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measured. Psychology was influenced by from a farmer’s family. Her grandparents, Descartes and later on by the developments in parentsandelderbrotherworkedontheirfarm. physics has grown by following what is called They lived together in their house in the village. a hypothetico-deductive model. The model Ranjita was a good athlete and was the best suggests that scientific advancement can take long distance runner in the school. She loved place if you have a theory to explain a meeting people and making friends. phenomenon. For example, physicists have Unlike her, Shabnam lived with her mother what is called a Big-bang theory to explain in the same village. Her father worked in an how the universe came to be formed. Theory office in a town nearby and came home during is nothing else but a set of statements about holidays. Shabnam was a good artist and loved how a certain complex phenomenon can be staying home and taking care of her younger explained with the help of propositions which brother. She was shy and avoided meeting are interrelated. Based on a theory, scientists people. deduce or propose a hypothesis, that offers a Last year there was very heavy rain and tentative explanation of how a certain the river nearby overflowed into the village. phenomenon takes place. The hypothesis then Many houses in the low lying areas were is tested and proved true or false based on flooded. The villagers got together and empirical data that one has gathered. The organised help and gave shelter to people in theory is revised if data gathered point in a distress. Shabnam’s house was also flooded different direction than the one suggested by and she came to live in Ranjita’s house with the hypothesis. Using the above approach her mother and brother. Ranjita was happy psychologists have developed theories of helping the family and making them feel learning, memory, attention, perception, comfortableinherhouse.Whenthefloodwater motivation and emotion, etc. and have made receded, Ranjita’s mother and grandmother significant progress. Till date, most of the helpedShabnam’smothertoset-uptheirhouse. research in psychology follows this approach. The two families became very close. Ranjita Apart from this, psychologists have also been and Shabnam also became very good friends. considerably influenced by the evolutionary In this case of Ranjita and Shabnam, both approach which is dominant in biological are very different persons. They grew up in sciences. This approach has also been used different families under complex social and to explain diverse kinds of psychological cultural conditions. You can see some phenomenon such as attachment and regularity in the relationship of their nature, aggression to mention just a few. experience and mental processes with their social and physical environment. But at the Psychology as a Social Science same time, there are variations in their We mentioned above that psychology is behaviours and experiences which would be recognised more as a social science because difficult to predict using the known psychological principles. One can understand it studies the behaviour of human beings in their socio-cultural contexts. Humans are not why and how individuals in communities only influenced by their socio-cultural become quite helpful and self-sacrificing in contexts, they also create them. Psychology crisis as was the case with the people in the as a social science discipline focuses on village of Ranjita and Shabnam. But, even in humans as social beings. Consider the that case, not every villager was equally helpful following story of Ranjita and Shabnam. and also under similar circumstances not Ranjita and Shabnam were in the same every community is so forthcoming; in fact, class. Although, they were in the same class, sometimes, the opposite is true – people they were just acquainted with each other and become antisocial under similar their lives were quite different. Ranjita came circumstances indulging in looting and 5 Chapter 1 • What is Psychology? Reprint 2026-27