What Is Psychology?

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Types

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Impact

Potential Pitfalls

History

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Psychology is the study of mind and behavior. It encompasses the biological influences, social pressures, and environmental factors that affect how people think, act, and feel.

Gaining a richer and deeper understanding of psychology can help people achieve insights into their own actions as well as a better understanding of other people.

It’s difficult to capture everything that psychology encompasses in just a brief definition, but topics such as development, personality, thoughts, feelings,emotions, motivations, and social behaviors represent just a portion of what psychology seeks to understand, predict, and explain.

Types of Psychology

Psychology is a broad and diverse field that encompasses the study of human thought, behavior, development, personality, emotion, motivation, and more. As a result, some different subfields andspecialty areashave emerged. The following are some of the major areas of research and application within psychology:

What Are the Branches of Psychology?

The most obvious application for psychology is in the field of mental health where psychologists use principles, research, and clinical findings to help clients manage and overcome symptoms of mental distress and psychological illness. Some of the additional applications for psychology include:

Careers in PsychologyA background in psychology opens far more career paths than clinical practice. Learn more in this guide to80 careers in psychology.

Careers in Psychology

A background in psychology opens far more career paths than clinical practice. Learn more in this guide to80 careers in psychology.

Impact of Psychology

Psychology is both an applied and academic field that benefits both individuals and society as a whole. A large part of psychology is devoted to the diagnosis and treatment of mental health issues, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the impact of psychology.

Some of the ways that psychology contributes to individuals and society include:

The Major Goals of Psychology

There’s a lot of confusion out there about psychology. Unfortunately, suchmisconceptions about psychologyabound in part thanks to stereotyped portrayals of psychologists in popular media as well as thediverse career pathsof those holding psychology degrees.

Sure, there are psychologists who help solve crimes, and there are plenty of professionals who help people deal with mental health issues. However, there are also psychologists who:

No matter where psychologists work, their primary goals are to help describe, explain, predict, and influence human behavior.

History of Psychology

Early psychology evolved out of both philosophy and biology. Discussions of these two subjects date as far back as the early Greek thinkers, including Aristotle and Socrates.

The word “psychology” itself is derived from the Greek wordpsyche, literally meaning “life” or “breath.” Derived meanings of the word include “soul” or “self.”

The emergence of psychology as a separate and independent field of study truly came about when Wilhelm Wundt established thefirst experimental psychology labin Leipzig, Germany in 1879.

Throughout psychology’s history, variousschools of thoughthave formed to explain the human mind and behavior. In some cases, certain schools of thought rose to dominate the field of psychology for a period of time.

The following are some of the major schools of thought in psychology.

While these schools of thought are sometimes perceived as competing forces, eachperspectivehas contributed to our understanding of psychology.

The Origins of Psychology

Final Thoughts

As you can see, while psychology may be a relatively young science it also has a tremendous amount of both depth and breadth. The assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental illness are central interests of psychology, but psychology encompasses much more than mental health.

Today, psychologists seek to understand many different aspects of the human mind and behavior, adding new knowledge to our understanding of how people think as well as developing practical applications that have an important impact on everyday human lives.

Psychology works to help people improve their individual well-being and thrive in an increasingly complex world.

7 Major Perspectives in Modern Psychology

Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Hothersall D.History of Psychology, 4th ed. New York: Mcgraw-Hill; 2003.

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