Nestor Micheli Morales, Ph.D.

The definition of psychology can be an easy task if we have to provide the formal definition that we have today at academic level. When I teach the class of Introduction to Psychology to my students, I provide the following definition:  Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Defining psychology at academic level, can become a little more complex, especially because of the misconceptions created by the mass media and the different approaches to psychology, namely: The Behaviorist perspective, Cognitive psychology, Biological psychology, Psychodynamic perspective, and Humanism, just to name but a few of the different approaches that we have in psychology.

To define psychology, from these different points of view, different perspectives and different ideologies within the discipline of psychology, may also be a quite complex endeavor.

We will try to accomplish this task, at least partially, in the section: Academic Issues.

The Scientific Study of Behavior and Mental Processes :

The scientific method: involves the orderly, and systematic procedures thatresearchers follow to identify a research topic or problem, design a study to investigate the topic, collect and analyze the data, draw conclusions, and communicate their findings.

A Theory: is a general principle or set pf principles, proposed to explain how a number of separate facts are related.

Hypothesis: is a testable prediction about the conditions under which a particular behavior or mental process may occur. 

The Goals of Psychology: The goals of psychology are to describe, explain, predict, and influence behavior and mental processes. 

Psychology's Roots:  If we want to explore the development of psychology in history, we need to start even before the earliest recorded history, even before the early Greek philosophers, such as Plato and Aristotle. Nevertheless, it was only when the scientific method was applied to he study of behavior and mental processes, that psychology became a science.

Structuralism: The first formal school of thought in psychology, aimed at analyzing the basic elements, or structure, of conscious mental experience.

Functionalism: It was not concerned with the structure of consciousness, but with how mental processes function. In other words, how human and animals use mental processes in adapting to their environment.  Psychologist William James (1842-1910) wasan advocte of functionalism. James mentioned, the "stream of consciousness" which, he stated, it functions to help humans adapt to their environment.

Behaviorism: The school of psychology that views observable, measurable behavior as the appropriate subject matter for psychology and emphasizes the key role of environment as a determinant of behavior. 

Psychoanalysis: The term Sigmund Freud used to for both his theory of personality and his therapy for the treatment of psychological disorders. The unconscious is the primary focus of psychoanalytic theory.  Freud's theory, maintains that human mental life is like an iceberg. The smallest, vicible part of the iceberg represents the conscious mental experience of the individual. However, underwater, hiden from view, floats a  vast store of unconscious impulses, wishes, and desires. Sigmund Freud points out that individuals do not consciously control their thoughts, feelings, and behavior; these are instead determined by unconscious forces. 

Humanistic Psychology: The school of psychology that focuses on the uniqueness of human beings and their capacity for choice, growth, and psychological health.

Cognitive Psychology: The school of psychology that sees humans as active participants in their environment; studies mental processes such as memory, problem solving, reasoning, decision making, perception, language, and other forms of cognition.

Getalt Psychology: The school of psychology that emphasizes that individuals perceive objects and patterns as whole units and that the perceived whole is more than the sum of itd parts.

Information-Processing Theory: An approach to the study of mental structures and processes that uses the computer as a model for human thinking.