Psychology emerged as an independent science around the middle of the 19th century. The doctrine of mental processes and phenomena began to develop actively only with the advent of knowledge about the structure of the human brain. Having become an experimental science, psychology has absorbed the achievements of both the humanities and the natural sciences. That is why the connections of this discipline with other branches of knowledge turned out to be so strong and versatile.
The place of psychology in the modern system of sciences
The problems that fall within the field of psychology are very complex and varied. This makes it difficult to accurately determine the place of this science in the system of scientific knowledge. Over the years, there have been heated discussions among psychologists as to whether psychology should be considered a humanitarian or a natural discipline.
There can be no single correct answer to this question, since part of the branches of psychology is closely related to the humanities, and the other part is closely related to the natural sciences.
The authoritative Soviet scientist B. M. Kedrov, known for his work in the field of the methodology of science, proposed the so-called non-linear classification of scientific knowledge, placing psychology in the middle of a triangle, the apices of which were the philosophical, natural and social disciplines. This view of the place of psychology in the modern system of sciences seems to be the most acceptable, since it adequately reflects interdisciplinary scientific ties.
Links between psychology and other sciences
It is impossible to imagine the development of psychology without broad connections with physics, linguistics, logic and mathematics. The phenomena that occur in the interaction of individuals and groups bring social psychology closer to sociology and political sciences. The development of the individual psyche of a person in the process of growing up cannot be understood without taking into account physiology and medicine.
Psychology has strong historical ties with philosophical knowledge, since it at one time stood out as a separate science precisely from philosophy. Among the philosophical problems that theoretical psychologists solve, one can name the problems of the methodology of research activity, the identification and clarification of the subject of psychological science.
Psychology and philosophy are related by an appeal to the topic of the emergence of human consciousness and the study of the principles of thinking.
Psychological science is also difficult to imagine without biology. This is due to the fact that mental processes and states have a biological basis. Of particular importance in the study of mental processes are the knowledge accumulated in the field of the morphology of the central nervous system and the physiology of higher nervous activity.
Psychology and sociology are very closely intertwined and intersect. Psychologists know that mental phenomena and human behavior are socially conditioned. The subject of study here is the individual, groups of people and the relationship between them. It often happens that sociological and psychological research is carried out in a complex.
Mutual influence, intersection of interests and research subjects of related sciences are characteristic of the entire scientific field as a whole. The breadth of interdisciplinary connections between psychology and other sciences mutually enriches each scientific branch, providing an opportunity for researchers to penetrate deeper into the essence of mental and socio-psychological phenomena.
