INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

Lecturer: Dr. Paul Narh Doku

Contact: pndoku@ug.edu.gh

Department of Psychology, University of Ghana

Session Overview

• This session will deal with the meaning and scope of psychology, misconceptions about psychology, pseudoscience (para- and pseudo – psychology), the goals of psychology and the relevance of psychology in our lives.

This Session’s Goals and Objectives

At the end of this session, you will be able to:

– Explain what psychology is and differentiate it from the views of the layperson.

– Explain para and pseudo psychology.

– Mention some misconceptions about psychology.

– Mention and explain the 4 goals of psychology.

– Point out the relevance of psychology.

Session Outline

The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows:

• Part I - meaning and scope of psychology

• Part II - misconceptions about psychology

• Part III - pseudoscience (para- and pseudo – psychology)

• Part IV - the goals of psychology

• Part V - the relevance of psychology in our lives.

Reading List

Kalat, W. J. (2008). Introduction to psychology (8th ed). Thomson learning, inc. pages. 3 - 8

Nairne, S. J. (2014). Psychology (6th ed). Wadsworth, cengage learning. pages. 2 - 6

Coon, D. and Mitterer, O. J (2012). Psychology: modules for active learning (13th ed). Cengage learning. pages 12 -19

Bernstein, A. D. (2014). Essentials of psychology (6th ed). Wadsworth, cengage learning. pages 3 – 8

The session notes titled “Introduction to Psychology”

Part I - Meaning and scope of psychology

Meaning and scope of psychology

Exercise

• In your own words,

explain how you

understand the word

Psychology

Root meaning of psychology

The term psychology is derived from two Greek words- “psyche” and

“logos”.

Psyche means mind/soul while logos refer to knowledge of or study

of.

Psychology has therefore in the past been referred to as:

• The study of the mind

• The study of the soul

• Knowledge of the mind

• Knowledge of the soul

Contemporary view

The earlier definitions of psychology are restrictive in nature and scope

and do not reflect the actual terrain of the subject as it stands today.

Contemporary definitions have therefore broadened the scope to

incorporate the contemporary terrain covered by the subject such as:

the science of behaviour

the science of behaviour and mental processes (Myers, 1995)

the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes.(Coon, 2001;

Atkinson, et al, 2003)

the scientific field that attempts to understand the minds and behaviour

of humans and animals.

Key words!

Science/Scientific – Psychology is a science because it uses the

scientific method to gain knowledge

Behaviour

a. whose behaviour do Psychologists study? – organisms (humans and

animals)

b. what is behaviour in the context of Psychology? – both overt and covert

behaviours

Mental Processes – synonymous to covert behaviours

Organisms – humans and animals

Part II - Misconceptions about

psychology?

Misconceptions about psychology?

People hold wrong

assumptions, views and

opinions about the

discipline.

The views are wrong

because they do not fit into

any of the definitions or

what psychology is actually

about.

Exercise

• Give examples of some of

the misconceptions

Some misconceptions

Psychology is mind reading,

It is about magic, tricks and

mysticism.

Some also believe it is about

fortune telling

(soothsayers)

That is psychologists can predict

the future of others on the basis

of some lines in one’s palm etc.

• As you are aware now, psychology

is rather about the whats, hows

and whys of human behaviour

Part III - PARA AND PSEUDO

PSYCHOLOGY

PARA AND PSEUDO PSYCHOLOGY

Para and Pseudo psychology are two broad areas which fall

outside scope of psychology.

Para psychology literally means “beyond psychology.”

Pseudo Psychology is termed as 'false Psychology' because the

methods employed by practitioners are not scientific.

Scientific methods is currently the only method endorsed and used

by credible Psychologists.

Para and pseudo psychology deals with behaviours and phenomena

which cannot be observed and verified by others or through any

known scientific method.

PARA-PSYCHOLOGY

Parapsychology goes beyond the five senses. We call such

processes Extrasensory Perception (ESP).

ESP is the unproven ability to communicate, gain knowledge

and information outside the use of the five senses, or cause

things to happen using only the power of the mind.

ESP processes do not lead themselves to rigorous scientific

test and verification

Reported ESP experiences involve telepathy, clairvoyance,

precognition, psychokinesis, etc.

Telepathy

This is known as thought transfer

from one person to another

without the mediation of any

known channel of

communication.

One is said to experience

telepathy when a thought you

have or something you are

thinking of also occurs to another

person at the same period.

Example:

Clairvoyance

This is the ability to see what is

happening at a particular place at a

certain time without having any

prior knowledge of the events.

It involves being able to see or give

an account of an ongoing events at

another place or what is happening

in another place irrespective of the

distance and physical barrier.

A key ingredient in clairvoyance is

absence of prior information of

the event.

• Example: while studying here in

this lecture room, one can

perceive and tell exactly what is

happening in the office of the

president of the Republic of

Ghana.

Precognition

The ability to perceive and accurately

predict or foretell future events or the

acquisition of information about events

which will exist or occur in the future

without any prior knowledge.

In religion this may be called prophecy.

A prediction no matter how accurate it

is, is not considered as precognition if it

is based on the known.

For instance; Prediction of Ghana’s

population rate in 5 years using the

population and growth rate in 2013

cannot be precognition.

• Example of precognition:

Accurately foretelling the

scoreline of a football match

based on means which are not

scientific.

Psychokinesis

Psychokinesis

Simply means the power of the mind over matter.

The ability of an individual to exert influence over animate and

inanimate objects by will power.

Others call it mental influence over physical events without the

intervention of any known physical force.

The claim of having powers and ability to move objects without any

physical contact can not be verified by science

By its nature psychokinesis is not considered as part of ESP but is

usually studied under parapsychology

PSEUDO-PSYCHOLOGY

Means false psychology hence it refers to unsubstantiated, false

or fake psychology.

It involves practices which are given semblance of psychology but

which in the real sense of the word are not.

They are given some manifestation of science but do not satisfy

scientific requirements

It has been referred to as dubious and unfounded system, which

relies on some physical features of a person to predict his/her

future. Examples include, Graphology, palmistry, phrenology etc

Graphology

• The believe that one's

handwriting reveals one's

personality traits and could

also be used to predict job

performance

Note that this is different

from an aspect of forensic

psychology in which an

expert in handwriting can

determine one’s signature

12/09/14

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GRAPHOLOGY AND FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY

Graphology is concerned about the using the size, the slant and other aspects of one’s handwriting to make predictions about the person.

Forensic psychologists ascertain the veracity and authenticity of signatures and/or handwritings.

palmistry

• It is the claim and believe

that lines and the pattern of

the in individual's palm have

something to do with their

personalities and that the

nature of the lines and the

pattern could be used to

predict one’s future or

destiny – success or

otherwise.

phrenology

It is the belief that the bumps

on one’s head and shape of

one's skull determine one's

personality, intelligence, and

other individual

characteristics.

Based on this we may often

hear people describe others as

stupid or intelligent because

of shape of the head.

They lead to ready acceptance of chance events as evidence of

paranormal phenomena.

Paranormal activities cannot be replicated. Scientists discredit

events that cannot be replicated under similar conditions.

There seem to be no explanation for paranormal phenomena.

It has been found that such processes are used to perpetrate

fraud on others.

It reduces active conscious beings into passive unthinking

beings.

Problems with para and pseudo

psychology

Part IV - Goals of Psychology

Goals of Psychology

The Goals of Psychology are:

Description:

Explanation/Understanding:

Prediction:

Control:

Goals of Psychology

DESCRIPTION (What is happening)

The first step in understanding anything

is naming.

Description involves observing a

behaviour and noting everything about

it: what is happening, where it happens,

to whom it happens, and under what

circumstances it seems to happen.

This requires one to portray the

phenomena accurately to identify the

variables that exist and then to

determine the degree to which they

exist.

EXPLANATION (Why of behaviour)

Requires knowledge of why the

phenomenon exists or what causes it.

Finding explanations is an important

step in the process of forming theories.

A theory is a general explanation of a

set of observations or facts.

The goal of description provides the

observations, and the goal of

explanation helps to build theory

Goals of Psychology

PREDICTION (When will it

happen again?)

The ability to anticipate an event prior

to its actual performance based on

knowledge of underlying causes.

The knowledge of what causes

kleptomania or nocturnal enuresis

help to anticipate future occurrence

of behaviour or not.

This helps to control or modify the

behaviour to make it much more

adaptive

• CONTROL (How can it

be modified or changed)

• The focus of control, or

modification of behaviour, is

to change it from an

undesirable one to

desirable(such as failing in

school) to a desirable one

(such as academic success).

Do psychologists meet all the 4

goals?

NO! not all investigations will try to meet all four of the goals,

In some cases, main focus would be on description and prediction.

(e.g. personality theorist).

In other cases focus would be on description and explanation (e.g.

experimental psychologists).They design research to find explanation

for observed (described)

Part V - The relevance of Psychology

Why do we study psychology

a. Knowledge in psychology will enable individuals to understand

themselves better

b. In addition to knowing oneself better, psychology also helps individuals

to understand others….. why they think, feel and act the way they do.

c. Furthermore, psychology provides insight into social issues and

behaviour – why do individual's private behaviour tends to be

significantly different from what they do in public and other social

situations?

d. Finally, the study of psychology put individuals in a better position to

evaluate conflicting claims on human behavior and make informed

judgment and draw valid conclusions.

CONCLUSION

THE NEW COMMANDMENT

NOW GO YE INTO THE WORLD

AND MAKE DISCIPLES OF

PSYCHOLOGY

How?

1.Through education

2. Application in all aspects of life