CHAPTER 1

PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE

I. INTRODUCTION

 It was in the year 1590 Rudolf Goekle first used the word
“Psychology”
 Psychology as we know it is the study of human and animal
behavior.
 As such it attempts to use rational means to understand the
actions of people and lower animals.
 Psychology was previously considered as a branch of philosophy
but in the year 1879 when Wilhelm Wundt established the
first psychology laboratory in the University of Lepzig in
Germany, it was then considered a science.
 Now what precisely does psychology study? It studies human
and animal behavior.
 It studies behaviors as it is the only thing which can be
measured.
 Many people who have not studied Psychology seem to think
that psychology is the study of the mind or the soul. But it so
happens that both the mind and the soul cannot be measured.
 Hence we can say that psychology is a science as it goes
through systematic organized steps such as observation,
classification, generalization and verification.
 All sciences have to follow the above mentioned steps.
 Hence since behaviors are the measuring rod of psychology, to
measure it, the four main steps of observation, classification,
generalization and verification have to be undertaken.
 Hence psychology in this way is introduced as a science.
 Now psychology is a science that studies human and animal
behavior.
 It has occupied an important place as a behavioral science.
 Its principles have been used at various aspects of human life
and it has made our life more prosperous and stable.
 The scope of modern psychology has been developed to such a
great extent and hence its various branches have also been
developed.
II ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT

 As we discussed previously the origin of psychology is deep

rooted in philosophy.
 The term psychology is derived from two Greek words namely
“Psyche” - mind/soul
“Logos”-study
 Psychology was termed as a science went the first psychology
laboratory was set up by Wilhelm Wundt in 1879 at the
University of Lepzig in Germany.
 It was in the year 1590 that Rudolf Goekle first used the word
Psychology.

III MEANING AND DEFINITIONS

 Psychology has occupied an important place as a behavioral

science. It studies human and animal behavior.
 In modern times the principles of psychology are applied to
various fields of life such as industrial, health, sports, defense,
social, environmental aspects etc.
 The knowledge of Psychology has made our life prosperous and
happier.
 Psychology gained the status of a science in 1879 when
Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychological
laboratory at the University of Lepzig in Germany.

i. UNSATISFACTORY DEFINITIONS

 Some of the unsatisfactory definitions that were offered in

the earlier times were:
a) Psychology is the study of the mind
b) Psychology is the study of the soul
c) Psychology is the study of the consciousness

a) Psychology is the study of the mind.

  Ancient Greek philosophers defined psychology as the
study of the mind but this definition was highly unsatisfactory due
to the following reasons.
1. They were unable to explain the concept of the mind as well as
the structure of the mind
2. The concept of the mind was not clear as the mind is abstract.
3. It was concerned with the mind both internally and externally.
 Modern psychologists do not agree with the concept of the
mind.
 Hence due to the above given factors, the definition of
psychology as the study of the mind was rejected.

b) Psychology as the study of the soul.

 The Greek philosopher ‘Aristotle’ defined psychology as
“the study of the soul”
 But this definition proved unsatisfactory as well due to the
reasons given below.
1. The soul is abstract and hence cannot be precisely defined and
hence no one could precisely prove what the soul was about.
2. The structure of the soul was not clear and hence neither was
the concept clear.
3. Modern psychologists did not accept the concept of the soul.

c) Psychology is the study of the consciousness

 William James in his book “A brief Course in

Psychology” says:

“This definition of psychology may best be given as the description

and explanation as the state of consciousness”

 These Greek philosophers could not precisely define the

meaning of the conscious and unconscious aspects and hence this
definition was also rejected.

 James Sully in his book “Outlines of Psychology says:

“I abide by the old conception that psychology is distinctly marked

off from the physical or natural signs as having to do with the
phenomenon of mind and the inner world and employing its own
matter or an instrument chord for introspection”

 Wilhelm Wundt defined Psychology as

 “Psychology to investigate that which we call internal experience
which forms the subject matter of natural sciences”

ii) INCOMPLETE DEFINITIONS.

a) Psychology is the science of human behavior

b) Psychology is the science of experience and behavior.
c) Watson founder of the school of behaviorism defined
psychology as
“The science of the behavior of human beings and animals.”
 He popularized the definition of psychology.
 He said it is possible to write psychology as a science of behavior.
 But this definition too was incomplete.

iii) MODERN DEFINITIONS.

a) According to Edwin Boring “Psychology is the study of

human nature”

b) According to R.S Woodworth “Psychology is the scientific

study of the activities of an individual in relation to his
environment”

c) According to N.L Munn “Psychology today concerns itself

with the sense of investigations of behavior much of what
the earlier psychologists dealt with as experience”

d) According to William MacDougall “Psychology may best

and most comprehensively defined as a positive science
of the conduct of living beings”
 IV NATURE OF PSYCHOLOGY
OR
PSYCHOLOGY AS A BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE

 As we know behavior is the subject matter of psychology.

 Behavior according to CT Morgan can be defined as:

“Any activity of human beings or animals with reference to the

situation is called behavior”

 Now behavior is taken as subject matter because it can be

observed, recorded, classified, generalized and finally verified or
evaluated.
 It is because of these reasons that behavior is the subject matter
of psychology.
 Behavior is connected between the stimulus and response.
 Cognitive behavior cannot be measured. It can be observed over
a period of time e.g.: An individual can be observed through a one
way glass by a psychologist.

i) BRANCHES OF PSYCHOLOGY

a) Natural Science: - Biology, physics, chemistry, etc are all

natural sciences. The experiments are carried out in animal
behavior are the same as the experiments carried out in biology?
They are all applied facts.
b) Behavioral Sciences: - Sociology, cultural anthropology,
philosophy, economics etc are behavioral sciences. They mostly
study the behavior of human beings in a social environment as well
as the individuals behavior in relation to his environment
  Thus psychology is both a natural science as well as a
social science. It studies the behavior as it occurs

 Man is basically a social animal and lives in a society

in which two main behaviors are observed namely:
a) Internal:- thoughts, feelings, emotions etc
b) External: - Portrayal of these thoughts, feelings and emotions
through behavior depends on the type of thought etc negative or
positive.

 In short psychology can be considered as a

behavioral science as:

a) Behavior of all age groups are taken in to consideration and

measured. E.g.: children, adolescents, adults, old people etc
b) The behavior of humans and animals is taken into
consideration and observed. Psychology studies their behavior to
find out cause and effect.
c) The behavior of both normal and abnormal people is taken
into consideration and observed. E.g.: ABNORMAL: mentally
retarded, physically challenged, traumatized etc.
d) It is related to both natural as well as social sciences.

V FIELDS AND SUB-FIELDS OF PSYCHOLOGY

i) FIELDS
According to CT Morgan there are 11 branches of Psychology.

BRANCHES % OF MEMEBERS IN APA

1. Clinical 29%

2. Experimental 10%
3. Counseling 10%

4. Educational 10%
5. Industrial 7%

6. School 9%
 7. Social 3%

8. Developmental 3%
9. Personality 2%

10. Psychometric 2%
11. Engineering 2%

12. Other Fields 11%

ii) SUB-FIELDS

 Psychology is dived in two classes namely Theoretical

Psychology and Applied Psychology.
 Psychology is hence both a theoretical and applied science.
 Theoretical: It deals with the formulation and creation of different
theories.
 Applied: It helps us solve many practical problems like the
problems of our parents and our children and of professors and
students. With the help of many techniques, such problems are
resolved due to the implications of these techniques on the
individuals involved.

THEORETICAL APPLIED

1. Animal Psychology 1. Clinical Psychology

2. Abnormal Psychology 2. Counseling Psychology

3. Child Psychology 3. Industrial Psychology

4. Developmental 4. Legal Psychology

Psychology
 5. Experimental 5. Engineering Psychology
Psychology

6. Physiological Psychology 6. Educational

Psychology

7. Social Psychology

 Bold: Described further in detail below.

 APA: American Psychological Association

According to CT Morgan the psychologists engaged in different activities

are:

ACTIVITIES % OF PEOPLE

1. Teaching 23%

2. Clinical Practice 15%

3. Administration 19%

4. Basic Research 7%

5. Psychometry 10%

6. Counseling 6%

7. Applied Research 5%
 8. Industrial Counseling 2%

9. Clinical Research 2%

10. Miscellaneous 10%

iii) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A FEW SUB-

FIELDS.

a) Clinical Psychology

 It is one of the largest branches in the field of psychology

 29% of the APA were clinical psychologists in 1970
 These specialists come closest to the lay person’s idea of a
psychologist.
 They are doctors who diagnose emotional disorders and treat
them by means of psychotherapy.
 This field is mostly concerned with the abnormalities and various
other disorders which have high levels of severity.
 It also uses many different methods to deal with such severe
abnormalities or disorders.
 Clinical psychologist is an applied aspect of abnormal psychology
which is a theoretical aspect.
 It deals with the diagnosis and treatment if abnormal behavior and
the individual who deals with it are known as a psychologist.

N NOTE: A psychologist is not medically qualified. He is psychologically qualified to

implement psychological techniques and severe problems. The nature of the problem
differs from that of a counseling psychologist. A clinical psychologist differs from
psychiatrist and a psychoanalyst
 The difference between a clinical psychologist and a
psychiatrist is given below.
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST
1. The degrees required are M.A,
PhD, Diploma in Clinical
Psychology
2. They work in hospitals,
psychiatric wards, mental health
centers etc.
3. They are more involved in
research and employ the methods
of psychotherapy which help them
find out the causes of the
instability as well as the treatment
required. They cannot prescribe
drugs.
4. They deal with considerably
less severe problems. Egg:
 The difference between a clinical
psychologist and a psychoanalyst is given
below.
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST
The degrees required are M.A,
PhD, and Diploma in Clinical
Psychology.
They work in hospitals, psychiatric
wards, mental health centers etc.
They are more involved in
research and employ the methods
of psychotherapy which help them
find out the causes of the
instability as well as the treatment
required. They cannot prescribe
drugs.
They deal with considerably less
severe problems. Egg:
PSYCHIATRIST
1. The degrees required are MBBS
and M.D
2. They also work in hospitals,
private clinics, psychiatric wards,
mental health centers etc
3. They give the patient treatment
with the help of medicines, drugs,
electric shock therapy etc. They
normally use medicines to make
help their patient.
4. They deal with severe mental
problems like schizophrenia etc
PSYCHOANALYST
A psychoanalyst is a person who
employs the methods of Freud.
Freud was an M.D and his ideas
were first taken up by the medical
profession. For that reason most
practioners who call themselves
psychoanalysts hold the M.D.
They normally use two main
techniques namely:
1. Dream
Interpretation- Dreams are a
portrayal of our unconscious
thoughts which lie low in our
consciousness but come out
when we are asleep in the
form of dreams.
2. Free Association- A
stimulus word is given to the
patient to whom he has to
associate a few words of his
own which come to him
instantly.
 Psychoanalysts are mainly
concerned with unusual
responses(R) which are individual
responses (I) concerning these
methods. They delve deep into
the unconscious and try to solve
the problem by analyzing
unconscious activity.

b) Counseling

 Definition: Psychologists who work with

milder emotional and personal problems
are known as counseling psychologist.
 E.g.: Relationships, behavioral problems,
problems related to adjustment, learning etc.
 It is a close cousin of clinical psychology.
 Its main aim is to solve emotional and social
problems of the people.
 It is also related to vocational counseling.
 The main aim of a counselor is to help people
solve their minor problems.
 Counseling psychology is a source between mild
and major problems.
 Counselors normally function at places like
educational institutes (schools, colleges,
university etc), Vocational Fields (where abilities
are measured, interests, aptitude, attitude etc
are also measure), Business or industry,
Rehabilitation centers etc.
 The areas to which counselors attend to are
adjustment, emotion, learning behavior and a
couple of other areas.
c) Educational or School Psychology
 Counseling psychologists who test and guide individual students are
generally called educational or school psychologists.
 By using some combination of tests and interviews, they try to find
out what the trouble is when a student seems to be having a
difficulty in school.
 After studying a case, the school psychologist may recommend that
a student with reading difficulties be assigned to a remedial class.
 On the other hand, a student with mild adjustment problems may
be counseled by the school psychologist in a way that amounts to
psychotherapy.
 More important school psychologists employ a wide range of skills
relevant to the school environment.
 They tend to function more as consultants to teachers and
administration than as one-to one clinicians with students.
 Educational psychology may include school psychology, but
educational psychologists usually have other concerns.
 They are more interested in increasing the efficiency of learning in
school through the application of psychological knowledge about
learning and motivation.
 In this role, they are most often found as teachers and research
workers in schools of education.

d) Developmental Psychology

 Developmental psychologist study changes in behavior that

accompanies changes in age from conception to death.
 Since behavior and abilities change most rapidly during the early
years, child psychology has traditionally received the most attention
from developmental psychologists.
 But there is a growing interest in behavior changes at the other end
of life-old age-and in the periods in between.
 Developmental psychology has both pure and applied aspects.
 On the pure side, a great deal of research has been done on the
development of thinking in children.
 Are systematic changes taking place in the nature of thought as a
child grows older?
 In applied work, developmental psychologists are often concerned
with disturbed children.
  The kinds of deviant behavior found in children are frequently quite
different from those found in adults, and different methods are used
to treat them.

e) Experimental Psychology
 A large number of psychologist-10percent is engaged in work that
has no direct practical application.
 They are interested in experimental psychology.
 This field is concerned with understanding the fundamental
principles of behavior.
 The topics most often dealt with are sensation and perception,
learning and memory, motivation and emotion and the physiological
basis of behavior.
 In recent years some experimental psychologists have also been
working with social behavior, personality and behavior disorders.
 But whatever their particular interests, experimental psychologists
study the “fundamentals” not applications.
 Although the work of experimental psychologist may appear to have
little practical application at the time they do it, they are convince
as most scientists are that heir work is useful in the long run.
 In fact applied problems often cannot be solved without information
previously developed by basic science (often called basic research)

f) Industrial Psychology

 Industrial and organizational psychology (I/O) is among the

newest fields in psychology.
 Industrial Psychology focuses on improving, evaluating, and
predicting job performance while Organizational Psychology
focuses on how organizations impact and interact with
individuals.
 In 1910, through the works and experiments of Hugo
Munsterberg and Walter Dill Scott, Industrial Psychology became
recognized as a legitimate part of the social science.
 Organizational Psychology was not officially added until the
1970s and since then, the field has flourished.
 The Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology has
approximately 3400 professional members and 1900 student
members.
  These two numbers combine to make up only about four percent
of the members in the American Psychology Association but the
number has been rising since 1939 when there were only one
hundred professional I/O psychologists.
 Industrial organizational psychologists look at questions
regarding things such as who to hire, how to define and measure
successful job performance, how to prepare people to be more
successful in their jobs, how to create and change jobs so that
they are safer and make people happier, and how to structure
the organization to allow people to achieve their potential.

VI. SCHOOLS OR “ISMS” OF PSYCHOLOGY.

 The following are the schools of psychology:

1. Functionalism
2. Structuralism
3. Behaviorism
4. Gestalt
5. Psychoanalysis

1. Functionalism

 Another school of psychology much influenced by the Darwinian

theory was functionalism.
  Two of its most influential proponents were William
James(1842-1910) and John Dewey(1859-1952).
 James in his textbook “The Principles of Psychology”
published in 1890, is a classical statement of the functionalist
point of view.
 Functionalists were interested in the fact that behavior and
mental processes are adaptive; that is, they enable one to adjust
to a changing environment.

 Thus the functionalist tried to study the adaptative functions of
behavior and mental life, not merely the structure of the mind.
 Functionalism formed as a reaction to the structuralism and was
heavily influenced by the work of William James and the
evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin.
 Functionalists sought to explain the mental processes in a more
systematic and accurate manner
 . Rather than focusing on the elements of consciousness,
functionalists focused on the purpose of consciousness and
behavior.
 Functionalism also emphasized individual differences, which had
a profound impact on education.
 Some of the major functionalist thinkers are: William James ,
John Dewey, Harvey Carr ,John Angell

2. Structuralism

 Wilhelm Wundt led the school called structuralism.

 The structuralists believed that by breaking the mind down into
elements called “sensations” through the experimental method of
introspection, they would eventually construct complex mental
experiences from elementary sensations.
 E.g: subjects would be asked to describe minutely stimuli
presented, like a colored light(red), a tone(cold), an odor(sweet) etc.
 Besides Wundt, Titchner too has contributed to Structuralism.
  Structuralism can be defined in psychology as “the study of the
elements of consciousness.”
 Structuralism was the first school of psychology and focused on
breaking down mental processes into the most basic components.
 In order to reduce a normal conscious experience into basic
elements, structuralism relied on a method called introspection.
 They further hoped that complex mental experience could be
synthesized ands understood form combinations of the elements.
 While Wundt's work helped to establish psychology as a separate
science and contributed methods to experimental psychology, the
structuralist school of thought did not last long beyond the death of
Wundt's student, Edward Titchner due to various limitations.

3. Gestalt School

 The school of Gestalt Psychology flowered in Germany around

1912 and later progressed to Australia and central Europe.
 Gestalt psychology was developed by three German psychologists
namely Max Wertheimer(founder), Koffa and Kohler.
 All three later migrated to America on account of Nazi tyranny.
 The German word “gestalt” literally means “form” or “shape” .
 It psychological interpretation is “an organized whole that is
perceived as more than the sum of its parts”
  E.g.: a house is perceived more than the building material which
went into it.
 Similarly the mind and behavior have to be studied as a whole and
in relation with the environment.
 They emphasized the importance of organization in perception and
insight in learning.
 These psychologists felt that the structuralists were wrong in
thinking that the mind is made up of elements as the Gestaltists
believed that these elements when organized form a pattern.
 The method used by them is known as phenomenology where in a
stimulus with gaps is placed before an individual and he fills up the
gaps and sees a complete picture.
 E.g.: if the stimulus is in the form of dots, the individual sees a
circle or a triangle because he has filled in the gaps and sees the
complete picture
 The Gestaltists maintained that psychological processes like
perceptions reactions etc are gestalts and have to be studied in
their totality and in relation within environment.

 Hence they cannot be reduced to the units of the structuralists(i.e.

sensations) or those of the behaviorists (i.e. conditioned reflexes)
other wise the whole ‘picture’ is lost.

4. Psychoanalysis

 Psychoanalysis was founded and developed between 1885 and

1939 by Sigmund Freud(1856-1939)
 Freud was a physician and a psychiatrist by profession.
 Freud soon realized that psychiatry had very little knowledge for the
treatment of patients and whatever existed, did not work.
 He attempted to understand, not classify his patients and to find an
effective treatment for their troubles.
  His attempts to understand, based on years of observing patients,
became a theory of personality; his efforts at treatment led to the
evolution of the technique or method of therapy known as
psychoanalysis, based on free association and dream analysis.
 Freud believed that people were motivated by their inherited
instinctual tendencies which they often has to repress on account of
social learning. This led to frustration and conflicts within the
individual due to the distortion of their natural instinctual
tendencies.
 His techniques of free association and dream analysis were
designed to uncover the repressed conflicts(seething in the
unconscious). This the individual was better able to deal with them.
 At that time a French practioners Chariot and a German practioners
Bruner were practicing hypnotism as a method which later evolved
into free association.
 He published a number of revolutionary techniques and disorders,
so that many young medical men were attracted towards Vienna,
Austrian to become his students.
 An association was formed for the development of psychoanalysis in
1902 under the leadership of Jung and Adler.

5. Behaviorism

 The school of behaviorism was developed out the studies in animal

behavior.
 J.B Watson(1878-1958) introduced this school in America at the
John Hopkins University.
 In 1903 the university of Chicago confirmed its first doctoral degree
in psychology to Watson who became the founder of Behaviorism.
  According to this school psychology should be purely objective and
an experimental branch of the natural sciences.
 He rejected structuralism and the introspective method as
unscientific and insisted that psychology be restricted to the study
of behavior(the things people and animals do) only.
 The methods used were observation, verbal report methods, testing
methods etc.
 The original version of behaviorism has three main characteristics
namely:
i. There was an emphasis on conditional reflexes being the building
blocks or elements of behavior.
ii. There was an emphasis on learned behavior as behaviorism denied the
existence of instinct and inborn tendencies.
iii. There was an emphasis on the study of animal behavior as a means of
understanding human behavior

Conclusion

 These schools of psychology are mostly gone now as this field has
developed quite rapidly over the last couple of centuries.
 With the help of technology and many new experiments facilitated
by technology, psychology is expanding into new ideas, thoughts,
methods etc.
 But it is with the help of the foundation stones these schools and
their founders built, that psychology is where it is today.
 Hence these schools are still valued and highly respected.

VII AIMS AND GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGY

 Psychology has two main goals namely:

i) Understanding Behavior
ii) Prediction and Control of Behavior.
i) Understanding Behavior.
 Behavior as we all know is the subject matter of psychology.
 Hence it basically deals with behavior whether it is human or
animal behavior.
 The promises of psychology is that rational means will give us a
sure guide to understanding human behavior.
 The extent to which this promises has been fulfilled may not be a
100% but it has definitely developed as compared to our
ancestors, a 100 years ago.
 To understand behavior may factors are taken onto
consideration such as age, time, motivation etc.
 Such factors help in the easy understanding of human and
animal behavior.
 As far as understanding of behavior is concerned, psychology’s
main aim is to help an individual understand this own behavior
patterns, his own mindset, his abilities, capacities, strengths etc
 This enhances an individual’s view point about himself.

ii) Prediction and Control of behavior.

 Behavior can only be predicted if it is first understood.

 Prediction is done through observation.
 Observation leads to the analysis of the cause and effect.
 Predictions are made about the people we meet as to whether the
person is useful or harmful.
 Such predictions help us to know the motives or intentions of that
person which might be beneficial in the future.
 Good predictions in crowd behavior help us understand the situation
and act accordingly.
 E.g.: If it is a violent crowd or situation, we find means to escape
from it or we become self prepared for it.
 Many times predictions may just lead to discrimination and
prejudices.
 This is where control comes in.
 Certain attitudes or cultures, that we cultivate are reduced due to
control.
 Negative attitudes which may be harmful should and have to be
controlled.