Assignment Unit I Introduction To Origin Psychology: Name:K B Vennela ROLL NO: 18VF1M332
Assignment Unit I Introduction To Origin Psychology: Name:K B Vennela ROLL NO: 18VF1M332
Assignment Unit I Introduction To Origin Psychology: Name:K B Vennela ROLL NO: 18VF1M332
ASSIGNMENT
UNIT I
Introduction to origin Psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of human mental processes and behavior.
• Psychology is an academic and applied discipline that seeks to understand the behavior,
mental functions, and emotional processes of human beings.
• Psychologists explore how mental and emotional factors influence individual
development and behavior, and how these factors themselves can be influenced by
physiological and biological processes.
• Clinical psychologists focus on the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness; they
usually work directly with clients using various forms of therapeutic treatment.
• Research psychologists use scientific methods to explore a wide range of topics related
to mental health and behavior.
• psychosocial: Having both psychological and social elements.
• cognitive: The part of mental functioning that deals with logic and memories, as
opposed to affective functioning, which deals with emotions.
• sociocultural: Of or relating to both society and culture.
Psychology is the academic and applied study of mental functions and behaviors. The word
“psychology” comes from two specific Greek words—psyche, which means “soul,” “life,” or
“mind,” and logia, which means “the study of.” Simply put, psychology is the study of the
mind.
The overarching goal of psychology is to understand the behavior, mental functions, and
emotional processes of human beings.
This field ultimately aims to benefit society, partly through its focus on better
understanding of mental health and mental illness.
Mental processes refer to all the internal and covert activity of our mind such as thinking,
feeling and remembering. It is a scientific study because to study behaviour and mental
processes, the psychologists use the scientific methods for understanding more precisely
and accurately.
The word Psychology has its origin from two Greek words ‘Psyche’ and ‘Logos’, ‘psyche’
means ‘soul’ and ‘logos’ means ‘study’. Thus literally, Psychology means ‘the study of soul’
or ‘science of soul’.
1. The first definition of the Psychology was the study of the soul:
The earliest attempts at defining Psychology owe their origin to the most mysterious and
philosophical concept, namely that of soul. What is soul? How can it be studied? The
inability to find clear answers to such questions led some ancient Greek philosophers to
define psychology as the study of the mind.
(iii) The introspection method for the study proved that it is most subjective and
unscientific method.
5. William McDougall:
In his book An Outline of Psychology, “Psychology is a science which aims to give us better
understanding and control of the behaviour of the organism as a whole”.
6. JB Watson:
Psychology is “the science of behaviour” (taking into account the human as well as animal
behaviour).
7. NL Munn:
“Psychology is the science and the properly trained psychologist is a scientist, or at
least a practitioner who uses scientific methods and information resulting from
scientific investigations”.
.There are various methods that help a psychologist to identify or diagnose the underlying
cause of any malfunctioning of the brain. Some of the important methods of Psychology are:
Introspection Method
Observation Method
Anecdotal Method
Experimental Method
Case Study Method
Questionnaire Method
Nature of Psychology
It is an accepted reality that the nature of the subject psychology is quite scientific. This
fact has been properly recognized by the eminent psychologists and thinkers as may be
inferred out of the definitions of psychology (in terms of scientific study or science of
behavior).
In general, we may call the nature of a subject scientific if it fulfills the following
criteria;
1. Possesses a body of facts and is able to support it through universal laws and
principles.
2. Doesn’t believe in hearsay, stereotype, or superstitions.
3. Believe in cause and effect relationship.
4. Is capable to turn its theory into practice by having its applied aspect.
5. Adopts the method of objective investigation, systematic and controlled
observation, and scientific approach.
6. Stands for generalization, verifiability, and modification of the observed results.
7. Helps in predicting future developments.
8. Psychology possesses a well-organized theory that is supported by relevant
psychological laws & principles.
9. It has its applied aspects in the form of various branches of applied psychology like
industrial, legal, clinical, and educational psychology.
10. It believes that behavior has its roots, factors of its cause, and influence.
11. It emphasizes the search for truth by advocating objectivity, reliability, and validity
in the assessment of behavior.
12. The methods and techniques employed in the study of the behavior in psychology
are quite scientific.
On the basis of the above characteristics, it may be established that psychology is a
science. Its nature is quite scientific and not philosophical or mysterious as well
supposed to be in the past.
Scope of Psychology
Well... Psychology is chiefly concerned with human behavior. Anything that has a direct
bearing on the behavior of an individual can be included in the scope of psychology. The
scope of psychology includes its fields of study.
---> We can study the Scope of Psychology from the Various fields or areas discussed
below:
1. Developmental processes
2. Cognition
3. Personality
4. Cross-cultural and cultural psychology
5. Comparative physiological psychology
6. Abnormal psychology
7. Clinical and counseling psychology
8. Education and learning process
9. Environmental psychology
10. Industrial and organizational psychology
11. Social psychology
12. Psychological assessment
13. Other fields
Developmental processes:
It deals with the development of perception, cognition, language, skills, personality, and
social relationships of an individual. It also tells us about the stages of growth, principles of
growth, and factors of growth.
Cognition:
Cognitive psychology deals with the conscious & unconscious mental processes, sensation
and perception, conditioning and learning, attention & consciousness, sleep and dreaming,
memory and forgetting, reasoning and decision making, imagining, problem-solving, &
language.
Personality:
All that is discussed in psychology is ultimately concerned with the psychological concept
of personality. Personality can be understood as an umbrella enveloping all the aspects of
psychology related to human behavior
Cross-cultural and cultural psychology:
It is the study of the ways in which social and cultural forces shape human behavior and
how they too in return are shaped by human behavior.
Comparative physiological psychology:
It deals with the study of similarities and differences between the behaviors of various
animals.
Abnormal psychology:
It seeks to describe, explain, predict, and control behavior that is considered strange or
unusual. Its main focus is on classification, assessment, treatment, and prevention of
mental disorders.
Clinical and counseling psychology:
The clinical psychologist is a trained practitioner who diagnoses and treats psychological
disorders. The counselor helps those with mild problems of social and emotional
adjustments.
Education and learning process:
This field is concerned with all aspects of educational problems like learning, teacher
training, classroom situation, counseling of children, etc. Psychology also studies the
meaning of learning, theories, factors, and principles of learning.
Environmental psychology:
This field deals with the interaction between the physical world like noise, heat, humidity,
pollution, and crowding, etc. and human behavior.
Industrial and organizational psychology:
It studies the principles of psychology to the workplace. It tries to investigate the factors
that affect people working in an organization.
Social psychology:
It attempts to understand the nature and causes of individual behavior and thought in
social situations.
Psychological assessment:
It deals with the assessment of aptitude, intelligence, personality, attitude, values, and
many other psychological characteristics.
Other fields:
Other fields are military psychology, forensic psychology, rural psychology, managerial
psychology, political psychology, etc.
Early pioneers
The early pioneers of psychology established it as a new and independent science. Wundt,
Freud, Titchener, Wertheimer, Skinner, James and Watson proposed four seminal schools
of thought, encompassing both experiments in laboratory and field, and also the
development of clinical therapies.
Edward Titchener expanded his mentor Wundt's scope to zero in on the structures of our
consciousness, a school of thought called structuralism. Although it led to significant
breakthroughs, consciousness studies based on introspection could be criticized because of
the subjective nature of the data.
Gestalt
Another group of German scientists, primarily Max Wertheimer and Wolfgang Koehler
argued that consciousness is a whole (gestalt in German), and cannot be subdivided into
parts. They influenced many of the modern humanistic theories, which emerged in the
second half of the 20th century, and many of their techniques, including the empty chair
dialog, are still used successfully in modern therapy.
Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis theory, with its focus on sex and other primitive drives,
has been largely abandoned today. His conclusions were based on a small number of case
studies, in which most of the data was subjectively collected, and conclusions are deeply
misogynistic. His pioneering work in understanding the complexities of what he called the
unconscious mind informs modern, effective hypnotherapy. He also highlighted the
importance of early childhood experiences. He was the first pioneer to focus on the impact
of childhood experiences and conclusions, as a tool for healing adult problems. Freud's
work inspired theorists whose work is still relevant today, including Adler, who focused on
child development, and the stage-theorists Jung and Erickson.
If you've ever taken a Myers-Briggs Type assessment, this mother-daughter team based
their tool on the work of Jung and Erickson.
The various branches and sub-fields within the discipline and come to understand how
they are all interconnected and essential in understanding behavior and mental processes.
The five main psychological pillars, or domains, as we will refer to them, are:
These five domains cover the main viewpoints, or perspectives, of psychology. These
perspectives emphasize certain assumptions about behavior and provide a framework for
psychologists in conducting research and analyzing behavior. They include some you have
already read about, including Freud’s psychodynamic perspective, behaviorism, humanism,
and the cognitive approach. Other perspectives include the biological perspective,
evolutionary, and socio-cultural perspectives.
A neat way to remember the major perspectives in psychology is to think about your hand
and associate each finger with a prominent psychological approach:
• Index Finger: Tap your finger to the temple of your head as if you
were thinking about something. This is the cognitive perspective.
• Middle Finger: If you stuck up your middle finger to flip someone off, that
would be bad behavior in many cultures. This represents the behavioral
perspective, which falls under the developmental domain.
• Ring Finger: This is typically where you would wear a wedding band. For
some people this is a healthy lifestyle choice, and for others this is a cause
of stress. For some, the thought of marriage causes anxiety, which may lead
to therapy. This represents the mental and physical health domain.
• Pinky Finger: This little finger was born this way—short. You can thank
your biology for that. This represents the biological perspective.
• Palm of hand: In many cultures, giving a high-five is an acceptable greeting.
This represents the social and personality domain.
• Bonus: Thumb: your thumb can move around in psycho ways—it’s so
versatile! This is the psychodynamic perspective, which is not its own pillar
but represents a prominent historical perspective and school of thought in
psychology, as explained earlier.
UNIT II
Personality – Overview of personality, trait theories:
The word personality itself stems from the Latin word persona, which refers to a theatrical
mask worn by performers in order to either project different roles or disguise their
identities.
At its most basic, personality is the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors that make a person unique. It is believed that personality arises from within the
individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life.
Characteristics of Personality
Traits and patterns of thought and emotion play important roles as well as the following
fundamental characteristics of personality:
• Consistency: There is generally a recognizable order and regularity to behaviors.
Essentially, people act in the same ways or similar ways in a variety of situations.
• Psychological and physiological: Personality is a psychological construct, but
research suggests that it is also influenced by biological processes and needs.
• Behaviors and actions: Personality not only influences how we move and respond
in our environment, but it also causes us to act in certain ways.
• Multiple expressions: Personality is displayed in more than just behavior. It can
also be seen in our thoughts, feelings, close relationships, and other social
interactions.
Personality Develops
There are a number of theories about how personality develops, and different schools of
thought in psychology influence many of these theories. Some of these major perspectives
on personality include the following.
Type Theories
Type theories are the early perspectives on personality. These theories suggested that
there are a limited number of "personality types" that are related to biological influences,
including:
Trait Theories
The trait theories of personality center on the idea that personality is comprised of broad
traits or dispositions. Various theories have been proposed to identify which attributes are
key components in personality, as well as attempts to determine the total number of
personality traits.
Psychologist Gordon Allport was one of the first to describe personality in terms of
individual traits. In his dispositional perspective, Allport suggested that there are different
kinds of traits: common, central, and cardinal.
Common traits are shared by many people within a particular culture. Central traits are
those that make up an individual's personality. Cardinal traits are those that are so
dominant that a person becomes primarily known for those characteristics.
An example of a cardinal trait is Mother Teresa. She was so well-known for her charitable
work that her name became almost synonymous with providing service to those in need.
Allport suggested that there were as many as 4,000 individual traits. Psychologist Raymond
Cattell proposed that there were 16. Cattell also believed that these traits exist on a
continuum and that all people possess each trait in varying degrees.
A psychologist named Hans Eysenck would narrow the list of traits further, suggesting
there were only three: extroversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism.
Today, the "Big Five" theory is perhaps the most popular and widely accepted trait theory
of personality. The theory proposes that personality is made up of five broad personality
dimensions:
• Agreeableness
• Conscientiousness
• Extroversion
• Neuroticism
• Openness
The Big Five theory states that each trait exists as a broad continuum. An individual's
personality will fall somewhere on the spectrum for each trait.
For example, you might be high in extroversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness, but
somewhere in the middle for openness and neuroticism.
Psychoanalytic theory:
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) Jewish background, though avowed atheist Lived in Vienna
until Nazi occupation in 1938 Had medical background- wanted to do “neurophysiologic
research” Private practice in nervous and brain disorders.
Overview : One might consider that Freudian psychoanalytic theory is basically a family
theory as Freud considered how the individual develops overtime within the context of a
family, specifically interacting with mother and father, later siblings.
Psychoanalytic theory was the first of many psychodynamic theories to follow many within
a direct line from Freudian thinking. Freud ‘discovered’ the unconscious which is the basis
for all psychodynamic theories Psychodynamic theories hold that human behavior is
primarily the function of reactions to internal (thus mostly unconscious) stimuli instincts,
urges, thoughts.
Behavioral theories on the other hand hold that behavior is in response to external stimuli;
responses are learned and over time appear as automatic. Some would hold the possibility
of internal stimuli; however, such cannot be seen and/or measured and thus are not a fit
subject for science. Phenomenological theories hold that the human is in process of
becoming and just ‘is’.
Current psychodynamic theories are derived from Freud’s original concepts with addition
of new knowledge and information. More recent theorist are known as Neo-Freudians.
Few,if any, practice as Freud once did. Psychoanalysis was not conceived as just a method
of treatment, but also as a training method for new analysts. Basically it was an attempt to
surface and interpret all material located in the unconscious. This process was deemed to
be curative for the patient.
For the trainee, the purpose was to develop an acute awareness of one’s own psyche so as
to prevent interference from one’s own biases with the analysis of another. This is called
countertransference. Freud named the level of consciousness unconscious, conscious and
preconscious (not in much use now) Freud developed a topography of the self: id, ego and
superego. Freud also posited that human behavior was built up over time through distinct
stages.
Freudian stages were
1.oral,
2.anal
3.oedipal
4.latency
5.genital.
Observation of infant reveled to him the preoccupation with feeding and nurturance;
excretion and toilet training, discovery of genitals and sensation from erogenous zones.
Following is a period of when the child is less preoccupied with their bodily functions and
concerned about relations in the social world. When adolescence presents another radical
physiological change, once more the person is preoccupied with the body and sexual
feelings and activities now they are living in an adult body.
3 Levels of Awareness
1.Conscious
2.Preconscious
3.Unconscious
Conscious: Current contents of your mind that you actively think of What we call working
memory Easily accessed all the time
Preconscious : Contents of the mind you are not currently aware of Thoughts, memories,
knowledge, wishes, feelings Available for easy access when needed
Unconscious: Contents kept out of conscious awareness Not accessible at all Processes
that actively keep these thoughts from awareness
Freudian Components of Personality
•Id
•Ego
•Superego
ID: Resides completely at the unconscious level Acts under the pleasure principle
immediate gratification, not willing to compromise Generates all of the personality’s energy
SUPEREGO : The moralist and idealistic part of the personality Resides in preconscious
Operates on “ideal principle” – Begins forming at 4-5 yrs of age Essentially your
“conscience”
EGO : Resides in all levels of awareness Operates under “reality principle” Attempts
negotiation between Id and Superego to satisfy both realistically
Ego: part of personality that mediates the demands of the id, the superego and reality - The
ego has no concept of right or wrong; something is good simply if it achieves its end of
satisfying without causing harm to itself or to the id. Superego: part of the mind that
houses morals/ values - conscience can punish the ego through causing feelings of guilt or
shame, reward us by feeling proud when we live up to it - ego ideal: ultimate standard of
behavior as a “good” member of society. The interaction of these three parts of ourselves is
characterized by conflict.
Conflicts of Personality Components
Conflicts between the Id, Superego and Ego arise in unconscious mind Can’t be reached in
unconscious
Come out in various ways
– Slips of tongue (“Freudian slip”)
– Dreams
– Jokes
– Anxiety
– Defense Mechanisms
DEFENSE MECHANISMS
defense mechanisms operate unconsciously to protect the ego from threats from the id
and from external reality.
How Does our Mind Develop?
The Psychosexual Stages of Development
– Freud felt our development was driven by sexual energy, or libido – At particular points
in the developmental process, a single body part is particularly sensitive to sexual, erotic
stimulation, and is referred to as the erogenous zone
– The child's libido centers on behavior affecting the primary erogenous zone of his age; he
cannot focus on the primary erogenous zone of the next stage without resolving the
developmental conflict of the immediate one.
Psychosexual Development Stages of development in which conflict over Id’s impulses
plays out Ego must control these impulses If not resolved, psychological issues can emerge
later in life
– A child at a given stage of development has certain needs and demands- either frustration
or overindulgence results in fixation, where the person gets “stuck” in that stage
– the method of obtaining satisfaction which characterized the stage one is fixated in will
dominate and affect his adult personality.
1. Oral stage: (birth-18 months): erogenous zone is the mouth and sucking and biting lead
to satisfaction - frustration: pessimism, envy, suspicion and sarcasm - overindulgence:
optimistic, gullible, and is full of admiration for others around him - primary conflict:
“weaning” : deprives the child of the sensory pleasures of nursing and of the psychological
pleasure of being cared for, mothered, and held
2. Anal Stage :(18-36 months): obsession with the erogenous zone of the anus and with the
retention or expulsion of the feces- conflict with parents/societal pressures - anal expulsive
character: messy, disorganized, reckless, careless, and defiant. - anal retentive character:
neat, precise, orderly, careful, stingy, withholding, obstinate, meticulous, and passive-
aggressive - The resolution of the anal stage permanently affects the individual
propensities to possession and attitudes towards authority.
3. Phallic Stage: (3- 6 years): The phallic stage is the setting for the greatest, most crucial
sexual conflict in Freud's model of development. In this stage, the child's erogenous zone is
the genital region. - The conflict, labeled the Oedipus complex (The Electra complex in
women), involves the child's unconscious desire to possess the opposite-sexed parent and
to eliminate the same-sexed one.
- Employs the defense mechanism of identification, becoming as much like the same sex
parents as possible, indoctrinating them into their appropriate sexual role in life. - A lasting
trace of the Oedipal conflict is the superego - Fixation at the phallic stage develops a phallic
character, who is reckless, resolute, self-assured, and narcissistic-excessively vain and
proud.
- failure to resolve the conflict can also cause a person to be afraid or incapable of close
love; - Freud also postulated that fixation could be a root cause of homosexuality.
4. Latency Period: a period in which the sexual drive lies dormant. During the latency
period, children pour this repressed libidal energy into asexual pursuits such as school,
athletics, and same-sex friendships.
5. Genital Stage: child's energy once again focuses on his genitals, interest turns to
heterosexual relationships. The less energy the child has left invested in unresolved
psychosexual developments, the greater his capacity will be to develop normal
relationships with the opposite sex.
Freud’s Psychosexual Stages STAGE FOCUS Oral (0-18 months) Anal (18-36 months)
-Pleasure focuses on bowel and Phallic (3-6 years) Latency (6 to puberty) Genital (puberty
on)
-Pleasure centers on the mouthsucking, chewing, biting bladder elimination; coping with
demands for control
-Pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with incestuous sexual feelings -Dormant sexual
feeling
-Maturation of sexual interest
Humanistic theories:
Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow emphasized the unique qualities of humans, especially
their freedom of choice and decision making, as well as their potential for personal growth.
->Humanistic psychology, a movement in psychology supporting the belief that humans,
as individuals, are unique beings and should be recognized and treated as such by
psychologists and psychiatrists. The movement grew in opposition to the two mainstream
20th-century trends in psychology, behaviourism and psychoanalysis. Humanistic
principles attained application during the “human potential” movement, which became
popular in the United States during the 1960s.
->Humanistic psychologists believe that behaviourists are overconcerned with the
scientific study and analysis of the actions of people as organisms (to the neglect of basic
aspects of people as feeling, thinking individuals) and that too much effort is spent in
laboratory research—a practice that quantifies and reduces human behaviour to its
elements. Humanists also take issue with the deterministic orientation of psychoanalysis,
which postulates that one’s early experiences and drives determine one’s behaviour. The
humanist is concerned with the fullest growth of the individual in the areas of love,
fulfillment, self-worth, and autonomy.
->The American psychologist Abraham Maslow, considered one of the leading architects of
humanistic psychology, proposed a hierarchy of needs or drives in order of decreasing
priority or potency but increasing sophistication: physiological needs, safety,
belongingness and love, esteem, and self-actualization. Only when the more primitive
needs are met the individual can progress to higher levels in the hierarchy. People reaching
self-actualization will have fully realized their potential.
Some fundamental assumptions of humanistic psychology include:
• Experiencing (thinking, sensing, perceiving, feeling, remembering, and so on) is
central.
• The subjective experience of the individual is the primary indicator of behavior.
• An accurate understanding of human behavior cannot be achieved by studying
animals.
• Free will exists, and individuals should take personal responsibility for self-growth
and fulfillment. Not all behavior is determined.
• Self-actualization (the need for a person to reach maximum potential) is natural.
• People are inherently good and will experience growth if provided with suitable
conditions, especially during childhood.
• Each person and each experience is unique, so psychologists should treat each case
individually, rather than rely on averages from group studies.
Behavioral theories:
The main influences of behaviourist psychology were Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), who
investigated classical conditioning though often disagreeing with behaviourism or
behaviourists; Edward Lee Thorndike (1874-1949), who introduced the concept of
reinforcement and was the first to apply psychological principles to learning; John B.
Watson (1878-1958), who rejected introspective methods and sought to restrict
psychology to experimental methods; and B.F. Skinner (1904-1990), who conducted
research on operant conditioning.
The first of these, Ivan Pavlov, is known for his work on one important type of
learning, classical conditioning
Operant conditioning is another type of learning that refers to how an organism operates
on the environment or how it responds to what is presented to it in the environment (Figure
2.12).
Reinforcement means to strengthen, and is used in psychology to refer to any stimulus
which strengthens or increases the probability of a specific response. For example, if you
want your dog to sit on command, you may give him a treat every time he sits for you. The
dog will eventually come to understand that sitting when told to will result in a treat. This
treat is reinforcing the behaviour because the dog likes it and will result in him sitting
when instructed to do so. There are four types of reinforcement: positive, negative,
punishment, and extinction.
Research has found positive reinforcement is the most powerful of any of these types of
operant conditioning responses.
UNIT III
Social Psychology :
According to psychologist Gordon Allport, social psychology uses scientific methods "to
understand and explain how the thoughts, feelings, and behavior of individuals are
influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied the presence of other human
beings."1 Essentially, social psychology is about understanding how each person's
individual behavior is influenced by the social environment in which that behavior takes
place.
You probably already realize that other people can have a dramatic influence on the way
you act and the choices you make. Consider how you might behave in a situation if you
were all alone versus if there were other people in the room.
The decisions you make and the behaviors you exhibit might depend on not only how many
people are present but exactly who you are around. For example, you are likely to behave
much differently when you are around a group of close friends than you would around a
group of colleagues or supervisors from work.
• Group behavior
• Social perception
• Leadership
• Nonverbal behavior
• Conformity
• Aggression
• Prejudice
It is important to note that social psychology is not just about looking at social
influences. Social perception and social interaction are also vital to understanding social
behavior.
The way that we see other people (and the way we think they see us) can play a powerful
role in a wide variety of actions and decisions. Just think for a moment about how you
sometimes act differently in a public setting than you might if you were at home by
yourself. At home, you might be loud and rambunctious, while in public you might be much
more subdued and reserved.
Why is this? Because the people around us shape our thoughts, feelings, moods, attitudes,
and perceptions. The presence of other people can make a difference in the choices we
make and the actions we take.
While social psychology tends to be an academic field, the research that social
psychologists perform has a powerful influence on our understanding of mental health and
well-being. For example, research on conformity helps explain why teenagers sometimes
go to such great lengths to fit in with their social group—sometimes to the detriment of
their own health and wellness.2
Understanding this helps psychologists develop public health programs and treatment
approaches for adolescents. These can help teenagers resist potentially harmful behaviors
such as smoking, drinking, and substance use
• The processes involved in perceiving other people and how we come to know about
the people in the world around us.
• The study of the mental processes that are involved in perceiving, remembering,
thinking about, and attending to the other people in our social world.
• The reasons we attend to certain information about the social world, how this
information is stored in memory, and how it is then used to interact with other
people.
Examples
Imagine that you are getting ready to go on a blind date. Not only do you worry about the
impression and signals that you are sending to the other person, but you are also
concerned with interpreting the signals given by your date. How do you form an
impression of this person? What meaning do you read into the other person's behavior?
This is just one example of how social cognition influences a single social interaction, but
you can probably think of many more examples from your daily life. We spend a
considerable portion of every day interacting with others, which is why an entire branch of
psychology formed to help understand how we feel, think, and behave in social situations.
Development
Social cognition develops in childhood and adolescence. As children grow, they become
more aware not only of their own feelings, thoughts, and motives but also of the emotions
and mental states of others. Children become more adept at understanding how others feel,
learning how to respond in social situations, engaging in prosocial behaviors, and taking
the perspective of others.
While there are many different theories that look at how social cognition develops, one of
the most popular focuses on the work of the psychologist Jean Piaget. According to Piaget, a
child's cognitive development goes through a series of stages.
• During the earliest stages of development, children are very egocentric. They see the
world from their own perspective and struggle to think about how other people may
view the world.
• As children grow older, children become increasingly adept at perspective-taking
and have an increased ability to think about how and why people act the way they
do in social situations.
More recently, research has provided evidence that children develop the ability to think
about the perspectives of other people at an earlier age than Piaget previously
believed. Even young preschoolers exhibit some ability to think about how other people
might view a situation.
One of the most important developments in the early emergence of social cognition is the
growth of a theory of mind. A theory of mind refers to a person's ability to understand and
think about the mental states of other people.
It is the emergence of a theory of mind that is critical to being able to consider the thoughts,
motives, desires, needs, feelings, and experiences that other people may have. Being able to
think about how these mental states can influence how people act is critical to forming
social impressions and explaining how and why people do the things that they do.
Cultural Differences
Social psychologists have also found that there are often important cultural differences in
social cognition. When looking at a social situation, any two people may have wildly
different interpretations. Each person brings a unique background of experiences,
knowledge, social influences, feelings, and cultural variations.
Some researchers have found that there are also collective, cultural influences that can
affect how people interpret social situations. The same social behavior in one cultural
setting may have a very different meaning and interpretation if it was to take place or be
observed in another culture.
As people interpret behavior, extract meaning from the interaction, and then act based
upon their beliefs about the situation, they are then further reinforcing and reproducing
the cultural norms that influence their social cognitions.
Research into social cognition is ongoing. But there are also challenges to some established
theories.
Based on the way people act or behave in different situations and in response to different
stimuli, human behavior can be divided into different types. Let’s discuss below some
known and important types of human behavior.
Here are the common types of behaviors human beings can have:
1. Molecular and Moral Behavior
Overt Behavior: It is a visible type of behavior that can occur outside of human beings.
Eating food, riding on a bicycle, and playing football are some examples.
Covert Behavior: Unlike overt behavior, this type of behavior is not visible. Thinking is a
good example of covert behavior because no one can see us thinking.
3. Voluntary and Involuntary Behavior