Thought, Feeling and Behaviour — the first-year Psychology chapter on how the mind is organised

You get a low mark in a test. A thought comes: “I am not good at this.” A feeling follows: a heavy, sinking one. Then a behaviour: you skip the next class. Thought, feeling, behaviour. Three different things, and each one pushed the next. This chapter is about that chain.

The NCH syllabus gives this as chapter two of Fundamentals of Psychology in relation to Homoeopathy (HomUG-FPH). Its full title is long: “Psychological organization and the interrelationship of Thought (Cognition), Feelings (Affect) and Behaviour (Conation); Conscious and Unconscious elements”.

Reading the title slowly

“Psychological organization” means how the mind is arranged: its main parts, and how they fit together. “Interrelationship” means how those parts affect each other.

The sheet then names three parts, each with a technical word in brackets. Learn both words for each.

• Thought (Cognition). Cognition means thinking and knowing.
• Feelings (Affect). Affect means feeling and emotion.
• Behaviour (Conation). Conation is an older word for the urge or will to act. The sheet pairs it with behaviour.

Examiners may use either word. If you know both, you are safe.

Three definitions

The first three topics each ask for a definition and its types.

1. “Psychological Organisation: definition of Emotions and its types”
2. “Definition of Thinking and its types”
3. “Definition of Behaviour and its types”

Notice two small things on the sheet. The title spells “organization” with a z, and the first topic spells “Organisation” with an s. Both spellings are correct English. And the title says “Feelings”, while the first topic says “Emotions”. Ask your teachers whether they treat the two words as the same here. The sheet does not say.

For each of the three, make a card: the definition, the types your textbook gives, and one everyday example of each type.

Effects and links

The next two topics are close cousins.

• “Effects of Thought (Cognition), Feelings (Affect) and Behaviour (Conation) on Mind and Body”
• “Interrelationship of Thought (Cognition), Feelings (Affect) and Behaviour (Conation) on Mind and Body”

The first asks what each one does to the mind and to the body. The second asks how the three act on one another, and how that shows up in mind and body together.

Go back to the low test mark. The thought changed the feeling. The feeling changed the behaviour. And a heavy feeling can be felt in the body too, not only in the mind. That is the kind of link these topics ask you to explain. Your textbook will give the theories behind it.

Where the three appear in homoeopathy’s books

The last two topics turn toward homoeopathy.

• “Representation of Thought (Cognition), Feelings (Affect) and Behaviour (Conation) in Materia Medica”
• “Representation of Thought (Cognition), Feelings (Affect) and Behaviour (Conation) in Repertory”

Materia Medica is the subject that describes homoeopathic medicines one by one. Repertory is the large index of symptoms that homoeopaths search. A rubric is one heading in that index.

These topics ask you to notice that both books record the mind, not only the body. Thoughts, feelings and behaviour all appear in them. The first-year Repertory syllabus says the same from its side. Its last chapter has a topic on “Rubrics related to emotions, intellect and memory in Mind chapter of Dr. Kent’s Repertory”.

The sheet does not name any medicine or any rubric here. Your Materia Medica and Repertory teachers will show you examples. When you write about them, keep the psychology words and the homoeopathy words clearly labelled.

The missing line

The title ends with “Conscious and Unconscious elements”. But none of the seven topic lines mentions them. Tell yourself this plainly, so it does not surprise you in the exam. The next chapter, “Physiological and Evolutionary basis of behaviour”, has a topic on “Conscious and unconscious behaviour”. Ask your teachers whether they teach that idea here, there, or in both places.

How the chapter sits in the year

This is chapter two. Chapter one introduces the idea of mind, both in modern psychology and in Hahnemann’s thinking. This chapter gives the three parts. Chapters three, four and five then take each part further: behaviour, emotion, and thinking. So this chapter is the frame. Learn it well and the next three will each have a place to sit.

What to take from it

1. Know the three parts, with both names for each.
2. Define emotion, thinking and behaviour, and know their types.
3. Explain, with an everyday example, how the three affect one another.
4. Know that Materia Medica and Repertory both record the mind.
5. Note the “Conscious and Unconscious elements” gap, and ask about it.

The sheet gives seven topics and no detail. The types, the theories and the examples come from your textbook and your teachers.

Where to go next on the platform

This piece sits in the first-year Psychology room. “Psychology in the First Year — the study of mind, for homoeopaths” gives the map of all twelve chapters. “Correlation of Anatomy, Physiology and Psychology with Repertory — the last first-year Repertory chapter” is the Repertory side of this chapter’s last two topics.