Our Lady of Fatima University

College of Nursing

NCM101 – Human Behavior

Definition of terms:

Human Behavior – is the collection of activities influenced by the Culture, Attitude, Emotions, Values, Ethics, Authority, Rapport, Hypnosis, Persuasion, Coercion.

The behavior of people (and other organisms or even mechanisms) falls within a range with some behavior being common, some unusual, some acceptable, and some outside acceptable limits. The acceptability of behavior is evaluated relative to social norms and regulated by various means of social control.

Hygiene is the maintenance of healthful practices. In modern terminology, this is usually regarded as a particular reference to cleanliness.

Neurosis in psychoanalytic theory, is an ineffectual coping strategy that Sigmund Freud suggested was caused by emotions from past experience overwhelming or interfering with present experience. For example, someone attacked by a dog as a toddler may have a phobia or overwhelming fear of dogs.

The word 'neurosis' is derived from two Greek words: neuron (nerve) and osis (diseased or abnormal condition).

There are many different specific neuroses and many of them are named: pyromania, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety neurosis, and an endless variety of phobias.

Everyone has some neurotic symptoms and defense mechanisms which more or less successfully deal with anxiety. Defense mechanisms which result in difficulties in living are termed neuroses and are treated by psychoanalysis, counseling or psychiatric techniques.

Anxiety is a complex combination of the feeling of fear, apprehension and worry often accompanied by physical sensations such as palpitations, chest pain and/or shortness of breath. It may exist as a primary disorder or may be associated with other medical problems including other psychiatric disorders.

A chronically recurring case of anxiety that has a serious affect on your life may be clinically diagnosed as an anxiety disorder. The most common are Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic disorder, phobias, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

A defense mechanism is an unconscious way to protect the personality from unpleasant thoughts which may cause anxiety. This can work well in small doses; however, a defense mechanism can also lead to a neurosis if it causes a person to adopt ineffectual or inappropriate coping strategies.

A panic attack is a period of intense fear or discomfort, typically with an abrupt onset and usually lasting no more than 30 minutes. Symptoms include trembling, shortness of breath and sensations of choking or smothering. The disorder is strikingly different from other types of anxiety in that panic attacks are very sudden, appear to be unprovoked, and are often disabling.

Fear is an unpleasant feeling of perceived risk or danger, real or not. Fear also could be described as a feeling of extreme dislike to some conditions/objects, such as: fear of darkness, fear of ghost, etc. It is one of the basic emotions.

Emotion is used to describe a state of a person.

The basic eight emotions are:

fear (or terror, shock, phobia)
anger (or rage, which can be directed to the self or others)
sorrow (or sadness, or grief or depression)
joy (happiness, glee, gladness).
disgust
acceptance
anticipation
surprise

Motivation is the driving force behind all actions of an organism.

Health - "A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and does not consist only of the absence of disease or infirmity.” - WHO

Mental Hygiene – care of the mind; prevention of serious maladjustments and promotion of sound mental health.

Importance of Mental Hygiene:

a. explains the mechanics of human motivation and behavior

b. direct & guide the behavior and attitudes of the youth as they go through different stages of growth

c. person understand oneself better, realizes self-worth and better equipped to asses other people’s feelings, motivations, and emotions

d. can suggest preventions as well as remedies regarding social problems such as delinquencies, alcoholism, drug addiction

Aspects of Mental Hygiene:

a. Preventive aspects – concerned with staying away from mental disturbances that may lead to real psychoses; prophylactic hygiene

b. Therapeutic Aspects -

c. Curative Aspects – the oldest and most technical approach to behavior problem; also called supportive approach; involves the detection and correction of serious maladjustment problems

Early Signs of Failing Mental Health:

a. Anxiety

b. Depression

c. Sudden Change

d. Poor Performance

Q: Anxiety as a subjective individual experience is described as:

a. predominant feelings of fearfulness or apprehensions.

b. loss of interest in usual activities

c. inability to experience pleasure

d. predominant feeling of hopelessness and despair

Theories:

A. Psychoanalytical Theory

Sigmund Freud

Levels of Awareness

1. conscious mind is what you are aware of at any particular moment, your present perceptions, memories, thoughts, fantasies, feelings, what have you.

2. Working closely with the conscious mind is what Freud called the preconscious, what we might today call "available memory:" anything that can easily be made conscious, the memories you are not at the moment thinking about but can readily bring to mind. But Freud suggested that conscious and preconscious are the smallest parts!

3. The largest part by far is the unconscious. Not easily available to awareness, including many things that have their origins there, such as our drives or instincts, and things that are put there because we can't bear to look at them, such as the memories and emotions associated with trauma. It is the source of our motivations.

The Structure of the Mind

1. Id - works in keeping with the pleasure principle, which can be understood as a demand to take care of needs immediately. The nervous system, as id, translates the organism's needs into motivational forces called, instincts or drives. Freud also called them wishes. This translation from need to wish is called the primary process. Constitutes part of one's unconscious mind. Instinctive urges; aggression.

2. Ego - relates the organism to reality by means of its consciousness, and it searches for objects to satisfy the wishes that id creates to represent the organisms needs. This problem-solving activity is called the secondary process. Conscious, that is hooked up to the world through the senses. The ego, unlike the id, functions according to the reality principle, which says "take care of a need as soon as an appropriate object is found." It represents reality and, to a considerable extent, reason. Ego is not only conscious. It can be preconscious and unconscious state of mind. Rational and language-based executors linking to reality.

3. Superego - presented our conscience and counteracted the Id with a primitive and unconscious sense of morality. Stands in opposition to the desires of the Id. More on socially acceptable behavior, sometimes to the point of individual deprivation. Superego itself part of the unconscious mind.

There are two aspects to the superego:

Conscience - which is an internalization of punishments and warnings.

Ego ideal - It derives from rewards and positive models presented to the child.

Q: Freud stresses that the function of the ego is:

a. distinguish between things in the mind and things in external world.

b. moral arm of the personality, serifs for perfection rather than pleasure

c. reservoir of instincts and soure of all drives

d. controls the physical needs and instincts

Freud’s Stages of Personality

1. The oral stage lasts from birth to about 18 months. The focus of pleasure is, of course, the mouth. Sucking and biting are favorite activities.

2. The anal stage lasts from about 18 months to three or four years old. The focus of pleasure is the anus. Holding it in and letting it go are greatly enjoyed.

3. The phallic stage lasts from three or four to five, six, or seven years old. The focus of pleasure is the genitalia. Masturbation is common.

4. The latent stage lasts from five, six, or seven to puberty, that is, somewhere around 12 years old. During this stage, Freud believed that the sexual impulse was suppressed in the service of learning. I must note that, while most children seem to be fairly calm, sexually, during their grammar school years, perhaps up to a quarter of them are quite busy masturbating and playing "doctor." In Freud's repressive era, these children were, at least, quieter than their modern counterparts.

5. The genital stage begins at puberty, and represents the resurgence of the sex drive in adolescence, and the more specific focusing of pleasure in sexual intercourse. Freud felt that masturbation, oral sex, homosexuality, and many other things we find acceptable in adulthood today, were immature.

Q: Perlita, a 6 y/o came in because of bruises. According to Freud, the psychosexual development of Perlita is:

a. phallic.

b. oral

c. anal

d. genital

B. Human Need Theory

Abraham Maslow – hierarchy of needs

1. The physiological needs. oxygen, water, protein, salt, sugar, calcium, and other minerals and vitamins, needs to be active, to rest, to sleep, to get rid of wastes (CO2, sweat, urine, and feces), to avoid pain, and to have sex.

2. The safety and security needs. When the physiological needs are largely taken care of, this second layer of needs comes into play. You will become increasingly interested in finding safe circumstances, stability, protection. You might develop a need for structure, for order, some limits.

Looking at it negatively, you become concerned, not with needs like hunger and thirst, but with your fears and anxieties. In the ordinary American adult, this set of needs manifest themselves in the form of our urges to have a home in a safe neighborhood, a little job security and a nest egg, a good retirement plan and a bit of insurance, and so on.

3. The love and belonging needs. When physiological needs and safety needs are, by and large, taken care of, a third layer starts to show up. You begin to feel the need for friends, a sweetheart, children, affectionate relationships in general, even a sense of community. Looked at negatively, you become increasing susceptible to loneliness and social anxieties.

In our day-to-day life, we exhibit these needs in our desires to marry, have a family, be a part of a community, a member of a church, a brother in the fraternity, a part of a gang or a bowling club. It is also a part of what we look for in a career.

4. The esteem needs. Next, we begin to look for a little self-esteem. This refers to the valuation given to oneself by other people. Maslow noted two versions of esteem needs, a lower one and a higher one. The lower one is the need for the respect of others, the need for status, fame, glory, recognition, attention, reputation, appreciation, dignity, even dominance. The higher form involves the need for self-respect, including such feelings as confidence, competence, achievement, mastery, independence, and freedom. Note that this is the “higher” form because, unlike the respect of others, once you have self-respect, it’s a lot harder to lose!

5. Self-actualization - While other needs can be met fully,, self-actualization is seen as "growing", i.e. as a continuing driving force. is the instinctoid need of a human to make the most of their unique abilities. Maslow described it as:

A musician must make music, the artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be. This need we may call self-actualization.

Q: Situation: Man is a biopsychosocial and spiritual being.

1. Maslow’s need theory provided conceptual framework for:

A. Diagnosing client’s problems.

B. Using the nursing process to meet client’s needs

C. Prioritizing level of client’s wellness

D. Achieving optimum health status of client

2. Which statement abouth the heirarchy of basic human needs is incorrect:

A. Hospitalized clients have basic needs that are actually not met

B. Needs not met places individual at risk of illness

C. Priorities to basic needs are the same for all individuals.

D. Social factors influence ability to meet needs

3. What factor most influence prioritization of client’s needs:

A. Dictates of the family

B. Perception of comfort

C. Perception of needs.

D. Number of client problems

4. These are characteristic of individuals who have achieved self-actualization, except:

A. Solves own problems

B. Readily accepts suggestions from others

C. Enjoys privacy

D. Selects friends.

C. Social Theory:

a. Erik Erikson – psychosocial stages

additional reference - Erikson

Stage (age)	Psychosocial crisis	Significant relations	Psychosocial modalities	Psychosocial virtues	Maladaptations & malignancies
I (0-1) -- infant	trust vs mistrust	mother	to get, to give in return	hope, faith	sensory distortion -- withdrawal
II (2-3) -- toddler	autonomy vs shame and doubt	parents	to hold on, to let go	will, determination	impulsivity -- compulsion
III (3-6) -- preschooler	initiative vs guilt	family	to go after, to play	purpose, courage	ruthlessness -- inhibition
IV (7-12 or so) -- school-age child	industry vs inferiority	neighborhood and school	to complete, to make things together	competence	narrow virtuosity -- inertia
V (12-18 or so) -- adolescence	ego-identity vs role-confusion	peer groups, role models	to be oneself, to share oneself	fidelity, loyalty	fanaticism -- repudiation
VI (the 20’s) -- young adult	intimacy vs isolation	partners, friends	to lose and find oneself in a another	love	promiscuity -- exclusivity
VII (late 20’s to 50’s) -- middle adult	generativity vs self-absorption	household, workmates	to make be, to take care of	care	overextension -- rejectivity
VIII (50’s and beyond) -- old adult	integrity vs despair	mankind or “my kind”	to be, through having been, to face not being	wisdom	presumption -- despair

According to Erickson’s theory on Personality Development of a school age child is:

A. Identity vs. role confusion

B. Industry vs inferiority

C. Autonomy vs. doubt

D. Initiative vs. guilt

According to Erickson, the major issue of the adolescent years is the:

A. Resolution of the crisis of personal identity

B. Formation of romantic relationship

C. Establishment of a career

D. Achievement of independence

Course Outline: prelims | midterm | finals