Psychology

    Psychology is the ongoing battle between scientists and its subjects which attempt to understand the brain and how it works. As the fourth edition of The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language states, psychology is “the science that deals with mental processes and behavior” or “the emotional and behavioral characteristics of an individual, group, or activity”. Psychological theories such as cognitive, behavioral, developmental, humanist, and so forth are some of the most common ideas which try to explain why people do the things they do. However the truth is, no one really knows why anyone makes the decisions they make. For example, let us say a little boy named Billy decided to kick his soccer ball through his grandma’s window. Some psychologists would claim that his subconscious instructed him to do so as a result of some anger he had toward his grandmother at some point. Others might say the act was caused by an incident when he had seen someone else kick a ball through a window. The reasons behind the act could be anything and the only person who has the possibility of truthfully knowing would be the little boy. Since I was a child psychology has always interested me for that very reason. I have always loved to take a look at the people around me and wonder why they talked the way they talked or walked the way the walked. Sometimes I would even enjoy making up stories about them and imagine how their lives might be. I am sure the reason why it always fascinated me so much was because I knew it would be impossible to ever really know, to every extent, and in all its nature—but I still wanted to try anyway.

    Understanding psychology is an important part of our society. We use it to understand why criminals commit crimes or what makes children attracted to other children. Understanding the psychology of a person to the best of our ability allows us to fix the problems of a person. After the information is attained, “psychology can be used in daily life for various purposes and helps us to know how a person will act and react in different situations. This knowledge in turn helps us manage and create various responses from various people at different times” (Associated Content 2008). When we understand how and why someone will react to a situation it becomes much easier to prevent the unfavorable reactions of a person. For instance, if a person has a bad temper a psychologist can help that person control their emotions if the psychologist knows enough background information on the person. A psychologist can help an angry person learn how to express their emotions in other ways that do not create such an unpleasant environment. An example would be learning how to stay calm and learn how to “express feelings of anger in an assertive [way]” (American Psychological Association 2008). Even if not all aspects of the mental process can be explained, enough is known to be able to help psychologists teach people how improve their lives.

    The study of how the brain works can even be used for people outside the world of psychoanalysts’. Psychology can also be used to determine what type of television shows children are interested in or which age group will be attracted to the next big technological advancement. In everyday life people can even use psychology to help them get motivated to start something new, communicate more effectively, improve memory and so on. Kendra Van Wagner, an active author of articles, states that psychology can be used to be more productive by “avoid multitasking when working on complex tasks, focus on the task at hand, and eliminate distractions” (About). This is quite true as I know from my own experience. For example, if I do happen to multitask while doing something more important, I tend to take twice as long as I would have if I were just working on one task. It is interesting how our brains work in such mysterious ways. We are capable of doing so many other tasks, yet the moment we try and do two things simultaneously it never works out. Furthermore, psychology has even found a way to make smiles more attractive, more trustworthy, and less dominant. A psychology study found that a longer smile is more authentic and flirtatious than a shorter one and also proved that “head tilting increased attractiveness and trustworthiness but only if the head was tilted in the right direction” (PsyBlog 2007).