Addis Ababa Science and Technology University

Freshman Engineering

General Psychology

Major concepts of General Psychology

Prepared by:

Izzat Engida Endalew………………ETS0833/14

Section: I1

Submitted on: Friday June 17/2022

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 Table of Contents

Contents……………………………………………………………………………………..ii

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………iii

1. Basic branches of psychology ………………………………………………………1

2. Perception of depth………………………………………………………………….1
2.1 Monocular cues for perception of depth………………………………………...1
2.2 Binocular cues for perception of depth…………………………………………2
3. Learning…………………………………………………………………………….2
3.1 Classical conditioning…………………………………………………………..2
3.2 Operant conditioning……………………………………………………………3
3.3 Observable behavior…………………………………………………………….3
4. Memory……………………………………………………………………………..3
5. Motivation and theories of motivation……………………………………………...4
5.1 Theories of motivation………………………………………………………….4
6. Emotion and theories of emotion…………………………………………………...5
6.1 Theories of emotion…………………………………………………………….5
7. Assumptions of the psychodynamic perspective
on personality development………………………………………………………...6
8. The big five factors of a personality
and a person’s high and lows on each of these traits ………………………………7
9. Criteria Psychological disorder……………………………………………………..7
9.1 Symptomatic of a psychological disorder ……………………………………..8
10. Treatment of psychological disorders throughout the ages…………………………8
10.1 Treatment in the past………………………………………………………..8
10.2 Treatment in the present…………………………………………………….8

III. Reflection………………………………………………………………………8
IV. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………..9
V. References ……………………………………………………………………..10

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I. Introduction

Introduction to psychology

The word psychology comes from two Greek words ‘psyche’ meaning mind or soul and ‘logos’
meaning study. Therefore, its epistemological meaning is “The study of the mind or soul”. Its
scientific meaning is: “Psychology is the scientific study of the human behavior and its
underlying mental”. In addition, psychology tries to describe and explain consciousness and
social interaction. Psychology is multifaceted discipline and includes many sub-fields of study
for the people who are interested in it.

Psychology as a study began not so long ago in 1875 in Leipzig Germany by Wilhelm Wundt, by
developing psychology in the use of scientific methods instead of traditional ways. For this
reason, Wilhelm Wundt was named as “The father of Psychology”.

Goals of psychology

As a study psychology has four main goals and they are to describe, to explain, to predict, and to
control (change) a condition.

Early perspective in psychology

Some of the early perceptive were structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism, Gestalt

psychology, and psychoanalysis. These perspectives helped in the development of new and better
perspectives that are used in this today’s age in psychology

Modern perspectives in psychology

They are psychodynamic, behaviorism, biological, social and cultural, cognitive, and lastly
humanistic.

All those different perspectives resulted in different types of fields and subfields in psychology,
which we are going to see in the main body of the assignment.

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 1. Basic branches of psychology

There are many braches of psychology, which a person may choose to specialize on. Some of
them are

1. Clinical psychology: mainly concerned with the treatment of psychological issues

through prevention and intervention. Particularly work with individuals with mental and
behavioral issues to provide the care that they need and to educate the communities on
mental health.
2. Experimental psychology: This field is all about finding answers to questions about
psychology. Mostly focus more on research instead of the application.
3. Educational Psychology: This area focuses on our behaviors in educational settings, and
how they are affected by the brain. They help on the development of curriculum,
teaching, and administration of academic programs.
4. Developmental Psychology: This branch of psychology studies the development of the
human brain, from when and how it is formed to what happens when people die. It also
examines how the psychology of people and cultures form and develop over time.
5. Forensic psychology: is used as a consulting tool in law and criminal related things. Or
in other term it is concerned with legal issues.
6. Industrial Psychology: Also known as organizational psychology, this branch is
concerned with psychological issues that are related to the workplace. And used as a tool
to increase productivity.
7. Social Psychology: This area of psychology examines how we are affected by our
interactions with other people and different social environments.
8. Health Psychology: This area of psychology covers the ways our minds influence our
bodies, and especially how biological and social factors can influence us. This includes
topics such as addiction or how we motivate ourselves to stay healthy and in shape.
9. Cross-cultural psychology: examines how culture is connected with human behavior,
thought and emotion, how it affect our mind.
10. Personality psychology: focuses on human characteristics and there traits. Some of the
personality can be self-concept, aggression, moral development and many more.
11. Consulting psychology: is somewhat similar to clinical psychology but focuses more on
helping individuals with less severe problems.
2. Perception of depth
Perception of depth is the ability to see things in see in three dimension (depth, length,
and width), and to judge how far an object is. There are two ways of using depth
perception. Monocular and Binocular
2.1Monocular cues for perception of depth
It is one of the ways we perceive depth in the world we live in. This cue is used for depth
perception that involves using only one eye. However, if you try closing one eye, it might

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 be more difficult to judge depth, but you're still able to detect how near or far objects are
in relation to your position.
Types of molecular cues
 Accommodation- is the change in the shape of the lens that lets you focus the image
of an object on the retina. The greater the accommodation the closer the image.
 Motion parallax- is the perception of moving objects. And also it is the tendency to
perceive ourselves move and zoom faster when the objects are closer to us than
objects that are far away.
 Interposition-object that overlaps another will look closer.
 Relative size-If two objects are roughly the same size; the object that looks the
largest will be judged as being the closest to the observer.
 Elevation- Objects located closer to the horizon tend to be perceived as farther away,
while those that are farther from the horizon are usually seen as being closer.
 Shading gradient-places with a light will look closer than the dark ones.
 Aerial perspective- the more clearly the object is the closer it looks.
 Texture gradient- The more detail is the closer the object.
 Linear perspective- Parallel lines seem to get closer as they go further.
2.2 Binocular cues for perception of depth
Binocular cues are perceptions of depth using two eyes, and the basic cues for depth
perception are retinal disparity and convergence.
 Retinal disparity- is the degree of difference between the images of an object
focused on the two eyes. The closer the object the greater disparity.
 Convergence- is the degree to which the eyes turn inward to focus on an object. The
Closer the object is to the eyes the greater the convergence. It helps to determine the
distance of the object from our face and eyes.
3.Learning
Learning is a process acquiring new knowledge, skills and understanding of a subject and
modification of our behaviors by the environment. There are three basic forms of learning
they are classical conditioning, operant conditioning, observational (insight) learning.

3.1Classical conditioning

Classical conditioning is a type of unconscious or automatic learning. This learning process

creates a conditioned response through associations between an unconditioned stimulus and a
neutral stimulus.

Types of classical conditioning

 Neutral Response- is a stimulus without a response
 Conditioned response (CR)-A response that, after conditioning, follows a previously
neutral stimulus. For example the salivation of the dog in Pavlov’s experiment.

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 Conditioned stimulus (CS) - A stimulus that can eventually trigger a conditioned
response. For example the ringing of the bell in Pavlov’s experiment.
 Unconditioned response (UCR) - A response that is natural and needs no training or
a natural reflex action. For example the salivation of the dog in sight of food in
Pavlov experiment.
 Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) - A stimulus that naturally brings about a particular
response without having been learned. For example the smell of the food in Pavlov
experiment.
3.2 Operant conditioning
Operant conditioning is a type of associative learning process through which the
strength of a behavior is modified by reinforcement or punishment.
This type of conditioning can lead to three types of consequences; they are
reinforcement, punishment, and neutral.
 Reinforcement- is an operant conditioning in which the subject is subjected to
rewards which reinforces his behavior to repeat the action. The reinforcement can be
positive or negative.
Reinforces can be primary and secondary. Primary focuses more biological needs
of a person and can work without a prior stimulus. While Secondary focuses on the
social aspect like money, power, and they need a prior stimulus.
 Punishment- is an operant conditioning in which punishment minimizes the behavior
and the action being repeated again. And have primary and secondary punishments.
Primary being anything that causes physical damage and secondary being emotional
damage.
Punishment can help in conditioning some behaviors like: study, classroom,
managing problem, anxieties problem, group behavior, cognitive problem, and
shaping complex behavior.
 Neutral- this type of conditioning do not reinforce or punish any action and behavior.
3.3 Observable behavior
Observational learning is the process of learning by watching the behaviors of others.
The targeted behavior is watched, memorized, and then mimicked. Also known as
shaping and modeling, observational learning is most common in children as they
imitate behaviors of adults. Also sometimes we see observational behavior in animals
like pets who like to imitate there owners behavior, it may be there aggression,
happiness, friendly behavior and many more.
4. Memory
Memory is the psychological processes of acquiring, storing, retaining, and later
retrieving information. There are three major processes involved in memory:
encoding, storage, and retrieval.
 Encoding: Is the process by which raw sensory data is stored in a form of memory
which is further processed later to be stored.

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 Storage: Is a location in the memory in which the data gotten (consumed) is stored,
and where it can be retrieved easily later for use.
 Retrieval: Is the process of getting information that stored in memory.
5. Motivation and Theories of Motivation
Motivation involves the biological, emotional, social, and cognitive forces that
activate behavior, and it is a guiding force for humans to do something.
5.1Theories of motivation
There are many sources of motivation depending on the person and the source of
motivation but some of the basic are: instinct, drive-reduction, arousal, incentive,
cognitive, and humanistic.
 Instinctive approach: According to this theory, all organisms are born with innate
biological tendencies that help them survive. Meaning the fear of death and wanting
to survive is the motivation that we need to survive and it is a biological force of
motivation. For example a newborn searching for his mother’s nipple when hungry
and fear of the unknown, are some examples.
 Drive-reduction approach: This theory states that humans are "driven" to behave in
certain ways to reduce the internal tension caused by unmet needs like hunger,
poverty and pain. It connects internal psychology with the external behavior. There
are two types of drivers Primary and secondary drivers, Primary being survival
mechanisms like hunger and thirst and secondary being experienced (learned)
mechanisms like money and power. This theory is not widely used because of its
weakness to explain why people engage in behaviors that do not decrease their
drivers. Example why people eat when they are not hungry.
 Arousal approach: claims that people behave in certain ways to either increase or
decrease their arousal. For example, a person will go to a club with his friends to
increase his arousal if it is low and if the arousal is to high he might do a relaxing
exercise.
 Incentive approach: According to this theory of human motivation, actions are often
inspired by a desire to gain outside reinforcement. Like money, recognition, sex, good
physical etc. this theory works closely with drive-reduction approach because of
needs and drivers to motivate someone.
 Cognitive approach: This theory states that a person’s motivation is influenced by
their mental process like belief, expectations and goals. In addition, it is the
combination of two theories the Expectancy Theory and the Goal-Setting Theory.
Expectancy theory explains how a person chooses one behavior from another and
goal set theory explains the importance of having a goal. This theory most prevalent
in a student who is motivated to study to get a good grade or some reward.
 Humanistic approach: This theory claims that behaviors are the result of a desire for
self-actualization. This theory was stated by Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs,
which describes various level of needs and motivation. Some of the needs are:

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 Physiological needs- They are biological needs for survival.
Safety needs- Any needs that help in protection from damage.
Love and belongingness- The need for friendship, affection, belongingness to a
group that makes him safe and many more.
Esteem needs- Refer to the need for respect, self-esteem, and self-confidence.
Esteem can be classified into two, esteem for one self like mastery and dignity and for
respect from others (reputation) like status.
Self-actualization- Is the realization of one own self-potential, self-growth. Peak
experience etc.
6. Emotion and theories of Emotion
Emotion is a complex reaction pattern, involving experiential, behavioral and
physiological elements. Emotions are how individuals deal with matters or situations
they find personally significant. Emotions are made up of three major parts:
subjective experience, physiological response, and behavioral response.
 Subjective experience: is the interpreting of subjective feeling by giving it a label
like anger, sadness, happiness, envy etc. this emotion feeling can’t be the same for
everyone for example if a boy’s mother dies no one will fill the same sadness as him.
 Physiological response: When a person experience an emotion, he will fill a physical
arousal like grinding of tooth when being angry.
 Behavioral response: The behavioral response aspect of the emotional response is
the actual expression of the emotion. Behavioral responses can include a smile, a
grimace, a laugh or a sigh. We can see some ones emotion on their face.
6.1 Theories of Emotion
There are many theories for emotion some build each other while others try to
disprove them
 James-Lange Theory

The James-Lange Theory of Emotion is one of the earliest emotion theories of modern
psychology. Developed by William James and Carl Lange in the 19th century, the theory
hypothesizes that physiological stimuli (arousal) causes the autonomic nervous system to react,
which in turn causes individuals to experience emotion. The reactions of the nervous system
could include a fast heartbeat, tensed muscles, sweating and more. According to this theory, the
physiological response comes before the emotional behavior. Over time, the James-Lange theory
has been challenged, as well as expanded upon in other theories, suggesting that emotion is the
mix of physiological and psychological response.

 Facial-Feedback Theory

The Facial-Feedback Theory of Emotion suggests that facial expressions are crucial to
experiencing emotion. This theory is connected to the work of Charles Darwin and William
James that hypothesized that facial expressions influence emotion as opposed to their being a

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response to an emotion. This theory holds that emotions are directly tied to physical changes in
the facial muscles. Thus, someone who forced himself to smile would be happier than someone
who wore a frown.

 Cannon-Bard Theory

Developed by Walter Cannon and Philip Bard in the 1920s, the Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion
was developed to refute the James-Lange theory. This theory posits that bodily changes and
emotions occur simultaneously instead of one right after the other. This theory is backed by
neurobiological science that says that the once a stimulating event is detected, the information is
relayed to both the amygdala and the brain cortex at the same time. If this holds true, arousal and
emotion are a simultaneous event.

 Schachter-Singer Theory

This theory, developed by Stanley Schachter and Jerome E. Singer, introduces the element of
reasoning into the process of emotion. The theory hypothesizes that when we experience an
event that causes physiological arousal, we try to find a reason for the arousal. Then, we
experience the emotion

 Cognitive Appraisal Theory

Richard Lazarus pioneered this theory of emotion. According to the Cognitive Appraisal Theory,
thinking must occur before experiencing emotion. Thus, a person would first experience a
stimulus, think, and then simultaneously experience a physiological response and the emotion.
These are far from the only theories of emotion that exist, but they provide great examples of
how emotion is generated and how they differ from each other. What all theories of emotion
have in common is the idea that an emotion is based on personally, significant stimulus or
experience, prompting a biological and psychological reaction.
7. Assumptions of the psychodynamic perspective on personality development
Psychodynamic perspective tries to look at the unconscious part of the human mind, it made
some assumptions on personality development. It said that a personality development depends on
three things: Id, ego and super ego.
* Id: it is the first personality a person when he is born. Id is a primitive personality for survival.
And the drivers for this personality are hunger, pain, sex, aggression etc. this personality usually
dominant during the ages from birth-5 years old and also it a pleasure type principle meaning our
body and mind will try to get pleasure when they want it. That is why it is called “if it feels good,
do it”.

* Ego: is the only part of the conscious personality. It's what the person is aware of when they
think about themselves, and is what they usually try to project toward others. The ego develops
to mediate between the unrealistic id and the external real world. It is the decision-making
component of personality. Ideally, the ego works by reason, whereas the id is chaotic and
unreasonable. It controls id from taking over our personality and works out a realistic way to get
what we want while avoiding pain.

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*Super Ego: is a part of the unconscious that is the voice of conscience (doing what is right) and
the source of self-criticism. It reflects society's moral values to some degree, and a person is
sometimes aware of their own morality and ethics. It is the complete opposite of the id principle
and function to control id desires like aggression and sex. The superego consists of two systems:
The conscience and the ideal self. The conscience is the inner voice that make us feel guilt and
think on what we have done. While the ideal self is an imaginary picture of how you want to be,
and represents career aspirations, how to treat other people, and how to behave as a member of
society.
8. The big five factors of a personality and a person’s high and lows on each of these traits
Many modern and traditional studies in psychology point to s basic dimensions of
personality. The five broad personality traits are; extraversion, agreeableness,
openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism.

 Extraversion: Is the classification personality based on their sociability with others,

and we classify people as introverts or extraverts.
Introverts are people who like to be in solitude and have less energy in social
situations.
Extraverts are people who are sociable and who like to be the center of attention.
Being an extravert helps a person to be out going and have an easy time expressing
his idea and will help him have the natural tendency to lead. While introverts find it
hard to make friends and connections with people.
 Agreeableness: It is an emotional style of a person. A person who exhibit high
agreeableness will show a sigh of trust, kindness, friendliness, eagerness to help, and
affection. Their opposite disagreeableness manifest a behavior that is socially
unpleasant like manipulation of others, lack of sympathy, lack of taking interest, and
grumpy.
 Openness: Is the eagerness to learn and experience new things.
A person who is open to learn will have a creative mind, experience new things, and
develop his intelligence. A person who is in the opposite side will be viewed more
traditional and struggle to solve a problem outside of their comfort zone.
 Conscientiousness: is a person’s organization and motivation towards a task. A
person who is high in this trait always plans ahead of time and like to organize his
tasks. While their opposites do not care about the organization of their work and have
a low motivation to do it.
 Neuroticism: is the emotional stability and instability. A person who exhibit high
levels of neuroticism will tend to have mood swings, anxiety, irritability, and
mentally instability. While the other spectrum experience a low mental instability,
have low sadness and depression.
9. Criteria Psychological disorder
A psychological disorder is, broadly, a condition characterized by distressing,
impairing, and/or a typical thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. For a condition to be
named a disorder, it must have three main criteria: abnormality, maladaptiveness, and
personal distress
 Abnormality: Means having a different behavior from other people. An abnormality
is called a disorder when person violets socially and culturally accepted norms and
values.

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  Personal Distress: refers to non-specific symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression.
A person with high personal distress will have a hard time interacting with people so
getting a job will be hard. Having only a personal distress do not mean having a
mental disorder.
 Maladaptiveness: are actions that prevent people from adapting, adjusting, or
participating in different aspects of life. This people find it to live with people.
9.1 Symptomatic of a psychological disorder
Psychological disorders can cause variety of symptoms some of them are:
 Agitation, hostility or aggression
 Alcohol or drug abuse
 Alterations in energy levels
 Anxiety
 Confusion or disconnectedness
 Erratic behavior
 Irritability and mood changes
10. Treatment of psychological disorders throughout the ages
10.1 Treatment in the past
In the treatment of mental disorder was bad because many people believed the mental
disorders come from demonic possession or by performing witchcraft. So people were
subjected to tiring exorcism, by trephining (digging a hole in the skull), by imprisoning
them, and in the worst-case execution and burning of people.
10.2 Treatment in the present
In the 1700s, some mentally ill people started to be treated somewhat humane in France
and they stopped being chained. In the 19th century, large asylums started to be closed
because of improper care of the patients and the fund for institutions that do moral
research to be increased. That resulted in the treatment of patients fairly, the use of
electro shock therapy, the use of anesthesia, and the introduction of antipsychotic
medications. In today’s age the treatment of psychological disorders and institutions
have developed a lot. We started to use scientific data and analysis, the use of cognitive
data, the use of anxiety medication and many more. Though we developed our methods,
there is still unfair treatment of people who have mental disorders

III. Reflection
While I was doing this assignment, I was introduced to many concepts of psychology
beginning from branches of psychology to psychological disorders. These concepts helped
me to see mind in a new point view, not only in the modern and improved way but also in the
traditional aspects. On the experience side, I think somewhat it developed my understanding
of the module and changed my point of view. Practices of the topics that were reviewed,
were never in my daily life but after the assignment I will try to make use of them.

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IV. Conclusion
Psychology is a field that focuses on every aspect of the human mind and its process, and the
aspects and process could be on personality and its development, psychological disorders,
memory, motivation, learning, perception any many more. In addition, our mind and
personality is determined by many factors and it is hard to see it only in one perceptive, so
we created different methods to study and understand it. Lastly, as psychology is a new field
of study it has still the room to develop and help patients more effectively.

References

 The south African college of applies psychology: The main branches of psychology and
what they entail.
 Iehisa .I, Ayaki M, Tsubota, Negishiki. Factors affecting depth [perception and
comparison of depth. Heliyon. 2020.
 Kim HR, Angelaki DE, Deagelis GC. The neutral basis of depth perception from motion
parallax. 2016; 37(1697).
 James W. Instinct in: The perception principle of psychology.
 American psychological association (APA). The science of Emotion: Exploring the
basis of emotional psychology.
 Psychology: mental health treatment in past and present.
 General psychology module.

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