Perception: depends on complex functions of the nervous system, but subjectively seems mostly effortless because this processing

happens outside conscious awareness.[2] Cognition : In science, cognition is a group of mental processes that includes attention, memory, producing and understanding languages. Cognition is a faculty for the processing of information, applying knowledge, and changing preferences. Cognition, or cognitive processes, can be natural or artificial, conscious or unconscious. uage, solving problems, and making decisions. Motivation is the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal and elicits, controls, and sustains certain goal directed behaviors. Phenomenology is an approach to psychological subject matter that has its roots in the philosophical work of Edmund Husserl. "Personality" can be defined as a dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by a person that uniquely influences his or her cognitions, emotions, motivations, and behaviors in various situations. It is the response of the system or organism to various stimuli or inputs, whether internal or external, conscious or subconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary. The unconscious mind (or the unconscious) consists of the processes in the mind that occur automatically and are not available to introspection, and include thought processes, memory, affect, and motivation. Structuralism can be defined as psychology as the study of the elements of consciousness. The idea is that conscious experience can be broken down into basic conscious elements, much as a physical phenomenon can be viewed as consisting of chemical structures, that can in turn be broken down into basic elements. Functionalists sought to explain the mental processes in a more systematic and accurate manner. Rather than focusing on the elements of consciousness, functionalists focused on the purpose of consciousness and behavior. Functionalism also emphasized individual differences, which had a profound impact on education. Behaviorism, also known as behavioral psychology, is a theory of learning based upon the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning. Conditioning occurs through interaction with the environment. Behaviorists believe that our responses to environmental stimuli shapes our

behaviors.According to behaviorism, behavior can be studied in a systematic and observable manner with no consideration of internal mental states. This school of thought suggests that only observable behaviors should be studied, since internal states such as cognitions, emotions and moods are too subjective. Psychoanalysis, developed by Sigmund Freud, is a rather detailed and complicated theory of personality and motivation - of what makes people do what they do. It is also a type of therapy. Simply put, psychoanalysis involves the exploration of a persons unconscious thought processes through methods such as free association saying whatever comes to mind and dream analysis. The goal is to find and overcome those unconscious areas of resistance that block mental growth and cause mental illnesses. Humanistic psychology was instead focused on each individual's potential and stressed the importance of growth and selfactualization. The fundamental belief of humanistic psychology is that people are innately good and that mental and social problems result from deviations from this natural tendency. Gestalt psychology or gestaltism (German: Gestalt "essence or shape of an entity's complete form") is a theory of mind and brain of the Berlin School; the operational principle of gestalt psychology is that the brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies. The principle maintains that the human eye sees objects in their entirety before perceiving their individual parts. Gestalt psychologists stipulate that perception is the product of complex interactions among various stimuli. Contrary to the behaviorist approach to understanding the elements of cognitive processes, gestalt psychologists sought to understand their organization (Carlson and Heth, 2010). The gestalt effect is the form-generating capability of our senses, particularly with respect to the visual recognition of figures and whole forms instead of just a collection of simple lines and curves. In psychology, gestaltism is often opposed to structuralism. The phrase "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts" is often used when explaining gestalt theory,[1] though this is a mistranslation of Kurt Koffka's original phrase, "The whole is other than the sum of the parts".[2] Gestalt theory allows for the breakup of elements from the whole situation into what it really is.[3] The trait approach to personality is one of the major theoretical areas in the study of personality. The trait theory suggests that individual personalities are composed broad dispositions. Consider how you would describe the personality of a close friend. Chances are that you would list a number of traits, such as outgoing, kind and even-tempered. A trait can be thought of as

a relatively stable characteristic that causes individuals to behave in certain ways.Unlike many other theories of personality, such as psychoanalytic or humanistic theories, the trait approach to personality is focused on differences between individuals. The combination and interaction of various traits forms a personality that is unique to each individual. Trait theory is focused on identifying and measuring these individual personality characteristics. The experimental method involves manipulating one variable to determine if changes in one variable cause changes in another variable. This method relies on controlled methods, random assignment and the manipulation of variables to test a hypothesis. Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain. Behavioral neuroscience, also known as biological psychology,[1] biopsychology, or psychobiology[2] is the application of the principles of biology (in particular neurobiology), to the study of physiological, genetic, and developmental mechanisms of behavior in human and non-human animals. It typically investigates at the level of nerves, neurotransmitters, brain circuitry and the basic biological processes that underlie normal and abnormal behaviocomplementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories in particular cases. Developmental psychology is the scientific study of changes that occur in human beings over the course of their life span. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development, aging, and the entire life span. This field examines change across a broad range of topics including motor skills and other psychophysiological processes; cognitive development involving areas such as problem solving, moral understanding, and conceptual understanding; language acquisition; social, personality, and emotional development; and self-concept and identity formation. Evolutionary psychology (EP) is an approach in the social and natural sciences that examines psychological traits such as memory, perception, and language from a modern evolutionary perspective. Cognitive neuroscience is an academic field concerned with the scientific study of biological substrates underlying cognition,[1] with a specific focus on the neural substrates of mental processes. It addresses the questions of how psychological/cognitive functions are produced by the brain. Cultural psychology is a field of psychology which assumes the idea that

culture and mind are inseparable, and that psychological theories grounded in one culture are likely to be limited in applicability when applied to a different culture. Positive psychologists seek "to find and nurture genius and talent", and "to make normal life more fulfilling",[2] not simply to treat mental illness. The field is intended to complement, not to replace traditional psychology. It does not seek to deny the importance of studying how things go wrong, but rather to emphasize the importance of using the scientific method to determine how things go right. This field brings attention to the possibility that focusing only on the disorder itself would result in a partial concept of the patient's condition. Intimacy: This term comes from Erikson's theory of development, and refers to a person's ability form close, loving relationships, which he stated is the primary developmental task of early adulthood. You often hear women claim that men are unable to commit, are afraid of commitment, etc...Erikson would claim (if this absurd generalization were even remotely true) that this is because men have not developed intimacy yet

Read more: http://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php? Numinous was an important concept in the writings of Carl Jung and C. S. Lewis.It may be viewed as the intense feeling of unknowingly knowing that there is something which cannot be seen. This knowing can befall or overcome a person at any time and in any place in a cathedral; next to a silent stream; on a lonely road; early in the morning or in the face of a beautiful sunset. Similarly unpleasant or frightening scenes or experiences can lead to a sense of an unseen presence of ghosts, evil spirits or a general sense of the presence of evil. Visions or hallucinations of god, gods, the devil or devils can also happen. Idealism asserts that everything we experience is of a mental nature, or that we can only have direct, immediate knowledge of the contents of our mind, and can never directly know or experience an external object itself. Therefore, Idealism asserts that only minds and the objects of mind exist, and everything is composed of mental realities (e.g., thoughts, feelings, perceptions, ideas, or will)term=Intimacy#ixzz259MZiYxt Legalism starts with the premise that human nature is evi behaviour that is observed is called "overt behaviour". One of the best-known aspects of behavioral learning theory is classical conditioning. Discovered by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, classical

conditioning is a learning process that occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus.It's important to note that classical conditioning involves placing a neutral signal before a naturally occurring reflex. In Pavlov's classic experiment with dogs, the neutral signal was the sound of a tone and the naturally occurring reflex was salivating in response to food. Premack's principle, or the relativity theory of reinforcement, states that more probable behaviors will reinforce less probable behaviors.For example, most children like to watch television--this is a behavior that happens reliably (they learn to like TV all on their own and it is something they will do willingly without any interference from their parents)--and parents often use this behavior to reinforce something children like to do less such as washing dishes. So, some parents might condition children to wash dishes by rewarding dish washing with watching television

Read more: http://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Premack %20Principle#ixzz26jsSrdSk Acquisition refers to the first stages of learning when a response is established. In classical conditioning, it refers to the period of time when the stimulus comes to evoke the conditioned response. In psychology, extinction refers to the gradual weakening of a conditioned response that results in the behavior decreasing or disappearing.Extinction is when the occurrences of a conditioned response decrease or disappear. In classical conditioning, this happens when a conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with an unconditioned stimulus. For example, if the smell of food (the unconditioned stimulus) had been paired with the sound of a whistle (the conditioned stimulus), it would eventually come to evoke the conditioned response of hunger. However, if the unconditioned stimulus (the smell of food) were no longer paired with the conditioned stimulus (the whistle), eventually the conditioned response (hunger) would disappear. In classical conditioning, the reappearance of the conditioned response after a rest period or period of lessened response. If the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus are no longer associated, extinction will occur very rapidly after a spontaneous recovery. For example, in Ivan Pavlov's classic experiment, dogs were conditioned to salivate to the sound of a tone. Pavlov also noted that no longer pairing the tone with the presentation of food led to extinction of the salivation response. However, after a two hour rest period, the salivation response suddenly reappeared when the tone was presented.

Spontaneous recovery demonstrates that extinction is not the same thing as unlearning. While the response might disappear, that does not meant that it has been forgotten or eliminated. Sponteneous Recovery : Spontaneous Recovery is the reappearance of the conditioned response after a rest period or period of lessened response. If the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus are no longer associated, extinction will occur very rapidly after a spontaneous recovery. Stimulus Generalization : Stimulus Generalization is the tendency for the conditioned stimulus to evoke similar responses after the response has been conditioned. For example, if a child has been conditioned to fear a stuffed white rabbit, the child will exhibit fear of objects similar to the conditioned stimulus. Discrimination : Discrimination is the ability to differentiate between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that have not been paired with an unconditioned stimulus. For example, if a bell tone were the conditioned stimulus, discrimination would involve being able to tell the difference between the bell tone and other similar sounds. Shaping is a form of operant conditioning in which the increasingly accurate approximations of a desired response are reinforced. nativism : much of human's cognitive abilities are inborn. empricism: our abilities are result of our learning from experiences In vivo exposure .In vivo exposure refers to the direct confrontation of feared objects, activities, or situations by a patient. a person with social anxiety disorder who fears public speaking may be instructed to directly confront those fears by giving a speech. Aversion therapy is a form of treatment that utilizes behavioral principles to eliminate unwanted behavior. In this therapeutic method, the unwanted stimulus is repeatedly paired with discomfort. The goal of the conditioning process is to make the individual associate the stimulus with unpleasant or uncomfortable sensations.During aversion therapy, the client may be asked to think of or engage in the behavior they enjoy while at the same time being exposed to something unpleasant such as a bad taste, a foul smell or even mild electric shocks. Once the unpleasant feelings become associated with the behavior, the hope is that the unwanted behaviors or actions will begin to decrease in frequency or stop entirely. Uses of Aversion Therapy : Bad habits ,Addictions ,Alcoholism Flooding is a form of behavior therapy and based on the principles of

respondent conditioning. It is sometimes referred to as exposure therapy or prolonged exposure therapy. As a psychotherapeutic technique, it is used to treat phobia and anxiety disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder. It works by exposing the patient to their painful memories,[1] with the goal of reintegrating their repressed emotions with their current awareness The theory considers the perception of the whole situation(perception means the look of a things which are visualisied by us),OR, The situation / condition as a total handle by the learner and the solution comes out from our mind after learning the situation.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_Kohler's_insight_theory#ixzz28QY d0yi8 The Zeigarnik Effect : In psychology, the Zeigarnik effect states that people remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks.Soviet psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik first studied the phenomenon after her professor, Gestalt psychologist Kurt Lewin, noticed that a waiter had better recollections of still unpaid orders. field theory, in psychology, conceptual model of human behaviour developed by German American psychologist Kurt Lewin, who was closely allied with the Gestalt psychologists. Lewins work went far beyond the orthodox Gestalt concerns of perception and learning; his theory emphasized an individuals needs, personality, and motivating forces. Although the former concentrated on the physiological aspects of human behaviour, Lewin treated psychology as a social science.Lewin drew from physics and mathematics to construct his theory. From physics he (like the Gestaltists) borrowed the concept of the field, positing a psychological field, or life space, as the locus of a persons experiences and needs. The life space becomes increasingly differentiated as experiences accrue. Lewin adapted a branch of geometry known as topology to map the spatial relationships of goals and solutions contained in regions within a life space. His mathematical representation of life space also accounted for directions of pathways toward a goal and amount of attraction or repulsion toward a given object in the space. He also postulated that persons strive to maintain equilibrium with their environment; a tension (need) will stimulate locomotion (activity) to reinstate the equilibrium. Lewin adapted his field theory to the area of social psychology through his theory of group dynamics. construct theory :He inferred that psychology as a science was an attempt

to set in order the facts of human experience so that the psychologist could make good predictions about what people will do when confronted by new situations. He explicitly stated that each individual's task in understanding their personal psychology is to put in order the facts of his or her own experience. Then each of us, like the scientist, is to test the accuracy of that constructed knowledge by performing those actions the constructs suggest. If the results of our actions are in line with what the knowledge predicted then we have done a good job of finding the order in our personal experience. If not, then we can modify the construct: our interpretations or our predictions or both. A schema (plural schemata or schemas), in psychology and cognitive science, describes an organized pattern of thought or behavior. It can also be described as a mental structure of pre-conceived ideas, a framework representing some aspect of the world, or a system of organizing and perceiving new information. Reciprocal determinism is the theory set forth by psychologist Albert Bandura that a person's behavior both influences and is influenced by personal factors and the social environment. Bandura accepts the possibility of an individual's behavior being conditioned through the use of consequences. At the same time he asserts that a person's behavior (and personal factors, such as cognitive skills or attitudes) can impact the environment.[1] These skill sets result in an under- or overcompensated ego that, for all creative purposes are too strong or too weak to focus on pure outcome. As an example, Bandura's reciprocal determinism could occur when a child is acting out in school. The child doesn't like going to school; therefore, he/she acts out in class. This results in teachers and administrators of the school disliking having the child around. When confronted by the situation, the child admits he/she hates school and other peers don't like him/her. This results in the child acting inappropriately, forcing the administrators who dislike having him/her around to create a more restrictive environment for children of this stature. Each behavioral and environmental factor coincides with the child and so forth resulting in a continuous battle on all three levels. Reciprocal determinism is the idea that behavior is controlled or determined by the individual, through cognitive processes, and by the environment, through external social stimulus events. The basis of reciprocal determinism should transform individual behavior by allowing subjective thought processes transparency when contrasted with cognitive, environmental, and external social stimulus events modeling therapy The theory is that, if you can get someone with a

psychological disorder to observe someone dealing with the same issues in a more productive fashion, the first person will learn by modeling the second. Environmental planning. Taking your lead from your behavioral charts and diaries, you can begin to alter your environment. For example, you can remove or avoid some of those cues that lead to your bad behaviors: Put away the ashtrays, drink tea instead of coffee, divorce that smoking partner.... You can find the time and place best suited for the good alternative behaviors: When and where do you find you study best? And so on. Cardinal Traits: Traits that dominate an individuals whole life, often to the point that the person becomes known specifically for these traits. People with such personalities often become so known for these traits that their names are often synonymous with these qualities. Consider the origin and meaning of the following descriptive terms: Freudian, Machiavellian, narcissism, Don Juan, Christ-like, etc. Allport suggested that cardinal traits are rare and tend to develop later in life.2 Central Traits: These are the general characteristics that form the basic foundations of personality. These central traits, while not as dominating as cardinal traits, are the major characteristics you might use to describe another person. Terms such as intelligent, honest, shy and anxious are considered central traits. Secondary Traits: These are the traits that are sometimes related to attitudes or preferences and often appear only in certain situations or under specific circumstances. Some examples would be getting anxious when speaking to a group or impatient while waiting in line. proprium: Aristotelian thought, a predicable property common to all members of a kind but not constituting part of the definition of that kind. Psychopathology is the study of mental illness, mental distress, and abnormal/maladaptive behavior. Neuroticism is a fundamental personality trait in the study of psychology, manifested by characteristics of anxiety, moodiness, worry, envy and jealousy.[1] Individuals who score high on neuroticism are more likely than the average to experience such feelings as anxiety, anger, envy, guilt, and depressed mood.[2] They respond more poorly to environmental stress, and are more likely to interpret ordinary situations as threatening, and minor frustrations as hopelessly difficult. They are often self-conscious and shy, and they may have trouble controlling urges and delaying gratification. Neuroticism is a risk factor for the "internalizing" mental disorders such as phobia, depression, panic disorder, and other anxiety disorders

MAJOR Maslow had an optimistic and humanistic view of humanity[6]. He regarded peoples innate drive towards self-actualization beneficial to society as a whole[7]. In Maslows view, once peoples basic needs were met, they were free to explore their abilities and strive to further develop those innate abilities[7]. Driven by Metamotivation people are more spontaneous and free to be themselves, while exploring their ultimate potentials and creating a fulfilled life.