The history of psychological thought in the Indian subcontinent may be divided into three distinct periods: first, a multi-millennial span from antiquity to the founding of the British empire in the mid-nineteenth century; second, about a century of British colonial times up to independence attained in 1947; and third, bit over half a century of the independence era. The first period is covered in a separate entry in this volume (see Pre-modern India and Psychological Thought). This entry covers the 2nd and the 3rd periods.
Psychology in the British Colonial Period (1857–1947)
The British East India Company adopted a policy of funding only European-style education within its territories several years before the subcontinent was formally accessioned to Queen Victoria’s empire in 1857. The aim of this policy was to produce a class of Indians who would be brown in color but English in their thinking. The success of this policy was enormous; its results were at least twofold. While on the...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Asthana, H. S. (1950). Indian typological theories in an historical and experimental approach to personality. Unpublished doctoral thesis in psychology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, India
Asthana, H. S. (1960). Perceptual distortion as a function of the valence of perceived object. Journal of Social Psychology, 52, 119–125.
Aurobindo, S. (1999). The synthesis of yoga (5th ed.). Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram (First published 1949).
Beg, M. A. (1970). A note on the concept of self, and the theory and practice of psychological help in the sufi tradition. Interpersonal Development, 1, 58–64.
Chakraborty, S. K. (1995). Ethics in management: Vedantic perspectives. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Cornelissen, R. M. M. (Ed.). (2001). Consciousness and its transformation. Pondicherry: SAICE.
Cornelissen, R. M. M., Misra, G., & Varma, S. (Eds.). (2011a). Foundations of Indian Psychology. (Vol. 1). Theories and concepts. New Delhi: Pearson Education.
Cornelissen, R. M. M., Misra, G., & Varma, S. (Eds.). (2011b). Foundations of Indian Psychology. (Vol. 2). Practical applications. New Delhi: Pearson Education.
Dalal, A. K. (Ed.). (1988). Attribution theory and research. New Delhi: Wiley Eastern.
Dalal, A. K. (2002). Psychology in India: A historical introduction. In G. Misra & A. K. Mohanty (Eds.), Perspectives on indigenous psychology (pp. 79–108). New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company.
Dalal, A. K., & Misra, G. (2005). Psychology of health and well-being: Some emerging perspectives. Psychological Studies, 51, 91–104.
Das, B. (1908). The science of the emotions. London/Benares: Theosophical Publishing Society.
Das, J. P., Kar, B. C., & Parrila, R. K. (2000). Cognitive planning: The psychological basis of intelligent behaviour. New Delhi: Sage.
De Ridder, R., & Tripathi, R. C. (Eds.). (1992). Norm violation and intergroup relations. Oxford: Clarendon.
Gergen, K. J., Gulerce, A., Lock, A., & Misra, G. (1996). Psychological science in cultural context. American Psychologist, 51, 496–503.
Gupta, G. C. (1999). Cognitive, experiential analytical and reflective bases of oriental thought systems: Making of a paradigm for psychology. Journal of Indian Psychology, 17, 1–8.
Gupta, R. K. (2002). Employees and organizations in India: Need to move beyond American and Japanese models. In G. Misra & A. K. Mohanty (Eds.), Perspectives on indigenous psychology (pp. 339–373). New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company.
Jain, U. (1987). Psychological consequences of crowding. New Delhi: Sage.
Joshi, K., & Cornelissen, M. (Eds.). (2004). Consciousness, Indian psychology and yoga, vol. 11, part 3. New Delhi: Centre for Studies in Civilizations.
Kakar, S. (1995). The colors of violence. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Kakar, S. (1996). The Indian psyche. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Kothurkar, V. K. (1968). More about transfer in probability learning. Psychological Studies, 13, 73–83.
Krishnan, B. (2002). Typological conceptions in ancient Indian thought. In G. Misra & A. K. Mohanty (Eds.), Perspectives on indigenous psychology (pp. 292–304). New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. First published 1976.
Krishnan, L. (2005). Concepts of social behaviour in India: Daan and distributive justice. Psychological Studies, 50(1), 21–31.
Mascolo, M. F., Misra, G., & Rapisardi, C. (2004). Individual and relational conceptions of self in India and the United States. New Directions For Child and Adolescent Development, 104, 9–26. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
McClelland, D. C., & Winter, D. G. (1969). Motivating economic achievement. New York: Free Press.
Mehta, P. (1972). A validation of the theory of achievement motivation. Manas, 19, 91–102.
Menon, U., & Shweder, R. A. (1994). Kali’s tongue: Cultural psychology, cultural consensus and the meaning of “Shame” in Orissa, India. In S. Kitayama & H. Markus (Eds.), Culture and the emotions (pp. 241–284). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Mishra, R. C. (1997). Cognition and cognitive development. In J. W. Berry, P. R. Dasen, & T. S. Saraswathi (Eds.), Handbook of cross-cultural psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 147–179). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Misra, G. (Ed.). (2011). Handbook of psychology in India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Misra, G., & Gergen, K. J. (1993). On the place of culture in psychological science. International Journal of Psychology, 28, 225–245.
Misra, G., & Kumar, M. (2011). Psychology in India: Retrospect and prospect. In G. Misra (Ed.), Psychology in India (Theoretical and methodological developments, Vol. 4, pp. 339–376). New Delhi: Pearson Education.
Misra, G., Srivastava, A. K., & Misra, I. (2006). Culture and facets of creativity: The Indian experience. In J. C. Kaufman & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), The international handbook of creativity (pp. 421–455). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Misra, G., & Tripathi, K. N. (2004). Psychological dimensions of poverty and deprivation. In J. Pandey (Ed.), Psychology in India revisited – Developments in the discipline (Applied social and organizational psychology, Vol. 3, pp. 118–215). New Delhi: Sage.
Mukerji, K. C. (1926). Sex in tantras. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 21, 65–74.
Mukherjee, B. N. (1974). Towards a conceptualization of the achievement value construct. In S. K. Roy & A. S. K. Menon (Eds.), Motivation and organizational effectiveness (pp. 43–74). New Delhi: Shri Ram Centre for Industrial Relations.
Mukherjee, B. N. (1980). Psychological theory and research methods. In U. Pareek (Ed.), A survey of research in psychology, 1971–76, part – I (pp. 1–35). Bombay: Popular Prakashan.
Nandy, A. (1983). Intimate enemy: Loss and recovery of self under colonialism. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Nandy, A. (2004). Return from exile. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Nandy, A., & Kakar, S. (1980). Culture and personality. In U. Pareek (Ed.), A survey of research in psychology, 1971–76, part-1 (pp. 141–158). Bombay: Popular.
Neki, J. S. (1973). Guru-chela relationship: The possibility of a therapeutic paradigm. The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 43, 755–766.
Pande, N., & Naidu, R. K. (1992). Anāsakti and health: A study of non-attachment. Psychology and Developing Societies, 4, 89–104.
Pandey, J. (1988). Psychology in India: Trends emerging in the eighties. In J. Pandey (Ed.), Psychology in India: State-of-the-art (Organizational behaviour and mental health, Vol. 3, pp. 339–361). New Delhi: Sage.
Pandey, J. (2004). Psychology in India enters the 21st Century: Movement toward an indigenous discipline. In J. Pandey (Ed.), Psychology in India revisited (Vol. 3, pp. 342–370). New Delhi: Sage.
Paranjpe, A. C. (1984). Theoretical psychology: The meeting of east and west. New York: Plenum Press.
Paranjpe, A. C. (1998). Self and identity in modern psychology and Indian thought. New York: Plenum Press.
Paranjpe, A. C. (2008). Sri Ramaṇa Maharshi: A case study in self-realization. In K. Ramakrishna Rao, A. C. Paranjpe, & A. K. Dalal (Eds.), Handbook of Indian psychology (pp. 564–576). New Delhi: Cambridge University Press.
Paranjpe, A. C. (2011). The principles and practice of karma yoga in the writings and life of B.G. Tilak. In R. M. Matthijs Cornelissen, G. Misra, & S. Varma (Eds.), Foundations of Indian psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 415–450). New-Delhi: Pearson Education.
Paranjpe, A. C., & Bhatt, G. S. (1997). Emotion: A perspective from the Indian tradition. In H. S. R. Kao & D. Sinha (Eds.), Asian perspectives in psychology (pp. 127–143). New Delhi: Sage.
Pareek, U. (1968). A motivational paradigm of development. Journal of Social Issues, 24, 115–124.
Pirta, R. S. (2011). Biological and ecological bases of behaviour. In G. Misra (Ed.), Psychology in India (Basic psychological processes and human development, Vol. 1, pp. 1–67). New Delhi: Pearson.
Prasad, J. (1935). The psychology of rumor: A study relating to the great Indian earthquake of 1934. British Journal of Psychology, 26, 1–15.
Ramanujan, A. K. (1990). Is there an Indian way of thinking? An informal essay. In M. Marriot (Ed.), Indian through Hindu categories (pp. 41–58). New Delhi: Sage.
Rao, K. R. (2002). Consciousness studies: Cross-cultural perspectives. Jefferson: McFarland.
Rao, K. R. (2011). Cognitive anomalies, consciousness and yoga. New Delhi: Centre for Studies in Civilizations.
Rao, K. R., Paranjpe, A. C., & Dalal, A. K. (Eds.). (2008). Handbook of Indian psychology. New Delhi: Cambridge University Press.
Salagame, K. K. K. (2011). Indian indigenous concepts and perspectives: Developments and future possibilities. In G. Misra (Ed.), Psychology in India (Theoretical and methodological developments, Vol. 4, pp. 97–171). New Delhi: Pearson Education.
Saraswathi, T. S., & Ganapathy, H. (2002). Indian parents’ ethnotheories as reflections of the Hindu scheme of child and human development. In H. Keller, Y. H. Poortinga, & A. Scholmerich (Eds.), Between culture and biology: Perspectives on ontogenetic development (pp. 79–88). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Sen, I. (1986). Integral psychology: The psychological system of Sri Aurobindo. Pondicherry: The Aurobindo International Centre of Education.
Sinha, D. (1965). Integration of modern psychology with Indian thought. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 5, 6–17.
Sinha, D. (1986). Psychology in a third world country: An Indian experience. New Delhi: Sage.
Sinha, D. (1997). Indigenizing psychology. In J. W. Berry, Y. Poortinga, & J. Pandey (Eds.), Handbook of cross- cultural psychology (vol. 1): Theoretical and methodological perspectives (pp. 129–169). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Sinha, D., & Tripathi, R. C. (1994). Individualism in a collective culture: A case of coexistence of opposites. In U. Kim, H. C. Triandis, C. Kagitcibasi, S. Chai, & G. Yoon (Eds.), Individualism and collectivism: Theory, method and application (pp. 123–136). Thousand Oakes: Sage.
Sinha, J. B. P. (1968). The nAch/cooperation under limited/unlimited resource conditions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 4, 233–248.
Sinha, J. B. P. (1980). The nurturant task leader. A model of effective execution. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company.
Sinha, J. B. P., & Pandey, A. (2007). Indians’ mindsets and the conditions that evoke them. Psychological Studies, 52, 1–13.
Singh, R. (2011). Information integration as a basic cognitive process. In G. Misra (Ed.), Handbook of psychology in India (pp. 73–98). New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Srinivasan, N. (2011). Cognitive science: Emerging perspectives and approaches. In G. Misra (Ed.), Handbook of psychology in India (pp. 46–57). New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Srivastava, A. K., & Misra, G. (2007). Rethinking intelligence: Culture and conceptualization of competence. New Delhi: Concept.
Taylor, E. I. (l988). Contemporary interest in classical eastern psychology. In A. C. Paranjpe, D. Y. F. Ho, & R. W. Rieber (Eds.), Asian contributions to psychology (pp. 79–122). New York: Praeger.
Uma, K., Lakshmi, Y. S., & Parameswaran, E. G. (1971). Construction of a personality inventory based on doctrine of three gunas. Research Bulletin, 6, 49–58.
Vahali, H. O. (2011). Landscaping a perspective: India and the psychoanalytic vista. In G. Misra (Ed.), Psychology in India (Theoretical and methodological developments, Vol. 4, pp. 1–91). New Delhi: Pearson Education.
Varma, S. (1995). Social constructionism: An alternative paradigm for psychology. Indian Journal of Social Science, 8, 35–58.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this entry
Cite this entry
Misra, G., Paranjpe, A.C. (2012). Psychology in Modern India. In: Rieber, R.W. (eds) Encyclopedia of the History of Psychological Theories. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0463-8_422
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0463-8_422
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-0425-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-0463-8
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science