INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY I (PSY 111)

COURSE OUTLINE
UNIT 1: Meaning of Psychology
 Meaning of behaviour
 Psychology as a science
 Psychology as an art
UNIT 2: A brief examination of origin of psychology
 Emergence of schools of thought
 Structuralism
 Functionalism
 Psychoanalysis
 Behaviourism
 Gestaltism
 Humanism
 Cognitive psychology
UNIT 3: Branches of psychology
 Clinical psychology
 Counselling psychology
 Social psychology
 Educational psychology
 Developmental psychology
 Experimental psychology
 Industrial/ organizational psychology
 Community psychology
 Environmental psychology, etc.
UNIT 4: The scientific methods
 Types of research design
 The case study
 The survey
 Observation
 Correlational study
 Experimental design
UNTI 5: Biological bases of human behaviour
 Concepts of heredity and environment
 Interplay between heredity and environment
 Gene, chromosome, sex determination
  The pre-natal environment of the child
UNIT 6: Sensation
 Basic human senses
UNIT 7: Perception
 Cultural influence on human perception
UNIT 8: Language and Thinking
UNIT 9: Relationship between psychology and other disciplines
UNIT10: Current developments in psychology
MODE OF EVALUATION
1. 75% attendance at lectures qualifies the student for end of semester
examination.
2. Active participation in class.
3. Two formal class tests (30%).
4. Final semester examination (70%).

READING TEXTS
Feldman, R.S. (2006). Development Across Life Span. New Jersey: Pearson
Education, Inc.
Mangal, S. K. ( 1998). General Psychology. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Private
Limited.

Myers, D.G. (1995). Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers.

Ofovwe, C. (2011). Fundamentals of General and Clinical Psychology. Benin City:

Mindex Publishing Company Limited.

Ozioko, J. O. C. (1998). Introduction to Psychology. Enugu: SNAAP Press Limited.

Weiten, W. (2007). Psychology: Themes and Variations. Belmont, CA: Thomson

Wadsworth.
MEANING OF PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology is derived from two Greek Words: “Psyche” and ‘Logos’. While
psyche was originally translated to mean the “soul” logos means ‘study’,
science or discourse. Following the argument by philosophers that soul is too
transcendental, it was substituted with the word “mind”. Hence psychology
became defined as the “study of the mind”.
However, the emergence of behaviourism by J.B. Watson introduced a new
dimension to the study of psychology. He defined psychology as “the scientific
study of human and animal behaviour”. Along this line, therefore, Liebert and
Neale cited in P.E. Igbinovia (Ed.) (2008) define psychology as “the scientific
study of behaviour and related mental and physical processes” (p. 1). On
his part, Spering cited in P.E. Igbinovia (Ed.) (2008) says psychology is “the
science of individual behaviour and experience” (p. 1).
From the above definitions, it is clear that psychology goes beyond mere
speculation about the behaviour and mental processes of human beings. It entails
the use of scientific techniques in studying and providing information about the
nature, scope, causes, patterns and consequences (both positive and negative) of
the behaviour, experiences and various processes in human beings. Such
considerations cut across gender and stages of development in human life span.
Today, psychology tends to be defined as broadly as the science
that investigates both mental processes and behaviour. Modern
definitions of psychology generally retain the word ‘behaviour’ but now
this concept has been stretched to include dreams, images, thoughts,
feelings, speech and psychological states. Psychology is both a biological
science and a social science concerned both with the psychological roots of
behaviour and with the social, environmental conditions and culture that influence
it.

Thus, an all-embracing definition of psychology says that “it is the

science that studies behaviour and physiological and cognitive processes
that underlie it, and it is the profession that applies the accumulated
knowledge of this science to practical problems” (Weiten, 1992:17).
The above comprehensive definition of psychology reveals that psychology
is a science as well as an art.
Behaviour:
The term ‘behaviour’ is familiar enough. Behaviour is defined as “any observable
or measurable response or activity of a person or animal “(Ozioko, 1998:2).
Behaviour refers to what human beings and animals do daily. It refers to the way
we act on things or react to stimuli that impinge on our experiences.
Behaviour has both a loose and a strict meaning. In its loose or broad
sense, behaviour refers to any activity, “internal” states or processes such as
thoughts and feelings as well as overt actions observable by others. In its strict
sense, behaviour is intended to denote only observable actions, at least as
categorised by the observer.
Psychology as a Science

Psychology is described as a science because it is empirical in nature. This

means that its study rests on observation and experiment rather than on
argument, opinion or belief. Modern psychologists could replicate experiments of
other psychologists to verifying the reliability of their findings. Thus, psychology,
as a science, is not based on opinions formed on the basis of experience or
speculation.
Another characteristic of psychology as a science is that it is systematic.
That is, the observations made must be capable of being summarized in a manner
that is meaningful. Systematization implies the formulation of principles which are
tentative. If the principles are correct, then, we should be able to predict
observations that are yet unknown to us. Thus, we move from observation to
principles and back to observations. As a science, psychology uses
measurement. Measurement is defined as the assignment of number to objects
or events according to certain rules. For example, we are familiar with physical
scales – length, time, temperature. Measurement in psychology is more difficult
than in physical or biological sciences. For example, how do we measure
happiness, friendship or co-operation? To do this, psychologists have devised or
developed many tests that could be administered and analysed in order to arrive
at conclusions that are scientific.
Psychology as an Art
This is the application side of psychology. That means that knowledge
of psychology is used to solve “real-life” problems. The application of
knowledge to practical problems is an art; it is a skill for doing things,
which is acquired by study, practice and special experience. For example,
from knowledge and practical experience, the psychotherapist solves the problem
of a worried client, the educational psychologist advises a school board on a new
curriculum, the clinical psychologist supervises group therapy in a mental clinic.
ORIGIN OF PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology owes its origin to philosophy and physiology. Indeed,
modern scientific psychology came into existence less than 150 years ago, when it
eventually set itself free from the grip of philosophy. Indeed, most psychologists
have found it convenient to trace scientific psychology to the establishment
of the first psychological laboratory by Wilhelm Wundt (1832 – 1920) in
1879 at the University of Leipzig, Germany.
Thus, Wilhelm Wundt established the first institute for research in
experimental psychology, where he studied the mind in an objective and scientific
manner. According to him, psychology should abandon arm chair
philosophy (speculation) and evolve more formal, careful methodology.
In line with the above objective, some of Wundt’s research featured
introspection/self-examination or carefully observing one’s own conscious
psychological reactions. He argued that introspection should be vigorously
conducted after training in standard techniques for introspection. Thus, he
introduced measurement into psychology. He therefore laid the foundation of one
of the systems in psychology, namely, structuralism.
Emergence of Schools of thought in Psychology
Early psychology is characterized as a period of psychological systems.
These systems were attempts to explain all behaviour by using a single set of
principles. Although none continues to have major import as all contributed
significantly to present day psychology. The following schools of thought are well
known.
1. Structuralism
This school of thought is associated with Wilhelm Wundt (1832 – 1920),
who was acclaimed to have turned psychology into a laboratory based
science. Indeed, Wilhelm Wundt is regarded as the father of
experimental psychology. He established the first laboratory for
psychology at the University of Leipzig, Germany in 1879; a year usually
regarded as the birth day of modern psychology. According to Wundt,
psychology is the “science of immediate experience” (consciousness).
Structuralism focuses on the structure of the mind. According to
this approach, the task of psychology should be to analyse
consciousness into its basic elements and investigate how these
elements are related. The fundamental components of
consciousness (mind) are sensation/perception/impression,
feelings and images. To examine the contents of the mind, the
 structuralists insisted on self- observation also known as introspection as
the necessary method of psychology. Subjects were asked to make self –
observation and describe their experience. However, the method was
defective in that it could not produce objective data. Secondly, the
process could not be replicated. Finally, the method could not be
applied to children and subnormal persons. One student of Wilhelm
Wundt, Edward B. Titchner (1867 – 1927) later became a great disciple of
structuralism.
Functionalism
This school of thought emerged more or less as a protest against
structuralism. The functionalists argued that psychology should
investigate the function or purpose of consciousness rather than its
structure. The major proponent of functionalism was William James (1842 –
1910); an intelligent American scholar. Though, by training a medical doctor, he
abandoned medicine for psychology and philosophy because of his ill-health.
James was fascinated (impressed) by Charles Darwin’s (1859 – 1871) Theory of
Natural Selection
Darwin postulated that “the characteristics that give a species a survival
advantage comes to be ‘selected’ over time” (Weiten, 1992:6). That is, these
characteristics are more likely to be passed on to subsequent generations. This
claim by Darwin suggested ‘that all characteristics of a species must
serve some purpose’. Applying this idea to human organisms, James
(1890) observed that consciousness obviously is an important
characteristic of the human species and therefore, must serve some
purpose. Hence, he argued that psychology should investigate the
functions rather than the structure of consciousness.
William James identified a weakness in the structuralists’ position. According
to him, the structuralists’ approach missed the real nature of conscious
experience. He observed that “consciousness consists of a continuous flow of
thought”. However, while the structuralists were analyzing consciousness into
‘elements’, the structuralists were looking at consciousness from a static point of
view.
In terms of application, it should be stressed that while the structuralists
naturally gravitated to the laboratory, the functionalists were more
interested in how the human organism achieves adaptation/variation.
Indeed, all humans desire to adapt their behaviour to the demands of the real
world around them. This practical deviation pushed the structuralists to introduce
new topics into psychology. Rather than focusing on sensation and perception,
other functionalists such as James Mckeen Cattell and John Dewey began to
investigate mental testing, patterns of development in children, the effectiveness
of educational practices and behavioural differences between the sexes. Although
functionalism faded as a school of thought but its practical orientation
fostered (encouraged) the emergence of two dominant areas in modern
psychology. The two areas are applied psychology and behaviourism.

Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939) was an Austrian psychiatrist/physician, who
dreamt of making an important discovery in his career. His theory made him one
of the most controversial intellectual figures of modern terms.
Freud’s approach to psychology grew out of his efforts to treat mental
disorders. In his medical practice, Freud treated patients troubled by psychological
problems such as irrational fears, obsessions and anxieties with an innovative
procedure he called psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis attempts to explain
human behaviour by focusing on the unconscious (Weiten, 1992).
Freud’s focus on the unconscious determinants of behaviour was a major
departure from the prevailing belief that people are fully aware of the forces
governing their behaviour. In arguing that behaviour is governed by
unconscious forces, Freud was suggesting that people are not masters of
their own mind.
Structure of Personality
Sigmund Freud divided personality structure into three components: the id,
the ego and the superego. He viewed an individual’s behaviour as an outcome of
interactions among the three components.
The id (infantile drive) is the primitive, instinctive component of
personality that operates according to the pleasure principle. Freud referred to
the id as the reservoir of psychic energy. By this he meant that the id houses the
raw biological urges (to eat, sleep, copulate, etc) that energise human behaviour.
The id operates according to the pleasure principle, which demands
immediate gratification of its urges. The id engages in primary process
thinking, which is primitive, illogical, irrational and fantasy oriented.
The ego is the decision – making component of the personality and it
operates in accordance with the reality principle. The ego mediates between
the id, with its forceful desire for immediate gratification and the
external social world with its expectations and norms as regards
suitable behaviour. The ego considers social realities – society’s norms,
etiquette, rules and customs – in deciding how we behave. The ego is guided by
the reality principle, which seeks to delay gratification of the id’s urges
until appropriate outlets and situations can be found. In short, to stay out of
trouble, the ego often works to tame the unbridled desires of the id.
According to Freud (1923:15) the ego is “like a man on horseback, who has to
hold on check the superior strength of the horse”.
Ultimately, the ego wants to maximize gratification, just as the id does.
However, the ego engages in secondary process thinking, which is relatively
rational, realistic and oriented towards problem solving. Thus, the ego strives to
avoid negative consequences from the society and its representative (for example,
punishment by parents or teachers) by behaving “properly”. It also attempts to
achieve long-range goals that sometimes require putting off gratification.
While the ego concerns itself with practical realities, the superego is the
moral component of personality that incorporates social standards about
what represents right and wrong. Throughout life, but especially during
childhood, people receive training about what constitutes good and bad behaviour.
Many social norms about morality are eventually internalized. The superego
emerges out of the ego at around three to five years of age. In some individuals,
the superego can become irrationally demanding in its striving for moral
perfection.
Levels of Awareness
Sigmund Freud posited that the mind consists of three levels: the conscious,
preconscious and the unconscious. The conscious consists of whatever one is
aware of at a particular point in time. For instance, when a student is reading, the
conscious includes the train of thought on reading material, and a dim awareness
in the back of the mind that the individual is getting tired and hungry.
The pre-conscious contains material just beneath the surface of
awareness that can easily be retrieved. Examples might include your middle name,
what you had for super last night, or an argument you had with a friend
yesterday. Memories accessible to consciousness only after something calls your
attention to them are known as preconscious memories. The storehouse of
memory is filled with an incredible amount of information such as your general
knowledge of language, sports, or geography and recollections of your personally
experienced events. Preconscious memories function silently in the background of
your mind until a situation arises in which they are consciously necessary (as when
we asked you to pick a number between one and ten).
 The unconscious contains thoughts; memories and desires that are

well below the surface of conscious awareness but nonetheless, exert great

influence on human behaviour. Examples of materials that might be found in the

unconscious include forgotten traumatic experiences from childhood, hidden

feelings of hostility towards parents or authority figures and repressed sexual

desires. You typically recognize the existence of unconscious information when

you cannot explain all your behaviours by virtue of forces that can he made

conscious. An initial theory of unconscious forces was developed by Sigmund

Freud, who argued that certain life experiences—traumatic memories and taboo

desires—are sufficiently threatening that your psychological apparatus

permanently banishes them from consciousness. Freud believed that when the

content of original, unacceptable ideas or motives is repressed—put out of

consciousness—the strong feelings associated with the thoughts still remain and

influence behavior.

Behaviourism
The debate between structuralism and functionalism was only the prelude to
other fundamental controversies in psychology. In the early 1900s, another major
school of thought appeared that dramatically altered the course of psychology.
This new school of thought is behaviourism. This was founded by the psychologist
known as John B. Watson (1878 – 1958). He wrote the treatise on behaviourism in
1913, in which he argued that psychology should study only observable
behaviour. Thus, “behaviourism is a theoretical orientation based on the premise
that scientific psychology should study only observable behaviour” (Weiten,
1992:7). By the above proclamation, Watson was proposing that psychologists
should abandon the study of consciousness altogether and focus exclusively on
behaviour that could directly be observed. In essence, he was redefining what
scientific psychology should be about. Watson argued that the power of scientific
method rested on the idea of verifiability. In principle, scientific claims can always
be verified by anyone who is able and willing to make the required observations.
 Behaviour refers to any overt (observable) response or activity by
an organism. The approach says that psychologists should focus on human
activities that could be seen. Such activities include shopping, playing games,
eating, etc, since such behaviour could be measured and replicated. On
the other hand, conscious experience such as thoughts, wishes and feelings
emphasized by previous psychologists could not be scientifically investigated.
As a stark environmentalist, J.B. Watson stressed the influence of
the environment over heredity. For example, is a criminal born or made?
He argued that a criminal is ‘made’ and not born, maintaining that
behaviour is governed entirely by the environment. This he supported by
the popular dictum:
Give me a dozen healthy infants, well formed and my
own special world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee
to take anyone at random and train him to become any
type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist,
merchant – chief, and yes, beggar – man and thief
(Weiten, 1992:8).

From the above quotation, it is obvious that the mission of psychology was to
attempt to relate overt behaviour (responses) to observable events in the
environment (stimuli). A stimulus is any detectable input from the environment.
Stimulus can range from light and sound waves, advertisements on electronic and
print media or an unpleasant (sarcastic) remark from a friend.

Gestaltism
This school of the thought was founded by Max Wertheimer (1880 – 1843).
It emerged as a theoretical school in Germany early in the 20 th century. Gestalt
psychology was based on the belief that the “whole is greater than the
sum of its parts”.
Gestalt is a German word which means form, shape, pattern or
configuration. Gestalt psychology emerged in 1912 as a reaction against
structuralism which was still the dominant school of thought in Germany.
Obviously, the structuralists’ interest in breaking conscious experience
into its component parts seemed ill – advised in light of the Gestalt
theorists’ demonstration that the whole can be much greater than the
sum of its parts.
Gestaltism had an encounter with behaviourism when the leading Gestaltists
– Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffker and Wolfgang Kohler – were forced to move to
the United States, following Nazi persecution in Germany. First, they saw the
behaviourists’ attempt to analyse behaviour into stimulus – response
bond as another ill-fated effort to carve the whole into its parts. Second,
they felt that psychology should continue to study conscious experience
rather than shift its focus to observable behaviour.
Like structuralism and functionalism, Gestalt psychology had a limited life
span. At its peak, it was an active combatant in psychology’s theoretical wars and
was responsible for some major advances in the study of perception, problem
solving and social behaviour. Gestaltism left its mark on psychology as it
contributed to the emergence of two contemporary theoretical perspectives:
humanism and cognitive psychology.

Humanism
Although behaviourism and psychoanalysis had become most
influential schools of thought by the 1950s, many psychologists found
them unappealing. The major criticism against these schools was that
they were ‘dehumanising’. For example, psychoanalysis was attacked for
stressing that behaviour was dominated by primitive, sexual urges. On
its part, behaviourism was criticized for its pre-occupation with the
study of simple animal behaviour. Put together, both schools of thought
were criticised because they suggested that people were not masters of
their destiny. Similarly, both schools failed to recognise the unique qualities of
human behaviour. This opposition constituted a loose alliance that culminated in
the formation of a new school of thought known as “humanism” (Buhler & Allen,
1972). According to Weiten (1992:12) “humanism is a theoretical orientation
that emphasises the unique qualities of humans, especially their
freedom and their potential for personal growth”.
Humanists take an optimistic view of human nature. According to
them (humanists) people are not pawns of either their animal heritage or
environmental circumstances. The most prominent protagonists of the humanistic
movement have been Carl Rogers (1902 – 1987) and Abraham Maslow (1908 –
1970). Both Rogers and Maslow maintained that to fully understand people’s
behaviour, psychologists must take into account the fundamental human drive
towards personal growth. They asserted that people have a basic need to continue
to evolve as human beings and to fulfil their potentials. In fact, the humanists
argued that many psychological disturbances are the result of thwarting these
uniquely human needs.
Cognitive Psychology
 Some psychologists, today, are showing renewed interest in consciousness
(now called cognition) and physiological bases of human behaviour (Baars, 1986).
‘Cognition’ refers to the mental processes involved in acquiring
knowledge. That is, cognition involves thinking or conscious experience.
All the processes that enable us to acquire information. Examples of
such processes are perception, knowledge, thought, learning, memory,
language, imagery, conceptualization, evaluation, problem solving and
decision-making. For many decades, the dominance of behaviourism
discouraged investigation of “unobservable” mental processes and most
psychologists showed little interest in cognition.
Cognitive psychologists argued that psychology must study internal
mental events in order to fully understand behaviour (Gardner, 1985).
Advocates of cognitive psychology point out that our manipulations of
mental images surely influence how we behave. Consequently, focusing
exclusively on overt behaviour yields an incomplete picture of why we behave the
way we do. Equally important, psychologists investigating decision making,
reasoning and problem solving have shown that methods can be devised to study
processes scientifically.
BRANCHES OF PSYCHOLOGY
So far, we have defined psychology in abstract terms. But we can also
define it in human terms by seeing what sorts of things psychologists do. Since
psychologists have the whole field of behaviour to choose from, one might guess
that their work varies. Thus, one way of describing the work of psychologists is to
discuss some of the major sub-fields of psychology.
1. Clinical Psychology
Clinical psychologists are concerned with the evaluation, diagnoses
and treatment of individuals with psychological disorders as well
as treatment of less severe behavioural and emotional problems.
Principal activities include interviewing clients, psychological testing and
providing group or individual psychotherapy.
People are usually confused about the two relatively related
professional: the psychiatrist and the clinical psychologist. The
psychiatrist has gone to medical school and has then completed three or
four years of residency training in psychiatry. This difference in training
means that the clinical psychologist, who does not have medical training,
cannot prescribe drugs to treat behaviour disorder. It also means that
whenever there is a possibility of a medical disorder, a patient should be
examined by a psychiatrist or other physician. Further, only psychiatrist can
commit a patient to an hospital for care and treatment. On the other hand,
psychologists are usually better trained in doing research. Thus, clinical
psychologists are somewhat more likely than psychiatrists to be involved in
systematically studying better ways of diagnosing, treating and preventing
behaviour disorders. Psychologists are also more likely than psychiatrists to
use methods of psychotherapy that have grown out of scientific research.
Clinical psychologists also tend to rely more heavily than the psychiatrists on
standardized tests as an aid to diagnosing behaviour disorders.

2. Counselling Psychology
The work of the counselling psychologist is quite similar to that of the
clinical psychologist. The difference between them is that counselling
psychologists generally work with people who have milder emotional and
personal problems. They may use psychotherapy in attempt to help with
these problems. Counselling psychologists are often consulted by people
with specific questions such as a choice of career or educational
programme. In their practice, counselling psychologists may make extensive
 use of tests to measure attitudes, interests and personality characteristics. A
number of counselling psychologists try to help people who are having
problems with family living; these are the marriage and family counsellors.
3. School and Educational Psychology
Much of the school psychologist’s job consists of diagnosing learning
difficulty and trying to remedy such. Using tests and information
gained from consultations with the students and their parents, the school
psychologist tries to pinpoint the problem and suggest actions to correct it.
For instance, a school psychologist might suggest that a poor reader be
assigned to a remedial reading class (programme).
On the other hand, educational psychology may include school psychology,
but educational psychologists, are usually, involved with more general, less
immediate problems than are most school psychologists or school counsellors.
They are especially concerned with increasing the efficiency of learning in school
by applying their psychological knowledge about learning and motivation to the
curriculum.
4. Social Psychology
We spend much of our lives in the presence of other people with whom we
interact in a variety of ways and in different settings. The primary focus of
social psychology is on understanding how individuals are affected by other
people. This focus covers a wide range of possible interests. For example, it
includes the study of the ways in which we perceive other people and how
those perceptions affect our behaviour towards them. Similarly, it involves
concerted efforts to understand the determinants of interpersonal influences
and of attitude change. Thus, social psychologists might study how
perceptual stereotypes affect interactions or how the decisions of a
committee member are influenced by what others on the committee do or
say. Sometimes, the interest is on the mutual influence exerted by
individuals in close relationships such as marriage.
5. Developmental Psychology
This branch of psychology tries to understand complex behaviour by
studying their beginnings and the orderly ways in which they
change with time. The ability to trace the origins or developmental
sequence of certain behaviour will provide a basis for better understanding
of such behaviour. Since changes in behaviour occur rapidly in the early
years of life, child psychology, the study of children’s behaviour, constitutes
a large part of developmental psychology. However, it should be noted that
 developmental changes also occur in adolescence, adulthood and old age.
Thus, the study of these stages is also a part of developmental psychology.

Developmental psychologists are often concerned with children who have

behaviour problems or psychological disorders. Developmental psychology
also considers the role of interaction between the environment and heredity in the
development of the individuals.
6. Experimental Psychology
Many psychologists are not primarily engaged in work that applies directly to
practical problems. Rather, psychologists try to understand the fundamental
causes of behaviour. They do what is sometimes referred to as basic
research, studying such fundamental processes as learning and memory,
thinking, sensation and perception, motivation and emotions. In other
words, the experimental psychologist studies how behaviour is modified and
how people retain these modifications. It focuses on how information is
processed in thinking, how human sensory systems work to allow people to
experience what is going on around them.
As the name implies, controlled experiments are the major research
methods used by experimental psychologists.

Indeed, experimental psychology is distinguished from other branches by

what it studies. That is, the fundamental processes of learning and memory,
thinking, sensation and perception, motivation, emotion and the
physiological or biological bases of behaviour.
7. Industrial and Organizational Psychology
The first application of psychology to the problems of industries and
organizations was the use of intelligence and aptitude tests in selecting
employees. Today, many companies use modern versions of such tests in
hiring and placement of employees. Private and public organizations also
apply psychology to problems of management and employee training,
supervision of personnel, improving communication within the organization,
counselling employees and the prevention of industrial strife. The applied
psychologists who carry out this work are sometimes referred to as
personnel psychologists.

Many industrial and organizational psychologists work as members of

consulting firms which sell their services to companies. In organizations,
such psychologists could set up employee selection programme; they may
recommend changes in training programme; analyse problems of
interpersonal relationships and run programmes to train company
management and employees in human relations skills. They could as well
conduct researches on consumer attitudes toward the company’s products.
In practical terms, this sub-field of psychology applies psychological
principles in resolving conflicts in industries and commerce. Problems such
as lack of employer motivation and job satisfaction are better managed by
integrating psychological principles into management policies and
procedures.
8. Community Psychology
This relatively new area of psychology is difficult to describe because
community psychologists do so many things. In general, it can be said
that community psychologists apply psychological principles, ideas
and points of view to help solve social problems and to help
individuals adapt to the work and living groups.
Problems that arise in the home, school, or work place sometimes need to
be tackled in those settings. This idea is central to community psychology; a
collection of strategies for treating and preventing psychological
problems in their natural contexts.
One cluster of strategies involves getting into settings where problems have
already begun – schools, homes, nursing – care centres, etc. Once there, the
psychologist can see problems as they unfold naturally, design interventions to fit
the setting and assess the impact of those interventions. Community psychologists
often serve as consultants to people who work on the frontline of community
mental health – employers who hire people with psychological disorders, police
who work with troubled people and families, departments of social service and
school teachers and administrators.

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

In everyday conversation, we sometimes use the word “theory” to mean
“mere hunch/guess”. In science, “theory” is linked with observation. A creative
theory is an integral set of principles that organize and predict observation,
behaviour or events. By organizing isolated facts, a theory simplifies things. By
linking observations and bridging them to deeper principles, a theory offers a
useful summary. “A proposition or set of propositions offered as a
conjectured/guessed/speculated explanation for an observed phenomenon, state
of affairs or event” (Colman, 2003:738). This is a set of assumptions, propositions
or accepted facts that attempt to provide a plausible or rational explanation of
cause-and-effect relationships among a group of observed phenomenon. A theory
is a system of interrelated ideas used to explain a set of observation (Weiten,
2008)
A good theory of depression, for instance, will first help us to organize
countless observations concerning depression into a much shorter list of principles.
If we observe that depressed people recall their past, present and predict their
future in gloomy terms, we might, therefore, theorize that low self-esteem
contributes to depression. Thus, self-esteem principle neatly summarises a long
list of facts about depressed people.
A good theory implies testable predictions called hypotheses. By enabling us
to test and reject or revise the theory such predictions give direction to research.
They specify, in advance, the results that would support the theory and what
results would disconfirm it. To test our self-esteem theory of depression, we might
give people a test of self-esteem and see whether as we hypothesized, people
who report poorer self-images are indeed more depressed.
Psychologists report their research precisely enough to allow others to
replicate/repeat/duplicate other people’s observations. If other researchers
recreate the essence of a study with different subjects and materials and get
similar results, then our confidence in the reliability of our findings grows.
The alternative research strategies include descriptive, correlational and
experimental methods. We test hypotheses and refine our theories by making
observations that describe behaviour, detecting correlations that predict
behaviour and conducting experiments that help explain behaviour.
Types of Research Design
1. The Case Study: Among the oldest research methods is the case study, in
which psychologists study one or more individuals in great details in the
hope of revealing things true of us all. Much of the early knowledge about
the brain came from case studies of individuals who suffered a particular
impairment after damage to a particular brain region. Sigmund Freud
constructed his theory of personality from a handful of case studies.
Developmental psychologist Jean Piaget taught us about children’s thinking
after carefully observing and questioning his own three children.
A case study is a qualitative research method that utilizes several sources of
information to arrive at the “how” and “why” of a particular problem. It is an
empirical inquiry that uses multiple sources of evidence to investigate
contemporary phenomenon within its real – life context in which the boundaries
between the phenomenon and its context are not clearly evident.
The above implies that the information obtained using this method is
comprehensive and in-depth since several assessment tools are used in collecting
data about a particular group, unit or sample. The goal of case study is to learn
‘all’ about the area of interest to the researcher.

2. Survey
 This is a descriptive research method. It is aimed at discovering relative
incidence, distribution and of inter-relationships of educational, sociological,
psychological, political and economic variables. This means that survey
gathers information about variables not individuals. The researcher,
therefore, examines the opinion, attitudes, or feelings of individuals about a
particular problem.
The scope of survey study is usually wide. It utilizes questionnaire,
observations, tests and interview as assessment tools in obtaining data. Because
survey covers a large number of people the researcher utilizes a representative of
the people in conducting the study. Thus, two important terms are relevant.
These are sample and population. Most surveys sample a target group. When
we select a representative of a group to study because the group is too large we
are dealing with a sample. On the other hand, the population is the whole group
of subjects the researcher wants to study and describe.
Surveys may be used to gather data on people’s attitudes and on aspects of
behaviour that may be difficult to investigate or observed directly. Epidemiologists
use surveys exclusively to investigate the distribution of illness in a population.
Sexual practices in the face of HIV/AIDS, the prevalence depression, alcoholism
and other phenomena which may be difficult to study directly are usually
investigated using the survey method.
In order to consider survey findings objective, certain requirements must be
satisfied by the researcher. Questions should be well worded and the research
coverage should be representative of the population under study. In order words,
the sample should resemble the population by reflecting key characteristics such
as gender, age, race or tribe, religion, income, educational qualification and socio-
economic status.

3. Observation
Observation literally means looking outside oneself. It is one of the
important and basic methods for collecting data in almost all types of
research studies. It produces one of the basic elements of science – facts
which are collected by observing overt/open/explicit behaviour of the
organism in order to locate underlying problem and to study developmental
trends of different types. The overt behaviour is the manifestation of covert
conditions within the organism. The study of overt behaviour gives indirectly
the clue to the mental condition of the organism.
 This method is used in psychology when it is impossible to carry out
experiments under controlled conditions, that is, when the conditions are
such that they cannot be controlled completely by the researcher. For
example in industrial environment, the psychologist cannot create the
condition of lockout or strike or deliberately create tension between workers
and management in order to conduct a study on tension. Rather, tension
can only be observed when it actually exists.
Observation may be of different types: direct and indirect; natural and
artificial, scheduled and unscheduled, participant and non-participant.
a. Natural Observation: In natural observation we observe the specific
behavioural characteristics of children or adults in natural settings. Subjects
do not become conscious of the fact that their behaviour is being observed
by someone. We can observe the behaviour of students on the playground,
or any other social settings without students being aware that they are
being observed.
b. Participant Observation: This is the type of observation in which the
observer becomes part of the group which he wants to study. He establishes
perfect relationship with the group of children or adolescents so that they
may not become conscious or suspicious of his presence in order for them
to exhibit their actual behaviour.
4. Correlational Research Method
This is another research method that can be utilized when true experimental
research is not feasible/possible/practicable. The procedure can be used
both as descriptive and inferential statistics. Describing behaviour is a first
step towards predicting it. When surveys and naturalistic observation reveal
that one trait or behaviour accompanies another, we say the two correlate.
A correlation is a statistical measure of relationship. It reveals how closely
two variables vary together and thus how well one predicts the other.
Knowing how much high school grades correlate with college grades tells us
how well high school grades predict college grades.
Although correlation serves predictive purposes, correlation between
psychological variables are seldom perfect due to the complexity of human
nature and the influence of extraneous variables. For example, not all
intelligent persons are employed despite the relationship between level of
intelligence and employability. Thus, it must be noted that association or
relationship does not mean causative. Hence, findings from correlational
studies cannot generate cause-effect conclusions.
5. Experimental Research Method
Experimental research is a scientific method of investigation which attempts
to discover the cause and effect relationship. It is a “research method in
which the investigator manipulates a variable under carefully controlled
conditions and observes whether any changes occur in a second variable as
a result” (Weiten, 1992:38).
In an experiment, the investigator typically assembles two groups of
subjects who are treated differently with regard to the independent variable.
These two groups are referred to as the experimental group and the control
group. The experimental group consists of the subjects who receive some special
treatment with regard to the independent variable. The control group consists of
similar subjects who do not receive the special treatment given to the
experimental group.

BIOLOGICAL BASES OF HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

To understand human growth and development one needs to grasp the basics of
genetics, the impact of nutritional and biochemical environment as well as the
implications of the influences of events and circumstances. Thus, the study of
prenatal development involves the study of the relationship between hereditary
predispositions and environmental influences.
Conception
The development of the individual begins at conception when the sperm cell
(spermatozoa) from the man unites with the egg or ovum from the mother. The
woman’s ovaries or sex glands situated in the lower part of the abdomen
manufacture all the ova or eggs that the woman will ever have by the beginning of
her fertile years though immature. The man, on the other hand, continually
produces new sperm. The ova or eggs mature in the woman’s ovaries and
approximately every 28 days, a mature ovum is released throughout the woman’s
fertile years. The ovum is headed for the uterus or womb whose walls have
accumulated a large blood supply for the nourishment of the ovum, should
fertilization take place. If fertilization does not take place, the ovum continues past
the uterus and disintegrates as do the walls of the uterus and all pass out as the
menstrual flow. During intercourse, the male releases about 400 million sperm
cells (Eya, 2004), one of which fertilizes the ovum within 24 hours of its release
from the ovary while it is still in the fallopian tube.
Genetic Influence
In the human body two types of cell exist-the somatic cells or the cells that
make up every part of the body and the germ cells, which are the sex cells
found in the gonads or reproductive organs.
A cell is the simplest living unit or organized material which is made up of a
major central part – the nucleus, and a master cytoplasm. Together they form
the protoplasm. Ribosomes, small particles that manufacture essential chemical
products for the cell, are also found in the cytoplasm. The nucleus is the control
for the cell’s activity and is located in the centre of the cell. It is inside the nucleus
that we find rod-like structures known as the Chromosomes. Chromosomes
appear like a long spiral staircase twisting upward with very many steps.
These countless steps on the chromosomes contain the genes- the carriers
of inheritable characteristics. Genes and chromosomes are made up of a chemical
substance known as the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).

Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA)

All the features found in living things, such as eye color, the pattern on a
butterfly’s wings, or the color of a flower’s petals, are determined by
deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). DNA is a long, coiled molecule. It is located in
structures called chromosomes, found within the nucleus of every cell.
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reserved.

Gene represents a specific number of steps on a chromosome which when

activated eventually produces specific proteins or enzymes. According to Eya
(2004:200), man is said to have as many as 20,000 genes on a chromosome”.
Chromosomes always occur in pairs and man has 23 pairs of chromosomes,
classified as autosome (ist 22 pairs) and sexome (23rd pair).Gene could be
dominant or recessive. When a pair of allele comes together to determine a
trait one allele expresses itself at the expense of the other. In that case, the
former is dominant normally written in capital letters such as A, B or T while the
latter is recessive written in small letters such as a, b or t. A recessive allele
becomes manifest or expresses itself only when it comes in contact with another
recessive. This is the reason two dark complexion parents could give birth to a
light complexion child. Similarly, it must be borne in mind that genetic materials
relating to both parents are present in the child though they may not be seen. The
genetic information is known as the child’s genotype. Genotype is the underlying
combination of genetic material present (but outwardly invisible) denoted by either
AA, AS or SS in the child. In contrast, a phenotype is the observable trait.

Determining the Sex of the Child

From the knowledge of genetics it is established that a normal human organism
has 23 chromosomes. In 22 of these pairs, each chromosome is similar to the
other member of the pair. The one exception is the 23 rd pair which is the one that
determines the sex of the child. In females, the 23 rd pair consists of two matching
relatively large X-shaped chromosomes, appropriately identified as XX. In males,
the members of the pair are dissimilar. It consists of an X-shaped chromosome
while the other is a shorter, smaller Y-shaped chromosome, properly identified as
XY. When the man’s Y chromosome fertilizes the woman’s X chromosome the
resultant child is a male. Thus, it should be stressed that it is the man that
determines the sex of the child. Unfortunately, in Africa, the man and his parents
would always blame the woman.

Prenatal Growth and Change

From the moment of conception, development proceeds relentlessly. Many
aspects are guided by the complex set of genetic guidelines inherited from the
parents. Similarly, pre-natal growth, like all other development, is also influenced
from the start by environmental factors.
Fertilization- the moment of conception: Fertilization or conception refers to the
joining of the sperm and ovum to create the single-celled zygote from which
each human organism begins. The prenatal period consists of three phases: the
germinal, embryonic and fetal stages.
The germinal stage: Fertilization to 2 weeks: The germinal stage, the first and
shortest-stage of the prenatal period, the zygote begins to divide and grow in
complexity during the first two weeks following conception. During the germinal
stage, the fertilized egg (now called a blastocyst) travels towards the uterus
where it becomes implanted in the uterus’s wall which is rich in nutrient. The
germinal stage is characterized by methodical (systematic) cell division which gets
off to a quick start. Three days after fertilization, the organism consists of some 32
cells, and by the next day the number doubles. Within a week, it is made up of
100 to 150 cells, and the number rises with increasing rapidity.
In addition to increasing number, the cells of the organism become
increasingly specialized. For instance, some cells form a protective layer around
the mass of cells, while others begin to establish the rudiments of a placenta and
umbilical cord. When they fully develop, the placenta serves as a conduit between
the mother and fetus, providing nourishment and oxygen via the umbilical cord. In
addition waste materials from the developing child are removed through the
umbilical cord.
The Embryonic stage: 2 weeks to 8 weeks. By the end of the germinal period,
just 2 weeks after conception- the organism is firmly secured to the wall of the
mother’s uterus. At this point, the child is called an embryo. The embryonic stage
lasts from 2 to 8 weeks, following fertilization. One of the major points of this
stage is the development of the major organs of the body.
At the start of the embryonic stage, the developing child has three distinct
layers, each of which will ultimately form a different set of structures as
development proceeds. The outer layer of the embryo, the ectoderm, develops
into the skin, hair, teeth, sense organs, the brain and the spinal cord.
The endoderm, the inner layer, produces the digestive system, liver,
pancreas and respiratory system. Sandwiched between the ectoderm and the
endoderm is the mesoderm, from which the muscles, bones, blood and
circulatory system are forged. Every part of the body is formed from these three
layers (Feldman, 2006). Only an inch long, an 8-week-old embryo has what
appears to be gills and a tail-like structure. On the other hand, closer look reveals
several familiar features. Rudimentary eyes, nose, lips and even teeth can be
recognized and the embryo has stubby bulges that will form arms and legs.
The head and brain undergo rapid growth during the embryonic period. The
head begins to represent a significant proportion of the embryo’s size,
encompassing about 50% of its total length. The growth of more cells, called
neurons, is astonishing: as many as 100,000 neurons are produced every minute
during the second month of life. The nervous system begins to function around
the fifth week and weak brain waves begin to be produced as the nervous system
starts to function (Nelson & Bosqut, 2000).
The fetal stage: 8 weeks to Birth:
The fetal stage starts at about 8 weeks after conception and continues until
birth. The fetal stage formally starts when the differentiation of the major organs
has occurred. Now called fetus, the developing child undergoes astoundingly rapid
change during the fetal stage. For example, it increases in length some 20 times
and its proportions change dramatically. At 2 months, about half the fetus is what
will ultimately be the head, by 5 months, the head accounts for just over a quarter
of its size. The fetus also substantially increases in weight an average of about 4
ounces, at 7 months, it weighs about 3 pounds.
At 3 months, the fetus swallows and urinates. In addition, the
interconnections between the different parts of the body become more complex
and integrated. Arms develop hands; hands develop fingers and fingers develop
nails.
As the fetus becomes increasingly active, however, most mothers certainly
take note. By 4 months, a mother can feel the movement of her child and several
months through the mother’s skin. The brain becomes increasingly sophisticated
during the fetal stage. The two symmetrical left and right halves of the brain,
known as hemispheres, grow rapidly and the interconnections between neurons
become more complex. The neurons become coated with an insulating material
called myelin which helps speed the transmission of messages from the brain to
the rest of the body.

The prenatal Environment: Threats to Development

There are certain aspects of parents’ behaviour, both before and after
conception, that can produce lifelong consequences for the child. Some
consequences emerge immediately, but most of the possible problems are not
apparent before birth. Some of the most profound consequences are brought
about by teratogenic agents (Feldman, 2006). A teratogen is an environmental
agent such as drug, chemical, virus, or other factor that produces a birth defect.
Although it is the job of the placenta to keep teratogens from reaching the fetus,
the placenta is not entirely successful at this, and probably every fetus is exposed
to some teratogens. The timing and quantity of exposure to a teratogen are
crucial. At some phases of prenatal development, a certain teratogen may have
only a minimal impact. At other periods, however, the same teratogen may have
profound consequences. Generally, teratogens have their major effects during
periods of especially rapid prenatal development. Sensitivity, to specific teratogens
is also related to racial and cultural background. For example, Native American
fetuses are more susceptible to the effects of alcohol than those of European
American descent (Kinney et al., 2003; Winger & Woods, 2004).
Furthermore, different organ systems are vulnerable to teratogens at
different times during development. For example the brain is most susceptible 15
to 20 days after conception, while the heart is most vulnerable 20 to 40 days
following conception (Bookstein et al., 1996).
 When considering the findings relating to specific teratogens, we need to
bear in mind the broader social and cultural context in which teratogen exposure
occurs. For example, living in poverty increases the chances to exposure to
teratogens. Mothers who are poor may not be able to afford adequate diets, and
they may not be able to afford adequate medical care, making them more prone
to illness that can damage a developing fetus. They are more likely to be exposed
to pollution. It has become imperative to discuss the following.
Maternal Diet
A mother’s diet clearly plays an important role in bolstering (supporting) the
development of the fetus. A pregnant woman who eats a varied diet high in
nutrients is apt to have fewer complications during pregnancy, easier labour and
generally healthier baby than a mother whose diet is restricted in nutrients (Kasier
& Allen, 2002).
The problem of diet is of immense global concern, with 800 million hungry people
in the world. More terrible is the fact that the number of people vulnerable to
hunger is close to one billion. Clearly, restrictions in diet that bring about hunger
on such a massive scale affect millions of children born to women living in those
conditions (United Nations, 2004).
Fortunately, there are ways to counteract those types of maternal
nourishment that affect prenatal development. Dietary supplements given to
mothers can reverse some of the problems produced by a poor diet. Furthermore
research shows that babies who were malnourished as fetuses, but who are
subsequently raised in enriched environments, can overcome some of the effects
of their early malnourishment.
2. Mother’s Age: This is an important factor that may determine the
normality or otherwise of a child. It has been observed that more women are
giving birth later in life than it was two or three decades ago. This change is
largely due to transformations in society as more women choose to continue their
education with advanced degrees and to start careers prior to getting married
(Gibbs, 2002).
Consequently, the number of women who gave birth in their 30s and 40s has
grown considerably since the 1970s. This delay in child birth has potential
consequences for both mothers and children’s health. Women who give birth
during the aforementioned age brackets are at a greater risk for a variety of
pregnancy and birth complications than younger mothers. For instance, they are
more likely to give birth prematurely and their children are more likely to have low
weight. This occurs in part, because of a decline in the condition of a woman’s
eggs. For example, by the time a woman is 42 years old, 90% of a woman’s eggs
are no longer normal (Gibbs, 2002). Older women are also considerably more
likely to give birth to children with Down syndrome, a form of mental retardation.
Research reveals that about one out of a hundred babies born to mothers over 40
has Down syndrome for mothers over 50, the incidence increases to 25%, that is
one in four children (Gaulden, 1992).
The risks involved in pregnancy are greater not only for older women, but for
atypically young women as well. Women who become pregnant during
adolescence are more likely to have premature deliveries. Furthermore, the
mortality rate of infants born to adolescent mothers is double that for mothers in
their 20s (Kirchengast & Hartmann, 2003).
3. Mother’s prenatal support:
Young mothers often face adverse social and economic conditions which are
capable of negatively influencing the health of the unborn child. For instance,
many teenage mothers do not have enough money or social support; getting good
prenatal care and parenting as well as support after the baby is born. Poverty or
social circumstances such as a lack of parental involvement or supervision may
even have set the stage for the young adolescent to become pregnant in the first
place (O’ Connor et al, 2002; Huizink, Mulder & Buitelaar, 2004).
4. Mother’s Health
Depending on when it strikes, an illness in a pregnant woman can have a
devastating consequence. For instance, the onset of “rubella” (German measles) in
the mother prior to the 11th week of pregnancy is likely to cause serious
consequences in the baby including blindness, deafness, heart defects, or brain
damage (Feldman, 2006). In later stages of a pregnancy, however, adverse
consequences of rubella become increasingly less likely.
Several other diseases may affect a developing fetus, again depending on
when the illness is contracted. For example “chicken pox” may increase the risk of
miscarriage. Some sexually transmitted diseases such as “syphilis” can be
transmitted directly to the fetus. In some cases, sexually transmitted diseases
such as “gonorrhea” are communicated to the unborn child as it (the baby) passes
through the birth canal to be born.
AIDs (Acquired immune deficiency syndrome is the latest of the diseases to
affect a new-born. Mothers who have the disease are carriers to the baby through
the blood that reaches the placenta. However, if mothers with AIDs are treated
with antiviral drugs such as AZT during pregnancy less than 5% of infants are
born with the disease. Those born with the disease must remain on antiviral drugs
their entire lives (Nesheim et al., 2004).
5. Mother’s Drug Use
Mother’s use of many kinds of drugs both legal and illegal-poses serious
risks to the unborn child. Even over-the-counter remedies for common ailments
can have surprisingly injurious consequences. For instance, aspirin taken for a
headache can lead to fetal bleeding and growth impairments (Griffith, Azuma &
Chasnoff, 1994).
Drugs prescribed by medical professionals sometimes have disastrous
consequences. In the 1950s, many women who were told to take “thalidomide” for
morning sickness during their pregnancies gave birth to children with stumps
instead of arms and legs. Although the physicians who prescribed the drug did not
know that it inhibited the growth limbs that normally would have occurred during
the first three months of pregnancy. Some drugs taken by mothers cause difficulty
in their children, literally decades after they were taken. As far back as the 1970s,
the artificial hormone DES (diethylstilbestrol) was frequently prescribed to prevent
miscarriage. It was later found that the daughters of mothers who took DES stood
a much higher than normal risk of developing a rare form of vaginal or cervical
cancer and had more difficulties during their pregnancies. Sons of the mothers
who had taken DES had their own problems including a higher rate than average
of reproductive difficulties (Adams Hilliard, 2001)
Children whose mothers were addicted to cocaine may themselves be born
addicted to the drug and may have to suffer through the pains of withdrawal.
Even if not addicted, they may be born with significant problems. They are often
shorter and weigh less than average and they may have serious respiratory
problems, visible birth defects or seizures.
Mother’s use of alcohol can have profound consequences for the unborn
child. The children of alcoholics, who consumed substantial quantities of alcohol
during pregnancy, are at the greatest risk. Approximately 1 out of every 750
infants is born with fetal alcohol syndromes (FAO); a disorder that may include
below average intelligence and sometimes mental retardation, delayed growth and
facial deformities. FAS is now the primary preventable cause of mental retardation
(Burd et al., 2003).
Smoking produces several consequences none of which is good. For
starters, smoking reduces the oxygen content and increases the carbon monoxide
in the mother’s blood, which quickly reduces the oxygen available to the fetus. In
additions, the nicotine and other toxins in cigarettes slow the respiration rate of
the fetus and speed up its heart. (Cant few pages from were).
6. Rhesus (Rh) Factor
The presence of genetically determined incompatibility between the
mother’s blood and that of the fetus may be injurious to the latter; an example is
the Rh factor. If a child in the womb is Rh positive (his red blood corpuscles
contain a substance which makes his blood agglutinate or clump in response to a
specially prepared serum) while the mother is Rh negative, then their blood tends
to be incompatible. The Rh positive fetus produces certain substances called
antigens which enter into the mother’s circulation through the placenta. Toxic
bodies or substances (antibodies) are then manufactured in her blood and passed
back into the fetus circulatory system. They may destroy the red blood cells of the
fetus and preventing them from distributing oxygen normally. This may result in
miscarriage, still birth or death shortly after birth from erythroblastosis
(destruction of the blood cells). If the child survives, he may be partially paralysed
or mentally deficient possibly as a result of brain damage from in adequate oxygen
supply during a crucial developmental period.
Fortunately, these disastrous consequences do not occur in every case of
the mother-child Rh incompatibility. Erythroblastosis occurs only in one out of
every 200 pregnancies (Eya, 2004). First born children are not usually affected
because it takes time for the mother to develop the antibodies. Similarly, medical
advances have helped to minimize the consequences of this incompatibility.
The Nature/Nurture Issue

The nature/nurture debate in psychology concerns the role of gene and

environment in determining behaviour (Malim et a!. 1992). The nature-nurture

issue (Hilgard, 1962) refers to the problem of determining the relative importance

of the hereditary component (nature) and the result of up-bringing in the

particular environment (nurture) upon mature ability such as intelligence. The

nature side of the controversy is associated with the nativists, who argue that

behaviour is, for the most part, determined by innate or inherited factors.

Environmentalists, or empiricists, are associated with the nurture proposition and

they argue that behaviour is mainly determined by experience. According to

Mowbray & Rodger (1970), the question of heredity versus environment boils

down to “How much does environment and how much does heredity contribute in

determining intelligence (or behaviour)?” (p. 276). Perowne (1975) defines

heredity as a complex biological process that results in progeny resembling their

parents in many characteristic.

 The nativist orientation is that individuals are born with an inherited “blue-

print.” Behaviour which are not already present at birth, the nativists claim, will

develop as though they were on a genetic time switch, that is, through the

process of maturation. They, thus argue that in the circumstance, the environment

has little to do with individual development and more importantly, there is little

anyone can do to change what nature has provided.

The empiricist position, on the other hand, is that the child’s mind at birth is

like a blank slate (tabula rasa) on which experience will write. Behaviour which is

acquired as the child grows is the outcome of experiences, particularly learning.

Therefore changes in the environment produce changes in the individual. Within

their physical limitations, Malim et al. (1992) point out that anyone can become

anything providing the environment is right.

From the foregoing, it follows that learned behaviour are within our control

while innate ones are not, unless they are modified through genetic engineering.

(It is beyond the scope of this course to address the question of what

psychologists might be able to control and what is beyond their control. Examples

of these, which include the origin of language, personality, mental illness,

aggression, gender differences and intelligence, are found in many areas of

research. Therefore our discussion here is limited to the general problem of nature

and nurture rather than dealing with specific issues).

Oyama (1985) argues that the nature versus nurture dichotomy is partly the

result of the scientific need to think in dichotomies, and partly the result of

addressing the wrong question. She maintains that the current scientific

approaches to development are more deeply influenced by cultural traditions than

we think. She further contends that while there has been much debate among

those concerned with whether the genes act as a blue print, hypothesis generator,

programme, code, plan or set of rules for development, no one has yet proposed

that all of these views might be wrong. Likewise, Perowne (1975) points out that it
would be convenient if some characters were hereditary and others

environmental, but in reality such dichotomy does not exist.

Recently, Johnson and Morton (1991) claim that increased knowledge has

shown that there were very few, if any, examples of strictly “innate” behaviour,

that is, behaviour totally unaffected by any environmental factors. Hence, they

caution that in understanding development (vis-â-vis nature-nurture debate) we

should be concerned more with change than with the steady state, with the

process and not the phenotypic state at any point in time. Therefore, as Oyama

(1985) aptly observes, “Nativism and empiricism require each other as do warp

and weft. What they share is the belief that information can pre-exist the

processes that give rise to it. Yet information ‘in the genes’ or ‘in the environment’

is not biologically relevant until it participates in phenotypic processes. Once this

happens, it becomes meaningful in the organism only as it is constituted by its

developmental system. The result is not more information but significant

information” (p.13).

Interestingly, some significant information, in terms of changes in the

emphasis of the nature-nurture question have been reported. In other words,

although the nature-nurture controversy is older than psychology itself and is still

as vigorous as ever (Malim et al. 1992), its emphasis has altered over the years

due to accumulating significant empirical information. These changes are

discussed exhaustively by Anastasi (1958) and Lemer (1986).

Briefly, Anastasi’s position was articulated in question form. First, she

queried, “which one?” At its most extreme, she observes, the nature-nurture issue

asks which of the two, heredity or environment, is responsible for behaviour.

Anastasi argues that to ask the question in an “either/or” form is illogical, as one

could not exist without the other. Therefore, she reasons that both heredity and

environment are absolutely crucial for the individual to exist. In other words, both

must exert an influence on the behaviour of the individual. Secondly, she asked,
if it is accepted that both nature and nurture play a part in determining behaviour,

how much is contributed by each? Thus, the either/or question is replaced by an

assumption that the two forces operate in an additive, but still separate

ways: XxY = behaviour. In Anastasi’s view, such an attitude is as illogical as its

predecessor. She contends, therefore, that to ask “How much?” is simply to ask

“Which one?” in a slightly more complicated form. It is still illogical, she maintains.

Finally, if neither of the two previous questions is useful or satisfactory, the

obvious answer, she argues, is to consider that genetic and environment interact

to determine or influence behaviour. Thus, genetics and environment exert an

influence on each other such that XxY = behaviour, that is, behaviour is

determined by both heredity and environment. Moreover, different environments

acting on the same genetic pattern would result in different behaviour. Similarly,

the same environment would produce different behaviour from individuals who

were genetically different. Furthermore, genes never determine behaviour directly;

they do so through the environment. Likewise, the environment does not directly

affect behaviour but only through the genetic makeup of the individual. Lastly, it is

much more logical to accept that nature and nurture interact. However, this

position raises a fundamental question: “In what way do they interact?” How do

changes in one affect the influence of the other?

Gilmer (1975) contends that “it is a generally accepted fact that human beings are

a product of heredity and environment. Out of the product comes both our

individuality and our individual differences” (p.11). Similarly, Perowne (1975)

observes that at least in principle, but not invariably in practice, the development

of a trait may be manipulated by environmental changes. Therefore, he contends

that hygiene, medicine, education, even social and political systems may be

regarded as environmental engineering devices by means of which organic

development may be controlled. One may conclude, then that heredity

provides a potential, a platform, which may or may not be developed by

environment. In what appears to be still begging the questions, Gilmer

(1975) concludes that nature and nurture work together (interact), but

one of them may play a larger role than the other in producing some

given behaviour. The question still remains, “which one of them plays a

larger role in producing a given behaviour?” This is the question that has

been described as “illogical” (Anastasi, 1 958).

The interaction of nature and nurture appears to be like the problem of the egg

and the chick, which comes first, both require each other. Can nature and nurture

do without each other in determining or influencing each other? In other words,

what is really meant by heredity and environment? Lerner (1986) offers a solution

by suggesting that we should think of environment as having different levels.

SENSATION
A term commonly used to refer to the subjective feelings resulting
from stimulation of a sense organ, for instance, a sensation of warm, sour, or
green. As a general scientific category, the study of sensation is the study of
the operation of the senses. Sense receptors are the means by which
information presented as one form of energy, for example, light, is converted to
information in the form used by the nervous system, that is, impulses traveling
along nerve fibres.
Sensation begins with a stimulus- any detectable input from the
environment. What counts as detectable, though, depends on what or who is
doing the detecting. The question that should be asked is that for any given
sense, what is the weakest detectable stimulus? Implicit in this question is the
concept known as threshold/ a beginning point. A threshold is a dividing
point between energy levels that do and do not have a detectable effect.
Each sense has mechanisms and characteristics peculiar to itself, but all
display the phenomena of absolute threshold, differential threshold and
adaptation. Not until a sufficient stimulation impinges on a receptor can the
presence of a stimulus be detected. The quantity of stimulation required is
known as the absolute threshold. Not until a sufficient change occurs in some
aspect of a stimulus can the change be detected. The magnitude/extent of
the change required is called the differential threshold. On the other
hand sensory adaptation is a gradual decline in sensitivity to prolonged
stimulation. Sensory adaptation is an automatic, built-in process that keeps
people tuned to the changes rather than the constants in their sensory input. It
allows people to ignore the obvious. After all, you don’t need constant
confirmation that your clothes are still on.
Under steady stimulation there is a decrease in sensitivity of the
corresponding sense as indicated by a shift in the absolute threshold and in the
magnitude or extent of sensation. After the stimulation ceases, sensitivity
increases. An obvious example of visual adaptation occurs when one goes from
bright to dim surroundings or vice versa.
How We Experience Sensation
As noted above, sensation refers to the process of receiving,
converting and transmitting information from the outside world.
Sensation is made possible through the sensory organs which are able to detect
stimuli as well as convert them into a language the brain can understand. Through
the process of transduction, sensory receptors convert stimuli into neutral
impulses, which are sent to the brain. In hearing, for example, receptor cells in the
inner ear transduce mechanical vibration (from sound waves) into electrochemical
signals. To ensure that the brain is not overwhelmed with stimuli, there are
structures in our sensory systems which deliberately reduce the amount of stimuli
we receive. This natural device is adaptive in nature; it allows only stimuli
necessary for survival to be possessed.
Sensory Adaptation
The presentation of sensory stimulus continuously diminishes awareness;
this process is known as sensory adaptation. For instance, the hearing
receptors of persons who live by an airport will have less firing rate
compared to a new person in the neighbourhood. With sensory
adaptation constant stimulation over a long time loses its effects. The
new comer will thus be more sensitive to the noise from the airport
compared to those who have lived by the airport longer .
Some sensory systems adapt faster than other, for example, smell and
touch adapt faster than sense of pain. The adaptive value of the sensory
adaptation is that it enables people to operate efficiently within a wide range of
stimulus intensities as well as make us more alert to new stimuli.
PERCEPTION
This refers to interpretation of what we take in through our senses. The way
we perceive the environment is what makes us different from each other.
According to Ofovwe (2011:93), “perception involves selecting, organizing and
interpreting sensory data into meaningful representation of the world”.
The process of detecting a stimulus and assigning meaning to it is called
perception. This meaning is constructed based on both physical representations
from the world and our existing knowledge. For instance, consider figure “13”. If
asked what the letter is one most likely to say ‘B’. But if asked what the figure is
one would say 13. The marks remain the same but their meaning changes in
keeping with the expectation to recognise a letter or a number. To a child without
the appropriate knowledge to perceive either a letter or figure, the marks would
probably be meaningless (Smith, 1975). Perception involves the identification and
interpretation of the various stimuli or events in the environment which impinge
upon our sense organs. Perception influences the way we behave. If we interpret
a sensation to be a snake the tendency is for us to run, shout or kill it.
Cultural Influences on Perception
The following cultural elements exert some influence on human perception.
1. Anthropomorphism: This is the attribution of human or superhuman
qualities to inanimate objects such as rivers, the sun and the moon and
animals such as cow, the ram and the snake. It is mostly a religious
phenomenon. Such objects and animals are thus perceived differently most
often with reverence and submission. This is why the cow is sacred to the
Hindu, the ram to black magic worshippers or Satanists and of recent the
royal python is considered sacred among the Igbo people. Many rivers and
streams, trees, etc. are sacred to many traditional societies in Africa.
In special cases, kings are accorded superhuman qualities. Many societies
perceive their kings and rulers as divine; an intermediary between the
members of the community and God, the Supreme Being.
2. Values: Culture determines the values of objects found within societies. An
object of value in one society maybe perceived differently by another
society. For example, to the Red Indians, gold was an ordinary metal but
not so to the Europeans.
In recent times, with rapid acculturation gold has become a most valuable
commodity. In Nigeria, the value placed on Western education at all levels.
3. Social Needs: Social needs influence human perception and anything of
social need such as money is valuable. If money was not declared a medium
 of transaction it would have been perceived as ordinary metal or paper.
However, it serves a social need i.e. a means of exchange of goods and
services; it is cherished and handled with care.
4. Past Experience: Past experience or learning may influence human
perception. In fact, the differences in perception between members of
different cultures result, in most cases, from past experience. Past
experience either enhances or inhibits perception. An individual who is
familiar with bead would perceive the aesthetic qualities of this object
compared with another who lacks knowledge of bead.
5. Pre-perception: An individual’s perception may be motivated. This is
perception where the person has already made up the mind on what he or
she wants to see. For example, an individual who has hidden fear of ghost
may see ghost. A tree may assume the shape of a ghost.

LANGUAGE AND THINKING

Language plays a fundamental role in human behaviour. Indeed, if you were
to ask people, “what characteristic most distinguishes humans from other living
creatures?” A great many would say “language”. What then is language?
“A language consists of symbols that convey meaning plus rules for
combining those symbols, that can be used to generate an infinite variety of
messages” (Weiten, 2007: 300). Thus, language systems include a number of
critical properties. First, language is symbolic. People use spoken sounds and
written words to represent objects, actions, events and ideas. The symbolic nature
of language greatly expands what people can communicate about. Symbols allow
one to refer to objects that may be in another place and to events that happened
at another time. The symbols used in a language are arbitrary in that no build-in
relationship exists between the look or sound of words and the object they stand
for. For example, the word lamp could have been called book and vice versa.
Second, language is generative. A limited number of symbols can be
combined in an infinite variety of ways to generate an endless array of novel
messages. Every day we create sentences that we have never spoken before. We
also comprehend many sentences that we have never encountered before.
Third, language is structured. Although people can generate an infinite
variety of sentences; these sentences must be structured in a limited number of
ways. Rules govern the arrangement of words into phrases and sentences; some
arrangements are acceptable while some are not. The structure of language allows
people to be inventive with words and still understand each other.

Thinking:
According to Colman (2003: 741) thinking is:
The act or process of having ideas or thoughts, including
reasoning, problem solving, decision making, the
formation of mental models and the contemplation of
knowledge, beliefs and opinions.

To think is to form concepts that organize our world, to overcome obstacles

as we solve problems and to make efficient decisions and judgements. Thinking or
cognition is the mental activity associated with processing, understanding and
communicating information.
Concepts
To think about the countless events, objects and people in our world, we
simplify things. We group them into concepts in mental grouping of similar
objects, events and people. Thus, concepts is “a mental representation, idea or
thought corresponding to a specific entity or class of entities, or the defining or
prototypical features of the entity or class, which may be either concrete or
abstract”. (Coleman, 2003: 152). The concept ‘chair’ sums up a variety of items –
a baby’s chair, a wing chair, the chairs around a dining room table and folding
chairs. Most share common features: they have legs and a back and an individual
can sit on it.
Thinking Strategies
The need to make decisions is a constant feature among human beings
which requires reasoning. Reasoning refers to the process by which people
evaluate and generate argument and reach conclusions. Reasoning may be
categorized into two: deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning.
Deductive reasoning is also known as deductive logic. Logic refers to the
application of evaluative material such as syllogisms to arrive at a valid conclusion
about given information.
Inductive Reasoning
While deductive reasoning involves drawing conclusion on the basis of
logical relations, inductive reasoning determines a degree of belief in an
hypothesis on the basis of many observations. In inductive reasoning (also known
as empirical induction) a general law or principle is inferred from particular
instances that have been observed.
Culture, Language and Thought
According to the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis propounded by Benjamin
Lee Whorf (1956), “one’s language determines the nature of one’s
thoughts”(Weiten, 2007:308). Whorf speculated that different languages lead
people to view the world differently. His classic example compared English and
Eskimo views of snow. He argued that the English Language has just one word for
snow, whereas the Eskimo language has many words that distinguish among
falling snow, wet snow. Given the power of language, it should not come as a
surprise that carefully chosen words and labels can exert subtle influence on
people’s feelings about various issues.

EMOTION
Emotions refer to psychological and physical reactions that occur in human
interaction with one another. Anger, joy, anxiety, love, hate are examples of
emotions. Emotions have peculiar defining characteristics.
These include:
1. Transition: Emotions are (transitory) temporary; they usually have a
beginning and an end.
2. (Valence) Direction: Emotions are usually either positive or negative.
3. Cognitive Appraisal: The evaluation given to a particular situation often
determines the emotion it elicits.
4. Alteration of thoughts processes: Emotions are capable of being directed
from the target event.
5. Promotion of action: Emotions experienced can make an individual behave
in a particular way. Passions; Emotions are not initiated; they just happen.
Components of Emotions
Emotion comprises three components: cognitive, physiological and
behavioural which usually occur simultaneously during an emotional experience.
1. The Cognitive Experience: This involves thoughts, beliefs, expectations and
interpretation that define the behaviour and determine the outcome. For
instance, if an event is defined as interesting and worth spending time on it
will affect the emotional response the behaviour attracts.
2. The physiological component: This involves the internal changes in the body
resulting from an emotional arousal. It could involve the activation of the
sympathetic division of Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) with associated
reactions like sweaty palms, dry mouth, dilated pupils, increased heart rate,
etc.
3. The behavioural component: This involves the outward expression of the
emotion being experienced. It may be expressed as joy, laughing, anger,
crying etc. The behavioural component is very important because it also
serves as a means of communication.

Theories of Emotion
William James’ Theory
William James was one of the first psychologists to focus on the relationship
between emotions and physiological responses. He proposed that you are afraid
because you run. This sounds rather complex and contradicts common reasoning
following what naturally happens when one is on a scary situation.
Carl Lange, a Danish physician also held a similar view, hence, this theory is
sometimes referred to as James – Lang Theory of emotion.
According to James, it is the interpretation given to the situation that
produced physiological responses. He, however, argued that the interpretation
may not necessarily be conscious until the physical response occurs. In James’
view, it is the perception of (peripheral responses) body responses such as
increased heart rate, perspiration and seventy palms, etc, that constitute the
experience of emotion.
The conscious aspect of emotion is expressed when the brain observes
these responses. For example, we are afraid because we run.
Schachter Cognitive Labelling Theory
Stanley Schachter elaborates on James emphasis on the interpretation of
physiological arousal.
* According to Schachler and Singer (1962) emotions are produced by both
feedback from peripheral responses and a cognitive appraisal of what
caused the responses. The theory is also known as Schachter – Singer
theory (because Jerome Singer collaborated with Stanley Schachter)
supports James’ view that the first step in emotion is the perception of the
situation. However, Schachter and singer went further to explain that the
brain may interpret a particular pattern of feedback in many ways and give
it many labels. The cognitive act of labeling an originally undifferentiated
pattern of physiological arousals constitutes the emotional experience.
The labeling of arousal depends on an attribution (the process of identifying
the cause of an event). The attribution given to a particular situation varies
depending on available information. For example, the last minutes before the
announcement of the results of a completive examination may be marked by any
of the following emotional experiences: fear, anxiety, excitement, etc.

Psychology and Other Disciplines/Professions

It is a truism that all people relate to psychology through the problems of infancy,

childhood, adolescence, youth, adulthood and old age. Generally, most people

usefully apply Psychology in such programmes like counselling and decision

making and in work as well as directly in specialized areas such as law.

Specifically, we shall discuss or at least briefly describe psychology as it relates to

other social science disciplines as well as to the consumer, to engineering, to

unions and the professions of education, medicine, nursing, etc.

Psychology and Anthropology

Anthropology, like sociology, studies kinship system, social organization and

institutions, systems of exchange and cultural values. It concentrates on the study

from man’s primitive habitat in order to learn in a comparative way how societies

have developed and this is specifically the field of cultural anthropology. Physical

anthropology limits its interest to retracing the course of human evolution to as far

as practicable to the very origin of man. Social anthropology restricts itself to

modern literate community. To anthropologists, the basic elements in all human

societies, how the element which holds the key to understanding how human

beings behave in their social habitat, is the concept of culture. It is at the signs of

culture or cultural system that anthropology is most related to psychology. It need

not refer to the behaviour of particular individual. It shares with psychology the

concepts of regularities, recurrences and patterns of behaviour as well as the

effects on behaviour of the properties of man-made environment. The relationship

serves to enhance the work of psychologists by highlighting the similarities in

perceptual habits, learning habits, cognitive style and strength of motivation (i.e.

achievement motivation) as well as emotion across cultures and sub-cultures.

Psychology and Economics

The traditional definition of Economics as the study of production and distribution

of goods and services has tended to obscure the fact that it is a science of human

behaviour. It emphasizes the problems that arise from the fact that there is not

enough of anything to please anyone who wants it at a particular time which

implies that competition will arise.

In recent times, economists have paid much or serious attention to actual

economic behaviour of individuals, hence the study of motivation, particularly the

motivation to achieve, has become the common interest of both psychologists and

economists. Thus, with sociology and psychology, economics also studies the

working of social organization as productive unit. Other areas of common interest

include the effect of value and preferences on the supply of labour, studies of the

origin, personality characteristics and motivation of entrepreneurs and managers,

the effect of attitude and belief system on productivity, etc.

Psychology and Geography

A great deal of the subject matter of Geography especially its newer field of

interest form integral part of social studies. Beyond the study of physical structure

of rock, water etc, geography focuses on man. Since the natural features of the

environment have great import as they relate to man’s needs and problems,

geography can be regarded as a behavioural science. Geographers pay close

attention to man’s ability to adapt to the various regions throughout the world.

Three new developments have helped to weld geography more closely to

psychology and other fields of the social sciences. These new developments are in

terms of:

1. the interest shown by anthropologists, sociologists, and psychologists in

cross-cultural and hence cross-regional studies;

2. the coming into the limelight of the new signs of ecology - human and

animal ecology - and the ecology of purely physical elements. Ecology is a

 branch of biology dealing with the habits, modes and lives of living

organisms; and

3. emergence of environmental psychology which stresses among other things:

(a) The attitude towards the natural physical environment.

(b) Man’s violence onto the environment through deforestation, pollution

of land, sea and air.

(c) Man’s attitude towards refuse collection and disposal.

(d) The effects of these environmental abuses upon man’s physical and

mental health.

(e) The congeniality of housing especially in towns and cities and its

contribution to crime and delinquency

(f) The planning of towns and cities not only in adaptive ways but also in

ways that will eliminate crowding and its undesirable consequences

on behaviour.

Psychology and Philosophy

Philosophy is indisputably the mother of all sciences, especially social sciences. For

centuries, philosophers have continued to wonder about the phenomenon of man,

admiring the complexity of his behaviour and power of his intellect to comprehend

the world. They also wonder about the paradox of man’s irrationality against the

background of his rationality. They have tried to find out the laws that govern

man’s reasoning (logic); they have pondered on and tried to explain existence

itself (metaphysics), the purpose of man’s existence and man’s ultimate end

(ethics), the origin, nature and validity of knowledge (epistemology). Philosophy

has done all these and more but only in theoretical terms. In other words,

philosophy has laid the theoretical foundation for all the other social science areas

while the latter have shared among themselves the aspects of the phenomenon of

man and have tried to understand these aspects in empirical terms. Modern

philosophy in general and psychology, in particular, have their beginnings in a

branch of philosophy called philosophical psychology. The history of psychology

shows that from ancient Greeks to date, the understanding and tradition of man

and the workings of society have been the preoccupation of both philosophers and

psychologists.

Psychology and Political Science

The science of government specialises in the exposition of political theory

particularly comparative theory and in the functioning of government and public

administration. In recent times sociologists and psychologists have organised

intensive programmes of the research into political behaviour. From sociological

point of view, these programmes focus on the behaviour of political groups or

parties and their evolution. From psychological point of view, the programmes

focus on political personalities and how these personalities influence political

groups and are in turn influenced by political ideas. Some political personalities

that have made history include Hitler of German, Samuel Doe of Liberia, Idi

Amin of Uganda and, of course, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Ibrahim Babangida of

Nigeria. Political scientists, sociologists and psychologists often tend to work

together to ascertain voting pattern behaviour through public opinion polls,

popular values, attitudes towards political issues ( e.g. the OIC), membership of

radical political movements, voluntary organizations, decision/ policy making

processes as well as leadership properties and leadership effectiveness.

Psychology and Religion

Psychology and other social sciences do not compete with Religion over the

interpretation of the holy books nor do they engage in controversy regarding the

existence or non-existence of God. However, social scientists have realized that in

studying the social life of man, the forces that compel human beings to cluster in

communities or communions and develop strong bonds of association, the bond

represented by religious beliefs and feelings are among the strongest and most

enduring. As a branch of a study of society, Religion has been defined as the way

people behave in seeking answers to the ultimate questions posed in life, i.e.,

after death, what next? It is how people behave in seeking answers to this

ultimate question posed in life that is the aspect that relates religion and

psychology.

Religious groups and organizations are legitimate units of social-psychological

analysis. Religious beliefs and attitudes tend to form the basis of official policies

towards out-groups.

Psychology and Sociology

Psychology takes the individual as its unit of analysis but social psychology focuses

on the same unit in relation to social influence processes which include groups,

social organizations, institutions and cultural objects, norms and values. These

enumerated social influence processes are also the subject matter of sociology

which examines them in their own right and at times with little emphasis on the

individual involved. The social influence processes are studied by sociologists and

can be labelled as micro unit of analysis. Psychology is engaged in studying

situations in their micro units, that is, in units that relate to the “making of the

individual”. Psychology seeks to explain behaviour as it is organised in an

individual personality and determined by the combined influence of his biology and

physiology and the macro social units of which he is a member. This includes,

also, the influence which the individual, in turn, exercises on the macro units.
Psychology in Marketing

All of us as consumers are influenced both directly and indirectly through

advertising and selling. We thus react in varying ways to the radio jingle (Coca

cola or maggi cube) and the television cartoon (USA ‘94 or Nigeria ‘95).

Nonetheless, we are also concerned with problems in buying and customer

services, etc. Marketing mix (Gilmer, 1975) refers to a blend of advertising, sales

promotion, customer service, public relations, credit, transportation, delivery, and

consumerism.

At the heart of marketing is advertising, which is defined as any paid form

of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by some

identified sponsor (Gilmer, 1967). The media of advertising include magazine and

newspaper space, trace papers, bill boards, throwaways (religious sects are fond

of this) car cards or stickers, catalogs as well as private or national radio and

television. Advertising is designed to influence people and the decisions they make

in a world of competition.

(Think of Coca-cola and 7-Up, Milo and Maggi Cube, Emenite and Best Alminum

adverts.)

Moreover, the power of habit dominates all of us and advertising attempts to

control the ways in which we change or modify our behaviour through learning.

Advertisers not only want to reinforce habits, they, at times, want to change them.

(Examples abound in the battle among malaria drugs.) Therefore, the success for

a new product depends on whether customers can be induced to shift away from

their former brands. Similarly, the continued success of an established leading

brand (Omo, Coke) depends on its ability to strengthen existing habits.

Another feature of marketing is selling involves both sales promotion and

personal selling. The psychological factors in selling involve the sequence of

perceiving, understanding and feeling, hence, the focus of the salesman’s

attention is the customer, as he must catch the small cues in the customer’s
behaviour which indicate what to stress and what to gloss over. Specifically, good

selling is planned in advance. Thus, the thinking processes induced by the

salesman such as concreteness of language and aptness of illustration, must be

considered since they often spell the difference between success and failure in

selling. The salesman may also base his strategy on rationalization, that is, the

customer is eased into believing what he wants to believe. In other words, it is

just human nature to justify our behaviour in our own eyes.

Customer service is a growing part of the marketing mix. Service activities (Gilmer,

1975) include maintenance and repair of products, technical and professional

assistance in problem solving, help in training the customer’s personnel in

operating equipment, and marketing research on the customer’s products. It must

be emphasized, nonetheless, that in theory sales and services are complementary

but in practice the two are often in conflict. Specifically, “sales make commitments

that ‘services’ has difficulty in supplying” (Gilmer, 1975:245). Therefore, the

sophisticated buyer studies services before determining where to buy.

Public Relations:

Public Relations is another ingredient of the mix and all employees informally tend

to contribute (for whatever reason) to the public relations of a business. However,

larger organizations employ a specialized staff (commonly known as the public

relations officer, PRO) or outside agency to coordinate this aspect of the marketing

mix.

As a part of the mix, credit is involved in buying and selling and it becomes vital as

the value of the purchase increases. In addition, for most people pricing is

important in the mix because it has not only an economic base, it also involves

psychological values as well, especially when status becomes important

and no small part of the mix involves delivery.

Furthermore, purchase behaviour by the customer, which is related to

psychological and sociological factors as well as to economic factors, is an

important aspect of the mix. For example, age of the buyer is important and this

may explain why cereal adverts appear on children’s shows while automobile

adverts or commercials on late-night variety shows, for the adults.

Finally, beliefs are important in purchasing and obviously they influence

customer’s preferences for goods and services. This might explain the use of the

dictum ‘tell people what they like” by public relations officers or agencies.

Psychology in Engineering

Engineering psychology, frequently called “human factors engineering” is

concerned with how people receive information through the eyes, ears and other

senses, how people store this information and use it in making decisions, and how

people react. Engineering psychologists helped design the L-shaped desk for the

secretary, to bring an enlarged work space within easy reach. The psychomotor

behaviour of cashiers and cash register design is being studied to make the check-

out counter operation in grocery stores and supermarkets more efficient, less

fatiguing for the cashier, and more comfortable for the customer. Designs of

computer consoles for programming are being studied in relation to the abilities of

people to process information quickly in short- term memory. The computer has

introduced both complexity and “all-at-onceness” (Gilmer, 1975) to which the

human must adjust.

Psychology in engineering is thus interested in how people and machines

can be made to work together more efficiently. And this covers a wide range of

problems, from the design of a household appliance to the design of a manned

space vehicle. Much study has gone into the design of automobile seats, which

must accommodate persons of various shapes and forms. Moreover, coordinating

thousands of people, ships, radio stations and equipment of all sorts for a space

mission represents a “systems” problem, part of which involves psychology.

Generally, engineering psychologists are involved in equipment design,

concerned about sensory inputs and outputs, and about accidents and safety, all
in an attempt to help bring the human and his mechanical world/environment into

better harmony. All-in-all, the man-machine system may be either a closed-loop

system or the open-loop system.

Psychology in Union Management Relations

Psychologists are becoming increasingly interested in group conflicts and in

contemporary Nigerian society. Union management relations offer an excellent

example of such conflict. Although it has many other functions, a union is a

fighting organization and anything that limits the union’s ability to stand up to

management in a crisis will weaken its ability to bargain with management in a

crisis. The public may not realize that beyond the fringes of friction there is much

understanding and cooperation between unions and management. And it is vital to

understand and appreciate the fact that collective bargaining is more than just

arithmetic.

Gilmer (1967) listed four positive reasons why workers join unions. These

are the desire for job security; the desire to be a member of an organization which

is powerful; the social pressures demanding that one join the union; and the

feeling of belonging that comes with being a union member. Labour unions believe

that they must stick together and get things for their members so that they are to

survive. Labour unions also feel that employers remain a strong potential threat to

their survival. Therefore, the future of the labour movement will depend on its

ability to attract members in the expanding sectors of the economy. The old

feeling that unions are for blue-collar workers seems to have passed especially in

contemporary Nigeria. (For detail, see Eyo, 1995.) Generally, as job security gains

prominence as a union’s demand, it runs headlong into management’s need to

increase efficiency. Thus, for the psychologist, union-management relations

provide an excellent situation for studying group conflicts.

Psychology in Education
The applications of psychology in education cover a wide range of problems, from

helping with the overly shy child to counselling parents on appropriate

programming of activities for exceptionally bright (gifted) child. Generally,

applications of psychology can be classified within the framework of school

psychology and teacher education.

School psychologists perform their duties almost exclusively in the school

setting. The school psychologist works closely with teachers. He gives and

interprets psychological tests and discusses problems with parents. School

psychologists are to some extent coordinators, as they organize and administer

testing programmes and often are associated with in-service teacher training.

Many kinds of problems are referred to the school psychologists, among

which are difficulties of emotional adjustment, psychological aspects of physical

handicaps, and problems in remedial reading, speech and arithmetic. This person

of many roles is also concerned with enriching the educational climate for the

gifted child. Specifically, the school psychologist works not only in a school but

through it.

At the heart of teacher training lies psychology of learning; and important

for learning is the climate in which it takes place. Moreover, at the centre of this

classroom atmosphere is the teacher. Hence, in some respects it could be said that

psychology is the science underlying education, much as the physical sciences

provide the foundation for engineering. Regardless of the teaching medium -

audiovisual aids, education television or teaching machines - the psychology of

learning is fundamental. Learning principles are applied to teaching in such areas

as programmed learning, reinforcement, learning to learn, emotion, motivation,

socialization, personality, etc.

In summary, psychology contributes to education by suggesting factors to be

taken into account in influencing people to learn. It checks out beliefs and
hypotheses in experiments and tries out many ideas that the teacher in the

classroom does not have time to explore.

Psychology in Medicine

For the most part psychology in medicine means clinical psychology (also known

as medical psychology) and basic research in psychological and comparative

psychology. Here the psychologist may work in private practice, in medical

schools, in hospitals, for the Veteran Administration, or in various programmes of

rehabilitation.

Clinical psychologists work in many settings with physicians on the problems

of the individual. The problem may involve helping mentally handicapped child or

evaluating the personality of a neurotic patient. Clinical or medical psychologists

are also interested in the behaviour of normal people. They know that people do

not like to be pushed around, and they are interested in learning how each person

reacts. Although the field of medical psychology lies somewhere between

psychiatry and psychology (Mowbray & Rodger, 197Q) it is important to emphasize

that medical psychology is concerned mainly with the ways in which psychology is

of value in clinical practice. In this regard therefore, psychology is relevant in

public health, comprehensive medicine, medical rehabilitation, community

medicine, psychological medicine, etc. Because of want of space, we shall briefly

describe a few of them.

a. Public Health

Psychologists working in public health systems may apply some of the methods

and research findings used in marketing mix (e.g., in advertising and selling). For

example, the psychologist may try to help answer questions as to why many

people will not take free polio shots or why they even resist the use of condom to

prevent contracting AIDS. Gilmer (1975) reports that the psychologist, working

with others, has found that straight factual presentation on certain health

programmes among high school students is more effective than the more
emotional fear-arousing presentations. This may explain why the current campaign

on AIDS is not as effective as it is supposed to, because the campaign appears to

be more fear oriented than fact-oriented.

It is pertinent to bear in mind that fear of knowing is quite common among

people, particularly among the less well- educated and this may be militating

against some public health programmes. Moreover, some people are, according to

Gilmer (1967) “psychologically closed” when it comes to facing problems of

personal health. Are you one of such people?

b. Comprehensive Medicine

In some places emphasis is put on studying and giving treatment to the whole

person. This approach in medicine is the opposite of the narrow specialization of

medical practice. Such comprehensive medicine (Gilmer, 1967) views the problems

the individual, particularly those involving mental health, in an environmental

setting. The psychologist joins the team of physicians, nurses, social workers, and

others in dealing with the problems of patients. In this regard, therefore, family-

care programmes such as the Family Support Programmes and programmes in

child guidance and rehabilitation tend to centre substantially on teamwork in that

psychologists have been included in some medical schools.

c. Community Psychology

Psychologists are working as mental health consultants, mental health educators,

human relations counsellors and as community oriented clinicians. They work on a

wide variety of problems, from helping to organize child guidance centres to

setting up ‘halfway houses’ for gradually getting the ex-mental patient back into

work and into the community. Community Psychology is thus more and more

involved with programmes for the rehabilitation of alcoholics and drug addicts.

Psychology in the Military

Undoubtedly, the one place where the various aspects of applied psychology meet

is in military settings. Scientific psychology has unfolded during the same time that

international conflict has become worldwide, thus creating a climate favourable to

the study of human behaviour in very large systems. For example, Gilmer (1967)

reports that soldiers who are informed about a dangerous mission before it takes

place will commit themselves to higher risks. If they learn about the impending

action several days before H-hour, fear tends to be present but emotional shock

seems to be absent. Risks can be calculated and the psychological preparation

that follows tends to lessen fear.

Historically, the military applications of psychology started in the United

States during the First World War, with the development of two intelligence tests

— the Army Alpha for those who could read and write and the Beta for illiterate

soldiers. With the entry of the United States into World War II, psychologists

entered all fields of military service, and worked on a wide variety of psychological

problems. Thus, from the field of experimental psychology came answers to

practical questions about the efficient use of the human sensory systems and

motor stills in combat. Industrial and educational psychologists contributed to the

improvement of the use of human resources in selection and training. Clinical and

counselling psychologists were involved in numerous problems of adjustments to

military life and social psychologists became involved in problems of group

behaviour and leadership.

Generally, the application of military psychology, in peacetime as well as

during war, has in no small measure, provided a vast, stimulating, and challenging

laboratory and clinic for researchers. Military psychology, whether in peace-time or

wartime, covers such broad areas as perception and performance; selection,

classification, and training; adjustments in military living; stress, and military

performance; rumour, reactions to disaster, human factor brainwashing and

psychological warfare, etc. Therefore, as Driskell and Olmstead (1989) aptly

observed, the growth and development of military psychology has paralleled as

well as influenced the growth of psychology. The relationship between the military

and psychology is best viewed as one of reciprocal exchange.

In conclusion, it is argued that from the foregoing, it is obvious to the student of

human behaviour that the applications of psychology can be found in all

professions. In short, psychology is applied anywhere there are human beings.

Relationship Between Psychology and Law

Practising law means working with people. To be effective in working with

people – clients, witnesses, judges, mediators, arbitrators, experts, jurors and

other lawyers, attorneys must have good understanding of how people think and

make decisions, and must possess good people skills. Yet, law schools have

tended to teach very little, directly, about how to be good with people, and current

critiques of legal education do not focus much on the importance of psychological

insights to attorneys. Below are some of the areas where psychology is relevant to

Law.

Criminal Law – As too many recent tragedies have confirmed, our criminal

justice system often must address mental health issues of defendants. The field of

psychopathology – mental disorders and injuries – can lend valuable insights to

prosecutors, defense counsel, and judges.

Employment Law – The best employment lawyers combine legal expertise with

a sound understanding of the dynamics of the workplace. The basics of

organizational psychology can help employment lawyers provide legal counselling

and advice grounded in the modern realities of employee relations.

Family Law and Trust and Estates Law – Family lawyers and trusts and

estates lawyers render assistance to clients during critical junctures of their lives.
Understanding the psychology of lifespan development can make these attorneys

sensitive to their clients’ needs.

Client counselling – Client counselling skills are much more likely to be

emphasised in a social work programme than in a law school. After hearing

endless stories from clients about lawyers’ poor “deskside manner,” it could be

speculated that counselling psychology would benefit attorneys as well. The bulk

of time at the law school is spent on memorising legal rules and principles and

applying them to static sets of facts and the human side of legal practice often is

badly neglected.

Interviewing and Counselling

In general, interviewing and counselling sessions have three main

components. First, the attorney uses an interview to obtain information from the

client. Second, the attorney uses the counselling portion of the initial session to

provide information to the client. Third, throughout the session the attorney is

concerned with establishing rapport between attorney and client. Success or

failure in building rapport with the client will inevitably affect the lawyer’s ability to

obtain and provide information, and to ethically and effectively counsel the client

in this and future sessions.

Knowledge of the psychology of both client and attorney is highly relevant

to all three facets of interviewing and counselling and is critically important as

attorneys seek to build good rapport, obtain relevant information from clients,

retain that information, and guide clients with regard to their options. Thus,

attorneys gain insights about themselves as well as their clients.

Perception and Construal

A lawyer may assume that people observe the world and what happens in it

as it is, and cannot understand why people have so much trouble describing the

facts (especially in eye witness accounts). However, it is clear from decades of

psychological research that “the perceiver is not simply a dutiful clerk who
passively registers information. Rather, the perceiver is an active interpreter, one

who resolves ambiguities, makes educated guesses about events that cannot be

observed directly, and forms inferences about associations and causal relations”

(Nisbett, R. E. & Ross, L. (1980). Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings

of Social Judgement, 17 (1980).

Attention and Interpretation

Human senses are constantly bombarded with an amazing array of

information – sound, sights, physical sensations, odours, and taste. It would be

virtually impossible to pay attention, let alone close attention, to all of the stimuli

to which we are exposed. Accordingly, we attend to a fraction of the possible

features of the environment at any given moment. According to Pashler (1998),

“The mind is continually assigning priority to some sensory information over others

and this selection process makes a profound difference for both conscious

experience and behaviour” (Pashler, H. E. (1998). The Psychology of Attention 2).

Features of both stimuli themselves (such as intensity, suddenness,

unexpectedness, or movement) and the perceiver (e.g. expectations) can

influence what it is that gets noticed.

There are a variety of ways in which a person’s ability to attend to and become

aware of stimuli is limited. Psychological research has also shown that it is difficult

to attend to and take in information from multiple sources simultaneously – a

problem of divided attention.

Psychology also teaches that people tend to exhibit a confirmatory bias in

the ways in which they seek out and evaluate information. As a general matter,

people unconsciously tend to seek out additional information that confirms their

already formed views and disregard conflicting information, rather than attempting

to systematically gather accurate information. Moreover, when evaluating

information, once it is obtained, there is a tendency for assessments of the

information to be influenced by the extent to which the information is consistent

with the attitudes or expectations of the person doing the evaluation – a tendency

known as biased assimilation. Information that is inconsistent with expectations or

beliefs is discounted and scrutinised more carefully than is expectation –

congruent data.

Confirmatory bias and biased assimilation may have particular importance for

lawyers – whose training and experience might lead them to pigeonhole (to decide

that somebody or something belongs to a particular group or type without thinking

deeply enough about it and considering what other qualities they might have)

clients and cases into readily accessible categories. While lawyers’ expertise allows

them to quickly integrate large amounts of information about the facts of their

clients’ case and the law, such expertise may also lead them to make assumptions,

to ask questions designed to confirm those assumption rather than to disconfirm.

them, and even to erroneously remember some individuating details.

Human construal or understanding of events and situations is guided by

basic knowledge structures-known as schemas- that define expectations about

how the world operates, fill in gaps in information, and facilitate and ability to

make inferences and judgements with heightened ease, speed and subjective

confidence. This people have a schema for “baby” or for “Lawyer” that provides

them with certain expectations and assumptions about how such a creature should

look and behave. Such schemas serve us well most of the time, allowing us to

process vast amounts of information quickly. In particular, experts may have well-

developed schemas that allow them to see patterns that others might not and to

use their expertise to select and organise relevant information.

Social psychologists have shown that “preconceptions” can be important in

interpreting data and, therefore, can influence all other tasks that depend on this

most basic inferential undertaking. Specifically, preconceptions and expectations

can influence how information is labelled and understood, how ambiguous

information is interpreted, and the degree to which information is scrutinized.

One strategy for countering the effects of confirmatory bias and biased

assimilation is to explicitly “consider the opposite”. That is, when seeking out and

evaluating information, one ought to consciously and explicitly reflect on the

possibility that one’s options are erroneous and to seek out confirmatory evidence.

2. Stereotypes

Stereotypes are a category of schemes that classify people and consist of

“beliefs about the characteristics, attributes and behaviours of members of certain

groups. Thus, people race or nationality or ethnicity, gender, age, weights,

attractiveness, dress, whether or not they smoke. To some extent, reliance on

stereotypes is not necessarily bad. Just like other schemas, stereotypes can

facilitate the rapid categorisation of people and allow us to save “cognitive

resources” of course, some stereotypes may have no basis infact whatsoever, for

example, the claim that members of some ethnic groups or race are less intelligent

than members of another race or ethnicity. Moreover, even those stereotypes that

have a basis in truth are not true in every case. Men, generally, are considered

stronger that women but there are a lot of women who are stronger than many

men. In short, all human beings are influenced by stereotypes, hence we must be

on our guard to recognise when stereotypes ate either completely or sometimes

false.

3. Causal Attribution and Judgements of Responsibility: Another way in which

people make sense of the world is by making causal judgements-including making

inferences of responsibility, weighing the relative contributions of potential causes

and making predictions about future behaviour, such legal disputes. Attribution

theory in psychology is the study of the ways in which people make attributions of

causality or responsibility. In particular, research shows that people tend to prefer

simple causal explanations (mono-causality) to more complex theories of

causation, and are more likely to assign responsibility to another person when they

judge the cause to be internal to and controllable by that person. Attributing cause

to another person can lead to feelings of anger, and to judgements of

responsibility, blame and (sometimes) retaliation.

One aspect of the psychology of attribution with particular relevance for

interviewing and counselling clients is known as the “fundamental attribution

error” or (correspondence bias) – the tendency of observers to attribute another

person’s behaviour to dispositional factors (those internal to the person) rather

than to situational (external) factors. Thus, even when people grasp the nature of

the situation, they may discount the influence of those situational factors on

another’s behaviour.

Research has also demonstrated an “actor-observer effect”, such that

people view causation differently when evaluating their own acts, rather than

when evaluating others’ acts. Specifically, while observers are particularly likely to

attribute others’ behaviour to dispositional factors, they are more likely to attribute

their own behaviour to situational factors.

Identifying Liars and True Tellers

While there are folklores about how to distinguish liars from truth tellers,

identifying liars is a difficult task, even for experts. In most cases, there is no

particular cue or set of cues that can reliably be used to identify a lie. Many of the

cues that could be associated with deception can also be associated with other

states likely common to legal clients such as stress. Indeed, across a variety of

studies, psychological research has found that people are not adapt at

distinguishing those who are lying from those who are telling the truth.

In particular, people strongly believing that liars avert their gaze, engage in

lots of movement (e.g shifting position, hand movements, foot movements,

gestures of illustration), smile and have more disturbed speech (eg hesitation,
pause, slower speech). However, many of these believed indicators do not infact

prove reliable in detecting liars. But, it should be pointed out that there are some

dimensions on which liars tend to differ from those telling the truth. Liars tend to

offer fewer details, give accounts that are less plausible and coherent and speak

with more vocal tension and higher pitch-though the size of these effects can be

quite small. Unfortunately, these cues can be present for other reasons. For

example, a high pitch could be a sign of lying or a sign that the person is upset or

nervous for some other reasons (such as the stress of being questioned or talking

about personal information. Similarly, lack of details or coherence can reflect poor

memory rather than lying.

In addition, particularly attention can be paid to changes in the behaviour of

the particular speaker. While one individual’s speech and behaviour may simply

differ from another person’s even when they are telling the truth, making

distinction difficult to draw, changes in an individual’s behaviour may be more

predictive and worth following up.

Additional guidance can be provided by examining the handful of people

who tend to be better than most at distinguishing liars and truth tellers. These

detection “wizards” have been shown to perform better than others at identifying

truthfulness. In considering all the available information, the wizards have been

found to pay closer and more attention to non-verba cues and to focus closely on

nuances of language. Relatedly, good lie-detection has been shown to be related

to the ability to identify brief expressions of emotion on people’s faces.

It has been observed that not all details of an even attract attention and

that significant interpretation takes place as events occur. But even details that

were noticed and could have been accurately reported immediately after the even

may be forgotten. Working memory “holds” on to small amounts of information for

short periods of time-usually a few seconds-while people engage in such on-going

cognitive activities as reading, listening, problem solving, reasoning, or thinking.

However, to be retained, this information must be transferred from short-term

working memory to long-term memory: “the system must constantly discard what

is no longer needed at the moment, and devote its resources to the temporary

storage of incoming information. Unless special effort is made such repeating a

sentence over and over again information is lost from the system almost

immediately after it enters.

Moreover, even memories that are stored in long-term memory tend to

deteriorate with time. For example, test yourself and you will likely find that you

no longer remember things that were once deeply embedded in your memory

such as an old home phone number, how to drive to a particular location, or the

name of grade school teachers of old friends. First, psychological research

suggests that interviewers ought to use “open-ended” questions when possible,

following up with focused questions in areas in which more detail is needed.

Asking open-ended questions allows the client time to collect his or her thoughts

and consequently promotes more elaborate memory retrieval. Clients are able to

focus their attention on remembering the even rather than being distracted from

this task by a series of interviewer questions. Accordingly, open-ended questions

can elicit more accurate information than do more focused questions.

In particular, open-ended questions also allow interviewers to control the

level of detail they report in their initial responses. Psychological research has

shown that people intuitively adjust the level of detail that favours accuracy and

that they, therefore, provide a higher proportion of accurate information.

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Ofovwe, C. (2011). Fundamentals of General and Clinical Psychology. Benin City:

Mindex Publishing Company Limited.

Ozioko, J. O. C. (1998). Introduction to Psychology. Enugu: SNAAP Press Limited.

Sternlight, J.R & Robbennolt, J. (2008). Good lawyers should be good

psychologists: Insights for interviewing and counselling clients. Ohion Journal on

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Weiten, W. (2007). Psychology: Themes and Variations. Belmont, CA: Thomson

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