Psychological facts
GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY
1. Psychology means the study of the soul on account of its derivation from the Greek words, psyche (soul) and logos (a rational course of study).
2. The first man to define psychology as the science of behavior was an English psychologist, William Mc Doughal.
3. The term mental process is often used to refer the process like thinking, remembering, perceiving and learning which involve internal mental activities.
4. Wilhelm Wundt at the University of Leipzig in Germany established the first psychological laboratory in 1879.
5. The word behavior includes anything a person or animal does that can be observed in some way. Behavior is the total response that man or animal makes to the situation in life with which either is confronted.
6. General psychology is concerned with the study of basic characteristics of behavior in all living organisms like learning, remembering, thinking, motivation, etc. and the laws governing them. Understanding these processes enables us to understand other fields of psychology.
7. In applied psychology the theory generated or principles discussed through pure psychology finds its practical shape.
8. Cognitive psychology deals with how individuals acquire, store, transform, use and communicate information.
9. Environmental psychology focuses on the interaction between the physical world and the human behavior.
10. Physiological psychology is concerned with the interrelationships of the nervous system, receptors, and endocrine glands, and of behavior and the mental processes.
INDIAN PSYCHOLOGY
1. The first psychology department in India was established in 1916 at Calcutta University.
2. Thinking about psychological problems and issues has a rich tradition in various system of Indian thought.
3. Indian view emphasizes the primary role of “chitt” as mind. Indian traditional psychologist emanates from two Indian perspectives on consciousness – Yoga and Vedanta.
4. Yoga is dualistic and has been selected for study because Yoga of Patanjali emphasizes psychological issue so much that it may be considered more a psychological theory than a system of philosophy.
5. Yoga is a system of exercises practiced as part of the Hindu discipline to promote control of the body and mind.
6. Vedanta is the most popular and dominant school of Indian thought. Its concept has been derived from the discourses in Upanishads.
7. The Yogic view of consciousness emphasizes processional aspect (Vriti) while Vedantic emphasizes the state of consciousness – wakefulness (jagriti), dream (swapna), deep sleep (susupta), and trance (Samadhi).
8. The Indian notion of self encompasses the physical, social, mental, as well as spiritual aspects of human existence.
9. The most important distinction between the Indian and western views on self is the way the boundary is drawn between self and environment.
10. In the western mind, the boundaries appear to be relatively fixed. In Indian self boundaries are constantly shifting. Thus, in case of Indian self, the self sometimes expand to fuse with cosmos but at the next moment it completely withdraws itself from it.
PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
1. Neuron is the basic unit of the nervous system.
2. The brain stem is the center for basic support, breathing, heart beat, walking and sleeping.
3. A nerve is a bundle of elongated axon that belongs to hundreds or thousands of neurons.
4. The pons region that connects to the cerebellum and is involved in dreaming and walking..
5. The cerebellum regulates higher levels of cognitive and emotional functions.
6. Limbic system helps in maintaining internal homeostasis by regulating body temperature, blood pressure and blood sugar level.