Introduction to Psychology

Course title: Introduction to Psychology

Course code: Psy 101

Objectives:
On completion of this lecture the students will

be able to understand how Psychology has

gained the status of a social science going
through different periods of history.

Definition of Psychology
The word of psychology is derived from two

Greek words Psyche and Logos

Psyche means Soul/Spirit/Mind and Logos
means Knowledge
Psychology stands for the knowledge of
mind/soul
Psychology is the science of mind and behavior

Subject Matter of Psychology

Subject Matter of psychology is A-B-C
A stands for Affect
B stands for- Behavior (Overt and Covert

Behavior)
C stands for- Cognition

Historical background of Psychology

The roots of Psychology can be traced back

to some half million years. Primitive people

assumed that behavior was caused by the
presence of good and evil souls .
People have been interested in the behavior
of other people throughout history so that
roots of psychology may be found in
philosophy, religion, and science.

 We can divide history period into two periods

Pre scientific period
Scientific period

Pre scientific period

Some of our modern ideas of mind came

from ancient Greece. Term Psychology was

derived from the Greek word Psyche (soul)
and logos (knowledge). It eventually came to
mean the study of the mind
Pre scientific period can be divided into three
sub periods .

 i) Greek period
ii) Middle ages
iii) Islamic period

Greek period
Some early Greek philosophers regarded Psyche as

a substance. This substance was thought to control

the body. Some Greek philosophers are:
Hippocrates (430 B.C): Greek physician
Hippocrates thought that personality was made up of
four temperaments and these temperaments were
influenced by the presence of humors or fluids in
the body. The problem of interest to the early Greek
philosophers was the relationship between mind
and body.

Greek period
Plato(427-347 B.C)
He stressed the controlling influence of soul

or mind.
He postulated the theory of mind body
dualism and held the view that as long as the
soul remains in the body, the man is alive,
and when it leaves the body, the man dies.

Greek period
Aristotle(384-322 B.C)
Rejected the Platos theory and suggested that mind

is a function of the body itself just as vision is a

function of the eye.
His concept of mind as a function of bodily processes
was an important step in the direction of making
Psychology a science.
Attention turned, eventually, from pure speculation
about the mind to the study of organism.

Middle ages
Plotinus(205-270):
He was influenced by Plato and Aristotles thoughts.
He tried to understand religious beliefs through

reasoning.
St. Augustine(354-430):
Being a Christian philosopher, he believed that
human being is interaction of soul and body.

Middle ages
He was founder of introspective method.
He thought that an individual can understand

his own inner feelings.

Islamic Period
If the ideas of modern Psychologists about

mental health are assessed, we come to

know that these are based on the views of
Islamic philosophers and thinkers.
The Muslim philosophers described the
principles of life in the light if Quran and the
Sunnah.

Islamic Period
Here a brief description of Muslim

philosophers may be added into the history of

psychology.
Alkundi(803-873):
He was a great Arab philosopher. He believed
that our souls have originated from Gods
soul. According to him, our real happiness
lies in the reason and spiritual life.

Islamic Period
He tried to combine religion and philosophy

as both seek reality; philosophy focuses on

theoretical aspects whereas religion stresses
upon actions.
Al- Farabi (870-950)
He wrote more than 80 books on various
topics. He believed that a man is composed
of body and soul, which belong to God.

 God is immortal and above all human

thoughts. Farabi was influenced by the

teachings of Plato and Aristotle.
Ibn-e-Sina (980-1037)
He was physician, poet and psychologist all in
one. According to him, there are three kinds
of mind :Human mind, Animal mind , and
vegetable mind.

 Only the Human mind possess reason and

intelligence. He said that physical illness

could be treated with medicine but mental
illness could be treated psychologically with
religion.
He thought that body had no link with mind;
body perishes but mind remains alive.

 Imam Ghazali (1058-1111)

He wrote a number of books on religion.

According to him those obsessed with love of

God and treading the right path do not
contact mental disorders. Therefore , he also
instructed people to follow the right path.

 He said that , this world is a place of actions

and hard work and no body was allowed to

remain idle in life. He viewed that man was
recognized by his actions.
He stressed upon childrens education. He
said childrens capabilities must be assessed
for proper education. He thought that mental
diseases were caused by negative emotional
problems and one should get rid of them.

 Allama Bin Khaldun (1332-1406)

He proposed the theories of social

psychology and explained human beliefs ,

prejudices , attitudes and other subject
matters.
According to him , religion influences human
mind and whole life.

 Shah Wali Ullah ( 1702-1763)

He wrote many books and made a deep study of

human mind and behavior. He discovered the causes

of mental disorders and treated them .
According to him conflict goes on between positive
and negative forces within human mind and healthy
personality develops only by striking balance b/w the
two. If irrational ideas are in excess, mental health is
affected.

Scientific Period
This period may be divided into two sub
periods:
1. Renaissance Period:
Following are the important figures of this
period:

 Francis Bacon (1564-1642)

He was founder of modern science. He

separated science from religion and

philosophy. He proposed several theories
upon education, habits and human
personality.
He emphasized the importance of
observation instead of speculation.

Descartes (1596-1650):
He thought organism as complicated

mechanism which could be activated by light,

sound and other stimuli.
Although he had a very inadequate concept
of the structures and functions of the nervous
system, his study of the human organism
brought fresh insight to psychology.

John Lock (1632-1704):

He believed we were born with empty mind in

the world, like blank slates upon which all of

lifes experiences could be written .
Other influences on early psychology came
from biology and physics.

Charles Darwin (1809-1882):

In his book The Origin of Species in 1859,he

outlined his theory of evolution. In his theory

he suggested that animals and people show
behavior that is adaptive to the environment
and helpful to their survival.

Hermann Von Helmholtz (1820-1894)

He Measured the speed of nerve impulse and

set forth a theory of color vision for our

perception and for musical tones.

Paul Broca (1860)

A French physician identified a part of the

brain (still called Broca Area) working as

control centre for speech.

Weber (1795-1878) :
About the middle of 19th century the

discoveries made in physics gave rise to a

new field known as psychophysics
Weber observed the relationship between
changes in the physical stimuli and human
ability to perceive changes.

Fechner (1866):
He looked into mathematical connection

between the physical and psychological

changes.
For the first time it had been demonstrated
that psychological phenomenon could be
quantified and investigated with scientific
method.