Psychology is the study of human behavior. It is the study of how we act in certain situations, why we behave a certain way, and it’s all about learning about the human mind. I think psychology is an interesting topic to write about because there’s so much to learn about our minds and how we interpret things around us.
I’ve always been interested in psychology. When I was young, my mom used to read me stories that were written by Aesop (if you don’t know who he is, Google him). A lot of his stories are short tales that explain ways we perceive things or how we react in certain situations. For example, there’s one where an old man has a bag full of gold coins he wants to give his friends as gifts for their birthday. My anxiety treatment for adults is for people who are struggling with anxiety problems. I’ve written a lot about anxiety and panic attacks in the past, so if you’re interested, check out those posts!
Anyway, back to Aesop’s short story… So the old man goes to each of his friends’ houses carrying his bag of coins. At the first house he goes to, he’s greeted by his friend who then asks him “What do you have in your bag?”. He responds with “I have gold coins!”. But when he opens up his bag for her she sees that it’s actually full of copper coins. His friend says “Oh no! You got bad information about where you got those gold coins from”. The moral of this story is that we shouldn’t believe everything we hear or read (like on a blog). We should always take everything with a grain of salt because sometimes things aren’t true or they might be different than what they appear to be.
And that’s one example how psychology can explain our behavior (or explain how things are perceived). Another example would be like if someone was told not to eat any candy before dinner; when they reach for some candy after dinner their brain would tell them no because their brain thinks it will disrupt their meal time.
Psychology is a fascinating subject. There are so many things that have to do with behavior that we don’t even realize. For example, from an early age, most of us learn how to use our manners and what’s appropriate in certain situations; like when you’re at the dinner table and someone asks you if you want more food or water. Most of us know by now that it’s rude to answer yes when someone says they don’t want anymore food or water because it makes them feel bad about their choices. But why do we know this? Why do we have these manners programmed into our brains?
Well, I think it’s because for generations people have taught their children how to be polite and respectful towards other people. And because of this teaching over time, humans have become conditioned to behave in a certain way in certain situations (like the example above). I thought this was really interesting; the fact that we teach our children good manners and eventually they learn these behaviors as well as how they should act around other people. It’s kind of like a cycle.
Another interesting thing about psychology is the way we perceive things. We all look at things differently, and this is mostly because of our brain chemistry. Some people have depression or anxiety, and when they look at something, it’s not going to be the same exact interpretation as someone else who doesn’t have these mental health issues. Psychologists can help people learn how to cope with their mental health problems by teaching them how to interpret situations in a different way than they usually do (or interpret them in a positive light).
For example, if someone has social anxiety disorder (SAD) and they’re constantly thinking negative thoughts about other people when they’re around others or doing new activities; psychologists can teach them how to think positively about these situations (so instead of thinking negatively about making conversation with other people, he’ll think positively that he knows some good jokes that will make everyone laugh). The more we practice these positive thoughts over time, the more natural it will become for us not to automatically think negatively anymore. I’ve had articles on my site before where I talk about treating anxiety disorders with therapy as well as treatment centers throughout the country for adults struggling with SAD or any other mental health problems like depression or bipolar disorder (which my husband struggles with sometimes). If you’re interested in reading those articles just click on one of those links above this text!
That was pretty long.
Psychology is amazing because there’s so much to learn about how we think and perceive things. There are also so many ways we can learn to treat mental health problems and help people lead a better life. Psychology is also interesting because it can help us understand why we do certain things that seem normal to us but actually aren’t really normal at all (like the example above with not wanting more food or water).
I hope you enjoyed reading this article! If you did, please share it with your friends! Thanks for taking the time to read my writing on psychology, I truly appreciate it. Please follow me on social media (links below), subscribe and like my Facebook page if you haven’t already! Until next time…
