Introduction

Why do I fall in love? What is consciousness? Why do people continue to smoke, even thought they know it is bad for them? How do I remember things? What is the purpose of sleep? Where does aggression come from? What determines my personality? Why is the sky blue and the grass green and this apple red? How does the brain work?

The questions in this series may appear to have nothing in common, except that they are all pondered, at one time or another, by curious people. But, in fact, they do have something in common, because they are all questions dealt with in the field of psychology. If you are not yet excited to study psychology, you probably did not realize the wide variety of intriguing questions for which psychology provides insights.

It is also possible that you are not even sure what psychology is all about. It is one of those things that most people know exists, but have a hard time defining clearly. Psychology is the scientific inquiry into many aspects of the human mind and experience. These aspects include sensation, perception, consciousness, thought and intelligence, emotions and motivation, personality, and interaction with other individuals and society. When we say "human experience," this includes behavior, which is extremely important for psychologists to study not only in its own right, but also because observation of behavior is one of the main ways to study aspects of the mind, which cannot be studied directly. In fact, behavior is so important that psychology is sometimes described as the study of behavior.

Psychology can also be defined in terms of its objectives. Professionals and students in the field seek to describe and explain behavior, predict it, and improve the quality of human life (Zimbardo & Gerrig, 1999, p. 5).

As we hinted with the series of questions above, psychology is extremely interdisciplinary in nature. It originated as a combination of two disciplines, philosophy and physiology, and has extended its influence to many others. One branch of psychology, social psychology, overlaps with sociology; the study of cross-cultural psychology overlaps with anthropology; and biological psychology overlaps with biology. Applications of psychology have been made in numerous fields, including business, law, medicine, and even, computer science.

One of the great things about psychology is that it is not isolated in a world of abstraction. It is very practical -- after all, one of the main goals of psychology is to improve the human experience. The study of sleep can help people improve their sleep, the study of learning can help people improve education, the study of the personality and the brain can help people with mental disorders, the study of aggression can help people reduce this undesirable tendency, and so on. You will also find that many personal questions can be answered by psychology, and the concepts you learn will be frequently illustrated in your daily life. What could be more practical than that?

Psychology tackles many questions that are obviously difficult to answer -- How does the brain work? -- and others that are seemingly simple, but actually just as perplexing -- Why do we sleep? The complicated nature of the issues involved in psychology results in many questions left unanswered. Other questions that have answers need more complete answers or new answers altogether. And, other questions have many different answers, all arguably correct! Consequently, the answers in psychology -- and the questions -- are constantly changing. Additionally, psychology is a relatively new academic discipline -- only a little more than one hundred years old -- which is another reason that there is much in this field to be refined, redefined, and discovered. Psychology is truly one of the most dynamic subjects you can study.

You should now be ready to begin your quest into this complicated, ambitious, interdisciplinary, practical, and dynamic academic discipline. A good way to begin would be to read about the History of Psychology or basic Research Methods in psychology, or you could jump right into the first lessons on Biology and Behavior.