Key Psychological Concepts: Understanding Human Behavior
Fundamental Psychological Definitions
What is Memory?
Memory is the ability to learn, retain, and recall information, experiences, or situations.
What is a Criterion?
A criterion is the capacity to verify reality and form one’s own opinions, which then guide our actions.
Emotional Characteristics of Individuals
These refer to individuals who feel and process their emotions internally.
Sanguine Personality Traits
A sanguine individual is characterized by:
- Not highly emotional
- Active
- Non-retentive (in terms
Workplace Well-being and Performance Factors
Personal Determinants of Well-being
Well-being Defined
A state of happiness and contentment, with low levels of distress, overall good physical and mental health and outlook, or good quality of life.
Emotions and Stress
The attitude of a worker toward his or her job, often expressed as a hedonic response of liking or disliking the work itself, the rewards (pay, promotions, recognition), or the context (working conditions, colleagues). See also job involvement.
Job Satisfaction
Job Satisfaction – A positive
Read MoreSensory Systems & Perception: How We Experience the World
Understanding Sensory Processes and Perception
Key Sensory Processes
Sensation: The process by which sensory receptors capture, transduce, and transmit information to the brain.
Attention: The process by which an individual selects certain stimuli from their environment.
Perception: The cognitive process by which an individual organizes sensory information into meaningful objects or experiences.
Basic Sensory Mechanisms
Receptor Cells: Specialized cells that respond to a particular type of energy (e.g.
Read MoreUnderstanding Attention and Perception
What is Attention?
Attention is a conscious activity that can interfere with, inhibit, or direct the senses, response systems, and knowledge schemes residing in memory.
Stages of Perception
Detection
Each sense has a receiver, a group of cells sensitive to one type of stimulus.
Transduction
Part of our natural ability depends on the body’s ability to convert one type of energy into another. The receivers convert energy from the stimulus into nerve messages.
Transmission
When this energy is of sufficient
Understanding Perception and Hallucinations
Perception
Perception is a constructive process by which we grasp feelings and organize information into meaningful forms.
Key Features of Perception
- It is a constructive process depending on stimulus characteristics, personal experience, culture, and emotional state. Perception is conditioned by training, experience, personality, and culture.
- It is a process of information-adaptation to the environment. The goal is to make sense of reality, understand the world, and enable adaptation.
- It is a process
Psychology Defined: History and Theories
What is Psychology?
Psychology is the science that studies the behavior of individuals and their mental processes. This includes internal processes of individuals and the influences that occur in their physical and social environment. The reasons for studying human actions include understanding the reasoning of the mind, mental disorders, and behavior.
Aristotle and the Psyche
Aristotle proposed a unity between body and soul (psyche), distinguishing two parts:
- The higher part, called Nous (reasoning