Introduction to Psychology for Consciousness-myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theIntroduction to Psychology for Behavior and Consciousness. Answer: Psychology involves studying the human mind and also its roles, particularly, those functions which impact behavior in a certain way. Psychology seeks to define mental and behavioral processes of people. It also involves applying knowledge to different human activity spheres which include the challenges faced by persons in their normal lives (Kalat, 2013). Psychological theories and practices incorporate the understanding of the functions of the brain and other aspects such as cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology. Generally, this subject attempts to explore social relationships, behavior, and consciousness. It is described in the context of human behavior and experiences through empirical psychology. Additionally, there are seven modern perspectives of psychology which will be explored in this paper such as cognitive, behaviorism, social, evolutionary, comparative, clinical, and developmental. To start with the cognitive perspective, it emphasized on psychology as a scientific method of investigation and rejected introspection as a technique. Particularly, it emphasized on the science based on individual thinking, learning, and ability to remember (Plotnik Kouyoumdjian, 2013). Second, behaviorism emphasized on the observable action stimulus and response such as glandular secretions and muscular movements. It proposed that behavior can be studied using science without remedy of the internal mental consciousness. Third, social perspective emphasized the individual thoughts, behaviors, and emotions which can be impacted by imaginations and implied the presence of other people. Fourth, evolutionary perspective emphasized on the theoretical concept of technology by explaining various psychological and mental characteristics such as language, perception, and memory as developed adaptations. For instance, the characteristics may be seen as sexual selection or rather functional n atural creations. Fifth, comparative perspective proposed that studying human behavior contributes to a broad and deep understanding of the human psychology. Researchers such as George Romanes and Charles Darwin participated in the research of this perspective of psychology. Sixth, clinical psychology emphasized on the treatment and evaluation of psychiatric mayhem, abnormal behavior, and mental diseases where it viewed hospitals as collaborative settings where professionals such as psychiatrists and physician work as a team (Nolen-Hoeksema, Fredrickson, Loftus Lutz, 2014). Finally, the developmental perspective proposed on a persons growth and changes through their lifespan. It also seeks to synthesize and examines reasons why and how individuals experience changes in life. This paper outlines four pieces of evidence showing that psychological explanation of behavior is scientific and that it does not rely on common-sense. First, through research method, it is evident that psychology studies mental and behavioral processes. Through observation of the behavioral and mental processes, it is evident that they have developed and changed as explained through theories such as the Charles Darwin theory of evolution (Stangor Walinga, 2014). Through experiments, experts from the radio and television provide opinions on the behavioral and mental processes. Finally, through nature psychology is a science considering its outline of knowledge. To summarize, psychology is a broad topic which conveys various modern perspectives which focuses on psychological concerns based on human behavior and thoughts. Also, through evidence of research methods, observation, nature, and experiments psychology is seen as a science rather than common-sense. As human behavior is changing with time, the psychological perspectives are also evolving and growing. Psychology involves studying both behaviors and mental functions. Professionally, most people view psychology as philosophy, science, and also an art. However, the significant goal of psychology is to explore, explain, control, and predict behavior and mental functions. Also, psychology is a career subject which individuals may choose to major. Therefore, it is important for people to understand various specializations in psychology. These areas of psychology include cognitive, social, organizational, neuroscience, clinical, educational, development and among others (Lindsay Norman, 2013). Based on the various areas of psychology, individuals should devote time to the best discipline to take as the major. For those who love to help people in solving problems, interviewing, analyzing, listening, and collecting data should consider psychology as a career. In exploring various careers in psychology, clinicians focus on administering psychological tests and scores where they must work under the supervision of a licensed psychologist. Professionals in developmental psychology explore the individual changes and they specialize in handling children, adolescents, or infants (Seligman Csikszentmihalyi, 2014). The educational area of psychology is based on the teaching of psychology in schools. It addresses the educational and students issues where professionals focus on improving the students outcomes. Additionally, psychologists in the forensic field of psychology deal with concerns connected to psychology and law. Forensic psychologists embrace the psychological skills to legal concerns. Organizational field of psychology involves adopting principles in psychology at the workplace (McDougall, 2015). Finally, the health field of psychology requires individuals to specialize in psychological, biological, and social aspects which impacts ill nesses and health. The career option which relates to me best is the organizational psychology due to various reasons. This area of psychology requires people to adopt social, biological, and psychological principles to conduct research at the workplace to address productivity and behavior concerns (Larsen, Buss, Wismeijer, Song van, 2017). The first reason why this option is relatable is as it focuses on improving efficiency and productivity of employees as well as facilitating their well-being. Second, organizational psychology aims to address problems in the real world. Additionally, as a psychologist, I wish to study topics which are concerned with attitudes of employees, behaviors, leadership, and organizational processes. Therefore, psychologists in this area concerning organizational psychology focus on areas such as the human factors, human-computer association, and ergo metrics. To summarize, various psychology fields emerge with time. Therefore, individuals are obliged to choose careers based on their interests in the universities and colleges. Each psychological option has a specific area of study which focuses on various topics. Moreover, psychologist just needs to specialize in a single area as a career (Zentall Galef, 2013). In case an individual selects a specific area, they will require additional graduate learning in the same field. The option that relates to me best is the organizational psychology as outlined in this paper. Human factors are incorporated in this area and topics such as ergo metrics, product design, and human errors are studied. Individuals working in human factors aim to improve individual interactions with the machines and products within and outside the workplace. In addition, human factors assist in designing products to reduce injury rates as accuracy and safety are greatly enhances in the workplace. Some thinkers have sought to study how behaviors are learned. Two behavioral scientists, B.F. Skinner and Ivan Pavlov, engineered concepts of operant and classical conditioning, respectively. The prime aim of developing these theories is to help individuals comprehend how they learn. Operant conditioning is a theory of learning which is referred to as a process which aims to adjust behavior using either positive or negative reinforcement. Classical conditioning is a theory of learning which involves associative learning (Lachman, Lachman Butterfield, 2015). Associative learning explores the events in the surrounding and it explores all dimensions of human psychology. Generally, operant conditioning involves reinforcement through rewards and punishment while the classical conditioning involves association of the stimulus and responses. Classical and operant conditioning are vital theories in learning since they are central to the behaviors in psychology. However, how behavior is acquired in classical conditioning is different as in operant conditioning. For instance, using examples of the voluntary and involuntary responses, the main difference is that classical conditioning associates the involuntary stimulus and responses while the operant is all about incorporating voluntary responses (Landy Conte, 2016). Second, classical conditioning was first outlined by Ivan Pavlov who used a dog as an example in his experiment to prove that behavior is a learned response. On the other hand, operant conditioning was first described by B. F. Skinner who conducted an experiment using animals in a skinners box as the example to show that through observation behavior can be reinforced (Smith, Mackie Claypool, 2014). Lastly, classical conditioning focuses on the placement of a neutral signal after a reflex while operant conditi oning focuses of applying punishment or reinforcement after a certain behavior. To summarize, classical and operant conditioning are essential theories of learning as they are acquired from the behavioral psychology and they can fit in different learning conditions as outlined in this paper. Considering that operant conditioning focuses on the positive and negative behavior reinforcement, and classical conditioning focuses on association, I will provide examples of situations where my behavior changed through operant and classical conditioning. In the examples provided my behavior changed positively and others negatively. In my case, there are various situations where classical and operant conditioning applies. To start, there are two situations where I acquired behavior through classical conditioning. In the first example, I saw a person crying due to the pain of an injection and therefore, I also started crying before I was injected. The crying behavior was acquired through classical conditioning. The second example, I was bullied by a student in school and I started hating school. The hating behavior was acquired through classical conditioning. On the other hand, I have changed behavior through operant conditions in various situations. In the first example, I was considered to explain a presentation in the classroom where afterward I was complimented and applauded for good performance. Therefore, I was encouraged to participate in class presentations in the future. The second example, during my holidays I was working in a certain organization. My boss offered me privileges which raised criticism fr om other colleagues. As a consequence, the criticisms motivated the boss to stand in line and be sincere through operant conditioning. To summarize, in my personal life, I have had various situations where my behavior changed through classical and operant conditioning. In some situations I acquired positive and others negative behaviors as seen in the examples provided in this paper. References Kalat, J. W. (2013).Introduction to psychology. Cengage Learning. Lachman, R., Lachman, J. L., Butterfield, E. C. (2015).Cognitive psychology and information processing: An introduction. Psychology Press. Landy, F. J., Conte, J. M. (2016).Work in the 21st century, Binder ready version: An introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology. John Wiley Sons. Larsen, R. J., Buss, D. M., Wismeijer, A., Song, J., van den Berg, S. M. (2017).Personality psychology: Domains of knowledge about human nature. McGraw Hill Education. Lindsay, P. H., Norman, D. A. (2013).Human information processing: An introduction to psychology. Academic press. McDougall, W. (2015).An introduction to social psychology. Psychology Press. Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Fredrickson, B., Loftus, G. R., Lutz, C. (2014).Introduction to psychology. Cengage Learning. Plotnik, R., Kouyoumdjian, H. (2013).Introduction to psychology. Cengage Learning. Seligman, M. E., Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014). Positive psychology: An introduction. InFlow and the foundations of positive psychology(pp. 279-298). Springer Netherlands. Smith, E. R., Mackie, D. M., Claypool, H. M. (2014).Social psychology. Psychology Press. Stangor, C., Walinga, J. (2014).Introduction to psychology. BCcampus, BC Open Textbook Project. Zentall, T. R., Galef Jr, B. G. (Eds.). (2013).Social learning: Psychological and biological perspectives. Psychology Press.