PSYCHOLOGY

By
M.
Kirwa
 Module outcomes
• By the end of this module, the learner
should;
 Apply concepts of psychology in managing
clients/patients
 Integrate theories of personality
development with provision of nursing care
 Identify and manage patients with deviations
in growth & development.
 Course Outline
• Concepts of psychology
• Definition of terms
• Historical Background
• Scope of psychology
• Theories of personality development
• Human behavior and social interactions
• Learning and memory
• Classical conditioning
• Instrumental conditioning
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 Course outline ct’
• Observational cognitive avoidance and learning
• Motivation
• Types of personalities
• Stress and coping
• Crisis and crisis intervention
• Mental defense mechanisms
• Psychology in relation to nursing
• Stages of growth and development
• Application of theories of personality development in
growth and development
CONCEPTS OF
PSYCHOLOGY

Welcome
What is Psychology?
 Definition of
 PSYCHOLOGY Terms
-The scientific study of human behavior and mental
or cognitive processes.
- The scientific study of human mind including its
structure and functioning, usually observed in
behavior.

 BEHAVIOUR
-Any activity of an organism that is capable of
being observed in response to its environment.
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MENTAL PROCESSES
• Refer to all the internal and covert
activity of our mind such as thinking,
feeling and remembering.
NOTE:
The word Psychology has its origin from
two Greek words ‘Psyche’ and ‘Logos’,
‘psyche’ means ‘soul’ and ‘logos’ means
‘study’. Thus literally, Psychology means
‘the study of soul’ or ‘science of soul’.
 EXPERIENCE
Mental phenomena occurring
directly to the individual.

 CHARACTER
An evaluation of an individual`s
personality against some set
standards within the society focusing
on morals and ethics.

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 Cont’d…
 ATTITUDE
A tendency to respond positively or
negatively to either a person, object or
situation (an organism’s response to
stimuli).

 INTELLIGENCE
The ability to learn abstracts, which
include learning of vocabularies, numbers,
concepts, reasoning, making judgment
and problem solving skills. 10
 Historical Background
The development of psychology can broadly be
traced into four periods:

• Ancient Greek period,

• Pre-modern period,
• Modern period and
• Current status

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 Ancient Greek period:
Some of the key contributors were:
Socrates who was interested in studying
the reincarnation of soul (embodiment in
fresh). Soul or mind was considered as the
representation of individuals.
Plato, a bright student of Socrates
expanded Socrates concepts in philosophy
about life and soul.

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 Cont’d…
Aristotle in his book “para psyche” (about
the mind or soul) he introduced the basic
ideas in psychology today, like law of
association.

However, the notion of psychology was

primarily related to study of soul or mind at
that stage and never on the behavior of the
individual. That is why the attention was
diverted from the study of soul or mind.
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 Pre-modern Period:
It was during 1800's that Wilhelm Wundt
established first psychology laboratory in
Leipzig, Germany.

He defined psychology as a science of

consciousness or conscious experience. He
proposed the Theory called structuralism.

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 Modern period:
Behaviorists (J.B Wastson, Ivan pavlov and
B.F. skinner) proposed that psychology should
study the visible behavior which can be
objectively felt and seen. Hence they defined
psychology as the science of behavior.
They however only focused on observable
behaviors and ignored the role of mental
processes. Also, they undermined the role of
unconscious mind and heredity in behavior.

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 Current Definition:
• The modern day psychology is defined
as the science of behavior and mental
or cognitive processes.

• This definition comprises these things:

psychology is science, it studies
behavior and it studies mental process.

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 Aim of Psychologists
• To find out why people act as they
do to give us a better understanding
(insight) of our own attitudes and
reactions.

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THE SCOPE OF
PSYCHOLOGY
 Scope of Psychology:
• The field of psychology can be understood by various
subfields of psychology making an attempt in meeting the
goals of psychology.
1. Physiological Psychology:
• In the most fundamental sense, human beings are
biological organisms.
• Physiological functions and the structure of our body work
together to influence our behaviour.
• Biopsychology is the branch that specializes in the area. Bio-
psychologists may examine the ways in which specific sites
in the brain which are related to disorders such as
Parkinson’s disease or they may try to determine how our
sensations are related to our behaviour.
• Biological psychology
studies how physical
and chemical changes in
our bodies influence
behaviors for example,
how the brain, nervous
system and hormones
effect on behavior.
 Scope of psychology ctd’
2. Developmental Psychology:
• Here the studies are with respect to how people
grow and change throughout their life from
prenatal stages, through childhood, adulthood
and old age.
• Developmental psychologists work in a variety of
settings like colleges, schools, healthcare centres,
business centres, government and non-profit
organizations, etc. They are also very much
involved in studies of the disturbed children and
advising parents about helping such children.
3. Personality Psychology:
• This branch helps to explain both consistency
and change in a person’s behaviour over time,
from birth till the end of life through the
influence of parents, siblings, playmates,
school, society and culture.
• It also studies the individual traits that
differentiate the behaviour of one person from
that of another person.
4. Health Psychology:
• This explores the relations between the
psychological factors and physical ailments and
disease [ psychosomatic disorders eg hysteria ]
• Health psychologists focus on health maintenance
and promotion of behaviour related to good health
such as exercise, health habits and discouraging
unhealthy behaviours like smoking, drug abuse and
alcoholism.
• Health psychologists work in healthcare setting and
also in colleges and universities where they conduct
research. They analyse and attempt to improve the
healthcare system and formulate health policies.
5. Clinical Psychology:
• It deals with the assessment and intervention of
abnormal behaviour.The use techniques for therapy
• As some observe and believe that psychological disorders
arise from a person’s unresolved conflicts and
unconscious motives, others maintain that some of these
patterns are merely learned responses, which can be
unlearned with training, still others are contend with the
knowledge of thinking that there are biological basis to
certain psychological disorders, especially the more
serious ones.
• Clinical psychologists are employed in hospitals, clinics
and private practice. They often work closely with other
specialists in the field of mental health.
6. Counselling Psychology:
• This focuses primarily on educational, social
and career adjustment problems.
• Counselling psychologists educate students
on effective study habits and the kinds of job
they might be best suited for [career
counseling ], and provide help concerned
with mild problems of social nature and
strengthen healthy lifestyle, economical and
emotional adjustments [ talk therapy]
• They also do marriage and family counselling,
provide strategies to improve family relations.
7. Educational Psychology:
• Educational psychologists are concerned with
all the concepts of education.
• This includes the study of motivation,
intelligence, personality, use of rewards and
punishments, size of the class, expectations,
the personality traits and the effectiveness of
the teacher, the student-teacher relationship,
the attitudes, etc.
8. Social Psychology:
• This studies the effect of society on the
thoughts, feelings and actions of people.
• Our behaviour is not only the result of just our
personality and predisposition. Social and
environmental factors affect the way we think,
say and do. Social psychologists conduct
experiments to determine the effects of
various groups, group pressures and influence
on behaviour.
9. Industrial and Organizational
Psychology:
• The private and public organizations apply
psychology to management and employee
training, supervision of personnel, improve
communication within the organization,
counselling employees and reduce industrial
disputes. Therefore, the physical aspects of
employees are given importance to make
workers feel healthy.
10. Experimental Psychology:
• It is the branch that studies the processes of
sensing, perceiving, learning, thinking, etc. by
using scientific methods.
• The outcome of the experimental psychology
is cognitive psychology which focuses on
studying higher mental processes including
thinking, knowing, reasoning, judging and
decision-making.
11. Environmental Psychology:
• It focuses on the relationships between
people and their physical and social
surroundings. For example, the density
of population and its relationship with
crime, the noise pollution and its
harmful effects and the influence of
overcrowding upon lifestyle, etc.
12. Psychology of Women:
• This concentrates on psychological factors of
women’s behaviour and development.
• It focuses on a broad range of issues such as
discrimination against women, the possibility of
structural differences in the brain of men and
women, the effect of hormones on behaviour,
and the cause of violence against women, fear
of success, outsmarting nature of women with
respect to men in various accomplishments.
13. Sports and Exercise Psychology:
• It studies the role of motivation in sport,
social aspects of sport and physiological
issues like importance of training on
muscle development, the coordination
between eye and hand, the muscular
coordination in track and field,
swimming and gymnastics.
14. Cognitive Psychology:
• It has its roots in the cognitive outlook of the
Gestalt principles. It studies thinking,
memory, language, development, perception,
imagery and other mental processes in order
to peep into the higher human mental
functions like insight, creativity and problem-
solving.
• The names of psychologists like Edward
Tolman and Jean Piaget are associated with
the propagation of the ideas of this school of
thought.
 Note:
• Psychiatry- branch of medicine that
deals with emotional and behavioral
disorders.
• A psychiatrist can prescribe
medicine and is considered a medical
doctor (M.D.), NOT a psychologist.
 PERSONALITY
• Definition: -
 The unique characteristics each person
develops in the course of his life.
 The word PERSONALITY is derived from the
Greek word PERSONA-which means MASK.
The study of masks that people wear.
 The sum total of a person, his/her
psychological and physiological characteristics
that make him/her a unique individual. E.g.
behavior, conduct, temperament (mental
attitude), intellect. 36
 Why study personality?
• It helps the health workers such as nurses and
clinicians to understand themselves, each
other and their patients.
• It determines success and failure in the
medical field, ability to make friends and to
adapt to different working conditions.
• It influences the way one copes with pain,
illness and crises.
• It helps the health worker to understand why
patients react differently to a similar situation
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 Personality Trait
• A tendency to behave in a consistent manner
in various situations.
• Knowledge that a person possesses a
particular trait makes prediction of her
behavior possible e.g. patience, honesty,
perseverance, bad temper, etc.

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 Factors Influencing
Personality
Heredity
• Studies have proved that individuals inherit
certain characteristics of personality from
their parents, e.g. general appearance,
reaction tendencies (alertness, dull etc.)

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Cont’d…
Environment
• Many environmental factors determine the
personality of an individual.
Social-cultural factors
• In most societies the male is supposed to be
aggressive, strong, not cry aimlessly and
endure a lot of pain and on the other hand girls
are expected to be submissive and polite.

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Cont’d…
Learning
• Plays a major role in moulding and influencing
one`s personality throughout life, beginning
from infancy.
Self perception
• The environment helps the child develop self
perception, and the persons he interacts with
reinforce that perception e.g. failure in life or
successful in life.
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 TYPES OF PERSONALITY
• There are quite a number of types of personality:
– Plato: body elements such as gold(rulers),iron(workers)etc
– Sheldon: body physique i.e. endomorphic[-soft body, underdeveloped
muscles,round shape,and overdeveloped digestive system], ectomorphic
[thin,flat chest,young apperance,tall,lightly muscled,stooped shoulders
and large brain ],mesomorphic body type-hard muscular body,mature
appearance,rectangular shape,thick skin and upright posture
– Hans: relativity to external world- i.e introversion/extroversion (broad
categories)
– Hippocrates: body chemistry-proposed that abundance of certain
humours or fluids in the body affected personality i.e. sanguines,
melancholics etc

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 Introverts
• Are reserved, withdrawn persons who are
pre-occupied with their inner feelings and
thoughts.

• They tend to be imaginative, slow in

thinking, pessimistic, shy, unfriendly,
reserved, conservative, likes solitude,
cautious, passive, tender hearted and
sympathetic and often retreats after
meeting difficulties.
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 Extroverts
• Are outgoing, active persons who direct their
energies and interests towards other people
and things.

• They tend to be sociable, talkative, present

oriented, tough minded, unsympathetic,
aggressive, friendly, adaptive, makes and
sticks to their own laws, optimistic, little
fantasy and likes other people’s company.

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 Sanguines-excess blood
(“let’s have fun”)

Great front-door person/salesperson

• Enthusiastic and expressive, makes friends
easily,
• Creative and fun, volunteers for jobs,
talkative, storyteller
• Don’t have much follow-through, talk too
much, exaggerates,
• Many fans but few friends, self-centered,
disorganized, manipulates through charm
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 Melancholy-black
bile (“let’s get organized”)
• Analytical, genius prone, plans and organizes,
neat and orderly.
• Can be counted on to finish a job, detail-
oriented, economical, compassionate,
perfectionists, creative.
• Easily depressed, assumes worst in people and
situations, low-self image, procrastinate
through planning, has unrealistic expectations.
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 Choleric-yellow
bile (“let’s get moving”)
• Born leader, driven, goal-oriented, strong-
willed, can run anything, thrives on
opposition.
• Independent, makes split-second
decisions, solves problems, is usually
right, active.
• Doesn’t see faults, compulsive worker,
needs control,
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 Phlegmatic-phlegm[mucus]
(“let’s relax”)

• Easy-going, low-key, inoffensive,

patient, calm, cool, collected, realistic
• Mediator, good listener, dependable,
cheerful.
• Not enthusiastic, dislikes change,
procrastinates, can seem lazy,
indecisive, emotionally closed.
• Avoids conflict, has a hard time with
discipline, pessimistic 48
 Others…
Obsessive: perfection, rigid and does not like
change.
Schizoid: a loner, withdrawn, emotionally cold.
Cyclothymic: outgoing, very talkative, excited
about life. Very warm emotionally
Hysterical: seek a lot of attention, very selfish,
dramatic.
Paranoid: suspicious of everyone, difficult to
work with, rigid and un-adaptable 49
50
 SHELDON(1940) BODY DIMENSIONS
THEORY
ENDOMORPHIC BODY TYPE
 Soft body
 Underdeveloped muscles
 Round shaped
 Over-developed digestive system
 ASSOCIATED PERSONALITY TRAITS
 Love food
 Tolerant
 Evenness of emotions
 Love comfort/relaxed/need for affection
 Social/good humoured
 MESOMORPHIC BODY TYPE
• Hard,muscular body
• Overly mature appearance
• Rectangular shaped
• Thick skin& upright posture
• ASSOCIATED PERSONALITY TRAITS
 Adventurous
 Desire for power& dominance,courageous
 Indifference to what others think or want
 Assertive/bold/zest for physical activity
 Competitive/love of risk and chance
 ECTOMORPHIC BODY TYPE
• Characteristics
 Thin, flat chest
 Delicate build
 Young appearance
 Tall/lightly muscled
 Stoop-shouldered
 Large brain
 ASSOCIATED PERSONALITY TRAITS
 Self conscious
 Preference for privacy/introverted
 Inhibited/socially anxious
 Artistic
 Mentally intense
 Emotionally restrained