Psychology is the branch of social science that deals with the study of the human mind and its behavior. However, Psychology is not just limited to social science, it also finds its applications in many other disciplines, from humanities to physical sciences. Psychology involves studying the patterns of the human mind and finding techniques to improve human behavior. Most of the other disciplines are also linked with humans and their behaviors in one way or another way. Hence, psychology finds its connection with many other disciplines or fields that we will discuss below.
1. Philosophy
Today, psychology is recognized as a scientific and independent discipline that studies various mental processes and human behavior, but until the mid-1800s, psychology was studied under philosophy. Most of the psychological theories are based on the views of many famous philosophers, and these theories are still valid in the present times. Many prominent philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates tried to explore various topics like pain, pleasure, mental illness, and wisdom that today we consider as a part of psychology. Psychology is mainly linked to the epistemology part of philosophy; Epistemology deals with nature, origin, limits, and scope of human knowledge.
2. Literature & Art
Psychology is deeply related to the field of literature and art. Many studies have shown the impact of various psychological factors like anxiety, ego, and personality of the artists on art and literature pieces. Various artists have expressed themselves through their paintings, and it requires deep knowledge to understand the psychological aspects embedded in these art pieces. Some very popular paintings have psychological factors related to them, which makes them a masterpiece. For instance, Vincent Van Gogh’s famous painting ‘The Starry Night;’ this painting expresses his mental state and his affection towards the stars. Once he said,
Looking at the star always makes me dream. We take death to reach a star.”
Psychology is also linked to literature. Nowadays, the work of the author is also analyzed through the psychological approach. Literary pieces that are written with a deep understanding of psychology always connect with the readers in a better and deeper way.
Starry Night Painting of Vincent Van Gogh
3. Architecture
Nowadays, designs of the building and city planning are done by keeping the psychological aspect in mind. People like the unique designs of the buildings, especially those buildings that make them curious and ask questions about how it has been made. Do you remember your reaction when you saw any marvelous and modern-style building? Well, this astounding reaction of yours is the reason why architects construct the unique and creative designs of the building. According to some studies, we spend around 90% of our time indoors, and whatever we think is 90% subconscious. So, you can well imagine the impact of building designs, and their color on our subconscious mind. You might not have noticed, but your behavior and mood are closely linked to the designs and colors of your room. Psychology helps the architectures make the custom-build designs of the buildings according to the personality and choice of the clients. So, we can say that psychology and architecture go hand in hand.
4. Economics
Like Psychology, Economics is also a branch of social science. Economics studies the behavior of humans in making economy-related decisions like manufacturing, distributorship, and sales of various goods and services. Here, psychology plays an important role in understanding the economic behavior of both producers and consumers. The application of psychology in making economy-related policies can result in making better and more people-friendly policies. Psychology is closely linked with the economy as various economic factors like income, poverty, basic facilities, and lifestyle directly influence human behavior.
5. Political Science
Political science is closely associated with psychology as it directly concerns people and their behavior. Various studies have been conducted to study that how do the political system and its policies influence human behavior and its character. Psychology also helps us understand the behavior, beliefs, and ideologies of Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, and various other successful political leaders. Government policies and laws that are implemented after their psychological analysis give better results to both the people and the government.
6. Education
Education discipline deals with the scientific and harmonious way of improving the personality and behavior of the people and making them realize their true intelligence so that they can give their best and achieve better in their life. The education discipline involves teaching, learning, examination, extracurricular activities, and modifying the behavior of the children to improve their personality and develop their strengths, and psychological principles help to achieve it. The cognitive skills of the children are different at the different developmental stages. So, to impart the proper knowledge to the student, a teacher should be well aware of the cognitive skills and brain functioning of the children. The use of psychology in teaching can improve the children’s power of learning and increase their imagination, memory, attention, and thinking skills.
7. Biology & Physiology
In psychology, we concern about how people’s behavior is affected by outward environment or stimuli. These outward stimuli affect our mind through our sense organs and muscles. So, we can say that mental processes are directly linked to bodily or physical processes. Many psychologists have considered psychology as an important function of life, and there is a number of researches that show the close relationships between the psychological and neural processes of the human body. Latest technologies like brain imaging or neuroimaging have enabled us to understand how the feelings of happiness and sadness deeply affect our brains, and it proves the fact of correlation between psychology and biology. Psychology also finds its connection with various physiological processes that are directly linked with the neural system, this leads to the development of another discipline called ‘physiological psychology.’ Physiological psychology involves understanding various neural processes, attention, and perception mechanisms, and it studies the effect of physiological processes (functions of cells, tissues, and organs) on human behavior and other psychological phenomena.
8. Physical Science
The development of psychology is greatly influenced by some important streams of physical science such as chemistry and physics. In fact, many of the psychological researches conducted in earlier times were inspired by physics experiments. Psychophysics is a special branch that deals with the interaction and relation between physics and psychology. As we know that psychology studies the changes in human behavior on interaction with outward stimuli, Psychophysics involves the quantitative study of relations between the physical event (stimuli) and the psychological event (behavior or sensation). The field of chemistry is also related to psychology as our brain consists of different types of chemicals, and it releases different hormones like oxytocin, endorphins, and dopamine for different psychological situations like love, hatred, happiness, and sadness. Today, most of the psychologist and scientists are exploring about the analogies between the human behavior and the computer systems, and they are trying to impart various psychological and cognitive skills like learning, memory, thinking, and decision making into the modern machines, we called this technology Artificial Intelligence.
9. Medical Science
Medical science is concerned with finding the treatments and causes behind diseases and exploring the working of the human body. Many studies have shown that for optimum health conditions a good connection of body and mind is very important. Modern technologies in medical science have helped us in widening our knowledge about the neural system and the functioning of the human brain and in understanding the behavior of people. Many renowned psychologists like Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, McDougall, and Adler had also contributed immensely to medical science, and they strategically used their medical knowledge in the field of psychology. Earlier, people used to prefer visiting a psychiatrist (psychiatrist is a medical doctor who can prescribe various drugs and medicines to people suffering from psychological disorders) in case of any psychological abnormalities, but nowadays, a psychiatrist needs the help of the psychologist to understand the behavior and get an insight into the patient’s mind, before prescribing them any kind of medicine.
10. Sociology
In psychology, we study the changes in human behavior on an encounter with the outward stimuli; these stimuli could be physical or social. Physical stimuli constitute factors like heat, cold, lightness, darkness, and taste, while social stimuli constitute various relationships like relatives, families, friends, enemies, and companions. The development of the human mind not only depends upon genetic material but also on their relationships or interaction with the social world. As an individual constantly interacts with society in which he/she is living, their personality is directly linked to the thoughts and views of society. Sociology includes the study of various social groups, cultural values, human social behavior, social institutions, and their functions, and it aims to the development of society in every aspect and making it a civilized and well-developed society. Psychology and sociology are interlinked with each other because sociology is also concerned with the study of human behavior on interaction with social groups and society.
11. Engineering
Applied psychology plays an important role in the field of engineering. Industrial psychologists apply the knowledge of applied psychology and help engineers design perfect and comfortable machines that are easy to use and handle. These machines reduce the stress and strain of the users or the employees and increase productivity and efficiency.
12. Anthropology
Anthropology plays a crucial role in psychological studies. Some branches of anthropology like social anthropology and cultural anthropology are directly linked to psychology as they involve understanding the cultures, practices, and rituals of the different groups, and their behavior. It is commonly observed that the people belonging to the same culture or the same group show a similar kind of behavior, while those belonging to different groups show different behavior. Various psychological researches have helped us in understanding this homogeneity of the group of people and the origin of various cultures and religious practices. So, psychology has a great contribution to the field of anthropology.
13. Environmental Science
Environmental science is a branch that studies environmental problems and the impact of the human on the environment and climatic change. Relation between psychology and environmental science can be well evident from the fact that there exists a separate branch called environment psychology. Environment psychology focuses on the relationship between human behavior and the physical environment, and it investigates various psychological changes like environmental stress, behavior patterns, and changes in the attitude of the person on interaction with different environmental conditions.
14. Cognitive Science
Cognitive science includes understanding that how any particular information is transferred in a machine or brain. It is the study of various processes of the human brain and understanding various cognition processes such as attention, perception, judgment, memory, knowledge, and decision making; all these processes also come under the domain of psychology. So we can say that psychology is related to cognitive science.
15. Law & Criminology
Psychology finds its great application in the field of law and criminology. In fact, Forensic psychology is a special branch that deals with the correlation between criminology and psychology, and criminal psychology focuses on finding the reasons behind the people committing crimes and finding the behavior and intention of the criminals. Psychology helps in this by deeply understanding the mind and behavior of criminals to get a wider view of the criminal psyche. Psychology also helps the criminal psychologists in analyzing the judgment passed by the court and providing the suggestion according to the psychological condition of the criminal.
