Psychology

This slide contains information regarding Introduction to Psychology. This can be helpful for proficiency level and bachelor level nursing students and may also somewhere be help for those trying to understand what psychology is (basic idea). Your feedback is highly appreciated. Thank you!

1. Understanding
Psychology
Nabina Paneru

2. Terminology used in Psychology
•Behavior
•Stimulus
•Stimuli
•Cognition
•Conditioning
•Response
•Re-inforcement

3. History and Origin of Science of
Psychology
•100yearsago,psychologyasaseparateareaofstudy,
splitawayfromphilosophy
•In1879,thefirstpsychologicallaboratorywas
establishedattheUniversityofLeipzigbytheGerman
philosopherandpsychologistWilhelmWundt(1832-
1920).Wundtwasthefirsttomeasurehumanbehavior
accuratelyandisknownasthe‘FatherofPsychology’.

4. School of thoughts in psychology
•Structuralism
•Functionalism
•Behaviorism
•Gestalt Psychology
•Cognitive Psychology
•Psychoanalysis
•Humanistic psychology

5. Meaning of Psychology
•In1590,RudolfGeockleusedthewordpsychologyforthe
firsttime.
•WilhelmWundt,aGermanphilosopherandpsychologistis
consideredas‘FatherofPsychology’.

6. What is the meaning of Psychology for
you?

7. •Psychology is derived from Greek word, ‘psychi’ and ‘logus’. Here,
‘Psychi’ means ‘soul’ and ‘logus’ means ‘study of’ or ‘knowledge’.
Hence literally, psychology is the study of soul.
•However, the meaning of psychology has undergone many changes
from time to time. Four distinct phases can be seen in the evolution of
concept of psychology.
Meaning of Psychology

8. Evolution of Meaning of
Psychology

9. Psychology as the science of Soul:
•Ancient philosopher like Aristotle and Plato interpreted psychology as
the ‘study of soul’.
•According to them, the function of psychology was to study the nature,
origin and destiny of the human soul. But the soul is the metaphysical.
•The nature of soul could not be satisfactorily explained.
•Hence, the understanding of psychology as the science of soul was
given up.

10. Psychology as the Science of mind:
•Failure to define soul properly led some ancient Greek philosophers to
define psychology as ‘the study of mind’ and they considered it as a
branch of mental philosophy.
•William James used the word mind instead of soul. Mind, according to
them, was the subject matter of psychology.
•But, the nature of mind was interpreted in different ways by different
psychologists.
•What was called mind was neither seen nor understood it. And this led
to confusion and hence this definition was also rejected.

11. Psychology as a science of
Consciousness:
•Seeing the failure of two concepts of psychology, it meant to the
psychologist to study the activities of human being.
•The influence of physiology made some scientists like Wilhelm Wundt
of Germany define psychology as the study of ‘consciousness’.

12. Contd.
•They argued that the description and explanation of state of
consciousness was the task of psychology.
•The definition was rejected on the ground that consciousness
constituted only a negligible portion of total personality and it
was not taking into consideration of subconscious and
unconscious states of the mind.

13. Psychology as a Science of Behavior:
•In the beginning of the 20
th
century, a scientific revolution occurred
in the field of psychological thought and as a result psychology was
emerged as ‘the science of behavior’.
•In 1905, McDougall defined psychology as ‘positive science of
conduct of living creature’.
•In the same period Pillsberry(1911) defined psychology as ‘the
science of human behaviour’.

14. Contd.
•Later,J.B.Watson(1878-1958),proposedtoelaboratethe
meaningofthetermbehaviorincludinginitbothhumanand
animalbehavior.
•Hence,moderndefinitionofpsychologystatesas
“Psychologyisthesystematicstudyofhumanandanimal
behavior,itincludestheapplicationofthissciencetohuman
problems”-MorganandKing

15. Definition of Psychology
•Psychology is the science of human and animal behavior; it includes
the application of behavioral science to human problems.
Psychology is the science of human behavior.
•Walter Bowers Pillsbury-1911
•Psychology is a science, which aims to give us better understanding
and control of the behavior of the organism as whole.
•-Williams McDoughall-1949

16. Scope of psychology
•It studies, describes and explains the behavior of living organism.
•Describes all types of life activities (conative, cognitive and affective).
•Studies not only human behavior but also experiences, language and other
forms of communications.
•Employs to all the living creatures irrespective of their species, caste, color,
age, sex, mental and physical state.
•Studies behavior of human in all stages of development.

17. Goals of Psychology
1.Describe: understanding human behavior must begin with careful
description of how people think, feel and act in specific situations.
2.Explain: to know why people behave in certain manners, We want
explanation.
3.Predict: to predict people’s behavior. One will behave in certain way in
a certain set of circumstances.
4.Control: we can change or influence people’s behavior once we know
what is in their mind.

18. Nature of Psychology
•Psychology is an empirical science
•Psychology is universally applicable
•Psychology is an independent science
•Psychology is verified
•Psychology is applied science
•Psychology can predict

19. Methods of
Psychology

20. Introduction: Method of Psychology
•Psychologyistermedasthescientificstudyofhumanandanimal
behavior.
•Specialtoolsandprocedurehelpusingatheringandorganizingits
subjectmatterortheessentialfactsaboutbehavior.
•Theseproceduresaretermedasmethods,whichareusedtostudy
humanbehavior.

21. Common Methods
IntrospectionExperimental
Method
Observational
Method
Clinical
Method

22. Introspection
•This is the one of the oldest methods.
•Introspection means ‘to look within’. Also known as self-observation method.
•This is not possible to understand the inner feelings and experiences of other
persons.
•The subject is asked to systematically observe his/her own behavior and
report the same.

23. •This is later analyzed to understand the behavior. For example, a
patient after an operation may be asked to report how he feels.
•The patient will try to look with in and recall what happened and how
he is presently feeling.
•This information will help for better treatment. This is the
characteristic method of psychology, which is not available in other
natural sciences.
Contd.

24. Merits: Introspection
•Introspection is the fundamental method of psychology. Observation and
experimentation are based upon introspection.
•Introspection gives us direct, immediate and exact knowledge of our own
mental processes.
•It enables us to understand the behavior of individual.
•Method is inexpensive, easy and does not require any apparatus and library.

25. Demerits: Introspection
•not applicable for children or animals or mentally retarded people because
they cannot introspect.
•Apurely private affair and cannot be verifies by other observers.
•In many cases, the patients may not have the insight to know about their
conditions or language to describe them adequately.
•Introspection sometimes involves attention to a mental process, which is
produced by an external object. When we attend to the mental process, we
withdraw attention from the object and as soon as we withdraw attention
from the object the mental process vanishes, thus making introspection
impossible.

26. Observational Methods
•Observation is the objective method
of studying the behavior of the
individuals.
•It consists of, perception of an
individual’s behavior under natural
conditions.

27. •Researchers should be inconspicuous and do nothing to
change the environment or behavior of the participants.
•E.g. a researcher sitting in a fast food restaurant andobserving
the eating habits of men vs. women.
•After observing the behavior, the researcher interprets and
analyzes the behavior perceived by him/her.
•Eg. In hospital, the nurse makes an observation of patient’s
vital signs, facial expressions, restlessness etc. to understand
clinical condition of the patient.

28. Steps in Observation Method
Observation of behavior
Noting of behavior
Interpretation and analysis of
behavior
Generalization

29. Merits : Observation
•It is economical, natural and as well as flexible method.
•The data, which is studied through observation can be analyzed,
measured, classified and interpreted.
•The results can be verified.
•Observational method is quite suitable for observing developmental
characteristics like children’s habit and interest.
•For example, the effect of absence of mother or father or both on the
child’s development can be determined properly, by observing such
deprived children.

30. Demerits: Observation
•There are chances of subjective report and also prejudices of
observer may interfere it.
•Sometimes to observe the natural behavior, the observer may have to
spend more time, energy and money.
•It lacks repeatability, as each natural situation can occur only once.
•Not able to establish cause and effect relationship, as there is no
control group.

31. Experimental Method
•Experimentalmethodisconsideredasthemostscientificandeffective
methodofstudyingBehaviour.
•Theessentialfeaturesoftheexperimentalmethodarethecontrol,
observationandmeasurementofvariables.
•Illustratingthehallmarksofascience,theuseoftheexperimentalmethod
inpsychologicalresearchmakesusmoreconfidentaboutthevalidityof
anycause-effectrelationshipestablishedbetweenanindependentand
dependentvariable.

32. •Examples:
Testing the effects of ritalinmedication on the attention spans of
children with ADHD or study of effect of anxiety in human behavior.
•To study the cause and effect relationship the psychologists use objective
observations under controlled conditions to observe actions or behaviours
of individuals.
•From these observations, certain conclusions are drawn.
Contd.

33. Essential Features of Experimental
Methods
Requires two persons, the experimenter and the
subject or the person, whose behavior is observed.
Experimentation should be done on living organisms
All experiments are conducted under controlled
conditions

34. Steps in Experimentation
Testing of hypothesis
Analysis of the result
Arranging the environment
Finding out independent and dependent variables
Formulation of hypothesis
Stating the problems

35. •Stating the problem: The first step in an experiment is stating the
problem. For example: to study the effects of smoking on physical and
mental health of students.
•Formulation of hypothesis: Hypothesis is a tentative answer to the
problem. For the above example, the hypothesis can be –smoking is
harmful for the physical and mental health of the students. The
hypothesis will be tested.

36. Tofindouttheindependentanddependentvariables:
•theeffectofwhichwewanttostudywillbecalledindependentvariable
andtheotherdependentvariable.
•Theindependentvariablestandsforthecauseandthedependentvariable
standsfortheeffectofthecause.Inthisabovehypothesis,physicaland
mentalhealthofstudentisthedependentvariableandsmokingisthe
independentvariable.

37. Arranging the environment:
•Under controlled environment, the variables are objectively observed.
•For example, Physical and mental health of the students (who are smoking
and who are not smoking) will be observed. In experimentation, it is
important that only the specified independent variable is allowed to change.
•Factors other than the independent variable must be held constant.

38. •Analysisoftheresult:Generally,thesubjectsoftheexperimentation
aredividedintwogroups,onecontrolledandotherexperimental.They
canbecomparedstatistically.Forexample:smokers’andnonsmokers’
mentalandphysicalhealthcanbecompared.
•Testingofthehypothesis:Theresultmayproveordisprovethe
hypothesis.

39. Merits: Experimental Methods
•Scientific method
•Finds out cause and effect relationship
•Maximum control phenomena
•Repetition is possible

40. Demerits: Experimental Methods
•All problems of psychology can not be studied by this method, as we
can not perform experiments for all problems.
•Experimental method is a costly and time consuming method.
Moreover handling of this method demands specialized knowledge
and skill. In the absence of such expertise this method is not
functioning.
•Experimental method fails to study behavior in naturalistic conditions.
•It cannot always be used especially if the experiment might dangerous
to the subjects.

41. Clinical or Case History Method
•Thismethodisusedbyclinicalpsychologists,psychiatrists,
psychiatricsocialworkersetc.
•Itaimsatstudyingthecauseandbasisforpeople’sanxieties,
fearsandpersonalmaladjustments.
•Agreatdealofdataiscollectedbystudyingcasehistory,
interviewing,homevisitandpsychologicaltesttodrawvalid
inferenceaboutthenatureofindividual’sdifficultiesand
problems.

42. •Inthistechnique,informationiscollectedfromthememoryof
theindividual,hisrelatives,friends,teachersandallother
availablerecordsandreports.
•Theinformationincludespasthistoryofthediseases,treatment
alreadytaken,changesifanylikeimprovement,present
condition,probablecausessignsandsymptoms.
Contd.

43. Merits: Clinical Methods
•Casehistorieswillgivetheclinicalinsightintothecausesof
theproblemsandsuggestintopossiblesolution.
•Casestudiescanbeproductivesourcesofideasforfurther
investigationbyothermembers.

44. Demerits:Clinical Methods
•Thecasehistorymethoddependslargelyonmemoryof
incidents,whichmayhavebeenobservedinaccuratelyorover
interpreted.

45. Survey Method
•Some problems that are difficult to study by direct observation may be
studied through the use of questionnaires or interviews.
•The survey method is the technique of gathering data by asking
questions to people who are thought to have desired information.
•A formal list of questionnaire is prepared.

46. Merit
•Survey method permit amounts of data to be collected
effectively.

47. Demerits
•Survey method also may cause a distinct limitations, the
behavior is not observed directly.
•In the actual situation, such as voting booth, he may not
behave as he is indicated on the questionnaire.

48. Test or correlation method
•An experiment is one of the most powerful way to investigate
many behaviors, but it is not always the most practical way.
•Psychologists identify relations between two or more
variables without needing to understand exactly why these
relation exists.

49. Merits
•Largeinformationcanbegatheredinshortperiodoftime
•Informationobtainedarerelevantandaccurateasitisobjective
•Informationobtainedfromonecanbecomparedtoother
•Includesvariousareaslike,intelligencetest,neuropsychological
test,personalitytestsandspecificclinicaltests(anxietyand
depressionmeasurementscale)

50. Demerits
•Maycarryculturalbiases
•Accuracydependsonindividualtakingtest
•Alltypesofbehaviorcannotbemeasured
•Needsskilledpsychologists
•Samemaybetoolengthy
•Testmethodusesstandardtoolsoitmaybecostly

51. Genetics or Development Method
•Psychologist not only study the behavior of an individual at the
particular time, but also his development from birth to death, the
influence of heredity and environment in the development of the
person and conditions favorable and un –favorable for normal
and abnormal behavior.
•For example, to understand the learning behavior of an adult, the
study will start from the childhood and adolescence.

52. Contd.
This can be done on two ways:
•Cross sectional study in which, the children of different age
groups will be studied simultaneously.
•Longitudinal study in which, the same child will be studied in
different stages of life.

53. Merit
•This is more useful method to understand the behavior from
point of view of hereditary and environment.

54. Demerit
•This method requires more time and energy.

55. Branches and Methods
Psychology

56. Branches of Psychology
•Pure Psychology
•Applied Psychology

57. Branches of Psychology
Pure Psychology
•General Psychology
•Physiological Psychology
•Developmental Psychology
•Social psychology
•Personality psychology

58. Applied
Psychology
•Educational Psychology
•Clinical Psychology
•Industrial Psychology
•Counselling Psychology
•Social and educational psychology
•Community psychology
•Child psychology

59. General Psychology
•Thisbranchdealswiththefundamentalrules,principles
andtheoriesofpsychologyinrelationtothestudyof
behaviourofnormaladulthumanbeings.
•Itexplainsvariouspsychologicalprocesseslike
sensations,perceptions,emotions,learning,intelligence,
personality,etc.

60. Experimental and Physiological
psychology
•Thisbranchdescribesthebiologicalbasisofbehaviour.
•Thereisacloserelationshipbetweenbodyandmind;
thefunctionsofeachotheraremutuallyinfluenced.

61. Contd.
•Thefunctioningofthebrain,nervoussystem,
endocrineglandsandtheirrelationtocognitive,
Conativeandaffectivebehaviourisexplainedin
thisbranchofpsychology.

62. Developmental psychology:
•Humanlifepassesthroughvariousstagesof
developmentfromconceptiontooldage.
•Thisbranchexplainsthegrowthand
developmentofvariousprocessesinrelationto
behaviour.

63. Social psychology:
•Humanbeingisasocialanimal.
•Naturallythebehaviourofanindividualisinfluencedbysocietyand
inturninfluencesthesociety.
•Socialpsychologydealswithinterrelationshipsofpeopleamong
themselves,likesanddislikesofpeople,attitudesandinterests,the
prejudicesandsocialdistancespeoplehave,groupbehaviour,group
cohesiveness,groupconflicts,etc.

64. Abnormal psychology:
•Todaythelifeiscomplex.
•Theindividualisfacingalotofcompetitionandexperiencing
frustrationsandconflicts.
•Constantpressuresinlifeareleadingtopsychologicalabnormalities.
•Abnormalpsychologydealswithvariouskindsofmentaldisorders,
theirsymptomsandcauses.

65. Applied Branches:
•Appliedbranchesdealwiththeapplicationofpsychological
principlesandtechniquesforapproachingtheproblemsin
differentfieldsoflife.

66. Educational psychology:
•Thisisthemostimportantfieldwherepsychological
principlesareapplied.
•Inthefieldofeducation‘learner’isthefocalpoint.
•Otheraspectslikemanagement,teachers,teachingand
learningaidsareallmeantforlearners.

67. Contd.
•Learnersdifferintheirabilities,hencetheyneed
differentapproachesofteaching,learningmaterial,
etc.
•Thisbranchaddressestotheproblemsand
improvementinteachingandlearningprocesses.

68. •School Psychologist tries to pin point the problem
faced by student and suggests action to correct it.
•For example, a school psychologist might suggest that
a poor reader be assigned to a remedial reading class.
•Educational psychologists are especially concerned
with increasing the efficiency of learning in school
and applying their psychological knowledge about
learning and motivation to the curriculum.

69. Clinical psychology:
•Thisbranchdealswiththetherapeuticaspectofmental
disorders.
•Therearemanytypesofmentalillnessrequiringvaried
typesoftherapieslikepsychotherapy,recreationaland
occupationaltherapies,behaviourtherapy,etc.

70. •Clinical psychologists are the doctors who diagnose
psychological disorder and treat them, but unlike
psychiatrists they do not prescribe the medicine.
They usually hold Ph. D. degrees.

71. Industrial psychology:
•Human beings are different from machines.
•They will have many problems in their work place like
adjustment, safety, security, health, financial and such other
problems.
•Both the management and workers need to cooperate in
dealing with such problems.

72. •Industrialpsychologyseeksapplicationofpsychologicalprinciples,
theoriesandtechniquesforthestudyofalltheseproblemsandthe
industrialenvironment.
•Atfirst,theapplicationofpsychologytotheproblemsofindustries
wastheuseofintelligenceandaptitudetestsinselecting
employees.
•Todayalso,manycompaniesusemodernversionofsuchtestsin
theirhiringandplacementprogram.
Contd.

73. Child psychology:
•Childhoodextendsfrom2to12years.
•Thisisacrucialperiodinthelife.Futurelifedepends
upondevelopmentduringchildhood.Growthand
developmentwillberapidduringthisstage.
•Childpsychologydealswiththeseaspects.

74. Counselling psychology:
•Mentaldisordersmaynotbecompletelyandeasilycuredjustby
drugsandotherphysicaltherapies.
•Inadditiontoothertherapies,thesepatientsneedcounsellingalso.
Counsellingisaprocessinwhichaninteractiontakesplacebetween
atrainedcounselorandaclient.
•Thisbranchalsohelpspeopletoovercomeadjustmentproblems.The
workofcounselingpsychologistisquitesimilartothatoftheclinical
psychologists.

75. •Thedifferencebetweenthemisthosecounselingpsychologists
generallyworkwiththepeoplewhohavemilderemotionaland
personalproblems.
•Theymayusepsychotherapyinanattempttohelpwiththese
problems.Counsellingpsychologistsareoftenconsultedbypeople
withspecificquestion,suchaschoiceofcareer,educationalprogram
etc.
•Inadditiontothis,counselingpsychologistmayextensivelyusetests
tomeasureattitude,interestandpersonalitycharacteristics.Theytry
tohelppeoplewhoarehavingproblemswithfamilyliving,marriage
etc.
Contd.

76. Others
•military psychology,
•legal psychology/criminal psychology
•political psychology
•Parapsychology etc.

77. What is the meaning of behaviour?

78. Meaning of Behavior
•Any manifestation of life is activity’ and the behavior is the collective
name of these activities. The term behavior includes the following:
1.Motor and conative activities (walking, swimming, dancing etc.)
2.Cognitive Activities (thinking, reasoning, imaging etc.)
3.Affective Activities (feeling happy, sad, angry etc.)
•It covers not only the overt behavior, but also the covert behavior (inner
experiences and the mental processes).

79. •Behaviourincludes not only the conscious behavior
and activities but also the subconscious and
unconscious.

80. Covert and Overt behaviour
•It covers not only the overt behavior, but also the covert behavior
•Overt Behaviorthat can be observed by someone other than the person
performing it (i.e. singing, screaming, laughing, smoking, eating, etc.)
•Covert behavior is behavior that is not seen or observed. Egof covert
behaviour-inner experiences and the mental processes.

81. Contd.
•Covert behaviors are very important to psychologists
since these behaviors must be changed for treatment to
be successful.

82. Factors affecting behavior
1.Biological Factors
-Hereditary factors
-Nutritional factors
-Physical Health
2.Psychological/emotional
factors
-Relationship
-Satisfaction of fundamental and
basic need
-Feelings of Being Respected

83. Contd.
3.Socio –cultural
4.Economic Aspect
5.Religious Factor

84. Mind Body Relationship
•From the earliest mind and body generally thought of as one unit.
•The mind –body problem concerns the explanation of the relationship that
exists between minds, or mental processes, and bodily states or processes.
•Main aim is to determine the nature of mind and mental process and how or
even if minds are affected by and can affect body.

85. Mind body dualism
•Two major view of mind body problem are:
-Dualism: mind and body are separate but interacting
-Monism: mind is property of the physical nervous system
(body)

86. Contd.
•Mind body dualism can be defined as “ The body is a physical
substance, a machine, while the mind is a non –physical,
thinking entity, which inhabits the body and is responsible for
its voluntary movement.”

87. Nervous system and Body relation

88. Stress/ Thought and effect on body
(Somatic effect)
•Our emotional behavior is very closely bound up to mental and
physical health.
•Many of the psychotic and neurotic reactions are actually deep rooted
in the emotional life of a person.
•Intense and unpleasant emotions disturb the whole individual; if they
may cause illness or worsen the condition of one already ill.
•Emotion is normal but if it recurs time and again and remains for long
time, trouble may start, affecting the physical health.

89. Contd.
•Modern medicine shows that uncontrolled emotionality plays
a vital role in the causation of many physical disorders which
include:

90. -Peptic ulcer
-Heart disease
-Bronchial asthma
-Epilepsy
-Increased BP
-Insomnia
-Functional colitis
-Susceptibility to infections
-Skin disorders
-Diabetes and TB are made
worse.
Contd.

91. Importance of Psychology
1.Understanding behavioral factors: behavior which promotes health.
2.Effects of disease: disease effect psychological well-being.
3.Preventing illness: psychologist changes behavior to prevent illness.
4.Critical analysis of health policy: scope of health psychology
5.Improves relationship between health team members.
6.Managing pain
7.Improving adherence to medical advice

92. Relevance of Psychology to Nursing
Nursing and
Psychology
Understanding
self
Understanding
Patients
Understanding
Others

93. Contd..
1.Development and maturation: By understanding
developmental stage, nurses will not misidentify normal
process as diseases.
2.Learning and motivation: When nurses need to give
education, they know when, where, and what to do.

94. Contd.
3. Personality and behavior:
-Expand nurse’s perception.
-Understanding patient’s reaction. Change negative behavior to positive.
-Practice effective interaction.
-Helps nurses to deal with her own emotion when dealing with patients.

95. Contd.
4. Adaptation:
Nurses help patients to adapt with their diseases, anxiety and disability.
Help nurses understand and deal with patient’s reaction.
5. Counseling:
Counsel regarding healthy behavior and how to get rid of stress.
6. Research:
To explore more about human behavior.
To improve quality of care.