Psychophysics is the study of the correspondence between physical stimulation and psychological experience. This means that psychophysics is the relationship between how loud, sweet, bright, etc; a stimulus inducing action must be before it creates a mental note that something is different. For example, how loud must an alarm clock be before it awakens a person? To better understand psychophysics and how they are measured, a look must be taken at some of the key contributors to its creation. German physicist, Gustav Fechner, “is the most significant figure in the history of psychophysics.” He is responsible for giving the term its name and creating a set of protocols to relate the intensity of a physical stimulus to the magnitude of the sensory experience that will be measured in psychological units. These procedures test exactly how large of an amount of stimulus energy must be made before it can be mentally detected. The latter is referred to as the absolute threshold for stimulation. There are various ways to test these measures, such as standard hearing tests. Fechner created tests for each of the senses, so anything from light, sound, taste, etc. can be measured in terms of absolute threshold. Other areas of psychophysics determine the difference in sensitivity for different individuals. Some observers have a tendency to respond to certain stimuli in a distinct way, which is known as response bias. In order to sort out the problem of response bias, signal detection theory (which identifies two distinct responses in sensory detection) is used. The way this is done is by administering an initial test to establish the observer’s sensitivity, followed by a second test which establishes if the observer possesses a response bias... ... middle of paper ... ...ing out the paw no longer received treats for the act. The dog would likely learn, over time, that this action no longer is beneficial and would cease emitting the action. The dog may try to give its paw out of instinct, but this would be reduced and probably eventually cease (with the exception of an occasional few tries in the future) all together. This latter action of trying out of instinct is called spontaneous recovery. There are other empirically found types of operant conditioning, such as positive and negative punishment, but the methods and formula for reinforcement is generally the way operant conditioning is governed, regardless of the title. The other types of operant conditioning follow the same patterns as reinforcement contingencies. Everything in operant conditioning is based upon a response and the change in the environment caused by the response.
The two main forms of conditioning, are classical conditioning (learning by association), and operant condition (learning from consequences).Classical conditioning, is the learning process in which one is conditioned (learns) to respond to a neutral stimulus as if it were a meaningful stimulus. In operant conditioning, learning occurs through associations made between a behavior and the consequence that follows.
The study of psychology began as a theoretical subject a branch of ancient philosophy, and later as a part of biological sciences and physiology. However, over the years, it has grown into a rigorous science and a separate discipline, with its own sets of guidance and experimental techniques. This paper aims to study the various stages that the science of psychology passed through to reach its contemporary status, and their effects on its development. It begins with an overview of the historical and philosophical basis of psychology, discusses the development of the various schools of thought, and highlights their effects on contemporary personal and professional decision-making.
Lapid, E., Ulrich, R. and Rammsayer, T. (2009). Comparisons of Two Variants of the Method of Constant Stimuli for Estimating Difference Thresholds. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 68 (4), 2009, 189-192.
Operant conditioning is a type of learning where a person is taught that specific actions are related to specific consequences. The main goal of using this type of conditioning is to encourage the individual to change his or her behavior in some way. Specifically, the individual can be encouraged to perform a desired behavior more often through use of positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement, and he or she can also be encouraged to perform an undesired behavior less often through use of positive punishment and negative punishment. Positive reinforcement is basically a type of operant conditioning in which an addition or reward is given to the individual when he or she has displayed the desired behavior, and as a result, the behavior
When test techniques are not used to obtain stimulus-response control, it is well known that infants and young children respond at supra-threshold levels. The unconditioned response levels, expect...
The term psychology has many meanings to different people, even to those who work within the psychological field. The word psychology derives from two Greek roots; 'psyche' refers to 'soul' or 'mind' and logo refers to 'the study of'. A more update definition of the word psychology can be found from Atkinson, et al (1991) “The scientific study of behaviours and mental processes.” However on Google Definitions the definition of psychology is “the mental characteristics and attitudes of a person” [accessed 16 September 2011], which gives somewhat of a contradiction. In this assignment I will be outlining and evaluating four key psychological perspectives. The psychological perspectives I have chosen are the behavioural approach, biological approach, cognitive approach and the psychodynamic approach.
The very definition of that which is generally thought of in popular culture as a "sixth sense" is worth noting, given that its name - extrasensory perception - implies a capability of receiving external information through pathways that are not explicitly sensory. However, our understanding of sensation as it stands now depends on the existence of receptors within the nervous system that are specified for the respective types of sensation (1,2). An input can only be received and integrated if there exists within a system the proper kind of receptor, be it mechano-...
Wundt used the core ideas established by Donder and added the d-method to the existing a, b and c-methods (Wundt 1880/1969). Subjects in Wundt’s lab were asked to give the same response to multiple different stimuli with an additional instruction to first recognize (or “apperceive” as Wundt termed it) the stimulus before responding to it. The addition of this recognition task was hypothetically a way to measure pure discrimination. Wundt claimed that his d-method was a more accurate measure for stimulus discrimination than Donders’ c-method, and thus an improvement on the RT
The development of psychology like all other sciences started with great minds debating unknown topics and searching for unknown answers. Early philosophers and psychologists such as Sir Francis Bacon and Charles Darwin took a scientific approach to psychology by introducing the ideas of measurement and biology into the way an indi...
The psychodynamic theory encompasses both Freud and Erikson. Freud believed the three components of personality were the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is responsible for all needs and urges, while the superego for ideals and moral. The ego moderates between the demands of the id, the superego, and reality. However, Erikson believed that personality progressed through a series of stages, with certain conflicts arising at each stage. Success in any stage depended upon successfully overcoming these conflicts. The advantage to psychodynamic is that it encompasses the individual, meaning that the theory looks at personality from childhood all the way into adulthood. The disadvantages of this theory are that it cannot be tested validly. Therefore,
Detection of weak stimulus e.g. Faint sounds can't be explained on the basis of laws of thresholds.This thing lead the signal detection theory to develop.
Sensation and perception are related processes that are developed throughout our lifespan. Although closely connected, sensation and perception have distinct qualities that distinguish them. I chose this topic personally so as to enable people understand their behaviors towards different feelings. In everyday life, people experience sensations which are interpreted differently, and sometimes they fail to understand how the interpretation of what the senses. This is also experienced too many other people. This topic, therefore, is a good one to help people understand how the two processes occur and to understand themselves better. This topic discusses the meaning of sensation and perception in details, how the two processes are
Lastly, behavior can also be determined by sensation and perception, the stages of processing the information gathered from the senses. Sensation and perception depicts the world for humans. Without them, humans would not be able to truly experience what is going on around them. The first step, sensation, is the gathering of the information from the outside would through the five senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. The information is then organized and interpreted by the brain through
Sensory processing is a complex set of actions that enable the brain to understand what’s going on both inside your own body, and in the world around you. The brain receives information through the senses: processes this information and organizes a motor response i.e sensory integration- function (A. Jean Ayres, 1985). The sensory processing contains five sensory systems in the Sensory Integration Model which are; Tactile (sense of touch), Vestibular (how the body responds to gravity), Proprioceptive (internal body awareness), Auditory (receive, identify, discriminate, understand and respond to vibration) and Visual (sense of sight, linked to the vestibular).
The scientist in 1850`s started to study human perception, vision and the nervous system in the human mind. William Wundt started to explore the understanding of consciousness, as well as feelings, emotions and ideas. He viewed the consciousness as having several parts, and he intended that this could be investigated by analysis or reduction. He was certain that the conscious mind actively systematises the experiences instant. William Wundt believed in something called introspection. The idea behind introspection is that a person can observe inside the human mind and find out the information of what they are thinking and feeling. We will now look at the approach of consciousness through behavioural aspects and neurophysiological aspects as well as introducing different theories and measures that covers the measuring of consciousness.