UTS: PSYCHOLOGY

• Psychology


  The field of social sciences that deals with description, explanation, prediction and control of behavior
• Psychology evolved into a science only in the late 19th century from the discipline of philosophy
• Psychology


  The scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context
• Sigmund Freud


  • His revolutionary ideas of the probable factors that determine human behavior paved the way for science to look into the workings of the unconscious mind
  • Repressed thoughts and memories have enough psychic energy to impose its control on the person's consciousness
  • Therapy involved techniques like free association, dream analysis and catharsis to help the person recognize these thoughts and bring them back to emotional stability
• Unconscious mind


  Instinct urges, repressed thoughts and memories that are kept hidden and unexpressed but can resurface and manifest as psychopathology
• Conscious, pre-conscious, unconscious


  Topography of the mind according to Freud
• Eros


  The life instinct
• Thanatos


  The death instinct
• Libido


  The energy of the Eros instinct, including human urges necessary for survival like thirst, hunger, sex
• Destrudo


  The energy of the Thanatos instinct, shown in the form of aggression and violence, risky behavior
• William James


  • Gave five generic characteristics of consciousness and the self
  • The self can be viewed as an object of thought (empirical self or 'me' self) or as the subject of thought (pure ego or 'I' self)
  • The dimensions of the empirical self include the material self, social self and spiritual self
• Empirical self/Me self


  The self as an object of thought
• Pure ego/I self


  The self as the subject of thought, the part that knows and recognizes who one is and what one has done
• Global and differentiated self models


  • The global self represents the overall value a person places on themselves, influenced by interactions and experiences in society
  • The differentiated self involves balancing the forces of togetherness and individuality
• Self-concept


  How a person thinks about or perceives themselves, including the ideal self-concept and the real self-concept
• True self and false self


  • The true self is creative, spontaneous and integrated, while the false self is a defense mechanism used to comply with norms and standards
• Features of human agency

  • Intentionality (actions performed with full awareness)
  • Forethought (anticipation of likely outcomes)
  • Self-reactiveness (self-observation and self-regulation of behavior)
  • Self-reflectiveness (looking inward to evaluate motivations, values, goals)