What is psychology?

Here’s a guide to getting your head around what psychology is all about.

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13th October, 2012

Soooo, what is a psychologist, anyway? The punchline has two parts, the first of which is “not me”, and the second is the actual answer. When most people think about psychology, they think therapy and mental illness. This is part of the picture, but not all of it. Broadly speaking, psychology is a discipline occupied with understanding and influencing behaviour. I define behaviour pretty broadly here – what people see us do, but also our mental behaviour. I think of it as an evidence-based practice where the things we advocate and do, we do because there are things we can point to justifying ...

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