THE BEANBAG PSYCHOLOGIST 01
It was almost 1 ‘o clock in the
afternoon. Everyone had had their fill at Sunday lunch and was settling down
for idle chat and some post lunch belly-rubbing in the living room. Kiran
plopped on to his habitual perch, his purple squishy beanbag and lazily looked
over at his family. There was Aunty G fretting over the extra salt she had
added to the sambhar which had long since been polished off by everyone. Incessant
worrier, this one! There was Grandmother R, forever patient and compassionate,
listening to the woes of the extra-salt-adder, supplying reassuring comments.
She always said the right things! Then there was Uncle A, making inappropriate
jokes and provoking others. Moving on, we have Amma and Aunty S talking loudly
over the other interspersing conversations, in their own world and so
completely relaxed than they have been during the week!
To Kiran, there was something at once puzzling yet arresting about watching
a bunch of people he knew so dearly. People- watching was akin to reading a
riddle to him! He loved trying to make-up hypotheses to predict others’
behaviour based on whatever he already knew about them. He enjoyed pondering
over why people say the kind of things they said and why they did the kind of
things they did!One of the most puzzling questions in his mind was related to what
emotions were! Where do they come from and how come the same situation lead to
varied emotional responses in different people?!
Where could an inquisitive young person turn to find an answer to these
questions relating to people’s minds? The immensely intriguing field of
Psychology would be a great first stop!
If you were to observe what words come to mind when you hear
“Psychology”, you would probably say “human mind”, “behaviour”, “mental
wellbeing” and “mental abnormality”! The last response is a particularly
frequent association that people make with this field. Sure, studying in depth
as to the abnormalities of the mind is a key focus of the subject but it would
be completely remiss to make statements about what “abnormal” is without
knowing the “normal”, wouldn’t you agree?
Psychology concerns itself with the scientific study of mental
processes (thinking, emotions) and behaviours in both humans and animals. There are some fascinating
branches which concern themselves with specific aspects of the mind. Here’s a
list of a few of the branches:
- Experimental psychology for
designing research studies to prove or disprove theories of behaviour
- Physiological psychology to
study the role of the brain and other bodily processes on our mental lives
- Social psychology to study
the behaviour of individuals in a group setting
- Evolutionary psychology to
understand how memory, emotions, language and other processes developed as
an adaptation to our changing environments
- Abnormal psychology to study mental disorders, their causes and treatment!
- Cognitive psychology that exclusively studies higher mental processes such as perception, attention, memory, reasoning, language etc.
- Developmental psychology to study the psychological development and changes a person goes through from infancy to old age!
- Neuropsychology to understand the structure and function of the brain in relation to behaviour
Psychology is not an mysterious subject that is far removed from our
everyday lives. We are all psychological beings and the very capacities that we
enjoy such as our attention, perception, memory, emotions, social and intimate
relationships, motivation and what else have you, falls within the ambit of
Psychology!
If we can open our minds and other senses to observe our personal and
social worlds, we can recognize the relevance of psychological principles in
our own lives and you could well be on your way to becoming a beanbag
psychologist!
SANGEETHA MADHU & JYOTHI RAVICHANDRAN, THE HINDU IN SCHOOL
