A.

IMPORTANT POINTS TO PONDER

 PSYCHOLOGY

*Derived from two Greek words

Psyche - Soul

Logos – study of

*refers to the scientific study of behavior and the mind.

PSYCHOLOGY is the science of behavior and mental processes.

 BRANCHES OF PSYCHOLOGY
• Abnormal Psychology
• Behavioral Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology
• Comparative Psychology
• Cross-cultural PsychologY
• Developmental Psychology

 PERSONALITIES IN THE WORLD OF PSYCHOLOGY

Wilhelm Wundt: The Father of Modern Psychology

William James: The Father of American Psychology; he helped establish

psychology in the U.S. and his book, The Principles of Psychology, became an
instant classic.

Sigmund Freud: The Father of Psychoanalysis; his theories and work

established psychoanalysis as a major school of thought in psychology.

Hugo Munsterberg: The Father of Applied Psychology; he was an early

pioneer of several applied areas including clinical and forensic

John Bowlby: The Father of Attachment Theory; he developed the theory of

attachment.
Kurt Lewin: The Father of Social Psychology; his work pioneered the use of
scientific methods to study social behavior.

Edward Thorndike: The Father of Modern Educational Psychology; his

research on the learning process helped establish the foundation for
educational psychology.
 Jean Piaget: The Father of Developmental Psychology; his theory of
cognitive development revolutionized how research thought about children's
intellectual growth.

Ulric Neisser: The Father of Modern Cognitive Psychology; the cognitive

movement in psychology received a major boost from the publication of his
1967 book, Cognitive Psychology.

Lightner Witmer: The Father of Modern Clinical Psychology; he founded the

world's first journal devoted to clinical psychology, The Psychological Clinic, in
1907.

Gordon Allport: The Father of Personality Psychology; he was one of the

first psychologists to study personality.

 Human – a tripartite being composed of body, soul and spirit; body is the
structure, soul is the knowledge, and spirit is the wisdom.

 Behavior – Behavior refers to the actions, activities or reactions of an object

or organism, usually in relation to the environment.

 What is Human Behavior?

- Human Behavior is the way a person behaves or acts. Anything that an
individual does or says. It refers to the person’s thoughts, emotions, and
actions.

- Human behavior is the collection of behaviors exhibited by human beings

and influenced by culture, attitudes, emotions, values, ethics, authority,
rapport, hypnosis, persuasion, coercion and/or genetics.

- Human behavior is the reaction to facts of a relationship between the

individual and his environment

- Human behavior is the voluntary or involuntary attitude a person adopts in

order to fit society’s idea of right or wrong. It is partly determined by heredity
and environment, and modified through learning. It is also the way human
beings act. Many people use the word behavior to mean conduct but in
psychology and other behavioral sciences, behavior is regarded as any
activity of a person. (Soriano, 2003)

- Human behavior is mostly a product of learning, just as the human being is

the product of heredity, environment and training.
- In sociology, behavior is considered as having no meaning, being not
directed at other people and thus is the most basic human action. Behavior
should not be mistaken with social behavior, which is more advanced action,
as social behavior is behavior specifically directed at other people. The
acceptability of behavior is evaluated relative to social norms and regulated
by various means of social control.

 ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY/ CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY – It is the subfield of

general psychology that studies criminal behavior. It includes the study of
the wills, thoughts, intentions and reactions of criminals.

 CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR – A disorder used to describe the behavior of a

person who commits serious crimes from individual to property crimes and
the disobedience of societal rules in general.

B. CLASSIFICATIONS OF BEHAVIOR

 General Classifications of Behavior

1. Normal Behavior (Adaptive or Adjusted)– A standard behavior. The

totally accepted behavior because they follow the standard norms of
society.

A normal person is characterized by the following:

a. Free expression of personality

b. Ability to exercise voluntary control over his behavior
c. Adequate security feeling
d. Self-esteem and acceptance
e. Efficient contact / perception of reality
f. Emotional maturity
g. Adaptability to group norms or ability to form affectionate
relationship with others
h. Adequate self-knowledge
i. Integrated and consistent personality
j. Productivity
 2. Abnormal Behavior (Maladaptive or Maladjusted) – A group of behavior
that is deviant from social expectations because they go against the norms or
standard behavior of the society.
- It is the effect of a well being of the individual and or the social group.

- Abnormality in the legal standpoint declares that a person is insane largely

on the basis of his inability to judge between right and wrong or inability to
exert control over his behavior.

An abnormal person is characterized by the following:

a. Deviation from average

b. Deviation from the ideal
c. Abnormality as a sense of subjective discomfort (personal
distress)
d. Abnormality as the inability to function effectively (maladaptive
behavior)

 Other Classifications of Human Behavior (Bautista & Guevara, 2008)

1. Habitual – refers to demeanors which are resorted to in a regular basis.

Example, brushing our teeth every after meals.

2. Instinctive – human conducts which are unlearned and inherent, said to be

present at birth of a person, and significantly influenced by heredity. Ex.
Eating when hungry

3. Symbolic – human conducts in response to stimuli undertaken by means of

substitution. Example, handshake to symbolize agreement or friendship.

4. Complex – refers to two or more habitual behavior which occurs in one

situation. Example, watching TV while eating.

C. TWO BASIC TYPES OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR

1. Inherited Behavior – product of instinct and genetics. Considerations for

inherited behavior include physical traits and mental traits.

2. Learned (Operant) Behavior – considerations are environment, training and

efforts of the will.

D. ASPECTS OF BEHAVIOR

1. Intellectual Aspect – way of thinking, reasoning, solving problem, processing

information and coping with the environment.
2. Emotional Aspect – feelings, moods, temper, strong motivational force within a
person

3. Social Aspect – people interaction or relationship with other people

4. Moral Aspect – conscience, concept on what is good or bad

5. Psychosexual Aspect – being a man or a woman and the expression of love

6. Political Aspect – ideology towards society or government

7. Value / Attitude – interests towards something likes and dislikes

E. ATTRIBUTES OR CHARACTERISTICS OF BEHAVIOR:

1. Overt Behavior –observable, seen or felt by another person, can be

recorded or manifested.

 Example; Laughing, eating, playing, etc.

2. Covert Behavior – those that are hidden from the view of the observer. It
is known only by the person himself.

 Example; blood circulation, food digestion, thinking, etc.

3. Conscious Behavior – the person is aware of the action he does.

 Example: Sitting, standing, raising of arms.

4. Unconscious – the person is not aware why or how he/she performs an

action.

5. Simple Behavior – less number of neutrons are consumed/involved in

the process of behaving.

 Example Sitting, walking, plain reading

6. Complex Behavior – more neutron are involve. It is the combination of

simple behavior.

 Example: jogging, laughing, dancing

7. Rational Behavior – there is a reason for the action or acting with sanity
or with reasons.

 Example: laughing when you are happy; crying when you are hurt.
 8. Irrational Behavior – acting without reason/unaware. The action is done
with no apparent reason or explanation.

 Example: Laughing inside the classroom with no apparent reason.

9. Voluntary Behavior – done with full volition of will. Can be controlled;

performed by skeletal muscles.

10.Involuntary Behavior – bodily process that goes on even when we are

awake or asleep. Behaviors that are done beyond control.

 Example respiration, circulation of the blood, food digestion, etc.

Attributes of Human Behavior (Bautista & Guevara, 2008)

1. Duration – aspect of human behavior in terms of function of time, how long
or brief the interval maybe.
2. Extensity – traits of human behavior which centers on size, distance,
location (spatial characteristics)
3. Intensity – features of human behavior which focuses in terms of
magnitude, mild, strong, (disintegrative)
4. Quantity – refers to the aspect of human behavior dealing with the normal
and abnormal traits.

F. DETERMINANTS OF BEHAVIOR

1. HEREDITY
- The determinant of behavior which asserts that behavior is influenced by
genes, the characteristics of a person is acquired from birth and
transferred from generation to another.
- Is the process by which various characteristics are transmitted to the
individual at the time of fertilization. It is the nature’s way of passing on to
children the potential characteristics of parents.

What could be inherited?

a. Physical Trait

b. Mental Traits

 Chromosomes - These are the carriers of the genes – hereditary units.

There are about 1,000 genes or higher in a chromosome.

 CHROMOSOMAL ABNORMALITIES
 1. Down Syndrome – a.k.a Mongolism. Results in mild to severe learning
disabilities and physical symptoms that include a small skull, extra folds of
skin under the eyes, and a flattened nose bridge.

2. Turner’s Syndrome – a female born with only one chromosome X

instead of the usual XX. The female fails to develop sexually at puberty; of
normal intelligence but show specific cognitive defects – poor in arithmetic
and on tests of visual form perception.

3. Klinefelter’s Syndrome – a case when the 23rd chromosome fails to

divide properly and the developing organism ends up with an extra X
chromosome.

a. XXY – physical male, with penis and testicles but with marked feminine
characteristics. His breasts are enlarged and his testes are small and
do not produce sperm.

b. XYY Abnormality– with an extra Y chromosome in males, taller than

average, and are reported to be unusually aggressive. Person suffering
from XYY abnormality is called “supermale”.

2. ENVIRONMENT
- Refers to anything around a person which influences his behavior.
- It refers to the surrounding conditions and forces which exert an influence
or modify the development of the individual.

 FAMILY BACKGROUND – family is said to be the cradle of

personality development.

 CHILD TRAUMA – the experience which affects the feeling of security

of child undergoing development processes.

PATHOGENIC FAMILY STRUCTURES

1. Inadequate Family – It
is characterized by the
inability to cope with ordinary
problems of daily living.

2. Anti-social Family– A
family that espouses
unacceptable values.
 3. Discordant/Disturbed
Family – It is characterized
by non-satisfaction of one or
both parents with their
relationship that may express
feeling of frustration.

4. Disrupted Family – It is
characterized by
incompleteness whether as a
result of death, divorce
separation or some other
circumstances.

3. TRAINING/LEARNING
- the acquisition of knowledge or skill. It is a result of practice and experience. It is
the process by which behavior changes as result of experience or practice.
- is closely related to environment and includes all the social, educational,
cultural, moral and religious agencies with which the child comes in contact.
- Socio-cultural factors such as wars and violence, discrimination, economic and
unemployment problems are some aspects that may lead to changes in an
individual’s behavior.

G. OTHER DETERMINANTS OF BEHAVIOR

1. NEEDS – biological requirements for a well being of an individual. This

need creates drives – a psychological state of arousal that prompts
someone to take action. Needs are the triggering factor that drives or
moves a person to act.

TYPES OF NEEDS

1. Biological Needs – refers to

those which must be satisfied by

the body in order to sustain life..

2. Psychological Needs – are
influenced primarily by the kind of
society in which the individual is
raised. Psychological motives are
those related to the individual
happiness and well-being, but not
for his survival, unlike the
biological motives that focuses on
basic needs – the primary motives.

2. DRIVES – an aroused state that results from the biological need. The
arouse condition motivates the person to remedy the need. In other
words, drives are those that are done by people to fulfill or satisfy their
needs.

3. MOTIVATIONS – refers to the influences that govern the

commencement, initiation, direction, intensity, and persistence of
behavior. Thus, motivations are the causes and why’s of behavior as
required by the need. For example, a motivated individual is engaged in a
more active, more vigorous, and more effective than those
unmotivated ones, thus, a hungry person directs him to look for food.

 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

a. Biological Needs – Basic needs such as food, water, etc…
b. Safety Needs – Motive of being cared for or secured.
c. Love/Belongingness – Need for affection and need for integration with
various social groups.
d. Esteem Needs – Motivation for an honest fundamental respect for a
person as a useful and honorable human being.
e. Cognitive Needs – Motivation for learning and exploration.
f. Aesthetic Needs - Motivation for beauty and order.
g. Self-Actualization – Pertains to human total satisfaction
h. Self-transcendence – a transgoic (see Note below) level that
emphasizes visionary intuition, altruism, and unity consciousness.

Self-
Trans
cendenc
Self-
e
Actualization

Aesthetic
Needs
Esteem
Needs
Cognitive
Love/
H. CAUSATION OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR (Bautista & Guevara, 2008)

1. Sensation – the feeling or impression of stimulus which are as follows:

a. Visual – sense of sight
b. Olfactory – sense of smell
c. Cutaneous – sense of touch or feeling
d. Auditory – sense of hearing
e. Gustatory – sense of taste

2. Perception – knowledge of stimulus.

 The process of using the senses to acquire information about the
surrounding environment or situation.
 In psychology, process by which organisms interpret and organize
sensation to produce a meaningful experience of the world.
 Note: Sensation usually refers to the immediate, relatively
unprocessed result of stimulation of sensory receptors in the eyes,
ears, nose, tongue, or skin. Perception, on the other hand, better
describes one’s ultimate experience of the world and typically
involves further processing of sensory input. In practice, sensation
and perception are virtually impossible to separate, because they are
part of one continuous process.

3. Awareness – psychological activity (according to interpretation and

experience of object or stimulus.
 Having knowledge of something from having observed it or been told
about it.

I. VIEWPOINTS IN THE STUDY OF HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

1. Neurological – emphasizes human behaviors as related to events taking

place inside the body, especially the brain and the nervous system.
2. Behavioral – focuses on external activities that can be observed and
measured.
3. Cognitive – is concerned with the way the brain process and transforms
information in various ways.
4. Psychoanalytical – emphasized unconscious motives coming from
repressed sexual and aggressive impulse in childhood.
5. Humanistic – refers to the subject’s experience, freedom of choice and
motivation toward self-actualization.