What is Psychology? Crash Course with Key Insights and Fundamentals

Mind and behavior are two really complex topics and no one can claim to have mastered them completely but what you can do is, give it your best shot. The study of mind and behavior from different aspects is being done under the subject known as psychology and that is what we are going to talk about in the coming chapters. Make sure you try to apply all that you have learned in your daily life. Only then will you be able to get any benefit. Let’s not waste any more time and dig in to see what we

have got in here for you. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY Psychology, an applied science, is basically the study of mind and behavior. It includes both the conscious as well as the subconscious part of the mind. A highly complex subject, psychology requires an innumerable amount of research and after conducting this immense research, certain principles are formed on the basis of which minds and behaviors are studied. The person who studies the subject of psychology is known as a psychologist and he possesses

the title of a cognitive, behavioral or a social scientist as well. A psychologist’s job is to study the behaviors and mental functions while linking them with the biological facts that could lead to those behavioral patterns. The goal of psychology is to benefit human beings in every possible way. Even in daily life, you don’t just see psychology playing its role in the hospitals alone. You can use it in every profession and get benefit from it. PIONEERS OF PSYCHOLOGY Like any other science, p

sychology has been through those phases as well where there was nothing definite that anyone knew about this subject. Yes, a lot of research was being done and people were trying to give their contributions to the subject but nothing valuable was coming out. Then, William James came who introduced the approach known as functionalism. According to him, the mind is a very diverse and a constantly evolving thing so he didn't see any point in looking for the building blocks of what it experienced. I

nstead, he said that we should focus on how and why a person does something that he does. The basic idea, in this case, was to look for the reasons behind the behaviors and then associate that with the mental processes that could be involved. The second name that is considered among the pioneers is of Wilhelm Wundt and his approach towards the matter was named as structuralism. This wasn’t a very successful attempt and the results weren’t reliable either but the reason why he is still considered

as one of the pioneers is because he opened the first ever laboratory that was meant for psychological researching and experimenting. That laboratory, in a way, paved way for modern psychology. Initially, psychology and philosophy used to be considered somewhat similar because both involved minds. It has Wundt who separated them by developing more standardized procedures for psychology. HOW IT WORKS Whenever a psychological research is conducted, it involves particular systematic procedures for

doing so and on the basis of the data collected by this research, inferences are made. These inferences become principles that can lead to a certain generalization. The process is not as simple as it may seem. When we say people who sleep a lot are distressed or depressed, we are not just randomly passing a judgment. A lot of research has gone into forming this statement. There is a lot of hard work that has been put into collecting the data regarding a particular subject. You have to experimen

t on hundreds and thousands of people and then see the results that you get. The results are interpreted in such a manner that some logic can be formulated from it. Because it is a diverse topic, psychology involves research related to memory, learning, motivation, perception, sensation, emotion, intelligence, thinking, personality, social behavior, language etc. Every single topic is researched upon in great details and critical evaluation is being done before passing any generalized statement.

This was just a brief introduction to psychology that we have brought forward for you. There is a lot more to it that needs to be talked about. We are going to touch all the important details of this topic in the coming chapters. We are going to make sure that you know all the details including the different branches of psychology and the major theories that were being presented etc. This is an extremely interesting topic and you will realize that once everything starts to unfold for you. MAJOR

BRANCHES OF PSYCHOLOGY Now, you are well-aware of what psychology is. The next important thing to know is the major branches that psychology has. It covers almost all the aspects of a human mind. Those are: PSYCHOPATHOLOGY As the name indicates, this branch deals with the pathologies that are associated with the psychological aspect of the brain. There are many psychotherapists and clinical psychologists out there who work on these pathologies. These include: depression, obsessive-compulsive di

sorder, bipolar disorder, sexual disorders and much more. Precisely, it deals with the diseases that are associated with the mind, the ones that have the psychological basis. BEHAVIORAL PSYCHOLOGY Like we explained earlier, behavioral psychology is a theory that still prevails in the subject of psychology. Also known as behaviorism, this theory basically stresses upon the fact that all the behaviors are acquired through learning and practicing. This practicing is called conditioning in more tech

nical terms. Operant conditioning and classical conditioning are the two major forms that it focuses on. This theory of behaviorism gained a lot of attention in the beginning of 20th century but around the 1950s it kind of lost its original impact. Having said that, behavioral techniques still are practiced in many therapies. BIOPSYCHOLOGY This is the branch of psychology in which we study how the brain affects the behavioral patterns that people adopt over the time. The influence of the brain o

n the overall personality is being seen in this branch of psychology. In other words, it is also known as physiological psychology or behavioral neuroscience. We also study the endocrine system and the way neurons are being affected by this system. Considering it is biopsychology, the structure of a neuron is also studied. COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY The branch of psychology that deals with the more abstract subjects such as attention, thinking, problem-solving, decision-making and motivation is known

as cognitive psychology. This is one of the most interesting branches of psychology as it carries some really complex subjects in it. COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY Generally, anything that is implemented on human beings is first tested on the animals. Similarly, in comparative psychology, the behaviors of the animals are studied. The animal behaviors are then compared with the humans and this leads to the formation of principles for human psychology. We can obtain deeper and better understanding of hum

an psychology by studying it under the comparative psychology. CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY Like everything else, behaviors also vary based on the culture that you belong to. This is exactly what we study in cross-cultural psychology. Specialists study the factors that influence the behaviors in different cultures and it was established a long time ago that different cultures bring forward different behavioral patterns due to the difference in morals, ethics etc. DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY Developmen

tal psychology is one of the most complex branches of psychology. We study the different stages of human development in this branch, starting from the prenatal time till death. We also study the reasons why and how people change over the time. All sorts of changes that take place throughout the life are taken into consideration in this branch. Those include physiological, emotional, social, intellectual, personality and perceptual development. Other than that, many child development theories and

issues regarding developmental psychology are being studied in it. EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY These days, we have this trend of giving psychological awareness and training to teachers as well as students. All of this is studied in educational psychology. All the educational issues and concerns related to the students are being discussed under this head. The most important target for the education psychologists is to devise plans through which students can learn better and perform better. For this r

eason, psychologists come in direct contact with the parents, students, and administrators etc. EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY Experimental psychology is a more contemporary branch of psychology. It deals with the scientific methods in order to get more knowledge regarding the human brain and behavior. These techniques can be really helpful in getting more information regarding a person’s developmental psychology and all the social issues that he may be going through at a particular point. More and mor

e research has been put into this subject with time. FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY Forensic psychology has emerged has a really useful branch of psychology. There is a large number of duties that a forensic psychologist has to fulfill. He is supposed to deal with the sexual assault victims as well as the child abuse cases. He has to monitor the psychological condition of the persona and sometimes may even have to prepare them for a testimony. Evaluating the mental state of a criminal, in order to decide w

hether or not he is liable to a particular punishment, is also the responsibility of a forensic psychologist. HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY In the human body, everything is inter-linked. Hence, health psychology is associated with the study of the role that psychology, behavior, and social factors as well as biology play on the overall health and illness. More importantly, health is promoted through this branch and more as well as better attempts are being made to treat as well as prevent diseases and illne

ss. PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY Like we explained earlier, personalities are being studied in this branch and the way these personalities develop over the time. The factors that influence the development of personalities are also being studied in this particular branch along with all the possible details related to the topic. Precisely, these are all the branches of psychology that are gaining popularity over the time. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PSYCHOLOGIST AND A PSYCHIATRIST Lately, a very important disc

ussion has been going on. The role of a psychologist and a psychiatrist are somewhat similar and so a lot of people get confused between these two. Yes, there is a lot of similarity between these two professionals but there are certain differences as well. We are going to explain the difference between these two in this chapter. IN TERMS OF DEGREE When you talk about the degree, these two fields are absolutely different from each other. The educational requirements that a psychologist requires a

re entirely different from what a psychiatrist needs to have done. In order to be a psychologist you have to study psychology as a major in your undergraduate degree and then later on you have to earn a doctorate degree which again takes five to six more years. Before you start practicing as a psychologist, you need to do an internship for at least two years span. The specific rules vary from state to state but the basic ones are somewhat similar everywhere. While you are doing your degree, you

can specialize in any particular branch of psychology and for that, you will have to study some extra subjects. Eve for becoming a psychoanalyst you need to have special training. As for a psychiatrist, it is a little different. You need to have studied medicine in order to be a psychiatrist. Most people get confused by the fact that what is the primary difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist. The primary difference lies in the fact that a psychiatrist can prescribe medicine while a

psychologist can't. We are going to elaborate this difference in the coming paragraphs. For a psychiatrist, you have to attend the medical school and after getting done with your medical school you need to complete your residency for four years. Your residency will be in the psychiatric department. Following this residency, you will go through an exam in order to be classified as a practicing psychiatrist. HOW THEY DEAL WITH THEIR PATIENTS When it comes to a psychologist, like we already mentio

ned, they can’t prescribe medicine. They are more concerned with the non-medicated solutions like talking to the patient, counseling a patient, monitoring their thoughts and feelings and taking care of their general mental health. These are primarily the routes that they use to cure their patients. The people that you see lying on the couch, talking to their doctor, while the doctor is just writing things down on a notepad is basically a psychologist’s job. He treats his patients like that. For

a psychiatrist, he is primarily going to treat the disorders. If he thinks some patient needs counseling or needs some talking in order to just vent it out, he will refer the patient to some psychologist. The psychiatrist is going to come into action when there is some disorder that needs a cure. He is going to prescribe some medicines for the disorder. Of course, he is also going to talk to the patient and will give him emotional support as well but it’s not the way a psychologist. It is just a

protocol that you have to follow while treating your patient. A psychologist can also refer a patient to a fellow psychiatrist if he feels that the patient needs some medication and he can’t be fixed without that. IN TERMS OF EARNING In today's time, there isn't a lot of difference between a psychiatrist and a psychologist when it comes to the monetary terms. Yes, there is a little difference because psychologists usually have a different kind of patients coming to them while a psychiatrist has

more complex patients. Due to the medical degree that he has earned, a psychiatrist earns more money than a psychologist would do on a yearly basis. This data is collected on the basis of the normal statistics observed but this doesn't at all mean that it always works like that. There could be a psychologist who is so famous that more number of patients comes to him and so he earns more than the psychiatrist. Also, it is important for you to understand that in professions like these, it is neve

r the money that should matter. It is your passion that matters and you should work according to that. This is the reason why we have explained everything in such details. Now, you should choose according to your own interest that whether you want to be a psychologist or a psychiatrist. While you are making the decision, keep the monetary aspect aside because this profession is a social service that you do for mankind. If you are all about the monetary gains then this profession is not meant for

you. THEMES OF PSYCHOLOGY Like we explained the different branches of psychology, there are certain themes of psychology as well. These themes are basically the different aspects of psychology through which we look at it. Those are as under: UNCONSCIOUS MIND The unconscious mind, also known as the subconscious mind, has a lot to do with the actions that we perform in our daily lives. A lot has been spoken about this particular topic. The basic idea here is that for every human being, there are

certain things that they do without even being aware of it. For example, the accent that you have adopted is something that you took without making any extra effort and so now when you talk, you don't make the effort to think about how you are talking. It just comes naturally to you. The argument here is that some doctors say that this sub conscious behavioral patterns can be adopted over the time while others say that these are only some habits that you naturally possess and nothing practiced o

ver the time can become a part of your unconscious mind. PERSONALITY Personality is another theme that we study in psychology. The pattern of thoughts, emotions, and behavior that we follow, comprises a personality. There has been a lot of dispute regarding this topic because different schools of thoughts have different perceptions regarding personality. Some believe that different factors contribute towards personality building for examples childhood and the circumstances that you have lived in

as well as the way you have been treated all your life etc. Some believe in trait analysis, according to which, there are three major traits that define the personality. The number of traits vary as well, according to different schools of thought. Precisely, personality is a very complex subject that is under discussion. MOTIVATION In philosophical terms, motivation has a somewhat different meaning but in psychology, it is interpreted in a different way. You can say that all your instincts comb

ine and give rise to one force that is very dominant. This force is known as motivation. Without getting into any technical details, we can simply just say that hunger, thirst, sexual pleasure, fear etc. these are all motivations for a normal human being and from these very basic motivations, come the most complex motivations. Human beings have the need to feel secure, loved, belonged, appreciated etc. All of these are the secondary motivations that somehow were related to the primary ones. Ther

e are a lot of factors that are associated with motivation and a very long debate can be conducted on that. DEVELOPMENT Development is a really important topic and which is why we have a whole branch of psychology associated with it. The main target of this theme is to first see the changes that a human mind goes through starting from the very first moment in this world to the end. We also see why these changes take place and how they affect the overall personality. Social, moral, neural all kin

ds of development are studied in this one subject. Many interesting new ways of conducting the research have been introduced. For example, in the case of a child, different interesting games are being devised that the child can enjoy and so he is being observed that way. In fact, new techniques have been introduced to the study the development in infants as well. Other than that, stages like adolescence and old age are being studied as well because these are the times that matter. ENVIRONMENT AN

D HEREDITY We all know very well that genes and environment play a very crucial role in the kind of human being that you turn out to be. You can’t neglect these two factors when you are studying the personality of a person. You must have seen some behavioral patterns that only exist in certain regions and nowhere else. The reason for this could be any starting from the environmental factors to the role that is played by the genes. Let’s consider an example in this regard. If there is a woman who

is clinically depressed, there are higher chances of her children being affected by the same disorder. The only two reasons that could be the link here are that either the children will get depressed due to staying in such an environment where they are always surrounded by a depressed mother or because there is a higher chance of acquiring the disorder in genetics. While you are conducting a psychological study, you can’t possibly neglect these two topics. MIND AND BODY Lastly, a lot of researc

h has been conducted regarding the effect that your body has on your mind and your overall happiness and feeling of satisfaction. The psychologist is going to tell you some exercises or some postures that you need to adopt and that will make you feel good on the inside. This is really important for a person's overall well-being. You don't have to be a patient for that. You can even normally ask your doctor to tell you about the exercises that can help you in feeling relaxed and calm. This also i

ncludes the benefits of smiling and the very simple daily life things that can be very helpful for you. We have mentioned some basic themes that psychology follows and we hope that you got an understanding of the topic. We are going to elaborate these further in the coming chapters. PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGES OF A HUMAN We are obviously going to focus more on the human development and for someone who is not a psychologist, we would like to explain everything in as much detail as possible while making s

ure that nothing is too technical for you to understand it. We are going to elaborate the stages that a human mind goes through, starting from the very basic stage of infancy. We will complete the whole cycle till the old age and our major target is to explain the basic traits that a human being develops over the time. STAGE 1: INFANCY (BIRTH TO 18 MONTHS) BASIC TRAIT: TRUST VS MISTRUST This is the stage at which the child can develop one of the two above mentioned traits. Now, how is that even

possible for an infant to do so? Well, it’s actually quite simple. The only major task that you perform with a child at this age is feeding. If you feed your child well and take good care of him/her then he will put his trust in you and will rely on you. In case you don’t perform these duties too well, your child will not be able to trust you. He will develop mistrust towards you. You need to make sure that you are taking good care of your child and don’t at all think that he doesn’t know or und

erstand anything because he is an infant. STAGE 2: EARLY CHILDHOOD (2-3 YEARS) BASIC TRAIT: AUTONOMY VS SHAME AND CONFUSION We may not consider it very important but children at this age need to feel that they have a control over their physical needs. The most important thing that we need to teach them at this age is toilet training. You need to train them in such a way that they don’t stay too dependent on you. If you train them well, they will become confident in themselves and will feel auton

omous but if you fail to do so, they will start to feel the shame and they are going to start doubting themselves and their skills. You need to make sure that this doesn’t happen at all. STAGE 3: BEFORE SCHOOL (3-5 YEARS) BASIC TRAIT: INITIATIVE VS GUILT Children at this age start to explore too much and you will see them exerting power on their environment. They need to feel free in this case. The problem that occurs in most cases is that the adults stop them from doing anything that they do be

cause they cause too much mess. When you stop them from doing everything that they do, they start to feel guilty about everything and they stop taking initiatives. This is bad for a child’s mind. You are suppressing the creative side of his mind. Of course, it is okay to stop a child when he is going overboard with things but let them explore as much as they want to. This is very healthy for a young brain. STAGE 4: SCHOOL GOING AGE (6 TO 11 YEARS) BASIC TRAIT: INDUSTRY VS INFERIORITY This is the

time when children start going to school. Now, they are getting out of their comfort zone which was their home. No matter how confident a child is at home, things change when they come to school. At home, everything was about them but in school they so many other kids like them. They have to cope up with a lot of social and academic demands. This can lead some children distressed. They feel the need to prove themselves to everyone and if they fail to do so, they start to feel inferior to others

. This is not a very good position to be in. STAGE 5: ADOLESCENCE (12 TO 18 YEARS) BASIC TRAIT: IDENTITY VS ROLE CONFUSION This is probably one of the most crucial periods of life. Teenagers are supposed to form social relationships and they try to fit in the circles that they are hanging out with. If they succeed in forming their own identity then they stay true to themselves and the human beings that they are. In case they fail to do so, they are going to start to feel insecure and confused re

garding their identity. They will probably have a low self-esteem and they will start to act like someone who according to them is really cool. They will lose their own identity. STAGE 6: YOUNG ADULTHOOD (19 TO 40 YEARS) BASIC TRAIT: INTIMACY VS ISOLATION This is the age where energy is at its peak and so is a vulnerability. Young adults feel the need to form intimate relationships with people and then carry on with these relationships. If they get successful with this, the relationships are goi

ng to last for a lifetime but if they don't they will start to feel lonely and will probably get isolated from the rest of the world. This is a very important time for forming lifelong relationships. STAGE 7: MID ADULTHOOD (40 TO 65 YEARS) BASIC TRAIT: GENERATIVITY VS STAGNATION This is the age where there is work pressure as well as the pressure to handle the family and fulfill their demands. Every person tries his or her best to do so and those who succeed in doing so, start to feel accomplish

ed and feel like they have done something good in their life while those who are unable to fulfill their duties start to feel worthless and get involved in other things mostly. STAGE 8: MATURITY (65 TO DEATH) BASIC TRAIT: SELF-ASSURED VS DESPAIR This is the age where everyone looks back at what they have done in their lifetime. The ones who feel like they have passed a meaningful life, feel happy about themselves and proud of themselves while others who feel like they didn’t do much in life or c

ouldn’t do what they wanted to do, they start to get bitter and experience the feelings of despair. These are the stages of life that every human being (who lives up to this age) goes through. We have tried to summarize them as simply as possible. We wanted you to just get a brief idea of what a person feels when he or she is going through these stages in life so that you can deal with the people according to their age. Once you have the basic understanding of how things work, you will be able t

o show more empathy towards people. Isn’t that exactly what a psychologist does? APPLICATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGY IN EVERYDAY LIFE As you must know already, there is a wide variety of applications of psychology in our daily lives. You don’t just have to be a psychologist to understand people better. You will be able to do so even after getting the basic knowledge of psychology. Here, in this chapter, we are going to describe the important applications of psychology that we have in our daily life: STAY

MOTIVATED We all start to feel short of motivation at some point in life and then we need to get that drive again to get back into action. If you have some basic know-how of the principles of cognitive psychology, you will be able to help yourself really well. Let’s say you are trying to adopt a new habit or if you are trying to get rid of a bad habit that you have, you can motivate yourself for doing that. You can set certain targets for yourself and make sure you reward yourself well every ti

me you complete a certain target. You can use many such small techniques to stay motivated. BE THE LEADER You may or may not be a born leader but either way, a little bit of psychology can help you out in this regard. A lot of research has been conducted regarding this topic and we have come to a few conclusions that can help you in polishing your leadership skills. For example, make sure you appreciate any new creative ideas given by your group members. Let them give their opinions but make sur

e you give your commands as the final orders. Think of solutions to the problems along with your group members. These small tips can help you become a better leader and people will respect you more for this. IMPROVE YOUR COMMUNICATION SKILLS Communication is really important for anybody and while we say the word communication, we don’t just mean what you write or read. We are also talking about the non-verbal communication that takes place between two people. In fact, it has been established thr

ough research that non-verbal communication plays a more important role. Your hand gestures and that way your eyes move as well as the change in your voice tone, all of that matters a lot. You need to take care of all f that in order to have an effective communication. Make sure you look into the other person’s eyes and start to notice the non-verbal signs shown by other people as well. UNDERSTAND THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU In order to nurture healthy professional as well as personal relations, it is

really important to understand each other better. You need to get a better understanding of your own emotions and only then will you be able to develop an understanding towards other people's emotions. You need to look at situations from other people's perspectives. All of this comes under the heading of emotional intelligence and some psychologists say that emotional quotient is more important than intelligence quotient. You can simply just do it by writing your reactions to situations in a jo

urnal and then assess other people's reactions and try to understand why and how they feel a certain way about things. GET BETTER AT DECIDING THINGS Taking some help from the research that has been conducted regarding the cognitive psychology, you will be able to make way better decisions. We are all human beings and it is only natural to get confused while you are making some big decisions. Next time you are making a big decision, don’t stress out and follow the tips that are provided to you by

the psychologist. You can consider the six thinking hats when you are making a decision. Those include: creative, emotional, rational, positive, negative and intuitive aspects of a decision while you are making it. You will have to consider all of these and then decide accordingly. This can help you in making the most important decisions of your life. IMPROVE YOUR MEMORY Memory, being the most important asset of a mind, plays a really important role in our lives and we really need to take care

of it. With all the possible techniques that psychology offers, you can improve your memory over the time. There isn't much that you need to do. Just follow the simple tips like make sure you eliminate all the possible distractions while learning something. Repeat what you have learned so that it gets embedded in your memory and focus all your attention on what you are learning. These and much more such techniques can help you in improving your memory. BE MORE PRODUCTIVE You must have heard a lo

t about being productive while multitasking and all that but guess what? It is all the just rubbish that has absolutely no basis to prove the point. You need to know psychology to understand the complex mechanism that your mind undergoes. To make it simple for you, we can say that make sure you don't multitask at all because naturally, your speed and accuracy are affected really badly by multi-tasking. You have to make sure that you just focus on the task at hand and eliminate any distractions t

hat you may have. If you want to be more productive, just do one thing at a time and you will see the results. These are some really basic things in which psychology can help you even if you have the very basic know how of the subject.