Learning of Psychology

Psychology is the exploration, description, and formulation of the brain and mind situated in a living body in relation to an environment with a deep focus on behaviour (observable states), cognition (mental processes), and conation (motivation to behave).
Let’s split this into its components:

1. Exploration, description, and formulation: This aspect makes psychology a scientific body of knowledge that tries to describe observed phenomena, uncover how they work, and predict what will happen.
2. Brain and mind situated in a living body in relation to the environment: Psychology concerns itself with things that are alive and how they interact with elements around them (people, movement, objects, tools, goals, adaptation). However, the word behaviour is used instead of psychology to describe the movement and interactions of elements for non-living things or things without brains.
3. Deep focus on behaviour, cognition, and conation: These 3 areas broadly describe the fundamental building blocks of the mind as we perceive it ourselves. The mechanisms and processes underlying this are often redefined as the science progresses.
   
   

   Psychology definitions

   American Psychological Association definition 
   Psychology is the study of the mind and behaviour. The discipline 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. In every conceivable setting, from scientific research centre’s to mental health care services, “the understanding of behaviour” is the enterprise of psychologists. 
   
   Webster definition

   • The science of mind and behaviour
   • The mental or behavioural characteristics of an individual or group
   • The study of mind and behaviour in relation to a particular field of knowledge or activity

   Some more variations of the meaning of psychology

   • Psychology is the scientific investigation of how people behave, think, and feel. It includes underlying mechanisms that involve the environment, biology, and the mind. 
   • Psychological investigations try to describe, predict, analyse, and create actionable outcomes that help people. Actionable outcomes include therapy, learning design, altering protocols at a workplace, etc.

   Today, psychology is closely related to fields such as cognitive science, neuroscience, economics, law, public health, UX & UI, marketing, and consumer behaviour.

What does psychology mean?

Here are some usages of the word I’ve come across.  

• I want to understand the psychology of people who just pick up a gun and shoot.   
• What is the psychology of a customer?   
• Are you going to study my psychology and tell me who I am?   
• You have to understand the psychology of farmers to understand what troubles them.   
• Architects have to understand the psychological needs of their clients so their house becomes a home. 
• Psychological experiments show that people do not understand what they really desire.  
• I am going to study psychology and help people.   
• Is psychology a science? Is it the same as philosophy?   
• Economics depends on the psychology of people.   
• Babe, help me understand your psychology, I am so confused.
• Why can’t we go to the reunion? You have psychological issues.   
• What is the psychology of an abused kid?   
• Your psychology is very bad. Your psychology is very good.    

These are just sentences. It may not be hard to understand them at first, but let’s put the word under a microscope and study it.

Here are some more examples of what people think psychology means  

• Personality (most common belief)
• Solutions for anxiety and depression
• Emotions
• Thinking
• Something inside the mind
• Relationship of strong/impactful events in life and one’s thoughts, behavior, and emotions
• Why people do what they do or buy what they buy

Note: The funny thing about personality is that people don’t see personality as their enduring pattern of behaviour, reactions, thinking, worldview, etc. They think of personality as a broad term that accounts for everything about an individual. That is partly the reason why people associate personality & psychology so tightly. From a scientific perspective, psychology does study personality, but it is just one of the many factors that it studies.

Let’s look at the history of the word. Quoting it from Merriam-Webster.
The word psychology was formed by combining the Greek psyche (meaning “breath, principle of life, life, soul,”) with –logia (which comes from the Greek logos, meaning “speech, word, reason”). An early use appears in Nicholas Culpeper’s mid-17th century translation of Simeon Part Liz’s A New Method of Physic, in which it is stated that “Psychology is the knowledge of the Soul.” Today, psychology is concerned with the science or study of the mind and behaviour. Many branches of psychology are differentiated by the specific field to which they belong, such as animal psychology, child psychology, and sports psychology.

People assume psychology students learn to:

• Predict behaviour
• Understand the personality
• Mind reading (this never happens)
• Analyse people
• Sex, Relationships, Life advice

This is what people often assume; however, this is NOT always true. 

Popular psychology myths

• They can read minds.
• They can analyse you better than anyone else on the planet.
• They can talk and cure your problems.
• They have no psychological issues and never have conflicts (this one is my favourite).

• Help people understand their mental health and work with them to cope & adjust in life.
• Study how many aspects of life relate to each other.
• Conduct studies to understand patterns of behaviour & thoughts.
• Implement studies to provide therapy, counselling, and consultation.
• Work alongside different professionals to improve aspects of business, products, services, technology, communication, etc.
• Create self-help resources for people to cope independently.

This article on psychology career options could help you understand the wider industrial scope of psychology.

The following broad branches of psychology will describe the overall nature and scope of psychology.

1. Clinical psychology – the study, assessment, prevention, coping, and treatment of mental health issues and disorders such as depression & schizophrenia
2. Organizational & industrial psychology – the study of how professional environments function with respect to employment, assessment & recruiting, workplace wellbeing, conflict resolution, team building, etc. 
3. Social psychology – the study of how people interact in social contexts and what variables affect social behaviour, identity, and cognition
4. Cognitive psychology – the study of mental processes that enable thinking, feeling, language, art, etc.
5. Behavioural psychology – the study of human and animal behaviour
6. Developmental psychology – the study of specific factors relevant to a certain age group or developmental stage across a lifespan and trends across the lifespan 
7. Evolutionary psychology – the study of human and animal behaviour in an evolutionary context and the study of adaptability and deeply rooted tendencies 
8. Forensic psychology – the study of how criminals behave and think
9. Neuropsychology – the assessment of brain functioning in a clinical setting
10. Positive psychology – the study of well-being and living a good life
11. Neuroscience - the study of the brain as a biological unit and its specifics that may or may not directly relate to behaviour, thoughts, or feelings. It includes an understanding of how neurons communicate and function. 
12. Sports psychology – the study, training, and coping of sportspeople
13. School psychology – the study of a variety of psychological variables in a school context
14. Cyber-psychology – the study of human behaviour with a focus on internet-based behaviour

These are just 14 of the broad specializations. There are many more – geriatric psychology, engineering psychology, counselling psychology, experimental and quantitative psychology, etc. You can snowball around these terms.

People often mean to say personality, thoughts, behaviour, thinking, issues, motives, needs, etc., when they talk about psychology. And sometimes, vice-versa.  As you’ve seen, the scope of psychology is huge, and it is having allied fields.   
I’d like to point out the following key aspects of psychology: It is a scientific investigation. That means there are experiments, there are numbers, there is data, there is sampling, there is rigorous use of psychological tools, description, prediction, logical criticism, systematic observation, and beyond all, it is evidence-based.
Psychology looks at all kinds of people and social groups, animals included. Not just those with mental health problems. It is the study of the mind and behaviour – everything included.
You’d see a standard undergraduate, graduate, and Ph.D. flow to psychology. With many opting for a practioner’s license after graduation.