Psychology is the study of the mental processes of the brain. These include, behavior (why we do what we do), memory (how do we store the fond and not-so fond memories and why our brain hAS TO REMIND US OF THE EMBARRASSING MOMENTS BEFORE WE GO TO BED), emotion (how do we feel), imagination (how do we even create a whole frickin' universe in our heads?), thinking and reasoning (what made people in history do what they do? What made me go to the store and buy iced coffee? What made you choose option 'B' in the science test? It was option 'A', you idiot!) and much more. Now, I'm sure most of you have seen shows or movies which have that one person who can read people very well and predict their moves. Or maybe you've seen or read Sherlock Holmes (yes I know Holmes is a detective, but his mysteries have a lot to do with psychology and human behavior). You've probably been fascinated at the fact that one person can read almost exactly what the other person is thinking or what they will be doing. Psychology and psychologists have made this possible. Psychology was discovered in 1879 and its purpose was to understand human nature and what makes our brains tick. But have you ever considered what humanity's nature truly is? (If you have, kudos to you, cuz I haven't).
Before I get down to it. Just a couple things:
I might have to split this post into 2 or 3 parts because I have a lot to say about this topic, and
Let me tell you why I love psychology. Believe me you're going to be fascinated if you read on. I promise.
I watched Crash Course psychology with my dad. I'm going to begin this post the same way John Green did in his video. Now, when you think about psychology, you might be thinking about therapy: the whole patient on the couch with a therapist taking notes shebang. Or you might think about stuff they teach you at school, like social media and how it influences and degrades teenagers, kids and adults (which is not fully true by the way) You might even be thinking about mental illness or disability or disorder. Like depression, anxiety, autism, ADHD etc. And... you might be right. But psychology isn't just what's mentioned above. No, psychology is much more than that. Leland Melvin, a football-player-turned-astronaut said about the brain, "It might look like a lump of Jell-O, but it's the most complex thing in the universe." He said, "Inside, there's a vast network with 100 trillion connections. That's more than the number of stars in the Milky Way" [Hanneke Weitering's article in space.com, 2018].
Imagine that. The 3 pound lump of inedible Jell-O flesh is way more complex than the whole universe and its cosmos, nebulae, stars, planets, galaxies and particles combined. And we all get to have one. Just floating around in our heads. [John Green in a Crash Course psychology video, 2016].
I love psychology because there's so much to discover. Unlike other aspects of science, this field has more areas to uncover. More than 100 trillion! Understanding people and humans in general is another reason why I want to study it. I'm not implying that I want to become someone like Dr. Bull or Patrick Jane or Sherlock Holmes, but I'm saying that I want to be like Dr. Bull, Patrick Jane and Sherlock Holmes :)
Now that that part is over, let's get to it.
Firstly, you'll have to watch the following videos to know exactly what I'm talking about. You can watch it in your free time, or right now. They're actually quite fascinating.
{2 mins}
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo4pMVb0R6M&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtOPRKzVLY0jJY-uHOH9KVU6&index=2 {10 mins}
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOUEC5YXV8U {Actual footage of the Milgram experiment. 12 mins}
I may have to cut this short and leave you with these videos. Now having watched that, you can scroll down and click on part 2 of this post to learn more about it. Trust me, it's sooooo worth it.
([{ There were a lot of brackets in this one, innit? )]}
I'm working on Part 2 right now, guys.