Chapter 1 Dimensions of Psychology

1. Chapter 1Dimensions of Psychology • Definition: - “It is the study of behavior and mental processes” • Main goals: • 1- Describe behavior and mental processes. • 2- Explain behavior and mental processes. • 3- Predict the mental characteristics in specific circumstances.

2. * Importance of studying this course? • 1. Helps the student to understand their own behavior and others’ behavior, and reasons for that behavior. • 2. Helps the students to develop insights, and suggests how applied in the problem solving (personal and social) • 3. Helps you in your future work as dealing with different types of patients.  4. Helps you to be more perceptive in evaluating psychological information’s, you read or hear about. • 5- Assess and relieve stress in the different clinical situations.

3. *Aspects of psychology: • I -Psychology is a science • -May not seem to you as much of a science like chemistry or biology. ( psychologists study things that can’t be put in a tube or under a microscope). • -Psychologists try to understand behaviors, and relations between variables and issues (deal with sensations or perception).

4. *Examples: - -Why twins develop different personalities? -Why women are more emotionally? expressive than men are? • Psychology: deals with (why and how). • Psychologists use systematic method to gather data, analyze them and interpret the meaning of their findings and developing theories.

5. A theory: (attempt to fit all known, relevant facts into a logical explanation). • can serve as framework for collecting more data. • Findings of different investigators lead to new problems, new directions and new possibilities, (so there is always more to learn. (

6. II –Psychology promote human welfare: by: - a) Basic science aims to understand a subject regardless to whether will have immediate practical effect e.g. emotions, attitudes, motivations, and thoughts. • -Some people thinks that basic science is a wasting of time and money.

7. b) Applied science: the research findings are used to solve practical problems or improve the quality of life e.g. poor academic achievement of students, decrease productivity of the workers.

8. Past history of Psychology: • Wilhelm Wundt (1832- 1920) • German -professor participated in establishing psychology as a separate science., • Built the first psychology laboratory in 1879 for the purpose of doing psychological research

9. William James (1842- 1910) : - American psychologist published the most influential text book in psychology "principles of psychology", he believed that human mind was constantly evolving as it adapted to new information of the environment. •  N.B.: "Al- Ghazaly“ is the first Islamic scientist who named this science as psychology.

10. Modern psychology • There are 5 different perspective dominate each of them complementing the other in explaining people thoughts & behavior. 1. Neuro-biological Perspective: • proposes that behaviors is influenced by physiology of the brain and nervous system mainly. - Normal behavior (state of equilibrium) • Abnormal behavior (physical pathology) .

11. . Neuro-biological Perspective… cont. * Research &treatment focused on four main areas: • A – Nervous system disorders. • B – Structural changes to the brain (post trauma or in degenerative disorders) • C – Endocrine or gland dysfunction,( as in hypothyroid may lead to depression). • D – Genetic transmission of mental illness ( as schizophrenia) • Critique: Biomedical model treatments (medications)

12. Modern psychology (cont…) 2) Psychoanalytic Perspective: • behavior is driven by unconscious processes, and influenced by childhood/developmental conflicts. (Sigmund Freud) • human behavior determine by: ( unconscious forces, developmental factors, and family relationships

13. Freud's theory proposes that personality development progresses through four stages throughout childhood. • Psychoanalysis is the treatment of choice . * Critique of psychoanalytic theory: -The unconscious nature difficult to test.

14. Modern psychology (cont…) 3) Behaviorist perspective: • The external environmental stimuli shape and control the persons actions. • Behaviors are learned depending on whether they are rewarded or not. ** scientific approach to study behavior, (differ from psychoanalytic theory).

15. The focus is on observable behavior and conditions that excite and maintain the behavior (classical conditioning) or factors that reinforce behavior (operant conditioning).

16. Behaviorist perspective …cont. * Three basic assumptions support behavior theory: 1. Personality is determined by prior learning 2. Human behavior is changeable throughout the life-span. 3. Changes in behavior are caused by changes in the environment. (Behavioral psychotherapy is the treatment of choice).

17. Critique of behavioral theory: : • Their explanations are less persuasive when applied to psychosis or organic brain disorders. • Most behaviorist research has been conducted on animals under laboratory conditions (mechanistic) . * Mental illness can occur for a person in healthy environment?.

18. 4) Cognitive perspective: • Explains behavior by looking at a person’s particular ways of reasoning and thinking and interaction with his environment. • Proposes that people actively interpret their environment.

19. * behavior is a result of the interplay of external events (stimuli +reinforcements) and internal events (perceptions &thoughts) • Thoughts → feelings → behavior

20. Critique of cognitive psychology: • Positive: Therapeutic techniques are practical and effective, and can be self-administered by the client under the direction of a therapist. - Negative: • 1- Being unscientific: because mental processes cannot objectively be observed. • 2- The insight itself not responsible about behavior change.

21. 5) Humanistic Perspective:Abraham Maslow • Focuses on the development of a concept of self and the striving of the individual to achieve personal goals. • Client-centered therapy: is the counseling model, to overcome harmful effects • Human behavior is motivated by a drive for self-actualization

22. Critique of humanistic psychology: 1- This Theory is incomplete. 2- Humanistic concepts difficult to define objectively 3- There is littlerecognition of unconscious drives in explaining behavior.

23. Applying different perspectives: • In 1989 Charles Whitman, a student in the university of Texas, climbed a building and proceed to fire people below and killing13and injuring32, the night before he had shot his mother and stabbed his wife to death. Psychologists tackles the issue from other angles and contributing different explanations for his bizarre aggressive behavior:

24. Neurobiological perspective suggested that he has brain tumor. • Behavioral psychologists explained his aggression was encouraged by rewards as social approval . • Cognitive psychologists explained that Whitman think that strong man is aggressive, when he often seen his father beating his mother.

25. Psychoanalytic looked to unconscious childhood conflict when Whitman's parents separated and he lived with his poor mother. • Humanistic psychologists focused on how Whitman's progress to self-actualization was blocked, and respond to frustration with aggression.