Definition of Psychology
Psychology (ancient Greek: psyche = "soul" or "mind", logos/-ology = "study of") is an academic and applied field involving the study of mind and behaviour. "Psychology" also refers to the application of such knowledge to various spheres of human activity, including problems of individuals' daily lives and the treatment of mental illness. Psychology differs from sociology, anthropology, economics, and political science in part because it involves studying the mental processes and behavior of individuals.
Importance of Psychology
Psychology is important as it is concerned with the study of behavior and mental processes and at the same time, it is also applied to many different things in human life. Everything we perform is very much related to or with psychology. Psychology, primarily studies who and what we are, why we are like that, why we act and think like that and what we could be as a person.
Psychology is important in a lot of different ways, for instance the studies that has been conducted in various life threatening illnesses. Through the process of utilizing psychology, the psychologist determined different diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and some other Neurological diseases. By making use of psychological research, doctors have now developed medicines and even able to alleviate different illnesses.
Through studying psychology we are able to understand and determine how the mind and body of an individual works. With that said, people would no longer make things complicated for themselves and for their health as well. They are going to avoid things that can cause stress, they are able to manage time very well, and are more effective with their studies or chosen career.
As a writer, psychology is important as it helps me in understanding myself better, it helps me to perceive things positively and it assists me in determining the things that I enjoy doing the most and the kind of stuff I like to write about. It also contribute a lot of great help in the way I handle things in life, the way I face challenges and problems that occurs at an unexpected time and of course the way I make decisions in my everyday living.
Well, psychology means a theoretical, educational and applied science connecting the scientific study of mental operations and behavior or performance. Psychology also refers to the application or usage of understanding, knowledge and skills to a number of areas of human activity, involving issues concerning with daily activities such as education, events, people and their task, employment, association, relationship as well as the treatment of mental health difficulties.
Psychology involves various sub-areas of study and applications related with different subject like human development, sports education, physical condition, business, media as well as the regulation. It also includes exploration and investigation from the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities.
Different Subfields of Psychology
· Abnormal Psychology – primarily focused on the study of abnormal behavior. The study is conducted to determine, describe, predict, explain, illustrate and change abnormal patterns of performance. It studies the nature of psychopathology and its causes. It is very applicable in treating the patient with psychological disorders.
· Biological Psychology – scientific study of biological basis of behavior and mental condition. Since the person’s behavior is controlled by the nervous system, biological psychologist suggested to examine the way the brain operate in order to comprehend the person’s behavior.
· Cognitive Psychology – studies cognition or the mental processes bring about behavior. Various subjects included to this field are perception, learning, problem solving, memory attention, language and emotion. It is associated with a school of thought called cognitivism.
· Personality Psychology – generally refers to the person’s personality. The main focused of this study are the patterns of person’s behavior, thought and emotions as well.
· Psychology and Law – also known as Legal psychology. Explore the topic regarding jury decision-making, eye witness memory, scientific evidence and legal policy.
· Quantitative Psychology – involves and usage of mathematical and statistical methods in psychological research and the development of statistical technique in analyzing and illustrating a behavioral data.
· School Psychology – the combined principles of educational psychology and clinical psychology in understanding and treating students with learning difficulties and disabilities. As well as to encourage intellectual growth to every gifted students.
· Social psychology – focus on how human think about each other and how they relate to one another. It primarily studies about the human’s social behavior and mental processes.
· Comparative Psychology – the focal point of this studies are the behavior and mental process of animal compare to human beings.
· Counseling Psychology – it performs personal and interpersonal operations in a person’s being wherein the main concern are the emotional, social, vocational, educational, health-related, developmental and organizational areas.
· Industrial/ Organization Psychology – it is more related to optimizing human’s potentiality in the work place.
· Clinical Psychology – the center of its practice are psychological assessment and psychotherapy, however it is also engage in making inquiries, teaching, consultation, forensic testimony and program development and administration.
· Developmental Psychology – concentrating on the growth and development of the human mind in its entire existence. It also tries to find reasons and to comprehend why people perceive, understand and act and how these stages alter as they grow.
· Forensic Psychology – deal with a lot of practices basically including clinical evaluations of defendants, statements to judges and attorneys and courtroom testimony at provided issues.
· Health Psychology – the method of applying psychological theory and studies to health, disease and health care. It is concerned with health-related behavior involving healthy diet, the doctor-patient relationship the patient’s comprehension regarding health information and viewpoint about illness.
· Child Psychology – studies about the child’s growth and development involving the stages of their social, emotional, mental and physical progress.
· Psychology of Creativity – it mainly involves new discoveries and usually resulted from different way of thinking.
· Psychology of Beauty – how an individual perceive and appreciates the beauty of other people and the things around him.
· Animal Psychology – how the animal respond to a stimuli in a trial and error process. Their responds to this method determines their behavior.
The History of Psychology
For thousands of years psychology existed under the name of philosophy. The Hindu Vedas contain the oldest record of man's examination of mind and spirit. In India all forms of Yoga, which are essentially psychology, are described as one of the six systems of philosophy. Sufi teachings, which again are chiefly psychological, are regarded as partly religious and partly metaphysical. In more modern times some version of these systems, still largely following in this same vein, can be found the subjects of Rosicrucianism, New Thought, Science of Mind, visualization techniques, practical magick, and Scientology.
A Legitimate Study of the Mind
What would a study of the mind entail? It would investigate the nature, functioning, and potentials of man's inner and invisible mental activity. This would encompass such things as awareness, attention, intention, imagination and concentration. It would develop techniques for any individual to first, become aware of these functions, and to also strengthen and expand their use and control of these functions. It would also investigate the actual source of the problems anyone experiences with their own mind. Again, these things do exist, can be observed by anyone caring to examine their own mind, and involve a tremendous uncharted area of possible exploration, investigation, codification and summarizing.
Mind and Brain
The human brain, and the mind it creates, is enormously complex. Everything we do, feel and think emerges from billions of nerve cells and their interconnections. Brain development is shaped by evolution and genetics, but it is also greatly affected by experience. The mind takes shape through exposure to individuals and culture, and become a constructive and predictive device. It creates inner worlds that allow us to behave in highly adaptive ways, but also to engage in risky behaviour and make bad decisions. It helped me explored how brains are built, how minds are made, and how modern cognitive and neural science is changing the way we think about memory, money, morality, mortality and more.
Drugs
The term "study drugs" came into widespread use in the late 1990s to describe drugs, particularly prescription stimulant medications, which students use to increase concentration and stamina. The term is most often associated with the illegal use of Ritalin® and Adderall® by people who acquire them through any means other than a legitimate prescription.
