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Psychology Essay Research Paper PsychologyINTRODUCTION

Psychology Essay, Research Paper


Psychology


INTRODUCTION


The study of the way people think and behave is called psychology. The


field of psychology has a number of sub-disciplines devoted to the study of the


different levels and contexts of human thought and behavior. Social psychology,


for example, deals with human thought and action in a social context, while


physiological psychology is concerned with thought and behavior at the level of


neurology. Another division of psychology, comparative psychology compares the


thought and behavior of humans with that of other species. Abnormal psychology


studies atypical thought and action.


Psychology is an interdisciplinary science. Social psychology, for


example, involves both sociology and anthropology. Abnormal psychology has much


in common with psychiatry, while physiological psychology builds on the


techniques and methods of neurology and physiology.


It is evident that psychological methods are being increasingly used in


daily events. Employment for example, in Europe more companies are subjecting


potential personnel to psychological profile checks and psychological tests


during interviews. Even our social lives are becoming affected. People who are


seeking the right partner are using psychological techniques to establish the


emotional state of their potential partners. As psychology becomes more and more


accessible and understandable to more people, I feel that it will begin to


influence our lifestyles more.


From a personal stand point, this has been a very difficult exercise.


This is a new area for me, so I have been unable to write from a professional or


work experience perspective only from a purely academic view.


PSYCHOLOGY.


‘Psychology’ literally means ’study of the mind’. Psychology as a


separate discipline is usually dated from 1879 when Wundt opened the first


psychology laboratory, devoted to the analysis of conscious thought into its


basic elements, structuralism. It is understood that ’structuralism’ was


founded by Wilhelm Wundt. What made this ‘new’ psychology different from


philosophy was the emphasis on measurement and control. The application of some


of the basic scientific method to the study of the mental process.


For psychology to become a natural science, it must confine itself to


what is observable and measurable by more than one person, namely behaviour,


Behaviourism was established. This movement was formally initiated by John


Broadus Watson in a famous paper, “Psychology as the Behaviourist Views It”


published in 1913.


At the time when behaviourism was becoming prominent in America a group


of German psychologists began to discredit the principles of structuralism and


behaviourism. They argued that it was not possible to break down psychological


processes. This theory, demonstrated that our perceptions are highly organised


and have immediate, vivid qualities that cannot be explained in terms of piecing


together basic elements. The psychologists had the opinion that our perceptions


are inherently configurational, meaning that the elements making up the


perception could not be separated from the way in which those elements were


combined as a whole. This now popular theory is known as ‘Gestalt’ taken from


the German word for “configuration”


The expression of the third force movement known as “humanistic


psychology” is an eclectic grouping of American psychologists who advocated


various interpretations of human personality. The term humanistic reflects the


focus on defining a human psychology with emphases on individual existence,


focusing on the role of free choice and our ability to make rational decisions


on how we live.


During the 1950s and 1960s, many psychologists began to look to the work


of computer scientists in trying to understand the more complex behaviour which,


they felt, learning theory or conditioning had oversimplified. This behaviour


was referred to by early psychologists as ‘mind’ or mental processes, which has


become cognition or the cognitive process. The cognitive psychologist sees the


person as an information processor and cognitive psychology , along with


artificial intelligence, linguistics, philosophy, anthropology and neuroscience


now form part of cognitive science, which emerged in the late 1970s.


How can we divide up the work that psychologists do? There is much more


under the heading of ‘psychology’ than the theories and principles of famous


and leading psychologists of our time. There are psychologists in all areas,


specialising in a number of fields.


Physiological psychology is concerned with the neurological and


physiological events that underlie human thought and action. Some physiological


psychologists are concerned with mapping the functions of various parts of the


brain. Others study both the transmission of electrical information in the brain


and the neurotransmitters that facilitate or inhibit such transmissions.


Physiological psychologists study the effects of drugs on human behavior.


Conditioning and learning are concerned with how experience modifies


thought and behavior. Initially devoted to the investigation of principles of


learning among all species, the field now includes specific types of learning


for different species. Other areas of interest in the field include maladaptive


learning, such as learned helplessness, and learning in traditional settings


such as in the classroom and on the job.


Cognitive psychology applies to the study of thinking, concept formation,


and problem solving. Work in this field has been much influenced and aided by


the use of computers. Computers are used to present problems and tasks to


subjects and to model the thinking and problem-solving processes. The impact of


computers on cognitive psychology is also evident in the theories used to


describe human thought. For example, such terms as short-term memory and long-


term memory parallel the two types of memory that are available on computers.


Social psychology looks into all facets of human social interaction.


Among the problems studied by social psychologists are such matters as the


development of friendship, the nature of romantic attachment, and the relative


effectiveness of cooperation and competition on achievement. In recent years


social psychology has included the study of attribution. Attribution theory


recognizes that psychological perceptions of events do not always correspond to


objective realities.


Abnormal psychology is the study of maladaptive behaviors. Such


behaviors range from the simple habit disorders (thumb sucking, nail biting), to


the addictions (alcohol, gambling and so on) to the most severe mental


disturbances the psychoses. Abnormal psychology investigates the causes and


dynamics of mental and behavioral disorders and tests the effectiveness of


various treatments.


Vocational psychology is the study of how specific personality traits


contribute to success in different vocations. In one approach the


characteristics of people already working in a specific vocation are studied. If


a personality pattern emerges, tests can then be constructed to measure the


traits and interests of people in the field. Other individuals who exhibit the


same traits and interests can be counseled to consider the field as a possible


vocational choice. Vocational psychologists also look for traits and aptitudes


that contribute to success in a vocation.


Industrial psychology concerns the physical and psychological conditions


of the workplace and how these factors contribute to an efficient work


environment. Industrial psychologists are also concerned about the design of


manufactured products. Some industrial psychologists, for example, are involved


in the design of such items as dashboards, which are used in airplanes and


automobiles. Their aim is to apply a knowledge of human capabilities and


limitations to the design of instrumentation that is to be used by humans.


Business psychology, a relatively recent branch of psychology, is the


study of the effectiveness of interpersonal relations in the workplace. Some


business psychologists set up training workshops to improve executives’


management skills. They also evaluate prospective job applicants and evaluate


individuals being considered for promotion. They employ the full range of


psychological tests as well as interview procedures. Instruments are often


designed for specific types of evaluations. Experimental psychology


encompasses many different fields of psychology that employ experimental


procedures. Traditionally it has been regarded as the study of the basic sensory


mechanisms: vision, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. The classical problems of


experimental psychology are determining reaction times and reaction thresholds


(the amount of stimulation needed to produce a response for any given sense) as


well as developing psychological scales for physical stimuli, called


psychophysics. Hot and cold, fo r example, are psychological scalings of


temperature stimuli for which such physical measures as degrees Fahrenheit


provide only physical units. Much experimental psychology today is closely tied


with physiological psychology.


Animal psychology includes several different disciplines. One is


comparative psychology, which explores animal behavior in comparison to human


behavior. Comparative psychologists, for example, might present different


species with comparable tasks, to see how their performances differ. Animal


psychologists also study animals to gain insight into human behavior. For


example, the effects of drugs and tobacco on animals are observed to determine


the effects these substances have on humans.


Developmental psychology is concerned with the growth and development of


individuals. Once concerned primarily with the growth and development of


children, the field has expanded to include the growth and development of


individuals throughout their lives. Developmental psychologists explore changes


associated with mental, social, and emotional development. They also look at the


evolution of friendships and parent-child relationships. How children learn both


in and outside school is another focus of developmental research.


Clinical psychology has undergone rapid growth in recent years and is


now the largest sub-discipline within psychology. Clinical psychologists work in


hospitals, in clinics, and in private practice. Their main concerns are the


diagnoses and treatment of learning and emotional problems. Many conduct


psychological research along with their applied work.


The goal of psychology must be to further understand behaviour. This has


to be done through theories. Good psychological theories generate hypotheses


about how human behaviour should respond to given conditions. Psychology has to


develop and comprehend the behavioural attitude of not only humans but animals,


and establish more relevant theories as the science of psychology advances.


Methods of Psychology.


Psychologists use a number of research methods to study behaviour. These


include surveys, observation, case studies, correlation method and experimental


methods.


Performing a survey is one of the most widely used methods of


psychological research. Representative groups are questioned either face to face


or by being given formal questionnaires to complete. There are limitations to


surveys. There can easily be a bias within the groups questioned. For example,


gender, social or economic differences etc. This can give a limited insight as


to the true attitude of the group surveyed. It can also make considerable


difference as to how the questions are composed. Any question can be written


with a critical or creative style which can determine the way the person taking


part in the survey will answer. The only way to take a poll or survey is to


guarantee that the individuals surveyed (a sample) will be representative of the


whole group you are interested in. In a random sample, every individual in the


population has an equal chance to be in the sample.


Observational research methods can either be in a controlled environment


or subjects can be observed in their normal day to day habitat, known as


naturalistic observation. The most critical feature of naturalistic observation


is that ‘the act of observing someone must not interfere with how the person


behaves’. When people know they are being watched , they are likely to try and


look as good as they can. The advantage of naturalistic observations is that


they are made under real life conditions. The main disadvantage is that we can


seldom say with certainty why people behaved as they did because we do not have


any control over the circumstances in which they were behaving.


Most data-gathering procedures in psychology collect a limited amount of


information from a large number of people, the aim of a case study is to obtain


large amounts of information about an individual or small group. Detail of this


kind can help the psychologist understand complex relationships and behavioral


patterns. Among the disadvantages of case studies is the potential for observer


bias and the lack of proper sampling opportunities.


A list of facts and figures of the kind that may be obtained from any of


the previous research methods can only provide a limited insight into the nature


of behaviour. A useful strategy is to look for relationships among the various


measures obtained. Studies with this purpose are described as correlational.


Correlational studies may use a number of different research methods to obtain


the data. The distinctive feature of a correlational study is not the method


used to gather the data but the questions the data is designed to answer.


The difficulty with correlational studies is not that they fail to


suggest causal relations but that they suggest too many. The experiment is the


only method by which science can establish causal relations. In experimental


research the conditions under which observations are made are arranged so the


number of possible causes can be controlled and specified. All experiments have


one or more independent and dependent variables. The independent variable is the


set of conditions established by the experiment. The dependent variable is that


aspect of the subjects’ behaviour measured by the experimenter and which could


possibly be influenced by the independent variable. Naturally the limitation of


any experimental research is the artificial surroundings in which they are


performed.


Psychology makes extensive use of statistics. These methods have two


broad functions in the analysis of data: descriptive and inferential. The aim of


descriptive methods is to provide a summary of data so that important features


are more readily apparent. Inferential methods are used to evaluate the extent


to which data supports a hypotheses or can be generalised beyond the particular


study being analysed.


The controlling influence over all of these research methods is of


course ethics. Ethics considerations arise with both human and animal subjects.


To help re

searchers, as well as safeguard the welfare of the subjects, ethical


guidelines exist in many countries.


THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.


The nervous system of humans and other vertebrates consists of two major


parts: the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS)


The CNS consists of the brain and the spinal cord. It occupies the


commanding position in the nervous system, as it coordinates and integrates all


bodily functions.


The PNS, which transmits messages to and from the CNS. has two


divisions: somatic and autonomic. Autonomic nerves are motor nerves only. They


regulate a great variety of bodily functions.


Cerebral Cortex.


The very elaborate cerebral cortex is layered sheet some 2.5mm thick of


literally billions of nerve cells that go over and around the brain. It covers


the upper and outer portions of the brain called the cerebrum. This is why it


is called the cerebral cortex. The cortex is wrinkled and folded. This


convoluting greatly enlarges the surface area available, compared to a similarly


sized smooth cortex.


The cerebrum is divided down the middle from front to back into two


halves: the right and the left cerebral hemispheres. Each hemisphere controls


the activities of the opposite side of the body that is, the left cerebral


hemisphere controls the right side of the body and the right hemisphere controls


the left side. Although in many ways the two hemispheres are mirror images of


one another, there are functional distinctions between them. In most people, the


areas that control the development and use of language are located in the left


hemisphere, while areas that govern three-dimensional visualization and musical


and artistic creation are located in the right hemisphere.


Each hemisphere of the cerebrum is divided into four sections: the


frontal, parietal (top rear), temporal (lower), and occipital (rear) lobes. The


back part of the frontal lobe contains areas that govern movement of the


opposite side of the body. Damage to this region results in paralysis. In front


of this region is an area of the frontal lobe called the premotor cortex, where


complex movements are controlled. Still farther forward is the prefrontal cortex,


which exerts an inhibitory control over actions. Such distinctly human abilities


as foreseeing the consequences of an action, exercising self-restraint, and


developing moral and ethical standards depend on the normal functioning of the


prefrontal cortex. The parietal lobe, the part of the hemisphere that lies


behind the frontal lobe, contains the primary sensory cortex the part of the


brain. It receives sensory information from the opposite side of the body. Below


the frontal and parietal lobes is the temporal lobe, which is involved with


heari ng and memory. Behind the temporal lobe is the occipital lobe, the visual


center of the brain. Here the signals that come to the brain from the eyes are


put through very complex transformations in a process of analysis and


integration.


Cranial nerves are a group of 12 pairs of sensory, motor, or mixed


(having separate sensory and motor fibers) nerves that connect with the brain


stem and the lower parts of the brain.


The Endocrine System.


Endocrine glands secrete onto adjacent tissue where the hormone is


picked up by the blood, lymph system, or nerve cells and transported to the


target organ. The adrenals, thyroid, parathyroid, pituitary, hypothalamus,


pineal, and ovary are endocrine glands. The secretions of endocrine glands are


called hormones. Mixed exocrine and endocrine glands, which secrete in both ways,


include the liver, testes, and pancreas. Endocrine glands release extremely


small amounts because hormones are powerful substances. The activities of the


endocrine glands form one of the most complex systems in the body. Although each


gland has its own unique function, the glands are interdependent, and the


function of one depends on the activity of another. The hypothalamus produces


several hormones, including those that regulate pituitary activity. The


pituitary produces its own hormones that regulate growth and stimulate other


endocrine glands. The adrenals, thyroid, testes, and ovaries are dependent upon


pituitary stimulat ion. The hormones these glands produce govern metabolism,


blood pressure, water and mineral balance, and reproductive functions, and they


help defend against injury. The term hormone is derived from a Greek word


meaning ’stir up’.


Drugs Affecting Behaviour.


Many kinds of drugs are prescribed for anxiety, sleeping and nervous


disorders. Several types of sedative drugs induce sleep and cause intoxication.


These drugs although prescribed for sleep disorders and anxiety problems, can


also cause physical and psychological dependence. These include ethyl alcohol,


barbiturates, methaqualone, and many others.


There are of course everyday drugs that are consumed in enormous


quantities by millions of people. Caffeine, nicotine and alcohol are used daily


by a large number of people, to the extent where they could be classed as


addictive. Alcohol addiction is by far one of the most common addictions


globally. While there appears to be little evidence that using alcohol in


moderation does any damage, but excessive drinking is a major problem in many


countries causing many man hours of lost work, social and domestic violence


problems. Repeated heavy drinking can cause serious medical problems, liver


damage and irreversible brain damage in some cases.


SENSORY PROCESSES.


The term sensation refers to the process of receiving information in the


form of energy (light, heat, sound etc.) from the world outside and sorting it


out into the proper sense – vision, touch, hearing. Once that information has


been received, we interpret it and arrive at an understanding of what it means,


a process referred to as perception. Sensation and perception make up an


extensive information gathering system.


Each sense has it’s own receptors that constantly monitor our


environment. All sensory systems have certain characteristics: The sensory


system must be selective, which means that only certain types of incoming


information are processed. For example, we have more than one kind of receiver


for touch. One which responds to changes in temperature and one which responds


to damaged cells. The sensory system must have an adjustable speed. Nerve fibres


to the ear respond in less than a thousandth of a second because sudden noise


does not require analysis, as it does a speedy response. However, the visual


system will respond quickly to a blur as something comes towards us, a


potential danger, yet it will take it’s time when analyzing a complex scene.


The system must also be sensitive, but not too much. If our ears were too


sensitive we would hear blood running through artery at the base of the ear.


Sensory measurement must be reliable. Reliability comes from comparing incoming


stimulus with the conditions around us.


Vision.


The optic nerve delivers its impulses to a special area of the brain


called the visual center . This is where people “see” objects in the sense of


recognizing and reacting to what their eyes look at. In other words, seeing


always involves the brain’s visual center. Here sensation turns into perception.


The brain must learn by experience to analyze correctly the impulses it


receives from the eyes. For instance, the lens system of the eye, like that of a


camera, transmits its light pattern upside down. The brain has to learn that the


impulses received from the upper part of the retina represent the lower part of


the object sighted and vice versa.


In the brain also are located the centers that control all the eye’s


muscular movements, such as the opening and closing of the iris, the focusing of


the main lens, and the movement of the eyeball. The eyeball’s movement is


voluntary. Other eye adjustments are reflexes. Most individuals use both eyes


to see an object. This type of sensory perception is known as binocular vision.


Thus two images of the object are formed one on the retina of each eye. Impulses


from both images are sent to the brain. Through experience these impulses are


interpreted as two views of the same object. Because the eyes are about 2


inches apart from pupil to pupil and therefore are looking at the object from


different angles, the two views are not exactly alike. This is known as the


stereoscopic effect. If the object is far away, the difference between the


images is slight. If it is a few inches away, the difference is very great. The


brain makes good use of this phenomenon. It learns to judge the distance of an


object b y the degree of difference between the images it receives from the two


eyes. In the same way the brain perceives what is called perspective.


The Eye.


The retina is a soft, transparent layer of nervous tissue made up of


millions of light receptors. The retina is connected to the brain by the optic


nerve. All of the structures needed to focus light onto the retina and to


nourish it are housed in the eye, which is primarily a supporting shell for the


retina. When light enters the eye it passes through the lens and focuses an


image onto the retina. The retina has several layers, one of which contains


special cells named for their shapes rods and cones. Light-sensitive chemicals


in the rods and cones react to specific wavelengths of light and trigger nerve


impulses. These impulses are carried through the optic nerve to the visual


center in the brain. Here they are interpreted, and sight occurs. Light must


pass through the covering layers of the retina to reach the layer of rods and


cones. There are about 75 to 150 million rods and about 7 million cones in the


human retina. Rods do not detect lines, points, or color. They perceive only


light and dark


tones in an image. The sensitive rods can distinguish outlines or silhouettes


of objects in almost complete darkness. They make it possible for people to see


in darkness or at night. Cones are the keenest of the retina’s receptor cells.


Hearing.


In hearing the basic energy form is sound waves. Sound waves form at


various speeds, or frequencies. The frequency of any given tone is measured in


terms of the number of cycles per second. Sound travels slowly compared to light


at anything from 20-20,000 cycles per second. The sounds we hear have three


basic characteristics. Pitch, which is the frequency of the sound. Timbre,


determines the tonal quality . The loudness or intensity of the sound wave is


measured in decibels. The human ear can pick up sounds just above ‘0′ decibels,


otherwise there would be complete silence.


Decibel Table.


Decibels Noise Threshold


40 Quiet office Normal


60 Normal conservation Normal


75 Road Traffic Noisy


100 Subway Train Potential Damage


130 Rock Concert Human Pain Threshold


140 Aircraft Taking-off Human Pain Threshold


The Structure of the Ear.


The ear has three separate sections the outer ear, the middle ear, and


the inner ear. Each section performs a specific function, related to either


hearing or balance. The three parts of the outer ear are the auricle (also


called the pinna), the external auditory meatus (or ear canal), and the tympanic


membrane (or eardrum). The pinna collects sound waves from the air. It funnels


them into a tube, the external auditory meatus. This is a curved corridor that


leads to the tympanic membrane. The eardrum separates the external ear from the


middle ear. The middle ear is an irregular-shaped, air-filled space. A link of


three tiny bones, the ossicles, spans the middle ear. When sound waves strike


the outer surface of the eardrum, it vibrates. These vibrations are mechanically


transmitted through the middle ear by the ossicles, to the opening. This opening


is the round window. Like the eardrum, the round window’s membrane transmits


vibrations. It directs vibrations into the inner ear, where they enter a f luid


that fills a structure called the cochlea. This is a coiled tube that resembles


a snail’s shell. Within the cochlea is housed the true mechanism of hearing,


called the organ of Corti. It contains tiny hair-like nerve endings anchored in


a basilar membrane, which extends throughout the cochlea. The unattached tips of


these nerve endings are in contact with an overhanging membrane, called the


tectorial membrane. When vibrations pass into the inner ear, they cause waves to


form in the cochlear fluid. Receptor nerve cells in the organ of Corti are


highly sensitive to these waves. Other specialized nerve cells send the


electrochemical impulses produced by the wave motion into the cochlear branch of


the acoustic nerve. This nerve carries the impulses to the brain, where sound is


identified.


Taste.


It is widely accepted that there are four basic taste qualities, salty,


sour, sweet and bitter. It was originally thought that there was a sensory path


for each of these tastes. However it appears that there is a pattern of


activation in a number of different fibres providing the required sensory input


to the brain to distinguish these different tastes. The papillae on the surface


of the tongue are the receptors for these taste sensations.


Smell.


Deciphering the sensory information for the sense of smell is not


dissimilar to that of taste. In the olfactory area the nerve endings grow


through the mucous membrane which act as receptors to determine odors present in


the air we breathe.


Touch.


The skin or cutaneous sense has some 5 million sensors of at least 7


types throughout the human body. The three major types are Meissner’s corpuscles


which sense touch. The Pacinian corpuscle’s which determine movement and


vibration and the Krause end bulbs which sense changes in temperature.


Equilibrium and Proprioception.


Proprioception (kinesthesia), establishes the position of limbs and


underlies the ability to assume and maintain posture, to move about in the


environment, to manipulate objects and to be coordinated. These senses did not


figure prominently in the traditional account of senses because they have no


external sources of adequate stimulation. They do have identifiable and


understood sensory receptors. Both play an important role in maintaining posture


and balance.


PERCEPTION.


Perception is the primary process by which we obtain knowledge about the


world. It involves the activity of our senses in responding to external


stimulation. Perception is a skill or set of skills, not simply the passive


reception of external stimulation. The process of structuring these stimuli into


objects we can perceive is called perceptual organisation. There are a number


of principles to perceptual organisation.


Figure and Ground.


Gestalt psychologists identified the tendency to differentiate between


figure and ground. The figure being the part of an image which we notice


prominently, opposed to the background, the ground. This theory not only applies


to visual items, but

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