The Science of Psychology
“Psychology is the scientific study of mind, brain and behaviour. Some
of what you do learn may seem like ‘common sense’, or at least
familiar to you because you are learning about topics in which you can
relate to. However some things you may believe is true, but is
incorrect. The way we know this is through the application of
scientific methods.”
Mark Leary suggests that the subject matter of psychology is much more
familiar to most people than is the subject matter of physics or
biology; we see behaviour all around us. Psychology would be an odd
science of thought and behaviour if it only considered thoughts and
behaviours completely foreign to people’s experiences, or if its
finding always can counter to most people’s beliefs. Many people
believed whole-heartedly in flat Earths and cheese moons only to find
their common sense views dismantled in the face of scientific
evidence. This is the same with psychology. Although most people would
like to believe that large rewards produce greater liking for a boring
task, that the behaviour of men and women is determined by their
biology or that absence makes the heart grow fonder. In short, the
popularity of a common sense belief may not always support the weight
of scientific evidence.
Psychologists are primarily engaged in the task of explaining
behaviour, rather than merely cataloguing it. The difference between
theory and description – “why” versus “what” – echoes the difference
between science and common sense. Common sense certainly helps
describe what takes place in behaviour, but doesn’t compel us to
understand why it takes place. The develo...
... middle of paper ...
...e, as most of the behaviour towards different situations is
used in everyday life, but the fact that the measurements and the
results that were found in each study I have explained, helps in
finalising the decisions between different matters and opinions,
whether people really do this or that.
In 1974, Joyson, wrote an article, saying that every person is there
own psychologist, after all who knows best an outsider or yourself? He
also said that if psychologists did not exist would we need to invent
one?
We all have to use a bit of psychology to negotiate our lives,
regardless of whether or not we have studied it.
Bibliography
Internet References
www.completepsychology.co.uk
www.randi.org/vbulletin/printread.php?s=8a0c1318ff319ffe9564b62b4cd872...
www.psych.ubc.ca
www.holah.karoo.net
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.
Psychology is a social science that aims to study the mind and the behaviors of humans. It aims to understand what drives humans to act the way they do. It differs from sociology and anthropology in that it takes accounts the individual rather than society as a whole.
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.
Waiten,W., (2007) Seventh Edition Psychology Themes and Variations. University of Nevada, Las Vegas: Thomson Wadsworth.
My paper is based on an article from the text’s web site (chapter 9) entitled “Lack of sleep ages body’s systems.” The basic claim of the article is that sleep deprivation has various harmful effects on the body. The reported effects include decreased ability to metabolize glucose (similar to what occurs in diabetes) and increased levels of cortisol (a stress hormone involved in memory and regulation of blood sugar levels). The article also briefly alludes (in the quote at the bottom of page 1) to unspecified changes in brain and immune functioning with sleep deprivation.
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.
Psychology is the investigation of the mind and how it processes and directs our thoughts, actions and conceptions. However, in 1879 Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig in Germany. Nevertheless, the origins of psychology go all the way back thousands of years starting with the early Greeks. This foundation is closely connected to biology and philosophy; and especially the subfields of physiology which is the study of the roles of living things and epistemology, which is the study of comprehension and how we understand what we have learned. The connection to physiology and epistemology is often viewed as psychology, which is the hybrid offspring of those two fields of investigation.
The British Psychological Society states that ‘Psychology is the scientific study of people, the mind and behaviour’ (BPS). In this essay I will be discussing what is actually meant by this and whether psychology fits into both the traditional views of a science, as well as more contemporary perspectives. It is widely suggested that Psychology is a “coalition of specialities” meaning it is multi-disciplinary (Hewstone, Fincham and Foster 2005, page 4). I will therefore examine whether it could be considered wrong to think that all parts of the discipline should neatly fit into one view of a scientific approach.
I never noticed how much psychology could be incorporated into everyday life. But really, any decision or action you take is related to it. I have personally been extremely interested in social psychology: why people do things because of social norms, what people do in order to look socially acceptable, etc. Others topics I also find interesting are sensation and perception; how past experiences can influence how you perceive the things around you, states of consciousness; how things that have happened in your day can be transferred into a mash of events in your dreams, motivation and emotion; what makes a person do something or what makes a person start or stop procrastination, and lastly: personality; what characteristics and traits stand out the most in a person, what makes a person who they are.
Psychology is the scientific study on how people think, behave and feel. It is the study of the human mind, and its functions affecting behavior in a certain condition. To me, the word psychology means the study of people’s mind and how it works. Psychology often includes emotional characteristics of people as well. The characteristics help determine why people behave and respond they way they do.
Edited by Raymond J. Corsini. Encyclopedia of Psychology, Second Edition, Volume 3. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.