Your Twenty-Minute Course in Practical Psychology
Author: Dr. Scott G. Shelp

Introduction.

This is not a typical review of the major theorists in psychology: Freud, Skinner, Bandura and the like. It is, instead, a review of the major ideas which have come to us in the last hundred years of the discipline of psychology which inform our lives.

Knowing how your own mind works and how others’ minds work can be immeasurably useful for any of us. Studying psychology has changed my life. I’ve distilled the best of it all down here for your convenience. Key terms and ideas have been bolded. Even in its condensed form, this is still a long article. Consider this your “mini-degree” in psychology!

The Big Paradox: We’re All the Same and We’re All Different.

The key to making sense of psychology is to come to terms with the fact that we are all the same in many ways and that we are indeed all different individuals. We are wired similarly and have similar experiences. As a result, we can make some important general statements about the human mind. Our unique experiences make us like no other human being in the world.

That Old “Nature vs. Nurture” Thing.

Were they born that way or did they learn to be that way? This discussion continues around everything from homosexuality to obesity to mental illness. So what’s the answer? Nature? Nurture? Both?

We know there is a definite genetic/biological basis (a base) for behavior. The human brain is the seat of thought and emotion and our abilities are directly related to its physical structure and functioning. It is subject to influences of the external environment (quiet, noisy, cold, warm), nutritional status (especially blood sugar levels), hormone and neurotransmitter (brain chemical) levels and the presence of pheromones. Our genes are not the only determining factor in our behavior, however.

We are also subject to environmental influences. The external environment can be noisy, cold, comfortable or not. The internal environment (our minds) can be clear, overloaded, distracted or anxious. These may impact our physical health, what we can see or hear, the options we have…anything really.

Then there are cultural influences. Culture defines values, norms and patterns of meaning-making for all of us. These influences are nearly invisible since we are completely submerged in our own culture. We are like fish who cannot see the water around us. We may choose to reject a particular cultural belief later, but it has had some effect on us anyway.

We have very real physical and psychological needs to be with others. As such, we are subject to social influences. We often act in our own best interest, but we also act in preservation of our group. We participate in many different groups and our behavior may differ depending on the group we are in at the time. Think of how you act with friends vs. at work vs. when visiting relatives.

There are common developmental patterns which can be seen in most people. Developmental psychology helps us predict psychological development by describing the typical behavior in each stage of life (infant, child, adolescent, adult, elder).

So what determines our behavior? All of these things, sometimes more of one than the other, but they all work simultaneously and in combination. Human behavior is complex, but this is a good start on understanding it.

Fitting-In and Being “Me.”

Here’s another paradox. We are social creatures with a strong need for affiliation with others. Simultaneously, we need individuation, a sense of being unique from all others. We develop a sense of our own identity and act according to these ideas about the kind of person we are. Consider not buying certain kinds of clothes because, “That’s just not ‘me.’”

Learning and Mind Control…er, rather...Behavior Control.
Our lives are continuous processes of learning. It includes both early (childhood) learning and ongoing learning throughout life.

Of course there is school learning (skills and knowledge) and vocational learning (how to do a certain job), but we learn how to behave all the time. Learning takes two forms: conditioning and modeling (social learning).

We also teach all the time. We “condition” others how to act around us. The other side of learning is how we can influence the behavior of others. Conditioning works on the principle that we seek pleasure and avoid pain. We can increase or decrease the likelihood of their repeating a particular behavior by what we give them and what we take away.

The secret is knowing what the other person values, that is, what he or she sees as a reward or punishment (not us.) An argument with your partner might seem like a punishment (something unpleasant) but if the two of you never talk, your partner may be satisfied with a quarrel as a reward of sorts—at least you two are interacting! So instead of avoiding the behavior that led to the argument, your partner might actually do it more often—just to get you to talk.

Here are the four ways we influence the behavior of others (and the psychological terms for them which come from behavioral psychology):


Positive Reward: giving someone something pleasurable (food, money, attention, affection—anything the person values) in order to increase the likelihood he or she will repeat the associated behavior. Example: An employer praises a worker for a job well done. (Note: praise in front of others is even more effective.)

Positive Punishment: giving someone something irritating (pain, ridicule, scolding—anything the person doesn’t like) in order to decrease the likelihood he or she will repeat the associated behavior. Example: A parent grounds (or takes away privileges from) a child for doing something bad.

Negative Reward: taking away something pleasurable (affection, attention, privileges—anything the person values) in order to decrease the likelihood he or she will repeat the associated behavior. Example: A person withholds sex from a partner until he or she pays more attention.

Negative Punishment: taking away something irritating (crying, nagging, loud music—anything the person doesn’t like) in order to increase the likelihood he or she will repeat the associated behavior. Example: A baby stops crying when mother picks her up, feeds her, changes her diaper, etc.
All four of these work best when the person understands the connection between their behavior and the consequence and when the consequence comes soon after the behavior (not later on).

Social conditioning, also called “modeling,” is another powerful way our behavior is influenced by others. We have a tendency to conform to how other people around us are behaving. We especially want to behave like those we admire. This is why celebrities are criticized when they behave badly because they are “being a poor role model” for children. They often deny this responsibility, but the fact remains that many children do look up to them and take cues from their behavior and values.

The Maps in our Heads.

We rely on sensory input for information. Any problems with our sense organs alter the information upon which we understand our world. We take what we have learned and form abstract ideas about those lessons. In understanding all things—including ourselves—we form perceptions which may not be universally shared nor based on reality. We almost never have the whole picture.

From these perceptions, we form mental schemas or mental models of situations to use in the future. This includes simple cause-and-effect models as well as complex models for social hierarchies and symbolic interactions. We use what we have learned by generalizing to new situations. For instance, we may go to a new restaurant for the first time, but we know the routine: be seated, order, eat, pay, leave. New and unusual situations may cause us anxiety because we do not know what to expect from others or what is expected of us (and we don't want to embarrass ourselves). Have you ever visited the church or temple of another religion?

Related to this is the development our own way of making sense of things called an attributional or explanatory style. We get into the habit of thinking that a certain kind of even is caused by something else. We may or may not be correct. One of the most common examples of this is to encounter a crabby or short-tempered person. We may think to ourselves, “what an a**hole!” That is, we attribute the behavior to a personality trait. In reality, the person may be influenced by something that just happened—not a long-lasting personality trait, but a temporary state of mind. This state vs. trait idea is important: sometimes we act from our personality, and sometimes from our present situation. Even the nicest person can be put into a bad mood.

One important aspect of attribution is the idea of locus of control, that is, do we tend to believe that we are in control of our lives or that outside forces are. Those of us with an internal locus of control believe we are in charge of what happens to us in life. We probably have had experiences which taught us that. On the other hand, those of us with an external locus of control have probably felt like outside forces have been ruling our lives and will continue to do so. (Incidentally, people with an internal locus of control tend to be happier.)

It’s often very difficult to change these habits of thinking. Zipf’s Law states that with no other influences, most human brains, most of the time, seek and prefer solving problems with the least amount of brain energy. Our brains are lazy. They prefer to use the mental maps and models they already have rather than try to figure out each situation all over again.

Stress and Coping.

Life can be seen as a process of coping with events, that is, attempting to successfully interact with our physical and social environments. We routinely experience stress in our lives: situations which demand from us some sort of response. Depending on our perception, this may take the form of dis-stress (a negative feeling of being pressured) or eu-stress (nervous excitement).

Changing Our Minds.

This brings up an important point which comes to us from the branch of psychology called “cognitive psychology.” Our thoughts—that is, our perceptions—about events are critical to how they affect us. Cognitive therapists (and others) believe that if we can change how we think about things, we can be happier and less stressed-out. Hypnotherapy speaks directly to the subconscious mind to do this, while cognitive psychotherapy involves discussions between the therapist and the client in an awake state. This change in thinking is called “reframing;” we learn to see situations in new ways.

The following example is classic. A man is riding the subway home after a long day at work. He is tired and becomes annoyed by some children playing and running up and down the aisle. Even more irritating is the fact that the children’s father is sitting there doing nothing to control them. Finally the man confronts the father, “Hey, why don’t you do something about your kids?!” “I’m sorry,” the father replies,” their mother just died and this is the first time I’ve seen them play again. I just thought I’d let them go.”

You can imagine how the man felt. He now saw the irritating situation in a whole new light. This emphasizes how important it is to remember that we rarely have the whole story.

Mental Malfunctions and Malicious Misdirection.

As amazingly intelligent and rational as we humans are, we are still often subject to faulty logic. This is actually more of a subject for philosophers than psychologists, but knowing these common thinking errors can help us not to become victim to those who use them to influence us. Many of these are used in advertising, political campaigns and in legal arguments. Be on the lookout the next time you watch a legal drama on TV (and during the commercials)!


Ad hominem: an irrelevant attack on an individual's character that appeals to prejudice or emotion. (Think: “smear campaigns.”)

Ambiguity: important details are left unclear.

Appeal to authority: citing a well-known person who may not have expertise relevant to the issue. (A famous singer endorses a diet pill.)

Appeal to ignorance: a claim is true because there is no evidence to the contrary.

Appeal to precedent: assuming that what is "time-honored" is true or best. “We’ve always done it this way.”

Appeal to Tradition/Provincialism: appealing to the audience's sense of tradition or cultural heritage.

Bandwagon: arguing that an action or position should be taken because "everyone is doing it." (“Join the millions who are benefiting from this great new breakthrough!”)

Begging the Question [Circular Reasoning]: assuming as true at the outset that which must be proved as true; proving a premise by rewording the premise in the conclusion; using part of all of a question as the answer to the question.

Questionable Cause/Confusing Correlation with Cause: two things may be correlated, but there is no evidence that one caused the other, in fact they may have both been caused by a third thing.

Domino Theory/Slippery slope: claim that a first step leads inevitably to other steps or to disastrous results. (If we give marriage rights to gay and lesbian people, next we’ll have to recognize marriages between people and animals.”)

False Dilemma [Either-Or]: allowing for only two courses of options, one of which must be chosen when others may be available or they may both be possible at the same time.

Forced Hypothesis: failure to consider other explanations for the evidence; lack of sufficient evidence to draw hypothesis. (People would sometimes be wrong than admit they just don’t know.)

Generalizations/Stereotyping: attributing the traits of some members of a group to all members of the group.

Guilt by Association: two people share a quality due to another, unrelated connection.

Hasty Conclusion: reaching a conclusion based on relevant but insufficient evidence.

Inconsistency: using or accepting contradictory statements.

Irrelevant Reason: evidence or reason is not relevant to issue.

Lack of Proportion: failure to see things in their proper perspective. (Heart disease kills more women each year than breast cancer.)

Loaded Language: abusively labeling persons or groups with sexual, racial, ethnic, or other prejudicial terms.

Non Sequitur: the conclusion has no logical connection to evidence offered for it.

Obsolescence: denying the truth of a statement because it is "old-fashioned."

Pleading Ignorance: denying the truth of a statement because one has never heard that statement before. (New ideas are sometimes hard to accept.)

Poisoning the Well: tainting or attacking information before presenting it to an audience; coercing the audience to accept or reject a position on an idea before presenting the idea.

Post Hoc Error: assuming that because B follows A in time, A is the cause of B.

Questionable Analogy [False Comparison]: comparing things that are dissimilar.

Questionable Classification: placing dissimilar items in the same class.

Questionable Premise: accepting a proposition or concept without having good reason to accept it.

Red Herring: introducing a side issue or an irrelevant issue to divert attention from the real issue.

Statistical Fallacy: the use of unprovable statistics as fact; the use of statistics that are incomplete or that present a biased picture/result.

Straw Man: altering or exaggerating an opponent's position for the sake of attacking it. (“Senator, why would you not support this defense spending? Do you want terrorists to take over America?”)

Suppressed Evidence: failure to present information relevant to the issue.

Tu quoque: asserting an argument has no value because the opponent does not follow his or her own advice. (“Tell us, Doctor, do you always vent your anger in healthy ways?”)

Two Wrongs Make a Right: a wrong justified by pointing out the wrongs of others. (Used often to defend vigilante-ism.)
Congratulations, graduate! You are now privy to some of the most powerful principles in psychology which are sure to change the way you see yourself and the people around you. Keep watching people and keep learning!



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Scott G. Shelp, PhD RN CEN is a registered nurse, personal coach and hypnotherapist in Los Angeles. More information can be found at