• What is psychology?
• Origin of psychology
• Branches of psychology
• Goal of psychology
• Psychology and education

We explain what psychology is, the origin and the branches that make up this science. In addition, its objectives and its relationship with education.

Psychology seeks to understand human behavior.

What is psychology?

Psychology or psychology is a social science and an academic discipline focused on analysis and understanding the conduct human life and the mental processes experienced by individuals and social groups during certain moments and situations.

Psychology has a vast field of study, as it focuses on the human mind and experience, from various perspectives, currents and methodologies. Some of them are closer to Sciences hard and to the use of scientific method, while others do not consider it appropriate for the object of study, and prefer to build their own methods and approaches.

In this sense, this social science is interested in the processes of perception, the motivation, attention, intelligence, learning, the thought, the personality, love, consciousness and unconsciousness, but also for interpersonal relationships and for the biochemical functioning of the brain.

The professional practice of psychology, on the other hand, is usually divided between academic research, education and innovation educational, or clinical practice, that is, therapeutic work to understand and resolve various ailments of an emotional, psychological or affective nature in their patients. The latter is known as psychotherapy.

Psychology should not be confused with psychiatry. The latter is a branch of medicine that studies the biochemical behavior of the brain, without generally dealing with the emotional or experiential content of patients. Nor should it be done with psychoanalysis, which is adiscipline interpretative and therapeutic derived from Sigmund Freud's studies of the human mind.

Origin of psychology

Psychology is a relatively new science, detached from the philosophy from the 18th century, as a result of the doctrines philosophical aspects of empiricism, which began to understand the conduct human as a series of stimuli and responses determined by our biology.

Thus was born psychophysiology, the forerunner of the psychological field. With the entry of the formal sciences In the panorama of knowledge, the possibility of a psychology no longer merely theoretical, but even experimental, begins.

The first experimental psychology laboratory was founded at the University of Leipzig, Germany, in 1879. From then on, various branches of theoretical and practical exploration of the human mind would emerge, inaugurating a very vast and diverse area of ​​knowledge as it is today.

Branches of psychology

Forensic psychology tries to understand the criminal mind.

Psychology has a huge number of branches and divisions, which can be grouped into two sets according to their common characteristics, in this way:

• Basic psychology. Located as a field of knowledge between the biological of man and the social or human, it focuses on the understanding and collection of information on the basic processes of human thought. It includes the following sub-branches:
  • Cognitive psychology. Study the mental processes that allow knowledge, that is, experience. Perception, memory, the language and thought are his areas of interest.
  • Psychology of Learning. It is dedicated to the study of the processes of adaptation and more or less permanent change in the individual, that is, the way in which the human being learns.
  • Evolutionary Psychology. Study the different stages of growth and development of the human psyche throughout his life.
  • Psychopathology. The study of "abnormalities" or disorders of the psyche, from an eminently descriptive method.
  • Psychology of art. Study the phenomena of creativity, creation and artistic expression from the point of view of the human mind.
  • Psychology of personality. Try to build models of understanding of the human personality.
• Applied psychology. Also called professional psychology, it is the basic psychological knowledge put at the service of solving specific problems in society. It includes the following sub-branches:
  • Clinical psychology. She is the one that deals with patients, taking care of their mental and emotional suffering and allowing them to lead a life that is as functional as possible depending on the case.
  • Educational psychology. Focused on learning and the growth of the individual, it collaborates with the construction of habits and school environments that are more conducive to nurturing generations to come.
  • Child psychology. Along with children and adolescents, they specialize in emotional or mental problems during the early stages of human life.
  • Social psychology. It focuses on human groups and human interactions, emphasizing the importance of the environment in shaping the psyche.
  • Industrial psychology. Similar to social, but applied to various work environments and mental situations involved at work.
  • Forensic psychology. Collaborate with the Justice in the mental understanding of criminals, homicides and other extreme situations.
  • Sports psychology.He applies his knowledge to the athletic and sports field, to understand what happens there mentally and emotionally.

Goal of psychology

The general objectives of psychology can be summarized in the understanding of the processes of the human mind. This includes numerous approaches and methodologies, each with its specific objectives, with its specific approaches to what consciousness, thinking and learning are.

This understanding of the human mind pursues the possibility of, on the one hand, helping to solve the emotional and mental pathologies that afflict contemporary man, perfecting the learning tools available to them and providing clues regarding the nature of consciousness and that which distinguishes us from the animals.

Psychology and education

Psychology helps to understand the processes of learning.

Education and psychology have gone hand in hand since the invention of the latter, since it has been possible to understand much better how learning processes occur, formulate theories about it and try to build educational institutions that solve the problems of society caring for them from their germ: future generations that are still young.