Introduction

What is psychology and how to eat it: practical guide 

Psychology is a study of human mind and human behaviour. It can be applied to anything and anyone, in every area of our lives, ranging from politics to advertising, food we consume or people we choose to love - psychology is everywhere.

I created this blog in order to help people discover psychology for themselves, whether it's social psychology or something more science-y, like biopsychology (don't worry, Freud will be with us too). I will be looking at different topics, debating and discussing each one from different points of view, as taken by each branch of the psychology field. 

First thing first - introduction and explanations.

Psychology is a lot about theory. It is difficult to find anecdotal evidence for most psychological hypotheses. One of the branches which does find hard evidence is Biopsychology. In other words - biological psychology. It studies brains, how they are structured, chemicals in them and our bodies overall, fight-flight responses, stress… Basically, a branch of psychology which is really closely intertwined with biology of a human being and how it influences our mental health, behaviour etc. But my point is - it is hard to find evidence and prove or disprove certain theories in psychology. Experiments and correlations may be done, but these things have their own faults and anomalies, which should be taken into account (I will be talking about this later in methodological part of this blog). 

Psychology is supposed to be ethical and it involves tons of rules. One of the obvious rules - would be protection of participants (used to be called ‘subjects’, but it was argued that that label dehumanises) from physical and psychological harm. Other things will include consent, debriefing etc., which will also be discussed in methodological section. 

Psychological has become highly academic and, in a sense, even snobbish. A lot of academics, professors and others in the field of psychology, may use absolutely unreadable language, which for most people will make no sense whatsoever, to explain simple things. Definitely not a fun reading for the free evening! To read these texts you will need a lot of nerves and patience, as it might take you more than one evening to go through a paper. Don't tire yourself out, as reading academic texts and papers isn't everything in psychology. Even though, they might be of use, they aren't a universal remedy. 

Many people may ask “Why do you like psychology if it's such a problematic/theory-based/boring/other (underline the right one) subject?”. 

Well, because, no matter the difficulties or problems within the field, the excitement of finding something new, elaborating on something old, coming to an understanding of something that you couldn't before, the idea of helping someone or relieving their pain and suffering is absolutely stunningly beautiful. Because psychology helps us in everyday life, in every aspect of it, most of the time, making our life easier, helping those in need of help. Explaining certain things that would not be explained otherwise. Psychology is often viewed as a pseudo-science, that it's not serious enough - but I don't think that it's a problem. Psychology may not be a serious subject in the eyes of the other sciences, but it helps nonetheless, which I think is one of the most important things. It's fascinating to understand people, to help them, to get them through their struggles and see them heal, whether mentally or physically.

So, as you've probably gathered so far, psychology is a hard, merciless subject with its own issues to take into consideration. But as much as this, it is infinitely rewarding.

The first step is taken and the road towards the world of psychology is ahead of us!