Psychology is the study of the mind, occurring partly via the study of behavior. Grounded in scientific method, psychology has the immediate goal of understanding individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases, and for many it ultimately aims to benefit society. In this field, a professional practitioner or researcher is called a psychologist, and can be classified as a social scientist, behavioral scientist, or cognitive scientist. Psychologists attempt to understand the role of mental functions in individual and social behavior, while also exploring the physiological and neurobiological processes that underlie certain cognitive functions and behaviors.

Psychologists explore such concepts as perception, cognition, attention, emotion, phenomenology, motivation, brain functioning, personality, behavior, and interpersonal relationships. Psychologists of diverse stripes also consider the unconscious mind. Psychologists employ empirical methods to infer causal and correlational relationships between psychosocial variables. In addition, or in opposition, to employing empirical and deductive methods, some—especially clinical and counseling psychologists—at times rely upon symbolic interpretation and other inductive techniques. Psychology incorporates research from the social and natural sciences, and from the humanities, such as philosophy.

While psychological knowledge is often applied to the assessment and treatment of mental health problems, it is also applied to understanding and solving problems in many different spheres of human activity. The majority of psychologists are involved in some kind of therapeutic role, practicing in clinical, counseling, or school settings. Many do scientific research on a wide range of topics related to mental processes and behavior, and typically work in university psychology departments or teach in other academic settings. Some are employed in industrial and organizational settings, or in other areas such as human development and aging, sports, health, and the media, as well as in forensic analysis and other aspects of law.

Noun

psychology (countable and uncountable; plural psychologies)

1. (uncountable) The study of the human mind.
2. (uncountable) The study of human behavior.
3. (uncountable) The study of animal behavior.
4. (countable) The mental characteristics of a particular individual.

   1970: Mary M. Luke, A Crown for Elizabeth, page 8:

   "For generations, historians have conjectured everything from a warped psychology to a deformed body as accounting for Elizabeth's preferred spinsterhood..."

   1969: Victor Alba, The Latin Americans, page 42:

   "In the United States, the psychology of a laborer, a farmer, a businessman does not differ in any important respect."

• psychologist
• psychiatry
• psychiatrist
• parapsychology
• psychotherapy
• psyche
• psyched up

Psychology is an academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior. Psychologists study such phenomena as perception, cognition, emotion, personality, behavior, and interpersonal relationships. Psychology also refers to the application of such knowledge to various spheres of human activity, including problems of individuals' daily lives and the treatment of mental health problems.

Contents

• 1 Sourced
  • 1.1 Psychotherapy
  • 1.2 Research
• 2 External links

Sourced

Psychotherapy

• Despite the burgeoning technologies in the field of "helping", on many levels psychotherapy is still a crapshoot. Some of the goal of training, I think, is to help students accept that fact. The work is part science, part art, and part luck. Learning to tolerate the anxiety inherent in that recipe is critical for any clinician.
  • Martha Manning Undercurrents (1st edition ed.). HarperCollins. 1995. pp. p. 9. ISBN 0-06-251183-1.

Research

• Is it dangerous to claim that parents have no power at all (other than genetic) to shape their child's personality, intelligence, or the way he or she behaves outside the family home? ... A confession: When I first made this proposal ten years ago, I didn't fully believe it myself. I took an extreme position, the null hypothesis of zero parental influence, for the sake of scientific clarity. ... The establishment's failure to shoot me down has been nothing short of astonishing.
  • Judith Rich Harris's answer to The Edge Annual Question — 2006: WHAT IS YOUR DANGEROUS IDEA?[1]