South 고등학교 3학년 Psychology

Chapters: 4

1. Understanding psychology

Definition and goals · Research process · Branches · Careers

Nature of Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behaviour – Psychology is the science that studies mental processes (like thinking and remembering), experiences (our private feelings) and behaviour (what we do). Mental processes cannot be seen, so psychologists infer them from behaviour. Behaviour can be overt (seen from outside) or covert (hidden inside, like a racing heart). Psychology is a discipline with its own methods and theories. It is a natural science because it uses experiments and studies the brain and body, and a social science because it studies people in families, groups and culture. Mind and brain are linked but not the same. Many popular beliefs about psychology, like "psychologists read minds", are not true.
Goals and Steps of Research in Psychology – Psychological research has four goals: description (what happens), prediction (what will happen), explanation (why it happens) and application (using findings to solve problems and improve life). Scientific research follows four steps: conceptualising a problem (topic and a testable hypothesis), collecting data (participants, method, tools, procedure), drawing conclusions (statistics) and revising conclusions (fitting results into theory). A variable is anything that can change; the independent variable is changed by the researcher and the dependent variable is measured. Besides the scientific (quantitative) paradigm, there is an interpretive (qualitative) paradigm that seeks meanings in people's own words. Psychological data may be demographic, physical, physiological or psychological, and are never fully free of their context.
Growth and Branches of Psychology: From One Lab to Many Fields – Modern psychology began in 1879 when Wilhelm Wundt set up the first psychology lab in Leipzig, Germany (structuralism, using introspection). William James asked what the mind does (functionalism). Freud stressed unconscious wishes (psychoanalysis), Gestalt psychologists said we see wholes, and Watson said study only visible behaviour (behaviourism). Later came humanistic (Rogers, Maslow), cognitive and constructivist (Piaget, Vygotsky) views. In India, ideas about the mind are ancient; modern psychology began at Calcutta University in 1915 and later focused on Indian problems and indigenous ideas. Psychology now has many branches (cognitive, biological, developmental, social, clinical, health, educational, organisational, environmental, sports and more) and links with philosophy, medicine, economics, sociology, computer science, law and media. It also helps us in daily life.
Career Planning: From Knowing Yourself to Your First Job – Career planning has five steps. 1) Know yourself: interests, skills and values. 2) Explore career families and find out the work, study needed, pay and demand. 3) Plan a pathway with SMART goals and a plan B. 4) Search for jobs with a CV, cover letter, digital portfolio and interview practice. 5) Make the move from school to work and keep learning, because careers change over a lifetime.

2. Knowing myself

Perception in daily life · Memory · Thinking and decisions · Motivation and emotion · Negative motivation and emotion · Personality · Self and self-esteem · Identity and roles

Perception: How the Brain Makes Sense – Perception is giving meaning to what the senses bring. We work bottom-up (parts to whole) and top-down (ideas guide what we see). The perceiver's needs, interests, expectations and mood shape it. Gestalt principles (figure-ground, proximity, similarity, closure, continuity) organise parts into wholes. Monocular and binocular cues give depth. Constancies keep size, shape and brightness stable. Illusions are perceptions that do not match reality, and culture changes how strongly we fall for them.
Human Memory: How We Keep Information – Memory keeps information over time. It works in three steps: encoding, storage and retrieval. The stage model says information passes from sensory memory (huge, about a second) to short-term memory (about 7 items, about 20 seconds) and, with rehearsal, to long-term memory (unlimited, years). Short-term memory works as working memory. The levels of processing view says deeper, meaning-based processing gives longer memory. Long-term memory has declarative memory (episodic and semantic) and procedural memory.
Thinking, Problem Solving and Reasoning – Thinking means working on information in the mind to reach a goal. Its building blocks are mental images and concepts. We use thinking to solve problems (step by step, watching out for mental set and functional fixedness), to reason (deductive: rule to case; inductive: cases to rule) and to make judgements and decisions.
Emotions: Nature, Expression, Culture and Management – An emotion is a strong feeling with three parts: body arousal, a thought or appraisal of the event, and an outward expression. There are a few basic emotions that vary in intensity and can mix. Emotions are shown by face, voice and body; basic facial expressions are widely shared, but culture sets display rules. Negative emotions can be managed (awareness, reappraisal, relaxation, exercise, support) and positive ones built (gratitude, hope, kindness, friends, flow).
Personality: Approaches and Assessment – Personality is a person's steady, typical way of thinking, feeling and acting across situations. Type approaches sort people into groups (Type A and B, introvert and extravert). Trait approaches describe people on many dimensions (Allport, Cattell, Eysenck, Big Five). Freud's psychodynamic approach looks at the unconscious, id, ego, superego and defence mechanisms; post-Freudians (Jung, Horney, Adler, Fromm, Erikson) stress social and goal-seeking forces. The behavioural approach says personality is learned. The cultural approach links it to ecology and way of life. Humanistic approaches (Rogers, Maslow) stress growth and self-actualisation. Personality is assessed through self-report tests, projective techniques and behavioural methods.
The Self: Concept, Esteem and Culture – The self is the total of our experiences, ideas, thoughts and feelings about ourselves. It has a personal identity (what makes me unique) and a social identity (the groups I belong to). The self is both the knower (subject) and the known (object). Self-concept is how we see ourselves; self-esteem is how we value ourselves across areas like studies, friends, body and family. Self-efficacy is belief that we can succeed; self-regulation is managing our own behaviour, helped by self-observation, self-instruction and self-reinforcement. Indian culture sees the self with flexible borders that include family and community; Western culture draws a firmer border around the individual.
Self-Identity: Who Am I, and How Do I Live It? – Identity is your sense of who you are: your roles, values, strengths and dreams. We know ourselves through reflection. Self-esteem is how much we value ourselves. A strong moral identity means our actions match our values.

3. Social identity

Groups and identity · Social beings · Conformity and attitude change · Group life at school · Social influences · Media and mind

Groups: How They Form and How They Change Us – A group is two or more people who interact, share a goal, follow norms and feel 'we'. People join groups for security, status, self-esteem, needs and goals. Groups grow through stages: forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning. Their structure has roles, norms, status and cohesiveness. Types: primary/secondary, formal/informal, in-group/out-group. Groups also change our behaviour: in social loafing each person tries less in a shared task; in group polarisation the group's view becomes more extreme after discussion.
Social Psychology: How Other People Shape Us – Social psychology studies how other people change our thoughts, feelings and actions. Behaviour depends on both the person and the situation. In groups we often conform to the majority or obey authority. Stereotypes (thoughts), prejudice (feelings) and discrimination (actions) harm groups. When many people watch, each feels less responsible to help. Competition breeds conflict, while shared goals build cooperation.
Media Literacy – Media literacy is the skill of reading, questioning and creating media: news, ads, videos, posts, films and games. Every media text is made by someone, for a purpose, for an audience, using forms, conventions and techniques that shape how we feel. A media-literate person checks the source, evidence, other coverage and the original before believing or sharing, notices bias and filter bubbles, and makes their own media responsibly.

4. Life and adjustment

Everyday adjustment problems · Stress from maladjustment · Teen behaviour problems · Strengths and weaknesses · Developing strengths · Self-actualisation

Mental Health: Feelings, Stress and Support – Mental health is how we think, feel, cope and get along with others. Like physical health, everyone has it and it moves up and down. Emotions are useful signals. Stress adds up like water in a bucket; healthy coping (sleep, movement, talking, calm breathing, planning) lets it drain. Self-esteem and good relationships protect us. If feelings stay very heavy for two weeks or more, or stop daily life, talk to a trusted adult or a professional — asking for help is a sign of strength.
Positive Psychology: Happiness, Strengths and Growth – Positive psychology studies what helps people live well, not only what goes wrong. Happiness has three sources: pleasure, engagement (flow) and meaning. Everyone has character strengths such as kindness or curiosity, and strengths grow with practice. Self-actualisation means becoming the best version of yourself once basic needs are met. Small daily habits can raise well-being.