Introduction to

Psychology
DELIVERED BY

AMNA NISAR
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST
SPEECH AND LANGUAGE PATHOLOGIST
Introduction to Psychology
LECTURE NO. 1
INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
 Psychology

 A scientific study of human behavior and mental processes.

 Etymologically, it came from the Greek words, Psyche which means “soul” or
“mind”, and Logos which means “the study of.”
 Behavior
 Any response or activity of an organism.

 It can either be simple or complex; overt or covert; conscious or unconscious;

voluntary or involuntary; rational or irrational.
 Goals of Psychology
 To Describe
 To Explain
 To Predict
 To Control

Scientists and researchers use scientific methods to find answers that are far more
valid and legitimate than those resulting from intuition and speculation
  Aristotle (384 –322 BC)
 Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650)
Important People in the  John Locke (1632–1704)
Development of  Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882)
 Francis Galton (1822–1911)
Psychology  Ernst Weber (1795–1878)
 Wilhelm Wundt
 Aristotle (384 –322 BC) –

 He made assumptions out of observation regarding human behavior. He believed

that all beings, humans included, have souls, which animate them. Humans,
however, compared to other animal, have rational souls. Thus, humans are not
only, physical, but also rational. He also theorized about learning, memory,
motivation, emotion, perception and personality.
 John Locke (1632–1704)

 - Believed that at birth the human mind is a “tabula rasa” or a blank slate, on
which experience “writes” knowledge.
 Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650)

 - supported the view that humans enter the world with an inborn store of
knowledge. He argued that some ideas (such as God, the self, perfection and
infinity) are innate. He is also notable for his conception of the body as a machine
that can be studied.
 Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882)

 - He is the author of the Law of Natural Selection or Theory of Evolution; inspired

the Psychological school of thought, Functionalism.
 Francis Galton (1822–1911)

 - He was concerned with the study of individual differences. He was considered as

the “Father of Mental tests”
 Ernst Weber (1795–1878);

 Gustav Fechner; Herman von Helmholtz (1821–1894) German Physicians who

started experimenting with behavior through scientific methodologies.
 Wilhelm Wundt
 – Considered as the “Father of Modern Psychology.” He established the first
experimental laboratory for the study of Psychology, in Leipzig, Germany, 1879.
He created a machine that measured the time lag between people’s hearing a ball
hit the platform and their pressing a telegraph key. Wundt has seeking to measure
the “atoms of the mind” – the fastest and simplest mental processes.
 Stay calm
Whatever situation you meet, Don’t loose your senses….

Always stay calm

Always be thankful
Thank You