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PSYCHOLOGY NOTES < The most important contribution of functionalism was
Psychology is defined as the scientific study of behavior
and mental processes.
< Scientific psychology was borne of the idea that mind
and behavior could be the subject of scientific analysis.
< Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychological
laboratory and relied heavily on introspection in his
experiments.
Psychology
< Is derived from the Greek words psyche and logos,
meaning soul and study.
< Psychology is defined as the scientific study of the
behaviour of living organisms, with special attention to
human behaviour.
< Psychology is a science because it is systematic and
empirical, and it is dependent upon measurement.
Behaviour refers activities that can be observed
objectively, such as the reactions of the muscles and the
glands, as well as the organized patterns of responses as
a whole.
-It also includes internal processes such as thinking,
feeling and other reactions which cannot be directly
observed but can be inferred from external behaviour.
-It may be classified as overt or covert and intrinsic or
extrinsic behaviour.
School Proponent/s
STRUCTURALISM - the analysis of
E.B. Titchener
mental structures
FUNCTIONALISM - studying how the
mind works so that an organism can William James
adapt to and function in its environment
BEHAVIORISM - study of behavior
James Watson
without reference to consciousness
GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY - focuses on Max Wertheirmer,
the patterns formed by stimuli and on the Kurt Koffka,
organization of experience Wolfgang Kohler
PSYCHOANALYSIS - emphasizes the
role of unconscious processes in Sigmund Freud
personality development & motivation
SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT OF PSYCHOLOGY
In the 19th century after a few studies on human
behaviour have been conducted, several schools of
psychology emerged. These schools study human
behaviour at different perspectives and with different
emphasis and method. They are the following:
Structuralism (1875-1930)
< Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Bradford Titchener.
“Mind is made up of building blocks in the form of various
types of sensation and perception, and that these building
blocks could be discovered through introspection or
looking into one’s own mind.”
Functionalism (1890-1930)
< Was developed in the United States.
< Its main leaders were William James, Stanley Hall,
James McKeen Cattell, James R. Angell, John Dewey and
Harvey Carr.
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changing the focus of psychology to learning, motivation,
and thinking and veered away from the structuralists’
emphasis on individual perception and sensations.
Psychoanalysis (1900-present)
< Sigmund Freud, a famous physician and psychiatrist,
attempted to find the cause and cure of personality
disorders. He postulated on the existence of unconscious
mental processes which influenced an individual’s
behaviour in various indirect ways.
< His method of treatment, called “psychoanalysis”,
emphasizes free association. This is letting the patient
freely associate on his thoughts and experiences, and with
the help of the psychiatrist, analyzes the causes of his
difficulty.
Behaviourism (1913-present)
< The school of behaviourism was founded by John B.
Watson.
< He argued that the psychologist should use only
objective methods and that their observations and
measurements should be in form which could be checked
and verified by other psychologists.
Gestalt (1912-1940)
< In 1912, Kurt Koffka, Wolfgang Kohler, and Max
Wertheimer founded the Gestalt school which maintained
that psychology should study the whole pattern of
behaviour or experience or the perception of organized
configuration.
< Its fundamental principle states that the whole is more
than the sum of all its parts.
Humanistic (1950-present)
< 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.
Cognitive (1950-present)
< Jean Piaget, Noam Chomsky, and Herbert Simon
focused on thought and mental processes. Human
behaviour cannot be fully understood without analyzing
how people acquire, store and process information.
Biological (1950-present)
< James Olds and Roger Sperry theorized that much of
human and animal behaviour can be explained in terms of
bodily structure and biochemical processes.
Purposivism
< William McDougall believed that objects, movement and
behaviour have a definite purpose and that the ductless
glands in people produce hormones which give them
purpose.
METHODS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH
1. Introspection: Is a method of mental self-analysis
wherein the psychologist studies himself, records his
feeling and experiences, analyzes these and later
interprets them.
2. Observation :Is the most widely used method in the
study of behaviour. There are several kinds of
observation: uncontrolled or informal observation.

Naturalistic observation and controlled or formal
observation.
3. Life-History Method: Is the extensive study of
individuals by tracing the development of a particular form
of behaviour. Life history methods are of three forms: the
daybook method, the clinical method or the biographical
method.
4. Survey Method: Uses data obtained from respondents
through written questionnaires or interviews.
5. Experimental Method :Is the study of behaviour inside
the laboratory under controlled conditions. It involves
variables which can be measured quantitatively. Variables
may be either independent or dependent.
6. Statistical Method : Statistics is the science that deals
with the collecting and handling of numerical data and
making inferences from such data.
CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES:
1. Biological – actions and events related to body
processes.
2. Behavioural – measurable behaviour.
3. Cognitive – mental processes (e.g. perceiving,
remembering, reasoning).
4. Psychoanalytic – emphasizes unconscious motives –
sex and aggression.
5. Phenomenological – focuses on subjective
experiences and motivation toward self-actualization.
Several approaches are used by psychologist to study
human behaviour. Each approach has its own emphasis
and method of analysis. These are:
1. BIOLOGICAL APPROACH – this is concerned with
the physiological processes inside the body. It explains
human behaviour as a result of the events in the nervous
system particularly inside the brain. Other systems such as
the sensory and the endocrine are factors being given
attention to have affected specific human behaviour. An
example would be a, woman experiencing PMS or pre-
menstrual syndrome may show some signs of depression
or irritability, not because of some factors but because of
hormonal changes happening in her body.
2. BEHAVIORAL APPROACH – any human activity that
can be directly observed (overt behaviour) or indirectly
behaviour (convert behaviour) is known as BEHAVIOR.
John Watson claimed that in using Science to study
human behaviour, objectivity should be maintained.
Important here in the Stimulus- Response (S-R) which
states that a significant stimulus may yield a specific
response such that a person would ran as fast at the sight
of frightening stimulus.
3. COGNITIVE APPROACH – in contrast to the
behavioural approach, the cognitive approach focuses on
the unobservable processes or the covert behaviour such
as mental processes in explaining human behaviour. Thus
it explains John’s aggressive as a result of his perception
of a situation rather than a product of his own trait.
4. PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH – Freud explained
human behaviour as a product of the person’s
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unconscious motives or desires. He compared the human
mind with an iceberg in order to explain this. According to
him, only a part of our mind is conscious of things that we
do. The rest are not conscious about painful experiences.
However, they are manifested through the words we
unconsciously blurt out, or through dreams or even
through actions. For example, a victim of insects may
grow up to be a man hater merely because she associates
every male with her father. This feeling of hatred could
have stemmed from the traumatic experience she had
repressed.
5. PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH – focuses on the
subjective and personal experience of events, known as
the individual’s phenomenology. It is concerned more with
describing the inner life experiences of individuals rather
than with developing theories of predicting behaviour. This
approach is related to Carl Rogers’ and Abraham Maslow’s
HUMANISTIC approach which emphasize the uniqueness
and the capability of the person of “becoming”. Of the five
approaches, this is the most difficult to measure (having
the belief that humans should not be measured) and the
most unscientific (being subjective of human experience).
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
OF SENSE BEHAVIOR
1. ABSOLUTE THRESHOLD – a minimum amount of
sensory stimulation is needed in order to evoke any
response. For example, a noise may only be heard if it
reaches the minimum intensity or decibels for our ears to
hear it.
2. DIFFERENCE THRESHOLD – there should be a certain
amount of difference between stimuli in order to
distinguish one from the other. Thus, we may know
which of the two perfumes smells better if there is
minimal difference between them.
3. SENSORY ADAPTATION – our sense receptors will no
longer be sensitive to any other stimulation after one
simulation has already persisted through a period of
time. This characteristic explains why the people in
Smokey Mountain can withstand the stinking smell of
their place.
FACTUAL EXPERIENCES
The nerve endings for factual experiences are
spread all over our skin, though sometimes they are
interlocking and overlapping. Some people may
experience pain and pressure at the same time.
Sometimes, either pain or pressure may only be
experienced. There are speculations that pain is a result
of persisting or too much pressure. There are two kinds
of pain: direct pain and referred pain.
Direct pain results from direct stimulation such as prick
or a cut. Whereas referred pain is felt at the area
different from where the stimulation is applied, such as
headache, backache, toothache or what we term as
“kulani”.
A theory known as gate control theory explains why
people experience pain. According to this theory, a
neural gate along our spinal cord opens up when the
pain receptors are stimulated. Otherwise it is closed, thus

we feel pain. Pain relievers such as paracetamol or
aspirin and anesthesia have chemicals which may affect
the neurotransmitter that could inhibit impulses before
these impulses reach the neural gate, thus pain is either
relieved or avoided.
LEARNING
What the possible instinctual component to
human life, it is very clear that learning is the
predominant component. And it isn’t just that we do
more learning than most animals; we even do it in more
different ways!
All learning ultimately boils down to association
and differentiation. These are the two basic
mechanisms of learning (and memory) that have been
proposed over the centuries. Association is learning
that two things go together. For example, we learn that
spoons go with knives, cups go with saucers, thunder
follows lighting, and pain follows injury, and so on.
Differentiation is learning to distinguish one something
from another. We learn that green, not red, means go,
that cats, not dogs have sharp claws, that soft speech,
not yelling, is approved of by one’s association and
differentiation are two sides of the same coin, but
sometimes one is more obvious and sometimes the it’s
the other.
There are several things that help us to retain
associations and differentiations: The first is obvious:
Repetition or rehearsal. Practice makes perfect! Then
there are things like vividness and intensity: We are
more likely to remember someone’s name if they are
loud and colorful than if they are quiet and ordinary. And
finally, we have conditioning that is, associating the
whole association or differentiation, with something that
motivates us, whether it is food, companionship, money,
a sense of pride, a fear of pain, or whatever.
The simplest kind of learning, which we share
with all animals, we could call environmental:
Environmental conditioning adds a positive or
negative consequence to the learning that it in: You run,
expecting a 100 yards of open field, when you suddenly
smack into a tree you hadn’t noticed. You will be more
careful in the future!
For a social animal, much of this learning comes
from others – i.e. it is social conditioning, also known as
rewards and punishments. So, instead of learning not to
run across streets by getting punished as you begin to run
across the street. Or, instead of learning sex roles by
accident (!), you are gently shaped by signs of SOCIAL
APPROVAL: “My, aren’t you pretty!” or “Here’s my little
man!”
IMPORTANT TERMS TO REMEMBER:
Acquisition – refers to the first stages of learning when a
response is established. In classical conditioning,
acquisition refers to the period of time when the stimulus
comes to evoke the conditioned response.
Discrimination – in classical conditioning, the ability to
differentiate between a conditioned stimulus and other
stimuli that have not been paired with an unconditioned
stimulus. For example, if a bell tone were the conditioned
stimulus, discrimination would involve being able to tell
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the difference between the bell tone and other similar
sounds.
Adaptation – a term referring to the ability to adjust to
new information and experiences. Learning is essentially
adapting to our constantly changing environment.
Through adaptation, we are able to adopt new behaviours
that allow us to cope with change.
Extinction – in classical conditioning, when the
occurrences of a conditioned response decrease or
disappear. In classical conditioning, this happens when a
conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with an
unconditioned stimulus. For example, of the smell of food
(the unconditioned stimulus) had been paired with the
sound of a whistle (the conditioned stimulus), it would
eventually come to evoke the conditioned response of
hunger. However, if the unconditioned stimulus (the smell
of food) were no longer paired with the conditioned
stimulus (the whistle), eventually the conditioned
response (hunger) would disappear.
Stimulus Generalization – in classical conditioning, the
tendency for the conditioned stimulus to evoke similar
responses after the response has been conditioned. For
example, if a rat has been conditioned to fear a stuffed
rabbit, it will exhibit fear of objects similar to the
conditioned stimulus.
Spontaneous Recovery - in classical conditioning, the
reappearance after a rest period or period of lessened
response. If the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned
stimulus are no longer associated, extinction will occur
very rapidly after a spontaneous recovery.
Habituation – a decrease in response to a stimulus after
repeated presentations. For example, a novel sound in
your environment, such as a new ringtone, may initially
draw your attention or even become distracting. After you
become accustomed to this sound, you pay less attention
to the noise and your response to the sound will diminish.
This diminished response is habituation.
FOOD FOR THE BRAIN – SOME BIOPSYCHOLOGY
■ Basic unit of the nervous system: NEURON
■ A cluster of cell bodies in the CNS is called a nucleus
(pl. Nuclei). A cluster of cell bodies outside the CNS
(meaning in the PNS) is called a ganglion (pl. ganglia).
■ A bundle of axon to the CNS is called a tract; in the
PNS it’s called a nerve. (Extra: How many cranial nerves
do you have? How many spinal nerves? )
■ Apart from neurons, support cells are also found in
the nervous system. They provide structural and
functional support for the neurons. In the CNS, they are
called glial cells. In the PNS, they are referred to as
satellite cells.
■ Oligodendrocytes supply the myelin sheath for cells in
the CNS. One oligo... wraps axons of several neurons. In
the PNS, Schwann cells perform this function. The
correspondence is 1:1.
Here are some facts you have to remember about
ACTION POTENTIALS:
<It is caused by depolarization.

<Once started, it travels down the axon to the terminal
buttons that release neurotransmitters (either excitatory
or inhibitory) that diffuses across the synapse (the small
gap between two neurons).
<They exhibit all-or-none response, not graded
response.
<Transmission is non-decremental.
<Temporal and spatial summation is possible.
<It is followed by an absolute refractory period and then a
relative refractory period.
■ For the neurotransmitters remember:
▲Glutamate is the most prevalent excitatory
neurotransmitter in the mammalian nervous system;
GABA is the most prevalent inhibitory neurotransmitter.
▲ Acetylcholine is seen in neuromuscular junctions and
is prevalent in the hippocampus. It is generally excitatory
and is observed to degenerate in Alzheimer’s disease
leading to serious memory loss.
▲ Norepinephrine is produced by brainstem neurons.
Increased levels in the brain correlated with heightened
mood, decreased levels with depression.
▲ Dopamine excess is related to schizophrenia while
deficiency is related to Parkinson’s disease. (Think of
Michael J. Fox and Muhammad Ali.)
▲ Serotonin deficiency leads to depression.
■The nervous system is divided into CNS (brain + spinal
cord) and PNS (nerves connecting the brain and spinal
cord to other parts of the body). PNS is subdivided to
somatic – carries messages to and from sense receptors,
muscles, and the surface of the body – and autonomic –
connects with the internal organs and glands – nervous
systems. The ANS consists of the sympathetic and
parasympathetic systems. Because it control the actions of
the smooth muscle and the glands, the ANS is particularly
important in emotional reactions. The sympathetic arm
is active during excitement and the parasympathetic is
dominant during quiescence.
BODY SYSTEMS AS BASIS OF BEHAVIOR
In order to understand human behaviour, it is important
to look at the different factors governing a certain
behaviour.
1. SENSORY NEURON (AFFERENT NEURONS) –
incoming neurons which receive impulses: from the sense
organs and direct the impulses to the brain and spinal
cord.
2. CONNECTOR NEURONS (ASSOCIATION) –
neurons which connect the sensory and motor neurons.
3. MOTOR NEURONS (EFFERENT) – outgoing neurons,
which carry impulses away from the brain and spinal cord
and send them to the motor organs or muscle fibers.
THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM: The nervous
system is composed of the spinal cord where almost all
nerve fibers are connected and the center of the CNS
which is the brain whose function are; to identify, to
organize, to interpret and to respond to the experience of
sensory stimulation. This three pound mass inside our
skull is regarded as the “CPU” of our body where mental,
conscious and unconscious processes occur. This is
responsible why we still remember our birthday last year,
why we can understand this hand out, why we feel
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excited, why we feel hungry and many more. It consists of
three main divisions:
IMPORTANT PARTS OF NEURON TO REMEMBER:
Nerve cells – basic structural unit or building block of the
nervous system.
Cytoplasm – the living material forming the body of the
cell.
Dendrites – conduct impulses toward the cell body of a
neuron.
Axons – conduct impulses away from the cell body.
Synapse – the junction through which impulses pass
between any two neurons.
THE NERVOUS SYSTEM: Is a complex communications
network controlling the body’s internal environment as
well as its responses to its surroundings.
Three Types of Neurons:
< Afferent Neurons – conduct nerve impulses from
receptors to the brain or spinal cord. These are the points
in the body where a decision (voluntary or involuntary) is
made as to what the response should be.
< Internuncial or Associative Neurons – responsible for
what we commonly call thought. It carries information
within the system.
< Efferent Neurons – conduct nerve impulses from the
decision points to the effects.
CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
<Includes the brain and the spinal cord.
<It is the decision-maker. Tracts or pathways of fibers run
between the various levels of the spinal cord and brain.
PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
< Is composed of two parts: the autonomic system and
the somatic system.
< Autonomic system is a motor system supplying
impulses to most of the internal organs and smooth
muscles of the body. It is an involuntary system. It is
composed of two principal divisions:
> Sympathetic Nervous System – becomes active when
one is in danger or is about to engage in something like
an athletic contest (e.g., increased heartbeat, slowed
down digestive processes, and increased blood flow to the
muscles).
> Parasympathetic Nervous System – is connected to the
same organs of the sympathetic nervous system, but
activity of the parasympathetic system has opposite
effects (e.g., slows heartbeat, increases digestive
processes and diverts blood from the muscles toward the
stomach and intestines).
< Somatic System – controls skeletal muscles.
BRAIN
< It has an average weight of about three pounds.
< It contains at least 15 billion nerve cells called neurons.
< It is composed of three principal sections: the hindbrain,
midbrain and the forebrain.
>Hindbrain – is the closest to the spinal cord. It is also
relays efferent messages from those levels to the effectors
and performs a number of reflex actions including such
responses as blinking of the eyes.
>Midbrain – is located just above the hindbrain, forming
the upper part of the brain stem. It serves to relay

afferent and efferent messages. It performs some reflex
responses that are controlled by the hindbrain and
controls more complex responses such as walking.
>Forebrain – most complex and the biggest part of the
human brain. It is composed of three parts: the thalamus,
the limbic system and the cortex.
- Thalamus – is a relay station where afferent messages
pass. It serves as a major “switching point”. Messages
from all the senses, except smell, are relayed directly from
here to the cortex, the highest part of the brain.
- Limbic System – its most important portion is the
hypothalamus, which is involved in a variety of complex
human processes which controls eating, drinking and
certain sexual activities.
- Cortex – it is made up of four lobes which are separated
by deep valleys or fissures. These are the:
> Frontal Lobe (control centers for voluntary motor
(muscles) activity).
> Parietal Lobe (somesthetic or “body sense” area).
> Occipital Lobe (the primary visual center and the
association center and an association for visual
recognition).
> Temporal Lobe (it is thought to be the center for
memory recall).
SENSATION AND PERCEPTION
Sensation – results when any of the sense organs are
stimulated. For a sensation to occur, there must be
receptors, which are specialized sensitive cells that
respond to stimulus.
Receptors – are classifies as exteroceptors, interoceptors
and proprioceptors.
< Exteroceptors – are located on the outer surface of the
body and are stimulated by stimuli external to the
organism.
< Interoceptors – are located in the linings of the
viscera—the digestive, respiratory and circulatory systems.
< Proprioceptors – are found in the linings of the muscles,
tendons and joints and are stimulated by energy changes
resulting from the movements of these structures.
PRINCIPLES OF GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
Heredity: Is the transmission of traits from parents to
offspring. It gives the human individual a similarity to
other organisms and also uniqueness.
Genes: Are submicroscopic particles in chromosomes.
They are the unit carriers of heredity. Their chemical
influence is exerted most directly upon the jelly-like
substance, called cytoplasm, which surrounds the nucleus.
Dominant Gene: Is one whose characteristic will be
dominant when paired with another gene.
Recessive Gene: Is one whose characteristic will not be
produced when paired with a dominant gene.
XX Chromosome: If the two chromosomes are identical or
if both are X-chromosomes, the result is female.
XY Chromosome: If the pair is an X and a Y-chromosome,
the result is male.
Note: The genes of a normal male have two X-
chromosomes or one Y- and one X-chromosome, while
that of a normal female has two X-chromosomes. That is
why the male genes alone determine the sex of a zygote.
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Monozygotic or Identical Twins: This is the splitting of one
zygote into two separate cells which develop into two
individual organisms.
Dizygotic or Fraternal Twins: Develop from two separate
zygotes, each produced by the union of a separate sperm
cell with a separate egg cell.
Environment: Includes all the conditions in the world that
influence behaviour, growth, development or life
processes in any way. Heredity x Environment x Time =
Developmental Level
Maturation: follows an orderly sequence. New structures
and functions always appear in a definite order, so that
each new development sets the stage for the next.
Motor Development: motor refers to movement, such as
walking, swimming, grasping, etc. Motor skills appear in a
definite order but at different rates.
Prehension: refers to grasping objects. Its simplest form is
palmar grasping. By using the thumb in opposition to the
index finger, a finer grasp is developed, as when picking
up a piece of paper.
Language Development: infant begin life with no other
language than their cries and grunts. As their language
mechanism matures, they make more and more sounds
and begin to comprehend the meaning of words they
hear.
GROWING UP: DEVELOPMENT PSYCHOLOGY
▲ Maturation is a process referring to the innately
determined sequences of growth or other changes in the
body that are relatively independent of the environment.
Infants are born with all their sensory systems
functioning.
■ Piaget's Model of Cognitive Development
▲ Much of modern cognitive theory, including its
relationship to socialization, stems from the work of the
Swiss psychologist, Jean Piaget. In the 1920s Piaget
observed children reasoning and understanding
differently, depending on their age. He proposed that all
children progress through a series of cognitive stages
of development, just as they progress through a series
of physical stages of development. According to Piaget,
the rate at which children pass through these cognitive
stages may vary, but they eventually pass through all of
them in the same order.
▲ Piaget introduced several other important concepts.
According to Piaget, cognitive development occurs from
two processes: adaptation and equilibrium. Adaptation
involves the child's changing to meet situational demands.
Adaptation involves two sub-processes: assimilation and
accommodation. Assimilation is the application of
previous concepts to new concepts. An example is the
child who refers to a whale as a “fish.”
Accommodation is the altering of previous concepts in
the face of new information. An example is the child who
discovers that some creatures living in the ocean are not
fish, and then correctly refers to a whale as a “mammal.”
Equilibrium is the search for “balance” between self and

the world, and involves the matching of the child's
adaptive functioning to situational demands. Equilibrium
keeps the infant moving along the developmental
pathway, allowing him or her to make increasingly
effective adaptations.
Piaget's Model of Cognitive Development
Stage Characteristics of Stage
Sensorimotor The child learns by doing: looking,
touching, and sucking. The child also
has a primitive understanding of
cause-and-effect relationships.
Preoperational The child uses language and symbols,
including letters and numbers.
Egocentrism is also evident.
Concrete Operations The child demonstrates conservation,
reversibility, serial ordering, and a
mature understanding of cause-and-
effect relationships.
Formal Operations The individual demonstrates abstract
thinking, including logic, deductive
reasoning, comparison, and
classification.
Piaget’s Key Ideas
Adaptation Adapt to the world by assimilation &
accommodation
Assimilation The process by which a person takes
material into their mind from the
environment, which may mean changing the
evidence of their senses to make it fit.
Accommodation The difference made to one's mind or
concepts by the process of assimilation.
Note: assimilation & accommodation go
together: you can't have one without the
other.
Classification The ability to group objects together on the
basis of common features.
Class Inclusion The understanding more advanced than
simple classification, that some classes or
sets of objects are also sub-sets of a larger
class. (E.g. there is a class of objects called
dogs. There is also a class called animals.
But all dogs are also animals, so the class of
animals includes that of dogs)
Conservation The realisation that objects or sets of objects
stay the same even when they are changed
about or made to look different.
Decentration The ability to move away from one system
of classification to another one as
appropriate.
Egocentrism The belief that you are the centre of the
universe and everything revolves around
you: the corresponding inability to see the
world as someone else does and adapt to it.
Operation The process of working something out in
your head. Young children (in the
sensorimotor and pre-operational stages)
have to act, and try things out in the real
world, to work things out (like count on
fingers): older children and adults can do
more in their heads.
Schema The representation in the mind of a set of
(or scheme) perceptions, ideas, and/or actions, which go
together.
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Stage A period in a child's development in which
he or she is capable of understanding some
things but not others
Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development: Stages of
Moral Reasoning
▲ Kohlberg extended Piaget’s work to include
adolescence and adulthood. He proposed three levels of
moral judgment: pre-conventional, conventional, and
post-conventional.
Stage 1: Punishment-Obedience
Level One:
Orientation
Pre-
conventional
Stage 2: Instrumental Relativist
Morality
Orientation
Stage 3: Good Boy-Nice Girl
Level Two:
Orientation
Conventional
Morality
Stage 4: Law and Order Orientation
Level Three: Stage 5: Social Contract Orientation
Post-
Conventional Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principle
Morality Orientation
1. Pre-conventional Level
(up to age nine): ~Self Focused Morality~
● Morality is defined as obeying rules and avoiding
negative consequences. Children in this stage see rules
set, typically by parents, as defining moral law, that which
satisfies the child’s needs is seen as good and moral.
2. Conventional Level
(age nine to adolescence): ~Other Focused Morality~
● Children begin to understand what is expected of them
by their parents, teacher, etc. Morality is seen as
achieving these expectations.
● Fulfilling obligations as well as following expectations
are seen as moral law for children in this stage.
3. Post-conventional Level
(adulthood):~Higher Focused Morality~
● As adults, we begin to understand that people have
different opinions about morality and that rules and laws
vary from group to group and culture to culture. Morality
is seen as upholding the values of your group or culture.
● Understanding your own personal beliefs allow adults to
judge themselves and others based upon higher levels of
morality. In this stage what is right and wrong is based
upon the circumstances surrounding an action. Basics of
morality are the foundation with independent thought
playing an important role.
▲ An infant’s tendency to seek closeness to particular
people and to feel more secure in their presence is called
attachment. There are three different attachment styles:
SECURE AVOIDANT / AMBIVALENT
ATTACHMENT INSECURE ATTACHMENT

ATTACHMENT
Able to separate May avoid May be wary of
from parents parents strangers
Seek comfort Does not seek Become greatly
from parents much contact or distressed when
when frightened comfort from parents leave
parents
Greets return or Shows little or Do not appear
parents with no preference to be comforted
positive for parents over when parents
emotions strangers return
▲Gender identity is the degree to which one regards
oneself as male or female. It is distinct from sex typing,
the acquisition of characteristics and behaviors that
society considers appropriate for one’s sex. Different views
on the development of gender identity and sex typing are
described below:
■ Freud’s psychoanalytic theory holds that gender
identity and sex typing develop from the children’s
early discovery of the genital differences between the
sexes and children’s eventual identification with the same-
sex parent.
■ Social-learning theory emphasizes the rewards and
punishments that children receive for sex-appropriate
and sex-inappropriate behaviours, as well as a process of
identification with same-sex adults that is based on
observational learning.
■ A cognitive-developmental theory of gender identity
and sex typing holds that once children can identify
themselves as male or female, they are motivated to
acquire sex-typed behaviours. This underestimates
children’s degree of understanding.
■ Gender schema theory, developed by Sandra Bem,
seeks to explain why children base their self-concept on
male-female distinction in the first place. It emphasizes
the role of culture in teaching children to view the world
through lens of gender. Like cognitive-developmental
theory, gender schema theory sees children as active
agents in promoting their own sex typing; like social-
learning theory, it rejects the conclusion that
traditional sex typing is inevitable and
unmodifiable.
SENSE AND SENSITIVITY
Sensation...
■ At the psychological level, sensations are experiences
associated with simple stimuli. At the biological level,
sensory processes involve the sense organs and
connecting neural pathways, and are concerned with thin
initial stages of acquiring stimulus information. The senses
include vision; audition (hearing); olfaction (smell);
gestation (taste); the skin senses; which include pressure,
temperature, and pain; and the body senses.
■ One property that can be used to describe all sense is
SENSITIVITY as measured by the absolute threshold.
■ Every sense modality must recode or transducer its
physical energy into neural impulses.
■ The stimulus for vision is LIGHT – electromagnetic
radiation in the range from 400-700 nanometers.
COMPARING RODS AND CONES
(VISUAL RECEPTORS)
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■ Cones operate at high intensities, lead to sensations of
color, and are found only in the center (or fovea) of the
retina. Rods operate at low intensities, lead to colorless
sensations, and predominate in the periphery of the
retina. Naturally, our sensitivity to light’s intensity is
mediated by rods and cones.
■ More rods connect to ganglion cells than do cones;
because of this difference in connectivity, visual sensitivity
is greater when based on rods than cones, but visual
acuity is greater when based on cones than rods.
< The stimulus for audition (hearing) is a WAVE OF
PRESSURE CHANGES (a sound wave).
< PITCH
-It is the most striking quality of sound.
-It increases with the frequency of the sound wave.
-Two theories explain pitch perception:
>Temporal theory: Pitch heard depends on the temporal
pattern of neural responses in the auditory system, which
itself is determined by the temporal pattern of the sound
wave. This accounts for perception of low frequencies.
>Place theories: Each frequency maximally stimulates one
place along the basilar membrane, and the place of
maximum movement determines which pitch is heard.
This accounts for perception of high frequencies.
-The stimuli for smell are the MOLECULES GIVEN OFF
BY A SUBSTANCE.
-The stimulus for taste is A SUBSTANCE THAT IS
SOLUBLE IN SALIVA.
-Two of the skins senses are pressure and temperature.
-Any stimulus that is intense enough to cause tissue
damage is a stimulus for pain.
PERCEPTION
The study of perception deals with two major functions of
the perceptual system: LOCALIZATION, or determining
where objects are, and RECOGNITION, determining
what objects are. The study of perception also deals with
how the perceptual system keeps the appearance of
objects constant, even though their retinal images are
changing (PERCEPTUAL CONSTANCIES). Another area
of study is how our perceptual capacities develop.
LOCALIZATION
< To localize objects we must first separate them from
one another and then organize them into groups. For
example, into figure and ground, or into groups based on
proximity, closure, similarity, good continuation,
and closure.
< Localizing an object requires that we know its distance
from us – depth perception. Monocular depth cues are:
relative size, interposition, relative height, linear
perspective, shading, and motion parallax. An example of
a binocular depth cue is binocular disparity – an object
produces slightly different images on the two retinas.
< Localizing an object sometimes requires that we know
the direction in which an object is moving. Motion
perception can be produced in the absence of an object
moving across our retina. One example is stroboscopic
motion, in which a rapid series of still images induces
apparent movement; another example is induced
motion, in which movement of a large object induces
apparent movement of a smaller stationary object.
Perception of real motion is implemented by specific

cells in the visual system, as indicated by single-cell
recordings and experiments on selective adaptation.
RECOGNITION
< Recognizing an object amounts to assigning it to a
category based mainly on the shape of the object. In early
stages of recognition, the visual system uses retinal
information to describe the object in terms of features like
lines and angles; neurons that detect such features
(feature detectors) have been found in the visual cortex.
In later stages of recognition, the system matches the
description of the object with shape description stored in
memory to find the best match.
-Bottom-up recognition processes are driven solely by
the input, whereas top-down recognition processes
are driven by a person’s knowledge and expectations.
ATTENTION
< Selective attention is the process by which we select
some stimuli for further processing while ignoring others.
Selective looking and selective listening (e.g. cocktail
party phenomenon) both exist. Our ability to selectively
attend is mediated by processes that occur in the early
stages of recognition as well as by processes that occur
only after the message’s meaning has been determined.
SENSATION AND PERCEPTION
Sensation – results when any of the sense organs are
stimulated. For a sensation to occur, there must be
receptors, which are specialized sensitive cells that
respond to stimulus.
Receptors – are classifies as exteroceptors, interoceptors
and proprioceptors.
-Exteroceptors – are located on the outer surface of the
body and are stimulated by stimuli external to the
organism.
-Interoceptors – are located in the linings of the viscera—
the digestive, respiratory and circulatory systems.
Proprioceptors – are found in the linings of the muscles,
tendons and joints and are stimulated by energy changes
resulting from the movements of these structures
PERCEPTUAL CONSTANCIES:
< Lightness constancy – object appears equally light
regardless of how much light it reflects
< Color constancy – object looks roughly the same color
regardless of the light source illuminating it
< Shape and location constancy
< Size constancy – object’s apparent size remains the
same
CONSCIOUSNESS: THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG
< A person’s perceptions, thoughts, and feelings at any
given moment constitute that person’s
CONSCIOUSNESS.
< ALTERED STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS is said to
exist when mental functioning seems changed or out of
the ordinary to the person experiencing the state.
Examples are dreams and sleep, meditation, hypnosis and
the use of drugs.
SLEEP
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< There are four stages of sleep + REM (rapid eye
movement).
< REM and NREM are as different from each other as each
is from wakefulness.
NREM sleep is characterized by an idle brain in a very
relaxed body. REM sleep is characterized by a brain that
appears to be wide awake in a virtually paralyzed body.
Sleepers awakened during REM sleep almost always report
having a dream, but when awakened during NREM sleep
they will report having a dream only about 25% of the
time.
NREM dreams are more like normal thinking, neither as
visual nor as emotionally charged as REM dreams, and
more related to what is happening in waking life.
COMMON SLEEP DISORDERS
< Insomnia – characterized by difficulty in falling asleep
initially, difficulty in remaining asleep and persistent early
morning awakening.
< Narcolepsy – sudden and irresistible onsets of sleep
during normal waking periods.
< Sleep Apnea – frequent reflexive gasping for air that
awakens a person and disrupts sleep.
< Night Terrors – abrupt awakening from REM sleep
accompanied by intense autonomic arousal and feeling of
panic.
< Nightmares – anxiety arousing dreams that lead to
awakening usually from REM sleep.
< Somnambulism – or sleep walking occurs when a
person arises and wanders about while remaining asleep.
DREAMS: remembered images and fantasies are
temporarily confused with external reality
<Everybody dreams
<Dreams last about as long as they would in real life
<Sometimes, people do know when they are dreaming.
<People can control the content of their dreams.
<Dream content, as explained by Freud, are a disguised
attempt at wish fulfilment.
Dream: Is a mental experience during sleep that includes
vivid visual images.
THEORIES OF DREAM
< Sigmund Freud – stressed the wish-fulfilling function of
dreams. Ungratified needs are expressed thru dreams.
< Rosalind Carthwright – emphasized the problem-solving
functions of dreams. According to her, dreams provide an
opportunity to work through everyday problems.
< J. Allan Hobson and Rober McCarley – assert that
dreams are merely products of periodic neural activation
that produces “wide awake” brain waves during REM
sleep.
Sleep: To take the rest afforded by a suspension of
voluntary bodily function, and the natural suspension,
complete or partial, of consciousness.
THEORIES OF SLEEP
< Restorative Theories – purpose of sleep is to restore
energy and body resources depleted by waking activities.
< Circadian Theories – sleep occurs because of survival
value. To conserve energy and serve as protection from
dangers. Our body is synchronized within a 24-hour cycle.

Two Process Theory of Sleep – the need for slow wave
sleep reflects the restorative function of sleep and the
need for REM sleep reflects the circadian regulation of
sleep.
MEDITATION: an effort to alter consciousness by
following planned rituals or exercises such as those
of yoga or Zen. Meditation refers to a family of mental
exercises in which a conscious attempt is made to focus
attention in a non-analytical way.
HYPNOSIS: a responsive state in which individuals
focus their attention on the hypnotist and his or
her suggestions
< Some people are more readily hypnotized than others,
although most people show some susceptibility.
< Characteristic hypnotic responses include:
enhanced or diminished control over movements,
distortion of memory through posthypnotic amnesia, age
regression, and positive and negative hallucinations.
Reduction of pain is one of the beneficial uses of hypnosis.
Hypnosis – is a systematic procedure that typically
produces a heightened state of suggestibility. It may lead
to passive relaxation, narrowed attention and enhanced
fantasy.
THEORIES OF HYPNOSIS
< Hypnosis as role-playing – role expectations produce a
hypnotized subject who behaves as like his or her concept
of a hypnotized person.
< Hypnosis is an altered state of awareness that creates
dissociation in consciousness – Hilgard (1986) theorized
that hypnosis splits consciousness into two streams. One
stream is a communication with the hypnotist and the
external world, while the other is a difficult to detect
“hidden observer”.
PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS
Drug dependence is characterized by tolerance,
withdrawal and compulsive use. Drug abuse is continued
use of a drug despite serious consequences by a person
who has not yet reached the stage of dependence. The
most commonly used and abused psychoactive drugs are:
< Depressants: alcohol, barbiturates (e.g. seconal),
tranquilizers (e.g. valium, miltown), inhalants (e.g. paint
thinner)
< Opiates (narcotics): opium, codeine, heroin, morphine,
methadone
< Stimulants: amphetamines, cocaine, nicotine, caffeine
< Hallucinogens: LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, PCP
< Cannabis: marijuana and hashish
ASC (Altered States of Consciousness)
<Include dreaming, daydreaming, sensory deprivation,
sleep, hypnosis, meditation, and drug-induced
experiences.
<It is defined as any mental state caused by physiological,
psychological or pharmacological intervention that can be
recognized either by the person experiencing it or by an
objective observer as substantially different from the
individual’s behaviour when in a normally alert, awake
state of mind.
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ESP (ExtraSensory Perception)
Response to externalstimuli without any known sensory
contact.
■ Telepathy: Thought transference from one person to
another without the mediation of any known channel of
sensory communication (for example, identifying a playing
card merely being thought of by another person) involves
the direct transmission of thought from one person to
another.
■ Clairvoyance: Perception of objects or events that do
not provide a stimulus to the known senses (for example,
identifying a concealed playing card whose identity is
unknown to anyone).The ability to perceive objects or
events
■ Precognition: is the ability to foretell future events.
Perception of a future event that could not be anticipated
through any known inferential (for example, predicting
that a particular number will come up on the next throw of
dice)
■ Psychokinesis (PK): Mental influence over physical
events without the intervention of any known physical
force (for example, willing that a particular number will
come up on the throw of dice).
TESTS : Psychologists use ability testing to study
individual differences.
SPECIFICATIONS OF TESTS
< Reliability – is whether or not the test scores are self-
consistent. It gives the same results on different
occasions.
< Validity – is how well the tests come up with what they
are supposed to measure, and how well they predict
according to an acceptable criterion.
< Standardization – is the establishment of uniform
conditions for administering the test to all respondents, as
well as a uniform method for evaluating responses. If a
test is not administered according to a standardized
procedure, both the reliability and validity of the test are
affected.
< Norms – provide a frame of reference for interpreting
the results obtained on any particular individual or group.
KINDS OF TESTS
< Aptitude Tests – attempt to predict the success of an
individual in a kind of performance not yet attained, as in
judging how much an individual will profit from training
before training is undertaken.
< Achievement Tests – measure present attainment, or
what the respondent has learned after the completion of
training.
< Projective Tests – are used in determining personality
traits.
< Intelligence Tests – intended to measure intellectual
ability.
IQ (Intelligence Quotient) – as an index of mental
development is obtained by expressing intelligence as a
ratio of mental age (MA) to chronological age (CA).
𝑀𝐴
𝐼𝑄 = × 100
𝐶𝐴
Intelligence – refers to a complex group of primary
abilities which are relatively independent of each other.

LEARNING is defined as a relatively permanent change
in behaviour that is the result of practice: There are four
basic kinds of learning:
1. Habituation – an organism learns to ignore familiar
and inconsequential stimulus
2. Classical conditioning – an organism learns that one
stimulus follows another
3. Operant conditioning – an organism learns that a
particular response leads to a particular consequence
4. Complex learning – involves more than the formation
of associations
LEARNING AND THINKING
Learning – process which brings about a change in the
individual’s way of responding as a result of practice or
other experiences.
Classical Conditioning – the simplest form of learning.
Proposed by Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), a Russian
physiologist and Nobel Prize awardee to conduct
systematic studies on conditioned responses.
a. CR-Conditioned Response – a learned response from a
conditioned stimulus. Conditioned response is the learned
response to the previously neutral stimulus. In our
example, the conditioned response would be feeling
hungry when you heard the sound of the whistle.
b. US-Unconditioned Stimulus – a stimulus which is
adequate at the outset of training to produce the response
in question. The unconditioned stimulus is one that
unconditionally, naturally, and automatically triggers a
response. For example, when you smell one of your
favourite foods, you may immediately feel very hungry. In
this example, the smell of the food is the unconditioned
response
c. CS-Conditioned Stimulus – is one which is initially
inadequate to evoke the response in question but will do
so if paired with the unconditioned stimulus. The
conditioned stimulus is previously neutral stimulus that,
after becoming associated with the unconditioned
stimulus, eventually comes to trigger a conditioned
response. In our earlier example, suppose that when you
smelled your favourite food, you also heard the sound of a
whistle. While the whistle is unrelated to the smell of the
food, if the sound of the whistle was paired multiple times
with the smell, the sound would eventually trigger the
conditioned response. In this case, the sound of the
whistle is the conditioned stimulus
d. UR-Unconditioned Response – the response elicited
from the unconditioned stimulus. The unconditioned
response is the unlearned response that occurs naturally
in response to the unconditioned stimulus. In our
example, the feeling of hunger in response to the smell of
food is the unconditioned response.
e. Stimulus Generalization – the response which will occur
to stimuli which are similar to the original stimulus once
conditioned response to a stimulus of a certain kind is
established.
f. Discrimination – refers to eliciting different responses to
two different stimuli.
g. Extinction – responses that are no longer reinforced
tend to disappear.
Instrumental Conditioning – (Operant Conditioning)
another kind of simple learning which involves a selection
from many responses of the one that habitually will be
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given in a stimulus situation. Proponent was Burrhus F.
Skinner for his experiment called the “Skinner Box”.
Four Kinds of Instrumental Conditioning:
1. Primary Reward Conditioning – where the learned
response is instrumental in obtaining a biologically
significant reward such as a pellet of food or an amount of
water.
2. Escape conditioning – is one where the organism learns
a response that is instrumental in getting out of a place
one prefers not to be in.
3. Avoidance conditioning – is a kind of learning where a
response to a cue is instrumental in avoiding a painful
experience.
4. Secondary Reward Conditioning – is where there is
instrumental behaviour to get at a stimulus which has no
biological utility itself but which has in the past been
associated with a biologically significant stimulus.
The contemporary analysis of learning includes cognitive
factors and biological constraint as well as behaviourist
principles.
Classical Conditioning in the Real World
These techniques are also useful in the treatment of
phobias or anxiety problems. Teachers are able to apply
classical conditioning in the class by creating a positive
classroom environment to help students overcome
anxiety or fear. Pairing an anxiety-provoking situation,
such as performing in front of a group, with pleasant
surroundings helps the student learn new associations.
Instead of feeling anxious and tense in these situations,
the child will learn to stay relaxed and calm.
Operant Conditioning
Operant Conditioning (sometimes referred to as
instrumental conditioning) is a method of learning
that occurs through rewards and punishments for
behaviour. Through operant conditioning, an association
is made between behaviour and a consequence for that
behaviour.
Examples of Operant Conditioning
We can find examples of operant conditioning at
work all around us, such as children completing
homework to earn a reward from a parent or teacher or
employees finishing projects to receive praise or
promotions. In these examples, the promise of possibility
of rewards causes an increase in behaviour, but operant
conditioning can also be used to decrease behaviour. The
removal of an undesirable outcome or the use of
punishment can be used to decrease or percent
undesirable behaviours. For example, a child may be told
they will lose recess privileges if they talk out of turn in
class. The potential for punishment may lead to a
decrease in disruptive behaviours.
Components of Operant Conditioning
A reinforcer is any event that strengthens or increases
the behaviour it follows. There are two kinds of
reinforcers:

1. Positive reinforcers are favourable events or
outcomes that are presented after the behaviour.
2. Negative reinforcers involve the removal of an
unfavourable events or outcomes after the display of
behaviour.
In both of these cases of reinforcement, the behaviour
increases.
Punishment is the presentation of an adverse event or
outcome that causes a decrease in the behaviour it
follows. There are two kinds of punishment:
1. Positive Punishment involves the presentation of an
unfavourable event or outcome in order to weaken the
response it follows.
2. Negative Punishment occurs when a favourable
event or outcome is removed after behaviour occurs.
In both of these cases of punishment, the behaviour
decreases.
Reinforcement – is any stimulus that will maintain or
increase the strength of a response.
Schedules of Reinforcement
In operant conditioning, schedules of reinforcement are
on important component of the learning process. When
and how often we reinforce behaviour can have a
dramatic impact on the strength and rate of the
response. Certain schedules of reinforcement may be
more effective in specific situations. There are two types
of reinforcement schedules:
1. Continuous Reinforcement – in continuous
reinforcement, the desired behaviour, is reinforced every
single time it occurs. Generally, this schedule is best used
during the initial stages of learning in order to create a
strong association between the behaviour and the
response. Once the response is firmly attached,
reinforcement is usually switched to a partial
reinforcement schedule.
2. Partial Reinforcement – in partial reinforcement,
the response is reinforced only part of the time. Learned
behaviours are acquired more slowly with partial
reinforcement, but the response is more resistant to
extinction. There are four schedules of partial
reinforcement:
< Fixed-ratio schedules are those where a response is
reinforced only after a specified number of responses.
This schedule creates a high steady rate of responding
with only a brief pause after the delivery of the
reinforcer.
< Variable-ratio schedules occur when a response is
reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses.
This schedule creates a high steady rate of responding.
Gambling and lottery games are good examples of a
reward based on a variable ratio schedule.
< Fixed-interval schedules are those where the first
response is rewarded only after a specified amount of
time has elapsed. This schedule causes high amounts of
responding near the end of the interval, but much slower
responding immediately after the delivery of the
reinforce.
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< Variable-interval schedules occur when a response
is rewarded after an unpredictable amount of time has
passed. This schedule produces a slow, steady rate of
response.
▲Cognitive factors play a role in operant conditioning. For
operant conditioning to occur the organism must believe
that reinforcement is at least partly under its control; that
is, it must perceive a contingency between its responses
and the reinforcement.
▲ Biological constraints also play a role in operant
conditioning. There are constraints on what reinforcers
can be associated with what responses.
▲COMPLEX LEARNING
■ In complex learning, the mental representations depict
more than associations, and the mental operations may
constitute a strategy.
■ When learning relationships between stimuli that are not
perfectly predictive, people often invoke prior beliefs. This
can lead to spurious associations.
SAY WHAT? – MEMORY, LANGUAGE, AND
THOUGHT
Language and thought...
■ Language, our primary means for communicating
thoughts, is structured at three levels. At the highest level
are sentence units, words and parts of words that
carry meanings and at the lowest level are speech
sounds.
■ Language development occurs at three different
levels. Infants come into the world preprogrammed to
learn phonemes, but they need several years to learn the
rules for combining them. When children begin to speak,
they learn words that name familiar concepts. In learning
to produce sentences, they begin with one-word
utterances, progress to two-word telegraphic speech, and
then elaborate their noun and verb phrases
.
Thought occurs in different modes, including
propositional, imaginal and motoric.
■ A concept includes both a prototype (properties that
describe the best examples) and a core (properties that
are most essential for being a member of the concept).
■ In reasoning, we organize our propositions into
deductively valid or inductively strong arguments.
■ Not all thoughts are expressed in propositions; some are
manifested as visual images.
■ Problem solving requires breaking down a goal into
subgoals that are easier to obtain.
Three stages of memory:
Encoding, Storage and Retrieval
▲ Damage to the hippocampal system impairs
performance on long-term memory but not on working
memory tasks.
▲ SHORT-TERM MEMORY
● Information tends to be encoded acoustically
● Capacity is 5+2
● Loss of information can be due to decay or replacement
with new information

● Retrieval slows down as the number of items in working
memory increases
● Involved in mental arithmetic, geometric analogies, and
answering questions about text; does not seem to be
involved in the understanding of relatively simple
sentences.
▲ LONG-TERM MEMORY
● Information is encoded according to meaning
● Forgetting in LTM are due to retrieval failures that
usually occurs with interference; some forgetting is due to
loss from storage
● Retrieval failures are less likely when items are
organized during encoded and when the context at the
time of retrieval is similar to the context at the time of
encoding.
▲ EXPLICIT VS IMPLICIT MEMORY
● Explicit memory refers to the kind manifested in recall or
recognition, in which we consciously recollect the past.
● Implicit memory refers to the kind of memory that
manifests as an improvement on some perceptual, motor,
or cognitive task, with no conscious recollection of the
experiences that led to the improvement. Usually spared
in amnesia.
■ Although we cannot increase the capacity of STM, we
can use recording schemes to enlarge the size of the
chunk and thereby increase the memory span. LTM for
facts can be improved at the encoding and retrieval
stages. One way to improve encoding and retrieval is to
use imagery, which is the basic principle underlying
mnemonic system.
■ The best ways to improve retrieval are to attempt to
restore the encoding context at the time of retrieval and
to practice retrieving information while learning it.
■ Memories for complex materials, such as stories, are
often CONSTRUCTIVE. We tend to use our general
knowledge of the world to construct a more elaborate
memory of a story or event. Construction can involve
adding simple inferences to the material presented; it can
also involve fitting the material into stereotypes and other
kinds of schemes.
REMEMBERING AND FORGETTING
Remembering – showing in present responses some
signs of earlier learned responses
Reintegrative memory – is the recollection of a personal
experience or event. It reconstructs a past occasion not
only in terms of its content but also its setting in time and
place.
Recognition – is a kind of memory, remembering only a
sense of familiarity.
Recall – requires a reinstatement of something learned in
the past.
Saving in relearning – is a way of finding out the
influence of prior learning.
Forgetting – ceasing or failing to remember or being
unable to recall past responses or memory.
Explanations of Forgetting:
(1) Passive decay through disuse
(2) Systematic distortions of the memory trace
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(3) Interference effects (retroactive and proactive
inhibition)
(4) Motivated forgetting
Retroactive Inhibition – new learning interfering with
prior ones.
Proactive Inhibition – prior learning interfering with
learning and recall of new materials.
Motivated forgetting – may be induced by repression
and is the effect of goal-seeking on retention.
THINKING
< It is a type of behaviour that uses symbols as “inner
representations” of objects and events.
< It reflects and elaborates on what is present in
perception and movement.
Kinds of Thinking
< Directed Thinking – has an aim, goal or end point. It
includes the kind of critical thinking when making
judgments or propositions.
<Creative Thinking – which attempts to discover new
relationships, achieve new solutions to problems, invent
new methods or devices and produce new artistic forms.
Thinking Process involves:
-The presence of problem;
- A definition of the problem;
- A weighing of relevance and probabilities; and
- Verification
Theories on Differing Functions of the Brain
< Peripheralist – hold that all thinking goes on in muscular
movement and all that psychology requires is a stimulus-
response analysis of thinking.
< Centralist – hold that thinking goes on inside the brain
and nervous system, and muscular movements merely
accompany the “central process”.
WHY AND HOW – BASIC MOTIVES AND EMOTION
Basic Motive...
▲ Motivational states direct and activate behaviour. They
arise from two sources: internal drive factors and external
incentive.
▲ Many types of natural rewards may activate the
mesolimbic dopamine system. Activity in these
neurons may constitute the neural basis for all rewards.
■ Classification of motives:
1. Physiologic: hunger, thirst, temperature, pain
avoidance
2. Social or psychological: achievement, altruism,
affiliation and social approval
3. Neither strictly biological nor social: sex drive
▲Two regions of the brain are critical to hunger: the
lateral hypothalamus and the ventromedial
hypothalamus. Destruction of the lateral hypothalamus
leads to undereating: destruction of the ventromedial
hypothalamus leads to overeating. (Remember: LUVO)
Although these regions were originally thought to be
centers for hunger and satiety, hunger is not destroyed by
any lesion.
▲ People become obese primarily because:
1. They are genetically predisposed to be overweight or
2. They overeat (for psychological reason)

▲ Anorexia nervosa is characterized by extreme, self-
imposed weight loss. Bulimia is characterized by
recurrent episodes of binge eating, followed by attempts
to purge the excess by means of vomiting and laxatives.
Emotion
▲ Components of emotion include: subjective
experience of emotion, automatic arousal, cognitive
appraisal, and emotional expression, general reactions to
the emotions and actions tendencies.
EMOTIONS
- Comes from the Latin word “emovere” meaning “to
move out”. It conveys the idea of an outward expression
of something inside, which is one aspect of emotion.
Four Aspects of Emotions:
(1) Personal emotional experiences
(2) Physiological or bodily changes
(3) Behaviour of the person
(4) Motivational Aspect
Physiological Changes that take place during emotion:
Galvanic Skin Response, Blood Pressure and Volume,
Heart Rate, Respiration, Pupillary Response, Salivary
Secretion, Pilomotor Response, Gastrointestinal Motility,
Muscle Tension and Tremor, and Blood composition
CLASSES OF EMOTIONAL REACTIONS
< Fear – distressing emotion aroused by impending
danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or
imagined.
< Anger – a strong feeling of displeasure and belligerence
aroused by a wrong; wrath; ire
< Grief – keen mental suffering or distress over affliction
or loss; sharp sorrow; painful regret
< Love – a profoundly tender, passionate affection for
another person
THEORIES OF EMOTION
< James-Lange Theory – emotional experience occurs
after bodily changes. The sequence of events in emotional
states are: (1) perception of the situation which will
produce the emotion; (2) reaction to the situation; and (3)
perception of the reaction is the basis of emotional
experience.
< Canon-Bard’s Thalamic Theory – the nervous impulses
coming into the hypothalamus from the receptors
stimulate that center to send impulses to the cortex and
viscera simultaneously. When the impulses reach the
cortex, an emotion is generated.
< Cognitive Theory of Emotions – emotions are
interpretations of stirred-up bodily states. The bodily state
of emotional arousal is much the same for emotions. The
state of bodily arousal is ambiguous, but we interpret or
have cognitions about the physiological state. The phases
in the emotional process are: (1) perception of the
emotion-producing situation; (2) a stirred-up bodily state
which is ambiguous; (3) interpretation and labelling of the
bodily state that fits the perceived situation.
< Activation Theory of Emotion – this theory holds that
emotion associated with the activity of reticular activating
system (RAS) which is a part of the brain stem. Emotion
then is considered as an increased arousal or activation of
the cortex by the RAS.
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< Arousal-cognition Theory – this view assumes that there
is only one kind of physical excitement or arousal, but the
various stated of arousal are labelled according to our
knowledge or cognition of the emotion-production
situation.
Basic Emotions
One question that is asked repeatedly is “what are the
basic emotions.” There have been dozens of answers to
this, none of which have been completely satisfying. This,
is, no doubt, due to the facts that emotional response is
complex to begin with, and is made even more complex
by the fact that we add our thoughts and interpretations
to them as well as just “experiencing” them as they are. I
suggest that we can organize emotions into seven
families:
The Surprise Family - Surprise, startle, astonishment,
bewilderment, confusion, shock
The Fear Family - Fear, threat, terror, anxiety, doubt,
caution, suspicion
The Anger Family - Anger, rage, frustration, hatred,
hostility, envy, jealousy, disgust, contempt, annoyance,
indignation
The Sadness Family - Sadness, sorrow, depression,
anguish, despair, grief, loneliness, shame,
embarrassment, humiliation, guilt, remorse, regret
The Eagerness Family - Eagerness, anticipation,
excitement, confidence, hopefulness, curiosity, interest
The Happiness Family - Happiness, elation, joy,
gladness, contentment, satisfaction, self-satisfaction,
pride, love, affection, compassion, amusement, humor,
laughter
The Boredom Family - Boredom, ennui, complacency,
persistent and uncontrollable emotions may inflict
psychological harm.
e.g: persistent fear – phobia
Too much sadness – depression
Too much love – obsession
Too much anger – aggression
Too much agitation – anxiety; neuroticism
▲ Our mood affects our judgements about the frequency
of various risks in the world. Furthermore, our mood
affects our evaluations of people. Also, when experiencing
an emotion, we tend to pay more attention to events that
fit our mood than to events that do not.
▲ Moderate levels of emotion arousal are most
compatible with optimal performance.
▲ AGGRESSION: A typical action tendency in response
to anger (although it can occur for other reasons as well)
● According to the psychoanalytic theory, aggression
is a drive produced by frustration; according to social
learning theory, aggression is a learned response.
STRICTLY PERSONAL – PERSONALITY AND
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
Three dynamic processes of personality-environment
interaction are:
1. Reactive interaction – different individuals exposed
to the same environment, experience it, interpret it, and
react to it differently;
2. Evocative interaction – an individual’s personality
evokes distinctive responses from others; and

3. Proactive interaction – individuals select or create
environments of their own.
▲ PERSONALITY refers to the distinctive and
characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behaviour
that define an individual’s personal style of interacting
with the physical and social environments.
Theories of Personality
A. Body Types Theory (William Sheldon)
1. Endomorphic – refers to the prominence of the
intestines and other visceral organs. (Fat)
2. Mesomorphic – refers to bones and muscles. (Muscular)
3. Ectomorphic – is based on the delicateness of skin, fine
hair, and sensitive nervous system. (Thin)
B. Behaviour Types Theory (Carl Jung)
1. Introverts – tend to withdraw into themselves especially
in times of emotional stress or conflict. They are shy and
prefer to work alone.
2. Extroverts – are very sociable, well-dressed, and
outgoing. Their decisions and actions are determined
primarily by objective relationships.
C. Body Chemistry Theory
1. Sanguine – person is warm-hearted and pleasant; has a
prominence of blood.
2. Phlegmatic – person is listless and slow. These qualities
are attributed to phlegm.
3. Melancholic – suffers from depression and sadness
because of having too much black bile.
4. Choleric – is angered or temperamental as influenced
by yellow bile.
D. Psychoanalytic Theory (Freud)
The Id is the only component of personality that
is present from birth. This aspect of personality is entirely
unconscious and includes of the instinctive and primitive
behaviours. According to Freud, the Id is the source of all
psychic energy, making it the primary component of
personality.
The Id is driven by the pleasures principle, which strives
for immediate gratification of all desires, wants, and
needs. If these needs are not satisfied immediately, the
result is a state of anxiety or tension.
For example an increase in hunger or thirst
should produce an immediate attempt to eat or drink. The
Id is very important early in life, because it ensure that an
infant needs are met. If the infant is hungry or
uncomfortable, he or she will cry until the demands of the
Id are met.
However, immediately satisfying these needs is
not always realistic or even possible. If we are ruled
entirely by the pleasure principle, we might find ourselves
grabbing things we want out of other people’s hands to
satisfy our own cravings. This sort of behaviour would be
both disruptive and socially unacceptable. According to
Freud, the Id tries to resolve the tension created by the
pleasure principle through the primary process, which
involves forming a mental image of the desired object as a
way of satisfying the need.
The Ego
The ego is the component of personality that is
responsible for dealing with reality. According to Freud,
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the ego develops from the Id and ensures that the
impulses of the Id can be expressed in a manner
acceptable in the real world. The ego functions in the
conscious, preconscious, and unconscious mind.
The ego operates based on the reality principle,
which strives to satisfy the Id’s desires in realistic and
socially appropriate ways. The reality principle weighs the
costs and benefits of an action before deciding to act upon
or abandon impulses. In many cases, the Id’s impulses
can be satisfied through a process of delayed gratification
– the ego will eventually allow the behaviour, but only in
the appropriate time and place.
The ego also discharges tension created by
unmet impulses through the secondary process, in which
the ego tries to find an object in the real world that
matches the mental image created by the Id‘s primary
process.
The Superego
The last component of personality to develop is
the superego. The superego is the aspect of personality
that holds all of our internalized moral standards and
ideals that we acquire from both parents and society – our
sense of right and wrong. The superego provides
guidelines form making judgements. According to Freud,
the superego begins to emerge at around age five. There
are two parts of the superego:
1. The Ego Ideal – includes the rules and standards for
good behaviours. These behaviours include those which
are approved of by parental and other authority figures.
Obeying these rules leads to feelings of pride, value, and
accomplishment.
2. The Conscience – includes information about things
that are viewed as bad by parents and society. These
behaviours are often forbidden and lead to bad
consequences, punishments, or feelings of guilt and
remorse.
The superego is present in the conscious, preconscious,
and unconscious.
THE INTERACTION of the ID, EGO and SUPEREGO
With so many competing forces, it is easy to see
how conflict might arise between the Id, ego and
superego. Freud used the term ego strength to refer to
the ego’s ability to function despite these duelling forces.
A person with good ego strength is able to effectively
manage these pressures, while those with too much or too
little ego strength can become too unyielding or too
disrupting.
According to Freud the key to a healthy
personality is a balance between the Id, the ego, and the
superego.
THE CONSCIOUS and UNCONSCIOUS MIND
The Structure of the Mind According to Freud
Many of us have experienced what is commonly
referred to as a Freudian slip. These misstatements are
believed to reveal underlying, unconscious thoughts or
feelings. Consider this example:

James has just started a new relationship with a woman
he met at school. While talking to her one afternoon, he
accidentally called her by his ex-girlfriend’s name.
If you were in this situation, how would you
explain this mistake? Many of us might blame the slip on
distraction or describe it as a simple accident. However, a
psychoanalytic theorist might tell you that this is much
more than a random accident. The psychoanalytic view
holds that there are inner forces outside of your
awareness that are directing your behaviour. For example,
a psychoanalyst might say that James misspoke due to
unresolved feelings for his ex or perhaps because of
misgivings about his new relationship.
The term psychoanalysis is used to refer to many
aspects of Freud’s work and research, including the
Freudian Therapy and the research methodology he used
to develop his theories. Freud relied heavily upon his
observations and case studies of his patients when he
formed his theory of personality development.
Before we can understand Freud’s Theory of
Personality, we must first understand his view of how the
human mind is organized.
According to Freud, the mind can be divided into two main
parts:
1. The Conscious Mind includes everything that we are
aware of. This is the aspect of our mental processing that
we can think and talk about rationally. A part of this
includes our memory, which is not always part of
consciousness but can be retrieved easily at any time and
brought of consciousness but can be retrieved easily at
any time and brought into our awareness. Freud called
this ordinary memory the preconscious.
2. The Unconscious Mind is reservoir of feelings,
thoughts, urges, and memories that outside of our
conscious awareness. Most of the contents of the
unconscious are unacceptable or unpleasant, such as
feelings of pain, anxiety, or conflict. According to Freud,
the unconscious continues to influence our behaviour and
experience, even though we are unaware of these
underlying influences.
Personality Development
I. Oral – during which satisfactions center around sucking
and mouth activities.
II. Anal – during which bowel control is achieved.
III. Phallic – when signs of sexuality appear and there is a
strong attraction to the parent of the opposite sex.
IV. Latency – during the early school years
V. Genital – beginning in adolescence when the person
achieves adult sexuality
Psychosocial Stages Theory (Erickson)
a. Trust vs. Mistrust – during infancy stage wherein
physical and psychological needs adequately met.
b. Autonomy vs. Doubt/Shame – during early
childhood stage wherein consistent discipline with
opportunity for a reasonable degree of choice in initiating
and structuring activities.
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c. Initiative vs. Guilt – during play age which
encourages child’s interests and give evidence of adult
confidence in him/her.
d. Industry vs. Inferiority – during school age wherein
encouragement and guidance in learning basic intellectual
and social skills.
e. Identity vs. Self-diffusion/Negative Identity –
during adolescence stage wherein successful resolution of
identity diffusion crises.
f. Generativity vs. Self-Absorption – during adulthood
years wherein creative life work prevails as well as the
concern with autonomy and growth of others.
g. Integrity vs. Despair – during the senescence stage
where there is self-confidence and appreciation of other
cultures and earlier generations and sense of continuity
with them.
e. Field Theory
<This theory postulates fields of force which are in
dynamic and constantly shifting equilibrium. Psychological
events, like physical events, are thought to represent a
balance and interaction of many forces. A change in the
system will affect the whole system.
Jung’s Analytic Theory – “the person lives by aims
as well as causes”
Personality structure:
1. Ego: conscious mind
2. Personal unconscious: repressed experiences that
were too weak in the first place to make a conscious
impression.
3. Complexes: constellation of feelings, thoughts,
perceptions, and memories that exist in the personal
unconscious
4. Collective unconscious: most powerful and
influential system of the psyche; storehouse of latent
memory traces inherited from the ancestral past
5. Archetypes: universal idea that contains a large
element of emotion
6. Persona: resembles superego
7. Anima and the animus: feminine archetype in men is
anima, masculine archetype in women is animus
8. Shadow: animal instincts
9 .Self: total personality
10. Attitudes: extraversion or introversion
Personality dynamics: Based on the principles of
equivalence and entropy. Energy is expended to maintain
life and species propagation.
▲Psychologist who take the psychoanalytic approach
sometimes use projective tests, such as the Rorschach
Test and the Thematic apperception test (TAT)
BEHAVIORISTIC APPROACH
Higher Forms of Learning
Another ability common to social animals is the
ability to learn by observing others. There is, for example,
vicarious learning: If you see a fellow creature get hurt
or do well, get punished or rewarded, etc., for some
action, you can “identify” with that fellow creature and
learn from its experiences. Even more important is the
ability called imitation (sometimes called modelling).
We not only learn about the cosequences of behaviours by
watching others (as in vicarious learning), we learn the
behaviours themselves as well.

The person most famous for his studies of
imitation is Albert Bandura; and, of the hundreds of
studies Bandura was responsible for, one group stands out
above the others – the bobo doll studies. He made a film
of one of his students, a young woman, essentially
beating up a bobo doll. In case you don’t know, a bobo
doll is an inflatable, egg-shape balloon creature with a
weight in the bottom that makes it bob back up when you
knock him down. Nowadays, it might have Darth Vader
painted on it, but back then it was simply “Bobo” the
clown.
■ Albert Bandura developed social cognitive theory,
which holds that the relationship between environment
and behaviour is a reciprocal one
● To address the consistency paradox, social learning
psychologists have proposed the following solutions:
1. Aggregation solution
2. Person-centered solution
3. Interactional solution
▲Social Learning Theory (Bandura)
< Summary: Bandura’s Social Learning Theory posits that
people learn from one another, via observation,
imitation, and modeling. The theory has often been
called a bridge between behaviorist and cognitive learning
theories because it encompasses attention, memory, and
motivation.
< People learn through observing others’ behavior,
attitudes, and outcomes of those behaviors. “Most human
behavior is learned observationally through modeling:
from observing others, one forms an idea of how new
behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this
coded information serves as a guide for action.”
(Bandura). Social learning theory explains human behavior
in terms of continuous reciprocal interaction between
cognitive, behavioral, and environmental influences.
Necessary conditions for effective modeling:
▲ Attention — various factors increase or decrease the
amount of attention paid. Includes distinctiveness,
affective valence, prevalence, complexity, functional value.
One’s characteristics (e.g. sensory capacities, arousal
level, perceptual set, past reinforcement) affect attention.
▲ Retention — remembering what you paid attention to.
Includes symbolic coding, mental images, cognitive
organization, symbolic rehearsal, motor rehearsal
▲ Reproduction — reproducing the image. Including
physical capabilities, and self-observation of reproduction.
▲ Motivation — having a good reason to imitate.
Includes motives such as past (i.e. traditional
behaviorism), promised (imagined incentives) and
vicarious (seeing and recalling the reinforced model)
▲ Bandura believed in “reciprocal determinism”, that is,
the world and a person’s behavior cause each other, while
behaviorism essentially states that one’s environment
causes one’s behavior, Bandura, who was studying
adolescent aggression, found this too simplistic, and so in
addition he suggested that behavior causes environment
as well. Later, Bandura soon considered personality as an
interaction between three components: the
environment, behavior, and one’s psychological
processes (one’s ability to entertain images in minds and
language).
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▲ Social learning theory has sometimes been called a
bridge between behaviorist and cognitive learning
theories because it encompasses attention, memory, and
motivation. The theory is related to Vygotsky’s Social
Development Theory and Lave’s Situated Learning, which
also emphasize the importance of social learning.
Key proponents of humanism include Carl Rogers
and Abraham Maslow
Humanism, a paradigm that emerged in the 1960s,
focuses on the human freedom, dignity, and potential. A
central assumption of humanism, according to Huitt
(2001), is that people act with intentionality and values.
▲ Abraham Maslow
There is a HIERARCHY OF NEEDS ascending from the
basic biological needs to the more complex psychological
motivations that become important only after the basic
needs have been satisfied.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs has often been represented
in a hierarchal pyramid with five levels. The four levels
(lower-order needs) are considered physiological
needs, while the top level is considered growth needs. The
lower level needs need to be satisfied before higher-order
needs can influence behavior. The levels are as follows
(see pyramid in Figure 1 below).
Self-actualization – morality, creativity, problem solving,
etc.
Esteem – includes confidence, self-esteem, achievement,
respect, etc.
Belongingness – includes love, friendship, intimacy, family,
etc.
Safety – includes security of environment, employment,
resources, health, property, etc.
Physiological – includes air, food, water, sex, sleep, other
factors towards homeostasis, etc. (PS LOVE BEA)
Characteristics of self-actualizers: resistant to
enculturation, although not purposely unconventional, are
capable of appreciating basic experiences of life, very
spontaneous in thought and behaviour, a good sense of
humor, able to look at life from an objective viewpoint,
highly creative, concerned for the welfare of humanity,
problem-centered rather than self-centered.
Transient moments of self-actualization are called PEAK
EXPERIENCES.
PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH: This is concerned
with the individual’s subjective experience.

Carl Rogers theory of personality: Central concept is
the “self” consisting of all ideas, perceptions, and values
that characterize “I” The other self is the “ideal self”
Incongruence between the self and the experiences of
reality as well as between the self and the ideal self may
develop.
Unconditional positive regard is necessary for more
fully functioning individuals.
The basic force motivating the human organism is
the ACTUALIZING TENDENCY.
STRESSED OUT: PSYCHOPATHOLOGIES AND
THERAPY
● Common psychological reactions to stress include
anxiety and aggression, apathy and depression, and
cognitive impairment.
● The body reacts to stress with the fight-or-flight
response. The sympathetic nervous system causes
increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, dilated
pupils, and the release of extra sugar from the liver. The
adrenal-cortical system causes the release of ACTH.
● People with TYPE A behavior patterns tend to be
hostile, aggressive, impatient individuals who are over-
involved in their work.
● Coping strategies are divided into problem-focused
strategies and emotion-focused strategies. People
who take active steps to solve problems are less likely to
experience depression and illness following negative life
events. People who use rumination or avoidance
strategies to cope with negative emotions show longer
and more severe distress after negative events.
Psychoanalytic theory describes defense mechanisms that
people use to cope with negative emotion
Narcissistic Denial, distortion, projection
defences
Immature Acting out, blocking, hypochondriasis,
defenses introjection, passive-aggressive behavior
, regression, schizoid fantasy,
somatization
Neurotic Controlling, displacement,
defenses externalization, inhibition,
intellectualization, isolation,
rationalization, dissociation, reaction
formation, repression, sexualization
Mature Altruism, anticipation, ascetism, humor,
defenses sublimation, suppression
ANXIETY DISORDERS
1. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD): constant
worry and tension
2. Panic disorders: sudden attacks of overwhelming
apprehension
3. Phobias: irrational fears of specific objects or
situations, classified into simple phobia, social phobia and
agoraphobia (literally means “fear of the marketplace”)
4. Obsessive-compulsive disorders: persistent
unwanted thoughts, or obsessions, combined with urges,
or compulsions, to perform certain acts
● Biological theories of anxiety disorders attribute them to
genetic predispositions or to biochemical or neurological
abnormalities. Most anxiety disorders run in families.
People who suffer from panic attacks have an overreactive
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fight-or-flight reaction, perhaps because of serotonin
deficiencies in the limbic system. People with obsessive-
compulsive disorder may have serotonin deficiencies in
area of the brain that regulates primitive impulses.
● Cognitive and behavioral theories suggest that people
with anxiety disorders are prone to catastrophizing
cognitions and to rigid, moralistic thinking.
MOOD DISORDERS
Divided into depressive disorders and bipolar disorders
(alternating depression and mania).
■ DEPRESSION:
Sadness, loss of gratification in life, negative thoughts,
and lack of motivation are the main symptoms of
depression.
Cognitive distortion in depression, according to Beck,
includes overgeneralization, selective abstraction,
magnification and minimization, personalization
and arbitrary inference.
SCHIZOPHRENIA
● Characterized by disturbances in thought, including
disorganized thought processes, loosening of associations,
delusions and lack of insight. Other symptoms include
perceptual disturbances (such as hallucinations),
inappropriate emotional expression, bizarre motor activity,
withdrawal, and impaired functioning.
● It is clearly transmitted genetically. People with
schizophrenia also have problem with dopamine regulation
as well as two types of brain abnormalities: the prefrontal
cortex is smaller and less active, and the ventricles are
enlarged. Difficult environments probably cannot cause
schizophrenia, but they may worsen the disorder and
contribute to relapses.
PERSONALITY DISORDERS
Personality – consistent and stable pattern of behaviour
shown by a person in meeting a variety of challenges and
opportunities, consistent over long periods of his or her
life and recognized as special to each person.
Common characteristic of personality disorders are:
< A deeply ingrained, inflexible, maladaptive response to
anxiety.
< Maladaptation that is most apparent within an
interpersonal or social context.
< The capacity to induce others to feel extreme irritation
and annoyance.
< A self-centered, inflexible approach to work and
interpersonal relationships.
Specific types of personality disorders:
A. Obssessive-Compulsive Personality – tendency to be
over-inhibited, over-conscientious, over-dutiful, rigid, and
have difficulty relaxing.
B. Passive-Aggressive Personality – characterized by both
passivity and aggression which is typically expressed non-
violently e.g., by procrastination, obstructionism, pouting,
intentional inefficiency or stubbornness.
C. Antisocial Personality – refers to an aggressive
behavioural pattern which is described as the “acting-out
kind of a person, the adventurer, the explorer, the athlete,
the soldier, and the pioneer”, as well as the delinquent
and the criminal. Non-verbal, antisocial persons appear

cold, callous, and insensitive to the feelings and values of
others.
B. Paranoid Personality – characterized by suspiciousness,
hypersensitivity, rigidity, envy and excessive self-
importance, plus a tendency to blame others for one’s
own mistakes and failures and ascribe evil motives to
others.
C. Schizoid Personality – the individual manifests
seclusiveness, shyness, oversensitivity, avoidance of
competitive or close interpersonal relationships and often,
egocentricity. Autistic thinking and daydreaming are
common, although the individual does not lose capacity to
recognize reality.
D .Explosive Personality – this behaviour pattern is
characterized by gross verbal or physical aggressiveness
and outbursts of rage.
E. Hysterical Personality – characterized by immaturity,
excitability, and self-dramatization.
F. Asthenic Personality – low energy level, easily tired,
lack of enthusiasm, oversensitivity, to physical and
emotional strain and a marked incapacity to enjoy life.
H. Inadequate Personality – characterized by ineffectual
responses to stress particularly to emotional, intellectual,
social and physical demands.
I. Cyclothimic (Affective) Personality – a milder version of
manic-depressive reactions, and is characterized by
alternating periods of elation and depression.
■These are lifelong patterns of maladaptive behavior that
constitute immature and inappropriate ways of coping
with stress or solving problem
Kinds of personality disorders:
ODD AND DRAMATIC, ANXIOUS AND
ECCENTRIC EMOTIONAL & FEARFUL
ERRATIC
1. paranoid 1. antisocial 1. avoidant
2. schizoid 2. borderline 2. despondent
3. schizotypal 3. histrionic 3. obsessive-
4. narcissistic compulsive
PSYCHOTHERAPY is the treatment of mental disorders
by psychological means. One type is psychoanalysis,
which was developed by Freud. Through the methods of
FREE ASSOCIATION and DREAMS, repressed thoughts
and feelings are brought to the patient’s awareness. The
analyst helps the patient gain insight into his or her
problems.
■ Behavior therapies apply methods based on learning
principles to modify the client’s behavior. These methods
include systematic desensitization (the individual learns to
relax in situations that previously produced anxiety;
effective for phobias), reinforcement of adaptive behavior,
modelling and rehearsal of appropriate behavior, and
techniques for self-regulation of behaviour.
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■ Cognitive behavior therapies use behavior
modification techniques but also incorporate procedures
for changing maladaptive beliefs.
■ Humanistic therapies help clients become aware of
their real selves and solve their problems with minimum
intervention by the therapists.
■ Biological therapies include electroconvulsive therapy
(ECT) (memory loss is most problematic effect) and the
use of psychotherapeutic drugs.
FRUSTRATION, CONFLICT AND STRESS
Frustration is a condition of being thwarted in the
satisfaction of a motive that results from environmental or
personal conditions, or both operating at the same time.
Stress is a state that occurs when people are faced with
events they perceive as endangering their physical and
psychological well-being and are unsure of their ability to
deal with these events.
Environment frustrations are caused by conditions external
to the person that keeps him from fully satisfying his
needs (eg: famine, floods, death, war, etc…)
Personal Frustration are caused by personal limitations
and disabilities which thwart an individual’s aspiration (eg:
physical handicaps, low intelligence, lack of skill, feelings
of insecurity and adequacy, etc…)
Sources of Frustrations: Physical environment,
social
environment and organism itself
Conflict – when a person is made to choose between two
opposing desires but finds it difficult to make a choice, he
is said to be in a state of conflict.
TYPES OF CONFLICTS
< Conflicting attraction or approach-approach conflict –
two desirable but mutually exclusive goals.
< Approach-avoidance conflict – when there is an
attraction to an object or state of affairs and at the same
time repulsion towards something associated with it.
< Avoidance-avoidance conflict – when there are two
unpleasant alternatives and one cannot be avoided
without encountering the other.
< Multiple conflict – when there are two courses of action
each of which has both pleasant and unpleasant
consequences.
RESPONSES TO FRUSTRATION
1. Aggressive Reactions – as an overt expression of
frustration, can be directed at the source of frustration or
can be displaced.
Displaced Aggression – when circumstances block direct
attack on the cause of frustration and the aggressive
action is made against an innocent person or object
instead.
2. Withdrawal Reactions – type of defensive reaction is
withdrawal from the frustrating situation. It may be in the
form of physical flight or retreating within a “shell” of
psychological defences.

a. Fantasy – when a person’s desires are frustrated by
reality, the person may retreat into a fantasy world where
the thwarted wishes can be satisfied.
b. Beatnik Reaction – the eccentric behaviour of the “beat”
generation may be regarded as a withdrawal reaction
from the frustration of modern life.
c. Repression – is the process of excluding from the
consciousness a thought or feeling that causes pain,
shame or guilt.
d. Apathy – one response to a frustrating situation is the
opposite of active aggression. Instead of being destructive
and hostile, the individual may show indifference or
inactivity.
e. Fixation – tendency to repetitive, stereotype behaviour.
f. Identification – one takes on the characteristics of
another person and thereby enhances self-esteem.
g. Regression – seeking to return to an earlier, more
secure period of life.
3. Compromise Reactions – without relinquishing the
blocked goals, an individual partially gives in to the threats
that the frustration implies.
a. Reaction Formation – disguising motivation and conflict
by believing that their motive is exactly the opposite of
their real motive.
b. Projection – when one finds their feelings and thoughts
intolerable, they not only repress them but also convince
themselves that other people have these thoughts and
feelings toward them.
c. Sublimation – when indirect goals never provide exactly
the same satisfaction as the original goals, people tend to
provide an outlet for the expression of frustrated desires.
d. Compensation – an attempt to disguise or cover up felt
deficiencies or undesirable traits by emphasizing a
desirable type of behaviour.
e. Rationalization – compromising problem by
intellectualizing them.
I. Sour-Grape – denial of true motive.
II. Sweet-Lemon – frustration is considered as a
blessing in disguise.
f. Assertiveness – emphasis of a person’s needs or
thoughts in a manner that is respectful, direct and firm.
Communication styles exist on a continuum, ranging from
passive to aggressive, with assertiveness falling neatly in
between.
g. Compartmentalization – “divide and conquer” process
for separating thoughts that will conflict with one another.
This may happen when they are different belief or even
when there are conflicting values.
Example: A person who is very religious & also a scientist
holds the opposing beliefs in different cognitive
compartments, such that when he is in church, he can
have blind faith, whist when he is in the laboratory, he
questions everything.
< NOTE: Examples of Mature Defense Mechanisms are:
Sublimation, Compensation, and Assertiveness
Abnormal Reaction to Frustration and Stress
1. Neurotic Reaction: Anxiety neurosis, Phobia,
Obsessive-compulsive neurosis, Conversion reaction, and
Dissociative reactions (amnesia, fugue, multiple
personality)
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2. Psychotic Reactions :Schizophrenia, Manic-
depressive Psychosis, Disorders of personal orientation,
Disorders of perception (hallucinations)
Disorders of thinking (delusions: grandeur, reference
persecutions), and Disorders of emotions
3. Other Maladaptive Behaviours
< Sexual Deviations
a. Passive sexual disturbances e.g: Voyeurism
b. Aggressive sexual behaviours e.g: Exhibitionism, Rape,
Sadism, Masochism, Molestation
c. Sex role preferences e.g: Homosexuality, Transsexuals,
Transvestism
< Personality disorders (sociopath, anti-social personality,
anxiety disorder)
< Hypochondria
< Dissociative reactions (amnesia, fugue, multiple
personality)
NEUROSES
It is normal for an individual to react in defensive ways. In
the case of neuroses, there is serious discomfort or
incapacitation that is not due to organic causes.
< Anxiety Reaction – is a general nervousness with no
specific reason for the fear and tension.
< Neurasthenia – literally means “nervous weakness”. The
person complains of general nervousness, fatigue, and
insomnia.
< Hypochondriasis – is a mental state wherein the person
finds little relief from anxiety by adopting certain physical
symptoms.
a.Obsessive-Compulsive Reactions – are the persistent
and senseless repetition of some acts or thoughts.
b.Conversion Reactions – are reactions wherein the
impulse that causes extreme anxiety is “converted” into
functional symptoms in organs or other parts of the body.
PSYCHOSES
Are severe mental disorders where the individual loses
touch with reality. Psychotic behaviour is peculiar and may
be dangerous to the self or to others.
Main Classes of Psychoses
1. Organic Psychoses – are those directly attributable to
damage to the central nervous system. Most organic
psychoses are due to injuries, chemicals and aging.
2. Functional Psychoses – are disordered behaviour which
appears to be the end result of poor adjustment and
severe conflict. Common types of functional psychoses are
manic-depressive and schizophrenia.
Manic Depressive – exhibit severe disturbances in mood
ranging from overactive, manic reactions to underactive,
depressed reactions.
Schizophrenia – which means “splitting of the mind”, are
of four kinds:
(1) simple type – involving withdrawal from other people
and deterioration of behaviour with time,
(2) hebephrenic type – where the behaviour regresses to
a childish level
(3) catatonic type – exhibiting negativism, mutism, stupor
and waxy rigidity
(4) paranoid type – which is characterized by
unsystematic delusions of persecution and/or grandeur
and often, hallucinations.

THERAPY - Is the general name for any method used in
treating an illness.
PSYCHOTHERAPY is the treatment of mental disorders
by psychological means. One type is psychoanalysis,
which was developed by Freud. Through the methods of
FREE ASSOCIATION and DREAMS, repressed thoughts
and feelings are brought to the patient’s awareness. The
analyst helps the patient gain insight into his or her
problems. Psychotherapy – employs interviews,
discussions, play acting and changes in the patient’s
environment.
Behavior therapies apply methods based on learning
principles to modify the client’s behavior. These methods
include systematic desensitization (the individual learns to
relax in situations that previously produced anxiety;
effective for phobias), reinforcement of adaptive behavior,
modelling and rehearsal of appropriate behavior, and
techniques for self-regulation of behaviour.
Cognitive behavior therapies use behavior modification
techniques but also incorporate procedures for changing
maladaptive beliefs.
Humanistic therapies help clients become aware of
their real selves and solve their problems with minimum
intervention by the therapists.
Biological therapies include electroconvulsive therapy
(ECT) (memory loss is most problematic effect) and the
use of psychotherapeutic drugs.
Medical Therapy: makes use of laboratory or
psychosurgery, shock therapy, narcosis and drugs.
4 Major Kinds of Psychotherapy:
1. Directive therapy – emphasizes the changing of the
situation and the re-education of the individual.
2. Client-Centered Therapy – provides a permissive
situation for the patient, and attempts to help them about
and solve their personal problems.
3. Psychoanalysis – emphasizes the analysis of free
association, resistance, dreams and transference.
4. Behavior Therapy – concentrates on the deviant
behaviour and attempts to modify it by the use of classical
conditioning and instrumental learning techniques.
MEDICAL APPROACHES IN TREATMENT OF
ABNORMAL BEHAVIORS
1. Psychotherapy: Counselling, Hypnotherapy,
Regression, Catharsis, Free association, and Dream
analysis
2. Behaviour therapy: Conditioning, Reinforcements,
Desensitization, Shaping, and Modelling
1. Group therapy
Psychodrama Family therapy Encounter
groups
2. Other Medical Approaches
< Pharmacotherapy – use of tranquilizers, anti-
depressants, etc.
< Shock therapy – insulin shock and electro shock
< Psychosurgery – pre-frontal lobotomy
SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
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▲Social psychology is defined as the study of how
people perceive, think and feel about their social world
and how they interact and influence one another.
▲ CONCEPTS TO TAKE NOT OF:
● Social thinking: function of attitudes, attitude
inoculation, fundamental attribution error, theories on why
attitudes are affected by behavior.
● Social influence: social facilitation; groupthink
(symptoms); social loafing; consequences of
deindividuation; routes of persuasion, when do we
conform
● Social relations: techniques that increase helping
behavior- foot-in-the door, etc; function of attitudes;
influences on attraction; pluralistic, ignorance, physical
attractiveness stereotype.
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Is the study of behaviour in a social setting. It studies the
effect of other persons on individuals.
Social Attitude – is the combination of feelings, beliefs,
and action tendencies towards classes of persons or
objects that are directly or indirectly social in nature.
Attitude – has three components:
a. Beliefs of knowledge
b. Feelings
c. Tendencies to act in particular ways on
the basis of knowledge and emotion.
Prejudice – is a kind of attitude where one’s mind is made
up even before all the facts are known or has come to
one’s attention.
Love – is an intense emotional state involving attraction,
sexual desire, and concern for another person.
Role – is a set of behaviours which is typical of the holders
of a particular position.
Norm – standards of behaviour and expectations of how
people in a position should behave.
Conformity – is a rational process reflecting recognition of
the validity of other viewpoints.
Prosocial – involves actions by individuals that benefit
others without necessarily providing any direct benefit for
the persons who perform them.
Compliance – is a form of social influence in which
individuals seek to change the behaviour of others
through direct requests.