Chapter 1 - What is Psychology - NCERT

1 Chapter1 What is Psychology ?What is Psychology ? understand the nature and role of Psychology in understanding mindand behaviour, state the growth of the discipline, know the different fields of Psychology , its relationship with otherdisciplines, and professions, and appreciate the value of Psychology in daily life to help you understandyourself and others reading this Chapter , you would be able toIntroductionWhat is Psychology ? Psychology as a DisciplinePsychology as a Natural SciencePsychology as a Social ScienceUnderstanding Mind and BehaviourPopular Notions about the Discipline of PsychologyEvolution of PsychologySome Interesting Landmarks in the Evolution ofModern Psychology (Box )

2 Development of Psychology in IndiaBranches of PsychologyThemes of Research and ApplicationsPsychology and Other DisciplinesPsychologists at WorkPsychology in Everyday LifeKey TermsSummaryReview QuestionsProject IdeasContentsThe growth of the human mindis still high adventure,in many ways the highestadventure on earth. Norman Cousins2022-23 Psychology2psychology was a study of the soul or since then it has moved away considerablyfrom this focus and established itself as ascientific discipline which deals with processesunderlying human experience and range of phenomena it studies, some ofwhich we mentioned above, are spread overseveral levels, viz.

3 Individual, dyadic (twoperson) group, and organisational. They alsohave biological as well as social , therefore, the methods required toWHAT IS Psychology ?Any knowledge discipline is hard to , because it evolves , because the range of phenomena itstudies cannot be captured by any onedefinition. This is even more true of time back, students like yourself were toldthat the term Psychology is derived from twoGreek words psyche meaning soul and logosmeaning science or study of a subject. Thus,You were, perhaps, asked by your teacher in the first class why you opted forpsychology over other subjects.

4 What do you hope to learn? If you were asked thisquestion, what was your response? Generally, the range of responses which surfacein class to this question are truly bewildering. Most students give inane responses,like they want to know what others are thinking. But then one also comes acrosssuch responses as knowing oneself, knowing others or more specific responses likeknowing why people dream, why people go out of their way to help others or beateach other up. All ancient traditions have engaged themselves with questions abouthuman nature. The Indian philosophical traditions, in particular, deal with questionsrelating to why people behave in the manner in which they do.

5 Why are peoplegenerally unhappy? What changes should they bring about in themselves if theydesire happiness in their lives? Like all knowledge, psychological knowledge toois intended to contribute to human well-being. If the world is full of misery, it islargely due to humans themselves. Perhaps, you have asked why a 9/11 or warin Iraq happened. Why innocent people in Delhi, Mumbai, Srinagar or in the North-East have to face bombs and bullets? Psychologists ask what is in the experiencesof young men which turn them into terrorists seeking revenge. But there is anotherside to human nature.

6 You may have heard the name of Major HPS Ahluwalia,paralysed waist down because of an injury he suffered in a war with Pakistan,who climbed the Mt. Everest. What moved him to climb such heights? These are notonly questions about human nature which Psychology addresses as a humanscience. You will be surprised to learn that modern Psychology also deals withsomewhat nebulous micro-level phenomenon like consciousness, focusing attentionin the face of noise, or supporters trying to burn down a shopping complex aftertheir team had scored victory in a football game over its traditional rival.

7 Psychologycannot claim that answers have been found to these complex questions. But itsurely has improved upon our understanding and how we make sense of thesephenomena. The most striking aspect of the discipline, unlike other sciences, lies inthe study of psychological processes which are largely internal and available tohumans for observation within 1 What is Psychology ?3study them also vary greatly depending on thephenomenon one wants to study. A disciplineis defined both in terms of what it studies andhow it studies. In fact, more in terms of how ormethod/s it uses.

8 Keeping this in view, Psychology is defined formally as a sciencewhich studies mental processes, experiencesand behaviour in different contexts. In doingso, it uses methods of biological and socialsciences to obtain data systematically. It makessense of these data so that they can beorganised as knowledge. Let us try tounderstand the three terms used in thedefinition, namely, mental processes,experience, and we say experiences are internal tothe experiencing person, then we refer to statesof consciousness or awareness or mentalprocesses.

9 We use our mental processes whenwe think or try to solve a problem, to know orremember something. One level at which thesemental processes are reflected is the brainactivity. As we think or solve a mathematicalproblem, our brain activities can be observedusing different techniques of brain , we cannot say that brain activitiesand mental processes are the same, althoughthey are interdependent. Mental activities andneural activities are mutually overlappingprocesses but, they are not identical. Unlikethe brain, the mind does not have a physicalstructure or has a location.

10 Mind emerges andevolves as our interactions and experiencesin this world get dynamically organised in theform of a system which is responsible for theoccurrence of various mental activities provide important clues as tohow our mind functions. But theconsciousness of our own experiences andmental processes are much more than theneural or brain activities. Even when we areasleep some mental activities go on. Wedream, and receive some information suchas a knock on the door while we are psychologists have shown that we alsolearn and remember in our sleep.