An introduction

How psychologists explain human behaviour

Why do people behave the way they do?

Biological approach to understanding human behaviour

• All behaviour is determined by genetic, physiological and neurological factors

• The central nervous system and the ‘brain’ is a major influence

• Normality is a properly functioning nervous system

Biological approach to understanding human behaviour The nature of psychological development

• Stages of behavioural & psychological development are based on changes in brain growth which are genetically determined (maturation)

Preferred method of study

• Experiment (on animals often rats

• and humans)

Biological approach to understanding human behaviour Major causes of abnormal behaviour genetic disorders organic (bodily) disorders brain disease or injury

chemical imbalance / allergies mental illness

Biological approach to understanding human behaviour Preferred methods of treatment• chemotherapy( drugs)• electroconvulsive therapy; psychosurgery

Goals of treatment• To alleviate symptoms or to reverse the underlying cause (s) of

the illness

Key Studies • Maguire et al : Brains of London Taxi Drivers• Sperry: The split brain studies

Psychodynamic approach (perspective) to understanding human behaviour (Freud)

• Behaviour determined by unconscious forces

• The individual experiences unconscious conflict due to opposing demands made by different parts of the personality (id, ego, superego)

Normality

• A reasonable balance between id, ego, superego but there is always some conflict

Psychodynamic approach (perspective) to understanding human behaviour (Freud)

The nature of psychological

development

• Five psychosexual stages whose sequence is determined by maturation

• An individual is shaped by early childhood experiences

Psychodynamic approach (perspective) to understanding human behaviour (Freud)

Preferred method of study is case study

Key Studies:• Freud, S. (1909) Analysis of a phobia

in a five-year-old boy. Pelican Freud Library, Vol. 8, Case Histories

• Thigpen, C.H. & Cleckley, H. • (1954) • A case of multiple personality.

Psychodynamic approach (perspective) to understanding human behaviour (Freud)

Major causes of abnormal behaviour• Emotional disturbance / neurosis caused by unresolved

conflicts stemming from childhood

Preferred methods of treatment• Psychoanalysis in which the unconscious is revealed

Goals of treatment• To uncover unconscious conflict and to achieve balance

between id, ego, superego

Behaviourist approach (perspective) to understanding human behaviour

• All human behaviour shaped by environmental forces

• behaviour is learned by • classical & operant conditioning• (Pavlov’s dogs)

Normality • The possession of an adequately large repertoire of

learned responses

Behaviourist approach (perspective) to understanding human behaviour

Major causes of abnormal behaviour• learned maladaptive responses• no distinction between symptoms and behaviour disorderKey Study: • Little Albert: • J Watson & R Rayner (1926)• Conditioned emotional responses

Behaviourist approach (perspective) to understanding human behaviour

Preferred methods of treatment– behaviour therapy

– systematic desensitisation

– aversion therapy, flooding therapy

Goals of treatment

• To eliminate maladaptive responses (phobias etc) and to acquire new ones

Behaviourist approach (perspective) to understanding human behaviour

• Classical conditioning• With care & patience, it is possible to demonstrate the

conditioning of the eye-blink reflex in humans. In pairs choose who will be the experimenter and the learner

• Experimenter - blow carefully (use a drinking straw ) across the eyeball. Now pair the puff of air with a gentle tap on the back of the participants hand. Record the number of pairings required to produce the eye-blink to the tap on the hand alone.

Cognitive approach to understanding human behaviour

• The human mind is compared to a computer (information processor) as cognitive processes select, code, store and retrieve information

• Key Study Areas: Memory, Perception, Language

• Normality

• The proper functioning of cognitive processes & ability to use them to monitor & control behaviour

Cognitive approach to understanding human behaviour

• The nature of psychological development

• Stages of cognitive development (Key Names: Jean Piaget, L Vygotsky)

• Preferred methods of study

• experiment (mainly humans)

• artificial intelligence

Cognitive approach to understanding human behaviour

• The major causes of abnormal behaviour• unrealistic/irrational ideas about self & others• the inability to monitor behaviour through cognitive

processes • Key studies: Loftus & Palmer – how leading

questions reconstruct memory• Samuel & Bryant: Asking only one question in the

conservation tasks

Cognitive approach to understanding human behaviour

• Preferred methods of treatment• Rational Emotive Therapy• Cognitive Behaviour Therapy • e.g. Pain clinics / depression clinics

• The goals of treatment• To correct unrealistic ideas so that thinking becomes

an effective means of controlling behaviour

Key questions to ask about human behaviour

• Do people behave the way they do

• because of the sort of ‘person’ they are• the dispositional explanation• or• because of the situation they are in?• the situational explanation• or ‘a bit of both’

Key questions to ask about human behaviour

• Do people behave the way they do

• because of biological (nature) reasons

• or

• because of their environmental (nurture) experiences?

• or ‘a bit of both’

Key questions to ask about human behaviour

• How can metaphysical mental processes cause behaviour?

• The ghost in the machine!

Psychology of why people behave the way they do !