pavlov presented a hungry dog with meat (UCS),

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING PROCEDURE which would cause the dog to salivate (UCR). To

condition the animal requires repeatedly presenting

Pavlov’s classical conditioning experiment
an initially neutral stimulus for a brief period before

phase Stimulus Response presenting the UCS. Pavlov often used a bell as the

neutral stimulus. In the early trials, the ringing of a

1 UCS UCR
bell produced no salivation. Eventually, the dog
(food) (salivation)
salivated in response to the bell sound prior to the
2 UCS UCR
(food + bell sound) (salivation) presentation of the meat The bell sound had become

a conditioned stimulus (CS) that elicited a

3 CS CR conditioned response, salivation (CR) similar to the
(sound) \(salivation)
original UCR

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 Behavioral learning theory

⚫ Principles of classical conditioning

⚫ Extinction: If a CS is repeatedly presented without presenting the UCS (meat), the
CR will diminish and eventually stop occurring.
⚫ Spontaneous recovery is the reemergence of an extinguished conditioned
response after a period of rest/lapse and with no further conditioning.
⚫ Generalization means that the CR occurs to stimuli similar to the CS, e.g., a dog
conditioned to salivate to a dinner bell (CS) might also salivate to a door bell, a
telephone bell.
⚫ Discrimination is a condition in which an individual learns to produce a
conditioned response to one stimulus (CS), but not to other stimuli

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 Behavioral learning theory: Operant conditioning

⚫ Instrumental conditioning)

⚫ Proponent is B. F. Skinner

⚫ Stress the association of a behavior and its consequences (e.g.., reinforcement schedule)

⚫ Involves increasing a behavior by allowing it with a reward, or decreasing a behavior by

following it with punishment

⚫ Applies to voluntary responses strengthening or weakening than natural behavior

⚫ Learner must operate certain behavior before receiving a reward or punishment

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 Behavioral learning theory
⚫ Principles of operant conditioning
⚫ Reinforcement

⚫ Strengthens the response or makes it more likely to recur

⚫ Primary reinforcers: stimuli such as food, water that satisfy biological needs
and survival, strengthen behavior without prior learning
⚫ Secondary reinforcers: are stimuli such as money, praise, applause, good
grades, awards, and gold stars that become conditioned through their
association with primary reinforcers.
⚫ Positive reinforcement- involves strengthening behavior following it with
pleasant stimulus
⚫ Negative reinforcement- involves strengthening behavior following it with a
removal or omission of unpleasant stimulus

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 Behavioral learning theory

⚫ Reinforcement of schedule

⚫ A rule that species the timing and frequency of reinforcers

⚫ Continuous reinforcement schedule- involves reinforcement for every correct

response each time it occurs.
⚫ Intermittent (partial) reinforcement schedule -involves reinforcing only some
instances of the desired response
⚫ Partial reinforcement schedule is more effective than continuous one for two
reasons:
1. produces more responding at faster rate

2. it has greater resistance to extinction.

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 Behavioral learning theory
⚫ Types of partial reinforcement schedules
⚫ Fixed-ratio schedules: occurs when individuals receive a reinforcer each time they make

fixed number of responses.

⚫ Variable-ratio schedule: occurs after some average number of responses, variable or

unpredictable, e.g., gambling. The responses are more resistant to extinction

⚫ Fixed interval schedule: occurs only if a fixed amount of time has elapsed since the

previous reinforcer.
⚫ Ex, a clock watching behavior of a student during a class, watch occasionally at the start of a
class, but watches more and more at the end of the period gets nearer

⚫ Variable interval schedule: occurs only if a variable amount of time has passed since the

previous reinforcer. Ex. A person trying to call someone whose phone line is busy may
redial every few minutes until the call gets through.
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 Behavioral learning theory
⚫ Punishment
⚫ A stimulus that weakens the response or makes it less likely to recur.

⚫ Positive punishment – involves reducing a behavior by delivering unpleasant

stimulus, e.g. parents use it with children’s bad behavior

⚫ Negative punishment- involves reducing a behavior by removing a pleasant

stimulus

⚫ Primary punishers: pain and extreme heat or cold are inherently

⚫ Secondary punishers: criticism, demerits, catcalls, scolding, fines, and bad
grades.

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Behavioral learning theory
⚫ Punishment (cont’d)
⚫ Punishment be used to control behavior only when there is no realistic
alternative because there are disadvantages connected when it is used
⚫ inappropriately and mindlessly
⚫ inconsistently
⚫ May be leading to a risk of fear, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem
⚫ With hard behaviors to punish immediately
⚫ Conveys little information
⚫ Only temporarily effective
⚫ The effectiveness of punishment is often temporary

62
 Behavioral learning theory
⚫ Punishment works/effective when:

⚫ It follows immediately after the behavior to be punished (immediacy)

⚫ It is regular/dependably used with behavior to be punished (consistency)

⚫ Used severely than mildly or less intense punishments are applied immediately

& consistently (intensity)

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 Behavioral learning theory
⚫ Application operant conditioning
⚫ Recognize and reinforce positive behaviors and genuine task accomplishments

⚫ Use various types reinforcement such as smiles, attention, and pats on the
shoulder, concrete reinforcements and privileges
⚫ Reinforce good behaviors and punish bad ones consistently

⚫ Use schedule of reinforcement such as surprise rewards to encourage persistence

⚫ Punish behavior, not personal qualities

⚫ Let learners move at their own pace, & give feedback immediately following
responses
⚫ Conditioning to unpleasant experiences can affect student behavior, while
admitting positive contingencies such as praise shape or therapy behavior

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 Social learning theory: What it is

⚫ Albert Bandura is a pioneer in observational learning

⚫ No direct personal experience with stimuli, reinforcers & punishers
⚫ Emphasize learning through observation and imitation
⚫ That is, watching behavior of another person/model, e.g. parent, elders, teacher &
imitate the model’s behavior
⚫ However, behavior sometimes leads to adverse effects such as effects of television
on children's behaviors.
⚫ Many TV programs include depictions of sex, violence, drug & alcohol use,
dramatized murders behaviors that most parents do not want their children to
imitate.

65
 Social learning theory: Factors essential to observe learning

⚫ Attention: Watching crucial detail of the model’s behavior, e.g., a girl her mother bake a

cake, including details such as ingredients, quantities etc.

⚫ Retention: Remembering or rehearsal until it is time to use it.

⚫ Reproduction: Replicate the behavior, e.g., the young girl must have strength to mix

ingredients.

⚫ Motivation: Demonstrating what have learned if it is expected to lead to some type of

reward

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 Social learning theory: educational applications

⚫ Modeling can provide a faster, more efficient means for teaching new behavior.

⚫ Students must believe that they are capable of accomplishing school tasks

⚫ Teachers and parents must model appropriate (not inappropriate) behaviors

⚫ To motivate learning a teacher may:

⚫ develop a sense of self-efficacy for students.

⚫ use a high achieving and successful peers as models

⚫ demonstrate and teach good behaviors

⚫ make sure that students see that positive behaviors will lead to positive consequences

⚫ help students set realistic expectations for their academic accomplishments

⚫ use self-regulation techniques to improve student behavior.

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 Cognitive learning theory

⚫ Proponents are Edward C. Tolman, Jean Piaget

⚫ Argue that learning is more than just strengthening of responses & reinforcement

⚫ Believe in that learning involves complex mental processes

⚫ This theory has two forms:

1. Latent learning: Describes that an individual learns a new behavior but does not perform this

behavior until there is a possibility of obtaining a reward

2. Insight learning: A situation we recognize our perception of a problem suddenly (aha expr.

⚫ Ex. people even wake from sleep with the solution to a problem that they had not been

able to solve during the day

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MEMORY AND FORGETTING

69
 Memory: definition

⚫ Retention of information/what is learned earlier overtime

⚫ A blanket label to bridge between our past and our present

⚫ Complex mental process that allows us to recognize ..

70
 Memory: processes
⚫ Three processes: encoding (phase1), storage (ph. 2) & retrieval (ph. 3)
⚫ The three basic steps in detail
⚫ Encoding
⚫ use of senses to encode and establish a memory
⚫ transform a sensory input into a form or a memory code
⚫ e.g., the person whose name George you met at a party.
⚫ Storage
⚫ process by which information is maintained over a period of time
⚫ persistence of information in memory
⚫ Retrieval
⚫ occurs when information is brought to mind from storage
⚫ material in memory storage is located, brought into awareness and used, e.g., calling Mr. X by
name
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 Memory: stages/structures
⚫ Sensory memory

⚫ Sensory register

⚫ Holds information from the world in its original sensory form visual, auditory and

other senses
⚫ It is the first information storage area

⚫ Retain information until we can select items for attention

⚫ It does not retain information very long

⚫ It includes a number of separate subsystems

⚫ Iconic memory (visual memory)- information retained only for a maximum of one second

⚫ Echoic memory (auditory memory)- information is retained up to several seconds

72
 Memory: stages/structures
⚫ Short term memory

⚫ Meaning: Similar terms to refer working memory, primary memory, or immediate memory

⚫ Characteristics:
⚫ Active memory/ workplace to process new information and to call up relevant others from LTM
⚫ E.g., searching for information in an open computer file (STM) vs. file stored on the hard drive (LTM)
⚫ Rapid accessibility, i.e., information readily available for use
⚫ Preserves or maintains the information in sequential manner for a temporary period of time
⚫ Limited capacity (seven plus or minus chunks)
⚫ Rehearsal – Prolong STM indefinitely by conscious repetition or preventing information from fading
⚫ Chunking – expands/controls working memory by making large amounts of information more
manageable

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 Memory: stages/structures
⚫ Long term memory
⚫ Stores information for indefinite periods, from days to even lifetime
⚫ Relatively permanent type of memory & virtually unlimited capacity
⚫ LTM sub-systems
⚫ Explicit/declarative memory: specific facts or events can be verbally communicated

⚫ Semantic- Factual knowledge, e.g., concepts, meaning of words etc.

⚫ Episode-memories of particular events and situations
⚫ Implicit/non-declarative memory

⚫ behavior affected by prior experience without that experience being consciously

recollected
⚫ It is the ‘how to’ knowledge of procedures or skills
⚫ Ex. skills of playing tennis, riding bicycle and typing

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Memory structures/system

Sensory Long
Stimulus memory Short Memory
Memory

75
 Memory

⚫ Serial Position Effect

⚫ According to the three-box model of memory if you are shown a list of items and are

then asked immediately to recall them, your retention of any particular item will
depend on its position in the list.
⚫ That is, the first few items in the list are remembered well (the primacy effect) b/c

STM was relatively empty, and the last few items in the list are better recalled (the
recency effect) b/c they are still in STM; but items in the middle (in between) of list
are not well retained.

⚫ For example, take a lot of people at a party and find you can recall the names

⚫ When retention of all the items is plotted, the result will be a U-shaped curve

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 Factors affecting memory
⚫ Ability to retain

⚫ Good health conditions

⚫ Age of the learner: Youngsters can remember better than the aged.

⚫ Maturity: Very young children cannot retain and remember complex material.

⚫ Will to remember

⚫ Intelligence: More intelligent person will have better memory than a dull person,

⚫ Interest

⚫ Over learning

⚫ Speed of learning: Quicker learning leads to better retention,

⚫ Meaningful materials remain in our memory longer than for nonsense material

⚫ Sleep or rest to strengthening connections

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 Forgetting: meaning
⚫ Inability to retrieve previously stored information

⚫ There is almost always a strong initial decline in memory followed by

a more gradual drop over time

78
 Forgetting: theories

⚫ Decay theory

⚫ According this theory forgetting occurs because memories fade over time

naturally

However, the mere passage of time does not account so well for forgetting in LTM.
People commonly forget things that happened only yesterday while remembering
events from many years ago.

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 Forgetting: theories

⚫ Interference theory

⚫ holds that forgetting occurs because similar items of information interfere with

one another in either storage or retrieval; the information may get confused with
other information.
⚫ There are two kinds of interference that influence forgetting: proactive and

retroactive.
⚫ Proactive Interference- old memories interfere with new memories

⚫ Retroactive Interference- materials learned later (new) interfere with old memories

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 Forgetting: theories
⚫ New Memory for Old/ Displacement Theory
⚫ This theory holds that new information entering memory can wipe out old
information, just as recording on an audio or videotape will obliterate/wipe
out the original material.

⚫ Motivated forgetting - self-protective process of repression of those memories that

are too threatening or painful to us, e.g., murder
⚫ Cue-Dependent forgetting
⚫ States the reliance on retrieval cues help us find specific information we look for

⚫ Remembering is often easier when you are in the same physical

environment as you were when an event occurred
⚫ Mental emotional state may act as a retrieval cue

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 Guidelines to improving memory

⚫ Pay Attention

⚫ Encode information in more than one way

⚫ Add meaning

⚫ Take your time

⚫ Over learn

⚫ Monitor your learning through frequent rehearsal etc.

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MOTIVATION AND EMOTION

83
 Definition of motivation

⚫ Comes from the Latin word ‘mover’, which means to move.

⚫ Accordingly, it is what moves people to do the things they do

⚫ It refers to factors that influence the initiation, direction, intensity, and

persistence of behavior
⚫ Examples:
⚫ An athlete may be seen to rise quite early in the morning and regularly visit the

track or field for continued practice irrespective of the odds of the seasons.
⚫ A student may be seen to burn the midnight oil as the examination approaches.

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 Types of motivation

Extrinsic motivation Intrinsic motivation

⚫ Doing an action for any actual ⚫ Participation in an activity because the

outcome external to a person such as acts are rewarding or satisfying in
concrete rewards themselves
⚫ Example: ⚫ Example:

⚫ Giving a child money for every ‘A‘ ⚫ Participation in an activity for

in a report card enjoyment
⚫ If all you care about is the grade to ⚫ If you study a lot because you love
get in the course the subject matter
⚫ Offering a bonus to an employee for

increased performances
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 Motivation approaches/theories

⚫ Some of the approaches/theories to motivation

⚫ Instinct

⚫ Drive-reduction

⚫ Arousal,

⚫ Incentive

⚫ Cognitive

⚫ Humanistic

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 McDougall's Theory of Instinct

⚫ Focus on biologically determined and innate patterns controlled by

hereditary factors that lead to some purposive actions
⚫ Examples:
⚫ the instinct to reproduce is responsible for sexual behavior
⚫ the instinct for territorial protection may be related to aggressive behavior
⚫ the instinct of escape is accompanied by the emotion of fear

⚫ the instinct of combat (pugnacity) by anger

⚫ They don’t have to be learned

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 Hull's Drive-reduction theory
• The theory explains the actions people take to
reduce tension created by needs
Example:
• Need- a requirement of some material (food
If mister X‘s body needs food, he feels
or water) that is essential for the survival hunger and the state of tension (arousal
associated with that need). He will seek to
• Derive –internal state of arousal or tension restore his homeostasis by eating something
which is the behavior stimulated to reduce
(hunger, thirst, sex) that motivates to fulfill the
the hunger drive (see figure below)
needs
• Homeostasis Increased
Eat
Raised
hunger glucose
• the tendency of the body to maintain a
steady-state
• When there is a primary drive need, the
body is in a state of imbalance. This
stimulates behavior that brings the body Lowered Diminished
Don’t eat
back into balance or homeostasis glucose hunger
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 Arousal approach: beyond derive reduction

⚫ This approach seek to explain behavior in which the goal is to

maintain certain level stimulation or increase excitement
⚫ As with the drive-reduction model, this approach suggests that if our
stimulation and activity levels become too high, we try to reduce them.
⚫ In contrast to the drive-reduction perspective, the arousal approach also
suggests that if levels of stimulation and activity are too low, we will
try to increase them by seeking stimulation

89
 Incentives theory: motivation’s pull

⚫ Suggests motivation stems from the desire to attain external rewards, or

incentives such as grades, money, affection, food, or sex etc.
⚫ Internal derives (e.g., hunger needs) work together, rather than
contradicting, with external incentives (e.g., food that appears as appetizing)
to push and pull behavior respectively.

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 Cognitive theory of motivation
• Motivation is a result of people’s
thoughts, beliefs, expectations and the
achievement of goals .
• For instance,
• the degree to which people
are motivated to study for a test
is based on their expectation of
how well studying will pay off in
terms of a good grade

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 Maslow’s humanistic (self-actualization) theory of motivation
• Suggests human behavior is influenced by a hierarchy of needs
• According to him, needs at the lowest level of the hierarchy must be at least
partially satisfied before moving onto next
• Below is hierarchies of needs from the bottom to the top:
• Physiological needs: air, food, drink, shelter, clothing etc.

• Safety needs- protection, security, order, law, stability, freedom from fear

• Love & belongingness needs-friendship, intimacy, trust, and acceptance,

receiving and giving affection and love.
• Esteem needs -the need to be respected as a honorable one

- esteem for oneself-dignity, achievement & independence)

- desire for reputation or from others (e.g., status, prestige).
• Self-actualization needs

• A desire to become everything one is capable of becoming.

• E.g., Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, and Eleanor Roosevelt &
Nelson Mandela
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 Motivational conflicts

⚫ Four types
⚫ Approach-approach conflicts

⚫ Avoidance-avoidance conflicts

⚫ Approach-avoidance conflicts

⚫ Multiple approach-avoidance conflicts

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 Motivational conflicts (cont’d…)

⚫ Approach-approach conflicts

⚫ Exist when we must choose only one of the two desirable activities
⚫ Example, going to a movie or a concert.

⚫ Avoidance-avoidance conflicts
⚫ Arise when we must select one of two undesirable alternatives

⚫ Someone forced either to sell the family home or to declare bankruptcy.

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Motivational conflicts (cont’d …)

⚫ Approach-avoidance conflicts
⚫ Happen when a particular event or activity has both attractive and
unattractive features

⚫ For example, a freshman student wants to start dating but she, at the same
time, is worried that this may unduly consume her study time.

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Motivational conflicts (cont’d…)

⚫ Multiple approach-avoidance conflicts

⚫ Exist when two or more alternatives each have both positive and negative
features.

⚫ Suppose you must choose between two jobs. One offers a high salary with a
well-known company but requires long working hours and relocation to a
miserable climate. The other boasts advancement opportunities, fringe
benefits, and a better climate, but it doesn‘t pay as much and involves an
unpredictable work schedule.

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 Emotion
⚫ Emotion is the feeling aspect of consciousness, characterized by certain
physical arousal, certain behavior that reveals the feeling to the outside world,
and an inner awareness of feelings
⚫ Three elements/components of emotion from the definition
⚫ The physiology of emotion –happens when a persons is angry or frightened, e.g., heart

rate increases, breathing more rapid & the mouth may become dry.
⚫ The behavior of emotion- There are facial expressions, body movements, and actions that

indicate to others how a person feels, e.g., smiles, sad expressions etc.

⚫ Subjective experience or labeling emotions- involves interpreting the subjective feeling by

giving it a label: anger, fear, disgust, happiness, sadness,

⚫ shame, interest, surprise and so on.

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 James-Lang Theory Emotion
⚫ States emotions are created by awareness of specific patterns of peripheral
(autonomic) responses.
⚫ James and Lang theory of emotion is best illustrated in the below figure

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

⚫ Another example is I am nervous because my stomach is fluttering,ǁ and I

am in love because of my heart rate increases when I look at her or him.

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 Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion
⚫ Cannon-Bard theory stated that the brain generates direct experiences of
emotion.
⚫ According to them thus emotion (the fear) and physiological arousal (bodily
reactions) occur more or less at the same time, not one after the other.
⚫ Simply put “I am afraid and running and aroused!”
⚫ Diagrammatic expression

Physiological arousal
(High blood pressure, high
heart rate, sweating)
Stimulus (e.g. snarling Sub-cortical brain
dog -activity

Emotion (fear)

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 Schechter-Singer Theory of Emotion
⚫ According to Schechter-Singer cognitive arousal theory, two things have to happen before
emotion occurs: cognitive interpretation of events (labeling of the arousal) and the
physiological reactions to them, and these shape emotional experiences.
⚫ For example, if a person comes across a snarling dog while taking a walk, the physical
arousal (heart racing, eyes opening wide) is accompanied by the thought (cognition)
that this must be fear. Then the person experience the fear of emotion.
⚫ In other words, “I am aroused in the presence of a scary dog; therefore, I must be afraid.”

Cognitive appraisal
Stimulus
(e.g. snarling Emotion (fear
dog)

Physiological arousal
(High blood pressure, high
heart rate, sweating) 100
 Summary of emotion theories
⚫ The Cannon-Bard theory proposes that emotions and arousal
occur at the same time.

⚫ The James-Lange theory proposes the emotion is the result of

arousal.

⚫ Schachter and Singer’s two-factor model proposes that arousal

and cognition combine to create emotion

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PERSONALITY

102
 Definition
⚫ The word personality is derived from Greek and Latin roots, ‘persona’ to refer to

theatrical masks worn by Greek actors.

⚫ Personality is defined as enduring thoughts, feelings and actions that make a

person unique. In plain English, it is what makes you.

⚫ Personality should not be confused with such terms as character (a person‘s morals

or ethical behavior), temperament (enduring attributes with which each person is

born, e.g., irritability or adaptability) and trait.

⚫ However, both character and temperament are vital personalities

103
 Some tips
⚫ Personality tends to remain fairly consistent throughout life
⚫ personality is generally stable

104
 Theories of Personality

⚫ Some of the theories of personality

⚫ Psychoanalytic theory of personality: what controlled personality is

unconscious mind, unseen forces

⚫ Trait theory of personality- stresses on stable traits

⚫ Humanistic theory of personality: conscious, self- motivated ability to change

and improve with people’s unique creative impulses makes the core of
personality

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 The psychoanalytic theory of personality

⚫ Psychodynamic theories of personality are heavily influenced by the work of Sigmund Freud and
emphasize the influence of the unconscious mind and childhood experiences on personality
⚫ According to Freud, personality is formed within ourselves, arising from basic inborn needs, drives,
and characteristics.
⚫ He argued that people are in constant conflict between their biological urges (drives) and
the need to tame them.
⚫ Sigmund Freud, the founder of the psychoanalytic approach, believed that the human mind consists
of three interacting forces: the id (a pool of biological urges), the ego (which mediates between the
id and reality), and the superego (which represent society‘s moral standards).
⚫ This way these three parts of personality interact with one another determine the personality
of an individual.

106
 The psychoanalytic theory of personality
⚫ Id
⚫ Human mind is divided into three components: ID, EGO, SUPEREGO
⚫ The id is the most primitive part of the personality exists at birth and in infants
⚫ The id is entirely unconscious/instinctual energy that works to satisfy basic urges and desires.

⚫ The id is driven by the pleasure principle- desire for immediate gratification of our sexual and
aggressive urges with no regard to the consequences.

⚫ Example, The id is why we smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, view pornography, engage in other
fun and non productive activities.

⚫ When sexual drive (libidinal energy) is high, it is unpleasant for the person, the goal is to reduce
it.
 The psychoanalytic theory of personality
⚫ Superego
⚫ The superego is in stark contrast to the id
⚫ The superego represents our sense of morality, i.e., the moral watchdog, moral center of personality
⚫ It tells us all the things that we shouldn’t do, or the duties and obligations of society, e.g., pre school child
learns rule, customs of society.
⚫ It regulates morals & ideals (suppress the urges of the id and tries to make the ego behave morally, rather
than realistically)
⚫ The superego strives for perfection, and when we fail to live up to its demands we feel guilty
⚫ The superego has two parts
⚫ The ego-ideal: is a measuring device and the sum of all the ideal or correct and acceptable behavior that
the child has learned.
⚫ The conscience: part of the personality that makes people pride when they do the right thing and guilt, or
moral anxiety when they do the wrong thing (judgmental).

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 The psychoanalytic theory of personality
⚫ Ego:
⚫ According to Freud, the ego is the largely conscious controller or decision maker of the personality.

⚫ The ego, unlike id’s pleasure principle, works on the reality principle, which is the need to satisfy the
demands of the id by delaying gratification of our basic motivations until the appropriate time, or by
reducing libido only in ways that will not lead to negative consequences.

⚫ This means that sometimes the ego decides to deny the id its drives because the consequence would be
painful or too unpleasant.

⚫ The ego prevents us from acting on our basic urges (created by the id) but also works to achieve a balance
with our moral and idealistic standards (created by the superego).

⚫ Hence, ego serves as a moderator between id and superego like let’s figure out a way to work together.

109
 The psychoanalytic theory of personality

⚫ Ego: a hypothetical example

If a 6-month-old child sees an object and wants it, she will reach out and grab it despite her parent‘s
frantic cries of ―No, no!ǁ The parent will have to pry the object out of the baby‘s hands, with the baby
protesting mightily all the while. But if the same child is about 2 years old, when she reaches for the
object and the parent shouts ―No!ǁ she will most likely draw back her hand without grabbing the
object because her ego has already begun to develop. In the first case, the infant has only the
id to guide her behavior, and the id wants to grab the object and doesn‘t care what the parent says or
does. But the 2 years old has an ego and that ego knows that the parent‘s ―No!ǁ may very well be
followed by punishment, an unpleasant consequence. The 2 years old child will make a more rational,
more logical decision to wait until the parent isn‘t looking and then grab the object and run.

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 Psychological defense mechanisms

⚫ Our personality is the outcome of the continual battle for dominance among the
id, the ego, and the superego

⚫ Defense mechanisms are unconscious tactics that manage constant conflict

between id, ego & superego either by preventing threatening material from
surfacing or disguise it when it does.

⚫ Remember that all of us use defense mechanisms to manage our conflict and
stress, but excessive use may create more stress than it alleviates.

111
 The major Freudian defense mechanisms
Defense Definition
mechanism
Displacement Involves expressing feelings toward a
person who is less threatening than the
person who is the true target of feelings.
Projection Involves attributing one's undesirable
feelings to other people
Rationalization Giving socially acceptable reason for
one’s inappropriate/negative behavior
Reaction Involves a tendency to act in a
formation manner opposite to one's true feelings.
Regression Retreating to an earlier, more childlike,
and safer stage of development
Danial • A refusal to recognize a threatening
situation
Repression • Pushing anxiety-arousing thoughts
into the unconscious
Sublimation Channeling unacceptable sexual or
aggressive desires into acceptable
activities
Possible behavioral example
A student who is angry at her professor for a low
grade lashes out at her roommate, who is a safer
target of her anger.
A man with powerful unconscious sexual desires for
women claims that women use him as a sex object.
A drama student convinces herself that getting the
part in the play wasn’t that important after all.
Jane is sexually attracted to friend Jake, but she
claims in public that she intensely dislikes him
A college student who is worried about an important
test begins to suck on his finger.
• An alcoholic person who doesn’t accept being
alcoholic
• An Ethiopian husband who is defeated by his
wife will not talk it out again.
A person participates in sports to sublimate
aggressive drives.
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 The trait theory of personality
⚫ Main assumptions of trait approach

1. Personality traits are relatively stable, and therefore predictable, over time. So a
gentle person tends to stay the same way across time.
2. Personality traits are relatively stable across situations, and they can explain why
people act in predictable ways in many different situations. A person who is
competitive at work will probably also be competitive on the tennis court or at a party.

3. People differ in how much of a particular personality trait they possess; no two people
are exactly alike on all traits. The result is an endless variety of unique personalities.

NB. According to trait approach, personality is a combination of stable internal

characteristics that people display consistently overtime and across situations.

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 The trait theory of personality
⚫ Some of the known trait theories include Five-factor theory, which also is called Big Five theory

OR Five dimensions of personality/OCEAN

⚫ The Big Five theory suggests that all personalities can be characterized by five major personality

dimensions: openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism

⚫ Openness: described as a person‘s willingness to try new things & be open to new experiences.

⚫ Conscientiousness refers to a person‘s organization and motivation with people who are careful

⚫ Extraversion: Extraverts are outgoing and sociable, whereas introverts are more solitary and
dislike being the center of attention.

⚫ Agreeableness: characterize a person who may be easygoing, friendly and pleasant (at the high
end of the scale) or grumpy, crabby and hard to get along with (at the low end)

⚫ Neuroticism refers to emotional instability or stability. People who are excessively

worried, overanxious and moody would score high on this dimension, whereas those who are
114
more even-tempered and calm could score low.
 Humanistic theory of personality
⚫ Based on the works of Carl Rogers & Abraham Maslow
⚫ Clarification of important concepts of the theory
⚫ Self-actualizing tendency-human striving to fulfill their innate capacities & capabilities

⚫ Self-concept- the development of an image of oneself in self-actualization

⚫ Real self - one‘s actual perception of characteristics, traits, and abilities that form the basis of the
striving for self-actualization
⚫ Ideal self : the perception of what one should be or would like to be

⚫ Positive regard-warmth, affection, love, and respect that comes from the significant others
(parents, admired adults, friends, and teachers) in people‘s experiences
⚫ Unconditioned positive regard - or love, affection and respect with no strings attached, is
necessary for people to be able to explore fully all that they can achieve and become.
⚫ Conditional positive regard: love, affection, respect and warmth that depend, or seem to
depend, on doing what those people want.

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 Humanistic theory of personality
⚫ For Rogers, a person who is in the process of self-actualizing, activity exploring potentials and
abilities and experiencing a match between real and ideal selves is a fully functioning person. To
become a fully functioning, a person needs unconditional positive regard
⚫ See the illustration below

As a freshman Tirhas was thinking about becoming a math teacher, a computer programmer. Chalet, also a
freshman, already knew that she was going to be a doctor. While Tirhas‟ parents had told her that what
she wanted to become was up to her and that they would love her no matter what, Chaltu‟s parents had made
it very clear to her as a small child that they expected her to become a doctor. She was under the very
impression that if she tried to choose any other career, she will lose her parents‟ love and respect.
Tirhas‟ parents were giving her unconditional positive regard, but Chaltu‟s parents were giving her
conditional positive regard. Chaltu was not as free as Tirhas to explore potential abilities. In Rogers's
view, Chaltu would not have been a fully functioning person.

116
 Psychological Disorders and Treatment
Techniques

117
 Psychological disorder: definition
⚫ A psychological disorder is an ongoing dysfunctional pattern of
thought, emotion, and behavior that causes significant distress

118
 Nature of psychological disorder

⚫ How do we know a person has psychological disorder?

⚫ Abnormality- A behavior that deviates from the behavior of the typical

person, violates from norm, rules

⚫ Maladaptiveness-behaviors seriously disrupt the day-to-day activities of

individuals
⚫ Personal distress-subjective feelings of anxiety, stress, tension and other

unpleasant emotions

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Psychological disorder

Causes
Psychological influences
• Psychoanalytic perspective (ID vs
Biological perspective:
superego)
Genetic make-up of the individual
• Inappropriate learning
Brain structure & neurotransmitter
• Self-destructive thoughts

Psychological
disorder

Socio-cultural influences
• Cultural expectations
• Stigma, produce ands abuse
• Homelessness

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 Type of psychological disorders
Mood Characteristics
disorders
Major Change in appetite, weight loss, difficulty of concentrating,
deprecation fatigue, decreased energy, helplessness, hopelessness,
pessimism, restlessness, irritability, depressed mood, sadness,
sleep disturbance (trouble & excessive ) & thought of suicides
Bipolar A psychological disorder characterized by swings in mood from
disorder overly high to sad and hopeless, and back again, with periods of
near-normal mood in between

Dysthymia Lesser but more persistent form of depression

Cyclothymia Characterized by a lesser form of bipolar disorder

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 Type of psychological disorders
Anxiety Characteristics
disorders
Panic Disorder Involves the experience of panic attacks, including shortness of
breath, heart palpitations, trembling, and dizziness

Agoraphobia Literally ear of the marketplace, such as shopping centers, grocery

stores, or other public place, where scape is unavailable

Simple & An intense fear and often an avoidance of a specific situation, person,
Social Phobia place, or thing

Obsessive-com Obsessions (repetitive thoughts) or compulsions (repetitive

pulsive behaviors) in an attempt to calm these thoughts, e.g., washing your
disorder hands twice and more times to make sure they are clean to reduce
intense fear of being infected.
Posttraumatic A person exposed to such accidents/survived combat, torture, sexual
Stress assault, imprisonment, abuse, natural disasters, or the death of
Disorder someone close to them may develop this disorder & reoccurring
nightmares Example, 9/11 terrorist attack
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 Type of psychological disorders
Personality Characteristics
disorders
Paranoid pattern of distrust in others, often jealous, secretive, overly serious
Schizoid pattern of extreme introversion & withdrawal from relationships/ a loner
Schizotypal pattern of discomfort in close relationships and eccentric thoughts
Antisocial pattern of disregard for & violation of the rights of others
Borderline Prolonged mood swings, unstable personal relationships, and identity
problems, and it is often associated with suicide.
Histrionic Pattern of excessive attention seeking (provocative dress, overly dramatic0
Narcissistic Pattern of grandiosity, exaggerated self-worth and admiration
Avoidant Pattern of feelings of social inadequacies, low self-esteem, fears of
criticism and worries about being embarrassed in front of others.
Obsessive-Co Pattern of obsessive cleanliness, perfection, and control
mpulsive 123
 Treatment techniques
⚫ Applying a positive, healthy relationship between a client or
patient and a trained psychotherapist,
⚫ Recognizable mental health issues, whether diagnosable or not

⚫ Agreement on the basic goals of treatment

⚫ Working together as a team to achieve these goals

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