INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
UNIT : I
INTRODUCTION
History and origin of science of psychology
 Definitions & Scope of psychology
 Relevance to nursing
 Methods of psychology

HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY
Before 1870 psychology was not a separate discipline rather it
was studied under Philosophy.
Some of the contributors of psychology were as follows: Wilhelm Wundt in 1879 opened first experimental
laboratory in psychology at the University of Leipzig,
Germany. He is considered as the father of psychology.
 American
Psychological Association (APA) was
established in 1892 and the founder was G. Stanley Hall.
 In 1896 John Dewey and William James supported the
functionalism in Psychology.
HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY
In 1896 Sigmund Freud developed the theory of
psychoanalysis. On the basis of this therapy later on he
developed the therapy of free association and dream
analysis.
 In 1905 IQ test developed by Alfred Binet and
Thiodore Simon.
 In 1913 John B. Watson supported the behavioral
aspects of psychology.

 In
1921 Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach
devised a personality test based on patients'
interpretations of inkblots which is named as
Rorschach ink blot test
HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY
In 1921 First Nobel Prize for psychological research was
given to Charles Frederick Menninger.
 In 1921, Ivan Pavlov developed the theory of classical
conditioning through the experimental approach
 In 1935 Gestalt Psychology came into existence
 B.F.
skinner proposed the theory of Operant
conditioning

HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY
PERSONALITIES OF PSYCHOLOGY
BF
Skinner
Wilhelm Wundt
Father of
Psychology
Sigmund
Freud
Ivan
Pavlov
MEANING….
The
word "psychology" comes from
the Greek word psyche meaning
"breath or spirit or soul", and logos
meaning the study of something.
DEFINITION OF PSYCHOLOGY
“ psychology is the science which aims to give us better
understanding and control of the behavior of the
organism as a whole”
“William McDougall”
“Psychology is a science and the properly trained
psychologist is a scientist or at least a practitioner, who
uses scientific methods or information resulting from
scientific investigation”
N. L Munn
SCOPE OF PSYCHOLOGY
Studies, describes & explains the behaviour of
living organism
 Describes all types of life activities & experiences
 Studies not only the human behaviour, but also
human experience, language and communication
 Employs all the living creatures irrespective of
their species, caste, colour, age, sex, mental &
physical state
 Studies the behaviour of the animals, insects,
birds & plant life

BRANCHES OF PSYCHOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGY
Pure / Basic Psychology
General Psychology
Abnormal Psychology
Applied Psychology
Educational Psychology
Clinical Psychology
Social Psychology
Industrial Psychology
Physiological Psychology
Para Psychology
Legal Psychology
Geo Psychology
Military Psychology
Developmental Psychology
Experimental Psychology
Political Psychology

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Basic/ Pure psychology:
General psychology: deals with fundamental
rules, principles & theories in relation to study
of behaviour of normal adult
Abnormal psychology: behaviour of
individual who are unusual
Social psychology: study of social
relationship, attitudes & beliefs
Physiological psychology: biological &
psychological basis of behaviour
Para psychology: extrasensory perceptions,
rebirth, telepathy & allied problems
Geopsychology : environment like weather,
climate & soil with behaviour
7. Developmental psychology: It studies the human
development, physical, emotional, social, moral emotional
and personality development across the life span
8. Experimental psychology: Experimental
psychologists restricts themselves chiefly to laboratory
research on basic psychological processes, including
perception, learning memory, thinking, motivation and
emotions
 APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
Educational Psychology
Educational psychology is mainly devoted to an
understanding of the different aspects of the teachinglearning process.
2. Clinical Psychology:
Describes causes of mental illness, abnormal behaviour,
suggests treatment & effective adjustment of the affected
person.
3. Industrial psychology:
Studies behavior of industrial workers, training, placement,
supervision and effective communication in an
organization
1.
4. Legal/ Forensic Psychology
Forensic psychology applies psychology to the legal system studies
the behaviour of clients, criminals, witnesses etc.
5. Military Psychology
6. Political psychology
7. Sports psychology
8. Women psychology
APPLICATION OF PSYCHOLOGY
Education
Human
relationship &
development
Military
Medicine
Application
of
psychology
Guidance
&
counseling
Business &
industry
Criminology
Politics
RELEVANCE TO NURSING
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
To understand his/ her own self
To understand patients
To recognize abnormal behaviour
To understand other people
To provide quality care to the patients
Help patients to adjust to the situation
Help for effective studying
RELEVANCE TO NURSING
Physical and mental well being of a patient depends largely on the
nurse
 A nurse should know the science of behavior for better result to deal
with the patient.
 Psychology explains the relationship between the psychological stress
and physical disorders.
 After detail study of the psychology nurse can apply the principles of
psychology in the dealing with the patients.
 Psychology helps the nurse to accept the individual differences in
terms of likings, disliking, emotions, response to stress etc.

RELEVANCE TO NURSING
Psychology also contributes in many therapeutic measures likebehavior therapy, play therapy, psychoanalysis etc.
 Psychology helps to understand the concept of self awareness, self
esteem.
 It describes the coping abilities, defense mechanism used by the
patients and theis relevance to diseased conditions.

RELEVANCE TO NURSING
Psychology helps to understand herself
 Psychology helps to understand other people
 It will help her to improve situations by helping others
 Make her to understand close relationship between body mind and
spirit.

METHODS OF PSYCHOLOGY
Methods are special tools and procedures a
psychologist uses for gathering information or
facts or data
Methods of Psychology
Introspection
Observation
Experimental
Clinical/ case
history
Survey
Genetic /
developmental
METHODS OF PSYCHOLOGY……
1.
Introspection

Introspection means looking into oneself or self observations or
self analysis.

It involves carefully examining and reporting one’s own
behavior, thoughts, emotions, sensations and mental notes.

In the method of introspection one relies on his memory, draws
on his past experiences of analysis his current behavior.
METHODS OF PSYCHOLOGY…..

Introspection
Merits:
 It is very helpful in self
observations without depending
on time.
 It does not required any device
 It gives us direct, immediate and
exact knowledge of our mental
processes
 Inexpensive, easy and does not
require any apparatus or
laboratory
METHODS OF PSYCHOLOGY…
Demerits:
 It is a purely private affaire & cannot be verified by other
observers.
 They can not be verified objectively
 Repeatability is not confirmed
 In many cases, the patient may not have the insight to know
about their conditions
 Provide little or no informations about the experiences of
infants, children, mentally ill person or animals.
2. OBSERVATIONAL METHOD
 Objective
method of studying the
behaviour of individuals
 Perception of an individuals behaviour
under natural conditions by other
individuals & interpretation & analysis of
perceived behaviour by them
 Observer observes & collects the data
Steps in Observational Method:
 Observation
of behaviour
 Noting of behaviour
 Interpretation & analysis of behaviour
 Generalization
Merits:
Economical, natural, as well as flexible
 The data can be analysed, measured,
classified & interpreted
 Suitable for observing developmental
characteristics like children’s habits and
interests

Demerits:
 Chances
for subjective report & also
prejudices of observer may creep in
 Observer
may have to spend more time,
energy & money
 Lacks
repeatability, as each natural
situation can occur only once
3. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
 Considered
most scientific & objective
method of studying behaviour
 The
word “experiment” derived from a
Latin word “ to try”, “ to put test”
 Used
to study cause & effect relationship
regarding the nature of human behaviour
Essential feature of experimental
method:
 Requires
two persons, the experimenter &
the subject or person
 Experimentation should be done on living
organisms
 Conducted under controlled settings
Merits:
 Scientific method
 Finds out cause & effect relationship
 Maximum control of phenomena
 Repetition is possible
Demerits:
 All
problems of psychology cannot be
studied by this method
 Costly & time consuming
 Requires special skill
4. CLINICAL / CASE HISTORY METHOD:
 Used
by clinical psychologists, psychiatrists,
psychiatric social workers in child guidance
clinics or mental hygiene clinics and allied
institutions
 Studying the cause basis of people’s
anxieties, fears & personal maladjustments
 Data collected by using case histories,
interviews, home visits & psychological tests
Merits:
 Gives the clinician an insight into the
cause of the problem & suggest possible
solutions
 Can be productive sources of ideas for
further investigation by other methods
Demerits:

Depends largely on memory of incidents
which may have been observed
inaccurately or over interrupted
5. SURVEY METHOD
o
Involves collection or gathering
information from a large number of
people by using questionnaires,
inventories. Checklists, rating scales &
interviews
o
It collects informations about behavior,
opinion, attitudes, life experiences or
personal characteristics.
Merits:
 A large amount of data can be collected in a
shorter time
Demerits:
 The behaviour is not observed directly
6. DEVELOPMENTAL/ GENETIC METHOD
Studies human development from birth- death
 Used in the field of developmental psychology
 Physical, social, moral, language and emotions are
observed in the children
 Developmental
method uses the following
techniquesLongitudinal study ( same child will be studied in
different stages of life)
Cross sectional study (children of different age groups
will be studied simultaneously)

Merits:
 More useful method to understand the
behaviour from point of view of heredity &
environmental influences
Demerits:
 Requires more time & energy