This document provides an introduction to an introductory psychology course taught by Dr. Zahiruddin Othman at Universiti Sains Malaysia in September 2018. It covers several topics: 1. The definition of mental health and an overview of Freud's theory of the mind including the id, ego, and superego. 2. Different definitions of abnormal behavior from clinical psychologists and the medical model of understanding abnormal behavior. 3. Defense mechanisms used by the mind including repression, projection, and dissociation. Mature defenses are distinguished from immature defenses. 4. Examples are given of defenses used in various disorders like intellectualization in obsessive-compulsive disorder and projection in psych

1. Introduction to
Psychology I
DR ZAHIRUDDIN OTHMAN
UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA
SEPTEMBER 2018
1

2. A. Normal Functions Of The Mind
1.Define mental health.
2.Describe the theory of the mind
- id, ego, superego
- conscious, preconscious, subconscious and unconscious
.
B. Altered Function Of The Mind
1.Grasp the different definitions of abnormal behavior
as described by clinical psychologists :
1.1. abnormal behavior as statistical deviations
1.2. abnormal behavior as violation of social norms
1.3. abnormal behavior as maladaptive behavior
1.4. abnormal behavior as personal distress
2.The medical model of abnormal behavior :
2.1. the disease concept of psychiatric illness
2.2. the biopsychosocial perspective of understanding and
managing abnormal behavior
3.Defense mechanism
3.1. Define the concept of defenses mechanisms
3.2. List out common defense mechanisms
3.3. Define and give examples of these defenses in everyday
life, both illness and in normality
3.4 Know the defense that can be classified as mature and
possibly begin using them, instead of immature and
neurotic ones
2

3. Absence of disease
State of wellbeing
“Mental health is defined as a
state of well-being in which
every individual realizes his or
her own potential, can cope
with the normal stresses of life,
can work productively and
fruitfully, and is able to make a
contribution to her or his
community” WHO
"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.“ WHO3

4. THEORY OF
THE MIND
4

5. Sensory Memory
Iconic Memory (vision)
•Capacity: Essentially that of the visual system
•Duration: About 0.5 to 1.0 seconds
•Processing: None beyond raw perceptual processing
Echoic Memory (hearing}
•Capacity: ?
•Duration: About 4 to 5 seconds
•Processing: None beyond raw perceptual processing
Short-term memory (STM) a.k.a. working memory
•Capacity: About 7 ± 2 "chunks" of information
•Duration: About 18 to 20 seconds
•Processing: information is often encoded verbally
Long-term memory (LTM)
•Capacity: Virtually unlimited
•Duration: Up to a lifetime
•Processing: Information is organized according to
meaning and is associatively linked
InputAttention
Storage
Retrieval
Rehearsal
decay
interference
retrieval
failure
Forgetting
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6. 6

7. Intellectual disability involves
problems with general
mental abilities that affect
functioning in two areas:
intellectual
functioning
• Learning
• Problem solving
• Judgement, etc
adaptive
functioning
• Conceptual – language, reading,
writing, math, reasoning,
knowledge, memory
• Social – empathy, social judgment,
communication skills, the ability
follow rules and the ability to make
and keep friendships
• Practical – independence in areas
such as personal care, job
responsibilities, managing money,
recreation and organizing school and
work tasks
7

8. 8

9. Ted Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber
(University and Airline Bomber), had an IQ of 167,
and is probably the ultimate serial killer genius. A
math prodigy, he was accepted into Harvard at just 16
and later became a mathematics professor. In 1969,
he abandon his academic career to pursue a primitive
lifestyle. To take a stand against modern technology
he mailed bombs, mostly to professors, and
between 1978 and 1995, these killed 3 and injured 23.
He would leave messages encrypted with
mathematical codes that not even the FBI could crack.
He managed to escape capture for 17 years, a feat
showing genuine intelligence. What finally did him in?
When his manifesto was released, his brother and
sister-in-law recognized the writing style and tipped
off the FBI.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMUI6qdN0uY
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10. In reality, there is no clear boundary between "normal" and "abnormal." We each live in close proximity to the artificial
line created by society, psychiatry and psychology separating "sane" from “psychotic," "normal" from "neurotic.”
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11. Many flirt with or cross over this threshold temporarily, returning sooner or later to the land of the "normal." And some never recover from this departure from "normalcy”

12. DISTURBANCE of
◦ Cognition (thinking)
◦ Emotion
◦ Behaviour
Affecting important
areas of functioning
◦ Self-care
◦ Social
◦ Occupational, etc
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13. In certain cases, the individual may not report subjective suffering, but his or
her behavior is either chronically self-destructive and/or results in negative
social consequences and excessive suffering in others
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRCTAEAsUGQ
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14. Theodore Robert Bundy was an American serial
killer, kidnapper, rapist, burglar, and necrophile who
assaulted and murdered numerous young women
and girls during the 1970s and possibly earlier. He
confessed to 30 homicides that he committed in
seven states between 1974 and 1978.
He was described as "a sadistic sociopath who took
pleasure from another human's pain and the control
he had over his victims, to the point of death, and
even after". He once called himself "the most cold-
hearted son of a bitch you'll ever meet"; Attorney
Polly Nelson wrote: "Ted was the very definition of
heartless evil."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UEkH15wjNc&t=333s
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15. Socially
DEVIANT
behaviour (e.g.,
political, religious,
or sexual) and
conflicts that are
primarily between
the individual and
society are not
mental disorder
unless the
deviance or
conflict results
from a dysfunction
in the individual,
as described
above
DEVIANT
An expectable or
CULTURALLY
approved
response to
common stressor
or loss, such as
the death of a
loved one, is not a
mental disorder
DEATH
Mental disorders
are usually
associated with
significant
DISTRESS or
disability in social,
occupational, or
other important
activities.
DISTRESS
DYSFUNCTION
in the
psychological,
biological, or
developmental
process
underlying mental
functioning.
DYSFUNCTION
A syndrome
characterized by
clinically
significant
DISTURBANCE
in individual’s
cognition, emotion
regulation, or
behaviour that
reflects
DISTURBANCE
inclusion exclusion
DSM-5
definition of
MENTAL
DISORDER
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16. Characteristic Symptoms
◦ Perceptual disturbance:
Hallucinations
◦ Inferential thinking: Delusions
◦ Disorganization: Speech and
behaviour
◦ Catatonia
◦ Negative symptoms
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17. 17

18. Grief is experienced as sadness
Sad, but able to smile about
memories of the deceased
Mixture of good and bad days
May feel guilt around specific issues
May have thoughts of “joining the
deceased”, but not actively suicidal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gbDPJTPYNs
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19. 19

20. Robin Munro drew attention to the abuses of
forensic psychiatry in China in general, and of
Falun Gong practitioners in particular. In
2001, Munro alleged that forensic
psychiatrists in China have been active since
the days of Mao Zedong, and have been
involved in the systematic misuse of
psychiatry for political purposes. He says that
large-scale psychiatric abuses are the most
distinctive aspect of the government's
protracted campaign to "crush the Falun
Gong," and he found a very sizable increase
in Falun Gong admissions to mental hospitals
since the onset of the government's
persecution campaign.
http://jaapl.org/content/jaapl/30/1/126.full.pdf
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21. 21

22. The function of defense mechanisms
is to reduce or redirect anxiety by
distorting reality.
Healthy persons normally use
different defenses throughout life.
An ego defense mechanism becomes
pathological only when its persistent
or inflexible use leads to maladaptive
behavior.
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23. 23

24. 24

25. 25

26. 26

27. 27
1) denial 2) displacement 3) rationalization 4) regression 5) projection 6) reaction formation 7) Intellectualization

28. Defense Mechanisms in
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
- Intellectualization
- Isolation of affect
- Reaction formation
- Undoing
Magical
Thinking
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29. 29
1. Isolation of affect — Irrational
anxiety over the circulation of
duplicate CD.
2. Undoing — Predating the receipt of
his awards to match her tenure in the
service.
3. Reaction formation — Taking
voluntary retirement in response to
the public humiliation of his feelings
becoming known to all.
4. Magical thinking — His feelings of
attraction as synonymous with
adultery.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4100422/

30. Defense Mechanisms
in Psychosis
- Projection
- Denial
- Distortion
- Regression
30
http://journal.usm.my/journal/MJMS-11-1-086.pdf
Case Report

31. What did the affected students see?
(a) Most claimed that they saw a being with long hair
(b) Others claimed they were possessed by an old
woman. That was apparently the reason why they
acted and sounded like one.
31
Dissociation = detachment from reality

32. Psychosis
◦ Projection
◦ Denial
◦ Distortion
◦ Regression
OCD
◦ Isolation
◦ Intellectualization
◦ Reaction formation
◦ Undoing
Dissociative disorders
◦ Dissociation
◦ Denial
Somatoform
◦ Somatization
◦ Conversion
Phobia
◦ Avoidance
◦ Symbolization
Depression
◦ Turning against the self
◦ Isolation
◦ Identification
32

33. Symptoms
Defense
mechanisms
Unwanted
thoughts or
impulses
Internal
conflicts
Conversion Neurological
Dissociation Cognitive
Somatization Physical
The
Ego
repression
33

34. 34

35. 35

36. Too strong social
integration
Individuals are willing
to sacrifice their life
out of sense of duty to
others (i.e., for the
sake of his group)
Rarely seen in
industrialized society
E.g., Kamikaze pilots
36Kami = divine; Kaze = wind

37. 37