Psychology

Psychology (Classical Greek: psyche = "soul" or "mind", logos = "study of") is an academic and applied field involving the study of behavior, mind and thought and the neurological bases of 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. It is largely concerned with humans, although the behavior and mental processes of animals can also be part of psychology research, either as a subject in its own right (e.g. animal cognition and ethology), or somewhat more controversially, as a way of gaining an insight into human psychology by means of comparison (including comparative psychology). Psychology is commonly defined as the science of behaviour and mental processes. Although its name derives from Greek "psyche", psychology does not scientifically study the soul, since no evidence exists to show such a thing exists.

Criticisms of psychology

Psychology has always been a controversial discipline. Some criticisms of psychology have been made on ethical and philosophical grounds. Some have argued that by subjecting the human mind to experimentation and statistical study, psychologists objectify persons. Because it treats human beings as things, as objects that can be examined by experiment, psychology is sometimes portrayed as dehumanizing. It has been argued that ultimately, quantitative psychological research ignores or downplays what is most essential about being human.

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Another common criticism of psychology concerns its fuzziness as a science. Since it relies on "soft" methods such as statistical analysis and questionnaires, some have said, psychology is not as scientific as it claims to be. Many believe that the mind is not amenable to quantitative scientific research, and as support for their criticism cite the vast theoretical diversity of psychology, a discipline which agrees on very little about how the mind works.

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