The definition of psychology reads something along the lines of ‘psychology is the study of human and animal behaviour’. You’ll probably find that this is the standard definition found in most if not all introductory academical texts. There is a debate (an old debate) as to whether psychology could or should be considered a science. A lot could be asked and said about this debate, however it would be wise to have an awareness of the comparative nature of the scientific method, and how psychology in particular has fallen victim to this comparison (i.e. with biology, physics and chemistry).
One of the problems modern psychology has in both academic and applied circles is the unnatural separation from philosophical schools of thought. I don’t want to want to indicate that there is a kind of incompleteness within modern psychology, on the contrary, modern psychology has the potential to stand on its own [and does]. However in some instances there exists a denial of its philosophical roots in favour of its over ambitiousness in attempting to be recognised as a hard science.
Modern psychology consists of quantitative and qualitative research, which on paper has furthered our understanding of how our minds (and to some extent behaviours) work, yet in my opinion falls short in offering a conversation about why our minds work, who we are and the like. These questions tend to be raised and debated within the psychotherapeutic fields.
I propose that modern psychology has a reductionist agenda, meaning that all human (and animal) behaviour can be reduced down to the physiological/biological level. While it could be argued that such reductionism does have its merits, I think it unintentionally (or perhaps not) limits our understanding of the human being as a complete whole.
I agree, although I do think that in some qualitative research the subjective viewpoint *is* explored and given merit, and some of the ‘whys’ are definitely touched upon. IPA solidly acknowledges its philosophical underpinnings, I know that for sure. In my final year project the participants went on at length about how they experienced things, why they thought things happened and their own personal reflections. From that I was able to discuss similarities and differences in these things, and also try to pull out some tentative general points from the information gathered. You are right though, this isn’t something that is really part of mainstream psychology, and I don’t think it is given as much credit as it should be.