PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

What makes us Human?

Question

How would you react if everyone around you suddenly froze?

Why would you act that way?

Frozen Grand Central.mp4

Antwerp train station.mp4

*What makes us human?

According to Psychology:

The Cognitive Process

Cognitive Process:- Interpreting and manipulating mental ideas and

images to obtain information, to reason, and to solve problems

- The cognitive process is what makes us unique from other animals.

*4 Ways Psychologists Define Humanness

1. Our Cognitive process: ability to reason and to solve problems at high levels.

2. Our motivation of/for behaviour3. Our ability to communicate in a highly

effective manner4. Our Personality

Scenario

A family you do not know goes out for dinner. In the restaurant parking lot, a fight breaks out over a fender-bender as you and your family are leaving the restaurant.

What would you do? Break it up? Call for help? Ignore and leave?

What is you were alone? Would you help?

Scenario

Your family goes out for dinner. In the restaurant parking lot a fight breaks out over a fender-bender and your older sibling is involved in the fight.

How does your response change?What would you do? Break it up? Call for

help? Ignore and leave?What if you were alone? Would you help?

Scenarios

If someone was observing these scenarios as part of a social science investigation, they would make notes on the behaviour of people. However, this behaviour does not fit into anthropology but rather psychology as they are watching your gut reaction – your physical and emotional response to the situation.

Question

How would you react if you saw a young girl in trouble?

girl being abducted.mp4

Kitty Genovese

Bystander Effect 1 Death of Kitty Genovese.mp4

*Why did no one help?

*Bystander Apathy The phenomenon that underlies many examples of failing to

help strangers in distress The larger the group the person is in, the longer they will

take or the less likely they will come to a stranger’s assistance

*Bystander a person who is present at an event without participating in it

Failure to help is often produced by the way people understand the situation (not that they don’t care)

They don’t understand what should be done

*Why did no one help?

Failure to help is often produced by the way people understand the situation (not that they don’t care)

3 Elements of Bystander Apathy Ambiguity of the situation Pluralistic Ignorance Diffusion of responsibility

*Ambiguity

Witnesses were not sure what was transpiring

Interventions might have been embarrassing.

*Pluralistic Ignorance

Witnesses realized that others were seeing the events as well and looked to others to decide whether there really was an emergency

Each witness assumed the other understood the situation more than they did

Therefore no action occurs because ‘the event’ does not appear to be an emergency

*Diffusion of Responsibility

• Witnesses that recognized the situation did not think it was their responsibility to act.

Everyone assumed that someone would take responsibility and do something... As a result, no one did ANYTHING!

Reasoning

Humans reasons in two ways: 1. deductive reasoning2. inductive reasoning

Deductive Reasoning: applying general assumptions to specific.

For example: All humans have brains--> Sonia is a human-->Therefore, Sonia has a brain.

Reasoning

Inductive Reasoning: Collects specific information to form a general assumption.

For example: Mr. Pascual is a teacher and he knows how to sew--> Mr. Press is also a teacher--> Therefore, he also knows how to sew.

Which type of reasoning is more accurate?

Ability to Reason

Another difference between humans and other species is the ability to reason.

Test your ability to reason and solve a problem by completing the 9 dot problem.

9 Dot Problem

Redraw the illustration below in your notebook.

Without lifting your pencil from the page or retracing any line, draw four straight lines, no more and no less, that connect all nine dots shown.

See if you can connect the dotsusing only 3 lines.

The Nine Dot Solution

Reasoning Activity

Complete the Problem Solving Worksheet and Illusions package

Note: your ability to solve the problems is based on the functions of your brain.

The Brain

How do you think psychologists know what is going on inside the brain? How might today’s understanding of the brain be different from the time of Freud, Jung, and Pavlov?

Read the In Focus feature about Phineas Gage on page 82.

Why was this incident important in understanding the brain in the nineteenth century? What are the limitations of the findings in this case? How do you think new technologies can overcome these limitations?

Neuroplasticity

The idea that the brain is plastic and malleable.

Watch www.lumosity.com clip.

The Brain

Left Side of the Brain

Logic and reasoning skillsControls Communication and LanguageVerbal SkillsMathematical AbilityAnalytical Skills

Right Side of the Brain

Known as the visual sideControls non–verbal skills like musical ability,

spatial problems (geometry or map reading)CreativityAthleticismImaginationFacial recognition

Are you right or left side dominant?

Complete the thinking styles inventory

Word Game

Take out a sheet of paper and a pencilI will show you a list of words for 5 secondsWhen the time is up the words will disappearSee if you can recall all of the words that

were on the sheetBonus Challenge:

Recall all of the words in the exact order they are presented

The Word Memory Task

Talkative Helpful OutgoingConfident Studious ForcefulCheerful Open & Honest

ConsiderateModest Courteous ReservedShy Easy to talk to NeatSweet PeacemakerFriendly Laid backQuiet KindSelf-controlled

What is Memory?

The capacity to acquire, retain and recall knowledge and skills.

Types of Memory1) Sensory2) Short Term Memory3) Long Term Memory

Sensory Memory

Receives info from the environment through each of the senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch)

Records information from these senses for only a few seconds

i.e. You might see an ad in a paper from an upcoming sale, but the image fades from your memory after a few seconds

Sensory Memory

Enables you to hold information long enough to record what is important

i.e. it will allow you to remember the first part of a sentence as you read the last part.

Sensory memory also allows you to select what you think should be retained from all the sensory information you are receiving

i.e. feel the chair against your back, taste of gum in your mouth

Short Term Memory

Holds info up to 15 to 20 seconds.Can store up to 7 separate unorganized items i.e.

telephone numberIf you continue to work with the info it will stay

longer, if not it will be discarded or go to your long term memory

i.e. if you are introduced to someone, you may pay attention to the name and store it in long term; or you may fail to pay attention and forget

Items are stored by sound, mental picture or by associating it with a personal meaning.

As a class complete short term memory exercises

Long Term Memory

Stores information for minutes or for a lifetime

There is no limit to the capacity of long term memory

However, you cannot always recall it at willAs a class complete long-term memory

exercise

Complex Motivation

Why do animals eat?Why do humans eat?Why don’t humans eat in some situations?

Complex Motivation

The example of eating illustrates that motivation in humans is often very intricate and is an important quality of humanness.

Activity

Make a list of all the reasons you do each of the following activities: Act kindly towards other people Do your homework Meet an athletic or academic goal Get a part-time job

Are there patterns in your list?

Motivation: What Motivates You?

Intrinsic Motivation:refers to motivation that is driven by an interest or enjoyment in the task itself, and exists within the individual rather than relying on any external pressure

Extrinsic Motivation:comes from outside of the individual. Common extrinsic motivations are rewards like money and grades, threat of punishment (i.e. competition)

Communication

What separates us from animals is our ability to communicate using symbolic language

There are between 6800-6900 distinct languages in the modern world

Communication Process

LANGUAGE NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

Speech Writing

Body Language

Tone/Character of Voice

Interaction Distances

Clothing/Make-up

Speech

Anatomical requirements for speech were only fully developed around 300, 000 years ago.

Hyoid bone is strategically placed to control the muscles connecting the jaw, larynx, and tongue.

Body Language

Body language is an important part of communication which can constitute 50% or more of what we are communicating

Confidence Frustration Boredom

What else can we communicate through body language

Examples: Discuss the North American meaning for each of the following, we will then discuss the meanings in other parts of the world.1. Beckon with index finger2. Point at something in the room3. Make a “V” sign4. Smile5. Sit with sole of feet or shoe showing6. Pat a student on the headNote: the meaning of body language is culturally specific. What is acceptable in one country may not be acceptable in another

Social Distances

1. Public Zone : > 12 feet (3m)i.e. when we are walking around town or at

the mall, we will try to keep at least 12 feet between us and other people.

We will start to notice other people who are within this radius.

The closer they get, the more we become aware and ready ourselves for appropriate action.

Social Distances

Social Zone : 4 - 12 feet (1.5m - 3m)Within the social zone, we start to feel a

connection with other people. We can talk with them without having to shout,

but still keep them at a safe distance. This is a comfortable distance for people who are

standing in a group but maybe not talking directly with one another.

E.g. People sitting in chairs at the movies or gathered in a room will tend to like this distance (lunch cafeteria at school)

Social Distances

Personal Zone : 1.5-4 feet (0.5m - 1.5m)In the personal zone, the conversation gets more direct,

and this is a good distance for two people who are talking in earnest about something.

4. Intimate Zone < 1.5 feet (< 0.5m)When a person is within arms reach or closer, then we

can touch them in intimate ways. We can also see more detail of their body language and

look them in they eyes

E.g. Romance of all kinds happens in this space.

Personality

Definition: the characteristics and behaviours that make a person unique.

Even though humans exhibit varying degrees of personality, they can still be classified into broad categories based on their traits.

Personality Traits: predispositions to behave in a certain way in various situations.

Read about the Big Five Personality Theory and complete How Would You Characterize It?