Psychology

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Psychology (from Greek: ψυχή, psukhē, "spirit, soul"; and λόγος, logos, "knowledge") is both an academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior. Psychologists study such phenomena as perception, cognition, emotion, personality, behavior, and interpersonal relationships. Psychology also refers to the application of such knowledge to various spheres of human activity, including issues related to daily life--e.g. family, education, and work--and the treatment of mental health problems.

Psychology is one of the behavioral sciences--a broad field that spans the social and natural sciences. Psychology attempts to understand the role human behavior plays in social dynamics while incorporating physiological and neurological processes into its conceptions of mental functioning. Psychology includes many sub-fields of study and application concerned with such areas as human development, sports, health, industry, law, and spirituality.

Contents [hide]

1 History

1.1 Early development

1.2 Beginning of the scientific era

1.3 Rise and fall of behaviorism

1.4 Existential-humanist movement

1.5 Cognitivism takes the stage

2 Principles

2.1 Mind and brain

2.2 Schools of thought

3 Subfields

3.1 Fields of research

3.1.1 Abnormal psychology

3.1.2 Biological psychology

3.1.3 Cognitive psychology

3.1.4 Comparative psychology

3.1.5 Developmental psychology

3.1.6 Personality psychology

3.1.7 Quantitative psychology

3.1.8 Social psychology

3.2 Fields of application

3.2.1 Clinical psychology

3.2.2 Counseling psychology

3.2.3 Educational psychology

3.2.4 Psychology and Law

3.2.5 Health psychology

3.2.6 Human factors psychology

3.2.7 Industrial and organizational psychology

3.2.8 School psychology

4 Research methods

4.1 Controlled experiments

4.2 Observation in natural settings

4.3 Survey questionnaires

4.4 Longitudinal studies

4.5 Neuropsychological methods

4.6 Computational modeling

5 Criticism and controversies

5.1 Controversy as a science

5.2 Concern about fringe clinical practices

6 See also

7 References

7.1 Further reading

8 External links

8.1 Learning about psychology

8.2 History of psychology

8.3 Other

[edit] History

Main article: History of psychology

[edit] Early development

Rudolf GocleniusExperimental psychology, as well as psychophysics, began with the development of the experimental scientific method by Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen) in the 1010s. In his Book of Optics, he made use of the experimental method in his pioneering work on the psychology of visual perception.[1]

The first use of the term "psychology" is attributed to the German scholastic philosopher Rudolf Goeckel (Latinized Rudolph Goclenius), published in 1590.[2] More than six decades earlier, the Croatian humanist Marko Marulić used the term in the title of a work which was subsequently lost.[3]

The term did not fall into