Why Psychology?

Yes or no?
Psychologists can Read Minds.
Psychologists Just Focus on What is Wrong with People.
Psychology is Just Common Sense, I Don’t Need a Psychologist to Tell Me How
People Behave!
Seeing a therapist is just like having someone to listen to you. You can get that
for free.
INTRODUCTION TO
PSYCHOLOGY
What do we study in Psychology?
Do you study only about abnormal people?
Learning, remembering, a shopping list, meaning of dreams,
what makes a person to be violent and much more.
A knowledge of psychology would equip one with the basic
skills of understanding of one’s own as well as other’s
behavior.
Defining Psychology
1. Study of soul:
Psychology is derived from two Greek words, “Psyche” meaning “soul” and
“Logos” meaning “study”.
2. Study of Mind:
A definition that appeared better than the one that said psychology was the
study of soul. They did not know whether the mysterious entity called the mind
was behind this activity
Defining Psychology
3. Study of Consciousness:
Consciousness is defined as awareness of our environment and our mental
processes. Wilhelm Wundt defined psychology as the study of “consciousness”
in the end of 19th century along with some other psychologist.
Defining Psychology
4. Study of Behaviour:
Psychology as the study of mental life, the mind or consciousness came under attack as vague
and unscientific.
Psychologists preferred to define their discipline as the study of Behaviour as what people do,
unlike what they think or feel can be directly observed and measured. (1920s and 1950s )
Psychologists use the term behaviour to refer to the actions of a person or
animal that can be observed and measured by others.
Its subject matter also includes behavioral processes that are observable, such
as gestures and speech. Its focus is on the thoughts, feelings and actions of
people.
It assesses an individual’s perception, reasoning process, memory and also the
biological activities that maintain bodily functions
Further, the broad perspective of psychology attempts to describe, predict and
explain human behaviour. It also helps to change and improve the lives of
people and the world in which they live
Four goals of Psychology
Modern definition
Cognitive psychology is the Psychological perspective that is primarily concerned
with the mental processes or cognition.
Cognition is a broad term that refers to the ways we process or transform
information about the world around us.
Watson launched in 1913 what is known today as “behaviourism”
Important milestones in the evolution of
Psychology
1879 Wilhelm Wundt establishes the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig. Germany.
1900 Sigmund Freud develops Psychoanalysis.
1904 Ivan Pavlov wins the Nobel Prize for his work on digestive system that led to
understanding of principles of development responses.
1905 Intelligence test developed by Binet and Simon.
1924 John B. Watson publishes ‘Behaviourism’ a book that led to the foundation of
behaviourism.
1955 National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) is established at
Bangalore.
 Development of Psychology in India
The university of Kolkatta was first to introduce psychology in the year 1905.
The Indian Psychological association (IPA) was founded in 1925 and launched the Indian Journal of
Psychology.
In 1940, the Lumbini Park Mental Hospital was founded at Kolkatta.
In 1945, a Psychology wing of defense research was established.
1955, The National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) was opened at Bangalore.
In 1962, The Indian academy of applied Psychology (IAAP) was established.
In 1962, A Mental Hospital was established at Ranchi.
In 1968, The Indian Association of clinical psychologists was formed
In 1989, the National Academy of Psychology (NAOP) was founded.
Fields of psychology
General Psychology
General psychology deals with the general principles of
human behaviour.
It deals with fundamental ideas and theories of human
behaviour.
Attention, perception, drives and motives, emotions,
intelligence, learning and remembering, forgetfulness and
reasoning.
Its aim is to discover general principles concerning the
working of human mind
 Developmental Psychology
What are the changes that you see in
yourself from your early school days
and now?
This field deals with how people grow
and change throughout their lives.
Contribution nature and nurture and
the interaction of these two on
one’s development is studied.
Social Psychology
Is your behaviour different when you are with your
friends and when you are with your family?
Social psychology is the study of how people’s thoughts,
feelings, and actions are affected by others.
Social psychology studies the way about how an
individual becomes the member of a social group, his
socialization processes, inter group and intra group
relations.
Significant research has been done in the fields of the
power of roles, attitudes, obedience and conformity,
group decisions, co-operation and competition.
Social and environmental factors, affect the way we
think, say and do.
 Abnormal psychology
Abnormal psychology is a branch of psychology that studies those people whose behaviour is
strikingly different from that of normal persons
a. Psychoneurosis (neuroses)
b. Psychoses
c. Psychophysiological (Psychosomatic)
Animal psychology
Deals with studying - How animals interact with one another, the environment and human
beings
Study their method of communication, learning and group interaction
Study the progressive changes that have taken place in the evolution of animal behaviour
It means that mental processes of animals are simpler than those of man and should be easier
to understand also.
Another reason for the interest in animal psychology is our capacity to control conditions and
conduct experiments on animals.
Helps to understand human behaviour by studying animal behaviour.
Life span is shorter when it comes to animals and humans.
Clinical psychology
The principles and theories of abnormal psychology is applied in the diagnosis and treatment of
emotional and behavioural problems.
Psychological disorders are because of a person’s unresolved conflicts and unconscious motives
which can be unlearned with training.
Some psychologist believe that few of the disorders have biological bases
Psychiatrist can write prescriptions (which psychologist can’t)
 Psychiatrist and Psychologist
Psychologist functions
1. Facilitate diagnosis using
psychological test and interpret the
findings
2. Engage in psychotherapy
3. Perform psychological research on
problems of a clinical nature
Education psychology
Who was the best teacher that you had in your school?
What made you like that teacher so much?
Education psychology
Deals with the scientific study of human learning
Areas like emotional, social, cognitive and learning processes are part of this area of study
Educational psychologist are concerned with classroom motivation, transfer of learning,
remembering methods to make learning more effective and permanent.
Maladaptive behaviour within the class and outside are also resolved in consultation with the
teachers and school psychologist
Industrial psychologist
Study the behavior of men at work, the problems they face and how they can be solved.
They are also concerned with group decision making, employee morale, work motivation, job
stress, equipment design, productivity, personnel selection, marketing strategies, accident
prevention and many other issues.
Help in recruitment, improvement of working conditions, elimination of fatigue, monotony,
advertising and the general toning up of the morale of the workers.
Emerging areas in Psychology
Aviation psychology, space psychology, military psychology, forensic psychology, rural
psychology, psychology of women and political psychology, engineering psychology, managerial
psychology, community psychology to name a few.
Psychology and other disciplines
Researchers and scholars in science, social science and humanities have felt the significance of
psychology as a discipline.
Brain and Behaviour
Neurology

Computer
Physiology
science
Psychology

Biology Medicine
Socio-cultural context
Anthropology

Economics Sociology

Psychology

Political
Social work
science
Psychology and other disciplines
1. Philosophy
2. Medicine/ psychiatry
3. Economics, political science and sociology
4. Computer science
5. Economics, political science and sociology
6. Computer science
7. Law and criminology
Psychologists in different professional
fields
Educational and School Psychology
Educational psychologists are concerned with all aspects of education
The study of motivation, intelligence, personality, use of rewards and punishments, size of the
class, expectations of the teacher.
Help in designing the tests to evaluate and in the development of the curriculum to make it
more interesting.
In elementary and secondary school - Supervising special education, in training teachers, in
counseling students with problems, in assessing students with learning difficulties due
Treatment of Abnormal behaviour:
Diagnosis and treatment of abnormal behaviour.
Clinical psychologists are employed in hospitals, clinics and private practice.
In the field of mental health they work with social workers and psychiatrists.
Psychiatrists receive specific training in the treatment of psychological disorders.
Counseling Psychology:
This field focuses primarily on helping educational, social and career adjustments of the
concerned person.
Help concerning milder problems of social and emotional adjustment.
They make use of tests to measure aptitudes, interests and personality characteristics, for career
counseling.
Organizational behaviour:
The first application of psychology to problems of industries and organizations was the use of
intelligence and aptitude test in selecting employees.
Today the private and public organizations apply psychology to management and employee
training, supervision of personnel, to improve communication within the organization, to
counseling employees and to alleviate industrial strikes.
Right person for the right job.
Bring out the best in every employee.
Military Psychology
Introduction of psychological tests for classification of army personnel during First World War in
America.
Selection and classification of recruits were made on the basis of results of psychological tests to
various ranks and grades.
The intelligence tests were administered to over 1,700,000 soldiers in the US army during World
War I.
Army Alpha and Army Beta tests were developed by army psychologists.
They may encounter an individual who may be more of a burden than an asset to the army.
Psychologists also take care of the special psychological problems of these service men after war
Psychology in everyday life:
Psychology offers solutions to a variety of problems, such as:
1. Personal problems, such as a daughter having to face an alcoholic father, a mother dealing
with a problem child.
2. Family problems such as lack of communication and interaction among family members.
3. Problems relating to community settings, for example: terrorists group or minority groups.
4. Problems of national and international dimensions. For example: cross – cultural marriages,
legal and illegal immigrations.
5. Problems relating to education, health, environment, social justice, women development,
intergroup relations etc.,