Prologue 9/22

I previously believed that psychology was the study of the human mind. Basically, I thought that it "encompassed" the study of why we do the things we do. What I read in the book differed fromt his in that it was much more in depth. Psychology is the study of the mind's structure and function from various approaches (the three main approaches were biological influences, psychological influences, and social-cultural influences).

Psychology affects our lives in many ways. One way is that if something were to happen to us that affected us emotionally or mentally, we would be able to find help through psychology at the service of psychologists, psychiatrists, etc. It helps keep us mentally stable in many situations, as well as helps us to be more understanding to others if we have learned about how to think critically through psychology.
Psychology study methods also play a role in my life. When research and surveys are conducted in society, I benefit by being able to see the results and, in turn, make better/ more knowledgeable decisions.

Finally, two things I learned from The Story of Psychology were the SQ3R study method and psychology's current perspectives. The SQ3R method was something I had never heard of and it seemed like it could be extremely useful not only in Intro to Psych, but in everyday classes and activities. Psychology's current perspectives interested me because I didn't know there were so many! I realized before reading the book that psychologists made observations with a base view, but I didn't realize how complex these views were.