Chapter 1: Story of Psychology
Complete the following statements
Psychology is a study of ______.
OPTIONS
Mind
Behaviour
Soul
______ processes include thinking, memory, emotions etc.
OPTIONS
Mental
Cognitive
Spiritual
Match the following pairs.
SOLUTION
State whether the following statements are true or false.
Psychology is a study of mind.
OPTIONS
True
False
The first mental hospital in India was established in Mumbai.
OPTIONS
True
False
There was no study of mental processes in India till the formal discipline of Psychology was recognized as a science.
OPTIONS
True
False
Dr. Sigmund Freud proposed the concept of unconscious.
OPTIONS
True
False
Control is one of the objectives of Psychology.
OPTIONS
True
False
Identify the odd item from the following and give reason for the same.
OPTIONS
Soul
Mind
Feeling
Consciousness
Behaviour
SOLUTION
Feeling: Feeling is not a meaning of the Greek word "psyche".
OPTIONS
Walking
dancing
playing
thinking
eating
SOLUTION
Thinking: It is covert behaviour.
OPTIONS
Yam
Niyam
Karya
Aasana
Pratyahar
SOLUTION
Karya: It is not part of Ashtangyoga.
OPTIONS
Feeling
memory
attention
perception
SOLUTION
Feeling: It is not included in cognition
Complete the following table.
SOLUTION
Explain the following concepts.
Psychology
SOLUTION
The word Psychology is derived from the Greek words 'Psyche' (meaning soul or mind) and 'Logos' (meaning science or branch of knowledge). Thus, the literal meaning of Psychology was 'science of the soul or science of the mind'. However, neither soul or mind can be described in concrete terms nor can be scientifically observed. Hence, the definition of Psychology was modified.
Wilhelm Wundt explained Psychology as the study of 'conscious experience'.
Sigmund Freud explained Psychology as the study of the unconscious and stressed the importance of early childhood experiences. However, neither consciousness nor 'Unconscious' are directly observable.
John Watson defined Psychology as 'a science of behaviour'.
Today, psychology is defined as, 'the scientific study of human behaviour and mental process'.
Behaviour
SOLUTION
Behaviour includes anything that a person or animal does, that can be observed, recorded and studied. It is an organism's response to the stimuli present in the environment. This is represented as the S-0-R model of behaviour, where 'S' stands for stimulus, 'O' stands for organism and 'R' stands for Response of the organism.
Stimulus refers to any physical event or condition that gives rise to a reaction or activity of a sense organ. It can be external (e.g., sound waves stimulates the ear) or internal (e.g., stimuli for hunger). Organism refers to the human being or animal.
Response refers to the reaction of the organism to a stimulus. Which involves the activity of muscles and glands.
Behaviour includes overt activities (bodily movements like walking, dancing, singing, etc., which can be observed directly) and covert activities (mental processes like thinking, feelings, forgetting, etc.).
Overt Behaviour
SOLUTION
Behaviour is an organism's response to various stimuli present in our surrounding. Behaviour may be overt or covert. Overt behaviour includes directly observable responses like walking, talking, dancing etc.
Covert Behaviour
SOLUTION
Behaviour is an organism's response to various stimuli present in the surrounding. Behaviour may be overt or covert. Covert behaviour includes responses which are not directly observable but can be inferred from overt behaviour for e.g., thinking, feeling etc.
Stimulus
SOLUTION
Behaviour can be explained by the S-O-R model. Stimulus refers to any physical event or condition that initiates some activity of the sense organs and gives rise to a response. Stimulus may be external e.g., a sound or internal e.g., hunger pangs.
Response
SOLUTION
Behaviour can be explained by the S-O-R model. Response refers to the reaction of the organism to a stimulus. It involves the activity of the muscles or glands for e.g., in response to a threatening stimulus, a person's response may be to scream or to run away.
Answer the following questions in 35 to 40 words.
Psychology is a science: explain why?
SOLUTION
Psychology is defined as the scientific study of human behaviour and mental processes. It is not an exact science but a social science. A science is a body of systematized knowledge that is carefully obtained by observing and measuring events. Psychology is empirical i.e., it employs the scientific method, systematic observation and experiments to arrive at certain principles and theories. The goals of Psychology i.e., description (accurate identification and classification of behaviour), explanation (understanding the causes of behaviour) and prediction (knowledge about possible outcomes of behaviour) are scientific in orientation.
Explain the S-O-R model, with your own experience.
SOLUTION
Psychology is the scientific study of human behaviour and mental process. According to Watson, behaviour is anything a person or animal does. It is an organism's response to any external or internal stimulus. The S-O-R model is used to represent behaviour. 'S' stands for the stimulus i.e., any physical condition that gives rise to a response. 'O's stands for the organism. 'R' stands for response i.e., reaction of an organism to a given stimulus.
People show different responses to the same stimulus for e.g., If the teacher announces that she is going to conduct a revision test (stimulus), the students in the class(organism) will show different reactions(response). Some may feel excited as they have studied, others will be worried as they are unprepared, others will not be bothered at all.
Explain the goals of Psychology.
SOLUTION
Psychology is the scientific study of human behaviour and mental process. The foals of psychology include.
Describe behaviour - The primary goal of psychological research is to identify, classify and describe the behaviour or mental process as accurately and completely as possible. This requires the use of psychological tools like survey method, systematic observation, psychological tests, experiments etc.
Explanation of behaviour - This goal attempts to understand the causes of some observed behaviour i.e. why some behaviour pattern has occurred. If the behaviour is observed in many persons, it can be generalized to the entire population.
Prediction of behaviour - Researchers aim to identify specific conditions in which a particular behaviour will occur as well as the possible outcomes of such behaviour.
Control behaviour - This goal aims at influencing/modifying behaviour in a particular direction. Researchers may apply psychotherapeutic techniques to prevent undesirable behaviour and bring about desirable behaviour.
Give a historical account of emergence of Psychology as a science.
SOLUTION
Psychology is a vast field which studies behavioural aspects of human beings. It started as a branch of Philosophy. In 1879, Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychological laboratory at the University of Leipzig (Germany) and so Psychology emerged as an independent branch of knowledge.
The word Psychology is derived from the Greek words 'Psyche' (meaning soul or mind) and 'Logos' (meaning science or branch of knowledge). Thus, the literal meaning of Psychology was 'Science of the soul or science of the mind'. However, neither soul or mind can be described in concrete terms nor scientifically observed. Hence, the definition of psychology was modified.
Willhelm Wundt explained Psychology as the study of 'conscious experience'.
Sigmund Freud explained Psychology as the study of the unconscious and stressed the importance of early childhood experiences. However, neither consciousness nor 'unconscious' are directly observable.
John Watson defined psychology as 'a science of behaviour'. Today, Psychology is defined as, 'the scientific study of human behaviour and mental process'. The key terms in this definition are behaviour, mental processes, scientific method.
Behaviour - It includes anything that a person or animal does, that can be observed, recorded and studied. It is an organism's response to the stimuli present in the environment. This is represented as the S-O-R model of behaviour. ('S' stands for stimulus, 'O' stands for organism and 'R' stands for Response of the organism). Stimulus refers to any physical event or condition that gives rise to a reaction or activity of a sense organ. It can be external (e.g., sound wave stimulates the ear) or internal (e.g., stimuli for hunger)
Organism refer to the human being or animal.
Response refer to the reaction of the reaction of the organism to a stimulus. This involves the activity of muscles and glands.
Behaviour includes overt activities (bodily movements like walking, dancing, singing, etc which can be observed directly) and covert activities(mental processes like thinking, feelings, forgetting, etc.).Mental processes include thinking, emotion, forgetting, motivation, etc. These mental processes can be measured through how people react to different situations and problems in their lives.
Scientific method - Science is a body of systematic knowledge that is gathered by careful observation, measurement and experimentation. The results of observation and experiments can be generalized for analysis and prediction of behaviour.
Describe the goals of Psychology.
SOLUTION
Four Goals of Psychology
Describe: What is happening?
The primary goal of Psychology is to identify and classify behaviours and mental processes as accurately as possible. How do individuals think? What factors are responsible to stimulate their behaviour? How do individuals react to a specific situation? To know these answers, researchers need to record a particular behaviour in the socio-economic, cultural, geographical space. For example People behave differently in formal and informal situations and their reactions are studied in psychology. For this purpose researchers use various psychological tools. For example Standardized psychology tests, psychoanalytical techniques, survey method, laboratory experiments and observations.Explanation : Why it is happening?
Second major goal of Psychology is to understand the causes of the observed responses by explaining the facts in a meaningful way. Psychologists are interested in knowing the reasons behind their reactions. They use standardized psychological tests to understand the causes of their behaviour. If a particular behaviour is observed only in one individual, it can not be generalized to the entire population. Whereas if it is observed in most of the people, then we can generalize it to the entire population. For example, accidents of bike riders are more fatal due to head injury therefore wearing helmet should be made compulsory for bike riders.Prediction : What will happen next?
Third major goal of Psychology is to predict how a given condition or set of conditions will affect or lead to particular behaviour and mental processes of an individual. Prediction involves knowledge about the possible outcomes of behaviour.
Example : If someone drinks alcohol, it will slow down his reactions and that will increase the possibility of an accident. So driving after consuming alcohol should be strictly avoided.Control : How can it be changed?
Control or modification of behaviour is the fourth goal of Psychology. Controlling behaviour means shaping or moulding behaviour in a particular direction. It is accomplished when the researcher uses various principles of psychology to bring successful and smooth changes in behaviour so that unwanted behaviour patterns can be avoided. Psychologist use various psychotherapeutic techniques to shape and modify human behaviour.
Balbharati Solutions for Psychology 11th Standard Maharashtra State Board
The answers for the Balbharati books are the best study material for students. These Balbharati Solutions for Psychology 11th Standard Maharashtra State Board will help students understand the concepts better.
• Chapter 1: Story of Psychology
• Chapter 2: Branches of Psychology
• Chapter 4: Human Development
• Chapter 5: Healthy Me - Normal Me
Balbharati Solutions for Class 11th Standard FYJC Maharashtra.
Organisation of Commerce and Management (OCM)
