Psychology is the scientific study of the mind, brain, and behaviour. The goals are to describe, explain, and predict behaviour, allowing for a scientific means of optimizing human development, abilities, and quality of life.

 

At its core, psychology is the quest to understand why people do what they do. The objectives of psychological study are to understand human nature, for its own sake, and to provide an increasingly reliable basis for the application of psychological principles to education, social policy, and medical treatment.

At Mount Allison, psychology can be pursued either as a science or an arts discipline, depending on your interests. As the scientific study of mind and behaviour, psychology studies is a:

• social science – how people influence the behaviour of others, why we do what we do, personality and self-concept
  
• biological science – physiological mechanisms, neuroanatomy, evolutionary origins of mental and behavioural phenomena
• cognitive science – sensation and perception, abstract thinking, reasoning, language, memory