CHAPTER 1: THE SCIENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY 

 
As human beings our curiosity drives us to know the reasons behind various events happening
around us. Whenever we meet somebody or see someone doing something we immediately try to
understand as to why this person is doing this kind of activity. Similarly we often try to understand our own
experience and behaviors in different situations. The eagerness and curiosity guide us to think as to how
people are different from each other in terms of their intellect, aptitude and temperament: Why do they
become happy or sad? How do they become friendly or develop antagonistic relationships? How do some
people learn anything quickly while others take relatively more time? The answer to all these questions
may be given by a novice as well as a person who has learned psychology. The answer of the novice can
be guided by common sense but a psychologist can study the reasons behind such activities in a
systematic way and can provide scientific answers to these questions which can be tested time and again.
In this lesson we will try to understand the nature and scope of psychology in detail.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE:
1. Define and explain the nature of psychology, relate psychology with other fields and discuss the
aims and goals of psychology
2. Trace the historical development of Psychology during the:
A. Ancient period
B. Medieval times
C. Pre-modern period
D. Modern period
E. contemporary
3. name different outstanding pioneers in the field of psychology and identify their contributions to the
development of the subject
Psychology ​ - from the greek word ​psyche​ which means the ​mind or soul​ and ​logos​ or ​study of​.
- The study of mind or soul.
- Scientific study and practical application of observable behaviour and mental processes
of organisms.

ELEMENTS OF PSYCHOLOGY
Science ​ - study and investigation of certain behaviour with the application of one or combination
of scientific methods.

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- Empirical and dependent upon measurement.
- Gathering of factual information is important to prove certain phenomena

Study of behaviour​ – in order to study the mind, one has to associate the way of thinking of an individual
to behaviour.

Mental Process​ – the ways of knowing or cognition which includes man’s perception, attention, and
capability to remember, to reason and solve problems. Ex. Dreams, whishes, and
anticipation.

Psychology and other Science

Psychology ​– a branch of social science which engaged with the study of an individual and its
processes.
Social Science​ - deals with a study of groups or history like sociology, humanities, political science,
history or Economics.

Field of Science related to Psychology

1. Biopsychology ​- applications of the principles of biology to the study of mental process and
behaviour.
2. Physiological Psychology ​– study of neural mechanisms of perception and behaviour through
Direct manipulation of the brains of nonhuman animal subjects in controlled
experiments, then results of the are related to human behavior
3. Psychiatry ​- branch of medicine which exists to study, prevent, and treat mental disorders in
Humans and considered as a bridge between social world and mentally ill.
4. Psychotherapy​ - specialized psychological methods to the treatment of diagnosed mental
disorders or to the problems of a person’s daily adjustment.
5. Psychotropics ​– sub-field of medicine that deals with various pharmacological agents such as
anti-
Depressant, anti-anxiety, anti-manic, and anti-psychotic agents utilized to affect
behaviour, mood and feelings.
6. Psychosurgery ​– branch of medicine involves the surgical severing and chemical alterations of

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Brain Fibers with the purpose of modifying psychological disturbances and other
behaviour Aberrations, similar to the ancient method of brain extirpation.
7. Social Psychology​ – merged the discipline of sociology and anthropology
8. Psycholinguistic or psychology of language – study of psychological and neurobiological
factors
That enable humans to acquire, use and understand language.

AIMS AND GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGY:

1. Describe behaviour – detailed characterization of a certain phenomenon can be presented and
be
a means of further utilization of the study.
2. Understanding behaviour​ – organization of facts about behaviour, development of reasons
pertaining with the different relationships among observed behaviour, and arriving to
a reasonable principle and paradigms in explaining behaviors.
3. Predict behaviour​ – to anticipate any future actions of an individual, based partially to the past
Performance of the individual and based on the state of cognition of subject
involved.
4. Control/influence behaviour​ – alteration of behaviour of the individual, tend to change a certain
trait, Idea, and beliefs of individual.

PSYCHOGENESIS OF PSYCHOLOGY:
A. Ancient period
Animism ​– gods and spirits who were attributed to be the direct cause of events and
activities of man, in explaining behavior
1. Greek period
Democritus - (460-370 BCE) theorized that human mind is composed of atoms, which
penetrate in and out of our system.

Plato – (428/427-348/349 BCE) believed that soul is distinct to man and it is God-given, it
inhibits the body as “knower,” “thinker”, and “determiner of the individual’s actions.

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3 distinct elements of human psyhe according to Plato
1. reason​ – (head) highest level of value
2. spirited ​– (heart) which man express his emotions
3. bodily appetites and desire​ – (diaphragm)

2. Aristotle – (384-322 BC) considered as the Father of Psychology because he is the first
person
to put into writing his explanation pertaining the behaviour of man. He believed that the
brain is merely a gland and would perform minor functions.
3 functions of soul:
1. Vegetative ​– basic maintenance of life
2. Appetitive​ – desires and motives
3. Rationa​l – governs reason located in the heart

3. Hippocrates – (460-370 BCE) the father of medicine, first theorized that mental disorders
arose
from natural causes. First to classify different mental disorders during the classical period.

4. Galen – (129-216 AD) theorized the relation of temperament to physiological factors.

According
to him, behaviour may be attributed to the “humors’ or vital juices of the body of bile.
4 temperaments
1. Sanguine ​– yellow bile for cheerfulness
2. Phlegmatic​ – green bile for sluggishness
3. Melancholic ​– black bile for sadness
4. Choleric ​– red bile for irascibility
B. MEDIEVAL PERIOD
1. St. Augustine of Hippo​ – a catholic saint, combined the greek platonic thought with Christian
Thinking and introduced the method of ​introspection ​(an individual tries to describe his
own conscious process.
2. St. Thomas of Aquinas​ – merged Aristotle’s idea that the mind is a living matter to his idea of
Immortality, belief that when the body dies, the soul separates and becomes a spirit.
 

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C. PRE-MODERN PERIOD
1. Rudolf Gockel – (1547-1628) ​german scholastic philosopher​, attributed for the initial use of
the
Term “psychology” in his writing. “Yucologia hoc est de hominis perfection, anima, ortu.”

2. Francis Bacon​ – (1561-1626) first proposed that psychology should separate from philosophy
Psychology should be treated as a natural science. This is his concept of naturalism.

3. Rene Descartes​ – (1649) introduced dualism and reflex action which indicates that the mind
and body interact. Mind is the spiritual entity, Body is the physical or material entity. Mind
and body are considered to be distinct and separate, yet they work together to make the
individual functional.

D. Thomas Hobbes​ – (1651) human beings are physical objects and sophisticated machines
whose functions and activities can be described and explained in purely mechanistic terms.
Each of us are motivated to act in such ways as we believe likely to relieve discomfort, to
preserve and promote our well-being.

E. John Locke​ – (1690) wrote and Essay Concerning Human Understanding, introduced all
Experiences may be analyzed, and linked this idea on the concept of Tabula Rasa, of
which at birth, the mind is like a blank tablet that gathers its contents through experiences
that an individual will have in entire life, thus, reflect on the individual’s behaviour.

F. George Berkley​ – (1709) in his theory of reality reiterated that your ideas become the only reality.
Therefore, the idea of an individual becomes true only to himself because this is the level of
knowledge that he believes in.

G. Christian Von Wolff​ – (1732) known with his theory of reality, the “ontology”, which treats of
possible things and “metaphysics” which treats of actual things” (with 3 special subjects: the
universe, the soul and God.

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H. David Hume – (1748) gave the difference between impressions and ideas, between created
images
And direct sensation.
I. Franz Anton Mesmer – (1774) utilized the methods of “animal magnetism” in curing hysteria.
Later
on, this method evolved to what today is known as hypnosis. Hypnosis is used as a form of
psychotherapy, relaxation technique or even as alternative to anesthesia.

J. Immanuel Kant – (1782) stated that the mind is not blank, but rather the mind is capable of
acquiring
Knowledge through sensory experiences.

K. Johann Friedrich Herbart​ – (1816) was responsible for making psychology as a science.

L. Ernst Weber – (1817) pioneered areas about the ideas that it is necessary to be stimulated in
order
to be able to gain sensation.

M. Herman von Helmholtz​ – (1856) made the theory of color vision indicating that the eye can only
see basic colors and the others colors that can be seen is a product of mixture of the
different colors.

N. Charles Darwin​ – (1859) in his work, On the Origin of the Species, introduced the theory of
evolution. The theory indicated that man evolved from primitive species. He also introduced
the concept of natural selection.

O. Gustav Fechner​ – (1860), October 22, 1850 is marked as an important date in the history of
Psychology as Fechner had an insight that the law of the connection between the mind and
the body can be found in a statement of quantitative relation between mental sensation and
material stimulus.

P. Paul Broca​ – (1861) observed that persons who suffered from damage to a specific area of the
 

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Brain’s left hemisphere may lose their ability to speak fluently. Because of these findings,
this part of the brain became popularly known as Broca’s Brain.

Q. Francis Galton – (1865) is recognized as the “father of behavioural genetics” introduced the idea
of
Individual differences.

MODERN PSYCHOLOY
1. Wilhelm Wundt​ – (1879) established the first psychological laboratory in Leipzig, Germany.
He was regarded as the Father of modern/scientific psychology. Wundt went on to use
scientific methods in studying phenomenon of the consciousness. This was the period
where scientific psychology was officially born.

2. William James​ – founder of American Psychology, met with Wilhelm Wundt and went on to
publish a two volume book entitled Principles of Psychology. The work of this Harvard
university professor became an authoritative text in the US during that time.
 

3. Emil ​Kraeplin –​ (1900) german psychiatrist, first to formally describe bipolar disorder. He
He coined the term “manic depressive” to explain how mania and depression both affect
the patient. His work in the early 20​th century led to advancements in classifying, treating,
and predicting the course of mental illness, which ushered in the formal discipline of
psychiatry. Because of his work, he is recognized as the father of modern psychiatry.
4. Edward Titchener​ – studied under Wilhelm Wundt and went on to develop the idea of
Structuralism. This school of thought went on to trigger disputes thus creating movements
to further develop the emergence of psychology.

CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGY:
1. Sigmund Freud – father of psychoanalysis who underwent a thorough study of the unconscious
mind
And developed the psychoanalytic process of free association.

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2. Carl Jung​ – very close associate of Freud who developed his theory of the origin of neurosis. He
Was a Neo-Freudian and established Analytic Psychology. He gave emphasis on the
importance of the collective unconscious as the basis of affect to behaviour.

3. Alfred Adler – another neo-freudian who conceptualized the importance of superiority and
inferiority
As a factor that affects man’s existence.

4. Karen Horney​ – made the theory that human beings have the “basic need for love and security”;
Furthermore, she stated that humans tend to feel anxious or agitated when they are
alienated or isolated.

5. Karl Pearson​ – had major contribution to psychology through the statistical evaluation of human
Behaviour. Apart from the correlational analysis, Pearson developed the chi-squared
statistic with intellectual encouragement from Galton. Together, these analyses were
essential components leading to multivariate statistical analysis.

6. Charles Spearman​ – recognized as the “first systematic psychometrician” and father of classical
Test theory (Jensen, 1994). He also pioneered the statistical technique called factor
analysis and was able to discover a general factor (g) in correlations among mental tests.

7. Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon​ – developed the first Intelligence Quotient (IQ)Test. The Binet-
Simon Scale was honoured in 1984 by the journal Science 84, as one of twenty of the
twentieth century’s most significant development and discoveries.

8. Ivan Pavlov –​ a Russian physiologist whose research on the physiology of digestion led to the
Development of the first experimental model of learning, Classical Conditioning. This paved
way to be a major construct in the field of learning.

9. William McDougall –​ considered by some to have been the foremost psychologist of all English-
Speaking countries. He is the exponent of hormic psychology, the central idea being that
there is an end or purpose which goads us to action, without any real knowledge of its
 

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nature, and often without benefit or even thought of pleasure. Human progress can only be
determined in terms of “horme” or “drive”. He theorized that human behaviour is determined
by both instinctive and intentional strivings.

10. Edward Thorndike –​ father of educational psychology, is known for his early animal studies and
the founding principle of Instrumental Learning “the law of effect”.

11. BF Skinner​ – contributed the system of operant conditioning of which, in the idea, the organism is
in the process of ”operating” on the environment, which in ordinary terms means it is
bouncing around its world, doing what it does. This theory led to the development of
behaviourism as a theory of personality and as a basis of behavioural modifications.

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