MODULE 1

COGNITIVE PROCESSES

COGNITION
The mental activities associated with thought, decision making , language ,
problem solving and other higher mental processes.
Thinking : is a complex mental process involved in the manipulation of
information either stored or collected through the senses from environment.
BASIC UNITS OF THOUGHT
1.Concept
2. Prototypes
3. Images
4. Language
1.Concepts

• Mental grouping pf similar objects, events or peoples.

• They allow us to represent a great deal of information about diverse
objects, events or ideas in a highly efficient Manner.
• Helps to classify newly encountered objects on the basis of our past
experience.
• Simplifies the complex world of our experience.
TYPES OF CONCEPTS
1 . Natural concepts :

• Are not based on precise set of attributes , do not have clear cut
boundaries.
• Eg . for fruit the most of people thinks of apple, mango, etc.
1. Logical concept :
• That can be clearly defined by a set of rules.
• That have a well defined set of characteristics

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 • Eg. A triangle has 3 sides and 3 angles.
FORMING CONCEPTS

• It is the process of classifying Informations into a meaningful categories.

Concepts can be formed in the following steps :-
1.OBSERVATION

• The first stage in the formation of concepts is the observation of an event,

object or experience.
• This can be called the stage of becoming aware.
• This can be direct or indirect
• Eg. The child can directly see a dog and become aware of it (direct) , He
also hears stories about devils and Gaints (indirect)
2.GENERALIZATION

• Repeated experiences / observations of different objects results in

tendency to form a general idea.
• A child first sees a dog then another dog and so on and begins to form a
general idea of dog.
• the process of generalization explains how one acquires many concepts
like concept of gender shape number etc.
3.DISCRIMINATION /DIFFERNCIATION

• Along with the generalization individual tries to sense out the differences
between the objects .
• Dogs run on four legs and cows also do the same at the same time cows
and dogs are different from each other.
4.ABSTRACT THINKING

• it is the ability to think about objects principles and ideas that are not
physically present it is related to symbolic thinking which uses the
substitution of a symbol for an object or idea.

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2.PROTOTYPES

• They are the best or clearest example typically highly representative of a

concept.
• It is a mental structure that reflects what is perceived to be a typical
example of a category
• they emerged from our experiences with the external world and new items
that might potentially fit within their category.
3.MENTAL IMAGES

• Mental representation of sensory experience it can be used to think about

things, place events etc.
• In these images are not necessarily visual in nature.
• images can be related to all sorts of sensory experiences.
4.LANGUAGE

• The communication of information through symbols arranged according to

systematic rules or systems of symbols with rules for combining them
which is used to communicate information.
The Structure of language

• Phonemes
The basic speech sounds of a language.
• Morphemes
The smallest meaningful units in a language, such as syllables or words.
• Syntax
Rules for ordering words when forming sentences.
• Semantics
The study of meanings in language.
• Pragmatics
How actually we use speech in communicating and how context aids
transmission of meanings in utterness.
Theories of language development :

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1.Social learning theory

• Proposed by Albert bandura

• According to social learning theory speech is acquired through a
combination of operant conditioning and imitation or modeling.
• we learn everything through consequences they believed that languages
developed only through learning.
2.Nativist approach

• Proposed by Noam Chomsky

• According to Chomsky people have an innate predisposition to develop
language
• He states that human beings have language acquisition device a built in
neuro system that provides them in an initiative grasp of grammar
• In other words humans are prepared to acquire language and do so rapidly
of this reason.
3.Interactionist approach

• Interactive theories suggest that experience work along with biological

development of periods to enhance and guide language learning.
• This theory is a compromise between nactivist theory and behaviorist
theory of language development.
• The interactive theory recognize that both environmental and biological
factors are important in language development.
ROLE OF LANGUAGE IN THINKING
1.Language as a determinant of thought - Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis

• According to Benjamin Lee and worf, Language determine the content of

thought.
• this hypothesis holds what and how individual can possibly think this
determined by the language and linguistic categories they use.

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 • according to this one's perception of the world is molded by one’s language
according to this view people speak different language perceive words in
different ways.
2. Thought as a determinant of language.

• According to Jean Piaget thought shapes language.

• Thought not only determine language but also precedes it.
• Language is one of the vehicles of thinking
• though language can be taught to children, understanding of the words
requires knowledge of underlying concepts ,that is thinking thus thought is
basic and necessary if language has to understood.
3.Different origins of language and thought

• Lev vygotsky a Russian psychologist, Believed that thoughts and language

developed in a child Separately until about two years of age.
• Around two years of age the child express thought verbally. And speeds
reflect rationally.
• Now children can manipulate thought using soundless speech.
• During this. The development of thought and language become
independent.
• . the development of conceptual thinking depends upon the quality of
inner speech and vice versa.

REASONING

• The action of thinking about something in a logical, sensible manner.

• it is a process that involves inference
• It is goal directed conclusions are drawn from a set of facts.
• Thus reasoning is a highly specialized thinking in which helps an individual
to explore mentally that cause and effect relationship of an event or
solution of a problem by adopting some well organized systematic steps
based on previous experience combined with present observation .
Inductive reasoning :

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 • Specific to general
• The term refers to the reasoning that takes specific information and makes
a border generalization that is considered probable, allowing for fact that
the conclusion may not be accurate.
• It is based on the specific incidents you have experienced, observations
you have made or facts you know to be true or false
• it is often used in applications that involve prediction forecasting
behavior .
• Bottom up logic.
Deductive reasoning

• General to specific.
• It is a basic form of valid reasoning and is used to reach a logical true
conclusion.
• It starts out with a general statement and examines the possibilities to
reach a specific logical conclusion.
• deductive reasoning is a logical process in which a conclusion is based on
the concordance of multiple premises that are generally assumed to be
true
• Deductive reasoning has accurate conclusion .
PROBLEM SOLVING

• Finding paths to desired goals.

• It is a thought process by which an individual overcome obstacles to reach
the goal.
• Efforts to develop or choose among various responses in order to attain
desired goals.
Steps of problem solving:-
1.Identifying the problem

• Must recognize that a problem exist and then figure out just what issues,
obstacles, and goals are involved.

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 • Some cases, people mistakenly identify the wrong source of the problem,
which will make attempts to solve it inefficient or even useless.
2.Formulate potential solutions.

• It is actually very complex.

• Solutions do not arise out of cognitive vacuum,, they require thinking
critically about a problem, and they depend heavily on the information at
our disposal, information stored in long term memory that can be
retrieved.
• The more information available the greater the number and the wider the
scope of potential solutions we can generate.
• Extremely important step in effective problem solving.
3.Examine and evaluate solutions

• Each alternative and the outcome it will produce.

4.Try solutions and examine the results

• Try potential solutions and evaluate them on the basis of the effects they
produce.
• In many situations it is difficult to know how effective potential solution will
be until it is implemented thus careful assessment of the effects of various
solutions is another key step in the problem solving process.
Types Of Problems
(a)Well defined Problem

• Clear and definite and well formed problem.

• Means of solving that problem are available .
• Eg. When solving mathematical problems, in which the problem is rather
difficult , but the method used to solve is direct and available.
(b)Ill -defined problem

• Indefinite ,unclear ,ill formed problem where nature os not specifically

defined.

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 • The ways for solving them is also difficult .
• No specific solution.
• Not possible to draw immediate and absolute conclusions and solutions.
Barriers of effective problem solving

• Emotional barriers : Inhibition and fear of making a fool of oneself, fear of

making a mistake, inability to tolerate ambiguity, excessive self criticism.
• Mendel set: The impact of past experience on the present problem solving
specifically the tendency to retain methods that were successful in the past
even if better alternatives now exist.
• Functional fixedness: a special type of mental set that’s our strong
tendency to think using objects only in ways that have been used before.
• unnecessary constraints : causes people to unconsciously place boundaries
on the task at the hand.
• irrelevant information : distract from the problem solving process as it may
sum pertinent and distract people from finding most efficient solution.
Approaches or strategies of problem solving
a)TRIAL AND ERROR
• Simplest problem solving approach.
• Trying different responses until one works.
• Not very efficient, No guarantee that a useful solution will be found.
b)ALGORITHM

• These are the rules for a particular kind of problem.

• If followed ,Yield a solution
• Guaranteed to get correct solution to the problem.
• need to know the complete step (the algorithm).
c)ANALOGY
• A strategy for solving problems.

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• Based on applying solutions that were previously successful with other
problems similar in underlying structure.
d)HEURISTICS

• Rules of thumb!
• Mental shortcuts that generally works for solving problems.
• Not 100%guaranteed.
• Advantage of this is the time and cognitive load is reduced.

• Disadvantage cannot always be relied on to solve the problem (just most of

the time)
e) INSIGHT
• Produces sudden solution to a problem.
• It depends on mental manipulation of information.
• Sudden recognition of new idea, Or sudden understating of a complex
situation.
• An Aha! Moment.
• (Abstraction: solving the problem in a model system before applying it in to
the real system)
f) FORMING SUB GOALS
• Development of intermediate steps necessary to solve a problem.
• It requires consideration of the goal,

• conceptualization of steps an then accomplishing the steps nearest the goal

first.
g)CHANGING THE REPRESNTATIONOF THE PROBLEM
• seeing the problem in another way
• Change of the given constituents of the problem representation.

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 • Many problems can be represented in a variety of ways such as verbally,
mathematically or spatially.
CULTURE,COGNITIVE STYLE &
PROBLEM SOLVING

• Field dependence independence refers to individuals’ tendency to rely

primarily on external versus internal frames of reference when orienting
themselves in space.
• People who are field dependent rely on external frames of reference and
tend to accept the physical environment as a given instead of trying to
analyze or restructure it.
• People who are field independent rely on internal frames of reference and
tend to analyze and try to restructure the physical environment rather than
accepting it as is.
• In solving problems, field dependent people tend to focus on the total
context of a problem instead of zeroing in on specific aspects or breaking it
into component parts.
• In contrast, field-independent people are more likely to focus on specific
features of a problem and to reorganize the component parts.
CREATIVE THINKING

• Creative thinking is a cognitive process of looking at problems or situations

from a fresh perspective that suggests unorthodox solutions.
• In creative thinking som new ideas seem to come suddenly after little
progress has been made over a long period of time.
• creativity is the ability to generate novel socially valuable solution to a
problem.
Convergent thinking.

• refers to the thinking that is required to solve problem which has only one
correct answer
• mind converges to correct solution.these are straight forward process that
focusing on figuring out the most effective answer to a problem.

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 • Its characteristics include speed accuracy logic.
2. Divergent thinking

• it is a thought process used to generate creative ideas by exploring many

possible solutions.
• Produces many ideas or alternatives.
• Major element in original or creative thought, many possibilities are
developed from starting point. It is spontaneous, free flowing, nonlinear.
Stages of creative thinking
1.Preparation

• This stage the thing are understand the problem and collects the fact and
materials considered necessary for finding new solutions.
• many times the problem cannot be solved even after days or weeks or
months concentrated efforts.
• Failing to solve the problem the thinker are turned away from it initiating
next stage.
2 Incubation

• in this stage thinker reaches a condition where he feels that he cannot

solve the problem,. And set the problem aside.
• During these days there is no conscious labour on this problem but the
unconscious thought process involved in creative thinking is at work during
this.
3 Illumination

• It is the aha ! stage

• The stage of incubation is of often ended by a rapid insight or series of
insights consequently the obscure things will become clearer this sudden
flash of solution is known as illumination.

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4. Verification

• The worth and appropriateness of ideas or solutions are tested and

judged.
• The thinker determine whether it is correct and useful.
• If the solution needs any modification he does it and thus makes it
workable.
• Here convergent thinking plays an important role in selecting appropriate
solution that works.
• if the solution proves faulty, the thinker back to the stage of incubation.
Decision making

• Decision making involves evaluating alternatives and making choices

among them.
• most of the people tried to be systematic and rational in the decision
making.
Heuristics

• Heuristics are simple rules of thumb that people often use to form
judgments and make decisions; think of them as mental shortcuts.
• Heuristics can be very useful in reducing the time and mental effort it takes
to make most decisions and judgments; however, because they are
shortcuts, they don’t take into account all information and can thus lead to
errors.
Types of Heuristics

Availability Heuristics

• What comes to mind first.

• involves basing the estimated probability of an event on the ease with
which relevant incidents come to mind.
• It is the tendency to make judgments about the frequency or likelihood of
events in terms of how readily examples of them can be brought to mind.

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Representative heuristics

• That what’s typical is also likely.

• here making decision on the basis of relatively simple role more closely and
item or event or object or person resembles the most typical examples of
some concept or category, the more likely is it is belong to that concept or
category.
• The use of this sometimes course to ignore forms of information that prove
very helpful.
Anchoring and adjustment heuristics.

• Reference points that may lead us astray

• Mental rule of thumb for reaching decision by making adjustment in the
information that is already available.
• The basic problem with this heuristic is that adjustment are often
insufficient in magnitude to offset the impact of the original reference
point.

MODULE 2

MEMORY

Memory

• an active system that receives stores organize altars and recovers

information.
• Memory is the means by which we draw on our past experiences in order
to use this information in the present sternberg 1999
• memory is the faculty of the brain by which data or information is encoded
stored and retrieved when needed.
KEY PROCESS OF MEMORY

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ENCODING
That process by which information is converted into inform that can be entered in
to memory.
STORAGE
The process through which information is retained in memory.
RETRIEVAL
The process through information stored in memory located. recovery of stored
information
ATKINSON -SHIFFRIN MODEL (1968)
(Information information processing approach or stage model or modal model.)

• Richard Atkinson and Richard schiffrin suggests that we poses 3 distinct

systems for storing information.
• one of these known as sensory memory provides temporary storage of
information brought to us by our sensors.
• second type of memory is known as short term memory it holds relatively
small amounts of information for brief period of time usually 30 SEC or
less.

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 this is the memory system use. When looking up a phone number and dial
it
Third memory system is long term memory allows us to retain vast amount
of information for a very long periods of time.
• it is this memory system that permits you to remember events that
happened a few hours ago yesterday last month or many years passed.
• Long term memory allows to remember factual information.
• Atkinson and shifting proposed to that this involves operation of active
control process that act as filters, determining which information will be
retained.
• Information in sensory memory Enters short term memory when it
becomes the focus of our attention whereas sensory impressions that do
not engage attention fades.
• Information from sensory memory enters short term memory through
maintenance rehearsal.(merely repeating info. Silently to ourselves)
• Information in short term memory enters long term storage through
elaborative rehearsal.(think about its meaning and relate to it other
information already stored)
SENSORY MEMEORY

• Preserves information in its original sensory form for a brief time usually
only a fraction of a second.
• allows the sensation of visual pattern sound or touch for a brief moment
after the sensory stimulation is over.
It’s often thought of as the first stage of memory that involves registering a
tremendous amount of information about the information.
• The purpose of sensory memory is to retain information long enough for it
to be recognized.
• sensory memory haptic echoic iconic olfactory gustatory.

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 •

•
SHORT TERM MEMORY

• Short term memory is a limited capacity store that can maintain

unrehearsed information for about 10 to 20 seconds.
• is the memory store in which information first has meaning.
• Capacity is limited.
• it has a capacity of seven plus or minus two chunks and mainly ingots
information occasionally.
• . if maintenance rehearsal does not occur that it is forgotten and lost from
STM through the process of displacement or decay.
LONG TERM MEMORY

• System stores information on a permanent or relatively permanent basis

• long term memory describe system in the brain that can store vast amount
of information on a relatively enduring basis.
• There is no finite capacity to LTM
LEVELS OF PROCESSING

• Fergus craik and Robert lock hart (1972)Proposed that incoming

information can be processed at different levels.
• levels of processing theory suggest that deeper level of processing result in
longer lasting memory codes.
• Information to which pay greater attention is process thoroughly, it
endures memory at a deeper level and is less apt to be forgotten than
information processed at shallower level.
 Shallow level (physical or structural level)
• information is processed in terms its physical and sensory aspects.
• example we may pay attention only to the shapes that make up the
letter in the word dog.
 intermediate level( phonemic or aquistics)
• the shapes are translated into meaningful units

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 • in the above case lecture of alphabets
 Deepest level of processing (semantic level) • Information is analyzed in terms
of meaning.
• Example with think dogs not merely as animals with four legs and a tail
but also in terms of their relationship to cats.

ICONIC MEMEORY

Is part of the visual memory system also includes long term memory and
visual short term memory.
It’s a type of sensory memory that lasts very briefly before quickly fading.
WORKING MEMORY

• Working memory can be defined as a set off temporary memory stores that
activity manipulate and rehearse information which help us in the cognitive
process, reasoning and decision making.
• working memory is the work bench of consciousness, the place where
information we are using right now is held and processed.
• Baddley and Hitch replaced concept of STM with that of working memory.
Alan Baddley’s components of working memory

• Baddley’s model of working memory consists of four components

1. phonological loop.

• That represented all of short term memory in earlier models.

• This component is at work when we use recitation to temporarily hold
onto a phone number.
• it involved to facilitate the acquisition of language.
• It is subdivided into phonological store and articulatory process.
a) Phonological store: or inner ear processes speech perception and stores
spoken words we hear for one to two seconds.

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 •

•
b) Articulatory control process :or inner voice processes speech production
and rehearsal and store verbal information from the phonological store.
2. visual spatial sketchpad

• that permits people to temporarily hold and manipulate visual images .

• Also known as inner eye
• it is subdivided into inner scribe and visual cache.
a) inner scribe : act as a rehearsal mechanism also it produce information
from visual catch land transfer into central executive
b) visual catche :deals with the storage of information.
3.central executive system

• Which is not a storage system it controls the deployment of attention

switching the focus of attention and dividing attention as needed.
• The main component word data arrives either from the senses or from
LTM and then the central executive acts conductor and directs the
attention to particular tasks and allocates data to the different slave
system
• Limited capacity.
4.Episodic buffer

• Temporary limited capacity store that allows the various components of

working memory to integrate information and that serve interface between
working memory and long term memory.
Baddeley’s model account for evidence that STM handles a greater variety
of functions.

CHUNKING

• Chunking is a process whereby the items to be learnt are configured by

grouping them considering their similarity, or combining them into larger

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 patterns based upon information residing in long-term memory, or on the
basis of some other principle of organization.
• For example see “111222333444”; you do not usually learn it as “11 12 22
33 34 44”; but as “111 222 333
444” Or even as: “triple one, triple two, triple three, and triple four”. No
restrictions on the size of the chunks.
REHEARSAL

• Is the repetition of information that has in short term memory .

• Transfer of material from STM to LTM proceeds largely on the basis of
rehearsal .
• As long as information is repeated ,it is maintained in STM.
• Allows us to transfer information into LTM .
MAINTANANACE REHEARSAL

Maintenance rehearsal Silently repeating or mentally reviewing information

to hold it in short-term memory.
For example to keep a mobile phone number active in your mind, you have
probably used maintenance rehearsal.
• by rehearsing you are again and again hearing the information, claiming that
more times a STM memory is rehearsed greater its chance to being stored
in LTM.
ROTE REHEARSAL

• In which learning happens by simple repetition ,not anything related to

the meaning of material rehearsing.
• It is not an effective way.

ELABORATIVE REHEARSAL

• Elaborative rehearsal, that links new information with existing memories

and knowledge.

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 •

•
• Elaborative rehearsal occurs when the information is considered and
organized in some fashion.
• The organization might include expanding the information to make it fi t
into a logical framework, linking it to another memory, turning it into an
image, or transforming it in some other way.

LONG TERM MEMORY

• The memory system used for relatively permanent storage of meaningful

information.
• typically, long-term memories are stored on the basis of meaning, not
sound.
• Acts as a lasting storehouse for knowledge.
• One major distinction within long-term memory is that between declarative
memory and procedural memory.

1.DECLARATIVE MEMORY

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 •

•
is memory for factual information: names, faces, dates, and facts, such as
“a bike has two wheels.”
Declarative memory is sub divided into Semantic memory and Episodic
memory.
SEMANTIC MEMORY

• Memory for general knowledge and facts about the world, as well as memory
for the rules of logic that are used to deduce other facts.
• Because of semantic memory, we remember that Mumbai is on the Arabian
Sea, and that memoree is the incorrect spelling of memory.
• Thus, semantic memory is somewhat like a mental almanac of fact.
EPISODIC MEMORY

• memory is memory for events that occur in a particular time, place, or

context.
• For example, recall of learning to hit a baseball, our first date ,or arranging a
surprise birthday party for our brother is based on episodic memories.
• Episodic memories relate to particular contexts. For example, remembering
when and how we learned that 2 3 2 5 4 would be an episodic memory; the
fact itself (that 2 3 2 5 4) is a semantic memory.
• Episodic memories can be surprisingly detailed
• Episodic memory, then, can provide information about events that happened
long in the past.
2. PROCEDURAL MEMORY (or nondeclarative memory)

• Refers to memory for skills and habits, such as how to ride a bike or hit a
baseball. Information about things is stored in declarative memory;
information about how to do things is stored in procedural memory.

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 •

•
FLASH BULB MEMORY

• which are unusually vivid and detailed recollections of momentous events.

• Such memories are of events that are important , are specific, or surprising
or astonishing e.g., an interview room, an accident, first day at class.
• Although flashbulb memories are vivid, clear and detailed, still they may be
lacking many important details.
At times the recall may be very different from the actual event whereas
the person believes he is remembering right.
Many elements may be missed and many added.
TIP -OF- THE TONGUE PHENOMENON

• The inability to recall information that one realizes one knows—a result of
the difficulty of retrieving information from long-term memory.
• This is the feeling that a memory is available, but not quite retrievable.

IMPLICIT MEMORY

• implicit memories lie outside of awareness.

• That is, we are not aware that a memory exists.
• Nevertheless, implicit memories—such as unconsciously knowing where
the letters are on a keyboard
• Greatly influence our behavior.
EXPLICIT MEMORIES

• Are past experiences that are consciously brought to mind.

• Recall, recognition, and the tests you take in school rely on explicit
memories.
• Recollection of memory that is intentional and conscious e.g., date of your
interview, or the day when your course started.

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 •

•
• Explicit memory refers to the deliberate, conscious recollection of facts and
past experiences. If someone asked you to recall everything you did
yesterday, this task would require explicit memory processes.
• There are two basic types of explicit memory tests: recall tests and
recognition tests.

PRIMING

• Phenomenon that occurs when exposure to a word or concept (called a

prime) later makes it easier to recall related information.
• Priming allows us to remember new information better and faster because
of material we already have stored in memory.
example :of responding to the word "banana" more rapidly after being
primed with the word "yellow".
Types : Positive and negative priming , Semantic priming, Associative
priming ,Repetition priming , Perceptual priming , Conceptual priming ,
Masked priming .

MEASURING MEMORY

RECALL:

• A recall measure of retention requires subjects to reproduce information

on their own without any cues.
• Answering a question on a fill-in-the-blank test is a good example of recall.
•

RECOGNITION

• A recognition measure of retention requires subjects to select previously

learned information from an array of options.

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 •

•
• Subjects not only have cues to work with, they have the answers right in
front of them.
• In educational testing, essay questions and fill-in-the-blanks questions are
recall measures of retention. Multiple-choice, true-false, and matching
questions are recognition measures.

RELEARNING:

• relearning measure of retention requires subject to memorize information

a second time to determine how much time or how many practice trials
are saved by having learned it before.
• This often makes it easier to remember and retrieve information in the
future and can improve the strength of memories.

RETRIEVAL CUES

• Stimuli that help gain access to memories.

• Helps to bring the information to mind at times it cannot be recalled.

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ENCODING SPECIFICITY PRINCIPLE

• Information is best learnt and remembered at a time and place, or

environment, similar to or same as the one where it was initially learnt.
• Retrieval Information is successful to the extend that the retrieval cues
match the cues the learner used during the study phase .
• The more cues are similar , the more memory is facilitated.
CONTEXT DEPENDENT MEMORY

• Refers to the memory that information entered into the memory in one
context than in others .
• In the experiment, participants were experienced deep-sea divers. They
learned a list of words either on the beach or beneath fifteen feet of water.
Then they tried to recall the words, either in the same environment in
which they had learned them or in the other setting. Results offered clear
support for the impact of context—in this case, physical setting. Words
learned on land were recalled much better in this location than under
water, and vice versa (Godden and Baddeley (1975).
STATE- DEPENDENT MEMORY

• Refers to the fact that it is often easier to recall information stored in

longterm memory when our internal state is similar to that which existed
when the information was first entered into memory.
• External cues are not the only ones that can serve as aids to memory,
however; a growing body of evidence indicates that our own internal states
can sometimes play this role, too. The most general term for this kind of
effect is state-dependent memory .
• For example, suppose that while studying for an exam, you drink lots of
coffee. Thus, the effects of caffeine are present while you memorize the
information in question.

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SERIAL POSITION EFFECT

• The fact that when we memorize a list of words or other stimuli the words
at the beginning and at the end of the list remembered better than words
at the middle.
• it involves the existence of two memory system one that holds information
for few seconds and other stores in stores information for longer periods.
• We remember the last words because they are present in the working
memory.
• Remembering the words at the starting because they have already been
entered to the LTM.
• The recency effect is the tendency to remember the most recently
presented information best.
• The primacy effect refers to the tendency to recall information presented
at the start of a list better than information at the middle or end.
RECONSTRUCTIVE MEMORY

• Reconstructive memory suggests that in the absence of all information, we

fill in the gaps to make more sense of what happened.
• we do these using schemas : cognitive frameworks representing our
knowledge and assumptions about specific aspects of the world.
• These are our previous knowledge and experience of a situation and we use
this process to complete the memory.
• This means that our memories are a combination of specific traces encoded
at the time of the event, along with our knowledge, expectations, beliefs
and experiences of such an event.

SOURCE MONITORING

• Source monitoring involves making attributions about the origins of

memories.
• source monitoring is a crucial fact of memory retrieval that contributes to
many of the mistakes that people make in reconstructing their experiences

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 • source-monitoring error occurs when a memory derived from one source is
misattributed to another source.
Reality monitoring

• refers to the process of deciding whether memories are based on external

sources (one’s perceptions of actual events) or internal sources (one’s
thoughts and imaginations).

EYE WITNESS TESTIMONY

• Eyewitness testimony is a legal term. It refers to an account given by

people of an event they have witnessed.
• Juries tend to pay close attention to eyewitness testimony and generally
find it a reliable source of information.
• However, research into this area has found that eyewitness testimony can
be affected by many psychological factors:
• Anxiety / Stress
• Reconstructive Memory
• Weapon Focus
• Leading Questions
FALSE MEMORY

• A false memory is a fabricated or distorted recollection of an event. Such

memories may be entirely false and imaginary.
• they may contain elements of fact that have been distorted by interfering
information or other memory distortions.
• False memory differs from simple memory , false memory is more than a
simple mistake; it involves a level of certitude in the validity of the memory.
• false memories are unique in that they represent a distinct recollection of
something that did not actually happen.
• It is not about forgetting or mixing up details of things that we experienced;
it is about remembering things that we never experienced in the first place.

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METAMEMORY

• Metamemory or Socratic awareness, a type of metacognition, is both the

introspective knowledge of one's own memory capabilities (and strategies
that can aid memory) and the processes involved in memory
selfmonitoring.
• This self-awareness of memory has important implications for how people
learn and use memories.

FORGETTING

• Forgetting typically involves a failure in memory retrieval. While the

information is somewhere in your long- term memory, you are not able to
actually retrieve and remember it.
CURVE OF FORGETTING

• Psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus was one of the first to scientifically

study forgetting. His results, plotted in what is known as the Ebbinghaus
forgetting curve, revealed a relationship between forgetting and time.
• Initially, information is often lost very quickly after it is learned.
• Factors such as how the information was learned and how frequently it
was rehearsed play a role in how quickly these memories are lost.
• Information stored in long-term memory is surprisingly stable.
• The forgetting curve also showed that forgetting does not continue to
decline until all of the information is lost.
• At a certain point, the amount of forgetting levels off.
REASONS OF FORGETTING
A)INEFFECTIVE CODING

• Ineffective coding in encoding happens due to a person's inability to pay

attention or lack of cognitive engagement required to understand the
information completely which brings problem in retrieving the information
or storing in the long term memory.

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B)DECAY

• Decay is the loss of information in memory through nonuse.

• This explanation for forgetting assumes that memory traces, the physical
changes that take place in the brain when new material is learned, simply
fade away or disintegrate over time.
• If decay explained all forgetting, we would expect that the more time that
has elapsed between the initial learning of information and our attempt to
recall it, the harder it would be to remember it because there would be
more time for the memory trace to decay.

C )INTERFERENCE

• Information stored in memory disrupts the recall of other information

stored in memory.
• For example, if I’m trying to recall my college classmate Jake’s name and all
I can remember is the name of another classmate, James, interference may
be at work

Proactive interference

• Interference in which information learned earlier disrupts the recall of

material learned later.
Retroactive interference

• Interference in which material that was learned later disrupts the retrieval of
information that was learned earlier.

D) RETRIEVAL FAILURE or cue dependent forgetting

• Forgetting of information occurs when an individual fails to retrieve

information from their memory.
• Even though the information stored as long-term memory is not lost, we
cannot recall it at the given moment.

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 • The best example to explain this theory is when we know a word, but we
cannot remember it, and it feels as if the word is stuck at the tip of the
tongue.
• The two main reasons for failure in memory retrieval are when there is a
failure in encoding due to which the information never made it to the
longterm memory in the first place.
• Also, there could be a retrieval failure where we cannot access the
information due to a lack of retrieval cues

E) MOTIVATED FORGETTING

• Motivated forgetting is the process of intentionally forgetting memories,

done consciously or unconsciously.
• These two processes work slightly differently, but they have the same goal
in mind.
• When our mind intentionally forgets memories, it usually does so to reduce
anxiety or certain impulsive behaviors.
• Consciously forgetting memories is called suppression. The process in
which we unconsciously forget memories is called repression. Both types of
forgetting are coping mechanisms.
F) REPRESSION

• Repression is the unconscious blocking of unpleasant emotions, impulses,

memories, and thoughts from your conscious mind.
• Introduced by Sigmund Freud, the purpose of this defense mechanism is to
try to minimize feelings of guilt and anxiety.
• However, while repression might initially be effective, it can lead to greater
anxiety down the road.
• Freud believed that repression could lead to psychological distress.
STRATEGIES OF REMEMBERING
REHEARSAL: rote and elaborative rehearsals.

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ELABORATION

• Elaboration is the development of an existing idea by incorporating new

information to augment the idea.
• It can be used as a method of memory retention by making a memory or
idea with greater detail in order to remember it accurately.
• When learning connecting a new concept to one you have already learned
can help to recall the new information easier.

MNEMONICS

• Mnemonic devices are methods used to increase the recall of information.

• Rehearsal, even when it involves overlearning, facilitates retention,
although one should be wary of the serial-position effect.
• Distributed practice tends to be more efficient than massed practice.
• It is wise to plan study sessions so as to minimize interference and
maximize deep processing.
• Evidence also suggests that organization enhances retention, so outlining
texts may be valuable.
• Meaningfulness can be enhanced through the use of verbal mnemonics
such as acrostics, acronyms, and narrative methods. The link method and
the method of loci are mnemonic devices that depend on the value of
visual imagery
Acrostics and Acronyms

• Acrostics are phrases (or poems) in which the first letter of each word
(or line) functions as a cue to help you recall information to be
remembered.
• Acronym—a word formed out of the first letters of a series of words..
• Acrostics and acronyms that individuals create for themselves can be
effective memory tools .

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Narrative Methods

• Another useful way to remember a list of words is to create a story that

includes the words in the appropriate order.
• The narrative both increases the meaningfulness of the words and links
them in a specific order.
Rhymes

• Another verbal mnemonic that people often rely on is rhyming. Link

Method

• The link method involves forming a mental image of items to be

remembered in away that links them together.
Method of Loci

• The method of loci involves taking an imaginary walk along a familiar path
where images of items to be remembered are associated with certain
locations.
MODULE 3
MOTIVATION

MOTIVATION

• Internal process that activate ,guide, and maintain behavior over time.
• The word motivation emerged from Latin word ‘MOVERE’ means to move/
arouses.
• Motivation involves goal-directed behavior.
• It refers to various psychological and physiological factors that causes us to
act in a specific way.
MODEL OF MOTIVATION

• Many motivated activities begin with a need, or internal deficiency.

• Needs cause a drive (an energized motivational state) to develop .

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 • Drives activate a response (an action or series of actions) designed to
attain a goal (the “target” of motivated behavior).
• Reaching a goal that satisfies the need will end the chain of events.
• NEED : A lack of deficit of something ,reason for action
• DRIVE : Is a state of tension ,Internal energy that propels individual to act
in a certain direction.
• RESPONSE : It is the activity triggered to achieve something.
• GOAL : Satisfaction resulting from having attained desired need.

SOURCES OF MOTIVATION
DRIVES : drive is motivational tension, or arousal, that energizes behavior to fulfill
a need. Many basic drives, such as hunger, thirst, sleep, and sex, are related to
biological needs of the body or of the species as a whole. These are called primary
drives. Primary drives contrast with secondary drives in which behavior fulfills no
obvious biological need. In secondary drives, prior experience and learning bring
about needs.
INSTINCTS
Inborn patterns of behavior that are biologically determined rather than
learned.
It includes sympathy, self assertion , curiosity etc.
INCENTIVE
External rewards direct and energize behavior.
Goals that can either be objects or thought that we learn to value and
motivated to obtain.
Grades, money, praises, degrees etc.

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 Incentive value The value of a goal above and beyond its ability to fill a
need.
THEORIES OF MOTIVATION
DRIVE THEORY

• American psychologist Clark hull developed drive theory

• A theory of motivation suggesting that behavior is pushed from within by
drives stemming from basic biological needs.
• Biological need arising within our body create unpleasant states of arousal
in order to eliminate such feeling and restore a balanced physiological state
that is homeostasis, we engage in certain activity.
• According to drive theory, biological needs lead to the arousal of
drives ,which activate efforts two reduce them. Behaviors that succeed in
reducing a drive are strengthened and are repeated when the drive is
aroused again.
• Behaviors that fail to reduce the drive are weakened and are less likely to
recur when the drive is aroused once again.
• Limitations : Homeostasis appears irrelevant to some human motives, such
as a“thirst for knowledge.” Also, motivation may exist without drive
arousal.

INCENTIVE THEORY

• Theories suggesting that motivation stems from the desire to attain

external rewards, known as incentives.
• motivation stems from the desire to attain external rewards, known as
incentives. In this view, the desirable properties of external stimuli—
whether grades, money, affection, food, or sex—account for a person’s
motivation .
• Incentive theories emphasize how external stimuli pull people in certain
directions.

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 • According to incentive theories, the source of motivation lies outside the
organism, in the environment. This means that incentive models don’t
operate according to the principle of Homeostasis , incentive theories
emphasize environmental factors and downplay the biological bases of
human motivation.
HIERARCHY OF NEEDS THEORY

• Abraham Maslow’s motivation theory is based on the human needs. These

needs are classified into a sequential hierarchy from the lower to higher
order as five need clusters
1. Physiological Needs:
These needs are of the lowest-order and most basic needs of human
beings. These involve satisfying fundamental biological drives, such as the
need for food, air, water, these needs exert tremendous influence on
human behavior.
They are also called survival needs.
2. Safety and Security Needs:
The second level of need in Maslow’s hierarchy is emerged once
physiological needs are met. Safety needs involve the need for a secure
environment, free from threats of physical and psychological harm. These
needs find expression in such desires as economic security and protection
from physical dangers.
3. Social Needs:
Man is social animal. These needs, therefore, refer to belongingness or
affiliation. All individuals want to be recognized and accepted by others.
4. Esteem Needs:
These needs refer to self-esteem and self-respect. These include such
needs that indicate self-confidence, achievement, competence,
knowledge, respect, reputation, and independence.
5. Self-Actualization:

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 Self-actualization is a state of self-fulfillment in which people realize their
highest potentials in their own unique way.

• Limitation : people sometimes seek to satisfy higher order needs even

when ones lower in the hierarchy have not met.

• Although Maslow first suggested that self-actualization occurred in only a

few famous individuals, he later expanded the concept to encompass
everyday people.

AROUSAL THEORY

• A theory of motivation suggesting that human beings seek an optimal level

of arousal ,not minimal levels of arousal
• A level that is best suited for our personal characteristics and to whatever
activity we are currently performing.
• We try to maintain that level of stimulation and activity; the maintenance
may require off and on reduction or increase in the existing level,
depending upon the circumstances.

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 • When our arousal state becomes too high, it needs to come down for
optimal functioning and vice versa.
• Too high a motivational arousal may affect performance negatively; it may
produce anxiety and irritability in the organism.
• Similarly too low an arousal may also have adverse effect e.g. performance
of a person suffering from depression.
• A consistent, well balanced, and leveled arousal is needed for the optimal
functioning e.g. in case of exams, athletics, interviews.
YERKS -DODSON LAW

• The suggestion that the level of arousal beyond which performance begins
to decline is a function of task difficulty.
• The Yerkes-Dodson Law suggests that there is a relationship between
performance and arousal.
• Increased arousal can help improve performance, but only up to a certain
point. At the point when arousal becomes excessive, performance
diminishes.
• The law was first described in 1908 by psychologist Robert yerkes and John
Dillingham Dodson.
• They discovered that mild electrical shocks could be used to motivate rats
to complete a maze, but when the electrical shocks became too strong, the
rats would scurry around in random directions to escape.
GOAL SETTING THEORY

• This theory emphasizes the importance of cognitive factors rather than

drives or arousal.
• Give you that motivation can be strongly influenced by goals.
• It has found that goal setting works best under certain conditions.
• The goals must be highly specific (know just what they are trying to
accomplish), challenging( meeting them requires considerable effort) ,
Attainable( actually can reach them).

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EVOLUTIONARY THEORY

• evolutionary perspective assert that human motives and those of other

species are the products of natural selection, just as anatomical
characteristics are .
• They argue that natural selection favors behaviors that maximize
reproductive success—that is, passing on genes to the next generation.
• Thus, they explain motives such as affiliation, achievement, dominance,
aggression, and sex drive in terms of their adaptive value.
• If dominance is a crucial motive for a species, they say, it’s because
dominance provides a reproductive or survival advantage.
• Evolutionary analyses of motivation are based on the premise that motives
can best be understood in terms of the adaptive problems they solved for
our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

COGNITIVE THEORIES
Theories that give importance to the cognitive processes of the individual in
explaining motivational process; thoughts, feelings, expectations, understanding
and evaluating all are important when explaining the motivation of the person.
BALANCE THEORY (Heider, 1958),

• cognitive inconsistency is defined in a different way, with a focus on a

triadic relation between the self, another person, and an object .Thus,
unlike cognitive dissonance theory, balance theory emphasizes
inconsistencies raised by interpersonal relations.
• According to the theory, inconsistency results from having attitudes that
differ from those of someone you like .
• For example, if you like certain music, but your friend does not, this
situation is considered to be imbalanced, and you are motivated to change
your attitude toward the music (i.e., reducing your liking for it so that you
and the friend now have the same attitude). Similarly, having the same
attitude as someone you dislike also creates imbalance and you might be

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 motivated to change your attitude to make it dissimilar to that of the
disliked person.
COGNITIVE DISSONANCE THEORY

• suggests that we have an inner drive to hold all our attitudes and behavior
in harmony and avoid disharmony (or dissonance). This is known as the
principle of cognitive consistency.
• When there is an inconsistency between attitudes or behaviors
(dissonance), something must change to eliminate the dissonance.
• This theory proposed that people attempt to maintain consistency among
their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors.
• According to this theory, a motivational state termed cognitive dissonance
is produced whenever beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors are inconsistent.
Cognitive dissonance is considered to be an aversive state that triggers
mechanisms to bring cognitions back into a consistent relationship with one
another. Much of the research on cognitive dissonance has centered
around what happens when attitudes and behaviors are inconsistent.
• This research suggests that behavior inconsistent with one’s beliefs—if
there is insufficient justification for the behavior—will often bring about
modification of those beliefs.
ATTRIBUTION THEORY

• The Attribution Theory explains how people use internal cues (their
perception of their environment) and external cues (observations of their
environment) to attribute causes to outcomes of different events that
occur around them.
• For example, if a man trips and falls he may attribute the cause of the
incident to be a rock in his path that he did not see, him tripping on his
shoelaces, or not seeing an uneven spot in pavement. He will look
immediately after the fall for external cues in his environment to explain
the incident. In a learning setting, a student may attribute failing a test to
not being smart enough, the test being too hard, or having “bad luck” with
test taking.

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 • The first example involves external cues and the second involves internal
but it is important to note that in the Attribution Theory attributions do not
need to be accurate as they are the perceptions of each person individually.
EXPECTANCY THEORY

• This theory suggest that motivation is not primarily a matter of being

pushed from within by various urges or drives, rather it is more a question
of being pulled from without by expectations of attaining desired
outcomes.
• such outcomes known as incentives can be almost anything we have
learned to value money, status, the approval of others, to name just a few.
• Expectancy theory has been applied to many aspects of human motivation.
TYPES OF MOTIVES
1 BIOLOGICAL MOTIVES

• Biological motives are called as physiological motives.

• These motives are essential for the survival of the organism.
• Such motives are triggered when there is imbalance in the body.
• The body always tends to maintain a state of equilibrium called
“Homeostasis”- in many of its internal physiological processes.
• Eg Hunger motive ,Thirst motive ,Need for oxygen , Motive for regulation
of body temperature ,Need for sleep ,Need for avoidance of pain, Drive for
elimination of waste ,Sex motive ,Maternal drive.
2.LEARNED MOTIVES

• are specific only to human beings.

• These are called social motives, because they are learnt in social groups as a
result of interaction with the family and society.
• That is why their strength differs from one individual to another.
• Achievement motive, Aggressive motive , Power motive, Acquisitive
motive , Curiosity motive .

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THE MOTIVATION OF HUNGER AND EATING

• The motivation to obtain and consume food is called hunger motivation.

• Eating is related to the homeostatic mechanism of the body.
• internal system, not only regulates the quantity of food intake but also the
kind of food that has been taken.
• • The systems that involved in when to eat and how much to eat is a
complicated phenomena.
• It is a proven fact that hunger is not only related with the empty stomach;
people whose stomach has been removed still experienced the sensation of
it.
BIOLOGICAL FACTORS IN REGULATING HUNGER

• The brain, the digestive system, and hormones are all involved in
influencing hunger at the biological level.
THE BRAIN : areas in the hypothalamus play a key role in regulating hunger.

• The lateral hypothalamus is involved in recognizing hunger.

• The ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus is involved in recognizing
satiety or fullness.
• The paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus is also involved in hunger
regulation.
BLOOD SUGER LEVEL
• The body converts food to Glucose, a simple sugar that acts as an energy
source for cells. The level of glucose in the blood affects hunger. Low blood
glucose increases hunger; high blood glucose decreases hunger.
HORMONES

• The hormone Insulin also plays an important role in regulating hunger.

Insulin allows cells to access glucose in the blood. When the pancreas
secretes insulin, hunger increases.
• Another hormone involved in hunger regulation is Leptin. Fat cells in the
body secrete leptin and release it into the blood. When the leptin level in
the blood is high, hunger decreases.

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ENIVRONMENTAL FACTORS REGULATING HUNGER

• Palatability: the better the food tastes, the more of it people consume.

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 •
Quantity available: A powerful determinant of the amount eaten is the
amount available.
• Appearance of food.
• Cultural factors.
• Stress.
SEXUAL MOTIVATION

• Motivation to engage in sexual activity.

• Is a powerful one.
HORMONES AND HUMAN SEXUAL BEHAVIOR

• Sexual motivation is influenced by hormones such as testosterone,,

estrogen, , progesterone , oxytocin , and vasopressin.
SEXUAL ORIENTATION

• HETEROSEXUAL : A sexual orientation in which individuals prefer sexual

relations with members of other sex.
• BISEXUAL : Motivated to engage in sexual relation with members of both
sexes.
• HOMOSEXUAL : A sexual orientation in which individuals prefer sexual
relations with members of their own sex.
ACHEIVEMENT MOTIVE

• Self- actualization or attaining excellence in relevant domain is the

characteristic feature of this motive.
• The need to achieve something, some object of desire, a goal, or
position/status.
• The source of satisfaction is not just the achievement of the goal, but the
very act of striving for it too.
• The level of the need for achievement varies from person to person.
• Some are high and some low achievers.
• Competition is an important element of this need.

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 •
• Achievement motivation is a significant variable in a competitive society.
• People with high motivation: Take and overcome challenges in order to
succeed rather than finding an easy ways of achieving success.
People with low motivation: Tends to avoid failure, finding easy way outs,
not desire to take difficult tasks.
Methods of measuring achievement motivation:

• Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is used; series of ambiguous pictures

are presented to the person and ask him to write a story on it.

AGGRESSIVE MOTIVE

• The desire to harm or injure others in some manner.

• Aggression is a motive to fight or aggress.
• It appears as a common phenomenon.
• Many studies have shown that aggressive reactions are the consequences
of frustration of a drive.
• besides it is also a learned behavior which is acquired either through
imitation of an aggressive model or through selective reinforcement or
through combination of the two.
• Add distinction is made between hostile aggression and instrumental
aggression.
• The former has it’s goal harming another person.
• The latter type of aggression the aggressive individual uses aggression as a
means to satisfy some other motive.
• Aggression is a reaction or response to certain kinds of situation such as
frustration injury, or insult or threats to self or deprivation.
POWER MOTIVE

• The need for power refers to the need to hold positions of power and
authority and have control over other people and important resources.

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 •
• They love to influence the thoughts and perceptions of other people. They
derive their sense of self-esteem by exercising power such people make
great leaders. For instance, most political leaders have a high need for
power.
• Generally, individuals who have high need for power and achievement
succeed in leadership positions.
This is because they have the drive to perform well and control other
people too.

AFFILIATION MOTIVE

• Urge/ desire to main a relationship with other people; making friends,

social contact with other people.
• Less desire to be isolated or alone.
• Studies showed that females spend a larger span of time among friends
and peers as compared to males.
• Although the need for affiliation is a universal phenomenon, cultural
differences do exist in its expression; some cultures have more group
cohesiveness than others.
INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

• Motivation that comes from within, rather than from external rewards;
motivation based on personal enjoyment of a task or activity.
• occurs when we act without any obvious external rewards.
• We simply enjoy an activity or see it as an opportunity to explore, learn,
and actualize our potentials.

EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION

• Motivation based on obvious external rewards, obligations, or similar

factors.

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•
• extrinsic motivation stems from external factors, such as pay, grades,
rewards, obligations, and approval.
• Most of the activities we think of as “work” are extrinsically rewarded .

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 MODULE 4

EMOTION

EMOTION

• A state 0f complex pattern of changes including physiological

arousal ,cognitive processes , behavioral reaction , facial expression ,
gestures , postures , subjective feelings into a particular stimulus or
situation .
• It differs to person to Person.
• The word emotion derived from latin word Emovere means to excite ,striup
or agitate.

ELEMENTS OF EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE

1. Subjective conscious experience.(the cognitive component)

2. Bodily arousal (the physiological component)
3. Characteristic overt expression ( the behavioral component)
1.THE COGNITIVE COMPONENT

• Emotion is highly personal ,subjective experience.

• emotions are potentially intense internal feeling that sometimes seem to
have a life of their own.
• It refers to subjective conscious experience even though some degree of
emotional control is possible, they tend to evolve automatic reactions.
• They are difficult to regulate.
• People’s cognitive appraisals of events in their lives are key determinants of
emotions they experience.
• Specific event such as giving a speech may be both anxiety arousing for one
and a routine matter for other.

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 • The conscious experience of emotions indicate an evaluate aspect and
these contrasting emotions tend to occur simultaneously rather than
alternating back and forth.

2.THE PHYSIOLOGICAL COMPONENT

• Emotional process are closely tide to physiological processes. but the

interconnections are enormously complex.
• The biological basis of emotions are diffuse involving many areas in the
brain and many neurotransmitter system as well as the autonomic nervous
system and the endocrine system.
• It includes variations in heart rate, blood pressure etc.
• Most of the physiological arousal associated with emotions occurs through
the action of ANS.
3.BEHAVIORAL COMPONENT

• People reveal their emotions through characteristic overt ,expressions such

as smiles ,Thrones, furrowed brows, Indians vocalizations, clenched fist and
slumped shoulders.
• In other words emotions are expressed in body language or nonverbal
behavior.
• facial expression reveal a variety of basic emotions.
• There are six fundamental emotions happiness,, sadness anger, fear
surprise add disgust.

PRIMARY EMOTIONS

• It is the first reaction to what has happened.

• Primary emotions are the body’s first response, and they are usually very
easy to identify because. They are so strong.
• According to Robert plutchik there are eight primary emotions they are fear
surprise so it’s sadness disgust anger and anticipation joy and trust.

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SECONDARY EMOTION

• are much more complex.

• They often refer to the feelings you have about the primary emotion.
Example a person may feel ashamed as a result of becoming anxious or sad.

In this case anxiety would be the primary emotion while shame would be
the secondary emotion.
POSITIVE EMOTION

• Emotions are those feeling where there is lack of negativity such as no pain
or discomfort is left.
• Fredriksen identifies the 10 most common positive emotions such as joy,
gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride amusement, inspiration, how and
love,.
• Positive emotions lead to the cognitive flexibility hand a broad range of
behavioral tendencies.
EMOTION AND BRAIN

• Emotions can be either positive or negative it is possible to have the

negative and positive emotions at the same time.
• in the brain positive emotions are processed mainly in the left
hemisphere.
• in contrast negative emotions are processed in the right hemisphere.
• the fact that the positive and negative emotions are based on different
brain areas helps explain why we can feel happy and sad at the same
time, the left hemisphere controlled the right side of the brain and
process positive emotions.
• Amygdala specializes in producing fear.
• The amygdala receives sensory information very directly and quickly
bypassing the cortex.
• As a result it allows us to respond to potential danger before we really
know what’s happening.

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 • People who suffer damage to amygdala become blind to emotion.
PHYSIOLOGY AND EMOTION

• Some encounters usually produce muscle tension, pounding heart,

irritability, dryness of throat and mouth sweating sensitivity to loud
noise and numerous other bodily changes.
• These reactions are innate which is caused ANS whose activity is
automatic rather than voluntary.
• The physiological relation with the emotions are explained by fight or
flight, sudden death and lie detectors.
FIGHT OR FIGHT

• The fight or flight response refers to the physiological reaction that occurs
in the presence of something that is terrifying, either mentally or physically.
• The response is triggered by the release of hormones that prepare body to
either stay and deal with the threat or to run away to safety.
• It is explained in terms of ANS.
• The ANS has two division the sympathetic, activates the body at the time of
stress.
• the parasympathetic quits the body and conserves energy.
• the sympathetic branch. activates the body for emergency action of fighting
or feeling. it does this by arousing some bodily systems and inhibiting
others. Sugar is released into the bloodstream for quick energy, the
heartbeat faster to supply blood to the muscles, digestion is temporarily
slowed, blood flow in the skin is restricted to reduce, bleeding and so forth
such reactions improves the chances of surviving an emergency.
• the parasympathetic branch,. Reverses emotional arousal. it comes and
relaxes the body. After a period of high emotions the heart is slowed, the
pupil returns to normal size, blood pressure drops and so forth.
• In addition to restoring balance, the parasympathetic system helps build up
and conserve bodily energy it responds much more slowly. then
sympathetic does.

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SUDDEN DEATH

• An over reaction two intense emotion is called a parasympathetic rebound.

• If this rebound is reserve, it can sometimes cause death.
• Such deaths occur because the parasympathetic ANS slows the heart to
stop.
• For older persons or those with heart problems sympathetic effects may be
enough to bring about heart attack and collapse.
• In Asia the number 4 is considered as unlucky and more heart patients die
on the 4th day of the month than any other day because they fear that they
will die on an unlucky day and their chance of dying actually increases.
LIE DICTECTORS

• An instrument for determining weather a person is telling the truth by

testing for physiological changes considered to be associated with lying.
• The most popular method for detecting lies measure the bodily changes
that accompany emotion.
• This accuracy of lie detection is less and doubtful.
• The lie detector is more accurately called a polygraph, that records heart
rate blood pressure respiration and galvanic skin response.
• It records the general emotional arousal.
EXPRESSION OF EMOTION

• People often reveal there emotions through nonverbal cues , facial

expressions, body movement or posters, and other observable actions.
• we express our emotions in a number of all different ways includes both
verbal communication and nonverbal communication.
FACIAL EXPRESSION

• Facial expressions are one of the way of expressing emotions, basic

expressions appear to be fairly universal.
• even though blind people have little opportunity to learn emotional
expressions from others They display joy, sadness, fear, anger and disgust
in the same way as sighted people do.

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 • some facial expressions are shaped by learning and may be found only in
specific culture. Culture personal independence and a free expression of
individuals right and needs.
• While looking gender wise men and women differ in their private
experiences of emotion.
• women tend to more openly express sadness, fear, shame and guilt.
• Men more often express anger and hostility this is mainly because the
expression of emotion is strongly influenced by learning.

NON VERBAL CUES

• Nonverbal cues are communication signals without the use of vocabulary.

• Example a facial expression of sadness, open arms , wide and eyes etc are
known as non verbal cues.
• They are potentially informative behavior that are not purely linguistic in
content.
• Visible nonverbal cues include facial expressions head movement, posture,
body and hand movement ,interpersonal gaze directness etc.
• auditory nonverbal cues include discrete non linguistic vocal sounds as well
as qualities of the voice such as pitch.
BODY LANGUAGE

• the facial and bodily gestures of emotion speak a language all their own
and add to what person says.
• Kinesics is the study of communication through body movement postures,
gestures and facial expressions Informally we call it body language.
• Our face can produce some 20,000 different expressions which makes the
most expressive part of your body most of these are facial blends a mixture
of two or more expression.
• Facial expressions are boiled into three basic dimensions.
1. Pleasantness - unpleasantness
2. attention- rejection
3. Activation

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Chameleon effect :it refers to the fact we often unconsciously mimic the posters
mannerisms and facial expressions of other people as we interact with them. it
makes Stronger connection with others.

THEORIES OF EMOTION
1 JAMES LANG THEORY

• William James and Carl Lang Proposed that we experience emotions as a

result of physiological changes that produce specific sensations.
• The brain interprets these sensations as specific kinds of emotional
experiences.
• Very simply emotional experience is a reaction to instinctive bodily events
that occurs as a response to some situation or even in the environment.
• They suggested that for every major emotion there is an accompanying
physiological or gut reaction of internal organs called visceral experience, it
is the specific pattern of visceral response that lead us to label the
emotional experience.
• Drawbacks : yet emotional experience frequently occur even before the
race time for certain physiological changes to be set into motion because of
the slowness with which some visceral changes take place.
• It is hard to see how they could be the source of an immediate emotional
experience.
• Physiological arousal does not invariably produced emotional experience
for example a person who is jogging has an increased heartbeat and
respiration rate yet joggers typically do not think of such changes terms in
terms of emotions.
2. CANNON BARD THEORY ( 1927)

• Walter cannon and later Philip Bart pointed out that physiological arousal
may occur without the experience of emotion.
• A theory of emotion suggesting that various emotion provoking events
simultaneously produce physiological arousal and subjective reaction
labeled as emotion.

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 • this theory states that after we perceive an emotion producing stimulus,
Thalamus is the initial site of emotional response, next the thalamus send
signal to ANS thereby producing visceral response. At the same time
thalamus also communicate with cortex regarding the nature of emotion
experienced.
• Hence it is not necessary to define emotion to have unique physiological
patterns associated with them as long as the message sent to the cerebral
cortex differs according to the specific emotion.
• Most recent research has led some important modification of the theory,
the hypothalamus and the limbic system not the thalamus play a major role
in emotional experience.
3.OPPONENT PROCESS THEORY (1974)

• Richard Solomon and John Corbit suggested that and emotional reaction is
followed automatically by an opposite reaction.
• For example consider a surgeon who initially experiences very positive
emotions each time she successfully completes a lifesaving operation, later
however she experiences a sharp emotional let down. Overtime her
positive reaction decrease while the let down intensifies or occur sooner
after each medical procedure. The result she may gradually reduce the
number of operations she performs or at least become increasingly bored
with and indifferent to her work.
• In sum , opponent process theory suggest that a law of physics -Every
action there is an equal and opposite reaction – may apply in emotion s
well.

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COGNITIVE APPRAISAL THEORY OF EMOTIONS

• previous theories are mostly concerned with our physical responses but
cognitive factors also influences emotions.
• according to this psychologist developed various theories.
SCHACHTER’S TWO FACTOR THEORY (1962)

• Also known as shatter singer theory.

• Proposed to buy Stanley schachter and Jerome singer
• a theory of emotion suggesting that our subjective emotional states are
determined at least in part by the cognitive labels we attach to the feeling
of arousal.
• The experience of emotion depends on two factors.
( 1 )autonomic arousal ,(2) cognitive interpretation of that arousal.
Eg .If you stuck in a traffic jam you will probably label your arousal less anger if
you are celebrating birthday he will probably label it as happiness.

• Limitation :situations can’t hold emotions in just any way at anytime. And
in searching explain arousal subjects don’t limit themselves to the

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 immediate situation. These emotions are not as pliable as the theory
suggests.
LAZARUS THEORY OF COGNITIVE APPRAISAL (1966)
Given by Richard Lazarus and his colleagues in 1966.
• The theory asserts that our emotions are determined by our appraisal of
the stimulus, but it suggests that immediate unconscious appraisal mediate
between the stimulus and the emotional response.
• Also distinguished between primary appraisal which seeks to establish the
significant meaning of an event and secondary appraisal which assesses the
ability of the individual to cope with the consequences of the event.
• Theory suggests that emotions are determined by our appraisal of the
stimuli which mediates between the stimulus and the emotional response
and is immediate and often unconscious.
• He argued that appraisal precedes cognitive labeling simultaneously
stimulating both the physiological arousal and the emotional experience
itself.
FACIAL FEEDBACK HYPOTHESIS

• This hypothesis suggests that changes in our facial expressions sometimes

produce shifts in our emotional experience, rather than merely reflecting
them.
• States that sensations form facial expressions helps. Define what emotion
a person feels.
• making faces can affect the ANS as shown by changes in heart rate and
skin temperature.
• Each facial expression produce a different pattern of activity.
• An angry face raises heart rate and skin temperature whereas discussed
lower both.
• In an experiment some people were made to bite pen in their teeth and
some in their lips, studies revealed that former people thought the cartoon
were funnier than the later people. Because holding a pen with teeth form
says mile while holding it with lips make a frown.

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EVOLUTIONARY THEORY OF EMOTION

• It was naturalist Charles Darwin who proposed that emotions evolved

because they were adaptive and allowed humans and animals to survive
and reproduce.
• Feelings of love and affection lead people to seek mates and reproduce.
• Feelings of fear compel people to either fight or flee the source of danger.
• Theory consider emotions to be largely innate reaction to certain stimuli.
And it should be immediately recognizable under most conditions without
much thought.
• They believed that emotions evolved before thought, they assert that
thought plays relatively small role in emotion.
• As they thought emotions originate in subcortical brain structures that
evolved before higher brain areas in the cortex associated with complex
thought.
• They propose many emotions that people experience are produced by
blends of primary emotions and variations in intensity.

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