Unit III

Behaviour and abnormal behaviour

Social Psychology
? Social psychology is the scientific study of how people's thoughts,
feelings, and behaviours are influenced by the actual, imagined, or
implied presence of others.
? The terms thoughts, feelings, and behaviours include all of the
psychological variables that are measurable in a human being.
? The reference to imagined or implied others 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.
? The study of attitudes is a core topic in social psychology.
? Attitudes are involved in virtually every other area of the discipline,
including conformity, interpersonal attraction, social perception, and
prejudice.
? Social psychologists typically explain human behaviour as a result of the
interaction of mental states and immediate, social situations.
 Maslow’s
hierarchy of
needs and
motivation
Motivation

Motivation can be defined as stimulating, inspiring and

inducing a person to perform to his/her best capacity. Motivation
in psychology is defined as an internal process that makes a person
move toward a goal.
? Motivation: Psychological factors that guide behavior.

? Motivation is that process that initiates, guides, and maintains

goal-oriented behavior.

? It is what causes us to act, whether it is getting a glass of water

to reduce our thirst or reading a book to gain knowledge.
Process of Motivation

1. Unsatisfied need
?

2. Tension
?

3. Drive
?

4. Search behavior
?

5. Satisfaction need
?

6. Reduction of tension
?
Components of Motivation
There are three major components of motivation:
Activation involves the decision to initiate a behavior, such as enrolling in a
?

class.
Persistence is the continued effort toward a goal even though obstacles may
?

exist. For example, completing a course in order to earn a degree although it

requires a significant investment of time, energy and resources.
Intensity can be seen in the concentration and vigor that goes into pursuing a
?

goal. One student might coast by without much effort, while another student
will study regularly, participate in research work and so on. The first student
lacks intensity whereas the second pursues his educational goals with greater
intensity.
 Need for Motivation
? Motivation helps to improve performance levels of a person.
Since proper motivation satisfies our needs, we in turn devote all
their energies for optimum performance in our work.

? Motivation helps to change negative or indifferent attitudes of a

person to positive attitudes so as to achieve personal goals. For
example, a worker may have indifferent or negative attitude
towards his work, if he is not rewarded properly. If suitable
rewards are given and supervisor gives positive encouragement
and praise for the good work done, the worker may slowly
develop positive attitude towards the work.
 Theories of motivation
? Instincts : These are fixed and inborn patterns of motivation,
i.e., fear, cleanliness, love.

? Drives and needs : These include our basic biological needs.

? Arousal needs : These suggest that people engage in behaviors

that help them maintain their optimal level of arousal.
Types Of Motivation
Motivation can be either positive or negative. Positive
motivation provides positive rewards like increase in pay,
promotion, recognition etc., Negative motivation uses
negative means like punishment, stopping increments,
threatening etc. which also may induce a person to act in
the desired way
Extrinsic and Intrinsic motivation
? Extrinsic motivations are those that arise from outside of the
individual and often involve rewards such as trophies, money,
social recognition or praise.

? Intrinsic motivations are those that arise from within the

individual, such as doing a complicated crossword purely for the
personal satisfaction of being able to solve the puzzle.
 Maslow’s Need
Hierarchy Theory
 Introduction
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory
in psychology comprising a five-tier model of
human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels
within a pyramid.
Needs lower down in the hierarchy must be
satisfied before individuals can attend to needs
higher up. From the bottom of the hierarchy
upwards, the needs are: physiological, safety, love
and belonging, esteem and self-actualization.
 Deficiency needs vs. growth
needs
This five-stage model can be divided into deficiency
needs and growth needs. The first four levels are often
referred to as deficiency needs (D-needs), and the top
level is known as growth or being needs (B-needs).
Deficiency needs arise due to deprivation and are said
to motivate people when they are unmet. Also,
the motivation to fulfil such needs will become stronger
the longer the duration they are denied.
 The original hierarchy of needs- five stage

1. Physiological needs - these are biological requirements

for human survival, e.g. air, food, drink, shelter, clothing,
warmth, sex, sleep.
Maslow considered physiological needs the most important
as all the other needs become secondary until these needs
are met.
A. These needs form the foundational of hierarchy
and tend to have the highest strength in terms of motivation
B. Basic salary and other monetary incentives help
to satisfy this need .
2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security,
order, law, stability, freedom from fear, all this constitutes
safety needs
A. These needs protects from emotional and
physical harm
B. Motivators like benefits of pension plans, job
security, stability of incomes, etc help to satisfy these
needs
[Link] affiliation or belongingness needs - after
physiological and safety needs have been fulfilled, the
third level of human needs is social and involves
feelings of belongingness. The need for interpersonal
relationships motivates behavior
Examples include friendship, intimacy, trust, and
acceptance, receiving and giving affection and love.
Affiliating, being part of a group (family, friends, work).
4. Esteem needs - which Maslow classified into two
categories: (i) esteem for oneself (dignity, achievement,
mastery, independence) and (ii) the desire for reputation
or respect from others (e.g., status, prestige).
Maslow indicated that the need for respect or reputation is
most important for children and adolescents and precedes
real self-esteem or dignity
Example: higher level employees are motivated by such
needs
5. Self-actualization needs - realizing personal
potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and
peak experiences. A desire “to become everything one is
capable of becoming.
A. These needs include growth, self-fulfillment
and achievement
B. example, challenging jobs, opportunity for
innovation
 SUMMARY

a) human beings are motivated by a hierarchy of needs.

(b) needs are organized in a hierarchy of prepotency in
which more basic needs must be more or less met (rather
than all or none) prior to higher needs.
(c) the order of needs is not rigid but instead may be flexible
based on external circumstances or individual differences.
(d) most behaviour is multi-motivated, that is,
simultaneously determined by more than one basic need.
Emotions
 meaning and definition of emotion

? The word ‘Emotion’ has been derived from the Latin word ‘emovere’
which means ‘to disturb’, ‘to stir up’, ‘to agitate’ or ‘to excite’.
? The word emotion was coined in the early 1800s by Thomas Brown and
it is around the 1830s that the modern concept of emotion first
emerged.
? In psychology, emotion is often defined as a complex state of feeling
that results in physical and psychological changes that influence
thought and behavior.
Characteristics of emotions

? Emotion is a stirred up state of an organism.

? It is a specific condition of the mind.
? Emotion is a feeling of pleasantness and
unpleasantness.
? An emotion is always aroused by a certain stimulus.
? The same stimulus may arouse different emotions.
? Maturation plays an important role in emotional
development.
? There are objective and subjective factors in the
development of emotions.
? Emotion is more intense than a feeling.
? Emotions are universal - prevalent in every living organism at all stages of
development from infancy to old age.
? Emotions are personal and thus differ from individual to individual.
? Same emotions can be aroused by a number of different stimuli-objects and
situations.
? Emotions rise abruptly but subside slowly. An emotion once aroused tends to
persist and leave behind emotional hang over.
? Emotions have the quality of displacement. For example, an angry reaction caused
by a rebuke by a boss can find expression in the beating of the children at home.
? An emotion can give birth to a number of other similar emotions
? There is a negative correlation between the upsurge of emotion and intelligence.
Reasoning and sharp intellect restrain the sudden upsurge of emotions. On the
other hand, emotional upsurge adversely affects the process of reasoning and
thinking power.
? The emotional experiences are associated with one or the other instincts or
biological drives.
? The core of an emotion is feeling, which is aroused on account of the cognition of a
perceived stimulus, giving birth to a sort of impulsive act or urge to do.
? Every emotional experience involves many physical and physiological changes in the
organism.
Kinds of emotions
? The word 'emotion' encompasses a broad range of
feelings, behavior and changes in the body and mind.
Noted professor and psychologist, Robert Plutchik
listed 6 basic or main types of emotions as follows:
1. Happiness
2. Sadness
3. Fear
4. Disgust
5. Anger
6. Surprise
7. Other types of emotions
Other types of emotions
? Amusement
? Contentment
? Excitement
? Contempt
? Embarrassment
? Relief
? Pride in achievement
? Guilt
? Satisfaction
? Shame
INTELLIGENCE
DEFINITION OF INTELLIGENCE
WOODWORTH AND MARQUIS: Intelligence means intellect put
to use. It is the use of intellectual abilities for handling a
situation or accomplishing any task.
STERN: Intelligence is general capacity of an individual
consciously to adjust his thinking to new requirements . It is
general mental adaptability to new problems and condition of
life.
TERMAN: An individual is intelligent in proportion as he is able
to carry on abstract thinking
WAGNON: Intelligence is the capacity to learn and adjust to
relatively new and changing conditions.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF
INTELLIGENCE
• Intelligence is an innate natural endowment of the child.
• It helps the child in maximum learning in minimum period of time.
• The child is able to foresee the future and plan accordingly.
• The child is able to take advantage of his previous experiences.
• The child faces the future with compliance.
• He develops a sense of discrimination between right or wrong.
• The developmental period of intelligence is from birth to
adolescence.
• There is a minor difference in the development of intelligence
between boys and girls.
• There are individual differences with regard to the intelligence
between boys and girls.
• Intelligence is mostly determined by heredity but a suitable
environment necessary to improve it.
THEORY OF MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE
The theory of multiple intelligence has been proposed by Howard
Gardner (1983)
It is based on three following principles:
1. Intelligence is not a single or unitary entity rather there exists
multiple intelligences each distinct from others.
2. These intelligences are not interrelated rather independent of
each other. Thus if a person is good in one type of intelligence it
does not mean that he will be equally good or bad in other types of
intelligence
3. Different types of intelligence interact . This means that different
types of intelligence work together in providing solution to the
problem.
Types of intelligence
? Linguistic intelligence: This is related to reading , writing,
listening, talking, understanding etc. Poets or literates exhibit this
type of intelligence better than others.
? Logical mathematical : This type of intelligence is more
concerned with abstract reasoning and manipulation of symbols
involved in numerical problems . It is exhibited in scientific works.
? Spatial intelligence: This type of intelligence is used in
navigating in space, forming and transforming mental images.
Sailors, engineers, surgeons, pilot, car drivers, sculptors and
painters are found more highly developed in spatial intelligence.
Musical intelligence: Persons with musical intelligence show sensitivity to pitch and tone required for
singing , playing an instrument, composing and appreciating music ,etc.

Bodily – kinaesthetic intelligence: It involves skills and dexterity for fine coordinated motor movements
such as those required for dancing , athletics, surgery , craft making and the like.

Interpersonal intelligence: It requires understanding motives , feelings, and behaviours of other people .
Sales people , politicians, teachers, clinicians and religious leaders have high degree of interpersonal
intelligence.

Intrapersonal Intelligence: It is related to understanding one’s self and developing a sense of identity.
Persons with strong willpower and self esteem possess higher level of intrapersonal intelligence.

Naturalistic intelligence: It is related to recognising the flora and fauna and making a distinction in the
natural world. It is more possessed b hunters, farmers, tourists, students of biological sciences and the
like.

Existential / spiritual Intelligence: Sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human
existence, such as the meaning of life, why do we die and how did we get here. (1999)

Teaching – pedagogical Intelligence: Ability to teach effectively. (2016)

 HOW CAN INTELLIGENCE BE MEASURED
? The intelligence quotient (IQ) is a measure of intelligence that is adjusted for
age.
? The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) is the most widely used IQ test for
adults. Brain volume, speed of neural transmission, and working memory
capacity are related to IQ.
? The concept of Mental Age (MA) was first used by Binet which refers to an
individual’s level of mental development related to the environment in which the
individual lives. He argued that a mentally retarded child would perform like a
normal child of younger age.
? He compared Mental Age (MA) with Chronological Age (CA) or biological age or
the age from birth. A bright child has MA above his CA while a dull child has MA
below his CA.
? Intelligence Quotient (IQ): In 1911, William Stern suggested that in order to
better understand the intellectual ability in quantitative form, it is desirable to
convert the level of mental development into a ratio or quotient by converting
the MA and CA quantities into proportional ratio values. In view of this
suggestion, the concept of IQ could be devised in the year 1912.
? IQ = (MA/CA) X 100
Uses of intelligence tests
? Intelligence tests are very useful in evaluating one’s level of mental
development, know the weakness, make predictions, planning possible
improvements in deficiencies, guiding pupils to profit more from effective
schooling and also in providing adequate parental support in the pupil’s
learning process.
? Intelligence tests are used in different fields such as educational institutions,
industries, mental clinics, child guidance centers, recruitment of personnel for
different sectors of government / private / public undertakings, business
houses, etc.
? Use of intelligence test in educational institutions: Helps teachers and
other authorities to identify the educationally backwards and solve their
problems. On the basis of periodic test scores, teachers are able not only to
classify pupils into different intellectual categories but also to help them by
devising special instructional programmes suited to their mental development
to the adequate mental level.
? Use of Intelligence Test for Children: Useful in mental clinics and helps
clinicians outside the mental hospitals. Clinicians are able to score the
intellectual levels and interpret them for diagnostic purposes, prognosis
and deciding the therapeutic or rehabilitative programmes.
? Use of Intelligence Test for Parents: This is one of the primary utilities of
intelligence tests. These tests are useful in determining the parental
guidance for proper development and effective schooling of children.
? Use of Intelligence Tests for Child Guidance Centers: Useful for those who
are engaged in child guidance centers. Intelligence Test scores provide
them with information about the unique talents of each child to the
requirements of the educational course, jobs and thus is advantageous for
both the individual and the society. Intelligence tests are also useful in
many other fields such as training centers, recruitment and selection of
personnel for different service sectors, business organization, etc. where
man’s ability to work is to be assessed.
 Emotional Intelligence
? Emotional intelligence has been defined as "the ability to monitor one's own and
other people's emotions, to discriminate between different emotions and label
them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking and
behavior" by Peter Salovey and John Mayer.
? Though the term Emotional Intelligence first appeared in 1964 in Michael
Beldoch’s paper, it became popular after Goleman published the book
Emotional Intelligence – Why it can matter more than IQ?
? Emotional Quotient (EQ) is considered more powerful than Intelligence Quotient
(IQ).
? A review published in the journal of Annual Psychology found that higher
emotional intelligence is positively correlated with better social relations, being
more positive, better family and intimate relationships, better academic
achievement, better social relations, during work performance and in
negotiations, better psychological well-being and allowing self compassion.
INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY
also known as

General Learning Disability and Mental

Retardation is a generalized neuro
developmental disorder.
Intellectual disability affects about 2–3% of the general
•

population. Seventy-five to ninety percent of the affected

people have mild intellectual disability.

Intellectual disability (ID) is defined by an IQ under 70 in addition

•

to deficits in two or more behaviors that affect everyday, general

living.

Intellectual disability (ID) begins during childhood and involves

•

deficits in mental abilities, social skills, and core Activities of

Daily Living (ADLs) when compared to same-aged peers.
 SIGNS & SYMPTOMS:
1) The person attain IQs below 70 on an appropriate intelligence
test.
2) Delays in reaching or failure to achieve milestones in motor skills
development (sitting, crawling, walking).
3) Problems keeping up in school.
4) The person is far poor in adaptive skills to cope with ordinary
daily tasks.
5) Slowness in learning to talk or continued difficulties with speech
and language skills after starting to talk.
 SIGNS & SYMPTOMS:

6) Difficulty with self-help and self-care skills. (e.g., getting

dressed, washing, and feeding themselves)
7) Poor planning or problem solving abilities.
8) Difficulty understanding and following social rules.
9) Behavioral and social problems.
10) Failure to grow intellectually or continued infant-like behavior.
11) Failure to adapt or adjust to new situations.
 SEVERITY

IQ 50 – 69 MILD
IQ 35 – 49 MODERATE
IQ 20 – 34 SEVERE
 Causes
? Before Birth: Trauma before birth, such as an infection or
exposure to alcohol, drugs, or other toxins, inherited
disorders, such as phenylketonuria (PKU) or Tay-Sachs
disease, chromosome abnormalities, such as Down syndrome
and lead or mercury poisoning
? During Birth: Trauma during birth, such as oxygen
deprivation or premature delivery.
? After Birth: Severe malnutrition or other dietary issues, early
childhood illness, such as whooping cough, measles, or
meningitis and severe brain injury
Intellectual disability affects about 2–3% of the general population. 75–90% of the affected people
•

have mild intellectual disability. Non-syndromic or idiopathic ID accounts for 30–50% of cases.
About a quarter of cases are caused by a genetic disorder. Cases of unknown cause affect about 95
million people as of 2013. It is more common in males and in low to middle income countries.
Although there is no specific medication for intellectual disability, many people with
•

developmental disabilities have further medical complications and may be prescribed several
medications.
Mentally retarded children in fact need rehabilitative programme and improvement in the
•

environment.
A friendly style of interpersonal behaviour with smile is a major asset for the mentally retarded
•

children.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING ARE NOT LIKELY TO CURE MENTAL RETARDATION, BUT A
SUBSTANTIAL DIFFERENCE IN PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND OCCUPATIONAL ADJUSTMENT
MAYBE BROUGHT ABOUT
 Intelligence in Indian context
? Indian thinkers have also shown their deep concern for human potentials
and explored its nature in the context of self, society, the universe and also
beyond all these.
? Indian scholars hold a holistic view of intelligence and encompass both the
aspects of mental faculty – cognitive and non-cognitive domains in
integrative fashion.
? In Indian language, the term Buddhi is used for the term Intelligence which
is a broader in meaning than what intelligence means.
? The term Buddhi includes :
✔ Mental vigour or power of forming and retaining conceptions and general
notions.
✔ Reason, intellect, mind, discernment and judgement.
✔ Perception, comprehensions, apprehension and understanding.
✔ Knowledge of one’s own self conscience, will and desire.
✔ Presence of mind, ready wit and skill.
? According to J.P. Das, Buddhi refers to a mental state of alertness
what wakes up the individuals to notice and recognize the aspects
of environment, enables him to understand, comprehend,
evaluate, judge and decide the course and direction of action to
be executed in the given situation.
? According to Indian thinkers, an intelligent person possess the
following four kinds of competencies.
✔ Cognitive Competence: contextual sensitivity,
comprehensiveness, ability to discriminate, problem solving,
effective communication and understanding the things to totality.
✔ Social Competence: Following social norms, service to the elders,
obedience, helping the needy, showing concern about the
environment, effectiveness in interpersonal communication.
✔ Entrepreneurial Competence: Hard work, industriousness,
commitment, vigilance, goal directedness, independence, etc.
✔ Emotional Competence: Refers to emotional intelligence
such as adequate control over emotions, honesty,
politeness, realistic in approach, self-appraisal, good
conduct, avoiding negative feelings and enhancing
positive affect.
? Thus, Indian view of intelligence is not restricted only to
the cognitive aspects of intellect but also includes
socio-emotional domains and hence Indian concept of
Intelligence is pragmatic, ie. Sthir Buddhi or Pragya (Stable
intellect)
 Attitude
Components, ABC model, formation, influence on behaviour,
changes, functions
 Attitude
❑ Latin word ‘aptitude’ which means suitability
❑ Attitude is the way of thinking or feeling about something
or someone
❑ Refers to set of emotions, beliefs and behaviours toward a
particular object, person or thing
❑ According to Hogg & Vaughan, an attitude is a relatively
enduring organization of beliefs, feelings and behavioural
tendencies towards objects, groups, events or symbols.
❑ Psychologist define attitude as a learned tendency to
evaluate things in a certain way.
Components
❑ Harrison identified three main components in
attitude
Affective
o

o Behavioural
Cognitive
o
 ABC model
AFFECTIVE
It involves a person’s feelings or emotions towards a person
?

or an object
Emotional reaction one has toward an attitude object
?

Can be favouring or disfavouring, positive or negative

?

emotions
BEHAVIOUR

• The tendency to behave

towards the object
• The part of attitude which
reflects the intention of a
person in short run or long
run
 COGNITIVE

• Set of information, facts and

knowledge about an object
• It is the opinion or belief
sector of an attitude
• Relates to the general
knowledge of a person
▪ I like oranges ( affective component)
▪ I eat an orange everyday ( behavioural component)
▪ An orange is rich in vitamin C. It is good for skin. ( cognitive
component)
Formation of attitude
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
? Classical conditioning theory involves learning a new
behavior via the process of association
? John Watson proposed that the process of classical
conditioning (based on Pavlov’s observations) was able to
explain all aspects of human psychology
? People develop associations between various objects
and emotional reactions that accompany them.
 OPERANT CONDITIONING
? Operant conditioning is a method of learning that
occurs through rewards and punishments for
behavior
? “The best way to understand behavior is to look at
the causes of an action and its consequences” -
Skinner
 VICARIOUS LEARNING
? The vicarious learning is a type of learning
derived from indirect sources such as observation,
rather than direct instruction.
? With vicarious learning, information or learning is
transferred from one person to another through
observation.
Theories of attitude change
While attitude can have powerful effect on behaviour, the factors
influencing attitude formation can also influence attitude change.
? Learning Theory of Attitude Change:
Classical conditioning, operant conditioning and observational
learning can be used to bring about attitude change.
Classical Conditioning can be used to create positive emotional
reactions to an object, person or event by associating positive
feeling with the target object.
Operant Conditioning can be used to strengthen desirable attitude
and weaken undesirable ones.
People can also change their attitudes after observing the
behaviour of others.
? Elaboration Likelihood Theory of Attitude Change:
This theory of persuasion suggests that people can alter their attitudes in
two ways.
First, they can be motivated to listen and think about the message, thus
leading to an attitude shift.
Or, they might be influenced by characteristics of the speaker, leading to a
temporary or surface shift in attitude. Messages that are thought
provoking and that appeal to logic are more likely to lead to permanent
change in attitude.
? Dissonance Theory of Attitude Change:
People can also change their attitudes when they have conflicting beliefs
about the topic.
In order to reduce the tension created by these incompatible beliefs,
people often shift their attitudes.
Values
● Values are basic and fundamental beliefs that guide or motivate attitudes
or actions. They help us to determine what is important to us.
● Values describe the personal qualities we choose to embody to guide our
actions, the sort of person we want to be, the manner in which we treat
ourselves and others and our interaction with the world around us. They
provide the general guidelines for conduct.
● Personal values are personal beliefs about right and wrong and may or
may not be considered moral.
● Cultural values are values accepted by religions or societies and reflect
what is important in each context.
● Values are essential to ethics.
● For example, a person who values honesty might blow the whistly on
financial wrongdoing by a superior whereas another person who values
loyalty may remain silent.
● Some values stand up well over the test of time, they are always good or
rightful behaviour. Honesty and kindness are two such examples. It is
difficult to imagine having a satisfying relationship without them because
they build trust in relationships.
● There are always exceptions but they are rare. For example, if a criminal
out to do harm to your friend knocks on the door and asks whether you
have seen the friend, you say not to protect your friend from harm.
● Values differ from principles. Values provide one a sense of general
guidelines.
● Principles are more socially planned. They are universally accepted as real
standards.
● A ‘value’ is commonly formed by a particular belief that is related to the
worth of an idea or type of behaviour. Some people may see great value
in saving the world’s rainforests. However a person who relies on the
logging of a forest for their job may not place the same value on the
forest as a person who wants to save it.
● Values can influence many of the judgments we make.
Perception
● Perception can be defined as recognizing and interpreting sensory
information.
● It is a process of interpretation of the present stimulus on the basis of
past experience.
● William James, an American psychologist has said that if understand
the world as it appears to us, it will be a big booming- buzzing
confusion. Hence, we do not see the things as they appear, but we see
them as we want, i.e. more meaningfully.
● In perceptual process we select a particular stimulus with our attention
and interpret it. In the same way whenever it is necessary many
discrete stimuli in our visual field are organised into a form and
perceived more meaningfully than they appear.
● Gestalt psychologists believed that the brain creates a coherent
perceptual experience perceiving a stimulus as a whole than
perceiving discrete entities. This is more meaningfully stated in the
gestalt principle as ‘the whole is better than sum total of its parts’.
● Figure - ground relationship: According to this principle any figure
can be perceived more meaningfully in a background and that
figure cannot be separated from that background. For example,
letters written with a white chalk piece are perceived clearly in the
background of a blackboard.
● two faces can be seen in the background of a white colour. So also
the white background can be perceived as a vessel in the
background of two faces.
● Grouping of stimuli: According to gestalt principle, the objects
can be perceived meaningfully when they are grouped together.
There are some principles which are followed by us in order to
make our perception more meaningful. The principles are,
proximity, similarity, continuity, closure (gap filling) and
symmetry.
● Factors that affect perception are perceptual learning (blind
people identify people through their voice), mental set (hearing
the horn of the train even when it is too noisy when we expect a
train), motives and needs (a hungry person is motivated to
identify only food articles among the other articles) and cognitive
style (flexible people are more attentive)
Extrasensory perception
● There are some instances people that they have experienced
some perceptions without the aid of their sense organs.
Psychologists have named the perception that occurs without
sensory stimulation as ‘Extrasensory perception’ (ESP).
● This is otherwise known as sixth sense in common man’s view.
Some of the common phenomena in ESP are clairvoyance,
telepathy, meeting the souls, precognition, reincarnation, etc.
● Though research is going on, the researchers are unable to
confirm them, because these experiences are not repeatable for
verification. In many instances they remain as coincidences.
Errors in perception
● It may not be always possible to perceive the stimuli as they are. Knowingly
or unknowingly, we mistake the stimulus and perceive it wrongly.
● It may be due to defect in our sense organs or defective functioning of the
brain. Many times the prejudices in the individual, time of perception,
unfavourable background, lack of clarity of stimulus, confusion, conflict in
mind and such other factors are responsible for errors in perception. There
are two kinds of errors:
1. Illusion - which is a false perception (in dark, perceiving a rope as a
snake). Most our illusions are visual and auditory.
2. Hallucination: receiving a stimulus even when it is not present.
People with unsound mind, alcoholics and emotionally disturbed very
commonly experience hallucination.
 There are some more abnormalities in our sense perception and
they are

● Anaesthesia (no sensation)

● Hyperesthesia (excessive sensation)
● Paraesthesia (distorted or wrongly localised sensation)

In these sensations, tactile (skin) sensation is wrongly perceived.