Psychology can be described a scientific study of behavior and the mind of a person. It tries to understand the motivation behind human behavior and the thought processes associated with such behavior. It mainly focuses on cognitive processes and human behavior. Since it is a scientific discipline, it tries to investigate and analyze the causes of behavior by using procedures that are objective and systematic to observe, measure, and analyze. All these measurements are backed up by explanations and generalizations and predictions (Macleod, 2011).
A good example can be derived from the behavior adopted by most teenagers who engage in drugs or alcohol abuse. Psychologists would want to find out the motivations behind such behavior and the thought processes that are related to it. Drug and alcohol abuse in teenagers can be attributed to many factors such as peer pressure or their stage in life where they want to explore. These are the motivations behind such behavior which are observed in teenagers who are engaged in these vices. It is, therefore, possible to draw generalizations and predictions about such behavior. One can say that most teenagers who engage in alcohol and drug abuse do so because of peer pressure or because of their developmental stage in life. This is what psychology is all about. It tries to understand such behaviors and sometimes offer remedies to problems related to behavior and cognitive processes.
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One of the key concepts of psychology is the term personality. This concept refers to an individual’s unique behavior and ways of reasoning. It is a concept that that is closely related to the identity of an individual. Every person has his own identity and unique way of thinking and acting. There are different theories of how personality traits arise but key among those is habit and inborn traits. Some personality traits are acquired as a result of habit while others biological traits. These personality traits influence the way a person thinks, feels and perceives situations. It is difficult to find two individuals having the same personality traits. This is because they have different identities that make them have different motivations in whatever action they take. They perceive similar situations differently. Members of the same family do also have different personality traits even though they share some genetical compositions. There is a general feeling that some habits are as a result of genetical personality traits. It has been said that behaviors such as alcoholism and drug addiction may be related to an individual’s genetic makeup which influences his personality.
There is also the concept of motivation which is largely related to values and rewards. Psychology provides motivation theories which assume that all learned responses are as a result of some form of motivation. It is the motivation that makes individuals act. The habits and actions of individuals are controlled by their motives. A person who is always angry has to have a reason why such is the case. Maybe he was brought up cruelly and always believes that that is the way people should behave (Key Concepts, n.d).
Psychology is helpful because it can offer solutions on how human behave the way they do. It gives you the skills to properly analyze human behavior and thought processes and come up with viable solutions regarding those behaviors. It is also able to provide you with reasons on what motivates human behavior. These behaviors can be as a result of biological or environmental factors. It becomes easy to remedy problematic situations once you know the cause of the problem. Psychology helps you to find the cause of the problem and can be used to offer solutions to the various social problems found in the world today. These might be problems related to behavior, social vices and psychological problems.
References
Macleod, S. (2011). What is Psychology? Simply Psychology. Retrieved
from:https://www.simplypsychology.org/whatispsychology.html
Key Concepts (n.d). TKI. Retrieved from:
https://seniorsecondary.tki.org.nz/Social-sciences/Psychology/Key-concepts