UNIT-1

INTRODUCTION TO
a

PSYCHOLOGY

Definition – Key Perspectives in Psychology – Contemporary

Psychology - Trends for the New Millennium – Scientific Methods.
The Nervous System; – Basic Structure and Functions - Its Major
Divisions; – The Brain – The Brain Stem – The Brain and Human
Behavior, – Heredity and Behavior – Genetics and Evolutionary
Psychology.

Varun Muthuchamy. M.Phil in Clinical Psychology (NIMHANS)

Assistant Professor in Department of Psychology (UA)
PSG College of Arts & Science
Coimbatore, India.
Definition
• The term psychology is derived from two Greek words ‘Psyche’ and ‘Logos’.
• The word ‘Psyche’ means Soul used by the Greek philosopher Aristotle and
the word ‘Logos’ means course of study.
• The term psichiologia was first used by Marko Marulic in 1506.
• Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and cognition
Behavior
• Behavior is a broad term which includes all activities of the organism (both
human & animals).
• Behavior refers to all of a person’s overt activities that others can directly
observe.
• Activity can be regarded as the basic unit of behavior and most of the time
it is our response to the stimulus.
• It falls into two major categories as shown below.
Physical Activities

Running
Dancing
Driving Breathing
Writing Heartbeat
Secretion of glands
Changes in the brain waves

Physiological Activities
Cognition
• The term cognition refers to the private thoughts, emotions, feelings and
motives that others can not directly observe.
• Cognition is the process of “thinking”.
• Cognition literally means “knowing” and it includes all higher mental
process.
 Executive function Intelligence

Problem solving COGNITION Language

Creativity Learning & Memory

Key Perspectives
In Psychology
Key Perspectives In Psychology
Western Philosophers

Rene John
ARISTOTLE
Descartes Locke

The most important of Aristotle’s French Philosopher wrote that British philosopher said that
work for psychology is treated mind and body influence each infants come into this world with
primarily in his book “De Anima” other which is reflected in one of blank minds, with no experience.
(about the soul) which describes the great one liners of philosophy The term he used that was tabula
the functioning of the soul, Cogito, ergo sum,” I think rasa (Latin for blank tablet or
reasoning and thinking, five basic therefore I am, or “Dubito, ergo slate). Knowledge, then, is the
sensation, imagination and sum”,” I doubt, therefore I am.” result of a build up of
dreaming. Descartes believed only humans experiences.
had a mind
Structuralism
• Founder: Developed by Edward Titchner of USA, the student of
Wundt
• Just as chemists attempts to discover the basic elements that
make up physical substance, Wundt and Titchner wanted to
identify the basic elements of conscious mind.
• Basic Principles:
• Psychologists have to study the mind - conscious mind.
• To make psychology as a science, a psychologist has to study the structure of the
conscious mind, much as chemist might break water down into hydrogen plus oxygen.
• Our conscious mind has 3 elements or structures- Images, Feelings and Sensation.
• Method: Structuralism emphasizes the method of "Introspection”.
It is a self - analysis method.
• Application: Structuralism started the scientific study of
psychology.
Functionalism
• Founder: Proposed by William James, an American psychologist.
• He wrote the first text book of psychology called "The Principles of
Psychology”(1890) and proposed the first theory of emotion.
• Basic Principles
• Psychology must study conscious mind.
• But the mind or consciousness is not a static one but highly a dynamic one. So
psychology must study not only the structure but also the functioning of the mind.
• Instead of focusing on sensation and perception, functionalist such as James
Mc Keen Cattell (termed a word “mental test”) began to investigate mental
testing, patterns of development in children and behavioral differences
between the sexes.
• Method: "Introspection" and "Experiment”
• Application: - It laid foundation for applied psychology.
Contemporary
Psychology
Contemporary Psychology
Biological bases of Behavior
• Biological Perspective assumes that behavior and cognition
are largely shaped by biological processes.
• Psychologists who take this approach study the psychological effects of
hormones, genes, and the activity of the nervous system, especially the
brain.
 1
How individual nerve cells are joined together

2
How the inheritance of certain characteristics from
Some basic parents and other ancestors influences behavior
directions
3
How the functioning of the body affects emotions
and beliefs,
4

which behaviors are innate and which are learnt.

 METHOD APPLICATION

Experiment and Medications

Imaging techniques- Surgical Procedures
Scanning
Psychodynamic
• It is considered as the first wave in psychology.
• It was proposed by Sigmund Freud, an Austrian Psychiatrist.
• Unlike other schools of psychology which originated from universities,
Psychodynamic view originated from Freud’s Clinic.
 1
Psycho analysis has the negative view of the human being
Jan-Mar
2 Psychology must study the unconscious mind

3 Freud argued that conscious mind is merely the tip of the iceberg.
Beneath the visible tip lies the unconscious mind and like the
Basic archeologist we have to dig below the conscious mind to get to its
unconscious roots.
Principles 4 Unconscious mind contains sex and aggression motives and conflicts,
He called the sex motive as "libido" and the aggression motive as
"thanotos"(Greek God of death)
Oct-Des
5 Since the motive is in the unconscious mind the person is not
aware of it and has no control over it
6 The school gave importance to early childhood experience for the
development of personality and mental illness (“The child is father to the
man”)
 METHOD APPLICATION

Psycho analysis is two in

The school of psycho
one; it is both a theory
analysis used case-study
and therapy – the first
method.
“Talking Therapy”
Behavioral
• This the “second force of psychology” and was proposed by J.B.Watson.
• Watson proposed this school based upon the work of Russian physiologist,
Ivan Pavlov (eeVAHAN PAVlahv).
• Later in his book “Behaviorism” (1930) openly challenges that by changing
the environment he can train any child into a doctor, lawyer and thief.
 1 According to behaviorism, human beings react mechanically to their
environment, almost in the same way a billiard ball reacts to the thrust
of the cue. Jan-Mar
2 Psychology must study only the external, observable, and measurable
“Behavior” The concepts like consciousness, unconsciousness and
self-actualization must be rejected by psychologist because they are
vague and philosophical.
Basic 3 Introspection method must be rejected and psychologists must
Principles use only experiment.
4 All the behaviors are learned through conditioning – classical and
operant conditioning
5 A conditioned response is a learned reaction to particular stimulus
Oct-Des

so behaviorism is sometime known as S- R Psychology

6 External environment particularly reinforcement from the environment
plays an important role in the development of behavior.
 METHOD APPLICATION

Purely relied on Widely applied in

experimental and “Behavior Therapy” or
observation method “Behavior modification”
Cognitive
• A way of looking at human behavior that emphasizes research on how the
brain takes in information, creates perceptions, forms and retrieves
memories, processes information, and generates integrated patterns of
action.
• In other words, psychologists who take the cognitive approach study the
rapid series of hidden mental events—including those taking place outside
of awareness.
 Recalls information
stored in memory Labels the person as Decides that shoving
about appropriate rude and the person is the
social behavior. inconsiderate best response

Memory Labelling Decision Making

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Perception Judgment Predicting Behavior
Perceives that Decides that the other Considers possible Executes that response
someone has cut into person’s action was responses and their
the ticket line inappropriate likely consequences
 METHOD APPLICATION

Cognitive behavior
Experimental,
therapy, Understanding
observation and imaging
of higher order cognitive
method
processes
Humanistic
• The term humanistic was derived from the word "humane" which means
"kind" or "good in nature”. This is the third force in psychology.
• Humanistic Psychology was developed by two American psychologists, Carl
Rogers & Abraham Maslow. Maslow coined the phrase “humanistic
psychology”
 1 Humanistic psychology has the positive view of the human being

2 Peoples are basically good and have free will – the ability to make
Jan-Mar
voluntary choice. People can freely choose to live more creative,
meaningful and satisfying lives.
3 All people have the potential to become a great in their own way

Basic 4 Concept of self – actualization is a special feature of humanism.

Principles 5 Self-actualization refers to developing one’s potential fully and
becoming the best person possible and everyone have this
potential.
6 The school gave importance to early childhood experience for the
Oct-Des
development of personality and mental illness (“The child is father to the
man”)
7 Rogers gave more importance to self-concept – perception of oneself and also
believed that it has great influence on the behavior
 METHOD APPLICATION

Carl Rogers had

Introspection and developed the ‘Client-
experiment were Centered therapy’ or
emphasized ‘Non directive
counseling’.
Biopsychosocial/ Eclectic perspective
• It is the collective approach.
• It considers that the behavior is determined not only by the single factor
rather it is determined by the collection and integration of multiple factors.
• Biopsychosocial approach gives equal weightage to biological, psychological
and social determinants of an individual behavior and especially mental
illness.
• Most of the recent models in
psychology moves towards the
integrative approach and doesn’t
restrict itself to any rigid view.
 Psychological Factors
Attitude
Intelligence
Physiological responses
Mental Health
Genetic vulnerability
Emotional Stability
Immune functioning
Intellectual Capacity
Neurochemistry
Beliefs & Expectations
Disability
Gender
Biopsychosocial
Age Model
Biological factors Social factors
Domicile
Parenting
Social norms
Family values
Social support
Social economic status
Interpersonal relationship
Recent Trends
Recent Trends
Social Neuroscience
• Our biology has helped shape the social
environments we have created, and our
social environment has helped shape
our genes, brains, and bodies.
• Social neuroscience is the interdisciplinary field seeks to specify the neural,
hormonal, cellular, and genetic mechanisms underlying social behavior, and in
so doing to understand the reciprocal associations and influences between
social and biological levels of organization.
• Recent theoretical and research developments in the field of Social
Neuroscience are concerns with

01. Morality 04. Health & wellbeing

02. Empathy 05. Self-regulation

03. Heterarchical organization 06. Social Decision Making

of evaluative Process
Psycho-Oncology
• Psycho-Oncology is concerned with the
psychological, social, behavioral, and ethical aspects
of cancer.
• This Sub-specialty addresses the two major
psychological dimensions of cancer:
• The psychological responses of patients to
cancer at all stages of the disease, and that of
their families and caretakers;
• The psychological, behavioral and social factors
that may influence the disease process.
 It is an area of multi-disciplinary interest and has
Objectives of Psycho-oncology boundaries with the major specialties in
oncology:
Clinical Disciplines (Surgery,
04 03 01 Medicine, Radiotherapy)

De-stigmatization Change the focus Psychiatry 02

of cancer and of from increasing
mental disease. survival and life
expectancy to 03 Psychology
improving quality
of life. Epidemiology 04

02 01 05 Immunology

Change the Development of

Endocrinology 06
relationship palliative care.
between health 07 Pathology
care provider and
patient.
Palliative care 08
Forensic-Clinical Psychology
• It is an integration of two varying branches of applied psychology such as
forensic psychology and clinical psychology.
• The differentiating element from ordinary forensic psychology is that the
one who acquires the degree of Forensic Clinical Psychology will be eligible
to treat and intervene the mentally abnormal offenders and can work in
both forensic and clinical setup.
• The core principle is to apply psychological theories, principles, knowledge,
models and methods in an ethical and evidence based way to promote the
wellbeing and effectiveness of individuals, families, groups, organisations
and civil society, respecting the dignity and rights of both victims and
offenders and remaining mindful of the need to protect the public from
harm.
Machine Learning in Artificial Intelligence
• Artificial intelligence (AI) is the attempt by humans to construct systems that
show intelligence and, particularly, the intelligent processing of information.
• AI integrates or combines computer science and cognitive psychology. Those
who study AI try to simulate human thinking by using computer programs.
• Machine learning is an application of artificial intelligence (AI) that provides
systems the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience
without being explicitly programmed. It has a wide range of application in
Robotics.
Machine Learning in Artificial Intelligence
• World’s first AI robot citizen “Sophia”
• Artificially intelligent robot "Sophia" created and programmed by
Hanson Robotics, a Hong Kong-based humanoid robotics company,
is the first robot in the world to be recognized with a citizenship of
Saudi Arabia.
• Her “brain” runs on MindCloud, Hanson Robotics’ cloud-based
artificially intelligence (AI), which enables large-scale cloud control
and deep-learning data analytics for processing massive social data
gathered from interactions.
Environmental Psychology
• “The scientific study of the transactions and
interrelationships between people and their
physical surroundings (including built and
natural environments, the use and abuse of
nature and natural resources, and sustainability-
related behavior).”
• In other words, environmental psychology is all
about the interplay between people and their
environment. As a field, it seeks to understand
how and why our environment impacts us, how
we can leverage that knowledge to our
advantage, and what we can do to improve our
relationship with the world around us.
 Social use of space: crowding,
Evaluation of building and
01 natural landscapes
privacy, territoriality, personal 08
space.

Psychological aspects of Environmental risks and

02 resource management and hazards: perception, 07
crises. Topics behavior, and management
A
of B
interest
03 Ecological consequences of Stress-related to physical
human actions settings
06

Psychological and Theories of place, place

04 behavioral aspects of attachment, and place 05
people and nature identity
Scientific
Methods
Scientific Methods are the approaches through which
psychologists systematically acquire knowledge and
understand about the behavior and other phenomena

Scientific Methods
of interest. Communicating the
4 findings
Executing the research
3 design
Formulating an
2 explanation
Identifying questions of
1 Interest
Scientific Methods
Archival Research
• Type of research in which existing data, such as census documents,
college records, and newspaper clippings, are examined to test a
hypothesis.
• The data used in this type of research is also known as secondary
data
• e.g.: College records may be
used to determine if there are
gender differences in academic
performance.
 MERITS DEMERITS
Cost effective Incomplete information

Time effective Data can be analyzed with few

limitations.
May not answer the complete
hypothesis of the researcher.
Observation
• This is the first implemented scientific method.
• Observation can be defined as the purposive looking or intentional
examination of the behavior or anything for gathering the information.
Types of observation

• Naturalistic Observation: A type of research in which an investigator simply

observes some naturally occurring behavior and does not make a change in
the situation. Naturalistic observation is also used in studying animal
behavior in the natural environment and it is called ethology.

• Controlled Observation: In this observation the environment is controlled

and its impact on the behavior is observed mostly in the laboratory settings.
For example we can study the intensity of snake phobia by reducing the
distance between the individual and the snake.
 MERITS DEMERITS
This is the first scientific The method is subjective
method.
This is the best method to study Overt behavior can only be
the behavior of children, studied
animals and mentally ill people. Observer- effect

Observer- bias

Inter-rater reliability
Survey Research
• Research in which people chosen to represent a larger population are asked
a series of questions about their behavior, thoughts, or attitudes.
• Survey can be conducted in the format of interview method or by using
inventory or questionnaire or “Self-report measure.
• Since interview is time consuming process, most of the survey research opts
for questionnaire method.
 MERITS DEMERITS
Economical and less time Faking is possible particularly in
consuming method. the questionnaire.
Best method to study the Questionnaire cannot be used
opinion, beliefs, preferences with children, illiterate and
and attitude or “cognitive mentally retarded people
activities’.
The Case Study
• A case study is a detailed description of a particular individual, based on
careful observation or on formal psychological testing.
• Information about the individual is gathered from all possible sources such
as medical report, psychological report, information from parent’s, friends
and neighbors.
• Sigmund Freud constructed his
theory of personality form a handful
of case studies. Developmental
psychologists Jean Piaget taught us
about children’s thinking after
carefully observing and questioning
his own three children.
 MERITS DEMERITS
Unusual cases can shed light on Time consuming method
problems that are unethical or
impractical to study in other Generalization is not possible
ways. because each and every case is
Case study method is widely unique
used in the method of clinical
psychology for the diagnosis of
the psychological problems
 Correlational Research
• Research in which the relationship between two sets of
variables is examined to determine whether they are
associated, or “correlated.”
• The strength and direction of the relationship between the two variables are
represented by a mathematical statistic known as a correlation, which can
range from +1.0 to –1.0.
Correlational Research

• A positive correlation indicates that as the value of one variable increases,

we can predict that the value of the other variable will also increase.
• No. of hours spent studying - High grade
• -

• In contrast, a negative correlation tells us that as the value of one variable

increases, the value of the other decreases.
• No. of hours spent studying - Social life
 MERITS DEMERITS
Economical and less time Faking is possible particularly in
consuming method. the questionnaire.
Offers relationship between Cannot provide the evidence for
variables causality
Experimental Research
• The investigation of the relationship between two (or more) variables by
deliberately producing a change in one variable in a situation and observing
the effects of that change on other aspects of the situation.
• Treatment: The manipulation implemented by the experimenter.
• Experimental group: Participants in an experiment who receives a treatment.
• Control group: Participants in an experiment who receives no treatment.
• By employing both experimental and
control groups in an experiment,
researchers are able to rule out the
possibility that something other than the
experimental manipulation produced the
results observed in the experiment.
 MERITS DEMERITS
This is the most scientific Time consuming and a costly
method method.
It provides reliable and valid This is not a suitable method for
data many problems
Repetition is possible Controlling extraneous variable is
Only in experiments repeating very difficult
and getting the same result is The environment in the lab is
possible artificial
Only in the experiments we can
establish the cause and effect
relationship.
Branches of Psychology
• All the sciences have their own fields or branches .As a branch of behavioral
science, psychology has many fields or branches and they are broadly
classified into
• Basic psychology &
• Applied psychology
Basic Psychology
• Basic psychology is mostly general psychology. It is the pure science of
psychology and it is studied to gain the knowledge.
• Basic psychologists seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge.
• For example a psychologist might study memory purely out of desire to
understand how it works.
• Applied psychologists try to solve immediate practical problems such as
finding ways to improve memory.
• Psychologists who are specialized in basic fields are mostly employed in the
university and college department and laboratories
Basic Psychology
• General psychology:
• This is the basic psychology.
• It becomes the foundation for the entire field of psychology.
• It studies the basic principles and models, theories and techniques of
psychology.
• General psychology includes the topics such as sensation, perception,
learning, memory, forgetting, personality, motivation, emotion, intelligence,
creativity etc…
Basic Psychology
• Developmental psychology:
• This studies the development and changes in the behavior and mental
processes during the various stages of the life span from the conception to
death or from infancy to old age.
• The field studies the changes in the physical, social, speech, emotion, and
personality development.
• One of the branches of developmental psychology is Child psychology or
child development which includes the stages of infancy babyhood early
childhood late childhood puberty and adolescence.
• Developmental psychology is also known as “Life Span Developmental
Psychology”.
Basic Psychology
• Social Psychology:
• Social Psychology study how people influence one another’s behavior and
attitudes individually and groups.
• Man is a social animal because all the time he lives in a group situation.
• Social psychology studies the behavior of the individual in a group.
• The field studies how people influence one another’s behavior and attitudes
individually and in groups.
• It includes the topics like socialization, group formation, leadership,
attitudes, pro-social behavior, aggression intimate relationships and
behavior in groups.
Basic Psychology
• Cognitive psychology:
• Cognitive psychology is the study of how people acquire, store and use
information.
• This focus on the “higher mental processes” like memory, reasoning,
concept formation, languages, problem solving, decision making, creativity
and Artificial intelligence (A.I).
• This inter disciplinary field combines the efforts of linguists, computer
scientists and neuroscientists.
• The term cognitive psychology was coined by Ulric Neisser who wrote the
book “Cognitive psychology” in 1967.
Applied Psychology
• In applied psychology we make use of the knowledge of basic psychology to
improve the quality of the life of the human beings in various settings.
• We have many branches of applied psychology.
• Where ever we have human beings we can apply psychology.
• Applied psychologists are mostly employed in the fields like school,
industries, hospitals, management, counseling, and community.
• Thus applied psychologists work in all sorts of settings from class rooms to
court rooms.
Applied Psychology
• Psychometrics
• It is concerned with the measurement of behavior and capacities usually
through the development of psychological tests.
• Psychometrics is involved with the design of tests to assess personality,
intelligence, and a wide range of abilities.
• It is also concerned with the development of new techniques for statistical
analysis.
Applied Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• A branch of psychology that studies , assesses and treats people with
psychological disorders.
• When we apply the knowledge of abnormal psychology, the field becomes
clinical psychology.
• Clinical psychology is concerned with the assessment, diagnosis and
treatment of the individuals with psychological disorders.
• The main activity includes interviewing the clients, psychological testing and
providing psycho-therapy.
• The concepts and techniques are mostly learned in the Clinical Settings-
mental health institutions.
Applied Psychology
• Counselling Psychology
• A branch of psychology that assess people with problems in living often
related to school, work, or marriage and in achieving greater well-being.
• It overlaps with clinical psychology.
• Both areas engage in similar activities like interviewing, testing, and
providing therapy.
• Counseling psychologist usually deals with the normals who have minor
emotional and adjustment problems.
• We have branches like educational, vocational, industrial, marital, and re-
habilitation counseling.
Applied Psychology
• Health Psychology
• Abnormal and clinical psychology focuses on the mental illness, but the
focus here is on the physical illness like ulcer, stroke and heart attack.
• Now it has been found that psychological factors especially stress leads to
many physical illness ranging from common cold to cancer and they are
known as psychosomatic disorders.
• Health psychology studies the behavioral and psychological causes of
physical illness.
• The field seeks to prevent health problems such as heart disease by teaching
people to relax, exercise, to control their diet and to stop high risk behaviors
such as drinking, smoking and drug abuse.
Applied Psychology
• Health Psychology
• Health psychologists favour a biopsychosocial model of health and illness
which emphasize the interaction of biological, psychological and social
factors.
• In contrast biomedical model emphasize biological factors and neglects
psychological and social factors.Health psychology contributes more to
“behavioral medicine” an interdisciplinary field that integrates and applies
behavioral and medical knowledge to health and disease.
Applied Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Educational psychology applies the psychological principles in the teaching -
learning process, curriculum development and class room management.
• It is concerned with the topics like learning, memory, forgetting, motivation,
curriculum development, mental health of students and the evaluation
process.
• One branch of educational psychology is the school psychology.
• The school psychologist deals with the student’s academic performance,
problem behaviors and emotional problems.
• He takes part in programs to prevent violence in schools, to improve reading
and helping the children with learning disorders (dyslexia and dyscalculia,).
Applied Psychology
• Military Psychology
• Military psychology is the research, design and application of psychological
theories and experimentation data towards understanding, predicting and
countering behaviors either in own, friendly or enemy forces or civilian
population that may be undesirable, threatening or potentially dangerous to
the conduct of military operations.
• Military psychology is applied towards counselling and treatment of stress
and fatigue of military personnel as well as treatment of psychological
trauma suffered as a result of military operations.
• Military Psychologists can help the military organisations by administering
aptitude and personality tests to measure the individual's suitability for their
chosen military occupations.
ThanK YoU