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Psychology: Concept, Nature and Scope

Concept and Nature

Psychology is that branch of philosophy which studies human mind or soul. By the mind or soul is meant the thinking principle, that by which we feel, know and by which our body is animated. The term ego, self, spirit are used as synonymous with mind and soul.
he word 'Psychology' is derived from two Greek words 'Psyche' and 'logos'. Psyche means soul and logos means science. Thus psychology was first defined as 'science of soul'.
According to earlier psychologists, the function of psychology was to study the nature , origin and destiny of human soul. But soul is something metaphysical. It can not be seen, observed and touched and we can not make scientific experiments on soul.
In 18th century psychology was understood as the 'Science of Mind'. William James(1892) defined psychology as the science of mental processes. But the word 'mind' is quite ambiguous as there was confusion regarding the nature and functions of mind.
Modern psychologists define psychology as the 'science of consciousness". James Sully (1884) defined psychology as the 'science of the inner world'. Wilhem Wundt (1892) defined psychology as the science which studies the 'internal experiences'. William McDugall (1905) defined psychology as the 'science of behaviour'.
Behaviour generally means overt activities which can be observed and measured scientifically. But ones behaviours is always influenced by his experiences. So we must also study his experiences.
Psychology should therefore be defined as a "Science of behaviour and experiences of human beings" (B.F. Skinner).
So the components which collectively define psychology are:
  1. Study of experience
  2. Study of mental processes: perception, learning, remembering and thinking
  3. Study of behaviour

Scope

Psychology addresses a variety of issues related to mental and behavioural functioning of an individual. The study of human being starts with the functioning of biological systems especially nervous system.
Under central nervous system psychology studies the functions of various parts of the brain which regulate feelings, emotions and thinking. Within autonomic nervous system the roles of hormones and neoro-transmitters in determining behaviour is important. In addition psychology  studies how a given socio cultural environment interacts with innate biological, intellectual and social attributes of the child and facilitates healthy development of the child.
Attention and perception helps us to process information. Memory helps us to register, retain and retrieve information and thinking provides us the ability to manipulate and improve the stored information. Within psychology all these are studied under higher mental processes or cognition.
The various shades of feelings such as anger, fear, joy and sadness which we experience in course of life are studied within the realm of emotion.
Thus psychology as a discipline has a vast scope. It not only studies human beings across the life span but also tries to explore mental processes and potentials in order to facilitate a better quality of life.




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