Lecture notes for History and application of psychology at the University of Groningen - 2015/2016

Lecture 1: Introduction to the History of Psychology

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin was not a psychologist, but rather a naturalist or biologist. He is fundamental for introducing a new way of looking at nature and human beings. He revolutionised our perspectives on the world, introducing a naturalistic way of looking at the natural world. There were no miracles - everything, humans included, had a natural cause. Thus, the mind and behaviour should be explainable by natural causes. In Darwin's day, this was rather controversial, and it made atheism a valid belief.

Darwin was fascinated with variation and extinction within species. He studied fossils and eventually came up with the theory of evolution and natural selection. This was opposed by religious people. For one, Darwin's theories went against what was written in the Bible. However, there were also many philosophical arguments.
 

The Religious View

William Paley's Argument from Design is one of the most well-known of these arguments. It goes like this: Suppose you don't know what a clock is, and you wonder to yourself, where does it come from? You open it up and realise that all of the parts of the clock are perfectly designed for the purpose of telling time. This perfection shows that the clock has been designed, and the same goes for the perfection within plants and animals. According to Paley's theory, plants and animals must have come from an intelligent designer, or God. As it turns out, though, the organs of many species are not very well designed. They have flaws that would not have resulted from being constructed from scratch.

Another argument for the religious argument is that the world was actually rather young. James Usher calculated the age of the Earth back to 4004 BC, based on the genealogy of Jesus Christ. This theory opposed Darwin's evolutionary theory because evolution takes time. The proposed age of the Earth was not long enough to support Darwin's theory.

However, more and more evidence against the religious view came to light, including fossils and variation, and naturalistic theories were become more popular.

The Naturalistic View
 

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck theorised that individuals of a species acquire characteristics over life. For example, giraffes have very long necks. This could have occurred due to the giraffes reaching for food, stretching its neck. According to Lamarck's theory, the offspring's neck would be a little bit longer, and the pattern would continue. Unfortunately, there are many physical characteristics that do not agree with this theory. Lamarck must, therefore, be wrong.

Charles Lyell advocated the theory of gradualism, or that the Earth is shaped by gradual processes, rather than natural catastrophes. Lyell thought that the world was at least 100 million years old, much older than Usher's calculations. In actuality, the Earth is 4.5 billion years old, enough time to support Darwin's theories.

One economist, Thomas Malthus, argued that there is always a shortage of food in the world because people reproduce exponentially, while food production can only increase linearly. This was in line with Darwin's theory of natural selection, as all species would have to compete for resources, including food; existence is a constant struggle. Thus, the best-adapted individuals will always survive, reproduce, and pass on their traits.

Darwin's Theory of Evolution

Darwin's theory of Evolution consists of three elements:

• Variation: there is always variation between individuals of a species.

• Selection: there is always struggle for survival, thus the most fit to survive do, while the weak die.

• Heredity: the traits that make an individual adaptive to the environment are passed on to their offspring.

Darwin sat on this idea for 20 years before publishing it. He published The Origin of the Species, in which he outlines his evolutionary theory. Because of the controversy attached to the topic, Darwin did not mention humans much in his publication, except for two sentences, where he proposed that human nature is a result of evolution.

Darwin's Biological Sketch of an Infant is a compilation of Darwin's observations of his first son, William. He described at which age emotions such as anger, fear, and affection occurred as well as association of ideas, moral sense, pleasurable sensations, unconsciousness, shyness, and means of communication. When they were published, his observations were new in the academic community, and Darwin's work left a legacy that still influences psychology today.

Francis Galton

Francis Galton, related to Darwin, was a selfish, arrogant genius. While Darwin was a meticulous observer, he did not have a brilliant mind. Galton, on the other hand, would excel at anything he was interested in. He was fascinated by individual differences in intellectual abilities and how can they be measured. Galton’s paper on eugenics describes what he was most passionate about using science to improve the quality of human race proposing that the “useful classes” should have more children than the useless people. The idea was and still is controversial.

Galton ran various studies by conducting surveys, and explored topics like whether prayer works, or where the most beautiful women lived. He was highly fascinated with individual differences and intelligence, which had to do with several biographical factors. At a young age, Galton was a recognised genius, and he started to see himself as a genius as well. However, he did not do very well in university, achieving average scores on a mathematics exam. He quit his studies, disappointed in his own failures, concluding that hard work is not enough to succeed in intellectual pursuits. This pushed Galton towards his strong hereditary perspective on individual differences. Reading Darwin's theory on evolution, Galton realised that this evolution, including intellectual abilities, were relevant to humans, and that these differences were likely related to heredity.

The 'Social Question' and Eugenics
 

Galton's work was highly related to the 'social question,' or why there was so much poverty, despite so much progress in society, and what could be done about it?

Galton's answer was that poverty was the result of genetic inferiority. He then reasoned a solution: eugenics.

Eugenics is artificial selection, in order to improve the gene pool of the race; in other words, selective breeding. There are two types of eugenics:

• Positive eugenics: encouraging people with desirable traits to procreate. Galton noticed that people in higher classes had fewer children and believed that to be a problem

• Negative eugenics: couples that wanted to procreate should take a eugenics exam to prove they were qualified to procreate. Another form of negative eugenics is sterilisation.

Galton's Work

Galton then began to study whether genius runs in families. He found that genius is normally distributed, and that it runs in families, giving evidence that intelligence is heritable. Naturally, not everyone agree with Galton. Swiss botanist, Alphonse de Candolle, came to another conclusion, that genius was related to environment. This encouraged Galton to come up with alternative methods of assessing genius, including questionnaires and twin studies. Galton also developed tests for intelligence, thinking, for example, that intelligence was related to head size of visual acuity.

Galton is also a pioneer of statistics. He is credited with the idea of correlation and other statistical instruments, which he developed during his work on eugenics. Being a polymath, Galton's innovations include a long list of items, including, but not limited to weather maps, finger prints, composite photography, free association, etc.

Lecture 2: What is applied Psychologie?

Applied psychology refers to applying psychological theories to other fields of interest. Some examples of applied psychology include sports psychology, exercise psychology, educational psychologists, or clinical psychologists. Each of these perspectives provides information about behaviour, and by combining them, we are able to uncover many things about how the human brain and mind work.
 

What is (applied) psychology?

Psychology branches out far beyond the clinical realm. In fact, what people often forget is that psychologists are scientists. Psychology, therefore, is the study of behaviour, the mechanisms behind it, and, if necessary, how to change it. This includes long-term and short-term behaviours, as well as the physiology behind them, particularly the physiology of the brain.
 

Psychologists form theories, or simplified models for the way things work, in order to try and explain human behaviours. The ultimate goal of psychology is to find useful applications for these theories, and continually refine these theories through empirical experimentation and observation. Applied psychology is the use of different perspectives to solve problems in the human world and maximise human potential. This lecture will focus on the following 4 perspectives on psychology: biological, behaviourist, cognitivist, and sociocultural.

The Biological Perspective

The biological perspective focuses on how biological elements, such as genes, the nervous system, and the endocrine system affect our behaviour. According to the biological perspective, what we experience and how we behave a result of chemical and electrical activities taking place within and between nerve cells.
 

One relevant example with regard to the biological perspective is schizophrenia, a disabling disease that has a very strong biological component. While the actual mechanism by which schizophrenia works is quite complicated, one early hypothesis was that there was too much dopamine in schizophrenic brains. This hypothesis was further confirmed by studies that revealed a high correlation between higher brain dopamine levels and symptoms of schizophrenia. From the biological perspective, this example allows us to look at the brain on two levels: On one hand, we examine the role of neurotransmitters (dopamine,) while on the other hand, we look at the structure and function of the brain itself. By looking at these factors, we may be able to explain schizophrenia.
 

Behaviourism

Behaviourism is another perspective in applied psychology that focuses on past learning and the stimuli and behavioural consequences that exist in the current environment. This includes classical and operant conditioning, two methods of conditioning previously discussed in other courses. A famous example discussed in many lectures is the case of Little Albert, who was conditioned to fear furry objects as an infant.

A more recent application of behaviourism is aversive conditioning. One example is pairing the smell of cigarettes with rotten fish or eggs during sleep. In this example, psychological theories about sleep were applied to a health concern, and it was found that participants who received this treatment during non-REM sleep were more willing to smoke less when they woke up.

Cognitivism

Cognitivism focuses on thought, anticipations, planning, perception and memory processes. One example has to do with self control, or the capacity for altering one’s own responses, to bring them into line with standards and to support the pursuit of long term goals. Using cognitivism and examining the background thoughts that go on when someone is trying to control him of herself is particularly useful in an educational setting, as psychological theory can be applied to teaching methods that help students develop self-control and impulse control.

The Sociocultural Perspective

The sociocultural perspective focuses on the social environment and cultural norms and values. This includes influences form the media, ideas taught in school, as well as cultural practices that vary between populations of people.

Major Depression

Major depression is one of the largest causes of disability, world wide. Approximately 20% of the population will experience depression at some point in their lives, and it is not uncommon to have an acquaintance that has suffered from this condition. In order to diagnose depression, the following symptoms must be present for a period of at least two weeks:
 

• Sadness

• Loss of pleasure or interest in usual activities

• Change in appetite (increase/decrease)

• Fatigue

• Feelings of guilt, self-blame

• Decreased ability to concentrate

Major depression is an excellent example of how we can use different perspectives to analyse a problem:

On the biological level, studies have shown that major depression is associated with an imbalance in serotonin levels. Thus, pharmacological interventions focus on blocking serotonin reuptake, in order to keep a higher level of serotonin available in the brain.

On the behavioural level, therapists have developed a process by which depression can be treated, namely, behavioural activation. This model for the treatment of depression is unlike other conventional models, as it places a significant importance on context and individual, internal dysfunction. Behavioural activation theory does not discount biological or genetic factors related to depression, but suggests that an emphasis placed solely or largely on biology ignores many important factors of consideration, such as contextual factors. It works by establishing new routines and encouraging clients to increase activities that will get them out of their depressive moods.

Cognitivism assumes that depression is a result of maladaptive thinking and negative appraisals. Following this model, cognitivism posits that in order to move away from being depressed, clients would simply have to change their ways of thinking. Thus, cognitive behavioural therapy, one very common course of treatment for many psychological disorders, including depression, combines elements of behaviourism and cognitivism to for targeted interventions
 

From a sociocultural context, depression is directly affected by our social nature. There is a basic human need for social belonging, and social isolation has previously been found to contribute to depression. Studies also show that depressed clients with a poor social support network were more likely to drop out of treatment or have a poor response to treatment than clients who have a solid support network. With regard to culture, several cultures actually stigmatise depression, causing sufferers to avoid seeking treatment or remain secretive about receiving treatment.

In summary, applied psychology involves applying many different perspectives of psychological theories to various fields of study.  

Lecture 3: Motivation

Motivation

Motivation refers to the reasoning behind behaviours. There are different kinds of motivation

External motivation is essentially operant conditioning. The behaviour is motivated by factors that come from your environment and surroundings, such as money, respect and status, rewards, and praise. External motivation is always based on environmental consequences.

Intrinsic motivation drives behaviours for the sake of the behaviour itself. For example, you might take a course because you just enjoy the topic, or you might train at the gym because it's fun. This kind of motivation is often more persistent and is associated with better performance in a task. An important example of intrinsic motivation is the organismic approach, which states that humans are always changing and improving because we are inherently active and want to grow and become more complex.

Self-Determination Theory

Self-determination theory is based on the idea that our behaviours satisfy our basic needs. Working towards the satisfaction of these needs increases our internal motivation, and in turn, increases our well-being and personal growth. There are three basic needs to be satisfied:

Competence refers to our need to be effective in interactions with our environment. This usually generates a desire to challenge ourselves and exercise, improve, and demonstrate our abilities.

Autonomy refers to our need to have the freedom to choose. This choice applies to the initiation and regulation of our behaviour.

Relatedness is the need to form emotional bonds and attachments with others. Humans typically have a need to feel warmth and interpersonal connection. Relatedness often has a background influence on intrinsic motivation. A social context, where this relatedness need is satisfied, provides the opportunity to express competence and autonomy, increasing internal motivation in the process.

Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivation

There are some key advantages and disadvantages to both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

Extrinsic motivation, while often faster in achieving behavioural change than intrinsic motivation, is often not lasting. Studies have found extrinsic motivation to decrease creativity and learning, in addition to distracting attention through punishment/reward systems. Also, when the reward or punishment is removed, overall motivation and performance decrease.

Internal motivation, on the other hand, is self-sustaining, enhances creativity and learning, and focuses on the subject, instead of reward and punishment. This promotes personal growth and encourages individuals to challenge themselves and become better. The drawback of internal motivation is, however, that is takes a longer time to implement a behavioural change through it than through external motivation.

It is important to keep in mind that sometimes, there are hidden costs to rewards. For example if a person enters an activity out of intrinsic motivation and is then offered some form of external motivation, their performance and overall motivation tend to decrease. One study found, for example, that when given toys, children would play for the sake of playing; however when they were given treats for time spent playing, they played less, on average. Thus, extrinsic rewards can undermine intrinsic motivation because they lose a sense of autonomy. The focus shifts from the subject to the reward.

Cognitive Evaluation Theory

If you want to increase someone's intrinsic motivation, it follows that the focus should be put on raising his or her sense of responsibility and autonomy. It's also important to encourage their sense of competence. This can be done by giving people information or feedback about their activities. For example, if someone achieved a new fitness goal, it is much more useful to say something like 'that must be because of all the hard work you've been doing' instead of just giving them a reward.

Self-Determination Theory

Self-determination theory (SDT) is a theory of personality development and self-motivated behavioural change, developed out of testing the effects of rewards, praise, or directives on intrinsic motivation. Researchers began to investigate external motivation further, eventually classifying 4 different types of extrinsic motivation
 

• External: most controlled and least self-determined

• Introjected: regulation is within the person but is a relatively controlled form of internalized extrinsic motivation.

• Identified: the greater feeling of freedom because the behavior is more compatible with their personal goals and values

• Integrated: fullest type of internalization, people have a full sense that the behavior is part of who they are.

Of special interest is how people incorporate extrinsic motivations and manage to self-regulate their behaviors in order to autonomously engage in daily actions. All the behaviors range from heteronomy/external regulation to autonomy/true self-regulation. It is believed that autonomous self-regulation is more stable and has a more positive effect than controlled regulation. Parents, teachers, and clinicians can either encourage or avert self-motivation for new behaviors.

The final step in becoming fully self-determined is to internalise motivation. Internalisation is ' the process through which an individual transforms a formally externally prescribed way of behaving or valuing into an internal one' (Reeve, 2001, p.291). Internalisation is promoted by satisfying basic needs discussed earlier in the lecture.

According to SDT, changing behaviour involves satisfying the needs int he social context. This means:

Involvement: Satisfying the relational need by being interested and involved in the client's life and problems.

Structure: Establishing a routine and clear expectations of the client and counsellor

Autonomy support: Being a guide but not a commander. The counsellor should be available to answer questions and think along with the client without taking control of the situation.

Motivational Interviewing

According to Miller and Rollnick (2002) Motivational Interviewing is a client-centered method for enhancing intrinsic motivation by recognizing and resolving ambivalence. Clients often begin therapy with conflicting motivations. They often want to change, but also see the benefits and disadvantages associated with changing or staying the same. The counselor’s role in this process is to help the client locate and define the ambivalence, provide support, offer some alternatives, and motivate the client to change. Counselors should not try to directly persuade the client to change because doing so would be taking one side of the client's own internal decisional conflict, which may cause the client to rebel and argue against change. There are four general principles of motivational interviewing described by Miller and Rollnick (2002):

1.The expression of empathy

Expression of the empathy by the counselor is the most important feature of the method and predictor of the treatment success. Motivational interviewing draws on the ideas of Rogers, that in order to change, the client must feel personally accepted and valued, a sense that is fostered by a counselor's expression of empathy.

In this case, it is important to use reflective listening phrases:
 

• “It sounds like….”

• “What I hear you saying…”

• “I get the sense that….”

2. The development of discrepancy

Development of discrepancy involves discussing positive and negative sides of client’s current behavior and of changes to current behavior in order to make the gap between the client’s current behavior and his wider goals and values more obvious to him.

3. Rolling with resistance

Rolling with resistance is the process of not engaging in conflict because often times, pushing the client to make a change will make him exhibit even greater resistance. Counselors are trained to accept ambivalence and resistance as normal. An important part of motivational interviewing is proposing alternatives in a neutral manner, provoking change talks, statements of recognition that clients make when he/she expresses the need or intention to change, concern for his/her current position, or the belief that change is possible.

4. Support for self-efficacy

In order to change, the client must believe that he/she is capable of making a change.

In order to promote change talk, it is important to recognise the advantages and disadvantages of both changing and not changing. Additionally, it is important to express and encourage intention and optimism about change, as the client often struggles with whether or not he or she wants to change. By recognising and discussing these points, the counsellor does not take away the client's choice to change, but rather thinks along and guides the client to his or her own conclusion.

Some questions that might promote change talk include:

• “What makes you think you need to change?”

• “What will happen if you don’t change?”

• “What would your life be like 3 years from now if you changed your [insert risky/problem behavior]?”

Lecture 4: Early history of Psychology

In the 19th century, scientists took a particular interest in reaction times. The first scientist to become interested in reaction times were astronomers, because they wanted to know about the transit times of celestial objects. What they noticed was that different astronomers observed different transit times, which baffled them and prompted further research.

If was eventually realised that there were differences in personal reaction times. Helmholz had a theory that these reaction times differed because of the speed with which signals travelled along the peripheral nerves. In the 19th century, it was widely believed that the travel speed along the peripheral nerve was negligibly fast; however Helmholz's theory went against this very belief. Therefore, he began conduction physiological experiments to test his theory.

Wundt, then a student of Helmholz, believed that this theory could be applied to nerves of the central nervous system as well, that signals travelling within the brain also had a certain speed.

The Subtraction Method

A Dutch ophthalmologist, Franciscus Donders, was also interested in reaction time, and discovered a way to measure the speed of central processes in the brain -

Electrodes are attached to both feet of human subjects, and a small current is given through these electrodes to one of the subject's feet. The subjects were to raise a hand to indicate which side was stimulated. The subjects in the control group knew beforehand, on which side to expect the shock, while the subjects in the experimental group did not. The participants in the experimental condition, who had slightly slower reaction times, would have to do some mental processing to decide which hand to raise, and the time difference between the experimental and control groups is, according to Donders, the time necessary for a mental process. This was called the Subtraction Method. This method is still used today, particularly in brain imaging.

The Birth of Psychology

Wundt read about Donders's work and saw an opportunity to apply this to psychology. This would be the first way to quantify psychological processes and study them empirically. Before having done any laboratory studies, Wundt wrote a book on his theories, The Principles of Physiological Psychology, where he described a new domain of science, psychology. To Wundt, psychology was a sub-discipline of philosophy, focusing on introspection and physiology.

One year later, Wundt got a position at the University of Leipzig, and began teaching. Later, in 1879, he established the first psychological laboratory. He also founded a journal where his results could be published.

In this laboratory, experiments in mental chronometry, the use of response time in perceptual-motor tasks to infer the content, duration, and temporal sequencing of cognitive operations, were carried out. One example is Cattell's experiment, described in the required reading.

The Observer

For Wundt's experiments to work, not only did the laboratory instruments need to be calibrated; the observers also needed to be 'calibrated' or trained in what they should be looking for. Mental calibration can be established by establishing and maintaining a routine, for example, drinking the same amount of coffee every day.

As psychology spread, it became evident that individual differences between observers manifested themselves in the results of the studies conducted. There was a so-called paradox of precision: because of the precision of the measurements, the differences between laboratories were more evident.

Witmer's Clinic and Method

Lightner Witmer was one of the founding fathers of clinical psychology. Under Wundt, he established a clinical psychology lab at in Pennsylvania, for people who needed psychological help. This included children with learning or behavioural problems, but also students who wanted to learn. Witmer believed in using a team approach, gaining perspectives from various sources - psychologists, doctors, teachers, etc.

Witmer's experimental method focused on individual cases, arguing that such results were just as relevant to science as laboratory experiments. Unfortunately, because Witmer stood between academic psychologists and clinical psychologists, his work was not always well received. Academic psychologists argued that applied psychology was not as important and that it could damage the reputation of psychology as a discipline, while clinicians argued that clinical work is medical work and should require medical training.

In the 1920's, clinical psychology, as defined by Witmer, fizzled out. The role of clinical psychologists shifted to one of child guidance. Clinical psychologists were then made to be assistants to psychiatrists, and all clinical psychologists were allowed to do were administer tests. This changed because of the Second World War, which can be considered a huge breakthrough in psychology. Because there were so many soldiers who needed psychological treatment, clinical psychologists had to relieve the workload of psychiatrists, taking on further tasks than test administration. This was meant to be a temporary measure, but was actually the birth of the 'New Era' of clinical psychology, where clinical psychologists held a similar role to the role they have today.  

Lecture 5 Topic: Binet and Gilbreth, Suggestion and Efficiency

History of Suggestion

Hysteria was once regarded as a common condition that does not exist today. The Greeks believed that hysteria had to do with the womb migrating throughout the body, and that hysteria was primarily prevalent in women. Prominent French neurologist, Jean-Martin Charcot thought that hysteria was caused by a neurological defect - a lesion in the brain that also made people susceptible to hypnosis.
 

Other French psychologists, however, believed that hypnosis was a result of suggestion. One day, Alfred Binet, a wealthy man who first studied law and taught himself about psychology, visited Charcot in search of a voluntary research assistantship. Binet worked with Féré on a hypothesis that hypnosis was linked to hysteria. Binet devised a series of experiments with magnets; first, he would hypnotise the patient and try to manipulate the symptoms of hysteria by manipulating a magnet. These experiments attained incredible results; the mood and physical state of (a single) hypnotised patient could be manipulated by the movement of a magnet.
 

Later, psychologist Delbeuf criticised the study, stating that the sample size was much too small and pointing out several flaws in the methodology, such as talking about the hypothesis of the study in front of the participant, discussing expectations of the study, and keeping the magnet in plain sight. Thus, Delbeuf concluded that the results of this study were a result of suggestion. Binet did not entertain this idea ta first but eventually changed his opinion and agreed with Delbeuf's theory.

Natural Suggestion

Natural suggestion can be defined as the form of influence that people exercise on each other in normal situations. For example, in The Natural Suggestibility of Children, children were asked to identify the longest line out of a set of lines. The experimenter then prompted the participants, asking them, 'are you sure that's the correct line?' It was found that these children were very likely to change their mind at the experimenter's prompting.

Read the article The Natural Suggestibility of Children (required reading) for further information

Gilbreth and Efficiency

Lillian Moller Gilbreth was a prominent American psychologist, whose work focused on efficiency. The concept of efficiency was first made important by Frederick Taylor, American mechanical engineer. He started at the bottom of the steel industry and experienced that the workers were not interested in producing as much as possible. Instead, they were interested in putting in the minimal amount of work that would be satisfactory to their bosses. This process was known as soldiering, or not working harder than you actually had to. Taylor thus decided to develop a system that worked against soldiering

According to Taylor, the tasks had to first be divided between workers and management. Work was to be done by individual, rather than teams. Management would be in charge of all the thinking and delegation of work. They would then set standard times for each component of a job and these times would serve as requirements for each job. Pay was then set to meet these standard times - this would pay a salary that was higher than the employee average.

Unfortunately, in practice, this did not work out well in practice, resulting in resent among employees. Taylor believed that there was one best way to do a task and that this could be scientifically found. Everything could be made efficient and this method of scientific management spread in various industries.

Psychologists were interested because Taylor had forgotten to address the psychological impact of his methods. Hugo Münsterberg, successor of William James at Harvard University, believed that psychology was to be viewed as human engineering. He called this field psychotechnics

Frank Gilbreth, an owner of a brick-laying company, was also fascinated with efficiency. His wife, Lillian, worked in the field of the psychology of management. She believed that 'efficiency, in its fundamentals, has to do with getting work done with the least amount of effort and the greatest amount of satisfaction.” Thus, according to her theories, people needed to be matched to jobs according to skills and personalities in order to reach an optimal level of efficiency.

Lecture 6: The Self

Self Regulation

Self-regulation is a way by which we keep track of and modify our behaviours to achieve a specific goal. However, there are many things that cause us to fail in meeting those goals; procrastination is a key example of self-regulation failure.

One key concept of self-regulation is cognitivism, which deals with what's going on in the 'black box.' It encompasses all of the mental processes that occur between the stimulus and response. If we can identify and change the processes that occur between any given stimulus or response, we can affect our own behaviour and direct them towards goals that we want to achieve.

Another aspect of self-regulation is the social context in which it is most applicable. Social-Cognitive Theory therefore takes cognitivism and places it in a social context. Learning occurs in social environments, where interactions with the environment and other people are monumental to how someone learns. There is a triadic interaction between the environment, the person, and his or her behaviours in that outcomes of actions inform and change the environment and personal factors, which loop back and change the behaviours.
 

Goal Setting

A goal can be defined as 'a cognitive representation of a future that an organism is trying to approach or avoid (Elliot and Niesta, 2009). As such, there are two main types of goals:

Avoidance goals are goals that involve avoiding or eliminating unfavourable outcomes. For example, we try to drive safely in order to avoid hurting someone.
Approach goals are goals that involve reaching or maintaining a desired outcome. For example, maintaining a grade point average or good oral hygiene.

People can pursue goals either consciously or unconsciously. The goals mentioned in the examples above fall under conscious goals. An example of an unconscious or subconscious goal is achieving the 'right' body. Society often indirectly imposes goals on us, such as being thin or muscular, and because of the media and societal expectations, achieving these goals results in social reward.

There exists a goal hierarchy, which functions to specify specific goals that need to be met in order to achieve a greater goal. For example:

• Ideal self (Umbrella goal)

• What do I need to be my ideal self? A degree.

• What do I need to get a degree? Good grades.

• What do I need to get good grades? Consistent study habits.

• etc...

How Does Self-Control/Self Regulation Work?

Self-regulation involves three parts: setting a goal, monitoring your progress, and implementing appropriate changes.

Monitoring involves achieving a level of self-awareness by evaluating yourself and your behvaiours and taking an honest look at where your faults exist. If you cannot track your own progress, it would be very difficult to work towards any goal because you cannot compare your own behaviour to the desired behaviour.

The implementation of appropriate behavioural changes involves a certain level of willpower, and this willpower can be developed over time. Maintaining willpower is like exercising a muscle, and it is a matter of universal limited resources. Studies have found that willpower is stronger in the morning and during earlier tasks; acts of self-regulation cause ego depletion in subsequent tasks requiring willpower. Additionally, self-regulation applied in one domain has been found to negate self-control in another domain. The implementation of behavioural change also involves the cognitive capacity and motivational resources to help in fighting off urges and resisting temptation. Counsellors can help their clients by encouraging them to consider the future consequences of their actions.

Enhancing Self-Regulation

So how can we enhance self-regulation?

• Set SMART goals: Goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, results-focused, and time-bound are more likely to be reached because such goals are easy to monitor.

• Make 'If-then' plans, such as 'If X happens, I will do Y, in order to move closer to goal Z.'

• Keep in mind that behavioural change will feel 'wrong' at first. As mentioned above, implementing behavioural change takes willpower and self-awareness. Often times, one problem is that people forget to act a certain way in situations or miss opportunities to put their new goal behaviour to work. Additionally, they may second-guess their actions in the moment, because resisting temptation is often unpleasant.

Why do these methods, particularly 'if-then' plans, work? They eliminate choice and set up an automated response to particular situations. The beginning of habit formation always requires a lot of mental work and determination; however once these desired actions become routine, they are much easier to maintain.

There are also several means by which you can enhance your willpower:

• As mentioned above, exercising willpower causes ego-depletion in further tasks that require willpower, so it is important to limit the amount of willpower-requiring activities you participate in, at any given time.

• Rest and relaxation - giving yourself a break will keep your energy levels up and increase motivation to continue working towards the selected goal.

• Mindfulness and acceptance - remain aware of your actions and accept the difficulties in getting into a new behavioural routine

• Avoid tempting situations - take control of your environment and avoid situations in which you might be tempted to slip away from your goal. It's much easier to avoid temptation than to overcome it.

Lecture 7: Psychologie and Happiness

In the past, particularly before 1998, psychology was very focused on 'fixing' people. Much of psychology was directed towards treating mental illness and the negative aspects of mental processes. A psychologist in those days would have been more interested in, for example, what makes an individual fail, rather than what would make that individual thrive. In recent years, however, focus has shifted from the positive to the negative, and more and more funding has been allotted to projects that focus on how to maintain or encourage a positive mental state.

Positive psychology, therefore, is the science of applications related to the study of psychological strengths and positive emotions. There are three main dimensions of this field:

Positive subjective states: happiness, joy, pleasure, gratification, etc.

Positive individual traits: optimism, courage, hope, etc.

Positive institutions: healthy families, healthy work environments, civic virtues, etc.

While this field is growing, it should not be treated as more important or an updated version of psychology. After all, 'business as usual' psychology, such as the treatment of depression or learning disabilities is still important. Depression is the leading cause of men and women going on disability and is a huge economic burden, worldwide.

Instead, these 'negative' emotions and dispositions should be viewed as helpful, and should be studied along side, not instead of, positive emotions and mood states. Negative emotions often protect us or tell us that something in our environment is not right. For example, negative emotions allow us to detect threats or caution us against dangerous situations. They can even serve to enhance social relationships and motivation.

On the other hand, positive emotions are not always useful. For example, one study found that positive affirmations often backfire in people with low self-esteem. Furthermore, as discussed in a previous lecture, positive fantasy thinking undermines motivation. Therefore, it is important to consider all aspects of psychology, not just positive or negative, and study them side by side.

Happiness

One of the most-studied topic sin positive psychology is happiness - what makes someone happy?

Happiness can be studied from three different perspectives: Hedonic, Eudaimonic, and Engagement.

The hedonic perspective focuses on subjective well-being, a combination of satisfaction in life, a high positive affect and a low negative affect. This perspective focuses on pleasure and our appreciation of life’s rewards. It involves a comparison of our ideals and future possibilities with our current state. Many studies us a Life Satisfaction Scale to measure study partcipants' and clients' overall subjective well-being.

The eudaimonic perspective focuses on how meaningful one perceives his or her life to be. Included in this perspective are the development and identification of virtues, and using these virtues for the greater good. This aspect can be summed up as such: it is more important for life to feel right than for life to feel good.

The engagement perspective focuses on flow, which can be defined as: Intense experiential involvement in moment-to-moment activity, which can be either physical or mental. Attention is fully invested in the task at hand and the person functions at their fullest capacity.

All three of these perspectives come together to make up what psychologists call authentic happiness. It is an important field of study because, as many studies have found, happy people tend to be more successful in various areas of life. This includes: marriage, friendship, employment, income,, work performance, and having better psychological health.

Chronically happy people also view themselves, their experiences, and other positively, which, in turn, has a positive effect on the people around them. Happy people have also been found to be better at making decisions: They are satisfied with the available options, as well as with 'good enough' solutions. On the contrary, unhappy people tend to agonise over decisions, trying to optimise or find the 'best' solution.

So, what are some strategies to be happy?

Studies have shown that performing acts of kindness is related to happiness. This is because acts of kindness aid in developing positive social relationships, increase charitable feelings, increase positive affect, and increase meaning in someone's life.

Additionally, being optimistic, or always looking at the bright side of things, tends to maintain a level of happiness. While much of optimism is a part of disposition and is not very controllable, there are several techniques that can be used to be more optimistic. One such technique is the Hot Seat Technique:

Construct list of common negative events.

Get a friend to read an event to you.

Identify pessimistic automatic thoughts.

Then: Evaluate evidence for pessimistic thought

Think of alternative explanation.

Put thought in perspective.

By following these steps, one can learn to be more optimistic and have a more positive outlook on life.

Another important aspect of happiness is gratitude. Being grateful for the things you have in life contributes to happiness because grateful people focus on positive consequences. They are more likely to seek social support and less likely to live in denial. In short: when everything in life is like a surprise gift, life is automatically more positive.