Have you ever think
about that how the behavior of human works. Why the people behave or
act in a particular manner or why this entire world depends on psychology.
What comes to mind when you picture a
psychologist?
If you're like most people coming to
this fascinating field for the first time, the picture is apt to be a very
familiar one.
A quiet room. A leather couch. A
neatly bearded, scholarly looking gentleman seated off to the side, only rarely
speaking, quietly taking notes and occasionally nodding as the couch's supine
occupant tells his or her story.
In some ways, such a picture would
indeed be accurate, a confirmation not only of the importance of Sigmund Freud
in the history of psychology but also of the degree Freud dominates the popular
perception of this discipline.
But the picture would be inaccurate,
as well.
Freud was a physician, and the
majority of psychologists are not. Both the psychoanalytic theory he pioneered
and the therapeutic approach it was based on–psychoanalysis–have seen their
dominance wane in recent years. And psychologists today, as indebted as they
may be to Freud's landmark explorations of our psychological landscape, are
involved in far more than helping people cope with inner demons.
The expansive and varied roles of
contemporary psychologists create another common image—of a crowd of
white-coated researchers gathered around a maze, carefully recording a white rat's
performance. It's another inadequate picture because experimental psychologists
today usually work with people, not animals.
Moreover, the areas of interest those
psychologists are pursuing now encompass every part of the process we use to
develop and function as people:
1. How we perceive, remember, and learn
2. How we select our friends and partners
and retain their affection and love
3. The things that motivate us as we make
our choices in life
4. Even how we relate to the vehicles,
machinery, computer systems, or workspaces we encounter as we make our livings.
A Basic Introduction to a Complex
Subject
The Psychology of Human Behavior is an outstanding introduction to the
field of psychology, beginning with its historical context and looking ahead to
some of the directions it is likely to take in the future. Though the course is
not intended to be an in-depth exploration of this constantly evolving
discipline, its 36 lectures work smoothly as an easy-to-follow primer and offer
the ideal starting point for satisfying curiosity about how the mind works, the
perspectives from which that question can be approached, and directions for
further learning.
Curiosity about the human mind is
something Professor David W. Martin believes is present in just about everyone–even
if we don't always realize it.
"If you go to a party and see
what people are talking about, they are talking about other people and other
people's behavior."
"'Why did she leave him?' 'Why
don't they bring up their kids in a better way?'"
"They are talking about human
behavior, [something] we're all interested in–and what we are going to be
talking about in this course."
In keeping with the introductory
nature of the lectures, Professor Martin maintains the discussion at a
straightforward level, using technical terms when necessary and always defining
them clearly. He presents this broad array of topics in a way that makes it
apparent why his teaching skills have been so consistently honoured.
He uses his own specialty–engineering
psychology–as an example of the many new research areas that now fit
comfortably beneath psychology's umbrella. As an engineering psychologist,
Professor Martin studies how people function as components in a larger system
of human-and-machine—for instance, why they see (or ignore) data presented on a
computer screen... how they process information to make decisions in a specific
environment formed by person and device... or even the best way to indicate
which burners on a stove are controlled by which knobs.
This kind of career path has only
lately become possible. As his lectures show, Professor Martin, like
psychologists working in the field's many subspecialties, are the beneficiaries
of decades of increased understanding of how the psyche and brain function, how
information is processed, and how to go about gaining that understanding
through sophisticated, state-of-the-art research methods.
A Time When "Introspection"
Was Scientific Procedure
Odd as it seems today, the major
method of data collection during experimental psychology's early days, around
the turn of the 20th century, was through what was called introspection:
Researchers were trained in concentrating on and identifying the methods their
own minds used to process a stimulus presented to them, so they could then
report the results!
Today neurologists and neuroscientists
can see the electrical and chemical effects within the body's most complex
organ as mental, physical, and emotional processes are stimulated.
Ultimately psychology is about human
behavior: what we do and why we do it. And as Professor Martin moves across the
landscape of psychology today, he introduces topics as varied as major types of
mental disorders; the different kinds of physical, behavioral, and
"talking" therapies available to treat them; and the ways simple
learning is accomplished. He includes example after example of how complex that
simple idea—what we do and why we do
it—can be.
A1. In looking at the field of social
psychology, and the ways people can be persuaded, he describes experiments in
which people waiting in a long line to make copies are confronted by a person
asking to be allowed to jump in at the front. Most people (94 percent) agreed
if the reason given was "being in a rush"; 60 percent agreed if no
reason at all was given. But even when the reason given was "because I
have to make some copies" (obviously!), 93 percent still said
yes! As Professor Martin explains, the key element is the use of the word
"because," which functions as a heuristic, a
psychological shortcut for people too busy to take in the data but who have
learned through experience that the word "because" is usually a
signal that a good reason is coming.
A2: In exploring memory, we learn about
the work of psychologist Elizabeth Loftus, who has demonstrated how easily
memories can be implanted, sometimes just by asking whether someone remembers
having experienced a nonexistent event. Subjects will initially
deny—accurately—having had the experience, but about a third of them, when
tested later, will remember the experience with as much certainty as if it had
taken place!
A3: Of the relatively new field of
evolutionary psychology, we learn that in police reports, men explaining
why—"for no reason at all"—they seek to kill one another in
meaningless fights over insults is in fact for one of the oldest reasons on the
planet. Even if the fight takes places in a bar, with no one around but male
strangers for whom an insult to one's reputation would hardly matter, the
violence likely stems from the evolutionary need for male status in a very
small community of 60 to 100 people, at most, with a limited supply of females.
Under such circumstances, notes
Professor Martin, an insult that reduces one's status–thus one's ability to
attract a mate–would have been very consequential.
"Our genes are set up to have
behavioral predispositions to considering these fighting words, and engaging in
aggression, when somebody denigrates our status. That's apparently what's
happening in these situations."
Similarly, evolution appears to have
had a profound impact on the development of altruism, the ways we choose our
sexual partners, why we make war, and even why we overeat. Though most of our
understanding of human psychology has been gained in little more than a
century, the puzzle psychologists are working to assemble and understand has
been in process for a long, long time.
Psychology
of HumanBehavior can
only begin to describe that puzzle, of course, but it is a fascinating
description–both a solid summary and an ideal starting point for those eager to
find the keys to the puzzle's solution.
Make understand yourself before you
study others. Hope this will help you.
Image Source: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1276419
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