How to start studying psychology from scratch on your own using books

Psychology is a vast academic science that is difficult to fully master on your own. But it is also a discipline that studies human behavior. And people have always tended to seek an explanation for their actions and thoughts. Therefore, everyone who thinks even a little about this is, to some extent, a psychologist.

And in order not to turn into an “armchair” specialist, you can independently study at least the basics of popular psychology. How can I do that? Where to start? Of course, not from tests in a women's magazine, but from an understanding of what psychology is.

In this article:

Why study psychologyScientific psychologyDefinition of psychologyDivisions of psychologyWhat psychology doesStudy psychology: what skills do you needWhere to start studying psychology

Why study psychology

In everyday life, everyone often encounters situations in which they look for explanations for the behavior of other people:

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– Why was Anton so sad?

- Maybe he's depressed!

Or someone is trying to predict what another person will say or do. Usually such explanations are tied to certain characteristics that people have accumulated through their experience and knowledge, and sometimes it is also an inner feeling that guides everyone in their assumptions. So, everyone uses everyday psychology almost every day!

But what exactly is the difference between popular and scientific psychology? The behavior just described shows that people try to make predictions about the behavior of other people based on their experience and knowledge. But this process is not really systematic because, unfortunately, people's assessments often depend on the individual, and it is impossible to derive any generally applicable rules.

Both university professors and practitioners agree that a foundational academic degree in psychology is still a necessary prerequisite for successful self-employment in all areas of applied psychology. Universities also offer specializations in certain sub-fields of the professional psychological field during their studies instead of obtaining a general master's degree, which then allows them to work in a wide variety of fields.

15 best books on psychology and psychotherapy

This is an advantage for those who know in advance where the acquired fundamentals will be applied. But this applies to those who connect their professional life with psychology. Without a high-quality higher education you cannot become a good psychologist. It's difficult to absorb several semesters' worth of information just by reading a couple of books.

A course that helps you learn and make the right decisions

The course “Psychology of Cognitive Processes” can replace you reading large and complex books like “Think Slow... Solve Fast” or “Think Like a Mathematician.”

What the course is about: in the format of video lectures or transcripts, you will learn how memory and attention work. Often we make supposedly rational decisions, although this is an illusion. You will analyze these illusions during the course. It turns out that we have no control over our attention at all. It often works on its own, and also likes to draw your attention to those details that interest you. For example, if you quit smoking, you see a cigarette with a white zebra stripe on the sidewalk.

Who will find it useful: those who want to better understand how human memory, attention and imagination work. Especially suitable for students and those who like to study.

Course duration: 3 weeks, taking into account that you will watch four lectures per week. Registration is available at any time; there is no time limit for completing the course.

Cost: free.

Scientific psychology

This is where scientific psychology comes in. Researchers are trying to establish general rules for people's experiences and behavior. Thus, scientific psychology is an empirical science because the statements made are based on systematic observations. In the research cycle, these statements are refined, tested, and possibly rejected again. Psychological science is not a rigid field of knowledge; it is developing dynamically and is being improved daily by researchers around the world.

Thus, a series of rules and models are assembled to describe, explain and predict the processes of our behavior and perception. Scientific psychology differs from popular psychology in that the former is based on systematic observations that are intended to make general statements that apply not only to one person, but to entire groups of people.

Proxemics

Distance and the need to maintain it when conducting a conversation are studied by such a science as proxemics. The concept was introduced into science by Edward Hall.

Edward Hall introduced 4 zones into the scientific world of psychologists that must be observed when communicating:

intimate;
personal;
social zone;
public

Understanding people's inner states is not so easy. There is no point in reading books if a beginner cannot recognize the inner mood of his interlocutor.

A psychologist cannot put pressure on a person. When he does not keep his distance, the person will close himself and will not allow him into his inner world.

Definition of Psychology

Now the question arises as to how psychology can actually be defined. In recent years, scholars have come to a consensus on a broad definition. Psychology is the study of psychological processes, human experience and behavior.

This definition is very rough and can be extended to a wide variety of areas. But it also indicates that psychological processes occur in any situation. In addition to its own models, psychological research also uses findings from the natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences to be able to explain people's behavior and experiences.

A course on why we are constantly looking for happiness and how to catch it

The Science of Well-Being course will teach you how to enjoy the little things and look for the good in every day through meditation—but not in the language of disreputable bloggers. All practices are backed by scientific research. This course in our selection is the only one in English, but all recordings have subtitles in Russian.

What the course is about: the teacher at the first stage will help you decide what habit you want to develop. And then it’s up to you - meditate, think about this habit and do it every day. At the beginning and end of the course you will be asked to measure your level of happiness. Judging by numerous reviews, course participants began to look at life in a new way and found time for creativity, sports and other joys of life.

Who will benefit: everyone who wants to train the skill of happiness and achieve mental balance.

Course duration: 10 weeks. Registration is available at any time; there is no time limit for completing the course.

Cost: free. But if you want to receive a personal certificate of successful completion of the course, you will need to pay 2,149 rubles. After payment, tests and assignments will become available - they will help you gain points for passing the final test.

Subsections of psychology

The statements that can be derived from research can be applied in a variety of contexts. For this reason, subgroups have formed within psychology that narrow the field of psychology thematically and contextually.

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Subsections of psychology, for example:

Developmental psychology.
Biological psychology (and neuropsychology).
Social Psychology.
Clinical psychology (and psychotherapy).

Labor psychology, organizational and business psychology.
Legal psychology.
Educational psychology.
Sports psychology.

Methods of psychological influence on people

Society consists of people who constantly communicate with each other. Consciously or not, they all influence each other. There are various ways to influence the environment.

Methods of exposure to humans:

Contagion is a method based on the transfer of emotions from one individual to another. If someone panics or cries, then everyone's mood deteriorates. You can be “infected” with both negative and positive emotions, for example, laughter, joy, fun.
Suggestion - an individual is inspired to act as someone wants. Suggestion occurs through words, gestures, and actions. Each individual has different suggestibility. Suspicious people and children under 13 years of age are more easily suggestible than independent individuals.
Persuasion - an individual is persuaded to act one way and not another through logical thinking. The higher a person's intelligence, the harder it is to convince him. In the process of persuasion, it is important to instill trust. If the interlocutor doubts the veracity of the arguments, it is impossible to convince him of anything.
Imitation - consciously or unconsciously, an individual tries to copy the behavior of another person. Typically, role models are successful, famous and rich individuals.

Many people use another method of influencing an individual. Its name is manipulation. Using this method, the manipulator gets what he wants, while the opponent retains the illusion of independently made decisions. Aristotle also said that the success of influence depends on who says what to whom.

Personality psychology is a fascinating science. Anyone can understand its basics. True, not everyone is able to put their knowledge into practice. An experienced psychologist will help you understand all the nuances of the psychological discipline.

What does psychology do?

Psychology is ridiculed by many and considered a “fake” science. Or they reduce it exclusively to its history - for example, to Freud's psychoanalysis. But this discipline is much larger and permeates all areas of life. All people benefit from scientific and applied psychology.

Giphy

This is what this science does, among other things:

Fears of the process, experiences of loss and traumatic experiences.
Preventive health work.
Avoiding stress or coping with it in a healthy way.
Analysis of purchasing behavior and influence on it.
Support for schools and advice to parents, students and teachers.
Development of personal skills and their maximum use.
Help for good, social togetherness.
Good and productive work environment.

A course on how to quarrel correctly and end disputes in an amicable way

Course “Practice of Conflict Resolution. Me - Family - Work - Society” warns from the very beginning: conflict is a normal part of life. There is no need to be afraid of them. It’s better to figure out why they arise and how to solve them without losses.

What the course is about: using examples from life, it explains that many of our conflicts are groundless and unnecessary. Often we inflate them ourselves. So much so that we cease to be friends, lovers and colleagues. When you learn to understand your emotions and find its essence in the conflict, resolving controversial situations will become easier. The main thing is not to escalate. This is when in an argument everyone has already forgotten where they started and just continue the squabble.

Who will benefit: everyone who wants to “live together.” It will be interesting for both a housewife and the head of a large enterprise.

Course duration: 5 weeks. Registration is available at any time; there is no time limit for completing the course.

Studying Psychology: What Skills You Need

Clearly, psychologists must be interested in other people. What other qualities do aspiring psychologists need?

Interest in communicating with people.
Interest in research and scientific work, basic knowledge of scientific work.
Communication skills, language skills.
Ability to reflect and criticize, critical thinking.

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Social skills, empathy, emotional intelligence
abstract, logical, analytical thinking.

Your personal learning goal

Most likely, from time to time you noticed your own interest in psychological topics when something went wrong in life - this is common to many. In addition to the fact that one’s own life becomes more interesting and clearer, basic knowledge of psychology helps those who want to master this specialty to decide.

Those who are going to study psychology from scratch need to decide on their own motives for acquiring this knowledge. This is important not so much for motivation (after all, a person who is going to independently master any science is clearly motivated), but for understanding in which direction to move and where to start.

Main topics that may be of interest:

Child psychology, features of development and education.
Family relationships, searching for a partner.
Conflictology and ways to improve relationships with others.
Business psychology, methods of achieving success.
Personal growth.
Overcoming psychotraumatic experience.
Gestalt therapy. There was an article about this direction here on the blog.

Separately, it is worth highlighting the reason for studying - this is the further acquisition of this profession. This includes not only personal interest, but also certain restrictions and obligations:

You cannot judge or evaluate both the person himself and his life situation.
Confidentiality of other people's information cannot be disclosed. Exceptions are cases when a psychologist learns about a crime being prepared or committed.
Having psychological knowledge, you cannot impose your help on others. If a person close to you does not want to deal with some problem, that is his choice. You have no right to interfere or manipulate his decision.
You cannot provide psychological assistance or correction without completing training. The human psyche is very fragile, so not every experienced psychologist can immediately cope with difficult problems, and without the appropriate skills, you can even do harm.

Where to start studying psychology

As with higher education, you need to start by determining your specialization. Those who want to improve family relationships and those who intend to build a competent marketing company by studying consumer psychology need different information. And then make a list of references.

Psychology, especially in the form of manuals, is currently one of the most popular categories in the book world. To live a fulfilling life, you need to deal with your feelings and understand them more deeply. This is why psychology books are great tools for understanding and personal growth.

They cover a variety of subjects and areas that can be very useful in different ways. It all depends on the current state of mind and the problem, or rather on what area of life needs to be developed or improved.

The fundamentals of psychology are the books of K. G. Jung, Z. Freud, E. Fromm, A. Adler. This is a lot of reading, but at the same time it is a guarantee of fundamental knowledge.

In addition, you can study the following books:

"How to Be Miserable Without Help" by Paul Watzlawick

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This is undoubtedly one of the most recommended books on psychology, which is sure to appeal to everyone. It is also one of the guides that helps to recognize personal lifestyle in various situations and at the same time provides an opportunity to know how we humans gradually create unwanted and unhappy truths for ourselves through mental mechanisms. Overall, a great way to reveal yourself.

“How not to turn your life into a nightmare. 20 proven ways to escape from the captivity of toxic thoughts to the shores of a new life" by Rafael Santandreu

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Psychologist Santandreu, one of the most influential psychologists in Spain, talks in this book about very detailed experiences of the most harmful forms of behavior for mental health and how they affect our quality of life.

"Emotional Intelligence" by Daniel Goleman

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This guide was written many years ago, but it still promises a very high educational effect. It is highly recommended and recommended by many psychologists of our time. In this book, the author brilliantly analyzes the relationship between the world of thought and feeling. In this book, Daniel Goleman also offers the opportunity to learn what emotional intelligence is, how you can strengthen it, and what it consists of. This is a very famous book on psychology that helps people better understand themselves and those around them.

"How to Overcome Your Victim Complex" by Wayne Dyer

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This book is still a reference for many psychologists. The author shows the wrong actions that prevent people from being happy, and practical tools for achieving positive changes.

In fact, this guide is one of the most practical because in each chapter the author lists exercises that allow you to learn what irrational perception is and how people sometimes make life difficult for themselves. Because, according to this book, a person does this through anxiety, guilt, or a need for attention and validation from others.

"The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" by Oliver Sacks

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This is a very atypical book on psychology, the purpose of which is to introduce the reader to the pathologies that a visit to a psychologist can reveal and how they affect the patient. It reports more than 20 clinical cases, summarized in a very human novel.

"Think slow... decide fast" by Daniel Kahneman

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This book unexpectedly became an international bestseller. It describes two forms or systems that control thoughts and influence quality of life.

Daniel Kahneman surprises by showing how little people can trust their brains. You should definitely read this book on psychology if you want to learn more about your own thinking.

“The power of habit. Why we live and work this way and not otherwise” by Charles Duhigg

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Habits are part of everyday life and also determine well-being. It is important that people are aware and change what does not add positive aspects. With this guide, you have a great tool at hand that will allow you to do just that.

These are books on psychology that can be recommended to those who have set a goal to learn more in this area or in general want to improve their lives as much as possible. These guides will help you get started.

Chapter 1 Types of Temperament

Each person has a unique identity from the moment of birth. Any nurse working in a maternity hospital can confirm this: all newborns behave differently: one toddler sleeps twenty-two hours a day, the other, violating all the rules of behavior for “normal” babies, stays awake for a long time, interestedly and carefully examining those bending over him adults, the third does not allow them to forget about themselves for a second, emitting piercing screams... These differences, thanks to which already in the first days of life one cannot confuse Masha with Dasha, and Petya with Seryozha, are nothing more than a manifestation of temperament . The attitude of parents, upbringing, life experience will further influence how these quietly sniffling (or loudly screaming) bundles will grow up, but temperament will remain more or less unchanged “factory setting”.

…

The study of different types of temperament has a long history. The founder of this doctrine is the great ancient Greek physician and scientist Hippocrates. As this learned man believed, four types of fluid (juices) circulate in the human body: blood, yellow bile, black bile and mucus (phlegm). Each of them has its own special properties, and in each person these four “juices” are combined in the body in a certain proportion. This combination determines the characteristics of the body’s activity, as well as its susceptibility to certain diseases. And besides, the characteristics of human behavior also depend on how exactly the four liquids are combined and which one predominates.

The names of the four types identified by Hippocrates appeared, however, several centuries later, as did their detailed psychological descriptions. What Hippocrates called by the Greek word “krasis” (“mixing”), in Ancient Rome began to be called by the Latin word temperamentum (“proper relationship of parts, proportionality”).

The Roman physician Galen was the first to create a detailed classification of temperaments, which was based on the idea of mixing four liquids. However, in Galen’s classification there were as many as thirteen types (including four Hippocratic ones). As Galen believed, the predominance of yellow bile (lat. chole) in the body determines the choleric temperament, blood (sanguis) - sanguine, mucus (phlegma) - phlegmatic, and black bile (melanos chole) - meloncholic. Galen's actual psychological description of these four types was not detailed, but over time it expanded and became more and more detailed.

You are probably very familiar with these terms themselves - choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic and melancholic - and at least their approximate meaning. Before we dive into the four types in detail, try to identify which temperament is being described in each of the passages below:
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Feel

Sensations are mental processes that are mental reflections of individual states and properties of the external world, arising from direct influence on the senses, a person’s subjective perception of external and internal stimuli with the participation of the nervous system. In psychology, sensations are usually understood as the process of reflecting various properties of objects in the surrounding world.

Sensations have the following properties:

Modality is a qualitative indicator of sensations (for vision - color, saturation, for hearing - volume, timbre, etc.);
Intensity is a quantitative indicator of sensations;
Duration is a temporary indicator of sensations;
Localization is a spatial indicator.

There are several classifications of sensations. The first of them belongs to Aristotle. They identified five basic senses: touch, hearing, sight, taste and smell. But in the 19th century, due to the increase in the types of sensations, the need for a more serious classification arose. Today there are the following classifications:

Wundt's classification - depending on the mechanical, chemical and physical properties of stimuli;
Sherrington classification - based on the location of receptors: exteroceptive, interoceptive and proprioceptive sensations;
Head's classification - based on origin: protopathic and epicritic sensitivity.

W. Wundt

The name of Wundt is known in psychology as well as Jung and Rubinstein. Wilhelm Maximilian lived in the 19th century and was an active practitioner of experimental psychology. This movement included non-standard and unique practices that made it possible to study all psychological phenomena.

Like Rubinstein, Wundt studied determinism, objectivity, and the fine line between human activity and consciousness. The main feature of the scientist is that he was an experienced physiologist who understood all the physical processes of living organisms. To some extent, it was much easier for Wilhelm Maximilian to devote his life to such a science as psychology. Over the course of his life, he trained dozens of figures, including Bekhterev and Serebrenikov.

Wundt sought to understand how our mind works, so he often conducted experiments that allowed him to figure out chemical reactions in the body. It was the work of this scientist that laid the foundation for the creation and promotion of such a science as neuropsychology. Wilhelm Maximilian loved to observe people's behavior in different situations, so he developed a unique technique - introspection. Since Wundt himself was also an inventor, many experiments were worked out by the scientist himself. However, introspection did not include the use of devices or instruments, but only observation, as a rule, of one’s own mental phenomena and processes.

We all want to be happy, but too much happiness has a negative impact on work

Based on a survey of more than 10 thousand people in 48 countries, it was found that happiness is valued more than other personal prospects - finding the meaning of life, becoming rich or going to heaven. Happy people more often call themselves curious, while depressed people are able to notice even minor changes in the facial expressions of their interlocutor. And also very happy people (9 out of 10 or 10 out of 10 points on the scale of measuring happiness - there is one) did not study well and receive a small salary, compared to moderately happy people (6, 7, 8 out of 10 on the scale).

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