CHAPTER 1

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MIND AND BRAIN

MIND BRAIN
• Mind does not have a physical structure or • It is a physical entity.
a location.
• Mind emerges and evolves as our • Everyone is born with a brain, which is
interactions and experiences in this world structurally the same.
get organized.
• It refers to the person’s understanding and • It coordinates movements, thoughts and
conscience. feelings.

Ornish has shown this in a number of studies with his patients. In these studies a person with
blocked arteries was made to visualise that blood was flowing through her/ his blocked arteries.
After practicing this over a period of time, significant relief was obtained by these patients as the
degree of blockage became significantly less. Use of mental imagery, i.e. images generated by a
person in her/his mind, have been used to cure various kinds of phobias (irrational fears of objects
and situations).

EVOLUTION OF PSYCHOLOGY

SCHOOL OF DESCRIPTION
THOUGHT
Structuralism • Founder: Wilhelm Wundt
• First experimental laboratory was established in Leipzig,
Germany in 1879
• He was interested in the study of conscious experience and
wanted to analyse the constituents or the building blocks of the
mind.
• Wundt analysed the structure of the mind through
introspection and therefore were called structuralists.
• Introspection was a procedure in which individuals or subjects
in psychological experiments were asked to describe in detail,
their own mental processes or experiences.
• Introspection as a method did not satisfy many other
psychologists.
• It was considered less scientific because the introspective reports
could not be verified by outside observers.
Functionalism • Founder: William James
• Supporter: John Dewey
• Developed functionalist approach to the study of the human mind.
• Study what the mind does and how behaviour functions in making
people deal with their environment.
Gestalt psychology • Founder: Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler, and Kurt
Koffka
• It focused on the organisation of perceptual experiences.
• Our perceptual experience is more than the elements. Experience is
holistic
• Whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
• Eg: experience of a restaurant
Behaviourism • Founder: John Watson
• He rejected the ideas of mind and consciousness.
• According to him, mind is not observable and introspection is
subjective because it cannot be verified by another observer.
• According to him, scientific psychology must focus on what is
observable and verifiable.
• He defined psychology as a study of behaviour or responses (to
stimuli) which can be measured and studied objectively.
• He was influenced by Ivan Pavlov.
• Skinner applied behaviourism to a wide range of situations and
popularised the approach.
Psychoanalysis • Founder: Dr. Sigmund Freud
• He viewed human behaviour as a dynamic manifestation of
unconscious desires and conflicts.
• He founded psychoanalysis as a system to understand and cure
psychological disorders.
• While Freudian psychoanalysis viewed human beings as
motivated by unconscious desire for gratification of pleasure
seeking (and often, sexual) desires.
Humanistic perspective • Founder: Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow
• He emphasised the free will of human beings and their natural
striving to grow and unfold their inner potential.
• Behaviour determined by environmental conditions undermines
human freedom and dignity and takes a mechanistic view of
human nature.
Cognitive perspective • It focuses on how we know about the world.
• Cognition is the process of knowing. It involves thinking,
understanding, perceiving, memorising, problem solving and
a host of other mental processes.
• This view is also called constructivism.
• Vygotsky suggested that the human mind develops through
social and cultural processes in which the mind is viewed as
culturally constructed through joint interaction between adults
and children.
• For Piaget children actively construct their own minds.
BASIC VS APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY

BASIC PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY

It refers to theory of how attitudes, It is the use of (psychological) methods and
personalities, values and behaviors are findings of scientific psychology to solve
related. practical problems of human and animal
behavior and experience.
It provides us with theories and principles It provides us with different contexts in which the
that form the basis of application of theories and principles derived from research
psychology can be meaningfully applied.
Areas of basic psychology include Areas of applied psychology include clinical
biological psychology, cognitive psychology, industrial psychology, school
psychology, etc. psychology, etc.
Eg: research on what neurotransmitters is Eg: work on evaluating drugs (which rectify the
involved in causing depression. level of that neurotransmitter) to treat
depression.

PSYCHOLOGISTS AT WORK

Q. Difference between Counselling Psychologist and Clinical Psychologist

COUNSELLING PSYCHOLOGIST CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST

They deal with persons who suffer from They specialise in helping clients with
motivational and emotional problems. behavioural problems
The problems they deal with are less serious The problems dealt with them are more
serious.
They may be involved in vocational They work either as private practitioners
rehabilitation programmes, or helping persons or at hospitals, mental institutions, or with
in making professional choices or in adjusting social agencies.
to new and difficult situations of life.
They cannot provide therapies. They can provide therapies for various
mental disorders.

Q. Difference between Psychologist and Psychiatrist

PSYCHOLOGIST PSYCHIATRIST
They can provide psychotherapy and not They can prescribe medicines and can give
medicines. electric shock.
 They have a doctoral degree and not medical They have a medical degree.
degree.
They deal with less serious kinds of mental They deal with serious kinds of mental
health problems. health problems like depression, anxiety.

PSYCHOLOGY IN EVERYDAY LIFE

➢ The potential of psychology in solving the problems of life is being realised more and more.
Media has played a vital role in this respect.
➢ Counsellors and therapists suggest solutions to a variety of problems related to children,
adolescents, adults and the elderly people.
➢ They analyse vital social problems relating to social change and development, population,
poverty, interpersonal or intergroup violence, and environmental degradation.
➢ Many psychologists now play an active role in designing and executing intervention
programmes in order to provide people with a better quality of life.
➢ Psychologists working in diverse settings such as schools, hospitals, industries, prisons,
business organisations, military establishments, and in private practice as consultants helping
people solve problems in their respective settings.
➢ We need to have a positive and balanced understanding of ourselves. We use psychological
principles in a positive manner to develop good habits of study for improving your learning
and memory, and for solving your personal and interpersonal problems by using appropriate
decision- making strategies.
➢ It helps us to reduce or alleviate the stress of examination. Thus, the knowledge of
psychology is quite useful in our everyday life, and is rewarding from personal as well as
social points of view.