Understanding Human Behavior: Psychology’s Scope & History

Psychology: Definition and History

We are all interested in how people act, not only what happens but also why. While these questions are often answered vaguely, psychology has developed a body of knowledge about behavior.

Definitions and Purposes

Psychology is the scientific study of behavior. It describes behavior (what) and explains its causes (why).

Example 1: Why did you purchase this book? What do you expect from it? If you achieve your goals, would you likely buy another book on a different subject?

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Forensic Psychology: Objectives and Evaluation

Forensic Psychology Objectives

Forensic psychology has three main objectives:

  1. To provide the judicial process with principles, techniques, and instruments for objective assessment of human behavior, assisting judges in sentencing consistent with expert demands.
  2. To integrate psychologists and professionals into interdisciplinary teams working with courts and judicial bodies, advising magistrates, judges, prosecutors, etc.
  3. To establish ethical principles for interventions in the judicial field, ensuring
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Understanding Personality: Traits, Theories, and Development

Understanding Personality

Etymology of “Person”

The term “person” has evolved with several underlying meanings:

  • The image we present to others.
  • Our role in life’s events.
  • The interaction of individual qualities and actions (the basis of psychological definitions).
  • Prestige and dignity (the dominant meaning today).

Personality is often linked to social attractiveness, with qualities others admire or praise.

Defining Personality

Personality is the characteristic and habitual way a person thinks, feels, and

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Understanding Employee Motivation: Key Theories

Motivation

  • Focus of content: Reasoning models answer what motivates behavior? They are based on the assumption that employees are driven by the desire to satisfy their needs.
  • Focus of the process model of motivation that emphasizes how and why individuals choose certain behaviors to fulfill their personal goals.

1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Maintains that individuals have a complex set of five levels of needs which they try to satisfy in sequence, from base to top (pyramid).

  • Physiological needs: (need
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Comprehensive Personality Assessment: Exploring Cattell, Eysenck, Edwards, MMPI & Kernberg

Test Summary

Cattell’s Theory

Cattell believed understanding personality allows us to predict a person’s behavior in specific situations. This contrasts with Freud’s theory, focusing on observable behaviors and correlating them through factor analysis to identify underlying traits.

16 PF Test

  • 187 items
  • Three alternatives (a, b, c)

Raw scores are directly corrected, while standard scores represent a percentage of the group. Parameters are set above or below average standard deviation.

  • Factor A (Warmth):
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Exploring Human Psychology: Key Theories and Concepts

Consciousness and the Unconscious

Conscious knowledge involves internal and external perceptions. The unconscious holds mental contents outside awareness. The preconscious contains content that can become conscious.

Psychoanalytic Theory

Instinct theory: Instincts aim for satisfaction, failure leads to anxiety. Id: Inherited instincts seeking satisfaction. Ego: Replaces the pleasure principle with self-preservation. Super-ego: Counteracts the id. Psychoanalysis: Initially a neurosis treatment, it evolved

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