UNDERSTANDING BEHAVIOUR

 SENSATION, SENSE ORGANS/ SPECIAL ORGANS

SENSATION:

 Sensations - the passive process of bringing information from the outside world into the
body and to the brain.
 Sensation is gathering information from the environment via your sense.
 Process of receiving information via our five senses, which can then be experienced and
interpreted by the brain.
 Source is the stimuli obtained from sensory organs.
 Results in Perception.

SENSE ORGANS/ SPECIAL ORGANS

 Sensation occurs when special receptors in the sense organs—the eyes, ears, nose, skin, and
taste buds—are activated, allowing various forms of outside stimuli to become neural signals
in the brain.
 (This process of converting outside stimuli, such as light, into neural activity is called
transduction.)
 Senses are important because they help us understand the environment around us.
 Stimuli are signals that trigger the senses.
EYES (VISION):
The process of perceiving the objects through the eyes. Permits us see
images.
We see the characteristics by their colors or shapes, distance, read and
see other things.
EARS (HEARING):
The process by which humans use their ears to detect and perceive
sounds.
Ears are important for hearing and for controlling a sense of position and
balance.
NOSE (SMELL)
Our nose, containing the nostrils used for breathing and smelling.
TONGUE (TASTE)
To taste food.
To keep food between the teeth during chewing.
To help swallowing.
To help speaking.
TOUCH
Touch is thought to be the first sense that human develops.
 All the sensations we feel – cold, hot, smooth, rough, pain and
vibrations.
PERCEPTION:

 The active process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting the information brought to the
brain by the senses.
 We use the term perception to refer to the ability to perceive or understand objects in the
real world.
 Perception in humans describes the process whereby sensory stimulation is translated into
organized experience.
 Perception encompasses all processes associated with the recognition, transformation and
organization of sensory information.
 Process of interpreting the information acquired through the five sense accordingly.
 Source is the information sent to the brain through sensation.
 Results in interpreting and giving meaning to the received.

FACTORS AFFECTING PERCEPTION

Factors that influence perception relate to the perceiver , perceived and situation. All these factors
are of two kinds:-
Internal(endogeneous) factors:
a) Needs and desire: An individual’s perception about stimuli is influenced by Inter alia, his
needs and desire at that time.
b) Personality : Closely relate to needs and desire is the personality of the perceiver which
affects what is attended or perceived in the given situation.
c) Experience : Experience and knowledge serve as basic for perception.
External(exogeneous) factors:
a. Size : The principle of size says that the larger the object, the more is the probability that it is
perceived. Size attract the attention of the individuals.
b. Intensity : Intensity is closely related to size. The intensity principle of attention states that the
more intense the stimuli, the more likely it is to be perceived.
c. Frequency : The frequency principle states that repeated external stimulus is more attention –
getting than a single one.
d. Contrast : As per contrast principle the external stimuli which stands out against the background
will receive more attention.
e. Status : Status held by an individual also influences his or her perception about things or events.

ATTENTION
 It is a cognitive process whereby you direct and maintain awareness of stimuli detected by
the senses and use that information to make decisions and choose responses.
 Attention is a concept studied in cognitive psychology that refers to how we actively process
specific information present in our environment.
 Attention is an active part of consciousness.
 The activity of concentrating mind on a particular matter is called attention.
 Attention is not possible in the absence of consciousness, but attention and consciousness
are not one.
 The field of consciousness is vast and attention is one of its parts.
  For example, I am reading at this time. Book, note, table, chair, etc., all this can be under my
consciousness, but my attention is on the words being read on the paper.
CONCENTRATION:

 It is the ability to sustain attention on selected stimuli for a period of time.

 Concentration can easily be broken by:
 External distractions,
 Our own thoughts and feelings,
 The intense energy demands of intense concentration
Factors that interfere with quieting the mind include:
◦ Excessive Thinking
◦ Stress,
◦ Pain,
◦ Fatigue

MEMORY

 “Memory is the process of maintaining information over time.”

 “Memory is the means by which we draw on our past experiences in order to use this
information in the present”.
 Memory is the term given to the structures and processes involved in the storage and
subsequent retrieval of information.

STAGES OF MEMORY:

1. Memory Encoding
When information comes into our memory system (from sensory input), it needs to be changed into
a form that the system can cope with, so that it can be stored.
There are three main ways in which information can be encoded (changed):
1. Visual (picture)
2. Acoustic (sound)
3. Semantic (meaning)
2. Memory Storage
This concerns the nature of memory stores, i.e., where the information is stored, how long the
memory lasts for (duration), how much can be stored at any time (capacity) and what kind of
information is held.
The way we store information affects the way we retrieve it.  There has been a significant amount of
research regarding the differences between Short Term Memory (STM ) and Long Term
Memory (LTM).
Information can only be stored for a brief duration in STM (0-30 seconds), but LTM can last a
lifetime.
3 )Memory Retrieval
This refers to getting information out storage. 
If we can’t remember something, it may be because we are unable to retrieve it. 
When we are asked to retrieve something from memory, the differences between STM and LTM
become very clear.
STM is stored and retrieved sequentially. 
For example, if a group of participants are given a list of words to remember, and then asked to
recall the fourth word on the list, participants go through the list in the order they heard it in order
to retrieve the information.
LTM is stored and retrieved by association.  This is why you can remember what you went upstairs
for if you go back to the room where you first thought about it.
TYPES OF MEMORY: 3 types
SENSORY MEMORY
Refers to an initial process that receives and holds environmental information in its raw form for a
brief period of time, from and instant to several seconds.
SHORT-TERM MEMORY ALSO CALLED WORKING-MEMORY,
Refers to another process that can hold only a limited amount of information, an average of seven
items - 2 to 30 seconds.
LONG-TERM MEMORY
Refers to the process of storing almost unlimited amounts of information over long periods of time.
METHODS TO IMPROVE IT
 Roles of Organisation
 Mnemonics: techniques which help to improve memory
 Peg-Word System: uses rhymes
 Method of Loci: Uses places
 Visual Imagery
 Key-Word System: use for remembering vocabulary
 Face-Name System: used to remember names & faces.

THINKING
The internal mental processes that make sense of our experiences.
TYPES OF THINKING:
1.Convergent thinking:
Convergent thinking proceeds on the assumption that there is one single best solution to any
problem, and also that the solution can be arrived at on the basis of the existing knowledge.
2. Divergent thinking:
Divergent" thinking may start from existing knowledge, but it proceeds in different directions and
are not limited or bound by existing knowledge
3. Critical thinking
Critical thinking assesses the worth and validity of something existent.
It involves precise, persistent, objective analysis.
When teachers try to get several learners to think convergent, they try to help them develop
common understanding.
4. Reflective thinking
Reflective thinking is normally a slow process.
It takes considerable time to work on inferring and combining by reflecting upon what we have
learnt.
This is a higher form of thinking.
5. Lateral thinking
Lateral thinking is about reasoning that is not immediately obvious and about ideas that may not be
obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic.
Lateral thinking involves discarding the obvious, leaving behind traditional modes of thought, and
throwing away preconceptions.
THEORIES OF THINKING:
1) Behaviourist Theory
Behaviourists view thinking as something that produces a measureable change in an
individual’s actions. 
Since thinking takes place as a result of reacting to external stimuli in this model, the
educator’s responsibility is to provide an environment rich in stimuli that will cause
behaviour to shift in the correct direction.
Pavlov’s famous experiment about dogs salivating when they would hear the dinner bell ring
is an example of behaviourist theory.
2) Cognitive Theory
Cognitive theorists such as Piaget and Gagne argue that thinking and learning are internal
mental actions that take place in the brain and include sensory perception, processing of
information, applying and combining information, and memory.
In this model of thinking, the teacher’s role is to structure experiences that will cause
individuals to learn through both physical and mental activities.
Cognitive theory stresses the importance of developmental readiness.
Experiments have demonstrated, for example, that children below a certain age are not yet
able to think in abstract terms; learning must be concrete or it will produce nothing but
confusion.
3) Humanist Theory
In the humanist model, the purpose of thinking is to fulfil an individual’s potential.
As such, the acts of thinking and learning are always personal, not institutional.
Also known as “whole child” theory, humanists advise that the purpose of education is to
develop a self-motivated, autonomous individual who can think and learn on his own.
Theorists such as Maslow and Rogers fall into the humanist school, which includes an
emphasis on personalised and individualised instruction and rejects the use of standard
curricula.
4) Social and Situational Theory
The fourth major model of thinking and learning is perhaps the least applied theory in
industrialised countries today.
In this model of thinking, learning occurs as a result of social interaction and the observation
of human social behaviour.
As such, learning is more of a community endeavour than an individual one.
Some social and situational theorists include the natural environment as a part of this
community of learning.
The goal of thinking under this model is to achieve full participation of individuals in their
respective communities; the environmental branch of this theory would add to that the goal
of utilizing natural resources in a responsible and renewable manner.
CONGNITION
 Study of how the mind works.
 Study of basic mental functions of the mind.
 Includes a variety of mental process: perception, pattern recognition, language, etc
LEVELS OF COGNITION
LEVEL-1: KNOWLEDGE- Recalling information.
LEVEL-2: COMPREHENSION- Understanding and Interpreting information.
LEVEL-3: APPLICATION- Applying procedure/systems/rules in specific situations.
LEVEL-4 ANALYSIS- Breaking a system down into its constituent elements.
LEVEL-5 SYNTHESIS- Bringing elements together to form a new, Coherent whole.
LEVEL-6 EVALUATION- Making Judgments/Critical Comparisons on the basis of agreed criteria.