-Kripa Sigdel
Few weeks back i was talking to clinical psychologist and we jumped in a topic of ‘Do psychologist really follow all those nots and bolts what we say to our clients in our personal life.’?
This question strikes my mind time and again. I have seen so many friends who knows all the theoretical perspectives of Psychology yet so frustrated in practical life; I know many psychologist who knows all the theories of Segmund freud and Eric Erickson, who themselves teach drive reduction theory and Cognitive theories of motivation in colleges, still emotionally vulnerable.
Here the problem is, they are not following the practicality of Psychology prospects but only knowing theoretical aspects. But, if anyone can use the both practical and theoretical aspects of Psychological knowledge, life would be more easier. So, after few readings of journals, good discussions with experts and experiences, i tried to come up with this article including how Psychology can help if we can properly use its theoretical aspects in practical life.
Here are few ways how Psychology helps to better life:
1) Psychology helps to get motivated:
Theories of Psychology like drive reduction theory, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs teach you how a person gets motivation. Say it to loose weight or quit smoking, the theories and knowledge of psychology can be beneficial to get motivation. If you know the meaning of Incentive and award, then you can use them to motivate in any tasks you do. You can set goals-learn new techniques-reward oneself for achieving them-get motivated.
2) Psychology helps to better understand Others:
According to psychologist Daniel Goleman, your EQ may actually be more important than your IQ (1995). And the theory of Emotional Intelligence is taught in Psychology. Psychology helps to understand people and the behavior. The understanding of Psychology makes any individual to understand the human behavior and their nature and analyze their behavior which consequently helps to better understand others.
3) Psychology helps to make a good communicator:
Psychology helps to learn about verbal and non-verbal cues. It helps to understand about bodily gesture and posture. It makes us realize the importance of tone and pitch of sound. Since understanding of these information makes us be better communicator.
4) Psychology helps to Improve your leadership qualities:
It doesnt matter you want to be volunteer or office manager, having good leadership skills will help you. Few simple tips taught in psychology related to leadership styles can boost of your leadership quality and be a better person. How to reply clear guidance to your colleagues, how to create environment to work or how to motive yourself and others can be some qualities that you will know after knowing about leadership theories in Psychology.
5) Psychology helps to Improve your Memory:
How wonderful if you know the reason of forgetting and ways of retaining, right? Yes. the theories of memory and forgetting will help you understand about why individual loss memory? Psychology also teaches you the tips of regaining memory like rehearsing, eliminating distractions, focusing regularly. This is how Psychology helps to improve your memory.
6) Psychology helps in Decision-Making:
Say it to make better financial decision or life decisions, knowing about your strength and weakness helps. And this information is gained more if you can analyze your personal behavior. Nobel Prize winning psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky conducted a series of studies that looked at how people manage uncertainty and risk when making decisions. Also. Research in cognitive Psychology, has provided a wealth of information about decision making. By applying these strategies to your own life, you can learn to make wiser choices. The next time you need to make a big decision, try using some of the following techniques: – Try using the “six thinking hats” approach by looking at the situation from multiple points of view, including rational, emotional, intuitive, creative, positive, and negative perspectives
7) Psychology helps to Become More Productive:
If you want to get better grades or be more productive in your personal life, the learnings from psychology like – avoiding multitasking, attention, can help. Psychology researches also proves that multitasking can impairs your speed, accuracy and productivity. So, knowing this earlier can help you to concentrate and be more productive in your life.
8) Psychology helps to Be Healthier:
Psychology can be a useful tool for improving your health. The field of health psychology offers you a wealth of beneficial strategies that can help you to be healthier and happier. Psychological researches demonstrated that exercise can be helpful in depression and mental disorder. Likewise field of psychology like Health Psychology and Clinical Psychology helps us in many ways to make our mental health as well as physical health sound.
(The writer is the Psychology graduate and founder of team ”Psychbigyaan”. Ironically, she herself confesses of not using practicality of Psychological theories sometimes but is determined to use them in practical life equally as she believes its theoretical importance)
