INTRODUCTION TO THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF PSYCHOLOGY

PSY – 110
INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY;
By
Mr. Joseph Kabatha Ngugi

CONTENT:
1. Meaning of Basic concepts
2. Nature of Psychology
3. Relevance of studying Psychology
4. Historical growth and Branches of modern Psychology

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 INTRODUCTION TO THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF PSYCHOLOGY

Meaning of Basic concepts:

Conditioning:
 Conditioning, in physiology, is a behavioral process whereby a response becomes more
frequent or more predictable in a given environment as a result of reinforcement, with
reinforcement typically being a stimulus or reward for a desired response.

Emotions:
 According to the American Psychological Association (APA), emotion is defined as “a
complex reaction pattern, involving experiential, behavioral and physiological elements.”
 Emotions are how individuals deal with matters or situations they find personally
significant.

Intelligence:
 Intelligence in psychology refers to the mental capacity to learn from experiences, adapt
to new situations, understand and handle abstract concepts, and use knowledge to
manipulate one's environment.
 It includes skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, learning quickly, and
understanding complex ideas.

Individual differences:
 Individual differences are the more-or-less enduring psychological characteristics that
distinguish one person from another and thus help to define each person's individuality.
 Among the most important kinds of individual differences are intelligence, personality
traits, and values.

Intra –personal relations:

 The Intrapersonal relationship involve the way you relate to yourself.
 How well you know yourself: your strengths and weaknesses.

Memory:
 In its simplest form, memory refers to the continued process of information retention over
time.
 It is an integral part of human cognition, since it allows individuals to recall and draw
upon past events to frame their understanding of and behavior within the present.
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 INTRODUCTION TO THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF PSYCHOLOGY

Motivation:
 According to psychology, motivation is the process that initiates and maintains certain
behaviors needed to achieve goals.
 It is the driving force behind every action and is often used to describe why someone
does anything.

Perceptions:
 Perception can be defined as our recognition and interpretation of sensory information.
 Perception also includes how we respond to the information.
 We can think of perception as a process where we take in sensory information from our
environment and use that information in order to interact with our environment.

Problem-solving:
 Problem solving in psychology refers to the process of finding solutions to problems
encountered in life.
 Solutions to these problems are usually situation or context-specific.
 The process starts with problem finding and problem shaping, where the problem is
discovered and simplified.

Schools of thought:
 The term "school of thought" in psychology refers to a specific perspective or approach
to understanding human behavior.

Sub-consciousness:
 The subconscious is the part of our mind that is not in current awareness. It is the part of
our consciousness that is not being focused on and is lying dormant.

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 INTRODUCTION TO THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF PSYCHOLOGY

Nature of Psychology:
 The field of psychology has its roots in many disciplines, including philosophy and
physiology.
 This makes it difficult to have a consensus regarding a single, globally accepted
definition of psychology.
 In spite of this problem, there is no debate about the meanings of the two words that
comprise the compound word “Psychology‟.
 These words are “Psycho” and “Logos‟.
 The word Logos means “use of logic‟
 While psycho means “of the mind”

 Therefore the term “Psychology” literary means “the science of the mind”.

Definitions by respected psychologists:

 Ornstein (1985) defined psychology as;
 The study of human experience.

 Kendall (1986) saw psychology as;

 The scientific study of mental and behavioral functioning.

 Atkinson and Hilgard (1983) viewed psychology as;

 The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

 Munavi (1988) asserted that psychology was;

 The scientific study of human and animal behavior.

 The above definitions have a common theme, that:

 Psychology is scientific and
 Focus on behavioral functioning.

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 INTRODUCTION TO THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF PSYCHOLOGY

Relevance of Studying Psychology:

 The relevance of studying psychology is that, one is able to:
i. Describe behavior
ii. Understand behavior
iii. Predict behavior
iv. Control behavior.

 In order to describe, understand, predict and control behavior, you need to be able to
evaluate the quality of:
 Interpersonal relationships
 Intrapersonal relationships
 Person to group relationships
 Group relationships

This and the subsequent lectures will equip you with relevant skills to achieve the above
objectives.

Psychological Perspectives in the Study of Behavior and Mental Processes:

 There are many perspectives that psychologists follow in the study of behavior and
mental functioning.

The Six Major Perspectives:

1. The Psychoanalytic Perspective:
 Freud (1939) was very controversial and he viewed psychological traits and disorders as
having an origin in sexual and aggressive drives.
 He believed that our behavior is controlled by the unconscious /subconscious
needs/forces, which are biological in nature.
 These forces are:
 ID – Pleasure centered
 EGO - Realistic– Balances the ID & Superego, it can be overwhelmed.
 Superego - Moral aspect

2. The Behavioral Perspective:

 This perspective studies the mechanisms by which observable responses are developed
and modified in specific environments.

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 For example, a behavioral psychologist will be interested in how people and animals
develop certain emotions like fear and love or how incentives like presents, punishment
can influence behavior.
 Some famous behaviorists include B. Watson.

3. The Biological Perspective:

 This helps us to understand how the body and the brain work in unison to create
emotions, memories and sensory experiences.

Note:
 Biologically oriented psychologists study:
 Evolutionary and Hereditary influences on behavior;
 How messages are transmitted within the body, and
 How blood chemistry is linked with moods and motives.

4. The Humanistic Perspective:

 Humanistic psychologists are against the psychoanalytic view that human beings are
driven by unconscious or subconscious internal forces.
 They emphasize that the human being have the capacity to deliberately choose a
meaningful life pattern, and therefore grow to greater maturity and fulfillment.

5. The Cognitive Perspective:

 The term “Cognition” refers to the ability to utilize the mind in terms of remembering,
thinking, problem solving and planning.
 In this perspective, psychologists explore the way human beings process, store and
retrieve information and how this information can be used to reason and solve problems.

6. The Cross-Cultural Perspective:

 This perspective focuses on the influence of cultural and ethnic similarities and
differences on both psychological and social functioning.
 It is assumed that each individual in a society has a specific cultural and ethnic
background and this influences behavior depending on the environment one is in.

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Historical growth and Branches of modern Psychology:

The Historic Growth of Psychology:
 You may have wondered why the perspectives of psychology were covered before the
historical growth section. This was deliberate.
 The idea behind this was to first provide you with a broader, general look at the different
horizons in psychology, before focusing on the specific components comprising the
schools of thought that developed between 1932 to the present.

Schools of Thought:
1. Structuralism (1832 – 1920)
 This was the first school of thought to emerge and its proponents were:
 Wilhelm Wundt
 Edward Titchener

 This school of thought emphasized the role played by experiences.

Basic Elements of Experience:

 To the structuralists, each experience was made up of three basic elements, namely;
i. Physical sensations: the ability to see, feel and taste. Visual sense Auditory,
Olfactory, Taste & Tactile.
ii. Aesthetics: Feelings that we develop towards other people, objects and ideas.
iii. Images: our thoughts and reflections or memories.

 All these elements must be present in order to create an experience.

Example:
 When we meet a dog along a street, the three elements are combined as follows to make
an experience:
i. Physical sensations:
 The ability to see the dog,

ii. Aesthetics:
 The feelings of fear that the dog evokes in us,

iii. Images:
 The thoughts of having been bitten by a dog or having seen somebody
being bitten

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 INTRODUCTION TO THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF PSYCHOLOGY

 Now that we have identified the elements of experiences, let us consider the method that
was used by structuralists to identify the aforementioned elements.

Method of Identifying the Aforementioned Elements:

1) Introspection
 This was a technique involving self-reporting of experiences and feeling by the subject
of study

Note:
 The term “Subject of study” refers to the person or animal being studied in an
experiment.

Benefits of Introspection:
 Introspection is beneficial because it has the advantage of enabling subjects to give
reports of their feelings and experiences.

Side Effects of Using Introspection:

a) It is prone to cheating.
b) It is not suitable for studying subjects who cannot communicate verbally, for example,
young children, animals, the sick people and the mentally retarded.
c) It ignores all the observable traits.
d) It is not possible to verify the information given by the subject.

The decline of structuralism

 By 1920, structuralism began to decline because of the following reasons:
 Other better schools of thought emerged, for example functionalism and
behaviorism.
 The method of collecting information, introspection, could not be accepted any
longer.

2. Functionalism (1890 – 1925)

 We have already noted that structuralism was no longer feasible by 1920 due to the
emergence of Functionalism and other superior schools of thought.

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 INTRODUCTION TO THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF PSYCHOLOGY

Note:
 Functionalism is a term derived from the word function, which implies practical
application.

 The main proponents of functionalism were William James and John Dewey.

 They disagreed with the structuralists‟ idea of experiences being made up of three
elements: sensations, aesthetics and images.
 According to the functionalists, a person’s mind was governed by associations.

 Through these associations, a person constantly revises past experiences through:

i. Perceptions
ii. Emotions
iii. Sensations

 These elements work in unison and cannot be separated.

How did functionalists study behavior?

 You have already noticed that the structuralists relied entirely on introspection to gather
information.
 This method was eventually found inappropriate.
 The functionalists wanted to strengthen the process of gathering information; hence,
they included the observation method in the study of human behavior.
Note:
 Functionalism was therefore more objective than structuralism since it addressed the
conscious and sub conscious levels.
 The conscious part was covered through introspection while the subconscious area was
addressed through observation.
Conscious Mind

Sub-
Conscious
Mind

 Functionalism was eventually eclipsed by Behaviorism in 1925

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3. Behaviorism (1925 – Present)

 I will now explain the thesis of one of the most powerful school of thought that emerged
in 1925 and is still very relevant in studying behavior in psychology. This is
behaviorism.
 Its main proponent was John B. Watson and he asserted that psychology should only
concern itself with behavior that was measurable and observable.
 He insisted that introspection had no part to play in the study of human and animal
behavior.
 Watson is on record as having stressed that behavior could not be inherited but was
wholly learnt.
 Intelligence: Stanford Binet test , IQ MA/CA x 100 inferences
o Genius Above Average
o Average Boarder line
o Below average Morons, imbeciles and idiots

 Personality Integrity Patience

 As we have already noted, behaviorism is still relevant today.
 I will now introduce other schools of thought whose influence was felt after 1925. One
of these was Gestalt psychology.

4. Gestalt Psychology
 Gestalt psychology began early 19th century but its prominence was felt in the early
1930s.
 Its main proponents were:
1. Max Wertheimer
2. Kurt Koffka
3. Wolfgang Kohler

Note:
 The term “Gestalt” means learning by insight, whole or form.

 This school of thought originated in German, with the Gestalt psychologists focusing on
the study of human experience and perception in relation to:
 Man’s ability to solve problems
 Man’s ability to learn from the environment
 The Gestalt psychologists used introspection to gather information on perception among
other issues.
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5. Individual Differences
 The individual differences school of thought became prominent after 1930s.
 Its main proponent was Sir. Francis Galton.
 Galton asserted that behavior could be inherited.
 He justified this by giving results of a study on his family tree.
 He was generally impressed by the great number of exceptional people in his family, for
example, geniuses like Charles Darwin (his half cousin).
 Galton is accredited with formulation of mental tests and the study of individual
differences.
 His is the first person to introduce statistical concepts in the field of psychology, one of
them being the concept of correlation coefficient.

Note:
 A correlation coefficient is a numerical index used to show the degree of similarity
between two or more sets of data.

 Let us now turn to another school of thought that was generally based on behaviorism
principles. This was B. F. Skinner’s S-R psychology.

6. B. F. Skinner’s S-R) Psychology

 This school of thought became prominent in the 1950s and is still highly respected.
 It is named after its main proponent B. F. Skinner.
 Skinner agreed with J. B. Watson, that psychology should only focus on what was
measurable and observable in the study of human behavior.
 His version of behaviorism also addressed the significant role played by reinforcement in
the learning of new behavior.
 He asserted that positive reinforcement increased the probability of re-occurrence of the
rewarded behavior, while its withdrawal led to extinction of the consequences of
learning.

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 INTRODUCTION TO THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF PSYCHOLOGY

7. Psychoanalytic Psychology
 This school of thought became prominent after 1960.
 Its main proponent was Sigmund Freud.
 He advocated that much of our behavior is the result of hidden motives and unconscious
wishes, and that problems of adulthood had a foundation in early childhood experiences.
 He laid the foundation for psychotherapy with his famous theory on psychoanalysis
(Talking cure).
 Freud is also famous for his contribution to the understanding of personality.
 He viewed a person’s personality as being made up of three components:
 The ID: The selfish part of personality.
 The EGO: The realistic part of personality
 The Super-EGO: The moral part of personality

 I will now take you through the last section of this lecture, in which I will focus on the
branches of modern psychology.

Branches of modern psychology:

 The branches of modern psychology can be summarized as follows:

a) Biological Psychology:
 This branch is concerned with links between biology and behavior.

Note:
 In this category, you will find specialists like behavioral neuro-scientists, neuro-
psychologists, physiological psychologist and bio-psychologists

b) Developmental Psychology
 This is a branch of psychology concerned with the life of an individual from birth to
death in terms of;
 Physical aspects
 Cognitive aspects
 Social aspects

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c) General Experimental Psychology

 This field applies experimental techniques to study behaviors like:
 Leaning
 Memory
 Motivation
 Emotion
 Personality
d) Personality Psychology
 This branch of psychology focuses on the way people express themselves depending on
their most consistent and enduring inner qualities or traits.

e) Social Psychology
 This area looks at people from a scientific perspective, in terms of how they think about
others, how they relate to others and how they influence each other.

f) Clinical Psychology
 The clinical psychology branch involves diagnosis/assessment and treatment of
psychological dysfunctions.

g) Psychiatry
 This is a branch of medicine with a strong bias on psychological disorders.
 The main theme is psychological therapy.

h) Industrial/Organizational Psychology
 This area studies the work place and seeks ways of improving working conditions and
relationships.
 An industrial psychologist also addresses issues like job placement and the resolution of
employer/employee conflicts.

i) Educational Psychology
 This is a branch of psychology that applies the principles of psychology to the solution of
educational problems, for example, using Guidance and Counselling principles to solve
conduct disorders in learners.

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Definition of key terms and concepts

Introspection: Self-reporting of experience by a subject of study
Observation: A study of behavior with a special emphasis on the sub-
conscious level
School of thought: A system of ideas proposed before the development of a
theory

Revision Questions
1. Define the term “Psychology”.
2. Describe two perspectives of psychology.
3. Give two reasons for the decline of Structuralism.
4. Describe the main themes of any two branches of modern psychology.

References
Lassaga, I. M. & Ledue, R. K. (1990) Psychology: An Introduction. New Jersey:
Prentice Hall

Morris, C. G. (1990). Psychology: An introduction. New Jersey: prentice Hall

Myers, D. G. (1990). Exploring Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers.

Woolfolk, A. E. (1993). Education Psychology. Needham Heights: Ally and Bacon

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