study of how and why humans act as they do Instead of studying how humans function in cultures or societies, psychology focuses on the individual, and the personal and unique experiences that influence how the individual acts and thinks

Experimental Psychology The branch of the discipline that sets up experiments to see how individuals act in particular situations Question - Would you help a complete stranger that was being threatened with violence from another person?

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY is the branch of the discipline that develops programs for treating individuals suffering from mental illnesses and behavioural disorders Eg. Psychologists treat dangerous offenders in federal prisons in an attempt to prevent them from reoffending on release

Like the other social sciences, psychology has been divided into a number of schools of thought: Psychoanalytic Theory Behaviouralism Learning Theory

The mind is divided into two parts: the conscious (aware of ) and the unconscious (not aware of) According to psychologists, our unconscious mind has more influence than our conscious mind on our personalities and behaviour

The Unconscious mind is divided into three parts: 1. Id – which encourages us to seek physical satisfaction 2. Superego – prompts us to do the moral thing, not the one that feels best 3. Ego – the referee between the two and deals with external reality, this is our most conscious self

Behaviourists believe that psychologists can predict and control or modify human behaviour by identifying the factors that motivate it in the first place Behaviourists placed particular stress on the early childhood years, and the rules or practices parents use to raise their children because they believe these methods have a huge influence on the character of individuals even into adulthood

Learning Theorists agree that humans are born with little instinct but much learning potential They believe that most human behaviour is learned, especially in childhood and youth By controlling the way in which humans learn behavious, society can have a great influence on their ultimate personalities Believe that children who were brought up in loving families would grow up to become secure and loving adults, but only if parents provided clear and consistent expectations for good behaviour, and swift but fair consequences for bad behaviour

Cognitive Dissonance Theory Six Stages of Change (Behaviour Modification) -Pre-contemplation (denial, refusal) -Contemplation (questioning) -Preparation (investigation) -Action (commitment) -Maintenance (transition) -Termination (completion) Positive and Negative Reinforcement

* Through their studies, social psychologists have discovered that most individuals desire cognitive consistency in their beliefs. * This means that we want to avoid attitudes that conflict with each other. * When two attitudes conflict with each other we experience discomfort. Copy

* Our desire to regain cognitive consistency forces us to change one of the conflicting attitudes.

The most favoured theory of attitude change is called the cognitive dissonance theory. Copy

Suppose you smoke, but you also believe that smoking causes cancer and other serious diseases. You are experiencing dissonance, meaning that what you do conflicts with what you think. In your desire to regain cognitive consistency, you will probably try to avoid facing the conflict. You may avoid smoking in front of a friend who is strongly opposed to smoking (thereby avoiding a lecture). Copy

* What are other options to effectively reduce the dissonance you feel in a situation ? Copy

You can change your behaviour to make it consistent with your attitudes-you can stop smoking. Copy

You can reinforce your attitude (e.g. my grandma was heavy smoker and lived to be 93). Copy

* You may fool yourself for a while, yet as long as you live in a state of dissonance, you will probably experience anxiety and be very uncomfortable-even hostile-if someone criticizes your behaviour.

* Did you ever do something that you knew was wrong and ended up feeling anger; resulting from the dissonance between what you do and what you think ?

* Precontemplation * I don’t have a problem * I like myself the way I am * Contemplation * Do you think I should do something about the problem? * Preparation * What is my problem doing to my health? How does my problem affect those who love me? Copy

* Action * I’ve got to keep doing this, or I’ll never change. * Maintenance * I must find alternative ways to deal with my problem. I must avoid people who are going to drag me back into my old habits. * Termination * I don’t have to work at this anymore. I just don’t want to go back to my old ways. Copy

How could the Stages of Change model be applied to drug addiction? Copy

Focus on people’s behaviours (what they do) and attitudes (what they think) Key Questions: -what must people do to successfully change their behaviours -what factors make behaviour-modification programs successful? -do most people need help changing behaviour, or can they be self changers? Example: Consider an individual who has been convicted three times for driving under the influence. Is it necessary to change a person’s attitude about drinking before he or she will stop drinking and driving?