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The influence of heredity and environment on human behavior
Definition of psychology in own words
The influence of heredity and environment on human behavior
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In its early days, psychology had some trouble being recognized as a legitimate science; therefore, the definition contains a specific reference to scientific study as a contingency for its practice. Psychology makes a point of studying the scientific basis of all behaviors and the cognitive processes that lie behind them, as well as the physiological processes that support, affect and motivate behavior. As a study, it is always empirical, meaning that the only accepted ideas in psychology have been acquired through observation instead of arbitrary guesses or assumptions.
Another important aspect of the definition of psychology is the presence of its seven unifying themes that form a common foundation for all its areas of research. The first
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The fourth theme is that behavior is determined by multiple causes, meaning that there is no single explanation but rather multiple contributing factors. The fifth theme is that behavior is shaped by the cultural heritage of those being observed. The sixth and seventh are that heredity and environmental factors both influence behavior, and that the world experience is highly subjective from person to person.
Applied psychology features a number of established areas of research and specialization. One of the most prominent is clinical psychology. In this field, psychologists evaluate and diagnosis psychological disorders and treat them. They provide support through therapy and can offer diagnostic testing if necessary, as well as psychotherapy either in groups or individually.
Counseling psychology is a field that provides therapy to those who are struggling with emotional or personal problems, but may or may not have a psychological disorder. Generally they specialize in one of a number of counseling specialties, including marriage counselors or career counselors. They have the ability to refer clients to a clinical psychologist if the client has problems that are beyond their
The World of Psychology. (2002). A Pearson Education Company. Boston, MA: Samuel Wood & Ellen Green Wood p. 593
Psychology comprises of two words originally used by the ‘Greeks’, ‘psyche’, defining the mind, soul or spirit and lastly ‘logos’ being study. Both words define together the ‘study of the mind’. Psychology perspectives evaluate the normal and abnormal behaviour and how persons’ deal with different concepts of issues and problems. Psychology theories’ are based on ‘common sense’, but its scientific structure, everything needs to be evaluated and tested, therefore, promoting different psychological theories’.
The birth of psychology was in December of 1879, at Germanys University of Leipzig (Myers, 2014, p.2). In 1960, Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener defines psychology as “the science of mental health” (Myers, 2014, p.4). However, two provocative American psychologists, John Watson and B.F Skinner, redefined psychology in 1920. They redefined psychology as “the scientific study of observable behavior” (Myers, 2014, p.4). The problem arose when psychologists realized people could not observe feeling or thought so they needed to come up with a new definition for psychology. We define psychology today as “the science of behavior and mental processes” (Myers, 2014, p.4). Psychology includes many subfields such as human development, social behavior,
Psychology can be broadly defined as the scientific and systematic study of people’s behavior and mental processes.
The development of psychology like all other sciences started with great minds debating unknown topics and searching for unknown answers. Early philosophers and psychologists such as Sir Francis Bacon and Charles Darwin took a scientific approach to psychology by introducing the ideas of measurement and biology into the way an indi...
The study of psychology began as a theoretical subject a branch of ancient philosophy, and later as a part of biological sciences and physiology. However, over the years, it has grown into a rigorous science and a separate discipline, with its own sets of guidance and experimental techniques. This paper aims to study the various stages that the science of psychology passed through to reach its contemporary status, and their effects on its development. It begins with an overview of the historical and philosophical basis of psychology, discusses the development of the various schools of thought, and highlights their effects on contemporary personal and professional decision-making.
The term psychology has many meanings to different people, even to those who work within the psychological field. The word psychology derives from two Greek roots; 'psyche' refers to 'soul' or 'mind' and logo refers to 'the study of'. A more update definition of the word psychology can be found from Atkinson, et al (1991) “The scientific study of behaviours and mental processes.” However on Google Definitions the definition of psychology is “the mental characteristics and attitudes of a person” [accessed 16 September 2011], which gives somewhat of a contradiction. In this assignment I will be outlining and evaluating four key psychological perspectives. The psychological perspectives I have chosen are the behavioural approach, biological approach, cognitive approach and the psychodynamic approach.
Clinical psychologists can treat a wide range of patients, from mental disorders to emotional problems. To get an easier and simpler idea of what a clinical psychologist does, Ferguson's Career Guidance Center's definition gives a good picture of a clinical psychologist’s job description, “Clinical psychologists concern themselves with people's mental and emotional disorders. They assess and treat problems ranging from normal psychological crises, such as adolescent rebellion or middle-age loss of self-esteem, to extreme conditions, such as severe depression and schizophrenia.”According to Careers in Psychology, a clinical psychologist has three main jobs, to assess the patient, diagnose disorders, and recommend a possible treatment. When a clinical psychologist assesses a patient it usually involv...
Psychology is the scientific study of the mind, brain, and behavior. In psychology, and all of the other sciences, relying on opinions is abandoned in order to find out which explanations best fit the evidence or data given. Science continually forces us to question our findings and conclusions. Over time, psychology has advanced greatly and a main reason for such progressiveness is because of the change in the research model used.
Counseling Psychology is a specialty within the professional psychology that maintains a focus on facilitating personal and interpersonal function across the life span. Those who are Counseling Psychology focuses on the clients emotional, social vocational, education health-related, developmental, and organizational concerns.
A Counseling Psychologist is someone that works with patients that need intensive help and attention dealing with their mental, emotional, and behavioral problems and disorders in places such as schools, hospitals or individual practices. Their job requirements are to lead groups or individual counseling sessions and be able to talk to people and develop positive mental health and personal growth. Some of the duties as a Counseling Psychologist is to take on are undertaking assessments on mental health needs, risk assessment and psychometric testing. They
In terms of a traditional science, one key point is empiricism: a reliance on observations of behaviours instead of our logical reasoning, to further aid explanations of why humans act in certain ways (Valentine, 1992:5). In this way Psychology could be considered a science as psychologists are constantly monitoring behaviours some may perceive as common sense, for example Milgram’s study into obedience (1974). However, for an outcome of any observation to be correct, we must have faith in how it was measured. Two further questions arise from this in relation to Psychology as a scientific measure: whether Psychology doe’s mis-measure, and secondly whether, as some propose, Psychology is ordinari...
Psychology is linked with the study of human behaviour and mind. This is the major reason why individual perform things when it comes to social and health wellbeing. The body and mind are often interlinked, for example the stress caused from lifestyle and daily hassles could have detrimental impact on the immune system’s body and this may lead to severe illness. Psychologists have provided us with various approaches to clarify and explain human behaviour and practice it, through helping people in overcoming emotional issues and to deal with further challenging behaviours. Models and theories of human behaviour originate from various disciplines of social sciences.
In this essay I am looking at where Psychology as a discipline has come from and what affects these early ideas have had on psychology today, Psychology as a whole has stemmed from a number of different areas of study from Physics to Biology,
Psychology is known as the study of the mind and behavior through researching, observing, and interpreting. There is a variety of different fields in psychology abnormal psychology, clinical psychology, counseling psychology, developmental psychology, forensic psychology, personality psychology, and social psychology. According to the data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the Occupational Outlook Handbook psychology will continue to grow twelve percent which is seen as average in the next ten years (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014-15). It is important that the categorization of psychology be understood by individuals because of the continued trend of individuals studying, learning, and working in the psychology field over the next ten years. However, if individuals do not have an understanding of psychology’s classification being supported either as a science or not being supported as a science, it is likely to result in feelings of confusion. The definition of science, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is defined as, “knowledge about or study of the natural world based on facts learned through experiments and observation” also known as the state of knowing (Merriam-Webster). There is supporting evidence that suggests psychology be classified as a science and other evidence that does not show supporting evidence that psychology is classified as a science. The purpose of this Literature Review on identifying the classification of psychology is to assess the current research sources on the following categories; support that psychology is a science, support that psychology is not a science, current problems within psychology, and lastly to identify gaps in the current research.