Definition of Psychology

Definition of Psychology

The term psychology comes from two Greek words: psyche, which means

1. The spirit or soul.

2. The human mind.

3. In psychoanalysis, the mind functioning as the center of thought,

emotion, and behavior.

And logos, "the study of." or according to modern researches "science"

These root words were first combined in the 16th century, at a time

when the human soul, spirit, or mind was seen as distinct from the

body.

Definition of Psychology:

Psychology is one of the youngest sciences. It is still going through

the process of its development. There has been much fierce controversy

about its definition. It has been variously defined as the science of

soul, the science of mind, the science of consciousness, the science

of behavior.

The science of soul:

Psychology was first defined as the science of soul. But it was not

excepted, for the reason that it had too much of religious flavour.

Soul generally conveys the idea of a supernatural thing. it is

immortal, beyond one's control. It is not easy to observe and study

the soul so this theory was discarded.

The science of mind:

Then, Psychology was defined as the science of mind. Later , it was

changed to mental processes, by Psychologists as Hume and Tichener.

This "invisible" world of mind involves many different aspects,

functions and potentials. Imagination, attention, intellect,

awareness, intention, reason, will, responsibility, memory, and many

other things exist in each of us. They are a vital and important part

of us. This definition was not rejected but it was considered

incomplete.

The science of Consciousness:

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...r, and personality responsibility for

actions.

As psychology has a great vitality in our everyday life, even people

who do not intend to specialize in this filed must know about its

research methods. With its broad scope, psychology investigates an

enormous range of phenomena: learning and memory, sensation and

perception, motivation and emotion, thinking and language, personality

and social behavior, intelligence, infancy and child development,

mental illness, and much more. Furthermore, psychologists examine

these topics from a variety of complementary perspectives.

No matter what a psychologist's specialty or work setting, however -

they all seek to understand why we think, act, and feel as we do (e.g.

Psychologists study the "ABC's" of a person {a=affects or emotions,

b=behaviors, c=cognition or thoughts}).