Transcript

Warm Welcome to all participants of this course! I am so happy to

have you join us in a journey that will be as rewarding as it is
interesting!
I am Dr. Anjali Kedari and in the present session, I will discuss the
topic – What is psychology and Perspectives on behaviour.
So let’s begin!
Psychology has its root in a human being’s ancient quest to find
meaning of their existence, of life and the events happening around
them. This search for answers led to the development of
philosophy and its many branches, including Psychology.

A] Definition –
Psychology is the science of behaviour and mental processes
(Baron and Mishra, 2016).
In this definition, the word ‘Behavior’ refers to all the outward and
observable actions and reactions of a person. E.g. it is concerned
with talking, smiling, crying, movements, bodily functions etc. and
‘Mental processes’ refer to all the internal, unseen activities of the
human mind such as thinking, reasoning, judging, remembering,
sensation and perception etc.

B] Psychology is a science because –

Psychology is called a science because it adopts the approach and
methods of science. It gives importance to objectivity, accuracy (in
observation, data collection and records etc.), openness (in
discussing views), generalization and replication (of research).
Modern Psychology grew hand in hand with physical and natural
sciences like physics, biology and medicine. As a field, it was
influenced by physicists, geneticists, biologists, physicians and
other scientists. It naturally accepted the methods of inquiry and
study that these experts used.

C] Goals of Psychology
Every science has goals. In physics, the goals concern learning
how the physical world works. In astronomy, the goals are to chart
the universe and understand both how it came to be and what it is
becoming. In psychology, there are four goals that aim at
uncovering the mysteries of human and animal behaviour those
are: description, explanation, prediction and control.

1. Description: The goal here is to observe and record various

aspects of human life as accurately as possible. The
psychologist focuses on what is happening, where it is
happening, to whom it happens and under what
circumstances it happens. The first step in understanding
anything is to give it a name. For example, a teacher might
notice that a young girl in his second- grade classroom is
behaving oddly. She’s not turning in her homework, her
grades are slipping badly, and she seems to have a very
negative attitude towards school. The Psychologist observes
the student, interviews the teacher, parents and other related
people, may use Psychological tests and then identify or
name the behavioural issue. The description of what she is
doing gives a starting place for the next goal: why is she
doing it?

2. Explanation: The goal here is to explain why something is

happening, the reasons for the things to happen and to build
an understanding/theory based on observed facts. To find
out why the girl is doing all these things, the teacher would
most likely ask the school counselor to administer some
tests. Her parents might be asked to take her to a pediatrician
to make sure-that there is no physical illness, such as an
allergy. They might also take her to psychologists to be
further assessed. In other words, they are looking for
explanations for behaviour. This is a very important step in
the process of forming theories of behavior. A theory is a
general explanation of a set of observations or facts. The
goal of description provides the observation, and the goal of
explanation helps to build the theory. If the entire test seems
to indicate that the young girl has a learning problem, such
as dyslexia (an inability to read at expected levels for a
 particular age and degree of intelligence), the next step
would be trying to predict what is likely to happen if the
situation stays the same.

3. Prediction: The goal here is it to guess if the same events

will happen in the future too, if the existing factors remain
the same. If an event has happened once, will it happen
again? Determining what will happen in the future is a
prediction. In the example, the psychologists or counselor
would predict (based on previous research into similar
situations) that this little girl will probably continue to do
poorly in her schoolwork and may never be able to reach her
full learning potential.

4. Control: How can it be changed? Control or the

modification of some behavior has been somewhat
controversial in the past. Some people hear the word control
and think brainwashing, but that is not the focus of this goal.
The goal is to change a behavior from an undesirable one
(such as failing in school) to a desirable one (such as
academic success). Of course, desirable or undesirable is
seen from the person’s point of view, that is, attempts at
improving the quality of life the person. The goal here is to
change or modify behaviour to help the person in distress.
There are no value judgments involved but interventions can
happen to reduce pain, distress, failure and increase comfort,
happiness and success. In the example of the young girl who
has dyslexia, there are certain learning strategies that can be
used to help a child (or an adult) to improve reading skills
(Aylward et al, 2003; Shaywitz, 1996). The psychologists
and educationists would work together to find a training
strategy that works best for this particular girl. Not all
psychological investigations will try to meet all four of these
goals. In some cases, the main focus might be on description
and prediction, as it would be for a personality theorist who
wants to know what people are like (description) and what
they might do in a certain situation (prediction). Some
 psychologist is interested in both description and
explanation, as is the case with experimental psychologists
who design research to find explanations for observed
(described) behavior. Therapists, of course, would be more
interested in control, although the other three goals would be
important in getting to that goal.

These goals have not really changed in the years since

psychology’s beginnings but the methods of achieving them
certainly have changed. In the next section, we’lltake a look at the
early pioneers in psychology.

Perspectives on behaviour
The definition and goals of the psychology have not really changed
in a long time. But the methods of achieving them certainly have
changed. In this session, we’ll take a look at the early pioneers in
psychology. Now what thoughts come to your mind when you see
the this image? Some of you would be thinking of riding the bike
ASAP, some of you might think… oh it’s a sports bike, not for
family use, others would be thinking it must be very expensive, to
purchase and to maintain. There would be few interested in details
like engine power, fuel tank capacity and other technicalities. So if
a single bike generates so many different thoughts and responses,
can you imagine how many different thoughts and questions would
come to mind in students of human behaviour?

Over the years, different experts tried to study human beings and
answer questions related to human behaviour in different ways.
The way of answering questions depended on the academic
background, training and interest of each expert. This led to the
development of various perspectives in the field of Psychology.
Following are a few of them –
1. Structuralism – The pioneering effort to establish this school
of psychology was done by Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920). It is
based on his ideas of identifying the building blocks of the
mind. Wilhelm Wundt established the first laboratory in
Psychology, in Leipzig, Germany in the year 1879. He
formally distinguished Psychology as a field, separate from
Philosophy or Biology.

He also is the first to identify himself as a ‘psychologist’.

Hence Wilhelm Wundt is known to be the father of
‘Experimental Psychology’.

Wundt believed that every experience could be broken down

into its individual emotions and sensations. Later on
EdwardTitchener, a follower of Wundt’s ideas formally
established a school of structuralism at Cornell University in
America.

Structuralism is the psychological approach that focused on the

fundamental elements that form the basis of thinking,
consciousness, emotions and other kinds of mental states and
activities.

The structuralists were working to identify the building blocks

of the mind. They wanted to identify these units to study more
complex mental activities.
In the example of the bike, the structuralists would be focused
on the parts and the design of the bike.
Some structuralists did identify elementary sensations – such as
red, cold, sweet and fragrant.

To come to an understanding about how these basic units of

sensations combine to produce our awareness of the world,
structuralists used a procedure called introspection – inward
inspection.
Introspection is a procedure used to study the structure of mind.
Subjects are asked to describe in detail what they are
experiencing when they react to a stimulus.

These stimuli range from colored light, a tone or an odour and

the subject has to describe in their own words what they
experience.
 Wundt’s structuralism could not continue to be a dominant
force, as psychologists were not satisfied with the assumption
that introspection could help us to understand the fundamental
elements of the mind.

For instance, people had difficulty describing some inner

experiences, such as emotional responses, like anger. Finally,
introspection was not a truly scientific technique.

There were few outside observers who could verify the

accuracy of the introspection that people did. These drawbacks
led to the evolution of new models. However, even today some
orientation to structuralism still exists.

2. Functionalism – is an early approach to psychology. It

concentrated on what are the functions of mental activity – and
the role of behavior in allowing people to experience their
environment.
In the evolution of psychology, structuralism provided a path to
understand functionalism. Functionalism asked questions like
how does the individual’s behaviorhelp him to adapt him to the
environment he lives in?

It focuses primarily on what the mind does. William James

examined the ways in which behavior allows people to satisfy
their needs.
Some of the pioneers in this model like Dewey, Angell and
Carr conduct on the ways in which learning, memory,
thinking motivation help people and animals adapt to their
surrounding environments.

As the name implies, functionalism focuses on the working of

the mind and behavior. In the example of the bike, the
functionalist would focus on what uses is the bike put to.
3. Gestalt (Geh-sh-taalt) – Max Wertheimer (patterns of
perception, whole is greater than the sum of its parts).
Gestalt psychology emerged as a reaction to structuralism, as
early as 1900, in Germany by Max Wertheimer, Koffka and
Kohler. They denied the principle of structuralists – that the
mind is made of elements.
The German word Gestalt means form or configuration.
Gestalt psychology is a model focusing on the study of how
perception is organized. Gestalt psychologists said that --
For instance, if we look at dots in a figure our mental image is
not just dots, but a complete circle as well as a triangle. It is the
organization and the relationship of these dots have with one
another that determine the mental experience we have.
So Gestalt psychologists argue that it is this organization of
singular items that makes the final mental experience. In other
words, the mind is best understood in terms of the ways its
elements are organized.

4. Psychoanalysis – This model is based on the belief that

behavior is motivated by inner forces over which the individual
has little control. The psychoanalytic approach is part of the
broader perspective called the psychodynamic perspective.
Sigmund Freud developed the psychodynamic perspective.
Freud, an Austrian physician working in Vienna in the early
1900s, emphasized strongly that the unconscious mind is
responsible for our behavior. Freud found that the urges and
drives which influence our behavior are hidden in the
unconscious mind. Thus, the unconscious motivation is the key
around which psychoanalysis revolves. For example, dreams
and slips of the tongue are viewed as indications of what a
person is truly feeling. Although many of the basic principles of
psychodynamic thinking have been criticized, the perspective
that has grown out of Freud’s work has provided a means for
understanding everyday phenomena such as - stress, jealousy,
love, anger and hate. Freud and his perspective/school that gave
us a systematic description of the personality structure (Id, Ego,
Superego), levels of consciousness, life and death instincts, an
 explanation of illnesses (psychosomatic causes) and conflicts as
well as a complete therapy that used hypnosis, dream analysis,
free word association, defense mechanism etc. He was one of
the first to acknowledge the importance of childhood
experiences, family and cultural mores in the life of human
beings.

5. Behaviourism – S→R. James Watson, Dr. Ivan Pavlov, B.F.

Skinner. This is the first model which started to look at the
outer observable behavior of a person unlike the earlier models
which looked at the inside of the mind to study behavior.

John Watson proposed this perspective. He believed that by

properly controlling a person’s environment, it was possible to
elicit ant desired sort of behavior. As he said give me a dozen
healthy infants, well formed, and my own specified world to
bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random
and train him to become any type of specialist.

I might select- doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant- chief and yes

even beggar- man regardless of his talents, penchants,
tendencies, abilities, vocations and race of his ancestors
[Watson, 1924].

Later on B.F. Skinner improved upon this model and remained

the best known psychologist of the modern times until his death
in 1990.

Much of our understanding of how people learn new behavioris

based on the behavior perspective. He gave us the Operant
Conditioning theory that describes the role of rewards (positive
reinforcement, negative reinforcement and schedules of
reinforcement) and punishment in learning. The behavior
perspective, as we know, spread its wings in all walks of
psychology making contribution in learning process, to treating
mental disorder to de- addiction reducing aggression.
Professionals in the field of Psychology -
1. Psychiatrist – a medical doctor who has specialized in the
diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.

2. Psychoanalyst- either a psychiatrist or a psychologist who has

special training in the theories of Sigmund Freud and his
method of psychoanalysis.

3. Psychiatric social worker- a social worker with some training in

therapy methods who focuses on the environmental conditions
that can have an impact on mental disorders, such as poverty,
overcrowding, stress and drug abuse.

4. Psychologist- a professional with an academic degree and

specialized training in one or more areas of psychology

Summary