Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior.Frequently asked questions about APA Retrieved on November 28th, 2023. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both conscious and unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feelings, and motives. Psychology is an academic discipline of broad scope, crossing the boundaries between the natural and social sciences.
A professional practitioner or researcher involved in the discipline is called a psychologist. Some psychologists can also be classified as behavioral or cognitive scientists. Some psychologists attempt to understand the role of mental functions in individual and social behavior. Others explore the physiological and neurobiological processes that underlie cognitive functions and behaviors. Biological psychologists seek an understanding of the emergent properties of brains, linking the discipline to neuroscience. As social scientists, psychologists aim to understand the behavior of individuals and groups.Hockenbury & Hockenbury. Psychology. Worth Publishers, 2010.
As part of an interdisciplinary field, psychologists are involved in research on perception, cognition, attention, emotion, intelligence, subjective experiences, motivation, brain functioning, and personality. Psychologists' interests extend to interpersonal relationships, psychological resilience, family resilience, and other areas within social psychology. They also consider the unconscious mind.Psychoanalysis and other forms of depth psychology are most typically associated with theories about the unconscious mind. By contrast, behaviorists consider such phenomena as classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Cognitivists explore implicit memory, automaticity, and subliminal messages, all of which are understood either to bypass or to occur outside of conscious effort or attention. Indeed, cognitive-behavioral therapists counsel their clients to become aware of maladaptive thought patterns the clients had previously been unaware of. Research psychologists employ empirical methods to infer causal and correlational relationships between psychosocial variables. Some, but not all, clinical and counseling psychologists rely on symbolic interpretation.
While psychological knowledge is often applied to the assessment and treatment of mental health problems, it is also directed towards understanding and solving problems in several spheres of human activity. By many accounts, psychology ultimately aims to benefit society. Many psychologists are involved in some therapeutic role, practicing psychotherapy in clinical, counseling, or school settings. Other psychologists conduct scientific research on a wide range of topics related to mental processes and behavior. Typically, the latter group of psychologists works in academic settings (e.g., universities, medical schools, or hospitals). Another group of psychologists is employed in industrial and organizational settings. Yet others are involved in work on human development, aging, sports, health, forensic science, education, and the media.
Etymology and definitions The word psychology derives from the Greek word psyche, for spirit or soul. The latter part of the word psychology derives from -λογία -logia, which means "study" or "research". The word psychology was first used in the Renaissance. In its Latin form psychiologia, it was first employed by the Croatian humanist and Latinist Marko Marulić in his book Psichiologia de ratione animae humanae (Psychology, on the Nature of the Human Soul) in the decade 1510–1520. The earliest known reference to the word psychology in English was by Steven Blankaart in 1694 in The Physical Dictionary. The dictionary refers to "Anatomy, which treats the Body, and Psychology, which treats of the Soul."
Ψ (psi), the first letter of the Greek word psyche from which the term psychology is derived, is commonly associated with the field of psychology.
In 1890, William James defined psychology as "the science of mental life, both of its phenomena and their conditions." This definition enjoyed widespread currency for decades. However, this meaning was contested, notably by John B. Watson, who in 1913 asserted the methodological behaviorist view of psychology as a purely objective experimental branch of natural science, the theoretical goal of which "is the prediction and control of behavior." Since James defined "psychology", the term more strongly implicates scientific experimentation.Derek Russell Davis (DRD), "psychology", in Richard L. Gregory (ed.), The Oxford Companion to the Mind, second edition; Oxford University Press, 1987/2004; (pp. 763–764). Folk psychology is the understanding of the mental states and behaviors of people held by ordinary people, as contrasted with psychology professionals' understanding.The term "folk psychology" is itself contentious: see Daniel D. Hutto & Matthew Ratcliffe (eds.), Folk Psychology Re-Assessed; Dorndrecht, the Netherlands: Springer, 2007;
History
The ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, China, India, and Persia all engaged in the philosophical study of psychology. In ancient Egypt the Ebers Papyrus mentioned depression and thought disorders. Historians note that Greek philosophers, including Thales, Plato, and Aristotle (especially in his treatise),"Aristotle's Psychology ". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. addressed the workings of the mind.Green, C.D. & Groff, P.R. (2003). Early psychological thought: Ancient accounts of mind and soul. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger. As early as the 4th century BCE, the Greek physician Hippocrates theorized that mental disorders had physical rather than supernatural causes.T.L. Brink. (2008) Psychology: A Student Friendly Approach. "Unit One: The Definition and History of Psychology." pp 9 . In 387 BCE, Plato suggested that the brain is where mental processes take place, and in 335 BC, Aristotle suggested that it was the heart.
In China, the foundations of psychological thought emerged from the philosophical works of ancient thinkers like Laozi and Confucius, as well as the teachings of Buddhism. This body of knowledge drew insights from introspection, observation, and techniques for focused thinking and behavior. It viewed the universe as comprising physical and mental realms and their interplay.Shi, Y. (2019). The dawn of psychology in China. In W. G. Bringmann et al. (Eds.), A Pictorial History of Psychology (pp. 22-27). Quintessence Publishing Co. Ltd. Chinese philosophy also emphasized purifying the mind to increase virtue and power. An ancient text known as The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine identifies the brain as the nexus of wisdom and sensation, includes theories of personality based on yin–yang balance, and analyzes mental disorder in terms of physiological and social disequilibria. Chinese scholarship that focused on the brain advanced during the Qing dynasty with the work of Western-educated Fang Yizhi (1611–1671), Liu Zhi (1660–1730), and Wang Qingren (1768–1831). Wang Qingren emphasized the brain as the center of the nervous system, linked mental disorders to brain diseases, investigated the causes of dreams and insomnia, and advanced a theory of hemispheric lateralization in brain function.Yeh Hsueh and Benyu Guo, "China", in Baker (ed.), Oxford Handbook of the History of Psychology (2012).
Influenced by Hinduism, Indian philosophy explored distinctions in types of awareness. A central idea of the Upanishads and other Vedic texts that formed the foundations of Hinduism was the distinction between a person's transient mundane self and their eternal, unchanging soul. Divergent Hindu doctrines and Buddhism have challenged this hierarchy of selves, but have all emphasized the importance of reaching higher awareness. Yoga encompasses a range of techniques for pursuing the goal of higher awareness. Theosophy, a religion established by Russian-American philosopher Helena Blavatsky, drew inspiration from these doctrines during her time in British India.Anand C. Paranjpe, "From Tradition through Colonialism to Globalization: Reflections on the History of Psychology in India", in Brock (ed.), Internationalizing the History of Psychology (2006).PT Raju (1985), Structural Depths of Indian Thought, State University of New York Press, , pages 35–36
Psychology was of interest to Enlightenment thinkers in Europe. In Germany, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) applied his principles of calculus to the mind, arguing that mental activity took place on an indivisible continuum. He suggested that the difference between conscious and unconscious awareness is only a matter of degree. Christian Wolff identified psychology as its own science, writing Psychologia Empirica in 1732 and Psychologia Rationalis in 1734. Immanuel Kant advanced the idea of anthropology as a discipline, with psychology an important subdivision. Kant, however, explicitly rejected the idea of an experimental psychology, writing that "the empirical doctrine of the soul can also never approach chemistry even as a systematic art of analysis or experimental doctrine, for in it the manifold of inner observation can be separated only by mere division in thought, and cannot then be held separate and recombined at will (but still less does another thinking subject suffer himself to be experimented upon to suit our purpose), and even observation by itself already changes and displaces the state of the observed object."
In 1783, Ferdinand Ueberwasser (1752–1812) designated himself Professor of Empirical Psychology and Logic and gave lectures on scientific psychology, though these developments were soon overshadowed by the Napoleonic Wars. At the end of the Napoleonic era, Prussian authorities discontinued the Old University of Münster. Having consulted philosophers Hegel and Herbart, however, in 1825 the Prussian state established psychology as a mandatory discipline in its rapidly expanding and highly influential educational system. However, this discipline did not yet embrace experimentation.Horst U.K. Gundlach, "Germany", in Baker (ed.), Oxford Handbook of the History of Psychology (2012). In England, early psychology involved phrenology and the response to social problems, including alcoholism, violence, and the country's crowded "lunatic" asylums.Alan Collins, "England", in Baker (ed.), Oxford Handbook of the History of Psychology (2012).
Beginning of experimental psychology