Abstract
The year 2016 saw the celebration of 100 years in Indian psychology, the first introduction in 1916 in the University of Calcutta. Psychology emerged from the overwhelming shadow of philosophy because of the determination of number of scientists.
The book is divided into three broad divisions. Foreword of the book is written by Emeritus Director of J. P Das Centre on Developmental Disability and Learning from University of Alberta, Canada.
The overview section takes the reader through the journey of Indian psychology since its establishment, the opening of Indian Psychoanalytical Institute, the academic exchange program, the post-Independence massive extension, and finally the present scenario.
Section 2 comprises of criteria of academic leadership and leadership in professional environment including scientific contribution. It ranges from authors born between 1864 and 1939, approximately in an ascending order.
Seal (1864–1938) initiated the study of psychology as an independent study in India and established the significance of Indian scientific knowledge via ancient Hindu philosophical concepts. Bose (1886–1953) was interested in magic and hypnotism and extensively contributed from psychology to psychoanalysis wherein he highlighted the origin and treatment of mental disorders and developed new insights into the unconscious mind. Sengupta (1889–1944) started the first psychology journal in India, the Indian Journal of Psychology and also ventured into making psychological instruments. Mitra (1895–1962) was a pioneer in the field of psychology and laid emphasis on broadening the scope of history of psychology and criminal psychology in order to attract more public attention and a respectable status for this area. Gopalaswamy (1896–1957) applied psychology for the reformation of the education and examination systems for the holistic benefit of the society and established a first-rate psychology laboratory for research and application purposes. Atreya (1897–1967) contributed to the research on Yoga Vasistha and comparison of Indian and Western psychology.
Prasad (1901–1963) was instrumental in organizing activities for higher learning, taking his own department to enormous heights and arranged visits of foreign scholars and professors to enrich teachings at the department. Bose (1901–1995) was immensely interested in industrial psychology and became the pioneer of tension study in India in the field of industrial psychology. Kuppuswamy (1907–1981) did comparative studies between ancient Indian thought and modern theories of psychology and developed the socioeconomic scale, which was used by socioeconomic research scientists across India. Trivikram Kulkarni (1912–1983) was a licensed medical practitioner but contributed to understanding Yoga through empirical analysis. Kothurkar (1912–2008) was responsible for building the experimental psychology laboratory and subsequently contributed extensively in comparative psychology. Bhatia (1914–2004) constructed the Bhatia’s Battery of Performance Tests of Intelligence under the Indian conditions. Fr. Joachim M. Fuster’s (1914–2011) area of expertise was personal counseling, which he further took to common people through courses on counseling. Mohsin (1914–1999) focused not only on psychology but also on its application in terms of training, measurement of intelligence and vocational guidance. Sinha (1918–2009) extensively promoted experimental thinking in social psychology.
Asthana (1922) advocated the science of psychology through the area of philosophy, psychology and experimental psychology. Rath (1926–2014) works in the area of caste, class, gender, and so on are benchmarks for social psychological research in India. Shanmugam (1921–1997) contributed significantly in the field of criminology. Ansari (1922–1978) devoted most of his work toward experimental personality psychology. Chatterjee (1922–1983) worked in psychology and sociology on topics such as sociometric data, conflict resolution and so on. Sinha (1922–1998) has contributed enormously in the field of cross-cultural psychology ranging from basic to their application. Murthy (1924–2011) guided the future of clinical psychology and behavioral therapy in India and expanded new areas of clinical service and practice. Kale (1924–2012) examined the psychological basis of social, civic and political behavior. Tripathi (1925–2012) was focused on scientific enquiry of psychology. Hundal (1925–1983) was interested in intelligence, personality, and motivation, and advocated multivariate techniques in research. Pareek (1925–2010) was a champion and expert on training and organizational behavior and led the HRD movement in India. George (1925–1989) worked on the psychological correlation of academic achievements. Ghorpade (1926) contributed to the area of industrial psychology, organizational psychology, and modern psychotherapy. Kulkarni (1926) heavily contributed to the education system of India, through National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and established scientific methodology of psychological testing. Singh (1930–1979) focused on cognitive aspects of psychology and selected research problems that had consequences reflected in all aspects of the discipline. Das (1931) was focused on empirical research, on psychological sciences and contributed Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive (PASS) theory. Rao (1932) did exemplary work on psychology propelled him to get the Padma Shri, the first receiver in the field of psychology. His work mainly comprises of understanding the psi phenomenon in Indian philosophical perspective. Beg (1932–2013)’s work focused on the heuristic power of Vedantic and Sufi concepts. Anandalakshmy (1932) focused on the cause of societal development, girl child development, cognitive development in early childhood and socialization, among many others. Mukherjee (1933–1997) was interested on the field of theory, method and applications of multivariate analysis in psychology which ranged from statistical psychology to social and industrial psychology. Joshi (1933–2010) has done commendable work on individual differences and intelligence testing in the field of psychology. Bhagwatwar (1934) wanted to figure out the connection between the world of work and psychology and pointed that society and psychology are mutually exclusive and wanted to establish that the application of psychology on Indian society will be beneficial to all community. Kanekar (1934) believed strongly on positivistic approach and contributed immensely to empirical enquiry and quantitative analysis of social phenomena.
Prabhu (1935)’s contributions toward formation of clinical psychology and development of training program especially for mentally handicapped are only few to be named. Sinha (1935) was an expert in multi-method research approach and developed methodology to address Indian context of research more pertinently. Faroqi (1935–2017) held multiple roles as institution builder, teacher trainer, and consultant and he was remembered as an eminent contributor of psychology. Palsane (1935) was the pioneer in establishing psychometric orientation in teaching and research in Pune University and worked toward psychometric testing, stress and behavioral pattern with respect to Indian society. Kanungo helped in progress of work motivation and alienation, entrepreneurship and innovation, and organizational leadership immensely. Paranjpe (1936) was interested in the area of theories of personality, history and systems of personality, and techniques with respect to Indian tradition. Deshpande (1936) was a practicing psychologist at the grass-roots level and he succeeded in establishing link between urban and rural psychologist in Maharashtra. Phadke (1936) was moving from being amateur to professional psychologist, and he has extensively worked in rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) and is the only Indian psychologist to become a fellow and supervisor of Albert Ellis Institute for REBT, New York. Nandy (1937) emphasized on bridging the gap between psychology and sociology and stressed that study of psychology should encompass diverse pursuit and exploratory methods. Kakar (1938) was a psychoanalyst and thinker, and his application in psychotherapy emphasizes on transformative knowledge with empathy and application of the Eriksonian clinical method. Kureshi (1939–1996) gave importance to projective techniques and most of his work comprised of reinterpreting and refining the field of personality assessment. Pestonjee (1939) is a highly respected Indian psychologist and has extensively worked in organization structure and stress management to name a few. Sharma (1939) work encompasses in stress, emotions, health, well-being within educational, clinical, organizational, and cross-cultural perspectives. Kool (1943) focused on motor memory of blind people and psychology of non-violence and cross-cultural perspective in this. Krishnan research area focused on personality and counseling in Indian psychology and contributed in framing the psychology curriculum in Indian Universities. Fr James Filella focused that psychology was on directive versus non-directive thinking, individualization, and type of job contract, and made huge contribution in these areas in psychology. Mukherjee focused on application of psychology in clinical, educational, and industrial spheres and contributed toward the development the Department of Applied Psychology for University of Bombay. Adinarayan was the first Indian to take up psychological investigation on color prejudice. Jalota (1904–1982) contributed toward experimental works toward psychological methods, and learning and motivation are till date being honored by all. Lal was interested in the selection process of armed forces, which comprises of different psychological tools, and was shaped by him among few other eminent people. Under his vision and leadership, the Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR) was established. Adiseshiah carried the legacy of Sohan Lal, and he continued with the development of DIPR as director. His researches mainly focused on intelligence testing.
The last section is a retrospective of the psychology field depicted by 18 important question and answers by eminent psychologists.
Overall, the book takes the reader through a journey with interesting insights which were never brought under one umbrella.