The Science of

Psychology
 PSYCHOLOGY
It is derived from the Greek
words psyche and logos,
meaning soul and body.

To the Greeks, psychology is

simply a study of the soul.
 PSYCHOLOGY
• It is defined as the scientific study of
the behavior of living organisms, with
special attention to human behavior.

• It is chiefly concerned with what

makes people behave as they do.
 Why is it a science?
Psychology is a science
because it is systematic and
empirical, and it is
dependent upon
measurement.
 BEHAVIOR

OVERT COVERT
It means activities that can
be observed objectively,
such as the reactions of the
muscles and the glands, as
well as the organized
patterns of responses as a
whole.
Overt behavior is when a person has any
type of clear behavior, such as a racist.
These type of people have no trouble
expressing their feelings. They have no
trouble expressing their views. People
recognize their open behavior very easily.
They speak exactly what is on their mind.
They tend to be very antagonizing.
Covert behavior is any mental,
social, or physical action or
practice that is not
immediately observable. Some
examples of covert behavior
include deception and lying.
 PSYCHOLOGY AS STUDY
CONTRIBUTIONS:
1. It enables the individual to learn more quickly.
2. Choose a vocation more intelligently.
3. It makes a person achieve emotional
equilibrium.
4. Make a better social adjustment.
5. It enables one to resolve problems and to
develop a great personal efficiency.
Psychology is
a SCIENCE,
therefore a
psychologist
is a
SCIENTIST.
SIX FUNDAMENTAL
CHARACTERISTICS
Human behavior follows an
orderly pattern.
Even if there is a change in a
person’s life, there is a degree
of order and regularity in its
nature. The change pattern
can be understood.
Human behavior can be
known.
Empirically observed, therefore, it
can be investigated.
 Knowledge of human behavior is
tentative but superior to ignorance.

We must pursue knowledge not only

for its own sake but also to be able to
improve human condition.
Natural phenomena have
natural causes.

Science rejects the belief in

supernatural forces to cause
events.
Nothing is self-evident.
Truth must only be claimed and
established when they are
demonstrated objectively.
Scientist never relies on our
perception, subjective beliefs.
Knowledge is derived from the
acquisition of experiments.

Anything is this world must be

empirically explained. Knowledge
is a product of experience.
 WHAT IS SCIENCE?
• It comes from the Latin word scientia,
derivative word sciens, whose present
participle is scire meaning “to know.”
• It connotes any prestigious undertaking.
• Is an objective investigation of empirical
phenomena, human behavior.
 WHY PSYCHOLOGY IS
Nothing is self-evident.
CONSIDERED A SCIENCE?
1. It strives to be objective in the sense
that it decides questions on the
basis of fact and not on the basis of
wishes or desires.
2. It gets its facts through observations
rather than by simply theorizing.
WHY PSYCHOLOGY IS CONSIDERED
AN ART?

It does not only try to advance

knowledge, but also it includes
a systematic application of
behavior principle.
 PSYCHOLOGY IS NOT
Superior or almost super Something
Psychology and the human way of looking into magical or
mysterious the thoughts and feelings of a mysterious
person.

An ordinary, everyday, hard-

working science.
They learned from
observation, careful
reflection of what they have
observed and thorough
checking of their conclusions
with other person in this and
other fields
 PSYCHOLOGY IS NOT
There are statements that Simply a common sense.
are accepted by common Simply what some people
sense but not accepted by have discovered from
Psychology and psychology. their experiences,
•“common
PSYCHOLOGY
sense” whether they have ever
• IS
had formal training in the
• NOT
subject matter or not.
• Psychology and the mysterious
Although
• Superior or almost super humanintellectual
way of looking intoNotion of insane
the thoughts andor
feelings of a person. abilities sometimes seriously mentally ill- Lost
disturbed in mental
• Something magical or mysterious their minds.
illnesses, many mental
• An ordinary, everyday,illnesses who are
hard-working insane are Unable to reason
science.
not suffering from the lack adequately and accurately.
of ability to reason , the
difficulty iscareful
• They learned from observation, not intellectual
reflection of what they have
observed and thoroughbut checking of their conclusions with other person in
rather emotional.
this and other fields
Psychology maintains that it Color is in the object itself.
is in the perceiver.
 Based on the scientific world Parascience-
phrenology,
physiognomy,
numerology, palmistry
and astrology.
Psychology and No scientific Phrenology- studies
the evidence to
personality by
support their
parasciences claims. examining the bumps
and hollows of a
person’s skull.

Based on traditional methods Graphology- bases the

of science including systematic character of persons on
gathering of data, putting their handwritings.
hypotheses to careful tests and
cumulative building of
knowledge.
GRAPHOLOGY PHRENOLOGY
 One of the earliest writers
to devote attention to
psychology. He believed
that at birth, the mind is
a tabula rasa, a blank
sheet, and that the
experiences one
encounters during one’s
lifetime are impressed
on the mind.
ARISTOTLE
Aristotle suggested that there are three principles of
memory:

LAW OF SIMILARITY

LAW OF CONTRAST

LAW OF CONTIGUITY
If two things are similar, the thought
of one will tend to trigger the
thought of the other. If you think of
one twin, it is hard not to think of
the other. If you recollect one
birthday, you may find yourself
thinking about others as well.
 On the other hand, seeing or recalling
something may also trigger the
recollection of something completely
opposite. If you think of the tallest person
you know, you may suddenly recall the
shortest one as well. If you are thinking
about birthdays, the one that was totally
different from all the rest is quite likely to
come up.
Things or events that occur close
to each other in space or time
tend to get linked together in
the mind. If you think of a cup,
you may think of a saucer; if
you think of making coffee, you
may then think of drinking that
coffee.
ST. AUGUSTINE Considered the next great
precursor of the modern
psychologist because of
his skill in introspection
and his great curiosity
about psychological
phenomena, which
included observations on
young infants and on
crowds at chariot races.
RENE DESCARTES Left his mark on the
history of
psychology
through his
concept of reflex
action, which had
a significant place
in both physiology
and psychology.
 He established
the first
psychological
laboratory in
Leipzig and was
called the
founder of
modern
experimental
WILHELM WUNDT psychology.
 TWO THEORIES OF MIND
FACULTY ASSOCIATION
FACULTY
PSYCHOLOGY PSYCHOLOGY
It is a doctrine of mental Denied the inborn faculties
of the minds. Instead, they
powers. According to limited the mind’s
this theory, the mind content’s to ideas coming
had a few principal by way of the senses,
faculties, such as which then become
thinking, feeling and associated through
willing, that accounted principles such as similarity,
for its activities. contrast and contiguity.
HERMANN VON
HELMHOLTZ He measured the
speed of the
nerve, set forth a
theory of color
vision and
offered an
explanation for
our perception
of musical tones.
 ERNST B. WEBER
He’s most significant contribution to the new psychology was
his concept of the "Two-Point Thresholds". This involved his
experimental determination of the accuracy of the two-
point discrimination of the skin which is known at the
distance between two points that must be spanned before
subjects report feeling two distinct sensations. The "two-
point threshold", the point at which two separate sources
stimulations can be distinguished. Weber's research would
mark the first systematic, experimental demonstration of
the concept of threshold, most widely used in psychology
from its beginning to the present day.
 WEBER’S LAW
A difference that is just perceptible bears a
constant ratio to the size of the standard
stimulus. That is, more weight must be
added to a heavier weight if the
difference is to be perceived; greater
length must be added to a longer line if
the change in length is to be noticeable.
ERNST B. WEBER
 He extended and gave GUSTAV T. FECHNER
publicity to Weber’s findings
in his famous book
Psychophysics, published in
1860. He discovered that by
changing a physical stimulus
slowly and noting the steps
of judgment expressed, a
relationship can be
established between a
physical series and
psychological series.
Fechner expressed this relationship in the
equation:

S= K log R
Where;
S- sensation
K- constant
R- stimulus
PSYCHOPHYSICAL METHODS
Determined psychology’s first
laboratory procedures. These
are used today in the study of
sensory processes. They also
serve as the basis for scaling of
measured attitudes.
 Royal astronomer of the
Greenwich
Astronomical
Observatory, dismissed
Kinnerbrook, his
assistant, because he
erred by nearly 1
second in recording
the time that certain
bodies passed an
MASKEYLNE observation point.
BESSEL
Astronomer at the
Konigsberg
Observatory, became
interested in the
report and began to
study what he called
the “personal
equation” of different
astronomers.
SIR FRANCIS GALTON
He established his
anthropometric laboratory in
London where he gave tests
to people who came to his
laboratory. It was also Galton
who invented the statistical
technique of correlation and
developed the index, to be
named the coefficient of
correlation.
 CHARLES DARWIN
Propounded the
theory of evolution.
Because Darwin’s
theory established
the continuity
between animal and
human, it made
comparative
psychology
important.
HYPNOTISM PSYCHOANALYSIS

ANTON MESMER SIGMUND FREUD

At about the beginning of the twentieth
century, a number of American
psychologist became interested in the
developments in Germany and went
there to get their training . Four of the
better known psychologist were
William James, considered as the
“Dean of the American Psychologists”,
G. Stanley Hall, James Cattell, and
Edward Titchener.
The first formal laboratory
was set up at the John
Hopkins University. Other
experimental laboratories
were established at major
universities throughout the
country.
 HERMANN EBBINGHAUS
He reported his
studies in learning
and memory
which were
directly inspired
by Fechner’s
measurement of
sensation.