What is Psychology?
This domain tests whether you can define psychology as a science, map its schools and branches, and apply the science-versus-common-sense distinction to short scenarios.
Core definitions and history
Psychology is the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes. Its roots lie in philosophy and physiology; Wilhelm Wundt's 1879 Leipzig laboratory is conventionally treated as the start of experimental psychology. Key schools: structuralism (Titchener, introspection, elements of consciousness), functionalism (James, adaptive functions of mind), Gestalt (Wertheimer, Köhler, Koffka; wholes are not reducible to parts), behaviourism (Watson, Skinner; observable behaviour), psychoanalysis (Freud; unconscious conflict), humanistic (Maslow, Rogers; self-actualisation) and cognitive (information processing).
Branches and debates
Branches include clinical, counselling, educational, industrial/organisational, developmental, social, cognitive, biological, sports and environmental psychology. Recurring debates: free will versus determinism, nature versus nurture, the mind–body relationship, and whether psychology is a natural or a social science.
Worked example
A researcher manipulates classroom noise (quiet, moderate, loud) and measures reaction time. This is cognitive psychology using an experimental, natural-science approach: noise is the independent variable, reaction time the dependent variable, and random assignment supports causal inference.
Traps
Psychiatry is a medical specialty that can prescribe drugs; clinical psychology is doctoral training in assessment and therapy. Psychoanalysis is not a behaviourist school. Common sense is hindsight-biased and untested, so it is not a substitute for systematic evidence.