Basic concepts of psychology

1
Basic concepts of psychology

2
Psychology

• Scientific investigation of behaviour and mental
  processes

3
(No Transcript)
4
(No Transcript)
5
Interdisciplinary approaches.

• Cognitive science
• Investigate mental processes as perception,
  memory and decision making as computing
  mechanisms and create comprehensive models on
  multiple scientific bases (mathematics, computer
  sciences, neurobiology, linguistics etc.)
• Evolutionary psychology
• Focus of the origin of different psychological
  mechanisms using the terms of genetics, ethology
  and physiology

6
Basic disciplines

• 1. Experimental psychology
• Focus on the experimentation concerning the basic
  mental processes.
• 2. Developmental psychology
• Focus on the human development
• 3. Personality psychology
• Focus on the constructs of human personality
• 4. Social psychology
• Focus on the nature and organisation of human
  interpersonal relationships

7
Applied disciplines

• School and education psychology
• Work and organisation psychology
• Military psychology

8
Clinical disciplines

• Clinical psychology
• Focus on the assessment and treatment of
  mental/behavioural disorders

9
Health Psychology

• Focus on health behaviour and prevention with
  modification of those behaviours that carry
  epidemiological risk.

10
Medical psychology

• Focus on the psychological issues in general
  medical practice e.c. doctor patient
  relationship, communication, assessment and
  treatment of psychological complaints, symptoms
  and disorders frequently associated with general
  medical problems and

11
Behavioural medicine

• Focus on comprehensive management of complex,
  chronic physical disorders (e.c. CHD, bronchial
  asthma, pain, diabetes, chronic GI diseases)

12

• Theory of Mind I.

13

• Intrapsychic conflicts
• Determinims
• Libido
• Early childhood development
• Unconscioous mental process

14
The unconscious mental process

• Much of the human mental activity occurs outside
  of awareness
• These activity influences behaviour and conscious
  thoughts but not available to voluntary recall
• The unconscious process represents drives,
  instincts and wishes, impulses, fantasies
  considered unacceptable
• The unconscious process produces attitudes,
  thinking patterns and behaviours as part of the
  personality (conscience, defence mechanisms,
  automatic behaviours)

15
Psychic determinism

• All mental activity is meaningful and is
  connected with previous life experiences. No
  mental activity is accidental or meaningless.

16
Drives

• Drives is the motivation behind mental processes
  and behaviour
• The manifestation of unconscious drives are
  wishes, fantasies, impulses
• There are two major categories of drives libido
  (sexual drive) and thanatos (aggressive drive)
• Drives press toward gratification and discharge.
  In the infant and child the actions are more
  direct and overt (primary process) then gradually
  meet social standards (secondary process).

17
The importance of psychosexual development

• oral stage (primary drive satisfaction is
  achieved by sucking)
• anal stage (primary drive satisfaction is
  achieved by voluntary control of urinary and anal
  expulsion and retention)

18
Oedipal stage

• Genitals became the primary source of interest
  and pleasure
• Oedipus complex (child wishes to have an
  exclusive relationship with the opposite sex
  parent) and oedipal conflict (fear that the same
  sex parent will be displeased and angry with the
  child for his rivalrous wishes). The resolution
  is the identification with the same sex parent.

19
??

• Latency (primary interest on peers and
  socialisation)
• Genital stage Previous experiences are
  integrated to primary genial sexuality.

20
Defence mechanisms

• Mental operations that function outside of
  awareness to ward off anxiety and maintain a
  sense of safety, self esteem, and well being
• Along with maturation emerge in a developmental
  sequence
• Some defences may emerge episodically some may
  become habitual as the part of the personality.

21
Structural model of mind

• Id the unconscious, psychic representation of
  drives
• Ego is a group of functions that provide for
  adaptation to the demand of the drives and to the
  requirements of external (sociocultural) reality.
• Superego represents the moral, ethical values,
  judgements, conscience and the ego-ideal

22
Psychoanalysis as treatment

• Main objective Cope with fixation or regression
• Free association and dream analysis
• Clarification obtaining further associations
  about issues and relationships
• Confrontation Pointing out the defences and
  other unconscious actions by identifying
  connections, continuities and inconsistencies
• Interpretation Conceptualisation the nature of
  the patient s unconscious wishes and thought
  through clarification and confrontation

23

• Transference Attitudes, feelings, thoughts and
  wishes that involve important figures in the past
  are unconsciously re-enacted with individuals
  (therapist, medical staff, physician) in the
  present.
• Counter-transference The same process but occurs
  on the part of the therapist toward the patient.

24
Behavioural and Social Learning
PsychologyTheory of Mind II.

25

• All behaviours and personality development
  represent the acquisition and organisation of
  reactions, responses and (perceptual, cognitive
  and behavioural) patterns. These originate in and
  are governed by learning that are subject
  primarily to environmental influence

26
Behaviourism

• Subject of study the objectively measurable
  behaviour
• external behaviour - directly observable
• internal behaviour - emotions and cognition
  (could be monitoring with instrumentation)
• empirism and experimentation
• emphasis on learning

27
Classic or respondent conditioning (Pavlov)

• stimulus cue from an internal or external event
• response a behaviour provoked by a stimulus
• unconditioned stimulus (UCS) e.g. food ?
  unconditioned response (UCR)
• conditioned stimulus (CS) e.g. bell ringing ?
  conditioned response (CR)

28

• acquisition phase the period when the
  conditioned response is learned
• discrimination some stimuli which similar to CS
  can elicit the CR but others not
• generalisation (almost) all stimuli which
  similar to CS can elicit the CR
• extinction CS loses the power to elicit CR (by
  no longer paired with the CS) or response no
  longer follows the behaviour
• aversive conditioning an aversive stimulus (e.g.
  feeling nausea) pairs an unwanted behaviour (e.g.
  drinking alcoholic beverages)

29
Operant conditioning (Skinner)

• behaviour is determined by its consequences
• actions ? reward - one action (or some actions)
  are reinforced others are extinct

30

• reinforcement increasing the probability of an
  action by a stimulus (e.g. giving rewards)
• - reinforcement increasing the probability of an
  action by removing an aversive event
• punishment decreasing the probability of an
  action by a negative stimulus
• - punishment decreasing the probability of an
  action by removing a stimulus

31
Problems with punishment

• reinforcements are much more effective
• punishment models aggressive behaviour
• negative emotional responses are conditioned
  incidentally

32
Social learning (Bandura)

• Modelling
• facilitate appropriate behaviour
• can facilitate/inhibit behavioural preferences
  from own repertoire
• can influence emotional responses and
  anticipatory arousal

33

• Self regulation
• self observation and monitoring
• self evaluation and judgement
• self reaction

34

• Self efficacy
• success experiences,
• vicarious experiences
• verbal persuasion
• physiological state

35
Cognitive and behavioural therapies

• well elaborated treatment protocols
• collaborative relationships
• aims/goals/models/explanations are explicit for
  the patient
• time limited
• mainly self help

36
Comparison of behavioural and psychoanalytic
model

37

• Behaviour is determined by current contingencies,
  reinforcement history and genetic endowment

• Intrapsychic processes determine behaviour

38

• Problem behaviour is the focus of study and
  treatment

• Behaviour is interpreted as a symbol of
  intrapsychic processes and symptoms of
  unconscious conflicts. The underlying conflict is
  the focus of treatment

39

• Contemporary variables, such as contingencies of
  reinforcement, are the focus of analysis

• Historical variables, such as childhood
  experiences, are the focus of analysis

40

• Treatment entails application of learning
  principles and cognitive conceptualisation of
  beliefs, attitudes and behaviour

• Treatment consists of bringing unconscious
  conflicts into consciousness

41

• Objective observation measurement and
  experimentation are the methods employed

• Subjective methods of interpretation of behaviour
  and inference regarding unobservable events (e.g.
  intrapsychic processes) are employed

42

• Theory is based on experimentation

• Theory is predominantly based on case histories

43

• Tenets can be formulated into testable hypotheses
  and evaluated through experimentation

• Many tenets cannot be formulated into testable
  hypotheses

44
Psychological assessment
45
Psychological interview I.General description

• Appearance
• Overt behaviour and psychomotor activity
• Manierism
• Stereotyped behaviour
• Agitation
• Psychomotor retardation
• Attitude
• Hostile
• Passive
• Complainant
• Co-operative

46
Mood and affectivity

• Mood
• Depressed
• Euphoric
• Alternating
• Affect
• Anger
• Anxiety
• Euphory
• Appropriateness of affects

47
Speech characteristics

• Talkative
• Unspontaneous
• Voluble
• Responsive/unresponsive
• Bizarre

48
Perception

• No perceptual disturbances
• Illusions
• Hallucinations
• Visual/auditory/olfactory/tactile
• Scenic/coomentatory/imperative

49
Thought process

• Loosening of associations
• Flight of ideas, racing thoughts
• Incoherence
• Neologisms
• Thought blocking
• Tenacity

50
Content of thought

• Delusions
• Paranoia
• Preoccupaitons
• Obsessions and compulsions
• Phobias
• Suicidal ideas
• Poverty of content

51
Sensorium and cognition I.

• Consciousness
• Orientation (time, place, person, situation)

52
Sensorium and cognition II.Memory

• Remote
• Recent past (months)
• Recent (few days)
• Immediate recall

53
Sensorium and cognition III.

• Concentration and attention
• Reading/writing
• Abstract thoughts (proverbs)
• Information and intelligence

54

• Impulsivity
• Judgement and insight
• Reliability