EPSC121:

INTRODUCTI
ONTOPYSCHOLOGY
Whatispsy chology?
Psychologyist hescient
ifi
cstudyofbehav i
orandment alprocesses.Mentalprocesses
i
ncludet houghts,f
eeli
ngs,per
cepti
ons,reasoni
ngprocesses,memor i
es,emotionsandso
on. Behav i
ourencompasses bot h covert(i
ndi
rectl
yobser vabl
e)and ov ert(di
rectl
y
observable)behavi
ours.

Psychol ogyasasci ence

As a sci ence,psy chologyi s empir
ical,thatis,itis based on experi
ment ati
on and
observ ati
onr atherthanonopi nion,
belieforintui
ti
on.Ascienceisabodyofsy stemati
zed
knowl edge t hat is gat hered by car ef
ull
y observi
ng and measur i
ng phenomena.
Psychol ogistscarryoutexper i
mentsandmakeobser vati
ons,whichotherscanr epeat
;and
theyobt ain data whi ch ot
hers can v eri
fy.Resear
ch in psy
chologyf oll
ows scienti
fi
c
procedur es whi ch involv
e;collect
ing,anal yzi
ng,and int
erpr
eting i
nformati
on ordat a
regardingt hebehav iourunderstudy.

Goal
sofPsy chol
ogy
1.Todescribebehavi
or-throughcaref
ulsci
enti
fi
cobservat
ionorexperi
mentat
ion
2.Toexplainbehavi
or-byconducti
ngexperimentst
odet er
minecausesofbehav i
or
3.Topredictfut
urebehaviorbytr
yingtofi
ndoutthefactor
srel
atedtoapart
icular
behavi
or
4.To change,cont r
olormodi fy behavi
or,especial
l
y maladapti
ve orinappropr
iat
e
behavi
or

Theoriginsofpsychologygrowthofpsy chol
ogy
Psychologyemer gedasaf ormalsci
enceslight
lyov eracenturyago.Pr
iortothetimeit
becameaf or
malscience;issuesrel
atedtopsychologywer estudi
edaspartofphi
l
osophy,
soci
ology ,and physiol
ogy.I nlate 1800s,scienti
fic methods wer
e used to answer
questi
onst hathad puzzled phil
osopher sand psychologybecameaf ormalscient
if
ic
di
scipl
ineseparatefrom phil
osophy.

Psychol ogystartedasaf ormaldi scipl

ineint hey ear1879whent hef i
rstpsychol
ogical
l
abor atory was est abli
shed at t he Uni v
ersit
y of Lei pzig by a Ger man
phi
losopher /psychol ogistnamel y,Wi l
helm Wundt .Ataboutt hesamet ime,anAmer i
can–
Will
iam Jamessetup hi sl aboratoryi n Cambr i
dge,Massachuset ts. Theset wo are
consider edtobet hef oundersofexper iment alpsychol
ogy . Throughal ltheseyears,
psychol ogyhasev olv edasat ruescience.
Thehi storyofpsy chol ogycanbedi videdintothreemai nstagesnamel y:
 Theemer genceoft hescienceoft hemi nd
 Thest udyofbehav ior
 Thecogni tivepsy chology

MAJORBRANCHESOFPSYCHOLOGY
A branchofpsy
chologyisanareaofspeci
ali
zati
oninpsychology
. Sincepsychol
ogy
becameaf or
malsci
enti
fi
cdi
sci
pli
nev
ari
ousbranchesofpsy
chologyhav
eev ol
ved.

1.Physiol
ogical
Psychology
Physi
ologi
calpsychol
ogyi salsoknownasbiopsychol
ogy.Itstudi
esther el
ati
onshi
p
bet
weent hebrai
nandt herestofthener
voussy
stem tobehav
iour
.Itisconcer
nedwi t
h

1
thebodyasabi ologi
calandneurologi
calsyst
em. Phy si
ologi
calpsychol
ogist
sstudy
percepti
on,thought,lear
ning,per
sonali
tyand behavi
ourinr el
ati
on t
ot he underl
yi
ng
neurologi
cal
activi
ty–allofwhichareofi
nter
estt
ot hepsy
chologi
stsandprof
essional
s.

2.DevelopmentalPsychology
Devel
opmental psychology f ocuses on dev elopment f r
om conception to death.
Devel
opmentalpsy chologists st
udy growth and dev elopmentinv ari
ous st
ages of
dev
elopment(i.
e.,prenatal
,infancy,chil
dhood,adult
hood,andol dage).Issuesstudi
ed
i
ncl
ude, physi
cal, cogni t
ive, personal
it
y, moral,l anguage, emot
ional and social
dev
elopment.

3.SocialPsychology
Thisfi
eldofpsychologystudiesthebehav iourofpeopleingroupsituations.Itfocuseson
theint
eracti
onbetweenpeopl e,theirperceptionsofoneanot herandt heef f
ectofgroups
on the i
ndivi
dual
’s behaviour. Topi cs studied i
ncl
ude;soci alperception,i
mpr ession
for
mation,aggression and v i
olence,f ormat i
on and change ofat t
itudes,leadership,
confor
mi t
yandsoci al
inf
luence.

4.Per sonali
tyPsychol ogy
Personali
ty psychology i s concerned wit
ht he st
udy ofconsistency and change of
behaviourov erti
me.I tf ocusesoni ndi
vi
dualdif
ferencesthatarehow peopledi fferi
n
ter
msoft heircharacteristi
cssuchasanxi ety
,mot i
vati
on,aggr
essi
on,emot i
onalst abi
li
ty
and so on. I talso l ooks att he causes ofindivi
dualdif
fer
ences and per sonali
ty
character
ist
ics.

5.Cl i
nicalPsychology
Itisabr anchofpsy chol
ogyconcernedwi t
hhumanbehav i
ourandment aldi
sorder
s,what
causesabnor malbehav i
ourand itstreatment. Cl
i
nicalpsy chol
ogyi sappli
ed inthe
diagnosis and tr
eatmentofpsy chol
ogicaldisor
der
s. Clinicalpsychologi
sts workin
hospital
sandcl i
nics.Iti
sappl
icableinhandli
ngpeopl
eexperiencingtr
aumae. g.post-
war
trauma.

6.Counsel l
ingPsy chology
Counselli
ngpsy chologyissimilart
oclinicalpsychol
ogybuti sgener
allyconcer
nedwith
advisi
ngandhel pingpeoplesol vemil
deremot i
onalandpersonalpr
oblems.Counselli
ng
psychologi
sts assistpeopl e havi
ng problems wi t
h drug abuse,careerchoice and
development,familyli
vi
ng,studyhabi
ts,subjectchoi
ce,st
ressmanagementandsoon.

7.I ndustri
alPsychology
Thisi saf i
eldofspeci ali
zati
onconcer nedwitht hehumanf actorint heindustri
alor
technologicalsett
ings,t hatis,aboutj ob sati
sfacti
on,how t oi ncr
ease mor ale and
product i
vi
ty,how t oi mprove servi
ces,and how t o develop betterjob trai
ning and
placementpr ocedures.I ndustr
ialpsychol
ogyhascont ri
butedtot hehumanengi neeri
ng
discipl
ine ref
err
ed t o as ergonomi cs,which i
nvolves t
he design ofequi pmentand
machi nerythataremor eef fi
cientandeasiertousebecauset heyfitt heactualsize,
strengthandcapabilit
iesofhumanbei ngswhouset hem.

8.ConsumerPsychology
Thi
sisafiel
dofpsy chologythatst
udi
esbuyinghabit
sandt heeffect
sofadv
ertisi
ngon
buy
erbehaviour
. Ital so st
udiesmarket
ing st
rat
egies,deter
mineschar
acter
isti
csof
2
consumer sandsoon.Forexampl e,inasal
eof f
erinasupermarketyouarepromi seda
fr
eegi ftforpurchaseswor t
hacer tai
namountofmoney ,orpr
icesofaf ew it
emsar e
drast
icall
yr educed whi l
et hose ofot her
s arei ncr
eased.Thisfiel
d explains why
manuf actur
ers and compani es spend mill
ions ofshil
li
ngs on adver
ti
sement s and
promot i
onsasar esultofwhi
cht heymakegoodpr ofi
ts.

9.Educat i
onal Psychology
Thisisanar eaofpsy chologyconcer nedwi t
happl i
cationofpsy chologi
calpr
inci
ples,
knowledge, concept s, and t echni
ques t o probl
ems i n educat i
on. Educat i
onal
psychologi
stshel pinanal y
zingeducat ionalneeds,developi
ngcurricul
um andteaching
materi
als,andev aluati
nginstruct
ionalpr ogr
ammes.I talsofocusesonhowpeopl el
earn
andwhi chteachingmet hodsar eeff
ecti
v e.

10.
Heal t
hPsy chology
Thi
si sanar eaofpsy chol
ogyt hatstudi
esther elati
onshipbetweenpsychol
ogicalfact
ors
andphysicalail
ment sanddiseases.Forexampl e,howst r
essaffect
sphysi
calhealth.I
tis
al
so concerned wi th ways ofpr omoting behav i
ourr el
ated t
o good heal
th( such as
i
ncreasedexercise)ordiscouragingunheal
thybehav iour(suchassmokinganddr i
nkingof
al
cohol).

11.Envi
ronmentalPsychology
Thi
si saf i
eldofpsychologythatisconcernedwithstudy
ingt herel
ati
onshipbet weena
per
son’sphy si
calenvir
onmentandhi s/herbehavi
our.Aper son’sphysicalenvi
ronment
canaffecthis/
herbehaviour.Forexample,ourrel
igi
ousbeli
efs,at
tit
udes,prej
udicesand
eat
inghabitscanbeat t
ri
butedtoourexperi
encesintheimmediateenvir
onment .

12.Mili
tar
yPsy chology
Thisisanar eaofpsy chol
ogyspeci ali
sesint heappl i
cati
onofpsy chologicalpri
nci
plesand
knowledgeint hemi l
i
tarypracti
ces.Itisdesignedt osol v
epr obl
emsr elat
ingtothemi l
it
ary.
Mili
tar
ypsy chologist
splayasi gnif
icantrolein:-Milit
arypsychologicalresearch,Scr
eening,
sel
ectingandpl acementofmi l
i
tarypersonnel ,
Mi li
tarytr
aini
ng,Desi gnanddev elopmentof
mili
tar
ymachi nerytoenhanceper f
ormance, Counsel li
ngandr ehabi l
i
tati
onofsol dier
s
aft
er war , Leader ship t rai
ning, Psy chomet rics; psychologists hav e dev el
oped
measur ementt ool
sthathav ebeenusef ultomi li
tarypersonnelandpr actices.

MAJORSCHOOLSOFPSYCHOLOGY
Dif
ferentappr oaches orconceptualmodel s hav e been used to study and explai
n
behav i
ourinpsychology.Eachoftheapproachespr ovidesadiff
erentperspecti
ve(wayof
explai
ningbehav i
our)emphasizi
ngdiff
erentfactors.Theseappr oaches,alsorefer
redto
as/perspecti
vesorschool sofpsychol
ogy,representav i
ew poi
ntsorappr oachestothe
explanati
onofbehav iourandwhatmethodsofst udyshouldbeused.

1.St r
uctural
ism
Str
ucturali
sm isoneoft heearli
estschoolsofpsy chol
ogyt hatwasf oundedbyWi l
hel
m
Wundti n1879.Wundtest abl
ishedt hefir
stpsychologicallabor
atoryinGermanatt he
Univ
ersityofLeipzigandhei sconsideredasthefounderofexper i
mentalpsychol
ogy.The
set
tingupoft hi
sl abor
atorymar kedthebreakofpsychologyfrom phil
osophytosci
ence.

Thegoalofst
ruct
ural
i
smswast
ofi
ndt
heuni
ts,orel
ement
s,whi
chmakeupt
hemi
nd.
3
Thef i
rststepinthestudyofthemindwast odescri
bethebasi
corel
ementar
yunitsof
sensati
on,i mageand emotion whi
ch composeit.Theyweremainl
yconcerned wi
th
deter
mi ni
ngt hecomponent
sofconsci
ousthought
.

Wundtused a t echnique call

ed introspect
ion t
o study t he st
ructur
e ofbehav i
our.
Int
rospecti
onisamet hodi nwhichsubj ect
sareaskedt odescribeindetailt
heirthoughts
andf eel
ings. Theassumpt i
onwast hatonecanunder standthest r
uctureoft hemi nd
thr
ought heobjecti
ver eport
sandr eactionsofthesubject.Forexampl e,asubj ectmight
bepresentedwi t
hacol ouredli
ghtandaskedt odescri
bei tasminutelyaspossible.

Howev er,otherpsychol
ogistsfel
tthatstr
uctur
ali
sm wasli
mitedto onl
yoneareaof
behaviourandhadfewpr acti
cal
appli
cat
ionsandbegananewschool
ofpsychol
ogycal
l
ed
funct
ionali
sm.

2.Funct ionali
sm
Will
iam James was t he leading for ce int he funct i
onal
ism schoolofpsy chol ogy.
Funct i
onal i
stsf eltthatpsy chologyshoul dstudy“ whatt hemindandbehav i
ourdo” .They
tri
edt ost udyt hef unctionsofmi ndandbehav iour.Theywer especifi
call
yint
erestedi nthe
factt hatmi ndandbehav i
ourar eadapt iv
e– t heyenabl eani ndivi
dualtoadj ustt oa
changi ng env ironment . Psychologist sint hi
s schooloft houghtwer einfluenced by
Darwi n’st heoryoft hesur vi
valf ort hef i
ttest.I nst eadofl imit
ingt hemselvest ot he
descr i
ptionandanal ysisofthemi nd,theydi dexper iment sont heway sinwhichl earning,
memor y,pr oblem sol v i
ngandmot ivationhel phumanbei ngsandani malstoadaptt o
environment s.Funct i
onal i
stsiniti
atedt hepsy chologicaltesti
ngmov ement,changedt he
courseofmoder npsy chol
ogyandwer eresponsiblef orextendingpsy chol
ogy’sinfluence
ondi versear easi nindust r
y.

3.ThePsy choanalyticPerspect i
v e
Thisappr oachwasf oundedbySi gmundFr eud,anAust r
ianphy si
cianwhosear eaof
speci ali
zati
onwasneur ology( thest udyofdi sorder
soft hener v
esandbr ain).I nhi s
treatmentofneur ologi
calpat ient s,Freud noted thatsomeofhi spat ient
spr esent
ed
sy mpt omst hathadnophy si
calbasi slikebraindamage.Thesesy mpt omswer er ealfor
thepat i
entsasiftheyhadneur ologi calcauses.Freudsuspectedt
hatthesepr oblemswer e
psy chologicalinoriginandasar esultdev el
opedacompl exandsophi st
icat
edmodelof
humanbehav i
ourknownaspsy choanal y
tictheory. Fr
om thistheoryhedev elopedthe
treatmentknownaspsy choanalysis.

Freudbelievedthatbehaviourisbr oughtaboutbyi nnerunconsci

ousf or
ces,dri
vesor
i
mpul sesoverwhi chthepersonhasl it
tlecontr
olandar ehiddenfr
om theawarenessof
theindivi
dual.I tistheexpr essi
onoft heseunconsciousdr i
veswhichshowsupi n
behaviourandthought.Forexampl e,psychoanal
ystsbeli
evethatdr
eamsandsl i
psofthe
tonguear emanifestat
ionsofwhataper soni sfeel
ingwithinasubconsciouspsychi
c
acti
vit
y.

Freudal soemphasizedthei
mpor tanceofearl
ychi
ldhoodexper
iencesonlaterper
sonal
it
y
development.Hecoi nedthephrase,“thechi
l
di st
hefatheroft
heman” ,
toemphasi zehi
s
beli
eft hatourchi
ldhoodexperiencesar est
oredinourunconsciousstateofmi ndand
i
nfluenceourpersonali
tyandbehav i
ourwhenwear eadult
s.
4
4.Gest altpsychol
ogy
Thi sschoolofpsy chologywasf oundedi nGermanyar ound1912byMaxWer theimerand
hiscol leaguesKur tKof fkaandWol f
gangKohl er.TheGer manwor dgestaltmeans“ form”,
or“ conf igurati
on,ororgani zedwhol e”
.Gest altpsychologi
stsfeltt
hatst r
ucturali
sm was
wr ongi npor t
rayi
ngt hemi ndasbei ngmadeupofel ements.Thegest al
tpsy chologists
mai ntainedt hatthemi ndshoul dbet houghtofasr esult
ingfr
om thewhol esensoryact i
v i
ty
andt her elati
onshi
psandor ganizati
onwi thi
nthispat t
ern.Theyf el
tthatnosi ngl
easpect
ofbehav iourcouldbeunder stoodbyi t
self
,butonl yaspar tofa“ whole”pat ternof
behav i
our .Thewhol eisgr eaterandmor emeani ngfulthantheindi
vidualelement salone
(thewhol eisgreat
erthant hesum ofi t
sparts).Theyal soemphasizedt heimpor t
anceof
thecont extorbackgr ound in cr eati
ng meani ng foraspeci fi
cev ent.Thisschoolof
psy chologyhasmadesi gnifi
cantcont ri
buti
onsi nt heunderstandi
ngofper sonali
t yand
per ception.

5.Behav i
ourism
Behav i
ouri
stsf el
tt hatobservabl
ebehav i
ourshoul dbet hef ocusofst udyr atherthan
ment alprocessesand unconsci ousexper iences. The pr oponent
soft hisschoolof
thoughtinclude, J.B.Watson,B.F.SkinnerandF.L.Thor ndike.Behav iouristsfel
tthatthe
scienti
fi
cmet hodi npsychologyshouldbel i
mi tedt othest udyofbehav iour sthatcanbe
dir
ectlyobserv edandv eri
fi
ed.Wat sonbeli
ev edt hatbycont roll
ingaperson’ senvir
onment ,
anydesi r
edbehav i
ourcouldbeobt ai
nedirrespect i
veofhi s/ hertal
ent
s,abi li
ti
es,heredit
y
andot herfactors.

Behav i
ouristsbelievedt hatbehav i
ouri saresponsetoast i
mulus(anobjectorev entthat
causesanor gani sm tor espondi nt heenv i
ronment)andbehav i
ourcanbeaccount edfor
bylear ni
ng.Behav i
ourt hathasbeenr ewardedinthepastwi l
lli
kelyberepeatedagai n
whereasbehav i
ourt hatisnotr einforcedislikel
ytobecomeext i
nct.Thi
sperspectivewas
cri
ti
cized f or ov eremphasi zing v isi
ble behav i
our and envi
ronmentalinfluences on
behaviourt ot heext entofi gnor i
ngt houghtandsubj ect
iveexperi
ences.Thi sappr oach
hadsi gni
ficantinf l
uenceonl earning,behaviourmodifi
cati
on,anduseofr ei
nforcementor
rewardst obringoutdesi redbehav iour.

6.Humani sti
cPsy chology
CarlRoger s and Abr aham Masl ow ar e some oft he mosti nfl
uent i
alpsy chologists
associ atedwi t
hthehumani st
icappr oach. Thi sschoolofpsy chologydev el
opedasa
reactionagai nstt
hei deat hatbehav i
ourisdet erminedbyf or cesbey ondourcont rolorby
environment alforces. I temphasi zesonf ree-will
,thati s,thehumanabi li
tytomake
choicesanddeci sionst olivemor ecr eat
ive,meani ngfulandsat isfyi
ngl ives.Humani st i
c
psychol ogist
semphasi zedt heimpor tanceofi nner,subj
ect iveself,consci ousnessand
feel
ings.Eachoneofusi sseenasauni quei ndivi
dualwi thbotht heneedandabi l
i
tyt o
ful
filouruni queandopt imum pot entialaccordingt oAbr aham Masl ow.Thi sschoolof
thoughthasmademaj orcontributionsi ncounsel li
ngwhi chi sthepr ocessofassi sting
anotherper son tof ind a solution t o his/herpr oblems t hrough di scussions witha
counsel lor
.

7.Cognit
ivePsychology
Thepsy
chologi
stwhoi scl
oselyassoci
atedwi
ththisschooloft
houghtisJeanPiagetwho
wasaSwi sspsy chologi
st. Thi
sv i
ew wasar eacti
onagainstradi
calbehavi
ouri
stsli
ke
5
Skinner,whor egardedcogni ti
on( thought)asout sidet her ealm ofpsy chol ogy. Piaget
beli
ev edt hattheabi lit
ytopr ocessi nformat i
onunder goesdr amat i
ct r
ansf ormationas
chil
dr en grow from one st age ofdev elopmentt o anot her.Accor ding to Pi aget,t he
dif
ferencei nbehav i
ouri nchil
drenandadul tsreflectst hedi ff
erencei ntheirabilit
ytoknow,
under st
and and r eason about t hings and ev ent s ar ound t hem whi ch dev elops
systemat i
call
y.Childrenneedt oseeandf eel t
hingsinor dertoknowandunder st
andt hem,
butadul t
s know and under stand things and ev ent st hrough abst ractr easoning and
concept ualanalysi
s.
Thenewv iewcamet obeknownascogni t
ivepsy chol ogyandf ocusedonr easoni ngand
the ment alpr ocessing ofi nfor
mat i
on.Cogni ti
ve psy chologyst udi
eshow we gat her
,
encodeandst orei nformati
onf rom ourenv ir
onmentusi ngment alprocessessuchas,
perception,memor y,i magery,conceptf ormat i
on,pr oblem sol ving,reasoni ng,deci sion
maki ngandl anguage.Cogni ti
vepsy chologist
st akeani nformat ionpr ocessingappr oach
basedont heideat hathumansar eli
kecomput ersint hatbot ht akei ni
nformat ion,process
i
tandpr oducear esponse/ behaviour.

8.Phy siologicalorBi ol
ogicalPsy chol
ogy
Thisschooloft houghtexpl ainsbehav iourintermsoft hebiol
ogicalf uncti
oningoft he
body .I temphasi zest hatgenet i
c,physi ol
ogi
calandneur ol
ogi
calfact or sandpr ocesses
determinebehav iour .Thei nf
luenceoft henervoussy st
em,par t
icul
ar lyt hebrainisv er
y
crucial
.Psy chobi ologi
caldev el
opmenti sbasedonchangesi nbraingr owth,whi chare
genet i
callydet ermi ned,
thatis,mat ur
ati
on.Nor mal behav
iourorment al healthi
sf uncti
ons
ofanor mallyf unct i
oni
ngheal t
hyner voussy stem. Apr oblem ordi seaseaf fectingthe
nervoussy stem,whi chincludest hebrain,wil
laf f
ecthumanbehav i
our ,causingpr obl
ems
i
nl earningandnor mal l
ivi
ng.

9.TheEcl ecti
cVi ew
Mostcont empor arypsy chologi
stsr ecogni
zet hatt heseper spect i
vesar enotmut uall
y
exclusiv
efrom eachot herandhencet heeclecti
cv iew/ per
spect i
vewhi challowsbl ending
ofi deas f
rom di ffer
entper specti
ves. The ecl ectic approach adopt s pr i
nci
ples and
practi
cesfrom sev er
alor i
entat
ionsorschool soft hought. Thi sappr oachhol dst hat
humanbehav i
ourcannotbeunder stoodf ul
l
ybyt akingoneper spectiv
e.Eachper spective
focuses on a differentaspectofhuman behav iourand as such maybe seen as
compl ementar
yr atherthancompet ing.Thef i
vebasi cperspectivesorappr oachest hat
i
nfluencemoder npsy chologyarethepsy choanalyt
ic,behav i
ouristi
c,humani sti
c,cognitive,
andbi ol
ogi
calappr oaches.

BIOLOGI CALBASI SOFBEHAVI OUR

Int
roduction
A cont r
ov ersy has exi sted among psy chol
ogists on how her edit
y and env i
r onment
contr
ibutet ot hedi f
ferencesi nhumanbehav i
ourandhow muchofhumanbehav iouris
i
nheritedandhowmuchi sacqui r
edt hr
oughexper i
encewi t
hi ntheenvironment .Howdoes
thecent r
alner voussy stem (CNS) ,whichconsistsoft hebr ainandspi nalcordandt he
peri
pheralner voussy stem (PNS) ,whichconsistsoft hener vesint hebodyout sidet he
centr
alner v
oussy stem,af f
ectourbehav i
our?How doest heendocr inesy stem,whi ch
consistsofgl andst hathel p,regul
ateourbehav iourbysecr eti
nghormones,orchemi cals
i
ntoourbl oodst r
eam?Behav iourisinf
luencedbybot hher edit
y(nature)andenv i
r onment
6
(
nur
tur
e).

Genet
icI
nfl
uence

Biol
ogyaf fects behavi
oralso t
hrough mechanisms ofher edi
tyregul
ated bygenet
ic
pri
ncipl
es.Thenat urev er
susnurt
urecontrov
er sy
—t hati
s,how muchofourbehavi
oris
duetoi nheri
tedfactorsandhow muchduet oenv ir
onmentalf
actor
s—isaquesti
onthat
hasplaguedscientist
sforyear
sandissti
llunresolved.

Geneticprinci
ples:Genet i
csist hestudyofher edity
,t hemanneri nwhi cht r
ait
sand
charact
eri
stics(forexample,eyecolor)ar
epassedf rom parenttooffspri
ng.Eachhuman
cel
l,exceptsexcel l
s,cont ai
ns23pai rsofchromosomes,at ot
alof46.( Sexcell
s—the
sperm andtheegg—eachcont ai
n23chr omosomesbutf or m atot
alof46whent heyunit
e.)
Chromosomesar est r
andsofDNA( deoxyr
ibonucl
eicacid)inthenucleiofcell
sthatcar
ry
geneti
cinformation,genes.

Concept i
onoccur swhenasper m penetrat esandf useswi thanov um,cr eat i
ngasi ngle
cellknownasazy gote.Thezy gotecontai nsal lthegenet icmat erial(hal ffrom t hesper m
andt heotherhal ff r
om t heov um)neededt ocr eat eauni quedev elopi ngi ndividual .Genes
cont ain chemi call
ycoded i nst ructi
onst hatcel lsneed t o becomespeci alized and t o
perfor m specificfunct ionsi nt hebody .Thegenesar earrangedonchr omosomes.Wi th
theexcept i
onofgamet es,ev eryhumancel lcont ains23pai rsofchr omosomes,wi thone
memberofeachpai rcont r
ibutedbyeachpar ent .Ev erycel lcont ainsadupl icateoft he
genet icinformat i
oni nt hef irstcel l,t
hezy got e. 22pai rsofchr omosomescont rolt he
rd
dev elopmentofmostoft hebodywhi lethe23 pai rdetermi nes,amongot hert hings,t he
i
ndi vidual’
ssex. Zy got ewi thXXandXYcombi nati
onwi llbecomef emal esandmal es
respect iv
ely.TheXchr omosomet hatiscont ri
but edbyt hemot hert ohersoni sbel i
ev edt o
bet hecar ri
erofsex- li
nked,pr edomi nant l
ymal edef ectsandi l
lnessessuchascol our
bli
ndness,her editarybal dness,haemophi liaet c.The23chr omosomescont ain40, 000t o
100, 000genest hatcar rytheher editar
ychar acteristi
cs.Thesechar act erist
icsort raitsar e
cont ainedinpai rsorcompl excombi nati
onsofgenes.Agenet hatexpr essesat raitwhen
pairedwi t
hi t
selforwi thanydi f
ferentorsubor dinategenei sr eferredt oasaDomi nant
gene.Agenet hatexpr essesat rai
tonlywhenpai redwi t
hasi milargenei sref erredt oasa
Recessi veGene.E. g.t hegenef orpi gment edski nisadomi nantgenewhi let hatf or
unpi gment edski n( Albinism)i sr ecessi
v e.I fpi gment edski ni sr epr esent edbyB and
unpi gment edski nbyb,t hefigur esbelowshowt hepossi bleout comesoft heof fspr ings.
Fatheri sBB( pigment edski n)andmot herisunpi gment ed( albino)bb

Mot
her
Fat
her B b
B Bb Bb
B Bb Bb

Notethatal
ltheoff
spri
ngwi l
lhavepigment
edski
nsbuttheywil
lbecarr
ier
soft he
unpi
gmentedski
ngene.Incasetheof
fspri
ngsmarr
yot
hercar
ri
es,t
hef
oll
owingisl
i
kely
tooccur
.

Mot
her
Fat
her B b
B BB Bb
B Bb bb

7
Oneof f
spri
ngwil
lbepigmentedandnotacar
ri
erofthepigmentedski
n,whi
l
etwowillbe
pigmentedbutcar
ri
ersoftheunpigment
edgene,andtheotheronewil
lbeunpi
gmented
(albi
no)
.

Thecharact
eri
sti
cthati
smani
fest
edorobser
vedinagi
venindi
vi
duali
sref
err
edtoast
he
Phenoty
pewhilethegenet
icmake-
uportheinher
it
edchr
omosomalmake-upofagiv
en
i
ndivi
duali
srefer
redtoast
heGenot
ype.

Genet icv ersusEnv i

ronment alInfluence
Her edityshapes behav iourand dev elopmentbypr ov i
ding a f r
amewor k ofper sonal
potent ial
sandl imitati
onst hatar ealteredbyenv i
ronment alfactorssuchasnut ri
tion,
culture,di sease,l earni
ng,par ents,peer s,home,andschoolandsoon. Env i
ronment al
factorsdet erminehowmuchofouri nheritedpotenti
alsorcapaci ti
eswi l
lber eali
zed.For
exampl e,achi ldwi t
hav er
yhi ghi nheri
tedacademi cpot enti
alwi l
lnotachiev ehighgr ades
unlessheorshei sex posed t o an i dealand conduci v
el earni
ng environment . The
obser vedacademi cachi ev
ementi nthi
scasemaybef armuchbel owt hechild’sinheri
ted
abili
ty.Thei nfluenceofenv ir
onmentonbehav i
ouranddev elopmentbegi nsi mmedi ately
afterconcept ionandcont i
nuesunt i
ldeat h.Dur i
ngpr enatal( befor
ebi r
th)dev el
opmenta
numberoff actorscanaf fectt hef oetusbef oreitisbor n. Themot her’
snut rit
ionand
exposur et odisease,dr ugsandr adi
ationt hroughx-raycanr esulttomal f
or mationoft he
baby ,lowbi r
thwei ght,mental retardati
onandot herpermanentef fects.

Withouttheinteracti
onofher edit
yandenv ir
onmentbehav i
ourmaynotbemani fested.For
exampl eachi l
dwi llnotl ear
nl anguageunlesshe/ sheisexposedt oaspokenl anguage.
Asonegr ows, thereisaconst antint
eracti
onorinterpl
aybet weenthef orcesofnat ureand
nurture.Ourher editydoesnotchange,butpr oducesv ari
ousphy sicalchangest hatoccur
thr
oughoutourl i
fet i
me.Psy chologi
ststodaysuppor tani nt
eracti
onsmodelorappr oach
ont herel
ati
v econt ri
butionofgenet icandenv i
ronment alfact
orsdi f
fersfrom onet rai
tto
another. A cer t
aint raitmay be det er
mined largely by heredit
y butnotmuch by
environmentandv i
ce-versa.

StudiesonHer edityandEnv ironment

(a) St udi
esoni ntel
li
gence
Researchf i
ndi ngsont hecont ri
but
ionsofher edi
tyandenv i
ronmenthaver
eveal
edt
he
fol
lowing:
Fami l
yr elat
ionshi psandcor r
elati
oncoeffici
ent
s
Relati
onshi p Correl
ati
onCoeff
ici
ent
 I denticaltwi nsr ear
edt ogether 0.75
 I denticaltwi nsr ear
edapar t 0.65
 Fr aternal twinsr earedtogether 0.50
 Si bl
ingsr ear edt ogether 0.20
 Bi ological parentandchi ld,li
vedtogether 0.40
 Bi ological parentandchi ld,li
vedapart 0.20
 Adopt ivepar entandchi l
d,li
vedtogether 0.15
 Adopt ivesi bli
ngsr earedtogether 0.30
 Cousi nsr earedapar t 0.15

Thetableshowsav eragecorrel
ati
onsi nIQscor esforpeopleofvari
ousrel
ati
onshipsas
obtai
nedf r
om studiesofI Q si
milarit
y . Hi
ghercorrel
ati
onsi ndi
cat
egreatersimilar
it
y.
Greatergeneti
csimi l
ari
tyisassoci ated wi
th great
ersimilar
ityinIQ,suggesti
ng that
i
ntell
i
gencei spart
lyinheri
ted. Li
vingt oget
heri sassoci
atedwi t
hgreat
erI Q si
milar
it
y,
8
suggesti
ngthatintell
i
gencei spart
lygov
ernedbyt heenv ir
onment.Whenevert
hereismore
si
milari
tyineitherorbot henvir
onmentandgenet ics,theIQcorrel
ati
onisfai
rlyhi
gh.I
tis
notpossibletodet er
mi nehow muchofouri nt
elligenceiscontri
butedtobyheredi
tyor
envi
ronment .Ther ol
eofgenescanonl yber eal
izedi nthecontextofanenvi
ronmentand
si
milarl
y,envi
ronmenti sirr
elev
antandofnoconsequencewi thouther
edit
y.

(b) St udiesinrest
ri
ctedenv ironment s
Insti
tut i
onal i
zedorchi l
drenbr oughtupi nanor phanaget endt oberetardedi nskill
ssuch
ast alking, speechandwal king.Thi scouldbeat tr
ibutedtol ackofmat ernalattenti
onand
stimul ati
on.I fpl
acedinaf avour abl
eenv i
ronment,suchchi l
drenareabl etoov ercomethe
diff
icul t
ies. Ani mals(e.g.,dogs,r at
set c)rearedinr estri
ctedenvir
onmental sofai
lto
mani festt heirheredit
y pot ential
. When compar ed wi t
h animalsr ai
sed i n nor
mal
env i
ronment s,t
heyareinferiorinor i
entati
ontests,mazet estsandemot ionaldev el
opment
aswel l.

THENERVOUSSYSTEM
Physi
ologyi
sanintegr
alpartofpsychol
ogywhichi
nvolv
esstudyofthener
voussystem
andhow itaf
fect
sbehaviour.Thehumannervoussyst
em,especi
all
ythebrai
nishighl
y
devel
opedandmorecompl excomparedt
othatofot
heranimal
s.

Thenerv
oussy st
em isdiv
idedi
ntotwomajordivi
sions:cent
ral;const
it
uti
ngthebr
ainand
spi
nalcord;andper i
pher
alwhichincl
udesnervesout si
det hecentralner
voussyst
em
ser
vingmuscles,
glandsandsensor
yrecept
ors.

TheNeur on
Thisi st hebasi cuni toft hener voussy stem (asi nglener vecel l). Neur onst r
ansmi t
i
nf ormat iont hroughoutt hebodyaswel last hebr ain.Eachneur onr eceivesandsends
signalst oot herneur ons.Aneur onhast hreebasi cf eatures:dendr i
tes,cel lbodyandan
axon.
Thedendr i
tesr ecei
v einformat i
onf r
om ot herneur ons.Eachneur onmayhav ehundr edsor
thousandofdendr i
tes.
Thecel l bodyorsomahassev eralfuncti
ons;
 I tintegratestheel ectricalinformationcomi ngf rom thedendr ites.
 I tabsor bsneedednut rients.
 I tpr oducest hemaj orityofpr otei
nmol eculesneededf ornor malf unctioni
ngoft he
cel l
.
Theaxonwhi chisat ubelikest r
ucturet ransmitsneur ali nformat iont oaxont erminal
s
(nerveendi ngs).Itishi ghlysensi ti
vetochangesi nt heel ectrical chargeofi tsmembr anes.
Iftheel ectri
calchar gei ssuf fi
cient,anact i
onpot ential(anel ect rochemi calimpulse)i s
i
nitiatedatt hej unctionbet weent hesomaandt heaxon. Thi sact ionpot enti
altravel
s
downandbr anchesi ntot heaxont erminalbut tons.Theset ermi nalbut tonsf ormj uncti
ons
withot herneur onsandwi t
hmuscl es,whichi nturnar eactiv atedbychemi calsrel
easedby
thet ermi nalbut t
ons.

9
 St
ruct
ureofaNeur
on

Neur onsindifferentpar tsoft hener voussy stem maydi f

ferinsi zeandshapebutt heyall
havet hethreemaj orpar ts.Whi l
eaneur oni sasi nglecellconsi sti
ngoft het hreepar ts
di
scussed, aner vei sabundl eofaxonst hathav easi milarfunction.Thener voussy stem is
madeupofmi ll
ionsofneur ons,whi chmakeupt hebasi cst ructuralunitsoft hener v
ous
system.About80per centofal lneur onsar efoundi nthebr ain.Ther earethr eet ypesof
neurons:
 Sensor yneur ons:t heseneur onscar ryinformationf r
om t hesenseor ganst othecent r
al
nervoussy stem.Theyar eal socal ledaf ferentneurons.
 Connect orneur ons:theseneur onsar ef oundwi thi
nt hespinalcor dandt hebr ai
n.They
receiv
ei nformat i
on f rom t he sensor y neur ons and send t hem t ot he br ainf or
processi
ng.Theyar eal sor eferredt oasi nt
erneuronsori ntermedi at
eneur ons.
 Mot orneur ons:t heseneur onscar ryinf ormati
onf rom t hecent r
alnervoussy stem t o
themuscl esorgl ands.Theyar eal soknownasef f
erent.Theyr eceivemessagesf rom
thebr ai
nand t aket hem t ot her equired sitesl i
kemuscl es. Foranyobser vable
response/behav i
our ,allthet hreet ypesofneur onsmustbei nvolved.

Neur onsdonott ouchoneanot her.Theyar esepar at

edbyagapbet weent hem knownas
a sy napse. When an act i
on pot entialr eaches t he axon t erminals,it causes
neur otransmi t
terstober el
easedi ntothesy napti
cgap,t hespacebet weent hetwocel l
s.
Neur ot r
ansmi t
ters are chemi cals( such as acet yl
chol i
ne,histamine,and ser otonin)
releasedf rom terminalbut t
onsi ntothesy napt i
cgap.Thesechemi cal
scr ossthegapand
stimul ate/exci
tet hepre- synapti
ct erminalsoft henextcel lwhi chint urnr el
easesan
electricalchargeorspar k.Theneur otr
ansmi t
tersmayei therhaveexcitatoryorinhi
bitory
effectont heirtargetcells.Exci t
atoryneur otransmit
t er
sinstr
uctt hereceivingneuront o
fi
reorconductanact ionpot ential
.I nhibitoryneur otr
ansmitter
si nstr
uctt hereceivi
ng
neur onnott ofi
reanact i
onpot ential
.

Psychoacti
vedr ugs(dr ugsthataf f
ectthener voussy stem)hav et heireffectbyei t
her
i
ncreasingordecr easingt heamountofneur ot r
ansmi tter
sr el
easedi nt
ot hesynapse.
Alcoholand pain kil
l
er ssuppr essther el
easeofneur otr
ansmitt
ersori ncreasi
ng the
rel
easeofi nhi
bitor
yneur ot
ransmitt
ers.Caffei
neandcocai neincreasest heamountof
neurotr
ansmitt
ersint hesy napseordi r
ectl
yact i
vatesr eceptorsit
esont hedendr i
tes–
thustheyhaveast i
mul ati
ngeffectonthenervoussy st
em.

Peri
pher
alNervousSyst
em
Theperi
pheralnerv
oussystem (
PNS)connect
sthecentr
alner
voussystem t
ot herestof
thebody.Itincl
udesallt
henervesgoi
ngt oandfr
om thebrai
nandt hespinalcord.It
serv
estotransmitneur
ali
mpulsestoandfrom t
hebrai
nandthespinalcor
d.I tconsi
sts

10
oftwosy
stems,thesomati
candt heautonomicnerv
oussy
stems.Thet
wodi
vi
sionswor
k
j
ointl
ywi
ththeCNSincarr
yingoutthei
rfunct
ions.

Thesomat i
cnerv
oussystem di
rect
sthemov ementoftheskel
etalmuscl
es,whichare
usual
l
yunderourv ol
unt
arycontrol
.Itregul
atesvol
unt
aryacti
onse.g.walki
ng,si
tt
ing
down,eat
inget
c.

The aut onomi c nervous sy stem controlst

he mor e automat
ic(self
-regulati
ng)bodily
functi
onssuchashear trate,sweatingandbr eathi
ng,whicharebey ondourv olunt
ary
control.I tmai ntainshomeost asis– t heregulat
ion ofbodybalancesnecessar yfor
survi
v al
.I tregulatest hegl ands,heartmuscles,musclesofthebloodv essel
s,inter
nal
organsandot herinvoluntaryresponses.

Theaut onomi cnervoussy stem i smadeupoft wosy stems,thepar asy mpatheticandt he

sympat heti
cner voussy stems. Theset wot endt owor kinopposi t
iont oeachot herin
regul
atingt hef uncti
oningofsuchor gansast hehear t
,intest inesandt hel ungs.The
parasympat heti
cner voussy stem isdomi nantwhenaper soni si nar elaxed,non-stressful
physicalandment alstate(per f
ormsbodi l
ymai ntenance).I tsl owst hehear trate,lowers
bloodpr essure,dil
atesar t
eries,andi ncreasesdi gestiveandel iminativeprocesses.The
sympat heti
cner voussy st
em whi chisanemer gencysy st
em t akesov erwhenaper sonis
undersomet ypeofst ress,orsomet y peofment alandphy sicalst rai
n.I tstopsdi gesti
ve
and eliminati
ve processes,i ncreasesbl ood pressur e,respiration,and hear tr ate and
causessev er
alhor monest ober el
easedi nt
ot hebl oodst r
eam.I tpr epar
est hebodyt o
fi
ght,fri
ghtorf l
ight.

Peri
pher
alner
voussyst
em
(
All
nervesgoi
ngtoandfr
om theCNS)

Somaticnervoussystem Autonomicnerv
ous
(Al
lnervescarry
ingsensor
y system
andmot orinf
ormati
on– (Regulat
esbodi
ly
vol
untary) functi
ons-aut
omati
c

Parasympat
het i
cner
vous Sympatheti
cner v
ous
system (
maintai
nsbasi
c syst
em (Acti
vatesbodyt
o
bodilyf
unct
ions) dealwi
thstress)

Subdi
vi
sionsoft
hePer
ipher
alNer
vousSy
stem

Theact
ionsofthepar
asympathet
icandsympathet
icbr
anches
oftheAut
onomicNervoussystem
Bodysy
stem/organ Parasympathet
ic Sympathet
ic
Pupi
l Const
ri
cts Di
l
ates
11
Saliv
aryglands Sti
mulatessal
ivat
ion Decreasessal
i
vat
ion
Bloodv essel
s Constr
icts Dil
ates
Hear t Sl
ows Speeds
Airwaysinlungs Constr
icts Opens
Hair Rel
axes Erects
Sweatgl ands Constr
icts Opens
Stomach I
ncreasecontr
acti
ons Reducescontr
act
ions
Bladder Contr
acts Relaxes
Reproductivesy
stem Rel
axes Excit
es

THECENTRALNERVOUSSYSTEM
Thecent ralnervoussy stem consist
soft hebrainandt hespi
nalcor d.Thebr ainisthe
controlcentreforallvoluntarybehaviour(suchaswr i
ti
ng,computingandt al
ki
ng)anda
good partofi nvol
untarybehav i
our( such asfeeli
ng embarrassed). Thespi nalcord
containsthest ruct
uresr esponsi
bleforr efl
exacti
onsandt hener vefi
bresthatlinkthe
brai
nandot herpart
soft hebody .

TheSpi nalCor d
Itist hepar toft hener voussy stem f oundwi thi
nt hespinalcol umnwhi chi sinvolvedin
refl
exesandt herelayofneur alinformat i
ont oandf r
om thebr ain.Itisinvol
v edinal lt
he
voluntar yandr efl
exr esponsesoft hebodybel owtheneck.Ar efl
exisasi mple,automat i
c
responsei nt
egr at
edwi thinthespi nalcor dsuchasakneej erk.Thespi nalcordhast wo
maj orcomponent s,thegr eymat terandwhi temat ter.Thegr eymat terneart hecent r
e
cont ainsmai nlycellbodi eswi t
hi nwhi chi nf
ormationi sprocessedwi t
hinthespi nalcord
i
tself.Thewhi t
emat terist heout erl ayeroft hespinalcor d.Wi t
hinthewhi temat t
er,
axonst ransmitinformat iontoandf rom t hebrain.Whendamaged,al lmuscl esservedby
sectionsoft hespi nalcor dbel ow t hedamagedpar twi l
lnotf uncti
onnor mal l
yanda
personmaybepar alyzed.

TheBr ai
n
Thebr ai
ni sthecont
rolcent
reforthebody.Itcont
rol
swhatwedo,t
hinkandfeel
.The
majordivisi
onsofthebrainarethecer
ebrum,consi
sti
ngoft
hecer
ebralcor
texandsub
cor
ticalareas,t
hecer
ebell
um andthebr
ainst
em.

(i
) TheCer ebralCort
ex
Thecer ebralcortexmakest heout si
desur f
aceoft hebrai
n..Iti scomposedoft wo
hemispheresconnect edbyat hickbandoff iber
scall
edCor puscall
osum andcont rol
opposit
esidesoft hebody.Eachhemi spher
eisdivi
dedi
ntofourareasorlobesaccor
ding
tothei
rgener alfuncti
onsandstructur
es.Thef ourar
easar
et hefr
ontal
,pariet
al,
occi
pital
andtempor allobes.

12
TheFr ontalLobe
Thef ront allobesarel ocatedatt hetopf rontporti
onoft hebr aininbothhemispheresand
areassoci atedwi t
hsel f-
awar eness, init
iat
iveandabi li
tyt oplanahead.Att hebackofthe
fr
ont all obesliesthemot orcont rolar eawhi chcont r
olsal lv
ol untar
ybodymov ements.A
special i
zedar eaint heleftf rontallobeont hesurfaceoft hebr ai
nneart hebott
om ofthe
mot orcont r
ol ar
eaist hebr oca’sarea, whichcont r
olst hemuscl esusedtoproducespeech.
Ther emai ningpar tconsi stsofassoci ati
oncor text hatisbel i
evedto contr
olment al
operat ionsorcompl expsy chologicalf unctionssuchas,t hought ,per
cepti
on,imagery,
problem sol v i
ng,emot i
ons, memor y,languageandt hi
nki ng.

ThePar i
etalLobes
Theparietal
lobesar el
ocat
edbehi
ndthefr
ont
allobes.Theycont
rolbodysensat
ionssuch
astouch,pain,pressur
eandtemper
atur
earechannell
edtothepar
ietall
obesandmemor y
abouttheenv i
ronment.

TheOcci
pit
alLobes
Theocci
pit
allobesarel
ocat
edatthebackofthebr
ain.Theymainl
ycont
rolv
isi
onand
vi
sual
percept
ions.Damageori
njur
ytot
hisar
eacanaff
ectv
isi
on.

TheTemporalLobes
Thetemporallobesarelocatedont hesi
desofthebr
ain. Theirmajorfunct
ionsar
e
audi
tor
ypercepti
on(heari
ng),language,memor
yandsomeemot ionalcont
rol
.Theyare
al
soimpor
tantinthefor
mat i
onofnewconceptsandmemories.

(i
i) SubCor t
ical BrainAr eas
Thesubcor ticalbr ainar easar ef oundi nthecent reoft hebr ainandar esurroundedbyt he
cer ebr alcor tex.Theyi ncludet hecor puscal losum,t halamus,hy pothal
amusandagr oup
ofst r
uct urescol l
ectivelyknownasl i
mbi csy stem.Thecor puscal l
osum connect st he
cer ebr alhemi spher esandmakesi tpossi blef orthehemi spher est ocommuni cateor
coor dinatewi t
heachot her.Thet halamus,whi chi slocat edbel ow thecorpuscal l
osum
ser vesast hemaj orsensor yr elaycent r
ef ort hebr ain.Thehy pothalamusl i
esbel owt he
thal amus. I tsmaj orf uncti
on i shomeost asi s,thati s,t he r egulati
on oft he internal
env ironmentoft hebody .I tcont rolsbloodt emper ature,t heconcent r
ati
onofsal tand
sugari nt hebl ood,t heconcent rationofhor monesandot herchemi cal
sint hebody .The
hy pot halamusal socont rolsbehav iourssuchassexualr esponse,r age,anger,eatingand
drinki ng,sl eepi ng,waki ngandemot i
on.I tisal soapar tofagr oupofsubcor ti
caland
cor ticalst ruct ures col lectiv
ely known as l imbi c sy stem.The l i
mbic sy stem is an
i
nt er connect ed gr oup of st ructures involv ed wi th emot ionalbehav i
or par ti
cularly
aggr ession,r age,f ear,pl easur e and ot heri nt
ense ar ousal s.I tcompr ises oft he
hy pot halamus,hi ppocampus,amy gdala,sept um,par tsoft het halamusandpar tsoft he
front al andt empor alcor ti
callobes.

13
 Thel
i
mbi
csy
stem

(i
ii
) TheCer ebel
lum
Thecer ebel
lum islocat edatthebaseoft hebrai
n.Itregulatespost
ure(mai nt
enanceof
balance when wal king, r
iding, si
t t
ing etc), muscular coordi
nati
on and mot or
activ
iti
es/mov ements. The cer ebel
l
um al so contr
olsthe aut omat
ic adjust
ments of
postureandr ecei
vesi nputsf
rom allareasofthebrai
n,incl
udingthecort
ex,thesubcortex,
andt hebrai
nst em.

(i
v) TheBr ainStem
Thebr ainstem liesbelowt hesubcor ti
calbr ai
nar easandi nf rontoft hecerebell
um and
consist softhePons, medul laandther eti
cularacti
v ati
ngsy stem.ThePonsi sinvolv
edi n
functionssuchasr espirat
ion,mov ement ,facialexpr essionandsl eep.TheMedul l
ai s
l
ocat edatt hebot t
om oft hebrainandatt het opoft hespi nalcord.I tmainlycontrols
automat i
cbodi lyfunctionssuchasbr eat
hing,hear tbeatandswal lowing.TheRet i
cular
activ
at ingsy st
em ( RAS)whi chisalsoknownast heRet icularformat i
onfil
tersincoming
i
nf or
mat i
on.I tisimpor t
antf orattentionandar ousal . Thi spar toft hebr ainisalso
responsi bl
ef orvariousdegr eesofal er
tnessandwakef ulnessandi fdamagedonecango
i
ntocomar esembl i
ngsl eep.

14
THEENDOCRI NESYSTEM
Thener voussystem andt heendocrinesystem worktogethertodir
ectourbehaviourand
maintainourbody ’
snor malf uncti
oni
ng.Thener v
oussy stem activat
estheendocr i
ne
syst
em t osecretehor moneswhi charepassedi ntothebl oodstr
eam whichcirculates
them thr
oughoutt hebody.Theendocr i
nesy st
em consist
sofsev eralgl
andsthatrel
ease
hormonesi nt
ot hebl oodstream.Thehor monesaf fectbehavi
ourandal sothenerv ous
syst
em.Thesegl andsi ncl
udet hepit
uit
ary,t
hyroi
d,adrenal
,gonadsandt hepancr
eas.

(a) ThePi tuitaryGland

I
ti sl
ocatedatt hebaseoft hebr ai
n.Oneoft hemajorhor monespr oducedbyt hepit
uit
ary
glandisthegrowt hhormonewhi chcontr
olsthegrowt hoft heskel
etalsystem.Toomuch
growthhormonepr oducesgi ganti
sm andt ool
it
tl
eofi tproducesdwar f
ism.Thepi t
uit
ary
glandisalsocal ledthemast erglandbecauseitr egulat
est hefuncti
oningoft heother
glands(especiallythethyroid,adrenalgl
andsandt hegonads) .Itfuncti
onsmost lyunder
thecont r
oloft hehy pothalamus,t owhi chitisat tached. Inwomen,i tcont
rol
st he
producti
onofmi lk.

(b) TheThy roi

dGland
Thet hyroidglandislocatedi
nt heneckr egion. Itproducest hyroxinhormone,whi ch
control
smet abol
ism rateofthebody( i.
e.,ther at
eatwhi chener gyispr oducedand
expended) .Apersonwithanov er
act
ivethyroi
d( t
ermedhy perthyr
oidism)tendstobet hin,
tense,excitabl
eandner v
ous.Anunderact i
v ethyr
oid(t
ermedhy pothyroi
dism)cancause
i
nact i
vit
y,sleepi
ness,sl
ownessandov erweightamongadul ts.Ininfancy,hypothyroi
dism
l
imitsdev elopmentofthenervoussystem andcancausement alretar
dati
on.Def i
ciency
ofiodinewhi chispartofthet
hy r
oxi
nhor monecausesgoi trewhichi stheswel l
ingoft he
thyroi
dgl and.

(c) TheAdr enal Gland

Theadr enalgl
andsar elocatedatt heupperendoftheki dneys.Theyarealwayst wo,wi
th
ani nnercore/
layercal l
edadr enalmedullaandanout erl
ayercal l
edadr
enalcor t
ex.The
adrenalmedul lai st he source ofadr enal
ine,which helps the body to perfor
m in
emer genci
esbyi ncreasingheartrate,per
mitt
ingtheflowofsugarandoxy genet c.Ital
so
i
nfluencesemot ionalbehav iourssuch ascr yi
ng and aggression.The adr
enalcor t
ex
produceshor monescal l
edcor ti
coidswhosef unct
ioni stor egulat
esal
tbalancei nthe
15
bodyandhelpsthebodyt
oadj
ustt
ost
ress. Theadr
enalcor
texi
sal
soasecondar
y
sour
ceofsexhor
mones.

(d) TheGonads
Thegonadsar ethet estesandov aries.Theypr oducegamet es( sper
msandov um) .
Among ot herhormones t he ovari
es pr oduce oest rogen which infl
uences sex drive,
developmentofsecondar ysexualchar act er
isti
cs( e.g.,t
hedev elopmentofbr eastsand
pubichair)and ovulation. Oneoft hemaj ormal ehormonesi st est
oster
onewhi ch
i
nfluences sex dri
ve,dev el
opment of secondar y sexualchar acteri
sti
cs (e.g.
,t he
developmentofbear ds and deep v oice). The hor mones produced byt he gonads
contri
butetothephysicalandpsy chologi caldevelopmentdur i
ngt heonsetofadol escence
andcont i
nuestoi
nfl
uencesexual responsi venesst hroughoutadul t
hood.

(e) ThePancr eas

Thepancr eassecret
esi nsul
in–ahor monet hatcont
rol
stheamountofsugarcircul
ati
ng
i
nt heblood.Ifli
tt
leinsulinispr
oduced,ther
ewi l
lbemor esugarf
reedfr
om theli
verand
vicever
sa.Di abet
esr esult
sduet onon-i
nsul
inproducti
on.Thisaf
fectsbr
ainfuncti
oni
ng
whichutil
i
zesabout¼oft hesugarinthebody.

MOTIVATION
Mot iv
at i
oncanbedef i
nedasthet ot
ali
tyofinter
nalpr
ocesseswhichimpelsanor gani
sm
tosat isfyaneed.I tcanal sobedef inedast heprocessofiniti
ati
ng,sustai
ningand
dir
ect i
ngbehaviortowardsapar t
icul
argoal.Amot i
veiswhatcausesaper sontoactina
certai
nway .Iti
sint hechoi
ceoft heactivi
tyi
tsel
faswellasthepersi
stenceandintensi
ty
withwhi chtheacti
vityi
spursued.

TypesofMot i
v es
(i
)Pr i
mar yMot i
ves
Primarymot ivesar emot iv esthatar ebasedont hebi ol
ogi
calneedsofanor ganism t hat
mustbemetf orsurv i
val.Theyar eguidedbyt hebiologi
calfunct
ioni
ngoft heor ganism
and include the need f orf ood,wat er,ai r
,av oi
dance ofpai n,regulat
ion ofbl ood
temper at
ure,sleep,remov alofbodywast eset c.Theseneedsar i
sebycr eat
ingt ensioni n
thebodywhenev ert herei sani mbalance.Thi ssendssi gnalstothebr ai
nt hatdi rects
acti
onorbehav ior.
(i
i)SecondaryMot iv
es
Thesear eal soknownasacqui r
edorl earntmot iv
es,andar elearntast heor ganism
mat ur
esandi nteractswi tht heenv ir
onment .Ex amplesincludeneedforaf fi
li
ation,love,
socialapproval,self
-esteem, knowl edge,selfactuali
zati
onandmoney .

AccordingtoAbr aham Maslow,t heorganism i

sdomi nat
edbyunsat i
sfiedwantsandt his
i
swhator ganizesi tsbehavior.Thesatisf
acti
onofoneneedl eadstot heurgetosatisfy
anotherneed( Masl ow’shierarchyofneeds).Aneedi saninter
nalstateofimbalanceor
defi
ciencywhi chhast ober ect
ifi
ed.Adr i
vecanbedef i
nedasanar ousedstateoft he
organism whichl eadstoaction.Itist
herefor
ethemot i
veorforcewit
hint hei
ndivi
dualthat
acti
vates behav iorand directsi ttowards a goal.Dri
ves areinferences made from
observedbehav iorandareassumedt obet ensi
onsinducedbylackofsomet hingorneed.

Anincenti
veissomet hi
ngdesiredforthepur poseoff ulf
il
li
nganeed.Whenneedsand
dri
vesfi
nddirecti
ontowardsspecif
ici
ncenti
ves, theindi
vi
dualcanbedescr ibedashav i
ng
acqui
redamot iv
e.Theseenergi
esacquiredi
rectioninthefoll
owingway s:
-
a)Thr oughchangedpercepti
on:Needsincreaset hegenerall
evelofarousal[neur
aland
16
 muscul aract iv
ation],andt heyal sooper atet ochangeper cept ionpat t
ernst hatmay
i
ncr easeat t enti
venesst ocondi tionst hatpr omi sesomesat i
sf acti
on.
b)Through t he pr ocess ofr einforcement :Ev entuall
yt he r esponses t hatr esultin
sati
sf action become mor e st rengthened and t he i
ndividualseems t ov alue the
objects, persons, andact iviti
est hatbr oughtt hedr iv
ereduct ion.
c)Setandi ntent i
on:Asar esultofpr eviousr einforcementandpuni shment s,andt ough
verbali nstructi
onsandsel finstruct i
ons, aper sonbui l
dsexpect ati
onsast othedr iv
es
reducingpossi bil
it
iesi nanew si t
uat i
on.Rei nfor
cementt hereforeinfluencest he
i
ntent ionofaper sont ol earni nanewsi tuation.
d)Personal ityandsel f-
concept :Per sonalit
yf act orsandsel f-conceptf actorsinfluence
behav iorofachi ldinr elati
ont ohi s/hergoal sandt otheot her s,t
heki ndofaper son
he/shebel ieveshi msel f
/ herselft obe,andt heki ndoff earsandaspi rati
onshe/ she,
willbemaj orori mpor tantindet erminingt het hingsthatachi l
dwi l
l st
ri
v efor.

Mot
ivat
ional
Sequence

Need dr
ive act
ivi
ty sat
isf
act
ionanddr
iver
educt
ion

Theori
esofMoti
vat
ion
Theori
es of moti
vat
ion f
alli
nto t
wo br
oad cat
egor
ies: Bi
ologi
cal t
heor
ies and
Psychol
ogi
cal
theor
ies

Bi
ologi
calTheor ies
Thesetheori
esl ookatt hei nbor nprocessest hatcont rolanddi rectbehav ior.Theyi ncl
ude:
a)Inst
inctTheor y:Instinctsar ebehav iorpatternst hatar eunl earnedori nbornwhi ch
areuni f
ormi ntheirexpr essi
onanduni ver
salinaspeci es.Thi stheor ysuggest sthat
therear esomei nbor ngenet i
ccomponent st omot i
vat ion( i
nsti
nct s),andhence
organismsbehav eincer tai
nway sbecauset heyar enat ural
lypredi sposedt oact
thatway .Exampl esi ncludemat ernalinsti
nctsinf emalespeci es.
b)Drive-
reduct ionTheor y :Thet heor yassumest hatmot iv atedbehav iorbegi nswi t
ha
physiologicalneed or def ici
ency .The need pr oduces a dr ive or ar oused
psychologi calst atet hati s di r
ected towar ds sat isf yi
ng t hatneed.Thr ough
experience, theorgani sm learnst hespecificact i
vit
iest hatneedt obeper formedt o
sati
sfyapar ticul
arneed.Exampl esincludethesexdr ive, contactwithot hers,etc.

Psychologi calTheories
Whydopeopl econt inuet olookf ormoneyev enwhenal lt hebasi cneedshav ebeen
sat
isfi
ed?Psy chologicaltheoriesfocusonpsy chol ogical factor s, andinclude:
a)I ncent i
veTheor y:Thi stheoryassumest hatmot iv at
ionr esul t
sf r
om env ironment al
orext ernalstimulithatpul lanor gani sm t owar dscer tainbehav i
or .Suchbehav ior
foll
owsagoal -dir
ectedsequencesucht hatabi ologicalneedpr oducesadr i
vei n
whi ch thei ndivi
duali sr eadyt or espond t ot her elev antst i
mul iknown asan
i
ncent i
ve.
b)Val ue/ ExpectancyTheor y
:Thi stheor yexpl ainshowment alappraisal,thoughtsand
expect ati
onsdet ermi nemot i
v ati
on.I tassumest hati fagoali sattracti
veandhi ghl y
valued, buttheper sondoesnotexpectt osucceednomat terhowhar dtheytry,the
mot ivati
onwi l
lbel ow,andt her ev ersei st r
ue.Hence,mot i
vationdependson
expect ati
onsandt hepossi bi
lityofachi eving.
c)At tributi
onTheor y:Thistheor ylooksatmot i
vati
oni nt er msofhowpeopl eperceive
thecausesofsuccessorf ai
lure,becauset hisaff ectst hewayt heywi llact.Hence,
i
fsuccessi sat tri
butedt ointernalandst abl efact ors( suchasabi li
tyoref for
t)that
17
 arer elati
velyfi
xed,mot i
vati
onwi l
lbehi gh.Ifsuccessi sat t
ribut
edtoext ernalor
unst ablefactorssuchasluckorf avori
ti
sm,t hemot i
vati
onwi l
lbelow.Ther ev erse
i
st ruef orfai
lure.
d)Mot ivati
onalHier ar
chyTheory:Thi
stheorywasadv ancedbyAbr aham Maslow, and
i
taccount sf orbothbiol
ogicalandpsy chologicalneeds.Itisbasedont hebel i
ef
thatpeopl ehav enumerousneedst hatcompet eforattention.Theseneedsar e
arrangedi nsuchawayt hatsomear ebasi ctosur vi
val,andmustbesat isf i
ed
befor et he per son moves t othe nexthi gherneeds.These needs i ncl ude
phy siol
ogicalneeds,saf ety needs,need t o belong,est eem needs,and sel f-
actual i
zati
on.Theyar ear
rangedinform ofapy ramidasshownbel ow.

Masl
ow’
s(Py
rami
d)Hi
erar
chyofNeeds

MOTI VATIONANDBEHAVI OR
Ther earetwoki ndsofmot iv at
ion:intri
nsi
candext r
insicmot ivation.
Int
rinsicmot i
vationisthemot ivati
ont hatcomesf rom wi t
hint heindi vi
dualandnotoutof
externalrewar ds.Thiskindofmot ivati
onder i
vesf rom theenj oy mentorsat i
sfact
ionof
engagi ng in an activ
ity
.Exampl es ofi ntr
insi
c mot ivati
on i nclude interest
,curiosit
y,
explorati
on,etc.Ther esultingact ivi
tyisrewardingi nit
self,andf ailuretoengagei nt hat
activi
tywillr
esul ti
ninter
nal psy chologi
caltensi
onst hatwilldri
v ethei ndiv
iduali
ntoaction.
Int
rinsicmot i
vationhasal ong-term ef f
ectonbehav iour
.

Extrinsi
cmot i
vati
oni sthemot iv
ati
onbasedonobv i
ousexter
nalrewardsandnotinherent
satisfact
ionoft heact i
v it
y.Iti
st hedesiretoperf
orm anact i
vi
tybecauseitat t
racts
externalrewardsorav oidanceofpunishmentorsomethi
ngunpleasant.Exampl
esincl
ude
higherpay ,
promotion,av oi
danceofpain,
etc.

Behavi
orisshapedbymot i
vati
oninav ari
etyofway s:
1.Curiosi
t yandexpl orat
ion:peoplearenat ural
lycuriousaboutt heirworld.Hence,
curi
osityi sast rongmot i
veinhumanbehav i
or.Experi
ment shaveshownt hatthe
desiretoexpl oremaybei n-born.Thelessfami l
iaranobj ectorenvi
ronmentis,the
mor elikelyitistoat tr
actattenti
onandhandl ing.Extr
emenewness,howev er
,may
bef ri
ght ening,andwi l
lsomet imesbehandl edwi thfearandcaut i
on.Cur i
osit
y
sati
sfyingact ivi
ti
esf ul
fi
lli
ndivi
duals’
needt olearn,whichi sanobvi
ouslynecessary
foradapt ionandsur viv
al.
2.Socialappr ov al
:Theneedf orsocialapprov alisast rongmot i
vef orbehavior.
Starti
ngf rom av eryear l
yage,achi l
dlearnst hatbehavingi nacertai
nwaybr i
ngs
18
 them asmi l
e,ahug, orot herformsofappr ovalfr
om par entsandsi gnif
icantot hers.
Hence,mostt hingsar enotdonef ort hei
rownsake,butt ogetappr ovalofot hers,
appreciati
on,hel porev enl ove.Thi smayanswert otheneedf orsecur ity
,est eem
belonging,andhumancont act.
3.Achievement :Al t hought hisneedi scl oselyassoci at
edwi tht heneedf orsoci al
approval,manypeopl ewor kforachi evementi nitsownr i
ght .Peopl estriveforv ery
highorl ow goal s,notbecauset heyar emot i
vat
edt owar dssuccess,butbecause
theywantt oav oidf ail
ure.
4.Aggression:Aggr essioncanbedef inedasanacti ntendedt oinjureorhar m others.
Thereiscont ent ionast owhet heraggr essioni sinbornorl earnt
.Aggr essioni sa
commonf eatureacr ossal lcult
ures.Aggr essionmaybev iewedasaconsequence
ofnotf ul
fil
li
ngot herki ndsofdr ives,whi chr esultsinf rustrati
on.Somepeopl e
demonst rateaggr essionwi thv erbalorphy si
calassaul tagai nstot herpeopl eor
objectswhensomesoci alneedsar enotmet .Whenaggr essioni sr einforced,it
becomesagener al patternofbehav ior.

EMOTI ONS
Emot i
onsar edef i
nedasst irr
ed-uporar ousedst ateofani ndivi
dualt hatinvolv esment al,
physicalphy siologicalf actors. Emot ions ar e general l
yt he f eeli
ngs associ ated wi th
behav i
or.Emot ionshav eani mpactont hebehav ioroft heper sonexper i
encingt hem as
wellast heper cept i
onsandt her esponsesofot hers.Ther earef ourmaj orcomponent sof
emotions:
1.Phy siologicalcomponent :Thi si nv ol
vest heact iv echangesi nt hephy sicalbody .
Whent hebodyi semot i
onal lyaroused,hear tbeat sf aster,pupi lsdilate,br eathing
becomesf asteretc.
2.Cogni tivecomponent :Emot ionsar epar tl
ygener atedbyani ndiv i
dual’scogni ti
ve
appraisalofacer tai
nsi tuation.Thought s,beliefsandexpect ati
onsar ei mpor tant
determinant soft ypeandi ntensi t
yofemot ions.Cul tureplay sapar ti
nexpr essionof
someemot i
ons.
3.Behav i
or alcomponent :Thisi nv ol
v esthev ari
ousf ormsofexpr essi ont hatemot i
ons
mayt ake( out wardobser v ablesi gns)inf orm off acialexpr ession,bodi lypost ure,
gestures,v oicet oneet c.Theseexpr essionscommuni cat eemot i
onsf rom one
persont ot henex t.
4.Subj ectiveexper i
ence:Thi sr eferst othepr i
vate,subj ecti
v eexper ienceofhav ingan
emot i
on.I ti ncludesel ementofpl easure,displeasur eorbor edom.Theobser ved
expressionsomet imesdi f
fersf rom per sont oper son.

ThePhy si
ologyofEmot ions
Mostemot ionsinvol
veagener al,non-specif
icar
ousaloft
henervoussy st
em.Thel i
mbi c
system,frontallobesoft hebrain,thehypothal
amusandt heaut
onomicner v oussystem
tr
iggerphy siol
ogicalr
eact i
onsinv ol
vedinemot i
ons.Thesympatheti
csy stem produces
observabl
esy mptomsofemot ionswhi letheparasy
mpatheti
csystem controlsbehavior
andi sact
ivewhenaper sonisrelaxed.

Theori
esofEmot i
ons
Sever
altheor
ieshav ebeenadvancedtoexplainthecausesofemoti
onal ar
ousal.
a)James-LangeTheor yhasi tt
hatemot i
onsdependont hef
eedbackf r
om t
hebody.
Accordingt othi
stheory,peopl
ef eelsorrybecausetheycry
,andt heyf
eelaf
rai
d
becauset heytr
emble,nottheot
herwayr ound.
b)Cannon- BardTheoryproposesthatfeltemotionsandbodil
yr eact
ionsinemoti
on
19
 areindependentofeachot her,andbot haret r
iggeredsimul t
aneously .Accordingt o
thi
st heory,peopl ef i
rstperceive pot enti
alemot i
on-provoking si
t uati
onsi nt he
envi
ronment ,andt henthebrainpar tresponsibleforactionisactivat
ed.
c)Faci
al-feedbackhy pothesi
sproposest hatchangesi nfacialexpr
essionspr oduceor
i
ntensifyemot i
onalr eacti
ons.Ithasi tthatfacialexpressionsprov idei nf
ormat i
on
aboutwhatemot ionisbeingfelt.Thus, apersonwhoi ssmi li
ngmustbehappy .
d)Cogniti
v elabeli
ng Theor ymai ntainst hatt heemot i
onspeopl ef eelar eduet o
i
nterpretati
onofanar ousedbodyst ate.Iti show t hephy si
ologicalar ousali s
i
nterpretedandl abeledthatdetermi nest hespeci f
icemot i
onsexper ienced.Hence,
aper soncr yi
ngataweddi ngmustbeduet oj oy,andonecr yi
ngataf uner alis
l
abeledasduet osadness.

CommonEmot i
ons
1.Fear -thetendencyt orunawayort oav oidcertainsituat
ions, especi all
ypai nfulones.
Itisusual lyinresponset orealori magi neddanger .Itiscl oselyr elatedt oanx i
ety,
buti tismor eint
enseandspeci fic.
2.Anxi ety-
fearthatiscausedbyuncer taintyaboutsomet hingr ealori magi nary.I
tisa
response t oav ague subj ect
ivef ear.Pr olonged anxi etyi s det ri
ment alto an
i
ndi vidual.
3.Anger -
adi sr
uptiveandunheal thyemot ionwhi chi slear nedandar esponset o
environment alstimuli.Itcanbecausedbyf rustrati
on,andi sadanger ousemot i
on
whichmustbev ent ed(expressed)t oav oidtensionandst ress.
4.Pleasur e-aposi tiveconst r
ucti
veemot i
onwhi chinvolv
est hef eel
ingofenj oyment,
satisfacti
onandhappi ness.Itisaf eeli
ngofgr ati
ficat
ionaf t
erf ulfil
li
nganeedor
reachi ngagoal .
5.Affect i
on-anemot i
onchar acter
izedbyaf eeli
ngoff ondness,l ikingandat tachment
toot hers.Peopler espondposi t
ivelytoqual iti
esthatunder l
ieaf fectionegsy mpathy,
kindness, pati
ence, courtesyandi nterest.
6.Aggr ession-anemot ionalbehav ioraimedathur ti
ngorhar mi ngot herpeopl e.The
term appl i
estof eeli
ngsofangerandhost il
i
ty.

Ef
fect
sofEmot ions
 Emot ionsactasasour ceofmot iv
ationt obehav iour.Forexampl e,emot ionssuch
asfear ,love,anxi etyandangermayactasmot ivest hatdirectpeoplet oengagei n
goal-
di rectedbehav iour
.
 Emot ionalar ousalt endst opr oduceal ert
nessandi nter
esti nthet askathand.
Usuallypeopl eper form attheiropt imum atmoder atelevel
sofar ousal.
 Sour ceofenj oy mentandr el
axat iontoourl ives.Theyaddpl easureandexci tement
toli
fe.Li fewoul dbedr ear ywi t
houtt hef eeli
ngst hataddcol ourandspi cetolivi
ng.
 Emot ionscanal soactasasour ceofst rengthandendur ancet othebody .Youcan
dounusualwor kunderemot i
onalexci tementwhi chappear sdiffi
cul ti
nnor mal
conditions.Forexampl e,ify ouar echasedbyadogy oucanj umpaf i
vef eethigh
wallwhi chy oucannotundernor mal cir
cumst ances.
 I nt
enseemot i
onsmayr esul tindecr easei nperfor mance.I maginet haty ouar ein
thewi ldernesswi thonlyonemat chst i
ckt hatmustl i
ghtfory outopr epar eameal ,
chancesar et haty ouwi llnotsucceedbecausey ouwi llbetooanxi ousandner vous;
oryouar ef aci nganenemywi thonl yonebul lett
ogo, chancesar ethaty ouar elikel
y
tomi sshi m/ her.
20
  Const antemotionalt ensionsmaycausei nsomnia( l
ackofsl eep),r estl
essness,
fati
gue,headache,l ackofappet it
eandsoon. Excessi veemot ionalst r
esscan
affectmemoryandcausememor ylapses.
 Prolongedemot ionalstressandexper i
encescandisturbthetotalpersonalityofan
i
ndi vi
dualandmayl eadt oneuroti
cism. Inmi l
it
aryt r
aini
ng,const antemot ional
pressurecandisturbt hetrai
nee’
slearni
ngabili
tyandalsoaffectconcent rat
ion.

HUMANLEARNI NG
Int
roduct
ion
Learni
ngi sav eryimport
antprocessinhumanbehav i
or.I
tplaysanimportantrolein
l
anguage, at
ti
tudes,
beli
efsandevenpersonal
it
y,al
lwhicharedevel
opedthr
oughlearni
ng.
Learni
ngreferstoarel
ati
vel
ypermanentchangeinbehavi
orthatoccur
sduetoexperi
ence.

TypesofLearning
Learni
ngcanbeexpl ainedf rom di
ffer
entper
spectivesofpsychol
ogy.Thesei
ncl
ude:
a)Cognit
iv el
ear ning,whi chhastodowiththinking
b)Aff
ecti
v elear ni
ng, whichhast odowithfeeli
ngs
c)Psychomot orlearning,whichhastodowi thmov ementskil
l
s
d)Verballearning,whi chinvolv
esuseoflanguageandsy mbols
e)Motorlearni ng,whichhast odowi thmotorski l
l
sormov ement

Theor
iesofLear
ning
Dif
fer
entpsychol
ogist
s hav
e dev
eloped di
ff
erenttheor
ies i
n at
temptt
o expl
ain how
l
earni
ngtakespl
ace.Bel
owaresometheori
esoflear
ning.

1.Cl assi
calCondi
ti
oningTheory
Thistheorywasdev el
opedbyaRussi anpsychologi
st,I
vanPav lovi
n1927.I twasoneof
thefir
sttheori
esoflearni
ng,hencethenameclassical
.Itexpl
ainsalearningpr
ocedurein
whichaneut r
alsti
mulusispair
edwithanatural
stimulusunti
ltheneutr
al sti
mul
useli
cit
sa
response.

Pav l
ov ,whil
ewor kingwi t
hdogsi nhi slabor at
ory,noti
cedthatt hedogsbegant osal i
vate
whent heywer eaboutt obef ed,ev enbef or etheysaw orsmel l
edt hef ood.Theycoul d
evensal i
vateatt hesi ghtoft hepanwi thwhi cht heywer ef ed,oruponhear ingt he
footstepsoft heper soncomi ngtof eedt hem.Thi ssuggest edt oPavlovthatthesestimuli
hadsomehow becomesi gnalsfort hef oodi t
self
.Thisledhi mt ocar ryoutaser i
esof
experiment sinwhi chhewoul dri
ngabel ljustbeforepresentingthef ood.Foodnat urall
y
eli
citssalivat
ioni ndogs.ButPav lovf oundt hatafterrepeati
ngt hi
sf orsomet i
me,t he
soundoft hebel lal onebegant oel i
citsalivati
on.Thisdemonst rat
edt hatlearni
nghad
takenpl ace,sincethedogswer eabl etor espondt oaneut ralstimulusthattheyhadnot
respondedt obef orei twaspai r
edwi thf ood.

Thef oodher eisrefer

redt oast heuncondi ti
onedst imulus(US),becausei tdoesnot
i
nv ol
veanyl earni
ng.Thesal i
vati
ont hatoccurredinr esponsetot hef oodi scall
edthe
uncondit
ionedresponse( UCR),becausethedogdoesnothav etolearnt orespondtothe
foodbysal i
vati
ng.Thesoundoft hebel l
,whichwasor i
ginal
l
yaneut ralstimulus,l
osti
ts
neutr
ali
tyaftercondi
ti
oningnowbecomest hecondit
ionedst i
mulus(CS), becausethedog
hasbeencondi ti
onedtorespondt oit.Thesaliv
ati
ont hatoccursinresponset othesound
21
oft
hebel
li
scal
l
edt
hecondi
ti
onedr
esponse(
CR)
.

Foreffecti
vecondi
tioni
ngtooccur,thecondit
ionedsti
mulus( CS)shoul
dcomej ustbefor
e
theunconditi
onedstimulus(UCS)
,becausethisisnecessar
yf orthenewassociat
iontobe
establ
ished.Sever
alt r
ial
sar enecessar
yf ortheconditi
oningt ooccur,al
thoughsome
responsesmaybel earntwit
honlyonetri
al.

CharacteristicsofCl assical Condi ti

oning
Thesear eal soknownaspr inciplesofl earning,becauset heyt endt ooccurwi thot her
ty
pesofl ear ningaswel l.
1.Rei nfor cement :thisi sany thi
ngoranyev entwhi ch,whenpr esent edimmedi ately
afterabehav ior,increasest hef r
equencyoft hatbehav i
ori nf ut ure.Inclassical
condi tioning,thepai ri
ngofaCSwi thanUCSconst it
utesr einforcementbecauset he
UCS ( food)wi llst rengt hen ther elationship bet ween t heCS ( bel l
)and t heCR
(saliv
at ing).
2.Ext inct i
on:Thi si st heweakeni ngandt hedi sappear anceoft hel earntresponse
whenr einforcementi swi thheld.I fthebel lcont inuest obesoundedwi thoutt he
food,i twi l
llosei tspowert oel i
citther esponse,andt hecondi tionedr esponse
becomesext i
nct .
3.Spont aneous r ecov ery:Thi si st he r eappear ance ofa pr eviousl yext i
nguished
responsewhent hecondi ti
onedst i
mul usisr e-
introducedaf tersomedel ay.
4.Gener al i
zat i
on:t hisr ef erst o apr ocessi nwhi chacondi ti
oned r esponset oa
sti
mul usi sgener al
izedt oasi mi larcategor yofst imuli
.Forexampl e, t
hefearachi l
d
mayhav ef oranur sef oll
owingani njecti
onmaybegener al
izedt oanyper son
wear ingawhi teov ercoat .
5.Di scrimi nat i
on:Thi si sapr ocesswher ebyasubj ectlearnst or espondt oonl yone
sti
mul usandnott oot her s.Ittakespl acewhent hetargetst i
mul usi stheonlyCS
thatispai redwi t
ht heUCS.Forexampl e,adogmayl ear nt orespondt oapar ti
cular
tuneofabel l
,andwhenanot herbel lissounded,nor esponser esul t
s.Thedoghas
l
ear ntt odi scriminat ebet weent onesandsal iv
at esonlywhent het argetonesounds.

2.Oper antCondi ti
oni ngTheor y
Thisisamodelofl earningi nwhichthef requencyofabehav iori
sincreasedordecr eased
depending on t he consequences.I twas adv anced byB. F.Skinner .Unlike cl
assical
condit
ioningwher et heor iginalbehaviorsar enatur al
,bi ol
ogi
calresponsest oast i
mul us,
operantcondi ti
oning appl ies tov ol
unt aryr esponses whi ch the or gani
sm per forms
deli
beratel
yi n ordert o pr oduce a desi rable outcome.The or ganism oper at
esi ni ts
envir
onment ,producingcer tainoutcomest hatdet ermi newhetherthebehav i
orwil
lr ecur
ornot .Operantcondi tioni ngi salsoknownasi nstr umentalconditioni
ngbecauset he
behavioroft heor ganism i si nst
rument alorf acil
itat
iv einachievi
ngacer taingoal.The
organism isi nstr
ument alorr esponsiblef orgener ating r
ewards fori ts act
ivi
ti
es or
behaviors.

Indevelopingt hetheory,skinnerconduct edexperiment susinganimal

s.Inoneexperiment,
aratwaspl acedinabox( Skinner’sbox),withinwhichwasaf ooddeliv
erymechani sm
withapr essbarandf oodpel l
ets.Thehungr yr atwasf reet omovewithi
nt hebox,andin
searchoff oodi taccidentall
yoroutofcur i
osit
ypr essedt hebar.Thefoodpell
etsdropped
out.Thi sr andom act iv
itywasr epeated,andt heratpr essedthebarmor efrequentl
y.It
fi
nall
ylearntt oconsistentlytopresst hebartoobt ai
nf ood.

Accor
dingt
oSki
nner
,whatst
imul
atedt
hebar
-pr
essi
ngact
ivi
tyi
snoti
mpor
tant
.Whati
s
22
si
gnificanti
st hatt
heratpressedt hebar(r
esponse),andasaresul
tfoodpelletsdropped
(r
einforcement).Whetherornott heratwi l
lrepeatthebehavi
orisdet er
mi nedbyt he
consequencesoft hebehavior
.Ift heconsequencesarenegati
ve,chancesar ethatthe
behav i
orwillbeavoided,butiftheyarepleasant,t
henthebehavi
orwi l
lberepeatedand
sustainedforaslongasitisrei
nforced.

TypesofReinforcement
Thereareseveral t
y pesofr einf orcement ;
1.Positiv
er einforcement -Thi sreferst oany thi
ngwhi chincreasest hepr obabi
lityofa
behav i
ortooccur .I
toccur swhensomet hingdesi rableisgivenoraddedt oincr ease
ther ateofar esponse.Posi tiver ei
nforcementcanbepr imaryorsecondar y .A
primaryposi tivereinforceri ssomet hi
ngt hatt heor gani
sm doesnothav etolear nt o
li
ke,andcomesnat urall
y ,suchasf ood,wat er ,etc.Asecondar yposi ti
vereinfor cer
issomet hingt hatt heor gani sm hast olearnt ol i
ket hroughcondi ti
oning.
2.Negat i
ver einforcementi ssomet hingwhi chi sr emov edt oincreaset heoccur rence
ofar esponse.I toccur swhensomet hi
ngbadorav ersi
veisr emov ed.Itmayi nv olve
remov alofpuni shment .Puni shmentcanal sobeposi t
iveornegat ive.Posi tive
punishmentr eferst ot heappl i
cati
onofsomet hingav ersi
ve,whi chhel psreducea
behav i
or.Negat i
v epuni shmenti st hereduci ngofanundesi r
ablebehav i
orbyt aki ng
awayar ewar d.

SchedulesofRei nforcement
Aschedul eofreinforcementisapr ogram t hatdet ermineshowof t
enabehav iorisgoingt
o
resul
tinar eward.Thef oll
owingaret hemai ntypesofschedul es:
1.Fi xedInt
erval Schedul
e:Ther ewar dsaregi v enaf t
eraf i
xedlengt
hoftime
2.Var iabl
eIntervalSchedule:Reinforcersaredi str
ibutedaft
erav ar
yingl
engt hoftime
3.Fi xedRatioSchedul e:Thebehav iormustoccuracer t
ainnumberoft i
mesbef ore
therewardisgi ven
4.Var iabl
eRat ioSchedule:Reinforcersaredi st r
ibutedbasedonanav er
agenumberof
correctr
esponses, buttheor derisnotdef inite
5.Random Schedul e:Thereisnocor rel
ati
onbet weent hebehavi
orandther ewards.

3.Cogni
tiv
eDev elopmentTheory
Thisappr
oachi sbasedonhowt hi
nkingdevelops,andhowt hi
sdev elopmentisrel
atedto
l
earni
ng.Oneoft hemostpr ominentproponentsoft hi
stheorywasJeanPi aget
.Hedr ew
att
enti
ontothewaychi ldr
enthi
nk, f
ocusingont hecogniti
veprocessandi nparti
cul
arthe
devel
opmentofr easoningandl ogicalt
hinki
ng.Hepr oposedthatt herearequali
tativ
e
di
ffer
encesi
nr easoni
ngamongchi ldrenatdif
ferentl
evelsofcognit
ivedevel
opment .

Cogni
ti
veDev elopment
Devel
opmenti sdef i
nedbyf ourpr inci
pl efactor
snamel y:-
a)Mat uration-theunf ol
dingoft hegenet i
cplanoflife
b)Exper ience-t heact i
veinteractionoft heindiv
idualwiththeenvi
ronment
c)Soci alt ransmi ssi
on-t he informat i
on and cust oms t hataret r
ansmi t
ted fr
om
parentsandsi gnif
icantot hersint hechild’
senvir
onment
d)Equi li
brium-t hepr ocessbywhi chchildrenseekabal ancebetweenwhatt heyknow
andwhatt heyareexper i
encing.Whent heyaref acedwi t
hinf
ormationthatcall
sfor
newanal ysisoract iv
ity,theyent erast ateofdisequil
ibri
um orimbalance,andthey
mustchanget hewayt heydealwi ththenewi nformationtoestabl
ishanew,mor e
stableequi li
bri
um.
23
Piagetbel
iev
edt hataspeoplemat ur
e,theydevelopconcept
scalledschemas( waysof
l
ookingatandi nter
actwiththewor l
d).Theschemasar econti
nuall
ybeingrefinedasa
resul
tofexperi
ence,thr
oughadaptati
on.Adaptat
ioninvol
vesandassimil
ati
on( absorbi
ng
newi nf
ormati
oni nt
oexist
ingschemas)andaccommodat i
on(modifyi
nginter
nalexisti
ng
schemastofitnewinfor
mat i
onortomeett her
equirement
sofnewexper i
ence).

4.Soci al LearningTheor y
Thist heorysuggest st hatpeopl elearnt hroughimi t
ati
onandmodel i
ng.Thishappens
thr
oughwat chi
ngot herpeoplesuchaspar ent
s,peers,adul
tset c,anddoi ngwhatt heydo.
Sociallearningtheor ywasadv ancedbyAl bertBandura.Itmayt akeplacei nanycont ext
,
social
,mor al,i
ntellectual,emot i
onalorev enphysicalbehav i
or. Childrenpickupt hese
behav i
orsconsci ousl yorunconsci ousl
yt hroughdirectimit
ation,orvicariousconditi
oning
orreinforcement( how seei ngot herrewar dedorpuni shedforpar ti
cularactionincreases
ordecr easesbehav ior).Hedemonst r
atedt hatchil
drencanl earnaggr essionbywat ching
aggressivemov i
esorv iol
enceandv i
cev ersa.

Therearesomef actorsthatfacil
it
atesoci al l
earning.Thesei nclude:-
a)At tenti
on-at tenti
onmustbepai dtot hemodel edbehav iorforittobelearned
b)Memor y-Theobser vedbehav i
ormustbement al
lyprocessedandst oredint helong
-t
erm memor y
c)Ment alski l
ls-Pr acti
ceand r ehear salar enecessar yt or eproducet hebehav i
or
perfectl
y
d)Rei nforcement -Ifthemodel i
sr ewarded, theobser versharest herewar dvi
car i
ously
e)Ident i
fi
cation-a chi l
d mustf eeltheneed t oi denti
fywi t
h someone( hero)for
model i
ngt obeef fecti
ve.
f) Statusoft hemodel -Thehi gherthest atusoft hemodel ,t
hemor eli
kelytheyar eto
becopi ed
g)Nur t
urantmodel -amodelwhoi snur t
uring( fri
endly
,car i
ng,consi derat
e)i smor e
l
ikelytobecopi ed
h)Consi stencyofbehav i
or-Consistentbehav i
orismor elikelytobecopi ed.

MEMORY, RETENTIONANDFORGETTI NG
Int
roduct
ion
Memor yispartandparcelofthelearni
ngprocess.Thisi
spartlybecause,unl
esspast
experi
encecanber emembered,i
tisnotpossibletoconcludethatlear
ningtookplace.
Memor yhelpspeopl
etor ememberf act
sandev ents.Memoryrefer
st otheprocessby
whichpeopl
eencode,st
oreandretr
ieveinf
ormati
on.

StagesofMemory
Researcher
shaveident
if
iedatl
eastt
hreedi
sti
nctst
agesofmemor
y.Thesear
esensor
y,
short-
ter
m andl
ong-t
erm memory.

a)SensoryMemor y-Thisisthememor yatthel evelofthesenses.Senseor gansare

capableofret
aininginformati
on,butonl yf orav eryshor tt
ime.I mmedi atel
yaft
er
experi
enci
ng somet hi
ng,t hesensor ysy stem cont ainsbrieflyan imageoft he
i
ncomi ngi
nfor
mat i
on,evenafterthestimulushasdi sappeared.Thei nformati
onin
thesensor
ymemor yistemporary,lasti
ngforasecondorso.I tinv
olvesacont i
nued
exci
tementofthesenseor ganitself
.Anyi nformationt hati
sr egi
steredinsensory
,
24
 memoryisav ai
l
abl
etobeselect
edforatt
enti
onandforpr
ocessi
ngint
omor e
per
manenttypeofmemor
ycal
l
edtheshor
t-
ter
m memory(
STM),ori
nthel
ong-
ter
m
memory(LTM).

b)Shor t
-t
erm Memor y(STM)
I
nf ormationrecei
vedfr
om thesensoryregi
steri
nrawformisprocessedintheshor
t
-
t erm memor y,wher
eitisr
etainedforashortwhil
e.TheSTM consist
sofwhatisin
theimmedi ateawarenessatanygi v
entime;henceiti
scall
edthewor ki
ngmemor y
.
Thisinformat i
oniseit
herprocessedforfur
therst
orageinamor eper manentway,
oritisignored.

c)Long-ter
m Memor y(LTM)
Thel ong-term memor yist hef inalstor
agef ori nfor
mati
on,and hasunli
mi t
ed
capacityanddur ati
on.Informationint heLTM canbest oredforalif
eti
me.The
tr
ansferofmat eri
alt otheLTM r equi
resapr ocessknownasencodi ng,which
i
nvolvest hepr eparati
onoror ganizat
ionofinformat i
oninausefulandmeaningful
waysot hatitcanbeeasi lyremember ed.Itneedst obeorgani
zedsothati
tcanbe
easi
lyav ail
ableforfutureref
erenceandcanbeupdat edbynewinf
ormati
on.

Duringt
het r
ansferofinformationfrom STM toLTM,i ncominginformationisencodedor
taggedtobef il
edint heappr opr
iateplace.Ift
hisi snotproperlydone,i tmaynotbe
avail
abl
eoraccessiblelater.Someoft heorgani
zationandf i
l
li
ngappar entlytakesplace
whenonei sasl
eep.Hence, sleepandr estmayenhancet heabil
it
yt orecalll
ear
nt,material
becausether
eislessinterf
erencefrom additi
onali
nformati
on.

Envi
ronment Sensory Shor
t-
ter
m Long-
term
Sti
muli regi
ster
/sensor
y memory(STM) memor y
(i
nput) (LTM)

Di
scarded Forgot
ten
I
nfor
mat i
on i
nformati
on

I
nformat i
onProcessi
ngforRetent
ion
Typesoflongterm memory
i. Epi sodi
cmemor y–per sonalmemor i
esandev ent
sexperi
encedinaspecifi
cti
me
andplace.
i
i. Semant i
cmemor y–factsandconcept snotli
nkedtoaparti
cularti
me
i
i
i. Pr oceduralmemory–mot orski
l
lsandhabits–knowledgeof‘how’
i
v. Emot i
onalmemory–l earnedemotionalr
esponsestovari
ousst i
mulie.
g.Di
sgust
,
fear,
anxiety

Memor
yRetr
iev
al
Thi
sisthe pr
ocess ofr
etur
ning LTM cont
entt
o STM f
oranal
ysi
s orawar
eness.
25
Somet i
mes, acuemaybenecessar yinmemor yr
etri
eval
.Acueisastimulusorahi ntt
hat
tr
iggersretr
ieval
.Researchhasfoundt hatwhenthinki
ngortheretr
iev
alpr ocessislef
t
unfi
nished,thebrai
nwi l
lkeepwor ki
ngont heprobl
em unconsci
ousl
yunt i
lanansweri s
obtai
ned.Thisiscal
ledtheZeigar
nikeff
ect.

FORGETTI NG
For get
tingi
sthei nabi
lit
ytorecal
l
,recognizeorrelear
natani mprovedrate.I
tmaybedue
to storage f
ail
ure,i n whi
ch the memor ytrace was nev ersat i
sfact
oril
y creat
ed or
consoli
datedinit
iall
y.Itmayalsobeduet oretr
ievalf
ail
ure,inwhi chthememor ytr
aceis
presentbutlacksanadequat ecuef orevokingit.Sever
alt heor
ieshav ebeenf ormulat
ed
toexplainhowitoccur s.

i
) DecayTheor y
Thist heoryassumest hatmemor ydisappearsordeter
ior
ateswiththepassageoftime.
There appear st o be decayorf ading ofmemoryt r
aces ofinformati
on due t
ot he
continuousmet abolicprocessesofthebr ai
n.Thetr
acesofinfor
mat i
onthatwerel
earned
sl
owl ydi sintegrateandbecomeext inctastimelapses. Becausewehav eal i
mited
capaci t
yf orpr ocessinginformat
ionr ehear
salcanprev
entdecay.Howev er
,aswemay
agreewi tht histheory,itdoesn’
texplainwhysometi
meswear eabletorememberthings
wel earnedl ongt i
meago.

i
i)Consol i
dati
onTheor y
Thistheoryassumest hatmemor ytr
aceneedsundistur
bedper i
odoft i
met obef i
rmly
fi
xed.Cer t
ainconditi
onsoccurri
ngsoonafteranexperi
encecaner adi
catethememor y
beforeitbecomesper manent. Phy
sicalandemotionalshockcancausef orget
ti
ngof
recenteventspossiblyduetot hedi
srupt
ionofnormalneuralf
uncti
oning.Forexampl e,
peoplewhosuf ferbrai
ninjur
ymaynotr ememberwhathappenedbeforeanaccidenteven
thought hei
rmemor yoft hedist
antpastisnormal. Theaccidentdisr
uptsimmediate
memor iesbeforetheyhaveachancetoconsoli
dat
e.

ii
i
)I nterfer enceTheor y
Thist heorypr oposest hatf orget
tingoccursbecauseofwhathappensbet weenpoi ntA,
whent hei nfor mat ioni slearntandpoi ntB,whent hepersoni srequiredt orecallwhat
he/shel ear nedawhi l
eago.Wef orgetsomethingbecauseot herinformat i
onblocksi ts
ret
rieval.Thi st ypeoff orgetti
ngiscommonwi t
hsimi l
armaterials.Ther earetwot ypesof
i
nterference ef fect ,namel yr etr
oactiveinhi
bit
ion and proact i
vei nhibit
ion.Ret r
oactive
i
nhibitioninv olvesf orgett
ingsomet hi
ngbecausei nfor
mationlear nedaf t
erwardinterferes
withit.Forexampl e,whenachi ldgoest oschoolandst art
st ol earnasecondl anguage
say,Ki swahi lihe/ she may hav e diffi
cul
ti
es inr emember i
ng hi s/hermot hert ongue.
Proact i
vei nhibitioni nvolvesforgetti
ngsomet hi
ngbecausei nformat i
onl earnedprev i
ously
orearlierinterfereswi thit
.

i
v)Mot i
vatedFor getti
ngTheory
Thi
st heoryassumest hatwewi shtof orgetsomethingunpleasantorsomet hi
ngt hat
wouldcausepai n,anxi et
yorembar rassment .Insuchcasest heinformati
oni snot
for
gotten becausei tisst il
lintheLTM and coul d beremember ed i
fthepr otecti
ve
mechanism wereov ercome.I nshort
,wef orgetcer
tai
nexperi
encesasamat terofchoice.
v)Retri
evalFailureTheory
Thi
st heoryassumest hatmemor i
esst oredinLTM ar eneverforgot
tenbutr at
herar e
26
short
lyinaccessi
bleasar esul
tofinterference,emot i
onalst
ateandl
ackofadequat ecues.
Sometimeswemayr equir
ethesetti
ngi nwhi chwel earntt
obeabletorecal
l.Forexample,
sol
diersmayr ecal
lbet t
erift
heyaret estedinther oom orfi
eldt
heyweret r
ained.Wemay
fai
ltor ecal
lsomet hingatapar ti
cul armoment ,butwhencondi t
ionsaredi ff
erentt
he
i
nformationcomesbackmor eorlessaut omatical
l
y .

Howt oImpr ov eMemor y

Therearesev er almet hodst hatcanbeusedt oi mpr ov etheabi l
it
yt or etaininformat i
oni n
theLTM.
1.Recitat ion:Thi smet hodi nv ol
v esr epeat ingwhathasbeenl ear nt,amet hodwhi ch
impr ov esr etri
eval
2.Summar izing:Thi sinv olvespar aphr asingofmaj orpointsoft hel earntmat er i
al,and
ithelpst oenhancememor y
3.Ov er-l
ear ning:Thi smeansl earningbey ondt hepoi ntofmast er y
.Iti sbeneficialwi th
mat erial thatneedst ober emember edf oral ongt i
me.
4.Chunki ng:Thi sinv olvesgr oupi ngasetofi t
emsi ntosubgr oupsf oreasyr ecal l
.It
maybeappl icablet ot elephonenumber s.
5.Spacedpr act i
ce:Thi si sabouthav i
ngbr eaksi nbet weent heper iodofst udy.The
breakal lowst hemi ndt ostor einformat ion, andi sbetterthancont i
nuousst udy.
6.Sleep/r est :Sleepingorr est i
ngaf terst udyr educesi nterf
er enceandenhances
memor yconsol i
dation.
7.Rev i
ew: Thi sinvolvesgoi ngov erthel ear ntconcept sagai nandagai n.
8.Organi zat i
on:Mat erialt hati sl earntcanbeor ganizedt oenhancer ecall.Thismay
callforbr eaki ngitint osmal l
eruni tsandl inkingt hem toeachot her,sot hatrecal lof
onel eadst ot herecal l oftheot her.
9.Cueing: thismayi nvolv ehi ghlightingt hekeyconcept sort ermst hathel pinr ecall.
10.
Mnemoni c dev i
ces:These ar e st rategi es used t o aid memor y .They i nv olve
organi zat ionofi nfor mat i
onv i
suallyorv erballyf oreasyr ecall
, usingspeci alphr ases
orsy mbol st hatrepr esentgr oupi nformat ion.

HUMANPERSONALI TY
Personal it
yr eferst ot hepsy chol ogicalandbehav iouralcharact
eristi
csbywhi cheach
personcanbei dentif
ied,andt herebycompar edandcont rastedwit
hot herpeopl
e.Those
aspect s ofhuman behav i
ourt hatmake each per son unique also compr ise their
personal it
y.Iti
st heper sonali
tywhi chmakespeopl et oactinaconsi stentandpredictable
mannerbot hindi ff
erentsituationsandov erextendedper i
odsoft i
me.I tcanbeseenas
thet otalor ganizationofani ndi vi
dual ’
scharacter
,temper ament,intell
ectandphy sique
whichi sr esponsi bleforhis/heradj ustment.Temper amentcanbeseenast heinherited
dispositionsunder lyi
ngper sonal i
ty;t heemot i
onsandt emperwhi char econtrol
ledby
biologicalenzy mesi nt hebody .Theabi l
i
tytocont rolone’semotionsi sr ef
err
edt oas
temper ament .Char acter,
ont heot herhand, encompassessuchqual it
iesashonesty ,self
-
cont r
ol,senseofj usti
ceandper sistence.

Theori
esofPersonal i
ty
Therearedif
ferentway sinwhichourper cepti
onofotherpeopletakesplace.Ourbeli
efs
aboutwhichchar acter
ist
icsortrai
tstendt oclust
ertoget
herinindivi
duals,t
oget
herwith
sci
enti
fi
call
yest abl
ishedprinci
plesaboutthebehav i
ourofdif
ferentpeopleundervar
ying
ci
rcumstances,hav er esul
ted i
nt he developmentofv ari
ous theori
es ofpersonal
ity
.
27
Theoriesofper sonal i
tyhel pust opr edicthowsomeonei sgoi ngt obehaveont hebasisof
theprev ail
ingper sonal i
tychar acteri
sticsandt hesituationaper soni sin.
1.Psy chody nami cTheor yofPer sonal i
ty
Accordingt oFr eud, therear ethreelev elsofconsciousness:
 Co nscious( smal l
):thi
si sthepar tofthemi ndt hathol dswhaty ouar eawar eof.You
canv erbal i
zeabouty ourconsci ousexper ienceandy oucant hi
nkabouti tina
logical f
ashi on.
 Pr econsci ous( smal lmedi um) :thisisordinarymemor y .Soal t
hought hingsstored
her earen’tint heconsci ous,t
heycanber eadilybroughti ntoconscious.
 Un consci ous( enormous) :Freudf eltthatt hispar toft hemi ndwasnotdi rectly
accessi blet oawar eness.I npar t,hesaw itasadumpboxf orurges,feeli
ngsand
ideast hatar et i
edt oanxi ety
,conf li
ctandpai n.Thesef eeli
ngsandt houghtshav e
notdi sappear edandaccor dingt oFreud,t heyar ether e,exer t
inginfl
uenceonour
act i
onsandourconsci ousawar eness.
Wecanuset hemet aphorofani ceber gtohelpusi nunder standi ngFreud'
st opographical
theor
y

Fr
eud'
sVi
ewoft
hehumanmi
nd

SigmundFreudconceiv
edofpersonali
tyasadynamicsystem ofenergi
esdir
ectedby
threestr
uct
ures:t
heid,t
heegoandt hesuperego.Eachisacompl exsyst
em init
sown
ri
ght,andbehavi
ouri
nmostsituat
ionsinvol
vestheact
ivi
tyofallt
hree.

TheI d
Thei di smadeupofi nheri
tedbiol
ogicali
nsti
nctsandurgespresentatbir
th.Iti
s“ self
-
serving”,i
rrati
onal,impulsiv
eandt otall
yunconscious.Theidoper at
esont hepl
easur e
principl
e,meani ngt hatpleasur
e.Newbor ninfantsaresometi
mesdescr i
bedas“ allid,
”
sincet heydesirei mmedi at
esatisf
actionoftheirneeds.Mostidener gi
esaredirected
towar dsdischargeoft ensi
onsassociatedwi
thsexandaggressi
on.

TheEgo
Theego,someti
mesdescri
bedast he“
execut
ive”
,drawsi
tsener
giesf
rom t
heid.Theego
winspowertodi
rectt
hepersonal
i
tybymatchi
ngt hedesi
resoft
heidwit
hexter
nalreal
i
ty.

28
Theegoi sdi rectedbyt hereali
typr i
ncipl
e( whichi nvol
vesdel ay
ingact i
onuntilitis
appropr
iat
e).Theoper ati
onofther eali
typri
ncipleresult
sin“secondaryprocesst
hinking”,
whichisbasicall
yr eal
isti
cal
lyprobl
em sol vi
ng.Theegoi stherebyasy st
em ofthinking,
pl
anninganddeci ding.Itisi
nconsci ouscontrolofthepersonali
ty.

Superego
Thesuperegoact sasaj udgeorcensorf orthet houghtsoract ionsoft heego.Onepar t
ofthesuper ego,cal
ledtheconscience,representsallactionsforwhi chaper sonhasbeen
punished.The“ egoideal
”representsallbehav iourone’spar entsappr ovedorr ewarded.
The“ egoideal”i
sasour ceofgoal sandaspi r
ation.InFr eud’
sv iew, apersonwi t
hapoor ly
developedsuperegomayexhi bitadel i
nquent ,criminalorant i
-soci
alper sonali
ty.I n
contrast,an ov er
ly st
ri
ctorr epressi
ve superego wi llcause i nhi
biti
ons,r i
gidi
ty or
i
ntolerableguil
t.

Per sonali
tyDevelopment
SigmundFr eud’stheoryofhumandev el
opmentprovidesaclearpi
ctureofhowaperson’
s
per sonal
itydev el
opsf rom childhoodupt oadulthood. Thecumul ati
vetreat
mentand
i
nt eracti
onsubj ectedtoaper son,ri
ghtfr
om birt
ht hr
oughthegrowthstagesunti
lone
attainsadulthood,inf
luencesthekindofpersonal
i
tyt hataper
sondev el
ops.

OralStage(0- 1yr)
Duri
ngt hefirstyearofl
ife,mostoft heinf
ant’
spleasurecomesf rom st
imul
ationofthe
mout h.Ifachi l
disover
fedorfrustr
ated,or
altr
ait
smaybecr eated.Adultexpressi
onsof
or
al needsinclude,gum-
chewing,nai
lbiti
ng,smoki
ng,kissi
ng,
ov ereati
ngandalcoholi
sm.

AnalStage(1–3y rs)
Betweent heagesofoneandt hr
eey ears,thechi ld’sat t
enti
onshi ft
st otheprocessof
el
iminati
on.Whenhi sparentsattempttot oilet
-tr
ainhi m,thechildcangai napprovalor
aggressi
onby“ hol
dingon”or“ let
tinggo”.Ther efore,harsht oi
lettr
ainingmayest abl
ish
suchresponsesasaper sonali
tytr
ait.Fr
eudchar acterizedthe“analretenti
on”(
holdingon)
personal
it
yasobst inat
e,stingy,orderl
yandcompul si
vel
ycl ean. The“ analexpulsi
ve”
(l
etti
nggo)personal
ityi
sdisorderl
y,destr
ucti
v e,cruel ormessy .

Phal l
icStage( 3–6y r
s)
Stagechar acteri
zedbyi ncreasedsexuali nterestcausest hechi l
dtobecomephy sicall
y
attractedtot heparentoftheoppositesex.I nmal es,
thisgeneratesthe“Oedipusconfli
ct”,
i
nwhi cht heboyf eelsri
valedbyhisfat herfort heaffecti
onoft hemot her.Freudfeltthe
fathert hr
eatenst hemale-child.Toal l
eviatehi sanxiet
ies,theboymusti dent
if
ywi t
ht he
father.I dentif
icati
oncauseshi mt ot aket hef at
her’svaluesandt oform aconscience.
Thecount erparttotheOedi pusconf
lict,the“ El
ectra-
confli
ct,
”thegirll
ovesherf at
herand
compet eswi t
ht hemother.

Lat
ency(7–11y r
s)
Thi
sisnotastagebutaninter
lude,dur
ingwhichsexualneedsarequi
etandchi
l
drenput
psy
chicener
gyint
oconvent
ionalacti
vi
ti
esli
keschool
wor kandsport
s.

GenitalStage(12onwar ds)
Thegeni talst
agebegi nsatpubertyandi smarkedbyagrowingcapaci
tyf
ormatureand
responsiblesocialandsexualrel
ationshi
ps.Thegeni
talst
agecul
minatesi
nhet
erosexual
l
ov eandt heattainmentofful
ladultsexual
it
y.

29
EgoDef enseMechani sms
OneofFr eud’smosti mpor tantcont ri
butionst opsychologywashi sconcept uali
zati
onof
theego- defensemechani sms.Hev i
ewedper sonal
ityasanener gysy st
em wi t
hpsy chic
energybei ngdist r
ibutedamongt heid,egoandsuper ego.Thei dor igi
nall
yhadal lt he
psychicener gy,butt heegoal soneedspsy chi
cener gyt of unction.Hence,ast ateof
confli
ctexi st
sbet weent hedr ivi
ngf or
cesoft heidandr estrai
ningf orcesoft heegoand
superego.Mostoft het ime,t heout erforcesoft hewor l
df unctiont osatisfythewi shes
ego,butsomet imest heegoi st hreatened.Wheni treceivesexcessi v estimulati
on,i tis
fl
oodedwi thanxiety.Thi sanxi etyisint hreeforms:realityanxiety-causedbydanger si n
theext ernalworld;neur oticanxi ety
-resultingfrom feart hatthei nsti
nctswi llgetoutof
controlandcauset hei ndividualt odosomet hingforwhi cht heymi ghtgetpuni shed;and
moral anxietywhichist hef earoft heconsci ence.

Anxi
etyser vesani mport
antf uncti
onofwar ni
ng i ndi
v i
dualsofi mpendi ng dangerby
si
gnali
ngt heegot hatunl
essappr opri
atemeasur esar etaken,theegowi l
lbeov erthrown.
Anxi
ety,therefore,isastateoft ensi
ont hatmot i
v atesani ndivi
dualintoaction.Whent he
ego cannotdealwi ththe anxietythrough r at
ionalmet hods,itr esort
st o unrealisti
c
measuresknownasegodef ensemechani sms.Thesei ncludethef ol
lowing:
1.Repr ession-invol
vesr emov alofpai nfulordanger oust houghtsandexper iences
from consci ousawar enessthroughsel ecti
v eamnesi a.Forexampl e,aper sonwho
haswi t
nessest hemur derofthemot hermaynoteasi l
yforgetthistr
aumat icev ent,
butmaypushi ttotheunconsci ous.Thi sr emov alishowev ernotcompl ete,and
mayber evealedt
hroughdr eamsorsl ipofthet ongue.
2.Compensati
on-whenaper sontriestogetwhattheymi ssedinanotherway.A
marri
edcouplewi
thoutachi
ldmayl av
ishadogwiththelovetheycoul
dhavegiv
en
toachil
d,apersonwhoi snotveryattr
act
iveandisunabletogetaf r
iendoft
he
opposi
tesexmaydevotetostudi
es.
3.Reacti
onfor
mati
on-invol
vesadefensi
vereact
ioninwhichadangerousimpul
seis
repl
acedbyafeel
ingorbehavi
ourpatt
ernthatisjustt
heopposi
te.Forexampl
ea
personwhohat
esanothermayshowerthem wi
thloveandaf
fect
ionopenly.
4.Denial
-i
nvol
vesther
efusalt
oacknowl
edgeunpl
easantr
eal
i
tiesbysi
mplyignori
ng
thei
rexist
ence.Acommonexampl ei
sthatmanypeoplemaydenythereali
tyof
deathofsomeonecl
ose.
5.Rational
izati
on-involvescomi ng up wi
thlogical
,ethicalorsoci
all
yacceptabl
e
reasonsf oraperson’sbehaviour
.Forexamplewhenpeopl emakeawr ongchoi
ce,
theymayconv i
ncet hemselvesthattheydi
dnotr eall
yneedwhattheywant ed-t
o
softentheblowofdi sappoi
ntmentandunablethem tocope.
6.Project
ion-apersonmaydi rectthei
runacceptabl
efeel
i
ngst owardsother s,or
bl
ameot hersf
orhis/herownfaul
ts.Hemayal sowishtoseewhathewi shesi n
otherpeople.Astudentwhodoesnotl i
keat eachermayclai
mt hatthet eacher
doesnotl i
kehi
m.
7.I
denti
ficati
on-Thi
sappli
eswhensomeoneadmi r
esanot
herpersonsost
rongl
ythat
theybegintobehaveandactli
kethatper
son.Thei
dent
ifi
cat
ionmayalsobeused
byaper sontogetwhatt
heywant.
8.Subl
imati
on-Refer
stothere-channel
i
ngofone’sinter
estsandacti
vi
ti
esintofai
rl
y
si
mil
aractiv
iti
eswhentheori
ginall
ydesi
redgoalcannotbeobtai
ned.Forexample,
astudentwhof ai
lst
oqual i
fyforamedi calpr
ofessionmayf i
ndsatisf
acti
onin
30
 par
amedi
cal
cour
sessuchasphar
macyornur
sing.
9.Displ
acement-i
nvol
vesshif
tofemot i
onfrom at
hreat
eni
ngtargett
oasaf erone.
Forexample,amanwhoi sharassedbythebossatworkgethomet ohar
assthe
wife,
whomayi ntur
nharassthehouse-
hel
p.
10.
Regressi
on-happenswhenaper sonexhi
bit
sbehavi
ourthati
schar
acter
ist
icofan
ear
li
erdev el
opmentalstage.Adultsusi
ngthisdef
encemechanism mayweepi n
cer
tainsi
tuati
ons,oranolderchi
l
dmaysomet i
mesrever
ttobed-
wet
ti
ng.
11.
Rational
izati
on-Thisissometi
mescalledthe“sourgr
apessy ndr
ome”.Aperson
who f ai
lst o achiev
e a goalmay end up argui
ng thatthatgoalhas many
disadvantages.Forexampl
e,apersonwhofai
lstomakeitinschoolmayar
guet
hat
learnedpeopledon’tmakealotofmoneyanyway.

CREATI
VITY

I
ntr
oduct
ion

I
nt hi
schapter,wearegoingt oexplor
et heconceptofcr eati
vi
ty,whichpsy chol
ogi
sts
di
sagreeastowhetherornotisthesameasi ntel
l
igencewhi chwehav ediscussedinthe
pr
ev i
oustopi
c.Aswewor kthroughthi
stopicthi
nkaboutindivi
dualsinyourcommuni t
y
whom youcoulddescr
ibeascreati
ve.Inaddit
iont
odef i
ningcreati
vi
tywewi lll
ookathow
i
tcanbeenhanced.

Def
ini
ti
onofCr
eat
ivi
ty

Whati screat i
vi
t y? Thecr eativethinker,whetheranar t
ist,musician,wr i
ter,designeror
painterist
ryingt ocreatesomet hingnew.Asment ionedintheintroduction,psychologi
sts
disagreeast owhet hercreat i
vit
yi sthesameasi ntel
li
gence.Att hemoment ,thereseem
tobet woschool soft hought :t hosewhosubscr i
bet othet houghtt hatintel
li
gencear e
par tofcr eati
vityand t hose who sayt hatthe two arei ndependentofeach ot her
(Mwamwenda,1995) . Cr eativ
ityl i
ke intel
li
gence i
sa t rai
tofhuman behav iourthat
everybodypossessest osomedegr ee.Ther earepeoplewithverylowi ntel
li
genceast here
arepeopl ewi thv erylow cr eati
v i
ty. Ther earefew geniusesasi dentif
iedbyt est
sof
i
nt el
li
gence,ast herearev eryfewhi ghlycreati
vepeople.

Creati
vit
yr ef
erst o“thecapaci
tyofi ndi
vi
dualstoproducenov eloror i
ginalanswersor
products”(Lefr
ancois,1997:
255). Beinghighlyint
elli
gentdoesnotmeanaper sonis
necessari
lycreati
ve.Therearecreati
vepeoplewithordi
naryint
ell
i
genceaswel laspeople
withhighi nt
ell
igencewhoar enotcr eati
ve. Measuresofi nt
ell
igencerequir
et hatone
comes up wi t
h commonl y accepted answers. Measur es ofcr eat
ivi
tyrequirethe
respondenttocomeupwi t
hnov elandunusualanswers.

Creati
vi
tyent ai
lsori
ginal
i
t y. Tobecr eati
ve,anideaorproductmustbeori
ginaland
appropri
ate. Creat
ivesoluti
onsandi deasarenew andpeoplehavenott
houghtabout
them before.Theemphasi sincr
eat
ivethinki
ngisonthewor
dNew.

31
Nat
ureofCr
eat
iveThi
nki
ng

Creativethi
nki
ngischar acteri
zedbydi vergentt hi
nking,whi chist heabi l
itytopr oducea
widev ar
iet
yofsol utionst o apr oblem. I ti sat ypeofi maginativepr oblem sol ving
techniquethatinvolvescomi ng up wi thsev eraldiff
er entand unusualsol utionst oa
problem. Ont heot herhand,Conv ergentt hinki
ngwhi chisamaj orchar acteri
sti
cof
i
ntell
igencetest
inginv olv
espr oduci
ngonecor rectsolutiont oaproblem.I tist heabi l
i
tyt o
produceoner el
ati
velywel ldefi
nedorconv entionalsolutiont oapr oblem.I tseemst hat
somepeopl earepr edisposedt oprovideconv er
gentsol ut
ionsandot hersdopr oduce
diver
gentones,nomat terwhatt heproblem is.Thissuggest sthatcreativ
ityisinborn.

Di
ver
gentthinkingwhi chisequat edtocreati
vi
tyhasf ourmaj orchar
act er
ist
ics:
 Fl
uency:Thi sist heabilit
yt oproducenumer ousr esponsest oast imul
usorpr obl
em.
Forexampl e, t
henumberofsuggest i
onsy oucangi vefort hevar
ioususesofdi scar
ded
ty
resorpaper .
 Fl
exibi
li
ty:Fl exibi
lityr
eferstot heabi
lit
ytoapproachapr oblem f
rom av ari
etyofangl
es
wit
houtget ti
ngf i
xedorst uckonanyonei npart
icular.
 Ori
ginal
it
y : Thi si stheabi l
it
yt omakeunusualorout -
oft heordinaryresponses(i
.e.
,
hownov elorunusual ar esponseis).
 El
aborati
on:El abor at
ionreferstotheabil
ityt
oaddr i
chnessordet ailtoaresponse.

Assessi
ngCr
eat
ivi
ty

Oneofthesimplest(andmostunrel
iabl
e)met
hodsofidenti
fyi
ngcreat
ivet
alenti
stohave
t
eacher
sr at
est udents.However
,teacher
smayfailt
or ecognizegi
ft
ednessinstudent
s
whoarenothigh-achi
ever
s.

Creativ
itycan bei denti
fied mor ereli
abl
ybyusi ng creativetests. Oneoft hemost
commonl yused testofcr eati
v i
tyi
st heTor r
anceTest sofCr eativeThinki
ng (TTCT)
developedbyE.PaulTor rance. Thesetestsmeasur et hefourf eatur
esofdi ver
gent
thi
nking;f l
uency,fl
exibil
it
y ,origi
nal
it
yand el aborat
ion. Forexampl e,one such test
presentsani ndivi
dualwi thacommonobj ect,suchasacup,t i
norabr ickandasks
him/hert othinkofasmanyusesoft heobjectas possi ble.Responsesar escoredfor
ori
ginali
ty,f
luencyandflexibil
it
y.

Tobeor i
ginal,aresponsemustbegi venbyfewertan5or10peopl eoutofev ery100who
takethetest.Fluencyissimpl
ythenumberofdi f
ferentr
esponses.Flexi
bil
i
tyismeasur ed
bycountingt henumberofdi ff
erentcategor
iesofresponses.Forexampl e,ifyoulist
ed
twentyusesf orat i
ncanbuteachusei sat ypeofcontai
ner,y
ourfluencyscoremi ghtbe
high,
buty ourfl
exibi
li
tyscorewouldbequitel
ow.

St
agesofCr
eat
iveThi
nki
ng

Cr
eat
ivet hi
nkingproceedsthroughf i
vestagesasf oll
ows:
i
) Or i
ent
ation: I
nt heor ient
ati
onst age,thepr oblem isdefi
nedandi tsimportant
dimensionsareidenti
fied.
i
i
) Preparati
on: Preparati
oni nvol
vessat uratingonesel fwit
hasmuchi nf
ormation
pertai
ningtotheproblem aspossi bl
e.Onei dentifi
esasmanyr el
evantfactsabout
theproblem ashe/shecanf ind.
i
i
i) I ncubat i
on:Thisisast ageinwhi challtheat temptedsoluti
onsmaypr ovefuti
leor
i
rrelev
ant .Ifasolutioni snotfor t
hcomi ng,pr oblem sol
vi
ngmaypr oceedona
32
 subconsci ousl evel.Whi l
et hepr oblem seemst obesetasi de,thet hinkermay
haveexper iencest hatprovidecluest othesol uti
onunconsci ously.Unconsci ousl y
,
thoughtpr ocessi satwor kdur i
ngt hi
sper iodofi ncubat i
oninwhi cht hesol uti
oni s
“cooking”att hebackgr ound.
i
v) Il
lumination:Thest ageofi ncubationisof t
enendedbyar apidinsightoraser ies
ofinsight s.Thesepr oducest he“ Aha”or“ I
”hav egoti t”exper i
encei nwhi chan
i
deat ot hesol uti
onspr i
ngsupi ntoconsci ousness.
v
) Verif
ication: Ver ifi
cati
oni nvolv
est estingandcr it
icall
yev aluati
ngt hesol ution
obtai
neddur ingt hepreviousst age. I ft hesol uti
onpr ovesf aulty
,t het hinker
rever
tst ot hest ageofi ncubation. Frequent ly
,t hei nsi
ghtmayt urnoutt obe
unsatisfact ory.I not hercases,t hei nsighti sgener all
ysat isf
actory,butneeds
somemodi fi
cat i
on,ort hesol ut
ionofmi norproblemst obear eall
y“ goodnew
i
dea”.

Char
act
eri
sti
csofCr
eat
iveThi
nker
s

Cr
eati
vepeopl eseem t ohav esomeper sonali
tyfeat uresi
ncommon( Mor gan, Ki
ng,Weisz
&Schopler,1986) .Cr eat ivepeopl eingener altendt obe:
 Foundatanygi v enl evelofi ntell
i
gence. Cr eati
vethinki
ngdoesnotseem t obe
correlatedwi thint el l
igence( Lefrancois,1997) .
 Tal entedi nsomephy sicalway .Forexampl e,inmusi c,mat hemat ics,art
,dancing
andsoon.Thati s,t heyt endt ohav ecer tainspecif
icabili
tiest hatt heycanusei n
theirsearchf ornewi deas.
 Di l
igent.
 St ronglymot i
vat edt owor katsol vi
ngpr oblems.
 Mor eindependenti nt heirjudgement s.
 Opent onew exper iences. Theyaccepti r
rati
onalthought sandar euninhibi
ted
aboutt heirfeelingsandf ant asies.
 Resi stantt oconv ent i
onalappr oachest hathav ebeendet er minedbyot hersand
woul dratherdot hei rownt hingsev enifiti
sunpopul aroruncomf orming.
 Hav inggr eatert hanav erager angeofknowl edgeandi nterestsandt obemor e
fl
uenti ncombi ningi deasf rom v ari
oussour ces.
 Hav ingapr efer encef orcompl exityandsomedegr eeofappar enti mbalancein
phenomenon.
 Wi lli
ngt otaker i
sks.
 Abl et oabst ract, or ganizeandsy nt
hesizeideas.
 Abl et ogener ateor i
ginal ideasandexpr essions.

Pr
omot
ingCr
eat
ivi
ty

Creat
ivi
tyshoul
dbeencour agedinmostofwhathumansdo.Thi sisimport
antbecause
thesocial
,pol
it
ical
,mil
it
arylearni
ng,educat
ionalandeconomicproblemsexperi
encedin
ourcountrytodayrequi
recr eati
vethi
nkingandsol ut
ions. Cr
eati
vet hi
nki
ngcouldbe
devel
opedamongpeopl ethrough:

 All
owi ngf r
eedom f orexpression. peopl
eneedf r
eedom t
oexpressthei
rv i
ews
withoutfearofbeingpunished, r
idi
cul
edorcr i
ti
cized.
 Givingconstruct
ivecrit
ici
sm.I ftheanswergivenbyaper sondoesnotmakesense
thenoneshoul dt oldwhyi ti snotcor r
ectwi thouthumil
iat
ingordi
scouragi
ng
him/ herfr
om part
icipat
ion.
 Encour agi
ngunusual andchallengi
ngquestions.
33
  Brai
nstorming,inwhi chpeopl eareaskedt ocomeupwi thasmanysol utionst oa
probl
em aspossi ble.Thesol uti
onsar ethendiscussed, evaluatedandcrit
icized.
 Provi
dingoppor t
uni t
iesf orcr
eativethinki
ng.Thi scanbeachi evedthr
oughaski ng
peopletosuggestdi fferentwaysofsol vi
ngapr oblem.
 Recognizi
ngandr ewar dingcreati
vecont r
ibut
ionsf r
om peopl eev enwhent heyar e
notexpected.
 Provi
dingdiverselear ni
ngexper i
encesandchoi cesf orallper sons.Thiswi l
lfoster
whatevercreati
vit
yexi stsineveryperson.
 Encouragingcontributionsandquest ionsinsteadofdi smi ssingthem asi r
relevant
orstupid.

War shavebecomeverysophi
sti
catedandther
efor
emi l
i
tar
ypersonnelneedt
obehi ghl
y
createdt
ocope.Trai
ningoncr
eativ
ethinki
ngcanbegi
ninourschool
sandbeextendedto
tr
ainingi
nst
it
uti
ons.

I
NTELLI
GENCE

Def
ini
ti
onofI
ntel
l
igence

Whati sIntel
li
gence?I ntelli
gencehasbeenoneoft hemostdi ff
icultconcept st odefinein
psychology.Dif f
erentpsy chologistshavedef i
nedthetermi ntel
ligencedi fferent
ly. Dav i
s
(1983:434)definesintell
igenceas“ theabi
lit
ytolearnquickl
y ,solvepr oblems,under stand
compl exandabst ractissues,andgener al
lybehaveinreasonabl e,rati
onalandpur posef ul
manner ”. Huffman etal ,(
. 1995:245)definesitast hecogni tiveabi li
tiesempl oyedi n
acquiri
ng,remember i
ngandusi ngknowl edgeofone’ scult
uret osol veev erydayproblems
andtor eadil
yadaptt oandf uncti
oni nbothachangingandst ableenv ironment .According
to Wechsl er(1975) ,intell
i
gence r efer
st ot he globaland aggr egate capaci tyofan
i
ndividualt othinkr ati
onally,to actpur poseful
lyand t o dealef fectivelywi th hi
s/her
envir
onment .

Alt
hought heset hr
eedefi
nit
ionsar
emor ecomprehensiv
et hanothers,alookatwhat
psychologiststhoughtto be the components ofintel
li
gence wil
lgive us a bet
ter
understandingofwhati tis. Foral ongtimepsychol
ogistscouldnotagr eeonwhat
abi
lit
iesani ntel
l
igencet
estshoul
dmeasur e.

Spearman( 1927)pr oposedt hatintel

ligenceiscomposedofasi nglefactororageneral
cogniti
veabi l
ityt hatenabl espeopl etor eason,
sol
veproblemsanddowel li
nallar
easthat
requi
recogni ti
on( Huf fman etal .,1995) . Hecall
edt hisgeneralabili
tythegf act
or.
Thurstone( 1938)pr oposedt hatintell
igenceiscomposedofsev endist
inctpri
marymental
abil
it
ies(PMA)t hathebel ievedwer eindependentofeachother.Theyincluded:
 v erbalcompr ehension/ abil
ity
 wor l
df l
uency
 numer ical
 per cept ual speed
 memor y
 spat ial(todowi t
hspace)abi l
it
y
 r easoning.
LaterPaul Guilford( 1967)i dent i
fi
edasmanyas120i ntel
lectual
abil
it
ies.

34
Ray mond Cat t
ellpr oposed thati nt
ell
igence consi st s of two component s,namel y
crystall
i
zedandf l
uidintel
li
gence.Cr ystall
izedi ntell
igencer efer
st otheknowl edgeand
exper i
enceaper sonaccumul atesduringhi slifeandi sassessedbyt estsofv ocabul
ary
andi nformati
on( Mwamwenda,1995) . Thiski ndofi ntell
i
genceincreaseswi t
hage,but
maydecl i
neduri
ngol dage.Fluidintel
l
igence, whi chisi nnate,
incl
udesaper son’
sabili
tyto
reason,discri
minateandengagei nabstractt hinking.I tisgeneti
candconsi stsofour
capacityforl
earningnewknowl edgeandsol vi
ngpr oblems.

I
n1983,Howar dGardnerpr oposedt hetheoryofmul t
ipleintell
igence.Hepost ulat
edt hat
i
ntell
igenceconsi stsoft hef ollowingabi l
it
ies:
 abi l
it
iesi nlanguage.
 v isual andspat ialthinking.
 musi cal.
 bodyki nestheti
cski lls(e.g.
, dancingandat hleti
cabi l
it
ies).
 I ntraper sonalskil
ls( e.g.self-knowledge)
 i nterpersonalski l
lsorsoci alcompet ence( l
eader shi
pandsoci alabili
ti
esincluding
theabi l
itytoshowi nterestinot hersandt ointer
actef fectiv
elywi ththem).
Hef eltt hatsomepeopl et endt oexceli nsomear easofi ntell
i
gencet hani nother s.
Therefore,i ntelli
gence t esting shoul d consistofassessi ng a per son’s st
rengt
hs i n
di
fferentar easr atherthancomi ngupwi t
hasi ngleIQscor e(Gar dner,1986) .

Perhapsnowy ouunderstandwhypsy chol

ogi
stshavehaddi ff
icul
ti
esindef i
ningtheterm
i
ntel l
igence. Di f
ferentpsychol
ogistshaddi f
fer
entv i
ewsonwhati tis. Althoughmany
vi
ews on t he component s ofintel
li
gence exi
sted,manycont emporarypsy chol
ogists
believet hatint
elli
genceiscomposedofmanydi ffer
entabil
it
iesbutnotonegener alabi
lit
y.
Inv i
ew oft hi
s,ourschoolsy stem should provi
del ear
ning envi
ronmentst ail
ored t
o
student s’uniquest r
engthsandlearningstyl
es.Forexampl e,school
sf orperf
ormingar t
s,
science, technologyandsoon.

Measur
ingI
ntel
l
igence

Int
ell
igencet est
sar eusedt omeasur eaper son’
slevelofintell
i
gence.Theset estspr ov i
de
ament alage( MA)whi chwhendi vi
dedbyaper son’schr onologicalage( CA)andt hen
multi
pliedby100gi v esani nt
elli
gentquot ient(I
Q)measur e( i
.e.,ascor eorani ndexof
i
ntell
igence).Thus,t odet ermi
ne/ cal
culateaper sons’intell
i
gencequot i
ent,ment alagei s
div
idedbyhi schronologicalageandt hent heratioi smul ti
pliedby100t oel iminate
decimals.Chr onologicalageisone’ sact ualageiny earsorhis/ herphy si
calage.Ment al
ageisat ypeofscor eex pr
essi
ngment aldev el
opmenti nt er
msoft heagelevelatwhi cha
chil
di sperforming.Forexampl e,ifa10y earoldboydoesaswel lonani nt
ell
igencet est
astheav eragechi l
dof12y ear
s, hisment alageis12.I nt hi
sexampl e,theboy’sIQwoul d
becalculatedasf ol
lows:

I
Q=MAx100=12x100=1.
2X100=120
CA 10

I
fMAequal sCA,I Qwillbe100points,thati
s,t
heIQforanaver
ageperson.Aperson
bel
owav er
agewillhav
eanI Qscor
eofl essthan100poi
ntswhi
l
eapersonaboveav
erage
wil
lhav
eanI Qscoreofabove100points.

Li
kemanyotherpsy
chol
ogicalt
rai
ts,i
ntel
l
igenceseemstobenor
mall
ydist
ri
but
edinthe
popul
ati
oni
nsuchawayt hatmostpeoplemakescor esi
nthemi
ddl
erangewhil
eonl
ya
35
few peoplemakev er
yhighorv erylow scor
es. Thus,theaver
ageI Q ofarandomly
selectedgroupofpeopleonmostt estswouldbeabout100.Thi
spr oducesabel
l-
shaped
distr
ibuti
on,acur
vewhichstat
ist
icianscal
lanormalcurve(
seefi
gure6).

Fi
gur
e6: Ment
alcl
assi
fi
cat
ion

Appr
oximatel
y2.
2%ofthepopulat
ionscore70.Onlyabout2.
2%ofpopul
ati
onscoreov
er
130andabout50% ofthewholepopulat
ionscorebetween90-
100.Attheext
remesof
i
ntel
l
igencear
ethement
all
ygi
ftedandment al
l
yretar
ded.

Tabl
e4: Cl
assi
fi
cat
ionont
hebasi
sofIQ
I
QScor
e Descri
pti
on

130–145 Gift
ed
120–129 Superior
110–119 Bri
ghtnor mal
85–109 Average
70-84 Borderli
ne
55-69 Mildl
yment al
l
yretarded
40-54 Moder atel
ymental
lyretar
ded
25-39 Severelymental
l
yretarded
0-25 Profoundlymental
lyret
arded

Asyoucanseef rom table3,i ndividual

swhoscor elesst han70ar econsi
deredtobe
ment
allyretarded.Someoft hecausesofment al
retar
dationinclude:
 Down’ ssy ndromet hatinvolvesanext rachromosome21i nthebody ’
scell
s.The
personwi l
lhavethreer atherthanapai rofthe21stchromosome.
 Ext remeenv ir
onment aldepr i
vationintheearl
yyearsofl i
fe.
 Genet icinheri
tance.
 Pr enat alenv i
ronment alf actors duri
ng pregnancy such as mal nutr
it
ion,dr
ugs,
chemi calsandr adiati
on.
 Bi r
thi njury.

Howev
er,
inmanycasest
her
emaybenoknowncausef
ort
hement
alr
etar
dat
ion.

36