What everyone needs to know about psychology?

It is common knowledge that public understanding of psychology is typically aligned with the mental health and intervention aspects of the discipline. Most people think of psychologists as clinicians and counselors. Few understand that psychology is the science of behavior, cognition and emotion. Even fewer recognize psychology as a STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics) discipline. People do not generally associate psychologist with scientist.

APA has been doing public opinion polls to get a better handle on what people do and do not understand about psychology. The data are revealing:

When survey respondents are asked the first thing that comes to mind when they think of the field of psychology, they most often use words associated with illness, helping people, and treatment. Very rarely do people spontaneously mention anything about research on mind, brain or behavior. Most adults in the United States say that medical doctors, scientists, teachers and engineers contribute a great deal to society’s well-being. But just over half say the same thing about psychologists. The only good news here is that psychologists are seen as contributing more than lawyers and business executives — but not by much. When asked to ascribe attributes to professions, more than half of survey respondents describe medical doctors and engineers as scientific. Very rarely is that term used to describe lawyers, artists, police officers or teachers. Psychologists fall somewhere in between these groups, with 33 percent of adults choosing scientific as an appropriate attribute.Interestingly, most adults agree that the study of human behavior can help solve many of today’s issues.  The list of what people generally regard as the biggest problems we face contains few surprises. Highest on that list is:

•        The economy

•        Health care

•        Education

•        Energy dependency

•        Crime

•       Terrorism