Before you all can start of reading this article, I would like to inform that this article is just a journal that I have made out of many articles’ I had read before. In other word it’s my observation.
What is Psychology?
The meaning of psychology
The word psychology is formally defined as:
“The science that studies the behavior of humans.”
If you break this definition, we can obtain a better understanding of what it means exactly.
Psychology is a science because its conclusions are based on information that was obtained through planned, controlled and repeatable experiments.
It is important that these experiments are repeatable, so any information obtained from the experiments can be considered reliable and not a one off or random events.
Controlled experiments are necessary for certain variables can be tested, without being contaminated by other factors that could produce inaccurate or misleading.
Behavior
Behavior consists of three aspects.
Cognitive processes: This includes what and how a person thinks.
Emotional states: This includes what a person feels, and what makes them feel that way.
Actions: This includes what a person does, and what causes them to do something in a particular way.
If we put all these together, we can see that psychology studies how people think, feel and act.
Agency
An agency is defined as a way of life, in other words, any creature.
Psychology, therefore, is the study of living beings, which includes both people and animals.
The meaning of psychology
From the definition of “psychology is the science that studies the behavior of organisms, we can see that psychology is the study of everything that surrounds us and how things interact with each other.
This is why I consider psychology a very important issue because it directly affects all aspects of our lives.
By studying psychology, which are essentially the study of ourselves and the world we live In turn, this will allow us to gain a better understanding of ourselves and others.
Meaning of the old psychology
It is not surprising that people are interested in psychology since antiquity, when philosophers who were interested in what makes us human devised the term “psyche” theology in the sense of a “study of the soul” ( “Psyche” the soul).
This direction was given by ancient philosophers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, who lived from 400-300 BC
But unlike the current definition of psychology, these philosophers thinking of psychology as the study of people, because I do not think animals souls.
The reason I wanted to study the soul, it was because they thought we were soul consciousness and awareness through this experience that we call life.
Note: “BC” means “Before Christ” and the schedule for BC Countdown to the year of birth of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, 400 B.C has more than 300 B.C. Today is written the dates of the future (eg 2005-2009), because we continue forward in the future.
The science of mental life
A more modern definition of psychology was given by the American psychologist William James, who defined it as “the science of mental life.”
James thought of psychology as the study of how we think, remember and interpret the world and this attempt to investigate from a scientific perspective.
Although it may no longer use the old definition of psychology that are still relevant today, as all describe the study of human behavior and thinking (cognition).
Goals of Psychology
The psychology of today has four main objectives: to describe, explain, predict and control behavior.
1 – Describe
The first objective is to describe how someone behaves.
For example, Aziz seems unable to fully concentrate on his work.
In describing the behavior, we can focus our attention on it and move on to the second goal.
2 – Explain
Now that we have described the behavior, we can try to explain the possible reasons why it occurred.
For example, Aziz seems unable to concentrate at work because he sees too much TV.
By thinking of possible reasons why someone may behave in a particular way, we can try to change this behavior by modifying the factors that we believe is causing it.
3 – Predict
If our explanation of why Aziz is unable to concentrate at work is because he sees too much TV, we can go to our third goal of predicting the behavior of how Aziz is going to change if he reduces the amount of TV he watches.
For example, I think if you stop watching TV Aziz you will be able to concentrate better because they suspect a link between the number of hours that someone watches TV, and his ability to concentrate.
4 – Control of Behavior
Now that we have described how the behavior and predict the behavior could be changed, then we can try to control this behavior by changing the variables previously identified.
For example, take Aziz’s television, which spends more time at work instead of watching TV all day.
If we find that removing Aziz’s TV results in no change in their behavior, then we can conclude that our prediction of negative affect television Juan ability to concentrate is incorrect.
At this stage, then we can go back to steps 2 and 3 and a new explanation for the behavior of Aziz, and then make a new prediction as to how the behavior can be controlled.
For example, Aziz eats too much junk food, which is affecting his ability to think.
Although I use a variable in this example, it is possible that Aziz’s behavior is affected by many factors, such as television and junk food, which are badly affecting their ability to think.
In real life, you will often find that there are many possible explanations for the behavior of someone, and therefore this should be considered as doing things rarely occur in isolation (unless it takes out under controlled laboratory conditions).
The problem occurs when dealing with multiple variables is that there is more margin for error, and accurate predictions are more difficult to do.
This is due to two things that sometimes can have a cumulative effect, so their resultant effect on the whole is greater than they themselves.
eg, 1 and 1 are two numbers, but put them together and you have just over 2.
Abstract
Psychology studies the behavior of agencies, including the way of thinking, feeling and acting.
Psychology has its roots in philosophy, where ancient philosophers described it as the study of the soul.
The four main objectives of psychology to describe, explain, predict and control behavior.