General Psychology (Psyc 1011) Past Paper PDF

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Ministry of Science and Higher Education General Psychology (Psyc 1011) Contributors Koye Kassa, Bahir Dar University Chapter One, Chapter Five, and Chapter Six Belay Tefera, Addis Ababa University Chapter Two Aemero Asmamaw, University of Gondar Chapter Three, Chapter Four, and Chapter Seven Habtamu Disasa, Dilla University Chapter Eight, Chapter Nine, Chapter Ten, and Chapter Eleven Revised and Edited by Belay Tefera, Addis Ababa University September, 2019 i TABLE OF CONTENTS Module Introduction................................................................................................................................. 5 Module Objectives................................................................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER ONE...................................................................................................................................... 7 ESSENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY............................................................................................................... 7 1.1. Definition of Psychology and Related Concepts............................................................................. 7 1.2. Goals of Psychology........................................................................................................................ 8 1.3. Historical Background and Major Perspectives in Psychology....................................................... 9 1.3.1. Early schools of psychology................................................................................................. 10 1.3.2. Modern schools of psychology............................................................................................. 13 1.4. Branches/Sub Fields of Psychology.............................................................................................. 15 1.5. Research Methods in Psychology.................................................................................................. 16 CHAPTER TWO.................................................................................................................................... 22 SENSATION AND PERCEPTION....................................................................................................... 22 2.1.The meanings of sensation and perception..................................................................................... 23 2.2.The sensory laws: Sensory thresholds and sensory adaption.......................................................... 24 2.3.Perception....................................................................................................................................... 26 2.3.1.Selectivity of perception: Attention....................................................................................... 27 2.3.2.From perception.................................................................................................................... 30 2.3.3.Depth perception................................................................................................................... 33 2.3.4.Perceptual Constancies.......................................................................................................... 36 2.3.5.Perceptual Illusion................................................................................................................. 36 CHAPTER Three................................................................................................................................... 39 LEARNING AND THEORIES OF LEARNING.................................................................................. 39 3.1. Definition, Characteristics and Principles of Learning.................................................................. 40 3.1.1. Definitions of learning.......................................................................................................... 40 3.1.2. Characteristics of learning.................................................................................................... 40 3.1.3. Principles of learning............................................................................................................ 41 3.2. Factors Influencing Learning......................................................................................................... 42 3.3. Theories of Learning and their Applications................................................................................. 43 3.3.1. Behavioral Theory of Learning............................................................................................ 43 3.3.2. Social Learning Theory (observational learning) theory...................................................... 52 3.3.3. Cognitive Learning Theory.................................................................................................. 54 CHAPTER FOUR.................................................................................................................................. 56 MEMORY AND FORGETTING.......................................................................................................... 56 5.1 Memory.......................................................................................................................................... 57 5.1.1 Meaning and Processes of Memory....................................................................................... 58 5.1.2 Stages/Structure of Memory.................................................................................................. 59 5.1.3 Factors Affecting Memory.................................................................................................... 63 5.2 Forgetting....................................................................................................................................... 64 ii 5.2.1 Meaning and Concepts of Forgetting.................................................................................... 64 5.2.2. Theories of Forgetting.......................................................................................................... 65 5.3. Improving Memory....................................................................................................................... 67 CHAPTER FIVE.................................................................................................................................... 69 MOTIVATION AND EMOTIONS....................................................................................................... 69 5.1. Motivation..................................................................................................................................... 69 5.1.1. Definition and types of motivation....................................................................................... 69 5.1.2. Approaches to motivation (theories of motivation).............................................................. 70 5.1.3. Conflict of motives and frustration....................................................................................... 74 5.2. Emotions........................................................................................................................................ 75 5.2.1. Definition of emotion........................................................................................................... 75 5.2.2. Theories of emotion.............................................................................................................. 76 CHAPTER SIX...................................................................................................................................... 79 PERSONALITY..................................................................................................................................... 79 6.1. Meaning of Personality................................................................................................................. 79 6.2. Theories of Personality.................................................................................................................. 80 6.2.1. The psychoanalytic theory of personality............................................................................. 80 6.2.2. The trait theory of personality.............................................................................................. 83 6.2.3. Humanistic theory of personality......................................................................................... 84 CHAPTER SEVEN................................................................................................................................ 88 PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS AND TREATMENT TECHNIQUES........................................... 88 7.1 Nature of Psychological Disorders................................................................................................. 89 7.2. Causes of Psychological Disorders (Based on Perspectives)......................................................... 90 7.2.1 The Biological Perspective.................................................................................................... 90 7.2.2 Psychological Perspectives.................................................................................................... 90 7.3. Types of Psychological Disorders................................................................................................. 91 7.4 Treatment Techniques.................................................................................................................... 96 CHAPTER EIGHT................................................................................................................................. 99 INTRODUCTION TO LIFE SKILLS.................................................................................................... 99 8.1. Nature and Definition of Life skills............................................................................................. 100 8.3. Components of Life Skills........................................................................................................... 100 8.2. Goals of Life Skills...................................................................................................................... 102 CHAPTER NINE................................................................................................................................. 106 INTRA-PERSONAL AND INTERPERSONAL SKILLS................................................................... 106 9.1. Self-Concept and Self-Awareness............................................................................................... 107 9.2. Self-esteem and self-confidence.................................................................................................. 108 9.3. Self-Control................................................................................................................................. 110 9.4. Anger Management..................................................................................................................... 111 9.5. Emotional Intelligence and Managing Emotion.......................................................................... 112 9.6. Stress, Coping with Stress and Resilience................................................................................... 113 9.7. Critical and Creative Thinking.................................................................................................... 116 9.8. Problem Solving and Decision Making....................................................................................... 118 iii CHAPTER TEN................................................................................................................................... 121 ACADEMIC SKILLS.......................................................................................................................... 121 10.1. Time Management..................................................................................................................... 121 10.2. Note-taking and Study Skills..................................................................................................... 123 10.3. Test-Taking Skill....................................................................................................................... 125 10.4. Test Anxiety and Overcoming Test Anxiety............................................................................. 127 10.5. Goal Setting............................................................................................................................... 129 10.6. Career Development Skill.......................................................................................................... 130 CHAPTER ELEVEN........................................................................................................................... 132 SOCIAL SKILLS................................................................................................................................. 132 11.1. Understanding cultural Diversity............................................................................................... 133 11.2. Gender and Social Inclusion...................................................................................................... 135 11.3. Interpersonal Communication Skills......................................................................................... 136 11.4. Social Influences....................................................................................................................... 137 11.5. Peer Pressure............................................................................................................................. 137 11.6. Assertiveness............................................................................................................................. 140 11.7. Conflict and Conflict Resolution............................................................................................... 141 11.8. Team Work................................................................................................................................ 143 11.9. Overcoming Risky Behavior..................................................................................................... 144 REFERENCES..................................................................................................................................... 146 iv Module Introduction You might have heard or used the term psychology before you start reading this module. Psychology is a science of human cognitive processes and behaviors. This module focuses on acquainting you with this science of mind and behavior. Chapter one introduces the field of psychology as a study of mind and behavior. The second chapter discusses the first step in building mind and behavior called sensation and perception. Points discussed in chapter three are definition, principles and characteristics of learning, factors influencing learning, theories of learning and their applications, behavioral theory of learning, social learning theory and cognitive learning theory. Chapter four of the module teaches you about memory, meaning and process of memory, stages of memory, factors affecting memory, forgetting, meaning and concepts of forgetting, theories of forgetting and improving memory. In the fifth chapter concepts of motivation, definition and types of motivation, theories of motivation and their applications, conflict of motives and frustration, emotions, definition of emotion, components of emotion and theories of emotion and their applications. In chapter six, concept of personality and its theories particularly psychoanalytic, trait and humanistic theories are discussed. Psychological disorders and treatment techniques nature of psychological disorders such as causes of psychological disorders, types of psychological disorders and treatment techniques are discussed in chapter seven. Chapters eight, nine, ten and eleven deal with life skills. In chapter eight, nature and definition, goals and components are discussed. Self-concept and self-awareness, self-esteem and self-confidence, self-control, emotional intelligence and managing emotion, resilience and coping with stress, anger management, critical and creative thinking and problem solving and decision making are discussed in chapter nine. In chapter ten, academic skills: time management, note-taking and study skills, test-taking skill, test anxiety and overcoming test, anxiety goal setting and career development skill are presented. Chapter eleven educates you about social skills understanding intercultural diversity and diversity management, gender 5 and social inclusion, interpersonal communication skills, social influences and peer pressure, assertiveness, conflict and conflict resolution, team work and overcoming risky behavior Module Objectives Up on the completion of this course, students will be able to:  Describe basic psychological concepts;  Compare and contrast the major theoretical perspectives in psychology;  Discuss different aspects of human development;  Compare and contrast different learning theories;  Summarize motivational and emotional processes;  Demonstrate social and interpersonal skills in everyday life;  Set an adaptive goal and plan for future;  Apply knowledge of psychology in their life; and  Develop their life skills. 6 CHAPTER ONE ESSENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY Chapter Overview This chapter tries to acquaint students with the concept of psychology. The specific contents addressed in the chapter are definition of psychology and related concepts, goals of psychology, historical background and major perspectives in psychology, branches/subfields of psychology, and research methods in psychology. Learning Appetizers A psychologist once asked a group of university freshmen to tell him who they think a psychologist is. Some say „someone who reads the palm of an individual and tells the behavior of a person‟, others said „someone who is a fortune teller‟, the rest said, „a person who can understand what someone is thinking about at a certain time.‟ What about you? You just explore these views as you proceed through the discussions in this chapter. Learning Outcomes At the end of this chapter, you will be able to:  Define psychology  Show historical roots of psychology as a science  Point out the goals of psychology  Identify early schools and modern perspectives of psychology  Discuss the basis of differences among perspectives of psychology  Identify subfields of psychology  Differentiate the major research methods in psychology  Explore the major steps of scientific research in psychology 1.1. Definition of Psychology and Related Concepts Brainstorming Questions  What comes to your mind when you hear about the word psychology?  Have you ever heard about, read or listened to anything related to psychology?  What was its content about?  Did you appreciate it? Why?  What do you expect from the course in psychology? 7 The word "psychology" is derived from two Greek words 'psyche' and ‗logos‟. Psyche refers to mind, soul or sprit while logos means study, knowledge or discourse. Therefore, by combining the two Greek words the term "psychology" epistemologically refers to the study of the mind, soul, or sprit and it is often represented by the Greek letter ᴪ (psi) which is read as ("sy"). Psychologists define psychology differently based on their intentions, research findings, and background experiences. Nowadays, most of them agree on the following scientific definition of psychology.  Psychology is the scientific study of human behavior and the underlying mental processes. In the above definition, there are three aspects; science, behavior and mental processes:  Science: psychology uses scientific methods to study behavior and mental processes in both humans and animals. This means psychologists do not study behavior with commonsense rather they follow scientific procedures and use empirical data to study behavior and mental processes.  Behavior: refers to all of our outward or overt actions and reactions, such as talking, facial expressions, movement, etc. There is also covert behavior which is hidden, non- observable and generally considered as a mental process  Mental processes: refer to all the internal, covert activities of our minds, such as thinking, feeling, remembering, etc. Reflection  Dear student, how did you compare the definition of psychology above with your previous conception? 1.2. Goals of Psychology Brainstorming Questions  Dear student, why do you think is psychology important? What do you think a psychologist is doing when studying behavior and mental processes? Have you listed some? Fine, let us see the goals together below. As a science, psychology has four goals; description, explanation, prediction, and control. Description: Description involves observing the behavior and noticing everything about it. It is a search for answers for questions like ‗What is happening?‘ ‗Where does it happen?‘ ‗To whom does it happen?‘ And ‗under what circumstances does it seem to happen?. For 8 example, a teacher might notice that a young freshman girl in his/her general psychology classroom is behaving oddly. She is not turning to her homework, her results are slipping badly, and she seems to have a very negative attitude toward the course. Explanation: Why is it happening? Explanation is about trying to find reasons for the observed behavior. This helps in the process of forming theories of behavior (A theory is a general explanation of a set of observations or facts). For instance in the above example, to find out why the girl is doing all those things, the teacher would most likely ask her parents about her home background, her friends and the like and may come to an understanding that this girl was behaving the way she did because she was given attention (in a way reward) by other people when she used to behave oddly Prediction: prediction is about determining what will happen in the future. In the above example, the case of the freshman girl, the psychologist or counselor would predict (based on previous research into similar situations) that this girl may never be able to reach her full learning potential. Control: How can it be changed? Control or modify or change the behavior from undesirable one (such as failing in school) to a desirable one (such as academic success). In the example above, certain learning strategies can be used to help the girl so that she will be successful in her academic endeavor. Control can also be used in the sense that a psychologist tries to check out the effects of certain undesirable factors in examining the relationship between two or more behaviors. For example, in studying the relationship between intelligence and academic performance in freshman courses, a psychologist needs to control the effect of socio-economic status of the family. Reflection  Dear student, can you please reflect on the relationship and difference between the four goals of psychology? 1.3. Historical Background and Major Perspectives in Psychology Brainstorming Questions  Dear student, can you imagine how long has psychology been around and where did it begin? [[ Have you tried? Very good, 9 Psychology is a relatively new field in the realm of the sciences, only about 125 years old. It began as a science of its own in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany, with the establishment of a psychology laboratory in the University of Leipzig by Wilhelm Wundt. Wundt developed the technique of objective introspection to scientifically examine mental experiences. With such newer orientation to the study of human subjective experiences that were previously under the field of philosophy alone, psychology then begun as an independent field of study and with Wundt as its founder or "father of modern psychology.‖ Once psychology begun to use the scientific method, it then went through successive developments in which different schools of thought emerged at different times. These schools of thought can be categorized as old and modern as described below. 1.3.1. Early schools of psychology Brainstorming Questions  Dear student, what do you think is a school of thought? Do you think we have schools of thought in psychology? If yes, like what, for example? A school of thought is a system of thinking about a certain issue, say, for example, about human behavior or mind. You may, for example, think that human behavior is all the result of inheritance, or you, may, instead, say it is all the result of interaction with the environment. The first system of thinking takes a biological approach and the later takes an environmental approach. But, what is common in both is there is a tendency to give general, systematized approach of explaining phenomena. Surly, psychology, as a discipline, is embedded in different systems of thought from its inception. These systems of thought were very broad in the early years of psychology and, therefore, we call them ‗schools of thought‘. There are five such early schools of psychology. Structuralism- structuralism views psychology as a study of structure of mind. It is an expansion of Wundt‘s ideas by his student named Edward Titchener (1867-1927). Titchener is the founder of structuralism. The goal of structuralists was to find out the units or elements, which make up the mind such as; sensations, images, and feelings. The best-known method used by them was introspection ―looking inward into our consciousness‖. It is a procedure aimed at analyzing the mental experience into three basic mental elements: images, feelings, and sensations. 10 Analyzing mental structure alone was found to serve little purpose in helping humans deal with the environment. Hence, a new school of thought emerged to study this functional value of human mind-functionalism. Functionalism- functionalism views psychology as a study of function of the mind. The founder of this school of thought is William James (1848-1910), who was the first American psychologist and the author of the first psychology textbook. Unlike Wundt and Titchener, James focused on how the mind allows people to function in the real world; how people work, play, and adapt to their surroundings, a viewpoint he called functionalism. He developed many research methods other than introspection including questionnaires, mental tests and objective descriptions of behavior. Generally, according to functionalists, psychological processes are adaptive. They allow humans to survive and to adapt successfully to their surroundings. Examining human mind in terms of its structural elements and functions were, however, found to be simplistic to understand the complex human being. It was believed that human mind is more than the sum of sensations as well as adaptive functions. Hence, a new school of thought was emerged to examine mind in a holistic manner-Gestalt Psychology. Gestalt psychology: Gestalt psychology views psychology as a study of the whole mind. Max Wertheimer and his colleagues founded this school of thought in Germany in the 20th century. Gestalt psychologists argued that the mind is not made up of combinations of elements. The German word "gestalt" refers to form, whole, configuration or pattern. According to them, the mind should be thought of as a result of the whole pattern of sensory activity and the relationships and organizations within their pattern. In brief, the gestalt psychologists acknowledge consciousness. They held that "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Means mind is greater than its parts (images, sensations, and feelings). Generally what is common to all the three schools of though is the fact that they all try to examine the human mind; which is an internal, no-visible, and hidden experience of human beings. Although it could be useful to understand this experience, it was believed that this subjective, private experience can‘t be observable, measurable, and hence can‘t be studied scientifically. Hence, for psychology to become scientific, it needs to get rid of dealing with subjectivity in all its forms and rather focus on studying behavior. This has led to the birth of a new paradigm of thought about psychology called behaviorism. 11 Behaviorism: behaviorists view psychology as a study of observable and measurable behaviors. John B. Watson is the founder of behaviorism. Other proponents include E. Thorndike and F. Skinner. For Watson, psychology was the study of observable and measurable behavior and nothing more about hidden mental processes. According to Watson, we cannot define consciousness any better than we can define the soul; we cannot locate it or measure it and, therefore, it cannot be the object of scientific study. As to Watson, behaviorism had three other important characteristics in addition to its focus on behavior; conditioned response as the elements or building blocks of behavior, learned rather than unlearned behaviors, and focus on animal behavior. He believed that all behaviors are learned but not inherited and learners are passive and reactive (they are not initiating their learning but they respond when the environment stimulates them). All the four schools of thought discussed so far were focusing on human mind and behavior as conscious experiences. But, an opposition to this assertion came from a physician in Vienna who, after working with so many patients, realized that human functioning was basically explained by more powerful forces which were not accessible to our consciousness. Hence, this lead to the formulation of a new school of thought in psychology called Psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis: psychology studies about the components of the unconscious part of the human mind. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is the founder of this school of thought. He was the most controversial and most popular in the study of behavior and mental processes. As a physician, Sigmund Freud became convinced that some of the physical illnesses of his patients didn‘t have medical or bodily causes; but non-physical or emotional causes. He called these kinds of illnesses as ‗hysteria‘ or conversion reaction to indicate the conversion of emotional problems into bodily problems. He also underscored that that conflicts and emotional traumas that had occurred in early childhood can be too threatening to be remembered consciously and therefore they become hidden or unconscious and then will remain to affect later behavior. Freud argued that conscious awareness is the tip of the mental iceberg beneath the visible tip lays the unconscious part of the mind. The unconscious which is the subject matter of psychoanalysis contains hidden wishes, passions, guilty secrets, unspeakable yearnings, and conflict between desire and duty. We are not aware of our unconscious urges and thoughts 12 and they make themselves known in dreams, slip of the tongue, apparent accidents and even jokes. He used clinical case studies (hypnosis and Dream analysis) as a method. Reflection  Dear student, can you briefly discuss how the old schools of psychology differ in terms of their object of study, their goal, and method of analysis, please? Before concluding this section, how do you think the above five early schools of psychology generally differ one from the other? These schools basically differ in terms of three issues: object, goal, and methods of study:  In their object of study, i.e. what they studied (conscious mind, unconscious mind, and overt behavior).  In their goal (analyze the components of the mind or observing the effect of the environment on behavior).  In their method (Introspection, observation, clinical case studies, etc...). So, in the light of these three issues, now you compare and contrast the five schools of early psychology. 1.3.2. Modern schools of psychology The early schools of thought have generally laid the foundation for further developments in psychology as a science. They opened a door for taking multiple perspectives in explaining human behavior and mental processes. Brainstorming Questions  Dear student, what lessons do you think were generally learned from the early schools of psychology in better understanding human behavior? Note that an important lesson learned from early psychological thoughts is that there are different ways of explaining the same behavior. Hence, modern psychologists tend to examine human behavior through several views. The views that predominate today are psychodynamic, behavioral, humanistic, cognitive, biological, and sociocultural perspectives. These views reflect different questions about human behavior, different assumptions about 13 how the mind works, and different kinds of explanations why people do and what they do. The schools are presented below. Psychodynamic perspective - It has its origins in Freud's theory of psychoanalysis, but many other psychodynamic theories exist. This perspective emphasizes the unconscious dynamics within the individual such as inner forces, conflicts or instinctual energy. The psychodynamic approach emphasizes:  The influence of unconscious mental behavior on everyday behavior  The role of childhood experiences in shaping adult personality  The role of intrapersonal conflict in determining human behavior Psychodynamic perspective tries to dig below the surface of a person's behavior to get into unconscious motives; psychodynamists think of themselves as archaeologists of the mind. Behavioral Perspective- It emphasizes the role learning experiences play in shaping the behavior of an organism. It is concerned with how the environment affects the person‘s actions. Behaviorists focus on environmental conditions (e.g. rewards, and punishments) that maintain or discourage specific behaviors. The behavioral perspective is sometimes called the "black box" approach in psychology because it treats the mind as less useful in understanding human behavior and focus on what goes in to and out of the box, but not on the processes that take place inside This means, behaviorists are only interested in the effects of the environment (input) on behavior (output) but not in the process inside the box. Humanistic Perspective-According to this perspective, human behavior is not determined either by unconscious dynamics or the environment. Rather it emphasizes the uniqueness of human beings and focuses on human values and subjective experiences. This perspective places greater importance on the individual‘s free will. The goal of humanistic psychology was helping people to express themselves creatively and achieve their full potential or self- actualization (developing the human potential to its fullest). Cognitive Perspective- it emphasizes what goes on in people's heads; how people reason, remember, understand language, solve problems, explain experiences and form beliefs. This perspective is concerned about the mental processes. The most important contribution of this perspective has been to show how people's thoughts and explanations affect their actions, feelings, and choices. Techniques used to explore behavior from a cognitive perspective include electrical recording of brain activity, electrical stimulation and radioactive tracing of metabolic activity in the nervous system. 14 Biological Perspective- it focuses on studying how bodily events or functioning of the body affects behavior, feelings, and thoughts. It holds that the brain and the various brain chemicals affect psychological processes such as learning, performance, perception of reality, the experience of emotions, etc. This perspective underscores that biology and behavior interact in a complex way; biology affecting behavior and behavior in turn affecting biology. It also emphasizes the idea that we are physical beings who evolved over a long time and that genetic heritage can predispose us to behaving in a certain way. In a manner that our eyebrows evolved to protect our eyes, we may have evolved certain kinds of behavior patterns to protect our bodies and ensure the survival of our species. Socio-cultural Perspective- It focuses on the social and cultural factors that affects human behavior. As a fish cannot leave without water, human behavior cannot be understood without sociocultural context (the social and cultural environment) that people "Swim" in every day. For instance, social psychologists examine how group membership affects attitudes and behaviors, why authority and other people (like spouse, lovers, friends, bosses, parents, and strangers) affect each of us. Cultural psychologists also examine how cultural rules and values (both explicit and unspoken) affect people's development, behavior, and feelings. This perspective holds that humans are both the products and the producers of culture, and our behavior always occurs in some cultural contexts. Reflection  Dear student, can you make a comparison among modern perspectives of psychology?  Do you think these modern perspectives are unrelated to the early schools of thought? Dear student can guess and list out areas of concern for psychologists? 1.4. Branches/Sub Fields of Psychology Brainstorming Questions  Dear student, can you tell where psychologists are employed to work after graduation? Have you tried? Very good! Let us see some fields of psychology together. The areas where psychologists join to work depend all on the type of field of study they pursue in a university. Accordingly, psychology has become a very diverse field today that there are different branches (or sub fields) which psychologists can pursue to study. Below are some of the branches of psychology. 15 Developmental psychology – It studies the physical, cognitive and psychological changes across the life span. It attempts to examine the major developmental milestones that occur at different stages of development. Personality Psychology – it focuses on the relatively enduring traits and characteristics of individuals. Personality psychologists study topics such as self-concept, aggression, moral development, etc. Social Psychology –deals with people‘s social interactions, relationships, social perception, and attitudes. Cross-cultural Psychology - examines the role of culture in understanding behavior, thought, and emotion. It compares the nature of psychological processes in different cultures, with a special interest in whether or not psychological phenomena are universal or culture-specific. Industrial psychology – applies psychological principles in industries and organizations to increase the productivity of that organization. Forensic psychology - applies psychological principles to improve the legal system (police, testimony, etc..). Educational Psychology - concerned with the application of psychological principles and theories in improving the educational process including curriculum, teaching, and administration of academic programs. Health Psychology - applies psychological principles to the prevention and treatment of physical illness and diseases. Clinical Psychology:-is a field that applies psychological principles to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of psychological disorders. Counseling Psychology: - is a field having the same concern as clinical psychology but helps individuals with less severe problems than those treated by clinical psychologists. Reflections  Dear student, based on the above lists of subfields of psychology, prepare a brief report on how psychology is practically applied in the fields of health, education, medicine, business, law and other areas. 1.5. Research Methods in Psychology A. Definition of terms Brainstorming Questions  Dear student, can you please describe what science, and the scientific method in particular, is focused on? 16 Before getting into research methods, it is important to start with discussion of scientific method. At the beginning of this chapter, we said that psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. This means, in psychology, researchers want to see only what is there, not what their biases might want them to see. Researchers do this by using the scientific method (a system for reducing bias and error in the measurement of data). Hence, before discussing the types of research methods; we try to see the following terms.  Scientific method - a process of testing ideas through systematic observations, experimentations, and statistical analysis.  Theory - is an integrated set of principles about observed facts that is intended to describe and explain some aspects of experience.  Hypotheses - is a tentative proposition about the relationship between two or more variables or phenomena. E.g. Males have high self - confidence in making decisions than females. B. Major types of research methods Brainstorming question  Dear student, do you think that psychologists are doing exactly the same thing to achieve the different goals? Although all psychologists pursue the same scientific method, there is, however, diversity in what psychologists do to achieve the different objectives and goals. Hence, there are three major types of research methods: descriptive, correlational and experimental research methods. Descriptive research - in this type of research, the researcher simply records what she/he has systematically observed. Descriptive research methods include naturalistic observation, case studies, and surveys. i. Naturalistic observation: is a descriptive research method in which subjects are observed in their natural environment to get a real (not artificial) picture of how behavior occurs. Limitations of naturalistic observation are observer effect (animals or people who know they are being watched may behave artificially) and observer bias (the researcher may not observe systematically or he/she may observe behaviors he/she wants to observe and ignores others). ii. Case study: is a descriptive technique in which an individual is studied in great detail. Its advantage is that it provides tremendous amount of data about a single case or individual. 17 The disadvantage of case study is that the researchers can‘t apply the results to other similar people, which means what researchers find in one case can‘t necessarily apply or generalize to others. iii. Survey: is a descriptive research method used to collect data from a very large group of people. It is useful to get information on private (covert) behaviors and it addresses hundreds of people with the same questions at the same time. Its disadvantage is that it needs a careful selection of a representative sample of the actual population. Correlational research - is a research method that measures the relationship between two or more variables. A variable is anything that can change or vary –scores on a test, the temperature in a room, gender, and so on. For example, a researcher might be curious to know whether or not cigarette smoking is connected to life expectancy. Though correlation tells researchers if there is a relationship between variables, how strong the relationship is, and in what direction the relationship goes, it doesn‘t prove causation (which means it doesn‘t show the cause and effect relationship). This means, for example, that if there is a relationship between smoking and lung cancer, this doesn‘t mean that smoking causes lung cancer. Experimental Research: it is a research method that allows researchers to study the cause and effect relationship between variables. In experimental research, a carefully regulated procedure in which one or more factors believed to influence the behavior being studied are manipulated and all other factors are held constant. Experiments involve at least one independent variable and one dependent variable. The independent variable is the manipulated, influential, experimental factor. The dependent variable is the factor (behavior) that is measured in an experiment. It can change as the independent variable is manipulated. For example, a researcher may need to know whether or not class size has an effect on students‘ academic performance and hypothesizes as ―do students in small class size have better academic performance than students in large class size?‖ In this question, the researcher has two variables: class size, which is the independent variable to be manipulated and students‟ performance which is the dependent variable to be measured while class size is changed. Experiments also involve randomly assigned experimental groups and control groups. An experimental group is a group whose experience is manipulated. In our example, the 18 experimental group is students who are assigned in small class sizes. A control group is a comparison that is treated in every way like the experimental group except for the manipulated factor (class size). The control group serves as a baseline against which the effects of the manipulated condition can be compared. In this example, the control group is the group of students who are assigned in large class sizes. Although experimental research is useful to discover causes of behaviors, such research must be done cautiously because expectations and biases on the part of both the researcher and participants can affect the results. C. Steps of scientific research Brainstorming Questions  Dear student, can you think of the procedures to be followed to conduct scientific research, please? Did you try? Fantastic! In scientific research, there are at least five major steps to be followed. Step one - Defining the Problem - noticing something attention catching in the surrounding for which one would like to have an explanation. For example, you may notice that children seem to get a little more aggressive with each other after watching practically violent children‘s cartoon videos. You wonder if the violence in the cartoon video could be creating aggressive behavior on the children. Hence, you may raise a research problem focusing on the effect of aggressive videos on children‘s behavior. Step two - Formulating the Hypothesis - after having an observation on surroundings (perceiving the problem), you might form an educated guess about the explanation for your observations, putting it into the form of a statement that can be tested in some way. For our example above, you might formulate a hypothesis ―children who watch violent cartoons will become more aggressive than those who watch non-violent cartoons‖. Step three - Testing the Hypothesis - at this step, the researcher employs appropriate research methods and collects ample data (information) to accept or reject the proposed statement. For instance, in the above example, the data will be gathered from children who watch aggressive videos and from those who do not watch aggressive videos and make comparisons between the behaviors of the two groups to determine whether watching aggressive video makes children more aggressive.. 19 Step four - Drawing Conclusions - this is the step in which the researcher attempts to make generalizations or draw implications from tested relationship Step five - Reporting Results - at this point, the researcher would want to write up exactly what she/he did, why she/he did, and what she/he found. So that, others can learn from what she/he has already accomplished, or failed to accomplish. This allows others to predict and modify behavior based on the findings. Reflection  Dear student can explain the three major types of research methods in psychology, and the ethical procedures to be followed, please? Summary [  Psychology is a science of behavior and mental process.  Psychologists aim at describing, explaining, predicting and controlling behaviors.  Though Psychology as a scientific field began in 1879 in Germany, it has gone through different phases.  The perspectives of psychology are generally classified as early and modern. Early psychology was considered schools of ―isms‖ which include structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism, and, in fact, Gestalt psychology and psychoanalysis. Modern perspectives of psychology have emerged from these early psychological thoughts. These modern perspectives that are used to describe and explain behavior and mind are …..(please list).  The knowledge of Psychology can be applied in different contexts such as health, education, business, law, and the like.  Psychologists study behavior using three major types of research methods; descriptive, correlational, and experimental.  In employing the different types of research methods, psychologists are expected to follow five basic steps in conducting research.  Discussion Questions 1. Compare and contrast the five early schools of thought in psychology. 2. Compare and contrast the modern psychological perspectives. 3. Please reflect on the relationship between the goals of psychology and the three types of research methods using examples. 4. Mention the steps of conducting research in psychology. 20 5. A psychologist is interested in exploring the effect of tutorial support on students‘ academic performance and assign students into two groups. Students in group one get the tutorial support and those in group two do not. In this example, what is the a) Dependent variable b) Independent variable c) Control group d) Experimental group 21 CHAPTER TWO SENSATION AND PERCEPTION Chapter Overview Before anything else, psychological life begins with the activity of knowing what is happening around. Sensation and perception are the first important dimensions of this intelligent life. That is, they are starting points for all of your other psychological processes. They supply the data you use for learning and remembering, thinking and problem solving, communicating with others, and experiencing emotions and for being aware of yourself. Without access to the environment through sensation and perception, you would be like a person in a coma devoid of any thoughts or feelings. This chapter discusses the nature of sensation and perception as the first forms of human‘s intelligent life. It attempts to discuss the meaning and relationship of sensation and perception, the principles explaining how they work, and other related topics. Learner Appetizer Once upon a time, there were couples in a village. They had a horse. One day they started a journey both of them sitting on the horse. When people see that, they get upset and criticized the couples as unkind to animals. Then, the husband sat on the horse leaving his wife walking on foot. Looking at this, people started to criticize the husband as selfish and disrespectful of his wife. Following the critics, the husband left the horse for his wife and walked on foot. People started laughing at the husband and labeled him as foolish. Finally, both the husband and his wife started walking on foot leaving the horse free. As usual, people started joking at the couples and considered them as stupid guys because they left the horse free.  Dear student, what do you understand from this short story?  Do people have same perception about what is right and wrong? In which scenario of the above story people‘s critics is right? How? Learning Outcomes At the end of this chapter, you are expected to understand the:  meaning of sensation and perception  difference and similarities of sensation and perception  factors affecting sensation and perception 22  principles of sensation and perception, and  reasons for sensory and perceptual differences amount individuals. 2.1.The meanings of sensation and perception Psychologists have traditionally differentiated between sensation and perception Brainstorming questions  Have you heard of sayings like „you watch but you don‟t see‟; „you hear but you don‟t listen‟, „you touch but you don‟t grasp…‟ What do these statements suggest to you? Which one do you think refers to sensation and which one refers to perception?  What are the elements of learning? Sensation is the process whereby stimulation of receptor cells in the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and surface of the skin sends nerve impulses to the brain. Sensations are closely tied to what is happening in the sensory systems themselves. Color, brightness, the pitch of tone or a bitter taste are examples of sensations. The starting of point of sensations is a stimulus. A form of energy (such as light waves or sound waves) that can affect sensory organs (such as the eye or the ear). Sensation is therefore the process that detects the stimulus from one‘s body or from the environment. How different is sensation from perception? In real life, you seldom experience simple sensations. Instead of simple sensations, perceptual processes are constantly at work to modify sensory input into what are actually experiences. Perception is the process that organizes sensations into meaningful patterns. It is the process whereby the brain interprets sensations, giving them order and meaning. Thus, hearing sounds and seeing colors is largely a sensory process, but forming a melody and detecting patterns and shapes is largely a perceptual process. Why do we say “largely” in the above expression? We say largely because in everyday life, it is almost impossible to separate sensation from perception. As soon as the brain receives sensations, it automatically interprets or perceives them, and without sensations of some kind perception could not occur. Can you mention examples showing the difference between sensation and perception? 23 Consider, for example, the black marks and letters in this page. Visual sensation lets you detect the black marks. Visual perception lets you organize the black marks into letters and works. For a real life example of the difference between sensation and perception consider a case study presented by neurologist Oliver Sacks (1985) one of his patients suffered from brain damage that caused him to develop prospagnosia, the inability to recognize human faces. The patient could recognize people by sound of their voices, but he could not recognize them by light. His disorder was so severe that he sometimes patted tire hydrants, thinking they were children‘s heads. He would even grab his wife‘s head mistaking it for a hat yet he was not nearsighted; he could easily see a pin on the floor. Thus he had people‘s facial features, but he could not organize them into recognizable face (visual perceptions). Reflection Dear student, now show with examples how sensation is similar and different from perception. 2.2.The sensory laws: Sensory thresholds and sensory adaption. There are certain sensory laws that explain how sensation works. Sensory threshold and sensory adaptation are the two general laws of sensation. Brainstorming questions How much intense must a sound be for you to detect it? How much changes in light intensity must occur for you to notice it?  perception?  What are the elements of learning? Sensory threshold is the minimum point of intensity a sound can be detected. There are two laws of sensory threshold: The law of absolute threshold and the law of difference threshold. The absolute threshold The minimum amount of stimulation a person can detect is called the absolute threshold, or Limen, for example, a cup of coffee would require a certain amount of sugar before you could detect a sweet taste. Because the absolute threshold for a particular sensory experience varies, psychologists operationally define the absolute threshold as the minimum level of stimulation that can be detected 50 percent of the time when a stimulus is presented over and over again. Thus, if you were presented with a low intensity sound 30 times and detected it 15 times, that level of intensity would be your absolute threshold for that stimulus. 24 The absolute threshold is also affected by factors other than the intensity of the stimulus; Researchers assume that the detection of a stimulus depends on both its intensity and the physical and psychological state of the individual. One of the most important psychological factors is the response bias-how ready the person is to report the presence of a particular stimulus. Imagine that you are waking down a street at night. Your predisposition to detect a sound depends, in part, on your estimate of the probability of being mugged, so you would be more likely to perceive the sound of footsteps on a neighborhood you believe to be dangerous than in a neighbor-hood you believe to be safe. The difference threshold In addition to detecting the presence of a stimulus, you also detect changes in the intensity of a stimulus. The minimum amount of change that can be detected is called difference threshold. For example, a cup of coffee would require a certain amount of additional sugar before you could detect an increase in its sweetness. Similarly, you would have to increase the intensity of the sound from your tape recorder a certain amount before you could detect a change in its volume. Like the absolute threshold, the difference threshold for a particular sensory experience varies from person to person and from occasion to occasion. Therefore, psychologists formally define the difference threshold as the minimum change in stimulation that can be detected 50 percent of the time by a given person. This difference in threshold is called the just noticeable difference (jnd). The amount of change in intensity of stimulation needed to produce a jnd is a constant fraction of the original stimulus. This became known as Weber‘s law. For example, because the jnd for weight is about 2% and you held a 50 ounce for weight you would notice a change only if there was at least one ounce change in it. But a person holding a 100 ounce weight would require the addition or subtraction of at least 2 ounce to notice a change. Research findings indicate the weber‘s law holds better for stimuli of moderate intensity than stimuli of extremely how or hi9gh intensity. Sensory Adaptation Brainstorming questions Given that each of your senses is constantly bombarded by stimulation, why do you notice only certain stimuli? 25 One possible reason is that if a stimulus remains constant in intensity, you will gradually stop noticing it. For example, after diving into a swimming pool, you might shiver. Yet a few minutes later you might invite someone to join you saying, ―The water is fine‖ on entering a friend‘s dormitory room, you might be struck by the repugnant stench of month-old garbage. Yet a few minutes later you might not notice the odor at all, this tendency of our sensory receptors to have decreasing responsiveness to unchanging stimulus is called sensory adaptation. Sensory adaptation lets you detect potentially important change in your environment while ignoring unchanging aspects of it. For example, when vibrations repeatedly stimulate your skin, you stop noticing them. Thus, if you were having a bumpy train ride that made your seat vibrate against your bottom, you would initially notice the vibrations, but it would serve little purpose for you to continue noticing them. Likewise, once you have determined that the swimming pool water is cold or that your friend‘s room smells, it would serve little purpose to continue noticing those stimuli-especially when more important change might be taking place elsewhere in your surroundings. Of course, you will not adapt completely to extremely intense sensations, such as severe pain or freezing cold. This is adaptive, because to ignore such stimuli might be harmful or even fatal. Reflection Dear student, reflect on the following questions? 1. Indicate the three conditions under which you may not be able to sense a stimulus. 2. Consider the concepts ―Sensitization‖ and ―habituation‖ discussed in Section 1, Unit 2, and Module 2, to which of the three sensory laws do they relate? Why? 3. Indicate the conditions under which sensory difference occur among people. 4. Give at least 5 major differences and similarities between sensation and perception. 5. What does sensing involve? 6. Compare and contrast ―Limen‖ and ―jnd‖ with examples 7. How does sensory adaptation occurs 2.3.Perception 26 You have seen earlier that perception is a meaning making process. Now you study more about this meaning making process of the human intelligent life. It helps you understand the major characteristics of the perceptual process: selectivity of perception, from perception, depth perception, perceptual constancy, and perceptual illusion. 2.3.1.Selectivity of perception: Attention Note that at any given time, your sense organ is bombarded by many stimuli. Yet you perceive a few of them. Were you aware of, for example, the noise in your room until you read this sentence? You may not. Yet input from the environment was coming into your ears all the time. In fact you may be attending to one of such incoming in put ignoring the other noises. Such selective perception is called attention. Attention is therefore the term given to the perceptual process that selects certain inputs for inclusion in your conscious experience, or awareness, at any given time, ignoring others. What does this selectivity of perception imply? Brainstorming questions What does this selectivity of perception imply? The selectivity of perception implies, among other things, that our field of experience is divided into what is known as ―Focus‖ and ―Margin.‖ Events or stimuli that you perceive clearly are the focus of your experience and other items or stimuli that you perceive dimly or vaguely are in the margin of your attention. You may be aware of items in the marginal field but only vaguely or partially To illustrate focus and margin consider that your perceptual field is a football game. While you are dimly aware of the tangle of players and the activity of the blockers during the play, it is the ball carrier and his movement that stands out clearly to you your attention is mainly focused on him. But at the same time, sensory inputs are coming in from your cold feet, from your stomach as a result of the last uncomfortable food you ate, and from the fellow behind you whi is smoking a cigar. The crowd is also shouting. While the play is going on, you are probable not aware of any of these sensory inputs. Only when the play is finished or time is called that you perceive how cold your feet are, and how noisy the crowd is. The fact that you perceive how cold your feet are, and how noise the crowd is when the play is finished or time is called illustrates another characteristics of attention, that it is constantly shifting. Attention shifts constantly. What is in the focus of your attention one moment may be in margin; and what is in the margin may become in your focus. 27 Brainstorming questions What factors do you think determine your attention? Why do you pay, in the above example, attention to the ball carrier ignoring others and why, at the end of the game, your attention shifted to the cold feeling you are experiencing in your feet? What aspects of the environment get your attention at a given time? Paying attention is in general a function of two factors: factors external to the perceiver and factors internal to the perceiver. External factors refer to factors that are generally found in the objects or stimuli to be perceived. Some of the external characteristics of objects that determine whether you are going to attend them or not are size and intensity, repetition, novelty (or newness), and movement. Other things being constant, bigger and brighter stimuli are more likely to capture your attention than smaller and dimmer objects. That is why announcements and notice are written in big and block letters. In the same way, people who dress bright colored clothes tend to capture your attention. Repetition is the second factor. You are more likely to attend to stimuli that repeatedly or frequently occur in your perceptual field. A misspelled word is more likely to be detected if it occurs many times in a paragraph than when it occurs only once or twice. You are going to notice a person if he continuously follows you as compared to a person you meet only once or twice. That is, by the way, why slogans, advertisings, and announcement are repeated continuously to audiences and spectators. In a word, repetition is attention getting. However, no matter how big or bright a stimulus is, or else no matter how frequently it may occur, you may not give it attention as if it occurs in the same way all the time. This is basically because you are likely to adapt to it and then stop responding to it. This is called sensory adaptation or habituation. It is the tendency to ignore a stimulus that occurs continuously in the same way. Hence, the third factor of attention is novelty-the extent to which a stimulus creates a contrast with the rest objects in the environment. Novel or new objects create a sharp contrast with the environment and hence tend to capture your attention. Remember here why you are given a special attention as a guest, why first-born children get more attention from parents etc. The last but not the least external factor in attention getting is movement. Moving objects tend to get your attention more than non-moving or stagnant objects. Your eyes are involuntarily attracted to movement the way butterflies are attracted to light. This is because 28 moving objects are instinctually felt dangerous or threatening and you are reflexively responding to them to defend yourself. Moreover, moving objects bring with them changes in stimulation or newness in their presentation. In general, stimuli in the environment that, are bigger and brighter, or more frequently occurring. Or newer or moving are likely to get your attention. Paying attention is not, however, determined only by these characteristics of objects. Even when a stimulus is bigger, brighter, new frequent, or moving, you may not give it attention if you are not psychologically ready to attend to it. Hence, attention giving also depends on your psychological states as an observer. What are some of the internal psychological states of the observer that affect as to which stimulus on pays attention to or ignore? Psychologists have identified two important psychological factors: Set or expectancy and motives or needs. Set refers to the idea that you may be ―ready‖ and ―Primed for‖ certain kinds of sensory input. Set, or expectancy, therefore, varies from person to person. It is important not only in the selection of sensory input for inclusion in the focus of your attention. It is also important in organizing the selected sensory input. To illustrate the role of set in attention, consider the husband who is expecting an important phone call. He will hear the telephone ring in the night while his wife does not. The wife, on the other hand, may more likely to hear the baby crying than the telephone ringing. Of course, if the wife is expecting an important cell, the reverse may be true. What other examples, do you think, illustrate the role of set or expectancy in perception? Motives and needs are the second psychological factors influencing you as an observer. There are differences between you and your friend in what you select to perceive as a result of differences in your motives and needs. You and your friend attend to and organize the sensory input in ways that match your respective needs. People who are hungry, thirst, or sexually aroused are likely to pay attention to events in the environment, which will satisfy these needs. 29 Reflection Dear student, reflect on the following questions? 1. You just give examples showing how motives and needs in the example mentioned previously about perceptions of a football game affect your attention. 2. Assume that you are in your room with your friend listening to music. But your friend is rather listening to people talking outside. Why do you think you and your friend differed while you both were in the same place? 3. Look at the symbol 13 in the following two raw of symbols: a raw of letters and a raw of numbers. - A 13 C D E F G - 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 4.1 What does the symbol 13 refer to in the first row? 4.2 What does the same symbol refer to in the second row? 4.3 Why did you give a different meaning to the same symbol in the two rows? 4. Which factor of attention getting is/are explaining these phenomena? 2.3.2.From perception Visual sensations, as discussed under sensation, provide the raw materials that are to be organized into meaningful patterns, shapes, forms, and concepts or ideas or form perception. The meaningful shapes or patterns or ideas that are made perhaps out of meaningless and discrete or pieces and bites of sensations refer to form perception. To perceive forms (meaningful shapes or patterns), you need to distinguish a figure (an object) from its ground (or its surrounding). Let us look at this idea further. Figure-Ground Perception Figure-ground perception is the perception of objects and forms of everyday experience as standing out from a background. Pictures (figure) hang on a wall (ground), words (figure) are seen on a page (ground), and melody (figure) stands out from the repetitive chords in the 30 musical background (ground), the pictures, words, and the melody are perceived as the figure, while the wall, the page, and the chords are the ground. The ability to distinguish an object from its general background is basic to all form perception. And gestalt psychologists stress that form perception in an active, rather than a passive, process like selectivity of perception. Hence, there can be a shift in you perception of figure and ground such that the figure may become the ground and vice versa. Factors that determine your attention equally determine what should become the figure and what should become the ground. By the way, what helps you in general to separate the figure from the general around in your visual perception? This will take you to the second feature of form perception called contours. Contours in Form Perception You are able to separate forms from the general ground only because you can perceive contours. Contours are formed whenever a marked difference occurs in the brightness or color of the background. If you, for instance, look at a piece of paper that varies continuously in brightness from white at one border to black at the opposite border, you will perceive no contour. The paper will appear uniform, and if you are asked to say where the sheet stops being light and starts to become dark, you can only guess. On the other hand, if the change is marked rather than gradual-suppose several shades are skipped-you will see the paper as divided in to two parts. In perceiving the division at the place where the brightness gradient changes abruptly, you have perceived a contour. In general, contours give shape to the objects in our visual world because they mark one object off from another or they mark an object off from the general ground. When contours are disrupted visually, as in camouflage, objects are difficult to distinguish from the background. Reflection Dear student, reflect on the following questions? 1. Consider a reptile named chameleon. Explain why this reptile changes its color accordingly to the environment it is found using the idea of contours in form perception. 2. Why are soldiers dressed in green uniforms in almost all countries? 3. What will happen if you write with a charcoal on a blackboard? 4. What will again happen if you write with a pen or with white ink on a white piece of paper? 5. Do you advice a black man to dress a white cloth or a black cloth? Why? 6. What is the implication of all the above questions? 31 Organization in form Perception When several objects are present in the visual field, we tend to perceive them as organized into patterns or groupings. The Gestalt psychologists studied such organization intensively in the early part of this century. They emphasized that organized perceptual experience has properties, which cannot be predicated from a simple analysis of the components. In other words, Gestalt psychologist said ―the whole is more than the sum of its parts.‖ This simply means that what is perceived has its own new properties, properties that emerge from the organization, which takes place. Organization in perception partially explains our perception of complex patterns as unitary forms, or objects. We see objects as objects only because grouping processes operate in perception. Without them, the various objects and patterns we perceive-a face on a television screen, a car a tree, a book-would not ―hang together‖ as objects or patterns., they would merely be so many disconnected sensations-dots, lines or blotches, for example. What are some of the laws of perceptual organization? One organizing principle is proximity, or nearness. The laws of proximity says that items which are close together in space or time tend to be perceived as belonging together or forming an organized group. Another organizing principle of perception is similarity. Most people see one triangle formed by the dots with its apex at the top and another triangle formed by the rings with its apex at the bottom. They perceive triangle because similar items such as, the rings and the dots, tend to be organized together. Otherwise, they would see a hexagon or a six-pointed star, where all the dots are the same. Grouping according to similarity, however, does not always occur. A figure is more easily seen as a six-pointed star than as one figure composed of dots and another figure made up of rings. In this case, similarity is competing with the organizing principle of symmetry, or good figure. Neither the circle nor the dots by themselves from a symmetrical pattern. The law of good figure says that there is a tendency to organize things to make a balanced or symmetrical figure that includes all the parts. In this case, such a balanced figure can be 32 achieved only by using all the dots and rings to perceive a six pointed star the law of good figure wins out over the law of similarity because the rings by themselves or the dots by themselves do not form symmetrical goods figures. Still another principle or organization is continuation, the tendency to perceive a line that starts in one way as continuing in the same way. For example, a line that starts out as a curve is seen as continuing on smoothly curved course. A straight line is seen as continuing on a straight course or, if it does change direction as forming an angle rather than a curve. We see the dots as several curved and straight lines. Even though the curved and straight lines cross and have dots in common, it is only with an effort that we can perceive a straight line suddenly becoming a curved line at one of these functions. Finally, the law of closure makes our perceived world or form more complete than the sensory stimulation that is presented. The law of closure refers to perceptual processes that organize the perceived world by filling in gaps in stimulation Reflection Dear student, reflect on the following questions? 1. Try to give a pictorial representation of the laws of perceptual organization. 2. Compare and contrast these laws of organization 2.3.3.Depth perception If we live in a two-dimensional world, form perception would be sufficient. But because we live in a three-dimensional world, we have evolved depth perception-the ability to judge the distance of objects. Given that images on the retina are two dimensional, how can we perceive depth? That is, how can we determine the distance of objects (the distal stimulus) from the pattern of stimulation on our retinas (the proximal stimulus)? Depth perception depends on the use binocular cues and monocular cues there are two kinds of binocular cues: retinal disparity and convergence. The two kinds of binocular cues require the interaction of both eyes. Retinal disparity is, the degree of difference between the image of an object that are focused on the two retinas. The closer the object, the greater is the retinal disparity. To demonstrate retinal disparity for yourself, point a forefinger vertically between 33 your eyes. Look at the finger with one eye closed. Then look at it with the other closed. You will notice that the background shifts as you view the scene with different views of the same stimulus. The ―view master‖ device you might have used as a child creates the impression of visual depth by presenting slightly different image to the eyes at the same time mimicking retinal disparity. Retinal disparity is greater when an object is near you than when it is farther away from you. Certain cells in visual cortex detect the degree of retinal disparity, which the brain uses to estimate the distance of an object focused on the retinas. The second binocular cue to depth is convergence, the degree to which the eyes turn inward to focus on an object. As you can confirm for yourself, the closer the objects are the greater the convergence of the eyes. Hold a forefinger vertically in front of your face and move it toward your nose. You should notice an increase in ocular muscle tension as your finger approaches your nose. Neurons in the cerebral cortex translate the amount of muscle tension into an estimate of the distance of your finger. Not that convergence is associated with important everyday activities. For example, drinking alcohol impairs depth perception by disrupting the normal convergence of the eyes and using a computer terminal for hours induce eye fatigue caused by continues convergence. Binocular cues require two eyes, whereas monocular cues require only one. This means that even people who have lost sight in one eye may still have good depth perception. One monocular is accommodation, which is the change in the shape of the lens that lets you focus the image of an object on the retina. Neuron in the rectum assume that the greater the accommodation of the lens, the closer the object. But prolonged accommodation can alter your depth perception. For example, if you stare at a near object for a long time and then look at a more distant object, the more distant object will look farther away than it is. This is attributable to the brain‘s overcompensation for the continuous accommodation of the lens while it was focused on the near object. A second monocular cue is motion parallax, the tendency to perceive ourselves as passing objects faster when they are closer to us than when they are farther away. You will notice this when you drive on a rural road. You perceive yourself passing nearby telephone poles faster than you are passing a farmhouse. 34 The remaining monocular cues are called pictorial cues because artists use them to create depth in their drawings and paintings. Leonardo da Vinci formalized pictorial cues 500 year ago in teaching his art students how to use them to make their paintings look more realistic. He noted that an object that overlaps another object will appear closer, a cue called interposition. Because your psychology professor overlaps the blackboard, you know that she or he is closer to you than the blackboard is. Comparing the relative size of objects also provides a cue to their distance. If two people are about the same height and one casts a smaller image on your retina. You will perceive that person as farther away. You probably have noticed that parallel objects, such as railroad tracks, seem to get closer as the further away (and farther apart as they get closer). The pictorial cue, linear perspective, may even have practical application. During world War II, naval aviation cadets flying at night sometimes crashed into airplanes ahead of them, apparently because of failure to judge the distance of those plans. Taking advantage of linear perspective solved this problem. Two taillights set a standard distance apart replaced the traditional single taillight. As a result, when pilots noticed that the taillights of an airplane appeared to move farther apart, they realized that they were getting closer to it. An object‘s elevation provides another cue to its distance. Objects that are higher in your visual field seem to be farther away. If you paint a picture, you create depth by placing more distant objects higher on the Canvas. Shading patterns provide cues to distance because areas that are in shadow tend to recede, while areas that are in light tend to stand out. Painters use shading to make balls, balloons, and organs appear round. Aerial perspective depends on the clarity of objects. Closer objects seem clearer than more distant ones. A distant mountain will look hazier than a near one. The final monocular cue, the texture gradient, affects depth perception because the nearer an object, the more details we can make out and the farther an object, the more details we can make out, and the farther an object, the fewer details we can make out. When you look across a field, you can see every blade of grass near you, but only an expanse of green far away from you. Even 7 month old infants respond to the texture gradient cue. When presented with drawings that use the texture gradient to make some objects appear to be in the foreground and others in the background, infants will reach for an object in the foreground. 35 2.3.4.Perceptual Constancies The image of a given object focused on your retina may vary in size, shape, and brightness. Yet you will continue to perceive the object as stable in size, shape, and brightness because of perceptual constancy. This is adaptive, because it provides you with a more visually stable world, making it easier for you to function in it, as an object gets farther away from you, it produces a smaller image on your retina. If you know the actual size of an object, size constancy makes you interpret a change in its retinal size as a change in its distance rather than a change in its size. When you see a car a block away, it does not seem smaller than one that is half a block away, even though the more distant car produces a smaller image on your retina. Size constancy can be disrupted by alcohol. In one study, young adults drank alcohol and were then asked to estimate the size of an object. They tended to underestimate its size. Disruption of size constancy might be one way that alcohol intoxication promotes automobile accidents. Shape constancy assures that an object of known shape will appear to maintain its normal shape regardless of the angle from which you view it. Close this book and hold it at various orientations relative to your line of sight. Unless you look directly at the cover when it is on a plane perpendicular to your line of vision, it will never cast a rectangular image on your retinas, yet you will continue to perceive it as rectangular. Shape constancy occurs because your brain compensates for the slant of an object relative to your line of sight. Though the amount of light reflected from a given object can vary, we perceive the object as having a constant brightness, this is called brightness constancy. A white shirt appears equally bright in dim light or bright light. But brightness constancy is relative to other objects. If you look at a white shirt in dim light in the presence on nonwhite objects in the same light in the presence on nonwhite objects in the same light, it will maintain its brightness. But if you look at the white shirt by itself, perhaps by viewing a large area of it though a hollow tube, it will appear dully in dim light and brighter in sunlight. 2.3.5.Perceptual Illusion In Edgar Allen Poe‘s ―The sphinx,‖ a man looks out of his window and is horrified by what he perceives to be a monstrous animal on a distant mountain. He learns only later that the ―monster‖ was actually an insect on his window. Because he perceived the animal as far 36 away, he assumed it was relatively large. And because he never had seen such a creature, he assumed that it was a monster. This shows how the misapplication of a visual cue, in this case perceived size constancy, can produce a visual illusion. Visual illusions provide clues to the processes involved in normal visual perception. For example, from ancient times to modern times, people have been mystified by the moon illusion illustrated in Figure in which the moon appears larger when it is at the horizon than when it is overhead. This is an illusion because the moon is the same distance from us at the horizon as when it is overhead. Thus, the retinal image it produces is the same size when it is at the horizon as when it is overhead. Perhaps Franz Muller-Lyer, developed the most widely studied illusion. Note in Fig 2/5 (A) that the vertical line at the bottom appears longer than the one at the top. But if you take a ruler and measure the lines, you will find that they are equal in length. Figs 5.33 (B to D ) are variants of the Muller-Lyer illusion. Though no explanation has achieved universal acceptance, a favored one relies on size constancy and the resemblance of the figure on the right to the inside corner of a room and the resemblance of the figure on the left to the outside corner of a building. Given that the lines project images of equal length on the retina, the lines that appear farther away will be perceived as longer. Because an inside corner of a room appears farther away than an outside corner of a building, the line on the right appears farther and, therefore, longer than the line on the left. In general, perception is the act of knowing through sensation. But, some people appear to have an ability to know other people, objects, and events without any sensory contact an experience called extra sensory perception (ESP) or paranormal ability. Have you ever heard or experienced such phenomena? What specific type? Do you believe it is true? Do you think psychologists and scientists believe in ESP? Why? Summary The act of knowing involves the complementary processes of sensation and perception. As discussed earlier, sensation is normally our first encounter (with the reality) in which receptor cells in the sensory organs recode the physical energy or stimulations in to a neural message a phenomenon called transduction. 37 Psychologists have long studied sensation and discovered the intensity of a stimulation receptor cells can detect (absolute threshold), the intensity of changes in stimulation required for receptors to notice it (difference threshold), and the conditions under which receptor cells may respond to one kind of stimulation ignoring others of a similar intensity (sensory adaptions). Following the discussion on sensation, you dealt with perception as a next process of meaning making from the otherwise meaningless sensory input. Further extending the selective nature of perception, this section examined the characteristics, determinates and principles of perception both in two dimensional (form perception and three-dimensional (depth perception) world along with other common characteristics of perception: i.e., perceptual illusion. In trying to make sense out of the surrounding, humans respond, in general, to certain stimulation ignoring others (selectivity of perceptions). Such selective perception divides the surrounding into a focus and a margin with the possibility that what is in the focus may shift into the margin and vice versa. Items of the surrounding which get into the focus are more likely to be: i. Bigger in size and brighter in intensity, ii. Frequently occurring to the senses, iii. Novel enough to creating contrast with the one in the perceptual field and iv. Moving rather than stagnating. The psychological states of the perceiver (i.e. set or expectancy and needs) are also crucial in the selection process together with these stimulus characteristics. The focus stands out very clearly (or becomes a figure) from the margin/background (or the figure) because there is a sharp contrast between the two (i.e., there are contours). This figure- ground perception is called form perception because of contours. Organizing perception into a figure and a ground may take the law of closure, proximity, similarity, symmetry or continuation. Form perception applies only for a two-dimensional world. But we are living in a three dimensional world where by perception of distance is a matter of necessity. Such perception involves recognizing how distant objects are from the pattern of stimulation on our retinas. 38 Perception of depth depends on binocular cues (or information from both eyes). While binocular cues rely inertial disparity and convergence, monocular cues involve accommodation. Motion parallax, and such pictorial cues as interposition, aerial perspective, linear perspective, texture gradient, elevation, and shading patterns. In any case, this world is stable and known because our perception of it remains constant despite changes in the observer‘s location, distance and perspective. In fact, there are some exceptions to this in which perceptual illusions may occur, providing otherwise. CHAPTER Three LEARNING AND THEORIES OF LEARNING Chapter Overview In the previous chapter, you have learnt about personality and theories of personality. In this unit however, you will study the foundations of learning and explore the nature of learning. The contents of this unit are presented in two sections. In the first section, you will explore the nature of learning and in the second you will focus on the theories of learning and their applications. Learner Appetizer Discuss over the following facts.  Almost all human behavior is learned. Imagine if you suddenly lost all you had ever learned. What could you do? You would be unable to read, write, or speak. You couldn‟t feed yourself, find your way home, and drive a car, play a game, or “party.”  Needless to say, you would be totally incapacitated.  Learning is involved in almost every phenomenon psychologists study and occurs in many different ways. Every individual uses learning techniques and processes and directive unique thoughts and memories to perform day-to-day functions. Learning Outcomes After you have studied this chapter, you will be able to:  Explain the general meaning, types, and factors of learning  Identify the characteristics of learning  Describe some of the theories designed to explain the characteristics of learning  Differentiate the viewpoints of different theories of learning. 39

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