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Kindle Notes & Highlights
John Locke (1632-1704), in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), rejected Descartes’ innate ideas and agreed with Aristotle that the mind at birth is a tabula rasa (“clean slate”).
“Psychodynamic” means “active mind”. There is mental struggle – especially in the hidden unconscious mind. In practice, this often simply means applying the Psychoanalytic theories of Freud and, to a greater or lesser extent, followers and dissenters such as Jung, Adler, Erikson, Klein, Lacan… depending on your personal favourites!
The Id develops first. It is inborn and alone for a couple of years. It operates by The Pleasure Principle – the baby seeks pleasure (e.g. drink, food, warmth, comfort) and avoids the unpleasurable (e.g. hunger, being wet and cold). The Id is selfish and typically wants immediate gratification.
The Ego develops from about 2 years and operates by The Reality Principle. To survive, we must sometimes be realistic and plan for the future. Thus, the Id can’t always be allowed its own way, so the Ego often has to battle with it. (Id is Latin for it – Freud used the German “das es”, translated as Id.)
The Superego starts to develop about age three (influenced by parents), then gradually develops throughout childhood, becoming fully mature after puberty.
The Law of Exercise – repetition strengthens learning. (Or, “Practice makes perfect”.) Learning poetry, lines of a play, math’s tables by repetition is called Rote Learning or “Parrot Fashion”.
The Law of Effect – the effect of reward is to strengthen learning. (Or, “If it’s pleasurable, it will be repeated”.) Thorndike found reward (law 2) to be more effective than mere repetition (law 1).
Why Punishment is Often Ineffective 1. In general, punishment is simply less effective because it causes SLOWER and LESS learned responses. It’s better to use a combination of reward (Positive Reinforcement) and withdrawal of reward (Non-Reinforcement).
Albert Bandura (b. 1925) developed a version of Behaviourism in the early 1960s, initially called “Sociobehaviorism” and then Social Cognitive Theory. Behaviour doesn’t always have to be directly reinforced for it to occur. We can learn through simply observing others and seeing the consequences of their actions. This important “second-hand” learning is called “Vicarious Learning” or Observational Learning.
After the publication of his 1967 book, Neisser became “The Father of Cognitive Psychology”. He defined COGNITION as the processes “by which the sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used… cognition is involved in everything a human being might possibly do”.
Psychologically “healthy” people show 1. An objective perception of reality 2. Acceptance of their own natures
To Rogers (1961), the psychologically healthy person has: 1. An openness to all experience 2. An ability to live fully in every moment 3. The will to follow their own instincts, rather than the will of others 4. Freedom in thought and action, e.g. spontaneity, flexibility 5. Much creativity
Asch (1951) found that a small group of people can influence a person to agree with an incorrect statement with about 1/3 always agreeing, and about 3/4 at least once. (Only 3 other people were required for maximum influence.)
Even though most animals have only simple forms of communication, compared to the complexity of human languages, they often seem to be much better at avoiding serious injury or death to those of the same species! Social Facilitation is behaviour that’s pro-social rather than anti-social – e.g. yawning, scratching, not staring.
