CHUKA UNIVERSITY

Knowledge is wealth (Sapientia divitia est)

Department of ============================================
Telephones: 020-2310512/18 P. O. Box 109-60400, Chuka
Email: bkanga@[Link] Website: [Link]

Chuka University: EPSC 111 Introduction to psychology module

Dr. Benjamin Mugambi Kanga
Department of Education
COURSE CONTENT
PRELIMINARIES
Course Code and Title This course is intended for people who are undertaking
EPSC 111 Introduction their undergraduate studies in Bachelor of Education Programme. You
to psychology do not need any prior knowledge of the course except that you must
have been admitted to undertake the Bachelor of education. You are
expected to complete the course in 45 hours within a period of one
semester.
Course Objectives At the end of this study you should be able to:
i. Explain the meaning of psychology and show how it
relates to the other scientific studies.
ii. Identify the various phases in the development of
psychological thought.
iii. compare the contribution of the proponents of various
psychological thoughts to the understanding of
psychology.
iv. explain what is covered by the various branches of
psychology.
v. Show how biological and environmental factors are the
bases of human behaviour.
vi. Describe the various factors that influence human
behaviour.
vii. Explain how learning takes place in human beings and how
this learning influences their behaviour.
viii. Explain the understanding of trait theorists on the concept
of human personality
Course Study Skills As an adult learner your approach to learning will be different to that
from your school days: you will choose what you want to study, you
will have professional and/or personal motivation for doing so and you

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 will most likely be fitting your study activities around other
professional or domestic responsibilities.
Essentially you will be taking control of your learning environment.
As a consequence, you will need to consider performance issues
related to time management, goal setting, stress management, etc.
Perhaps you will also need to reacquaint yourself in areas such as
essay planning, coping with exams and using the web as a learning
resource.
Your most significant considerations will be time and space i.e. the
time you dedicate to your learning and the environment in which you
engage in that learning.
We recommend that you take time now--before starting your self-
study--to familiarize yourself with these issues. There are a number of
excellent resources on the web. A few suggested links are:
[Link]
The "How to study” web site is dedicated to study skills resources.
You will find links to study preparation (a list of nine essentials for a
good study place), taking notes, strategies for reading text books,
using reference sources, test anxiety.
[Link]
This is the web site of the Virginia Tech, Division of Student Affairs.
You will find links to time scheduling (including a "where does time
go?” link), a study skill checklist, basic concentration techniques,
control of the study environment, note taking, how to read essays for
analysis, memory skills ("remembering”).
[Link]
Another "How to study” web site with useful links to time
management, efficient reading, questioning/listening/observing
skills, getting the most out of doing ("hands-on” learning), memory
building, tips for staying motivated, developing a learning plan.
Need Help? The instructors for this course are Dr. Susan Muthoni Kinyua phone
no 0712426047 office is in Bussiness Complex room 13 (A), Dr.
Benjamin Mugambi Kanga phone no 0720335292 dean of Students
office (B), Hannah Wanjiku Kang'ara phone no. 0722452161office is
in Bussiness Complex Room 14 (C) our emails are
skinyua@[Link], bkanga@[Link]. hkangara@[Link]
Assignments/Activities Assignments/Activities are provided at the end of each topic.
Course Learning  Timely submission of the assignments
Requirements  2 CATs (30%)
 Final Examination (70% of total score)

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Self-assessment Self-assessments are provided in order to aid your understanding of
the topic and course content. While they may not be graded, you are
strongly advised to attempt them whenever they are available in a
topic

TOPIC 1 BASIC CONCEPTS IN PSYCOLOGY

Introduction Welcome to the first topic on introduction to Psychology. This topic will
focus on the meaning of psychology, justification on why psychology is
a science, characteristics of a scientific study, reasons for psychologists
studying both animal and human behaviour and explaining the two broad
fields of psychology.
Topic Time  Compulsory online reading, activities, self-assessments & practice
exercises [4]
 Optional further reading [2]
 Total student input [6]
Topic Learning  Participation in one chat (at least 5 entries)
Requirements  At least two elaborate contributions to the discussion topic. You may
also start your own discussion thread.
 Timely submission of the assignments
Learning Outcomes By the end of this topic you should be able to:
i. Explain the meaning of psychology
ii. determine the relationship between the study of psychology
and the study other sciences
iii. establish the characteristics of a scientific study
iv. appreciate why modern psychologist study human and
animal behaviour as opposed to early psychologists study of
the mind
Topic Content 1.1 Meaning of Psychology
1.2 Psychology as a Science
1.3 Characteristics of scientific methods
1.4 General and Broad Fields of Psychology

Topic Summary psychology is the scientific study of human and animal behaviour and
mental processes.
Psychology considers behaviour as directly observable and measurable
actions for example crying, sleeping, running, eating etc.
Mental processes are invisible (covert) experiences that take place
within the brain. For example, perception, sensation, motivation,
emotions, thoughts, memory etc.

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 psychology as a science because early psychologists attempted to
understand people and animals by learning about them in a controlled
environment.
Basic psychology is the field of study that seeks to expand psychological
knowledge for sake of knowledge itself. It uses scientific methods to
understand fundamental laws of behaviour and mental processes.
Applied psychology is the field of study that focuses on using
psychological knowledge in solving practical problems. Applied
psychology makes use of basic psychology to help explain behaviour and
attitudes. It uses scientific principles and knowledge about behaviour and
mental processes to solve specific problems.

Further Reading
Brendl, C. M., Chattopadhyay, A., Pelham, B. W., & Carvallo, M.
(2005). Name letter branding: Valence transfers when product specific
needs are active. Journal of Consumer Research, 32(3), 405–415.

Cacioppo, J. T., Berntson, G. G., Sheridan, J. F., & McClintock, M. K.

(2000). Multilevel integrative analyses of human behaviour: Social
neuroscience and the complementing nature of social and biological
approaches. Psychological Bulletin, 126(6), 829–843.

Chen, P.-Y., Wang, S.-C., Poland, R. E., & Lin, K.-M. (2009).
Biological variations in depression and anxiety between East and
West. CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics, 15(3), 283–294.

Cutler, B. L., & Wells, G. L. (2009). Expert testimony regarding

eyewitness identification. In J. L. Skeem, S. O. Lilienfeld, & K. S.
Douglas (Eds.), Psychological science in the courtroom: Consensus and
controversy (pp. 100–123). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Fiske, S. T., & Taylor, S. E. (2007). Social cognition: From brains to

culture. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Gilovich, T. (1993). How we know what isn’t so: The fallibility of

human reason in everyday life. New York, NY: Free Press.

Heider, F. (1958). The psychology of interpersonal relations. Hillsdale,

NJ: Erlbaum.

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 Hsee, C. K., & Hastie, R. (2006). Decision and experience: Why don’t
we choose what makes us happy? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10(1),
31–37.

Hufffington Post. (2014). 2014 Canadian Budget Highlights: What You

Need To Know. Retrieved May 2, 2104 from
[Link]
highlights_n_4769700.html

Kelley, H. H. (1967). Attribution theory in social psychology. In D.

Levine (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation (Vol. 15, pp. 192–
240). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Nisbett, R. E., & Ross, L. (1980). Human inference: Strategies and

shortcomings of social judgment. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Research Canada. (2014). Budget 2014 – What it means for

us. Retrieved May 2, 2014 from [Link]
research-canadas-analysis

Seedat, S., Scott, K. M., Angermeyer, M. C., Berglund, P., Bromet, E.

J., Brugha, T. S., & Kessler, R. C. (2009). Cross-national associations
between gender and mental disorders in the World Health Organization
World Mental Health Surveys. Archives of General Psychiatry, 66(7),
785–795.

Wells, G. L., & Hasel, L. E. (2008). Eyewitness identification: Issues in

common knowledge and generalization. In E. Borgida & S. T. Fiske
(Eds.), Beyond common sense: Psychological science in the
courtroom (pp. 159–176). Malden, NJ: Blackwell.

Williams, N., Simpson, A. N., Simpson, K., & Nahas, Z. (2009).

Relapse rates with long-term antidepressant drug therapy: A meta-
analysis. Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and
Experimental, 24(5), 401–408.

TOPIC
ACTIVITIES
Activity 1. Explain the meaning of psychology
2. Discuss the justification of moving psychology from the field
of philosophy to science

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 3. Why do modern psychologist focus on the study of
behaviour rather than the mind.

DETAILED NOTES

BASIC CONCEPTS IN PSYCOLOGY

1.1 Meaning of Psychology
The word psychology was derived from two Greek words
 Psyche – meaning mind, soul, spirit and
 Logos - meaning study of ……

Therefore, Psychology was defined as “the study of mind”.

Modern Psychologists defined psychology as the scientific study of human and animal behaviour
and mental processes. Psychology considers behaviour as directly observable and measurable
actions For example crying, sleeping, running, eating etc. Mental processes are invisible (covert)
experiences that take place within the brain. For example, perception, sensation, motivation,
emotions, thoughts, memory etc. The definition considers psychology as a science since early
psychologists attempted to understand people and animals by learning about them in a controlled
environment.
1.2 Psychology as a Science
Psychology is a scientific study of both human and animal behaviour.
Psychology initially was a branch of philosophy that explained human nature from metaphysical
perspectives. But started changing to science when a German Wundt established an experimental
laboratory for studying behaviour in 1879. Psychology is a scientific study because it has the
qualities that other scientific studies have i.e. its research is a systematic and controlled
investigation of relationship among variables (events). Psychology uses scientific methodology
and has developed a large body of knowledge. By doing this it has met the Criteria of Science
such because its variables are supposed to be:
 Empirical (observable and measurable)
 Objective (defined in a way that others can observe and verify).
 Replicable i.e., it is possible for somebody else to re do the study.

1.3 Characteristics of scientific methods

As a scientific discipline psychology uses the methods used by other scientific disciplines to
understand the world as follows;
 Scientific methods start with doubt which is the source of creative and critical
thinking.
 Scientific methods deal with well-defined questions which assist psychologists to
gain insight on behaviour being studied.
 Scientific methods reach to a conclusion by identifying specific problem,
collecting data and later analysing it.

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  Scientific methods are based on assumption that knowledge comes from
objectives, observations and measurement of variables or factors in study.
 Psychology also uses theories to explain phenomenon that has been observed.
Theories are broad explanations and predictions concerning phenomena of
interest. Theories are derived through research and formulated to test hypothesis.
A hypothesis is a prediction stated in a way that allows it to be tested

- Like other sciences, psychology;

 Describe: Psychological phenomena can be described more accurately on the basis
of information collected through scientific investigations. Description should be
systematic and requires thorough observational skills in order to focus only on the
relevant characteristics of behaviour.
 Explains behaviour/ Interprets behaviour. A part from stating the facts about the
characteristics of behaviour a researcher seeks to explain why people or animals
behave the way they do. Researcher aims at understanding causes of behaviour
changes

 Controls behaviour. In many cases psychologists are able to predict behaviour on

the basis of information they have. Researchers can predict subsequent behaviour of
an organism, that is, due to accumulated knowledge one can be able to anticipate
what the organism will behave at various situations and device ways of controlling
that behaviour
 Predicts behaviour. In many cases psychologists are able to predict behaviour on
the basis of information they have. Researchers can predict subsequent behaviour of
an organism and also due to accumulated knowledge one can predict what the
organism will do in various situations
Psychologists study human and animal behaviour because
- Modern scientist and Psychologists recognize certain basic similarities in bodily structure
and functions between related members of animal kingdom.
- It is also possible to trace similarities in behaviour of related species of animal kingdom.
- Psychologists and other scientist are able to gather from studies of other animals a lot of
information that has a lot of implications in human behaviour especially the area of
learning.
Scientists are compelled to carry out some studies on animals rather than human beings directly
because:
 Animals are convenient to obtain, retain, breed and subject to isolation or lengthy
experimentation.
 Animals can be, and are often exposed to experimental treatment that is potentially lethal;
especially when studying the effects of drugs, radiation or removal of body parts.
 Some important studies in genetics that may involve inbreeding cannot be performed on
man on ethical and moral grounds but instead are allowed to be performed on animals.

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Modern psychologists focus on study of behaviour because:
 Unlike the mind behaviour is observable and measurable in empirical terms.
 It can be defined objectively in a way that is open for all to observe and measure.
 Concept of mind which occupied early psychologists cannot be defined empirically or
objectively. It was therefore discarded because it led to findings which others were not
able to check or verify.
1.4 General and Broad Fields of Psychology
Basic psychology
This is the field of study that seeks to expand psychological knowledge for sake of
knowledge itself. Basic psychology studies the fundamentals of psychology. It uses
scientific methods to understand fundamental laws of behaviour and mental processes.
Applied psychology
This is the field of study that focuses on using psychological knowledge in solving practical
problems. Applied psychology makes use of basic psychology to help explain behaviour
and attitudes. It uses scientific principles and knowledge about behaviour and mental
processes to solve specific problems.

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TOPIC 2 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES IN PSYCHOLOGY

Introduction 1 This topic will take you through the historical development of
perspective of psychology and the schools of psychology that
have developed as a result of these perspective.
Topic Time  Compulsory online reading, activities, self-assessments & practice
exercises [6]
 Optional further reading [2]
 Total student input [8]
Topic Learning  Participation in one chat (at least 5 entries)
Requirements  At least two elaborate contributions to the discussion topic. You may
also start your own discussion thread.
 Timely submission of the assignments
Learning Outcomes By the end of this topic you should be able to;
i. Explain the development of understanding of Psychology
from the ancient world to the modern word
ii. Identify the various phases in the understanding of psychology
iii. compare the contribution of the proponents of various
psychological thoughts to the understanding of psychology.
iv. Show the treatment plan advocated by psychologists at every
stage in historical development of Psychology
v. Differentiate the tenets of each school of psychology and
show how each school of thought builds to the other
vi. Identify the proponents of each school of thought and show
their contribution to modern psychology
Topic Content 2.1 Ancient Western World
2.2 Middle Ages
2.3 Renaissance
2.4 The age of Reason and Enlightenment
2.5 Schools of Psychology
2.5.1 Structuralism
2.5.2 Functionalism
2.5.3 Gestalt Psychology
2.5.4 Behaviourism
2.5.5 Psychoanalysis
2.5.6 Humanism
2.5.7 Cognitivism
Topic Summary In ancient Greece disturbed mind was interpreted as punishment for
offences against the gods but later philosopher held a more psychological
view and considered reasoning to be basic to adaptive behaviour. During

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 the middle ages mentally ill were persecuted because they were perceived
as agents of diabolic forces but some relational thinkers like Paracelsus
and Juant took responsibility of protecting the mentally ill. During
renaissance Weyer emphasized disturbed interpersonal relationship and
psychological conflict as causes for mental disorders. During the age of
Reason and Enlightenment Scientists and philosophers emphasized the
need to support assertions with observations of natural phenomena. This
also influenced the psychologist who also stated caring experiment to
prove their assertions. These perspectives throughout history have given
birth to various schools of psychology like Structuralism, Functionalism,
Gestalt Psychology, Behaviourism, Psychoanalysis, Humanism and
Cognitivism.
Further Reading Adler, H. E. (1966). Translator’s foreword. In D. H. Howes & E. G.
Boring (Eds.), Gustav Fechner: Elements of psychophysics
(pp. xix–xxvi). New York: Holt.
Allport, G. (1937). Personality: A psychological interpretation.
New York: Holt.
American Psychological Association. (1983). Publication manual
(3rd ed.). Washington, D.C.: APA.
American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual
(5th ed.). Washington, D.C.: APA.
Angell, J. R. (1905). Psychology. New York: Holt.
Angell, J. R. (1907). The province of functional psychology.
Psychological
Review, 14, 61–91.
Angell, J. R. (1911). Philosophical and psychological usage of the
terms mind, consciousness, and soul. Psychological Bulletin, 8,
46–47.
Berg, I., Pepinsky, H. B., & Shoben, E. J. (1980). The status of
counselling
psychology: 1960. In J. M. Whiteley (Ed.), The history of
counselling psychology (pp. 105–113). Monterey, CA: Brooks/
Cole.
Furumoto, L., & Scarborough, E. (1987). Placing women in the history
of comparative psychology: Margaret Floy Washburn and
Margaret Morse Nice. In E. Tobach (Ed.), Historical perspectives
and the international status of comparative psychology
(pp. 103–117). Hillsdale, N.J: Erlbaum.
Galef, B. G. (1998). Edward Thorndike revolutionary psychologist,
ambiguous biologist. American Psychologist, 53, 1128–1134.

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 Peterson, D. R. (1992). The doctor of psychology degree. In D. K.
Freedheim (Ed.), History of psychotherapy: A century of change
(pp. 829–849). Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association.
Sokal, M. M. (1982b). James McKeen Cattell and the failure of
anthropometric mental testing, 1890–1901. In W. R. Woodward
& M. G. Ash (Eds.), The problematic science: Psychology
in nineteenth-century thought (pp. 322–345). New York:
Praeger.
Stricker, G., & Cummings, N. A. (1992). The professional school
movement. In D. K. Freedheim (Ed.), History of Psychotherapy:
A century of change (pp. 801–828). Washington, DC: American
Psychological Association.

TOPIC
ACTIVITIES
Activity 1. Compare the understanding of psychology during the ancient
western world and the middle ages
2. Discuss why the renaissance can be regarded as the beginning of
a turning point in the understanding of Psychology
3. Discuss how reason and scientific method ways of understanding
the natural world influenced Psychology
4. Show the contribution of various proponents of behaviourists to
the understanding of psychology
5. Compare the understanding of each of the schools of psychology
showing how the weaknesses of one school gave rise to another.
6. Identify the proponents of each of the early schools of psychology
and discuss their contribution to the understanding of psychology.

DETAILED NOTES
2.1 Ancient Western World
The history of psychology as a scholarly study of mind and behaviour dates to ancient Greeks. In
Ancient Greece disturbed mind was interpreted as punishment for offences against the gods.
Later several Greek philosophers beginning with Socrates held a more psychological view and
considered reasoning to be basic to adaptive behaviour. Plato developed the organism point of
view, which explained behaviour as an overall expression of a person’s psychological process.
Plato thought of disturbed behaviour as arising from internal conflicts between reason and
emotions. During Roman civilization a Roman Physician called Gullen taught that psychological
characteristics were expressions of bodily process influenced by balance of the four humours.

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The four humours were (fluids of the body Blood, black bile, yellow bile and phlegm)
Each of the humours was believed to be associate with a certain temperamental quality. imbalance
among these humours were believed to cause various disorders.
The rational approach of ancient philosophers laid ground work for modern science. It temporarily
replaced magic and religious explanations of an abnormal behaviour with a quest, through
observation and reason for natural causes

2.2 Middle Ages

During this period there were contrasting views of mental illness and psychology. St Augustine
used introspection to discuss mental processes. During middle age church played important
positive and negative roles in treatment of mentally ill. The mentally ill were persecuted because
they were perceived as agents of diabolic forces. During this period some relational thinkers like
Paracelsus and Juant took responsibility for protection of the mentally ill. They mainly protected
natural fool i.e. mentally retarded persons whose intellectual capability had never progressed
beyond a child level. They came to be regarded as idiot.
Non compos mentis (not of sound mind) did not show mental disability at birth – these came to be
known as lunatic.

2.3 Renaissance
In the late 15th and 17th C persecution for mentally ill continued but Weyer wrote a book called
Deception of Demons where he argued for clinical treatment for mentally ill rather than religious
persecution. Weyer emphasized disturbed interpersonal relationship and psychological conflict as
causes for mental disorders.

2.4 The age of Reason and Enlightenment

The 17th century is known as the age of reasons, while 18th C is called the age of Enlightenment.
During these centuries reason and scientific method came to replace faith and dogma as ways of
understanding the natural world and advances were made in astrology, biology and chemistry.
Scientists and philosophers emphasized the need to support assertions with observations of natural
phenomena. Philosophers like sponza wrote about roles of emotions, ideas and desires in life and
made reference to unconscious mechanisms that influence a behaviour. Scientists like Harvey
wrote about the relationship between the physiological and psychological aspects of life. Literature
also dealt on emotions and motivation. Many Shakespeare plays focussed on the effects of emotion
on behaviour. New ideas appeared, such as physiognomy, that is, art of judging personality
character and feelings, from physical appearance. The theory of phrenology proposed by Frank
Joseph Gall (1758 – 1828) advocated that mental faculties could be “read” from feelings of bumps
on the person’s head. William Culler (1712 – 1790) treated patients with cold dousing, bloodletting
induced vomiting, special clients, exercise programs and physiotherapy.

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Behaviour modification was initiated by behaviourists like Ivan Pavlov (1849 – 1936) J.B Watson
(1978 – 1958) E.L Thorndike 1898 and B.F Skinner (1938). They proposed that by controlling
environment on can control behaviour. They proposed that human behaviour is acquired through
learning (Conditioning) Pavlov. developed classical conditions which he experimented with dogs.
He paired a sound of bell with meet powder and after several parings the dog would salivate at the
sound of the bell because it had learned to associate the bell tone with food. J.B Watson (1878 –
1958) applied Pavlov’s principles to human infants. In 1920 he conditioned infant Albert to fear
white rats, people with white hair, white beards and people in white coats. He paired appearance
of white rate with loud sound several times and infant Albert learnt to associate white ration with
fear and latter in Watson counter conditioned infant Albert to stop fearing white hairy Phenomena.
Edward Thorndike (1898) advocated trial and error learning based on the idea that when an
individuals are placed in a problem situation they will emit a variety of responses, but will
eventually learn to correct response as a result of reinforcement. He is also known for his theory
of connection that explains learning as a formation of bands (connections) between stimuli and
responses.

B.F Skinner (1938) argued that every personality is the product of environmental experiences. To
skinner behaviour could be shaped or changed by supplying reinforcement in a systematic manner.
He started operant or instrumental conditioning which involves the delivery of positive
reinforcement or rewards for correct responses e.g. giving prizes to people who do desired
behaviour. Albert Bandura (1977) advocated modelling or observational learning in which learner
observes a behaviour performed by a model and later imitates that behaviour e.g. child emulates
parent aggressive behaviour. Modelling can also play some roles in resolving some behaviour
difficulties like desensitization.

Albert Ethic (1962) initiated rational emotive therapy (RST) which emphasized on the influence
of thought process to person’s behaviours. He claims that thinking positively leads to feeling better
and so faculty or irrational cognitions (beliefs) lead to maladaptive behaviour.

Aron Beck (1976) prosed cognitive therapy. He proposed that depression is caused by people’s
negative views about themselves, the world and the future. Clients need to be helped to identify
unrealistic thinking and learn new ways to formulate personal experience. Clients are tought
problem solving techniques.

2.5 Schools of Psychology

The scientific growth of psychology took many years during which many schools of thought
emerged. These include: structuralism, functionalism Gestalt psychology and behaviourisms,
Psychoanalyses, humanism and cognitivism.

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2.5.1 Structuralism
Its proponents attempted to analyse behaviour into components or elements much in the same way
as other physical scientists of the day had analysed matter into element and atoms. They started
searching for mental elements that made up the mind and its contents which were thought to be
sensations like those that described as cold, hot, black and white. They reasoned that these mental
elements must be combined by certain rules as elements of the physical sciences are capable of
certain combinations. They used a method called introspection to search for these elements which
involve training a person as a subject to report as objectively as possible what he experienced in
connection with certain stimulus disregarding the meanings he had learnt to associate with the
stimulus. This school of thought declined when it was discovered that these reports were limited
to what a person experienced. The concept of mind an entity gradually became unacceptable.
Though however, there were many valuable observations made through introspection and some
aspects of the method are still being used.

2.5.2 Functionalism
Is a school associated with William James who made his work in 1890 and John Dewey. They
were interested in studying the “Functions” of the mind and mental processes rather than just their
structure. They used the method of introspection and observation of behaviour - studying what a
person does i.e., rather than limit themselves to description and analysis of sensory experience and
mental content, they emphasized on the total or global activity of an individual e.g. how an
individual learns, is motivated and how he solves problems. It was difficult to determine the
content of the mind so it also disintegrated.

2.5.3 Gestalt Psychology

This school was organized from Germany. They believed that our experiences and behaviour are
not compounds of simple sensations but are patterns or organization analogous to magnetic field
where events in one part affect movement everywhere else e.g. a grey piece of paper will produce
varying sensations depending on whether it is displayed against a white or black background. Their
method was called phenomenology and it involved introspection not for identifying “the elements”
of experiences but for the purpose of gaining first-hand experience of what things look like or what
they meant to an observer. They emphasized on phenomenology hence the study of human
experience and perception. Their findings have made important contributions to our understanding
of human learning, thought and problem solving.

2.5.4 Behaviourism
It was founded by John Watson about 1925. This school laid emphasis on the study of nothing but
behaviour. The school completely rejected introspection and sought to establish the following
ideas. Behaviour was built of a complex process derived from simple element (Condition reflex).
Behaviour was mainly learnt and not innate (inherited). Human behaviour had developed along
the same lines with animal behaviour and a lot could be learned from animal behaviour that had

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important implications for human behaviour. So you could study lower animals and make
conclusions about human beings. By study of behaviour we focus on observables which others can
repeat and check whereas the study of mind involves non observables which others may be unable
to check or verify.

2.5.5 The Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is a school of psychology founded by Sigmund Freud. it emphasises the
influence of the unconscious mind on behaviour. Freud postulated that the human mind has three
elements: the id, ego, and superego. The id consists of primary urges while the ego dealt with
reality. The superego is the part of the personality that holds all of the ideals and values we
internalize from our parents and culture. Freud believed that the interaction of these three
elements was what led to all of the complex human behaviours.

2.5.6 Humanism
Humanistic psychology developed by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers as a response to
psychoanalysis and behaviourism. Humanistic psychology instead focused on individual free
will, personal growth and the concept of self-actualization. While early schools of thought were
primarily centred on abnormal human behaviour, humanistic psychology emphasised on helping
people achieve and fulfil their potential. Humanistic psychology is popular and has significantly
influenced other areas of psychology including positive psychology which is branch of
psychology is centred on helping people living happier, more fulfilling lives.

2.5.7 Cognitivism
This is a is the school of psychology that studies mental processes including how people think,
perceive, remember and learn. This branch of psychology is related to other disciplines including
neuroscience, philosophy, and linguistics. Cognitive psychology emerged in 1950s, partly as a
response to behaviourism. They noted that behaviourists failed to account for how internal
processes impacted behaviour. This period is sometimes referred to as the "cognitive revolution"
because a lot of research on topics such as information processing, language, memory, and
perception emerged. One of the most influential theories of this school of thought was the stages
of cognitive development theory proposed by Jean Piaget.

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TOPIC 3 Branches and Fields of Specialization in Psychology

Introduction This topic will focus on the various branches covered by psychology and
the field the students interested in psychology can choose to specialise in.
Topic Time  Compulsory online reading, activities, self-assessments & practice
exercises [4]
 Optional further reading [2]
 Total student input [6]
Topic Learning  Participation in one chat (at least 5 entries)
Requirements  At least two elaborate contributions to the discussion topic. You may
also start your own discussion thread.
 Timely submission of the assignments
Learning Outcomes By the end of this topic you should be able to:
i. identify and explain what is covered by the various branches
of psychology
ii. choose the fields of psychology that one may want to
specialize in
Topic Content 3.1 branches of psychology
3.2 fields covered in psychology
Topic Summary Psychology has grown over the years to have many areas of study and
fields of specialisation. The field studied in psychology include:
education, cognations, growth and development, abnormal behaviour,
physiology, forensic, industrial, personality etc. The fields of
specialisation have also increased over the years. These areas include:
clinical psychology, guidance and counselling, industrial and personnel,
experimental, developmental and child psychology, social psychology
and educational psychology among others.
Further Reading Anastasi, A(1979). Fields of Applied Psychology. Second edition. New
York: McGraw-Hill.

Cina, C(1981). Social Science for Whom? A Structural History of

Social Psychology." Doctoral dissertation, accepted by the State
University of New York at Stony Brook.

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 Donaldson, Stewart I., Dale E. Berger, & Kathy Pezdek (2006). Applied
Psychology: New Frontiers and Rewarding Careers. Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

[Link]
schools/top-humanities-schools/psychology-rankings.

[Link]

[Link]

TOPIC
ACTIVITIES
Activity 1. Describe the various areas that may be studied by students in
psychology
2. Analyse what would be covered by students who chose to
specialize in various field of psychology in their studies

DETAILED NOTES
3.1 Branches of Psychology
Educational psychology: This is the branch of psychology that is concerned with how students
learn, the learning environment and teaching techniques. It applies psychological principles in
teaching and learning in order to create conducive learning environments and effective teaching
techniques.

Cognitive psychology: This branch of psychology focuses on higher mental processes such as
thinking, memory, reasoning, problem solving, judging, decision making, and language. It deals
with the way human beings process, combine and organize information in the mind which helps
in solving problems, memorizing, understanding, interpreting and creating knowledge.

Developmental psychology: This branch of psychology studies how human beings grow and
change through the life span from childhood to adulthood. The domains of development include
physical, motor, emotional, moral, cognitive, personality and social development. Developmental
psychology also examines the sequences and rate of maturation, size and ability in relation to age.

Abnormal psychology: This is the branch of psychology that deals with behaviour that deviates
from the normal. It applies psychological principles in the treatment of psychological disorders
such as depression, addiction, sexual deviations, phobias and anxiety.

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Physiological psychology: This branch of psychology attributes human and animal behaviour to
biological events occurring in the body such as genetic influence, hormones and the activity of the
nervous system. It studies the biological bases of behaviour for example genetics, brain and
memory, secretion of hormones etc. It examines how the brain functions in relation to behaviour
and mental processes.

Forensic psychology: This is the branch of psychology that is concerned with legal issues in the
criminal justice system and civil courts. Forensic psychologists provide testimony in court cases,
assess children in suspected child abuse cases, prepares children to testify in court cases and
evaluate the mental competence of criminal suspects.
.
Counselling psychology: This deals with helping people to make decisions about life, work,
education, marriage etc. It helps people with adjustment problems in life by managing stressful
situations. The domains of counselling psychology include stress management, study skills, career
choice and development, marriage counselling, financial management and time management.

Biopsychology is a branch of psychology that focused on how the brain, neurons, and nervous
system influence thoughts, feelings, and behaviour. This field draws on many different
disciplines including basic psychology, experimental psychology, biology, physiology, cognitive
psychology, and neuroscience.

Cross-Cultural Psychology is a branch of psychology that looks at how cultural factors

influence human behaviour. The International Association of Cross-Cultural Psychology
(IACCP) was established in 1972, and this branch of psychology has continued to grow and
develop since that time. Today, increasing numbers of psychologists investigate how behaviour
differs among various cultures throughout the world.

Health Psychology is a specialty area that focuses on how biology, psychology, behaviour and
social factors influence health and illness. Other terms including medical psychology and
behavioural medicine are sometimes used interchangeably with the term health psychology. The
field of health psychology is focused on promoting health as well as the prevention and treatment
of disease and illness. Health psychologists are interested in improving health across a wide
variety of domains.

These professionals not only promote healthy behaviour, but they also work on the prevention
and treatment of illness and disease. Health psychologists often deal with health-related issues
such as weight management, smoking cessation, stress management, and nutrition.

They might also research how people cope with illnesses and help patients look for new, more
effective coping strategies. Some professionals in this field help design prevention and public
awareness programs, while others work within the government to improve health care policies.

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Industrial/Organizational Psychology (I/O) is a branch that applies psychological principles to
research on workplace issues such as productivity and behaviour. This field of psychology works
to improve productivity and efficiency in the workplace while also maximizing the well-being of
employees. Research in I/O psychology is known as applied research because it seeks to solve
real-world problems. I/O psychologists study topics such as worker attitudes, employee
behaviour, organizational processes, and leadership.

Some psychologists in this field work in areas such as human factors, ergonomics, and human-
computer interaction. Human factors psychology is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on
topics such as human error, product design, ergonomics, human capability, and human-computer
interaction.

People who work in human factors are focused on improving how people interact with products
and machines both in and out of the workplace. They might help design products intended to
minimize injury or create workplaces that promote greater accuracy and improved safety.

Personality Psychology is the branch of psychology that focuses on the study of the thought
patterns, feelings, and behaviour that make each individual unique. Classic theories of
personality include Freud's psychoanalytic theory of personality and Erikson's theory of
psychosocial development. Personality psychologists might study how different factors such as
genetics, parenting, and social experiences influence how personality develops and changes.

School Psychology is a field that involves working in schools to help kids deal with academic,
emotional, and social issues. School psychologists also collaborate with teachers, students, and
parents to help create a healthy learning environment. Most school psychologists work in
elementary and secondary schools, but others work in private clinics, hospitals, state agencies,
and universities. Some go into private practice and serve as consultants, especially those with a
doctoral degree in school psychology.

Social Psychology seeks to explain and understand social behaviour and looks at diverse topics
including group behaviour, social interactions, leadership, nonverbal communication, and social
influences on decision-making.

This field of psychology is focused on the study of topics such as group behaviour, social
perception, nonverbal behaviour, conformity, aggression, and prejudice. Social influences on
behaviour are a major interest in social psychology, but social psychologists also focus on how
people perceive and interact with others.

Sports Psychology is the study of how psychology influences sports, athletic performance,
exercise, and physical activity. Some sports psychologists work with professional athletes and

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coaches to improve performance and increase motivation. Other professionals utilize exercise
and sports to enhance people’s lives and well-being throughout the entire lifespan

Comparative psychology is the study of animals in order to find out about humans. The
underlying assumption is that to some degree the laws of behaviour are the same for all species
and that therefore knowledge gained by studying rats, dogs, cats and other animals can be
generalized to human beings. Comparative psychology often utilizes a comparative method to
study animal behaviour. The comparative method involves comparing the similarities and
differences among species to gain an understanding of evolutionary relationships. History and
systems in psychology.

Psychometrics is the field of study concerned with the theory and technique
of psychological measurement, which includes the measurement of knowledge, abilities, attitudes,
and personality traits. The field is primarily concerned with the study of differences between
individuals.

3.2 Fields of Specialization in Psychology

Clinical Psychology
This is a branch of psychology concerned with psychological methods or recognizing and treating
mental disorders and problems of adjustment. After academic training, research and a year of
internship, clinical psychologists can work in hospitals and clinics as Researchers in clinical
phenomena, diagnostic and therapeutic work with patients (i.e. diagnosing and treating patients)
Guidance and counselling
This deals with advice and assistance to individuals with vocational or personal problems. It often
also involves psychotherapy i.e. treatment of those with mental disorders. Counsellors do not treat
those with mental disorders but gives them advice on how to go through problems.

Personality
This deal with traits modes of adjustment and ways of behaving that characterize the individual
and his relationship to others in the environment. Personality psychologists help in treating the
mentally sick.
Industrial and personnel psychology.
It is concerned with methods of selecting training, counselling and supervising personal in business
and industry. It sometimes includes problems of increasing efficiency in work and redesigning
machines to suit the capacities of the workers. These psychologists can be used to advice the
management on how to increase efficiency and avoid fatigue of the workers.

Experimental psychology
This is a field of research in which scientific methods is used and in which variables are controlled
to enable the researcher to determine the cause of a given event. Those who specialize in this field
work as researchers in universities, hospitals, government departments and industry.

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Social psychology. This is a field of specialization concerned with attitudes, beliefs and
psychological factors in group behaviour. This knowledge may be applied in government and
industry as well as universities where research is carried out.

Developmental and child psychology

It is concerned with development of a child in such areas as personality and intelligence with
emphasis on research. Child psychologists may conduct research on children or work in child
guidance clinics, testing and perhaps administering therapy.

Quantitative or statistical psychology (test and measurement) this involves research work with
a heavy emphasis on mathematics. The statistical psychologist develops tests and mathematical
theories of test and behaviour. They can work anywhere research is going on.

Educational psychology. This is an area of specialization concerned with psychological aspects

of teaching and of formal learning process.

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TOPIC 4 BIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL BASES OF HUMAN
BEHAVIOUR

Introduction We defined psychology as a study of animal and human behaviour and

mental processes. Mental processes are biological. The environment we
live in also plays a big role in the way we behave. This topic will focus
on the role played by biological and environmental factors in human
behaviour.
Topic Time  Compulsory online reading, activities, self-assessments & practice
exercises [6]
 Optional further reading [2]
 Total student input [8]
Topic Learning  Participation in one chat (at least 6 entries)
Requirements  At least three elaborate contributions to the discussion topic. You may
also start your own discussion thread.
 Timely submission of the assignments
Learning Outcomes By the end of this topic you should be able to:
i. Explain the biological factors that influence human behaviour
ii. Show how mental processes and nervous system form a bases
of human behaviour
iii. Analyse the human similarities that distinguish them from
other animals
iv. Explain why children born and brought up in the same family
portrays different personalities
Topic Content 4.1 Introduction
4.2 Genetic or Hereditary factors
4.3 Hormones
4.4 Brain and Nervous System
4.4.1 Parts of the Brain
4.4.2 How the Nervous System Work
4.5 Environmental factors
Topic Summary According to psychologists Human personality or behaviour is based by
two main factors mainly: Biological factors include; hereditary or genetic
factors, mental processes and nervous system and Environmental factors.
Genetic or Hereditary Genes influence the physical, intellectual, social,
and emotional as well as other. They determine the sex of a person and
have implication when one has predisposition towards certain disease
conditions
Hormones are chemical messengers released from endocrine glands that
travel through the blood system to influence the nervous system to

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 regulate behaviour such as aggression, mating, and parenting of
individuals.
The brain controls what we think and feel, how we learn and remember,
and the way we move and talk. But it also controls things we're less aware
of like the beating of our hearts and the digestion of our food.
Central Nervous System has a fundamental role in the control
of behaviour. It contains the brain and the spinal cord which are both
encased in bone which shows their importance. Both the brain and
spinal cord receive signals from the afferent neurons and send signals to
muscles and glands through efferent neurons.
The nervous system takes in information through our senses, processes
the information and triggers reactions, such as making your muscles
move or causing you to feel pain. For example, if you touch a hot plate,
you reflexively pull back your hand and
our nerves simultaneously send pain signals to your brain.

Further Reading Alexander, G. M. & Hines, M. (2002). Sex differences in response to

children’s toys in nonhuman primates (Cercopithecus aethiops
sabaeus). Evolution and Human Behaviour, 23, 467–479.

Berenbaum, S. A., Martin, C. L., Hanish, L. D., Briggs, P. T., & Fabes,
R. A. (2008). Sex differences in children’s play. In J. B. Becker, K. J.
Berkley, N. Geary, E. Hampson, J. Herman, & E. Young (Eds.), Sex
differences in the brain: From genes to behaviour. New York: Oxford
University Press.

Dabbs, J. M. (2000). Heroes, rogues, and lovers: Testosterone and

behaviour. Columbus, OH: McGraw Hill.

Fleming, A. S., & Gonzalez, A. (2009). Neurobiology of human

maternal care. In P. T. Ellison & P. B. Gray (Eds.), Endocrinology of
social relationships (pp. 294–318). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press.

Fleming, A. S., Steiner, M., & Corter, C. (1997). Cortisol, hedonics, and
maternal responsiveness in human mothers. Hormones and Behaviour,
32, 85–98.

Page 23 of 58
 Goodson, J. L., Saldanha, C. J., Hahn, T. P., Soma, K. K. (2005). Recent
advances in behavioural neuroendocrinology: Insights from studies on
birds. Hormones and Behaviour, 48, 461–73.

Kidd, K. A., Blanchfield, P. J., Mills, K. H., Palace, V. P., Evans, R. E.

Lazorchak, J. M. & Flick, R. (2007). Collapse of a fish population
following exposure to a synthetic estrogen. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences,104, 8897–8901.

Nelson, R. J. (Ed.) (2006). Biology of aggression. New York: Oxford

University Press.

Nelson, R.J. (2011). An introduction to behavioural endocrinology (4th

ed.). Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates.

Phoenix, C. H., Goy, R. W., Gerall, A. A., & Young, W. C. (1959).

Organizing action of prenatally administered testosterone propionate on
the tissues mediating mating behaviour in the female guinea
pig. Endocrinology, 65: 369–382.

van Anders, S., Hamilton, L., Schmidt, N., & Watson, N. (2007).
Associations between testosterone secretion and sexual activity in
women. Hormones and Behaviour, 51, 477–82.

TOPIC
ACTIVITIES
Activity 1. Discuss how the three biological factors that that can be regarded
as the bases human behaviour
2. Explain the similarities among human beings that differentiate
them from other animals
3. Discuss why children born and in the same home and the same
parents develop different personalities
4. Show how the environment has impacted on your behaviour so
far

DETAILED NOTES
4.1 introduction
According to psychologists Human personality or behaviour is based by two main factors, that is,
Biological factors which include hereditary or genetic factors, hormones brain and nervous system
and Environmental factors.

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 4.2 Genetic or Hereditary factors
Genes are the basis of our physical, intellectual, social, and emotional behaviour. They determine
the sex of a person and have implication when one has predisposition towards certain disease
conditions. Every cell in human body is made up of three major structures, the cell membrane,
cytoplasm and the nucleus. The cell nucleus contains 23 threadlike stricture called chromosomes.
Chromosomes exist in pairs because in every chromosomal location there is a chromosome
inherited from the father and the other from the mother. Segments or molecules of chromosomes
are called genes which are carriers of hereditary. Genes determine all human characteristics e.g.
physical, intellectual, social and emotional traits – they are responsible for the similarities that
exist among human beings as well as differences that individuals display. People share a lot of
similarities in characteristics which distinguishes them with other organisms like physical e.g.
 human intelligence and language
 ten toes ten fingers, thirty two teeth
 two ears one heart
 Similar longevity and social systems that allow interdependence on other
human being for survival.
Studies have shown that Identical twins whether raised together or in similar or different
environment showed similar characteristics on mannerisms, posture, attitudes, interests, tastes and
habits. Many of these twins when studied produced similar scores on personality test. People also
show differences in the way they express certain personality characteristics like emotions,
sociability, intelligence and many other personality characteristics. These differences occur
because despite human beings and having many genes that are similar they also have a small pool
of genes that are different.

4.3 Hormones.
Hormones are organic chemical messengers produced and released by specialized glands
called endocrine glands. Hormones are released from these glands into the blood, where they may
travel to act on target structures at some distance from their origin. Hormones are released from
endocrine glands and travel through the blood system to influence the nervous system. They
regulate behaviours such as aggression, mating, and parenting of individuals. Examples of
hormones that influence behaviour include steroid hormones such as testosterone (a common type
of androgen), estradiol (a common type of estrogen), progesterone (a common type of progestin),
and cortisol (a common type of glucocorticoid). Several types of protein or peptide (small protein)
hormones also influence behaviour, including oxytocin, vasopressin, prolactin, and leptin.
Hormones coordinate the physiology and behaviour of individuals by regulating, integrating, and
controlling bodily functions. Over evolutionary time, hormones have often been co-opted by the
nervous system to influence behaviour to ensure reproductive success.

4.4 Brain and Nervous System

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The brain controls what we think and feel, how we learn and remember, and the way we move and
talk. But it also controls things we're less aware of — like the beating of our hearts and the digestion
of our food.

The rest of the nervous system is like a network that relays messages back and forth from the brain
to different parts of the body. It does this through the spinal cord, which runs from the brain down
through the back. It contains threadlike nerves that branch out to every organ and body part.

When a message comes into the brain from anywhere in the body, the brain tells the body how to
react. For example, if you touch a hot stove, the nerves in your skin shoot a message of pain to
your brain. The brain then sends a message back telling the muscles in your hand to pull away.
Luckily, this neurological relay race happens in an instant. The nervous system is made up of the
central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system:
 The brain and the spinal cord are the central nervous system.
 The nerves that go through the whole body make up the peripheral nervous
system.
s
4.4.1 Parts of the Brain.
The brain is made up of three main sections: the forebrain, the midbrain, and the hindbrain.
i. The Forebrain. The forebrain is the largest and most complex part of the brain and
consists of:
The cerebrum which contains the information that essentially makes us who we are:
our intelligence, memory, personality, emotion, speech, and ability to feel and move.
Specific areas of the cerebrum are in charge of processing these different types of
information. These are called lobes, and there are four of them: the frontal, parietal,
temporal, and occipital lobes. The cerebrum has right and left halves, called
hemispheres. They're connected in the middle by a band of nerve fibers that lets them
communicate. Many scientists believe that These halves have different functions:
 The left side is considered the logical, analytical, objective side.
 The right side is thought to be more intuitive, creative, and subjective.
the cortex is the outer layer of the cerebrum i(also known as "gray matter") which
receives Information from the five senses. This information is then directed to other
parts of the nervous system for further processing. For example, when you touch the
hot stove, not only does a message go out to move your hand but one also goes to
another part of the brain to help you remember not to do that again. In the inner part of
the forebrain sits the thalamus, hypothalamus, and pituitary gland :
- The thalamus carries messages from the sensory organs like the eyes, ears,
nose, and fingers to the cortex.
- The hypothalamus controls the pulse, thirst, appetite, sleep patterns, and other
processes in our bodies that happen automatically. The hypothalamus also

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 controls the pituitary gland, which makes the hormones that control growth,
metabolism, water and mineral balance, sexual maturity, and response to
stress.
ii. The Midbrain,
The midbrain, underneath the middle of the forebrain, acts as a master coordinator for
all the messages going in and out of the brain to the spinal cord.
iii. The Hindbrain.
The hindbrain sits underneath the back end of the cerebrum. It consists of the
cerebellum, pons, and medulla.
- The cerebellum — also called the "little brain" because it looks like a small
version of the cerebrum — is responsible for balance, movement, and
coordination.
- The pons and the medulla, along with the midbrain, are often called
the brainstem. The brainstem takes in, sends out, and coordinates the brain's
messages. It also controls many of the body's automatic functions, like
breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, swallowing, digestion, and blinking.

4.4.2 How Nervous System Work

Central Nervous System The central nervous system has a fundamental role in the control
of behaviour. It contains the brain and the spinal cord which are both encased in bone which
shows their importance. Both the brain and spinal cord receive signals from the afferent
neurons and send signals to muscles and glands through efferent neurons. The nervous
system takes in information through our senses, processes the information and triggers
reactions, such as making your muscles move or causing you to feel pain. For example, if
you touch a hot plate, you reflexively pull back your hand and
our nerves simultaneously send pain signals to your brain.

The basic workings of the nervous system depend a lot on billions of tiny cells
called neurons which have many specialized jobs. For example, sensory neurons send
information from the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin to the brain. Motor neurons carry
messages away from the brain to the rest of the body. All neurons, however, relay
information to each other through a complex electrochemical process, making connections
that affect the way we think, learn, move, and behave.

Memory is another complex function of the brain. The things we've done, learned, and seen
are first processed in the cortex. Then, if we sense that this information is important enough
to remember permanently, it's passed inward to other regions of the brain (such as the
hippocampus and amygdala) for long-term storage and retrieval. As these messages travel
through the brain, they too create pathways that serve as the basis of memory.

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 Movement. Different parts of the cerebrum move different body parts. The left side of the
brain controls the movements of the right side of the body, and the right side of the brain
controls the movements of the left side of the body. When you press your car's accelerator
with your right foot, for example, it's the left side of your brain that sends the message
allowing you to do it.

Basic body functions. A part of the peripheral nervous system called the autonomic
nervous system controls many of the body processes like breathing, digestion, sweating, and
shivering. The autonomic nervous system has two parts: the sympathetic nervous system and
the parasympathetic nervous system.
 The sympathetic nervous system prepares the body for sudden stress, like if you
witness a robbery. When something frightening happens, the sympathetic nervous
system makes the heart beat faster so that it sends blood quickly to the different body
parts that might need it. It also causes the adrenal glands at the top of the kidneys to
release adrenaline, a hormone that helps give extra power to the muscles for a quick
getaway. This process is known as the body's "fight or flight" response.
 The parasympathetic nervous system does the exact opposite: It prepares the body
for rest. It also helps the digestive tract move along so our bodies can efficiently take
in nutrients from the food we eat.

4.5 Environmental factors

Environment have a very important influence on personality as they interplay with inherited
characteristic to shape personality/behaviour. Children are born in the same family setting and
share common parentage facilities and culture experiences. However, the same children
experience some non–shared environment which strongly influence their personality development
from conception onwards.

This notion of non-shared environments explains why individuals will develop differences in their
personalities even when genetic heredity is similar e.g. identical twins are not born with the same
weight though they have identical set of genes genetically. at home children experience as they
interact with their expanding world e.g. Different baby seaters will bring up the children as mothers
go to work and every baby seater leaves a mark on the child. Children then go to school where
they interact with different teachers, peers and friends. In different or even in the same environment
children encounter different types of social support, build different lives with educational,
occupation and interpersonal experiences and events. Factors like illness and chance encounters
bring about differences among siblings. So environment influences on personality development do
not operate on a family by family basis but rather on individual by individual basis - ie
environmental effect on personality are specific to each child rather than general for all children
in the family.

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When children are born they find themselves sharing the same parents and the same home
environment but each child experience these environments differently. Each child in the family
receives different treatment within the same family. The difference in environments expands as
children starts to interact with their peers in school or friends outside the family environment. Even
within the same family every child is born in a slightly different family environment
psychologically and structurally i.e. children arrive at different times and parents perceive them
differently and even treat them differently depending on their position in the family and their sex.
First born come at a time when parent have not experienced another child and therefore, have an
advantage of getting all the space and attention the parent can give. First born will not lack in
material things like cloths and toys. A second born may find himself using same cloths and
materials left behind by the first born and if parents are not very careful, a negativity tend to
develop where the second born feels that they are not as important as the first born. This may spark
sibling rivalry. These experiences shape the self-esteem of the involved children.

Later born may find a crowded home and may not get the kind of attention that the first two
children received and this will shape their experience in the family and how they perceive
themselves. Children have their own way of perceiving their environment and they may belief that
their parents treat them differently showering more love and attention to some while discriminating
against others. Negative aspects of parenting such as conflict are associated with the development
of antisocial behaviour in the child. Parental negativity towards the child may be related to
adolescent maladjustment, depression and antisocial behaviour. Children who are exposed to
warm, accepting, loving and stable relationship with care givers develop secure attachments
which lead to the development of various outcomes in their childhood and later life. Such children
tend to approach difficult problems with enthusiasm and persistence, become self-directed and are
eager to learn and become social leaders among their peers as they grow older. Children who get
rejection and have their interaction will significant others characterized by lack of warmth
and love during the first year of life develops insecure attachment relationship, more frustrations
and become dependent on adults and social withdrawal as they grow older.
NB When individuals fail to develop secure close attachment during first years of life, it is
likely that they will develop close personal relationship as adults.

Page 29 of 58
TOPIC 5 FACTORS INFLUENCING BEHAVIOUR

Introduction This topic will discuss the various factor that influence human behaviour.
These factors include: Intelligence, Motivation, Emotions, Sensations and
Perception and Learning

Topic Time 
Compulsory online reading, activities, self-assessments & practice
exercises [8]
 Optional further reading [3]
 Total student input [11]
Topic Learning  Participation in one chat (at least 6 entries)
Requirements  At least three elaborate contributions to the discussion topic. You may
also start your own discussion thread.
 Timely submission of the assignments
Learning Outcomes By the end of this topic learners should be able to:
i. Define intelligence
ii. Show how intelligence influence behaviour
iii. Explain motivation and show how it influences behaviour
iv. Compare intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
v. Show how emotions influence human behaviour
vi. Appreciate the importance of expressing emotions
vii. Explain the role played by emotional expressions in
counselling
viii. Define sensation perception and learning
ix. Identify the sensory system and show how it links with
perception to paint a clear picture of reality

Page 30 of 58
 x. Explain how learning takes place in human being and
how this learning influences their behaviour.

Topic Content 5.1 Intelligence

5.2 Motivation
5.3 Emotions
5.4 Sensation and Perception
5.5 Learning

Topic Summary Intelligence refers to the global capacity to act purposefully, think
rationally and deal effectively with the environment. It reflects how well
people function. Intelligent people tend to function better e.g. a high level
of performance in school leads to a socially acceptable career.
Motivation is the degree of desire to learn new things, to put in more time
to study, to find out more about what is being taught and cooperate with
the teacher in order to get knowledge from this experience.
It is that condition that causes one to begin an activity and pursue it
vigorously and persistently.
Emotions mobilize the individual in the movement towards a goal.
Movement can be from one point to another or movement in a direction
and sometimes it can be a movement striving against a movement, to
stand still or hesitate.
A sensory system is part of the nervous system responsible for
processing sensory information and they include. vision i.e. seeing,
hearing, somatic sensation (touch), taste, olfaction (smell). Senses
transduce things from physical world to the realm of the mind

Further Reading Jump up to:a b Kagan, Jerome, Marc H. Bornstein, and Richard M.
Lerner. "Human Behaviour." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2020. Retrieved
5 June 2020.

Farnsworth, Bryn. 4 July 2019. "Human Behaviour: The Complete

Pocket Guide." iMotions. Copenhagen. So What Exactly is Behaviour?

Argyle, Michael, and Luo Lu. 1990. "The happiness of

extraverts." Personality and Individual Differences 11(10):1011–
17. doi:10.1016/0191-8869(90)90128-E.

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 Anholt, Robert R. H., and Trudy Mackay. 2010. Principles of
behavioural genetics. Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-12-372575-2. Lay
summary.

Purcell, Shaun. 2012. "Statistical Methods in Behaviourial Genetics"

Appendix in Behavioural Genetics (6th ed.), edited by R. Plomin, J. C.
DeFries, V. S. Knopik, and J. M. Neiderhiser. Worth
Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4292-4215-8. Retrieved 5 June 2020. Lay
summary.

Wyer, R. S. J. 1965. "Effect of child-rearing attitudes and behaviour on

childrens responses to hypothetical social situations." Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology 2(4):480–86. ProQuest 60622726.

Kechmanovic, D. 1969. "The paranoid attitude as the common form of

social behaviour." Sociologija 11(4):573–85. ProQuest 60877639.

Yardley, Jim (2014). "Spain, Land of 10 P.M. Dinners, Asks if It's Time
to Reset Clock". The New York Times.

"Heatwave: Is there more crime in hot weather?". BBC News. 2018.

Dabb, C (May 1997). The relationship between weather and children's

behaviour: a study of teacher perceptions. USU Thesis.

TOPIC
ACTIVITIES
Activity 1. Define the following terms and show how they imparts on the
behaviour you see in Form one students
i. intelligence
ii. learning
iii. sensation
iv. perception
2. Discuss the behaviour you would use to distinguish high and low
motivated students in your form three class
3. Why is intrinsic motivation preferred to extrinsic motivation by
most scholars
4. Identify the sensory system and show how it links with
perception to paint a clear picture of reality

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 5. Explain how learning takes place in human beings and how this
learning influences their behaviour.
6. Identify the five senses and show how the coordinate with
perception to portray the reality
7. Explain how learning takes place in your process of teaching a
form two class

DETAILED NOTES

5.1 Intelligence
Intelligence refers to the global capacity to act purposefully, think rationally and deal effectively
with the environment. It reflects how well people function. Intelligent people tend to function
better e.g. a high level of performance in school leads to a socially acceptable career. According
to Raymond Cattell there are two kinds of general intelligence:
 Fluid intelligence or fluid reasoning is the capacity to reason and solve novel problems,
independent of any knowledge from the past. It involves being able to think and reason
abstractly and solve problems, Considered independent learning experience, and education.
Examples of use of fluid intelligence include: solving puzzles and coming up with problem
solving strategies
 Crystallized intelligence is the ability to use skills, knowledge obtained through learning
and experience. As long as opportunities for learning are available, crystallized intelligence
can increase indefinitely during a person’s life. For example, vocabulary knowledge is
known to increase in college professors throughout their life span. It involves knowledge
that comes from prior learning and past experiences. This type of intelligence is based upon
facts and rooted in experiences. As we age and accumulate new knowledge and
understanding, crystallized intelligence becomes stronger

Intelligence is your skill in achieving whatever it is you want to attain in your life within your
socio cultural context. Intelligence is part of the internal environment that shows thought at the
interface between person and external environment as a function of cognitive task demands. It is
a certain set of cognitive capacities that enable an individual to adapt and thrive in any given
environment they find themselves in. These cognitive capacities include things like memory and
retrieval, problem solving etc.

There is a cluster of cognitive abilities that lead to successful adaptation to a wide range of
environments. Intelligence is a property of an individual who is interacting with an external

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environment problem or situation. An individual intelligence is related to their ability to succeed
or profit. Intelligent individuals are able to carefully choose their actions (behaviour) in a way that
leads them to accomplishing their goals. The greater it has capacity to succeed with respect to
various goals, the greater the individual’s intelligence.

The definitions of intelligence imply that the environment is not fully known to the individual and
may contain new situations that could not have been anticipated in advance. So intelligence is not
ability to deal with a fully known environment but rather the ability to deal with some range of
possibilities which cannot be fully anticipated. The individual is able to quickly learn and adopt so
as to perform as well as possible over a wide range of environments, situations, tasks and problems.
Intelligence measures an agent’s ability to achieve goals in a wide range of environment.
Intelligence is a very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to
reason, plan, solve problems, and think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and
learn from experience - these are act mental abilities that allow us to successfully achieve our
goals.

5.2 Motivation
Motivation is the degree of desire to learn new things, to put in more time to study and to find out
more about what is being taught and cooperate with the teacher in order to get knowledge from
this experience. It is that condition that causes one to begin an activity and pursue it vigorously
and persistently. It cannot be measured directly but indirectly by observing the behaviour of the
learners. e.g. Eagerness to answer questions shows motivation, doing a given assignment is another
indicator of motivation, if they study on their own silently during preps they are motivated.

Types of motivation
Psychologist s have identified two types of motivation:
Intrinsic motivation i.e. self-motivation
This leads to one performing an activity because he likes performing it. He performs the activity
without external push. The learner is confident and can keep on trying even the harder topics. This
is a more permanent type of motivation and it is likely to ensure persistent achievements of learners
and should be the main focus of a teacher.
Extrinsic Motivation
This is an external motivation and relies much on external rewards and influences and is not self
at all. This motivation can be short lived i.e. it can end when one is away from friends who
influenced him to work hard or if the external rewards are removed. In this motivation the learner
has no consistency in performance. The external forces that cause motivation include;
 Desire to please friends, parents, teachers etc
 Desire to be seen and given prices for good performance.

5.3 Emotions

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Emotions mobilize the individual in the movement towards a goal. An individual is born,
develops and matures in a social field with social interest, social awareness or community
feelings. The individual goal is revealed emotionally and expressed in action. Emotions are
always present in everything an individual does even though this may not always be obvious.
Emotions express our evaluation of our situation and our intended response. A person whose
priority is avoidance of stress and failure will react emotionally to impending dangers. His
emotions will be heightened when he gets aware of his peril. He concentrates his whole being on
dealing with the situation and mobilize all necessary inner forces to that end while closing down
awareness of other aspects of the environment that seem irrelevant.

Emotions directly express the mind body link as if they were thoughts expressed in the body
i.e. body language. A thought can be felt in bodily effects i.e. we know that we are in touch
with some meaningful experience when we feel it in our body. Threatening experience can
make us feel cold and this is what can lead us to feel that we have no control over our
emotions. It is possible to know one’s mood by reading the body language. It is possible to
effect changes in one’s emotional states by making changes in one’s body e.g. through
exercise, going for a walk, etc.

Since emotions are ever present they play a great role in counselling and psychotherapy.
Emotional reaction in counselling reveals what is genuinely felt. We know that we are in
touch with client’s soul when we can feel their emotions. By asking clients to retell an early
experience we make them revisit emotional states. Emotions bind the joint activity of client
and therapist. The relationship between therapist and client, is successful, if it is rooted in
emotional bonds of trust and acceptance. Clients and people who want to absorb themselves
of responsibility for their own actions are happy to identify their feelings as independent of
their will. Feelings fade and when they do not it is because we are keeping them in existence,
feeling they are fine because they suit our purpose.

It is important to learn to manage our emotions in counselling setting. To manage emotions

means to handle with a degree of skill, to learn to identify and tune into our feelings and
those of other people. Recognizing and understanding our own emotion is of particularly
important if we have to allow ourselves to feel them and express them.
- Our emotions have to go somewhere
- We can hold them in and stiff them
- Turn them in upon ourselves
- Take them outside to someone else.
- Let them out appropriately.
The first three are not healthy and can result in stored up anger, resentment and depression. In
counselling, clients should be encouraged to express their emotions by Identifying them i.e. how
they are feeling and Express them by talking about them, allowing themselves to feel them.

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Sharing feelings helps us to get close to people. Suppressing or denying feelings cause problems
to a client. The goal in counselling is to help clients acknowledge their emotions (feelings) and
deal with them in an honest way even if they are negative or painful. Clients should be
encouraged to express their feelings. Appropriate expression of feelings does not contain
accusations or attacks. It is important to acknowledge and honour other people feelings as
legitimate and valid. Though you feel different about situations or completely disagree on facts
the person’s feelings are real. If you invalidate their feelings, it is likely to intensify or aggravate
the feelings. Allowing feelings to be expressed and recognized helps release them.

Guilt and deceit cause stress especially when one thinks he/she is likely to be discovered. One
also becomes defensive and the nearer the point of discovery the more one gets stressed and the
more defensive one becomes. Some people may kill others to avoid discovery. Stress conditions
might lead to high blood pressure, fainting fits, depression, systematic pain, arthritis or
rheumatism which may lead to overdependence on pain killers, anti-depressants or alcoholism.

5.4 Sensation and Perception

The study of sensations and perception is the study of how an organism brain knows what is
going on around it. Sensory systems like visions and audition are like the radar which gives the
brain necessary information about the outside world. One also has sensory systems that obtain
information about the state of your body like position relative to the ground. The study of
sensation and perception helps us to develop an understanding of how our sensory systems
operate. A sensory system is part of the nervous system responsible for processing sensory
information and they include: Vision i.e. seeing, hearing, Somatic sensation (touch), Taste and
Olfaction (smell).

Senses transduce things from physical world to the realm of the mind e.g. hearing (audition) is
the ability to perceive sound by detecting vibrations. Frequencies that capable of being heard by
human beings are called audio or sonic. Auditory system includes the ears and inner structures
which produce neural signals in response to sound. Hearing involves the computationally
complex task of separating the source of interest often estimating their distance and direction as
well as identifying them.

Perception is the organization and interpretation of sensory information in order to fabricate a

mental representation through the process of transduction. Transduction is the process through
which sensors in the body transform signals from the environment into encoded neural signals.
All perceptions involve signals in the nervous system which results from physical stimulation of
the sense organs. Perception systems of the brain enable individuals to see the world around
them as stable even when the sensory information may be incomplete and rapidly varying.

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Perception is the process of constructing mental representations of and object in the real world
using information available in the raw pattern of neural activity Bruner J developed a model of
perception in forming opinions.
 When a perceiver encounters an unfamiliar target we are open to different
informational cues and what to learn more about the target.
 In step two, we try to collect more information about the target. Gradually
we encounter some familiar lives which help us to categorize the target.
 Cues become less open and selective. We try to search for more cues that
confirm the categorization of the target.
 At this stage we actively ignore and even distort cues that violate our initial
perceptions.
 Our perception becomes more selective and finally paints a consistent picture
of the target.

Allan and Gay came up with three components of perception

a) The perceiver i.e. the one who becomes aware about something and comes to a final
understanding. Perception can be influenced by
 Experience state
 Motivation state
 Emotional state
b) The target is the person who is being perceived or judged. Ambiguity or lack of
information about the target leads to greater need of interpretation and audition.
c) The situation also greatly influence perceptions because different situations may call for
additional information about the target.
Perception and Reality
Some people are able to see visual perception shift in their minds while those who are not picture
thinkers may not perceive the shape shifting as the world changes e.g. an ambiguous image has
multiple interpretations on the perceptual levels. Brain in some ways operates on a slight delay to
allow nerve impulse from distant parts of the body to be integrated into simultaneous signals.
Perceptual constancy is the ability of the perceptual systems to recognize the same object from
widely varying sensory import. Human beings tend to perceive complete shape even if those
forms are incomplete.

Social perception is the part of perception that allows people to understand the individual and
groups of their social world. There is a lot of feed back between perception and expectation
perceptual experiences often shape beliefs, but those perceptions were based on existing beliefs.

5.5 Learning

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Learning is a relatively permanent change in behaviour potentiality which occurs as a result of
reinforced practice. Learning is an internal process that occurs within our bodies, particularly in
the head. What goes on in the mind is not observable (so psychologists call the mind “black box”.
Behaviour is used to define what goes on in the mind adequately for scientific research.
Permanent change
Theorists stress that learning covers those behaviour changes that are of relatively permanent
nature ie can be stored for some time. Things stored in our secondary memory can stay longer than
those stored in primary memory. Those stored in primary memory are held there temporary for 13
– 20 minutes and tend to disappear unless they are passed to the secondary or permanent memory.
Practice is what enables material be stored in primary memory. The amount of practice needed to
pass this material to secondary depends on the complexity of the material. If you practice material
well beyond the point of mastery, then you end with a state of over learning which is healthy
because it is hard to forget. Many of our materials should be over learnt in order to master them.
NB the primary memory can hold between 5 – 9 items. 7 (seven) is referred to as magical because
it is in the middle of the number of much that can be held by our memory.

Behaviour is important in this definition also because it is observable and measurable

(empirical) i.e. available for scientific study. It can only be inferred that learning changes
behaviour. However not all learning is accompanied by change of behaviour e.g. a lot of
learning that goes on in classroom is not always accompanied by behaviour performance.
Some behaviour is also determined by inheritance and such behaviour cannot be changed
by learning e.g. growth of height, development of muscles etc.
Reinforcement
This is a pleasant experience to promote learning and can be defined as ‘The stimulus,
event or procedures which will strengthen the behaviour it accompanies i.e. rewards are
used as reinforcement to help change behaviour. Rewards include pleasant comments,
praise, present which if they accompany a given behaviour. They are likely to increase that
behaviour so that the behaviour that is stunted is likely to occur again.
Practice
It means that you have to repeat over and over the material to be learnt. The amount of
practice trials required to retain a material depends on the task i.e. how complicated or
hard they are. Practice is very important because it creates mastery and hence clear
understanding of what is learnt

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TOPIC 6 6.1 CONCEPTS AND ASPECTS OF PERSONALITY
Introduction In this topic you will learn concepts and aspects of human personality
based on the understanding of trait theorists. Personality is defined as a
complex organization of cognitive, affective, behaviour that give
direction and pattern (coherence) to a person’s life. Like the body,
personality consists of both structures and process and reflects nature,
genes and structure. Trait theorists summarised the traits into five
dimensions and these will be the main focuses of this topic.
Topic Time  Compulsory online reading, activities, self-assessments & practice
exercises [6]
 Optional further reading [2]
 Total student input [8]
Topic Learning  Participation in one chat (at least 6 entries)
Requirements  At least three elaborate contributions to the discussion topic. You may
also start your own discussion thread.
 Timely submission of the assignments
Learning Outcomes By the end of this topic you should be able to:
i. Explain why personality is regarded as consisting of structures
and processes nature, genes and structure
ii. Differentiate between type A and Type B personality
characteristics
iii. Discuss the five general dimensions of personalities developed by
trait theorists
Topic Content 6.1Definition, concept and aspect of personality
6.2 Types A and Type B Personality
6.3 Trait Theories of Personality
6.3.1 Agreeable Verses Disagreeable
6.3.2. Conscientiousness versus Unconscientiousness.
6.3.3 Extroversion versus introversion
6.3.4 Neuroticism versus emotional stability
6.3.5 Openness to experience Versus Closed People
Topic Summary According to Allport (1961) personality is a dynamic organization
within the individual of the psychological systems that determine one’s
characteristics and behaviour.
Common themes related to the concept of personality include;
Personality has to do with some sort of psychological structure that
makes up psychological being that a person is simplified , Personality
has to do with dynamics of behaviour, Personality has to do with fixed
and enduring psychological and behaviour characteristics, There are
forces that mould personality how a person changes over time in

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 response to inborn and environmental factors, There are forces that
mould personality ie, a person changes over time in response to inborn
and environmental factors, One is differentiated from others by
personality factors.
The psychological and behavioural characteristics that constitute
personality are integrated and organized in a dynamic process otherwise
personality disintegration occurs. People can be grouped into two main
personality categorise described as type A and type B personality. Trait
theories summarised human personality into five broad categories, that
is, Agreeable versus Disagreeable persons, Conscientious versus
unconscientious, Introverts versus extroverts, neuroticism versus
emotional stability and openness to experience versus closed people.

Further Reading Allport GW. The functional autonomy of motives. American

Journal of Psychology 1940;50:141-156.

Srivatava S, John OP, Gosling D. Development of personality in

early and middle adulthood: Set like plaster or persistent
change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
2003;84:1041-1053.

Robins RW, Fraley RC, Roberts BW, Trzesniewski1 KH. A

longitudinal study ofpersonality change in young
adulthood. Journal of Personality 2001;69(4):617-640.

Coren S, Harland RE. Personality correlates of variations in

visual and auditory abilities. Personality and Individual
Differences 1995;18(1):15-25.

Lauriola M. Psychological correlates of eye refractive errors,

Personality andIndividual Differences 1997;23(5):917-920.

Jung CG. Psychological Types (Collected Works of C.G. Jung),

vol.6. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press;
1971.

John OP, Srivastava S. The Big Five Trait Taxonomy; History,

Measurement, and Theoretical Perspective. In: Handbook
of Personality: Theory and Research. New York: Guilford
Press; 1999. p. 102-138.

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 Mairesse F, Walker M. Words mark the nerds: computational
models of personality recognition through language. In:
Proceedings of the 28th annual conference of the cognitive
science society. 2006. p. 543–548.

Fine N, Brinkman WP. Towards extracting personality trait data

from interaction behaviour. In: Proceedings of the HCI 2006

workshop on computer-assisted recording, pre-processing
and analysis of user interaction data. 2006. p. 75-92.

TOPIC
ACTIVITIES
Activity
Questions
1. identify the psychological issues of
(a) Agreeable people
(b) Disagreeable persons
(c) Conscientious people
(d) People with unconscientious personality
2. Differentiate between the psychological needs of:
(a) Introverts and extroverts
(b) People who are high in neuroticism and those low
in neuroticism
(c) People who are open to experience and the closed
ones.
3. Identify and discuss the criminal activities that can result from
each of the five dimensions of personality.
4. “Like the body, personality consists of both structures and
process” discuss.
5. Compare the attribute of people that are classified as type A
and those classified as type B.
6. Anlyse how you would help Form one students with type A
and those with type B personality traits balance themselves
and achieve their best as their class teacher
7. identify the psychological issues of
i. Agreeable people
ii. Disagreeable persons
iii. Conscientious people

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 iv. People with unconscientious personality
8. Differentiate between the psychological needs of:
a. Introverts and extroverts
b. People who are high in neuroticism and those low
in neuroticism
c. People who are open to experience and the closed
ones.

DETAILED NOTES

6.1 Definition, Concepts and Aspects of Personality

According to Allport (1961) personality is a dynamic organization within the individual of the
psychological systems that determine one’s characteristics and behaviour.
Pervin (1996) defines personality as a complex organization of cognitive, affective, behaviour
that give direction and pattern (coherence) to a person’s life. Like the body, personality consists
of both structures and process and reflects nature, genes and structure. Personality can be
influenced either by genetic or environmental factors.

Common themes related to the concept of personality.

i. Personality has to do with some sort of psychological structure that makes up
psychological being that a person is simplified as i.e.:
 What a person is constructed from intra - physically
 Something that though not specific in physical form, exists in its own right not from
public opinion.
 How a person is constructed analogically the way a block of wood or a piece of stone is
constructed from elements or basic ingredients.
ii. Personality has to do with dynamics of behaviour i.e.
 What motivates or instigates a person into a given action.
 What a person does or experiences
 How one is likely to behave in a given situation e.g. when insulted or stressed.
 How one actually behaves in a given situation. Is he controlled, i.e. does one remain
calm or does he fight.
iii. Personality has to do with fixed and enduring psychological and behaviour characteristics.
 Whereas a person has surface psychological and behavioural characteristic which
change with time, there are some underlying characteristics that are fixed and
enduring overtime. This makes an individual behave consistently over time i.e. in a
variety of situation. The individual manifests constant behaviour.

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iv. There are forces that mould personality, that is, a person changes over time in response to
inborn and environmental factors.
v. One is differentiated from others by personality factors.
vii. The psychological and behavioural characteristics that constitute personality are integrated
and organized in a dynamic process otherwise personality disintegration occurs.

6.2 Types A and Type B Personality

i. Type A category of people characteristics
Have a great sense of urgency about things and have a great desire to control environment. Are
achievements oriented and work hard to achieve their objectives without feeling much
enjoyment in the process. They are impatient, aggressive, and easily aroused to anger. Like to
compare themselves with others and get irritated when others slow down. Their sense of
urgency and competitiveness drive them to go faster such that they are unable to rest. They can
easily get heart attack because they get exhausted as they strive to achieve their goals. It is also
associated with a heightened pace of living i.e. people with this personality move, walk and eat
rapidly and often accomplish two tasks. This personality can be traced to childhood
relationships with parents and peers. One acquires these traits through the process of
conditioning and modelling.
Type A behaviour persons in their sense of urgency to accomplish their task within
a short time feel overloaded they should be advised to manage pressure by:
i. Allocating time for each activity
ii. Establishing certain routines and work schedule early
iii. Setting aside sometime for leisure in order to raid themselves the stress.
iv. Slowing down and learning to cope with stress and challenges of daily living.

Type B Personality is characteristics:

People with this personality have Low levels of competitiveness, urgency of time and hostility
behaviour patterns. They are relaxed, easy going and are known for their avoidance of
competition and time pressure. They are willing to enjoy the process of life as they live it. Many
face the danger of taking life too easy and consequently end up achieving few goals in life.
Others may avoid any activities or intellectual hard work. Those who avoid physical work may
develop a negative attitude towards exercises which is essential for health development.

6.3 Trait Theories of Personality

Trait theorists agree that people possess broad predispositions called traits. According to Allport
(1967) traits are building blocks of personality and they present generalized personality
dispositions, which account for the functioning of a person across situations over time. Traits are
also reflected by people’s behaviour like friendliness, kindness, patience, warm, intelligence,
outgoing, meanness, crudity, unkind, laziness and trustworthy. When certain traits are shown by
a person in different situations over time we can say that they are enduring or consistent and can

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help us predict and explain that person’s [Link] psychologists seem to have come to a
consensus that trait dimension are reducible to five which include;

6.3.1 Agreeable Verses Disagreeable

Agreeableness is concerned with individual differences in co-operation, social harmony and
concern for others. Agreeable Persons
- Value getting along with other people, is considerate, friendly, generous, helpful and
willing to compromise.
- Tend to have an optimistic view of nature.
- Believe people are basically good, honest, decent and trustworthy.
- Tend to be popular because people like them more than the disagreeable.
- They may be disadvantaged because it may not be useful in situation that requires
tough and absolute decision.
Disagreeable People
- Are more interested in themselves than getting along with other people.
- Show no concern for the wellbeing of other people and will not extend themselves for
others.
- May be sceptical about other people’s motives which make them suspicious, unfriendly
and uncooperative.
- Can become good scientists, critics and good soldiers.
6.3.2 Conscientiousness versus Unconscientiousness.
Conscientiousness is a trait dimension concerned with the degree of control, ability
to regulate and direct their impulses. People who are high in conscientiousness:
 Have a high need for achievement
 Avoid trouble.
 Achieve high level of success through purposive planning and persistence.
 Are regarded as intelligent and reliable by other people.
 However, they may be impulsive, perfectionists as well as workaholics
 Extremely conscientious people can be considered to be dull, boring and unimaginative.
Unconscientious people or people who are low in conscientiousness:
- May not be good in controlling, directing, or regulating their impulses.
- Can make snap decisions and can be fun to be with.
- Are criticized for lacking in ambition and being unreliable as well as trying to pursue
many short term pleasures.
6.3.3 Extroversion versus introversion
Extroverts tend to:
- Be in agreement with the external world
- Enjoy being with people, sociable and have many friends.
- Full of energy and experiences positive emotions.
- Those high in extroversion tend to be enthusiastic and action oriented.

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 - They tend to take any opportunity for excitement.
- They tend to talk, assert themselves and draw attention to themselves.
The introverted people tend to:
- Lack exuberance, energy and activities levels of extroverts.
- Be quiet, low key, and deliberate and lack independence on social world.
- Be reserved and reflective
- Be More sensitive to pain
- Easily fatigued and excitement decreases their performance.
- Distrust’s impulse decisions making. They prefer a well ordered life to the one filled
with chances and risks.
- Prefer solitary occupations.
- Are better in school and can concentrate in tasks.
- Needs less stimulation than extroverts
- Need more time alone as they gain energy by doing things alone.

6.3.4 Neuroticism versus emotional stability

This is the tendency to experience negative emotions. People who are high
Neuroticism:
- Tend to be anxious, depressed and suffer from guilt feelings.
- Suffer from low self-esteem
- May experience anxiety, anger, and depression
- Are emotionally reactive and so tend to respond emotionally to events that would not
affect other people.
- Can also be shy, moody, emotional and irrational.
- Have a tendency of interpreting ordinary events as threatening and magnify minor
failures.
- Often have bad mood and may not have the ability to: Think clearly, make decisions,
cope effectively with stress and are predisposed to having psychosomatic illness like
body aches, stomach difficulties and dizzy spells.
People who are low in neuroticism
- Are less upset and less emotional reactive
- Tend to be calm, emotionally stable, and free from persistently negative feelings.

6.3.4 Openness to experience Versus Closed People

Openness to experience describes a dimension of personality that distinguishes
imaginative, creative people from down to earth conventional people.
Open to experience people are:

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 - Intellectually curious,
- Appreciate beauty and art,
- More aware of their feelings,
- Tend to hold conventional and individualistic beliefs.
Openness is an inherited dimension but environment causes it intensity
Closed people are:
- Down to earth,
- Conventional with narrow common interest,
- Prefer plain straight forward and obvious as opposed to complex and ambiguous
approaches to life,
- They regard art and science with suspicion,
- Are conservative and resist change.

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TOPIC 7 ABNORMAL BEHAVIOUR AND MENTAL HEALTH

Introduction This topic will help you understand the prosocial and antisocial behaviour, know
how to identify students with abnormal behaviour as well as help them cultivate
and maintain their mental wellness.
Topic Time  Compulsory online reading, activities, self-assessments & practice exercises
[6]
 Optional further reading [2]
 Total student input [8]
Topic Learning  Participation in one chat (at least 6 entries)
Requirements  At least three elaborate contributions to the discussion topic. You may also
start your own discussion thread.
 Timely submission of the assignments
Learning Outcomes By the end of this topic you should be able to:
1. Show the difference between prosocial and anti – social behaviour
2. Describe the characteristics of abnormal behaviour
3. Differentiate between adaptive and maladaptive
4. Analyse Lefton (1940) criteria for identifying psychological
disorders
5. Identify ways of cultivating and maintaining mental health
Topic Content 7.1 SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
7.2 Abnormal behaviour
7.3 Cultivating and Maintaining Mental Health

Topic Summary
Further Reading
Alwin, N. (2006). The causes of personality disorder. In M. Sampson, R.
McCubbin, & P. Tyrer (Eds.), Personality disorder and community mental
health teams: A practitioner’s guide. Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of

mental disorders. (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing

Beck, A. (2015). Theory of personality disorder. In A. Beck, D.

Conley, C. S., Shapiro, J. B., Kirsch, A. C., & Durlak, J. A. (2017). A meta-
analysis of indicated mental health prevention programs for at-risk higher
education students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 64(2), 121-140.

Coon, D. & Mitter, J. (2007). Introduction to psychology: Gateways to mind

and behavior (11th ed). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

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 Davis, & A. Freeman (Eds.), Cognitive therapy of personality
disorders. (pp. 19-62). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Bettis, A. H., Coiro, M. J., England, J., Murphy, L. K., Zelkowitz,

R. L., Dejardins, L., … & Compas, B. E. (2017). Comparison of
two approaches to prevention of mental health problems in
college students: enhancing coping and executive function
skills. Journal of American college health, 65(5), 313-322

Conley, C. S., Shapiro, J. B., Kirsch, A. C., & Durlak, J. A. (2017). A meta-
analysis of indicated mental health prevention programs for at-risk higher
education students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 64(2), 121-140.

Coon, D. & Mitter, J. (2007). Introduction to psychology: Gateways to mind

and behavior (11th ed). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Forsman, A. K., Nordmyr, J., & Wahlbeck, K. (2011). Psychosocial

interventions for the promotion of mental health and the prevention of
depression among older adults. Health promotion international, 26(suppl_1),
i85-i107.

Gibbons, F., Kingsbury, J., Weng, C., Gerrard, M., Cutrona, C.,
Wills, T., & Stock, M. (2014). Effects of perceived racial
discrimination on health status and health behavior: A
differential mediation hypothesis. Health Psychology, 33(1), 11-
19.
Lally, J., ó Conghaile, A., Quigley, S., Bainbridge, E., & McDonald, C. (2013)
Stigma of mental illness and help-seeking behavior in university students. The
Psychiatrist, 37(8), 253-260.

Lang, F., Otte, S., Vasic, N., Jager, M. & Dudeck, M. (2015). Impulsiveness
among short-term prisoners with antisocial personality disorder. Psychiatrische
Praxis, 42(5). 274-277.

TOPIC
ACTIVITIES
Activity 1. Analyse the differences between prosocial and antisocial behaviour
2. How would you tell your Form four students have adaptive or
maladaptive behaviour

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 3. Discuss Lefton’s (1940) criteria for identifying people with maladaptive
behaviour
4. Explain how you would help your students to cultivating and
maintain their mental health

DETAILED NOTES
7.1 SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
It deals with behaviour of people who are in a group. The group develops various beliefs, attitudes
and factors that affect group lives in various operations as a unit. In group behaviour we try to read
factors and altitudes which are important in determining behaviour. Social behaviour is behaviour
directed towards the society, or taking place between members of the same species. Social
practices are norms, rules and habits. these encompass or anticipated to encompass another
person’s emotions, thought or intentions.

Prosocial behaviour is behaviour that is intended to help other people and is characteristic by a
concern about rights, feelings and welfare of other people. Prosocial behaviour is prompted by
empathy, moral values and a sense of personal responsibility. Pro-social behaviour occurs when
one act to help another person particularly when they have no goal other than to help fellow human.

7.2 Abnormal behaviour

Abnormal behaviour is behaviour that is not inconsistent with society’s expectation. It hampers
the individual ability to function effectively within the surrounding i.e. individuals cannot cope
with their environment in the same way that most people can. It is behaviour that deviates from
the norm (society set rules). Researchers have noted abnormal behaviour to be:
 Statistically unusual, i.e. it deviates statistically from normal average behaviour.
 Non-adaptive, i.e. it hampers individual ability to function within his/her social
content.
 Characterized by some degree of perceptual, emotional or cognitive distortion.
 Viewed as abnormal or unusual by the surrounding society in which the individual
is behaving.

Abnormal behaviour is manifested by ways of thinking or acting that are unusual and it should be
noted that stigma of abnormal behaviour is common. People’s beliefs and assumptions about

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mental illness affect the way they respond to someone who shows abnormal behaviour. Adaptation
refers to a people’s ability or inability to modify their behaviour in response to changes in their
environment. The degree of impairment in adaptation defines abnormality NB deviant or unusual
behaviour is often not maladaptive.

Maladaptive behaviour refers to behaviour that causes problems in living. Maladaptive behaviour
ranges from relatively minor but troubling fears to several distortions of reality and inability to
function independently. According to Lefton (1940) behaviour or mental processes are suggestive
of maladaptive behaviour/psychological disorders when they meet some of the following criteria:
a) Faulty perception or interpretation of reality e.g. a person hearing voices and
seeing things indicates that on is having hallucination. A paranoid (one having
ideas of persecution) believe that people want to injure or kill him.
b) They suggest severe personal distress, anxiety, depression, exaggerated fears, and
other psychological states that cause personal distress. They have many behaviour
problems.
c) They are self-defeating i.e. behaviour or mental processes cause misery rather than
happiness and fulfilment e.g. chronic drinking that impairs work and family life,
cigarette smoking that impairs health.
d) They are dangerous behaviour or mental processes that are hazardous to self or
others may be considered as psychological disorders. e.g. people who threaten or
attempt suicide, people who threaten or attack others etc,
e) Behaviour is socially unacceptable judged according to the norms of the society.

7.3 Cultivating and Maintaining Mental Health

i) Personal organization
This will help you prepare well in advance to meet your commitments. Fulfilled
commitments makes one satisfied and avoid frustrations and gives one peace of mind
which enhanced mental health.

ii) Assertiveness
This is the ability to say no and maintain your stand without hurtingothers. It is
refusing the demands of others on you diplomatically, for example, one should be
able to refuse a demand for sex from a partner and retain the friendship. This will
help one keep the mental health in that one will not be guilty that he/she quarrelled
with a friend. It will also help one in avoiding fears that he/she may have contracted
AIDs after the sexual activity especially if the sex was unprotected. It will also help

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 overcome a possibility of pre-marital pregnancy which goes with a lot of depression
and uncertainty. An assertive person is also able to refuse any offer or influence to
take drugs. This frees him from mental illness that is caused by drug and substance
abuse.

iii) Honesty and Truthfulness

Honesty is very crucial in cultivating and maintaining your mental health. A liar will
never be mentally health because he/she is constant fear that the lie may be
discovered. Dishonesty also negatively affects one’s relationship with others. People
mistrust and avoid dishonest people. This facilitates guilt to the dishonest person and
may slowly become an isolate. This moves further to depression. It is therefore very
important to be honest and truthful to ourselves, colleagues, parents, spouses etc.

iv) Avoid all forms of pornography

Phonographic literature and films provoke one’s sexuality. They incite your mind to
be preoccupied with sex which in turn propels fulfilment of sexual urge in either
orthodox or unorthodox manner. All sexual deviants have some roots in pornography.
Homosexuality in boys’ schools has its origin in persistent use of pornography. It is
not possible keep your mind health if you read and watch phonographic materials.

v) Obey the family and societal rules.

To maintain mental health you have to obey the simple rules set by the college,
family and society. Failure to obey these rules you find yourself at loggerheads with
your teachers, parents and the immediate law enforcing authority. Failure to follow
rules leads to guilt, disagreements and quarrels with those expected to enforce those
rules. In this situation the mind gets disturbed and you are not able to keep your
mental health.

vi) Choose your friends wisely

Good and well-focused friends will motivate you and help you live honestly and
avoid anything that disturbs your mind. Bad friends will affect you negatively and
mislead you to engage in activities that will leave you guilty or at war with the
authority figures in the society. In these circumstances your mental health will be
affected. All those who are interested in being mentally healthy will have to
deliberately avoid any company with people who do not add any value to their mental
health. They will also look for more positive friends who will help them think
positively and help them to keep mentally healthy.

vii) Keep yourself pure

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 To be mentally healthy you have to keep yourself pure by avoiding any form of
immorality. Immoral person is mentally ill and immorality in itself sinks him deep
and deeper into mental illness. Sex before marriage or with a person who is not your
spouse makes one guilty. Worse still, adultery may lead to breaking of the family
which is more distressing to not only the spouses but also to their children. A pure
person is free from guilt or any contamination that would lead to a healthy mind.

viii) Avoid any form of drug or substances abuse

Drug abuse affects one’s mental functioning. The best way to keep your mental
health is by keeping away from all forms of drug abuse. If you have already started
taking them, you need to seek assistance in guidance and counselling. Leaving the
practice will go a long way to help you keep your mental health intact.

ix) Monitor your own Thought life

Assess how rational or irrational your belief and ideas are. Irrational thinking and
faulty beliefs affect our mental health negatively. You need to assess and change any
faulty belief that leads you to distress. Identify and change yourself defeating ideas
emotions and behaviour. For example, never expect to be loved and approved by
every person. In life some people will love and praise you but others will hate and
disapprove you. This is a reality you need to live with in order to maintain your
mental health:
- Accept that it is normal to have strengths and weaknesses. No one in
this world is completely competent, adequate and achieving in all
areas. So instead of concentrating in your weaknesses to an extent of
getting depressed and lowering yourself image, accept them and do
whatever you can to change them. But also identify your strengths
and focus on them and you use them to excel.

- Accept other people as they are, focus on their strengths and not their weaknesses.
Take it as normal for people to make mistakes in life. This way you will not be
unnecessarily disappointed and depressed when you see your friends, parents,
children or spouse not doing things the way you want them done.

- Avoid a belief that things will always go the way you want. This can be very
devastating when some things do not go that way. Accept the reality of life that
sometimes things will go the way we want but other times they will go contrary to
our expectations.

- Avoid thinking constantly on things that are dangerous and harmful especially if
you cannot change them. Thinking about such things regularly depresses you and

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 alters your mental health. Always remember you cannot change situations by
thinking about them but by developing solutions

- Accept and develop ways of solving your difficulties and fulfilling responsibilities.
Running away from them will not help because they will keep on nagging your
mind. Those who take to drinking to wish away their difficulties and challenges
get sober only to realize that they increased their problems. Confronting and
developing solution to your challenges will give you peace and develop healthy
mind.

- Avoid over depending on other people. It is more fulfilling to stand on your feet
and generate your own solution to your challenges. Leaning on other people may
be frustrating and discourage is not good for your mental health.

- Be open minded when faced by a challenging situation. Look at the many ways
of dealing with the challenge. If you stick to only one way of changing the
situation you will get frustrated if it does not work. Always keep in your mind
that there are many ways of solving any problem and explore all the possible
ways to avoid frustrations and mental disturbance.

x) Accept your feelings

It is normal to have unpleasant emotions and react to situations. It is therefore better
to recognize and accept these emotions than deny them. We should always find a
way of directly or indirectly expressing our emotions to release tension. If we do not
express them they build up pressure and affect our mental health negatively. You
need to have friends that you can pour frustrations and emotions to. This will relieve
you and give you a healthy mind.

xi) Know your vulnerability

You need to know the kind of situations that annoy you and make you overreact
knowing these situations will help you either avoid
them or carefully approach them if you must. For example, if you know some
friends who like teasing you and it annoy you, avoid them and if you must be with
them you avoid any free talk that would make them tease you.

xii) Develop your various talents and interest

This is a very important component in building your self- esteem. Many of us have
low self-esteem because we only focus on our weaknesses yet we have many
strengths. For example, a student may be weak in academics but highly talented in
games, athletics or drama. Developing these talents boosts the student’s self-esteem

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 and self-pity disappears. One feels useful and important because there is something
he/she can do better than others.

xiii) Become involved with other people

We are social beings and need the support, comfort and reassurance provided by other
people. When we involve ourselves with other people we guard against the feelings of
isolation and loneliness which are the major causes of emotional disorders. Sharing
your concerns and challenges with others often helps you to view your troubles in a
clear perspective. Being concerned with other people’s welfare can reinforce your
feelings of self-worth which helps in cultivating and maintaining your mental health.

xiv) Know when to seek help

When you feel that you are not making good progress in stabilizing your mental
health, you will need to seek for professional help in counselling, clinical
psychologist or a psychiatric doctor. This willingness to seek help is a sign of
emotional maturity, not a sign of weakness. It is immature to wait until you are
overwhelmed by your problems. The practice of obtaining psychological help when
needed should be as acceptable as going to see a doctor when we have medical
problems.

Some of the mental disorders will require psychiatric attention. There are various
drugs that are used to treat mental illness especially those which are of biological
nature. Depression is also treated with antidepressants. So you should not only know
when to seek for help but also where to do so.

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TOPIC 8 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF SELF AND RELATIONSHIPS

Introduction In this topic you will learn how people live in a social world, interacting with,
influencing and being influenced by others. It is geared towards helping you to
understand yourself as well as understand others especially the students you
will teach upon completion of your course. This is the basis of human
relationship that may result either to peaceful coexistence or conflicts in
families, schools, organisations and the winder society.
Topic Time  Compulsory online reading, activities, self-assessments & practice
exercises [4]
 Optional further reading [2]
 Total student input [6]
Topic Learning  Participation in one chat (at least 4 entries)
Requirements  At least two elaborate contributions to the discussion topic. You may also
start your own discussion thread.
 Timely submission of the assignments
Learning Outcomes By the end of this topic you should be able to:
i. Discuss the tenets of social psychology
ii. Differentiate between conformity, obedience and compliance
iii. Explain how relationship with other people influence conformity,
obedience and compliance

Topic Content 8.1 An Overview of Social Psychology of Self And Relationships

8.2 Conformity
8.3 Obedience
8.4 Compliance
8.5 Acceptance

Topic Summary Social Psychology deals with people as they live in a social world, interacting
with, influencing and being influenced by others.
Social influence is the attempts to change others and the areas of social
influence include: Conformity, compliance and obedience.
Conformity is the yielding by individuals to pressure from the group in
which they find themselves in.
Obedience behaviour that complies with the explicit demands of the
individual in authority
Compliance is a social influence in which we change our behaviour because
of a direct request by someone else without really believing in what we are
doing.

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 Acceptance is where we genuinely behave in what the group has convinced
us to do.
Further Reading
1. Cohen, S. (2004). Social relationships and health. American
Psychologist, 59, 676–[Link] Scholar

2. Cohen, S., & Wills, T. A. (1985). Stress, social support, and the
buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 310–
[Link] Scholar

3. House, J. S., Landis, K. R., & Umberson, D. (1988). Social

relationships and health. Science, 241, 540–545.

Hughes, M., & Gove, W. R. (1981). Living alone, social

integration, and mental health. The American Journal of
Sociology, 87, 48–74
Rook, K. S. (1998). Investigating the positive and negative sides
of personal relationships: Through a lens darkly? In B. H.
Spitzberg & W. R. Cupach (Eds.), The dark side of close
relationships (pp. 369–393). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Uchino, B. N., Cacioppo, J. T., & Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K. (1996).
The relationship between social support and physiological
processes: A review with emphasis on underlying mechanisms
and implications for health. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 488–
531.
TOPIC
ACTIVITIES
Activity i. Discuss your understanding of social psychology
ii. Differentiate between conformity, obedience and compliance
iii. Explain how relationship with other people influence conformity,
obedience and compliance

DETAILED NOTES

8.1 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF SELF AND RELATIONSHIP

Social Psychology deals with people as they live in a social world, interacting with, influencing
and being influenced by others. Since we are social beings, getting along with other people in
considered an asset. Social psychology is perceived as interactive and relevant because it deals
with everyday situations that affect us all. Social Psychologist in modern times try to understand
social behaviour by examining the underlying mental structures and processes that are reflect in

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such behaviour. Social Psychology also examines social influence and the influence that groups
have on its members.

Most of human social encounters (relationship) consist of influencing and being influenced by
other people. This includes: Persuading friends to join our activities, asking favours from friends
and obedience to people in authority. Social influence is the attempt to change others and the
areas of social influence include: Conformity, compliance and obedience.

From our first interactions with others especially parents, teachers and school mates we learn
ways of the society i.e. How to dress, when to cross the street, when to wait for traffic to pass,
Laws that dictate our activities, finding mates, how to conduct business etc. Socialization makes
us creatures of the society, moulded by customs and rules that make up its culture, or established
way of life though to some degree we grow to establish our individual modes of social
behaviour.

8.2 Conformity
Conformity is the yielding by individuals to pressure from the group in which they find
themselves. The group applying pressure may be the society or part of it i.e. Family, Friends,
Classmates, Business associates, Strangers sitting around us in a bus or theatre. Conformity
involves a change in a person’s behaviour to coincide more with a group standard e.g. jogging
because everyone else is jogging, shaving hair because it is fashion.

8.2.1 Conforming to rules and regulations results in people engaging in a number of behaviour
that makes society run more smoothly traffic rules, courtesy.

Why People Conform

i. Our Dependence on Approval. We conform in order to win approval as an accepted,
well liked member of a group and avoid disapproval or ridicule.

ii. Respect of authority and its symbols. We consent to the requests or demands of those
who appear to be in legitimate control.

iii. Need for Guidance.

We conform because we need help of other people in developing an accurate view of
our physical and social environment. Social comparison theory suggests that we can
only judge ourselves by comparing ourselves with other people. Usually our friends or
other people that we believe to be similar to ourselves, but sometimes strangers who
happen to be around.

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8.3 Obedience
Obedience is submission to authority. It is behaviour that complies with the explicit demands of
the individual in authority. A large number of people tend to obey authority when conditions are
right. Obedience is compliance to an explicate command to primarily reap a reward or avoid
punishment.

8.4 Compliance
This is where we conform without really believing in what we are doing. Compliance is a
social influence in which an individual changes his/her behaviour because of a direct request
by someone else. The techniques used to obtain compliance include:
i. Ingratiation. is any technique that increases the attractiveness of a person by
trying to seek compliances from us. It includes:
- Complementing people, their home, or children so that they like you and comply
to your demand.
- Doing favours to someone so that he/she can comply with your request.
- Agreeing with someone in order to make him comply with your demand.
- Just being nice.

ii. Multiple requests. This is where multiple requests are made in order to obtain compliance.
(a) Foot in the door technique is where one makes a small request and then makes a
big one in order to obtain compliance e.g. sales persons asking you to by a
cheaper item and when you accept they show you the advantages of buying a
more expensive model.
(b) Door in the face technique is where one makes a large request and then makes a
small request to obtain compliance.
iii. Low bailing
Is where a sales person negotiated something at low price but when you accept the
pretend to have forgotten price and write an agreement at a higher price.

8.5 Acceptance
This is where we genuinely behave in what the group has convinced us to do. This is
inward conformity where we comply because we are convinced that what we are
doing is good for us.

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