so before we go ahead with our discussion
on various topics of psychology the obvious
question that would come to our mind is why
psychology why should one study this subject
well couple of reasons the very first one
that it helps us understand oneself as well
as the others now we all know that there are
you know large number of dimensions of human
behavior now how to position yourself in the
given life circumstances so when you want
to ah position yourself according to the life
situations that you are experiencing when
you have to understand others in the type
of scenario you are in psychology can be instrumental
in case you was having certain adverse experiences
psychology can help you cope better further
more it helps us understand an except behavioral
aberrations and all types of get one can think
of
so usually if you look at human being behavior
in any given situation you would find that
know there could be a wide spectrum of possible
responses somewhat psychologists call as direct
over attack you have a situation at hand you
plan a strategy you execute it you have finally
overcome the problem that is the direct overt
attack there could be some substitute reactions
ok so you are not directly attacking the situation
but you of opt for certain type of behavioral
response which substitutes for a given action
there could be third possibility where you
go ahead with certain defenses and these are
borderline defenses which would mean primary
leader you are able to defend yourself ok
without ah feeling of shame or guilt and at
the same time your behavior also is socially
acceptable that is a borderline defensive
reactions and then comes the socially unacceptable
overt reactions steps that you take but then
they over come they go beyond what is called
as a line of social acceptance
direct overt attack and substitute reactions
they are consider as complete healthy response
where as borderline defense reactions and
unacceptable social reactions they come under
the grey zone of the borderline zone means
little more intense response or reputation
of similar pattern of behavior and then perhaps
will start considering that your behavior
is aberrated and then of course the clinical
aspect of the behavior where the reactions
are either called as psychosomatic responses
they are called as neurotic responses or it
could the symptoms could be grave enough to
be consider as psychotic response
so where we consider that i ah i am looking
at ah set of human beings and whole dynamics
of responses in a given type of a situation
then the better clarity i have the better
understanding i have of the possible aberrations
or even in the normal zone the full broad
spectrum of possible human reactions ok psychology
can help us do this to opt much better so
even if you come across people ah who would
come forward with aberrated responses you
would have greater acceptance greater understanding
greater tolerance for that ok and similarly
if you understand psychological disorder better
perhaps it makes life simpler for you as well
as the person who suffers from it
another important task that psychology provides
you is to understand relationships so frankly
speaking this subject does not necessarily
make you psychologically healthier but of
course this knowledge is likely to positively
affect your interpersonal relationship both
as work friend as well as family the friend
third important aspect that ones you understand
this very subject then integrate is it sharpens
your analytical ability with this sharpen
analytical skill what would happen you would
know go ahead with more and more scientifically
accepted method in understanding others because
of your training in analytical thinking and
scientific methods you would be ah you know
very conveniently making biology line of distinction
you will be able to draw between commonsense
and what is call as replicable type of ah
ah references that you are drawing many things
have commonsensical and you could no comment
big blander when you consider that to be a
scientific of type of an observation
so ones you have developed you have sharpened
your analytical ability ok and you have understood
the methods that have that scientific flavor
used by psychologists and ah used by a large
in neural research you would very easily be
able to consider it fine all though this appears
and commonsensical this is what one can ah
deduce you yourself would not like to go ahead
with that direction the reason being that
you still you doubt that this is more and
more of a commonsensical thing rather than
being more and more scientifically sound observation
much later when we come to methods of psychology
they there even we will be talking about observation
is a method ok so what is it that know ah
in even in something as simple as observation
can make ah the whole outcome more scientific
or the outcome would basically be only commonsensical
type of observation which might have certain
errors so at least understanding of the subject
it will help you draw that line much and much
clearer
another important aspect is that with understanding
of this very subject you could be extremely
effective at your workplace the reason being
that you have the knowledge of human behavior
and this in turn will facilitate understanding
of the human dynamics at workplace so why
someone is doing what he or she was doing
why people think the way they think why certain
type of ah no acceptance rejection ok certain
types of gossip certain type of rumors certain
type of preconceive notions ok why some people
are you know touristic and some or not all
those in our dynamics of human behavior you
would be very easily able to decipher and
this in turn will make you extremely effective
at your work place
psychology of course touch is every aspect
of our life factors that influences are life
largely it could be personal in nature it
could be societal in nature it could be even
cultural factors that impact our behavior
you will be very conveniently able to understand
ok what are the factors that influences behavior
and there for you would be able to understand
why you are doing what you are doing or why
others are doing what they are doing understanding
of psychology can of course help you in ah
you know betterment of your communication
ability especially in terms of expressing
your emotions ah in a more balanced way proper
usage of language and your verbal expression
which would be know nicely complimented with
your body language over all you would have
a greater appreciation for human life in all
forms and at all stages infants adolescents
adults ah senior citizens ok and in all variations
know right
now when i was referring to direct overt attack
to ah psychotic pattern of behavior ah whereever
you fall on this spectrum you would have a
great appreciation for life and of course
the understanding of psychological can be
complimented ok by your understanding of other
subjects and at the same time your understanding
of psychology can also compliment your understanding
of related subjects so this is the reason
why we should all study psychology and perhaps
i am able to communicate to you that why psychology
is essential for you and thank you for taking
this course we will go ahead with understanding
the other aspects having understood why psychology
the obvious question that would come to your
mind is that ah what are now the different
areas or say what is the width of the subject
what are the topics that are taken into account
if i go ahead which subject like psychology
well i have two things to offer to you for
your understanding one i would now just like
to share with you the various divisions of
ah the americans psychological association
ok large number of them and i will try to
explain what actually these areas cover and
i have heavily borrowed from ah know the details
given on the website of the american psychological
association but i thought this is a essential
because this will help you understand that
what are different domains in which psychologist
have tried to venture and then i would come
across the some of the dominant areas and
some of the areas were still no research taking
place and it is yet to establish itself in
the much better way
so well the first division of american psychological
association what is called as general psychology
and basically it has diverse specialties ah
which incorporates multiple perspective from
various sub disciplines of psychology the
second division that talks about teaching
of psychology ah handles teaching and learning
of the subject providing resources and services
and collaborating community for professional
development the third division that is the
experimental psychology division ah which
is basically a society for experimental psychology
in cognitive science and it does know ah take
care of the development of experimental psychology
ah as a science the fifth division that ah
now takes care of the quantitative in the
qualitative method ah basically focus is on
evaluation measurement and statistics ah later
on when we come to the details you would realize
know that ah approximately every ability that
you can think of ah being present in human
beings psychologist have tried to quantify
them
so ones you quantify if you convert it right
if you convert behavioral outcome into ah
some numbers then of course you knew the statistics
for analysis and similarly there could be
ah know ways and means of you know extracting
qualitative data say for instance talking
to somebody collecting the narratives and
analyzing the narratives so both quantitative
and qualitative methods ah are adopted by
this verysubject and ah say program evaluation
measurement statistics assessment and ah various
types of qualitative methods the sixth division
of ah american psychological association basically
now handles the behavioral neuroscience and
comparative psychology ah comparative psychology
of course no were ah you look at the behavior
of humans and other animals searching for
similarities and differences between them
and basically you try to now look at things
from evolutionary and developmental perspective
whereas behavioral neuroscience no tries to
look at the biology of the behavior and behavior
and it's relationship with perception learning
memory cognition motivation and emotion the
common topics of psychology these are taken
into account brain and it's relation to behavior
it's evolution it is function ah abnormalities
of the brain how are the neuroplasticity works
in the case of after brain damage how the
brain ah now repairs itself issues like that
are taken cared in this very branch brain
behavior interaction and the interaction with
immune system cardiovascular system and energy
regulation systems know these are now the
broad domestic in care in this division
seventh division ah that handles developmental
psychology basically looks at the application
of scientific knowledge to educational child
care ah policy and related settings the eight
division ah now which is personality and social
psychology division a looks at the basic and
applied research and practice in the field
of personality and social psychology and it
does take care of the social and the physical
environments and the human response in such
type of environment the ninth division which
is the society for psychological study of
social issues ah this basically is an area
where psychologist and allied social scientists
share common concern on psychological aspects
of various social issues ah same ah human
problems of the group community nation and
problems ok that have no national boundaries
are also taken care ah in this division
psychology in the art which is more and more
interdisciplinary in nature and it come can
it is encompass visual arts poetry literature
music and dance so basically you look at the
creative and the art part so creativity which
would include the developmental motivational
affective and the cognitive processes whereas
the art part which would be including aesthetic
content form and function how audience response
to such type of arts in terms of their preferences
in terms of the judgment of those artistic
out comes this is what psychology in the art
does the twelfth division the most ah commonly
known division the clinical psychology division
basically it handles the science of clinical
psychology ah it also focuses on the assessment
of the individual clinical zero psychology
and is an another you now specific ah concerned
at this group focuses on ah women and ethnic
minorities are of course other special groups
the thirteen division is the consulting psychology
division ah which ah basically looks at the
consultative process including applied activities
research and elevation and education and training
ah consultational skill theory and knowledge
development that is taken care by this very
division the fourteen division again one of
the most commonly known in the area of psychology
is the industrial and organization psychology
division which looks at the application of
psychology to all types of organizations and
work settings it could be manufacturing commercial
enterprises labor unions public agencies in
all such situations how human dynamics works
testing or assessment leadership team management
workplace safety and ah balance between the
work life ah situation as well as looking
at diversity and how one ah adjust in those
type of diver situations ah is something that
you know psychologists working in this area
engage themselves in
the fifteen division is the educational psychology
division which looks at the research teaching
or practice in educational settings applications
to broad spectrum of ah teaching training
and learning issues ah they have related themselves
ah with this the sixteen division is the school
psychology division ah which basically looks
at delivery of comprehensive psychological
services to children adolescents and families
in schools and other applied settings the
seventeen division is the counseling psychology
division again one of the most popular ones
ah which engages into education and training
scientific investigation practice and diversity
they also do take care of public interest
in professional psychology
the eighteenth division that is psychologists
in public service ah this looks at the needs
of the public in areas such as psychological
practice research training and policy formation
community and state psychologists criminal
justice police and public safety ah as well
as psychologist in the veterans affairs so
these are ah the things were ah they engage
themselves into the nineteenth division that
is ah the division of a military psychology
looks at application of psychological research
to ah problems related to armed forces then
come the twentieth division that is adult
development and aging ah which basically concerns
themselves to psychological development and
changes throughout the adult years
the twenty first division is the applied experimental
and engineering psychologist they primarily
look at the psychological principles knowledge
and research to improve technology consumer
products energy systems communications and
information transportation the decision making
process work setting and living environment
so safer and more effective and more reliable
systems through improved understanding of
users requirement is something that applied
experimental psychologist and engineering
psychologists concentrate on the twenty second
division ah that looks at ah the rehabilitation
psychology this division basically looks at
the psychological aspects of disability and
rehabilitation twenty third division is that
of the consumer psychology which looks at
consumer psychology and public welfare the
twenty four division is the theoretical and
philosophical psychology ah which basically
looks at the psychological theories and issues
in both their scientific and philosophical
dimensions and it tries to ah find out the
interrelationship among them
the twenty fifth division is the experimental
analysis of behavior which looks at experimental
analysis of animal and human behavior and
application of the results of such ah you
know understanding of animal human ah behavior
how it can be extended it to human affairs
so that is what experimental analysis of behavior
they do the twenty six division is the history
of psychology division it basically looks
at the awareness and appreciation of the history
of psychology understanding contemporary psychology
the relationship of psychology to other scientific
fields and it is role in the society
the twenty seven division is that of the community
psychology which looks at the reciprocal relationships
between individuals and social systems which
constitute the community context the twenty
eight division is the psychopharmacology and
substance abuse and as the name suggest it
is basically engages in to dissemination of
information regarding the effects of drug
on behavior behavioral effect of psychoactive
or central nervous system medicine drugs and
chemicals interaction of behavior drugs and
other environmental factors in animals and
human beings ah the animal research side of
it also look at the neurobehavioral toxicology
and psychopharmacology and importantly the
treatment of drug addiction and public policy
related to meditation regulation as well as
substance abuse is something that this division
looks at
twenty nine division is the psychotherapy
division and psychotherapy division basically
looks at preserving and expanding ah psychotherapy
advancement of evidence based for psychotherapy
and psychotherapeutic relationships the thirtieth
division is the psychological hypnosis division
which looks at mind body connections dissociation
but primarily it looks at the advancement
of application of hypnosis in behavioral medicine
as well as professional and public education
thirty first division basically has to do
with state psychological association affairs
so we are not going into the details of it
the thirty second division is the humanistic
psychology division which looks at full richness
of human experience philosophical humanism
existentialism and phenomenology ah psychotherapy
education management social responsibility
and change these are the concerns of humanistic
psychologist
thirty third division is that of the intellectual
and developmental disability and autism spectrum
disorders and ones again as the name suggest
they are concern or they are confined himself
to the practice in the treatment of intellectual
and developmental disabilities they look at
behavior modification and technology dual
diagnosis early intervention ageing and adult
development and transition into adulthood
is something and at they focus on thirty four
division which is the environmental population
and conservation psychology they look at the
interaction between humans and other natural
and built environment human behavior and will
being related to design of built space landscape
and natural environment conservation of wildlife
and other species synergies between human
mental health and the ecology of the natural
environment as well as the psychological consequences
of high population density so these are the
concerns of environmental population and conservation
psychologist
thirty fifth division which is the psychology
of women division ah they look at the organizational
base for all feminists women and men interested
in the psychology of women thirty six division
which is the psychology of religion and spirituality
they look at the interpretive frame work to
diverse forms of religion and spirituality
and they basically focus on the dialogue and
interchange between psychological and religious
perspectives and institutions thirty seven
division is child and family policy and practice
they basically look at this services and service
structure for children and youth psychological
knowledge to other fields such as anthropology
law and pediatrics in such areas as employment
education recreation and family planning is
taken ah care of them they also focus on critical
needs of ethnic minorities childrens media
effectiveness of child maltreatment prevention
program and treatment of violent juvenile
offenders
thirty eight division which is help psychology
division a very popularly talked about now
a days this area basically looks at the health
and illness through basic and clinical research
integration of biomedical information about
health and illness with current psychological
knowledge and this special interest groups
ah confined himself to aging women and minority
health issues thirty nine division is psychoanalysis
which is basically study and practice and
development of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic
psychotherapy the fortieth division is clinical
neuropsychology division which basically looks
at the relationship between brain and human
behavior they do look at psychological cognitive
physiological developmental clinical rehabilitation
and school forensic and health aspect of psychology
the forty first division is the american psychology
law society which basically focuses on understanding
of law and legal institutions and application
of psychology in the legal system the forty
second division is psychologists in independent
practice they are the ones who confine themselves
to tools and learning opportunities ah to
increase professional skills building and
practice development across the career span
couple and family psychology is the forty
third division which focuses on family and
couples the forty four is the psychological
study of ah lesbian gay bisexual and transgender
issues and they primarily focus on the whole
range of human sexual orientations professional
standards public policy youth families ethnic
racial issues and as well as science ah behind
the home human sexual orientation is that
the forty four division looks at
forty fifth division which is psychological
study of culture ethnicity and race they look
at the application of psychological knowledge
to ethnic minority issues and well as public
welfare media psychology and technology is
the forty six division which looks at media
communication and technology impact of the
media on human behavior and development of
media illiteracy essential to the public and
profession forty seven division is that of
sport exercise and performance psychology
ah were the experts they work in the area
of exercise and sports forty eight division
which is the peace conflict and violence they
focus on peace nonviolent conflict resolution
reconciliation and causes consequences and
prevention of violence as well as destructive
conflict
the forty nine division ah is the act of group
psychology in group psychotherapy and they
focus on these two issues the fiftieth division
is the addition psychology division which
basically looks at addictive behavior including
problematic use of alcohol nicotine and other
drugs disorders which involves gambling eating
sexual behavior or spending is also now ah
taken care by psychologists so who work in
this very area the fifty first division is
of psychological study of men and masculinity
and they look at the critical issues facing
men the fifty second division is the international
psychology division which basically work towards
development of contextually informed and culturally
inclusive psychological science and practice
and serving public interest and promotional
of the global perspective
the fifty third division is that of ah clinical
child and adolescents psychology which looks
at mental health of children youth and families
the fifty four division is the pediatric psychology
division which looks at the principles of
psychology and it is application within the
context of pediatric health health and development
of children adolescents and their families
through use of evidence based methods the
fifty fifth division is the division that
ah takes care of the advancement of ah pharmacotherapy
and this very division basically looks at
the psychological treatment combined with
psychopharmacological medications and the
last division that is the fifty six division
is the trauma psychology division which looks
at professional and public education related
to traumatic stress and if you look at all
the divisions know that we have focused on
here all the divisions of american psychological
association it tells you how wide the ah expansion
of the understanding of psychology is and
therefore whatever you can think of ah know
related to human beings you would realize
ah that one or the other branch of psychology
handles that so having understood ah why is
study of psychology having looked at various
divisions of ah american psychological association
ah if you now have to understand ah know what
are the fields ah where psychologist indulge
themselves in to you are seeing the full range
now i will quickly summarize them
so general psychology basically looks at the
basic characteristics of behavior and it searcher
for the general and the basic process and
the laws that govern them at the neuropsychological
aspects which looks at the brain nervous system
and endocrine glands and tries to correlate
physiology with behavior were as comparative
psychology ah which basically relates animal
and human behavior and try to get a comparative
picture on of ah the what you call will developed
and ah very much use ah discipline in psychology
is that of the educational psychology division
where you realize that psychological principles
are used in educational settings ah they basically
look at studying and improving teaching and
the learning process ah and ah the whole bachelor
of education program ah the b e d program
the m e d program now they heavily borrow
ah contents from psychology developmental
psychology we have talked about cognitive
psychology or abnormal and clinical aspect
of psychology military psychology we just
said that why in this division ah now looks
at the needs of the armed forces which basically
means now that you look at a specific aspects
of the defense services ah which word includes
selection of their personnel ah designing
ah training programs for them ah development
of the officers like quality which is one
of the mandate of ah this services and most
herculean task is maintenance of moral both
within and outside the forces
health psychology and community psychology
we have discussed environmental psychology
we discussed ah two interesting aspects one
is the correctional psychology where you realize
that people work to whats understanding and
changing behavior ah which has to do with
know violation of law and order and one area
of psychology which is of course ah not so
developed in our [conture/country] country
is the aerospace psychology which looks at
the physiological and psychological changes
that take place ah when one is in the space
spacecraft or at high altitude ah sports psychology
is one of the emerging fields which looks
at issues like motivation high risk sports
etcetera and again one of the not so developed
area of psychology as for as our country is
concern is political psychology which looks
at issues and problems related to people and
their relationship with the authority which
is generally political in nature
so this is the full spectrum and the intention
of ah know making you go through the division
of psychology as well as the emerging fields
was to realize that ah what is the importance
of the subject that you have opted to go through
in this very program so when we meet next
we would be talking about various schools
of thoughts in psychology then we would talking
about major mile stones then we will go to
methods and with this we will be basically
completing our overall understanding of what
psychology is the dominant methods and fields
and thereafter we will start the from the
second week we will start going through ah
specific modules where we will be talking
about perception learning memory emotion genetics
and behavior and so forth and when we will
come to the last week of this very course
that would be the time when we would be basically
looking at some of the ah methods their application
used in the lab setup to understand theoretically
what you you would have discussed in the first
seven weeks so see you in the next lecture
