Understanding Human Behaviour

1 Introduction To Models And Methods Of Understanding Human Behaviour There are five basic models in the understanding of human behaviour. These models include: The Biological Model, The Psychoanalytic Model, The Behaviourist Model, The Cognitive-Behavioural Model, and The Humanistic Model. APPROACHES: 1. Biological: Concerned with the activity of the nervous system, especially the brain, action of hormones & genetics 2. Psychodynamic: Emphasizes internal conflicts, mostly unconscious 3. Behavioral: Concerned with learning, especially each person's experience with rewards and punishments 4. Cognitive: Studies the mechanisms through which people receive, store, retrieve, and otherwise process information 5. Humanistic: Emphasizes individual potential for growth and the role of unique perceptions in guiding behavior and mental processes. The Psychodynamic Approach The Interpretation of Dreams was a landmark for the science of psychology. Freud's ideas about dreaming and other mental processes were often controversial.Whether one accepts or rejects Freud's theory, there is little doubt that psychoanalysis had significant impact.Terms like unconsciousness, ego, defence mechanism were introduced by Freud. Freud's Structural Models of Personality (Psychoanalysis) Sigmund Freud's Theory is quite complex and although his writings on psychosexual development set the groundwork for how our personalities developed, it was only one of five parts to his overall theory of personality. He also believed that different driving forces develop during these stages which play an important role in how we interact with the world. THE Id: According to Freud, we are born with our Id. In Psychoanalytical theory, it is the part of the personality which contains our primitive impulses such as sex, anger, and hunger. The id is an important part of our personality because as newborns, it allows us to get our basic needs met. Freud believed that the id is based on our pleasure principle. In other words, the id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation. When a child is hungry, the id wants food, and therefore the child cries. The id doesn't care about reality, about the needs of anyone else, only its own satisfaction. If you think about it, babies are not real considerate of their parents' wishes. They have no care for time, whether their parents are sleeping, relaxing, eating dinner, or bathing. When the id wants something, nothing else is important. The Ego: Within the next three years, as the child interacts more and more with the world, the second part of the personality begins to develop. Freud called this part the Ego.It is the part of the personality which maintains a balance between our impulses (id) and our conscience (superego). The ego is based on the reality principle.

2 The ego understands that other people have needs and desires and that sometimes being impulsive or selfish can hurt us in the long run. It’s the ego's job to meet the needs of the id, while taking into consideration the reality of the situation. The Superego By the age of five the Superego develops. The Superego is the part of the personality that represents the conscience. It is the moral part of us and develops due to the moral and ethical restraints placed on us by our caregivers. Many equate the superego with the conscience as it dictates our belief of right and wrong. In a healthy person, according to Freud, the ego is the strongest so that it can satisfy the needs of the id, not upset the superego, and still take into consideration the reality of every situation. If the id gets too strong, impulses and self gratification take over the person's life. If the superego becomes too strong, the person would be driven by rigid morals, would be judgmental and unbending in his or her interactions with the world. The Divisions of MIND Freud believed that the majority of what we experience in our lives, the underlying emotions, beliefs, feelings, and impulses are not available to us at a conscious level. He believed that most of what drives us is buried in our Unconscious Freud also believed that everything we are aware of is stored in our Conscious. At any given time, we are only aware of a very small part of what makes up our personality; most of what we are is buried and inaccessible. The final part is the preconscious and subconscious. This is the part of us that we can access if prompted, but is not in our active conscious. Its right below the surface, but still buried somewhat unless we search for it. Information such as our telephone number, some childhood memories, or the name of your best childhood friend is stored in the preconscious. The iceberg. Behavioral Model Behavioral Psychology is basically interested in how our behavior results from the stimuli both in the environment and within ourselves. Scientific Experiment: Often a demanding process, but results have helped us learn a great deal about our behaviors, the effect our environment has on us, how we learn new behaviors, and what motivates us to change or remain the same. Behaviourism traces its roots to the early part of the 20th century, a time when many psychologists emphasized self-analysis of mental processes (introspection) or the psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud. In contrast, researchers like Ivan Pavlov and John B. Watson, and B.F Skinner began to develop a framework which emphasized observable processes (environmental stimuli and behavioural responses). The result was a new approach, behaviourism, which grew in popularity for some fifty years, becoming the dominant framework for experimental research. The Cognitive Approach The cognitive approach deals with mental processes like memory and problem solving. By emphasizing mental processes, it places itself in opposition to behaviourism, which largely ignores mental processes. (Not measurable directly).Today, the cognitive approach has overtaken behaviourism in terms of popularity, and is one of the dominant approaches in contemporary psychology. (Especially in treatment)

3 The Humanistic Approach The Humanistic Approach began in response to concerns by therapists against perceived limitations of Psychodynamic theories, especially psychoanalysis. Individuals like Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow felt existing (psychodynamic) theories failed to adequately address issues like the meaning of behavior, and the nature of healthy growth. There are several factors which distinguish the Humanistic Approach from other approaches within psychology, including: The emphasis on subjective meaning, A rejection of determinism, A concern for positive growth rather than pathology. Mind Body Connection Another question which raised many controversies among scientists is the issue of the mind body connections. Most experts in the field of psychology and biology agree that the mind and the body are connected in more complex ways than we can even comprehend. Research constantly shows us that the way we think affects the way we behave, the way we feel, and the way our body’s respond. The opposite is also true, physical illness, physical well being, exercising, insomnia all affect not only the way we feel and behave, but also the way we think about ourselves and the world. Understanding Development Psychologists have also been interested in the changes that occur during our lives since the very beginnings of the discipline. John B. Watson, in his famous statement about being able to shape any child to achieve any career, was making an assertion about the power of the environment to shape development. Others, from Francis Galeton onward, have asserted that our destiny is in our genes.Neither view is likely entirely correct, Other questions which psychologists tried to answer include:What really does shape our personality? What makes a good parent? And what determines if someone is happy and active in old age, or bitter and withdrawn? While no one has complete answers to any of these questions, developmental psychologists, drawing on all of the five approaches, are gaining an increasingly detailed picture of the processes that influence the way we grow and change. TYPES OF RESEARCH METHODS THE EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN If researchers are interested the Causal Effects of one variable on another, they use an experimental design for their study.With an experimental design, the researcher can control for extraneous variables. The simplest experimental design includes two variables and two groups of participants. The two variables (Independent versus Dependent variables). In experimental designs with two variables, one is called the independent variable (IV) and the other is called the dependent variable (DV). The IV is the predictor variable whereas the DV is the outcome variable. Researchers manipulate and control the IV to study it's effect on the DV. The two groups of participants (Control versus Experimental group). Before beginning the experiment, the researcher (randomly) assigns his/her sample to two different groups: the control group and the experimental (treatment group or clinical group). The control group receives no manipulation of the IV (no treatment), whereas the experimental group receives the manipulation of the IV

4 Advantages - Can infer causation (experiments are the ONLY way to determine causation) - Can control for (most) confounding variables Disadvantages - Are subject to placebo effects By defining our variables that we will use to test our theory we derive at our Hypothesis, which is a testable form of a theory. As an example of this, lets say that we have a theory that people who drive sports cars are more aggressive in interactions with others. Our independent variable would be the type of car you drive (sports, sedan, etc.). Our dependent variables, the outcome of our research, would be aggression. We would need to further define aggression so that it is something we can test and measure such as speeding or cutting other people off in traffic. (Operational Definition).We now have the basics of our very simple experiment and can write our Hypothesis: People who drive sports cars drive over the speed limit more frequently than people who drive other types of cars. Controlling for Biases After carefully reviewing our study and determining what might affect our results that are not part of the experiment, we need to control for these biases. To control for selection bias, most experiments use what’s called Random Assignment, which means assigning the subjects to each group based on chance rather than human decision. To control for the placebo effect, subjects are often not informed of the purpose of the experiment. This is called a Blind study, because the subjects are blind to the expected results. To control for experimenter biases, we can utilize a Double-Blind study, which means that both the experimenter and the subjects are blind to the purpose and anticipated results of the study. Internal Validity is whether observed changes can be attributed to your program or treatment intervention (i.e., the cause) and not to other possible causes (sometimes described as "alternative explanations" for the outcome). In those contexts, you would like to be able to conclude that your program or treatment made a difference -- it improved test scores or reduced symptom. But there may be lots of reasons, other than your program or treatment, why test scores may improve or symptoms may reduce. External validity is related to generalizing. That's the major thing you need to keep in mind. So, external validity refers to the approximate truth of conclusions the involve generalizations. Put in more simple terms, external validity is the degree to which the conclusions in your study would hold for other persons in other places and at other times. Standardization We have our hypothesis, and we know what our subject pool is, the next thing we have to do is standardize the experiment. Standardization refers to a specific set of instructions. The reason we want the experiment to be standardized is twofold. First, we want to make sure all subjects are given the same instructions, presented with the experiment in the same manner, and that all of the data is collected exactly the same or all subjects. Second, single experiments cannot typically stand on their own. To really show that are results are valid, experiments need to be replicated by other experimenters with

5 different subjects. To do this, the experimenters need to know exactly what we did so they can replicate it. OTHER TYPES OF RESEARCH TECHNIQUES There are several other types of research that you need to be aware of. Naturalistic Observation: A research method where the subject(s) is (are) observed without interruption under normal or natural circumstances. Perhaps this is the simplest form of research and it involves: Observing behavior in their natural environment and, often involves counting behaviours, such as number, frequency, duration of aggressive acts, or of smiles, etc. Advantages: Behaviour is naturally occurring and is not manipulated by a researcher and it can provide more qualitative data as opposed to merely quantitative information. Limitations: Even the presence of someone observing can cause those being observed to alter their behaviour (Reversed mirror). Researcher’s beliefs can also alter their observations. Case Study: Following a single case, typically over an extended period of time (e.g. developmental). Can involve naturalistic observations, and can also include psychological testing, interviews with others, and the application of a treatment or observation Advantages: Can gather extensive information, both qualitative and quantitative and it can be helpful in better understanding rare cases or very specific interventions Limitations: Only one case is involved, severely limiting the generalization to the rest of the population. (External Validity) Survey: A research technique in which subjects respond to a series of questions. It is suitable for studies which involves a relatively large sample (e.g. Epidemiology). Usually questionnaires are used to gather information. Advantages: Can gather large amounts of information in a relatively short time, especially now with many surveys being conducted on the internet. Limitations: Survey data is based solely on subjects’ responses which can be inaccurate due to outright lying, misunderstanding of the question, placebo effect, and even the manner in which the question is asked Correlation Studies: Correlational Research refers to studies in which the purpose is to discover relationships between variables through the use of correlational statistics (r), which is referred to as a correlation coefficient. A correlational relationship between two variables is occasionally the result of an outside source, so we have to be careful and remember that correlation does not necessarily tell us about cause and effect. Correlation means relationship, so the purpose of a correlational study is to determine if a relationship exists, what direction the relationship is, and how strong it is, causality can be tested by using an experimental approach. Advantages: Can assess the strength of a relationship. Is popular with lay population because it is relatively easy to explain and understand. Limitations: Can not make any assumptions of cause and effect (explain how third a variable can be involved, or how the variables can influence each other).