The term “psychology" is not something that can be defined with ease or be agreed upon by all psychologists, but if one takes the word "psychology" very literally, it will be noted that it is a combination of two Greek terms, psyche and logos. Roughly, the second means ‘the study of’ and the first resembles our notions of ‘mind’ or ‘soul’.

This basic translation would leave one with a definition along the lines of ‘psychology is the study of mind’. However, despite this translation it can be seen that a large amount of definitions of psychology incorporate the idea of science. This can be dated back to William James’ 1950 piece titled The Principals of Psychology; here, he fundamentally defines psychology as “the Science of Mental Life.”

Today, the concept of science is visible in many modern definitions of psychology, for example it is often defined as, ‘the science of behaviour and experience’ or ‘the scientific study of mind’ etc. Science is now considered to be a fundamental part of psychology, but is it a successful part?

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