Introduction to Psychology

Week 1
Introduction to Psychology

UMME SUMAIYYA SIDDIQUI

Lecturer
IQRA UNIVERSITY KARACHI CAMPUS.
 Welcome!!
Introduction to Psychology
 LEARNING OUTCOME

Understanding the meaning of psychology and its

goals

Differentiation between different fields of psycho-

logy

Key issues of psychology

Origin of psychology
 What is Psychology?
It can be defined as the scientific study of behavior and
mental processes.
1. Behavior: Outward 0r overt actions and reactions
2. Mental Processes: all internal, covert (hidden) activity of
mind

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 Cont.
From the Greek psyche, (mind)
logos (study), the study of the
nature and functions of the mind
and of human behaviour
 Psyche

The Greeks believed that the soul or

"psyche" was responsible for behav-
iorPsyche was the Greek goddess of
the soul.

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Psychology as a science
 Scope of Psychology
• The scope of psychology is broad, covering topics
such as:
1. Face recognition
2. Attributing traits to people
3. Social judgment
4. Memory
5. Aggression etc.

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 Scope of psychology
• Psychology today covers enormous range
of scope or fields:
• Broadly it can be divided into two types:

1. Basic psychology- it is the study of mind

and behavior
2. Applied psychology-methods and findings
of scientific psychology to solve practical
problems of human and animal behavior
and experience.
Goals of psychology
 Goals of psychology
• To describe what is an organism doing?
• To explain and understand why organism behave in
certain ways
• To predict how organism will behave in the future
• To control behavior
Key issues of Psychology
 Key issues of Psychology
1:Nature vs. Nurture
• Heredity vs environment
• how much people's behavior is due
to their genetically determined nature
and how much is due to the influences
of the physical and social environment
in which a child is raised
2: Conscious vs. Unconscious Mind
How much of our behavior is
produced by forces of which we
are fully aware, and how much is
due to unconscious activity –
mental processes that are not
accessible to the conscious mind
3: Observable behavior vs. internal mental
Processes
Concentrating solely on behavior
that can be seen by outside
observers, or should it focus on
unseen thinking processes
4: Free will vs. determinism
How much of our behavior is a
matter of choices made freely by
an
individual and how much is
subject to the notion that behavior
is largely produced by factors
beyond people's willful control
5: Individual Differences vs. universal
Principles
How much of our behavior is a
consequence of our unique and
special qualities, and how
much reflects the culture and
society in which we live?
 Branches of Psychology
• Clinical psychology
• Counselling
• Experimental psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Social psychology
• Community psychology
• Environmental psychology
 Branches of Psychology
• School and Educational psychology
• Industrial and Organizational psychology
• Forensic psychology
• Sports psychology
• Personality psychology
• Health psychology
 Subfields of psychology
1: Biological/Health psychology- look for the relationship between biological
processes and behavior.
2: Cognitive psychology- are concerned with people’s internal mental
processes, such as problem-solving, memory, and language and
thought.
3: Developmental psychology- are concerned with human
development and the factors that shape behavior from birth to old age.
 Cont..
4: Social psychologists are interested in how people perceive and
interpret their social world and how their beliefs, emotions, and
behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of
others.
5: Personality psychologists study the thoughts, emotions, and
behaviors that define an individual’s personal style of interacting
with the world.
 Cont..
6. Clinical psychology- apply psychological principles to the
diagnosis and treatment of emotional and behavioral problems,
including mental illness, drug addiction, and marital and family
conflict.
7: Counseling- perform many of the same functions as clinical
psychologists, although they often deal with less serious
problems. work with high school or university students.
8. school psychologists work with children to evaluate learning
and emotional problems.
9. In contrast, educational psychologists are specialists in
learning and teaching.
• may work in schools, but more often they work in a
university’s school of education,
• do research on teaching methods and help train
teachers.
 Cont..
10. Organizational psychologists- also called industrial
psychologists, typically work for a company.

11: Engineering psychologists- also called human factors

engineers, try to improve the relationship between people
and machines.
12: Sports psychology- Improving sports performance
The Historical Origins of
psychology
 Beginning of Psychology
• Supernatural Elements: Before the age of scientific inquiry
all good and bad manifestations beyond the control of hu-
man kind were regarded as supernatural.
 Early Demonology
• DEMONOLOGY:
• The doctrine that a semi autonomous or
completely autonomous evil being such
as the devil may dwell within a person
and control his or her mind and body is
called demonology.
 The Early Greek Philosophers
• ANIMISM:
Looking at all of nature as though it is alive
• ANTHROPOMORPHISM:
The projection of human attributes onto
nature

BOTH WERE INVOLVED IN EARLY ATTEMPTS TO

MAKE SENSE OF LIFE
Humans have always needed to predict,
understand and control nature. Animism,
anthropomorphism, magic, religion,
philosophy and science are all efforts to
satisfy those needs.