INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology can be defined as the scientific study of human mind and behavior. Psychology deals with why people feel, think, and act the way they do, psychology also studies animals. It investigates such phenomena as behavior, experience and mental processes.it seeks to understand and explain how the mind works and how different mental processes result in different behaviors.

Approaches to the Study of Psychology

Psychological approach (sometimes called perspectives in psychology) is a perspective (i.e. view) that involves certain assumptions (i.e., beliefs) about human behavior. The five major perspectives in psychology are biological, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive and humanistic.

1. The biological perspective: This approach believes that most behavior is inherited and involves such things as studying the brain, genetics, hormones, and the immune and nervous systems.

2. Psychodynamic Perspective: Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis believed 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.

3. The behaviorist perspective: This approach proposes two main processes whereby people learn from their environment: namely classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning involves learning by association, and operant conditioning involves learning from the consequences of behavior.

4. Cognitive Perspective: The cognitive perspective is concerned with “mental” functions such as memory, perception, attention, etc. It views people as being similar to computers in the way we process information (e.g., input-process-output). For example, both human brains and computers process information, store data and have input and output procedure.

This had led cognitive psychologists to explain that memory comprises of three stages: encoding (where information is received and attended to), storage (where the information is retained) and retrieval (where the information is recalled).

5. Humanistic Perspective: Humanistic perspective believes 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 has the free will to change at any time in his or her life.

The humanistic perspective suggests that we are each responsible for our own happiness and well-being as humans. We have the innate (i.e., inborn) capacity for self-actualization, which is our unique desire to achieve our highest potential as people.

Interplay between Psychology and Other Social Science

Some of the major disciplines linked to the field of psychology are discussed below:

1. Philosophy: Despite the emergence of psychology as a science, it greatly draws from philosophy, particularly with respect to methods of knowing, and various domains of human nature.

2. Medicine: It is realized that a healthy body requires a healthy mind, which is actually true.  The role of psychology in preventing people from engaging in health hazardous behaviors and in adhering to the prescribed health workers/doctors treatment’ regimen is some of the important areas where the two disciplines have come together. While treating patients suffering from cancer, AIDS, and the physically challenged, or handling patients there is a need for psychological counseling. A successful health worker/ doctor looks at the psychological as well as physical well-being of the patients.

3. Economics: Economics have drawn considerably from psychology and have enriched it as well. Psychology has contributed a great deal to the study of micro-level economic behavior, particularly in understanding consumer behavior, savings behavior and in decision making. 

4. Political science: Like economics, political science too draws considerably from psychology, particularly, in understanding issues related to exercise of power and authority, nature of political conflicts and their resolutions, and voting behavior. 

5. Sociology: Sociology and psychology come together to explain and understand the behavior of individuals within different socio-cultural contexts. Issues related to socialization, group and collective behavior.

6. Computer Science: From the very beginning, the effort of computer science has been in mimicking (imitating) the human mind. One can see it in terms of how a ‘computer’ is structured, its memory organize and process information sequentially and simultaneously, (read parallel). Developments in both these disciplines have brought about significant advancement in the field of cognitive sciences.

7. Mass Communication: The print and the electronic media have entered in our lives in a very big way. They have a major influence on our thinking, attitudes and our emotions. If they have brought us closer together, they have also reduced cultural diversities. The impact of the media on the formation of attitudes of children and their behavior is a domain where both these disciplines come together. Psychology also helps in developing strategies for better and effective communication. A journalist in reporting news must know the reader’s interests in the story. Since most stories deal with human events, knowledge of their motives and emotions is very important. A story will be more penetrating if based upon a background of psychological knowledge and insight.

Learning

Learning can be defined as a relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experience. The three major types of learning described by behavioral psychology are classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning.

1. Classical Conditioning: Classical conditioning is a learning process in which an association is made between a previously neutral stimulus and a stimulus that naturally evokes a response [one stimulus becomes a signal of another stimulus]. Here one stimulus signifies the possible occurrence of another stimulus. Example Suppose a small child catches an inflated balloon which bursts in her/his hands making a loud noise. The child becomes afraid. Now the next time he/she is made to hold a balloon, it becomes a signal or cue for noise and elicits fear response.

2. Operant Conditioning: Operant conditioning is a form of learning in which behavior is learned, maintained or changed through its consequences. Such consequences are called rein forcers. A rein forcer is defined as any stimulus or event, which increases the probability of the occurrence of a (desired) response. The underlying idea behind operant conditioning is that the consequences of our actions shape voluntary behavior.

3. Observational Learning: Observational learning is a process in which learning occurs through observing and imitating others,