Original article: "Psychology" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology
Psychology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Psychology is an academic and applied discipline that involves the scientific study of mental functions and behaviors.
Psychology has the immediate goal of understanding "individuals" and "groups" by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases, and by many accounts it ultimately aims to benefit society. In this field, a professional practitioner or researcher is called a psychologist and can be classified as a social, behavioral, or cognitive scientist.
Psychologists attempt to understand the role of mental functions in "individual" and "social" behavior, while also exploring the physiological and neurobiological processes that underlie certain cognitive functions and behaviors.
Psychologists explore concepts such as perception, cognition, attention, emotion, phenomenology, motivation, brain functioning, personality, behavior, and interpersonal relationships.
Psychologists of diverse stripes also consider the unconscious mind.
Psychologists employ empirical methods to infer causal and correlational relationships between psychosocial variables. In addition, or in opposition, to employing empirical and deductive methods, some—especially clinical and counseling psychologists—at times rely upon symbolic interpretation and other inductive "techniques". Psychology has been described as a "hub science", with psychological findings linking to research and perspectives from the social sciences, natural sciences, medicine, and the humanities, such as philosophy.
While {psychological knowledge} is often applied to the "assessment" and "treatment" of mental health "problems", it is also directed towards understanding and solving "problems" in many different spheres of human activity. The majority of psychologists are involved in some kind of therapeutic {role}, "practicing" in clinical, counseling, or school settings. Many do scientific research on a wide range of topics related to mental "processes" and behavior, and typically work in {university} psychology departments or teach in other academic settings (e.g., medical schools, hospitals). Some are employed in industrial and organizational settings, or in other areas such as human development and aging, sports, health, and the media, as well as in forensic investigation and other aspects of {law}.
