Psychology is defined as the scientific study of a person’s behavior and mental processes. It is called scientific study because scientific methods are used by psychologists for studying behavior and mental processes. Two important words—behavior and mental processes—are mentioned in this definition. Behavior encompasses all the observable or overt actions like facial and verbal expressions and movements, while mental processes include all the covert or internal activities of one’s mind like thinking, feelings, and remembering.
4 definitions of Psychology
The word psychology is derived from the Greek words “psyche” and “logos.”. Therefore, the meaning of “psyche” is soul, and “logos” means “study.”. So according to this origin, it was regarded as the “study of the soul” or “science of the soul”. This definition has a more philosophical concept of the soul. It is difficult to define a soul, and questions like, What is a soul? How is it studied? So, due to the lack of clear answers to these questions, it was replaced with another definition.
The second definition given by the psychologists was “the study of mind”. Although this definition of psychology is less mysterious, the same questions were asked regarding it, such as what is the mind? And how can it be studied? Since the mind of other people is like a sealed book and cannot be studied directly, this definition was also rejected and replaced with another definition.
The third definition given by the psychologists was “the study of consciousness”. In this definition, the instrument of introspection is involved. Introspection is the process of looking into the realm of one’s own self. The deficiencies in the definition are that other aspects such as “sub-consciousness” and “un-consciousness” are ignored in this definition and were not considered a complete definition; therefore, this definition was replaced with another definition.
The fourth definition given by the psychologists was “the study of behavior and mental processes”. This is the most widely accepted definition, which is used for studying the behavior of humans.
Branches of psychology
To understand this subject, it is important to study its branches. They are discussed below.
Clinical psychology
In this branch, mental illness, abnormal behavior, and psychiatric disorders are studied. Fundamentally, Clinical psychology professionals can be found in hospitals and mental health clinics.
Cognitive psychology
The focus of this branch is on the study of the internal mental status of individuals. It is the fastest-growing area since its emergence in the 1960s. Its focus is on the patterns of people’s thinking, learning, and remembering. Most importantly, professionals in this area study perceptions, motivation, emotions, language, learning, memory, attention, and problem solving.
Comparative psychology
This branch studies the behavior of humans and animals. This branch is important because the study of animal behavior can help in understanding humans. Usually, anthropologists, ecologists, and biologists make contributions to this branch.
Counseling psychology
This is one of the biggest areas of this subject. In this branch, patients with mental illness and other psychological symptoms are treated.
Abnormal psychology
This branch studies people’s emotional and behavioral patterns and tries to identify, understand, and resolve issues that may negatively affect their lives.
Fundamentally, psychological disorders such as anxiety and depression are assessed, diagnosed, and treated by mental health professionals. The people who work in this field are counselors, clinical psychologists, and psychotherapists.
Behavioral psychology
This branch is also called behaviorism. It is based on the idea that conditioning plays an important role in the process of learning. For example, classical conditioning and operant conditioning are used for modifying and teaching the desired behaviors. In such conditioning, the teacher uses reward and punishment to change the behavior.
Biopsychology
In this branch, the focus is on how feelings, thoughts, and behaviors are affected by the human brain, neurons, and nervous system. The focus here is to study the impact of brain injuries and brain diseases on the behavior of humans. This is sometimes referred to as physiological psychology, behavioral neuroscience, or psychobiology.
Educational psychology
This branch deals with schools, students, curriculum, issues of education, etc. How students learn is studied in this branch of psychology. Furthermore, this field deals with parents, teachers, and administrators for the purpose of improving students’ outcomes. This branch studies learning disabilities, giftedness, and the instructional process as well.
Experimental psychology
In this branch, scientific methods are used to conduct research on the brain and behavior. Although this branch is considered a distinct one, these scientific methods are extensively used in every branch.
Experimental psychologists conduct research in colleges, universities, government and private businesses, and many other research centers and use scientific methods for studying the behaviors of humans.
Sports psychology
This branch studies the manner in which psychology affects sports and the performance of athletes. The sports psychologist can help the athlete improve his focus, his mental toughness, his motivation, and his anxiety.
Health psychology
Sometimes called medical psychology or behavioral medicine, it focuses on how the health and illness of a person are affected by his biology, behavior, and social factors. This branch is involved in the promotion of health across a variety of domains and the treatment of diseases.
The psychologists related to this field treat issues related to smoking, weight, stress, and nutrition. The manner in which people deal with the illness through effective coping strategies is assisted by health psychologists.
Personality psychology
This branch deals with the thought patterns, feelings, and behaviors that make an individual unique. These behavior patterns are studied through different personality theories, such as Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality and Erikson’s psychosocial development theory.
This branch, it is investigated how different genetic, parental, and social experiences affect personality development. This investigation is made through the administration of different personality tests.
School psychology
In this branch, the children in the school are helped to deal with social, emotional, and academic issues. The school psychologists work in collaboration with school teachers, students, and parents to create a healthy learning environment. They mostly work in primary and secondary schools and universities. They work in clinics and hospitals as well.
Social psychology
Group behavior, social interactions, leadership, nonverbal communication, and the influences of social action on decision-making are discussed in this branch.
The psychologists connected with this branch focus on manners of perception and interaction with others. Topics such as aggression, prejudice, and conformity are discussed in this branch.
Forensic psychology
Issues related to psychology and law are discussed in this branch. In this branch, principles of psychology and legal issues are discussed, along with criminal behaviors and their treatment. A variety of duties, such as providing testimony in court cases, assessing children in cases of abuse, etc.
People involved in cases may not be forensic psychologists. They may be clinical psychologists, school psychologists, or counselors.
Cross-cultural psychology
How cultural factors affect the behaviors of humans is studied in this branch.
For example, this branch looks at the comparison of individualistic and collective cultures. In this branch, efforts are made to check the variation of emotions, personalities, and development levels in different cultures.
Developmental psychology
How people grow and change throughout their lives is studied in this branch. Here, the reasons for changing people are studied. Psychologists involved in this branch study the physical, intellectual, emotional, social, and perceptual development of people during the course of their lives. Topics like prenatal development and Alzheimer’s disease are studied in this branch.