PSYCHOLOGY

MICHAEL MUTISYA MSC, BSC PUBLIC HEALTH (JKUAT), HND –SLP KMTC
(NRB)
Objectives in this lesson
• Define psychology
• Describe the various fields of psychology
• Describe the origin of psychology and identify people who made
significant contribution to the field
• Identify the theoretical perspectives from which today’s psychologists
view behaviour and mental processes
• Explain how pyschologistst study behaviour and mental processes
focusing on critical thinking, research methods and ethical
considerations
WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY
• PSYCHOLOGY is the scientific study of behaviour and mental
processes.
Topic of interest to psychologists include:

The nervous system Growth and development

Sensation and perception Psychological disorders
Learning and memory Ways of treating those disorders
Intelligence Sexual behaviors
Personality Behaviour of people in social
Stress and health setting such as groups or
organizations
Language
Thought
GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGY
• Sciences have certain gooals.
• Psychology like other sciences seeks to
Describe
Explain
Predict
Control the events it studies
• Psychology this seeks to describe, explain, predict , and control
behaviour and mental processes
• Note that the goal of controlling behaviour and mental,processes
doesn’t mean that psychology intends to make people do what it
requires.
• Rather, psychologists seeks to understand the factors that influene
behaviour and apply this knowledge for the public good such as
making people cope with anxiety or depression
• When possible, descriptive terms and concepts such as anxiety and
depression – are interwoven into theories
• Psychological theories are systems of ideas that can explain certain
aspects of human thoughts, behaviors and emotions.
• Psychology researchers create these theories to make predictions for
future human behaviors or events that may take place if certain
behaviors exist.
• In the workplace, these theories are useful while drafting plans to
develop employee behaviors, increase motivation and promote
productivity.
WHAT PSYCHOLIGISTS DO?
• The duties and responsibilities of a psychologist can vary depending on their
specialization and the setting in which they work. However, here are some common
responsibilities that psychologists may have:
• Consultation and Collaboration: Psychologists may provide consultation services to
organizations, schools, or other professionals. They offer expertise and guidance on
psychological matters, such as developing strategies to enhance employee well-being,
improving classroom dynamics, or supporting individuals with mental health challenges.
Psychologists also collaborate with other healthcare professionals, such as psychiatrists,
social workers, and counselors, to provide comprehensive care to their clients.
• Ethical and Professional Responsibilities: Psychologists adhere to ethical guidelines
and professional standards in their practice. They maintain confidentiality, respect client
autonomy, and prioritize the well-being and safety of their clients. Psychologists engage
in ongoing professional development to stay updated on the latest research and best
practices in the field.
WHAT PSYCHOLIGISTS DO?
• Assessment and Diagnosis: Psychologists are responsible for conducting thorough assessments of
individuals to understand their psychological functioning and diagnose any mental health
disorders. They use a variety of assessment tools, such as interviews, questionnaires, and
psychological tests, to gather relevant information and make accurate diagnoses.
• Therapy and Treatment: One of the primary responsibilities of psychologists is to provide
therapy and treatment to individuals experiencing psychological distress or mental health issues.
They develop personalized treatment plans based on the specific needs and goals of their clients.
Psychologists employ various therapeutic approaches and techniques, such as cognitive-behavioral
therapy (CBT), psychodynamic therapy, and mindfulness-based interventions, to help individuals
manage their symptoms, develop coping strategies, and improve their overall well-being.
• Research and Evaluation: Psychologists often engage in research activities to advance the field of
psychology and contribute to evidence-based practices. They design and conduct studies, collect
and analyze data, and interpret research findings. By conducting research, psychologists gain
insights into human behavior, mental processes, and the effectiveness of different interventions and
treatment approaches.
 FIELDS IN PSYCHOLOGY
• There are various types of psychologists, each specializing in a specific area of psychology.
Here are some common types of psychologists:
• Clinical Psychologist: Clinical psychologists are trained to assess, diagnose, and treat
mental health disorders. They provide therapy and counseling to individuals experiencing a
wide range of psychological issues, such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and
substance abuse.
• Counseling Psychologist: Counseling psychologists focus on helping individuals cope with
everyday life stressors and personal challenges. They provide guidance and support through
various therapeutic interventions, aiming to improve mental well-being and enhance
personal growth.
• Child Psychologist: Child psychologists specialize in assessing and treating the
psychological, emotional, and behavioral issues that affect children and adolescents. They
often collaborate with parents, teachers, and other professionals to support the overall well-
being and development of children.
• Forensic Psychologist: Forensic psychologists apply psychological principles to the legal and criminal
justice system. They may assess and evaluate individuals involved in legal cases, provide expert testimony,
conduct risk assessments, and offer rehabilitation programs for offenders.
• Industrial Organizational Psychologist: Industrial organizational psychologists focus on the application
of psychology in the workplace. They study topics such as employee motivation, job satisfaction, leadership,
and organizational behavior to improve productivity, employee well-being, and organizational effectiveness.
• Health Psychologist: Health psychologists specialize in the psychological aspects of physical health and
well-being. They focus on understanding the connection between mental and physical health, promoting
healthy behaviors, and helping individuals cope with chronic illnesses or manage stress related to health
issues.
• Neuropsychologist: Neuropsychologists specialize in understanding the relationship between brain function
and behavior. They assess and treat individuals with neurological conditions, such as traumatic brain injury,
stroke, or neurodegenerative disorders, and help rehabilitate cognitive and emotional functions.
• School Psychologist: School psychologists work within educational settings to support the academic and
social-emotional development of students. They conduct assessments, provide counseling services, develop
intervention plans, and collaborate with teachers and parents to create a positive learning environment.
• Educational Psychologist: Educational psychologists specialize in understanding how
individuals learn and develop within educational settings. They assess and support students
with learning difficulties, provide guidance in career development, and contribute to the design
of effective educational programs.
• Social Psychologist: Social psychologists study how individuals' thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors are influenced by social interactions and the social environment. They examine
topics such as attitudes, prejudice, conformity, group dynamics, and interpersonal
relationships.
• Developmental Psychologist: Developmental psychologists study the psychological changes
and processes that occur throughout a person's lifespan. They examine how individuals grow,
learn, and develop socially, emotionally, and cognitively from infancy to old age.
• Sports Psychologist: Sports psychologists apply psychological principles to enhance athletic
performance and well-being. They work with athletes, coaches, and teams to improve
motivation, focus, goal-setting, and mental resilience in sports and competitive settings.
• Rehabilitation Psychologist: Rehabilitation psychologists specialize in assisting individuals with disabilities
and chronic health conditions to regain independence and improve their quality of life. They provide
psychological support, coping strategies, and guidance in adapting to physical, cognitive, and emotional
challenges.
• Military Psychologist: Military psychologists work with military personnel and their families, addressing the
unique psychological challenges they may face. They provide counseling for stress management, trauma,
deployment-related issues, and help with the transition to civilian life.
• Clinical Health Psychologist: Clinical health psychologists focus on the intersection of physical and mental
health. They work with individuals dealing with chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, cancer, or chronic pain, to
help them manage the psychological aspects of their condition and promote overall well-being.
• Community Psychologist: Community psychologists work at a broader level, focusing on understanding and
addressing social and systemic factors that impact individuals and communities. They collaborate with
community organizations, policymakers, and advocacy groups to promote mental health, social justice, and
community well-being.
• Environmental Psychologist: Environmental psychologists study the relationship between individuals and
their physical environments. They examine how the environment influences behavior, well-being, and attitudes,
and work on designing spaces that promote psychological well-being and sustainability.
 WHAT IS THE WORKPLACE FOR
PSYCHOLOGISTS ?
• The workplace of a psychologist can vary depending on their specialization and the
specific setting in which they work. Psychologists have opportunities to work in a
range of environments, including:
• Private Practice: Many psychologists establish their own private practices, where
they have the autonomy to set their own schedule and work with clients one-on-one.
Private practice psychologists typically have their own office space and handle
administrative tasks related to running their practice, such as scheduling appointments,
managing client records, and handling billing.
• Hospitals and Clinics: Psychologists may work in hospitals, clinics, or healthcare
settings, collaborating with medical professionals to provide comprehensive care. In
these settings, psychologists often work as part of a multidisciplinary team,
contributing their expertise in assessing and treating mental health issues alongside
other healthcare professionals.
• Educational Institutions: Psychologists can be found in schools, colleges, and universities. They may work in
counseling centers, providing individual or group therapy to students, conducting assessments, and offering
guidance on academic and personal challenges. Educational psychologists also collaborate with educators and
administrators to develop interventions and programs that promote student well-being and academic success.
• Research and Academic Settings: Psychologists may work in research institutions or academic settings, such
as universities. In these environments, psychologists conduct research, design experiments, collect and analyze
data, and contribute to scientific knowledge in their area of specialization. They may also teach psychology
courses and supervise graduate students' research.
• Government Agencies and Nonprofit Organizations: Psychologists may work for government agencies or
nonprofit organizations, providing psychological services to specific populations or communities. They may be
involved in programs related to mental health promotion, community outreach, and social services, advocating
for the well-being and psychological needs of vulnerable populations.
• Business and Organizational Settings: Psychologists may work in the field of industrial-organizational
psychology, applying psychological principles to improve workplace dynamics, employee well-being, and
organizational effectiveness. They may be employed by corporations, consulting firms, or government agencies,
offering expertise in areas such as employee selection, training and development, leadership, and organizational
change.
WHERE PSYCHOLOGY COMES FROM:
HISTORY
i. Greek philosopher Socrates: Psychology is means to know
ourselves is as old as history as modern as today.Knowledge of the
history of psychology allows us to appreciate its theoretical
conflicts, its place among the scientistsand its social and political
role.
ii. Greek philosopher Aristotle (384 – 322 BCE)
iii. Democritus: 400BC
INTROSPECTION
• Examination of one's thoughts and emotions – to gain self knowledge,
emotions, judgements and perceptions.
• Used for self reflection and research in psychology
1. STRUCTURALISM
• Founded by psychologist Wilhelm Wundt (1832 – 1920)
• Structuralism attempted to break conscious experience down into
objective sensations, such as sight and and taste and subjective
feelings, such as emotional response, and mental images such as
memories and dreams.
2. FUNCTIONALISM
• Founded by psychologist William James (1842 – 1910)
• He focused on the relationship between consciousness exprience and
behaviour.
• He was the founder of the school of functionalism which focused on
behaviour as well as the mind or consciousness.
• Functionalists looked at how our experience helps us fuction more
adaptively in our environment - for example how habits help us cope
with common situations.
3. BEHAVIOURSM
• Behaviorism is a theory of learning based on the idea that all behaviors are acquired
through conditioning, and conditioning occurs through interaction with the
environment. Behaviorists believe that our actions are shaped by environmental
stimuli.
• In simple terms, according to this school of thought, also known as behavioral
psychology, behavior can be studied in a systematic and observable manner
regardless of internal mental states.2 Behavioral theory also says that only
observable behavior should be studied, as cognition, emotions, and mood are far
too subjective.
• Strict behaviorists believe that any person—regardless of genetic background,
personality traits, and internal thoughts— can be trained to perform any task,
within the limits of their physical capabilities. It only requires the right conditioning.
• Behaviorism is the school of psychology that focuses on learning
observable behaviour.
• The term observable refers to behaviours that are observable
bymeans of specialised instruments, such as heart rate, blood
pressure, and the brain waves
reinforcement
• A stimulus thata follows a response and icreases the frequeny of the
response
• Laboratory animals can be trained to carry out behavious through
strategic use of reinforcers, such as food.
• This was dione by Man called B.F Skinner (1904 - 1990)
GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY
• The school of psychology that empasizes the tendency to organize
perceptions into wholes and to interprate separate stimuli into
meaningful patterns.
• Gestalt psychology was prominent in Germany. it focused on
perception and how perception influences thinking and problem
solving.
• The German word Gestalt translates roughly to “pattern” or
“organised whole”
PSYCHOANALYSIS
• Is the name of both the theory of personality and the method od
psychotherapy developed by sigmund Freud ( 1856 - 1939).
• As a theory of personality, psychoanalysis proposes that much of our
lives is governed by unconciousness ideas and impulses that
originatein childhood conflict.
• As a method of psychotherapy, psychoanalysis aims to help patients
gain insight into their conflicts and to find socially acceptable ways of
expressing wishes and gratifying needs.
HOW TODAY’S PSYCHOLOGISTS VIEW
BEHAVIOUR AND MENTAL PROCESSES
• Today, we no longer find psychologists who describe themeselves as
structura;ists or functionalists.
• Although the school of Gestalt psychology gave birth to the current
approaches in perception and problem solving, few would label
themeselves as Gestalt psychologists.
• Today there are several broad influential perspectives in psychology.
This are:
 CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO
PSYCHOLOGY
i. The biological perspective
ii. the cognitive perspective
iii. The humanistic existential perspective
iv. psychodynamic
v. Perspectives on learning
vi. social cultural perspective
1. THE BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
• Psychologists with a biological perspective seek the relationship
between the brain, hormones, heredity, and evolution on one hand
and behaviour and mental, processes on the other hand.
• Psychologists assume that thoughts, fantasies, and dreams - and the
inborn or instinctive behavior pattern of various species - are made
possible by the nervous system and especially by the brain.
• Biological oriented psychologists also study the role of heredity in
behaviour and mental processes such as psychological disorders,
criminal behavior, and thinking.
• Generally speaking, our heredity provides a broad range of behavioral
2. THE COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE
• Psychologists with cognitive perspective venture into the realm of
mental processes to understand human nature.
• They investigate the ways we perceive and mentally represent the
world, how we learn, remember the past, plan for the future, solve
problems, form judgements, make decisions, and use language.
• Basically, in short; cognitive psychologists study those things we refer
as the mind.
 3. THE HUMANISTIC EXISTENTIAL
PERSPECTIVE
• The humanistic – existential perspective is cognitive in flavor, yet it
emphasizes the role of subjective (personal) experience.
• Humanism: stresses the human capacity for self –fulfillment and the
central roles of consciousness, self awareness, and decision making.
• The Humanists believe that self awareness, experience, and choice
permit us, to a large extent to “ invest ourselves” and our ways of
relating to the world as we progress through life.
• Existentialism: Views people as free to choose and as being
responsible for choosing ethical conduct.
4. THE PSYCHODYNAMIC
PERSPECTIVE
• In the 1940s, and 1950s, psychodynamic theory dominated the
practice of psychotherapy and was influential in scientific psychology
and the arts.
• Most psychologists were psycho dynamically oriented and ere
consulted by artists and writters so as to liberate the expression of
their unconscious ideas.
5. PERSPECTIVE ON LEARNING
• Many contemporary psychologists study the effects of experience on
behavior.
• Learning, to them is the essential factor in describing, explaining,
predicting, and controlling behavior.
• Social –cognitive theories suggests that people can modify and create
their environments.
• They also grant cognition a key role in that people engage in
intentional learning by observing others.
6. THE SOCIAL – CULTURAL
• The profession of psychology focuses mainly on the individual and is
committed to the dignity of the individual.
• Nevertheless, many psychologists believe that we cannot understand
people’s behavior and mental processes without reference to their
diversity.
• The social cultural perspective addresses many of the ways that
people differ from one another. It studies the influence of ethnicity,
gender, culture, and social economic status on behavior and mental
process
ETHNICITY
• One kind of diversity involves ethnicity.
• Members of ethnic group share their cultural heritage, race, language
or history.
GENDER
• Refers to the culturally defined concepts of masculinity and femicity.
• Gender is not fully defined by anatomic sex.
• It involves a complex web of cultural expectations and social roles tha
affect people’s self concept and hopes and dreams as well as their
behavior.
 HOW PSYCHOLOGISTS STUDY
BEHAVIOR AND MENTAL PROCESSES
• To start with: Does alcohol cause aggression? Does watching violence
on TV cause children to be violent?
• Why do some people hardly think of food, whereas others are
obsessed with it and snack all day?
• Why do some people who are unhappy attempt suicide and others
don’t?
• Hence, as psychologists we need evidence of factors which influence
behavior, observe and if need be measure and come up with
evidence.
1. Critical thinking
• Psychologists are guided by scientific principles, and one hallmark of
science is critical thinking.
• Critical thinking has many meanings. One level, it means taking
nothing for granted – not believing things just because they are in
print or someone has said them.
• On another level, critical thinking refers to processes of thoughtfully
analyzing and probing the questions, statements, and arguments of
others.
2. Scientific method
• The scientific method is an organized way of using experiment and
testing ideas to expand and refine knowledge.
• Psychologists start by formulating a research questions. This is from
many sources like
i. psychological theory and even a folktale.
ii. Daily experience in using day care
iii. Common knowledge
iv. Social – cognitive observation on watching television
HYPOTHESIS
• A research question can be studied as a question or as hypothesis .
Hypotheses is a statement or behavior or mental processes that is
testable through research.
• From there, the hypotheses is tested and conclusions are done on the
basis of their observations or finding
• Hence, a psychologist draw conclusions from research evidence and
they are guided by critical thinking
SAMPLES AND POPULATIONS
• SAMPLE: Is part of population
• POPULATION: A complete group of interest from which sample is
drawn
RANDOM AND STRATIFIED SAMPLE
• RANDOM SAMPLE: A sample drawn so that each member of a
population has an equal chance of being selected
• Stratified sample:
• Volunteer bias
METHODS OF OBSERVATIONS
• CASE STUDIES
• CASE SERIES REPORTS
• SURVEYS