NCERT Solutions for Class 11 Psychology (Introduction to Psychology) Chapter 1 What is Psychology

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SOLUTIONS
CLASS - 11th

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Class : 11th
Subject : Psychology
Chapter : 1
Chapter Name : What is Psychology

Q1 What is behaviour? Give examples of overt and covert behaviour?

Answer. Any response that is made by an organism that can be and is measured, can be
referred to as Behaviour.
Any kind of covert or overt action/reaction that a person does or has towards a particular object
or person can be observed in many ways.
An example of overt behaviour can be seen when a person is running to catch a bus that as
already left the bus station. However, on the other hand there can be the type of behaviour that
cannot be observed directly, like, while someone is thinking, it can be seen as a behaviour, but
it’s impossible to observe.

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Q2 How can you distinguish scientific psychology from the popular notions about the discipline
of Psychology?

Answer. Psychology can be seen as a kind of science that looks for a certain pattern of
behaviour in a person. The pattern of behaviour may be predicted and but it cannot be
explained after the behaviour has already been established. A notable case study that is useful
in this context is of Dweck, and the study on children. Dweck conducted a study on children who
were giving up too easily when they were faced with difficult problems or failures. It can be seen
that a common sense factor that tells a person to give the children easier problems first, which
could lead to an increase in their success rate, which would in turn lead to so their confidence
going up and enhancing. However, shockingly, it was found out by Dweck that in the first case,
where the children were given easier problems and had always succeeded, were then unable to
cope up with difficult problems and were also seen to be giving up faster than the children who
had an experience with both success and failure and were also told to put more effort into
solving the difficult problems.

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Q3 Give a brief account of the evolution of psychology.

Answer. Psychology has a very brief history as it is a modern discipline. However, despite its
short history, it has a very long past as it grew out of ancient philosophy.
It is viewed to be a scientific discipline and has the following phases:

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First is the oldest approach to the study of psychology, known as structuralism. It said to have
been proposed by William Wundt. The main area of study and focus of structuralists was the
analysis of human mind and its structure.

Another approach to psychology that was developed by an American Psychologist William
James, is known as functionalism. The main focus of study for functionalists was the emphasis
on how the mind works, what it does and the functions performed by one’s consciousness in
order to adjust to the environment.

The third approach known as behaviourism was proposed by John B. Watson. He believed that
behaviour could be described objectively and be viewed in terms of stimuli and responses.
Hence, he viewed psychology to be the science of behaviour. This approach lead to the belief
that other mentalist concepts, for example, consciousness, image or mind are impossible to be
measured or studied objectively and/or scientifically. His main focus was on response to stimuli
that were verifiable and observable. This focus came in as an influence by Pavlov’s classical
conditioning and Watson was very eager to study the study of learning.

Gestalt Psychology, as an approach to the study of psychology, was mainly focused on the
organisation of what we see and how we see things, also known as perceptual organisation.
The psychologists related to this also demonstrated the laws of perceptual organization.

Psychoanalysis is considered to be the heart of psychology and was proposed by Dr. Sigmund
Freud. His views were unique from others as in his view human behaviour was considered to be
a dynamic manifestation of unconscious desires and conflicts. These are not present in the
conscious of an individual, hence, they are not aware of these.
Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow took to argue that human beings have a free will, this means
that people have their own choice and are free to do whatever they want to do. This was known
as humanism. Their main assumption is that all human beings tend to be good and have a
tendency to self actualise. Also, all the things that humans tend to do and goal oriented.

The perspective which can be seen as a combination of Gestalt approach and structuralist
approach, is known as constructivism. It was first proposed by Jean Piaget and Vygotsk. This
particular approach has its main focus on cognition. Cognition refers to the study of how human
beings, through thinking, understanding, perceiving, memorising and problem solving, view the
world.

Q4 What are the problems for which collaboration of psychologists with other disciplines can be
fruitful? Take any two problems to explain.

Answer. Psychology, as a science, is said to be the central part of the intersection of many
fields of study and knowledge that pertain to human behaviour and functioning. Because of the

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very knowledgeable contribution of psychology, the growth and progress in the study of various
other disciplines has occurred. It has only been possible by drawing from the subject-matter of
psychology. The subject matter being the study of brain and behaviour, for this, psychology
seem to be sharing its knowledge with neurology, physiology, biology, medicine and computer
science. In a sociocultural environment, in order to study the actual meaning, the growth and the
development of human behaviour, psychology can very readily be seen as sharing its
knowledge with a number of other fields of study.

Q5 Differentiate between (a) a psychologist and a psychiatrist (b) a counsellor and a clinical
psychologist. clinical psychologist.

Answer. (a) A psychologist works in diverse areas of study and are also engaged in counselling,
but mainly it is a person who possesses the knowledge of the subject and holds recognized
degree in the field. On the other hand, a psychiatrist is a medical-practitioner who is mainly
focused on the psychological well-being of individuals. Psychiatrist and clinical psychologist
have different roles and qualifications, for example, a clinical psychologist cannot prescribe
drugs to o individuals, where psychiatrists are considered to be medical professionals.

(b) A counsellor can be described as a person who offers and provides advice to the individuals
who mainly suffer from motivational and emotional problems. However, on the other hand, a
clinical psychologist is engaged in providing such advice to people, but they also deal with
behavioural, mental and emotional problems.

Q6 Describe some of the areas of everyday life where understanding of psychology can be put
to practice. can be put to practice.

Answer. Psychology can have many dimensions and is a very vast subject to study. Its
dimensions range from being personal to family, a community, it can even be said that the
subject has national and international dimensions. The solutions of the problems of these
dimensions are said to be having political, economic and social reforms. However, it should also
be noted that things like unhealthy thinking, undesirable patterns of behaviour and negative
attitude towards self and towards other people can be seen as the major causes of these
aforementioned problems. The only way of having a deeper understanding of these problems
and issues for finding their effective solutions lies in having a proper psychological analysis of
the same. An understanding of self is a must, especially in a positive and balanced light, so, as
to not be reactionary in any way. Psychology enables an individual to do just that, which can in
turn help him/her to face everyday challenges and come closer to dealing with personal
expectations.

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Q7 How can knowledge of the field of environmental psychology be used to promote
environment friendly behaviour?

Answer. If an individual has the knowledge of environmental psychology, it can be said without
a doubt that they can help prevent huge disasters. In order to avoid any kind of unwanted and
negative outcome, one has to learn to modify their own behaviour.
Taking into account, the example: if one knows the hazards of growing pollution, one can
certainly think of some measures and apply the same to stop pollution growth.

Q8 In terms of helping solve an important social problem such as crime, which branch of
psychology do you think is most suitable.

Answer. Problems like crime can be solved most efficiently by with the help of this branch of
psychology, known as social psychology. This branch deals with exploring through the thought
processes of people and the influence of the same on others. The major subject matters and
area of concern of a social psychologist are topics like conformity, attitude, obedience to
authority, social motivation, inter-group relations, and many other similar subjects. However, it
should always be kept in mind that in order to answer the questions related to such topics, the
most significant things are the knowledge of psychology for Lawyer and a criminologist. If these
professionals have a knowledge of psychology, they can nicely understand how well a witness
remembers the incident and facts like what has happened there, among other things.

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