Meaning:-
Man by nature is curious. He has always wondered why one behaves the way one does. He has often asked questions like Why does one behave differently from others? What makes one person a criminal and the other a saint? What motivates one to work? What does it take to survive and face competition? How can one learn to handle relationships better? The answers to these are explored by Psychology, which attempts. to assess behaviour in a scientific manner. Every person who is fascinated by such questions would get answers through Psychology in a systematic and objective manner.
These questions can be answered if one enters the world of psychology. This discipline explores the studies on human behaviour, which is full of complexities and contradictions. It studies people, who are brave, wise, intelligent, cowardly, silly and stupid. Psychologists objective is to examine and explain how human beings and animals learn, remember, solve problems, perceive, feel and interact with others. They study every aspect of human behaviour.
When people hear the word "Psychology", they tend to misconceive. They think that mental disorders and abnormal behaviour are the subject matters of psychology. But this is not true. Psychologists do not confine themselves to the study of these extremes of behaviour. They focus on experiences that are common, universal and ordinary. They emphasize on studying experiences like learning, remembering a shopping list, the meaning of dreams, what motivates a person to act and why a person is impelled to acts of violence. Psychology also studies cognition, perception, learning, memory, problem solving, decision making and emotion. Psychology studies the different factors that influence our behaviour, be it physiological, social or cultural. A knowledge of psychology would equip one with the basic skills of understanding of one's own as well as other's behaviour. It is the study of common man and his behaviour.
Physiological reactions are reactions of the body to different stimuli. These are closely related to our emotions. During certain emotions, there is an increase in the heart rate and blood pressure. The pupils dilate and secretions of the stomach are disturbed. All these phenomena are of great interest to scientific psychologists. Social psychology studies about social relationships we exhibit in our interactions with other people.
Psychology is known to touch every dimension of our lives. In a complex society, psychology has a significant role in solving human problems. The innumerable varieties of problems that psychologists face are both specific and practical in nature. The best treatment for drug addiction, the use of a survey method to measure public opinions, how one can be persuaded to give up, for example, smoking, are studied by psychologists.
On a broader perspective, psychologists study the child rearing methods that produce happy adults, causes of abnormal behaviour, the methods and processes adopted to eliminate race prejudice, and the type of family and social conditions that contribute to aggression and crime. Psychologists work in co-ordination with other experts on these and many more problems.
Psychology has emerged from two major sources, i.e., Philosophy and Science. Ideas about acquisition of new knowledge and the mind-body relations from philosophy on one hand, and progress in scientific field on the other, have combined to create an environment in which the idea of scientific study of behaviour emerged.
Since psychology deals with various aspects of our lives, it is important even for those who do not intend to specialize in the field to know something about its basic facts and methods. An introductory course in psychology should give the individual, a better understanding of why people behave as they do and provide insights into their attitudes and reactions. The main role of psychology is to educate people to learn and think critically; training workers to be more efficient and productive. The psychologists want people to appreciate diversity in human nature and behaviour.
The journey through the field of psychology begins with its definitions.
Derivation of the term and literal meaning:
Psychology is a recent science, when compared to other scientific disciplines. There has been a virtual explosion in psychological research. As a result, psychological theories and concepts have been evolving and changing continuously over a period of time.
There is no single definition of psychology. The multitude of definitions can be attributed to the relatively short history that psychology has and its fast evolving concepts.
1. Study of Soul:
Psychology is derived from two Greek words, "Psyche" meaning "soul" and "Logos" meaning "study". Accordingly psychology was defined as the 'study of the soul. This definition was one of the oldest and was proposed by Aristotle.
The existence of the soul could not be proved. It was considered as a non material entity that is independent of the body. Hence it was not considered a fit object for study.
2. Study of Mind:
Psychology was then defined as the 'study of mind', a definition that appeared better than the one that said psychology was the study of soul.
Psychologists believed that all they knew of their fellow beings was through their actions, and overt behaviour. They did not know whether the mysterious entity called the mind was behind this activity. Any way there was no meaning in studying it when behaviour could provide us with all that we wanted to know about an individual.
3. Study of Consciousness:
Consciousness is defined as awareness of our environment and our mental processes.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, a group of psychologists under the leadership of Wilhelm Wundt defined psychology as the study of "consciousness". He established the first psychology laboratory at Leipzig in the year 1879. He emphasized the fact that man is endowed with consciousness, that is, awareness of his surroundings and of himself.
This definition was found to be inadequate because conscious experience is 'subjective' in nature. Each person may have a direct knowledge of the events going on in his consciousness, but other people have no access to it.
4. Study of Behaviour:
Psychology as the study of mental life, the mind or consciousness came under attack as vague and unscientific.
Between the 1920s and 1950s, psychologists preferred to define their discipline as the study of behaviour as what people do, unlike what they think or feel can be directly observed and measured. Hence psychology was defined as the scientific study of behaviour. Psychologists use the term behaviour to refer to the actions of a person or animal that can be observed and measured by others. Examples of behaviour could range from an infant trying to babble, a child working out on a task, an adult engrossed in an activity to a rat running through a maze.
In addition, it also studies how the behaviour is affected by an organism's physical and mental state and external environment. Its subject matter also includes behavioural processes that are observable, such as gestures and speech. Its focus is on the thoughts, feelings and actions of people. It assesses an individual's perception, reasoning process, memory and also the biological activities that maintain bodily functions. Further, the broad perspective of psychology attempts to describe, predict and explain human behaviour. It also helps to change and improve the lives of people and the world in which they live.
Modern Definition-understanding mental process and behaviour:
Cognitive psychology is the Psychological perspective that is primarily concerned with the mental processes or cognition. Cognition is a broad term that refers to the ways we process or transform information about the world around us. Cognition includes the mental processes of thinking, knowing, perceiving, attending, remembering and the like.
Watson launched in 1913 what is known today as "behaviourism", a philosophy of psychological study which holds that only observable behaviour is the proper subject for Psychological investigation.
Schematic representation of definitions of psychology Psychology as social and natural science:
Psychology deals with human interaction. The interaction may be person to person, person to group, group to person, and group to group. Psychology is interested in how people are influenced by each other. Psychology deals with heredity, environment, nervous system and glands in relation to behaviour. Hence psychology can be referred to as social and natural science.
Some important milestones in the evolution of Psychology:-
1879- Wilhelm Wundt establishes the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig. Germany.
1890- William James publishes Principles of Psychology.
1895- Functionalism is formulated as a system of psychology.
1900- Sigmund Freud develops Psychoanalysis.
1904- Ivan Pavlov wins the Nobel Prize for his work on digestive system that led to understanding of principles of development responses.
1905- Intelligence test developed by Binet and Simon.
1916- First Psychology Department at Kolkatta University is established.
1920- Gestalt psychology is born in Germany.
1922- Psychology is included in Indian Science Congress Association.
1924- Indian Psychological Association is founded.
1924- John B. Watson publishes Behaviourism' a book that led to the foundation of behaviourism.
1928-N.N. Sengupta and Radhakamal Mukerjee publish the first text book on Social Psychology (London: Allen & Unwin).
1949-Psychological Research Wing of the Defence Science Organisation of India is established.
1951- Humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers publishes Client-Centred Therapy.
1953- B.F. Skinner publishes 'Science and Human Behaviour' strengthening behaviourism as a major approach to psychology.
1954- Humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow publishes 'Motivation and Personality'.
1954- Bureau of Psychology is established at Allahabad.
1955- National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) is established at Bangalore.
1962- Hospital for Mental Diseases in Ranchi is established.
1973- Kanrad Larenz and Niko Tinbergen win the Nobel Prize for their work on built-in species specific animal behaviour patterns that emerge without any prior experience / learning.
1978- Herbert Simon wins the Nobel Prize for work on decision making
1981- David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel win the Nobel prize for their research on vision cells in the brain.
1989- Roger Sperry wins the Nobel Prize for split brain research.
National Academy of Psychology (NAOP) India was founded.
1997-National Brain Research Centre (NBRC) is established at Gurgaon, Haryana.
2002- Daniel Kahneman wins the Nobel Prize for research on 'human judgment and decision making under uncertainty'.
2005- Thomas Schelling wins the Nobel Prize for his work in applying Game Theory to understanding of conflict and co-operation in economic behaviour.
2011-Karl Halvar, Teigen of the University of OSLO, Norway won the Nobel prize "for trying to understand why, in everyday life, people sigh".
2012- Anita Eerland, Rolf zwaan, and Tulio Guadalupe won the Nobel prize for their study "leaning to the left makes the Eiffel Tower seem smaller".
Development of Psychology in India
◆ The university of Kolkatta was first to introduce psychology in the year 1905.
The Indian Psychological association (IPA) was founded in 1925 and launched the Indian Journal of Psychology.
In 1940, the Lumbini Park Mental Hospital was founded at Kolkatta.
In 1945, a Psychology wing of defense research was established. It became part of the Defense Science organization in India in 1949.
1955, The National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) was opened at Bangalore.
In 1962, The Indian academy of applied Psychology (IAAP) was estab-lished.
In 1962, A Mental Hospital was established at Ranchi.
In 1968, The Indian Association of clinical psychologists was formed
In 1989, the National Academy of Psychology (NAOP) was founded.
In recent years, Psychology has greatly expanded in scope. Attention is being paid to issues affecting society at large, such as poverty, prejudice and discrimination, socialization and morality. It is also interested in organizational development, gender related problems, leadership style, suffering and healing, health and wellbeing.
Fields of Psychology:
Various fields of specialization in Psychology have emerged over the years. Following are some of the important fields.
1. General Psychology:-
It is concerned with the general principles of human behaviour. It deals with the fundamental ideas and theories of human behaviour. It studies the activities of man such as, attention, perception, drives and motives, emotions, intelligence, learning and remembering, forgetfulness and reasoning. It establishes laws and principles that can be universally applied. Its aim is to discover general principles concerning the working of the human mind, which are true of all human beings, irrespective of the race, culture or the country to which they belong. General Psychology enjoys the status of being the basis for all other branches of psychology.
2. Developmental Psychology:
This field deals with how people grow and change throughout their lives, right from prenatal stage through childhood, adolescence, adulthood to old age. Developmental psychologists work in a variety of settings like colleges, schools, healthcare settings or business, government and nonprofit agencies. They are also involved in studying disturbed children and in advising parents about helping such children. A great deal of researches are going on in the field of adolescence and its associated problems, the best stage in one's life, that is, adulthood; and the problems associated with old age like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Many researches aim either at preventing these diseases or managing the same, when people are afflicted by these diseases.
No comments:
Post a Comment