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In this article we will discuss about the relation between psychology and behavioural science.
Psychology is related to other behavioural sciences like anthropology which is the study of human beings of different cultures, sociology is the study of the society, so also geography, history and economics which are the study of various aspects of human behaviour.
Thus behaviour includes all activities, like that of motor activities, i.e. walking and speaking. Cognitive activities like perceiving, remembering and thinking and reasoning; and emotional activities like feeling happy, angry or sad. It also includes all our reactions and responses to the external environment, anything that can be observed.
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This behavioural science is the branch of science which helps in understanding patients as unique individuals. This term has been used to denote the study of human behaviour both of the individual and groups of people, small or large.
It emphasises on individual behaviour and on the application of such basic knowledge to medical and allied disciplines. Thus behavioural science has become part of the undergraduate medical education all over the world.
Behavioural sciences have a significant effect on the outlook and attitudes of medical students, both through their subject matter (human behaviour and social processes) and through their central premize that the problems they deal with are susceptible to the scientific investigation and explanation.
Behavioural science can be of more direct medical relevance also. In medical practice the nurses main concern is individual patient. Often one encounters different responses to pain, illness and hospitalization. The behaviour involves any activity that can be observed, recorded and measured. It includes anything a person or animal does that can be observed or measured in some way.
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Thus psychology studies both observable behaviour and mental processes. The mental process includes thoughts, memories, emotions, motives, dreams, perceptions, beliefs, etc. The study of mental processes present a specific problem because they cannot be directly observed, recorded and measured.
Thus we check any changes in behaviour which will indicate towards the changes that might have occurred in mental processes. For example, stress can be inferred by measuring the changes in blood pressure and respiration.
The study of human behaviour is determined by general laws of behaviour that pertains to all organisms. Animal behaviour provides important clues in answering questions about human behaviour and is useful in helping to solve the everyday problems that all human beings come across.
The scientific study of rats, dogs, cats, pigeons, insects have also provided vast information about behaviour. The influence of patients’ personalities and relationships may be important factors in the disease processes and in medical care.
A nurse also needs to communicate effectively with patients, their relatives, with colleagues, doctors and employers that is, a nurse should get acquainted, to form judgement and make decisions based on the understanding of human behaviour and institutions.
Thus only biological training does not prepare a nurse to deal with these situations but they also need a psychological knowledge of cognitive processes, in solving problems as well as developing the effectiveness of the nurses and doctors in their medical profession.
Clinical practice involves complex routine, viz.:
i. Processes like diagnosis and treatment. It also involves observations, discrimination, interpretation, acquiring and retaining factual information of a problem.
ii. For following progress, there is an extensive body of psychological knowledge concerning these processes and the variables which influence them like the effects of fatigue, attitudes, an expectancy and accuracy of perception and recall. It is believed that students can be profiled from awareness of this problem and of the principles underlying them.
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An understanding of human behaviour is desirable in most branches of clinical practice, especially in medicine, psychiatry, community medicine, pediatrics and genetics. Culture shapes not only the normal behaviour but also it influences illness so as to understand more accurately, the patient’s behaviour and his symptoms importance has to be given to his cultural background.
Therefore, the scope of behavioural sciences ranges from doctor-patient relationship to nurse-patient relationship, nurse and patient’s family members; relationship to various aspects of healthcare such as social class and health behaviour, developmental life cycle, psychophysical relations, social support, self- efficiency and ageing.