What is Psychology?

Definitions tell us that it is the study of ‘mind and behaviour’ (APA definition) or of ‘behaviour and cognitive process’ (Baron) but this does not tell the lay person much and rather feels confusing. After all, one may ask, all behaviour emerges from the ‘mind’ or ‘cognitive process’ and why can we not just say the ‘study of mind’?To understand, we live in a world which is full of behaviour; we see it all around us every day. Human behaviour, animal behaviour, behaviour of nature in the form of climate, weather, earthquakes, storms, tornadoes etc. are a few examples of behaviour. How plants and crops react to external stimuli like weather conditions or specific fertilizers is also plant behaviour.

This behaviour is a subject of study because it affects us. The behaviour of the earth is studied by geologists, the behaviour of climate by climatologists, the behaviour of crops by agriculturists in a scientific manner so that we are able to understand, predict and maybe even control this behaviour. Similarly the behaviour of human beings and other animals is the subject of study for psychologists. We all are affected by human behaviour every day. What other people surrounding us do, affects us beneficially or unpleasantly. Some of their behaviours, we find ourselves capable of predicting and even controlling to an extent, for instance we know that at most times, pleasant and polite behaviour will attract politeness in return. Sometimes, however, we are taken aback and surprised by behaviour that is unexpected and may even seem irrational. Psychology is a branch of science which studies this behaviour and leads to greater understanding of the predictable as well as the seemingly irrational parts of human behaviour. Of course it seems irrational because most of us have not trained ourselves to understand behaviour.We also live in a world of our own feelings, thoughts, emotions, memories and desires. This may be called the world of our own private experience, our mind or our cognitive process. As we begin to observe ourselves, we find that here also, many occurrences are predictable, some may surprise you and some may even seem irrational to you. This is the second aspect of the study of psychology.Thirdly, we study the relationship between the first two, which may seem inherent to their study, but deserves to be mentioned separately. The connection between the internal workings of the human mind and his outward behaviour is quite complex. Our behaviour may express our emotions or it may express quite the opposite of what we actually feel, either consciously or sometimes even unconsciously so. Psychologists study the connections between behaviour and private experience and offer better comprehension of these inconsistencies. It must be remembered though that no one can learn about psychology in day or a week. Improving your understanding of human behaviour and experience involves hard work. There can be no instant realisation or eureka here. It can be accomplished just like any other skill is improved, by constant and disciplined practice.