Psychology or psychology (literally "study or treatise of the soul", from the classical Greek ψυχή, transliterated psyche, "psyche", "soul", "mental activity", and λογία, logía, "tratado" or "estudio") is a profession and an academic discipline that, in general terms, is defined as the science that deals with the behavior and mental processes of individuals, whose field of study covers all aspects of human experience. It should be noted that there are different psychological perspectives, each with its own theories and methodologies, and in comparison they can coincide, influence or even be contradictory and incompatible; this variety gives rise to multiple meanings and approaches. Likewise, there are arguments that question the scientificity of psychology due to limitations such as: subjectivity, verifiability, ethical and philosophical dilemmas, etc. Even some approaches -like in humanism- do not consider psychology as a science, because they reject determinism in favor of free will.
Through its various approaches, psychology explores concepts such as perception, attention, motivation, emotion, brain functioning, intelligence, thinking, personality, personal relationships, consciousness and unconsciousness. Psychology employs quantitative empirical research methods to analyze behavior. Other types of qualitative and mixed methods can also be found, especially in the clinical or consulting field. While psychological knowledge is frequently used in the evaluation or treatment of psychopathologies, in recent decades psychologists are also being employed in the human resources departments of organizations, in areas related to child development and aging, sports , the media, the legal world and forensic sciences. Although most psychologists are involved professionally in therapeutic activities (clinical, consulting, education), a part is also devoted to research, from universities, on a wide range of topics related to human behavior and thinking.