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Introduction to Psychology

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Introduction to Psychology

Psychology is a broad discipline that can be found in many areas across all the other fields. No matter what your career path is, the information provided here applies to you professionally and personally! When others learn I am in the field of psychology they often bring up the “abnormal”, or immediately assume it is primarily about therapy and counseling.  The point is that while psychology does have to do with working in a clinical setting, it actually goes much further than that. You will discover just how broad of a field psychology is as you work your way through this section of my website.

Defining Psychology

We broadly define psychology as the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. Behavior is what an individual does that can be directly observed, and this includes observation on a cellular level (like with neurons in brain studies). Mental processes are what are happening internally and cannot be directly observed – like your thoughts, feelings, and motives. While that is commonly how you will see psychology presented, think beyond that and consider how both behavior and mental processes are affected by the individual’s physical state, mental state, and external environment.

The “scientific” part of that definition is very important…and I go into the research in another section. For now, know that as a science we employ the scientific method to study behavior and mental processes.

Is Psychology Just Common Sense?

Many people consider psychology to be just “common sense”, but our research outcomes indicate that often the truth of a situation may actually be counter-intuitive. This is essential for you to remember because throughout these writings I expect that many of your existing “truths” will be challenged, and as someone whose goal is apparently to be more educated about psychology, it is a very important responsibility of yours to become aware of your preexisting biases and work to prevent them from getting in the way of understanding the way the world actually is, and not the way you think it is. See, thinking something is true, no matter how hard, does not make it true. In academia we work to discover and understand the facts as they are, and we utilize the scientific method to achieve this goal. This requires us to look beyond ourselves and our limited views to gain a greater perspective of what we are studying.

To illustrate the misconception that psychology is “common sense”, answer the following by choosing “True” or “False”:

  • The greater the reward to perform a boring activity, the more one will come to enjoy the activity.
  • Most people will disobey a person in authority who orders them to hurt a stranger.
  • Listening to classical music will make an infant smarter.
  • Children who grow up with gay parents are more likely to become gay.

At this point you should have already selected “True” or “False” for the above statements. Let’s see how well you did…for every question, “false” is the more appropriate response. Is this because I say so? Or is this because the research says so? Hopefully by now you realize that I place a great deal of value on the empirical evidence, so you can expect that what I will be sharing with you throughout my website is evidence-based.

This is not to say research methods have no limitations! In fact, this too is something I share on this site…the ability to interpret research is a very important skill-set…being a savvy consumer of research will help you in your intended profession.  In the social sciences exceptions to the outcomes can be found in many situations, but keep that in perspective.

Goals of Psychology

Aside from understanding the basic definition of psychology, seeing that things aren’t always what they seem, and recognizing that the very nature of life has limited your perspective (mine too!), I’d like to mention the goals that psychology works to accomplish: Describe, Explain, Predict, and Control

Describe: Because we work to understand human behavior and mental processes, a starting point is to observe and report what can be seen. As I will discuss more in another section, we use descriptive research techniques to help achieve this goal. This enables us to sort through what behaviors and thought processes are typical and atypical. We will base future research on those observations.

Explain: Based on those previous observations, we work to explain why these behaviors and thought processes exist. These explanations are not simply “made up” – they are tested and retested by way of experimental research. As I hope you can see, opinions alone are insufficient. We need empirical support to validate our claims.

Predict: With the information gained through previous research, we are able to predict future behavior and outcomes. This is not without error, but depending on the situation and with knowledge of certain variables, we can make fairly accurate forecasts.

Control: If we know what happens, when, and why, then we are now able to shape, modify, and even control behavior and thoughts. The information presented on this site is actually quite powerful. It takes years of advanced study to see the implications of what I discuss on this site, though even then, there is much to be learned and discovered.

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