Scientific Study of Human Behavior - Assignment Example

no. Psychology Assignment 1. Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of human behavior and mental functions. Modern psychology began taking shape in the in the beginning of the 20th century. Sigmund Freud made significant contributions to modern psychology by studying human behavior through the unconscious mind. According to Rex, Pavlov later contributed by coming up with the behavioral perspective, which focused on studying how observable behaviors are learned and reinforced (168). Psychologists such as Abraham Maslow came up with the humanistic perspective that emphasizes that human behavior is shaped by people making rational decisions about their lives. Progressively cognitive psychologists such as Jean Piaget started studying the mental processes of human beings, such as thinking and memory. Today, biological psychology plays a major role in modern psychology by studying how genetics affect human behavior. 2 Psychological measurements Reliability, according to Rex, is the ability of a test to yield similar results repeatedly, whereas validity is the ability of a test to really measure what it is supposed to measure (29). In psychological measurements, self-report measures are used to measure attitude, whereby people are asked what they believe in, thus assessing their personality. In behavioral assessments, psychologist place individuals under observation in a natural setting and observe the individual’s behavior. Assignment 2 1. The nervous system The central nervous system- made up of the brain and the spinal cord- is responsible for all the mental and behavioral functions. The peripheral nervous system comprises of the somatic and autonomic nervous systems. The somatic system is responsible for sending sensory information to the central nervous system, and for projecting skeletal muscles. The autonomic system is responsible for controlling the muscles within the internal organs and glands. The autonomic system is made up of the parasympathetic and sympathetic systems (Rex 188). The former is responsible for regulating internal organs, while the latter maintains homeostasis and is responsible for reflex action. 2. The brain The human brain is divided into four basic structures. Being the largest part of the brain, the cerebrum is responsible for complex brain functions such as thinking. The cerebellum controls human coordination in terms of controlling movement and balance (Rex 468). The limbic system controls the emotional functions of a human being. Lastly, the brain stem is responsible for controlling the vital functions such as breathing. Assignment 3 1. The stages of sleep Sleep is categorized as one of the ranges of consciousness. Accordingly, sleep is grouped into five stages. The first stage involves an uneven pattern of the brain’s alpha waves (Rex 293). Little or no alpha waves are experienced in stage two; thus, reduced amplitude. Delta waves replace the alpha waves in stage three, leading to stage four where sleep may be distracted by sounds familiar to persons, for instance, name calling. In stage five, the person may start to dream (Rex 293). One of the most common sleep disorders is insomnia. This is characterized by sleep difficulties, and waking up unusually early. Another disorder is sleepwalking, which is characterized by a person getting out of bed walking, despite being asleep. Weiner & Craighead say that sleep apnea is also a sleep disorder where a sleeping person suddenly stops breathing, thus allowing carbon dioxide to build up in the body (557). The person is, as a result, forced to wake up abruptly, panting for air (Weiner & Craighead 557). 2. Erikson’s psychosocial stages The first stage, according to Weiner & Craighead is trust vs. mistrust. The relationship between a baby and the caregiver establishes the infant’s capability to trust other people (593). In shame and doubt vs. autonomy, the infant develops self-control and learns about social norms. As children start being more experimental, they undergo the initiative vs. guilt stage which reflects how much control they have over their activities. In industry vs. inferiority, children are very particular about how other people perceive them and their levels of competency. Ego identity vs. role confusion occurs during the adolescent years as the adolescent tries to find their identity. In the intimacy vs. isolation stage, young adults are forced to compromise their own identities with those of others in order to build meaningful relationships. The generative vs. stagnation stage occurs in middle adulthood, where a person either learns to care for others or become self-centered. Lastly, the integrity vs. despair stage is for old people who reflect back on their lives and assess whether it was worthwhile (Weiner & Craighead 593). Assignment 4 1. Human sexual response cycle Excitement stage is the first stage of sexual response, which occurs as a result of stimuli which cause sexual arousal (Weiner & Craighead 759). The plateau stage occurs during sexual intercourse, characterized by increased heartbeat, heavy breathing, and muscle tension. This leads to the orgasmic stage which is the height of sexual excitement, characterized by muscle contractions and spasms (ibid). Finally, in the resolution stage, the body relaxes, the heart beat slows down and breathing gradually gets back to normal. 2. Social development in children As children grow physically, they also undergo social growth. Primarily, socialization starts at home where the child learns how to interact with the caregiver. Positive socialization leads to a strong attachment between the child and the caregiver. In order to promote social development it is important that a child does not undergo deprivation. Excluding a child from communal and cultural practices affects not only their socialization skills, but also the development of the brain (Rex 429). In some cases, social deprivation leads to mental instability. In as far as gender roles are concerned; children tend to behave according to how other same-sex members of the family behave (Weiner & Craighead 697). Therefore, children learn their gender roles from observing other same-sex people and copying what they do. Assignment 5 1. The workings of the visual system The visual system of a human being works in such a way that light is gathered onto an image by the eye ball. This light is then refracted onto the retina thus bringing the image into focus. Weiner & Craighead write that people perceive objects through the images projected on the retinas (486). However, for people who have depth perception disorders, the fault lies in the brain which is unable to extract depth dimensions from two dimensional figures. 2. The attention processes The attention process refers to a process in which a person actively focuses their attention on one environmental stimulus while blocking the others. According to Rex it is impossible to pay attention to all the stimuli within the environment, although one can pay attention to a number of stimuli (128). This process is known as divided attention, whereby an individual is able to multi-task. On the other hand, there is selective attention, meaning that an individual chooses what information to process. Choosing to focus on one stimulus and ignore all the others in selective attention increases efficiency in performing one task. Works cited Rex, Bookstore. General Psychology. Queron City: Rex Printing Company, Inc. 1995. Print. Weiner, Irving & Craighead, Edward. The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology, Volume 2. New Jersey: John Wiley &Sons. 2010. Print. Read More