Today,
psychology is defined as "the scientific study of behavior and mental processes". Philosophical interest in the mind and behavior dates back to the ancient civilizations of
Egypt,
Persia,
Greece,
China, and
India. For a condensed overview, see the
Timeline of Psychology article. The history of psychology as a scholarly study of the mind and behavior dates back to the
Ancient Greeks. There is also evidence of psychological thought in ancient Egypt.
Psychology was a branch of
philosophy until the 1870s, when it developed as an independent scientific discipline in Germany and the United States. Psychology borders on various other fields including
physiology,
neuroscience,
artificial intelligence,
sociology,
anthropology, as well as philosophy and other components of the
humanities.