Psycology Module Final II-1

Module for the Course Introduction to Psychology
UNIT ONE
THE ESSENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY: WHAT IT IS? AND
HOW IT IS DEVELOPED?
INTRODUCTION
 To provide you with a reasonable answer to this complex question, this
introductory chapter will take a general look at the field of psychology and psychologists.
We will trace the origin of the word “psychology”, explore the beginning of psychology
as a science, examine early and contemporary approaches to psychology and describe
research methods in psychology and identify some of psychology’s careers and areas of
specialization.
Dear students, this unit heavily emphasizes the above points indicated as a prerequisite to
know the essence of psychology. Hence, give attention to the points.
Objectives
At the end of this unit you will be able to:
 Discuss how psychology has evolved as a science of behavior and mental
processes.
 explain the meaning, approaches and functions of psychology and
 Use psychological theories and methods to explain behavior and mental
processes.
Section-1: The Roots of Psychology and its Emergence as a Science
In this section you will learn mainly about the meaning and origin of the word
“psychology”, goals and the emergence of psychology as a science.
Objectives
After studying this section, you will be able to:
 define the term psychology and how it developed
 describe the goals of psychology
 Explain the emergence of psychology as a science.
1.1 Meaning and Origin of the Word ‘Psychology’
The word ‘psychology’ is of Greek origin: ‘psyche’ can be freely translated as ‘mind’ or
‘soul’, and ‘logos’ indicates ‘study’ or ‘line of teaching’; thus we have ‘ study of the
mind’. This definition exemplifies what psychology was essentially about up to the end
of the nineteenth century. The word psychology is symbolized by the Greek letter psi (φ).
1.2 Definition of Psychology

?
What is psychology?
Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
 What is science?
1 Prepared by: Workneh Kebede (School of Psychology, AAU)

 What is the meaning of behavior?

 What is mind and mental processes?
There are three aspects to the above definition: science, behavior, and mental processes.
Let’s examine behavior first. Behavior is everything we do that can be directly observed-
two people kissing, a baby crying, sneezing are examples. Mental processes are the
thoughts, feelings and motives that each of us experiences privately, but which can not be
observed directly.
As science, psychology uses systematic methods to study behavior and mental processes.
Psychology’s methods are not casual. They are carefully planned and conducted.
1.3 Goals of Psychology
? What are the goals of psychology?
 The study of psychology, like other sciences, has four basic goals:
Describe – The first goal of psychology is to observe behavior and describe, often in
minute detail, what was observed as objectively as possible. It addresses the question,
“How do people think, feel, and act in various situations?”
Explain –While descriptions come from observable data, psychologists must go
beyond what is obvious and explain their observations. In other words, “Why did the
subject do what he or she did? Why did this behavior occur? Which factors
influenced this outcome?” are treated under explanation.
Predict – Once we know what happens, and why it happens, we can begin to
speculate what will happen in the future. There’s an old saying, which very often
holds true: "the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior."
Control – Once we know what happens, why it happens and what is likely to happen
in the future, we can exert control over it. In other words, if we know you choose
abusive partners because your father was abusive, we can assume you will choose
another abusive partner, and can therefore intervene to change this negative behavior.
Not only do psychologists attempt to control behavior, they want to do so in a
positive manner, they want to improve a person’s life, not make it worse. This is not
always the case, but it should always be the intention.
?
Compare and contrast the goals of psychology with the goals of science?
1.4 The Emergence of Psychology as a Science

1.4.1. The Beginning
? When did psychology emerge as a science?
Pre- Scientific Psychology

Rene Descartes (1596-1650), the French philosopher, had an important influence on the
development of psychology as a discipline distinct from philosophy. Before Descartes,

human beings tended to be viewed by philosophers as unique, mysterious products of
God’s will, whose mental life was beyond rational explanation. Influenced by scientific
discoveries of the time in the field of medicine, Descartes adopted analytical stance. He
attempted to view a human beings as a machine which could be studied and whose
workings could be understood and explained. In his theory of interactive dualism, he
made a distinction between the mind (thinking, remembering, knowing) and the body
(physiological processes). The interaction of mind and body, he believed, took place in
the brain and the seat of the mind was narrowed down to the pineal gland, a structure in
the brain which serves to initiate hormonal activity.
? Do you agree or disagree with the explanation of Descartes?
The 17th century also saw the birth of the British Empiricist Movement, led by a group of
philosophers, the most notable of whom were John Lock and Thomas Hobbes. The
empiricists attempted to make sense of the human mind through the use of systematic and
objective methods of study, rather than through reasoning or intuition. Mental life, they
contended, was composed of ‘ideas’ which arose from sensory experience and entered
the mind by means of perception. In contrast to Descartes, who believed that some ideas
are present at birth, the empiricists saw the development of the mind as arising from
experiences of and interaction with the environment.
In the early part of the 19th century there was a strong upsurge of philosophical opinion
which contended that the study of human mental activity was worthy of attention in its
own right outside of the discipline of philosophy. This move was greatly advanced by the
work of a group of German physiologists - Weber who used weights to study muscle
sense, Helmholz (1982) who made an outstanding contribution to the study of vision &
hearing and Fechner (1985) who investigated visual discrimination and perception. The
findings of these early physiologists greatly influenced psychology as we know it today.
Scientific Psychology
Psychology as a scientific discipline has a short history. Although it dates back to the
time of Plato and Aristotle as a branch of philosophy, it was in 1879 that Wilhelm Wundt
opened the first psychological laboratory in Leipzig, Germany. It is generally agreed that
this event heralded the beginning psychology as a scientific discipline in its own right.
Prior to this, Psychology had generally been regarded as a branch of philosophy.
Hence, credit for the establishment of psychology as a science usually goes to Wilhelm
Von Wundt (1932-1920) considered by many as the “father of psychology.”
During the first decades of psychology’s existence as a formal discipline, psychologists

came to hold quite different views about the nature of the mind and the best ways to
study it. About the same time fundamental questions were raised about what should be
studied in Psychology: Should Psychology be the study of the mind, should it study
Behavior, or should both mind and Behavior be included? Different influential
psychologists of the time held quite different views on the nature of mind and the proper
subject matter for psychology. Schools of thought formed around these leaders as their
students adopted their ideas. These schools of thought are known as the schools of
Psychology. Schools, in this context, can best be thought of as groups of psychologist

who held common beliefs about both the subject matter of psychology and what methods
of study should be used. Most schools developed in revolt against traditional methods and
beliefs at the time. However, they did not always replace earlier schools, but sometimes
existed alongside them. Understanding these schools can help us make sense of the
multitude of ideas and methods which currently characterize psychology. Hence, a brief
description of these schools is given below.
1.4.2. The Early Schools of Psychology

The early history of the new discipline was marked by the emergence of competing
approaches each of which were supported and defended by charismatic leaders, who
often were trained in both philosophy and physiology. These approaches were known as
schools of psychology, and included:
a) Structuralism
b) Functionalism
c) Behaviorism
d) Psychoanalysis, and
e) Gestalt psychology
? How are these schools different from one another?

What did each contribute to the field of study?
a. Structuralism
Inspired by the pioneering work of Fechner and other scientists, Wilhelm Wundt and his
collaborators founded the school of structuralism. Wundt believed that psychology
should concern itself with the elementary processes of conscious experience. The
structure of consciousness and immediate mental experience, he contended, could be
broken down into basic elements and compounds in the same way that, in chemistry; one
can describe the structure of water or air.
The goal of the structuralists was to find out the units, or elements, which make up the
mind. They thought that as in chemistry, the first step in the study of the mind should be
the description of the basic or elementary units of sensation (sights, sounds, tastes,
smells, and touch which arise from stimulation of the sense organs) image (experiences
not actually present), and feelings (love, fear, joy and so on) which compose the mind.
In an effort to study the elements of consciousness in what they believed was an

analytical and objective way, structuralists devised a technique known as introspection.
This simply means that people were asked to consider and report on their own mental
processes as they experienced a particular object or event. This was to be done in a pre
specified and systematic way and required much training. For example, to be
introspective about a flower, the reporter would be asked to describe the sensations of
experiencing it in terms of its shape, size, color, texture, and so on.

The method of introspection proved difficult and inadequate, largely because of

conflicting findings between introspectionists in different laboratories. Reaching
agreement on the basic elements of a particular mental experience proved an impossible
task and (predictably, perhaps) reporting on mental activity in humans was not quite so
straight forward as observing what happens in a test tube when two chemicals are
combined.
Another prominent member of structuralists school, Edward Bradford Titchner,

developed and extended Wundt’s idea and later introduced them to the USA.
Structuralism declined in the early 1920s.
b. Functionalism
 Whilst the structuralists emphasized the structure of the mental activity, the
functionalists were concerned with the purposes, functions, of the mental processes.
 Functionalism was influenced by biology and many of the concepts ‘borrowed’ from
that discipline continue to influence psychology today.
 The work and ideas of Charles Darwin had a monumental impact on the emergence of
functional psychology. His theory of evolution provided an account of the way living
organisms change and develop over time through a process of natural selection.
 According to Darwin, living organisms have characteristics such as extreme strength,
speed of movement, and temperament, which are variable even within the same
species. Organisms whose characteristics were best suited to their environment
survived and reproduced, while organisms whose characteristics were less adaptable
died out. Survivors would transmit to the next generation those characteristics which
enable them to survive.
 In this way a particular species might change quite extensively over several
generations and, in some cases an entirely new species could evolve.
 William James (1842 -1910) was the leading figure in functional psychology.
Influenced greatly by Darwin, he held that the function of consciousness was to
enable humans to behave in ways which would aid survival through adaptation to the
environment.
 Functionalists were interested in the fact that mind and Behavior are adaptive- they
enable an individual to adjust to a changing environment. Where these adaptive
behaviours were repeated frequently they became habits. Habits, James believed,
provided stability and predictability in society.
 In addition to the study of the functions of consciousness and the role of habits, he
turned his attention to emotions, and to the concept of self.
 As with the structuralists, the main method of study was introspection, although
functionalists although encouraged the use of experimentation. The emphasis on the
importance of observing similarities and differences between varying species greatly
influenced the development of comparative psychology.
c. Behaviorism
 This school of psychology came into being with John B. Watson (1878-1958). Other
proponents include E. Thorndike and B.F. Skinner.

 In his 1913 an influential paper, “Psychology as the behaviorist views it”, Watson
attacked the structuralist emphasis on consciousness and mental experience and also
condemned the use of introspection as a method which claimed to be reliable and
objective.
 Psychology, he believed, should be about the study of observable behavior that all
could agree upon. He contended that psychologists should “… never use the terms
consciousness, mental states, introspective verify, imagery, and the like.”
 Behaviorists did not reject the existence of mind and consciousness as critics have
sometimes suggested. Rather they viewed these concepts as impossible to observe
and contributing little to a scientific approach in psychology.
Though Watson’s view of the nature of human beings was considered by critics to be
mechanistic and oversimplified, his focus on the study of observable behavior
allowed him to formulate clear hypotheses which could be tested by experimentation.
This shift in emphasis towards the use of more objective and systematic methods was
one of his greatest contributions to psychology.
d. Psychoanalysis
 Psychoanalysis, which developed from the work and theories of Sigmund Freud
(1856- 1939), proposed an account of human mental activity which relied heavily on
the notion of an unconscious mind.
 Freud originated his theory in response to patients whose symptoms, although real,
were not based on physiological malfunctioning. Hence, in the course of treating
psychiatric patients over many years, Freud became convinced that many of the
nervous symptoms displayed by patients could not be explained purely from a
physiological point of view. Nor could the rational and systematic laws of science be
applied to irrational and self-defeating behaviors such as phobias and conversion
hysterias (physical complaints that have no apparent physiological cause).
 Just as people have conscious motives or wishes, Freud argues, they also have
powerful unconscious motives that underlie their conscious intentions.
 Freud considered the relation between conscious awareness and unconscious mental
forces analogues to the visible tip of an ice berg and the vast, submerged hulk that lies
out of sight beneath the water.
 Freud argued that conscious awareness is merely the tip of the mental iceberg.
Beneath the visible tip, he said, lies the unconscious part of the mind, containing
hidden wishes, passions, guilty secrets, unspeakable yearnings, and conflicts between
desire and duty. We are not aware of our unconscious urges and thoughts as we go
casually about our daily business, yet they make themselves known- in dreams, slips
of the tongue, apparent accidents, and even jokes.
 Before Freud’s time, most people believed their own and other’s actions were
directed by their conscious wishes and beliefs. In contrast, Freud emphasized that
these conscious desires themselves may reflect unconscious conflicts and
compromises.
 The methods used by psychoanalysts flow from their aims. They seek to interpret
meanings, that is, infer underlying wishes, fears, and patterns of thought, from an
individual’s conscious, verbalized, thought and behavior. Based on this goal, a

psychoanalyst observes a patient’s dreams, fantasies, posture, and subtle behavior

toward the therapist. Thus, psychoanalysis lends itself to the case study method.
 In classical psychoanalysis, therapy involves Transference, the client’s projection
and displacement of thoughts and feelings on to the analyst; Free association, where
the client says whatever comes into mind, no matter how trivial or irrelevant it may
seem; and dream analysis, which involves the analyst interpreting the content of the
client’s dreams.
 Though the psychoanalytic process may sound quite straightforward, it is usually
difficult and time consuming.
 In conclusion, the discourse made by the structural, Gestalt, and functional schools of
psychology have become part of the general store of psychological knowledge; but
the schools as such, have vanished.
Behaviorism and Psychoanalysis on the other hand are still, in modified forms among
the current psychological perspectives.
e. Gestalt Psychology
 The leading proponents of Gestalt view were Max Wertheimer (1880-1943), Kurt
Koffka ( 1876- 1941) and Wolfgang Kohler (1887 -1967).
 Gestalt psychologists opposed the atomist approach of the structuralists and later the
behaviorists. They argued that people perceive the world in ‘wholes’. “The whole is
greater than the sum of its parts exemplifies this view.
 These psychologists argued that the mind is not made up of a combination of
elements. The German word gestalt refers to form, whole, configuration or pattern.
 Accordingly, the Gestaltists maintained that the mind should be thought of as
resulting from the whole pattern of sensory activity and the relationships and
organizations within this pattern.
 In brief, the Gestaltists acknowledged consciousness; they just refused to look at it in
little pieces.
 Their goal was to understand the phenomenon of conscious experience in holistic
terms and their subject matter was subjective experience with emphasis on
perception, memory and thinking.
 The tendency of the Gestalt psychologists to rely on subjective observations and
reports of conscious experience, rather than carefully controlled behavioral methods,
attracted criticism from the behaviorists.
 Nonetheless the influence of gestalt psychology is great in some areas of
contemporary psychology, for example in the study of perception and problem
solving.
Section-2: Theory, Methods and Sub-fields of Psychology

Psychology today is so rich in theories that it is capable of explaining every single
behavior in many ways. Not only has psychology become diverse in its approaches, but
has also developed into a profession that renders practical services people in different
walks of life. What are its diverse perspectives for explaining behavior? How should
these perspectives be used to facilitate a better understanding of human behavior? What

are the different fields of specialization in which psychologists are trained to offer more
practical services to people?
In this section, we will discuss these and other related questions. Read carefully and
attempt the activities and self- check exercise.
Objectives
At the end of this section, you should be able to:
 identify the six modern psychological perspectives
 compare and contrast these perspectives
 describe methods of psychology
 Identify the application of the different academic and professional branches of
psychology.
2.1. Theoretical Perspectives of Psychology

a. The Physiological Perspective
 Psychologists who subscribe to this approach look to biology as a means of
describing and explaining psychological functioning.
 This perspective holds that an understanding of the brain and the nervous system
is central in the understanding of behavior, thought and emotion. That is, our
behavior, even what we think and feel, is assumed to be linked to our
physiological make up
 Some of the labels attached to researchers who take this approach, albeit in
different ways, are biopsychologist, neuropsychologist, psychobiologist, and
physiological psychologist.
 Physiological psychologists are interested in a wide range of phenomena and
issues. Research has developed rapidly over recent years into the functions of the
nervous system (particularly the brain) and the hormonal system, and into how
these two systems interact and influence behavior and mental activity.
b. The Behaviorist Perspective
 Behaviorists or learning theorists focus on the influence of the environment. They
choose not to be concerned with the internal mechanisms which occur inside the
organism. Put more simply, according to this approach, learning and experience
make the kind of person you become.
 The behaviorist approach to psychological functioning is rooted in the works of
Pavlov, Thorndike, Watson and Hull all of whom studied learning in the form of
conditioning.
 Behaviorism had a profound influence on the course of psychology during the
first half of the twentieth century.
c. The Cognitive Perspective

 This approach contrasts sharply with that of both the psychoanalysts and the
behaviorists.
 Cognitive psychologists believe that the event s occurring within a person must be
studied if behavior is to be fully understood.

 These internal events, often referred to as mediators, since they occur between the
stimulus and the behavior, include perception, thinking processes such as problem
solving, memory and language.
 What cognitive psychologists have in common is an approach which stresses the
importance of studying the mental processes which affect our behavior and enable
us to make sense of the world around us.
 Clearly the processes that cognitive psychologists study are not directly
observable; one can not lift off the top of an individual’s head and observe
memory at work! However, it is recognized that insights into mental processes
may be inferred from an individual’s behavior, provided that such inferences are
supported by objective, empirical data. Therefore, the experimental method, with
its emphasis on objectivity control, and replicability, is often used.
 One of this perspective’s most important contributions has been to show how
people’s thoughts and explanations affect their actions, feelings and choices.
 The cognitive approach is one of the strongest forces in psychology today, and
it has inspired an explosion of research on the intricate workings of the mind.
d. The Socio-Cultural Perspective

 The socio-cultural perspective focuses on social and cultural forces outside the
individual. It emphasizes that culture, ethnicity, and gender are essential to
understanding behavior, thought and emotion.
 Most of us underestimate the impact of other people, group affiliations, and
cultural rules on our actions. We are like fish that are unaware that they live in
water; so obvious is water in their lives.
 Socio-cultural psychologists study the water- the social and cultural
environment that people “swim” in everyday.
 Within this perspective, social psychologists focus on social rules and roles,
how groups affect attitudes and behavior, why people obey authority, and how
other people- spouses, lovers, friends, bosses, parents and strangers, affect
each of us.
 Cultural psychologists examine how cultural rules and values- both explicit
and unspoken- affect people’s development, behavior and feelings.
e. The Psychodynamic Perspective
 This approach focuses largely on the role of motivation and past experience in the
development of personality and hence, behavior.
 It has arisen from Freud’s psychoanalytic theory. Freud’s pioneering approach
was the impetus of many similar theories, which share many of the same
assumptions about human beings but which differ in conceptual details. Hence,
many of Freud’s original ideas have been adapted and modified by subsequent
psychodynamic theorists known as post-Freudians or Neo-Freudians. Some of
these post Freudians include Carl Jung, Adler, Anna Freud, Melanie Klien and
others.
 However, almost all of them emphasize the unconscious aspects of the mind,
conflict between biological instincts and society’s demands, and early family
experiences.

f. The Humanistic Perspective

 For many years psychology was dominated by two great schools: the
psychoanalysts and the behaviorists.
 Towards the middle of the 20th century, a third great force appeared which
offered a view of human beings as a free and generous individual with the
potential for growth and fulfillment. This 3rd force gave rise to the humanistic
approach.
 Humanistic psychologists (such has Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow)
believe that psychology should be concerned with the subjective, conscious
experience of the individual.
 They emphasize the uniqueness of human beings and their freedom to choose
their own destiny.
 They regard the use of scientific methods as inappropriate for the study of
human beings.
 A major aim of psychology, they believe, should be to help people maximize
their potential for psychological growth.
 The humanistic view is optimistic. Humans are seen as striving to achieve
their potential- to achieve the maximum personal growth within individual
limitations.
 This has had its greatest influence in psychotherapy and in the human-
potential and self-help movements.
 In summary, although all the differences among the perspectives mentioned
are real, not all psychologists feel that they must wear allegiance to one
approach or another.
 Many perhaps most, are eclectic, applying in their research or practice what
they believe to be the best features of diverse schools of thought.
2.2. Research Methods in Psychology
Psychology is not an absolute science and is often referred to as a 'Social Science' or a
'Soft Science.' This is because it deals with human thoughts, feelings, and behavior, and
as we are all aware, humans are not always predictable and reliable. Instead, we interact
with our environment in ways that alter how we behave, how we think, and how we feel.
Nevertheless, research plays an extremely important role in psychology. Research helps

us understand what makes people think, feel, and act in certain ways; allows us to
categorize psychological disorders in order to understand the symptoms and impact on
the individual and society; helps us to understand how intimate relationships,
development, schools, family, peers, and religion affect us as individuals and as a society;
and helps us to develop effective treatments to improve the quality of life of individuals
and groups.
In this sense, psychological research is typically used for the following:

 Study development and external factors and the role they play on individuals'
mental health

 Study people with specific psychological disorders, symptoms, or

characteristics
 Develop tests to measure specific psychological phenomenon
 Develop treatment approaches to improve individuals' mental health
In the following sections, you will learn about how research is conducted and the
different types of research methods used to gather information
Naturalistic Observation
 In naturalistic observation, psychologists observe behavior, in real world
settings and make no effort to manipulate or control the situation.
 It often involves counting behaviors, such as number of aggressive acts,
number of smiles, etc.
 Psychologists conduct naturalistic observations at football games, day care
centers, kindergartens, college dormitories, shopping malls, restaurants, and
other places people live in and frequent.
Case Study
 A case study is an in-depth look at a single individual. It refers to following a
single case, typically over an extended period of time.
 It is used mainly by clinical psychologists when, for either practical or ethical
reasons, the unique aspects of an individual’s life can not be duplicated.
 A case study provides information about one person’s fears, hopes, fantasies,
traumatic experiences, upbringing, family relationships, health, or anything
that helps the psychologist understand the person’s mind and behavior.
 A case study can involve naturalistic observations, and include psychological
testing, interviews and the application of a treatment. A case study can gather
extensive information, both qualitative and quantitative and it can be helpful
in better understanding rare cases or very specific interventions.
 In case study, usually only one case is involved, severely limiting the
generalization to the rest of the population. It can also be very time consuming
and can involve other problems specific to the techniques used, including
researcher bias.
Survey
 Everyone has probably heard of this and some of you may have been
involved in research involving surveys. They are often used in the news,
especially to gather viewer opinions such as during a race for president.
 Psychologists use surveys to find out about people’s experience and
attitudes by asking a large sample of participants questions about their
attitudes and behaviors.
 The two most frequently used tools of survey researchers are
questionnaires, which participants fill out by themselves, and interviews in
which researchers ask questions using a standard format.
 In surveys it is possible to gather large amounts of information in a
relatively short time, especially now with many surveys being conducted
on the internet.
 However, survey data is based solely on subjects’ responses which can be
inaccurate due to outright lying, misunderstanding of the question, placebo

effect, and even the manner in which the question is asked.
Correlational Studies
 Correlation means relationship, so the purpose of a correlational study is
to determine if a relationship exists, what direction the relationship is, and
how strong it is.
 This is a useful strategy because the more strongly events are correlated
(related or associated), the more effectively we can predict one from the
other.
 However, based on results from correlational research one cannot make
any assumptions of cause and effect (explain how third variable can be
involved, or how the variables can influence each other).
Experimental Methods
 An experiment is a carefully regulated procedure in which one or more of
the factors believed to influence the behavior being studied are
manipulated and all others are held constant.
 If the behavior under study changes when the factor is manipulated, we
say that the manipulated factor causes the behavior to change.
 Every experiment has two types of variables:
o Independent Variable (IV) – the variable that is manipulated by
the experimenter (input variable)
o Dependent Variable (DV) – the outcome variable (results of the
experiment)
By defining our variables that we will use to test our theory we derive at our Hypothesis
which is a testable form of a theory.
As an example of this, let’s say that we have a theory that people who drive sports cars
are more aggressive during interactions with others. Our independent variable would be
the type of car you drive (sports, sedan, SUV, etc.). Our dependent variables, the outcome
of our research, would be aggression. We would need to further define aggression so that
it is something we can test such as speeding or cutting other people off in traffic. We now
have the basics of our very simple experiment and can write our Hypothesis: People who
drive sports cars drive over the speed limit more frequently than people who drive other
types of cars.
Research Biases in an Experiment

Now we have got a hypothesis which is the first step in doing an experiment. Before we
can continue, however, we need to be aware of some aspects of research that can
contaminate our results. In other words, what could get in the way of our results in this
study being accurate? These aspects are called research biases, and there are basically
three main biases we need to be concerned with.

Selection Bias – occurs when differences between groups are present at the beginning of
the experiment.
Placebo Effect – involves the influencing of performance due to the subject’s belief
about the results. In other words, if I believe the new medication will help me feel
better, I may feel better even if the new medication is only a sugar pill. This
demonstrates the power of the mind to change a person’s perceptions of reality.
Experimenter Bias – The same way a person’s belief’s can influence his or her
perception, so can the belief of the experimenter. If I’m doing an experiment, and
really believe my treatment works, or I really want the treatment to work because it
will mean big bucks for me, I might behave in a manner that will influence the
subject.
Controlling for Biases
After carefully reviewing our study and determining what might affect our results that are
not part of the experiment, we need to control for these biases. To control for selection
bias, most experiments use what’s called Random Assignment, which means assigning
the subjects to each group based on chance rather than human decision. To control for the
placebo effect, subjects are often not informed of the purpose of the experiment. This is
called a Blind study, because the subjects are blind to the expected results. To control for
experimenter biases, we can utilize a Double-Blind study, which means that both the
experimenter and the subjects are blind to the purpose and anticipated results of the
study.
What we’ve focused on what is called Experimental Methods, the true experiment. It
involves randomized assignment of subjects, standardized instructions, and at least one
IV and one DV. There are several other types of research that are not as rigorous, but that
you need to be aware of.
2.3. Psychology as a Profession: Practice

As psychology evolved as a science, its fields of specialization multiplied, and its
educational and training requirements became formalized. The fields of specialization in
psychology can be divided into the following two broad categories:
 Academic field of specialization, and
 Professional field of specialization.
Each field of specialization is further divided into sub- fields, which, in turn, contain sub-
sub fields. So young psychologists have hundreds of potential areas of specialization
from which to choose. For example, a psychologist specializing in the field of sensation
and perception might be interested in the sub-field of vision, with special interest in tents
of sub-sub field of color vision.
2.3.1. Academic Fields of Specialization
Most of the Modules of this course will deal with the academic field of specialization in
psychology as practiced usually by psychologists working at colleges or universities. In
fact, colleges and universities are the main employment settings for psychologists.
Many academic psychologists prefer to conduct basic research, aimed at finding answers
to psychological questions out of intellectual curiosity. Many others prefer to conduct

applied research aimed at using research findings to prove the quality of life or to solve
practical problems. Basic research and applied research, however, are not mutually
exclusive. Many psychologists conduct both kinds of research, and findings from basic
research can often be applied for solving practical problems. For example, basic research
on learned taste aversions in rats has led to applications in preventing cancer patients
from becoming nauseated by food, which might make them stop eating and become
emaciated (thin and weak).While the cancer patients use different drugs or chemicals
before or after eating specific food, the drugs taken produce negative or unpleasant
feeling that led to dislike the food they eat. Aversion therapy is a method of treating
habits or types of behavior that are not desirable by causing the patient to connect them
with unpleasant feelings.
The following are examples of the fields of academic specializations:
Experimental psychology: this is the largest field of academic specialization.
Experimental psychologists restrict themselves chiefly to laboratory research on basic
psychological processes, including perception, learning, memory, thinking, language,
motivation, and emotion. Though this field is called experimental psychology, it is not
the only field that uses experiments. Psychologists in almost all fields of psychology use
experiments in doing their research.
Biopsychology: psychologists in the field of biopsychology study the biological basis of

behavior and mental process. the subject matter of this field will partly be discussed in
module 2 in relation to biological foundations of behavior.
Comparative psychology: this is a field that studies similarities and differences in the
physiology, behaviors, and abilities of animals including human beings. Comparative
psychologists study motives related to eating, drinking, aggression, courtship mating and
parenting.
Developmental psychology: this field studies the factors responsible for physical,
cognitive, and social changes across the life span.
Personality psychology: this field is concerned with differences in behavior among
individuals. This field seeks answers to such questions as: are our personalities
determined more by nature or by nurture? And to what extent do people behave
consistently from one situation to another? Personality psychologists also devise tests for
assessing personality, such as the famous Rorschach “inkblot test.”
Social psychology: it studies the effects people have on one another, factors affecting
interpersonal attraction, the problems of “groupthink” in making important decisions, and
the reasons why people are often all too willing to harm other human beings.
2.3.2. Professional Fields of Specialization
Professional psychologists commonly work in settings outside of college or university
classrooms and laboratories. The following are examples of these fields of specialization:
Clinical and counseling psychology: two of the largest fields of professional
psychology are clinical psychology and counseling psychology, which deal with the

causes, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of psychological disorders. Clinical

psychology and counseling psychology are so similar that even practitioners of both
fields find it difficult to specify the features that distinguish one from the other.
There is a tendency, however, for counseling psychologists to deal with problems of
everyday living related to career planning, academic performance, and marriage and
family. In contrast, a clinical psychologist typically treats more severe disorder, including
phobias, alcoholism, drug abuse, and severe depression.
School psychology: psychologists who specialize in school psychology evaluate students
for proper class placement, set up programs to improve student academic performance
and school behavior, and provide counseling (often in cooperation with parents and
teachers) to students who are having social or academic problems. School psychologists
work in elementary schools, and high schools.
Educational psychology: the allied field of educational psychology tries to improve the
educational process, including curriculum, teaching, and administration of academic
programs. Educational psychologists are usually faculty members of colleges or
universities.
Industrial/organizational psychology: psychologists who practice industrial/
organizational psychology work to increase productivity in businesses, industries, and
government agencies. They do so by improving working conditions, methods for hiring
and training employee, and management techniques of administrators.
Forensic psychology: psychologists who practice forensic psychology participate in the
legal system. They study the validity of eyewitness testimony, the jury deliberation
process, and the best ways to select jurors. Some forensic psychologists train police
officers to handle domestic disputes, negotiate with hostage takers, and cope with job-
related stress.
The above are examples of well- established fields of specialization in the area of
professional psychology. However, there are also some emerging fields of professional
psychology such as sport psychology, health psychology, and environmental psychology.
Summary

Once psychology has emerged as a science with five schools of thinking, it laid the
foundation for development of a more diversified and complete psychology. As a result
psychology today has alternative theories and methods, and wider applications.
Contemporary Perspectives
There are in general five psychological perspectives today. The psychoanalytic
perspective, founded by Sigmund Freud, emphasizes the influence of the biological
motives of sex and aggression. Later psychoanalysts, called neo-Freudians, down play the
influence of biological motives in interpersonal relationship. The strict behavioral
perspective, championed by B.F Skinner, rejects the study of mental experiences in favor
of the study of observable behavior. But cognitive behaviorists accept the study of mental
experiences
rose as a “third force” in opposition to both psychoanalysis and behaviorism. It favors the
study of subjective mental experience and the belief that human beings are not merely
puppets controlled by unconscious drives and environmental stimuli. The cognitive
perspective, influenced by the work of Jean Piaget and Herbert Simon, views the brain as
active processor of information. The bio psychological perspective, exemplified by the
work of Wilder Penfield and Roger Sperry, favors the study of the biological basis of
behavior and mental experiences.
Psychology as a Profession
During its century of existence, psychology has seen the emergence of a wide variety of
academic and professional fields of specialization. The academic fields of specialization
are chiefly concerned with basic research, which aims to add to our fund of knowledge
about behavior and mental processes. The major academic fields of specialization include
experimental psychology, biopsychology, and comparative psychology, developmental
psychology, personality psychology, and social psychology. The professional fields of
specialization are chiefly concerned with applied research, which tries to improve the
quality of life. Among the major fields of professional psychology are clinical
psychology, counseling psychology, school psychology, educational psychology,
industrial/organizational psychology, engineering psychology, forensic psychology,
health psychology, and environmental psychology.
Goal of Scientific Research
In conducting research, psychologists pursue the goals of description, explanation,
control and prediction. Scientific descriptions are systematic and rely on operational
definitions. Scientific predictions are probabilistic, not certain. Scientists exert control
over events by manipulating the factors that cause them. And scientific explanations state
the causes of events.
Methods of Psychological Research
Psychologist use descriptive, correlation and experimental research methods. Descriptive
research methods pursue the goal of description through naturalistic observation, case
studies, surveys, and archival research. Co relational research pursues the goal of
prediction by uncovering relationships between variables. In using co relational research,
psychologists avoid confusing correlation with causation. Experimental research pursues

the goals of control and explanation by manipulating the independent variable and
measuring its effect on a dependent variable. The researcher assigns subjects to the
experimental group and control group and gives the experimental condition to the
experimental group. The control group is used only for comparative purposes.

Self-Test Exercise Unit One
Part one: Match items listed in column B with those given in column A
A
1. Functionalism
2. Gestalt psychology
3. Structuralism
4. Psychoanalysis
5. Behaviorism
B
A. Early childhood experiences that are stored in the unconscious mind will affect our
behavior throughout life.
B. Emphasized the importance of the unconscious causes of behavior
C. How the conscious mind helps the individual adapt the environment.
D. Claimed that we perceive and think about wholes rather than combination of separate
elements.
E. Identify the components of the conscious mind
F. Detect stimuli from the body or surrounding
Part two: Complete the table below by providing the appropriate information in
columns 2 (limitations) and 3 (contributions to modern psychology)
Schools of Psychology Limitations Contributions to Modern
Psychology
Structuralism
Functionalism
Behaviorism
Classical psychoanalysis Time consuming

Gestalt psychology Subjectivity Perception
Part three: Complete the table by putting (√) sign for areas of specialization,
(Either academic or professional specialization)
No Sub-fields of specialization Academic specialization Professional specialization

1 Experimental psychology
2 Counseling psychology
3 Developmental psychology
4 Clinical psychology
5 Comparative psychology
6 Biopsychology
7 Sport psychology
8 Health psychology
9 Social psychology
10 Personality psychology

UNIT TWO
SENSATION AND PERCEPTION
INTRODUCTION
 Although intimately related, sensation and perception play two complimentary
but different roles in how we interpret our world. Sensation refers to the process of
sensing our environment through touch, taste, sight, sound, and smell. This information is
sent to our brains in raw form where perception comes into play. Perception is the way
we interpret these sensations and therefore make sense of everything around us.
This chapter will describe various theories related to these two concepts and explain the
important role they play in the field of psychology. Through this chapter, you will gain a
better idea of how our senses work and how this information is organized and interpreted.
Objectives
At the end of this unit, you are expected to understand:
 the meaning of sensation and perception.
 the differences and similarities of sensation and perception
 the factors affecting sensation and perception
 the principles of sensation and perception
2.1 Sensation
Sensation is the process by which our senses gather information and send it to the brain.
A large amount of information is being sensed at any one time such as room temperature,
brightness of the lights, someone talking, a distant train, or the smell of perfume. With all
this information coming into our senses, the majority of our world never gets recognized.
We don't notice radio waves, x-rays, or the microscopic parasites crawling on our skin.
We don't sense all the odors around us or taste every individual spice in our gourmet
dinner. We only sense those things we are able too since we don't have the sense of smell
like a bloodhound or the sense of sight like a hawk; our thresholds are different from
these animals and often even from each other.
2.1.1 Sensory Thresholds

How much intense must a sound be for you to detect it?

?
How much changes in light intensity must occur for you to notice it?
Absolute Threshold
The absolute threshold is the point where something becomes noticeable to our senses. It
is the softest sound we can hear or the slightest touch we can feel. Anything less than this
goes unnoticed. The absolute threshold is therefore the point at which a stimuli goes from
undetectable to detectable states to our senses.
Difference Threshold
Once a stimulus becomes detectable to us, how do we recognize if this stimulus changes.
When we notice the sound of the radio in the other room, how do we notice when it
becomes louder. It's conceivable that someone could be turning it up so slightly that the
difference is undetectable. The difference threshold is the amount of change needed for
us to recognize that a change has occurred. This change is referred to as the Just
Noticeable Difference.
This difference is not absolute, however. Imagine holding a five pound weight and one
pound was added. Most of us would notice this difference. But what if we were holding a
fifty pound weight? Would we notice if another pound were added? The reason many of
us would not is because the change required to detect a difference has to represent a
percentage. In the first scenario, one pound would increase the weight by 20%, in the
second, that same weight would add only an additional 2%. This theory, named after its
original observer, is referred to as Weber's Law.
Signal Detection Theory

Have you ever been in a crowded room with lots of people talking? Situations like that
can make it difficult to focus on any particular stimulus, like the conversation we are
having with a friend. We are often faced with the daunting task of focusing our attention
on certain things while at the same time attempting to ignore the flood of information
entering our senses. When we do this, we are making a determination as to what is
important to sense and what is background noise. This concept is referred to as signal
detection because we attempt to detect what we want to focus on and ignore or minimize
everything else.
2.1.2 Sensory Adaptation
? Given that each of your senses is constantly bombarded by stimulation, why

do you notice only certain stimuli?
The last concept refers to stimuli which has become redundant or remains unchanged for
an extended period of time. Have you ever wondered why we notice certain smells or
sounds right away and then after a while they fade into the background? Once we adapt
to the perfume or the ticking of the clock, we stop recognizing it. This process of
becoming less sensitive to unchanging stimulus is referred to as sensory adaptation, after
all, if it doesn't change, why do we need to constantly sense it?
Sensory Deprivation and Sensory Overload

 Human brain requires a minimum amount of sensory stimulation in order to
function normally.
 This need may help explain why people who live alone often keep the radio or
television set running continuously and why prolonged solitary confinement is
used as a form of punishment or even torture.
 If too little stimulation (sensory deprivation) can be bad for you, so can too
much sensory overload, as it can lead to fatigue and mental confusion.
Activity -1
1. Indicate the three conditions under which you may not be able to sense a stimulus.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
2. What does sensing involve?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
2.2 Perception
? What is Perception?
As mentioned in the introduction, perception refers to interpretation of what we take in

through our senses. The way we perceive our environment is what makes us different
from other animals and different from each other. In this section, we will discuss the
various theories on how our sensation are organized and interpreted, and therefore, how
we make sense of what we see, hear, taste, touch, and smell.
2.2.1 Visual Perception: Constructing the Visual World
In the brain, sensory signals that give rise to vision, hearing, taste, smell, and touch are
combined from moment to moment to produce a unified model of the world. This is a
process of perception. Perception consists of three basic processes:
a) Selection
b) Organization
c) Interpretation

a) Selection: the first step in perception is selection in which we select the stimuli to
which we will attend. In almost any situation there is an excess of sensory
information, but the brain manages to sort out the important messages from the
senses and discards the rest- a process known as selective attention.
 There are, in general, environmental, psychological and physiological factors that

influence the process of selective attention.
? How Environment Affects attention?
a) Environmental/stimulus factors: generally, the focus of attention is attracted to

objects or events that possess unusual characteristics or that provide strong
stimulation to the sense organs. Some of these qualities of objects/ events
(stimuli) are the following.
 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 banana in a bowel of oranges.
 Repetition: a fleeting stimulus will not catch our attention as easily as one,
which is repeated.
 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 the one we have been expecting or that we have encountered.
b) Psychological factors: the focus of attention is also affected by certain characteristics

of individuals. We will mention some of them.
 Motivation: what we choose to hear or perceive is determined largely by your
current level of satisfaction or deprivation. For example when you are hungry,
you are much more likely to notice TV commercials for doughnuts, hamburger, or
pizza than those for cars or detergent. In a similar way you will find that when
you are lonely, your perceptions will be so affected that it will seem that everyone
is part of a happy couple except you.
 Personality and interest: for example, in a football game, an ex-player may give
attention to the football game; his wife, a singer, may give attention to the music
in the stadium; and a friend, a commentator, may give attention to the way the
referee is handling crisis situations in the play.
c) Physiological factors- one of the major physiological factors in selection is the
presence of specialized cells in the brain called feature detectors (or feature analyzers)
that respond only to certain sensory information.
b) Organization

2.2.2 Gestalt Principles of Grouping
The German word "Gestalt roughly translates to "whole" or "form," and the Gestalt
psychologist's sincerely believed that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In
order to interpret what we receive through our senses, they theorized that we attempt to
organize this information into certain groups. This allows us to interpret the information
completely without unneeded repetition. For example, when you see one dot, you
perceive it as such, but when you see five dots together, you group them together by
saying a "row of dots." Without this tendency to group our perceptions, that same row
would be seen as "dot, dot, dot, dot, dot," taking both longer to process and reducing our
perceptive ability. The Gestalt principles of grouping include four types: similarity,
proximity, continuity, and closure.
Gestalt psychologists said ‘the whole is more than the sum of its parts”. This
 simply means that what is perceived has its own new properties, properties
that emerge from the organization, which takes place.
Figure -1 Figure -2 Figure -3 Figure-

4
Similarity refers to our tendency to group things together based upon how similar to each
other they are. In the first figure above, we tend to see two rows of red dots and two rows
of black dots. The dots are grouped according to similar color. In the next figure, we tend
to perceive three columns of two lines each rather than six different lines. The lines are
grouped together because of how close they are to each other, or their proximity to one
another. Continuity refers to our tendency to see patterns and therefore perceive things as
belonging together if they form some type of continuous pattern. In the third figure,
although merely a series of dots, it begins to look like an "X" as we perceive the upper
left side as continuing all the way to the lower right and the lower left all the way to the
upper right. Finally, in the fourth figure, we demonstrate closure, or our tendency to
complete familiar objects that have gaps in them. Even at first glance, we perceive a
circle and a square.
2.2.3 Form Perception

 Refers to the way sensations are organized into meaningful shapes and patterns.
 Gestalt Psychologists first studied form perception systematically in Germany in the
early 20th century. Gestalt Psychologists were concerned with meaningful patterns or
wholes.


The meaningful shapes or patterns or ideas that are made perhaps out
of meaningless and discrete or pieces and bits of sensation refer to
form perception.
 They argued that perceptions are more than the sum of their sensory parts. They
proposed six major perceptual rules the brain follows automatically and
unconsciously as it organizes sensory input into meaningful wholes:
1) Figure and ground: According to this principle, dividing visual displays into
figure and ground is a fundamental way in which we organize visual perceptions.
The figure stands out from the rest of the environment. For example, while
reading this material your eyes are receiving sensations of black lines and white
paper, but your brain organizes these sensations and perceives letters and words
against a backdrop of white pages- the letters are the figure and the pages are the
ground.
2) Proximity/Nearness: states that objects or stimuli that are near each other in
place or time tend to be grouped together even though they are dissimilar.
3) Similarity: objects that are alike in some way (for example in color, shape or
size) tend to be perceived as belonging together.
4) Closure: the brain tends to fill in gaps in order to perceive complete forms. That
is we tend to perceive a complete object even though parts of it may be obscured
or missing. Someone listening to a conversation over a very bad telephone
connection may hear only bits and pieces of what the other person is saying, but
he will fill in the gaps and perceive these sounds as whole words and sentences.
5) Good Continuation/ Continuity: States that lines, patterns or objects tend to be
seen as continuing in one direction even if interrupted by another object.
2.2.4 Movement Perception

In our daily life, we perceive movements and use the information we get for various
things. For instance we move out of the way for oncoming cars or we avoid collusion
with hurrying people. Occasionally our perceptual processes are fouled by objects that
look as if they are moving when they are not moving. So, there are two kinds of
movements:
I- Real movement- the perception of real movement is the result of an actual change
in the object’s position in space. Basically, there are two ways in which we
perceive real movement: 1- an image moves across the retina, and 2- the eyes
move in the head, to follow the path of the moving object.
II- Apparent movement- occurs when an object is static but we perceive it as
moving. There are 3 major types of apparent movement.
1- Phi-phenomena/ stroboscopic movement- a succession of
still pictures projected fast on a screen gives a false impression of
movement.
2- Auto-kinetic movement- a movement, which is self
generated. It is caused by the slight movement of the eye’s focal point.
3- Induced movement/ Movement aftereffect- occurs when
a moving object creates apparent movement on a relatively static object.

2.2.5 Perceiving Distance

We determine distance using two different cues: monocular and binocular. Monocular
cues are those cues which can be seen using only one eye. They include si ze; texture,
overlap, shading, height, and clarity.
Size refers to the fact that larger images are perceived as closer to us, especially if the two
images are of the same object. The texture of objects tend to become smoother as the
object gets farther away, suggesting that more detailed textured objects are closer. Due to
overlap, those objects covering part of another object is perceived as closer. The shading
or shadows of objects can give a clue to their distance, allowing closer objects to cast
longer shadows which will overlap objects which are farther away. Objects which are
closer to the bottom of our visual field are seen as closer to us due to our perception of
the horizon, where higher (height) means farther away. Similar to texture, objects tend to
get blurry as they get farther away; therefore, clearer or crisper images tend to be
perceived as closer (clarity).
Binocular cues refer to those cues in which both eyes are needed to perceive depth.
There are two important binocular cues; convergence and retinal disparity. Convergence
refers to the fact that the closer an object, the more inward our eyes need to turn in order
to focus. The farther our eyes converge, the closer an object appears to be. Since our eyes
see two images which are then sent to our brains for interpretation, the distance between
these two images, or their retinal disparity, provides another cue regarding the distance
of the object.
2.2.6 Maintaining Perceptual Constancy

Imagine if every time an object changed we had to completely reprocess it. The next time
you walk toward a building, you would have to re-evaluate the size of the building with
each step, because we all know as we get closer, everything gets bigger. The building
which once stood only several inches is now somehow more than 50 feet tall.
Luckily, this doesn't happen. Due to our ability to maintain constancy in our perceptions,
we see that building as the same height no matter what distance it is. Perceptual
constancy refers to our ability to see things differently without having to reinterpret the
object's properties. There are typically three constancies discussed, including size, shape,
brightness.
Size constancy refers to our ability to see objects as maintaining the same size even
when our distance from them makes things appear larger or smaller. This holds true for
all of our senses. As we walk away from our radio, the song appears to get softer. We
understand, and perceive it as being just as loud as before. The difference being our
distance from what we are sensing.
Everybody has seen a plate shaped in the form of a circle. When we see that same plate
from an angle, however, it looks more like an ellipse. Shape constancy allows us to
perceive that plate as still being a circle even though the angle from which we view it

appears to distort the shape.

Brightness constancy refers to our ability to recognize that color remains the same
regardless of how it looks under different levels of light. That deep blue shirt you wore to
the beach suddenly looks black when you walk indoors. Without color constancy, we
would be constantly re-interpreting color and would be amazed at the miraculous
conversion our clothes undertake.
Perceptual illusion (visual illusion)

It occurs when two objects produce the same retinal image but are perceived as different
images. It is an inappropriate interpretation of the physical reality. Some of the most
common types of illusions include.
 Visual Illusion: occurs when two objects produce almost the same retinal image
but are perceived as different images.
1. Ponzo illusion
2. Horizontal-vertical illusion
3. Muller-Lyer illusion
4. Moon illusion
Fig-2
Fig-1 The figure often products an
illusory judgment of length. Fig-3 .
The ponzon illusion are The Muller –Lyer illusion. Most
the horizontal lines the Which line is longer, the
horizontal or the vertical people see the vertical line even though
same length as being longer even though they are the
line? Actually, they are the
same length same length. The shorter lines give an
illusion of depth, as in the two books on
the right.
The above illusion intentionally manipulate the cues that we use in visual perception in
create a false or illusory perception. They are instructive, therefore, in showing us
more about the process of perception and for showing us in yet another way that what we
see is not always the same as the visual information that enters the eyes. For examples,
are the two horizontal lines in figure 1 (the Ponzo illusion) the same size? (They are even
though the upper line look longer). How about the two lines in figure 2 (the horizontal
vertical illusion) most people see the vertical line as longer, even though they are the
same length. Consider the Muller-Lyer illusion the two vertical lines on the left of fig.
3 are of the different because of the context they are in ordinarily the short lines at
the end of the longer lines would be cues to depth, as in the two booklets show on
the right side of fig. 3 we see the vertical line as longer when the cues suggest that it
is farther away.
The moon illusion is based partly on the same principle when the moon is over head,
not only does it appear closer due to its vertical position, but we have no distance
cues, so depth cues do not accurately influence our perception of the moon’s size.
c) Interpretation
 This final stage of perception is called interpretation. After selectively sorting out
incoming sensory information and organizing it into patterns, the brain uses this
information to explain and make judgments about the external world.
 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: Previous experiences often affect how we perceive the world. The
tendency to perceive what to expect is called perceptual set. Human beings follow
the selection, organization and interpretation stages of perceptual processes in
their understanding of environmental stimuli. Keeping these stages, some people
use their extrasensory organs for sensation and perception. This phenomenon of
using sensory or other body parts for perception of something with out the
presence of sensory stimuli is called extrasensory perception.
Extrasensory Perception (ESP)

 Eyes, ears, Tongue, nose, 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 Extrasensory Perception
(ESP).
 Reported ESP experiences fall into four general categories:
 Telepathy is a direct communication from one mind to another without the
usual visual, auditory and other sensory signals.
 Clairvoyance is the perception of an event or fact without normal sensory
input.
 Precognition is the perception of an event that has not yet happened.
 Psycho kinesis is the ability to affect the physical world purely through
thought. Persons with such abilities claim to move or affect objects with out
touching them.
 Normal perception depends on the ability to detect changes in energy in the physical
world. Claims for most forms of ESP, however, challenge everything we currently
now know to be true about the way the world and the universe operate.
Have you ever heard such phenomena? What specific type? Do you believe it is
?
true? Do you think psychologists and scientists believe in ESP? Why?

Self –Check Exercise Unit Two
PART I- COMPARE AND CONTRAST

1. Form perception and depth perception
____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
2. Perceptual constancy and perceptual illusion
____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Part II- Look at the following figures and then indicate what they represent. Indicate
also the law of perceptual organization that is at work in each of them.
Fig. A Fig. B
 What do you see? _______ What do you see? _____

 Which law works here? _______ Which law works here?
______

UNIT THREE
LEARNING
 In this unit, you will study the foundations of learning and explore the nature of
learning. The contents of this unit are presented in two sections. In the first section, you
will explore the nature of learning and in the second you will focus on the theories of
learning and their applications.
Objectives
After you have studied this unit, you will be able to
 identify the characteristics of learning
 discuss some of the theories designed to explain the characteristics of learning
and
 use these theories to explain the different types of learned behavior.
 describe what learning is and what it is not
 distinguish learning from other related concepts and activities such as instinct,
maturation and growth.
Section 1: The Nature of Learning
Learning is involved in everything we think and do. Quite literally we learn all our lives.
As babies, we learn to recognize the faces around us. Then we learn to speak and play.
We learn knowledge, we learn emotions of love, hate, or fear… Generally, human skills,
appreciations and reasoning, hope, aspirations, and attitudes are generally the outcomes
of learning.
1.1 What is learning
There are many definitions of learning. But the most widely accepted definition is the one
given below.
 Learning, we may define it as any relatively permanent

change in behavior occurring as a result of experience or
practice
Let us elaborate on this definition

First, learning is marked by a change. That is, after learning, learners are capable of
doing something that they have not been able to do before the leaning experience. In fact,

the change could be smaller or bigger in intensity, gradual or fast in rate or speed,
desirable or undesirable in type or goal.
Second, the change is a change in behavior. Behavior, for our present purpose, may mean
both covert mental activities including attitude and knowledge and overt activities like
skills or actions or performances, or simply responses.
Third, the change in behavior coming as a result of learning is relatively permanent. That
is, it is neither transitory temporary) nor fixed once and for all. Apart from learning, other
events may modify behavior, such as fatigue, illness and drugs. Obviously these events
and their effects come and go quickly as learning stays until forgetting occurs over time
or until new learning displaces old learning. Thus, temporary states may modify
behavior, but with learning, the modification is relatively permanent. However, the
duration of the modification that results from either learning or temporary body states
cannot be given exactly. It is just like asking “how long is long or how short is short?” A
person who takes a drink at a party and who becomes highly sociable for the duration of
the effects of the alcohol is not considered to have learned social behavior. The transitory
change in behaviors explained in terms of the temporary removal of inhibitions that
ordinarily interfere with social life is not a learned behavior rather it is temporary change
of behavior that does not qualify learning.
Fourth, the relatively, permanent change in behavior must come from experience or
practice than other factors such as growth, maturation, injury. For example, a child who is
talking and walking at an appropriate age can be considered to develop these behaviors
solely as a result of learning. It is as well the result of growth and maturation.
Furthermore, changes due to sensitization and habituation must not be accepted as

examples of learning. Though both are examples of behavior modification or change that
result from experience, both are short lived.
Sensitization is the process whereby an organism is made more responsible to certain

aspects of this environment. An organism that may not ordinarily respond to a certain
sound may respond after receiving a shock. The shock has, therefore, sensitized the
organism. Habituation is the process whereby and organism becomes less responsive to
the environment. For example, there is a tendency which is referred to as orienting reflex
and is exemplified when a dog turns in a direction of a sound that suddenly occurs. After
attending to the sound for some time, however, the dog will eventually ignore it
(assuming that it poses no threat or danger) and go about its other business. We say, in
this case, the dog’s response to sound has habituated.
Section -2: Theories and Application of Learning
This section makes a further attempt to discuss the nature of learning, types and
mechanisms of learning. It will introduce you to the different definitions, types, methods,
principles and applications of learning. Beginning with the simple forms of learning,
which even animals can make, you will proceed to the more complex form of learning
that is typically human. In doing so, you will consider three principles and theories with

their possible implications and applications, classical conditioning, operant conditioning

and cognitive learning.
Objectives
When you have completed this section, you will be able to:
 describe the major principles and procedures of classical or operant
conditioning;
 list down the limitation of classical conditioning
 describe the principles, procedures and applications of operant
conditioning
 list down the limitation of operant conditioning
 compare and contrast classical and operant conditioning
 compare and contrast conditioning and cognitive learning.
2.1 Classical Conditioning
 Classical conditioning was the first kind of learning to be studied systematically.
 At the turn of the 19th century the Great Russian physiologist was studying salivation
in dogs as part of a research program on digestion.
 One of his procedures was to make a surgical opening in a dog’s cheek and insert a
tube that conducts saliva away from the animals salivary gland so that the saliva
could be measured.
 To stimulate the reflexive flow of saliva, Pavlov placed meat powder or other food in
the dog’s mouth.
 During the salivation studies, one of Pavlov’s students noticed something that most
people would have overlooked or dismissed as trivial.
 After a dog had been brought to the laboratory a number of times, it started to salivate
before the food was placed in its mouth. The sight or smell of the food, the dish in
which the food was kept, even the sight of the person who delivered the food each
day or the sound of the person’s footsteps were enough to start the dog’s mouth
watering.
 At first, Pavlov treated the dog's salivation as just an annoying secretion. But, he
quickly realized that his student had stumbled onto an important phenomenon, one
that Pavlov came to believe was the basis of a great deal of learning in human beings
and other animals. He called that phenomenon a conditional reflex- conditional
because it depended on environmental conditions.
 Later, an error in the translation of his writings transformed conditional into
conditioned, the word most commonly used today.
 Pavlov soon devoted what he had been doing and turned to the study of conditioned
reflexes, to which he devoted the last three decades of his life. Why were his dogs
salivating to things other than food?
 At first Pavlov speculated about what his dogs might be thinking and feeling to make
them salivate before getting their food. Eventually, however, he decided that
speculating about his dog’s mental abilities was pointless.
 Instead, he focused on analyzing the environment in which the conditioned reflex
arose. The original salivary reflex, according to Pavlov, consisted of an unconditioned
stimulus (US), food, and unconditioned response (UR), salivation.
 By unconditioned stimulus, Pavlov meant an event or thing that elicits a response

automatically or reflexively. By an unconditional response, he meant the response
that is automatically produced.
 Learning occurs, said Pavlov, when a neutral stimulus is regularly paired with an
unconditioned stimulus. The neutral stimulus then becomes a conditioned stimulus
(CS), which elicits a learned or a conditioned response (CR) that is usually similar to
the original, unlearned one.
 In Pavlov’s laboratory, the sight of the food dish, which had not previously elicited
salivation, became a CS for salivation. The procedure by which a neutral stimulus
becomes a conditioned stimulus became known as Classical Conditioning, also called
Respondent conditioning.
 Since Pavlov’s day, many automatic involuntary responses besides salivation have
been classically conditioned- for example, heartbeat, stomach secretions, blood
pressure, reflexive movements, blinking, and muscle contractions.
 The optimal interval between the presentation of the neutral stimulus and the
presentation of the US depends on the kind of response involved; in the laboratory,
the interval is often less than a second.
 In general for classical conditioning to be most effective, the stimulus to be
conditioned should precede the unconditioned stimulus rather than follow it or occur
simultaneously with it. The diagram below summarizes the steps involved in classical
conditioning.
Steps in Classical conditioning
Before Conditioning
Neutral Stimulus (CS) No Response/ Irrelevant Response
(Bell)
Unconditioned Stimulus (US) UR (Salivation)
(Meat)
During Conditioning
NS (CS?) (Bell)
+
US (Meat) UR (Salivation)
After Conditioning
CS (Bell) CR (Salivation).
Factors that Affect Classical conditioning

Several factors influence the extent to which classical conditioning will occur. These
include the inter stimulus interval, the individual’s learning history and the organism’s
preparedness to learn.
1. Interstimulus interval: This is the duration of time between the presentation of the
CS and the US. For most motor and skeletal responses, the optimal interval between
the CS and the US is very brief. The temporal relationship between the CS and US-
i.e. which stimulus comes first- is also crucial. Maximal conditioning occurs when the
onset of the CS (Bell) precedes the US (meat), known as forward conditioning. Less

effective than forward conditioning is simultaneous conditioning, in which the CS

(Bell) and US (meat) are presented at the same time. A third pattern, backward
conditioning, is the least effective of all. Here, the CS is presented after the US has
occurred.
2. The individual’s learning history: An extinguished response tends to be easier to
learn the second time around because the stimulus was once associated with the
response. Sometimes previous conditioning can also hinder learning. Consider a dog
that has been conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell. The researcher now wants
to condition the dog to associate the food with an additional stimulus, a flash of light.
The dog will probably have difficulty learning this new association. This
phenomenon is known as blocking. It is failure of a stimulus to elicit a CR when it is
combined with another stimulus that is already effective in eliciting the response.
3. Preparedness to learn: An organism's preparation for learning affects the learning
processes. A dog's readiness to expect a food immediately after the ringing of bell
increases the probability of learning the association of a bell sound and the food.

Principles of Classical Conditioning

 Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery: Extinction in classical conditioning
refers to a condition by which a CR is weakened by presentation of the CS
without the US. Without the continued association with the US the CS loses its
power to illicit CR. In other words, if after conditioning, the CS is repeatedly
presented without the US, the CR eventually disappears, and extinction is said to
have occurred. Pavlov rang the bell repeatedly in a single session and did not give
the dog any food. Eventually, the dog stopped salivating.
 Extinction is not always the end of the CR. After extinction a CR may suddenly
reappear even without further conditioning trials. This is referred to as
Spontaneous Recovery. The day after Pavlov extinguished the conditioned
salivation at the sound of a bell, he took the dog to the laboratory and rang the
bell, still not giving the dog meat powder. The dog salivated, indicating that an
extinguished response can spontaneously recur. The spontaneous recovery of CR
is short lived however, will rapidly extinguish again without renewed pairings of
the CS and US.
 Stimulus Generalization and Discrimination: After a stimulus becomes a
conditioned stimulus for some response, other, similar stimuli may produce a
similar reaction- a phenomenon known as stimulus generalization. It occurs
when an organism produces a CR to other stimuli that have not been paired with
the original US. For instance, in Watson and Rayner’s experiment, the pairing of
the rat and the loud noise produced a fear in little Albert not only of the rat but
also of other furry or hairy objects, including the rabbit, the dog, the fur coat, and
other similar objects. As one might guess, the more a stimulus resembles the
original CS, the more likely stimulus generalization will take place.
 The capacity for stimulus generalization is highly adaptive. A child who
associates feelings of comfort and relief with the neighborhood police officer will
seek out other officers when she needs help because they, too, evoke feelings of
relief. Generalization is not always adaptive however. A major component of
adaptive learning is knowing when to generalize and when to be more specific or
discriminating. Maladaptive patterns in humans often involve inappropriate
generalization from one set of circumstances to others, as when a person who has
been frequently criticized by a parent responds negatively to all authority figures.
 Most of the time, however, people do not generalize quite so broadly. Instead like
other animals, they discriminate between stimuli. Stimulus discrimination is the
opposite of stimulus generalization. Pavlov’s dog did not salivate in response to
just any sound.
 Higher Order Conditioning: Sometimes a neutral stimulus can become a CS by
being paired with an already established CS, a procedure known as higher order
conditioning.
Activity-2
Describe the following terms in your own words

1. Classical conditioning
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2. Neutral
stimulus___________________________________________________________
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3. Neutral response
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4. Unconditioned stimulus/Natural stimulus

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5. Unconditioned response/Natural response
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6. Conditioned stimulus
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7. Conditioned response
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8. Higher-order conditioning
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9. Stimulus generalization
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10. Stimulus discrimination
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11. Extinction
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12. Spontaneous recovery
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2.2. Operant Conditioning

 An emphasis on environmental consequences is at the heart of Operant Conditioning
(also called Instrumental Conditioning), the second type of conditioning studied by
Behaviourists.
 In operant conditioning, the organism's response operates or produces effects on the
environment. These effects, in turn, influence, whether the response will occur again.
 Operant conditioning has been studied since the start of the 20 th century, although it
was not called that until later. Edward Thorndike set the stage by observing cats as
they tried to escape from a complex “puzzle box” to reach a scrap of fish located just
outside the box.
 In this study a hungry cat was placed in a small cage, or “puzzle box” with food
available just outside. The cat could escape to obtain the food by performing a simple
response, such as pulling a wire or depressing a lever. After each escape, the cat was
rewarded with a small amount of food and then returned to the cage for another trial.
 Thorndike monitored how long it took the cat get out of the box on each trial- over a
long series of trials. If the cat could "think", Thorndike reasoned, there would be a
sudden drop in the time required to escape when the cat recognized the solution to the
problem.
 Instead of a sudden drop, Thorndike observed a very gradual, uneven decline in the
time it took the cats to escape from his puzzle boxes. The decline in solution time

showed that the cats were learning but, Thorndike concluded that their learning did
not depend on thinking and understanding.
 Instead he attributed this learning to a principle called the law of effect. According to
the law of effect, if a response in the presence of a stimulus leads to satisfying effects,
the association between the stimulus and the response is strengthened.
 This general principle was elaborated and extended to more complex forms of
behavior by B.F Skinner. He moved beyond Thorndike by arguing that this principle
governs complex human learning as well as simple animal learning.
 Skinner argued that to understand behavior we should focus on the external causes of
an action and the action’s consequences. To explain behavior, he said, we should look
outside the individual, not inside.
 In Skinner’s analysis, a response (“operant”) can lead to three types of
consequences: such as a) A neutral consequence b) A reinforcement c)
punishment
a) A neutral Consequence that does not alter the response.
b) A reinforcement that strengthens the response or makes it more likely to recur. A
reinforcer is any event that increases the probability that the behavior that
precedes it will be repeated. There are two basic types of reinforcers or
reinforcing stimuli: primary and secondary reinforcers.
o Primary reinforcers: Food, water. Light, stroking of the skin, and a
comfortable air temperature are naturally reinforcing because they satisfy
biological needs. They are, therefore, known as primary reinforcers. Primary
reinforcers, in general, have the ability to reinforce without prior learning.
o Secondary Reinforcers: Behaviours can be controlled by secondary
reinforcers. They reinforce behavior because of their prior association with
primary reinforcing stimuli. Money, praise, applause, good grades, awards,
and gold stars are common secondary reinforcers.
 Both primary and secondary reinforcers can be positive or negative. Positive
reinforcement is the process whereby presentation of a stimulus makes behavior more
likely to occur again.
 Negative reinforcement is the process whereby termination of an aversive stimulus
makes behavior more likely to occur. The basic principle of negative reinforcement is
that eliminating something aversive can itself be a reinforser or a reward. For
example, if someone nags you all the time to study, but stops nagging when you
comply, your studying is likely to increase- because you will then avoid the nagging.
 This can be an example of what is called escape learning. In escape learning animals
learn to make a response that terminates/stops a noxious, painful or unpleasant
stimulus. Another kind of learning, which is similar, but not the same as escape
learning is Avoidance Learning, which refers to learning to avoid a painful, noxious
stimulus prior to exposure.
Schedules of reinforcement
 When a response is first acquired, learning is usually most rapid if the response is
reinforced each time it occurs. This procedure is called continuous reinforcement.

 However, once a response has become reliable, it will be more resistant to extinction
if it is rewarded on an intermittent (partial) schedule of reinforcement, which involves
reinforcing only some responses, not all of them. There are four types of intermittent
schedules.
1. Fixed-ratio schedules: A fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement occurs after a
fixed number of responses. They produce very rate of responding. Employers
to increase productivity often use fixed ratio schedules. An interesting feature
of a fixed ratio schedule is that performance sometimes drops off just after
reinforcement.
2. Variable-Ratio Schedule: A variable ratio schedule of reinforcement occurs
after some average number of responses, but the number varies from
reinforcement to reinforcement. A variable ratio schedule of produces
extremely high steady rates of responding. The responses are more resistant
to extinction than when a fixed ratio schedule is used.
3. Fixed Interval Schedule: A fixed interval schedule of reinforcement occurs
only if a fixed amount of time has passed since the previous reinforcer.
4. Variable Interval Schedule: A variable interval schedule of reinforcement
occurs only if a variable amount of time has passed since the previous
reinforcer.
 A basic principle of operant conditioning is that if you want a response to persist after
it has been learned, you should reinforce it intermittently, not continuously. Because
the change from continuous reinforcement to none at all will be so large that the
animal or person will soon stop responding. But if you have been giving the
reinforcement only every so often, the change will not be dramatic and the animal/
person will keep responding for a while.
c) Punishment- is a stimulus that weakens the response or makes it less likely to recur.
Punishers can be any aversive (unpleasant) stimuli that weaken responses or make them
unlikely to recur. Like reinforcers, punishers can also be primary or secondary.
 Pain and extreme heat or cold are inherently punishing and are therefore known as
primary punishers.
 Criticism, demerits, catcalls, scolding, fines, and bad grades are common secondary
punishers.
 The positive-negative distinction can also be applied to puishment. Something
unpleasant may occur following some behaviour (positive punishment), or something
pleasant may be removed (negative punishment).
The Pros and Cons of Punishment

When Punishment works:
 Immediacy – When punishment follows immediately after the behavior to be
punished.
 Consistency- when punishment is inconsistent the behaviour being punished
is intermittently reinforced and therefore becomes resistant to extinction.
 Intensity- In general terms severe punishments are more effective than mild
ones. But, there are studies that indicate that even less intense punishments
are effective provided that they are applied immediately and consistently.
When punishment fails

1. People often administer punishment inappropriately or mindlessly. They swing in a
blind rag or shout things they do not mean applying. Punishment is so broad that it
covers all sorts of irrelevant behaviors.
2. The recipient of punishment often responds with anxiety, fear or rage. Through a
process of classical conditioning, these emotional side effects may then generalize to
the entire situation in which the punishment occurs- the place, the person delivering
the punishment, and the circumstances. These negative emotional reactions can create
more problems than the punishment solves. For instance,a teenager who has been
severely punished may strike back or run away. Being physically punished in
childhood is a risk factor for depression, low self-esteem, violent behavior and many
other problems.
3. The effectiveness of punishment is often temporary, depending heavily on the
presence of the punishing person or circumstances
4. Most behavior is hard to punish immediately.
5. Punishment conveys little information. An action intended to punish may instead be
reinforcing because it brings attention.
Shaping
 For a response to be reinforced, it must first occur. But, suppose you to train a
child to use a knife and a fork properly. Such behaviors, and most others in every
day 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. The responses that you reinforce on the way to the final one are called
successive approximations.
Principles of Operant Conditioning

 Extinction: In operant conditioning, extinction refers to the gradual weakening of
and disappearance of a response tendency because the response is no longer followed
by a reinforcer.
 Spontaneous Recovery: Just as in a classical conditioning, animals and people
whose operant behaviors have been extinguished may recover them. This is called
spontaneous recovery.
 Stimulus Generalization: Stimulus generalization describes the phenomenon
whereby an animal or a person has learned a response to one stimulus and then
applies it to other similar stimuli.
 Stimulus Discrimination: The tendency for a response to occur in the presence of a
stimulus but not in the presence of other, similar stimuli that differ from it on some
dimension.
Do you agree with the notion that punishing children whenever they do wrong
? would improve their behavior?

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2.3 Cognitive Learning Theories
Both classical and operant conditioning have traditionally been explained by the principle
of contiguity i.e. the close association of events in time and space. Contiguity has been
used to explain the association of a conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus in
classical conditioning and the association of a behavior and its consequences in operant
conditioning.
Cognitive learning may take three forms:

1. Observational learning
2. Latent learning
3. Insight learning (gestalt learning or perceptual learning)
 For half a century, most American learning theories held that learning could be
explained by specifying the behavioral “ABCs” – Antecedents (events preceding
behavior), Behaviors, and Consequences.
 In the 1940s, two social scientists proposed a modification they called social learning
theory. Most human learning, they argued, is acquired by observing other people in
social context, rather than through standard conditioning procedures.
 By 1960s and 1970s, social learning theory was in full bloom, and a new element had
been added: the human capacity for higher level of cognitive processes.
 Its proponents agreed with behaviorists that human beings, along with the rat and the
rabbit, are subject to the laws of operant and classical conditioning. But, they added
that human beings, unlike the rat and the rabbit, are full of attitudes, beliefs and
expectations that affect the way they acquire information, make decisions, reason, and
solve problems.
 These mental processes affect what individuals will do at any given moment and also,
more generally the personality traits they develop.
1. Learning by Observing
 Refers to learning by watching what others do and what happens to them for doing it).
 Behaviorists have always acknowledged the importance of observational learning,
which they call vicarious conditioning, and have tried to explain it in stimulus
response terms.
 But social cognitive theorists believe that in human beings, observational learning
cannot be fully understood without taking into account the thought processes of the
learner.
 They emphasize the knowledge that results when a person sees a model- behaving in
certain ways and experiencing the consequences.
 Many years ago, Albert Bandura and his colleagues showed just how important
observational learning is, especially for children who are learning the rules of social
behavior.
40 ?
Prepared by: Workneh Kebede (School of Psychology, AAU)
What are the implications of the finding on children watching violence

shown on TV?
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2. 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.
 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 C.H 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, the group of three 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.
3. Insight Learning
 It is cognitive process whereby we reorganize our perception of a problem. It
doesn’t depend on conditioning of particular behaviors for its occurrence.
Sometimes, for example, people even wake from sleep with the solution to a
problem that they had not been able to solve during the day.
 In a typical insight situation a problem is posed, a period follows during where no
apparent progress is made, 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.
Summary
In unit 3 of this module you examined the environmental foundation of mind and
behavior. Describing environmental foundations in terms of learning, an attempt was
made to examine the nature of learning and the theories and applications of learning.
Learning is a relatively permanent change in knowledge, attitude and behavior as a result

of practice or experience.

Learning differs from instinct reflex, growth and maturation because the latter are
biological in nature. Learning, on the other, is external in that it represents the interaction
of an individual with his environment. Learning involves arousal or motivation,
performance and reinforcement to result in behavioral changes.
Some of the ways in which learning occurs include trial-and-error, observation or
imitation, and instruction, training, advice, or tutoring. These three methods of learning
are used in the different types of learning. Conditioning, for example, is based on trial
and-error while cognitive learning involves observation and instruction.
There major groups of theories exist regarding learning
 The classical conditioning model,
 The operant conditioning mode, and
 The cognitive learning theories
According to Pavlov's classical conditioning model, or respondent learning, learning is
the process of controlling reflexes. Classical conditioning is a form of learning in which
the originally neutral stimulus inherits the characteristics of the two stimuli. Pavlov’s
classical conditioning model assumes that all of our behaviors are reactions we make to
the environment acting as-stimulus-response learning.
The popular Harvard University professor B.F. Skinner argued that Pavlov’s model
explains only the situation of elicited responses. However, humans can show behaviors
without specific stimuli preceding them. These groups of response are known as emitted
responses. According to Skinner, responses that are reinforced are likely to occur again.
Behavior for Skinner is acquired, as a means of getting certain desired end states. He
introduced concepts like positive and negative reinforcement, punishment, and extinction
as mechanisms of shaping human behaviors, Skinner’s model is in general described as
response-stimulus learning.
Both skinner and Pavlov’s learning show the formation of associations between response
and stimuli. Other psychologists disagree with this rather simplistic view. Cognitive
theorists are cases in this point. They say that learning is a more complex mental process
and less observable activities. They have identified three such types of learning-insight
learning, latent learning, and observational or social learning. In all these types of
learning, the most important factors are thinking and problem solving but not learning
association.
 Self –Test Exercise unit three

Answer the following questions in the spaces provided.
1. Compare and contrast
1.1 Stimulus generalization and discrimination
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1.2 Conditioning and extinction
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1.3 Extinction and spontaneous recovery

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2. Compare and contrast classical and operant conditioning models
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3. Compare and contrast conditioning and cognitive learning
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UNIT FOUR
MEMORY
INTRODUCTION
 Dear student what comes to your mind about memory? What is the meaning of
memory? What is the function of memory in your studying?
Intelligent life does not exist without memory. Imagine what life could mean to a person
who is unable to recall things that are already seen, tested, heard before. If you don’t have
a memory, you cannot remember whatever information you acquire that makes your life
disorganized, confused and meaningless.
Your memory provides the function that your life to have continuity in place and time,
adapt to the new situations by using previous skills and information, enriches your
emotional life by recoiling your positive and negative life experiences.
Objectives
At the end of this unit, you will be able to:
 define memory
 comprehended the nature of memory including its meaning and types
 explain the process that are at work in memory functions, and
 explain the factors underlying the persistence, and loss of memory.
Memory is the retention of information/what is learned earlier over time. It is the way in
which we record the past for later use in the present. Memory is a blanket label for a large
number of processes that form the bridges between our past and our present. To learn
about the nature of memory, it is useful to separate the process from the structure.
4.1 Memory Processes

? How do you form the memory of events you sense?
Memory process is the mental activities we perform to put information into memory, to
keep it there, and to make use of it later. This involves three basic steps:
a) Encoding: Taken from computer science, the term encoding refers to the form
(i.e. the code) in which an item of information is to be placed in memory. It is the
process by which information is initially recorded in a form usable to memory. In
encoding we transform a sensory input into a form or a memory code that can be
further processed.
b) Storage: To be remembered the encoded experience must leave some record in
the nervous system (the memory trace); it must be squirreled away and held in
some more or less enduring form for later use. This is what memory specialists
mean when they speak of placing information in storage. It is the location in
memory system in which material is saved. Storage is the persistence of
information in memory.
c) Retrieval: is the point at which one tries to remember to dredge up a particular
memory trace from among all the others we have stored. In retrieval, material in
memory storage is located, brought into awareness and used.
? Try to explain the three memory processes with examples?

Failure to remember can result from problems during any of the three phases of the
memory process. If, fore example, you encode a new item of information only as a sound
pattern, there would be no memory trace of its meaning. If both the sound and the
meaning were encoded and held for the length of the retention interval, the item might
have been misfiled in memory. If so, the item might be impossible to retrieve even
though it is still stored in memory.
Memory is the process by which

information is encoded (phase1),

4.2 Structure/Stages/Forms of Memory
 Memory structure is the nature of memory storage itself- how information is

represented in memory and how long it lasts and how it is organized.
 Although people usually refer to memory as a single faculty, the term memory
actually covers a complex collection of abilities and processes.
 The cognitive perspective has dominated psychology’s view of memory for the
past years although in recent years it has become integrated with understanding
of the neuro-psychology of memory. Many cognitive psychologists relate the
mind to an information processor, along the lines of a digital computer that takes
items of information in; processes them in steps or stages, and then produces an
output.
 Consider how the computer works; First, it takes in information (for instance via
keystrokes) and translates the information into an electronic language, then the
computer permanently stores the information on a disc, and finally it retrieves
the information (file) stored on a disc on to a working memory (which also
receives new information from the keyboard) and the information is put on to the
screen as part of the working memory.
 Models of memory based on this idea are Information processing theories. Like
the computer, we also store vast amounts of information in our memory store
house. From this storehouse, we can retrieve some information onto a limited
capacity working memory, which also receives information from our current
experience. Part of this working memory is displayed on the mental “screen” we
call consciousness. A number of such models of memory have been proposed.
One of the most important and influential of these is the one developed by

Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin(1968). According to Atkinson and

Shiffrin, memory has three structures:
1) Sensory Memory/Sensory Register: It is the entry way to memory. It is the first

information storage area. Sensory memory acts as a holding bin, retaining information
until we can select items for attention from the stream of stimuli bombarding our senses.
It gives us a brief time to decide whether information is extraneous or important. Sensory

memory includes a number of separate subsystems, as many as there are senses. It can
hold virtually all the information reaching our senses for a brief time.
For instance, visual images (Iconic memory) remain in the visual system for a maximum
of one second. Auditory images (Echoic memory) remain in the auditory system for a
slightly longer time, by most estimates up to two second or so.
The information stored sensory in memory is a fairly accurate representation of the
environmental information but unprocessed.
Most information briefly held in the sensory memory simply decays from the register.
However, some of the information that has got attention and recognition pass on short-
term memory for further processing.
2) Short-term Memory: is part of our memory that holds the contents of our attention.
Unlike sensory memories, short-term memories are not brief replicas of the
environmental message. Instead, they consist the by-products or end results of perceptual
analysis. STM is important in a variety of tasks such as thinking, reading, speaking, and
problem solving. There are various terms used to refer to this stage of memory, including
working memory, immediate memory, active memory, and primary memory.
? Why do we call STM as a working memory?
Short term memory is distinguished by four characteristics:

 It is active- information remains in STM only so long as the person is consciously
processing, examining, or manipulating it. People use STM as a “workspace” to
process new information and to call up relevant information from LTM.
 Rapid accessibility - Information in STM is readily available for use. In this
respect, the difference between STM and LTM is the difference between pulling a
file from the top of a desk versus searching for it in a file drawer, or between
searching for information in an open computer file versus file stored on the hard
drive.
 Preserves the temporal sequence of information- STM usually helps us to
maintain the information in sequential manner for a temporary period of time. It

keeps the information fresh until it goes to further analysis and stored in LTM in
meaningful way.
 Limited capacity- Years ago, George Miller (1956) estimated the capacity of
STM to be “the magic number seven plus or minus 2”. That is, on the average,
people can hold about seven pieces of information in STM at a time; with a
normal range from five to nine items. Some researchers have questioned whether
Miller’s magical number is so magical after all. Everyone agrees, however, that
the number of items that short-term memory can handle at any one time is small.
According to most models of memory, we overcome this problem, by grouping small

groups of information into larger units or chunks. Chunking is the grouping or “packing”
of information into higher order units that can be remembered as single units. Chunking
expands working memory by making large amounts of information more manageable.
The real capacity of short-term memory, therefore, is not a few bits of information but a
few chunks. A chunk may be a word, a phrase, a sentence, or even a visual image, and it
depends on previous experience.
STM memory holds information (sounds, visual images, words, and sentences and so on)
received from SM for up to about 30 seconds by most estimates. It is possible to prolong
STM indefinitely by rehearsal- the conscious repetition of information. Material in STM
is easily displaced unless we do something to keep it there.
3. Long Term Memory
It is a memory system used for the relatively permanent storage of meaningful

information. The capacity of LTM seems to have no practical limits. The vast amount of
information stored in LTM enables us to learn, get around in the environment, and build a
sense of identity and personal history. LTM stores information for indefinite periods. It
may last for days, months, years, or even a lifetime.
Activity-3
Attempt to describe each type of information, its capacity and characteristics in the
following tables.
Type of memory Type of information Capacity Characteristics Duration
1. Sensory Memory
2. Short- term
Memory
3. Long –term
Memory
The LTM is assumed to be composed of different sub systems:

 Declarative/ explicit memory- the conscious recollection of information such
as specific facts or events that can be verbally communicated. It is further
subdivided into semantic and episodic memories.

 Semantic memory- factual knowledge like the meaning of words, concepts and
our ability to do math. They are internal representations of the world,
independent of any particular context.
 Episodic memory- memories for events and situations from personal
experience. They are internal representations of personally experienced events.
 Non-declarative/ implicit memory- refers to a variety of phenomena of
memory in which behaviour is affected by prior experience without that
experience being consciously recollected. One of the most important kinds of
implicit memory is procedural memory. It is the “how to” knowledge of
procedures or skills: Knowing how to comb your hair, use a pencil, or swim.
Activity-4
1. Regarding the importance of human memory
1.1 What do you think will happen to you if you are without memory of any kind?
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1.2 What do you think the usefulness of memory?

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1.3 Do you think that animals have memory?
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2. How many types of memory do we have?
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2.1 Classify memory using
2.1.1. Time spent in memory information?

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2.1.2. Type of information we have?

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3. List out the different sub systems of long term memory and their characteristics?
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Serial Position Effect

 The three-box model of memory is often invoked to explain interesting
phenomenon called the serial position effect. If you are shown a list of items and
are then asked immediately to recall them, your retention of any particular item
will depend on its position in the list. That is, recall will be best for items at the
beginning of the list (the primacy effect) and at the end of the list (the recency
effect). When retention of all the items is plotted, the result will be a U-shaped
curve.
 A serial position effect occurs when you are introduced to a lot of people at a
party and find you can recall the names of the first few people you met and the
last, but almost no one in between.
 According to the three-box model, the first few items on a list are remembered
well because short-term memory was relatively “empty” when they entered, so
these items did not have to compete with others to make it into long term
memory. They were thoroughly processed, so they remain memorable.
 The last few items are remembered for a different reason: At the time of recall,
they are still sitting in STM. The items in the middle of the list, however, are not
so well retained because by the time they get into short-term memory, it is already
crowded. As a result many of these items drop out of short-term memory before
they can be stored in long-term memory.
? What account for the serial-position effect?
Forgetting
Dear students why do human beings forget information? In what way and how do we
forgot that information? Is forgetting bad or good for us?

From the store house of information, most of us forget the names of individuals, names of
places and other information’s. In our daily living, we encounter so much information. if
we attempt to encode, store and recall all the information we face daily, we are in
trouble. Hence, we are selective in storing and forgetting information. Sometimes we are
motivated to forgot something and recall what we want to remember. Psychologists call
this phenomenon as motivated forgetting?
 Psychologists generally use the term forgetting to refer to the apparent loss of
information already encoded and stored in the long-term memory.
 The first attempts to study forgetting were made by German psychologist
Hermann Ebbinghaus (1885/1913). Using himself as his only subject, he
memorized lists of three letter non-sense syllables- meaningless sets of two
consonants with a vowel in between, such as FIW and BOZ.
 By measuring how easy it was to relearn a given list of words after varying
periods of time from initial learning had passed., he found that forgetting occurred
systematically.
 The most rapid forgetting occurs in the first hours, and particularly in the first
hour. After nine hours, the rate of forgetting slows and declines little, even after
the passage of many days.
 Ebbinghaus’s research had an important influence on subsequent research, and his
basic conclusions had been upheld. There is almost always a strong initial decline
in memory, followed by a more gradual drop over time.
 Furthermore, relearning of previously mastered material is almost always faster
than starting from a scratch, whether the material is academic information or a
motor skill such as serving a tennis ball.
 Psychologists have proposed five mechanisms to account for forgetting: decay,
replacement of old memories by new ones, interference, motivated forgetting, and
cue dependent forgetting.
Activity-5
1. Do you think lost memories can be recovered? How
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2. How can we improve our memories?

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1. The Decay Theory

 The decay theory holds that memory traces or engram fade with time if they are
not “accessed” now and then. This explanation assumes that when new material is
learned a memory trace or engram- an actual physical change in the brain- occurs.
 In decay, the trace simply fades away with nothing left behind, because of the
passage of time. We have already seen that decay occurs in sensory memory and
that it occurs in short term memory as well, unless we rehearse the material.
However, the mere passage of time does not account so well for forgetting in
long-term memory. People commonly forget things that happened only yesterday
while remembering events from many years ago.
 Although there is evidence that decay does occur, it does not seem to be the
complete explanation for forgetting. Memory specialists have proposed an
additional mechanism: Interference.
? Is time a factor in forgetting?
2. Interference
 Interference theory holds that forgetting occurs because similar items of
information interfere with one another in either storage or retrieval. The
information may get into memory, but it becomes confused with other
information.
 There are two kinds of interference that influence forgetting: proactive and
retroactive. In Proactive Interference, information learned earlier interferes
with recall of newer material. If new information interferes with the ability to
remember old information the interference is called Retroactive Interference.
3. New Memory for Old/ Displacement Theory

 This theory holds that new information entering memory can wipe out old
information, just as recording on an audio or videotape will obliterate/wipe out
the original material. This theory is mostly associated with the STM, where the
capacity for information is limited to seven plus or minus chunks. It cannot be
associated with the LTM because of its virtually unlimited capacity.
4. Motivated Forgetting
 Sigmund Freud maintained that people forget because they block from
consciousness those memories that are two threatening or painful to live with, and
he called this self-protective process Repression.
 To day many psychologists prefer to use a more general term, motivated
forgetting.

5. Cue Dependent Forgetting

 Often when we need to remember, we rely on retrieval cues, items of information
that can help us find the specific information we’re looking for.
 When we lack retrieval cues, we may feel as if we have lost the call number for an
entry in the mind’s library. In long-term memory, this type of memory failure
may be the most common type of all.
 Cues that were present when you learned a new fact or had an experience are apt
to be especially useful later as retrieval aids.
 That may explain why remembering is often easier when you are in the same
physical environment as you were when an event occurred: Cues in the present
context match from the past. Cues present during the initial stage of learning help
us to recall the content of the specific learning materials in an easy manner.
 Your mental or physical state may also act as a retrieval cue, evoking a state
dependent memory. For example if you are intoxicated when something
happens, you may remember it better when you once again have had a few drinks
than when you are sober.
 Like wise, if your emotional arousal is specially high or low at the time of an
event, you may remember that event best when you are once again in the same
emotional state.
? What environmental factors are important in loosing information from

memory?
Improving Memory
 Someday in the near future, drugs may be available to help people with memory
deficiencies to increase normal memory performance. For the time being,
however, those of us who hope to improve our memories must rely on mental
strategies.
 Some simple mnemonics can be useful, but complicated ones are often more
bothersome than they are worth. A better approach is to follow some general
guidelines.
 Pay Attention: It seems obvious, but often we fail to remember because we
never encoded the information in the first place. When you do have something
to remember, you will do better if you encode it.
 Encode information in more than one way: The more elaborate the encoding
of information, the more memorable it will be
 Add meaning: The more meaningful the material, the more likely it is to link
up with information already in long-term memory.
 Take your time: If possible, minimize interference by using study breaks for
rest or recreation. Sleep is the ultimate way to reduce interference.
 Over learn: Studying information even after you think you already know it- is
one of the best ways to ensure that you’ll remember it.

 Monitor your learning: By testing yourself frequently, rehearsing thoroughly,

and reviewing periodically, you will have a better idea of how you are doing.
Summary
An important dimension of humans’ intelligent life (or mind and behavior) that normally
follows sensation and perception is memory a warehouse of our past life events.
Memory has different forms and hence it is classified into different types.
 Sensory short-term and long-term memory
 Procedural and declarative memory
 Episodic and semantic memory, and
 Explicit and implicit memory
Whatever from it may take, memory is a time-stages process of acquiring, storing and
retrieving information. Different factors affect the success of memory formation in each
stage e.g. attention, rehearsal, organization and retrieval clues.
The difference between the amount of acquired information and the information that is
retrieved is called forgetting. Forgetting occurs not only because of absence of the
acquired information. It may also occur because of distortion of the acquired information
disremembering.
There are different methods of improving our memory: paying attention, encoding
information in more than one way, add meaning to the new information, minimize
interferences, over learning and monitoring of your learning.

Self- Test Exercise Unit Four
Part one: Matching
A B
1. Encoding A. Working memory
2. Retrieval B. Memory code
3. Sensory register C. Loss of information
4. Short-term memory D. Permanent storage
5. Long-term memory E. Sensory memory
6. Forgetting F. Remember
7. Semantic memory G. Meanings of words
H. Decoding
Part two: Give Short Answers
1. Why we call short-term memory as a working memory?
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2. What is Chunking?
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3. List out the factors that help us to memorize new information?
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UNIT FIVE
MOTIVATION
INTRODUCTION
 A number of factors and process may affect knowing and memory. But the most
important ones are forces within the individual himself/her self. These forces are
motivation and emotion.
Every behavior is intended to serve certain purpose. And these underling purposes of
behavior represent motivation.
This section attempts to discuss motivation along with the different theories. It also
examines motivational conflict as common problems of human beings.
Objectives
At the end of this section, you are expected to:-
 define motivation
 comprehend the nature of motivation
 compare and contrast theories of motivation
 explain Sources of individual differences in motivation
 identify the limitations of each theories of motivation.

5.1 The Nature of Motivation

o The word motivation comes from a Latin root meaning “to move” and the
psychology of motivation is indeed the study of what moves us, why we do what
we do.
o In other words, motivation refers to the forces that initiate and direct behavior,
and the variables that determine the intensity and persistence of that behavior. It is
concerned with factors that direct and energize the behavior of humans and other
organisms.
o When we are hungry, for example, we initiate food seeking. This initiation can be
prompted from within the individual or the external environment- we might be
hungry because of low blood sugar level (internal) or because we just saw a
delicious dessert (external). Motivation also directs our behavior. When we are
hungry we seek food rather than read a newspaper. Motivation also determines
the intensity and persistence of our behavior. Intensity has to do with the strength
of the behavior. For instance you might be a little hungry and if food is readily
available, you would eat, but if there is no food in the immediate vicinity, you
would probably engage in some other behavior. On the other hand, if you are
extremely hungry, you will most likely engage intensively in food seeking
behavior, doing what ever it took to obtain it. How motivated we are, still
influences our persistence. Sometimes we will persist in obtaining a goal for a
long time, while at other times; we’ll give up after a brief time.
? What are the behavioral functions of motivation?

 An important characteristic of motives is that we never observe them directly.
Psychologists often measure motivation by observing what individuals do
(initiation), how they make choices (direction), noting the strength of their
behavior (Intensity) and how long they engage in them (persistence).
“Motivation for human beings is like a fuel for a car?” Do agree or disagree,
?
why?
5.2 Some Theories of Motivation

a) Drive Theories- Push theory of motivation
 According to drive theories, when we experience a drive, we are motivated to pursue
actions that will lead to drive reduction. A drive is an internal state of tension that
motivates (pushes) an organism to engage in activities that should reduce this
tension.
 In general drive theories state the following: When an internal driving state is
aroused, the individual is pushed to engage in behavior which will lead to goal that
reduces the intensity of the driving state. In human beings, at least, reaching the
appropriate goal, which reduces the drive state, is pleasurable and satisfying.

 According to drive theories motivation is said to consist of

1. a driving state
2. the goal directed behaviour initiated by the driving state.
3. the attainment of an appropriate goal and
4. the reduction of the driving state and subjective satisfaction and relief when
the goal is reached. After a time the driving state builds up again to push
behaviour toward the appropriate goal. This sequence of events is sometimes
called the motivational cycle.
5.
? What underlines a motivational cycle in motivation?
b) Incentive Theories- Pull theory of motivation
 This theory suggests that motivation is not primarily a matter of being pushed from
within by various urges; rather, it is more a question of being pulled from without by
expectations of attaining desired outcomes (incentives).
 Incentive theories appear to explain why many people engage in complex effortful or
even painful behaviours such as working many hours on their jobs, or studying long
into the night.
 Incentive theory has been applied to many aspects of human motivation. Perhaps,
though, it has found its most important practical use with respect to work motivation-
the tendency to expend energy and effort on one’s job.
? What are the main causes for motivation for drive and incentive theories
of motivation?
c) Opponent Process Theory

 The opponent process theory takes a hedonistic view of motivation. Basic to this
theory is the observation that many emotional-motivational states are followed by
opposing, or opposite states.
 Opponent process theory of motivation seeks to explain the motivation behind
such phenomena as drug addiction and the psychological and emotional reactions
that occur as a result of extremes of physical danger, as in skydiving.
 According to this theory, stimuli that first produce increases in arousal later
produce an opposite calming reaction in the nervous system, where as stimuli that
first produce decreases in arousal later produce an increase in arousal. Moreover,
with each exposure to a stimulus, the original response to the stimulus remains
fairly stable or perhaps even declines, while the opponent process- the reaction to
the original response- tends to grow in strength.
 In sum, opponent process theory helps explain why people hold strong motivation
for behaviour that on the surface has few benefits. It is frequently the opponent
process not the initial reaction, which maintains the motivation to carry out such
behaviour.
? Does opponent process theory explain all human behavior? Why and why
not?

d) Arousal theories/ optimal level theories/just right theories
 Arousal theories seek to explain behavior in which the goal is the maintenance of
or an increase in excitement. These theories say that there is a certain optimal, or
best level of arousal that is pleasurable.
 According to arousal theory, each of us tries to maintain a certain level of
stimulation activity. As with the drive reduction model, if our stimulation and
activity levels become too high, we try to reduce them. But the arousal model also
suggests something quite different from the drive reduction model: If the levels of
stimulation and activity are too low, we will try to increase them by seeking
stimulation.
 Arousal theory has significant applications to a variety of fields. For example,
students who are highly anxious while taking tests on complex material may
perform well below their ability because of their high level of arousal.
d) Maslow’s Hierarchy: Motivational Needs

 Abraham Maslow, a prominent humanistic theorist, proposes that human
motives are organized into a hierarchy of needs, a systematic arrangement of
needs according to priority, which assumes that basic needs must be met before
less basic needs are aroused.
 Maslow’s model considers different motivational needs to be ordered in a
hierarchy, and it suggests that before more sophisticated, higher order needs can
be met, certain primary needs must be satisfied.
 The model can be conceptualized as a pyramid in which the more basic needs
are at the bottom and the higher levels needs are at the top.
 The most basic needs are those described as primary drives: needs for water,
food, sleep, sex and the like. In order to move up the hierarchy, the person must
have these basic physiological needs met.
 Safety needs come next in the hierarchy; Maslow suggests that people need a
safe, secure environment in order to function actively. Safety needs reflect
concern about long-term survival.
 Safety and security needs motivate adults to seek a stable job, to buy insurance,
and to put money in their savings accounts.
 Physiological and safety needs compose the lower order needs. Only when the
basic lower order needs are met can a person consider fulfilling higher order
needs, consisting of love and belongingness, esteem and self-actualization.
 Love and belongingness needs include the need to obtain and give affection
and to be a contributing member of some group or society. After these need are
fulfilled the person strives for esteem.
 In Maslow’s thinking esteem relates to the need to develop a sense of self worth
by knowing that others are aware of ones competence and value. People with
esteem needs become concerned about their achievement, the recognition,
respect and status that they earn.
 Once these four sets of needs are fulfilled- no easy task- the person is ready to
strive for the higher level need, self-actualization.

 Self- actualization is a state of self-fulfillment in which people realize their

highest potential. The important thing in self-actualization is that people feel at
ease with themselves and satisfied that they are using their talents to the fullest.
 In a sense, reaching self-actualization produces a decline in the striving and
yearning for greater fulfillment that marks most people’s lives and instead
provides a sense of satisfaction with the current state of affairs.
? Give examples for each needs Maslow?
5.3 Classification of Motives

 Motives can be divided into three major categories:
1. Primary / Biological /Physiological Motives
 Theses motives are, to a large extent, rooted in the physiological state of the body.
 Primary motives are innate in nature and must be met for survival.
 The most important primary motives include hunger, pain avoidance, a need for
oxygen, sleep, elimination of wastes, and regulation of body temperature.
 Many biological motives are triggered, in part, by departures from balanced
physiological conditions of the body. The body tends to maintain a state of
equilibrium called homeostasis in many of its internal physiological processes.
2. Stimulus Motives: Motives to know and to be effective
 These are motives to
o seek variety in stimulation,
o process information about the world around us,
o explore and to be effective in mastering challenges from the environment.
 The purpose of stimulus motives seems to be to provide the nervous system with
useful information and stimulation.
 The stimulus motives cause the individual to seek out sensory stimulation through
interaction with the environment. They include activity, curiosity, exploration,
manipulation, and physical contact.
 Because these motives are so persistent and seem to exist to one degree or another
in everyone they are often considered innate, part of the human species heritage.
In a sense, these motives are behind our greatest human accomplishments and
also, unfortunately, our greatest failure.
3. Social Motives
 Social motives are the complex motive states, or needs that are the sources of
many human actions.
 They are called social because they are learned in social groups, especially in the
family as children grow up and because they usually involve other people.
 These human motives can be looked upon as general states that lead to many
particular behaviors. Not only do they help to determine much of what a person
does, they persist never fully satisfied, over the years. No sooner is one goal
reached than the motive is directed toward another one.
 Thus, social motives are general persisting characteristics of a person, and since
they are learned, their strength differs greatly from one individual to another.
 Consequently, social motives are important components of personality.
 Many social motives have been proposed. Some of these include needs for
achievement, affiliation, power, approval, status, security, and aggression.
Activity-6
Part one: Dear students try to match the following concepts with the major theories of
motivation.
A B
1. Drives A. Drive
theories
2. Good outcomes expectation B. Incentive
theories
for doing something C. opponent
process theory
3. Stimulation and level of D. arousal
theories
excitement E. safety needs
4. Opposite effect of initial stimuli F. Physiological
need
on our behavior G. Esteem need
5. Saving and insurance H. Love need
6. Water and food I. Self-
activation
7. Recognition as status J. Abraham
Maslow
8. Affection K. Sigmund
Freud
9. Sense of good self and
Self-worth
10. Motivational needs
Part two: Give at least three examples for each type of motives
1. Primary/biological motives
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2. Stimulus motives
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3. Social motives
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5.4 Frustration
? What is frustration, student?
 The term frustration refers to the blocking of any goal directed behavior. If
motives are frustrated, or blocked, emotional feelings and behavior often result.
People who cannot achieve their important goals feel depressed, fearful, anxious,
guilty, or angry. Often they are simply unable to derive ordinary pleasure from
leaving.
? What are the factors that induce frustration in people?
5.4.1 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.
 Personal inadequacies: Setting unattainable goals can be important sources of
frustration. People are often frustrated because they aspire to goals- have a level
of aspiration- 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, doubt, and vacillation.
 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. There are about four basic kinds of motivational conflicts.
1. Approach- Approach Conflict
? Dear student, do you come across choosing one from the two positive
alternatives in your life?

 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.
Example: The parents of Almaz asked her to decide either to go to college to study her
favorite field of study or like to marry her be loved boyfriend.
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: For his unethical behavior, Abebe is asked by his boss to choose either
his salary is cut or demoted for his current position.
3. Approach avoidance conflict

 This kind of conflict occurs when a person is motivated to both approach and
avoid the same goal.
 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;
the closer you are to something unpleasant, the stronger your desire to flee.
 As with avoidance-avoidance conflicts, vacillation is common in these conflicts.
Often however the negative valence is not repellent enough to stop the approach
behaviour.
 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.
 Even after the goal is reached, an individual may feel uneasy because of the
negative valence attached to it.
 Wherever a person is frustrated by not reaching it at all, emotional reactions such
as fear, anger, and resentment commonly accompany approach avoidance
conflicts.

Example: Aster didn't like studying at all, but she is supposed to take a test that
requires hard work. she wants to pass the test with good results.
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.
Activity-7
Match the following
A B
1. Approach – Approach conflict A. Highly stressful & difficult to solve (positive
& negative in each choices)
2. Avoidance – Avoidance conflict B. High vacillation and hesitation (Selection from
the two evils)
3. Approach- avoidance conflict C. Little distress& worry (Selection from the two
positive things)
4. Multiple approach- avoidance D. Strong attraction and repulsion
conflicts E. No making of choices
Self- Check Exercise Unit Five
Part-I: Matching
A B
1. Motivation A. An energy that pushes a person to do
something

2. Drive Theories B. Just right theories

3. Social motives C. Push theory of motivation
4. Incentive theories D. Motivational needs
5. Optimal level theories E. Pull theory of motivation
6. Abrham Maslow F. Status/approval
7. Conflict of motives G. Sources of frustration
G. Primary motives
Part – II
1. Discuss the effect of motivation on human behavior
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2. If you have to classify motives in to two, what are the possible ways of making these
classifications?
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3. How can you motivate a person for an activity?

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4. Which one of all the theories is the best?

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5. Elaborate on the definition of frustration given in the text with examples?

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6. How do you help a person who is frustrated because of conflict of motives?
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UNIT SIX
EMOTION AND STRESS
Section-1: Emotion
This section specifically analyzes the emotional aspect of mental life. It attempts to
answer questions like the following
 What are emotions?

 What are the important dimensions of emotions?
 What theories do we have to explain the nature of human emotions?
Objectives
You are expected to be able to do the following after the end of this section
 distinguish emotion from motivation, instinct, and reason.
 identify the components of emotion
 understand the meaning of happiness, emotional stress.
1.1 The Meaning of Emotion

? What are emotions? What does it mean when you say Mr. X is emotional? Are
emotions referring only to feelings?
 Defining an emotion is not an easy task. It almost seems as if there are as many
definitions of emotions as there are writers on the subject. There is general
agreement among scientists who have studied emotions, however, that they
involve three major components:
1. Physiological components- This refers to internal bodily changes associated with

emotions. Examples include shifts in heart rate, blood pressure, breathing digestion
etc.
2. Subjective Experience – This involves the personal experience we label as emotions.
It is what it feels like to be angry, sad, happy or elated.
3. Emotional Expression – This refers to outward signs of internal bodily reactions.
That is, the ways in which emotions are expressed in language, facial expression and
gestures etc.
 Emotions are personal. No one can truly share our subjective experiences. Yet we are
able to recognize the presence of various emotions in others, and we are able to
communicate our own feelings to them as well. This occurs because of the presence
of nonverbal cues-out-ward, observable signs of others’ internal emotional states.
 Several decades of research on nonverbal cues suggests that this kind of
communication occurs through several basic channels or paths simultaneously. The
most revealing of these consists of facial expressions, eye-contact, body movements
and posture, and touching.
Facial Expressions
 One of the main ways of showing emotions is through facial expression. It is
possible to learn much about others’ current moods and feelings from their facial
expressions. That is, moods and feelings are often reflected in the face and can be
read there from specific expressions. Facial expression is a valuable source of
feedback to a speaker and can indicate that others are interested and listening
 It appears that there are six different emotions, which are clearly represented on
the face. These are anger, fear, sadness, disgust, happiness and surprise. Of

course, this in no was implies that we are capable of showing only six different
facial expressions.
 Until recently, it was widely assumed that basic facial expressions such as those
for happiness, anger, or disgust are universal: they are recognized as indicating
specific emotions by persons all over the world.
 However, a recent review of the evidence on this issue (Russel, 1994) suggests
that the interpretation of facial expressions may be strongly influenced by cultural
factors and that recognition of them may not be as universal as was previously
assumed.
Eye contact
 We do often learn much about others feelings from their eyes. For example, we
interpret a high level of gazing from another as a sign of liking or friendliness. In
contrast, if others avoid eye contact with us, we may conclude that they are
unfriendly, don’t like us, or are shy.
 While a high level of eye contact from others is usually interpreted as a sign of
liking or positive feelings, there is one important exception to this general rule. If
another person gazes at us continuously and maintains such contact regardless of
any actions we perform, she/he can be said to be staring. Staring is often
interpreted as a sign of anger or hostility.
Body Language
 Our current mood or emotion is often reflected in the gesture, posture, position,
and movement of our body. Together, such non-verbal behaviors are termed as
Body Language.
 Gestures tell us a great deal about the emotional state of the other person. For
example a nervous interviewee may wring the hands, fidget the fingers by
fiddling with objects or hair, wriggle or curl the toes- such involuntary gestures
expressed because the true feeling leak out at the edges. Embarrassment is shown
by a hand over the mouth, anger by clenched hands, and shame by covering the
eyes.
 When we like someone we tend to use more open gestures than when we do not.
Open gestures are those which do not create barriers between us and others. Thus
crossed arms and crossed legs signal that we are unsure/uneasy/ defensive/ do not
like the other person, and are called closed gestures.
 In addition, body posture, the way in which we sit or stand is a good indicator of
the way we feel. For example a drooping body posture can show that a person is
very depressed, while a taut, upright position might show extreme anxiety.
Touching
 The amount and type of touch which is acceptable varies according to sex and
society. But, in general growing evidence indicates that when one person touches
another in a manner that is considered acceptable in the current context, positive
reactions generally result.
Emotion is a motivated state that is
66
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Activity-8
1. Have you heard of lie detectors? What are they? How do they work?
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2. Do you think that lie detectors tell the truth? Why?
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3. Give examples of body movements and facial expressions each showing a positive
feeling and negative feeling.
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1.2 Some Theories of Emotion

1) James – Lange Theories (William James and Carl Lange)
 This theory suggests that subjective emotional experiences are actually the result of
physiological changes within our bodies (internal changes in the autonomic nervous
system or movements of the body. You feel frightened for instance, when making a
public speech because you notice that your heart is racing, your mouth is dry and
soon.

2)Cannon – Bard Theory (Walter Cannon and Philip Bard)

 This theory suggests that various emotion provoking events induce simultaneously
the subjective experiences we label as emotions and the physiological reactions that
accompany them.
 In contrast with the James – Lange theory, this theory holds that bodily reactions and
the felt emotion are independent of each other in the sense that bodily reactions are
not the basis of the felt emotion.
3) Schachter –Singer Theory (Stanley Schachter & Jerome Singer)

 According to this view, emotion-provoking events produce increased arousal. In
response to feelings of arousal, we search the external environment in order to
identify the causes of such feelings. The causes we then select play a key role in
determining the label we place on our arousal, and so in determining the emotion we
experience.
 If we feel aroused after a near-miss in traffic, we’ll probably label our emotion as
‘fear’ or perhaps “ anger” If, instead we feel aroused in the presence of an attractive
person, we may label our arousal as “attraction” or “love”
 In short, this theory holds that the emotion we feel is due to our interpretation of an
aroused or “stirred up “bodily state.
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 mugger so you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster,
and your breathing deepens and at the same time experience fear.

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 to are there a seemingly
unlimited number of emotions.

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.

? Which do you think you are going to experience first in the following case?
Events in the environment trigger a

 psychological state or an emotion, which
?
How do you know how your fellow student feels? And how do they know how
you feel?
Activity-9
Compare and contrast the James- Longe and Cannon-Bard theories of emotion
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Section: 2 - Stress and coping

Dear student, this section is aimed to elaborate what is stress and how individual cope
from stress. Have a good reading time.
Objective:
At the end of this section you will be able to:
 define stress
 list types of stressors
 describe mechanisms of coping from stress
2.1 Stress and Coping

 Stress is an internal state, which can be caused by physical demands on the body
(disease conditions, exercise, extremes of temperature, and the like) or by
environmental and social situations, which are evaluated as potentially harmful,
uncontrollable or exceeding our resources for coping.

 It refers to a challenge to a person’s capacity to adapt to inner and outer demands,

which may be physiologically arousing and emotionally taxing and call for cognitive
or behavioral response.
 In other words, stress can be defined as any circumstances that threaten or are
perceived to threaten our well being and that there by tax our coping abilities.
 The threat may be to our immediate physical safety, our long-range security, our self-
esteem, our reputation, our peace of mind, or many other things that we value.
 The experience of feeling threatened depends on what events we notice and how we
choose to appraise and interpret them. Events that are stressful for one person may be
routine for another.
 Generally, the major factors that influence our subjective appraisals of potentially
stressful events are familiarity with the challenge, the controllability of the events,
and the predictability of the events.
 The less familiar you are with a potentially stressful event, the more threatened you
are likely to feel. In short, familiarity with a challenge can make yesterday’s crisis
today’s routine. Similarly, events are usually less stressful when we see them as being
under our control. We also prefer predictable stress over surprise packages.
2.1.1. Major types of stressors
? What are stressors?
 Stress is unavoidable part of life. Events that often lead to stress are called stressors.
Although they are not entirely independent, the four principal types of stressors are:-
1. Life changes
2. pressure
3. conflict of motives
4. frustration
1. Life changes/Life events

 Life changes are any noticeable alternations in one’s living circumstances
that require readjustment. One of the most significant sources of stress is
change. Virtually any event that requires someone to make a readjustment
can be a stressor. According to researchers, changes in personal
relationships, changes at work, so on can be stressful even when the
changes are welcomed.
2. Pressure
 Pressure involves expectations or demands that one behave in a certain
way. Pressure can be divided into subtypes. You are under pressure to
perform when you are expected to execute tasks and responsibilities
quickly, efficiently, and successfully. Pressures to conform to other’s
expectations are also common in our lives. E.g. Military cadets are
expected to adhere to their commanders.
2.1.2 Coping with Stress

?
How people cope with stress?
 Coping consists of all things people do to control, tolerate or reduce the

effects of life is stressors-perceived threats, existing problems, or emotional
losses. It is not single strategy that applies to all circumstances The
techniques people use change over time and circumstance, depending on
the nature of the stressor and the particular situation.
 Researchers often distinguish three types of coping strategies:
1. Efforts to Change the Situation
 Efforts to cope by changing the situation typically involve problem solving. The
individual may try to remove the stressor, plan ways of resolving the situation, or
seek advice or assistance from others in changing the situation.
 People high in problem solving ability and who have a problem solving orientation (a
tendency to define potential problems as challenging and to confront them directly)
tend to report less stress and fewer psychological symptoms than other subjects.
2. Efforts to alter one’s cognition about the situation
 Coping by changing one’s cognition or appraisal of the situation often involves
reframing an event mentally to make it seem less threatening.
 This can be done through turning problems to challenges, loses to unexpected gains,
considering experiences as lessons, making social comparisons.
3. Efforts to alter the unpleasant emotional consequences of the stress.
 A third way people cope with stressful situations is by trying to relive the associated
emotional state.
 This can be done through relaxation, body massage, and physical exercise
Activity-10
1. Write the four principal types of stressors?
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2. Elaborate the three types of coping strategies?

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Summary
Emotion concept that is some how similar but at the same time different from motives,
instinct, and reflexes. Emotion is better experienced than defined as a concept. There is
no agreement in defining what it is. The general agreement is that it has physiological,
cognitive and behavioral components. Different theories have emerged capitalizing on
each of these dimensions: James- Lange theory, cannon-Bard theory (Physiological
theories), facial- feedback theory (behavioral theories), and Schachter- Singer theory. As
the case is in all other psychological theories, there is no one that is best. Each of them
helps to understanding some aspect of emotion. Complete understanding of emotions
necessitates these theories in combination.
 Self- Check Exercise Unit Six

Part –I
1. Are cognitions essential to emotion? Why? What about physiological arousal and
behaviors?
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2. When do verbal and non-verbal expressions contradict?

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Matching
Part –II Match column A with column B
A B
1. Polygraph A. Frustration
2. Body language B. Facial expression
3. Life change C. Marriage
4. Expressive behavior D. Lie detector
5. Stressor E. Movement of our body
F. Emotion
UNIT SEVEN
PERSONALITY
INTRODUCTION
What is Personality?

Personality refers to a distinctive pattern of behavior (thoughts, motives and

emotions) that characterizes an individual’s adaptation to the situations of his or her life.
It includes the behavior patterns a person shows across situations or the psychological
characteristics of the person that lead to those behavior patterns.
The term personality is used in two different, but related ways. On the one hand
personality refers to the characteristics that differentiate people- or to those behaviors that
make an individual unique.
On the other hand, personality is used as a means of explaining the stability in a persons
behavior that leads him/her to act uniformly both in different situations and over
extended periods of time.
Objectives
At the end of this unit, you are expected to:
 explain what personality is in general
 comprehend the general / common features of personality
 explain personality differently using the different theories
 identify the basic features of personality theories
Personality has been studied in a number of different ways. Some have developed broad
theories to explain the origins and make up of personality. Others have focused only on
one or two issues, such as the influence of heredity on personality.
The first approach, theory construction was popular for many years. As a result, we have
many personality theories. Most of these broad theories can be grouped into the following
four categories:
1. Type and trait Theories
Type and trait theories of personality both focus on people’s personal characteristics.
However, various type theorists and trait theorists differ in the ways they use those
characteristics to describe people.
Type Theories: Classifying people into types is one device many of us use to try to make
sense out of others’ behavior and anticipate how they will act in the future.
One of the first type theories that we know of was proposed about 400 B.C by
Hippocrates. He grouped people into four temperament types: Sanguine- cheerful,
vigorous, confident, optimistic; Melancholic- depressed, morose; Choleric- hot-
tempered, and Phlegamitic- slow moving, calm, unexcitable
Activity-11
Using the Hyppocratus’ ideas, identify the four temperament types and their
corresponding characteristics.
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Since the time of Hippocrates, countless other ways of grouping people into types have
been tried. The groupings or sets of types are called
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Trait theories: If someone were to ask you to characterize another person, it is probable
that you would come up with a list of that individual’s personal qualities, as you see
them. But how would you know which of these qualities were most important in
determining the person’s behavior?
Personality psychologists have asked similar questions themselves. In order to answer

them, they have developed a sophisticated model of personality known as Trait Theory.
Traits are enduring dimensions of personality characteristics along which people differ.
Trait theorists do not assume that some people have a trait and others do not; rather they
propose that all people have certain traits, but that the degree to which the trait applies to
specific person varies and can be quantified.
For instance, you might be relatively friendly, whereas I might be relatively unfriendly.
But, we both have a “friendliness” trait, although you would be quantified with a higher
score and I with a lower one.
The major challenges for trait theorists has been to identify the specific primary traits
necessary to describe personality.
? Are there central traits across people?
2. Dynamic Personality Theories

 Involve a search for the process by which needs, motives and impulses- often
hidden from view- interact to produce the individual’s behavior.
 According to these groups of personality theories, our behavior is triggered
largely by powerful forces within us which we are not aware.
 These hidden forces, shaped by childhood experiences, play an important role in
energizing and directing our everyday behavior.
 The most important theorist to hold such a view, and indeed one of the best-
known figures in all psychology is Sigmund Freud. He is the originator of the
theory called psychoanalytic theory in the early 1900s.
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
This is the first systematic and comprehensive theory of personality. It attempts to

explain personality, motivation, and psychological disorders by focusing on the influence
of early childhood experiences, unconscious motives and how people cope with their
sexual and aggressive urges.

Freud’s psychoanalytic theory has three major parts:

1. Structure of personality
2. Personality dynamics
3. Psychosexual Stages of development
1. Structure of Personality
To describe the structure of personality, Freud developed a comprehensive theory, which

held that personality consisted of three separate, but interacting components: the id, the
ego, and the super ego.
Although Freud described these in very concrete terms, it is important to realize that they
are not actual physical structures found in certain part of the brain. Instead, they represent
aspects of general model of personality that describes the interaction of various processes
and forces with in one’s personality that motivate behavior.
The id: The id is the raw unorganized, inherited part of personality whose sole purpose is
to reduce tension created by primitive drives related to hunger, sex, aggression, and
irrational impulses. These drives are fueled by “psychic energy” or libido, as Freud called
it.
The id operates according to the pleasure principle, in which the goal is the immediate
reduction of tension and the maximization of satisfaction.
Unfortunately for the id- but luckily for people and society-reality prevents the demands
of the pleasure principle from being fulfilled in most cases. Instead, the world produces
constraints: we cannot always eat when we are hungry, and we can discharge our sexual
drives only when time, place-and-partner- are willing.
To account for this fact of life, Freud suggested a second part of a personality, which he
called the ego.
The Ego: The ego provides a buffer between the id and the realities of the objective,
outside world. In contrast to the pleasure seeking nature of the id, the ego operates
according to the reality principle, in which instinctual energy is restrained in order to
maintain the safety of the individual and helps integrate the person into society.
In a sense, then, the ego is the “executive” of personality: It makes decisions, controls
actions, and allows thinking and problem solving of higher order than the id is capable of.
The ego is also the seat of higher cognitive abilities such as intelligence, thoughtfulness,
reasoning, and learning.
The superego: the final personality structure to develop, represents the rights and wrongs
of society as handed down by a person’s parents, teachers and other important figures.
It becomes part of personality when children learn right from wrong and continues to
develop as people begin to incorporate into their own standards the broad moral
principles of the society in which they live.

The super ego actually has two parts, the conscience and the ego ideal. The conscience
prevents us from doing morally bad things, while the ego ideal motivates us to do what is
morally proper.
The super ego helps to control impulses coming from the id, making them less selfish and
more virtuous.
? Give examples of id, ego and superego?
2. Personality Dynamics and Levels of Consciousness

Freud did not intend to divide personality into three separate components but rather to
convey a lively, ongoing interplay among the id, the ego and the super ego. In this
interplay Freud saw the ego acting as a sort of mediator between the id-with its blind
demands for instant gratification- and the superego-with its rigid, often irrational rules,
prohibitions and ideals. The ego’s task of satisfying both id and super ego requires a
somewhat risky balancing act. The ego’s task often involves finding a compromise
between the instinctual gratification sought by the id and the strict rule- following sought
by the superego.
Thus, Freud’s general notion that our behavior's influenced by biological drives (id),
social rules (super ego), and mediating thought processes (ego) may not seem farfetched.
However, his heavy emphasis on the primitive, sexual nature of human drives and energy
(libido) helped make his theory very controversial.
Less controversial but equally novel was Freud’s notion of unconscious processes. He
used this concept to explain why people often act in ways that seem irrational.
Freud proposed three levels of consciousness, awareness: the conscious, the
preconscious, and the unconscious.
 At the conscious level, we are aware of the certain things around us and of certain
thoughts. At the preconscious level are memories or thoughts that are easily
available with a moment’s reflection.
 In contrast, the unconscious contains memories, thoughts, and motives, which we
cannot easily call up. Many of life’s experiences are painful, and the unconscious
provides a “safe” haven for our recollection of such events, a place where they
can remain without continually disturbing us. Similarly, the unconscious contains
instinctual drives: infantile wishes, desires, demands, and needs that are hidden
from conscious awareness because of the conflicts and pain they would cause us
if they were part of our everyday lives.
 The entire id is unconscious; the ego and the superego include material at all three
levels of consciousness.
? Compare, contrast, and show relationships of the conscious, subconscious

and unconscious mind with examples?
3. Psychosexual Stages of Development
?
What is the meaning of human development?
 Freud strongly believed that if people look at the development of their behavior,
they could gain insight into their current behavior.
 This belief led him to an elaborate stage theory of personality development.
According to him the first five years of life have a decisive effect on the
development of the adult personality.
 Freud put a heavy emphasis on biological development in general and on sexual
development in particular. Freud’s idea was that from birth on we have an innate
tendency to seek pleasure, especially through physical stimulation and particularly
through stimulation of parts of the body that are sensitive to touch: the mouth, the
anus, and genitals. Freud called these parts of the Erogenous Zones.
 Freud argued that all people pass through five critical stages of personality
development.
 What is especially noteworthy about the stages is that they suggest how
experiences and difficulties during a particular childhood stage may predict
specific sorts of idiosyncrasies in adult personality. The theory is also unique in
focusing each stage on a major biological function, which is assumed to be the
focus of pleasure in a given period.
 We turn now to a description of theses stages of personality called psychosexual
stages.
The Oral Stage (12-18 months)
 In this first period of development the baby’s mouth is the focal point of pleasure.
The infant at this stage interacts with the world mainly through eating.
 Infants at this stage suck, and bite anything that will fit into their mouth.
 To Freud this behavior suggested that the mouth was the primary site of a kind of
sexual pleasure, and if infants either overly indulged or frustrated in their search
for oral gratification, they might become fixated at this stage.
 Fixation refers to an unresolved conflict or emotional hang-up caused by
overindulgence or frustration. Displaying fixation means that an adult shows
personality characteristics that are related to an earlier stage of development.
 For example fixation at the oral stage might produce an adult who was an usually
interested in overtly oral activities- eating, talking, smoking- or who showed
symbolic forms of oral interests being “bitingly” sarcastic or being very gullible
(“swallowing” anything).
?
What are the behaviors that can be formed in the oral stage?
The Anal Stage (12-18 until 3 years of age)

 This stage occurs when parents are toilet training their children and teaching them
to avoid prohibited behavior connected with excretion.

 At this point, the major source of pleasure changes from the mouth to the anal
region, and children derive considerable pleasure from both retention and
expulsion of feces.
 If toilet training is particularly demanding, the result may be fixation. If fixation
occurs during the anal stage, Freud suggested that adults might show unusual
rigidity, orderliness, punctuality- or extreme disorderliness or sloppiness
(carelessness, negligence).
?
What skills are expected to develop during the anal stage of development?
Phallic Stage (age 3 to 5/6 years )
 This time, interest focuses on the genitals and the pleasures derived from fondling
them. During this stage pleasure, presumably, comes from masturbation, sex play,
and other genital stimulation.
 This is a stage of one the most important points of personality development,
according to Freudian Theory, the Oedipal Conflict.
 As children focus their attention on their genitals, the differences between female
and male anatomy become more salient. Furthermore, at this time Freud believed
that the male begins to develop sexual interests toward his mother, starts to see his
father as a rival, and harbors a wish to kill his father.
 But he views his father as too powerful; he develops a fear of retaliation in the
form of “castration Anxiety.” Ultimately, the fear becomes so powerful that the
child represses his desires for his mother and instead chooses identification with
his father, trying to be as much like him as possible.
 For girls, the process is different. Freud reasoned that girls begin to feel sexual
arousal toward their fathers and that they begin to experience Penis Envy. They
wish they had the anatomical part that seemed most clearly “missing” in girls.
 Blaming their mothers for lack of a penis, they come to believe that their mothers
are responsible for their castration.
 As with males though they find that in order to resolve such unacceptable
feelings, they must identify with the same sex parent by behaving like her and
adopting her attitudes and values.
 If difficulties arise during this period, all sorts of problems are thought to occur
from this including improper sex-role behavior, and the failure to develop a
conscience.

?
What makes phallic stage different from other stages?
Latency Stage (age 5 or 6 to 11 years)

 During this period, little of interest is occurring; sexual concerns are more or less
put to rest, even in the unconscious. As the child learns more about the world,
sexuality is largely repressed and the ego expands.
Genital Stage (age 11/12 and above)

 During adolescence sexual feelings reemerge, marking the start of the final
period, the genital stage that extends until death.
 The focus in the genital stage is on mature, adult sexuality, which Freud defined
as sexual intercourse.
? What are the differences between genital and phallic stages?
Defense Mechanisms
 Defense mechanisms are normal coping processes that distort reality in the
process of reducing anxiety. They are unconscious strategies people use to reduce
anxiety by concealing the source from themselves and others.
 People use defense mechanisms to reduce their anxiety and guilt. Psychoanalytic
theory holds that because the id’s unconscious demands are instinctual, infantile
and amoral they must often be blocked by the ego and the superego. Because of
this conflict and the persistence of unsatisfied demands, anxiety (vague
fearfulness) and guilt are aroused.
 The person then seeks way to protect the ego from this anxiety by setting up
defenses. Freud described several defense mechanisms by which the ego
disguises, redirects, hides, and otherwise copes with the id’s urges. The dynamic
theorists who followed Freud have added others.
 Many psychologists do not agree with Freud’s view that defense mechanisms
originate in conflicts among the id, ego, and superego. However, many do agree
that these mechanisms account for some of the ways people cope with their
problems.
 Thus, defense mechanisms- an intellectual bequest from the dynamic theories-
are generally accepted as a useful way of looking at how people handle stressful
situations and conflicts.
In this section we’ll try to see some of these mechanisms.

 Repression: Repression is an active mental process by which a person “forgets”
by “pushing down” into the unconscious any thoughts that arouse anxiety. “We
forget and then forget that we forgot.”
 Regression: In the face of a threat, one may retreat to an earlier pattern of
adaptation, possibly a childish or primitive one. This is called regression. This is
to state that people using regression behave as if they were in an earlier stage of
development.
 Reaction Formation: Reversal of motives is another method by which people
attempt to cope with conflict. A motive that would arouse unbearable anxiety if it
were recognized is converted into its opposite.
 Projection: Blaming others or projection is a way of coping with ones unwanted
motives by shifting onto some one else. The anxiety arising from the internal
conflict can then be lessened and the problem dealt with as though it were in the
external world.
 Rationalization: This defense mechanism substitutes an acceptable conscious
motive for unacceptable unconscious one. Put another way, “we make excuses”
giving a reason different from the real one for what we are doing.
 Intellectualization: Related to rationalization is intellectualization, which
involves reasoning. In intellectualization, however, the intensity of the anxiety is
reduced by retreat into detached, unemotional, abstract language.
 Displacement: In displacement, the motive remains unaltered, but the person
substitutes a different goal object for the original one. Often the motive is
aggression that for some reason, the person cannot vent on the source of the
anger.
 Sublimation: Sublimation consists of a redirection of sexual impulses to socially
valued activities and goals.
Activity-12
Match Column A with column B
A B
1. Id A. Reality principle
2. Ego B . Moral principle
3. superego C. Defense mechanisms
4. psychosexual stages D Sigmund Freud
5. Repression E. Hippocrates
F.Pleasure principle
3. Learning Approaches
 Learning approaches to personality focus on the outer person. According to strict
learning theorists, personality is simply the sum of learned responses to the
external environment.
 Internal events such as thoughts, feelings and motivations are ignored; though
there existence is not denied, learning theorists say that personality is best
understood by looking at features of a person’s environment.
B.F Skinner’s learning theory of personality

 According to the most influential of the learning theorists B.F. Skinner,
personality is a collection of learned behavior patterns. Similarities in response
across different situations are caused by similar patterns of reinforcement that

have been received in such situations in the past.
 Strict learning theorists such as Skinner are less interested in the consistencies in
behavior across situations, however, than in ways of modifying behavior. Their
view is that human beings are infinitely changeable.
 If one is able to control and modify the patterns of reinforcers in a situation,
behavior that other theorists view as stable and unyielding can be changed and
ultimately improved.
 Learning theorists are optimistic in their attitudes about the potential for resolving
personal and societal problems through treatment strategies based on learning
theory.
Social Learning Theories of Personality
 Not all learning theories of personality take such a strict view in rejecting the
importance of what is “inside” the person by focusing on solely on the “outside.”
 Unlike other learning theories of personality, social learning theory emphasizes
the influence of a person’s cognitions- their thoughts, feelings, expectations, and
values- in determining personality.
 According to Albert Bandura, the main proponent of this point of view, people
are able to foresee the possible outcome of certain outcomes in a given setting
without actually having to carry them out. This takes place mainly through the
mechanism of observational learning- viewing the actions of others and viewing
the consequences.
 Bandura places particular emphasis on the role-played by self-efficacy, learned
expectations regarding success, in determining the behavior we display. Self-
efficacy underlies people’s faith in their ability to carry out behavior, regardless of
how successful they have been in the past or what barriers currently lie in their
paths. The greater the person’s sense of self- efficacy, the more likely it is that
success will take place.
 Compared with other learning explanations of personality, social learning theories
are distinctive in the emphasis they place on the reciprocity between individuals
and their environment. Not only is the environment assumed to affect personality,
but also people’s behavior and personalities are assumed to “ feed back” and
modify the environment-, which in turn affects behavior in a web of reciprocity.
 In fact, Bandura has suggested that reciprocal determinism is the key to
understanding behavior. In reciprocal determinism, it is the interaction of
environment, behavior, and individual that ultimately causes people to behave in
the ways that they do.
4. Humanistic Theories of Personality

 The term “ humanistic psychology” was coined by Abraham Maslow to describe a
position that focuses on the creative potentialities inherent in human beings and
that seeks ways to help them realize their highest and most important goals.
Virtually all of the humanistic theories postulate the existence of an innate growth

mechanism within individuals that will move them toward realization of their
potentialities if environmental conditions are right. This growth process has been
variously labeled by its numerous proponents as the drive toward self-
actualization, self-realization or self-hood.
 The roots of the humanistic movement can be found in the writings of Jung,
Adler, Horney, Kohut, Allport, Maslow, Rogers, May, and others. These theorists
emphasize the uniqueness of individuals and believe that all individuals should be
free to make their own choices about the direction they want to take in their own
lives.
 People should be allowed to organize and control their own behavior; they should
not be controlled by society. Society is generally seen as the “bad guy”- the
enforcer of rules and regulations that stifle personal growth.
 According to the humanists, a benevolent, helpful attitude toward people enables
them to grow and prosper. Most societies, they believe, by their very nature
coerce individuals into behaving appropriately- that is, normally. The result is
rather dull, conventional people who usually obey, without much question, the
moral prescriptions of the majority. In other words, the result is the average, law-
abiding man or woman.
 The humanistic psychologists argue, instead, for allowing individuals to develop
their fullest potential. They see people as naturally striving to be creative and
happy rather than mediocre and conventional. Of course, the assumption that what
is mediocre and what is conventional is open to question, especially in a society
that encourages people to strive for excellence.
 Another assumption underlying many of the humanist positions is that the
universal set of values can be specified that will provide people with a moral
anchor so that they can decide what is right or wrong and good or bad. Such a set
of values, rooted in biology, would allow people to make moral decisions by
looking inside themselves, instead of relying on the judgments of society.
 Yet philosophers or psychologists have never been able to agree on a universal set
of values, although numerous attempts to devise such a list have occurred.
 In general, according to the humanistic theorists, all of the theories of personality
that we have previously discussed share a fundamental misperception in their
views of human nature.
 Instead of seeing people as controlled by unconscious, unseen forces (as does
psychoanalytic theory), a set of stable traits (trait theory), or situational
reinforcements and punishments (learning theory), humanistic theory
emphasizes people’s goodness and their tendency to grow to higher levels of
functioning.
 It is this conscious, self-motivated ability to change and improve, along with
people’s unique creative impulses that makes up the core personality.
 The major representative of the humanistic point of view is Carl Rogers. Rogers
suggests that people have a need for positive regard that reflects a universal
requirement to be loved and respected. Because others provide this positive
regard, we grow dependent on them. We begin to see and judge ourselves through
the eyes of other people, relying on their values.

 According to Rogers one outgrowth of placing importance on the values of others

is that there is often some degree of mismatch between a person’s experiences and
his or her self-concept, or self-impression. If the discrepancy is minor, so are the
consequences. But, if it is great, it will lead to psychological disturbances in daily
functioning, such as the experience of frequent anxiety.
 Rogers suggests that one way of overcoming the discrepancy between experience
and self –concept is through the recipient of unconditional positive regard from
another person – a friend, a spouse or a therapist.
 Unconditional positive regard refers to an attitude of acceptance and respect on
the part of an observer, no matter what a person says or does. This acceptance,
says Rogers, allows people the opportunity to evolve and grow both cognitively
and emotionally, as they are able to develop more realistic self-concepts.
 To Rogers and other humanist personality theorists, an ultimate goal of
personality is self-actualization. Self- actualization is a state of self-fulfillment in
which people realize their highest potential.
 This, Rogers would argue, occurs when their experience with the world and their
self-concept are closely matched. People who are self-actualized accept
themselves as they are in reality, which enables them to achieve happiness and
fulfillment.
Maslow’s Self-actualization Theory

 Maslow believed that each person has an essential nature that “presses” to
emerge, like the “press” within an acorn to become an oak tree.
 Maslow laid the groundwork for his theory of self-actualization by assuming that
in each of us is an intrinsic nature that is good or at least neutral. Because this
inner nature is good or neutral, he argued, encouraging its development enables
individuals to maximize their potential. Healthy development is likely, however,
only in a society that “ offers all [the] necessary raw materials and then gets out
of the way and stands aside to let the … organism itself utter its wishes and
demands and make its choices.”
 If the environment is restrictive and minimizes personal choice, the individual is
likely to develop in neurotic ways, because this inner nature is weak, and subject
to control by environmental forces. Maslow believed that our inner nature,
though weak, remains and continuously presses toward actualization
 In his view we all have higher-level growth needs-such as the need for self
actualization and understanding of ourselves- but these higher needs only assume
a dominant role in our lives after our more primitive needs (physiological needs,
safety needs, needs for love and “belongingness” and self-esteem needs are
satisfied.
 Maslow directed most of his attention to establishing a psychology of personal
growth and creative striving, and he studied the behavior of psychologically
healthy people in order to learn more about the growth process.
 Maslow posited a universal stage emergent theory of personal development, in
which the individual must satisfy, at least to a certain extent, the lower needs
before higher ones can become operative.

 The emergence or nonemergence of the stages depends on a considerable degree

on the environment. Environments that threaten the individual and do no allow
for the satisfaction of basic needs are detrimental to growth, whereas
environments that support and gratify these needs promote growth toward self-
actualization.
 In Maslow’s view, environment is crucial in the early stages of development
when people are struggling to gratify basic needs. The needs for safety, love and
belongingness all depend on the cooperation of other people for gratification.
 Later on, as the higher needs emerge, people become, less dependent on the
environment and on rewards or approval from others.
 They rely increasingly on their own to guide behavior- and on their inner nature,
capacities, potentialities, talents and creative impulses.
Summary
With the assumption that the various dimensions of mind and behavior operate in
interaction than in isolation, an attempt is made to discuss in this unit personality as a by-
product of such interaction.
Personality is a psychological name of an individual emerging as a result of the

individual’s unique way of integrating the various psychological dimensions. Personality
is personified as a psychological integration having the nature of distinctiveness and
regularity.
An attempt is made also to survey the different theories of personality. Among the type
of theories, trait theories, psycho analytic theory and its variants and learning theories
are given emphasis. These theories commonly try to define the nature, causes and
developments of personality but with different emphasis. Some of these theories focus on
the content of personality, others on biological and hereditary causes, while the rest focus
on environmental factors. Still others center on personality development. As indicated in
the discussion, personality is such a complex psychological functioning that the various
theories need to be used in combination for a better understanding of its nature.

Self - Check Exercise Unit Seven
1. Discuss the similarities of personality theories?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__
2. What are the differences between the theories of personality?

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
____
3. Which theory is correct and which is wrong? Why?

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__
4. Compare and contrast the major theories of personality in relation with their
assumptions, themes, supporters, contributions and limitations.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
___
5. When does a person lack distinctive personality?

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________
6. What it means if we say that personality is the psychological name of an

individual? explain it with examples
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________
7. If personality is about unique behavior of individuals, then do babies have unique

personalities?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________
8. What happens to the uniqueness of the personalities of individuals as with age? Is

it going to increase or decrease? Why?
__________________________________________________________________
______________________

UNIT EIGHT
ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
Consider the following cases

A young woman who showed great academic promise in high school begins to
have difficulty with her studies in college. She feels lonely and becomes increasingly
depressed and withdrawn.
A middle-age business man fed up with his stressful job and the demands of his suburban
life-style, packs a small bag and flees to the mountains determined to life in isolation.
How many of these people have a psychological disorder and need psychotherapist help?
These are some of the questions addressed in this unit. We begin by exploring the nature
(definition and causes) of psychological disorders first and then their types next.
Objectives
At the end of this unit, you are expected to:
 know the criteria used for defining what psychological disorders are
 explain the causes of psychological disorders

 identify the different types, characteristic features and symptoms of

psychological disorders
 use different theories to explain the nature of abnormality
8.1 Definition and Causes of Psychological Disorders Overview

Dear student, try to examine and gives the reasons that can justify that the two cases
mentioned above have psychological problems, what makes people to behave way and
the criteria used to give the judgments.
8.1.1 Definition of Psychological Disorders

People who exhibit abnormal patterns of feelings, thinking and behavior most likely
suffer from some kind of psychological disorders.
By the way what are the criteria used for determining that person has a
? psychological problem /disorder?
We generally have three main criteria: abnormality, maladaptiveness, and personal
distress.
1. Abnormality
? Does a behavior deviate from the behavior of the “typical” person, the norm?
Abnormal behavior deviates from the behavior of the ‘typical’ person the norm. A
society’s norm can be qualitative and quantitative. When someone behaves in culturally
unacceptable ways and the behaviors he/she exhibit violates the norm, standards, rules
and regulations of the society, this person is most likely to have a psychological problem.
Only abnormal behavior can not be sufficient for the diagnosis of psychological problem.
Hence, we need to consider the context in which a person’s behavior happens.
The context in which ‘abnormal’ behavior occurs must be considered

 before deciding that it is symptomatic of psychological disorders.
2. Maladaptiveness
Does a person’s behavior seriously disrupt the social, academic, or life of an
? individual?
Maladaptive behavior in one way or another creates a social, personal and occupational
problem on those who exhibit the behaviors. These behaviors seriously disrupt the day-
to-day activities of individuals that can increase the problem more.
3. Personal Distress
Does a person’s behavior cause personal distress including feelings of anxiety,
? depression, hopelessness and self-defeating thoughts?

Our subjective feelings of anxiety, stress, tension and other unpleasant emotions
determine whether we have a psychological disorder. These negative emotional state
arise either by the problem itself or by events happen that on us. But, the criterion of
personal distress, just like other criteria, is not sufficient for the presence of psychological
disorder. This is because of some people like feeling distressed by their own behavior.
Hence, behavior that is abnormal, maladaptive, or personally distressing might indicate
that a person has a psychological disorder.
8.2. Perspectives on Psychological Disorders Causes

8.2.1 The Biological Perspective
? Do you think that psychological disorders can be caused by biological factors?
Current researchers believe that abnormalities in the working of chemicals in the brain,
called neurotransmitters, may contribute to many psychological disorders. For example,
over activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine, perhaps caused by an overabundance of
certain dopamine receptors in the brain, has been linked to the bizarre symptoms of
schizophrenia.
8.2.2 Psychological Perspectives

Do you think that psychological factors cause behavior disorders?
?
In this part, we will examine three psychological perspectives: the psychoanalytic
perspective, the learning, and the cognitive behavioral perspectives.
A. Psychoanalytic perspective
 Sigmund Freud, the founder of the psychoanalytic approach, believed that the
human mind consists of three interacting forces: the id (a pool of biological
urges), the ego (which mediates between the id and reality), and the superego
(which represent society’s moral standards).
Abnormal behavior, in Freud’s view, is caused by the ego’s inability to manage
 the conflict between the opposing demands of the id and the superego.
Especially important is the individuals’ failure to manage the conflicting of id’s
sexual impulses during childhood, and society’s sexual morality to resolve the
earlier childhood emotional conflicts that determine how to behave and think
B. Learning perspective
 Most mental and emotional disorders, in contrast to the psychoanalytic
perspective, arise from inadequate or inappropriate learning. People acquire
abnormal behaviors through the various kinds of learning
C. Cognitive perspective
 Our quality of internal dialogue whether we accept or not ourselves build
ourselves up or tear ourselves down has profound effect on our mental health. The
main theme of this perspective is that self-defeating thoughts lead to the

development of negative emotions and self-destructive behaviors. People's ways
thinking about events inn their life determines their emotional and behavioral
patterns. Most of the time our thinking patterns in one way or another affects our
emotional and behavioral well being in either positive or negative ways. Hence, if
there is a disturbance in on our thinking, it may manifest in our display of
emotions and behaviors. Our environmental and cultural experiences in our life
plays a major role in the formation of our thinking style.
? What are the main themes of psychoanalytic, learning and cognitive

perspective?
?
8.2.3. Classification of Psychological Disorder
Classifying psychological disorders involves identifying sets of symptoms that tend to
occur together. Each set of symptom forms a syndrome. Thus, when we talk about
anxiety, mania or depression, we are talking about syndromes that clinicians have
?
classified on the basis of their observations.
For the sake of limited space and convenience, we are just listing out the types of
psychological disorder only here.
A. Anxiety disorders
1) Panic disorder
2) Phobic disorders
3) Generalized anxiety disorder
4) Obsessive compulsive disorder
B. Somatoform disorders
1) Hypochondriasis
2) Conversion disorder
C. Dissociative disorder
1) psychogenic amnesia
2) Psychogenic fugue
D. Personality disorders
1) Antisocial personality disorder
2) Narcissistic personality disorder
3) Borderline personality disorder
E. Mood disorders
1) Depressive disorders
2) Bipolar disorders
2.1. Manic-depression
F. Schizophrenia
1) Disorganized type
2) Catatonic type
3) Persecutory type
4) Undifferentiated type

Summary
Abnormality manifests itself in one’s emotions, thinking and behaviors. The above major
psychological disorders in one way or another way express its symptoms in the patients’
emotions, thinking and behavior. The assignment of the names of the disorders is based
on the typical disorder’s emotional, behavioral and mental symptoms.
Self-Check Exercise Unit Eight

1. Explain with examples how the three criteria of defining psychological
problems are used. Show also the problems of each criterion along with possible
solutions.
2. Compare and contrast the three psychological perspectives discussed in this
section.
 Answers Key - Unit One

The Essence of Psychology
Part One: Matching
1. C
2. D
3. E
4. B
5. A
Part Two
Schools Limitations Contribution to modern psychology

Structuralism Human mind, knowledge or consciousness is It introduced a method of introspection and
so complex that it can’t be understood fully by experimental study in psychology,
studying elementary sensations
Functionalism It does not suggest specific ways in which It has helped psychologists to begin to apply
human mind functions and effects behavior psychology to solving practical problems
Behaviorism It totally neglects the importance of studying It introduced the need for objectivity in
human mind, heredity etc psychological research. It also helped in
designing theories of learning
Gestalt It neglects the importance of studying It emphasized how human mind actively
psychology behavior, the effect of sensation processes information, and perceives the reality
Psychoanalysis It minimizes the role of the conscious mind in It brought to psychology a theory explaining
affecting behavior. Everything is reduced to the role of the unconscious mind and methods
the unconscious mind of studying it and a technique for helping
people that have problems.
Part Three
Professional
No Sub-fields of Specialization Academic Specialization
Specialization
1 Experimental psychology 
2 Counseling psychology 
3 Developmental psychology 
4 Clinical psychology 
5 Comparative psychology 
6 Biopsychology 
7 Sport psychology 
8 Health psychology 
9 Social psychology 
10 Personality psychology 
 Answers Key - Unit Two

Sensation and Perception
Activity-1
1. You may not be able to detect a stimulus
a. If the intensity of a stimulus is lower than the absolutes threshold.
b. if the change in intensity of stimulation is lower than the difference threshold , and
c. if the stimulation is unchanging or sensory adaptation.
2. Sensing dominantly involves detecting the physical energy (i.e. the stimulus) that is
acting on the body.
Self- Check
Part -I
1. Form perception is about perception of two dimensional or flat objects and
depth- perception is about perception of three- dimensional figures having
width, length and height.
2. perceptual constancy suggests that the size, color, and shape of objects
remain unchanged despite changes in the distance, location, and perspective of
the observer, Perceptual illusion suggests, however, an exception to this
phenomena, that the size, color and shape of objects may change corresponding
with changes in distance, location and perspective observers.
Part -II
About the figures
o Fig A is a triangle, not just a set of broken dots
o The law that works is the law of closure
o Fig B is a set of three pairs of parallel lines, not just six vertical lines.
o The law that works is the law of proximity.
 Answers Key- Unit Three

Learning
Activity-2
You may refer to the module text on operant conditioning for stimulus generalization,
stimulus discrimination, extinction, and spontaneous recovery.
1. Compare and Contrast
1.1 Stimulus generalization implies learning similarities between stimuli and
stimulus discrimination implies learning differences between stimuli.
1.2 Conditioning and extinction: conditioning is a process of converting a neutral
stimulus into a conditioned stimulus while extinction is converting the
conditioned stimulus back to a neutral stimulus
1.3 Extinction is something like forgetting and spontaneous recovery is something
like remembering
2. Classical and Operant Conditioning
Classical Operant
 The founder is Pavlov  The founder is B.F skinner
 Sometimes called respondent learning  Sometimes called instrumental learning
 It implies stimulus learning  It implies response learning
 Response is containment on the stimulus  Stimulus is contingent on the response
 Response are elicited responses are emitted
3. Conditioning and Cognitive Learning

Conditioning Cognitive Learning
 Learning associations between events  Learning concepts, principles
 Reinforcement is directly involved  Reinforcement is indirect
 Learning is simple  Learning is complex

 Is common even in animals  Is dominantly a human learning
 Answers Key- Unit Four

Memory
Activity-3
Type of memory Type of information Capacity Characteristics Duration
1.Sensory memory First (original) information, un High capacity Acts as holding bin for a brief seconds (2
processed information seconds)
2.Short term Attended and recognized Low capacity  activeness For a longer seconds
memory Information from sensory  accessible (30 seconds)
memory  sequential
arrangement
of
information
 limited
capacity
3.Long –term Permanent information No limit in  it is For a long period of
memory capacity associated time
with  days
meaningful  months
words,  years
concepts,  lifetime
events (indefinite
periods)
Activity-4
1. Regarding the importance of memory
1.1 If you are without memory, then you are going to have no past, no experience,
no learning, no behavior, or simply no personality. Whatever you experience,
you experience it in isolation from other experiences and as new. Hence, you
don’t benefit from it for your subsequent life.
1.2 Memory serves many purpose. First and foremost, it provides continuity to
your life, behavior and personality. Moreover, your memory helps you adapt
to situation by letting you use the past learning. Your memory still adds
emotion to your life by helping you to relate good and bad moments of the
past.
1.3 Animals have the capacity to process information that enable them to recall and
adapt in their environments. Hence, if they have the capacity to recall the
previous information we can say they can memorize information.
2. Regarding types of memory, there are three major types of memory namely sensory
memory, short term memory and long term memory. More over, LTM has different
subtypes such as declarative/ explicit memory, semantic memory, episodic memory,
and nondeclarative /implicit memory.
2.1 Regarding classification of memory

2.1.1 We can classify memory into three using the time spent for memory
formation: sensory, short-term and long term memory

2.1.2 Using the type of information to be memorized, we may classify it into

procedural and declarative memory; declarative memory being
further divided into episodic and semantic memory.
3. You can refer the different subtypes of LTM and their characteristics from module.
Activity-5
1. Recovering lost memories
Memory impairment takes different forms. It may be a normal daily experience or it may
be more serious occurring because of brain changes. If it occurs as a result of brain
changes, it is more likely to be irreversible. In normal forgetting, on t he other hand, the
situation is less rigidly determined, and the questions can be raised as to whether, and
to what extent, lost memories can be recovered. Imagine that you ask a friend to list
everything she did last Sunday afternoon, and she could not say anything about meeting
an old friend on the street, which in fact she did. Can you conclude then that the event
never happened but that she has lost her memory of it? What if you ask her whether
she did meet a friend and she now responds affirmatively? Would this not suggest that
your friends memory only appeared to be lost?
With respect to the question of recovering lost memories, the logic of the situation is
there fore simple: if the information stored about a fact has been radically changed, or
erased altogether, as in brain changes, then there is no way it can be recovered, and no
way it can be stored. If on the other hand, retrieval fails because of inadequate
retrieval cues, then it is quite possible that the provision of more effective cues could
enable a person to recover a lost memory.
2. Improving your memory
A century ago, William James (1890/1981) criticized those who claimed that memory
ability could be improved by practice. To James, memory was a fixed, inherited ability
and not subject to improvement.
Regardless of the extent to which memory ability is fixed and inherited, we can
certainly make better use of the ability we have by improving our study habits and by
using mnemonic devices. Let us see separately how these two strategies work out.
Study habits
Given two students with equal memory ability, the one with better study habits will
probably perform better in school. To practice good study habit, you would begin by
setting up a schedule in which you would do the bulk of your studying when you are
most alert and most motivated. You should also study in a quiet, comfortable place,
free of distractions.
As for particular study techniques, you might consider the SQ4R method (Robinsn,
1970). SQ4R stands for Survey Question, Read, Recite, and Review. This method has
proved helpful to students in college.
You might also apply other principles. First, take advantage of over learning; studying
the material until you feel you know all of it and then going over it several more times.
Also, use distributed practice instead of massed practice.

Mnemonic devices
These are techniques for organization information to be memorized to make it easier
to remember. Below are some of the mnemonic devices.
i. Method of loci: a method in which items to be recalled are associated with

landmarks in familiar place and then recalled during a mental walk from
one land marks to another. For example, in using the method of loci to recall
a shopping list, you would pair each item on the list with a familiar place.
You would then take a mental tour, retrieving items as you go.
ii. Acronym- involves forming a term from the first letters of a series of words
that are to be recalled.
iii. Page word method – a method that involves associating terms to be recalled
with objects that rhyme with the numbers 1,2,3 and so on, to make the items
easier to recall.
Part one: Matching
1. B 2. F 3. E 4. A 5. D 6. C 7. G
Part two: short-answer
1. Short –term memory is active easily accessible, preserves temporal sequence of
information and limited capacity.
2. It is the clustering or packing of related information into higher order units that
can be remembered as single unit
3. Memory improvement can be enhanced via:
 Paying attention
 Addition of meaning
 Encoding information more than once
 Over learning/practice
 Monitoring of learning activities
 Answers Key- Unit FIVE

Motivation
Activity-6
Part- I Matching
1. A 2. B 3. D. 4. C 5. E 6. F 7. G 8. H 9. J 10. K
Part- II Short Answer

1.
 Hunger
 Pain for avoidance
 Sleep and oxygen
2.
 Curiosity ( interest to know 5th )
 Exploration of the environment

 Manipulation of the environment
3.
 Academic achievement
 The need for power/ status
 Need for approval by other
Activity-7
1. C 2. B 3. D 4. A
Self-check Exercise
Part- I
1. A 2. C 3. F 4. E 5. B 6.D 7. G
Part – II
1. Motivation as an underlying factor or human behavior affects behavior
in many ways. First, it initiates a behavior. Second, it gives direction to behavior.
Third, it strengthens a behavior. And, fourth, it sustains a behavior in action. Hence,
motivation is everything about human behavior: an originator, a director and
energizer of a behavior. Understanding its motivational patterns.
2. All human motives may be classified into any one of the following
types.
 Internal and external motives, or
 Learned and unlearned (or primary and secondary motives), or
 Conscious and unconscious motives, or
 intrinsic and extrinsic motives, or
 Tension-reduction and arousal motives.
3. We can motivate a person for and activity first and foremost by
helping him/her visualize and drive meaning and purpose in the activity. Then the
person is helped to be performed. Goal setting are the establishment of a particular
level of performance to achieve in the future. Goals increase motivation and improve
performance by providing incentives. The goals help person to focus his/her attention
increase his/her to develop strategies for reaching them. Management by objectives,
in which employees participate in setting goals, has been especially effective in
increasing productivity.
4. There is no one best theory of motivation. Each of them can help us
understand some aspects of our behavior. Because human behavior is complex, we
need to use all the theories combined to fully understand this complexity.
5. Frustration is a state of psychological disturbance because of:
 Inability to reach one’s goal-blockage of a goal directed behavior-as in the
case of a student who works hard to get a highly valued college diploma but
get academic dismissal for lack of ability.
 Pursuing a goal originally perceived as a substitute for the valued one later
discovered it is- not diversion from a goal –as in a student who has a strong

material need but stays long in a colleges for getting his first, second and
terminal degrees hoping higher degrees bring better paying jobs.
 Losing an already achieved goal quite early –as in a loss of property because
of theft, destruction by fire of accidents or loss of and intimate love partner
before consuming the emotional investment.
6. There are a number of things, to be done for helping a person
frustrated with conflict of motives. Some of these include the following
 Helping the person understand the source and extent of the problem
 Helping the person to capitalize on the positive aspect of the achieved goal
 Helping the person down play the importance of the rejected goal
 Helping the person look for substitute mechanisms for reducing the negative
side –effects of the achieved goal
 Helping the person accept the inevitable
 Helping the person learn to look forward and stop backward
 Helping the person to see the unsuccessful past not as a failure but as a lesson
or as on opportunity for knowing what decisions could not work out.
Answers Key - Unit Six

Emotion and Stress
Activity-8
1. Lie detectors are machines that try to measure physiological changes in an individual
under some kind of stimulations e.g. they register sympathetic like changes of
increase in heart rate, dilation of the pupils, increase in blood pressure. They are
used to detect lies in a sense that the person is asked questions relating to the event
he/she is suspected of lying.
2. Lie detector may prove effective in less sophisticated and inexperienced individuals as
they are innocent in controlling their body at the time the test is made. They are less
likely to be relaxed and more nervous, perhaps believing that the machine has a
magical power to read ones lies. Lie detector is, however, a liar itself if the subject
under investigation is skillful and experienced in controlling his body, such as,
appearing relaxed during the test. The lie detector is, under this circumstance, getting
no sympathetic changes to register.
3. Examples of body movements and facial expressions showing positive and negative
feelings
 Body movement
- Positive felling splendid and relaxed movements that take much space in
talking and walking
- Negative feeling – violent movements and restlessness that forcibly capture
others’ attention.
 Facial expressions
- Positive feeling- smiling, and laughing to others when talking.
- Negative feeling- bad face, non smiling and non laughing and failure to took
in to others when talking.
Activity-9
James- Lange and Cannon- Bard theories of emotions are similar in that they both
capitalize on the occurrences of physiological changes in emotional experiences. But,
they differ in terms of the following issues.
1. James- Lange theory argues that the physiological changes occur before our
subjective awareness of them. The Cannon- Bard theory, on the other hand,
holds that physiological changes are internal and unknown to the person and
hence they may occur together with our subjective feelings but can’t precede
them at all.
James – Lange theory argues, that there are different kinds of physiological arousal for
positive and negative emotions. But, Cannon- Bard theory suggests that the same kind
of arousal underlies all kinds of feelings; the difference being that of meaning giving.
Activity-10
1. a. Life changes
b. Pressure
c. Frustration
d. conflict of motives
2. Efforts to change the situation
Efforts to alter one’s cognition about the situation
Efforts to alter the unpleasant emotional consequences of the stress.
Self-Check
1. The essence of human emotion lies in the fact that it is three things in one. It is a
physiological change taking a cognitive meaning that eventually translates into
an action. If it is only a physiological change, it is likely to be similar so such
physiological processes as digestions, respiration or circulation with little
psychological effect, If it is purely mental, emotion becomes similar to
knowledge , ability or aptitude no feeling of love, hate, fear…. If it is purely
behavioral, it turns out to resemble the different kinds of skills we perform
practically. So the fact that emotion is three things in one makes us distinct from
biological animals, intelligent computers, and skillful robots that perform perfect
operations. What is lacking in each of these three is an emotion that is
characteristically human; that is an integration of body, mind and behavior. So,
emotion is an emotion because all the three dimensions are equally important.
2 Verbal and non-verbal expressions contradict any time a person is insincere.
Part-II Matching
1. D 2. E 3. C 4. B 5. A
 Answers Key - Unit Seven

Personality
Activity-11
1. Hyppocratus body fluids (humors) and their corresponding temperament
Body fluid Temperament for personality Characteristics

type
Prominence of blood Sanguine person Warm hearted and pleasant
Excess of phlegm Phlegmatic person Listless, slow, disorganized
Excess of black bile Melancholic person Depressed and sad
Prominence of yellow bile Choleric person Easily augured and quick to
react
Activity-12
1. F 2. A 3. B 4. D 5. C
Self-Check Exercise
1. All theories of personality propose that regularities in behavior (exhibited by the
same individual) can best be explained by identifying the stable and persistent
traits that underlie behavior. They also attribute individual differences in
observable behavior to differences in underling personality traits.
2. Different theories focus on different individual psychological dimensions. They
are different across themselves on the question of which traits are important and
how they develop. Some theories focus on temperament while other emphasis on
drives (motives). Again, some personality theories emphasis on the thinking
process, other give attention to observable behaviors.
3. each theory has it own contribution to the understanding, explanation prediction
of human personality. They look personality in different angles with justification
to explain in the way they like. Hence, there is no correct as well as wrong
theory of personality. However, they have their own strengths and limitation
inherent on themselves.
4.
Theory Assumptions, theme and Supporters Contribution Limitations

emphasis
Type - biology determines personality Sheldon, The importance of Interpretation
theories - people are different due Hyppocratus Jung biology in of personality
differences in personality personality only in terms
of
psychological
types
Trait The magnitude of personality Allport, Cattell, etc Assist in knowing the Interpolation
theories types determines personality components of of personality
differences across people personality only in terms
of traits
( characteristic
s)

Dynamic Unconscious motives determines S. Freud, Adler, Discovery of the Difficulty to

theories one’s personality Erickson, Jung role of unconscious study
unconscious
scientifically
Learning Environment is the source of Bandura, Showed the Neglects the
theories personality, it is learned from Skinner ,Pavlov, importance of importance of
the environment Watson environment genes
(heredity)
5. A person lacks distinctive personality when he/she:

- Conforms to group norms, expectations and behaviors
- Show situation specific behaviors
6. It simply means that like our name, our personality designates those
characteristics that are unique and relatively permanent.
7. Even if babies exhibit some what similar behaviors, they do not show exact
similarity. Even if identical twins show a lot of similarity in emotional expression,
mental activities, and behavioral dispositions, they have their own unique
personalities.
8. Personality gets more unique with age because experience is getting into it.
 Answers Key- Unit Eight

Abnormal Psychology
1. Criteria of psychological disorders

A. Deviation from the norm
Problem: the same behavior can be taken for having different meanings
Solution: consider the context while we judge behaviors
B. Maladaptiveness: a behavior is maladaptive if it interfere as a person’s
academic, social and occupational life.
Problem: some strange behaviors can be taken as abnormal behaviors even
if the person is healthy.
Solution: consider the situation of the person along with the criterion of
maladaptiveness
C. Personal distress: the behavior produces anxiety, worry, depression for
the individual
Problem: many healthy people’s different disturbances can be considered
as maladaptive and abnormal
Solution: combination of personal distress along with the other two
2. The three major perspectives basically try to explain the etiologies of
psychological disorders. But the biological perspective searches for biological
0
factors, the psychological perspective looks for psychological factors, and the
psychoanalytic perspective looks for early childhood unconscious emotional
conflicts.

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Module for the Course Introduction to Psychology

1.2 Definition of Psychology

1 Prepared by: Workneh Kebede (School of Psychology, AAU)

 What is the meaning of behavior?

1.4 The Emergence of Psychology as a Science

Pre- Scientific Psychology

development of psychology as a discipline distinct from philosophy. Before Descartes,

During the first decades of psychology’s existence as a formal discipline, psychologists

3 Prepared by: Workneh Kebede (School of Psychology, AAU)

1.4.2. The Early Schools of Psychology

? How are these schools different from one another?

In an effort to study the elements of consciousness in what they believed was an

4 Prepared by: Workneh Kebede (School of Psychology, AAU)

The method of introspection proved difficult and inadequate, largely because of

Another prominent member of structuralists school, Edward Bradford Titchner,

5 Prepared by: Workneh Kebede (School of Psychology, AAU)

6 Prepared by: Workneh Kebede (School of Psychology, AAU)

psychoanalyst observes a patient’s dreams, fantasies, posture, and subtle behavior

Section-2: Theory, Methods and Sub-fields of Psychology

7 Prepared by: Workneh Kebede (School of Psychology, AAU)

2.1. Theoretical Perspectives of Psychology

c. The Cognitive Perspective

8 Prepared by: Workneh Kebede (School of Psychology, AAU)

d. The Socio-Cultural Perspective

9 Prepared by: Workneh Kebede (School of Psychology, AAU)

f. The Humanistic Perspective

Nevertheless, research plays an extremely important role in psychology. Research helps

In this sense, psychological research is typically used for the following:

10 Prepared by: Workneh Kebede (School of Psychology, AAU)

 Study people with specific psychological disorders, symptoms, or

11 Prepared by: Workneh Kebede (School of Psychology, AAU)

effect, and even the manner in which the question is asked.

Research Biases in an Experiment

12 Prepared by: Workneh Kebede (School of Psychology, AAU)

2.3. Psychology as a Profession: Practice

13 Prepared by: Workneh Kebede (School of Psychology, AAU)

Biopsychology: psychologists in the field of biopsychology study the biological basis of

14 Prepared by: Workneh Kebede (School of Psychology, AAU)

causes, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of psychological disorders. Clinical

15 Prepared by: Workneh Kebede (School of Psychology, AAU)

16 Prepared by: Workneh Kebede (School of Psychology, AAU)

17 Prepared by: Workneh Kebede (School of Psychology, AAU)

Gestalt psychology Subjectivity Perception

No Sub-fields of specialization Academic specialization Professional specialization

18 Prepared by: Workneh Kebede (School of Psychology, AAU)

2.1.1 Sensory Thresholds

How much intense must a sound be for you to detect it?

Signal Detection Theory

2.1.2 Sensory Adaptation

? Given that each of your senses is constantly bombarded by stimulation, why

Sensory Deprivation and Sensory Overload

As mentioned in the introduction, perception refers to interpretation of what we take in

2.2.1 Visual Perception: Constructing the Visual World

21 Prepared by: Workneh Kebede (School of Psychology, AAU)

 There are, in general, environmental, psychological and physiological factors that

? How Environment Affects attention?

a) Environmental/stimulus factors: generally, the focus of attention is attracted to

b) Psychological factors: the focus of attention is also affected by certain characteristics

22 Prepared by: Workneh Kebede (School of Psychology, AAU)

2.2.2 Gestalt Principles of Grouping

Figure -1 Figure -2 Figure -3 Figure-

2.2.3 Form Perception

 What do you see? ___ What do you see? _