UNIT THREE

SENSATION AND PERCEPTION

Learning objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

 Define sensation and perception.

 Describe the methods used to measure sensitivity to a particular stimulus.
 Name and describe the factors that affect our attention getting.
 Describe the general principles of perception.
 Define ESP, and list several different categories of the phenomenon.
 Understand the perceptual aids in military setting.

4.1. Definition of Sensation and perception

The world is filled with physical changes—an alarm clock sounds; the flip of a switch fills a
room with light; you stumble against a door; steam from a hot shower billows out into the
bathroom, changing the temperature and clouding the mirror. Any aspect of or change in the
environment to which an organism responds is called a stimulus. An alarm, an electric light, and
an aching muscle are all stimuli for human beings.
A stimulus can be measured in many physical ways, including its size, duration, intensity, or
wavelength. A sensation occurs anytime a stimulus activates one of your receptors. The sense
organs detect physical changes in energy such as heat, light, sound, and physical pressure. The
skin notes changes in heat and pressure, the eyes note changes in light, and the ears note changes
in sound. Other sensory systems note the location and position of your body.
A sensation may be combined with other sensations and your past experience to yield a
perception. A perception is the organization of sensory information into meaningful experiences.
Psychologists are interested in the relationship between physical stimuli and sensory experiences.
In vision, for example, the perception of color corresponds to the wavelength of the light,
whereas brightness corresponds to the intensity of this stimulus.

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What is the relationship between color and wavelength? How does changing a light’s intensity
affect your perception of its brightness? The psychological study of such questions is called
psychophysics. The goal of psychophysics is to understand how stimuli from the world (such as
frequency and intensity) affect the sensory experiences (such as pitch and loudness) produced by
them.

4.1.1. Measuring the sensitivity of sensory systems

The environment is filled with energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation, sounds, and
airborne molecules, and many other events, but, fortunately, our sensory systems are not
sensitive enough to detect everything. If we could really hear a pin drop, for example, we would
probably never get any sleep. Studying the sensitivity of our senses provide a frame work for
understanding how they operate.

One approach used to measure sensitivity is to determine the weakest stimulus a sensory system
can detect. This property can be measured as absolute threshold, the last amount of energy
necessary in order for a sensory system to detect it. At what point does a light, twenty feet away,
become too dim for a person to see it? Or, when is a sound too quit for a bat’s ears to detect it?

In theory, it may seem easy to determine when a person stops seeing a dim light at twenty feet
and thus determine the absolute threshold.

A technique called signal detection circumvents the problem of individual differences in

“willingness to guess” in studies of absolute thresholds. Signal detection theory grew out of the
cold war in the 1950s and 1960s as a way of improving our ability to detect incoming nuclear
warheads in time to respond appropriately. The idea was for the person monitoring the radar to
score “hits” – to recognize missiles on a radar screen for what they were, and, equally important,
to avoid mistakes. These mistakes were either “false alarms,” where the missile later turned out
to be commercial air craft or a flock of birds, or “misses,” where the observer failed to detect a
real missile blip on the screen, perhaps through exhaustion or distraction. National security
depends on accurate signal detection.

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4.1.2. Sensory adaptation

Living organisms are, if nothing else, adaptive, changing to meet the demands of the
environment. This means we pay more attention to new stimuli, which are most likely to be
significant. If nothing has changed in your visual field, you are probably okay. But if you sense
movement off to one side, you’d best pay attention.

Our adaptive nature means we are programmed to filter out the non changing aspects of our
environments, a process known as a sensory adaptation. When stimulation is constant and
unchanging, you eventually fail to respond because you usually don’t need to.

4.2. General Features of the Sensory System

4.2.1. Taste
There are about 10,000 taste buds on the tongue, clustered in papillae (those bumps all over our
tongue). The taste buds are clusters of neuron bodies that line tiny pits in the papillae; Molecules
from the food we eat get mixed with saliva and find their way into the little pits and onto the
surfaces of the neurons. Like a key fitting into a lock, these molecules open up tiny pores on the
cell membranes and begin the process of firing the neuron very much the same way as the
neurotransmitters do between neurons.
There are only four basic tastes -- that is, only four particular molecules that one or another
neuron responds too on the tongue: Bitter – alkaloids Sweet – sugars Salt - sodium chlorides
Sour - acids
There may also be a fifth taste: Umami or savoriness, which we find it in aged cheese, tomatoes,
mushrooms, meat, and soy sauce. It is best known as monosodium glutamate, which is used to
enhance the flavor of meat.
Note also that the tongue is sensitive to touch (hence the idea of texture in food), and to
temperature and, of course, pain. In addition, the tongue is sensitive to cold, which can be
triggered not only by actual low temperatures, but by chemicals such as menthol. There are
people that cannot taste anything.

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4.2.2. Smell
With smell, we seem to be responding to the presence of some combination of seven basic
molecules: Floral, Pepperminty, Musky, Pungent (like spices), Camphoraceous (like
mothballs or muscle liniments), Ethereal (like dry-cleaning fluid), and Putrid (like rotten eggs)
These are the seven smells suggested by the researcher John Amoore in 1952, but it is far from
certain that these are the fundamental scents -- some researchers believe there are many more.
The chemical senses are extremely sensitive, and this goes especially for smell. It is believed to
be thousands of times more sensitive than taste and actually accounts for as much as 80 or 90%
of what we perceive as flavor. There are roughly 40 million smell receptor cells in humans. Dogs
have us beat, paws down, with 100 million cells. But they don’t even rate compared with rabbits,
with one billion cells. Mammals tend to have a good sense of smell, especially carnivores and
their prey (for very obvious reasons!) Primates, however, have a relatively poor sense of
smell. On the other hand, cetaceans (whales and dolphins) have no sense of smell at all! A lack
of the sense of smell in humans is called anosmia. There has been considerable debate over
many years about the existence of a smell-like sense that can detect the presence of molecules
called pheromones. Many animals clearly can smell the presence of a potential mate over great
distances. Male silkworms can detect even a single molecule that indicates a female! (It is the
antennae that serve as smell organs in insects.)
4.2.3. Touch (tactile)
The skin actually has three types of sensation: Pressure, temperature, and pain. Pressure is a
simple matter of mechanical distortion, the bending of the hair, of a hair cell. It isn’t really a hair,
of course, but an extended version of a dendrite. When it is bent, the stresses on it cause the
opening of pores, the exchange of ions, and, of course, the firing of the neuron. There are,
however, three different kinds of pressure receptors: light touch, pressure, and vibration.
Temperature seems to be a very direct influence of the heat or cold opening certain ion gates. So
far, we have found three of them: One for cold, one for hot, and one for very hot. Perhaps there
are also ones for very cold and even just plain warm. It is interesting to note that menthol can
also spark the cold receptors, and make us believe we are feeling cold when we are not! It is also
peculiar that, when we touch a thermal grill -- a surface that has alternating lines of cold and heat
-- we feel neither heat nor cold, but pain! pain is a matter of detecting certain chemicals
indicative of tissue damage. With pain is classified itching and tickling.

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4.2.4. Vision
Vision is different from all the other senses. It involves receptor neurons that are sensitive to
light. Light enters through the pupil and lens of the eye and is projected onto the back surface of
the eye called the retina. The retina is composed of, among many other things, receptor neurons
called rods and cones. The rods are sensitive to a broad range of light, i.e. they tell us
about .white.. Cones are similar, but sensitive to more specific wavelengths of light, depending
on pigments associated with the chemical. One kind of cone responds to red, one to green, and
one to blue. Rods are far more sensitive than cones. This is why you see in .black and white
when there isn’t much light.
Nocturnal animals tend to be colour-blind, that is, they don’t have any cones, since colour is of
little use to them while high sensitivity is. Also, nocturnal animals usually have a shiny backing
to their retina that reflects light back to the rods. It is usually made up of tiny crystals. This is
why cats and other animals reflect light from their eyes! The great majority of colour-blind
people suffer from red-green colour blindness. This comes about because they lack either red or
green cones, so that red and green are indistinguishable. It is much more common in men than
women, occurring in about 1 in every 20 men. This is because the genes for red green colour-
blindness are on the X chromosome of the 23rd pair. Since women have two X chromosomes,
they must inherit the problem from both parents.
There are light waves human eyes can’t see. Ex: infrared, ultraviolet, microwave, x-ray etc...
4.2.5. Sound: Hearing (Physical and Physiological conditions)
This sense is aroused by vibratory movements transmitted from the sonorous substance through
the air or other medium to the ear. The vibrations transmitted from the sounding object are
concentrated by the external ear, and passed on through the middle ear by means of the chain of
small bones to the liquid contained in the labyrinth. The disturbance of this substance excites the
auditory nerve, and this excitation is the immediate antecedent of the sensation of sound.
The human ear can nominally hear sounds in the range 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz(20KHz). This upper
limit tends to decrease with age, most adults being unable to hear above
16 kHz. The ear itself does not respond to frequencies below 20Hz, The "intensity" range of
audible sounds is enormous. Our ear drums are sensitive only to the sound pressure variation.
The lower limit of audibility is defined to 0 dB, but the upper limit is not as clearly defined. The

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upper limit is more a question of the limit where the ear will be physically harmed or with the
potential to cause a hearing disability. This limit depends also on the time exposed to the sound.
The ear can be exposed to short periods in excess of 120 dB without permanent harm, but long
term exposure to sound levels over 80 / 85 dB can cause permanent hearing loss.
Sound is a repetitive change in the pressure of a medium like air. This activity can be represented
in wave form. Example: When an object (such as a violin string) vibrates, molecules in the air
move, causing temporary changes in air pressure that stimulate the ear.
Amplitude is the difference in air pressure between the top of the wave and the baseline of the
wave. Loudness is determined by the amplitude of a sound wave. Wavelength is the distance
from one peak to the next in the wave. Wavelength is related to frequency; the longer the
wavelength, the lower the frequency or pitch of the sound. Frequency is the number of complete
waves that pass a given point in space in one second. As the wave's frequency increases, so does
the sound's pitch. Frequency is described in a unit called hertz. Frequency means "how often."
The frequency of a sound wave tells you how often a complete wave or cycle passes a given
point in one second. The loudness of a sound is determined by the amplitude of sound waves and
is measured in decibels.
Pitch--how high or low a sound is perceived to be--is determined by the frequency of sound
waves.
Threshold
In order to establish laws about how people sense the external world, psychologists first try to
determine how much of a stimulus is necessary for a person to sense it at all. How much energy
is required for someone to hear a sound or to see a light? How much of a scent must be in the
room before one can smell it? How much pressure must be applied to the skin before a person
will feel it?

To answer such questions, a psychologist might set up the following experiment. First, a person
(the participant) is placed in a dark room and is instructed to look at the wall. He is asked to say
“I see it” when he is able to detect a light. The psychologist then uses an extremely precise
machine that can project a low-intensity beam of light against the wall.

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The experimenter turns on the machine to its lowest light projection. The participant says
nothing. The experimenter increases the light until finally the participant responds, “I see it.”
Then the experimenter begins another test in the opposite direction. He starts with a visible but
faint light and decreases its intensity until the light seems to disappear. Many trials are completed
and averaged. This procedure detects the absolute threshold—the weakest amount of a stimulus
required to produce a sensation. The absolute threshold is the level of stimulus that produces a
positive response of detection 50 percent of the time.

The absolute thresholds for the five senses in humans are the following: in vision—seeing a
candle flame 30 miles away on a clear night; for hearing—hearing a watch ticking 20 feet away;
for taste—tasting 1 teaspoon of sugar dissolved in 2 gallons of water; for smell—smelling 1 drop
of perfume in a 3-room house; for touch—feeling a bee’s wing falling a distance of 1 centimeter
onto your cheek.

While these thresholds may seem impressive, we respond to very little of the sensory world. We
cannot see X-rays or microwaves. Dogs can hear a dog whistle, while we cannot. Humans hear
only 20 percent of what a dolphin can hear. Some animals, such as bats and dolphins, have a
superior sense of hearing. Other animals, such as hawks, have extremely sharp vision; still others,
such as bloodhounds (one of dog species), possess a superior sense of smell. Humans sense a
somewhat limited range of the physical phenomena in the everyday world

4.2. Sensory Differences and Ratios

Another type of threshold is the difference threshold. The difference threshold refers to the
minimum amount of difference a person can detect between two stimuli. To return to our
example of the person tested in a dark room, a psychologist would test for the difference
threshold by gradually increasing the intensity of a visible light beam until the person says, “Yes,
this is brighter than the light I just saw.” With this technique, it is possible to identify the
smallest increase in light intensity that is noticeable to the human eye.
A related concept is the just noticeable difference, or JND. This refers to the smallest increase
or decrease in the intensity of a stimulus that a person is able to detect. Psychologists have found

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that a particular sensory experience depends more on changes in the stimulus than on the
absolute size or amount of the stimulus..
This idea is known as Weber’s law: the larger or stronger a stimulus, the larger the change
required for a person to notice that anything has happened to it. By experimenting in this way
with variations in sounds, temperatures, pressures, colors, tastes, and smells, psychologists are
learning more about how each sense responds to stimulation. Some senses produce huge
increases in sensation in response to small increases in energy. For instance, the pain of an
electric shock can be increased more than eight times by doubling the voltage. On the other hand,
the intensity of a light must be increased many times to double its brightness.
Some people are more sensitive to these changes than others. For example, people who can
detect small differences in sensation work as food tasters, wine tasters, smell experts, perfume
experts, and so on
Sensory Adaptation
Psychologists have focused on people’s responses to changes in stimuli because they have found
that the senses are tuned to change. Senses are most responsive to increases and decreases, and to
new events rather than to ongoing, unchanging stimulation. We are able to respond to changes in
our environment because our senses have an ability to adapt, or adjust themselves, to a constant
level of stimulation. They get used to a new level and respond only to deviations from it.
A good example of this sensory adaptation is the increase in visual sensitivity that you
experience after a short time in a darkened movie theater. At first you see only blackness, but
after a while your eyes adapt to the new level, and you can see seats, faces, and so forth.
Adaptation occurs for the other senses as well. Receptors in your skin adapt to the cold water
when you go for a swim; disagreeable odors in a lab seem to disappear after a while; street noises
cease to bother you after you have lived in a city for a time. Without sensory adaptation, you
would feel the constant pressure of the clothes on your body, and other stimuli would seem to be
bombarding all your senses at the same time.

Sensory adaptation allows us to notice differences in sensations and react to the challenges of
different or changing stimuli. This principle is helpful when performing many activities, such as
the work of police, security guards, and home inspectors. These people may notice minute
changes and act appropriately.

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 [Link]
Perception is the process by which we select, organize and interpret sensory input to achieve
a grasp of our surrounding. For some psychologists it is the awareness of organic process;
for others like it is a group of sensations to which meaning is added from past experiences;
for some others (strict behaviorists) it is the process of discrimination among stimuli. Our
processing of incoming stimulation (sensation) is known as bottom-up processing. In this
module we consider top-down processing, the influence that our experiences and
expectations have on our perceptions as we organize and interpret incoming sensory
information.
The importance of pattern and organization as perceptual principles was first recognized during
the early twentieth century by the proponents of Gestalt psychology. The word gestalt means
“pattern” or “form” in German; these scientists emphasized that perception involves more than
the sum total of sensations impinging on the sensory systems. In other words, the whole
(perception) is more than the sum of its parts (sensation).
Selective attention
One of the more obvious characteristics of perception is its selective nature. At any given
moment our sense organs are bombarded by a multitude of stimuli. Yet only a few of these are
perceived clearly at one time. Other stimuli or events are perceived less clearly and the rest from
a sort of hazy background of which we are only partially aware. This is another way of saying
that, of the various events around us, we attend to only a few. So attention is a basic factor in
perception.
Attention divides our experience, so to speak, in to focus and margin. The events perceived
clearly are in the focus of experience. Because we attend to them they stand out from the
background of our experience.

Other items in the margin are dimly perceived. We are aware of their presence, but only vaguely
so. Imperceptibly shading off from the margin are other items, which stand outside of our field of
attention and of which, for the moment, we are consciously unaware.
Attention constantly shifts. What is the focus one minute is marginal the next, and still later may
have passed completely from conscious awareness. Even when one activity dominates our

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attention, its dominance usually is not perfectly continuous. Other perceptions come fleetingly in
to the focus of our awareness and are replaced again by the dominant item.
What does determine what we shall attend to? Although, attention shifts it has a certain order
lines to it. Actually certain principles determine the direction of our attention- the principles of
attention getting. These govern what will be most clearly perceived and what may be only dimly
perceived and perceived at all. Two general classes of factors are concerned; external factors in
the environment and internal factors such as motives, expectancy, etc.
a. External Factors in Attention Getting
External factors governing attention may be considered under the following five headings:
Intensity and size, Contrast, Repetition, Movement, and Novelty

i. Intensity and size: the louder a sound, the more likely a person is attending to it. The
brighter a light, the more it tends to capture our attention.
ii. Contrast: as human beings we tend to adapt or become used to the stimulation
around us. Any change in the stimulation to which we have become adapted
immediately captures our attention. What contrasts with surrounding environment
attracts attention easily.
iii. Repetition: at times the repetition of a stimulus is important to gain attention. A
misspelled word is more likely to be noticed it occurs twice in the same paragraph
than if it occurs once.
iv. Movement: human beings as well as most other animals are quite sensitive to objects
that move with in their field of vision. Our eyes are involuntary attracted to
movement in much the same ways as the moth is attracted to a flame.
v. Novelty: the interest in novel stimulation had been called a curiosity drive. It has
been demonstrated in a variety of experiments with animals as well as in observations
of children and adults that interest to a novel stimulus attracts attention objects or
situation tends to diminish after some time has been spent with it.
b. Internal Factors in Attention
Of equal importance, like the above ones, are internal factors, such as motives, interests, and
other states within the person.

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 i. Motives: our needs and interests govern not only what will attract our attention but
also what will hold it. Even the sleepiest student in the class can be made attentive if
the instructor announces that he is going to talk about sex practices. Not only are
basic motives such as sex and hunger important in directing attention, but any of the
great variety of human motives and interests effectively stimulate attention.
1. Set or expectancy: besides our interest and motives, set or expectancy plays a major role
in selecting what we shall perceive. If we expect to see, hear, etc., we tend to see, here,
etc, move easily than with out any expectation

PRINCIPLES OF PERCEPTUAL ORGANIZATION

Through the process of perception, the brain is always trying to comprehend the confusion of
stimuli that bombard the senses. The brain makes sense of the world by creating whole structures
out of bits and pieces of information in the environment. Each whole that is organized by the
brain is called a Gestalt. Here, the whole is more than the sum of the parts. (Gestalt is a German
word meaning “pattern” or “configuration.”)
Gestalt psychologists have tried to identify the principles the brain uses in constructing
perceptions (Koffka, 1963). Some of the principles they have discovered are demonstrated in.
For example, people tend to see dots in patterns and groups. Principles that people use in
organizing such patterns are proximity, continuity, similarity, simplicity, and closure. If the
elements of the pattern are close to one another or are similar in appearance, they tend to be
perceived as belonging to one another.
1. Perceptual Constancies

Perceptual constancy is the ability to perceive an object as constant, despite changes at the
retina in size, perceptual constancy has been proposed as a possible explanation for an intriguing
phenomenon called the Muller-layer illusion. In figure 4.1, the vertical line on the left appears
noticeably longer than the one on the right, although both are exactly the same length. The
general point is that the perceived shape of objects tends to remain
the same irrespective of the positions or conditions under which we
view them. This phenomenon is called shape constancy. Constancy
in perception is not limited to shapes, however. The perceived size
of objects, their colors, and their brightness also show perceptual

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constancy.

Fig 4.1 Length: the vertical lines are the same length

1. Figure-Ground Relationships

Another general principle of perception is that we tend to perceive some images as figures and
others as grounds. Figures are closer, more like objects, more easily remembered, and seem to
have a shape. In contrast, grounds are relatively formless, further away, and stationary. Figures
stand out in our perception, and this may be due to the way our
visual system is organized

You can perceive this famous drawing (figure 4.2. ) in one of two
ways: as an old woman (her chin is tucked down against her chest,
thin lips, and a big nose) or as a young woman (she’s looking back
over her right shoulder and wearing a black necklace, with her jaw
line and left ear clearly visible).

Figure 4.2. My wife and my mother-in-law

3. Perceptual Organizing principle

We bring order to the complex visual patterns striking the retina by using the organizing
principle, another kind of organizing tendency in perception is called grouping. Whenever
several different stimuli are present, we tend to perceive them as grouped into some pattern.
Items, which are close together in shape, space or time, tend to be perceived as constituting a
group. Some ways of grouping are:

a. The principle of similarity, we perceive images that resemble one another as being part of a
group, even when they are physically separated. Because of the
principle of similarity, you see figure 4.3a as columns of similar figures,
rather than as rows of alternating circles and squares.

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(Fig 4.3a) Principle of similarity

b. The Principle of proximity, states that we perceive objects that are

close together as a group. People describe figure 4.3b as three columns of
circles rather than three rows.

(Fig 4.3b) Principle of proximity

c. The principle of closure, which states that the brain tends to fill-in the gaps in an icomplete
picture in order to perceive a complete form. This filling in is termed as closure, or the tendency
to complete in what is physically incomplete pattern or object. This is especially true if the
picture is a familiar shape, such as the face in figure 4.3c. You
can see how familiarity with different shapes might bias a
person’s perception of incomplete forms.

(Fig 4.3c) Principle of closure

d. The principle of good continuation, which proposes that images that appear to continue in
the same direction will be perceived as part of the same figure.
The outline of the baby is easily perceived even though the
vertical bars break up the image, because the lines in the outline
follow the same direction.

(Fig 4.3d) Principle of good continuation

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e. The principle of good fate, states that objects that move together in a visual scene are
perceived as a group.
The Gestalt principles of organization help explain how we group our sensations and fill in gaps
to make sense of our world. In music, for instance, you tend to group notes on the basis of their
closeness, or proximity, to one another in time—you hear melodies, not single notes. Similarity
and continuity are also important. They allow you to follow the sound of a particular voice or
instrument even when many other sounds are occurring. Closure aids us in perceiving an object
even though there may be gaps in what our senses pick up. The rule of simplicity states that we
tend to perceive complex figures as divided into several simpler figures.
Figure-Ground Perception; One form of perceptual organization is the division of experience into
figure and ground. Figure-ground perception is the ability to discriminate properly between a
figure and its background. When you look at a three-dimensional object against the sky, you
have no trouble distinguishing between the object and its background. Objects become the figure
and stand out from the background. It is when something is two-dimensional, that you may have
trouble telling the figure from the ground. Nevertheless, such figure-ground perceptions give
clues as to the nature of perception. That we can perceive a single pattern in more than one way
demonstrates that we are not passive receivers of stimuli.
Figure and ground are important in hearing as well as in vision. When you follow one person’s
voice at a noisy meeting, that voice is a figure and all other sounds become ground. Similarly,
when you listen to a piece of music, a familiar theme may leap out at you: the melody becomes
the figure, and the rest of the music merely background.
Perceptual Inference
Often we have perceptions that are not based entirely on current sensory information. When you
hear barking as you approach your house, you assume it is your dog—not a cat or a rhinoceros or
even another dog. When you take a seat in a dark theater, you assume it is solid and will hold
your weight even though you cannot see what supports the seat. When you are driving in a car
and see in the distance that the road climbs up a steep hill then disappears over the top, you
assume the road will continue over and down the hill, not come to an abrupt end just out of sight.

This phenomenon of filling in the gaps in what our senses tell us is known as perceptual
inference (Gregory, 1970). Perceptual inferenceis largely automatic and unconscious. We need

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only a few cues to inform us that a noise is our dog barking or that a seat is solid. Why? Because
we have encountered these stimuli and objects in the past and know what to expect from them in
the present. Perceptual inference, thus, often depends on experience. On the other hand, we are
probably born withsome of our ability to make perceptual inferences.

Subliminal Perception
In his 1957 book The Hidden Persuaders, Vance Packard divulged that advertisers were using a
revolutionary breakthrough in marketing techniques subliminal advertising. The word subliminal
comes from the Latin: sub (“below”) and limen (threshold). This concept used subliminal
messages, which are brief auditory or visual messages presented below the absolute threshold so
that there is less than a 50 percent chance that they will be perceived.

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4.4. Interpretation

This final stage of perception is called interpretation. After selectively sorting through incoming
sensory information and organizing it into patterns, the brain uses this information to explain and
make judgments about the external world.
Like selection, the process of interpretation is also influenced by several factors. The following
can be examples.
Beliefs: What we hold to be true about the world can affect the interpretation of ambiguous
sensory signals.
Emotions: Our emotions or moods also influence our interpretations of sensory information.
Expectations (Mental set): Previous experiences often affect how we perceive the world. The
tendency to perceive what to expect is called perceptual set.
Extrasensory Perception (ESP)
Eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and skin- we rely on these organs for our experience of the external
world. Some people, however, claim they can send and receive messages about the world with
out relying on the usual sensory channels, by using Extrasensory Perception (ESP).
Reported ESP experiences fall into four general categories:
A. Telepathy: is a direct communication from one mind to another without the usual
visual, auditory and other sensory signals.
B. Clairvoyance: is the perception of an event or fact without normal sensory input.
C. Precognition: is the perception of an event that has not yet happened.
D. Psychokinesis: is the ability to affect the physical world purely through thought.
Persons with such abilities claim to move or affect objects with out touching them.
Normal perception depends on the ability to detect changes in energy in the physical world.
Claims for most forms of ESP, however, challenge everything we currently now know to be true
about the way the world and the universe operate.

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 Questions for review and discussion

1. Define and discuss the following terms?

 Sensation
 Perception
 Receptors
 Absolute threshold
 Signal detection
 Sensory adaptation
 Figure ground
 Perceptual constancy
 Perceptual organization
 Gestalt
 Depth perception
 Extra sensory perception (ESP)
 Papillae
 Pheromones
 Anosmia
 Amplitude
 Wavelength
 Frequency
 NREM
 REM
 Narcolepsy
 Insomnia
 Sleep apnea
 Night terrors
 Somnambulism
 Dreams
 Hypnosis

2. Discuss both the external and internal factors that affect our attention getting.
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________.
3. Discuss the application of perception
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__.

4. Describe the process of perception in humans

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 UNIT FIVE
LEARNING

Learning objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

 Define learning.

 Describe classical conditioning.

 Describe principles of classical conditioning

 Define operant conditioning, and describe some of its properties, such as

reinforcements, punishment and shaping.

 Define cognitive theory of learning and some of its types, such as insight learning,
latent learning, and observational learning.

 Understand the application of learning theories

5. Introduction
This chapter is concerned with the basic mental processes involved in learning. Topics include
the basic and fundamental processes involved in learning and in cognition, including mind
design, cognitive aspect of learning theories and attention. Students will use concepts of
decision-making to analyze military situations and the application of learning theories to the
military setting.
5.1. The meaning of learning
Many people equate learning with acquiring knowledge or knowing some thing that is new but
as you will read and understand from the descriptions given to learning you will study that to
learn is more than to know some thing that you did not.
The behaviorists define learning as a relatively permanent change in behavior that results from
practice or experience. Important terms of the definition need clarification.

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Change in behavior – If there is learning there must be a change of behavior as compared to the
conditions before learning. The change could be good or bad, positive or negative, useful or
harmful.
Experience – The change in behavior must be the result of practice or experience so as to call it
learning. There are some changes in behavior such as the voice change during puberty that is the
result of maturation and hence can not be called learning.

Relatively permanent – The change in behavior must relatively be stored and remembered after
a fairly long period of time.

5.2. Types of learning

Generally there are three kinds of learning. These are classical conditioning, instrumental
learning, and cognitive learning.

5.2.1. Classical conditioning

Classical conditioning gets its name from the fact that it is the kind of learning situation that
existed in the early “classical” experiment of I. Pavlov. Classical conditioning is a basic learning
process by which a stimulus (the CS) gains the ability to elicit a response through repeated
association with a stimulus (US) that already elicits that response.

We shall now use a typical experiment in Pavlov’s laboratory to analyze classical conditioning.
The animal, in this case a dog was prepared in a way that its saliva would flow into a small glass
funnel outside the cheek allowing the dog’s salivation to be measured. In this experiment the
materials needed was a hungry dog, a measure of saliva, a pellet of food (e.g. meat powder) a
sound (bell, or tone). Pavlov knew from his previous investigation that food triggers a natural
response – saliva.

He measured the amount of saliva in response to a tone or metronome and found NO saliva. This
indicates that the sound is a neutral stimulus that doesn’t have the natural power to elicit saliva.
He paired the bell (sound) and the food together and presented them for several trials. Later on
he measured the amount of saliva in response to the metronome alone. Pavlov found that the

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animal salivated at the sound of the bell alone. This implies that the neutral stimulus
(metronome), after several pairings with the food, comes to elicit a response, salivation. Pavlov
used the following terms to summarize his experiment:

UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS (UCS) is a stimulus that elicits /produces a natural response, or a

reflex-like response, called unconditioned response (UCR). It has a natural power to produce the
response and needs no learning to elicit the response.

CONDITIONED STIMULUS (CS) is originally a neutral stimulus and doesn’t have a natural power
to elicit a response but does so only after it has been paired with the unconditioned stimulus. It
needs learning so as to produce the response in question. This is why it is called conditioned (it
depends on the condition of the pairing). The response produced is called conditioned response
(CR).
Summary of the experiment

Before Conditioning:
Neutral stimulus (metronome) No Salivation.

UCS (meat powder) UCR (Salivation).

During conditioning:

CS (metronome) + UCS (meat powder) UCR (Salivation).

After Conditioning:

CS (metronome) alone CR (Salivation).

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Principles of Classical Conditioning
ACQUISITION: is the process by which a previously neutral stimulus (CS) comes to produce a
conditioned response (CR). Acquisition occurs when a neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with
a UCS. Each pairing is called a trial.
Extinction: - “Behavior learned can also be unlearned” is the central idea of extinction. For a
classically conditioned response to continue, it needs repeated parings of conditioned stimulus
with the unconditioned stimulus in which case acquisition of CR is achieved.
After acquisition, if the CS alone is presented several times, i.e. repeatedly, without being
followed by the US, the strength of the response (CR) declines / diminishes gradually. This
process of extinguishing the strength of the CR by presenting the CS alone repeatedly is called
extinction.
The dog’s salvation response to the metronome, for example, could be extinguished by
presenting the sound over and over without following it with food. Extinction may seem like
forgetting, but the two are not quite the same. If a person is extinguished, it is not forgotten in the
sense that it will never happen again. Extinguished response often shows spontaneous recovery,
the sudden reappearance of a CR after is apparent extinction. For example, even if times passes
after the dog has stopped salivating to the sound of the, metronome, the dog may show
spontaneous recovery and start salivating again.
Stimulus Generalization
Occurs when an organism produces the same response to two similar stimuli, a conditioned
response formed with one conditioned stimulus will also occur to other stimuli that are similar to
the conditioned stimulus. In other, the conditioned response automatically “spreads,” or
generalizes, to things that resemble the condoned stimulus. Let’s assume for a moment that
Pavlov somehow lost the tuning fork he had used with one of his dogs and was forced to
substitute a different tuning fork, one with different tone. Pavlov had progressed far enough so
that the tone of the original tuning fork had become a CS that generated a strong CR of salvation.

Discrimination occurs when an organism produces different responses to two similar stimuli.
The effect of generalization can be limited by the process of discrimination training. That is,
learning to distinguish among similar stimuli and to respond only to the appropriate one. Pavlov,

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for instance, found that if the food, then the dog would learn to salivate only at the sound of the
tone that had been paired with meat powder.
Second order conditioning
One of the most important features of classical conditioning is the way in which one conditions
experience can lay the ground work for another. After many pairings of CS and UCS, the CS
begins to elicit a response from the animal when presented alone. This CS can then be paired
with another neutral stimulus; after many pairings, the organism will respond to the new stimulus.
In effect, the original CS can now act as a UCS. This phenomenon is called second order
conditioning; it occurs when a previously established CS is used as a UCS in a new conditioning
experience.
In the example of the salivating dog, the dog is first conditioned to respond to the original CS,
the metronome, by salivating. In the next phase, a new stimulus, perhaps a light is presented
immediately before the metronome, and the original UCS –the meat-is omitted in the first few
trials the dog responds to the metronome by salivating. After several pairings of the light and the
metronome, the dog begins to salivate in response to the light alone

5.2.2. Operant/Instrumental Conditioning

Learning by consequences
Operant conditioning describes the way organisms learn to modify their behavior by learning the
consequences of that behavior. In operant conditioning the organism learns to associate its own
behavior with events in the environment –in other words, to learn the consequences of its actions.
In essence operant conditioning means learning what response to make in a situation, what
operation to perform in order to obtain a reward or avoid undesirable or harmful event. Our
social environment is filled with positive and negative consequences that mold our behavior. In
short, in all areas of life our actions are shaped by pleasant and unpleasant consequences. So it is
possible to increase or decrease the frequency of a response through reinforcement and
punishment and Skinner proposed that the basic mechanism for controlling human behavior is
the principle of reinforcement.

Skinner’s Rat

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To investigate this type of learning, skinner placed a rat into a skinner box, a special cage,
equipped with a lever and a food bin, used to investigate operant conditioning. Each time the rat
pressed the lever, a pellet of food was released in to the bin. The lever was usually wired to a
cumulative recorder, an instrument with moving chart paper and a pen which moves a notch
each time the organism makes a response. In his learning theories, skinner used the tem operant
conditioning rather than instrumental conditioning to emphasize the way in which the
conditioning procedure affects the frequency of a response. An American graduate student,
Edward L. Thorndike, used the term instrumental conditioning rather than operant conditioning
to refer to an organism learning the association between the a behavior and its consequences.

The Nature of Reinforcement

The concept of reinforcement is central in operant conditioning; reinforcement is any thing that
tends to strengthen the response that immediately preceded it. Most psychologists maintain that
during operant conditioning, the organisms is learning an association between its own response
and the rein forcer that reinforces, or strengthens, the response that precedes it.

Primary and Secondary Reinforcement

Primary reinforcements are those that have natural power to reinforce or encourage a behavior,
which precedes them. E.g. food, water, affection, shocks termination, or pain reduction.
Secondary reinforcement refers to other stimuli associated with the primary rein forcers. For
example, money, grade, etc.
Note that, the name primary or secondary does not imply more or less importance; it only refers
to whether or not it is directly related to the bodily needs.
Either primary or secondary reinforcement can also be positive or negative
Positive and Negative Reinforcement
A positive rein forcer is a reward for performing some response. It tends to strengthen that
response. The food pellet in the Skinner box, for example, provides positive reinforcement for
the rat’s lever pressing. A negative rein forcer is a stimulus, such as a loud noise or a shock that
is removed following the performance of some response thereby strengthening that response or
an event whose REMOVAL or TERMINATION strengthens the behavior that precedes it.
Note that, both positive and negative reinforcements strengthen the preceding response.

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Schedules of Reinforcement
Continuous reinforcement involves reinforcing a response every time it occurs. This method of
reinforcement is best during the first stages of conditioning when the person or animal is just
learning the response; it produces the fastest learning. Skinner and his students discovered that
partial reinforcement, in which a response is rewarded intermittently, is actually more effective.
A response through partial reinforcement is very resistant to extinction; the organism does not
expect a reward every time. If you try to extinguish the response by withholding rewards, the
organism will continue to respond for some time.
There are four different kinds of partial reinforcement schedules: fixed ratio, variable ratio, fixed
interval, and variable interval.

The fixed ratio schedule reinforces a response after a subject emits a specified (constant)
number of responses. For example, a supervisor might reward a worker on a piece rate
arrangement, awarding ten birr for every five completed pack of soaps.

The variable ratio schedule rewards a response after it occurs a variable number of times. The
learner does not know the exact number of responses required-continue his or her activity. A slot
machine works on a variable ratio schedule. It is programmed to deliver rewards after a variable
number of lever presses. Gamblers bet that the next winning lever press will come after fewer
rather than more tries.

A fixed interval schedule provides a reward for any correct response that occurs after a specific
time interval passes following the last reinforcement. It is presenting reinforcement after a fixed
or constant interval. For example, monthly salary, usually offered every month. In fixed interval
schedule, it is only the time not the amount of response that determines reinforcement.
In this schedule, the rate of response immediately after reinforcement, the organism shows very
little response, but the rate of responding increases dramatically toward the end of the time
period until the next reinforcement is given.
A variable interval schedule provides a reward for any correct response that occurs after a
variable time interval passes following the last reward. It is giving reinforcement with varying

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time, the time is variable. For example, the fishermen do not know when the fishhook catches the
next fish.

Note that, both variable ratio variable interval schedules produces steady rate of responding and
greater resistance to extinction.

Punishment

Punishment is a stimulus that tends to decrease the probability of response that immediately
preceded it. It isn’t reinforcement at all because it doesn’t strengthen the preceding response, yet
it is an important element in the way we learn from the consequences of our action. It is also the
delivery of unpleasant or aversive stimulus following the undesirable response. The nature of
punishment, and the role it plays in learning, is quite different from reinforcement. Although
punishment is an effective way of alerting behavior in that it has the tendency to suppress
undesirable behavior, it has several additional effect that make it problematic as a means to
change the behavior of an individual. First, it teaches people what behavior they should not
engage in, but it does not teach what they should do. Using positive reinforcement for desirable
behavior and punishment for undesirable behavior is much more effective than using punishment
alone.
Another problem with punishment is that it elicits emotional reactions such as fear or anger. The
more severe the punishment is the more intense the reaction. In fact punishment is not a suitable
technique for controlling behavior. If it is used, punishment should be appropriate, immediate,
consistent, and mild.

Shaping
One of the characteristics of operant conditioning not present in classical conditioning is shaping.
Shaping is a technique in which you reward successively closer approximations of the desired
response. When the learner is on the right track, reinforcement is given progressively, and then
the learner comes to approximate to the final responses by the method called successive
approximation.

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The advantage to shaping is that it permits operant conditioning of responses that rarely occur. If
a parent has a son whose room is always a mess, it is difficult to reward him for cleaning up the
room. But the parents can still use shaping by rewarding the boy for cleaning up a little corner or
perhaps for putting up a poster. The parents would then raise the criterion for the next reward.

5.2.3. Cognitive theory of learning

Cognition involves all the mental activities associated with thinking, and knowing, activities,
which include perception and memory. This theory emphasized the internal mental process
which requires thinking, imaging, processing, creativity and problem solving.
Unlike the respondent and operant conditioning that involve specific responses to specific stimuli,
cognitive learning involves very complex stores of information about the world. In both
respondent and operant conditioning the emphasis was on observable responses. But because the
knowledge that is inside people’s head is not observable, it was not seriously considered. The
emphasis was on observable responses. But because the knowledge that is inside people’s head is
not observable, it was not seriously considered. The emphasis on cognitive theory of learning is
on the acquisition of information and the ways of dealing with information. Common examples
of cognitive learning are:
 Latent or hidden learning
 Insight learning
 Observational Learning
 Latent or Hidden learning
Latent learning, which takes place without apparent reward, is probably the best example of how
our thinking –not just whether we are reinforced –affects our learning. Latent learning refers to
learning that occurs but is not evident in behavior until later, when conditions are favorable for
its appearance or until reinforcement is provided for displays it. In a now -classic experiment
(Tolman & Honzik, 1930), researchers demonstrated how a cognitive map or a hypothetical
representation of a situation stored in memory or a kind of mental picture of a situation or
learning event. In this experiment, they trained one group of rats to find its way through a maze
by putting a food in the box at the end of the maze. If this rat is allowed to wander through the
maze on several occasions, it will develop a cognitive map of the maze-an example of latent

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learning. But the rat will not demonstrate that learning until researchers added some positive
reinforcement for showing the knowledge of the maze paths. (From Tolman & Honzik, 1930).

Insight learning
This kind of learning begins form several trial – and error strategies and ends in a sudden
solution to a problem. Some times the solution to a problem pops in to your heads so quickly that
you don’t have time to employ a strategy. These wonderfully rewarding moments are examples
of insight, the sudden realization (Aha!) of a solution.
Chimpanzees appear to share with humans the ability to form insights. In one classic study
(Kohler, 1927); a chimp suddenly realized he could stack several boxes to form a platform from
which he could reach bananas that had been suspended from the ceiling.
Based on studies like this, we can define insight learning as a type of learning in which:
The learning happens to be sudden and complete.
The first performance of the solution is usually without error.
The solution is remembered well.
The principle underlying the solution is easily applied to other situations.
Observational Learning( modeling)

Observational learning takes place by watching others. It differs from other kinds of learning in
that another person-the model-actually practices or repeats behavior, which the learner observes
and mimics in a process called modeling. Whether a person will imitate a model depends on
many factors, including the model’s status, the models similarity to the person in and age and sex,
whether the model’s behavior is rewarded or punished, whether the models behavior is
unfamiliar to the observer. Why a person will imitate a model in the absence of direct rewards
and punishments is still a matter of controversy.
American psychologist Albert Bandura conducted ground breaking experiments in observational
learning in the 1960’s (Bandura & others, 1961). In variation after variation, Bandura’s
experiments showed the same results-we learn by watching others if the following four
conditions are met (Bandura, 1977):
Attention- To learn, you must be aware of the behavior of the behaviors of those around you.
Retention- You must remember the behavior you witnessed.

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Ability to reproduce the behavior.
Motivation- We are more likely to feel motivated to learn if the model we’ve observed has been
rewarded for the behavior and if we like the model.

UNIT SIX

Memory and Forgetting

6.1. Nature and Definition of Memory

Psychologists consider memory as the process by which we encode, store, and retrieve
information/ what was learned earlier. In discussing memory it is useful to separate the process
from the structure. Memory process is the mental activities we perform to put information into
memory, to keep it there, and to make use of it later.

Memory Processes

As indicated memory processes refer to the mental activities we perform to put information into
memory, to retain it, and to make use of it when needed. To understand how memory works, we
need to consider how memories are formed (encoding), how memories are maintained once they
are encoded (storage) and how the stored information is recovered and translated into
performance (retrieval).

Memory processes involve these three basic steps:

 Encoding: refers to the process by which information is initially recorded in a form

usable to memory. In encoding we transform a sensory input into a form or a memory
code that can be further processed.
 Storage: Memory specialists speak of placing information in storage, the location in
memory system in which material is saved. Storage is the persistence of information in
memory.

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  Retrieval: Involves the use of stored information when it is needed. In retrieval, material
in memory storage is located, brought into awareness and used.

6.2. Structure/stages/forms of Memory

Although people usually refer to memory as a single faculty, the term memory actually covers a
complex collection of abilities and processes. Many cognitive psychologists relate the mind to an
information processor, along the lines of a digital computer that takes items of information in;
processes them in steps or stages, and then produces an output.
Consider how the computer works; First, it takes in information (for instance via keystrokes) and
translates the information into an electronic language, then the computer permanently stores the
information on a disc, and finally it retrieves the information (file) stored on a disc on to a
working memory (which also receives new information from the keyboard) and the information
is put on to the screen as part of the working memory. Models of memory based on this idea are
Information processing theories. Like the computer, we also store vast amounts of information in
our memory store house. From this storehouse, we can retrieve some information onto a limited
capacity working memory, which also receives information from our current experience. Part of
this working memory is displayed on the mental “screen” we call consciousness. A number of
such models of memory have been proposed. One of the most important and influential of these
is the one developed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin (1968).

According to Atkinson and Shiffrin, memory has three structures:

6.2.1. Sensory Memory/Register: It is the entry way to memory. It is the first information
storage area. Sensory memory acts as a holding bin, retaining information until we can select
items for attention from the stream of stimuli bombarding our senses. It gives us a brief time to
decide whether information is extraneous or important; not everything detected by our sense
warrants our attention.

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  Sensory memory includes a number of separate subsystems, as many as there are senses. It
can hold virtually all the information reaching our senses for a brief time.
 For instance, visual images remain in the visual system for a maximum of one second and
it can hold about 11-16 items of information. Auditory images remain in the auditory
system for a slightly longer time, by most estimates up to two second or so.
 The information stored is sensory memory is a fairly accurate representation of the
environmental information but unprocessed.
 Most information briefly held in the sensory memory simply decays from the register.
However, some of the information that has got attention and recognition pass on short-
term memory for further processing.

6.2.2. Short-Term Memory: is part of our memory that holds the contents of our attention.
Unlike sensory memories, short-term memories are not brief replicas of the environmental
message. Instead, they consist the by-products or end results of perceptual analysis.
STM is important in a variety of tasks such as thinking, reading, speaking, and problem solving.
There are various terms used to refer to this stage of memory, including working memory,
immediate memory, active memory, and primary memory.
STM has a very limited storage capacity. Years ago, George Miller (1956) estimated its capacity
to be “the magic number seven plus or minus 2”. Some researchers have questioned whether
Miller’s magical number is so magical after all.
Everyone agrees, however, that the number of items that short-term memory can handle at any
one time is small.
According to most models of memory, we overcome this problem, by grouping small groups of
information into larger units or chunks. The real capacity of short-term memory therefore is not a
few bits of information but a few chunks.
A chunk may be a word, a phrase, a sentence, or even a visual image, and it depends on previous
[Link] memory holds information (sounds, visual images, words, and sentences and so
on) received from SM for up to about 30 seconds by most estimates. It is possible to prolong
STM indefinitely by rehearsal- the process of internal repetition.
Material in STM is easily displaced unless we do something to keep it there.

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6.2.3. Long -Term Memory: It is a memory system used for the relatively permanent storage of
meaningful information.
The capacity of LTM seems to have no practical limits. The vast amount of information stored in
LTM enables us to learn, get around in the environment, and build a sense of identity and
personal history.
LTM stores information for indefinite periods. It may last for days, months, years, or even a
lifetime. The LTM is assumed to be composed of different sub systems
Declarative/ explicit memory- the conscious recollection of information such as specific facts
or events that can be verbally communicated. It is further subdivided into semantic and episodic
memories.
Semantic memory- factual knowledge like the meaning of words, concepts and our ability to do
math. They are internal representations of the world, independent of any particular context.
Episodic memory- memories for events and situations from personal experience. They are
internal representations of personally experienced events.
Non-declarative/ implicit memory- refers to a variety of phenomena of memory in which
behavior is affected by prior experience without that experience being consciously recollected.
One of the most important kinds of implicit memory is procedural memory. It is the “how to”
knowledge of procedures or skills. Knowing how to comb your hair, use a pencil, or swim

Most theories of memory distinguish skills or habits (“knowing how”) from abstract or
representational knowledge (“knowing that”).
Procedural memories are memories of knowledge how- e.g knowing how to comb your hair,
use a pencil or swim.
Declarative memories are memories of “knowing that. They can come into varieties: Semantic
and episodic memories.
Semantic memories: Include items of general knowledge. They are internal representations of
the world, independent of any particular context.
Episodic Memories- are internal representations of personally experienced events.
Serial Position Effect

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The three-box model of memory is often invoked to explain interesting phenomenon called the
serial position effect. If you are shown a list of items and are then asked immediately to recall
them, your retention of any particular item will depend on its position in the list.

Recall will be best for items at the beginning of the list (the primacy effect) and at the end of the
list (the recency effect). When retention of all the items is plotted, the result will be a U-shaped
curve.

A serial position effect- occurs when you are introduced to a lot of people at a party and find
you can recall the names of the first few people you met and the last, but almost no one in
between. According to the three-box model, the first few items on a list are remembered well
because short-term memory was relatively “empty” when they entered, so these items did not
have to compete with others to make it into long term memory. They were thoroughly processed,
so they remain memorable.

The last few items are remembered for a different reason: At the time of recall, they are still
sitting in STM. The items in the middle of the list, however, are not so well retained because by
the time they get into short-term memory, it is already crowded. As a result many of these items
drop out of short-term memory before they can be stored in long-term memory.

6.3. Theories of Forgetting

Psychologists generally use the term forgetting to refer to the apparent loss of information
already encoded and stored in the long-term memory. The first attempts to study forgetting were
made by German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus(1885/1913) about hundred years ago.
Using himself as his only subject, he memorized lists of three letter non-sense syllables-
meaningless sets of two consonants with a vowel in between, such as FIW and BOZ.

By measuring how easy it was to relearn a given list of words after varying periods of time from
initial learning had passed., he found that forgetting occurred systematically.

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The most rapid forgetting occurs in the first hours, and particularly in the first hour. After nine
hours, the rate of forgetting shows and declines little, even after the passage of many days.
Ebbinghaus’s research had an important influence on subsequent research, and his basic
conclusions had been upheld. There is almost always a strong initial decline in memory,
followed by a more gradual drop over time.

Furthermore, relearning of previously mastered material is almost always faster than starting
from a scratch, whether the material is academic information or a motor skill such as serving a
tennis ball.

Psychologists have proposed five mechanisms to account for forgetting: decay, replacement of
old memories by new ones, interference, motivated forgetting, and cue dependent forgetting.

1. The Decay Theory

The decay theory holds that memory traces or engram fade with time if they are not “accessed”
now and then. This explanation assumes that when new material is learned a memory trace or
engram- an actual physical change in the brain- occurs.

In decay, the trace simply fades away with nothing left behind, because of the passage of time.
We have already seen that decay occurs in sensory memory and that it occurs in short term
memory as well, unless we rehearse the material. However, the mere passage of time does not
account so well for forgetting in long-term memory. People commonly forget things that
happened only yesterday while remembering events from many years ago.

Although there is evidence that decay does occur, it does not seem to be the complete
explanation for forgetting. Memory specialists have proposed an additional mechanism:
Interference

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2. Interference
Interference theory holds that forgetting occurs because similar items of information interfere
one another in either storage or retrieval. The information may get into memory, but it becomes
confused with other information.
There are two kinds of interference that influence forgetting: proactive and retroactive. In
Proactive Interference, information learned earlier interferes with recall of newer material. If new
information interferes with the ability to remember old information the interference is called
Retroactive Interference.

3. New memory for old/ displacement theory

This theory holds that new information entering memory can wipe out old information, just as
recording on an audio or videotape will obliterate/wipe out the original material. This theory is
mostly associated with the STM, where the capacity for information is limited to seven plus or
minus chunks. It cannot be associated with the LTM because of its virtually unlimited capacity.

4. Motivated Forgetting

Sigmund Freud maintained that people forget because they block from consciousness those
memories that are two threatening or painful to live with, and he called this self-protective
process Repression. To day many psychologists prefer to use a more general term, motivated
forgetting.

5. Cue Dependent Forgetting

Often when we need to remember, we rely on retrieval cues, items of information that can help
us find the specific information we’re looking for.
When we lack retrieval cues, we may feel as if we have lost the call number for an entry in the
mind’s library. In long-term memory, this type of memory failure may be the most common type
of all. Cues that were present when you learned a new fact or had an experience are apt to be
especially useful later as retrieval aids. That may explain why remembering is often easier when
you are in the same physical environment as you were when an event occurred: Cues in the
present context match from the past. Your mental or physical state may also act as a retrieval cue,

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evoking a state dependent memory. For example if you are intoxicated when something
happens, you may remember it better when you once again have had a few drinks than when you
are sober. Likewise, if your emotional arousal is specially high or low at the time of an event,
you may remember that event best when you are once again in the same emotional state.
Improving Memory
Someday in the near future, drugs may be available to help people with memory deficiencies to
increase normal memory performance. For the time being, however, those of us who hope to
improve our memories must rely on mental strategies.
Some simple mnemonics can be useful, but complicated ones are often more bother than they are
worth. A better approach is to follow some general guidelines.
Pay Attention: It seems obvious, but often we fail to remember because we never encoded the
information in the first place. When you do have something to remember, you will do better if
you encode it.
Encode information in more than one way: The more elaborate the encoding of information,
the more memorable it will be
Add meaning: The more meaningful the material, the more likely it is to link up with
information already in long-term memory.
Take your time: If possible, minimize interference by using study breaks for rest or recreation.
Sleep is the ultimate way to reduce interference.
Over learn: Studying information even after you think you already know it- is one of the best
ways to ensure that you’ll remember it.
Monitor your learning: By testing yourself frequently, rehearsing thoroughly, and reviewing
periodically, you will have a better idea of how you are doing.

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 CHAPTER SEVEN
Motivation and Emotion

Learning objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

 Define motivation, and describe theories that attempt to explain it.

 Define the types of motives and explain how it is measured.
 Define the term emotion, and explain how researchers have attempted to categorize
emotion.
 Discuss how human beings express emotions.
 Discuss the function of emotion
 Identify and describe several different theories of emotion.
 Discuss the relationship between soldier’s motivation, emotion and combat operations.

7.1. The Nature of Motivation

The word motivation comes from a Latin root meaning “to move” and the psychology of
motivation is indeed the study of what moves us, why we do what we do.

In other words, motivation refers to the forces that initiate and direct behavior, and the variables
that determine the intensity and persistence of that behavior. It is concerned with factors that
direct and energize the behavior of humans and other organisms.

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When we are hungry, for example, we initiate food seeking. This initiation can be prompted from
within the individual or the external environment- we might be hungry because of low blood
sugar level (internal) or because we just saw a delicious dessert (external). Motivation also
directs our behavior. When we are hungry we seek food rather than read a newspaper.
Motivation also determines the intensity and persistence of our behavior. Intensity has to do with
the strength of the behavior. For instance you might be a little hungry and if food is readily
available, you would eat, but if there is no food in the immediate vicinity, you would probably
engage in some other behavior. On the other hand, if you are extremely hungry, you will most
likely engage intensively in food seeking behavior, doing whatever it took to obtain it. How
motivated we are, still influence our persistence. Sometimes we will persist in obtaining a goal
for a long time, while at other times; we’ll give up after a brief time.

An important characteristic of motives is that we never observe them directly. Psychologists

often measure motivation by observing what individuals do (initiation), how they make choices
(direction), noting the strength of their behavior (Intensity) and how long they engage in them
(persistence).

7.2 .Some Theories of Motivation

1. Drive Theories- Push theory of motivation
According to drive theories, when we experience a drive, we are motivated to pursue actions that
will lead to drive reduction. A drives is an internal state of tension that motivates (pushes) an
organism to engage in activities that should reduce this tension.
In general drive theories say the following: When an internal driving state is aroused, the
individual is pushed to engage in behavior which will lead to goal that reduces the intensity of
the driving state. In human beings, at least, reaching the appropriate goal, which reduces the
drive state, is pleasurable and satisfying.

According to drive theories motivation is said to consist of:

 A driving state
 The goal directed behavior initiated by the driving state.
 the attainment of an appropriate goal and

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  The reduction of the driving state and subjective satisfaction and relief when the goal is
reached. After a time the driving state builds up again to push behavior toward the
appropriate goal. This sequence of events is sometimes called the motivational cycle.

2. Incentive Theories- Pull theory of motivation

This theory suggests that motivation is not primarily a matter being pushed from with in by
various urges; rather, it is more a question of being pulled from without by expectations of
attaining desired outcomes (incentives).

Incentive theories appear to explain why many people engage in complex effortful or even
painful behaviors such as working many hours on their jobs, or studying long into the night.

Incentive theory has been applied to many aspects of human motivation. Perhaps, though, it has
found its most important practical use with respect to work motivation- the tendency to expend
energy and effort on one’s job.
3. Opponent Process Theory

The opponent process theory takes a hedonistic view of motivation. Basic to this theory is the
observation that many emotional-motivational states are followed by opposing, or opposite states.
Opponent process theory of motivation seeks to explain the motivation behind such phenomena
as drug addiction and the psychological and emotional reactions that occur as a result of
extremes of physical danger, as in skydiving.
According to this theory, stimuli that first produce increases in arousal later produce an opposite
calming reaction in the nervous system, where as stimuli that first produce decreases in arousal
later produce an increase in arousal. Moreover, with each exposure to a stimulus, the original
response to the stimulus remains fairly stable or perhaps even declines, while the opponent
process- the reaction to the original response- tends to grow in strength.
In sum, opponent process theory helps explain why people hold strong motivation for behavior
that on the surface has few benefits. It is frequently the opponent process not the initial reaction,
which maintains the motivation to carry out such behavior.

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4. Arousal theories/ optimal level theories/just right theories

Arousal theories seek to explain behavior in which the goal is the maintenance of or an increase
in excitement. These theories say that there is a certain optimal or best level of arousal that is
pleasurable.

According to arousal theory, each of us tries to maintain a certain level of stimulation activity.
As with the drive reduction model, if our stimulation and activity levels become too high, we try
to reduce them. But the arousal model also suggests something quite different from the drive
reduction model: If the levels of stimulation and activity are too low, we will try to increase them
by seeking stimulation.

Arousal theory has significant applications to a variety of fields. For example, students who are
highly anxious while taking tests on complex material may perform well below their ability
because of their high level of arousal.

5. Maslow’s Hierarchy: Motivational Needs

Abraham Maslow, a prominent humanistic theorist, proposes that human motives are organized
into a hierarchy of needs, a systematic arrangement of needs according to priority, which
assumes that basic needs must be met before less basic needs are aroused.
Maslow’s model considers different motivational needs to be ordered in a hierarchy, and it
suggests that before more sophisticated, higher order needs can be met, certain primary needs
must be satisfied.
The model can be conceptualized as a pyramid in which the more basic needs are at the bottom
and the higher levels needs are at the top.
The most basic needs are those described as primary drives: needs for water, food, sleep, sex and
the like. In order to move up the hierarchy, the person must have these basic physiological needs
met.

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Safety needs come next in he hierarchy; Maslow suggests that people need a safe, secure
environment in order to function actively. Safety needs reflect concern about long-term survival.

Safety and security needs motivate adults to seek a stable job, to buy insurance, and to put
money in their savings accounts.
Physiological and safety needs compose the lower order needs. Only when the basic lower order
needs are met can a person consider fulfilling higher order needs, consisting of love and
belongingness, esteem and self-actualization.

Love and belongingness needs include the need to obtain and give affection and to be a
contributing member of some group or society. After these needs are fulfilled the person strives
for esteem.

In Maslow’s thinking esteem relates to the need to develop a sense of self worth by knowing that
others are aware of ones competence and value. People with esteem needs become concerned
about their achievement, and the recognition and the recognition respect and status that they earn.

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Once these four sets of needs are fulfilled- no easy task- the person is ready to strive for the
higher level need, self-actualization.

Self- actualization is a state of self-fulfillment in which people realize their highest potential.
The important thing in self-actualization is that people feel at ease with themselves and satisfied
that they are using their talents to the fullest.

In a sense, reaching self-actualization produces a decline in the striving and yearning for greater
fulfillment that marks most people’s lives and instead provides a sense of satisfaction with the
current state of affairs.

Classification of Motives
Motives can be divided into three major categories:

1. Primary / Biological /Physiological Motives

Theses motives are, to a large extent, rooted in the physiological state of the body. Primary
motives are innate in nature and must be met for survival.

The most important primary motives include hunger, pain avoidance, a need for oxygen, sleep,
elimination of wastes, and regulation of body temperature.

Many biological motives are triggered, in part, by departures from balanced physiological
conditions of the body. The body tends to maintain a state of equilibrium called homeostasis in
many of its internal physiological processes.

2. Stimulus Motives: Motives to know and to be effective

These are motives to

 seek variety in stimulation,
 process information about the world around us,
 explore and to be effective in mastering challenges from the environment.

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The purpose of stimulus motives seems to be to provide the nervous system with useful
information and stimulation.

The stimulus motives cause the individual to seek out sensory stimulation through interaction
with the environment. They include activity, curiosity, exploration, manipulation, and physical
contact.
Because these motives are so persistent and seem to exist to one degree or another in everyone
they are often considered innate, part of the human species heritage. In a sense, these motives are
behind our greatest human accomplishments and also, unfortunately, our greatest failure.

3. Social Motives

Social motives are the complex motive states, or needs that are the sources of many human
actions.
They are called social because they are learned in social groups, especially in the family as
children grow up and because they usually involve other people.
These human motives can be looked upon as general states that lead to many particular behaviors.
Not only do they help to determine much of what a person does, they persist never fully satisfied,
over the years. No sooner is one goal reached than the motive is directed toward another one.

Thus, social motives are general persisting characteristics of a person, and since they are learned,
their strength differs greatly from one individual to another. Consequently, social motives are
important components of personality.

Many social motives have been proposed. Some of these include needs for achievement,
affiliation, power, approval, status, security, and aggression.

7.3. Conflicts of Motives and Frustration

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The term frustration refers to the blocking of any goal directed behavior. If motives are
frustrated, or blocked, emotional feelings and behavior often result. People who cannot achieve
their important goals feel depressed, fearful, anxious, guilty, or angry. Often they are simply
unable to derive ordinary pleasure from leaving.

Sources of Frustration

Environmental forces: Environmental factors can frustrate the satisfaction of motives by

making it difficult or impossible for a person to attain a goal.
Personal inadequacies: Setting unattainable goals can be important sources of frustration.
People are often frustrated because they aspire to goals- have a level of aspiration- beyond their
capacity to perform.
Conflict of motives

Conflict exists whenever a person has incompatible or opposing goals. The frustration comes
from being unable to satisfy all the goals. Whatever goal the person decides to satisfy, there will
be frustration, most likely preceded by turmoil, doubt, and vacillation.

Of the three general sources of frustration described above the one that often produces the most
persistent and deep-seated frustration in many individuals is motivational conflict. There are
about four basic kinds of motivational conflicts.

1. Approach- Approach Conflict

Occurs when one is simultaneously/equally attracted to two or more desirable goals/ outcomes.
Generally, such conflicts cause little distress and are easily resolved. The reason is that although
we must choose one alternative now, we can often obtain the other at a later time.
2. Avoidance- Avoidance Conflict

This conflict occurs when we are motivated to avoid each of two (or more) equally unattractive
choices, but must choose one.

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Avoidance- avoidance conflicts tend to involve a great deal of vacillation and hesitation. Moving
closer to one of the unattractive choices increases our discomfort and leads us to retreat. This
retreat brings us closer to the other unattractive alternative, and we retreat in the opposite
direction.

3. Approach avoidance conflict

This kind of conflict occurs when a person is motivated to both approach and avoid the same
goal .In these kinds of conflicts both attraction and repulsion are typically strongest when you are
nearest the goal. The closer you are to something appealing, the stronger your desire to approach
it; the closer you are to something unpleasant, the stronger your desire to flee.
As with avoidance-avoidance conflicts, vacillation is common in these conflicts. Often however
the negative valence is not repellent enough to stop the approach behavior.
In such cases people reach the goal but much more slowly and hesitantly than they would have
without the negative valence; until the goal is reached there is [Link] after the goal is
reached, an individual may feel uneasy because of the negative valence attached to it.
Wherever a person is frustrated by not reaching it at all, emotional reactions such as fear, anger,
and resentment commonly accompany approach avoidance conflicts.

4. Multiple approach-avoidance conflicts

Such conflicts are the ones we most often face in life. These involve situations in which several
options exist, with each one containing both positive and negative elements. Not surprisingly
these are the hardest to resolve and the most stressful.

7.4. Definition of Emotion

No single definition of emotion is accepted; so, finding a definition acceptable to psychologists

has proved to be an elusive task. One mainstream definition of emotion refers to a feeling state
involving thoughts, physiological changes and an outward expression of behavior.

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7.5. Components of Emotion

In spite of the disagreement on one definition of emotion most psychologists agree on the major
components of emotion. These major components are:
 Physiological changes
 Subjective cognitive states
 Expressive behaviors

1. Physiological Changes

When we are excited, terrified, enraged, we perceive some of the things happening in our bodies,
but we certainly are not aware of all that is happening. Direct observation using recording
instruments has given scientists a great deal of information about the bodily events in emotion.

Psycho physiologists, who study such events, are able to measure the heart rate, blood pressure,
blood flow to various parts of the body, activity of the stomach and gastrointestinal system,
levels of various substances such as hormones in the blood, breathing rate and depth and many
other bodily conditions in emotion. All of these changes are called physiological changes.

From studies by psychophysilogists, we know that many of the bodily changes that occur in
emotion are produced by the activity of a part of the nervous system called the Autonomic
System. This system is part of the peripheral nervous system and it consists of two other parts,
the sympathetic and the parasympathetic systems

Sympathetic system- activated in response to threats to the organism. It arouses the body for
action (e.g by stopping digestion, increasing heart beat, relaxing bladder and so on).
Parasympathetic system- supports activities that maintain the body’s store of energy (after
emergency is over). It calms down the body to maintain energy (e/g by slowing heart beat,
lowering blood pressure, resuming digestion, and so on).

2. Subjective cognitive state/ thought

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The subjective cognitive states involve the importance of thoughts, beliefs, and expectations in
determining the type and intensity of the emotional response. It generally includes the personal
experiences that we label as emotions.

3. Expressive Behaviors

Emotions are personal. No one can truly share our subjective experiences. Yet we are able to
recognize the presence of various emotions in others, and we are able to communicate our own
feelings to them as well. This occurs because of the presence of nonverbal cues - outward,
observable signs of others’ internal emotional states. The most revealing of these consists of
facial expressions, eye contact, body movements and posture, and touching.

Facial expressions: It is possible to learn much about others’ current moods and feelings from
their facial expressions. That is, moods and feelings are often reflected in the face and can be
read there from specific expressions. It appears that there are six different emotions, which are
clearly represented on the face. These are anger, fear, sadness, disgust, happiness and surprise.

Eye contact: we do often learn much about others feelings from their eyes. Fore example, we
interpret a high level of gazing from another as a sign of liking or friendliness. In contrast, if
others avoid eye contact with us, we may conclude that they are unfriendly, don’t like us, or are
shy.

While a high level of eye contact from others is usual interpreted as a sign of liking or positive
feelings, there is one important exception to this general rule. If another person gazes at us
continuously and maintains such contact regardless of any actions we perform, she or he can be
said to be staring. Stares are often interpreted as a sign of anger or hostility.
Body Language: Our current mood or emotion is often reflected in the posture, position, and
movement of our body. Together, such non-verbal behaviors are termed as Body Language.

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Touching: Growing evidence indicates that when one person touches another in a manner that is
considered acceptable in the current context, positive reactions generally result.
7.2.1. The Function of Emotion
Imagine what would be like if we did not experience emotion – no depression, no happiness, joy,
or love. Obviously life might be considerably less satisfying, and even dull, if we lacked the
capacity to sense and express emotions. But do emotions serve any purpose beyond making life
interesting? Among the most important of those functions are the following:
1. Prepare us for action
Emotions act as a link between events in the external environment and behavioral responses of
that an individual makes. In this regard, emotions are stimuli that aid in the development of
effective responses to various situations.
2. Shapes our future behavior
Emotions serve to promote learning of information that will assist us in making appropriate
response in the future. For example, the feeling of satisfaction that follows giving of a charity is
likely reinforce charitable behavior and makes more likely to occur in the future.
3. Helps us to regulate social interaction
The emotions that we experience are frequently obvious to observers, as they are communicated
through our verbal and nonverbal behaviors. These behaviors can act as a signal to observers,
allowing them to better understand what we are experiencing and to predict our future behavior.
In turn, this promotes more effective and appropriate social interaction

7.2.2. Expression of Emotion

How do you know your fellow friends feel? And how do they know how you feel? Because our
emotional experiences are private, they cannot be directly observed by other people. Instead
emotions are inferred from descriptions of them, or from expressive behaviors.

1. Vocal Qualities

When you speak, both your words and voice convey emotion. The vocal features of speech, other
than the word themselves, are called prosody. Prosodic features include rate, pith, and loudness.
You can use the same spoken words to express different emotions by simply altering the
prosodic features of your speech. Changes in vocal qualities indicative of changes in emotion

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tend to be consistent to one person to another and from one culture to another. Voce quality also
affects social relations. In some cases it may cause social rejection.

2. Body Movements

If you have observed the gestures of impatient drivers in heavy traffic on a hot winter day, you
know that body movements can convey emotions. The emotional cues provided by body
movements are distinct from those provided by facial expressions or physical appearance. The
ability to decode nonverbal bodily activities is important in social interaction. In this regard
females are superior to males in decoding emotional states from body movements. And we often
seem to prefer an optimal level of nonverbal interaction in everyday social relations. We like
people who are neither too nonverbally aloof nor too nonverbally intrusive.

3. Facial Expressions

Philip D. Chesterfield noted that faces give away our emotions: “Look in the face of the person
to whom you are speaking if you wish to know his real sentiments, for he can command his
words more easily than his countenance.” Research has shown that facial expressions convey
both the intensity and pleasantness of emotional states. Knowledge of the relationship between
facial expressions and emotions has enabled researchers to distinguish honest emotions from
fake ones. For example, the face reveals when smiles are sincere or false. According to Charles
Darwin and other famous researchers in the area of human emotional expressions, facial
expressions for basic emotions are inborn and universal.

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7.1. Facial expressions for basic emotions

What emotions do you associate with these facial expressions? Research has shown that people
around the world—whether they are from the United States, Brazil, Japan, or New Guinea—
interpret these six facial expressions in much the same way. The emotions displayed on the
picture are, top row, left to right, anger, fear, disgust, and bottom row, surprise, happiness, and
sadness. A seventh emotion not shown here, contempt, also has a distinct facial expression
recognized across cultures.

7.6. Theories of Emotion

Among the many theories of emotion that have been proposed, four have been most influential.
These theories are known by the name of the scientists who proposed them.
I. James-Lange Theory
The James-Lange theory of emotion argues that an event causes physiological arousal first and
then we interpret this arousal. Only after our interpretation of the arousal can we experience
emotion. If the arousal is not noticed or is not given any thought, then we will not experience
any emotion based on this event.
EXMPLE: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and
you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens. You notice these
physiological changes and interpret them as your bodies’ preparation for a fearful situation. You
then experience fear.

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This theory suggests that subjective emotional experiences are actually the result of
physiological changes within our bodies.
2. Cannon-Bard Theory
The Cannon-Bard theory argues that we experience physiological arousal and emotional at the
same time, but gives no attention to the role of thoughts or outward behavior.
EXAMPLE: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and
you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens. At the same time as
these physiological changes occurs you also experience the emotion of fear.

This theory suggests that various emotion-provoking events induce simultaneously the subjective
experiences we label as emotions and the physiological reactions that accompany them.
3. Schachter-Singer Theory
According to this theory, an event causes physiological arousal first. You must then identify a
reason for this arousal and then you are able to experience and label the emotion.

EXAMPLE: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you
and you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens. Upon noticing
this arousal you realize that is comes from the fact that you are walking down a dark alley by
yourself. This behavior is dangerous and therefore you feel the emotion of fear.

According to this view, emotion-provoking events produce increased arousal. In response to

feelings of arousal, we search the external environment in order to identify the causes of such
feelings. The causes we then select play a key role in determining the label we place on our
arousal, and so in determining the emotion we experience.

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4. Lazarus Theory
Lazarus Theory states that a thought must come before any emotion or physiological arousal. In
other words, you must first think about your situation before you can experience an emotion.
EXAMPLE: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and
you think it may be a mugger so you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing
deepens and at the same time experience fear.

5. Facial Feedback Theory

Developed by Israel Waynbaum, this theory holds that our facial expressions affect our
emotional experiences. He assumed that particular facial expressions evoke particular emotional
experiences.

EXAMPLE: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you
and your eyes widen, your teeth clench and your brain interprets these facial changes as the
expression of fear. Therefore you experience the emotion of fear.

7.3. Emotional Intelligence

The Marshmallow Test: Four year children were given one Marshmallow and asked not to eat
until researcher asks them to eat. If they were patient and wait, they would receive two
marshmallows. Some children waited for the researcher and received two marshmallows. Some
children were tempted to eat couldn’t wait longer. These children were studied, as they became
adolescents. Children who resisted temptation at four were socially competent, personally
effective, self-assertive and able to cope with frustrations of life. Children who did not resist
temptation at four were school dropouts, anti-socials, low achievers, lacked self-esteem.
Psychologist Goleman who is the prime mover of EQ concludes: Delaying gratification is a
powerful factor in the future success/failure of children. Delaying gratification is scheduling the

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pain and pleasure in a way, which will enhance the pleasure, by experiencing the pain first.
Children taught to control and discipline unruly emotions and delaying gratification will be
successful in their life.
Five Dimensions of Emotional Intelligence
Goleman said that we need to incorporate five dimensions of emotional intelligence into
everything we do in school, for both adults and children.
1. Self-awareness. The first dimension, self-awareness, is the basis for self-confidence. We need
to know our strengths and limits and how to be decisive. Kids need to learn from a young age
what the words for feelings are, why they feel the way they do, and what action options they
have. For example, a recent study found that 6th grade girls who confused feelings of anger,
anxiety, loneliness, and hunger were at high risk of developing an eating disorder like bulimia or
anorexia in their teens. Such children would benefit from higher self-awareness and healthier
decision making.
2. Handling emotions generally. The second dimension, knowing how to handle upsetting
feelings, or impulses, is the root of emotional intelligence.
3. Motivation. Moving toward our goals is a third element of emotional intelligence. An
important element of motivation is hope--having a goal, knowing the small manageable steps it
takes to get to that goal, and having the "zeal or persistence" to follow through.
4. Empathy. Empathy, the fourth element, means reading other people's feelings by tone of
voice or facial expression, not necessarily words. Knowing how someone else feels is a
fundamental human ability--seen even in infants and small children.
5. Social skills. This is the fifth element of emotional intelligence. As Goleman noted, bullies
benefit from instruction in social skills. And such skills are contagious.

Emotional Skills for Life

Emotional intelligence matters for school achievement, job success, marital happiness, and
physical health. Goleman discussed the recent research finding that people who are chronically
anxious, sad, or depressed have double the risk of getting a major disease--a higher risk than
smoking.
Goleman emphasized that social-emotional development programs should be integrated into the
curriculum and the lives of the school, involves parents, and include community mentors. They

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do best when they go for the long term and when teachers are well trained--and when we
ourselves become healthier emotionally.
UNIT EIGHT
8.1 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY AND INFLUNCE
Learning objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

 Define social psychology

 Describe the roots of social psychology

 Understand the principal means of social influence

 Identify the nature of attitudes and its relation with behavior

 Indicate how the presence of others influences performance

 Discuss the nature of stereotype, prejudice and discrimination

 Understand the bases of interpersonal attraction

8. Introduction
Social psychology: is the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are
influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others (Allport, 1985). By this
definition, scientific refers to the empirical method of investigation. The terms thoughts, feelings,
and behaviors include all of the psychological variables that are measurable in a human being.
The statement that others may be imagined or implied suggests that we are prone to social
influence even when no other people are present, such as when watching television, or following
internalized cultural norms.

This chapter provides a comprehensive treatment of the major topics and issues in social
interaction. The course will emphasize the unique contribution of social psychologist to the
theory of social behavior in such areas as social beliefs and judgments, behavior and attitudes,
attitude change, conformity and obedience, persuasion, prejudice and discrimination, and social
conflict and peacemaking. Students will apply theories and concepts of social psychology to the
analysis of the military and social milieu.
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8.1. The roots of social psychology

The discipline of social psychology began in the United States at the dawn of the 20th Century.
The first published study in this area was an experiment by Norman Triplett (1898) on the
phenomenon of social facilitation. During the 1930s, many Gestalt
psychologists, particularly Kurt Lewin, fled to the United States
from Nazi Germany. They were instrumental in developing the
field as something separate from the behavioral and
psychoanalytic schools that were dominant during that time, and
social psychology has always maintained the legacy of their
interests in perception and cognition. Attitudes and a variety of
small group phenomena were the most commonly studied topics
in this era.

Fig9.1. Kurt Lewin, the "father of social psychology.

Social psychology reached maturity in both theory and method during the 1980s and 1990s.
Careful ethical standards now regulate research, and greater pluralism and multiculturalism
perspectives have emerged. Modern researchers are interested in a variety of phenomena, but
attribution, social cognition, and the self-concept are perhaps the greatest areas of growth in
recent years. Social psychologists have also maintained their applied interests, with contributions
in health and environmental psychology, as well as the psychology of the legal system.

8.2. Intrapersonal phenomena

8.2.1. Attitudes

The study of attitudes is a core topi c in social psychology. Attitudes are involved in virtually
every other area of the discipline, including conformity, interpersonal attraction, social
perception, and prejudice. In social psychology, attitudes are defined as learned, global
evaluations of a person, object, place, or issue that influence thought and action (Perloff, 2003).

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Put more simply, Attitudes are learned predispositions to respond in a favorable or unfavorable
manner to a particular person, behavior, belief or thing or as Bem (1970) put it, likes and dislikes.
Examples would include liking chocolate ice cream, being anti-abortion, or endorsing the values
of a particular political party.

Attitudes follow what is called by social psychologists the ABC model. This model suggested
that attitude has three components: affect, behavior, and cognitions.
Affect component encompasses our positive or negative emotions about something, i.e. how we
feel about it. Example: Showing a positive emotion to a politician while he delivers a speech.
Behavior component consists of a predisposition or intention to act in a particular manner that is
relevant to our attitude. Example: Participate in electing him for a premiership.
Cognition refers to beliefs and thoughts we hold about the object of our attitude. Example:
Convincing others that he is the best candidate for the country by telling them what you think
about the person.
Every attitude has the above three interrelated components although they may vary in terms of
which element predominates in the nature of their relationship.
Forming and Maintaining Attitudes
People do not enter the world holding well-defined attitudes towards any particular person,
object or idea. However they start to develop shortly after we come to the world. The principles
of learning are employed to express how we develop attitudes. Because people are influenced by
the situation, general attitudes are not always good predictors of specific behavior. For a variety
of reasons, a person may value the environment and not recycle a can on a particular day.
Attitudes that are well remembered and central to our self-concept, however, are more likely to
lead to behavior, and measures of general attitudes do predict patterns of behavior over time.

The link between Attitude and Behavior

Our attitudes influence our behavior. But at times it is observed that our behavior shapes our
attitudes. This is called forced compliance- a situation in which we feel compelled to say or do
things inconsistent with our true attitudes. As a result we experience unpleasant learning and are
forced to change our attitudes [cognitive dissonance]. Cognitive dissonance is the unpleasant
state experienced by individuals when they discover inconsistency between two attitudes they
hold or between their attitudes and their behavior.

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8.2.2. Persuasion

The topic of persuasion has received a great deal of attention in recent years. Persuasion is an
active method of influence that attempts to guide people toward the adoption of an attitude, idea,
or behavior by rational or emotive means. Persuasion relies on "appeals" rather than strong
pressure or coercion. Numerous variables have been found to influence the persuasion process,
and these are normally presented in four major categories: who said what to whom and how.

1. The Communicator, including credibility, expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness.

2. The Message, including varying degrees of reason, emotion (such as fear), one-sided or
two sided arguments, and other types of informational content.
3. The Audience, including a variety of demographics, personality traits, and preferences.
4. The Channel, including the printed word, radio, television, the internet, or face-to-face
interactions.

Let’s take it one part at a time

Fig 9.2. The traditional graphic representation of persuasion is this

Dual process theories of persuasion (such as the elaboration likelihood model) maintain that the
persuasive process is mediated by two separate "routes." Persuasion can be accomplished by
either superficial aspects of the communication or the internal logic of the message. Whether
someone is persuaded by a popular celebrity or factual arguments is largely determined by the
ability and motivation of the audience. However, decades of research have demonstrated that
deeply held attitudes are remarkably resistant to persuasion under normal circumstances.

8.2.3. Social cognition

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Social cognition is a growing area of social psychology that studies how people perceive, think
about, and remember information about others. One assumption in social cognition is that reality
is too complex to easily discern, and so we see the world according to simplified schemas or
images of reality. Schemas are generalized mental representations that organize knowledge and
guide information processing. For example, one's schema for mice might include the expectation
that they are small, and furry, and eat cheese. Social cognition proposes that cultural groups
develop similar schemas. Individuals who share schemas can essentially have the same thoughts
when confronted with a stimulus. For example, schemas often operate automatically and
unintentionally, and can lead to biases in perception and memory. Schematic expectations may
lead us to see something that is not there. One experiment found that people are more likely to
misperceive a weapon in the hands of a black man than a white man (Correll, et al., 2002). This
type of schema is actually a stereotype, a generalized set of beliefs about a particular group of
people. Stereotypes are often related to negative or preferential attitudes (prejudice) and
behavior (discrimination). Schemas for types of events (e.g. going to library, doing laundry) are
known as scripts.

Seeking to understand the roots of racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination, many
social psychologists study the causes and effects of stereotypes, generalized beliefs that associate
whole groups of people with certain traits. Stereotyping is widespread and can be found in all
societies. For example, many Americans assume that women are nurturing, African Americans
are athletic, librarians are reserved, Californians are laid back, and used-car dealers are
untrustworthy. Research shows that we naturally sort other people into social categories such as
race, gender, occupation, and socioeconomic class. Furthermore, we see people as part of either
“us” or “them”—depending on whether or not they are members of our own groups. In making
this distinction, we tend to generalize from a single person to a whole group and to assume that
“they” (members of a particular social group outside our own) are all alike. Although stereotypes
can help simplify our understanding of the world and may even contain a seed of truth, they are
usually overgeneralizations. Research shows that stereotypes can color our judgments of others
at an unconscious level.

Another prevalent and disturbing human phenomenon is prejudice, the negative evaluation of
others based solely on their membership in a particular group. The tendency to stereotype is one

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cause of prejudice, but there are at least two other causes as well. First, prejudices often stem
from direct competition for valuable but limited resources. This competition between groups can
trigger conflict, frustration, and hostility. Second, people may demean others, without realizing it,
in order to boost their own sense of self-worth. Research shows that people derive pride from
their connections to successful others, and that berating “them” (other groups) can make people
feel more secure about “us” (their own group). This finding may explain why people all over the
world believe that their own nationality, culture, and religion are better and more deserving than
those of other people.

Another major concept in social cognition is attribution. Attributions are the explanations we
make for people's behavior, either our own behavior or the behavior of others. An attribution can
be either internal or external. Internal or dispositional attributions assign causality to factors
within the person, such as ability or personality. External or situational attributions assign
causality to an outside factor, such as the weather. Numerous biases in the attribution process
have been discovered:

 Fundamental attribution error – the tendency to overestimates the impact of

dispositional (internal) cause for others behavior. This tendency to overemphasize
dispositional cause while underestimating the impact of situational (external) ones seems
to arise from the fact that when we observe another persons behavior. We tend to focus
on his or her actions, the context in which these occur often fades into the background as
a result the potential impact of situational causes receives less attention.
 Just-world phenomenon- the tendency to blame victims (a dispositional attribution) for
their suffering. This is believed to be motivated by people's anxiety that good people,
including themselves, could be victimized in an unjust world.
 Self-serving bias - the tendency to take credit for successes, and blame others for failure.
Researchers have found that depressed individuals often lack this bias and actually have
more realistic perceptions of reality.

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8.2.4. Self-concept

The fields of social psychology and personality have merged over the years, and social
psychologists have developed an interest in a variety of self-related phenomena. In contrast with
traditional personality theory, however, social psychologists place a greater emphasis on
cognitions than on traits. Much research focuses on the self-concept, which is a person's
understanding of his or her self. The self-concept can be divided into a cognitive component,
known as the self-schema, and an evaluative component, the self-esteem. The need to maintain a
healthy self-esteem is recognized as a central human motivation in the field of social psychology.
Self-efficacy beliefs are an aspect of the self-schema. Self-efficacy refers to an individual's
expectation that performance on some task will be effective and successful.

People develop their self-concepts by a variety of means, including introspection, feedback from
others, self-perception, and social comparison. By comparison to relevant others, people gain
information about themselves, and they make inferences that are relevant to self-esteem. Social
comparisons can be either upward or downward, that is, comparisons to people who are either
higher in status or ability, or lower in status or ability. Downward comparisons are often made in
order to elevate self-esteem.

Self-perception is a specialized form of attribution that involves making inferences about oneself
after observing one's own behavior. Psychologists have found that too many extrinsic rewards
(e.g. money) tend to reduce intrinsic motivation through the self-perception process. People's
attention is directed to the reward and they lose interest in the task when the reward is no longer
offered. This is an important exception to reinforcement theory.

9.2.5. Cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is a feeling of unpleasant arousal caused by noticing an inconsistency

among one's cognitions (Festinger, 1957). Cognitive dissonance was
originally developed as a theory of attitude change, but it is now
considered to be a self theory by most social psychologists.
Dissonance is strongest when a discrepancy has been noticed between
one's self-concept and one's behavior, e.g. doing something that

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makes one ashamed. This can result in self-justification as the individual attempts to deal with
the threat. Cognitive dissonance typically leads to a change in attitude, a change in behavior, a
self-affirmation, or a rationalization of the behavior.

Fig 8.3. Leon Festinger, student of Kurt Lewin and founder of cognitive dissonance theory

An example of cognitive dissonance is smoking. Smoking cigarettes increases the risk of cancer,
which is threatening to the self-concept of the individual who smokes. Most of us believe
ourselves to be intelligent and rational, and the idea of doing something foolish and self-
destructive cause’s dissonance. To reduce this uncomfortable tension, smokers tend to make
excuses for themselves, such as "I'm going to die anyway, so it doesn't matter."

8.3. Interpersonal phenomena

8.3.1 Social influence

Social influence refers to the way people affect the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of others.
Like the study of attitudes, it is a traditional, core topic in social psychology. In fact, research on
social influence overlaps considerably with research on attitudes and persuasion. Social influence
is also closely related to the study of group dynamics, as most of the principles of influence are
strongest when they take place in social groups.

Conformity is the most common and pervasive form of social influence. It is generally defined as
the tendency to act or think like other members of a group. Group size, unanimity, cohesion,
status, and prior commitment all help to determine the level of conformity in an individual.
Conformity is usually viewed as a negative tendency in American culture, but a certain amount
of conformity is not only necessary and normal, but probably essential for a community to
function.

The two major motives in conformity are: 1) normative influence, the tendency to conform in
order to gain social acceptance, and avoid social rejection or conflict, as in peer pressure; and 2)
informational influence, which is based on the desire to obtain useful information through
conformity, and thereby achieve a correct or appropriate result. Minority influence is the degree
to which a smaller faction within the group influences the group during decision making. Note
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that this refers to a minority position on some issue, not an ethnic minority. Their influence is
primarily informational and depends on consistent adherence to a position, degree of defection
from the majority, and the status and self-confidence of the minority members. Reactance is a
tendency to assert oneself by doing the opposite of what is expected. This phenomenon is also
known as anti - conformity and it appears to be more common in men than in women.

Compliance refers to any change in behavior that is due to a request or suggestion from another
person. . Compliance, on the other hand, refers to the behavior that occurs in response to direct,
explicit social pressure to accept a particular point of view. This notion is what sets conformity
and compliance apart. The central aspect of conformity is that the person being influenced by the
groups change his/her attitudes and/or beliefs while the main point of compliance is the
achievement of some specified task
Such behavior is commonly observed among people when they behave according to what the
majority in the immediate environment is practicing. Example- No matter how you do not accept
the reasons for the establishment of social gatherings such as ‘Mahber’ or ‘Edir’, you will be
urged to join for fear of the social neglect.

Techniques of compliance

1. Ingratiation; a technique for getting target persons to like us so they will be more willing to
comply with our requests.

2. foot- in-the- door technique: - it is a tactic for inducing a person to comply with an initial
small request and then escalating to a large demand later. E.g. asking for the time, and then
asking for ten dollars.

3. Bait and switch (Cialdini, 2000) a technique for gaining compliance in which items offered
for sale are unavailable or sold all. This leads customers to buy a more expensive item that is
available.

4. Lowball procedure: - a technique for gaining compliance in which a deal (agreement) is

changed to make it less attractive to the target persons after this person has accepted it.

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Obedience refers to changing one’s behavior due to the command of others. Although this is not
common as compared to the previous two, people show obedience to their managers, teachers,
religious leaders, or parents who, only because of their power, they can reward or punish their
subordinates, students, or adherents.

Obedience also refers to the act of following orders without question because they come from a
legitimate authority. There are many legitimate authorities in people's lives - from their parents
to teachers at school and even spiritual leaders. Most of these authority figures that have been
named are given their authority by society. We are just expected to follow what they tell us to do.
In other words we are obedient to these people.

Every person at some time in his/her life has followed a superior without questioning why they
are doing what they are doing. For example we never question why we take tests in school.

8.3.2. Group dynamics

A group is two or more people that interact, influence each other, and share a common identity.
Groups have a number of emergent qualities that distinguish them from aggregates:

 Norms - implicit rules and expectations for group members to follow, e.g. saying thank
you, shaking hands.
 Roles - implicit rules and expectations for specific members within the group, e.g. the
oldest sibling, who may have additional responsibilities in the family.
 Relations - patterns of liking within the group, and also differences in prestige or status,
e.g. leaders, popular people.

Temporary groups and aggregates share few or none of these features, and do not qualify as true
social groups. People waiting in line to get on a bus, for example, do not constitute a group.

Groups are important not only because they offer social support, resources, and a feeling of
belonging, but because they supplement an individual's self-concept. To a large extent, we define
ourselves by our group memberships. This natural tendency for people to identify themselves
with a particular group and contrast themselves with other groups is known as social identity

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(Tajfel & Turner, 1986). Unfortunately, social identity can lead to feelings of "us and them." It is
frequently associated with preferential treatment toward the in-group, and prejudice and
discrimination against out groups.

Groups often moderate and improve decision making, and are frequently relied upon for these
benefits, such as committees and juries. A number of group biases, however, can interfere with
effective decision making. For example, group polarization, formerly known as the risky shift,
occurs when people polarize their views in a more extreme direction after group discussion.
Even worse is the phenomenon of groupthink. This is a collective thinking defect that is
characterized by a premature consensus. Groupthink is caused by a variety of factors, including
isolation and a highly directive leader.

Groups also affect performance and productivity. Social facilitation, for example, is a tendency
to work harder and faster in the presence of others. Social facilitation increases the likelihood of
the dominant response, which tends to improve performance on simple tasks and reduce it on
complex tasks. In contrast, social loafing is the tendency of individuals to slack when working in
a group. Social loafing is common when the task is considered unimportant and individual
contributions are not easy to see.

8.3.3. Relations with others

Social psychologists are interested in the question of why people sometimes act in a prosocial
way (helping, liking, or loving others), but at other times act in an antisocial way (hostility,
aggression, or prejudice against others).

Aggression can be defined as any behavior that is intended to harm another human being.
Hostile aggression is accompanied by strong emotions, particularly anger. Harming the other
person is the goal. Instrumental aggression is only a means to an end. Harming the person is
used to obtain some other goal, such as money. Research indicates that there are many causes of
aggression, including biological factors like testosterone and environmental factors, such as
social learning. Immediate situational factors such as frustration are also important in triggering
an aggressive response.

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Although violence is a fact of life, people are also capable of helping each other, even complete
strangers in emergencies. Research indicates that altruism occurs when a person feels empathy
for another individual, even in the absence of other motives (Batson, 1998). However, according
to the bystander effect, the probability of receiving help in an emergency situation drops as the
number of bystanders increases. This is due to conformity effects and a diffusion of responsibility
(Latane, 1981).

8.3.4. Interpersonal attraction

Another major area in the study of people's relations to each other is interpersonal attraction.
This refers to all of the forces that lead people to like each other, establish relationships, and in
some cases, fall in love. Several general principles have been discovered by researchers in this
area:

 Proximity - physical proximity increases attraction, as opposed to long distance

relationships which are more at risk.
 Familiarity - mere exposure to others increases attraction, even when the exposure is not
consciously realized.
 Similarity - the more similar two people are in attitudes, background, and other traits, the
more probable it is that they will like each other. Contrary to popular opinion, opposites
do not usually attract.

Physical attractiveness is an important element of romantic relationships, particularly in the

early stages which are characterized by high levels of passion. Later on, similarity becomes more
important and the type of love people experience shifts from passionate to companionate. Robert
Sternberg (1986) has suggested that there are actually three components to love: intimacy,
passion, and commitment.

According to social exchange theory, relationships are based on rational choice and cost-benefit
analysis. If one partner's costs begin to outweigh his or her benefits, that person may leave the
relationship, especially if there are good alternatives available. With time, long term
relationships tend to become communal rather than simply based on exchange.

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