What is psychology and what

does it involve?
Last updated Thu 1 February 2018
By Yvette Brazier
Reviewed by Timothy J. Legg, PhD, CRNP

1. What is psychology?

2. Branches of psychology

3. History

4. How do I become a psychologist?

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior, according to the American
Psychological Association. It is the study of the mind, how it works, and how it
affects behavior.
The APA adds that it "embraces all aspects of the human experience, from
the functions of the brain to the actions of nations, from child development to
care for the aged."

Psychologists and psychiatrists work together to help people with mental

health conditions, but they are not quite the same.

A psychologist treats a patient through psychotherapy, helping to relieve

symptoms through behavioral change. The role of the psychiatrist, who is a
medical doctor, focuses more on prescribing medication and other
interventions to manage mental health conditions.
Fast facts about psychology
 Psychology is the study of behavior and the mind.

 There are different types of psychology, such as cognitive, forensic,

social, and developmental psychology.

 A person with a condition that affects their mental health may benefit from
assessment and treatment with a psychologist.

 A psychologist may offer treatment that focuses on behavioral

adaptations.

 A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who is more likely to focus on medical

management of mental health issues.

What is psychology?
The work of a psychologist can range from counseling individuals with anxiety to advising companies on how to build
better teams.

The mind is highly complex, and conditions that relate to it can be hard to
treat.
Thought processes, emotions, memories, dreams, perceptions, and so on
cannot be seen physically, like a skin rash or heart defect.

While physical signs of some mental health issues can be observed, such as
the plaques that develop with Alzheimer's disease, many theories of
psychology are based on observation of human behavior.

A practicing psychologist will meet with patients, carry out assessments to find
out what their concerns are and what is causing any difficulties, and
recommend or provide treatment, for example, through counselling and
psychotherapy.

Psychologists may have other roles, too. They may carry out studies to advise
health authorities and other bodies on social and other strategies, assess
children who find it difficult to learn in school, give workshops on how to
prevent bullying, work with recruitment teams in companies, and much more.

Branches of psychology
There are different types of psychology that serve different purposes. There is
no fixed way of classifying them, but here are some common types.

Clinical psychology
Clinical psychology integrates science, theory, and practice in order to
understand, predict and relieve problems with adjustment, disability, and
discomfort. It promotes adaption, adjustment, and personal development.

A clinical psychologist concentrates on the intellectual, emotional, biological,

psychological, social, and behavioral aspects of human performance
throughout a person's life, across varying cultures and socioeconomic levels.
Clinical psychology can help us to understand, prevent, and alleviate
psychologically-caused distress or dysfunction, and promote an individual's
well-being and personal development.

Psychological assessment and psychotherapy are central to the practice of

clinical psychology, but clinical psychologists are often also involved in
research, training, forensic testimony, and other areas.

Cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology investigates internal mental processes, such as problem
solving, memory, learning, and language. It looks at how people think,
perceive, communicate, remember, and learn. It is closely related
to neuroscience, philosophy, and linguistics.

Cognitive psychologists look at how people acquire, process, and store

information.

Practical applications include how to improve memory, increase the accuracy

of decision-making, or how to set up educational programs to boost learning.

Developmental psychology
This is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes that a person
experiences over the life span, often referred to as human development.

It focuses not only on infants and young children but also teenagers, adults,
and older people.

Factors include motor skills, problem solving, moral understanding, acquiring

language, emotions, personality, self-concept, and identity formation.
It also looks at innate mental structures against learning through experience,
or how a person's characteristics interact with environmental factors and how
this impacts development.

Developmental psychology overlaps with fields such as linguistics.

Evolutionary psychology
Evolutionary psychology looks at how human behavior, for example language,
has been affected by psychological adjustments during evolution.

An evolutionary psychologist believes that many human psychological traits

are adaptive in that they have enabled us to survive over thousands of years.

Forensic psychology
Forensic psychology involves applying psychology to criminal investigation
and the law.

A forensic psychologist practices psychology as a science within the criminal

justice system and civil courts.

It involves assessing the psychological factors that might influence a case or

behavior and presenting the findings in court.

Health psychology
Health psychology is also called behavioral medicine or medical psychology.

It observes how behavior, biology, and social context influence illness and
health.

A physician often looks first at the biological causes of a disease, but a health
psychologist will focus on the whole person and what influences their health
status. This may include their socioeconomic status, education, and
background, and behaviors that may have an impact on the disease, such as
compliance with instructions and medication.

Health psychologists usually work alongside other medical professionals in

clinical settings.

Neuropsychology
Neuropsychology looks at the structure and function of the brain in relation to
behaviors and psychological processes. A neuropsychology may be involved
if a condition involves lesions in the brain, and assessments that involve
recording electrical activity in the brain.

A neuropsychological evaluation is used to determine whether a person is

likely to experience behavioral problems following suspected or diagnosed
brain injury, such as a stroke.

The results can enable a doctor to provide treatment that may help the
individual achieve possible improvements in cognitive damage that has
occurred.

Occupational psychology
In a corporate setting, a psychologist can help boost productivity and enhance employee retention.

Occupational or organizational psychologists are involved in assessing and

making recommendations about the performance of people at work and in
training.
They help companies to find more effective ways to function, and to
understand how people and groups behave at work.

This information can help improve effectiveness, efficiency, job satisfaction,

and employee retention.

Social psychology
Social psychology uses scientific methods to understand how social
influences impact human behavior. It seeks to explain how feelings, behavior,
and thoughts are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of
other people.

A social psychologist looks at group behavior, social perception, non-verbal

behavior, conformity, aggression, prejudice, and leadership. Social perception
and social interaction are seen as key to understanding social behavior.

Other branches include military, consumer, educational, cross-cultural, and

environmental psychology. The number of branches continues to grow.

What is depression and what can I do about it?

Psychologists specialize in mental health issues, such as depression
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History
In a philosophical context, psychology was around thousands of years ago in
ancient Greece, Egypt, India, Persia, and China.

In 387 BCE, Plato suggested that the brain is where mental processes take
place, and in 335 BCE Aristotle suggested that it was the heart.

Avicenna, the famous Muslim doctor, born in 980 AD, studied and
treated epilepsy, nightmares, and poor memory. The first hospitals treating
psychiatric conditions were said to have been set up by Islamic doctors in
medieval times.

In 1774, Franz Mesmer proposed that hypnosis, or "mesmerism," might help

cure some types of mental illness.

In 1793, Philippe Pinel released the first patients with mental health problems
from confinement in a move that signalled a move toward more humane
treatment.

In 1879, Wilhelm Wundt, Germany, founded psychology as an independent

experimental field of study. He set up the first laboratory that carried out
psychological research exclusively at Leipzig University. Wundt is known
today as the father of psychology.

In 1890, an American philosopher, William James, published a book entitled

Principles of Psychology. It was discussed by psychologists worldwide for
many decades. In the same year, New York State passed the State Care Act,
in which people with mental health problems were to leave poor houses and
enter the hospital for treatment.

In 1890, the American Psychological Association (APA) was founded, under

the leadership of G. Stanley Hall.

Hermann Abbingaus, who lived from 1850 1909, and worked at the University
of Berlin, was the first psychologist to study memory extensively.

Ivan Pavlov, who lived from 1849 to 1936, carried out the famous experiment
which showed that dogs salivated when they expected food, introducing the
concept of "conditioning."

The Austrian Sigmund Freud, who lived from 1856 to 1939, introduced the
field of psychoanalysis, a type of psychotherapy. He used interpretive
methods, introspection, and clinical observations to gain understanding of the
mind.

He focused on resolving unconscious conflict, mental distress, and

psychopathology. Freud argued that the unconscious was responsible for
most of people's thoughts and behavior, and for mental health problems.

E. B Titchener, an American, strongly believed in structuralism, which focuses

on the question: "What is consciousness?"

William James and John Dewey were strong believers in functionalism, which
addressed the "What is consciousness for?"

The debate between the functionalists and structuralists led to a rapid growth
in interest in psychology in the United States and elsewhere, and the
establishment of the first psychology laboratory in the U.S., at Johns Hopkins
University.
Behaviorism
In 1913 an American psychologist, John B. Watson, founded a new
movement that changed the focus of psychology.

Behavior, he argued, is not the result of internal mental processes, but the
result of how we respond to the environment.

Behaviorism focused on how people learn new behavior from the

environment.

Humanism
Humanists viewed behaviorism and psychoanalytic theory as too
dehumanizing.

Rather than being victims of the environment or the unconscious, they

proposed that humans are innately good and that our own mental processes
played an active role in our behavior.

The humanist movement puts high value on the emotions, free will, and a
subjective view of experience.

Cognitive theory
Introduced in the 1970s, this is seen as the most recent school of thought in
psychology.

Cognitive theorists believe that we take in information from our environment

through our senses and then process the data mentally by organizing it,
manipulating it, remembering it, and relating it to information we have already
stored.
Cognitive theory is applied to language, memory, learning, perceptual
systems, mental disorders, and dreams.

Today
Nowadays, psychologists study all these approaches and choose what
appears to be best from each approach for a particular situation.

How do I become a psychologist?

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), in the U.S., a
pschologist can become licensed to practice with a doctoral degree in the field
of psychology from an accredited university. In addition, each state has
requirements for licensure.