General Psychology

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POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITTY OF THE PHILIPPINES

General Psychology
Written Report
BS Psychology I-2

Submitted to the
College of Social Sciences and Development
Department of Psychology
Mr. Rodrigo V. Lopiga

TABLE of CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Biology and Behavior

Page 3-26

Overview - Biological Basis of Behavior Behavior - Neurological Process - Physiological Development

Chapter 2

Human Development

Page 26-51

Introduction - Principles of Development - Factors of Development - Periods of Development Dimensions of Development - Theoretical Perspective of Human Development
Chapter 3

Sensation

Page 52-72

Definition of Sensation Mans Sensation


Chapter 4

Perception

Page 72-87

Definition of Perception - Perception: Our Interpretation of Stimuli Around us Rules of rules: How do
we perceive? (Stimulus Qualities) Depth Perception: from 2D to 3D Extrasensory Perception
Sensation vs. Perception
Chapter 5

Consciousness

Page 87-121

Definition of Consciousness - States of Consciousness Dreams - Stages of Sleep - Length of Sleep Sleep Disorders - Altered States of Consciousness
Chapter 6

Learning

Page 122-132

Introduction - Habituation and the orienting response Association - Conditioning Models of


Learning - Types of Learning - Laws of Learning - Retention and Transfer - Factors Affecting
Learning - Learning Phobias - Biological Basis of Phobia - Normal fear vs. Phobias - The
difference between normal fear and a phobia - Common types of phobias and fears - Signs and
symptoms of phobias
Chapter 7

Memory and Thinking

Page 132-150

Introduction Biology of Memory Memory as a synaptic change Perspective of Memory Concept of Thinking - Memory Experience - Kinds of Memory - Stages of Memory and
Forgetting - Ailments of Memory
Chapter 8

Cognition

Page 151-161

Definition of Cognition Attention Categorization - Solving problems, making decisions, and


thinking
Chapter 9

Language

Page 161-164

Definition of Language - Structure of Language - Language Development


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Chapter 10

Intelligence

Page 165-184

Definition of Intelligence - Theories of Intelligence - Intelligence Test - Factors Influencing


Intelligence
Chapter 11

Creativity

Page 184-185

Definition of Creativity - Divergent thinking - Dimensions of Creative Process


Chapter 12

Motivation

Page 185-194

Components of Motivation - Definition of Motivation - Types of Motivation - Different


Theories of Motivation - Examples of Motivation
Chapter 13

Emotion

Page 194-204

Definition of Emotion - Roles of Emotion - Emotional Development - Study of Emotion


- Kinds of Emotions - Factors Influencing Emotionality - Theories of Emotion
Chapter 14

Personality

Page 204-213

Definition Factors Components Trait Perspective - Hans Eysenck's Trait Theory


Theories Measurements of Personality
Chapter 15

Social Psychology

Page 214-253

Introduction Definition Groups and Social Influences Conformity Social Roles


Obedience Working and Solving problems with a group - Behavior and Attitude Change:
Cognitive Dissonance Theory - Prejudice and Stereotype - Interpersonal Attraction: Friendship
and Love - Attribution Process in Person Perception - General Determinants of Interpersonal
Attraction - Maintaining Relationships
Chapter 14

Abnormal Psychology

Page 253-261

Chapter 15

Psychotherapy

Page 267-262

EXERCISES
ANSWER KEY
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Page 277-282

CHAPTER 1

BIOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR

1. Overview
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY
In the middle of the Decade of the Brain we need to tackle some of the difficult,
confusing issues about the logical relationship between biology and psychology. (Miller, 1996, p.
619)
Much controversy remains about where biological phenomena fit into psychological
science and vice versa. (Miller & Keller, 2000, p. 212)
Biologists know what a brain is, but they are as confused as ever about the mind.
(Lewontin, 2001, p. 105)
The relation between biology and psychology is an issue of broad significance for
psychology as well as for many matters of social policy. Consider, for example, a recent article in
the Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics that considered the question of whether genetic
evidence for an association with the diagnosis of anti-social behavior is sufficiently predictive to
be useful for prevention, intervention, and rehabilitation (Carey & Gottesman, 2006).
Over the past ten to fifteen years I have been enormously impressed with the gains made
in biology. In contrast with many parts of psychology, recent developments in molecular biology
and neuroscience are based on foundation concepts and accepted research methods. Although a
while ago my cell biologist friend Ira Black told me that he thought his field was as problematic
as my own, I have a hard time believing that to be the case. Before I retired, we had three faculty
members teaching introductory personality with almost no overlap in books used or content
presented. I cant imagine that being the case in a comparable introduction to biology or
neuroscience.
Recognizing the importance of these developments, the eighth edition of my personality
text (Pervin & John, 2001) for the first time included a chapter on Biological Foundations of
Personality. At the same time that I was developing this chapter, I was thinking about the
broader issue of the relationship between the fields of biology and psychology, leading to a
chapter entitled Mind, Brain, and Behavior: Psychology, Biology, and the Question of
Reductionism in the third edition of my book Current Controversies and Issues in Personality
(Pervin, 2002). In part such thought was stimulated by a proposal in the Rutgers department of
psychology to split the department in two. One part would consist of the biopsychologybehavioral neuroscience and cognitive science groups, the other part to consist of social,
personality, and developmental psychology. The status of clinical psychology was left undefined.
There were various reasons for consideration of such a split, but one component was the feeling
among some members of the biopsychologyneuroscience group that they represented the true
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science of psychology, the future of the field. Although for some such a split seemed strange, the
point was made that many other universities had a department of psychology and one of
neuroscience, or some similar division. At other universities there were life sciences programs,
with the behavioral neuroscience psychologists being closely allied with other members of the
program, in particular biologists.
For various reasons, the split in my department did not occur and harmony among us as a
family of psychologists was established. However, a short time thereafter a candidate was
interviewed for a position in the department. The candidate gave a lecture in their area of
expertise and a possible appointment was considered at a subsequent faculty meeting. The
candidate was recommended by members of the neuroscience group but the following sentiment
was expressed by a number of members of the department: We went to the lecture but could not
understand what was being said. Is this psychology? Perhaps this person is a more likely
candidate for an appointment in the Biology department.
Much of what I have to say is influenced by recent developments in the field and by two
noteworthy books that consider many of the relevant issues In Search of Memory (2006) by
Eric Kandel and An Argument for Mind (2006) by Jerome Kagan. Both are autobiographical
accounts that also trace the history of developments in their respective areas, cell biology and
developmental psychology, over the past half century. Of particular note, Kandel (2006)
describes his early commitment to psychiatry and psychoanalysis and his subsequent
commitment to research on the brain. He describes how during the 1950s his supervisors were
heavily oriented toward psychoanalysis and away from psychopharmacology. The use of drugs
was discouraged because they were viewed as interfering with the psychotherapeutic process.
Similarly, Kagan (2006) describes how he was indoctrinated into the behaviorist and
psychoanalytic emphasis on the environment and the dismissal of biology. With time he was
able to unshackle himself from the prejudices against biology held by both theoretical
positions and to not only appreciate the biological point of view but to emphasize it in his studies
of temperament. He describes the painful transition as follows: Years after Francis Crick and
James Watson had published their famous paper describing the structure of DNA, more than fifty
years ago, Crick published a series of lectures. One paragraph summarized his belief that future
research would reveal that brain neurochemistry had a major influence on human behavior and
its variation. I wrote in the margin of that page, No! Stubborn facts have forced me, kicking and
screaming, to relinquish the pleasing premise of biologys irrelevance that attracted me to
psychology so many years ago (Kagan, 1960, p. 193). Although still committed to viewing
himself as a psychologist interested in mind, Kagan, at this point in time, is so fascinated with
the biological that he notes the following in relation to individual differences in temperament: If
a genie were to appear and grant me an answer to only one question, I would ask this generous
spirit What is the inherited neurochemistry that contributes to this quality? (Kagan, 2006, p.
193).
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Jumping ahead to what should perhaps be part of the conclusion to this talk, Kagan
makes a prediction about the future of the fieldit will fission into two fields, one the study of
the biological foundations of sensation, perception, etc., and the other the study of human
emotions, beliefs, culture, etc. The two fields will use different concepts and measures. Of
particular interest is his viewing this development as analogous to Harvards earlier split into two
departments, Psychology and Social Relations. Since currently the two are together as parts of
one Department of Psychology, if Kagans prediction comes about, in some sense the field will
have come full circle.

SOME ALTERNATIVE VIEWS OF THE RELATION BETWEEN PSYCHOLOGY AND


BIOLOGY
At least three views can be considered concerning the relation between the fields of
psychology and biologythe two are separate and completely independent of one another, the
two are competing views and one (psychology) can be reduced to the other (biology), and the
two represent different levels of explanation with the scientific goal of establishing links between
the two levels. In some cases a view is expressed in terms that clearly fit within one of these
alternative views. In other cases the view is more nuanced and appears not to fit readily into any
one alternative view.

Psychology and Biology as Separate Disciplines


According to the view that psychology and biology are separate disciplines, one can not
move from analysis, understanding, and explanation in terms of one to analysis, understanding,
and explanation in terms of the other. At its extreme, the view of psychology and biology as
completely separate endeavors reminds one of Descartes mind-body dualism. Few, if any,
psychologists or biologists would take such a Cartesian view. However, some border on it in
terms of their emphasis either that the phenomena of mind cannot be reduced to the processes of
the body or, on the other hand, that the phenomena of mind are of little scientific interest in and
of themselves, mere epiphenomena that are secondary to the underlying processes. As we shall
see in the next section, some biologists come close to stating the latter position. And, perhaps as
a response to such biological imperialism, some psychologists come close to stating the former
position.
Bandura (2001) and Kagan (2006) have articulated the view that different vocabularies
are necessary for psychological and biological analyses of the phenomena of interest. Bandura
(2001), for example, expresses concern with the threat of reducing the psychological to the
biological. He states that processes of the mind (e.g., cognitive processes) are emergent
phenomena that differ qualitatively from the neural events that are part of them and can not be
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reduced to these neural events: Emergent properties differ qualitatively from their constituent
elements and therefore are not reducible to themMapping the activation of neuronal circuitry
subserving Martin Luther Kings I Have a Dream speech would tell us little about its powerful
socially inspirational nature (Bandura, 2001, pp. 4, 19). He draws the analogy of the properties
of water such as fluidity, viscosity, and transparency not being reducible to the components of
hydrogen and oxygen. Similarly, Kagan (2006) suggests that just as chemistry is different from
physics, it is not possible to analyze psychological phenomena in biological terms without losing
important meanings: The current vocabulary for neurons, transmitters, and circuits can never
replace the psychological terms (Kagan, 2006, p. 212).
It is not that Bandura and Kagan discount the importance of understanding brain and
other biological processes, or the legitimacy of their investigation. Indeed, both have conducted
research that relates psychological phenomena (e.g., self efficacy beliefs and temperament) to
biological processes. However, it is their view that appreciation of biological correlates can not
be accepted as a substitute for analysis and understanding of psychological phenomena on their
own terms. As stated by Bandura: Psychological principles cannot violate the
neurophysiological capabilities of the systems that subserve them. However, the psychological
principles need to be pursued in their own right (2001, p. 19).
Another expression of this point of view is represented in Millers (1996) presidential
address to the Society for Psychophysiological Research. In that address Miller expressed
concern that a naively reductionistic view of psychological concepts is prevalent. He suggested
that we need to tackle some difficult, confusing issues about the logical relationship between
biology and psychology (p. 619). And noted that there often seems to be an ideological war
between the psychologically and biologically inclined researchers. He rejected the view that
biology is more fundamental than psychology as well as such phrases as biological
underpinnings, biological substrates, neural substrates, and physiological foundations:
Fundamentally psychological concepts require fundamentally psychological explanations
(Miller & Keller, 2000, p. 212). Remember that this was in a presidential address to a
psychophysiological group.

Psychology and Biology as Alternative, Competing Disciplines: The Question of


Reductionism
Millers comments lead us to consider the second view, that of psychology and biology as
alternative and often competing disciplines. This position often emanates from biologists who
suggest that psychological terms can and should be reduced to biological terms. For example,
consider the following statement by a Princeton University biologist: My feeling is that
molecular biologists are going to move into psychology and take over the field. I think thats the
way psychology is going to be rejuvenated (Silver, quoted in Weiner, 1999, p. 243).
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For many psychologists the term reductionism tends to have a negative implication,
suggesting that something of value is lost or eliminated in the process of going from one group
of units to another. Thus, for example, the argument of Bandura: There is a growing unease
about the progressive divestiture of different aspects of psychology to biology...It is feared that as
we give away more and more psychology to disciplines lower down on the food chain, there will
be no core psychological discipline left (Bandura, 2001, p. 18). Miller similarly argues against
the reductionistic explanation of psychological phenomena in biological terms and extends the
issue as follows: The worst consequences of the biology versus psychology war is the
assumption that dysfunctions conceived biologically warrant interventions conceived
biologically and similarly for dysfunctions and interventions conceived psychologically. This
assumption is rampant in the popular press and common in prominent in scholarly works, but it
is groundless (Miller, 1996, p. 625).
In contrast with such views, in his book Consilience the biologist Wilson (1998) argues
that the reduction of wholes and large units into smaller units makes for good science. According
to him, we must first reduce the level at which we analyze phenomena and then work back
toward synthesis. Although he accepts the view that there are different levels of explanation,
each with its own laws and principles, he argues for biology as the most relevant discipline for
unifying the life sciences. According to him, reductionism, followed by synthesis, is the primary
and essential activity of science: The love of complexity without reductionism makes art; the
love of complexity with reductionism makes science (p. 54).
I suspect that Wilson represents the kind of explanatory and disciplinary elitism that so
troubles Bandura, Kagan, and Miller. It is not just that Wilson sees biology as unifying
knowledge, it is that he also argues against holistic explanations and against cultural relativism.
Thus, Bandura (2001) specifically links Wilson with a view of biological determinism that
rejects the importance of culture. In his emphasis on the ability of humans to exercise control
over the nature and quality of their lives, Bandura rejects what he views as Wilsons biological
determinism and the rule of nature.
Markus (2004), in her presidents column for the Society for Personality and Social
Psychology, articulates the threat that many psychologists feel in relation to the neuroscientific
model: Did the students responsible for the Columbine shootings have abnormalities in their
cingulate gyruses or did a tight knit small town create a set of conditions that made it difficult for
these students to escape their excluded and stigmatized status? In treating anorexia, should we
look inside the person or outside to the social norms regulating eating in a given social context
(p. 3)
Competition between the psychological and the biological often morphs into unnecessary
and unproductive explanations for phenomena of interest. The nature-nurture controversy has a
long history in the field. Although advances in behavior genetics played a very useful role in
bringing to the attention of psychologists the crucial role of genetic factors in personality, in
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partialing variance into genetic and environmental factors it also served to maintain a useless
dichotomythere never are genes without environments or environments without genes. The
question of why children from the same family are so different (Plomin & Daniels, 1987) might
have been asked along side the question of why identical twins from the same family are so
different. As an aside, let me note here the problem of using only phenotypic data in such
analyses. Such data may minimize the shared family environmental contribution to the
development of personality. For example, one sibling may be greatly overweight and the other
anorexic, or one may be a habitual procrastinator while the other compulsively gets things done
on time, if not early. In both cases one can consider a possible shared environmental influence,
anxiety about food and weight in the former and getting things done on time or perfectly in the
latter, although phenotypically they look very different. The general systems concept of
equipotentiality, that the same starting point, in this case shared family environmental influence,
can lead to different outcomes, if only phenotypically different, applies here.
The issue of competing biological and psychological explanations perhaps comes up
most dramatically in terms of the understanding and treatment of mental illness. Is alcoholism a
biological disease or a psychological difficulty? Is weight gain a biological problem or a question
of will power? Is mental illness a disease of the brain or a social and psychological problem?
Luhrman (2000), in her book Of Two Minds: The Growing Disorder in American Psychiatry,
suggests that psychiatrists have inherited a Cartesian dualism. This dualism is expressed in the
division between psychodynamic psychiatrists who emphasize the treatment of the mind through
psychotherapy and the biological psychiatrists who emphasize treatment of the brain through
drugs. According to her, these represent two profoundly different notions of what it is to be a
person: to feel, to choose, to do good, to have meaning (p. 5). Kandel (2006) is critical of
psychiatrists and psychoanalysts who early in his training viewed biology as irrelevant, a
criticism with which I would agree. At the same time, one can be critical of the current situation
where many psychiatrists receive no training in psychotherapy and where managed-care
companies may more readily reimburse for pharmacological treatment than for psychotherapy
the former just costs less.
Currently I consult at a local psychiatric facility. At a recent case conference I was
amazed to hear a psychiatrist ask the presenter, in this case a psychologist: Why are you doing
psychotherapy? The patient is receiving medication! A follow-up question determined that he
was not concerned that the medication might interfere with psychotherapy but rather that the
psychotherapy was unnecessarythe medication was sufficient treatment for the depression!
Clearly, it is easy to slip from a view that all mental illnesses have a biological
component, to the view that all mental illnesses have a biological basis, to the view that all
mental illnesses should be treated pharmacologically, perhaps exclusively pharmacologically.
However, such a sequence in thinking is neither logically nor scientifically warranted. Kandel
(1998) suggests that every mental state is a brain state, and therefore that every mental disorder
is a disorder of brain functioning, and therefore that treatments work by altering structure and
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function of the brain. However, he also suggests that disturbances of brain function can be
caused by environmental events (nurture can impact upon nature) and that psychotherapy
may be effective in the treatment of mental illness, with different psychotherapies achieving their
goals through different brain mechanisms by altering different parts of the brain. Psychotherapy
and pharmacotherapy may each be effective and in similar or different ways produce changes in
brain structure, brain functioning, and subjective well-being.
Most recently I am struck with debate concerning whether our understanding of
biological factors constrains our work in the areas of personality and social psychology. Over a
decade ago Cacioppo and Berntson (1992) wrote that knowledge of the body and brain can
usefully constrain and inspire concepts and theories of psychological function (p. 1025). I
was greatly impressed with their view and took little note of this particular sentence. Indeed, I
still see little that is problematic with it. However, John Kihlstrom (2006), a psychologist for
whom I have very high regard, is critical of what he perceives to be the suggestion that biological
data constrain social psychological theory in the sense that the former level is somehow
privileged: Put bluntly, it betrays the idea that social psychology cant make theoretical progress
without neuroscience (p. 16), without what Kagan (2006) describes as data from the High
Church. Kihlstrom goes on to suggest that Good social-psychological theories will make for
good social neuroscience. After all, Psychology without neuroscience is still Psychology; but
neuroscience without Psychology is just neuroscience (2006, p. 17).
Some may see the debate as purely an issue of semanticswhat one means by
constrain. However, I think that it goes beyond that to issues of competing points of view, of
professional identity, and perhaps of which types of research should receive priority in funding.
In terms of the latter, Steven Breckler, APA Executive Director for Science, expresses the
following: The dramatic shift in funding priorities at NIMH offers perhaps the best example of
the pendulum swinging too far in the direction of reduction. NIMH, once the greatest protagonist
of the biopsychosocial model of mental illness and health, is now paying little more than lip
service to the social and behavioral systems in which mental health is embedded (2006, p. 23).
Psychological and Biological Levels of Explanation
Despite the tendency toward bifurcation in terms of biological and psychological, there
remain many who call for a multilevel, integrative framework. Such a framework rejects
reductionism (i.e., the reduction of complex biological, psychological, and social illnesses to
strictly biological elements) and mind-body dualism in favor of a multilevel, systems view. The
person is treated as a whole, with observations at the various levels of organization (e.g., cell,
tissue, organ, person, family, community) being recognized in terms of their distinctive
contributions to the phenomena of interest. Thus, Kandel (1998) argues for an approach in which
each level of analysis is recognized for its own contributions as well as for the potential
contributions to understanding at other levels of analysis: We now need to ask, How do the
biological processes of the brain give rise to mental events, and how in turn do social factors
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modulate the biological structure of the brain (p. 464)? From this perspective, the psychological
and biological approaches are joined.
My sense is that the concept of levels is gaining increased usage in the personality
literature (Ochsner & Lieberman, 2001). However, somewhat troublesome is the fact that
generally there is not discussion of what is meant by levels of description, analysis, or
explanation, or what kinds of relationships are possible among the different levels. Elsewhere I
have discussed the alternative senses in which the concept of levels has been used in the
personality literature (Pervin, 2002). Here I want to consider the concept of levels in the sense of
units at lower levels being embedded in units at higher levels but with the units at each level
having distinct properties. Thus, one can speak of interactions among, or causal connections
between, the different levels. For example, we can consider the individual, group, and society
levels of organization. Although a society is made up of many groups, and each group is made up
of many individuals, each level has properties of its own. For example, conflict and coalitions
among members within a group has no equivalent within the individual. Similarly, the concept of
group cohesion has no direct equivalent at the individual level.
At the same time, one can speak of processes at one level having an impact upon
processes at another level. For example, an individual can be disruptive to a group process and a
group process can affect the psychological functioning of each individual in the group. The
suggestion that the whole is different from, and perhaps greater than, the sum of the parts (e.g., a
team is more than a collection of individuals) reflects the view that there are phenomena that
may be unique to each level of analysis: At each level of complexity entirely new properties
appear, and the understanding of the new behaviors requires research which I think is as
fundamental in its nature as any other...Psychology is not applied biology, nor is biology applied
chemistry (Anderson, 1972, p. 393).
As further illustrations of this model, consider illustrations from economics and biology.
In economics we have macroeconomics and microeconomics, the former referring to the analysis
of the economy as a whole, the latter to specific actions made by such groups as businesses,
consumers, and governments. Decisions made at one level have implications for those at another
level, and findings at one level have implications for analyses at the other level, but the two
levels of analysis are distinct from one another and economists identify themselves as macro or
micro economists.
In biology there are analyses at the molecule, cell, tissue, organ, system, and organism
level. Again, events at one level can have implications for those at another level (e.g., tissue
damage has implications for organ functioning). Each level is accepted as an appropriate choice
for description, analysis, and explanation. Biologists may make distinctions among one another
(e.g., molecular biologists and cellular biologists), and in some cases separate departments have
been formed, but it is accepted (hopefully) that different levels of investigation are more suitable
for answering different questions. And, one would not say (hopefully) that one or another level of
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analysis is more fundamental, basic, or scientific than another. Each level of description,
analysis, and explanation is better suited for different purposes, with the findings at one level
having implications for understanding phenomena being considered at another level.
If psychological (mind) and biological (body) phenomena are considered to exist at
different levels of analysis, then a variety of possible relationships among research at these levels
can be considered. One possible relationship is where research at one level for the most part
results in findings that duplicate those at another level. For example, an fMRI investigation
found that emotional processing was more engaged in the solving of some judgments than
others, essentially duplicating reports that people would have a harder time pushing a stranger off
a bridge to save five people than hitting a switch that saves five people while killing one
(Greene, Sommerville, Nystrom, Darley, & Cohen, 2001). In another study, involving
investigation of the neurobiological basis of framing effects in a decisionmaking task, fMRI
data indicated that presenting options in ways that engage emotional processes is associated with
greater amygdala activity than presenting options in ways that do not involve such a framing
quality (DeMartino, Kumaran, Seymour, & Dolan, 2006). In this case the results duplicated but
did not extend earlier research based on the work of Tversky and Kahneman.
In a second type of relationship between levels, data from one level validate (i.e.,
confirm), invalidate (i.e., disconfirm), or clarify data from another level. For example,
heritability data played a valuable role in invalidating the purely environmental model of
schizophrenia as caused by a schizophrenogenic mother and the model of autism as caused by
a refrigerator mom. Similarly, neuroscientific findings invalidated the psychoanalytic view of
the phantom limb experience as being due to use of the mechanism of defense of denial to deal
with the psychologically painful experience of loss of a limb. In the addiction area, many
discounted the view of addictions having a biological component, as in heroin addiction, because
addictions such as gambling, shopping, and sex did not appear to have a comparable biological
component. Discovery of the role of neurotransmitters in emotion supported the view of a
common biological component to all addictions. Note that this did not indicate that all addictions
are exclusively caused by the action of neurotransmitters but rather that they could all have a
common biological component, something that did not seem apparent in the earlier heroin
model.
In a third type of relationship between levels, methods of research and/or data from one
level extend or advance research at another level. For example, Kandel (2006) adopted the
methods of classical conditioning to do his pioneering research on the cellular basis of memory.
Observation in one area can help to pose questions for research at another level, as in the
distinction between explicit and implicit memory as well as the difference between conscious
and unconscious processes leading to research in the associated differences in brain mechanisms
and structures (Kandel, 2006). Research in the area of health and illness illustrates the potential
for work at each level advancing that at the other: Social and biological explanations
traditionally have been cast as incompatible, but advances in recent years have revealed a new
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view synthesized from these two very different levels of analysis (Cacioppo, Berntson,
Sheridan, & McClintock, 2000, p. 829). For example, work in the area of
psychoneuroimmunology has advanced our understanding of how psychological factors (i.e.,
stress) and biological factors (i.e., immune system factors, genetic differences) contribute to
diseases such as the common cold and heart disease (Ader, 2001; Cohen, Frank, Doyle, Skoner,
Rabin, & Gwaltney, 1998; Kiecolt-Glaser, Page, Marucha, MacCallum, & Glaser, 1998).
Cacioppos model of a multilevel approach to the relation between social and biological
explanations, as illustrated in his work on the relation between social support and health,
provides another example of linking findings from different levels of observation (Cacioppo,
Hawkley, & Berntson, 2003).
Finally, there is the work of Caspi and his colleagues on the relation between genetic
factors and environmental influences that jointly contribute to the development of depression
(Caspi et al., 2003). In each of these cases thinking and research at one level is tied to thinking
and research at another level, to the potential enhancement of understanding of processes linking
outcomes at each.
Multilevel research is tremendously complex. Not only are there complex relations
among measures at each level but complex relations among measures between levels. For
example, facial, self-report, and physiological measures of emotion often do not correlate with
one another (Kagan, 2006). Relationships between levels then may vary depending on which
measures are used at each level. In addition, the same behavior may express different states, the
General Systems Theory principle of equifinality (i.e., the same end-point can be reached from
different starting points). As noted by Kagan (2006) in relation to different species: A wolf
urinating near a tree in a forest intends to mark his territory; a hiker does so because he or she is
miles from a bathroom (p. 121). As suggested by Zuckerman: A psychobiological approach to
personality is often accused of reductionism. This charge is usually baseless. All types of
phenomena may be studied at different levels, from the most molecular to the most molar. Each
level has its own methods, constructs, and limitations...The cognitive, behavioral, and biological
are complementary and not conflicting modes of explanation. Great discoveries will occur at the
borders of the different levels (1998, p. 150).

CONCLUSION
Kandel (2006) started his career interested in becoming a psychoanalyst, and turned to
biology in what he describes as at the time a nave wish to find the basis for the id, ego, and
superego in the brain. Although committed to reductionism, that is, an effort to understand the
biological processes involved in all psychological phenomena, I do not read him as denying the
value of studying phenomena at the psychological level. Rather than fighting a battle for
scientific hegemony, psychologists and biologists, biopsychologists and behavioral
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neuroscientists, and those who go by other names might best focus their efforts on a multilevel
approach to understanding the phenomena of interest to them. For me, the intriguing question of
the relation between biology and psychology is whether phenomena observed at one level can
drive new questions to be asked at another level or questions to be asked in a different way. For
example, can observations concerning consciousness and the unfolding of self lead to new
questions about the organization of brain structures (Damasio, 1994)) or, conversely, can the
discovery of mirror neurons (Gallese, Fadiga, Fogassi, & Rizzolatti, 1996) lead to our asking
different questions about the development of consciousness and self? This seems to me to be
truly the area in which work at the psychological and biological levels can enhance one another
and go beyond battles concerning the value of reductionism and discipline imperialism.

II. Biological basis of behavior


The Biological Basis of Behavior
At birth, the brain of a child contains about 100 billion neurons, each one forming on
average about 1,000 synapses. With time, the majority of these neurons are lost, and the
properties of the remaining neurons and their connections reflect a combination of both the
genetics and the experiences of the individual from the time of conception. This information is
translated into action via the motor neurons, joined to the muscles and the glands of the body,
using a mechanism of both electrical and chemical transmission. Despite the essentially
unlimited theoretical capacity of the brain to store and use informationenough to confer
individual personalities to multiple billions of individualsone still hears a sense of certainty
that surely I am more complicated than that!
Introduction to Psychology/Biological basis of behavior

The physical structure of the body plays an important role in the behavior of an
individual. The most important physical structure for psychologists is the nervous system. The
nervous system carries orders from the brain and spinal cord to various glands and muscles, it
also carries signals from stimuli receptors to the spinal cord and brain. If you wanted to blink
your eye a signal would be created in the brain, then it would be transported by neurons to the
muscle controlling the eyelid

Biological Basis for Behavior


13

The role of genes may seem obvious when we are discussing


physiologic disease, but less so when considering social and behavioral
phenotypes. Social and behavioral scientists will need no convincing that
biology isnt the whole story, and geneticists are learning more about the
importance of environment. However, there is ample evidence of a biological
contribution to behavior, which lays a foundation for understanding how
genes and environment may interact.
Behavior often is species specific.
A chickadee, for example, carries one sunflower seed at a time from a feeder to a
nearby branch, secures the seed to the branch between its feet, pecks it open, eats the contents,
and repeats the process. Finches, in contrast, stay at the feeder for long periods, opening large
numbers of seeds with their thick beaks. Some behaviors are so characteristic that biologists use
them to help differentiate between closely related species.
Behaviors often breed true.
We can reproduce behaviors in successive generations of organisms. Consider the
instinctive retrieval behavior of a yellow Labrador or the herding posture of a border collie.
Behaviors change in response to alterations in biological structures or processes.
For example, a brain injury can turn a polite, mild-mannered person into a foulmouthed, aggressive boor, and we routinely modify the behavioral manifestations of mental
illnesses with drugs that alter brain chemistry. Geneticists also have created or extinguished
specific mouse behaviors-ranging from nurturing of pups to continuous circling in a strain called
twirler- by inserting or disabling specific genes.
In humans, some behaviors run in families.
For example, there is a clear familial aggregation of mental illness, substance
misuse, and personality traits
Behavior has an evolutionary history that persists across related species.
Chimpanzees are our closest relatives, separated from us by a mere 2 percent
difference in DNA sequence. We and they share behaviors that are characteristic of highly social
14

primates, including nurturing, cooperation, altruism, and even some facial expressions. Adaptive
behaviors can be conserved through natural selection and evolution in the same way as physical
features.

Any changes in the behavior or any defects in the perception of the environs by the
affected person constitute a guide to inspect the areas of the brain that control emotions or the
affected persons receptiveness to perceptible expressions of emotions by other individuals.
The empathy toward other individuals is generated by a neural system of processes that
are stimulated by the perception and by a discrete or notorious interpretation of the signals
exhibited through facial expressions on other individuals or through sounds or calls emitted by
other individuals.
The function related to the perception of emotional signs produced by other individuals is
carried out by the Prefrontal Cortex and by inner folds of the temporal lobes of the cerebrum
known as Amygdala.
The Behavioral Biology understands the investigation of the next factors:
Development (when): The changes during the development can modify the conduct with
age. The ethology investigates the early experiences that promote the expression of a determined
conduct.
Purpose (whats for): A specific conduct can provide certain compensation for an animal
to survive and reproduce by itself.
Causality (what did it): All kinds of animal conducts obey to a primary stimulus. In
ethology, the researcher should discover each cause that impels a specific behavior. We should
take into account that a new learning can modify a conduct.
Evolutionary Record (how): Comparison of conducts that are similar in related species
and that could arise through Evolution.
SOCIAL HIERARCHY AND INTRASPECIFIC DOMINANCE
In animal societies (including human societies) the function of recognition of emotions is
extremely important, therefore it permits the interpretation of audible (sonorous), visual,
olfactory and tactile signs emitted by each member of the society that stimulate the affective
links (affective empathy) with the member that wants to obtain the maximum hierarchical level
of protecting and controlling the group. The signals can be emotional and/or referential. The last
can be general or specific signals.

15

The emotional signals are those that manifest the emotional state of the individual that
emits them; for example, anger, sadness, happiness, fear, alerts, antipathy, etc.
The referential calls are those that the individual expresses when an event that involves to
other members of the society occurs. These can be general or specific signals.
General Referential calls are those that only refer to an integral discovery; for example,
food, enemy, predators, females, etc. Most animals use general referential signals.
The specific referential calls are those that refer to a class of event or object located; for
example, bananas, nuts, fowl, snake, carnivorous, female that is on heat, etc. Few species employ
specific referential signals. Some animals that use them are humans, prairie dogs, some squirrels,
crows, etc.
Humans and other animals use the three types of signals; however, in the species Homo
sapiens the individual that emits the signals can discern if other members of his own species, or
of other species, grasped and attended their calls, while in other animal species the individual
that emits the calls cannot discern if others member of their species, or of other species, grasped
and attended their calls. Chimpanzees, and some times dogs, are able to know if other individuals
perceived their calls or not.
For example, if I discover a poisonous snake, I immediately emit alarm calls for my
companions know about the danger. I will know if my companions listened and attended my
signals or of if they did not listen and/or attended it. On the other hand, most animals will emit
their calls without being able if the other individuals of its group listened and attended the signals
or if they did not. In some animals, especially primates, the calls may also serve to establish
hierarchies within their groups.
An alpha-Male is a male that benefits from the maximum level of hierarchy on all
members of the group (in baboons, which live in societies dominated by females, the female of
maximum rank is called alpha-Female). The individual alpha acquires absolute control on the
social group.
In human societies, the same thing happens. The difference is that that concerns,
generally, to the means by which the alpha individual acquires its hierarchical level; while in
bonobos, chimpanzees and baboons the category alpha is acquired through fights (many times
bloody and deadly struggles), in human beings, alpha-male or alpha female is chosen by means
of persuasive campaigns, followed by an election expressed through visible signals on paper
sheets or electronically. The last methods are recent. In previous centuries, the maximum
hierarchy was obtained through a lineage or through fights and wars that frequently ended up in
genocides, extermination of families, murders or exiles, as of the contender as of the
sympathizers of the defeated candidate. (Nasif Nahle, 2005).

III. Behavior
16

Behavior or Bishevel is
the
range
of
actions
andmannerisms made
by
individuals, organisms, systems, or artificial entities in conjunction with themselves or their
environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the (inanimate)
physical environment. It is the response of the system or organism to various stimuli or inputs,
whetherinternal or external, conscious or subconscious, overt or covert,
and voluntaryor involuntary.
Human behavior refers to the array of every physical action and
observable emotion associated with individuals, as well as the human race as a whole.
Some behavior changes with age. While specific traits of ones personality and temperamentmay
be more consistent, other behaviors will change as one moves from birth through adulthood. In
addition to being dictated by age and genetics, behavior, driven in part by thoughts and feelings,
is an insight into individual psyche, revealing among other things attitudes and values. Social
behavior, a subset of human behavior, study the considerable influence of social
interaction and culture.
Additional
influences
include ethics, authority, rapport, hypnosis, persuasion andcoercion.
The behavior of humans (and other organisms or even mechanisms) falls within a
range with some behavior being common, some unusual, some acceptable, and some outside
acceptable limits. In sociology, behavior in general includes actions having no meaning, being
not directed at other people, and thus all basic human actions. Behavior in this general sense
should not be mistaken with social behavior, which is a more advanced social action, specifically
directed at other people. The acceptability of behavior depends heavily upon social norms and is
regulated by various means of social control. Human behavior is studied by the
specialized academic disciplines of psychiatry, psychology, social work,sociology, economics,
and anthropology.
Human behavior is experienced throughout an individuals entire lifetime. It
includes the way they act based on different factors such as genetics, social norms, core faith,
and attitude. Behavior is impacted by certain traits each individual has. The traits vary from
person to person and can produce different actions or behavior from each person. Social norms
also impact behavior. Due to the inherently conformist nature of human society in general,
humans are pressured into following certain rules and display certain behaviors in society, which
conditions the way people behave. Different behaviors are deemed to be
either acceptable or unacceptable in different societies and cultures. Core faith can be perceived
through the religion and philosophy of that individual. It shapes the way a person thinks and this
in turn results in different human behaviors. Attitude can be defined as the degree to which the
person has a favorable or unfavorable evaluation of the behavior in question. Ones attitude is

17

essentially a reflection of the behavior he or she will portray in specific situations. Thus, human
behavior is greatly influenced by the attitudes we use on a daily basis.
FACTORS
Genetics
Long before Charles Darwin published his book On the Origin of
Species in 1859, animal breeders knew that patterns of behavior are somehow influenced by
inheritance from parents. Studies of identical twins as compared to less closely related human
beings, and of children brought up in adoptive homes, have helped scientists understand the
influence of genetics on human behavior. The study of human behaviour genetics is still
developing steadily with new methods such as genome-wide association studies.
Social norms
Social norms, the often-unspoken rules of a group, shape not just our
behaviours but also our attitudes. An individuals behavior varies depending on the group(s) they
are a part of, a characteristic of society that allows to norms heavily impact society. Without
social norms, human society would not function as it currently does; humans would have to be
more abstract in their Rishevel, as there would not be a pre-tested normal RisheveledRo
lifestyle, and individuals would have to make many more choices for themselves. The
RisheveledRonRzation of norms is, however, inherent in human society perhaps as a direct
result of the desire to be accepted by others, which leads humans to manipulate their own
Rishevel in order to fit in with others. Depending on their nature and upon ones perspective,
norms can impact different sections of society both positively (e.g. eating, dressing warm in the
winter) and negatively (e.g. racism, drug use).
Creativity
Creativity is assumed to be present within every individual. Without
creative minds, we would not live in a modern world like today. Creativity pushes people past
their comfort zone. For example, the Wright Brothers invention of the first practical fixed-wing
aircraft. The aircraft first took flight in 1903, and fifty years later the first passenger jet airliner
was introduced. Creativity is what defines human beings. Creativity has kept people alive during
harsh conditions, and it has also made certain individuals wealthy. We use creativity in our daily
lives as well, such as finding a shortcut to a destination.
Core faith and culture
Another important aspect of human behavior is their core faith. This
faith can be manifested in the forms of religion,philosophy, culture, and/or personal belief and
often affects the way a person can behave. 80% of the United States public claims some sort of
belief in a higher power, which makes religion a large importance in society. It is only natural for
18

something that plays such a large role in society to have an effect on human behavior. Morals are
another factor of core faith that affects the way a person behaves. Emotions connected to morals
including shame, pride, and discomfort and these can change the way a person acts. Most
importantly, shame and guilt have a large impact on behavior. Lastly, culture highly affects
human behavior. The beliefs of certain cultures are taught to children from such a young age that
they are greatly affected as they grow up. These beliefs are taken into consideration throughout
daily life, which leads to people from different cultures acting differently. These differences are
able to alter the way different cultures and areas of the world interact and act.
Attitude
An attitude is an expression of favor or disfavor toward a person, place,
thing, or event. The interesting thing about an attitude and human beings is that it alters between
each individual. Everyone has a different attitude towards different things. A main factor that
determines attitude is likes and dislikes. The more one likes something or someone the more one
is willing to open up and accept what they have to offer. When one doesnt like something, one is
more likely to get defensive and shut down. An example of how ones attitude affects ones
human behavior could be as simple as taking a child to the park or to the doctor. Children know
they have fun at the park so their attitude becomes willing and positive, but when a doctor is
mentioned, they shut down and become upset with the thought of pain. Attitudes can sculpt
personalities and the way people view who we are. People with similar attitudes tend to stick
together as interests and hobbies are common. This does not mean that people with attitudes do
not interact, because they do. What it means is that specific attitudes can bring people together
(e.g., religious groups). Attitudes have a lot to do with the mind which highly relates to human
behavior. The way a human behaves depends a lot on how they look at the situation and what
they expect to gain from it. Positive attitudes are better than negative ones as negativity can bring
on negative emotions that most of the time can be avoided. It is up to humans to make sure their
attitudes positively reflect the behaviors they want to show. This can be done by assessing their
attitudes and properly presenting them in society.

IV. Neurological Process Physiological Development


This chapter is about you and me. It is the story of human development once thought to
end at childhood, or possibly adolescence. Psychologists today, realize that development is a
process that continues from conception to death. It is a process of life-span from a single cell
through late adulthood, and is influenced by the interaction of heredity and environment.
Information about the world and how an individual responds to a stimulus take
place in and through the physical body. Knowledge of the basic biological structures and
processes enables man to understand human behavior. The biological nature of the body directs
stimulation, sensation, perception, motivation, cognition, emotions, skills and others.
19

The nervous system, especially the brain, determines specifically where a


particular behavior will occur. It is capable of receiving and processing information, making
decisions, and relaying the required command for action. No matter how intricated the world is,
mans mind can always cope and adjust to lifes demand.
Definition of terms:
Development- a specified state of growth or advancement.
Conception- a mental grouping of similar things, events, and people that is used to
remember and understand what things are, what they mean, and what categories
or groups they belong to. For example, if I say to you, think of a car, the
concept, car will evoke some ideas in your head about what a car
is and what
types of characteristics it contains does your concept of a car
have black tires,
two doors, four doors, is it red, white, black,
Heredity- the transmission of traits and characteristics from the parent to the
offspring. It is the pre-arranged pattern that undermines specific behavior
affecting
development.

2. Parts of a neuron
Neurons are the basic functional unit of the nervous system. A neuron (/nj rn/
nyewr-on or /nrn/ newr-on; also known as a neurone or nerve cell) is an electrically
excitable cell that processes and transmits information through electrical and chemical signals.
These signals between neurons occur via synapses, specialized connections with other cells.
Neurons can connect to each other to form neural networks. The entire system of the nervous
system is composed of billions of neurons.

Major Parts of a neuron:


20

Dendrites-The dendrites of a neuron are cellular extensions with many branches. This
overall shape and structure is referred to metaphorically as a dendritic tree. This is where
the majority of input to the neuron occurs via the dendritic spine. These are the branched
projections of a neuron that act to propagate the electrochemical stimulation received
from other neural cells to the cell body, or soma, of the neuron from which the dendrites
project. Electrical stimulation is transmitted onto dendrites by upstream neurons (usually
their axons) via synapses which are located at various points throughout the dendritic
tree. Dendrites play a critical role in integrating these synaptic inputs and in determining
the extent to which action potentials are produced by the neuron.

Cell body(Soma/ Perikaryon)- is the bulbous end of a neuron, containing the cell
nucleus to provide the energy for transmitting stimulus received from the dendrites to the
axon, and then to another neuron. It performs the work of metabolism.

Axons-also known as a nerve fibre, is a long, slender projection of a nerve cell, or


neuron, that typically conducts electrical impulses away from the neurons cell body.

Myelin sheath- covers and protects the axons. This is also responsible for the rate of
transmission of signaled stimulus. Most of the musco-skeletal systems are covered by
this. Pain caused from the external environment can be sensed in an instant when
myelineated. Some organs, especially visceral organs, within the body do not possess
myelin sheath. Hence, the pain that results internally can be felt later from the time the
stimulus has been initiated because of the absence of myelin sheath. For example, the
effect of stomach pain is felt later from ingesting the spoiled food.

Nodes- interruption on the myelin sheath. These control the speed of transmission or
stimulus on the neurons. These also serve as break on the momentum of the speed.

b. Types of neurons according to function


1

Afferent/ Sensory/ Receptor neurons- convey information from tissues and organs into
the
central
nervous
system.

Efferent/ Motor neuorons- carry messages from the central nervous system to the
muscles and glands. It sends out the instructions ordered by the brain as signaled by the
corresponding stimulus. These neurons produce body movements or responses
accordingly.

Interneurons/ Internuncial- also known as connecting/ association/ middlemen


neurons. It relay the stimulus or sense information received by the receptor neuronsfrom
one neuron to another. They conduct messages form one part of the nervous system to
another point of the system until the stimulus reaches the brain.

C. Divisions of the nervous system


21

Central Nervous System constitutes the parts (brain, brain system, cerebellum, and spinal cord)
located at the center or middle portion of the body. The CNS is basically responsible for all
mans behavior. It also controls the interactive process of storing and retrieving information. The
brain is a sponge-like organ (weighs 3pounds in the adult) encased in the skull, consisting of the
brain stem, cerebellum and cerebrum.
The PNS is a regional term for the collective nervous structures that do not lie in the CNS. The
bodies of the nerve cells lie in the CNS, either in the brain or the spinal cord, and the longer of
the cellular processes of these cells, known as axons, extend through the limbs and the flesh of
the torso. The large majority the axons which are commonly called nerves, are considered to be
PNS. The cell bodies of afferent PNS nerves lie in the dorsal root ganglia.
Two subsystems of PNS
*The somatic nervous system is responsible for coordinating voluntary body movements (i.e.
activities that are under conscious control).
*The autonomic nervous system is responsible for coordinating involuntary functions, such as
breathing and digestion.
Divisions of ANS
Sympathetic Branch- more on the excitatory effect. Eg.: physiologic reaction increases in fight
or flight situation or in emergency and stressful events
Parasympathetic Branch- inhibitory effect will compensate by slowing down ort relaxing the
former situation; thus, producing an opposite effect to attain physiological equilibrium within the
body
If there is a decrease, there will be an increase to achieve equality, or vice versa.

D. Lobes in the brain


The human brain is the most complex organ in the body. Composed of 50 to 100 billion
neurons, the human brain remains one of the worlds greatest unsolved mysteries. Here we will
take a closer look at the four lobes of the brain to discover more about the location and function
of each lobe.
Brain Lobes and their Functions

22

The brain is divided into four


sections, known as lobes (as shown in
the image above). The frontal lobe,
occipital lobe, parietal lobe, and
temporal lobe have different locations
and functions that support the responses
and actions of the human body. Lets
start by identifying where each lobe is positioned in the brain.
Position of the Lobes
The frontal lobe is the emotional control center of the brain responsible for forming our
personality and influencing out decisions. The frontal lobe is located at the front of the central
sulcus where it receives information signals from other lobes of the brain.
The parietal lobe processes sensory information for cognitive purposes and helps coordinate
spatial relations so we can make sense of the world around us. The parietal lobe resides in the
middle section of the brain behind the central sulcus, above the occipital lobe.
The temporal lobe is located on the bottom of the brain below the lateral fissure. This lobe is
also the location of the primary auditory cortex, which is important for interpreting the sounds
and the language we hear.
The occipital lobe is located at the back portion of the brain behind the parietal and temporal
lobes. The occipital lobe is primarily responsible for processing auditory information.
Functions of the Lobes
The frontal lobe has many functions most of which center on regulating social behavior. Here
are some of the important functions of the frontal lobe:

Cognition, problem solving and reasoning

Motor skill development

Parts of speech

Impulse control

Spontaneity

Regulating emotions

Regulating sexual urges

Planning
23

It is more common to injure the frontal lobe than the other lobes of the brain because the lobe is
located at the front of the skull. The effects of damage to the frontal lobe often result in
personality changes, difficulty controlling sexual urges, and other impulsive and risk-taking
behaviors.
The parietal lobe has several functions including sensation, perception, and spatial reasoning.
This lobe is responsible for processing sensory information from various parts of the body. Here
are some of the functions of the parietal lobe:

Sensing pain, pressure, and touch

Regulating and processing the bodys five senses

Movement and visual orientation

Speech

Visual perception and recognition

Cognition and information processing


Damage to the parietal lobe can result in problems with spatial reasoning, reading, writing,
understanding symbols and language. Right-sided damage to the parietal area can affect a
persons ability to dress or groom his or herself. While left-sided damage can result in language
disorders and disorders with perception.
The temporal lobe. There are two temporal lobes located on both sides of the brain that are in
close proximity to the ears. The primary function of the temporal lobes is to processing auditory
sounds. Other functions of the temporal lobe include:

Since the hippocampus, or part of the brain responsible for transferring short-term
memories into long-term memories, is located in the temporal lobe, the temporal lobe helps to
form long-term memories and process new information.

The formation of visual and verbal memories.

The interpretation of smells and sounds.


The type of impairment that results from damage to the temporal lobe depends on where the
damage occurred in the lobe. Temporal lobe damage can lead to difficulty processing auditory
sensations and visual perceptions, problems concentrating on visual and/or auditory stimuli,
long-term memory problems, changes in personality, and changes in sexual behavior.
The occipital lobe, the smallest of the four lobes, is located near the posterior region of the
cerebral cortex, near the back of the skull. The occipital lobe is the primary visual processing
center of the brain. Here are some other functions of the occipital lobe:

24

Visual-spatial processing

Movement and color recognition


Since the skull protects the occipital lobe, injury is less likely to occur. However, severe damage
to the occipital lobe can result in a variety of visual problems including the loss of color
recognition, visual hallucinations or illusions, problems recognizing objects, and difficulty
understanding language.

E. Endocrine glands
Major endocrine glands and other organs
Major endocrine glands
Gland

Function

Hypothamlus (1) The hypothalamus is situated in the brain, at the base of the optic chiasm and is
attached to the pituitary via a stalk-like structure. It acts as a collecting centre
for information concerned with the internal well being of the body and uses
much of this information to regulate the secretion of the hormones produced by
the pituitary.
Pituitary (1)

The pituitary gland is an important gland and it is often referred to as the


master gland, because it controls several of the other hormone glands. It is
usually about the size of a pea and is situated in a bony hollow beneath the base
of the brain and just behind the bridge of your nose. The gland consists of two
parts (often called lobes) each of which has different functions. The pituitary
gland is also sometimes called the Hypophysis.

Thyroid (1) &

The thyroid gland is situated in the front part of the neck, near the windpipe.

parathyroid (4)

Embedded in the rear surface of this gland are four parathyroid glands. The
thyroid gland controls many body functions, including heart rate, temperature
and metabolism. Both these glands play a role in the metabolism of calcium in
the body.

Adrenals (2)

The adrenal glands (each of which weighs about 4 grams and is about the size
of your thumb) are situated just above the kidneys and consist of two parts, the
adrenal medulla and the adrenal cortex. These glands produce hormones which
25

are essential for life and help us cope with stress.


Pineal (1)

The pineal gland is a tiny body located at the base of the brain. It produces the
hormone melatonin.

Other organs in the body containing endocrine tissue


Gland

Function

Kidneys (2)

The kidneys are situated near the middle of the back, just below the rib cage. These glands
control the blood fluid and mineral levels within the body by processing the blood to remove
waste products and any excess fluid.

Ovaries (2)

The ovaries are situated either side of the uterus. In addition to containing the egg cells
necessary for reproduction, they produce the hormones Oestrogen and Progesterone which are
necessary for menstruation and producing the other female sexual characteristics.

Testes (2)

The testes are situated in a pouch that hangs outside the male body. They produce the
hormones necessary for the production of sperm and the other male sexual characteristics.

Pancreas (1

In addition to its digestive functions, cells in the pancreas regulate the blood sugar that

provides the body with energy.

* ( ) indicates the number of glands in the body

CHAPTER 2
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
3. Introduction
What is Developmental Psychology?
Developmental psychology is the branch of psychology that studies how people grow and
change over the course of a lifetime. Before you begin a more in depth study of this subject, you
need

to

understand

exactly

26

what

development

means.

Developmental psychologists do not just study the physical changes that occur as people
grow; they also look at the social, emotional, and cognitive development that occurs throughout
life.
How is Development Studied?
Developmental psychologists employ a number of different methods and techniques to
study human development. Researchers utilize the scientific method to systematically gather and
analyze information from which conclusions can be drawn. The steps involved in the scientific
method are designed to promote objectivity and limit bias.

What are the Major Questions in Developmental Psychology?


There have been a number of important debates and issues throughout the history of
developmental psychology.
Some of the major questions posed by psychologists and researchers are centered on the
relative contributions of genetics versus environment, the process through which development
occurs, and the overall importance of early experiences versus that of later events.
The classic issue in child development research is the nature vs. nurture debate. Does
genetic inheritance play a larger role in influencing development and behavior, or does the
environment have a stronger effect? Today, most psychologists recognize that both elements play
an essential role, but the debate continues over many developmental questions about topics
ranging from academic aptitude to sexual orientation.
Developmental Psychology
Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humanbeings change
over the course of their life. Originally concerned with infantsand children, the field has
expanded to include adolescence, adult development, aging, and the entire lifespan. This field
examines change across a broad range of topics including: motor skills, cognitive
development,executive functions, moral understanding, language acquisition, social
change,personality, emotional development, self-concept and identity formation.
Developmental psychology examines the influences of nature and nurture on the process
of human development, and processes of change in context and across time. Many researchers
are interested in the interaction between personal characteristics, the individuals behavior
27

and environmental factors, including social context and the built environment. Ongoing debates
include biological essentialism vs. neuroplasticity and stages of development vs. dynamic
systems of development.
Developmental psychology involves a range of fields, such as, educational
psychology, child
psychopathology, forensic
developmental
psychology, child
development, cognitive psychology, ecological psychology, and cultural psychology. Several
influential developmental psychologists from the 20 th century include Urie Bronfenbrenner, Erik
Erikson, Sigmund Freud, Jean Piaget, Barbara Rogoff, Esther Thelen, and Lev Vygotsky.

Attachment theory
Attachment theory, originally developed by John Bowlby, focuses on the importance of
open, intimate, emotionally meaningful relationships. Attachment is described as a biological
system or powerful survival impulse that evolved to ensure the survival of the infant. A child
who is threatened or stressed will move toward caregivers who create a sense of physical,
emotional and psychological safety for the individual. Attachment feeds on body contact and
familiarity. Later Mary Ainsworth developed the Strange Situation protocol and the concept of
the secure base.
There are four types of attachment styles: secure, anxious-avoidant, anxiousresistant, and disorganized. Secure attachment is a healthy attachment between the infant and the
caregiver. It is characterized by trust. Anxious-avoidant is an insecure attachment between an
infant and a caregiver. This is characterized by the infants indifference toward the caregiver.
Anxious-resistant is an insecure attachment between the infant and the caregiver characterized by
distress from the infant when separated and anger when reunited. Disorganized is an attachment
style without a consistent pattern of responses upon return of the parent.
A child can be hindered in its natural tendency to form attachments. Some babies are
raised without the stimulation and attention of a regular caregiver, or locked away under
conditions of abuse or extreme neglect. The possible short-term effects of this deprivation are
anger, despair, detachment, and temporary delay in intellectual development. Long-term effects
include increased aggression, clinging behavior, detachment, psychosomatic disorders, and an
increased risk of depression as an adult.
Attachment style can impact the relationships of people. Attachment is established in
early childhood and attachment continues in adulthood. An example of secure attachment
continuing in adulthood would be when the person feels confident and is able to meet their own

28

needs. An example of anxious attachment during adulthood is when the adult chooses a partner
with anxious-avoidant attachment.
Constructivism
Constructivism is a paradigm in psychology that characterizes learning as a process of
actively constructing knowledge. Individuals create meaning for themselves or make sense of
new information by selecting, organizing, and integrating information with other knowledge,
often in the context of social interactions. Constructivism can occur in two ways: individual and
social. Individual constructivism is when a person constructs knowledge through cognitive
processes of their own experiences rather than by memorizing facts provided by others. Social
constructivism is when individuals construct knowledge through an interaction between the
knowledge they bring to a situation and social or cultural exchanges within that content.
Jean Piaget, a Swiss developmental psychologist, proposed that learning is an active
process because children learn through experience and make mistakes and solve problems.
Piaget proposed that learning should be whole by helping students understand that meaning is
constructed.
Ecological systems theory
Ecological systems theory, originally formulated by Urie Bronfenbrenner, specifies four
types of nested environmental systems, with bi-directional influences within and between the
systems. The four systems are microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem. Each
system contains roles, norms and rules that can powerfully shape development. Microsystem is
the direct environment in our lives such as our home and school. Mesosystem is how
relationships connect to the microsystem. Exosystem is a larger social system where the child
plays no role. Macrosystem refers to the cultural values, customs and laws of society.
The microsystem is the immediate environment surrounding and influencing the
individual (example: school or the home setting). The mesosystem is the combination of two
microsystems and how they influence each other (example: sibling relationships at home vs. peer
relationships at school). The exosystem is the interaction among two or more settings that are
indirectly linked (example: a fathers job requiring more overtime ends up influencing his
daughters performance in school because he can no longer help with her homework). The
macrosystem is broader taking into account social economic status, culture, beliefs, customs and
morals (example: a child from a wealthier family sees a peer from a less wealthy family as
inferior for that reason). Lastly, the chronosystem refers to the chronological nature of life events
and how they interact and change the individual and their circumstances through transition
(example: a mother losing her own mother to illness and no longer having that support in her
life).

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Since its publication in 1979, Bronfenbrenners major statement of this theory, The
Ecology of Human Development has had widespread influence on the way psychologists and
others approach the study of human beings and their environments. As a result of this
conceptualization of development, these environmentsfrom the family to economic and
political structureshave come to be viewed as part of the life course from childhood through to
adulthood.
Psychosexual development
Sigmund Freud believed that we all had a conscious, preconscious, and unconscious
level. In the conscious we are aware of our mental process. The preconscious involves
information that, though not currently in our thoughts, can be brought into consciousness. Lastly,
the unconscious includes mental processes we are unaware of.
He believed there is tension between the conscious and unconscious, because the
conscious tries to hold back what the unconscious tries to express. To explain this he developed
three personality structures: the id, ego, and superego. The id, the most primitive of the three,
functions according to the pleasure principle: seek pleasure and avoid pain. The superego plays
the critical and moralizing role; and the ego is the organized, realistic part that mediates between
the desires of the id and the superego.
Based on this, he proposed five universal stages of development, that each are
characterized by the erogenous zone that is the source of the childs psychosexual energy. The
first is the oral stage, which occurs from birth to 12 months of age. During the oral stage the
libido is centered in a babys mouth. The baby is able to suck. The second is the anal stage,
from one to three years of age. During the anal stage, the child defecates from the anus. The third
is the phallic stage, which occurs from three to five years of age (most of a persons personality
forms by this age). During the phallic stage, the child is aware of their sexual organs. The fourth
is the latency stage, which occurs from age five until puberty. During the latency stage, the
childs sexual interests are repressed. Stage five is the genital stage, which takes place from
puberty until adulthood. During the genital stage, puberty starts happening.
Stages of moral development
Piaget claimed that logic and morality develop through constructive stages. Expanding on
Piagets work, Lawrence Kohlberg determined that the process of moral development was
principally concerned with justice, and that it continued throughout the individuals lifetime.
He suggested three levels of moral reasoning; preconventional moral reasoning,
conventional moral reasoning, and postconventional moral reasoning. Preconventional moral
reasoning is typical of children and is characterized by reasoning that is based on rewards and
punishments associated with different courses of action. Conventional moral reason occurs
during late childhood and early adolescence and is characterized by reasoning based on rules and
30

conventions of society. Lastly, postconventional moral reasoning is a stage during which the
individual sees societys rules and conventions as relative and subjective, rather than as
authoritative.
Kohlberg used the Heinz Dilemma to apply to his stages of moral development. The
Heinz Dilemma involves Heinzs wife dying from cancer and Heinz having the dilemma to save
his wife by stealing a drug. Preconventional morality, conventional morality, and
postconventional morality applies to Heinzs situation.
Stages of psychosocial development
Erik Erikson reinterpreted Freuds psychosexual stages by incorporating the social
aspects of it. He came up with eight stages, each of which has two crisis (a positive and a
negative). Stage one is trust versus mistrust, which occurs during infancy. Stage two is autonomy
versus shame and doubt, which occurs during early childhood. Stage three is initiative versus
guilt, which occurs during play age. Stage four is industry versus inferiority, which occurs during
school age. Stage five isidentity versus identity diffusion, which occurs during adolescence. Stage
six is intimacy versus isolation which occurs during young adulthood. Stage seven
is generativity versus self-absorption which occurs during adulthood. Lastly, stage eight is
integrity versus despair, which occurs in old age.
Each stage builds upon the successful completion of earlier stages. The challenges of
stages not successfully completed may be expected to reappear as problems in the future.
However, mastery of a stage is not required to advance to the next stage.
Erik Erikson proposed his stages of psychosocial development to discuss the
psychological development of the human lifespan. Sigmund Freuds stages of development
focused on psychosexual development, while Eriksons theory focused on psychosocial
development. Eriksons theory claimed that humans develop throughout their lifespan and
consists of eight stages: Trust vs. Mistrust, Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt, Initiative vs. Guilt,
Industry vs. Inferiority, Identity vs. Role Confusion, Intimacy vs. Isolation, Generativity vs.
Stagnation, and Integrity vs. Despair.
Stages based on the model of hierarchical complexity
Michael Commons enhanced and simplified of Inhelder and Piagets developmental and
offers a standard method of examining the universal pattern of development. The Model of
Hierarchical Complexity (MHC) is not based on the assessment of domain specific information,
It divides the Order of Hierarchical Complexity of tasks to be address from the Stage
performance on those tasks. Stage is the order hierarchical complexity of the tasks the
participants successfully addresses. He expanded Piagets original eight stage (counting the half
stages) to fifteen stages. The stages are : 0 Calculatory; 1 Sensory & Motor; 2 Circular sensory31

motor; 3 Sensory-motor; 4 Nominal; 5 Sentential; 6 Preoperational; 7 Primary; 8 Concrete; 9


Abstract; 10 Formal; 11 Systematic; 12 Metasystematic; 13 Paradigmatic; 14 Crossparadigmatic; 15 Meta-Cross-paradigmatic. The order of hierarchical complexity of tasks
predicts how difficult the performance is with a R ranging from 0.9 to 0.98.
In the MHC, there are three main axioms for an order to meet in order for the higher
order task to coordinate the next lower order task. Axioms are rules that are followed to
determine how the MHC orders actions to form a hierarchy. These axioms are: a) defined in
terms of tasks at the next lower order of hierarchical complexity task action; b) defined as the
higher order task action that organizes two or more less complex actions; that is, the more
complex action specifies the way in which the less complex actions combine; c) defined as the
lower order task actions have to be carried out non arbitrarily.
Theories of cognitive development
Jean Piaget, a Swiss theorist, posited that children learn by actively constructing
knowledge through hands-on experience. He suggested that the adults role in helping the child
learn was to provide appropriate materials that the child can interact with and use to construct.
He used Socratic questioning to get children to reflect on what they were doing, and he tried to
get them to see contradictions in their explanations.
Piaget believed that intellectual development takes place through a series of stages, which
he described in his theory on cognitive development. Each stage consists of steps the child must
master before moving to the next step. He believed that these stages are not separate from one
another, but rather that each stage builds on the previous one in a continuous learning process.
He proposed four stages: sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational, and formal
operational. Though he did not believe these stages occurred at any given age, many studies have
determined when these cognitive abilities should take place.
Zone of proximal development
Lev Vygotsky was a Russian theorist from the Soviet era, who posited that children learn
through hands-on experience and social interactions with members of his/her culture. Unlike
Piaget, he claimed that timely and sensitive intervention by adults when a child is on the edge of
learning a new task (called the zone of proximal development) could help children learn new
tasks. This adult role is often referred to as the skilled master, whereas the child is considered
the learning apprentice through an educational process often termed cognitive
apprenticeship. Martin Hill stated that The world of reality does not apply to the mind of a
child. This technique is called scaffolding, because it builds upon knowledge children already
have with new knowledge that adults can help the child learn. Vygotsky was strongly focused on
the role of culture in determining the childs pattern of development, arguing that development
moves from the social level to the individual level. In other words, Vygotsky claimed that
32

psychology should focus on the progress of human consciousness through the relationship of an
individual and their environment. He felt that if scholars continued to disregard this connection,
then this disregard would inhibit the full comprehension of the human consciousness.

II. Principles of Development


Although children develop at different rates and, therefore, the notion of interindividual
differences exists, a single child can show more rapid change in some developmental areas than
in others; thus, intraindividual differences also exist. Regardless of the perspective, there are
certain principles of development that apply to all children. These include the following:

Development progresses in a step-by-step fashion. It is orderly, sequential, and proceeds


from the simple to the complex. Each achieved behavior forms the foundation for more advanced
behaviors.

single

Rates of development vary among children as well as among developmental areas in a


child.

Development is characterized by increasing specificity of function (differentiation) as


well as integration of these specific functions into a larger response pattern. A good example of
this principle is the infant startle reflex. When an infant is startled, his entire body tenses and his
arms move out to the side. With age, this reflex becomes integrated into more specific behavioral
patterns such that a startled preschooler will tense only the shoulder and neck muscles.

Neurological development contributes significantly to the acquisition of physical skills in


young children. Physical development proceeds in cephalocaudal and proximodistal directions.
Cephalocaudal development describes the progression of body control from the head to the lower
parts of the body. For example, an infant will achieve head, upper trunk, and arm control before
lower trunk and leg control. Proximodistal development describes progress from the central
portions of the body (i.e., the spinal cord) to the distal or peripheral parts. In this developmental
progression, gross motor skills and competencies precede fine motor skills. This developmental
progression continues throughout early childhood, with upper trunk control being achieved first,
then arm control, and finally finger control. According to this principle, each change in the
childs development should result in an increasingly refined level of skill development.

Development of any structure follows a sequential pattern; however, there appear to be


specific times during development in which a developing structure is most sensitive to external
conditions. These sensitive periods, or critical periods, are the times during which a specific
condition or stimulus is necessary for the normal development of a specific structure.
33

Conversely, these periods also represent times when a structure may be most vulnerable to
disruption (Rice & Barone, 2000). The concept of critical periods has created much debate in
theoretical circles, particularly with respect to parentinfant bonding (Anisfeld et al., 1983) and
language
development
(Lenneberg,
1967).

All development is interrelated. Although it is convenient for the student or early


interventionist to discuss development in terms of discrete developmental areas, such as motor
skills, development in other areas such as social-emotional or communication functions does not
cease, nor is it necessarily separate from other areas. The student or child practitioner must
recognize how different areas of development are interrelated to understand how a particular
child
develops.

Development is influenced by heredity and environment. Although there has been much
discussion by experts in the field about which is more important, there is no doubt that they both
play a role in a childs development. A childs genetic inheritance (i.e., heredity) provides the
basic foundation for many physical and personality attributes, but the influences of social,
cultural, and familial variables (i.e., environment) also contribute to development.

III. Factors of Development


FACTORS THAT AFFECT HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT AND
HOW THEY ARE INTERRELATED
A. Genetic Inheritance
Our genes are inherited from our parents.
Genes determine our physical growth, appearance and abilities.
Each human cell has 23 pairs of chromosomes, one from each parent.
Each chromosome has over 4000 genes; these tell the bodys cells how to grow.
A person can do very little to change their physical features and growth potential.
Genes also carry information that affects growth and development throughout life. Your genes
are responsible for illnesses, disabilities and diseases you develop. This is because you may be
born into a family with a history of stroke or cancer and you have inherited the genes for that
disorder. Whether you inherit the disorder is due to other factors too, e.g. lifestyle choices.
B. Lifestyle Choices
Your lifestyle, e.g. attitudes, behaviours and choices has an impact on your health and
development.
Those among us who make healthy choices will be different in lifestyle to those who make
unhealthy choices.
If you make unhealthy choices you are more likely to experience health problems.
Unhealthy lifestyle choices include smoking, substance misuse and poor diet.
Some illnesses (e.g. coughs and colds) are easily treatable and short-term.
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Illness and Disease

Some illnesses are genetic and passed in our genes (e.g. haemophilia) and can affect our
growth and development.
Infectious diseases (e.g. HIV) can cause permanent damage to a persons health and can
be fatal.
Degenerative conditions (e.g. Alzheimers disease) can affect a persons health and
development in adulthood, as well as affecting a persons social relationships, result in
emotional distress, and destroy intellectual abilities.
C. Social, cultural and emotional factors
(Social) Influence of Play and Social Isolation
*Children play a lot at a young age. Play promotes development.
Younger children use solo or parallel play, as they get older play becomes cooperative
and associative. Through play children develop social relationships, develop interaction
and cooperation skills, and develop their imagination. Play also develops fine and gross
motor skills to build physical strength and stamina.
* People who are socially isolated lack family and close friends. People can
become socially isolated as they age and get infirm, when they have mental health
problems, or if they lack the social skills and confidence to make friends.
Social isolation can be due to bullying in childhood and adolescence.
Social isolation can make someone stressed, depressed and have low self-esteem.
Culture
Culture influences the way we dress, our diet, and the type of relationships we form.
When you live in a multicultural country like the UK we develop differently due to our
cultural influences.
Culture also includes religious beliefs. This provides followers with rules about health,
lifestyle and moral issues (marriage, personal hygiene, abortion etc).
Your health beliefs, Rishevel and relationships can also be influenced by the community
you belong to.
(Emotional) Gender
Gender is whether you are biologically male or female.
Gender refers to how society expects you to behave.
In the West girls are expected to be feminine (kind, caring and gentle). This leads to
assumptions of women to do non-manual work, cook, clean and look after children.
Boys are expected to be masculine and be boisterous and tough. This leads men to do
manual work and be decision-makers.
This leads to inequality, and can effect womens pay. This isnt as bad as it once was, but
can still affect intellectual and emotional development about how we are expected to
behave.

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D. Influence of Role Models


The media has an effect on how people develop and how we view each other. Parents are
concerns about TV programmes showing negative and violent themes that can affect our
childrens development.
Gender, racial, and sexist stereotypes and celebrity role models can also influence young people.
Positive images can also be shown in the media, e.g. health education and promoting healthy
living.
E. Economic factors
Employment/unemployment/not in education, employment or training

A persons employment also decides their social class (people with higher status
employment have a higher social class).
A job can also affect your self-concept, intellectual, emotional and social development.
Having a high status job will be stimulating and have a positive effect.
Working in difficult or stressful conditions, in a low status job, in an unsupportive
environment can have a negative effect on self-esteem.
Children who truant or are excluded from schools are most likely to become uneducated,
they are more likely to suffer long-term unemployment, have low self-esteem and have
higher rates of mental health problems.

Income/wealth
Income is the amount of money in a household.
It can come from working, pensions, welfare benefits, or investments.
The amount of money an individual has effects development because it affects the quality
of life available to them.
People with a good income are likely to have a better education and more leisure
opportunities.
If you do not have a sufficient income you can be described as living in poverty. When
you have little money it puts stress on the family
Occupation
Having a job ensures most people to have an income.
Some jobs provide better incomes, better working conditions and a higher social status. .
Housing Conditions

Housing provides physical shelter and protection.


This is important for physical health and development (lack of adequate heating, damp
and overcrowding can lead to breathing disorders, stress and mental health problems).
Children who live in overcrowded homes are more likely to be victims of accidents.
People with low income sometimes have to choose between food and heating.
36

A lack of heating can lead to hypothermia.


Your home also provides a sense of emotional wellbeing and psychological security
(which affects your emotional development).
F. Physical Environment Factors
Pollution
Pollution is the release of high concentrations of dangerous substances (e.g. human waste
or chemicals) into the environment.
Pollution can remain for many years, cause health problems for many.
Pollution can affect the sea, air, water or land.
Factories often give off smoke as pollution. But some pollution you cannot see, e.g. acid
rain (which can lead to asthma).
Noise pollution occurs from human or machine-made noise (e.g. cars, aircraft etc).
Chronic (long-term) exposure to noise can lead to tinnitus, increased stress levels,
disturbed sleep and hearing loss.
G. Relationships (Family, Friends and Partners)
*Relationship problems affect a persons social and environmental development. If parents are
arguing then it can lead to stress for the children. If teenagers are causing problems in the family
then it can cause difficulties for all.
Family is important because...
1. Provides you with education and socialization.
2. Supports you emotionally and financially.
3. Protects your health and wellbeing through care and guidance.
*Friends are important in childhood because they help you us develop socially and emotionally.
Friends are important in adolescence when you are trying to develop a separate identity from
parents, it is important to feel liked and respected by peers.
In adulthood friendships are important because they help you maintain a social life outside of
family.
In later adulthood friendships are important because they are a source of companionship and a
connection to your past.
Friends help you to feel like you belong, they are a source of support and they help build selfesteem.

H. Growing up in Care
Children who grow up in care are more vulnerable in adolescence.
They have to deal with sexuality, peer pressure and puberty with no parental role models.
People who grow up in care are more likely to experience teenage pregnancy, become involved
in alcohol and substance misuse, to be excluded from school, and achieve fewer and lower grade
qualifications.
Children in care worry about prejudice from others who may view them negatively. Supportive
37

foster parents and teachers can provide stability for the child.
4. Stress

Stress is when we feel challenged or threatened and cannot cope with demands placed on us.
Extreme stress can lead to physical and mental health problems (e.g. asthma, high blood pressure
and migraines).
Stress can be experienced at any life stage and can affect your emotional development due to
negative feelings caused.
It could also affect social development if it causes difficulties in relationships with others.

IV. Periods of Development


Periods of Development
Erik Erikson (1902-1994) was interested in how children socialize and how this
affects their sense of self. According to the theory, successful completion of each stage results in
a healthy personality and successful in and interactions with others. Failure to successfully
complete a stage can result in reduced ability to complete further stages and therefore a more
unhealthy personality and sense of self. These stages, however, can be resolved successfully at a
later time.
Trust Versus Mistrust Infant (0-1 yr) Children begin to learn the ability to trust others
based upon the consistency of their caregivers. If trust develops successfully, the child gains
confidence and security in the world around him and is able to feel secure even when threatened.
Unsuccessful completion of this stage can result in an inability to trust, and therefore a sense of
fear about the inconsistent world. It may result in anxiety, heightened insecurities, and an over
feeling of mistrust in the world around them.
Autonomy Versus Shame and Doubt Toddler (1-3 yrs old) children begin to assert
their independence, by walking away from their mother, picking which toy to play with, and
making choices about what they like to wear, to eat, etc. If children are encouraged and
supported in their increased independence, they become more confident and secure in their own
ability to survive in the world. If children are criticized, overly controlled, or not given the
opportunity to assert themselves, they begin to feel inadequate in their ability to survive, and
may then become overly dependent upon others, lack self-esteem, and feel a sense of shame or
doubt in their own abilities.
Initiative versus Guilt Preschooler (3-6 yrs. Old) children assert themselves more
frequently. They begin to plan activities, make up game, and initiate activities with others. If
given this opportunity, children develop a sense of initiative, and feel secure in their ability to
lead others and make decisions. Conversely, if this tendency is squelched, either through
criticism or control, children develop a sense of guilt. They may feel like a nuisance to others and
will therefore remain followers, lacking in self-initiative.

38

Industry Versus Inferiority School-age child (6-12 yrs. Old) children to develop a
sense of pride in their accomplishments. They initiate activities with others. They initiate
projects, see them through to completion, and feel good about what they have achieved. During
this time, teachers play increased role in the childs development. If children are encouraged and
reinforced for their initiative, they begin to feel industrious and feel confident in their ability to
achieve goals. If this initiative is not encouraged, if it is restricted by parents or teacher, then the
child begins to feel inferior, doubting his own abilities and therefore may not reach his potentials.
Identity Versus Role Confusion (12-18) Adolescent During this adolescence, the
transition from childhood to adulthood is most important. Children are becoming more
independent, and begin to look at the future in terms of career, relationships, families, housing,
etc. During this period, they explore possibilities and begin to form their own identity based
upon the outcome of their explorations. This sense of who they are can be hindered, which
results in a sense of confusion. ( I dont know what I want to be when I grow up) about
themselves and their role in the world.
Intimacy Versus Isolation (20-45) Young adult Occurring in young adulthood, we
begin to share ourselves more intimately with others. We explore relationships leading toward
longer term commitments with someone other than a family member. Successful completion can
lead to comfortable relationships and a sense of commitment, safety, and care within a
relationship. Avoiding intimacy, fearing commitment and relationships can lead to isolation,
loneliness, and sometimes depression.
Generativity Versus Stagnation (30-65) Middle aged adult During middle adulthood,
we establish our careers, settle down within a relationship, begin our own families and develop a
sense of being a part of the bigger picture. We give back to society through raising our own
children, being productive at work, and becoming involved in community activities and
organizations. By failing to achieve these objectives, we become stagnant and feel
unprodeuctive.
Ego Integrity Versus Despair (50+) Old adult As we grow older and become senior
citizens, we tend to slow down our productivity, and explore life as a retired person. It is during
this time that we contemplate our accomplishments and are able to develop integrity if we see
ourselves as leading a successful life. If we see our lives as unproductive, feel guilt about our
pasts, or feel that we did not accomplish our life goals, we become more dissatisfied with life
and develop despair, often leading to depression and hopelessness.

V. Dimensions of Development
Physical development is the process that starts in human infancy and continues into late
adolescent concentrating on gross and fine motor skills as well as puberty. Physical development
involves developing control over the body, particularly muscles and physical coordination. The
peak of physical development happens in childhood and is therefore a crucial time for
neurological brain development and body coordination to encourage specific activities such as
grasping, writing, crawling, and walking. As a child learns what their bodies can do, they gain
39

self confidence, promoting social and emotional development. Physical activities geared toward
aiding in physical development contribute significantly to a persons health and well-being,
according to the Surgeon Generals report.
Motor development is the development of movement. The ability to move is essential to human
development. Many motor skills are necessary for everyday life activities e.g. sitting, walking,
running, climbing stairs, picking up objects, using cups, knives and forks, pouring drinks,
dressing, holding and using pencils, pens, scissors and using keyboards. Basic motor skills can
be further divided up into
Gross motor skills that are large movements of the body including sitting, walking,
running and climbing stairs.
Fine motor skills that involve the small movements of the fingers and hands. They
include picking up objects, using cups, knives and forks, pouring drinks, dressing, holding and
using pencils, pens, scissors and keyboards.
Movement can be seen and felt and a delay in motor development is usually the first sign
of a real problem because it is noticed far sooner than a problem with seeing, hearing or
communication. Motor development seems to follow a pattern. Large muscles develop before
smaller ones e.g. very young children find it easier to run than cutting with scissors. Children
also tend to develop in a head-to-toe pattern. For instance, babies move their eyes, head and
hands long before they learn to crawl.

Perceptual development is an aspect of cognitive development that allows a young


human being to start interpreting and understanding sensory input. In the first year of life, it
proceeds extremely rapidly. As many parents are undoubtedly well aware, development occurs in
leaps and bounds for many children at this age as they engage with the world around them and
learn more about what they touch, see, smell, hear, and taste. Perceptual development is the
reason that psychologists and people who study child development recommend providing
children with stimulus-rich environments.
The process of perceptual development is very closely linked to motor development. For
example, as infants grow, they begin to be able to support their heads on their own, and to turn
their heads so that their eyes can scan their environment. Likewise, the ability to crawl and later
walk allows opportunities for purposeful engagement with the surrounding world. For example,
as an infant develops manual dexterity, she or he can start to manipulate objects such as rattles
and
balls.
Some aspects of perception are hardwired and start to manifest shortly after birth. Others,
however, need to be refined or developed. For example, newborns do not have very good vision.
Within weeks, however, they start to discern between different patterns, experience
sharpening and improvement in color vision, and can track movements. Being surrounded with
enriching materials such as brightly colored mobiles and patterned toys encourages this
development in infants.
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Social development involves learning the values, knowledge and skills that
enable children to relate to others effectively and to contribute in positive ways to family, school
and the community. This kind of learning is passed on to children directly by those who care for
and teach them, as well as indirectly through social relationships within the family or with
friends, and through childrens participation in the culture around them. Through their
relationships with others and their growing awareness of social values and expectations, children
build a sense of who they are and of the social roles available to them. As children develop
socially, they both respond to the inuences around them and play an active part in shaping their
relationships.
Gender role development. In a society filled with gender stereotypes, children regularly
learn to adopt gender roles. Gender stereotypes: widely held beliefs about characteristics
thought appropriate for males and females. Gender roles: the reflection of gender stereotypes in
everyday Rishevel.
(Berk, 2000)
Children are exposed to many factors which influence their attitudes and behaviours
regarding gender roles. These attitudes and behaviours are generally learned in the home and are
then reinforced by the childs peers, school experience and the media.
The strongest influence on gender role development seems to occur within the family,
with parents passing on, both overtly and covertly, their own beliefs about gender (Witt, 1997).
Although the past three decades have brought a new level of awareness about the wide
range of roles possible for each gender, strong beliefs about differences still remain.
Psychosocial Stages: Eriksons (1959) theory of psychosocial development has eight distinct
stages.
5. Trust vs. Mistrust
During this stage the infant is uncertain about the world in which they live. To resolve
these feelings of uncertainty the infant looks towards their primary caregiver for stability and
consistency of care.
If the care the infant receives is consistent, predictable and reliable they will develop a
sense of trust which will carry with them to other relationships, and they will be able to feel
secure even when threatened.
Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of hope. By developing a sense of trust, the
infant can have hope that as new crises arise, there is a real possibility that other people will be
there are a source of support. Failing to acquire the virtue of hope will lead to the development of
fear.
2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
The child is developing physically and becoming more mobile. Between the ages of 18
months and three, children begin to assert their independence, by walking away from their
41

mother, picking which toy to play with, and making choices about what they like to wear, to eat,
etc.
The child is discovering that he or she has many skills and abilities, such as putting on
clothes and shoes, playing with toys etc. Such skills illustrate the childs growing sense of
independence and autonomy. Erikson states it is critical that parents allow their children to
explore the limits of their abilities within an encouraging environment which is tolerant of
failure.
For example, rather than put on a childs clothes a supportive parent should have the
patience to allow the child to try until they succeed or ask for assistance. So, the parents need to
encourage the child to becoming more independent whilst at the same time protecting the child
so that constant failure is avoided.
A delicate balance is required from the parent .... they must try not to do everything for
the child but if the child fails at a particular task they must not criticize the child for failures and
accidents (particularly when toilet training). The aim has to be self control without a loss of
self-esteem (Gross, 1992). Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of will.
6. Initiative vs. Guilt
During this period the primary feature involves the child regularly interacting with other
children at school. Central to this stage is play, as it provides children with the opportunity to
explore their interpersonal skills through initiating activities.
Children begin to plan activities, make up games, and initiate activities with others. If
given this opportunity, children develop a sense of initiative, and feel secure in their ability to
lead others and make decisions. Conversely, if this tendency is squelched, either through
criticism or control, children develop a sense of guilt. They may feel like a nuisance to others and
will therefore remain followers, lacking in self-initiative.
The child takes initiatives which the parents will often try to stop in order to protect the
child. The child will often overstep the mark in his forcefulness and the danger is that the parents
will tend to punish the child and restrict his initiatives too much.
It is at this stage that the child will begin to ask many questions as his thirst for
knowledge grows. If the parents treat the childs questions as trivial, a nuisance or embarrassing
or other aspects of their behavior as threatening then the child may have feelings of guilt for
being a nuisance.
Too much guilt can make the child slow to interact with others and may inhibit their
creativity. Some guilt is, of course, necessary otherwise the child would not know how to
exercise self control or have a conscience.
A healthy balance between initiative and guilt is important. Success in this stage will lead
to the virtue of purpose.
42

7. Industry (competence) vs. Inferiority


Children are at the stage (aged 5 to 12 yrs) where they will be learning to read and write,
to do sums, to make things on their own. Teachers begin to take an important role in the childs
life as they teach the child specific skills.
It is at this stage that the childs peer group will gain greater significance and will become
a major source of the childs self esteem. The child now feels the need to win approval by
demonstrating specific competencies that are valued by society, and begin to develop a sense of
pride in their accomplishments.
If children are encouraged and reinforced for their initiative, they begin to feel
industrious and feel confident in their ability to achieve goals. If this initiative is not encouraged,
if it is restricted by parents or teacher, then the child begins to feel inferior, doubting his own
abilities and therefore may not reach his or her potential.
If the child cannot develop the specific skill they feel society is demanding (e.g. being
athletic) then they may develop a sense of inferiority. Some failure may be necessary so that the
child can develop some modesty. Yet again, a balance between competence and modesty is
necessary. Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of competence.
8. Identity vs. Role Confusion
During adolescence (age 12 to 18 yrs), the transition from childhood to adulthood is most
important. Children are becoming more independent, and begin to look at the future in terms of
career, relationships, families, housing, etc. The individual wants to belong to a society and fit in.
This is a major stage in development where the child has to learn the roles he will occupy
as an adult. It is during this stage that the adolescent will re-examine his identity and try to find
out exactly who he or she is. Erikson suggests that two identities are involved: the sexual and the
occupational.
According to Bee (1992), what should happen at the end of this stage is a reintegrated
sense of self, of what one wants to do or be, and of ones appropriate sex role. During this stage
the body image of the adolescent changes.
Erikson claims that the adolescent may feel uncomfortable about their body for a while
until they can adapt and grow into the changes. Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of
fidelity.
Fidelity involves being able to commit ones self to others on the basis of accepting
others even when there may be ideological differences.
During this period, they explore possibilities and begin to form their own identity based
upon the outcome of their explorations. Failure to establish a sense of identity within society (I

43

dont know what I want to be when I grow up) can lead to role confusion. Role confusion
involves the individual not being sure about themselves or their place in society.
In response to role confusion or identity crisis an adolescent may begin to experiment
with different lifestyles (e.g. work, education or political activities). Also pressuring someone
into an identity can result in rebellion in the form of establishing a negative identity, and in
addition to this feelings of unhappiness.
9. Intimacy vs. Isolation
Occurring in young adulthood (ages 18 to 40 yrs), we begin to share ourselves more
intimately with others. We explore relationships leading toward longer term commitments with
someone other than a family member.
Successful completion of this stage can lead to comfortable relationships and a sense of
commitment, safety, and care within a relationship. Avoiding intimacy, fearing commitment and
relationships can lead to isolation, loneliness, and sometimes depression. Success in this stage
will lead to the virtue of love.
10. Generativity vs. Stagnation
During middle adulthood (ages 40 to 65 yrs), we establish our careers, settle down within
a relationship, begin our own families and develop a sense of being a part of the bigger picture.
We give back to society through raising our children, being productive at work, and
becoming involved in community activities and organizations.
By failing to achieve these objectives, we become stagnant and feel unproductive.
Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of care.
8. Ego Integrity vs. Despair
As we grow older (65+ yrs) and become senior citizens, we tend to slow down our
productivity, and explore life as a retired person. It is during this time that we contemplate our
accomplishments and are able to develop integrity if we see ourselves as leading a successful
life.
Erik Erikson believed if we see our lives as unproductive, feel guilt about our past, or feel
that we did not accomplish our life goals, we become dissatisfied with life and develop despair,
often leading to depression and hopelessness.
Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of wisdom. Wisdom enables a person to look
back on their life with a sense of closure and completeness, and also accept death without fear.
Emotional development involves learning what feelings and emotions are,
understanding how and why they happen, RisheveledR ones own feelings and those of others,
44

and developing effective ways of managing them. As children grow and are exposed to different
situations their emotional lives also become more complex. Developing skills for managing a
range of emotions is therefore very important for their emotional wellbeing. Parents and carers
have an important role to play in supporting childrens emotional development. They do this
through responding effectively to childrens emotions, through providing examples of how
they manage feelings, and through talking with children about feelings and how to manage them.
In similar ways, school staff can provide important support for childrens emotional
development.
Emotional development is a complex task that begins in infancy and continues into
adulthood. The rst emotions that can be Risheveled in babies include joy, anger, sadness and
fear. Later, as children begin to develop a sense of self, more complex emotions like shyness,
surprise, elation, embarrassment, shame, guilt, pride and empathy emerge. Primary school
children are still learning to identify emotions, to understand why they happen and how to
manage them appropriately. As children develop, the things that provoke their emotional
responses change, as do the strategies they use to manage them.
Very young childrens emotions are mainly made up of physical reactions (eg heart
racing, butteries in stomach) and behaviours. As they grow, children develop the ability to
Rishevele feelings. Their emotions are also increasingly inuenced by their thinking. They
become more aware of their own feelings and better able to Rishevele and understand other
peoples. Thus, an emotional reaction of a 10-year-old is likely to be far more complex than that
of a three-year-old.
The experience of emotion includes several components:
-Physical
responses
(eg
heart
rate,
breathing,
hormone
-Feelings
that
children
Rishevele
and
learn
to
-Thoughts
and
judgements
associated
with
-Action signals (eg a desire to approach, escape or ght)

levels)
name
feelings

Many things inuence the ways that children express emotions, both through words and
Rishevel.
These
inuences
include:
-Values and beliefs about appropriate and inappropriate ways of expressing emotions that
children
learn
from
parents,
carers
and
school
staff
-How
effectively
childrens
emotional
needs
are
usually
met
-Childrens
temperaments
-Emotional behaviours that children have learned through observation or experience
-The extent to which families and children are under various kinds of stress
Moral Development
Kohlbergs Theory
45

Traditionally, psychology has avoided studying anything that is loaded with value
judgements. There is a degree of difficulty involved in trying to be unbiased about things that
involve terms like good and bad! So, one of the most significant aspects of human life
morality has had to wait quite a while before anyone in psychology dared to touch it! But
Lawrence Kohlberg wanted to study morality, and did so using a most interesting (if
controversial) technique. Basically, he would ask children and adults to try to solve moral
dilemmas contained in little stories, and to do so outloud so he could follow their reasoning. It
wasnt the specific answers to the dilemmas that interested him, but rather how the person got to
his or her answer.
One of the most famous of these stories concerned a man named Heinz. His wife was
dying of a disease that could be cured if he could get a certain medicine. When he asked the
pharmacist, he was told that he could get the medicine, but only at a very high price one that
Heinz could not possibly afford. So the next evening, Heinz broke into the pharmacy and stole
the drug to save his wifes life. Was Heinz right or wrong to steal the drug?
There are simple reasons why Heinz should or should not have stolen the drug, and there
are very sophisticated reasons, and reasons in between. After looking at hundreds of interviews
using this and several other stories, Kohlberg outlined three broad levels and six more specific
stages of moral development.
Level I: Pre-conventional morality. While infants are essentially amoral, very young children
are moral in a rather primitive way, as described by the two preconventional stages.
Stage 1. We can call this the reward and punishment stage. Good or bad depends on
the physical consequences: Does the action lead to punishment or reward? This stage is based
simply on ones own pain and pleasure, and doesnt take others into account.
Stage 2. This we can call the exchange stage. In this stage, there is increased
recognition that others have their own interests and should be taken into account. Those interests
are still understood in a very concrete fashion, and the child deals with others in terms of simple
exchange or reciprocity: Ill scratch your back if you scratch mine. Children in this stage are
very concerned with whats fair (one of their favorite words), but are not concerned with real
justice.
Level II: Conventional morality. By the time children enter elementary school, they are
usually capable of conventional morality, although they may often slip back into preconventional
morality on occasion. But this level is called conventional for a very good reason: It is also the
level that most adults find themselves in most of the time!
Stage 3. This stage is often called the good boy/good girl stage. The child tries to live
up to the expectations of others, and to seek their approval. Now they become interested motives
or intentions, and concepts such as loyalty, trust, and gratitude are understood. Children in this
stage often adhere to a concrete version of the Golden Rule, although it is limited to the people
they actually deal with on a day-to-day basis.

46

Stage 4. This is called the law-and-order stage. Children now take the point of view
that includes the social system as a whole. The rules of the society are the bases for right and
wrong, and doing ones duty and showing respect for authority are important.
Level III: Post-conventional morality. Some adolescents and adults go a step further and rise
above moralities based on authority to ones based on reason.
Stage 5. The social contract stage means being aware of the degree to which much of
so-called morality is relative to the individual and to the social group they belong to, and that
only a very few fundamental values are universal. The person at this level sees morality as a
matter of entering into a rational contract with ones fellow human beings to be kind to each
other, respect authority, and follow laws to the extent that they respect and promote those
universal values. Social contract morality often involves a utilitarian approach, where the
relative value of an act is determined by the greatest good for the greatest number.
Stage 6. This stage is referred to as the stage of universal principles. At this point, the
person makes a personal commitment to universal principles of equal rights and respect, and
social contract takes a clear back-seat: If there is a conflict between a social law or custom and
universal principles, the universal principles take precedence.
Kohlbergs original work was done with boys. When the research began to include girls,
they found the girls to be less morally developed than the boys! Psychologist Carol Gilligan,
involved in that research, began to notice that it wasnt so easy to distinguish good boy/good
girl from universal principles, especially in the girls. Since then, psychologists have
readjusted their work to take into account for the fact that girls often express their morality in
terms that emphasize personal caring more than abstract principles.
Bronfenbrenners Theory
Another psychologist unafraid to tackle Rishevel was Urie Bronfenbrenner. He is
famous for his studies of children and schools in different cultures. He outlines five moral
orientations:
11. Self-oriented morality. This is analogous to Kohlbergs pre-conventional morality.
Basically, the child is only interested in self-gratification and only considers others to the
extent that they can help him get what he wants, or hinder him.
The next three orientations are all forms of what Kohlberg called conventional morality:
2. Authority-oriented morality. Here, the child, or adult, basically accepts the decrees of
authority figures, from parents up to heads of state and religion, as defining good and bad.
3. Peer-oriented morality. This is basically a morality of conformity, where right and wrong is
determined not by authority but by ones peers. In western society, this kind of morality is
frequently found among adolescents, as well as many adults.

47

4. Collective-oriented morality. In this orientation, the standing goals of the group to which
the child or adult belongs over-ride individual interests. Duty to ones group or society is
paramount.
The last orientation is analogous to Kohlbergs

post-conventional level:

12. Objectively oriented morality. By objectively, Bronfenbrenner means universal


principles that are objective in the sense that they do not depend on the whims of
individuals or social groups, but have a reality all their own.
Bronfenbrenner noted that while 1 is found among children (and some adults) in all
cultures, 6 is found in relatively few people in any culture. The differences between 2, 3, and 4
are more a matter of culture than of development. Many cultures promote strict obedience to
authority figures. One can see this in very conservative cultures, where the word of the religious
authorities is law. In many modern cultures, conformity to ones peers is a powerful force. And
in others still, the welfare of the collective group is considered far more important than that of
the individual.
Bronfenbrenner also talks about how we get movement from one orientation to another.
The movement from 1 to 2, 3, or 4 involves participation in the family and other social
structures, where concern for others begins to take precedent over concern for oneself.
Movement from 2, 3, or 4 to 5 occurs when a person is exposed to a number of different
moral systems which at least partially conflict with each other, a situation he calls moral
pluralism. This forces the person to begin to think about what might lie beneath all the
variation, and lead him or her to consider ultimate moral principles. Gaining a broader
experience of the variety of people in the world, for example, tends to advance ones moral
thinking.
On the other hand, sometimes people slide back down to the lowest orientation when they
suffer from the disintegration of social structures, as in war and other social disasters. This can
force a persons attentions back onto their own needs, and cause them to begin ignoring the
welfare of larger social groupings

VI. Theoretical Perspective of Human Development


Psychoanalytic Theory
In psychoanalytic theories early childhood experiences, especially the influences of close
relationships such as family and caretakers, contribute in large part to development of the
individual. Freud recognizes the early experiences as determinants of later development.
Further, psychoanalytic theorists believe that it is important to analyze symbolic meanings of
behavior and that early experiences are important in development. Freud believed that the mind
is made of two parts the conscious and the unconscious mind and that the unconscious mind
often prompts people to make certain decisions even if they dont recognized it on conscious
level.
48

THREE BASIC ELEMENT OF PERSONALITY ACCORDING TO FREUD


ID (the source of basic biological needs and wants) Wants instant gratification for our wants
and needs. If these needs or wants are not met, a person becomes tense or anxious.
1
2

Sally was thirsty, rather than waiting for the server to refill her glass of water, she
reached across the table and drank the one glass filled with water.
A hungry baby cried until he was fed.

EGO(the rational part of personality) Part of the mind that senses and adapts to the real
world. It tries to meet the desires of the id in a way that is socially accepted in the world. The ego
recognizes that other people have needs and wants too. This may mean delaying gratification,
and helping to get rid of the tension the id feels if a desire is not met right away.
1

Sally was thirsty, however she knew that her server would be back soon to refill her glass
with water, so she waited until then to get a drink, even though she really just wanted to
drink.

SUPEREGO(the conscience) Part of persons mind that relates to attitudes about what is right
and wrong and to feelings of guilt.
2

While away on business, Tom had many opportunities to be unfaithful to his wife,
however he kwnew the damaged such behavior would have on his family so made the
decision to avoid the women who expressed interest in him.

Psychosexual Theory
Oral Stage
The oral stage occurs in an infants life from birth to 18 months. During this time, an infant is
focused with receiving oral pleasure. This occurs through breast or bottle feeding, or sucking on
a pacifier. It is believed that if an infant receives too much or too little oral stimulation, they may
develop a fixation or a personality trait that is fixated on oral gratification. It is believed that
these people may focus on activities that involve the mouth such as over eating, biting the
fingernails, smoking, or drinking. The theory states that these people may develop personality
traits such as becoming extremely gullible or I, always following others and never taking the
lead, and becoming extremely dependent upon others.
Anal Stage
The anal stage is directly related to a childs awareness of bowel control and gaining pleasure
through the act of eliminating or retaining feces. Freuds theory puts the anal stage between 18
months and three years. It is believed that when a child becomes fixated on receiving pleasure
through controlling and eliminating feces, a child can become obsessed with control, perfection,
and cleanliness. This is often referred to as anal retentive, while anal expulsive is the
49

opposite. Those who are anal expulsive may be extremely disorganized, live in chaos, and are
known for making messes.
Phallic Stage
Freud believes the phallic stage or the Oedipus or Electra complexes occurs during a child is
three to six years of age. The belief is that male children harbor unconscious, sexual attraction to
their mothers, while female children develop a sexual attraction to their father. Freud taught that
young boys also deal with feelings of rivalry with their father. These feelings naturally resolve
once the child begins to identify with their same sex parent. By identifying with the same sex
parent, the child continues with normal, healthy sexual development. If a child becomes fixated
during this phase, the result could be sexual deviance or a confused sexual identity.
Latency Stage
The latency stage is named so because Freud believed there werent many overt forms of sexual
gratification displayed. This stage is said to last from the age of six until a child enters
puberty. Most children throughout this age form same sex friendships and play in a manner that
is non-sexual. Unconscious sexual desires and thoughts remain repressed.
Genital Stage
Freud believed that after the unconscious, sexual desires are repressed and remain dormant
during the latency stage, they are awakened due to puberty. This stage begins at puberty and
develops with the physiology changes brought on through hormones. The prior stages of
development result in a focus on the genitals as a source for pleasure and teens develop and
explore attractions to the opposite sex. The genital stage is the last stage of the psychosexual
development theory.
Psychosocial Stages
Eriksons (1959) theory of psychosocial development has eight distinct stages.
Psychosocial Stage 1 Trust vs. Mistrust
The first stage of Eriksons theory of psychosocial development occurs between birth and one
year of age and is the most fundamental stage in life. At this point in development, the child is
utterly depending upon adult caregiver for everything food. Love, warmth, safety, nurturing.
Everything. If a caregiver fails to provide adequate care and love, the child will come to feel that
he or she cannot trust or depend upon the adults in his or her life. If a child successfully develops
trust, he or she will feel safe and secure in the world.
13. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
The child is developing physically and becoming more mobile. Between the ages of 18 months
and three, children begin to assert their independence, by walking away from their mother,
picking which toy to play with, and making choices about what they like to wear, to eat, etc.
50

The child is discovering that he or she has many skills and abilities, such as putting on clothes
and shoes, playing with toys etc. Such skills illustrate the childs growing sense of independence
and autonomy. Erikson believe that learning to control ones bodily functions leads to a feeling
of control and a sense of independence. Children who successfully complete this stage feel
secure and confident, while those who do not are left with a sense of inadequacy and self-doubt.
Psychosocial Stage 3 Initiative vs. Guilt
During the preschool years, children begin to assert their power and control over the world
through directing play and other social interactions. Children begin to plan activities, make up
games, and initiate activities with others. If given this opportunity, children develop a sense of
initiative, and feel secure in their ability to lead others and make decisions. It is at this stage that
the child will begin to ask many questions as his thirst for knowledge grows. If the parents treat
the childs questions as trivial, a nuisance or embarrassing or other aspects of their behavior as
threatening then the child may have feelings of guilt for being a nuisance. Too much guilt can
make the child slow to interact with others and may inhibit their creativity.
14. Industry (competence) vs. Inferiority
If children are encouraged and reinforced for their initiative, they begin to feel industrious and
feel confident in their ability to achieve goals. If this initiative is not encouraged, if it is restricted
by parents or teacher, then the child begins to feel inferior, doubting his own abilities and
therefore may not reach his or her potential.
Psychosocial Stage 5 Identity vs. Confusion
During adolescence (age 12 to 18 yrs), the transition from childhood to adulthood is most
important. Children are becoming more independent, and begin to look at the future in terms of
career, relationships, families, housing, etc. The individual wants to belong to a society and fit in.
This is a major stage in development where the child has to learn the roles he will occupy as an
adult. It is during this stage that the adolescent will re-examine his identity and try to find out
exactly who he or she is. Those who receive proper encouragement and reinforcement through
personal exploration will emerge from this stage with a strong sense of self and a feeling of
independence and control. Those who remain unsure of their beliefs and desires will feel
insecure and confused about themselves and the future.
15. Intimacy vs. Isolation
Occurring in young adulthood (ages 18 to 40 yrs), we begin to share ourselves more intimately
with others. We explore relationships leading toward longer term commitments with someone
other than a family member. Successful completion of this stage can lead to comfortable
relationships and a sense of commitment, safety, and care within a relationship. Avoiding
intimacy, fearing commitment and relationships can lead to isolation, loneliness, and sometimes
depression. Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of love.
16. Generativity vs. Stagnation
During middle adulthood (ages 40 to 65 yrs), we establish our careers, settle down within a
relationship, begin our own families and develop a sense of being a part of the bigger picture.
We give back to society through raising our children, being productive at work, and becoming
involved in community activities and organizations.
51

By failing to achieve these objectives, we become stagnant and feel unproductive. Success in this
stage will lead to the virtue of care.
8. Ego Integrity vs. Despair
As we grow older (65+ yrs) and become senior citizens, we tend to slow down our productivity,
and explore life as a retired person. It is during this time that we contemplate our
accomplishments and are able to develop integrity if we see ourselves as leading a successful
life.
Erik Erikson believed if we see our lives as unproductive, feel guilt about our past, or feel that
we did not accomplish our life goals, we become dissatisfied with life and develop despair, often
leading to depression and hopelessness.
Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of wisdom. Wisdom enables a person to look back on
their life with a sense of closure and completeness, and also accept death without fear.

CHAPTER 3
SENSATION

Sensation
Everything we experience comes to us by means of our sense organs. These many be thought of
us receiving stations for stimuli which come from outside and from within our body. Sensation is
the physiological arousal of the sense organs.
Human beings and other higher animals are distinguished by the fact that the sense organs are
highly specialized for receiving specific kinds of stimuli. We have eyes for seeing, ears for
hearing, tongue for tasting. The whole body is equally sensitive to heat, to cold, to pressure and
light.
A sense organ, sometimes referred to as a receptor, is a specialized part of the body which is
selectively sensitive to some types of changes in its environment and not to others. For example,
the eye is a receptor for sensations of light waves but is impervious to sound stimuli.
A stimulus is any kind of mechanical, physical or chemical change that acts upon a sense organ.
The behavioral reaction brought forth by a stimulus is termed a response. Every human response
is preceded by a stimulus.
Sensation is the process that allows our brains to take in information with the help of our five
senses, which can then be experienced and interpreted by the brain. Sensation occurs thanks to
our five sensory systems: Visual (sight), auditory (hearing), gustatory (taste), olfactory (smell),
and tactile (touch). Each of these systems maintains unique neural pathways with the brain which
allows them to transfer information from the environment to the brain very rapidly.
52

But according to psychological experimentation, we have eight senses. And the three added
senses are the following:
1
2
3

Sense of Balance
Sense of Muscular Coordination and;
Visceral Senses

Mans Senses
The Sense of Sight
Vision depends mainly on one sensory organ the eye. Eye constructions vary in complexity
depending on the needs of the organism. The human eye is one of the most complicated
structures, and it requires many components to allow our advanced visual capabilities. The eye
has three major layers:
1
2
3

The sclera, which maintains, protects, and supports the shape of the eye and includes the
cornea.
The choroid, which provides oxygen and nourishment to the eye and includes the pupil,
iris, and lens.
The retina, which allows us to piece images together and includes cones and rods.

53

Anatomy of a Human Eye


The Process of Sight
The easiest way to understand the component pieces of the eye and how they contribute to
human sight is to follow the normal processing of an image. All visions are based on the
perception of electromagnetic rays. These rays, in the form of light, must pass through the
cornea, which focuses the rays. They then enter the eye through the pupil, the black aperture at
the front of the eye. The pupil acts as the gatekeeper, allowing as much or as little light to enter
as is necessary to see an image properly. The pigmented area around the pupil is the iris. Along
with supplying a persons eye color, the iris is responsible for acting as the pupils stop, or
sphincter. Two layers of muscles contract or dilate the pupil to change the amount of light that
enters the eye. Behind the pupil is the lens, similar in shape and characteristics to a camera lens.
Together with the cornea, the lens adjusts the focal length of the image being seen onto the back
of the eye, the retina. Visual reception occurs at the retina where photoreceptor cells called cones
and rods give an image color and shadow. The image is transduced into processing. The visual
cortex in the brain interprets the image to extract form, meaning, memory, and context.
Color Vision
Human beings are capable of highly complex vision that allows us to perceive colors and depth
in intricate detail. Visual stimulus transduction happens in the retina. Photoreceptor cells found in
this region have the specialized capability of phototransduction. The retina has two kinds of
receiving cells rods and cones. The cones are concentrated in the center of the retina and the
rod cells on the outer margin. The proportion of cone cells to rod cells decreases as we proceed
from the center to the outer edge of the retina. In the very center of the retina is a small
depression which is called the fovea. It is the point of greatest concentration of the cone cells and
hence, the area of sharpest vision in daylight.
The rods are used for twilight vision or light of low intensity and enable us to make only
colorless discriminations.
The cones are responsible for daytime levels of light intensity and also enable us to see colors.

54

Color vision is a critical component of human vision, and plays an important role in both
perception and communication. Color sensors are found within cones which respond to the
relatively broad color bands in the three basic regions of red, green, and blue (RGB). Any colors
in between these three are perceived as different linear combinations of RGB. The eye is much
more sensitive to overall light and color intensity rather than changes in the color itself. Colors
have three attributes: brightness based on luminance and reflectivity, saturation based on the
amount of white present, and hue based on color combinations. Sophisticated combinations of
these receptors signals are transduced into chemical and electrical signals that are sent to the
brain for the dynamic process of color perception.
Color Blindness
The inability of some people to distinguish certain colors is partially explained by the relative
function of rod cells and cone cells.
About 3 out of every 100 males are color blind for the qualities of red and green. They see only
five distinct colors, namely, yellow, blue, black, white and gray. All red and green objects appear
to them as shades of gray.
It is believed that the color blindness is due to some defect in the fovea of the retina where the
cones are maximally concentrated.

Light and Dark Adaptation

55

We are continuously adapting our vision to increasing darkness or increasing brightness in our
surroundings. To accomplish this, the retina becomes more or less responsive to light, as the case
may be. It is aided by the pupil of the eye which narrows or widens to let in more or less light.
Whether the change is toward brightness or darkness, vision is affected and a period of time is
needed for the eyes to become accustomed to the surroundings. This is known as light and dark
adaptation of the eye.

Night Vision and the Purkinje Phenomenon


For daylight vision we rely on cone cells and for night vision on rod cells. However, as the
daylight blends into night, we distinguish what we call twilight. At this point it is believed that
cone vision and rod vision overlap and that both function together.
At the first part of twilight one can still distinguish red, yellow, green, and blue although they
appear somewhat blacker and grayer. Then at a particular point of diminished or reduced light,
the reds begin to darken appreciably and the greens and blues to lighten. This change is called by
psychologist Purkinje phenomenon, after the physiologist who described it in 1825. Finally, in
complete night vision (a moonless night with the clouds obscuring the stars) all colors are seen as
shades of black, gray, and white.

Night Blindness
It is generally known that some people have the condition called night blindness. When they
came to the attention of medical men, they complained of an inability to see properly at night. At
first they were thought as hypochondriacs and were described by some psychologist as neurotic
or overly fearful of the dark.
However, it was ultimately learned that these persons suffered from a visual inability to adapt to
conditions of low illumination. These nightblind persons were found to have defective rod cells.
Their difficulty stemmed from a deficiency in the pigment layer of the retina which supplies an
essential substance known as visual purple. This is a chemical compound which decomposes
in the presence of light and recombines in darkness. Chemical analysis of visual purposes has
shown that it depends upon vitamin A for nutrition.

The Blind Spot


The point where the optic nerve is attached to the retina and there are neither cones nor rods, as
referred to as the blind spot. An image that falls on this region will not be seen.
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After-Images
If you have been staring at a bright object intently and it is removed suddenly, you will continue
to see images of the object. You are apt to feel you are seeing things which arent there. This is
a common visual experience termed after-image.
After- image is the visual sensory experience which persists after the external stimulus has been
removed. The longer the original stimulus, the stronger will be the after-image.

The Sense of Hearing


In several ways our auditory sense has much in common with our visual sense. Together, sight
and hearing are the primary mechanisms for bringing to us the experience from the outside. They
are sometimes classed as the distance senses because they make possible a judgment of the
relative distance from which a stimulus emanates. They are both activated by wave movements
in the atmosphere. Thus, we speak of light waves and sound waves.

The Process of Hearing


Hearing occurs when sound acts as a stimulus to the auditory sense. Sound consists of alternate
waves of condensation and rarefaction in the form of vibrations in the air. This is what physicist
calls sound waves.
In structure and function the ear is a highly complex organ. We recognize three major parts of the
ear the outer, middle, and inner ear. The outer ear serves as a horn to catch sound waves. The
middle ear acts as a sort of sound transformer while the inner ear contains the sensitive receptors.

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Diagram of the Ear

Sound waves strike the tympanic membrane or eardrum. Behind the eardrum is the middle ear
containing three small bones (ossicles) which interlock and serve to conduct the sound impulses
from the eardrum to the inner ear. They are popularly termed the hammer, anvil, and
stirrup because of their characteristics shapes.

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The Middle Ear

These bones are frequently involved when younger persons are hard of hearing. Their difficulty
is maybe due to a reduction in the flexibility of the joints between the bones. In some cases the
joints become fixed as a result of otosclerosis, with resulting deafness.
Such a hearing loss is referred to as conduction deafness. These persons can benefit by a hearingaid which employ a bone conduction receiver placed on the mastoid bone just behind the ear.
The middle ear is filled with air and is connected with the throat by the Eustachian tube, named
after Eustachus, the 16th century Italian anatomist who first described it. The Eustachian tube is
closed where it connects with the throat, but it opens when we swallow. In this way it serves to
equalize the air pressure in the middle ear with the outside atmospheric pressure. Thus, when you
first get up to a high altitude you feel an uncomfortable bulging of the eardrums because of the
lower outside atmospheric pressure. To relieve the discomfort it is advisable to open the mouth
and swallow air.
The inner ear connects with the middle ear by an oval-shaped window into which is fitted the
stirrup. The inner ear is filled with lymph fluids and contains a highly important small, snaillike structure, the cochlea. Just above the cochlea is found the semicircular canal, which plays no
part in hearing but is related to our sense of balance.
Within cochlea is a section called the Organ of Corti containing minutely sensitive hair cells.
These hair cells are considered to be fundamental units of the auditory receptors, corresponding
to the rods and cones in vision.

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Theories of Hearing
We are not certain about the exact mechanics of hearing. Several theories have been advanced.
The longest held is known as the piano theory developed by physiologist Helm-Holtz. It was his
premise that each element of hair cell of the Organ of Corti responded to a specific vibration to
which it is tuned much limed the strings of a piano. Because of this fixed tuning, we distinguish
different vibrations as different sounds.

Our Range of Hearing


Not all sound waves are heard by the human ear. In general, the ear responds to sound waves
having a vibration per second. We specify human for the reason that many animals respond to
high frequency sounds beyond the 20,000 range which are not usually audible to the human ear.

Age and Hearing Loss


Within the generally audible ranges it has been shown that age is the dominant factor in causing
differences among people in their hearing acuity. Experimenting with several hundred persons
varying in age from 20 to 70 years, Dr. S.J Crowe has made some interesting discoveries about
hearing. He found that the lower tones those having a frequency of less than 1000 were heard
equally well by all age groups. However, he found that, in general, hearing acuity decreases for
the higher frequency ranges (above 8000) as increases. The upper limit for individuals between
age 20 and 40, years of age was near the 16,000 frequency; between age 40 to 60, to the 10,000
frequency; and above 60, to the frequency of 8,000.

Acuity of Hearing in Infants and Children


Researchers have found that infants and monkeys are closest to the lower animal in their capacity
to hear sounds in the higher frequency ranges.
In his investigation with the chimpanzees Dr. J.H Elder found their hearing acuity to be well
above the range of human adults. He also found that infants and young children had a range of
hearing close to that of the chimpanzee.
School teachers in their hearing tests confirm that the youngest children have always been found
to have the most acute hearing. Being aware of these facts, the elementary school teacher or
parent will quickly recognize the presence of hearing defects among children.

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The Sixth Sense or Facial Vision of the Blind


If a chair is placed on the path of an alert blind person, you will observe that he is able to avoid.
Very likely, he will also know when another person is before or beside him. Many people
consider this ability to be a sixth sense a mystery kind of facial vision akin to the ability of
normal people to tell when someone is staring at their backs.
Facial vision of the blind is not mysterious at all as shown by three psychologists. By
alternately covering the face of their subjects, covering the exposed parts of the skin,.
Eliminating the ability to smell and plugging the ears, Karl Dallenbach, Michael Supa, and
Milton Cotzin found that the blind perceive objects by their sense of hearing.
Experiments have shown that blind peoples sense of hearing in no more powerful than normal.
The inability to see has made it necessary for him to pay more attention to what he hears.

Our Sense of Taste and Smell


Psychology books traditionally linked sense of taste with smell. Investigations have shown that
many of the things we believe we are tasting are discriminated by our sense of taste and smell.

Taste Receptors
The taste receptors are microscopic hair cells within the taste buds. These are located in the
papillae of the tongue, epiglottis, and soft palate. The hair cells are connected to a nerve and
react to chemicals in the liquids of the food when they penetrate the tongue.
Taste is a chemical sense and requires a liquid solution for stimulation. Solids will not arouse a
sensation of taste until the fluids of the mouth have dissolved them.

The Basic Taste Sensations


There are five basic taste sensations that can be distinguished by taste alone. These are sweet,
sour, bitter, and salty, plus the taste of metallic substances.
Receptor cells for sweetness are concentrated near the tip of the tongue while those sensitive to
bitter are at the back. Sensitivity to sour occurs mostly along the sides of the tongue and salt
seems to be uniform over the entire tongue.

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Mingling of Senses Responses


The taste of a particular food is actually a combination of the basic taste plus smell, temperature
or our sense of touch in the cheeks, we tend to associate with the taste of milk its coolness, and
with steak its sizzling warm.
Further evidence of the intermingling of smell and taste is seen when the person suffering with
the common cold complains that everything he eats is tasteless. The stuffed nose has blocked
the smell of foods and shows the limitations of our sense of taste alone. The youngster who holds
his nose when taking an unpleasant medicine has benefitted by bitter experience. By doing so he
minimizes the unpleasantness.

Changing Tastes
Generally children show differences in taste preferences from those of adults. Most infants show
favorable response to sweet tasting foods and negative response to bitter, sour, and salty foods.
Individual differences in childrens taste preferences begin to develop in the early school years.
Many display a strong liking for salty and bitter foods. Others dote on sweets. All of us are more
sensitive in our taste response in childhood. For this reason we tend to use more seasoning and
exotic flavors as we mature.
Learning plays a large part in shaping taste preferences and habits. We learn to cultivate a taste
for many foods. Very few persons like beer or olives the first time they are tasted but rather have
to cultivate for them with repeated experience.

Smell
Smell or olfactory is also a chemical sense. Our sense of smell is activated when gaseous
particles of a substance reach the nasal fluids. The receptors for smell are spindle-shaped cells
embedded in the olfactory nerve.
The olfactory nerve endings are in the roof of the nasal passages and not in the direct path of
inspired and expired air. This arrangement protects the olfactory receptors against over
stimulations. Being so located, it makes it necessary for us to sniff vigorously when we want to
get a good whiff of faint odors. The most volatile substances which break down into the
minutest particles smell the strongest because more of them reach the sense smell receptors.

Classifying Smells

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Experimentations have enabled us to identify basic classifications of smell which are as follows:
Spicy: - cloves
Flowery: - violet, rose
Fruity: - orange rind
Resinous: - pine, pitch, turpentine
Scorched: - burned tar
Putrid: - decaying fish or meat
It is pointed out that most substances represent a blend of at least two or more of the odor
categories. Taken alone, it would be difficult to classify many familiar foods and everyday
substances.

Smell Capabilities of Children


From experimentation, we have learned that individuals vary greatly in their smell. Children
respond more readily to smell stimuli than adults. There is a physiological basis for this is that
the olfactory lobes, the smell brain of man are much smaller, proportionally than those of
animals.

Smell Adaptability
An important characteristic of our sense of smell is its ready adaptability. In the presents of a
strong and unpleasant smell, although unbearable to first, the unpleasantness will not bother or
disturb you as much as after several minutes.
Personnel working in garbage dumps, fish glue factories, perfumeries are able to work all day
long without real discomfort. It shows that after a period of intense stimulation most of our
sensory organs diminished in responses.

Sense of Feeling
The sense of touch is located in the skin, which is composed of three layers: the epidermis,
dermis, and hypodermis.

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The epidermis is a stratified squamous epithelium, composed of proliferating basal


and differentiated suprabasal keratinocytes which acts as the bodys major barrier against an
inhospitable environment, by preventing pathogens from entering, making the skin a natural
barrier to infection. It also regulates the amount of water released from the body into the
atmosphere through transepidermal water loss (TEWL).
The dermis is a layer of skin between the epidermis (with which it makes up the cutis)
and subcutaneous tissues, that consists of connective tissue and cushions
the body from stress and strain. It is divided into two layers, the superficial area adjacent to the
epidermis called the papillary region and a deep thicker area known as the reticular dermis. The
dermis is tightly connected to the epidermis through a basement membrane. Structural
components of the dermis are collagen, elastic fibers, and extrafibrillar matrix. It also
contains Mechanoreceptors that provide the sense of touch and thermoreceptors that provide the
sense of heat. In addition, hair follicles, sweat glands, sebaceous glands, apocrine
glands, lymphatic vessels and blood vessels are present in the dermis. Those blood
vessels provide nourishment and waste removal for both dermal and epidermal cells.
The hypodermis is the innermost and thickest layer of the skin. It invaginates into the dermis and
is attached to the latter, immediately above it, by collagen and elastin fibres. It is essentially
composed of a type of cells RisheveledR in accumulating and storing fats, known as adipocytes.
These cells are grouped together in lobules separated by connective tissue.
The hypodermis acts as an energy reserve. The fats contained in the adipocytes can be put back
into circulation, via the venous route, during intense effort or when there is a lack of energy
providing substances, and are then transformed into energy. When we speak of burning up
calories, we are burning up fats in particular. The hypodermis participates, passively at least, in
thermoregulation since fat is a heat insulator.

Somatosensory Systems
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The somatosensory system uses specialized receptor cells in the skin and body to detect changes
in the environment. The receptors collect and convert physical stimuli into electrical and
chemical signals through the transduction process and send these impulses to the nervous system
for processing. Sensory cell function in the somatosensory system is determined by location.
The receptors in the skin, also called cutaneous receptors, tell the body about the three main
subdivisions mentioned above: pressure and surface texture (mechanoreceptors), temperature
(thermoreceptors), and pain (nociceptors). The receptors in the muscles and joints provide
information about muscle length, muscle tension, and joint angles.
Mechanoreception
Mechanoreceptors in the skin give us a sense of pressure and texture. These receptors differ in
their field size (small or large) and their speeds of adaptation (fast or slow). Thus, there are four
types of mechanoreceptors based on the four possible combinations of fast vs. slow speed and
large vs. small receptive fields. The speed of adaptation refers to how quickly the receptor will
react to a stimulus and how long that reaction will be sustained after the stimulus is removed.
Rapidly adapting cells allow us to adjust grip and force appropriately. Slowly adapting cells
allow us to perceive form and texture. The receptive field size refers to the amount of skin area
that responds to the stimulus, with smaller areas specializing in locating stimuli accurately.

Thermoreception
Thermoreceptors detect changes in temperature through their free nerve endings. There are two
types of thermoreceptors that signal temperature changes in our own skin: warm and cold
receptors. Our sense of temperature is a result of the comparison of the signals from each of the
two types of thermoreceptors. These receptors are not good indicators of absolute temperature,
but they are very sensitive to changes in skin temperature.
Nociception
Nociceptors use free nerve endings to detect pain. Functionally, nociceptors are specialized,
high-threshold mechanoceptors or polymodal receptors. They respond not only to intense
mechanical stimuli but also to heat and noxious chemicalsanything that may cause the body
harm. Their response magnitude, or the amount of pain you feel, is directly related to the degree
of tissue damage inflicted.
Pain signals can be separated into three types that correspond to the different types of nerve
fibers used for transmitting these signals. The first type is a rapidly transmitted signal with a high
spatial resolution, called first pain or cutaneous pricking pain. This type of signal is easy to
locate and generally easy to tolerate. The second type is much slower and highly affective, called
second pain or burning pain. This signal is more difficult to locate and not as easy to tolerate.
The third type arises from viscera, musculature, and joints; it is called deep pain. This type of
signal is very difficult to locate, and often it is intolerable and chronic.
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Different types of sensory receptors, varying in size, shape, number, and distribution within the
skin, are responsible for relaying information about pressure, temperature, and pain. The largest
touch sensor, the Pacinian corpuscle, is located in the hypodermis, the innermost thick fatty layer
of skin, which responds to vibration. Free nerve endingsneurons that originate in the spinal
cord, enter and remain in the skintransmit information about temperature and pain from their
location at the bottom of the epidermis. Hair receptors in the dermis, which are wrapped around
each follicle, respond to the pressure produced when the hairs are bent. All the sensory receptors
respond not to continued pressure but rather to changes in pressure, adapting quickly to each new
change, so that, for example, the skin is unaware of the continual pressure produced by clothes.
Once stimulated by sensation, the receptors trigger nerve impulses which travel to the
somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobe of the brain, where they are transformed into
sensations. Sensitivity to touch varies greatly among different parts of the body. Areas that are
highly sensitive, such as the fingers and lips, correspond to a proportionately large area of the
sensory cortex.
Sensory receptors encode various types of information about objects with which the skin comes
in contact. We can tell how heavy an object is by both the firing rate of individual neurons and by
the number of neurons stimulated. (Both the firing rate and the number of neurons are higher
with a heavier object.) Changes in the firing rate of neurons tell us whether an object is stationary
or vibrating, and the spatial organization of the neurons gives us information about its location.
Temperature
The temperature of human skin is usually about 89F (32C). Objects or surroundings at this
level known as physiological zeroproduce no sensation of temperature. Warmth is felt at
higher temperatures and coldness at lower ones. Some of the sensory receptors in the skin
respond specifically to changes in temperature. These receptors are further specialized, as certain
ones sense warmth and increase their firing rates in temperatures of 95 to 115F (33 to 46C),
while others sense cold. Sensations of warmth and coldness are differentiated on a skin area as
small as one square centimeter. Within that area, cold will be felt at about six points and warmth
at two. When cold and warm stimuli are touched at the same time, a sensation of extreme heat is
felt, a phenomenon known as paradoxical hotness. Touch and temperature interact in some
sensors, producing phenomena such as the fact that warm and cold objects feel heavier than
those at moderate temperatures.
Pain
With free nerve endings as receptors, pain carries information to the brain about a real or
potential injury to the body. Pain from the skin is transmitted through two types of nerve fibers.
A-delta fibers relay sharp, pricking types of pain, while C fibers carry dull aches and burning
sensations. Pain impulses are relayed to the spinal cord, where they interact with special neurons
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that transmit signals to the thalamus and other areas of the brain. Each neuron responds to a
number of different pain stimuli. Pain is carried by many types of neurotransmitters, a fact that
has made it possible to develop numerous types of pain-relieving medications. Many factors
affect how pain is experienced. Pain thresholds vary with the individual and the occasion.
Intensely concentrated activity may diminish or even eliminate the perception of pain for the
duration of the activity. Natural mechanisms, including replacement by input from other senses,
can block pain sensations. The brain can also block pain by signals sent through the spinal cord,
a process that involves the neurotransmitter serotonin and natural painkillers known as
endorphins.
The Gate-Control Theory of Pain
Researchers dont completely understand the mechanics of pain, although they do know that
processes in the injured part of the body and processes in the brain both play a role.
In the 1960s, Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall proposed an important theory about pain called
the gate-control theory of pain. Gate-control theory states that pain signals travelling from the
body to the brain must go through a gate in the spinal cord. If the gate is closed, pain signals
cant reach the brain. The gate isnt a physical structure like a fence gate, but rather a pattern of
neural activity that either stops pain signals or allows them to pass. Signals from the brain can
open or shut the gate. For example, focusing on pain tends to increase it, whereas ignoring the
pain tends to decrease it. Other signals from the skin senses can also close the gate. This process
explains why massage, ice, and heat relieve pain.
Sense of Balance (Vestibular Sense)
Balance is the ability to maintain the bodys center of mass over its base of support. A properly
functioning balance system allows human to see clearly while moving, identify orientation with
respect to gravity, determine direction and speed of movement, and make automatic postural
adjustments to maintain posture and stability in various conditions and activities.
The equilibrium sense, generally associated with balance, provides feedback about the positions
and movements of our heads and bodies in space. The other system- the kinesthetic sense tells
us about the orientation of different parts of our bodies relation to each other. While the
kinesthetic information needed by the brain comes from joints and muscle fibers throughout the
body, the receptors for equilibrium are located in the semicircular canals and vestibular sacs of
the inner ear. (The equilibrium sense is also called the vestibular sense, and the relevant parts of
the inner ear are sometimes called the vestibular system or apparatus).
The sense of balance or equilibrium provides information about where the body exists in space.
The sense of balance tells people whether they are standing up, falling in an elevator, or riding a
roller coaster. The sensory system involved in balance is called the vestibular system. The main
structures in the vestibular system are three fluid-filled tubes called semicircular canals, which
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are located in the inner ear. As the head moves, the fluid in the semicircular canals moves too,
stimulating receptors called hair cells, which then send impulses to the brain.
The sense organs for balance are located near the inner ear, protected by the same hard bones of
the skull that surround the cochlea. When a person suffers inner ear damage, the sense of balance
is often affected, because these sense organs are in close proximity. However, they are separate
systems.
Structures used by the sense of equilibrium are located near the cochlea and the bones of the
middle ear. The vestibular system consists of two main parts with slightly different functions: the
semicircular canals (the loops) and two chambers under the canals: the saccule and the utricle.
The loops (semicircular canals) and sacs (saccule and utricle) are collectively called the
nonauditory labyrinth or just the labyrinth. The entire labyrinth is filled with a fluid called the
endolymph, the same fluid found in the cochlea.
The semicircular canals are rotary motion detectors. When you turn your head in any direction,
you move the fluid in the canals (the endolymph). As the endolymph moves in the semicircular
canals, the liquid stimulates hair-like cells located in chambers at the base of the canals. So the
sense of balance depends ultimately on mechanoreceptors, like the sense of hearing.
The vestibular apparatus also includes another system, besides the semi-circular canals: two
structures called the sacs, the saccule and utricle. These two chambers are linear motion
detectors, which means they detect acceleration and deceleration: movement that can be in a
straight line. Within the saccule and utricle are crystals called otoliths (ear stones) surrounding
modified hair cells. When the body accelerates or decelerates, the hairs bend under the weight of
these crystals, much as a weight on the end of a spring would bob back and forth if you
accelerated or braked a car. Again it is modified hair cells that generate electrical potentials
leading ultimately to nerve impulses sent to the brain.
The otolith organs, which are the other part of the vestibular system, are two pouches that are
also filled with fluid. They sit sideways below the semicircular canals and have a similar
function. These two pouches are also lined with small hairs. Small crystals attached to the hairs
move through the fluid when the head tilts. When this happens they rub along the hairs, which
sense this movement and then send nerve signals to the brain.
Information coming from the vestibular system is processed in the brain and then sent on to other
organs that need this information, for example the eyes, joints or muscles. This allows us to keep
our balance and maintain spatial orientation. In some situations, for example on a ship or
airplane, messages that do not match up get sent to the brain by different organs, for instance the
eyes and the organ of balance. This can cause us to feel unwell, dizzy or nauseous.
Sense of Movement (Kinesthetic Sense)

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We know we are walking, sitting, or lying down because of feedback from our kinesthetic sense
or the sense of movement, Kinesthesis is the sense of the position and movement of body parts.
Through kinesthesis, people know where all the parts of their bodies are and how they are
moving. Receptors for kinesthesis are located in the muscles, joints, and tendons. Kinesthetic
receptors join with nerve fibers from the organs of the skin and go through the spinal cord to the
brain. Kinesthesis tells us when our muscles are straining when are arms are out of control, and
when our torso is unbalanced. If any change occurs in the direction taken by a limb or in its rate
of movement, it will be sensed by the kinaesthetic receptors. Without kinesthesis, we will have
great difficulty in maintaining posture. For instance, when we lift an object, we first make abrupt
movement and then adjust them should the object turn out to be heavier than expected.
Consequently, we promptly brace ourselves and lift with greater effort. (Hilgard, et al., 1982)
Motor coordination is the combination of body movements created with the kinematic (such as
spatial direction) and kinetic (force) parameters that result in intended actions. Motor
coordination is achieved when subsequent parts of the same movement, or the movements of
several limbs or body parts are combined in a manner that is well timed, smooth, and efficient
with respect to the intended goal. This involves the integration of proprioceptive information
detailing the position and movement of the musculoskeletal system with the neural processes in
the brain and spinal cord which control, plan, and relay motor commands. The cerebellum plays
a critical role in this neural control of movement and damage to this part of the brain or its
connecting structures and pathways results in impairment of coordination, known as ataxia.
Types
Inter-limb
Inter-limb coordination concerns how movements are coordinated across limbs. J. A. Scott Kelso
and colleagues have proposed that coordination can be modeled as coupled oscillators, a process
that can be understood in the HKB (Haken, Kelso, and Bunz) model. The coordination of
complex inter-limb tasks is highly reliant on the temporal coordination. An example of such
temporal coordination can be observed in the free pointing movement of the eyes, hands, and
arms to direct at the same motor target. These coordination signals are sent simultaneously to
their effectors. In bimanual tasks (tasks involving two hands), it was found that the functional
segments of the two hands are tightly synchronized. One of the postulated theories for this
functionality is the existence of a higher, coordinating schema that calculates the time it needs
to perform each individual task and coordinates it using a feedback mechanism. There are several
areas of the brain that are found to contribute to temporal coordination of the limbs needed for
bimanual tasks, and these areas include the premotor cortex(PMC), the parietal cortex, the mesial
motor cortices, more specifically the supplementary motor area (SMA), the cingulate motor
cortex (CMC), the primary motor cortex (M1), and the cerebellum.
Intra-limb
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Intra-limb coordination involves the planning of trajectories in the Cartesian planes.This reduces
computational load and the degrees of freedom for a given movement, and it constrains the limbs
to act as one unit instead of sets of muscles and joints. This concept is similar to muscle
synergies and coordinative structures. An example of such concept is the Hogan and Flash
minimum-jerk model, which predicts that the parameter that the nervous system controls is the
spatial path of the hand, i.e. the end-effector (which implies that the movement is planned in the
Cartesian coordinates). Other early studies showed that the end-effector follows a regularized
kinematic pattern. Relating movements curvature to speed and that the central nervous system is
devoted to its coding. In contrast to this model, the joint-space model postulates that the motor
system plans movements in joint coordinates. For this model, the controlled parameter is the
position of each joint contributing to the movement. Control strategies for goal directed
movement differ according to the task that the subject is assigned. This was proven by testing
two different conditions: (1) subjects moved cursor in the hand to the target and (2) subjects
move their free hand to the target. Each condition showed different trajectories: (1) straight path
and (2) curved path.
Eyehand coordination
Eyehand coordination concerns how eye movements are coordinated with and affect hand
movements. Typical findings relate to the eye looking at an object before the hand starts moving
towards that object.
Visceral Senses
Visceral senses give us information about our internal organs. For example these senses tell us if
the stomach is empty or the bladder full. Visceroreceptors located within the circulatory system
are sensitive to blood pressure changes are called barroreceptors
Preganglionic Visceral Efferent Nuclei
Visceral Efferent Nuclei contain cell bodies of preganglionic efferent neurons. Axons of the
neurons synapse within autonomic ganglia and the adrenal medulla. Preganglionic neurons are
activated by descending pathways from autonomic premotor centers and by local reflexes. (In the
gut, reflex activity can take place in autonomic plexuses and ganglia.)
Sympathetic preganglionic neurons are found particularly within the intermediolateral nucleus in
the lateral horn of the thoracolumbar spinal cord (T1- L4).
Parasympathetic preganglionic neurons are located in the sacral spinal cord (intermediate gray
matter) and in the brainstem (parasympathetic nuclei of oculomotor, facial, glossopharyngeal and
vagus nerves, plus cardiac preganglionic neurons are located in nucleus Rishevele).
Visceral Afferent Neurons & Sensory Nuclei
Cell bodies of General Visceral Afferent (GVA) primary afferent neurons reside in spinal ganglia
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and in the distal ganglia (petrosal & nodose) of glossopharyngeal and vagus cranial
nerves. Spinal afferents convey noxious and temperature sensations; cranial nerve afferent traffic
is largely subconscious. Visceral receptors are generally free nerve endings (although Pacinian
corpuscles are present in viscera). Only about 10 percent of total afferent input to the CNS is
visceral (GVA); compared to somatic (GSA) sense, visceral sensation is meager.
Central branches of GVA primary afferent neurons synapse within sensory nuclei in the spinal
cord & brainstem. Sensory nuclei contain interneurons (for visceral reflexes) and projection
neurons (for conscious and subconscious ascending pathways). Conscious visceral sensations
include levels of fullness and pain, the latter is typically referred pain because visceral and
somatic afferent neurons generally share projection neurons.
The nucleus of the solitary tract (NST) is the main visceral sensory nucleus in the brainstem. It
receives GVA input from glossopharyngeal and vagus nerves and sends output to
parasympathetic preganglionic neurons, to premotor autonomic centers, and to the thalamus and
limbic system.
Brain Autonomic Control Centers
A network of Autonomic Control Centers process & relay visceral input and regulates visceral
activity via descending projection neurons (premotor neurons) to preganglionic nuclei. The
network is widely distributed in the brainstem and cerebrum, with rich connections to limbic
structures involved in emotional status and behavior. The autonomic network includes:
The insular cortex (deep to sylvian fissure) is a visceral sensory area of the neocortex that
receives input from the thalamus (ventral posterior nuclei). The medial frontal
cortex (rostroventral cingulate gyrus) is a visceral motor area of neocortex.
The amygdala, a limbic basal nucleus of the rhinencephalon, is involved in generating visceral
activity, particularly fearful emotional behavior. It receives sensory input from thalamus and
association cortex per sensory modality. Autonomic input arrives from insular cortex,
hypothalamus and parabrachial nuclei. Memory related input comes from the hippocampus and
adjacent neocortex. Projections from the amydala are widespread to cerebral cortex,
hypothalamus, PAG, parabrachial nuclei and the NST.
The hypothalamus is the major homeostatic control & circadian rhythm center of the brain. It
regulates endocrine activity via the pituitary gland; it controls energy metabolism, body
temperature, blood flow & blood composition; and it drives behavior related to feeding, mating
and emotional responses. In general, the rostral hypothalamus drives parasympathetic activity
and the caudal hypothalamus drives sympathetic activity. In particular, the hypothalamic
paraventricular nucleus projects to sympathetic and parasympathetic preganglionic neurons and
to brainstem autonomic centers (PAG, RVLM, solitary tract nucleus).
Midbrain periaqueductal gray matter (PAG) surrounds the mesencephalic aqueduct. Among
other functions, it relays visceral control information from the hypothalamus to the hindbrain
nuclei (e.g., PMC, RVLM). Visceral and other responses vary according to where the PAG is
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stimulated. (The caudolateral PAG contains a micturition center that receives ascending
projections from the sacral cord, sends axons to the PMC, and generates bladder contraction
when stimulated.)
The pontine micturition center (PMC) is located dorsally in the pons. It gives rise to axons that
descend to the lumbosacral spinal cord where they excite preganglionic neurons to detrusor
smooth muscle and inhibit neurons to urinary sphincters. The PMC also controls the urinary tract
indirectly via input to medullary recticular nuclei that dispatch axons to the lumbosacral spinal
cord. The PMC receives input from the hypothalamus, PAG, and spinal cord.
Medial and lateral parabrachial nuclei border rostral cerebellar peduncle fibers in the pons. The
nuclei relay visceral information from the solitary tract nucleus & spinal cord to the
hypothalamus, contralateral thalamus, and limbic system. Vestibular input to parabrachial nuclei
is significant in connection with motion sickness. Neurons of the medial parabrachial nucleus
mediate baroreflex constriction of coronary vessels.
The rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) controls blood pressure by regulating
vasoconstriction and cardiac output. It receives input from peripheral baroreceptors &
chemoreceptors and several brain sites, including the PAG and hypothalamus. Its axons descend
to sympathetic preganglionic neurons in the spinal cord to regulate muscle and visceral
vasocontriction. Some RVLM neurons are tonically active.
Located on the midline, caudal raphe nuclei are a major source of excitatory & inhibitory input
to sympathetic preganglionic neurons in the intermediolateral nucleus of the spinal cord. The
raphe nuclei receives input from the NST, hypothalamus and RVLM. (Raphe nuclei in the rostral
medulla are involved in thermal production activity.)
The area postrema (AP), which is a circumventricular organ (lacking a blood-brain barrier), is
located dorsally at the caudal end of the medulla oblongata. The AP has chemoreceptors known
to detect emetic agents in blood. AP along with NST neurons project to sites in the caudal
medulla responsible for executing coordinated somatic and visceral components of emesis.
Types:
Deep Sensibility
Its the sensibility of the deep tissue such as muscles or tendons to pressure, pain, and
movement.
Epicritic Sensibility
The sensibility to gentle stimulations permitting fine discriminations of touch and temperature,
localized in the skin. Epicritic neurons detect gentle touch such as caresses; light vibrations; the
ability to recognize the shape of an object being held; and two-point discrimination, or the
spacing of two points being touched simultaneously.

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Proprioceptive Sensibility
The sensibility afforded by receptors in muscles, joints, and other parts, by which one is made
aware of their position and state. Proprioceptors are the receptor cells found in the bodys
muscles and joints. They detect joint position and movement, and the direction and velocity of
the movement. There are many receptors in the muscles, muscle fascia, joints, and ligaments, all
of which are stimulated by stretching in the area in which they lie. Muscle receptors are most
active in large joints such as the hip and knee joints, while joint and skin receptors are more
meaningful to finger and toe joints. All of these receptors contribute to overall kinesthesia, or
the perception of bodily movements.
Protopathic Eensibility
The sensibility to strong stimulations of pain and temperature; it is low in degree and poorly
localized, existing in the skin and in the viscera, and acting as a defensive agency against
pathologic changes in the tissues.
Splanchnesthetic Sensibility
The sensibility to stimuli received by splanchnic receptors. The splanchnic nerves are paired
visceral nerves (nerves that contribute to the innervation of the internal organs), carrying fibers
of the autonomic nervous system (visceral efferent fibers) as well as sensory fibers from the
organs (visceral afferent fibers). All carry sympathetic fibers except for the pelvic splanchnic
nerves, which carry parasympathetic fibers.

CHAPTER 4
PERCEPTION
PERCEPTION
In everyday life, it is to separate sensation from perception because the first so quickly leads to
the second. Certain ambiguous stimuli, however, can help us distinguish between them.
Perception is the process whereby the brain interprets the sensation it receives, giving them order
and meaning. It is the cognitive process of selecting, or organizing, and interpreting those stimuli
provided to us by our senses.

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Perception: Our Interpretation of the Stimuli Around Us


How do you see yourself every morning as you wake up and look at yourself on a mirror? Do
you find yourself a goddess? Have you notice some changes in your figure? Are there some
irritating pimples on your forehead? Whether you are satisfied or not on how you look like, just
be thankful that you have woke up and saw yourself on a mirror.
To easily cope with our discussion, I have prepared an easy basis for the terms we will surely
encounter.
Definition of Terms:
Perception is the process of interpreting the stimulus around us.
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Stimulus is anything that makes the person react or respond.


Intensity refers to strength (stimulus).
Repetition means the recurrence or reappearance (stimulus).
Movement involves changes or alterations (stimulus).
Perceiver is a person who becomes aware (of things or events) through the senses.
Experience refers to the content of direct observation or participation in an event.
Emotion refers to any strong feeling
Motivation refers to the drive or enthusiasm of the individual.
Values refer to the beliefs of a group/individual in which they have an emotional investment.
Culture refers to the attitudes and behavior that are characteristic of a particular social group or
organization.
How do you see yourself every morning as you wake up and look at yourself on a mirror? Do
you find yourself a goddess? Have you notice some changes in your figure? Are there some
irritating pimples on your forehead? Whether you are satisfied or not on how you look like, just
be thankful that you have woke up and saw yourself on a mirror.
Perception is our sensory experience of the world around us and involves both the
recognition of environmental stimuli and actions in response to these stimuli. Through the
perceptual process, we gain information about properties and elements of the environment that
are critical to our survival. Perception not only creates our experience of the world around us; it
allows us to act within our environment.Perception includes the five senses; touch, sight, taste
smell and taste. It also includes what is known as proprioception, a set of senses involving the
ability to detect changes in body positions and movements. It also involves the cognitive
processes required to process information, such as recognizing the face of a friend or detecting a
familiar scent.
It means to say that perception, in its wholeness, is the process on how we interpret the
stimulus around us. On either of the senses it may have occurred.

Factors Affecting Our Perception


Basically, there are only two that affects the perception of an individual stimulus and perceiver.
Stimulus is an energy change which is registered by the senses. In behaviorism and
related stimulusresponse theories, a stimulus constitutes the basis for behavior, whereas it
constitutes the basis for perception in perceptual psychology. Thanks to our Almighty Creator,
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we have our stimulus that we may be able to feel and react. On the other hand, we are the blessed
Perceivers. There are so many other factors like Time, Environment, Novelty, Motion,
Background, etc.

Stimulus Qualities
Intensity
It refers to the strength of the stimulus. When you look at some photographs, you would easily
perceive the photo that was dominantly colored by red than by orange or yellow, because red has
greater wavelengths than orange and yellow. The strength of stimulus might also refer to its size.
Larger busts are more noticeable the flat ones. Grater sculptures are more exposed. Also in its
age, fresh ones are more perceived.

Repetition
It means the recurrence or reappearance of the stimulus. In terms of repetition, if you are
frequently exposed to stimulus, there is a probability that you can recognize if not memorize the
stimulus. Remember how easy you have memorized the campaign jingles of our aspiring
politicians and how hard for you to memorize the hymn of our beloved school.

Movement
It involves changes or alterations of the stimulus. Things that move in a specific view are easier
to perceive than those which do not. For example, in a class of 50 students, a visitor will surely
perceive a more active student, who recites then and then, than those who always lend ears and
dont contribute to the discussion.

Perceivers Qualities

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Experience and Emotion


Individuals personal experience is of great account as he perceives the stimulus or
circumstances. Individuals tend to react based on his past understanding or practice. Example,
when it is Valentines day and your heart was recently broken, your reaction may probably being
bitter. For that is the predictable reaction of a newly-broken heart.

Motivation
It refers to the drive or enthusiasm of the individual. Greater motivation results to better
perception about the stimulus. If your professor gives bonus points for visual aids in reporting,
you will surely exert effort in making your visual aid. But if not, you might just have brought
your white board marker with you.

Values and Culture


An individuals perception is also relative to the culture and values system that an
individual was raised in. An individual might have the same attitudes as his parents
do. If your parents dont usually wear revealing clothes, you might also have the
guilt of getting outside with little covers on. Also when you grow up in a coldweathered place, your culture is obviously not showing off with your bikini.

RULES OF ORGANIZATIONAL RULES: HOW DO WE


PERCEIVE
Have you ever noticed how a series of flashing lights often appears to be moving, such as neon
signs or strands of Christmas lights? According to Gestalt psychology, this apparent movement
happens because our minds fill in missing information. This belief that the whole is greater than
the sum of the individual parts led to the discovery of several different phenomena that occur
during perception. During early 1990s, two schools of thoughts debated over how perceptions
are formed. Structuralism family believed that thousands of sensations are added to create
perception. While Gestalt psychology strongly believed that certain perception is given not
because sensations are added but are combined to set off innate rules. Gestalt psychologists won
over the debate, and discovered that our brains follow set of rules to interpret stimulus.
Stimulus Qualities

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Figure and Ground


Figure and ground means focus of focus. It is a type of
perceptual grouping which is a vital necessity for recognizing
objects through vision. In Gestalt psychology it is known as
identifying a figure from the background. For example, you see
words on a printed paper as the figure and the white sheet as
the background. Figureground organization is used to help
artists and designers in composition of a 2D piece. Figure
ground reversal may be used as an intentional visual
design technique in which an existing images foreground and background colors are purposely
swapped to create new images. Figureground perception can be expanded from visual
perception to include abstract (i.e. non-visual) concepts such as melody/harmony,
subject/background and positive/negative space. The concept of figure and ground fully depends
on the observer and not on the item itself. There are three types of figureground problems:
1

The figure and the ground compete.

The figure should be the ground and the ground should be the figure.

The figure and ground create an optical illusion.

Proximity
The law of proximity states that depending on how close
the individual elements of a gestalt are. It will determine
ones perception of it. It states objects that are near,
or proximate, to each other tend to be grouped together. It
is part of the Gestalt Laws of Perceptual Organization and
Gestalt psychology, which was founded by Max
Wertheimer. Wertheimer noted that rapid sequences of
events create the illusion of motion. An example of this would be movies or motion pictures.
Movies are actually a rapid succession of still images that create a seamless visual experience.
This is also known as the phi phenomenon. It states that the brain more closely associates objects
close to each other than it does when objects are spaced far apart. It is thought this kind of
clustering occurs because humans often have a natural inclination to want to group and organize
things in a neat and organized manner.
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Similarity
Similarity refers to how similar the elements that make up a gestalt
are to each other. Whereby, the more similar the elements are, the
easier it will be to understand the whole. So the more similar things
are to each other, the more likely we are to see them as a whole.
The more dissimilar things are to each other, the more likely we are
to see them as being separate from each other. The principle of
similarity states that, all else being equal, perception lends itself to
seeing stimuli that physically resemble each other as part of the
same object, and stimuli that are different as part of a different
object. This allows for people to distinguish between adjacent and
overlapping objects based on their visual texture and resemblance.
Other stimuli that have different features are generally not perceived as part of the object. Our
brain uses similarity to distinguish between objects that may lay adjacent to or overlap with each
other based upon their visual texture.
Closure
Closure refers to the brains tendency to fill in gaps of information
so that something becomes a complete whole. It is your perception
of those images which makes them appear to move. The principle
of closure refers to the minds tendency to see complete figures or
forms even if a picture are incomplete, partially hidden by other
objects, or if part of the information needed to make a complete
picture in our minds is missing. Closure is also thought to have evolved from ancestral survival
instincts in that if one was to partially see a predator their mind would automatically complete
the picture and know that it was a time to react to potential danger even if not all the necessary
information was readily available.

Common fate
Common fate occurs when all the elements of an object move together, which makes them
distinguishable from a background. So the more similar things are, the more we see them as
common fate. When visual elements are seen moving in the same direction at the same rate
(optical flow), perception associates the movement as part of the same stimulus. For example,
birds may be distinguished from their background as a single flock because they are moving in
the same direction and at the same velocity, even when each bird is seen from a distance as
little more than a dot. The moving dots appear to be part of a unified whole. Similarly, two
flocks of birds can cross each other in a viewers visual field, but they will nonetheless continue
to be experienced as separate flocks because each bird has a direction common to its flock. This
allows people to make out moving objects even when other details (such as the objects color or
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outline) are obscured. This ability likely arose


from the evolutionary need to distinguish
a camouflaged predator from its background.
The law of common fate is used extensively in
user-interface design.
DEPTH PERCEPTION: FROM 2D TO 3D
Depth perception is concerned with why we
see objects in 3d rather than as flat, and how is
this accomplished. As discussed, in sensation,
our eyes can only spot 2d- the height and the width because of the images that are projected into
the retina. Our brain organizes the retinal images to add depth which results to view images in
three dimensional perspectives-heights, width and depth or stereoscopic division. The brain
organizes disparity and deduce as depth. Stereoscopic vision is effective up to 18 feet using
binocular cues but farther than this distance, the brain begins to use monocular cues to determine
depth. The eyes ability is to perceive the world in three dimensions and to judge distance. Depth
perception is achieved when the brain processes different pictures from each eye and combines
them to form a single 3-D image.
Depth perception makes it possible for the eyes to determine distances between objects and to
tell if something is near to us or far away. People who lose the sight of one eye often have
difficulties with depth perception. Depth perception is the visual ability to perceive the world in
three dimensions (3D) and the distance of an object. Depth sensation is the corresponding term
for animals, since although it is known that animals can sense the distance of an object (because
of their ability to move accurately, or to respond consistently, according to that distance), it is not
known whether they perceive it in the same subjective way that humans do.
Depth perception arises from a variety of depth cues. These are typically classified
into binocular cues that are based on the receipt of sensory information in three dimensions from
both eyes and monocular cues that can be represented in just two dimensions and observed with
just one eye. Binocular cues include stereopsis, eye convergence, disparity, and yielding depth
from binocular vision through exploitation of parallax. Monocular cues include size: distant
objects subtend smaller visual angles than near objects, grain, size, and motion parallax.
Binocular Vision
Binocular vision is vision with 2 eyes, and the main cue for depth perception associated with
binocular vision is retinal disparity. Since the pupils of the eyes are roughly about three inches
apart, this means that the right eye gives a slightly different image to that of the left eye. The
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disparity or difference between these two retinal images can be used as a cue for depth or
distance. Retinal disparity also provides another example of how the world of sensation differs
from that of perception. For at the level of sensation we actually sense two images. However, at
the level of perception we only perceive one image. This ability of the brain to merge two images
together is sometimes called the zipper effect and it is partly as a result of retinal disparity that
the images we see appear to be in 3d. The word binocular comes from two Latin roots, binifor
double, and oculus for eye. According to Fahle (1987), having two eyes confers six advantages
over having one.
1

It gives a creature a spare eye in case one is damaged.

It gives a wider field of view. For example, humans have a maximum horizontal field of
view of approximately 190 degrees with two eyes, approximately 120 degrees of which
makes up the binocular field of view (seen by both eyes) flanked by two uniocular fields
(seen by only one eye) of approximately 40 degrees.

It can give stereopsis in which binocular disparity (or parallax) provided by the two eyes
different positions on the head gives precise depth perception. This also allows a creature
to break the camouflage of another creature.

It allows the angles of the eyes lines of sight, relative to each other (vergence), and those
lines relative to a particular object (gaze angle) to be determined from the images in the
two eyes.These properties are necessary for the third advantage.

It allows a creature to see more of, or all of, an object behind an obstacle. This advantage
was pointed out by Leonardo da Vinci, who noted that a vertical column closer to the
eyes than an object at which a creature is looking might block some of the object from
the left eye but that that part of the object might be visible to the right eye.

It gives binocular summation in which the ability to detect faint objects is enhanced.

Other phenomena of binocular vision include utrocular discrimination (the ability to tell which of
two eyes has been stimulated by light),eye dominance (the habit of using one eye when aiming
something, even if both eyes are open), allelotropia (the averaging of the visual direction of
objects viewed by each eye when both eyes are open), binocular fusion or singleness of
vision (seeing one object with both eyes despite each eyes having its own image of the
object),and binocular rivalry (seeing one eyes image alternating randomly with the other when
each eye views images that are so different they cannot be fused).

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Binocular vision helps with performance skills such as catching, grasping, and locomotion. It
also allows humans to walk over and around obstacles at greater speed and with more assurance.
Orthoptists are eye care professionals who fix binocular vision problems.

Monocular Vision
The fact that depth perception is possible with only one eye shows that there are other visual
cues which allows us to perceive depth, and that this depth is not solely a result of retinal
disparity. It is vision in which both eyes are used separately. By using the eyes in this way, as
opposed by binocular vision, thefield of view is increased, while depth perception is limited. The
eyes of an animal with monocular vision are usually positioned on opposite sides of the animals
head, giving it the ability to see two objects at once. The word monocular comes from
the Greek root,mono for one, and the Latin root, oculus for eye.

Linear Perspective
Linear perspective describes the tendency of
parallel lines to appear to converge at the horizon.
This is also known as the ponzo illusion.is
a monocular cue that allows us to perceive the
depth and distance of an object. A monocular cue
is any depth cue that can be processed by using
one eye alone. This is in contrast to binocular
cues that require the use of both eyes to perceive
distance and depth.

Interposition

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Interposition occurs when one object is blocked by


another. For example, a card placed infront of another
card gives the appearance of the other card being
behind it. Interposition, or overlapping, is a type of
monocular cue in which one object partially covers
another. It creates the appearance that the object that
is being covered, or overlapped, is the one that is
further away. Amonocular cue is any stimuli related
to depth perception that can be perceived through the
use of one eye alone. This is in contrast to binocular
cues, which require the use of both eyes to perceive depth.
Shadows
Shadows are differences in the illumination of an
image, and helped us to see 3d objects by the
shadows they cast. If something is 3d, it will cast a
shadow, if it is 2d, it wont. In Jungian psychology,
the shadow or shadow aspect may refer to an
unconscious aspect of the personality which the
conscious ego does not identify in itself. Because
one tends to reject or remain ignorant of the least desirable aspects of ones personality, the
shadow is largely negative, or the entirety of the unconscious, everything of which a person is
not fully conscious. There are, however, positive aspects which may also remain hidden in ones
shadow (especially in people with low self-esteem).Contrary to a Freudian definition of shadow,
therefore, the Jungian shadow can include everything outside the light of consciousness, and may
be positive or negative. Everyone carries a shadow, Jung wrote, and the less it is embodied in
the individuals conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.It may be (in part) ones link to more
primitive animal instincts, which are superseded during early childhood by the conscious mind.
According to Carl Jung, the shadow, in being instinctive and irrational, is prone to psychological
projection, in which a perceived personal inferiority is recognized as a perceived moral
deficiency in someone else. Jung writes that if these projections remain hidden, The projectionmaking factor (the Shadow archetype) then has a free hand and can realize its objectif it has
oneor bring about some other situation characteristic of its power. These projections insulate
and harm individuals by acting as a constantly thickening veil of illusion between the ego and the
real world.

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From one perspective, the shadow...is roughly equivalent to the whole of the Freudian
unconscious; and Jung himself asserted that the result of the Freudian method of elucidation is a
minute elaboration of mans shadow-side unexampled in any previous age.
Jung also believed that in spite of its function as a reservoir for human darknessor perhaps
because of thisthe shadow is the seat of creativity; so that for some, it may be, the dark side of
his being, his sinister shadow...represents the true spirit of life as against the arid scholar.

Texture Gradient
Texture gradient refers to the level of detail that you can see
in an image. The closer an image is to you, the more detail
you will see. But if it is too close, then that detail will start to
become distorted or blurry. Likewise, the further away an
image is, the less detail you will see it in. Texture gradient is
the distortion in size which closer objects have compared to
objects farther away. It also involves groups of objects
appearing denser as they move farther away. Also could be explained by noticing a certain
amount of detail depending on how close something is, giving a sense of depth perception. There
are three main forms of texture gradient: density, perspective, and distortion of texture elements.
Motion Parallax
Motion parallax describes the tendency when
moving forwards rapidly to perceive differential
speeds in objects that are passing by. A good
example of motion parallax occurs when driving .if
you see a lamp-post in front of you it appears to
approach slowly, but just as you are passing it, the
lamp-post seems to flash by quickly in front of you.
If you were to then look back behind you, the lamppost would appear to be slowly moving away from you until eventually it looked stationary.
When an observer moves, the apparent relative motion of several stationary objects against a
background gives hints about their relative distance. If information about the direction and
velocity of movement is known, motion parallax can provide absolute depth information. This
effect can be seen clearly when driving in a car. Nearby things pass quickly, while far off objects
appear stationary. Some animals that lack binocular vision due to their eyes having little common
field-of-view employ motion parallax more explicitly than humans for depth cueing
Size Constancy
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Size constancy is the tendency to perceive objects as staying the same


size, despite changes in your distance from an object. When an object is
near to you, its image on the retina is large. When that image is far away
from you, its image on the retina is small. However, despite these
changes in retinal image size, you perceive the object as the same size. It
is the tendency to perceive the veridical size of a familiar object despite
differences in their distance (andconsequent differences in the size of the
pattern projected on the retina of the eye). To perceive objects to
give rise to very similar perceptualexperiences in spite of wide variation
s in the conditions of observation.
Figure-ground Perception
One of the most fundamental ideas of Gestalt psychology is that we
are born with some basic organizing tendencies, such as the ability
to distinguish an object from a background. It is the ability to
distinguish a figure from a larger background. The reason it is called
an inborn organizing tendency, is because we are able to
distinguish figures from backgrounds from birth. In general, the
figure is the smaller object and appears to come forward or be
slightly in front of the background. In some cases, it is a mental
construction and occurs as a result of how we mentally organize what
we see.
Reversing Figure-ground Perception
It is the thing you have seen how your internal mental world can
differ from your external physical world as a result of how you
perceive it to be. Human visual perception is sometimes ambiguous,
switching between different perceptual structures, and shifts of
attention sometimes favor one perceptual structure over another. It
has been proposed that, in figure-ground segmentation, attention to
certain regions tends to cause those regions to be perceived as closer
to the observer. Here, we show that this attention effect can be
reversed under certain conditions. To account for these phenomena,
we propose an alternative principle: The visual system chooses the interpretation that maximizes
simplicity of the attended regions.

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Illusion
An illusion is defined as something which fools the senses such as by
appearing to exist when it does not, or by appearing to be one thing when in
fact it is another. Illusions are usually associated with a particular sense. For
example, the moon creates an optical illusion by appearing larger when it is
nearer the horizon and smaller when it is higher and overhead. Illusions are
sometimes confused with delusions and/or hallucination, but these are
something completely different.

Delusions
A delusion is a false belief .for example, if I were to believe
that I have eyes on the back of my head, and then this would be
a delusion because what I believe to be true is not.
A delusion is a belief held with strong conviction despite
superior evidence to the contrary. As pathology, it is distinct
from a belief based on false or incomplete
information, confabulation, dogma, illusion, or other effects of perception.
Delusions typically occur in the context of neurological or mental illness, although they are not
tied to any particular disease and have been found to occur in the context of many pathological
states (both physical and mental). However, they are of particular diagnostic importance
in psychotic disorders including schizophrenia, paraphrenia, manic episodes of bipolar disorder,
and psychotic depression

Hallucinations

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A hallucination is a perception created by an individual. It


does not exist in reality, but is created in that individuals
mind. Although illusions are normal and experienced by most
people, delusions and hallucinations are generally associated
with mentally disturbed people. Overall illusions show us that
the world we see can sometimes be altered by brain.
A hallucination is a perception in the absence of
external stimulus that has qualities of real perception.
Hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and are seen to be
located in external objective space. They are distinguishable
from these related phenomena: dreaming, which does not involve wakefulness; illusion, which
involves distorted or misinterpreted real perception; imagery, which does not mimic real
perception and is under voluntary control; and pseudo hallucination, which does not mimic real
perception, but is not under voluntary control.[1] Hallucinations also differ from
delusional perceptions, in which a correctly sensed and interpreted stimulus (i.e., a real
perception) is given some additional (and typically absurd) significance.
Hallucinations can occur in any sensory modalityvisual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, proprioceptive, equilibrioceptive,nociceptive, therm
oceptive and chronoceptive.
A mild form of hallucination is known as a disturbance, and can occur in most of the senses
above. These may be things like seeing movement in peripheral vision, or hearing faint noises
and/or voices. Auditory hallucinations are very common in schizophrenia. They may be
benevolent (telling the subject good things about themselves) or malicious, cursing the subject
etc. Auditory hallucinations of the malicious type are frequently heard, for example people
talking about the subject behind his/her back. Like auditory hallucinations, the source of the
visual counterpart can also be behind the subjects back. Their visual counterpart is the feeling of
being looked or stared at, usually with malicious intent. Frequently, auditory hallucinations and
their visual counterpart are experienced by the subject together.
Illusion vs. Delusion vs. Hallucinations
Delusions
There are many types of delusions:
1
2

Delusions of influence (Believe that their thought and actions are controlled by outside force)
Delusions of persecution (Believe that others are trying to harm)
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Delusions of reference (Believe that some events in the environment have special meaning
to, and directed at the patient)
4 Grandiose delusions (The patients feelings of having special power and knowledge or
special relationships with important figures)
5 Somatic delusions (Feelings that the body has been manipulated by outside forces)
6 Delusion of love (Believe that he has a special romantic relationship with a public famous
figure)
7 Nihilism (Patient believe that the self-world and even time has been lost or
destroyed)Illusions
8 Illusions may occur more often when attention is not focused on the sensory modality, or
when there is strong affective state. For example, in a dark, a frightened person is more likely
to perceive the outline of a bush as that of an attacker.
9 Hallucinations
10 Hallucinations are not restricted to the mentally ill. A few normal people experience them,
especially when tired, also occur in healthy people during transition between sleep and
waking; they are called hypnagogic while falling asleep or hypnopompic while awaking.

Auditory hallucinations are the most common type of hallucinations in psychiatric


disorders. May be noises or voices, it can be heard clearly or indistinctly, they may seem to
speak words or phrases or sentences. Hallucination may be inferred when the patient appears
to be talking in response to voice and may whisper, mutter to himself incomprehensively, or
talk normally or shout out loudly as occurring in schizophrenics.

Visual hallucinations may be elementary or complex. Visual hallucinations are


experienced as located outside the field of vision (e.g. behind the head) or involve experience
beyond the sensory range (e.g. being able to look out the window and see someone in distant
city). Visual hallucinations are seen in dissociation and conversion disorder, severe affective
disorder, organic mental conditions, substance abuse and schizophrenia, but the contents of
the visual hallucination are of little diagnostic significance.

Tactile hallucinations or haptic hallucinations generally are of little diagnostic


significance. Examples like sensation of being touched, sensation of insects moving under the
skin occurs in cocaine abuse and occasionally in schizophrenia.

Hallucinations of taste and smell are infrequent. They may occur


in schizophrenia and severe depressive disorders, but they may suggest temporal lobe
epilepsy or irritation of the olfactory bulb or pathways by tumor, so their presence indicates
medical investigation.

Hallucination of deep sensation may occur as feelings of the viscera being pulled upon or
distended, or of sexual stimulation.

Extra Sensory Perception


Extrasensory perception or ESP, also called sixth sense, includes reception of information not
gained through the recognized physicalsenses but sensed with the mind. The term was adopted
by Duke University psychologist J. B. Rhine to denote psychic abilities such
astelepathy, clairaudience, and clairvoyance, and their trans-temporal operation as precognition.
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ESP is also sometimes referred to as a sixth sense. The term implies acquisition of information
by means external to the basic limiting assumptions of science, such as these organisms can only
receive information from the past to the present.

Parapsychology is the study of paranormal psychic phenomena, including ESP.


Parapsychologists generally regard such tests as the ganzfeld experiment as providing
compelling evidence for the existence of ESP.

The scientific community rejects ESP due to the absence of an evidence base, the lack of a
theory which would explain ESP, the lack of experimental techniques which can provide reliably
positive results and considers ESP to be non-existent.

Sensation vs. Perception


Sensation is the act of receiving a stimulus by a sense organ.
Perception is the act of interpreting a stimulus registered in the brain by one or more sense
mechanism.
The mechanics for receiving stimuli are similar from one individual to the next, while the
interpretation of this stimuli differ.
To illustrate the difference between sensation and perception, a common analogy compares a
photograph of a scene with an artists painting of the scene. The photograph would record the
scene as the sense organ receives it whereas the painting depicts the scene as the artists
perceives it. The eye receives while the mind perceives.

CHAPTER 5
CONSCIOUSNESS

Consciousness
Heres a riddle: Whats something we all experience, all the time, that we cant really
measure and barely have words to define? You cant hold it n your hand or take a bite of it. It
isnt something you learn or practice. It just is consciousness. Every science has certain concepts

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that are so fundamental, yet abstract, that we have a hard time finding the appropriate words to
describe them.
We can simply define consciousness as our awareness of ourselves and our environment.
Its this awareness that allows us to take in and organize information from many sources and
senses at once. American psychologist, William James thought of consciousness as a
continuously moving, shifting, and unbroken stream, hence the term stream of consciousness,
others think of it as the brains roving flashlight, shining down an unbroken stream of light that
highlights one thing and then moves on to the next. The point is your conscious experience is
forever shifting. Beyond that moment to moment shifting, consciousness allows us to
contemplate life, think about infinity. Or consciousness helps us to plan our futures, consider
consequences and reflect on the past. It is both the most familiar and the most mysterious part of
our lives.

Prologue
Close your eyes imagine that your book rises slowly from your lap, drifts to your face,
and closes, lightly pinching your nose. Try it- seriously.
Could you see the book rise n your imagination? Did you feel a little pinch on your nose?
How about when you are daydreaming- do you sometimes get lost in your thoughts and have
conversations with people who are not there but who speak clearly to you, anyway?
My point is this: Life s made of many kinds of conscious awareness. Sometimes they are
based on what is out there, as when you are aware of the words in the textbook. But often you
create your conscious experiences entirely on your brain- like floating textbook that rose up and
pinched your nose. You create realities in your consciousness that never were and may never be.
You do so every time you imagine, daydream, or dream.
Nancy Kerr of the Georgia Mental Health Institute conducted a classic study that
illustrates this point beautifully. Kerr studied the dreams of adult men and women who had lost
their eyesight as young children, She found that, when they dreamed about friends, their dreams
were very much like those of sighted adults. Indeed, when they dreamed about people they had
met as blind adults- friends they had never seen- they dreamed about them in visual images.
They could see what their friends looked like in their dreams, even though they had never seen
them with their eyes. They created these visual images entirely in their brains.
In this topic, we will define consciousness as a state of awareness- awareness of the
outside world, of our own thoughts and feelings, and sometimes even of our own consciousness.
Consciousness is not a single state, however. Rather, there are many different states of conscious
awareness. Even during the course of a typical day our wakefulness is composed of a variety of
states of consciousness: loosely drifting consciousness, and daydreams.

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When the waking day ends, moreover, we do not cease to be aware; rather, we experience
other kinds of consciousness. As we drift off to sleep, we pass through a dreamlike twilight
phase, and even amid the shifting stages of sleep itself we experience the strange reality of
dreams. Apparently, these dreams are important to our well-being. Indeed, sleep may not rest and
restore us for the next day if we do not dream sufficiently.
Other states of consciousness are experienced much less often. Some states of altered
awareness occur spontaneously, as do hallucinations and other distorted perceptual experiences.
Other altered states of consciousness are achieved in part through deep concentration and
relaxation, such as during meditation and hypnosis. Still other altered states are induced by
taking certain kind of drugs.

Definition
What does it mean to be conscious? Clearly, it has something to do with awareness.
When conscious, we are aware of the sights and sounds of the outside world, of our feelings, our
thoughts, and sometimes even our own consciousness. When unconscious, we are not aware of
any of these things. Consciousness, simply defined, is a state of awareness.
However, there is more than one kind of conscious state; it comes in more than the wideawake-and-thinking variety. The qualities of conscious awareness that people experience when
daydreaming, hypnotized, high on drugs, or dreaming are so different from one another that we
need to think of consciousness as being many different states of awareness. To understand
consciousness fully, we need to explore its many varieties and the conditions under which they
occur.
We spend our lives passing from one state of consciousness to another. We read a book,
we daydream, we drift off to sleep, we dream, and so on. Each of these states of conscious
awareness is so different from the next that the very sense of reality it imparts differs. What is
logical and possible in a dream may seem absurd when considered the next day. We seldom
wonder which state contains the ultimate reality, however. We assume without questioning that
the waking state in which we spend most of our lives is the real consciousness. Its the standard
by which we judge other states and find them to be distorted or unreal.
Waking consciousness is so much a part of us, in fact, that its difficult to step back and
look at it objectively. When we do, we see that it is not a single state of consciousness; instead, it
includes at least three varieties: directed consciousness, flowing consciousness, and daydreams.

Other Definitions of Consciousness

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According to Silverman (1979), we are conscious when we can perceive our


environment, our own thoughts and feelings and those of others and when we can describe these
perceptions to them. This ability to report what we perceive is an important part of consciousness
because it shows that we have understood the information that served as the bases for our
behavior.
Gazzaniga (1980) defines consciousness as a state or quality of being aware of internal
thought processes or of external objects, states or facts. Examples of conscious processes or
experiences are numerous eating, drinking, reading, playing, courtship, etc. Aspects of
attention, language, thought, and even social or interpersonal relationships are conscious in
nature.
Hilgard, et al (1982) explain that to be conscious is to be alert and active, as when you are
awaken from sleep; it means to know oneself and to be aware of ones surroundings.
Two basic modes of consciousness were identified by Hilgard, et al.: passive, receptive
states as when we sit back and listen to music or when we indulge in fantasy or daydreaming;
and active, productive mental activities as when we make plans. For example, the creative
scientist or inventor begins with an image of something novel and valuable. He then does the
hard work to refine a product in line with his intention. The active role of consciousness in
initiating and monitoring what is done in producing ideas and in guiding behavior contrasts
with the passive receptive role of consciousness although there seems to be no sharp distinction
between these two modes.

Functions of Consciousness
William James in Gazzaniga (1980) describes the function of consciousness as a selecting
agency. He says that it enables us to cope with conditions that require us to choose among a wide
variety of stimuli. We notice, emphasize and decide; we ignore or pay less attention to the stimuli
that we do not have to deal with at the moment. When we are reacting automatically or
habitually, consciousness is minimal; we need not be conscious of what we are doing. However,
when we encounter something new or different, when we hesitate or need to make a choice, full
consciousness comes into play. We do not respond to every stimulus around us, but rather, only
to those that require a response.
Similarly, Mandler in Silverman (1979), brings out the point that consciousness
apparently enables us to decide among various courses of action. He identifies five adaptive
functions of consciousness.
1

It permits us to choose our course of action on the basis of the most probable or most
desirable outcome.
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2
3
4

It enables us to make long-term plans, combining large numbers of variables and


possibilities.
It involves the retrieval of information from memory which is essential to making plans
and to acting on them.
It involves breaking down and sorting new information into units that can be easily
learned and remembered, which permit us to communicate what we know to others, as
well as to use previously learned material to solve present problems.
It intervenes to find a solution when some other system fails.

States of Consciousness
Are you conscious? If youre presently awake and is focused on listening, the answer is
most probably yes! Most likely, youre now familiar with the term conscious as well as the
word, unconscious. We tend to use the word conscious interchangeably with the word
aware. How aware are you at this moment? Your answer is likely to include how alert you feel,
what youre currently thinking about, what you feel, your emotions and what youre noticing
about your surroundings. Our answer to this question is obviously subjective because it depends
on what were currently experiencing at this point in time.
Life is basically made up of every kinds of consciousness. We may not be aware of it, but
it is a part of our system. Using our brains, the most complex thing in the entire universe, we
create our own conscious experiences. We create realities in our consciousness. These realities
might even never happen before or never existed in the first place. We do so every time we
imagine, daydream or dream.
To further understand the above statements, we will explore the notion of the different
states of consciousness and compare it to altered states (which will be discussed in the later
reports). Perhaps you are paying attention on what Im saying, on the report, but what were you
focusing on the moment ago? Maybe youre daydreaming, making plans for the week. Can you
still remember what your dream was about when you woke up from sleep? All this different
mental activities represent different states of consciousness.
Our level of awareness varies throughout the day. You will have times when youre alert
and times when youre feeling quite drowsy. Consciousness can be thought of as operating on a
continuum from a high level of consciousness or awareness to the point of being unconscious or
being totally unaware. The more aware we are of our thoughts, feelings, perceptions and
surroundings, the higher the level of consciousness. So, the level of awareness of internal events
and external surroundings is known as a State of Consciousness (SOC).

Normal Waking Consciousness (NWC)

Think about how aware you are of your thoughts and feelings and what is happening around
you at the moment. Ask yourself these questions: Who are you? Where are you? What are you
doing? What time is it? Who are you with? Are you thinking about something? So if you have a
real understanding of where you are, what time is it, what you are thinking, how you are feeling
and so on, you are experiencing a Normal Waking Consciousness (NWC)a state that is
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relatively organized, meaningful and clear. It is a state of consciousness that you experience
when you are awake and aware of your thoughts, feelings, and perceptions from internal events
and the surrounding environment. During normal waking consciousness, you experience a real
sense of time and place.

Directed Consciousness

There are times when our conscious awareness is directed toward a single focus. When we
read a book, we are focused on the words and phrases on the pages, we get absorbed by what
were reading. The state where our conscious awareness is focused, ordered, and one-tracked is
known as Directed Consciousness. For example, when you drink, pay attention to how wet your
drink feels, how cold it is in your mouth, how it tastes like. Focus on your drink. If you do that,
youll taste your drink as youve never tasted one before.

Flowing Consciousness

A goldfishs attention span is 3 seconds. Did you know that the average human attention span
is 2.8-8 seconds? But according to statistics, when browsing the web, the average adult has a
shorter attention span than a goldfish. One moment were thinking about something, we get
distracted, then our attention shifts to another. William James compared this kind of
consciousness to the flow of water in a stream. He viewed consciousness as an ever-changing
stream of thoughts that can shift smoothly and effortlessly from one moment to the next, just like
water flowing in a stream.

Daydreams

What is the greatest desire of your heart? Do you have a wish you want to be granted? Do
you have things you want to happen in your life? Sigmund Freud believed that daydreams
reduced the tension left by our unfulfilled needs and wishes. Daydreams are focused and directed
thinking but these involve fantasies. What we cannot do in reality, we accomplish in the fantasy
world of daydreams. Was Freud right about daydreams reducing tension of unmet needs? To
answer this, researchers asked college students to jot down their daydreams for several days.
They found out as predicted that most of the daydreams involve fulfillment of a wish. Also, with
these, people feel more relaxed. They proved that instead of releasing tension, daydreams create,
for they are merely a slightly distorted reflection of our current concerns and emotion.

Divided Consciousness

This may happen when youre deeply absorbed in the novel youre reading. (Especially,
when youre a bookworm!) Imagine yourself sitting on a nook, reading the Harry Potter series
and the scene where the Golden Trio set off to save the sorcerers stone comes in. Youd
probably share the same experience along with the fictional characters. Studies show that when
this happens, most readers forget the time passing by especially when theyre so into the story.
Ernest Hilgard (1975) believes that our conscious awareness hormones split and we
simultaneously perform two activities requiring conscious awareness. Simply, it means being at
two places (mentally) at the same time.
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Dreams
Do you know that the average person spends about six years of their lives dreaming? Our
dreamsthose vivid, emotional images racing through our sleeping brainshave long been a
source of curiosity. Nobody knows for certain why we dream. Ancient people have tried to find
the meaning and purpose of dreams, using them as prophecy or messages from some sort of
spirit.
One of the first people to come up with a scientific explanation as to why we dream was
the Greek philosopher Aristotle wherein he spoke of the soul exercising special clairvoyant
powers, in accord with its divine nature, when freed in sleep from the bodys constraint. He also
concluded that the function of sleep and dreams was to dissipate the vapors that rose from the
stomach after eating. And also, for centuries people believed that blood rose to the brain and kind
of like caused congestion there and when a person sleeps, the blood is drained back to the rest of
the body.
In the early 20th century, sleep and dreams were thought to be a function of elimination.
Scientific theories proposed that lactic acid, carbon dioxide and cholesterol collected in the
brain during waking and were dissipated during sleep. But it was said that the real inquiry on the
process of dreaming began with Sigmund Freuds The Interpretation of Dreams (1900).
Freud believed that the problems of his patients could be the cause of their past conflicts
or traumatic events that had been buried in their unconscious minds since childhood. So, one of
the ways Freud devised to get to those early memories was to examine his patients dreams. He
believed that the true meaning of dreams were hidden and were only expressed in symbols.
Sometimes, we get really crazy dreams. But mostly, average dreams usually just sort of
unpack and reshuffle what you did that day. If something traumatic happen to you, your brain
might provide you with a nightmare to help extinguish your daytime fears.
Oneirology, the study of dreams is a mix of neuroscience and psychology. Oneiros is a
Greek term for dream. Thus, they seek to find answers as to why we dream and what the purpose
of dreaming is. Back with Freud, he believed that our dreams were some sort of censored and
symbolic version of whatever inner conflict that was going on in the dreams latent content. But,
eventually it was flunked because we can interpret a dream any way that we want.
There are other theories to consider, though. Theres this Information Processing Theory
that proposes that our dreams help us process or sort out the days events and fix them into
memories. Theres also this idea that dreams are part of our cognitive development. It proposes
that dreams draw on our knowledge and understanding of the world. And finally, there are
theories that say that dreams are just some sort of accidental side-effects, something like the
brains attempt to weave a story out of the bunch of emotion, random sights and memories that
we may have felt or had.
However, there is also what we call mystical meaning of dreams. Early human cultures
believed that dreams were glimpses of the divine world, possibly messages or warnings from
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supernatural beings. The earliest cultures considered dreams to be of great importance and
treated them with utmost reverence. Ancient Greeks also believed that dreams were messages
from the gods.
So, what do people mostly dream about? It is typically about events that occur in
everyday life. There are dreams about flying, falling, trying to do something, there are
nightmares. Even with the above statements as to why we dream, the topic continues to be a
great subject for debate for researchers. All we know is that every dream can be interpreted in
many ways and this just proves how complex and special our brain really is.

Stages of Sleep
When a person sleeps, he/she goes through 5 Stages of Sleep, these 5 stages are what
make up the entire length of our sleep each night that we go to bed. The 5 stages, namely stage
1,2,3,4 and the R.E.M. Stage are the 5 stages we go through when we sleep. Each stage affects
our brain differently throughout the night.

The Role of Brain Waves in a Persons Sleep


Brain waves essentially determine how deep or how light our sleep is. Fast Brain Waves
dictate a lighter sleep, since fast brain waves equate to more brain activity. The term Light Sleep
generally refers to sleep where a person is easily awoken. Slow Brain Waves then give a person
deeper sleep, since theres less brain activity occurring. Deep Sleep on the other hand is sleep
where waking a person up is a tad more difficult, and if a person does indeed get woken up
during deep sleep, that person will feel groggy and disorientated.

The Five (5) Stages of Sleep


Each person goes through a cycle of 5 Stages of Sleep each night which lasts about 90110 minutes. Stages 1,2,3,4 and R.E.M. form the complete cycle of sleep. The 5 stages are as
follows:

Stage 1 / Light Sleep


The 1st stage of sleep is the stage in which were only half asleep. Brain activity is still
very high at this point and this is what causes our sleep to be very light; because of this, we are
easily woken up. An occurrence that also happens quite a bit during this 1st stage of sleep is
Muscle Contractions, which is the sensation that most of us associate with falling.
Stage 2 / The 1st True Stage of Sleep

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The 2nd stage of sleep is generally referred to as the 1ST Real Stage of Sleep, because its
essentially the stage in sleep wherein were being prepared for the stage of Deep Sleep. This
stage is still in the category of light sleep though, since brain activity is still fairly high, but that
brain activity diminishes over time which leads us to the stage of deep sleep.
Stage 3 & 4 / The Stages of Deep Sleep
Stages 3 and 4 are what we commonly refer to as the stages of Deep Sleep since these are
the stages when our brain activity diminishes and we fall into a deep, comfortable sleep where
waking us up is much harder than waking up someone in Light Sleep.
Stage 3
In this 1st part of the stages of deep sleep, the brain begins producing Delta Waves, which
are extremely slow brain waves. Smaller, faster brain waves however are still scattered along
throughout the brain but there are more delta waves which gives us deep sleep.
Stage 4
In the 2nd stage of deep sleep, the brain pretty much exclusively produces delta waves,
which takes what was already a very deep slumber and makes it even deeper.
The R.E.M. Stage / Rapid Eye Movement Stage
Up till this point where we hit the R.E.M. Stage, we were still in what we would call
Non-R.E.M. Sleep, where there is little to no eye movement. Its also worth noting that in NonR.E.M. Sleep the mental activity is still quite thought-like and normal, while during R.E.M.
Sleep mental activity becomes more bizarre and seemingly very hallucinatory.
As you might have guessed, during the R.E.M. Stage, the eyes move, and jerk rapidly,
this is due to the sudden rise of brain activity that occurs. Brain activity increases to match the
brain activity of someone awake during this stage, which is generally what leads to the creation
of Dreams. If someone is awoken during R.E.M. Sleep theres a possibility that that person can
remember his dream that he experienced during his R.E.M. Sleep.
Another major difference between Non-R.E.M. Sleep and R.E.M. Sleep is how during
R.E.M. Sleep, the muscles are paralyzed which means we cant move an inch, while during NonR.E.M. Sleep, our muscles are fine, which can sometimes lead to Sleepwalking. Other things
that occur during R.E.M. Sleep are as follows: Heart rate and Blood Pressure increase, the body
loses its ability to regulate temperature.

Additional Information on the Stages of Sleep

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Generally during the stages of deep sleep, most children will experience bedwetting,
sleepwalking or even night terrors.
One full cycle of sleep can last anywhere between 90 110 minutes.
During the 1st few cycles of sleep during the night, R.E.M. Sleep is much shorter while
Non-R.E.M. Sleep stages are much longer. The next few cycles will have longer R.E.M.
Sleep and Less Non-R.E.M. Sleep which makes waking up easier.
Infants generally have more R.E.M. Sleep than adults, and adults in turn have more NonR.E.M. Sleep.
The cycle of sleep will typically repeat around 4 6 times each night.
In 2008, The Sleep Profession in the US eliminated the 4th stage and merged it with the
3rd.

Length of Sleep
Circadian Clock
Biologically, the most important circadian clock currently known to science is a dense
cluster of neurons in the suprachiasmatic nucleus, a part of the brain directly above the optic
chiasm, where the optic nerves cross on their paths from the two eyes to the visual cortex. This
clock measures the time of day, primarily based on input from outside light signals. An organism
whose circadian clock exhibits a regular rhythm corresponding to outside signals is said to
be entrained; the rhythm so established persists even if the outside signals suddenly disappear. If
you take an entrained human and put them in a bunker with constant light (or darkness), they will
continue to experience rhythmic increases and decreases of body temperature and melatonin, on
a period which slightly exceeds 24 hours. Scientists refer to such conditions as free-running of
the circadian rhythm. (Under natural conditions, light signals regularly adjust this period
downward, so that it corresponds better with the exact 24 hours of an Earth day.)
The clock exerts constant influence on the body, effecting continuous sinusoidal
oscillation of body temperature between ~36.2 C and ~37.2 C. The suprachiasmatic nucleus
itself shows conspicuous oscillation activity, which intensifies during subjective day (i.e., the
part of the rhythm corresponding with daytime, whether accurately or not) and drops to almost
nothing during subjective night. The circadian pacemaker in the suprachiasmatic nucleus has a
direct neural connection to the pineal gland, which releases the hormone melatonin at
night. Melatonin is an important circadian indicator but its mechanisms of action are not well
understood. Nocturnal mammals, which tend to stay awake at night, have higher melatonin at
night just like diurnal mammals do. And, although removing the pineal gland in many animals
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abolishes melatonin rhythms, it does not stop circadian rhythms altogetherthough it may alter
them and weaken their responsiveness to light cues. Cortisol levels in diurnal animals typically
rise throughout the night, peak in the awakening hours, and diminish during the
day. Circadian prolactin secretion begins in the late afternoon, especially in women, and is
subsequently augmented by sleep-induced secretion, to peak in the middle of the night. Circadian
rhythm exerts some influence on the nighttime secretion of growth hormone.
The circadian rhythm influences the ideal timing of a restorative sleep episode.
In diurnal animals, sleepiness increases during the night. REM sleep occurs more during the low
part (i.e., near body temperature minimum) of the circadian cycle, whereas slow-wave sleep
occurs relatively independently of circadian time.
The internal circadian clock is profoundly influenced by changes in light, since these are
its main clues about what time it is. Exposure to even small amounts of light during the night can
can suppress melatonin secretion, increase body temperature, and increase cognitive ability.
Short pulses of light, at the right moment in the circadian cycle, can significantly reset the
internal clock. Blue light, in particular, exerts the strongest effect.
Modern humans often find themselves desynchronized from their internal circadian
clock, due to the requirements of work (especially night shifts), long-distance travel, and the
influence of widespread indoor lighting. Even if they have sleep debt, or feel sleepy, people can
have difficulty staying asleep at the peak of their circadian cycle. Conversely they can have
difficulty waking up in the trough of the cycle. A healthy young adult entrained to the sun will
(during most of the year) fall asleep a few hours after sunset, experience body temperature
minimum at 6AM, and wake up a few hours after sunrise.
Nocturnal animals have higher body temperatures, greater activity, rising serotonin, and
diminishing cortisol during the nightthe inverse of diurnal animals. Nocturnal and diurnal
animals both have increased electrical activity in the suprachiasmatic nucleus, and corresponding
secretion of melatonin from the pineal gland, at night.

How much sleep do we need?


The amount of sleep we need varies depending on multiple factors including age,
physical condition, psychological condition, and energy exertion. Therefore, sleep requirements
depend entirely on the individual. Just like any other human characteristic, the amount of sleep a
person needs to function best may be different even for someone who is of the same age and
gender. For example, a pregnant woman will need more sleep than a healthy woman of the same
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age, an adult with a cold will need more sleep than one who is well, and an individual with
depression may require more sleep than a non-depressed person.
Though there is no magic sleep number, there are general rules for how much sleep
certain age groups need.

Adult

The optimal amount of sleep is not a meaningful concept unless the timing of that sleep is
seen in relation to an individuals circadian rhythms. A persons major sleep episode is
relatively inefficient and inadequate when it occurs at the wrong time of day; one should be
asleep at least six hours before the lowest body temperature. The timing is correct when the
following two circadian markers occur after the middle of the sleep episode and before
awakening: maximum concentration of the hormone melatonin, and minimum core body
temperature.
Human sleep needs vary by age and amongst individuals, and sleep is considered to be
adequate when there is no daytime sleepiness or dysfunction. Moreover, self-reported sleep
duration is only moderately correlated with actual sleep time as measured by actigraphy, and
those affected with sleep state misperception may typically report having slept only four
hours despite having slept a full eight hours.
A University of California, San Diego psychiatry study of more than one million
adults found that people who live the longest self-report sleeping for six to seven hours each
night. Another study of sleep duration and mortality risk in women showed similar results. Other
studies show that sleeping more than 7 to 8 hours per day has been consistently associated with
increased mortality, though this study suggests the cause is probably other factors such as
depression and socioeconomic status, which would correlate statistically. It has been suggested
that the correlation between lower sleep hours and reduced morbidity only occurs with those who
wake naturally, rather than those who use an alarm.
Researchers at the University of Warwick and University College London have
found that lack of sleep can more than double the risk of death from cardiovascular
disease, but that too much sleep can also be associated with a doubling of the risk of death,
though not primarily from cardiovascular disease.
Professor Francesco Cappuccio said, Short sleep has been shown to be a risk factor for
weight gain, hypertension, and Type 2 diabetes, sometimes leading to mortality; but in
contrast to the short sleep-mortality association, it appears that no potential mechanisms by
which long sleep could be associated with increased mortality have yet been investigated. Some
candidate causes for this include depression, low socioeconomic status, and cancer-related
fatigue... In terms of prevention, our findings indicate that consistently sleeping around seven
hours per night is optimal for health, and a sustained reduction may predispose to ill health.
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Furthermore, sleep difficulties are closely associated with psychiatric disorders such
as depression, alcoholism, and bipolar disorder. Up to 90% of adults with depression
are found to have sleep difficulties. Dysregulation found on EEG includes disturbances in sleep
continuity, decreased delta sleep and altered REM patterns with regard to latency, distribution
across the night and density of eye movements.

Young

By the time infants reach the age of two, their brain size has reached 90 per cent of an adultsized brain; a majority of this brain growth has occurred during the period of life with the highest
rate of sleep. The hours that children spend asleep influence their ability to perform on cognitive
tasks. Children who sleep through the night and have few night waking episodes have higher
cognitive attainments and easier temperaments than other children.
Sleep also influences language development. To test this, researchers taught infants a faux
language and observed their recollection of the rules for that language. Infants who slept within
four hours of learning the language could remember the language rules better, while infants who
stayed awake longer did not recall those rules as well. There is also a relationship between
infants vocabulary and sleeping: infants who sleep longer at night at 12 months have better
vocabularies at 26 months.
Children need many hours of sleep per day in order to develop and function properly: up to
18 hours for newborn babies, with a declining rate as a child ages. Early in 2015, after a twoyear study, the National Sleep Foundation in the US announced newly revised
recommendations as shown in the table below.
Age and condition

Sleep Needs

Newborns (03 months)

14 to 17 hours[73]

Infants (411 months)

12 to 15 hours

Toddlers (12 years)

11 to 14 hours

Preschoolers (35 years)

10 to 13 hours

School-age children (613 years)

9 to 11 hours

Teenagers (1417 years)

8 to 10 hours

Adults

7 to 9 hours
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Measuring Sleep
Scientists measure sleep with the following:

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

It is a device that measures the electrical activity of the brain. This is the measure scientists
rely on most when determining which stage stage of sleep a person is in. When using the EEG,
we look at each wave in terms of the: a) frequency how many times the wave occurs within a
specific period, and b) the amplitude the size of the wave. These two submeasures help us
identify wave types so that, in turn, we can identify different stages of sleep.

Electrooculagram (EOG)

Its a device that measures eye activity. During different stages of sleep, our eyes move in
distinct ways. For example, during slow wave sleep (SWS), we have slow, rolling eye
movements, However, during REM sleep, our eye movements are much more rapid and occur in
a sharp, back and forth way. The EOG is a vital tool for identifying REM sleep since the EEG in
REM, wake and stage look so similar. But, when we combine the EEG and EOG it is easy to see
the differences.

Electromyogram (EMG)

This device is used to measure the muscle activity that occurs during sleep, and is
particularly helpful when attempting to identify REM sleep. During REM sleep (as you will soon
read), humans experience a type of temporary paralysis during which the EMG drops to almost
nothing (close to a flat line).

Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG)

As you most likely know, the electrocardiogram is a measure of heart muscle contractions.

Temperature

Body temperature is connected with sleep via the sircadian rhythms (your bodys internal,
biological clock). Although most people believe that the circadian rhythms are a function of time,
they in fact work according to body temperature that fluctuates over a 24 (or so) hour period. So,
our internal clock seems to function according to our body temperature that varies across a 24
hour period, and not strictly according to time. So, the clock showing 11:00 am does not
influence a persons ability to sleep. The body temperature that occurs at that time of day is more
important.

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Sleep Disorders
Sleep is a behavioral state that is a natural part of every individuals life. We spend about
one-third of our lives asleep. Nonetheless, people generally know little about the importance of
this essential activity. Sleep is not just something to fill time when a person is inactive. Sleep is a
required activity, not an option. Even though the precise functions of sleep remain a mystery,
sleep is important for normal motor and cognitive function. We all recognize and feel the need to
sleep. After sleeping, we recognize changes that have occurred, as we feel rested and more alert.
Sleep actually appears to be required for survival.
Sleep is a dynamic process. Sleep is not a passive event, but rather an active process
involving characteristic physiological changes in the organs of the body.
Problems with sleep can be due to lifestyle choices and can result in problem sleepiness
that is, feeling sleepy at inappropriate times. Environmental noise, temperature changes,
changes in sleeping surroundings, and other factors may affect our ability to get sufficient restful
sleep. Short-term problem sleepiness may be corrected by getting additional sleep to overcome
the sleep deficit. In other cases, problem sleepiness may indicate a sleep disorder requiring
medical intervention. Alcohol abuse can cause or exacerbate sleep disorders by disrupting the
sequence and duration of sleep states. Alcohol does not promote good sleep, and consuming
alcohol in the evening can also exacerbate sleep apnea problems.

Hypersomnia

Hypersomnia is characterized by recurrent episodes of excessive daytime sleepiness or


prolonged nighttime sleep.
Persons with hypersomnia are compelled to nap repeatedly during the day, often at
inappropriate times such as at work, during a meal or in conversation. These daytime naps
usually provide no relief from symptoms. Patients often have difficulty waking from a long
sleep, and may feel disoriented. Other symptoms may include anxiety, increased irritation,
decreased energy, restlessness, slow thinking, slow speech, loss of appetite, hallucinations and
memory difficulty. Some patients lose the ability to function in family, social, occupational or
other settings.
Hypersomnia may be caused by drug or alcohol abuse, other sleep disorders such as
narcolepsy or sleep apnea, or dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system. In some cases it
results from a physical problem, such as a tumor, head trauma, or injury to the central nervous
system. Certain medications, or medicine withdrawal, may also cause hypersomnia. Medical
conditions including multiple sclerosis, depression, encephalitis, epilepsy or obesity may
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contribute to the disorder. Some people appear to have a genetic predisposition to hypersomnia;
in others, there is no known cause. Hypersomnia typically affects adolescents and young adults.
Symptoms

Daytime naps that do not relieve drowsiness


Difficulty waking from a long sleep may feel confused or disoriented
Increased need for sleep during the day even while at work, or during a meal or
conversation
Increased sleep time up to 14 18 hours per day Other symptoms may include anxiety,
feeling irritated, low energy, restlessness, slow thinking or speech, loss of appetite, and
memory difficulty.

Causes

Self-imposed short sleep time


Medications (tranquilizers, sleeping pills, antihistamines)
Sleep disorders (such as obstructive sleep apnea isolated sleep paralysis and restless leg
syndrome)
Other medical conditions (such as hypothyroidism, hypercalcemia, and
hypo/hypernatremia)

Treatments
Stimulants, such as amphetamine, methylphenidate, and modafinil, may be prescribed.
Other drugs used to treat hypersomnia include clonidine, levodopa, bromocriptine,
antidepressants, and monoamine oxidase inhibitors. Changes in behaviorfor example avoiding
night work and social activities that delay bed timeand diet may offer some relief. Patients
should avoid alcohol and caffeine.

Insomnia

Insomnia is the feeling of inadequate or poor-quality sleep because of one or more of the
following: trouble falling asleep (Initial Insomnia); trouble remaining asleep through the night
(Middle Insomnia); waking up too early (Terminal Insomnia); or unrefreshing sleep for at least
one month. These can all lead to daytime drowsiness, poor concentration and the inability to feel
refreshed and rested upon awakening.

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Insomnia is not defined by the hours of sleep a person gets or how long it takes to fall
asleep. Individuals vary normally in their need for, and their satisfaction with, sleep. Insomnia
may cause problems during the day, such as tiredness, difficulty concentrating and irritability.
Insomnia can be classified as transient, intermittent and chronic. Insomnia lasting from a
single night to a few weeks is referred to as transient. If episodes of transient insomnia occur
from time to time, the insomnia is said to be intermittent. Insomnia (or Primary Insomnia) is
considered to be chronic if it occurs on most nights and lasts a month or more. Secondary
insomnia is the symptom or side effect of another problem. This type of insomnia often is a
symptom of an emotional, neurological, or other medical or sleep disorder.
Women, the elderly and individuals with a history of depression are more likely to
experience insomnia. Factors such as stress, anxiety, a medical problem or the use of certain
medications make the chance of insomnia more likely.
Symptoms
People will be unable to carry out their daily responsibilities either because they are too
tired or because they have trouble concentrating due to lack of restful sleep.
Insomnia may cause a reduced energy level, irritability, disorientation, dark circles under
the eyes, posture changes and fatigue.
Patients with insomnia are evaluated by a medical history and a sleep history. The sleep
history may be obtained from a sleep diary filled out by the patient or by an interview with the
patients bed partner concerning the quantity and quality of the patients sleep. Specialized sleep
studies may be recommended, but only if there is suspicion that the patient may have a primary
sleep disorder such as sleep apnea or narcolepsy.
Treatments
There are several steps people can take to help them sleep. Obvious ones are taking no
caffeinated drinks or foods that cause indigestion before bedtime, taking medication for pain, and
dealing with anxieties in the daytime rather than facing them at night. Here are some other
helpful hints (Kupfer& Reynolds, 1997)
1

Go to bed only when you are sleepy. If you lie in bed for 20 minutes and are still awake,
get up and do something like reading or watching television until you feel sleepy, and
then go back to bed.
Dont do anything in your bed but sleep. Your bed should be a cue for sleeping, not
studying or watching television. Because sleep is a reflex response, using the bed as a cue
for sleeping is a kind of learning called classical conditioning or the pairing of cues and
automatic responses.

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4
5

Dont try too hard to get to sleep, and especially do not look at the clock and calculate
how much sleep you arent getting. That just increases the tension and makes it harder to
sleep.
Keep to a regular schedule. Go to bed at the same time, even on days that you dont have
to go to work or class.
Dont take sleeping pills or drink alcohol or other types of drugs that slow down the
nervous system. Thesedrugs force you into deep sleep and do not allow you to get any
REM sleep or lighter stages.

If none of these things seem to be working, there are sleep clinics and sleep experts who can help
people with insomnia.

Nightmares

A nightmare is a dream occurring during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep that results in
feelings of strong terror, fear, distress or extreme anxiety. This phenomenon tends to occur in the
latter part of the night and oftentimes awakens the sleeper, who is likely to recall the content of
the dream.
Most nightmares may be a normal reaction to stress, and some clinicians believe they aid
people in working through traumatic events. Frequent occurrence of nightmares becomes a
disorder when it impairs social, occupational and other important areas of functioning. At this
point, it may be referred to as Nightmare Disorder (formerly Dream Anxiety Disorder) or
repeated nightmares.
Repeated nightmares is defined more specifically as a series of nightmares with a
recurring theme. Nightmares usually begin in childhood before age 10 and are considered normal
unless they significantly interfere with sleep, development or psychosocial development. They
tend to be more common in girls than boys, and they may continue into adulthood. Adult
nightmares are often associated with outside stressors or exist alongside another mental disorder.
Nightmares might be associated with anxiety and trauma.

Symptoms

Repeatedly wakes up with detailed recollection of long, frightening dreams centering


around threats to survival, security or self-esteem, usually occurring in the second half of
sleep or nap period.
Becomes oriented and alert instantly upon awakening.
Results in distress or impairment of occupational, social or other important areas of
functioning.
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Symptoms are not caused by general medical condition or by use of medications or other
substances.

Nightmares tend to be more common among children and become less frequent toward
adulthood. Nevertheless, about 50 percent of adults experience occasional nightmares, women
more often than men, and do not require any treatment. Eating just prior to going to bed, which
raises the bodys metabolism and brain activity, may cause an increase in nightmares.
Approximately 1 percent of adults will experience repeated nightmares and should seek help.
Causes

Anxiety or stress is the most common: In 60 percent of cases, a major life event precedes
the onset of nightmares
Illness with a fever
Death of a loved one (bereavement)
Adverse reaction to or side effect of a drug
Recent withdrawal from a drug such as sleeping pills
Excessive alcohol consumption
Abrupt alcohol withdrawal
Breathing disorder in sleep (sleep apnea)
Sleep disorders (narcolepsy, sleep terror disorder)
Eating just before going to bed, which raises the bodys metabolism and brain activity,
may cause nightmares to occur more often.

Treatments
If you are experiencing severe stress, you should seek out the support of friends and
relatives. Talking about what is on your mind can go a long way. It is also recommended that you
follow a regular fitness routine, including aerobic exercise if possible. You will find yourself able
to fall asleep faster, having a deeper sleep and waking up feeling more refreshed. Learn
techniques to reduce muscle tension (relaxation therapy), which will also help lessen anxiety.
Avoid long-term use of tranquilizers, and avoid caffeine and other stimulants.
If your nightmares started shortly after beginning a new medication, contact your healthcare provider. He or she will advise you on discontinuing that medication if necessary and
recommend an alternative.
For nightmares resulting from the effects of street drugs or persistent alcohol use, seek
counsel on discontinuing usage. Alcoholics Anonymous, for example, might suggest a safe way
for you to stop drinking. You can also attend their regularly scheduled meetings. In addition, look
at your lifestyle-friends, work and family-to rid yourself of factors that encourage substance
abuse. Call your health-care provider if nightmares occur more often than weekly, or if they
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prevent you from getting a good nights rest and persist for a prolonged period. Your medical
history will be obtained and a physical examination performed.

Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a serious, potentially life-threatening condition that is far more common than
generally understood. First described in 1965, sleep apnea is a breathing disorder characterized
by brief interruptions of breathing during sleep. It owes its name to the Greek word, apnea,
meaning, want of breath. There are two types of sleep apnea: central and obstructive. Central
sleep apnea, which is less common, occurs when the brain fails to send the appropriate signals to
the breathing muscles to initiate respiration.
Obstructive sleep apnea is far more common and occurs when air cannot flow into or out of
the persons nose or mouth although efforts to breathe continue.
In a given night, the number of involuntary breathing pauses or apneic events may be as
high as 20 to 30 or more per hour. These breathing pauses are almost always accompanied by
snoring between apnea episodes, although not everyone who snores has this condition. Sleep
apnea can also be characterized by choking sensations. The frequent interruptions of deep,
restorative sleep often lead to early morning headaches and excessive daytime sleepiness.
In normal conditions, the muscles of the upper part of the throat keep this passage open to
allow air to flow into the lungs. These muscles usually relax during sleep, but the passage
remains open enough to permit the flow of air. Some individuals have a narrower passage, and
during sleep, relaxation of these muscles causes the passage to close, and air cannot get into the
lungs. Loud snoring and labored breathing occur. When complete blockage of the airway occurs,
air cannot reach the lungs.
Early recognition and treatment of sleep apnea is important because it may be associated with
irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke.
Sleep apnea occurs in all age groups and both sexes, but is more common in men (though it
may be under-diagnosed in women) and possibly young African Americans. It has been
estimated that as many as 18 million Americans have sleep apnea. Four percent of middle-aged
men and 2 percent of middle-aged women have sleep apnea along with excessive daytime
sleepiness. People most likely to have or develop sleep apnea include those who snore loudly and
also are overweight, or have high blood pressure, or have some physical abnormality in the nose,
throat, or other parts of the upper airway. Sleep apnea seems to run in some families, suggesting
a possible genetic basis.

Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder. The principal symptoms are excessive daytime sleepiness
(EDS) including sudden, brief (about 15 minutes) sleep attacks, cataplexy (sudden loss of muscle
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tone), hallucinations, that occur at the onset or offset (when starting to wake up) of sleep, and
sleep paralysis.
Narcolepsy is believed to be caused by a deficiency of the brain chemical orexin A and B
(also known as hypocretin 1 and 2). 90 % of patients that have narcolepsy with associated
cataplexy have little or no orexin in the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord
(cerebrospinal fluid). Those who have narcolepsy without cataplexy probably have a different
cause, as their orexin levels are normal.
To some extent narcolepsy runs in families, but genetics alone are not usually enough for a
patient to develop narcolepsy. Scientists believe that it may be secondary to the bodys own
immune system attacking the areas in the brain that produce orexin, but it is unclear why some
people develop narcolepsy and others do not
It affects both sexes equally. It usually begins in early adult life and levels off in severity at
about 30 years of age.
Symptoms
Often, the person who has obstructive sleep apnea does not remember the episodes of
apnea during the night. The predominant symptoms are usually associated with excessive
daytime sleepiness due to poor sleep during the night. Other symptoms include:

Loud snoring
Periods of not breathing (apnea)
Awakening not rested in the morning
Abnormal daytime sleepiness, including falling asleep at inappropriate times
Morning headaches
Weight gain
Limited attention
Memory loss
Poor judgment
Personality changes
Lethargy

An estimated 18 million Americans have sleep apnea. However, few of them have had
the problem diagnosed. Patients with the typical features of sleep apnea, such as loud snoring,
obesity, and excessive daytime sleepiness should be referred to a specialized sleep center that can
perform a test called polysomnography. This test records the patients brain waves, heartbeat, and
breathing during an entire night. If sleep apnea is diagnosed, several treatments are available.
Mild sleep apnea frequently can be overcome through weight loss or by preventing the person
from sleeping on his or her back. Other people may need special devices or surgery to correct the

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obstruction. People with sleep apnea should never take sedatives or sleeping pills, which can
prevent them from awakening enough to breathe.
Causes
Certain mechanical and structural problems in the airway cause the interruptions in
breathing during sleep. In some people, apnea occurs when the throat muscles and tongue relax
during sleep and partially block the opening of the airway. When the muscles of the soft palate at
the base of the tongue and the uvula (the small fleshy tissue hanging from the center of the back
of the throat) relax and sag, the airway becomes blocked, making breathing labored and noisy
and even stopping it altogether. Sleep apnea also can occur in obese people when an excess
amount of tissue in the airway causes it to be narrowed. With a narrowed airway, the person
continues his or her efforts to breathe, but air cannot easily flow into or out of the nose or mouth.
During the apneic event, the person is unable to breathe in oxygen and to exhale carbon
dioxide, resulting in low levels of oxygen and increased levels of carbon dioxide in the blood.
The reduction in oxygen and increase in carbon dioxide alert the brain to resume breathing and
cause an arousal. With each arousal, a signal is sent from the brain to the upper airway muscles
to open the airway; breathing is resumed, often with a loud snort or gasp. Frequent arousals,
although necessary for breathing to restart, prevent the patient from getting enough restorative,
deep sleep.
Because of the serious disturbances in their normal sleep patterns, people with sleep
apnea often feel very sleepy during the day and their concentration and daytime performance
suffer. The consequences of sleep apnea range from annoying to life threatening. They include
depression, irritability, sexual dysfunction, learning and memory difficulties, and falling asleep
while at work, on the phone, or driving. It has been estimated that up to 50 percent of sleep apnea
patients have high blood pressure.
Risk for heart attack and stroke may also increase in those with sleep apnea. In addition,
sleep apnea is sometimes implicated in sudden infant death syndrome.
For many sleep apnea patients, their spouses are the first to suspect that something is
wrong, usually from their heavy snoring and apparent struggle to breathe. Coworkers or friends
of the sleep apnea victim may notice that the individual falls asleep during the day at
inappropriate times (such as while driving a car, working, or talking).
Treatments
The objective of treatment is to keep the airway open to prevent apneic episodes during
sleep. The specific therapy for sleep apnea is tailored to the individual patient based on medical
history, physical examination, and the results of polysomnography. Medications are generally not
effective. Oxygen administration may safely benefit certain patients but does not eliminate sleep
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apnea or prevent daytime sleepiness. Thus, the role of oxygen in the treatment of sleep apnea is
controversial, and it is difficult to predict which patients will respond well. It is important that
the effectiveness of the selected treatment be verified; this is usually accomplished by
polysomnography.
For mild cases of obstructive sleep apnea, treatment often consists of using methods to
avoid sleeping on ones back. For people with significant nasal congestion, a decongestant
therapy may be prescribed. Patients with obstructive and central apnea should avoid central
nervous system depressants such as alcoholic beverages, sedatives and narcotics. Weight loss and
diet control are encouraged for overweight patients. Many serious cases of obstructive sleep
apnea can be relieved by a treatment called nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nasal
CPAP). Nasal CPAP uses a mask-like device and pump that work together to keep the airway
open with air pressure during each inspiration. Surgery may benefit some patients by eliminating
or reducing the narrowing of the airway due to anatomical defects.
Behavioral Therapy
Behavioral changes are an important part of the treatment program, and in mild cases
behavioral therapy may be all that is needed. The individual should avoid the use of alcohol,
tobacco, and sleeping pills, which make the airway more likely to collapse during sleep and
prolong the apneic periods. Overweight persons can benefit from losing weight. Even a 10
percent weight loss can reduce the number of apneic events for most patients. In some patients
with mild sleep apnea, breathing pauses occur only when they sleep on their backs. In such
cases, using pillows and other devices that help them sleep in a side position is often helpful.

Restless Leg Syndrome

An uncomfortable (creeping, crawling, tingling, pulling, twitching, tearing, aching,


throbbing, prickling, or grabbing) sensation in the calves that occurs while sitting or while lying
down. The result is an uncontrollable urge to relieve the uncomfortable sensation by moving the
legs. Restless leg syndrome is a common cause of painful legs. The leg pain typically eases
with motion of the legs and becomes more noticeable at rest, worsens during the early evening or
later at night, and may cause insomnia.

Night Leg Cramps

Night leg cramps, also called nocturnal leg cramps, are painful, involuntary spasms, aching
or contractions of muscles in your legs. In most cases, night leg cramps involve your calf
muscles, but muscles in your feet or thighs may cramp as well.
Most of the time, night leg cramps occur for no known reason, and theyre usually harmless.
In general, night leg cramps are likely to be related to muscle fatigue and nerve problems.

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The risk of having night leg cramps increases with age. Pregnant women also have a higher
likelihood of experiencing night leg cramps.
In rare situations, night leg cramps can be associated with an underlying disorder, such as
peripheral artery disease in which narrowed arteries reduce blood flow to your limbs
diabetes or spinal stenosis.
Some drugs, particularly intravenous iron, estrogens and naproxen, have been linked to night
leg cramps.
Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is sometimes confused with night leg cramps, but its a
separate condition. In general, pain is not a main feature of RLS, but RLS could be the cause of
night leg cramps.
Cause
Most of the time, night leg cramps occur for no known reason, and theyre usually
harmless. In general, night leg cramps are likely to be related to muscle fatigue and nerve
problems.
The risk of having night leg cramps increases with age. Pregnant women also have a
higher likelihood of experiencing night leg cramps.
In rare situations, night leg cramps can be associated with an underlying disorder, such as
peripheral artery disease in which narrowed arteries reduce blood flow to your limbs
diabetes or spinal stenosis.
Some drugs, particularly intravenous iron, estrogens and naproxen, have been linked to
night leg cramps.
Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is sometimes confused with night leg cramps, but its a
separate condition. In general, pain is not a main feature of RLS, but RLS could be the cause of
night leg cramps.

Circadian Rhythm Disorders

Circadian rhythm disorders are disruptions in a persons circadian rhythma name given to
the internal body clock that regulates the (approximately) 24-hour cycle of biological
processes in animals and plants. The term circadian comes from Latin words that literally mean
around the day.

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The key feature of circadian rhythm disorders is a continuous or occasional disruption of


sleep patterns. The disruption results from either a malfunction in the internal body clock or a
mismatch between the internal body clock and the external environment regarding the timing
and duration of sleep. As a result of the circadian mismatch, individuals with these disorders
usually complain of insomnia at certain times and excessive sleepiness at other times of the day,
resulting in work, school, or social impairment.
The following is a brief description of the more common circadian rhythm disorders.

Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder is a circadian rhythm disorder most common in


adolescents and young adults whose night owl tendencies delay sleep onset often
until 2 a.m. or later. If allowed to sleep in late (often as late as 3 p.m.), sleep deprivation
does not occur. However, earlier wake up times can lead to daytime sleepiness and
impaired work and school performance. These individuals are often perceived as lazy,
unmotivated, or poor performers who are chronically tardy for morning obligations.
People with delayed sleep phase syndrome are often most alert, productive, and creative
late at night.
Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder is usually seen in the elderly. This disorder is identified
by regular early evening bedtimes (6 p.m. 9 p.m.) and early morning awakenings (2
a.m. 5 a.m.). People with advanced sleep phase syndrome are morning larks and
typically complain of early morning awakening or insomnia as well as sleepiness in the
late afternoon or early evening.
Shift Work Disorder affects people who frequently rotate shifts or work at night. Work
schedules conflicts with the bodys natural circadian rhythm and some individuals have
difficulty adjusting to the change. Shift work disorder is identified by a constant or
recurrent pattern of sleep interruption that results in insomnia or excessive sleepiness.

The diagnosis of circadian rhythm disorders is challenging and often requires a consultation with
a sleep specialist. Keeping a detailed sleep history and a sleep log for 1 to 2 weeks is essential. It
is also important to exclude other sleep and medical disorders, including narcolepsy, which often
mimics delayed sleep phase disorder.

Enuresis

Enuresis is the involuntary discharge of urine by a child age 5 and over. It can be
psychologically distressful and a source of embarrassment for a child, but not physically
harmful. Enuresis places a child at risk of being a target for name-calling and teasing from peers,
behavior that can damage a childs self esteem and place him or her at risk of rejection. The
presence of enuresis can place a limit on participation in highly desirable social experiences such
as sleepovers and summer camp. The child may also have to face anger and humiliation from
parents who do not understand the nature of this disorder.

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Enuresis can be nocturnal-only or diurnal-only. Nocturnal enuresis is the most common form
and is defined as passage of urine only during nighttime sleep. Diurnal enuresis, the voiding of
urine only during waking hours, is more common in females than in males and is uncommon
after age 9. Children being so preoccupied with a particular event that they are reluctant to use
the toilet may cause it. A combination of nocturnal and diurnal enuresis can occur but it is
extremely rare.
Primary enuresis refers to a condition whereby the child has not established at least 6 months
of continuous nighttime control after reaching age 5. Secondary enuresis, whereby children
establish urinary continence and relapse after age 5 or 6 is less common, and is associated with
more stressful life events.
Roughly 20% of children still wet their beds at age 5, only 5% do so by age 10, and 2% by
age 15. Only 1 out of 100 children who wet their bed continues to have a problem in adulthood.

Bruxism

The involuntary yet habitual phenomenon of grinding and gnashing ones teeth while
sleeping. The condition is often associated with inner feeling of tension, frustration, fear,
and anger. Also called stridor dentium- bruxomania.

Jet lag

Jet lag is a type of circadian rhythm disorder that is new to the modern world. Circadian
rhythms evolved to allow organisms to benefit from preparing for predictable changes in
the environment before they occur. As an example, for a creature that has to find food during
the day, having a mechanism to wake up as the sun is rising, even on cloudy days, is very
beneficial. The circadian or 24 hour system can slowly adapt to changes in the environment, say
for example, as the period of daylight shortens in northern latitudes in the fall and winter. Jet lag
is a disorder unknown before the 20th century as no one before the invention of the airplane could
travel fast enough to cross enough time zones to affect the circadian system. With older forms of
transportation, the circadian system has a chance to slowly shift to keep up with changes in the
difference between the internal and external clocks as when sailing ships slowly made their
way around the world. Jet lag affects east-west travel rather than north-south travel as there is no
change in time zone with north-south travel. Being very far north or south can, of course, lead to
other circadian problems, such as those experienced by Antarctic scientists who spend months in
the dark.
Jet lag occurs when there is a temporary mismatch between the internal timing of the
sleep wake cycle and the external time demands for the sleep wake schedule of the changed
time zone. Symptoms are usually experienced if three or more time zones are crossed and appear
within a day or two of being in the new time zone. Generally, the more time zones crossed the
worse the symptoms and the longer they persist. With travel of seven time zones or more the
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internal clock may shift opposite of the direction of travel. This results in severe and prolonged
jet lag. A significant problem is exposure to light at inappropriate times as this can shift the
internal clock in the wrong direction. Symptoms typically include disturbed sleep, impaired
functioning and decreased alertness. Traveling eastward is usually more difficult to adjust for
than westward travel. This is the case, at least in part, because you can generally force yourself to
stay up later but cannot make yourself fall asleep.

Altered States of Consciousness


An altered state of consciousness is any mental state induced by physiological,
psychological, or pharmacological maneuvers or agents, which deviates from the normal waking
state of consciousness.
Hypnosis
In 18th-century Vienna, physician Anton Mesmer gained fame by using magnetized
objects to cure physical and psychological afflictions. He claimed that illness was caused by
blockages of an invisible bodily fluid that obeyed the laws of magnetism, and that his technique
of animal magnetism (later named mesmerism in his honour) would restore the fluids normal
flow. A scientific commission discredited mesmerism, but its use continued. Decades later,
Scottish surgeon James Braid investigated the fact that mesmerized patients often went into a
trance in which they seemed oblivious to their surroundings. He concluded that mesmerism
was a state of nervous sleep produced by concentrated attention, and renamed it hypnosis,
after Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep.
The Scientific Study of Hypnosis
Hypnosis is a state of heightened suggestibility in which some people are able to
experience imagined test suggestions as if they were real. Hypnosis draws great interest because
many therapists use it in treating mental disorders. In the United States, about 25 percent of
psychology Ph.D. programs offer a course in hypnosis (Walling et al., 1998). Basic scientists
explore hypnosis to determine its nature, assess whether it is a unique state of altered
consciousness, and put its claims to rigorous experimental test (Hull, 1933; Kirsch, 1999).
Hypnotic induction is the process by which one person (a researcher or hypnotist) leads another
person (the subject) into hypnosis. A hypnotist may invite the subject to sit down, relax, gaze at
an object on the wall, and then in a quiet voice suggest that the subjects eyes are becoming
heavy and tired. The goal is to relax the subject and increase her or his concentration. Contrary to
popular belief, people cannot be hypnotized against their will. Even when people want to be
hypnotized, they differ in how susceptible (i.e., responsive) they are to hypnotic suggestion.
Hypnotic susceptibility scales contain a standard series of pass/fail suggestions that are read to a
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subject after a hypnotic induction. The subjects score is based on the number of passes. About
10 percent of subjects are completely non-responsive, 10 percent pass all or nearly all of the
items, and the rest fall in between (Hilgard, 1977).
Hypnotic susceptibility is a stable characteristic. In one study, Stanford students differed
by no more than one point on a 12-item scale when tested 25 years later (Piccione et al., 1989).
Hypnotic susceptibility can be enhanced by increasing peoples expectation that they have the
ability to be hypnotized (Spanos et al., 1991; Vickery & Kirsch, 1991).
Hypnotic Suggestion
Its a directive to a subject in trance, which is carried out either during or after the trance.
Hypnotic Susceptibility
Susceptibility scales typically contain a number of test suggestions which the participant will
either pass or fail.

Physiological Effects and Physical Feats


Hypnosis can have striking physiological effects. Consider a classic experiment involving
13 people who were strongly allergic to the toxic leaves of a certain tree (Ikemi & Nakagawa,
1962). Five of them were hypnotized, blindfolded, and told that a leaf from a harmless tree to
which they were not allergic was touching one of their arms. In fact, the leaf really was toxic, but
four out of the five hypnotized people had no allergic reaction! Next, the other arm of each
hypnotized person was rubbed with a leaf from a harmless tree, but he or she was told falsely
that the leaf was toxic. All five people responded to the harmless leaf with allergic reactions!
These findings are impressive, but we must also consider the reactions of the eight nonhypnotized control participants. When blindfolded and exposed to a toxic leaf, but misled to
believe that it was harmless, seven out of the eight non-hypnotized persons did not show an
allergic response. Conversely, when their arm was rubbed with a harmless leaf but they were told
falsely it was toxic, every one of them had an allergic reaction. In short, the non-hypnotized
people responded the same way as the hypnotized subjects.
Under hypnosis, nearsighted people can see more clearly, warts can be cured, and
stomach acidity can be increased. However, well-controlled studies show that non-hypnotized
subjects can exhibit these same responses (Spanos & Chaves, 1988).
Stage hypnotists often get an audience member to perform an amazing physical feat, such
as the human plank. A subject, usually male, is hypnotized and lies outstretched between two
chairs. He is told that his body is rigid, and another person stands on his chest. The audience
attributes this feat to the hypnotic trance. What they dont know is that an average man

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suspended in this manner can support at least 130 kilometres on his chest with little discomfort
and no need of a hypnotic trance.

Pain Tolerance
Scottish surgeon James Esdaile performed more than 300 major operations in the mid1800s using hypnosis as the sole anaesthetic (Figure 5.31). Joseph Barber (1977), a noted
hypnotherapist, needed an average of only 11 minutes to hypnotically produce analgesia (an
absence of pain) in 99 out of 100 dental patients. Experiments confirm that hypnosis often
increases pain tolerance, and that this is not due to a placebo effect (Farthing et al., 1997; Spanos
& Katsanis, 1989). For patients who experience chronic pain, hypnosis can produce relief that
persists for months or even years (Barber, 1998). But research also shows that nonhypnotic
psychological techniques, such as mental imagery, also can reduce pain (Weisenberg, 1998).
We do not know exactly how hypnosis produces its painkilling effects. It may influence
the release of endorphins, decrease patients fear and anxiety about pain, produce muscular
relaxation, distract patients from their pain, or somehow help them separate the pain from
conscious experience (Barber, 1998; Chaves, 1994).

Hypnosis and Memory


You may have seen TV shows or movies in which hypnotized people are given a
suggestion that they will not remember something, either during the session itself (hypnotic
amnesia), or after coming out of hypnosis (post-hypnotic amnesia). A reversal cue also is
given, such as a phrase (You will now remember everything) that ends the amnesia once the
person hears it. Is this Hollywood fiction?
In one interesting case, a math teacher was given a hypnotic suggestion that he would be
unable to recall the number six during the session. The teacher mistakenly interpreted the
suggestion as including posthypnotic amnesia. Can you imagine someone trying to teach math
while being unable to recall the number six! Indeed, it proved difficult, until the hypnotist
reversed the amnesia suggestion at a later session.
More extensive research indicates that about 25 percent of hypnotized university students
can be led to experience amnesia (Kirsch & Lynn, 1998). Though researchers agree that hypnotic
and post-hypnotic amnesia occur, they dispute the causes. Some feel it results from voluntary
attempts to avoid thinking about certain information, and others believe it is caused by an altered
state of consciousness or weakening of normal memory systems (Kihlstrom, 1985, 1998; Spanos,
1986).

Hypnosis has been applied into a number of areas

Controlling pain
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Reducing smoking
Treating psychological disorders
Assisting in law enforcement
Improving athletic performance

Meditation
Meditation is the practice of focusing attention. People meditate to enhance awareness
and gain more control of physical and mental processes. Techniques used in meditation vary and
include activities such as repetitive chanting and breathing exercises.
Meditative states are associated with an increase in alpha and theta brain waves, and physical
indicators of relaxation such as slowed pulse and breathing. Some researchers have found that
meditation has long-term effects such as improving physical and mental health and reducing
stress. However, researchers disagree about whether meditative states are unique states of
consciousness. Some researchers believe relaxation techniques can produce the same kind of
state produced by meditation.

Zen meditation concentrates on respiration to focus attention.


Sufism relies on frenzied dancing and prayer as the focus of attention.
Transcendental meditation practitioners repeat a sound (mantra) to focus their
thinking and help achieve a deeper state of relaxation.

In all of its forms, meditation results in a relaxed yet fully alert state; a state achieved through
suppression of the sympathetic nervous system (the part of the nervous system that prepares the
body for strenuous activity).
Meditation results in the following physiological changes:

Lower rate of metabolism


Reduced heart rate
Reduced rate of respiration
Decreased blood lactate
Increased alpha brain waves (indicating relaxed wakefulness)

Meditation has been used to treat the following conditions:

Muscle tension resulting in pain


Attention-deficit hyperactive disorder in children (and the resultant stress felt by parents)
Drug use

Drug Use
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Psychoactive drugs are chemical substances that change moods, perceptions, mental
functioning, or behavior.
In nearly every known culture throughout history, psychoactive drugs have been
consumed, alcohol being the one most widely used. However, how drugs are used and what
drugs are used have changed over the centuries. The motives for using drugs have changed from
a time when drugs or alcohol were used as a part of religious rituals or for medicinal purposes,
for nutritional benefits or for use as culturally-approved stimulants, to their consumption for
recreational reasons in contemporary society. The drugs themselves are stronger today, and
synthetic drugs are also being consumed.
Psychoactive Drugs
Its a drug that influences people emotions, perceptions, and behavior.
Addictive Drugs
A drug that produce a biological or psychological dependence in the user so that withdrawal
from them leads to a craving for the drug that, in some cases, may be nearly irresistible.

Drugs and the Brain


Like any cell, a neuron essentially is a fragile bag of chemicals, and it takes a delicate
chemical balancing act for neurons to function properly. Drugs work their way into the
bloodstream and are carried throughout the brain by an extensive network of small blood vessels,
called capillaries. These capillaries contain a blood-brain barrier, a special lining of tightly
packed cells that lets vital nutrients pass through so that neurons can function. The blood-brain
barrier screens out many foreign substances, but some, including a variety of drugs, manage to
pass through. Once inside, they alter consciousness by facilitating or inhibiting synaptic
transmission (Heckers & Konradi, 2000; Julien, 1991).
How Drugs Facilitate Synaptic Transmission
First, neurotransmitters are synthesized inside the presynaptic (sending) neuron and stored in
vesicles. Next, neurotransmitters are released into the synapse, where they bind with and
stimulate receptor sites on the postsynaptic (receiving) neuron. Finally, neurotransmitter
molecules are deactivated by enzymes or by reuptake.
An agonist is a drug that increases the activity of a neurotransmitter. It may:

Enhance a neurons ability to synthesize, store, or release neurotransmitters;


Bind with and stimulate postsynaptic receptor sites (or make it easier for
neurotransmitters to stimulate these sites); and

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Make it more difficult for neurotransmitters to be deactivated, such as by inhibiting


Rishevel.

How Drugs Inhibit Synaptic Transmission


A drug that inhibits or decreases the action of a neurotransmitter is called an antagonist. It
may:

Reduce a neurons ability to synthesize, store, or release neurotransmitters; or


It prevents a neurotransmitter from binding with the postsynaptic neuron, such as by
fitting into and blocking the receptor sites on the postsynaptic neuron.

Depressants
Depressants decrease nervous system activity. In moderate doses, they reduce feelings of
tension and anxiety, and produce a state of relaxed euphoria. In extremely high doses,
depressants can slow down vital life processes to the point of death.

Alcohol

Alcohol increases the activity of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), the main inhibitory
neurotransmitter in the brain (Korpi, 1994). By increasing the action of an inhibitory
neurotransmitter, alcohol dampens down neural firing. Alcohol also decreases the activity of
glutamate, a major excitatory neurotransmitter (Gonzales & Jaworski, 1997). This further
depresses neural firing. Why then do many people report getting a high from alcohol and
initially seem livelier? The answer is that the neural slowdown depresses the action of inhibitory
control centres in the cerebral cortex, so the person literally becomes less inhibited and feels
euphoric. At higher doses, the brains control centres become increasingly disrupted, thinking
and physical coordination become disorganized, and fatigue and psychological depression may
occur.
Thus alcohols subjective effects seem to have an initial upper phase from the release
of inhibitions, followed by a downer phase as brain centres become increasingly depressed
(Marlatt, 1987). But both phases result from alcohols action as a nervous system depressant.
Unfortunately, some people respond to the downer phase by drinking even more alcohol in the
hope that it will make them feel high again, a self-defeating strategy if ever there was one.

Barbiturates and Tranquilizers

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Physicians frequently prescribe barbiturates (sleeping pills) and tranquilizers (anti-anxiety


drugs, such as Valium) as sedatives and relaxants. Like alcohol, the vast majority of these drugs
depress the nervous system by increasing the activity of the inhibitory neurotransmitter, GABA
(Diaz, 1997; Ito et al., 1996).
Mild doses of barbiturates are effective as sleeping pills, but they are highly addictive. As
tolerance builds, addicts may take as many as 50 sleeping pills a day. At high doses barbiturates
trigger initial excitation, followed by slurred speech, loss of coordination, depression, and severe
memory impairment. Overdoses, particularly when taken with alcohol, may cause
unconsciousness, coma, and death. Sudden withdrawal after heavy use can cause death, so
several months of gradual withdrawal may be needed before addicts lose their physiological
dependence.
Barbiturates and tranquilizers are widely overused, and nearly 90 million tranquilizer
prescriptions are filled each year (Anthony et al., 1997). Many people mistakenly regard Valium
as harmless, but it is not. Tolerance and physiological dependence can occur. Users often dont
recognize that they have become dependent until they try to stop and experience serious
withdrawal symptoms, such as anxiety, insomnia, and possibly seizures.

Stimulants
Stimulants increase neural firing and arouse the nervous system. They increase blood
pressure, respiration, heart rate, and overall alertness. They also can boost mood, produce
euphoria, and heighten irritability.

Amphetamines

Amphetaminespopularly known as speed, uppers, and benniesare powerful stimulants.


They are prescribed to reduce appetite and fatigue, decrease the need for sleep, and sometimes,
to reduce depression. Unfortunately, they are widely overused to boost energy and mood
(Anthony et al., 1997).
Amphetamines increase dopamine and norepinephrine activity. Tolerance develops and
users may crave their pleasurable effects. Eventually, many heavy users start injecting large
quantities, producing a sudden surge of energy and a rush of intense pleasure. With frequent
injections they may remain awake continuously for as long as a week, their bodily systems
racing at breakneck speed. Injecting amphetamines greatly increases blood pressure and can lead
to heart failure and cerebral hemorrhage (stroke); repeated high doses may cause brain damage
(Diaz, 1997).

Cocaine
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Cocaine is a powder derived from the coca plant, which grows mainly in western South
America. Usually inhaled or injected, it produces excitation, a sense of increased muscular
strength, and euphoria. Like amphetamines, cocaine increases the activity of norepinephrine and
dopamine, but it does so in only one major way: It blocks their reuptake.
In large doses cocaine can produce fever, vomiting, convulsions, hallucinations, and paranoid
delusions. A severe depressive crash may occur after acocaine high, particularly with repeated
doses. Crack is a chemically converted form of cocaine that can be smoked, and its effects are
faster, more intense, and more dangerous. Overdoses of crack cocaine can cause sudden death
from cardio respiratory arrest (Ruttenber et al., 1997).

Opiates
Opium is a product of the opium poppy, a plant grown in hot, dry climates. Opium and drugs
derived from it, such as morphine, codeine, and heroin, are called opiates. Opiates have two
major effects. First, they provide pain relief. Second, they cause mood changes, which may
include intense euphoria. Opiates bind to and stimulate receptors normally activated by
endorphins, thereby producing pain relief. Opiates also increase dopamine activity, which may
be one reason they induce euphoria (Bardo, 1998).

Heroin

Experienced heroin users feel an intense, pleasurable rush within several minutes of an
injection. For a time, users feel peaceful and non-aggressive, as if they are on top of the world
with no concerns. Heroin users, however, often pay a substantial price for these transient
pleasures. High doses can greatly reduce a persons breathing rate and may lead to coma.
Overdoses can cause death. Withdrawal symptoms are traumatic, as illustrated by the following
description from a former addict:
Its like a terrible case of flu. Your joints move involuntarily. Thats where the phrase kick the
habit comes from. You jerk and twitch and you just cant control it. You throw up. You cant
control your bowels either and this goes on for four or five days afterwards. You cant sleep and
you cough up blood, because . . . you cant eat and thats all there is to cough up.

Hallucinogens
Hallucinogens are powerful mind-altering drugs that produce hallucinations. Many are
derived from natural sources; mescaline comes from the peyote cactus and psilocybin from
mushrooms. Natural hallucinogens have been considered sacred in many tribal cultures because
of their ability to produce unearthly states of consciousness and contact with spiritual forces.
Hallucinogens usually distort or intensify sensory experience and can blur the boundaries
between reality and fantasy. Users may speak of seeing sounds and hearing colours, of mystical
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experiences and insights, and of feeling exhilarated. They also may have violent outbursts,
experience paranoia and panic, and have flashbacks after the trip has ended. The mental effects
of hallucinogens are always unpredictable, even when they are taken repeatedly. This
unpredictability constitutes their greatest danger.

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is a powerful hallucinogen. Also known as acid, LSD
causes a flooding of excitation in the nervous system. A dose of pure LSD no larger than the tip
of a pin can affect a user for 8 to 16 hours. Tolerance develops rapidly, but decreases quickly.
Although chronic use does not appear to produce withdrawal symptoms, about five percent of
Americans have developed a dependence on LSD or other hallucinogens (Anthony et al., 1997).

Marijuana

Marijuana is a product of the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa). Some experts classify it as a
hallucinogen, others as a sedative, and some feel it belongs in its own category (Diaz, 1997).
THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is marijuanas major active ingredient, and it binds to receptors
on neurons throughout the brain. You might wonder, as scientists have, why the brain would have
specific receptor sites for a foreign substance like marijuana. The answer is that the brain
produces its own THC-like substances, called cannabinoids (Devane et al., 1992; Stella et al.,
1997). With chronic use, THC may increase GABAactivity, which slows down neural activity
and produces relaxing effects (Diaz, 1997). THC also increases dopamine activity, which may
account for some of its pleasurable subjective effects (Ameri, 1999).

MDMA

MDMA (3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine), commonly called ecstasy, is a derivative of


amphetamine. MDMA was first synthesized by the Merck drug company in 1914, but it was not
developed or researched and was little known until the 1960s when it began to appear on the
drug scene (McKim, 2000). Although MDMA was once considered to be a safe drug for
enhancing awareness of emotions and sensations (Siegel, 1986), important adverse effects have
become apparent. MDMA produces both acute, reversible cognitive deficits and long-term
cognitive impairment, especially on language tasks, such as tests of verbal fluency (Bhattachary
& Powell, 2001). It also has been found that MDMA has neurotoxic effects; that is, it acts as a
toxin, or poison, that specifically damages neurons. MDMA can deplete the brain of the
neurotransmitter serotonin, an effect that has been linked to suicidal depression and even sudden
death (McKim, 2000).

Explaining Abuse and Addiction


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The causes of substance abuse and dependence are complex, the result of a combination
of factors that vary from person to person, and depend on the drug or drugs that are used.
Biological Factors

At least half of a persons susceptibility to drug addiction is linked to genetic factors. This
link has been strongly established with respect to alcohol addiction.
Heredity can influence the amount of enzymes a person has that break down alcohol in
the body.
Tolerance levels for alcohol in the blood also may be inherited.
Heredity may also impact the quantity of neurotransmitters in the brain and the number of
receptors that respond to those neurotransmitters.

Psychological, Social, and Cultural Factors

Studies have shown that people use or abuse alcohol because they expect that drinking
will help them to feel better. Similar expectations are held about marijuana.
The environment in which a child grows up shapes attitudes and beliefs about drugs,
ultimately playing a more powerful role than genetics in determining whether a person
starts to drink or use drugs (although genetics are more influential in determining who
eventually abuses substances).
Cultural norms and practices also influence the degree to which people use drugs or
alcohol. Alcohol plays an important role in the rituals of certain cultures, whereas other
cultures limit or prohibit its consumption.
CHAPTER 6
LEARNING

Learning
Introduction
Psychologist define learning as the enduring changes in Rishevel that occur with
experience.As we try things out in the world, changes in sensation, perception, Rishevel, and
brain function alter owe are, what we know, and what we do.
Learning and memory work together. Without learning and memory we could not process, retain
or make use of new information. Learning occurs when information moves from short term to
long term memory. During this process, new knowledge is stored in networks in the brain.

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Habituation and the orienting response


Some phenomena fit the definition of learning as enduring changes in Rishevel that occur with
experience much more clearly than others.
This phenomenon is called Habituation, is a sensory process by which organisms adapt to
constant stimulation.The change is fairly short-lived one, however . As soon as the stimulus is
varied eve slightly, the orienting response occurs, and the process begins again.
Association
An association occurs when one piece of information from the environment is linked repeatedly
with one another and the organism begin to connect the two sources of information. Associations
form simply as results of two events occurring together, whether or not the relationship between
them makes any sense.
Conditioning Models of Learning
Conditioning is a form of associated learning in which a behavior becomes more likely
because the organism links that behavior with certain events in its environment. For example, a
cat is conditioned to the sound of the drawer because it has come to associate the sound of food.
The association is strong is strong because feeding is always preceded by the sound of a drawer
opening.
Classical Conditioning
In classical conditioning, learning occurs when the neutral stimulus becomes associated with
a stimulus to which the learner has an automatic, inborn response. Pavlovs work will makes
things clearer on how classical conditioning works.
Pavlovs Dogs
Pavlov (1906,1928) discovered classical conditioning quite accidentally. In order to examine
digestive enzymes in the dogs saliva, Pavlov and his technicians placed tubes in the dogs mouth
to collect their saliva. Then they placed meat powder into their mouths, which naturally produces
saliva. After doing it for awhile, Pavlov noticed that dogs would begin to salivate even before the
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meat powder was presented, when the laboratory technician who fed them prepared the apparatus
to collect their saliva. Pavlov guessed that the dogs had formed an association with the sound of
the apparatus and the meat powder.
He designed a laboratory experiment that mimicked in which the dog salivated to sounds
made by the technician (which is a stimulus with no inherent food value). Working with different
dogs, Pavlov presented a bell (neutral stimulus) before showing them the meat powder. The dogs
had no previous experience with the bell while they salivated to the meat powder from the first
time they smelled it due to the cause that the reaction is innate. Again and again, Pavlov
presented the belong along with the meat powder to the dogs. Then he tried presenting the bell
alone to see if the dogs would associate the bell to meat powder. Results show that the dogs
salivated to the bell alone. The dogs learned that they would get meat powder after the bell
sounded.
How Classical Conditioning Works
Pavlov called the kind of learning he had observed as conditioning of reflex, which we know
now as classical conditioning. He coined the term unconditioned response (UCR) to describe the
automatic, inborn response to a stimulus. In the case of his experiment, salivation is the
unconditioned response. Pavlov used the term unconditioned stimulus (UCS) to refer to the
environmental input that always produces the same inborn response. In his experiments case, the
meat powder is the unconditioned stimulus. Pavlov defines reflexes as fixed stimulus-response
patterns.
Pavlov presented the neutral stimulus (bell) before showing the unconditioned stimulus
(meat powder). Salivation in the presence of the meat powder was the unconditioned response.
After repeated paring of the bell and meat powder, when the bell alone led to salivation, the bell
would be now called as a conditioned stimulus. A conditioned stimulus (CS) is a previously
neutral stimulus that the organism learns to associate it with the unconditioned stimulus. If the
salivation occurred in response to the conditioned stimulus, it will e now called as a conditioned
response. A conditioned response (CR) is a behavior that an organism learns to perform when
presented with the conditioned stimulus alone.

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If the neutral stimulus is being shown just before the unconditioned response, it is called
forward conditioning. One example is presenting the bell just before the meat powder. If the
neutral stimulus is being shown after the unconditioned stimulus, it is called backward
conditioning. It is less successful compared to the forward conditioning. Pavlov laid out certain
criteria for the stimulus-response conditioning to succeed.The two most fundamental criteria are
as follows:

Multiple pairing of UCS and neutral stimulus are necessary for an association to occur
and for the CS to produce a conditioned response.

The UCS and the CS must be paired very closely together in time in order for the
association to form.

The phenomenon where the extension of the association of the UCS and the CS to a broad
array of similar stimuli is the stimulus generalization. Example of this is the dog salivated from
the sound of a triangle which is similar to the sound of a bell. The opposite of this phenomenon
is the stimulus discrimination, which occurs when the CR only occurs to the exact CS to which it
is conditioned. Example of this is the dog only salivated from one specific bell and no other. It
does not salivate from a sound of wind chimes or other percussions. The phenomenon where the
UCS is no longer paired with the CS is called extinction. It can be difficult to extinguish
behaviors. Some behaviors takes great amount of presentation of CS without the UCS to get
extinction, and the behavior can still return. The sudden reappearance of the extinguished
behavior is known as spontaneous recovery.
Types of Learning

TYPES OF LEARNING
17. Perceptual learning ability to learn to recognize stimuli that have been seen before
Primary function is to identify and categorize objects and situations
Changes within the sensory systems of the brain

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2) Stimulus-response learning ability to learn to perform a particular behavior when a certain


stimulus is present Establishment of connections between sensory systems and motor systems
Classical conditioning association between two stimuli
Unconditioned Stimulus (US), Unconditioned Response (UR), Conditioned Stimulus (CS),
Conditioned Response (CR)
Hebb rule if a synapse repeatedly becomes active at about the same time that the postsynaptic
neuron fires, changes will take place in the structure or chemistry of the synapse that will
strengthen it (see Figure 14.1)
Rabbit experiment tone paired with puff of air
Instrumental conditioning association between a response and a stimulus; allows an organism
to adjust its behavior according to the consequences of that behavior
Reinforcement positive and negative
Punishment
3) Motor learning establishment of changes within the motor system
4) Relational learning involves connections between different areas of the association cortex
5) Spatial learning involves learning about the relations among many stimuli
6) Episodic learning remembering sequences of events that we witness
7) Observational learning learning by watching and imitation other people
Laws of Learning
The laws of learning are attempts to state the more fundamental conditions favourable to
the learning process.
Thorndike proposed three primary laws of learning the law of readiness, the law of
exercise, and the law of effect.
1. Law of Readiness this law is related to maturation. For example, in trying to learn to
read, if the learner does not have the requisite maturation, the experience of trying to
learn to read will be annoying and frustrating. This law states that other things being
equal, when the individual is ready to act, to do is satisfying, and not to do is annoying.

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For instance, when a child is ready to answer a question and he is not called upon, he
becomes annoyed because he was ready to act but was not called upon to do so.
2. Law of Exercise the law of exercise is made up of two parts: the law of use and the law
of disuse. The law of use asserts that, other things being equal, the more frequently
modifiable connection between a situation and response is used, the stronger is that
connection. The law of disuse asserts that, other things being equal, when a modifiable
connection between a situation and response is not used over a period of time, the
strength of that connection is weakened.
3. Law of Effect the law of effect supplements the law of exercise. This law states that
connections which are pleasant tend to be repeated and strengthened, and those that are
unpleasant tend to be avoided or weakened. This fact, according to Thorndike, is the
fundamental law of teaching and learning.
In addition to the three major laws of learning, Thorndike formulated five secondary
characteristics for the purpose amplifying the basic laws.
a. Law of Mind-set this refers to the mental condition of the individual when
the reaction is made to a situation.
b. Multiple-response this means that in a situation where some elements are
new, the learner will respond in one way, and if such response does not prove
satisfactory, he will try one response after another until the appropriate
response is attained, that is, trial-and-error learning. This response, being
satisfying, will be selected and stamped-in.
c. Partial Activity this designates the fact that an element or an aspect of a
situation may be prepotent in causing a response. This involves selectivity
in learning. The learner may select the important elements from a situation
instead of responding in an unselected way or at random.
d. Analogy this law indicates that when a situation involves a stimulus for
which the learner has no native or acquired response, he may react by
interpreting the situation in the light of similar experiences, and adjust himself
as best as he can.
e. Associative Shift this is related to conditioned reflex. When stimuli occur
together frequently, the response elicited by one will tend to become attached

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to the other as well. When responses occur frequently together, the stimulus
for one tends to suggest the other as well.
Retention and Transfer
Retention refers to the extent to which material originally learned still persists (Deese,
1967). When the child, for example, correctly spells a word or solves a problem for the first time,
we say that he has then acquired that particular Rishevel. If the same child correctly repeats the
performance later, we say that he has remembered, or retained what he acquired earlier.
Deese pointed out that almost all educational and training programs are built upon the
basic premise that human beings have the ability to transfer what they have learned in one
situation to another. Transfer occurs when whatever is learned in one situation is used in a new or
different situation (Klausmeier and Ripple, 1991). The influence that learning one task may have
on the subsequent learning of another is called transfer of learning (Morgan and King, 1986).
Factors Affecting Learning

Learning cannot be effective unless maturation or readiness exists.


The native capacity of the individual is of prime importance in determining the

effectiveness of the learning process.


Another factor is opportunities for learning.
Environmental conditions also affect learning.
The health of the learner is likely to affect his ability to learn and his power to

concentrate.
Emotional attitudes and factors can have adverse effects upon learning.

Learning Phobias
Introduction:
Only a few of us enjoy the spiders, snakes, or heights, but most of us feel only mild levels
of fear about such objects or experiences. Some of us, however, go beyond mild levels of fear
about such objects or experiences. As many as 1 in 8 people will develop a specific phobia for a
particular object or situation, such as spiders(arachnophobia), heights, flying, enclosed spaces
(claustrophobia), doctors and dentists, or snakes ( Kessler et al., 2005).
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Phobia
-

is an intense fear of something that, in reality, poses little or no actual danger.

What are the causes of phobias?


It is unusual for a phobia to start after the age of 30; most of them begin during early childhood,
teenage years or early adulthood. They can be caused by a stressful situation or experience, a
frightening event, or a parent or household member who has a phobia which the child becomes
progressively aware of.

Biological Basis of Phobia


There is a strictly biological component to phobias. A quick look at how the brain works when
phobic people are triggered suggests the problem. When worrisome stimuli get into the brain,
there are two ways they can go; to the amygdala and to the sensory cortex. The sensory cortex is
a calm, rational part of the brain. It casts around the rest of the brain for more information and
looks at general knowledge, present context, and past experience before it reacts.

The amygdala, on the other hand, is the part of the brain that gets an unpleasant stimulus and
screams, What are you doing? Run, stupid! When people say that phobias arent rational,
theyre right. The amygdala is not there to be rational. Its there to get results. And it does, often
in the form of a panic attack.
When it comes to the reasons why the amygdala is triggered at the sight of, say, a rat, the
psychiatric community gives a big shrug. The top four answers are genetics, trauma, overall
stress, and a combination of the three. The way science arrived at these answers is much more
interesting than the answers themselves.

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Some scientists look to simple genetics to see if they can find the answer to phobias. It makes
sense, to an extent. Most of the things people are afraid of things like creepy-crawlies, heights, or
tight enclosures. All could have caused our too-bold ancestors to die off early. It makes sense that
some extreme aversion would be hard-wired into certain people.

Pure nature is tough to establish independently of that pesky thing known as nurture, however.
Families are raised together, and one persons phobia can affect anothers likelihood of
developing the same phobia. Researchers figured the most likely way to ferret out the genetic
reason behind phobias was a twin study. In the nineties and early 2000s, a group of studies found
twins raised apart tended to have similar phobias.

Normal fear vs. Phobias


It is normal and even helpful to experience fear in dangerous situations. Fear is an adaptive
human response. It serves a protective purpose, activating the automatic fight-or-flight
response. With our bodies and minds alert and ready for action, we are able to respond quickly
and protect ourselves.

But with phobias the threat is greatly exaggerated or nonexistent. For example, it is only natural
to be afraid of a snarling Doberman, but it is irrational to be terrified of a friendly poodle on a
leash, as you might be if you have a dog phobia.
The difference between normal fear and a phobia
Normal Fear: anxious when flying through turbulence or taking off during a storm
Phobia: Not going to your best friends island wedding because youd have to fly there
Normal Fear: Experiencing butterflies when peering down from the top of a skyscraper or
climbing a tall ladder

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Phobia: Turning down a great job because its on the 10th floor of the office building
Normal Fear: Getting nervous when you see a pit bull or a Rottweiler
Phobia: Steering clear of the park because you might see a dog
Normal Fear: Feeling a little queasy when getting a shot or when your blood is being drawn
Phobia: Avoiding necessary medical treatments or doctors checkups because youre terrified of
needles
Normal fears in children
Many childhood fears are natural and tend to develop at specific ages. For example, many young
children are afraid of the dark and may need a nightlight to sleep. That doesnt mean they have a
phobia. In most cases, they will grow out of this fear as they get older.
Many childhood fears are natural and tend to develop at specific ages. For example, many young
children are afraid of the dark and may need a nightlight to sleep. That doesnt mean they have a
phobia. In most cases, they will grow out of this fear as they get older.
Common types of phobias and fears
There are four general types of phobias and fears:
1
2

Animal phobias. Examples include the fear of snakes, spiders, rodents, and dogs.
Natural environment phobias. Examples include fear of heights, storms, water, and of

the dark.
Situational phobias (fears triggered by a specific situation). Examples include fear of

enclosed spaces (claustrophobia), flying, driving, tunnels, and bridges.


Blood-Injection-Injury phobia. This is the fear of blood, injury, or needles, or other
medical procedures.

Common phobias and fears

Fear of spiders

Fear of snakes
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Fear of heights

Fear or closed spaces

Fear of storms

Fear of needles and injections

Fear of public speaking

Fear of flying

Fear of germs

Fear of illness or death

Some phobias dont fall into one of the four common categories. Such phobias include fear of
choking, fear of getting a disease such as cancer, and fear of clowns.
Signs and symptoms of phobias
The symptoms of a phobia can range from mild feelings of apprehension and anxiety to a fullblown panic attack. Typically, the closer you are to the thing youre afraid of, the greater your
fear will be. Your fear will also be higher if getting away is difficult.
Physical signs and symptoms of a phobia

Difficulty breathing
Racing or pounding heart
Chest pain or tightness
Trembling or shaking
Feeling dizzy or lightheaded
A churning stomach
Hot or cold flashes; tingling sensations
Sweating

Emotional signs and symptoms of a phobia

Feeling of overwhelming anxiety or panic


Feeling an intense need to escape
Feeling unreal or detached from yourself
Fear of losing control or going crazy
Feeling like youre going to die or pass out
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Knowing that youre overreacting, but feeling powerless to control your fear

CHAPTER 7
MEMORY AND THINKING
Introduction
For us to recall events, facts or processes, we have to commit them to memory. The
process of forming a memory involves encoding, storing, retaining and subsequently recalling
information and past experiences.
Cognitive psychologist Margaret W. Matlin has described memory as the process of retaining
information over time. Others have defined it as the ability to use our past experiences to
determine our future path.
When they are asked to define memory, most people think of studying for a test or recalling
where we put the car keys. However, memory is essential in our everyday lives. We would not be
able to function in the present or move forward without relying on our memory.
Biology of Memory
Memory is a complicated phenomenon. Researchers still dont know exactly how it
works at the physiological level. Long-term memory involves the hippocampus of the brain.
Some researchers think the hippocampus binds together different elements of a memory, which
are stored in separate areas of the brain. In other words, the hippocampus helps with memory
organization. Other researchers think that the hippocampus helps with memory consolidation, or
the transfer of information into long-term memory.
The brain area involved in processing a memory may determine where memories are stored. For
example, memories of visual information probably end up in the visual cortex. Research suggests
that there may be specific neural circuits for particular memories. Psychologists also think that
memory relates to changes in neurotransmitter release from neurons, fluctuations in hormone
levels, and protein synthesis in the brain.
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Memories on Your Nerves


Long-term potentiation is a lasting change at synapses that occurs when long-term memories
form. Synapses become more responsive as a result. Researchers believe long-term potentiation
is the basic process behind memory and learning.
The topic of memory is fundamental to the discipline of psychiatry. Memory provides the
essential substrate for the cognitive activities that define human experience, it allows one to
connect the present moment to what came before, and it is the basis of cultural evolution. An
individuals personality reflects habits and dispositions that have developed from experience.
Adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies, anxieties, and phobias are largely products of
learning. Neurotic or psychotic symptoms can be the consequences of specific experiences or
repeated patterns of experience. Psychotherapy is a process by which new behaviors are acquired
through the accumulation of new experiences. Thus, memory is at the heart of psychiatrys
concern with the effects of early experience, the development of the individual, and the
possibility of change. Disorders of memory and complaints about memory lapses are pervasive
in both neurology and psychiatry. Memory problems are also of special concern as side effects of
psychopharmacological treatments and electroconvulsive therapy. Accordingly, the effective
clinician needs to understand memory, its psychological and neurological foundations, the
varieties of memory dysfunction, and how memory can be evaluated. The biological perspective
on memory developed here rests on a growing body of neuroscientific evidence that relates
mental events to the functioning of the brain.

MEMORY AS SYNAPTIC CHANGE

Memory is a special case of the more general phenomenon of neural plasticity. Neurons can
show history-dependent behavior by responding differently as a function of recent input, and this
plasticity of nerve cells and synapses is the basis of memory. In the last decade of the nineteenth
century, researchers proposed that the persistence of memory could be accounted for by nerve
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cell growth. Others have restated this idea, developing the hypothesis that the synapse is the
critical site of change. In principle, there are many possible ways for such structural change to be
realized, including alterations in the number of synaptic contacts or in the strength of existing
contacts. Plasticity Neurobiological evidence from animal studies supports two basic conclusions
about the biology of memory. First, specific synaptic events, including an increase in
neurotransmitter release, are responsible for short-lasting plasticity, which may last for seconds
or minutes. Second, long-lasting memory depends on new protein synthesis, physical growth of
neural processes, and an increase in the number of synaptic connections.

Neuroplasticity, also known as brain plasticity, is an umbrella term that encompasses


both synaptic plasticity and non-synaptic plasticityit refers to changes in neural
pathways and synapses due to changes in behavior, environment, neural processes,
thinking, and emotions as well as to changes resulting from bodily injury. The concept
of neuroplasticity has replaced the formerly-held position that the brain is a
physiologically static organ, and explores how and in which ways the brain changes
in the course of a lifetime.

Distortions of Memory

Memories arent exact records of events. Instead, memories are reconstructed in many different
ways after events happen, which means they can be distorted by several factors. These factors
include schemas, source amnesia, the misinformation effect, the hindsight bias, the
overconfidence effect, and confabulation.
A schema is a mental model of an object or event that includes knowledge as well as beliefs and
expectations. Schemas can distort memory.

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Source Amnesia
Another reason for distorted memories is that people often dont accurately remember the origin
of information. This inaccurate recall of the origin of information is called source amnesia,
source misattribution, or source monitoring error.
Source amnesia is the inability to remember where, when or how previously learned information
has been acquired, while retaining the factual knowledge. This branch of amnesia is associated
with the malfunctioning of ones explicit memory. It is likely that the disconnect between having
the knowledge and remembering the context in which the knowledge was acquired is due to a
dissociation between semantic and episodic memory an individual retains the semantic
knowledge (the fact), but lacks the episodic knowledge to indicate the context in which the
knowledge was gained.

CAUSES
Source amnesia is not a rare phenomenon everybody experiences it on a near daily basis as, for
much of our knowledge, it is important to remember the knowledge itself, rather than its source.

Frontal lobe damage

Individuals with frontal lobe damage have deficits in temporal context memory, source memory
can also exhibit deficits in those with frontal lobe damage. It appears that those with frontal lobe
damage have difficulties with regency and other temporal judgments (e.g.: placing events in the
order they occurred), and as such they are unable to properly attribute their knowledge to
appropriate sources i.e.: source amnesia. Those individuals with frontal lobe damage have
normal recall of facts, but they make significantly more errors in source memory than control
subjects, with these effects becoming apparent as shortly as 5 minutes after the learning
experience. Individuals with frontal lobe damage often mistakenly attribute the knowledge they
have to some other source (e.g.: they read it somewhere, saw it on TV, etc.) but rarely attribute it
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to having learned it over the course of the experiment. It appears that frontal lobe damage causes
a disconnection between semantic and episodic memory in that the individuals cannot associate
the context in which they acquired the knowledge to the knowledge itself.

Age related

Elderly individuals have been shown to exhibit source amnesia. Compared to younger
individuals, in experiments where the individuals are presented with obscure or even made up
trivia facts, older people remember less information overall in both recall and recognition tasks
and they often misattribute the source of their knowledge, at time periods of both long and short
delays.
This effect is potentially due to the neuronal loss associated with aging occurring mainly in the
frontal lobes. It has been previously noticed that frontal lobe damage can cause source amnesia,
so the loss of neurons in this area of the brain associated with aging may very well be the cause
of the age-related source amnesia seen.

Alzheimers disease

Alzheimers disease (AD), which is known to be associated with frontal lobe dysfunction, is
implicated as a cause of source amnesia. In laboratory conditions, one study found source
monitoring to be so poor that the AD participants were correctly performing source memory
attributions at approximately chance. This lack of ability to attribute the source of memories is
likely related to AD patients deficits in reality monitoring. Reality monitoring, the process of
distinguishing whether information originated from an external or an internal source, relies on
judgment processes to examine the qualitative characteristics of the information in order to
determine if the information was real or imagined. It appears that it is this process that is
experiencing the dysfunction, which causes mild confabulation in some AD patients, as well as
being related to the source amnesia experienced in some individuals with AD.
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Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is associated with episodic memory deficits often characterized by a confusion of


internal stimuli and real events. It appears that individuals with schizophrenia often display
failures in monitoring/remembering the source of information, especially for self-generated
items that is, they display source amnesia. This is a stable trait in this disease one experiment
found that over a two-year period, an individuals rate of source attributing errors was
maintained, despite fluctuations in medication status and the individuals symptoms. This effect
is possibly due to the malformation of associations among aspects of an episode needed for
remembering its source; one neuroimaging study found that individuals with schizophrenia had
lower activation of areas associated with source memory.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by intrusive, vivid recollections of the


traumatic event and impoverished episodic memory for all other events. Those individuals with
PTSD experience memory distortions caused by source amnesia, as well as false memory
construction and unintentional integration of information that was not present for the original
memory. Not only do individuals with this condition experience less vivid and decontextualized
episodic memory for all events outside of the traumatic experience, but also, individuals with
PTSD have difficulties with identifying the source of both emotional and neutral information
overall. Those with PTSD may have poorer recall for the source of their knowledge due to
deficits in the encoding process which creates weaker relationships between the item and its
context.

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Depression

Depression is associated with overly generalized memories and individuals with depression
perform more poorly on source memory attribution tasks as compared to non-depressed
individuals. These individuals show a memory bias for remembering negative information,
possibly due to enhanced amygdala activity during the encoding of emotional (particularly
negative) information. Overall, there is a relationship between the emotional arousal of an
episode and its source memory there is some evidence that the enhanced processing of negative
memories results in poorer source memory, and thus individuals who are depressed would have
increased amounts of source amnesia.

Hypnosis

Hypnosis as a cause of source amnesia involves carrying out hypnosis and having the subjects
remember post-hypnotically, experiences they had during hypnosis as tested by asking the
individuals about esoteric knowledge that they learned during hypnosis. These individuals
typically have no recall of the hypnotic experience whatsoever however, when tested on these
obscure pieces of knowledge they are able to supply the correct answer; thus demonstrating they
have source amnesia they are able to recall the knowledge but they lack the capacity to indicate
the context in which they learned this knowledge. In fact, the subjects often attribute their
knowledge of the obscure facts to learning experiences other than during hypnosis (e.g.: I read
it somewhere, Somebody must have told me, etc.).

Perspective of Memory
Without A Memory We Would Not Seem Human
You rely on your memory every moment of the day. Without it, you would have no sense
of continuity, no realization of the past; and you couldnt benefit from learning and experience.
Without memory, it would be impossible for you to function. All images and materials not

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immediately available to your senses must be drawn from your memory. Your very sense of selfawareness requires that you remember you had a self yesterday (Dworetzky, 1988). Without a
memory, you would not seem human.
What Are Memories Made Of?
Engram: Memory trace
Memory exists in the brain. Theorists propose that they are somehow chemically or
electrically contained within brain tissue. In this view, any given memory will be located in
specific location in the brain. In 1917, neurophysiologist, Karl Lashley (1950) began a search for
what he called the brains engram, a hypothetical structure that contains memories.

Engrams are means by which memory traces are stored as biophysical or biochemical changes in
the brain (and other neural tissue) in response to external stimuli.
They are also sometimes thought of as a biological neural network or fragment of memory,
sometimes using a hologram analogy to describe its action in light of results showing that
memory appears not to be localized in the brain. The existence of engrams is posited by some
scientific theories to explain the persistence of memory and how memories are stored in the
brain. The existence of neurologically defined engrams is not significantly disputed, though their
exact mechanism and location has been a focus of persistent research for many decades.

Neural: Synapse

By the beginning of the 1980s, experts tell us that by using the more sophisticated
technology that was becoming available, scientists were uncovering evidence that memories are
held in the brain by specific chemicals, probably in certain locations. In the nervous system,
a synapse is a structure that permits a neuron (or nerve cell) to pass an electrical or chemical
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signal to another neuron. Some authors generalize this concept to include the communication
from a neuron to any other cell type, although such non-neuronal contacts may be referred to
as junctions (a historically older term). Santiago Ramn y Cajal proposed that neurons are not
continuous throughout the body, yet still communicate with each other, an idea known as
the neuron doctrine.
Synapses are essential to neuronal function: neurons are cells that are specialized to pass signals
to individual target cells, and synapses are the means by which they do so. At a synapse,
the plasma membrane of the signal-passing neuron (the presynaptic neuron) comes into close
apposition with the membrane of the target (postsynaptic) cell. Both the presynaptic and
postsynaptic sites contain extensive arrays of molecular machinery that link the two membranes
together and carry out the signaling process. In many synapses, the presynaptic part is located on
an axon, but some postsynaptic sites are located on a dendrite or soma. Astrocytes also exchange
information with the synaptic neurons, responding to synaptic activity and, in turn, regulating
neurotransmission.

Concept of Thinking
The mind is the idea while thinking processes of the brain involved in processing information
such as when we form concepts, engage in problem solving, to reason and make decisions. Some
limit the definition of thinking is as follows:
1. Thinking is the activity of human reason as a process of strengthening the relationship
between stimulus and response.
2. Thinking is a reasonable working mengasosiasika various views with the knowledge that
has been stored in the mind long before the emergence of new knowledge.
3. Thinking can be interpreted to remember something, and questioned whether there is a
relationship between what is intended.
4. Thinking in exploring substantive Paing psychic awareness of human nature.
5. Thinking is processing information mentally or cognitively by rearranging the
information from the environment and the symbols are stored in the memory of his past.
6. Thinking is a symbolic representation of some event train of ideas in a precise and careful
that began with the problem.
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7. Thinking is a mental process mental representations newly formed through the


transformation of information by interaction yangkompleks attributes such as the
assessment of mental abstraction, logic, imagination and problem-solving.
Memory Experience
The individual remembers many past events. Events of the past are of two kinds.
Memorial experiences are those that one remembers because those events occurred within ones
own personal experience from the time one was born. Memorial experience begins when one
recalls ones own personal experience without someones help. The other event of the past a
person remembers are those that are learned in school, or the recollection of a personal event or
experience. It reconstructs a past occasion not only in terms of its content but also its setting in
time and place. It is sometimes known as reintegrative memory. Here is a case in point. One
knows, however, that Rizal was born in Calamba on June 19, 1861. The event is not a memorial
experience, because the student was not yet born at that time and was not a witness to the event.

Kinds of Memory
Explicit Memory
- It is also referred to as declarative memory is a type of long-term memory that
refers to facts, data or events that can be recalled at will. Things that are explicit are
clear, or clearly as stated or explained. The use of the term declarative indicates that
these memories state or reveal (that is, declare) specific information. The information
-

may be autobiographical or refer to general knowledge.


Psychologist Endel Tulving (1985) describes two kinds of explicit memories: episodic
and semantic. They are identified according to the type of information they hold.

Episodic Memory (I remember. . .)


Episodic memories are types of explicit memory. They are memories of the things
that happen to us or take place in our presence (Dickerson & Eichenbaum, 2009;
Grillon et al, 2010).It is also referred to as autobiographical memory. Your memories
are what you ate for breakfast and of what your professor said in class today are

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episodic memories. We tend to use the phrase I remember. . . when we are referring
to episodic memories, as in I remember the blizzard of 2004.

Semantic Memory (I know. . .)


General knowledge is referred to as semantic memory another kind of explicit
memory. Semantics concerns meanings. You can know that the United States has 50
states without visiting them and personally adding them up. You know who
authored Hamlet, although you were not looking over Shakespeares shoulder as he
did so.

Implicit Memory
- Also referred to as procedural memory is memory of how to perform a task. It is the
act of itself, doing something, like riding a bike, accessing your cell phone contacts
-

list, and texting a message (Schacter et al, 1993).


Implicit memories are suggested not plainly stated or verbally expressed. It is
illustrated by the things that people do but not by the things they stated clearly. It
involve procedures and skills, cognitive and physical. Implicit memories can endure
even when we have not used them for years. Getting to class by habit without
paying attention to landmarks or directions is another instance for implicit memory.
If someone asked you what 2 times 2 is, the number 4 would probably pop into
mind without conscious calculation. After going over the alphabet or multiplication
tables hundreds of times, our memory of them becomes automatic or implicit. We

need not focus on them to use them.


Your memory of the alphabet or the multiplication table is the result of a great deal of
repetition that makes associations automatic, a phenomenon that psychologists refer
to as priming. Studies involving brain imaging reveal that priming makes it possible
for people to carry out mental tasks with less natural activity (Koening et al, 2008;
Spencer ee al, 2009). Years of priming help people make complete words out of the
following word fragments (Friedrich et al, 2009; Schacter et al, 2007).

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Retrospect Memory
- Retrospective Memory is the recalling of information that has previously learned.
Episodic, semantic and implicit memories involve remembering things that were
learned.
Prospective Memory
- Prospective Memory refers to remembering to do things in the future, such as pay
-

your bills or withdraw some cash.


Most of us have had failures in prospective memory in which we felt we were
supposed to do something but couldnt remember what. Prospective may fail when

we are preoccupied, distracted, or stressed-out about time (Knight and Titov, 2009).
There are various kinds of prospective memory tasks. For example, habitual tasks
such as getting to class on time are easier to remember than occasional tasks such as
meeting someone for coffee at an arbitrary time (Henry et al, 2004). But motivation
also plays a role. You are more likely to remember the coffee date if the person you

are meeting excites you.


Psychologists also distinguish between event-based and time-based prospective

memory tasks (Fortin et al, 2007).


Event-time based tasks are triggered by events, such as remembering to take ones

medicine at breakfast or to brush ones teeth after eating.


Time-based tasks are to be performed at a certain time or after a certain amount of
time has elapsed between occurrences, such as tuning in to a favourite news program

at 7:30pm or taking a pill every hours (Marsh et al, 2005).


Moods and attitudes affect prospective memory. For example, depressed people are
less likely to push to remind themselves to do what they intend to do.

Stages of Memory and Forgetting


Psychologists have tried to create theories of memory using the computer as a model.
These information processing theories of memory are based on the apparent similarities that
exists between the operation of the human brain and that of the computer. In the information
processing model, information can be followed as it moves through the following operations:
input, storage, and retrieval. At each point in the process, a variety of control mechanisms (such
as attention, storage, and retrieval) operate. Information enters the memory system through the
sensory receptors. Attention operates at this level to select information for further processing..
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The raw sensory information that is selected is then represented or encodedin a form(sound,
visual image,meaning) that can be used in the next stages of memory. Other control mechanisms
might then transfer selected information into a more permanent memory storage. When it is
needed, it is retrieved from memory. However, just like in computer, some information in human
memory may be lost or become irretrievable. Some information needs to be stored in memory for
only brief periods of time, whereas other information must be tucked away permanently. The
influential STAGE THEORY OF MEMORY (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968; Baddeley, 1999)
assumes that we humans have a three-stage memory that meets our need to store information for
different lengths of time. We seem to have one memory store that holds information for
exceedingly brief intervals, a second memory store that holds information for no more than 30
second unless its renewed and a third, more permanent memory store. Each of these memories
operates according to a different set of rules and serves a somewhat different purpose. Because
information must pass through each stage of memory to get to the next, more permanent one,
these memory stores are best thought of as three closely linked stages of memory rather than
three separate memories. These three stages are known as the sensory register, short-term
memory, and long-term memory
Sensory Register
The first stage of memory. It is a very brief one, designed to hold and exact image of each
sensory experience until it can be fully processed. We apparently retained a copy of each sensory
experience in the sensory register long enough to locate and focus on relevant bits of information
and transfer them into the next stage memory. For visual information, this snapshot fades very
quickly, probably lasting about one-quarter of a second in most cases. For auditory information,
a vivid image of what we hear is retained for about the same length of time(Cowan,1987), but a
weaker echo is retained for up to 4 seconds (Tarpy & Mayer,1978). The information stored in
the sensory register doesnt last long, but its apparently a complete replica of the sensory
experience. Visual information in the sensory register is lost and replaced so rapidly with new
information that we seldom are aware we even have such a memory store. Sometimes the longerlasting, echo like traces of auditory information can be noticed, though.
Short-Term Memory (STM)
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When a bit of information is selected for further processing, its transferred from the
sensory register into short-term memory. Its not necessary to intentionally transfer information
to STM; generally, just paying attention to the information is enough to transfer it. Once
information has been transferred to STM, a variety of control processes may be applied.
Rehearsal and Chunking are two important examples of these control processes.
Rehearsal: Overcoming STMs Limited Life Span
As the name implores, STM is good for only temporary storage of information. In
general, information is lost from STM in less than half a minute unless its renewed, and its
often lost in only a few seconds (Ellis & Hunt, 1993). Fortunately, information can be renewed in
STM by mental repetition, or rehearsal, of the information.
Our first reliable estimate of the limited life span of information in STM was provided by
an experiment conducted by Lloyd and Margaret Peterson (1959).
Humans have a preference for transforming information into sounds, or ACOUSTIC
CODES, whenever possible for storage in STM. We probably use acoustic codes in STM as
much as possible because its easier to rehearse by mentally talking to ourselves than by mentally
repeating the images of sights, smells, and movements. Nonetheless, STM can store any form of
information that can enter the brain through the senses.
Chunking: Overcoming STMs Limited Capacity
Perhaps the most important thing to know about STM is that its storage capacity is quite
limited. The exact capacity differs slightly for different kinds of information, but, as psychologist
George Miller (1956) put it, its constant enough to call it the magic number seven plus or minus
two.
STM also serves as our working memory (Baddeley, 1992; 1999). This means that space
in STM is used when old memories are temporarily brought out of long-term memory to be used
or updated. Space in STM is also used when we think about this information (Morris,1986).

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One advantage of the small storage capacity of STM is that its easy to search through
it. When we try to remember something in STM, we apparently examine every item that is stored
there. Experiments conducted by Saul Sternberg (1969) confirmed that we exhaustively search
STM every time we try to recall something.
Fortunately, there are some effective ways to get around the limited capacity of STM.
One way is to learn the information well enough to transfer it into long term memory. Another
way is to put more information into the 7+_ 2 units of STM. George Miller (1956) calls the units
of memory chunks. Although its true that we can hold only 5-9 chunks in STM, we can often put
more than one bit of information into each chunk.
Long-Term Memory(LTM)
LTM is the storehouse for information that must be kept for a long time. LTM DIFFERS
FROM STM IN 4 MAJOR WAYS:
1. The way in which information is recalled Because the amount of information stored in LTM is
so vast, we cannot scan the entire contents of LTM when we are looking for a bit of information,
as we do in STM. Instead, LTM has to be indexed. We retrieve information from LTM using
cues. This retrieval can be an intentional act of unintentional one. Only information relevant to
the cue is retrieved, rather than the entire contents of LTM
2. The form in which information is stored in memory LTM differs from STM in the kind of
information that is most easily stored. You will recall that information is usually stored in STM
in terms of the physical qualities of the experience, with a special emphasis on acoustic codes.
Although sensory memories can be stored in LTM, information is stored in LTM primarily in
terms of its meaning, or semantic code (Cowan,1988)
3. The reasons that forgetting occurs Unlike STM, where information that is not rehearsed or
processed appears to drop out of the system, information stored in LTM isnt just durable but
actually appears to be permanent. Not all psychologist agree that memories in LTM are
permanent. If memories in LTM are indeed permanent, this means that forgetting occurs in

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LTM not because the memory is erased but because we are unable to retrieve it for some reason
(Baddeley, 1999; Matlin, 1983).
4. The physical location of these functions in the brain STM is primarily a function of the frontal
lobes of the cerebral cortex (Buckner & Barch, 1999; Fuster, 1995; Williams & Goldman-Rakic,
1995), whereas information that is stored in LTM is first integrated in the hippocampus and then
transferred to the areas of the cerebral cortex involved in language and perception for permanent
storage (Nadel & Jacobs, 1998)
Level of Processing Model An alternative to the stage theory of memory stating that
distinction between STM and LTM is a matter of degree rather than different kinds of memory
and is based on how incoming information is processed. O Elaboration creating more
associations between the new memory and existing memories. Forgetting Decay theory the
theory that forgetting occurs as the memory traces fades over time Interference Theory occurs
when other information competes with the information we are trying to recall. It can happen in
two ways: Retroactive Interference occurs when new information causes people to forget
previously learned information. Proactive Interference occurs when previously learned
information interferes with the learning of new information Schema Theory the theory that
information stored in LTM sometimes changes over time to become more consistent with our
beliefs, knowledge, and expectations. The distortion of memories to fit our schemas doesnt
naturally occur gradually over time but occurs during the process of retrieval itself Theory of
Motivated Forgetting forgetting that is believed to be based on the upsetting or threatening
nature of the information that is forgotten. O Repression Sigmund Freuds theory that
forgetting occurs because the conscious mind often deals with unpleasant information by pushing
it into unconsciousness.

Ailments of Memory

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Memory disorders can range from mild to severe, but they all result from some kind of
neurological damage to the structures of the brain, thus hindering the storage, retention and
recollection of memories.

Memory disorders can be progressive, like Alzheimers or Huntingtons disease, or immediate,


like those resulting from traumatic head injury. Most disorders are exacerbated by the effects of
ageing, which remains the single greatest risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases in general.
Alzheimers Disease
Alzheimers disease (also known as just Alzheimers or AD) is a progressive, degenerative and
ultimately fatal brain disease, in which cell to cell connections in the brain are lost. It is the most
common form of dementia, and is generally (though not exclusively) diagnosed in patients over
the age of about 65.

The disease was first identified by Alois Alzheimer as early as 1906, although up until the 1960s
it was usually referred to as senile dementia and considered a normal part of ageing. Scientific
interest in Alzheimers was only re-awakened in the 1960s and 1970s as the consequences of an
ageing society began to be examined, and it was during the 1980s that research first focused on
the toxic proteins amyloid in plaques and tau in tangles.

The most commonly recognized symptom of AD is an inability to acquire new memories and
difficulty in recalling recently observed facts, but it is by no means the only sympton. As the
disease advances, symptoms include confusion, irritability and aggression, mood swings,
language breakdown, long-term memory loss, and ultimately a gradual loss of bodily functions
and death. A number of non-invasive life-style habits, such as mental stimulation, physical
exercise and a balanced diet, have been suggested for the prevention or delayed onset of
Alzheimers disease, but no effective treatments to delay or halt the progression of the disease
are as yet available.
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Amnesia
Amnesia is the general term for a condition in which memory (either stored memories or the
process of committing something to memory) is disturbed or lost, to a greater extent than simple
everyday forgetting or absent-mindedness. Amnesia may result either from organic or
neurological causes (damage to the brain through physical injury, neurological disease or the use
of certain drugs), or from functional or psychogenic causes (psychological factors, such as
mental disorder, post-traumatic stress or psychological defence mechanisms).

Anterogade Amnesia

It is the loss of the ability to create new memories, leading to a partial or complete inability
to recall the recent past, even though long-term memories from before the event which caused
the amnesia remain intact. Sufferers may therefore repeat comments or questions several times,
for example, or fail to recognize people they met just minutes before.

Retrograde Amnesia

It is a form of amnesia where someone is unable to recall events that occurred before the
development of the amnesia, even though they may be able to encode and memorize new things
that occur after the onset.

Psychogenic Amnesia

Also known as functional amnesia or dissociative amnesia, is a disorder characterized by


abnormal memory functioning in the absence of structural brain damage or a known
neurobiological cause. It results from the effects of severe stress or psychological trauma on the
brain, rather than from any physical or physiological cause. It is often considered to be
equivalent to the clinical condition known as repressed memory syndrome.

Post-Traumatic Amnesia

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It is a state of confusion or memory loss that occurs immediately following a traumatic brain
injury. The injured person is disoriented and unable to remember events that occur after the
injury, and may be unable to state their name, where they are, and what time it is, etc.

Korsakoffs Syndrome
Korsakoffs syndrome, or Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, is a brain disorder caused by
extensive thiamine deficiency, a form of malnutrition which can be precipitated by overconsumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages compared to other foods. It main symptoms are
anterograde amnesia (inability to form new memories and to learn new information or tasks) and
retrograde amnesia (severe loss of existing memories), confabulation (invented memories, which
are then taken as true due to gaps in memory), meagre content in conversation, lack of insight
and apathy.
Individual Korsakoffs sufferers may exhibit wildly differing symptoms. In some cases, a
patient may just continue living in the past, convinced that their life and the world around them
is unchanged since the onset of the condition (which may have been twenty or thirty years
before). Others may adopt a constant, almost frenzied, fever of confabulation (see box at right),
constantly inventing a series of new identities, often with detailed and convincing back-stories,
in order to replace the reality which has been forgotten and lost.

Parkinsons Disease
Parkinsons disease is a chronic and progressive degenerative disorder of the central
nervous system that impairs motor skills, speech and other functions. It is usually characterized
by muscle rigidity, tremor, postural instability, and a slowing or loss of physical movement.
Ageing is an important risk factor, and the incidence of Parkinsons increases with age,
although about 4% are diagnosed before the age of 50. An estimated 7-10 million people
worldwide (roughly 1 in 1,000 of the total population) are thought to be living with Parkinsons.

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CHAPTER 8
COGNITION
Cognition refers to how humans think and use knowledge. This is the field of cognitive
psychologists, who also deal with how people organize their thoughts into language. Cognition
begins with attending to something and categorizing what it is. How can researchers learn about
cognitive processes? During the era when behaviorists dominated experimental psychology,
researchers devoted little effort to cognition. Since about 1970, research has increased
substantially, as psychologists developed ways to infer the unobservable.

Research in Cognitive Psychology


Perhaps it seems that cognitive psychology should be simple, If you want to find out
what people think or what they know, why not ask them? Sometimes, psychologists do ask, but
people dont always know their own thought processes.
(Conduct experiment, originally by Johansson, Hall, Sikstrum, & Olsson, 2005)
So, if we cant always find out peoples thought processes just by asking them, how can we
discover them? Much research relies on careful measurements of timing. Lets consider one of
the first experiments that showed how to measure a mental process.

Attention
You are constantly bombarded with more sights, sound, smells, and other stimuli than
you can process. Attention is your tendency to respond to and to remember some stimuli more
than others at a given time.
Sometimes, something (e.g., a loud noise) suddenly grabs your attention. Psychologists
call that a bottom-up process because the peripheral stimuli control it. Magicians use this
tendency. A magician pulls a rabbit or a dove out of a hat, and the surprised viewers
automatically watch the rabbit hop away or the dove fly away. During the brief time that their
attention is occupied, the magician sets up the next trick, unnoticed. (Macknik et al., 2008)
In contrast to a bottom-up process, you can deliberately decide to top-down process.
Going back to the bottom-up process, in which a stimulus automatically grabs your attention.
Hearing your name or seeing your photograph is almost sure to attract your attention. Your
attention also flows to anything unusual.
When an object differs drastically from those around it in shape, color, or movement, we
find it by a pre-attentive process, meaning that it stands out immediately. On the other hand,

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attentive process is the one that requires searching through items in series. The Wheres Waldo
books are an excellent example of a task requiring an attentive process.

The Attention Bottleneck


Much evidence indicates the attention is limited, and various items compete for attention.
If two or three objects flash briefly on a screen, you can identify their colors. If six objects flash
on a screen, you know the colors of two or three of them, but you could only guess at the others.

Conflict in Attention
Can you do two things at once? Sure you can do two things at once, such as walk and
chew gum. However, if you closely watch someone who is walking and chewing at same time,
you may notice that the activities are synchronized. The person might chew once per footstep,
once per two footsteps, two times per three footsteps or whatever, but the activities are linked.
More important, you cannot plan two actions at once.
Even simple activities interfere with each other. Your response to the second task will be
slower than it would have been without the first task. You needed time to shift attention from one
task to the other. Most people are not aware of this delay (Corallo, Sackur, Daheane, & Sigman,
2008).

Change Blindness
Movie directors discovered long ago that if they shot different parts of a scene on
different days, few viewers noticed the changes in the cloud pattern, the background props, and
the actors clothes (Simons and Levin, 2003). Why is that? Most people believe they see a whole
scene at once, but in usually dart around from one fixation point to another, fixating about three
times per second. You would notice anything that changed at the point where you fixate at a
given moment, and a big, sudden change somewhere else might grab your attention, but you
cannot attend to every detail at once.
Psychologists call this phenomenon change blindness the failure to detect changes in
parts of a scene. If anything moves or changes its appearance suddenly, it automatically draws
your attention, but you seldom notice similar changes that occur slowly or while you are moving
your eyes, (Henderson & Hollingworth, 2003). You are especially unlikely to notice changes if
your working memory is occupied with other matters, such as plot of a movie.

Attention-Deficit Disorder
People vary in their ability to maintain attention, as in anything else. Attention-deficit
Disorder (ADD) is characterized by easy distraction, impulsiveness, and failure to follow
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through on plans (Wender, Wolf, & Wasserstein, 2001). Attention-deficit hyperactivity


disorder (ADHD) is the same except with excessive activities and fidgetiness. The symptoms
vary considerably in type and intensity. Some people have problems mostly with attention, some
mainly with impulsivity, and some with both. The underlying causes almost certainly vary also.
Although a genetic tendency is evident (Balsi et al., 2005), no one gene is common to all people
diagnosed with ADD or ADHD. Brain scans show minor abnormalities in several brain areas for
most people diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, but none of these abnormalities are consistent from
one person to another. In many cases, the problem can be described as a delay in brain
maturation.
For these reasons, many psychologists doubt that we are dealing with a single disorder.
Rather, the labels ADD or ADHD are given to people with various problems that impair attention
and impulse control. In some cases, those problems result from fetal alcohol exposure, lead
poisoning, epilepsy, sleep deprivation, emotional stress, and other environmental causes. In most
cases, the cause is unknown.What exactly do we mean by attention deficit? it is certainly not a
comlete lack of attention. When people are asked to respond whenever they see or hear a
particular signal, most ADHD children perform well enough, but what psychologists note is high
variability. A child might respond as fast as anyone else on some trials but occasionally show
long delays (Cao et al., 2008).
The problem is not inability to pay attention. People with ADD or ADHD easily pay
attention to something they care about. The problem relates to shifting attention.
The most common treatment for ADD or ADHD is stimulant drugs such as
methylphenidate. Stimulant drugs improve school performance and everyday behaviors.
However, the fact that stimulant drugs appear to help a given child does not confirm a diagnosis
off ADD or ADHD. Stimulant drugs also increase the attention span of normal children.
Behavioral methods are also helpful in dealing with ADD/ADHD (Pelham & Fabiano, 2008).

Categorization
After you have attended to something, you want to know what it is. You put it into a
category of some type, such as building, tree or river. The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus
said that you cannot step into the same river twice. The river constantly changes, so the todays
Mississippi River is not the same as yesterdays. Nevertheless, to think and communicate about
anything, we have to group items into categories, and the formation of categories or concepts is a
major step in cognition.

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Ways to Describe a Category


Do we look up our concepts in a mental dictionary to determine their meaning? A few
words have simple, unambiguous definitions. For example, a line is the shortest distance between
two points.
Eleanor Rosch (1978; Rosch and Mervis, 1975) argued that many categories are best
described by familiar or typical examples called prototypes. We decide whether an object
belongs to category by determining how well it resembles the prototypes of that category. For
example, we define the category vehicle by examples: car bus, train, airplane, boat and truck.
Is an escalator also a vehicle? What about water skis? These items are not exactly vehicles and
not exactly non vehicles.However, some categories cannot be described by prototypes (Fador,
1998). For example, we can think about bug-eyed monsters from outer space without ever
encountering a prototype of that category.

Conceptual Networks and Printing


Try to think about one word and nothing else. Its impossible. You cant think without
relating something to something else. For example, when you thing about bird, you link it to
more specific terms, such as sparrow, more general terms, such as animals, and related terms,
such as flight and egg.We naturally organize terms into hierarchies, such as animals as a higher
level category, bird as intermediate and sparrow as a lower level category. Researchers
demonstrate the reality of this kind of hierarchy by measuring the delay for people to answer
various items.

Solving problems, making decisions, and thinking


* How do we solve problems?
* What are some common errors of thinking?
* To what extent do we make decisions consciously or unconsciously?
In cognitive psychology, the term problem-solving refers to the mental process that people go
through to discover, analyze and solve problems. This involves all of the steps in the problem
process, including the discovery of the problem, the decision to tackle the issue, understanding
the problem, researching the available options and taking actions to achieve your goals.

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Before problem-solving can occur, it is important to first understand the exact nature of the
problem itself. If your understanding of the issue if faulty, your attempts to resolve it will also be
incorrect or flawed.
There are a number of different mental process at work during problem-solving. These include:

Identify Perceptually recognizing a problem


Representing the problem in memory
Considering relevant information that applies to the current problem
different aspects of the problem

Problem-Solving Strategies
Algorithms
An algorithm is a step-by-step procedure that will always produce a correct solution. A
mathematical formula is a good example of a problem-solving algorithm. While an algorithm
guarantees an accurate answer, it is not always the best approach to problem solving. This strategy is
not practical for many situations because it can be so time-consuming. For example, if you were
trying to figure out all of the possible number combinations to a lock using an algorithm, it would
take a very long time!A mechanical repetitive procedure for solving problem or testing every
hypothesis is called an algorithm.

Heuristics
A heuristic is a mental rule-of-thumb strategy that may or may not work in certain
situations. Unlike algorithms, heuristics do not always guarantee a correct solution. However, using
this problem-solving strategy does allow people to simplify complex problems and reduce the total
number of possible solutions to a more manageable set. Heuristics are strategies for simplifying a
problem and generating a satisfactory guess.

Maximizing and Satisficing:


Maximizing is a style of decision-making characterized by seeking the best option
through an exhaustive search through alternatives, it means thoroughly considering every possibility
to find the best one. Satisficing is searching only until you find something satisfactory, individuals
evaluate options until they find one that is good enough. The maximizing strategy approximates
the use of an algorithm. Satisficing is more of a heuristic approach. Some people rely mostly on

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maximizing, and others prefer satisficing, although of course you might switch strategies depending
on the situation.

The Representativeness Heuristic and Base-Rate Information


Representativeness heuristic is used when making judgments about the probability of an
event under uncertainty. It is one of a group of heuristics (simple rules governing judgment or
decision-making) proposed by psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman in
the early 1970s. Heuristics are described as judgmental shortcuts that generally get us where we
need to go and quickly but at the cost of occasionally sending us off course. Heuristics are
useful because they use effort-reduction and simplification in decision-making.
Representativeness Heuristic is the assumption that an item that resembles member of some
category is probably also in that category. In general, to decide whether something belongs in
one category or another, you should consider the base-rate information that is, how common
the two categories are.

The Availability Heuristic


Availability heuristic is a mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to
a given persons mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method or decision. The
availability heuristic operates on the notion that if something can be recalled, it must be
important, or at least more important than alternative solutions which are not as readily recalled.
Subsequently, under the availability heuristic people tend to heavily weigh their judgments
toward more recent information, making new opinions biased toward that latest news.

Other common errors in human cognition


In addition to relying inappropriately on the representativeness heuristic and availability
heuristic, people consistently make several other kinds of errors. Some have emphasized critical
thinking, the careful evaluation of evidence for and against any conclusion. However, even those
who teach critical thinking sometimes find themselves accepting nonsense that they should have
questioned. Why do intelligent people sometimes makemajor mistakes? Here are the few reasons
:

Overconfidence
Overconfidence refers to the tendency to be very sure of a fact and later finding that the
objective reality was different. It remains to be studied how personality and mental abilities
affect this Overconfidence, but tests show that when asked difficult questions about an
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unfamiliar topic, individuals believe they will have a low percentage of errors when they actually
end up with a lot more mistakes.

Confirmation Bias
A psychological phenomenon that explains why people tend to seek out information that
confirms their existing opinions and overlook or ignore information that refutes their beliefs.
Confirmation bias occurs when people filter out potentially useful facts and opinions that dont
coincide with their preconceived notions. It affects perceptions and decision making in all
aspects of our lives and can cause us to make less-than-optimal choices. Seeking out people and
publications with different opinions than our own can help us overcome confirmation bias and
make better-informed decisions. We often error by accepting a hypothesis and then looking for
evidence to support it instead of considering other possibilities. The tendency is the confirmation
bias. A special case of confirmation bias is functional fixedness, the tendency to adhere to a
single approach or a single way of using an item.

Framing Questions
The framing effect is an example of cognitive bias, in which people react to a
particular choice in different ways depending on how it is presented; e.g. as a loss or as a gain.
People tend to avoid risk when a positive frame is presented but seek risks when a negative
frame is presented. Gain and loss are defined in the scenario as descriptions of outcomes. A
logical person should give the same answer no matter how a question is worded. The tendency to
answer a question differently when it is framed (phrased) differently is called framing effect.

Sunk Cost Effect


A sunk cost is a cost that has already been incurred and cannot be recovered. Sunk costs
are sometimes contrasted with prospective costs, which are future costs that may be incurred
or changed if an action is taken. Both retrospective and prospective costs may be either fixed
(continuous for as long as the business is in operation and unaffected by output volume) or
variable (dependent on volume) costs.[1] However, many economists consider it a mistake to
classify sunk costs as fixed or variable. The sunk cost effect is a special case of the framing
effect, the willingness to do something because of money or effort already spent. This tendency
arises in many situations.

EXPERTISE
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How can we overcome the errors of human reasoning? Although all of us make mistakes
in our reasoning, some develop expertise within a given field that enables them to solve
problems quickly with a minimum of error. They apply the algorithms quickly, and they
recognize which heuristics work in a particular situation. Reaching that point requires enormous
effort.

Practice makes (nearly) perfect


For years we have been told that the more time we spend knuckling down practicing
something, the more we grow to master them. Its a question that has kept psychologists busy
for decades, and according to a new study published in Psychological Science, the answer is
that practice matters far less than we think. The relationship between practice and skill level was
found to be different for each of the domains studied. The researchers suggest that one of the
factors that may play a role in achieving expertise is the age at which a person starts practicing,
as there may be an optimal developmental period for acquiring complex skills. However, the
lions share of the variation in competence could be down to a mix of general intelligence and
specific abilities such as working memory, which affect an individuals performance across a
wide range of pursuits.

Expert Pattern Recognition


In psychology and cognitive
neuroscience, pattern
recognition describes
a cognitive process
that
matches
information
from
a stimulus
with
information retrieved from memory. Among others, the recognized patterns can be those
perceived in facial features, units of music, components of language or characters and
other symbols. One theory understands patterns as a set of characteristic features extracted
from the stimulus, but it does not comprehensively describe the process or the role of context and
there is a multitude of other theories with different approaches. Pattern recognition does not
occur instantly, although it does happen automatically and spontaneously. Pattern recognition is
an innate ability of animals.

Theories of pattern recognition

Template matching The incoming sensory information is compared directly to


copies (templates) stored in the long term memory. These copies are stored in the process
of our past experiences and learning.

E.g. A A A are all recognized as the letter A but not B.


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Note: This does not allow for variation in letters unless there are templates for each variation.

Prototype matching Prototype means a concept of average characteristics of a


particular subject. It can be found throughout the world. For instance a concept of small
animal with feathers, beak, two wings that can fly is a prototype concept of a crow,
sparrow, hen, eagle, etc. Prototype matching, unlike template matching, does not
emphasize a perfect match between the incoming stimuli and the stored concept in the
brain.

Feature analysis According to this theory, the sensory system breaks down the
incoming stimuli into its features and processes the information. Some features may be
more important for recognition than others. All stimuli have a set of distinctive features.
Feature analysis proceeds through 4 stages.

Detection

Pattern dissection

Feature comparison in memory

Recognition

Multiple Discrimination Scaling- Template and feature analysis approaches to


recognition of objects (and situations) have been merged / reconciled / overtaken by
multiple discrimination theory. This states that the amounts in a test stimulus of each
salient feature of a template are recognized in any perceptual judgment as being at a
distance in the universal unit of 50% discrimination (the objective performance JND:
Torgerson, 1958) from the amount of that feature in the template (Booth & Freeman,
1993, Acta Psychologica).

False Pattern Recognition- The human tendency to see patterns that do not actually
exist is called apophenia ( is a human tendency of perceiving patterns or connections
in random or meaningless information) . Examples of apophenia include the Man in the
Moon, faces or figures in shadows, clouds and in patterns with no deliberate design, such
as the swirls on a baked confection, and the perception of causal relationships between
events which are, in fact, unrelated. Apophenia figures prominently in conspiracy
theories, gambling, misinterpretation of statistics and scientific data, and some kinds
of religious and paranormal experiences. Misperception of patterns in random data is
called pareidolia ( is a psychological phenomenon involving a stimulus, an image or a
sound wherein the mind perceives a familiar pattern where none actually exists.).
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Unconscious Thinking and Problem Solving


Unconscious cognition is the processing of perception, memory, learning, thought, and
language without being aware of it.
The role of the unconscious mind on decision making is a topic greatly debated by neuroscientists and psychologists around the world. Though the actual level of involvement of the
unconscious brain during a cognitive process might still be a matter of differential opinion, the
fact that the unconscious brain does play a role in cognitive activity is undeniable. Several
experiments and well recorded phenomena attest to this fact, for example the illusion-of-truth
effect. There have also been several experiments suggesting that the unconscious mind might
actually be better at decision making than the conscious mind when there are multiple variables
to take into consideration.

Successful and Unsuccessful Problem Solving


We have considered thinking at its best and worst expertise and error. Experts polish
their skills through extensive practice. Of course, we all have to make decisions about topis in
which we are not experts. Without insisting in perfection , we can atleast hold ourselves to the
standard of not doing anything foolish. Perhaps if we become more aware of sommon errors, we
can be more alert to avoid them.

SUMMARY

Algorithm and heuristics. People solve problems by algorithms (repetitive means of


checking every possibility) and heuristics (ways of simplifying a problem).

Maximizing and satisficing. The maximizing strategy is to consider thoroughly every


possible choice to find the best one. The satisficing strategy usually make good choices
but are often not fully pleased with them. The strategy usually make good choices but are
often not fully pleased with them. That strategy is especially problematic when too many
choices are available.

Representativeness heuristic and base-rate information. If something resembles


members of some category, we usually assume it too belongs to that category. However,
that assumption is risky of the category is rare one.

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Availability heuristic. We generally assume that the more easily we can think of
examples of some category, the more common I category is. However, this heuristic
meisleads us when items in rare categories get much publicity.

Critical thinking. Even people who try conscientiously to evaluate the evidence for every
claim sometimes find themselves repeating a nonsensical statement that they know they
should have doubted.

Some reasons for errors. People tend to be overconfident about their own judgments on
difficult questions. They tend to look for evidence that confirms their hypothesis instead
of evidence that might reject it. They answer the same question differently when it is
framed differently. They sometimes take unpleasant actions to avoid admitting that
previous actions where waste of time or money.

Expertise. Becoming an expert requires years of practice and effort. Experts recognize
and memorize familiar and meaningful patterns more rapidly than less experienced
people .

Unconscious decision making. When confronted with conflicting information, we


sometimes make better decisions by thinking about the problem unconsciously while
doing other things than by debating the possibilities directly.

Cognitive Development
Involves changes in how the children understand and things about their world as they
grow older. Researchers show that children understand and think about their world in
qualitatively different ways as they pass through various stages of cognitive development.

Piagets theory
In the early years, American behaviorist also discovered in their research the
relationship between stimuli and observable response. Their theories held that learning at all
ages can be explained without considering what goes on in a persons mind. He argued that we
cannot understand learning without understanding thinking and that children thinks differently
from adults.
In Piagets theory observation and experiments to find out how children interpret object
and events in a world around them, he conclude that children of the same age make similar
incorrect responses, which are different from errors made by both older and younger children.
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This pattern of errors suggested that the children develop qualitatively different ways of
organizing and responding of cognitive development is divided into series of stages.
He assumed that the stages are organized around a dominant theme and that each stages
contains qualitatively different behaviors. He stated that all children goes into same stages in the
same order.

Sensor motor
From birth to about 2 years old. It remain the theme in discovering relationships
between sensation and motor behavior.
Object permanence, is knowledge that objects continue to exist even when they can no
longer be experience.
1

Preo-pre-rational stage
Extends to about 2 years to 7 years old, its dominant theme is discovering
operations,
which are plans, strategies, and rules for solving problem and fo
classifying information.

Concrete Preo-pre-rational stage


Extend from about 7-11 years old. Its main theme is extending mental operation
from concrete object to purely symbolic term
Formal operation stage

Extend 13 years old of stage to adult hood. Its main theme is the ability to
consider many possible solutions to problem and the ability to systematically test
those possibilities.

CHAPTER 9
LANGUAGE
-

A means of communicating thoughts and feelings, using a system of socially shared but
arbitrary symbols (sounds, signs or written symbols) arranged according to rules of grammar.

Structure of Language
Psycholinguistics

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It is the study of how language is acquired, produced and used and how the sounds
and symbols of language are translated into meaning.
Phonemes
- The smallest unit of sound in a spoken language.
Example:
Three phonemes together c/a/t forms the word cat.
Morphemes
- The smallest units of meaning in a language.
Example:
A single morpheme book is a singular noun but when added an
ending s itll give a plural meaning to a word and will form the word
books.

Syntax
Aspect of grammar that specifies the rules for arranging and combining
words to form phrases and sentences.
Example:
The rules of grammar in English is that adjectives come before
nouns (the White House)

Semantics
- Meaning or the study of meaning derived from morphemes, words
and sentences.

Example:
The same word can have different meanings depending on how it
is used in sentences.
Loving to read, the young girl read three books last
week.
Pragmatics
- The patterns of intonation and social roles associated with a language.
Example:
Do you want a cookie? A tone of asking a question.
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Oh my G! A tone shocked or surprised.

Language Development
During their first few months, infants communicate distress or displeasure through
crying. But they begin rapidly to acquire language.
During the second or third month, infant begin cooing-repeatedly uttering vowel sounds
such as ah and oo. At about 6 months, infants begin babbling. They utter phonemes which
form words when combined. During the first part of the babbling stage, infants babble all the
basic speech sounds that occur in all the languages of the world. Language up to this point seems
to be biologically determined, because all babies throughout the world, even deaf children,
vocalize the same range of speech sounds.
At about 8 months, babies begin to focus attention on those speech sounds (phonemes)
common to the language spoken around them and on the rhythm and intonation of that language.
And by 1 year, the babbling stage gives way to the one-word stage. The first words usually
represent objects that move or those that infants can act on or interact with. From 13 to 18
months of age, children markedly increase their vocabulary, and 2-year-olds know about 270
words.
Initially a childs understanding of words differs from that of an adult. When they lack
the correct word, children may act on the basis of shared features and apply a word to a broader
range of objects than is appropriate. This is known as overextension. For example, any man may
be called dada and any four-legged animal, doggie. Underextension occurs, too; this is
when children fail to apply a word to other members of the class. The familys poodle is a
doggie, but the German shepherd next door is not.
Between 18 to 20 months of age, when their vocabulary is about 50 words, children begin
to put nouns, verbs and adjectives together in two-word phrases and sentences. At this stage,
children depend to a great extent on gesture, tone and context to convey their meaning.
Depending on intonation, their sentences may indicate questions, statements or possession.
Children adhere to rigid word order. You might hear mama drink, drink milk or mama
milk but not drink mama. milk drink or milk mama.
Between 2 to 3 years of age, children begin to use short sentences, which may contain
three or more words. Labeled telegraphic speech, these short sentences follow a rigid word
order and contain only essential content words, leaving out all plurals, possessives, conjunctions,
articles and prepositions. Telegraphic speech reflects the childs understanding of syntax. When a
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third word is added to a sentence, it usually fills in the word missing from the two-word sentence
(for example, mama drink milk). After using telegraphic speech for a time, children gradually
begin to add modifiers to make their sentences more precise.
Children pick up grammatical rules intuitively and apply them rigidly.
Overregularization is the kind of error that results when a grammatical rule is misapplied to a
word that has an irregular plural or past tense. Thus, children who have correctly used the words
went, came and did incorrectly apply the rule for past tenses and begin to say goed,
comed and doed. What the parents see as a regression in speech actually means that the child
has acquired a grammatical rule.

Factors that Influence Speech Development

Sex /Gender
Girls tend to speak earlier and skillful than boys.
Socioeconomic Status
Children from higher socioeconomic groups speak earlier, speak themselves better, and
talk more than those from lower groups.
Family Relationship
A healthy family relationship facilitates speech development.
Number of Siblings
An only child acquires language earlier than those sibling closes in age.
Health
Severe and prolonged illness during the first two years of life delays the beginning of
speech and the use of sentence by 1 to 2 months.

CHAPTER 10
INTELLIGENCE
People are the most important organism in this world. They reach the highest level of
organization, they are able to stand independently. People are capable of many things but how
can people learn this things? How they solve their problems? And how they are able to think?

Early definition of Intelligence

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A famous symposium on Intelligence and its measurement was published in the Journal of
Educational Psychology in 1921. Fourteen experts gave their own informal definitions of
intelligence, some of which may be paraphrased as follows:
1. The ability to carry out abstract thinking (L.M. Terman).
2. The ability to give responses that are true or factual (E.L. Thorndike).
3. The capacity to inhibit instincts, coupled with analytical ability and perseverance (L.L.
Thurstone).
4. The ability to acquire abilities (H. Woodrow).
5. The ability to learn or to profit by experience (W.F. Dearborn).
6. The ability to adjust oneself to relatively new situations in life (R. Pinter).
7 .The ability to adjust oneself to the environment (S.S. Colvin).
18. The capacity for knowledge and knowledge possessed (V.A.C. Henmon).
After 1921, many other informal definitions appeared in the psychological literature (see
Miles, 1957, for an interesting summary and discussion)
Three factors which emerged from the analysis were: verbal intelligence, problem solving and
practical intelligence. Sternberg interpreted these as the major components of intelligence, at
least according to expert opinion. Sternberg and his colleagues also showed that experts and nonexperts rave remarkably similar conceptions of intelligence. When ordinary people were asked to
rate the same kinds of Rishevel as the experts, there was almost complete agreement about how
characteristic each one is of intelligence. In technical terms, the correlation between the two sets
of ratings was 0.96, which is very high. The technique of correlation is often used in the study of
intelligence and in other branches of psychology, so it is worth pausing briefly to explain it.

Definition of Intelligence
Intelligence, term usually referring to a general mental capability to reason, solve
problems, think abstractly, learn and understand new material, and profit from the past
experience .Intelligence can be measured by many different kinds of task. Likewise, this ability
is expressed in many aspects of a persons life. Intelligence draws on a variety of mental
processes, including memory, learning, decision-making, thinking and reasoning.
Intelligence can be defined informally as intellectual ability. A person who solves a
difficult crossword puzzle quickly or gives the right answer to a tricky mathematical problem or
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gets a high score on an IQ (intelligence quotient) test is showing intelligent Rishevel, and it is
reasonable to infer that such a person is intelligent. Someone who does badly at the same tasks is
not showing intelligent Rishevel and may have a low intelligence, but the inference is uncertain
in this case because other explanations are possible. Poor performance, even on an IQ test, might
be due to tiredness, lack of interest or motivation, test anxiety, or many other causes apart from
low

THEORIES ABOUT INTELLIGENCE


There are different theories about intelligence, none of which agree with each other.
Every approach to thinking comes up with its own different perspective and assumptions, often
contradicting at least one earlier theory.

Faculty theory
It is the oldest theory regarding the nature of intelligence and flourished during 18 th and
19th century. According to this theory, mind is made up of different faculties like reasoning,
memory, discrimination, imagination, etc. These faculties are independent of each other and can
be developed by vigorous straining. Faculty Theory had been under criticism by experimental
psychologists who disproved the existence of independent faculties in the brain.

One factor/UNI factor theory


It reduces all abilities to a single capacity of general Intelligence or common sense. This
would imply that they are all perfectly correlated, and would make no allowance for the
unevenness of people i.e. abilities along different lines. Since it goes against the common
observation that an individual does possess different levels of different abilities and does not
shine equally in all directionsit has no ground to stand.

Spearmans two-factor theory


It was developed in 1904 by an English Psychologist, Charles Spearman, who proposed
that intellectual abilities were comprised of two factors : one general ability or common ability
known as G factor and the other a group of specific abilities known as S factor. G factor is
universal inborn ability. Greater G in an individual leads to greater success in life. S factor is
acquired from the environment. It varies from activity to activity in the same individual.

Thorndikes multifactor theory

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Thorndike believed that there was nothing like General Ability. Each mental activity requires an
aggregate of different set of abilities. He distinguished the following four attributes of
intelligence:
(a) Levelrefers to the level of difficulty of a task that can be solved.
(b) Rangerefers to a number of tasks at any given degree of difficulty.
I Areameans the total number of situations at each level to which the individual is able to
respond.
(d) Speedis the rapidity with which we can respond to the items

Thurstones theory
Primary mental abilities/Group factor theory: States that Intelligent Activities are not an
expression of innumerable highly specific factors, as Thorndike claimed. Nor is it the expression
primarily of a general factor that pervades all mental activities. It is the essence of intelligence,
as Spearman held. Instead, the analysis of interpretation of Spearman and others led them to the
conclusion that certain mental operations have in common a primary factor that gives them
psychological and functional unity and that differentiates them from other mental operations.
These mental operations then constitute a group. A second group of mental operation has its own
unifying primary factor, and so on. In other words, there are a number of groups of mental
abilities, each of which has its own primary factor, giving the group a functional unity and
cohesiveness. Each of these primary factors is said to be relatively independent of the others.
Thurstone has given the following six primary factors :
The Number Factor (N)Ability to do Numerical Calculations rapidly and accurately.
The Verbal Factor (V)Found in tests involving Verbal Comprehension.
The Space Factor (S)Involved in any task in which the subject manipulates the
imaginary object in space.
Memory (M)Involving ability to memorize quickly.
The Word Fluency Factor (W)Involved whenever the subject is asked to think of
isolated words at a rapid rate.
The Reasoning Factor IFound in tasks that require a subject to discover a rule or
principle involved in a series or groups of letters.
Based on these factors Thurstone constructed a new test of intelligence known as Test of
Primary Mental Abilities (PMA).

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Guildfords Model of Structure of Intellect


Guilford (1967, 1985, 1988) proposed a three dimensional structure of intellect model.
According to Guilford every intellectual task can be classified according to its (1) content, (2) the
mental operation ivolved and (3) the product resulting from the operation. He further classified
content into five categories, namely, Visual, Auditory, Symbolic, Semantic and Behavioral. He
classified operations into five categories, namely, Cognition, Memory retention, Memory
recording, Divergent production, Convergent production and evaluation. He classified products
into six categories, namely, Units, Classes, Relations, Systems, Transformations and
Implications.

Vernonss Hierarchical Theory


Vernons description of different levels of intelligence may fill the gaps between two
extreme theories, the two-factor theory of Spearman, which did not allow for the existence of
group factors, and the multiple-factor theory of Turstone, which did not allow a g factor.
Intelligence can be described as comprising abilities at varying levels of generality:
1. The highest level : g (general intelligence)factor with the largest source of variance between
individuals. (Spearman)
2. The next level : major group factors such as verbal-numerical-educational (v.ed) and practicalmechanical-spatial-physical (k.m.) ability.
3. The next level : minor group factors are divided from major group factors.
4. The bottom level : s(specific) factor. (Spearmen)
Beginning in 1969, Vernon became increasingly involved in studying the contributions of
environmental and genetic factors to intellectual development. Vernon continued to analyze the
effects of genes and the environment on both individual and group difference in intelligence. He
concludes that individual difference in intelligence are approximately 60 percent attributable to
genetic factors, and that there is some evidence implicating genes in racial group differences in
average levels of mental ability.

Cattells Fluid and Crystallized Theory

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The fluid aspect of this theory says that intelligence is a basic capacity due to genetic
potentiality. While this is affected by the past and new expriences, the crystallized theory is a
capacity resultant of experiences, learning and environment.

Gardners Theory of Multiple Intelligence


Howard Gardner in his book Frames of Mind, The Theory of Multiple Intelligence
(1983), puts forth a new and different view of human intellectual competencies. He argues boldly
and cogently that we are all born with potential to develop a multiplicity of Intelligence, most of
which have been overlooked in our testing society, and all of which can be drawn upon to make
us competent individuals. The potential for musical accomplishments, bodily mastery and spatial
reasoning, and the capacities to understand ourselves as well as others are, Gardner argues, the
multiple forms of intelligence that we must add to the conventionaland typical testedlogical
and Risheveled skills long called I.Q.. The multiple intelligence theory is that people possess
eight types of intelligence: linguistic, logical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic interpersonal,
intrapersonal and naturalistic intelligence.

Verbal skills: The ability to think in words and use language to express meaning
Sensitivity to the meanings and sounds of words, mastery of syntax, appreciation of the
ways language can be used (authors, journalists, speakers, poets, teachers)
Mathematical skills: The ability to carry out mathematical operations
Understanding of objects and symbols and of actions that be performed on them and of
the relations between these actions, ability for abstraction, ability to identify problems and seek
explanations (scientists, engineers, accountants)
Spatial skills: The ability to think three-dimensionally
Capacity to perceive the visual world accurately, to perform transformations upon
perceptions and to re-create aspects of visual experience in the absence of physical stimuli,
sensitivity to tension, balance, and composition, ability to detect similar patterns (architects,
artists, sailors, chess masters)
Bodily-kinesthetic skills: The ability to manipulate objects and be physically adept
Use of ones body in highly skilled ways for expressive or goal-directed purposes,
capacity to handle objects skillfully (surgeons, craftspeople, dancers, athletes, actors)
Musical skills: A sensitivity to pitch, melody, rhythm, and tone

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Sensitivity to individual tones and phrases of music, an understanding of ways to


combine tones and phrases into larger musical rhythms and structures, awareness of emotional
aspects omusic (musicians, composers, sensitive listeners)
Interpersonal skills: The ability to understand and effectively interact with others
Ability to notice and make distinctions among the moods, temperaments, motivations, and
intentions of other people and potentially to act on this knowledge (teachers, mental health
professionals, parents, religious and political leaders)

Intrapersonal skills: The ability to understand oneself


Access to ones own feelings, ability to draw on ones emotions to guide and understand
ones behavior, recognition of personal strengths and weaknesses (theologians, novelists,
psychologists, therapists)
Naturalistic skills: The ability to observe patterns in nature and understand natural and humanmade systems
Sensitivity and understanding of plants, animals, and other aspects of nature (farmers,
botanists, ecologists, landscapers, environmentalists)

Sternbergs triarchic theory


Psychologist Robert Sternberg (1985) has constructed a threepronged, or triarchic theory of
intelligence. The Three types are :
Analytical Intelligenceis what we generally think of as academic ability. It enables us
to solve problems and to acquire new knowledge. Problemsolving skill include encoding
information, combining and comparing pieces of information and generating a solution.
Creative Intelligenceis defined by the abilities to cope with novel situations and to
profit from experience. The ability to quickly relate novel situations to familiar situations (that is,
to perceive similarities and differences) fosters adaptation. Moreover, as a result of experience,
we also become able to solve problems more rapidly.
Practical Intelligenceor street smarts, enable people to adapt to the demands of
their environment. For example, keeping a job by adapting ones behavior to the employers
requirements is adaptive. But if the employer is making unreasonable demands, reshaping the
environment (by changing the employers attitudes) or selecting an alternate environment (by
finding a more suitable job) is also adaptive.

Andersons Theory: Cognitive Development


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Anderson proposes that human cognitive architectures will have adapted optimally to the
problems posed in their environment. Therefore, the optimal solution to the problem posed by
the environment, independent of the architecture, is equivalent to discovering the mechanism
used by the architecture. A Rational Analysis, as it is called, takes into account the available
information in the environment, the goals of the agent, some basic assumptions about
computational cost (in terms of a general architecture mechanism), and produces the optimal
behavioral function. This function the of course can be tested empirically and assumptions
modified if it proves inaccurate. A contrasting point of view to this is espoused by Simon, and is
centered around the claim that, in a rational analysis, the assumptions about the architecture
actually do most of the work.

Eysencks Structural Theory


Eysenck discovered the neurological correlates of intelligence. He identified three
correlates of intelligence i.e. reaction time, inspection time and average evoked potential. First
two are observed behavior. Third behavior, is description of mental waves. Brighter individual
progressively takes less time in responding. They show less variability in reaction time. Their
inspection time is also less as compared to less intelligent. Average evoked potential is often
measured by the wavelength in electroencephalogram and complexities of waveform. He found
that the waves of intelligent individuals are complex.

Cecis Biological Theory


Ceci (1990) proposes that there are multiple cognitive potentials. These multiple
intelligences are biologically based and place limits on mental processes. These are closely
linked to the challenges and opportunities in the individuals environment. In his view, context is
essential to the demonstration of cognitive abilities. By context, he means domain of knowledge
and other factors such as personalities, motivation and education. Context can be mental, social
or physical.

Theory of Emotional Intelligence


According to Goleman (1995), Emotional Intelligence consists of abilities such as being
able to motivate oneself and persist in the face of frustrations; to control impulse and delay
gratification; to regulate ones moods and keep distress from swamping the ability to think : to
empathize, and to hope. The main areas are : knowing ones emotions, managing emotions,
motivating oneself, recognizing emotions in others, and handling relationships.

Conclusion
Until a clear-cut definition of intelligence can be given, theories will continue not to be
able to explain it. The likelihood of such a definition occurring is virtually zero, as there will
always be alternatives given, and so theories of intelligence are bound to be self-defeating.
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MEASURING INTELLIGENCE

Early Tests
Sir Frances Galton, a British scientist, was among the first to investigate differences in
intelligences. In his book Hereditary Genius (1869), he compared the accomplishments of people
from different generations of prominent English families. No formal measures of intelligence
existed at that time, so Galton evaluated each of his subjects on their fame as judged by
encyclopedia entries, honors, awards, and similar indicators. He concluded that some human
abilities are derived from hereditary factors, and founded the eugenics movement.
Between 1884 and 1890 Galton operated a laboratory at the South Kensington Museum
in London (now the Victoria and Albert Museum) where, for a small fee, people could have
themselves measured on a number of physical and psychological attributes. He tried to relate
intellectual ability to skills such as reaction time, sensitivity to physical stimuli, and body
proportions, Galton was a pioneer in the study of individual differences. His work helped
develop statistical concepts and techniques still in use today. He also was the first to advance the
idea that intelligence can be quantitatively measured.
In the 1890s American psychologist James McKeen Cattell, developed a battery of 50
tests that attempted to measure basic mental ability. Cattell focused on measurements of sensory
discrimination and reaction times. Later researchers, however pointed out that Cattells test
subjects were limited to Columbia Universuty students, whose high academic performance was
not a representative of the general population. Better-designed test given to broader samples have
shown that reaction time and processing speed on perceptual tasks do correlate with academic
achievement.

The Binet-Simon Test


In 1905 French Psychologist Alfred Binet and colleague Theodore Simon devised one of the
first tests of general intelligence. The test sought to identify French Children likely to have
difficulty in school so that they could receive special education.
The Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale contained Items arranged in order of increasing
difficulty. It measured vocabulary, memory, common knowledge and other cognitive abilities.
From their observations they created the concept of mental age. Mental age is defined as the
level of mental development expressed in units of chronological age for which the mental
development is judged normal.
To judge how effectively the test predicted academic achievement, Binet asked teachers to
rate their students from best to worst. The results showed that students who have been rated

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higher by their teachers also scored higher on the test. Thus, Binets test successfully predicted
how student perform in school.

The IQ test
Lewis Terman, an American Psychologist, revised the Binets test by adapting some of
Binets questions, adding questions appropriate for adults, and establishing new standards for
average performance at each age. His first adaptation, published in 1916, was called the
Standford-Binets Intelligence Scale.The name of the test is derived from Termans affiliation
with Standford University.Instead of giving persons performance on the Standford-Binet as a
mental age, Terman converted performance into single score, which he called the Intelligence
Quotient or commonly known as IQ.
Intelligence quotient is computed by dividing a childs mental age (MA), as measured in an
intelligence test by the childs chronological age (CA) and multiplying the result by 100.

IQ =
Legend:

MA

x 100

CA

IQ = Intelligence
MA = Mental Age
CA = Chronological Age

Modern Intelligence Test


Wechsler Intelligence Scales
The Wechsler intelligence scales were developed by Dr. David Wechsler, a clinical
psychologist with Bellevue Hospital .His initial test, the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale,
was published in 1939 and was designed to measure intellectual performance by adults. Wechsler
constructed the WBIS based on his observation that, at the time, existing intelligence tests for
adults were merely adaptations of tests for children and had little face validity for older age
groups.
Since 1939, three scales have been developed and subsequently revised, to measure
intellectual functioning of children and adults. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence ScaleIII (WAIS-III) is intended for use with adults. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children177

III (WISC-III) is designed for children ages 6 16, while the Wechsler Preschool and Primary
Scale of Intelligence-R (WPPSI-R) is designed for children age 4 6 years.

The WAIS-III
The WAIS-III is the 1997 revision of the test originally published in 1955 and first
revised in 1981. The WAIS-III contains the following scales:

Verbal Scales
1. Information: 28 items on a variety of information adults have presumably had opportunities
to acquire in our culture. No specialized or academic information included; however, some of the
items cover quite sophisticated information.
2. Comprehension: 18 items that require examinee to explain what should be done in certain
circumstances, the meaning of proverbs, why certain societal practices are followed, and so
forth. The test measures practical judgement, common sense, and the ability to understand and
adapt to social customs. Score on each item varies (0-2 pts) according to the degree to which the
response describes the most pertinent aspects of the question.
3. Arithmetic: 20 arithmetic problems similar to those encountered in elementary math courses.
Problems are administered orally and must be solved without paper and pencil. In addition to
math knowledge, test measures concentration and systematic problem-solving ability.
4. Similarities: 19 items requiring examinee to describe how two given things are alike. Score
on each item varies according to the degree to which the response describes a general property
primarily pertinent to both items in the pair. Measures concrete, functional, and abstract concept
formation.
5. Digit Span: Two parts, Digits forward and digits backwards. Examinee required to repeat 3
9 digits forward and 2 9 digits backwards. Measures short-term memory, attention, and
concentration..
6. Vocabulary: 66 words of increasing difficulty are presented orally and visually. Examinee
required to define the words. Score (0-2) based on sophistication of definition. Measures verbal
knowledge and concept formation.
7. Letter-Number Sequencing (Optional Test): Examiner presents combinations of letters and
numbers, from 2 to nine letter-number combinations. Examinee must repeat each series by, first,
repeating the numbers in ascending order, then the letters in alphabetical order (e.g., 9-L-2-A;
correct response is 2-9-A-L). Measures working memory, the ability to simultaneously recall
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and organize stimuli of different, similar types. This also is a standard test on the Wechsler
Memory Scale-III.

Performance Scales
8. Coding-Digit Symbol: Numbers 1 7 are paired with symbols on a key presented to
examinee. Examinee has 120 seconds to go through a grid of 90 numbers and place the correct
symbol above each number. Measures visual-motor speed and complexity, motor coordination.
There are two additional, optional extensions of the coding test that measure the examinees skills
in learning the coding process after completing the initial task.
9. Picture Completion: 25 cards, each containing a picture having a part missing. Examinee
must identify the missing part. Measures ability to observe details and recognize specific features
of the environment (I.e., whole to part discrimination). Also measures performance in
deliberately focusing attention.
10. Block Design: Perhaps the butt of more jokes than any other WAIS scale! Included in the test
are nine red and white square blocks and a spiral booklet of cards showing different color
designs that can be made with the blocks. The examinee must arrange the blocks to match the
design formed by examiner or shown on cards. In addition to being scored for accuracy, each
item is scored for speed as well. Measures spatial problem-solving and manipulative abilities,
and part to whole organization.
11. Picture Arrangement: Eleven items. Each item consists of 3 to 6 cards
containing pictures. The examinee must arrange the pictures from
left to right to tell the intended story. Again, both accuracy and
speed are scored. Partial credit is given for alternate, but less
commonly
given
arrangements
to
some
items.
Measures nonverbal reasoning and sequencing skills, and grasp of
social cause and eff ect (also known as social intelligence).
12. Matrix Reasoning: A new test on the WAIS-III. Examinee is presented with a series of
design with a part missing. Examinee chooses the missing part that will complete the design,
from five choices. Measures nonverbal analytical reasoning.
13. Object Assembly (Optional Test): Four items, each item being a cut up object, like a
puzzle. Examinee must correctly assemble the parts of the puzzle. Measures visual-motor
problem-solving and organizational abilities, and visual anticipation skills.

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14. Symbol Search (Optional test): Examinee must match one or two symbols shown on the left
column with the same symbol/s in the right column of each page in the supplemental test
booklet. Measures organization accuracy and processing speed

The WISC-III
Originally, the WISC (1950) was a downward extension of the Wechsler-Belle view test
to children. A revision, the WISC-R, was published in 1974. The WISC-III was published in
1992. Most of the scales in the WISC-III are similar to those in the WAIS-R. Like the WAIS-III,
administration alternates a Verbal scale and a Performance scale. Also, whereas Digit Span is
always given in the WAIS-R, it is an optional test in the WISC-R (it may be substituted for any
one of the other Verbal scales, if the other scale cannot be administered due to an examinees
handicap or because administration of a scale was disrupted). Also, a Mazes subtest may be
substituted for the Coding test on the Performance scale. Order of administration of the tests is as
follows:
19. Picture Completion; 2) Information; 3) Coding; (4) Similarities; 5) Picture Arrangement;
6) Arithmetic; 7) Block Design; 8) Vocabulary; 9) Object Assembly; 10) Comprehension;
11) Symbol Search (Optional); 12) Digit Span (Optional); 13) Mazes (Optional).

The WPPSI-R
The WPPSI was introduced in 1967 as an adaptation of the WISC to preschool
children and an alternative to the Stanford-Binet. Like the WISC-R, the WPPSI tests are
administered in alternating order (Verbal-Performance) and yield scale, Verbal, Performance, and
Full Scale IQ scores. Tests, in order of administration, are:
20. Information; 2) Animal House; 3) Vocabulary; 3) Picture Completion; 5) Arithmetic; 6)
Mazes; 7) Similarities; 8) Geometric Design; 9) Comprehension; 10) Block Design.
The Animal House test is a substitute for the WISC-R Coding test and the WAIS-R Digit Symbol
test. The test consists of a board, at the top of which is a key containing pictures of a cat, fish,
chicken, and dog.
Below each animal on the key is a colored cylinder (the child is told that the cylinder is the
animals house). The rest of the board contains pictures of each animal with a hole underneath.

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The child is given twenty colored cylinders and told to give each animal a house the same color
as the house for that animal in the key. Speed and accuracy are scored.
The Geometric Designs test requires the little flowers to copy ten simple designs on paper using
a colored pencil. Again, speed and accuracy are scored.
In addition, there is an alternative test for the Verbal scale. The Sentences test is similar to the
Digit Span test, but requires the child to repeat sentences after the examiner
Other most widely used modern tests of intelligence are Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
(WAIS) and Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (Kaufman-ABC).

Creation of Group Tests


A group of American psychologist that time led by Robert M. Yerkes offered to help the
United States Army screen recruits, using intelligence tests .Yerkes and his colleagues
developed two intelligence tests: the Army Alpha exam for literate recruits, and the Army Beta
exam for non-English speakers and illiterate recruits. These tests were administered to large
groups of recruits at the same time. The items on the tests consisted of practical, short-answer
problems. The Alpha exam included arithmetic problems, tests of practical judgment, tests of
general knowledge, synonym-antonym comparisons, number series problems, analogies, and
other problems. The Beta exam required recruits to complete mazes, complete picture with
missing elements, recognize patterns I series and solve puzzles.
In the present time, group test were hailed as remarkable instruments however it came
under attack because test administrators relied on them exclusively overlooking other sources of
information about examiners abilities.

Standardization, Reliability and Validity of Tests


An intelligence test, like any other psychological test, must meet certain criteria in order
to be accepted as scientific and accurate. A test therefore must be standardized, reliable and
valid.
Standardization, refers to the process of defining norms of performance to which all test
takers are compared. Before an intelligence test can be used to make meaningful comparisons,
the test makers first give the test to a sample of the population representative of the individuals
for whom the test is designed. This sample of people is called normative sample, because it is
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used to establish norms (standards) of performance on the test. Normative samples usually
consist of thousands of people from all areas of the country and all strata of the society. Test
scores of people are statistically analyzed to compile the test norms. When the test is made
available for general use, these norms are used to determine a score for each person who takes
the test. The IQ score of overall score reflects how well the person did compared to people of the
same age in the normative sample.
Reliability refers to the consistency of test scores. A reliable test yields the same or close
to the same score for a person each time it is administered. In addition, alternate forms of the test
should produce similar results. By these criteria, modern intelligence tests are highly reliable. In
fact, intelligence tests are the most reliable of all psychological tests.
Validity is the extent to which a test predicts what is designed to predict. Intelligence
tests were designed to predict school achievement, and they do that better than they do anything
else.

Distribution of IQ Scores
IQ scores, like many other biological and psychological
characteristics, are distributed according to a normal
distribution, which forms a normal curve, or bell curve, when
plotted on a graph. In a normal distribution, most values fall in
the average, and few values fall far above average or far below
the average. Although raw scores are not exactly normally
distributed, test makers derive
IQ scores using a formula that forces the scores to conform to the normal distribution.
The normal distribution is defined by its mean (average score) and its standard deviation (a
measure of how average scores are dispersed relative to the mean). Usually the mean of an IQ
test arbitrary set at 100 with a standard deviation of 15.

Uses of Intelligence Test


Intelligence test are widely used in different fields. In many cases intelligence tests are
used to avoid the biases and more arbitrary methods of selection introduce. Some are stated
below.
In schools,
educators use tests to assess how well a student can be expected to perform and to determine
if special educational programs re necessary. Intelligence test can help to identify students with
mental retardation and to determine an appropriate educational program for these students.
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In business,
employers frequently use intelligence and aptitude test to select job applicants.
In medicine,
physicians use intelligence tests to assess the cognitive functioning of patients, such as
those
with brain damage or degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Psychiatrist and
psychologists may use intelligence tests to diagnose the mental capacities of their clients.
In military,
military officials screen new recruits through intelligence tests.

Factors Influencing Intelligence


There had been a wide variety of individual differences in peoples intellectual abilities.
Some are more intelligent than others. The differences are so much that some change the course
of human civilization through their intellectual innovations, a few others even find it difficult to
master a problem simple addition.
The individual differences that exist among all of us are the products of two general and broad
factors: heredity & environment. There are also sub-factors which should be considered. The
following factors are discussed below in detail.

Genetic Influences
In behavioral genetics, the heritability of a trait refers to the proportion of the traits
variation within a population that is attributable to genetics. The heritability of intelligence is
usually defined as the proportion of the variation in IQ scores that is linked to genetic factors. To
estimate the heritability of intelligence, scientists compare the Iqs of individuals who have
differing degrees of genetic relationship. Scientists have conducted hundreds of studies,
involving tens of thousands of participants, that have sought to measure the heritability of
intelligence .The generally accepted conclusion from these studies is that genetic factors account
for 40 to 80 % of the variability in the intelligence test scores, with most experts settling on a
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figure of approximately 50%.It affirms the reason why genetic factors influence but do not fix a
predetermine intelligence.
Correlation coefficient provides a measure of the strength of relationship between two
variables, and; bound by limits from -1.00 to +1.00. The higher is the correlation coefficient; the
higher is the strength of relationship.

Psychologists have drawn evidence from a number of studies to examine the relative
influence of hereditary and environmental factors on intelligence The two kinds of
studies discussed below are: (a) studies of twin children; and (b) studies involving
adopted children.

21. Twin studies:


Twins are of two types: identical twins and fraternal twins Identical twins originate from
a single fertilized egg and share the same gencode. The fraternal twins arise from two different
eggs fertilized by two different sperm cells. While identical twins show a 100 percent genetic
overlap, fraternal twins have 50 percent genetic similarity, which is no greater than that between
ordinary siblings. If identical twins turn out to be more simile their intelligence as compared to
fraternal twins, the evidence for the hereditary factors would be strong.
The
average
correlation
coefficients between the Iqs of children
having different degrees of genetic
similarity insightful analysis of the
correlations will clarify several points
regarding the relative role of heredity and
environment in shaping individuals
intelligence.
The correlation between the Iqs of
identical twins reared together is which is
substantially higher than the correlation of
fraternal twins reared together (.60).
Furthermore, identical twins reared apart in different environments show a high degree of
similarity (.72) in their intelligence as compared to the fraternal twins reared together (.60).
The finding that identical twins raised in different environments are similar in their
intellectual abilities than fraternal twins reared in the same environment suggests a strong genetic
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influence on intelligence. However, the role of the environment cannot be ruled out, because the
correlation drops from .86 to .72 as the environment changes for the identical twins.

Environmental Influences
If genetic influences account for between 40 and 80 percent of the variation in
intelligence, then environmental influences account for between 20 and 60 percent of the total
variation. Environmental factors comprise all the stimuli a person encounters from conception to
death, including food, cultural information, education, and social experiences. Although it is
known that environmental factors can be potent forces in shaping intelligence, it is not
understood exactly how they contribute to intelligence.In fact, scientists have identified few
specific environmental variables that have direct, unambiguous effects on intelligence. Many
environmental variables have small effects in their effect on each person, making them difficult
to identify.

Gender Differences
Are women smarter or are men smarter?
Gender differences have been studied since the
beginning of intelligence testing. The question is
very complicated one, though. One problem is test
makers sometimes eliminate questions that show
differences between males and females to eliminate
bias from the test. Intelligent tests, therefore may not show gender differences even if they exist.
Men and women tend to be equivalent in most aspects of intelligence.

The average IQ scores of men and women is virtually identical.

Women as a group

Tend to be stronger in verbal fluency, in writing, in perceptual speed.


Scores more closely clustered around the mean.

Men as a group

Over represents the extremes (both low and high ends) of IQ distribution.
Tend to be stronger in visual-spatial processing, in science, and in mathematical problem
solving.

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(Some psychologists speculate that spatial ability evolved more in men because men were
historically hunters and required spatial ability to track prey and find their way back from
hunting forays.

Affected more frequently by mental retardation.


Outnumbers women at very high levels of measured intelligence.

Are differences in abilities between men and women biologically based or are they due to
cultural influences?
There is some evidence on both sides.

On the biological side, researchers have studied androgenized females. Individuals who
are genetically female but were exposed to high levels of testosterone, a male hormone, during
gestation. As these individuals grow up they are culturally identified as female, but they tend to
play with boys toys, like blocks, trucks, and have higher levels of spatial ability than females
who were not exposed to high levels of testosterone. Further evidences for a biological basis for
spatial gender differences comes from the comparison of the brains of men and women. Even
when corrected for body size, males tend to have slightly larger brains than females. Some
scientists speculate that this extra brain volume in males may be devoted to spatial ability.

On cultural side, many social scientist argue that differences in abilities between men
and woman arise from societys different expectations of them and from their different
experiences. Girls do not participate extensively as boys do in cultural activities thought to
increase spatial and mathematical ability. As children girls are expected to play with dolls and
other toys that develop verbal and social skills while boys play with blocks, video games, and
other toys that encourage spatial visualization.
It is important to remember that sex differences, where they exist represent average
differences between men and women as groups, not individuals. Knowing whether an individual
is female or male reveals a little about that persons intellectual abilities.

Personality dispositions
There is some evidence to suggest that changes in IQ are related to general pattern of
adjustment and personality. In a longitudinal study (5 Baker, and Nelson, 1958), 140 children
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were tested at intervals bet and 12 years of age. The 35 children, whose Iqs increased remarkable
found to have personality traits of assertiveness, independence, self-in and competitiveness.
On the contrary the 35 children who showed a d trend were found to lack these traits. If
the personality traits were not acceptable, the advantages would be minimized. For example,
child show temper tantrums have been found to display drops in their Iqs (Peskin, 1964). Good
intellectual functioning requires the ability to harness ones emotions and utilize them in a
constructive manner.

Socioeconomic status (SES)


Children of the upper socioeconomic strata of the society are exposed to more intellectual
stimulation, get better social opportunities, and are nurtured with better nutrition. All these are
believed to influence their intellectual development in a positive direction. The index of
socioeconomic status (SES) is based on parental education, occupation, and income. The higher is the
socioeconomic status of the parents, the higher is the average IQ of children.

The children of low socioeconomic status score approximately 10 to 15 IQ points below the
middle-class and higher-class children (Hall and Kaye, 1980). These differences are present by
the first grade and are sustained throughout the school years. Parental occupation is closely
related to the IQ level of children (Harrell and Harrell, 1945).
The intellective support provided to children at home differs from one SES to another.
Moreover, children from varying SES levels bring different attitudes and cognitive styles to the
problem-solving situation, which affect their performance (Yando, Seitz and Zigler, 1979).
In Orissa, Jachuck and Mohanty (1974) found that children of high SES performed
significantly better than children from low SES on a variety of intellectual tasks. Even older
children from low SES performed poorly than the younger children of high SES. For low SES
children, they observed progressive retardation in intellectual skills. Rath, Dash and Dash (1975
reported the adverse effects of social class on intellectual reasoning. These finding have been
supported by a number of studies conducted in the Indian subcontinent.

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Physiological conditions
The physiological conditions such as nutrition, health, drugs, disease, and physical injury
affect the cognitive competence of the child. Healthy body gives a healthy mind. The mental
development is associated with biochemical processes and hormones within the body. The
biological processes within the body provide a necessary but not sufficient condition for
intellectual development.
Poor health and susceptibility to diseases would retard the growth of brain cells, and
consequently the intellectual skills. Physical injury to the brain during early childhood years is
likely to result in minimal brain damage thus seriously restricting the development of intellectual
faculty. Similarly, intoxicating drugs and alcohol consumption would adversely affect the
biological processes and the development of brain cells.
Thus, the internal physiological conditions are critical for the expression of intelligent behavior

CHAPTER 11
CREATIVITY

Creativity (conceptual) Mental process involving the generation of new ideas or


concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts.
Creativity (scientific) Cognitive process leading to original and appropriate outcomes.
Creativity (psychology) The capacity to produce ideas that are both original and
adaptive.

Divergent Thinking
Divergent Thinking is the process of generating multiple related ideas for a given topic or
solutions to a problem. Dont vergent thinking occurs in a spontaneous, free-flowing, nonlinear manner.
The idea if divergent thinking has become important in the scientific study of creativity because
many widely used test for creativity are measures of individual differences in divergent thinking
ability.

Four Dimensions of the Creative Process


1. Flexibility
- number of content categories or shifts
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- shift from one perspective to another.


- ability to expand our perception of the world which has been habitually formed into
something different.
2. Fluency
- number of ideas
- abundant flow of words, images, and ideas.
3. Originality
- capacity to produce new responses arising from the persons unique perspective,
personal history and reaction.
4. Synthesis and Elaboration
- Synthesis is the ability to transform existing ideas and images into a new and integrated
form or pattern Elaboration is the ability to develop an idea or image.

CHAPTER 12
MOTIVATION

The act or an instance of motivating, or providing with a reason to act in a certain way:

I dont understand what her motivation was for quitting her job.
Synonyms: motive, inspiration, inducement, cause, impetus.

the state or condition of being motivated or having a strong reason to act or


accomplish something:

We know that these students have strong motivation to learn.

. something that motivates; inducement; incentive:

Clearly, the companys long-term motivation is profit.

Components of Motivation
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Activation involves the decision to initiate a Rishevel, such as enrolling in a psychology


class or driving to the gym.
Woody Allen once said 80% of success is showing up.
Persistence is the continued effort toward a goal even though obstacles may exist. It
requires a significant investment of time, energy and resources.
In a moment when you feel really motivated you feel like you can take on the world. You
really just want to get into things. However, this initial feeling probably wont last more than 24
hrs. Thats why the second component of motivation is so important. Persistence means that you
need to keep working. You need to go to the gym again tomorrow and the next day, next week,
next month and all year. Persistence then is about continuing down the path of success when
things get stale, get boring, get uncomfortable, get hard, or there is a difficult obstacle to
overcome.
Finally, Intensity can be seen in the concentration and vigor that goes into pursuing a goal.

TYPES OF MOTIVATION
Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation refers to behavior that is driven by internal rewards. In other words, the
motivation to engage in a behavior arises from within the individual because it is intrinsically
rewarding. This contrasts with extrinsic motivation, which involves engaging in a
behavior in order to earn external rewards or avoid punishments. Intrinsic motivations are
those that arise from within the individual, such as doing a complicated cross-word puzzle purely
for the personal gratification of solving a problem.
Intrinsic motivation refers to the reason why we perform certain activities for inherent
satisfaction or pleasure; you might say performing one of these activities in reinforcing in-and-of
itself.
(Brown, 2007)
Intrinsic motivation occurs when we act without any obvious external rewards. We simply enjoy
an activity or see it as an opportunity to explore, learn, and actualize our potentials.
(Coon & Mitterer, 2010)
The factors that are identified as increasing intrinsic motivation are:

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Challenge: People are more motivated when they pursue goals that have personal meaning,
that relate to their self-esteem, when performance feedback is available, and when
attaining the goal is possible but not necessarily certain.
Curiosity: Internal motivation is increased when something in the physical environment
grabs the individuals attention (sensory curiosity) and when something about the activity
stimulates the person to want to learn more (cognitive curiosity).
Control: People want control over themselves and their environments and want to determine
what they pursue.
Cooperation and Competition: Intrinsic motivation can be increased in situations where
people gain satisfaction from helping others and also in cases where they are able to compare
their own performance favorably to that of others.
Recognition: People enjoy having their accomplishment recognized by others, which can
increase internal motivation.

EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION
Extrinsic motivation refers to behavior that is driven by external rewards such as money, fame,
grades, and praise. This type of motivation arises from outside the individual, as opposed to
intrinsic motivation, which originates inside of the individual.
The rewards can be something as minor as a smiley face to something major like fame or
fortune.

For example, an extrinsically motivated person who dislikes math may work hard on a math
equation because want the reward for completing it. In the case of a student, the reward would be
a good grade on an assignment or in the class.

DIFFERENT THEORIES OF MOTIVATION


INSTINCT THEORY OF MOTIVATION
According to the instinct theory of motivation, all organisms are born with innate
biological tendencies that help them survive. This theory suggests that all behaviors are driven by
instincts. Instincts are goal-directed and innate patterns of behavior that are not the result of
learning or experience. For example, infants have an inborn rooting reflex that helps them seek
out a nipple and obtain nourishment, while birds have an inborn need to build a nest or migrate
during the winter.
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Specific Theories
In addition to theories proposed by psychologists like Clark Hull or Abraham Maslow,
Sigmund Freud and William James were psychologists who developed theories that resonate
with the concept of acting by instinct.
Freuds Death (Thanatos) and Life (Eros) Drives
Freud stated that humans have two instinctual drives: life and death. Each drive causes
humans to behave in certain ways. Depending on which drive is dominant, the person will act in
a way to promote life or death.
The life drive (Eros) causes us to engage in behaviors promoting the preservation of life such as
engaging in sex, eating to survive, and exercising to maintain health.
The death drive (Thanatos) causes us to engage in risky or aggressive behaviors such as doing
stunts, starting fights, or driving dangerously.
William James: Our Instinct is to Survive
James believed that we behave in ways that promote our survival. Some important factors in his
theory were:
Fear For example, fear is what keeps us away from fire and causes us to flinch if we hear
gunshots. If we didnt have a sense of fear, we might get burned or shot because we wouldnt be
afraid enough to move away.
Love This includes sexual drives, care, and affection. Instinctively, people engage in sex to
recreate. Parents care for their children with care and affection because they act with love. Babies
cry if they need affection.
Sociability Since groups are more powerful than individuals, we socialize and make friends.
This feeds our need for company as well as protection. When walking down a street at night, we
feel protected and are less targeted when with a large group.

Incentive Theory of Motivation


Incentive theories propose that external stimuli regulate motivational states (Bolles, 1975;
McClelland, 1975; Skinner,1953). An incentive is an external goal that has the capacity to
motivate behavior. Ice cream, a juice steak, a monetary prize, approval from friends, an A on an
exam, and a promotion at work are all incentives. Some of these incentives may reduce drives,
but others may not. Drive and incentive models of motivation are often contrasted as push versus
pull theories. Drive theories emphasize how internal states of tension push people in certain
directions. Incentive theories emphasize how external stimuli pull people in certain directions.
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According to drive theories, the source of motivation lies within the organism. According to
incentive theories, the source of motivation lies outside the organism, in the environment. This
means that incentive models dont operate according to the principle of homeostasis, which
hinges on internal changes in the organism. Thus, in comparison to drive theories, incentive
theories emphasize environmental factors and downplay the biological bases of human
motivation.
As youre painfully aware, people cant always obtain goals they desire, such as good
grades or choice promotions. Expectancy-value models of motivation are incentive theories that
take this reality into account (Atkinson & Birch, 1978). According to expectancy-value models,
ones motivation to pursue a particular course of action will depend on two factors: (1)
expectancy about ones chances of attaining the incentive and (2) the value of the desired
incentive. Thus, your motivation to pursue a promotion at work will depend on your estimate of
the likelihood that you can snare the promotion (expectancy) and on how appealing the
promotion is to you (value).

DRIVE THEORY OF MOTIVATION


Many theories view motivational forces in terms of drives. The drive concept appears in a
diverse array of theories that otherwise have little in common, such as psychoanalytic (Freud,
1915) and behaviorist formulations (Hull, 1943). Hulls concept of drive was derived from
Walter Cannons (1932) observation that organisms seek to maintain homeostasis, a state of
physiological equilibrium or stability. The body maintains homeostatis in various ways.
Drive theories apply the concept of homeostasis to behavior. A drive is an internal state
of tension that motivates an organism to engage in activities that should reduce this tension.
These unpleasant states of tension are viewed as disruptions of the preferred equilibrium.
According to drive theories, when Individuals experience a drive, theyre motivated to pursue
actions that will lead to drive reduction.

Arousal Theory of Motivation


The arousal theory of motivation suggests that people take certain actions to either
decrease or increase levels of arousal. When arousal levels get too low, for example, a person
might watch an exciting movie or go for a jog. When arousal levels get too high, on the other
hand, a person would probably look for ways to relax such as meditating or reading a book.
According to this theory, we are motivated to maintain an optimal level of arousal, although this
level can vary based on the individual or the situation.

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HUMANISTIC THEORY OF MOTIVATION


Abraham Maslows theory is based on the concept that humans have basic needs that
need to be met before moving up the pyramid to the next basic need, until eventually reaching
self-actualization as seen at the top of the pyramid in the diagram to the right. Reaching selfactualization means the person can then trust, be creative, problem solve, and have a sense of
morality.
Five Stages of Needs Theory:
1

Physiological Needs The basic needs for survival have to be met, such
water, sleep, and homeostasis. Without these basic needs one cannot
think about anything else beyond how to survive.

as
food,
possibly

Safety This stage includes feeling safe and


secure; maybe the person has some source of
income, health, and a place to call home. If we
do not feel safe and secure, whether it be for
bodily safety or safety of resources, it is all
consuming and hard to think of anything else in a productive way.

Love/belonging The person has some sort of friendship, relationship with family, or sexual
intimacy. This is a feeling of belonging, which we all want to feel and leads to the next step.

Esteem This need includes a good feeling of self-esteem and maybe a sense of achievement,
which results in a show of confidence, respect for others, and respect by others. When humans
feel good about themselves, they worry less about what others think of them and start taking
more chances.

Self-actualization The final stage encompasses an acceptance of facts, a lack of prejudice,


spontaneity, creativity, and the ability to problem solve. This is the point in ones life where
people can see the potential in themselves and act on it.

HUNGER MOTIVATION
Our bodies need food, however, we sometimes eat even when we do not need food.
Thus, the motivation for hunger goes beyond simple nourishment. There are both biological and
psychological factors around the motivation of hunger.
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Biological Basis of Hunger


When your stomach feels stuffed you probably do not feel hungry and when your
stomach is empty you probably get that take me to Taco Bell feeling. Researchers used to
believe that the feeling of hunger comes from our stomach. To test the theory out, they made
some dude swallow a balloon and inflated the balloon inside his stomach.
The dude felt full for awhile. But after a few hours he began to feel hungry again (even
with the full stomach). The dude showed us that hunger does not come just from our stomach.
In fact, most of the biological feeling of hunger comes from the brain in a structure that you
should already know called the hypothalamus. There are two areas on the hypothalamus that
control hunger. First, there is the lateral hypothalamus that, if stimulated, causes you to feel
hunger. So every time you feel hungry, you know your lateral hypothalamus is working. If I
took a knife and lesioned your lateral hypothalamus, you would NEVER again feel hungry from
a physical perspective. You would probably lose I of weight.
Next there is the ventromedial hypothalamus, which when stimulated, makes you feel
full. Whenever you eat a big meal and dont even want to think about eating another bite, the
ventromedial hypothalamus is doing its job. If I lesioned out your ventromedial hypothalamus,
you would never feel full again, and given the right amount of food, would gain a whole lotta
weight.
If the hypothalamus is functioning normally, these two areas oppose each other and signal
impulses to eat and stop eating at appropriate times. Set-point theory describes how the
hypothalamus might decide what impulse to send. This theory states that the hypothalamus
wants to maintain a certain optimum body weight. When we drop below that weight, the
hypothalamus tells us we should eat and lowers our metabolic rate- how quickly our body uses
energy. The hypothalamus tells us to stop eating when that set point is reached and and raises
our metabolic rate to burn any excess food.

Psychological Factors in Hunger Motivation


Some of us eat even though our hypothalamus is not sending us any cues. If you are
motivated to eat by external cues, such as stress, smell, or just the fact that food is in front of
you, then you are en external. If you are more motivated to eat by internal cues, empty stomach,
feelings of hunger, then you are an internal. Most of us are a combination of both, although I
believe that most Americans lean toward the external side of the fence.

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Culture and background also effect our food preferences. For example, when I was
growing up my mother would make me a peanut butter and jelly omelet. It was really good!!!
But when I made one for my wife, she almost upchucked. But she can eat fried pig skin and ask
for more where that makes me gag. Think about what various cultures might eat around the
world. Here are some examples- camel eyes, dog, beer-jelly, monkey brains, fish flavored ice
cream etc.... Just realize that hunger goes way beyond the body and nurture plays a large part in
the foods we choose.
Eating Disorders
When exploring hunger motivation, one cannot help but encounter eating disorders. In
the United States we have three major types of eating disorders. It is important to be aware that
although there is a biological component to eating disorders, they are largely cultural. Some
eating disorders that we find in the United States do not even exist in other countries.

Bulimia- Bulimics eat large amounts of food in a short period of time (binging) and then
get rid of the food (purging) by vomiting, excessive exercise or the use of laxatives.
Bulimics are obsessed with food and their body weight. The majority of bulimics are
women.

Anorexia Nervosa- Anorexics starve themselves to below 85% of their normal body
weight and refuse to eat due to their obsession with weight. The vast majority of
anorexics are women.

Obesity- People with diagnosed obesity are severely overweight, often over 100 pounds,
and the excess weight threatens their health. Obese people typically have unhealthy
eating habits rather than the food obsessions of the other two disorders. Some people
may also be genetically predisposed to obesity.

SEXUAL MOTIVATION
Some scientists say that sexual motivation is one of the most
important aspects of humanity. If we were not motivated to have sex, then
we probably would not procreate (have babies) and the human species
would end. So according to that logic, feeling like you want to have sex
(being horny) is just you doing your job as part of the human species
(way to take one for the team).
Although we have been having sex since the dawn of humans,
we have only began serious scientific study of sex in the United States

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60 years ago. The first major scientist to analyze human sexual behavior in the US was Alfred
Kinsey.
Kinsey, who studied the genealogy of flies by trade, set out and surveyed thousands of
people of their sexual behaviors. He discovered some pretty interesting things about human
sexual being (like the % of people masturbating and having pre-marital sex). But what made
Kinsey so important was 1. He attempted to use the scientific method to study sex and 2. He
showed us that our perceptions about what others are doing are a whole lot different than our
reality. Before Kinsey, many people believed that they were part of the dirty few who
masturbated, but after Kinseys reports they realized that everyone and their mom did it
(hopefully not literally).

Sexual Response Cycle


In the late 1950s and early 1960s a husband wife team of
William Masters and Virginia Johnson brought sex into their lab.
They brought hundreds of volunteers into their lab and
observed them having various types of sex. They used tools to
measure penile length and blood flow and vaginal expansion and
lubrication. They perform thousands of trials and their results over a
twenty year period were extensive. They even tried to cure
homosexuality and claimed a 30% failure rate. The highlight of their
research was the physiological breakdown of the sexual act called the sexual response cycle,
which is broken down into four stages (and there will be no pictures- use your imagination):
1

Initial excitement: Genital areas become engorged with blood, penis becomes erect,
clitoris swells, respiration and heart rate increases.

Plateau phase: Respiration and heart rate continue at an elevated level, genitals secrete
fluids in preparation for orgasm.

Orgasm: Rhythmic genital contractions that may help conception. Respiration and heart
rate increase further, males ejaculate (there is evidence of female ejaculation as well),
often accompanied by a pleasurable euphoria.

Resolution phase: Respiration and heart rate return to normal resting states. Men
experience a refractory period- a time period that must elapse before another orgasm.
Women do not have a similar refractory period and can repeat the cycle immediately.

Psychological factors in Sexual Motivation


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Unlike many animals, our sexual desire is not motivated strictly by hormones. Many
studies demonstrate that sexual motivation is controlled to a great extent by psychological rather
than biological sources. Sexual desire can be present even when the capacity to have sex is lost.
Accident victims who lose the ability to have sex still have sexual desires. Erotic material can
inspire sexual feelings and physiological responses in men and women, including elevated levels
of hormones (remind me to tell you about the research on this in class). The interaction between
our physiology and psychology creates the myriad of sexual desires we see in society and
ourselves.

Sexual Orientation
Ok- lets just get the myths out of the way. Studies have shown again and again that
homosexuality is NOT related to traumatic childhood experiences, parenting styles, the quality of
relationships with parents, masculinity or femininity, or whether we are raised by heterosexual or
homosexual parents. Although researchers believe that environmental influences probably affect
sexual orientation, these factors have NOT yet been identified.
Researchers have identified possible biological influences. Scientist Simon LeVay
discovered that certain brain structures are different in homosexual and heterosexual males. But
that does not mean than genetics caused the brain differences (one can argue that environmental
influences change neural structures.). But twin studies indicate a genetic influence on sexual
orientation since a twin is much more likely to be gay if his or her identical twin is gay.
The most current research points to the prenatal environment (the womb) that may alter brain
structures and influence sexual orientation. Since 3-10% of the population is homosexual, I
suspect that research in this area will continue and the differences become more clear.
Motivation aswers whys of your life.
Once something is a passion, the motivation is there.- Michael Schumacher

CHAPTER 13
EMOTION

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EMOTION
At one time or another, all of us have experienced
the strong feelings that accompany both pleasant and very
negative experiences. Perhaps, we have felt the thrill of
getting a sought-after job, the joy of being in love, sorrow
over someones death, or the anguish of inadvertently
hurting someone. Moreover, we experience such reactions
on a less intense level throughout our daily lives: the
pleasure of a friendship, the enjoyment of a movie, and the
embarrassment of breaking a borrowed item. Despite the
varied nature of these feelings, they all represent emotions.
Emotions are part of our life. All emotional states
give richness and meaning to our lives. Otherwise, life will
be dull and colorless.
The term emotion comes from the latin word emovere which means to stir-up or to
move. Emotion is defined as an affective state involving a high level of activation arising from a
psychological situation accompanied by visceral changes and strong feelings. Emotion can also
be described as the stirred-up state of an organism involving internal and external responses.
Milder emotional states occur in the form of feelings, moods, interests, attitudes and
prejudices. The milder forms of emotions can affect behavior by lowering or increasing the
individuals capacity for action and effectiveness.
Feelings are less disruptive. It is an aspect of emotion.
Feeling is a simple pleasurable or painful aspect of mental or
bodily conditions or the awareness of pleasantness or
unpleasantness that accompanies mental processes or bodily
conditions (Kelly: 165). Emotions are feelings that generally
have both physiological and cognitive elements and that
influence behavior. (Feldman: 339) But it is said that emotions
are more complex than feelings.

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Roles of Emotion in Ones life


1

Emotions can add pleasure to ones experiences.

Emotions can serve as motivation to action.

Emotions may prove to be a handicap to the individual.

EMOTIONS

Positive

Love

Negative

Joy

Infatuation Bliss

Pride Annoyance

Fondness
Contentment
Worry

Anger

Jealousy

Sadness

Agony

Hostility Contempt

Guilt

Fear

Horror

Grief Loneliness

How Emotions Develop


Emotional development is due to maturation and learning.
Maturation in the sense that when a certain emotional
reaction does not appear early in life it is because intelligence of
the person has not matured or the endocrine system has not yet developed.
Because of learning, emotions are also developed. The person is not born with innate
emotional responses to any specific stimulus but learns to respond emotionally as a result of his

200

experiences. Learning may take in the form of conditioning or learning by association and
imitation.
In contrast, other theorist propose that people first develop cognitions about a situation
and then react emotionally. This school of thought suggests that we must think about and
understand a stimulus or situation, relating it to what we already know before we can react on an
emotional level (Lazarus, 1991a, 1991b, 1994, 1995).

The Study of Emotion


Psychologists tend to make a distinction between emotions which are pleasant and those
which are unpleasant and it is the latter which are experienced in stressful situations. The
emotion which is experienced under stress therefore represents the individuals own awareness of
the reaction to a particular situation. Thus examining how emotion are experienced is necessary.
It only shows that there is a link between psychological and physiological processes.
Emotions may be investigated in three quite distinct ways by paramedical professionals.
1
2

They can ask patients to describe how they are feeling and these verbal reports
provide an account of the individuals subjective awareness of emotional changes.
They can observe behavioral changes associated with emotional states. In
particular there are specific changes in facial expression, body language, posture
which are found with different emotions.
They can use psycho physiological approach which involves the use of electrical
monitoring equipment to record the activity of various physiological functions
which can then be related to the emotion which is experienced.

Many bodily responses may take place during emotional states and the most widely
investigated ones are the following according to John Weinman.
1
2
3
4

Cardiovascular. Activation of the sympathetic nervous system brings changes in


the heart rate, blood pressure and blood volume.
Electro dermal. Since the sweat glands are innervated by the sympathetic nervous
system, they provide a good indication of sympathetic activation.
Muscle potentials. Muscle tension frequently accompanies emotional changes.
Brain waves. The brain is constantly emitting small electrical potentials which can
be recorded by applying surface electrodes on the scalp. The resultant polygraph
record is called the electro encephalogram (EEG) and has been found to be
correlated with different states of alertness or
arousal.

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Functions of Emotions
Imagine what it would be like if we didnt experienced emotion- no depths of despair, no
depression, no remorse, but at the same time, no happiness, joy or love. Obviously, life would be
considerably less satisfying, and even dull, if we lacked the capacity to sense and express
emotion.
But do emotions serve any purpose beyond making life interesting? Indeed they do.
Psychologists have identified several important functions that play in our daily lives. Among the
most important functions are the following:

Preparing us for action. Emotions act as link between events in our environment and our
responses. For example, if we saw an angry dog charging over us, the emotional reaction
(fear) would be associated with physiological arousal of the sympathetic division of the
autonomic nervous system, the activation of the flight-or-fight response.
Shaping our future behavior. Emotions promote learning that will help us make
appropriate responses in the future. For example, the emotional response that occur when
we experience something unpleasant- such as threatening dog- teaches us to avoid similar
circumstances in the future. In the same way, pleasant emotions act as a positive
reinforcement for prior behavior and therefore may lead an individual to seek out similar
situations in the future.
Helping us interact more effectively with others. We often communicate the emotions we
experience through verbal or nonverbal behaviors, making our emotions obvious to
observers. These behaviors can act as a signal to the observers, allowing them to
understand better what we are experiencing and to predict our future behavior. In turn,
this promotes more effective and appropriate social interaction.

Kinds of Emotions
A Unpleasant Emotions
Unpleasant emotions are harmful to the individuals development. The following are
kinds of unpleasant emotions:
22. Fear

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It is one of the most troublesome of all emotions. It is an emotional state or reaction to a


fearful situation. The outstanding feelings associate with fear are bodily sensations attributable to
the activation of the autonomic nervous system.
Fear is valuable to a child when not intense and is it serves as a warning of danger.
Sometimes the individual is unaware of his fear and experience a state of anxiety or a
generalized form of fear.

The following are some ways of eliminating fears.


a
b
c
d
e

Give the person an opportunity to become acquainted with the feared stimulus
of his own accord.
Lead him gradually into contact with the thing he fears.
Encourage him to acquire skills that will be of specific aid to him in dealing
with the feared situation.
Build up pleasant associations with the feared object.
Opportunity for self-expression which will lead to self-scrutiny and personal
reorientation.

23. Anger

Anger is more frequent emotional response than fear. It is defined as the thwarting of goalseeking activity. Anger responses may be classified into two, the impulsive and inhibited
expression. Impulsive expression consists of responses directed outward against a person or
object. Inhibited expressions are kept under control within the individual.

24. Jealousy

It is a normal response to actual, supposed or threatened loss of affection. It is an


outgrowth of anger, giving rise to an attitude of resentment directed toward people the
jealous person feels insecure in his relationship with a loved one and is afraid of losing status in
that persons affection. Jealousy always leads to unhappiness on the part of the individual who
experiences it and it also leads to maladjustments of a minor or major degree of seriousness.

B Pleasant Emotions
Pleasant emotions are helpful and essential to normal development in the individuals
life.
25. Affection
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It is an emotional state reaction directed towards a person or thing, an individuals


affections are learned and not innate. The child learns to have affection for those who are
responsible for giving him pleasures and satisfaction. Later, the child learns to love people
outside the home who recognize him as an individual.
The following are different stimuli to affection:
a
b
c

Parents who express their affection to the child.


Parents who play most with them.
Parents who punish the children the least.

26. Happiness

It is a mental or emotional state of well-being defined by positive


or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.
27. Joy

It is the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the


prospect of possessing what one desires. It is a state of happiness or felicity.

Factors Influencing Emotionality


28. Fatigue
When the person becomes tired owing to too little rest, too much excitement,
inadequate food for his needs or other less common causes, he is predisposed to
irritability and temper tantrums.
29. Poor Health
Unhealthy individuals are more emotionally upset and unstable than healthy
individuals.
30. Time of Day
When a person becomes more fatigued at certain times of the day than at others these
times are accompanied by pronounced emotional disturbances.
31. Intelligence
Individuals with greater intellect have greater emotional scope than those with lesser
intellect.
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32. Social Environment


A calm, secure, happy home life results in less emotionality among individuals.
Individuals from poor general social level are more emotionally unstable that those who
come from good, middle class homes.
33. Family Relationships
Overprotected individuals show more nervous tension while neglected individuals
are more often anti-social and aggressive in their emotional behavior.

34. Level of Aspiration


While many emotional problems arise because parental expectations are beyond
the individuals potentialities and the person is made to feel inadequate by parental
criticism or disappointment, some emotional instability is traceable to the individuals
own level of aspiration. (Siruno: 93).

Theories of Emotion
1 James- Lange Theory
The earliest theory of emotion was formulated by William James and Carl Lange. They
believe that the emotional experience occurs after the bodily changes. James and Lange
took the view that the instinctive response of crying at a loss leads us to feel sorrow, that
striking out at someone who frustrates us results in our feeling anger, that trembling at a
menacing threat causes us to feel fear. They suggested that for every major emotion there
is an accompanying physiological or gut reaction of internal organs- called the visceral
experience. It is the specific pattern of visceral response that leads us to label the
emotional experience.
In sum, James and Lange proposed that we experience emotion as a result of a
physiological changes that produce specific sensations as particular kinds of emotional
experiences. This view has come to be called the James-Lange theory of emotion
The order of emotional states are as follows:
a
b
c

Perception of the situation which will produce the emotion.


Reaction to this situation.
Perception of the reaction is the basis of emotional experience.
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Perception of Emotion
producing stimulus

Reaction to situation
(activation of visceral
and skeletal
responses)

Emotion
Feedback to brain
from bodily responses
produces experience
of emotion.

2 The Cannon n Bards Thalamic Theory


The first theory which raised disagreement with the James-Lange theory was formulated
by Walter B. Cannon and his student L.L. Bard. The theory states that after we perceive
an emotion-producing stimulus, the Thalamus is the initial site of the emotional response.
Next, the Thalamus sends signal to the autonomic nervous system, therefore producing a
visceral response. At the same time, the Thalamus also communicates a message to the
cerebral cortex regarding the nature of the emotion being experienced. Hence, it is not
necessary for different emotions to have unique physiological patterns associated with
them- as long as the message sent to the cerebral cortex differs according to the specific
emotion.
So they proposed that the thalamus which is the part of the brains central core, has the
central role in emotion. They believe that the nervous impulses coming into the thalamus from
the receptors stimulate that center to transmit impulses to the cortex and viscera simultaneously.
The arrival of the impulses in the cortex gives to the conscious experience of an emotion.

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3 Cognitive Theory of Emotions


Stanley Schacter and Jerome Singer formulated that the cognitive factors and a state of
physiological arousal determine our emotions. The approach to explaining emotions emphasizes
that we identify the emotion we are experiencing by observing our environment and comparing
ourselves with others (Scahchter and Singer, 1962). Schachter and Singers classic experiment
found evidence for this hypothesis. In the study, participants were told that they will receive an
injection of a vitamin. In reality, they were given epinephrine, a drug that increase an increase in
physiological arousal, including higher heart and respiration rates, and a reddening of a face,
responses that typically occur during strong emotional reactions. The members of both groups
were then placed individually in a situation where a confederate of the experimenter acted in one
of two ways. In one condition he acted angry and hostile, and in other, he behaved as if he was
exuberantly happy.

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The purpose of the experiment was to determine how the participants would react
emotionally to the confederates behavior. When they were asked to describe their own
emotional state at the end of the experiment, the participants exposed to the angry confederate
reported that they felt angry, while the other exposed to the happy confederate reported that they
were happy. In sum, the results suggest that the participant turned to the environment and the
behavior of others for an explanation of the physiological arousal they were experiencing. Then,
the experiment supported a cognitive view of emotions, in which emotions are determined jointly
by a relatively nonspecific of physiological arousal and the labeling of that arousal on the basis
of cues from the environment.
They believe that the perception of our emotional state is influenced by our
interpretation of the situation and physiology.

Emotion as Information Integration


Inputs to brain from
external stimuli
impinging on the
sensory system.

Memory of past
experiences and
appraisal of current
situation give rise to
additional information
Conscious
experience of
emotion
(Integration of input
from three sources)

CHAPTER 14

PHYSIOLOGICAL
FACTORS
Inputs to brain from internal
organs
and skeletal muscle
PERSONALITY

Personality
Personality literally means to sound through which is derived from the Latin words
per sonare. It was first used as a term to describe the sounds that a masked actor projects. It is
the sound the character that he portrays which is termed as his personality.
Gordon Allport (1990) defines personality as a a pattern of habits, habits, and traits that
determine an individuals characteristics, behavior and traits. He further describes personality as
the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychological systems that determine
his characteristic behavior and thoughts.
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The Encyclopedia International (1967) describes personality as the end result of the
typical ways in which a person reacts: the product of his motivation, emotions, feeling tones,
style of thinking, and attitudes. Personality is partly inborn, partly acquired. Such biological
factors as the endocrine glands and nervous system are largely responsible for the inborn aspects.
The acquired aspects are picked up chiefly from the people with whom we associate, either
through imitation or through hostile reactions when we are thwarted.
Factors that may affect Personality
Nature and Nurture the stability of interindividual differences in personality traits tends to
increase with age until it plateaus in middle adulthood and finally decreases in old age. Rankorder continuity also tends to decrease as the time intervals between occasions of personality
assessment increase, irrespective of age. These patterns show that personality development is
a lifelong process. Yet the sources of these patterns are unknown. Theories suggest that
personality continuity and change may result from environmentally mediated processes of
identity development due to age-graded social roles and individual life experiences, but also
from biological maturation.
Genetics While researches estimates that trait may be around 50% heritable, it is widely
accepted that personality type is developed based on a wide variety of factors. However,
biology plays a very important role in the development of personality. The study of the
biological basis of personality focuses primarily on identifying the role of genetic
determinants and how they mold individual personalities. Genetic personality studies have
previously focused on correlating specific genes with specific personality traits. Over time,
this focus has changed and todays studies investigate the activation and expression of genes
and how they relate to personality. DNA-environment interactions are important in the
development of personality because this relationship determines what part of the DNA code is
actually activated within an i9ndividual. In the end, while different choices are made available
by the genome, environment is the ultimate determinant of what becomes activated. Small
changes in DNA in individuals are what lead to the uniqueness of every person as well as
differences in looks, abilities, brain functioning, and all the factors that culminate to develop a
cohesive personality.
Components of Personality
Personality is more than charm, poise or physical appearance. It includes habits, attitudes,
and all physical, mental, emotional, social, moral, and religious characteristics that an individual
possesses.
Habits reactions so often repeated as to become fixed characteristics or tendencies. Good
habits result from choice and are acquired through effort.
Attitudes certain ways of viewing things gained from the environment, changed by the
working of the mind, and the imagination and somewhat influenced by the physical
endowment, particularly by the emotions. It may be positive or negative, favorable or
unfavorable, learned or acquired.
Physical Traits includes facial appearance, height, weight, physical defects, complexion,
strength, and health.
Mental Traits include our ability to control the mind, Floyd Allport lists the following
mental abilities:
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a) Problem-solving ability
b) Memory and learning ability
c) Perceptual ability
d) Constructive ability
e) Special imagination
f) Soundness judgment
g) General adaptability
Emotional Traits give an individual the capacity to face different situations in life, and still
maintain his composure. He is said to have a stable personality.
Social Traits gives an individual the ability to get along with others to be sociable and
friendly.
Moral and Religious Traits standards for a persons actions and behavior. His moral traits
are manifested by his conduct. His religious traits guide his actions according to his belief.

The Trait Perspective


Traits are reasonably stable elements of personality that are inferred from behavior. Traits are
assumed to account for consistent behavior in different situations.
From Hippocrates to the Present
The trait perspective dates at least to the Greek physician Hippocrates (ca. 460-377 BCE). It has
generally been assumed that traits are embedded in bodily fluids. In his view, a persons
personality depends on the balance of four basic fluid or humors in the body. Yellow bile is
associated with choleric (quick tempered) disposition; blood with a sanguine (warm,cheerful)
one; phlegm with a phlegmatic (sluggish, calm, cool ) disposition; and black bile with a
melancholic (gloomy, pensive) temperant.
More contemporary trait theories assume that traits are heritable and are embedded in the
nervous system. These theories rely on the mathematical technique of factor analysis to
determine which traits are basic to others.
Early in the 20th century, Gordon Allport claimed that each person inherits a unique set of raw
materials for given traits , which are shaped by experience. A cardinal trait is so pervasive and so
outstanding in a life that almost every act seems traceable to its influence. Central traits are
those, said Allport that one would menton in writing a careful letter or recommendation such as
being decisive or industrious.
Hans Eysencks Trait Theory
British psychologist Hans J. Eysenck (1916-1997) focused much of his research on the
relationships between two personality traits : introversion-extraversion and emotional stabilityinstability. Emotional Instability is also called as neuroticism. Carl Jung was the first to
distinguish between introverts and exraverts. Eysenck added the dimension of emotional
stability-instability to introversion-extraversion. He catalogued various personality traits
according to where they are situated along these dimension.

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The Big Five : The Five-Factor Model


More recent research suggests that tthere
may be five basic personality factors, not
two. These include the two found by
Eysenck- extraversion and neuroticismalong with conscientiousness,
RisheveledRon, and openness to
experience.
Extraversion. This dimension contrasts
such as traits as sociable , outgoing,
talkative, assertive, persuasive, decisive,
and active with more introverted traits such as withdrawn, quiet, passive, retiring, and reserved.
Neuroticism. People high on neuroticism are prone to emotional instability. They tend to
experience negative emotions and to be moody, irritable, nervous, and inclined to worry.
Neuroticism differentiates people who are anxious, excitable, and easily distressed from those
who are emotionally stable and thus calm, even-tempered, easygoing, and relaxed.
Conscientiousness. This factor differentiates individuals who are dependable, organized,
reliable, responsible, thorough, hard-working, and persevering from those who are
undependable, disorganized, impulsive, unreliable, irresponsible, careless, negligent, and lazy.
Agreeableness. This factor is composed of a collection of traits that range from compassion to
antagonism toward others. A person high on agreeableness would be pleasant, good-natured,
warm, sympathetic, and cooperative; one low on agreeableness would tend to be unfriendly,
unpleasant, aggressive, argumentative, cold and even hostile and vindictive.
Openness to Experience. This factor contrasts individuals who seek out varied experiences and
who are imaginative, intellectually curious, and broad-minded with those who are concreteminded and practical and whose interests are narrow. Researchers have found that being high on
openness to Experience is a requirement for creative accomplishment.
Evaluation of the Trait Perspective
Trait theories have focused much attention on the development of personality tests. They have
also given rise to theories about the fit between personality and certain kind of jobs. The qualities
that suit a person for various kinds of work can be expressed in terms of abilities, personality
traits, and interests.
One limitation of trait theory is that it has tended to be more descriptive than explanatory. It has
historically focused on describing traits rather than on tracing their origins or seeking ways to
modify maladaptive personality traits and behavior.
TRAIT

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A Trait is a personality characterisric, attribute, or behavioral tendency that can vary along a
dimension, say, from low to high. And by definition, traits are relatively stable and consistent
across the situations they apply to. From there, however,theories differ in how traits should be
described and classified , and to an appreciable extent, what traits are viewed as the most basic.
Gordon Allport was among the first to describe personality in terms of measurable traits, within
a view that traits are building blocks of personality that guide and otherwise determine
behavior from one situation to next. After narrowing the many thousands of English adjectives
that relates to personality traits Rish to about 4,500, Allport then classified traits in two different
ways (1) common versus personal, with reference tto how generally they apply to people; and (2)
cardinal versus central versus secondary, with reference to how generally they apply to the
individual across situations.
*Common Traits are those that apply to people in general and which therefore can be used to
compare one person to another. A trait such as trustworthiness potentially applies to everyone,
and one person can generally be more trustworthy than another.*
*Personal Traits are unique qualities that are more specific to the individual. Two people might
both be highly trustworthy, and yet differ in how their trustworthiness interacts with other traits:
one person might view being honest as an importatnt part of being trustworthy,another person
not.
*Cardinal Traits are those that are evident in an individuals behavior across all relevant
situations. Trustworthiness is cardinal in a person who is absolutely trustworthy, no matter whats
at stake and regardless of the situation or context. Thus, cardinal traits meaning individuals with
cardinal traits-are relatively rare.
*Central Traits affect a broad variety of situations but not necessarily all. A person who is
mostly trustworthy, with only occasional lapses, has a central trait of trustworthiness.
Approaches to assessing and describing personality tend to use central traits, meaning that its
understood that an individual who scores high or low on a given trait wont necessarily behave
that way all the time.
*Secondary Traits involve specific situations. A person might be highly trustworthy in business
relationships and yet not especially trustworthy otherwise, such as in relationships involving
friendship cells.
Theories of Personality
In an attempt to explain the complex nature of personality structures, the following theories
are derived from the names of the cell layers of the embryo where different bodily tissues
originate.
A. Theory of Body Types (William Sheldon). This theory relates personality with bodily
constitution, health, and vigor. The types names are derived from the names of the cell layers
of the embryo where different bodily tissues originate.
1. Endomorphic Components. This means prominence of intestines and visceral organs, and
fats are in proportion to height. Individuals under this type are classified temperamentally
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as viscerotonic. Such persons seek comfort, love to fend food, and eat too much. They are
sociable and are greatly interested in seeking affection.
2. Mesomorphic Components. This refers to bones and muscles. This individual is strong,
tough, and athletic. He is well built and proportionate. Temperamentally, he is somatotonic.
Such persons are energetic. They like exercise and are direct in manners. They tend to be
aggressive and self-assertive.
3. Ectomorphic Components. The individual tends to be long, thin, and poorly developed. He
is generally weak physically. Temperamentally, he is cerebraronic. Such persons are
characterized by excessive restraint, inhibition, and avoidance of social contacts.
B. Theory Based on body Build and Strength (Ernest Kretschmer). An individual may be
classified under any of the following types.
1. Asthentic type of individuals are those who are thin, wall, and emaciated. They look very
sickly and weak. They want to be alone maybe because of frailty. They tend to cough or
show signs of other physical illness.
2. Pyknic type is the opposite of asthenic. Such type of individuals can be called human ball
because of their short stature and round solid body. A pyknic person never walks but
waddles like a duck or rolls like a ball.
3. Athletic type is between the asthenic and the pyknic type who are extremes in body build.
The individual is strong and robust, and has the stamina for real hard work. He has a good
body build which is wiry. He is a picture of good health and his personality is often the
object of envy.
4. Dysplastic type are those who cannot be classified among the three types above.
C. Psychological Type Theory. Carl Jung gives the following classifications of individuals:
1. Introverted individual. This type of person tends to withdraw into himself in times of
emotional stress or conflicts. His characteristics include shyness and preference to work
alone.
2. Extroverted individual. And extrovert tends to be very sociable, well-dressed, and outgoing.
His decisions and actions are determined primarily by objective relationships. His attention
andinterest ar centered on the immediate environment, and he tends to lose himself among
people.
D. Theory Based on Body Chemistry, Endocrine Balance and Temperament. Galen
categorizes individuals into sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic, and choleric.
1. A sanguine person is warm-hearted and pleasant. He looks alive and is very optimistic.
2. The phlegmatic person is listless, slow, unexcitable and calm, attributed to the phlegm. He
is cautious, and thinks twice before doing anything.
3. A melancholic person is one who suffers from depression and sadness because of having
too much black bile. He is very pessimistic.
4. The choleric person is easily angered or temperamental as influenced by his yellow bile.
He is serious, easily provoked, and aggressive when he fails.

213

E. Theory of Personality Based on Birth Order (Maxine Abrams, 19787). The advocates of
this theory, amidst controversy, stress that a growing personality trait is attributed to family
rank. They say that whatever kind of personality you possess is in one way or another
influenced by the rank you occupy in the family.
The birth-order influences grow out of interactions of the various relationships within a
family; parent with parents, parents with children, and siblings with each other and these
several relationships fraught as they may be with power plays and competitive struggle for
supremacy, must all be taken into account.
The birth order and the common personality traits manifested are as follows:
1. First Borns. They can keep secrets than the other siblings. They are conscientious, taskoriented, and responsible, high achievers. They also resent sharing parental attention and
may not be happier than the other siblings. Because of strong parental influence, they are
jealous of the latter-borns so they spend the rest of their lives in a subconscious effort to
regain the spotlight. They tend to require their partners to be dependent so as to dominate
them. This is an attempt to assert ones dominance on others.
2. Middle Borns. They talk the last. They are diplomatic and skillful in interpersonal
relationships because of the interpersonal give-and-take they share with the older and the
younger siblings. The middle of three girls tends to be the most difficult because of an
attempt to get parental attention especially from the father.
3. Later Borns. They are very creative, charming and playful, very popular, and often are
spoiled. They are sometimes deprived because of constantly receiving hand-me-downs and
financial leftovers. Some develop a low sense of responsibility; some especially in large,
encouraging families become high achievers.
4. Only Child. The child is very dependent but may enjoy a high sense of self-esteem and
optimism, reflecting the unchecked attention of two adults who praise him as he grows.
Others may have difficulty with interpersonal relationships as they are accustomed to
having their way. They tend to take advantage of others. Yet others have great charms and
charisma.
F. Psychoanalytic Theory. Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, believed that personality has
three structures: the id, the ego, and the superego. The id can be thought of as a sort of
storehouse of biologically based motives and instinctive reactions for satisfying motives.
These instinctive drives are the sexual and destructive urges which are termed libido. Left to
itself, the id-libido would satisfy fundamental motives as they arise, without regard to the
realities of life or to morals of any kind.
The id, however, is usually controlled by the ego. This consists of elaborate ways of
behaving and thinking that are learned to deal effectively with the world. It delays the
satisfaction of motives, and it channels motives into socially acceptable outlets. The ego keeps
a person working for a living, getting along with people, and generally adjusting to the
realities of life.
The superego corresponds closely with conscience. It consists of restraints acquired in
the course of personality development, on the activity of the ego, and the id. It is a set of
socially derived motives that affect, and sometimes conflict with the first two personality
structures (Hall and Gardner, 1986).
G. Superiority and Compensation Theory. Alfred Adler, an early disciple of Freud, rejected
Freuds theory emphasizing the biological drives, sex in particular. He emphasized the drive

214

for superiority or power. It is to Adler that we owe the concept of the inferiority complex.
Because of this feeling, we try to overcome our weakness.
In connection with the emergence of inferiority complex, Adler also introduced the
concept of compensation. Being aware of a weakness, we may strive especially hard to
overcome it by excelling in other fields. For example, a frail boy may become superior in
academics when he fails in athletics.
H. Trait Theory. Gordon Allport developed this theory assuming a multiplicity of needs that are
never quite can be distinguished from other theories in two important respects (Morgan,
1986).
One is the concept of the uniqueness of personality. Each person with his unique
background of childhood experiences develops a set of traits that are unique to him.
The second concept is the functional autonomy of motives. In the course of development,
each person acquires of learns motives as part of satisfying other motives.

215

MEASUREMENT OF PERSONALITY
The reliability of a test is the stability of ones test results from one testing to another. We usually
determine the reliability of tests by comparing testing results on different occasions or at
different ages.
Test standardization is a process that checks out the scores, validity, and reliability of a test with
people of various ages and from various groups. We cannot assess the intellectual functioning of
an individual without relating it to other people in the same age group.
Measures of personality are used to make important decisions, such as whether a person is suited
for a certain type of work, a particular class in school, or a drug to reduce agitation.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) Scales


Scale

Abbreviation Possible Interpretations

Validity Scales
Question

Corresponds to number of items left unanswered

Lie

Lies or highly conventional

Frequency
may have

Exaggerates complaints or answers items haphazardly;


bizzare ideas

Correction

Denies Problems

Hypochondriasis

Hs

Has bodily concerns and complaints

Depression

Is depressed; has feelings of guilt and helplessness

Hysteria
insight

Hy

Reacts to stress by developing physical symptoms; lacks

Clinical Scales

Psychopathic Deviate Pd
relationships

Is immoral, in conflict with the law; has stormy

Masculinity/ feminity Mf
stereotypical

High scores suggest interests and behavior considered


of the other gender

Paranoia
nature

Pa

Is suspicious and resentful, highly cynical about human

Psychasthenia

Pt

Is anxious, worried, high-strung

Schizoprenia

Sc

Is confused, disorganized, disoriented; has bizzare ideas

216

Hypomonia

Ma

Is energetic, restless, active, easily bored

Social Introversion

Si

Is introverted, timid, shy; lacks of self-confidence

Projective Tests
In projective tests there are no clear, specified answers. People are shown ambiguous stimuli
such as inkblots or ambiguous drawings and asked to say what they look like or to tell stories
about them. There is no one correct response. It is assumed that people project their own
personalities into their responses. The meaning they attribute to these stimuli are assumed to
reflect their personalities as well as drawings or blots themselves.
The Rorschach Inkblot Test
There are a number of psychological tests made up of inkblots, and test takers are asked to say
what the blots look like to them. The best known of these is the Rorscach inkblot test, named
after its originator, Hermann Rorscach.
Objective Tests
Objective tests present respondents with a atandardized group of test items in the form of a
questionnaire. Respondents are limited to a specific range of numbers. One test might aks
respondents to indicate whether items are true or false for them. Another might aks respondents
to select the preferred activity from groups of three.
Some tests have a forced-choice format, in which respondents are asked to indicate which of two
or more statements is more true for them or which of several activities they prefer. The
resppondents are not usually given the option of answering none of the above. Forced-choice
formats are frequently used in interest inventories, which help predict whether the person would
function well in a certain occupation.
The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) contains hundreds of items presented
in a true-false format . The MMPI is designed to be used by clinical and counseling
psychologists to help diagnose psychological disorders.
The Thematic Apperception Test
The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) was developed in the 1930s by Henry Murray and
Christiana Morgan. Its Risheve of drawings. Individuals are given the cards one at a time and
asked to make up stories about them. The TAT is widely used in research on motivation and in
clinical practice. The assumption is that we are likely to project our own needs into our responses
to ambiguous situations, even if we are unaware of them or reluctant to talk about them. The TAT
is also widely used to assess attitudes toward other people, especially parents and intimate
partners.

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CHAPTER 15
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Social Psychology
Introduction
Human beings are social animals: We enjoy people, need people, and are profoundly
influenced by them. Indeed, we often behave a bit like sheep in a flock. We are likely to dress and
act like other people even when we are not asked to conform, and we are often influenced by
persuasive arguments- even illogical ones.
Social psychologists focus on attitudes because they play a key role in our social
interactions; they are a large part of what determines our behavior toward others. Most of our
attitudes are learned from others and can be changed through persuasion. But other people are not
the only cause of attitude change. Surprisingly, when circumstances cause our behavior to be
inconsistent with pour attitudes, our attitudes will often change to become consistent again with our
behavior.
For most of us, our most interactions are with people we like and love. We like to walk with
them, talk with them, and snuggle with them. Who do you like and why? Other things being equal,
we are attracted to people who are similar to us (or whose opposite characteristic are good for us),
who are reasonably competent (but not perfect), who are physically attractive, and who like us, too.
Once mutual attraction leads to a relationship, out likelihood of staying in that relationship is
determined by (a) how well our expectations of what the person is like are met and (b) how fairly
balanced the relationship is.
The process of liking and disliking others is based on a complex combination of the
positive and negative qualities that we see in them. Some of our reasons for liking a person have a
little to do with the other person at all, however. Lets look at one extraneous factor that influences
the process of liking by looking at a well-known experiment (Curtis & Miller, 1987). You walk to
the psychology department to take a part in a study. You are introduced to another student whom
you have never met and spend a five minutes in a get to know one another conversation. Then
you are separated and taken to separate cubicles. The experimenter talks with the other student for a
while, and then comes to your cubicle. She tells you that the study is about the ways in which
people get to know one another. She also tells you that the other student has been misled into
thinking that you are not a very likable person (by showing the other student a bogus personality
test that made you look bad.) To prove it, the experimenter shows you what the other students
initial ratings of you are, and they are not very positive.
The experimenter explains that she wants to know how the other student will act toward you
after being given this initial negative opinion. You and the research participant are brought together
for a 10-minute conversation. Then you and the other student rate each other on likability, warmth,
ad a number of other similar dimensions.
Half of the students who participated in the study were told that the other person was given
positive information about them and half were told that the other person was given negative
information about them. Actually, experimenters didnt give either positive or negative information
to the other students. The social psychologists who conducted this study wanted to know if we act
differently toward people who we think like or dislike us. The experimenters observed the students
through one-way mirror and rated their behavior. You and the other research participants who
thought the other students did not like them were rated as less warm and less open. In addition, the
person rated you and the other individuals in your group as less likable at the end of the study, too.
218

The other person who you thought did not like you actually didnt like you very much in the end
because of how you behaved toward them. Human relationships are maddeningly complex.
Definition of Social Psychology
Social Psychology is a branch of psychology that studies individuals as they interact with
others. Up to this point in this course, we have studied people as individuals removed from the
social context in which they live. But people live with other people. Their most important
learning comes from others; their most important motives are social motives, and so on.
People are almost always with other. Its part of human nature to be social. Social
psychologist Elliot Aronson (1995) reminds us that this insight is among the oldest in social
psychology. In 328 B.C., Aristotle wrote, Man is by nature a social animal Anyone who either
cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not
partake of society, is either a beast or a god. People need, like, and are profoundly influenced by
people. Social psychologists study these attractions, needs, and influences.
Groups and Social Influence
Lets begin our study of social influence with a look at the effects of being a member of a
group. Although some of what you will learn will make you embarrassed to be a member of the
human race, you can understand the power of social influence only by looking at its negative and
positive faces.
Social influence is the change in behavior that one person causes in another, intentionally
or unintentionally, as a result of the way the changed person perceives themselves in relationship
to the influencer, other people and society in general.
Three areas of social influence are conformity, compliance and obedience.
Conformity is changing how you behave to be more like others. This plays to belonging
and esteem needs as we seek the approval and friendship of others. Conformity can run very
deep, as we will even change our beliefs and values to be like those of our peers and admired
superiors.
Compliance is where a person does something that they are asked to do by another. They
may choose to comply or not to comply, although the thoughts of social reward and punishment
may lead them to compliance when they really do not want to comply.
Obedience is different from compliance in that it is obeying an order from someone that
you accept as an authority figure. In compliance, you have some choice. In obedience, you
believe that you do not have a choice. Many military officers and commercial managers are
interested only in obedience.
Solomon Asch showed how a person could be influenced by others in a group to claim
that a clearly shorter line in a group of lines was, in fact, the longest.
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Stanley Milgram did classic experiments in obedience, where people off the street obeyed
orders to give (what they thought were) life-threatening electric shocks to other people.

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Lynch Mobs
A lynch mob is a group of people intent on an extrajudicial execution. Their victim is a
specific individual, but the mob may direct their collective rage at persons who resemble their
intended victim. Historically, the term referred to groups who went to capture and then hang
someone, but nowadays it refers to any group that gets angry at an individual.
Historical Use:
Historically, a lynch mob is any mob of people whipped up to kill someone, usually by
hanging. In the Southern United States, from the Reconstruction era until the 1960s (possibly the
1930s depending on what one considers to be a mob), it was a common occurrence for groups of
whites to catch black men who were accused of some offense, including rape or other sexual
misconduct, and lynch them. Rarely were these accusations ever fairly adjudicated (Condemning
lynchings should not be confused with rape apology, which is used to falsely defend people of all
colors accused of rape or sexual misconduct today).
Recently found and restored photographs have documented the often festive air of these
lynchings, where whole communities would get together and have picnics in the shadow of a
dead black man. Overlapping that phenomenon is the use of mob violence to repress organized
labor in the South and the American West. One of the first major civil rights fights of the 20th
century was the fight to make lynching a federal crime. This struggle led to the emergence of the
NAACP as a major civil rights organization.
Modern Use:
In modern usage, the term lynch mob usually refers to any attempt by a large group to
unfairly destroy someones life based on belonging to some group or holding some belief. This
usage can be controversial, since it is often said to mask the true horror of the literal and
historical lynch mob. The single most controversial usage of this was probably Clarence Thomas
saying that he was being subjected to a high-tech lynching.
Those thinking about taking part in lynch mobs should first ask themselves if they may be
guilty of groupthink.
Uninvolved Bystanders
The adoption by a group of persons of a herd mentality of inaction in the face of a dread
situationhomicides, sexual assaults, muggings that have occurred in view of others.
Bystander Effect:
Individuals who see or hear an emergency (but are otherwise uninvolved) are called
bystanders. The bystander effect describes the phenomenon in which such individuals are less
likely to seek help or give assistance when others are present. This does not mean that bystanders
are apathetic to the plight of others, for bystanders often show signs of distress, anxiety, and
concern if they delay responding or fail to respond at all. It also does not necessarily mean that a
victim will be less likely to receive help as the number of bystanders present increasesafter all,
the greater the number of other people present, the greater is the likelihood that at least one of
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them will intervene. In the event of a medical emergency, for instance, a larger group of
bystanders is more likely to contain someone trained to administer appropriate first-aid
measures. Rather, the term refers simply to any given individual bystanders diminished
likelihood of offering help when part of a group.
Conformity
INTRODUCTION
Describes the case of David R. Stewart who is accused of calling fast food restaurants, posing as
a police officer, and instructing the manager on duty to conduct a strip search of an employee.
CONFORMITY: WHEN AND WHY
Conformity is a change in behavior due to the real or imagined influence of others.
American culture celebrates the rugged individualist, but even in our own culture extremes of
conformity, such as Jonestown, Heavens Gate, and the My Lai massacre occur. Social
psychologists suggest that these events occurred not because the people involved were crazy but
because they were subjected to very strong situational influences.
INFORMATIONAL SOCIAL INFLUENCE: THE NEED TO KNOW WHATS RIGHT
In many situations, we are uncertain how to think or to act. We use the behavior of others to
help us figure out what is going on in the situation and what to do about it. Informational social
influence occurs when we conform because we see other people as a source of information. We
conform because we believe that others interpretation of an ambiguous situation is more correct
than ours and will help us choose an appropriate course of action.
Humans are not the only ones who engage in informational social influence. Whiten et al.
(1999) show that chimpanzees pass on new and innovative behaviors to each other through
informational social influence, demonstrating that particular groups develop behavioral
conventions that are not seen in other groups.
Sherif (1936) conducted an experiment that made use of the autokinetic effect, the illusion that
a still point of light in an otherwise dark visual field moves. People vary in how much motion
they perceive. Thus the autokinetic effect provides an ambiguous situation. When people were
put in groups to make their estimates, over several trials the differing estimates of the people
converged. This conformity was apparently due to informational social influence because it
resulted in private acceptance of the group norm out of genuine belief in their correctness
(rather than public compliance, or a change in behavior without a change in belief): participants
in variations of the study maintained their adherence to the group norm in private and up to a
year later.
Administrators at colleges and universities combat binge drinking among their students via the
social norms method in which students receive accurate information about the drinking levels
on their campus, which are typically lower than students, believe them to be.
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35. The Importance of Being Accurate


Recent research has extended Sherifs work by employing judgment tasks that are more like
real life and demonstrating that the importance to the individual of being accurate at the task
affects informational social influence.

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Baron, Vandello, & Brunsman (1996) gave participants an eyewitness task, showing them a
picture of a perpetrator and then having them pick that person out of a lineup. The task was made
ambiguous by having the perpetrator dressed differently in the lineup than in the original photo
and by flashing the lineup for only half a second. The importance of the task was manipulated by
telling some groups that this was a new test to identify accurate eyewitnesses that the local police
department was adopting, that they were helping develop norms for the task, and that they would
receive $20; and by telling other groups that the task was a test under development. Participants
completed the task in groups with three confederates who gave the wrong answer on seven
critical trials. Baron et al. found that Ps were more influenced (in this case by informational
social influence) by the confederates answers when the task was more importantan important
extension of Sherifs work.
36. When Informational Conformity Backfires
Informational influence is often involved in crisis situations. For example, the 1938 Orson
Welles War of the Worlds radio broadcast (a teleplay, presented in broadcast news format, about
an alien invasion) led to widespread panic because many people missed the beginning of the
broadcast (which identified it as a play) and turned to each other to see how they should behave.
Additionally people interpreted other events in their environment (e.g., no cars driving down the
street) as due to the invasion, intensifying their fears and leading to a contagion situation (one
where emotions or behaviors spread rapidly through a crowd).
Another example of informational conformity backfiring is mass psychogenic illness, the
occurrence, in a group of people, of similar physical symptoms with no known physical cause.
A recent case occurred in Tennessee in 1998 when a teacher and many students experienced a
variety of symptoms that led to their being hospitalized and the school evacuated. No physical
cause for the incident was found. Jones et al. (2000) determined that mass psychogenic illness
was the cause.
Cases of mass psychogenic illness typically begin with just one or a few people, and typically
these people are experiencing some kind of stress in their lives. As a reasonable explanation for
the illness is developed, it becomes more credible and thus more widespread.
Such occurrences can spread more rapidly today than formerly because of instantaneously
available media (which can also more quickly try to squelch the panic).
C. When Will People Conform to Informational Social Influence?
1. When the Situation Is Ambiguous.
Ambiguity is the most crucial variable in determining whether people use each other as a
source of information.
37. When the Situation Is a Crisis.

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Crisis situations leave us limited time to act, which may make us scared and panicky. If we turn
to others who are also panicked for information, our own panic and irrationality may be
intensified.
38. When Other People Are Experts.
The more expertise or knowledge someone has, the more people will turn to them as a guide in
an ambiguous situation. Unfortunately experts are not always reliable sources of information.

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39. Resisting Informational Social Influence


Examples are presented from the My Lai massacre and War of the Worlds situations of people
who resisted conforming.
To resist undue informational influence, consider whether or not other people know more about
what is going on than you do and whether the actions of the other people or experts seems
sensible.
NORMATIVE SOCIAL INFLUENCE: THE NEED TO BE ACCEPTED
Examples are presented of teenagers engaging in life-threatening behavior. This behavior
occurs not because the teens are unaware of the risk but because they want to be accepted and
liked by their peers. To do so, they conform to the groups social norms: the implicit or explicit
rules a group has for the acceptable behaviors, values, and beliefs of its members. Group
members who do not conform are ridiculed, punished, or rejected by other group members. In
Japan, a dozen teenage victims of bullying killed themselves in one year (Jordan, 1996).
Humans are a social species and thus have a fundamental need for social companionship that
forms the basis for normative social influence: conformity in order to be liked and accepted by
others. Normative conformity often results in public compliance without private acceptance.
40. Conformity and Social Approval: The Asch Line Judgment Studies
Asch (1951, 1956) conducted a series of classic experiments on normative social influence. In
contrast to Sherifs work, Asch used a situation that was clearly defined rather than ambiguous.
Specifically, he used a line judgment task where participants were presented with a series of
three lines of differing lengths and were asked to match a target line to one of the three; the
correct answer was obvious. Unbeknownst to the true participant, the other seven participants
were confederates. The real participant always answered last. In 2/3 of the trials, the confederates
unanimously agreed on an incorrect answer. A surprising amount of conformity occurred: 76%
conformed at least once, and on average, people conformed on about a third of the trials where
the confederates gave the wrong answer (Figure 8.3). Interviews with participants indicated that
they did not want to feel different or foolish. The Asch experiment is especially surprising since
people were concerned about looking foolish in front of complete strangers and there were no
tangible risks or punishments for failing to conform.
In a variation of the study, subjects wrote their answers on paper rather than saying them aloud;
in this variation, conformity dropped dramatically. This demonstrates the power of social
disapproval in the original study in shaping a persons behavior.
Recent research by Berns et al. (2005) used fMRI to examine brain activity of participants as
they either conformed to a group or maintained their independence and disagreed with the group.
The participants showed levels of conformity similar to those in the Asch studies. When
participants gave the correct answer (and disagreed with the group) rather than showing
activation in the visual/perceptional areas of the brain, the amygdala and right caudate nucleus,
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areas devoted to negative emotions and modulating social behavior were activated. This research
thus supports the idea that normative social influence occurs because people feel negative
emotions when they go against the group.
41. The Importance of Being Accurate, Revisited
The Baron et al. (1996) study described earlier included experimental conditions designed to
trigger normative social influence. In these conditions, the eyewitness identification task was
made extremely easy by showing participants the lineup for five seconds and by letting them
view each pair of slides twice. Control subjects got 97% correct on these conditions,
demonstrating that this task was indeed unambiguous and analogous to the Asch line judgment
situation. Importance of being accurate was manipulated as before. In this case, participants in
the low-importance condition conformed 33% of the time, a result similar to Aschs findings.
Participants in the high-importance condition conformed 16% of the timeindeed, a lesser
amount of conformity, but still some. Even when the group is wrong, the right answer is obvious,
and there are strong incentives to be accurate, people will find it difficult to risk social
disapproval.
42. The Consequences of Resisting Normative Social Influence
What happens when people manage to resist normative group influence? Other group members
start paying attention to the deviant and trying to convince him or her to conform; if s/he doesnt,
eventually the deviant will be rejected.
Schacter (1951) demonstrated how groups respond to an individual who ignores the groups
normative influence. Groups read a case history of Johnny Rocco, a juvenile delinquent. The
case typically led to middle-of-the-road positions about the case. An accomplice in the group was
instructed to disagree with the groups recommendations. The deviant received most of the
communication from other group members until near the end (when it was apparent that
communication wouldnt work); at this point, other group members began to ignore the deviant,
and on a subsequent task, they recommended that the deviant be eliminated from further group
discussions if group size were reduced.
43. Normative Social Influence in Everyday Life
Fashions and fads represent innocuous examples of normative conformity.
44. Social Influence and Womens Body Image
A more pernicious example of social influence is womens attempts to conform to cultural
definitions of an attractive body, where the current fashion is to be extremely thin.
Anderson et al. (1992) analyzed 54 different cultures perception of the ideal female body.
Heavy female bodies were considered the most beautiful in cultures with unreliable food
supplies; only in cultures where the food supply was very reliable was the slender body valued.

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In all cultures except those where the food supply was very reliable, the moderate-to-heavy body
range was preferred by the majority.
What is attractive has changed many times over the past 100 years, as an analysis of models in
womens magazines indicates .Women learn what standard is appropriate through informational
social influence, but normative social influence helps explain their attempts to create the desired
body through dieting and eating disorders.
Research shows that women tend to perceive themselves as overweight and heavier than they
actually are, especially when they have just been looking at media portrayals of thin women.
These pressures lead to an increase in eating disorders: recent statistics show that one-third of
12-13 year-old girls are actively trying to lose weight.
Crandall (1988) examined normative social influences on bulimia in two college sororities. He
found that each sorority had its own norm for the right amount of binge eating and that
popularity within the sorority was associated with adherence to this norm. Although pledges
friendships were not related to the norm at first, they were by the end of the first year.

45. Social Influence and Mens Body Image


There is little research in this domain, but recent studies suggest that men are beginning to
come under the same pressure to achieve an ideal body that women have experienced for
decades. Other evidence suggests that indeed the male ideal is now much more muscular. For
example Pope et al. (1999) found changes in the musculature of G.I. Joe dolls, and in the
percentage of ads portraying men in some state of undress (while the percentage of such ads for
women has remained fairly stable). Other research by these investigators shows that while men
are accurate in perceiving their own body mass, both their ideal and what they believe women
would find attractive has considerably more muscle.
Recent research indicates that 21 to 42 percent of young men have altered their eating habits to
gain muscle mass or weight and 12 to 26 percent have dieted to reduce body fat or weight.
Increasing numbers are also using steroids or ephedrine to achieve a more muscular physique
(Cafri et al., 2005).
E. When Will People Conform to Normative Social Influence?
Latans social impact theory suggests that conforming to normative pressures depends on the
strength (personal importance), immediacy (physical proximity), and number of other people in a
group. According to the theory, conformity will increase directly with the amount of strength and
immediacy; but that increases in numbers will show diminishing returns (i.e., going from 3 to 4
makes more of a difference than going from 53 to 54). The theory has done a good job of
predicting the actual amount of conformity that occurs.
46. When the Group Size is Three or More.
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Aschs research (and subsequent investigations) show that conformity does not increase much
after group size reaches 4 or 5 other people.
47. When the Group is Important.
Normative pressures are much stronger when they come from people whose friendship, love, or
respect we cherish. A consequence is that it can be dangerous to have important policy decisions
made by highly cohesive groups who may care more about pleasing each other than about
making the best decision.
48. When One Has No Allies in the Group
A variation of Aschs experiment demonstrated the importance of group unanimity: when only
one other person gave the right answer, the level of conforming to the group dropped to only 6%
(from 32%). This influence explains how members of cults or other groups can maintain beliefs
that seem ridiculous to most others.

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49. When the Groups Culture is Collectivistic


Differences in cultures individualist vs. collectivist orientation have implications for
conformity. The Asch experiment has been replicated in several cultures. Some (e.g., Norway
and the Bantus of Zimbabwe) find much higher levels of conformity than the U.S. In Japan,
conformity was lower than in the U.S. because conformity is directed at groups to which one
belongs and not groups of strangers. Berry (1967) suggested and provided some data in support
of the idea that hunting cultures will favor independence while agricultural cultures will favor
cooperation and conformity. Replications of the Asch experiment in the U.S. and Britain in the
1980s showed decreasing amounts of conformity within the culture.
50. The Effect of Low Self-Esteem.
Some evidence suggests that people with low self-esteem are more likely to conform. The
evidence is not consistent, however, because there is low cross-situational consistency in
peoples behavior.
51. Gender Differences in Conformity
Eagly and Carli (1981) used meta-analysis to examine whether the popular idea that women are
more conforming than men holds. They found, across dozens of studies with thousands of
participants, that the size of the difference between men and women is very smallonly 56% of
men are less persuadable than the average woman. They also found that the difference between
men and women appears most in group-pressure situations where conformity occurs in public; in
private the difference virtually disappears. Finally, they found that male authors were more likely
than female authors to find gender differences, possibly because they used experimental
materials more familiar to those of their own sex.
F. Resisting Normative Social Influence
The first step in resisting normative social influence is to become aware that we are doing it.
The second step is to find an ally who thinks like you do.
Additionally, if you conform to group norms most of the time, you earn idiosyncrasy
credits that give you the right to deviate occasionally without serious consequences.
G. Minority Influence: When the Few Influence the Many
Moscovici argues that the individual or the minority can affect change in the majority
(minority influence). The key to this is consistency over time and between members of the
minority.
A meta-analysis by Wendy Wood et al. (1994) leads to the conclusion that majorities often
cause public compliance because of normative social influence, whereas minorities often cause
private acceptance because of informational social influence.

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USING SOCIAL INFLUENCE TO PROMOTE BENEFICIAL BEHAVIOR


Cialdini, Reno, and Kallgren have developed a model of normative conduct where social
norms (the rules society has for acceptable beliefs, values, and behaviors) can be used to subtly
induce people to conform to correct, socially approved behavior.
Injunctive norms are peoples perception of what behaviors are approved or disapproved of by
others; descriptive norms are peoples perceptions of how people actually behave in given
situations, regardless of whether the behavior is approved of or disapproved of by others.
52. The Role of Injunctive and Descriptive Norms
In one study (Reno et al., 1993), participants were exposed either to a confederate walking by
(the control group), a confederate walking by and dropping an empty fast-food bag (descriptive
norm condition), or a confederate picking up a littered fast-food bag (injunctive norm condition).
This occurred in either a heavily littered or a clean and unlettered parking lot. When participants
came to their cars, they found a large handbill slipped onto the windshield. Results indicated that
37 to 38% of the control group littered, regardless of how clean the parking lot was. In the
descriptive norm condition, littering was reduced in the clean lot condition, where the
confederates behavior served to remind people of the prevailing norm for cleanliness displayed
by the clean lot, but it was not reduced in the littered lot condition, where the confederates
behavior reinforced the idea displayed by the dirty lot that it was okay to litter. Finally,
participants in the injunctive norm condition littered least of all, regardless of the condition of the
parking lot .
The researchers concluded that injunctive norms are more powerful than descriptive norms in
producing desired behavior. They also noted that norms are always present but not always
salient; some aspect of the situation (in this case, the confederates behavior) needs to draw
peoples attention to the norm so that they think about it. Thus, information that communicates
injunctive social normswhat society approves and disapproves ofneeds to be present to
create positive behavior change.
OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY
Philosopher Hannah Arendt (1965) argued that the atrocities of the Holocaust occurred not
because the participants were psychopaths but because they were ordinary people bowing to
extraordinary social pressures.
Milgram (1964, 1974, 1976) examined the power of obedience to authority in social
psychologys most famous laboratory experiment. Participants believed they were in a study on
the effects of punishment on learning; they were assigned the role of the teacher and their partner
(actually a confederate of the experiment) was assigned the role of the learner. The teacher was
assigned to punish the learner for every mistake in a paired associates task by delivering an
electric shock. Each mistake is to receive a progressively higher level of shock. The learner
protests, but the experimenter insists that the experiment must continue. Milgram found that

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62.5% of the participants gave the full 450 volt Danger XXX shock and that 80% continued
past the learners announcement that he had a heart condition and refused further participation.
College students, middle-class adults, and professional scientists asked to estimate beforehand
the degree of obedience estimated that only 1% of the participants would go all the way.
53. The Role of Normative Social Influence
A variation on the Milgram experiment demonstrates the role of normative influence (Figure
8.9). Significantly less compliance was demonstrated if two other teachers refused to continue.
54. The Role of Informational Social Influence
Other variations on the experiment demonstrate the role of informational influence due to how
confusing the situation was. Significantly less compliance was demonstrated if (a) the orders to
continue came from another teacher rather than from the experimenter; or (b) two
experimenters disagreed about whether the experiment should be continued.
C. Other Reasons Why We Obey
1. Conforming to the Wrong Norm
Anther factor influencing obedience in situations such as the Milgram experiment and the My
Lai massacre are mindlessness and the foot-in-the-door phenomenon: mindlessness leads to
initial compliance, and initial compliance begets subsequent compliance. In the Milgram
experiment this was abetted by the quick pace of the experiment and the fact that the shock
increased in very small doses.
55. Self-Justification
Additionally, dissonance reduction played a factor: each increase in shock led to dissonance,
and each rationalization of this dissonance provided the basis for escalating the shock a bit
further.
56. The Loss of Personal Responsibility
Participants believed that the experimenter was the authority figure and that he was responsible
for the end results while they were just following orders.
Research by Osofsky, Bandura, and Zimbardo (2005) found that guards who carried out capital
punishments showed much more moral disengagement from their jobs than did guards who did
not carry out executions.
57. Its Not About Aggression

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Is a universal aggressive urge a factor in obedience to cruel authority? A variation of the


Milgram experiment gave subjects permission to choose their own level of shock; they were told
that information about all levels was informative to make them feel free to choose whichever
level they desired. Most participants gave very mild shocks; only 2.5% gave the highest level.
In sum, social pressures can combine in insidious ways to make humane people act inhumane.

Social Roles
There are a number of ways in which we socially construct the world around us. In other words,
we use our social interactions with others to make sense of and give purpose to our lives. One
way in which we do this is to create social structures that give us cues for how to behave.
Statuses and roles are two of these structures. We previously discussed statuses in depth, so now
we turn to social roles.
A social role defines a set of behaviors that are expected of someone who holds a particular
status. Its easy to confuse a status and a role, but the basic difference between them is that we
occupy a status and play a role. Every status has an expected set of behaviors a role. A woman
becomes a mother when she has a child and so occupies the status of mother. She is expected to
also play the role of mother by caring for and loving her children (among other things).
Interestingly, role expectations can change over time and also differ between cultures. Not that
long ago, it was a role expectation for mothers to stay at home with their children and keep
house while the fathers played breadwinner. Today in our culture, this still occurs but is no
longer a strict expectation of the mothers role just an acceptable option. In other cultures,
however, a mother working outside the home is still considered to be strange or even
unacceptable.
All of us typically occupy many statuses and play the roles attached to each one. Sometimes, a
status has more than one role associated with it. This is known as a role set. For example, a
teacher plays one role in relation to his students, another role in relation to his fellow teachers,
another in relation to the school board and so on.
Social Roles refer to the expectations, responsibilities, and behaviors we adopt in certain
situations. The ideas for expected or normal behavior are reinforced both by the individual and
by society. Each of us takes on many different roles, and we shift among them throughout our
lives and throughout each day. For example, a working mother starts her day in the role of a
mom, in which she is expected to feed her children and get them ready for school. At the office
she shifts to the role of project manager, where she oversees projects in a timely and professional
manner. On her lunch break she may take on the role of friend, in which she listens to a
coworkers problems. If she fails to fulfill any of these roles she may face consequences, such as
the loss of a relationship or loss of a job.
Role Conflict vs. Role Strain
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It can be stressful to play so many roles at once. Have you ever been stressed because of
overlapping work, school and social commitments? Did you feel as if there wasnt enough time
in the day to make everyone happy? If so, you were probably experiencing role conflict, which
is what happens when role demands from different statuses conflict with each other and cause
stress.
The more statuses we have and the more roles we play, the more likely we are to experience role
conflict. If our fictional mother worked as an office manager, volunteered for a philanthropic
organization, participated in church activities and provided care for her own aging mother, she
would likely experience role conflict, because the responsibilities would sometimes overlap and
clash.
Though meeting the role demands of different statuses can be overwhelming, it can also be
difficult to meet all of the role obligations of a single status. Role strain is when the role
demands from a single status cause conflict or become stressful. For example, a teacher might
feel overwhelmed by the demands of his role set. The demands of the school board, principal and
students arent always complementary. He would probably feel stressed or even burdened by the
different aspects of his job.

Obedience
Obedience is compliance with commands given by an authority figure. In the 1960s, the social
psychologist Stanley Milgram did a famous research study called the obedience study. It
showed that people have a strong tendency to comply with authority figures.
Milgrams Obedience Study
Milgram told his forty male volunteer research subjects that they were participating in a study
about the effects of punishment on learning. He assigned each of the subjects to the role of
teacher. Each subject was told that his task was to help another subject like himself learn a list of
word pairs. Each time the learner made a mistake, the teacher was to give the learner an electric
shock by flipping a switch. The teacher was told to increase the shock level each time the learner
made a mistake, until a dangerous shock level was reached.
Throughout the course of the experiment, the experimenter firmly commanded the teachers to
follow the instructions they had been given. In reality, the learner was not an experiment subject
but Milgrams accomplice, and he never actually received an electric shock. However, he
pretended to be in pain when shocks were administered.
Prior to the study, forty psychiatrists that Milgram consulted told him that fewer than 1 percent
of subjects would administer what they thought were dangerous shocks to the learner. However,
Milgram found that two-thirds of the teachers did administer even the highest level of shock,
despite believing that the learner was suffering great pain and distress. Milgram believed that the
teachers had acted in this way because they were pressured to do so by an authority figure.
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Factors That Increase Obedience


Milgram found that subjects were more likely to obey in some circumstances than others.
Obedience was highest when:

Commands were given by an authority figure rather than another volunteer

The experiments were done at a prestigious institution

The authority figure was present in the room with the subject

The learner was in another room

The subject did not see other subjects disobeying commands

In everyday situations, people obey orders because they want to get rewards, because they want
to avoid the negative consequences of disobeying, and because they believe an authority is
legitimate. In more extreme situations, people obey even when they are required to violate their
own values or commit crimes. Researchers think several factors cause people to carry obedience
to extremes:

People justify their behavior by assigning responsibility to the authority rather than
themselves.
People define the behavior thats expected of them as routine.
People dont want to be rude or offend the authority.
People obey easy commands first and then feel compelled to obey more and more
difficult commands. This process is called entrapment, and it illustrates the foot-in-the-door
phenomenon.

Working and Solving Problems with a Group


During our study and work life we will often be expected to work as a part of a group. Group
work often leaves many feeling frustrated. I have at many times heard the complaint It would
have been quicker if I had just done it myself. So when should we use a group to address a
particular problem and what are the major advantages and disadvantages of using groups to solve
a problem..
A large amount of problem solving takes place in group settings. Meetings and informal
discussions are often used to air different ideas and points of view to help solve problems for
which the participants have either shared responsibility or a contribution to make.
However, most of the time we do not take full advantage of these situations.
Used at the right time and in the right way, group problem solving can be the most effective way
of solving some problems.
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When to use group problem solving


Although there are very definite advantages to
solving certain problems as a group, others can be
solved more effectively by an individual. Its
important to know when and when not to work in a
group.
Use this checklist to decide when to use group
problem solving:

Can the problem be defined in many


different ways?
Is information from many different sources
required?
Is it a very specialized problem, where the
expert might be biased or not see the wider
implications?
Does the problem have implications for
many people?
Are there likely to be many possible solutions?
Is it a complex problem with many different aspects?
Will a solution need to be agreed by others before it can be implemented?

The more questions you answer yes, the more appropriate it is to use group problem
solving. However, the deciding question is always: Are suitable and relevant people
available to work together in solving this problem.
When people are working together its inevitable that they will be influenced by each
other. This can have a significant effect on the efficiency of group problem solving.
Advantages and disadvantages of using a group to solve a problem:
The disadvantages of group problem solving can include:Competition
Most people working in a group unconsciously perceive the situation as competitive. This
generates behavior which is destructive and drains the creative energy of the group. For
example, we often perceive disagreement with our ideas as a put-down. The natural reaction is
to regain our self-esteem, often by trying to sabotage the ideas of those who disagreed with us.

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Instead of looking for ways to improve on their ideas we choose to destroy them.
Eager to express our own ideas, we may totally ignore what others are suggesting. Powerseekers may use ploys such as highlighting flaws in others arguments, barbed questions
and displays of expertise to show their supremacy. These types of behavior create an
atmosphere which is incompatible with effective problem solving.
Conformity
There is a strong tendency for individuals in a group to want to conform to the consensus.
This can be for a variety of reasons, including the need to feel liked, valued or respected,
and tends to make people censor their ideas accordingly. The comparative status of the
individuals present also has an important influence. Senior members often want to
maintain their image of being knowledgeable, while junior members want to avoid
appearing the inexperienced upstart. Because agreement on ideas can be gained quickly
in a group setting, groups tend to select and approve solutions quickly, without exploring
all the possibilities.
Lack of objective direction
Most traditional meetings and group discussions convened to solve problems are
ineffectively directed. Sometimes there is no effective leader to give direction to the
discussion, with the result that it wanders aimlessly. Even when there is strong leadership,
the group leader or chairman often exerts undue pressure on the direction and content of
the discussion. In addition, the ideas aired during a meeting are not usually recorded,
apart from the minutes and individual note-taking, with the result that many ideas are
forgotten and cannot act as a constant stimulus to the discussion.
Time constraints
Group problem solving is a relatively slow process compared with working alone. It
requires individuals to come together at an agreed time, usually for about one hour, and
this can cause organizational problems as well as impatience amongst participants to get
it over with as quickly as possible.
The advantages of group problem solving can include:
Greater output
Simply because of the number of people involved, each with differing experience,
knowledge, points of view and values, a larger number and variety of ideas for solving a
problem can be produced.
Cross fertilization

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The exchange of ideas can act as a stimulus to the imagination, encouraging individuals to
explore ideas they would not otherwise consider.
Reduced bias
The shared responsibility of a group in arriving at decisions can. Encourage individuals to
explore seemingly unrealistic ideas and to challenge accepted ways of doing things.
Individual biases and prejudices can be challenged by the ,group, forcing the individual to
Rishevele them. Group pressure can also encourage individuals to accept that change is
needed.
Increased risk taking
Shared responsibility makes individuals more willing to take risks. The discussion of
different points of view also helps the group to be more realistic in assessing the risks
associated with particular courses of action.
Higher commitment
When goals are agreed it gives a common purpose to the group, within which individuals
can gain a feeling of self-determination and recognition through their contribution.
Individuals who have contributed to finding a solution feel a greater commitment to its
successful implementation.
Improved communication
When .people who are affected by a problem or who will be involved in implementation
are involved in finding a solution, they will know how and why that particular solution
was chosen. Also, people with knowledge relevant to the problem can communicate that
knowledge directly if they participate in solving the problem.
Better solutions
Groups of individuals can bring a broad range of ideas, knowledge and skills to bear on a
problem. This creates a stimulating interaction of diverse ideas which results in a wider
range and better quality of solutions.

Behavior and Attitude Change: Cognitive Dissonance Theory


Cognitive Dissonance Theory
Cognitive Dissonance is the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who
holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas or values at the same time.
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Leon Festinger is an American social psychologist who proposed the theory of Cognitive
Dissonance.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory focuses on how humans strive for internal consistency. An
individual who experiences inconsistency (dissonance) tends to become psychologically
uncomfortable, and is motivated to try to reduce this dissonanceas well as actively avoid
situations and information likely to increase it.
Basic Hypotheses of Cognitive Dissonance Theory:
1. The existence of dissonance [or inconsistency], being psychologically uncomfortable, will
motivate the person to try to reduce the dissonance and achieve consonance [or consistency].
2. When dissonance is present, in addition to trying to reduce it, the person will actively avoid
situations and information which would likely increase the dissonance.
Four methods of reducing dissonance:
1. Change behavior or cognition (I will not eat any more of this doughnut)
2. Justify behavior or cognition by changing the conflicting cognition (Im allowed to
cheat every once in a while)
3. Justify behavior or cognition by adding new cognitions (Ill spend 30 extra minutes at
the gym to work this off)
4. Ignore or deny any information that conflicts with existing beliefs (This doughnut is not
high in fat)
Research:
1. Induced-compliance Paradigm (Forced compliance behavior)
Forced compliance occurs when an individual performs an action that is inconsistent with his or
her beliefs. The behavior cant be changed, since it is already in the past, so dissonance will need
to be reduced by re-evaluating their attitude to what they have done.
Experiment: Leon Festinger and J. Merrill Carlsmith (1959) asked participants to perform a
series of dull tasks (such as turning pegs in a peg board for an hour). As you can imagine,
participants attitudes toward this task were highly negative. They were then paid either $1 or
$20 to tell a waiting participant (relay a confederate) that the tasks were really interesting.
Almost all of the participants agreed to walk into the waiting room and persuade the subject
accomplice that the boring experiment would be fun.
Aim: Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) investigated if making people perform a dull task would
create cognitive dissonance through forced compliance behavior.

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Method: In their laboratory experiment, they used 71 male students as participants to perform a
series of dull tasks (such as turning pegs in a peg board for an hour). They were then paid either
$1 or $20 to tell a waiting participant (a confederate) that the tasks were really interesting.
Almost all of the participants agreed to walk into the waiting room and persuade the confederate
that the boring experiment would be fun.
Results: When the participants were asked to evaluate the experiment, the participants who were
paid only $1 rated the tedious task as more fun and enjoyable than the participants who were
paid $20 to lie.
Conclusion: Being paid only $1 is not sufficient incentive for lying and so those who were paid
$1 experienced dissonance. They could only overcome that dissonance by coming to believe that
the tasks really were interesting and enjoyable. Being paid $20 provides a reason for turning pegs
and there is therefore no dissonance.
2. Free Choice Paradigm (Decision-making)
Decisions (as a general rule) arouse dissonance.
Both alternatives have their good points and bad points. The rub is that making a decision cuts
off the possibility that you can enjoy the advantages of the unchosen alternative, yet it assures
you that you must accept the disadvantages of the chosen alternative.
People have several ways to reduce dissonance that is aroused by making a decision
(Festinger, 1964). One thing they can do is to change the behavior. A common way to reduce
dissonance is to increase the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and to decrease the
attractiveness of the rejected alternative. This is referred to as spreading apart the
alternatives.
Jack Brehm (1956) was the first to investigate the relationship between dissonance and
decision-making. In the experiment conducted by Jack Brehm, 225 female students rated a series
of common appliances and were then allowed to choose one of two appliances to take home as a
gift. A second round of ratings showed that the participants increased their ratings of the item
they chose, and lowered their ratings of the rejected item.
3.

Effort Justificication Paradigm (Effort)

Dissonance is aroused whenever individuals voluntarily engage in an unpleasant activity to


achieve some desired goal. Dissonance can be reduced by exaggerating the desirability of the
goal. If we put effort into a task which we have chosen to carry out, and the task turns out badly,
we experience dissonance. To reduce this dissonance, we are motivated to try to think that the
task turned out well. A classic dissonance experiment by Aronson and Mills (1959)
demonstrates the basic idea.

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Aim: To investigate the relationship between dissonance and effort.


Method: Aronson & Mills had individuals undergo a severe or mild initiation to join a group.
In the severe-initiation condition, the individuals engaged in an embarrassing activity.
Results: Participants in the severe embarrassment condition gave the most positive rating.
Conclusion: If a voluntary experience which has cost a lot of effort turns out badly, dissonance
is reduced by redefining the experience as interesting. This justifies the effort made.
4. Belief Disconfirmation Paradigm
Dissonance is felt when people are confronted with information that is inconsistent with their
beliefs. If the dissonance is not reduced by changing ones belief, the dissonance can result in
restoring consonance through misperception, rejection or refutation of the information, seeking
support from others who share the beliefs, and attempting to persuade others.
An early version of cognitive dissonance theory appeared in Leon Festingers 1956 book,
When Prophecy Fails. This book gives an account of the deepening of cult members faith
following the failure of a cults prophecy that a UFO landing was imminent. The believers met at
a pre-determined place and time, believing they alone would survive the Earths destruction. The
appointed time came and passed without incident. They faced acute cognitive dissonance: had
they been the victim of a hoax? Had they donated their worldly possessions in vain? Most
members chose to believe something less dissonant to resolve reality not meeting their
expectations: they believed that the aliens had given Earth a second chance, and the group was
now empowered to spread the word that Earth-spoiling must stop. The group dramatically
increased their proselytism despite (because of) the failed prophecy.
Prejudice and Stereotype
Prejudice is an unjustified or incorrect attitude (usually negative) towards an individual based
solely on the individuals membership of a social group. Prejudice is a kind of attitude where
ones mind is made up even before all facts are known.
Discrimination is the behavior or actions, usually negative, towards an individual or group of
people, especially on the basis of sex/race/social class, etc.
Stereotype is the positive or negative beliefs that we hold about the characteristics of social
groups. In many cases, prejudices are based upon stereotypes. Derived from the greek words
stereos meaning firm or solid and typos meaning impression. According to psychologist
Gordon Allport, prejudice and stereotypes emerge in part as a result of normal human thinking.
In order to make sense of the world around us, it is important to sort information into mental
categories.

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The human mind must think with the aid of categories, Allport explained. Once formed,
categories are the basis for normal prejudgment. We cannot possibly avoid this process. Orderly
living depends upon it.
Ingroups and Outgroups
Peoples social identities depend on the groups they belong to. From a persons perspective, any
group he belongs to is an ingroup, and any group he doesnt belong to is an outgroup.
Some of the most well-known types of prejudice include:
1. Racism the belief that one race is superior to all others.
2. Sexism different treatment or discrimination based on a difference of sex or
gender.
3. Classism discrimination on the basis of social class.
4. Homophobia fear, dislike, or hatred of gays and lesbians.
5. Nationalism is the belief that a particular nation and its culture, people, and
values are superior to those of other nations.
6. Religious prejudice treating a person or group differently because of what they
do or do not believe.
7. Ageism discrimination based on the age of a person or a group.
Roots of Prejudice:
1. Social Sources
Unequal status
The Self-fulfilling prophecy
Negative belief results to negative behavior; positive behavior results to positive behavior.
(Pygmalion Effect)
Stereotype threat
A self-conforming apprehension that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype.
Social identity
Part of our self-concept our sense of who we are contains not just personal identity (our sense
of personal attributes and attitudes) but also social identity
Social Identity Theory:
We Categorize, We Identify, We Compare
Ingroup bias
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The group definition of who you are


Conformity
If prejudice is socially accepted, many people will follow the path of least resistance and
conform to fashion.
2. Emotional Sources
Personality Dynamics
Need for status, self-regard, and belonging.
Authoritarian Personality, according to Adorno, people with this type of personality seek
conformity, security, and stability
Frustration and Aggression (The Scapegoat Theory)
When the cause of our frustration is intimidating or unknown, we often redirect our hostility
(displaced aggression).
3. Cognitive Sources
Categorization
Perceived similarities and differences.
Distinctiveness
We define people by their most distinctive traits and behavior.
Fundamental Attribution Error (Lee Ross)
Involves placing a heavy emphasis on internal personality characteristics to explain someones
behavior in a given situation rather than thinking about situational factors.
Prejudice Reduction:
58. Intergroup interaction Approaches
Intergroup interaction approaches to prejudice reduction refer to strategies in which members of
one group are put in situations where they have to interact with members of another group that
they may hold prejudiced beliefs about.
Interdependence
Interdependence approaches to prejudice reduction are based on Mark Deutschs theory of
interdependence.
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According to this theory, when two groups realize that they have a common issue that can only
be solved by pooling their resources together, they are more likely to engage in cooperative
behaviors
Intergroup Contact
Contact approaches to prejudice reduction are based on Gordon Allports Contact Hypothesis.
According to this hypothesis, prejudice is best reduced under optimal contact between those
who hold prejudiced beliefs and those who are the targets of prejudiced beliefs.
Social Identity
According to social identity theory, people are biased to favor their ingroup the group that
they identify as belonging to at the expense of the outgroup the group that they do not
identify with. Social identity-based approaches to prejudice reduction attempt to make a
particular group-based identity, such as race or gender, less salient to individuals from different
groups by emphasizing alternative ways of categorizing people.
Alternative ways of categorizing people:
a. Decategorization
b. Recategorization.
c. Crossed categorization
d. Integrative models
Disclosure
Disclosure approaches rely on self-disclosure of personal information. Here, two individuals
from different social groups would each reveal a piece of personal information about
themselves. The act of disclosure signals vulnerability. This increases trust and liking, and that
then results in a decrease of prejudiced beliefs.
59. Individual Approaches
Individual approaches to prejudice reduction are not dependent on intergroup interaction. These
approaches only require that an individual be exposed to some relevant information and/or
engage in an activity intended to reduce prejudice.
Affective approaches
Perspective taking.
Empathy.
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Cognitive approaches
Thought awareness and suppression.
Attitude reconditioning.
Thought process reconditioning.
Experts and norms.
Accountability and value consistency.
Self-affirmation.
60. Integrated Approaches
Integrated approaches to prejudice reduction include both intergroup and individual components,
such as vicarious intergroup contact, perspective taking, and empathy. Many of these integrated
approaches involve some form of entertainment.
Reading interventions. Reading interventions typically take place in schools and last an average
of 5 weeks. They attempt to influence prejudiced beliefs through the use of engaging stories.
Formation of Stereotype:
61. Correspondence Bias
The correspondence bias refers to the tendency to ascribe a persons behavior to her or
his disposition or personality and to underestimate the extent to which situational factors elicited
the behavior.
62. Illusory Correlation
Research has shown that stereotypes can develop based on a cognitive mechanism known as
illusory correlation an erroneous inference about the relationship between two events. If two
events which are statistically infrequent co-occur, observers overestimate the frequency of cooccurrence of these events. The underlying reason is that rare, infrequent events are distinctive
and salient and, when paired, become even more so.
63. Common Environmenta
One explanation for why stereotypes are shared is that they are the result of a common
environment that stimulates people to react in the same way.
64. Socialization and Upbringing

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Another explanation says that people are Risheveled to adopt the same stereotypes. Some
psychologists believe that although stereotypes can be absorbed at any age, stereotypes are
usually acquired in early childhood under the influence of parents, teachers, peers, and the
media.
65. Intergroup Relations
According to a third explanation, shared stereotypes are neither caused by the coincidence of
common stimuli, nor by RisheveledRon. This explanation posits that stereotypes are shared
because group members are motivated to behave in certain ways, and stereotypes reflect those
behaviours.
Effects of stereotype:
66. Attributional Ambiguity
Attributional ambiguity refers to the uncertainty that members of stereotyped groups experience
in interpreting the causes of others behavior toward them.
67. Stereotype Threat
Stereotype threat occurs when people are aware of a negative stereotype about their social group
and experience anxiety or concern that they might confirm the stereotype.
68. Self-fulfilling Prophecy
Stereotypes lead people to expect certain actions from members of social groups. These
stereotype-based expectations may lead to self-fulfilling prophecies, in which ones inaccurate
expectations about a persons behavior, through social interaction, prompt that person to act in
stereotype-consistent ways, thus confirming ones erroneous expectations and validating the
stereotype.
4. Discrimination
5. Self-stereotyping
Interpersonal Attraction: Friendship and Love
Who are your friends? Why do you suppose you became friends with them rather than
with other people you know? Are you in love with someone, or have you ever been in love with
someone, or have you ever been in love? What attracted you to him or her and made you
experience such intense feelings? Friendship and love are powerful social phenomena that touch
all of our lives in one way or another. As such, they have been of special interest to social
psychologists. In this section, we will look at variables that influence our perception of others,

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the role played by attribution processes in person perception, the qualities of others that make
them attractive to us, and the factors involved in maintaining personal relationships.
Person Perception
The first step toward understanding why we are attracted to one person rather than
another is to understand something about the process of person perception. What factors are
important in the way we perceive others? We seem to go through a complex of cognitive
algebra to reach an average of all the many factors that enter into our perceptions of otherswith some factors contributing more to the average than others (Fiske, 1993; Kaplan, 1975). We
sum up a person as if we assign a weight to each persons positive and negative characteristic in
accordance with how important the characteristic is to us, and then we add them all together to
arrive at a total perception is complicated further by the ways we gather and use information
about others.
Negative Information: The Bad Outweighs the Good
Other things being equal, we tend to assign higher weights to negative than to positive
formation (Hamilton & Zanna, 1972). Put yourself in this situation: You are a person who values
warmth, physical attractiveness, and honesty in others. You meet a person in class whom you
find extremely warm and attractive; you have an enjoyable conversation with him after class, but
during the course of the conversation he asks you to help think of a lie to his girlfriend
explaining to where he has been. Your opinion of him will probably become quite negative if
honesty is really important to you. The fact that he is being dishonest with his girlfriend will
overshadow his positive characteristics. Most of us will pass up a delicious-looking cake if we
know it contains even a small amount of rat poison.
Primacy Effects: The Importance of First Impressions
Our first impressions are usually very important in the person perception process. When
you pause for a moment and think about this, its quite disturbing. A factor that is irrelevant to
the nature of the person we perceive- the order in which we learn information about that good
person- can greatly influence our perception of that person. All of us have our good days and bad
days, and its a shame that the perception that others form of us is influenced so much by
whether their first impression of us on a good or a bad day.
The first information that we are exposed to about a person tends to be given greater
weight than later information (Asch, 1946; Belmore, 1987; Hovland, 1957.) This is called the
primary effect.
First impressions (primary effects) are not always of overriding importance, however.
Their impact is greatly reduced under three conditions.

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69. Prolonged exposure. Prolonged exposure to a person tends to reduce the importance of
your first impression of that person. Although its important to try to make a favorable
first impression on the first day of your new job, do not worry too much about it if you
do. Eventually, your fellow employees will get to know the real you. Information about
you gathered over a long period of time will erase any first impressions. Working in favor
of prolonged exposures correcting any inaccuracies in our first impressions is the fact
that we are more likely to notice and remember information that is inconsistent with our
first impression of a person (Belmore, 1987; Belmore & Hubbard, 1987).
70. Passage of time. Like anything else, first impressions tend to be forgotten over time. If a
substantial period of time passes between first and subsequent impressions, the more
recent impression will be of greater importance. Thus, if you flubbed your first attempt to
favorably impress that gorgeous person, wait awhile and try again later.
71. Knowledge of primacy effect. When people are warned to avoid being influenced by first
impressions, the primacy effect can be reduced (Hovland, 1957). Personnel managers and
others to whom accurate person perception is important are educated to the dangers of
primacy effects and may be able to reduce the importance of primacy in their perceptions.
Emotions and Person Perception
Another important factor in person perception that can be irrelevant to the nature of the
person about whom we are forming an impression is our emotions. The emotional state that we
are in when we meet a person has a great deal to do with our liking that person (Foster & others,
1998). Positive emotional states lead to greater attraction to others than negative emotion do.
William Griffith and Russel Veitch (1971) had radio news broadcast turned on as individuals
waited for an experiment in interpersonal attraction to begin. The broadcast was actually taped
beforehand, so that half of the participants heard a depressing broadcast and half heard happy
news. Afterward, the participants hearing the sad news did not like the strangers they had met in
the experiment as well as did the persons who had heard the good news. These findings were
confirmed in a well-designed study by Joseph Forgas and Gordon Bower (1987), who also found
that we are able to remember positive information about another person when we meet him or
her when we are in a good mood, and we are better able to remember negative information when
we meet another person when we are in a bad mood. The effects of mood on person perception
are likely, then, to be relatively enduring.
Attribution Process in Person Perception
We have a strong tendency to evaluate other people both on the basis of what they do and
why we think they do it. Unfortunately, when we judge the reasons that other people behave as
they do, we typically underestimate the effects of social situation and overestimate the
importance of their personal characteristics (Aronson, 1995; Ross, 1977). If you meet a man at a
party who is acting sullen and depressed, you are more likely to assume that he is an unhappy
person in general than to assume that he is usually happy but something happened recently to
make him feel lousy.
In contrast, we are more likely to see the influence of social situations on our own
behavior. For example, a few years ago I was invited to a large party hosted by an association of
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professional women. I found myself quite shy in the company of these women, nearly all of
whom seemed more intelligent, self-secure, and stylish than I.

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It was easy for me to see the effect of this social situation on my own behavior, but if I had seen
another male behaving shyly at the same party, I probably would have just assumed he was an
inherently shy person without thinking about it.
Social psychologists Fritz Heider (1985) has termed this the fundamental attribution
error, meaning our tendency to underestimate the impact of situations on others, while more
readily seeing its impact on ourselves. In simple terms, attribution is the process of making
judgments about what causes people to behave the way they do. The most important aspect of
attribution process is deciding whether a person is behaving in a particular way because of some
external cause (situational attribution) or because of an internal motive or trait (dispositional
attribution). Unless we can see that someones behavior consistently changes in a situation, we
tend to attribute that persons behavior to dispositional causes (Kelley, 1973.) Because we often
lack information on the extent to which another persons behavior is consistently influenced by
situations, we make dispositional attributions too often.
People in all culture make the fundamental attribution error, but people living in East
Asian collectivistic cultures are less likely to do so than people living in individualistic West
cultures (Choi, Nisbett & Norenzayan, 1999). The Chinese and Japanese, for example, are less
likely than North Americans to attribute the behavior of other people to dispositional causes (to
their personal characteristics) and more likely to perceive situational influences on their
behavior. This makes sense, as collectivistic cultures emphasize the importance of the social
context and deemphasize the importance of the individual. This encourages people to think in
terms of social influences rather than personal characteristics as a cause of actions.
The East Asian view of the importance of situational influences on human behavior is
often quite correct. Social situations can exert powerful influences on our behavior.
General Determinants of Interpersonal Attraction
Through the complicated process of person perception, a unique impression of each
person is formed. But, although person perception is a highly personal process, some general
factors influence whether one person will be attracted to another. These include proximity,
similar and complementary characteristics, competence, physical attractiveness, and mutual
liking.
Proximity
An important, but not very romantic cause of attraction is proximity, or geographical
closeness. Its difficult to fall in love with someone you hardly ever spend time with. Physical
closeness and the resulting interpersonal contact are essential to the development of attraction.
You are more friendly with people who live next door to you than with people who live father
away. Why does this happen? Physical proximity increases interactions, and repeated exposure to
people tends to increase liking (Zajonc, 1968). Perhaps you can remember a song you didnt like
at first but learned to like after hearing it played on the radio many times- its the same with
people.
Similar and Complementary Characteristics
In terms of personal attraction, do birds of a feather flock together or do opposites
attract? Are you more likely to be attracted to someone as a friend or lover who is similar to you
in many ways or quite different from you? The answer is both, in different ways (Bem, 1996).
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We tend to be most attracted to those people who have similar values, interests, and
attitudes (Caspi & Herbener, 1990; Feingold, 1998).

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Opposites can also attract, however. Sometimes the attractiveness of persons unlike us is
purely erotic (Bem, 1996). But opposites also attract when the opposite characteristic
complements, or advantageously fits with, one of our own characteristics. Similarly, a
dominant person might prefer a submissive person, and a person who likes to take care of
others might prefer someone who liked to be taken care of (Winch, 1958).
Another condition under which opposites attract is when people are different from you
like you (Aronson, 1995). Its often more flattering and attractive to be liked by someone who
holds opposite values and opinions than by someone who holds similar ones (Jones, Bell &
Aronson, 1971). But take note that opposites usually do not attract; instead, opposites usually
repel in personal relationships. A person who intensely advocates liberal causes probably would
not like a person who vocally supports conservative causes. And a highly religious person
probably would not find a disdain for religion attractive in another person.
Competence
We tend to be more attracted to competent than to incompetent people. Intelligence,
strength, social skill, education, and athletic prowess are generally thought of as attractive
qualities. But people who are seen too competent may suffer a loss in attractiveness, perhaps
because it makes us uncomfortable to compare ourselves unfavorably with them. Elliot Aronson
and associates conducted a clever experiment that demonstrates that its best to be little less than
perfect (Aronson, Willerman, & Floyd, 1966).
Physical Attractiveness
Other things equal, people tend to be more attracted to physically beautiful people. In the
absence of information, we tend to like beautiful people more and think of them as nicer, better,
adjusted, more sexual, and more intelligent (Eagly, Ashmore, Makhijani, 1991; Feingold, 1992).
Not only is physical attractiveness important, but it also seems to be most important factor in the
early stages of attraction. (1996).
Elaine Walster and colleagues randomly paired male and female college students for
blind dates. They rated each students physical attractiveness and gave them tests to measure
attitude, intelligence, and personality characteristics. After the blind dates, the students were
asked how much they liked each other and whether they intended to go out on other dates with
one another. The overwhelmingly important variable in determining attraction was physical
attractiveness- more so than intelligence, personality, and attitudes. The couples who were most
likely to like each other well enough to continue dating were the ones in which both the male and
female rated each other as attractive. (Walster, Aronson, Abraham &Rottman, 1966)
But dont despair; there may be some hope for the rest of us yet! Although we might all
prefer to be dating someone who looks like Joseph Sugg or Harry Styles, people actually tend to
choose dates and mates who closely match themselves in degree of physical attractiveness
(Berscheid, Dion, Walster, & Walster, 1971). What is more, physical beauty is highly subjective
quality. Thus even if you do not think your next-door neighbor is much to look at, chances are
that someone else will come along who thinks he or she is just beautiful.
Perhaps the nicest thing about physical attractiveness and liking, though, is that
relationship goes both ways. Not only is it true that we tend to like people better when we think
they are beautiful, but, as we get to like people better, we begin to think they are more beautiful

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(Langlois & Stephan, 1981). Thus, to a certain extent, love is blind and beauty is in the eye of the
beholder- and nothing could be nicer.
Mutual Liking
Lets end this discussion of factors involved in interpersonal attractiveness on an upbeat
note. Liking often leads to liking in return. Liking someone will make yourself more attractive to
someone you like by liking him/her. Liking someone will not turn you into an irresistibly beauty,
but it will help.
One reason this seems to be so is that liking someone actually makes you seem more
physically attractive, especially if a little lust is thrown in. You have heard people way that
person is more beautiful when in love, and its true. Your eyes are more attractive. The pupils are
more dilated (opened) when you look at someone you find more attractive sexually (Hess, 1975).
And your posture and movements are more attractive and seductive. In subtle ways, you are
more physically alluring when you are attracted to another person.
Another reason that liking tens to lead liking is that you are nicer to the people whom you
like, and being nicer makes you more attractive to them. A number of studies show, for example,
that we tend to like people more when they praise us or when they have done favors for us.
Favors and praise feel nice, and we like the giver better for having giving them to us. As you
might expect, there are limits in the impact of praise favors. If they are excessive, and especially
if the other person thinks you are insincere and have selfish motives for fiving them, praise and
gifts will not lead to increased liking and may even lessen the liking. (Aronson, 1995)
Gender Differences in Interpersonal Attraction
Its a commonly held belief in our culture that men are not very interested in romantic
love but, rather, enter into long-term relationships for the sex and the domestic help (cooking,
cleaning , and mending). Women, in contrast are viewed as approaching relationships in a more
emotional, romantic way. The results of surveys conducted during 1960s, however, suggested
that this popular stereotype not only was incorrect but had reality inversed. Men rated falling in
love as being more important reason for beginning a relationship than did women. Women saw
other qualities of relationship, such as respect and support as being more important. In one
survey, two-thirds of male unmarried college students said they would not marry unless they felt
more romantic love for their prospective wife, whereas less than one-fourth of college women
felt that romantic love was a prerequisite for marriage. (Hill, Rubin & Peplau, 1976; Kephart,
1967)
However, more recent surveys suggest that things have changed in western countries
concerning gender differences in valuating romantic love (Simpson, Campbell, & Berscheid,
1986). Today, the great majority of women and men feel that being in love is necessary for
marriage. Perhaps as women have come to feel less dependent on marriage for financial support
they have felt able to enter into marriage only when they are in love with their future partner.
This does not mean that men and women fall in love for all the same reasons, however.
The evidence is clear that women place more emphasis on their romantic partners intelligence,
character, education, occupational status, ambition, and income than do men (Feingold, 1990,
1992; Myers, 1999). These qualities are not important to men, but they are comparatively more
important to women. In contrast, there are no gender differences in how much sense of humor
and a pleasant personality are valued in romantic relationships, but men place greater emphasis
on physical attractiveness than do women. Again, it is not that physical attractiveness does not
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play a role in romantic attraction for women (it does), but women place considerably less
emphasis on physical attractiveness than do men. Interestingly, these same results have been
found in different generations. (Feingold, 1992)
It is important to keep in mind, however, that there are large differences among the
members of both genders. Perhaps the most striking thing about cognitive algebra person
perception is that different people often seem to be using different equations.
Whether a characteristic is considered positive or negative and how much weight it will carry in
person perception differs markedly from individual to individual. Different people evaluate the
same characteristics in different ways, some people are going to love you, some are going to
dislike you, and the rest will find you so-so.
Maintaining Relationships
We have talked about some of the factors that determine whether you will be attracted to
another person. How about the factors that are involved in maintaining relationships? Assuming
that one of the people whom you are attracted to becomes your friend, lover, or spouse, what
things determine whether you and your partner will stay in the relationship? So many
relationships that begin in joy end in long cry. Why? Two of the major factors are (1) the
difference between what you expect to find in a relationship and what you actually find and (2)
the degree to which the relationship is fairly balanced or equitable.
Expectations vs. Reality in Relationships
When you begin a relationship with someone you do not know very well, part of what
you fall in love with is what you expect the person to be like. Some of these expectations may be
based on good evidence. One of his friends has told you that he is an especially nice and fair
person, so its reasonable to expect him to be fair and nice to you. You know that he is in the
same profession as you, so you can expect to be able to share your workday experiences easily
with him. Other expectations are based on less evidence. He has behaved in a strong, self-assured
way so far, so you assume that he will always be this way, even though the biggest challenge you
have seen him handle is the waiters mistake of bringing tomato soup instead of minestrone. You
know that he is a wonderful lover, even though he has only just kissed you goodnight once. He
dresses like an outdoorsman, so you expect him to love backpacking as much as you do. And he
is well educated, so you feel sure he will share your love of serious literature.
The point is that, even when your expectations are fairly well grounded, some of them
will turn out to be incorrect. He will not be exactly as you expect him to be before the
relationship begins. This is one primary reason relationship end. If the other person turns out to
be significantly different from the person you expected, you may be unwilling to stay in the
relationship. This disappointment may not lead directly to an end of the relationship; it may
affect the relationship indirectly. Disappointment can lead you to be an unenthusiastic or irritable
partner, which can lead to discord an unhappy ending of the relationship. (Graziano & Mazzer,
1982)
Even when you know a person well before beginning a serious relationship, differences
between expectations and reality can be a problem. One common source of unfulfilled
expectations is the predictable shift from passionate love to compassionate love (Hatfield,
1998; Myers, 1999). When two people first fall in love, they often feel intense passions that are a
heady and magnificent mixture of romantic, sexual, and other feelings. Even in the healthiest and
enduring relationship, however, passionate love gradually becomes companionate love- a less
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intense but wonderful blend of friendship, intimacy, commitment, and security. Although
romantic and sexual emotions often continue to be an important part of companionate love, these
feelings almost inevitably become less intense over time.
If one or both of the partners does not expect passionate love to change, or if the change
takes place before expected, the reality of passionate loves blending into companionate love can
be difficult. On the other hand, if both partners truly want a long-term relationship (many people
stay in relationships only as long as the passionate love remains, then leave feeling unfulfilled or
hurt), and if the disappointment that often surrounds the lessening of romantic love is handles
with compassion on both sides, the transition usually can be managed.
Finally, expectations about a love relationship can fail to match its reality because
partners change over time. Sometimes, the outdoor person becomes a happy couch potato, and
the party animal becomes a health-conscious, jogging vegetarian. If children arrive, and if
promotions are received (or not received), these and other changes can alter the reality of the
relationship as well. If these changes in ones partner are not welcome, the reality of the changed
relationship can be upsetting. Sometimes, however, a change in a partner can make a good
relationship even better.
Equity in Relationships
Relationships are more likely to endure when the good things that we give to our partner
are about equal to what our partner gives us. These good things that partners give to one
another are many and varied. They include compliments, back rubs, help with homework, a day
off without the kids, flowers, jokes, love making, a willingness to listen about a bad day,
interesting meals, kisses, and interesting conversations. They also include things like physical
attractiveness, honesty, faithfulness, and integrity.
The common sense idea that enduring relationships are ones in which the partners give
and receive in equal proportion has been formalized and improved by social psychologists
(Adams, 1965; Myers, 1999; Walster & Walster, 1978) under the name equity theory. Equity
theory states that partners will be comfortable in their relationship only when the ration between
their perceived contributions and benefits is equal. Equity theory is often summarized by the
following equation:
Perceived benefits of person X
= Perceived benefits of person Y
Perceived contributions of person X
Perceived contributions of person Y
These benefits and contributions cannot be easily translated into numerical terms, but
suppose for a moment that person X perceives that she gives 10 things to the relationship,
whereas person Y perceives that he gives only 5 things. Is this an equitable relationship? It is if
person X perceives 10 benefits from the relationship, whereas person Y perceives 5 benefits,
because the equation is balanced.
There are two important points to notice in the equity theory: First, the benefits that the
two people receive from one another do not have to be equal, but the ratio between their benefits
and contributions must be equal. A person who both gives and receives a lot can be in an
equitable relationship with a person who gives much less.
Second, notice that the equation is written in terms of perceived benefits and
contributions. The only person who can judge how much he or she is giving and receiving is that
person. An outside observer might see a relationship as being highly inequitable when the partner
themselves are very happy with it. Tender love might be highly important to one person but
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much less important than good cooking to someone else. Unfortunately, people tend to believe
that the amount of good things that we ourselves should be fairly receive (Messick & Sentis,
1979). If we are not careful to compensate for this natural perceptual distortion, it can lead us to
perceive an inequity in our relationships when there is none at all.
If either member of a relationship perceives the relationship to be inequitable, that partner
will either take steps to restore equity or will leave the relationship. Interestingly, we become
uncomfortable in relationships either when we feel that we receive too little compared with what
we give or when we receive too much compared with what we give. In either case, we will be
motivated to restore equity by giving more or less or by asking (or in some other way inducing)
the other person to give more or less.
CHAPTER 14
ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
Abnormal psychology is the study of mental disorders (also called mental illness,
psychological disorders or psychopathology) what they look like (symptoms), why they
occur (etiology), how they are maintained, and what effect they have on peoples lives.
WHAT DOES ABNORMAL MEAN?
Defining abnormality is deceptively difficult. When asked to describe abnormal behavior,
people typically say that it occurs infrequently, is odd or strange, is characterized by
suffering, or is dangerous. All of these are reasonable answers for some types of abnormal
behavior, but none of them is sufficient in itself, and making them all necessary results in
too strict a definition. One parsimonious and practical way to define abnormal behavior is
to ask whether the behavior causes impairment in the persons life. The more a behavior
gets in the way of successful functioning in an important domain of life (including the
psychological, interpersonal and achievement/performance domains), the more likely it is
to be considered a sign of abnormality. When several such behaviors or symptoms occur
together, they may constitute a psychological disorder.
WHAT CAUSES ABNORMAL BEHAVIOUR?
Biology and genetics Biological and genetic models assert that mental disorders are
diseases, and symptoms of mental disorders are caused by factors such as brain defects
(abnormalities in the structures of the brain), biochemical imbalances (complex
dysregulation processes involving various neurotransmitters) and genetic predispositions
(risk for psychopathology carried via our genetic material). Genetic models of mental
disorder suggest that psychopathology is inherited from parents, and there is certainly
evidence for the familial transmission of many disorders

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Psychodynamics and the parentchild relationship Freud emphasized the role of the
early parentchild relationship in the development of mental illness. According to Freud,
to the extent that the child did not successfully negotiate the psychosexual stages , mental
illness would develop. But Freud didnt focus on what actually occurred in the parent
child relationship (e.g. whether parents were actually poor caretakers). Instead, his focus
was on the unconscious internal desires and motivations of the child (e.g. sexual and
aggressive impulses) and how the child negotiated them as s/he progressed through the
early relationship with the childs parents. For example, if an adult male found himself
unable to deal with authority figures, this might be interpreted as unresolved aggressive
impulses towards his father. Whether his father behaved as a harsh authority figure or not
would be considered less relevant. So, according to Freud, mental illness is due to
intrapsychic (i.e. within the mind) conflict. This means a person may have very little
insight into the true causes of their symptoms, as these are thought to be occurring at an
unconscious level of processing
Attachment and security The attachment model of psychopathology, developed by
Bowlby (1969; 1973; 1980; see also chapter 9) resembles the contemporary
psychodynamic models in that it also emphasizes the early parentchild relationship and
how the resulting models of self and others guide development. Attachment theory
suggests that when parental Rishevel fails to make children feel safe, secure, and able to
turn to and trust the parent in times of need, then children will be unable to regulate their
emotions and needs adaptively and will develop negative, insecure views of themselves
and others. This would put children at risk for developing psychological disorders.
Research supports this hypothesis, as insecure children and adults show more
psychopathology than secure children and adults.
Learned Bishevel Behavioural models suggest that all Rishevel, abnormal included, is
a product of learning mainly learning by association (see chapter 4). For example,
according to the classical conditioning model of learning (e.g. Pavlov, 1928), if a man
experiences chest pains which result in anxiety while shopping in a department store, he
may develop a fear of department stores and begin to avoid them because he associates
them with anxiety. There is nothing inherently frightening about department stores, but
this man fears them because of the association that he has formed with his earlier anxiety
about having a possible heart attack.
Distorted thinking Cognitive models of abnormal Rishevel focus on the way people
think about themselves, others and the world (e.g. Beck et al., 1979). Distorted cognitive
processes such as selectively attending to some information and ignoring other
information, exaggerating negative feelings, expecting the worst, or making inaccurate
attributions about events (see chapters 14 and 17) have been shown to play an important
role in various types of psychological disorders.
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PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS
Schizophrenia a living nightmare
Images of schizophrenia are easy to conjure a Risheveled person, alone, talking
to himself or yelling at someone else that only he seems to see. This is a
frightening image, for the symptoms it portrays are extremely odd and
disconcerting. Indeed, schizophrenia can be a frightening disorder to deal with,
not only for those involved with schizophrenic people, but for the sufferers
themselves.
Mood disorders depression
Although mood disorders have some symptoms in common, they are very
different in terms of their prevalence and causes. Major depressive disorder, also
called unipolar depression, is one of the most common of these disorders, whereas
bipolar disorder (also known as manic-depression), like schizophrenia, is less
prevalent
Anxiety disorders when fear takes over
Anxiety is a set of symptoms: n emotional (e.g. fear, worry) n physical (e.g.
shortness of breath, heart pounding, sweating, upset stomach) n cognitive (e.g.
fear of dying, losing control, going crazy). When someone experiences this cluster
of symptoms, it is often called a panic attack. Like depressed mood, anxiety is a
common experience almost everyone has felt some level of anxiety in their
lives. In many circumstances, it is a normal adaptive experience, physiologically
preparing our bodies to respond when we sense danger. Our autonomic nervous
system (see chapter 3) gets us ready for fight or flight and then, when the danger
has passed, calms us back down again so that we can go back to normal
functioning
Eating disorders bulimia and anorexia
Rather than being vain, people with eating disorders struggle with issues about
who they are, what they are worth, whether they will be able to take care of
themselves and how to negotiate relationships. Eating disorders are complex and
difficult to overcome. There are currently two eating disorders included in the
ICD-10 and DSM-IV bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa.
Although they differ in important ways, they have four things in common:
1. a distorted body image (inaccurate assessment about shape and weight);
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2. an intense fear of being fat;


3. a sense of self that revolves around the individuals body and weight; and
4. eating that is regulated by psychological rather than physiological processes,
although the form of eating regulation is quite different for the two disorders.
Substance use disorders abuse and dependence
Regardless of what people may experience as positive effects of drugs and
alcohol, they both have negative effects on our health and ability to function,
especially when used repeatedly. This recurrent use may result in a substance use
disorder.
Personality disorders a way of being
So far, the disorders we have described have traditionally been considered
syndromes, which like physical illnesses are not part of peoples basic
character structure. When treated appropriately, these syndromes usually remit
and people return to normal functioning, at least for a while. But personality
disorders are different. They are disorders of peoples basic character structure
so there is no normal functioning to return to. The personality disorders
themselves are peoples normal way of functioning, and appropriate treatment
means learning entirely new ways of being

SUMMARY

The field of abnormal psychology, or psychopathology, deals with sets of behaviors, or


symptoms, that result in impairment in peoples lives. These sets of symptoms constitute
psychological disorders or mental illness.
Although the definition of abnormal behavior is sensitive to a number of contextual
factors, psychological disorders (e.g. schizophrenia) have been documented across time
and culture.
Throughout history, the causes of abnormal behavior have been construed from a number
of different perspectives, each of which tells us something unique about different aspects
of psychological disorders.
Biological/genetic models focus on brain defects, biochemical imbalances and genetic
predispositions as causes of psychopathology.
In contrast, Freudian, contemporary psychodynamic and attachment models focus on the
effects of early parentchild experiences.
Behavioural models focus on the learning experiences that result in psychopathology,
whereas cognitive models focus on the effect of distorted thought processes.
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Other perspectives integrate various models. The diathesisstress perspective suggests


that the factors identified by each of the other models may work in accordance with one
another, so that psychopathology only results when certain combinations of factors (e.g.
genetic, environmental) are present.
Similarly, the developmental psychopathology perspective provides a framework for
understanding how psychopathology develops from childhood to adulthood.
These perspectives can help us understand the numerous disorders documented in
nosologies such as the DSM-IV and the ICD-10.

SOURCE: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/intropsych/pdf/chapter15.pdf

ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY AN INTRODUCTION


Abnormal psychology is the branch of psychology that studies unusual patterns of
behavior, emotion and thought, which may or may not be understood as precipitating a
mental disorder. Although many behaviors could be considered as abnormal, this branch of
psychology generally deals with behavior in a clinical context. There is a long history of attempts
to understand and control behavior deemed to be aberrant or deviant (statistically, morally or in
some other sense), and there is often cultural variation in the approach taken. The field of
abnormal psychology identifies multiple causes for different conditions, employing diverse
theories from the general field of psychology and elsewhere, and much still hinges on what
exactly is meant by abnormal. There has traditionally been a divide between psychological and
biological explanations, reflecting a philosophical dualism in regard to the mind body problem.
There have also been different approaches in trying to classify mental disorders. Abnormal
includes three different categories; they are subnormal, supernormal and paranormal.
The science of abnormal psychology studies two types of behaviors: adaptive and
maladaptive behaviors. Behaviors that are maladaptive suggest that some problem(s) exist, and
can also imply that the individual is vulnerable and cannot cope with environmental stress, which
is leading them to have problems functioning in daily life. Clinical psychology is the applied
field of psychology that seeks to assess, understand and treat psychological conditions in clinical
practice. The theoretical field known as abnormal psychology may form a backdrop to such
work, but clinical psychologists in the current field are unlikely to use the term abnormal in
reference to their practice. Psychopathology is a similar term to abnormal psychology but has
more of an implication of an underlying pathology (disease process), and as such is a term more
commonly used in the medical specialty known as psychiatry.
History
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Supernatural Traditions
Throughout time, societies have proposed several explanations of abnormal behavior
within human beings. Beginning in some hunter-gatherer societies, animists have believed that
people demonstrating abnormal behavior is possessed by malevolent spirits. This idea has
been associated with trephination, the practice of cutting a hole into the individuals skull in
order to release the malevolent spirits. Although it has been difficult to define abnormal
psychology, one definition includes characteristics such as statistical infrequency.
A more formalized response to spiritual beliefs about abnormality is the practice of
exorcism. Performed by religious authorities, exorcism is thought of as another way to release
evil spirits who cause pathological behavior within the person. In some instances, individuals
exhibiting unusual thoughts or behaviors have been exiled from society or worse. Perceived
witchcraft, for example, has been punished by death. Two Catholic Inquisitors wrote the Malleus
Maleficarum (Latin for The Hammer against Witches), that was used by many Inquisitors and
witch-hunters. It contained an early taxonomy of perceived deviant behavior and proposed
guidelines for prosecuting deviant individuals.
Asylums
The act of placing mentally ill individuals in a separate facility known as an asylum
dates to 1547, when King Henry VIII of England established the St. Mary of Bethlehem asylum
in London. This hospital, nicknamed Bedlam, was famous for its deplorable conditions. Asylums
remained popular throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance era. These early asylums
were often in miserable conditions. Patients were seen as a burden to society and locked away
and treated almost as beasts to be dealt with rather than patients needing treatment.
However, many of the patients received helpful medical treatment. There was scientific curiosity
into abnormal behavior although it was rarely investigated in the early asylums. Inmates in these
early asylums were often put on display for profit as they were viewed as less than human.
In the late 18th century the idea of humanitarian treatment for the patients gained much favor due
to the work of Philippe Pinel in France. He pushed for the idea that the patients should be
treated with kindness and not the cruelty inflicted on them as if they were animals or criminals.
His experimental ideas such as removing the chains from the patients were met with reluctance.
The experiments in kindness proved to be a great success, which helped to bring about a reform
in the way mental institutions would be run.
Continuing institutionalization
Institutionalization would continue to improve throughout the 19th and 20th century due to
work of many humanitarians such as Dorethea Dix, and the mental hygiene movement which
promoted the physical well-being of the mental patients.Dix more than any other figure in the
nineteenth century, made people in America and virtually all of Europe aware that the insane
were being subjected to incredible abuses. Through this movement millions of dollars were
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raised to build new institutions to house the mentally ill. Mental hospitals began to grow
substantially in numbers during the 20th century as care for the mentally ill increased in them.
By 1939 there were over 400,000 patients in state mental hospitals in the USA. Hospital
stays were normally quite long for the patients, with some individuals being treated for many
years. These hospitals while better than the asylums of the past were still lacking in the means of
effective treatment for the patients, and even though the reform movement had occurred; patients
were often still met with cruel and inhumane treatment.
Things began to change in the year 1946 when Mary Jane Ward published the
influential book titled The Snake Pit which was made into a popular movie of the same name.
The book called attention to the conditions which mental patients faced and helped to spark
concern in the general public to create more humane mental health care in these overcrowded
hospitals.
In this same year the National Institute of Mental Health was also created which provided
support for the training hospital employees and research into the conditions which afflicted the
patients. During this period the Hill-Burton Acts was also passed which was a program that
funded mental health hospitals. Along with the Community Health Services Act of 1963, the
Hill-Burton Acts helped with the creation of outpatient psychiatric clinics, inpatient general
hospitals, and rehabilitation and community consultation centers.
Deinstitutionalization
In the late twentieth century however, the public view on the mentally ill was no longer in
such a positive light. A large number of mental hospitals ended up closing down due to lack of
funding and overpopulation. In England for example only 14 of the 130 psychiatric institutions
that had been created in the early 20th century remained open at the start of the 21st century. In
1963, President John Kennedy launched the community health movement in the United States as
a bold new approach to mental health care, aimed at coordinating mental health services for
citizens in mental health centers. In the span of 40 years, the United States was able to see an
about 90 percent drop in the number of patients in Psychiatric hospitals.
This trend was not only in the England and the United States but worldwide with
countries like Australia feeling the pain of too many mentally ill patients and not enough
treatment facilities. Recent studies have found that the prevalence of mental illness has not
decreased significantly in the past 10 years, and has in fact increased in frequency regarding
specific conditions such as anxiety and mood disorders.
This led to a large number of the patients being released while not being fully cured of
the disorder they were hospitalized for. This became known as the phenomenon of
deinstitutionalization. This movement had noble goals of treating the individuals outside of the
isolated mental hospital by placing them into communities and support systems. Another goal of
this movement was to avoid the potential negative adaptations that can come with long term
hospital confinements. Many professionals for example were concerned that patients would find
permanent refuge in mental hospitals which would take them up when the demands of everyday
life were too difficult. However, the patients moved to the community living have not fared well
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typically, as they often speak of how they feel abandoned by the doctors who used to treat
them. It also has had the unfortunate effect of placing many of the patients in homelessness.
Many safe havens for the deinstitutionalized mentally ill have been created but they are not as
effective as needed. It is estimated that around 26.2% of people who are currently homeless have
some form of a mental illness. The placing of these individuals in homelessness is of major
concern as the added stress of living on the streets is not beneficial for the individual to recover
from the particular disorder with which they are afflicted. In fact while some of the homeless
who are able to find some temporary relief in the form of shelters, many of the homeless with a
mental illness lack safe and decent shelter.
Explaining Abnormal Behavior
People have tried to explain and control abnormal behavior for thousands of years.
Historically, there have been three main approaches to abnormal behavior: the supernatural,
biological, and psychological traditions. Abnormal psychology revolves around two major
paradigms for explaining mental disorders, the psychological paradigm and the biological
paradigm. The psychological paradigm focuses more on the humanistic, cognitive and
behavioral causes and effects of psychopathology. The biological paradigm includes the
theories that focus more on physical factors, such as genetics and neurochemistry.

Supernatural explanations
In the supernatural tradition, also called the demonological method, abnormal behaviors
are attributed to agents outside human bodies. According to this model, abnormal behaviors are
caused by demons, spirits, or the influences of moon, planets, and stars. During the Stone Age,
trephining was performed on those who had mental illness to literally cut the evil spirits out of
the victims head. Conversely, Ancient Chinese, Ancient Egyptians, and Hebrews, believed that
these were evil demons or spirits and advocated exorcism. By the time of the Greeks and
Romans, mental illnesses were thought to be caused by an imbalance of the four humors, leading
to draining of fluids from the brain. During the Medieval period, many Europeans believed that
the power of witches, demons, and spirits caused abnormal behaviors. People with psychological
disorders were thought to be possessed by evil spirits that had to be exorcised through religious
rituals. If exorcism failed, some authorities advocated steps such as confinement, beating, and
other types of torture to make the body uninhabitable by witches, demons, and spirits. The belief
that witches, demons, and spirits are responsible for the abnormal behavior continued into the
15th century. Swiss alchemist, astrologer, and physician Paracelsus (14931541), on the other
hand, rejected the idea that abnormal behaviors were caused by witches, demons, and spirits and
suggested that peoples mind and behaviors were influenced by the movements of the moon and
stars.
This tradition is still alive today. Some people, especially in the developing countries and
some followers of religious sects in the developed countries, continue to believe that supernatural
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powers influence human behaviors. In Western academia, the supernatural tradition has been
largely replaced by the biological and psychological traditions.
Biological explanations
In the biological tradition, psychological disorders are attributed to biological causes
and in the psychological tradition, disorders are attributed to faulty psychological
development and to social context. The medical or biological perspective holds the belief that
most or all abnormal behavior can be attributed to a medical factor; assuming all psychological
disorders are diseases.
The Greek physician Hippocrates, who is considered to be the father of Western
medicine, played a major role in the biological tradition. Hippocrates and his associates wrote
the Hippocratic Corpus between 450 and 350 BC, in which they suggested that abnormal
behaviors can be treated like any other disease. Hippocrates viewed the brain as the seat of
consciousness, emotion, intelligence, and wisdom and believed that disorders involving these
functions would logically be located in the brain.
These ideas of Hippocrates and his associates were later adopted by Galen, the Roman
physician. Galen extended these ideas and developed a strong and influential school of thought
within the biological tradition that extended well into the 18th century.
The medical approach to abnormal psychology focuses on the biological causes on
mental illness. This perspective emphasizes understanding the underlying cause of disorders,
which might include genetic inheritance, related physical disorders, infections and chemical
imbalances. Medical treatments are often pharmacological in nature, although medication is
often used in conjunction with some other type of psychotherapy.
Psychological explanations
The behavioral approach to abnormal psychology focuses on observable behaviors.
In behavioral therapy, the focus is on reinforcing positive behaviors and not reinforcing
maladaptive behaviors. This approach targets only the behavior itself, not the underlying causes.
Multiple causality
The number of different theoretical perspectives in the field of psychological abnormality
has made it difficult to properly explain psychopathology. The attempt to explain all mental
disorders with the same theory leads to reductionism (explaining a disorder or other complex
phenomena using only a single idea or perspective). Most mental disorders are composed of
several factors, which is why one must take into account several theoretical perspectives when
attempting to diagnose or explain a particular behavioral abnormality or mental disorder.
Explaining mental disorders with a combination of theoretical perspectives is known as multiple
causality.
The diathesisstress model emphasizes the importance of applying multiple
causality to psychopathology by stressing that disorders are caused by both precipitating
causes and predisposing causes. A precipitating cause is an immediate trigger that instigates a
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persons action or behavior. A predisposing cause is an underlying factor that interacts with the
immediate factors to result in a disorder. Both causes play a key role in the development of a
psychological disorder.
Recent Concepts Of Abnormality
Statistical abnormality when a certain behavior/characteristic is relevant to a low
percentage of the population. However, this does not necessarily mean that such individuals are
suffering from mental illness (for example, statistical abnormalities such as extreme
wealth/attractiveness)
Psychometric abnormality when a certain behavior/characteristic differs from the
populations normal dispersion e.g. having an IQ of 35 could be classified as abnormal, as the
population average is 100. However, this does not specify a particular mental illness.
Deviant behavior this is not always a sign of mental illness, as mental illness can occur
without deviant behavior, and such behavior may occur in the absence of mental illness.
Combinations including distress, dysfunction, distorted psychological processes,
inappropriate responses in given situations and causing/risking harm to oneself.
Approaches
Somatogenic abnormality is seen as a result of biological disorders in the brain. This
approach has led to the development of radical biological treatments, e.g. lobotomy.
Psychogenic abnormality is caused by psychological problems. Psychoanalytic
(Freud), Cathartic, Hypnotic and Humanistic Psychology (Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow)
treatments were all derived from this paradigm. This approach has, as well, led to some esoteric
treatments: Franz Mesmer used to place his patients in a darkened room with music playing, then
enter it wearing a flamboyant outfit and poke the infected body areas with a stick.

CHAPTER 15
PSYCHOTHERAPY
PSYCHOTHERAPY
-a systematic interaction between a therapist and a client that applies psychological
principles to affect the clients thoughts, feelings, or behavior in an effort to help the client
overcome psychological disorder, adjust to problems in living, or develop as an individual.
History of therapies
Asylums
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Asylums originated in European monasteries. They were the first institutions meant
primarily for people with psychological disorders. But their function was ware-housing, not
treatment. Their inmate populations mushroomed until the stresses created by noise,
overcrowding, and disease aggravated the problems they were meant to ease. Inmates were
frequently chained and beaten.
The word bedlam derives from St. Marys of Bethlehem, the London asylum that opened
its gates in 1547. Here unfortunate people with psychological disorders were chained, whipped,
and allowed to lie in their own waste.
Humanitarian reform movements began in the 18th century. In Paris, the physician
Philippine Pinel unchained the patients at La Salpetriere. Rather than the run amok, as has been
feared, most patients profited from kindness and freedom. Many eventually reentered society.
Later movements to reform institutions were led by William Tuke in England and Dorothea Dix
in America.
Mental Hospitals
In the United Sates, mental hospitals gradually replaced asylums. In the mid-1950s more
than a million people resided in state, country, Veterans Administration, or private facilities. The
mental hospitals function is treatment, not warehousing. Still, because of high patient
populations and understaffing, many patients received little attention. Even today, with
somewhat improved conditions, one psychiatrist may be responsible for the welfare of several
hundred residents on the weekend when other staffs are absent.
The Community Mental Health Movement
Since the 1960s, efforts have been made to maintain people with serious psychological
disorders in their communities. Community mental health centers attempt to maintain new
patients as outpatients and to serve patients who have been released from mental hospitals.
Today, most people with chronic psychological disorders live in the community, not in the
hospital. Social critics note that many people who had resided in hospitals for decades were
suddenly discharged to home communities that seemed foreign and forbidden to them. Many
do not receive adequate follow-up care. Many join the ranks of the homeless.
TECHNIQUES OF PSYCHOTHERAPY
Psychodynamic Therapies
-also known as insight-oriented therapy, focuses on unconscious processes as they are
manifested in a persons present behavior. The goals of psychodynamic therapy are a clients
self-awareness and understanding of the influence of the past on present behavior.
Behavior Therapies
-also called behavior modification, is a treatment that helps change potentially selfdestructing behaviors. Medical professionals use this type of therapy to replace bad habits with
good ones. The therapy also helps you cope with difficult situations.

Systematic Desensitization
- Method of eliminating fears by substituting a response that is
incompatible
with anxietynamely, relaxation. The client is first trained to
relax deeply.
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Selective Reinforcement
-Strengthening of specific desired behaviors, is based on the
principles of
operant conditioning and has also proved to be an effective method of modifying behavior,
especially with children.
Modeling
- Process by which person learns behaviors by observing and imitating
others.
Because observing others is a major way in which humans learn, watching people who are
displaying adaptive behavior should teach people with maladaptive responses better coping
strategies.
Behavior Rehearsal
-Often combined with modeling in every therapy session. The
the client rehearse or practice more adaptive behaviors.

therapist helps

Self-Regulation
-It involves monitoring, observing on ones behavior and using
various
techniquesself reinforcement, self-punishment, and control of stimulus conditions,
development of incompatible responsesto change maladaptive behavior.
COGNITIVE BEHAVIOR THERAPIES
Counter Conditioning- a substitute desirable response is elicited in the presence of a
stimulus that has evoked an undesired response. Under these are systematic desensitization and
aversion therapy.
Operant Conditioning- desired responses are taught and undesired ones discouraged by
applying reward and punishment. It includes token for economy in which rewards are provided
for activities and it will not be given if behavior is withdrawn; operant working with children
will ultimately change the childs behavior.
Modeling- it is helping the client acquire new responses and unlearn old ones by
observing models. This is very useful in eliminating fears efficient teaching new patterns of
behavior.
Cognitive Restructuring Techniques- a technique in altering thoughts that are believed
to underlie emotional disorder.
-

Ellis Rational- Emotive Therapy- enables the therapist to guide the


clients inferiority complex in terms of the unreasonable things or
unrealistic expectations the client might be telling himself.
Becks Cognitive Therapy- the client is provided with experiences to
change negative thinking. Through this technique, the client finds that it
can accomplish something.
Social Problem Therapy- the clients are taught to regard problems as
challenges or opportunities rather than as threats. After identification, the
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therapists brainstorms them to generate alternative solutions without


evaluating their effectiveness; assess the likely consequences of each
solution and implement a decision, an evaluate its effectiveness for
achieving the goals.
INSIGHT THERAPY
Placebo Effect- This is related to faith healing in whinch the person being healed has
faith in the healer and from his profound hope to get better.
Psychoanalytic Therapy or Psychotherapy- There are many kinds of
psychotherapists.The psychiatrist is a medical doctor whose specialty is the treatment of
psychological problems . Psychoanalysts are trained in psychoanalysis using hypnosis.
Almost all psychoanalysts are physicians ,but some are not.A clinical psychologist is a doctorate
degree holder(Ph.D.), ang specializes in a particular form of psychotheraphy like behavior
modification and sex theraphy.A psychiatric social worker usually has a master or doctorate
degree concentrating on social or community- based problems.
MEDICALLY- BASED THERAPIES
A. Electroshock theraphy (ECT) Regulated electrical charges are introduce to the body of the
patient to reduce the intensity of psychotic symptoms.ECT can also relieve severe
depression.
B. Psychosurgery It is a surgical procedure of the brain area,particularly nerve impluses
situated between the frotal lobe and the limbic system.
C. Drug Administration Certain drugs are administered to the patients that treat specific
disorders. Some of this are chlopromize for antipsychotic patients to sedate patients.
D. Clomipramine Reduces obsessions in depressed people;methylphenidate, to treat attentiondeficit hyperactivity;benzo- diazepines,to treat withdrawal symptoms for alchol- related
problems and busperine,to treat anxienty disorder.
HUMANISTIC AND EXISTENTIAL THERAPIES
Client-centered Therapy of Carl Roger- the method of therapy is emphatizingacceptance, recognition and clarification of the feelings of the client.
Existential Therapy- this therapy stresses the goodness of human nature. The principal
goal of the existential therapy is to make the patient more aware of his own potential for choice
and growth. To be or not to be is a classic existential statement. To be truly alive is to confront
the anxiety that comes with existential choices.
Gestalt Therapy- this therapy tends to emphasize the creative and expressive aspects of
people, rather than the negative and distorted features on what psychoanalysis seems to
concentrate. The attention of the Gestaltists is the whole individual by increasing their awareness

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of unacknowledged feelings and having them reclaim the parts of the personality that have been
denied.

GROUP THERAPY
Insight- Oriented Group Therapy- sensitivity training and encounter groups encourage
participants to breakdown their personal communications and reactions into various components
so that they can examine their true feelings towards other persons and their perceptions of what
they are receiving from them.
Behavior Therapy Group- social skills particularly on assertiveness are taught to
groups of people who have similar deficits in relating to others; like interview skills,
conversational skills, dating skills- so that appropriate pace can be maintained for all group
members.
MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY
This therapy helps unhappy couples resolve the conflicts inevitable in any ongoing
relationship of two adults living together. One technique is caring days where one partner at a
time concentrates on giving pleasure to the other.
SOCIAL AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITES
Facilities are put up for patients to participate and be actively involved. In some mental
health centers, basketball courts and volleyball courts are put up for the patients; television sets
are placed inside the campus for viewing.
SITE VISITATIONS
Mental patients are visited by groups of students, non- governmental organizations and
private foundations to socialize with them or offer songs, food and clothing. These activities can
make the inmates happy and feel elated.

COMMON FACTORS IN PSYCHOTHERAPIES


An Interpersonal Relationship of Warmth and Trust
Regardless of the type of therapy, in a good therapeutic relationship the client and
the therapist have mutual respect and regard. The client must believe that the therapist
understands and concerned with his problems. A therapist who understands our problems
and believes we can solve them earns our trust, which increases our sense of competence
and our confidence that we can succeed.
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Desensitization
Systematic desensitization, also known as graduated exposure therapy is a
type of behavior therapy used in the field of psychology to help effectively
overcome phobias and other anxiety disorders. More specifically, it is a form of counter
conditioning, a type of Pavlovian therapy developed by South African
psychiatrist, Joseph Wolpe. In the 1950s, Wolpe discovered that the cats of Wits
University could overcome their fears through gradual and systematic exposure. The
process of systematic desensitization occurs in three steps. The first step of systematic
desensitization is the identification of an anxiety inducing stimulus hierarchy. The second
step is the learning of relaxation or coping techniques. Once the individual has been
taught these skills, he or she must use them in the third step to react towards and
overcome situations in the established hierarchy of fears. The goal of this process is for
the individual to learn how to cope with, and overcome the fear in each step of the
hierarchy.
Problems that we brood about alone can become magnified beyond proportion,
and sharing those problems with someone else often makes them seem less serious.

Reinforcement of Adaptive Response


Behavior therapists use reinforcement as a technique to increase positive attitudes
and actions. But any therapist who wins the trust of a patient serves as a reinforcing agent
because the therapist tends to express approval of behaviors or attitudes that are
conducive to better adjustment, while ignoring or expressing disapproval of maladaptive
attitudes or responses. Which responses are reinforced depends on the therapists
orientation and therapeutic goals.

Understanding or Insight
A behavior therapist might inform the client that current fears are the result of previous
conditioning and can be conquered by learning responses that are incompatible with the current
ones. A client in a cognitive-behavior treatment program might be told that his difficulties stem
from the irrational belief that one must be perfect or must be loved by everyone.

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Gender Roles in Psychotherapy


Definitions of Gender Roles
Gender roles are behaviours, expectations, and roles defined by society as masculine or
feminine, which are embodied in the behaviour of the individual (Basow, 1986) - often referred
to as societal gender roles
Gender role socialization is the process by which people in our culture are taught about, and
adopt, gender roles
Gender role identity is concerned with the degree to which a person identifies with or displays
societally defined masculine or feminine behaviour (Basow 1986)
Gender role conflict describes the detrimental consequences of gender roles (e.g. restrictive
emotionality in males) either for the person holding them or for those associated with this person
(ONeil 1986)
Male Gender Role Socialization
Men are socialized to be emotionally inhibited, assertive, powerful, independent, and to
equate sexuality with intimacy, manliness, and self-esteem (Gilbert, 1987)
Female Gender Role Socialization
Women are socialized to be emotional, nurturant, and to direct their achievement through
affiliation with others, particularly men (Gilbert, 1987)
Male Clients & Therapy
Given their socialization, men often do not seek therapy (it invokes fear for them) and, when
they do, according to research, they are often fearful of disclosing, or quite unaware of their
feelings (Carlson, 1987)
Men express less affect in therapy than do women (Maracek & Johnson, 1980)
Evidence of in-session behaviours such as irritability and averted eye contact
Male client interactions contained a higher percentage of client one-up communication
patterns & high rates of rapid fire questions and answers (Heatherington & Allen 1984).
This may reduce threats to self-esteem given the potential power imbalance in the counselling
situation
Men receive less empathy and acceptance in therapy than do women (Sheridan, 1982)
Male Gender Role Conflict (MGRC)
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Defined as a psychological state in which socialized gender roles have negative consequences
for the individual or others. MGRC occurs when rigid, sexist, or restrictive gender roles result in
restriction, devaluation, or violation of others or self (ONeil 1982)
4 main aspects to MGRC:
Success, Power and Competition issues (SPC)
Restrictive Emotionality (RE)
Restrictive Affectionate Behaviour Between Men (RABBM)
Conflict Between Work and Family Relations (CBWFR)
Male therapist / male client
Restrictive Emotionality & Homophobia
Male therapists may find it difficult to show concern and caring to male clients
Male client may feel terrified of his warm and perhaps dependent feelings towards the
therapist (Ipsaro 1986) Male clients may feel shame and embarrassment in revealing feelings
Control and power issues more evident
Female therapist / male client
Represents the most typical care-giving patterns in our culture, and a reversal of the typical
power dynamics
Male clients tend to prefer female therapist because of their association with care giving
(Heppner & Gonzales 1987)
It is also uncomfortable for men to enter therapy and abdicate a degree of power to a woman
Power issues may be evidenced by client behaviours such as disagreement with therapist
interpretations
A female therapist who is uncomfortable with either her own authority or strong emotions in
men may engage in behaviours such as content changing or fidgeting (Carlson 1987).
Female Clients & Therapy
Women are much more likely to seek therapy, as helpseeking and dependence are more
familiar to the socialization of women than men (Collier, 1982)
More likely to assume a subordinate role, not questioning a therapists interpretations, and a
tendency to attempt to please the therapist (Kaplan 1979)
Female client interactions contained a higher percentage of communication patterns that were
control neutral, i.e. less motivation to be in control or be powerful (Heatherington & Allen
1984).
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More open and affectively oriented


Male therapist / female client
The norm in therapy until the 1970s
Male therapists may react to female clients as sex objects (Hare-Mustin 1983)
Male therapist more likely to adopt a one-up position / active / power-oriented stance
(Heatherington & Allen 1984)
Schwartz & Abramowitz study: when a female client was dressed up to look more physically
attractive, male therapist trainees made more supportive comments than when the same clients
dressed down / unattractively
Female therapist / female client
Since the 1980s, the preference of female clients for male therapist has changed in favour of
female therapists
Incidences of subtle challenges to the role of female therapist via questions regarding
age/training/experience
Due to similar socialization, emotional intensity and empathy experienced may be heightened
(Jones & Zoppel 1982)
Including more emotional pain, anger at the therapist, discussion of difficult childhood
experiences and interpersonal relationships (Jones & Zoppel 1982).
Female clients working with feminist therapist felt safe and more understood than working
with more traditional female therapists (Chambless & Wenk 1982)
Gender Aware Therapy (GAT)
GAT is a synthesis of gender studies and feminist therapy into the principles of counselling. GAT
encourages therapists to facilitate the development of women and men through exploration of
their unique gender-related experiences.
Principles:

Non-sexist approach to therapy work


Consideration of the socio-cultural context of case issues (personal is political)
Actively seek to change gender injustices experienced by both sexes
Emphasize development of collaborative egalitarian therapeutic relationships
Respect Clients Freedom to choose

GAT Stages / Method

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GAT principles can be integrated into all therapies, and at similarly typical stages of therapy,
placing particular focus on the influence of social forms, customs and structures on the
individuals development:
1. Problem conceptualization - What aspects of gender socialization might be at play?
2. Therapeutic Interventions - Discussion, support, clarification, confrontation, interpretation,
information offering, guided fantasy, experimentation, modeling, self-disclosure, family history
etc.
3. Endings - Male may learn to acknowledge feelings of sadness, vulnerability, pain of
saying goodbye - Female opportunity to further increase sense of self-reliance and selfdirection
GAT applied to Case Study A
Female client: Neglecting to actively explore both the benefits and liabilities of sacrificing her
career to assume child care responsibilities = abandoning the client to the pervasive societal
pressures urging her to leave her career.
Male Client: Therapist should not assume that a man in a dual career relationship would not
want to consider being the primary caretaker of the child
GAT applied to Case Study B
Male Client: Being in control; shame at having been overpowered;
Female Client: shame lest she be seen as seductress or blameworthy
Work with client to facilitate understanding of how he/she may have internalized stereotypic
views of maleness/femaleness and help them to realize that as a child they couldnt be
responsible for causing or preventing the act
Summary / Conclusions
Both theory & research indicate that sex / gender roles exert an influence on how clients (&
therapists) react in therapy, both positively and negatively
Gender is complex and must be understood in its socio-cultural context
Therapists require a good knowledge base and awareness of gender differences and roles for
effective, non-sexist therapeutic practice
Therapists need to engage in self-examination and supervision in order to avoid doing gender
following traditional gender ideas / interpretations in therapy (Gilbert & Scher 1999)
Patient Gender as Moderator in Individual Psychotherapy
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Male patients had better outcome in interpretive therapy than in supportive therapy
Female patients had better outcome in supportive therapy than in interpretive therapy
Moderator effect during therapy. No significant long-term moderator effect of gender
Ogrodniczuk & al 2001
Patients with Bipolar I Disorder after treatment with interpersonal and social rhythm
therapy and/or intensive clinical management:
Women who received interpersonal and social rhythm therapy showed more marked and
rapid improvement than men
Resources
Therapy : Not a mans world A qualitative study of the influence of male gender role conflict
on male therapists and their work with clients (B. Gillen 2012)
Go to: http://esource.dbs.ie/ and click on Arts Thesis & Author name
Maguire, M., (2004) Men, women, passion and power: Gender issues in psychotherapy
Good, Gilbert & Scher (1990) Gender Aware Therapy: A Synthesis of Feminist Therapy &
Knowledge about Gender in Journal of Counselling & Development March/ April 1990 Vol 68.
Gilbert A., & Scher M., (1999) Through the Looking Glass: Sex & Gender in Counseling
Practice

BIOLOGICAL THERAPIES
The biological approach to abnormal behaviour assumes that mental disorders, like physical
illness are caused by biochemical or psychological dysfunctions of the brain. Biological
therapies include the use of drugs and electroconvulsive shock.
PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC DRUGS
Biological therapy is the use of drugs to modify mood and behaviour. The discovery in the early
1950s of drugs that relieved some of the symptoms of schizophrenia represented a major
breakthrough in the treatment of severely disturbed individuals. Intensely agitated patients no
longer had to be physically restrained by straitjackets, and patients who had been spending most
of their time hallucinating and exhibiting bizarre behavior became more responsive and
functional. As a result, psychiatric wards became more manageable, and patients could be
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discharged more quickly. A few years, the discovery of drugs that could relieve severe depression
had a similar beneficial effect on hospital management and population. At about the same time,
drugs were being developed to relieve anxiety.
Antipsychotic Drugs- The first drugs that were found to relieve the symptoms of
schizophrenia belonged to the family called phenothiazines. Examples are thorazine
(chlorpromazine) prolixin (fluphenazine). These drugs have been called major tranquilizer, but
this term is not really appropriate because they do not act on the nervous system in the same way
as barbiturates or antianxiety drugs. They may cause some drowsiness and lethargy, but they do
not induce deep sleep, even in massive doses. They also seldom create the pleasant, slightly
euphoric feeling associated with low doses of antianxiety drugs. In fact, the psychological effects
of the antipsychotic drugs when administered to normal individuals are usually unpleasant. These
drugs are seldom abused.
Schizophrenia is caused by excessive activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine.
Antipsychotic drugs block dopamine receptors. Because the drugs molecules are structurally
similar to dopamine molecules, they bind to the postsynaptic receptors of dopamine neurons,
thereby blocking the access of dopamine to its receptors. A single synapse has many receptors
molecules. If all of them are blocked, transmission across the synapse will fail. If only some of
them are blocked, transmission will be weakened. The clinical potency of an antipsychotic drug
is directly related to its ability to compete for dopamine receptors.
Antipsychotic drugs are effective in alleviating hallucinations and confusion and restoring
rational thought processes, these drugs do not cure schizophrenia, and most patients must
continue to use the drugs to function outside of a hospital. Many of the characteristic symptoms
of schizophrenia-emotional blunting, seclusiveness, difficulties in sustaining attention-remain.
Nevertheless, antipsychotic drugs shorten the length of time patients must be hospitalized, and
they prevent relapse. Studies of people with schizophrenia living in the community find that the
relapse rate for those taking one of the phenothiazines is typically half the relapse rate for those
receiving a placebo.
Unfortunately, antipsychotic drugs do not help all people with schizophrenia. In addition,
the drugs have unpleasant side effects dryness of the mouth, blurred vision, difficulty in
concentrating that prompt many patients to discontinue their medication. One of the most
serious side effects is a neurological disorder known as tardive dyskinesia, which involves
involuntary movements of the tongue, face, mouth, or jaw. Patients with this disorder may
involuntary smack their lips, make sucking sounds, stick out their tongue, puff their cheeks, or
make other bizarre movements, over and over again. Tardive dyskinesia if often irreversible and
may occur in more than 20% of people who use antipsychotic drugs for long periods.
In recent years, new drugs called atypical antipsychotics have been found to reduce
symptoms of schizophrenia without causing so many side effects. These drugs include clozapine
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and risperidone. They appear to work by binding to a different type of dopamine receptor than
the other drugs, although they also influence several other neurotransmitters, including serotonin.
Antidepressant Drugs. They help elevate the mood of depressed individuals. These
drugs energize, apparently by increasing the availability of two neurotransmitters
(norepinephrine and serotonin) whose levels are deficient in some case of depression.
Antidepressant drugs act in different ways to increase neurotransmitter levels. Monoamine
oxidase (MAO) inhibitors block the activity of an enzyme that can destroy both norepinephrine
and serotonin, thereby increasing the concentration of these two neurotransmitters in the brain.
Tricyclic antidepressants prevent the reuptake of serotonin and norepinephrine, thereby
prolonging the action of neurotransmitter.
Like the antipsychotic drugs, the antidepressants can produce some undesirable side
effects. The most common of these are dry mouth, blurred vision, constipation, and urinary
retention/ They can also cause a severe drop in blood pressure when a person stands up, as well
as changes in heart rate and rhythm. An overdose of tricyclic antidepressants can be fatal, a
serious concern when a depressed patient may be suicidal. The MAO inhibitors ca n interact with
certain foods, including cheese, chocolate and red wine, to create severe cardiac problems.
The search for drug that are more effective, have fewer side effects, and act more quickly
has intensified in the past 20 years. As a result, new drugs appear on the market almost daily. The
serotonin reuptake inhibitors selectively increase serotonin levels by blocking its reuptake.
Examples are Prozac(fluoxetine), Paxil(paroxetine), and Zoloft(sertraline). Even more recent
drugs increase the availability of both serotonin and norepinephrine (such as Remeron). In
addition to relieving depression, these drugs have proved helpful in treating the anxiety disorder
and panic disorder. They tend to produce fewer side effects than the other antidepressants,
although they can cause inhibited orgasm, nausea, and diarrhea, dizziness and nervousness.
People with bipolar disorder often take an antidepressant medication to control their
depression but must take other drugs to control their mania. Lithium reduces extreme mood
swings and returns the individual to a more normal emotional state. It appears to do so by
stabilizing a number of neurotransmitter systems, including serotonin and dopamine, and may
also stabilize levels of the neurotransmitters glutamate. People with bipolar disorder who take
lithium must take it even when they are not suffering from acute mania. Otherwise, about 80%
will lapse into new episodes of mania or depression.
Unfortunately, only about 30% to 50% of people with bipolar disorder respond to lithium.
In addition, it has severe side effects, including abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea,
tremors, and twitches. Patients complain of blurred vision and problems in concentration and
attention that interfere with their ability to work. Lithium can cause kidney dysfunction, birth
defects, and a form of diabetes if taken by women during the first trimester of pregnancy.

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Anticonvulsant medications (such as Tegretol, Valproate and Depakote) are now


commonly used to treat bipolar disorder. These can be highly effective in reducing the symptoms
of severe and acute mania but do not seem to be as effective as lithium for long-term treatment of
bipolar disorder. The side effects of the anticonvulsants include dizziness, rash, nausea, and
drowsiness. Antipsychotic medications may also be prescribed for people who suffer severe
mania.
Antianxiety Drugs. Several drugs traditionally used to treat anxiety belong to the family
known as benzodiazepines. They are commonly known as tranquilizers and are marketed u nder
such trade names as Valium(diazepam), Librium(chlordiazepoxide), and Xanax(alprazolam).
Antianxiety drugs reduce tension and cause drowsiness. Like alcohol and the barbiturates, they
depress the action of the central nervous system. Family physicians often prescribed tranquilizers
to help people cope during difficult periods in their lives. The drugs are also used to treat anxiety
disorders, withdrawal from alcohol, and physical disorders related to stress. For example, in the
treatment of a phobia, antianxiety drugs may be combined with systematic desensitization to help
the individual relax when confronting the feared situation.
Although tranquilizers may be useful on a short-term basis, their overall benefits are
debatable and they clearly are overprescribed and misused. Until quite recently (before some of
the dangers became apparent), Valium and Librium were the two most widely prescribed drugs in
the country. Long-term use of tranquilizers can lead to physical dependence. Although
tranquilizers are not as addictive as barbiturates, tolerance does develop with repeated use, and
the individual experiences severe withdrawal symptoms if use of the drug is discontinued. In
addition, tranquilizers impair concentration, including driving performance, and can cause death
if combined with alcohol.
In recent years, researchers have discovered that certain antidepressant drugs also reduce
symptoms of anxiety. This is particularly true of the serotonin reuptake inhibitors discussed
previously. These drugs may relieve anxiety as well as depression because they affect
biochemical disturbances that are common to both conditions.
Stimulants. Stimulant drugs are used to treat the attentional problems of children with
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD). One of the most commonly used stimulants has
the trade name Ritalin. Although it may seem odd to give a stimulant to a hyperactive child,
between 60% and 90% of children with ADHD respond to these drugs with decreases in
disruptive behavior and increases in attention. Stimulant drugs may work by increasing levels of
dopamine in the synapses of the brain.
The use of Ritalin is a subject of controversy because some schools and physicians have
been too quick to diagnose ADHD in schoolchildren and to prescribe Ritalin for the. Stimulant
drugs have significant side effects, including insomnia, headaches, tics and nausea. Children
must be accurately diagnosed with ADHD before stimulant drugs are prescribed.
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In sum, drug therapy has reduced the severity of some types of mental disorders. Many
individuals who would require hospitalization otherwise can function within the community with
the help of these drugs. On the other hand, there are limitations to the application of drug
therapy. All therapeutic drugs can produce undesirable side effects. Many people with medical
problems, as well as women who are pregnant or nursing, often cannot take psychoactive drugs.
In addition, may psychologists feel that these drugs alleviate symptoms without requiring the
patient to face the personal problems that may be contributing to the disorder or may have been
caused by the disorder(such as marital problems caused by the behaviors of a manic person).
ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY
In electroconvulsive therapy(ECT), also known as electroshock therapy, a mild electric
current is applied to the brain to produce a seizure similar to an epileptic convulsion. ECT was a
popular treatment from about 1940 to 1960, before antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs
became readily available. Today it is used primarily in cases of severe depression when the
patient has failed to respond to drug therapy.
ECT has been the subject of much controversy. At one time it was used indiscriminately
in mental hospitals to treat such disorders as alcoholism and schizophrenia, for which it produced
no beneficial results. Before more refined procedures were developed, ECT was a frightening
experience for the patient, who was often awake until the electric current triggered the seizure
and produced momentary unconsciousness. The patient frequently suffered confusion and
memory loss afterward. Occasionally, the intensity of the muscle spasms accompanying the brain
seizure resulted in physical injuries.
Today, ECT is much safer. The patient is given a short-acting anesthesia and injected with
a muscle relaxant. A brief, very weak electric current is applied to the brain, typically to the
temple on the side of the nondominant cerebral hemisphere. The minimum current required to
produce a brain seizure is administered, because the seizure itself not the electricity is
therapeutic. The muscle relaxant prevents convulsive muscle spasms. The individual awakens
within a few minutes and remembers nothing about the treatment. Four to six treatments are
usually administered over a period of several weeks.
The most troublesome side effect of ECT is memory loss. Some patients reports a gap in
memory for events that occurred up to 6 months before ECT, as month or two after the
treatment. However, if very low dosages of electricity are used(the amount is carefully calibrated
for each patient to be just sufficient to produce a seizure) and administered only to the
nondominant side of the brain, memory problems are minimal.
No one knows how the electrically induced seizures relieve depression. Brain seizures
cause massive release of norepinephrine and serotonin, deficiencies of these neurotransmitters
may be an important factor in some cases of depression. Currently, researchers are trying to
determine the similarities and dissimilarities between ECT and antidepressant drugs in terms of
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the way each affects neurotransmitters. However it works, ECT is effective in bringing some
people out of severe, immobilizing depression and it does so faster than drug therapy.
COMBINING BIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL THERAPY
Although in this chapter we divided therapies into psychological and biological therapies,
today there is a movement toward combined biological and psychological treatments. In
depression and the anxiety disorders, often both the patients biochemistry and his or her
functioning in social and occupational settings are affected by the disorder, and it can be helpful
to provide treatment at both the biological and psychological levels. Even in disorders like
schizophrenia, whose primary cause is biological, the patient often experiences severe losses in
social skills and ability to function on a job. Supplementing antipsychotic drugs with
psychotherapy designed to help the person to cope with the consequences of schizophrenia can
be very useful.
The fact that a wide range of both psychotherapies and drugs are effective in the
treatment of some disorders (especially depression) suggests that intervening at one level of a
persons bio-psycho-social system can affect all levels of the system. For example, intervening at
the psychological level may cause changes in the patients biochemistry and social behaviors.
When this occurs, it is because our biochemistry, our personalities and thought processes, and
our social behaviors are so thoroughly intertwined that each can affect the other in both positive
and negative ways.

280

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