Psychologist -   
Rishi Mishra & Krishna Chandra Choudhary

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1.Rishi Mishra - 09212341968,

Email – rishimishra.psy@gmail.com

2.Krishna Chandra Choudhary – 09810298078

Email – Krishna_11v@yahoo.co.in

       

The roots of western psychology can be traced to Greek philosophy. The word psychology itself is derived from the Greek words ‘psyche’ which means soul and ‘logos’ which means study. Psychology thus started as a part of philosophy and became an independent discipline much later.

Plato and Aristotle where among the first philosophers who thought about the mind. Plato believed that body and mind are two separate entities and mind could exist even after death. But he was positive in that education can bring change to the basic nature of the mind. Aristotle, who was the disciple of Plato, followed the feet of his teacher and believed in the body-mind duality. But he thought that of each of these is the manifestation of the other. He, but, was pessimistic about the role of education in changing the fundamental nature of humans.

Rene Descartes, the French philosopher and mathematician, who originated the Cartesian system of coordinates or the coordinate geometry, also believed in the body-mind duality. But he was open enough to consider that there is an uninterrupted transaction between the body and the mind.

In the eighteenth century AD, John Locke, a British national, proposed that knowledge depends upon the experience based on the sense organ and that thinking is not innate. He also considered that the mind of a newly-born child is like a clean-slate on which anything can be written. Locke believed that knowledge occurs only when the sense organs interact with the outer world.

These two ideas – the body-mind duality and the ‘clean-slate’ mind - have been the strong roots of the western psychology for many decades. Only in the twentieth century western psychologists, especially Jung, Maslow and others, were able to break free from this limiting concepts.

In the twentieth century AD, German scientist E.H.Weber attempted a scientific approach in the study of the mind by his finding of the quantitative relation between stimulus intensity and the resultant sensory experience. This was later known as the Weber’s law.

Almost in the same period, G.T.Fechner, who is called the father of quantitative psychology, coined psycho-physics which is the quantitative study of external structures and sensory experience.

Then came Darwin with his revolutionary ‘origin of species’ which influenced psychology and human thought.

In 1879, Wilhelm Wundt, a German scientist, established the world’s first psychological lab at Leipzig, Germany. His aim was to prove that there is a physical activity for every mental activity. He opined that psychologists should study sensation, perception, and emotions.

In the first decade of the 20^th Century AD, the Russian psychologist Ivan P. Pavlov made a path breaking finding when he was studying the digestion process in dogs. Before the experimental dog was given food, a bell was sounded. When this was repeated several times, the dog started salivating the very moment it heard the bell sound. Pavlov called this the conditioned reflex. This was one of the greatest findings that made radical changes in the field of psychology.

Major Schools of Psychology

Structuralism

Titchner and his followers said that conciseness can be analyzed into three—sensation, perception and feeling. Titchner and his followers are called structuralists and their main method for study of mind was introspection.

Functionalism:-

William James, the father of American Psychology, J.R.Angels and John Dewey argued that psychologists should study the function of the mind and not its structure. These group of psychologists are called functionalists.

Freud and Psycho Analysis

Sigmund Freud of Vienna, who is considered as the father of modern psychology, originated a new method called the Free Association Technique. Freud considered that mind has three parts – the conscious, the pre-conscious and the unconscious. He considered that 90% of the mind is the unconscious mind. He argued that Id (unconscious mind) is the seat of repression, and instincts. Freud further considered that behind any behavior is the libido energy.

He divided the personality into three – id, ego, superego. Of these, Id goes after pleasure and thus is said to be governed by the pleasure principle. Ego which is the organized part of Id is driven by the Reality Principle. Superego connects the id to the external world and is considered the conscience.

Later, Erich Frome, Karan Horney, Erik Erikson, Harry Sullivan and Otto Rank improved upon the ideas of Frued and so they are called Neo Fruedians.

Alfred Adler and Individual Psychology

Alfred Adler gave the focus to society because he thought that since we are social animals we should give emphasis on social factors. He argued that, the will to power and superiority are thus more important than sex or will to pleasure. So, the individual will try to overcome the deficits he has or he thinks he has. He will try to show superiority or ambition. Inferiority complex is the most important concept Adler added to psychology. His psychology is called Individual Psychology.

Jung and Analytical Psychology

Carl Gustav Jung, like Adler, was in the psychoanalytical camp in the beginning, but later parted with Freud to create his own (school of) psychology called the Analytical Psychology. He dismissed the Freudian theory that the only motive that drive the unconscious is sex. Jung extended the concept of the unconscious beyond the individual. Thus he said that there is a collective unconscious besides the individual unconscious. He postulated that the racial memory of centuries is precipitated in the unconscious of each individual. According to him, the main ingredient of the collective unconscious is the archetype.

Behaviorism

John B. Watson, also of America, proposed that psychologists as scientists should study observable human nature and not the concepts like mind, consciousness etc.

He and his followers tried to explain behavior based on stimulus and response. They are called behaviorists and their school of psychology is called behaviorism. Tolman, Hull and B.F.Skinner are the later behaviorists. Skinner originated operant conditioning which is one of the most used techniques for psychological therapy today.

Gestalt Psychology

Gestalt Psychology was a reaction to the over emphasis of reductionistic methods in psychology. The gestalt psychologists were against this blind reliance on analysis and reductionism. They believed that behavior should be understood in a holistic way. Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler, Kurt Kafka were the first proponents of this school psychology.

Humanistic Psychology

Some psychologists believed that neither Frued et al nor the behaviorists could include the complexity and uniqueness of man their studies of psychology. So a group of psychologists gave human experience more importance and they are called humanists. They argued that man is a subjective animal. The humanists counted that the motives for development and to become perfect are more important than sex, power etc. They brought back the dignity of man that Frued and others undignified.

They denied Freudian unconscious or behaviorstic environment as the ultimate basis of behavior and said that man is not a slave of either the unconscious or the situation. Gestalt psychology, Indian Psychology, Psychology of Consciousness, Environmental Psychology, Para Psychology are the schools of psychology that are included in Humanistic psychology. Gordon W Allport, Carl Rogers, and Abraham Maslow are some of the early proponents of humanistic psychology.

The Three Major Forces in Modern Psychology

There are three major forces in psychology. Freudian Psychoanalysis and the offshoots from it are considered the First Force in Psychology. This has been very dominant in the earlier part of the 20^th century but has given way to the second force in psychology called behaviorism. Currently, behaviorism is also slowly reaching its end. Slowly, holistic and more natural ways are coming to the main stream. This is the third force in psychology – the Humanistic Psychology. Many experts foresee that by the first or second decade of the 21^st century, humanistic psychology will become the dominant major force. This is because that man will slowly come to realize that the origin of bliss is in himself and so man will turn to himself for truth, beauty, happiness, success, and achievement. Neither Freudian psychology nor Behaviorism can be of definite help in this stage.

 

Modern Psychology at the beginning of the century emphasized sensation, perception and psychologists in India took out Indian theories of sensation and perception from the classics and created an Indian Psychology. For example Indian theories emphasise the notion that in perception the mind goes out through the senses and assumes the shape of the objects. In 1934, Jadunath Sinha wrote a book on Indian theories of perception. As soon as Western Psychologists started studying cognition, Indian Psychologists started looking for Indian theories of cognition. In 1958, Jadunath Sinha wrote a book on Cognition. Later on modern Psychology started emphasising emotions, and in 1981, Jadunath Sinha wrote a book on Emotions and the Will.samadhi or nirvana. After 1960 Humanistic Psychology emerged and Psychologists became interested in paranormal dimensions of growth. Maslow's theory of self-actualization and transcendental self-actualization established the link to the major part of ancient Indian theories and methods and almost the whole of ancient Indian writings became psychologically relevant. Psychology of Consciousness, Parapsychology, Psychology of Mysticism, Psychology of Religion and Transpersonal Psychology borrow extensively from Indian writings. The terms Oriental Psychology, Buddhist Psychology, Yoga Psychology , Jain Psychology, etc. are frequently found in modern psychological literature now. Many book lists in Psychology now include books on Yoga, Buddhism and Zen. There seems to be a paradigm shift in Western Psychology, a shift from the notion of mental disease and healing to personal growth, the reference point shifting from the statistical average or "normal" to the ideal or upper limits of man's potentiality.Padmasana have been obtained in excavations. The Swasthika symbol was used in Indus valley script. Buddhist thought and methods (6th century B.C.) are in line with the objective spirit of modern science and the law of parsimony of science and Buddhism can be easily incorporated into a scientific framework. The Psychological relevance of the four noble truths and eight-fold path and Sunya vada of Buddhism and Buddhist techniques of meditation are of considerable relevance in modern Psychology. Similarly Jain scriptures also are found to be relevant to Psychology in more than one way. The Vedas date from about 1500 B.C. However, Upanishads (appendices to the Vedas, which date from 600 B.C.) which describe the Vedanta philosophy and provide the theoretical foundation of Jnana Yoga are of more direct relevance to Psychology. The Bhagavat Gita gives a quintessence of Indian way of life and philosophy and it describes the four yogas, Karma, Bhakthi, Raja and Jnana. Several books have come on the psychological relevance of Gita. Maslow's theory of Meta-motivation is very similar to the concept of Nishkama karma outlined in the Gita. Ashtanga Yoga is a very systematic presentation of Raja yoga. Both Bhagavat Gita and Ashtanga Yoga are supposed to have been written around the turn of B.C. to A.D. Sankara's writings (8th century A.D.) on the different yogas as well as his Advaita philosophy are considered as classics in the area and are of great value to the Psychology of consciousness as well as personal growth. Modern interest in relaxation can be traced to studies on Savasana. Rising popularity of meditation practice links Psychology to Oriental religious practices and philosophy.siddhis) have been classified in detail. The process of personal growth and obstacles to growth have been examined thoroughly. There is a great deal of maturity resulting from long experience in these areas reflected in the writings. Indian theories of linguistics, social behavior, crime, etc. are all based on the holistic approach and the broad-based intuitive understanding of behavior in contradistinction to Western theories which are piece-meal, analytic and situation specific. The increasing importance given to the holistic approach and need for synthesis makes it possible to integrate modern Western Psychology with ancient Indian thoughts as well as methods.Ashtangahridaya (the main text in Ayurveda, written in 4th century A.D.) describes how emotions like desires lead to both physical and mental diseases.














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The major part of ancient Indian scriptures (Hindu, Buddhist and Jain) emphasise self-realization,

The rudiments of the theory of consciousness can be traced back to the Indus valley civilization (6000 to 1500 B.C.). Artifacts of a man sitting in

 

Patanjali's

Indian literature on aspects of consciousness is vast, considering the classics and their commentaries. Mental states have been analyzed, classified and differentiated in detail. Similarly paranormal powers (

 

The psychosomatic relationship was well known and salient in ancient times. The very first invocatory stanza of