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 MODERN PSYCHOLOGY

Definition -Psychology is the Science of behavior in relation with the environment.
Behavior may vary according to different factors:

1. Childhood, adulthood, old age
2. Conscious and unconscious Behavior
3. Normal and Abnormal behavior
4. Subjective and Objective behavior

Behavior-may be
1.Expressed / Social/ Outward
2 Intrapsychic (Unconscious processes)
3.Biological

BRANCHES OF PSYCHOLOGY
1. Theoretical or Pure Psychology
 2. Practical or Applied Psychology

Theoretical Psychology
1.Physiological - Studies the physiological basis of behavior.
2.Psychology of Cognition - deals with mental activities and processes like perception, thinking, understanding, reasoning etc.
3. Abnormal psychology- Studies the causes, types and development of abnormal behavior
4. Differential psychology- Studies the individual differences in behavior pattern, components of differentiation.
5. Parapsychology - Studies the basis of supernatural things or activities, superstitions, extra sensory perceptions etc.
6 Soc/a/ psychology- dynamics of group behavior- influence of culture, propaganda. etc.
7. Animal psychology

Applied Psychology

1. Child psychology: Developmental changes in behavior and attitudes with age.

2. Educational psychology :
Problems of education
Age level education
Methods of teaching
Detection of subnormal individuals etc

3. Industrial and Business psychology:
Setup of the building, institution and other arrangement
Selection of personnel for various jobs
Problems of occupational set up

4. Criminal Psychology:
Criminal behavior, causes and types.
Types of punishments
Rehabilitation

5. Psychology of war
Selection of personal for battlefield
Problems and counseling.

6. Psychometircs:
Developing various psychological tools for assessment techniques.

7. Counseling psychology :
Problematic Cases
Scientific assessment of a person
Positive and negative counseling

8. Clinical psychology:
Final word for other branches of psychology
Diagnosis
Treatment methods
Psychotherapy
Rehabilitation
Research methods

         Schools of Psychology

1. Structuralism - Established by Wilhelm Wundt, German physiologist in 1879. It is  concerned with structure of mind and conscious activities and components of mental processes.

Just as chemical compounds are built from chemical elements, complex mental experiences are built up from simple mental states. Evolves laws for the formation of consciousness and behavior.

Method of study is introspection under controlled conditions.
Main topic is the study of sensation.
Follower — Titchener
Structural elements of conscious experience were analyzed - sensation, feelings. images.

2. Functionalism (1900)
This school originated as a reaction against structuralism. Instead of concentrating on the structure of consciousness, these psychologists gave importance to the study of the functions of human mind. They studied the way the individuals used mental experiences in adjusting to the environment. The leaders of the school were William James, James R.Angell and John Dewsy.
Naturally they concentrated their attention on learning processes.
Introspection and observation were the methods of study.

3. Behaviourism
Originated with J.B.Watson, an American psychologist in 1912. Behaviorists were skeptically but the emphasis on consciousness* Psychology is the science of behavior and he emphasized the objective and experimental method. Behavior could be primarily observed. It eliminated the subjectivity of the studies of consciousness. Behaviorists emphasized the role of physiology in behavior and contributed much on conditioned responses.

Exponents- Pavlov Dashill
Method - Experimentation and Observation
Main topic - Stimulus - Response

Introspective data are subjective, evident only to the experimenting individual.
Conscious experience is private, hence cannot be studied scientifically. Psychology should deal with what is public, Man should be studied as an object in nature.

4. Gestalt Psychology
German word for' organized whole'. School of thought that proposes behavior can only be fully understood in terms of the 'whole' aspect and that breaking down of behavior into smaller units detracts from their appreciation. Emphasis is given to the whole person or situation. A piece meal analysis of the situation (Reductionism) only identifies the smaller components of the complex event.

Whole is greater than the sum of all the parts
Exponents: Max Weirtheimer, Kurt Koffka, Wolfgang Kohler

They argued that perceptual experience is the result of active synthesis, based on a number of basic principles.
Humans are programmed to identify objects by properties that are not produced from a detailed description of each of their parts. Objects possesses what are sometimes called 'emergent properties'
e.g. Orchestra

5. Psychoanalysis

Founded by Sigmund Freud in 1900. According to him, psychological disorders originate from unconscious mental processes. Mind has 3 parts- the unconscious, the preconscious and the conscious. 90% of mind is composed of the unconscious ~ which is the seat of repression and instincts.
Mental make up of the person cannot be understood by the methods of introspection and laboratory experimentation, but by psycho analysis and dream analysis. He developed the method called Free Association Technique

Other exponents
Alfred Adler
Can Justav Jung

They were associated with Freud, but later departed from him, because of the overemphasis given for sex instinct by Freud. They developed independent ideas, and thus originated individual psychology and Analytic psychology.

6. Humanistic Psychology
Some psychologists believed that the complexity and uniqueness of man could not be studied by Freudian or behaviorist method. They gave more importance to human experience. Man is considered a subjective animal having motives for development and to become perfect, which are more important than sex power etc

Humanistic psychology will be the major force in the 1s' or 2nd decades of 21st Century because man wilt slowly come to realize that the origin of bliss or happiness is in himself, and so he will turn to himself for truth, beauty, happiness, success and achievement.

Major exponents: Gordon W Allport,Can Rogers,Abraham Maslow

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