Business Psychology Module B 2022

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A Compilation of Topics in Psychology as Applied to Business
Disclaimer and Fair Use Statement

This module does not intend to infringe on any copyright claims and is solely for academic purposes of
MSU at Naawan, its Faculty and its students.
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Table of Contents
Page
Unit 1: Introduction to the History of Psychology ………………………………………………………….. 3

Module 1: A Pre-History of Psychology ………………………………………………………………….. 4
Module 2: The Growth of Psychology …………………………………………………………………….. 7
Module 3: Psychology as a Profession ……………………………………………………………………. 9
Unit 2: The Behaving Organism and the Basic Phenomenal Process ……………………………….. 15
Module 1: The Brain and Nervous System ……………………………………………………………… 15
Module 2: The Peripheral Nervous System …………………………………………………………….. 21
Module 3: How We Study the Brain ……………………………………………………………………….. 21
Unit 3: Personality …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 28

Module 1: What is Personality? ……………………………………………………………………………… 28
Module 2: How Personality Develops? …………………………………………………………………… 29
Unit 4: Functions of Emotions and Motivation ……………………………………………………………….. 32

Module 1: Intrapersonal Functions of Emotions ……………………………………………………… 33
Module 2: Interpersonal Functions of Emotions ……………………………………………………… 35
Module 3: Social and Cultural Functions of Emotions ……………………………………………… 36
Module 4: Theories of Motivation …………………………………………………………………………… 43
Module 5: The Levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs ……………………………………………. 45
Unit 5: Stress …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 49

Module 1: The Healthy Life ………………………………………………………………………………………. 49
Module 2: Coping Strategies ……………………………………………………………………………………..52
Module 3: Stress Management ………………………………………………………………………………….54
Unit 6: Consumer Behaviour ………………………………………………………………………………………………64

Module 1: Consumer Behavior—Meaning/Definition
and Nature of Consumer Behavior ……………………………………………………………64
Module 2: Top 5 Important Factors Influencing
Consumer Behavior …………………………………………………………………………………..66
Unit 7: Psychology in Advertising and Selling ………………………………………………………………………69

Module 1: How to Use Psychology in Advertising
to Make People Buy …………………………………………………………………………………. 69
Module 2: Ethics and Etiquette in Business and Industry …………………………………………… 77
Module 3: What’s the Difference Between Business
Etiquette and Business Ethics …………………………………………………………………….. 95

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Unit 1: Introduction to the History of Psychology
By David B. Baker and Heather Sperry

University of Akron, The University of Akron
This module provides an introduction and overview of the historical development of the
science and practice of psychology in America. Ever-increasing specialization within the field
often makes it difficult to discern the common roots from which the field of psychology has
evolved. By exploring this shared past, students will be better able to understand how psychology
has developed into the discipline we know today.
Learning Objectives
• Describe the precursors to the establishment of the science of psychology.
• Identify key individuals and events in the history of American psychology.
• Describe the rise of professional psychology in America.
• Develop a basic understanding of the processes of scientific development and change.
• Recognize the role of women and people of color in the history of American psychology.
Introduction
It is always a difficult question to ask, where to begin to tell the story of the history of
psychology. Some would start with ancient Greece; others would look to a demarcation in the
late 19th century when the science of psychology was formally proposed and instituted. These
two perspectives, and all that is in between, are appropriate for describing a history of
psychology. The interested student will have no trouble finding an abundance of resources on
all of these time frames and perspectives (Goodwin, 2011; Leahey, 2012; Schultz & Schultz,
2007). For the purposes of this module, we will examine the development of psychology in
America and use the mid-19th century as our starting point. For the sake of convenience, we
refer to this as a history of modern psychology.
The earliest records of a psychological

experiment go all the way back to the Pharaoh
Psamtik I of Egypt in the 7th Century B.C.
[Image: Neithsabes, CC0 Public Domain,
https://goo.gl/m25gce]
Psychology is an exciting field and the history of
psychology offers the opportunity to make
sense of how it has grown and developed. The
history of psychology also provides perspective.
Rather than a dry collection of names and dates,
the history of psychology tells us about the
important intersection of time and place that
defines who we are. Consider what happens
when you meet someone for the first time. The
conversation usually begins with a series of
questions such as, “Where did you grow up?”
“How long have you lived here?” “Where did you go to school?” The importance of history in
defining who we are cannot be overstated. Whether you are seeing a physician, talking with a
counselor, or applying for a job, everything begins with a history. The same is true for studying

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the history of psychology; getting a history of the field helps to make sense of where we are and
how we got here.
Module 1: A Prehistory of Psychology
Precursors to American psychology can be found in philosophy and physiology.

Philosophers such as John Locke (1632–1704) and Thomas Reid (1710–1796)
promoted empiricism, the idea that all knowledge comes from experience. The work of Locke,
Reid, and others emphasized the role of the human observer and the primacy of the senses in
defining how the mind comes to acquire knowledge. In American colleges and universities in the
early 1800s, these principles were taught as courses on mental and moral philosophy. Most often
these courses taught about the mind based on the faculties of intellect, will, and the senses
(Fuchs, 2000).
Physiology and Psychophysics
Philosophical questions about the nature of mind and knowledge were matched in the
19th century by physiological investigations of the sensory systems of the human observer.
German physiologist Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–1894) measured the speed of the neural
impulse and explored the physiology of hearing and vision. His
work indicated that our senses can deceive us and are not a mirror
of the external world. Such work showed that even though the
human senses were fallible, the mind could be measured using the
methods of science. In all, it suggested that a science of psychology
was feasible.
An important implication of Helmholtz’s work was that

there is a psychological reality and a physical reality and that the
two are not identical. This was not a new idea; philosophers like
John Locke had written extensively on the topic, and in the 19th
century, philosophical speculation about the nature of mind
became subject to the rigors of science.
The question of the relationship between the mental (experiences of the senses) and the
material (external reality) was investigated by a number of German researchers including Ernst
Weber and Gustav Fechner. Their work was called psychophysics, and it introduced methods for
measuring the relationship between physical stimuli and human perception that would serve as
the basis for the new science of psychology (Fancher & Rutherford, 2011).
Wilhelm Wundt is considered one of the founding

figures of modern psychology. [CC0 Public Domain,
https://goo.gl/m25gce]
The formal development of modern psychology is usually
credited to the work of German physician, physiologist, and
philosopher Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920). Wundt helped to
establish the field of experimental psychology by serving as
a strong promoter of the idea that psychology could be an
experimental field and by providing classes, textbooks, and
a laboratory for training students. In 1875, he joined the
faculty at the University of Leipzig and quickly began to
make plans for the creation of a program of experimental
psychology.

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In 1879, he complemented his lectures on experimental psychology with a laboratory

experience: an event that has served as the popular date for the establishment of the science of
psychology.
The response to the new science was immediate and global. Wundt attracted students from
around the world to study the new experimental psychology and work in his lab. Students were
trained to offer detailed self-reports of their reactions to various stimuli, a procedure known
as introspection. The goal was to identify the elements of consciousness. In addition to the study
of sensation and perception, research was done on mental chronometry, more commonly known
as reaction time. The work of Wundt and his students demonstrated that the mind could be
measured and the nature of consciousness could be revealed through scientific means. It was an
exciting proposition, and one that found great interest in America. After the opening of Wundt’s
lab in 1879, it took just four years for the first psychology laboratory to open in the United States
(Benjamin, 2007).
Scientific Psychology Comes to the United States
Wundt’s version of psychology arrived in America most visibly through the work of Edward
Bradford Titchener (1867–1927). A student of Wundt’s, Titchener brought to America a brand of
experimental psychology referred to as “structuralism.” Structuralists were interested in the
contents of the mind—what the mind is. For Titchener, the general adult mind was the proper
focus for the new psychology, and he excluded from study those with mental deficiencies,
children, and animals (Evans, 1972; Titchener, 1909).
Experimental psychology spread rather rapidly throughout North America. By 1900, there were
more than 40 laboratories in the United States and Canada (Benjamin, 2000). Psychology in
America also organized early with the establishment of the American Psychological Association
(APA) in 1892. Titchener felt that this new organization did not adequately represent the interests
of experimental psychology, so, in 1904, he organized a group of colleagues to create what is
now known as the Society of Experimental Psychologists (Goodwin, 1985). The group met
annually to discuss research in experimental psychology. Reflecting the times, women
researchers were not invited (or welcome). It is interesting to note that Titchener’s first doctoral
student was a woman, Margaret Floy Washburn (1871–1939). Despite many barriers, in 1894,
Washburn became the first woman in America to earn a Ph.D. in psychology and, in 1921, only
the second woman to be elected president of the American Psychological Association
(Scarborough & Furumoto, 1987).
Striking a balance between the science and practice of psychology continues to this day. In 1988,
the American Psychological Society (now known as the Association for Psychological Science) was
founded with the central mission of advancing psychological science.

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Toward a Functional Psychology
William James was one of the leading figures in a new

perspective on psychology called functionalism. [Image:
Notman Studios, CC0 Public Domain, https://goo.gl/m25gce]
While Titchener and his followers adhered to a structural
psychology, others in America were pursuing different
approaches. William James, G. Stanley Hall, and James McKeen
Cattell were among a group that became identified with
“functionalism.” Influenced by Darwin’s evolutionary theory,
functionalists were interested in the activities of the mind—
what the mind does. An interest in functionalism opened the
way for the study of a wide range of approaches, including
animal and comparative psychology (Benjamin, 2007).
William James (1842–1910) is regarded as writing perhaps the most influential and important
book in the field of psychology, Principles of Psychology, published in 1890. Opposed to the
reductionist ideas of Titchener, James proposed that consciousness is ongoing and continuous; it
cannot be isolated and reduced to elements. For James, consciousness helped us adapt to our
environment in such ways as allowing us to make choices and have personal responsibility over
those choices.
At Harvard, James occupied a position of authority and

respect in psychology and philosophy. Through his teaching
and writing, he influenced psychology for generations. One of
his students, Mary Whiton Calkins (1863–1930), faced many of
the challenges that confronted Margaret Floy Washburn and
other women interested in pursuing graduate education in
psychology. With much persistence, Calkins was able to study
with James at Harvard. She eventually completed all the
requirements for the doctoral degree, but Harvard refused to
grant her a diploma because she was a woman. Despite these
challenges, Calkins went on to become an accomplished
researcher and the first woman elected president of the
American Psychological Association in 1905 (Scarborough &
Furumoto, 1987).
G. Stanley Hall (1844–1924) made substantial and lasting

contributions to the establishment of psychology in the United
States. At Johns Hopkins University, he founded the first
psychological laboratory in America in 1883. In 1887, he created the
first journal of psychology in America, American Journal of
Psychology. In 1892, he founded the American Psychological
Association (APA); in 1909, he invited and hosted Freud at Clark
University (the only time Freud visited America). Influenced by
evolutionary theory, Hall was interested in the process of
adaptation and human development. Using surveys and
questionnaires to study children, Hall wrote extensively on child
development and education. While graduate education in
psychology was restricted for women in Hall’s time, it was all but non-existent for African
Americans. In another first, Hall mentored Francis Cecil Sumner (1895–1954) who, in 1920,
became the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in psychology in America (Guthrie, 2003).

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James McKeen Cattell (1860–1944) received his Ph.D. with

Wundt but quickly turned his interests to the assessment
of individual differences. Influenced by the work of Darwin’s
cousin, Frances Galton, Cattell believed that mental abilities such as
intelligence were inherited and could be measured using mental
tests. Like Galton, he believed society was better served by
identifying those with superior intelligence and supported efforts to
encourage them to reproduce. Such beliefs were associated
with eugenics (the promotion of selective breeding) and fueled
early debates about the contributions of heredity and environment
in defining who we are. At Columbia University, Cattell developed a
department of psychology that became world famous also
promoting psychological science through advocacy and as a publisher of scientific journals and
reference works (Fancher, 1987; Sokal, 1980).
Module 2: The Growth of Psychology
Throughout the first half of the 20th

century, psychology continued to grow and flourish
in America. It was large enough to accommodate
varying points of view on the nature of mind and
behavior. Gestalt psychology is a good example.
The Gestalt movement began in Germany with the
work of Max Wertheimer (1880–1943). Opposed to
the reductionist approach of Wundt’s laboratory
psychology, Wertheimer and his colleagues Kurt
Koffka (1886–1941), Wolfgang Kohler (1887–1967),
and Kurt Lewin (1890–1947) believed that studying
the whole of any experience was richer than studying individual aspects of that experience. The
saying “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” is a Gestalt perspective. Consider that a
melody is an additional element beyond the collection of notes that comprise it. The Gestalt
psychologists proposed that the mind often processes information simultaneously rather than
sequentially. For instance, when you look at a photograph, you see a whole image, not just a
collection of pixels of color. Using Gestalt principles, Wertheimer and his colleagues also explored
the nature of learning and thinking. Most of the German Gestalt psychologists were Jewish and
were forced to flee the Nazi regime due to the threats posed on both academic and personal
freedoms. In America, they were able to introduce a new audience to the Gestalt perspective,
demonstrating how it could be applied to perception and learning (Wertheimer, 1938). In many
ways, the work of the Gestalt psychologists served as a precursor to the rise of cognitive
psychology in America (Benjamin, 2007).

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Behaviorism emerged early

in the 20th century and became a
major force in American psychology.
Championed by psychologists such
as John B. Watson (1878–1958) and
B. F. Skinner (1904–1990),
behaviorism rejected any reference
to mind and viewed overt and
observable behavior as the proper
subject matter of psychology.
Through the scientific study of
behavior, it was hoped that laws of
learning could be derived that
would promote the prediction and
control of behavior. Russian
physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936) influenced early behaviorism in America. His work on
conditioned learning, popularly referred to as classical conditioning, provided support for the
notion that learning and behavior were controlled by events in the environment and could be
explained with no reference to mind or consciousness (Fancher, 1987).
For decades, behaviorism dominated American psychology. By the 1960s, psychologists began to
recognize that behaviorism was unable to fully explain human behavior because it neglected
mental processes. The turn toward a cognitive psychology was not new. In the 1930s, British
psychologist Frederic C. Bartlett (1886–1969) explored the idea of the constructive mind,
recognizing that people use their past experiences to construct frameworks in which to
understand new experiences. Some of the major pioneers in American cognitive psychology
include Jerome Bruner (1915–), Roger Brown (1925–1997), and George Miller (1920–2012). In
the 1950s, Bruner conducted pioneering studies on cognitive aspects of sensation and
perception. Brown conducted original research on language and memory, coined the term
“flashbulb memory,” and figured out how to study the tip-of-the-tongue
phenomenon (Benjamin, 2007). Miller’s research on working memory is legendary. His 1956
paper “The Magic Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing
Information”is one of the most highly cited papers in psychology. A popular interpretation of
Miller’s research was that the number of bits of information an average human can hold
in working memory is 7 ± 2. Around the same time, the study of computer science was growing
and was used as an analogy to explore and understand how the mind works. The work of Miller
and others in the 1950s and 1960s has inspired tremendous interest in cognition and
neuroscience, both of which dominate much of contemporary American psychology.
Applied Psychology in America
In America, there has always been an

interest in the application of psychology to
everyday life. Mental testing is an important
example. Modern intelligence tests were
developed by the French psychologist Alfred
Binet (1857–1911). His goal was to develop a test
that would identify schoolchildren in need of
educational support. His test, which included
tasks of reasoning and problem solving, was
introduced in the United States by Henry
Goddard (1866–1957) and later standardized by
Lewis Terman (1877–1956) at Stanford
University. The assessment and meaning of intelligence has fueled debates in American
psychology and society for nearly 100 years. Much of this is captured in the nature-nurture
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debate that raises questions about the relative contributions of heredity and environment in
determining intelligence (Fancher, 1987).
Applied psychology was not limited to mental testing. What psychologists were learning
in their laboratories was applied in many settings including the military, business, industry, and
education. The early 20th century was witness to rapid advances in applied psychology. Hugo
Munsterberg (1863–1916) of Harvard University made contributions to such areas as employee
selection, eyewitness testimony, and psychotherapy. Walter D. Scott (1869–1955) and Harry
Hollingworth (1880–1956) produced original work on the psychology of advertising and
marketing. Lillian Gilbreth (1878–1972) was a pioneer in industrial psychology and engineering
psychology. Working with her husband, Frank, they promoted the use of time and motion studies
to improve efficiency in industry. Lillian also brought the efficiency movement to the home,
designing kitchens and appliances including the pop-up trashcan and refrigerator door shelving.
Their psychology of efficiency also found plenty of applications at home with their 12 children.
The experience served as the inspiration for the movie Cheaper by the Dozen (Benjamin, 2007).
Clinical psychology was also an early application of experimental psychology in America.

Lightner Witmer (1867–1956) received his Ph.D. in experimental psychology with Wilhelm Wundt
and returned to the University of Pennsylvania, where he opened a psychological clinic in 1896.
Witmer believed that because psychology dealt with the study of sensation and perception, it
should be of value in treating children with learning and behavioral problems. He is credited as
the founder of both clinical and school psychology (Benjamin & Baker, 2004).
Module 3: Psychology as a Profession
Although this is what most people see in their

mind’s eye when asked to envision a “psychologist”
the APA recognizes as many as 58 different divisions
of psychology. [Image: Bliusa, https://goo.gl/yrSUCr,
CC BY-SA 4.0, https://goo.gl/6pvNbx]
As the roles of psychologists and the needs of the
public continued to change, it was necessary for
psychology to begin to define itself as a profession.
Without standards for training and practice, anyone
could use the title psychologist and offer services to
the public. As early as 1917, applied psychologists
organized to create standards for education,
training, and licensure. By the 1930s, these efforts
led to the creation of the American Association for Applied Psychology (AAAP). While the
American Psychological Association (APA) represented the interests of academic psychologists,
AAAP served those in education, industry, consulting, and clinical work.
The advent of WWII changed everything. The psychiatric casualties of war were
staggering, and there were simply not enough mental health professionals to meet the need.
Recognizing the shortage, the federal government urged the AAAP and APA to work together to
meet the mental health needs of the nation. The result was the merging of the AAAP and the APA
and a focus on the training of professional psychologists. Through the provisions of National
Mental Health Act of 1946, funding was made available that allowed the APA, the Veterans
Administration, and the Public Health Service to work together to develop training programs that
would produce clinical psychologists. These efforts led to the convening of the Boulder
Conference on Graduate Education in Clinical Psychology in 1949 in Boulder, Colorado. The
meeting launched doctoral training in psychology and gave us the scientist-practitioner model of
training. Similar meetings also helped launch doctoral training programs in counseling and school
psychology. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, alternatives to Boulder have been

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debated. In 1973, the Vail Conference on Professional Training in Psychology proposed

the scholar-practitioner model and the Psy.D. degree (Doctor of Psychology). It is a training
model that emphasizes clinical training and practice that has become more common (Cautin &
Baker, in press).
Psychology and Society
Given that psychology deals with the human condition, it is not surprising that
psychologists would involve themselves in social issues. For more than a century, psychology and
psychologists have been agents of social action and change. Using the methods and tools of
science, psychologists have challenged assumptions, stereotypes, and stigma. Founded in 1936,
the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) has supported research and action
on a wide range of social issues. Individually, there have been many psychologists whose efforts
have promoted social change. Helen Thompson Woolley (1874–1947) and Leta S. Hollingworth
(1886–1939) were pioneers in research on the psychology of sex differences. Working in the early
20th century, when women’s rights were marginalized, Thompson examined the assumption that
women were overemotional compared to men and found that emotion did not influence
women’s decisions any more than it did men’s. Hollingworth found that menstruation did not
negatively impact women’s cognitive or motor abilities. Such work combatted harmful
stereotypes and showed that psychological research could contribute to social change
(Scarborough & Furumoto, 1987).
Mamie Phipps Clark and Kenneth

Clark studied the negative impacts of
segregated education on African-
American children. [Image: Penn State
Special Collection,
https://goo.gl/WP7Dgc, CC BY-NC-SA
2.0, https://goo.gl/Toc0ZF]
Among the first generation of African
American psychologists, Mamie Phipps
Clark (1917–1983) and her husband
Kenneth Clark (1914–2005) studied the
psychology of race and demonstrated
the ways in which school segregation
negatively impacted the self-esteem of
African American children. Their
research was influential in the 1954
Supreme Court ruling in the case
of Brown v. Board of Education, which
ended school segregation (Guthrie, 2003). In psychology, greater advocacy for issues impacting
the African American community were advanced by the creation of the Association of Black
Psychologists (ABPsi) in 1968.
In 1957, psychologist Evelyn Hooker (1907–1996) published the paper “The Adjustment
of the Male Overt Homosexual,” reporting on her research that showed no significant differences
in psychological adjustment between homosexual and heterosexual men. Her research helped
to de-pathologize homosexuality and contributed to the decision by the American Psychiatric
Association to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders in 1973 (Garnets & Kimmel, 2003).

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Conclusion
Growth and expansion have been a constant in American psychology. In the latter part of the
20th century, areas such as social, developmental, and personality psychology made major
contributions to our understanding of what it means to be human. Today neuroscience is
enjoying tremendous interest and growth.
As mentioned at the beginning of the module, it is a challenge to cover all the history of
psychology in such a short space. Errors of omission and commission are likely in such a selective
review. The history of psychology helps to set a stage upon which the story of psychology can be
told. This brief summary provides some glimpse into the depth and rich content offered by the
history of psychology. The learning modules in the Noba psychology collection are all
elaborations on the foundation created by our shared past. It is hoped that you will be able to
see these connections and have a greater understanding and appreciation for both the unity and
diversity of the field of psychology.
Timeline
1600s – Rise of empiricism emphasizing centrality of human observer in acquiring knowledge
1850s - Helmholz measures neural impulse / Psychophysics studied by Weber & Fechner
1859 - Publication of Darwin's Origin of Species
1879 - Wundt opens lab for experimental psychology
1883 - First psychology lab opens in the United States
1887 – First American psychology journal is published: American Journal of Psychology
1890 – James publishes Principles of Psychology
1892 – APA established
1894 – Margaret Floy Washburn is first U.S. woman to earn Ph.D. in psychology
1904 - Founding of Titchener's experimentalists
1905 - Mary Whiton Calkins is first woman president of APA
1909 – Freud’s only visit to the United States
1913 - John Watson calls for a psychology of behavior
1920 – Francis Cecil Sumner is first African American to earn Ph.D. in psychology
1921 – Margaret Floy Washburn is second woman president of APA
1930s – Creation and growth of the American Association for Applied Psychology (AAAP) / Gestalt
psychology comes to America
1936- Founding of The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues
1940s – Behaviorism dominates American psychology
1946 – National Mental Health Act
1949 – Boulder Conference on Graduate Education in Clinical Psychology
1950s – Cognitive psychology gains popularity
1954 – Brown v. Board of Education
1957 – Evelyn Hooker publishes The Adjustment of the Male Overt Homosexual
1968 – Founding of the Association of Black Psychologists
1973 – Psy.D. proposed at the Vail Conference on Professional Training in Psychology
1988 – Founding of the American Psychological Society (now known as the Association for
Psychological Science)

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Outside Resources
Podcast: History of Psychology Podcast Series
http://www.yorku.ca/christo/podcasts/
Web: Advances in the History of Psychology
http://ahp.apps01.yorku.ca/
Web: Center for the History of Psychology
http://www.uakron.edu/chp
Web: Classics in the History of Psychology
http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/
Web: Psychology’s Feminist Voices
http://www.feministvoices.com/
Web: This Week in the History of Psychology
http://www.yorku.ca/christo/podcasts/
Discussion Questions
1. Why was psychophysics important to the development of psychology as a science?
2. How have psychologists participated in the advancement of social issues?
3. Name some ways in which psychology began to be applied to the general public and
everyday problems.
4. Describe functionalism and structuralism and their influences on behaviorism and cognitive
psychology.
Vocabulary
Behaviorism
The study of behavior.
Cognitive psychology
The study of mental processes.
Consciousness
Awareness of ourselves and our environment.
Empiricism
The belief that knowledge comes from experience.
Eugenics
The practice of selective breeding to promote desired traits.
Flashbulb memory
A highly detailed and vivid memory of an emotionally significant event.
Functionalism
A school of American psychology that focused on the utility of consciousness.
Gestalt psychology
An attempt to study the unity of experience.

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Individual differences
Ways in which people differ in terms of their behavior, emotion, cognition, and
development.
Introspection
A method of focusing on internal processes.
Neural impulse
An electro-chemical signal that enables neurons to communicate.
Practitioner-Scholar Model
A model of training of professional psychologists that emphasizes clinical practice.
Psychophysics
Study of the relationships between physical stimuli and the perception of those stimuli.
Realism
A point of view that emphasizes the importance of the senses in providing knowledge of the
external world.
Scientist-practitioner model
A model of training of professional psychologists that emphasizes the development of both
research and clinical skills.
Structuralism
A school of American psychology that sought to describe the elements of conscious
experience.
Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
The inability to pull a word from memory even though there is the sensation that that word
is available.
References
• Benjamin, L. T. (2007). A brief history of modern psychology. Malden, MA: Blackwell

Publishing.
• Benjamin, L. T. (2000). The psychology laboratory at the turn of the 20th century. American
Psychologist, 55, 318–321.
• Benjamin, L. T., & Baker, D. B. (2004). From séance to science: A history of the profession of
psychology in America. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
• Cautin, R., & Baker, D. B. (in press). A history of education and training in professional
psychology. In B. Johnson & N. Kaslow (Eds.), Oxford handbook of education and training in
professional psychology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
• Evans, R. B. (1972). E. B. Titchener and his lost system. Journal of the History of the
Behavioral Sciences, 8, 168–180.
• Fancher, R. E. (1987). The intelligence men: Makers of the IQ controversy. New York, NY:
W.W. Norton & Company.
• Fancher, R. E., & Rutherford, A. (2011). Pioneers of psychology: A history (4th ed.). New York,
NY: W.W. Norton & Company.
• Fuchs, A. H. (2000). Contributions of American mental philosophers to psychology in the

United States. History of Psychology, 3, 3–19.
• Garnets, L., & Kimmel, D. C. (2003). What a light it shed: The life of Evelyn Hooker. In L.
Garnets & D. C. Kimmel (Eds.), Psychological perspectives on gay, lesbian, and bisexual
experiences (2nd ed., pp. 31–49). New York, NY: Columbia University Press.

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• Goodwin, C. J. (2011). A history of modern psychology (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
• Goodwin, C. J. (1985). On the origins of Titchener’s experimentalists. Journal of the History

of the Behavioral Sciences, 21, 383–389.
• Guthrie, R. V. (2003). Even the rat was white: A historical view of psychology (2nd ed.).
Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
• Leahey, T. H. (2012). A history of psychology: From antiquity to modernity (7th ed.). Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
• Scarborough, E. & Furumoto, L. (1987). The untold lives: The first generation of American
women psychologists. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
• Shultz, D. P., & Schultz, S. E. (2007). A history of modern psychology (9th ed.). Stanford, CT:
Cengage Learning.
• Sokal, M. M. (1980). Science and James McKeen Cattell. Science, 209, 43–52.
• Titchener, E. B. (1909). A text-book of psychology. New York, NY: Macmillan.
• Wertheimer, M. (1938). Gestalt theory. In W. D. Ellis (Ed.), A source book of Gestalt

psychology (1-11). New York, NY: Harcourt.
Authors
•
David B. Baker
David B. Baker is the Margaret Clark Morgan Executive Director of the Center for the History
of Psychology and professor of psychology at the University of Akron. He is a fellow of the
American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science. He
teaches the history of psychology and does research and writing on the rise of professional
psychology in America during the 20th century.
Heather Sperry
Heather A. Sperry, M.A. is currently a graduate student in the Counseling Psychology

program at the University of Akron. She received her M.A. in Counseling Psychology from
the University of Akron. Her research interests include multicultural and feminist issues.

15
Unit 2 – The Behaving Organism and the Basic Phenomenal

Processes
Module 1: The Brain and Nervous System
By Robert Biswas-Diener
Portland State University
The brain is the most complex part of the human body. It is the center of consciousness and
also controls all voluntary and involuntary movement and bodily functions. It communicates
with each part of the body through the nervous system, a network of channels that carry
electrochemical signals.
Learning Objectives
• Name the various parts of the nervous system and their respective functions
• Explain how neurons communicate with each other
• Identify the location and function of the limbic system
• Articulate how the primary motor cortex is an example of brain region specialization
• Name at least three neuroimaging techniques and describe how they work
In the 1800s a German scientist by the name of Ernst Weber

conducted several experiments meant to investigate how people
perceive the world via their own bodies (Hernstein & Boring, 1966).
It is obvious that we use our sensory organs—our eyes, and ears,
and nose—to take in and understand the world around us. Weber
was particularly interested in the sense of touch. Using a drafting
compass he placed the two points far apart and set them on the skin
of a volunteer. When the points were far apart the research
participants could easily distinguish between them. As Weber
repeated the process with ever closer points, however, most people
lost the ability to tell the difference between them. Weber
discovered that the ability to recognize these “just noticeable
differences” depended on where on the body the compass was
positioned. Your back, for example, is far less sensitive to touch than is the skin on your face.
Similarly, the tip of your tongue is extremely sensitive! In this way, Weber began to shed light
on the way that nerves, the nervous system, and the brain form the biological foundation of
psychological processes.

16
Measuring “just noticeable

differences.”
In this module we will explore the
biological side of psychology by
paying particular attention to the
brain and to the nervous system.
Understanding the nervous system is
vital to understanding psychology in
general. It is through the nervous
system that we experience pleasure
and pain, feel emotions, learn and use
language, and plan goals, just to name
a few examples. In the pages that
follow we will begin by examining how
the human nervous system develops
and then we will learn about the parts
of the brain and how they function.
We will conclude with a section on how modern psychologists study the brain.
It is worth mentioning here, at the start, that an introduction to the biological aspects of
psychology can be both the most interesting and most frustrating of all topics for new students
of psychology. This is, in large part, due to the fact that there is so much new information to learn
and new vocabulary associated with all the various parts of the brain and nervous system. In fact,
there are 30 key vocabulary words presented in this module! We encourage you not to get
bogged down in difficult words. Instead, pay attention to the broader concepts, perhaps even
skipping over the vocabulary on your first reading. It is helpful to pass back through with a second
reading, once you are already familiar with the topic, with attention to learning the vocabulary.
Nervous System development across the human lifespan
As a species, humans have evolved a complex nervous system and brain over millions of
years. Comparisons of our nervous systems with those of other animals, such as chimpanzees,
show some similarities (Darwin, 1859). Researchers can also use fossils to study the relationship
between brain volume and human behavior over the course of evolutionary history. Homo
habilis, for instance, a human ancestor living about 2 million years ago shows a larger brain
volume than its own ancestors but far less than modern homo sapiens. The main difference
between humans and other animals-- in terms of brain development-- is that humans have a
much more developed frontal cortex (the front part of the brain associated with planning).
Interestingly, a person’s unique nervous system develops over the course of their lifespan
in a way that resembles the evolution of nervous systems in animals across vast stretches of time.
For example, the human nervous system begins developing even before a person is born. It
begins as a simple bundle of tissue that forms into a tube and extends along the head-to-tail
plane becoming the spinal cord and brain. 25 days into its development, the embryo has a distinct
spinal cord, as well as hindbrain, midbrain and forebrain (Stiles & Jernigan, 2010). What, exactly,
is this nervous system that is developing and what does it do?
The nervous system can be thought of as the body’s communication network that
consists of all nerve cells. There are many ways in which we can divide the nervous system to
understand it more clearly. One common way to do so is by parsing it into the central nervous
system and the peripheral nervous system. Each of these can be sub-divided, in turn. Let’s take
a closer, more in-depth look at each. And, don’t worry, the nervous system is complicated with
many parts and many new vocabulary words. It might seem overwhelming at first but through
the figures and a little study you can get it.

17
The Central Nervous System (CNS): The Neurons inside the Brain
Figure 1: The central nervous system

The Central Nervous System, or CNS for short, is made up
of the brain and spinal cord (see Figure 1). The CNS is the
portion of the nervous system that is encased in bone (the
brain is protected by the skull and the spinal cord is
protected by the spinal column). It is referred to as
“central” because it is the brain and spinal cord that are
primarily responsible for processing sensory
information—touching a hot stove or seeing a rainbow, for
example—and sending signals to the peripheral nervous
system for action. It communicates largely by sending
electrical signals through individual nerve cells that make
up the fundamental building blocks of the nervous system,
called neurons. There are approximately 100 billion
neurons in the human brain and each has many contacts
with other neurons, called synapses (Brodal, 1992).
If we were able to magnify a view of individual neurons we

would see that they are cells made from distinct parts (see Figure 2). The three main components
of a neuron are the dendrites, the soma, and the axon. Neurons communicate with one another
by receiving information through the dendrites, which act as an antenna. When the dendrites
channel this information to the soma, or cell body, it builds up as an electro-chemical signal. This
electrical part of the signal, called an action potential shoots down the axon, a long tail that leads
away from the soma and toward the next neuron. When people talk about “nerves” in the
nervous system, it typically refers to bundles of axons that form long neural wires along which
electrical signals can travel. Cell-to-cell communication is helped by the fact that the axon is
covered by a myelin sheath—a layer of fatty cells that allow the signal to travel very rapidly from
neuron to neuron (Kandel, Schwartz & Jessell, 2000)
Figure 2: The parts of a neuron
If we were to zoom in still further we could take a closer look at the synapse, the space
between neurons (see Figure 3). Here, we would see that there is a space between neurons,
called the synaptic gap. To give you a sense of scale we can compare the synaptic gap to the
thickness of a dime, the thinnest of all American coins (about 1.35 mm). You could stack
approximately 70,000 synaptic gaps in the thickness of a single coin!

18
As the action potential, the electrical signal reaches the end of the axon, tiny packets of
chemicals, called neurotransmitters, are released. This is the chemical part of the electro-
chemical signal. These neurotransmitters are the chemical signals that travel from one neuron to
another, enabling them to communicate with one another. There are many different types of
neurotransmitters and each has a specialized function. For example, serotonin affects sleep,
hunger and mood. Dopamine is associated with attention, learning and pleasure (Kandel &
Schwartz, 1982)
Figure 3: A view of the

synapse between neurons
It is amazing to realize that
when you think—when
you reach out to grab a
glass of water, when you
realize that your best
friend is happy, when you
try to remember the name
of the parts of a neuron—
what you are experiencing
is actually electro-
chemical impulses
shooting between nerves!
The Central Nervous System: Looking at the Brain as a Whole
If we were to zoom back out and look at the central nervous system again we would see
that the brain is the largest single part of the central nervous system. The brain is the
headquarters of the entire nervous system and it is here that most of your sensing, perception,
thinking, awareness, emotions, and planning take place. For many people the brain is so
important that there is a sense that it is there—inside the brain—that a person’s sense of self is
located (as opposed to being primarily in your toes, by contrast). The brain is so important, in
fact, that it consumes 20% of the total oxygen and calories we consume even though it is only,
on average, about 2% of our overall weight.
It is helpful to examine the various parts of the brain and to understand their unique
functions to get a better sense of the role the brain plays. We will start by looking at very general
areas of the brain and then we will zoom in and look at more specific parts. Anatomists and
neuroscientists often divide the brain into portions based on the location and function of various
brain parts. Among the simplest ways to organize the brain is to describe it as having three basic
portions: the hindbrain, midbrain and forebrain. Another way to look at the brain is to
consider the brain stem, the Cerebellum, and the Cerebrum. There is another part, called the
Limbic System that is less well defined. It is made up of a number of structures that are “sub-
cortical” (existing in the hindbrain) as well as cortical regions of the brain (see Figure 4).
The brain stem is the most basic structure of the brain and is located at the top of the
spine and bottom of the brain. It is sometimes considered the “oldest” part of the brain because
we can see similar structures in other, less evolved animals such as crocodiles. It is in charge of a
wide range of very basic “life support” functions for the human body including breathing,
digestion, and the beating of the heart. Amazingly, the brain stem sends the signals to keep these
processes running smoothly without any conscious effort on our behalf.

19
The limbic system is a collection of highly specialized neural structures that sit at the top
of the brain stem, which are involved in regulating our emotions. Collectively, the limbic system
is a term that doesn’t have clearly defined areas as it includes forebrain regions as well as
hindbrain regions. These include the amygdala, the thalamus, the hippocampus, the insula
cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, and the prefrontal cortex. These structures influence
hunger, the sleep-wake cycle, sexual desire, fear and aggression, and even memory.
The cerebellum is a structure at the very back of the brain. Aristotle referred to it as the
“small brain” based on its appearance and it is principally involved with movement and posture
although it is also associated with a variety of other thinking processes. The cerebellum, like the
brain stem, coordinates actions without the need for any conscious awareness.
Figure 4: General areas of the

brain [Image: Biology Corner,
https://goo.gl/wKxUgg, CC-
BY-NC-SA 2.0,
https://goo.gl/Toc0ZF, labels
added]
The cerebrum (also called the “cerebral cortex”) is the “newest,” most advanced portion
of the brain. The cerebral hemispheres (the left and right hemispheres that make up each side of
the top of the brain) are in charge of the types of processes that are associated with more
awareness and voluntary control such as speaking and planning as well as contain our primary
sensory areas (such as seeing, hearing, feeling, and moving). These two hemispheres are
connected to one another by a thick bundle of axons called the corpus callosum. There are
instances in which people—either because of a genetic abnormality or as the result of surgery—
have had their corpus callosum severed so that the two halves of the brain cannot easily
communicate with one another. The rare split-brain patients offer helpful insights into how the
brain works. For example, we now understand that the brain is contralateral, or opposite-sided.
This means that the left side of the brain is responsible for controlling a number of sensory and
motor functions of the right side of the body, and vice versa.
Consider this striking example: A split brain patient is seated at a table and an object such
as a car key can be placed where a split-brain patient can only see it through the right visual
field. Right visual field images will be processed on the left side of the brain and left visual field
images will be processed on the right side of the brain. Because language is largely associated
with the left side of the brain the patient who sees car key in the right visual field when asked
“What do you see?” would answer, “I see a car key.” In contrast, a split-brain patient who only
saw the car key in the left visual field, thus the information went to the non-language right side
of the brain, might have a difficult time speaking the word “car key.” In fact in this case, the
patient is likely to respond “I didn’t see anything at all.” However, if asked to draw the item with
their left hand—a process associated with the right side of the brain—the patient will be able to
do so! See the outside resources below for a video demonstration of this striking phenomenon.

20
Besides looking at the brain as an organ that is made up of two halves we can also examine
it by looking at its four various lobes of the cerebral cortex, the outer part of the brain (see Figure
5). Each of these is associated with a specific function. The occipital lobe, located at the back of
the cerebral cortex, is the house of the visual area of the brain. You can see the road in front of
you when you are driving, track the motion of a ball in the air thanks to the occipital lobe.
The temporal lobe, located on the underside of the cerebral cortex, is where sounds and smells
are processed. The parietal lobe, at the upper back of the cerebral cortex, is where touch and
taste are processed. Finally, the frontal lobe, located at the forward part of the cerebral cortex
is where behavioral motor plans are processed as well as a number of highly complicated
processes occur including speech and language use, creative problem solving, and planning and
organization.
Figure 5: The 4 lobes of the cerebral

cortex
One particularly fascinating

area in the frontal lobe is called the
“primary motor cortex”. This strip
running along the side of the brain
is in charge of voluntary movements
like waving goodbye, wiggling your
eyebrows, and kissing. It is an
excellent example of the way that
the various regions of the brain are
highly specialized. Interestingly, each of our various body parts has a unique portion of the
primary motor cortex devoted to it (see Figure 6). Each individual finger has about as much
dedicated brain space as your entire leg. Your lips, in turn, require about as much dedicated brain
processing as all of your fingers and your hand combined!
Figure 6: Specific body parts like the tongue or fingers are mapped onto certain areas of the brain
including the primary motor cortex.
Because the cerebral cortex in general, and the frontal lobe in particular, are associated
with such sophisticated functions as planning and being self-aware they are often thought of as
a higher, less primal portion of the brain. Indeed, other animals such as rats and kangaroos while
they do have frontal regions of their brain do not have the same level of development in the

21
cerebral cortices. The closer an animal is to humans on the evolutionary tree—think chimpanzees
and gorillas, the more developed is this portion of their brain.
Module 2: The Peripheral Nervous System
In addition to the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) there is also a
complex network of nerves that travel to every part of the body. This is called the peripheral
nervous system (PNS) and it carries the signals necessary for the body to survive (see Figure 7).
Some of the signals carried by the PNS are related to voluntary actions. If you want to type a
message to a friend, for instance, you make conscious choices about which letters go in what
order and your brain sends the appropriate signals to your fingers to do the work. Other
processes, by contrast, are not voluntary. Without your awareness your brain is also sending
signals to your organs, your digestive system, and the muscles that are holding you up right now
with instructions about what they should be doing. All of this occurs through the pathways of
your peripheral nervous system.
Figure 7: The peripheral nervous system
Module 3: How we study the brain
The brain is difficult to study because it is housed inside the thick bone of the skull. What’s
more, it is difficult to access the brain without hurting or killing the owner of the brain. As a result,
many of the earliest studies of the brain (and indeed this is still true today) focused on
unfortunate people who happened to have damage to some particular area of their brain. For
instance, in the 1880s a surgeon named Paul Broca conducted an autopsy on a former patient
who had lost his powers of speech. Examining his patient’s brain, Broca identified a damaged
area—now called the “Broca’s Area”—on the left side of the brain (see Figure 8) (AAAS, 1880).
Over the years a number of researchers have been able to gain insights into the function of
specific regions of the brain from these types of patients.

22
Figure 8: Broca's Area [Image: Charlyzon, https://goo.gl/1frq7d, CC BY-SA 3.0,

https://goo.gl/uhHola]
An alternative to examining the brains or behaviors of humans with brain damage or

surgical lesions can be found in the instance of animals. Some researchers examine the brains of
other animals such as rats, dogs and monkeys. Although animals brains differ from human brains
in both size and structure there are many similarities as well. The use of animals for study can
yield important insights into human brain function.
In modern times, however, we do not have to exclusively rely on the study of people with
brain lesions. Advances in technology have led to ever more sophisticated imaging techniques.
Just as X-ray technology allows us to peer inside the body, neuroimaging techniques allow us
glimpses of the working brain (Raichle,1994). Each type of imaging uses a different technique and
each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

23
Above: A PET scan - Below: An

fMRI scan [Image: Erik1980,
https://goo.gl/YWZLji, CC BY-SA
3.0, https://goo.gl/X3i0tq)
Positron Emission Tomography

(PET) records metabolic activity in
the brain by detecting the amount
of radioactive substances, which
are injected into a person’s
bloodstream, the brain is
consuming. This technique allows
us to see how much an individual
uses a particular part of the brain
while at rest, or not performing a
task.
Another technique, known

as Functional Magnetic
Resonance Imaging (fMRI) relies
on blood flow. This method
measures changes in the levels of
naturally occurring oxygen in the
blood. As a brain region becomes
active, it requires more oxygen.
This technique measures brain
activity based on this increase
oxygen level. This means fMRI
does not require a foreign
substance to be injected into the
body. Both PET and fMRI scans
have poor temporal resolution ,
meaning that they cannot tell us
exactly when brain activity
occurred. This is because it takes
several seconds for blood to arrive at a portion of the brain working on a task.
One imaging technique that has better temporal resolution is Electroencephalography

(EEG), which measures electrical brain activity instead of blood flow. Electrodes are place on the
scalp of participants and they are nearly instantaneous in picking up electrical activity. Because
this activity could be coming from any portion of the brain, however, EEG is known to have
poor spatial resolution, meaning that it is not accurate with regards to specific location.
Another technique, known as Diffuse Optical Imaging (DOI) can offer high temporal and
spatial resolution. DOI works by shining infrared light into the brain. It might seem strange that
light can pass through the head and brain. Light properties change as they pass through
oxygenated blood and through active neurons. As a result, researchers can make inferences
regarding where and when brain activity is happening.

24
Conclusion
It has often been said that the brain studies itself. This means that humans are uniquely
capable of using our most sophisticated organ to understand our most sophisticated organ.
Breakthroughs in the study of the brain and nervous system are among the most exciting
discoveries in all of psychology. In the future, research linking neural activity to complex, real
world attitudes and behavior will help us to understand human psychology and better intervene
in it to help people.
Outside Resources
Web: Animation of the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

http://sites.sinauer.com/neuroscience5e/animations01.01.html
Web: Animation of the Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

http://sites.sinauer.com/neuroscience5e/animations01.02.html
Web: Teaching resources and videos for teaching about the brain, from Colorado State
University:
http://www.learner.org/resources/series142.html
Web: The Brain Museum

http://brainmuseum.org/
1. In your opinion is learning about the functions of various parts of the brain by studying the
abilities of brain damaged patients ethical. What, in your opinion, are the potential benefits
and considerations?
2. Are research results on the brain more compelling to you than are research results from
survey studies on attitudes? Why or why not? How does biological research such as studies
of the brain influence public opinion regarding the science of psychology?
3. If humans continue to evolve what changes might you predict in our brains and cognitive
abilities?
4. Which brain scanning techniques, or combination of techniques, do you find to be the best?
Why? Why do you think scientists may or may not employ exactly your recommended
techniques?

25
Vocabulary
Action Potential
A transient all-or-nothing electrical current that is conducted down the axon when the
membrane potential reaches the threshold of excitation.
Axon
Part of the neuron that extends off the soma, splitting several times to connect with other
neurons; main output of the neuron.
Brain Stem
The “trunk” of the brain comprised of the medulla, pons, midbrain, and diencephalon.
Broca’s Area
An area in the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere. Implicated in language production.
Central Nervous System

The portion of the nervous system that includes the brain and spinal cord.
Cerebellum
The distinctive structure at the back of the brain, Latin for “small brain.”
Cerebrum
Usually refers to the cerebral cortex and associated white matter, but in some texts includes
the subcortical structures.
Contralateral
Literally “opposite side”; used to refer to the fact that the two hemispheres of the brain
process sensory information and motor commands for the opposite side of the body (e.g.,
the left hemisphere controls the right side of the body).
Corpus Callosum
The thick bundle of nerve cells that connect the two hemispheres of the brain and allow
them to communicate.
Dendrites
Part of a neuron that extends away from the cell body and is the main input to the neuron.
Diffuse Optical Imaging (DOI)

A neuroimaging technique that infers brain activity by measuring changes in light as it is
passed through the skull and surface of the brain.
Electroencephalography (EEG)
A neuroimaging technique that measures electrical brain activity via multiple electrodes on
the scalp.
Frontal Lobe
The front most (anterior) part of the cerebrum; anterior to the central sulcus and
responsible for motor output and planning, language, judgment, and decision-making.

26
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): A neuroimaging technique that infers brain
activity by measuring changes in oxygen levels in the blood.
Limbic System
Includes the subcortical structures of the amygdala and hippocampal formation as well as
some cortical structures; responsible for aversion and gratification.
Myelin Sheath
Fatty tissue, that insulates the axons of the neurons; myelin is necessary for normal
conduction of electrical impulses among neurons.
Nervous System
The body’s network for electrochemical communication. This system includes all the nerves
cells in the body.
Neurons
Individual brain cells
Neurotransmitters
Chemical substance released by the presynaptic terminal button that acts on the
postsynaptic cell.
Occipital Lobe
The back most (posterior) part of the cerebrum; involved in vision.
Parietal Lobe
The part of the cerebrum between the frontal and occipital lobes; involved in bodily
sensations, visual attention, and integrating the senses.
Peripheral Nervous System

All of the nerve cells that connect the central nervous system to all the other parts of the
body.
Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

A neuroimaging technique that measures brain activity by detecting the presence of a
radioactive substance in the brain that is initially injected into the bloodstream and then
pulled in by active brain tissue.
Soma
Cell body of a neuron that contains the nucleus and genetic information, and directs protein
synthesis.
Spatial Resolution
A term that refers to how small the elements of an image are; high spatial resolution means
the device or technique can resolve very small elements; in neuroscience it describes how
small of a structure in the brain can be imaged.
Split-brain Patient
A patient who has had most or all of his or her corpus callosum severed.

27
Synapses
Junction between the presynaptic terminal button of one neuron and the dendrite, axon, or
soma of another postsynaptic neuron.
Synaptic Gap
Also known as the synaptic cleft; the small space between the presynaptic terminal button
and the postsynaptic dendritic spine, axon, or soma.
Temporal Lobe
The part of the cerebrum in front of (anterior to) the occipital lobe and below the lateral
fissure; involved in vision, auditory processing, memory, and integrating vision and audition.
Temporal Resolution
A term that refers to how small a unit of time can be measured; high temporal resolution
means capable of resolving very small units of time; in neuroscience it describes how
precisely in time a process can be measured in the brain.
References
• American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). (1880). Dr. Paul
Broca. Science, 1, 93.
• Brodal, P. (1992). The central nervous system: Structure and function. New York: Oxford
University Press.
• Darwin, C. (1859). On the origins of species by means of natural selection, or, The
preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London, UK: J. Murray.
• Hernstein, R. & Boring, E. (1966). A source book in the history of psychology. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
• Kandel, E. R., & Schwartz, J. H. (1982). Molecular biology of learning: Modulation of

transmitter release. Science, 218(4571), 433–443.
• Kandel, E. R., Schwartz, J. H., & Jessell, T. M. (Eds.) (2000). Principles of neural science (4th
ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
• Raichle, M. E. (1994). Images of the mind: Studies with modern imaging techniques. Annual
Review of Psychology, 45(1), 333-356.
• Stiles, J., & Jernigan, T. L. (2010). The basics of brain development. Neuropsychology Review,
20(4), 327-348.
Authors
Robert Biswas-Diener
Dr. Robert Biswas-Diener is a part-time instructor at Portland State

University and is senior editor of Noba. He has more than 50
publications on happiness and other positive topics in peer-
reviewed journals. He is author of The Upside of Your Dark Side.

28
Unit 3 – Personality
Learning Objectives
At the end of the topic the students should be able to:
1. comprehend the various definition of personality

2. describe the different theories of personality
3. appreciate the importance of personality to various facets of living
4. understand the different techniques in assessing personality
Module 1: What Is Personality?

By Kendra Cherry Medically reviewed by Steven Gans, MD Updated on July 21, 2020
The word personality itself stems from the Latin word persona, which refers to a theatrical
mask worn by performers in order to either project different roles or disguise their identities.
At its most basic, personality is the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors that make a person unique. It is believed that personality arises from within the
individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life.
While there are many different definitions of personality, most focus on the pattern of
behaviors and characteristics that can help predict and explain a person's behavior.
Explanations for personality can focus on a variety of influences, ranging from genetic
explanations for personality traits to the role of the environment and experience in shaping an
individual's personality.
Characteristics of Personality
So what exactly makes up a personality? Traits and patterns of thought and emotion play
important roles as well as the following fundamental characteristics of personality:

29
• Consistency: There is generally a recognizable order and regularity to behaviors.

Essentially, people act in the same ways or similar ways in a variety of situations.
• Psychological and physiological: Personality is a psychological construct, but research
suggests that it is also influenced by biological processes and needs.
• Behaviors and actions: Personality not only influences how we move and respond in our
environment, but it also causes us to act in certain ways.
• Multiple expressions: Personality is displayed in more than just behavior. It can also be
seen in our thoughts, feelings, close relationships, and other social interactions.
Module 2: How Personality Develops- Theories of Personality
There are a number of theories about how personality develops, and different schools of thought
in psychology influence many of these theories. Some of these major perspectives on personality
include the following:
Type Theories
Type theories are the early perspectives on personality. These theories suggested that there are
a limited number of "personality types" that are related to biological influences, including:
• Type A: perfectionist, impatient, competitive, work-obsessed, achievement-oriented,

aggressive, stressed
• Type B: low stress, even-tempered, flexible, creative, adaptable to change, patient,
tendency to procrastinate
• Type C: highly conscientious, perfectionists, struggle to reveal emotions (positive and
negative)
• Type D: feelings of worry, sadness, irritability, pessimistic outlook, negative self-talk,
avoidance of social situations, lack of self-confidence, fear of rejection, appearing gloomy,
hopelessness
Trait Theories
Trait theories tend to view personality as the result of internal characteristics that are genetically
based and include:
• Agreeable: cares about others, feels empathy, enjoys helping others

• Conscientiousness: high levels of thoughtfulness, good impulse control, goal-directed
behaviors
• Eager-to-please: accommodating, passive, and conforming
• Extraversion: excitability, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness, and high amounts of
emotional expressiveness
• Introversion: quiet, reserved
• Neuroticism: experiences stress and dramatic shifts in mood, feels anxious, worries
about different things, gets upset easily, struggles to bounce back after stressful events
• Openness: very creative, open to trying new things, focuses on tackling new challenges
Psychodynamic Theories
Psychodynamic theories of personality are heavily influenced by the work of Sigmund Freud and
emphasize the influence of the unconscious mind on personality. Psychodynamic theories
include Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual stage theory and Erik Erikson’s stages of psychosocial
development.
Behavioral Theories
Behavioral theories suggest that personality is a result of interaction between the individual and
the environment. Behavioral theorists study observable and measurable behaviors, often
30
ignoring the role of internal thoughts and feelings. Behavioral theorists include B.F.
Skinner and John B. Watson.
Humanist
Humanist theories emphasize the importance of free will and individual experience in developing
a personality. Humanist theorists include Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.
Applications in Psychology
12 Positive Personality Traits Of

Effective People
4 min read
Your personality is defined by what you do, not by what you say. Highly effective people have
certain personality traits that make them the way they are.
Sometimes we look at a great person and think, “I can never be like that!” False. While we all
have personality traits that seem to be part of our DNA, my experience is that your personality
can be shaped more than you think. I’ve adopted personality traits that were contrary to my
nature and culture.
I grew up in The Netherlands. My experience is that people here are generally unnecessarily
contrarian and pessimistic. That’s why less than 3% of my audience is Dutch. They don’t like
personal growth. I was like that too.
But when I started traveling a lot after I graduated, I changed my views. I was exposed to
personal growth and adopted many traits of highly effective people—people that I met through
work and life. But I also learned from reading about inspiring people.
What follows is a list of 12 positive personality traits. I learned about these traits by studying
effective people from all walks of life. By adopting these traits for ourselves, and acting
accordingly, we can purposefully form our own unique personality.
31
1. Capable—There’s no exception to this trait. I’ve never met an effective, happy, or

successful person who wasn’t capable. They take their life and work seriously. They do
things with a purpose. And most importantly, they know what they are talking about.
2. Curious—Effective people avoid assumptions. This used to be my biggest pitfall. I made
assumptions about everything. One of my co-workers once told it to me straight: Stop
making so many assumptions! That’s what I did. I decided to become curious
instead. Effective people ask a lot of questions. That’s how you avoid assumptions.
3. Assertive—People think you have to be nice. That’s wrong. It’s good to be polite, but
you don’t have to go out of your way to be nice all the time. Effective people think
about themselves. But they don’t sacrifice others. That’s what assertiveness is about.
4. Forgiving—Holding grudges is the least effective thing you can do. So many people have
destroyed relationships and group dynamics because of grudges. “How could that
person do this to me!” Well, maybe that other person doesn’t even know why! People
do stupid things. Move on.
5. Independent—Effective people are not easily influenced by others. They listen to
others. But they are independent thinkers. They are not easily swayed by outside
events.
6. Respectful—You know how insecure people make subtle digs at you or other people?
“You look so tired. What’s going on?” That’s one of those dirty remarks that’s meant to
make you feel bad. There are a lot of people who want to put you down, which
automatically makes them feel better than you. Respectful people never do that. You
can also disagree with people and still be respectful. Basically, effective people are the
opposite of internet trolls.
7. Truthful—When you regularly tell lies (no matter how small they are), you will
eventually get caught by your own web. Call me superstitious (or a little-stitious, as
Michael Scott once said), but I think lies will eventually catch up with you. That’s why it’s
better to tell the truth. It’s not always pretty, but at least it’s not a lie.
8. Precise—It’s hard to explain things in a few words. It requires thought and effort to be
precise. That’s why you see a lot of people talk endlessly. They don’t know what to say,
so they use a shotgun approach. They spray words and hope a few will hit the mark. To
be precise, you want to be like a marksman. Every sentence and action serves a
purpose.
9. Fair—People who say that fairness is an impossible concept are usually not fair people.
There are universal principles of fairness. In summary, be straight with people and don’t
play favorites. Be consistent in the way you treat people. That’s the fairest thing we can
do. And yes, that seems impossible in practice because it goes against our nature
sometimes. But effective people do a lot of things that go against nature. They do things
that others don’t do.
10. Flexible—Life is complex and full of change. To survive and thrive, one must adapt all
the time. That’s why effective people are highly flexible and fluid. If you give them a new
idea that works better than their old one, they go with the new one. They don’t care
about their ego or looking smart. They care about what works.
11. Self-aware—Knowing what you can and can’t, will make your life a lot easier. Too
often, we’re not aware of who we are. But to be effective, you must know who you are
and what you’re made of. And if you have weaknesses or make mistakes, self-awareness
will help you to be honest about it. There’s nothing wrong with imperfection. In fact, if
you’re not imperfect, you’re probably a robot.
12. Optimistic—Give effective people a challenge, and they’ll think about a solution. Give
them a bleak outlook, and they’ll find things to be grateful for. In contrast, being
pessimistic is the easiest thing in the world. Everyone can complain and say “we can’t do
that.” But it takes strength to say “let’s figure out a way to make it happen.”
Your personality is not set in stone. You might have certain natural tendencies. But with the
right mindset, you can adopt any one of the above personality traits. Which one(s) you want to
adopt depends on your nature. But you can’t go wrong with the positive traits.

32
Remember that it’s a choice to become a certain person. It’s only a matter of time to change
yourself. Because once you set your personality and act accordingly, you’re no longer becoming
a certain way; you simply are that way.
If you want to know more about your personality, click on this link and choose from the list of
fun personality test;
https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/personality/fun-personality-quizzes-to-take-today/
Enjoy!
Unit 4 – Functions of Emotions and Motivation

By Hyisung Hwang and David Matsumoto
San Francisco State University
Emotions play a crucial role in our lives because they have important functions. This module
describes those functions, dividing the discussion into three areas: the intrapersonal, the
interpersonal, and the social and cultural functions of emotions. The section on the intrapersonal
functions of emotion describes the roles that emotions play within each of us individually; the
section on the interpersonal functions of emotion describes the meanings of emotions to our
relationships with others; and the section on the social and cultural functions of emotion
describes the roles and meanings that emotions have to the maintenance and effective
functioning of our societies and cultures at large. All in all we will see that emotions are a crucially
important aspect of our psychological composition, having meaning and function to each of us
individually, to our relationships with others in groups, and to our societies as a whole.
Learning Objectives
• Gain an appreciation of the importance of emotion in human life.
• Understand the functions and meanings of emotion in three areas of life: the intrapersonal,
interpersonal, and social–cultural.
• Give examples of the role and function of emotion in each of the three areas described.
Introduction
It is impossible to imagine life without emotion. We treasure our feelings—the joy at a

ball game, the pleasure of the touch of a loved one, or the fun with friends on a night out. Even
negative emotions are important, such as the sadness when a loved one dies, the anger when
violated, the fear that overcomes us in a scary or unknown situation, or the guilt or shame toward
others when our sins are made public. Emotions color life experiences and give those experiences
meaning and flavor.

33
Emotions help us navigate the complex social landscape of

our lives. [Image: Gwenaël Piase, https://goo.gl/d4EDKS,
CC BY-NC-SA 2.0, https://goo.gl/hSpkVI]
In fact, emotions play many important roles in

people’s lives and have been the topic of scientific inquiry
in psychology for well over a century (Cannon,
1927; Darwin, 1872; James, 1890). This module explores
why we have emotions and why they are important. Doing
so requires us to understand the function of emotions, and
this module does so below by dividing the discussion into
three sections. The first concerns
the intrapersonal functions of emotion, which refer to the role that emotions play within each
of us individually. The second concerns the interpersonal functions of emotion, which refer to
the role emotions play between individuals within a group. The third concerns the social and
cultural functions of emotion, which refer to the role that emotions play in the maintenance of
social order within a society. All in all, we will see that emotions inform us of who we are, what
our relationships with others are like, and how to behave in social interactions. Emotions give
meaning to events; without emotions, those events would be mere facts. Emotions help
coordinate interpersonal relationships. And emotions play an important role in the cultural
functioning of keeping human societies together.
Module 1: Intrapersonal Functions of Emotion
Emotions Help us Act Quickly with Minimal Conscious Awareness
Emotions are rapid information-processing systems that help us act with minimal thinking
(Tooby & Cosmides, 2008). Problems associated with birth, battle, death, and seduction have
occurred throughout evolutionary history and emotions evolved to aid humans in adapting to
those problems rapidly and with minimal conscious cognitive intervention. If we did not have
emotions, we could not make rapid decisions concerning whether to attack, defend, flee, care
for others, reject food, or approach something useful, all of which were functionally adaptive in
our evolutionary history and helped us to survive. For instance, drinking spoiled milk or eating
rotten eggs has negative consequences for our welfare. The emotion of disgust, however, helps
us immediately take action by not ingesting them in the first place or by vomiting them out. This
response is adaptive because it aids, ultimately, in our survival and allows us to act immediately
without much thinking. In some instances, taking the time to sit and rationally think about what
to do, calculating cost–benefit ratios in one’s mind, is a luxury that might cost one one’s life.
Emotions evolved so that we can act without that depth of thinking.
Emotions Prepare the Body for Immediate Action

34
The emotion of disgust serves to protect us

from toxins and contamination, of the physical
and moral variety. [Image: Runs with Scissors,
https://goo.gl/FQRxGa, CC BY-NC 2.0,
https://goo.gl/tgFydH]
Emotions prepare us for behavior.

When triggered, emotions orchestrate
systems such as perception, attention,
inference, learning, memory, goal choice,
motivational priorities, physiological
reactions, motor behaviors, and behavioral
decision making (Cosmides & Tooby,
2000; Tooby & Cosmides, 2008). Emotions
simultaneously activate certain systems and deactivate others in order to prevent the chaos of
competing systems operating at the same time, allowing for coordinated responses to
environmental stimuli (Levenson, 1999). For instance, when we are afraid, our bodies shut down
temporarily unneeded digestive processes, resulting in saliva reduction (a dry mouth); blood
flows disproportionately to the lower half of the body; the visual field expands; and air is
breathed in, all preparing the body to flee. Emotions initiate a system of components that
includes subjective experience, expressive behaviors, physiological reactions, action tendencies,
and cognition, all for the purposes of specific actions; the term “emotion” is, in reality, a
metaphor for these reactions.
One common misunderstanding many people have when thinking about emotions,
however, is the belief that emotions must always directly produce action. This is not true.
Emotion certainly prepares the body for action; but whether people actually engage in action is
dependent on many factors, such as the context within which the emotion has occurred, the
target of the emotion, the perceived consequences of one’s actions, previous experiences, and
so forth (Baumeister, Vohs, DeWall, & Zhang, 2007; Matsumoto & Wilson, 2008). Thus, emotions
are just one of many determinants of behavior, albeit an important one.
Emotions Influence Thoughts
Emotions are also connected to thoughts and memories. Memories are not just facts that
are encoded in our brains; they are colored with the emotions felt at those times the facts
occurred (Wang & Ross, 2007). Thus, emotions serve as the neural glue that connects those
disparate facts in our minds. That is why it is easier to remember happy thoughts when happy,
and angry times when angry. Emotions serve as the affective basis of many attitudes, values, and
beliefs that we have about the world and the people around us; without emotions those
attitudes, values, and beliefs would be just statements without meaning, and emotions give
those statements meaning. Emotions influence our thinking processes, sometimes in
constructive ways, sometimes not. It is difficult to think critically and clearly when we feel intense
emotions, but easier when we are not overwhelmed with emotions (Matsumoto, Hirayama, &
LeRoux, 2006).

35
Emotions Motivate Future Behaviors
Because emotions prepare our bodies for immediate action, influence thoughts, and can
be felt, they are important motivators of future behavior. Many of us strive to experience the
feelings of satisfaction, joy, pride, or triumph in our accomplishments and achievements. At the
same time, we also work very hard to avoid strong negative feelings; for example, once we have
felt the emotion of disgust when drinking the spoiled milk, we generally work very hard to avoid
having those feelings again (e.g., checking the expiration date on the label before buying the milk,
smelling the milk before drinking it, watching if the milk curdles in one’s coffee before drinking
it). Emotions, therefore, not only influence immediate actions but also serve as an important
motivational basis for future behaviors.
Module 2: Interpersonal Functions of Emotion
Emotions can act as signals to our

friends and partners, conveying
information about the quality of the
relationship. [Image: mynameisharsha,
https://goo.gl/HY2XgV, CC BY-SA 2.0,
https://goo.gl/rxiUsF]
Emotions are expressed both

verbally through words and nonverbally
through facial expressions, voices,
gestures, body postures, and
movements. We are constantly
expressing emotions when interacting
with others, and others can reliably
judge those emotional expressions
(Elfenbein & Ambady,
2002; Matsumoto, 2001); thus,
emotions have signal value to others
and influence others and our social interactions. Emotions and their expressions communicate
information to others about our feelings, intentions, relationship with the target of the emotions,
and the environment. Because emotions have this communicative signal value, they help solve
social problems by evoking responses from others, by signaling the nature of interpersonal
relationships, and by providing incentives for desired social behavior (Keltner, 2003).
Emotional Expressions Facilitate Specific Behaviors in Perceivers
Because facial expressions of emotion are universal social signals, they contain meaning
not only about the expressor’s psychological state but also about that person’s intent and
subsequent behavior. This information affects what the perceiver is likely to do. People observing
fearful faces, for instance, are more likely to produce approach-related behaviors, whereas
people who observe angry faces are more likely to produce avoidance-related behaviors (Marsh,
Ambady, & Kleck, 2005). Even subliminal presentation of smiles produces increases in how much
beverage people pour and consume and how much they are willing to pay for it; presentation of
angry faces decreases these behaviors (Winkielman, Berridge, & Wilbarger, 2005). Also,
emotional displays evoke specific, complementary emotional responses from observers; for
example, anger evokes fear in others (Dimberg & Ohman, 1996; Esteves, Dimberg, & Ohman,
1994), whereas distress evokes sympathy and aid (Eisenberg et al., 1989).

36
Emotional Expressions Signal the Nature of Interpersonal
Relationships
Emotional expressions provide information about the

nature of the relationships among interactants. Some of the
most important and provocative set of findings in this area come
from studies involving married couples (Gottman & Levenson,
1992; Gottman, Levenson, & Woodin, 2001). In this research,
married couples visited a laboratory after having not seen each other for 24 hours, and then
engaged in intimate conversations about daily events or issues of conflict. Discrete expressions
of contempt, especially by the men, and disgust, especially by the women, predicted later marital
dissatisfaction and even divorce.
Emotional Expressions Provide Incentives for Desired Social Behavior
Facial expressions of emotion are important regulators of social interaction. In the

developmental literature, this concept has been investigated under the concept of social
referencing (Klinnert, Campos, & Sorce, 1983); that is, the process whereby infants seek out
information from others to clarify a situation and then use that information to act. To date, the
strongest demonstration of social referencing comes from work on the visual cliff. In the first
study to investigate this concept, Campos and colleagues (Sorce, Emde, Campos, & Klinnert,
1985) placed mothers on the far end of the “cliff” from the infant. Mothers first smiled to the
infants and placed a toy on top the safety glass to attract them; infants invariably began crawling
to their mothers. When the infants were in the center of the table, however, the mother then
posed an expression of fear, sadness, anger, interest, or joy. The results were clearly different for
the different faces; no infant crossed the table when the mother showed fear; only 6% did when
the mother posed anger, 33% crossed when the mother posed sadness, and approximately 75%
of the infants crossed when the mother posed joy or interest.
Other studies provide similar support for facial expressions as regulators of social
interaction. In one study (Bradshaw, 1986), experimenters posed facial expressions of neutral,
anger, or disgust toward babies as they moved toward an object and measured the amount of
inhibition the babies showed in touching the object. The results for 10- and 15-month olds were
the same: anger produced the greatest inhibition, followed by disgust, with neutral the least. This
study was later replicated (Hertenstein & Campos, 2004) using joy and disgust expressions,
altering the method so that the infants were not allowed to touch the toy (compared with a
distractor object) until one hour after exposure to the expression. At 14 months of age,
significantly more infants touched the toy when they saw joyful expressions, but fewer touched
the toy when the infants saw disgust.
Module 3: Social and Cultural Functions of Emotion
Although there are cultural differences in the display of emotion, almost all infants start showing
emotion such as smiling or reacting to their caretaker as early as 6 weeks after their birth. [Image:
vgm8383, https://goo.gl/jgfRDN, CC BY-NC 2.0, https://goo.gl/VnKlK8]
If you stop to think about many things we take for granted in our daily lives, we cannot
help but come to the conclusion that modern human life is a colorful tapestry of many groups
and individual lives woven together in a complex yet functional way. For example, when you’re
hungry, you might go to the local grocery store and buy some food. Ever stop to think about how
you’re able to do that? You might buy a banana that was grown in a field in southeast Asia being
raised by farmers there, where they planted the tree, cared for it, and picked the fruit. They
37
probably handed that fruit off to a distribution chain that allowed multiple people somewhere to
use tools such as cranes, trucks, cargo bins, ships or airplanes (that were also created by multiple
people somewhere) to bring that banana to your store. The store had people to care for that
banana until you came and got it and to barter with you for it (with your money). You may have
gotten to the store riding a vehicle that was produced somewhere else in the world by others,
and you were probably wearing clothes produced by some other people somewhere else.
Thus, human social life is complex. Individuals are members of multiple groups, with
multiple social roles, norms, and expectations, and people move rapidly in and out of the multiple
groups of which they are members. Moreover, much of human social life is unique because it
revolves around cities, where many people of disparate backgrounds come together. This creates
the enormous potential for social chaos, which can easily occur if individuals are not coordinated
well and relationships not organized systematically.
One of the important functions of culture is to provide this necessary coordination and
organization. Doing so allows individuals and groups to negotiate the social complexity of human
social life, thereby maintaining social order and preventing social chaos. Culture does this by
providing a meaning and information system to its members, which is shared by a group and
transmitted across generations, that allows the group to meet basic needs of survival, pursue
happiness and well-being, and derive meaning from life (Matsumoto & Juang, 2013). Culture is
what allowed the banana from southeast Asia to appear on your table.
Figure 1: The Role of Emotions in

the Function of Culture
Cultural transmission of
the meaning and information
system to its members is,
therefore, a crucial aspect of
culture. One of the ways this
transmission occurs is through the
development of worldviews
(including attitudes, values,
beliefs, and norms) related to
emotions (Matsumoto & Hwang,
2013; Matsumoto et al., 2008).
Worldviews related to emotions
provide guidelines for desirable emotions that facilitate norms for regulating individual behaviors
and interpersonal relationships. Our cultural backgrounds tell us which emotions are ideal to
have, and which are not (Tsai, Knutson, & Fung, 2006). The cultural transmission of information
related to emotions occurs in many ways, from childrearers to children, as well as from the
cultural products available in our world, such as books, movies, ads, and the like (Schönpflug,
2009; Tsai, Louie, Chen, & Uchida, 2007).

38
Cultural display rules teach us how to manage

our emotions. For example, in many Asian
countries children are taught to mute their
emotions, especially negative emotions like
anger. [Image: john.gillespie,
https://goo.gl/gTdPYb, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://goo.gl/eLCn2O]
Cultures also inform us about what to

do with our emotions—that is, how to
manage or modify them—when we
experience them. One of the ways in which
this is done is through the management of our
emotional expressions through cultural
display rules (Friesen, 1972). These are rules
that are learned early in life that specify the
management and modification of our
emotional expressions according to social circumstances. Thus, we learn that “big boys don’t cry”
or to laugh at the boss’s jokes even though they’re not funny. By affecting how individuals express
their emotions, culture also influences how people experience them as well.
Because one of the major functions of culture is to maintain social order in order to ensure
group efficiency and thus survival, cultures create worldviews, rules, guidelines, and norms
concerning emotions because emotions have important intra- and interpersonal functions, as
described above, and are important motivators of behavior. Norms concerning emotion and its
regulation in all cultures serve the purpose of maintaining social order. Cultural worldviews and
norms help us manage and modify our emotional reactions (and thus behaviors) by helping us to
have certain kinds of emotional experiences in the first place and by managing our reactions and
subsequent behaviors once we have them. By doing so, our culturally moderated emotions can
help us engage in socially appropriate behaviors, as defined by our cultures, and thus reduce
social complexity and increase social order, avoiding social chaos. All of this allows us to live
relatively harmonious and constructive lives in groups. If cultural worldviews and norms about
emotions did not exist, people would just run amok having all kinds of emotional experiences,
expressing their emotions and then behaving in all sorts of unpredictable and potentially harmful
ways. If that were the case, it would be very difficult for groups and societies to function
effectively, and even for humans to survive as a species, if emotions were not regulated in
culturally defined ways for the common, social good. Thus, emotions play a critical role in the
successful functioning of any society and culture.
Outside Resources
Alberta, G. M., Rieckmann, T. R., & Rush, J. D. (2000). Issues and recommendations for teaching
an ethnic/culture-based course. Teaching of Psychology, 27,102-107.
doi:10.1207/S15328023TOP2702_05
http://top.sagepub.com/content/27/2/102.short
CrashCourse (2014, August 4). Feeling all the feels: Crash course psychology #25. [Video file].
Hughesm A. (2011). Exercises and demonstrations to promote student engagement in motivation

and courses. In R. Miller, E. Balcetis, S. Burns, D. Daniel, B. Saville, & W. Woody (Eds.),
Promoting Student Engagement: Volume 2: Activities, Exercises and Demonstrations for
Psychology Courses. (pp. 79-82) Washington DC, Society for the Teaching of Psychology,
American Psychological Association.
http://teachpsych.org/ebooks/pse2011/vol2/index.php

39
Johnston, E., & Olson, L. (2015). The feeling brain: The biology and psychology of emotions. New
York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.
http://books.wwnorton.com/books/The-Feeling-Brain/
NPR News: Science Of Sadness And Joy: 'Inside Out' Gets Childhood Emotions Right
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/06/13/413980258/science-of-sadness-
and-joy-inside-out-gets-childhood-emotions-right
Online Psychology Laboratory: Motivation and Emotion resources

http://opl.apa.org/Resources.aspx#Motivation
Web: See how well you can read other people’s facial expressions of emotion
http://www.humintell.com/free-demos/
1. When emotions occur, why do they simultaneously activate certain physiological and
psychological systems in the body and deactivate others?
2. Why is it difficult for people to act rationally and think happy thoughts when they are angry?
Conversely, why is it difficult to remember sad memories or have sad thoughts when people
are happy?
3. You’re walking down a deserted street when you come across a stranger who looks scared.
What would you say? What would you do? Why?
4. You’re walking down a deserted street when you come across a stranger who looks angry.
What would you say? What would you do? Why?
5. Think about the messages children receive from their environment (such as from parents,
mass media, the Internet, Hollywood movies, billboards, and storybooks). In what ways do
these messages influence the kinds of emotions that children should and should not feel?
Vocabulary
Cultural display rules

These are rules that are learned early in life that specify the management and modification
of emotional expressions according to social circumstances. Cultural display rules can work
in a number of different ways. For example, they can require individuals to express emotions
“as is” (i.e., as they feel them), to exaggerate their expressions to show more than what is
actually felt, to tone down their expressions to show less than what is actually felt, to
conceal their feelings by expressing something else, or to show nothing at all.
Interpersonal
This refers to the relationship or interaction between two or more individuals in a group.
Thus, the interpersonal functions of emotion refer to the effects of one’s emotion on others,
or to the relationship between oneself and others.
Intrapersonal
This refers to what occurs within oneself. Thus, the intrapersonal functions of emotion refer
to the effects of emotion to individuals that occur physically inside their bodies and
psychologically inside their minds.

40
Social and cultural

Society refers to a system of relationships between individuals and groups of individuals;
culture refers to the meaning and information afforded to that system that is transmitted
across generations. Thus, the social and cultural functions of emotion refer to the effects
that emotions have on the functioning and maintenance of societies and cultures.
Social referencing
This refers to the process whereby individuals look for information from others to clarify a
situation, and then use that information to act. Thus, individuals will often use the emotional
expressions of others as a source of information to make decisions about their own
behavior.
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experimental test of the concept of display rules (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). San
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• James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology. New York, NY: Holt.
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expression of the emotions in man and animals” (Vol. 1000, pp. 222–243). New York, NY:
New York Academy of Sciences.
• Klinnert, M. D., Campos, J. J., & Sorce, J. F. (1983). Emotions as behavior regulators: Social
referencing in infancy. In R. Plutchik & H. Kellerman (Eds.), Emotion: Theory, research, and
experience (pp. 57–86). New York, NY: Academic Press.
• Levenson, R. W. (1999). The intrapersonal functions of emotion. Cognition and Emotion,

13(5), 481–504.
• Marsh, A. A., Ambady, N., & Kleck, R. E. (2005). The effects of fear and anger facial
expressions on approach- and avoidance-related behaviors. Emotion, 5(1), 119–124.
• Matsumoto, D. (2001). Culture and emotion. In D. Matsumoto (Ed.), The handbook of

culture and psychology (pp. 171–194). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
• Matsumoto, D., & Hwang, H. C. (2013). Assessing cross-cultural competence: A review of

available tests. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 44(6), 849–873.
• Matsumoto, D., & Juang, L. (2013). Culture and psychology (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage.
• Matsumoto, D., & Wilson, J. (2008). Culture, emotion, and motivation. In R. M. Sorrentino
& S. Yamaguchi (Eds.), Handbook of motivation and cognition across cultures (pp. 541–563).
New York, NY: Elsevier.
• Matsumoto, D., Hirayama, S., & LeRoux, J. A. (2006). Psychological skills related to
adjustment. In P.T.P. Wong & L.C.J. Wong (Eds.), Handbook of multicultural perspectives on
stress and coping (pp. 387–405). New York, NY: Springer.
• Matsumoto, D., Yoo, S. H., Nakagawa, S., Alexandre, J., Altarriba, J., Anguas-Wong, A. M., et
al. (2008). Culture, emotion regulation, and adjustment. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 94(6), 925–937.
• Schönpflug, U. (Ed.). (2009). Cultural transmission: Developmental, psychological, social and

methodological aspects. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
• Sorce, J. F., Emde, J. J., Campos, J. J., & Klinnert, M. D. (1985). Maternal emotional signaling:
Its effect on the visual cliff behavior of 1-year-olds. Developmental Psychology, 21, 195–200.
• Tooby, J., & Cosmides, L. (2008). The evolutionary psychology of the emotions and their
relationship to internal regulatory variables. In M. Lewis, J. M. Haviland-Jones, & L. Feldman
Barrett (Eds.), Handbook of Emotions (3rd ed., pp. 114–137). New York, NY: The Guilford
Press.
• Tsai, J. L., Knutson, B., & Fung, H. H. (2006). Cultural variation in affect valuation. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 90(2), 288–307.
• Tsai, J. L., Louie, J. Y., Chen, E. E., & Uchida, Y. (2007). Learning what feelings to desire:
Socialization of ideal affect through children’s storybooks. Personality and Social Psychology
Bulletin, 33(1), 17–30.
• Wang, Q., & Ross, M. (2007). Culture and memory. In S. Kitayama & D. Cohen
(Eds.), Handbook of cultural psychology (pp. 645–667). New York, NY: Guilford.
• Winkielman, P., Berridge, K. C., & Wilbarger, J. L. (2005). Unconscious affective reactions to
masked happy versus angry faces influence consumption behavior and judgments of
value. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31(1), 121–135.

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Authors
Hyisung Hwang
Hyisung C. Hwang is Research Scientist at Humintell and Adjunct Faculty at San Francisco
State University. She is co-creator of many training tools that teach individuals how to
recognize facial expressions of emotion, an author of a number of scientific publications,
and co-editor of Nonverbal Communication: Science and Applications.
David Matsumoto
David Matsumoto is Professor of Psychology at San Francisco State University and Director
of Humintell. He has studied culture, nonverbal behavior, emotion, facial expressions, and
gestures for over 30 years, and has conducted much of the seminal research in these fields,
publishing over 150 journal articles in peer-reviewed, scientific journals.
How to cite this Noba module using APA Style
Hwang, H. & Matsumoto, D. (2020). Functions of emotions. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener

(Eds), Noba textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers. Retrieved
from http://noba.to/w64szjxu

43
Module 4 – Theories of Motivation
Drive Reduction Theory
The drive reduction theory of motivation became popular during the 1940s and 1950s as
a way to explain behavior, learning, and motivation. The theory was created by behaviorist Clark
Hull and further developed by his collaborator Kenneth Spence. According to the theory, the
reduction of drives is the primary force behind motivation.
While the drive-reduction theory of motivation was once a dominant force in psychology,
it is largely ignored today. Despite this, it's worthwhile for students to learn more about Hull’s
ideas in order to understand the effect his work had on psychology and to see how other theorists
responded by proposing their own theories.
Overview
Hull was one of the first theorists to attempt to create a grand theory designed to explain
all behavior. He started developing his theory shortly after he began working at Yale University,
drawing on ideas from a number of other thinkers including Charles Darwin, Ivan Pavlov, John. B.
Watson, and Edward L. Thorndike.
Hull based his theory on the concept of homeostasis, the idea that the body actively works
to maintain a certain state of balance or equilibrium. For example, your body regulates its
temperature in order to ensure that you don't become too hot or too cold. Hull believed that
behavior was one of the ways that an organism maintains this balance.
Based on this idea, Hull suggested that all motivation arises as a result of these biological
needs. In his theory, Hull used the term drive to refer to the state of tension or arousal caused by
biological or physiological needs. Thirst, hunger, and the need for warmth are all examples of
drives. A drive creates an unpleasant state, a tension that needs to be reduced.
In order to reduce this state of tension, humans and animals seek out ways to fulfill these
biological needs. We get a drink when we are thirsty. We eat when we are hungry. We turn up
the thermostat when we are cold. He suggested that humans and animals will then repeat any
behavior that reduces these drives.
Conditioning and Reinforcement
Hull is considered a neo-behaviorist thinker, but like the other major behaviorists, he
believed that human behavior could be explained by conditioning and reinforcement. The
reduction of the drive acts as a reinforcement for that behavior.
This reinforcement increases the likelihood that the same behavior will occur again in the
future when the same need arises. In order to survive in its environment, an organism must
behave in ways that meet these survival needs.
"When survival is in jeopardy, the organism is in a state of need (when the biological
requirements for survival are not being met) so the organism behaves in a fashion to reduce that
need," Hull explained.
In a stimulus-response (S-R) relationship, when the stimulus and response are followed
by a reduction in the need, it increases the likelihood that the same stimulus will elicit the same
response again in the future.

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Mathematical Behavior
Hull's goal was to develop a theory of learning that could be expressed mathematically, to create
a "formula" to explain and understand human behavior.
Mathematical Deductive Theory of Behavior
sEr = V x D x K x J x sHr - sIr - Ir - sOr - sLr
• sEr: Excitatory potential, or the likelihood that an organism will produce a response (r) to
a stimulus (s)
• V: Stimulus intensity dynamism, meaning some stimuli will have greater influences than
others
• D: Drive strength, determined by the amount of biological deprivation
• K: Incentive motivation, or the size or magnitude of the goal
• J: The delay before the organism is allowed to seek reinforcement
• sHr: Habit strength, established by the amount of previous conditioning
• slr: Conditioned inhibition, caused by previous lack of reinforcement
• lr: Reactive inhibition, or fatigue
• sOr: Random error
• sLr: Reaction threshold, or the smallest amount of reinforcement that will produce
learning
Hull's approach was viewed by many as overly complex, yet at the same time, critics
suggested that the drive-reduction theory failed to fully explain human motivation. His work did,
however, have an influence on psychology and future theories of motivation.
Contemporary Criticism
While Hull's theory was popular during the middle part of the 20th century, it began to
fall out of favor for a number of reasons. Because of his emphasis on quantifying his variables in
such a narrowly defined way, his theory lacks generalizability. However, his emphasis on rigorous
experimental techniques and scientific methods did have an important influence in the field of
psychology.
One of the biggest problems with Hull's drive reduction theory is that it does not account
for how secondary reinforcers reduce drives.
Unlike primary drives such as hunger and thirst, secondary reinforcers do nothing to
directly reduce physiological and biological needs. Take money, for example. While money does
allow you to purchase primary reinforcers, it does nothing in and of itself to reduce drives.
Despite this, money still acts as a powerful source of reinforcement.
Another major criticism of the drive reduction theory of learning is that it does not explain
why people engage in behaviors that do not reduce drives. For example, people often eat when
they’re not hungry or drink when they’re not thirsty.
In some cases, people actually participate in activities that increase tension such as sky-
diving or bungee jumping. Why would people seek out activities that do nothing to fulfill
biological needs and that actually place them in considerable danger? Drive-reduction theory
cannot account for such behaviors.
Impact
While Hull's theory has largely fallen out of favor in psychology, it is still worthwhile to
understand the effect it had on other psychologists of the time and how it helped contribute to
later research in psychology.

45
In order to fully understand the theories that came after it, it's important for students to
grasp the basics of Hull’s theory. For example, many of the motivational theories that emerged
during the 1950s and 1960s were either based on Hull's original theory or were focused on
providing alternatives to the drive-reduction theory.
One great example is Abraham Maslow's famous hierarchy of needs, which emerged as
an alternative to Hull's approach.
Module 5 – The 5 Levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
What motivates human behavior? Maslow's hierarchy of needs is one of the best-
known theories of motivation. According to humanist psychologist Abraham Maslow, our actions
are motivated in order to achieve certain needs.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow first introduced his concept of a hierarchy of needs in his 1943 paper "A Theory
of Human Motivation" and his subsequent book Motivation and Personality. This hierarchy
suggests that people are motivated to fulfill basic needs before moving on to other, more
advanced needs.
While some of the existing schools of thought at the time (such

as psychoanalysis and behaviorism) tended to focus on problematic behaviors, Maslow was
much more interested in learning about what makes people happy and the things that they do
to achieve that aim.
As a humanist, Maslow believed that people have an inborn desire to be self-actualized,

that is, to be all they can be. In order to achieve these ultimate goals, however, a number of more
basic needs must be met such as the need for food, safety, love, and self-esteem.1
There are five different levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Let's take a closer look at
Maslow’s needs starting at the lowest level, known as physiological needs.
Overview of Needs
Maslow's hierarchy is most often displayed as a pyramid. The lowest levels of the pyramid
are made up of the most basic needs, while the most complex needs are at the top of the
pyramid.
Needs at the bottom of the pyramid are basic physical requirements including the need
for food, water, sleep, and warmth. Once these lower-level needs have been met, people can
move on to the next level of needs, which are for safety and security.
As people progress up the pyramid, needs become increasingly psychological and social.
Soon, the need for love, friendship, and intimacy becomes important.
Further up the pyramid, the need for personal esteem and feelings of accomplishment
take priority. Like Carl Rogers, Maslow emphasized the importance of self-actualization, which is
a process of growing and developing as a person in order to achieve individual potential.

46
Deficiency Needs vs. Growth Needs
Maslow believed that these needs are similar to instincts and play a major role in motivating
behavior.2 Physiological, security, social, and esteem needs are deficiency needs, which arise due
to deprivation. Satisfying these lower-level needs is important in order to avoid unpleasant
feelings or consequences.
Maslow termed the highest level of the pyramid as growth needs. These needs don't stem from
a lack of something, but rather from a desire to grow as a person.
While the theory is generally portrayed as a fairly rigid hierarchy, Maslow noted that the order
in which these needs are fulfilled does not always follow this standard progression. For example,
he noted that for some individuals, the need for self-esteem is more important than the need for
love. For others, the need for creative fulfillment may supersede even the most basic needs.
Physiological Needs
The basic physiological needs are probably fairly apparent—these include the things that are vital
to our survival. Some examples of physiological needs include:
• Food
• Water
• Breathing
• Homeostasis
In addition to the basic requirements of nutrition, air and temperature regulation, the
physiological needs also include such things as shelter and clothing. Maslow also included sexual
reproduction in this level of the hierarchy of needs since it is essential to the survival and
propagation of the species.
Security and Safety Needs
As we move up to the second level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the requirements start to
become a bit more complex. At this level, the needs for security and safety become primary.

47
People want control and order in their lives. So, this need for safety and security contributes
largely to behaviors at this level. Some of the basic security and safety needs include:
• Financial security
• Heath and wellness
• Safety against accidents and injury
Finding a job, obtaining health insurance and health care, contributing money to a savings
account, and moving into a safer neighborhood are all examples of actions motivated by the
security and safety needs.
Together, the safety and physiological levels of the hierarchy make up what is often referred to
as the basic needs.
Social Needs
The social needs in Maslow’s hierarchy include such things as love, acceptance, and belonging.
At this level, the need for emotional relationships drives human behavior. Some of the things
that satisfy this need include:
• Friendships
• Romantic attachments
• Family
• Social groups
• Community groups
• Churches and religious organizations
In order to avoid problems such as loneliness, depression, and anxiety, it is important for
people to feel loved and accepted by other people. Personal relationships with friends, family,
and lovers play an important role, as does involvement in other groups that might include
religious groups, sports teams, book clubs, and other group activities.
Esteem Needs
At the fourth level in Maslow’s hierarchy is the need for appreciation and respect. When
the needs at the bottom three levels have been satisfied, the esteem needs begin to play a more
prominent role in motivating behavior.
At this point, it becomes increasingly important to gain the respect and appreciation of
others. People have a need to accomplish things and then have their efforts recognized. In
addition to the need for feelings of accomplishment and prestige, esteem needs include such
things as self-esteem and personal worth.
People need to sense that they are valued and by others and feel that they are making a
contribution to the world.
Participation in professional activities, academic accomplishments, athletic or team

participation, and personal hobbies can all play a role in fulfilling the esteem needs. People who
are able to satisfy the esteem needs by achieving good self-esteem and the recognition of others
tend to feel confident in their abilities.
Those who lack self-esteem and the respect of others can develop feelings of inferiority.
Together, the esteem and social levels make up what is known as the psychological needs of the
hierarchy.

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Self-Actualization Needs
At the very peak of Maslow’s hierarchy are the self-actualization needs. "What a man can
be, he must be," Maslow explained, referring to the need people have to achieve their full
potential as human beings.
According to Maslow’s definition of self-actualization, "It may be loosely described as the

full use and exploitation of talents, capabilities, potentialities, etc. Such people seem to be
fulfilling themselves and to be doing the best that they are capable of doing. They are people
who have developed or are developing to the full stature of which they capable."
Self-actualizing people are self-aware, concerned with personal growth, less concerned
with the opinions of others, and interested in fulfilling their potential.
Criticisms of Maslow’s Theory
Maslow's theory has become wildly popular both in and out of psychology. The fields of
education and business have been particularly influenced by the theory. While popular, Maslow's
concept has not been without criticism. Chief among these:
• Needs don't follow a hierarchy: While some research showed some support for
Maslow's theories, most research has not been able to substantiate the idea of a needs
hierarchy. Wahba and Bridwell reported that there was little evidence for Maslow's
ranking of these needs and even less evidence that these needs are in a hierarchical order.
• The theory is difficult to test: Other criticisms of Maslow's theory note that his
definition of self-actualization is difficult to test scientifically. His research on self-
actualization was also based on a very limited sample of individuals, including people he
knew as well as biographies of famous individuals that Maslow believed to be self-
actualized.
Why Was Maslow's Hierarchy Influential?
Regardless of these criticisms, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs represents part of an

important shift in psychology. Rather than focusing on abnormal behavior and development,
Maslow's humanistic psychology was focused on the development of healthy individuals.
While there was relatively little research supporting the theory, the hierarchy of needs is
well-known and popular both in and out of psychology. In a study published in 2011, researchers
from the University of Illinois set out to put the hierarchy to the test.3
What they discovered is that while the fulfillment of the needs was strongly correlated
with happiness, people from cultures all over the world reported that self-actualization and social
needs were important even when many of the most basic needs were unfulfilled.
Such results suggest that while these needs can be powerful motivators of human
behavior, they do not necessarily take the hierarchical form that Maslow described.

49
Unit 5 – Stress
Module 1: The Healthy Life
By Emily Hooker and Sarah Pressman

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Calfornia, Irvine
Our emotions, thoughts, and behaviors play an important role in our health. Not only do they
influence our day-to-day health practices, but they can also influence how our body functions.
This module provides an overview of health psychology, which is a field devoted to understanding
the connections between psychology and health. Discussed here are examples of topics a health
psychologist might study, including stress, psychosocial factors related to health and disease,
how to use psychology to improve health, and the role of psychology in medicine.
Learning Objectives
• Describe basic terminology used in the field of health psychology.
• Explain theoretical models of health, as well as the role of psychological stress in the
development of disease.
• Describe psychological factors that contribute to resilience and improved health.
• Defend the relevance and importance of psychology to the field of medicine.
What Is Health Psychology?
Today, we face more chronic disease than ever before because we are living longer lives
while also frequently behaving in unhealthy ways. One example of a chronic disease is coronary
heart disease (CHD): It is the number one cause of death worldwide (World Health Organization,
2013). CHD develops slowly over time and typically appears midlife, but related heart problems
can persist for years after the original diagnosis or cardiovascular event. In managing illnesses
that persist over time (other examples might include cancer, diabetes, and long-term disability)
many psychological factors will determine the progression of the ailment. For example, do
patients seek help when appropriate? Do they follow doctor recommendations? Do they develop
negative psychological symptoms due to lasting illness (e.g., depression)? Also important is that
psychological factors can play a significant role in who develops these diseases, the prognosis,
and the nature of the symptoms related to the illness. Health psychology is a relatively new,
interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on these very issues, or more specifically, the role of
psychology in maintaining health, as well as preventing and treating illness.

50
Health psychologists are helping

people to adapt behaviors to avoid disease,
reduce stress, and improve overall health.
[Image: Adelphi Lab
Center, https://goo.gl/N9wXon, CC BY
2.0, https://goo.gl/BRvSA7]
Consideration of how psychological

and social factors influence health is
especially important today because many of
the leading causes of illness in developed
countries are often attributed to
psychological and behavioral factors. In the
case of CHD, discussed above, psychosocial
factors, such as excessive stress, smoking,
unhealthy eating habits, and some personality traits can also lead to increased risk of disease and
worse health outcomes. That being said, many of these factors can be adjusted using
psychological techniques. For example, clinical health psychologists can improve health practices
like poor dietary choices and smoking, they can teach important stress reduction techniques, and
they can help treat psychological disorders tied to poor health. Health psychology considers how
the choices we make, the behaviors we engage in, and even the emotions that we feel, can play
an important role in our overall health (Cohen & Herbert, 1996; Taylor, 2012).
Health psychology relies on the Biopsychosocial Model of Health. This model posits that
biology, psychology, and social factors are just as important in the development of disease as
biological causes (e.g., germs, viruses), which is consistent with the World Health Organization
(1946) definition of health. This model replaces the older Biomedical Model of Health, which
primarily considers the physical, or pathogenic, factors contributing to illness. Thanks to advances
in medical technology, there is a growing understanding of the physiology underlying the mind–
body connection, and in particular, the role that different feelings can have on our body’s
function. Health psychology researchers working in the fields of psychosomatic
medicine and psychoneuroimmunology, for example, are interested in understanding how
psychological factors can “get under the skin” and influence our physiology in order to better
understand how factors like stress can make us sick.
Stress and Health
You probably know exactly what it’s like to feel stress, but what you may not know is that
it can objectively influence your health. Answers to questions like, “How stressed do you feel?”
or “How overwhelmed do you feel?” can predict your likelihood of developing both minor
illnesses as well as serious problems like future heart attack (Cohen, Janicki-Deverts, & Miller,
2007). (Want to measure your own stress level? Check out the links at the end of the module.)
To understand how health psychologists study these types of associations, we will describe one
famous example of a stress and health study. Imagine that you are a research subject for a
moment. After you check into a hotel room as part of the study, the researchers ask you to report
your general levels of stress. Not too surprising; however, what happens next is that you receive
droplets of cold virus into your nose! The researchers intentionally try to make you sick by
exposing you to an infectious illness. After they expose you to the virus, the researchers will then
evaluate you for several days by asking you questions about your symptoms, monitoring how
much mucus you are producing by weighing your used tissues, and taking body fluid samples—
all to see if you are objectively ill with a cold. Now, the interesting thing is that not everyone who
has drops of cold virus put in their nose develops the illness. Studies like this one find that people
who are less stressed and those who are more positive at the beginning of the study are at a

51
decreased risk of developing a cold (Cohen, Tyrrell, & Smith, 1991; Cohen, Alper, Doyle, Treanor,
& Turner, 2006) (see Figure 1 for an example).
Figure 1: Adapted from Cohen et al. 1991

Importantly, it is not just major
life stressors (e.g., a family death, a natural
disaster) that increase the likelihood of
getting sick. Even small daily hassles like
getting stuck in traffic or fighting with your
girlfriend can raise your blood pressure, alter
your stress hormones, and even suppress
your immune system function (DeLongis,
Folkman, & Lazarus, 1988; Twisk, Snel,
Kemper, & van Machelen, 1999).
It is clear that stress plays a major role in our

mental and physical health, but what exactly
is it? The term stress was originally derived from the field of mechanics where it is used to
describe materials under pressure. The word was first used in a psychological manner by
researcher Hans Selye. He was examining the effect of an ovarian hormone that he thought
caused sickness in a sample of rats. Surprisingly, he noticed that almost any injected hormone
produced this same sickness. He smartly realized that it was not the hormone under investigation
that was causing these problems, but instead, the aversive experience of being handled and
injected by researchers that led to high physiological arousal and, eventually, to health problems
like ulcers. Selye (1946) coined the term stressor to label a stimulus that had this effect on the
body and developed a model of the stress response called the General Adaptation Syndrome.
Since then, psychologists have studied stress in a myriad of ways, including stress as negative
events (e.g., natural disasters or major life changes like dropping out of school), as chronically
difficult situations (e.g., taking care of a loved one with Alzheimer’s), as short-term hassles, as a
biological fight-or-flight response, and even as clinical illness like post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD). It continues to be one of the most important and well-studied psychological correlates of
illness, because excessive stress causes potentially damaging wear and tear on the body and can
influence almost any imaginable disease process.
Protecting Our Health
An important question that health psychologists ask is: What keeps us protected from
disease and alive longer? When considering this issue of resilience (Rutter, 1985), five factors are
often studied in terms of their ability to protect (or sometimes harm) health. They are:
1. Coping
2. Control and Self-Efficacy
3. Social Relationships
4. Dispositions and Emotions
5. Stress Management

52
Module 2: Coping Strategies
How individuals cope with the stressors they face can have a significant impact on health.
Coping is often classified into two categories: problem-focused coping or emotion-focused
coping (Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989). Problem-focused coping is thought of as actively
addressing the event that is causing stress in an effort to solve the issue at hand. For example,
say you have an important exam coming up next week. A problem-focused strategy might be to
spend additional time over the weekend studying to make sure you understand all of the
material. Emotion-focused coping, on the other hand, regulates the emotions that come with
stress. In the above examination example, this might mean watching a funny movie to take your
mind off the anxiety you are feeling. In the short term, emotion-focused coping might reduce
feelings of stress, but problem-focused coping seems to have the greatest impact on mental
wellness (Billings & Moos, 1981; Herman-Stabl, Stemmler, & Petersen, 1995). That being said,
when events are uncontrollable (e.g., the death of a loved one), emotion-focused coping directed
at managing your feelings, at first, might be the better strategy. Therefore, it is always important
to consider the match of the stressor to the coping strategy when evaluating its plausible
benefits.
Control and Self-Efficacy
Feeling a sense of control in one's life is

important. Something as simple as having
control over the care of a houseplant has
been shown to improve health and longevity.
[Image: JJ
Harrison, https://goo.gl/82FsdV, CC BY-SA
2.5, https://goo.gl/SRAIwa]
Another factor tied to better health

outcomes and an improved ability to cope
with stress is having the belief that you
have control over a situation. For example, in
one study where participants were forced to
listen to unpleasant (stressful) noise, those who were led to believe that they had control over
the noise performed much better on proofreading tasks afterwards (Glass & Singer, 1972). In
other words, even though participants did not have actual control over the noise, the
control belief aided them in completing the task. In similar studies, perceived control benefited
immune system functioning (Sieber et al., 1992). Outside of the laboratory, studies have shown
that older residents in assisted living facilities, which are notorious for low control,
lived longer and showed better health outcomes when given control over something as simple
as watering a plant or choosing when student volunteers came to visit (Rodin & Langer,
1977; Schulz & Hanusa, 1978). In addition, feeling in control of a threatening situation can
actually change stress hormone levels (Dickerson & Kemeny, 2004). Believing that you have
control over your own behaviors can also have a positive influence on important outcomes like
smoking cessation, contraception use, and weight management (Wallston & Wallston, 1978).
When individuals do not believe they have control, they do not try to change. Self-efficacy is
closely related to control, in that people with high levels of this trait believe they can complete
tasks and reach their goals. Just as feeling in control can reduce stress and improve health, higher
self-efficacy can reduce stress and negative health behaviors, and is associated with better
health (O’Leary, 1985).

53
Social Relationships
Research has shown that the impact of social isolation on our risk for disease and death
is similar in magnitude to the risk associated with smoking regularly (Holt-Lunstad, Smith, &
Layton, 2010; House, Landis, & Umberson, 1988). In fact, the importance of social relationships
for our health is so significant that some scientists believe our body has developed a physiological
system that encourages us to seek out our relationships, especially in times of stress (Taylor et
al., 2000). Social integration is the concept used to describe the number of social roles that you
have (Cohen & Wills, 1985), as well as the lack of isolation. For example, you might be a daughter,
a basketball team member, a Humane Society volunteer, a coworker, and a student. Maintaining
these different roles can improve your health via encouragement from those around you to
maintain a healthy lifestyle. Those in your social network might also provide you with social
support (e.g., when you are under stress). This support might include emotional help (e.g., a hug
when you need it), tangible help (e.g., lending you money), or advice. By helping to improve
health behaviors and reduce stress, social relationships can have a powerful, protective impact
on health, and in some cases, might even help people with serious illnesses stay alive longer
(Spiegel, Kraemer, Bloom, & Gottheil, 1989).
Dispositions and Emotions: What’s Risky and What’s Protective?
Negative dispositions and personality traits have been strongly tied to an array of health
risks. One of the earliest negative trait-to-health connections was discovered in the 1950s by two
cardiologists. They made the interesting discovery that there were common behavioral and
psychological patterns among their heart patients that were not present in other patient
samples. This pattern included being competitive, impatient, hostile, and time urgent. They
labeled it Type A Behavior. Importantly, it was found to be associated with double the risk of
heart disease as compared with Type B Behavior (Friedman & Rosenman, 1959). Since the 1950s,
researchers have discovered that it is the hostility and competitiveness components of Type A
that are especially harmful to heart health (Iribarren et al., 2000; Matthews, Glass, Rosenman, &
Bortner, 1977; Miller, Smith, Turner, Guijarro, & Hallet, 1996). Hostile individuals are quick to get
upset, and this angry arousal can damage the arteries of the heart. In addition, given their
negative personality style, hostile people often lack a heath-protective supportive social network.
Positive traits and states, on the other hand, are often health protective. For example,
characteristics like positive emotions (e.g., feeling happy or excited) have been tied to a wide
range of benefits such as increased longevity, a reduced likelihood of developing some illnesses,
and better outcomes once you are diagnosed with certain diseases (e.g., heart disease, HIV)
(Pressman & Cohen, 2005). Across the world, even in the most poor and underdeveloped nations,
positive emotions are consistently tied to better health (Pressman, Gallagher, & Lopez, 2013).
Positive emotions can also serve as the “antidote” to stress, protecting us against some of its
damaging effects (Fredrickson, 2001; Pressman & Cohen, 2005; see Figure 2). Similarly, looking
on the bright side can also improve health. Optimism has been shown to improve coping, reduce
stress, and predict better disease outcomes like recovering from a heart attack more rapidly
(Kubzansky, Sparrow, Vokonas, & Kawachi, 2001; Nes & Segerstrom, 2006; Scheier & Carver,
1985; Segerstrom, Taylor, Kemeny, & Fahey, 1998).

54
Figure 2. This figure illustrates one

possible way that positive affect
protects individuals against disease.
Positive affect can reduce stress
perceptions (a), thereby improving
health behaviors (b) and lowering
physiological stress responses (c)
(e.g., decreased cardiovascular
reactivity, lower stress hormones,
non-suppressed immune activity). As
a result, there is likely to be less
incidence of disease (d, e). (Adapted
from Pressman & Cohen, 2005)
Module 3: Stress Management
About 20 percent of Americans report having stress, with 18–33 year-olds reporting the highest
levels (American Psychological Association, 2012). Given that the sources of our stress are often
difficult to change (e.g., personal finances, current job), a number of interventions have been
designed to help reduce the aversive responses to duress. For example, relaxation activities and
forms of meditation are techniques that allow individuals to reduce their stress via breathing
exercises, muscle relaxation, and mental imagery. Physiological arousal from stress can also be
reduced via biofeedback, a technique where the individual is shown bodily information that is
not normally available to them (e.g., heart rate), and then taught strategies to alter this signal.
This type of intervention has even shown promise in reducing heart and hypertension risk, as
well as other serious conditions (e.g., Moravec, 2008; Patel, Marmot, & Terry, 1981). But
reducing stress does not have to be complicated! For example, exercise is a great stress reduction
activity (Salmon, 2001) that has a myriad of health benefits.
The Importance Of Good Health Practices
As a student, you probably strive to maintain good grades, to have an active social life,
and to stay healthy (e.g., by getting enough sleep), but there is a popular joke about what it’s like
to be in college: you can only pick two of these things (see Figure 3 for an example). The busy life
of a college student doesn’t always allow you to maintain all three areas of your life, especially
during test-taking periods. In one study, researchers found that students taking exams were more
stressed and, thus, smoked more, drank more caffeine, had less physical activity, and had worse
sleep habits (Oaten & Chang, 2005), all of which could have detrimental effects on their health.
Positive health practices are especially important in times of stress when your immune system is
compromised due to high stress and the elevated frequency of exposure to the illnesses of your
fellow students in lecture halls, cafeterias, and dorms.

55
Figure 3: A popular joke about how

difficult it is to stay balanced and
healthy during college.
Psychologists study
both health behaviors and health
habits. The former are behaviors
that can improve or harm your
health. Some examples include
regular exercise, flossing, and
wearing sunscreen, versus
negative behaviors like drunk
driving, pulling all-nighters, or
smoking. These behaviors become habits when they are firmly established and performed
automatically. For example, do you have to think about putting your seatbelt on or do you do it
automatically? Habits are often developed early in life thanks to parental encouragement or the
influence of our peer group.
While these behaviors sound minor, studies have shown that those who engaged in more
of these protective habits (e.g., getting 7–8 hours of sleep regularly, not smoking or drinking
excessively, exercising) had fewer illnesses, felt better, and were less likely to die over a 9–12-
year follow-up period (Belloc & Breslow 1972; Breslow & Enstrom 1980). For college students,
health behaviors can even influence academic performance. For example, poor sleep quality and
quantity are related to weaker learning capacity and academic performance (Curcio, Ferrara, &
De Gennaro, 2006). Due to the effects that health behaviors can have, much effort is put forward
by psychologists to understand how to change unhealthy behaviors, and to
understand why individuals fail to act in healthy ways. Health promotion involves enabling
individuals to improve health by focusing on behaviors that pose a risk for future illness, as well
as spreading knowledge on existing risk factors. These might be genetic risks you are born with,
or something you developed over time like obesity, which puts you at risk for Type 2 diabetes
and heart disease, among other illnesses.
Psychology and Medicine
There are many psychological factors that influence medical treatment outcomes. For
example, older individuals, (Meara, White, & Cutler, 2004), women (Briscoe, 1987), and those
from higher socioeconomic backgrounds (Adamson, Ben-Shlomo, Chaturvedi, & Donovan, 2008)
are all more likely to seek medical care. On the other hand, some individuals who need care might
avoid it due to financial obstacles or preconceived notions about medical practitioners or the
illness. Thanks to the growing amount of medical information online, many people now use the
Internet for health information and 38% percent report that this influences their decision to see
a doctor (Fox & Jones, 2009). Unfortunately, this is not always a good thing because individuals
tend to do a poor job assessing the credibility of health information. For example, college-student
participants reading online articles about HIV and syphilis rated a physician’s article and a college
student’s article as equally credible if the participants said they were familiar with the health
topic (Eastin, 2001). Credibility of health information often means how accurate or trustworthy
the information is, and it can be influenced by irrelevant factors, such as the website’s design,
logos, or the organization’s contact information (Freeman & Spyridakis, 2004). Similarly, many
people post health questions on online, unmoderated forums where anyone can respond, which
allows for the possibility of inaccurate information being provided for serious medical conditions
by unqualified individuals.

56
While the Internet has increased the amount of medical information available to the public and
created greater access, there are real concerns about how people are making decisions about
their health based on that information. [Image: Mapbox, https://goo.gl/UNhmx5, CC BY 2.0,
https://goo.gl/BRvSA7]
After individuals decide to seek care, there is also variability in the information they give
their medical provider. Poor communication (e.g., due to embarrassment or feeling rushed) can
influence the accuracy of the diagnosis and the effectiveness of the prescribed treatment.
Similarly, there is variation following a visit to the doctor. While most individuals are tasked with
a health recommendation (e.g., buying and using a medication appropriately, losing weight, going
to another expert), not everyone adheres to medical recommendations (Dunbar-Jacob &
Mortimer-Stephens, 2010). For example, many individuals take medications inappropriately
(e.g., stopping early, not filling prescriptions) or fail to change their behaviors (e.g., quitting
smoking). Unfortunately, getting patients to follow medical orders is not as easy as one would
think. For example, in one study, over one third of diabetic patients failed to get proper medical
care that would prevent or slow down diabetes-related blindness (Schoenfeld, Greene, Wu, &
Leske, 2001)! Fortunately, as mobile technology improves, physicians now have the ability to
monitor adherence and work to improve it (e.g., with pill bottles that monitor if they are opened
at the right time). Even text messages are useful for improving treatment adherence and
outcomes in depression, smoking cessation, and weight loss (Cole-Lewis, & Kershaw, 2010).
The Future Of Health Psychology
Much of the past medical research literature provides an incomplete picture of human
health. “Health care” is often “illness care.” That is, it focuses on the management of symptoms
and illnesses as they arise. As a result, in many developed countries, we are faced with several
health epidemics that are difficult and costly to treat. These include obesity, diabetes, and
cardiovascular disease, to name a few. The National Institutes of Health have called for
researchers to use the knowledge we have about risk factors to design effective interventions to
reduce the prevalence of preventable illness. Additionally, there are a growing number of
57
individuals across developed countries with multiple chronic illnesses and/or lasting disabilities,
especially with older age. Addressing their needs and maintaining their quality of life will require
skilled individuals who understand how to properly treat these populations. Health psychologists
will be on the forefront of work in these areas.
With this focus on prevention, it is important that health psychologists move beyond
studying risk (e.g., depression, stress, hostility, low socioeconomic status) in isolation, and move
toward studying factors that confer resilience and protection from disease. There is, fortunately,
a growing interest in studying the positive factors that protect our health (e.g., Diener & Chan,
2011; Pressman & Cohen, 2005; Richman, Kubzansky, Maselko, Kawachi, Choo, & Bauer, 2005)
with evidence strongly indicating that people with higher positivity live longer, suffer fewer
illnesses, and generally feel better. Seligman (2008) has even proposed a field of “Positive Health”
to specifically study those who exhibit “above average” health—something we do not think about
enough. By shifting some of the research focus to identifying and understanding these health-
promoting factors, we may capitalize on this information to improve public health.
Innovative interventions to improve health are already in use and continue to be studied. With
recent advances in technology, we are starting to see great strides made to improve health with
the aid of computational tools. For example, there are hundreds of simple applications (apps)
that use email and text messages to send reminders to take medication, as well as mobile apps
that allow us to monitor our exercise levels and food intake (in the growing mobile-health, or m-
health, field). These m-health applications can be used to raise health awareness, support
treatment and compliance, and remotely collect data on a variety of outcomes. Also exciting are
devices that allow us to monitor physiology in real time; for example, to better understand the
stressful situations that raise blood pressure or heart rate. With advances like these, health
psychologists will be able to serve the population better, learn more about health and health
behavior, and develop excellent health-improving strategies that could be specifically targeted
to certain populations or individuals. These leaps in equipment development, partnered with
growing health psychology knowledge and exciting advances in neuroscience and genetic
research, will lead health researchers and practitioners into an exciting new time where,
hopefully, we will understand more and more about how to keep people healthy.
Outside Resources
App: 30 iPhone apps to monitor your health

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/iphone-health-app/
Quiz: Hostility
http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/hhp/fahey7e/wellness_worksheets/wellness_workshe
et_090.html
Self-assessment: Perceived Stress Scale

http://www.ncsu.edu/assessment/resources/perceived_stress_scale.pdf
Video: Try out a guided meditation exercise to reduce your stress

Web: American Psychosomatic Society
http://www.psychosomatic.org/home/index.cfm
Web: APA Division 38, Health Psychology

http://www.health-psych.org
Web: Society of Behavioral Medicine

http://www.sbm.org

58
1. What psychological factors contribute to health?
2. Which psychosocial constructs and behaviors might help protect us from the damaging
effects of stress?
3. What kinds of interventions might help to improve resilience? Who will these interventions
help the most?
4. How should doctors use research in health psychology when meeting with patients?
5. Why do clinical health psychologists play a critical role in improving public health?
Vocabulary
Adherence
In health, it is the ability of a patient to maintain a health behavior prescribed by a physician.
This might include taking medication as prescribed, exercising more, or eating less high-fat
food.
Behavioral medicine
A field similar to health psychology that integrates psychological factors (e.g., emotion,
behavior, cognition, and social factors) in the treatment of disease. This applied field
includes clinical areas of study, such as occupational therapy, hypnosis, rehabilitation or
medicine, and preventative medicine.
Biofeedback
The process by which physiological signals, not normally available to human perception, are
transformed into easy-to-understand graphs or numbers. Individuals can then use this
information to try to change bodily functioning (e.g., lower blood pressure, reduce muscle
tension).
Biomedical Model of Health

A reductionist model that posits that ill health is a result of a deviation from normal function,
which is explained by the presence of pathogens, injury, or genetic abnormality.
Biopsychosocial Model of Health

An approach to studying health and human function that posits the importance of biological,
psychological, and social (or environmental) processes.
Chronic disease
A health condition that persists over time, typically for periods longer than three months
(e.g., HIV, asthma, diabetes).
Control
Feeling like you have the power to change your environment or behavior if you need or
want to.
Daily hassles
Irritations in daily life that are not necessarily traumatic, but that cause difficulties and
repeated stress.

59
Emotion-focused coping
Coping strategy aimed at reducing the negative emotions associated with a stressful event.
General Adaptation Syndrome

A three-phase model of stress, which includes a mobilization of physiological resources
phase, a coping phase, and an exhaustion phase (i.e., when an organism fails to cope with
the stress adequately and depletes its resources).
Health
According to the World Health Organization, it is a complete state of physical, mental, and
social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
Health behavior
Any behavior that is related to health—either good or bad.
Hostility
An experience or trait with cognitive, behavioral, and emotional components. It often
includes cynical thoughts, feelings of emotion, and aggressive behavior.
Mind–body connection
The idea that our emotions and thoughts can affect how our body functions.
Problem-focused coping
A set of coping strategies aimed at improving or changing stressful situations.
Psychoneuroimmunology
A field of study examining the relationship among psychology, brain function, and immune
function.
Psychosomatic medicine
An interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on how biological, psychological, and social
processes contribute to physiological changes in the body and health over time.
Resilience
The ability to “bounce back” from negative situations (e.g., illness, stress) to normal
functioning or to simply not show poor outcomes in the face of adversity. In some cases,
resilience may lead to better functioning following the negative experience (e.g., post-
traumatic growth).
Self-efficacy
The belief that one can perform adequately in a specific situation.
Social integration
The size of your social network, or number of social roles (e.g., son, sister, student,
employee, team member).
Social support
The perception or actuality that we have a social network that can help us in times of need
and provide us with a variety of useful resources (e.g., advice, love, money).
Stress

60
A pattern of physical and psychological responses in an organism after it perceives a

threatening event that disturbs its homeostasis and taxes its abilities to cope with the event.
Stressor
An event or stimulus that induces feelings of stress.
Type A Behavior
Type A behavior is characterized by impatience, competitiveness, neuroticism, hostility, and
anger.
Type B Behavior
Type B behavior reflects the absence of Type A characteristics and is represented by less
competitive, aggressive, and hostile behavior patterns.
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Authors
Emily Hooker
Dr. Emily D. Hooker is a currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill and The Love Consortium. Dr. Hooker examines the link between social class,
close relationships, and ensuing physiological and psychological outcomes.
Sarah Pressman
Sarah Pressman is an associate professor at the University of California, Irvine in the

Department of Psychology and Social Behavior. Dr. Pressman’s research focuses on the
complex interconnections between positive psychosocial factors and health, with a focus on
the physiological and behavioral underpinnings of this link.

64
Unit 6 – Consumer Behaviour
Module 1: Consumer Behaviour: Meaning/Definition and

Nature of Consumer Behaviour
Learning Objectives:
1. Identify the major influences in consumer behavior.

2. Distinguish between different consumer behavior influences and their relationships.
3. Establish the relevance of consumer behavior theories and concepts to marketing
decisions.
4. Implement appropriate combinations of theories and concepts.
Meaning and Definition:

Consumer behaviour is the study of how individual customers, groups or organizations
select, buy, use, and dispose ideas, goods, and services to satisfy their needs and wants. It
refers to the actions of the consumers in the marketplace and the underlying motives for those
actions.
Marketers expect that by understanding what causes the consumers to buy particular
goods and services, they will be able to determine—which products are needed in the
marketplace, which are obsolete, and how best to present the goods to the consumers.
The study of consumer behaviour assumes that the consumers are actors in the marketplace.
The perspective of role theory assumes that consumers play various roles in the marketplace.
Starting from the information provider, from the user to the payer and to the disposer,
consumers play these roles in the decision process.
The roles also vary in different consumption situations; for example, a mother plays the
role of an influencer in a child’s purchase process, whereas she plays the role of a disposer for
the products consumed by the family.
Some selected definitions of consumer behaviour are as follows:

1. According to Engel, Blackwell, and Mansard, ‘consumer behaviour is the actions and decision
processes of people who purchase goods and services for personal consumption’.
2. According to Louden and Bitta, ‘consumer behaviour is the decision process and physical
activity, which individuals engage in when evaluating, acquiring, using or disposing of goods and
services’.
Nature of Consumer Behaviour:

1. Influenced by various factors:
The various factors that influence the consumer behaviour are as follows:
a. Marketing factors such as product design, price, promotion, packaging, positioning and dis-
tribution.
b. Personal factors such as age, gender, education and income level.
c. Psychological factors such as buying motives, perception of the product and attitudes
towards the product.
d. Situational factors such as physical surroundings at the time of purchase, social surroundings
and time factor.
e. Social factors such as social status, reference groups and family.
f. Cultural factors, such as religion, social class—caste and sub-castes.
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2. Undergoes a constant change:

Consumer behaviour is not static. It undergoes a change over a period of time depending on
the nature of products. For example, kids prefer colourful and fancy footwear, but as they grow
up as teenagers and young adults, they prefer trendy footwear, and as middle-aged and senior
citizens they prefer more sober footwear. The change in buying behaviour may take place due
to several other factors such as increase in income level, education level and marketing factors.
3. Varies from consumer to consumer:
All consumers do not behave in the same manner. Different consumers behave differently. The
differences in consumer behaviour are due to individual factors such as the nature of the
consumers, lifestyle and culture. For example, some consumers are technoholics. They go on a
shopping and spend beyond their means.
They borrow money from friends, relatives, banks, and at times even adopt unethical means to
spend on shopping of advance technologies. But there are other consumers who, despite
having surplus money, do not go even for the regular purchases and avoid use and purchase of
advance technologies.
4. Varies from region to region and country to county:
The consumer behaviour varies across states, regions and countries. For example, the
behaviour of the urban consumers is different from that of the rural consumers. A good
number of rural consumers are conservative in their buying behaviours.
The rich rural consumers may think twice to spend on luxuries despite having sufficient funds,
whereas the urban consumers may even take bank loans to buy luxury items such as cars and
household appliances. The consumer behaviour may also varies across the states, regions and
countries. It may differ depending on the upbringing, lifestyles and level of development.
5. Information on consumer behaviour is important to the marketers:

Marketers need to have a good knowledge of the consumer behaviour. They need to study the
various factors that influence the consumer behaviour of their target customers.
The knowledge of consumer behaviour enables them to take appropriate marketing decisions
in respect of the following factors:
a. Product design/model
b. Pricing of the product
c. Promotion of the product
d. Packaging
e. Positioning
f. Place of distribution
6. Leads to purchase decision:
A positive consumer behaviour leads to a purchase decision. A consumer may take the decision
of buying a product on the basis of different buying motives. The purchase decision leads to
higher demand, and the sales of the marketers increase. Therefore, marketers need to
influence consumer behaviour to increase their purchases.
7. Varies from product to product:
Consumer behaviour is different for different products. There are some consumers who may
buy more quantity of certain items and very low or no quantity of other items. For example,
teenagers may spend heavily on products such as cell phones and branded wears for snob
appeal, but may not spend on general and academic reading. A middle- aged person may spend
less on clothing, but may invest money in savings, insurance schemes, pension schemes, and so
on.
8. Improves standard of living:
The buying behaviour of the consumers may lead to higher standard of living. The more a
person buys the goods and services, the higher is the standard of living. But if a person spends
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less on goods and services, despite having a good income, they deprives themselves of higher
standard of living.
9. Reflects status:
The consumer behaviour is not only influenced by the status of a consumer, but it also reflects
it. The consumers who own luxury cars, watches and other items are considered belonging to a
higher status. The luxury items also give a sense of pride to the owners.
Module 2: Top 5 Important Factors Influencing Consumer Behaviour

Some of the most important factors influencing consumer behaviour are as follows: A.
Marketing Mix Factors B. Personal Factors C. Psychological Factors D. Social Factors E. Cultural
Factors.
The study of consumer behaviour indicates how individuals, groups and organizations
select, buy, use and dispose goods, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy their needs and
desires. Consumer behaviour is affected by several factors. Marketers need to have a good
knowledge of the factors affecting the consumer behaviour.
In general, the factors that affect consumer behaviour are discussed in the following sections:
A. Marketing Mix Factors:
Each component of the market mix—product, pricing, promotion and place of distribution—has
a direct or indirect impact on the buying process of the consumers.
1. Product:
The special characteristics of the product, the physical appearance and the packaging can
influence the buying decision of a consumer.
2. Pricing:
The price charged on the product or services consumed by the consumer affect the buying
behaviour of the consumers. Marketers must consider the price sensitivity of the target
customers while fixing prices.
3. Promotion:
The variables of promotion mix such as advertising, publicity, public relations, personal selling
and sales promotion affect the buying behaviour of the consumers. Marketers select the
promotion mix after considering the nature of the target audience.
4. Place:
The channels of distribution and the place of distribution affect the buying behaviour of the
consumers. The marketers makes an attempt to select the right channel and distribute the
products at the right place.
B. Personal Factors:
The personal factors such as age, occupation, lifestyle, social and economic status and the
gender of a consumer may affect the buying decisions of the consumers individually or
collectively.
1. Age factor:
The age factor greatly influences the buying behaviour. For example, teenagers prefer trendy
clothes, whereas office executives prefer sober and formal clothing.
2. Gender:
The consumer behaviour varies across gender. For example, girls prefer certain feminine
colours such as pink, purple and peach, whereas boys go for blue, black and brown.
3. Education:
Highly educated persons may spend on books, personal care products, and so on. But a person
with low or no education may spend less on books and more on personal grooming products.

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4. Income level:
Normally, the higher the income level, the higher is the level of spending and vice versa. But
this may not be the case in developing countries, especially in the rural areas.
5. Status in the society:
Persons enjoying higher status in the society spend a good amount of money on luxury items
such as luxury cars, luxury watches, premium brands of clothing, jewellery and perfumes.
C. Psychological Factors:
A person’s buying behaviour is influenced by the psychological factors such as the following:
1. Learning:
It refers to changes in individual behaviour that are caused by information and experience. For
example, when a customer buys a new brand of apparels, and is satisfied by its use, then they
are more likely to buy the same brand the next time. Through learning, people acquire beliefs
and attitudes, which in turn influence the buying behaviour.
2. Attitude:
It is human tendency to respond in a given manner to a particular situation or object or idea.
Consumers may develop a positive, or a negative, or a neutral attitude towards certain
products or brands, which in turn affects their buying behaviour.
3. Motives:
A motive is the inner drive that motivates a person to act or behave in a certain manner. A
marketer must identify the buying motives of the target customers and influence them to act
positively towards the marketed products.
Some of the buying motives include the following factors:

a. Pride and possession
b. Love and affection
c. Comfort and convenience
d. Sex and romance
4. Beliefs:
A belief is a descriptive thought that a person holds about certain things. It may be based on
knowledge, opinion, faith, trust and confidence. People may hold certain beliefs of certain
brands/products. Beliefs develop brand images, which in turn can affect the buying behaviour.
D. Social Factors:
The social factors such as reference groups family, and social status affects the buying
behaviour. Social factors in turn reflect a constant and dynamic influx through which individuals
learn different meanings of consumption.
1. Reference groups:
A reference group is a small group of people such as colleagues at workplace, club members,
friends circle, neighbours, family members, and so on.
The reference groups influence the members in following manner:

a. They influence members’ values and attitudes.
b. They expose members to new behaviours and lifestyles.
c. They create pressure to choose certain products or brands.

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2. Family:
The family is the main reference group that may influence the consumer behaviour. Nowadays,
children are well informed about goods and services through media or friends circle, and other
sources. Therefore, they influence considerably in the decisions of buying both fast moving
consumer goods and durable items.
3. Roles and status:

A person performs certain roles in a particular group such as family, club, organization,
and so on. For example, a person may perform the role of a vice president in a firm and another
person may perform the role of a marketing manager.
The vice president may enjoy higher status in the organization as compared to the
marketing manager. People may purchase the products that conform to their roles and status,
especially in the case of branded clothes, luxury watches, luxury cars, and so on.
E. Cultural Factors:
There is a subtle influence of cultural factors on a consumer’s decision process.
Consumers live in a complex social and cultural environment. The types of products and
services they buy can be influenced by the overall cultural context in which they grow up to
become individuals. Cultural factors includes race and religion, tradition, caste and moral
values. Culture also includes subcultures, sub-castes, religious sects and languages.
1. Culture:
It influences consumer behaviour to a great extent. Cultural values and elements are passed
from one generation to another through family, educational institutions, religious bodies and
social environment. The cultural diversity influences food habits, clothing, customs and
traditions. For example, consuming alcohol and meat in certain religious communities is not
restricted, but in certain communities, consumption of alcohol and meat is prohibited.
2. Subculture:
Each culture consists of smaller subcultures that provide specific identity to its mem-
bers. Subcultures include sub-castes, religious sects (Roman Catholics, Syrian Catholics,
Protestant Christians, etc.), geographic regions (South Indians, North Indians) and language
(Marathi, Malayali, Gujarati).
The behaviour of people belonging to various subcultures is different. Therefore,
marketers may adopt multicultural marketing approaches, that is, designing and marketing
goods and services that cater to the tastes and preferences of the consumers belonging to
different subcultures.
Reference:
https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/marketing/market-segmentation/consumer-behaviour-
meaningdefinition-and-nature-of-consumer-behaviour/32301
Discussion Questions:
5. Differentiate consumer from customer

6. Why do people buy?
7. Give some purchasing behaviour of a Filipino customer.
8. What is meant by socio economic contact?

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Unit 7 – Psychology in Advertising and Selling
Learning Objectives:
1. Learn how to improve sales with the help of psychological insights.
2. Understand how consumers make buying decisions
3. Communicate effectively with your prospective customers.
Module 1: How to Use Psychology in Advertising to Make People Buy
5,000. That’s the number of advertisements that the average consumer is exposed to every
day. You are probably thinking…
“How the heck can I make people notice my advertisements?”
Advertisers have long discovered that they can leverage psychology to find what attracts
attention, leaves an impression, persuades, and leads to the act of purchase. That being said,
you can use psychology to make sure that your advertising is actually working.
Ok, that’s awesome. But how?
If you want to learn how to make your advertisements actually work, by work I mean make
people buy your product, keep on scrolling’.
On average, people are exposed to nearly 5,000 ads per day. #advertising.
The Psychology of Advertising
Chances are you specialize in marketing, not psychology, so this area may be a little… fuzzy.
So what is the Psychology of Advertising?
Psychology explores human nature, the psyche, and why people behave the way they do.
Advertising explores the art of influencing human behavior to make certain purchase decisions.
It’s no surprise that these two areas converge.

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Psychology explores human nature, the psyche, and why people behave the way they do.
Advertising explores the art of influencing human behavior to make certain purchase decisions.
Basic Types of Advertisements
Nowadays, there are so many different types of advertisements.
Whether you’re using traditional tactics or digital tactics, understanding the psychology behind
your advertisements is important. Here are a few of the basic forms of advertisements:
Traditional
• Commercials
• Newspaper
• Magazine
• Radio
• Direct mail
• Billboard
Digital
• Social
• Google Ads
• Search
• Display
• Inbox
• Sponsored listings
Whether you’re running a Google ad, or just put up a billboard, you’ll want to choose either the
thinking or feeling approach for your advertisement.

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CPM vs. HEM
There are two basic models that explain how people process information, the Consumer
Processing Model and the Hedonic, Experiential Model.
In other words, thinking and feeling models. Chances are you’ll lean towards one model,
depending on your product and audience. Ads don’t have to be one or the other, think of it
more as a scale.
Thinking
Thinking approaches of advertisements allow consumers to use logic and reason to buy the
product based on features or solving a problem. You can think of this advertisement as facts
based if that helps.
You should use a thinking approach if:
• You want to highlight direct information, features, benefits, or advantages.
• Your product is interpreted as a product used to solve a serious need, for example, migraine
medication.
• It aligns with your brand voice and target audience.
Use the thinking approach if:
1. You want to highlight features, benefits, or information
2. Your product relates to a serious issue

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3. The approach aligns with your brand voice + target audience

Recommended Reading:
https://coschedule.com/blog/brand-voice-guidelines/
An example of an advertisement that uses a CPM approach, or a thinking approach, is Apple’s

commercial that introduces their new feature launch of the iPhone XS and iPhone XR. It’s clear
that they are highlighting the specific features and benefits of their products with no fluff.
Feeling
According to a 2016 Nielson Report, ads that generated emotional response got a 23% lift in
sales volume.
Feeling approaches use emotion to capture consumer behavior. Whether it’s fun, fantasy, or
fear, the HEM approach persuades consumers using emotion.
You should use a feeling approach if:
• You can leverage some type of emotion (humor, fear, love, etc.) that will lead a consumer to
buy your product.
• You want to make light of a situation.
• It aligns with your brand voice and target audience.
Use the feeling approach if:
1. You want to leverage some type of emotion
2. You want to make light of a situation
3. The approach aligns with your brand voice + target audience
In this commercial, Apple uses a feel-good approach, persuading people to share gifts. Although
this ad doesn’t focus on a specific product or feature, they leverage their brand voice and give
consumers a good feeling. With over 21 million views, it’s safe to say they got the message out
there.

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Persuasion Techniques Using Emotion
If you’ve decided to use the feeling approach for your advertisement, it’s important to choose
the emotion that best appeals to your product, target audience, and brand. I’ve listed 4 of the
basic emotions that people use in advertising.
Humor
Humor drives memorability. If you’re looking to make people remember your product and your
brand, this may be the best option for you. Making people laugh helps people remember your
brand in a positive light.
A company that slayed the humor game is Old Spice.
Using humor in your advertisements makes people remember it more than any other emotion.
Fear
Using fear in an ad can be tricky, but if done right it can be very effective. This tactic uses fear as
a persuasion technique by using your product to solve a problem or to change a behavior.
Excitement
Using excitement in your advertising can be perfect if you have a feature launch or something
exciting to share with your audience. Excitement causes your mind and body to react, which
can make people more likely to act and make a purchasing decision.
Sadness
Making people sad is a great way to get their attention. I know how awful that sounds, but it’s
true. Remember that sad puppy commercial that Budweiser created back in 2014 with the
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puppies? It was sad in the beginning but made you feel good at the end, and was very
memorable.
4 basic emotions to persuade
1. Humor
2. Fear
3. Excitement
4. Sadness
Every emotion persuades consumers in a different way, so make sure that the emotion you
choose is the best match for your product and brand, and ultimately helps you towards the goal
of your advertisement (a.k.a. make people buy).
https://coschedule.com/blog/marketing-objectives/
Consumer Information Process
Now that we covered the basics, it’s important to know how your audience is going to process
the information that you’re throwing in their face, literally.
There are 7 important steps that happen before your customer purchases. Ultimately, you have
control over almost all of these steps.
Exposure to Information
This is the very first thing that happens when a viewer sees your ad.
This step stems from brand awareness. If it’s someone’s very first time seeing the ad, let
alone your brand, they may not even notice it. That’s why it’s important to factor in repetition
to make your audience more exposed to your advertisement.
Selective attention
Now that your consumer has been exposed to the information, it’s time to grab their
attention (and never let go).

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This step is tricky because you have no control over your consumer and there is no
guarantee that they will see your ad.
What I mean is that just because you run a commercial, it doesn’t mean people are
watching the tv, or just because you run a display ad, it doesn’t mean the consumer even looks
at it. You have to make your target audience notice you with all the distractions going on in
their everyday life.
Using the Color Psychology principles to attract viewers is one of the smartest ways to achieve
their undivided attention.
https://coschedule.com/blog/color-psychology-marketing/
Comprehension
This step is pretty important because if your consumer can’t comprehend what you’re
selling, chances are they aren’t going to purchase. If you’re using the HEM approach, it’s
important that you make sure that your underlying message is clear. Don’t let the message in
your advertisement overshine your product.
Agreement
You’ve captured their attention, they understand what your selling, what’s next?
Agreement. If you have a credible message that aligns with your target audience and their
needs, this step should naturally happen. If you want more tips on creating effective
articles, read this.
Retention and Retrieval
Think back to the last ad you saw that you actually stood out.
Why did it stand out to you? This is your chance to make your ad stand out from the rest
so when the consumer is ready to purchase, they think of you and not your competition.
Check out what your competitors are doing and make sure that your advertisement is
different than theirs (and better ).
Decision Making
At this step you’re so close, yet so far away. Your consumer realizes that your product
may be right for them, but there are so many considerations in the decision making process.
Adding a call to action could be the extra push that your consumer needs to buy your
product.
If the consumer decides to buy your product after seeing your advertisement, it doesn’t
mean that they will follow through. Keep in mind that the product isn’t sold until that purchase
is made.
Action
This final step was the goal all along, to make the consumer purchase your product.

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Give yourself a pat on the back because this means your advertisement worked.
Through all the ads that consumers are exposed to and the different steps their brain takes
before purchasing a product, they chose yours.
Use the Psychology of Advertising to make people actually buy.
Now you’re certainly no psychology expert but hopefully, you understand the basics.
Remember, use the psychology of advertising as your friend to help you capture your target
audience even better than before.
It’s time to go work your magic

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Denille O'Regan
Denille is the Social Media Intern at CoSchedule. She enjoys social media marketing, content
writing, + marketing strategy. If she isn’t cramming for an exam, you can find her watching the
latest Bachelorette episode with a big bowl of popcorn + ranch (midwest thing).
Reference:
https://coschedule.com/blog/psychology-in-advertising/

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Module 2: Ethics and Etiquette in Business and Industry

+
COMMUNICATION AT WORK
10.2: PROFESSIONALISM, ETIQUETTE, AND ETHICAL BEHAVIOUR
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Define professional behaviour according to employer, customer, coworker, and

other stakeholder expectations.
2. Explain the importance of ethics as part of the persuasion process.
3. Define and provide examples of sexual harassment in the workplace, as well as strategies for
how to eliminate it.
4. Identify and provide examples of eight common fallacies in persuasive speaking.
5. ENL1813 Course Learning Requirement 2: Plan and deliver short, organized spoken
messages and oral reports tailored to specific audiences and purposes. (A2, B2, H2, I2, M2, S2,
T2)
i. Use effective and engaging language and non-verbal behaviours (A2.2)

ii. Use verbal and nonverbal techniques to enhance spoken messages (I2.4, M2.4, R6.2, S2.4,
T2.4)
From the moment we started considering what communication skills employers desire
(see §1.1.2 above) onwards throughout this guide, we’ve been examining aspects of
professional behaviour. A recurring theme has been the importance of being nice. The logic is
that, if you’re nice and the people you work with and for like you because they feel that they
can trust you and are productive when you collaborate with them, you’ll keep your job and be
presented with attractive new opportunities. In this section we’ll look closer at behaviours that
will get you liked and open doors for you.
Professionalism, Etiquette, and Ethical Behaviour Topics
• 10.2.1: Professional Behaviour in the Workplace

• 10.2.2: Business Etiquette
• 10.2.3: Respectful Workplaces in the #MeToo Era
• 10.2.4: Speaking Ethically and Avoiding Fallacies
10.2.1: PROFESSIONAL BEHAVIOUR IN THE WORKPLACE
We’ve said from the beginning that professional communication must always cater to the
audience. This is true especially in face-to-face interactions where, unlike with written
communication, you can assess audience reaction in real time and adjust your message
accordingly. This places the responsibility of behaving professionally in the workplace solely on
you. When we speak of professional behaviour, we mean the following aspects that generally
fall under the banner of soft skills:
• Civility
• Social Intelligence
• Emotional Intelligence
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• Social Graces
We’ll consider these aspects in more detail throughout this subsection, but first we’ll spend
some time on the personality traits of successful professionals.
We must be careful with how we define success when we speak of personality, however. Those
who lack the soft skills associated with the above aspects are difficult to work with and are
usually demoted or fired. In rare instances, cruel, selfish, arrogant, narcissistic, or sociopathic
people rise to positions of power through a combination of enablers tolerating or even
rewarding their anti-social behaviour and their own lying, cheating, and bullying. This is an
unfortunate reality that’s difficult to watch, but it’s important that the rest of us avoid being
enablers. It’s also important that we don’t let their bad example lead us into thinking that such
behaviour is right. It isn’t, and the proof is the suffering it spreads among people in their sphere
of influence. For every horrible person who moves up the corporate ladder, there’ll be a trail of
broken, bitter, and vengeful people in their wake. The loathing most people feel towards such
people proves the importance of conducting ourselves otherwise.
10.2.1.1: THE FIVE QUALITIES OF A SUCCESSFUL PROFESS IONAL
A persistent idea within the field of psychology is that there are five basic personality traits,
often known as the “Big Five” or by the acronyms OCEAN or CANOE. Each trait contains within
it a sliding scale that describes how we behave in certain situations. The five are as follows:
• Openness to experience: curious and innovative vs. cautious and consistent

• Conscientiousness: goal-driven and detail-oriented vs. casual and careless
• Extraversion: outgoing and enthusiastic vs. solitary and guarded
• Agreeableness: cooperative and flexible vs. defiant and stubborn
• Neuroticism: anxious and volatile vs. confident and stable
Except for neuroticism, most of the traits as named correlate with professional success.
Researchers have found that successful people are generally organized, innovative, outgoing,
cooperative, and stable, although extraverts don’t do as well as introverts on individual tasks
and agreeableness doesn’t necessarily lead to a high salary (Spurk & Abele, 2010; Neal et al.,
2011).
Blending these with Guffey, Loewy, and Almonte’s six dimensions of professional behaviour
in Essentials of Business Communication (2016) and putting our own spin on these ideas, Table
10.2.1.1 below presents a guide for how generally to be successful in your job, how to be well
liked, and how to be happy. Consider it also a checklist for how to be a decent human being.
TABLE 10.2.1.1: THE FIVE QUALITIES OF A SUCCESSFUL PROFESSIONAL
Quality Specific Behaviours
• Consistently do your best work in the time you have to do it

Conscientious
• Be organized and efficient in your workflow and time management
• Be realistic about what you can accomplish and follow through on
commitments
• Go the extra mile for anyone expecting quality work from you (while
respecting time, budget, or other constraints)
• Finish your work on time rather than leave loose ends for others

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Courteous • Speak and write clearly at a language level your audience understands
• Be punctual: arrive at the workplace on time and deliver work by the
deadline
• Notify those expecting you when you’re running late
• Apologize for your own errors and misunderstandings
• Practice active listening
• Share your expertise with others and be a positive, encouraging
mentor to those entering the workplace
Tactful • Exercise self-control with regard to conversational topics and jokes

• Avoid contentious public and office politics, especially in writing
• Control your biases by being vigilant in your diction (e.g., word choices
involving gendered pronouns)
• Accept constructive criticism gracefully
• Provide helpful, improvement-focused feedback mixed with praise
• Keep negative opinions of people to yourself
• Be patient, understanding, and helpful towards struggling colleagues
Ethical • Avoid even small white lies and truth-stretching logical fallacies
• Avoid conflicts of interest or even the perception of them
• Pay for products and services as soon as possible if not right away
• Respect the confidentiality of private information and decisions
• Focus on what you and your company do well rather than criticize
competitors to customers and others
• Follow proper grievance procedures rather than take vengeance
• Be charitable whenever possible
Presentable • Be positive and friendly, especially in introductions, as well as

generous with your smile
• Present yourself according to expectations in grooming and attire
• Practice proper hygiene (showering, dental care, deodorant, etc.)
• Follow general rules of dining etiquette
Source: Guffey, Loewy, & Almonte (2016, p. 309: Figure 10.1)
10.2.1.2: CIVILITY
Civility simply means behaving respectfully towards everyone you interact with. Being civilized
means following the golden rule: treat others as you expect to be treated yourself. The
opposite of civility is being rude and aggressive, which creates conflict and negatively affects
productivity in the workplace because it creates a so-called chilly climate or a toxic work
environment. Such a workplace makes people uncomfortable, miserable, or angry—not
emotions normally conducive to people doing their best work.

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10.2.1.3: SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE
In the decades you’ve been immersed in the various cultures you’ve passed through, you’ve
come to understand the (often unspoken) rules of decent social interaction. Having social
intelligence means following those rules to cooperate and get along with others, especially in
conversation. This includes reading nonverbal cues so that you know:
o How and when to initiate conversation

o When it’s your turn to speak and when to listen in order to keep a conversation going
o What to say and what not say
o How to say what you mean in a manner that will be understood by your audience
o When and how to use humour effectively and when not to
o How and when to end conversation gracefully
People who lack social intelligence, perhaps because they missed opportunities to develop
conversational skills in their formative school years, come off as awkward in face-to-face
conversation. They typically fail to interpret correctly nonverbal cues that say “Now it’s your
turn to speak” or “Okay, I’m done with this conversation; let’s wrap it up.” It’s difficult to
interact with such people either because they make you do all the work keeping the
conversation going or don’t let you speak and keep going long after you wanted it to stop,
forcing you to be slightly rude in ending it abruptly. Like any other type of intelligence,
however, social intelligence can be developed through an understanding of the principles of
good conversation (see §10.1 above) and practice.
10.2.1.5: EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Like social intelligence, emotional intelligence (EI) involves being a good reader of people in
social contexts, being able to distinguish different emotions, and knowing what to do about
them with regard to others and yourself. Strong EI means knowing how a person is likely to
react to what you’re about to say and adjusting your message accordingly, and then adjusting
again according to how they actually react. Though we often hide our inner emotional state—
smiling and looking happy when we’re feeling down, or wearing a neutral “poker face” to mask
our excitement—in professional situations, EI enables us to get a sense of what others are
actually feeling despite how they appear. It involves reading subtle nonverbal signals such as
eye movements, facial expressions and fleeting micro-expressions (Ekman, 2017), posture,
hands, and body movements for how they betray inner feelings different from the outward
show. Beyond merely reading people, however, EI also requires knowing how to act, such as
empathizing when someone is upset—even if they’re trying to hide it and show strength—
because you recognize that you would be upset yourself if you were in their position
(see §10.5.3.4 below for more on empathy).
Every interaction you have is coloured by emotion—both yours and the person or people you
interact with. Though most routine interactions in the workplace are on the neutral-to-positive
end of the emotional spectrum, some dip into the red—anywhere from slightly upset and a
little sad to downright furious or suicidal. Whether you keep those emotions below the surface
or let them erupt like a volcano depends on your self-control and the situation. Expressing such
emotions in the workplace requires the good judgment represented by the 3 T’s:
• Tact: Recognizing that what you say has a meaningful impact, tact involves the careful choice of
words to achieve intended effects. In a sensitive situation where your audience is likely to be
upset, for instance, tact requires that you use calming and positive words to reduce your
message’s harmful impact (see §8.3 above on negative messages). When you’re upset, tact
likewise involves self-restraint so that you don’t unleash the full fury of what you’re feeling if it
would be inappropriate. When emotions are running high, it’s important to recognize that they

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are just thoughts that come and go, and that you may need some additional time to process
information when you’re in a different emotional state before communicating about it.
• Timing: There’s a time and place for expressing your emotions. Expressing your anger when
you’re at the height of your fury might be a bad move if it moves you to say things you’ll later
regret. Waiting to cool down so that you can tactfully express your disappointment will get the
best results if it’s an important matter. If it’s a trivial matter, however, waiting to realize that
it’s not worth the effort can save you the trouble of dealing with the fallout of a strong and
regrettable reaction.
• Trust: You must trust that the person you share your feelings with will respect your privacy and
keep whatever you say confidential or at least not use it against you.
By considering these 3 T’s, you can better manage the expression of your own emotions and
those of the people you work with and for in the workplace (Business Communication for
Success, 2015, 14.6).
Like those who lack social intelligence, those who lack emotional intelligence can often be
difficult to work with and offensive, often without meaning to be. When someone fails to
understand the emotional “vibe” of their audience (fails to “read the room”), we say that they
are “tone deaf.” This can be a sign of immaturity because it takes years to develop EI through
extensive socialization in your school years and beyond, including learning how and why people
take offense to what you say. Someone who jokes openly about another’s appearance in front
of them and an audience, for instance, either fails to understand the hurt feelings of the person
who is the butt of the joke or doesn’t care. Either way, people like this are a liability in the
workplace because their offense establishes an environment dominated by insecurity—where
employees are afraid that they’ll be picked on as if this were the elementary school playground.
They won’t do their best work in such a “chilly climate” or toxic environment.
10.2.1.6: SOCIAL GRACES
Social graces include all the subtle behavioural niceties that make you likeable. They include
manners such as being polite, etiquette (e.g., dining etiquette), and your style of dress and
accessories. We will explore most of these in the following section, but for now we can list
some of the behaviours associated with social graces:
• Saying please when asking someone to do something

• Saying thank you when given something you accept
• Saying no, thank you, but thanks for the offer when offered something you refuse
• Complimenting someone for a something they’ve done well
• Speaking positively about others and refraining from negative comments
• Smiling often
• Being a good listener
Of course, there is much more to social graces, but let’s focus now on specific situations in
which social graces are expressed.
Return to the Professionalism, Etiquette, and Ethical Behaviour Topics menu
10.2.2: BUSINESS ETIQUETTE
Etiquette is a code of behaviour that extends to many aspects of how we present ourselves in
social situations. We’ve examined this throughout this guide in specific written applications
(e.g., using a well-mannered, courteous style of writing, such as saying please when asking
someone to do something; see §4.5.2.5). Though we’ll examine specific applications of
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etiquette associated with various channels (e.g., telephone) throughout this chapter, we will
here focus on dining etiquette and dress.
10.2.2.1: DINING ETIQUETTE
If you are invited out for a lunch by a manager, it’s probably not just a lunch. They will assess
how refined you are in your manners so that they know whether they can put you in front of
clients doing the same and not embarrass the company. Though it may not be obvious, they’ll
observe whether you use your utensils correctly, chew with your mouth closed, wait till your
mouth is empty before speaking or cover your mouth with your hand if you must speak while
chewing, and how you position your cutlery when you’re done. Why does any of this matter?
Though all of this seems like it has nothing to do with the quality of work, it shows the extent to
which you developed fastidious habits and self-awareness. Someone who chews with their
mouth open, for instance, either lacks the self-awareness to know that people tend to be
disgusted by the sight of food being chewed, or doesn’t care what people think. Either way,
that lack of self-awareness can lead to behaviours that will ruin their reputation, as well as that
of the company they represent. The University of Kansas presents a handy Dining
Etiquette (School of Business, 2001) for starters.
10.2.2.2: DRESSING APPROPRIATELY FOR THE WORKPLACE
When we hear the word uniform, we often think of a very specific style such as what a police
officer or nurse wears. In a general sense, however, we all wear uniforms of various styles in
whatever professional or institutional environment we participate in. Dressing appropriately in
those situations and in the workplace specifically has everything to do with meeting
expectations. In an office environment, clients, coworkers, and managers expect to see
employees in either suits or a business-casual style of dress depending on the workplace. In
such situations, conformity is the order of the day, and breaking the dress code can be a serious
infraction.
Though some infractions are becoming less serious in many places because the general culture
is becoming more accepting of tattoos, piercings, and dyed hair as more and more people use
these to express themselves, you might need to be careful. Consider the following points:
• Tattoos: Though a significant proportion of the population has tattoos and therefore they are
more acceptable across the board, overly conspicuous tattoos are still considered taboo.
Tattoos on the face, neck, or hands, for instance, are considered risky because of their
association with prison and gang branding. Tattoos that can be covered by a long-sleeved shirt
with a collar and slacks are a safe bet. However, if you have tattoos on your forearms depicting
scenes of explicit sex or violence, consider either getting them removed or never rolling up your
sleeves if you want to get hired and keep your job.
• Piercings: Of course, earrings are de rigueur for women and acceptable on men as well.
However, earlobe stretching and piercings on the nasal septum or lips are still generally
frowned upon in professional settings. Any serious body modification along these lines is
acceptable in certain subcultures, but not in most workplaces.
• Dyed hair: As with tattoos and piercings, hair dye is becoming more acceptable generally, but
extreme expression is inadvisable in any traditional workplace. Where customer expectations
are rigid (e.g., in a medical office), seeing someone with bright pink hair will give the impression
of an amateur operation rather than a legitimate health care facility.
Because conformity is the determining factor of acceptability in proper attire in any particular
workplace, the best guide for how to dress when you aren’t given a specific uniform is what
everyone else wears. Observe closely their style and build a wardrobe along those lines. If the
fashion is slacks with a belt that matches the colour of your shoes and a long-sleeve, button-up,

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collared shirt for men and a full-length skirt and blouse for women, do the same (Feloni, Lee, &
Cain, 2018).
10.2.3: RESPECTFUL WORKPLACES IN THE #METOO ERA
Most of what we’ve been saying in this chapter and throughout this guide focuses on how
we should behave to be effective, respected professionals in our respective workplaces.
Unfortunately, this isn’t what we always see in actual workplaces. Misbehaviour is rampant and
is especially harmful when it’s harassment of a sexual nature. The broader culture took a
hopeful step forward toward more respectful workplaces in 2017-2018 with the rise of
the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements.
Though initially a response to high-profile sexual assault cases in the entertainment industry
where perpetrators often went unpunished for decades, #MeToo activists successfully brought
the movement to the broader culture via social media. After the outrage of the former CBC
Radio host Jian Ghomeshi’s acquittal for sexual assault charges (Gollom, 2016), Canada was ripe
for a cultural shift against its own issues with rape culture generally and toleration of sexual
harassment in the workplace. Encouraged by a series of public accusations, firings, and
resignations of prominent men in the entertainment, media, and political arenas throughout
North America, women everywhere were encouraged to challenge widespread toleration of
common sexual harassment and assault by reporting incidents to their employers and speaking
out to shame everyday offenders in social media. For those who were unaware, it revealed the
troubling extent of sexual harassment even in supposedly “nice” Canadian workplaces.
10.2.3.1: THE PREVALENCE OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE WORKPLACE
According to Doing Our Duty: Preventing Sexual

Harassment in the Workplace by the Human
Resources Professionals Association (HRPA,
2018a), “sexual harassment in the workplace is
an epidemic that has been allowed to persist”
for too long (p. 5).
In a survey of nearly a thousand HRPA

members in Ontario, 43% of women said
they’ve been sexually harassed in the
workplace, and about four-fifths said they
didn’t report it to their employers (p. 12). In a
separate online survey of 2000 Canadians
nationwide, 34% of women reported
experiencing sexual harassment in the
workplace and 12% of men, and nearly 40% of those say it involved someone who had a direct
influence over their career success (Navigator, 2018, p. 5). These perceptions are completely
out of step with what top executives believe, with 95% of 153 surveyed Canadian CEOs and
CFOs confirming that sexual harassment is not a problem in their workplaces (Gandalf Group,
2017, p. 9). Clearly there are differences of opinion between those who experience sexual
harassment on the floor and those in the executive suites who are responsible for the safety of
their employees, and much of the confusion may have to do with how sexual harassment is
defined.

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What Is Workplace Harassment?

Workplace harassment or office bullying is being used interchangeably and can mean the same
thing in the Philippines. But in countries where laws are in placed, bullying is referred to minors
and harassment to adults.
Office bullying is similar to school bullying in the sense that the aggressor use power towards
it’s victim, but that’s where the similarity ends.
Office or workplace harassment is more classy because the objective is defined before the
aggression starts. The aggression, though obviously felt by the victim, is carefully executed by
the aggressor, so as not to violate company policies or national laws.
Likewise, workplace harassment is not office politics, though in some cases, an element of
bullying is present when an employee is politicking.
Bullying or harassment is also considered a “normal” work hazard, thus, contributing to a

not mental health friendly culture.
Elements of Workplace Harassment
• Use of power
Power is derived both from formal and informal sources. Position titles are the formal
source while the clout or influence of some employee w/o formal leadership position is an
informal source.
• Intention is to control
Use of power is meant to control you, and lead you towards their objective (i.e. conform to
their wishes, that are not all work related). But hold your horses, before you accuse your boss
of bullying, they are given the power to control your behaviour to ensure office decorum and
productivity, ha ha.
• Have a strong personal dislike to the victim
Personal dislike is different from dislike to a behaviour affecting work output and employee
morale. The former can lead to bullying, the latter won’t.
• Personal attacks
If your age, sex, disability (if any), religion, race, appearance, family and relationships are the
subject of attack, we may have a legal case involving discrimination
• With specific objective
Unlike traditional bullying where intentions are random, workplace bullying has pre-defined
objectives. Some of which are
– to get ahead of you
– to get rid of you
– to pass the blame on you
– to get you to kiss their ass

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Who are the likely the instigators of workplace harassment
• The bosses
Bosses are the usual suspects of workplace bullying because organically, they have the 1st 2
elements (1) power and (2) control. But the actions of the boss cannot be considered bullying if
it is meant to correct a wrong behaviour or to increase productivity. Other than the above, yes,
bosses can be bullies, but they are creative The likely victims? Subordinates, their own boss
or fellow managers/supervisors
• Subordinates
Subordinates are bullies too, and are equally creative as the boss. Bosses are prone to bullying
if they are newly hired or promoted, or take over manager/supervisor of tenured
employees. Their likely victim? Their boss
• Employees who are tenured (or the most senior)
Employees who are tenured are likely to hold influence over the rest. Tenured employees are
also resistant to change, plus they have the illusion that they’re untouchables- either bec. they
have access to top management or they believe that removing them is costly
Their likely victims? Bosses and newly hired or transferred employees.
• Any employee
Any employee can bully another. This normally happen when one employee considers the other
a threat to his/her work ambition, i.e. salary increase, promotion. Their likely victim? You
What Are The “Likely” Acts Of An Office Bully
Emphasis on the word likely because unless motives are established and the aggression is
substantiated, coming out to the open to complain them will just make you a cry baby.
1. Verbal abuse
2. Cyber bullying– you are mocked or made fun both un social and dark social
3. Peters’ Principle- bosses can promote you to a level of incompetence
4. Sabotage- a group can conspire or an employee can do acts that will cause you to fail or look
bad
5. Unfavorable assignment- this can mean being assigned often on the graveyard shift, branch
transfer that is far from your residence (please remember that management has the
prerogative to do this, and can be done legally)
6. Sexual harassment
7. Threats and Blackmail
8. Indirect insubordination- it’s like you’re tasked to head the Christmas party committee and
when you called for a meeting, no one attended
9. Taking advantage of the newly hired, transfers or interns/OJTs
10. Social- a group effort to make another employee (bosses or colleagues) feel s/he is not
welcome or not part of the group.
Republic Act 7877: Anti-Sexual

Harassment Act of 1995
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AN ACT DECLARING SEXUAL HARASSMENT UNLAWFUL IN THE

EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION OR TRAINING ENVIRONMENT, AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in

Congress assembled:
SECTION 1. Title. – This Act shall be known as the “Anti-Sexual Harassment

Act of 1995.”
SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. – The State shall value the dignity of every
individual, enhance the development of its human resources, guarantee full
respect for human rights, and uphold the dignity of workers, employees,
applicants for employment, students or those undergoing training, instruction or
education. Towards this end, all forms of sexual harassment in the employment,
education or training environment are hereby declared unlawful.
SECTION 3. Work, Education or Training -Related, Sexual Harassment Defined.

– Work, education or training-related sexual harassment is committed by an
employer, employee, manager, supervisor, agent of the employer, teacher,
instructor, professor, coach, trainor, or any other person who, having authority,
influence or moral ascendancy over another in a work or training or education
environment, demands, requests or otherwise requires any sexual favor from the
other, regardless of whether the demand, request or requirement for submission
is accepted by the object of said Act.
(a) In a work-related or employment environment, sexual harassment is

committed when:
(1) The sexual favor is made as a condition in the hiring or in the

employment, re-employment or continued employment of said individual, or in
granting said individual favorable compensation, terms of conditions, promotions,
or privileges; or the refusal to grant the sexual favor results in limiting,
segregating or classifying the employee which in any way would discriminate,
deprive ordiminish employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect said
employee;
(2) The above acts would impair the employee’s rights or privileges under
existing labor laws; or
(3) The above acts would result in an intimidating, hostile, or offensive

environment for the employee.
(b) In an education or training environment, sexual harassment is

committed:
(1) Against one who is under the care, custody or supervision of the
offender;
(2) Against one whose education, training, apprenticeship or tutorship is

entrusted to the offender;
(3) When the sexual favor is made a condition to the giving of a passing
grade, or the granting of honors and scholarships, or the payment of a stipend,
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allowance or other benefits, privileges, or consideration; or
(4) When the sexual advances result in an intimidating, hostile or offensive

environment for the student, trainee or apprentice.
Any person who directs or induces another to commit any act of sexual
harassment as herein defined, or who cooperates in the commission thereof by
another without which it would not have been committed, shall also be held
liable under this Act.
SECTION 4. Duty of the Employer or Head of Office in a Work-related,

Education or Training Environment. – It shall be the duty of the employer
or the head of the work-related, educational or training environment or
institution, to prevent or deter the commission of acts of
sexual harassment and to provide the procedures for the
resolution, settlement or prosecution of acts of sexual harassment.
Towards this end, the employer or head of office shall:
(a) Promulgate appropriate rules and regulations in consultation with

and joint1y approved by the employees or students or trainees, through
their duly designated representatives, prescribing the procedure for the
investigation of sexual harassment cases and the administrative
sanctions therefor.
Administrative sanctions shall not be a bar to prosecution in the proper

courts for unlawful acts of sexual harassment.
The said rules and regulations issued pursuant to this subsection (a)
shall include, among others, guidelines on proper decorum in the
workplace and educational or training institutions.
(b) Create a committee on decorum and investigation of cases on
sexual harassment. The committee shall conduct meetings, as the case
may be, with officers and employees, teachers, instructors, professors,
coaches, trainors, and students or trainees to increase understanding and
prevent incidents of sexual harassment. It shall also conduct
the investigation of alleged cases constituting sexual harassment.
In the case of a work-related environment, the committee shall be

composed of at least one (1) representative each from the management,
the union, if any, the employees from the supervisory rank, and from the
rank and file employees.
In the case of the educational or training institution, the committee shall
be composed of at least one (1) representative from the administration,
the trainors, instructors, professors or coaches and students or trainees,
as the case may be.
The employer or head of office, educational or training institution shall

disseminate or post a copy of this Act for the information of all concerned.
SECTION 5. Liability of the Employer, Head of Office, Educational or

Training Institution. – The employer or head of office, educational or
training institution shall be solidarily liable for damages arising from the
acts of sexual harassment committed in the employment, education or
training environment if the employer or head of office, educational or

88
training institution is informed of such acts by the offended party and no

immediate action is taken.
SECTION 6. Independent Action for Damages. – Nothing in this Act shall

preclude the victim of work, education or training-related sexual
harassment from instituting a separate and independent action for
damages and other affirmative relief.
SECTION 7. Penalties. – Any person who violates the provisions of this

Act shall, upon conviction, be penalized by imprisonment of not less than
one (1) month nor more than six (6) months, or a fine of not less than Ten
thousand pesos (P10,000) nor more than Twenty thousand pesos
(P20,000), or both such fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the
court.
Any action arising from the violation of the provisions of this Act shall
prescribe in three (3) years.
SECTION 8. Separability Clause. – If any portion or provision of this Act is

declared void or unconstitutional, the remaining portions or provisions
hereof shall not be affected by such declaration.
SECTION 9. Repealing Clause. – All laws, decrees, orders, rules and

regulations, other issuances, or parts thereof inconsistent with the
provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.
SECTION 10. Effectivity Clause.- This Act shall take effect fifteen (15)
days after its complete publication in at least two (2) national newspapers
of general circulation.
10.2.3.2: WHAT IS SEXUAL HARASSMENT?
The Canada Labour Code’s definition of sexual

harassment is quite broad, but oriented more
toward the perception of the person offended
than the intentions of the offender. Though
there is nothing wrong with discrete flirtation
between two consenting adults on break at
work, a line is crossed as soon as one of them—
or third-party observers—feels uncomfortable
with actions or talk of sexual nature. According
to Provision 241.1 of the Code,
sexual harassment means any conduct,

comment, gesture or contact of a sexual nature
that is likely to cause offence or humiliation to
any employee, or that might, on reasonable grounds, be perceived by that employee as placing
a condition of a sexual nature on employment or on any opportunity for training or promotion.
(Government of Canada, 1985, p. 214)
The Code clarifies that all employees have a right to conduct their work without being harassed
(241.2), but what does that look like in practice?
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For help with understanding what specific behaviours constitute sexual harassment, the City of
Toronto’s Human Rights Office’s 2017 “Sexual Harassment in the Workplace” guide lists the
following 21 examples of offenses that have had their day in court:
• Making unnecessary physical contact, including unwanted touching (e.g., stroking hair,
demanding hugs, or rubbing a person’s back)
• Invading personal space
• Using language that puts someone down because of their sex, sexual orientation, gender
identity, or gender expression
• Using sex-specific derogatory names, homophobic or transphobic epithets, slurs, or jokes
• Leering or inappropriate staring
• Gender related comments about a person’s physical characteristics or mannerisms, comments
that police or reinforce traditional heterosexual gender norms
• Targeting someone for not following sex-role stereotypes (e.g., comments made to a female for
being in a position of authority)
• Showing or sending pornography, sexual images, etc. (e.g., pinning up an image of a naked man
in the bathroom)
• Making sexual jokes, including forwarding sexual jokes by email
• Rough or vulgar language related to gender (e.g., “locker-room talk”)
• Spreading sexual rumours, “outing” or threatening to out someone who is LGBTQ2S (e.g.,
sending an email to colleagues about an affair between a supervisor and another employee)
• Making suggestive or offensive comments about members of a specific gender
• Sexually propositioning a person
• Bragging about sexual prowess
• Asking questions about sexual preferences, fantasies, or activities
• Demanding dates or sexual favours
• Verbally abusing, threatening, or taunting someone based on gender
• Threatening to penalize or punish a person who refuses to comply with sexual advances
• Intrusive comments, questions or insults about a person’s body, physical characteristics,
gender-related medical procedures, clothing, mannerisms, or other forms of gender expression
• Refusing to refer to a person by their self-identified name or proper personal pronoun, or
requiring a person to prove their gender
• Circulating or posting of homophobic, transphobic, derogatory or offensive signs, caricatures,
graffiti, pictures, or other materials
The guide explains that any such behaviours involving professional colleagues in the physical or
online workspace, as well as offsite outside of normal hours (e.g., work parties or community
events), should be reported without fear of reprisal (City of Toronto, 2017, pp. 2-3).
10.2.3.3: HOW TO MAKE THE WORKPLACE MORE RESPECTFUL
Though the Canada Labour Code places the responsibility of ensuring a harassment-free
workplace squarely on the employer (Provision 247.3), all employees must do their part to
uphold one another’s right to work free of harassment. At the very least, everyone should avoid
any of the 21 specific examples of sexual harassment listed above, even in the context of
lighthearted banter. Employees everywhere should be held to a higher standard, however,
which the HRPA advocates in the following recommendations:
• All companies must have a stand-alone sexual harassment and assault policy, as required by
the Labour Code.
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• All employees must familiarize themselves with their company’s sexual harassment policy,
which should include guidance on how to report instances of harassment.
• All companies must conduct training sessions on their sexual harassment policy, including
instruction on what to do when harassed or witnessing harassment, and all employees must
participate.
Of course, experiencing harassment places the victim in a difficult position with regard to their
job security, as does witnessing it and the duty to report. The situation is even more
complicated if the perpetrator has the power to promote, demote, or terminate the victim’s or
witness’s employment. If you find yourself in such a situation, seeking the confidential advice of
an ombudsperson or person in a similar counselling role should be your first recourse. Absent
these internal protections, consider seeking legal counsel.
If you witness sexual or other types of harassment, what should you do? The following guide
may help:
1. If it’s safe for you to do so, try recording video the incident on your smartphone. The mere
presence of the phone may act as a deterrent to further harassment. If not, however, a
record of the incident will be valuable in the post-incident pursuit of justice.
2. If you can play any additional role in stopping the harassment before it continues, try to get
the attention of the person being harassed and ask them if they want support and what
exactly you can do.
3. If it’s welcome from the victim and safe for both you and them, try to place yourself between
them and the attacker. If the victim is handling the attack in their own way, respect their
choice.
4. If the harassment continues, try to de-escalate the situation non-violently by explaining to
the offender that the one being harassed has a right to work in peace. Only resort to violence
if it’s defensive.
5. After a safe resolution, follow up with the person being harassed about what you can do for
them (American Friends Service Committee, 2016).
Of course, every harassment situation is different and requires quick-thinking action that
maintains the safety of all involved. The important thing, however, is to be act as an ally to the
person being harassed. The biggest takeaway from the development of the #MeToo and Time’s
Up movements is that a workplace culture that permits sexual harassment will only end if we all
do our part to ensure that offenses no longer go unreported and unpunished.
10.2.4: SPEAKING ETHICALLY AND AVOIDING FALLACIES
When we discussed persuasive messages earlier (see §8.4), we focused on best practices
without veering much into what’s considered offside in the art of persuasion. When we
consider ethical behaviour in the workplace, it’s worth revisiting the topic of persuasion so that
we can address how not to persuade. In other words, how can we avoid manipulating someone
in professional situations so that they don’t later feel like they were taken advantage of.
In the context of communication, manipulation is the management of facts, ideas or points of

view to play upon people’s insecurities or to use emotional appeals to one’s own advantage.
Though emotional appeals were part of the rhetorical triangle discussed earlier in §8.4.1, they
cross the line into manipulation when motivated by an attempt to do something against the
best interests of the audience, which expects that you treat them with respect. Deliberately
manipulating them by inciting fear or guilt is unethical. Likewise, deception is unethical because
it uses lies, partial truths, or the omission of relevant information to deceive. No one likes to be
lied to or led to believe something that isn’t true.

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Deception can involve intentional bias or the selection of information to support your position
while negatively framing any information that might challenge your audience’s belief.
Other unethical behaviours with respect to an audience such as a workplace team include
coercion and bribery. Coercion is the use of power to make someone do something they would
not choose to do freely. It usually involves threats of punishment, which get results at least
while the “stick” is present, but results in hatred towards the coercing person or group and
hence a toxic work environment. Bribery, which is offering something in return for an expected
favour, is similarly unethical because it sidesteps normal, fair protocol for personal gain at the
audience’s expense. When the rest of the team finds out that they lost out on opportunities
because someone received favours for favours, an atmosphere of mistrust and animosity—
hallmarks of a toxic work environment—hangs over the workplace.
10.2.4.1: ELEVEN UNETHICAL PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES
Though you may be tempted to do anything to achieve the result of convincing someone to act
in a way that benefits you and your company or organization, certain techniques are inherently
unethical. The danger in using them is that they will be seen for what they are—dishonest
manipulation—and you’ll lose all credibility rather than achieve your goal. Just as we have a set
of DOs for how to convince someone effectively in a decent way, we also have a set of DON’Ts
for what not to do.
In Ethics in Human Communication, Richard Johannesen (1996) offers eleven points to consider
when speaking persuasively. Do not:
• Use false, fabricated, misrepresented, distorted or irrelevant evidence to support arguments or

claims
• Intentionally use unsupported, misleading, or illogical reasoning
• Represent yourself as an “expert” (or even informed) on a subject when you’re not, as in the
case of “mansplaining” (McClintock, 2016)
• Use irrelevant appeals to divert attention from the issue at hand
• Ask your audience to link your idea or proposal to emotion-driven values, motives, or goals to
which it is unrelated
• Deceive your audience by concealing your real purpose, your self-interest, the group you
represent, or your position as an advocate of a viewpoint
• Distort, hide, or misrepresent the number, scope, intensity, or undesirable features of
consequences or effects
• Use “emotional appeals” that lack a supporting basis of evidence or reasoning
• Oversimplify complex, multi-layered, nuanced situations into simplistic, two-valued, either/or,
polar views or choices
• Pretend certainty where tentativeness and degrees of probability would be more accurate
• Advocate for something that you yourself do not believe in
If you tried any of the above tricks and were found out by a critical-thinking audience, you risk
irreparable damage to your reputation personally and that of your company.
Though you might think that the above guidelines wipe out most of a marketer’s available
techniques, in fact they leave plenty of room for creative argument following the model for
persuasive argument outlined in §8.4 above. After all, the goal of any such argument in a
professional situation is to achieve a mutually beneficial result, one where both you and your
audience benefit by getting something you both want or need in a free and honest exchange.
Your audience will appreciate your fair dealing as you build your credibility (or ethos in the
rhetorical triangle terminology introduced in §8.4.1).

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10.2.4.2: AVOIDING FALLACIES
Logicians (experts on logic) have long pointed out a set of rhetorical tricks, called fallacies, that
charlatans use to convince others of an argument that has no merit on its own. Though these
fallacies are typically deceptive in nature, they still manage to convince many people in ways
that undermine their own interests. Whenever you see anyone resorting to these tricks, you
should probably be suspicious of what they’re selling or getting you to support. To be ethical in
the way you present arguments in professional situations and steer clear of being held under
suspicion by a critical audience yourself, avoid the eight fallacies explored below in Table
10.2.4.2.
TABLE 10.2.4.2: LOGICAL FALLACIES TO AVOID
Fallacy Definition Example
1. Red Herring Any diversion intended to So-called “safe” injection sites

distract attention from the in our neighbourhood will mean
main issue, particularly by that more dealers will set up
relating the issue to a common shop, too, leading to more
fear crime.
2. Straw Man A weak argument set up to be Safe injection sites will increase
easily refuted, distracting illegal drug use because it’ll
attention from stronger make those drugs easier to
arguments access, defeating the purpose
of “harm reduction.”
3. Begging the Question Claiming the truth of the very Safe injection sites won’t save
matter in question, as if it were anybody because addicts will
already an obvious conclusion continue to overdose with or
without them.
4. Circular Argument A proposition is used to prove Once a junkie, always a junkie.

itself, assuming the very thing it No “harm reduction” approach
aims to prove (related to will solve the opioid crisis.
begging the question)
5. Bandwagon (a.k.a. Ad Appeals to a common belief of No one wants a safe injection

Populum) some people, often prejudicial, site in their neighbourhood
and states everyone holds this because they don’t care that
belief much about the welfare of
junkie criminals.
6. Ad Hominem Stating that someone’s The safe injection site advocate

argument is wrong solely is a junkie himself. How can we
because of something about trust him on issues of safety
them rather than about the when every junkie lies as a
argument itself matter of habit?

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7. Non Sequitur The conclusion does not follow Since this whole obsession with
from the premises being politically correct began
30 years ago, people now think
that even addicts are worthy of
respect.
8. Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc Establish a cause-and-effect The rise of liberal attitudes
relationship where only a since the 1960s has led to
correlation exists higher rates of incarceration
across the country.
(Business Communication for Success, 2015, 14.6)
Avoiding such false logic helps strengthen your own argument by compelling you to stay within
the bounds of sound argumentative strategies such as those covered above in §8.4.
Return to the Professionalism, Etiquette, and Ethical Behaviour Topics menu

KEY TAKEAWAY
The quality of any workplace culture depends on the ethical conduct of its leadership
and employees, with everyone treating one another with respect and speaking responsibly.
EXERCISES
1. First, think of someone who exemplifies everything you aspire to be in terms of

their good behaviour in the workplace (loosely defined as anywhere someone does work—not
necessarily where it’s compensated with money). List the qualities and actions that make them
such a good, well-liked model for behaviour. Second, think of someone who exemplifies
everything you aspire to avoid in terms of their misconduct in the workplace. List the qualities
and typical misbehaviour that make them so detestable.
2. Deliver a short presentation on dining etiquette or how to dress for success in the workplace
with clear recommendations for how your audience should conduct themselves (follow Ch.
12 on presentations beforehand).
3. Have you ever experienced or witnesses sexual harassment in a workplace or institution (e.g.,
at school) according to the definition and examples given in §10.2.3.2? What happened and
what did you do about it? Would you do anything differently in hindsight?
4. Find an example of advertising that is unethical because it relies on logical fallacies and other
deceptive techniques explored in §10.2.4. Identify the fallacies or techniques and speculate on
why the advertiser used them. Outline a more honest—yet still effective—advertisement for
the same product or service.

94
REFERENCES
American Friends Service Committee. (2016, December 2). Do’s and Don’ts for bystander
intervention. Retrieved from https://www.afsc.org/resource/dos-and-donts-bystander-
intervention
Barnes, E. (2018, January 20). Marchers in Baltimore. Retrieved

from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65692582
City of Toronto. (2017, October). Sexual harassment in the workplace. Retrieved

from https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/8eaa-workplace-sexual-
harassment.pdf
Ekman, P. (2017, August 5). Micro expressions. Retrieved

from https://www.paulekman.com/resources/micro-expressions/
Feloni, R., Lee, S., & Cain, Á. (2018, May 16). How to dress your best in any work environment,
from a casual office to the boardroom. Business Insider. Retrieved
from https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-dress-for-work-business-attire-2014-8
The Gandalf Group. (2017, December 12). The 49th quarterly C-suite survey. Retrieved
from http://www.gandalfgroup.ca/downloads/2017/C-
Suite%20Report%20Q4%20December%202017%20tc2.pdf
Gollom, M. (2016, March 24). Jian Ghomeshi found not guilty on choking and all sex assault
charges. CBC News. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/jian-ghomeshi-
sexual-assault-trial-ruling-1.3505446
The Government of Canada. (1985). Canada labour code. Retrieved from http://laws-
lois.justice.gc.ca/PDF/L-2.pdf
Hale, T. (2015, April 2). Changing the culture of reporting sexual harassment and sexual assault.
Retrieved from https://www.army.mil/e2/c/images/2015/04/02/388160/original.jpg
HRPA. (2018a). Doing our duty: Preventing sexual harassment in the workplace. Retrieved
from https://www.hrpa.ca/Documents/Public/Thought-Leadership/Doing-Our-Duty.PDF
HRPA. (2018b). Sexual harassment infographic. Retrieved

from https://www.hrpa.ca/Documents/Public/Thought-Leadership/Sexual-Assault-Harassment-
Infographic.pdf
McClintock, E. A. (2016, March 31). The psychology of mansplaining. Psychology Today. Retrieved
from https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/it-s-man-s-and-woman-s-world/201603/the-
psychology-mansplaining
Navigator. (2018, March 7). Sexual harassment survey results. Retrieved

from http://www.navltd.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Report-on-Publics-Perspective-of-
Sexual-Harassment-in-the-Workplace.pdf
Neal, A., Yeo, G., Koy, A., & Xiao, T. (2011, January 26). Predicting the form and direction of work
role performance from the Big 5 model of personality traits. Journal of Organizational Behavior,
33(2), pp. 175-192. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/job.742
School of Business. (2001, February 1). Dining etiquette. The University of Kansas. Retrieved
from https://business.ku.edu/dining-etiquette
Spurk, D., & Abele, A. E. (2010, June 16). Who earns more and why? A multiple mediation model
from personality to salary. Journal of Business and Psychology, 26(1), pp. 87-103. Retrieved
from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10869-010-9184-3

95
Communication at Work by Jordan Smith is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License, except where otherwise noted.
Reference:
https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/communicationatwork/chapter/10-2-professionalism-
etiquette-and-ethical-behaviour/
Module 3: What's The Difference Between Business Etiquette and Business Ethics?
• Business etiquette is important to commerce, but business ethics is vastly more important.
• In most situations, the stakes are much higher in business ethics than in business etiquette.
A slob and a thief. Which infraction is worse? Shutterstock
The rules of both business ethics and business etiquette are the foundations of strong,
productive professional relationships. You wouldn’t want to do business with people who
worked for an organization that had little regard for either ethics or etiquette.
Business etiquette is important to commerce, but business ethics is vastly more important.

96
Here’s why.
Definitions And Examples
Shutterstock
Business etiquette comprises the rules that govern polite interactions between two or more
people. Business ethics comprises the rules that govern the rights and responsibilities business
people have with respect to each other and the companies they work for.
Consider the following sets of rules:
Group A
1. Listen more than you speak.

2. Don’t chew with your mouth open.
3. Avoid checking your phone while you’re interacting with a colleague or client,
unless it’s an emergency.
4. Have good personal hygiene.
5. Speak respectfully to everyone at your organization, regardless of their position.
Group B
1. Do not reveal confidential information about your company or its clients.

2. Tell the truth.
3. Keep the promises you make, and don’t make promises you’re not prepared to
honor.
4. Don’t sexually harass anyone.
5. Don’t offer or accept bribes.
If you violate any of the rules in Group A, the worst that can happen generally is that you’ll be
considered rude, self-absorbed, or a slob.
If you violate any of the rules in Group B, you may be fired, lose a business deal, and/or spend a
few years in prison.
In most situations, the stakes are much higher in business ethics than in business etiquette.

97
Exceptions and Nuances
There are exceptions and nuances to the distinctions I’m making between business ethics and
business etiquette.
First, cultural differences can make violations of business etiquette a serious matter. William
Kane, Senior Vice President & General Manager of the Human Resources Group of
the Sumitomo Corporation of Americas, a company whose global headquarters are in Japan,
told me:
If the interview candidates I put in front of our Japanese executives don't demonstrate respect
or patience, if they're not thoughtful with their words, if they don't allow time for reflection
and pause in between questions or answers, that gets picked up. Those attributes of respect,
and listening, and patience, ultimately consensus, are very important [in this company]. If the
person doesn't have those attributes, or is maybe challenged [in one], it will cast a shadow on
their candidacy.
The rules of both business etiquette and business ethics exist on a continuum; some offenses
are more grave than others. In some cultures, speaking disrespectfully on a single occasion is
such a serious violation of etiquette that it can quash a job candidacy.
Second, a consistent disregard of the rules of business etiquette can have serious
consequences, even if the infraction itself seems relatively minor. If you’re hired for a position
in sales, for example, and you routinely have bad breath, dirty fingernails, and a slovenly
appearance, you won’t be in sales for very long, because you're the face of the company, and
you risk losing business opportunities for your employer. You may even be shown the door,
since you obviously don’t care about honoring your job description.
Walter Bond in action / AP Photo by

Jan Bauer
If you're in sales, therefore, it pays to

remember NBA luminary and
motivational speaker Walter Bond's
dictum: "Always look like success!
Always look like money."
A third nuance about the business

etiquette/ethics distinction is that in
some professional contexts incivility
can be harmful and even deadly. In a
2015 article in the journal Pediatrics,
a team led by Dr. Arieh Riskin concluded, “Rudeness had adverse consequences on the
diagnostic and procedural performance of the [Neonatal Intensive Care Unit] team members.”
In the hospital setting, disregarding basic rules of etiquette can have ethical implications.
Finally, if you tend to overpromise and underdeliver, which reveals a lack of concern about a
basic rule of business ethics, but you play a crucial role in your company, a smart company will
be willing to help you become more conscientious about the rule of promise-keeping. We can
all do a better job, and we’re educable in many areas of both business etiquette and business
ethics.

98
The Bottom Line
The best employees, managers, and C-suite executives take the rules of both business etiquette
and business ethics seriously. No one is perfect, but respect is a crucial component of
leadership at every level of an organization. We show respect for our direct reports, our
colleagues, our supervisors, our clients, our company’s reputation, and ourselves by being both
polite and ethical.
But it doesn’t matter how well-dressed you are, or how sweet your breath smells, or how clean
your fingernails are if you’re also dishonest, reckless, or willing to take a bribe. No company in
their right mind will keep you around for long—or hire you in the first place.
Reference:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceweinstein/2017/11/28/whats-the-difference-between-
business-etiquette-and-business-ethics/#51fd94a973be
4. What are the psychological processes and phenomena involved in the potential
consumer’s becoming and actual consumer?
5. Differentiate advertising from selling.
6. What is the general objective of advertising?
7. What is an effective technique in advertising?


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A Compilation of Topics in Psychology as Applied to Business

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Unit 1: Introduction to the History of Psychology ………………………………………………………….. 3

Unit 3: Personality …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 28

Unit 4: Functions of Emotions and Motivation ……………………………………………………………….. 32

Unit 5: Stress …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 49

Unit 6: Consumer Behaviour ………………………………………………………………………………………………64

Unit 7: Psychology in Advertising and Selling ………………………………………………………………………69

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Unit 1: Introduction to the History of Psychology

By David B. Baker and Heather Sperry

• Describe the precursors to the establishment of the science of psychology.

• Identify key individuals and events in the history of American psychology.

• Describe the rise of professional psychology in America.

• Develop a basic understanding of the processes of scientific development and change.

The earliest records of a psychological

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Module 1: A Prehistory of Psychology

Precursors to American psychology can be found in philosophy and physiology.

Physiology and Psychophysics

An important implication of Helmholtz’s work was that

Wilhelm Wundt is considered one of the founding

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In 1879, he complemented his lectures on experimental psychology with a laboratory

Scientific Psychology Comes to the United States

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Toward a Functional Psychology

William James was one of the leading figures in a new

At Harvard, James occupied a position of authority and

G. Stanley Hall (1844–1924) made substantial and lasting

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James McKeen Cattell (1860–1944) received his Ph.D. with

Module 2: The Growth of Psychology

Throughout the first half of the 20th

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Behaviorism emerged early

Applied Psychology in America

In America, there has always been an

Clinical psychology was also an early application of experimental psychology in America.

Module 3: Psychology as a Profession

Although this is what most people see in their

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debated. In 1973, the Vail Conference on Professional Training in Psychology proposed

Psychology and Society

Mamie Phipps Clark and Kenneth

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1. Why was psychophysics important to the development of psychology as a science?

2. How have psychologists participated in the advancement of social issues?

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• Benjamin, L. T. (2007). A brief history of modern psychology. Malden, MA: Blackwell

• Fuchs, A. H. (2000). Contributions of American mental philosophers to psychology in the

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• Goodwin, C. J. (1985). On the origins of Titchener’s experimentalists. Journal of the History

• Titchener, E. B. (1909). A text-book of psychology. New York, NY: Macmillan.

• Wertheimer, M. (1938). Gestalt theory. In W. D. Ellis (Ed.), A source book of Gestalt

Heather A. Sperry, M.A. is currently a graduate student in the Counseling Psychology

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Unit 2 – The Behaving Organism and the Basic Phenomenal

Module 1: The Brain and Nervous System

• Explain how neurons communicate with each other

• Identify the location and function of the limbic system

In the 1800s a German scientist by the name of Ernst Weber