Concept of Psychology

Dr Priyanki Borpujari

The origin of Psychology is derived from Philosophy. Over time, the constants of psychology have taken on a scientific character and are no longer speculative. The gradual shift of this subject from philosophy to science has caused its meaning and concept to change from time to time. This will be seen in the following discussion. Psychology comes from two Greek words, ‘Psyche’ and ‘Logos’. Psyche means ‘soul’, and logos means ‘science. Psychology was originally defined as ‘the science of the soul’. Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle interpreted Psychology as the science of the soul. But the soul is invisible and vague. The German philosopher Emanuel Kant defined psychology as a science of mind. William James (1892) also defined psychology as the science of mental processes. However, there was confusion about the nature and function of the mind because the word mind is also ambiguous. Modern psychologists have defined psychology as the science of consciousness. However, this definition was also not accepted by some because there are three levels of consciousness: conscious, sub-conscious, and unconscious. When psychologists sought to develop psychology into a pure science in the early 20th century, psychology was defined as the science of behaviour. J.B. Watson mainly supported the term behaviour.

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