1

PSYCHOLOGY TERMS pect of a class or group of objects apart from particular or

concrete objects themselves.
A Abstract Intelligence:-The ability to deal with abstract con-
Aversion Therapy:- A form of therapy in which punish- cepts effectively.
ment or some other aversive stimulation is used to elimi- Abstract Learning:-Learning which involves abstract ob-
nate undesired responses. jects.
AAT:-Achievement. Anxiety Test: A specific anxiety mea- Abstract Theory:-A theory that employs mathematical or
sure of both debilitating and facilitating effects of test anxi- purely imaginary concepts or principles to explain events
ety. or relationships.
AB Design:-A single subject research design that contains Abstract Word:- A word that evokes very little visual imag-
one baseline (A) and one treatment (B). ery.
ABAB Design:-A single subject research design that con- Absurdity Test:-A task in which the testee must point out
tains a baseline (Al), treatment (Bl), a second baseline (B2) the incongruity or absurdity in a story or picture used at
and a second treatment phase (B2) several levels on the Binet test.
Abasia:-Inability to walk due to impairment in motor coor- Abulia:-A pathological disturbance of the mental regula-
dination. tion of actions; loss of ability to perform voluntary actions
Aberration:-A departure from normal; a temporary lapse or make decisions.
from normalcy idiosyncratic or peculiar behaviour. Abundancy Motive:-A tendency to seek satisfaction be-
Abience:-Moving the organism away from a stimulus, in yond those involved in fulfilling deficits or eliminating needs.
contrast of audient behavior, which moves the organism to- Acalculia:-Inability to calculate and perform arithmetical
ward the source of stimulation. operations as a result of cortical lesions.
Ability:-Capacity to do something physical or mental; abil- Acansthesia:-Paresthesia in which the individual experi-
ity includes aptitude and achievement. ence takes place.
Ability Tests:-Tests of potential that is, of what an indi- Acatamathesia:-Inability to comprehend perceived situa-
vidual can learn with training, e.g. achievement tests, per- tions; impaired ability to understand speech.
sonality test, etc. Acathisia:-Inability to remain in a sitting position.
Ablation:-Removal of all or part of an organ for the purpose Acceleration:-An increase in the rate of the sematic and
of studying its function. physiological maturation of children and teenagers.
Abnormal:-Divergence from what is normal, or ordinary or Accessory Nerve:-The eleventh cranial nerve helper, or ac-
expected. cessory, to the vagus, or tenth nerve, distributed to the
Abnormal Behaviour:-Behaviour considered to be mal- muscles of the pharynx and larynx.
adaptive or deviant by the individual or the social group of Accessory Parts:-All parts of sense organs except the re-
which the person is a member. ceptor cells themselves. Accessory parts contribute to more
Abnormal Psychology:-A branch of Psychology that stud- effective functioning of sense organs.
ies different types of psychoses, neuroses and other ab- Accident Proneness:-Tendency toward accidents, person-
normalities, finds out their causes, general principles and ality factors.
utilises them to cure these abnormalities. Accommodation:-The creation of new cognitive schemes
Abortion:-Premature termination of a pregnancy. when objects, experiences, or other information does not
Abreaction:-The discharge of tension by words, feelings fit with existing schemas.
and action as a traumatic experience. Acculturation:-The process by which the individual child
Absentmindedness:-Absorption in thoughts so as to be learns the behaviour patterns characteristic of the group
unaware of surrounding condition. learning the social patterns of an alien group.
Absolute Error:-Observed value (score) plus or minus to ACE Test:-American Council on Education test of intelli-
the true value (score). gence, (used for College freshers).
Absolute Rating Scale:-A rating scale according to which Acetycholine:-A neurotransmitter associated with volun-
the rater assigns a score to each subject on each charac- tary movement, sleep and wakefulness.
teristic being rated on the basis of comparison with a stan- Acetylcholine:-A chemical believed to transmit nerve im-
dard for each characteristic. pulse across neuronal gaps and used to lower blood pres-
Absolute Refractory Period:-Period just after nerve cell sure and increase digestive functions.
discharge during which the cell cannot be excited. Achesthesia:-Seeing sharp points as touch, but lacking
Absolute Scale:-A scale provided with an absolute zero the perception of pain usually associated with such stimu-
point but having equal intervals. lation.
Absolute Threshold:-The minimum level of stimulus in- Achieved Status:-A social position that is obtained through
tensity of which an organism is aware or to which it re- one’s own efforts, such as doctor, teacher, etc.
sponds. Achievement Drive:-To perform well or better than others;
Absolute Zero:-Characteristic of a scale of measurement based on standards set by the individual or by society.
that contains a point where the scale has no value. Achievement Motivation:-One’s need to reach success
Absorption:-A state of preoccupation or high degree of at- in various types of activity, especially in competition with
tention to one object or activity. others.
Abstract:-Separated from what is real or concrete. Achievement Motive:-The social motive to accomplish
Abstract Ability:-The ability to use abstract ideas in prob- something of value or importance, to meet standards of
lem solving. excellence in what one does....
Abstract Idea:-A generalized idea representing some as-

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 2

PSYCHOLOGY ESSAYS have no control. The psychological content here is luck.

The player strives towards triumph over one’s destiny rather
PSYCHOLOGY OF SPORTS than over an opponent. Fate and luck determine the out-
Psychology’s role in sports may be naive, but ignoring it come and when rivalry exists, victory simply means that
may be considered as a serious oversight on the part of the the winner was luckier than the loser. Some of the examples
psychologists. Man has always viewed sports or sporting of these games are gambling, flipping coins, card games,
skills with excitement and awe. Sportsmen were consid- lotteries, etc. The player need not struggle, work or com-
ered as personifications of strength, valour and even divin- pete; all he must do is gamble and wait for lady luck to
ity. Mythologies show that excellence in sports was as- smile on him.
sociated with Gods and demons. Some such sports were Games of Pretence: There are games in which the player
wrestling, boxing, archery and gambling. The status of sports is pretending that he is someone or something which one
in the modern world is amazing. One can infer this from the is not. Such manifestations are termed mimicry which may
reports in every newspaper - almost as much space is de- be seen to range from a little girl playing mother or teacher,
voted to sports as to news. Some devote the strategic last a little boy playing father or a cowboy or even cat and dog
page to sport, with attractive captions and pictures to make on the one hand, to a professional mimic mimicking a vari-
it as attractive as the front page. The size of crowds some ety of people in varied situations.
games draw runs into millions. Players are often used as Games of Vertigo: A good number of people seek sport or
advertising models. They are not only made to advertise cos- activities which give them a sense of dizziness, giddiness
metics and textiles but razors and bubblegums. More and combined with loss of body control and a strong element of
more money has been allotted and released by governments danger. These activities provide fun and enjoyment in addi-
to start sports institutes, coaching centres and facilities for tion to a sense of adventure and risk taking. Some such
the players to improve their skills . Some of the main events games are taking a ride on a roller coaster, merry- go-round,
covered by the mass media today are the sports events. sky-diving, ski-jumping, surfing, car racing, etc. It is difficult
Psychologists, therefore, cannot afford to ignore such an to explain people’s attraction to such games because they
important facet of human activity. They started their expla- tremble, go pale, get tensed up but would continue to watch
nations in this area primarily to explain why man indulges or participate in these games with the sense of ‘once more’.
in play or play activity. Secondly, they tried to study the These are some of the categories under which most of the
impact of play or sports on the spectators or the audience. popular games may be categorised. Coming back to the
Thirdly, they tried to see whether sports had any practical point, understanding the concepts, the reader after going
value, or longlasting implications for the individuals. Before through the above note must be aware of what exactly the
the discussion takes a serious turn it is worthwhile to un- terms play and games mean. However, sports is a term
derstand the concepts of play, games and sports in order employed to refer to a large number of games or a body of
to avoid misunderstanding. games and its associated activities. Sports is conceived
Play is described as a type of behaviour engaged for the as an institutionalised game. Games when they become
purpose of fun and enjoyment with utilitarian and abstract distinctive and enduring patterns of culture and social struc-
goals in mind. However, pure play becomes a game when it ture get combined into a single complex. This complex is
becomes repetitive, systematic and predictable. Play is gen- seen to include those values, norms, knowledge,
erally a unique piece of individual behaviour, whereas a game profeciencies and social roles and institutionalised blue-
can be repeated by a person or others because it has a print, which forms the organisation and behaviour within
systematic pattern with outcomes that are, to a greater or game occurrences and sporting events. Thus, it may be
lesser degree, quite predictable. Play is open ended and the seen that play is an essential element of game and sport.
player does not necessarily know what will happen in any Games and sports are built over play. Since play is the
particular play situation. In a game, one gets involved with crux of sports, it may be interesting to get acquainted with
goals or the anticipation or expectation of goals. Play, in a some of the theories or views on play. Some of the popular
game situation, assumes a goal directedness and becomes views regarding play are briefly described below.
more instrumental than consummatory. Play relinquishes a Von Schiller and Spencer claimed that play is the result of
certain amount of its voluntary control in a game situation, a ‘surplus of energy’. Their explanation is that in human
simply because it is restricted or subordinated to the pursuit beings a certain amount of energy will always exist and
of real goals. Games, on the other hand are goal directed. that there is a tendency to expend this energy in goalless
Games are generally classified into four categories. activity, i.e. play. A child rarely gets a chance to expend
Competitive Games (Agon) : Much of our modern sports his energy because parents and other members of society
are extremely competitive. The psychological content of take care of all his needs and this energy finds its outlet
these games is equal struggle. The games are structured through aimless activity which is pleasurable. Similarly, an
in such a way that competitors start under equal terms and adult will never be able to expend all his energy in work and
strive under equal conditions. Here, a superficial equality is the surplus is automatically directed towards wholesome
created in order to ensure an ideal confrontation between activity that makes him feel good. Planning play and physi-
the players. When such a confrontation is achieved triumph cal activity as a part of curriculum in schools and colleges,
or victory is considered worthwhile. Some popular Agon taking extra care to provide recreation at work places are
games are hockey, cricket, chess, wrestling, boxing, etc. all based on such a notion of play. Thus, play is considered
In these games the psychological content is that of tri- as both a biological and psychological explosion of en-
umphing over equals. ergy.....
Games of Chance (Alea): These games are based on
inequality, caused by external forces on which the players

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 3

PSYCHOLOGY PERCEPTION
The student has already been introduced to the terms cog-
PAPER-III (A) (CORE GROUP) nition and cognitive process. It was pointed out that sensa-
UNIT—I tion, attention, perception, all of thinking and learning rep-
•SIGNAL DETECTION THEORY, resent different steps in the cognitive process. While every
cognitive action may not involve learning, sensation, atten-
SUBLIMINAL PERCEPTION AND RELATED FACTORS, tion and perception these are processes necessarily in-
volved in cognitive action, or any act of cognition. This was
INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH TO PERCEP- followed by a discussion of the sensory processes, the
TION, sense organs, the nature of sensations and sensory phe-
nomena.
CULTURE AND PERCEPTION, The various sense organs are constantly receiving stimuli
from the outside environment and also from inside. These
PERCEPTUAL STYLES. sensory inputs or information form the basis of our knowl-
edge. At any moment sensory inputs keep flowing in through
ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON PERCEPTION. the various sense organs. But we do not become aware of
all of them to the same degree. In fact, we are not at all
aware of some of them. On the other hand, we become
more aware of some stimuli and not others. For example, if
the teacher is teaching a very interesting topic in the class,
we are not aware of what others are doing, what some
people standing outside the classroom are doing and a
myriad other things, about which sensory information is
nevertheless pouring in. Similarly, if you are very seriously
reading a book, then, many other events happening out-
side, do not disturb you or attract you. It may be true that
your mother is screaming at the top of her voice calling you
for lunch, but, you do not become aware of it. Later, she
comes and drags you by your ear. It may be seen here that
at anytime, we are more aware of sensory stimulation from
certain agents than others. They occupy the centre of our
awareness.
This selective process by which certain select sensory
stimulations from among many come to occupy the centre
of our awareness is known as attention. Attention is thus a
selective cognitive process by which we become more
aware of certain objects, sounds, smells etc. and allow
them into the focus of our awareness. Of course, apart
from those at the focus, there are certain other sensory
impressions, which occupy a peripheral position in our field
of awareness, or which occupy a secondary position. Thus,
at any point, our field of awareness has a region of focal
attention, a region of marginal attention, and non-attention.
The process of ‘attending’ is influenced by a variety of fac-
tors which introduce a selective process in bringing some
stimuli to the focus of awareness, some to the periphery
and keeping the others out of our field of awareness.
If sensation constitutes the first stage of a cognitive act,
and attention, the second stage, the third stage involves
‘perception’; perception is a much more complicated pro-
cess and involves the organisation and interpretation of the
stimuli which have crossed the threshold of the attention
process and get into focus of awareness to make them
meaningful. Suppose you are sitting in your room and seri-
ously reading a book. Suddenly you hear a loud noise and
turn your attention away, and immediately come to the con-
clusion that the noise must be from the site nearby where
some rocks are being exploded for constructing a football
stadium. Here it may be seen that while sensation depends
on the nature and intensity of the sensory stimuli, and at-
tention is more complex involving a selective process, per-
ception is much more complex involving past knowledge,
awareness etc. Perception involves arriving at meanings...

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 4
ELECTIVE—V PRACTICAL IMPORTANCE OF
•PSYCHOPATHOLOGY: STUDYING PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
CONCEPTS, Freud’s view that nobody is cent percent normal though
CLASSIFICATION AND CAUSES, held by some as an exaggeration, it should be accepted
CLINICAL DIAGNOSTICS beyond doubt that abnormality is perhaps the major prob-
lem of a modem civilized society. It is, however, unfortunate
•COMMON CLINICAL DISORDERS that this problem has been very much neglected in India.
Psychologists should consider it to be their first and fore-
•MENTAL RETARDATION most duty to help the mentally ill person to lead as far as
practicable a normal life in the society. Those who help in
•MENTAL HEALTH : solving serious personality problems and deal with people
INTERVENTION MODELS AND having problems of adjustment definitely contribute to the
PSYCHO-THERAPIES welfare of the humanity. Perhaps this would be the greatest
and finest contribution of a psychologist to the mankind.
Therefore, Coleman (1981) views that the study of abnor-
mal behaviour may be of great value in bettering individual
adjustment and in reducing the great amount of misery aris-
ing out of mental illness and maladjustment in modern so-
ciety.
In primitive times, abnormality was considered as a kind of
mystical or spiritual occurrence. They thought that some
people are enchanted by some evil spirits and thus the
patients were treated in a very crude and unscientific pro-
cess. Today it is neither considered terrible nor uncom-
mon. Many persons suffering from mental diseases are
amenable to treatment.
A scientific study of abnormal behaviour is essential
for the following facts:-
1.To know the nature and the cause of abnormality it leads
us to understand the mechanism of abnormal mind, diag-
nose the disease and predict the progress of the disease.
Hence abnormality no longer stands as a mystery or a
curse.
2.A correct understanding of abnormality can check, pre-
vent and cure the disease.
Modern psychopathology is also of great importance for
common man as already discussed. In America every year
about 1,50,000 or more new patients are admitted to men-
tal hospitals. These figures do not include the patients go-
ing to private clinics for counselling and treatment. More-
over, the innumerable mild cases which are never referred
to a psychiatrist remain unrepresented. In America as sta-
tistics shows, about 10 percent of population suffer from
severe types of mental diseases or insanity as it is popu-
larly called. It has also been estimated that about 15 per-
cent of the undergraduate students of American Colleges
need the services of the psychological counsellor. Prob-
ably, at sometime or other it is expected that most of the
students may need some sort of psychological counselling
and advice because of the competitive situation of the col-
lege campus and academic life. In India though the per-
centage may not be that high in comparison to their west-
ern counterparts usually 4 to 5 percent seek regular guid-
ance and counselling from an expert in the area. This is
also the author’s personal experience who has been in the
teaching profession for 27 years.
In view of the above facts, abnormal psychology has been
of tremendous importance for modern people. The implica-
tions and significance of abnormal psychology lies in study-
ing the maladjusted and abnormal personality. It is also of
value to the so called normal people of the society. This
supports Freud’s view that nobody is cent percent normal
and every body needs some sort of guidance, counselling

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 5
and advice to overcome anxiety, depression, worries and viduals marked by limited intelligence, emotional instabil-
other major/minor mental illness arising out of the stresses, ity, personality disorganization and character defects who
strains and competitiveness of modern society. in most part led wretched personal lives and were social
Modern psychopathology is also of great need and impor- misfits and liabilities.
tance to medicine. In fact, it is predicted that 50 percent of Thus, abnormality and normality can only be defined in terms
the medicines in future will be psychological medicines. It of conformity to the will and welfare of the group and in the
is of tremendous importance to common man as over 10 capacity for self management.
percent of the total population is expected to suffer from A close analysis of various types of abnormal behaviour
severe mental illness and tentatively every one of the popu- indicates that , abnormal behaviour circumscribes a wide
lation is likely to suffer from at least mild mental illness or range of maladoptive reactions like psychoneuroses, psy-
depression during his life time. choses, delinquents, sexually deviants, and drug addicts
NORMAL AND ABNORMAL etc. Thus, same kind of biological, social and psychologi-
NORMAL cal maladjustment affects the functioning of the individual
The common pattern of behaviour found among the general in a society. The abnormal deviants who constitute about
majority is said to be the behaviour of the normal. Normal 10 percent of the general population are classified into four
people exhibit satisfactory work capacity and earn adequate main categories; such as psychoneurotic, psychotic, men-
income. They conform and adjust to their social surround- tally defective and antisocial.
ing. They are capable of establishing, satisfying and ac- CONCEPTS OF ABNORMALITY
ceptable relationship with other people and their emotional While distinguishing between normality and abnormality
reactions are basically appropriate to different situations. many concepts of abnormality have developed some of which
Such people manage to control their emotions. Their emo- are unacceptable.
tional experiences do not affect their personality adjust- QUALITATIVE CONCEPT
ment though they experience occasional frustrations and According to the qualitative concept, normality and abnor-
conflict. These people who adjust well with themselves, their mality differ in quality and not in quantity. These two con-
surroundings and their associates constitute the normal cepts are separated from each other by water tight com-
group. The normal group covers the great majority of people. partments by this older conception.
According to Colcman (1981) normal behaviour will repre- Not long ago, the insanes, criminals and mentally deficients
sent the optimal development and functioning of the indi- were considered to form a special group below the normal
vidual consistent with the long term well being and progress group, just as the gifteds were considered to constitute a
of the group. special group above the normal group. It was also accepted
Thus, people having average amount of intelligence, per- that the insane, delinquent and genius were governed by
sonality stability, social adaptability are considered as nor- distinctly different laws. Thus, according to the qualitative
mal. concept, the insane and genius have no similarity with the
ABNORMAL normal people in any respect.
The concept of abnormality is defined as the simple exag- This popular conception of the distribution of human per-
geration or perverted development of the normal psycho- sonality is represented below diagramatically which aptly
logical behaviour. In other words, it deals with the usual suggests a qualitative difference between the insane, nor-
behaviour of man. The unusual or maladapted behaviour of mal and genius.
many persons which do not fit into our common forms of To indicate the difference between the abnormal, the nor-
behaviour is known as abnormal behaviour. Abnormality mal and the superior each group has been described as a
refers to maladjustment to one’s society and culture which separate entity.
surrounds him. It is the deviation from the normal in an
unfavourable and pathological way.
According to Brown (1940) abnormal psychological phe-
nomena are simple exaggerations (over development or
under development) or disguised (i.e., perverted develop-
ments) of the normal psychological phenomena. It is ex-
pected, for instance, that a normal human being would re-
act to a snake by immediately withdrawing from it. But if
the person on the contrary, plays with the snake very hap-
pily, it is a sign of uncommon behaviour which may be con-
sidered as abnormal provided that past experience or train-
ing does not play a part here. A person who has been by
profession trained from the very childhood to deal with
snakes will not be afraid of a snake and if he does not
The older people say that the insane and the genius have
withdraw from a snake, will not be considered abnormal.
no similarity with the normal people in any respect. But
Coleman (1981) holds that deviant behaviours are consid-
this concept of abnormality is unacceptable as it has al-
ered as maladaptive because they are not only harmful to
ready been established that the normals and abnormals do
the society, but to the individual. Maladaptive behaviour im-
not differ in kind but in quantity. In fact, no sharp dividing
pairs individual and group well being and it brings distress
line can be drawn between the two behaviours as it does
to the individual. It also leads to individual and group con-
not exist in reality. The only difference between the two
flicts.
groups lies in the capacity to adjust. .....
Page (1976) views that the abnormal group consists of indi-

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 6
PAPER-III (B) CURRENT TRENDS IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
(ELECTIVE/OPTIONAL) ELECTIVE—I The contemporary age has often been described as an age
•CURRENT TRENDS IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY of anxiety. Present-day society, has on the one hand,
reached heights of economic growth, technological advance
•SOCIAL COGNITION and success. But along with this, we have also witnessed
increasing tensions, conflicts, unhappiness and a lot of
•SOCIAL INFLUENCE unproductive or even counterproductive behaviour on the other
hand. Writers like Karen Homey, Eric Fromm as well as
•PRO-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR authors like Reisman and Galbraith have pointed out that
modern society, while it has been building up its advan-
•ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR tages has also allowed itself to be caught as a prisoner due
to its own actions, resulting in contradictory phenomena
•APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY : such as success accompanied with discontent, free choice
with compulsion, togetherness with loneliness and intimacy
HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT AND LAW with isolation. Even though communication facilities have
increased people seem to understand each other less and
less. Prosperity has increased and so has poverty. Predict-
ability has certainly increased with the parallel growth of
uncertainty. All these contradictions have led to the emer-
gence of psychological problems such as perpetual anxi-
ety, doubt, insecurity, etc. In his eloquent analysis of the
position of man in contemporary society Erich Fromm brings
out clearly what he calls the helplessness of modern man.
In his classic work on “The Lonely Crowd” David Reisman,
in a characteristic manner, brings out the increasing feeling
of loneliness and isolation in contemporary man inspite of
physical proximity to others. From a psychological point of
view it has been shown that modern man has more needs,
more frustrations, more conflicts, more demands, more
contradictions and more of practically everything, except-
ing common sense. While change and progress have been
achieved, instability and uncertainty have been the by-prod-
ucts. Contemporary man often finds himself ‘busy doing
nothing’. He has plenty of time to worry, but no time to do
something about it. All this means that anxiety, stress and
conflict have become the concomitants of contemporary
life.
This has resulted in a condition now popularly known as
alienation. Modern man does many things without knowing
why; much of his behaviour is meaningless even to himself.
While he feels his actions to be meaningless, he finds it
difficult to be at peace with himself or enjoy his leisure.
Thus, meaningless action and a sense of restlessness, both
contribute to a feeling of lack of authenticity. Modern man
very often is not convinced about what he is doing or not
doing. His own actions and inactions seem strange not only
to others but to himself. To quote Stanley Hall, perhaps out
of context, “He has entered a new world and knows neither
it nor himself.” He has freedom but only to conform. Unfor-
tunately, all this is very different from what man expected to
achieve through scientific progress, economic growth and
technological advancement.
Thus, the experiences appear to be more shocking than
consoling. While poverty and underdevelopment have their
own natural and logical psychological problems, prosperity
and affluence seem to bring in their own illogical conse-
quences. Such a situation has thrown up a number of chal-
lenges to psychologists, contemporary psychology is faced
with the problem of to identifying and developing ways and
means of correlating material progress with psychological
gain. The individual in contemporary society is always be-
ing driven by a sense of pressure, stress and conflict. It is
today realized that developments in science and technol-

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 7
ogy have to keep abreast of psychological growth and de- for ever.
velopment. In this context, one can see the emergence of The student may wonder why so much is said about de-
crucial roles for the psychologist to devise both individual structiveness. On the one hand, it is certainly found in cer-
and social strategies for minimizing anxiety, restlessness, tain quarters but not so alarmingly common as people would
listlessness and stress. like them to believe. It is here that destructiveness can be
Such strategies belong to different levels of social organi- very subtle, deceptive and disguised and sneak through in
zation, beginning from the family at one end to the entire many forms without being noticed. It can be enticingly fatal
society at the other end with other agencies like the school, or fatally enticing. It is not often conscious, but unconscious.
work organization and community in between. The term It certainly goes to the credit of Freud not only for highlight-
psychosocial engineering has come to have definite mean- ing the destructive potentiality of the human being, but also
ing. It implies an active role for behavioural scientists, par- its deceptive ways and mechanisms of operation. While
ticularly psychologists in designing/ideal models of institu- one may not agree with Freud on the instinctive origins of
tions and organizations and also evolving principles which aggressive and destructive tendencies, nevertheless, today
would help to relate to these organizations and institutions we know that some socially generated, conditioned and
so that all of them contribute to the maximization of the acquired response patterns can be much more compul-
psychological resources of human beings and also ensure sive, repetitive and endangering apart from being uncon-
that they are used for the best possible purposes. scious. They can be polymorphous. As Fromm observes,
Psychological planning has become a necessary correla- ‘destructiveness today is so pervasive and versatile that it
tion of economic growth and planning. Unfortunately, psy- can put on many rationalised appearances including love,
chologists so far have been working with smaller groups concern, conscience, altruism and what not!’ This makes it
and limited organizations (microsystems) and have not made very difficult to keep track of destructiveness.
much of a contribution to the planning of larger groups or Destructive behaviour can be of two types; Like violence it
macrosystems. The credit goes to B.F. Skinner who was may be a rational reaction or response to a real threat to
the first psychologist to bring out the possibilities of psy- one’s life, honour, reputation or self-esteem. It is perfectly
chological theory or behaviour theory contributing to cul- rational to feel like destroying something or someone who
tural planning and shaping. The preoccupation of psycholo- has badly hurt you. We may consider this as rational or
gists with problems such as social neuroses, social stress, rational destructiveness. Very often these are conscious
etc. are indicative of the roles that will be emerging very and visible signs and normally this does not operate on the
decisively in the future for psychologists. sly.
Such a role for the psychologist which involves psycho- But the other type which accumulates and comes into op-
social engineering certainly envisages necessity and the eration without any provocation is a result of the helpless,
possibility of evolving a functional and meaningful system neurotic condition of modern man, the consequence and
of psycho-technology and behavioural technology. It has result of his own actions and, which waits for an opportu-
been shown clearly that just as technology can plan for a nity to leak or sneak through is more dangerous. It is subtle,
machine system, behaviour technology can plan for a generalised, irrational and becomes a need or an end in
psycho-social system. The problem with psychologists itself. Of course, we do find this type of destructiveness in
seems to be that they only react and do not or cannot some individual neurotics as evidenced by acts of undoing
proact. and compulsive acts and even violence. But the type of
DESTRUCTIVENESS destructiveness under discussion is collective, is
Violence and aggression have been emerging as major rationalised and people share this rationalisation as seen
symptoms of modern man’s deep-seated malady. Destruc- in the instances of terrorism, extremist violence, mindless
tiveness is not always bad in itself. Anything or anybody killings, etc. The student needs no elaborate illustration of
who is a potential danger to human welfare has to be ruth- such phenomena in the context of our country, where trains
lessly destroyed. Thus there are occasions when destruc- are burnt or derailed, buses are set ablaze and innocent
tiveness and violence are not only to be preferred but are people are killed, and things are destroyed. Unfortunately,
probably the only alternatives. Destructiveness occasion- we have learnt to live with these very comfortably. Much
ally blends with ‘sado-masochistic’ tendencies but is differ- worse is the fact that there are some individuals who openly
ent in that it aims at the total elimination of the object. and many implicitly are not only sympathetic to these, but
Unlike sado-masochistic strivings where this is not the case, perhaps even derive a vicarious satisfaction. They appear
but it is also rooted in the human weakness or helpless- to share the tendencies and intentions of the terrorists but
ness or powerlessness and isolation. In the words of Fromm not the courage of the latter. An extreme result of such
“I can escape the feeling of my own powerlessness in com- irrational but rationalised destructiveness can be “self-de-
parison with the world outside of myself by destroying it. To struction” “self-torture” etc. Not only do we tolerate destruc-
be sure, if I succeed in removing it, I remain alone and tion but the perpetrators of destruction become heroes and
isolated, but mine is a splendid isolation in which I cannot leaders elected by the people of the country. One should
be controlled by the overwhelming powers of the objects not be surprised if Veerappan becomes a hero....
outside of myself”. A distinction between sadism and de-
structiveness is that while both have aggressive, perhaps,
even violent overtones, the former aims at incorporating or
swallowing or subjugating the outside object while the lat-
ter aims at its total extermination; the former aims at con-
trol and dominance over others, while the latter goes far
beyond and would like to end the helplessness once and

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