Introduction to psychology

1. Introduction to
PSYCHOLOGY
Presented By: Ayush Shrestha

2. Content:
• Nature Of Psychology
• History of Psychology
• Similarities & Difference with other
social science
• Perspectives of Psychology
• Scientific Method & Psychological
Research

3. Nature of psychology:
 It is a scientific process as:
 It possesses a well organized theory which is supported by
relevant laws and principles .
 Believes in roots, factors of causing, influence and nurturing
of behavior.
 Uses scientific methods & techniques for solid base.
 Stands for generalization, verifiability & modifications of the
observed results or deduced phenomena.

4.  Contains true universal applicability in practical life & also
predictability for future development.
 Emphasizes the research for truth by advocating objectivity,
reliability & validity in assessment of behavior.

5. History Of PSYCHOLOGY:
• The word psychology was derived from two Greek words
‘Psyche’ & ‘Logos’.
Psyche Soul
Logos Discourse
• Defining psychology has gone through many stages before
reaching the modern definition and the stages are:
• Philosophical Stage
• Structural Stage
• Behaviorist Stage

6. Philosophical Stage (Soul/Mind)
• Aristotle(384-322 B.C)
 Theorized about learning & memory,
motivation & emotion, perception &
personality.
 Used the term “psyche” to refer to the essence
of life.

7. • Plato(427-347 B.C):
 Defined psychology as a science of soul.
• Psychology was not distinguished from philosophy.
• Psychology was never established as a science.

8. • Criticisms:
 Greek philosophers did not have any clear definition of mind & its
nature.
 The word “mind” did not have any independent branch and was
regarded a part of mental philosophy.
 Psychology as the ‘science of mind’ was not clear whether it was a
positive or normative sentence.
 The study of mind talked only about covert behavior and not overt
behavior.
 Soul has no physical existence.

9. Structural Stage (Consciousness):
• In 1879, Wilhelm Wundt established the first
psychological laboratory at Leipzig University in
Germany becoming the “Father of experimental
psychology.
• Wundt regarded psychology as the science of
internal and immediate experience i.e. as the
science of consciousness.
• His basic tool was introspection

10. • Edward Titchner, expanded Wundt’s work and worked to determine the
structure of mind through controlled introspection, describing elements
of experience which was later on called structuralism.
• This method laid emphasis on a foundation toward making psychology a
true science.

11. • Criticisms:
 Consciousness is selective to individuals’ motive.
 It is personal; one has to rely on other person’s reporting which may
be socially colored and not revealing the truth.
 It is a continuous activity; it cannot be broken into units for study.
 It is very dynamic and changing, which is why we cannot bring the
same state of mind again and study.

12. Behavioral Stage:
• J.B. Watson rejected the ideas of structuralism and
based is approach to psychology on behavior.
• He felt it was impossible to study consciousness
because only outward behavior could be measured
and scientifically understood.
• He redefined psychology as the “ science of
observable behavior.
• According to Watson, we cannot observe a sensation, feeling, or thought
but we can observe peoples’ behavior as they respond to different
situation.

13. • He believed behavior is complex and capable of analysis into simple
stimulus-response unit.
Criticism:
• Every detail study of human behavior is not possible to study.
• Behaviorism takes behavior in a very narrow sense; Watson viewed it as a
stimulus-response (S-R) unit, when it should have been as stimulus-
organism-response (S-O-R) unit.
• The behavior of an organism is obvious & natural in nature condition but
changes when they sense that they are being observed.

14. Similarities & Difference with other social science:
1. Sociology & Psychology –
• Sociology focuses on society as a whole whereas psychology focuses
on individuals .
• Psychology values social & cultural influences on human beings
which are the major subject matter of sociology.
• The relationship between sociology & psychology is so strong that
Karl Pearson asset that the two are not separate science.
• For example, both sociology & psychology study drug addiction but
sociology focuses on financial aspects and structure of society
leading to drugs whereas psychology gives emphasis on causes of
drugs on individuals.

15. Sociology
• Studies the society as a whole.
•Analyses social process.
• Concern with social forms & the
structure within which the behavior
of man takes place.
• Sociology is an observational
process.
•Focuses on society view point.
Psychology
• Studies the behavior of individuals.
• Analyses mental process of man.
• Concern with behavior of
individuals as such.
•Psychology is as an experimental
process.
• Focuses on final view point.

16. 2. Anthropology & Psychology:
• Anthropology is the science of man while psychology is the science.
• Anthropology studies physical & cultural aspect of man.
• Psychological knowledge helps an anthropologist in understanding the
root causes of human behavior in different cultures & anthropological
studies help the psychologist in calculating the influence of cultural
environment of human behavior.
• Anthropologists have shown how human behavior differs in different
cultural environments.

17. Anthropology
•Science of holistic study of man.
•Not interested in individual behavior
& personality.
•A division of anthropology studies
human activities.
•Field study is applied.
•Studies about man from primitive
time to present time.
Psychology
• Science of behavior & mental
processes.
•Interested in individual behavior &
personality.
• Analyses human’s mental processes
& social activities.
•Practical methods is applied.
•Studies only living beings.

18. Perspectives of Psychology:
1. Psychodynamic Perspective:
► Developed by Sigmund Freud (1933).
► As a tool to study abnormal behavior.
► As a treatment procedure to help neurotic disease.
► To understand about unconscious mind.
► Early childhood experience influence on personality development.

19. 2. Humanistic Perspective:
► Developed by Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers & Viktor Frankl during
1950/60s.
► Focuses on freedom in controlling human behavior differently.
► Human have a basic powerful inborn tendency to grow & improve to their
fullest potential & a desire to take control of their own lives.
► Least scientific but more philosophical.
► Develop psychology theory.

20. 3.Cognitive Perspective:
► It covers the higher intellectual processes as perceiving, believing,
thinking, remembering, knowing, deciding, problem solving & so on.
► Thus, it is a mental process in which the information is obtained.
Processed-transformed=stored-retrieve-&-used.
► It examines thinking.
► Thus, cognition plays a vital role in guiding behavior.
► It presents a system`s viewpoint in explaining the behavior mechanism.

21. 4.Behavioral Perspective: (John B.Watson, 1920) :
► According to Watson, one could gain a complete understanding of
behavior by studying & modifying the environment in which people
operate.
►He believe that it was possible to elicit any desired type of behavior by
controlling a person’s environment.
Thus, he says that “ Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, & my
own specified world to bring them up in & I’ll guarantee to take any at
random & train him to become any type of specialist I might select-doctor,
lawyer, artist, merchant-chief, & yes, even beggar-man & thief, regardless
of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and race of his
ancestors”
•

22. 5.Socio-Cultural Perspective:
• ► Explains how our personality, believe, attitudes, skill & values are
shaped by our culture, ethnicity, gender, religion & other socio-culture
factors.
►It concerned with
 how people interact, are interdependent &
 inter-coordinate with each other to influence & to be influenced by
each other.
► It not only encourages cultural & social factors but also promotes the
understanding of cultural relativity.
► It discourages people to be judgmental/analytical to describe one culture
as good or the other bad.

23. 6.Evolutionary Perspective: By Charles Darwin (1859):
► Focuses on the role of physical str. & behavior play in adaptation process
of an individual to the environment
►. It has 3 components. i.e.
 Variation
 Inheritance
 Selection
7. Biological Perspective:
► Every human behavior is related to physiological changes with the body.
► The working relationship between the body, behavior & mental processes
is the focus of biological perspective.

24. ► Most drugs influence over emotion & behaviors by altering levels of
neurotransmitters (physiology) in body.
► Heredity also influence on personality & abilities of individual.
► According to behavior genetics, genes & environment influences
individual differences.
► According to Karl Lashley, fatigue, lower motivation & poorer recall
cause/affect on forgetting.

25. Scientific Method:
 Approach for systematically acquire knowledge and understanding about
behavior & other phenomena of interest of individual. It can be illustrated
in following steps:
1. Identifying questions of interest stemming from-
→ behavior & phenomenon requiring explanation.
→ prior research findings
→ curiosity, creativity, insights
2. Formulate an explanation-
→ specify a theory &
→ develop a hypothesis

26. 3. Carry out research- designed to support or refute the explanation
→ devise an operational definition of hypothesis
→ select a research method
→ collect the data
→ analyze the data
4. Communicate the findings-
New questions are build on from previous findings or, produce due to
curiosity, creativity or, insight of the researcherobserver. Once a
question has been identified or, selected, the next step of scientific method
is to develop the theory to explain the observed phenomenon.

27.  After this, the next step is to devise a way of testing the theory by creating
the hypothesis.
 “A hypothesis is a prediction stated in a way that allows it to be tested”
→ Hypotheses are stemmed from theories which help to test the
underlying soundness of the theories.
Thus, hypothesis is the tentative generalization whose validity remains
to be tested.
 Hypothesis must be restated in a way that will allow it to be tested
which involves the creating an operational definition.
“An operational definition is the translation of a hypothesis into specific,
testable procedures that can be measured & observed”

28. Research Methods in Psychology:
1. Descriptive Methods:
In this method, skilled & experienced researcher naturally describes the
organism’s behavior more objectively & systematically. Where the
researcher should be free of bias & prejudice.
I) Case study:
 It is the oldest method in Psychology to reveal the depth for diagnosis
& treatment of psychological disorders.
 It is the observation at a particular time to find the cause &
development of particular behavior.

29. II) Survey (Sur/Sor: - Over + Veeir/Veoir: - seeing):
 Survey means to take a look over something from a high place. It is a
quantitative research method in which direct observation of
phenomenon is done to collect the information. Where information
can be collected through mail or telephone. & survey should be
representative.
III) Naturalistic Observation:
 It is the observation of the events on the field in their natural
conditions without disturbing the events. It consists of following
types:
Participant Observation
Non-participant Observation
•

30. IV) Prediction:
 The goal of psychology is to predict the behavior & mental process by
the statistical correlation measurement of two variables.
 Correlation are of two types:
Positive Correlation
Negative Correlation
2.Experimental Methods:
Psychology being a behavioral science, effect of experimental changes on
behavior can be observed. This can be carried out as:
Variables:
It is an event or condition which can be measured & have different values
i.e. varies quantitatively.

31. The types of variables are:
 Independent variable:
It effects on behavior & might be a stimulus presented, a drug
administered, a new method of training etc.
 Dependent variable:
It is the behavior or response of the individual towards the stimulus whose
value directly depend on the independent variables. i.e. as the
independent variable varies its value also automatically varies.

32. 3. Control:
• In an experiment only specified independent variables are allowed to
change or vary & other factors that affect the dependent variables are kept
constant.
• There are two common strategies to control are:
 Control Group Design
 Control Group Baseline

33. 4. Replication:
• Essential part of experimental method that can be performed under
proper conditions in which any experiment is carried out many times
under the same conditions to achieve the same result.
• If the result is same over and over again, then its accuracy can be sure.