3 PSYCHOLOGYPsychology: Understanding Self and Others Notes MODULE - I Foundations of Psychology 1 1 1 1 1 PSYCHOLOGY: UNDERST ANDING SELF AND OTHERS We often experience moods of anger and joy. W e do have remarkable ability to learn and memorize poems, stor ies and events. We often notice powerful effect of leaders on the behaviour of followers. While interacting in groups we often experience conflict and cooperation. At times some of us suffer from depression, hyper-anxiety , etc. All of us remain curious to know about the causes of these happenings and try to make sense in our own ways. Our understanding is often based on beliefs and personal experiences which may not be true. The knowledge gathered in this way cannot be used to formulate theories or to solve problems faced by people in their lives. We need dependable and relatively accurate understanding of the principles describing the working of human mind and behaviour. Psychology is the subject that provides insights into various aspects of human behaviour. In this lesson you will learn about the nature of psychology , activities of psychologists and different branches of psychology . OBJECTIVES After studying this lesson, you will be able to: • explain the need for the study of psychology and nature of psychology; • describe what psychologists do; • state briefly the development of psychology as a discipline; • state the relationship of psychology with other allied disciplines; and • describe the changing face of psychology and different fields of psychology .