WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?
Beginning with the first psychological laboratory, founded
in 1879 by German philosopher and physiologist
Wilhelm Wundt, modern psychology’s can be traced in
many disciplines and countries. Psychology’s
historical perspectives and current activities lead us to
historical perspectives and current activities lead us to
define the field as the science of behavior and mental
processes.
Theoretical perspectives of
psychology
There are many disciplines that study human nature.
Psychology is one. Within psychology, the biological,
behavioral, psychoanalytic, cognitive and social+l-
cultural
perspectives are complementary. Each has its own
purposes, questions, and limits; together they provide a
fuller
understanding of mind and behavior.
DEFINITION
“Psychology is the scientific study of
behavior and mental processes …. Human or Animal”
Behavior is overt, manifest, obvious, and easy to study;
the mental processes that help carryout these
behaviors are covert, underlying, hidden, and not easy to
study. Besides behavior, what causes these
behaviors to occur and the mental processes involved in
it
is an important area of interest for a
psychologist.
Psychologists study animals’ behavior too;
to better understand and predict human behavior, the
study of animal behavior becomes essential
at times,
especially because some researches cannot be
carried out with humans due to safety
reasons or
ethical issues
