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Notes Class-11
CH-1 Psychology
What is Psychology ? NCERT Book

by SHWETA

1) What is psychology
MEANING:

Term psychology is derived from two Greek words: psyche

meaning soul and logos meaning science or study of a subject.
Thus meaning of psychology was, study of soul and mind. This
definition of psychology was used in earlier times.
Gradually psychology became a scientific discipline and definition
of psychology became: psychology scientifically studies mental
processes, experiences and behavior in different contexts, of
individual, dyadic (two person) group, and organizational, by
using biological and social science methods.

Three main terms in this definition are: mental processes, experiences

and behavior.

Mental processes:

is activities of mind or mental processes or states of

consciousness or awareness, such as remembering, learning,
 knowing, perceiving, feeling.

Experiences:

are someone’s own understanding and observation about

anything.
Experiences are subjective in nature, as they are someone’s
personal point of view, observation and understanding and cannot
be seen by others directly.
Experiences are influenced by internal and external conditions. For
example, 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 picnic with some close friends.

Behaviors: (association between stimulus and response)

Behaviors are doing an activity, & responding & reacting to

something.
Two types of behaviors are: covert and overt.
Overt behavior can be seen or sensed by others. For example,
blinking of eyes when something approaching/ hurled at you.
Covert behaviors cannot be seen by others. For example, increased
heart rate when receive the question paper in exams. Increase of
heart rate is covert behavior as it cannot be seen by others, and
increasing heart rate is a response to the stimulus, which is
question paper here.
All types of behaviors are triggered or associated with: (a) stimulus
in the environment. Stimulus is any object, event or situation in
environment which triggers or initiate a behavior. and (b) internal
changes.

PSYCHOLOGY AS A DISCIPLINE:

First laboratory of psychology in 1879 in Leipzig by Wilhelm Wundt.

Principles and concepts of psychology are borrowed from various
disciplines like, philosophy, social and cultural sciences,
neuroscience, biology, computer science, etc.
For example, in psychology we study about human’s social relation
and culture, and human behavior has a biological causes.
 That’s why psychology was not considered as a separate discipline
but a common sensical knowledge in earlier times.

PSYCHOLOGY AS A NATURAL SCIENCE

The natural sciences seek to understand how the world and

universe around us works. Five major branches: astronomy,
physics, chemistry, Earth science, and biology.
These branches developed from hypothetico-deductive model.
The model suggests that scientific advancement can take place if
you have a theory to explain a phenomenon.
Similarly, theories in psychology are developed, based on the
following steps.
Theory is formed by: (a) first, proposing hypothesis, a tentative
explanation of the phenomenon. (b) secondly, hypothesis is tested
tested and proved true or false based on data collected. (c)then, if
hypothesis is not proved or proved false then, the theory is
revised.

PSYCHOLOGY AS A SOCIAL SCIENCE

Psychology studies the behavior of human beings in their socio-

cultural contexts because there is relationship between a person’s
nature, experience and mental processes with their social and
physical environment and humans create their socio-cultural
contexts.

2) Understanding mind and behavior

 Behaviors are doing an activity, & responding & reacting to
something. Mind is within brain and cannot be seen physically, but
all mental processes take place in mind. Mind is different from
brain.
There is relationship between the mind and the body. For
example, when you think of any positive moment of life, you feel
happiness and positive and your body becomes energetic and you
do any work with happiness. Thinking is a process of mind and
becoming energetic is behavior as there is change in bodily
processes.
This relationship between the mind and the body is shown by
Ornish in number of studies with his patients. In these studies a
person with blocked arteries was made to visualize or imagine that
blood was flowing through her/his blocked arteries. After
practicing this over a period of time, significant relief was obtained
by these patients as the degree of blockage became significantly
less.
Mental imagery was used in these studies. Mental imagery is
images generated by a person in her/his mind This is also used to
cure various kinds of phobias (irrational fears of objects and
situations).
A new discipline, Psychoneuroimmunology has emerged which
emphasizes on the role played by the mind in strengthening the
immune system.

3) Popular notions about the discipline of psychology

Regarding human behavior many popular theories based on

common sense or the layman explanations became popular.
That means psychology was never considered a separate discipline
in earlier times instead it was considered a common sense which is
present in everyone and everyone should behave based on the
common sense but gradually various scientific experiments and
researches were conducted to prove psychology as a separate and
scientific discipline.
 Psychology is not just a common sense but instead a proper
scientific explanation about the human behavior.
Because of these scientific explanations the myths and
misunderstandings regarding psychology was solved and the
common sensical knowledge of psychology or human behavior was
replaced by a scientific and proper definitions of psychology.

4) Evolution of psychology

1) Structuralism:

developed by Wilhelm Wunt.

It focuses on analyzing the structure of mind by using
introspection technique. Introspection is a procedure in which a
person themselves described in detail about themselves.

2) Functionalism:

it was developed by William James.

It focuses on: (a) studying the human mind, (b) studying what the
mind is and (c)studying how people behave to deal with their
environment

3) Gestalt psychology:

developed by Kohler, Koffka and Wertheimer.

This school was established as the reaction to structuralism.
This focuses on the organization of perceptual experiences that
means on what basis and how does a human being organized or
forms one’s own perceptual experiences or perception.
Instead of focusing or studying the mind or the inside of a human
being the Gestalt psychologist focuses on the outside world of the
human being.
That is on the basis of the outside world, how does a human being
forms their perceptual experiences and the human being does not
focus only on one part of the stimulus but on the whole stimulus
or on the whole object.
 For example, when you see a video or a movie it is actually the
movement of the still pictures which is so fast that we see or
perceive it as a movie or one video but instead it is a collection of a
number of still images or photos.

4) Behaviorism:

developed by John Watson.

John Watson was influenced by the work of Ivan Pavlov on
classical conditioning and as a reaction to structuralism,
behaviorism was formed.
According to John Watson psychology is a scientific study which
focuses on anything that is observable and verifiable and not on
the mind, which is not seen or observed by others.

5) Psychoanalysis:

founded by Sigmund Freud. Sigmund Freud is considered a very

famous personality in psychology.
According to Freud, psychoanalysis are collection of those
techniques which help in treating psychological disorders.
Sigmund Freud's theory is basically called psychodynamic, which
is based on dynamic functions of unconscious desires and
conflicts within a human being.

6) Humanism:

founders of humanism are call Rogers and Abraham Maslow. it is

considered a positive view of human nature.
It focuses on: (a) first, human needs which are achieved step-by-
step as the previous or one need of the individual fulfills which is
because of the (b) second, that is free will of the human being
motivates them or encourages them to reach the inner potential.

7) Cognitive perspective:

formed with the combination of Gestalt and structuralism.

it focuses on how the individual understands the world around
them it includes cognition which is, all the mental processes like
 thinking understanding perceiving memorizing solving a problem
etc.

8) Constructivism:

developed or extended from the cognitive perspective.

according to constructivism, human being is continuously involved
in exploring their physical and social environment.
the famous personality of constructivism are Jean Piaget and Lev
Vygotsky, they have worked on child development.

5) Development of psychology in India

The development of psychology in India is influenced by Western

perspective.
In Calcutta University: (a) Psychology as a subject was introduced
first in India under the department of philosophy in which
experimental psychology was introduced. (b) First psychological
laboratory in India was established in 1915. (c)department of
psychology was introduced in year 1916 and department of
applied psychology was introduced in 1938. (d) experimental
psychology was influenced by doctor N.N. Sengupta who was
trained in experimental tradition under Wilhelm Wundt.
 Professor G boss was trained in Freudian psychoanalysis &
established Indian psycho analytic association in 1922
Durganand Sinha published his book: “Psychology in a Third World
Country: the Indian Experience” in 1986
In which he described 4 phases of psychological history in India:
1. first phase was till independence in this phase the emphasis was
on experimental, psychonalitic and psychological testing research.
2. second phase was till 1960s in which the psychology expanded in
different branches in India
3. Third phase was Post 1960's phase which was named as problem
oriented research which focused on: (a) first the problems of
Indian society and (b) second limiting the excessive dependency
on Western psychology. and this excessive Western psychological
perspective was decreased in the fourth and the last phase
4. fourth phase was indigenization which started in late 1970s. The
focus in this phase was, the need to understand Indian culture and
Indian society. In this phase traditional Indian psychology was
established which developed from ancient Indian texts and
scriptures basically in this phase Indian psychology established
which was based on Indian texts and scriptures and this was
established keeping in mind the Indian population and culture.
Gradually psychology spread in India and psychologists started to
work with children having special problems, in corporate
organizations as HR and advertising departments in sports and in
IT and developmental sector psychologist started to work.

6) Branches of psychology

cognitive, biological & neurology, developmental, social, cultural,

developmental, health, clinical & counseling, industrial/organizational,
educational, sports, and other emerging branches of psychology.

1. cognitive psychology: in this the focus is on mental processes and

cognitive processes. Mental processes are acquisition that is
learning, storage that is retention, manipulation etc. Cognitive
 processes are attention, perception, memory, reasoning, problem
solving, decision-making and language.
2. biological psychology: this branch focuses on the relationship
between behavior & physical system like brain nervous system
immune system genetics etc. with psychological functions and
human behavior. In biological psychology, there is an emerging
branch called neuropsychology which focuses on the relationship
of brain and nervous system with psychological processes.
3. developmental Psychology: this focuses on social physical and
psychological changes in people in every stage of their life, like,
child and adolescent development and adult development and
aging.
4. social psychology: this focuses on how- (a) the social environment
affect a person, (b) how people think in the social setting, and (c)
how this thinking of people influence each other. Topics studied in
this branch are, attitude, confirmation and obedience to authority,
inter personal attraction, helpful behavior that is prosocial
behavior, prejudice, aggression, social motivation, integral
relationships, etc.
5. cross-cultural and cultural psychology: this focuses on the role of
culture to understand the behavior, thought and emotions of a
human being
6. environmental psychology: which studies the interaction of
physical factors and physical arrangements with human being.
Physical factors are temperature, humidity, pollution, natural
disaster and physical arrangement can be workplace, emotional
state, inter- personal relationship, etc.
7. health psychology: Health psychology focuses on the role of
psychological factors like stress and anxiety on the development
of physical illness, prevention of physical illness, and treatment of
physical illness.
8. clinical and counseling psychology: this includes dealing with
causes, treating and preventing different psychological disorders
like clinical depression, anxiety disorder, eating disorders, etc.
Clinical and counseling psychology are different fields, and also
 there is a field called psychiatry which is also different from clinical
and counseling psychology.
9. industrial/organizational psychology: this field deals with- (a)
workplace behavior of workers and organization, (b) industrial
organizational psychologist work for training the employees,
(c)improving the work conditions, and (d) developing selecting
criteria for employees.
10. educational psychology: it studies that how can people of all age
learn and the educational psychologists help to develop
instructional methods and materials to train people in educational
and work settings. A relevant field in educational psychology is,
school psychology, which focuses on designing the programs to
increase intelligence, social and emotional development in
children including those with special needs.
11. sports psychology: in this psychological principles and
phenomena are used to improve the sports performance of the
players by enhancing or encouraging their motivation.
12. other emerging branches of psychology: because psychology is
an emerging field, so development in psychology is an ongoing
process. Other branches of psychology are aviation psychology,
military psychology, rural psychology, engineering psychology,
managerial psychology, community psychology, psychology of
woman, political psychology, media psychology etc.
7) Psychology and other disciplines

All those discipline which deals with human behavior are relevant with
psychology. There are 8 such disciplines: philosophy; medicine;
economics, political science and sociology; computer science; law &
criminology; mass communication; music & fine arts; and architecture &
engineering.

1. philosophy: philosophers were concerns about nature of the human

mind or how do humans come to know their motivations and emotions.
In 19th century, Wundt and other psychologists experimented on these
questions and contemporary psychology emerged
2. medicine: doctors realized that healthy body requires a healthy mind.
That is patients need both physical treatments & psychological
counselling to motivate and encourage patients to obey the doctors’
prescribed diets, medicines, and regular checkups.
3. Economics, Political Science and Sociology: Psychology has
contributed to the study of micro-level economic behavior to
understand - consumer behavior, savings behavior and in decision-
making. Political science & psychology, studies issues related to
exercise of power and authority, nature of political conflicts and their
resolutions, and voting behavior. Sociology and psychology explain and
understand the behavior of individuals within different socio-cultural
contexts.
4. Computer Science: Computer scientists and engineers are trying to
make computers intelligent and make them to sense and feel with help
of cognitive psychology.
5. Law and Criminology: psychologists researches on how well a witness
remembers any accident, a street fight, or a murder, factors influencing
the decision of the jury, the dependable signs of guilt and falsehood
like body language of the culprit.
6. Mass Communication: media psychology studies the major influence of
media on human beings’ thinking, attitudes and emotions; & developing
strategies for better and effective communication.
7. Music and Fine Arts: psychologists, scientists, & musicians studies the
impact of music on human beings’ emotions ad moods.
8. Architecture and Engineering: in engineering, psychological knowledge
helps in designing of all mechanical devices and displays. Architects
uses psychological concepts to understand clients needs to satisfy
clients by providing mental and physical space through her design and
satisfy aesthetically.

8) Psychology in Everyday Life

Psychology deals with human mind, human nature, & also offer
solutions to a variety of problems, like personal, family, or social
problems. Social problems can be relating to social change and
development, population, poverty, interpersonal or intergroup
violence, and environmental degradation, etc.
Psychology offer solutions to variety of problems because they result
from unhealthy thinking, negative attitude towards people and self and
undesirable patterns of behavior.
Psychologists work in diverse settings such as schools, hospitals,
industries, prisons, business organizations, military establishments, and
in private practice as consultants helping people solve problems in
their respective settings.
For example, to study for exam, psychological concepts related to
learning and memory might help; & to deal with examination stress,
psychological techniques related stress management can help.
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