Applied psychology is introduced with a sample of questions ranging from the sometimes painful aspects of career planning to reevaluations of middle age; from women's roles to questions about aggressive behavior. The scientific method is described as fact finding through observation, and a verification of conclusions based on the facts tested under controlled conditions.
We begin a description of the bases of applied psychology with an introduction of the influences of nature and nurture on the individual. There are genes as the units of inheritance which are housed in chromosomes. Characteristics which are obviously displayed are phenotypes. These are distinguished from genotypes, which are carried genetically but which describe the things we do and how behavioral characteristics are passed from generation to genera· tion through selective breeding.
Heredity and environment function together to produce the individual. It is a process whereby heredity provides the potential, which mayor may not be developed by the environment. Nature and nurture work together, but one of them may playa larger role than the other in producing some given behavior.
The brain is the control center for behavior and experience.
There are higher levels of control for sensations and perceptions, and for the coordination of sensory-motor functions, for thinking, for learning, and for problem solving. The intermediate levels of control relate to such vital functions as breathing and heartbeat, arid to hunger. thirst, and sex. At this level we find centers involved in aggression, pleasure, and displeasure. Lower levels of control involve reflexes. The autonomic nervous system is a system of controls for heart action, blood pressure, breathing, digestion, excretion, and urination.
Communication within the nervous system is by means of chemical agents which relate to such functions as sex, appetite, sleep, mood, and generally all that we do and experience. The drug abuse scene has brought dramatically to our attention the fact that "life is chemical."
Three standards are involved in determining whether any given behavior is "normal" or "abnormal." First, there is the statistical definition which includes as abnormal any pattern of behavior that departs markedly from the average. Secortd, there is the standard of personal adjustment, whereby any behavior that produces anxiety, lowers effeciency, and prevents us from coping with the tide of change is abnormal. Third, abnormality may be defined culturally as a violation of the customs which creates a threat to society.
The well-adjusted person is one who has a practical and realistic attitude toward oneself, who is aware of wants and ways to live. This person has feelings of self-esteem and of psychological security; can give and accept affection; a person who is 'Jroductive and knows how to react to stress.
Indicators of abnormality include excessive behavior and mental and emotional disturbances; disturbances in motivation; and psychosomatic disturbances
Adjustment is highly individual. It relates closely to stress and to learning the cues of one's own stress levels. Each person can learn to establish base lines for the usual way of feeling or behaving making comparisons available to us to indicate excessive stress.
