What Is Psychology

Psychology: An Introduction

Despite massive growth and widespread popularity as a career choice psychology industry is still plagued by misconceptions. Because someone visits psychologists it doesn't necessarily mean they are suffering from a psychological problem. A psychologist promotes general health and wellbeing and helps a wide range of people achieve a healthy outlook on life. Many people benefit from seeking guidance and help from a psychologist including athletes, parents, career people and retirees. Psychologists as people who help enhance the lives of others and not just manage disorders.

PSYCHOLOGY: Defined

What exactly is psychology? This umbrella is far-reaching, and it is difficult to provide a definition of psychology that includes all its elements. Psychology is the science of behaviour and mental processes. To begin to appreciate all the things that are included under the umbrella of behaviour and mental processes, take a moment to think about how you would answer this question: Who are you? Would you describe your personality, your 20/20 vision, your interests and goals, or perhaps a physical or emotional problem that bothers you? You could have listed these and dozens of other things about yourself, and every one of them would reflect some aspect of what psychologists mean by behaviour and mental processes. Because psychology is a science psychologist use scientific principles, methods, and processes. They use precise procedures and carefully defined methods to present an organised body of knowledge to make inferences. As a science, psychology is committed to:

Objectivity- evaluating research and theory on their own merits

Accuracy- gathering data from the lab and the world in precise ways

And maintaining a healthy

Scepticism- cautiously viewing data and theory until results are repeated and verified.

Because psychologist study mental processes and behaviour, they observe every aspect of human functioning - overt actions, mental activity, emotional responses and physiological reaction.

Overt actions are many directly observable and measurable movements or the product of such movements. Walking, Talking, kissing, gestures, and expressions are examples of overt behaviour.

Mental activity includes your thoughts about being angry or happy or sad; your ideas; or your reasoning processes.

Emotional responses include anger, regret, lust, happiness, or depression.

Physiological reactions which are closely associated with emotional responses and include an increased heart rate when you are excited, biochemical changes when light stimulated your eye or reactions to stress such as high blood pressure and ulcers.

The History of Psychology

Sigmund Freud is often referred to as the father of psychology. However this isn't correct. Psychologist has been conducting research on behaviour and mental processes for more than 125 years. Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt is considered the father of psychology much more than Freud who came quite some time after. Wundt founded the first formal laboratories for psychological research at the University of Leipzig. By creating this laboratory he was able to explore the nature of religious beliefs, identify mental disorders and abnormal behaviour, and map damaged areas of the brain.

SCHOOL OF THOUGHTS

Biological Perspective: As its name implies, the biological approach to psychology assumes that behaviour and mental processes are largely shaped by biological processes. It considers human being as nothing but a biological structure. Psychologists who take this approach study the psychological effects of hormones, genes, and the activity of the nervous system, especially the brain. Subscribing to a materialistic view, it asserts that all behaviour has a physiological basis. In this view, the working of nervous system and the role of heredity in determining behaviour become major concerns. So if they are studying thinking, they might look for patterns of brain activity associated with, say, making quick decisions or reading a foreign language. It is held that all social and psychological processes are derived from biological processes. It has revealed the mysteries of brain functioning.

Behaviourist Perspective: This perspective stresses the role of environmental stimuli in determining the way people act. It argues that what we become is largely the result of learning. It considers behaviour mainly as a response to the environmental stimuli. Accordingly, the overt behaviour becomes the subject matter of psychology. This approach does not give importance to consciousness and internal subjective states. According to this perspective observable behaviour and its relationship with environmental conditions became the main focus of study. Its proponent Watson and Skinner believed in the objective study of behaviour. Behaviourism has many variants but all share common interest in learning and use explanations based on observable events.

Psychodynamic Perspective: Rooted in Freud's psychoanalysis, this approach assumes that our behaviour and mental processes reflect constant, and mostly unconscious, psychological struggles raging within each person. We often are unaware of the true reasons for our actions. Focusing on motivational questions about behaviour this perspective examines the role of internal processes. It believes that all behaviour has a cause and that cause is to be found in the mind. It is held that much of our behaviour is governed by the unconscious processes that lie outside of our awareness. This view uses the observations of people suffering from mental disorders. It stresses on early childhood experiences in determining adult behaviour. According to this view, human being is driven primarily by sexual and aggressive instincts, violence being a natural way of expressing these primitive urges.

Cognitive Perspective: The cognitive approach focuses on how we take in, mentally represent, and store information; how we perceive and process that information; and how cognitive processes are related to our behaviour. Much of our behaviour involves mental or cognitive processes such as perceiving, remembering and thinking. They function in an organized systematic way. Here is how (1) perceives that someone has cut into the ticket line,