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MODULE 1: PERSPECTIVES IN PSYCHOLOGY

1.1 What is Psychology? A working definition.
1.2 Origin of Psychology. Philosophical origin: Early Indian and Greek thoughts,
Major ideas of Descartes, Locke. Biological origin: Darwin, Genetics.
1.3 Schools of Psychology- Structuralism, Functionalism, Psychoanalysis,
Behaviourism, Gestalt psychology, Modern Perspectives: Biological, Psychodynamic,
Behaviouristic, Humanistic, Cognitive, Evolutionary, Socio-cultural.
1.4 Branches of Psychology.
1.5 Critical thinking: Pseudo-psychology – Palmistry, Astrology, Graphology, Ouija
board etc.

1.1WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology is a science. The term science describes any systematically arranged body
of verified knowledge. It deals with a particular type of subject, or with certain kinds of
facts or events. More precisely, psychology is a social science. It helps to discover and
understand the truth about you and others. In human, behaviour everything a person feels,
thinks and does, is the subject matter of psychology. As a branch of knowledge, psychology
scientifically studies this behaviour so that you can enjoy your life by understanding,
predicting and managing it.
The word psychology is derived from the Greek words' psyche' and ' logy'/ 'logos'.
Psyche means soul or spirit. Logy/logos mean science or rational discourse of a study.
However, the meaning and interpretation of the word ' Psyche' has been in a state of change
from time to time leading to subsequent changes in the ways of defining the term
'psychology' as may be evident from the following four stages of its evolution.
First Stage: By taking the meaning of the word' psyche' as soul, psychology was first
defined as the 'study of soul'. During these days, the subject philosophy dominated and
influenced the views of the scholars including psychologists. Consequently, a psychological
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meaning and interpretation was given to the word 'psyche'. However soon such interpretation
faced criticism like what is soul? How can it be studied? and so on. The inability to answer
such questions leads to the search for a new meaning of the word 'psyche'.
Second stage: At this stage, the philosopher cum psychologists tried to define
psychology as the "study of mind" by giving a new meaning and interpretation to the word
'psyche' in the form of 'mind'. Although the word mind was less vague than soul, it faced the
same criticisms with questions like what is mind? How can it be studied and so on?
Third stage: The criticism and unacceptability of the word psyche as soul or mind
lead the psychologists to a new search of its proper meaning. The initiative was taken by
famous psychologists like William James (1890); Wilhem Wundt and Edward Bradford
Tichener (1894) who while interpreting psyche as consciousness, defined psychology as a
study of consciousness.
According to these psychologists the description and explanation of the states of
consciousness is the task of psychology which is usually done by introspection (the process
of looking within). In the state of consciousness, we remain aware of the situation, conscious
or alive to the task we are doing and the process of thinking and feeling which is growing in
our mind. This definition too was rejected on the ground that it had a very narrow vision as it
does not include the sub-conscious or unconscious activities of the mind and also due to the
most subjective nature of the method of introspection which it had taken into account.
Fourth stage: This stage in the evolution of the definition of the subject of
psychology reflects the advent of the modern era of science and technology. Consequently, in
the definition of psychology the word' study' was replaced by 'science'. The first
psychologist who, besides using the word science in place of study, replaced consciousness
with total behaviour (conscious as well as unconscious) was the famous William McDougall.
In the book 'physiological psychology' published in 1905, he wrote:"psychology may be best
and most comprehensively defined as the positive science of the conduct of living
creatures." later in 1908, in his book „Introduction to social psychology, he added the word
'behaviour' to his definition and finally in An Outline of Psychology, gave the following
meaningful definition: “ Psychology is a science which aims to give us better understanding
and control of the behaviour of the organism as a whole.”
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Psychology as the Science of Behaviour

The latest and the modern concepts of psychology are in terms of behaviour. The term
behaviour was popularised by J.B Watson (1878- 1958). According to him psychology is the
positive science of behaviour. According to Charles E. Skinner (1938), “Psychology deals
with responses to any and every kind of situation that life presents. By responses or
behaviour is meant all forms of processes, adjustment, activities and experiences of the
organism.”

1.2 PSYCHOLOGY- DEFINITIONS

Psychology is the science of behaviour and mind, embracing all aspects of conscious
and unconscious experience as well as thought. It is an academic discipline and a social
science which seeks to understand individuals and groups by establishing general principles
and researching specific cases. Psychology has been defined in different ways.
I. “Psychology is the study of human behaviour and human relationships”-Crow and Crow

II. “ Psychology is the study of human nature”- Boring, Langfield and Weld
III. “ Psychology is the positive science of behaviour”- J.B. Watson

IV. “Psychology is the science of behaviour and experience”.- Burrhus Frederic Skinner
(March 20, 1904 – August 18, 1990),

V. “Psychology today concerns itself with the scientific investigation of behaviour” N.L.
Munn

VI. “Psychology is the science that studies behaviour and mental process”.- Hilgard,
Atkinson and Atkinson(1975)

VII. “Psychology is the science of the facts or phenomena or self”- Deway, John

VIII. “Psychology is the scientific study of behaviour of living creatures in their contact with
outer world”- Koffka, Kurt
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IX. “ Psychology is the positive science which studies the behaviour of men and animals, so
far as that behaviour is regarded as an expression of that inner life of thought and feeling
which we call mental life”.- James Drever

X. “ Psychology is the science which aims to give us better understanding and control of the
behaviour of the organism as a whole”- McDougall, William

Nature of Psychology It has practical realm ·

It is an accepted reality that the nature of
Psychology is quit scientific. This fact has
been properly recognized by eminent
psychologists and thinkers as may be inferred
from the definitions of Psychology, in terms
of the scientific study or science of
behaviour, already given. Psychology is
scientific
It is an experiential science It emphasizes the search for truth
It’s method is scientific It helps in predicting future developments
It is factual It believes that every behaviour has its roots,
and factors causing, influencing or nurturing
it.
It has a theoretical base Subjective ideas and opinions are not
considered significant

Functions of Psychology To identify factors that

The scope of psychology is very wide. It influence behavior
studies, describes and explains the
behaviour of all living organisms. As living
organisms and their life activities are
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countless, no limit can be imposed upon the
scope of this subject. The major important
functions are: To understand human
behavior
To understand the individual To understand the causes of crimes
difference and their cure
To treat mental illness To understand consumer taste
To increase productivity in work To find out individuals suitable for
places each work
To provide effective education To understand oneself and others

GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGY
● To describe
● To explain
● To predict
● To control

1.2ORIGIN OF PSYCHOLOGY
1.2.1 Philosophical origin
1.2.1.1 Indian
. The major part of ancient Indian scriptures (Hindu, Buddhist and Jain) emphasise
self-realization, samadhi or nirvana. The Indian sages have dealt with and spoken
extensively on the functioning of consciousness. In order to understand the experience of
man, and the problems of mankind, the Indian sages used experience and observation
(pratyaksha) and reason (anumana), which were supplemented by intuition and testimony
(pramana). All Indian philosophical discourses including Vedanta, Yoga, Nyaya, Mimansa,
Budhism, Jainism, Sufi and Charvak provide rich information regarding important
psychological themes such as mind, body, art of living, values, ethics, perception, emotion,
motivation etc.
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In Yoga and Samkhya, a person consists of two “components,” one material and one
not. The material one, prakriti (roughly meaning nature), is composed of three “qualities,”
the three gunas: sattva(purity), rajas (energy), and tamas (inertia). Prakriti, in the form the
three gunas, is the essence of the universe as well as the basis for the personality of a given
person. The specific personality, as well as everything material (including the mind), is the
product of a “mixture” of the three gunas.

It is seen as beneficial if sattva is strong because people with a high level of sattva are
expected to have a positive view of the world, a well-meaning attitude toward others, to be
disciplined, calm, and relaxed, and to have a high stress tolerance and a healthy lifestyle.
People with a high level of rajas, in contrast, have difficulties relaxing and prefer actions that
bring them short-term pleasure or relief but may be harmful in the long run. Moreover, they
tend to have an unhealthy lifestyle and tend to waste their energy. Finally, people with a high
level of tamas are dissatisfied with their lives and are most likely to neglect their health.
However, the mixture of the three energies is not seen as necessarily stable: Increasing the
level of sattva is generally seen as a desirable goal. And only if sattva is dominant in a
person will this person be able to achieve extraordinary spiritual aims (see below).

The nonmaterial component of a person (and of the world) is purusha, sometimes

translated as true personor true self, but, especially by Indian academic writers, often
rendered as pure consciousness, the term that we also use here. Note that whereas the
concept of consciousness as used in Western thinking is always intentional, that is, of or
about something, pure consciousness has no qualities or characteristics of its own but
underlies all our being and knowing. Together, prakriti and purusha constitute the manifest
world as well as the person in its full sense

ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHERS

a) Plato
The teacher of Aristotle, Plato (428/427 BC - 348/347 BC), provided some useful insights
into the theoretical structure of the human mind, based largely upon his elegant Theory of
Forms. He used the idea of a psyche, a word used to describe both the mind and the soul, to
develop a rough framework of human behavior, reasoning and impulses.
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Plato proposed that the human psyche was the seat of all knowledge and that the human
mind was imprinted with all of the knowledge it needed. As a result, learning was a matter of
unlocking and utilizing this inbuilt knowledge, a process he called anamnesis. In his famous
work, 'The Republic,' Plato further developed this idea and first proposed the idea that the
mind consisted of three interwoven parts, called the Tripartite Mind.

● The Logistikon: This was the intellect, the seat of reasoning and logic.
● The Thumos: This was the spiritual centre of the mind, and dictated emotions and feelings.
● The Epithumetikon: This part governed desires and appetites.
b) Aristotle

Aristotle, building upon the work of the earlier philosophers and their studies into
mind, reasoning and thought, wrote the first known text in the history of psychology, called
Para Psyche, 'About the Mind.' In this landmark work, he laid out the first tenets of the study
of reasoning that would determine the direction of the history of psychology; many of his
proposals continue to influence modern psychologists.

In the book, the definition of psyche, as was common at the time, used 'mind' and
'soul' interchangeably, with the Ancient Greek philosophers feeling no need to make no
distinction between the two. At this period, apart from dalliances with Atheism from
Theodorus, Greek philosophers took the existence of divine influence as given. Only
Socrates really questioned whether human behavior and the need to be a 'good person' was
about seeking personal happiness rather than placating a divine will.

In Peri Psyche, Aristotle's psychology proposed that the mind was the 'first entelechy,'
or primary reason for the existence and functioning of the body. This line of thought was
heavily influenced by Aristotle's zoology, where he proposed that there were three types of
souls defining life; the plant soul, the animal soul and the human soul, which gave humanity
the unique ability to reason and create. Interestingly, this human soul was the ultimate link
with the divine and Aristotle believed that mind and reason could exist independently of the
body.
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Socrates (469- 399)

He believed in the care of the soul to be man’s most important task. For him, soul was the
essential
man. For him, soul was not any faculty, nor was it any special kind of substance, but rather
the capacity
for intelligence and character. It was man’s conscious personality

c) Hippocrates , Hippocrates understood the importance of the brain. This debate

continued, with physicians such as Praxagoras still maintaining that the heart and arteries
linked thought, through a mysterious fluid called pneuma

d) Galen

● He proposed the idea of four 'humours' within the human body, each responsible for a
different aspect of the human condition, and believed that an imbalance between the four
would affect physical and mental wellbeing. Sanguine: The blood, related to the element
of air and the liver, dictated courage, hope and love.
● Choleric: Yellow bile, related to the element of fire and the Gall Bladder, could lead to bad
temper and anger, in excess.
● Melancholic: Black bile, associated with the element of earth and the spleen, would lead
to sleeplessness and irritation, if it dominated the body.
● Phlegmatic: Phlegm, associated with the element of water and the brain, was responsible
for rationality, but would dull the emotions if allowed to become dominant.

Developments since 17th Century A.D .

Rene Descartes (1596-1650 Ad)

His most important work was his attempt to resolve the mind- body problem, an issue that
had been controversial for centuries.
• He saw human body as a piece of machinery; intricate and complicated. He believed that
body is a machine whose operation can be adequately explained by the mechanical laws of
the movement of objects in space. He recognized no difference between the hydraulically
operated figures and the body, and he explained every aspect of physical functioning
(digestion, circulation, sensation, motion and so on) in mechanical terms
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• Mind-Body “Interactive Dualism”: mind and body are separate entities influencing each
other. However, he argued that the mind can exert a greater influence on body than was
previously thought

Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828 Ad)

• Known for his work on phrenology
• He postulated the idea that particular psychic functions are represented by particular areas
of the brain.
• Intelligence, moral character and other personality characteristics can be discerned by the
shape of, and the number of bumps on, a person’s skull.
John Locke (1632-1704 Ad)

His major contribution to psychology was an essay concerning human understanding,

which appeared in 1690 and was the culmination of some 20 years of study and thought; it
was later considered as the formal beginning of English/British Empiricism.
His primary question was how the mind acquires knowledge?
Locke, first denied the existence of innate ideas, arguing that humans are not equipped at
birth with any knowledge .He admitted that certain ideas may seem to adults to be innate
(such as the idea of God) because adults have been constantly taught the ideas since
childhood and cannot remember any time when they were unaware of them. So, he explained
the innate ideas in terms of habit and learning. He gave the concept of “Tabula Rasa”;
People are born in this world with empty minds i.e.”Tabula Rasa” or a blank slate. The ideas
and memories are imprinted on our minds as a result of experience
.
1.3SCHOOLS OF PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology has a long past but short history. Prior to the establishment of psychological
laboratory in 1879, psychology was a part of philosophy. As an independent discipline,
psychology is just 100 years old. During this span of time, many people expressed their view
points regarding the definition and subject matter of psychology. Such groups are regarded as
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Schools of psychology. Schools of psychology can be classified as early schools and modern
perspectives .
1 Structuralism

It is a school of thoughts that emphasizes systematic study of mind/conscious

experience through analysis of its components and structure by adopting introspection as the
main technique. It seeks to identify the components of mind. It is the first school of thought
in psychology. It originated in Germany in 19th century.

Wilhelm Wundt is the father of structuralism. His student, Edward B. Titchner flourished it
further. So he is considered as founder of structuralism. According to the Structuralism, the
main objective of psychology is to understand the structure of human mind by analyzing
mental experiences and discovering the various elements and the manner in which they are
compounded. The mind is the total of various mental experiences such as thoughts, feelings,
agony, joy and sorrow. According to the Structuralism, The consciousness is the sum total of
mental experiences at a given time. The theory focuses on three components, i.e.
– The individual elements of consciousness

– How they are organized into more complex experience

– How these mental phenomena are correlated with physical events. Structuralism has faced
a large amount of criticism, particularly from the school of psychology, functionalism which
later evolved into the psychology of pragmatism .The main critique of structuralism was its
focus on introspection as the method by which to gain an understanding of conscious
experience. Critics argue that self-analysis was not feasible, since introspective students
cannot appreciate the processes or mechanisms of their own mental processes. Structuralism
also believes that the mind could be dissected into its individual parts, which then formed
conscious experience. This also received criticism from the Gestalt school of psychology,
which argues that the mind cannot be broken down into individual elements.
2. Functionalism
Founder of Functionalism is William James (1842- 1910). Functionalism refers to a
school of thought in psychology that examines the mental processes and how they relate to
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human behaviour. It studies the mind as it functions to adapt the individual to the behaviour.
It focuses on the examination of the function and purpose of mind and behaviour. It
originated in the United States in the late nineteenth century as a reaction against
Structuralism. The belief is that the real task of psychology is to investigate the function of
consciousness rather than its structure. For the functionalist, consciousness is the reaction of
a person to a new situation. Functionalism uses the method of introspection as a tool.
Functionalism covers the mental processes like learning, perceiving, memory, thinking, and
personality.
3. BEHAVIOURISM
It is a school of psychology that confines itself to the study of observable and
quantifiable aspects of behaviour. It came into existence as a protest against Structuralism
and Functionalism. Behavioral psychology was developed by J. B. Watson. Behaviorism
focuses its attention totally on the observable behaviour is merely an individual‟s response to
his environmental response. J.B Watson not only shifted the subject matter of psychology
from consciousness to behaviour, he shifted psychology from an emphasis on instincts to an
emphasis on learned behaviour. For Watson, virtually all human behaviour was learned, and
an understanding of the learning process provided the key that could unlock the mysteries of
human behaviour.
Principles of Behaviorism
⮚ Behaviour is both conditioned and determined by its own outcomes or consequences.

⮚ Human behaviour can be understood by investigating animal behaviour.

⮚ Only the observable and measurable aspects of behaviour are worth investigating.

⮚ A teacher should focus on changing the learner‟s behaviour and not his thinking patterns.

After J. B. Watson, B. F. Skinner, Hull, Tolman, Guthrie have continued the

behaviorist emphasis on objectivity and has stressed the ways in which behaviour is
developed and sustained by external events, such as a smile, food, freedom, and other
environmental circumstances.
Criticism on Behaviorism
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• It is a one- dimensional approach to understand the human behaviour.

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

• Behaviorism does not account for other types of learning, especially learning that occurs
without the use of reinforcement and punishment.

4. GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY
Gestalt school of psychology developed as a movement against the theory of
behaviorism and conditioning. The word „Gestalt‟ is a German noun. It means
„configuration‟ (pattern), „organized whole‟ in contrast to a collection of parts. Gestalt
means wholeness. Gestalt psychology is a school of psychology based upon the idea that we
experience things as unified whole. According to Gestalt psychologist, the human mind
works by interpreting data through various rules turning partial information into a whole. For
example,
One may interpret a series of lines as a square, even though it has no complete lines.
His mind fills in the gaps. It shows that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
 Musical composition is composed of individuals notes, but we could not hope to describe
accurately any musical composition by counting the number of different notes. The
composition involves more than the sum of the individual notes that make it up. It consists of
these notes in a specific relationship to one another.
Gestalt Psychology- Prominent Founders
 Max Wertheimer (1880- 1943)
 Kurt Koffka (1886- 1941)
 Wolfgang Kohler(1882- 1967)
 Kurt Lewin (1890- 1947)

5. PSYCHOANALYSIS
Psycho Analysis is a school of psychology founded by Sigmund Freud. It stresses the
study of human behaviour through analysis of the unconscious mental process by using the
techniques of free association and dream analysis. It focuses on understanding the
unconscious motivations that drive behaviour. The basic assumption of Freud‟s theory is that
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much of man‟s behaviour is determined by innate instincts that are largely unconscious. By
unconscious processes Freud meant thoughts, tears and wishes of which the person is
unaware but which influence his behaviour.

Human mind has three parts: Conscious, Sub conscious and Unconscious
• Conscious level deals with our awareness level.

• The sub conscious part of the mind deals with the part of mind that can regain the
memories at any time.

• The unconscious part of mind deals with the suppressed feelings of one’s life.
Sigmund Freud invented three concepts, Id, Ego, Super Ego for explaining the structure of
psyche and used them in providing a basic structure to the human personality and basis of his
behaviour.

II. MODERN PERSPECTIVES IN PSYCHOLOGY

1. The Psychodynamic Perspective

The psychodynamic perspective emerged from the works and discourses of Sigmund Freud.The importance
of unconscious mind and exploration of unconscious process are the major theme of psycho analysis as well
as the psychodynamics. The influence of unconscious process on the conscious mind and the child hood
experience were widely studied. The major psychodynamic psychologists were Carl Jung, Alfred Adler,
Karen Horney, Erick Erickson, Anna Freud .

2. The Behavioral Perspective

Behavioral psychology is a perspective that focuses on learned behaviors. Behaviorism differs from many
other perspectives because instead of emphasizing internal states, it focuses solely on observable behaviors.

While this school of thought dominated psychology early in the twentieth century, it began to lose its hold
during the 1950s. Today, the behavioral perspective is still concerned with how behaviors are learned and
reinforced. Behavioral principles are often applied in mental health settings, where therapists and counselors
use these techniques to explain and treat a variety of illnesses.

3. The Cognitive Perspective

During the 1960s, a new perspective known as cognitive psychology began to take hold. This area of
psychology focuses on mental processes such as memory, thinking, problem-solving, language, and
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decision-making. Influenced by psychologists such as Jean Piaget and Albert Bandura, this perspective has
grown tremendously in recent decades.

Cognitive psychologists often utilize an information-processing model, comparing the human mind to a
computer, to conceptualize how information is acquired, processed, stored, and utilized.

4. The Biological Perspective

The study of physiology played a major role in the development of psychology as a separate science. Today,
this perspective is known as biological psychology. Sometimes referred to as biopsychology or physiological
psychology, this point of view emphasizes the physical and biological bases of behavior.

Researchers who take a biological perspective on psychology might look at how genetics influence different
behaviors or how damage to specific areas of the brain influence behavior and personality. Things like the
nervous system, genetics, the brain, the immune system, and the endocrine systems are just a few of the
subjects that interest biological psychologists.

This perspective has grown significantly over the last few decades, especially with advances in our ability to
explore and understand the human brain and nervous system. Tools such as magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI) scans and positron emission tomography (PET) scans allow researchers to look at the brain under a
variety of conditions. Scientists can now look at the effects of brain damage, drugs, and disease in ways that
were simply not possible in the past.

5. The Socio-Cultural Perspective

Socio-cultural psychology is a fairly new perspective that has grown significantly over the last twenty years.
Psychologists and researchers in this school of thought look at human behavior across different cultures and
how society is playing the role in influencing behaviour. . By looking at the cultural differences, we can
learn more about how culture influences our thinking and behavior.

.6. The Evolutionary Perspective

Evolutionary psychology is focused on the study of how evolution explains physiological processes.
Psychologists and researchers take the basic principles of evolution, including natural selection, and apply
them to psychological phenomena. This perspective suggests that these mental processes exist because they
serve an evolutionary purpose—they aid in survival and reproduction.​​

7. The Humanistic Perspective6. HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY

Humanism is a school of psychology developed as a response to psycho analysis and
behaviorism. Humanism emphasizes the role of the individual. It focuses on each
individual‟s potential and stresses the importance of growth and self actualization. The
fundamental belief of humanistic psychology is that people are innately good. Mental and
social problems result from deviations from this natural tendency. Humanistic psychology
emphasizes individual free will, personal growth and the concept of self actualization. The
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goal of humanistic psychology is to help people function effectively and fulfill their own
unique potential. It gives people more credit in controlling and determining their state of
mental health.
Major Humanists
• Carl Rogers

• Abraham Maslow

for learning from the environment but does not contain content such as innate beliefs
8. CONSTRUCTIVISM
The term constructivism refers to the idea that learners individually construct
meanings and knowledge for themselves as they learn. It emphasizes the building of meaning
and knowledge that occurs in people minds when they learn. Constructivism is a relatively
new paradigm. According to constructivism, the learner constructs knowledge in the school
or cultural context in which they are embedded.
9. COGNITIVE NEURO SCIENCE
Academic field concerned with the scientific study of the biological processes and
aspects that underlie cognition, with a specific focus on the neural connections in the brain
which are involved in mental processes. It addresses the questions of how
psychological/cognitive activities are affected or controlled by neural circuits in the brain.
Parts of the brain play an important role in this field.
Neurons play the most vital role, since the main point is to establish an understanding
of cognition from a neural perspective, along with the different lobes of the Cerebral cortex.
Cognitive neuroscience is an interdisciplinary area of study that has emerged from many
other fields, perhaps most significantly neuroscience, psychology, and computer science.

10. POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

Positive Psychology is the scientific study of the strengths that enable individuals and
communities to thrive. The field is founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful
and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves, and to enhance their
experiences of love, work, and play. Positive psychology is "the scientific study of what
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makes life most worth living",or "the scientific study of positive human functioning and
flourishing on multiple levels that include the biological, personal, relational, institutional,
cultural, and global dimensions of life".

1.4 BRANCHES OF PURE PSYCHOLOGY

a) General Psychology: This is a relatively large field of psychology which deals with the
fundamental rules, principles and theories of psychology in relation to the study of behaviour
of normal adult human beings.

b) Abnormal Psychology: This is the branch of psychology which describes and explains
the behaviour of abnormal people in relation to their environment. The causes, symptoms,
signs, description and treatment of the abnormalities of the behaviour form the subject matter
of this branch.

c) Social Psychology: This branch of psychology deals with group behaviour and
inter-relationships of people among themselves. Group dynamics, likes and dislikes, interests
and attitude, social distance and prejudices of the people in their personal and social
relationships are studied by this branch.

d) Experimental Psychology: This branch of psychology describes and explains the ways
and means of carrying out psychological experiments along with scientific lines under
controlled or laboratory situation for the study of mental processes and behaviour. It takes up
animals, birds and human beings as the subjects of these experiments.

e) Developmental Psychology: This branch or field of psychology describes and explains

the processes and products of growth and development in relation to the behaviour of an
individual from birth to old age. For added convenience it is further sub-divided into
branches such as child psychology, adolescent psychology and adult psychology.

f) Physiological Psychology: This branch of psychology describes and explains the

biological and physiological basis of behaviour. The internal environment and physiological
structure of the body, particularly the brain, nervous system and functioning of the glands in
relation to the cognitive and affective behaviour of human beings comprise its subject-matter.
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g) Geo Psychology: This new branch of psychology describes and explains the relation of
physical environment particularly, weather, climate, soil and landscape with behaviour.

h) Para Psychology: This new branch of psychology deals with extra sensory perception,
precognition, causes of claimed rebirth, telepathy and allied phenomena.
Branches of Applied Psychology
a) Educational Psychology: This is the branch of applied psychology which seeks to apply
the psychological principles, theories and techniques to human behaviour in educational
situations. The subject -matter of this branch covers psychological ways and means of
improving all aspects of the teaching learning process including the learner, the learning
process, learning material, learning environment and the teacher.
b) Clinical Psychology: This branch of applied psychology describes and explains the
causes of mental illness and abnormal behaviour of a patient attending a clinic or hospital
and suggests individual or group therapy for treatment and effective adjustment of the
affected person in society.

c) Industrial Psychology: This branch of applied psychology seeks application of the

psychological principles, theories and techniques for the study of human behaviour in
relation to the industrial environment. It studies the topics and the ways and means of
ascertaining the tastes and interests of consumers, advertising and sale of products, selection,
training and placement of personnel, solution of labour problems, establishment of
harmonious relations between the employers and employees, strengthening the morale of the
workers and increasing production etc.

d) Legal Psychology: It is the branch of applied psychology which studies the behaviour of
clients, criminals, witnesses etc. in their respective surroundings with the application of
psychological principles and techniques. It contains the subject-matter for improving the
ways and means of detection of crimes, identification and apprehension of false witnesses
and other complex issues. The root causes of any crime, offence or dispute or legal case can
be properly understood through the use of this branch of psychology and subsequently
proper corrective and rehabilitative measures can be decided upon.
 MODULE 1 PERSPECTIVES IN PSYCHOLOGY – FOUNDATIONS AND METHODS

DEPT. OF PSYCHOLOGY KE COLLEGE MANNANAM

e) Military Psychology: This branch of psychology is concerned with the use of
psychological principles and techniques in the field of military activities. How to maintain
the morale of the soldiers and citizens during war time, how to fight the enemies propaganda
and intelligence activities, how to secure recruitment of better personnel for the armed
forces, and how to improve the fighting capabilities and organisational climate and
leadership in the armed forces are some of the various topics dealt with by this branch of
psychology.

f) Political Psychology: This branch of psychology deals with the use of psychological
principles and techniques in studying politics and deriving political gains. The knowledge of
the dynamics of group behaviour, judgement of public opinion, qualities of leadership,
psychology of propaganda and suggestion, the art of diplomacy etc. are some of the key
concepts that find place in the subject-matter of political psychology

1.4CRITICAL THINKING: PSEUDO-PSYCHOLOGY

The term 'pseudo' means 'false' or 'pretend.' Pseudo-psychology, therefore, refers to a

psychological practice that is false or unfounded. The science of psychology is built on
rigorous principles such as research, evidence and testable ideas. Any discipline that is
treated like a science but doe s not meet these standards can be called pseudoscience.