Introduction To Psychology

Prof.Neeta Pereira
Introduction
Seven thousand years ago people assumed that
psychological problems were caused by evil spirits.
Trephining- Chipping a hole in a patient’s skull with
crude instruments.
Descartes – Nerves were hollow tubes through which
‘animal spirits’ conducted impulses.
Franz Josef Gall- Trained observer could discern
Intelligence, moral character and other basic
personality traits from shape and bumps on person’s
skull. (Phernology)
TREPHINING
 Phrenology
The detailed study of the shape and size of the
cranium as a supposed indication of character and
mental abilities.
Definition
16th Century
The term Psychology was coined by Rudolf Glucenius
(1590) from two greek words – “Psyche’ meaning ‘soul’
and ‘logos’ meaning ‘study’. Psychology was thus the
study of the soul.
Definition discarded.
19 Century
th

In 1890, William James defined Psychology as ‘The

science of mental health; including such phenomena
as feelings, desires, reasoning, cognitions etc.
Discarded as does not study directly observable
behaviour.
20 Century
th

Feldman defined Psychology as

the scientific study of behaviour
and mental processes.
Morgan and King defined psychology as the
scientific study of human and animal
behaviour; it includes the application of this
science to human problems.
Psychology is a science
A science is a body of systematized
knowledge that is gathered by carefully
observing and measuring events.
Experiments- Quantitative
measurements, which can be verified.
Human behaviour
Behaviour includes any activity that can be observed,
measured and recorded. Behaviour includes sleeping,
running, changes in blood pressure etc.
Also includes mental processes that can be gauged
such as thoughts, emotions, motivations, perceptions,
dreams, memories and beliefs.
Animal behaviour
Animal behaviour is studied to give a greater
understanding of human behaviour.
Application of this science to human
problems
The applied side of psychology involves the use of
knowledge to solve real life problems. This application
is a skill or an art acquired by study, practice and
special experience.
- Eg: Intelligence tests
 Goals of Psychology
Description
Explanation
Prediction
Control
Description
The first step in understanding anything is to give it a
name.
Description involves observing a behaviour and noting
everything about it.
- What is happening
- Where it happens
- Trigger
Explanation
Explanation for the behaviour.
Finding explanations for behaviour is an important
step in the process of forming theories of behaviour.
The goal of description provides the observations, and
the goal of explanation helps to build the theory.
Prediction
What will happen in the future.
Control
Control, or the modification of some behaviour, is to
change a behaviour from an undesirable to a desirable
one.
Such efforts also include attempts at improving quality
of life.
Structuralism and Functionalism
Introduction
When psychology was first established as a science
separate from biology and philosophy, the debate over
how to describe and explain the human mind and
behaviour began.
The first two major schools of psychology to emerge
during this time were known as structuralism and
functionalism.
The formal beginnings of Psychology as a science is
generally set at 1879, when Wilhelm Wudnt
established in Liepzig, Germany, the first experimental
laboratory devoted to psychological phenomena.
At about the same time, William James was setting up
his laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
When Wilhelm Wundt set up the first Psychology
laboratory in 1879, his aim was to study the building
blocks of the mind.
He considered Psychology to be the study of conscious
experience, and he developed a perspective that came
to be known as structuralism.
Structuralism focused on the basic elements that
constitute the foundation of perception,
consciousness, thinking, emotions, and other kinds of
mental states of activities.
Wudnt and other structuralists used a procedure
called introspection to study the mind.
In introspection, people were presented with a
stimulus- such as a bright green object or a sentence
printed on a card- and were asked to describe, in their
own words in much detail as they could manage, what
they were experiencing.
Analysing these reports people offered of their
reactions, psychologists could come to better
understand the structure of the mind.
Drawbacks
Not a scientific method
People had difficulty in describing some kinds of inner
experiences. (emotional experiences)
Structuralism emerged as the first school of thought
and some of the ideas associated with the structuralist
school were advocated by the founder of the first
psychology lab, Wilhelm Wundt.
One of Wundt's students, a man named Edward B.
Titchener, would later go on to formally establish and
name structuralism, although he broke away from
many of Wundt's ideas and at times even
misrepresented the teachings of his mentor.
Almost immediately other theories surfaced to vie for
dominance in psychology. In response to
structuralism, an American perspective known as
functionalism emerged from thinkers such as William
James.
While Wundt's work helped to establish psychology as
a separate science and contributed methods to
experimental psychology,
In 1906, Mary Whiton Calkins published an article
in Psychological Review asking for a reconciliation
between these two schools of thought.
Structuralism and functionalism were not so different,
she argued, since both are principally concerned with
the conscious self.
Despite this, each side continued to cast aspersions on
the other. William James wrote that structuralism had
"plenty of school, but no thought" (James, 1904), while
Wilhelm Wundt dismissed functionalism as
"literature" rather than science.
Eventually, both of these schools of thought lost
dominance in psychology, replaced by the rise of
behaviorism, psychoanalysis, and humanism through
the beginning and middle part of the twentieth
century.
Criticisms of Structuralism

By today’s scientific standards, the

experimental methods used to study the structures of
the mind were too subjective—the use of
introspection led to a lack of reliability in results.
Other critics argue that structuralism was too
concerned with internal behavior, which is not directly
observable and cannot be accurately measured.
However, these critiques do not mean that
structuralism lacked significance. Structuralism is
important because it is the first major school of
thought in psychology. The structuralist school also
influenced the development of experimental
psychology.
Functionalism

Functionalism formed as a reaction to structuralism

and was heavily influenced by the work of
William James .
Functionalists sought to explain the mental processes
in a more systematic and accurate manner.
Rather than focusing on the elements of
consciousness, functionalists focused on
the purpose of consciousness and behavior.
 Functionalism also emphasized individual
differences, which had a profound impact on
education.
Some of the important functionalist thinkers included
William James, John Dewey, Harvey Carr and John
Angell.
StrengthsandCriticismsofFunctionalism

Functionalism was criticized perhaps most famously

by Wundt. "It is literature. It is beautiful, but it is not
psychology," he said of functionalist William
James’ The Principles of Psychology.
Functionalism was an important influence on
psychology. It influenced the development of
behaviorism and applied psychology.
Functionalism also influenced the educational system,
especially with regards to John Dewey’s belief that
children should learn at the level for which they are
developmentally prepared.
GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY
Major Gestalt Psychologists

Max Wertheimer
Kurt Koffka
Wolfgang Kohler
When trying to make sense of the world around us,
Gestalt psychology suggests that we do not simply
focus on every small component.
 Our minds tend to perceive objects as part of a greater
whole and as elements of more complex systems.
Originating in the work of Max Wertheimer, Gestalt
psychology formed partially as a response to the
structuralism of Wilhelm Wundt.
The guiding principle behind the Gestalt movement
was that the whole was greater than the sum of its
parts.
Have you ever noticed how a series of flashing lights
often appears to be moving, such as neon signs or
strands of Christmas lights?
According to Gestalt psychology, this apparent
movement happens because our minds fill in missing
information. This belief that the whole is greater than
the sum of the individual parts led to the discovery of
several different phenomena that occur during
perception.
LAWS OF PERCEPTUAL
ORGANISATION
Law of Proximity
Law of Similarity
Law of Continuity
Figure and ground
Closure
LAW OF PROXMITY
Law of Proxmity
Objects that are close to each other tend to be
perceived as one group.
LAW OF SIMILARITY
LAW OF SIMILARITY
Units that resemble each other in shape, size, color or
direction will be seen together as a homogeneous
grouping. (of the same kind)
LAW OF CONTUNITY
LAW OF CONTINUITY
Describes our tendency to perceive objects that seem
to have a relationship to each other as being
continuous.
For example, we perceive the pattern below as two
lines crossing rather than as two angles joined at their
apexes
FIGURE AND GROUND
Figure–ground organization is a type of perceptual
grouping which is a vital necessity for recognizing
objects through vision.
In Gestalt psychology it is known as identifying
a figure from the background. For example, you see
words on a printed paper as the "figure" and the white
sheet as the "background".
CLOSURE
LAW OF CLOSURE
Gestalt psychologists believe that the brain tends to
perceive forms and figures in their complete
appearance despite the absence of one or more of their
parts, either hidden or totally absent. This refers to the
law of closure.
 Psychoanalytical theory:

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939):

 Fundamental Assumptions of
Psychoanalytic Theory

 The Basic Instincts

 Unconscious Motivation
 Psychic Determinism
 started with the basic premise that if the problems were
 Freud

caused by abnormalities in the body, they must originate from

abnormalities of the “mind” (psyche)

 He suggested the normal human mind was made up of three

levels:
1. Conscious: what you are aware of at any particular moment, your present perceptions,
memories, thoughts, fantasies, feelings
2. Preconscious: subjective material that can easily be brought into conscious awareness but
of which you are not aware most of the time
3. Unconscious: thoughts, feelings, and motivations of which we are completely unaware

 Behavior originates from the unconscious

 THE UNCONSCIOUS

 Id: made up of unconscious psychic energy that works to satisfy

basic physiological needs
- operates based on the pleasure principle, which demands
immediate gratification of needs
- two most influential Id impulses: sex and aggression
“ Analyse any human emotion, no matter how far it may be
removed from the sphere of sex, and you are sure to discover
somewhere the primal impulse, to which life owes its
perpetuation. ... The primitive stages can always be re-established;
the primitive mind is, in the fullest meaning of the word,
imperishable.” (Sigmund Freud, 1915).
 “Mans most disagreeable habits and idiosyncrasies, his deceit, his cowardice, his lack of
reverence, are engendered by his incomplete adjustment to a complicated civilisation. It is the result of
the conflict between our instincts and our culture. “ (Freud, 1927)

 Ego: part of personality that mediates the demands of the id, the
superego and reality
- The ego operates according to the Reality Principle, working our
realistic ways of satisfying the id’s demands, often compromising or
postponing satisfaction.
- The ego has no concept of right or wrong; something is good simply
if it achieves its end of satisfying without causing harm to itself or
to the id.
 Superego: part of the mind that houses morals/values

- conscience can punish the ego through causing feelings of guilt or

shame, reward us by feeling proud when we live up to it
- ego ideal: ultimate standard of behavior as a “good” member of
society.
The interaction of these three parts of ourselves is characterized
by conflict
 How Does our Mind Develop?

 The Psychosexual Stages of Development

 Freud felt our development was driven by sexual energy, or
libido
 At particular points in the developmental process, a single body
part is particularly sensitive to sexual, erotic stimulation, and is
referred to as the erogenous zone
 The child's libido centers on behavior affecting the primary
erogenous zone of his age; he cannot focus on the primary
erogenous zone of the next stage without resolving the
developmental conflict of the immediate one.
– A child at a given stage of development has certain needs and
demands- either frustration or overindulgence results in fixation,
where the person gets “stuck” in that stage
– the method of obtaining satisfaction which characterized the stage
one is fixated in will dominate and affect his adult personality.

1. Oral stage: (birth-18 months): erogenous zone is the mouth and

sucking and biting lead to satisfaction
- frustration: pessimism, envy, suspicion and sarcasm
- overindulgence: optimistic, gullible, and is full of
admiration for others around him
- primary conflict: “weaning” : deprives the child of the
sensory pleasures of nursing and of the psychological
pleasure of being cared for, mothered, and held
2. Anal Stage (18-36 months): obsession with the erogenous zone of
the anus and with the retention or expulsion of the feces- conflict
with parents/societal pressures

- anal expulsive character: messy, disorganized, reckless,

careless, and defiant.
- anal retentive character: neat, precise, orderly, careful,
stingy, withholding, obstinate, meticulous, and passive-aggressive
- The resolution of the anal stage permanently affects
the individual propensities to possession and attitudes
towards authority.
3. Phallic Stage: (3- 6 years): The phallic stage is the setting for the
greatest, most crucial sexual conflict in Freud's model of development. In
this stage, the child's erogenous zone is the genital region.

- The conflict, labeled the Oedipus complex (The Electra

complex in women), involves the child's unconscious desire to
possess the opposite-sexed parent and to eliminate the same-sexed
one.
 Freud was attempting to demonstrate that the boys
(Little Hans) fear of horses was related to his Oedipus
complex. Freud thought that, during the phallic stage
(approximately between 3 and 6 years old), a boy
develops an intense sexual love for his mothers. Because
of this, he sees his father as a rival, and wants to get rid of
him. The father, however, is far bigger and more
powerful than the young boy, and so the child develops a
fear that, seeing him as a rival, his father will castrate
him.
 Because it is impossible to live with the continual
castration-threat anxiety provided by this conflict, the
young boy develops a mechanism for coping with it,
using a defense mechanism known as 'identification
with the aggressor'. He stresses all the ways that he is
similar to his father, adopting his father's attitudes,
mannerisms and actions, feeling that if his father sees
him as similar, he will not feel hostile towards him.
- Employs the defense mechanism of identification,
becoming as much like the same sex parents as
possible, indoctrinating them into their
appropriate sexual role in life.
- A lasting trace of the Oedipal conflict is
the superego
- Fixation at the phallic stage develops a
phallic character, who is reckless, resolute, self-
assured, and narcissistic--excessively vain and
proud.
- failure to resolve the conflict can also
cause a person to be afraid or incapable of close
love;
- Freud also postulated that fixation could be
a root cause of homosexuality.
Latency Period: a period in which the sexual drive lies
dormant. During the latency period, children pour this
repressed libidal energy into asexual pursuits such as
school, athletics, and same-sex friendships.

4. Genital Stage: child's energy once again focuses

on his genitals, interest turns to heterosexual
relationships. The less energy the child has left
invested in unresolved psychosexual developments, the
greater his capacity will be to develop normal
relationships with the opposite sex.
 DEFENSE MECHANISMS
 Repression: pulling into the unconscious

i.e forgetting sexual abuse from your childhood due to the trauma and anxiety

 Suppression: pushing into the unconscious

i.e trying to forget something that causes you anxiety

 Denial: arguing against an anxiety provoking stimuli by stating it
doesn't exist
i.e. denying that your physician's diagnosis of cancer is correct
and seeking a second opinion

 Displacement: taking out impulses on a less threatening target

i.e slamming a door instead of hitting as person, yelling at your

spouse after an argument with your boss
 Intellectualization: avoiding unacceptable emotions by focusing on
the intellectual aspects
i.e. focusing on the details of a funeral as opposed to the
sadness and grief
 Projection: placing unacceptable impulses in yourself onto someone else

i.e when losing an argument, you state "You're just Stupid;" homophobia
 Reaction Formation: taking the opposite belief because the true belief
causes anxiety
i.e. having a bias against a particular race or culture and then
embracing that race or culture to the extreme

 Regression: returning to a previous stage of development

i.e sitting in a corner and crying after hearing bad news; throwing a
temper tantrum when you don't get your way

 Sublimation: acting out unacceptable impulses in a socially acceptable way

i.e sublimating your aggressive impulses toward a career as a boxer;

becoming a surgeon because of your desire to cut; lifting weights to
release 'pent up' energy
Behaviourism
Pioneers in Behaviourism
Pavlov- Classical Conditioning
Thorndike- Trial & Error Learning
Kohler-Insightful Learning
Skinner- Instrumental Learning
Humanistic Psychology
Key Theorists
Abraham Maslow
Carl Rogers

Humanism
Carl Rogers
 Co-Founder of
Humanistic
Psychology with
Abraham Maslow
 Main contribution was
in clinical therapy and
applications of
Humanism
 Started Person-
Centered Psychology
Theorists
Abraham Maslow
 Co-Founder of Humanistic
Psychology with Carl Rogers
 Believed we are all
biologically driven to achieve
self-actualization
 Came up with Hierarchy of
Needs theory that is most
important humanistic
theory.
◦ http://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=gi9lGv1jJv8
Theorists
Introduction
Behaviour is not determined by biological forces or
unconscious processes or by the environment.
All individuals strive to grow, develop and be in
control of their lives and behaviour.
Each of us has the capacity to seek and reach
fulfilment.
Emphasis
According to Maslow and Rogers, people strive to
reach their full potential if given the opportunity.
Free will
Ability to make decisions on one’s own life.
What is Humanistic Psychology
 Study of Psychology that focuses on the study of the whole
person.
 Look at behavior not only through eyes of observer, but
through eyes of person.
 Study the meanings, understandings, and experiences
involved in growing, teaching, and learning
 Study how people are influenced by their self-perceptions
and the personal meanings attached to their experiences.
 Focus on peoples responses to internal needs in shaping
behavior.

Humanism
Basic Assumptions
An individuals behavior is primarily determined by
his/her perception of the world around him
 Perception: Allowsus to organize, interpret,
and act on outside stimuli based on past
experiences
Individuals are not solely the product of their
environment
Individuals are internally directed and motivated to
fulfill their human potential

Humanism
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Hierarchy of Needs
 Physiological
 Basic Human needs of survival; breathing, food, water, sex, sleep
 Safety
 Security in lives important things: health, property, family, job, etc.
 Love/Belonging
 Strong relationships: friendship, family, sexual intimacy
 Esteem
 Feeling a sense of worth/respect: Self-esteem, confidence, respect
for/by others
 Self-Actualization
 Highest point of potential: Person is moral, creative, non-prejudice,
accepting of truths (facts)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfH7inToIFM
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd7tYHqAR_8
Congruence
When there is a good fit between perceived self,
ideal self, and real self
The person has congruence and is able to move
towards self-actualization.
One of three main cogs of Roger’s PCT “machine”

Key Terms
Empathy
Capacity to recognize or understand another’s state of
mind or emotion
One of three main cogs in Rogers PCT “machine”

Key Terms
Unconditional Positive Regard
When one person (therapist) is completely accepting
toward another person.
Not just a showing of acceptance, but an attitude that
is then demonstrated through behavior.
One of three main cogs of Roger’s PCT “machine”

Key Terms
Ideal Self
Personality we would like to be.
Consists of our goals, and
ambitions.

Key Terms
Incongruence
• Having a self-concept (ideal self/perceived self) and
behavior that do not match one another.
• Makes it hard to reach self-actualization

Key Terms
Conditional Positive Regard
Positive regard rewarded based on things that
society may like, not for things that make person
better.
Leads to people only liking themselves if they
meet the standards of others

Key Terms
Strengths
Emphasizes individual choice and responsibility
Satisfies most people’s idea of what being human is
b/c it values personal ideas and self-fulfillment
Provides researchers w/flexible framework for
observing behavior b/c it considers the person
Weaknesses
Many concepts are too vague
Experiences can be taken different ways by different
individuals
 Makes conclusions formed from experiences hard to
verify
 Makes research unreliable
Not a true science b/c it involves too much common
sense and not enough objectivity
Summary
Each of us strive to grow, develop and be in control of
their lives and behaviour.
HP believes that each of us has the capacity to seek
and reach fulfilment.
Free will
Own Choice
 Self-Fulfillment
Branches of Psychology
Branches Of psychology
 General Psychology
 Clinical Psychology
 Bio–Physiological
 Social Psychology
 Child Psychology
 Developmental Psychology
 Abnormal Psychology
 Cognitive Psychology
Applied branches of psychology
Clinical Psychology- Involves the application of the
principle and theories of abnormal psychology in the
diagnosis and treatment of emotional and behavioural
problems such as: Mental problems, mental
retardation, mental disorders, alcoholism, drug
addiction.
Where does a clinical psychologist work?
Mental hospitals, Juvenile court, probation offices,
Mental health clinic, Institution for the mentally
retarded, prison, university medical school
Case history
MSE
Interviews
Developmental psychology

Developmental psychology is the scientific study of

systematic psychological changes that a person
experiences over the course of his/her life span.
Developmental psychology is often referred to as
human development.
Developmental psychology includes any psychological
factor that is studied over the life of a person,
including motor skills, problem solving, moral
understanding, acquiring language, emotions,
personality, self-concept and identity formation.
Social psychology

Social psychology uses scientific methods to

understand and explain how feeling, behavior and
thoughts of people are influenced by the actual,
imagined or implied presence of other people.
A social psychologist will look at group behavior,
social perception, non-verbal behavior, conformity,
aggression, prejudice, and leadership. Social
perception and social interaction are seen as key to
understanding social behavior.
Abnormal Psychology
Abnormal psychology is the branch
of psychology that studies unusual patterns
of behaviour, emotion and thought, which may or may
not be understood as precipitating a mental disorder
Although many behaviours could be considered
as abnormal, this branch of psychology generally deals
with behavior in a clinical context
 Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive psychologists believe that mental processes
influence the way people behave, and they believe that
these mental processes can be studied scientifically.