Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes, aiming to understand how individuals think, feel, and act in various situations. Its nature encompasses both objective observation and subjective experience, delving into areas such as cognition, emotion, perception, motivation, and social interaction. Branches of psychology include clinical, counseling, developmental, cognitive, social, and experimental psychology, each focusing on distinct aspects of human behavior and mental processes. Types of psychology range from applied fields like industrial-organizational and forensic psychology to theoretical areas such as neuropsychology and evolutionary psychology, collectively contributing to a comprehensive understanding of human nature and behavior.

2. Unit 1 Role of psychology to understand the child
• Psychology: Meaning, nature & branches of
psychology,
• Methods of psychology: case study and
experimental, Edu. Psychology,
• Meaning, nature, scope, educational
implication of psychology in new Era,
• Child psychology; meaning, concept.

3. Meaning of Psychology
• The word, 'Psychology' is derived from two Greek
word, 'Pysche' and Logos'.
• Psycho means 'soul' and 'Logos' means 'science'.
Thus psychology was first defined as the "science
of soul".
• Psychology as the Science of Soul:- In ancient
days, the Greek philosophers like Plato and
Aristotle interpreted Psychology as the science of
the soul and studied it as a branch of Philosophy.
But soul is something metaphysical. It cannot be
seen, observed and touched and we cannot make
scientific experiments on soul.

4. Meaning of Psychology
• Psychology as the Science of the Mind:- It was the German
philosopher Emmanuel Kant who defined Psychology as
the science of the mind.
• William James (1892) defined psychology as the science of
mental processes. But the word 'mind' is also quite
ambiguous as there was confusion regarding the nature
and functions of mind.
• Psychology as the Science of Consciousness:- Modern
psychologists defined psychology as the "Science of
Consciousness".
• James Sully (1884) defined psychology as the "Science of
the Inner World".
• Wilhelm Wundt (1892) defined psychology as the science
which studied the internal experiences". But there are
three levels of consciousness, conscious, subconscious and
the unconscious and so this definition also was not
accepted by some.

5. Meaning of Psychology
• Psychology as the Science of Behaviour:- At the
beginning of the 20th century, when
psychologists attempted to develop psychology
into a pure science it came to be defined as the
science of behaviour.
• The term beaviour was popularized by J.B.
Watson.
• Other exponents are William McDougal! and W.B.
Pillsbury.
• According to R.S. Woodworth, "First Psychology
lost its soul, then it lost its mind, then lost its
consciousness. It still has behaviour of a sort."

6. Definitions of Psychology
1. According to William McDougall, "Psychology is a
Science which aims to give us better understanding and
control of the behaviour of the organism as a whole."
2. According to Walter Bowers, "Psychology may be most
satisfactorily defined as the Science of human behaviour."
3. According to J.B. Watson, "Psychology is the Science of
Behaviour".
4. According to Woodworm and Marquis, "Psychology is
the scientific study of the activities of the individual in
relation to his environment.“
5. According to N.L. Munn, "Psychology today concerns
itself with the scientific investigation of behaviour.“

7. Nature of Psychology
• Psychology is the scientific study and practical application
of observable behavior and mental processes of organisms.
Psychology differs from other social sciences such as:
Sociology, History, or Economics, because psychology
specifically deals with the study of an individual.
• There has been a long discussion among the scholars and
psychologists on the acceptance of psychology as a science
and its nature as scientific.
• The observation and concluding remarks of the famous
authority N.L. Munn may be cited as a solid evidence for
this purpose.
• He writes "Psychology is science and the properly trained
psychologist is a scientific, or at least a practitioner who
uses scientific methods and information resulting from
scientific investigation."

8. • Like sciences, it has an organized and systematic body of
knowledge, facts, principles and theories which is subjected
to change on the discovery of new facts and emergence of
new principles and theories.
• Like sciences, it believes in the cause and effect
relationship. It declares that every behaviour has its roots,
the factor of its causes and development.
• Like sciences, it emphasizes the search for truth. It studies
facts of behaviour and describes the laws governing them.
• It adopts the method of systematic inquiry and scientific
approach as used by sciences.
• Like other sciences Psychology has its pure and applied
aspects.
With all such evidences, it can be safely concluded that it is an
accepted reality that Psychology is a science.
Nature of Psychology

9. Scope of Psychology
• The field operations and applications of the subject
psychology is too vast. The field of psychology can be
understood by various subfields of psychology making an
attempt in meeting the goals of psychology.
1. Developmental Psychology:- Here the studies are with
respect to how people grow and change throughout their
life from prenatal stages, through childhood, adulthood
and old age.
 Developmental psychologists work in a variety of settings
like colleges, schools, healthcare centres, business centres,
government and non-profit organizations, etc.
2. Personality Psychology:- This branch helps to explain both
consistency and change in a person’s behaviour over time,
from birth till the end of life through the influence of parents,
siblings, playmates, school, society and culture.
 It also studies the individual traits that differentiate the
behaviour of one person from that of another person.

10. 3. Health Psychology:- This explores the relations between
the psychological factors and physical ailments and disease.
• Health psychologists focus on health maintenance and
promotion of behaviour related to good health such as
exercise, health habits and discouraging unhealthy
behaviours like smoking, drug abuse and alcoholism.
• Health psychologists work in healthcare setting and also in
colleges and universities where they conduct research.
4. Counseling Psychology:- This focuses primarily on
educational, social and career adjustment problems.
• Counseling psychologists advise students on effective study
habits and the kinds of job they might be best suited for,
and provide help concerned with mild problems of social
nature and strengthen healthy lifestyle, economical and
emotional adjustments.
• They make use of tests to measure aptitudes, interests and
personality characteristics.
Scope of Psychology

11. 5. Educational Psychology:- Educational psychologists are concerned
with all the concepts of education.
• This includes the study of motivation, intelligence, personality, use
of rewards and punishments, size of the class, expectations, the
personality traits and the effectiveness of the teacher, the student-
teacher relationship, the attitudes, etc.
• They also help in designing the curriculum to make learning more
interesting and enjoyable to children.
• Educational psychology is used in elementary and secondary
schools, planning and supervising special education, training
teachers, counseling students having problems, assessing students
with learning difficulties such as poor writing and reading skills and
lack of concentration.
Scope of Psychology

12. 6. Industrial and Organizational Psychology:- The private and public
organizations apply psychology to management and employee
training, supervision of personnel, improve communication within
the organization, counseling employees and reduce industrial
disputes.
• Thus we can say that in organizational and industrial sectors not
only the psychological effects of working attitude of the
employees are considered but also the physical aspects are given
importance to make workers feel healthy.
7. Experimental Psychology:- It is the branch that studies the
processes of sensing, perceiving, learning, thinking, etc. by using
scientific methods.
• The outcome of the experimental psychology is cognitive
psychology which focuses on studying higher mental processes
including thinking, knowing, reasoning, judging and decision-
making.
• Experimental psychologists often do research in lab by frequently
using animals as their experimental subjects.
Scope of Psychology

13. 8. Environmental Psychology:- It focuses on the relationships
between people and their physical and social surroundings.
• For example, the density of population and its relationship
with crime, the noise pollution and its harmful effects and the
influence of overcrowding upon lifestyle, etc.
9. Sports and Exercise Psychology:- It studies the role of
motivation in sport, social aspects of sport and physiological
issues like importance of training on muscle development, the
coordination between eye and hand, the muscular coordination
in track and field, swimming and gymnastics.
10. Cognitive Psychology:- It has its roots in the cognitive outlook
of the Gestalt principles. It studies thinking, memory, language,
development, perception, imagery and other mental processes in
order to peep into the higher human mental functions like
insight, creativity and problem-solving. The names of
psychologists like Edward Tolman and Jean Piaget are associated
with the propagation of the ideas of this school of thought.
Scope of Psychology

14. Branches of Psychology
1. General Psychology:- It is relatively a large area
or field of psychology which deals with the
fundamental rules, principles and theories of
psychology in relation to the study of behaviour of
normal adult human beings.
2. Abnormal Psychology:- It is that branch or field
of psychology which describes and explains the
behaviour of abnormal people in relation to their
own environment.
• The causes, symptoms and syndromes,
description and treatment of the abnormalities of
behaviour form the subject's matter of this
branch.

15. 3. Clinical Psychology:- Clinical Psychology comes into
picture after the work and operations of the knowledge and
activities connected with abnormal psychology.
• The knowledge about abnormality of behaviour and the
underlying causes, symptoms etc. provides necessary
framework to the subject matter and skills required for
the study of clinical psychology. The abnormality and mal-
adaptation of the behaviour leads to mental illness and
diseases.
• To have a proper diagnosis of such illness and diseases is
then the work of clinical psychology. The expert who
provides such treatment to the patients attending to the
clinic or hospital are known clinical psychologists.
Branches of Psychology

16. 4. Physiological Psychology:- This branch of psychology
describes and explains the biological and physiological
basis of behaviour.
• The study of the internal environment and
physiological structure of the body; particularly brain,
nervous system and functioning of the glands in
relation to the conative, cognitive and affective
behaviour of the human being from part of the subject
matter of this branch.
5. Social Psychology:- This branch of psychology studies
the human behaviour in relation to his social
environment: One's behaviour as a member of the group,
the process of communication and interpersonal
relationship, group dynamics and social relationship etc.
from the subject matter of this branch.
Branches of Psychology

17. Branches of Psychology

18. Branches of Psychology

19. Branches of Psychology

20. Branches of Psychology

21. Branches of Psychology

22. Branches of Psychology

23. Branches of Psychology

24. Types of Psychology
1. Experimental Psychology:- This branch of
psychology describes and plains the ways and
means of carrying out psychological
experiments following scientific methods in
controlled or laboratory situations for the
study of mental processes and behaviour.
• It picks up animals, birds and human beings as
subject for these experiments.
2. Geo-Psychology:- This branch or field of
psychology describes and explains the relation
of physical environment, particularly weather,
climate, soil and landscapes with behaviour.

25. 3. Health Psychology:- In this branch of
psychology, the facts, principles and theories of
psychology are used in the task of preservation
of the physical and mental health of the
individuals.
• Since many of our physical ailments are said to
be the consequences of the ill effects of our
anxieties, worries, stresses, conflicts and
frustrations, the psychological handling of the
affected individuals may help in the
prevention and treatment of various physical
and mental disorders, ailments and diseases.
Types of Psychology

26. 4. Sports Psychology:-
• This branch of psychology is concerned with the study
of the behaviour of the players and sports personnel in
relation to the activities, experiences, situations and
environments prevailing in the world of sports.
• Today, this branch of psychology is playing quite an
effective role in bringing desirable improvement in the
processes and persons connected with the sports
world like bringing improvement in the mental and
physical health of the players, inculcating in them the
true sportsman's feelings and spirits through suitable
behaviour modification and group dynamics
techniques, providing sufficient motivation and raising
their morale at the time of competition, devising
techniques of training and coating the players for their
excellence in individual as well as group activities etc.
Types of Psychology

27. 5. Environmental Psychology:-
• Environment plays a key role in affecting and influencing
the process of growth and development, evolution of
behaviour patterns, learning of specific personality
characteristics, disorders and behaviour problems etc.
• The description and analysis of the process and ways it
happens and the efforts we can make for modifying and
structuring environment for the social well being-all go
to make the subject matter of environmental
psychology.
• An environment psychologist thus gives more emphasis
and weightage to the environment setting and facilities
for moulding the behaviour of the individuals in the
desired direction, solving their personal and social
problems and working towards their individual and
social progress.
Types of Psychology