Understanding Psychology PDF

Understanding Psychology Introduction To Psychology By Anusha Sajid  EXAMINATION POLICY In each semester, students may be required to appear in quizzes, tests, mid- semester, final semester examinations, presentations (individual/group), group discussion, and s...

Understanding Psychology Introduction To Psychology By Anusha Sajid  EXAMINATION POLICY In each semester, students may be required to appear in quizzes, tests, mid- semester, final semester examinations, presentations (individual/group), group discussion, and submit projects/ assignments/ lab reports, studio work, etc. These assessment marks (to be determined by the teacher concerned) will have different weightage contributing toward the overall assessment in percent marks. A student will be awarded “F” grade in a course if s/he fails to appear in the final semester exam of that course.  ATTENDANCE POLICY Minimum 80 % attendance in a course is required to appear in the examination of that course. (Condonation in extraordinary circumstances may be limited to 75%) by the concerned Dean. The student who fails to obtain at least 2.0 CGPA in 1st semester, the 2nd semester shall remain on first probation. If a student still has CGPA less than 2.0 at the time of registration to the Second year shall be on second probation during the semester. Such student shall be allowed to register for the semester courses along with the remaining courses of previous semesters (within the maximum semester credit hours limit). REPEATING COURSES POLICY If a student gets an 'F' grade, he/she will be required to repeat the course. Undergraduate students may be allowed to repeat a course in which she/he has obtained grade “C” & below. Only the better grade shall be used in the calculation of CGPA. In the case of CGPA improvement, it would be recorded with (Imp) on the transcript. GRADING POLICY Percentage obtained in a Grade Grade Points Semester System A 85 and above 3.67 - 4.00 A- 3.34 - 3.66 80 - 84 B+ 3.01 - 3.33 75 - 79 B 2.67 3.00 71 74 B- 2.34 - 2.66 68 - 70 C+ 2.01 2.33 64 - 67 C 1.67 - 2.00 61 63 C- 1.31 1.66 58 - 60 D+ 1.01 1.30 54 - 57 D 0.10 - 1.00 50 - 53 F 0.00 Below 50 Objectives What is Psychology? History And Origin Of Psychology Psychological Perspectives Sub-Fields Of Psychology Scope and Goal Of Psychology What is Psychology? Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. The word "psychology" itself is derived from the Greek word psyche, literally meaning "life" or "breath." Derived meanings of the word include "soul“ or Self”. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), It is the study of the mind, how it works, and how it affects behavior. THE HISTORICAL ORIGINS OF PSYCHOLOGY The roots of psychology can be traced to the great philosophers of ancient Greece. The most famous of them, are Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, posed fundamental questions about mental life. Nature–Nurture Debate! This nature–nurture debate centers on the question of whether human capabilities are inborn or acquired through experience. The nature view holds that human beings enter the world with an inborn store of knowledge and understanding of reality. The nurture view holds that knowledge is acquired through experiences and interactions with the world. The nature–nurture issue comes up at numerous points in later chapters. Although some psychologists still argue that human thought and behavior result primarily from biology or primarily from experience, So the current question is not whether nature or nurture shapes human psychology but rather how nature and nurture combine to do so (Plomin & Asbury, 2005). Beginnings of Scientific Psychology Wundt was the first person referred to as a psychologist and the founders of psychology. Scientific psychology is usually considered to have begun in the late 19th century, when Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychological laboratory at the University of Leipzig in Germany in 1879. This photo shows him seated and surrounded by fellow researchers and equipment in his laboratory in Germany. Structuralism and functionalism During the 19th Century , psychologists could analyze the taste of lemonade (perception) into elements such as sweet, bitter, and cold (sensations).The leading proponent of this approach in the United States was E. B. Titchener, a Cornell University psychologist who had been trained by Wundt. Titchener introduced the term structuralism – the analysis of mental structures, Structuralism suggests that the goal of psychology is to study the structure of the mind and consciousness. But some psychologists opposed the purely analytic nature of structuralism. William James, was the first American Psychologist at Harvard University, felt that analyzing the elements of consciousness was less important than understanding its fluid, personal nature. His approach was named functionalism, is the study of the operation of the whole mind rather then the individual parts. Its purpose is to study the function of behavior. Psychoanalysis Who hasn’t heard of Sigmund Freud? Freud believes that events in our childhood can have a significant impact on our behavior as adults. He also believed that people have little free will to make choices in life. Instead, our behavior is determined by the unconscious mind and childhood experiences. Psychoanalysis is both a theory of personality and a method of psychotherapy originated by Sigmund Freud around the turn of the 20th century. He inspired psychologists such as Jung and Erikson to develop their own psychodynamic theories. Freud’s work is vast, and he has contributed greatly to psychology as a discipline. Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, explained the human mind as like an iceberg, with only a small amount of it being visible, that is our observable behavior, but it is the unconscious, submerged mind that has the most, underlying influence on our behavior. CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES What is a psychological perspective? The analysis of psychological phenomena can be approached from several perspectives. Each offers a somewhat different account of why individuals act as they do, and each can make a contribution to our conception of the total person. The five major perspectives in psychology are biological, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive and Subjectivist(Humanistic). Evolutionary and cross cultural are also considered as psychological perspectives in the modern psychology. Biological perspective The study of physiology played a major role in the development of psychology as a separate science. Today, the perspective is known as biological psychology (also called biopsychology or physiological psychology). The point of view emphasizes the physical and biological bases of behavior. It is one of the major perspective in psychology and involves such things as studying the brain, immune system, nervous system, genetics, and the endocrine system. Behavioral Perspective Behaviorism also known as behavioral psychology, is a theory of learning based on the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning, and conditioning occurs through interaction with the environment. Behaviorists believe that our actions are shaped by environmental stimuli. “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 and thief, regardless of his talents, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.” J-B,Watson. Watson’s work included the famous Little Albert Experiment. (This will be discussed in detail in chapter 7). Cognitive Perspective During the 1960s, a new perspective known as cognitive psychology emerged. This area of psychology focuses on mental processes like memory, thinking, problem-solving, language, and decision- making. The mental act or process by which knowledge is acquired is called cognition. Influenced by psychologists such as Jean Piaget and Albert Bandura, the cognitive 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. Psychoanalytic perspective Its focus is on the unconscious mind rather than the conscious mind. It is built on the foundational idea that your behavior is determined by experiences from your past that are lodged in your unconscious mind. As he explained human mind like an ice-berg. Most of its beneath the surface. He believed that the unconscious mind consisted of three components: Id-the Pleasure Principle, Ego-the Reality Principle, and the Super Ego-the Ethical Principle. Freud used three main methods of accessing the unconscious mind: free association, dream analysis and slips of the tongue The subjectivist perspective (Humanistic) An orientation toward understanding behavior and mental processes in terms of the subjective realities people actively construct. Humanistic is a psychological perspective that emphasizes the study of the whole person (know as holism) Humanistic psychologists look at human behavior, not only through the eyes of the observer, but through the eyes of the person doing the behaving. Humanistic psychologists believe that an individual's behavior is connected to his inner feelings and self image. The humanistic perspective centers on the view that each person is unique and individual, and has the free will to change at any time in his or her life. Two of the most influential and enduring theories in humanistic psychology that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s are those of Carl Roger and Abraham Maslow. The Cross-Cultural Perspective Cross-cultural is a fairly new perspective that has grown significantly in the last twenty years. Psychologists and researchers in this school of thought look at human behavior across different cultures. By looking at these differences, we can learn more about how culture influences our thinking and behavior. The Evolutionary Perspective Evolutionary psychology focuses on the study of how the theory of evolution can explain physiological processes. Psychologists who take this perspective apply the basic principles of evolution (like natural selection) to psychological phenomena. Major Sub-Fields Of Psychology Biological psychology Biological psychologists (also referred to as physiological psychologists) look for the relationship between biological processes and behavior. Cognitive Psychology Cognitive psychology involves the study of internal mental processes—all of the things that go on inside your brain, including perception, thinking, memory, attention, language, problem-solving, and learning. Developmental Psychology Developmental psychology is a scientific approach which aims to explain growth, change and consistency through the lifespan. Developmental psychology looks at how thinking, feeling, and behavior change throughout a person’s life. Social Psychology Social psychology is the scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. Social psychology focuses on three main areas: social thinking, social influence, and social behavior. Personality psychology Personality psychology is the scientific study of individual differences in people’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior, and how these come together as a whole. Clinical and counseling psychology Clinical psychologists integrate the science of psychology with the treatment of complex human problems. Whereas, Counseling psychologists focus on facilitating personal and interpersonal functioning across the lifespan. School and educational psychology Educational psychology deals primarily with teaching methods, educational materials, its effect on children and adolescents, and the evaluation of these while school psychology involves diagnosis and treatment of certain childhood behavioral, developmental, and learning problems. Organizational and Industrial psychology Industrial and organizational (I/O) psychologists focus on the behavior of employees in the workplace. They apply psychological principles and research methods to improve the overall work environment, including performance, communication, professional satisfaction and safety. Focuses on making the workplace more fulfilling, and more productive for both workers and their employers. Goals Of Psychology The study of psychology has four goals: Describe, Explain, Predict, and Change/Control. Describe: The first major goal or objective of psychology is to describe mental processes and behavior. Some methods psychologists use to learn how people think include conducting interviews and doing surveys. Explain: the second goal of psychology is understanding people's behavior. Also sometimes called "explaining," this objective requires finding out the cause or causes behind the behavior that's been observed. Predict: The third goal of psychology is to predict behavior. When psychologists finally understand what causes a particular behavior, they're better able to predict when it's likely to occur. Change/control: The fourth goal of psychology is to control behavior. Sometimes stated less autocratically as "to influence," this goal includes preventing destructive behaviors and encouraging positive ones. Scope Of Psychology Clinical Counselling. Organizations and Industrial. Schools/educational. Health and management. Forensic. Sports. Forces. Colleges and Universities. Environmental. Thank You Any Questions?