psychology

Psychology is the study of the mind, mental processes, and behaviors of humans and animals.

The term psychology is used to describe many specific areas of study. Generally, psychology is interested in the brain and, more specifically, why we think the way we do.

Because the mind is so complex, psychology is a very wide field with many subdivisions and branches of study. A few of the major areas of psychology include:

• clinical psychology, which involves diagnosing and treating personality and behavior disorders;
• cognitive psychology, which studies mental processes such as memory, language, and perception; and
• developmental psychology, which studies how our mental processes change as we age and experience more of life.

Both psychiatry and neuroscience are often confused with psychology. Like psychology, psychiatry also diagnoses and treats mental disorders but treatments are different. A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who can prescribe medicine for mental illnesses. A psychologist doesn’t often have a medical degree and instead treats patients with counseling and therapy, a process known as psychotherapy.

On the other hand, neuroscience is focused on the actual neurons, tissues, and synapses that physically make up the brain as an organ, rather than with how we think about things, as psychology is.

Even if they don’t know the specifics, most people are aware that psychology is a study of the mind and thinking. For this reason, the word psychology is often used to refer generally to a person’s thought process or mental state, as in In order to really know what happens during war, you need to understand a soldier’s psychology.

The first records of the word psychology come from around 1675. It comes from the New Latin psȳchologia, which combines psycho–, meaning “psyche” (which has to do with mental thinking), and –logy, a combining form that indicates a science or field of study.

The concept of psychology can be traced back to ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. As a scientific study, psychology is relatively new, started in the 1800s by Western scientists such as Wilhelm Wundt, William James, and Sigmund Freud. Freud in particular expanded psychological study to include the idea of subconscious thoughts that influence our behavior even if we are completely unaware of them.

Some branches of psychology can get pretty specific. Forensic psychology, for example, involves psychological analysis of people who interact with the law, such as witnesses or suspects, while sports psychology is concerned with athletes’ and sports teams’ training regimes.

One of the most infamous psychological experiments ever conducted was the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment, run by psychologist Philip Zimbardo. The experiment had college students play the roles of prisoners and prison guards to analyze the psychological effects of prolonged imprisonment and power dynamics. The experiment was ended early due to the disturbing psychological effects it had on participants. This experiment has been heavily criticized on an ethical basis ever since.

Psychology is a wide field of science that is constantly expanding.

For someone who works in the field of psychology and is also a huge fan of “Watchmen” I still can’t pronounce “Rorschach” correctly

— obi’s mom (@Rewaite) August 27, 2020

ALBERT BANDURA
(1925-2021)
[A thread]

He was a well-known psychologist who made significant contributions to the field of personality psychology, cognitive psychology, psychotherapy, and social psychology. pic.twitter.com/2sH1FngBL5

— Your Millennial Psychologist (@riyanportuguez) July 28, 2021

• psychologist
• psychotherapy
• mind
• thinking
• psyche
• decisions
• consciousness
• subconsciousness

True or False?

Psychology is the study of mental disorders and the development of medication to treat them.