Essay: How Psychology is Applicable to Everyday Life

Today, there is hardly a man who did not hear or know what psychology is. And there are no doubts about the benefits this science gives us. Psychotherapy, individual or in groups and books on practical psychology for the widest audience are very popular in the modern society. It gives the impression that the universal solution for the mental problems is finally there! You only have to know the basic rules according to which the science works and your success and happiness are granted.

I dare to believe that it is not quite right. Or, say, I just do not believe in the universal solutions. Still, the significance of psychology is hard to overestimate.

Each of us is a little of a psychologist in our everyday life. Deliberately or not, most of us skillfully manipulate their closest environment practicing on the others' weaknesses, such as the sense of guilt or provoking pity or compassion, the desire to dominate or to feel safe. It is really a shame if it is all there is to it.

Psychology Essay on Eyewitness Testimony

Eyewitness testimony is an account given by the witness of an event or crime. It is a legal term that is widely used at a trial. Eyewitness testimony is a controversial issue whereas many experts think that the quality of the account given by the witness depends on numerous psychological and external factors. However, there are cases when eyewitness testimony is the only clue for the police to find a guilty person or discover the actual situation. When it is impossible to trace forensic evidence, the only way out is to find a witness who has seen the entire event or crime with her own eyes. Although this method is unreliable, very often it helps to find the truth.

Eyewitness testimony is a valuable method in forensic science. Years ago, this method was the weightiest one. People did not try to look for any clues and evidence and the only reliable source of information about a crime was eyewitness testimony. When one said that he saw a criminal, he described that person and her actions. When the descriptions fitted the accused person, she was believed to be guilty. Therefore, forensic science of the past was based on eyewitness testimony.

Child Psychology Essay

Child psychology is a branch of developmental psychology, dedicated to the exploration of patterns of mental development of the child. The main subject of analysis is driving causes and conditions for ontogenetic development of individual mental processes, including the formation of different types of a child behavior.

Child psychology, as a science of mental development of the child, originated as a branch of comparative psychology in the late 19th century. The starting point for systematic research on the psychology of the child is a work «Die Seele des Kindes» by Darwinian William Preyer. The work described the results of the Preyer’s daily observations on the development of his own son, paying attention to the development of his senses, motor skills, will, mind, and language. Despite the fact that the monitoring took place long before the Preyer’s book was published, Preyer’s undeniable priority was the study of the earliest years of the child and the introduction of the method of objective observation to child psychology, developed by analogy with the methods in the natural sciences. In modern terms, Peyer’s views are seen as naive, limited to the level of development of science of the 19th century. For example, he considered the mental development of the child as a version of the biological development. (However, strictly speaking, even today, there are hidden and explicit proponents of this idea...). Nevertheless, Preyer was the first who made the transition from introspective to objective study of the child psyche. Therefore, he is considered the founder of child psychology by the unanimous recognition of the psychologists.