Branches of Psychology
There are different branches of psychology that serve different purposes. There is no fixed way of classifying them, but here are some common types:
Clinical Psychology
Clinical psychology integrates science, theory, and practice in order to understand, predict and mitigate problems with adjustment, disability, and discomfort. It promotes adoption, adjustment, and personal development. A clinical psychologist concentrates on the intellectual, emotional, biological, psychological, social, and behavioral aspects of human performance throughout a person's life, across varying cultures and socioeconomic levels. Clinical psychology can help us to understand, prevent, and alleviate psychologically-caused distress or dysfunction, and promote an individual's well-being and personal development.
Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive psychology investigates internal mental processes, such as problem solving, memory, learning, and language. It looks at how people think, perceive, communicate, remember, and learn. It is closely related to neuroscience, philosophy, and linguistics. Cognitive psychologists look at how people acquire, process, and store information. Practical applications include how to improve memory, increase the accuracy of decision-making, or how to set up business programs to increase ethical business and profit.
Developmental Psychology
This is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes that a person experiences over the life span, often referred to as human development. It focuses not only on infants and young children but also teenagers, adults, and older people. Developmental psychology include factors like motor skills, problem solving, and moral understanding, acquiring language, emotions, personality, self-concept, and identity formation and so forth. It also looks at innate mental structures against learning through experience, or how a person's characteristics interact with environmental factors and how this affects development.
Evolutionary Psychology
Evolutionary psychology looks at how human behavior, for example language, has been affected by psychological adjustments during evolution. An evolutionary psychologist believes that many human psychological behaviors are adaptive in that they have enabled us to survive over thousands of years. It aims to explain all of our thought processes, emotions and actions in terms of the previous survival advantages they would have granted us in the wild.
Forensic Psychology
Forensic psychology involves applying psychology to criminal investigation and the law. A forensic psychologist practices psychology as a science within the criminal justice system and civil courts. It involves assessing the psychological factors that might influence a case or behavior and presenting the findings in court. So, we can take it as the intersection between psychology and justice system.
Health Psychology
Health psychology is also called behavioral medicine or medical psychology. It observes how behavior, biology, and social context influence illness and health. A physician often looks first at the biological causes of a disease, but a health psychologist will focus on the whole person and what influences their health status. This may include their socioeconomic status, education, background, and behaviors that may have an impact on the disease, such as compliance with instructions and medication. Health psychologists usually work alongside other medical professionals in clinical settings
Neuropsychology
Neuropsychology looks at the structure and function of the brain in relation to behaviors and psychological processes. A neuropsychology may be involved if a condition involves lesion in the brain, and assessments that involve recording electrical activity in the brain. A neuropsychological evaluation is used to determine whether a person is likely to experience behavioral problems following suspected or diagnosed brain injury, such as a stroke. The results can enable a doctor to provide treatment that may help the individual achieve possible improvements in cognitive damage that has occurred.
Occupational Psychology
In a corporate setting, a psychologist can help boost productivity and enhance employee retention.Occupational or organizational psychologists are involved in assessing and making recommendations about the performance of people at work and in training. They help companies to find more effective ways to function, and to understand how people and groups behave at work. This information can help improve effectiveness, efficiency, job satisfaction, and employee retention.
Social Psychology
Social psychology uses scientific methods to understand how social influences affect human behavior. It seeks to explain how feelings, behavior, and thoughts are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of other people. A social psychologist looks at group behavior, social perception, non-verbal behavior, conformity, aggression, prejudice, and leadership. Social perception and social interaction are seen as key to understanding social behavior.
Counseling Psychology
This subfield of psychology assists individuals in dealing with many personal problems that do not involve psychological disorders. It is a psychological specialty that encompasses research and applied work in several broad domains: counseling process and outcome; supervision and training; career development and counseling; and prevention and health. Some unifying themes among counselingpsychologists include a focus on assets and strengths, person–environment interactions, educational and career development, brief interactions, and a focus on intact personalities.
Educational Psychology
Educational psychology deals with all aspects of the educational process. It is the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of human learning. The study of learning processes, from both cognitive and behavioral perspectives, allows researchers to understand individual differences in intelligence, cognitive development, affect, motivation, self-regulation, and self-concept, as well as their role in learning.
Experimental Psychology
Experimental Psychology is the basic psychological process including perception, learning and motivation. It refers to work done by those who apply experimental methods to psychological study and the processes that underlie it. Experimental psychologists employ human participants and animal subjects to study a great many topics.
Industrial/organizational psychology
Industrial/organizational psychology studies all aspects of behavior in work settings. It is the branch of psychology that applies psychological theories and principles to organizations. Often referred to as I-O psychology, this field focuses on increasing workplace productivity and related issues such as the physical and mental well-being of employees. Industrial-organizational psychologists perform a wide variety of tasks, including studying worker attitudes and behavior, evaluating companies, and conducting leadership training. The overall goal of this field is to study and understand human behavior in the workplace.
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