We’ll discuss following topics
1- Definition of Psychology
2- Psychology as a Science of Soul
3- Psychology as the Science of Mind
4- Psychology as a Science of Behavior
5- Dr. Watson School of psychology
Definition of Psychology
Psychology is the study of the thoughts of mind and actions of an individuals. Psychology is the youngest of all the sciences. It is still in the making and is far from being established in the sense in which other sciences are. Hence the definition of psychology has been, and probably still is, a matter of fierce. Controversy among psychologists. They largely differ from oneanother as indeed all scientists do, in the early stages of their science.
disagreements and controversies are almost inevitable and without them, perhaps scientific progress could not have been as great as it is. This especially true of a young science like our own, recently set free from philosophy, and not always distinguishable from.physiology. As no one definition is agreed upon by common consent, there exist different definitions of psychology. It has been variously defined as the science of soul, the science of mind, the science of consciousness, and the science of behavior. Let us examine these definitions one by one and see if any of them can enable us to understand aright what psychology is and what it deals with.
1- Psychology as a Science of Soul
According to dictionary, psychology means “The science of soul”. This is the oldest definition of psychology, but it does not deserve the respect due to its age. The word “soul” is a very unsatisfactory term to us in psychology It has changed its meaning. Aristotle used it for the living principal in all animate beings, but at the present day it is a term used in religion, for that part of us which is immortal and which has special relation with God.
Thus the use of the term “soul” implies certain theories of religion with regard to immortality and relationship to God, and such theories are just what we want to avoid in science of psychology, even though we may believe them to be true on other grounds. A psychologist is not opposed to religion, but he certainly wants to keep his young science free from religious terminology “Soul” is a word of bad odor to men of science, smelling too much of religion. As it has a religious flavor, it is unwelcome to modern psychology. If psychology aspires to be a science-and surely it does-it must adept a scientific and not a speculative procedure. Science observes facts, and soul is not open to observation or experiment: The definition of psychology as the science of soul is, therefore, rejected as unscientific.
2-Psychology as the Science of Mind
Are we any better off by defining psychology as the science of mind? so many, the word “Mind” is quite as vague as the word “soul”. If “Mind” means something mysterious inside ourselves, it would be just the same as Soul, and this definition too, would deserve to be discredited. Ask the man in the street what he means by “mind and he will tel you that it is something in his body, or rather head, which thinks, feels and wills So we define psychology, as the science of mind as a layman thinks this definition would be no improvement upon the previous definition of psychology as the science of soul But of like Hume and Tachener, we take mind in the sense of mental process this definition would certainly better than the previous one.
Psychology, would be the mean the science of mental processes. But what are the mental processes? The arsweis that they are our processes of knowing, feeling and wiling- The processes which are commonly said to go on in our mind. Let us illustrate them by example. If a wasp stings my finger, I know so what has happened to me, feel a pain, run after the wasp and will to kill 1 kniow (orange), I feel and I will The processes of the mind are facts. There are real happenings, and there is no mystery about them. This conception of the mind is sometimes called the empirical conception, because mental processes can be experienced. It is also called the scientific conception because they can be observed and experimented upon.
To sum up, the definition of psychology as the science of mental processes seems to be quite reasonable and therefore commands assent. This is subject to one objection, however. According to this definition psychology is concerned with the study of mental processed. Now, even a superficial consideration shows that a person can study only his own mental processes. To know the mental process of other persons and animals, one has to see what they do. And “what they do” is called their “behavior”. I can say that the man is grieved only when I see him weeping We can know the mental processes of others only through theobservation of their behavior.
It says that psychology is concerned with the study of behavior as well as mental process. So the definition of psychology as the science of mental processes is ahalf-truth.
3- Psychology as the Science of Consciousness
Psychology is also called the science of Consciousness. Now, what is consciousness? If you stop to reflect, you will be aware that you are sitting on a desk, that you are reading a book, and that you are either interested in it or bored by it. The present awareness is what we mean by Consciousness? Does Consciousness cover the whole field about mind? The answer is, No.
Besides our Conscious mental processes and psychology cannot ignore them because they are also processes of mind, the truth rather is that our conscious processes from a very small part of our mind. They are so to speak the upper surface of the deep sea, the greater part of which lies below. In fact, more lies at the back of our mind than at its front. This is also incomplete because we can study our own conscious processes, we cannot study mental processes of others So, we must take “behavior” into consideration.
Hence the definition of psychology as the science of conscious is much too narrow, because it excludes the study of subconscious and unconscious mental processes and also that of behavior.
4- Psychology as a Science of Behavior
By “behavior” is generally understood anything that a living-does. It means “response”, “reactions” or “adjustments” of an organism to various kinds of stimuli. A stimulus is the outside cause of mental process It has already been said that in order to understand the minds of other persons and animals, we have to study their behavior. Hence psychology has been defined as the science of behavior- a definition that looks harmless enough.
5- Dr. Watson School
This is the most modern of all the definitions and is put forward by the school of psychology known as behaviorism, the leading exponent of Which is Dr. Watson. This school of psychology, in its extreme form.
Only the study of behavior as its ‘subject matter and ignores the day of consciousness and mental processes altogether. Dr Watson writes slate of consciousness, like the so called phenomena of decision, are not objectively verifiable and for that reason can never become data for science-
The behaviorist finds no evidence for mental existence or mental-processes of any kind” Again, “consciousness is neither a definable nor a usable concept– It is merely word for the soul of more ancient times” “If it exists” he continues, “we can know nothing about it Therefore am going to see how far I can go in the direction of this point of view has been prevalent in America under the able and Merpreting psychology without mentioning it.