Is There a Future for Psychology?

Psychology is commonly known as the study of the soul. Many ordinary people think that people who study psychology will have the ability to read a person's character. There is nothing wrong with the definition of psychology above, it's just that modern science or science provides some conditions for science to become an independent discipline.

Modern science departs from empirical foundations, while the soul is a very abstract concept. Empirical means that it can be observed by the senses of normal or healthy people. Therefore, psychologists agree to look for observable manifestations of the soul, namely behaviour. By paying attention to behaviour, psychologists can classify people into special categories commonly known as personalities.

There are many kinds of personality according to experts. Even experts make a classification of each personality. Call it Hippocrates who lived in classical Greece, he classified human personality into four groups. The Hippocratic theory is quite famous and is still often used today. Sanguine, Choleric, Phlegmatic, and Melancholy are the four groups. This theory has been around for over 2000 years! This Hippocrates is extraordinary.

Since psychology broke away from philosophy and became a discipline of its own, the development of psychology has accelerated. From the famous Sigmund Freud to the surviving Albert Bandura, several theories of personality have been born. Personality theories have developed into many. Even psychologists I find it difficult to memorize all the theories of personality so many.

Entering the modern era, the syncretism of science seems unavoidable. Advances in technology greatly support the development of research. The syncretism of neurology and psychology that gave birth to neuro-psychology is very advanced. The question is, is there a future for psychology? If psychology students only understand psychology, it seems that stagnation is insight.

Currently, neuroscientists have succeeded in developing several practical methods. To be able to know a person's personality, psychologists need data that is not instant. At least the psychologists have to do observations and interviews. The methods of psychologists are also prone to errors so that the results obtained are not satisfactory. Meanwhile, neuroscientists have a more accurate method of knowing a person's personality.

Today's neuroscientists can find out a person's personality through biological examinations. From the brain to the DNA has been mapped out well, although not yet final. They can know the function of the brain in micro and even nano! All human behaviour is born on orders from the brain. By reading the brain, neuroscientists can determine a person's tendencies. From intelligence to the character of a person can be mapped through biological examination.

From brain reading to the genome can be done well today. The genome is the entire genetic information of a cell or organism, or in particular the entire nucleic acid that contains that information. A neuroscientist from Indonesia, dr. Ryu Hasan said that the genome is a book that is embodied in a person and contains information up to his ancestors. So, from the genome of a neuroscientist can trace the character of our grandfathers to our great-grandparents! Sounds crazy, but that's technology. Still, want to hear something crazy from the development of neuroscience?

The brain contains almost all the information that living things remember. Currently, scientists are developing technology that can read the information in the brain. In other words, all our memories that are in the brain will be able to be transferred into a computer with an algorithm that doesn't matter what it is. This technology is predicted to be completed in the 2030s. Yes, similar to the sci-fi film "Transcendence" made by Wally Pfister, played by Johnny Depp.

With this technology, it is predicted that humans will be able to live eternally! Death is caused by the death of physical organs, therefore when this technology is realized then all the information in our memories will be transferred to a mechanical body. So, even though we physically die, we can live in an artificial body that knows no age. Crazy indeed.

Fortunately, today's neuroscience technology is still very expensive. To find out personality through brain and genome reading we have to dig deep into the pockets. Because of the high cost of technology, psychology is still an alternative for knowing human personality in all fields. Companies still need psychologists to recruit new employees.

Technological developments cannot be stopped. If in the past, motorcycles were a luxury item and now they have become an ordinary item and can even be said to be a primary human need in Indonesia, then it is not impossible that neuroscience technology will become cheap in the future. If the technology was cheap, it might be possible to find out a person's personality only a mattress and all the sophisticated tools to read the brain and genome were needed.

If that time has come, then humans no longer need to bother doing tests, interviews, and observations to find out a person's personality. We just need to lie down for a while, then sophisticated tools will work to read our brain and genome like a CT-Scan tool and then come out the results of personality and all its tendencies. Even today the tendency to cheat alone can be predicted by neuroscience. Can we imagine if technology is getting more sophisticated? Is there a future for Psychology?

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