Even
asking a few people around you what does “psychology” or “psychologist”
mean to them will reveal that psychology is almost synonymous with
issues like managing stress or treating depression for them.  However,
the currently accepted definition of psychology is the scientific study
of behavior and mental processes.  Although most people think of
psychological problems and their treatment as the subject matter of
psychology, psychologist also study the most ordinary phenomena that are
considered completely normal as well as those that are eccentric or
problematic.   For example, few people think about how our brains
interpret vibrations that reach our ear drums as meaningful sentences,
or music that we can judge as harmonious even if we hear it for the
first time, or an environmental sound such as glass breaking, and few
would think of this as related to psychology.  But, this process, which
we call auditory perception, has been an area of psychological research
for decades.  Psychologists study a wide range of topics that extend
from cells and chemicals to societies and cultures.

In
addition to the topics it covers, there is considerable variation in
the perspectives that psychologists adopt in studying these topics. 
Whereas some believe that we should try to describe and explain
observable behavior, others think that in order to understand behavior
we need to explore the biological processes, the conflicts among
psychological forces, or the context of social structures and forces
that bring about behavior.  It is more appropriate to think of these
alternative perspectives as complementing and enriching each other,
rather than rivals that will be eliminated except for one that is
correct.

Diversity
of the field of psychology also demonstrates itself in the institutions
and contexts in which psychologists work.  Persons with a degree in
psychology are employed in many different institutions including
hospitals, schools, daycare centers, retirement homes, prisons,
municipal governments, courts, and police departments.

Yasar
University Department of Psychology combines psychology, which crosses
boundaries and distinguishes itself among sciences by the broadness of
its scope, diversity of its perspectives, and dynamism of its progress,
with the mission of Yasar University to produce graduates who question,
identify problems, and possess social responsibility in addition to
artistic sensibility and a culture of design.  We aim to guide students
in developing not only a solid base of knowledge in foundations of
psychology and methods of psychological research, but also skills to
apply this knowledge and these methods.  With this aim in mind, we
complement psychology courses that proceed from basic to applied areas
and to actual practice with the foundation courses of Yasar University
on research, design, esthetics, projects, and social responsibility, and
the opportunity to take courses from other departments in an
open-minded and integrative curriculum.