Introduction to Psychology

Psychology is defined as the study of individual human behavior and their mental processes. It is the scientific study of human nature and how we respond to external situations using our mental abilities. Psychologists attempt to understand how people (or in some cases animals) behave under specific circumstances through research and experiments. This information is then used to help predict and control behavior.

Human behavior or questions as to how the mind works was originally studied under the science of philosophy or physiology. The philosophers, Plato, and Aristotle defined two different views that still make an impact on modern thinking. The first, the nativist view traced to Plato, held that people were born with mental structures that limited or dictated how they were to experience the world. The second, the empiricist view traced to Aristotle, held that people were born with a blank mind that was programmed as they experienced life.

In 1879, Wilhelm Wundt, a physiologist, founded the first laboratory dedicated to experimental psychology in Leipzig, Germany. Research laboratories were later opened throughout North America, starting with the first at Johns Hopkins University in 1883. These lay the groundwork of psychology and led to its evolution from mere philosophy into its own scientific discipline. Debates on what methodology to apply to research and results arose as the field developed in and out of the laboratory. It evolved from the original structural and functional theories to seven perspective models that are applied today across the field of psychology.

The goal of psychological measurements is to come to conclusions that are both reliable and valid. Each study must be able to be replicated under the same controlled conditions. Therefore reliability is of utmost importance when it comes to psychological research. A particular measure is considered reliable if when repeated it yields the same or