Psychology in Everyday Life

Psychology is not only a subject that satisfies curiosity about human nature -- it is also a discipline that offers real solutions to real problems, at every scale. Some problems are purely personal (a daughter coping with an alcoholic parent, or a mother struggling with a difficult child); some are rooted within the family (poor communication or interaction among family members); some sit at the level of a larger group or community (terrorist groups, or communities that have become socially isolated); and some carry national or even international dimensions. Problems connected to education, health, the environment, social justice, women's development, and relations between groups are widespread, and while solving them may well require political, economic, and social reform, many of them are also, at root, psychological -- the product of unhealthy thinking, negative attitudes toward other people or oneself, and undesirable patterns of behaviour. Analysing these problems psychologically helps both in understanding them more deeply and in designing genuinely effective solutions, alongside whatever broader social reform is also needed.

Media has played a real part in making the practical value of psychology visible: television counsellors and therapists routinely address problems affecting children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly, and also analyse larger social problems such as social change, population growth, poverty, intergroup or interpersonal violence, and environmental degradation. Correspondingly, psychologists today are found working -- and actively designing and running intervention programmes to improve people's quality of life -- across a wide variety of settings: schools, hospitals, industries, prisons, business organisations, military establishments, and private practice as independent consultants. …