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	* [http://www.psychology.org Encyclopedia of Psychology] A web site with all kinds of information about psychology.		* [http://www.psychology.org Encyclopedia of Psychology] A web site with all kinds of information about psychology.
	* [http://www.dmoz.org/Science/Social_Sciences/Psychology/ Psychology] at the Open Directory Project.		* [http://www.dmoz.org/Science/Social_Sciences/Psychology/ Psychology] at the Open Directory Project.
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	* [http://www.psychology.org Encyclopedia of Psychology] A web site with all kinds of information about psychology.		* [http://www.psychology.org Encyclopedia of Psychology] A web site with all kinds of information about psychology.
	* [http://www.dmoz.org/Science/Social_Sciences/Psychology/ Psychology] at the Open Directory Project.		* [http://www.dmoz.org/Science/Social_Sciences/Psychology/ Psychology] at the Open Directory Project.

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'''Psychology''' is the study of the [[mind]], its [[thought]], [[emotion|feeling]] and [[behaviour]]. It is an [[academic]] discipline which involves the scientific study of [[mental]] faculties, functions and [[behaviour]]s.<ref name=APA>{{cite web|title=How does the APA defin"psychology"? | url = http://www.apa.org/support/about/apa/psychology.aspx#answer | accessdate = 15 November 2011}}</ref><ref name=APA2>{{cite web|title=Definition of "psychology (APA's Index Page)" | url = http://www.apa.org/about/index.aspx | accessdate = 20 December 2011}}</ref><ref name="Fernald">Fernald L.D. 2008. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Q7p-J4-SWuQC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false ''Psychology: six perspectives''] (pp. 12–15). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.</ref><ref name="Psychology">Hockenbury & Hockenbury. 2010. ''Psychology''. Worth Publishers.</ref><ref name="O'Neil">O'Neil, H.F.; cited in Coon D. & Mitterer J.O. 2008. [https://books.google.com/books?id=vw20LEaJe10C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false ''Introduction to psychology: gateways to mind and behavior''] 12th ed, Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning, pp. 15–16.</ref>

Psychology deals mainly with [[human]]s but also sometimes with nonhuman [[animal]]s.<ref>Hamm, M., & Mitchell, R. W. (1997). The interpretation of animal psychology: anthropomorphism or behavior reading?. Behaviour, 134(3-4), 173-204.</ref><ref>Tooby, J., & Cosmides, L. (1989). Adaption versus phylogeny: The role of animal psychology in the study of human behavior. International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 2(3).</ref> Because psychology may be difficult to study as a whole, psychologists often only look at small parts of it at one time. Psychology has much in common with many other fields, and [[wikt: overlap|overlaps]] with many of them. Some of these fields are [[medicine]], [[ethology]], [[computer science]], and [[linguistics]].

In this field, a professional [[Wikt:practitioner|practitioner]] or researcher is called a [[psychologist]] and is a [[Social science|social]], [[behaviour]]al, or [[Cognitive science|cognitive scientist]]. Psychologists attempt to understand the role of mental functions in individual and social behavior. They also explore the [[Physiology|physiological]] and [[neurobiology|neurobiological]] processes which underlie cognitive functions and behaviors.

== Branches ==
Psychology has been split up into smaller parts called branches. These are subjects in psychology that try to answer a particular group of questions about how people think. Some branches of psychology that are often studied are:
* [[Abnormal psychology]] tries to work out what differences there are between people who are healthy and people who have a [[mental illness]].<ref>Rosenhan, D. L., & Seligman, M. E. (1995). Abnormal psychology. WW Norton & Co.</ref>
* [[Clinical psychology]] is about finding the best way to help people to recover from mental illness.<ref>Barker, C., Pistrang, N., & Elliott, R. (2015). Research methods in clinical psychology: An introduction for students and practitioners. John Wiley & Sons.</ref>
* [[Cognitive psychology]] looks at how people think, use language, remember and forget, and solve problems.<ref>Eysenck, M. W., & Keane, M. T. (2005). Cognitive psychology: A student's handbook. Taylor & Francis.</ref><ref>Bruning, R. H., Schraw, G. J., & Ronning, R. R. (1999). Cognitive psychology and instruction. Prentice-Hall, Inc., One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.</ref>
* [[Cross-cultural psychology]] looks at different ways of living and different views of the world.<ref>Berry, J. W., Berry, J. W., Poortinga, Y. H., Segall, M. H., & Dasen, P. R. (2002). Cross-cultural psychology: Research and applications. [[Cambridge University Press]].</ref>
* [[Developmental psychology]] is interested in how people develop and change through their lives.<ref>Shaffer, D. R., & Kipp, K. (2010). Developmental psychology: Childhood and adolescence. Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.</ref> This includes what used to be called "child psychology".<ref>Hetherington, E. M., Parke, R. D., & Locke, V. O. (1999). Child psychology: A contemporary viewpoint. McGraw-Hill.</ref>
* [[Educational or school psychology]] tests and helps students to learn and make friends.<ref>Good, T. L., & Brophy, J. E. (1990). Educational psychology: A realistic approach. Longman/Addison Wesley Longman.</ref>
* [[Evolutionary psychology]] studies how [[evolution]] may have shaped the way people think and do things.<ref>Buss, D. M. (Ed.). (2005). The handbook of evolutionary psychology. John Wiley & Sons.</ref><ref>Barrett, L., Dunbar, R., & Lycett, J. (2002). Human evolutionary psychology. Princeton University Press.</ref><ref>Buss, D. (2015). Evolutionary psychology: The new science of the mind. Psychology Press.</ref>
* [[Neuropsychology]] looks at the brain and how it works to make people the way they are.<ref>Walsh, K. W. (1978). Neuropsychology: A clinical approach. Churchill Livingstone.</ref>
* [[Motivation]]: the root causes of action
* [[Perceptual psychology]] asks questions about how people make sense of what they see and hear and how they use that information to get around.
* Personality psychology looks at different personality and how can change personality.<ref>Reis, H. T., Reis, H. T., & Judd, C. M. (Eds.). (2000). Handbook of research methods in social and personality psychology. Cambridge University Press.</ref>
* Political psychology<ref>Sniderman, P. M., Brody, R. A., & Tetlock, P. E. (1993). Reasoning and choice: Explorations in political psychology. Cambridge University Press.</ref><ref>Deutsch, M. (1983). What is Political Psychology?. International Social Science Journal, 35(2), 221-36.</ref>
* [[Social psychology]] looks into how groups of people work together and how [[society|societies]] build and work.<ref>McDougall, W. (2015). An introduction to social psychology. Psychology Press.</ref>

== Methods ==
=== Scientific approaches ===
Psychology is a type of [[science]], and research psychologists use many of the same types of methods that researchers from other natural and social sciences use.

Psychologists make [[theories]] to try to explain a behavior or pattern they see. Based on their theory they make some [[prediction]]s. They then carry out an [[experiment]] or collect other types of information that will tell them whether their predictions were right or wrong.

Some types of experiments cannot be done on people because the process would be too long, expensive, dangerous, unfair, or otherwise [[ethics|unethical]]. There are also other ways psychologists study the mind and behavior scientifically, and test their theories. Psychologists might wait for some events to happen on their own; they might look at [[pattern]]s among existing groups of people in [[natural]] environments; or they might do experiments on animals (which can be simpler and more ethical to study).

Psychology shares other things with natural sciences, as well. For example, a good psychological theory may be possible to prove wrong. Just like in any natural science, a group of psychologists can never be completely sure that their theory is the right one. If a theory can be proved wrong, but experiments do not prove it wrong, then it is more likely that the theory is accurate. This is called [[falsifiability]].

Psychologists use many tools as part of their daily work. Psychologists use surveys to ask people how they feel and what they think. They may use special devices to look at the brain and to see what it is doing. Psychologists use [[computers]] to collect [[data]] as they measure how people behave in response to pictures, words, [[symbol]]s, or other [[stimulus|stimuli]]. Psychologists also use [[statistics]] to help them analyze the data that they get from their experiments.<ref>Aron, A., & Aron, E. N. (1999). Statistics for psychology. Prentice-Hall, Inc.</ref><ref>Coolican, H. (2018). Research methods and statistics in psychology. Routledge.</ref>

=== Symbolic and subjective approaches ===
Not all psychology is scientific psychology. [[Psychodynamic psychology]] and [[depth psychology]] do things like interpreting people's [[dream]]s to understand the unconscious mind.<ref>Rulla, L. M. (1971). Depth psychology and vocation: A psycho-social perspective. Gregorian Biblical BookShop.</ref><ref>McNeely, D. A. (1987). Touching: Body therapy and depth psychology. Inner City Books.</ref> They are older approaches to psychology begun by [[Carl Jung]] who was particularly interested in finding methods for measuring what kind of personality people have.<ref>Hopcke, R. H. (2013). A guided tour of the collected works of CG Jung. Shambhala Publications.</ref>

[[Humanistic psychology]] and [[existential psychology]] also believe that it is more important to understand personal meaning than to find causes and effects of mental processes and behaviors.<ref>Schneider, K. J., Pierson, J. F., & Bugental, J. F. (Eds.). (2014). The handbook of humanistic psychology: Theory, research, and practice. Sage Publications.</ref><ref>Jacobsen, B. (2007). Invitation to existential psychology. Wiley.</ref>

== Psychologists ==
Psychologists are people who work in the field of psychology. A psychologist may work in either basic research or applied research. Basic research is the study of people or animals to learn more about them. Applied research is using what was learned from basic research to solve real-world problems. If he or she is qualified as a [[clinical psychology|clinical psychologist]] they may be a [[therapist]] or [[counsellor]] as well as a researcher.

To become a psychologist, a person must first get a basic degree at a university and then go to [[graduate school]]. A Master's degree, either MSc (Master of Science) or MA (Master of Arts) allows work such as a [[School psychology|school psychologist]]. A doctorate degree takes a longer time because it includes doing research and writing a detailed report called a dissertation or [[thesis]]. The doctoral graduate uses the initials [[PhD]] or DPhil (Doctor of Philosophy) after his or her name. Some clinical psychologists earn a Doctor of Psychology degree and use the initials PsyD after their name. The [[American Psychological Association]] says that people need a PhD (or PsyD) and a current state license in the U.S.) in order to call themselves a 'psychologist'.

The words ''psychologist'' and ''psychiatrist'' may be confused with each other. A ''[[psychiatrist]]'' has graduated from medical school and uses the initials [[MD]] or its equivalent (MB ChB in [[London University]], for example). A psychiatrist or doctor may work with a psychologist: they may prescribe and check on the effect of medications.

==Related pages==
* [[Psychiatry]]
* [[Neurology]]
* [[Parapsychology]]
* [[Neuroscience]]

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

== Other websites ==
* [http://www.psychology.org Encyclopedia of Psychology] A web site with all kinds of information about psychology.
* [http://www.dmoz.org/Science/Social_Sciences/Psychology/ Psychology] at the Open Directory Project.
* [http://psychologyaohl.com Psychology, Art of Human Life] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170723043817/http://psychologyaohl.com/ |date=2017-07-23 }}
* [http://www.in-mind.org/ In-Mind, Quarterly Magazine for Social Psychology]
* Search for the best lawyer in the UK [https://dr-sanaie.com/%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B4%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B3-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%86%DA%AF%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86/ here]
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Psychology - Revision history

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