Psychology

Psychology is derived from two Greek Word

Psyche (soul) + logos (study or, Science)

In its history of evolution. Psychology was known as the Study of the Soul.

Gradually as the study of Mind ,Consciousness

 And  the Study of Behaviour.

Today it is considered as the Science of Behaviour and Mental process.

Before arriving to the modern definition, psychology went to a very  difficult period or, It had undergone several stages and Meaning

The main four stages of psychology are :-

vPhilosophical stage- Study of Soul/Mind

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vStructural stage till -Science of mental life, Consciousness

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vBehaviorist stage- Science as the observable behaviour

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vModern stage , Till  date - Today it is considered as the Science of Behaviour and Mental process.

Definition of Psychology

According to NL Munna, ” Psychology is concerned with the Scientific investigation of behaviour”.

Crow and Crow, ” Psychology is the study of human behaviour and human relationship”.

Edwin Boring,1939  “what is man? To this question Psychologist seeks an answer”

Recently, David G. Myers (1997) defined psychology as 'the science of behavior and mental processes'.

Robert S. Feldman in 2000 defined psychology as the 'scientific study of human behavior and mental processes.‘

Meaning of Behaviour

qBehavior is the sum total activity of a person that reflect directly or indirectly.

q Behaviour includes anything of a person or animal which can be observed in some way.

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vThe term behaviour includes all the motor , cognitive  and affective activities:

 Motor Activities - (Walking, Swimming, Dancing, etc)

Cognitive Activities - (Thinking, Reasoning ,Imagining etc)

Affective Activities -  (Feeling Happy, Sad ,Angry etc).

It Includes The activities of Subconscious and unconscious mind .similarly, Overt and Covert Behaviour.

vOvert – behavior that can be observed directly

Covert - Internal Subjective Experiences. or measured through special instruments or techniques.

 Such as: Sensation, Thought, Emotions, Feelings and Motives that others cannot directly observe

vPsychologist Studies the Behavior of All living organism.a)Human beings 
b)Animals      
c)Insects       
d)Birds and sometime even plants.

In 1913 ,J.B Watson became the first psychologist to make human behaviour the centre of psychology. He established the School of Behaviorism in psychology.

Similarly, Famous psychologists like ‘Pavlov and skinner’ Further developed the school of Behaviorism.

1.Pre-conscious- Past incident which is easy to remember( How was your Christmas, Birthday, Dashera Celebration etc last year) It is also called  Sub-conscious. The thought wishes, desires, motives needs to be pushed up to bring to the conscious level.

 2.Conscious- It is the immediate, awareness. It represents current thoughts, feelings emotions of a given moment. Knowing the general things (Which color you are wearing today? Who is sitting beside you).

3.Unconscious Mind- UNCONSCIOUS lies beneath(under) the preconscious level.

It consists of thoughts, wishes, feelings and impulses that people are unaware of. This can be brought back into consciousness with help of psychologists through psychological instruments and techniques.

Unconscious material are directly denied to the conscious level because many of our unconscious material are painful/ that may hamper our sensations and lower our self esteem, saddening us and so on.

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