Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith,

Varanasi
Faculty of Social Sciences,
Department of Psychology

Course: BA 1st Year

Paper 1: Basic Psychological Processes
Unit I : Nature and Scope of Psychology

Dr. Durgesh Kumar Upadhyay, Assistant Professor

Department of Psychology
Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith, Varanasi – 221002
[email protected]; [email protected]
 DECLARATION
“The content is exclusively meant for academic purposes and for
enhancing teaching and learning. Any other use for
economic/commercial purpose is strictly prohibited. The users
of the content shall not disturb or disseminate or share it with
anyone else and it use is restricted to advancement of individual
knowledge. The information provided in this e-content is
authentic and best as per my knowledge.”
Dr. Durgesh K. Upadhyay
NATURE AND SCOPE OF PSYCHOLOGY
Nature of Psychology
It is an accepted reality that the nature of Psychology is quit scientific. This fact has been
properly recognized by eminent psychologists and thinkers as may be inferred from the
definitions of Psychology, in terms of the scientific study or science of behaviour, already given.
+ Psychology is scientific It has practical realm
+ It is an experiential science It emphasizes the search for truth
+ It’s method is scientific It helps in predicting future developments
+ It is factual It believes that every behaviour has its roots, and
factors causing, influencing or nurturing it.
+ It has a theoretical base Subjective ideas and opinions are not considered
significant in the study of behaviour in psychology

Psychology as a Positive Science

We can divide all the sciences into two broad categories – the positive and the normative. While
physical and life science are termed as positive sciences, subjects like logic, philosophy and
ethics are included in the category of normative sciences. It must be noted that psychology is
Natural or Positive Science, not a Normative Science.
In contrast to normative sciences, positive sciences study facts as they are and have little or no
concern with what ought to be. Psychology in this sense easily falls in the category of positive
sciences.
In positive sciences, we merely describe behaviour as we discover or find it without evaluating
it, without saying whether it is good or bad, desirable or undesirable, but in normative sciences,
we seek to evaluate behaviour and thus attempt to influence or improve behaviour of others.
Psychology explains to us why and how we behave at different stages of growth. Like all other
sciences it seeks to understand, predict and control the behaviour as such.
As mentioned to you earlier that psychology is a science which studies human behavior with
reference to context as well as other individuals. With the help of observation and learning, the
discipline tries to find out the causes of a particular behavior shown by an individual in a specific
situation. Broadly, all sciences have two branches. One, the basic or academic branch and the
other, applied.
The basic or academic branch is the result of an academic curiosity or a question e.g. Newton
asked ―Why does the apple fall on the ground?‖ which gave rise to the theory of ‗gravity‘. On
the other hand, the applied branch deals with solving problem by applying inputs from the
basic/academic branch. However, this distinction is not rigid and beyond a point, both the branch
converge. e.g. many theories of basic branch are applied, or have potential to be applied, to solve
problems. Similarly, many applied branches have come up with new or supplementary theories
that have been included in the basic branch. According to Parameswaran and Beena (1988),
psychology may be broadly classified into general psychology and differential psychology. The
former is concerned with the investigation of generalities and similarities in behaviour,
especially among the normal adults while the later has been primarily concerned with the
observation, measurement and explanation of individual differences. Gradually, these two broad
divisions developed into further branches or divisions of general psychology and applied
psychology.

Early Divisions of Psychology

Like other sciences, psychology also started with basic branches, which were classified as:
experimental and non-experimental. The experimental branch started with the research studies in
the field of physiological, learning, and perception processes. Many psychologists attempt to
understand the fundamental causes of behaviour and such attempts may not be directly applied to
solve practical problems. They are primarily engaged in basic research, and study fundamental
processes such as learning, memory, thinking, sensation, perception, motivation, and emotion, by
using experimental method. Thus, the experimental psychologist investigates how behaviour is
modified and how people retain these modifications, the processing of information thinking, how
human sensory systems work to allow people to experience what is going on around them, and
the factors that urge them on and give direction to behaviour.
The non-experimental branch included personality, social, and developmental processes.
However, many of these academic branches are having further sub-branches, i.e. developmental
psychology has sub-branches like child psychology, adolescence psychology and gerontology.
Similarly, social psychology has an ‗applied social psychology‘ branch and it has given rise to an
applied field called ‗organisational psychology‘. Applied fields have also led to development of
many theories, e.g. application of theories of motivation to organisations has resulted in many
work motivation theories.

Subfields of Psychology
As discussed above there are many branches of psychology, which are categorized under basic
and applied branches. Many authors use the terms ‗branch‘ and ‗field‘ interchangeably. Area or
branch seems to be broader terms which include both basic and applied aspects, whereas, field
implies specific area, where expertise or specialised knowledge is required to solve problems.
However, some authors use the term ‗field‘ in a broad manner, e.g. ‗the field of psychology‘ has
many sub fields. Others use the term ‗division‘ and ‗sub-divisions‘ of psychology. Clear cut
distinction is not obvious. Therefore, these terms are used interchangeably.
The subfields of psychology have increased the scope of psychology in various other disciplines
and areas. The implications of psychology have therefore led to emergence of several other
subfields. It is applicable to different fields such as employment, industries, education, and
personality development. It has also led to an emergence of a subfield that studies and assesses
the mental and emotional problems of individuals. The scope of psychology can therefore be
discussed under the following sub fields:

Biopsychology
This branch deals with biological bases of behaviour. The intimate relationship between
psychology and the biological sciences is quite obvious. All behaviour occurs through bodily
processes. The brain plays a very important role in coordinating and organising the functions of
the different organs of the body. In fact, it is the seat of all forms of complex behaviour.
Genetics, the branch of the biology which deals with the nature of inheritance of different
qualities is also an important discipline from the point of view of psychology. Over the years,
geneticists have carried out important researches, bringing out the role of heredity in determining
behaviour. This has been particularly so in the case of abnormal behaviour like neurosis, mental
retardation, psychosis etc. Studies on the role of heredity have also indicated the importance of
the genes in determining the intelligence level. In recent years, the role of chemical factors
especially the hormones, secreted by endocrine glands have been shown to play an important
role in behaviour. Emotional behaviour, temperament etc. are to a considerable extent,
influenced by the hormones of the endocrine glands.

Cognitive Psychology
The cognitive psychology deals with human information processing abilities. Psychologists in
this field try to study all aspects of cognition such as memory, thinking, problem solving,
decision making, language, reasoning and so on.

Comparative Psychology
It studies and compares the behaviour of different species, especially animals. That is why some
authors used to call this field as animal psychology. By studying animal behaviour, these
psychologists gather important information which can be compared with and applied to human
behaviour. For example, investigating how the queen bee directs, control, and gets things done
by the worker bees, may provide meaningful information about leadership.

Cultural Psychology
The branch studies the ways in which culture, subculture, and ethnic group membership affect
behaviour. These psychologists do cross cultural research and compare behaviour of people of
different culture across different nations.

Developmental Psychology
This branch or field of psychology describes and explains the processes and products of growth
and development in relation to the behaviour of an individual from birth to old age. For added
convenience it is further sub-divided into branches such as child psychology, adolescent
psychology and adult psychology.

Experimental Psychology
This field investigates all aspects of psychological processes like perception, learning, and
motivation. The major research method used in this field deals with controlled experiments.
Morgan et al. (1986) mentioned that experimental method is also used by psychologists other
than experimental. For instance, social psychologists may do experiments to determine the
effects of various group pressures and its influences on a person‘s behaviour. So, in spite of its
name, it is not the method that distinguishes experimental psychology from other sub-fields.
Instead, experimental psychology is distinguished by what it studies—the fundamental processes
of learning, and memory, thinking, sensation and perception, motivation, emotion, and the
physiological or biological bases of behaviour under certain circumstances.

Gender Psychology
This field studies the roles and influences of gender on basis of researches done on males and
females. It tries to analyse the acquisition of gender identity, and the role of gender throughout
life.

Geo Psychology
This new branch of psychology describes and explains the relation of physical environment
particularly, weather, climate, soil and landscape with behaviour.

Learning Psychology
It studies how and why learning occurs. In this field the psychologists develop theories of
learning and apply the laws and principles of learning to solve a variety of human problems.

Legal Psychology
It is the branch of applied psychology which studies the behaviour of clients, criminals,
witnesses etc. in their respective surroundings with the application of psychological principles
and techniques. It contains the subject-matter for improving the ways and means of detection of
crimes, identification and apprehension of false witnesses and other complex issues. The root
causes of any crime, offence or dispute or legal case can be properly understood through the use
of this branch of psychology and subsequently proper corrective and rehabilitative measures can
be decided upon.

Military Psychology
This branch of psychology is concerned with the use of psychological principles and techniques
in the field of military activities. How to maintain the morale of the soldiers and citizens during
war time, how to fight the enemies propaganda and intelligence activities, how to secure
recruitment of better personnel for the armed forces, and how to improve the fighting capabilities
and organisational climate and leadership in the armed forces are some of the various topics dealt
with by this branch of psychology

Parapsychology
This new branch of psychology deals with extra sensory perception, precognition, causes of
claimed rebirth, telepathy and allied phenomena.

Personality Psychology
The field of personality psychology studies personality traits and dynamics. The psychologists
develop theories of personality and tests for assessing personality traits. They also identify the
causes of problems related to personality development.

Physiological Psychology
Physiological psychologists investigate the role of biochemical changes within our nervous
systems and bodies in everything we do, sense, feel, or think. Mostly, they use experimental
method and do basic research on the brain, nervous system, and other physical origins of
behaviour. Physiological psychology is not only a part of psychology, but also is considered to
be part of the broader field called neurobiology which studies the nervous system and its
functions.
Political Psychology
This branch of psychology deals with the use of psychological principles and techniques in
studying politics and deriving political gains. The knowledge of the dynamics of group
behaviour, judgement of public opinion, qualities of leadership, psychology of propaganda and
suggestion, the art of diplomacy etc. are some of the key concepts that find place in the subject-
matter of political psychology.

Sensation and Perception Psychology

The field studies about the sense organs and the process of perception. Psychologists working in
this field help to investigate the mechanisms of sensation and develop theories about how
perception or misperception (illusion) occurs. They also study how we perceive depth,
movement, and individual differences in perception. Researches in this field have given rise to
many laws and principles that help us understanding the ways we adjust to the visual world in a
meaningful way.

Social Psychology
The field of social psychology helps in investigating human social behaviour, including attitudes,
conformity, persuasion, prejudice, friendship, aggression, helping and so forth. It emphasises on
all aspects of social behaviour such as how we think about and interact with others, how we
influence and are influenced by others. For example, social psychologists study how we perceive
others and how those perceptions affect our attitude and behaviour towards them in a society.
This field has developed by the joint contribution of sociologists and social psychologists and
their research interest overlaps. However, their focus differs in the sense that while the former
are concerned primarily with social institutions, the later focus typically upon the individual.
The social psychologists work on the applied side of this field, have developed and standardised
techniques to measure attitudes and opinions of individual in a societal context. Their survey
research ponders upon political opinion, consumer attitudes and attitudes related to important
social issues which provide important information to politicians, business executives, and
community leaders who benefit from these, while making decisions.

Clinical Psychology
This field emphasises on the diagnosis, causes, and treatment of severe psychological disorders
and emotional troubles. Confusion between the fields of clinical psychology and psychiatry
occurs because both clinical psychologists and psychiatrists provide psychotherapy. And both
usually work together in many hospitals/clinics. That is why many people get confused regarding
the difference between the two. Well, they belong to two different groups of professionals and
differ in their educational background as well as the ways of diagnosis and treatment.
Psychiatrists are physicians. After completing medical studies, they do Doctor of Medicine
(M.D.) in psychiatry and specialise in the treatment of mental disorders, whereas, clinical
psychologists hold a master‘s degree M.A/ M.Sc and/ or a doctorate degree (Doctor of
Philosophy [Ph.D] or Doctor of Psychology [Psy.D]) in clinical psychology. Because of this
difference in training, clinical psychologists who do not have medical training, cannot prescribe
drugs to treat behaviour disorders. Clinical psychologists carry out research to find out better
ways of diagnosing, treating, and preventing psychological disorders. They also rely heavily on
standardised tests for identifying the causes of these disorders.
They use psychotherapy, for which they are trained, for the treatment of mental disorders. But
clinical psychologists are not authorised to prescribe drugs to treat behaviour disorders, as they
do not have medical training.

Community Psychology
The field applies to the community-wide mental health through research, prevention, education,
and consultation. Community psychologists apply psychological principles, ideas, and points of
view to help solve social problems and to help individuals in adapting to their work and living
groups. Some community psychologists are essentially clinical psychologists and they specially
organise programmes to reach those people in the community, who have behavioural problems
or who are likely to have such problems. These psychologists not only deal with mental health
problems of community members but also attempt to promote their mental health as well as the
mental health of their care givers. Other community psychologists are more concerned with
bringing ideas from the behavioural sciences to bear on community problems.
They may be called the ‗social-problem community psychologists‘. Hostility among groups in
the community, bad relations between the police and community members, or distress due to
lack of employment opportunities, for example, might be problems on which a social-problem
community psychologist would work.
Such psychologists also, often work to encourage certain groups to participate in community
decisions, to provide psychological information about effective and health promoting child-
rearing practices, or to advise school systems about how to make their curricula meet the needs
of community members.

Consumer Psychology
The field is involved in researches related to packaging, advertising, marketing methods, and
characteristics of consumers. This field is an offshoot of social psychology.

Counseling Psychology
This branch deals with helping people/individuals with personal problems including
interpersonal relations, career choice, mild emotional troubles or behavioural problems such as
over eating, slow learning or lack of concentration.
Counseling psychologists assist individuals having specific problem like how to plan career, how
to develop more effective interpersonal skills (e.g. communication skills). Now a days, there are
experts are like marriage counselors, family counselors, school counselors etc.

Educational Psychology
The discipline deals with classroom dynamics, teaching styles, and learning; it develops
educational tests and evaluates educational programs. Investigates all aspects of educational
process ranging from curriculum design to techniques of instruction to learning disabilities. This
branch deals with broader problem of increasing the efficiency of learning in school by applying
psychological knowledge about/of learning and motivation to the curriculum. Another
specialised sub-field called School Psychology may be included in educational psychology.

Ergonomics
It is a discipline which inter relates engineering technologies to human behaviour. It deals with
the process of designing and managing the work place environment, products or systems for the
comfort and optimum performance of employees and individuals.

Industrial/Organisational Psychology
Investigates all aspects of behaviour in work setting ranging from selection and recruitment of
employees, performance appraisal, work motivation and leadership. The first application of
psychology to the problems of industries and organisations was selection and recruitment of
employees by using intelligence, aptitude tests. Now-a-day by number of companies are using
modern versions of such tests in their programmes for hiring and selection of employees.
Specialists in this field also apply psychology to problems related to management and employee
training, leadership and supervision, communication, motivation, inter- and intra-group conflict
within the organisation. They organise on-the-job training programmes for improving work
environments and human relations in organisations and work settings. These psychologists are
sometimes called personnel psychologists.

Medical Psychology
The field of Medical Psychology applies psychology to manage medical problems, such as the
emotional impact of illness, self-screening for cancer, compliance in taking medicines. Job of
these psychologists overlaps with part of health psychology.

Forensic Psychology
It is a field which is a blend or combination of psychology and law. It is involves psychological
assessment of individuals (usually suspected for an illegal act or crime). The forensic
psychologists are involved in various settings like a school doing threat assessments, the prison
or in the courtroom serving as an expert witness. They are professionally skilled in behaviour
analysis, evolution, assessment and treatment. Though they get training in law and criminal
psychology, they also have to be trained in clinical psychology. They need to have hands on
experience in clinical assessment, interviewing, report writing and strong verbal communication
skills.

Military Psychology
This branch of psychology refers to the study of implying psychological theories to understand
as well as predict behaviours of military forces within country as well as those of outside the
country. The administration of psychological tools can help the armed forces to thrive better in
stressful situations. The discipline also deals on application of psychological theories and
principles to deal with the enemy forces. It also reflects on how to make work-life balance.

Environmental Psychology
This discipline aims at researching and solving environmental issues in order to enhance better
living conditions for human and their well being. It deals with interaction of human with
environment.

Sports Psychology
Sports psychology is the study of influence of psychology on sports, athletic performance,
exercise, and physical activity. It deals with the various aspects that can enhance the level of
motivation, performance and team spirit among professional athletes and coaches. It also reflects
the relevance of involvement in sports and exercise with reference to positive well being of
individuals.
References:
1. http://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/61378/1/Unit2.pdf
2. http://www.alexgkavukattu.com/files/media/notes/1507258004EDU%20102-
%20MODULE%201.pdf

Questions

1. What is the nature of psychology?

2. Describe the scope of psychology.