Lecture 1By: Sumbal Gilani

MSc., PDCP (Psych, Pesh.)

Psychology / Psychiatry

Definition of Psychology

“The scientific study of behavior and mental processes”.

And it (psychology) deals with how these (behaviors & mental processes) are affected by an organism’s physical state, mental state, and external environment.

“The scientific study of behavior and mental processes”.

Scientific Study means that the facts and figures should be objective, having scientific characteristics.

Science has the following characteristics:1.Theoretical Framework2.Testable Hypothesis3.Empirical Evidence

Science helps us to deal with constructs in an interactive manner, it guides us towards:

1.Description2.Prediction3.Control4.Explanation

“The scientific study of behavior and mental processes”.

Behavior refers to the outward visible, objective activity of a living thing.

“The scientific study of behavior and mental processes”.

Mental processes are the activities of the brain that are actually behind all behaviors.

“It deals with how these are affected by an organism’s physical state, mental state, and external environment”.

Organism refers to human and other creatures that help us in studying behavior.

It deals with how these are affected by an organism’s physical state, mental state, and external environment.

Physical state refers to the organism’s biology - most especially the state of the brain and central nervous system.

It deals with how these are affected by an organism’s physical state, mental state, and external environment.

Mental State does not have to be conscious - can study mental states in many creatures without their conscious awareness - and can be studied in terms of brain activity.

It deals with how these are affected by an organism’s physical state, mental state, and external environment.

External Environment is an individual’s surrounding that is constantly presenting him/her with problems and challenges that must be solved.

Cognitive----How we encode, process, store and retrieve Information.

Social----How social situations and culture influences behavior and thought.

Developmental----How we grow over time and how genes and environment shapes our behavior.

Health----How our over all health effect our behavior.

Clinical----How we get, maintain and treat psychological abnormality.

Behavioral----How we learn observable behavior.

Neuroscience----How the brain creates emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, physiologically.

Evolutionary----How nature selects traits that promote survival of our genes.

Educational----How we can learn more effectively in educational set ups.

Schools of thought help solve the debate of how to describe and explain the human mind and behavior.

The different schools of psychology are composed of some theories that explain how we can observe or study behavior and how behaviors occur.

1: StructuralismDeveloped by Edward Bradford Titchener,

an American psychologist who studied under Wilhelm Wundt (who set up the first psychological lab in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany).

Structuralists believed that the task of psychology is to identify the basic elements of consciousness in much the same way that physicists break down the basic particles of matter.

The Subject Matter of Psychology:The goal of psychology was to study mind and

consciousness.

1.What each element of the mind is (what), 2.how those elements interact with each other

(how),3.why they interact in the ways that they do

(why)

He stated that there were three types of elements constituting conscious experience: 

1.Sensations (elements of perceptions), 2.Images (elements of ideas), 3.Affections (elements of emotions).

Methods of Psychology:

The main method of investigation in structuralism was introspection.

Criticism on Structuralism-----Introspection is not known to be an objective method and structuralists were too concerned with the inner mind which cannot be observed.

Strengths of Structuralism-----It gave a touch of experimentation to psychology and promoted scientific work.

2: FunctionalismThis school of thought said that psychologists

should study the functions of mind and not how its made up.

These group of Psychologists advocated that there is a continuous flow of the consciousness, which was referred to as the “stream of consciousness.”

Functionalism also emphasized individual differences, which had a profound impact on education.

The Subject Matter of Psychology:This school of psychology had the belief that

the real task of psychology is to investigate the function, or purpose, of consciousness rather than its structure. 

Methods of Psychology:The method of investigation preferred by

functionalists was introspection combined with observation.

Criticism on Functionalism-------The first criticism was the definition of functions.

The functionalists sometimes used the term to describe mental activity and sometimes to describe the function of an activity.

Strengths of Functionalism-------One of the major results from functionalism was of animal research.

Functionalism also broadened the perspective of psychology to incorporate studies on children, mentally ill and retarded, and insane.

The functionalists used introspective methods as a way to gather data, but also used questionnaires and behavioral observations.

3: BehaviorismThis model believes that the external

surroundings and environmental causes are the major factor in shaping the behavior of an individual.

Behaviorism became the main school of thought in psychology during the 1950s.

The Subject Matter of Psychology:According to behaviorism the subject matter

of psychology is behavior including how and why it happens.

The goal of behaviorism is the prediction and control of behavior.

Methods of Psychology:Methods of behaviorism are all about detailed

observations.

A psychologist must take account of the following things:1.The antecedent environmental conditions are analyzed. i.e., the conditions preceding the action..

2.The behavioral response is studied; understood, described, predicted, and controlled.

3.Observable consequences are explored, the impact resulting from the target behavior i.e. how it affects the environment or other people.

Acquiring Behaviors:1. Classical Conditioning-----learning by

association.

2. Operant Conditioning-----learning by reward or punishment.

Criticism on Behaviorism:Many critics argue that behaviorism is a one-

dimensional approach to understanding human behavior.

Behavioral theories do not account for free will and internal influences such as moods, thoughts and feelings.

Strengths of Behaviorism:Behaviorism is based upon observable

behaviors, so it is easier to quantify and collect data and information when conducting research.

Effective therapeutic techniques were provided by this school of thought.

4: PsychoanalysisSigmund Freud was the founder of

psychodynamic approach.

This psychological model believes that human behavior is controlled by inner forces over which the individual has little power and has little awareness.

The Subject Matter of Psychology:This school of thought in psychology laid

emphasis on the influence of the unconscious mind on behavior.

Freud, an Austrian Neurologist, suggested that unconscious conflicts are the prime motivating factor behind human behaviors and childhood events determine how our later personality is shaped.

Unconscious: It is a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges

and memories that lie outside of our conscious awareness.

Most of the contents of the unconscious are unacceptable or unpleasant, such as feelings of pain, anxiety or conflict.

Psychodynamic Model of Personality:

Id (pleasure principle)Ego (reality principle)Super Ego (moral principle)

Defense Mechanisms: When anxiety becomes too overwhelming, it

is then the place of the ego to employ defense mechanisms to protect the individual.

Methods of Psychology:The method preferred by this school of

thought is that of case study and exploration of the unconscious, through hypnosis and therapies.

Criticism on Psychoanalysis----------Freud over emphasized on unconscious and sexual desires. His mostly work was based on patient case studies and not empirical data.

 Strengths of Psychoanalysis----------They

did not use experimental methods but their work promoted it. They contributed a lot to the field of psychopathology.

5: Gestalt psychologyThis approach to psychology has its origin in

Germany and Austria during the late 19th century.

According to the gestalt thinkers one must look at the whole of experience, rather that splitting down the thoughts and behavior to their smallest units.

Originating in the work of Max Wertheimer, Gestalt psychology has the principle of Gestalt psychology lies in the statement that whole is greater that sum of its parts.

Gestalt Laws of Perceptual Organization:Max Wertheimer noted that rapid sequences

of perceptual events, such as rows of flashing lights, create the illusion of motion even when there is none.

This is known as the phi phenomenon. 

Gestalt psychologists developed a set of principles to explain perceptual organization, or how smaller objects are grouped to form larger ones.

1. Law of Similarity2. Law of Pragnanz (good figure)3. Law of Proximity4. Law of Continuity5. Law of Closure

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