The Self from the Various Perspective – Psychological Perspective PDF

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Understanding the Self - Psychological Perspective...

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A Self – Instructional Module on the Self from the Various Perspective – Psychological Perspective I.

Overview Psychologists may not believe now that there is a "true" approach to understand how people behave or respond. Nevertheless, there are many schools of thought which emerge through psychological growth, and which continue to influence the manner in which psychologists’ study human behavior. For example, some psychologists might attribute a certain behavior to biological factors such as genetics while another psychologist might consider early childhood experiences to be a more likely explanation for the behavior. Because psychologists might emphasize various points within psychology in their research and analysis of behavior, there are different viewpoints in psychology. These schools of thought are known as approaches, or perspectives. The module will give a background of the psychological perspective of the SELF.

II.

Desired Learning Outcomes At the end of this module, the students are expected of the following:   

III.

Discuss the different representations and conceptualizations of the self from various disciplinal perspectives Examine the different influences, factors and forces that shape the self Compare and contrast how the self has been represented across the different disciplines and perspectives

Learning Contents and Learning Tasks

What is P S Y C H O L O G Y?  

Is a scientific discipline that studies mental processes and behavior in humans and other animals. The scientific study of human behavior and mental processes. It involves the application of scientific methods to inquire into the biological, cognitive, affective, developmental, personality, social, culture, and individual difference dimensions of human behavior. Based: RA 10029, KNOWN AS THE “PSYCHOLOGY ACT OF 2009” Behavior -Overt can be directly observed. Mental Processes -Internal experiences such as sensation, thinking, studying, dreams, thoughts and feelings.

Goals of Psychology

Describe

The first goal of psychology is to describe the different ways that organism behave.

Explain

The second goal of psychology is to explain the cause of behavior.

Predict

The third goal of psychology is to predict how organism will behave in a certain situation.

Control

The fourth goal of psychology is to control an organism’s behavior.

MAJOR SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT IN PSYCHOLOGY

Historical Approach

Structuralism Functionalism Gestalt Approach Behaviorism

Modern Approach/ Perspective

Psychodynamic Perspective Behavioral Perspective Humanistic Perspective Cognitive Perspective Sociocultural Perspective Biopsychological Perspective Evolutionary Perspective

HISTORICAL APPROACH WILHELM WUNDT (1832 – 1920)      

Pronounced as VILL-HELM VOONT. Father of Psychology. Was born in Neckerau in Baden, Germany on August 16, 1832. He was sent off a boarding school when he was 13 and to a university when he was 19. He studied medicine in Tubingen, Heidelberg. He became an instructor and lectured on Physiology.

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It really all started to come together in a laboratory in Leipzig, Germany, in 1879. His laboratory was housed in several rooms in a shabby building that contained rather simple equipment, such as platforms, various balls, telegraph keys, and metronomes. Wundt believed that consciousness, the state of being aware of external events, could be broken down into thoughts, experiences, emotions, and other basic elements.

Objective Introspection  It was a method of exploring conscious mental processes by asking subjects to look inward and report their sensations and perceptions. EDWARD TITCHENER (1867-1927)   

Englishman who eventually took Wundt’s ideas to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He called Wundt’s idea as structuralism because the focus of the study was the structure of the mind. He believed that every experience could be broken down into its individual emotions and sensations. Structuralism was a dominant force in the early days of psychology, but eventually died in the early 1900s, as structuralist were busily fighting among themselves over just which key elements of experience were the most important.

WILLIAM JAMES (1842-1910)     

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Was born in New York City on January 11, 1842. At the age of 19, after a stint as an art student, James enrolled in Harvard in Chemistry, which soon changed in medicine. He also taught anatomy, physiology, psychology and philosophy. Has magnificent Essay in Radical Empiricism. William James labored over a book called The Principles of Psychology, which was published in 1890 and included almost every topic that is now part of psychology textbooks: learning, sensation, memory, reasoning, attention, feelings, consciousness, and a revolutionary theory of emotions. James viewed mental activities as having developed through ages of evolution because of their adaptive functions, such as helping humans survive. James was interested in the goals, purposes, and functions of the mind, an approach called functionalism. Harvard University was the first school in America to offer classes in psychology in the late 1870s. These classes were taught by one of the Harvard’s most illustrious instructors, William James. In addition, James focused his lectures on how the mind allows people to function in real world – how people work, play, and adapt to their surroundings, a viewpoint he called functionalism. He was heavily influenced by Charles Darwin’s ideas about natural selection in which physical traits that help an animal adapt to its environment survive are passed on to its offspring.

GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY (GESH-TALT) “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” 

Gestalt is a German word meaning “an organized whole” or “configuration,” which fit well with the focus on studying whole patterns rather than small pieces of them.

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The Gestalt approach has been influential in a psychological therapy, becoming the basis for a therapeutic technique called Gestalt Therapy. The Gestalt approach emphasized that perception is more than the sum of its parts and studied how sensations are assembled into meaningful perceptual experiences.

BEHAVIORISM

A. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING 

A kind of learning in which a neutral stimulus acquires the ability to produce a response that was originally produced by different stimulus

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Stimulus  a thing or event that evokes a specific functional reaction in an organ or tissue.

IVAN PAVLOV  Conducted experiments with dogs.  Pavlov rang a bell before putting food in a dog’s mouth.  After numerous trials of pairing the food and bell, the dog salivated to the sound of the bell.  This becomes a conditioned reflex. B. CONNECTIONISM THEORY 

Thorndike’s theory on connectionism, stated that learning has taken place when a strong connection or bond between stimulus and response is formed.

C. OPERANT CONDITIONING 

Refers to a kind of learning in which the consequences that follow some behavior increase or decrease the likelihood of that behavior’s occurrence in the future Positive Reinforcement  Strengthens a response by presenting a stimulus after a response. Negative Reinforcement  Strengthens a response by reducing or removing an aversive stimulus. MODERN APPROACH

PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE 

The psychoanalytic perspective is based on the belief that childhood experiences greatly influence the development of later personality traits and psychological problems. It also stresses the influence of unconscious fears, desires, and motivations on thoughts and behaviors.

SIGMUND FREUD (1856-1939)    

Founder of psychoanalysis Proposed the first complete theory of personality A person’s thoughts and behaviors emerge from tension generated by unconscious motives and unresolved childhood conflicts. Emphasizes unconscious motivation – the main causes of behavior lie buried in the unconscious mind

Unconscious

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He proposed that there is (unaware) mind into which we push, or repress, all our threatening urges and desires. He believed that these repressed urges, in trying to surface, created the nervous disorders in his patients.

Psychoanalytic Approach   

Is based on the belief that childhood experiences greatly influence the development of the later personality traits and psychological problems. It also stresses the influence of unconscious fears, desires, and motivations on thoughts and behaviors. Freud reasoned that thoughts or feelings that make us feel fearful or guilty, that threaten our selfesteem, or that come from unresolved sexual conflicts are automatically placed into our deep unconscious.

Psychoanalysis as a Therapy  

A therapeutic technique that attempts to provide insight into one’s thoughts and actions. Does so by exposing and interpreting the underlying unconscious motives and conflicts.

Free Association  

Freudian technique of exploring the unconscious mind by having the person relax and say whatever comes to mind no matter how trivial or embarrassing Hypnosis – Relaxing a person into a highly suggestive state to uncover unconscious memories or conflicts

LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS 1. Unconscious Mind    

A region of the mind that includes unacceptable anxiety causing thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories Not aware of these thoughts, wishes, etc… but they exert great influence over our conscious thoughts & behavior. DREAMS - “The royal road to the unconsciousness”  Behind the surface image (manifest content) lied the true hidden meaning (latent content). Can also surface as “slips of the tongue” or Freudian Slips.

2. Preconscious Mind 

A region of the mind holding information that is not conscious but is easily retrievable into conscious awareness

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Holds thoughts and memories not in one’s current awareness but can easily be retrieved (childhood memories, phone number)

3. Conscious Mind 

All the thoughts, feelings, and sensations that you are aware of at this particular moment represent the conscious level

PROVINCES OF THE MIND: Psychoanalytic Divisions of the Mind 1. ID—INSTINCTUAL DRIVES PRESENT AT BIRTH o o o

Does not distinguish between reality and fantasy Operates according to the pleasure principle — drive toward immediate gratification, most fundamental human motive The part of personality that consists of unconscious energy from basic aggressive and sexual drives

2. EGO—DEVELOPS OUT OF THE ID IN INFANCY o o o o

Understands rea Rational, organized, logical, mediator to demands of reality. The part of personality that mediates the demands of the id without going against the restraints of the superego. Reality principle — ability to postpone gratification in accordance with demands of reality. Can repress desires that cannot be met in an acceptable manner.

3. SUPEREGO o o o o o o

Partially unconscious. Develops around ages 5-6. Internalization of society’s & parental moral standards One’s conscience; focuses on what the person “should” do and “should not” do in the society. Moralistic, judgmental, Perfectionist dimension of personality Can be harshly punitive using feelings of guilt

SOURCES OF ENERGY Eros — life instinct, perpetuates life Libido — sexual energy or motivation Thanatos — death instinct, aggression, self-destructive actions SIGMUND FREUD’S PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES

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In Freudian theory, the childhood stages of development during which the id’s pleasureseeking energies are focused on different parts of the body. The stages include: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. A person can become “ fixated” or stuck at a stage and as an adult attempt to achieve pleasure as in ways that are equivalent to how it was achieved in these stages.

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1. Oral Stage (birth – 18 months)    

Mouth is associated with sexual pleasure Pleasure comes from chewing, biting, and sucking. Weaning a child can lead to fixation if not handled correctly Fixation can lead to oral activities in adulthood

2. Anal Stage (1 – 3 years)    3.   

Gratification comes from bowel and bladders functions. Toilet training can lead to fixation if not handled correctly Fixation can lead to anal retentive or expulsive behaviors in adulthood Phallic Stage (3 – 6 years)

Focus of pleasure shifts to the genitals Sexual attraction for opposite sex parent  Boys cope with incestuous feelings toward their mother and rival feelings toward their dad (Oedipus Complex). For girls it is called the Electra Complex.

 Oedipus Complex – Boys feel hostility and jealousy towards their fathers but knows their father is more powerful. This leads to…   

Castration Anxiety results in boys who feel their father will punish them by castrating them. Resolve this through Identification – imitating and internalizing one’s father’s values, attitudes and mannerisms. (Formation of gender identity & superego) The fact that only the father can have sexual relations with the mother becomes internalized in the boy as taboo against incest in the boy’s superego.

 Electra Complex – Girls also have incestuous feelings for their dad and compete with their mother. 

Penis Envy – Little girl suffer from deprivation and loss and blames her mother for “sending her into the world insufficiently equipped” causing her to resent her mother. In an attempt to take her mother’s place, she eventually identifies with her mother  Fixation can lead to excessive masculinity in males and the need for attention or domination in females 4. Latency Stage (5 – puberty)  

Sexuality is repressed (Latent means “hidden”) due to intense anxiety caused by Oedipus complex Children participate in hobbies, school, and same-sex friendships that strengthen their sexual identity

5. Genital Stage (puberty on)  

Incestuous sexual feelings re-emerge but being prohibited by the superego are redirected toward others who resemble the person’s opposite sex parent. Healthy adults find pleasure in love and work, fixated adults have their energy tied up in earlier stages.

DEFENSE MECHANISMS 

Unconscious mental processes employed by the ego to reduce anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.

MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

What Is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?

In order to better understand what motivates human beings, Maslow proposed that human needs can be organized into a hierarchy. This hierarchy ranges from more concrete needs such as food and water to abstract concepts such as self-fulfillment. According to Maslow, when a lower need is met, the next need on the hierarchy becomes our focus of attention. According to Maslow, we have five categories of needs: physiological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization. In this theory, higher needs in the hierarchy begin to emerge when people feel they have sufficiently satisfied the previous need. Although later research does not fully support all of Maslow’s theory, his research has impacted other psychologists and contributed to the field of positive psychology. These are the five categories of needs according to Maslow: 1.

Physiological

These refer to basic physical needs like drinking when thirsty or eating when hungry. According to Maslow, some of these needs involve our efforts to meet the body’s need for homeostasis; that is, maintaining consistent levels in different bodily systems (for example, maintaining a body temperature of 98.6°).1

Maslow considered physiological needs to be the most essential of our needs. If someone is lacking in more than one need, they’re likely to try to meet these physiological needs first. For example, if someone is extremely hungry, it’s hard to focus on anything else besides food. Another example of a physiological need would be the need for adequate sleep. 1. Safety Once people’s physiological requirements are met, the next need that arises is a safe environment. Our safety needs are apparent even early in childhood, as children have a need for safe and predictable environments and typically react with fear or anxiety when these are not met. Maslow pointed out that in adults living in developed nations, safety needs are more apparent in emergency situations (e.g. war and disasters), but this need can also explain why we tend to prefer the familiar or why we do things like purchase insurance and contribute to a savings account.

2. Love and Belonging According to Maslow, the next need in the hierarchy involves feeling loved and accepted. This need includes both romantic relationships as well as ties to friends and family members. It also includes our need to feel that we belong to a social group. Importantly, this need encompasses both feeling loved and feeling love towards others. Since Maslow’s time, researchers have continued to explore how love and belonging needs impact well-being. For example, having social connections is related to better physical health and, conversely, feeling isolated (i.e. having unmet belonging needs) has negative consequences for health and well-being. 3. Esteem

Our esteem needs involve the desire to feel good about ourselves. According to Maslow, esteem needs include two components. The first involves feeling self-confidence and feeling good about oneself. The second component involves feeling valued by others; that is, feeling that our achievements and contributions have been recognized by other people. When people’s esteem needs are met, they feel confident and see their contributions and achievements as valuable and important. However, when their esteem needs are not met, they may experience what psychologist Alfred Adler called “feelings of inferiority.” 4. Self-Actualization Self-actualization refers to feeling fulfilled, or feeling that we are living up to our potential. One unique feature of self-actualization is that it looks different for everyone. For one person, selfactualization might involve helping others; for another person, it might involve achievements in an artistic or creative field. Essentially, self-actualization means feeling that we are doing what we believe we are meant to do. According to Maslow, achieving self-actualization is relatively rare, and his examples of famous self-actualized individuals include Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, and Mother Teresa....