Introduction to Psychology: Thought, Language, and Personality

Posted on May 1, 2024 in Psychology and Sociology

Thought

Key Concepts

  • Thought: The mental capacity to order, make sense of, and interpret information.
  • Abstraction: Moving from individual ideas to general concepts.
  • Concept: A general idea encompassing similar individual ideas.
  • Deduction: Reasoning from general truths to specific truths.
  • Induction: Reasoning from specific truths to general truths.
  • Creative Thinking: Proposing novel solutions to problems using imagination and experience.
  • Conflict: A situation with multiple alternatives.

Psychobiology and Cognitive Development

  • Psychobiology: Studying the relationship between brain maturation and knowledge acquisition.
  • Scheme: Internalized mental structures guiding behavior in similar situations.
  • Structure: Organized behaviors characteristic of a specific developmental stage.
  • Stage: A phase of cognitive development common to all humans.
  • Consciousness: Awareness of the external world and oneself.
  • Preconscious: Contents not currently in consciousness but easily retrievable.
  • Unconscious: Repressed impulses, desires, and forgotten events.

Psychoanalytic Concepts

  • Drive: An energetic force seeking satisfaction through an appropriate object.
  • Pleasure Principle: Seeking immediate gratification.
  • Reality Principle: Delaying gratification to meet external demands.

Classifications of Thought

By Authority

  • Rational Thought: Using concepts and logical reasoning.
  • Imaginative Thought: Conjuring images not based in immediate reality.
  • Creative Thought: Combining rationality and imagination to produce novel solutions.

By Level of Abstraction

  • Intuitive or Concrete Thought: Focused on immediate sensory data.
  • Abstract Thought: Establishing relationships between general concepts.

By Elaboration of Responses

  • Reproductive Thought: Updating existing knowledge and strategies.
  • Productive Thought: Generating new and creative solutions.

Creative Thinking and Problem Solving

Perspectives on Creativity

  • Behaviorist View (Watson): Creativity as an update of previously internalized responses.
  • Cognitive View (Weisberg): Creativity as a gradual emergence through attempts to find answers.
  • Psychoanalytic View: Creativity arising from the association of unconscious content with rational thinking.

Convergent vs. Divergent Thinking (Guilford)

  • Convergent Thinking: Using logic and verbal skills to find a single correct answer.
  • Divergent Thinking: Exploring multiple possible answers to a problem.

Problem-Solving Approaches

  • Logic: Identifying hidden relationships between facts.
  • Logic and Chance: Combining logical reasoning with unexpected insights or discoveries.

Phases of Problem Solving (Würzburg School)

  • Preparation: Identifying materials and knowledge.
  • Incubation: Allowing the mind to process information and seek new meanings.
  • Illumination: Sudden understanding of the solution (insight).
  • Evaluation: Checking the correctness of the solution.

Decision-Making and Conflict

Lewin’s Conflict Scenarios

  • Attraction-Attraction: Choosing between two equally attractive options.
  • Attraction-Avoidance: Choosing an option with both positive and negative consequences.
  • Avoidance-Avoidance: Choosing between two undesirable options.
  • Multiple Attraction-Avoidance: Choosing between multiple options with both positive and negative aspects.

Animal Communication vs. Human Speech

Key Differences

  • Innateness: Animal language is often innate, while human language requires learning.
  • Structure: Animal language uses signs, while human language is articulated and symbolic.
  • Function: Animal language triggers concrete reactions, while human language is abstract and versatile.

Chomsky vs. Skinner: Language Acquisition Debate

Skinner’s Behaviorist View

  • Language acquisition through imitation and reinforcement.

Chomsky’s Nativist View

  • Innate language ability (Universal Grammar) underlies language acquisition.
  • Children possess an innate understanding of grammatical rules.

Stages of Language Development

  • 1 Month: Babbling and experimentation with sounds.
  • 3-6 Months: Echolalia (imitating sounds).
  • 4 Months: First words.
  • 18 Months: Two-word phrases.
  • 3 Years: Egocentric speech and questioning.
  • 4 Years: Storytelling and more complex questions.
  • 5 Years: Developing syntax.
  • 6-7 Years: Mastering reading and writing.
  • 7 Years: Near-complete language acquisition.
  • 12 Years: Mastery of abstract language and reasoning.

Adaptive Function of Thought

Piaget’s Mechanisms of Adaptation

  • Assimilation: Integrating new knowledge into existing schemes.
  • Accommodation: Modifying existing schemes or creating new ones to fit new information.

Components of Thought

  • Sub-priorities
  • Objectives
  • Actions

Significance and Action

  • Thought involves assigning meaning to objects through action and interaction.

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

1. Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 Years)

  • Exploring the world through senses and actions.
  • Developing object permanence.

2. Preoperational Stage (2-7 Years)

  • Symbolic play and language development.
  • Egocentric thinking and lack of conservation.

3. Concrete Operational Stage (7-12 Years)

  • Overcoming egocentrism and achieving reversibility.
  • Applying logical rules and organizing information.

4. Formal Operational Stage (12-16 Years)

  • Abstract thinking and hypothetical reasoning.
  • Considering possibilities and using deductive methods.

Piaget vs. Vygotsky: Contrasting Views on Development

Socialization and Learning

  • Piaget emphasized individual exploration, while Vygotsky highlighted the role of social interaction and guided learning.

Language and Thought

  • Piaget viewed language as initially egocentric, while Vygotsky saw it as a social tool that shapes thought.

Stages of Development

  • Piaget proposed fixed stages, while Vygotsky believed development could be accelerated through social interaction.

Freud’s Structural Model of Personality

Id

  • Unconscious instincts and drives (Eros and Thanatos).
  • Governed by the pleasure principle.

Ego

  • Mediates between the id and external reality.
  • Governed by the reality principle.

Superego

  • Internalized moral standards and values.
  • The conscience.

Psychosexual Development

From Id to Ego

  • Early development driven by the pleasure principle.
  • Ego develops through interactions with the external world and parental limitations.

From Ego to Superego

  • Ego controls impulses and adapts to social norms.
  • Superego develops through internalization of parental values and the resolution of the Oedipus/Electra complex.

Oedipus and Electra Complexes

  • Children’s unconscious desires for the opposite-sex parent and rivalry with the same-sex parent.
  • Resolution of these complexes leads to the formation of the superego.

Defense Mechanisms

Definition

  • Unconscious strategies used by the ego to reduce anxiety and protect against unacceptable impulses.

Examples

  • Repression: Blocking unacceptable thoughts and feelings from consciousness.
  • Regression: Returning to earlier developmental behaviors.
  • Fixation: Remaining stuck at a particular developmental stage.
  • Displacement: Redirecting emotions to a safer target.
  • Sublimation: Channeling unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable activities.
  • Projection: Attributing one’s own unacceptable thoughts or feelings to others.
  • Reaction Formation: Expressing the opposite of one’s true feelings.
  • Rationalization: Creating logical explanations to justify unacceptable behavior.
  • Identification: Imitating the behaviors of admired individuals.
  • Fantasy: Fulfilling desires in imagination.
  • Compensation: Excelling in one area to make up for shortcomings in another.

Conclusion

  • Defense mechanisms are normal and often adaptive, but excessive use can lead to psychological problems.