What Does psychology Mean
The psychology is the discipline that investigates the mental processes of humans and animals. The word comes from the Greek: psycho- (mental activity or soul) and -logy (study). This discipline analyzes the three dimensions of the aforementioned processes: cognitive , affective and behavioral .
Modern psychology has been responsible for collecting facts about the behaviors and experiences of living beings , organizing them in a systematic way and developing theories for their understanding. These studies allow us to explain their behavior and even in some cases, predict their future actions.
Those people who develop the study of psychology are called psychologists . This means, those who analyze the behavior of living beings from a scientific approach. Sigmund Freud , Carl Jung, and Jean Piaget are considered to be some of the pioneering psychologists.
Psychology is dedicated to analyzing mental processes.
The methods of psychology
The methodology of study of psychology is divided into two main branches: that which understands this discipline as a basic science (also called experimental ) and uses a scientific-quantitative methodology (it contrasts hypotheses with variables that can be quantified within the framework of an environment of experimentation), and another that seeks to understand the psychological phenomenon through qualitative methodologies that enrich the description and help to understand the processes.
There are many psychological currents, but surely the best known school of psychology is the cognitive one , which studies the act of knowledge (the way in which the information received through the senses is understood, organized and used). Thus, cognitive psychology studies functions such as attention, perception, memory and language.
Theory and applications
Psychology can be divided into basic psychology (its function is to generate new knowledge regarding psychological phenomena) and applied psychology (its objective is to solve practical problems through the application of the knowledge produced by basic psychology).
On the other hand, it is necessary to clarify that psychology is a science in constant development and given the social and moral conditions , it is transforming based on the maturity of societies over time. At present, psychology is divided into several branches, which are connected as long as they try to respond to the same, the why of the actions and the effects that the experiences may have on a living being or group to condition its existence.
Psychologists contribute to mental health.
Branches of psychology
The physiological psychology is the branch of this science dedicated to studying the workings of the brain and nervous system. The experimental psychology , meanwhile, is studying the perception and memory using for this specific laboratory techniques that help discernment of human behavior in this regard.
Social psychology is called the branch that is responsible for analyzing the influences that mark the social environment on an individual, which are studied from the reactions that individual has to the experiences that happen to him. Industrial psychology is the part of psychology that studies the work environment of a group of workers and tries to find ways to understand what can be harmful within the activity that takes place, looking for solutions to those problems.
Clinical psychology , on the other hand, is called the branch that is responsible for studying and helping those people who have problems to face their life normally, as a result of a mental disorder or a particular condition.
Spirit and subjectivity
En conclusión, la psicología puede entenderse como la ciencia que se ocupa de atender cuestiones que atañen al espíritu, a la forma de sentir de un individuo o un pueblo, sus aspectos morales y la forma en la que se desenvuelven con el entorno.
Dicho de otro modo, se centra en el estudio de la vida subjetiva y de las relaciones que se establecen entre el aspecto psíquico y físico de los individuos (sentimientos, ideología, reacciones, tendencias, instintos).