Is psychology haram?

"Do you think study psychology at university is haram and it goes against Islam?"

Above is a question that I found when Googling something recently.

In my own experience, when I was doing my bachelor degree, I was asked by a Malaysian who whom I met in Canada about my chosen field of study. When I told him it is psychology, his reaction was as if he'd answer "YES" to the question above. He asked me to reconsider my decision and study something else. I just took note and told myself to learn more about psychology to convince myself that my decision is right.

After joining IIUM as a lecturer in 2004, I learned a lot more about psychology and Islam. Alhamdulillah, I can see much more examples of how psychology can help me to be a better Muslim. What I've learned at Guelph University formally, and my (mostly) informal learning at IIUM has made me love Islam and psychology more. For example, I've learned the difference between what psychologists do in terms of stating the fact (descriptive) and giving an advice (prescriptive). Psychology isn't 'haram' for describing negative human behaviours. What could be 'haram' is the promotion of behaviour and thoughts

that are contradictory to the syariat.

For example, social pressure in the form of conformity is described and explained well by social psychologists. People behave the way they are partly because they feel pressured to follow the norm. In Guelph, as a teenage Muslim from Malaysia, I feel out of place. I was aware of the pressure of the Canadian norms - some are excellent and good to follow, some are against the syariat. If I choose to bow to the social pressure, I'd be another case of conformist. Having the Islamic belief system, I chose otherwise. Islam has prescriptions of behaviours. And those prescriptions are good for me; not necessarily put me in a hostile confrontation with the host society.

I remember one female student, with whom I worked on a group project. At the end of the semester, she complimented they way I show adherence to my religious principles. And she respected my beliefs. I felt validated for making the distinction between prescription and description. And now, looking back at that incident, I saw how psychology made my friend a better person.

I hope students of psychology programmes would be able to move from the question on the halal/haram of psychology to something like "How can I use psychology to promote good behavior and discourage bad behavior?"