Learning Outcomes Identify what is distinctive about understanding human behaviour from a social science perspective Explain the relationship between perception, beliefs and behaviour Analyze the structure of subjective experience Reframe engineering problems from a social science perspective

You MUST learn this PERCEPTIONBELIEFS

A bit of Applied psychology for You

The Serial Position Curve Position on List Proportion Correct Primacy Effect Recency Effect von Restorff Effect

Psychological Effects Primacy Effect (the tendency for the first items presented in a series to be remembered better or more easily) Recency Effect (the tendency for the most recently presented items or experiences to be remembered best) Von Restorff Effect (the tendency to remember distinct or novel items and experiences)

What might be useful for your learning? Don’t try to learn too much too quick – because you can’t Utilize the beginning (first impression/Primacy effect) and end (last impression/Recency Effect) in Life Situations Introduce change (preferable novel/von Restorff Effect) – it refreshes the brain

Two more mental teasers for You How many capital letters in the English alphabet are curved? (e.g., C) A bat and ball cost $1.10 The bat costs one dollar more than the ball How much does the ball cost?

Look carefully at this list for 20 seconds candy, sour, sugar, bitter, good, taste, tooth, nice, honey, soda, chocolate, heart, cake, eat, and pie

What do you see, and how do you feel about it?

What else have you learned about the brain? The brain processes information slowly when we don’t have the immediate answer The brain can be easily tricked How we feel (emotions) influences what we see and how we learn The brain is hard wired to see things in learned ways

Brain Barriers to Learning Restricted Working Memory Despite having almost unlimited capacity for information in Long - Term Memory – Working Memory can only deal with about 7±2 bits of information at once. Limited Attention Span Unless a stimulus is particularly pleasurable, novel or threatening, attention will drift onto more interesting stimuli (either in the present situation or in our imagination). Slow Conscious Processing Speed and inherently lazy The actual processing speed of the brain is slow compared to its capacity and organising ability. Also, it does not like to think too much, preferring quick ‘I already know’ judgements Sees what it has learned to see The brain typically process information based on established neural networks, hence it will interpret new information based on what’s established in long-term memory and existing beliefs.

What is social science and how is it different from engineering science?

The difference is between the nature of matter and the mind. Matter behaves according to physical laws (laws of science); humans do not simply react to events and experiences, they interpret them. However, there is much similarity in how people behave in situations, as this reflects common brain architecture, human processing and needs. But within this commonality there is much variation. Both commonality and variation is of interest to social scientists

Activity: What’s in a touch? Read the article on the experiment conducted in France What do you think the outcomes were? How might the results differ in Singapore, and how would you explain this?

Activity: What’s in a Voice Speech Samples Volunteers were asked to rate the attributes of people using these different speech styles (with exactly the same content). High pitched speech Slow talking speech Fast talking speech Expressive speech Read the short summary of the research – how might we explain the results?

What are the core Social Sciences and how do they differ? Psychology: What is the structure of the mind, its components and how they work? What is personality? What is the nature of intelligence? How does learning occur? What causes deviance? Sociology What is the basis of the organization of human societies and how do they differ and change? How does home background influence educational attainment? What causes deviance? How might these disciplines be connected, and what questions does this raise?

How the Mind Works (The Structure of Subjective Experience) Sounds hard and freaky, lah

Magic Eggs - Story “Mum, Mum, you don’t have to buy eggs anymore coz I’m laying them”

“We forget that beliefs are no more than perceptions, usually with a limited sell by date, yet we act as though they were concrete realities” (Adler, 1996, p.145) Beliefs

The 3 Brain Paradox – you can’t talk to the Reptilian or Emotionally Charged brain Far more neural filters project from our brain’s emotional centre into the logical/rational centres than the reverse Amygdala Becomes the Default System when we are threatened Making judgements and decisions guided by feelings and likings, with little deliberation and reasoning is common – and referred to as the ‘Affect Heuristic’ by nobel prizewinner, Kahneman, 2012,

Impact of Personality Type Validated research supports a model of human personality in which people differ, to varying degrees, in 5 major ways: introverted or extroverted neurotic or stable incurious or open to experience agreeable or antagonistic conscientious or undirected All are hereditable, with perhaps 40-50% of the variation in a typical population tied to differences in their genes. It is no fun dealing with the unfortunate wretch who is introverted, neurotic, narrow, disagreeable and undependable

Reality is a Personal Construction of the Mind Senses The Map Deletions Distortions Generalizations FILTERS  Beliefs  Emotions  Memory  Personality Our Maps result from sensory information from the environment, our past experiences and fancied constructions of reality – mediated by 4 main Filters. Hence the Map is NOT the Territory “Life is mostly a matter of perception and more often misperception” Dave Logan

Summary key facts about the human brain Beliefs rather than evidence, is often the case when it comes to making decisions We are influenced by mood and many situational factors when making decisions. Unconscious factors, such as what we like (or dislike) and our emotions are as important as conscious activity (thinking) in influencing our behaviour “The emotional tail wags the rational dog” (jonathan Haidt)

The Problem of slow lifts A company had many complaints about the slowness of their lifts. However, when they looked at the costing of increasing their lift speeds, it accounted to over $200,000. However, a psychologist solved the problem for less than $5,000. What solution did the psychologist adopt and how does this work?