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Mart Murdvee
Techno-Psychology . Lecture 1. About Psychology
About
Psychology
Compiled by
Mart Murdvee
Psychology
• Psyche (mind, soul or spirit) + logos (knowledge, discourse or study) =
study of the mind
• Psychology:
– the Science of Mental Life, both of its phenomena and of their
conditions… The Phenomena are such things as we call feelings,
desires, cognition, reasoning, decisions and the like. (William James;
1842 – 1910)
– that division of Natural Science which takes human behaviour – the
doings and sayings, both learned and unlearned – as its subject
matter (John B. Watson; 1878 – 1958)
– the scientific study of behaviour. Its subject matter includes
behavioural processes that are observable, such as gestures, speech
and physiological changes, and processes that can only be inferred,
such as thoughts and dreams (Clark, Miller, 1970)
– the scientific study of people, the mind and behaviour (British
Psychological Society, 2015)
The relationship between psychology
and other scientific disciplines
© Compilation by Mart Murdvee, 2015
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Mart Murdvee
Techno-Psychology . Lecture 1. About Psychology
Place of Psychology
The sciences are sometimes likened to different levels of a tall building:
particle physics on the ground floor, then the rest of physics, then chemistry,
and so forth—all the way up to psychology (and the economists in the
penthouse). There’s a corresponding hierarchy of complexity: atoms,
molecules, cells, organisms, and so forth. This metaphor is in some ways
helpful; it illustrates how each science is pursued independently of the
others. But in one key respect the analogy is poor. In a building, insecure
foundations imperil the floors above. But the “higher level” sciences dealing
with complex systems aren’t imperiled by an insecure base, as a building is.
MARTIN REES
Former president, Royal Society; emeritus professor of cosmology and astrophysics,
University of Cambridge; master, Trinity College; author, From Here to Infinity
Applied psychology
is the use of psychological methods and findings of
scientific psychology to solve practical problems of
human and animal behavior and experience.
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Some of the areas of applied psychology:
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clinical psychology,
counseling psychology,
evolutionary psychology,
industrial and organizational psychology,
legal psychology,
neuropsychology,
occupational health psychology,
human factors,
forensic psychology,
engineering psychology,
school psychology,
sports psychology,
traffic psychology,
community psychology,
medical psychology
…
Scientific paradigm
universally recognized scientific achievements that, for a
time, provide model problems and solutions for a
community of researchers, i.e.
• what is to be observed and scrutinized
• the kind of questions that are supposed to be asked and
probed for answers in relation to this subject
• how these questions are to be structured
• how the results of scientific investigations should be
interpreted
• how is an experiment to be conducted, and what equipment
is available to conduct the experiment.
Kuhn, T S (1970) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (2nd Edition) University of Chicago Press.
Section V, pages 43-51
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Mart Murdvee
Techno-Psychology . Lecture 1. About Psychology
Major Perspectives on Human Behavior
Psychodynamic
Conception of
human nature
Major causal
factors in
behavior
Predominant
focus and
methods of
discovery
The human as controlled by inner forces
and conflicts
Unconscious motives, conflicts, and
defenses; early childhood experiences and
unresolved conflicts
Intensive observations of personality
processes in clinical
settings; some laboratory research
Major Perspectives on Human Behavior
Behavioral
Conception of
human nature
Major causal
factors in
behavior
Predominant
focus and
methods of
discovery
The human as reactor to the environment
Past learning experiences and the stimuli
and behavioral consequences that exist in
the current environment
Study of learning processes in laboratory
and real-world settings, with an emphasis
on precise observation of stimuli and
responses
Major Perspectives on Human Behavior
Humanistic
Conception of
human nature
Major causal
factors in
behavior
Predominant
focus and
methods of
discovery
The human as free agent, seeking
selfactualization
Free will, choice, and innate drive toward
selfactualization; search for personal
meaning of existence
Study of meaning, values, and purpose in
life; study of selfconcept and its role in
thought, emotion, and behavior
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Mart Murdvee
Techno-Psychology . Lecture 1. About Psychology
Major Perspectives on Human Behavior
Cognitive
Conception of
human nature
Major causal
factors in
behavior
Predominant
focus and
methods of
discovery
The human as thinker
Thoughts, anticipations, planning,
perceptions, attention, and memory
processes
Study of cognitive processes, usually under
highly controlled laboratory conditions
Major Perspectives on Human Behavior
Sociocultural
Conception of
human nature
Major causal
factors in
behavior
Predominant
focus and
methods of
discovery
The human as social being embedded in a
culture
Social forces, including norms, social
interactions, and group processes in one’s
culture and social environment
Study of behavior and mental processes of
people in different cultures; experiments
examining people’s responses to social
stimuli
Major Perspectives on Human Behavior
Biological
Conception of
human nature
Major causal
factors in
behavior
Predominant
focus and
methods of
discovery
The human animal
Genetic and evolutionary factors; brain and
biochemical processes
Study of brainbehavior relations; role of
hormones and biochemical factors in
behavior; behavior genetics research
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Mart Murdvee
Techno-Psychology . Lecture 1. About Psychology
Levels of Analysis
Behavior can be understood at biological, psychological,
and environmental levels of analysis.
• Biological level of analysis - brain functioning and
hormones, genetic factors shaped over the course of
evolution.
• Psychological level of analysis - thought, memory, and
planning, motives and personality traits
• Environmental level of analysis - how stimuli in the
physical and social environment shape behavior, thoughts,
and feelings.
A full understanding of behavior often moves us back and
forth between these three levels.
Principles of Psycology
• As a science, psychology is empirical. It favors direct observation
over pure intuition or reasoning as a means of attaining knowledge
about behavior.
• Although committed to studying behavior objectively, psychologists
recognize that our personal experience of the world is subjective.
• Behavior is determined by multiple causal factors, including our
biological endowment (“nature”), the environment and our past
learning experiences (“nurture”), and psychological factors that
include our thoughts and motives.
• Behavior is a means of adapting to environmental demands;
capacities have evolved during each species’ history because they
facilitated adaptation and survival.
• Behavior and cognitive processes are affected by the social and
cultural environments in which we develop and live.
Experimental psychology
research on basic psychological processes.
Mathematical psychology is an approach to
psychological research that is based on
mathematical modeling of perceptual, cognitive
and motor processes, and on the establishment
of law-like rules that relate quantifiable stimulus
characteristics with quantifiable behavior.
Friedrich Bessel
(1784–1846)
Friedrich Bessel speculated that the systematic
errors in astronomic observations is not
explained by incompetence, but by individual
differences among observers. Bessel set out to
compare his observations with those of his
colleagues and indeed found systematic
differences among them. This was the first
reaction-time study - personal equations.
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Mart Murdvee
Techno-Psychology . Lecture 1. About Psychology
Experimental psychology
• Touch - includes the senses of pressure,
temperature, and pain
• Two-point threshold - the smallest distance
between the two points at which the subject
reported sensing two points instead of one
Ernst Heinrich Weber
(1795–1878)
• Kinesthesis (muscle sense) - judgments are
relative, not absolute
Experimental psychology
Psychophysics
•
Psychophysics - the study of the relationship between physical
and psychological events.
•
Weber-Fechner law:
∆𝑅
=𝑘
𝑅
where
R = reiz (the German word for “stimulus”).
Gustav Theodor
Fechner
(1801–1887)
∆R = the minimum change in R that could be detected; that is, the minimum
change in physical stimulation necessary to cause a person to experience a
difference.
k = constant. Weber found this constant to be 1/40 of R for lifted weights.
•
Fechner formula, the relationship between the mental and the
physical (the mind and the body):
S = k log R
•
for just noticeable differences to vary arithmetically, the magnitude
of a stimulus must vary geometrically.
Absolute threshold - the lowest intensity at which a stimulus can
be detected is called the
Psychophysical Methods
• The method of limits (also called the method of just noticeable
differences): With this method, one stimulus is varied and is compared to
a standard. To begin with, the variable stimulus can be equal to the
standard and then varied, or it can be much stronger or weaker than the
standard. The goal here is to determine the range of stimuli that the
subject considers to be equal to the standard.
• The method of constant stimuli (also called the method of right and
wrong cases): Here, pairs of stimuli are presented to the subject. One
member of the pair is the standard and remains the same, and the other
varies in magnitude from one presentation to another. The subject reports
whether the variable stimulus appears greater than, less than, or equal to
the standard.
• The method of adjustment (also called the method of average error):
Here, the subject has control over the variable stimulus and is instructed
to adjust its magnitude so that the stimulus appears equal to the standard
stimulus. After the adjustment, the average difference between the
variable stimulus and the standard stimulus is measured.
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Mart Murdvee
Techno-Psychology . Lecture 1. About Psychology
Experimental psychology
First laboratory of psychology
Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt
(1832–1920)
• 1876, University of Leipzig
• Elements of thought - the basic sensations
from which more complex thoughts are
derived.
• Principle of the heterogony of ends - the
fact that goal-directed activity often causes
experiences that modify the original
motivational pattern.
• Principle toward the development of
opposites - the tendency for prolonged
experience of one type to create a mental
desire for the opposite type of experience.
• Tridimensional theory of feeling contention that feelings vary along three
dimensions: pleasantness-unpleasantness,
excitement-calm, and strainrelaxation.
Physiological (or bio-)psychology
main topics - the physical basis of behaviour, how the functions
of the nervous system (in particular the brain) and the endocrine
(hormonal) system are related to and influence behaviour and
mental processes.
• Localisation of brain function:
– What parts of the brain specifically concerned with particular
behaviours and abilities
– What role do hormones play in the experience of emotion and how
are these linked to brain processes
– What is the relationship between brain activity and different states of
consciousness (including sleep)
• Genetic transmission
– The heredity and environment (or nature–nurture) - the characteristics
that can be passed from parents to offspring, how this takes place,
and how genetic factors interact with environmental factors
• Motivation and stress
• Sensory processes
Clinical method
method is primarily used to collect
detailed information on the behavior
problems of maladjusted and deviant
cases - cerebral localization.
Broca’s area: a region in the frontal lobe of the
dominant hemisphere (usually the left) of the hominid
brain with functions linked to speech production.
Paul Broca
(1824–1880)
There had in 1831 been admitted at the
Bicetre, an insane hospital near Paris, a
man whose sole defect seemed to be that
he could not talk. He communicated
intelligently by signs and was otherwise
mentally normal. On April 17 1861 the
patient died; and within a day Broca had
performed an autopsy, discovering a lesion
in the third frontal convolution of the left
cerebral hemisphere, and had presented
the brain in alcohol to the Societe
d’Anthropologie.
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Mart Murdvee
Techno-Psychology . Lecture 1. About Psychology
Behaviorism
John Broadus Watson
(1878–1958)
Psychology as the Behaviorist views it is a
purely objective experimental branch of
natural science. Its theoretical goal is the
prediction and control of behavior.
Introspection forms no essential part of its
methods, nor is the scientific value of its data
dependent upon the readiness with which
they lend themselves to interpretation in
terms of consciousness. The Behaviorist, in
his efforts to get a unitary scheme of animal
response, recognizes no dividing line
between man and brute. The behavior of
man, with all of its refinement and complexity,
forms only a part of the Behaviorist’s total
scheme of investigation.
Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It, 1913
Learning experiments
• Little (poor) Albert (11month-old) – fear
conditioning and
generalization
• Peter (3 years old) and
the Rabbit - behavior
therapy.
J. B. Watson, Rosalie Rayner, and Albert
(with the rat)
Five major operant processes
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Mart Murdvee
Techno-Psychology . Lecture 1. About Psychology
Schedules of reinforcement and
behavior
Cumulative recorder
Burrhus Frederic
Skinner (1904 – 1990)
with Skinner box
Psychodynamic approach
Psychoanalysis
• Libido – universal force of desire, the
fundamental urge to action
• Main urges:
– Love – „life instinct“, Eros
– Destruction – „death instinct“, Thanatos
• EGO keeps balance between the
impractical hedonism of the ID and the
impractical moralism of the SUPEREGO
• EGO defence mechanisms: denial,
reaction, repression, regression,
projection, rationalization, sublimation,
humor…
Sigmund Freud
(1856 – 1939)
Psychodynamic approach
Psychoanalysis
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ID
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EGO
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Unconcious
A-moral
Illogical
Repressed ideas
Reservour of the libido
Pleasure-unpleasure principle
Responsible for habit-formation
Concious
Logical
Deals realistically with the externals of the environment
Reciprocates between ID and Superego
Moral
Subject to space and time
Maintain a sort of dream-censorship during sleep
Content may be expressed in words
SUPEREGO
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Assocoated with „phylogenetic“ conditions, tribal and race memories
Derived from infancy (parents and guardians), later from society
Avakens in EGO unconcious sense of guilt
Dominates the EGO
Out of reach the EGO
In contact with the ID
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Mart Murdvee
Techno-Psychology . Lecture 1. About Psychology
Gestalt Psychology
•
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Max
Wertheimer
(1880–1943)
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Wolfgang
Köhler
(1887–1967)
Gestalt - the German word meaning
“configuration,” “pattern,” or “whole”.
Gestalt psychology - the type of
psychology that studies whole, intact
segments of behavior and cognitive
experience.
Perceptual constancy - the tendency to
respond to objects as being the same, even
when we experience those objects under a
wide variety of circumstances.
Trace system - the consolidation of the
enduring or essential features of memories
of individual objects or of classes of objects.
Law of Prägnanz - because of the
tendencies of the force fields that occur in
the brain, mental events will always tend to
be organized, simple, and regular. According
to the law of Prägnanz, cognitive experience
will always reflect the essence of one’s
experience instead of its disorganized,
fragmented aspects.
Gestalt Principles of Perceptual
Organization
Cognitive psychology
main topics - cognitive (or
mental) processes
include attention,
memory, perception,
language, thinking,
problem-solving,
decision-making,
reasoning and concept
formation (‘higher-order’
mental activities).
© Compilation by Mart Murdvee, 2015
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Mart Murdvee
Techno-Psychology . Lecture 1. About Psychology
Techno-psychology
the use of psychological methods and findings of
scientific psychology to study and solve problems
of human behavior and experience related to
technology.
• Levels: organism – person – group – culture
(civilisation)
• Effects:
– Technology => Human
– Human => Technology
• Psychology of machine?
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