CPY103 LECTURE NOTES 2.docx - 1 UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI...

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UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY
CPY 103 HISTORY AND SYSTEMS OF PSYCHOLOGY NOTES
LECTURE 2
PETER KIRAGU NDERO
Last few weeks we have been focusing on the some of the key terms in use in this
unit. And some of those terms include the following:-
 Psychology is the study of human behavior and mental processes. Behavior
is anything a human being does: covert and overt, conscious and
unconscious, normal and abnormal
 A system is a well-structured set of ideas, assumptions, concepts and
interpretive tendencies which serve to structure data in an area of science. A
system is an aggregate of interrelated and interconnected tendencies which
form a whole.
 A school is a loosely organized group of researchers or scholars whose
approach to an area of science is structured around one theory; usually the
theory of one person (the founder).
Now let us explore a few more systems and schools of thought in Psychology.
THE BEHAVIOURAL PSSYCHOLOGY SYSTEM OF THOUGHT
The main assumptions in the behavioral school of thought in psychology are as
follows:-
 Psychology as a science, should have its researches supported by
empirical data that are collected through methodological and controlled
observation and measurement of behavior.
 All concepts in psychology should be operationalized (defined in
measurable terms). The dictionary of psychology is attributed to them just
as the dominant application of the scientific method in psychology.
 Behaviorist approach is interested in observable behavior which is in
contrast to internal phenomena like thinking and emotion, as they are not
observable and cannot be measured.

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 The behaviorists noted that an individual’s environment determines their
behavior and that at infancy our mind is like a blank slate (tabula rasa).
 All behavior is learnt and can be unlearnt
 It further states that due to the similarities in how humans and animals
learn, the same researches can be carried out on humans and animals and
that behavior can be reduced to a stimulus – response association. Human
beings are not angels in fact they are closer to animals like frogs and fish.
 Thus behaviorists have developed elaborate ways of learning and
unlearning behavior. This whole area that has attracted hundreds of
psychologists is called behavior modification.
Behavior modification is divided into three parts:-
 Classical conditioning
 Operant conditioning
 Vicarious conditioning
1. Classical conditioning
Classical conditioning (also known as Pavlovian conditioning) is learning through
association and was discovered by Ivan Pavlov , a Russian physiologist. In simple
terms, two stimuli are linked together to produce a new learned response in a
person or animal. John Watson proposed that the process of classical conditioning
(based on Pavlov’s observations ) was able to explain all aspects of human
psychology.