What is Psychology (One)A

7/31/2019 What is Psychology (One)A

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WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?AND

HOW DO WE STUDY IT?


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What is psychology

R.S.Feldman defines it as:The scientific study of behaviour andmental processes


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William James- basic elements

The Psychologist was particularlyinterested in human psychology,which he thought consisted of certainbasic elements:

thoughts & feelings

Physical world exists in time & space

A way of knowing about these things


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Role of psychology

Though we are making judgementsabout psychological matters using ourown experiences as touchstone

Formal psychology provides methodsof deciding which explanation aremore likely to be accurate


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People are a puzzle, human behavior isfascinating, and psychology is all aboutpeople.


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Its all about trying to understand certain

important aspects or mysteries of humanbehavior such as:

What factors influence an individuals

behavior?

Why do people need each other?

Do we behave differently in the presence ofothers?


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How does our understanding of the worlddevelop?

How do we manage people in

organizations

What makes an effective leader?

What is the role of brain in our behavior?


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What techniques do advertisers use topersuade us?

Does morale and job satisfaction impacts

production?

Questions such as these form the basis of

the study of psychology.


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Why Psychology is Interesting,Important, And Useful Today?

The minimum condition for any living organism for having apsychology is the possession of a mental control system.

Psychology is in a special position because it is a subject aboutwhich everyone can express an opinion based on personalinformation and subjective experience.

Psychology has contributed to the development of understanding of

important issues that humans face at social, political and individuallevels


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Why Psychology is Interesting,Important, And Useful Today?

The point is that psychology is not led by hunches, nor it is commonsense. It is a science.

The scientific, methodological nature of psychology defines its veryauthentic and accurate contributions to understanding humanfunctioning as it emerges out of the complex relationship of the fourmain aspects, thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and behavior


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The term psychology originated from two Greek wordspsche logos

Meaning: mind study or knowledge

The mind or soul, means the very essence of life, it is the mind functioning as

the center of thought, feeling, and behavior. The functions or the processesinvolved may be operating consciously or unconsciously in helping, adjustingand relating the body to its social and physical environment.

The four main functions of psyche are:Intuition,

Sensing,Thinking,

Feeling


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Currently, the definition of psychology is the systematic study ofthoughts ,feelings, and behavior.

It involves the investigation of behavior and mental processes usingscientific research processes.

The main goals of psychology are to:

describe predict control explainHUMAN FUNCTIONING

Psychologistsseek to understand thoughts, feelings, and behaviorand the factors involved in creating and influencing them.


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What do we want to know in

psychology

How we:

perceive

learnremember

think

solve problemsfeel & develop

differ from each other


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We all have a mental life and therefore have someidea as to what that means.

In 1890 William James defined it as all about themind or brain and that provides a good starting

point for our understanding.


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W. James believed that we all experienced our own

thoughts, feelings, and a physical world that existedin time and space.

The way we think, feel and act is connected to theway we function and interact with our environments.It also makes it easy for us to make judgments aboutthe psychological phenomena we see in other

people around us


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However on a subjective, personal note, it may be allright to do so but, it may cause a lot of conflict when twopeople understand these things differently.

This is where formal psychology attempts to provide uswith methods that can help us to decide whichexplanations are most likely to be correct.

It helps distinguish between subjective, biased, andunreliable information; and the facts that can be truly

judged as scientific and reliable

Psychology is also about the ways in which people usetheir mental abilities to operate in the world around them.Adapting to the changing environments to survive

facilitates and shapes the mind to use its resources orabilities fully


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So, the psychologists have used scientific observations

to study behavior and make inferences about what isgoing on inside the psyche

The term behavior refers to any observable action that

can be actually seen and measured

Thoughts and feelings are internal responses these maynot be directly accessible to observations, but are inter-related with and influence behavior.

.


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Behaviors

These can be seen as:

OVERT BEHAVIOURS, a responsethat is external and directly

observable, can be seen directly andcan be seen while it is happening.

COVERT BEHAVIOURS, a response

that is internal or hidden from view,cannot be seen directly, and cannotbe seen while it is happening


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A science evolves-step by step

Half a million years ago peopleassumed that psychological problemswere caused by evil spirits.

Archaeologists have found ancienthealers performed an operation calledtrephining


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HOW DID PSYCHOLOGYORIGINATE

It evolved out of

1) Philosophy -------pre-scientific era

And moved on to a scientific era withstrong influences from

2)Biology--- evolution & physiology,

3)Physics---- the scientific methodand psychophysics.


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PSYCHOLOGICAL METHODS

Psychologists use systematic method to study and investigatepsychological issues about how people work and how they interact.

They use the scientific methodology in all of the methods

At the most fundamental or basic level, the scientific method has anumber of steps. These are:OBSERVATION, which leads to formation of theoryHYPOTHESIS, which is an impression of what the theory couldimplyTEST, the steps taken to find weather the hypothesis is correct

CONCLUSION, which may prove or negate the assumption impliedin the theory.


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Scientific method

1 Identify question of interest

2 Formulate an explanation

3 Carry out researcha)Operationalize hypothesis

b)Select a research method

c)Collect the datad)Analyze data

4 Communicate the findings


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The various methods of investigatingpsychology fall into two groups:

The experimental methodThe non-experimental method

Basically they all follow the scientific

method, but there is a critical differencebetween these two groups

The nature of the psychological

investigation determines the manypossible variations of the scientificmethods that needs to be applied


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Scientific Methodologies

You can Observe the behavior of crowds

You can do a Case-study on childdevelopment

You can conduct an Experiment to see ifthe performance of students vary with thechange of room, time etc

You can investigate Cross-cultural issues

You can Correlate intelligence with self-esteem

You can Survey attitudes towards smoking


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Psychologists study and investigatecertain events or behaviors that are of

interest to them.These are called variables as variables

are events that vary.

These are of two types1)Independent Variable I.V &

2) Dependent Variable D.V

Designated as such, depending on thekind of scientific inquiry to be undertaken


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RESEARCH METHODS

THE SCIENTIFIC METHODObserve

Make Hypothesis

Test & Conclude

xperimental method(Laboratory set-up)

NON- EXPERIMENTAL METH

ObservationCase-study

Cross-cultural study

Questionnaire

THE UNDERPININGS OF


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THE UNDERPININGS OFPSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH

Scientific Method. A method for obtaining scientificevidence in which research questions orhypotheses are formulated and testedTheory. A formulation of the relationships andprinciples that underlie observed events. Theories

allow us to explain and predict behaviorHypothesis. In psychology, a specific statementabout behavior or mental process that is testedthrough research.Generalize. To extend from the particular to the

general; to apply observations based on a sampleto a population.Population. A complete group of organisms orevents.


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Methods of Observation

Laboratory-observation

Testing Naturalistic-observation

Survey

Case study

Research participants


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Drawing Conclusions From PsychologicalResearch

The three major types of research are:

1. Descriptive

2. Correlational

3. Experimental


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Descriptive Study

An approach to research designedto systematically investigate a person,group, or patterns of behavior

It helps us draw conclusions aboutthe way things are.


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The Correlation Method

A scientific method that studies the relationships

between variablesCorrelation coefficient is a number between +1 to -1 thatexpresses the strength and direction of the relationshipbetween 2 variables.

Positive correlation means a relationship between 2variables in which one variable increases as the otheralso increases.

Negative correlation means a relationship between 2variables in which one variable increases as the other

decreases.It helps us to make predictions about one variable if weknow the status of the other.


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The Experimental Method

A scientific methodthat seeks toconfirm cause-and-effect relationship

by introducingindependentvariables andobserving their

effects ondependentvariables.

Experimental Design(hypothesis)

Control GroupNo IV introduced Experimental GroupIV GIVEN

Behaviour DV MeasuredFor both groups

The results obtainedShow the cause-effect

relationship

H D W D C l i


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How Do We Draw ConclusionsFrom Research

One needs to be careful about drawingconclusions from researches.

Scrutinize descriptions of research

carefully, you may askHave the researchers ruled out otherpossible explanations for their results?

Only when the answer is satisfactory thenyou are justified to draw conclusions


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When experimental studies are sufficientlycontrolled, then they do allow us to developprinciples and theories of human behavior andeducational practice.

Principles identify the factors and influences thatgovern behaviour,and are arrived at frommultiple research studies.

Theories are formulated to explain why theseprinciples are true

Thus principles explain the WHATS of human

behavior and theories describes WHYS thosethings happen.

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What is Psychology (One)A