Introduction To Psychology - CRC

INTRODUCTION
TO
PSYCHOLOGY
INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
B.A. (HONS) PSYCHOLOGY
SEMESTER I
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DEPARTMENT OF DISTANCE AND CONTINUING EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF DISTANCE AND CONTINUING EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF DELHI UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
Introduction to Psychology
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© Department of Distance and Continuing Education

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SYLLABUS
Syllabus Mapping
Unit 1: Introduction: Nature of Psychology - Indian and Western; Scope of Lesson 1: Introduction
Psychology, Perspectives in Psychology, Subfields of Psychology, (Pages 3-22)
Psychology Today.
Unit 2: Learning and Memory: Learning, Nature of learning, Principles and Lesson 2: Learning &
applications of Classical Conditioning, Operant Learning, Observational Conditioning
Learning, and Cognitive Learning in brief Memory: Definition, Models of (Pages 25-47)
memory, Forgetting, Improving memory Lesson 3: Memory
(Pages 49-78)
Unit 3: Motivation and Emotion Motivation: Nature, Perspectives, Types - Lesson 4: Motivation
biogenic, sociogenic, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, relationship between (Pages 81-107)
motivation and emotion. Lesson 5: Emotions
Emotions: Nature, Functions of Emotion, Theories of emotion , Culture and (Pages 109-136)
Emotion - Indian perspective.

CONTENTS
UNIT I
LESSON 1 INTRODUCTION 3-22
1.1 Learning Objectives

1.2 Introduction
1.3 Nature of Psychology
1.3.1 Nature of Indian & Western Psychology
1.4 Scope of Psychology
1.5 Perspectives of Psychology
1.6 Subfields of Psychology
1.7 Psychology Today
1.8 Summary
1.9 Glossary
1.10 Answers to In-Text Questions
1.11 Self-Assessment Questions
1.12 References
1.13 Suggested Reading
UNIT II
LESSON 2 LEARNING & CONDITIONING 25-47

2.2 Introduction
2.3 Concept of Learning
2.3.1 Definitions of learning
2.3.2 Characteristics/Features of the Learning Process
2.4 Concept of Conditioning

2.5 Classical Conditioning

2.5.1 Stages of Classical Conditioning
2.5.2 Principles of Classical Conditioning
2.5.3 Applications of Classical Conditioning
2.6 Operant Conditioning
2.6.1 Principles of Operant Conditioning
2.6.2 Schedule of Reinforcement
2.6.3 Application of Operant Conditioning
2.7 Observational Learning
2.8 Cognitive Learning
2.8.1 Latent Learning
2.8.2 Insight Learning
2.9 Solved Illustrations
2.10 Summary
2.11 Glossary
2.14 References
2.15 Suggested Readings
LESSON 3 MEMORY 49-78

3.2 Introduction
3.3 Information Processing Model
3.4 Neural Network Model: Parallel Processing of Information
3.5 Retrieving Memories
3.6 Forgetting
3.7 Memory in Everyday Life
3.8 Improving Memory
3.9 Summary
3.10 Glossary


3.13 References
UNIT III
LESSON 4 MOTIVATION 81-107

4.2 Introduction
4.3 Nature and Perspectives
4.3.1 Evolution, instinct and genes
4.3.2 Homeostasis and drive
4.3.3 Biological processes: Approach and avoidance motivation
4.3.4 Cognitive processes: Incentives and expectancies
4.3.5 Psychodynamic perspective
4.3.6 Humanistic perspective
4.4 Types
4.4.1 Biogenic motivation
4.4.2 Sociogenic motivation
4.4.3 Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
4.5 Relationship Between Motivation and Emotion
4.6 Summary
4.7 Glossary
4.10 References
LESSON 5 EMOTIONS 109-136

5.2 Introduction

5.3 Nature of Emotions

5.3.1 Eliciting stimuli
5.3.2 Cognitive component
5.3.3 Physiological component
5.3.4 Behavioural component
5.4 Functions of Emotions
5.4.1 Intra-personal functions of emotions
5.4.2 Inter-personal functions of emotions
5.4.3 Social and cultural functions of emotions
5.5 Theories of Emotions
5.5.1 James-Lange theory
5.5.2 Cannon- Bard theory
5.5.3 Role of Autonomic Feedback and Expressive Behaviour
5.5.4 Cognitive- affective theories
5.6 Culture and Emotions
5.6.1 Indian perspectives on emotions
5.7 Summary
5.8 Glossary
5.11 References

UNIT I: INTRODUCTION
LESSON 1 INTRODUCTION
Introduction
NOTES
LESSON 1
INTRODUCTION
Dr. Ekta Bhambri Marwaha
Associate Professor
Shyama Prasad Mukherjee College (W), University of Delhi
Email-Id findektaa@gmail.com
Structure
1.2 Introduction
1.3 Nature of Psychology
1.4 Scope of Psychology
1.5 Perspectives of Psychology
1.6 Subfields of Psychology
1.7 Psychology Today
1.8 Summary
1.9 Glossary
1.12 References
1.13 Suggested Reading
1.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

 To Define & Understand the meaning of Psychology
 To Explain the nature of psychology
 To Recognize the nature of Indian & Western Psychology
 To Identify the scope of psychology
 To Impart knowledge about various perspectives in psychology
 To Know about various subfields of psychology
 To Ascertain the present position of psychology Self-Instructional
Material 3

NOTES
1.2 INTRODUCTION
Our natural curiosity motivates us to investigate the origins of numerous events that
occur around us. We want to know why someone is doing something when we meet
them or witness them doing it. Similarly, we constantly attempt to comprehend our
own feelings and actions in a variety of scenarios. Our curiosity and excitement drive
us to look into how people differ in terms of intelligence, aptitude, and temperament:
 “What makes someone happy or sad?”
 “How do they form friendly or hostile relationships?”
 “Why do some people learn quickly while others take their time?
Everyone can provide answers to such questions, but only a psychologist can
do it in a systematic and scientific manner. We shall discuss in this chapter the nature of
psychology – Indian & western viewpoints, perspectives in psychology, subfields of
psychology & scope of psychology in detail.
1.3 NATURE OF PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology was initially defined as the study of the mind, addressing problems such as
what the mind is and how it may be researched. William James defined psychology as
the science of awareness after rejecting psychology as the study of soul and mind.
Psychology word has been obtained from two Greek words; Psyche means “soul or
mind” and Logos means “knowledge or study” (study or investigation of something).
Initially it was considered a discipline which deals with the study of the soul. During the
Vedic and Upanishadic periods, the study of such issues was the primary focus in
India. A variety of mental processes were investigated. The schools of Yoga, Samkhya,
Vedant, Nyaya, Buddhism, and Jainism that followed provided thorough explanations
of the mind, mental processes, and mind control strategies.
Psychology emerged as a separate science in the latter half of the nineteenth
century, when scientific methods were first employed to explore human behaviour
problems. The formal foundation of psychology as an independent subject in the Western
world dates to 1879, when Wilhelm Wundt built the first experimental laboratory at
Self-Instructional the University of Leipzig in Germany. Many authors have defined psychology in a
4 Material
variety of ways. Psychologists had been discussing whether to focus on the “mind,”

Introduction
“awareness,” or “behaviour” in psychology. “Psychology is the science of human and NOTES

animal behaviour,” according to Morgan et al. (1986). It includes the application of
this knowledge to human problems”.
Another prominent definition of psychology was offered by Atkinson (1958)
who said psychology “is the scientific study of mental processes, experience and
behaviour”. This definition includes the following features:
i. Psychology is the study of mental processes: - Mental processes are activities
that occur primarily in physiological or physical activity. They are associated
with not only mental representations and neural activities occurring in the brain,
but also with objective events and activities occurring in the outside world. The
phrase mental process is frequently used to refer to internal processes such as
thinking, remembering, perceiving, and learning. Consequently, mental processes
can be deduced from people’s verbal conduct, muscle movements, and nonverbal
indicators.
ii. Psychologists are interested in the study of experiences: - Psychologists
investigate a wide range of human experiences, the majority of which are personal
or private in character. They are interested in studying personal experiences
such as dreams, sleep, or conditions in which consciousness is altered (for
example, when someone uses a psychedelic drug or undergoes dhyan / meditation)
or an experience one has in everyday life.
iii. Psychology studies behavior: Psychology investigates a wide range of
behaviours. Simple reflexes (for example, eye blinking), frequent reaction patterns
such as talking to friends, vocal reporting about feelings and internal states, and
complex behaviours such as using computers, playing the piano, and addressing
a crowd are all included. These behaviours are either noticed with the naked
eye or measured with tools. Emotions are typically displayed orally or nonverbally
(e.g., by facial expression) when a person reacts to a stimulus in a certain setting.
As a result, the individual human being and his or her experiences, mental
processes, and behaviours are the primary research units in psychology.
Our sages have been engaged in understanding and managing mental processes since
the Vedic times. Throughout ancient times, India has had a rich cultural heritage. The Self-Instructional
numerous Indian schools have contributed to the creation of scientific psychological Material 5

NOTES theories that are useful to human well-being. The role of psychology in India can be
traced back to the massive philosophical and religious writings known as Vedic and
epic literature. Indian sources for analyzing and conceptualizing various elements of
man’s behaviour and human nature include the Vedas, yoga sutras, Bhagavad Gita,
Upanishads, and other treatises. These scriptures covered a wide range of issues,
including the investigation of consciousness and the contents of mental activity. Their
primary concern was the attainment of moksha, which signified self-realization and
freedom from life’s sorrows. Most ancient Indian texts (Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain)
emphasize samadhi (self-realization) or nirvana. The root of all sorrow, according to
this viewpoint, was within the person, hence the emphasis was on discovering the
“world within” through reflection, Guru instruction, continuous contemplation, and
sharing personal accounts of inner experiences to alleviate suffering. The goal was to
develop long-term and consistent soul, mind, and body harmony in order to obtain
tranquillity and happiness. There is a vast Indian literature on aspects of consciousness.
Mental states and activities have been analyzed, classified, and differentiated in this
literature.
Indian Psychology was defined by Cornelissen, Misra, & Varma (2014), as
“an approach to psychology that is based on ideas and practices that developed over
thousands of years within the Indian sub-continent.”
According to Rao K. R (2014), “Indian psychology refers to a system/school
of psychology originating from ancient Indian thought and founded in psychologically
relevant practices such as yoga that have been prominent in the Indian subcontinent
for ages”. The notion of Kosha is used by Upanishadas to explain the self and personality
structure. They are the Annamaya, Pranmaya, Manomaya, Vidnyanmaya, and
Anandmaya koshas. They also discussed the reasons that influenced these koshas, as
well as how these koshas influence human conduct.
According to Ayurveda, there are three types of doshas: Kapha, Vata, and
Pitta, and these doshas determine human Prakriti (characteristics).
 Kapha: People with kapha as their primary dosha are calm, flexible, patient,
and kind. They have excellent memory. It is thought that they take longer to
grasp a subject, but once they do, they can keep it for a longer period.
 Vata: People with Vata as their primary dosha are unpredictable. Their
Self-Instructional emotions and thinking change. They become enraged rapidly, but also swiftly
6 Material
calm down. They are also art enthusiasts.

Introduction
 Pitta: People with Pitta as their primary dosha are thought to be particularly NOTES
keen. Yet, they have a reputation for having a short fuse.
In the western world, the formal beginning of psychology as an independent
discipline goes back to 1879 when Wilhelm Wundt established the first experimental
laboratory at the University of Leipzig, in Germany. Since then, the growth of psychology
has covered a long journey. Today, it is one of the very popular subjects among social
sciences. It studies all the shades of experiences, mental processes, and behaviours. A
comprehensive analysis of all these aspects provides a scientific understanding of human
nature. Western psychology is the scientific study of human minds and behaviour,
traditionally approaching from a strictly scientific point of view. The scientific method
is used in Western psychology to examine the human brain and psyche. Its strength is
that it is an exacting tool. Yet, it has limitations in that there are some topics that cannot
be studied empirically. Science can only investigate what can be measured and ‘seen’
objectively. Furthermore, science is a work in progress, with theories being proven
incorrect, changed, and corrected. This is both its advantage and disadvantage. There
are several schools of psychology, and each has developed some system of ideas
which not only influenced the development of various trends and approaches for the
study of behaviour but also affected the process and product of education.
There are unique ways to analyze the human mind and behaviour in Indian and
Western psychology. While they have certain commonalities, they also differ significantly
due to their cultural, philosophical, and historical roots. The fundamental distinctions
between the approaches are in how the self is perceived and connected to the rest of
the environment. Individualism has been applied to Western culture, whereas Hindu
culture is holistic. Individualistic culture considers the self, or “I,” to be the center of
the universe, with everything else serving as an extension of this entity. Holistic civilizations
regard the self as a unique member of a collective. Western psychology regards the
self as distinct from the outside world. Hindu psychology, on the other hand, sees the
individual as interrelated with the universe and, ultimately, as one with the divine.
Traditionally, Western psychology has concentrated on the human self and its relationship
to the outside environment. The self is regarded as a distinct entity, with a distinct
boundary between the self and the outside world. The self is defined by individual
characteristics such as personality traits, beliefs, and emotions. The cognitive processes
that underpin the self, such as perception, memory, and reasoning, have also received
Self-Instructional
attention in Western psychology. Some of the major schools of thoughts are Material 7

NOTES Structuralism, Functionalism, Gestalt, Behaviorism, Psychodynamic & humanistic, some

of these would be discussed in detail later. Psychology both Eastern and Western are
important ways of understanding things and expanding the mind.
Consciousness is a key notion in psychology, and it is handled differently in
Western and Indian psychology. Western psychology is concerned with the conscious
mind and its functions, whereas Indian Psychology emphasizes the unconscious mind
and ultimate reality. Consciousness is commonly characterized in Western psychology
as awareness of one’s surroundings, thoughts, and feelings. It is regarded as the highest
level of mental functioning and is intimately related to the concept of the self. Traditionally,
Western psychology has concentrated on researching various components of
consciousness, such as perception, memory, attention, and reasoning. In contrast,
Indian psychology considers consciousness as the ultimate reality and the aim of the
self. According to Indian psychology, consciousness is not limited to the human ego
but is the essential truth of the cosmos. Indian psychology seeks to understand the
fundamental nature of awareness, which is the ultimate reality, or Brahman. The Yogsutra
by Patanjali examined intricate psychological concepts. He conducted several degrees
of human mind study and offered spiritual advancements. His ashtanga yoga philosophy
is still relevant today. Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana,
Dhyan, and Samadhi are the eight tenets of Ashtanga yoga.
Eight Tenets or Limbs of Ashtanga yoga

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8 Material

Introduction
Many Hindu saints and philosophers have observed the human mind and NOTES
behaviour. Nonetheless, various facets of the human mind and behavior were highlighted
by the Jain Tirthankara, Tathagat Buddha, Saint Kabir, Swami Vivekanand, and others.
IN-TEXT QUESTIONS
1. Psychology is the scientific study of —————, ————and ————.
2. Wilhelm Wundt built the first experimental laboratory in the year —————
at the University of Leipzig in Germany.
3. The —————, yoga sutras, Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, and other
treatises are the Indian sources for analyzing and theorizing various aspects of
man’s behavior and human nature.
4. There are————— types of doshas, these doshas determine Prakruti
(characteristics) of human beings.
1.4 SCOPE OF PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology has grown in importance over time, and it is now one of the most important
fields of human endeavor. Many psychological insights are being applied to solving the
problems of individuals. It addresses themes such as labour, industry, education, and
personality development, and one of its most well-known areas is the therapy of mental
and emotional difficulties. Apart from this, research in psychology is not just limited to
human behavior alone but also include the behavior of animals, insects, birds, and
even plants. In this way wherever there is life, psychology may be needed for the study
of those activities and experiences.
Psychology is broadly divided into two branches: Pure psychology and Applied
psychology. General psychology, abnormal psychology, social psychology, para
psychology, geo psychology, physical psychology, and experimental psychology are
all studied in Pure Psychology. Moreover, educational psychology, industrial psychology,
legal psychology, clinical psychology, military psychology, political psychology, and
criminal psychology are all sub-disciplines of Applied Psychology.
Self-Instructional
Material 9

NOTES
Branches of Psychology
Hence, psychology is concerned with a wide range of themes concerning an

individual’s mental and behavioural functioning. This type of research helps us gain a
fundamental understanding of human nature and deal with a wide range of personal
and social concerns. Face recognition, social judgments, learning, the effect of mass
media, memory, obesity, aggression, and many other areas are covered by psychology.
Psychology is about every one of us individually. It invites us to contemplate as
we question, “How can we step outside of ourselves to look objectively at how we
live, think, feel, and act?”, psychologists believe the answer is through careful thought,
observation, and inquiry (Coon & Mitterer, (2008). The nervous system, sensation,
perception, learning, memory, intelligence, personality language, thinking, development,
motivation, emotion, stress, psychological disorders, sexual behaviour, treatment, and
the behaviour of people in social settings such as groups and organizations are all
Self-Instructional
10 Material covered in psychology. According to Coon & Mitterer (2008), the objectives of

Introduction
psychology are similar to those of other disciplines in that they aim to describe, explain, NOTES
predict, and govern the phenomena they study. Hence, psychology makes an effort to
characterize, clarify, anticipate, and regulate behavior and mental processes. The
purpose of psychology as a behaviour science is to clarify the “why” and “how” of
behaviour. The knowledge of psychology can also be applied to solve various problems
facing human beings, be it at home, in society, & workplace.
Each one of us is different from other in terms of physical characteristics such as
height, weight, skin colour, or facial features, as well as psychological characteristics
such as IQ, personality, temperament, and interest. Understanding these and other
characteristics of individual differences enables the psychologist to select the best
person for the position and to provide guidance and counselling on a variety of personal
and professional issues. Understanding individual variances also assists the psychologist
in distinguishing between normative (customary, accepted) and aberrant (deviant,
uncommon) behaviour. As a result, psychology as a discipline has a broad reach. It
not only analyses people throughout their lives, but it also aims to investigate mental
processes and potentials in order to help people achieve a higher quality of life.
1.5 PERSPECTIVES OF PSYCHOLOGY

Psychologists are basically fascinated in the same thing that is a better understanding
of behavior and underlying mental processes. While a few different schools of thought
dominated the early years of psychology, the amount of themes studied by psychologists
has grown radically since the early 1960s. Today, few psychologists categorize their
point of view according to a particular school of thought. However, in much the same
way that different cultures have different perspectives, psychologists differ in their
view of behaviour and its causes; and the results has been the development of several
diverse models for understanding behaviour. These different perspectives have grown
out of varied backgrounds of psychologists and their basic philosophical postulation
about the behaviour. In fact, understanding many psychological perspectives require
an eclectic approach that spans multiple perspectives.
Some of the important perspectives are: -
 Biological
 Behavioral Self-Instructional
Material 11

NOTES  Psychodynamic
 Cognitive
 Evolutionary
 Humanistic
Perspective of Psychology
 Biological Perspective: It is also referred to as physiological psychology &

biopsychology. This perspective focuses on the physiology involved in all forms
of behaviour and mental processes, investigates how the brain and nerve impulses
work using scientific instruments, concentrating primarily on how genetics affects
both typical and aberrant behavioral patterns. Every action a person takes is
influenced by physiological changes in their body. The biological viewpoint is
concerned with how the body, behaviour, and brain processes interact. The
physiological viewpoint explains how nerve cells affect a person’s behavior in
terms of emotion, cognition, problem-solving, intellect, speaking, etc.
Physiological psychologists have recently been concentrating on how inheritance
affects personality traits and skills. To ascertain the extent to which genes and
the environment impact individual differences, they are also focusing on behaviour
genetics. E.g.: A 6-year-old boy on the playground throws a toddler off her
Self-Instructional tricycle and rides away on it. What exactly did the youngster do? Biological
12 Material perspective would view not his thinking or even his motives but will be related

Introduction
to the functions of the body – the nervous and glandular systems in particular. NOTES
Men are frequently more aggressive than women due to hormonal variations
(Maccoby and Jacklin 1974). As our ability to analyze and grasp the human
brain and neurological system has increased, the biological perspective has grown
in relevance.
 Behavioral Perspective: Behavioral perspective emphasizes on learned
behaviour. Though behaviorism was dominant in the early twentieth century, but
it began to lose its grasp during the 1950s. Behavioral principles are often applied
in mental health settings, where therapists and counselors use these techniques
known as behavior modification to treat a variety of illnesses. Four major
psychologists who contributed to the development of this perspective were
Ivan. P Pavlov, B.F Skinner, J.B Watson, and Thorndike. Behavioral
psychologists believe that external environmental stimuli influence your behavior
and that you can be trained to act a certain way. Behaviorists like B.F.
Skinner doesn’t believe in free will. They believe that you learn through a system
of reinforcement and punishment. The influence of these theories affects us every
day and throughout our lives, impacting everything from why we follow the
rules of the road when driving to how advertising companies build campaigns to
get us to buy their products. Behaviourism tries to study the effect of environmental
factors (stimuli) on observable behavior (that is the response). The behaviourist
approach proposes two basic methods by which humans learn from their
surroundings: classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Behaviorism has
been chastised for undermining the complexities of human behaviour. Several of
these investigations were carried out on animals, the results of which are difficult
to generalise to humans and cannot explain, for example, the speed with which
we learn languages. Biological components must be involved. The following are
some of the behavioral viewpoint’s assumptions: -
a) All human behaviours are learned, and they are learned through the
application of learning.
b) Reinforcement i.e., rewards and punishments is critical to whether or not
a given behaviour is learned.
c) The behavioral perspective focuses on the description of the changes in
man’s behaviour. It concentrates on objective and overt behaviour which Self-Instructional
can be measured. Material 13

NOTES d) The behavioral perspective seeks to educate the individual on appropriate

behavior skills so that he can learn to cope with life problems and adjust
better. Using the same biological example, what the boy performed (rather
than his ideas and reasons) would be the focus of this perspective. When
the child knocked the girl off her tricycle, a psychologist would respond
that the youngster learned to act aggressively in specific situations because
he had previously been rewarded for such behaviour.
 Psychodynamic Perspective: - The terms ‘psychodynamic’ and
‘psychoanalytic’ are frequently used interchangeably. Psychoanalysis contains
Freud’s theories, but the ‘psychodynamic’ method encompasses both his and
his followers’ theories. It includes the work of Alfred Adler, Erick Erikson,
Karen Horney & many more. Sigmund Freud established psychoanalysis as
both a theory and a therapy. This viewpoint emphasises the role of unconscious
motivation. This viewpoint highlights the impact of defence mechanisms, anxiety,
dreams, and so on in our behavior. This perspective attaches importance to the
unconscious mind on behaviour. So going back to the same example, perhaps
according to this perspective this might have happened with the boy. He must
have been angry at someone powerful but could not express so he pushed the
girl –displacing the anger he felt for that person on the girl. The psychoanalytic
approach can be best described in basic assumptions:
a) unconscious motives govern one’s behavior & feelings.
b) childhood experiences have a major influence on personality development.
c) the root of psychological problems are motives of sexual and aggressive
nature which stay at the unconscious level of the mind.
d) Freud proposed the structural theory of personality according to which
the human mind is composed of three elements: the id, the ego, and the
superego.
 Cognitive Perspective: - The current viewpoint in psychology that emphasizes
on information processing in the study of mind and behavior. The word cognition
refers to the perception of the world around us, it also includes some form of
learning, memory, thinking and comprehension of our social environment. The
emphasis here is on learning how people understand and represent the outside
Self-Instructional world within themselves. It seeks to explain how we process information and
14 Material

Introduction
how our ways of thinking about the world influences our behavior. Taking the NOTES
same example of the boy, a cognitively oriented psychologist would try to explain
the boy’s behavior in terms of his perception of the girl’s weakness who can be
bullied. Alternatively, boy may have perceived other boys getting away with
such aggression and may be modelling his behavior on their example-based on
Bandura’s social leaning theory, of course, if the boy did model his behavior on
others, he would be drawing on his memory and he may have considered the
situation and planned his actions- thinking – which is another cognitive process.
In recent times, cognitive psychology has become interested in computer
information processing and artificial intelligence, as it tries to study and draw
parallels in how both the brain and computers receive, process, store, and
retrieve information.
 Evolutionary Perspective: - The evolutionary viewpoint is the domain of
psychology scientists that investigate the role of natural selection in the evolution
of psychological systems that allow adaptability to recurring behavioral issues
(e.g., mate selection, altruism, social competitiveness) that are important for
species survival. Scientists like David Buss (1953 -), a professor at the University
of Texas in Austin who is most recognized for his work on the evolutionary
psychology of mate choice, and Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker (1954 -),
who wrote The Blank Slate in 2002, both represent current work in evolutionary
psychology.
 Humanistic Perspective: - The humanistic perspective, promotes free will,
and people can be, whatever, they envision themselves. This perspective was
influence by humanists such as Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, who
emphasizes on the importance of individual potentials. They believed that human
beings are basically good, active and full of potential. It focuses more on the
subjective world experienced by the individual. It is held that behaviour is not
constraint by the past or current situation people have choice and their behaviour
is not predetermined.
Some of the important features of humanistic psychology are:
1. Humanistic psychologists emphasize the here and now instead of focusing
the past/future for them present is most important.
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Material 15

NOTES 2. Each individual according to this perspective should take personal

responsibility for their actions, regardless if those actions are positive or
negative.
3. Little can be learnt by studying animal behaviour.
4. Humanistic psychologist feels that human beings are inherently worthy.
While any given action may be negative, these actions do not mean that
the individual is bad and will always act like that.
5. This perspective assumes that the primary aim of an individual is to attain
personal growth & understanding. Only through ongoing self-discovery
and self-improvement is it possible for anybody to experience true
happiness.
One of Maslow’s most well-known and well-understood theories is the need
hypothesis. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is widely cited to summarize the humanistic
psychology philosophy. His hierarchy’s main tenet is that each person is born with
certain needs. If those fundamental wants aren’t met, we can’t live and concentrate on
moving up the ladder. In terms of his theory, there are two important concepts that are
predominantly worth noting. First, Rogers talked about healthy development in terms
of how the individual perceived their own being. A healthy individual will tend to see
congruence between their sense of who they are (self) and whom they feel they should
be (ideal self). The second important concept of Roger’s theory is the conditions for
healthy growth and the role of a therapist in fostering healthy growth. Through a process
Rogers called person-centered therapy; the therapist seeks to provide empathy,
openness, and unconditional positive regard. Again, we go back to the same example,
according to this perspective the boy’s behavior might be seen as a part of his need for
personal competence, achievement and self-esteem.
The humanistic approach directs its attention on acknowledging and appreciating
human abilities such as creativity, skills, aptitudes, personal growth and development
and preferences. This method makes an effort to enable individuals to be aware of
their strengths and weaknesses by providing an empathetic and accepting environment.
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Introduction
NOTES
IN-TEXT QUESTIONS
5. _______ perspective believe that external environmental stimuli influence your
behavior and that you can be trained to act a certain way.
a) Humanistic Perspective
b) Behavioural Perspective
c) Biological Perspective
d) Cognitive Perspective.
6. According to ______ perspective emphasizes on information processing in
the study of mind and behavior.
a) Evolutionary Perspective
b) Psychoanalytic Perspective
c) Cognitive Perspective
d) Humanistic Perspective.
1.6 SUBFIELDS OF PSYCHOLOGY

A subfield is a narrower subset of a larger subject of study. Each of psychology’s
subfields focuses on a distinct aspect of human experience. We can divide the fields of
Psychology majorly into two parts that is Pure /Theoretical Basic and Applied
psychology, these two fields consist of many sub-fields which are as follows:
1) Abnormal psychology: Is the study of abnormal behaviour and
psychopathology. This area focuses on research and treatment of a variety of
disorders. The causes, symptoms syndromes, description and treatment of the
abnormalities of behaviour form the subject matter of this branch.
2) Biological psychology: It is also referred to as biopsychology and studies
how biological processes influence the mind and behaviour. This field, which is
closely related to neuroscience, examines brain damage or anomalies using
technologies like MRI and PET scans.
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NOTES 3) Comparative psychology: This field of psychology deals with the study of
mental processes in non-humans. Understanding human psychology more
thoroughly and comprehensively can result from research into animal behaviour.
In comparative psychology, the study of animal adaptations, reproduction, and
evolution is included.
4) Clinical psychology: Is the scientific study and application of psychology in
order to understand, prevent, and improve psychological dysfunction (disability)
and promote the client’s well-being and personal development. In other words,
it focuses on the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.
5) Counselling Psychology: Emphasises on enhancing personal and interpersonal
functioning across the lifespan. This specialty pays particular attention to people’s
emotional, social, vocational, educational, health-related, developmental and
organizational concerns.
6) Development psychology: Is that field of psychology that studies human
growth and development over the lifespan. Theories frequently concentrate on
how morality, social skills, identity, and other aspects of life grow. Child
psychology, adolescent psychology, and adult psychology are some of the several
areas that make up this science. There are connections between developmental
psychology and a number of other subfields of psychology as well as with other
academic fields like linguistics.
7) Environmental Psychology: Considers the relationship between people and
their physical environment.
8) Experimental Psychology: One technique used in the study of several areas
of psychology is experimental psychology. It outlines and explains how to conduct
psychological experiments in a controlled, laboratory setting using scientific
methods.
9) Forensic Psychology: It is a field which is a blend or combination of psychology
and law. Individual psychological evaluation is included (usually suspected for
an illegal act or crime). The forensic psychologists are involved in various settings
like a school doing threat assessments, the prison or in the courtroom serving as
an expert witness. They are professionally skilled in behaviour analysis, evolution,
assessment and treatment.
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Introduction
10) General Psychology: Is a relatively large field of psychology which deals with NOTES
the fundamental rules, principles and theories of psychology in relation to the
study of behavior of normal adult human beings.
11) Health Psychology: This field is related to the application of psychology to
healthcare it explores the relationship between psychological factors and physical
ailments/diseases. The purpose of the health psychologist is to help client improve
his/her health by analyzing disease in the context of biopsychosocial factors.
Contrary to the solely biomedical features of sickness, the term “biopsychosocial”
refers to the biological, psychological, and social aspects of illness.
12) Organizational Psychology: Deals with the understanding of how organizations
function and how people and groups behave at work. This area of psychology
employs data from psychological studies to improve usability, personnel
selection, product design, and job performance.
13) Personality Psychology: Looks at the various elements that makeup individual’s
personality. It focuses on the consistency in people’s behaviour over time and
traits which differentiate one person form other some of the well-known
personality theories include Freud’s structural model of personality and the “Big
Five” theory of personality.
14) Social psychology: Is a discipline that uses scientific methods to study social
influence, social perception, and social interaction. Group behaviour, social
perception, leadership, nonverbal behaviour, compliance, violence, and prejudice
are just a few of the varied topics covered by social psychology.
15) Sport psychology: Applies psychology to athletic activity and exercise e.g.
building confidence, managing stress etc.
1.7 PSYCHOLOGY TODAY

Psychology will change along with individuals and society. From the start of the COVID-
19 epidemic, the need for mental health services in society has expanded. Changes in
societal consciousness, corporate environments, and even socioeconomic circumstances
have an impact on how psychology is researched, applied, and understood. It’s on
track to maintain and even expand its momentum as a movement after recently becoming
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NOTES a buzzword. Mindfulness is an extension of the Eastern philosophy of focusing on the

here and now. Religion is not a must, however Buddhism and Eastern philosophy both
contain mindfulness teachings. Counselors, therapists, and psychologists are increasingly
incorporating the mindfulness philosophy into their client interactions during sessions
and courses.
1.8 SUMMARY
This unit is an attempt to give a broad overview of psychology. This chapter started
with the definition of psychology. Then we explored the nature of psychology in Indian
& western context. Subsequently the scope and various perspectives of psychology
were discussed and how psychology can be applied in different spheres of life. Lastly,
the current status of the field was covered in this unit.
1.9 GLOSSARY
 Psychology: It is the study of how people and animals behave. It also covers
how this knowledge is used to solve issues affecting people.
 Indian Psychology: It refers to a system/school of psychology originating from
ancient Indian thought and founded in psychologically relevant practices such
as yoga that have been prominent in the Indian subcontinent for ages.
 Biological Perspective: This perspective focuses on the physiology involved
in all forms of behavior and mental processes.
 Behaviourism: Emphasises that psychology should focus on behaviour rather
than on mind.
 Cognitive Perspective: Is a current view point in psychology that emphasizes
on information processing in the study of mind and behavior.
 Clinical Psychology: It is that area of psychology that focuses on diagnosing,
treating, and managing mental disease and aberrant behavior.
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Introduction
NOTES
1.10 ANSWERS TO IN-TEXT QUESTIONS
1. Mental processes, experience & behavior
2. 18793.
3. Veda
4. Three
5. (b) Behaviorstic perspective
6. (c) Cognitive perspective
1.11 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

1. Define psychology & discuss the nature of Indian & Western Psychology.
2. Discuss the scope of psychology.
3. With relevant example, explain the various perspectives of psychology.
4. Enumerate the various subfields of psychology.
1.12 REFERENCES
Baron, R. A. (2001).Psychology (5th ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Ciccarelli, S.K., and White, J.N. (2010).
Bhambri.E & Reki.M, (2015), Ideas of Psychology, Ch 1 in Chaddha. NK & Seth.S.
Introduction to Psychology The Psychological Realms, Pinnacle Learning
Coon, D. (2001). Introduction to psychology: Gateways to mind and behavior
(9th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Feldman, R. S. (2002). Understanding psychology (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-
Hill.
Gerrig, R., and Zimbardo, P. (2005).Psychology and life (17th ed.). Boston: Allyn
and Bacon.
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NOTES Graham Davey, David Messer, Ian P. Albery, Christopher Sterling, Andy Field(2008).
Complete Psychology. USA: Oxford University Press.
Hilgard, E. R., Atkinson, R. C., & Atkinson, R.L. (1975). Introduction to Psychology
(6th edition). New Delhi: Oxford & IBH Publishing Co.
Huffman. K .(2009). Psychology in Action 9th Edition: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Kosslyn, S. M., and Rosenberg, R. S. (2004).Psychology: The brain, the person,
the world (2nd ed.). Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.
Morgan, C. T., King, R. A., Weisz, J. R. & Schopler, J. (1986). Introduction to
Psychology (7th edition). New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill.
Rao, K. R. (2008). Preface. In Rao, K. R., Paranjape, A. C., & Dalal, A. K. (Eds),
Handbook of Indian Psychology. Delhi: Foundation Books.
Salagame, K.K.K. (2018). Indian Psychology: Nature, Scope, and Application. In
M. Y. Manjula & S.S. Konaje (Eds.). Psychology; Existing trends and emerging
fields. Mangaluru: New United Publishers.
1.13 SUGGESTED READING

Baron, R. A. (2001). Psychology (5th ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Bhambri. E & Reki. M, (2015), Ideas of Psychology, Ch. 1 in Chaddha. NK &
Seth.S. Introduction to Psychology The Psychological Realms, Pinnacle Learning.
Ciccarelli, S.K.& Meyer, G.E. (2006). Psychology. Delhi (India): Pearson Education,
Inc
Feldman, R.S. (2004). Understanding Psychology (6thedition), New Delhi (India):
Tata McGraw Hill.
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UNIT II: LEARNING AND MEMORY
LESSON 2 LEARNING & CONDITIONING

LESSON 3 MEMORY
Learning & Conditioning
NOTES
LESSON 2
LEARNING & CONDITIONING
Dr. Anita Srivastava
Associate Professor
Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar College
University of Delhi
Email-Id- anita.srivastavabrac@gmail.com
Structure
2.2 Introduction
2.3 Concept of Learning
2.4 Concept of Conditioning
2.5 Classical Conditioning
2.6 Operant Conditioning
2.6.3 Application of Operant Conditioning
2.7 Observational Learning
2.8 Cognitive Learning
2.9 Solved Illustrations
2.10 Summary
2.11 Glossary
2.12 Answers to In Text Questions
2.14 References
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NOTES
 To understand the concept of learning.
 To apprehend the meaning and types of conditioning.
 To recognise the role of observation learning.
 To practically implement and experiment on the effect of transfer training.
2.2 INTRODUCTION
Psychology can be understood as the process through which an organism’s behaviour
is formed and altered by experience include learning and conditioning.
Learning is the process of gaining new information, abilities, or behaviours as
a result of experience. Many methods, such as practise, feedback, and observation,
might lead to this. Learning may take place in a variety of circumstances, from formal
educational settings to ordinary life events, and it can be purposeful or inadvertent.
Contrarily, conditioning is a particular kind of learning that entails connecting a
stimulus and a reaction. Operant and classical conditioning are the two primary kinds.
In classical conditioning, an organism learns to link two stimuli together so that
one stimulus eventually elicits a response that was previously exclusively triggered by
the other stimulus. Pavlov’s dogs are the most well-known example of classical
conditioning, in which canines were trained to salivate in response to a bell’s sound,
which was previously a neutral stimulus.
Operant conditioning, is the process of connecting a behaviour to its results.
Behaviour that are rewarded (i.e., those that are followed by a favourable outcome)
are more likely to be repeated in the future than those that are penalised (i.e., those
that are followed by a negative consequence).
Ultimately, learning and conditioning are crucial psychological ideas because
they explain how experience shapes and modifies behaviour and have real-world
implications in fields like education, behaviour control, and therapy.
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NOTES
2.3 CONCEPT OF LEARNING
Every responding organism does not have a pre-existing knowledge base; it must be
learnt or gained. We begin learning new skills at a young age, and we also acquire
knowledge and build beliefs and attitudes. They are all learnt. For the human species
to survive, develop, and advance, learning is crucial. Learning continues throughout
life, not only in a classroom setting. Learning results in somewhat permanent and fleeting
changes in a person’s behaviour.
A crucial aspect of human behaviour is learning. It alludes to a range of
transformations that occur from one’s experience. Any reasonably long-lasting change
in behaviour or behavioural potential brought on by experience is what is commonly
referred to as learning (Gordon, 1989).
Learning does not include behavioral modifications brought on by drug use,
exhaustion, emotions, and changes in motivations, development, or maturity. Systematic
adjustments brought on by practice and experience are usually lasting and/or indicative
of learning.
 According to Postman and Egan (1949), “Learning may be defined as the
measurable changes in behaviour as a result of practice and condition that
accompany practice.”
 According to Crow and Crow (1973), “Learning is the acquisition of habit,
knowledge and attitude it involves new ways of doing things, and it operates in
an individual’s attempts to overcome obstacles or to adjust to new situations. It
represents progressive changes in behaviour. It enables him to satisfy interests
to attain goals.”
 According to Hilgard and Atkinson (1975), “Learning is a relatively permanent
change in behaviour that occurs as the result of practice.”
 According to Ambrose et al, (2010), “Learning is a process that leads to change,
which occurs as a result of experience and increases the potential for improved
performance and future learning.”
The expression “relatively permanent” aims to remove transient or fleeting Self-Instructional
behavioral changes that may be influenced by things like exhaustion, satiety, the effects Material 27

NOTES of medicines, or changes in motivations. Extension will occur in the absence of

reinforcement. Practice entails exhibiting the behaviour in order for learning to occur
more quickly or in a letter, and repeated occurrences will enhance learning. The motion
of practice also includes a desire for the exclusion of other very long-lasting behavioral
changes that are typically not thought of as learning-related, such as innate tendencies
of certain species and maturation changes. (For instance, fishes can swim because of
the maturation process rather than active learning)
The process through which practice or experience leads to a comparatively
permanent change in behavior is referred to as learning. Since learning is so widespread
and ongoing, it is simple to forget how much of it we truly accomplish each day.
a) Learning is a complex process.
b) Learning always involve some kind of experience.
c) Learning is a transformation that happens as a result of reappearance or
experience.
d) Learning is a direct process.
e) A passive individual cannot learn; learning is an active process in which the
learner is fully aware of the learning circumstance, motivated to learn, has
intention to learn, and participates in the learning process.
2.4 CONCEPT OF CONDITIONING

The term “conditioning” is frequently employed in a much wider meaning than it actually
should be. This is especially true with classical and instrumental conditioning. Conditioning
is a term that psychologists frequently used to refer to learning in both humans and
animals. Although psychologists refer to conditioning as “part of an expression that
describes as specific process of learning,” the phrase generally refers to the acquisition
of a pattern of behaviour (G.C. Morris).
In general, it may be claimed that when a person learns to react naturally to an
unnatural stimuli, it can be said that they have condition it. Conditioning is the process
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of learning where the ability to elicit a response is transferred from one stimulus to
28 Material another. Both classical and instrumental or operant conditioning are forms of conditioning.

NOTES
Fig 1 Types of conditioning
IN-TEXT QUESTIONS
1. According to ________ “Learning may be defined as the measurable changes
in behaviour as a result of practice and condition that accompany practice”.
Identify.
a) Hilgard and Atkinson
b) Skinner
c) Postman and Egan
d) Abraham Maslow
2. Which of the following is not a feature of the learning process:
a) Learning is a complex process.
b) Learning always involve some kind of experience.
c) Learning is a transformation that happens as a result of reappearance or
experience.
d) Learning is an indirect process.
3. Which of the following statements most accurately sums up conditioning?
a) Method for modifying a person’s personality features
b) The process of imparting new information or abilities to another person
c) The process of learning correlations between stimuli and reactions
d) The process of gaining knowledge and comprehension via experience
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NOTES
2.5 CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
The term “classical conditioning” refers to training methods developed by Russian
physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849–1936). Pavlov made the initial discovery of
classical conditioning in 1805 while researching animal digestion. Although Pavlov
was not the first scientist to research on animal learning, he was the first to do it in a
structured and methodical manner, employing a set of accepted methodologies to
explain his experiment and its outcomes.
In the course of his research into the dog digestive system, Pavlov discovered
that the appearance, smell, and even the sight and sound of the technician who typically
supplied the meal could all trigger salivary production in dogs. As one of his helpers
entered the room, he saw that the dog, who had been starved, started to salivate. He
started looking at this occurrence and came up with the rules of classical conditioning.
Pavlov conducted a traditional experiment on conditioning that followed a
straightforward process. A hungry dog was held on a stand and fed some meat powder
every two minutes, with the event being signalled by a random stimulus, such as the
sound of a bell. In a short while, the sound of the bell that frequently accompanied the
delivery of food also caused salivation. On several instances, he provided a bell sound
(the training stimulus) right before food, such that the sound of the bell signalled that
food would be arriving shortly. He discovered that the dog responded positively to the
ringing of the bell when he finally offered it to it without any food. Technically speaking,
the dog had developed a conditioned reflex, where the condition stimulus—in this
case, the sound of the bell—was linked to the unconditional stimulus—in this case,
food—and the conditioned response was salivation in reaction to the tone.
The term “unconditioned” denotes that learning is not required to make the
association between this specific stimulus (meal) and responses (salivation). Dog
salivation in reaction to a novel or neutral stimulus, such as a bell or tone, is referred to
as the conditioned response (CR), and the stimulus itself is referred to as the conditioned
stimulus (CS). The phrase “conditioned” implies that this new behaviour (salivation in
response to a bell) is acquired via the connection of several experiences (Association
between the sound of bell and arrived of food). The arrival of meals was announced
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by tones. Many auditory and visual cues, such as the ring of a bell or a light flash, were NOTES
discovered by Pavlov to be condition stimuli for salivation.
Source: https://tyonote.com/classical_conditioning/
Three Stages of Classical Conditioning are:
 Stage 1, Before Conditioning
NS (Bell/Tone) ——————————————— No response
CS (Sound of Bell or tone) —————— No response or perk up ears
UCS (food) ———————————————— UCR (Salvation)
There must be a stimulus that will automatically or reflexively evoke a certain
response for there to be classical conditioning. Because there is no learning
required to link the stimulus and reaction, this stimulus is known as the
unconditional stimulus (UCS). In this case, the UCS is food. There must also be
a stimulus that will elicit an orienting response but not this particular reaction.
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NOTES This signal, such as a bell or tone, is referred to as a neutral stimulus or an

orienting stimulus.
 Stage 2, During Conditioning
CS + UCS —————————————————— UCR
Sound of bell +Food ————————————— Salivation
The neutral stimulus, such as the ringing of a bell, will be offered first during
conditioning, followed by the unconditional stimulus, which is food. A relationship
is formed between these two stimuli—the bell and the food—by developing an
association between them over time. With pairing, a link is created between the
unconditional stimuli, like as food, and the neutral stimulus, such as a bell, causing
the dog to react similarly to both events and stimuli.
 Stage 3, After Conditioning
CS ——————————————————— CR
Sound of bell ——————————————— Salivation
Following pairing, the previously neutral stimulus—the sound of a bell—will
evoke salivation, a response that was previously solely triggered by the stimulus
that wasn’t conditioned (food). Because it will now elicit different reactions as a
result of conditioning or learning, the stimulus is now referred to as a conditioned
stimulus (CS). The reaction is now referred to as a condition response (CR)
since conditioning causes it to be induced by a stimulus. After conditioning, the
two responses—unconditioned (Salivation) and conditioned (Salivation)—will
both elicit the same response.
Principles of Classical Conditioning are:
1. Acquisition: Acquisition refers to the time frame in which a response is being
learnt through pairing. Each coupling of the bell and the food is referred to as a
“learning trial,” and the dog starts to salivate. Following multiple learning exercises,
the dog will salivate even in the absence of food, because the dog is now salivating
in response to the tone, the tone has changed to a CS, and salivation has changed
to a CR.
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2. Extinction: The conditioned responses are extinct, if by repeatedly presenting NOTES

the conditioned stimulus (Tone) in the absence of the unconditional stimulus
(Food) follows. There was less and less salivation when Pavlov repeatedly
presented the tone on its own without being followed by food, which led to the
progressive extinction or elimination of the response.
3. Spontaneous Recovery: Extinction does not imply that a dog has completely
lost the ability to respond when its situation is reflected. Dog salivates in response
to the conditioned stimuli that is tone when it is returned to the experimental
setting. We refer to this as spontaneous recovery.
4. Generalization and Discrimination: Learning which generalizes to a similar
situation is understood as generalization. Learning to respond differently to
different stimuli is known as discrimination.
Applications of classical conditioning are:
1. Emotional Responses: Both negative and positive emotional reactions can
be influenced by classical conditioning. Like, negative responses can be unlearned
by making weak connection between stimulus and response and positive
responses are relearned through the similar process. E.g., Unlearning of social
anxiety, fear for animals etc. (Negative) Relearning of moralistic behaviour,
prosocial behaviour.
2. Addiction: Individuals who are hooked to the stimulants caffeine and nicotine,
which may be found in tea, coffee, and smoking materials.
3. Conditional Drug response: Occasionally taking a medicine might make you
feel unpleasant because of the flavour or effect. In extreme situations, a medicine’s
name may make you feel unwell. For instance, youngsters frequently begin
throwing up at the mention of cough syrup or another drug.
2.6 OPERANT CONDITIONING

A human creates his outcomes just as he creates his possessions or his home. Nothing
he says or does has an unintended impact. Operant conditioning is based on building
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a particular kind of consequences which is followed by a particular response. Material 33

NOTES Operant conditioning is a sort of learning in which a person learns to change

their behaviour based on the results. Skinner created a box, which was a unique
enclosure used to conduct experimental research on operant conditioning. A hungry
rat is placed into the chamber and accidentally presses the lever as it moves about and
when the lever is pressed, a food pellet immediately falls into the cup. The rat eats a
food pellet that clanks into the cup. The cumulative recorder which is used to capture
the rat’s behaviour reveals that it presses the bar more frequently with increased number
or trails and time. A second condition was also induced by skinner where electric
shock lead to reducing in behaviour of lever pressing.
According to Skinner, there are two types of consequences: reinforcement and
punishment. With reinforcement, a result strengthens a response; in contrast, punishment
occurs when an event weakens a response.
Principles of Operant conditioning are:
1. Positive Reinforcement: When responses outcome is what is been pleasing,
appreciated and wanted then the responses occur more frequently. The phrase
“reinforcement” always refers to a procedure that enhances behaviour, such as
when a supervisor rewards his top performers with pay bonuses.
2. Negative reinforcement: Negative reinforcement takes place when behaviour
is followed by the elimination of an unpleasant stimulus such as keeping a to-do
list and setting alarms so you won’t miss important tasks or events.
3. Positive Punishment: The subsequent presentation of a stimulus, such as a
kid touching a hot stovetop burner, weakens his reaction as he has faced burn.
The burner’s discomfort makes it less likely that the kid will touch it in the
future.
4.Negative Punishment: The subsequent removal of a stimulus, such as a parent
taking away their child’s phone for breaking the rules, weakens negative
punishment or punishment by removal of a response.
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NOTES
Source:http://cdn.differencebetween.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Difference-Between-
Social-Learning-Theory-and-Operant-Conditioning-.png

Schedules are plan for reinforcement that governs how incentives for acceptable behavior
are supplied. There are two major divisions of schedules of reinforcement. The first is
continuous and second is partial.
The reward is supplied after response in a continuous reinforcement schedule.
For creating a conditioned operant response, it works best.
Our acts, however, very rarely receive constant reinforcement in daily life. The
response rate is generally lowest with constant reinforcement hence the partial
reinforcement plan is the most effective strategy to continue, once a response has been
formed. Only portions of the responses are rewarded in a partial reinforcement schedule.
There are four primary reinforcement schedules, which are covered below:
1. Fixed Ratio Schedule: After a predetermined number of occurrences,
the behaviour is rewarded. Every third, fifth or seventh response is
rewarded. A reinforcer is provided following a certain number of accurate
replies. It is the best schedule for learning a new behaviour.
2. Variable Ratio Schedule: After the tenth, seventh, fourth, fifteenth
response and so on, a prize might be awarded, it depends on certain
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NOTES accurate replies. Once a reinforcement is given, the necessary numbers of

responses needed for reinforcement changes. It is most effective plan for
preserving and maintaining behaviour.
3. Fixed Interval schedule: When a behaviour occurs for the first time
after a specified amount of time has passed, a reward is given. Once a
predetermined length of time (for example, 60 seconds) has passed, the
first accurate response is reinforced, which results in the delivery of
consequences. The amount of time needed is constant.
4. Variable Interval Schedule: The reward is given after a variable time
interval has passed. Once a reinforcement is given, a new time frame
(Shorter or Longer) is established for the next reinforcement.
Very quick response times result from changeable schedules, particularly
changing ratios. The schedules of reinforcement that result in the finest conditioning
also exhibit the highest levels of extinction resistance. It has been discovered that rats
trained on the variable ratio schedule maintained behavior longer than rats taught on
any other schedule after extinction (the lack of reward or reinforce), but rats trained
on continuous reinforcement stop responding the soonest.
Source: https://practicalpie.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/031-table.jpg
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2.6.3 Application of Operant Conditioning NOTES
Applications of operant conditioning are:

1. Education and Training: Operant conditioning is a potent technique that may
be used in educational and training facilities to enhance the performance of
employees and students. Teachers and trainers can modify behaviour and
promote beneficial activities by utilizing positive reinforcement, negative
reinforcement, and punishment. Negative reinforcement can be used to eliminate
unpleasant tasks or stimuli when desired actions are demonstrated, whereas
positive reinforcement can be used to reward students and workers for finishing
tasks or displaying desired behaviours. Punishment may be used to deter
undesired behaviour. Overall, operant conditioning may be a very successful
strategy for enhancing educational results and accomplishing organizational goals
in training and educational environments.
2. Behaviour Modification: Operant conditioning is a useful technique in
behaviour modification, which includes altering behavior by using rewards and
punishments. By operant conditioning, people might begin to link particular
actions with particular results, which may result in behavioral changes. Positive
reinforcement, such as complimenting someone on a job well done or rewarding
a youngster for excellent conduct, can be used, for instance, to increase the
frequency of desirable actions. Negative reinforcement, on the other hand,
involves eliminating an unpleasant stimulus when someone demonstrates a desired
action. This method may be used to reduce the frequency of undesirable
behaviours. While shaping may be used to progressively alter behaviour,
punishment can be used to deter unwanted actions.
3. Evaluation of Human Aggression: Human aggressiveness may be assessed
and treated via operant conditioning. The behaviour of aggression is multifaceted.
Individuals can use operant conditioning to link particular actions with particular
results, which can eventually change their behaviour. When it comes to
aggressiveness, operant training may be used to pinpoint and alter the causes
and effects of violent behaviour. For instance, if a person experiences frustration
and becomes angry, their anger may be managed by providing positive
reinforcement for healthy coping mechanisms like deep breathing or taking a
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NOTES break. Also, when desirable actions are displayed, negative reinforcement can
be employed to remove unpleasant stimuli, which can assist in lowering the
frequency of violent behaviour.
IN-TEXT QUESTIONS
4. Which of the following represents a classic conditioning example?
a) Dog learning to sit when its owner commands it to do so
b) A student preparing for an exam in order to do well
c) A kid getting a prize for finishing their responsibilities
d) Someone quivering in response to a loud noise
5. Which of the following is an example of a fixed ratio reinforcement schedule?
a) A student obtaining a grade at the end of the semester
b) A worker in a factory getting paid for each item they make
c) A fisherman catching a fish after waiting for several hours
d) A kid getting a gift after doing a particular amount of chores
6. Which of the following is an example of operant conditioning’s use of positive
reinforcement?
a) If a youngster misbehaves, they lose a privilege.
b) If a dog sits on order, they get a treat.
c) Someone who receives a speeding ticket
d) A student receiving reprimand for speaking out in class
2.7 OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING

Human learning is based on imitation of the behaviour of others is social situation, and
this type of learning was ignored by the behaviourist. Modelling, observational, and
imitation are terms used to describe a sort of learning that comes through witnessing
the actions of others and how those actions affect them. Observational learning was
the previous name for social learning, which is based on seeing how others behave. In
accordance with social cognitive theory, we may look to Albert Bandura’s research to
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better grasp the characteristics of social learning (1925). The social learning theory of NOTES
Albert Bandura is one of the most well-liked modern explanations of behavior.
According to Bandura, most behaviors are not acquired by doing them and then
experiencing the results; rather, they are learned through observation.
In one of his well-known experimental called Bobo Doll Experiment- Bandura
(1977) presented kids a five-minute film that depicted a huge room filled with toys,
including a large-sized doll. A child then entered the room and starts acting aggressively
towards all of the toys and the big dolls in particular. He punched the doll, knocked it
to the ground, and then sat on it. The movie then had three different versions. In the
first rendition, a group of young people portraying the child was being awarded and
complimented by an adult for hitting the doll. Another set of kids in a second variation
depict his punishment for being violent. The boy was not seen being awarded or
disciplined in the third version, which included a group of kids.
All the kids groups were put in an experimental room after seeing a specific
version of the movie, where there were identical toys scattered about and the kids
were free to play. The behaviour was watched covertly, and it was noted. It was
discovered that where the violent behaviour was reinforced, kids behaved in similar
manner. Hence, behaviour is determined by its effects. It should be highlighted that all
three groups had learned about aggressive behaviour and were able to create a model
of it. As a result, in observational learning, information is gained by observing a model’s
behaviour, but performance is affected by how the model behaves when it is rewarded
or penalized. Youngsters saw how adults behaved at home and at social gatherings.
Throughout their fun and play, they imitate adults. Indeed, they mimic in their game
what they see on television, in society, or in books.
Most social skills are acquired by children via observation and imitation of others.
One may learn how to dress and behave in society by seeing how other people behave.
It has been demonstrated that children learn and acquire personality traits like aggression,
kindness, etc. through observational learning. Of course, various models teach us
different things. Also, compared to other models, some are better in starting observation
learning.
The processes listed below are often used in social or observational learning,
according to Bandura (1977):
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NOTES 1. Paying attention to how the model behaves

2. Keeping the behaviour in mind
3. Putting the knowledge into practice
4. Supporting the mimicked behavior
2.8 COGNITIVE LEARNING

Cognition is an umbrella term used for thinking process, memorizing, reasoning etc.
Cognitive learning deals with thinking aspects involved in learning process. In 1960’s,
many psychologists started taking interest in cognition, the mental events that takes
place inside a person’s mind while behaving.
Some of the most direct evidence regarding cognitive process comes from a
series of experiment that revealed a type of cognitive leaning called latent learning.
In latent learning, a new behaviour is learned but is not demonstrated until reinforcement
is provided for displaying it. (Tolman and Honzik 1930). Tolman believed that cognitive
maps could be learned without reinforcement.
In one experiment, three groups of rats learned the correct path through a
complex maze.
 Rats in the first group found food each time they reached the goal box.
 Rats in the second group found the goal box empty each time they reached
it.
 Rats in the third group found no food at the end of the maze for the first 10
days, but did find food in the goal box starting on the eleventh day.
Through this experiment, it was pointed out that unrewarded rats had learned
the layout of the maze early in their exploration, they never displayed their latent learning
until the reinforcement was offered. The rats seems to develop a cognitive map of the
maze- a mental representation of the spatial locations and direction. Humans too,
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develop cognitive develop cognitive maps of their surroundings, based primarily on NOTES
particular land marks (Garling 1989). When they encounter a new environment, their
maps tend to rely on specific paths such as the direction be might give someone
unfamiliar with an area.
Insight Learning – 1920s, German psychologist Wolfgang Kohler, (1925) challenged,
Thorndike’s behaviourist assuming that animals learned to perform task only by trial
and error. Kohler exposed Chimpanzees to noble learning task and concluded that
they were able to learn by insight, the sudden perception of a useful relationship that
helps to solve a problem. Insight is a higher and complex kind of learning involving
cognitive processes.
Kohler 1925 conducted experiments on Chimpanzee name was Sultan. Kohler,
put Sultan inside a cage. Sultan was kept hungry. A bunch of banana was hanged on
the roof of the cage, beyond the reach of the Chimpanzee. Some wooden boxes were
kept inside the cage. The Chimpanzee tried to reach the banana by jumping but could
not succeed. After sometime, the solution flashed suddenly and the Chimpanzee arrived
at the solution.
Kohler seemed to see insightful learning in terms of sudden- “Aha experience”
or a bolt of lightning or a sudden flash. Insight depends upon number of factors like
intelligence, experiences, maturity and even some trial and error behaviour.
Sultan placed the boxes on the top of each other and used it as the platform by
the placing it just below the hanging bananas. So, by sudden solution of the problem
and insight, Chimpanzee, Sultan, solved his problem of reaching the bananas.
Insightful learning is purposeful and goal – directed. It requires the organization of the
perceptual field and learning materials. In insight learning, the learner has to be motivated
by arousing her or his interest and curiosity for the learning situation and process. The
learner has to understand the whole situation. Insight learning is relatively permanent
because the solution to the problem is learned by understanding the relationship between
different parts of the situation.
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NOTES
IN-TEXT QUESTIONS
7. Learning through Imitation is______
a) Classical Conditioning
b) Observational Learning
c) Cognitive Learning
d) All of the Above
8. “ Bobo Doll Experiment” was conducted by________
a) Kohler
b) Tolman
c) Diener
d) Bandura
9. “Aha Experience”, happens in which kind of learning
a) Insight
b) Observational
c) Operant
d) None of the Above
2.9 SOLVED ILLUSTRATIONS

Psychology deals with the dynamic personality of the living organism. Since human
personality is amenable to change, the effect of a particular variable or factor cannot
always be predictable as accurately as in other streams. Different human being may
give different responses to some stimulus because of the difference in their personality,
past experiences and learning. Due to this fact, in some cases the predictions of the
psychologist fail and their assumption are not proved by their findings. However, in a
majority of cases psychological predictions are supported by the data obtained from
Investigations and Experiment. Experiment involves making hypothesis based on earlier
findings and manipulating variables to find the results. An example for experiment
keeping learning as a topic is as follows.
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Purpose -To study the effect of transfer of training from one hand to other hand in the NOTES
sensory motor task using mirror drawing apparatus.
Methodology- Mirror drawing apparatus – the apparatus should consist of a star,
mirror, stylus and error and time counter. The subject has to trace the star in the anti-
clock direction with the help of the stylus by looking at its image in the mirror. Every
time the stylus catches the edges of the star and error noted down in the error counter,
the reading of error counter can be brought down to zero after every trial and
communicative record of error can be taken for each trial. A hand shield which can be
adjusted by bringing forward of lifting up is also attached with the apparatus and its
serves the purpose of preventing the subject from looking directly at the star pattern.
Experimental Design- The experimental design for an experimental group and control
group.
The subject of both groups receive a fore test in which they trace the
star pattern with their non-preferred hand. The subject of the experimental group
are given twenty trails with their preferred hands while the control group rest.
Procedure- The subject is to be seated in the front of the apparatus. The hand shield
prevents him / her from looking at the star directly, but he /she can see the star pattern
reflected in the mirror. The subject slips his / her hand under the shield and placed the
point of his stylus on the starting point. The starting point is directly opposite the
subject. At a signal from the experimenter, the subject starts facing the star pattern,
keeping as well as he can within the lines. The experimenter notes the duration of each
trial with his stopwatch. Throughout the trial, the experimental watches the subject
works closely and record all error. Touching or crossing a line constitute an error. If
the subject goes outside the line he/ she must be re-entered at the same point otherwise
the re-crossing constitute another error.
Observation Table
S.No Hand Time Error Direction

1 Non Preferred Anticlockwise
3 Preferred Clockwise
- -
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NOTES Analysis of result - Each trial is scored in term of time and error required for completion.
Mean of time first two trials-
Mean of time last two trials-
Mean of error first two trials-
Mean of error last two trials-
T-TIME, E-ERROR
Transfer effect of time-
Transfer effect of error-
Discussion- As per observation table, and result analysis.
2.10 SUMMARY
 Learning is the process of gaining new information, abilities, or behaviours as a
result of experience.
 Conditioning is the process of learning where the ability to elicit a response is
transferred from one stimulus to another. Classical and instrumental or operant
conditioning are forms of conditioning.
 “Classical conditioning” refers to training developed by Russian physiologist
Ivan Pavlov
 Operant conditioning is a sort of learning in which a person learns to change
their behavior based on the outcome. According to Skinner, there are two types
of consequences: reinforcement and punishment. With reinforcement, a result
strengthens a response; in contrast, punishment occurs when an event weakens
a response.
 Learning new behaviors or abilities by seeing and copying the activities of others
is known as observational learning.
 In 1960’s, many psychologists started taking interest in cognition, the mental
events that takes place inside a person’s mind while behaving.
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NOTES
2.11 GLOSSARY
 Learning: A process of acquiring new knowledge, skills, habits, or facts through
practice, research, or teaching.
 Conditioning: Learning correlations between inputs and behaviors or between
behaviors and outcomes is a process known as conditioning.
 Classical Conditioning: A kind of conditioning that involves repeatedly pairing
a neutral stimulus with a stimulus that naturally evokes a response until the neutral
stimulus starts to elicit the response on its own.
 Operant Conditioning: A form of conditioning in which the frequency of a
behavior is influenced by the results it generates.
 Reinforcement: A result that makes it more likely that a behavior will be
repeated.
 Punishment: A measure to make a conduct less likely to happen again.
 Positive reinforcement: This type of reinforcement includes introducing a
pleasurable sensation to make a behavior more likely to be repeated.
 Negative reinforcement: Rewarding a behavior by removing an unpleasant
stimulus is known as negative reinforcement, which increases the probability
that the activity will be repeated.
 Positive punishment: A type of punishment that includes adding an unpleasant
stimulus to make the conduct less likely to occur again.
 Negative punishment: A negative punishment is one that includes taking away
a pleasurable experience in an effort to reduce the possibility that the act will be
repeated.
 Extinction: When a behavior that was previously reinforced is no longer
reinforced, it gradually disappears.
 Spontaneous recovery: The re-emergence of a behavior that has been
suppressed after some time.
 Cognition: Process involved in thinking, reasoning, memorizing, decision making
and lot more.
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NOTES
2.12 ANSWERS TO IN TEXT QUESTIONS
1. c) Postman and Egan
2. d) Learning is an indirect process.
3. c) The process of learning correlations between stimuli and reactions
4. d) Someone quivering in response to a loud noise
5. b) A worker in a factory getting paid for each item they make
6. b) If a dog sits on order, they get a treat.
7. b) Observational Learning
8. d) Bandura
9. a) Insight

1. Discuss the concept and characteristics of learning process.
2. Conditioning involves various stages of stimulus. Elaborate.
3. Describe the applications of operant conditioning.
4. Explain the schedule of reinforcement with suitable examples.
5. Explain observational learning, citing relevant studies.
6. Elaborate cognitive learning by emphasizing on Insight and latent learning.
2.14 REFERENCES
 Clark, R. E. (2004). The classical origins of Pavlov’s conditioning. Integrative
Physiological & Behavioral Science, 39, 279-294.
 Gordin, D. N., Gomez, L. M., Pea, R. D., & Fishman, B. J. (1996). Using the
World Wide Web to build learning communities in K-12. Journal of Computer-
Mediated Communication, 2(3), JCMC233.
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 Grant, D. A. (1964). Classical and operant conditioning. In Categories of NOTES

human learning (pp. 1-31). Academic Press.
 Gutiérrez, G. (1999). Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-
1936). RevistaLatinoamericana de Psicología, 31(3), 557-560.
 Henton, W. W., & Iversen, I. H. (2012). Classical conditioning and operant
conditioning: A response pattern analysis. Springer Science & Business
Media.
 Pajares, F. (1997). Current directions in self-efficacy research. Advances in
motivation and achievement, 10(149), 1-49.
 Rehman, I., Mahabadi, N., Sanvictores, T., & Rehman, C. I. (2017). Classical
conditioning.
 McSweeney, F. K., & Bierley, C. (1984). Recent developments in classical
conditioning. Journal of Consumer Research, 11(2), 619-631.
 Morse, W. H., & Skinner, B. F. (1958). Some factors involved in the stimulus
control of operant behavior. Journal of the experimental analysis of
behavior, 1(1), 103.
2.15 SUGGESTED READINGS

 https://www.psychologydiscussion.net/learning/learning-meaning-nature-types-
and-theories-of-learning/652
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Memory
NOTES
LESSON 3
MEMORY
Ms. Dhritismita Bora
Research Scholar, Gauhati University
Email id dhritismitabora1@gmail.com
Structure
3.2 Introduction
3.3 Information Processing Model
3.4 Neural Network Model: Parallel Processing of Information
3.5 Retrieving Memories
3.6 Forgetting
3.7 Memory in Everyday Life
3.8 Improving Memory
3.9 Summary
3.10 Glossary
3.13 References

 To understand memory as an information processing model.
 To comprehend how memories are retrieved using various ways.
 To explore the concept of forgetting and the various reasons that cause it.
 To explore memory in everyday life.
 Suggestions to improve memory.
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NOTES
3.2 INTRODUCTION
What is memory?
Memory is our cognitive system(s) for storing and retrieving information and it is a
highly critical feature of our cognition. It refers to the processes that allow one to
record, store and later retrieve experiences and information. Memory helps one
recall and recollect the past, engage in new information, solve problems, or plan out
the future. Additionally, human memory is an interpretive process that takes in
information, eliminates some specifics, and groups the remaining data into useful patterns.
As a result, memories are not exact or objective depictions of the event occurring;
rather, they are a person’s particular perceptions of those experiences.
Overall, psychologists have found one makes specific records for the following
kinds of information:
1. Focused attention - information in which one has focused their attention.
Example - what a friend is talking about against a background of other
people’s conversations.
2. Interest - information in which one has interest in. Example - the plot of
the new Marvel movie.
3. Emotional - information that arouses us emotionally, especially enjoyable
or painful experiences. Example - first date with a special someone or
loss of a loved one.
4. Connection with previous experience - information that connects with
previous experience. Example - news about a Bollywood couple whose
film you watched last week, are getting married.
5. Rehearsed - information one rehearses. Example - study material discussed
in class for an exam.
3.3 INFORMATION PROCESSING MODEL

The advances in computers and the cognitive revolution in psychology had led to a
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metaphor used in memory research: the mind is like a processing system that encodes,
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Memory
stores and retrieves and information. NOTES

 Encoding - this refers to getting information into the system by translating it into
a neural code that your brain processes. The parallel that can be drawn is when
one types on a computer keyboard, the keystrokes are translated into an electrical
code that the computer can understand and process.
 Storage - this involves retaining information over time. Once the information is
in the system, information is saved in RAM (random access memory) and then
permanently on a hard drive.
 Retrieval - this refers to processes that access stored information. In terms of
computer, retrieval occurs when for example we want to open a file, the file is
retrieved from the hard drive back to RAM and then the screen. However, this
analogy between a computer and a human memory is crude. As the human
memory is so dynamic, no information processing model now in use can
adequately account for its complexity.
The Atkinson-Shiffrin Model
The Atkinson-Shiffrin Model, also known as the three-stage model, was given by
Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin (1968). The three stages that this model
comprises of are sensory memory, working memory and long-term memory.
Figure 1 The three stages of memory
Image source - Passer, M.W., & Smith, R.E (2010). Psychology: The science of mind and behaviour.
New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill.
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NOTES
Figure 2 The three stages of memory compared
Image source - Zimbardo, P.G., Johnson, R.L.,& McCann, V.M. (2012). Psychology: Core concepts.
(7th ed.). U.S.A.: Pearson.
The three stages are as follows:
1. Sensory Memory: Sensory memory holds a temporary storage for the
information provided by the senses. The sounds in the room, the way the feet
feels as it touches the ground, the temperature in the air, all these are examples
of sensory information. But the question is how much information can sensory
memory hold? To answer this question, George Sperling (1960) devised an
experiment.
1.1 The Capacity and Duration of Sensory Memory - Sperling showed
an array of letters on screen for a fraction of second and asked people to
remember as best as they could. As shown below:
D J B W
X H G N
C L Y K
Most people could remember only three or four items. However, Sperling
wondered was it possible that more information than the three or four
recalled items entered a temporary memory buffer but disappeared before
it could be reported? To test this, he modifies the task as follows.
Immediately after the letters were flashed on screen, an auditory cue
signalled which row of letters to report: a high pitched tone designated to
the top row, a medium tone the middle row, and a low tone for the bottom
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row. Immediately after seeing the image, they had to report items only
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Memory
from one row, rather than all the items. At this partial report condition, NOTES
most people performed almost perfectly. They could accurately report
any single row, but not all rows. Thus, it can be concluded that the actual
storage capacity of sensory memory can be 12 or more items, even though
three or four items usually disappear from sensory memory before they
can enter consciousness (Sperling, 1960, 1963).
1.2 The Structure and Function of Sensory Memory - It has a separate
sensory register for each sense and each register holds its own sensory
information, such as visual for iconic memory, auditory for echoic memory
and so on.
Figure 3 – Sensory memory into working memory
Image source - Zimbardo, P.G., Johnson, R.L.,& McCann, V.M. (2012). Psychology:
Core concepts. (7th ed.). U.S.A.: Pearson.
1.3 The Biological Basis of Sensory Memory - Memory images take the
form of neural activity in the sense organs and their pathways to the brain.
Thus, sensory memory comprises the rapidly fading trace of stimulation in
our sensory systems (Bower, 2000; Glanz, 1998).
2. Working memory/Short term memory (STM): This is the second stage of
processing. After the information comes through the sensory memory, STM is
the processor of conscious experience and moreover information retrieved from
long term memory (Jonides and others, 2005). If the information in STM is
sorted and encoded, only then it moves to a more permanent storage in long
term memory. It holds information for approximately 20-30 seconds.
2.1 Capacity and Duration of STM - Psychologist George Miller (1956)
suggested that the working memory can hold about 7±2 discrete items. Self-Instructional
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NOTES Nevertheless, the storage capacity of the working memory can differ from
person to person. If it becomes overloaded, and new information enters,
existing information is lost. This limited capacity of the working memory
makes it unsafe to use one’s mobile phones while driving (Wickelgren,
2001).
2.1.1 Early Research on Working Memory - Herman Ebbinghaus
(1885) came with the concept of serial position curve. When we
memorise a list of words (or other stimuli), the words at the beginning
and at the end of the list are remembered better than words in the
middle. This is because of the existence of two memory systems –
a. Recency Effect - refers to the better recall of items from the
end of the list, this is because they are still present in the working
memory when asked to be recalled.
b. Primacy Effect - this refers to recall of items from the beginning
of the list, because they have already entered into the long term
memory. Words that are in the middle are present neither in the
working memory nor in the long term memory, therefore few
are remembered. In the figure, it can be seen that words at the
beginning and at the end of the list are remembered better.
Figure 4 - Serial position curve
Self-Instructional Image source - Baron R. A. (2009). Introduction to psychology (3rd custom).

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Pearson.

Memory
2.1.2 Chunks and Chunking - In memory, there can be several separate NOTES
bits of information, they are somehow related and can be grouped
together into meaningful units. Then each piece of information is called
a chunk and the process is called chunking. Consider the following
letters - CIDIPSCBIIASIFS. How many can you remember after
you have read it once? Most probably around seven. But if they
were presented as follows - CID, IPS, CBI, IAS, IPS; in all
likelihood you are now able to remember more because now the
letters are grouped in meaningful chunks. Chunking allows the
working memory to hold more information, even though it can retain
only seven to nine items at once.
2.1.3 The role of rehearsal - When information is repeated over and
over again, this technique is called maintenance rehearsal and it
serves well for maintaining information temporarily. For example
repeating a phone number over and over without thinking about the
numbers. On the other hand, this is not an efficient way to transfer
information to long term memory. A better method is elaborative
rehearsal. Here, the information is actively connected to knowledge
already stored. One way is to connect the new idea logically with
something that we already know which helps to bring into mind
immediately. When you study about chunks, you can remember them
as chunks of chocolate. Just like a chocolate has to be broken into
chunks to be eaten, similarly information is also divided in chunks for
it to remember better.
2.2 The structure and function of working memory - The multiple
components model of working memory proposed by Allen Baddeley and
his colleagues suggested that working memory has four major parts - the
central executive, the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, and
an episodic buffer (Baddeley, 2007 ; Baddeley & Hitch, 1974).
2.2.1 The Central Executive - This acts as the information clearing space,
it directs one’s attention to important input from sensory memory
and long term memory and communicates with the brain’s system
for voluntarily (conscious) responding.
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NOTES 2.2.2 The Phonological Loop - When one reads words like ‘buzzz’,
‘woofff’, ‘meowww’, ‘baaa’, ‘mooo’, one can hear the sound in
their mind. This acoustic encoding can further happen with words
that don’t have imitative sounds. When one encounters words while
reading or while listening, working memory converts these words
into the sounds of our spoken language and transfers them into the
phonological loop.
2.2.3 The Visuospatial Sketchpad - The visuospatial sketchpad encodes
visual images and mental representations of objects in space. For
example, the visual image that is required to look for one’s car in a
parking lot. Neurological studies suggest that it requires coordination
among several brain systems, including the frontal and occipital lobes.
2.2.4 The Episodic Buffer - The episodic buffer appears to bind the
individual pieces of information in working memory - such as the
sounds, the visual information, and other sensory inputs - into a unified
whole. It acts as a temporary storage facility for the current
information while one compares it to knowledge in the long term
memory that helps one to make sense of it. When we are watching
our favourite series on television it is the episodic buffer that helps us
remember what happened in the previous episode so that we are
able to link it to the current one.
2.3 Levels of processing in working memory - Craik and Lockhart (1972)
proposed an influential theory on memory known as the levels of
processing theory. They suggested that the more deeply information is
processed, there are higher chances for it to be retained for future use.
Craik and his colleagues made participants examine a list of 60 common
words presented on a screen. (Craik and Tulving, 1975) As each word
was shown, experimenters asked questions designed to influence how
deeply each word was processed. Say the word ‘BEAR’ was shown on
screen, then the questions that followed were: ‘Is it in capital letters?’
‘Does it rhyme with chair?’ ‘Is it an animal?’ Craik and Tulving postulated
that solely thinking about capital letters or comparing the sound to another
word will not provide deep processing. The deepest level of processing
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Memory
would happen when the word’s meaning would be analysed, as when NOTES
they were asked if ‘BEAR’ is an animal. In figure 5, the graph shows the
highest percentage of correct responses occurs when participants analyzed
the word’s meaning.
Figure 5 The graph shows meaning has the highest

percentage of correct responses.
Image source - Zimbardo, P.G., Johnson, R.L.,& McCann, V.M. (2012). Psychology:
Core concepts. (7th ed.). U.S.A.: Pearson.
3. Long term memory (LTM): This is the third and the last of the memory
stages. This allows us to retain enormous amount of information for long period
of time. This is because information is encoded by their meanings, and therefore
connects them to information with similar meanings. LTM can be considered as
a huge web of interconnected associations. Therefore, a good retrieval cue can
navigate through the web and quickly help locate the item amid all the data
stored. It is because of the LTM that one can remember the name of the Prime
Minister of one’s country, the capital of one’s state, or information in this book.
3.1 The Capacity and Duration of Long Term Memory - LTM has
unlimited storage capacity. It can store the information of a lifetime - words,
meanings, events, experiences, rules and everything else that has been
transferred from STM. Thus, LTM contains one’s total knowledge of the
world and oneself. Self-Instructional
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NOTES 3.2 The Structure and Function of LTM - Broadly LTM has two
components - Procedural memory and Declarative memory, as explained
in Figure 5.
Figure 6 - The structure of long term memory in a hierarchical form.
3.2.1 Procedural Memory - Procedural memory is a memory for skills.

It is used to store the mental directions or procedures of one’s skills,
such as riding a bicycle, driving a car, swimming and so on. It is also
called implicit memory because one knows how to perform the action
but one is unable to describe the knowledge of how to do it to
others.
3.2.2 Declarative Memory - Declarative memory is a memory for factual
information. It is used to store facts, impressions, and events. One’s
most memorable trip with friends will be an example of declarative
memory. It is also termed as explicit memory, because one can
bring into consciousness and report it verbally. Declarative memory
has two subdivisions:
3.2.2.1 Episodic Memory - Episodic memory holds information one
acquires at a specific time and place; this memory takes one back in
time and to remember specific experiences one might have had in
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that memory. If you are asked the best New Year’s eve you have NOTES
had, you might also remember how you felt on that particular
occasion.
3.2.2.2 Semantic Memory - This stores the basic meanings of words and
concepts. It stores a large quantity of data about names, faces, history,
places, scientific principles, religious beliefs and so on. Despite the
fact that it can store a lot of content, not about the time and place
when it was acquired. For example the meaning of ice cream is
stored in semantic memory but probably there might not be a
recollection of when, where and how it was learnt.
 Concepts, Prototypes and Exemplar - Because semantic
memory has a large amount of information stored, therefore,
psychologists have been interested to understand how the
information has been organised. One crucial concept to
understand here is concepts - mental categories for objects or
events that are similar to one another in certain ways. For
example samosa, paneer, biryani, and lassi are included in the
concept of food. Another element is that the meaning of
concepts derive from prototypes - abstract, idealised
representation that captures an average or typical member of a
category of things. For instance a prototype of a rockstar would
be a person with long hair, tattoos, playing an instrument, maybe
a guitar and so on. Another view is that the concept is
represented in memory in terms of an exemplar - an example
of the category of things that is readily brought to mind. If one
says fruit, probably apple, mango, orange will first come to
mind. These are exemplars of the concept, fruit.
 Schemas - Schemas are clusters of knowledge in semantic
memory that give us a context for understanding events (Squire,
2007). When we attend a class, a birthday party, or a wedding,
we know what we are supposed to do and what we are
supposed to expect, because each of these events are familiar
to us. The context of the schemas differ according to one’s Self-Instructional
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NOTES culture and personal experience. Additionally, it allows us quick

access to information. If someone says ‘Diwali’, one can
immediately draw on information that can be associated with
it, such as diyas, lights, rangoli, sweets, and presents. This way
schemas can be of great assistance in aiding LTM. However,
schemas can play a key role in memory errors. When recalling
a situation or an event, we fill in the gaps based on our
expectations, and not on what exactly had happened.
3.3 The Biological basis of long term memory -To better understand the
biological basis of the LTM, scientists have searched for the engram. An
engram is a unit of cognitive information imprinted in a physical substance,
theorized to be the means by which memories are stored as biophysical or
biochemical changes in the brain or other biological tissue, in response to
external stimuli. One way is to look for neural circuitry the brain uses to
store memory and another is to look for biochemical changes that might
represent the physical memory trace within nerve cells.
3.3.1 The H.M case - Henry, known as H.M. to the science world, had
a brain operation for his epileptic seizures (Corkin, 2002; Hilts, 1995).
This happened when he was a young man in 1953. He was completely
unable to create new memories of events, it was so profound that he
never learned to recognize the people who cared for him for decades
after his surgery. His memories remained intact prior to the operation,
even though he could not remember any of his new experiences.
H.M’s condition was listed as anterograde amnesia, which means
he had a severe impairment in his ability to transfer new concepts
and experiences from working memory to LTM (Scoville & Milner,
1957). From a biological lens, this was because the hippocampus
and amygdala on both sides of his brain were removed. This suggests
that hippocampus and the amygdala are crucial to learn new
declarative memories, but have no role in retrieving old memories
(Bechara and others, 1995; Wirth and others, 2003).
In sum, the information processing model gave two concepts which remains
influential even today: (a) the memory involves encoding, storage, and retrieval of
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Memory
information; (b) the basic idea that the human memory possesses several kinds and NOTES
types of memory. Therefore, this model has made a vital contribution in our
understanding of the human memory. However, modern advances in memory research
has shed a light that the computer analogy can help us understand only to a limited
point. Therefore, now let’s look at a modern view of memory.
IN-TEXT QUESTIONS
1. What is the first stage of memory___
a) Encoding b) retrieval
c) storage d) memorising
2. Visual stimulation is stored in_____
a) tactile memory b) echoic memory
c) iconic memory d) olfactory memory
3. When information is repeated over and over again it is called____
a) elaborative rehearsal b) maintenance rehearsal
c) practicing rehearsal d) episodic rehearsal
4. Ebbinghaus gave the concept of ____
a) storage position curve b) serial position curve
c) retrieval position curve d) transform position curve
5. Riding a bicycle is an example of____
a) procedural memory b) declarative memory
c) working memory d) short term memory
6. _______processes information relating to the sounds of the words
a) central executive b) visuospatial sketchpad
c) phonological loop d) episodic buffer
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NOTES
3.4 NEURAL NETWORK MODEL: PARALLEL
PROCESSING OF INFORMATION
As previously discussed, computers are serial devices, information is processed there
one step at a time. In contrast, the human brain processes information in a parallel
manner, which means many modules – collections of interconnected neurons-process
information in different ways simultaneously. These modules maybe scattered widely
at different locations in the brain. Additionally, each may work on a different aspect of
a task. The more complex the task, more modules are required for the operation.
In respect to memory, our memories do not operate in a sequential manner in
which each letter is compared to what is already present in the memory. Instead, we
engage in parallel processing, in which all letters are processed simultaneously. This is
done through, according to Neural Network Model of memory, through the operation
of large numbers of modules in our brains. For instance, neural network model
(McClelland & Rumelhart, 1981), indicate that we have processors for more than
1000 words, 26 possible letter combinations, and 16 letter characteristics. Hence,
these neurons are simultaneously activated when we read a string of letters like the
boy, these neurons are activated in parallel at the very same time.
3.5 RETRIEVING MEMORIES

Success in retrieval depends on how memories were encoded and cued, whether they
are implicit or explicit.
Retrieval cues - For a successful search in the LTM, a good retrieval cue is required.
For example the smell of raw mangoes can take you back to your grandma’s mango
pickles, sometimes it can be a simple cue like this. However, sometimes it can be
challenging, especially semantic memory. If you studied for an exam, and the question
in the question paper is worded differently than how you prepared at home, then
retrieving the answer might be difficult. Therefore, your memory may fail if the question
is not a good retrieval cue. Overall, a good retrieval cue depends upon the type of
memory being sought and the web of associations in which the memory lies. Some of
the ways to work on retrieval cues are as follows:
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Memory
1. Meaningful organisation - Making information meaningful during encoding is NOTES

the best approach to guarantee accurate retrieval. This means that when you
first encounter new information, you must relate it to what you already know.
When memorising a statistical formula, for example, it is vital to recall every
detail precisely, but other times it is more crucial to remember the overall idea.
It is crucial to come up with personal examples of the concepts and ideas you
wish to remember when trying to recall the gist. This procedure is referred to as
elaborative rehearsal. You have more access points to the information if you use
elaborative rehearsal.
2. Retrieving Implicit Memories by Priming - Supposedly, you are in a memory
experiment and you are shown a list of words for several seconds: fishery,
elephant, mango, bamboo, police, sunny.
The experimenter then asks you to go over a different list an hour later and to
name the items you remember from the first one, including elephant, golden,
police, and weather. You will be able to easily complete that assignment. The
experimenter then asks you to complete several words by pointing out those
that lack certain letters:
M_ _ G _ , T _ _ E _ , _ O _R_ _ T, _ U _ _ Y
Mango and sunny are probably the two that come to mind first. But it is likely
you would not be able to easily think about the other two words, tiger and
forest. The process of supplying cues that awaken memories without awareness
is known as priming, and it is responsible for this discrepancy. The phrases
mango and sunny “popped out” in your brain more readily than words that
weren’t primed because you had already been exposed to them.
3. Retrieving explicit memories with Recall and Recognition
3.1 Recall - Essay tests demand recall with few retrieval cues. You have to
write your essay response totally from memory, using only minimum cues
from questions like “What are the two ways to cue explicit memories?”
3.2 Recognition - On the other hand, multiple choice questions call for
recognition as a technique. You only determine if a stimulus has been
experienced before in a recognition task. Because the clues are so much
more comprehensive, recognition is typically less difficult than recall.
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NOTES When the police ask an eyewitness to choose a suspect from a line up, recognition
is used by the police. The witness merely needs to compare an image of the
crime from memory with a current stimulus (a suspect in the line-up). On the
other hand, a witness who is collaborating with a police artist to sketch a suspect
is required to completely recall the subject’s facial features from memory.
Recognizing a stimulus does not automatically mean that it corresponds with the
current situation. Eyewitnesses have misidentified suspects in police line ups
when the eyewitnesses have been shown books of mug pictures that feature
one or more suspects in the line-up. In these situations, witnesses may identify a
suspect incorrectly since they are more likely to recognise him from the mug
shot book than from the scene of the incident (Weiner and others, 2003). So,
despite the fact that recall generally results in more memories, recognition also
has a higher likelihood of producing false positives, or in this example, false
memories.
4. Context dependent memory - It describes how information that is stored in
memory in one environment or context is simpler to recall in that setting than in
others. In an experiment conducted by Godden and Baddeley (1975),
participants were experienced deep sea divers. They were given a list of words
to be learned either on a beach or in deep under waters. Then they were asked
to recall the words either in the same environment where they learned the list or
in the other setting. Results support the influence of context. Words learned on
the beach were recalled much better than the deep under waters and vice versa.
5. State dependent retrieval - When elements of our physical states act as
retrieval cues for knowledge stored in long term memory, this happens. For
instance, you were drinking lots of coffee while studying for an exam. So, the
effects of coffee are present in the body as you memorise information for the
exam. On the day of the test, if you also drink coffee it will help you be in the
same physical state and may provide retrieval cues that may enhance your
performance (Eich, 1985).
6. Encoding specificity - For instance, you might have seen your psychology
professor at the grocery store, but it took you a while to identify that professor
because the situation did not immediately cause you to think “psychology
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professor.” Talking to a childhood acquaintance, on the other hand, might have
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Memory
triggered a wave of recollections you had not thought about in years. The encoding NOTES
specificity principle, which states that good recall depends on how well your
retrieval cues match cues that were present when the memory was stored, is
illustrated by these two experiences. Psychologist Robert Bjork (2000)
suggested in order to encourage students to encode the material in various
ways, “desirable difficulties” in their courses should be included. What are
desirable difficulties? Bjork argues that by assigning projects, problems, and
presentations that require students to engage with the material in a variety of
ways, students are aided in creating a larger web of associations into which a
memory is embedded. The more connections there are, the simpler it is to cue
a memory.
7. Prospective Memory - Remembering to do something in the future, like taking
medications, making an important phone call, wishing a friend on their birthday,
is one of the most frequent memory activities. This is referred to as prospective
memory. Failure in prospective memory, which is responsible for more than
half of all common memory errors (Crovitz & Daniel, 1984) can lead us to face
consequences. Multitasking is a major cause of prospective memory failures
(Dismukes, 2012). If the tasks do not need a lot of conscious attention, we
seem to be able to manage multiple tasks at once. But when something happens
that makes it necessary for us to concentrate on one of the jobs, our attention
entirely switches away from the others, and we frequently forget where we left
off in the other tasks or even completely forget about them. Individuals taking
daily medications experience a similar situation, when their morning (or evening)
routines are interrupted—they may not remember if they have taken the
medication or not. (Nelson and others, 2006).
Steps to prevent prospective memory failures:
1. To do list - Keeping to do list and using other memory aids such as calendar or
making notes on your phone. For instance, if you go for grocery shopping, you
can type in on your phone and save in your notes for all the things needed to be
brought.
2. Important Tasks - When carrying out an important task such as studying for a
test, avoid multitasking. For example, you can avoid checking your phone for
social media too often when studying. Self-Instructional
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NOTES 3. Crucial Tasks - When a crucial task needs to be done, focus on doing it
immediately and not putting it off. If an urgent and an important email needs to
be sent, one should do it immediately otherwise you might forget to do it later.
4. Reminder Cues - Using reminder cues to avoid forgetting something that is a
departure from your routine. For example if you have to meet a friend the next
day, you could keep your outfit ready outside so that you remember the next
day.
5. Avoid Frequent Breaks - Studies have also shown that taking frequent breaks
or switching tasks increases the chances of this type of forgetting (Finstad and
others, 2006). Therefore, avoiding to check the phone and social media
frequently while studying, will higher the chances to understand and remember
later.
3.6 FORGETTING
We are most aware of memory when it fails us. One view of forgetting is that information
that enters long term memory fades or decays with the passage of time. Many studies
indicate the amount of forgetting is not simply a function of how much time has elapsed;
rather, what happens during that period of time is. In a study, Minami and Dallenbach
(1946) taught cockroaches to avoid a dark compartment by giving them an electric
shock when they entered it. When the cockroaches mastered this ability, the
cockroaches were either put in a restricted cone or permitted to wander around a
darkened cage. Results showed the cockroaches that wandered showed more forgetting
over time than the restricted ones. Moreover, other studies have indicated that recall
sometimes improves over time (e.g. Erdelyi & Kleinbard, 1978).
Forgetting can occur mainly because of the following reasons:
1. Forgetting as a result of Interference - Forgetting can stem from interference
between items of information stored in memory. Interference can take two forms:
1.1 Retroactive Interference - Here, information currently being learned
interferes with information already present in memory. For example you
have learnt Spanish a few years back and currently you are learning French.
But if learning French interferes with Spanish knowledge, then it is an
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Memory
1.2 Proactive Interference - In contrast here, previously learned information NOTES

present in long term memory interferes with information you are currently
acquiring. Taking the same example as before, if Spanish knowledge
interferes with learning French currently, then it is a case of proactive
interference.
2. Forgetting and Retrieval Information - When we attempt to remember
information in memory, we may recall the items we seek but at the same time
generate inhibition of other items that we do not want to remember. Consequently,
these other items become more difficult to remember in the future. The act of
retrieval itself can cause forgetting, not the information that is supposed to be
recalled, but of other related information. This phenomenon is known as retrieval
inhibition, and its occurrence has been observed in many experiments (e.g.
Anderson, Bjork, & Bjork, 1994 ; Anderson & Spellman, 1995).
3.7 MEMORY IN EVERYDAY LIFE

Psychologists have discovered how memory functions in our everyday lives. The
elements are as follows:
1. Repression of emotionally traumatic events – Repression is the active
elimination from consciousness of memories of experiences. Psychologists and
psychiatrists widely accept the existence of repression (Loftus, 1991). This is
why it has been featured in many trials focusing on charges of early childhood
sexual abuse. Repression has occasionally been put out in these trials as an
explanation for why the victims’ awful experiences were not remembered until
many years later, and only after careful interrogation and the use of suggestive
techniques by skilled therapists, were they remembered. However, it should be
looked at with a healthy degree of scepticism for the following reasons:
1.1 Lack of scientific evidence - There is still very little scientific evidence
to support the concept of repression. Most of the theory has been built
upon case studies.
1.2 Therapists being suggestive - Therapists may act in ways that lead
clients to report repressed memories, even if they are not present in reality.
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NOTES 1.3 Media reports - Many people may be affected by media reports
suggesting both early sexual abuse and repressed memories of these
experiences are common.
1.4 False memories - People often generate false memories - memories for
events that never happened to them. This is likely to happen with young
children as they cannot accurately identify the source of their memories or
tell whether their memories happened in reality or whether they are a
figment of their imagination (e.g. Johnson, Hashtroudi & Lindsay, 1993).
2. Autobiographical memory - Autobiographical memories (falls under the
category of episodic memory) are for information about events in our own
lives. Autobiographical memory has been studied in many ways, such as
questionnaires where individuals answer detailed questions about their lives.
Also, diary studies in which individuals keep detailed diaries of events of their
lives.
3. Flashbulb Memories - Brown and Kulik (1977) term flashbulb memories as
vivid memories of what we were doing at the time of an emotion provoking
event. They are known as ‘flashbulb’ memories because they appear to be kept
in great detail, almost like a photograph, in autobiographical memory. For
example, when you had first heard about the 26/11 attacks at Taj, Mumbai, if
you remember where you were, what you were doing and vividly remember
what had happened, then that is an example of flashbulb memory.
4. Effects of Mood and Memory - When our mood at the time of retrieval is
similar to our mood when we first encoded some information, memory can be
improved; this enhanced recall is known as mood-dependent memory. Your
current mood acts as a sort of retrieval cue for the information stored in memory,
thus if you placed some information into memory while feeling happy, you are
more likely to remember this knowledge when in a similar mood again. A
phenomenon known as mood-congruent memory states that our emotions
can influence what we recall. If you have ever experienced uncontrollable laughter,
you are aware of how a euphoric mood can lead to a series of silly thoughts. On
the other end of the mood spectrum, those who are depressed frequently claim
that all of their thoughts are dismal in nature. In this way, depression can
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Memory
congruent memory can also have salient health implications. According to Gordon NOTES
Bower (1981), a memory researcher, “Doctors assess what to do with you
based on your complaints and how much you complain” (McCarthy, 1991).
Those with depression are more prone to stress their medical symptoms,
therefore their treatment may differ from that given to people with the same
ailment who are more optimistic.
5. Tip of your tongue phenomenon - Psychologists refer to this near-miss memory
as the TOT phenomenon (Brown, 1991). Most people have a “tip-of-the-
tongue” (TOT) experience about once a week. And, according to a recent
study, deaf persons who use sign language sometimes have a “tip-of-the-fingers”
(TOF) experience in which they are sure they know a word but cannot quite
retrieve the sign (Thompson and others, 2005). Obviously, then, some
fundamental memory process underlies both the TOT and the TOF phenomena.
TOT phenomena happens because:
1. One reason could be inadequate context cues. Enough context is not
available to activate the schema associated with what you want to retrieve.
2. The other possibility could be interference. This happens when another
memory blocks access or retrieval. For example you were thinking of
Chandrika and unexpectedly met Chandrima, so when you meet Chandrima
you refer to her as Chandrika.
3.8 IMPROVING MEMORY

Memory can be improved using mnemonics. Mnemonics are leaning techniques that
aid information retention or retrieval in the human memory for better understanding.
Some ways how we can improve our memory are:
1. Minimizing Interference - One of the major causes of forgetting is interference.
Generally, the more similar the materials are, more likely they are to produce
interference. For instance, similar subjects should not be studied one after the
other. Working on different subjects instead, may lead to less interference in
remembering.
2. Engaging in Distributed Learning/Practice - Studying over several sessions
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over several days will help to retain information longer. Material 69

NOTES 3. Using Visual Imagery and other Mnemonics - It is often easier to remember
information associated with vivid mental images (e.g. Gehring & Toglia, 1989).
One of the methods is the method of loci, which involves linking points you
want to remember with visual images arranged in a familiar order.
4. Giving extra retrieval cues - Using the concept of state dependent retrieval,
while studying for a test in one physical state, try to take the test in the same
state. This will help with extra retrieval cues. Similarly using the concept of
mood-dependent memory, if you learned some material in a certain mood, if
you want to remember it later, try to put yourself in a similar mood.
5. Developing shorthand codes - First letter technique can be used here, which
are also called Acronyms. Acronyms are words that are made using the first
letter of every word. The code ESR can be used to help the three tasks of
memory - encoding, storage and retrieval.
IN-TEXT QUESTIONS
7. Previously learned information present in long term memory interferes with
information already present in memory______
a) retrieve interference
b) recall interference
c) proactive interference
d) retroactive interference
8. _________ are vivid memories of an emotion-provoking event.
a) flashbulb memories
b) autobiographical memory
c) semantic memory
d) episodic memory
9. Forgetting to wish your friend on their birthday will be an example of-
a) autobiographical memory
b) episodic memory
c) prospective memory
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Memory
10. Modules are : NOTES

a) Not connected cells
b) Not connected neurons
c) interconnected cells
d) interconnected neurons
11. The process of supplying cues that awaken memories without awareness is
called ______
a) modules
b) priming
c) elaborative rehearsal
d) maintenance rehearsal
12. What is near miss memory is referred as by psychologists?
a) mnemonics
b) primacy effect
c) recency effect
3.9 SUMMARY
 Memory is our cognitive system(s) for storing and retrieving information and it
is a highly critical feature of our cognition. It refers to the processes that allow
one to record, store and later retrieve experiences and information.
 Memory’s three basic tasks are encoding, storage and retrieval.
 The Atkinson-Shiffrin Model, also known as the three-stage model, was given
by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin (1968) and talks about three stages –
sensory memory, working / short term memory, long term memory.
 Neural Network Models is the processing of information by several neural
modules in the brain in parallel (simultaneously) is characterized by neural network
models, which are interconnected models of memory. Each of these processing
units is devoted to a certain task.
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NOTES  Memories could be retrieved through retrieval cues, meaningful organisation,

priming, recall, recognition, context-dependent memory, state-dependent
memory, encoding specificity and prospective memory.
 Forgetting can happen because of interference (retroactive and proactive
interference) and retrieval inhibition.
 Memory in everyday life can be seen in the form of repression of emotionally
traumatic events, therapists being suggestive, autobiographical memory, flashbulb
memories, effects of mood and memory (mood-dependent memory and mood-
congruent memory), tip of your tongue phenomenon.
 Some ways to improve our memory are minimizing interference, engaging in
distributed learning/practice, using visual imagery and other mnemonics, giving
extra retrieval cues, developing shorthand codes.
3.10 GLOSSARY
 Memory: It refers to the processes that allow one to record, store and later
retrieve experiences and information.
 Encoding: The process through which information is converted into a form that
can be entered into memory.
 Storage: The process through which information is retained in memory.
 Retrieval: The process through which information stored in memory is located.
 Sensory memory: A memory system that retains representation of sensory
input for brief periods of time.
 Working/Short term memory: After the information comes through the sensory
memory, STM is the processor of conscious experience and moreover
information retrieved from long term memory.
 Long term memory: A memory system for the retention of large amounts of
information over long periods of time.
 Neural Network Models: The processing of information by several neural
modules in the brain in parallel (simultaneously) is characterized by neural network
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Memory
models, which are interconnected models of memory. Each of these processing NOTES
units is devoted to a certain task.
 Context dependent memory: It describes how information that is stored in
memory in one environment or context is simpler to recall in that setting than in
others.
 State dependent retrieval: When elements of our physical states act as retrieval
cues for knowledge stored in long term memory, this happens.
 Encoding specificity principle: It states that good recall depends on how
well your retrieval cues match cues that were present when the memory was
stored.
 Retroactive Interference: Information currently being learned interferes with
information already present in memory.
 Proactive Interference: Previously learned information present in long term
memory interferes with information you are currently acquiring.
 Mood-dependent memory: When our mood at the time of retrieval is similar
to our mood when we first encoded some information.
 Mood-congruent memory – This states that our emotions can influence what
we recall.

1. (a) encoding
2. (c) iconic memory
3. (b) maintenance rehearsal
4. (b) serial position curve
5. (a) procedural memory
6. (c) phonological loop
7. (c) proactive interference
8. (a) flashbulb memories
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NOTES 9. (c) prospective memory

10. (d) interconnected neurons
11. (b) priming

1. Define memory. Kindly explain the metaphor ‘the mind is like a processing
system that encodes, stores and retrieves and information.’
2. Discuss memory. Explain information processing model of memory.
3. Discuss the main characteristics of short-term memory and long-term memory.
4. What are some of the factors on which retrieving memories is dependent on?
5. What is forgetting? Explain the causes of forgetting to occur.
6. How does memory occur in our everyday life? Give examples.
7. Discuss some mnemonics that can help improve memory.
3.13 REFERENCES
 Anderson, M. C., Bjork, R. A., & Bjork, E. L. (1994). Remembering can
cause forgetting: retrieval dynamics in long-term memory. Journal of
Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 20(5), 1063.
 Anderson, M. C., & Spellman, B. A. (1995). On the status of inhibitory
mechanisms in cognition: memory retrieval as a model case. Psychological
review, 102(1), 68.
 Atkinson, R. C., & Schiffrin, R. M. (1968). Human memory: A control system
and its control processes. In K. Spence (Ed.), The psychology of learning
and motivation (Vol. 2). New York, NY: Academic Press.
 Baddeley, A. (2007). Working memory, thought, and action. Oxford, England:
Oxford University Press.
 Baddeley, A. D., & Hitch, G. (1974). Working memory. In G. A. Bower (Ed.),
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Recent advances in learning and motivation (Vol. 8). New York, NY:
74 Material Academic Press.

Memory
 Bjork, R. A. (2000). Creating desirable difficulties for the learner. NOTES

Implications for theory and practice. Address given at the American
Psychological Society’s annual convention, Miami Beach, FL.
 Bowers, K. S., & Farvolden, P. (1996). Revisiting a century-old Freudian slip—
From suggestion disavowed to the truth repressed. Psychological Bulletin,
119(3), 355.
 Bower, B. (2000b, September 30). Memory echoes in brain’s sensory terrain.
Science News, 158, 213.
 Brewer, W. F. (2006). Brown and Kulik—theory Circumstances (news
reception context) The core phenomenon described by Brown and Kulik (1977)
is that certain events give rise to memories that show little forgetting. These
flashbulb memories include both the central event and the circumstances in which
one. Affect and accuracy in recall: Studies of’flashbulb’memories, 4, 274.
 Brown, A. S. (1991). A review of the tip-of-the-tongue experience.
Psychological bulletin, 109(2), 204.
 Corkin, S. (2002). What’s new with the amnesic patient H. M.? Nature Reviews
Neuroscience, 3, 153–160. Retrieved from http://homepage.mac.com/sanagnos/
corkin2002.pdf.
 Craik, F. I. M., & Lockhart, R. S. (1972). Levels of processing: A framework
for memory research. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 11,
671–684.
 Craik, F. I. M., & Tulving, E. (1975). Depth of processing and the retention of
words in episodic memory. Journal of Experi- mental Psychology: General,
104, 268–294.
 Crovitz, H. F., & Daniel, W. F. (1984). Measurements of everyday memory:
Toward the prevention of forgetting. Bulletin of Psychonomic Society, 22,413–
414.
 Dismukes, R. K. (2012). Prospective memory in workplace and everyday
situations. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21(4), 215.
 Ebbinghaus, H. (1908/1973). Psychology: An elementary textbook. New
York, NY: Arno Press. (Original work published 1908.)
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NOTES  Eich, E. (1985). Context, memory, and integrated item/context imagery. Journal
of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 11(4),
764.
 Erdelyi, M. H., & Kleinbard, J. (1978). Has Ebbinghaus decayed with time?
The growth of recall (hypermnesia) over days. Journal of Experimental
Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 4(4), 275.
 Finstad, K., Bink, M., McDaniel, M., & Einstein, G. O. (2006). Breaks and
task switches in prospective memory. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20, 705–
712. doi: 10.1002/acp.1223
 Gehring, R. E., & Toglia, M. P. (1989). Recall of pictorial enactments and
verbal descriptions with verbal and imagery study strategies. Journal of Mental
Imagery.
 Glanz, J. (1998, April 3). Magnetic brain imaging traces a stairway to memory.
Science, 280, 37.
 Godden, D. R., & Baddeley, A. D. (1975). Context dependent memory in two
natural environments: On land and underwater. British Journal of psychology,
66(3), 325-331.
 Hilts, P. J. (1995). Memory’s ghost: The strange tale of Mr. M. and the
nature of memory. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
 Jenkins, J. G., & Dallenbach, K. M. (1924). Obliviscence during sleep and
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 Miller, G. A. (1956). The magic number seven plus or minus two: Some limits in NOTES
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 Sakaki, M. (2007). Mood and recall of autobiographical memory: The effect
of focus of self knowledge. Journal of personality, 75(3), 421-450.
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20, 11–21. Retrieved March 10, 2008, from http://homepage.mac.com/
sanagnos/scovil- lemilner1957.pdf
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the past. New York, NY: Basic Books. [See also: Ander- son, 1982; Tulving,
1983]
 Sperling, G. (1960). The information available in brief visual presentations.
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 Sperling, G. (1963). A model for visual memory tasks. Human Factors, 5, 19–
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experiences by deaf signers: Insights into the organization of a sign-based lexicon.
Psychological Science, 16(11), 856-860.
 Wagenaar, W. A. (1986). My memory: A study of autobiographical memory
over six years. Cognitive psychology, 18(2), 225-252.
 Wickelgren, I. (2001, March 2). Working memory helps the mind focus. Science,
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NOTES  Baron R. A. (2008). Psychology (5th ed.). Pearson.

 Feldman, R.S. (2011). Understanding Psychology (10th ed.). New York:
McGraw Hill.
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ed.). New Delhi: Sage.
 Passer, M.W., & Smith, R.E. (2010). Psychology: The science of mind and
behaviour. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill.
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concepts. (7th ®ed.). U.S.A.: Pearson.
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UNIT III: MOTIVATION AND EMOTION
MOTIVATION
LESSON 4 MOTIVATION
LESSON 5 EMOTION
Motivation
NOTES
LESSON 4
MOTIVATION
Dr. Nayantara Chauhan
Assistant Professor
Govt. P.G. College, Sec-1
Panchkula, Haryana
Email-Id nay.chn21@gmail.com
Structure
4.2 Introduction
4.3 Nature and Perspectives
4.4 Types
4.5 Relationship Between Motivation and Emotion
4.6 Summary
4.7 Glossary
4.10 References

 What is motivation?
 What are the determinants of motivation?
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NOTES  How does motivation influence behaviour?

 What are the different types of motivation?
 How motivation and emotions influence each other?
4.2 INTRODUCTION
Motives are internal dispositions to act in certain ways. Motivation refers to the
processes which are involved in sensing a need or desire that activates and guides
organisms to indulge in goal-directed behaviour to reduce the need or desire in question.
Action or behaviour does not occur spontaneously. It is induced by internal or external
forces. An organism is moved into action because of motivation. Needs may vary in
nature. For instance, thirst is an example of biological or physiological need and need
for relatedness is an example of psychological need. A myriad of biological,
psychological and environmental factors influences our motives and our motivation.
4.3 NATURE AND PERSPECTIVES

In his theory of evolution proposed in The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin stated
that much of our behaviour is motivated by our instincts. Darwin suggested that we are
all born with instincts and that we are directed towards all forms of behaviour by these
instincts. The most basic of these is the instinct to survive. Passer and Smith (2004)
define instinct as “an inherited characteristic, common to all members of a species
that automatically produces a particular response when the organism is exposed to a
particular stimulus”. It is a relatively complex and unlearned behaviour pattern that
occurs normally in all same-sexed members of a given species (Fernald & Fernald,
2007). Reflexes are also an automatic act. However, they are too simple, brief and
restrictive to be called instincts. Early research in motivation proposed that motivation
was the result of instincts. Researchers have made attempts to identify this instinct.
William James (1890) identified the following instincts- anger, fear, hunting,
acquisitiveness, constructiveness, sympathy, imitation, play, curiosity, sociability,
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cleanliness, modest/shame, and love. William McDougall (1908) also listed 18 instinct NOTES
including hunger, sex, maternal/paternal instinct, laughter, sleep, migration and curiosity.
According to McDougall, instincts comprised of perception, behaviour and emotion.
Instinct theory, however, is problematic for a number of reasons. Instinct theory
has scarce empirical support. While instinct theory helps explain basic or early motivated
behaviours, they are not very helpful in explaining more complex activities that we
engage in. So, some emotions cannot be explained by instinct alone. Researchers
have now moved to exploring genetic contributions to motivation. In addition, twin
and adoption studies also conducted to assess to what degree individual differences in
motivations are caused by hereditary factors.
The human body has certain set points for a number of states like temperature, weight,
sleep, hunger, thirst and so on. When the levels of each of these said states go above
or below their respective set points, homeostasis will correct it. Homeostasis refers
to an organism’s ability regulate various physiological processes so as to keep internal
states balanced. It is the body’s tendency to maintain a state of balance. It was proposed
by Walter Cannon in 1932. It is a process that involves both physiological and
behavioural responses. According to Gorman (2004), some of the main features of
homeostasis include-
 Set point: or the ideal range (for instance, humans maintain their body
temperature at 37 degrees Celsius)
 Detector: to monitor the maintenance of set point (for instance, preoptic area
of the hypothalamus is involved in detection of changes in temperature)
 Control or correctional mechanism: that make alterations in body when
detectors identify deviations from set point (for instance, body will shiver to
increase its temperature if a fall in body temperature is detected)
 Prospective element: helps us to anticipate future changes that are likely to
occur (for instance, we will engage in behaviours that will prevent future changes
in temperature)
In other words, in the event of deviation from set point, sensors detect changes
in the internal environment, control centres receive this information from sensors and
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NOTES put necessary response into motion and response systems takes relevant steps to
restore internal equilibrium.
Drives are internal factors which push an organism into action. Most drive
states motivate action for restoring homeostasis. In the 1940s, Clark Hull proposed
the drive-reduction theory. According to this theory, when a drive originates, it
produces tension within the organism and the organism is impelled into action to achieve
a goal or reward so that the drive is reduced or satisfied. Hull’s theoretical framework
comprised of several postulates. Some of these include drive is integral for some
responses to occur; for the response to occur, stimulus and response must be detected
by the organism; response must occur so that conditioning occurs; conditioning only
occurs if reinforcement satisfies a need. When a need is satisfied, drive is reduced, and
an organism returns to the state of homeostasis.
One may be motivated to move towards or away from things. Human being tends to
gravitate towards and maximise pleasure. Similarly, we tend to move away from and
reduce pain. Gray (1991) proposed that two neural systems underlie behaviour and
affect (Fig 4.1). These are behavioural activation system (BAS) and behavioural
inhibition system (BIS). While the former regulates appetitive or approach motivation,
the latter moderates aversive or avoidance motivation. Both BAS and BIS are important
perspectives in understanding motivation because they address the distinction between
approach and avoidance motivation.
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The neural pathways that play an integral role in BAS include catecholaminergic NOTES
pathways, especially dopaminergic pathways. This system is more sensitive towards
rewards, non-punishment and escape from punishment and is responsible for the
experience of positive feelings like happiness, hope and elation. When exposed to
stimulus that signals impending rewards, individuals with greater BAS sensitivity are
more likely to experience positive feelings. They are also more likely to engage in goal
directed behaviour (Carver & White, 1994).
Contrarily, BIS comprises of septohippocampal system. It is more sensitive to
punishments, no rewards and novelty. It impedes behaviours that may end in adverse
or painful outcomes and its activation leads to inhibition of movement towards goals.
When exposed to stimulus that signals non reward or punishment, individuals with
greater BIS sensitivity are more likely to experience adverse feelings of fear, anxiety,
frustration and sadness (Carver & White, 1994).
Incentives are external factors or stimuli in the environment that pull an organism to
act. The amount of effort that individuals put into attaining their goals depend on different
factors. The expectancy value theory was developed by J. W. Atkinson in the 1950s
and 1960s and popularised by J. Eccles (1983). Expectancy value theory states that
behaviour is motivated by two factors- expectation (whenever we expect that
behaviours will lead to the goal) and incentive (how much we value the task). Cognitive
theorists also view motivation being intrinsically and extrinsically motivated. Intrinsic
motivation implies performing activities for the pleasure of the activity itself while extrinsic
motivation refers to engaging in activities for obtaining external rewards avoiding
punishments.
According to Sigmund Freud, unconscious psychological forces or motives shape an

individuals’ behaviour. Freud’s model did not receive much empirical support. Its
contribution however lies in that it promoted other psychodynamic theories that
emphasised on motives like self-esteem and social belonging. Contemporary
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NOTES psychodynamic theorists are of the opinion that conscious mental processes and
unconscious motives are both at work when individuals exhibit some behaviour. In
recent times, Freudian approach to understanding motivation has been used to
understand consumer behaviour.
Abraham Maslow (1954) proposed that a key human motive was the striving for
personal growth. Maslow (1954, 2003) proposed a hierarchical model (Fig 4.2)
which recognised certain needs as deficiency needs and other as growth needs.
Deficiency needs were related to survival and included physiological needs
(pertaining to thirst, hunger, sleep and other drives essential for maintenance of life),
safety needs (need for security, protection and freedom from danger), belongingness
and love needs (includes having friends, family, sexual relationships, membership of
groups) and esteem needs (achieving significant status in groups, desire for respect
and admiration from others). Growth needs comprised of cognitive needs (need
for knowledge, understanding, curiosity, exploration, meaning and predictability),
aesthetic needs (need for appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form), and
self-actualisation (realising one’s potential, self-fulfilment, seeking personal growth
and peak experiences). Self-actualisation is the ultimate human motive and is marked
by peak experiences - “moments of highest happiness and fulfilment” (Maslow, 1964).
Some individuals reach to a state of self-transcendence.
“Transcendence refers to the very highest and most inclusive or holistic levels of
human consciousness, behaving and relating, as ends rather than means, to
oneself, to significant others, to human beings in general, to other species, to
nature, and to the cosmos.” (Maslow, 1971)
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NOTES
Fig. 4.2: Maslow’s hierarchical model (from Passer & Smith, 2004)
Another broad theory of human motivation and personality is self-

determination theory (SDT). Self-determination is one’s ability to make their choices
and manage their own life. Self-deterministic theory (SDT) proposed by Deci and
Ryan (2000) is a contemporary humanistic theory of motivation that emphasises on
three fundamental psychological needs- competence, autonomy and relatedness.
SDT assumes that individuals naturally and consciously gravitate towards growth and
self-organization. This theory propagates that humans are motivated or driven by a
need to grow and gain fulfilment. Self-determination theory primarily focuses on internal
sources of motivation. Autonomy refers to one’s needs to control their own goals and
behaviours, to feel free and self-directed. Competence refers to individual’s needs to
gain mastery of tasks, to learn various skills and the need to feel effective. Relatedness
refers to one’s needs to experience a sense of belonging and connect closely with
others. SDT provides a framework to understand the motivation for human behaviour.
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NOTES
IN-TEXT QUESTIONS
1. ________ process is like body’s internal thermostat.
a) Reflexes
b) Homeostasis
c) Instincts
d) Drive
2. Behavioural Activation System is associated with _______.
a) Dopaminergic pathways
b) Monoaminergic pathways
c) Both a and b
d) None of the above
3. ________ is not a part of Maslow’s need hierarchy theory.
a) Peak experiences
b) Self-transcendence
c) Self-actualisation
d) Fixation
4. Which three psychological needs were proposed by Deci and Ryan in Self-
Determination theory?
a) Relatedness, conscientiousness, extraversion
b) Autonomy, agreeableness, relatedness
c) Competence, hardiness, autonomy
d) Competence, autonomy, relatedness
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NOTES
4.4 TYPES

Biogenic motives or biological motivation are rooted in physiological states of the
body. Some biogenic motives include hunger, thirst, sleep, pain, sex and temperature
regulation. The following section discusses hunger motivation.
Hunger motivation
There are several pertinent questions with respect to the physiological drive of hunger.
Why people eat? When do they eat? What do they prefer to eat? Why are there
variations in eating behaviours of individuals? What causes initiation and cessation of
eating? For understanding the motivation behind eating, one must be able to understand
various biological, psychological and environmental factors that regulate intake of food.
Activation of hunger motivation
Early investigations centered upon studying stomach contractions or pangs in the stomach
as the primary cause of hunger motivation. In an early experiment, A.L. Washburn
swallowed a small balloon that could later be inflated with an attached tube. Once
inside the stomach, the balloon was inflated to fit the lining of his stomach. The air
pressure inside the balloon was determined using appropriate apparatus attached to
the balloon tube. Contractions in the stomach were studied via changes in air pressure
inside the balloon. Washburn also pressed a key every time he experienced hunger.
The results of the experiment demonstrated that his feeling of hunger did correspond
with stomach contractions. However, later studies found that hunger motivation persisted
even in cases where stomach had to be removed for some medical reasons. Additionally,
nerves that connected the stomach and the brain could also be severed with no apparent
reduction in hunger drive. These studies provided evidence to rule out stomach
contractions as necessary or sufficient cause of hunger.
Subsequent research in hunger motivation shifted its focus on the role of blood
sugar levels in determining hunger. Majority of research in hunger motivation has found
that the amounts or rates of dissolved nutrients circulating in the blood play a critical
role in the initiation of feeding. The homeostatic mechanism in eating appears to be
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NOTES bounds. If the said levels or rates fall below a certain point, also called the set point,
it leads to the activation of hunger drive.
When one eats food, food is broken into nutrients by digestive enzymes. An
important product of this process is glucose- which is a type of sugar that is a primary
source of energy in our body. Glucose levels in blood (blood sugar levels) are important
in the initiation of feeding. Lower levels of glucose in blood are associated with activation
of hunger motivation. Contrarily, higher rates of glucose utilisation are related with
cessation of eating or satiety. Other body fuels that are involved in hunger drive are
fatty acids and ketones. The brain area that is critically involved in regulating nutrient
levels in blood is hypothalamus. The hypothalamus acts as an internal weight thermostat
by prompting organisms to consume food or stop eating.
Cessation of eating
Following the consumption of food, the restoration of nutrient levels in the circulatory
system may take some time. However, the act of consuming food stops before such
restoration occurs indicating that hunger activating, and satiety factors may be
independent of each other. Stomach and intestinal distension act as satiety signals. As
one eats, the walls of the stomach and intestine stretch and sends satiety signals to the
brain. Chemical signals also contribute to satiety behaviour. Peptide cholecystokinin
(CCK) is a hormone that is involved in the breakdown of fats. As food arrives in the
intestines, CCK is released in the bloodstream. This, along with other peptides, stimulate
receptors in the brain that reduces that consumption of food. The role of CCK in
satiety has however been questioned in research. In experiments with rats who are
eating after a period of food deprivation, injection of CCK leads to cessation of eating
and starting of grooming behaviours indicating that the rats are no longer hungry.
However, the amount of CCK that is used to produce such satiety effects is considerably
higher in experiments in comparison to CCK produced naturally.
Brain and hunger motivation
An important brain region that is involved in regulating hunger motivation is
hypothalamus. Early research (Hetherington & Ranson, 1940; Anand & Brobeck,
1951) highlighted those two regions in the hypothalamus- namely lateral hypothalamus
(LH) and ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) - played integral roles in hunger
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motivation. LH is the “hunger-on center or feeding center” and pushes the organism to NOTES
start eating and VMH is the “hunger-off center or satiety enter” and prompts the
organism to stop eating (satiety). In experiments with rats, it was found that electrical
stimulation of LH prompted rats to start feeding and lesioning of LH prompted rats to
refuse eating despite the threat of starvation. On the contrary, electrical stimulation of
VMH prompts hungry rats to stop eating and lesioning of VMH causes rats to eat
despite doubling and tripling of weight. Later research found that LH and VMH were
not hunger on and off centres respectively but affected hunger motivation by influencing
other eating related actions. For instance, rats with damaged LH cease eating and
reduce weight partly due to problems with swallowing and digestion. Research has
also found that several axons go into and come out of the hypothalamus. Damage to
these nerve-fiber pathway anywhere along their path -not within the hypothalamus
alone- replicates the effects of damaged LH and VMH. Lesions in LH are also
associated with lowered levels of arousal and neglect of sensory stimuli, including
food. Specific neural pathways also moderate intake of food. Paraventricular nucleus
(PVN) of the hypothalamus, which is a cluster of neutrons with receptor sites that
stimulate and reduce appetite, has been found to influence metabolic and digestive
processes. Additionally, other brain areas like amygdala have also been found to
impact hunger and eating.
Psycho-social factors in eating
Hunger motivation is a complex phenomenon and biological or internal factors of
eating do not fully explain hunger motivation. For instance, you must have noticed that
sometimes even when your stomach is full, you tend to eat more if your favourite dish
is presented. Reduction of the feeling of hunger also acts as negative reinforcer. In
addition, appetising visuals and aromas associated with certain foods may evoke hunger.
Even thinking about foods or anticipation of delicious foods elicits hunger.
External social factors and our learning of appropriate eating behaviours play an integral
role in exhibiting hunger motivation. For instance, we may prefer to eat at the same
times every day irrespective of our internal cues. Even the portion sizes that we eat
may vary culturally. Thus, the intake of food is moderated by attitudes, habits, moods
and psychological needs. In some cases, individuals may refrain from eating even
when they are hungry. Individuals who are following a diet or ascribe to certain cultural
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NOTES standards of beauty where being thin is viewed positively, refrain from eating even
when they are hungry. The norms for appropriate eating are thus influenced by several
factors including behaviours of other people, shared cultural expectation and
environmental cues (Higgs & Thomas, 2016).
Issues related with eating: Obesity and eating disorders.
Obesity
Biologically, body weight oscillates about a genetically influenced set point. Every
individual has a genetically programmed basal metabolic rate (the rate at which calories
are burnt in the body in order to maintain vital survival functions at resting position).
The body has a given number of fat cells. Research has found that as compared to
healthy individuals, obese individuals have twice the number of fat cells in their body.
Eating disorder: Anorexia and Bulimia nervosa
Anorexia is an eating disorder in which individuals refuse to eat to such an extent that
their appearance may become skeletal-like. Despite their unusual appearance,
individuals with anorexia may deny that there is a problem with their behaviour or
appearance. Due to stark gender differences in the cultural and socially acceptable
body images, anorexia is more prevalent among females. While the prevalence rates
are higher among adolescents, anorexia may develop among both men and women of
any age. Anorexia has various physical symptoms (like extreme weight loss, thin
appearance, fatigue, insomnia, dizziness, hair that thin or fall out, absence of
menstruation, constipation or abdominal pain, irregular heart rhythms, dehydration
and so on) and emotional/behavioural symptoms (like severely restricting food intake,
exercising excessively, skipping meals frequently, adopting rigid eating rituals, fear of
gaining weight, social withdrawal, irritability, insomnia and so on).
Another eating disorder is bulimia nervosa. It is characterized by uncontrolled
episodes of eating (called binging) followed by purging methods like vomiting or use
(or misuse) of laxatives. An individual with bulimia nervosa may engage in such binge-
purge cycles many times in a day. Like anorexia, bulimia nervosa is more prevalent in
females. Among other symptoms, individuals with bulimia nervosa generally have normal
or a little above normal weight, indulge in recurrent binge-purge cycles, fear that they
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may not be able to stop eating, use laxatives inappropriately, have irregular menstruation, NOTES
are dissatisfied with how their look/ their body weight and are preoccupied with food,
weight and body shape. (For further understanding of eating disorders among Indians,
you may read this article: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.4103/
IJPSYM.IJPSYM_461_18)
Social motives are complex social motives or needs that influence human behaviours.
They are known as social because they are learnt in social groups especially in our
immediate environment (family and close friends). Several social motives have been
proposed in research. For instance, Murray et al. (1938) enlisted a list of 17 social
needs. These include-
 abasement (to submit passively)
 achievement (to accomplish difficult tasks)
 affiliation (to seek and enjoy)
 aggression (to overcome opposition forcefully)
 autonomy (to be free of restraints)
 counteraction (to make up for failure by renewed efforts)
 defense (to defend oneself)
 deference (to admire and support)
 dominance (to control)
 exhibition (to make an impression)
 harm avoidance (to avoid pain)
 infavoidance (to avoid humiliation)
 nurturance (to help and care)
 order (to put things in order)
 play (to engage in sports in free time)
 rejection (to remain indifferent to subordinates) and
 sentience (to enjoy sensuous impressions).
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NOTES In 1960s, David McClelland’s and his colleagues pointed out that specific needs
of individuals are acquired and shaped over time through the experiences they have in
life. McClelland proposed three sociogenic needs- needs for achievement, power and
affiliation.
Need for Achievement (n-ach)

One of the earliest types of research in sociogenic motivation focused upon n-ach.
With respect to n-ach, McClelland and his colleagues (1953) stated the following:
“A behaviour can be considered achievement motivated when it involves
competition with a standard of excellence.” (McClelland, 1953)
It is an unconscious need to do better and to improve task performance.

Individuals who are high on n-ach are task oriented and seek to perform tasks that are
challenging and give them an opportunity to be evaluated in some way (either in
comparison with others with respect to some internal or external criterion). People
with higher n-ach set goals and strive to take moderate levels of risks that are challenging
but realistic, prefer individual activities and occupations or work profiles where data
for comparison of performance is readily available (McClelland & Burnham, 2008).
Achievement motivation and behaviour: Several factors determine if individuals
who are high on n-ach do actually exhibit such achievement-oriented behaviour. One
such factor is fear of failure. Individuals who have low fear of failure are more likely to
display behaviour that has underlying achievement orientation. High n-ach people
prefer working on tasks that have moderate levels of difficulty. Very easy activities do
not offer the chance to feel satisfaction upon accomplishment as they are not challenging
enough, and chances of success diminish severely in case of very difficult tasks. High
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n-ach individuals are also persistent in performing tasks that are perceived as relating NOTES
to or furthering careers. Upon success, they level-up their challenges or aspirations in
a somewhat realistic manner. They also prefer working in conditions where they exercise
some degree of control (Morgan et al., 2001). Individuals may exhibit this n-ach in
many different domains in life including schools, work and competitions.
n-ach is largely a learned need that is a result of either early life experiences or
expectations of parents/elders. The minds of children are very impressionable, and
they imitate the behaviour of either their parents or their role models in their early
years. If their model possesses such a need for achievement, it is likely that children
also learn the same via observational learning (Bandura & Walters, 1963). Expectations
of parents may also play a critical role in the development of n-ach. Parents who
expect their children to strive for success encourage them to work hard for achieving
their goals and provide them reinforcement if said goals are achieved. Such parental
expectations also foster n-ach among children. N-ach is first displayed by children
(mental age around 3.5 years) playing competitive games. Such kids assess not just
the results of their acts but also their own competence against an ideal. This is evident
by their portrayal of self-evaluative emotions like pride and shame (Brunstein &
Heckhausen, 2018). Research has also found that males and females differ in their
expression of n-ach. Females have a propensity to experience fear of failure. In 1970,
Matina Horner examined fear of success among women and stated that while women
were motivated to pursue excellence, the ‘unfeminine’ or ‘aggressive’ image of being
successful discouraged them from pushing success. Some women believed that being
successful was at odds with their culturally accepted role. Consequently, as they grow
up, some females learn to hide their success which eventually hinders their chances of
success. Subsequent studies, however, questioned the concept of fear of success and
contemporary research has found that the gap in expression of n-ach among males
and females has narrowed down.
Achievement motivation and economic development: In his work The Achieving
Society, McClelland (1961) claimed that there existed a causal link between need for
achievement and economic growth as well as decline of nations. By analysing cultural
stories for children, researchers have found that high n-ach stories correlated with
positive indices of economic growth (such as electricity consumption). Schatz (1965)
stated that McClelland’s hypothesis was that “a society with a generally high level of
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NOTES n-ach will produce more energetic entrepreneurs, who, in turn, produce more rapid
economic development”.
Fig. 4.3: Relationship between need for achievement and economic growth (from
Morgan et al. 2001)
Several theorists have argued in favour of McClelland’s hypothesis citing that

entrepreneurship and economic growth also depends on personality and cultural factors.
In a study on n-ach and an indicator of economic growth - coal imports- in England,
Bradbury and Berlew (1961) found that the n-ach distribution, if shifted to the right by
about 50 years, would coincide with coal imports suggesting that higher n-ach
corresponds with economic growth or development (Fig 4.3). McClelland’s claims
were, however, also met with criticisms with researchers citing deficiencies in the sample
used, unreliable nature of data and questioning its methodology in choosing electricity
consumption/output as an indicator of economic development. Nevertheless, study of
dominant motives in the society may contribute to the understanding of history and
provide a framework to predict the future.
Need for power (n-power)
Power motivation or need for power (n-power) is defined as the ability or capacity
to have an impact on other people, their behaviour and emotions. This definition of
power motivation is inclusive of several overlapping concepts including influence,
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aggression (Winter, 1992). Individuals vary in their n power. n-power is an unconscious NOTES
drive to have an impact on others.
Power motivation and behaviour: Power motive does not exist in isolation and its
channeling into specific behaviours depends on several factors. For instance, McClelland
(1975) noted that expression of need for power may vary according to levels of
maturity and modes of adaptation to the environment. n power is a stable disposition
but its expression in behaviour may depend on various personality and situational
factors. This may vary according to factors including socio-economic status, levels of
maturity, gender and the degree to which an individual is afraid of his or her power
motivation (McClelland, 1975). Morgan et al. (2012) stated that people with high n
power may express themselves by engaging in impulsive and aggressive actions, by
taking part in competitive sports, by associating themselves with organisations that
exhibit power, by drinking and sexually dominating women, by building and disciplining
their bodies and by collecting possessions. Individuals who are high on need for power
also like to associate only with people who are not particularly popular. Since such
individuals depend on the said ‘popular’ person for friendship and acceptance in social
circles, they may be easily controlled. They also seek to obtain leadership positions in
groups and organisations to exert their control or influence. They tend to commit
aggressive acts and prefer occupations that give them the opportunity to have an
impact on other.
Power motivation is also a learnt need. It is shaped through early experiences.
It may, however, also grow out of innate biological bases such as “an incentive system
for having impact or the flight-fight-fright response of the sympathetic nervous system”
(McClelland, 1982).
Need for power has been associated with aggressive and anti-social behaviours.
Consequently, it is viewed negatively in society and not desirable socially. This is
understood as “personalised power”. Expression of n power can also be through
prosocial and benevolent actions such as providing advice or help. This is understood
as “socialised power” (McClelland 1970, 1975; Winter 1973).
Machiavellianism: In his book, The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), a
Florentine diplomat in the courts of Europe, wrote advice on how to acquire and stay
in power. The advice lacks traditional values of trust, honour and decency. An example
of such advice is as follows: “Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate Self-Instructional
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NOTES needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions”. While some of his
works also focus on non-manipulative themes, his name came to be associated with a
strategy of social conduct that views others as means to personal ends.
Machiavellianism is a psychological characteristic that indicates shrewdness, the
capacity for deception, and a desire to utilise any strategy at one’s disposal to get
power. Every individual is capable of manipulative behaviour to a certain degree.
However, some are more willing than others to exhibit such behaviours. Machiavellianism
and power motivation are two different concepts. Together with narcissism and
psychopathy, Machiavellianism makes up what is known as the Dark Triad (To know
more about the dark triad, you may see this video https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=kvJDkPKbaLE).
According to Winter (1973), some social and individual costs are also associated
with n power. These include the following:
• Groupthink: Given that leaders that motivated by need for power are
vulnerable to flattery and ingratiation by others, they are especially vulnerable
to groupthink (Fodor & Farrow, 1979). Groupthink is a phenomenon in
which individuals tend to overlook key features of a problem and instead
strive for consensus in thinking. This often results in decisions that are
unchallenged and may be of poor quality as they occur without critical
reasoning and evaluation. Groupthink is particularly dangerous in political
and business decisions where the implications of decisions made may be felt
by many stakeholders.
• Aggression and profligate impulsivity: Sometimes individuals who are
higher in n power have the upper hand in negotiating and bargaining situations
and may indulge in fights, arguments and other kinds of exploitative aggression.
They may also get involved in the use of intoxicating substances and exploit
individuals. According to research by Winter and his associates, men with
higher need for power were also likely to be associated with divorces or
breakups in relationships.
• Stress and illness: Those with high power motivation may exhibit excessive
sympathetic nervous system activity, especially under stress. This overreaction
weakens the immune system over time, making people more susceptible to
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Need for affiliation. NOTES
Human beings are social beings who affiliate or associate with others in several ways.
Evolutionary theories believe that over the course of evolution, humans became
biologically predisposed to affiliate as being associated with others increased their
chances of survival and reproduction. This socially oriented way of living had numerous
advantages including more access to sexual mates, division of labour and transfer of
knowledge across generations (Kottak, 2000). Need for affiliation is the unconscious
need to be a part of warm and close relationships (McGregor, 1960). It is defined as
the “concern over establishing, maintaining or restoring a positive affective relationship
with another person or group of persons” (Heyns et al., 1985). Individuals who are
high on need for affiliation choose to spend more time with close friends and significant
others. They make endeavors to be in touch or communicate with their friends and
family, are more likely to work within groups and are more sensitive to reactions that
other have for them. With respect to group activities, they prefer to be a part of
collaborative exercises and non-competitive activities that afford them the opportunity
to work in proximity with others. Positive social relationships are also known to provide
positive stimulation, emotional support, life satisfaction and act as a buffer against
stress.
Some theorists are also of the view that individual have an optimal range of
social contact (O’Connor & Rosenblood, 1996). People who are high on need for
affiliation sometimes prefer time alone. Similarly, people who are low on need for
affiliation may sometimes seek social contact. This suggests that affiliation needs indeed
follow a homeostatic model wherein if social contact falls below an optimal range,
individuals seek social contact and vice-versa.
Social situations also influence our need for affiliation. For instance, in case of
calamities or fear inducing situations, people may prefer to be with others.
According to Deci and Ryan (2000), intrinsic motivation is defined as “the doing of an
activity for its inherent satisfaction rather than for some separable consequence”. When
an individual is intrinsically motivated, the person is moved to act because of the fun or
challenge that accompanies or comes with the act itself. On the contrary, extrinsic
motivation “is a construct that pertains whenever an activity is done in order to attain Self-Instructional
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NOTES some separable outcome”. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation thus differ in their origins
such that while intrinsic motivation refers to performing an activity for the fun of it,
extrinsic motivation is associated with attaching the doing of activity with some
instrumental value.
Intrinsic motivation
We sometimes engage in activities just for the pleasure of it. For instance, if you have
found yourself engrossed in reading a book which does not get you extra credit in
academics or is not related to any assignment in college, you possess what is called
intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation stems from psychological needs and innate
strivings for growth. Intrinsically motivated individuals indulge in activities out of interest.
Such behaviour is not a result of any instrumental or extrinsic factors. Intrinsically
motivated activities are activities that have no obvious rewards but for the activity
itself. Such activities are not means to an end but an end themselves. Koch (1961)
opined that when one engages in an intrinsically motivated activity, one becomes
engrossed in the activity and commits to it such that he or she can tolerate considerable
amounts of fatigue and suppress primary drives like hunger when performing the activity.
Additionally, intrinsically motivated activities are associated with internally rewarding
consequences which are more or less localised in the central nervous system and do
not have substantial physiological effects on non-nervous system tissues. Intrinsically
motivated people are engaged in the “general process of seeking and conquering
challenges which are optimal for them” (Deci, 1975). They seek stimulation and
opportunities that affords them the chance to feel competent and self-determining in
relation to the environment. Intrinsic motivation occurs because individuals have
psychological needs such as autonomy, competence and relatedness. When said
psychological needs are nurtured and supported by one’s environment and relationships,
it leads to a feeling of satisfaction.
Purpose of intrinsically motivated behaviour
Deckers (2018) explored if intrinsically motivated behaviour is an end in itself or if it is
linked to other sources of motivation. According to Deckers (2018), curiosity, affectance
motivation and flow can be the underlying reasons of intrinsically motivated behaviour.
Curiosity can propel individuals to act impulsively in order to seek information. It can
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also make individuals indulge in activities that are contrary to their self-interest. Thus,
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satisfying one’s curiosity is a potent motive for exploring and learning about the NOTES
environment.
Extrinsic motivation
Extrinsic motivation refers to the desire to engage in any activity to achieve external
consequences, rewards or reinforcers. Locke and Schattke (2018) defined extrinsic
motivation as a means-end relationship; it is doing something in order to get some
future value (or avoid some future disvalue). Rheinberg and Engeser (2018) noted that
the meaning of extrinsic here is “outside the task” rather than “outside the person”. An
incentive refers to motivational properties that are attached with a reinforcer or
punishment. Incentives derive their value from their associations with reinforcements
or punishments. If the incentive is constantly associated with positive reinforcers, it
gains a positive value. It is the value of the incentive that determines its preference and
motivational strength (Deckers, 2018). Incentive value is the attractiveness of an
incentive. It is based on both objective/physical (like incentive amount, rate of
reinforcement) and subjective/ individual’s appraisal properties. In economics, an analogy
of incentive value may be the concept of utility (i.e., satisfaction, pleasure of usefulness
of an economic good). Correia and Benson (2006) designed an experiment to study
motivations for behaviour of smoking abstinence among smokers. Participants of the
experiment reported to the lab twice a day for one week. The carbon monoxide in
their breath analysis indicated if the person had smoked or not. Participants were paid
in cash (either $40 or $80) if their carbon monoxide level was found to be below a fix
criterion indicating smoking abstinence. It was found that those who received greater
amounts of incentive reported lower smoking lesser during the week.
4.5 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MOTIVATION

AND EMOTION
Motivation and emotion are closely related. Deckers (2018) identifies emotions as a
special case of push motivation. Emotions push individuals along a number of channels
(affect, physiological and behavioural) to adapt with the environment. While emotions
are mental and physiological feeling states that direct attention and guide behaviour,
motivation is a driving force that initiates and directs behaviour. Motivations can be
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NOTES biogenic or sociogenic. In many cases, some emotions can motivate us. Emotions
evoke states or energies that guide behaviour. Thus, emotions may be understood to
be causal variables of motivation. For instance, if you are happy, you get motivated to
do something that can maintain your happiness. If you are sad, you are motivated to
do something that will lessen your sadness. In both examples, it is an emotion that is
the driving force behind behaviour. Both words, emotion and motivation, have the
same underlying Latin origins (“mot-”) meaning “to move”. Some degrees of arousal
(or bodily responses due to activation of autonomic nervous system) is involved in
both motivation and emotions. Consequently, both emotions and motivation drive our
behaviour.
Leeper (1970) proposed a theory of motivation and emotions. According to
this theory, almost all our sequences of behaviour are motivated by emotions and this
emotional tone permeates nearly all our sustained and goal-directed behaviours.
According to Leeper (1970), research in emotions should focus upon the role that
emotions play as motivators in arousing and sustaining activity, facilitating learning,
influencing performance and aiding problem solving. Tomkins (1970, 1981) was also
of the view emotions provided energy for motives. While motives or drives simply give
information about the condition of the body, it is the felt emotion that accompanies
these drives that amplifies be the motivational power of these drives.
IN-TEXT QUESTIONS
5. ________ is called the satiety centre for hunger.
a) Lateral hypothalamus
b) Ventro-medial hypothalamus
c) Thalamus
d) Amugdala
6. Which disorder is associated with eating behaviour?
a) Aphasia
b) Dementia
c) Anoexia
d) Agoraphobia
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7. Which of these is true about people with high need for achivement? NOTES
a) They do not like comparisons
b) They are not task-oriented
c) They set realistic goals for themselves
d) Only makes have high need for achievement
8. Which statement is most likely to be false?
a) Motivation influences emotions
b) Emotions influences motivation
c) Motivations influences emotions and vice-verse
d) Motivations and emotions are not related
4.6 SUMMARY
This chapter examines what is motivation, its underlying causes and various perspectives
through which motivation is viewed. Motivation energises and directs behaviour all
our behaviours. Motivation comes from within or can be external. It also discusses
different types of motivation- biogenic, sociogenic and intrinsic/extrinsic motivation. It
further delves into hunger motivation and its associated disorders and McClelland’s
needs of achievement, power and affiliation. It is important to study motivations as it
has implications in all aspects of our life.
4.7 GLOSSARY
 Approach motivation: impulse to move towards positive stimuli.
 Avoidance motivation: impulse to move away from negative stimuli.
 Drive: a physiological condition of increased arousal to reach a particular goal
state
 Emotion: a subjective feeling state that influences how we perceive, think and
behave
 Expectancies: belief that behaviour will lead to intended performance goals Self-Instructional
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NOTES  Extrinsic motivation: motivation to perform behaviours to obtain external

rewards and reinforcers.
 Genes: determiners or inheritance; located inside the chromosomes of the cell
nucleus
 Homeostasis: the compensatory mechanism that maintains the physical and
chemical state at a constant
 Incentives: the sought after object of motivated behaviour
 Instinct: complex, unlearned adaptive response
 Intrinsic motivation: the motivation to perform task just for the pleasure of it.
 Motivation: driving or pulling forces that result in behaviour directed towards
a goal
 Need for achievement: desire for accomplishing goals and setting high
standards of performance.
 Need for affiliation: the desire to be with others.
 Need for power: strong desire to influence the behaviour of others.
 Self-actualisation: motivation to realise one’s full potential.
 Self-transcendence: rising above self and relating to what is greater than self.

1. (b) Homeostasis
2. (b) Dopaminergic pathways
3. (d) Fixation
4. (d) Competence, autonomy, relatedness
5. (b) Ventro-medial hypothalamus
6. (c) Anorexia
7. (c) They set realistic goals for themselves
8. (d) Motivation and emotions are not related
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NOTES
1. What motivates you?
2. How can you understand your motivations better?
3. Do motivations and emotions affect each other?
4.10 REFERENCES
 Bandura, A., & Walters, R. H. (1963). Social learning and personality
development. Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.
 Brobeck, J. R. (1946). Mechanism of the development of obesity in animals
with hypothalamic lesions. Physiological reviews, 26(4), 541-559.
 Brunstein, J. C., & Heckhausen, H. (2018). Achievement motivation.
Motivation and action, 221-304.
 Carver, C. S., & White, T. L. (1994). Behavioral inhibition, behavioral activation,
and affective responses to impending reward and punishment: The BIS/BAS
Scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(2), 319–333.
 Correia, C. J., & Benson, T. A. (2006). The use of contingency management to
reduce cigarette smoking among college students. Experimental and Clinical
Psychopharmacology, 14, 171–179.
 Deci, E. L. (1975). Intrinsic motivation. Plenum Press.
 Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The” what” and” why” of goal pursuits:
Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry,
11(4), 227-268.
 Deckers, L. (2018). Motivation: Biological, psychological, and
environmental. Routledge.
 Eccles J. S., Adler, T. F., Futterman, R., Goff, S. B., Kaczala, C. M., Meece,
J. L., & Midgley, C. (1983). Expectancies, values, and academic behaviors. In
J. T. Spence (Ed.), Achievement and achievement motivation (pp. 75–146).
W. H. Freeman.
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NOTES  Gorman, P. (2004). Motivation and emotion. Routledge.

 Gray, J. A. (1991). Neural systems, emotions, and personality. In J. Madden
IV (Ed.), Neurobiology of learning, emotion, and affect. Raven Press.
 Hetherington, A. W., & Ranson, S. W. (1940). Hypothalamic lesions and
adiposity in the rat. The Anatomical Record, 78(2), 149-172.
 Heyns, R. W., Veroff, J., & Atkinson, J. W. (1958). A scoring manual for the
affiliation motive. In J. W. Atkinson (Ed.), Motives in fantasy, action and
society (pp. 205-218). Princeton.
 Higgs, S., & Ruddock, H. (2020). Social influences on eating. Handbook of
eating and drinking: Interdisciplinary perspectives, 277-291.
 Leeper R. W. (1970). The motivational and perceptual properties of emotions
as indicating their fundamental character and role. In Arnold M. B. (Ed.),
Feelings and emotions: The Loyola Symposium (pp. 151–168). Academic
Press.
 Locke, E. A., & Schattke, K. (2019). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: Time
for expansion and clarification. Motivation Science, 5(4), 277.
 Maslow, A. H. (2021). Religions Values and Peak-Experiences. Rare Treasure
Editions.
 McClelland, D. C. (1970). The two faces of power. Journal of International
Affairs, 29-47.
 McClelland, D. C. (1975). Power: The inner experience. Irvington.
 McClelland, D. C. (1982). The need for power, sympathetic activation, and
illness. Motivation and Emotion, 6, 31-41.
 McClelland, D. C., & Burnham, D. H. (2008). Power is the great motivator.
Harvard Business Review Press.
 McClelland, D. C., & McClelland, D. C. (1961). Achieving society. Simon
and Schuster.
 McClelland, D. C., Atkinson, J. W., Clark, R. A., & Lowell, E. L. (1953).
Toward a theory of motivation. In D. C. McClelland, J. W. Atkinson, R. A.
Clark, & E. L. Lowell, The achievement motive (pp. 6–96). Appleton-
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 Morgan, C. T., King, R. A., Weisz, J. R., & Schopler, J. (2001). Introduction NOTES
to psychology. Tata McGraw Hill.
 Murray, H.A. (1938). Explorations in personality. Oxford University Press.
 O’Connor, S. C., & Rosenblood, L. K. (1996). Affiliation motivation in everyday
experience: A theoretical comparison. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 70(3), 513.
 Passer, M. W., & Smith, R. E. (2004). Psychology: The science of mind and
behavior. McGraw-Hill.
 Rheinberg, F., & Engeser, S. (2018). Intrinsic Motivation and Flow. In J.
Heckhausen & H. Heckhausen (Eds.), Motivation and action (3rd ed., pp.
579–622). Springer.
 Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation
of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American
Psychologist, 55(1), 68.
 Schatz, S. P. (1965). n-achievement and Economic Growth: A Critique. The
Quarterly Journal of Economics, 79(2), 234-241.
 Tomkins, S. (1970). Affects as the Primary Motivational System. In M. B.
Arnold (Ed.), Feelings and Emotions (pp. 101-110). Academic Press.
 Winter, D. G. (1973). The power motive. Free Press.

 Fernald, N. D. & Fernald, P. S. (2007). Munn’s introduction to psychology
(5th ed.). A.I.T.B.S. Publishers.
 Kosslyn, S. M. & Rosenberg, R. S. (2015). Introduction to psychology: Brain,
person, group (4th ed.). Pearson.
 Reeve, J. (2018). Understanding motivation and emotion. John Wiley & Sons.
 Smith, C. P., Atkinson, J. W., McClelland, D. C., & Veroff, J. (Eds.). (1992).
Motivation and personality: Handbook of thematic content analysis.
Cambridge University Press.
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 Wade, C. & Tavris, C. (2017). Invitation to psychology (6th ed.). Pearson. Material 107

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NOTES
LESSON 5
EMOTIONS
Dr. Nayantara Chauhan
Assistant Professor
Govt. P.G. College, Sec-1, Panchkula, Haryana
Email-Id nay.chn21@gmail.com
Structure
5.2 Introduction
5.3 Nature of Emotions
5.4 Functions of Emotions
5.4.2 Inter-personal functions of emotions
5.5 Theories of Emotions
5.5.2 Cannon- Bard theory
5.5.3 Role of Autonomic Feedback and Expressive Behaviour
5.6 Culture and Emotions
5.7 Summary
5.8 Glossary
5.9 Answers to Intext Questions
5.11 References

 What are emotions and how do we experience them?
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 What are the functions of emotions? Material 109

NOTES  What affects our emotions?

 Are there any cultural variations in the experience of emotions?
 Understanding emotions from an Indian perspective.
5.2 INTRODUCTION
Humans are emotional beings. It is difficult to visualise one’s life without emotions. One
experiences a number of emotions on a daily basis. Emotions are a special class of
motives. They help us in attending and responding to important situations. Emotions also
serve a communicative purpose by aiding us in communicating our intentions to others.
Our emotions impact others. We also have the ability to read the emotions of others and
respond in appropriate ways. For instance, if your friend shares a joyous news with you,
you are likely to get happy as well. If your relative is crying due to a mishap, you are
likely to feel sad as well. Our experiences of various emotions like love, anger, joy, fear,
surprise and others make our lives colourful. Researchers have identified a number of
emotions. There is a general consensus over the presence of eight primary emotions.
Robert Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions arranges eight primary emotions namely anticipation,
anger, disgust, sadness, surprise, fear, acceptance and joy (Figure 5.1).
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Fig. 5.1: Robert Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions (from Zimbardo et at., 2007)

Emotions
NOTES
5.3 NATURE OF EMOTIONS
The four components of emotional states are as follows (Figure 5.2):
Emotions do not occur in isolation. They are our reactions to various factors in our
internal or external environment. These factors are known as eliciting signal. Eliciting
signals prompt cognitive appraisal of the situation. Our feeling anxious at the thought of
an upcoming deadline or feeling happy at the sight of chocolate are examples of internal
and external eliciting stimuli. Human beings are biologically predisposed to exhibit
certain emotions to certain stimulus. For instance, fear is a natural response to, say,
snakes. This primal response has survival value. Previous learning also influences
emotions with respect to certain stimuli. Some people or circumstances can become
evoking stimuli as a result of prior experiences. Eliciting signals vary across culture as
well.
Fig. 5.2: Components of emotions (from Passer & Smith, 2004)

Cognitions includes mental processes of acquiring knowledge and understanding through
thoughts, experiences and memories. These mental processes evoke emotional
responses. Emotional expressions are determined by the appraisal of situations. The
interpretations and meanings we give to sensory stimuli are known as cognitive
appraisals. Cognitive appraisals explain why different individuals may elicit different
emotions in response to the same situation. This processing of situations may be a
conscious or unconscious process. Often such cognitive appraisals may be the result
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NOTES of our habitual ways thinking. Studies have also found similarities across cultures in the
expression of primary emotions (Wallbott & Scherer, 1994). However, specific situation
may also elicit extremely different responses in people of different cultures. Mesquita
et al. (1997) noted that while being alone was a preferred situation in the western
society and elicited pleasant emotions, in Tahitian culture it is seen as an opportunity
for bad spirits to trouble a person and evokes unpleasant emotions like fear.
Various parts of the body are involved in the regulation of emotions (Figure 5.3).
Brain structures and neurotransmitters
Brain structures and neurotransmitters involved in emotional arousal and regulation
include limbic system and associated regions (especially hypothalamus and amygdala)
and cerebral cortex.
Thalamus is known to be the relay center of the brain. Research by Joseph

LeDoux (2000) found that after the reception of stimuli from the senses, thalamus
relays them via two independent pathways- one leading to the cortex and the other to
amygdala. Amygdala thus receives stimuli from the senses directly and is able to generate
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emotional reactions to stimuli before the cerebral cortex processes it exhaustively. NOTES
Amygdala acts as an early-warning system in the face of impending threat. This primitive
mechanism has survival value as the faster speed of processing via amygdala (in
comparison to processing of information in the cerebral cortex) places the organism in
an advantageous position when faced with a threat. Amygdala also plays an integral
role in perceiving social stimuli. In a study, Winston et al. (2002) examined the neural
basis of trustworthiness using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants
first viewed faces and gave an estimate of their trustworthiness. Thereafter, photos
were presented again to the participants and their brain were scanned using fMRI
simultaneously. fMRI revealed that amygdala became active when participants were
shown earlier deemed ‘untrustworthy’ faces but displayed no such activity when
‘trustworthy’ faces were shown.
While processing complex stimuli, cerebral cortex is also involved in cognitive
appraisals. Cerebral cortex is intricately linked with other brain areas like other limbic
structures. The prefrontal cortex is also involved in regulating emotions. More recently,
ventromedial prefrontal cortex has been found to contribute to regulation of emotion
when one is under stress (Suzuki & Tanaka, 2021). Thus, two separate pathways are
responsible for emotional processing. This dual processing of emotions contributes to
the idea that despite our conscious awareness, there are some underlying unconscious
factors that influence emotional arousal and regulation.
Fig. 5.4: The Papez circuit and major structures of the limbic system (from
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NOTES The limbic system and associated structures are often called Papez circuit
(Figure 5.4) after the works of Dr. James Papez (1937) who argued that these
structures made the circuit that is involved in the cortical control of emotions and
expression of emotional behaviour. Since biochemicals are involved in the interaction
and operation of all brain regions, various neurotransmitters are implicated in emotional
processing. Studies have shown that neurotransmitter serotonin is associated with the
feelings of anger and fear and neurotransmitter dopamine is associated with feeling of
pleasant emotions.
Hemispheric activation and emotion
Some studies have shown that the left hemisphere of our brain is associated with
positive emotions and the right hemisphere is associated with negative emotions. Early
researchers noticed differences in emotional reactions among patients whose left or
right hemispheres were damaged. When electric shock was administered on one
hemisphere, it caused neural activity to cease in that hemisphere and allowed for the
other hemisphere to take over temporarily. In one such research, Gainotti (1972)
found that when patients with left hemisphere damage were administered shock (forcing
the right hemisphere to become more active), the patients reacted with ‘catastrophic
reaction’ that included “anxiety reactions, bursts of tears, vocative utterances and
depressed renouncements or sharp refusals to go on with the examination”. Contrarily,
when shock was applied to the patients with damage to the right hemisphere (forcing
the left hemisphere to take over), patients reacted with ‘indifference reaction’ and
seemed to be unconcerned, happy and sometimes euphoric. The results thus showed
that left was associated with positive emotions and right hemisphere with negative
emotions. In another research, Davidson and Fox (1988) measured the frontal lobe
activity among individuals experiencing positive or negative emotions using
electroencephalogram. They found that when people were engaged in some pleasant
activity like thinking about happy memories or watching a happy movie, their left
hemisphere was more active. On the contrary, when they thought about negative
thoughts or watched a movie which made them feel disgusted, right hemisphere became
more active.
Recent research (Brookshire & Casasanto, 2018) however has proposed the
‘shield and sword’ hypothesis to understand the processing of emotions. This means
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that a person would use his or her dominant hand for approach-oriented actions and NOTES
their non-dominant hand for avoidance movement. Say, if we were using a sword and
a shield, the dominant hand would be used to swing the sword and the non-dominant
hand would be used to use the shield. Similarly, in individuals who are right-handed,
the left hemisphere is more associated with approach-oriented emotions and right-
hemisphere with avoidance-oriented actions. This, however, reverses in case of right-
handed persons. Thus, according to this hypothesis, “the location of a person’s neural
systems for emotion depends on whether they are left-handed, right-handed, or
somewhere in between”.
Autonomic and hormonal processes
The autonomic nervous system and endocrine system play a key role in emotional
processing. When faced with a threat, the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous
system activates the body for action (restricting flow to the digestive system, increasing
heart rate and blood pressure, dilating pupils, increasing oxygen delivery to lungs,
activating energy stores in liver) and hormones from the endocrine system (epinephrine
and cortisol) are released into the bloodstream. These hormones create similar
physiological effects in the body as created by the activation of the sympathetic nervous
system and these effects tend to last for a relatively longer period of time. This is also
known as the fight-or-flight response. All individuals do not exhibit the same pattern of
bodily arousal even when we are experiencing the same emotion because there are
some minor individual differences in the patterns of general arousal.
While it is difficult to read the minds of others to infer what they are feeling, their
expressive behaviours (one’s observable emotional displays) may inform us about
their felt emotions. This expressive behaviour may also invoke similar emotional states
in us.
Evolution and emotional expression
Charles Darwin was of the opinion that emotional expression was the product of
evolution and had survival and adaptive value. Some modern evolutionary theorists
including Izard (1989) and Plutchik (1994) also adhere to the opinion that emotional
reactions are innate (fundamental emotional patterns). For instance, cultural similarity Self-Instructional
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NOTES in the emotional expressions for rage and fear indicate that there may be an underlying
biological basis for them. Different researchers have proposed different lists of what
constitutes primary emotions (also known as basic emotions or core emotions). Anger,
fear, joy, disgust, interest and surprise are however common across list of primary
innate emotions proposed by Izard (1982), Tomkins (1991) and Plutchik (1994).
Other emotions that may also be considered as core emotions are shame, sadness,
distress, guilt and acceptance. A combination of these innate emotions may result in
other emotions. Today, evolutionary theorists also consider the role of social learning
in the expression of emotions.
Facial expression of emotions
Facial expressions are important cues for judging emotions. A thorough, anatomically
based approach for describing every visually perceptible face movement is Facial
Action Coding System (FACS). FACS was developed by Paul Ekman and Wallace
Friesen (1987). It divides face emotions into separate units of muscle activity known
as Action Units (AUs) (Figure 5.5).
Fig. 5.5: An example of Facial Action Coding System
Research into assessing facial expressions has found that the accuracy of labelling
emotions increases if the expressions are accompanied by social cues or context.
Additionally, given that females are culturally expected to assume relatively more caring
roles, they are more sensitive to the emotions of others. Men who work in professions
that encourage embracing their emotions also perceive the emotional expressions of
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others accurately. (You can see this video to understand the concept better: Paul NOTES
Ekman explaining Facial Action Coding System https://youtu.be/ZMlN2sJAThA)
Cultural display rules
Across cultures, both physiological and cultural factors influence how we express
emotions. The framework that determines how and when emotions are to be expressed
is known as culture display rules. They are learned early in life and govern emotional
expression in social contexts. The term ‘cultural display rules’ was coined by Ekman
and Friesen (1969) to describe how universal facial expressions were influenced by
social context. Ekman and Friesen (1969) conducted a classic study on American and
Japanese students to demonstrate how cultural display rules play out in our lives. They
asked American and Japanese participants to watch a stressful movie in two situations-
alone and in the presence of an experimenter. When they were alone, participants
from both cultures- American and Japanese- displayed same emotions of disgust,
anger, fear and sadness. However, when viewed in the presence of an experimenter,
while many American students continued to display the same emotions as when they
were alone, many Japanese students masked their earlier displayed emotions and just
smiled. It led the researchers to conclude that cultural display rules were at play, and
they prevented Japanese participants to from exhibiting their true felt negative emotions
freely. Another study by Safdar et al. (2009) demonstrated that among Canadian,
American and Japanese students, expressions of power (anger, contempt and disgust)
were least permissible by Japanese cultural display rules. Japanese students also express
positive emotions less significantly than Canadian students.
Instrumental behaviours
Instrumental behaviours are behaviours that are aimed at achieving some emotionally
relevant objective. Emotional arousal and performance are closely intertwined. For
instance, a boxer would try to increase his or her emotional arousal to enhance
performance before the match. However, a very high level of emotional regulation
may also interrupt performance. For instance, too much emotional arousal may disrupt
the concentration of the boxer and hinder performance. Yerkes- Dodson curve (1908)
shows that there exists a relationship between arousal and performance. An optimal
level of arousal leads to an optimal level of performance. It may be noted that in case
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NOTES of very high emotional arousal, performance on simple motor tasks may increase and
performance on complex motor tasks may decrease.
IN-TEXT QUESTIONS
1. _____ is the relay centre of the brain.
a) Thalamus
b) Hypothalamus
c) Hippocampus
d) None of the above
2. Which of these does not happen in fight-or-flight response?
a) Increased heart rate
b) Constriction of pupils
c) Increased respiration rate
d) Constriction of blood vessels serving digestion
3. Facial Action Coding System was developed by _________.
a) Ekman and Friesen
b) Charles Darwin
c) William James
d) Tomkins
5.4 FUNCTIONS OF EMOTIONS

Emotions are crucial in our lives. It is difficult to imagine our life without emotions. We
experience both positive and negative emotions. Emotions assist us in dealing with
complex social situations. Both positive and negative emotions are important in our
lives. Hwang and Matsumoto documented the following functions of emotions:
• Intrapersonal- role that emotions play within us.
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• Interpersonal- role that emotions play in our interaction with other individuals.
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• Social and cultural- role that emotions play with maintenance of social order. NOTES
Emotions are instrumental in our understanding of who we are, how we behave
in social situations and in determining our reactions to various life situations.
Emotions serve an important evolutionary purpose. In human beings, emotions have

evolved to serve an adaptive function that requires minimal conscious cognitive
intervention. These judgments or decision have survival value. Emotions also enable
individuals to prepare the body for immediate action. When triggered, emotions
align several physiological and cognitive functions. Emotions permeate many aspects
of psychological functioning by colouring cognitive processes like perception, attention,
learning, memory, goal choice and decision making. For instance, in most people,
seeing a wild animal will be followed by the experience of fear. This fear response is
adaptive as instead of taking out time to calculate what to do in a life-threatening
situation, one will, say, run away from the wild animal to save his/her life. In such a
situation, the body prepares to fight or run away- blood flow to the digestive system of
the body is temporarily restricted, saliva production reduces, visual field increases and
more blood flows to the lower half of the body to facilitate increased movement of the
lower limbs. Emotions thus prepare the human body for a certain action but do not
always directly produce action. Whether an individual engages in any action depends
on an array of factors such as the context of the occurrence of the emotion, past
experiences and so on. Emotions, thoughts and memories are also interconnected.
We may have experienced that being happy makes us remember happy experiences
that have happened with us. Similarly, when we are sad, we remember other negative
or sad events that we have experienced at some point in life. Memories are thus not
just a passive documentation of an experience; it is also coloured by our emotions.
Our thinking process may also be overridden by emotions. It is difficult to be objective
when we are overwhelmed by emotions. Emotions may either have a constructive or
a destructive impact on our thinking. Emotions also form the affective base of a
number of values, beliefs and attitudes. Human beings may be highly motivated to
experience some positive emotion and may be equally motivated to avoid some negative
emotion. Emotions are thus important motivators for our actions in the future. Self-Instructional
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NOTES 5.4.2 Inter-personal functions of emotions

Emotions serve a communicative function. The expression of emotions communicates
our feelings and intentions to others. They may be expressed both verbally (using
words) and non-verbally (using gestures, eye movements, facial expressions, voice
and body language). Emotions thus have signal value. Others may perceive these
signals and respond appropriately. Consequently, emotions have social adaptive value.
There is strong evidence that facial expressions are universal. Darwin (1872) was the
first to suggest the universality of facial expressions. The prevalent view in psychology
was that facial expressions were indeed culture specific. The universality of facial
expressions was subsequently studied by Tomkins (1962, 1963) who argued that
human motivation was driven by emotion and the seat of emotion was in the face. This
was followed by studies (called the universality studies) conducted by Paul Ekman
(1972, 1973) and Carroll Izard (1971) which concluded that both literate and illiterate
people reliably judged facial expressions across cultures. Thus, emotional expressions
invoke complementary reactions from observers. (You can see this video to understand
the concept better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hr58Yu0yDs)
Fig. 5.6: Role of emotions in the function of culture (from Hwang & Matsumoto, 2019)
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The world is a global village. Individuals all over the globe are interconnected NOTES
via new technologies. In their lifetime, people become a part of a number of groups
and circles and assume various roles and follow certain norms and social expectations
in these groups. They constantly move in and out of these circles. So many social
interconnections provide the scope of disorganisation and chaos. However, culture is
the framework that provides the required organization and coordination in our way of
life. One of the most important aspects of culture is the transfer of the meaning and
information system to its members. Culture can be transmitted via attitudes, values,
beliefs, norms, and emotions (Hwang & Matsumoto, 2019). Culture and emotions
are intertwined (Figure 5.6). Individuals constantly learn to express their emotions all
through their life span. Culturally acceptable emotions are encouraged. Cultures also
provide guidelines for managing or modifying expressions of our emotions. This is
done through cultural display rules. As a result, we can engage in socially acceptable
activities as defined by our cultures, which will lessen social complexity, promote social
order, and prevent lawlessness.
5.5 THEORIES OF EMOTIONS

Several theories have been proposed to understand the arousal of emotions.
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Fig. 5.7: James-Lange Theory of Emotions

NOTES Willian James (1884) and Carl Henrik Lange (1885) proposed a similar theory
to explain the functioning of emotions around the same time (Figure 5.7). Eventually,
their ideas were put together in an overarching theory called ‘James-Lange theory of
emotions’. Both James and Lange were influenced by Charles Darwin’s evolutionary
theory which stated that emotions serve an adaptive function and were thus instrumental
in survival. James-Lange theory stated that emotions are how our body reacts to an
eliciting event. We observe our bodily actions and then label these bodily reactions.
These labels are the emotions that we feel. In nutshell, bodily changes or physiological
changes will lead to a behavioural change. For instance, upon seeing a ferocious dog,
you might notice your heart rate increase followed by you running away and you may
conclude that you are afraid. In William James (1980) words, “we meet a bear, are
frightened, and run; we are insulted by a rival, are angry, and strike. The hypothesis
here to be defended says that this order of sequence is incorrect and that the more
rational statement is that we feel sorry because we cry, angry because we strike,
afraid because we tremble”. It is also hypothesised that behaviour changes are automatic
and reflex-like in that we do not have a lot of time to consciously think about how to
respond to the ferocious dog. After the brain receives information about the bodily
changes, we consciously label the bodily reaction as an emotion.
James and Lange were pioneers in exploring the causes of emotions. However, this
theory was heavily criticised by Cannon (1927) and Bard (1934). Cannon and Bard
were of the opinion that bodily changes occurred slower than conscious experience of
an emotion. All emotions were accompanied by a general level of arousal. The arousal
was same regardless of the stimuli but resulted in different behaviours. Therefore, the
arousal itself was not enough to produce an emotion. Emotional arousal depended
much more on processes occurring in the brain to make sense of the emotion-producing
stimulus.
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5.5.2 Cannon- Bard theory NOTES
Fig. 5.8 Cannon- Bard Theory of Emotions
James- Lange theory of emotions was soon challenged by Walter Cannon

(1927). Cannon’s work was supported by Philip Bard (Figure 5.8). Bard studied
the effects that cortical damage had on the emotional reactions of dogs and cats.
Based on these studies, three important points were noted:
1. With respect to feelings of emotions, thalamus plays an integral role in transmitting
messages to the cortex.
2. The hypothalamus receives these messages from the thalamus and transmits it
through the body leading to arousal.
3. All emotional stimuli produce the same pattern of activity in the autonomic nervous
system.
Cannon-Bard theory thus proposes that subjective experiences of emotion and
physiological arousal do not cause each other. Rather, they are independent responses
to an emotionally arousing situation. While autonomic reactions play an important role
in the process of general arousal, the experience and expression of a specific emotion
is independently triggered in the cortex. Bard later conducted a number of experiments
to highlight the role of hypothalamus in emotions. Self-Instructional
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NOTES 5.5.3 Role of Autonomic Feedback and Expressive Behaviour

James-Lange theory and Cannon-Bard theory vary on an important point. While the
former stresses on the role of bodily reaction to a stimulus to experience emotion, the
latter states that signals sent from the thalamus to the cortex lead to experience of
emotion. To provide further evidence for his theory, Cannon (1929) conducted
experiments with animals in which he severed the nerves that connected certain internal
body organs to the brain. Despite severing of these connections, animals were able to
express emotions supporting his hypothesis that emotions were elicited due to direct
sensory messages to the brain. Similarly, among human being, Chwalisz et al. (1988)
found that among patients with spinal cord injury, perception of autonomic arousal
may not be necessary for emotional experience.
However, arousal feedback is not the only bodily feedback that James-Lange’s
theory considers. The works of William James (1884, 1890, 1894) and Carl Lange,
who both suggested that our conscious experience of emotion is constructed from
sensed changes in our bodily states, served as a catalyst for research related to facial
feedback hypothesis. Lange’s specific focus on autonomic nervous system activity
was unable to account for how individuals experienced distinct feelings. James’
hypothesis, on the other hand, postulated that skeleto-muscular activity as well as the
autonomic nervous system played a role in the determination of differentiation. Angell
(1916) proposed that facial feedback might be a factor in mood differentiation. In
early 1920s, Allport elaborated on the idea of facial feedback providing one of the
first formal theories of facial feedback. Several years later after Allport published his
theory of facial feedback, the term facial feedback hypothesis first appeared in print
(Izard, 1977). According to facial feedback hypothesis, feedback from facial muscles
play an integral role in the intensity and nature of emotions that we experience. According
to this hypothesis:
 Sensory input is sent to subcortical regions of the brain that regulate facial
movements.
 Upon receipt of said sensory inputs, subcortical regions send signals to activate
facial muscles.
 Sensory feedback from facial muscles is routed to cerebral cortex.
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 Cerebral cortex produces the experience of emotion.
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NOTES
Fig. 5.9: Strack and colleagues (1988) experiment to study facial feedback
hypothesis
(from Passer & Smith, 2004) [(a) pen-in-teeth (smiling pose), (b) pen in lips (no
smile), (c) funniness rating of cartoons in both (a) and (b)]
Fritz Strack and colleagues (1988) introduced the first incidental facial feedback
manipulation procedure named as the pen-in-mouth procedure (Figure 5.9). In two
studies about psychomotor coordination, participants were instructed to hold a pen in
their mouth in a manner that either forced them to smile (pen held in teeth) or prevented
them from smiling (pen held by lips). Simultaneously, participants viewed humorous
cartoons. They also reported how amused they felt while watching the cartoons. In
line with the facial feedback hypothesis, Strack and colleagues found that participants
who held their smiles (pen in the teeth pose) reported feeling more amused by cartoons
than those who were not smiling (pen in lips pose).
(You can see this video to understand the concept: https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=MtV5kfH4lXs)
One shortfall of physiological theories is that they tend to overlook the instrumental
roles that cultural, social and environmental factors play in perception, expression and
experience of emotion. In addition, they do not fully appreciate the integral role that
cognitive appraisal plays in understanding emotions. On the other hand, cognitive-
affective theories explored the interactions between cognitions and physiological
responses (Figure 5.10).
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NOTES
Fig. 5.10: A comparison of three theories of emotions (from https://

opentextbc.ca/introductiontopsychology/chapter/chapter-10-emotions-and-
motivations/)
One of the major proponents of this approach are Lazarus and Stanley Schachter.
Lazarus (2001) was of the opinion that whether one is aware or not, all emotional
reactions require some appraisal. The appraisal component in the experience of
emotions was also highlighted by Schachter and Singer in their two-factor theory that
states that emotion is based on two factors: physiological arousal and cognitive label.
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Physiological arousal determines the strength of the emotion, but cognitive appraisal NOTES
identifies the emotional label. Therefore, as per the aforesaid cognitive-affective theories,
by manipulating arousal we can manipulate cognitions and vice versa.
Lazarus and his colleagues investigated if differences in cognitive appraisal had
an impact on physiological arousal. They conducted an experiment in which the eliciting
stimuli was kept constant but different groups received the same eliciting stimuli under
different condition. In the experiment, college students watched an anthropology move
(Subincision in the Arunta) which depicted aboriginal puberty rites in which the
genitalia of adolescent boys were modified using a jagged flint knife. The physiological
arousal of these college students was monitored using recording electrodes and changes
in electrical skin conductance was an indicator of changes in physiological arousal.
Four groups were shown the same movie with different background scores-
 Trauma soundtrack (that highlighted the pain of the boys and was written to
accentuate the unpleasantness of the procedure)
 Denial (that emphasised on how the boys looked forward to embracing
adulthood with bravery)
 Intellectualisation (that ignored the emotional component of the procedure)
 Silent (or control group - the movie was played without any sound tracks so
that viewers could make their own appraisals)
It was found that trauma condition produced the highest physical arousal
followed by silent, intellectualisation and denial demonstrating that cognitive appraisals
indeed had an influence on physiological arousal.
Another classical experiment that extended support to the cognitive appraisal
theory was conducted by Schachter and Singer (1962). The participants of this
experiment believed that they were taking part in a test of vision. They received an
injection and were informed that it was a vitamin supplement. However, the injection
was actually a shot of adrenaline (epinephrine). The participant then waited in the
waiting room and unbeknownst to them, a confederate was also sitting in the same
room. During the waiting period, in experimental condition one, the confederate
acted in a maniac-manner (playing hoops, flying planes and acting silly) while in
experimental condition two, the confederate acted irritable, bad tempered, not
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NOTES of the room. When asked about how they were feeling, the participants in condition
one reported feeling happy and participants in condition two reported that they were
feeling angry. While the physiological arousal was the same for all participants, the
interpretation of bodily arousal was incorrect depending on the social context. Such a
cognitive error is called misattribution of arousal.
IN-TEXT QUESTIONS
4. Culture provide guidelines form managing and modifying expressions of our
emotions. This is known as _____.
a) Intra-personal emotions
b) Unconscious thoughts
c) Cultural display rules
d) Verbal communication
5. “ I see a do, I run, I feel afraid” is an example of ________.
a) Cannon-Bard theory
b) Optimal arousal
c) Schachter-Singer theory
d) James-Lange theory
3. Pen-in-mouth procedure was designed by _________.
a) Angell
b) Fritz Strack
c) Allport
d) Caroll Izard
5.6 CULTURE AND EMOTIONS
Research in Indian perspectives on emotions
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• 1st phase (upto 1960s): Western models of understanding emotions were NOTES
used extensively. The focus was on the universality of concepts and cultural
contexts were largely overlooked. Its foundation was the psychodynamic
approach.
• 2nd phase (1970s): Researchers started taking cultural contexts into
consideration. Important research include works in social achievement motivation
by P. Mehta, motivation in villages by D. Sinha, achievement values by B. N.
Mukherjee, extension motive by U. Pareek, dependence proneness by J.B.P.
Sinha and anxiety by S. Sharma.
• 3rd phase (1980s onwards): Researchers questioned the assumptions made
by various paradigms and moved towards indianisation of research. Important
research in organisational context include works in achievement cognition by
Agarwal and Mishra, innovative motive by Khandwala, applications of Vedanta
like chittashuddhi or purification of mind by Chakraborty, anasakti or non-
attachment by Pandey and Naidu, intrinsic motivation and goals by Tripathi.
Other path-breaking works were undertaken in analysis of contentment, peace,
anger/aggression, positive emotions, and development of emotions in children
and judgment of facial expressions.
Conceptualization of rasa
In the Indian context, emotions are discussed in different contexts. These include Rasa
and Bhakti. While rasa was conceived by Sage Bharata in the context of theatre, it
was later applied to poetry as well. Rasa means sap, juice or essence of something. It
is used to refer to various sentiments that are involved by experiencing something that
has some aesthetic value (e.g. an art-piece or music). Sage Bharata listed 8 rasas.
They are as follows:
1. Sringar (Love)
2. Vira (Heroism)
3. Bibhasta (Disgust)
4. Raudra (Anger)
5. Hasya (Mirth)
6. Bhayanka (Terror) Self-Instructional
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NOTES 7. Karuna (Pity)

8. Adbhuta (Wonder)
Abhinavagupta (in Natyasastra) added a ninth rasa to this list. This was santa
(the mood of total freedom). Vatsalya (parental fondness or love for child) and bhakti
(love for God) were later additions to this list. Yet other additions were vrida (mood
of shame) and Maya (illusion), but they did not gain much prominence. Some
researchers also view vatsalya and bhakti as a subset of sringar.
Emotions are analysed within the framework of bhava which means to become.
Bhava is the state of mind while rasa is the aesthetic flavour that results from that
bhava. It is classified into four categories:
 Vibhava Bhava (determinants or eliciting conditions): Vibhava is the
cause. It is the stimulant of emotion. It includes all background information,
settings, events or action tendencies that might make a manifestation of the
world and one’s relationship to this world.
 Anubhava Bhava (Consequences): Anubhava are the physical responses
that go with emotional responses. It includes involuntary somatic responses
(like sweating, fainting), expressive moods (like bodily movements, voice
tones).
 Sattvika Bhava (Organic manifestations of emotion): Sattvika bhava
refers to temperamental states. Bharata enlists 8 such bhavas: stambha
(inactivity), sveda (perspiration), romanca (bristling of hair and body),
svarabhanga (change of voice), vepathu (trembling), vaivarnyam (change
of colour), arsu (shedding of tears) and pralaya (insensibility).
 Vyabhichari/Sanchari bhava (accompanying mental state): They are
33 transitory, fleeting emotions based on psychological states of the mind.
They include emotions, feelings, and cognitive states such as weariness,
reminiscences, panic, envy, dreaming, confusion, sickness, shame, and death.
Yoga sutra and emotions
Yoga sutra is a widely acknowledged as an authoritative text on yogas. A number of
positive and negative effects have been mentioned in yoga sutras. Positive effects
include ananda (joy), hlada (delight), santosha (contentment), sukha (pleasure),
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mudita (gladness), karuna (compassion), aparigraha (greedlessness) and upeksha NOTES

(equanimity). Negative effects include dukha (pain and suffering), daurmanasya
(depression), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), paritapa (distress) and vaira (enmity
or hostility). These affective states are a reflection of our immediate reactions to pleasant
and unpleasant conditions. The strength and regularity of our experience of emotions
have significant effects on our lives (Khosla, 2010).
Attachment (pleasure) and aversion (pain and suffering) are two basic categories
of affect as in Patanjali. By practicing yogic state at three levels now may be able to
restrain from attachments and be able to experience and “experience a state of neutrality
towards emotional stimulation” (Khosla, 2010). These levels are:
 Vrittinirodha- controlling fluctuations through the process of meditation.
 Pratyayanirodha- to control higher ideation.
 Asamprajnata Samadhi- a state of ecstasy via cultivation of formless or
supra-conscious ecstasy
IN-TEXT QUESTIONS
6. Which of these pairs are mismatched.
a) Bhayanka- Terror
b) Raudra- Anger
c) Karuna- Pity
d) Vira- Disgust
5.7 SUMMARY
This chapter examines what emotions are, what is the nature of emotions, how emotions
are understood in research and what factors govern the experience of emotions. It
also delves into how culture influences emotions and specifically how emotions are
understood in the Indian perspective. Emotions bind people together and motivate
them to pursue their goals. The awareness of how emotions are aroused and how they
function may help us in regulating or modifying the expression of our emotions in
various real-life instances.
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NOTES
5.8 GLOSSARY
 Cannon- Bard theory: the belief that both physiological arousal and emotional
experience occur simultaneously by the same stimulus.
 Cognitive appraisals theory of emotions: emotions we feel are a result of
evaluations or appraisals we receive from information received from the situation,
from the body and from memories of past experiences.
 Cultural display rules: informal norms of a group or culture regarding how to
express emotions.
 Emotions : a subjective feeling state that influences how we perceive, think
and behave
 Facial feedback hypothesis: the idea that our facial expressions affect our
emotions.
 Hypothalamus: a region of the forebrain that plays a key role in releasing
hormones which control moods, emotions, motivations, body temperature and
heart rate.
 James- Lange theory: emotional experience is a reaction to bodily events
that occur as a result of external stimuli.
 Limbic system: a part of the brain that is involved in behavioural and emotional
responses, especially with respect to emotion, motivation and memory
 Misattribution of arousal: process wherein individuals make a mistake in
assuming what is causing them to feel aroused.
 Motivation: driving or pulling forces that result in behaviour directed towards
a goal
 Rasa: aesthetic relish or aesthetic moods central in Sage Bharata’s approach
to understanding affective experiences
 Schachter- Singer theory: emotions are determined by physiological arousal
as well as its interpretation based on environmental cues.
 Thalamus: a region of the brain concerned with relaying and integrating sensory
input
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 Yerkes- Dodson curve: depots the inverted U-shaped relationship between NOTES
performance and arousal
5.9 ANSWERS TO INTEXT QUESTIONS

1. (a) Thalamus
2. (b) Constriction of pupils
3. (a) Ekman and Friesen
4. (c) Cultural display rules
5. (d) James-Lange theory
5. (b) Fritz Strack
6. (d) Vira-Disgust

1. How important are emotions in our lives?
2. How can we better understand the emotions of others?
3. Do our emotions have an influence of the emotions of others?
4. Do our emotions affect our decision-making process?
5. Do you experience different bodily sensations when you feel different emotion?
6. Can we manipulate our emotions?
5.11 REFERENCES
 Brookshire, G., & Casasanto, D. (2012). Motivation and motor control:
Hemispheric specialization for approach motivation reverses with handedness.
PLoS One, 7(4), e36036.
 Chwalisz, K., Diener, E., & Gallagher, D. (1988). Autonomic arousal feedback
and emotional experience: evidence from the spinal cord injured. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 54(5), 820. Self-Instructional
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NOTES  Darwin, C. (1872). The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex
(Vol. 2). D. Appleton.
 Davidson, R. J., & Fox, N. A. (1988). Cerebral asymmetry and emotion:
Developmental and individual differences. In D. L. Molfese & S. J. Segalowitz
(Eds.), Brain lateralization in children: Developmental implications. New
York: Guilford Press.
 Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1987). Facial Action Coding System. Palo
Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
 Ekman, P., Sorenson, E. R., & Friesen, W. V. (1969). Pan-cultural elements in
facial displays of emotion. Science, 164(3875), 86-88.
 Emotions and Motivations. (n.d.). BC Campus Open Ed.https://opentextbc.ca/
introductiontopsychology/chapter/chapter-10-emotions-and-motivations/
 Feldman, R. S., Green, J., & Collins, J. E. D. (1997). Essentials of
understanding psychology. McGraw-Hill.
 Gainotti, G. (1972). Emotional behavior and hemispheric side of the lesion.
Cortex 8, 41–55.
 Hwang, H., & Matsumoto, D. (2019). Functions of emotions. Noba Textbook
Series: Psychology, 44(6), 849-873.
 Izard, C. E. (1989). The structure and functions of emotions: Implications for
cognition, motivation, and personality. In I. S. Cohen (Ed.), The G. Stanley
Hall Lecture Series (Vol. 9). Washington, DC: American Psychological
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 Khosla, M. (2010). Understanding emotions from an Indian perspective:
Implications for well-being. Emotional expression: The brain and the face,
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 Lazarus, R. S. (2001). Relational meaning and discrete emotions. In B. K.
Scherer et al. (Eds.), Appraisal processes in emotion: Theory, methods,
research. Oxford University Press.
 LeDoux, J. E. (2000). Emotion circuits in the brain. Annual Review of
Neuroscience, 23(1), 155-184.
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 Leeper, R. W. (1970). The motivational and perceptual properties of emotions NOTES

as indicating their fundamental character and role. In Feelings and emotions
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Material 135

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136 Material

INTRODUCTION
TO
PSYCHOLOGY
INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
B.A. (HONS) PSYCHOLOGY
SEMESTER I
DSC-01
DSC-01
DEPARTMENT OF DISTANCE AND CONTINUING EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF DISTANCE AND CONTINUING EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF DELHI UNIVERSITY OF DELHI

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INTRODUCTION

Content Reviewer from the DDCE/COL/SOL

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This Study Material is duly recommended in the meeting of Standing Committee

Corrections/Modifications/Suggestions proposed by Statutory Body,

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1.1 Learning Objectives

2.1 Learning Objectives

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2.5 Classical Conditioning

3.1 Learning Objectives

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3.11 Answers to In-Text Questions

4.1 Learning Objectives

5.1 Learning Objectives

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5.3 Nature of Emotions

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1.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

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1.3 NATURE OF PSYCHOLOGY

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“awareness,” or “behaviour” in psychology. “Psychology is the science of human and NOTES

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NOTES Structuralism, Functionalism, Gestalt, Behaviorism, Psychodynamic & humanistic, some

Eight Tenets or Limbs of Ashtanga yoga

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1.4 SCOPE OF PSYCHOLOGY

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Hence, psychology is concerned with a wide range of themes concerning an

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1.5 PERSPECTIVES OF PSYCHOLOGY

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 Biological Perspective: It is also referred to as physiological psychology &

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NOTES d) The behavioral perspective seeks to educate the individual on appropriate

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NOTES 2. Each individual according to this perspective should take personal

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1.6 SUBFIELDS OF PSYCHOLOGY

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1.7 PSYCHOLOGY TODAY

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NOTES a buzzword. Mindfulness is an extension of the Eastern philosophy of focusing on the

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1.11 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

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1.13 SUGGESTED READING

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LESSON 2 LEARNING & CONDITIONING

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NOTES of medicines, or changes in motivations. Extension will occur in the absence of

2.4 CONCEPT OF CONDITIONING

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