INTRODUCTION TO

PSYCHOLOGY
BY : BHAGWATI SINGH

214238

MAJOR
 PSYCHOLOGY

• Psyche is a Greek word, which means soul and logos means study of a subject.
• Psychology was earlier regarded as the study of soul or mind. Then Psychology was
considered as a study of consciousness. But since then it has moved from this focus and
now deals with processes underlying human behaviour and experience.
 DEFINITION

• Psychology is defined as a science which studies mental processes, experiences and

behaviour in different contexts and explain how different mental processes result in
different behaviours and how experiences affect our behaviour.
• MENTAL PROCESSES : Mental processes are related to brain. For example, learning,
remembering, feeling, etc.
• EXPERIENCES : Psychologists also study experiences of people. Experiences are
subjective. Everyone has different experiences at different times. For eg. If you are
travelling in a crowded bus during a hot summer day, you may not experience the usual
discomfort if you are going for a picinic with some close friends.
• BEHAVIOUR : Behaviour is a response or reaction we make or activities we engage in.
• STIMULUS : An occurrence or event that produces some effect on some organism.
• RESPONSE : Any behaviour of a living organism that results from an external or internal stimulus.
• When something is hurled at you, your eyes blink in a simple reflex action. Some behaviours are overt which
can be seen by an observer and some are internal or covert.
• For eg.While giving exams, you may look calm outside(overt) but inside your heart is thumping (covert), you
are nervous.
 A SCIENCE

• In general, we may call the nature of a subject scientific, if it fulfils the following criteria :
• Possesses a body of facts and is able to support it through universal laws and principles.
• It emphasizes on search for truth.
• Believes in cause and effect relationship.
• Adopts the method of objective investigation, systematic and controlled observation, and scientific
approach.
• Helps in predicting the future development.
• There are some necessary facts which should be present in a subject to make it a science and all these facts are proven
to be present in Psychology.
• SCIENTIFIC METHODS : Most of the methods of Psychology are scientific. Scientific methods like experimental,
observational, statistical, mathematical and psychometric methods are used in psychology.
• VERIFIABILITY : The subject method of psychology is verifiable because as many times the subject matter is studied, it
gives the similar results.
• OBJECTIVITY : When a number of observers observe a phenomena in psychology, they all reach at similar results, it is
said that the obtained results are objective.
• UNIVERSALITY : The principles of scientific subjects are universal. For the principle to be universal, it should be
scientific, verifialble and objective. Since the subject matter of psychology has the quality of verifiability, objectivity and
uses, scientific methods, it can be said that they are universal.
 NATURE

• Psychology is the scientific study and practical application of observable behavior and mental processes of
organisms. Psychology differs from other social sciences such as: Sociology, History, or Economics, because
psychology specifically deals with the study of an individual. The other social sciences will study groups, or history.
Psychology is less a science of reported findings, it attempts asks and answers questions using observable behavior
and what can be determined as mental processes of the subject.
• The subject matter of psychology is, affect, behavior, and cognition. The affect for psychology is the actual mental
processes that make up: moods, feeling, and emotional state.
• An example for affect would be feeling sad about something happening. Behavior includes the actually actions and
responses of organisms. Behavior can include the way we act in any given situation, for example when we get up in
the morning. The order in the way we prepare ourselves for going out into public can be categorized as our
behavior.
• Cognition is the actual mental events and the processes that result from them. Memories of an event are a great
example of an organism’s cognition.
 GOALS

• The goals of psychology are: to explain behaviors, to describe behaviors, to predict behavior, and to modify
inappropriate behaviours. Explaining behaviours would be a question similar to “Why does this happen?”, and
example of how describing behaviour could be accomplished would be asking “What causes this behavior, where
does it come from?”. Predictions can be elaborated on by asking “When will the behaviour occur?”. An example of
a behavioral modification question is “What can be changed in the environment to alter this behaviour?”
 SCOPE

• Psychology addresses a variety of issues related to mental and behavioural functioning of an individual. Such a
study helps us to develop a basic understanding about human nature and facilitates us to deal with a number of
personal and social problems.
• The study of human beings starts with the functioning of biological systems especially the nervous system.
• Under central nervous system psychology studies the functions of various parts of brain which regulate our
feelings, emotions and thinking.
• Within autonomic nervous system the role of hormones and neurotransmitters in determining our behavior is
important.
• In addition psychology studies as to how a given sociocultural environment interacts with innate biological,
intellectual and social attributes of the child and facilitates healthy development of the child.
METHODS
 OBSERVATION METHOD

• Observation as a fundamental technique of data collection, refers to watching and listening to the behaviour of
other persons over time, without manipulating and controlling it, and record findings in ways that allow some
degree of analytical interpretation and discussion. Steps of observation are :
• SELECTION :You may select a particular behaviour. For example, you may be interested to know how children in
class XI spend their time in school.You might prepare a list of activities and go to school with a view to find out
their occurrences. According to W.J. Goode and R.K. Hatt , “ Science begins with observations, must ultimately
return to observation for its final validation.”
• RECORDING : While observing a researcher records the selected behaviour.
• ANALYSIS OF DATA : Psychologists analyze whatever has been recorded with a view to derive some meaning out
of it.
 CHARACTERISTICS

• Observation usually occurs in natural settings although it can be used in laboratory also.
• It captures significant events that affect the relations among persons being studied.
• It identifies important recurrences in social life by comparing and contrasting the data obtained from various
natural settings.
•
 TYPES

• UNCONTROLLED/INFORMAL/UNSYSTEMATIC OBSERVATION : It is a type of casual observation in

natural conditions. No control is put over natural conditions. A psychologist observing the behaviour of people on
a railway platform without any explicit principles and procedures is an example of unsystematic observation. It is
also called naturalistic observation.
• CONTROLLED OBSERVATION/SYSTEMATIC/FORMAL OBSERVATION : When the observer and
phenomena both are kept under control and observed then it is called controlled observation. A psychologist
studying aggressive behaviour of children in their play group with some objective and explicit principles decided
beforehand is an example. Another example is study of students during exams. Time, date and place are pre
decided
• PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION : a quasi-experimental research method in which a trained investigator
studies a preexisting group by joining it as a member, while avoiding a conspicuous role that would alter
the group processes and bias the data. The researcher’s role may be known or unknown to the other
members of the group. In a study, the observer posed as a patient in a psychiatric hospital and later
provided a good account of the experiences.
• NON PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION : Non-participant Observation involves observing
participants without actively participating. This option is used to understand a phenomenon
by entering the community or social system involved, while staying separate from the
activities being observed. Observer preplans the likely nature of the natural setting,
representativeness of data, problems associated with the presence of the investigator etc.
modern equipments like secret cameras, video recording etc. may also serve such purpose.
 EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

• STEPS IN AN EXPERIMENT :
• PROBLEM: It is necessary to have a problem before beginning an experiment. A problem is an
interrogative sentence that asks what relation exists between two or more variables.
• RESEARCH : We have to do research on that variable as to what all has been discussed about that
problem.This is done on the basis of review of past research, observations and personal experiences. Eg.
Researcher wants to study the study habits of students. They may identify different facets of study habits
and then decide whether he/she is interested in study habits shown in the class or home.
• HYPOTHESIS : Hypothesis is an assumption. Eg. Based on the earlier evidence or your observation, you
might develop a hypothesis ‘ Greater is the amount of time spent by kids in viewing violence on t.v,
higher is the degree of aggression displayed by them. In the research one will try to prove whether the
statement is true or false.
• METHOD OF STUDY :The experimenter decides about the design of the
experiment, subjects (participants), variables, (i.e. both independent and
dependent), apparatus, tools, instructions to be given etc.
• COLLECTING & ANALYZING DATA : On the basis of the study, data is
collected and with the help of statistics, data is analyzed.
• CONCLUSIONS : With the help of graphical representation such as bar
diagrams, pie charts etc. analysis of data is done to verify hypothesis and draw
conclusions accordingly.
 VARIABLES

• Any stimulus or event which varies, i.e. it takes on different values (or changes) & can be measured is a variable
• TYPES :
• INDEPENDENT : A factor manipulated by the experimenter in his attempt to ascertain its relationship to an
observed phenomenon. It is a variable which is systematically changed in an experiment.
• DEPENDENT : A factor that varies (appears or disappears) as the experimenter introduces the independent
variable. It is the variable that is measured in an experiment.
 EXPERIMENTAL GROUP

• An experimental group is a group in which members of the group are exposed to

independent variable manipulation.
 CONTROL GROUP

• The control group is a comparison group that is treated in every way like the experimental group except that the
manipulated variable is absent in it.
• Eg.We wish to study the effect of fear stimuli. In the psychological laboratory, all necessary arrangements of
instruments and material necessary for the study of the fear responses of the subject in the form of changes in
respiration, pulse, heartbeat, blood pressure, digestive system, facial expression etc. will be made.
• The control group’s readings are observed in the natural conditions without introducing independent variable i.e
fear stimulus ( loud noise). In the experimental group, independent variable (loud noise which can be varied) is
introduced and changes in respiration, heartbeat, blood pressure etc. are observed.
 QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY

• The questionnaire is the most common, simple, versatile, and low cost self report method of collecting
information.
• It consists of pre determined set of questions.
• The respondent has to read the questions and mark the answers on paper rather than respond verbally to the
interviewer.
• They are in some ways like highly structured interviews.
• USES : The questionnaire is used for collecting background and demographic information, information about past
behaviour, attitudes and opinions, knowledge about a particular topic, and expectations and aspirations of the
persons.
 TYPES OF QUESTIONS

• Generally, two types of questions are used in the questionnaire : open-ended and close-ended
• With open-ended questions, the respondent is free to write whatever answer he/she considers appropriate.
• In the close-ended type, the questions and their probable answers are given and the respondent is required to select the
correct answer.
• Eg. Of close ended questions require responses like yes/no, true or false, multiple choice, or using a rating scale. In case
of rating scale, a statement is given and the respondent is asked to giver his/her views on 3 point( AGREE, UNDECIDED,
DISAGREE), or 5 point ( STRONGLY AGREE, AGREE, UNDECIDED, DISAGREE, STRONGLY DISAGREE) or 7 point, 9
point, 11 point, or 13 point scale in some cases the participants are asked to rank a number of things in a preferential
order
• Disadvantages: sometimes a survey is conducted by sending the questionnaire by mail. The main problem of a mailed
questionnaire is poor response from the respondents. This method of survey is not successful with children.