General Psychology Syllabus (PDF)

Subject: GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY Credits: 4 SYLLABUS A definition of Psychology Practical problems, Methods of Psychology, Work of Psychologists, Schools of psychology, Attention &...

Subject: GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY Credits: 4 SYLLABUS A definition of Psychology Practical problems, Methods of Psychology, Work of Psychologists, Schools of psychology, Attention & Perception - Conscious clarity, determinants of Attention, Distraction, Sensory deprivation, Perceptual constancies, perception of fundamental physical dimensions, Illusions, Organizational factors of perception. Principles of learning Classical conditioning, Operant Conditioning, Principles of reinforcement, Cognitive Learning, Individualized learning, Learner & learning memory - kinds of memory, processes of memory, stages of memory, forgetting. Thinking and language - Thinking process, Concepts. Intelligence & Motivation Theories - Measurement of Intelligence; Determinants; Testing for special aptitudes, Motivation - Motives as inferences, Explanations and predictors, Biological motivation, Social motives, Motives to know and to be effective. Emotions Physiology of emotion, Expression of emotions, Theories of emotions; Frustration and conflict, Personality - Determinants of Personality, Theories of personality Psychodynamic, Trait, Type, Learning, Behavioural & Self: Measurement of personality Suggested Readings: 1. Morgan, Clifford. T., King, Richard. A., Weisz, John.R., Schopler, John, Introduction to Psychology, TataMcGraw Hill. 2. Marx, Melvin H. Introduction to psychology - Problems, Procedures & Principles, MacMillan Publishing Co. 3. Rathus, Spencer A. Essentials of Psychology. 4. Kalat, James W. Introduction to psychology, 4th edition, Brooks / Cole Publishing Co.  A DEFINITION OF PSYCHOLOGY STRUCTURE Learning objectives Psychology History Subfields Methods of psychology Criticism Work of psychologists Schools of psychology Attention and perception—conscious clarity Determinants of attention Distraction sensory deprivation Perceptual development Characteristics of perceptual developments Theories of perceptual development Perceptual constancies Perception of fundamental physical dimensions Organizational factors of perception Review questions LEARNING OBJECTIVES Understand the meaning of psychology; Explain the subfields of Psychology; Explain the methods of psychology; Understand the attention and perception; Understand the perceptual development; Understand the theories of perceptual development; and Understand the organizational factors of perception. PSYCHOLOGY Psychology is an academic and applied discipline that involves the scientific study of mental functions and behaviors. Psychology has the immediate goal of understanding individuals and groups through both establishing general principles and researching specific cases, and through several accounts it ultimately aims to benefit society. In this field, a professional practitioner or researcher is described a psychologist and can be classified as a social, behavioral, or cognitive scientist. Psychologists explore concepts such as perception, cognition, attention, emotion, phenomenology, motivation, brain functioning, personality, behavior, and interpersonal relationships. Psychologists of diverse stripes also consider the unconscious mind. Psychologists employ empirical methods to infer causal and correlational relationships flanked by psychosocial variables. In addition, or in opposition, to employing empirical and deductive methods, some—especially clinical and counseling psychologists—at times rely upon symbolic interpretation and other inductive techniques. Psychology has been described as a "hub science", with psychological findings linking to research and perspectives from the social sciences, natural sciences, medicine, and the humanities, such as philosophy. While psychological knowledge is often applied to the assessment and treatment of mental health problems, it is also directed towards understanding and solving problems in several different spheres of human activity. The majority of psychologists are involved in some kind of therapeutic role, practicing in clinical, counseling, or school settings. Several do scientific research on a wide range of topics related to mental processes and behavior, and typically work in university psychology departments or teach in other academic settings (e.g., medical schools, hospitals). Some are employed in industrial and organizational settings, or in other areas such as human development and aging, sports, health, and the media, as well as in forensic investigation and other characteristics of law. HISTORY The study of psychology in a philosophical context dates back to the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, China, India, and Persia. As early as the 4th century BC, Greek physician Hippocrates theorized that mental disorders were of a physical, rather than divine, nature. Structuralism German physician Wilhelm Wundt is credited with introducing psychological detection into a laboratory setting. Recognized as the "father of experimental psychology", he founded the first psychological laboratory, at Leipzig University, in 1879. Wundt focused on breaking down mental processes into the most basic components, motivated in part through an analogy to recent advances in chemistry, and its successful investigation of the elements and structure of material. Although Wundt, himself, was not a structuralist, his student Edward Titchener, a major figure in early American psychology, was a structuralist thinker opposed to functionalist approaches. Functionalism Functionalism formed as a reaction to the theories of the structuralist school of thought and was heavily influenced through the work of the American philosopher, scientist, and psychologist William James. James felt that psychology should have practical value, and that psychologists should find out how the mind can function to a person's benefit. In his book, Principles of Psychology, published in 1890, he laid the foundations for several of the questions that psychologists would explore for years to come. Other major functionalist thinkers incorporated John Dewey and Harvey Carr. Other 19th-century contributors to the field contain the German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus, a pioneer in the experimental study of memory, who urbanized quantitative models of learning and forgetting at the University of Berlin, and the Russian-Soviet physiologist Ivan Pavlov, who exposed in dogs a learning process that was later termed "classical conditioning" and applied to human beings. Starting in the 1950s, the experimental techniques urbanized through Wundt, James, Ebbinghaus, and others re-appeared as experimental psychology became increasingly cognitivist—concerned with information and its processing—and, eventually, constituted a part of the wider cognitive science. In its early years, this development was seen as a "revolution," as cognitive science both responded to and reacted against then-popular theories, including psychoanalytic and behaviorist theories. Psychoanalysis From the 1890s until his death in 1939, the Austrian physician Sigmund Freud urbanized psychoanalysis, which comprised a method of investigating the mind and interpreting experience; a systematized set of theories in relation to the human behavior; and a form of psychotherapy to treat psychological or emotional distress, especially unconscious conflict. Freud's psychoanalytic theory was largely based on interpretive methods, introspection, and clinical observations. It became very well recognized, largely because it tackled subjects such as sexuality, repression, and the unconscious mind as general characteristics of psychological development. These were largely measured taboo subjects at the time, and Freud provided a catalyst for them to be openly discussed in polite society. Clinically, Freud helped to pioneer the method of free association and a therapeutic interest in dream interpretation. Freud had an important influence on Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, whose analytical psychology became an alternative form of depth psychology. Other well- recognized psychoanalytic scholars of the mid-20th century incorporated psychoanalysts, psychologists, psychiatrists, and philosophers. Among these thinkers were Erik Erikson, Melanie Klein, D.W. Winnicott, Karen Horney, Erich Fromm, John Bowlby, and Sigmund Freud's daughter, Anna Freud. Throughout the 20th century, psychoanalysis evolved into diverse schools of thought, most of which may be classed as Neo-Freudian. Psychoanalytic theory and therapy were criticized through psychologists such as Hans Eysenck, and through philosophers including Karl Popper. Popper, a philosopher of science, argued that psychoanalysis had been misrepresented as a scientific discipline, whereas Eysenck said that psychoanalytic tenets had been contradicted through experimental data. Meanwhile, though, researchers in the emerging field of neuro-psychoanalysis defended some of Freud's ideas on scientific grounds, while scholars of the humanities maintained that Freud was not a "scientist at all, but... an interpreter." Behaviorism In the United States, behaviorism became the dominant school of thought throughout the 1950s. Behaviorism is a discipline that was established in the early 20th century through John B. Watson, and embraced and extended through Edward Thorndike, Clark L. Hull, Edward C. Tolman, and later B.F. Skinner. Theories of learning accentuated the methods in which people might be predisposed, or conditioned, through their environments to behave in certain methods. Classical conditioning was an early behaviorist model. It posited that behavioral tendencies are determined through immediate associations flanked by several environmental stimuli and the degree of pleasure or pain that follows. Behavioral patterns, then, were understood to consist of organisms' conditioned responses to the stimuli in their environment. The stimuli were held to exert influence in proportion to their prior repetition or to the previous intensity of their associated pain or pleasure. Much research consisted of laboratory-based animal experimentation, which was increasing in popularity as physiology grew more sophisticated. Skinner's behaviorism shared with its precursors a philosophical inclination toward positivism and determinism. He whispered that the contents of the mind were not open to scientific scrutiny and that scientific psychology should emphasize the study of observable behavior. He focused on behavior– environment relations and analyzed overt and covert (i.e., private) behavior as a function of the organism interacting with its environment. Behaviorists usually rejected or deemphasized dualistic explanations such as "mind" or "consciousness"; and, in lieu of probing an "unconscious mind" that underlies unawareness, they spoke of the "contingency-shaped behaviors" in which unawareness becomes outwardly manifest. Notable incidents in the history of behaviorism are John B. Watson's Little Albert experiment which applied classical conditioning to the developing human child, and the clarification of the difference flanked by classical conditioning and operant (or instrumental) conditioning, first through Miller and Kanorski and then through Skinner. Skinner's version of behaviorism accentuated operant conditioning, through which behaviors are strengthened or weakened through their consequences. Linguist Noam Chomsky's critique of the behaviorist model of language acquisition is widely regarded as a key factor in the decline of behaviorism's prominence. Martin Seligman and colleagues exposed that the conditioning of dogs led to outcomes ("learned helplessness") that opposed the predictions of behaviorism. But Skinner's behaviorism did not die, perhaps in part because it generated successful practical applications. The fall of behaviorism as an overarching model in psychology, though, gave method to a new dominant paradigm: cognitive approaches. Humanistic Humanistic psychology was urbanized in the 1950s in reaction to both behaviorism and psychoanalysis. Through using phenomenology, inter- subjectivity and first-person categories, the humanistic approach sought to glimpse the whole person—not just the fragmented parts of the personality or cognitive functioning. Humanism focused on fundamentally and uniquely human issues, such as individual free will, personal growth, self-actualization, self-identity, death, aloneness, freedom, and meaning. The humanistic approach was distinguished through its emphasis on subjective meaning, rejection of determinism, and concern for positive growth rather than pathology. Some of the founders of the humanistic school of thought were American psychologists Abraham Maslow, who formulated a hierarchy of human needs, and Carl Rogers, who created and urbanized client-centered therapy. Later, positive psychology opened up humanistic themes to scientific manners of exploration. Gestalt Wolfgang Kohler, Max Wertheimer and Kurt Koffka co-founded the school of Gestalt psychology. This approach is based upon the thought that individuals experience things as unified wholes. This approach to psychology began in Germany and Austria throughout the late 19th century in response to the molecular approach of structuralism. Rather than breaking down thoughts and behavior to their smallest element, the Gestalt position maintains that the whole of experience is significant, and the whole is different than the sum of its parts. Gestalt psychology should not be confused with the Gestalt therapy of Fritz Perls, which is only peripherally connected to Gestalt psychology. Existentialism In the 1950s and 1960s, largely influenced through the work of German philosopher Martin Heidegger and Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, psychoanalytically trained American psychologist Rollo May pioneered an existential branch of psychology, which incorporated existential psychotherapy, a method of therapy that operates on the belief that inner conflict within a person is due to that individual's confrontation with the givens of subsistence. Existential psychologists differed from others often classified as humanistic in their comparatively neutral view of human nature and in their relatively positive assessment of anxiety. Existential psychologists accentuated the humanistic themes of death, free will, and meaning, suggesting that meaning can be shaped through myths, or narrative patterns, and that it can be encouraged through an acceptance of the free will requisite to an authentic, albeit often anxious, regard for death and other future prospects. Austrian existential psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl drew proof of meaning's therapeutic power from reflections garnered from his own internment, and he created a difference of existential psychotherapy described logo therapy, a type of existentialist analysis that focuses on a will to meaning (in one's life), as opposed to Adler's Nietzschean doctrine of will to power or Freud's will to pleasure. In addition to May and Frankl, Swiss psychoanalyst Ludwig Binswanger and American psychologist George Kelly may be said to belong to the existential school. Cognitivism Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that studies mental processes including problem solving, perception, memory, and learning. As part of the superior field of cognitive science, this branch of psychology is related to other disciplines including neuroscience, philosophy, and linguistics. Noam Chomsky helped to launch a "cognitive revolution" in psychology when he criticized the behaviorists' notions of "incentive", "response", and "reinforcement". Chomsky argued that such ideas—which Skinner had borrowed from animal experiments in the laboratory—could be applied to intricate human behavior, most notably language acquisition, in only a superficial and vague manner. The postulation that humans are born with the instinct or "innate facility" for acquiring language posed a challenge to the behaviorist position that all behavior, including language, is contingent upon learning and reinforcement. Social learning theorists, such as Albert Bandura, argued that the child's environment could create contributions of its own to the behaviors of an observant subject. Meanwhile, accumulating technology helped to renew interest and belief in the mental states and representations—i.e., the cognition—that had fallen out of favor with behaviorists. English neuroscientist Charles Sherrington and Canadian psychologist Donald O. Hebb used experimental methods to link psychological phenomena with the structure and function of the brain. With the rise of computer science and artificial intelligence, analogies were drawn flanked by the processing of information through humans and information processing through machines. Research in cognition had proven practical since World War II, when it aided in the understanding of weapons operation. Through the late 20th century, though, cognitivism had become the dominant paradigm of psychology, and cognitive psychology appeared as a popular branch. Assuming both that the covert mind should be studied, and that the scientific method should be used to study it, cognitive psychologists set such concepts as subliminal processing and implicit memory in place of the psychoanalytic unconscious mind or the behavioristic contingency-shaped behaviors. Elements of behaviorism and cognitive psychology were synthesized to form the basis of cognitive behavioral therapy, a form of psychotherapy customized from techniques urbanized through American psychologist Albert Ellis and American psychiatrist Aaron T. Beck. Cognitive psychology was subsumed beside with other disciplines, such as philosophy of mind, computer science, and neuroscience, under the cover discipline of cognitive science. SUBFIELDS Psychology encompasses a vast domain and comprises several different approaches to the study of mental processes and behavior. Biological Biological psychology or behavioral neuroscience is the study of the biological substrates of behavior and mental processes. There are different specialties within behavioral neuroscience. For instance, physiological psychologists use animal models, typically rats, to study the neural, genetic, and cellular mechanisms that underlie specific behaviors such as learning and memory and fear responses. Cognitive neuroscientists investigate the neural correlates of psychological processes in humans using neural imaging tools, and neuro-psychologists conduct psychological assessments to determine, for instance, specific characteristics and extent of cognitive deficit caused through brain damage or disease. Clinical Clinical psychology comprises the study and application of psychology for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and personal development. Central to its practice are psychological assessment and psychotherapy, although clinical psychologists may also engage in research, teaching, consultation, forensic testimony, and program development and administration. Some clinical psychologists may focus on the clinical management of patients with brain injury—this area is recognized as clinical neuro-psychology. In several countries, clinical psychology is a regulated mental health profession. The work performed through clinical psychologists tends to be influenced through several therapeutic approaches, all of which involve a formal relationship flanked by professional and client (usually an individual, couple, family, or small group). The several therapeutic approaches and practices are associated with different theoretical perspectives and employ different procedures planned to form a therapeutic alliance, explore the nature of psychological problems, and encourage new methods of thinking, feeling, or behaving. Four major theoretical perspectives are psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, existential–humanistic, and systems or family therapy. There has been a rising movement to integrate the several therapeutic approaches, especially with an increased understanding of issues concerning culture, gender, spirituality, and sexual orientation. With the advent of more robust research findings concerning psychotherapy, there is proof that most of the major therapies are in relation to equal effectiveness, with the key common element being a strong therapeutic alliance. Because of this, more training programs and psychologists are now adopting an eclectic therapeutic orientation. Cognitive Cognitive psychology studies cognition, the mental processes underlying mental activity. Perception, attention, reasoning, thinking, problem solving, memory, learning, language, and emotion are areas of research. Classical cognitive psychology is associated with a school of thought recognized as cognitivism, whose adherents argue for an information processing model of mental function, informed through functionalism and experimental psychology. On a broader level, cognitive science is an interdisciplinary enterprise of cognitive psychologists, cognitive neuroscientists, researchers in artificial intelligence, linguists, human–computer interaction, computational neuroscience, logicians and social scientists. Computational models are sometimes used to simulate phenomena of interest. Computational models give a tool for studying the functional organization of the mind whereas neuroscience gives measures of brain activity. Comparative Comparative psychology refers to the scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of non-human animals, especially as these relate to the phylogenetic history, adaptive significance, and development of behavior. Research in this area addresses several different issues, uses several different methods, and explores the behavior of several different species, from insects to primates. It is closely related to other disciplines that study animal behavior such as ethology. Research in comparative psychology sometimes appears to shed light on human behavior, but some attempts to connect the two have been quite controversial, for instance the Sociobiology of E. O. Wilson. Animal models are often used to study neural processes related to human behavior, e.g. in cognitive neuroscience. Developmental Mainly focusing on the development of the human mind through the life span, developmental psychology seeks to understand how people come to perceive, understand, and act within the world and how these processes change as they age. This may focus on cognitive, affective, moral, social, or neural development. Researchers who study children use a number of unique research methods to create observations in natural settings or to engage them in experimental tasks. Such tasks often resemble specially intended games and activities that are both enjoyable for the child and scientifically useful, and researchers have even devised clever methods to study the mental processes of infants. In addition to studying children, developmental psychologists also study aging and processes throughout the life span, especially at other times of rapid change (such as adolescence and old age). Developmental psychologists draw on the full range of psychological theories to inform their research. Educational and school Educational psychology is the study of how humans learn in educational settings, the effectiveness of educational interventions, the psychology of teaching, and the social psychology of schools as organizations. The work of child psychologists such as Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, Bernard Luskin, and Jerome Bruner has been influential in creating teaching methods and educational practices. Educational psychology is often incorporated in teacher education programs in places such as North America, Australia, and New Zealand. School psychology combines principles from educational psychology and clinical psychology to understand and treat students with learning disabilities; to foster the intellectual growth of gifted students; to facilitate prosocial behaviors in adolescents; and otherwise to promote safe, supportive, and effective learning environments. School psychologists are trained in educational and behavioral assessment, intervention, prevention, and consultation, and several have extensive training in research. Evolutionary Evolutionary psychology examines psychological traits—such as memory, perception, or language—from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify which human psychological traits are evolved adaptations, that is, the functional products of natural selection or sexual selection. Evolutionary psychologists suggest that psychological adaptations evolved to solve recurrent problems in human ancestral environments. Through focusing on the evolution of psychological traits and their adaptive functions, it offers complementary explanations for the mostly proximate or developmental explanations urbanized through other areas of psychology (that is, it focuses mostly on ultimate or "why?" questions, rather than proximate or "how?" questions). Industrial–organizational Industrial and organizational psychology (I–O) applies psychological concepts and methods to optimize human potential in the workplace. Personnel psychology, a subfield of I–O psychology, applies the methods and principles of psychology in selecting and evaluating workers. I–O psychology's other subfield, organizational psychology, examines the effects of work environments and management styles on worker motivation, job satisfaction, and productivity. Personality Personality psychology is concerned with enduring patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion—commonly referred to as personality—in individuals. Theories of personality vary crossways different psychological schools and orientations. They carry different assumptions in relation to the issues as the role of the unconscious and the importance of childhood experience. According to Freud, personality is based on the dynamic interactions of the id, ego, and super-ego. The number of proposed traits has varied widely. An early model, proposed through Hans Eysenck, suggested that there are three traits which comprise human personality: extraversion–introversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism. Raymond Cattell proposed a theory of 16 personality factors. Dimensional models of personality are getting increasing support, and some version of dimensional assessment will be incorporated in the forthcoming DSM-V. Social Social psychology is the study of how humans think in relation to the each other and how they relate to each other. Social psychologists study such topics as the influence of others on an individual's behavior (e.g. conventionality, persuasion), and the formation of beliefs, attitudes, and stereotypes in relation to the other people. Social cognition fuses elements of social and cognitive psychology in order to understand how people process, keeps in mind, or distort social information. The study of group dynamics reveals information in relation to the nature and potential optimization of leadership, communication, and other phenomena that emerge at least at the micro social level. In recent years, several social psychologists have become increasingly interested in implicit measures, mediational models, and the interaction of both person and social variables in accounting for behavior. The study of human society is so a potentially valuable source of information in relation to the causes of psychiatric disorder. Some of the sociological concepts applied to psychiatric disorders are the social role, sick role, social class, life event, culture, migration, social, and total institution. Positive Positive psychology derives from Maslow's humanistic psychology. Positive psychology is a discipline that utilizes proof -based scientific methods to study factors that contribute to human happiness and strength. Different from clinical psychology, positive psychology is concerned with improving the mental well-being of healthy clients. Positive psychological interventions now have received tentative support for their beneficial effects on clients. In 2010 Clinical Psychological Review published a special issue devoted to positive psychological interventions, such as gratitude journaling and the physical expression of gratitude. There is, though, a need for further research on the effects of interventions. Positive psychological interventions have been limited in scope, but their effects are thought to be superior to that of placebos, especially with regard to helping people with body image problems. METHODS OF PSYCHOLOGY Psychology tends to be eclectic, drawing on knowledge from other fields to help explain and understand psychological phenomena. Additionally, psychologists create extensive use of the three manners of inference that were recognized through C. S. Peirce: deduction, induction, and abduction (hypothesis generation). While often employing deductive–nomological reasoning, they also rely on inductive reasoning to generate explanations. Psychologists may conduct basic research aiming for further understanding in a scrupulous area of interest in psychology, or conduct applied research to solve problems in the clinic, workplace or other areas. Masters level clinical programs aim to train students in both research methods and proof -based practice. Professional associations have established guidelines for ethics, training, research methodology and professional practice. In addition, depending on the country, state or region, psychological services and the title "psychologist" may be governed through statute and psychologists who offer services to the public are usually required to be licensed. Qualitative and quantitative research Research in most areas of psychology is mannered in accord with the standards of the scientific method. Psychological researchers seek the emergence of theoretically motivating categories and hypotheses from data, using qualitative or quantitative methods (or both). Qualitative psychological research methods contain interviews, first-hand observation, and participant observation. Creswell (2003) identifies five main possibilities for qualitative research, including narrative, phenomenology, ethnography, case study, and grounded theory. Qualitative researchers sometimes aim to enrich interpretations or critiques of symbols, subjective experiences, or social structures. Similar hermeneutic and critical aims have also been served through "quantitative methods", as in Erich Fromm's study of Nazi voting or Stanley Milgram's studies of obedience to authority. Quantitative psychological research lends itself to the statistical testing of hypotheses. Quantitatively oriented research designs contain the experiment, quasi-experiment, cross-sectional study, case-control study, and longitudinal study. The measurement and operationalization of significant constructs is an essential part of these research designs. Statistical methods contain the Pearson product–moment correlation coefficient, the analysis of variance, multiple linear regression, logistic regression, structural equation modeling, and hierarchical linear modeling. Controlled experiments Experimental psychological research is mannered in a laboratory under controlled circumstances. This method of research relies on the application of the scientific method to understand behavior. Experimenters use many types of measurements, including rate of response, reaction time, and several psychometric measurements. Experiments are intended to test specific hypotheses (deductive approach) or evaluate functional relationships (inductive approach). A true experiment with random allocation of subjects to circumstances allows researchers to infer causal relationships flanked by different characteristics of behavior and the environment. In an experiment, one or more variables of interest are controlled through the experimenter (independent variable) and another variable is measured in response to different circumstances (dependent variable). Experiments are one of the primary research methods in several areas of psychology, particularly cognitive/psychonomics, mathematical psychology, psychophysiology and biological psychology/cognitive neuroscience. Experiments on humans have been put under some controls, namely informed and voluntary consent. After World War II, the Nuremberg Code was established because of Nazi abuses of experimental subjects. Later, most countries (and scientific journals) adopted the Declaration of Helsinki. In the U.S., the National Institutes of Health established the Institutional Review Board in 1966 and in 1974 adopted the National Research Act (HR 7724). All of these measures encouraged researchers to obtain informed consent from human participants in experimental studies. A number of influential studies led to the establishment of this rule; such studies incorporated the MIT and Fernald School radioisotope studies, the Thalidomide tragedy, the Willowbrook hepatitis study, and Stanley Milgram's studies of obedience to authority. Survey questionnaires Statistical surveys are used in psychology for measuring attitudes and traits, monitoring changes in mood, checking the validity of experimental manipulations, and for a wide diversity of other psychological topics. Most commonly, psychologists use paper-and-pencil surveys. Though, surveys are also mannered over the phone or through e-mail. Increasingly, web-based surveys are being used in research for its convenience and also to get a wide range of participants. Similar methodology is also used in applied setting, such as clinical assessment and personnel assessment. Longitudinal studies Longitudinal studies are often used in psychology to study developmental trends crossways the life span, and in sociology to study life events throughout lifetimes or generations. The cause for this is that unlike cross-sectional studies, longitudinal studies track the same people, and so the differences observed in those people are less likely to be the result of cultural differences crossways generations. Because of this benefit, longitudinal studies create observing changes more accurate and they are applied in several other fields. Because most longitudinal studies are observational, in the sense that they observe the state of the world without manipulating it, it has been argued that they may have less power to detect causal relationships than do experiments. They also suffer methodological limitations such as from selective attrition because people with similar characteristics may be more likely to drop out of the study making it hard to analyze.  Some longitudinal studies are experiments, described repeated-measures experiments. Psychologists often use the crossover design to reduce the influence of confounding covariates and to reduce the number of subjects. Observation in natural settings Just as Jane Goodall studied chimpanzee social and family life through careful observation of chimpanzee behavior in the field, psychologists conduct observational studies of ongoing human social, professional, and family life. Sometimes the participants are aware they are being observed, and other times the participants do not know they are being observed. Strict ethical guidelines necessity is followed when covert observation is being accepted out. Qualitative and descriptive research Research intended to answer questions in relation to the current state of affairs such as the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals is recognized as descriptive research. Descriptive research can be qualitative or quantitative in orientation. Qualitative research is descriptive research that is focused on observing and describing events as they occur, with the goal of capturing all of the richness of everyday behavior and with the hope of discovering and understanding phenomena that might have been missed if only more cursory examinations have been made. Neuropsychological methods Neuropsychological research methods are employed in studies that examine the relation of mental activity and behavior to the structure and function of the brain. These methods contain testing (e.g., the several Wechsler scales, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test), functional neuroimaging, and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Computational modeling Computational modeling is a tool often used in mathematical psychology and cognitive psychology to simulate a scrupulous behavior using a computer. This method has many advantages. Since modern computers process information very quickly, several simulations can be run in a short time, allowing for a great deal of statistical power. Modeling also allows psychologists to visualize hypotheses in relation to the functional organization of mental events that couldn't be directly observed in a human. Many different types of modeling are used to study behavior. Connectionism uses neural networks to simulate the brain. Another method is symbolic modeling, which represents several different mental objects using variables and rules. Other types of modeling contain dynamic systems and stochastic modeling. Animal studies In the 1890s, Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov famously used dogs to demonstrate classical conditioning. Non-human primates, cats, dogs, pigeons, rats, and other rodents are often used in psychological experiments. Ideally, controlled experiments introduce only one independent variable at a time, in order to ascertain its unique effects upon dependent variables. These circumstances are approximated best in laboratory settings. In contrast, human environments and genetic backgrounds vary so widely, and depend upon so several factors, that it is hard to control significant variables for human subjects. Of course, there are pitfalls in generalizing findings from animal studies to humans through animal models. CRITICISM Theory Criticisms of psychological research often come from perceptions that it is a "soft" science. Philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn's 1962 critique implied psychology overall was in a pre-paradigm state, lacking the agreement on overarching theory found in mature sciences such as chemistry and physics. Because some areas of psychology rely on research methods such as surveys and questionnaires, critics have asserted that psychology is not an objective science. Other concepts that psychologists are interested in, such as personality, thinking, and emotion, cannot be directly measured and are often inferred from subjective self-reports, which may be problematic. Some critics view statistical hypothesis testing as misplaced. Research has documented that several psychologists confuse statistical significance with practical importance. Statistically important but practically unimportant results are common with large samples. Some psychologists have responded with an increased use of effect size statistics, rather than sole reliance on the Fisherian p <.05 significance criterion (whereby an observed difference is deemed "statistically important" if an effect of that size or superior would occur with 5% -or less- probability in independent replications, assuming the truth of the null-hypothesis of no difference flanked by the treatments). False positive conclusions, often resulting from the pressure to publish or the author's own confirmation bias, are an inherent hazard in the field, requiring a certain degree of skepticism on the part of readers. Sometimes the debate comes from within psychology, for instance flanked by laboratory-oriented researchers and practitioners such as clinicians. In recent years, and particularly in the U.S., there has been increasing debate in relation to the nature of therapeutic effectiveness and in relation to the relevance of empirically examining psychotherapeutic strategies. Practice Some observers perceive a gap flanked by scientific theory and its application—in scrupulous, the application of unsupported or unsound clinical practices. Critics say there has been an augment in the number of mental health training programs that do not instill scientific competence. One skeptic asserts that practices, such as "facilitated communication for infantile autism"; memory-recovery techniques including body work; and other therapies, such as rebirthing and reparenting, may be dubious or even dangerous, despite their popularity. In 1984, Allen Neuringer made a similar point concerning the experimental analysis of behavior. Ethical standards Current ethical standards of psychology would not permit some studies to be mannered today. These human studies would violate the Ethics Code of the American Psychological Association, the Canadian Code of Conduct for Research Involving Humans, and the Belmont Report. Current ethical guidelines state that using non-human animals for scientific purposes is only acceptable when the harm (physical or psychological) done to animals is outweighed through the benefits of the research. Keeping this in mind, psychologists can use on animals research techniques that could not be used on humans. An experiment through Stanley Milgram raised questions in relation to the ethics of scientific experimentation because of the extreme emotional stress suffered through the participants. It measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience. Harry Harlow drew condemnation for his "pit of despair" experiments on rhesus macaque monkeys at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the 1970s. The aim of the research was to produce an animal model of clinical depression. Harlow also devised what he described a "rape rack", to which the female isolates were tied in normal monkey mating posture. In 1974, American literary critic Wayne C. Booth wrote that, "Harry Harlow and his colleagues go on torturing their nonhuman primates decade after decade, invariably proving what we all knew in advance—that social creatures can be destroyed through destroying their social ties." He writes that Harlow made no mention of the criticism of the morality of his work.  University psychology departments have ethics committees dedicated to the rights and well-being of research subjects. Researchers in psychology necessity gain approval of their research projects before conducting any experiment to protect the interests of human participants and laboratory animals. Systemic bias In 1959 statistician Theodore Sterling examined the results of psychological studies and exposed that 97% of them supported their initial hypotheses, implying a possible publication bias. Similarly, Fanelli (2010) found that 91.5% of psychiatry/psychology studies confirmed the effects they were looking for, and concluded that the odds of this happening (a positive result) was approximately five times higher than in fields such as space- or geosciences. Fanelli argues that this is because researchers in "softer" sciences have fewer constraints to their conscious and unconscious biases. In 2010, a group of researchers reported a systemic bias in psychology studies towards WEIRD ("western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic") subjects. Although only 1/8 people worldwide fall into the WEIRD classification, the researchers claimed that 60–90% of psychology studies are performed on WEIRD subjects. The article gave examples of results that differ significantly flanked by WEIRD subjects and tribal cultures, including the Müller-Lyer illusion. WORK OF PSYCHOLOGISTS Psychologists have several skills and give several different types of services. Clinical Psychologists give counseling and psychotherapy. They work with people who have life adjustment problems, and also with those who have emotional disorders or mental illness. They give treatment for people of all ages and to families and to groups. Psychologists give treatment for depression, anxiety, phobias, panic disorders, eating disorders, stress related problems, relationship problems, and severe mental disorders. Clinical Psychologists give diagnostic assessment or "testing" services. Using interviews, questionnaires, and measurement tools, they can chart an individual's skills, personality features and personality style, emotional status and emotional style, or problems they may be having in adjusting to life. These measurements are often essential for clarifying the diagnosis of a mental illness or an addiction. Educational Psychologists, School Psychologists, and Clinical Psychologists give "psycho educational" testing. With the use of IQ tests and tests of academic aptitude and achievement, they can identify  academic strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes these tools are used to identify "gifted" students, and sometimes they are used to identify specific learning disorders or developmental learning problems. Evaluations relating to learning issues also regularly involve the assessment of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit, Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Health Psychologists and Clinical Psychologists seek to understand the relationship flanked by medical complaints and psychological factors. They assist in preparing patients to cope with surgery and to adjust to medical problems. They work with patients who are having difficulty meeting the social and emotional demands of their medical treatment. They also give treatment to individuals whose medical problems are related to psychological and emotional factors, or who are suffering from chronic pain. Neuropyschologists diagnose mental and behavioral problems that are related to brain injuries. Using precise tests of mental functioning, they can determine how the brain is functioning and how and where it might have been injured as a result of trauma. Forensic psychologists give consultation to Courts and attorneys in all different types of legal proceedings. Several work as experts in the area of criminal law. Others give expertise in personal injury suits, sexual harassment cases, child custody matters, and workers compensation cases. Organizational Psychologists focus on the productivity of groups and individuals in the workplace. They work to improve the functioning of organizations, and to promote the health of individuals within the organization. They also conduct research on "human factors" or the interaction flanked by people and machines. Sports Psychologists give training to enhance the performance of teams and individual competitors. Psychologists work to understand and improve the functioning of human beings at home, at school, at work, at play, in their religious pursuits, and in society in general. Psychologists are involved in every aspect of human thought, feeling and behavior. SCHOOLS OF PSYCHOLOGY Early Schools of Psychology Formal ideas in relation to behaviour and mind in western culture began with the classical Greek philosophers and have sustained to this day as part of the fabric philosophy. Psychology, as a separate area of study, split absent from philosophy a little over 130 years ago. The successes of the experimental method in the physical sciences encouraged some philosophers to think that mind and behaviour could be studied with scientific methods. As we know, the first psychological laboratory was set up through Wundt in 1879, at the University of Leipzig, Germany. In the United States, the first formal psychology laboratory was established at John Hopkins University in 1883. Within a few years, most major universities had psychology laboratories and departments. The well- known text book in psychology titled ―The Principles of Psychology‖ was written through William James in 1890. Wundt, James, and the then other psychologists thought of psychology as the study of mind. They attempted to find the laws relating to events in the physical world to a person‘s mental experience of those external events. For this, they did several experiments in the areas of imagery, memory, thinking, and emotion. Though, in the first decades of the twentieth century, psychologists hold quite different views concerning the nature of mind and the best methods to study mind. In relation to the same time, fundamental questions were raised in relation to what should be studied in psychology: Should psychology be the study of mind, should it study behaviour, or should both mind and behaviour be incorporated? Different influential psychologists of the time held quite different views on the nature of mind and the proper subject matter for psychology. Schools of thought formed approximately these leaders, as their students adopted their ideas. These schools of thought are recognized as the schools of psychology; they set the direction for much of the research on mind and behaviour in the early years of twentieth century. Given below are the early schools of thought: Structuralism, Gestalt Psychology, Functionalism, Behaviorism, and Psychoanalysis. Structuralism This early school, the structural school of psychology grew up approximately the ideas of Wilhelm Wundt, in Germany and was established at Cornell University in the United States through one of Wundt‘s students, Titchener. Structuralism emphasized that the subject matter of psychological research consists of images, thoughts, and feelings, which are the elements, forming the structure of consciousness. The goal of the structuralists was to find the units, or elements, which create up the mind. They thought that as in Chemistry, a first step in the study of the mind should be a description of the basic, or elementary, units of sensation, image, and emotion which compose it. For instance, the structuralists did experiments to find the elementary sensations—such as red, cold, sweet and fragrant, for instance—which give the basis of more intricate mental experiences. The main method used through the structuralists to discover these elementary units of mind was introspection. Participants were trained to report as objectively as possible, what they experienced in connection with a certain incentive, disregarding the meanings they had come to associate with that incentive. A respondent might, for instance, be presented with a colored light, a tone, or an odor and asked to describe it as minutely as possible. These experiments have given us a great deal of information in relation to the kinds of sensations people have, but other psychologists of the time, challenged the thought that the mind could be understood through finding its elements and the rules for combining them. Still others turned absent from describing the structure of the mind to study how the mind functioned. Gestalt Psychology This school of Psychology was founded in Germany in relation to the1912 through Max Wertheimer and his colleagues Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler. These pioneer psychologists felt that structuralists were wrong in thinking of the mind as being made up of elements. They maintained that the mind is not made up of a combination of simple elements. The German word Gestalt means ―form‖ or ―configuration‖ and the Gestalt psychologists maintained that the mind should be thought of as resulting from the whole pattern of sensory activity and the relationships and organisations within this pattern. For instance, we recognize a tune when it is transposed to another key; the elements have changed, but the pattern of relationships has stayed the same. Or, to take yet another instance, when you look at the dots in figure below, your mental experience is not just the dots, or elements, but of a square and a triangle sitting on a line. It is the organisation of the dots and their relationships that determine the mental experience you have. Therefore , the point made through the Gestalt psychologists in their opposition to structuralism was, mental experience depends on the patterning and organisation of elements and is not due simply to the compounding of elements. In simpler words, according to the Gestalt psychologists, the mind are best understood in conditions of the methods elements are organized. Gestaltists were mainly concerned in relation to the element of form or organisation which unifies behaviour, particularly perceptual behaviour. Functionalism As the name implies, functionalists were interested in studying the functions of mind and behaviour rather than limiting themselves to the description and analysis of mind. They proposed that psychology should focus on ―what mind and behaviour do‖ (function of mind) and not on the ―structure‖ of mind. Their interest was to study behaviour, as a dynamic, integrated process. Influenced through Darwin‘s ideas and theory of evolution, functionalists were, specifically, interested in the fact that mind and behaviour were adaptive, as they enable us to adjust to a changing environment. They did experiments on the methods in which learning, memory, problem solving and motivation help people and animals adapt to their environments. Behaviorism This school of psychology was propounded through John B. Watson, who was at Johns Hopkins University for several years. Watson rejected the thought that mind should be the subject of psychology, and instead, emphasized that psychology be restricted to the study of behaviour – the observable (or potentially observable) activities of people and animals. There are four significant characteristics of behaviorism. First, its focus on behaviour, as the proper subject matter of psychology. Second, it emphasized on conditioned responses (learned responses) as the elements or building blocks, of behaviour. Watson whispered that intricate human and animal behaviour is approximately entirely made up of conditioned responses. A third closely related characteristic of behaviorism was its emphasis on learned rather than unlearned, behaviour. It denied the subsistence of any innate, or inborn, behavioral tendencies. Finally, the fourth characteristic of behaviorism was its focus on animal behaviour. Watson argued that there are no essential differences flanked by human and animal behaviour. He also whispered that we can learn much in relation to our own behaviour from the study of what animals do. Psychoanalysis It was founded through the well-known psychiatrist Sigmund Freud, in Vienna, Austria. Psychoanalysis has had an important impact on the thinking and theorizing of several psychologists. So, several authors have incorporated psychoanalysis in the early schools of psychology, even if, strictly speaking, it is not a school of psychology. Freud urbanized a theory of behaviour and mind (the psychoanalytic theory), on the basis of his practice with neurotic patients, which held that much of what we think and do is due to our urges, drives , and desires, which seek expressions in our thought and behaviour. It is significant to note that, according to psychoanalytic theory, these urges and drives are unconscious, i.e., they are hidden from our awareness. What is seen in behaviour and thought of people is the expression of these unconscious drives, urges, wishes, and desires. Therefore, the concept of unconscious motivation is the key thought of psychoanalysis, which is still being utilized, as one of the explanations of behaviour. The above schools of thought are part of the history of psychology. We will now look at the modern perspectives of psychology. Modern Perspectives of Psychology Though the early schools of psychology are more than 100 year old, two of them; behaviorism and psychoanalysis, are still surviving in customized forms, among the current psychological perspectives. Beside with these two, some new perspectives have come up in the last 130 years or so. In order to understand and describe behaviour, psychologists now have a rich diversity of viewpoints to choose from. The perspective taken depends on how the psychologist is observing and interpreting a scrupulous behaviour and also on what aspect of behaviour is being studied. Certain perspectives are more appropriate for some scrupulous behaviour than others. Moreover, a scrupulous behaviour may be described through one or more than one perspective. Let us now look at the following two examples and effort to understand how the current perspectives deal with these behavioral observations: Some relatives have come to Pappu‘s (a 5-year-old boy) house, throughout the vacation. Pappu, his little sister Munni and their cousins were playing in the courtyard. Pappu snatched absent the toy car from his sister. Mr. Kumar, a 59- year-old man, realizes that he is forgetting the recent events and significant meetings. The Behavioural Perspective The behaviour which is followed through reward or punishment is likely to augment or decrease, respectively. A psychologist with behavioral perspective might explain Pappu‘s behaviour that, he has learned to behave in this manner, because such behaviour (snatching toys from younger children) paid off in the past. Another form of learning is observational learning, which is an intricate process far more intricate than mere imitation-and plays a significant role in several characteristics of behaviour. A large body of research designates that aggression may indeed be learned through observation. Given the fact that several children spend more time watching television, playing violent video games, and, more recently, surfing the Web than they do in any other single activity, the potential influence of such experience on behaviour seems worthy of careful attention. Studies show conclusively that if large groups of children watch a great deal of televised violence, they will be more prone to behave aggressively. As distant as Mr. Kumar‘s problem is concerned, this perspective would focus on an exact description of the changes in his behaviour. A psychologist with behavioral perspective might also effort to teach behavioral skills to this person, so that he might learn to deal with the problems caused through his forgetfulness. The Evolutionary and Biological Perspective Psychologists are interested in the roles of evolution and heredity in behaviour and mental processes such as psychological disorders, criminal behaviour, and thinking. Usually speaking, our heredity gives a broad range of behavioral and mental possibilities. Modern evolutionary psychologists focus on the evolution of behaviour and mental processes. Charles Darwin argued that in the age-old thrash about for subsistence, only the ―fittest‖ (most adaptive) organisms manage to reach maturity and reproduce. Environmental factors interact with inherited factors to determine specific behaviour and mental processes. From this perspective, Pappu is behaving in a manner that proves that he is strong and ―fit‖; he can take any thing he likes to, irrespective of whose belonging it is. Mr.Kumar‘s behaviour could also be explained from this perspective. Because memory is very crucial for survival, it is a matter of concern for him. The Biological Perspective suggests that there are some biological factors— particularly, the functions of nervous and glandular systems that influence human behaviour. Studies show that males are usually more aggressive than females; this may be related to male-female hormonal differences. Though, the research on this, in humans, gives mixed results. So, it cannot be conclusively said that Pappu, being a male, is behaving aggressively. A psychologist with biological perspective would try to understand Mr. Kumar‘s problem through linking this to brain problem. Due to the ageing process much wear and tear takes place in the organs of the body, including brain. May be, Mr. Kumar is in the early stages of Alzheimer‘s disease and the chemistry of the brain is at fault. Alzheimer‘s disease is a kind of primary degenerative dementia in which there is a cluster of specific degenerative brain changes due to unknown causes. The Cognitive Perspective Explains how behaviour is determined through the method we keep in mind, think, perceive, create decisions, solve problems and comprehend our social environment etc. Cognition means perception of the world approximately us. It also refers to the processing of information which we receive through our senses. Our experience or mind is based on such processing of information. A psychologist with this perspective would effort to explain Pappu‘s behaviour in conditions of his perception of Munni, as a weak little girl, who cannot fight back. Another possible explanation could come from the social learning theory. He might have seen other little boys getting absent with such aggression and may be modeling his behaviour on their instance. Also, he perceives the situation and thinks; it is safe to behave the method he did, as no adult was likely to be present in the courtyard. Memory is the most significant focus of this perspective. So, Mr. Kumar‘s problem could be dealt with properly, through finding what exactly was forgotten and what was remembered, how the information processing had changed. A psychologist with this perspective would also effort to help Mr. Kumar through giving him new methods of processing incoming information for storing in his memory and later, retrieving from his memory store. The Socio-cultural Perspective The profession of psychology focuses mainly on the individual and is committed to the dignity of the individual. Though, several psychologists today consider we cannot understand people‘s behaviour and mental processes without reference to their diversity. Studying perspectives other than their own helps Psychologists understand the role of a culture‘s beliefs, values, and attitudes in behaviour and mental processes. It helps them perceive why people from diverse cultures behave and think in different methods, and how the science of psychology is enriched through addressing those differences. This perspective addresses several of the methods in which people differ from one another. It studies the influences of ethnicity, gender, culture, and socio- economic status on behaviour and mental processes. This perspective has not much scope to explain Pappu‘s behaviour. Mr.Kumar‘s forgetfulness is a matter of concern, as this is not accepted in any culture, particularly, if a person is in active service. The Social Perspective If a criminal gets recognition, position or respect in a society or community, he/she is likely to be perceived as a role model through some individuals. Pappu might have behaved in this manner to show off and get recognition. Mr. Kumar‘s position in society and in his community is at stake, because of his memory problem. The source of proof for social learning of aggression is found in studies that reveal differences in violence, as a function of cultural and social variables. There is, for instance, considerable proof of systematic difference in the occurrence of violent acts crossways different national cultures. Residents of some countries also show a more pervasive tendency to think of violence as means of solving problems than persons living in other countries. Developmental Perspective According to this perspective, behaviour is determined through the physical growth and maturity. Certain characteristic changes occur in people (i.e. the method they think), due to the process of maturation. Sometimes, young children commit crimes but not deliberately. This may be because of their cognitive egocentrism, which means that children have limited skill to think in relation to the how things look or feel to others. They do not have any intention to commit crimes in a planned method. Therefore, Pappu being a 5- year-ld boy, he might not have realized how his behaviour might have hurt/has hurt his sister. Even law also considers age as to whether a person will be convicted or not. In the context of legal and social definitions of crime and the criminal, Taft (1956) states that legally, a crime is an act made punishable through law. A criminal is one who has committed such a legally forbidden act. Yet there are other criteria which determine whether a person may be dealt with as a criminal. He has pointed out 5 such criteria as competent age, voluntary criminal act, criminal intent, degrees of intent, and injury to the state. Concerning Mr. Kumar‘s memory problem, as we have already explained in the biological perspective, it might be due to aging process. The Humanistic Perspective A criminal‘s behaviour might be seen as a part of his/her search for personal competence, achievement, and self-esteem. People who commit violent crimes may perceive that through committing such acts, they are going to achieve some thing important, such as doing justice to the society or for the cause of national security etc. In the case of Pappu, his behaviour has a little scope to be explained from this perspective. Mr. Kumar‘s self-esteem is though, at stake, because he might be feeling embarrassed for his forgetfulness. The Psychoanalytic Perspective According to Sigmund Freud, who propounded the psychoanalytic theory of personality, behaviour of human beings is largely guided through their feelings, emotions, instincts and desires which are unconscious. They are born with an aggressive drive. This innate motive gets expressed in action or fantasy, in destructiveness, war and sadism. According to this viewpoint, any impulse which is unacceptable, creates a person anxious, and then he/she uses what is described ‗protection mechanism‘, to reduce anxiety. For instance, when a person is angry at some higher authority or someone who is very powerful, the person cannot express one‘s anger openly and so, may displace that anger to someone, who is weaker. This is recognized as ‗displacement‘, which is one of the protection mechanisms. Pappu might be angry with his parents or teachers, for some reasons, and his anger is almost certainly displaced towards his sister (displacement). Mr. Kumar might also be forgetting his appointment to someone, whom he dislikes (motivated forgetting). Any one or more than one of the above psychological perspectives, may be used to explain behaviour ATTENTION AND PERCEPTION—CONSCIOUS CLARITY Definition of attention Attention is a selective mental process through which the individual brings the selected incentive in his/her focus of consciousness. Ordinarily we speak of giving attention to objects, of concentrating attention some object or shifting attention from one object to another. This may provide the impression that attention is some faculty or power that we can use at will. But it is better to speak of attending, the act, process or function of attending rather than any power. Psychology studies mental processes and activities but it is hard to do this without attending to them. Attending to an object is to bring that object to consciousness. To perceive an object is to bring that object to consciousness. To perceive an object, to think in relation to it, to solve some problem in relation to it, to keep in mind it and the like is not possible without attending to it. Through attending to any thing we bring it within the realm of consciousness. Attention is the heart of the conscious process and is basic to all mental activity and behavior. Attention in a method precedes all mental activity. The field of attention is narrower than the filed of consciousness or awareness. It is concentrated awareness of a selected aspect of our environment. We are said to be attending to an object when our sense-activity is focused on any scrupulous incentive. Such stimuli standout more prominently from the rest of the environment and are more clearly perceived. Attention is not always fixed. Shifting is the nature of attention. Attention is always fluctuating and shifting, our interest and needs are changing and they affect the process of attending, and then some outside objects through their force and intensity compel attention. Attention is not just looking on. It is an active process, involving provide- and-take with the environment. When we attend to anything we are inclined to do something in relation to it is it simply to keep it before our mind or to remove it from consciousness. Attention is a process of adjustment. Through attending the individual adjust himself inner needs or to outer stimuli. Importance of attention It is often of great importance to the individual whether he attends to an object cautiously or not. Accidents are the result of the failure or lack of careful attention to small detail. Through attending sensory discrimination is improved. We are exposed to a large number of stimuli but attention separates its object from the rest and enables us to observe it cautiously. This focused attention create fine distinctions in perceive things which otherwise would have passed unnoticed. Attention creates things clearer and more separate. Attention also directs our energies. We respond to some and ignore others. To be attentive is to concentrate one‘s efforts in a certain direction so that things and ideas we attend to are relevant to our needs and purposes. Attention increases efficiency. It helps us to get ready to meet any situation. Attention is a preparatory adjustment and inattentive people are seldom efficient and successful. Lastly, attention helps us to keep in mind experiences more accurately and fully. Those things to which we attend very cautiously are recalled with vividness and in detail. Bodily adjustment in attention It is already mentioned that attention is an active process. It is selective, purposeful, fluctuating. Within a span of attention we concentrate our attention. The attended object is clearer than other objects. In the process of attention we create certain bodily movements through method of adjustment. While attending we prepare our body suitably for action. The changed body posture enables the sense-organs to function best. It also helps to concentrate. There is also some tension in the body muscles if the body is poised for action. The mind is also very active to attend and respond to the attended object. Characteristics of attention mental process selective process  motivational process always shifting increases the clearness of the stimuli (figure and background) Attention goes before perception and reaction Purposive Dynamic Exploratory Adjective in nature (for body and tension reduction) Factors that affect attention Laws of attention Why people attend some objects and ignore others? To answer this psychologists have laid down some laws or circumstances which decides what to attend and what not to. Broadly, there are (1) internal circumstances, and (2) external circumstances which determine what object will attract or compel attention. Some psychologists call them as determinants of attention and classify them as ‗subjective‘ (internal) and ‗objective‘ (external). Subjective determinants of attention It is a common experience that some person attends and other ignores to any object. This is because of subjective or personal factor. In several situations, individual determines what object to attend and not attend. The subjective determinants in attention contain the following: Aim/ goal Attitudes Basic needs (food deprivation) Curiosity Education and training Emotion Habit or practice Individual‘s internal desire and needs Interest Meaning and understanding (traditional doctors and treatment) Mental set Mood Past experiences Purpose and goal, etc. Social motives Temperament (religious, musical, cool nature, etc. Training (cloth makers, army,) DETERMINANTS OF ATTENTION Objective determinants of attention are concerned with the environmental factors which contain the objects and its qualities and intensities. One of the significant external or objective circumstances or determinants of attention is change. Other things being equal, we are approximately always more likely to notice a changing incentive than an unchanging one. The suddenness of the change attracts our attention. Another factor of advantage is holding and securing attention is the intensity of the incentive. A strong or intense incentive will attract attention more readily than a weak one. A loud noise, bright color or light draws attention. A bright color or light will draw attention while a more subdued one would not. The size of the incentive is more likely to get noticed than other stimuli. Repetition is another such condition that draws attention. Objects presented again and again are sure to secure attention. Newness or novelty and contrast also attract attention. Objects different from the type we are accustomed to see are readily noticed. We do not pay any attention to common or familiar objects in the context. Any newness or contrast in the environment can draw our attention. Other external determinants Nature of incentive: all related to the sense organs Intensity of the incentive: highly intense incentive is more attentive than others Size of the incentive: More than average is more attentive -- Advertisement. Position of the incentive: Figure and background, etc. Isolation of the incentive: Duration of the incentive: the longer the attendance the longer the influence to the sense organs – advertisement. Repetition of the incentive: advertisement – jeevan lal Change of the incentive: sudden change in the incentive, no sound etc. Novelty of the incentive: in the environment attracts attention Contrast of the incentive: female among the male, Movement of the incentive Rareness of the incentive Strangeness or secrecy of the incentive Kinds of attention Types: All attentions are not conscious and selective Some attention is due to the nature of the incentive Some attention is due to habitual reaction According to Stout: Voluntary attention o interest, wishes, needs, purposes are related with voluntary attention. o controlled attention o selective o preparedness Voluntary attention is on intentional nature. Whenever we intentionally or deliberately look or listen, the process of attention is voluntary. For instance, if some one says 0 look here, listen what is being said, and if we respond to these commands accordingly, we are attending voluntarily. Involuntary attention: o Sudden change in the environment – big sound, intensity of light, unique situation etc. o less concern with motives, interest, and needs o incentive is more significant that functional factors o person is not prepared for the attention o Not under the control of the individual Sometimes, certain incentive force becomes so potential that our attention is drawn towards that without any conscious effort or intention. For such attentions, we are usually not mentally set but our attention is abruptly drawn towards these stimuli. For instance, a pistol shot, an intense flash of light, alarming siren sound, sudden cry of a child etc. have a force in them, to draw our attention without any deliberate effort. Habitual attention if attended due to nature, habit, practice, education, and attitude it is described habitual attention. Depends upon the nature and need, habit, attitude of the individual e.g., shoemaker and the shoes Most often we attend to those objects more readily for which we have a mental set of habitual nature. For instance, a young boy's readiness to notice a beautiful girl and a girl's readiness to notice a handsome boy our readiness to perceive good in the actions of our friends and evils in the actions of enemies, showing recurring interest in scrupulous food and drink, etc. are the instance of habitual sort of readiness, under the influence of which our attention is automatically drawn. A chain smoker is seen suddenly drawn towards an advertisement of cigarette. All these instances of our everyday life are the examples of habitual attention. Voluntary attention Voluntary attention is that which is willingly directed to an object. An analysis reveals elements of desire and interest, aim and social adjustment in voluntary attention. In the foregoing instance the student directs his attention because of some scrupulous aim like the passing of an examination, acquiring knowledge or one of a number of other goals. He takes interest in studying. Like other activities attention is just another form of adjustment. The difference flanked by voluntary and involuntary attention is that while the former is secured b the motivational elements in the individual, the motivating elements exist outside in the latter case. Involuntary attention As has been explained above, involuntary attention is not only directed through the individual's desire or motivation, it may even be against it. It usually hinders the process of goal seeking. If, for instance, your attention is attracted through a song while you are studying, your studies will suffer. Social adjustment is similarly obstructed through involuntary attention. The proper adjustment of a student can be the outcome, only of an undisturbed attention to his studies. On account of the fact that one can pay attention to only one thing at a time, the student will not be able to attend to his studies if his attention continually wanders in other directions. Obviously, a person forgets his goal owing to involuntary attention and cannot effect his adjustment. Habitual attention Besides the two types mentioned above, there is third type, the habitual or non-voluntary attention. The difference flanked by non-voluntary and in- voluntary attention is that the former type is the result of some habit or practice and the motivation is in the individual but the cause for the attention in the latter type is in the object. Habitual attention is different from voluntary attention because habitual attention has no need for a will as the latter does. But sustained application of voluntary attention converts it into habitual attention. For instance, a student pays voluntary attention to study in the beginning but it is slowly transformed into habitual attention towards reading and writing. Therefore the position of habitual attention is in flanked by voluntary and involuntary types of attention. Actually the above distinctions in attention are not very clear. The difference flanked by voluntary and involuntary attention is often only just discernible. No attention can be said to belong to any one of the three types exclusively. A scholar has to exercise his will in spite of his involuntary attention in reading. There is an unconscious desire to pay attention to an object which involuntarily draws your attention. In this method the difference in the types of attention is small though it is of great importance form the psychological viewpoint. The nature of attention permits of its concentration in only one direction at one time. Direction of attention to two or more objects means either their acceptance as one or such an oscillation of attention flanked by all of them as provides the impression of sijulte\aneous attention. Division of attention Sometimes we claim doing two things simultaneously. For instance, one may copy from a page and also listen to radio. Whether under such situations, there is division of attention? Studies done on this aspect have revealed that if one of the two tasks is of autonomic nature, it is possible to attend both the task simultaneously with approximately equal efficiency. Autonomic tasks usually require no conscious effort of attending. Only one of the tasks usually requires conscious effort to attend. For instance, a student can simultaneously read and listen radio; a typist can work on type machine and also listen to a story. In such cases one of the tasks becomes so autonomic that they require attention only in intervals and so all attention can be directed to another task. Though, when both tasks require conscious efforts to attend, attention is divided flanked by them and the tasks cannot be performed as efficiently as those which are given attention separately. Therefore, attention has the attribute of being divided when two stimuli simultaneously require focus. Attention span Of all the incentive approximately us, we attend to only a few. Attention divides our field of conscious experience in to focus and margin. The objects, things or events that exist in the focus stand out as separate and clear. Rest are in the margin and we are either unaware of them or if at all, provide a very dim, and ambiguous apprehension. What number or amount of objects can simultaneously exist in the focus? This question has been subjected to experimental investigation. The general opinion is that in a single act of attention, one can attend to only one object. Though, this statement need to be further analyzed. Objects may be simple or intricate. For instance, you observe a house as a single unit or object. But this house is a composite of many objects-windows, doors, number of floors, etc. each one is a unit in itself. So, the singleness of the object varies according to purpose in hand. Experiments show that number of objects one can hold in his focus of attention is usually limited. This is referred to span of attention - that is the number of stimuli attended to in a single act of attention. Span of attention is the number of objects that stand out distinctively clear in one single moment of observation. Fluctuation of attention Fluctuation of attention is the length of time one can attend continuously to a single object. Attention is not steady or concentrated throughout. At one time the object come in our focus, at another time, it goes out from focus. Closely related to fluctuation is shift of attention. In shift of attention our attention passes from one incentive to another or from one part of an intricate incentive to another part. The reversible figure is an instance where attention shifts from one figure to another. Attention is a mobile or dynamic activity, and it is hard to attend to one a scrupulous object for any great length of time. When attention moves from one object to another, it is described the shifting of attention. But even when the attention persists with one object, it grows more or less in degree. This is described fluctuation of attention. The cause of fluctuation in attention has attributed to the temporary slackness in the mental activities and sense organs. Some psychologists found the fluctuation even when the muscles had been numbed. The fluctuation is then whispered to be due to the changes in adjustment or version. Though nothing can be said definitely in relation to the this matter but still, the importance of the sense, mind, psychological state and environmental factors in fluctuation of attention is undeniable. DISTRACTION SENSORY DEPRIVATION Distraction means the dividing of attentions or some interference in attention. The object which causes the distraction is described the distracter. In fact, broken attention is not the absence of attention because the distractor is associated with the activity, often though not always, and it no longer interferes with the activity. Therefore, the notion that distraction invariably hinders work is misleading. Experiments mannered through Morgan indicated that at first distraction caused a drop in the speed of typewriting but constant pursuit of the work in the disturbed condition increased this speed, and it again dropped when distraction was removed. But distraction, in some experiments through Weber caused harm. Though it cannot be definitely said that distraction increases the speed of the work, it is possible, to say with some degree of confidence, that a decrease in speed due to distraction is not inevitable. Actually the effect of a distraction on some work depends in no small measure upon the capability, interest, practice, ability and mental set of the worker. If the distraction is favorable the speed will be increased but if it is unsuitable the speed will drop. Distraction can be divided into two forms Continuous distraction a name suggests it is the continuous distraction of attention. Some examples of it are the sound of radio played continuously, the noise of the market place, etc. experiments have led to the conclusion that adjustment to continuous distraction takes place quickly. Discontinuous distraction this type is irregular, being interspersed with intervals e.g., hearing of somebody‘s voice every now and then. It interferes with work because of the impossibility of adjustment CHARACTERISTICS OF PERCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENTS Touch Touch is the very basis of interaction flanked by parents and the child. Touching promotes early physical growth and also plays vital role in emotional development. So sensitivity to touch is present at the time of birth. Newborn babies react to touch particularly on palm, approximately mouth and in the soles of feet. Infants are sensitive to sensation of pain though it has been found when sugar nipples are inserted in mouth discomfort and crying is quickly reduced in the young babies. When touch produces pleasure instead of pain it increases child‘s responsiveness to the environment. For instance, you might have noticed that when an infant is given soft soothing caresses he smiles and pays attention to caregiver. Infants explore and investigate the world approximately them. They run their hand on objects. When they develop the capability of reaching out to things, babies first place any object into their mouth and then have a good look at the object. This kind of exploration reaches its peak throughout the middle of first year and declines afterwards as babies create more use of hands to explore and investigate objects from different angles. For instance infants of one year or more would turn an object approximately, feel its surface, rub the surface to see what happens and then again pick it up to view it with both hands. Taste and Smell Reactions to taste and smell are crucial for survival. Infants are innately programmed for their taste preferences. Newborns are able to distinguish many basic tastes in the manner of an adult. For instance, they respond to sweetness through relaxing their facial muscles, and when the taste is sour they react through distorting their lips and so on. Taste for salty objects is not present at birth time. But through the time infant is four months old they prefer salty water to plain water, a change that readies him for solid foods later on. Like taste, certain smell preferences are innate. For instance young babies provide relaxed facial expressions when confronted with pleasant smell but express discomfort on smell of a rotten object, not only this they even express skill to recognize the source of discomforting smell through turning head in the other direction. Hearing Newborn babies can hear a diversity of sounds but they respond more to some than other sounds. It seems they are innately programmed to respond to auditory sensations. Throughout the first few days they are able to recognize the difference flanked by sound patterns. For instance, a series of tones, utterances of two three syllables etc. As the child grows up throughout the first year it organizes sounds into elaborate patterns. A baby of 4 to 7 months expresses a sense of musical and speech phrasing and through 12 months, the baby can differentiate flanked by two slightly differing tunes. A 4 month old baby can accurately turn its head in the direction of source of sound and this skill and responsiveness to sound shows marked improvement over the after that six months and continues to develop further throughout the second year. Not only this, a 3 month old baby can fairly distinguish flanked by pleasant and sad voices of adults. Responsiveness to sound promotes infant‘s visual and tactile exploration of the environment. It also promotes attachment flanked by infant and the caregiver. As parents talk to the baby, development of language and emotions receive further impetus. An infant‘s sensitivity to sound gives fundamental basis for perceptual and cognitive development. So any impairment and loss of hearing can detrimentally affect the child‘s development. Hearing loss can occur prior to language acquisition, or following language acquisition. Degrees of hearing loss are measured in decibels, the greater the decibel measure, the greater the degree of hearing loss. For instance, a person with a mild hearing loss, 15-40 DB (decibel) has difficulty hearing whispers at a close range in a quiet setting; a person with a moderate hearing loss 40-60 DB has difficulty hearing a normal voice at close range in a quiet setting; a person with a severe hearing loss cannot hear speech and can only hear loud noises such as those coming from machinery, power tools, vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers etc. A person with a profound hearing loss cannot hear speech and may only hear loud vibrating noises such as airplanes. Any type of hearing loss can present unique challenges and barriers in accessing environmental information. Hearing loss influences children‘s preferences for gathering sensory information that support and shape cognitive linguistic development. Since varying degrees of auditory information are accessible for children with hearing loss, a need exists to maximize visual and kinesthetic intake of environmental information. Knowledge of these sensory modalities supports an understanding of an infant‘s or toddler‘s skill to interpret, integrate and respond to environmental information. Very often hearing loss results in delayed language progress, reduced task persistence, social isolation in early childhood and poor academic performance after school entry. Actually children with auditory difficulties are less attentive to the speech of others and less persistent at task and this difficulty may be due to repeated instances in which they could not create out what people approximately them were saying. When children have trouble paying attention they may reduce the quality of interaction with them. THEORIES OF PERCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT The question is how to explain all these developments and inter relate them. Answer to this was provided through Eleanor and James Gibson; Gibsons put forward the theory of Differentiation. This theory stated that infants actively search for invariant features of the environment i.e. they look for those features which are stable in a changing world. For instance, take the case of pattern perception, initially what babies perceive is a mass of stimulation but they are looking for characteristic that stand out to create contour or border of a incentive and begin to form some image representing an object say face. After that they explore internal features and stable relationships among these features. This principle applies to the development of intermodal perception as well. Therefore we can assume that infants have a built in capability or tendency to look for order and stability in the environment that surrounds them and with augment in age it gets fine- tuned. Another concept given through Gibsons to explain perceptual development was Affordances. It means action possibilities that a situation offers an organism with certain motor capabilities. For instance, we know that we can squeeze, roll and bounce a ball that means we are of possible actions that we can perform with the ball. Awareness of affordances creates a child future oriented and determines success. Affordances are acquired in the process of exploration and investigation. PERCEPTUAL CONSTANCIES We see an object as we have image on our retina. When the object is closer we have full image of it on the retina. But when it moves distant, the image becomes different yet we see the object in the same shape, size, color and brightness. We see a white, bright, big and rectangular table in our front; we have an image of it on the retina. We move it further when only we can see just vague image of it. What happens then? Yet we perceive it as a table of the same size, shape, color and brightness. The tendency of the individual to perceive characteristics of the world as unchanging despite changes in the sensory input we receive from them is the phenomenon recognized as perceptual constancy. Hastorf, Schneider and Polefka have given an instance. You are sitting in a chair in your living room. A man walks into your room, moves over to a table through the window, picks up a news paper, and then goes crossways the room to sit down and read. What are the successive patterns of visual stimulation that register on your retina as you watch this scene? Every time the man moves closer to you, the image on the retina gets superior. In fact, if the person moves from 20 feet absent to 10 feet absent, the height of the image on your retina doubles. The opposite occurs if the person moves absent from you. In addition, as the person moves nearer the window, lighter is accessible, and his image on your retina gets brighter. When the person moves absent from the window, the image gets darker. Retina senses this method but what you perceive? We see the person in the same method with no changes. This type of adjustment is due to perceptual constancy. Perceptual Constancy is of four types – size constancy, shape constancy, color constancy and brightness constancy. Perceptual size of an object remains the same when the aloofness is varied, even though the size of the image it casts on the retina changes greatly. This is size constancy. Two factors appear to produce size constancy – size aloofness invariance and relative size. While estimating size of an object, we take into account both the size of the image on the retina and the apparent aloofness of the object. This characteristic is recognized as size distance invariance. When we are estimating size of an unfamiliar object we take into account the relative size of the object compared to objects of recognized size and it is the characteristics of relative size. These two factors determine mainly our size constancy. You take a coin of circular shape and throw it in the air. Keep on looking at it and you will always see it circular although it casts different images on your retina. This is due to the perception of shape constancy. Similarly we perceive objects as constant in brightness and color, even though they are viewed under different circumstances. Objects appear to be of same brightness no matter what the lighting circumstances. Object maintains its color no matter what the lightening or what other colors are close to. Perceptual constancies are highly useful in our life. Had it not been so, we would have been badly occupied in managing several sensations and their impact on perceptual adjustment... This method, the gap flanked by our sensations and the perception supervised through constancies is clearly beneficial. PERCEPTION OF FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICAL DIMENSIONS When perception is an active process, where individual plays a significant role in determining objects and reactions approximately environment, you may be interested in knowing the main processes involved in it. How a person is able to get one message, out of thousands of messages of different senses active at a point of time, sent to the brain? The process of getting a small portion of sensations in one‘s environment selected through the individual to be transmitted to the brain for meaning is recognized as perceptual selectivity. The first process to this effect is attention in which certain stimuli are selected to be transmitted to the brain and others are suppressed. Individual has the tendency to attend to certain sensations we expect to, while remaining unaware of things we do not expect. This phenomenon is described perceptual set. As early in 1935, Siipola demonstrated the phenomenon of perceptual set in responses to words. He had two groups of subjects. One group was told that they would be shown words that referred to animals. The other group was told that they would be shown words relating boats. The two groups had different responses as per their expectations. The letters forming words really did not mean anything but the first group perceived words relating to different animals and the second group pertaining to different characteristics of boat. Such a type of response was there as they had perceptual set. So the perceptual set is the tendency to perceive what one expect to. You may experience the phenomenon of perceptual set with the help of an instance cited through Leeper.  You show picture A to your friend.Ask what the person sees? Then present picture C and ask what the person sees. Your friend may say that picture A is of an old woman and C is also the picture of the same women. Ask another friend to see picture B and picture C one through one. Most likely s/he may say that both the pictures are of young girl. They are all correct in their perception. They see as they want to see. Again ask them to see each picture cautiously. They may see changed face but the time taken to come over to recognize changed face would be different in different cases. Perception, in fact, is influenced through learning and experience. We perceive objects as per our needs and values. Psychological and physiological needs allow us to perceive things in our own method. A hungry person, for instance, may perceive other objects as food items. Mc Clelland and Atkinson (1948), for instance, have shown that persons who have not eaten for long periods di