CHAPTER ONE

ESSENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY

BY:
MOHAMMED DESISO
 1.1. Meaning of Psychology

oThe word "psychology" is derived from two Greek

words 'psyche' and ‘logos’.

Psyche refers to mind, soul or sprit

logos means study, knowledge or discourse.

Psychology epistemologically refers to the study of the

mind, soul, or sprit

oit is often represented by the Greek letter ᴪ (psi) which

is read as ("sy").
• Today, as a modern discipline, psychology is defined as
the scientific study of “behavior and mental processes”
Behavior: Includes all of a person’s overt actions and
reactions, which can be observed by others such as
eating, talking, smiling, and working.
Mental processes: Refer to all the covert activities that
other people cannot directly observe. Activities such as
thinking, dreaming, feeling, and remembering are
examples of mental processes.
• Scientific
 Uses systematic methods to observe, describe, explain
and control behavior.
 An empirical science that conduct scientific
investigation (e.g., observation and experimentation).
 Cont…
• Two purposes of studying animals behavior.
1.It is ethically forbidden to conduct some
experiments on human beings, so animals are
subject to experiment.
2.Conclusions obtained from experiments on
animal behavior are usually applicable to human
behavior.
 1.2. Goals of Psychology
1. Description
- Naming and classifying. Making a detailed record of
behavioral observations.
- Giving clear picture about the phenomena. Or tell about
what something is like.
- To describe, a psychologist would ask ‘what is happening?’,
‘when it happens?’ and ‘to whom it happens?’
2. Explanation
- The second goal is to find out ‘why is it happening?’ In other
words, the psychologist is looking for an explanation for
the observed behavior or mental processes.
- Telling about why certain behavioral phenomenon is
occurred.
 Cont.
3. Prediction
- The ability to forecast behavior accurately.
- Telling what something would be like in the
future.
4. Control
- Manipulation or managing of a situation based
on description, explanation, & prediction.
- It involves answering the questions “how”,
“when” and “where” to intervene.
-This goal is to change an undesirable behavior
to a desirable one.
To illustrate all the 4 goals, consider the following
example.
A group of psychologists observe a number of students
in order to describe how large their vocabulary
typically is at a certain age. Then, they would attempt
to explain how students expand the vocabulary and
why some students have limited number of
vocabulary. Psychologists would predict that students
with limited number of vocabulary will probably
continue to do poorly in academic. Finally, the
psychologists would propose certain language
learning strategies that can be used to increase the
size of vocabulary of the students.
 1.3. Schools of Thought of Psychology
1.3.1. Early Schools of Psychology
A school of thought is a system of thinking
about a certain issue, say, for example, about
human behavior or mind.
The schools of thought in modern psychology
are:
 Structuralism
 Functionalism
 Behaviorism
 Gestalt Psychology, and
 Psychoanalysis
 STRUCTURALISM:
STRUCTURALISM:
Wilhelm
WilhelmWundt
Wundtand
andEdward
EdwardTitchener
Titchener

Wilhelm
Wilhelm Wundt
Wundt (1832-1920):
(1832-1920):
•Established
•Establishedfirst
firstPsychology
PsychologyLaboratory
Lab in of
Psychology
Germany. at the university of Leipzig,
Germany in 1879. Wundt believed that the
•Defined
proper psychology
object of study as
forthe
thescience
science of
of human mind
psychology was theandcontent
consciousness.
of the conscious
mind.
•Used the method of objective introspection
to identify
•Defined the basic mental
psychology elements.
as the science of human
mind and consciousness.
Edward Titchener (1867-1927):
•Used the method of objective introspection
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) •Transferred Wundt’s ideas to America.
to identify the basic mental elements.
STRUCTURALISM
To analyze mental elements, Wundt used an experimental method
called introspection, whereby a subject reported as objectively as
possible the contents of his own mind.
Wundt concluded that there were three basic mental elements:
sensations, images, and feelings.
Sensations are experiences of stimuli perceived through the senses;
images are sensation-like experiences produced by the mind and,
feelings are the emotional aspects of an experience.
Edward Titchener (1867-1927):
•Transferred Wundt’s ideas to America.
 FUNCTIONALISM
FUNCTIONALISM
William
William James
James

William
WilliamJames
James (1842-1910):
(1842-1910):
•Published
•Published“Principles
“Principlesof
ofPsychology”
Psychology”in in
1890.
1890.The
Thebook
bookcovers
coversaawide
widerange
rangeof
of
topics,
topics,opening
openingup
upthe
thefield
fieldof
ofpsychology.
psychology.
•Opposed
•OpposedWundt’s
Wundt’selemental
elementalapproach,
approach,
believed
believedthat
that“consciousness
“consciousnessisisaaconstant
constant
flow”.
flow”.
•Believed
•Believedthat
thatpsychology
psychologyshould
shouldfocus
focuson
the
on usefulness (or functions)
the usefulness of mental
(or functions) of
(learning and perceptual)
mental (learning abilities --
and perceptual) abilities
William James (1842-1910) functionalism.
-- functionalism.
 BEHAVIORISM:
BEHAVIORISM:
John
JohnB.
B. Watson
Watson

John
John B.
B.Watson
Watson (1878-1958):
(1878-1958):
•Argued
•Arguedstrongly
stronglyagainst
againststructuralism
structuralismand
and
contended
contendedthat
thatpsychology
psychologyshould
shouldfocus
focusonly
onlyon
on
measurable
measurableand
andobservable
observablebehavior
behavior----
behaviorism.
behaviorism.
•Defined
•Definedpsychology
psychologyasasthe
thescience
scienceof ofbehavior.
behavior.
•The
•Thetask
taskof
ofpsychologists
psychologistsisistotoestablish
establishthe
the
laws
lawsof
ofbehavior:
behavior:SS(stimulus)
(stimulus)------
------RR
(response).
(response).
•Believed
•Believedininthe
thedominant
dominantinfluence
influenceof
oflearning
learning
John B. Watson (1878-1958) and
andenvironment
environmentas asopposed
opposedand
andheredity.
heredity.
 BEHAVIORISM:
BEHAVIORISM:
B.
B. F.
F. Skinner
Skinner

B.
B. F.
F. Skinner
Skinner (1904-1990):
(1904-1990):
•A
•Astrong
strongbeliever
believerof
ofbehaviorism.
behaviorism.
•Contributed
•Contributedenormously
enormouslyininthe
thearea
areaof
of
operant
operantconditioning
conditioning--learning
learningby
bythe
the
consequences
consequencesofofbehavior.
behavior.
•Emphasized
•Emphasizedthe
theroles
rolesof
ofreinforcement and
punishment in and
reinforcement shaping and modifying
punishment in
behavior.
shaping and modifying behavior.
B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)
 PSYCHOANALYSIS:
PSYCHOANALYSIS:
Sigmund
Sigmund Freud
Freud

Sigmund
Sigmund Freud
Freud (1856-1939)
(1856-1939)
•Founder
•FounderofofPsychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis--aapersonality
personality
theory
theoryand
andan
anapproach
approachtotopsychotherapy.
psychotherapy.
•Stressed
•Stressedthe
theimportance
importanceof
ofunconscious
unconscious
motives.
motives.
•Emphasized
•Emphasizedthetheroles
rolesof
ofearly
earlychildhood
childhood
experience
experience(psychosexual
(psychosexualstages).
stages).

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

 GESTALT
GESTALTPSYCHOLOGY:
PSYCHOLOGY:
Max
MaxWertheimer
Wertheimer

Max
Max Wertheimer
Wertheimer (1880-1943)
(1880-1943)
•Focused
•Focusedononperception
perceptionand
andhow
howperception
perception
influences
influencesthinking
thinkingand
andproblem
problemsolving.
solving.
•“Gestalt”
•“Gestalt”means
meanswhole,
whole,configuration,
configuration,pattern,
and Gestalt
pattern, andpsychologists illustrated how we
Gestalt psychologists
tend to perceive
illustrated separate
how we tend pieces of information
to perceive
as integrated
separate wholes.
pieces of information as integrated
wholes. Wundt’s approach in searching for
•Opposed
basic mental
•Opposed elements,
Wundt’s becausein“the
approach whole for
searching is
more
basicthan the elements,
mental sum of itsbecause
parts”. “the whole is
Max Wertheimer (1880-1943) more than the sum of its parts”.
1.3.2.Modern Perspectives of
Psychology
 Perspectives
 Psychodynamic
 Behavioral
 Humanism
 Cognitive
 Evolutionary
 Biological/Biomedical
 Sociocultural
 Psychodynamic
 The psychodynamic
perspective originated with
the work of Sigmund Freud.

 This perspective emphasizes

the role of the unconscious
mind, early childhood
experiences, and
interpersonal relationships to
explain human behavior and
to treat people suffering
from mental illnesses.
 Cont…..
 Our personality is a
conflict between our
unconscious Id and
our superego (our
moral sense) and our
ego (our sense of
reality).
Defense Mechanisms
 Psychoanalysis
 Psychoanalysis is the form of treating
psychological disorders, invented by Freud.
 It is famous for the couch.
What are Psychoanalytic methods of
therapy (4 of them):
A. Free Association – patient reports
anything that comes to his/her mind.

 The psychoanalyst listens for links &

themes that might tie the patient’s
fragmentary thoughts or remarks together.
 B. Dream analysis:
 Dreams have two types of content:

 Manifest content- actual events in dream.

 Latent content – hidden message in dream.

 Freud thought that each dream represents a

form of wish fulfillment. The wish may be
disguised, but it is always there.
 C. Transference
 Feelings of love or other emotions (hatred)
are expressed toward the therapist.

 These feelings are actually unconsciously

felt toward others; the patient is projecting
these feelings onto the therapist.

 This provides clues about the client’s

feelings about these other people.
 D. Hypnosis
 Hypnosis is a psychoanalytic therapeutic
technique.
 Supposedly reaches into the unconscious
 Pros of Freud’s theory

 1. Argued that childhood experiences are

important in personality development.

 2. Information outside of awareness does

influence us.

 3. Defense mechanisms—good descriptions

of some of our behaviors.
Behaviorism
 Behaviorism
 By the 1950s, Psychoanalysis seemed very
unscientific. Behaviorists will bring science
back into psychology, even if they overdo it a
little.
 Behaviorism is NOT interested in the
unconscious mind since it cannot be observed
in a laboratory.
 Very telling quote!!
 Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed,
and my own specified world to bring them up
in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at
random and train him to become any type of
specialist I might select -- doctor, lawyer,
artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-
man and thief, regardless of his talents,
penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and
race of his ancestors.
--John Watson, Behaviorism, 1930
 Ivan Pavlov
 He was not a psychologist but a Russian
physiologist. He discovered classical
conditioning. Classical conditioning is
associative learning. He trained a dog to drool
to a bell.
 B.F. Skinner
 B.F. Skinner is the most famous of the
Behaviorists. He is famous for operant
conditioning. Operant conditioning (aka
shaping) is learning through reinforcements
(rewards) and punishments.
 Behaviorism
 Albert Bandura did a famous experiment that
said our behavior does not have to be
classically conditioned or operant conditioned.
We can simply observe behavior and copy it.
 Behaviorism
 The behavioral perspective can explain why
people get addicted to gambling (positive
reinforcement)
 Why students don’t wear their id badge
(rewards of the adrenaline rush?)
 Why that girl won’t call you anymore (How
was she reinforced for calling you?)
 Behaviorism Summary
 Behaviorism says we do what we do because
of classical conditioning, operant conditioning
or we simply learn the behavior from watching
or copying it.
 In its extreme, they think we are simply rats in
a cage pressing buttons. WE HAVE NO FREE
WILL!
Humanism
 Humanistic
 Humanism came about in the 1960s in reaction to
psychoanalysis and behaviorism.

 Humanistic psychology was instead focused on each

individual’s potential and stressed the importance of
growth and self-actualization.

 The fundamental belief of humanistic psychology was

that people are innately good.

 We are not rats in a cage! We are not id-driven

animals! We are humans with free will.
 Humanism
 Abraham Maslow said we have a hierarchy of
needs
Cognitive Psychology
 Cognitive Perspective
 What does the word cognitive mean? How about
cognition? Recognition?

 It is the study of how people perceive, remember,

think, speak, and solve problems.

 Cognitive therapy is about changing the maladaptive

thoughts of a person.

 Jean Piaget studied cognitive development in

children.
Cognitive Psychologists
 Evolutionary Psychology

 Evolutionary psychology examines psychological traits —

such as memory, perception, or language — from a modern
evolutionary perspective.

 It seeks to identify which human psychological traits are

evolved adaptations, that is, the functional products of natural
selection or sexual selection
 Evolutionary Psychology
 This branch explains why humans do what
they do in terms of adaptive value (survival of
the species. Why do women usually prefer the
guy on the right for long-term relationships?
 Biological Perspective
 This perspective is among the
most respected right now.

 They focus on our brain,

nervous system,
neurotransmitters and hormones
to explain our behaviors.
 Sociocultural Perspective
 The work of Lev Vygotsky (1934) has become the foundation of
much research and theory in cognitive development over the past
several decades, particularly of what has become known as
sociocultural theory.

 Vygotsky's sociocultural theory views human development as a

socially mediated process in which children acquire their cultural
values, beliefs, and problem-solving strategies through collaborative
dialogues with more knowledgeable members of society.
 Sociocultural Perspective
 Vygotsky's theory is comprised of concepts such as culture-
specific tools, private speech, and the Zone of Proximal
Development.

 Vygotsky's theories stress the fundamental role of social

interaction in the development of cognition (Vygotsky, 1978),
as he believed strongly that community plays a central role in
the process of "making meaning."
 Sociocultural Perspective
 Unlike Piaget's notion that childrens' development must
necessarily precede their learning, Vygotsky argued, "learning
is a necessary and universal aspect of the process of developing
culturally organized, specifically human psychological
function" (1978, p. 90).

 In other words, social learning tends to precede (i.e., come

before) development.
 1.4. Major Sub fields of Psychology
• Clinical psychology Clinical psychology deals with the study,
diagnosis, and treatment of psychological disorders.
• Clinical neuropsychology Clinical neuropsychology unites the
areas of biopsychology and clinical psychology, focusing on the
relationship between biological factors and psychological
disorders.
• Counseling psychology Counseling psychology focuses primarily
on educational, social, and career adjustment problems.
• Cognitive psychology Cognitive psychology focuses on the study of
higher mental processes.
• Developmental psychology Developmental psychology examines
how people grow and change from the moment of conception
through death.
• Educational psychology Educational psychology is concerned with
teaching and learning processes, such as the relationship between
motivation and school performance.
• School psychology School psychology is devoted to counseling
children in elementary and secondary schools who have academic
or emotional problems.
• Social psychology Social psychology is the study of how people’s
thoughts, feelings, and actions are affected by others.
• Cross-cultural psychology Cross-cultural psychology investigates the
similarities and differences in psychological functioning in and
across various cultures and ethnic groups.
• Environmental psychology Environmental psychology considers the
relationship between people and their physical environment.
• Industrial/organizational Psychology Industrial/organizational
psychology is concerned with the psychology of the workplace.
• Evolutionary psychology Evolutionary psychology considers how
behavior is influenced by our genetic inheritance from our ancestors.
• Experimental psychology Experimental psychology studies the
processes of sensing, perceiving, learning, and thinking about the
world.
• Forensic psychology Forensic psychology focuses on legal issues, such
as determining the accuracy of witness memories.
• Health psychology Health psychology explores the relationship
between psychological factors and physical ailments or disease.
• Personality psychology Personality psychology focuses on the
consistency in people’s behavior over time and the traits that
differentiate one person from another.
• Psychology of women Psychology of women focuses on issues such as
discrimination against women and the causes of violence against
women.
• Sport psychology Sport psychology applies psychology to athletic
activity and exercise.
1.5. Research Methods in Psychology

Experimental Research
Descriptive Research
Correlational Research
 Research Concepts
 Psychologists are interested in determining
the causes of mental events and behaviors
• “What is the impact (effect) of divorce on children?”
 Issues in Theory:
• Systematic way of organizing observations
• Hypotheses are proposed relations between
variables (cause-effect relationships)
• Variable: Any phenomenon that can vary along some
dimension
– Continuous: varies continuously (body weight)
– Categorical: can take on fixed values (gender)
 Defining Experiments
 Experiments ask whether systematic
variation in one variable produces
variation in another variable
• Independent variable (IV): Manipulated by
experimenter
• Dependent variable (DV): Participants response
 Example: The effect of coffee on
academic achievement.
• IV: Coffee
• DV: Academic achievement
Issues in Experimental Research
 Control group: A group that is similar to
the experimental group, except that it has
not been exposed to the treatment.
 Experimental group :exposed to independent
variable or conditions expected to create
change.
 Full population of interest
Randomly
assign into
control and
experiment
al groups

Experimental group Control group

 Limitations of Experimental
Research
 Complex real-world issues may not be easily studied in the
laboratory

 The focus of experimental psychology is off-base:

 The interpretative stance suggests that we should strive to

understand the personal meanings that govern behavior
rather than focus on predicting behavior
 Descriptive Research

 The descriptive approach seeks to describe

phenomena rather than to manipulate
variables

 Methods of descriptive research:

• Case studies
• Naturalistic observation
• Survey research
 Case Studies
 An in-depth study of the behavior of one
person or a small group

• Used when large numbers of subjects are not

available

• Often used in clinical research

– Freud’s case study approach

• Drawbacks include
– Small sample size (limit to generalizability)
– Susceptibility to researcher bias
 Naturalistic Observation
 In-depth study of a phenomenon in its
natural setting
• Examples include:
– Study of primate behavior in the wild
– Piaget’s study of the cognitive development of his own
children

• Advantage: Naturalistic studies have good

generalizability

• Disadvantages:
– Observation per se can alter behavior
– Observational technique cannot infer cause of behavior
 Survey Research
 Survey technique asks questions of large numbers of
persons to gain information on attitudes and behavior

• Two approaches:
– Questionnaires
– Interviews

• Disadvantages of survey approach:

– Sampling issues
– People may not respond accurately
 Correlational Research
 Aim of the correlational approach is to determine the
degree to which 2 or more variables are related

 Can determine association between data from

experiments, case studies, or surveys

• Calculate the correlation coefficient (r)

– Values range from -1 through 0 through +1
– Negative correlations: High values of one variable
are associated with low values of the other variable
– Correlational studies do NOT establish causality
The Correlation Coefficient
Ethical Principles of Research

Ethics in research with human

participants
-Freedom from coercion
-Informed consent
-Limited deception
-Adequate debriefing
-Confidentiality 01/01/2025
Ethical Principles of Research
Ethics of research with nonhuman
animals
-Necessity
-Health
-Humane treatment
 UNIT 2
65

SENSATION AND PERCEPTION

Sensation and perception
66
 Let’s begin with some basic
definitions…
67

2.1. Sensation

Sensation – detecting physical

energy in environment and
encoding it as neural signals.
Neurons transmit the information
from the sense organ to the brain.
It is the registration of
information
 Transduction
68

o The process of changing physical energy

into signal process where our neural system
under is called transduction.
o Transduction is the translation of physical
energy into electrical signals (neural
signals) by specialized receptor cells and
the transmission of this to brain.
o All senses involve something called receptor
cells. Their job is to transduce (transform
or even “translate”) physical
stimulation/physical energy from the
environment into electrochemical messages
that can be understood by the brain.
 Cont.…
69
Communication between the brain
& the rest of the body (& between
different regions of the brain)
occurs via neuron. We recently
learned how communication
between neurons occurs
electrochemically (within neurons:
electrical; between neurons:
chemical). So the brain’s
“language” is electrochemical!
Measuring the Sensitivity of Senses
70

Absolute Threshold
 Smallest amount of
energy/stimulation that can
reliably be detected 50% of
time.
 Is the minimum stimulation
needed to detect a particular
stimulus
 chapter 6

Absolute thresholds
71
If we have normal sensory abilities
Vision
A single candle flame from 30 miles /48 km on a clear night

Hearing
The tick of a watch from 20 feet/6 meter in total quiet

Smell
One drop of perfume in a 6-room apartment

Touch
The wing of a bee on the cheek, dropped from 1 cm

Taste
One teaspoon of sugar in 2 gallons /7.7 liters of water
 Cont.
72

. Difference Threshold /Just Noticeable Difference

(JND)/
• Smallest difference that can be detected when
2 stimuli are compared. E.g., a person might be
asked to compare the weight of two blocks or
the brightness of two lights or the saltiness of
two liquids.
• The stimulus value that constitutes a just
noticeable difference depends on the
initial intensity of the stimulus.
• A just noticeable difference is a constant
proportion of the intensity of an initial stimulus
• Noise, experience, fatigue, expectation and
motivation of the person affect the detection of
the threshold.
 Subliminal Threshold
73

Subliminal Threshold: When stimuli

are below one’s absolute threshold for
conscious awareness (0-49% chance of
detecting a stimulus) .
Kurt Scholz/ Superstock
 Subliminal Threshold cont…
74

o It is stimulation below
absolute threshold that
imperceptibly/dimly printed
in individual person's mind
without his/her awareness.
 Attributes of Sensation:
75
• Sensory Deprivation- is the absence of
normal level of sensory stimulation.
- Human brain requires a minimum amount of
sensory stimulation in order to function
normally. If it is too low it is bad for the brain
to function properly.
. Sensory Overload- is experiencing too much
amount of stimulus from the environment.
This is also bad for the brain to function
properly.
- Generally too little stimulation (sensory
deprivation) and too much stimulation
(sensory overload) can lead to fatigue and
 Sensory Adaptation
76

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence

of constant stimulation.

Put a band aid on your arm and after awhile

you don’t
sense it. You smell a bad odor in a room, but…
 Attributes of sensation cont….
77

Sensory Interaction: - refers to the

principle that one sense may influence
another, as when the smell of food
influences its taste.
Sensory Restriction: people temporarily or
permanently deprived of their senses
typically compensate by becoming more
acutely aware of information from the
other senses.
the reduction of sensory input often
evokes a heightened sensitivity to all
forms of sensation.
 2.2. Perception and Perceptual
Process
78
A sensation may be combined with
other sensations and your past
experience to yield a perception.
Perception – processing of information
done by the brain – mental processes that
organize and interpret sensory information
that has been transmitted to the brain.
Characteristics of Perception
It is one’s personal interpretation of an
external event
It is the result of previous experiences
 Cont.…
79
It is greatly influenced by goals
It depends upon the normal functioning
of sense organs.
It is selective and affected by our
organization.
Perception involves three basic
processes:
1. Selective Attention
2. Organization
3. Interpretation.
Cont.….
80

1. Selective Attention
The first step in perception is selective
attention in which we select the stimuli to
which we will attend.
At any given moment, our sense organs are
bombarded by a multitude of stimuli; yet we
perceive only a few of them clearly.
There are three groups of factors that influence
the process of selective attention.
 i) Environmental/Stimulus Factors
81
Intensity: The more intense the stimulus
the more it will be attended. A bright color
will attract us more than a dull one.
Size: We tend to notice larger compared to
smaller ones.
Contrast: What contrasts with the
surrounding environment attracts
attention easily. For example a banana in a
bowel of oranges.
Repetition: A fleeting stimulus will not
catch our attention as easily as one, which
is repeated. That is, objects repeatedly
seen attract attention
 Movement: Something, which moves, is more
likely to attract attention than something
stationary.
 Novelty: A sudden or unexpected stimulus is likely
to catch our attention more easily than one we
have been expecting or that we have encountered.
ii) Psychological Factors
 Motives and needs: If you are hungry you give
attention on TV commercials for Pizza or
hamburger than others notice.
 Emotions: If you are lonely you give attention for
couples and consider as if all are happy
 Personality and Interests: Individuals give
attention on things they are interested. E.g.
Husband may watch game while his wife may
listen to music in the stadium.
 Set or expectancy: Set refers to the idea that you
o iii) Physiological factors:
83
• Specialized cells in brain called feature
detectors/ analyzers make us to respond
only to certain sensory information
Characteristics of Attention
The process of attention divides your field of
experience in to a focus and a margin.
a) A focus: Events that we perceive clearly
are at the focus of experience.
b) A margin: Events ( items) that are
perceived dimly; we may be aware of their
presence, but only vaguely so. These
items are in the margin of attention
2. Organization in Perception
84

The process by which we structure the input

from our sensory receptors is called perceptual
organization
Once we have completed our selection of
incoming information, we must organize this
information into patterns or principles that will
help us to understand the world.
Contours in Form Perception

o Contours are formed whenever a marked

difference occurs in the brightness or
color of the background.
o If you, for instance, look at a piece of
paper that varies continuously in
brightness from white at one border to
black at the opposite border, you will
perceive no contour.
o In general, contours give shape to the
objects in our visual world because they
mark one object off from another or they
mark an object off from the general
ground.
Forms of Perception:
Gestalt86 principles
Proximity
Things close to one another are grouped together

Closure
The brain tends to fill in gaps to perceive
complete forms
 Forms of Perception:
87
Gestalt principles cont.
Similarity
Things that are alike are perceived together

Continuity
Seeing continuity in lines that could be interpreted
as either continuous or abruptly shifting in direction.
 Figure-Ground
• Figure-Ground Organization: Inborn part
of a stimulus stands out as a figure
(object) against a less prominent
background (ground)
• Reversible Figure: Figure and ground
that can be reversed
 1. Figure-Ground Relationships

• It says organization of visual field in to objects

(the figure) that stand out from their surrounding
(the ground).
E.g. the Jet flying across the sky, the airplane is
the figure and the sky is the ground.
• Figures are closer, more easily remembered and
seem to have a shape. If they move their parts
move together relative to the background.
• In contrast grounds are formless, farther a way
and stationary.
• Some times the relationship between figure and
ground is more ambiguous and produces
reversible figures and grounds. E.g. military
uniform
Gestalt principles cont.
90
Related Pictures
Depth perception

 It is expressed as the ability to judge the

distance of objects.
 Depth perception depends on the use of
binocular cues and monocular cues
 There are two kinds of binocular cues:
retinal disparity and convergence.
 The two kinds of binocular cues require
the interaction of both eyes.
 Retinal disparity is, the degree of
difference between the image of an object
that are focused on the two retinas.
 Binocular Cues
93

Retinal disparity: Images from the two eyes

differ. Try looking at your two index fingers
when pointing them towards each other half an
inch apart and about 5 inches directly in front
of your eyes. You will see a “finger sausage”
as shown in the inset.
Cont.

 The closer the object, the greater is the

retinal disparity.
 The second binocular cue to depth is
convergence, the degree to which the
eyes turn inward to focus on an object.
 As you can confirm for yourself, the
closer the objects are the greater the
convergence of the eyes.
 Binocular cues require two eyes, whereas
monocular cues require only one.
Cont.

 This means that even people who have lost

sight in one eye may still have good depth
perception.
 One monocular is accommodation, which is
the change in the shape of the lens that
lets you focus the image of an object on the
retina. It is the tendency of the lens to
change its shape, or thickness, in response
to objects near or far away.
 A second monocular cue is motion parallax,
the tendency to perceive ourselves as
passing objects faster when they are closer
to us than when they are farther away.
Cont.

 You will notice this when you drive on a

rural road. You perceive yourself
passing nearby telephone poles faster
than you are passing a farmhouse.
 The remaining monocular cues are
called pictorial cues (interposition,
relative size, texture gradient, linear
perspective, aerial perspective) because
artists use them to create depth in their
drawings and paintings.
 Leonardo da Vinci (consult page 35 of
the module for the details)
Cont.

 An object that overlaps

another object will appear
closer, a cue called
Interposition.
 Because your psychology
professor overlaps the
blackboard, you know that
she or he is closer to you than
the blackboard is.
 Interposition: Objects that occlude
(block) other objects tend to be
Monocular Cues

Rene Magritte, The Blank Signature, oil on canvas,

National Gallery of Art, Washington. Collection of
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. Photo by Richard Carafelli.
98

perceived as closer.
 99 Cont.
Light and Shadow: Nearby objects reflect
more light into our eyes than more distant
objects. Given two identical objects, the
dimmer one appears to be farther away.

All rights reserved.

S. Ramachandran. © 1988 by Scientific American, Inc.
From “Perceiving Shape From Shading” by Vilayaur
 Size-Distance Relationship
100

Both girls in the room are of similar height.

However, we perceive them to be of different
heights as they stand in the two corners of the
room.

Both photos from S. Schwartzenberg/ The Exploratorium

 Perceptual Constancies

1. Size Constancy – perceive familiar

objects as having a constant size
even when its retinal image becomes
larger or smaller as we get closer to
or farther from it.
2. Shape Constancy – perceive familiar
objects as having constant shape
even though the shape of the retinal
image produced by an object changes
when our point of view changes.
Cont.

3. Brightness Constancy – see objects as

having relatively constant brightness
even though the amount of light they
reflect changes as the over all level of
illumination changes.
4. Location Constancy –perceive
stationary objects as remaining in the
same place despite the retinal image
moves about as we move our eyes.
5. Color Constancy – perceive the color
of objects as stable despite the
changing illumination.
3. Interpretation
103

 Generating meaning from sensory experience is the

task of perceptual interpretation.
 Perceptual interpretation lies at the intersection of
sensation and memory, as the brain interprets
current sensations in light of past experience.
 Different individual’s might observe the same object,
but they interpret differently based on their prior
experience.
 Cont.…
104

Like selection, the process of interpretation is

also influenced by several factors. The
following can be examples.
Beliefs: What we hold to be true about the
world can affect the interpretation of
ambiguous sensory signals.
Emotions: Our emotions or moods also
influence our interpretations of sensory
information.
Expectations: Experience with the
environment often affects how we perceive
the world by creating perceptual
 Cont.…
105

These expectations called perceptual set make

particular interpretations more likely. Two
aspects of perceptual set are the current
context and enduring knowledge structures.
Extrasensory Perception (ESP)---
Parapsychology
 Eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and skin- we rely on
these organs for our experience of the external
world.
 Some people, however, claim they can send and
receive messages about the world without
relying on the usual sensory channels, by using
 Cont.…
106
 They reported that ESP experiences fall into four
general categories:
o Telepathy is a direct communication from one
mind to another without the usual visual, auditory
and other sensory signals.
o Clairvoyance is the perception of an event or fact
without normal sensory input.
o Precognition is the perception of an event that
has not yet happened.
o Psychokinesis is the ability to affect the physical
world purely through thought. Persons with such
abilities claim to move or affect objects without
touching them.
 UNIT-3
LEARNING and Theories of
Learning

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 3.1. Learning
3.1.1. Meaning of Learning
“Learning is defined as a relatively permanent change in
behavior as a result of experience and training.”
The following points are revealed from this definition
• Learning has enduring nature. It results in relatively permanent
modification of behavior.
• Learning is a change in knowledge or behavior. This change
does not include changes due to illness, fatigue, intoxication,
hunger, maturation and so on.
• Learning is an internal mental activity that cannot be directly
observable but manifests in the activities of the individual.
• Learning depends on experience or practice. Learning results
only those changes that occur as a result of the interaction of a
person
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3.1.2. Main Characteristics of Learning
1. Learning is growth. A child grows both mentally and
physically through his/her daily activities. Therefore, we
can say that learning is growth through experience.
2. Learning is adjustment. Learning helps an individual to
adjust himself/herself to the new situations.
3. Learning is organizing experience. Learning is not merely
addition to knowledge. It is the reorganization of
experience.
4. Learning is purposeful. All true learning is based on
purpose. We don’t learn anything and everything that
comes in our way in a haphazard manner.
5. Learning is intelligent. Meaningless efforts do not produce
permanent result. Only efforts made intelligently have
lasting effects.
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6. Learning is active. Learning does not take place
without a purpose and self activity. The principle
of learning by doing is the main principle which
has been recommended by all modern
educationalists.
7. Learning is both individual and social. It is an
individual and social activity.
8. Learning is the product of environment.
Environment plays an important role in the
growth and development of the individual.
9. True learning affects the conduct of the learner.
There is a change in the mental structure of the
learner after every experience.
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 3.1.3. Principles of learning
There are important principles that help explaining
how learning occurs effectively. Some of the most
important principles of learning are as follows:
1. Individuals learn best when they are physically,
mentally, and emotionally ready to learn
2. Students learn best and retain information longer
when they have meaningful practice and exercise
3. Learning is strengthened when accompanied by a
pleasant or satisfying feeling, and that learning is
weakened when associated with an unpleasant feeling
4. Things learned first create a strong impression in
the mind that is difficult to erase.
5. Things most recently learned are best remembered
6. The principle of intensity implies that a student will
learn more from the real thing than from a substitute.
7. Individuals must have some abilities and skills that
may help them to learn.
8. Things freely learned are best learned - the greater
the freedom enjoyed by individuals, the higher the intellectual
and moral advancement.
 3.1.4. Factors Influencing Learning
• Some of the factors that affect learning are the following.
1. Motivation: The learner‘s motivation matters the effectiveness of
learning. The stronger and clearer the motives for learning, the
greater are the effort to learn.
2. Maturation: Neuro-muscular coordination is important for
learning a given task. Example, The child has to be mature before
she/he is able to learn.
3. Health condition of the learner: The learner should be in a good
health status to learn. Example- Sensory defects, malnutrition,
toxic conditions of the body, loss of sleep and fatigue hinder
effective learning.
4. Psychological wellbeing of the learner: individual‘s psychological
states like worries, fears, feelings of loneliness and inferiority
hinders learning. Whereas self-respect, self-reliance, and self-
confidence are necessary for effective learning.
5. Good working conditions: absence or presence of
fresh air, light, comfortable surroundings, moderate
temperature, absence of distractions like noise and
learning aids determine learning effectiveness.
6. Background experiences: having background
experiences affect effectiveness of learning.
7. Length of the working period: Learning periods should
neither be too short nor too long. Long learning time
sets fatigue and reduces effectiveness in learning.
8. Massed and distributed learning: Learning that
spreads across time with reasonable time gaps brings
better results compared with crammed learning that
occurs at once or within short span of time.
3.2. THEORIES OF LEARNING and Their Applications
• Behavioral views of learning
• Social learning theory
• Cognitive views of learning
3.2.1. Behavioral views of learning
S-R theories without reinforcement
• Pavlov’s Classical Theory of Learning
• Watson’s Theory of Learning
• Guthrie’s Theory of Learning
S-R theories with reinforcement
• Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning
• Thorndike’s Theory of Learning
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3.2.1.1. Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning / Respondent/
Conditioning or type 1 Learning/
• Classical conditioning theory represents a process in which
a natural stimulus pairing with a neutral stimulus, the
neutral stimulus acquires all the characteristics of a natural
stimulus.
• It is a type of learning in which a neutral stimulus comes to
bring about a response after it is paired with a stimulus
that naturally brings about that response.
• It is also called substitution learning because it involves
substituting a neutral stimulus in place of natural stimulus.
• Stimulus anything in the environment that one can
respond to.
• Responses
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 any behavior or action towards a stimulus.
 Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning Experiment
Before conditioning
• Bell (Neutral stimulus) or CS No salivation.
• Food (natural stimulus) or UCS salivation (UCR).
During conditioning
• Bell (CS) + food (UCS) salivation (UCR).
After conditioning
• Bell (CS) salivation (CR).

01/01/2025
 Basics of Classical Conditioning
1. Neutral Stimulus- A stimulus that, before conditioning,
does not naturally bring about the response of interest
2. Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) - is the natural stimulus
that triggers a response automatically and reflexively.
 It is unlearned, internal and consistently elicits a response.
3. Unconditioned response (UCR) - the automatic response
to unlearned stimulus (UCS) reflexively but not learned
and it works naturally.
4. Conditional stimulus (CS) - Originally neutral stimulus
that through association (learning), gains the power of
eliciting a response.
5. Conditioned response (CR) - is the response to the CS.
- It is process of developing a learned response and it is
similar to UCR.
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 E.g. we can take white rat (CS), Loud noise (UCS)
and fear of the child called “Little Albert”
- White rat leads to No response
- Loud sound elicit UCR (fear)
-White rat + loud noise with several pairings fear
White rat (CS) elicit fear (CR)

01/01/2025
 Principle of classical conditioning
. Acquisition: process of developing learned
response.
. Extinction: is the diminishing of learned
response, when the UCS does not follow a
CS.
. Spontaneous Recovery: The reappearance of
the CR after a rest period suddenly
stimulated by the CS.

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 Generalization and Discrimination
Despite differences in color and shape, to most of
us a rose is a rose is a rose. The pleasure we
experience at the beauty, smell, and grace of the
flower is similar for different types of roses.
Pavlov noticed a similar phenomenon. His dogs
often salivated not only at the ringing of the bell
that was used during their original conditioning
but at the sound of a buzzer as well.

01/01/2025 121
• Such behavior is the result of stimulus generalization.
Stimulus generalization occurs when a conditioned
response follows a stimulus that is similar to the
original conditioned stimulus. The greater the similarity
between two stimuli, the greater the likelihood of
stimulus generalization. Little Albert, who, as we
mentioned earlier, was conditioned to be fearful of
white rats, grew afraid of other furry white things as
well.
• However, according to the principle of stimulus
generalization, it is unlikely that he would have been
afraid of a black dog, because its color would have
differentiated it sufficiently from the original fear-
evoking stimulus.
01/01/2025 122
• The conditioned response elicited by the new stimulus
is usually not as intense as the original conditioned
response, although the more similar the new stimulus
is to the old one, the more similar the new response
will be.
• On the other hand, stimulus discrimination occurs if
two stimuli are sufficiently distinct from one another
that one evokes a conditioned response but the other
does not. Stimulus discrimination provides the ability
to differentiate between stimuli.
• For example, our ability to discriminate between the
behavior of a growling dog and that of one whose tail is
wagging can lead to adaptive behavior—avoiding the
growling dog and petting the friendly one.
01/01/2025 123
To make conditioning effective;
- The time laps between the presentations of the
two stimuli (CS & UCS) should be small ranging
from half to a few seconds.
- The CS should present before the presentation of
the UCS (sometimes simultaneously).
- Different types of conditioning can be employed
in classical conditioning based on time and
order of CS and UCS.
a) Delayed conditioning: refers to presenting the CS
first and letting to remain at least until the onset of
the UCS. It produces strong conditioning.

01/01/2025
 Cont.

b. Trace conditioning: refers to presenting the

conditioned stimulus first and ending before the
onset of the UCS. It produces moderately strong
conditioning.
c. Simultaneous conditioning: refers to beginning
and ending of the CS and the UCS together. It
produces weak conditioning.
d. Backward conditioning: is a conditioning in
which the onset of the UCS precedes the onset
of the CS. It is mostly unsuccessful principle.
01/01/2025
 3.2.1.2. Operant Conditioning Theory
• Operant conditioning is learning in which a voluntary
response is strengthened or weakened, depending on its
favorable or unfavorable consequences. When we say that
a response has been strengthened or weakened, we mean
that it has been made more or less likely to recur regularly.
• Unlike classical conditioning, in which the original behaviors
are the natural, biological responses to the presence of a
stimulus such as food, water, or pain, operant conditioning
applies to voluntary responses, which an organism
performs deliberately to produce a desirable outcome.
• The term operant emphasizes this point: The organism
operates on its environment to produce a desirable result.
• Operant conditioning is at work when we learn that toiling
industriously can bring about a raise or that studying hard
01/01/2025 126
results in good grades.
 Operations in Operant Conditioning
 Shaping:- refers to the judicious use of selective
reinforcement to bring certain desirable changes in the
behavior of the organism.
• For a response to be reinforced, it must first occur. But,
suppose you train a child to use a knife and a fork properly.
Such behaviors, and most others in everyday life, have
almost no probability of appearing spontaneously.
• The operant solution for this is shaping. Shaping is an
operant conditioning procedure in which successive
approximations of a desired response are reinforced.
• In shaping you start by reinforcing a tendency in the right
direction. Then you gradually require responses that are
more and more similar to the final desired response.
 Extinction: In operant conditioning, extinction refers to
the gradual weakening and disappearance of the
conditional response if it is not reinforced. Skinner
noted this principle by accident when the pellet
dispenser jammed. Thus, the rat’s responses (pressing
the bar) produced no reinforcements.
Reinforcement: the central concept of operant conditioning
• Reinforcement is the process by which a stimulus
increases the probability that a preceding behavior will
be repeated.
• A reinforcer is any stimulus that increases the probability
that a preceding behavior will occur again.
• Hence, food is a reinforcer because it increases the
probability that the behavior will take place.
• What kind of stimuli can act as reinforcers? Bonuses, toys,
and good grades can serve as reinforcers—if they
strengthen the probability of the response that occurred
before their introduction.

01/01/2025 129
Positive Reinforcers, Negative Reinforcers, and Punishment
• In many respects, reinforcers can be thought of in terms
of rewards; both a reinforcer and a reward increase the
probability that a preceding response will occur again.
• But the term reward is limited to positive occurrences,
and this is where it differs from a reinforcer—for it turns
out that reinforcers can be positive or negative.
• A positive reinforcer is a stimulus added to the
environment that brings about an increase in a preceding
response. If food, water, money, or praise is provided
after a response, it is more likely that that response will
occur again in the future.
• The paychecks that workers get at the end of the week,
for example, increase the likelihood that they will return
130
to their jobs the following week.
• In contrast, a negative reinforcer refers to an unpleasant
stimulus whose removal leads to an increase in the
probability that a preceding response will be repeated in
the future.
• For example, if you have an itchy rash (an unpleasant
stimulus) that is relieved when you apply a certain brand
of ointment, you are more likely to use that ointment the
next time you have an itchy rash. Using the ointment,
then, is negatively reinforcing, because it removes the
unpleasant itch.
• Similarly, if your iPod volume is so loud that it hurts your
ears when you first turn it on, you are likely to reduce the
volume level. Lowering the volume is negatively
reinforcing, and you are more apt to repeat the action in
the future when you first turn it on. 131
• Negative reinforcement, then, teaches the individual that
taking an action removes a negative condition that exists
in the environment.
• Like positive reinforcers, negative reinforcers increase the
likelihood that preceding behaviors will be repeated.
• Note that negative reinforcement is not the same as
punishment.
• Punishment refers to a stimulus that decreases the
probability that a prior behavior will occur again.
• There are two types of punishment: positive punishment
and negative punishment, just as there are positive
reinforcement and negative reinforcement. (In both
cases, “positive” means adding something, and
“negative” means removing something.)
132
• Positive punishment weakens a response through the
application of an unpleasant stimulus. For instance,
spanking a child for misbehaving or spending ten years in
jail for committing a crime is positive punishment.
• In contrast, negative punishment consists of the removal
of something pleasant. For instance, when a teenager is
told she is “grounded” and will no longer be able to use
the family car because of her poor grades, or when an
employee is informed that he has been demoted with a
cut in pay because of a poor job evaluation, negative
punishment is being administered.
• Both positive and negative punishment result in a
decrease in the likelihood that a prior behavior will be
repeated.
133
 Schedules of reinforcement: timing life’s rewards
• The world would be a different place if poker players
never played cards again after the first losing hand,
fishermen returned to shore as soon as they missed a
catch, or telemarketers never made another phone call
after their first hang-up. The fact that such unreinforced
behaviors continue, often with great frequency and
persistence, illustrates that reinforcement need not be
received continually for behavior to be learned and
maintained.
• In fact, behavior that is reinforced only occasionally can
ultimately be learned better than can behavior that is
always reinforced.
01/01/2025 134
• When we refer to the frequency and timing of
reinforcement that follows desired behavior, we
are talking about schedules of reinforcement.
• Behavior that is reinforced every time it occurs is
said to be on a continuous reinforcement
schedule;
• If it is reinforced some but not all of the time, it is
on a partial (or intermittent) reinforcement
schedule.
• Although learning occurs more rapidly under a
continuous reinforcement schedule, behavior lasts
longer after reinforcement stops when it is
learned under a partial reinforcement schedule
01/01/2025 135
• Although many different partial reinforcement
schedules have been examined, they can most
readily be put into two categories:
• Schedules that consider the number of responses
made before reinforcement is given, called fixed-
ratio and variable-ratio schedules, and those that
consider the amount of time that elapses before
reinforcement is provided, called fixed-interval
and variable-interval schedules.

01/01/2025 136
 Fixed- and Variable-Ratio Schedules
• In a fixed-ratio schedule, reinforcement is given
only after a specific number of responses. For
instance, a rat might receive a food pellet every
tenth time it pressed a lever; here, the ratio would
be 1:10. Similarly, garment workers are generally
paid on fixed-ratio schedules: They receive a
specific number of dollars for every blouse they
sew. Because a greater rate of production means
more reinforcement, people on fixed-ratio
schedules are apt to work as quickly as possible.

01/01/2025 137
• In a variable-ratio schedule, reinforcement
occurs after a varying number of responses
rather than after a fixed number. Although the
specific number of responses necessary to
receive reinforcement varies, the number of
responses usually hovers around a specific
average. Gambling and begging are the two
examples of variable ratio schedule, which lead
to a high rate of response and resistance to
extinction.

01/01/2025 138
 Fixed- and Variable-Interval Schedules: The Passage of Time
• In contrast to fixed- and variable-ratio schedules, in which the crucial factor
is the number of responses, fixed-interval and variable-interval schedules
focus on the amount of time that has elapsed since a person or animal was
rewarded.
One example of a fixed interval schedule is a weekly paycheck. For people
who receive regular, weekly paychecks, it typically makes relatively little
difference exactly how much they produce in a given week. Because a fixed-
interval schedule provides reinforcement for a response only if a fixed time
period has elapsed, overall rates of response are relatively low. This is
especially true in the period just after reinforcement, when the time before
another reinforcement is relatively great. Students’ study habits often
exemplify this reality. If the periods between exams are relatively long
(meaning that the opportunity for reinforcement for good performance is
given fairly infrequently), students often study minimally or not at all until
the day of the exam draws near. Just before the exam, however, students
begin to cram for it, signaling a rapid increase in the rate of their studying
response. As you might expect, immediately after the exam there is a rapid
decline
01/01/2025
in the rate of responding, with few people opening a book the
139
day
after a test.
• One way to decrease the delay in responding that occurs just after
reinforcement, and to maintain the desired behavior more
consistently throughout an interval, is to use a variable-interval
schedule. In a variable-interval schedule, the time between
reinforcements varies around some average rather than being fixed.
For example, a professor who gives surprise quizzes that vary from
one every three days to one every three weeks, averaging one every
two weeks, is using a variable-interval schedule.
 Compared to the study habits we observed with a fixed-interval
schedule, students’ study habits under such a variable-interval
schedule would most likely be very different. Students would be apt
to study more regularly because they would never know when the
next surprise quiz was coming. Variable-interval schedules, in
general, are more likely to produce relatively steady rates of
responding than are fixed-interval schedules, with responses that
take longer to extinguish after reinforcement ends.
01/01/2025 140
Implications of Operant Conditioning
v Use reinforcers periodically to extend the desired behavior
v Give reinforces immediately for a desired br of students.
v Use praise and ignore- means praising students who follow
rules and ignore rule breakers.
v Carefully and systematically praise students.
v Use the Premack principle (Grandma’s rule) (using bait
exchange high for low) to reinforce.
v Use shaping - successive approximation, which involves
reinforcing progress instead of waiting for perfection.
v Reinforce improvement in accuracy, longer periods of
performance and participation to persist the br.
v Use guidelines when reinforce and punish students .
v Use appropriate schedule of reinforcement to persist behavior.
01/01/2025
 3.2.2. Observational /Social/ Learning Theory
Albert Bandura is the prime proponent of this theory.
Learning takes place through observation, imitation, modeling,
mimicking or watching others.
Vicarious learning – learning by seeing the consequence of
another persons br.
observing reinforcing consequences (vicarious reinforcement)
for that br.
observing a punitive consequence (Vicarious punishment).
 Children do not always immediately display behavior learned
from models.
 This is the evidence that acquisition & performance are not
identical.

01/01/2025
 Steps of observational learning
 Bandura mentions four conditions that are necessary
before an individual can successfully model the
behavior of someone else:
1. Attention – first paying attention to the model
2.Retention – mentally represent to the model’s action in some
ways as verbal or visual images or both.
3.Production – showing /acting out/ or performing the behavior
4.Motivation and reinforcement – learners must want to
demonstrate what they have learned from the model.
 Remember that since these four conditions vary
among individuals, different people will reproduce the
same behavior differently.
01/01/2025
 Assumptions of Social Learning Theory
u Reciprocal determinism refers to the interaction of the
person, person’s behavior and physical environment.
u People have an agency or ability to influence their own
behavior and the environment in a purposeful, goal-directed
fashion as opposed to environmental determinism of
behaviorism
u Learning can occur without an immediate change
in behavior or more broadly that learning and
the demonstration of what has been learned are
distinct processes.
 It also means that students can learn but not
demonstrate that learning until motivated to do so.
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 Educational Implications of Social Learning Theory

 Social learning theory has numerous implications for

classroom use
1. Students often learn a great deal simply by observing
other people
2. Describing the consequences of behavior can effectively
increase the appropriate behaviors and decrease
inappropriate ones
3. Modeling provides an alternative to shaping for teaching
new behaviors
 However, modeling can provide a faster, more efficient
means for teaching new behavior than shaping in operant
conditioning
4. Teachers and parents must model appropriate
behaviors and take care that they do not model
inappropriate behaviors
5. Teachers should expose students to a variety of other
models.
This technique is especially important to break
down traditional stereotypes
6. Students must believe that they are capable of
accomplishing school tasks
Thus it is very important to develop a sense of self-
efficacy for students.
7.Teachers should help students set realistic
expectations for their academic accomplishments
 3.2.3. Cognitive Learning Theory

 Cognitive learning theorists believe that thought

processes have an important effect on learning.
Humans often use mental or cognitive abilities when
they interact with their environment.
 People can manipulate, alter, or change things
mentally to examine possible outcomes before they
actually do anything.
Developed approaches that focus on the unseen
mental processes that occur during learning, rather
than concentrating solely on external stimuli,
responses, and reinforcements.
 3.2.3.1. Latent Learning

 Evidence for the importance of cognitive processes comes

from a series of animal experiments that revealed a type of
cognitive learning called latent learning.
 ‘Latent‘ means hidden and thus latent learning is learning
that occurs but is not evident in behavior until later, when
conditions for its appearance are favorable/rewarded.
 It is said to occur without reinforcement of particular
responses and seems to involve changes in the way
information is processed.
 In a classic experiment, Tolman and Honzic (1930) placed
three groups of rats in mazes and observed their behavior
each day for more than two weeks.
 The rats in Group 1 always found food at the end of the
maze. Group 2 never found food. Group 3 found no food for
ten days but then received food on the eleventh.
 The Group 1 rats quickly learned to head straight the end of
the maze without going blind alleys, whereas Group 2 rats
did not learn to go to the end. But, Group 3 rats were
different.
 For ten days they appeared to follow no particular route.
Then, on the eleventh day they quickly learned to run to the
end of the maze. By the next day, they were doing, as well
as group one, which had been rewarded from the beginning.
 Group three rats had demonstrated latent learning, learning
that is not immediately expressed. A great deal of human
learning also remains latent until circumstances allow or
require it to be expressed.
 To cognitive theorists, it seemed clear that the
unrewarded rats had learned the layout of the
maze early in their explorations; they just never
displayed their latent learning until the
reinforcement was offered.
 Instead, those rats seemed to develop a cognitive
map of the maze—a mental representation of
spatial locations and directions.
 People, too, develop cognitive maps of their
surroundings.
 For example, latent learning may permit you to
know the location of a kitchenware store at a
local mall you’ve frequently visited, even though
you’ve never entered the store and don’t even
like to cook.
 3.2.3.2. Insight Learning

 It is a cognitive process whereby we reorganize our perception of a

problem.
 It’s learning to solve a problem by understanding various parts of
the problem.
 It doesn‘t depend on conditioning of particular behaviors for its
occurrence.
 Sometimes, for example, people even wake up from sleep with a
solution to a problem that they had not been able to solve during
the day.
 In a typical insight situation where a problem is posed, a period
follows during which no apparent progress is made, and then the
solution comes suddenly.
 What has been learned in insight learning can also be applied easily
to other similar situations.
 Human beings who solve a problem insightfully
usually experience a good feeling called an 'aha'
experience.
 Wolfgang Kohler studied insight learning in
chimpanzees
 Kohler placed chimpanzees in certain situations and
watched them solve the problems
Ex. Hanging a banana out of the chimpanzee’s reach-
Solution: Monkeys stacked boxes on top of one another
to get to the banana
 Kohler believed that the monkeys could not have
come to the solution without a cognitive
understanding of how to solve the problem.
 UNIT 4

MEMORY,
FORGETTING AND
ACADEMIC SKILLS
 4.1. Memory
4.1.1. Nature and Definition of Memory
Memory: is the process by which we encode, store &
retrieve infn (what was learned earlier).
 Simply memory is remembering previously learned
experience.
 Memory process is the mental activities we perform
to put infn in the memory, to keep it there & to
make use of it later.
 It indicates how infn is represented in memory, how
long it lasts & how it is organized.
01/01/2025 154
 4.1.2. Process of Memory
Memory process involves three basic steps. These are:
A.Encoding: refers to the process by w/h infn is initially
recorded in form usable to memory.
- Transform a sensory input in to a form or a memory code
that can be further processed.
B.Storage: involves keeping/maintaining infn in the memory.
- It is the location in memory system in w/h materials are
saved.
C. Retrieval: it involves the use of stored infn when it is
needed.
- Materials from storage memory brought in to awareness &
used.
01/01/2025 155
 4.1.3. Structures/Stages/Forms/of memory
• According to Atkinson & Sheferin, human
memory consists of three different but
interacting systems. These are:
 Sensory memory/registrar(SM)
 Short-term memory (STM)
 Long- term memory (LTM)

01/01/2025 156
 Structures of Memory

Infn from
SM Selection Retrieval
STM LTM
the env’t

Decay Decay Forgetting

01/01/2025 157
 1. Sensory Memory/ Registrar (SR)
• It is a component of the memory system that receives
infn from the env’t.
• It is the entryway to memory & the first infn storage
area.
• The type of infn is a very accurate & complete
representation of the env’t but it is unprocessed.
• Capacity of SM is very large, more infn than we can
possibly handle at once.
• Duration if the infn is visual infn it stores in the iconic
memory in the form of images for a maximum of one
second.
- If the infn is auditory it stores in echoic memory in the
form of sound patterns for two seconds.
01/01/2025 158
 2. Short Term Memory (STM)
® It holds the contents of our attention.
®Consists of the by-products or end results of perceptual
analysis.
®it is also called working/immediate/active/primary
memory.
® type of infn in STM are visual images, words sentences
& so on received from SM.
® duration of infn in STM is short, about 20 to30 seconds.

01/01/2025 159
 ® We can overcome the limitation of the infn
duration by using rehearsals(1).
- There are two types of rehearsals. These are:
Maintenance Rehearsal – involves repeating the
infn in the mind.
 Elaborative Rehearsal – involves associating the
infn to d/f things & persons that the person
already knows.
­This kind of rehearsal is not only retains infn in the
STM but also helps to move infn from STM to LTM.

01/01/2025 160
­Through chunking(2); a piece of grouping small
pieces of infn into meaningful larger units.
­The chunk may be a word, a phrase, a sentences
even visual images, and it depends on previous
experiences.
E.g.From 12 digit no 3,4,5,8,1,2,6,9,6,7,1,5 it is
easier to put them in to three chunks like
3458,1269,6715.

01/01/2025 161
 3. Long Term Memory
- It is a relatively permanent storage of meaningful
infn.
- It holds infn that is well learned.
- Type of infn is facts, events, knowledge, skills,
either visual images or verbal units or both.
- Capacity of LTM also has no practical limits.
- Duration of the infn in this memory has no limited
time. Or it stores infn for indefinite periods.
-The access of infn from STM is immediate but the
access of infn from LTM requires time and effort.
01/01/2025 162
 - LTM has two categories. These are:
A, Declarative/Explicit/ Memory - contains the conscious collections of
infn such as facts or events that can be verbally communicated. It is
divided in to two:
1, Semantic Memory - stores factual knowledge like rules, concepts,
words, propositions, & images.
2, Episodic Memory- memories of events & situations from personal
experience/life experience/.
B, Non-declarative/Implicit/Memory: - are memories that cannot be
brought into conscious & declared, rather they are shown in
actions.
- Procedural memory- This memory is a memory of “how to do things”

01/01/2025 163
 Serial position effect
 “It states that if you are shown a list of items and
then asked immediately to recall them, your
retention of any particular item will depend on
its position on the list.”
— Primacy effect- best recall of items at the
beginning of the list
— Recency effect- best recall of items at the end of
the list.
— When retention of all the items is plotted, the
result will be a U-shaped curve.
01/01/2025 164
 -The first few items on a list are remembered well
b/s STM was relatively “empty” when they are
entered, so these items did not have to compete
with others to make it into LTM. They were
thoroughly processed, so they remain memorable.
- The last items remembered easily b/s they are still
sitting in STM.
-The items in the middle of the list are not so well
retained because by the time they get into STM, it
is already crowded. As a result many of this items
drop out of STM before they can be stored in STM.

01/01/2025 165
 4.2. Forgetting
- It is the apparent loss of infn already stored & encoded in
the LTM.
- There are five theories of forgetting.
1. Decay Theory
- It states that memory traces fades with time if they are not
accessed now & then.
- Or the trace simply fades away b/s of disuse & the passage
of time.
2. Interference Theory
- Forgetting occurs b/s similar items of infn interfere on
another in either storage or retrieval.
- There are two forms of interference
 01/01/2025 166
- Proactive /Forward/ Interference -the infn learned
earlier interferes with recall of newer
infn/materials/.
- Example:- If you call your new girlfriend your old girlfriend’s name.
-Retroactive/Backward/Interference-the new infn
interferes with the ability to remember old infn.

Example:- When you finally remember this years locker combination, you forget last
years.

01/01/2025 167
 3. New Memory for Old/Displacement/Theory
-It states that the new infn entering in the
memory can wipe out old infn, just as recording
on an audio or videotape will obliterate/wipe
out the original material.
- As you continue to store more and more infn at
the same time you lose other infn, which was
stored before.
 4. Motivated Forgetting Theory
 People forget b/s they block from consciousness those
memories that are too threatening or painful to live with
 People forget b/s they are motivated to forget/we
forget, we forget that we forget/.
5. Cue Dependent Forgetting
- When we lack retrieval cues, we may fell as if we have
lost the call number for an entry in the mind’s library.
- To remember, we rely on retrieval cues-items of infn that
can help us find the specific infn we are looking for.

01/01/2025 169
 Improving Memory
 Developing good studying habits w/h is scheduled in
the comfortable place.
Ø Paying attention:
Ø Encode the infn in more than one way:
Ø Add meaning:
Ø Take your time & Over learn:
Ø Monitor you learning:
 Expanding by using illustrations or examples:
Ø Use rehearsals and form Acronyms:
Ø Use the method of loci:
01/01/2025 170
4.3. CONCEPTS OF LIFE SKILLS
AND
ACADEMIC SKILLS
 4.3.1. Meanings, Goals and Types of Life
Skills
1) Meanings of Life Skills
 The World Health Organization has defined life skills as, "the
abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals
to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life".
 UNICEF defines life skills as ''behavioral changes or behavioral
development approach designed to address a balance of three areas:
“knowledge, attitude and skills''.
 Life skills are essentially those abilities that help to promote mental
well-being and competence in young people as they face the realities
of life.
 2) Goals of Life Skills
 Life skills is used to lead a smooth and successful life at home,
work place and in social relationship. These skills help us to:
 live in harmony with ourselves and others around us
 select the goods from the bad
 choose gold from soil
 simplify life that is full of troubles otherwise etc.
3) Types of Life Skills
a) Intra-personal and interpersonal skills (self-concept, self-
awareness, self-esteem, self-confidence, self-control, critical
and creative thinking, etc.)
b) Social Skills (understanding cultural diversity, gender and
social inclusion, social influence, peer pressure, assertiveness,
conflict resolution, etc.)
c) Academic Skills (Time management skills, Note taking and
study skills, overcoming test anxiety, goal setting, etc.)
 ACADEMIC SKILLS
1. Time Management
 Time management is the abilty to plan and control how someone
spends the hours in a day to accomplish his or her goals
effectively.
 Planning your time allows you to spread your work over
sessions, avoid a jam of works, and cope with study stress.
 People who practice good time management techniques often
find that they:
 Are more productive
 Have more energy for things they need to accomplish
 Feel less stressed
 Are able to do the things they want
 Get more things done
 Relate more positively to others and feel better about
themselves
To manage your time more effectively:
 Know how you spend time
 Set priorities
 Use a planning tool
 Get organized
 Schedule your time appropriately
 Delegate – get help from others
 Stop procrastinating
 Manage external time wasters
 Avoid multi-tasking
 Stay healthy
 Note-taking and Study Skills

How you take notes while your teacher is

teaching in class? Can you catch up with
him/her?
 Conti......
 In order to succeed in learning, it is often necessary
to take good notes as lecturers often provide you
with key information for the course.
 There are several strategies which will help you to
take good notes.
 Getting Organized: Before you go to class, you need
to have the necessary materials.
 prepare yourself and select the best approach to take
notes.
Before Class: This strategy provides familiarity with
terms, ideas, and concepts discussed in lecture.
 During Class:
Guidelines and methods to take notes during
class
 Date your notes
 Keep the objective/theme of the class in
mind
 Record notes in your own words
 Make your notes brief and focus on the
main points
Common Note Taking Methods
• Cornell Method: breaking the note page into
three sections (Cue column, note-taking
column and summary)
• Outlining: recording the main ideas of the
lecture to the left margin of the page in your
exercise book.
• Charting: charting is a good strategy for
courses that require comparisons/contrasts of
specific dates, places, people, events,
importance and how the information relates.
 After Class:
• Remain in the classroom or find a quiet space close by
and review notes.
• To solidify your understanding and connect new concepts
with previous concepts review your notes as soon as
possible following class.
• Connect with another member of the class and create an
interactive discussion about the lecture
• Visit your professor during office hours with questions.
• Instead of recopying your notes, record yourself
reviewing what you wrote
Test-Taking Skill
Some suggestions that can help students in doing tests.
• Attend all classes
• Take organized and clear lecture notes
 Conti...
 Plan your study time and set study goals
 Use SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Revise and Recite) study
style
 Use memorizing techniques
 Divide the review material into logical sections and
concentrate on one at a time.
 Organize the information you must remember
 Know your teacher
 Make your presence known in class by your courtesy (good
manners), cooperation and willingness to learn
 Ask questions to increase your understanding of course
material
 Make use of tutoring services and student support centers of
the college
 Conti......

 Separate review time from daily assignments

 Start reviewing systematically and early, not just the
night before the test
 Practice predicting and answering test questions.
 Learn test-taking terms and strategies
 Examine previous tests
 Find out what kind of a test it will be: objective, essay,
or a combination of both.
 Find out when and where the test will be given.
 Get plenty of sleep the night before the exam.
 Get up early enough to avoid rushing and to eat a
healthy breakfast.
 Tell yourself you will do well.
 Test Anxiety and Overcoming Test Anxiety

Test anxiety is a negative mood state characterized by bodily

symptoms of physical tension and by apprehension about a
test/exam going to take place in the future.
Symptoms of severe test anxiety
Physical - headaches, nausea or diarrhea, extreme body
temperature changes, excessive sweating, shortness of breath,
light-headedness or fainting, rapid heartbeat, and/or dry mouth
Emotional - excessive feelings of fear, disappointment, anger,
depression, uncontrollable crying or laughing, feelings of
helplessness
Behavioral – fidgeting (restless), pacing, substance abuse,
avoidance
Cognitive - racing thoughts, going blank, difficulty in
concentrating, negative self-talk, feelings of dread, comparing self
with others, and difficulty in organizing thoughts.
 Steps of realistic thinking that can be applied to
reduce test-anxiety
Step 1: Pay attention to your self-talk
Step 2: Identify thoughts that lead to feelings of anxiety
Step 3: Challenge your “anxious” thinking
Goal Setting
 Goal setting is like drawing map, which will help
individuals to track their development towards
reaching their full potential.
 It is the process of imagining, planning, and
implementing the big picture of one’s destination.
 The goal should be specific, measurable, action
oriented, realistic, and time-bound (SMART)
 Purposes of goal setting
 Guide and direct behavior
 Provide clarity
 Provide challenges and standards
 Reflect on what the goal setters consider
important
 Help to improve performance.
 Increase the motivation to achieve
 Help increase pride and satisfaction in
achievements
 Improve self-confidence
 Help to decrease negative attitude
 Career Development Skill
 Which Department you are going to join?
Why?
 How you are going to live life after
graduation?
 When you are going to attend your
MA/PhD?
 When you are going to have marriage and
children?
 Conti......

 Career is how individuals live their lives across

different contexts and settings, including
education, work, family, and leisure time.
 Career development is a lifelong continuous
process of planning implementing and
managing ones learning, work and leisure in
order to achieve life objectives.
 Conti......

 It is the process through which people

come to understand themselves as they
relate to the world of work and their role
in it.
 Career management skills (CMS) are
competencies which help individuals to
identify their existing skills develop career
learning goals and take action to enhance
their careers.
 Unit-5
Motivation and
Emotion
Outline Of The Unit:

Part I: Motivation
1. Definition of Motivation
2. Classifications of Motivation
3. Major Theories of Motivation
Part II: Emotion
1. Meaning of Emotion
2. Theories of Emotion 190
 1.What Is Motivation?
Motivation: is the force within the
individual that accounts for the level,
direction, and persistence of effort
expended at work.
- Direction: an individual’s choice when
presented with a number of possible
alternatives.
- Level: the amount of effort a person
191
What is Motivation?

 Motivation: Psychological processes

that cause the arousal, direction, and
persistence of voluntary actions that are
goal directed.

Motivation Behavior
192
Note

o Behavior is purposive rather than

random
i.e. People exhibit both positive (work
done on time) and negative (arrive late
for work) behavior for a reason.

o Motivation arouses people to do

something
i.e. People are unlikely to change a
193

behavior or do something different

Conti…

o Motivation causes people to focus on a

desired end-result or goal.

o Motivation fuels the persistence needed

to exhibit sustained effort on a task.

o In general, the word motivation refers to getting

someone moving. When we motivate ourselves or

someone else, we develop incentives or we set up
conditions that start or stop behavior. 194
2. Classification of
Motivation
Motivation can be classified into two broad
categories:-
A. Intrinsic Vs. Extrinsic
Motivation
B. Primary Vs. Secondary
Motivation

195
A. Intrinsic Vs. Extrinsic
Motivation
A.1.Intrinsic(internally-oriented)
Motivation:
 is a motivation to engage in an activity

for its own sake.

 Example:- Intrinsically motivated
learners study hard because studying is
viewed as enjoying or worthwhile by
itself. 196
A.2. Extrinsic (Externally-Oriented)
 refers to a motivation to engage in an
activity as a means to achieve an end. It is
based on external rewards, obligations or
similar factors, not on the inherent
satisfaction of a task or activity.
 Example:- Extrinsically motivated learners

may study hard for a test because they

believe studying will lead to a high test
score, teacher compliments, a good grade
197

in the class…
B. Primary Vs. Secondary
Motivation

B.1. Primary Motives:-

 Are those that are part of the biological

make up of the organism.

 They are based on physiological needs.

Primary needs are homeostasis- which is

the tendency of the body to maintain itself
in a stable condition with regard to the
physiological process.
198
 Examples: hunger, thirst, sleep…
B.2. Secondary Motives

 refers to a motivation that is not naturally

given, but that arises only through the

organism's interaction with the
environment.
 Secondary motives are also known as
acquired motives (since they are acquired
through individual experience) or social
motives (because they all learned in the
social environment and usually involve
199

other people).
Conti…

Examples of secondary Motivation:

Addictions, anxiety, generosity,
achievement, and all social motives for
doing things.

200
 Approaches to motivation (theories of
motivation)

a) Instinct approaches to motivation

This theory focuses on the biologically
determined and innate patterns of both
humans and animals behavior is called
instincts.
Just as animals are governed by their
instincts to do things such as migrating, nest
building, mating and protecting their
territory, early researchers proposed that
human beings may also be governed by
similar instincts.
Cont.
According to this instinct theory, in
humans, the instinct to reproduce is
responsible for sexual behavior, and
the instinct for territorial protection
may be related to aggressive behavior.
The early theorists and psychologists
listed thousands of instincts in humans
including curiosity, flight (running
away), pugnacity (aggressiveness), and
acquisition (gathering possessions).
b) Drive-reduction approaches to
motivation

This approach involved the concepts of

needs and drives.
A need is a requirement of some material
(such as food or water) that is essential for
the survival of the organism.
When an organism has a need, it leads to a
psychological tension as well as physical
arousal to fulfill the need and reduce the
tension. This tension is called drive.
Cont.

In this theory, there are two kinds of

drives; primary and secondary.
Primary drives are those that involve
survival needs of the body such as
hunger and thirst, whereas acquired
(secondary) drives are those that are
learned through experience or
conditioning, such as the need for
money, social approval.
Cont.

This theory also includes the concept

of homeostasis, or the tendency of the
body to maintain a steady-state.
When there is a primary drive need,
the body is in a state of imbalance.
This stimulates behavior that brings
the body back into balance or
homeostasis.
c) Arousal approaches: beyond drive reduction
 According to arousal approaches to
motivation, each person tries to maintain a
certain level of stimulation and activity.
 As with the drive-reduction model, this
approach suggests that if our stimulation and
activity levels become too high, we try to
reduce them.
 But, in contrast to the drive-reduction
perspective, the arousal approach also suggests
that if levels of stimulation and activity are too
low, we will try to increase them by seeking
stimulation.
d) Incentiveapproaches: motivation’s pull
Incentive approaches to motivation suggest that
motivation stems from the desire to attain
external rewards, known as incentives.
Many psychologists believe that the internal
drives proposed by drive-reduction theory work
in a cycle with the external incentives of incentive
theory to ―push‖ and ―pull‖ behavior,
respectively.
Hence, at the same time that we seek to satisfy
our underlying hunger needs (the push of drive-
reduction theory), we are drawn to food that
appears very appetizing (the pull of incentive
theory).
e) Cognitive Approaches: the thoughts
behind motivation
Cognitive approaches to motivation
suggest that motivation is a result of
people’s thoughts, beliefs, expectations,
and goals.
For instance, the degree to which people
are motivated to study for a test is based
on their expectation of how well studying
will pay off in terms of a good grade.
f) Humanistic approaches to motivation
The other approach to the study of
motivation is the humanistic approach
which is based on the work of Abraham
Maslow.
Maslow suggested that human behavior is
influenced by a hierarchy, or ranking, of
five classes of needs, or motives. He said
that needs at the lowest level of the
hierarchy must be at least partially
satisfied before people can be motivated
by the ones at higher levels.
Cont…

 There are two hierarchy of needs theory

– Deficit principle
• A satisfied need is not a motivator of behavior.

– Progression principle
• A need at one level does not become activated until
the next lower-level need is satisfied.

211
Conti…
Opportunities for satisfaction in Maslow’s
hierarchy of human needs.

212
Frustration and Conflict of Motives
 Frustration refers to to the blocking of any goal
directed behaviour.
 If motives are frustrated, or blocked, emotional
feelings and behaviour often result. People who
cannot achieve their important goals feel
depressed, fearful, anxious, guilty, or angry.
Sources of Frustration
 Environmental forces: Environmental factors
can frustrate the satisfaction of motives by
making it difficult or impossible for a person to
attain a goal. Example lack of money, teacher,
parent, police, etc.
Cont.…
 Personal inadequacies: Setting unattainable goals can
be important sources of frustration. People are often
frustrated because they aspire to goals beyond their
capacity to perform.
 Conflict of motives: Conflict exists whenever a person
has incompatible or opposing goals.
 The frustration comes from being unable to satisfy all
the goals.
 Whatever goal the person decides to satisfy, there will
be frustration, most likely preceded by turmoil
(confuse disturbance), doubt, and vacillation (unable
to decide).
 Example: Aggression and social approval are in
conflict (Why?) 214
Motivational Conflict
 Of the three general sources of frustration described
above the one that often produces the most persistent and
deep-seated frustration in many individuals is
motivational conflict/ conflict of motives.
 There are about four basic kinds of motivational conflicts.
1. Approach- Approach Conflict
 Occurs when one is simultaneously/ equally attracted to
two or more desirable goals/ outcomes.
 Generally, such conflicts cause little distress and are easily
resolved.
 The reason is that although we must choose one
alternative now, we can often obtain the other at a later
time or give up it.
E.g. attracted to two depts., attracted to huger and sleep
 2. Avoidance- Avoidance Conflict
 This conflict occurs when we are motivated to avoid
each of two (or more) equally unattractive choices, but
must choose one.
 Avoidance- avoidance conflicts tend to involve a great
deal of vacillation and hesitation.
 Moving closer to one of the unattractive choices
increases our discomfort and leads us to retreat.
 This retreat brings us closer to the other unattractive
alternative, and we retreat in the opposite direction.
 Example: Studying hard or Failure, Working job we
dislike or losing income.
 Such conflicts are capsuled in the saying, “caught
between the devil and the deep blue sea.”
216
3. Approach-avoidance conflict
 This kind of conflict occurs when a person is
motivated to both approach and avoid the same goal
object.
 In these kinds of conflicts both attraction and
repulsion are typically strongest when you are
nearest the goal.
 The closer you are to something appealing, the
stronger your desire to approach it; but the closer
you are, the negative valence becomes stronger and
you desire to flee.
 In such cases people reach the goal but much more
slowly and hesitantly than they would have without
the negative valence.
 Until the goal is reached there is frustration. 217
Cont.…
 Even after the goal is reached, an individual may feel
uneasy because of the negative valence attached to it.
 Whenever a person is frustrated by not reaching it at all,
emotional reactions such as fear, anger, and resentment
commonly accompany approach avoidance conflicts.
E.g. Getting married or losing her job or marriage in
itself.
4. Multiple approach-avoidance conflicts
 Such conflicts are the ones we most often face in life.
 These involve situations in which several options exist,
with each one containing both positive and negative
elements.
 Not surprisingly these are the hardest to resolve and the
most stressful. E.g. Living in countryside or in city 218
Emotion

219
Can You Label These Emotions?

220
 Emotion
Emotion:
- A state of arousal involving facial and
body changes, brain activation,
cognitive appraisals, subjective
feelings, and tendencies toward action,
all shaped by cultural rules.
- Subjective experiences that arise
spontaneously and unconsciously in
response to the environment around us.
221
 Cont.

It can be defined as the “feeling” aspect

of consciousness, characterized by certain
physical arousal, certain behavior that
reveals the feeling to the outside world,
and an inner awareness of feelings.
Thus, from this short definition, we can
understand that there are three elements
of emotion: the physiology, behavior, and
subjective experience.
Cont.
 The physiology of emotion - when a person
experiences an emotion, there is physical arousal
created by the sympathetic nervous system.
The heart rate increases, breathing becomes
more rapid, the pupils of the eye dilate, and
the mouth may become dry.
 The behavior of emotion- tells us how people
behave in the grip of an emotion.
There are facial expressions, body movements, and
actions that indicate to others how a person feels.
Frowns, smiles, and sad expressions combine with
hand gestures, the turning of one’s body, and spoken
words to produce an understanding of emotion.
 Cont.

 Subjective experience or labeling emotion-is the

third component of emotion and it involves
interpreting the subjective feeling by giving it a
label: anger, fear, disgust, happiness, sadness,
shame, interest, surprise and so on.
 Another way of labeling this component is to call
it the ―cognitive component, because the
labeling process is a matter of retrieving
memories of previous similar experiences,
perceiving the context of the emotion, and
coming up with a solution- a label.
Emotion (Conti…)

How can we know emotion in others?

 Through non-verbal cues such as facial
expressions, eye-contact, body movements
and posture, and touching.

225
 Purposes of Emotion
 Arousal
Arousal – get us ready to
make a needed response
(motivate studying for a
test) or Fight or Flight
 Communication: make our
needs/wants known to
others, or our intentions
(what might you do if you
are really frustrated?
Punch/hit a wall, yell at
226
someone) The Yerkes-Dodson La
 Theories of Emotion

 Does your heart pound because you are

afraid... or are you afraid because
you feel your heart pounding?
 1. James-Lange Theory of Emotion

 Experience of emotion is awareness of

physiological responses to emotion-
arousing stimuli
 Emotion arises from physiological arousal
Fear
Sight of Pounding
(emotion)
oncoming heart
car (arousal)
(perception of
stimulus)
 2. Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion

Pounding
heart  Emotion-arousing
(arousal)
Sight of
oncoming
stimuli
car simultaneously
(perception of
stimulus) trigger:
 physiological
Fear responses
(emotion)
 subjective
experience of
emotion
 3. Schachter and Singer Two-Factor

and Cognitive Arousal Theory

 To experience
Pounding
heart emotion one
(arousal)
Sight of Fear must:
oncoming (emotion)
car  be physically
(perception of
stimulus)
aroused
 cognitively label

Cognitive
the arousal
label That is:
“I’m afraid” Event- arousal +
reasoning-emotion
 4. Lazarus Theory
 Lazarus Theory states that a thought must come
before any emotion or physiological arousal.
 In other words, you must first think about your
situation before you can experience an emotion.
EXAMPLE: You are walking down a dark alley late at
night. You hear footsteps behind you and you think it
may be a robber so you begin to tremble, your heart
beats faster, and your breathing deepens and at the
same time experience fear.

EVENT _____Thought _____physical arousal + emotion

231
 5. Facial Feedback Theory
 According to the facial feedback theory, emotion
is the experience of changes in our facial
muscles.
 In other words, when we smile, we then
experience pleasure, or happiness. When we
frown, we then experience sadness.
 It is the changes in our facial muscles that cue
our brains and provide the basis of our
emotions.
 Just as there are an unlimited number of muscle
configurations in our face, so too are there a
seemingly unlimited number of emotions. 232
Cont..
EXAMPLE: You are walking down a dark alley
late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and
your eyes widen, your teeth clench and your brain
interprets these facial changes as the expression of
fear. Therefore you experience the emotion of fear.

Event_______ Facial Changes _______ Emotion

233
UNIT SIX

PERSONALITY
Learning Outcomes
After completion of this chapter, you will be able to:

 Define personality

 Discuss the natures of psychoanalytic theory

 Identify the structures of personality

 Explain psychological defense mechanisms

 Explain the essence of the trait theory of personality

 Discuss the five factor model of personality

 Explain the essence of humanistic theory of personality

Defining Some Terms
• Personality: A person’s unique and relatively stable
behavior patterns; the consistency of who you are, have
been, and will become
• Character: Personal characteristics that have been judged
or evaluated
• Temperament: Hereditary aspects of personality,
including sensitivity, moods, irritability, and adaptability
• Personality Trait: Stable qualities that a person shows in
most situations
• Personality Type: People who have several traits in
common
What is personality?
Personality- can be defined as the distinctive and
characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and
behavior that make up an individual’s personal
style of interacting with the physical and social
environment.

Personality - A relatively stable set of characteristics

that influences an individual’s behavior
Cont.
 Personality is the pattern of enduring characteristics that
produce consistency and individuality in a given person.

 Personality encompasses the behaviors that make each

of us unique and that differentiate us from others.

 It is also personality that leads us to act consistently in

different situations and over extended periods of time.
6.2. Theories of Personality

 Psychoanalytic Theory

 Trait Theory

 Humanistic Theory
 6.2.1. The psychoanalytic theory of personality

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality: Mapping

the Unconscious Mind

 Sigmund Freud, an Austrian physician, developed

psychoanalytic theory in the early 1900s.

 According to Freud’s theory, conscious experience is only a

small part of our psychological makeup and experience.

 He argued that much of our behavior is motivated by the

unconscious, a part of the personality that contains the
memories, knowledge, beliefs, feelings, urges, drives, and
instincts of which the individual is not aware.
Cont.
– According to Freud, personality is formed within
ourselves, arising from basic inborn needs, drives,
and characteristics.

– Psychodynamic Theories: Focus on the inner

workings of personality, especially internal conflicts
and struggles

He argued that people are in constant conflict between

their biological urges (drives) and the need to tame them.

STRUCTURING PERSONALITY

In Freud's view, personality has three parts which

serves a different function and develops at different

times:
I. Id - Unconscious
II. Ego - unconscious, preconscious, conscious
III. Superego - unconscious, preconscious, conscious

 According to Freud, the way these three parts of

personality interact with one another determines the
personality of an individual.
Psychoanalytic Personality Structure
 Freud’s “iceberg”
idea of the mind’s
structure
 Abstract concepts
Preconscious
for understanding
the mind’s conflicts
between pleasure-
seeking and social
restraint
Freud’s Psychoanalysis: The ID

Operates according to the pleasure principle

–Present from birth

–the unorganized, inborn part of personality whose purpose is to
immediately reduce tensions relating to
– Primitive impulses.
• basic needs and wants e.g. hunger, sex, aggression

– 2 competing instincts:
• Life (sexual) - libido
• Death (aggressive)
-Unconscious
 Freud’s Psychoanalysis: The Ego

Operates according to the reality principle

– Arises in first 3 years of life

–Mediates between ID and Superego

–Rational part of mind

• you can’t always get what you want
– Floats between all 3 levels of consciousness
Freud’s Psychoanalysis:
The Superego
Moral Conscience

– Develops around age 5

• At end of Phallic Stage
–Stores and enforces rules
• Inner voice that tells you not to do something or
that what you did was wrong
–2 subsystems:
• Ego Ideal = parents approve/value
• Conscience = parents disapproval
Freud’s Psychoanalysis: Defense mechanisms

 Defense mechanism reduce/redirect anxiety by distorting

reality
1. Denial:- Most primitive; refusing to believe, denying
reality; usually occurs with death and illness.
- claiming and believing that something which is actually
true is false.

2. Repression : - pushing unacceptable and anxiety-producing

thoughts into the unconscious; involves intentional forgetting
but not consciously done; repressed material can be memories
or unacceptable impulses.
Cont.
3. Projection :- attributing one’s own unacceptable feelings
or beliefs to others;
Example :- An employee at a store, tempted to steal some
merchandise, suspects that other employees are stealing.

4. Rationalization : -Justifying personal actions by giving

“rational” but false reasons for them

248
5. Reaction Formation: Impulses are repressed and the
opposite behavior is exaggerated.
- replacing an anxiety-producing feeling with its exact

opposite, typically going overboard; repressed thoughts

appear as mirror opposites.

6.Regression: involves reverting to immature behaviors that

have relieved anxiety in the past.
-acting in ways characteristic of earlier life stages of
personality
Example: a girl/a boy who has just entered school may go back
Cont.
7. Displacement: -expressing feelings toward a person who
is less threatening than the person who is the true target of
those feelings.

Example:- A husband, angry at the way his boss treated him,

screams at his children.

8. Sublimation: substitute socially acceptable behavior for

unacceptable impulses.
Playing video games instead of getting in a fight.
6.2.2. The trait theory of personality
Trait Theory - understand individuals by breaking down
behavior patterns into observable traits
The trait approach to personality makes three main
assumptions:
1. Personality traits are relatively stable, and therefore
predictable, over time.

2. Personality traits are relatively stable across situations.

3. People differ in how much of a particular personality trait

they possess; no two people are exactly alike on all traits.
The result is an endless variety of unique personalities.
the “Big Five” Personality Factors

• Openness to Experience
• Conscientious
• Extroversion
• Agreeableness
• Neuroticism
The five-factor model / the Big Five theory (OCEAN)

1. Openness to experience:- refers to a person‘s

willingness to try new things and be open to new
experiences
• Open = Curiosity, imaginative, creative
• Resistant = Conforming, predictable
2. Conscientiousness :- refers the tendency to control
impulse and act in socially acceptable ways
 Conscientious = Responsible, persevering, self-disciplined
 Impulsive = Quick to give up, fickle, careless

3. Extroversion:- divided into two personality types

• Extroversion = Outgoing – talkative, sociable,
adventurous
• Introversion = Shy – silent, reclusive, cautious
Cont.
4. Agreeableness:-refers to the basic emotional style of a
person.
• Agreeable = Good-natured, cooperative, secure
• Antagonistic = Irritable, abrasive, suspicious,
jealous
5. Neuroticism:- refers to emotional instability or stability.
• Neurotic = anxious, impulsive, worrier,
emotionally negative
• Emotionally stable = only has those feelings
when the circumstances dictate
6.2.3. Humanistic theory of personality
(Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow )
Humanistic Theories: Focus on private, subjective
experience and personal growth

 Humans are free and basically good.

 Humans are inner-directed.

 Everyone has the potential for healthy growth.

 Health growth involves Self actualization:

 Given the right environmental conditions,

we can reach our full potential
Cont.
Congruence :- this is displayed by fully functioning
people and is a harmony between the image they project
to others and their true feelings or wishes.
 To become fully functioning we need:
 Unconditional positive regard
 A situation in which the acceptance and love
one receives from significant others is unqualified, no
strings attached
Cont.
• Fully Functioning Person: Lives in harmony with his/her
deepest feelings and impulses
• Self: Flexible and changing perception of one’s identity
• Self-Image: Total subjective perception of your body and
personality
• Incongruence: Exists when there is a discrepancy between
one’s experiences and self-image
• Positive Self-Regard: Thinking of oneself as a good,
lovable, worthwhile person
• Unconditional Positive Regard: Unshakable love and
approval
 components of the self-concept

Self-concept: our image or perception of ourselves.

1. The real self (one‘s actual perception of

characteristics, traits, and abilities that form the basis
of the striving for self-actualization) and

2. The ideal self (the perception of what one should be or

would like to be). e.g. From parents.
Cont.
Cont.

 Incongruence occurs when there is a mismatch between

any of these three entities: the ideal self (the person you
would like to be), self-image (the person you think you
are), and the true self (the person you actually are).

 Self-esteem suffers when there is a large difference

between one’s ideal self and self-image.

 Anxiety and defensiveness are common when the self-

260
image does not match the true self.