A.
DEFINITIONS AND MEANING (OF PSYCHOLOGY):
The term ‘psychology’ was coined
in 1590 by Rudolf Goeckle. This term is derived from two Greek words ‘Psyche’
and ‘Logos’. The first word means soul
and second word means reasoned discourse
or science. Considering the popular thoughts of Greek world Rodolf Goeckle
might have linked two words and named it psychology. The word psychology means
‘science or study of soul’.
Psychology is about the people.
Its subject matter is human being. Unlike philosophical speculations psychology
provides scientific knowledge about the subject we think we know best. As a
science, psychology
seeks a general understanding of how human beings function. They want to know why
people think, feel, and behave as they do. What makes each person different
from all other people? Yet why do they often behave so alike in some
situations? In order to find answer and understand human nature psychologists
approached in different ways. They explore the inner spaces of the brain and
mind in one hand and the outer dimensions of human behavior on the other hand.
This is because human nature is shaped by heredity and environment, mind as
well as by behavior.
Humans are curious being and curiosity
to know other beings probably started from the beginning of human civilization
or much earlier when people started to use symbol to communicate with each
other and live in group. Understanding and predicting others behaviors not only
brings knowledge about how to deal with others but also gives power to control
one’s and other’s behavior. Establishing relationship and continuing it depends
on our understanding of others. This understanding include knowing of how
people think, feel, and behave. But this common sense (lay knowledge) however
is not scientific psychology. Nevertheless, it provides some keys to approach
to others and establish relationship. We all more or less know other people
especially those who are very close to us about how they think, feel, and
behave as they do. In this sense, all people are naïve psychologists.
Scientific psychology is much more sophisticated than naïve psychology or
common sense. But scientific psychology did not come to age all of sudden. For
centuries philosophers and social thinkers have been trying to find the precise
knowledge about psychology of people. These philosophers were not only
concerned about people they were dealing with but also the human nature in
general. The growth of knowledge about human beings, thus, jumped from personal
need to greater social and scientific achievement.
Psychology
as the study of ‘soul’ and ‘mind’
Greek philosophers
intellectualized the topic of human nature and contributed rich explanation
about human psychology. Greek philosophers believed that soul (psyche), the
spiritual entity, was responsible for the various mental activities such as
learning, reasoning, thinking, feeling etc. thus, they discussed and exchanged
ideas on soul and stressed that it should control man's each and every actions.
Psychology was considered as the study of soul. For centuries, psychology
remained as a part of philosophical thought and much exercise were directed to
understand mental life.
Later, during enlightened period
psychology was considered as the science of ‘mind’. The concept of mind is more
clear and understandable than the concept of soul as conceived by the Greeks to
study human nature. The concept of ‘soul’ and ‘mind’ is vague and outside the
interest of science. The paradigm shift (from soul to mind) in the subject
matter of psychology is an indication that with an increase of knowledge of
human nature, the philosophers and social thinkers tried to understand, explain
and solve the human problems with more accurate terms and methods.
Philosophical discourse, however, is confined in armchair speculation only. It
lacks scientific approach.
Psychology as the Study of Consciousness
Modern definition of psychology
is also called scientific definition because when psychology was defined the
early psychologists were already working in the laboratory and
experimentally examining human behavior. It was in 1879
when Wilhelm Wundt established psychological laboratory at Leipzig
university, Germany . Wundt was a physiologist by
profession but equally interested in philosophy that dealt with human nature.
Before establishing laboratory he was already working with subjects like
sensation (consciousness). Wundt separated psychology from philosophy and
physiology and introduced new way to examine human consciouness. Many
historians of psychology regard this action as the birth of modern psychology
and Wundt is regarded as the father of modern psychology. With new psychology
Wundt also defined psychology, its subject matter and the method.
Wundt defined psychology as the
description and explanation of the states of consciousness. Later he clarified
it more and stated that “psychology has to investigate that which we call
immediate experience….in our own sensation and feeling, our thought and
volition.” To Wundt, Immediate experience was meant to refer sensation,
imagination, images and feelings. The subject matter of psychology became
clearer with the new definition it became possible to conduct experiment on
human consciousness. This was very exciting period for the new discipline.
Wundt's laboratory became centre of all intellectual activities. Many other
universities of Europe also established laboratories
to conduct experiment in psychology. Titchener, one of American students of
Wundt's, established laboratory in America and practiced Wundt's
modern psychology.
The popularity of psychology
rose quickly and researches were conducted in different fields e.g., child
development, animal behavior, human memory and so on. Later experimental
psychologists found some problems with the subject matter and methods as
advocated by Wundt. Psychologists working with animals and children found that
Wundt's psychology is more subjective and concerned largely with consciousness.
It is not possible to examine the mind of the animal or children with the
introspective method. However, child and animal psychologists were successful
in their studies by observing the behaviors and not the mind. Other
psychologists who applied introspective method were in problem of subjectivity
and biasness. It led to criticism of Wundt's definition, subject matter and
method of psychology. Questions was raised about the consciousness. Though
consciousness was much more clear term than 'soul' or 'mind' yet it an abstract
concept. Natural science rarely deals with concept that cannot be seen, observe
or quantitatively measured. Besides, Sigmund Freud, who developed the theory of
psychoanalysis, had stated three levels of mind – conscious, subconscious and
unconscious. Wundt, from Freudian point of view, was only working with one
level of mind - consciouness. The observed short coming of Wundt's psychology,
criticism of Wundt's psychology as being metaphysical in nature, and
limitations of introspective method paved the way for the development of
Behaviorism psychology. As a result, new definition, subject matter and method
was established. Psychology became more scientific in orientation and practice.
Psychology as the Science of Behavior
John
B. Watson is credited as the man who made psychology a positive science. Watson
defined psychology “as science of human behavior” in 1911 and later published
his famous article in 1913. The article introduced behaviorism theory as an
important perspective in psychology. Psychology was explained having a
scientific approach to the study of behavior. This definition was considered
scientific and behavioristic in approach because the definition emphasizes more
on behavior. Such definition has some specific indication on what and how
psychology works. As a science, psychology brings carefully controlled methods
of observation, such as the survey and the experiment, to bear on its subject
matter whenever possible. Behaviorists emphasized that:
1.
Psychology
is the science of behavior. Psychology is not the science of mind.
2.
Behavior
can be described and explained without making reference to mental events or to
internal psychological processes. The sources of behavior are external (in the
environment), not internal (in the mind).
3.
In the
course of theory development in psychology, if, somehow, mental terms or
concepts are deployed in describing or explaining behavior, then either (a)
these terms or concepts should be eliminated and replaced by behavioral terms
or (b) they can and should be translated or paraphrased into behavioral
concepts.
Most of the psychologists are
interested primarily in human behavior, yet many of them focus much or all of
their research on the behavior of animals ranging from rats and pigeons to
flatworms and gorillas. Some psychologists believe that research findings about
such animals can be generalized[1] to humans. Psychologists who
were interested in both human and animal behavior defined psychology as a
“science of human and animal behavior” or it was defined simply as the study of
organism. Many psychologists argued that people are so distinct from other
animals that we can only learn about people by studying people. As with many
such controversies, both views hold much truth. For instance, laboratory
studies of the nerve cells of animals like the squid have given us much insight
into the workings of the nerve cells of people. But only by studying people can
we understand the purely human inventions of morality, values, and romantic
love. Yet many psychologists study the behavior of lower animals simply because
they enjoy doing so. They are under no obligation to justify their interests on
the basis of generalizability to people.
