Psychology
lastmod 2014-09-01created 2014-09-011 edits
Psychology, or psychological science, is the discipline that studies the human mind and behavior "scientifically".
Human behavior can be understood through animal behavior because there is thought to be some degree of similarity between the minds of animals and humans, which stems from their evolutionary similarity. The field of comparative psychology is particularly interested in this kind of research. Because the range of subjects psychology deals with is very broad, defining psychology in a single phrase is not simple. Many psychologists see the scientific methodology as what binds the many fields of psychology under the single name "psychology", and this serves as the criterion that distinguishes mainstream psychology from folk psychology and pseudo-psychology.
By research area, psychology is divided into theoretical fields such as physiological psychology, cognitive psychology, perceptual psychology, developmental psychology, personality psychology, social psychology, emotion psychology, and psychometrics, and various applied psychology fields such as clinical psychology, educational psychology, industrial psychology, organizational psychology, criminal psychology, and leisure psychology. Psychological associations have 12 divisions excluding the main body in Korea, and 54 divisions excluding the main body in the United States.