The present age is the age of modern science. Science is advancing by aceing nature. Science has given us beautiful and acceptable explanations of things in nature that were once so mysterious to us. We look to science to solve our daily problems. And depending on the diversity of our problems, some well-established branches of science have also developed. Among these, the last well-established branch of science is called psychology. Just as physics studies the movement of nature, chemistry studies the interactions of various elements, and biology studies physiology, psychology studies human and animal behavior and mental processes.
But many people have misconceptions about psychology. According to them, psychology works only with the mind and psychologists can tell people’s mind by looking at their faces. They may not know due to lack of knowledge that psychology does not make assumptions. Like other branches of science, it is a science of experiment and research through sufficient data. The English equivalent of psychology is psychology. The word psychology is derived from the Greek words psyche and logos. Psyche means soul and logos means knowledge.
Here the proper nomenclature of psychology implies that it is an observational science of the various impulses arising from the soul, which we call behavior in common parlance, in relation to the surrounding phenomena.
Although it is now a well-established branch of science, prior to the nineteenth century all studies of the mind included philosophy. Philosophers only speculated about mental behavior or activity. The mind was first explained by the Greek philosopher Plato. He considered the mind as a separate entity from the body. First, psychology has been identified as the science of the soul, later as the science of mind and consciousness, and in modern times as the science of behavior. Thus, in the evolution of psychology, it has now gained a place as a well-established science. And behind this is the tireless efforts of many psychologists including Wilhelm Und, William James, Sigmund Freud. Modern psychology is gradually expanding in Bangladesh.
A man needs to take at least a basic lesson in psychology even for himself. Our behavior affects every activity we do from birth to death. A thorough explanation, observation and possible outcomes of the behaviors we perform in our daily lives is known through the study of psychology. Moreover, we can present scientific explanations of human mental processes and behavior by studying psychology. It gives us knowledge about human mind activity, coherence, detachment, feelings and mental problems.
An important field of psychology is dealing with mental disorders, i.e., abnormal behavior. Looking around we can notice that some people’s behavior is abnormal i.e. they are mentally disturbed. In this society, we have to turn to psychology and psychologists for mental health services for those suffering from mental disorders. Because it is not possible for us to ignore this large part of the society. And for this promotion and expansion of psychology is definitely necessary.
Moreover, psychology plays a very important role in the welfare of individuals, society and above all the state. A few different branches of psychology have developed for this.
For example: clinical psychology, counseling psychology, personality psychology, social psychology, industrial psychology, environmental psychology, health psychology, biological psychology, developmental psychology and many other important branches are working for the development of individuals, society and the state. As a result, our life has become much easier.
Psychology can also be called a life science. It deals directly with people. It plays an important role in solving the problems of the individual by determining the interrelationship between positive and negative aspects of human behavior. It enriches our sense of life by presenting a thorough explanation of human daily behavior and activities. Psychology teaches us to understand life from a different perspective by conveying the mystery of human behavior and providing its correct explanation. And that is why it is important to study psychology not only as a student, but to develop ourselves as a rich mental person.
