Psychology: The Scientific Study of Behavior and the Mind

Definition of Psychology

Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and the mind. The word 'psychology' comes from the Greek words 'psyche', meaning soul or breath, and 'logos', meaning study.

What Psychologists Do

• Clinical psychologists: Focus on diagnosing and treating psychological problems in clinics, hospitals, and private practice. Different from counseling psychologists who focus on prevention and specific adjustment issues.
• Applied psychologists: Apply psychology to practical problems in the real world. Examples include school psychologists, industrial/organizational psychologists, human factors psychologists, and sports psychologists.
• Research psychologists: Conduct experiments and work in universities, colleges, and research institutes. Specialties include biopsychologists, personality psychologists, cognitive psychologists, developmental psychologists, social psychologists, and clinical psychologists who also do research.

Brief History

• Contributions of philosophy to psychology as a science
• Early schools of thought: Structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism, Freud and psychoanalysis, and the humanists
• Modern psychology

Origins of Psychology

• Psychology as philosophy: Aristotle, Plato, and others
• Where does knowledge come from?
• What are the laws that govern sensation?
• What are the necessary conditions for learning and remembering?
• Mind-Body Issue: Dualism vs. the modern view that the mind arises from brain activity
• Nature vs. nurture: To what degree are we shaped by innate or inherited tendencies, or by the environment?
• Empiricism: Knowledge comes from day-to-day experiences
• Nativism: Certain skills or abilities are 'native' or hard-wired into the brain at birth
• Modern view: Nature via nurture, where both genetics and experiences shape characteristics like intelligence and personality

Example: Tom and Jerry