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1.MEANING AND NATURE OF PSYCHOLOGYThe word “psychology” is derived from two Greek words, psyche (soul) and logos(study). So psychology literally means a “study about soul”. But although the literalmeaning of the word “logos” is “talk” it is commonly used to mean “science”. Hencepsychology literally means the science of soul. But why do we prefer to call psychology ascience and not a talk? The reason is that a talk is usually muddled, vague andfragmentary. For example your talk with a friend on a subject, might have been quiteclear and consistent, yet it could not possibly be as systematic and exhaustive as thescience of that subject can be.Psychology is an academic and applied discipline which deals with study of humanbehavior and mental process. It explains the subconscious neurological basis of behavior.It is the study of mind, thoughts and actions of individuals. It does not necessarily refer tobrain or nervous system and can be purely framed in terms of phenomenological orinformation processing theories of mind. An understanding of brain function is beingincluded in psychological theory and practices, particularly in artificial intelligenceneuropsychological and cognitive neuroscience psychology attempts to explainconsciousness behavior and social interaction. Psychology has been examining therelationship between consciousness, brain and nervous system. Theories of psychologyare applicable to various activities and problems related to individual’s daily life andtreatment of mental illness.1.1 Definition of PsychologyPsychology is the study of the thoughts and actions of individuals. Psychology is theyoungest of all the sciences. It is still in making and is far from being established in thesense in which other sciences are. Hence the definition of psychology has been, andprobably still is, a matter of fierce controversy among psychologists. The largely differfrom one another as indeed all scientists do, in the early stages of their sciencesdisagreements and controversies are almost inevitable and without the, perhaps scientificprogress could not have been as great as it is. This is especially true of a young sciencelike psychology, recently set free from psychology, philosophy, and not alwaysdistinguishable from physiology. As no one definition is agreed upon by commonconsent, there exist different definitions of psychology. It has been variously defined asthe science of soul, the science of mind, the science of consciousness and the science ofbehavior. Let us examine these definitions one by one and see if any of them can enableus to understand accurately what psychology is and what it deals with.1.1.1 Psychology as a Science of SoulAccording to dictionary, psychology means “The science of soul” This is the oldestdefinition of psychology. The word “soul” is a very unsatisfactory term in psychology. Ithas changed its meaning. Aristotle used it for the living principal in all animate beings,but at the present day it is a term used in religion, for that part of us which is immortal5

and which has special relation with God. Thus the use of the term “soul” implies certaintheories of religion with regard to immortality and relationship to God, and such theoriesare just what we want to avoid in science of psychology, even though we may believethem to be true on other grounds.Psychologists are not opposed to religion, but they certainly want to keep this youngscience free from religious terminology. “Soul” is a word of bad door to men of science,smelling too much of religion. As it has a religious flavor, it is unwelcome to modernpsychology. If psychology aspires to be a science-and surely it does-it must adopt ascientific and not a speculative procedure. Science observes facts, and soul is not open toobservation or experiment: The definition of psychology as the science of soul is,therefore, rejected as unscientific.1.1.2 Psychology as the Science of MindTo many, the word “Mind” is quite as vague as the word “soul”. If “Mind” meanssomething mysterious inside us, it would be just the same as should, and this definition too,would deserve to be discredited. Ask the man in the street what he means by “Mind” and hewill tell you that is it something in his body, or rather head, which thinks, feels and wills.So if we define psychology as the science of mind as a layman thinks, this definition haveno improvement upon the previous definition of psychology as the science of soul. But likeHume and Titchener, we take mind in the sense of mental process, this definition wouldcertainly be better than the previous one. Psychology would then mean the science ofmental processes. But what are the mental processes? The answer is that they are ourprocesses of knowing, feeling and willing. The processes which are commonly said to goon ‘in’ our mind. Let us illustrate them by example. If a wasp stings my finger, I knowwhat has happened to me, feel a pain, run after the wasp and will to kill it. I know, I feeland I will. The processes of the mind are facts. There are real happenings, and there is nomystery about them. This conception of the mind is sometimes called the empiricalconception, because mental process can be experienced. It is also called the scientificconception because they can be observed and experimented upon.To sum up, the definition of psychology as the science of mental processes seems to bequite reasonable and therefore commands assent. This is subject to one objection,however, according to this definition, psychology is concerned with the study of mentalprocesses. Now, even a superficial consideration shows that a person can study only hisown mental processes. To know the mental process of other persons and animals, one hasto see what they do and “what they do” is called their “behaviour”. I can say that the manis grieved only when I see him weeping. We can know the mental processes of othersonly through the observation of their behaviour.“Thus psychology is concerned with the study of behaviour as well as mentalprocess.”The definition of psychology as the science of mental processes is a half-truth.6

1.1.3 Psychology as the Science of ConsciousnessPsychology has also been defined as the science of consciousness. What isconsciousness? If you stop to reflect, you will be aware that you are sitting on a desk, thatyou are reading a book, and that you are either interested in it or bored by it. The presentawareness is what we mean by consciousness? Does consciousness cover the whole fieldabout mind? The answer is, No. Besides consciousness, mental there are processes andpsychology cannot ignore them because they are also processes of mind the truth rather isthat conscious processes form a very small part of our mind. They are so to speak theupper surface of the deep sea, the greater part of which lies below. Infect, more lies at theback of mind than at its front. This is also incomplete definition because we can study ourown conscious processes; we cannot study mental processes of others. So, we must take“behaviour” into consideration.The definition of psychology as the science of consciousness is too narrow, because itexcludes the study of subconscious and unconscious mental processes and also that ofbehaviour.1.1.4 Psychology as a Science of BehaviourBy ‘behaviour’ is generally understood anything that a living-does. It means “response”,“reactions” or “adjustment’s of an organism to various kinds of stimuli. A stimulus is theoutside cause of mental process. It has already been said that in order to understand theminds of other persons and animals, we have to study their behaviour. Hence psychologyhas been defined as the science of behaviour — a definition that looks harmless enough.This is the most modern of all the definitions and is put forward by the school ofpsychology known as behaviourism, the leading exponent of which is Dr. Watson. Thisschool of psychology, in its extreme form, admits only the study of behaviour as itssubject matter and ignores the study of consciousness and mental processes altogether.Dr. Watson writes: “state of consciousness, like the so called phenomena of spiritualism,are not objectively verifiable and for that reason can never become data for science —“The behaviourist finds no evidence for mental existence or mental processes of anykind.” Again, “consciousness is neither a definable nor a usable concept. It is merelyword for the ‘soul’ of more ancient time.” “If it exists” he continues, “we can knownothing about it.”This point of view has been prevalent in America under the table and aggressiveleadership of Dr. Watson, and has come to be fairly widely held by psychologists in othercountries as well. But although our mind is revealed in our behaviour, yet to studybehaviour at the cost of mind is a mistake. The danger of behaviorism, particularly in itsextreme form, has been its tendency to neglect consciousness and mental processesaltogether.The school of behaviourism is an exaggerated reaction against the purely subjectivestandpoint of those who are known as mentalists subjective standpoint means, the study7

of what goes on in one’s mind. This school has resulted in an equally purely objectivestandpoint. Objective standpoint means the study of what is observable and external tomind (i.e. behaviour). Infect, there can be no objective or external behaviour without thesubjective or inner mental processes of which the former is expression. Hence thisdefinition of psychology as science of behaviour is rejected as one-sided.1.2Psychology and Other SciencesIn Universe, there are found nonliving things (stones, rocks, rivers etc), living thingswithout mind, plants, trees and living things possessing life and mind (human beings &animals).Material things exist at the lowest level whereas living things having no mind exist atlevel higher than the level of existence of material things and the living things possessinglife and mind are at the highest level of existence. The corresponding to these three levelsof existence, there are three categories of sciences to explain them:1.2.1 Physical SciencesThese sciences explain the existence of non-living things. They describe variousproperties of matter and composition of material things. They attempt to understand andexplain physical phenomena in nature.1.2.2 Biological ScienceThese sciences deal with life and living thing. They explain biological phenomena. Theystudy of various forms of life-manifestation. They attempt to discover the conditions andlaws of growth and development of plants, animals and human beings.1.2.3 Mental ScienceThere are various physical sciences and biological sciences. Similarly there are severalsciences which deal with mind. But there is one fundamental science lies at the basis ofmind-sciences which to studies the essential nature of mind how does mind grow andfunction in human beings and animals, in individuals & societies, in normal andabnormal persons. This fundamental science is known as psychology.1.3 SummaryPsychology is the youngest science. It had its formal beginning in Leipzig, Germany.Wilhelm Wudt founded the psychological laboratory in 1879. Psychology is concernedwith the study of behaviour as well as mental process. It has been defined in many waysi.e. science of soul, science of mind, science of conscious and science of behaviour. It iscomposed of two Greek words Psyche and Logos, which means study of soul. It isbecoming more and more complex with the complexity of society. It does not studyhuman beings only it extends to the study of animals, birds, and all creatures possessinglife. It has many branches, it is used in education, commerce, industry, health, andcountless other fields. As psychology is involved in several different fields, psychologistsdo not agree upon one single definition of psychology.8

1.4Self-Assessment Questions1.Define psychology briefly.2.Briefly write four kinds of psychologies.3.Do you agree that psychology is a science of soul?4.Is psychology a science, how?5.Which is the best definition of psychology according to this unit?2. MEANING AND NATURE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY2.1An OverviewIn the previous section, meaning and nature of psychology are discussed. There are manybranches of psychology. One of them is educational psychology.This branch of psychology is the scientific study of educational problems. Educationalpsychology, as a science consists of theories and principles applicable to teachinglearning process. It provides theoretical knowledge for better understanding of teaching –learning process in within the context of all its complexities and intricacies. In a fewwords educational psychology is a study of learning and teaching process. Educationpsychology is a posture applied social science. The educational psychologists studyindividual’s teachers & taught as a social beings in varying social set-ups and situations.As an applied science, if draws on theories, principles and practices of psychology andconstructs application in the area of education. The educational psychology studies thechild’s behaviour and suggests remedies to improve and to be an effective learner. Thescope of educational psychology is confined to the study of individual’s behaviour withincontext of educational institutional framework.There are several pioneers who laid down the foundation of educational psychologybefore the beginning of 20th century. These pioneers stand out in the early history ofeducational psychology.Soon after launching his first psychology textbook, “Principles of psychology” in 1890,William James (1842-1910) delivered a series of lectures called “Talks to Teacher” anddiscussed the applications of psychology to educate children. James argued thatlaboratory psychology experiments often tell us how to affectively teach children. Heemphasized on importance of observing teaching and learning in classrooms forimproving education.A second major figure in shaping the field of educational Psychology was JohnDewey (1859-1952), who became a driving force in the practical application of9

psychology. Dewey stabilized the first major educational psychology laboratory inthe United States, at the University of Chicago in 1894. Dewey believed that childrenlearn best by doing. The Dewey advocated that education should focus on child as awhole. He laid emphasis on the child’s adaptation to the environment. Deweybelieved that children should not be just narrowly educated in academic topics. Theyshould learn how to think and adapt to a world outside school. Children should learnhow to be reflected problem solvers. Dewey was of a view that all children deserve tohave a competent education. This democratic ideal was not in place at the beginningof Dewey’s career. In the later part of nineteenth century, when quality education wasreserved for small portion of children, especially boys from wealthy families, Deweywas one of the influential psychologist educators who pushed for a competenteducation for all children-girls and boys, as well as children from differentsocioeconomic and ethnic background.A third pioneer was E.L. Thorndike (1874-1949), who initiated an emphasis onassessment and measurement. He promoted the scientific underpinnings of learning.He argued that one of the schooling’s most important tasks is development ofchildren’s reasoning skills. He excelled at doing “exacting scientific studies” ofteaching and learning (Beatty, 1998). Thorndike especially promoted the ideas thateducational psychology must have a scientific base that it should focus strongly onmeasurement.2.2Definition of Educational Psychology1.Dr. Abdul-Hai-Alvi writes in his book “Educational Psychology”, “EducationalPsychology means such education which explains about all those changes whichtake place right from birth till becoming adolescent at various stages ofdevelopment. This knowledge tasks about all good or bad affects which effect upona child’s development, and in the light of this study forms such rules andregulations which are kept in mind during planning and management of the school.Study of human behaviour and inner mental processes are a specific of educationalpsychology.2.Garrison has, defined it in these words, “Educational Psychology is name of thatchange which takes place as a result of social interaction which a child hasdeveloped on the basis of his experience and makes use of these during the processof learning.3.Travees says, Educational Psychology is the name of educational process andaction performed in a scientific manner.4.Asubal has defined educational psychology in the following words, “It is

Psychology is the scientific study of human behaviour and mental processes. Educational Psychology is a specialized area of psychology which mainly focuses . the publishers of various books, reports, and journals whose work were used as . like psychology, recently set free fro