Psychology

Psychologyis the study of the mind. It studiesthoughts,feelings,andbehaviorsin humans and animals. Psychology aims to explain how the mind works. It also looks at how our actions relate to how we think.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

A lot of the research in psychology is done onhumans.However,animalsare also used in research. Examples of this areclassical conditioningandoperant conditioning.^[6]^[7]Psychology is a vast subject area. It covers many topics. It is divided into branches. Psychology has a lot in common with other fields of research. Ideas in psychology overlap with ideas in the sciences ofanatomy,biology,neuroscienceandphysiology.

A person who works in the field of psychology is called apsychologist.A psychologist tries to understand how the mind works so that they can help people and animals. They must go throughhigher educationfor many years in order to become a professional. Thesepractitionersattempt to explain how the mind functions by itself (individual) and with others (social). They also see how the mind affects the body. They work withsocial,behavioral,andcognitive sciences.

Branches

Psychology has been split up into smaller parts called branches. These are subjects in psychology that try to answer a particular group of questions about how people think. The branches of psychology that are often studied are:

Abnormal psychology,the study of differences in the mind of people who are healthy and people who have amental illness.^[8]
Clinical psychology,which finds the best way to help people to recover from mental illness.^[9]
Cognitive psychology,the study of how people think, use language, remember and forget, and solve problems.^[10]^[11]
Cross-cultural psychology,the study of howcultureinfluences human behavior.^[12]
Developmental psychology,the study of how people develop and change fromchildhoodto adulthood.^[13]This includes what used to be called "child psychology".^[14]
Educational or school psychology,the study of how people learn.^[15]
Evolutionary psychology,the study of howevolutionshaped how people think. It often focus on how brain injury affects behavior.^[16]^[17]^[18]
Gestalt psychology,a theory of mind formed in Berlin.
Neuropsychology,the study of how human behavior relates to the brain and nervous system.^[19]
Motivation,which studies the root causes of actions
Perceptual psychology,the study of how the mind sees the world.
Personality psychology,the study of personality (the characteristics that describe a person's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors).^[20]
Political psychology,which studies the behavior of politicians and explains politics from a psychological standpoint.
Social psychology,the study how groups of people work together and howsocietyworks.^[21]
Rehabilitation Psychology,which studies the behaviour of people with chronic physical, psychological and neurological illnesses and rehabilitates them.

Methods

Scientific approaches

Psychology is a type ofscience,so research psychologists use many of the same types of methods that researchers from othernaturalandsocial sciencesuse.

Psychologists maketheoriesto try to explain a behavior or pattern they see. Based on their theory, they makepredictions.Then, they carry outexperimentsor collectdatato see if their prediction is right or wrong.

Some types of experiments cannot be done on people because it would take too long, cost too much money, risk people's health, or would beunethical.There are also other ways psychologists study the mind and behavior scientifically, and test their theories. Psychologists might wait for some events to happen on their own; they might look atpatternsamong existing groups of people innaturalenvironments; or they might do experiments on animals (which can be simpler and more ethical to study).

Just like in other fields of science, a good psychological theory can be proven wrong as new information about a subject is learned. Just like in any natural science, psychologists can never be completely sure that their theory is correct. If a theory can be proved wrong, but experiments do not prove it wrong, it is more likely that the theory is accurate. This is calledfalsifiability.

Psychologists use many tools as part of their daily work. Psychologists use surveys to ask people how they feel and what they think. They may use special devices to look at thebrainand to see what it is doing. Psychologists usecomputersto collectdataas they measure how people behave in response to pictures, words,symbols,or otherstimuli.Psychologists also usestatisticsto help them analyze the data that they get from their experiments.^[22]^[23]

Symbolic and subjective approaches

Not all psychology is scientific psychology.Psychodynamic psychologyanddepth psychologytry to interpretdreamsto understand theunconsciousmind.^[24]^[25]They are older approaches to psychology begun byCarl Jung.He was interested in finding methods to measure personality traits.^[26]

Humanistic psychologyandexistential psychologybelieve that it is more important to understand personal meaning than to find causes and effects of mental processes and behaviors.^[27]^[28]

Psychologists

Psychologists are people who work in the field of psychology. A psychologist may work in either basic research or applied research. Basic research is the study of people or animals to learn more about them. Applied research uses what is learned from basic research to solve real-world problems. A qualifiedclinical psychologistcan become atherapistorcounsellor.

To become a psychologist, a person must first get a basic degree at a university and go tograduate school.A Master's degree, either MSc (Master of Science) or MA (Master of Arts), allows for work such as aschool psychologist.A doctorate degree takes a longer time to earn because it includes doing research and writing a detailed report. A doctoral graduate uses the initialsPhDor DPhil (Doctor of Philosophy). Some clinical psychologists earn a Doctor of Psychology degree and use the initials PsyD after their name. TheAmerican Psychological Associationsay that people need a PhD (or PsyD) and a current state license in the U.S. to call themselves a psychologist.

The wordspsychologistandpsychiatristmay be confused with each other. Apsychiatristhas graduated from medical school and uses the initialsMDor its equivalent (MB ChB inLondon University,for example). A psychiatrist or doctor may work with a psychologist by prescribing and checking the effects ofmedications.

Related pages

References

↑"How does the APA defin" psychology "?".Retrieved15 November2011.
↑"Definition of" psychology (APA's Index Page) "".Retrieved20 December2011.
↑Fernald L.D. 2008.Psychology: six perspectives(pp. 12–15). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
↑Hockenbury & Hockenbury. 2010.Psychology.Worth Publishers.
↑O'Neil, H.F.; cited in Coon D. & Mitterer J.O. 2008.Introduction to psychology: gateways to mind and behavior12th ed, Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning, pp. 15–16.
↑Hamm M. & Mitchell R.W. (1997). The interpretation of animal psychology: anthropomorphism or behavior reading?. Behaviour, 134(3-4), 173-204.
↑Tooby, J., & Cosmides, L. (1989). Adaption versus phylogeny: The role of animal psychology in the study of human behavior. International Journal of Comparative Psychology,2(3).
↑Rosenhan D.L. & Seligman M.E. (1995). Abnormal psychology. WW Norton & Co.
↑Barker C; Pistrang N. & Elliott R. (2015). Research methods in clinical psychology: An introduction for students and practitioners. John Wiley & Sons.
↑Eysenck M.W. & Keane M.T. 2005.Cognitive psychology: a student's handbook.Taylor & Francis.
↑Bruning R.H., Schraw G.J. & Ronning R.R. 1999.Cognitive psychology and instruction.Prentice-Hall, One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.
↑Berry J.W; Poortinga Y.H; Segall M.H. & Dasen P.R. 2002. Cross-cultural psychology: research and applications.Cambridge University Press.
↑Shaffer D.R. & Kipp K. 2010. Developmental psychology: childhood and adolescence. Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.
↑Hetherington E.M., Parke R. D. & Locke V.O. 1999. Child psychology: a contemporary viewpoint. McGraw-Hill.
↑Good, T. L., & Brophy, J. E. (1990). Educational psychology: A realistic approach. Longman/Addison Wesley Longman.
↑Buss, D. M. (Ed.). (2005). The handbook of evolutionary psychology. John Wiley & Sons.
↑Barrett, L., Dunbar, R., & Lycett, J. (2002). Human evolutionary psychology. Princeton University Press.
↑Buss, D. (2015). Evolutionary psychology: The new science of the mind. Psychology Press.
↑Walsh, K. W. (1978). Neuropsychology: A clinical approach. Churchill Livingstone.
↑Reis, H. T., Reis, H. T., & Judd, C. M. (Eds.). (2000). Handbook of research methods in social and personality psychology. Cambridge University Press.
↑McDougall, W. (2015). An introduction to social psychology. Psychology Press.
↑Aron, A., & Aron, E. N. (1999). Statistics for psychology. Prentice-Hall, Inc.
↑Coolican, H. (2018). Research methods and statistics in psychology. Routledge.
↑Rulla, L. M. (1971). Depth psychology and vocation: A psycho-social perspective. Gregorian Biblical BookShop.
↑McNeely, D. A. (1987). Touching: Body therapy and depth psychology. Inner City Books.
↑Hopcke, R. H. (2013). A guided tour of the collected works of CG Jung. Shambhala Publications.
↑Schneider, K. J., Pierson, J. F., & Bugental, J. F. (Eds.). (2014). The handbook of humanistic psychology: Theory, research, and practice. Sage Publications.
↑Jacobsen, B. (2007). Invitation to existential psychology. Wiley.

Other websites

Encyclopedia of PsychologyA web site with all kinds of information about psychology.
Psychologyat the Open Directory Project.
Psychology, Art of Human Life Archived2017-07-23 at theWayback Machine
In-Mind, Quarterly Magazine for Social Psychology
Search for the best lawyer in the UKhere

[APA-1] "How does the APA defin" psychology "?".Retrieved15 November2011.

[APA2-2] "Definition of" psychology (APA's Index Page) "".Retrieved20 December2011.

[Fernald-3] Fernald L.D. 2008.Psychology: six perspectives(pp. 12–15). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

[Psychology-4] Hockenbury & Hockenbury. 2010.Psychology.Worth Publishers.

[O'Neil-5] O'Neil, H.F.; cited in Coon D. & Mitterer J.O. 2008.Introduction to psychology: gateways to mind and behavior12th ed, Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning, pp. 15–16.

[6] Hamm M. & Mitchell R.W. (1997). The interpretation of animal psychology: anthropomorphism or behavior reading?. Behaviour, 134(3-4), 173-204.

[7] Tooby, J., & Cosmides, L. (1989). Adaption versus phylogeny: The role of animal psychology in the study of human behavior. International Journal of Comparative Psychology,2(3).

[8] Rosenhan D.L. & Seligman M.E. (1995). Abnormal psychology. WW Norton & Co.

[9] Barker C; Pistrang N. & Elliott R. (2015). Research methods in clinical psychology: An introduction for students and practitioners. John Wiley & Sons.

[10] Eysenck M.W. & Keane M.T. 2005.Cognitive psychology: a student's handbook.Taylor & Francis.

[11] Bruning R.H., Schraw G.J. & Ronning R.R. 1999.Cognitive psychology and instruction.Prentice-Hall, One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.

[12] Berry J.W; Poortinga Y.H; Segall M.H. & Dasen P.R. 2002. Cross-cultural psychology: research and applications.Cambridge University Press.

[13] Shaffer D.R. & Kipp K. 2010. Developmental psychology: childhood and adolescence. Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.

[14] Hetherington E.M., Parke R. D. & Locke V.O. 1999. Child psychology: a contemporary viewpoint. McGraw-Hill.

[15] Good, T. L., & Brophy, J. E. (1990). Educational psychology: A realistic approach. Longman/Addison Wesley Longman.

[16] Buss, D. M. (Ed.). (2005). The handbook of evolutionary psychology. John Wiley & Sons.

[17] Barrett, L., Dunbar, R., & Lycett, J. (2002). Human evolutionary psychology. Princeton University Press.

[18] Buss, D. (2015). Evolutionary psychology: The new science of the mind. Psychology Press.

[19] Walsh, K. W. (1978). Neuropsychology: A clinical approach. Churchill Livingstone.

[20] Reis, H. T., Reis, H. T., & Judd, C. M. (Eds.). (2000). Handbook of research methods in social and personality psychology. Cambridge University Press.

[21] McDougall, W. (2015). An introduction to social psychology. Psychology Press.

[22] Aron, A., & Aron, E. N. (1999). Statistics for psychology. Prentice-Hall, Inc.

[23] Coolican, H. (2018). Research methods and statistics in psychology. Routledge.

[24] Rulla, L. M. (1971). Depth psychology and vocation: A psycho-social perspective. Gregorian Biblical BookShop.

[25] McNeely, D. A. (1987). Touching: Body therapy and depth psychology. Inner City Books.

[26] Hopcke, R. H. (2013). A guided tour of the collected works of CG Jung. Shambhala Publications.

[27] Schneider, K. J., Pierson, J. F., & Bugental, J. F. (Eds.). (2014). The handbook of humanistic psychology: Theory, research, and practice. Sage Publications.

[28] Jacobsen, B. (2007). Invitation to existential psychology. Wiley.

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