Welcome

to

GENERAL
PSYCHOLOGY COURSE
By: Teshome Kondale
Email: Kondale90@gmail.Com

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 UNIT ONE
Essence of Psychology

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 Overview
• Definition of Basic Concepts
• Goals of Psychology
• Historical Background of Psychology
• Major Perspective in Psychology
• Branches of Psychology
• Research Methods in Psychology

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Meaning and Definition of Psychology
• The word “Psychology "comes from the two Greek
words. These are:
 psyche, which translates as “soul” or “sprit”, ”mind”
and
 logos, which means the study, knowledge or
discourse.
“ the study of the mind/soul/sprit”
represented by the Greek letter ᴪ (psi) which is read
as("sy")
psychology is a scientific study of behavior and its
underlying mental process of human beings and animals.4
 Key words in the definition
Science
 Follow scientific procedures and use empirical data
to study behavior and mental processes.
 Psychology does not rely on common sense or
speculation
Behavior
 All of our out ward or overt actions and
reactions ,such as talking, facial expressions,
movement ,etc.
 There is also covert behavior which is hidden, non-
observable and generally considered as a mental 5
 Cont…
Mental processes
 Refer to all the internal, covert activities of our
minds, such as thinking, feeling, remembering, etc.

 Psychologists strive to understand the mysteries of

human nature—why people think, feel, and act as
they do

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Psychologists also study animal behavior;
It purposes:
It is ethically forbidden to conduct experiment on
human beings.
 Conclusions obtained from experiments on animal
behavior are usually applicable to human behavior
 To formulate theories, laws & principles that
govern human behavior
To determine laws of behavior that apply to all
organisms

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 Review
• “Scientific study of behaviour and its
causes.”
– Overt (directly observable) and covert
behaviours
• Psychologists study:
– How you act (behaviour/overt)
– How you think (mental/covert)
– How you feel (covert & overt)
– How your brain and body respond
(physiological/covert)
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 Goals of Psychology

Description: what is happening?

Explanation: why it is happening?
Prediction: When will it happen again?
 Controlling: How can it be changed?

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 Description
 it involves observing the behavior and noticing
everything about it.
 Every behaviour has its own way of occurring
 In describing behaviour, a psychologist focuses
on how behaviour occurs.
 It is a search for answers for questions like
 What is happening? Where does it happen? To
whom does it happen?‘ And under what
circumstances does it seem to happen?.
 Explanation
 In explanation of behaviour, a psychologist
becomes concerned about why behaviour occurs
as it does
 Every behaviour has its own causes. No
behaviour occurs without a cause.
 It is about trying to find reasons for the observed
behavior.
 This helps in the process of forming theories of
behavior (A theory is a general explanation of a
set of observations or facts).
 Prediction
 Prediction is about determining what will
happen in the future
 involves forecasting the likelihood of a behaviour
under certain circumstances.
 Prediction of behaviours is possible through the
use of theories or principles

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 Control ( Modification)
 How can it be changed? Control or modify or
change the behavior from undesirable one to a
desirable one).
 involves changing a behaviour which is anti social or
unacceptable.
 For healthy functioning of society and the individual,
these kind of negative (maladaptive ) behaviours
should be avoided
 In psychology, there are psychological techniques to
help an individual avoid a maladaptive behaviour.
 Historical Roots of Psychology
• Psychology has its roots in philosophy and physiology
• Philosophers had asked questions about human emotions,
thoughts and behavior. They had tried to deduce answers
to their questions by applying logic and common sense
reasoning philosophers did not always make deduction
successfully.
• who contributed to the Development of Psychology
Hippocrates (460-377 B.C)- emotion(body humor)
Plato (428-348 B.C)_intelligence (inborn/inherited)
Aristotle (382-322 B.C)_thinking (heart)
Rene Descartes (1556-1650 A.D)_mind/body
John Locke (English Philosopher)_tabula rasa 14
 Empiricists (a group of philosophers who believed a
pursuit of truth through observation and experience)
Nativism (group of philosophers who believed a
knowledge is inborn or inherited)
• Physiologists were especially influential in
providing a new understanding of the brain and
the nervous system, and the way in which these
structures affect behavior.

It was the union between the questions asked by the

philosophers and the careful scientific
experimentation of the physiologists that led to the
field of study we call psychology. 15
 Major Perspective in Psychology
Early Schools of Psychology
Structuralism
• developed by Edward Bradford Titchener.
• Wilhelm Wundt, who established the first scientific
laboratory of psychology in Leipzig in 1879, and believed
that human mind could be scientifically studied.
• Task of Psychology
– is to identify the basic elements of consciousness
(image, feelings & sensation)
– to find out the units or elements,which make up the mind
• Methods: Introspection (looking in ward into our
consciousness)
Functionalism
• founded by William James (1848-1910) which proposed
that, the function of the mind, not the structure.
Task of Psychology
is to investigate the function, or purpose, of
consciousness rather than its structure
psychological processes are adaptive. They allow
humans to survive and to adapt successfully to their
surroundings.
Method
questionnaires, mental tests and objective descriptions of
behavior
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 Gestalt psychology
- Founders of this schools of thought are
 Max Wertheimer (1880-1943)
Task of Psychology
mind should be thought of as resulting from the whole pattern
Psychology as a study of the whole mind
Argued that the mind is not made up of combinations of
elements.
The mind should be thought of as a result of the whole pattern of
sensory activity and the relationships and organizations within
their pattern
Methods
are Naïve Introspection and experimentation
 Behaviorism
- Founder-John B. Watson (1878-1958)
Task of psychology
Behaviorists view psychology as a study of
observable and measurable behaviors.
Three important characteristics; conditioned
response, learned rather than unlearned behaviors,
and focus on animal behavior
Methods
- are Observation and Experimentation
 Psychoanalysis
• founded by a Viennese physician Sigmund Freud (1856-1939).
Task of Psychology
 psychology studies about the components of the unconscious
part of the human mind.
The unconscious which is the subject matter of psychoanalys is
contains hidden wishes, passions, guilty secrets, unspeakable
yearnings, and conflict between desire and duty.
Methods
- free association, dream interpretation, analysis of slip of
tongue, jokes, and Transference

The mind is like an iceberg in that only a small part of its

substance is visible
 Modern Perspectives in Psychology
Psychodynamic perspective

 It has its origins in Freud's theory of psychoanalysis, but many

other psychodynamic theories exist.
 This perspective emphasizes the unconscious dynamics within the
individual such as inner forces, conflicts or instinctual energy.
 The psychodynamic approach emphasizes:
 The influence of unconscious mental behavior on every day
behavior
 The role of childhood experiences in shaping adult personality
 The role of intrapersonal conflict in determining human
behavior
• Psychodynamic perspective tries to dig below the surface of a
person's behavior to get into unconscious motives
 Behavioral Perspective
• It emphasizes the role learning experiences play in shaping
the behavior of an organism.
• It is concerned with how the environment affects the
person‘s actions.
• Behaviorists focus on environmental conditions(e.g.
rewards, and punishments) that maintain or discourage
specific behaviors.
• Also called the "black box“ approach in psychology
because it treats the mind as less useful in understanding
human behavior and focus on what goes into and out of the
box, but not on the processes that take place inside
• This means, behaviorists are only interested in the effects
of the environment (input) on behavior (output) but not in
 Humanistic Perspective

 Human behavior is not determined either by

unconscious dynamics or the environment.
 Rather it emphasizes the uniqueness of human beings
and focuses on human values and subjective
experiences.
 This perspective places greater importance on the
individual‘s free will.
 The goal of humanistic psychology was helping
people to express themselves creatively and achieve
their full potential or self- actualization (developing
the human potential to its fullest). 23
 Cognitive Perspective
• It emphasizes what goes on in people's heads; how people
reason, remember, understand language, solve problems, explain
experiences and form beliefs.
• This perspective is concerned about the mental processes.
• The most important contribution of this perspective has been to
show how people's thoughts and explanations affect their actions,
feelings, and choices.
• Techniques used to explore behavior from a cognitive perspective
include electrical recording of brain activity, electrical
stimulation and radioactive tracing of metabolic activity in the
nervous system.
 Biological Perspective
• It focuses on studying how bodily events or functioning of
the body affects behavior, feelings, and thoughts.
• It holds that the brain and the various brain chemicals
affect psychological processes such as learning,
performance, perception of reality, the experience of
emotions, etc.
• This perspective underscores that biology and behavior
interact in a complex way; biology affecting behavior and
behavior in turn affecting biology.
• It also emphasizes the idea that we are physical beings who
evolved over along time and that genetic heritage can
predispose us to behaving in a certain way.
Socio-cultural Perspective
• It focuses on the social and cultural factors that
affects human behavior.
• Cultural psychologists also examine how cultural
rules and values (both explicit and unspoken)
affect people's development, behavior, and
feelings.
• This perspective holds that humans are both the
products and the producers of culture, and our
behavior always occurs in some cultural contexts.
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 Branches of Psychology

Psychology is a broad field, there are many specialization under its

umbrella

Developmental Psychology
 Studies how people develop overtime thorough the process of
maturation and learning.
 studies age related changes through the life span
 Aspects of Development( Physical, Cognitive, Social, etc)
 Stages of Development (Infancy, Babyhood, childhood,
adolescence, adulthood, old age)
 It attempts to examine the major developmental milestones that
occur at different stages of development.
 Cont…
Educational Psychology
• Concerned with the application of psychological
principles and theories in improving the educational
process including curriculum, teaching, and
administration of academic programs.

Counselling Psychology
• Helps individuals with less severe problems than those
treated by clinical psychologists.
 assists people on issues of personal adjustment,
vocational and career planning, family life and may
work in schools, hospitals, clinics or offices
 Cont…
Personality Psychology
It focuses on the relatively enduring traits and characteristics of
individuals.
Study topics such as self-concept, aggression, moral
development, etc.
studies individual differences in personality and their effects on
behaviour

Industrial( Organizational) Psychology

 Studies human behaviour in the workplace and how behaviour
affects production
 Applies psychological principles in industries and
organizations to increase the productivity of that organization.
 Cont…
Social Psychology
 It studies the role of social forces in governing
individual behaviour.
 Examines the ways in which the pattern of a
person’s feeling, thinking and acting is affected
by others
 Deals with people‘s social interactions,
relationships, social perception, and attitudes.
 Cont…
Cross-cultural Psychology
 Examines the role of culture in understanding
behavior, thought, and emotion.
 It compares the nature of psychological
processes in different cultures, with a special
interest in whether or not psychological
phenomena are universal or culture-specific.
Forensic psychology
 Applies psychological principles to improve the
legal system (police, testimony,etc..).
 Cont…
Health Psychology
 Applies psychological principles to the
prevention and treatment of physical illness
and diseases.
Clinical Psychology
 Is a field that applies psychological principles
to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of
psychological disorders.
 Research Methods in Psychology

Definition of Terms
• Research: Is a scientific method of gathering and
testifying data by applying different methods and
making conclusion and prediction of the
phenomenon.
• Theory- is a statement which is generalized from
scientific study and which explains the
relationship among variables.
• It is an integrated set of principles helpful to
organize, explain and predict events.
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• Hypothesis : is any statement or assumption that
serves as a possible but tentative explanation of
certain observation.
- It is an educated guess that can be tested.
- It is a statement of cause and effect relationship.
- It is useful to guide a study.
Variables : are constructs that vary or change.
There are two events or constructs. The variation
of one construct may be followed by the variation
of another construct.

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• Population is a group of subjects (universe) under
study.
For example, children under 5 year of age; primary
school children in Sidama Zone.

• Sample is a small portion of a population that is

expected to be representative of the population
(universe). Sample is better required than
population for different reasons

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 Cont…
Scientific method- a process of testing ideas
through systematic observations,
experimentations, and statistical analysis.
Theory-is an integrated set of principles about
observed facts that is intended to describe and
explain some aspects of experience.
Hypotheses-is a tentative proposition about the
relationship between two or more variables or
phenomena.
E.g. Males have high self-confidence in making
decisions than females.
 Major types of research methods
Descriptive research methods
 In this type of research, the researcher simply records
what she/he has systematically observed.
 Include naturalistic observation, case studies, and
surveys.
Correlational research methods
 Is are search method that measures the relationship
between two or more variables
Experimental Research
 It is are search method that allows researchers to study
the cause and effect relationship between variables
1. Naturalistic Observation
• A researcher engages in careful observation of behavior
without intervening directly with the subjects.
• A research method in which various aspects of behavior
carefully observed in the setting where such behavior
naturally occurs.
• it allows researchers to study behavior under conditions
that are less artificial than in experiments.
2. Case Study
• is an in-depth investigation of an individual subject.
• is an intensive study of a person or group. Most case
studies combine long-term observations with diaries,
tests, and interviews.
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3. Survey
• use questionnaires or interviews to gather information
about specific aspects of participants’ background and
behavior.
• One of the most practical ways to gather data on the
attitudes, beliefs, and experiences of large numbers of
people is through surveys.
4. Longitudinal Studies
• It studies the same group of people at regular intervals
over a period of years to determine whether their behavior
and/or feelings have changed and if so, how.
5. Cross-Sectional Studies
• People studied from different age groups at same
time point.
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 6. Correlations
• studying the relationship between two variables such as
between weight and height, chewing chat and score, and
age and academic achievement.
• The correlation coefficient is a numerical index of the
degree of relationship between two variables. A correlation
coefficient indicates
(1) the direction (positive or negative) of the RXnship
(2) how strongly the two variables are related.
(1)
• A positive correlation indicates that two variables co-vary
in the same direction.
• A negative correlation indicates that two variables co-vary
in the opposite direction. 40
(2)
• the size of the coefficient indicates the strength
of an association between two variables. The
coefficient can vary between 0 and 1.00 (if
positive) or between 0 and 1.00 (if negative).
• A coefficient near 0 indicates no relationship
between the variables.

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 7. Experimental Method
• allows researchers to detect cause-and-effect relationships.
• the investigator manipulates a variable under carefully
controlled conditions and observes whether any changes
occur in a second variable as a result.
• There are two types of variables: independent and
dependent.

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• The independent variable : is a condition or event that an
experimenter varies in order to see its impact on another
variable.
• The dependent variable: is the variable that is thought to
be affected by manipulation of the independent variable.
Example
1) the number of hours you study affects your performance
on an exam.
2) the effect of watching violence TV program on children
behavior.

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• In an experiment the investigator typically assembles two
groups of subjects who are treated differently with regard
to the independent variable. These two groups are
referred to as the experimental group and the control
group.
a) The experimental group consists of the subjects who
receive some special treatment in regard to the
independent variable.
b) The control group consists of similar subjects who do
not receive the special treatment given to the
experimental group.

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 Steps of scientific research
Step one- Defining the Problem
 Noticing something attention catching in the
surrounding for which one would like to have an
explanation.
Step two-Formulating the Hypothesis
 after having an observation on surroundings
(perceiving the problem),you might form an
educated guess about the explanation for your
observations, putting it into the form of a
statement that can be tested in someway.
 Cont..
Step three-Testing the Hypothesis
 At this step, the researcher employs appropriate
research methods and collects ample data (information)
to accept or reject the proposed statement.
Step four- Drawing Conclusions
 This is the step in which the researcher attempts to
make generalizations or draw implications from tested
relationship
Step five-Reporting Results
 At this point, the researcher would want to write up
exactly whats he/he did, why she/he did, and what
she/he found.
 Reading Assignment
• What were the chief tenets of structuralism and
functionalism?
• What did Freud have to say about the
unconscious and sexuality, and why were his
ideas so controversial?
• What was the main idea underlying behaviorism?
• How do clinical psychology and psychiatry differ?
• Why study psychology? Why is psychology
important for medicine?
See you next week…
 CHAPTER TWO
SENSATION AND PERCEPTION
 Meanings of Sensation and Perception
Brainstorming questions
Have you heard of sayings like„
you watch but you don’t see;
you hear but you don’t listen;
you touch but you don’t grasp…

Which one do you think refers to sensation and

which one refers to perception?
 Basic Terms
• Stimulus
• Response
• Sensation
• Transduction
• Perception
• Psychophysics
Sensation and perception
 Transduction
Communication between the brain & the rest of the
body (& between different regions of the brain) occurs
via neuron. We recently learned how communication
between neurons occurs electrochemically (within
neurons: electrical; between neurons: chemical). So the
brain’s “language” is electrochemical!

All senses involve something called receptor cells.

Their job is to transduce (transform or even “translate”)
physical stimulation/physical energy from the
environment into electrochemical messages that can be
understood by the brain.
 Sensation
• Process where by stimulation of receptor cells in the
sensory systems sends nerve impulses to the brain.
e.g. Color, brightness, the pitch of tone or a bitter taste
• The starting of point of sensations is a stimulus. A
form of energy (such as light waves or sound waves)
that can affect sensory organs (such as the eye or the
ear).
Therefore,
it is the process that detects the stimulus from one‘s
body or from the environment.
 Perception
• Process that organizes sensations into meaningful
patterns.
• Process by which the brain selects, organizes, and
interprets these sensations
• a meaning making process
• Or process where by the brain interprets sensations,
giving them order and meaning.
• Thus, hearing sounds and seeing colors is largely a
sensory process, but forming a melody and detecting
patterns and shapes is largely a perceptual process.
 The sensory laws

Sensory threshold
 Is the minimum point of intensity a sound can
be detected.
 There are two laws of sensory threshold:
law of absolute threshold
law of difference threshold
 The absolute threshold
• The minimum a mount of stimulation a person can
detect
• As the minimum level of stimulation that can be
detected 50 percent of the time when a stimulus is
presented over and over again.
• Thus, if you were presented with a low intensity sound
30 times and detected it 15 times, that level of intensity
would be your absolute threshold for that stimulus.
 Absolute thresholds

Vision
A single candle flame from 30 miles /48 km on a clear night

Hearing
The tick of a watch from 20 feet/6 meter in total quiet

Smell
One drop of perfume in a 6-room apartment

Touch
The wing of a bee on the cheek, dropped from 1 cm

Taste
One teaspoon of sugar in 2 gallons /7.7 liters of water
 Difference Threshold
 The minimum amount of change that can be
detected
 Or minimum change in stimulation that can be
detected 50 percent of the time by a given person.
 Also, called Just Noticeable Difference
 Smallest difference that can be detected when 2 stimuli
are compared.
e.g., you would have to increase the intensity of the
sound from your tape recorder a certain amount
before you could detect a change in its volume.
60
 Sensory Adaptation
• if a stimulus remains constant in intensity, you
will gradually stop noticing it
• tendency of our sensory receptors to have
decreasing responsiveness to unchanging
stimulus
• But, potentially important change in your
environment while ignoring unchanging aspects
of it.
 Sensory Adaptation
Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of
constant stimulation.

Put a band aid on your arm and after awhile

you don’t sense it.
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63
 Attributes of Sensation
Sensory Deprivation- is the absence of normal level of sensory
stimulation.

- Human brain requires a minimum amount of sensory stimulation in

order to function normally. If it is too low it is bad for the brain to
function properly.

Sensory Overload- is experiencing too much amount of

stimulus from the environment. This is also bad for the brain to
function properly.

- Generally too little stimulation ( sensory deprivation) and too

much stimulation ( sensory overload) can lead to fatigue and
mental confusion.
 Perception
Major characteristics of the perceptual
process:
 selectivity of perception
 form perception,
 depth perception,
 perceptual constancy, and
 perceptual illusion.
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 Selectivity of Perception: Attention
• Sense organ is bombarded by many stimuli…..
perceive a few of them….. ignoring the other
unnecessary stimuli…..ATTENTION
• Attention
– It is perceptual process that selects certain
inputs for inclusion in your conscious
experience, or awareness, at any given time,
ignoring others.
67
 What Affects Attention
Intensity- the more intense the stimulus the more it’ll be
attended. E.g. the brighter light is more attended than the dull one.

Size- the larger the size of the stimulus the more we give
attention and the smaller the size we give less attention.

 Contrast- what contrasts with the surrounding environment

attracts attention easily. E.g. if one stranger and teacher are enter in
the class, the students give more attention to the stranger and less
attention for the teacher.
• Movement- something, which moves, is more likely to
attract attention than something stationary.

• Motivation- largely our current level of satisfaction or

deprivation determines what we choose to hear or watch.

• Personality and interest- individuals select the

stimulus and give attention if they are interested.
E.g. in the football game, a person may give attention to the game
his wife may give attention to the music in the stadium.
 Internal( Psychological ) Factors that affect
Attention
1. Set or Expectancy
 refers to mental readiness to receive certain kinds
of sensory input
EX: A husband expecting an important phone call is
more likely to hear phone calls than a wife who is
concerned about her baby crying.
2. Motives or Needs
 People are more likely to be attracted to
environmental experiences ( events) in which they
are interested
 Form Perception
• The meaningful shapes or patterns or ideas that
are made perhaps out of meaningless and discrete
or pieces and bites of sensations
 Perception has organization and
structure

 Everything we perceive has its own structure and

form. To make sense out of what we perceive, we
must know where one thing begins and another
ends
 This process of dividing up the world occurs
effortlessly (naturally) and makes our perception
more meaningful
 Principles (laws) of perceptual
organization
 The brain uses structures in order to give pattern,
shape and form to our visual perception.
 It is based on these principles that perceptual
organization becomes possible.
 The gestalt laws of organization are principles that
describe how we organize and construct pieces of
information into meaningful wholes.

Gestalt psychologist said -the whole is more than the

sum of its parts.
 Cont…

Figure-Ground Perception
• the perception of objects and forms of everyday
experience as standing out from a background.
• This is a principle by which we organize the
perceptual field in to stimuli that stand out (the
figure) and those that are left over ( the ground).

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75
 Cont…
The principle of Closure
 This is a principle that states the brain tends to fill in
gaps in order to perceive complete forms.
 People need to decipher less than perfect images to
make perceptions. To help us do so, the brain tends
to finish what is unfinished, complete what is
incomplete.
The principle of Proximity
 This principle states that things that are near each
other tend to be grouped together. The closer
objects or events are to one another, the more likely
they are to be perceived as belonging together.
 chapter 6

Form Perception:
Gestalt principles

Proximity
Things close to one another are grouped together

Closure
The brain tends to fill in gaps to perceive complete forms
79
 Cont…
The principle of Similarity
 The principle of similarity states that things that
are alike in some way (for example, in colour,
shape or size) tend to be perceived as belonging
together.
 Things that are alike are perceived together
 Perception is Constant under Changing
Sensory Information

perception does not change when sensory

information about stimuli changes.
 Our perceptual hypothesis remains the same
when information we receive about stimuli
through the visual sense organ change in colour,
size or shape.
Categories of Perceptual Constancy

1. Size Constancy
 refers to the perception that the size of objects
remains constant even though visual
information change with variations in distance.
 Cont…

2. Shape Constancy
 states that we continue to perceive objects as
having a constant shape even though the
shape of the retinal image changes when our
point of view changes.
 Viewing angle or position superficially
changes the shape of an object
86
 Cont...
3. Colour (Brightness) Constancy
 Sometimes objects may take different colour or
brightness because of variations in light reflected
on them.
 This principle states that the colour or brightness
of an object remains the same even though the
amount of light reflected on the objects change.
88
89
 Cont...

4. Location Constancy
 The location or position of stationary objects is
always the same even when our eyes tell us it is
moving.
 We perceive stationary objects as remaining in
the same place even though the retinal image
moves about as we move our eyes, heads, and
bodies.
Location constancy refers to the relationship between the
viewer and the object. A stationary object is perceived as
remaining stationary despite the retina sensing the object
changing as the viewer moves (due to parallax).
 Perception illusion
• Illusions are special perceptual experiences in
which information arising from “real” external
stimuli leads to an incorrect perception, or
false impression, of the object or event from
which the stimulation comes.
 Auditory illusions
• Are false perceptions of a real sound or outside
stimulus.
• The listener hears either sounds which are not
present in the stimulus, or sounds that should not
be possible given the circumstance on how they
were created
 Optical Illusions

• can use color, light and patterns to create images

that can be deceptive or misleading to our brains.
• The information gathered by the eye is processed
by the brain, creating a perception that in reality,
does not match the true image.
 Reading Assignment
• Explain the implications of sensation and
perception in medical practice.
• Find an example of a perceptual illusion, it can
be related to optical, auditory, or any sensory
illusion. After sharing the illusion, you need to
explain the process of how our brains perceive
the stimuli.

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See you next week…