Psychology is an academic and applied field involving the study of the human mind, brain, and behavior. Psychology also refers to the application of such knowledge to various spheres of human activity, including problems of individuals' daily lives and the treatment of mental illness.
Psychology differs from anthropology, economics, political science, and sociology in seeking to capture explanatory generalizations about the mental function and overt behaviour of individuals, while the other disciplines rely more heavily on field studies and historical methods for extracting descriptive generalizations. In practice, however, there is quite a lot of cross-fertilization that takes place among the various fields. Psychology differs from biology and neuroscience in that it is primarily concerned with the interaction of mental processes and behavior, and of the overall processes of a system, and not simply the biological or neural processes themselves, though the subfield of neuropsychology combines the study of the actual neural processes with the study of the mental effects they have subjectively produced.
The mid-20th century saw a rejection of Freud's theories among many psychologists as being too unscientific, as well as a reaction against Edward Titchener's abstract approach to the mind. This led to the formulation of behaviorism by John B. Watson, which was popularized by B.F. Skinner. Behaviorism proposed epistemologically limiting psychological study to overt behavior, since that could be quantified and easily measured. Scientific knowledge of the "mind" was considered too metaphysical, hence impossible to achieve. The final decades of the 20th century have seen the rise of a new interdisciplinary approach to studying human psychology, known collectively as cognitive science. Cognitive science again considers the "mind" as a subject for investigation, using the tools of evolutionary psychology, linguistics, computer science, philosophy, and neurobiology. This new form of investigation has proposed that a wide understanding of the human mind is possible, and that such an understanding may be applied to other research domains, such as artificial intelligence.
2006-08-12 06:35:09
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answer #1
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answered by Anonymous
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Manipulation
2006-08-15 18:31:44
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answer #2
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answered by straight pimpin 1
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Manipulation
2006-08-08 09:59:12
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answer #3
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answered by Summer Rain 3
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The only psychology appliances I can think of are maybe a tape recorder and that hypnotic spinning wheel.
2006-08-15 14:12:22
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answer #4
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answered by special-chemical-x 6
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Psychology is used to raise children, handle crowds, treat the sick, and sell merchandise.
2006-08-15 13:22:18
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answer #5
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answered by redunicorn 7
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having power over our own lives by making conscious choices vs. unconscious choices
2006-08-13 19:09:13
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answer #6
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answered by mochi.girl 3
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Listening people into what you want, instead of talking them into what you want. See Co-counseling
2006-08-15 19:02:55
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answer #7
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answered by Anonymous
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This is to complex to answer,and I'm a graduate of this.
2006-08-13 15:49:41
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answer #8
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answered by Rather be dead than red... 6
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reverse psychology sometimes works on kids. tell them they cant and they will and vice-versa.giving others advice.we use our own experiences to help.
2006-08-14 18:06:09
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answer #9
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answered by kellewinks 2
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understanding the human mind and our behaviours in society.
2006-08-15 15:15:56
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answer #10
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answered by Jase Mighty Pirate 3
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