There are three important concepts to remember when defining psychology: science, behavior and mental processes. When defining psychology for a friend I would first simply just give him/her the standard book definition, which is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. But, psychology can be defined in many different ways. Another definition of psychology could be the scientific study of the human mind and its functions such as those affecting behavior.
The discipline of psychology is both an applied and academic discipline dedicated to the scientific study of the behavior and the mind of organisms. Academic psychology is the foundational science that supports the research conducted in applied psychology and applied psychology uses psychological principles and empirical research methods to solve practical problems. Psychologists attempt to understand individual and social behaviors by exploring the physiological, external, and the neurobiological processes that influence human behavior.
Practitioners of psychology use empirical methods which is just verifying by observation and experience rather than theory or pure logic. They use this method find relationships between psychosocial concepts like perception, cognition, emotion, and personality. A large part of psychology is devoted to the diagnosis and treatment of mental health issues, but that 's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to applications for psychology. In addition to mental health, psychology can be applied to a variety of issues that impact health and daily life including performance enhancement, self-help, ergonomics, motivation, productivity, and much more. There are many branches of psychology and the following are seen as the main branches of psychology: Clinical psychology, Cognitive psychology, Developmental psychology, Evolutionary psychology, Forensic psychology, Health psychology, Neuropsychology, Occupational psychology and
References: Robert S. Feldman, 2013 http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154874.php http://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/02/stem.aspx