Besc1071 Besc1392 Lect 5 Lecture 2022-1

Psychology of Everyday
Thinking
Lecture 5
Rational versus irrational thinking
in everyday thinking
Psychology of Everyday
Thinking
Lecture 5
Demonstrations
[not assessed]
Overview of demonstration
• Rational versus emotional decision making
• Unconscious
• Motivation
• Emotion
• Human information processing
RMIT University Slide 3

The trolley car problem 1
There is an out of control trolley car coming down the track.
1. If you do nothing,
five people will die
2. If you divert the train

to another track,
one will still die
Make a decision
Do not act or act

Same scenario
1. If you do nothing,
five people will die
2. You can push someone onto the

track, derailing the train,
but that person will die
Make a decision
Do not act or act

Rationally the outcome is the same, you

sacrifice one person to save five
However, most people act to save the

five people in the first scenario, but fail
to act in the second. WHY?
In analysing reasons it shows that emotions,

psychological distance and agency play
important roles in decision making

Unconscious 1
• Name the hidden message
• Most people have difficulty identifying the word – research has

shown that such words are unconsciously block out –and therefore
not found

Unconscious 2
• Name the hidden message – no problem here

Unconscious 3
• Name the hidden message
• Hint – focus on background rather

than figure

Motivation 1
Describe the picture in terms of:
• Who are the people?
• What are they doing?
• What will happen in

the future?

Motivation 2: Need for achievement
Analyse story
• Manifest content – story line
• Latent content – unconscious drive
– Person identified with has high status position
– Long term commitment to a goal
– Striving for a unique/prized goal

Emotion
• Can you correctly name the emotions displayed by the following

people

Name the emotion 1a

Name the emotion 1b

Name the emotion 2a

Name the emotion 2b

Name the emotion 3a

Name the emotion 3b

Name the emotion 4a

Name the emotion 4b

Name the emotion 5a

Name the emotion 5b

Name the emotion 6a

Name the emotion 6b

Name the emotion 7a

Name the emotion 7b

Reaction time 1
Definition
Reaction time is a measure of how quickly an organism can respond to a
particular stimulus.
Note,
1. most tests are response times = reaction time plus movement time
2. For example: driver brakes to avoid accident – time to respond +
movement time [foot from accelerator to brake
Reaction time = rapid decision-making

• Occurs in most situations
• Very brief time [180 msec or < one fifth of a second]
• Increased RT as decisions become more complex
• Critical in driving situations, sporting situations, etc

Reaction time 2
Driving example
Reaction distance = reaction time + movement time
• Demonstrating response time

Reaction time 3
Demonstration
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/java/redgreen.html
Variables:
• Elite athletes
• Gender
Beijing Olympics were

166 ms for males and
189 ms for females

Reaction time 4
Reaction time and speeding

Reaction time 5
Reaction time and wet roads
Improving reaction times

• Practice – minimal gains [motor component]
• Decrease uncertainty [situational awareness]
Definition = focusing on key environmental elements that allow

the observer to anticipate/react earlier
Reaction time 6
Situational awareness [of driver]
1. Sensation – being aware [identify figure from ground]

Child on footpath
2. Perception – interpreting situation
Child focussing on bouncing ball
3. Comprehension – understanding implications
Child, limited skills and attention
4. Projection – predicting what is going to happen
Child loses control over ball and chases it out onto street

Conclusions
• Unconscious – subliminal perception in advertising
• Motivation – exploring influence of unconscious drives on

conscious thinking and behaviour
• Emotion – are emotions universal?
• Human information processing – understanding its limits:

reaction time

Psychology of Everyday Life
Lecture 5
Rational versus irrational thinking
in everyday life
Learning objectives
1. Explain the various levels of consciousness and how psychologists attempt
to measure the influence of the unconscious on everyday thinking
2. Define motivation, outline the various ways motivation can be

conceptualized and how motivation influences everyday thinking
3. Define emotion, outline the major theories of emotion, and highlight the
nature [evolutionary explanation] and nurture [cross cultural research]
influences on emotion
4. Differentiate between functional and structural approaches. Explain the role

of reaction time experiments
5. Describe Anderson’s (1987) study and indicate the importance of sensory

information

Learning objectives
1. Explain the various levels of consciousness and how psychologists
attempt to measure the influence of the unconscious on everyday
thinking



information

Rational versus irrational behaviour 1
Psychology is basically the study of rational [decision making] behaviour
• Cognitive or thinking behaviours
However there are three domains of psychology that focus mainly on non-
rational behaviour
1. Consciousness
2. Motivation
3. Emotion
These topics are ignored in most areas of psychology as they are seen to
interfere with explanations of behaviour – that is, will interfere with
predicting human behaviour

Rational versus irrational behaviour 2

Consciousness 1
Consciousness –
is the study of
levels of subjective
awareness in
everyday thinking
Hence, the suggested

pause breaks in these
lectures

Consciousness 2
Attention: - notice and focus on some external reality that is interesting and/or
important
Selective attention – focus on events that continuously change [see

habituation] and subjectively important [see sensation, perception and
memory – HIP lectures]
Concentration – the time/duration a person can focus their attention – varies

with personality, level of development and experience
Note: can only concentrate on one thing at a time – multi-tasking [using a

mobile phone and driving a car] requires shifting attention from one to
another, not doing both at the same time [see lecture on perception]

Consciousness 3
Alternate states of consciousness
a) Pre-conscious – not currently conscious, but can be readily brought to
consciousness – memory recall [when is your birthday]; planning for the
future [what do you intend to do on your next birthday]; and day dreaming
[what you would ideally like to do on your next birthday]
• Pre-conscious is dependent on a memory [see lecture on memory]
b) Altered states – these states disrupt reality

i. Meditation and hypnosis
ii. Psychoactive drugs – depressants [including alcohol]; stimulants,
hallucinogens, etc
iii. Dreaming – including manifest content [the story] and latent content
[its underlying meaning]
iv. Disorders of consciousness – brain disorders caused by genetic
abnormalities, acquired brain damage, drug induced psychosis; and
environment mediated mental disorders
Consciousness 4
c) Unconscious – unknown internal influences on decision-making and thus
behaviour and everyday thinking
This unconscious works on two levels:

1. perception [see next page and the lecture on perception] and
2. emotion/motivation [see this lecture]

Consciousness 5
c) Unconscious –
i. Subliminal perception – presence of sensory information that is below the
threshold of consciousness
a) rapid presentation – early [Freudian] studies where emotive
and non-emotive words were presented so briefly that they
could not be recalled – longer and longer presentations occurred
– non-emotive words were recognized earlier

Consciousness 5
c) Unconscious –
ii. Consumer presentations – insert repeated brief messages within a
feature film [buy COKE] was trialled in cinemas but there was no
increase in sales of coke
iii. Hidden presentation – products have hidden messages in their ads –
current belief - it has an effect
What word is hidden in this image

that made it so popular?

Consciousness 6
c) Unconscious –
iv. Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a

marketing technique in which references to specific brands
or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or
television program, [see American idol below]

Consciousness 7a
d) Unconscious motivations and emotions – that is unconscious cognitive
and perceptual processes influence everyday behaviour [see also
motivation]
Began with Freudian psychology but has gained popular support without
reference to Freud. Strategies include:
Measurement strategies
A. Dream analysis – note Malinowski analysis of male children’s dreams to
evaluate the Freud’s Oedipal Complex and gender identity [see lecture on
causations]

Consciousness 7b
d) Unconscious motivations and emotions – measurement
B. Rorschach Inkblot test

Consciousness 7c
C. Thematic Apperception
test

Consciousness 7d
D. Sentence completion test

Consciousness 7e
d) Unconscious motivations and emotions – modern measurement
E. Implicit Associations Test [Greenwald & Banaji, 1995]
This test uses
• reaction time to explore the unconscious cognitive structure/
associations between concepts within [long-term] memory
• Topics covered include: race, gender, age, religion, obesity, sexual
preference, etc]
• Two stage analysis:

o Survey – [conscious] – attitude on particular topics – that is, what do
you think about a particular issue – problem – with conscious control
respondents may indicate no sexism – both men and women should both
work and both do home duties
o Associations Test – [unconscious] – how are these two concepts

organized in long term memory.

Consciousness 7e
This part of the test requires

participants to respond
as quickly as possible
[RT to degree of
compatibility]

Consciousness 7f
This part of the test requires participants to respond as quickly as possible [RT
now determines the degree of compatibility at the unconscious level]

Consciousness 7g

End of learning objective 1
Consider
Pause
Reflect – does having a break at the end of each

learning objective help with your concentration?
Stop and have a short rest break
Play and continue with lecture

Learning objectives



information

Motivation 1
Motivation - is a hypothetical construct and attempts to explain the driving
force to achieve some goals and to avoid others
Types of motivations
1. Biological drives –
a) Homeostatic drives
– hunger, thirst, temp., etc
Note: these drives are triggered by sensory receptors located in the brain:
hunger [drop in blood sugar] and thirst [increase in salt concentration in blood]
[two of 22 sensory organs in the body – see sensation]

Motivation 2
1. Biological drives –
b) Non-homeostatic drives – sexual drive, curiousity

Motivation 3
2. Psychological drives –
a) Need for achievement
b) Affiliation needs
c) Need for aggression [see Thematic Apperception above]

Motivation 4
Sources of motivations
1. Intrinsic or internal – completing a task for its own sake [eg, hobbies,
computer games, amateur sport]
2. Extrinsic or external rewards – completing a task for external
rewards/reasons [eg, pleasing someone, work/professional sport]
Issues:
• Minimal links between biological motivations and social motivations [really
two separate fields]
• Some people behave for both intrinsic and extrinsic motives [people like
their work and will spend more time than necessary – unpaid overtime], but
adding extrinsic rewards to an activity generally leads to a decrease in
intrinsic motivation
• While single motivations exist, most situations are influenced by multiple
motivations

Consider
Pause
Reflect – choose a behaviour and determine if it is

driven by one or more motivations?

Learning objectives

3. Define emotion, outline the major theories of emotion, and highlight

the nature [evolutionary explanation] and nurture [cross cultural
research] influences on emotion


information

Emotion 1
Emotions are difficult to define both in everyday language and in scientific
terms
They are a complex state of feeling that results in physiological and

psychological changes that influence our behaviour
Three dimensions
1. Physiological
2. Subjective [or cognitive]
3. Expression [and its impact]

Emotion 2
Ekman studied emotions and highlighted seven basic emotions that he
postulated were universal

Emotion 3
Supported by

Emotion 4
Finally, researchers note the people who have been blind all their lives also
display the basic emotions [no chance to model or copy emotions from others]:
One of the following is sighted, the other is blind???

Emotion 5
Evolutionary psychology and emotions
Emotions help communication within the group. For example

• Display of anger indicates for people to stay away from someone
• Display of sadness indicates loss and need for comfort
• Display of disgust indicates avoid that behaviour
In any social group the basic emotions mean:

o Anger – presence of invaders/transgression
o Fear – presence of threat/danger
o Happiness – loving relationships
o Sadness – loss of loved ones [empathy]
o Surprise – expected presence [alert to danger]
o Disgust – distasteful food/events

Theories of Emotion 1



Misattribution research – see psychology of social life next semester]
Dutton & Arons experiment with an attractive young female RA surveying young
males either on a rickety footbridge (high over a ravine) or along the pathway to
a low solid wooden bridge over a stream.
• encouraged participants to contact her if they wanted more details
• found 60% of males from the rickety bridge contacted her versus only
30% of the participants from the low anxiety setting [ie, misattributed
danger (physiological) arousal for sexual attraction]
[see also cruise ship romances and Stockholm syndrome]

o Facial Feedback Hypothesis
Hold a pencil in your mouth for 2 minutes
• Movements of the facial muscles

produce/intensify emotional
reactions.
• Focus is on “expressive” component of emotions.
• Similar to James-Lange theory, “We don’t smile because we are happy

but rather that we feel happy because we smile.”
• Supports Darwin’s Evolutionary Theory
• Can treat mild depression by encouraging clients to go out in the

community with a smile – makes the client feel better but also signals
others to talk and interact with them – improving their mood

Expression of Emotion 1

Expression of Emotion 2
Assessing “guilt”
• Lie detectors rely on people feeling guilty when they do not tell the truth
• Hence, sociopaths/psychopaths are not detected
• Which theory of emotion best explains this????

Expression of Emotion 3a
Applications 1
Paul Ekman and researchers have developed FACS (Facial Action Coding
System) that allows:
o Law enforcement to detect people lying
o are developing a computer based facial recognition system that scans

CCTV for terrorists carrying bombs
My research – use FACS to determine the facial expression [emotions] of non-

verbal people with an intellectual disability who are being questioned by
police for sexual victimization

Expression of Emotion 3b
Applications 2

Consider
Pause
Reflect – how often you misinterpret an email

message, but never a face to face conversation?

Learning objectives

4. Differentiate between functional and structural approaches. Explain

the role of reaction time experiments

information

Functional approach 1
Two approaches to understanding information flow
1. Functional approach – focus on S → R ie, input stimulus and monitor
response – infer function by behaviour
2. Structural approach – monitor brain structures and neural reaction to

presence of stimuli [see biological psychology – not in this series]
Previous
• Investigated the consequences of Decision Making [see Signal Detection
Theory in causation lecture], but not the process –
• This section focuses on the process, that is, how do decisions get
made

Traditional research –
Reaction time
Examples:

Traditional research –
Reaction time
Example: brake or accelerate???


Welford's Human Information Processing Model
Major stages [to be studied in the next four weeks]

• Sensation – processing stimuli to neural information
• Perception – making sense of sensory information
• Memory – three stages of storing, comparing and making decisions on
neural information

Consider
Pause
Reflect – think at least three different behaviours

that rely on reaction time?

Learning objectives


5. Describe Anderson’s (1987) study and indicate the importance of

sensory information

Anderson (1987) 1
Anderson (1987) researched anxiety levels of cardiac surgery patients under
three conditions of psychological preparation
Three conditions

Anderson (1987) 2
Results
• showed differences between standard preparation and other interventions,

but no difference between informational and behavioural conditions

Anderson (1987) 3
Conclusions from Anderson’s study
Providing sensory information of surgical symptoms leads to:

• reduction of patient anxiety
• increase in quality of life of patient
• decrease in time patients stayed in hospital
Importance of studying sensation – [see next two lectures]

• While an automatic unconscious process, it has an impact on our
quality of life
• Our everyday thinking is solely based on sensory information

Consider
Pause
Reflect – Experience your senses: look around,

then close your eyes and listen to sounds, smell
the aromas, check out taste and then sense skin
temperature and pressure

Conclusion
1. Not all human behaviour is conscious, rational and predictable – and this
is a challenge to psychologists when understanding human behaviour and
helping people
2. There are biological and social [learned] motivations – and some of the
strongest drives are not always biological [see curiousity and affiliation
[ie interacting with other humans]
3. It is estimated that 75% of information shared in a face to face

conversation is non-verbal [primarily emotion cues]
4. Philosophers used introspection [asked people how they thought],

whereas psychologists use reaction time research to demonstrate a
universal process of how the mind works
5. Sensation is important as all information that humans process comes to

the mind through the sensory system [see next lecture]

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Psychology of Everyday

• Rational versus emotional decision making

• Human information processing

RMIT University Slide 3

2. If you divert the train

RMIT University Slide 4

2. You can push someone onto the

RMIT University Slide 5

Rationally the outcome is the same, you

However, most people act to save the

In analysing reasons it shows that emotions,

RMIT University Slide 6

• Most people have difficulty identifying the word – research has

RMIT University Slide 7

RMIT University Slide 8

• Hint – focus on background rather

RMIT University Slide 9

Describe the picture in terms of:

• Who are the people?

• What are they doing?

• What will happen in

RMIT University Slide 10

• Manifest content – story line

• Latent content – unconscious drive

– Person identified with has high status position

– Long term commitment to a goal

– Striving for a unique/prized goal

RMIT University Slide 11

• Can you correctly name the emotions displayed by the following

RMIT University Slide 12

RMIT University Slide 13

RMIT University Slide 14

RMIT University Slide 15

RMIT University Slide 16

RMIT University Slide 17

RMIT University Slide 18

RMIT University Slide 19

RMIT University Slide 20

RMIT University Slide 21

RMIT University Slide 22

RMIT University Slide 23

RMIT University Slide 24

RMIT University Slide 25

RMIT University Slide 26

Reaction time = rapid decision-making

• Critical in driving situations, sporting situations, etc

RMIT University Slide 27

Reaction distance = reaction time + movement time

• Demonstrating response time

RMIT University Slide 28

Beijing Olympics were

RMIT University Slide 29

RMIT University Slide 30

Improving reaction times

Definition = focusing on key environmental elements that allow

Situational awareness [of driver]

1. Sensation – being aware [identify figure from ground]

RMIT University Slide 32

• Unconscious – subliminal perception in advertising

• Motivation – exploring influence of unconscious drives on

• Emotion – are emotions universal?

• Human information processing – understanding its limits:

RMIT University Slide 33

2. Define motivation, outline the various ways motivation can be