INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

COURSE: INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

Topic – 1: Introduction to Psychology

BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
(Psychiatry & Psychology)
CREDIT HOURS 3(3-0)

Instructor : Miss Hina Mirza

Clinical psychologist ,Counselor , Educationist
 Topic 1
Introduction to psychology
Objectives:
A) Nature and application of psychology

B) Historical Background and school of

psychology
A) Nature and Application of psychology
 Introduction :

“People begin their study of psychology without a clear definition or

understanding of the subject. They may have images of a mental
hospital where psychologist live with abnormal people, or they may
assume that it deals only with abnormal, emotional disturbances.
Psychology provides tools to help us gain insight into our own
behaviour, as well our relationships with others”.
 Old Definitions of Psychology

1-Psychology as soul
The word psychology is derived from two words psyche and logos
.psyche means soul and logos means science. Thus psychology was
first defined as the science of soul.

According to earlier psychologist, the function of psychology was to

study the nature ,origin and destiny of the human soul. But soul is
something metaphysical .it cannot be seen ,observed and touched and
we cannot make scientific experiments on soul.
 Old Definitions of Psychology

2-Psychology as a mind:
In the 18th century, psychology was understood as the science of mind.
William James (1892)defined psychology as the science of mental
processes. But the word minds is also quite ambiguous as there was
confusion regarding the nature and functions of mind.

3-Psychology as science of consciousness:

Modern psychologist defined psychology as the science of consciousness.
James sully (1884) defined psychology as the science of the inner world.
 Old Definitions of Psychology

4-Psychology as science of internal experiences

Wilhelm Wundt (1892) defined psychology as the science which
studies the internal experiences. But there are three levels of
consciousness conscious ,subconscious and the unconscious and
so this definition also was not accepted by some.(Thus
,psychology first lost its soul, then its mind and then its
consciousness.)
 Old Definitions of Psychology
5-Psychology as science of behaviours:
At present only ,its behaviours exists. William McDougall (1905) defining
psychology as the science of behaviours, W.B Pillsbury (1911) and J.B.
Watson (1912) also defined psychology as the science of behaviour.
Behaviour generally means overt activities which can observe and measured
scientifically. But one’s behavior is always influenced by his experience .so
when we study one's behaviour we must also study his experiences.
▪ Psychology Should, therefore, be defined as a Science of behaviours and
experiences on human beings. (B.F. Skinner).
▪ According to Crow and Crow ,psychology is the study of human
behaviour and human relationship.
Current And Modern Definition of
Psychology
We start psychology with the modern definition of psychology :

“Psychology is the scientific study of behaviour and mental

processes”.
Such study can involve both animal and human behaviours. When
applied to humans ,psychology covers everything that people think,
feel and do. Psychologist differ in how much importance they place
on specific types of behaviours .
 Example:

For example ,some psychologist believe that you should study only
behaviours that you can see, observe or measure directly .Ali’s behaviour
of logging on and remaining on the internet for hours at a time is an
observable behaviours.
Some psychologists believe that our thoughts, feelings, and fantasies are
also important, even though these processes are not directly observable.
Ali may log on because he feels intimidated (frighten or threaten
someone) by others or by school work, but psychologist cannot directly
observe that these are the reasons that Ali is engaging in this behaviour.
 Psychology as a science

Scientific psychology was born in the late nineteenth century with

the idea that mind and behaviours could be the subject of scientific
analysis .The first experimental laboratory in psychology was
established by Wilhelm Wundt at the university of Leipzig in 1879.
Scientific method is a systematic and organized series of steps that
scientists adopt for exploring any phenomenon in order to obtain
accurate and consistent results .
▪ These steps involve observation ,description ,control, and
replication.
▪ Certainly the scientific methods has been used with great success
in psychology
 Other Branches of Psychology

❑ Abnormal Psychology
❑ General Psychology
❑ Behavioral Psychology
❑ Biological Psychology
❑ Cognitive Psychology
❑ Comparative Psychology
Other Branches of Psychology

❑ Cross-Cultural Psychology
❑ Developmental Psychology
❑ Educational Psychology
❑ Experimental Psychology
❑ Forensic Psychology
❑ Health Psychology
❑ Personality Psychology
❑ Social Psychology
 Abnormal Psychology:
*study unusual pattern of behavior.

➢General Psychology:
*study human development, emotions,
motivation, learning, senses, perception, thinking,
memory, intelligence and processing.

➢ Behavioral Psychology:
*study the behaviors of living organisms.
➢ Biological Psychology:
Behavioral neuroscience, also
known as biological psychology, biopsychology,
or psychobiology is the application of the
principles of biology (in particular
neurobiology), to the study of physiological,
genetic, and developmental mechanisms of
behavior in humans and non- human animals.

➢ Cognitive Psychology:
Cognitive psychology is the study
of mental processes such as "attention, language
use, memory, perception, problem solving,
creativity, and thinking."
 Comparative Psychology:
Comparative psychology refers to
the scientific study of the behavior and mental
processes of non-human animals, especially as
these relate to the phylogenetic history, adaptive
significance, and development of behavior.

➢ Cross- Cultural Psychology:

Cross-cultural psychology is the
scientific study of human behavior and mental
processes, including both their variability and
invariance, under diverse cultural conditions.
 Developmental Psychology:
Developmental psychology is the
scientific study of changes that occur in human
beings over the course of their life span.

➢ Educational Psychology:
Educational psychology is the branch of
psychology concerned with the scientific study of
human learning.

➢ Experimental Psychology:
the branch of psychology concerned
with the scientific investigation of the responses of
individuals to stimuli in controlled situations.
 Forensic Psychology:
Forensic psychology is the intersection
between psychology and the justice system.

➢ Health Psychology:
Health psychology is the study of
psychological and behavioral processes in
health, illness, and healthcare.
➢ Personality Psychology:
Personality psychology is a branch of
psychology that studies personality and individual
differences. Its areas of focus include: Constructing
a coherent picture of a person and his or her major
psychological processes.
Investigating individual differences, that is, how
people can differ from one another.

➢ Social Psychology:
the branch of psychology that deals
with social interactions, including their origins
and their effects on the individual.
B) Historical Background and school of psychology
 What is a School of Thought?

Definition:
a school is a collection of people who put
their ideas under the same umbrella, Because
these people have similar ideas and they use
similar methodologies and their aim is also
similar.
 School of Thoughts

These are major school of thoughts in Psychology

1. Structuralism
2. Functionalism
3. Gestalt Perspective
4. Psychoanalysis
5. Behaviorism
6. Cognitive perspective
7. Biopsychology perspectives
 1-Structuralism School of thought
“Two main contributors Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Bradford
Titchner"

▪ The first psychological laboratory was created until 1879 by Wilhelm

Wundt. He defined psychology as the study of consciousness.
According to Wundt, if consciousness exists then it must have a
structure.

▪ This school focused only on immediate conscious experience and

thought.

▪ This group of Psychologists used a technique called Introspection

which was a process of self-examination where the person described
and analyzed thoughts as they occurred- The doctrine that structure is
more important than function.
▪ consciousness-
What is actually feeling at the moment about a stimulus.

Consciousness consist of three components

• It has ideas
• It has feelings
• It has emotions (heightened form of feelings
Feelings may be of three types
• Pleasant /Unpleasant
• Relaxed /Tense
• Calm /Excited
 2-Functionlisim School of Thought

Functionalism is the second perspective to emerge, founded by William James.-

Harvard University Professor primarily trained in physiology and medicine,
Later on interested in psychology-wrote book” Principles of Psychology”.
Which he wrote about the stream of consciousness, emotions, the self , habit
formation, mind-body link and much more. They studied how and why the
mind functions Step by step.This perspective still focused on consciousness but
began to examine overt behavior (observable), not just mental processes.
 3-Gestalt Psychology

A movement in psychology founded in Germany in 1912, seeking to

explain perceptions in terms of gestalts rather than by analyzing their
constituents / parts.

This principle maintains that when the human mind (perceptual system)
forms a percept or "gestalt", the whole has a reality of its own,
independent of the parts.

The original famous phrase of Gestalt psychologist Kurt Koffka,

"the whole is something else than the sum of its parts"
Max Wertheimer – founder of Gestalt Psychology- became aware
of a form of apparent motion called phi phenomenon (Illusion of
moment) Law of Figure/Ground. We tend to pay attention and
perceive things in the figure/Ground

The idea of insight learning was first developed by Wolfgang

Kohler in which he describes experiments with apes where the apes
could use boxes and sticks as tools to solve problems. Factors like
past experiences, needs, attitudes and one’s present
situation can affect their perception.
4-Psychoanalysis School of Thought

Founder-Sigmund Freud- Psychoanalysis – the core idea at

the centre of psychoanalysis is the belief that all people
possess unconscious thoughts , feelings, desires, and
memories.

▪ "Catharsis- content can be bring from unconscious mind to

▪ conscious mind # Subconscious mind # unconscious mind"

Unconscious Mind- In Freud's psychoanalytical personality,

the unconscious mind is reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges,
and memories that outside of our conscious experience.
Most of the contents of the unconscious are unacceptable or
unpleasant , such as feelings of pain, anxiety, or conflict.
▪ Freud believed that emotional problems are due to anxiety from
unresolved conflicts that reside in unconscious and we use Defense
mechanism to relief that anxiety.

▪ # Id # Ego # Super Ego- Theory

Freud states that personality is composed of three elements known as the
id, the ego, and the superego. These elements work together to create
complex human behaviors.
1- ID- The ID is the only component of personality that is present from
birth.
2- The Ego develops from the id and ensures that the impulses of the id
can be expressed in a manner acceptable in the real world.
3-The superego holds the internalized moral standards and ideals that
we acquire from our parents and society (our sense of right and wrong)

▪ Free association and dream interpretation were developed

technique to explore the unconscious processes.
5-Behaviorism School of Thought
Behaviorism was founded by John Watson in direct opposition to
Psychoanalytic theory. Behaviorism focused on behavior that can be
measured and observable.

Behaviorist’s believe people are controlled by their environment. We

are the result of what we have learned from our environment.

Strict behaviorists believed that any person can potentially be trained

to perform any task, regardless of genetic background, personality
traits, and internal thoughts (within the limits of their physical
capabilities). It only requires the right conditioning.
Types of conditioning:

1.Classical conditioning-Ivon Pvlov- is a technique frequently used

in behavioral training in which a neutral stimulus is paired with a
naturally occurring stimulus. Eventually, the neutral stimulus comes to
evoke the same response as the naturally occurring stimulus, even
without the naturally occurring stimulus presenting itself.

2.Operant conditioning-B.F.Skinner- (sometimes referred to as

instrumental conditioning) is a method of learning that occurs through
reinforcements and punishments. We can describe, predict, and control
that behaviour.
6-Cognitive School of Thought
▪ Cognitive psychology believes that behaviors are performed
because of ideas and thoughts.

▪ The cognitive perspective focuses on such processes as

perception, memory, and thinking.

▪ That’s what this area of psychology believes and Cognitive

psychology currently exerts a strong influence in
psychology.
7-Biopsychology Perspective
How biological factors affect mental processes and how the brain
effects behaviour. Behaviour and biology interact in important ways,
and we will discuss the impact of this field when examining
psychopharmacology, development and genetics.
QUESTIONS ANDANSWERS