Unit I

By: Ramila Maharjan

Objectives
At the end of this class the students will be able :
 To explain the meaning of Psychology
 To enumerate the goals of Psychology
 To briefly trace the Scope of Psychology
 To describe the different method used in psychology
Meaning and Definition of
Psychology
 In 1590, Rudolf Geockle used the word psychology.
 It is derived from two Greek words "psyche" and "logos".
 Psychology= psyche + logos
 Psyche = soul, spirit, mind
 Logos = knowledge, study of

 First stage - ‘study of the soul’

 *philosophy dominated stage.
 Used vaguely and attained religious significance
 ? Raised; what is soul? How can it be studied?
Contd……
 Second stage-‘study of the mind’
➢ William James (1842 – 1910) used the term "mind" in
place of soul in 1890
➢ *philosopher come psychologist period.
➢ Mind - mysterious then soul.
➢ ? Raised; what is mind? How can it be studied?
Contd……
 Third stage - (1890-1894)
➢ ‘psychology as the study of consciousness’
*said by William James, Wilhelm Wundt & Edward
Bradford Titchner.
➢ then what about sub-conscious, unconscious….?
Contd……
 Fourth stage - (1905) William Mcdougall
➢ Psychology is a science which aims to give us
better understanding & control of the behaviour of
the organisms as a whole’
➢ ‘Science of human behaviour’

 In conclusion
“Psychology is considered a sscience of behavior or a
scientific study of the behavioral activities experiences”.
Contd……
 Psychology is both an academic (Basic science – research
for its own sake) and applied discipline (Using principles
to solve more immediate problems) involving the
scientific study of mental processes and behavior.
 In this definition, there are three key words;
✓ scientific study (science),
✓ mental processes and
✓ behavior
 Science: knowledge, as of facts or principles; knowledge
gained by systematic study , observation and experiment.
 Psychology as a science deals systematically with human
behaviour, with the motives, feelings, emotions, thoughts
and actions of men and women.
 It discovers and explains the underlying laws and
principles of behaviour.
 Like in science, psychologists do experiments and make
observations which others can repeat and verify.
Contd……
 Like a science again, it can predict the behaviour which
will occur, given a certain set of circumstances, to some
extent
 They use scientific methods to find answers that are far
more valid and legitimate than those resulting from
intuition and speculation
 Mental processes:
These include all private/ individual psychological
activities which can’t be directly observed by others but
can be seen in activities; what a person does- his or her
behaviour
 Behaviour: It includes all observable human activities (
motor activities: walking, speaking etc., cognitive
activities: perceiving, remembering, thinking, reasoning
etc., emotional activities: feeling happy, angry, sad etc.).
 Behavior includes all our reactions and responses to the
environmental stimuli.
Goals of Psychology
1. To describe – gather information on studied behavior
and present what is known.
2. To explain- creating a hypothesis (educated guess) to
understand why a behavior is practiced. A theory (more
complex assumption to explain and offered for scientific
study) is produced from large amounts of experimental
study.
3. To predict- By studying past behaviors, future behaviors
can be predicted based upon theory
4. To control -using what is known to influence future
behavior.
Scope of Psychology
 Behavior has wide meaning and its too vast.
 living organisms have countless activities & consequently
no limits can be imposed upon the field of operation &
application of the subject psychology.
 It has width & depth of as an ocean.
 However, for the sake of convenience, “It can be divided
into certain branches or fields”.
Branches (Fields) of psychology
1. Developmental Psychology
The study of human development and the factors that
shape behavior form birth to old age.
2. Social Psychology – The study of how people
think about, influence, relate with one another, and
the ways interaction with other people influence
attitudes and behavior.
3. Personality Psychology – The study of
individual differences.
Contd……
4. Clinical Psychology – The study of the
diagnosis and treatment of emotional and
behavioral problems (mental illness, drug addiction,
marital and family conflict)
Contd……
5. Counseling Psychology – The study that deals
with personal problems such as academics, social
or vocational problems; counseling psychologists
deal with less serious problems compared to clinical
psychologists.
Contd……
6. School and Educational Psychology – The
study that deals with the evaluation of learning and
emotional problems of individual in school.
Contd……
7. Industrial/Organizational Psychology – The
study involving the selection of people most suitable
for particular jobs, the development of training
programs in organization, and the identification of
determinants of consumer behavior.
Contd……
8. Environmental Psychology – The study that deals
with the relationship between humans and the
environment.
Contd……
9. Behavioral Neuroscience – The study that
employs the biological perspective, seeking to
discover the relationships between biological
processes and behavior.
Contd……
10. Experimental Psychology – The study that
employs the behavioral and cognitive perspective
as well as the experimental method in studying how
people react to sensory stimuli, perceive the world,
learn and remember, and respond.
Contd……
11. Forensic Psychology – the study that applies
psychology to the law and legal proceedings.
Contd……
12. Sports Psychology – The study that applies
theories and knowledge in psychology to enhance
athletes’ and coaches’ performance.
Contd……
15. Health Psychology – The study of the cognitive,
affective, behavioral, and interpersonal factors
affecting health and illness.
Contd……
16. Cross-Cultural Psychology -
investigates the similarities and differences in psychological
functioning in and across various cultures and ethnic
groups.
17. Behavioral Genetics - studies the inheritance of traits
related to behavior
18. Cognitive psychology - focuses on the study of higher
mental processes
Contd……
19. Evolutionary psychology – considers how behavior is
influenced by our genetic inheritance from our ancestors.
20. Psychology of Women - focuses on issues such as
discrimination against women and the causes of violence
against women
21. Abnormal Psychology
*study unusual pattern of behavior
22. General Psychology
*study human development, emotions, motivation, learning,
senses, perception, thinking, memory, intelligence and
processing.
Method of Psychology
A means or manner of procedure, especially a regular and
systematic way of accomplishing something or get
information or data regarding behaviour:
1. Experimental Method
2. Observational method
3. The survey method
4. The test method
5. The case history or clinical method
6. The genetic or development method
The experimental method
 Considered as the most scientific of all methods
 The investigator willfully manipulates certain variables
and measures their effects on other variables.
 A variable is something, which can occur, in different
values.
 Variables are of two types; independent and dependent
variable.
 Variable that is manipulated by the experimenter is known
as independent variable and the variable that is measured
is called dependent variable.
 A dependent variable might be the response of a person to
a stimulus, a change in behavior after the administration
of independent variable.
 Thus in this method under closed and controlled
conditions, the effects of an independent variable over
dependent variable are studied .
 So it is the observation of behavior of the individual under
the test condition.
 E.g firing multabar increased heart beat
 Smoking cause lungs cancer
Steps in an experiment:
 Identifying a problem
 Formulation of the hypothesis
 Distinction between independent and dependent variable
 Arranging the environment
 Apply the test (experiment)
 Analysis of the result
 Testing of the hypothesis by the result of the experiment
Experimental Method
Strengths
 It is most scientific because it gives cause and effect
relationship with the help of control and experiment
group.
 The reliability and validity of this method is higher.
 The result obtained from the experiment can be replicated.
We can test and retest the result. So this method actually
raises the standard of quality of result.
 New theories can also be developed by means of
experiment method.
Limitations
 Experiment might be dangerous in some cases
 This method don’t apply the natural settings, it is highly
restricted to lab settings that’s why its application also
limited
 The method sometimes interferes with the very thing it is
trying to measure
 Because of some practical and ethical issues, we can't
conduct experiment in all areas
 This method requires a qualified researcher.
Observational method
 This is one of the basic and most ancient methods of
psychology.
 The study of psychology begins with the natural
observation of animal and human beings.
 This method is also called the method of objective
observation.
 Behavior of a certain individual is observed by somebody
other than that person himself or herself.
Contd……
 It consists in the collection of data by means of observing
behavior which may be expressed in the form of bodily
changes, bodily action, gestures, facial expression and
speech.
 While studying the behavior of an individual, the
researcher must be well trained to observe and record in
order to avoid projecting their own wishes or biases into
what they report.
 After making a number of observations, the psychologists
can, using certain rules of logic, try to infer the causes of
the behavior being studied.
Contd……
 This method is greatly used in studying the behaviors of
animals and children.
 Many studies have been made of the behavior sick
children while in hospital wards with the help of various
type observations.
 A nurse can use it in understanding the behavior of her
patients or co-worker.
Strengths

 The result obtained is natural

 This method is very objective and impersonal
 Different aspects of life/behavior can be studied at a time
 Other methods are limited only in the study of
adults/matured however this method is suitable in the
study of infancy, insanity, handicapped, old age, cultural
issues, etc.
Limitations
 Cannot find out the actual cause- and relationship because
there is no control in this method
 It is not possible to conduct in all cases
 Sometimes researcher interferes the naturally occurring
phenomena and there is biasness in the result
 It is time consuming
 It is expensive
 It is difficult to observe the behavior in all cases without
disruption
 Needs special ability/experience for the good observation.
The survey method
 This method uses questionnaires, checklists, rating scales,
ranking and inventories to assess different aspects of
behaviour, emotional experiences and aptitudes.
 It is also used for problems that cannot be directly
observed.
 The results of a survey of a large number of people have
to be carefully analyzed before conclusions are made.
The test method
 Abilities, interests, attitudes and intelligence are measured
by this method by making use of carefully devised and
standardized tests.
 The test can be administered to a large number of
personnel at the same time saving a lot of time, energy and
dislocation of routine work.
The case history or clinical
method
 This method is directed towards the study of individual
behaviour.
 The clinical set up or environment is associated with
health care and treatment of the individual who come for
advice and treatment of their physical or mental disorders.
 In this method, the efforts are made to deal with the task
of investigating the root cause of problems or exceptional
behaviour and suggesting a proper environment and
possible treatment.
Characteristics of clinical method
 The clinical method is applicable to an individual.
 The individual has some problem.
 Method of both diagnosis and treatment are involved in
dealing with these problems.
 This method is aimed at seeking the maximum adjustment
and welfare of the disturbed person.
Techniques used in this method:
 Adequate physical check-up
 Information collection:
➢ Identifying data/ bio-data
➢ Environmental background: this may contain information
about the remembers of the individual's family, his parents,
their relationship, socio-economic status, schooling, job
records etc.
➢ Developmental history.
➢ History of exceptional or abnormal behaviour
 The clinical interview
 Direct observation of the behaviour.
 Certain measuring devices may be used to assess personality
Contd……
Strengths
 It is a very reliable method
 It is one of the method of diagnosing mental illness
Limitations
 It is very expensive
 It needs specialized persons
 Sometime it is impossible to do observation in home or
school setting
 Sometimes, the observed place can be threatening for the
patient
The genetic or developmental method
 It studies the growth of behaviour. For example, to understand
the learning behaviour of an adult, the study will start from the
childhood and adolescence.

Advantage
 It is very useful method to find out the influencing behavior of
adults

Limitation
 It is hard to get proper history and very often needs help of
close family members.
Factors affecting behaviour
 Human behaviour is varied in different stage of life time,
life situations, physical and social environment etc.
 The following factors are affecting behaviour of an
individual:
1. Physiological factors
2. Psychological factor
3. Social factors
4. Personal habit, interest, will power and conscience
Physiological factors
a. Bio-chemical and neuro-anatomical factors
b. Hormonal role
c. Genetic approach
a. Bio-chemical and neuro-anatomical factors
 It’s been stated that three brain functions are proposed for
variety of behavioral manifestations:
i. frontal lobe:- most often works as behavioral
activator
ii. parietal lobe:- most often works as behavioral
inhibitator
iii.both lobes work as maintenance
Contd……
 Likely, as in biochemical, various neuro-transmitters like
serotonin, dopamine, nor-epinephrine, gamma amino
butyric acid (GABA) etc. are directly responsible for the
maintenance of person’s behavior, thought and mood.
b. Hormonal role
 Some hormones are also appeared as a mediator in
emotional reactions:-

•Sexual behavior
Controlled by hormones secreted
•Sadness/happiness through adrenal gland
•Anger/aggression
Contd……
c. Genetic approach
 Mental characteristics like intelligence, special ability,
talent etc. can pass on from the parent to offspring due to
chromosomal factors.

2. Social factors
 Social factors also determine one’s behaviour pattern.
 Socialization in determining one’s behavior has been
highly emphasized.
Contd……
 Influence of social expectations,
 early social experiences both within and outside home,
 social deprivation,
 social acceptance,
 the role of leader and follower,
 acceptance and rejection of the culturally approved sex
roles etc.
all are strong behavioral determinants and affect the
person’s personal and social adjustment.
Contd……
3. Psychological factor
 These include motive, interest, attitude, will-power,
intelligence, reasoning capacities, perception, imagination
etc.
 These factors determine our reaction towards various
situations and thus affect our behaviour.
Psychology and the nurse
 The study of human behavior is of great value in nursing
profession.
 Nurses occupy a central position in health care system.
Nurses directly deal with sick people, their family,
community people, co-workers and people with other
fields.
 She should understand herself as well as others.
 If she knows something of human behavior by studying
psychology she can establish good relationship with
patients, their visitors, community people, co-workers etc.,
Contd……
 Knowledge of human psychology is essential to deal with
different problems like physical, mental and technological.
 She can solve the problems effectively and satisfactorily.
 She can apply the basic principles of psychology while
providing nursing care.
 The knowledge of psychology enables a nurse to
understand herself and other people better.
Contd……
 The knowledge of psychology helps to make a number of
adjustments:
➢Adjustment to a new environment
➢Adjustment to work routine
➢Adjustment to patients
 The knowledge of psychology will help a nurse to have a
better understanding that:
➢First of all the patient is a human being with
individual body, mind, motives, desires etc. So, the
patient should be received as an honorable guest, with
almost courtesy and genuine warmth
Contd……
 Illness is painful and discomfort which causes patient
feels insecure and uncertain about their future.
 A patient is very tense on his arrival at the ward .
 He should be allowed to relax and all his fears and
anxieties gently removed.
 He should be introduced to the ward and well oriented
with the facilities available and to the people he is likely
to meet in the ward.
 Every individual reacts to illness in a particular way
according to their physical, social, cultural or intellectual
condition.
Contd……

 Illness lowers their self- esteem so that many patients

show infantile regression during illness.
 Difference in patient’s reaction to illness can also be
according to their age, nature of illness and the type of
personality.
 Patient’s physical symptoms of the particular illness as
well as his intellectual, emotional and cultural factors need
to be taken into account.
Contd……
 A nurse must be a good listener.
 The patient should be given chance to express his
problems in his own words and style.
 Nurse's approach should always be humanistic and
individualized to each patient.

The approach of nursing the whole patient or understanding

the patient will definitely help in providing effective
nursing care. The knowledge of psychology will enable a
nurse to use the principle of nursing to the whole patient.
A Brief History of Psychology
 Aristotle (384 –322 BC) –
 simply a part of philosophy at that time
 He made assumptions out of observation regarding human
behavior. He believed that all beings, humans included,
have souls, which animate them.
 Humans, however, compared to other animal, have
rational souls.
 Thus, humans are not only, physical, but also rational.
 He also theorized about learning, memory, motivation,
emotion, perception and personality.
Contd……
 Rene Descartes
(1596 – 1650) - supported the
view that humans enter the
world with an inborn store of
knowledge. He argued that
some ideas (such as God, the
self, perfection and infinity) are
innate. He is also notable for
his conception of the body as
a machine that can be studied
Contd……
 John Locke
(1632–1704) - Believed
that at birth the human
mind is a “tabula rasa”
or a blank slate, on
which experience
“writes” knowledge.
Contd……
 Charles Darwin
(1809 – 1882) - He is the
author of the Law of
Natural Selection or
Theory of Evolution;
inspired the Psychological
school of thought,
Functionalism.
Contd……
 Francis Galton
(1822–1911) - He was
concerned with the study
of individual differences.
He was considered as the
“Father of Mental tests
Contd……
 Ernst Weber (1795–1878); Gustav Fechner; Herman
von Helmholtz (1821–1894) :
German Physicians who started experimenting with
behavior through scientific methodologies
Contd……
 Wilhelm Wundt – Considered as the “Father of
Modern Psychology.” He established the first
experimental laboratory for the study of Psychology,
in Leipzig, Germany, 1879. He created a machine
that measured the time lag between people’s
hearing a ball hit the platform and their pressing a
telegraph key. Wundt has seeking to measure the
“atoms of the mind” – the fastest and simplest
mental processes.
Contd……
 Wilhelm Wundt - in his laboratory in Leipzig, Germany
Contd……
 Stanley Hall
A student of Wundt’s
who established what
many consider as the
first American
psychology laboratory
at Johns Hopkins
University in 1883
Contd……
 Hermann Ebbinghaus
- A German who reported
on the first experiments
on memory, 1885.
Schools of Thought
1. Structuralism (Edward Titchener) – Study of the
parts of conscious experiences through introspection.
Conscious experiences are composed of sensations,
feelings, and images.
Introspection is a process of studying the self, or
selfexamination.
Introduced by St. Thomas of Aquinas.
Contd……
 2. Functionalism (William James) –
Defines behavior or the mental
phenomena in terms of their
functions in man’s adjustment
to his environment. It is very
much influenced by Darwin’s
Theory of Evolution
Contd……
3. Gestalt Psychology
(Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler, Kurt Koffka)
Believed that the human mind imposes meaning to
related experiences. It advocates that the study of
human behavior should be wholistic. “The whole is
greater than the sum of its parts.”
Contd……
 4. Behaviorism (John B. Watson)
Emphasized the need to
study what is observable.
Its objective was to predict
and control behavior.
S-R Psychology
Contd……
 5. Psychoanalysis (Sigmund Freud) –
Much of our behavior is governed by unconscious motive
and primitive biological instincts. It considered all humans
basically would like to gain pleasure and avoid pain
References
 Bhatia, B.D. and Craig (2004). Elements of Psychology and Mental Hygiene for
Nurses in India (28th Impression). London: Longman Group Limited.
 Jacob, A. |(2005). Psychology for Graduate Nurses (3rd ed.). New Delhi, India:
Jaypee.
 Sharma, S. (1997).Behavioural Science. Kathmandu, Nepal: Health Learning
Material Centre..
 Nambi, S. (2005). Psychiatric for Nurses. New Delhi, India :Jaypee.
 Kapoor, B. (2001). Text Book of Psychiatric Nursing(Vol-1 and Vol-2). New Delhi,
India: Kumar Publishing House.,
 Ahuja, N. (2002). Short Text Book of Psychiatric. (5th ed). New Delhi, India:
Jaypee.
 Subedi, D. (2008). Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing. Kathmandu, Nepal:
Makalu Publication House.
 https://www.slideshare.net/reenalex/psychologymeaning
 https://www.slideshare.net/AthenaCatindig/1introduction-and-brief-history-of-
psychology-presentation
Thank you