What is Psychology? Psychology is controversial. Psychology is valid evidence and proof that there is diversity in the world. Psychology exhibits reasoning behind why I act and behave the way I do.
The textbook definition of psychology is as follows “Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior. Psychology is a multifaceted discipline and includes many sub-fields of study such areas as human development, sports, health, clinical, social behavior and cognitive processes”(simplypsychology.org). This definition is precise, however, to me psychology encompasses much more than the study of the mind and behavior of individuals.
Within psychology, there are various theories, and studies that psychologists have done and proclaimed, that analyze why certain individuals act in specific ways under different situations. However, not every person in this world shares the same beliefs or ethics, leading to conflict between the principles and theories composed.
One main example of controversy that occurs in Psychology that I have a strong opinion on is the nurture and nature theories, which in summary is the decision between if an individual's development is based off of their surroundings and environment which with they inhabit themselves in, or if it is merely the makeup of one’s DNA. Personally, I strongly believe that a large part of what I have developed into today is because of the environment and surroundings I was brought up in.
When I was younger, I had to be more independent than most five year olds were, because my mother had me when she was only a teenager and my father left her when I was just four. This new environment I was living in, with a mother who was a single parent, and barely ready to raise me with my father’s help, let alone by herself, I had to do many things for myself that most children would have handed to them, because my mother was working hard trying to make a living for both of us. I did not grow up more independent than most toddlers or children my age because of the genetic makeup of my body. The environment I lived in helped me develop into what I have become.
Despite my situation, I do believe that some small parts of the genetic makeup did aid in the development of my brain and who I am as a person, but ultimately the nurture outweighed the nature in my opinion.The nature versus nurture debate is just one of the many controversial parts of the field of psychology. Psychology impacts me in a way that I am able to understand why it is that I do certain things, or had done certain things when I was of a younger age, such like the example that I shared above. The field of psychology goes beyond just one culture, it is able to provide insight to an array of cultures and it exhibits the differences among large amounts of people, all over the world.
To me, diversity means that not one person is alike, and we all have our own backgrounds, and stories. In relation to psychology, diversity exhibits that everyone’s brains are wired differently, and have their own ways of thinking. Psychology provides all individuals with the information they need to understand why they are behaving ,thinking, or whatever it may be, in the specific ways that they are. Psychology provides us with different theories and bundles of information that not only impacts my life, but millions of other people’s lives all over the world, and that is what makes this field so important, and even more remarkable. Psychology is many things, but overall, psychology is a field that impacts my life greatly in various different ways, on a daily basis.
