The Psychology Companion

Bridget Adams

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9781350312364
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

The one-stop guide to studying psychology at degree level. This book provides a thorough introduction to psychology as a discipline and offers guidance on what to expect fromthe course. An ideal study tool, the Companion includes advice on study skills, research methods, career pathwaysand helpful psychology organisations.

1studying psychology

studying

1.1Context of psychology

1.2Your psychology course

1.3Study skills for psychology

1.1Context of psychology

What is psychology?

In the ordinary sense, psychology is anything to do with understanding and influencing human minds. That is, all of our behaviour and experience: what we do, think, feel or say; and why; and how we can change.

In the academic sense, psychology is the scientific study of all this. Rudyard Kipling’s six serving men or fundamental questions cover most things we need to know, tackled according to scientific principles and methodology:

Who?

When?

Where?

What?

Why?

How?

And we just need to add;

So what?

What next?

The word psychology literally means the study of the mind, from psycho and logy. Psycho is from the Latin psyche for soul, mind or breath, from the Greek ψυχη and ψυχο. And logy is from logos, the Greek λογος for knowledge or discourse.

Psyche (pronounced sigh-key) was also the name given to a beautiful woman in Greek myth who fell in love with Cupid, possibly as a metaphor for love and soul, a story told in The Golden Ass by Lucius Apulius in the 2nd century AD.

Psychology, as an academic discipline, developed initially as a branch of philosophy and gradually adopted the methodology of the natural sciences, and is now usually defined as the science of mind and behaviour, or the scientific study of behaviour and experience, or similar expressions.

Some definitions of psychology

William James (1890/1981): Psychology is the science of Mental Life, both of its phenomena and of their conditions. . . .The phenomena are such things as we call feelings, desires, cognitions, reasoning, decisions and the like.

Wright et al (1970: 20, 25): Psychology is the application to human behaviour, including speech, of the observational and experimental methods of science; and its aim is to locate the antecedent conditions associated with particular forms of behaviour, and to explain these relationships through theories which may or may not take account of what are ordinarily understood as mental processes. . . . Psychology is a group of specialisms [but] the boundaries between them are far from distinct.

Atkinson and Hilgard (1990): The scientific study of behaviour and mental processes.

Richard Gross (1992): The science of mind and behaviour.

BPS: Psychology is the scientific study of people, the mind and behaviour. It is both a thriving academic discipline and a vital professional practice. (http://www.bps.org.uk, accessed June 2008, with permission).

Alec Gill: Psychology is simply common sense dressed up in quasi-scientific jargon. (http://www.hull.ac.uk/php/cetag/2apsycho.htm, accessed June 2008).

Wikipedia: Psychology is both an academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study ofmental 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 – for example 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. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology, accessed June 2008).

Pinker (1998): Psychology is engineering in reverse. In forward engineering, one designs a machine to do something; in reverse engineering, one figures out what a machine was designed to do.

The emphasis in all academic and experimental psychology is on using scientific research procedures and presenting findings for debate. See also Parts 2 and 5.

In many contexts, the term psychology also encompasses psychoanalytical, psychodynamic or depth approaches and person-centred or humanistic approaches in interpretation of art and in psychotherapy and counselling. These are based on clinical studies not experimental research, but many psychology courses include some reference to them for completeness and to open up these areas for debate.

Two things academic psychology is not:

Psychology does not include psychiatry.

Psychologists do not read minds and most do not interpret dreams as part of their professional training or practice.

Many hospital and community mental health care teams include a psychiatrist and a psychologist, together with some form of psychotherapy or counselling.

A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who specialises in diseases of the brain and mental illness and who usually has not studied psychology. The focus is on medication or surgery to treat recognised symptoms. In practice the psychiatrist is normally the consultant who leads the team.

Psychologists have followed a degree programme in psychology and post-graduate training in a particular branch of applied psychology (see Part 6). In the health care context this would be clinical, health or counselling psychology.

Psychotherapy and counselling are loosely defined terms for many different kinds of ‘talking’ or behavioural approaches to mental health or lifestyle problems and may be provided by psychiatrists, psychologists or other trained personnel.

Psychoanalysis is not normally included in health care but can be sought privately. A psychoanalyst undergoes many years of training and analysis in a particular ‘school’ such as Freudian, Jungian or Kleinian and qualifies to offer analysis (which may include dream analysis) to anyone who seeks it, whether out of interest or because of mental health problems. Psychoanalysis is not, of itself, a therapy. It is a way of exploring the unconscious mind, which may or may not have therapeutic benefit.

Psychoanalysts, psychotherapists and counsellors (apart from counselling psychologists) have not usually studied academic or experimental psychology to any extent.

If you do a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of acronyms
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• How to use this book
• Handy headings
• 1. Studying Psychology
• 2. Approaches in psychology
• 3. Key terms and concepts
• 4. Key theorists and studies
• 5. Research methods
• 6. Career pathways
• 7. Learning resources
• Index