Psychology

Psychology

Noun · /saɪˈkɒlədʒi/ · the scientific study of the human mind and behaviour

Definition

Psychology is the systematic scientific study of the mind, behaviour, and mental processes — how people think, feel, perceive, learn, remember, and interact with the world around them. It sits at the intersection of biology and philosophy, drawing on neuroscience, sociology, and statistics to explain why human beings behave as they do. Psychology covers both normal and disordered experience, from learning and memory to anxiety and personality.

Origin

From Greek psyche — soul or mind — and logos — study or reason. The word was used in Latin-influenced academic writing as early as the 16th century. It entered common English use in the 19th century when the field separated from philosophy and declared itself an experimental science. Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig in 1879 — the moment most historians mark as the birth of modern psychology.