1. What is Psychology ?
Important events
Significant Areas
Various Methods in Psychology
2. What is Psychology?
The science of behavior and mental processes.
Psychology is a science. Because psychology is a science, psychologists use scientific
principles, carefully defined methods, and precise procedures to present an organised body
of knowledge and to draw inferences, or make predictions, about how people will behave in
future.
Predicting behaviour is important, for it enables psychologists to help people anticipate
their reactions to certain situations and learn how to express themselves in manageable and
reasonable ways.
Three Principles of Scientific Endeavor
Objectivity: for psychologists it means evaluating research and the theory on their merits,
without preconceived ideas.
Accuracy: psychologists are concerned with gathering data from the laboratory and the real
world in precise ways- that is with accuracy.
Healthy Scepticism: psychologists maintain a healthy scepticism: a cautious view of data,
hypotheses, and theory until results are repeated, verified, and proved over time.
3. The Scientific Method in Psychology
Stating the problem: The question a psychologist asks must be stated in
such a way that it can be answered; that is it must be stated in such a way
that lends itself to investigation.
Forming a theory: After stating the problem, psychologists develop a
theory from their current knowledge and past research. A theory is a
collection of interrelated ideas and facts put forward to explain and
predict behavior and mental processes.
Developing hypotheses: Educated guesses, tentative statements, or ideas
expressing a causal relationship between two events or variables.
Observation:
Replicating results: all-too-human tendency to bias, or subtly
predetermine the results. (reliability)
4. Important events
Two figures who helped to found psychology as a formal discipline and science in
the 19th century were Wilhelm Wundt in Germany and William James in the United
States. Wundt perceived the subject as the study of human consciousness and sought
to apply experimental methods to studying internal mental processes. While his use
of a process known as introspection is seen as unreliable and unscientific today, his
early work in psychology helped set the stage for future experimental methods.
James’s The Principles of Psychology (1890) defined psychology as the science of
mental life and provided insightful discussions of topics and challenges that
anticipated much of the field’s research agenda a century later.
5. Structuralism: Psychology’s First School of Thought
• Edward B. Titchener, one of Wundt’s most famous students, would go on to found
psychology’s first major school of thought. According to the structuralists, human
consciousness could be broken down into smaller parts. Using a process known as
introspection, trained subjects would attempt to break down their responses and reactions
to the most basic sensations and perceptions.
The Functionalism of William James
• The focus of functionalism was about how behavior actually works to help people live in
their environment. Functionalists utilized methods such as direct observation to study the
human mind and behavior.
The Emergence of Psychoanalysis
• The psychoanalytic theory proposed by Sigmund Freud had a tremendous impact on 20th-
century thought, influencing the mental health field as well as other areas including art,
literature, and popular culture. While many of his ideas are viewed with skepticism today,
his influence on psychology is undeniable.
6. The Rise of Behaviorism
• Psychology changed dramatically during the early 20th century as another school
of thought known as behaviorism rose to dominance. Behaviorism was a major
change from previous theoretical perspectives, rejecting the emphasis on both
the conscious and unconscious mind. Instead, behaviorism strove to make
psychology a more scientific discipline by focusing purely on observable
behavior.
• The Third Force in Psychology
• While the first half of the 20th century was dominated by psychoanalysis and
behaviorism, a new school of thought known as humanistic psychology emerged
during the second half of the century. Often referred to as the "third force" in
psychology, this theoretical perspective emphasized conscious experiences.
American psychologist Carl Rogers is often considered to be one of the founders
of this school of thought. Rogers believed strongly in the power of free will and
self-determination. Psychologist Abraham Maslow also contributed to humanistic
psychology with his famous hierarchy of needs theory of human motivation.
7. Cognitive Psychology
During the 1950s and 1960s, a movement known as the cognitive revolution began
to take hold in psychology. During this time, cognitive psychology began to replace
psychoanalysis and behaviorism as the dominant approach to the study of
psychology. Psychologists were still interested in looking at observable behaviors,
but they were also concerned with what was going on inside the mind.
Since that time, cognitive psychology has remained a dominant area of psychology
as researchers continue to study things such as perception, memory, decision-
making, problem-solving, intelligence, and language.
The introduction of brain imaging tools such as MRI and PET scans have helped
improve the ability of researchers to more closely study the inner workings of the
human brain.
8. Research methods include observational research, case studies, surveys,
correlational designs, and experiments.
• In terms of naturalistic observation, the scientist studies human or animal
behavior in its natural environment which could include the home, school, or a
forest. The researcher counts, measures, and rates behavior in a systematic way
and at times uses multiple judges to ensure accuracy in how the behavior is being
measured. This is called inter-rater reliability
• Laboratory observation involves observing people or animals in a laboratory
setting. The researcher might want to know more about parent-child interactions
and so bring a mother and her child into the lab to engage in preplanned tasks such
as playing with toys, eating a meal, or the mother leaving the room for a short
period of time. The advantage of this method over the naturalistic method is that
the experimenter can use sophisticated equipment and videotape the session to
examine it at a later time. The problem is that since the subjects know
the experimenter is watching them, their behavior could become artificial from the
start.
9. Case Studies
Psychology can also utilize a detailed description of one person or a
small group based on careful observation. This was the approach the
founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, took to develop his theories.
The advantage of this method is that you arrive at a rich description of
the behavior being investigated but the disadvantage is that what you are
learning may be unrepresentative of the larger population and so
lacks generalizability.
10. Surveys/Self-Report Data
A survey is a questionnaire consisting of at least one scale with some number of
questions that assess a psychological construct of interest such as parenting style,
depression, locus of control, attitudes, or sensation-seeking behavior. It may be
administered by paper and pencil or computer. Surveys allow for the collection of
large amounts of data quickly but the actual survey could be tedious for the
participant and social desirability, when a participant answers questions dishonestly
so that he/she is seen in a more favorable light, could be an issue.
11. Correlational Research
• This research method examines the relationship between two variables or two
groups of variables. A numerical measure of the strength of this relationship is
derived, called the correlation coefficient, and can range from -1.00, a perfect
inverse relationship meaning that as one variable goes up the other goes down, to
0 or no relationship at all, to +1.00 or a perfect relationship in which as one
variable goes up or down so does the other. In terms of a negative correlation we
might say that as a parent becomes more rigid, controlling, and cold, the
attachment of the child to the parent goes down. In contrast, as a parent becomes
warmer, more loving, and provides structure, the child becomes more attached.
The advantage of correlational research is that you can correlate anything. The
disadvantage is that you can correlate anything. Variables that really do not have
any relationship to one another could be viewed as related. Yes.
12. What is a Spurious Correlation?
• A spurious correlation occurs when two variables are correlated but don’t have a
causal relationship. In other words, it appears that the values of one variable cause
changes in the other variable, but that’s not actually happening.
• If you look up the definition of spurious, you’ll see explanations about something
being fake or having a deceitful nature. It has the outward appearance of
genuineness, but it’s an imitation. With this definition in mind, spurious
correlations look like causal relationships in both their statistical measures and in
graphs, but it’s not real.
• For example, ice cream sales and shark attacks correlate positively at a beach. As
ice cream sales increase, there are more shark attacks. However, common sense
tells us that ice cream sales do not cause shark attacks. Hence, it’s a spurious
correlation.
13. Experiments
• An experiment is a controlled test of a hypothesis in which a researcher
manipulates one variable and measures its effect on another variable. The variable
that is manipulated is called the independent variable (IV) and the one that is
measured is called the dependent variable (DV). A common feature of
experiments is to have a control group that does not receive the treatment or is
not manipulated and an experimental group that does receive the treatment or
manipulation. If the experiment includes random assignment participants have an
equal chance of being placed in the control or experimental group. The control
group allows the researcher to make a comparison to the experimental group,
making a causal statement possible, and stronger.
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14. Perception
• Nature, the relation between sensation and perception, the concept
of Illusion and hallucination
• Definition of Sensation and Perception
• Sensation Process by which the sense organ receptor cells are
stimulated and relay their initial information to higher brain centers
for further processing
• Perception Process by which an organism selects and interprets
sensory input so that it acquires meaning.
15. Nature of perception
• “Perception refers to the interpretation of sensory data. In other words, sensation
involves detecting the presence of a stimulus whereas perception involves
understanding what the stimulus means. For example, when we see something, the
visual stimulus is the light energy reflected from the external world and the eye
becomes the sensor. This visual image of the external thing becomes perception
when interpreted in the brain’s visual cortex. Thus, visual perception refers to
interpreting the image of the external world projected on the retina of the eye and
constructing a model of the three-dimensional world.”
• From the above explanation, perception is something more than sensation. It
correlates, integrates, and comprehends diverse sensations and information from
many organs of the body utilizing which a person identifies things and objects, the
sensations refer to.
16. Nature of perception
• Perception is determined by both physiological and psychological
characteristics of the human being whereas sensation is conceived with only
the physiological features. Thus, perception is not just what one sees with
the eyes it is a much more complex process by which an individual
selectively absorbs or assimilates the stimuli in the environment,
cognitively organizes the perceived information in a specific fashion, and
then interprets the information to assess what is going on in one’s
environment.
• Perception is a subjective process, therefore, different people may perceive
the same environment differently based on what particular aspects of the
situation they choose to selectively absorb, how they organize this
information and the manner in which they interpret it to obtain a grasp of
the situation.
18. What are hallucinations?
Hallucinations are sensory experiences that appear real but are created
by your mind. They can affect all five of your senses. For example, you
might hear a voice that no one else in the room can hear or see an
image that isn’t real.
These symptoms may be caused by mental illnesses, the side effects of
medications, or physical illnesses like epilepsy or alcohol use disorder.
You may need to visit a psychiatrist, a neurologist, or a general
practitioner depending on the cause of your hallucinations.
Treatment may include taking medication to treat a health condition.
Your doctor may also recommend adopting different behaviors like
drinking less alcohol and getting more sleep to improve your
hallucinations.
19. Types of hallucinations
Hallucinations may affect your vision, sense of smell, taste,
hearing, or bodily sensations.
Visual hallucinations
Visual hallucinations involve seeing things that aren’t there. The
hallucinations may be of objects, visual patterns, people, or lights.
For example, you might see a person who’s not in the room or
flashing lights that no one else can see.
Olfactory hallucinations
Olfactory hallucinations involve your sense of smell. You might
smell an unpleasant odor when waking up in the middle of the
night or feel that your body smells bad when it doesn’t.
This type of hallucination can also include scents you find
enjoyable, like the smell of flowers.
20. Gustatory hallucinations
Gustatory hallucinations are similar to olfactory hallucinations, but
they involve your sense of taste instead of smell.
These tastes are often strange or unpleasant. Gustatory
hallucinations (often with a metallic taste) are a relatively common
symptom for people with epilepsy.
Auditory hallucinations
Auditory hallucinations are among the most common type of
hallucination. You might hear someone speaking to you or telling you
to do certain things. The voice may be angry, neutral, or warm.
Other examples of this type of hallucination include hearing sounds,
like someone walking in the attic or repeated clicking or tapping
noises.
Tactile hallucinations
Tactile hallucinations involve the feeling of touch or movement in
your body. For example, you might feel that bugs are crawling on
your skin or that your internal organs are moving around. You might
also feel the imagined touch of someone’s hands on your body.
21. What causes hallucinations?
Mental health conditions
Mental illnesses are among the most common causes of
hallucinations. Schizophrenia, dementia, and delirium are a
few examples.
Substance use
Substance use is another fairly common cause of
hallucinations. Some people see or hear things that aren’t
there after drinking too much alcohol or taking drugs like
cocaine.
Hallucinogenic drugs like LSD and PCP can also cause you to
hallucinate.
Lack of sleep
Not getting enough sleep can also lead to hallucinations. You
may be more prone to hallucinations if you haven’t slept in
multiple days or don’t get enough sleep over long periods of
time.
It’s also possible to experience hallucinations right before
falling asleep, known as hypnagogic hallucinations, or right
before waking up from sleep, known as hypnopompic
hallucinations.
22. Medications
Certain medications taken for mental and physical health
conditions can also cause hallucinations. Parkinson’s
disease, depression, psychosis, and epilepsy medications
may sometimes trigger hallucination symptoms.
Other conditions
Other conditions can also cause hallucinations. These can
include:
•high fevers, especially in children and the elderly
•migraine
•social isolation, particularly in older adults
•seizures
•deafness, blindness, or vision problems
•epilepsy (in some cases, epileptic seizures can cause you
to see flashing shapes or bright spots)
•terminal illnesses, such as stage 3 HIV (AIDS), brain
cancer, or kidney and liver failure
23. How are hallucinations diagnosed?
The best thing to do is call your doctor right away if you
suspect that your perceptions aren’t real. Your doctor will
ask about your symptoms and perform a physical exam.
Additional tests might include a blood or urine test and
perhaps a brain scan.
If you know someone who’s hallucinating, don’t leave
them alone. In some severe cases, fear and paranoia
triggered by hallucinations can lead to dangerous actions
or behaviors.
Stay with the person at all times and go with them to the
doctor for emotional support. You may also be able to help
answer questions about their symptoms and how often
they occur.
24. Medications
Treatment for your hallucinations will depend entirely on
their underlying cause. For example, if you’re hallucinating
due to severe alcohol withdrawal, your doctor might
prescribe medication that helps calm down your nervous
system.
However, if hallucinations are caused by Parkinson’s
disease in a person with dementia, this same type of
medication may not be beneficial, and other medications
may be used.
An accurate diagnosis is very important for treating the
condition effectively.
Counseling
Counseling might also be part of your treatment plan. This
is particularly true if the underlying cause of your
hallucinations is a mental health condition.
Speaking with a counselor can help you get a better
understanding of what’s happening to you. A counselor
can also help you develop coping strategies, particularly
for when you’re feeling scared or paranoid.
25. Learning: Meaning, Nature, Types, and Theories of Learning
Learning is defined as “any relatively permanent change in behaviour
that occurs as a result of practice and experience”. This definition has
three important elements.
a. Learning is a change in behaviour—better or worse.
b. It is a change that takes place through practice or experience, but
changes due to growth or maturation are not learning.
c. This change in behaviour must be relatively permanent, and it must
last a fairly long time.
26. Types of Learning:
1. Motor learning:
Most of our activities in our day-to-days life refer to motor activities. The individual has
to learn them in order to maintain his regular life, for example walking, running,
skating, driving, climbing, etc. All these activities involve the muscular coordination.
2. Verbal learning:
This type of learning involves the language we speak, the communication devices we
use. Signs, pictures, symbols, words, figures, sounds, etc, are the tools used in such
activities. We use words for communication.
3. Concept learning:
It is the form of learning which requires higher order mental processes like thinking,
reasoning, intelligence, etc. we learn different concepts from childhood. For example,
when we see a dog and attach the term ‘dog’, we learn that the word dog refers to a
particular animal. Concept learning involves two processes, viz. abstraction and
generalisation. This learning is very useful in recognising, identifying things.
27. 4. Discrimination learning:
Learning to differentiate between stimuli and showing an appropriate response to these
stimuli is called discrimination learning. Example, sound horns of different vehicles like
bus, car, ambulance, etc.
5. Learning of principles:
Individuals learn certain principles related to science, mathematics, grammar, etc. in
order to manage their work effectively. These principles always show the relationship
between two or more concepts. Example: formulae, laws, associations, correlations, etc.
6. Problem solving:
This is a higher order learning process. This learning requires the use of cognitive
abilities-such as thinking, reasoning, observation, imagination, generalization, etc. This
is very useful to overcome difficult problems encountered by the people.
7. Attitude learning:
Attitude is a predisposition which determines and directs our behaviour. We develop
different attitudes from our childhood about the people, objects and everything we
know. Our behaviour may be positive or negative depending upon our attitudes.
Example: attitudes of nurse towards her profession, patients, etc.
30. • “Memory Conceptualized in Terms of Types, Stages, and Processes,”
psychologists conceptualize memory in terms of types, in terms
of stages, and in terms of processes. In this section we will consider
the two types of memory, explicit memory and implicit memory, and
then the three major memory stages: sensory, short-term, and long-
term (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968). Then, in the next section, we will
consider the nature of long-term memory, with a particular emphasis
on the cognitive techniques we can use to improve our memories. Our
discussion will focus on the three processes that are central to long-
term memory: encoding, storage, and retrieval.
31. Memory Conceptualized in Terms of Types,
Stages, and Processes.
As types • Explitit
• Implicit
As stages * Sensory memory
• Short-term memory
• Long-term memory
As processes • Encoding
• Storage
• Retrival
32. Explicit Memory: refers to knowledge or experiences that can be
consciously remembered.
• There are two types of explicit memory: episodic and semantic.
• Episodic memory refers to the firsthand experiences that we have
had (e.g., recollections of our high school graduation day or of the
fantastic dinner we had in New York last year).
• Semantic memory refers to our knowledge of facts and concepts
about the world (e.g., that the absolute value of −90 is greater than the
absolute value of 9 and that one definition of the word “affect” is “the
experience of feeling or emotion”).
33. Explicit memory is assessed using measures in which the individual
being tested must consciously attempt to remember the information.
• A recall memory test is a measure of explicit memory that
involves bringing from memory information that has
previously been remembered. We rely on our recall memory
when we take an essay test because the test requires us to
generate previously remembered information. A multiple-
choice test is an example of a recognition memory test, a
measure of explicit memory that involves determining
whether information has been seen or learned before.
34. Implicit Memory refers to the influence of experience on behavior,
even if the individual is not aware of those influences.
• there are three general types of implicit memory: procedural memory,
classical conditioning effects, and priming.
• Procedural memory refers to our often unexplainable knowledge of how to
do things. When we walk from one place to another, speak to another person
in English, dial a cell phone, or play a video game, we are using procedural
memory. Procedural memory allows us to perform complex tasks, even
though we may not be able to explain to others how we do them.
• A second type of implicit memory is classical conditioning effects, in
which we learn, often without effort or awareness, to associate neutral stimuli
(such as a sound or a light) with another stimulus (such as food), which
creates a naturally occurring response, such as enjoyment or salivation. The
memory for the association is demonstrated when the conditioned stimulus
(the sound) begins to create the same response as the unconditioned stimulus
(the food) did before the learning.
35. The final type of implicit memory is known as priming, or changes in
behaviour as a result of experiences that have happened frequently or
recently. Priming refers both to the activation of knowledge (e.g., we can
prime the concept of kindness by presenting people with words related to
kindness) and to the influence of that activation on behaviour (people who
are primed with the concept of kindness may act more kindly).
_ i b _ a _ y
_ h _ s _ _ i _ n
_ o _ k
_ h _ i s _
Now read the following sentence carefully:
“He got his materials from the shelves, checked them out, and then left the
building.”Then try again to make words out of the word fragments.
36. Stages of Memory: Sensory, Short-Term, and Long-Term Memory
Another way of understanding memory is to think about it in terms of stages
that describe the length of time that information remains available to us.
According to this approach, information begins in sensory memory, moves
to short-term memory, and eventually moves to long-term memory. But not all
information makes it through all three stages; most of it is forgotten.
Sensory memory refers to the brief storage of sensory information. Sensory
memory is a memory buffer that lasts only very briefly and then, unless it is
attended to and passed on for more processing, is forgotten. The purpose of
sensory memory is to give the brain some time to process the incoming
sensations and to allow us to see the world as an unbroken stream of events
rather than as individual pieces.
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37. Visual sensory memory is known as iconic memory. Iconic memory was first studied by the
psychologist George Sperling (1960).
Auditory sensory memory is known as echoic memory. In contrast to iconic memories, which
decay very rapidly, echoic memories can last as long as four seconds. This is convenient as it
allows you — among other things — to remember the words that you said at the beginning of a
long sentence when you get to the end of it, and to take notes on your psychology professor’s
most recent statement even after he or she has finished saying it.
In some people iconic memory seems to last longer, a phenomenon known as eidetic
imagery (or photographic memory) in which people can report details of an image over long
periods of time. These people, who often suffer from psychological disorders such as autism,
claim that they can “see” an image long after it has been presented, and can often report
accurately on that image. There is also some evidence for eidetic memories in hearing; some
people report that their echoic memories persist for unusually long periods of time. The
composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart may have possessed eidetic memory for music, because
even when he was very young and had not yet had a great deal of musical training, he could
listen to long compositions and then play them back almost perfectly
38. Short-Term Memory
Most of the information that gets into sensory memory is forgotten, but information that
we turn our attention to, with the goal of remembering it, may pass into short-term
memory. Short-term memory (STM) is the place where small amounts of information
can be temporarily kept for more than a few seconds but usually for less than one
minute (Baddeley, Vallar, & Shallice, 1990). Information in short-term memory is not
stored permanently but rather becomes available for us to process, and the processes that
we use to make sense of, modify, interpret, and store information in STM are known
as working memory.
One way to prevent the decay of information from short-term memory is to use working
memory to rehearse it. Maintenance rehearsal is the process of repeating information
mentally or out loud with the goal of keeping it in memory. We engage in maintenance
rehearsal to keep something that we want to remember (e.g., a person’s name, email
address, or phone number) in mind long enough to write it down, use it, or potentially
transfer it to long-term memory.
39. One way we are able to expand our ability to remember things in
STM is by using a memory technique
called chunking. Chunking is the process of organizing information
into smaller groupings (chunks), thereby increasing the number of
items that can be held in STM.
If information makes it past short-term memory it may enter long-
term memory (LTM), memory storage that can hold information
for days, months, and years. The capacity of long-term memory is
large, and there is no known limit to what we can remember (Wang,
Liu, & Wang, 2003). Although we may forget at least some
information after we learn it, other things will stay with us forever.
41. Defining Emotions
Emotions are often confused with feelings and moods, but the three terms are not interchangeable. According to the American
Psychological Association (APA), emotion is defined as “a complex reaction pattern, involving experiential, behavioral, and
physiological elements.” Emotions are how individuals deal with matters or situations they find personally significant. Emotional
experiences have three components: a subjective experience, a physiological response, and a behavioral or expressive response.
The Process Of Emotion
While there is debate about the sequence, there is general agreement that emotions, as mentioned earlier, are made up of three
parts: subjective experiences, physiological responses, and behavioral responses. Let’s look at each of these parts in more detail.
Subjective Experiences
All emotions begin with a subjective experience, also referred to as a stimulus, but what does that mean? While basic emotions are
expressed by all individuals regardless of culture or upbringing, the experience that produces them can he highly subjective.
Subjective experiences can range from something as simple as seeing a color to something as major as losing a loved one or getting
married. No matter how intense the experience is, it can provoke many emotions in a single individual and the emotions each
individual feel may be different. For example, one person may feel anger and regret at the loss of a loved one while another may
experience intense sadness.
42. Physiological Responses
We all know how it feels to have our hearts beat fast with fear. This physiological response is the result of the autonomic nervous
system’s reaction to the emotion we’re experiencing. The autonomic nervous system controls our involuntary bodily responses and
regulates our fight-or-flight response. According to many psychologists, our physiological responses are likely how emotion helped us
evolve and survive as humans throughout history.
Interestingly, studies have shown autonomic physiological responses are strongest when a person’s facial expressions most closely
resemble the expression of the emotion they’re experiencing. In other words, facial expressions play an important role in responding
accordingly to an emotion in a physical sense.
Behavioral Responses
The behavioral response aspect of the emotional response is the actual expression of the emotion. Behavioral responses can include
a smile, a grimace, a laugh, or a sigh, along with many other reactions depending on societal norms and personality.
Behavioral responses are important to signal to others how we’re feeling, but research shows that they’re also vital to individuals’ well-
being. A study in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology found that while watching negative and positive emotional films, suppression of
behavioral responses to emotion had physical effects on the participants. The effects included elevated heart rates. This suggests that
expressing behavioral responses to stimuli, both positive and negative, is better for your overall health than holding those responses
inside. Thus, there are benefits of smiling, laughing, and expressing negative emotions in a healthy way.
43. Theories Of Emotion
Many theories of emotion exist. While some theories directly refute others, many
build upon each other. Here are some common theories of emotional psychology
that have helped shape the field and how humans view emotions.
James-Lange Theory
• The James-Lange Theory of Emotion is one of the earliest emotion theories of
modern psychology. Developed by William James and Carl Lange in the 19th
century, the theory hypothesizes that physiological stimuli (arousal) cause the
autonomic nervous system to react which in turn causes individuals to experience
emotion. The reactions of the nervous system could include a fast heartbeat,
tensed muscles, sweating, and more. According to this theory, the physiological
response comes before the emotional behavior. Over time, the James-Lange theory
has been challenged, as well as expanded upon in other theories, suggesting that
emotion is the mix of physiological and psychological responses.
44. Facial-Feedback Theory
The Facial-Feedback Theory of Emotion suggests that facial expressions are crucial to experiencing emotion. This theory is connected
to the work of Charles Darwin and William James who hypothesized that facial expressions impact emotion as opposed to their being a
response to an emotion. This theory holds that emotions are directly tied to physical changes in the facial muscles. Thus, someone
who forced himself to smile would be happier than someone who wore a frown.
Cannon-Bard Theory
Developed by Walter Cannon and Philip Bard in the 1920s, the Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion was developed to refute the James-
Lange theory. This theory posits that bodily changes and emotions occur simultaneously instead of one right after the other. This theory
is backed by neurobiological science that says that once a stimulating event is detected, the information is relayed to both the
amygdala and the brain cortex at the same time. If this holds true, arousal and emotion are simultaneous events.
Schachter-Singer Theory
This theory, developed by Stanley Schachter and Jerome E. Singer, introduces the element of reasoning into the process of emotion.
The theory hypothesizes that when we experience an event that causes physiological arousal, we try to find a reason for the arousal.
Then, we experience the emotion.
Cognitive Appraisal Theory
Richard Lazarus pioneered this theory of emotion. According to the Cognitive Appraisal Theory, thinking must occur before
experiencing emotion. Thus, a person would first experience a stimulus, think, and then simultaneously experience a physiological
response and the emotion.
45. When a person is exposed to a stimulus or an emotional trigger, a certain emotion is generated. The
psychological regulatory process often involves three components:
•Initiating actions
•Modulating responses
•Inhibiting actions
Emotional control can be seen as a modifier. It helps us filter the most important information and allows us
to attend to or interact with it in a way that doesn’t provoke negative emotions, like stress. Researchers
believe that the way we feel and interpret our emotions affects the way we think, our decision-making
skills, and how we generally coordinate our day-to-day lives. A well-regulated individual is likely to
have better balance, judgment, and control over their emotions and therefore their actions. They will be
able to more accurately judge which situations to embrace and which to avoid.
Emotional control is the ability to identify and regulate your emotions and respond in a socially
tolerable and flexible way and also have a certain level of control over spontaneous reactions. Emotional
control encompasses both positive and negative emotions, however, it usually refers to attempts by an
individual to manage the generation, expression, or experience of particularly disruptive emotions and
impulses that can have negative consequences. This is thought to be done through the use of cognitive or
behavioral strategies.
46. How can we practice better emotional control?
Taking time to reflect on situations, in between feeling and reacting, is one way to begin improving your
emotional control. There are many ways to be more aware of your emotions and reactions and some of
these include:
•Becoming more self-aware
•Practising mindful approaches and exercises
•Altering the way we think and being more flexible
•Being more adaptable to change by employing effective coping mechanisms
•Being more positive and compassionate towards yourself
•Getting the right emotional support around you
47. NATURE OF THINKING: Thinking is the base of all cognitive activities or processes and is unique to human
beings. It involves the manipulation and analysis of information received from the environment. For example,
while seeing a painting, you are not simply focusing on the color of the painting or the lines and strokes,
rather you are going beyond the given text in interpreting its meaning and you are trying to relate the
information to your existing knowledge. Understanding the painting involves creating new meaning that is
added to your knowledge. Thinking, therefore, is a higher mental process through which we manipulate and
analyze the acquired or existing information. Such manipulation and analysis occur by means of abstracting,
reasoning, imagining, problem-solving, judging, and decision-making. Thinking is mostly organized and goal-
directed. All daily activities, ranging from cooking to solving math problems, have a goal.
Definition: Thinking is a mental process mental representations newly formed through the transformation of
information by interaction, attributes such as the assessment of mental abstraction, logic, imagination, and
problem-solving.
TYPES OF THINKING : Thinking can be classified as follows:
1. Perceptual or Concrete Thinking: This is the simplest form of thinking the basis of this type is perception,
i.e. interpretation of sensation according to one’s experience. It is also called concrete thinking as it is
carried out on the perception of actual or concrete objects and events.
2. 2. Conceptual or Abstract Thinking: Here one makes use of concepts, generalized objects and languages, it
is regarded as being superior to perceptual thinking as it economizes efforts in understanding and
problem-solving
48. 3. Reflective Thinking: This type of thinking aims to solve complex problems, thus it requires reorganization of all the
relevant experiences to a situation or removing obstacles instead of relating with those experiences or ideas. This is
an insightful cognitive approach in reflective thinking as the mental activity here does not involve the mechanical
trial and error type of effort. In this type, thinking processes take all the relevant facts arranged in a logical order into
account in order to arrive at a solution to the problem.
4. Creative Thinking: This type of thinking is associated with one’s ability to create or construct something new, novel,
or unusual. It looks for new relationships and associations to describe and interpret the nature of things, events, and
situations. Here the individual himself usually formulates the pieces of evidence and tools for its solution. For
example; scientists, artists, or inventors. Skinner, the famous psychologist says creative thinking means that the
prediction and inferences for the individual are new, original, ingenious, and unusual. The creative thinker is one who
expresses new ideas and makes new observations, new predictions, and new inferences.
5. Critical Thinking: It is a type of thinking that helps a person in stepping aside from his own personal beliefs,
prejudices, and opinions to sort out the faiths and discover the truth, even at the expense of his basic belief system.
Here one resorts to set higher cognitive abilities and skills for the proper interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and
inference, as well as explanation of the gathered or communicated information resulting in a purposeful unbiased,
and self-regulatory judgment
6. Non-directed or Associative Thinking: There are times when we find ourselves engaged in a unique type of
thinking that is non-directed and without a goal. It is reflected through dreaming and other free-flowing uncontrolled
activities. Psychologically these forms of thought are termed as associative thinking. Here daydreaming, fantasy, and
delusions all fall in the category of withdrawal behavior that helps an individual to escape from the demands of the
real world by making his thinking face non-directed and floating, placing him somewhere, ordering something
unconnected with his environment.
49. THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
In modern times Sigmund Freud is the first psychologist to put forth the Psychoanalytic theory of personality. Freud
developed this theory of personality out of his observations of patients over a period of forty years. He had
deterministic and pessimistic view of human nature. Psychoanalytic approach can be divided into three parts:
i) Structure of personality: It has two dimensions – topographical and dynamic. Topographical is further subdivided into:
a) conscious, b) subconscious; and c) unconscious. Conscious includes in it all those experiences and activities which
have to do with present. Subconscious includes all those experiences, desires, thoughts, feelings which are not available
at the level of conscious but can be easily accessed through deliberate effort. For example, if someone ask you the name
of the city you lived in during childhood. You will readily recall it. Unconscious represents our sexual, immoral, antisocial
and hateful desires which we can’t afford to express in our daily life. Therefore such desire are repressed and relegated
to unconscious.
ii) Dynamic model or dimension represents those aspects of personality which are instrumental in resolution of mental
conflicts arising from basic instincts. It has agents or instruments at its disposal to accomplish this task and these are: a)
Id, b) ego and c) superego. Id is biological in nature and represents those instincts which are innate, unorganised, sexual
and unlawful. It operates on pleasure principle. Ego, though develops out of Id, is reality oriented. Ego remains at the
driving seat of personality and functions at all three levels i.e. conscious, subconscious and unconscious. Super Ego is
the moral aspect of personality and operates on idealistic principle. It represents the dos and don’ts of behaviour. It
grows out of process of socialisation
50. iii) Dynamics of personality: It contains: a) instincts, b) anxiety, and c) mental mechanisms. Instincts refer to innate
bodily energy or excitation and guide all our behavior. They are of two types, life instinct or Eros and death instincts or
Thanatos. Anxiety is an affective, unpleasant state that warns the ego of impending danger so that the individual can
adapt to the environment. Freud mentioned three types of anxiety – realistic anxiety, neurotic anxiety, and moral
anxiety. Mental mechanisms are activated to protect the ego the core of personality. Mental mechanisms are self-
deceptive and operate at the level of the unconscious. These distort the perception of reality thereby reducing the
degree of anxiety. iv) Development of personality: Freud delineated five stages of personality development. These
stages are:
•Oral (0 – 1.5 years of age): Fixation on all things oral. Negative oral habits or behaviors are likely to develop if
not satisfactorily met.
•Anal (1.5 to 3 years of age): As indicated this stage is primarily related to developing healthy toilet training
habits.
•Phallic (3 – 5 year of age): The development of healthy substitutes for the sexual attraction boys and girls
have toward a parent of the opposite gender.
•Latency (5 – 12 years of age): The development of healthy dormant sexual feelings for the opposite sex.
•Genital (12 – adulthood): All tasks from the previous four stages are integrated into the mind allowing for the
onset of healthy sexual feelings and behaviors
51. Trait Approach: The Trait approach tries to explain personality on the basis of certain characteristics. These traits are used
to explain the why of behavior and consistency in behavior. Allport and Cattell are the two main proponents of the trait
approach. Allport mentioned two types of traits namely; common traits and personal traits. Common traits are those
found in the majority of persons of a culture while personal traits are specific to a person and not found in other members
of a culture. Allport further divided personal traits into three categories – a) cardinal dispositions, it has an overwhelming
influence on the behavior of a person and is manifested in all the activities a person does. For example, peace and non-
violence were cardinal traits of Mahatma Gandhi. His entire life is woven around these traits, b) central disposition, these
are of much importance but do not parallel cardinal traits. For example, some people are very social and fun-loving.
Central traits may number five to ten in a person, c) secondary traits, though prominent in a person’s behavior do not help
much in explaining the basic nature of a person. For example, hairstyle, eating habits, or dressing style of a person.
Another important trait theory is given by Cattell. He mentioned two types of traits namely; source traits and surface
traits. Source traits underlie the personality and are not reflected in day to day interaction of a person. They are
observable only when we try to organize surface traits. For example, unselfishness, humor, and gregariousness took
together point to friendliness (a source trait) in the personality of a person. Surface traits are observable characteristics of
a person. For example, cheerfulness, and integrity may easily be discerned in the behavior of a person. Cattell
52. Constitutional Approach This approach tries to explain personality in terms of the physical constitution of a
person and the related temperament. Sheldon and Kretschmer are the two pioneers of this approach. Sheldon
on the basis of physical structure classified people in three personality types: a) endomorphic, such persons are
fatty, round, and short-heighted. They are happy-go-lucky and social by nature, b) mesomorphy, they have a
well-built body, and their muscles are strong and shapely. They are assertive, tough minded, and risk taking by
nature, c) ectomorphy, persons of this type are long, slender and thin. they solitude loving, do not approach
people as they are shy and reluctant. Kretschmer classified people into four types: a) pyknic, these are short
heighted fat people and enjoy mixing with people, are found of eating and drinking, b) asthenic type, such
persons are tall and thin with underdeveloped muscles. By nature they are irritable, shirk away from
responsibility. These people are often lost in daydreaming, c) athletic type, they have well developed muscles
and good physique. They are neither short nor very tall. These people manifest a balanced temperament and
adjust well with environment, d) dysplastic type, this category include those people who manifest a mix of the
characteristics found in above three types.
53. Life-span Approach This approach explains personality in terms of changes in behaviour that take place throughout
life i.e. from birth to death. Personality is explained in terms of solutions to problems arising during the turning
points or crisis periods at each of the eight stages in which life has been divided. Erickson mentioned eight
psychosocial stages of personality; infancy, early childhood, play age, school stage, adolescence, early adulthood,
middle adulthood, and maturity. Erickson laid emphasis on holism, environmentalism, and changeability in human
nature. He stressed the development of Ego in his theory.
54. Humanistic Approach This theory revolves round the subjective experiences of a person. It states that each
person has a unique frame of reference which develops out of his experiences with the environment. This
frame of reference develops as the person tries to make sense out of things and events in his environment.
Further that this frame of reference determines how a person perceives the world around him. Thus
perceptual attitude is central to the development of personality, for this reason this approach is also known
as phenomenological. According to this point of view human beings are positive by nature and individuals
strive for growth, in order to self actualise themselves. Maslow and Rogers are prominent humanistic
psychologists. Maslow gave the growth theory of personality.
55. David Wechsler (1896-1981), PhD, who pioneered the field of cognitive psychology,
was one of the most renowned psychologists of the 20th century. Wechsler viewed
intelligence as an effect rather than a cause and asserted that non-intellective factors,
such as personality, contribute to the development of each person’s intelligence. He
described intelligence as “the global capacity of a person to act purposefully, to think
rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment.”
Although many different definitions exist today, most experts believe intelligence
includes mental talents such as logic, reasoning, problem-solving, and planning. The
current definitions of intelligence tend to imply that it is the capacity to:
•Learn from your mistakes: Knowledge acquisition, retention, and application are
crucial aspects of intelligence
•Recognise issues: To use knowledge, individuals must first recognize the issues
they can help with
•People must then apply what they’ve learned to come up with solutions to
problems.
56. Historical Perspective Of Theories Of Intelligence
The history dates back to the 20th century. In the early twentieth century, German psychologist William Stern
created the “intelligence quotient” (IQ). Psychologist Alfred Binet created the first IQ tests to aid the French
government in identifying students who required extra help in school.
Since then, IQ testing has become a frequently utilized instrument that has spawned a slew of additional skill
and aptitude tests. On the other hand, IQ testing continues to spark controversy about its usage, cultural biases,
impacts on intellect, and even the definition of intelligence itself.
Theories Of General Intelligence
The theory of general intelligence is the cognitive theory. British scientist Charles Spearman (1863–1945)
created the term “general intelligence” or “g factor.” After using factor analysis in these examinations,
Spearman noticed that the results were remarkably similar.
Those who performed well on one cognitive exam were more likely to do well on others, whereas those who
performed poorly on one test were more likely to perform poorly. He discovered that intelligence is a general
cognitive ability that researchers can measure and represent mathematically
57. Primary Mental Abilities
Psychologist Louis L. Thurstone (1887–1955) proposed a different theory of intelligence; in his theory, he argues that
intelligence is not subjected to one individual factor. He argues that intelligence depends on multiple abilities. These
are some of them:
•The capacity to learn and recall information through associative memory.
•The capacity to solve mathematical problems is referred to as numerical ability
•Perceptual quickness refers to the capacity to recognize differences and similarities between items quickly
•The reasoning is the capacity to identify and apply rules
•The capacity to visualize relationships in space is referred to as spatial visualization
•The capacity to define and comprehend words is known as verbal comprehension
•Word fluency is defined as the capacity to form words quickly.
The Triarchic Intelligence Approach
As per Robert Sternberg, intelligence is mental activity oriented toward purposeful adaptation to, selection,
and structuring of real-world surroundings important to one’s existence. He suggests the triarchic
approach to intelligence.
Although he agreed with Gardner that intelligence is much more than a single, generic ability, he claimed
that certain aspects of Gardner’s intelligence should be considered particular skills rather than types of
intelligence. Sternberg introduced the concept of “successful intelligence,” which entails three elements: 6
•Analytical intelligence refers to the capacity to analyze data and solve issues
•The capacity to come up with fresh ideas is referred to as creative intelligence
•The capacity to adapt to a changing environment is known as practical intelligence.
58. Gardner's Revolutionary Perspective
Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences has revolutionized the way we think about
intelligence and its role in education. According to Gardner, traditional views of intelligence, which
focused solely on cognitive abilities measured by IQ tests, were too limited. He proposed that there
are actually distinct, independent multiple intelligences, each representing unique skills and talents.
Gardner initially identified seven intelligences: linguistic intelligence, logical-mathematical
intelligence, spatial intelligence, musical intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, interpersonal
intelligence, and intrapersonal intelligence.
Each of these intelligences encompasses different ways of understanding and interacting with the
world. For example, linguistic intelligence involves skilled use of language, while logical-
mathematical intelligence involves reasoning and problem-solving abilities.
As Gardner's theory evolved, he later added an eighth intelligence: naturalist intelligence. This
intelligence pertains to a person's ability to recognize and categorize patterns in nature and to
understand the natural world.
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