psychology

4)Evaluate possible solutions - weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each solution. Think through each solution and consider how, when, and where you could accomplish each. Consider both immediate and long-term results. Mapping your solutions can be helpful at this stage.

5)Choose a solution - consider 3 factors:

compatibility with your priorities • amount of risk

practicality

Questions:

1.What is IQ? How can it be measured?

2.What is the nature\nurture issue in intelligence? What conclusions can we draw from the relevant evidence?

3.What have we learned about the structure if intelligence from the factor approach?

Practical Task

Exercise 1 Creative Problem Solving

John and Mary were found dead in a locked room. The following object were found in the room with them: some water, a table, a dog, a chair, and a broken glass. How did John and Mary die?

This riddle illustrates many principles underlying the creative process. To solve the riddle, we must first define the problem by establishing the facts as we know them. John and Mary are dead. They have been found in a locked room with some objects. Our task is to determine how the deaths occurred. That seems straightforward enough.

As you begin tj analyze the problem, pay careful attention to the components that you can observe. Do any solutions jump out? Probably not, which means we must approach the problem from another angle.

One important aspect of creative problem solving is careful scrutiny of inferences and assumptions. Have you drawn any inferences that will either help you solve the problem or-perhaps –just get in your way? Consider these assumptions:

-John and Mary died in the room.

-The object – or some of the objects – are involved in their deaths.

-Because the room was locked, the possible causes of their deaths must be limited.

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Theme 11: Psychodiagnostic and personality assessment

Content

1.Definition ofPsychodiagnostics

2.The psychodiagnostic instruments 3.Types of Personality Assessment

4.Potential Problems with Personality Testing

1)Psychodiagnistics - a branch of psychology concerned with the use of tests in the evaluation of personality and the determination of factors underlying human behavior the study and evaluation of character or personality in terms of behavioral and anatomical traits, as gesture, posture and physiognomy. Psychodiagnostics, explores and develops new methods of psychological testing to measure and understand individual differences in cognition, values, and personality.

2)The psychodiagnostic instruments, developed, adapted and standardized by the sector are designed to measure a wide specter of psychological processes and qualities: intellectual abilities, cognitive functioning, certain professional capacities and abilities, standard personal traits, psychopathological syndromes etc.

Personality is something that we informally assess and describe every day. When we talk about ourselves and others, we frequently refer to different characteristics of an individual's personality. Psychologists do much the same thing when they assess personality, but on a much more systematic and scientific level.

Personality testing refers to techniques that are used to accurately and consistently measure personality.

How are personality tests used?

•For assessing theories

•To look at changes in personality

•To evaluate the effectiveness of therapy •Diagnosing psychological problems •Screening job candidates

3)Types of Personality Assessment

There are two basic types of personality tests: self-report inventories and projective tests.

•Self-report inventories involve having test-takers read questions and then rate how well the question or statement applies to them. One of the most common self-report inventories is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, or MMPI.

•Projective tests involve presenting the test-taker with a vague scene, object, or scenario and then asking them to give their interpretation of the test item. One well-known example of a projective test is the Rorschach Inkblot Test.

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4) Potential Problems with Personality Testing

Each of these approaches has its own unique set of strengths, weaknesses, and limitations. The greatest benefit of self-report inventories is that they can be standardized and use established norms. They are also relatively easy to administer and have much higher reliability and validity than projective tests.

One of the biggest disadvantages of self-report inventories is that it is possible for people to engage in deception when answering questions. Even though techniques can be used to detect deception, people can still successfully provide false answers often in an effort to "fake good" or appear more socially acceptable and desirable.

Another potential problem is that people are not always good at accurately describing their own behavior. People tend to overestimate certain tendencies (especially ones that are viewed as socially desirable) while underestimating other characteristics. This can have a serious impact on the accuracy of a personality test.

Self-report personality tests can also be quite long, in some cases taking several hours to complete. Not surprisingly, respondents can quickly become bored and frustrated. When this happens, test-takers will often answer questions as quickly as possible, often without even reading the test items.

Projective tests are most often used in psychotherapy settings and allow therapists to quickly gather a great deal of information about a client. For example, a therapist can look not only at the client's response to a particular test item; they can also take into account other qualitative information such as the client's tone of voice and body language. All of this can be explored in greater depth as the client progresses though therapy sessions.

However, projective tests also have a number of disadvantages and limitations. The first problem lies in the interpretation of the responses. Scoring test items is highly subjective and different raters might provide entirely different viewpoints of the responses.

These tests also tend to lack both reliability and validity. Remember, reliability refers to the consistency of a test while validity involves whether the test is really measuring what it claims to measure.

Personality Testing: Scientific versus Entertaining

As you start looking at all of the different personality assessments that are available, you will probably notice one thing quite quickly: there are a lot of "informal" tests out there! Just a simple online search will turn up an enormous range of quizzes and tests designed to tell you something about your personality. Let's make one thing clear – the vast majority of these quizzes that you'll encounter online are just for fun. They can be entertaining and they might even give you a little insight into your personality, but they are in no way formal, scientific assessments of personality.

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Literature:

Beaumont, J.G. (1998) Understanding Neuropsychology. Oxford: Blackwell. Bloom, F.E.&Lazerson, A. (1988). Brain, Mind and Behavior 2ndedn. NewYork: W.H. Freeman.

Evans, P. (1989) motivation and Emotion. London: Routledge.

Ray, J. (1989). The Psychology of Fear and Stress 2ndedn.London: Weidenfeld. Green, S. (1993). Principles of Bio-Psychology. London: Erlbaum.

Hayes, N. (1998). Foundations of Psychology 2ndedn. London: Nelson. Kalat, J.W. (1992). Biological Psychology. Pacific Grove: Brooks Cole.

Banyard, P. et.al. (1991). Cognition: Open Learning Units. Leicester: British Psychological Society.

Bruce, V.& Green, P. (1985). Visual Perception: Psychology, Psychology and Ecology. London: Erlbaum.

Garnham, A. & Oakhill, J. (1994). Thinking and Reasoning. Oxford: Blackwell.

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Theme 12: Occupational (Professional) Stress

Content:

1.Stress and Sources of Stress

2.What is the Stress Response

3.Consequences of stress

4.Recommendations

1.Stress and Sources of Stress

Stress is a biological and psychological response experienced on encountering a threat that we feel we do not have the resources to deal with.

A stressor is the stimulus (or threat) that causes stress, e.g. exam, divorce, death of loved one, moving house, loss of job.

Sources of stress:

factors intrinsic to the job [e.g. work overload];

role in organization [e.g. role ambiguity or conflict];

career development [e.g. lack of job security];

work relationships [e.g. poor collegiate support];

and organizational structure/climate [e.g. little involvement in decision making.

Teachers are subject to higher stress levels than other comparable professions and higher than neurotic patients for that matter.

Stress - the experience of unpleasant emotions, such as tension, frustration, anxiety, anger and depression, resulting from work as a teacher.

―…for heuristic purposes we can divide causal factors in teacher stress into three broad areas; factors intrinsic to teaching, cognitive factors affecting the individual vulnerability of teachers and systematic factors operating at the institutional and political level.‖ [Pisantiet.al., 2003].

Sudden and severe stress generally produces Increase in heart rate

Increase in breathing (lungs dilate)

Decrease in digestive activity (don‘t feel hungry)

Liverreleasedglucoseforenergy

2. What is the Stress Response

Firstly, our body judges a situation and decides whether or not it is stressful. This decision is made based on sensory input and processing (i.e. the things we see and hear in the situation) and also on stored memories (i.e. what happened the last time we were in a similar situation).

If the situation is judged as being stressful, the HYPOTHALAMUS (at the base of the brain) is activated.

The hypothalamus in the brain is in charge of the stress response. When a stress response is triggered, it sends signals to two other structures: the pituitary gland, and the adrenal medulla.

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These short term responses are produced by The Fight or Flight Response via the Sympathomedullary Pathway (SAM). Long term stress is regulated by the Hypothalamic Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) system.

The Hypothalamic Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) System

The stressor activates the Hypothalamic Pituitary Axis The hypothalamus stimulates the pituitary gland

The pituitary gland secretes adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) ACTH stimulates the adrenal glands to produce the hormone corticosteroid

o Cortisol enables the body to maintain steady supplies of blood sugar

oAdequate and steady blood sugar levels help person to cope with prolonged stressor, and helps the body to return to normal

The adrenal cortex releases stress hormones called cortisol. This have a number of functions including releasing stored glucose from the liver (for energy) and controlling swelling after injury. The immune system is suppressed while this happens.

The hypothalamus also activates the adrenal medulla. The adrenal medulla is part of the autonomic nervous system (ANS).

The ANS is the part of the peripheral nervous system that acts as a control system, maintaining homeostasis in the body. These activities are generally performed without conscious control.

The adrenal medulla secretes the hormone adrenaline. This hormone gets the body ready for a fight or flight response. Physiological reaction includes increased heart rate.

Adrenaline lead to the arousal of the sympathetic nervous system and reduced activity in the parasympathetic nervous system.

Adrenaline creates changes in the body such as decreases (in digestion) and increases (sweating, increased pulse and blood pressure).

Once the ‗threat‘ is over the parasympathetic branch takes control and brings the body back into a balanced state.

No ill effects are experienced from the short-term response to stress and it further has survival value in an evolutionary context.

CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS

Burnout - the syndrome of cynicism and emotional exhaustion in response to chronic stress, linked to teacher attrition.

“These techniques have a number of inherent limitations; for instance, the fear that reports of finding the job highly stressful or of finding, say, pupil misbehaviour a major source of stress might be indicative of the respondent’s incompetence as a teacher.” [Borg,1990].

BUFFERS & COPING RESOURCES

“A sense of agency, a strong support group (including a competent and caring leadership team), pride in achievements and competence in areas of personal importance are all major protective factors….” [Howard & Johnston, 2004].

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“Coping refers to both overt and covert behaviours that are taken to reduce or eliminate psychological distress or stressful conditions.” [Fleishman,1984].

Meditation Techniques

The essence of meditation is to quiet your thoughts by focusing completely on just one thing.

Unlike hypnosis, which is more of a passive experience, meditation is an active process which seeks to exclude outside thoughts by concentrating all mental faculties on the subject of meditation.

Keep your body relaxed. It should be in a position that you can comfortably sustain for a period of time (20 - 30 minutes is ideal).

Breathing

Focus your attention on your breathing.

Concentrate on breaths in and out. Count your breaths using the numbers 0 to 9.

Visualize images of the numbers changing with each breath.

Alternatively, visualize health and relaxation flowing into your body when you inhale, and stress or pain flowing out when you exhale.

Focusing on an object

Completely focus attention on examination of an object.

Look at it in immense detail for the entire meditation. Examine the shape, color differences, texture, temperature and movement of the object.

Objects often used are flowers, or flowing designs. However you can use other objects equally effectively (e.g. alarm clocks, desk lamps, or even coffee mugs!)

Focused on a sound

Some people like to focus on sounds. The classic example is the Sanskrit word 'Om', meaning 'perfection'.

Imagery

Create a mental image of a pleasant and relaxing place in your mind. Involve all your senses in the imagery: see the place, hear the sounds, smell the aromas, feel the temperature and the movement of the wind. Enjoy the location in your mind.

Practical Task

Exercise 1 Questions theme Stress

1.Discuss possible ways in which the term ―stress‖ can be defined? How can stress be measured?

2.Describe some of the main factors that are thought to be responsible for increasing an individual‘s level of stress. How do these factors cause stress?

3.Describe some of the most important ways in which people try to cope with stress. How effective are these?

4.It has sometimes been argued that stress help to cause various physical illness. Discuss whether the relevant evidence provides convincing support for this argument.

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5. Suppose that a friend told you that he\she was suffering from a high level of stress. What advice would you give to your friend in order to allow him\her to reduce their stress?

Literature:

Beaumont, J.G. (1998) Understanding Neuropsychology. Oxford: Blackwell. Bloom, F.E.&Lazerson, A. (1988). Brain, Mind and Behavior 2ndedn. NewYork: W.H. Freeman.

Evans, P. (1989) motivation and Emotion. London: Routledge.

Ray, J. (1989). The Psychology of Fear and Stress 2ndedn.London: Weidenfeld. Green, S. (1993). Principles of Bio-Psychology. London: Erlbaum

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Theme 13: Psychologically-pedagogical communication

Content

1.Definition of communication.

2.The Communication Process.

3.Barriers to Communication.

4.Active Listening.

5.Verbal and non-verbal communication.

1.Communication is the exchange and flow of information and ideas from one person to another; it involves a sender transmitting an idea, information, or feeling to a receiver (U.S. Army, 1983).

The process of successfully transferring information from one entity to another Exchange of thoughts, messages or information by speech, signals, writing or behaviour

The art and techniqueof using verbal or non verbal strategies effectively to impart information or ideas.

Effective communication occurs only if the receiver understands the exact information or idea that the sender intended to transmit. Many of the problems that occur in an organization are (Mistry, Jaggers, Lodge, Alton, Mericle, Frush, Meliones, 2008):

the direct result of people failing to communicate

processes that leads to confusion and can cause good plans to fail

2.The Communication Process

Communicating with others involves three primary steps:

Thought: First, information exists in the mind of the sender. This can be a concept, idea, information, or feelings.

Encoding: Next, a message is sent to a receiver in words or other symbols.

Decoding: Lastly, the receiver translates the words or symbols into a concept or information that he or she can understand.

3. Barriers to Communication

Culture, background, and bias —We allow our past experiences to change the meaning of the message. Our culture, background, and bias can be good as they allow us to use our past experiences to understand something new, it is when they change the meaning of the message that they interfere with the communication process.

Noise — Equipment or environmental noise impedes clear communication. The sender and the receiver must both be able to concentrate on the messages being sent to each other.

Ourselves — Focusing on ourselves, rather than the other person can lead to confusion and conflict. The ―Me Generation‖ must be tossed aside for effective communication to occur. Some of the factors that cause this are defensiveness (we feel someone is attacking us), superiority (we feel we know more that the other), and ego (we feel we are the center of the activity).

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Perception —If we feel the person is talking too fast, not fluently, does not articulate clearly, etc., we may dismiss the person. Also our preconceived attitudes affect our ability to listen. We may listen uncritically to persons of high status and dismiss those of low status.

Message — Distractions happen when we focus on the facts rather than the idea being communicated. Our educational institutions reinforce this with tests and questions. Semantic distractions occur when a word is used differently than you prefer. For example, the word chairman instead of chairperson, may cause you to focus on the word rather than the message.

Environmental — Bright lights, an attractive person, unusual sights, or any other stimulus provides a potential distraction.

Smothering —We take it for granted that the impulse to send useful information is automatic. Not true! Too often we believe that certain information has no value to others or they are already aware of the facts.

Stress — People do not see things the same way when under stress. What we see and believe at a given moment is influenced by our psychological frames of references — our beliefs, values, knowledge, experiences, and goals.

4.Active Listening

Spend more time listening than talking.

Do not finish the sentences of others.

Do not answer questions with questions.

Are aware of biases. We all have them. We need to control them.

Never daydreams or become preoccupied with their own thoughts when others talk.

Let the other speakers talk. Do not dominate the conversations.

Plan responses after the others have finished speaking, NOT while they are speaking.

Provide feedback, but do not interrupt incessantly.

Analyze by looking at all the relevant factors and asking open-ended questions. Walkothersthroughbysummarizing.

Keep conversations on what others say, NOT on what interests them.

Take brief notes. This forces them to concentrate on what is being said.

5.Verbal and non-verbal communication

55% fromthevisualcomponent

38% fromtheauditorycomponent

7% fromlanguage

Verbal communication

Verbal communication can be classified by a message‘s intent.

1.Informative Communication;

2.Persuasive Communication;

3.Ceremonial Communication.

Persuasive communication--for instance, a political campaign speech or a teenager seeking her parents‘ permission for an activity--attempts to convince a person to change his point of view. Ronnie Nijmeh, President of the personal

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