The many meanings of the word Psychology

What is psychology? 

What does the word Psychology mean? People use it so often. Do people know what it means?

What is psychology?

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. 

Darling, help me understand your psychology. Why can't we go to the reunion? 

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. Some more examples of what people think psychology means

- Personality (personality wins)

- Emotions

- Thinking

- Something inside the mind

- Relationship of strong/impactful events in life and their thought

What do people think psychology does? What do they think people who learn psychology do?

- Predict behaviour

- Reveal the truth

- Understand the personality (The winner) 

- Mind reading (this never happens)

- Analyse people (A close second)

- Sex, Relationships, Life advice

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

What do people assume (incorrectly) about psychologists?

- They can mind read

- 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)

What do psychologists actually do?

-  YOU can try to answer this after reading this post.

Note 1: The funny thing about personality is that people don't see personality as their enduring pattern of behaviour, reactions, thinking, world-view, 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. But from a scientific perspective, psychology does study personality but it is just one of the many factors that it studies. 

The nature and scope of psychology

The definition of psychology: 

American psychological association 

• 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 centres to mental health care services, "the understanding of behaviour" is the enterprise of psychologists. 

Merriam Webster 

• 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 connotations to the meaning of psychology: 

• Psychology is the scientific investigation of how people behave, think, and feel. It includes underlying mechanisms that involve the environment, the 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. 

Specializations in psychology

The following broad branches of psychology will elucidate 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. Cognitive psychology - the study of mental processes that enable thinking, feeling, language, art, etc.
4. Behavioural psychology - the study of human and animal behaviour
5. Developmental psychology - the study of specific factors relevant to a certain age group or developmental stage across a lifespan and trends across the lifespan 
6. Evolutionary psychology - the study of human and animal behaviour in an evolutionary context and the study of adaptability and deeply rooted tendencies 
7. Forensic psychology - the study of how criminals behave and think
8. Neuropsychology - the assessment of brain functioning in a clinical setting
9. Positive psychology - the study of wellbeing and living a good life
10. Neuroscience - the study of the brain as a biological unit and its specifics that may or may not directly relate to behaviour, thought, or feelings. It includes the understanding of how neurons communicate and function. 
11. Sports psychology - the study, training, and coping of sportsmen
12. School psychology - the study of a variety of psychological variables in a school context

These are just 12 of the broad specializations. There are many many more - geriatric psychology, engineering psychology, counselling psychology, experimental and quantitative psychology, etc. You can snowball around these terms and even look at the Wikipedia page. 

Overview of psychology as a discipline

People often mean to say personality, thoughts, behaviour, thinking, issues, motives, needs, etc. when they talk about psychology. And sometimes, vice-versa.  As you you've seen the scope of psychology is huge and it is now related to many 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 a 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. It is the study of the mind and behaviour - everything included.

P.S. Psychologists, like others, live a life, some drink, have sex, have fights, have mental health issues, are sometimes better at dealing with a lot of hard things, sometimes really screw-up, etc. And, they take a variety of career paths.






P.P.S. Just for kicks, let's look at the history of the word. Quoting it from Merriam-webster.

The word psychology was formed by combining the Greek psychē (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 Partliz’s A New Method of Physick, in which it is stated that “Psychologie is the knowledg of the Soul.” Today, psychology is concerned with the science or study of the mind and behavior. Many branches of psychology are differentiated by the specific field to which they belong, such as animal psychology, child psychology, and sports psychology.


Book recommendation:

Here is a psychology textbook that has a little bit about everything. It is usually the standard undergraduate or 12th standard psychology textbook in many countries including India & the USA. Check it out if you are considering reading this book if you want to make psychology more than a hobby.