INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

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Introduction to Psychology

Psychology has been in existence since the beginning of mankind. In other words, the beginning of psychology coincides with the emergence of human history. However, people were not yet conscious of of this fact. As humanity advanced, the knowledge of mind and behavior also enhanced and intellectuals named it as "Psychology".

The word psychology is a combination of Greek words "psyche" and "logos" meaning mind and knowledge respectively. There have been various definitions about psychology. Some of these are:

Psychology as a science of soul.

psychology as a science of mind.

Psychology as a science of consciousness.

Psychology as a science of behavior.

1) Psychology as a science of soul: Soul is a concept familiar to all of us. Religiously, we think of soul as something present inside us; we believe that as long as we are alive, the soul remains with us but when we die, it leaves the body. Soul relates to the body but we can not see or touch it. Some of the known philosophers that supported this definition are Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, St. Augustine, Al Kindi, Al Farabi, Ibn-e-Miskawaih, Ibn-e-Sina ( Avicenna), etc.

Criticism:

If we define psychology as a science of soul, it contradicts itself. Science is based on observation and experimentation, and the soul can not be observed or experimented upon as it is immaterial.

Soul is a religious concept whereas science can not be restricted to religion only.

Soul is not a universal concept. Different people perceive soul differently.

Soul is not a universal concept. Different people perceive soul differently.

2) Psychology as a science of mind: This approach takes psychology as a study of mind. Mind is the sum of an individual's psychic states, emotions, feelings, perceptions and conscious and unconscious acts. Greek Philosophers believed that mind and soul are identical.

Concept of Tabula Rasa:-

In 17th century, John Locke denied the idea that the mind and soul are one. He thought that the soul is a religious term while the mind is a psychological term. According to him, at birth the mind is a blank sheet without any ideas. After birth, different theories, senses, experiences, etc. begin to imprint their message on this blank sheet. This concept is called Tabula Rasa.

Aspects of mental processes:-

Every mental process has three aspects. These are:

Cognition: acquiring knowledge, learning a skill, etc. is known as cognition.

Conation: the action that takes place in reaction to some urge or drive is called conation.

Affection: one's feelings about some situation, event or thing is named affection.

Aspects of mind:-

Different psychologists have postulated three aspects of mind. These are:

Consciousness: the immediate awareness or those mental states that we are aware of are named as conscious.

Subconsciousness: those mental states that are not fully comprehended by the conscious mind are call the subconscious.

Unconscious: the part of the mind we are not directly aware of is called unconscious.

Characteristics of the mind:-

Mind is active and sensitive to all types of stimulus.

Mind is continuous.

Mind is a complete unit.

Mind is a non matter object.

mental processes are subjective and peculiar to every person.

Mental processes go on non stop.

Mental states keep on changing.

Criticism:

Mental processes can be observed only subjectively. No person has direct access to some one else's mental states.

Mental processes can not be examined as the continue all the time.

Mind is immaterial. Therefore it is not possible to experiment on it.

If psychology is mere science of mental processes then animals, babies, and mentally challenged people are excluded from its scope.

3) Psychology as a science of consciousness: Consciousness means immediate awareness. Consciousness refers to all those mental states that we are aware of momentarily. All he thoughts, actions, experiences and observations which we are immediately aware of are included in the field of observation. Consciousness is divided into two parts.

Focal consciousness:- The part of consciousness which is in the focus of attention is called focal consciousness.

Marginal consciousness:- the part of consciousness other than the focal consciousness is called the marginal consciousness.

Criticism:

Consciousness is an unscientific term.

Consciousness can not be studied scientifically.

Consciousness is subjective and cannot be studies objectively.

By confining psychology to consciousness we exclude the subconscious and the unconscious states of mind.

Conscious states of babies, animals and mentally challenged people can not be studied.

4) Psychology as a science of behavior: Behavior refers to all outward acts and actions of a living organism. In other words, observable actions are called behaviour. Known researchers such as E. L. Thorndike, J. B. Watson, Pavlov, Skinner, etc. believed that behaviour was the key to succeed in psychology. They introduced behavioral methods and created a new school of thought known as behaviorist approach.

Criticism:

Behaviorists totally discarded mental processes.

the value of conditioning has been explained but the motive of inner drive has been ignored.

All psychological states can not be interpreted through S-O-R (Stimulus-Organism-Response).

Comprehensive definition of psychology: the best and most comprehensive definition of psychology is that it is the science of behaviour and mental processes of an organism. In it, scientific study of an individual's behaviour and mental processes is carried out in perspective of his environment.

Goals of psychology: The goals of psychology are the same as those of scientific method.

Explanation.

Control.

Prediction.

Scientific method is used to describe information systematically. It is used to explain the cause of the problem, control the problem and then predict the solution. The branches of knowledge that adopt this method are called science.

As psychology is a science, it contains explanations to different conditions, events and various types of behaviour. Since psychology studies individual's mind as well as behaviour, it is called the science of mental processes and behaviour. psychology is divided into various branches and every branch is oriented towards its own goals.