Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior, according to the American Psychological Association. Psychology is a multifaceted discipline and includes many sub-fields of study such areas as human development, sports, health, clinical, social behavior and cognitive processes.
The introductory part of psychology emphasizes on two aspects:
1. Psychology as a science
A Science is defined not by what it studies but by how it studies. Psychologists like any other scientists systematically observe facts about human beings and organize these facts to arrive at generalizations. Psychology shares with other sciences certain aims, assumptions, ways of carrying out research and ways of building and modifying theories.
2. Psychology is a body of knowledge that can be applied to help solve a variety of human problems. In addition to the contribution in the area of research (developmental, social, experimental, physiological psychology), there are many other areas of professional applications. Clinical psychologists work with psychiatrists in a hospital context or with other health professionals in the community. Educational psychologists work with children and adolescents in schools, colleges, and nurseries and in the home. They collaborate with parents and teachers to assess a child’s progress at school and provide help and advice. Counseling psychologists work with individuals, families, couples or groups to improve people’s well being, alleviate distress and help them solve their own problems and take their own decisions.
The word psychology is derived from two Greek words “psyche”
and “logos.”
Psyche means soul and logos means the study. Thus, originally psychology was defined as the study of “soul” or “spirit.” But later on philosophers defined psyche as mind. Because of this, psychology began to be regarded as the study of an individual’s mind or mental process. Through time, this later definition of psychology was given up because the mind as an object does not exist: and cannot be observed and measured objectively. The most widely and accepted definition of psychology is: the science of behavior and mental processes of both humans and animals.
There are some concepts in this definition which need further explanations: The terms are “science” and “behavior.”
What is science?
Science is a group of related facts and principles of a particular subject. In science we collect related facts by the use of objective methods to develop a theory to explain those facts. From a given set of conditions, science helps us to predict future happenings.
Example-Biology explains how living things grow and develop. Anatomy describes the structure of human body. Physiology deals with the function of various parts and systems of the body. Nursing and the rest of the health sciences are also founded on science.
What is behavior?
Behavior In its broader sense includes all types of human activities.
Behavior is both mental and bodily.
Mental behaviors are thinking, reasoning, imagination and other mental experiences or processes.
Bodily behavior refers to the movements and actions of the body in response to a situation.
Behavior is the reaction of an individual to a particular environment. The environment exerts influence on individuals. That influence is called stimulus. The stimulus in turn arouses an activity from the individual and this is called the response.
Example-A man may be admitted to a hospital for a surgical operation (stimulus)
The man feels frightened and worries because he is uncertain what may happen next (response).This stimulus response combination constitutes the behavior of an individual. The human behavior consists of physical responses, feelings, emotions and tensions, and all intellectual responses, perceiving, thinking, recalling, and reasoning.
Behavior shows growth and development from the early years of infancy to maturity and old age. Psychology as a science studies how behavior grows and develops from infancy to old age and also studies behavioral differences between people.
In general there are four major facts proposed in relation to the nature of behavior. These are:
Behavior has a bodily basis
Behavior is dynamic
Behavior varies from person to person
Behavior is social
Psychologists collect facts of behavior by means of objective methods such as observation and experiment and predict human behavior.
Example- a patient may react with anger if his movements are restricted in the ward. If the health professional has knowledge of scientific psychology, it is possible to predict and control the patient’s behavior.
At times psychologists study animal behavior. The reasons are:
The study of animal behavior helps to develop general laws of behavior that apply to all organisms.
The study of animal behavior provides important clues to answering questions about human behavior.
For ethical reasons it is sometimes difficult to conduct psychological experiments on human beings.
Dr. Amit Kumar Sharma,
Assistant Professor & Head,
Department of Psychology,
Mewar University, Rajasthan. India.
Contact : psychologyexpress007@gmail.com
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