Here I m going to start some notes for Psychology and will add more and more with time. And I hope other Pscychologists will also join me in my efforts. I have highlighted the names and topics of great importance so a new to Psychology should have some knowledge of it.

Psychology

The study of human behavior and mental processes. Psychology is sharply divided into applied and experimental areas. However, many fields are represented in both research and applied psychology.

Researchers in psychology study a wide range of areas. Cognitive research is often included as part of subdiscipline called cognitive science. This area examines central issues such as how mental process work, the relation between mind and brain, and the way in which biological transducing systems can convert physical regularities into perceptions of the world. Cognitive science is carved from the common ground shared by computer science, cognitive psychology, philosophy of mind, linguistics, neuropsychology, and cognitive anthropology. The study of human attention is a cognitive area that is central in the field. See also Cognition.

The study of consciousness involves such basic questions as

........the physiological basis of mental activity,
........the freedom of will, and the conscious and
........unconscious uses of memory.

Social psychology includes the study of interactions between individuals and groups, as well as the effects of groups on the attitudes, opinions, and behavior of individuals. The field covers such topics as persuasion, conformity, obedience to authority, stereotyping, prejudice, and decision making in social contexts.

Developmental psychology has three subfields: life-span development, child development, and aging. Most research in the area concentrates on child development, which examines the development of abilities, personality, social relations, and, essentially, every attribute and ability seen in adults.

A clinical psychologist is usually known by the term psychologist, which in some states is a term that can be used only by a registered practitioner. A psychiatrist is a physician with a specialty in psychiatric treatment and, in most states, with certification as a psychiatrist by a board of medical examiners. A psychoanalyst is typically trained by a psychoanalytic institute in a version of the Freudian method of psychoanalysis. A large number of practitioners qualify both as psychoanalysts and psychiatrists.

Neuropsychologists are usually psychologists, who may come from an experimental or a clinical background but who must go through certification as psychologists. They treat individuals who have psychological disorders with a clear neurological etiology, such as stroke.

Clinical practice includes individual consultation with clients, group therapy, and work in clinics or with teams of health professionals. Psychological therapists work in many settings and on problems ranging from short-term crises and substance abuse, to psychosis and major disorders. While there are definite biases within each field, it is possible for a practitioner with any background to prefer behavior therapy, a humanistic approach, a Freudian (dynamic) approach, or an eclectic approach derived from these and other areas.

Nonclinical professional work in psychology includes the human-factors element, which traditionally is applied to the design of the interface between a machine and its human operator. Cognitive engineering is a branch of applied psychology that deals mainly with software and hardware computer design. Industrial psychology also includes personnel selection and management and organizational planning and consulting.

The use of psychology in forensic matters is a natural result of the fact that much of law is based on psychology. Psychologists have been involved in jury selection, organization of evidence, evaluation of eyewitness testimony, and presentation of material in court cases. Psychiatrists and psychologists are also called on to diagnose potential defendants for mental disorders and the ability to stand trial.

Development of Modern Psychology

The De anima of Aristotle is considered the first monument of psychology as such, centered around the belief that the heart was the basis for mental activity. The foundations of modern psychology were laid by 17th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who argued that scientific causes could be established for every sort of phenomenon through deductive reasoning. The mind-body theories of Rene Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, and G. W. Leibniz were equally crucial in the development of modern psychology, where the human mind's relation to the body and its actions have been significant topics of debate.

In England the empirical method employed in modern psychological study originated in the work of John Locke, George Berkeley, Thomas Reid, and David Hume. David Hartley, James Mill, John Stuart Mill, and Alexander Bain stressed the relation of physiology to psychology, an important development in the scientific techniques of modern psychology. Important contributions were made in the physiological understanding of human psychology by French philosopher Condillac, F. J. Gall, the German founder of phrenology, and French surgeon Paul Broca, who localized speech centers in the brain termed as Broca's area.

In the 19th cent., the laboratory work of Ernst Heinrich Weber, Gustave Fechner, Wilhelm Wundt, Hermann von Helmholtz, and Edward Titchener helped to establish psychology as a scientific discipline—both through the use of the scientific method of research, and in the belief that mental processes could be quantified with careful research techniques. The principle of evolution, stemming from Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection, gave rise to what became known as dynamic psychology. The new approach, presented by American psychologist William James in his Principles of Psychology (1890), looked at consciousness as an evolutionary process.

Out of the new orientation in psychology grew the clinical experiments in hysteria and hypnotism carried on by J. M. Charcot and Pierre Janet in France. Sigmund Freud, in his influential theory of the unconscious, gave a new direction to psychology and laid the groundwork for the psychoanalytic model. Freudian theory took psychology into such fields as education, anthropology, and medicine, and Freudian research methods became the foundations of clinical psychology.

The behaviorism of American psychologist John B. Watson was highly influential in the 1920s and 30s, with its suggestion that psychology should concern itself solely with sensory stimuli and behavioral reaction. Behaviorism has been important in modern psychology, particularly through the work of B. F. Skinner since the 1930s.

Equally important was the development of Gestalt psychology by German psychologists Kurt Koffka, Wolfgang Köhler, and Max Wertheimer. Gestalt theory contended that the task of psychology was to study human thought and behavior as a whole, rather than breaking it down into isolated instances of stimulus and response.

Another influential school of psychology was developed in the 1950s and 60s by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. Their humanistic theory asserts that people make rational, conscious decisions regarding their lives, and optimistically suggests that individuals tend to reach toward their greatest potential.

Modern Psychology

Modern psychology is divided into several subdisciplines, each based on differing models of behavior and mental processes. Psychologists work in a number of different settings, including universities and colleges, primary and secondary schools, government agencies, private industry, hospitals, clinics, and private practices. Recent years have seen a rise in the significance of applied psychology—as can be seen from the areas contemporary psychologists concern themselves with—with an attendant decline in the importance of psychology in academia. In the United States, clinical psychology has become a significant focus of the discipline, largely separate from psychological research. Clinical psychologists are responsible for the diagnosis and treatment of various psychological problems.

Biological models of behavior have become increasingly prominent in psychological theory, particularly with the development of various tools—such as the positron emission tomography (PET) scan—for mapping the brain. The field of neuropsychology, which studies the brain and the connected nervous system, has been an outgrowth of this contemporary focus on biological explanations of human thought and behavior. Cognitive models, derived from the Gestalt school of psychology, focus on the various thinking processes which mediate between stimuli and responses.

Educational psychology, derived from the 18th and 19th cent. educational reforms of Friedrich W. Froebel, Johann Pestalozzi, and their follower Johann Herbart, was later expanded by G. Stanley Hall and by E. L. Thorndike. It is concerned with the development of improved methods of teaching and learning.

Social psychology, developed by British psychologists William McDougall and Havelock Ellis, studies the effects of various social environments on the individual. Some other branches of the field include developmental psychology, which studies the changes in thought and behavior through the course of life; experimental psychology, which is the laboratory research involved in the understanding of the mind; and personality psychology, which deals specifically with individual personality and the processes by which it is formed.

In recent years a number of new fields of psychology have emerged. Industrial/organizational psychology, emerging from social psychology, focuses on the workplace and considers such topics as job satisfaction, leadership, and productivity. Health psychology examines how psychological factors contribute to pathology, and demonstrates how psychology can contribute to recovery and illness prevention for such somatic disorders as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. In environmental psychology, research focuses on how individuals react to their physical environments, and suggests improvements which may be beneficial to psychological health. Other new areas of psychology include counseling psychology, school psychology, forensic psychology, and community psychology.


http://www.answers.com/What%20is%20Psychology%3F

Dear Ms. Naqvi,

I worte a message to you. Don't know you received it or not. Kindly reply me. Here's the list of subjects i chose:

1. Public Administration, 2. Sociology, 3. Journalism, 4. International Relations, 5. Psychology including Experimental Psychology

My questions:
Are you also going to appear in March 2006 CSS exams.
What are your chosen subject.
As the time is very limited and its my first experience to appear in the exams and i have to get on going and start preparing.

Is this possibile to talk to you on phone, if you give me your number (you can send me your number in private message). As you are a senior member, i think you can guide me well.

Pls do reply.. hope to hear from you soon...

Regards
Viqar

FORMAL IDEAS about behaviour and mind in westren cultures besan with the classicial greek philosophers and have continued to this day as part of the fabric of psychologhy.psychologhy as a seperate area of study split away from philosophy a little over 100 years ago.THE sucess of expermintal method in the physical science encouraged some philosophers to think that mind and behvaiour could be studied with scientific methods.JAMES WUNDT AND the other psychologist of the time thaught of psychologhy as study of mind.THEY did expermients to find the law relating events in in the phiysicial world to a person mental experience of those events.THEY studied attention or the process by which we become aware of our some external events and they also did many experments in the area of imagery memory thinking and emotion.

IN THE FIRST DECOD of twentieth century psychologyist came to hold quite different views about the nature of mind and the best ways to study it.ABOUT THE SAME TIME fundamrntal questions were raised about what should be stuided in psychologhy,should psychologhy be the study of mind,should it study behaviour,aur should both mind and behaviour be included.

STRUCTURALISM
THIS EARLY school of psychologhy grew up around the ideas of WILHELM WANDUT in germany and was established atb cornell university in the united states by one of his student.THE GOAL of strusm was to find the elements units or elements which make up the mind.THEY thought as in chemistry , a first step in the study of mind should be description of the basis or elemests and unit of sensations.

GESTALT PSYCHOLOGHY

this school of psychologhy was founded in germany about 1912 by MAX WERTHEMIER AND HIS COLLEGES. THESE pioneer psychologhyist felt that structualist were wrong in thinking of the mind is being made of elements.the word gestault means''FORM'' AND they mentioned that mind should thought of as resulting from the whole pettren of sensory activity and the relationship and organization in this pattern.

FUNCTIONALISM

FUNCTIONALIST SUCH AS JHON DEWY AND HARVEY CARR, at the university of chicago proposed that psychologhy should study '' what mind and behaviour do. they were interested in the fact that mind and behaviour are adaptive they enable an individual to adjust to the changing enviorment.instead of limiting themselves to the description of and analaysis of mind they did experments on the ways in which learning memory problem solving and motivation help peoples and animals to adapt to the situation.

BEHAVIORISM

THIS SCHOOL of psychologhy orginted with jhon b watson who was for many years at jhon hopkin university.HE rejected mind as the subject of psychologhy and insisted that behaviour should be the subject of psychologhy.

PSYCHOANALYSIS

STRICTLY speaking psychoanalysis is not a school of psychologhy, but it has a great impact on the thinking of many psychologist.psychoanalysis was founded in vienna austria, by the sigmund freud.he devloped the theory of mind which tells us that much of what we do and think results from urges, or drive which seeks experission in behaviour and thought.

MODREN PERSPECTIVE

THE DISCOVERIES made by structual, gestault,and functional schools of psychologhy havew become part of general store of psychologhicial knowledege, but the schools have vanished. BEHAVIOURALISIM AND PSYCHOANALYSIS on the other hand are still in modified terms, among the current psychologhicial perspective. together with these hard survivior the new perspective which arises in the last fifty years or so give psychologhist a large variety of viewpoints to chosse from their task of describing and understanding behaviour.example of these newer view points include the biologicial,cognitive,developmental,humanistic,and social perspective.

DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE

THE developmental perspective is concerned with charasticis changes that occur in peoples as they mature.

HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE
THE human perspective emphasis on the person sense of self .

LINK INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGHY BY RICHARD A KING.

regard

__________________
''A man is not finished if he is defeated, he is finished if he quits.''

1.International Relations
2.Journalism
these are easy subjects vigar.Remember "God help those who help themselves"
Solve Past paper especially that subject you want to appear.

__________________
~It is possible to fail in many ways...while to succeed is possible only in one way.~

Sorry Viqar I havent received your message to my inbox... I have read your post in bigner's section also. Welcome you on board and Inshallah you will find the help you r looking for.

[QUOTE}Here's the list of subjects i chose:
1. Public Administration, 100
2. Sociology, 100
3. Journalism, 100
4. International Relations, 100
5.

• Psychology including Experimental Psychology

, 200[/QUOTE]

Very good selection no doubt, but if you will share your background knowledge, I mean your subjects in BA and Masters it will help me alot to add suggestions for you. You are sharing 400 marks with me, I changed Public Ad and IR at the end when form was going for submission, caz find IR bit difficult but no doubt I had no support like CSS FORUM before my first attempt. I first time visited the forum on 22nd June and registerd myself at first visit. I can help you for all these subjects. U can check my profile you will get about my scores of optionals in my first attempt CSS 2006.

1. No I m not going for CSS 2007, may go for 2008 but no surity for 2007
2. MY subjects are:
   • History of Indo Pak
   • Psychology including Experimental Psychology
   • Sociology
   • Journalism

Dont worry u have enough time to prepare the only thing is your will power. If you will make real and dedicated efforts you wil win success. Inshahallah.

Sorry I never pass my number to anyone even not in IM's u can ask for any type of help on the forum and you will find me really helpful but sorry I cant share my number with you.

Here's the reply and I have tried to answer each and ever line of your message. if something left you can ask it again.

Best Wishes and Regards.......

__________________
"When Allah leads you to the edge of the cliff, Trust Him Fully, only 1 of 2 things will happen either He will catch you when you fall or He will teach you how to fly"

THE NERVOUS SYSTEM is divied into two main parts:
A CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
A PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM

THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM consists of the brain and spinal code,which lies within the bony cases of the skull and spine.THE parts of the nervous system outside the skull and spine made up the peripheral nervous system.THE PHERPHERIAL NERVOUS SYSTEM largely consists of the nerve fibers,or axon,which carry nervous impulses from the sensory recepter of the body inward to the nervous system and carry nervous impulses for the movement of the muscles and exication of certain glands outward from the central nervous system.THE PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM has TWO DIVISION:
THE SOMANTIC NERVOUS SYSTEM
THE AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM

THE SOMANTIC NERVOUS SYSTEM motor fiber activtes the striped muscles of the body,such as those that move the arms and legs,while the sensory fiber of this system come from the major receptar organs of the body,the eyes the ears,the touch receptor,and so on.

THE AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM MOTOR FIBERS activate the smooth muscles of the body such as the stomach,cause secretion from certain glands such as the salivery gland and regulate activity in the special type of muscles found in the heart.it is thus a smooth muscles, glanduater and heart muscles system.SENSORY FIBER in the autonamic system carry information from the internal bodily organs that is perceived as pain warmth cold or pressure.THE AUTOMAMIC SYSTEM in its turn has two subdivision:
THE SYMPATHETIC SYSTEM
THE PARASYMPATHITC SYSTEM.

IN GENERAL the sympathitcs system is active in state of arousal and in streesful situation:the parasympathitics system is active in resting and quiet states.

SPINAL CODE AND BRAIN STEM,
THE SPINAL CODE AND BRAIN STEM are like a long stalk protuding from the higher part of the central nervous system the forebrain,THE BRAIN STEM consists of the three division:the medulla,the pons,and the midbrain.THE SPINAL CODE AND BRAIN STEM control and regulate bodily functions such as breathing that are necessary for life. They also begin the processing of the sensory information from the enviorment and provide pathways by which this information can be carried to the forebrain.Furthermore no movement of the body can occure witout the activation of the certain neurones,called moto neurones,in the spinal code and brain stem.The forebrain sends nerve impulses down pathways in the spinal cord and brain stem to excites the motoneurones.

CEREBELLUM
OFF TO THE back of the brain is a large complesx structure called the cereblum.This structure receive sensory and other outputs from the spinal code ,brain stem and forebrain;It process this information and then send outputs to many parts of the brain to help make our movement precise,coordinated and smooth.

RETICULAR FORMATION,
in the centre AND CORR OF THE brain stem running from medulla up to the mid brain is a compex region containing many small clumps of neurones and numbers of long and short fibers.The appeareance of this regin reminded early anatomist of this region thus this region was called the reticuller formation.The fibers and nerve cells of the reticuler formation concernend with corticial arousal are therefore known as the ascending reticuller activating system.

NEURONES
NERVOUS CELLS OR NEURONS are the information carriers of the nervous system. neurones came in many sizes and shapes,but they have certain features in common.Each has a cell body that contain the machinery to keep the nervous cell alive,and each has two types of fiber ,DENDRITES AND AXON
The dendrites are usually relatively short and have many branches,which receive stimulation from other neurones.THE axon on the other hand is often quiet long and its function is to conduct nerve impulses to other neurones or to musles and glands.SInce the dendrites and axon receive information that is then conducted along the axon.
NERVES IMPULSES
BY USING FINE WIRES OR or fluid filled glass tubes known as microelectrode,neurophysiologists have shown that nerves impulses are electrical events of very short duration that move along the axon.AS the electrical activity moving along the axon reaches and passes the microelectrodes The recording device receiving a quick sharp,electricial pulses this is the nerve impulse because it is brief and sharp,it is called the spike.when the neurone is resting and not conducting anerve impulse the inside of the cell has negative charge.A stimul which exicts the cell will make the inside charge a little less negative.
FOREBRAIN: THALAMUS
JUST ABOVE THE mid brain forming akind of expanded bulb on top of the brain stem, is the region of the forebrain known as thelamus. THE thelamus lies between the two cerabul hempashire and is covered by them.FOR this reason it cannot be seen from outside, and brain must be cut open to show it.THE talalmus contain many grouping of the nerve cell called nucles.SOME of these nucles received input from the seeing and heering and pressure pain temparture body position and tastes senses;
FOREBRAIN HYPOTHALAMUS AND PITUITARY GLAND:
LYING BELOW THE thalamus is the small vital area of the brain known as the hypothalamus.ITS importance to psycologhist is that it contain nucles and fiber tracts whioch are related to the motivation behaviour of biologhicial sort.SO HYPOTHALAMUS is playing vital role inthe regulation of the eternal enviorment of the body.THE term internal enviorment refers to the condition inside the body. especially the chemicial compasition of the blood and other fluid that bath body cells.BLOD temparture,the concentration of salt in the blood and the concentration of the chemical messenger called harmones and other chemicial in the body are monitiored and sensed by different specialized neurones in the hypothalamus.THE hypothalamus also receive report about the state of the internal enviorment from other bodily organ.THE nerves system is linked to the glandular system of the body by the connection between the hypothalamus and the pituatry gland.
FOREBRAIN;CEREBLUM
MOST OF WHAT WE SEE when we look at the brain is the outside of the large structure known as the cereblum.THE human cerebum waight about 1,400 grams.THE cerebulm is divided into two cereblu hempashire,one on each side of the head,by adeep cleft and fissure called the lognitidual fissure. each hempashire is covered by the cerebul cortex,a sheet of neurone averging aboutb one and half millimetersin thickness and contaning billion of neurones.AS you look out side the cereblum the cerebul cortex look likes rumpled piece of cloth with many ridges and valleys,ABOUT two third of the cerebal cortex is in the sulci and fissure of the brain and thus cannot be seen when we look at the brain.
FOREBRAIN LIMBIC SYSTEM
SOME OF THE nules of the thalamus and hypothalamus and cerebum are interconnected to form the kind of ring and border around the lower portion of the forebrain.this group of structure is known as the limbic system.

regards

__________________
''A man is not finished if he is defeated, he is finished if he quits.''

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 word psychology comes from the ancient Greek ψυχή, psyche ("soul", "mind") and logy, study).
History

Rudolph Goclenius, a German scholastic philosopher, is credited with inventing the term 'psychology' (1590). The root of the word psychology (psyche) means "soul" in Greek, and psychology was sometimes considered a study of the soul (in a religious sense of this term). Psychology as a medical discipline can be seen in Thomas Willis' reference to psychology (the "Doctrine of the Soul") in terms of brain function, as part of his 1672anatomical treatise "De Anima Brutorum" ("Two Discourses on the Souls of Brutes").

Until about the end of the 19th century, psychology was regarded as a branch of philosophy.

In 1879Wilhelm Wundt founded a laboratory at the Leipzig University in Germany specifically to focus on the study of psychology. William James later published his 1890 book, Principles of Psychology which laid many of the foundations for the sorts of questions that psychologists would focus on for years to come. Other important early contributors to the field include Hermann Ebbinghaus (a pioneer in studies on memory) and the RussianIvan Pavlov (who discovered the learning process of classical conditioning).

Meanwhile, Sigmund Freud, who was trained as a neurologist and had no formal training in experimental psychology, had invented and applied a method of psychotherapy known as psychoanalysis. Freud's understanding of the mind was largely based on interpretive methods and introspection, but was particularly focused on resolving mental distress and psychopathology. Freud's theories were wildly successful, not least because they aimed to be of practical benefit to individual patients, but also because they tackled subjects such as sexuality and repression as general aspects of psychological development. These were largely considered taboo subjects at the time, and Freud provided a catalyst for them to be openly discussed in polite society. Although it has become fashionable to discredit many of Freud's more outlandish theories, his application of psychology to clinical work and his more mainstream work has been massively influential.

Partly as a reaction to the subjective and introspective nature of psychology at the time, behaviourism began to become popular as a guiding psychological theory. Championed by psychologists such as John B. Watson, Edward Thorndike, and B.F. Skinner, behaviorists argued that psychology should be a science of behaviour, not the mind, they rejected the idea that internal mental states such as beliefs, desires, or goals, could be studied scientifically. In his paper "Psychology as the Behaviourist Views It" (1913), Watson argued that psychology "is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science", "introspection forms no essential part of its methods" and "The behaviourist recognizes no dividing line between man and brute".

Behaviourism was the dominant model in psychology for much of the early 20th century, largely due to the creation and successful application (not least of which in advertising) of conditioning theories as scientific models of human behaviour.
However, it became increasingly clear that although behaviourism had made some important discoveries, it was deficient as a guiding theory of human behaviour. Noam Chomsky's review of Skinner's book Verbal Behavior (that aimed to explain language acquisition in a behaviourist framework) is considered one of the major factors in the ending of behaviourism's reign. Chomsky demonstrated that language could not purely be learnt from conditioning, as people could produce sentences unique in structure and meaning that couldn't possibly be generated solely through experience of natural language, implying that there must be internal states of mind that behaviourism rejected as illusory. Similarly, work by Albert Bandura showed that children could learn by social observation, without any change in overt behaviour, and so must be accounted for by internal representations.

Humanistic psychology emerged in the 1950s and has continued as a reaction to positivist and scientific approaches to the mind. It stresses a phenomenological view of human experience and seeks to understand human beings and their behaviour by conducting qualitative research. The humanistic approach has its roots in existentialist and phenomenological philosophy and many humanist psychologists completely reject a scientific approach, arguing that trying to turn human experience into measurements strips it of all meaning and relevance to lived existence.

Some of the founding theorists behind this school of thought were Abraham Maslow who formulated a hierarchy of human needs, Carl Rogers who created and developed client-centred therapy, and Fritz Perls who helped create and develop Gestalt therapy.

The rise of computer technology also promoted the metaphor of mental function as information processing. This, combined with a scientific approach to studying the mind, as well as a belief in internal mental states, led to the rise of cognitivism as the dominant model of the mind.

Links between brain and nervous system function were also becoming common, partly due to the experimental work of people like Charles Sherrington and Donald Hebb, and partly due to studies of people with brain injury (see cognitive neuropsychology). With the development of technologies for accurately measuring brain function, neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience have become some of the most active areas in contemporary psychology.

With the increasing involvement of other disciplines (such as philosophy, computer science and neuroscience) in the quest to understand the mind, the umbrella discipline of cognitive science has been created as a means of focusing such efforts in a constructive way.

However, many psychologists have not been happy with what they perceive as 'mechanical' models of the mind and human nature. Coming full circle, Transpersonal psychology and the Analytical Psychology of Carl Jung seek to return psychology to its spiritual roots. Others, such as Serge Moscovici and Gerard Duveen, argue that behaviour and thought are essentially social in nature and seek to embed psychology in a broader social scientific study that incorporates the social meaning of experience and behaviour.
Principles

Mind and brain

Psychology describes and attempts to explain consciousness, behavior and social interaction. Empirical psychology is primarily devoted to describing human experience and behaviour as it actually occurs. In the past 20 years or so psychology has begun to examine the relationship between consciousness and the brain or nervous system. It is still not clear in what ways these interact: does consciousness determine brain states or do brain states determine consciousness - or are both going on in various ways - or is consciousness some sort of complicated 'illusion' which bears no direct relationship to neural processes? An understanding of brain function is increasingly being included in psychological theory and practice, particularly in areas such as artificial intelligence, neuropsychology, and cognitive neuroscience.

Schools of thought

Various schools of thought have argued for a particular model to be used as a guiding theory by which all, or the majority, of human behavior can be explained. The popularity of these has waxed and waned over time. Some psychologists may think of themselves as adherents to a particular school of thought and reject the others, although most consider each as an approach to understanding the mind, and not necessarily as mutually exclusive theories.
Scope of psychology

Psychology is an extremely broad field, encompassing many different approaches to the study of mental processes and behavior. Below are the major areas of inquiry that comprise psychology. A comprehensive list of the sub-fields and areas within psychology can be found at the list of psychological topics and list of psychology disciplines.
Research psychology

Research psychology encompasses the study of behavior for use in academic settings, and contains numerous areas. It contains the areas of abnormal psychology, biological psychology, cognitive psychology, comparative psychology, developmental psychology, personality psychology, social psychology and others. Research psychology is contrasted with applied psychology.
Abnormal psychology

Abnormal psychology is the study of abnormal psychological behavior in order to describe, predict, explain, and change abnormal patterns of functioning. Abnormal psychology studies the nature of psychopathology and its causes, and this knowledge is applied to treating patients with psychological disorders in clinical psychology.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association, is the handbook used most often in diagnosing mental disorders in the United States.The current version of the book is known as DSM IV-TR. It lists a set of disorders and provides detailed descriptions on what constitutes a disorder, such as Major Depression or Anxiety Disorder.
Biological psychology

is the scientific study of the biological bases of behavior and mental states. Because all behavior is controlled by the central nervous system, it is sensible to study how the brain functions in order to understand behavior. This is the approach taken in behavioral neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, and neuropsychology. Neuropsychology is the branch of psychology that aims to understand how the structure and function of the brain relate to specific behavioral and psychological processes. Often neuropsychologists are employed as scientists to advance scientific or medical knowledge. Neuropsychology is particularly concerned with the understanding of brain injury in an attempt to work out normal psychological function.

The approach of cognitive neuroscience to studying the link between brain and behavior is to use neuroimaging tools, such as fMRI, to observe which areas of the brain are active during a particular task.
Cognitive psychology

The nature of thought is another core interest in psychology. Cognitive psychology studies cognition, the mental processes underlying behavior. It uses information processing as a framework for understanding the mind. Perception, learning, problem solving, memory, attention, language and emotion are all well researched areas. Cognitive psychology is associated with a school of thought known as cognitivism, whose adherents argue for an information processing model of mental function, informed by positivism and experimental psychology.
Cognitive science is very closely related to cognitive psychology, but differs in some of the research methods used, and has a slightly greater emphasis on explaining mental phenomena in terms of both behavior and neural processing.
Both areas use computational models to simulate phenomena of interest. Because mental events cannot directly be observed, computational models provide a tool for studying the functional organization of the mind. Such models give cognitive psychologists a way to study the "software" of mental processes independent of the "hardware" it runs on, be it the brain or a computer.
Comparative psychology

Comparative psychology refers to the study of the behavior and mental life of animals other than human beings. It is related to disciplines outside of psychology that study animal behavior, such as ethology. Although the field of psychology is primarily concerned with humans, the behavior and mental processes of animals is also an important part of psychological research, either as a subject in its own right (e.g., animal cognition and ethology), or with strong emphasis about evolutionary links, and somewhat more controversially, as a way of gaining an insight into human psychology by means of comparison or via animal models of emotional and behavior systems as seen in neuroscience of psychology (e.g., affective neuroscience and social neuroscience).
Developmental psychology

Mainly focusing on the development of the human mind through the life span, developmental psychology seeks to understand how people come to perceive, understand, and act within the world and how these processes change as they age. This may focus on intellectual, cognitive, neural, social, or moral development. Researchers who study children use a number of unique research methods to make observations in natural settings or to engage them in experimental tasks. Such tasks often resemble specially designed games and activities that are both enjoyable for the child and scientifically useful, and researchers have even devised clever methods to study the mental processes of small infants. In addition to studying children, developmental psychologists also study aging and processes throughout the life span, especially at other times of rapid change (such as adolescence and old age). Urie Bronfenbrenner's theory of development in context (The Ecology of Human Development - ISBN 0-674-22456-6) is influential in this field, as are those mentioned in "Educational psychology" immediately below, as well as many others. Developmental psychologists draw on the full range of theorists in scientific psychology to inform their research.
Personality psychology

Personality psychology studies enduring psychological patterns of behavior, thought and emotion, commonly called an individual's personality. Theories of personality vary between different psychological schools. Trait theories attempts to break personality down into a number of traits, by use of factor analysis. The number of traits have varied between theories. One of the first, and smallest, models was that of Hans Eysenck, which had three dimensions: extraversion—introversion, neuroticism—emotional stability, and psychoticism. Raymond Cattell proposed a theory of 16 personality factors. The theory that has most empirical evidence behind it today may be the "Big Five" theory, proposed by Lewis Goldberg and others.

A different, but well known, approach to personality is that of Sigmund Freud, whose structural theory of personality divided personality into the ego, superego, and id. Freud's theory of personality has been criticized by many, including many mainstream psychologists.
Social psychology

Social psychology is the study of the nature and causes of human social behavior, with an emphasis on how people think towards each other and how they relate to each other. Social Psychology aims to understand how we make sense of social situations. For example, this could involve the influence of others on an individual's behavior (e.g., conformity or persuasion), the perception and understanding of social cues, or the formation of attitudes or stereotypes about other people. Social cognition is a common approach and involves a mostly cognitive and scientific approach to understanding social behavior.

A related area is community psychology, which examines psychological and mental health issues on the level of the community rather than using the individual as the unit of measurement. "Sense of community" has become its conceptual center (Sarason, 1986; Chavis & Pretty, 1999).
Applied psychology

Applied psychology encompasses both psychological research that is designed to help individuals overcome practical problems and the application of this research in applied settings. Much of applied psychology research is utilized in other fields, such as business management, product design, ergonomics, nutrition, and clinical medicine. Applied psychology includes the areas of clinical psychology, industrial and organizational psychology, human factors, forensic psychology, health psychology, school psychology and others.
Clinical psychology

Clinical psychology is the application of abnormal psychology research to the understanding, treatment, and assessment of psychopathology, including behavioral and mental health issues. It has traditionally been associated with counseling and psychotherapy, although modern clinical psychology may take an eclectic approach, including a number of therapeutic approaches. Typically, although working with many of the same clients as psychiatrists, clinical psychologists do not prescribe psychiatric drugs. Some clinical psychologists may focus on the clinical management of patients with brain injury. This area is known as clinical neuropsychology.

In recent years and particularly in the United States, a major split has been developing between academic research psychologists in universities and some branches of clinical psychology. Many research psychologists believe that many contemporary clinicians use therapies based on discredited theories and unsupported by empirical evidence of their effectiveness. From the other side, these clinicians believe that the research psychologists are ignoring their experience in dealing with actual patients. The disagreement resulted in the formation of the Association for Psychological Science by the research psychologists as a new body distinct from the American Psychological Association.

The majority of work performed by clinical psychologists tends to be done inside a Cognitive-Behaviorial therapy (CBT) framework. CBT is an umbrella term that refers to a number of therapies which focus on changing cognitions and/or behaviors, rather than changing behavior exclusively, or discovering the unconscious causes of psychopatholgy (as in the psychodynamic school). The two most famous CBT therapies are Aaron T. Beck's cognitive therapy and Albert Ellis's rational emotive behaviour therapy (with cognitive therapy being, by far, the most extensively studied therapy in contemporary clinical psychology).
Counseling psychology

Counseling psychology as a psychological specialty facilitates personal and interpersonal functioning across the life span with a focus on emotional, social, vocational, educational, health-related, developmental, and organizational concerns. Counseling psychology differes from clinical psychology in that it is focused more on normal developmental issues and everyday stress as opposed to severe mental disorders. Counseling psychologists are employed in a variety of settings, including universities, private practice, businesses, and community mental health centers.
Educational psychology

Educational psychology is the study of how humans learn in educational settings, the effectiveness of educational interventions, the psychology of teaching, and the social psychology of schools as organizations. The work of child psychologists such as Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget and Jerome Bruner has been influential in creating teaching methods and educational practices.
Forensic psychology

Forensic psychology is the area concerned with the application of psychological methods and principles to the legal arena. Most typically, forensic psychology involves a clinical analysis of a particular individual and an assessment of some specific psycho-legal question. Typically, referrals to forensic practices constitute assessments for individuals that have ostensibly suffered neurologic insult(s). These patients have sought legal recourse, and the job of the forensic psychologist is to demonstrate that there is or is not (depending on their employ by either the prosecution or defense) a cause-and-effect relation between the accident and the subsequent (again, ostensible) neurologic change. A job required of the forensic psychologist in any case is the detection of malingering, although this is not exclusive to forensics. Malingering, or the detection of 'faking' (this term is used somewhat liberally) is particularly germane to a forensic assessment, for obvious reasons. In addition to such applied practices, it also includes academic or empirical research on topics involving the relationship of law to human mental processes and behavior (see also legal psychology).
Health psychology

Health psychology is the application of psychological theory and research to health, illness and health care. Whereas clinical psychology focuses on mental health and neurological illness, health psychology is concerned with the psychology of a much wider range of health-related behavior including healthy eating, the doctor-patient relationship, a patient's understanding of health information, and beliefs about illness. Health psychologists may be involved in public health campaigns, examining the impact of illness or health policy on quality of life or in research into the psychological impact of health and social care.
Human factors psychology

Human factors psychology is the study of how cognitive and psychological processes affect our interaction with tools and objects in the environment. The goal of research in human factors psychology is to better design objects by taking into account the limitations and biases of human mental processes and behavior.
Industrial and organizational psychology

Industrial and organizational psychology focuses to varying degrees on the psychology of the workforce, customer, and consumer, including issues such as the psychology of:

• recruitment, selection and training;
• job performance and appraisal of performance;
• job satisfaction;
• factors of motivation including pay and working conditions;
• change management;
• work behavior;
• stress at work;
• leadership; and
• management.

Applications of industrial psychology include improving human performance and satisfaction in the workplace, as well as the improvement of organizational performance. The primary purpose of industrial psychologists is integration of psychometric research into applications that achieve these ends. (Bradberry and Greaves, 2005)
School psychology

School psychology is the area of discipline in order to help children and youth succeed academically, socially, and emotionally. School psychologists collaborate with educators, parents, and other professionals to create safe, healthy, and supportive learning environments for all students that strengthen connections between home and school (NASPonline.com, 2006).
Research methods

Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt was a German psychologist, generally acknowledged as a founder of experimental psychology.

Research in psychology is conducted in broad accord with the standards of scientific method, encompassing both qualitativeethological and quantitative statistical modalities to generate and evaluate explanatoryhypotheses with regard to psychological phenomena. Where research ethics and the state of development in a given research domain permits, investigation may be pursued by experimental protocols. Psychology tends to be eclectic, drawing on scientific knowledge from other fields to help explain and understand psychological phenomena. Qualitative psychological research utilizes a broad spectrum of observational methods, including action research, ethography, ethnography, exploratory statistics, structured and unstructuredinterviews, and participant observation, to enable the gathering of rich information unattainable by classical experimentation. Research in humanistic psychology is more typically pursued by ethnographic, historical, and historiographic methods.

The testing of different aspects of psychological function is a significant area of contemporary psychology. Psychometric and statistical methods predominate, including various well-known standardised tests as well as those created ad hoc as the situation or experiment requires.

Academic psychologists may focus purely on research and psychological theory, aiming to further psychological understanding in a particular area, while other psychologists may work in applied psychology to deploy such knowledge for immediate and practical benefit. However, these approaches are not mutually exclusive and most psychologists will be involved in both researching and applying psychology at some point during their work. Clinical psychology, among many of the various discipline of psychology, aims at developing in practicing psychologists knowledge of and experience with research and experimental methods which they will continue to build up as well as employ as they treat individuals with psychological issues or use psychology to help others.

When an area of interest requires specific training and specialist knowledge, especially in applied areas, psychological associations normally establish a governing body to manage training requirements. Similarly, requirements may be laid down for university degrees in psychology, so that students acquire an adequate knowledge in a number of areas. Additionally, areas of practical psychology, where psychologists offer treatment to others, may require that psychologists be licensed by government regulatory bodies as well.


Controlled experiments

B.F. Skinner was an American psychologist and pioneer of experimental psychology and behaviorism.
The majority of psychological research is conducted in the laboratory under controlled conditons. This method of research relies completely on the scientific method to determine the basis of behavior. Common measurements of behavior include reaction time and various psychometric measurements. Experiments are conducted to test a particular hypothesis.

As an example of a psychological experiment, one may want to test people's perception of different tones. Specifically, one could ask the following question: is it easier for people to discriminate one pair of tones from another depending upon their frequency? To answer this, one would want to disprove the hypothesis that all tones are equally discriminable, regardless of their frequency. (See hypothesis testing for an explanation of why one would disprove a hypothesis rather than attempt to prove one.) A task to test this hypothesis would have a participant seated in a room listening to a series of tones. If the participant would make one indication (by pressing a button, for example) if they thought the tones were two different sounds, and another indication if they thought they were the same sound. The proportion of correct responses would be the measurement used to describe whether or not all the tones were equally discriminable. The result of this particular experiment would probably indicate better discrimination of certain tones based on the human threshold of hearing.

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["Satisfaction is death of Struggle"]
[Naseer Ahmed Chandio]

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i have bought "Mass Communication Theory & Practice by Prof. Dr. M. A. Hijazi and Prof. G. M. Naqqash". what u think about this book.

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