Index
It is such a large area of medicine that conveying the depth and breadth of the subject can be difficult.
As a result, several unique and distinctive branches of psychology have emerged to address specific subtopics within the study of the mind, brain, and behavior.
Each branch or field analyzes the questions and problems from a different perspective. While each has its own focus on psychological problems or concerns, all areas share a common goal of studying and explaining human thinking and behavior.
Psychology can be roughly divided into two main areas:
- Research: that seeks to increase our knowledge base.
- Practice: through which our knowledge is applied to problem solving in the real world.
Because human behavior is so varied, the number of subfields in psychology is also constantly growing and evolving.
Some of these subfields have firmly established themselves as areas of interest, and many colleges and universities offer courses and degree programs in these subjects.
Each field of psychology represents a specific area of study focused on a particular topic. Psychologists often specialize in one of these areas as a career.
The following are just a few of the major branches of psychology. For many of these specialty areas, working in that specific area requires additional graduate study in that particular field.
Definition of the branches of Psychology
Abnormal psychology
Abnormal psychology is the area that looks at psychopathology and abnormal behavior. Mental health professionals help evaluate, diagnose, and treat a wide variety of psychological disorders, such as anxiety and depression.
Counselors, clinical psychologists, and psychotherapists often work directly in this field.
Behavioral psychology
Behavioral psychology, also known as behaviorism, is a theory of learning based on the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning.
While this branch of psychology dominated the field during the early part of the 20th century, it became less prominent during the 1950s. However, behavioral techniques remain a mainstay in therapy, education, and many other areas.
People often use behavioral strategies such as classical conditioning and operant conditioning to teach or modify behaviors.
For example, a teacher may use a reward system to teach students to behave during class. When students are good, they receive gold stars that can later be awarded for some kind of special privilege.
Biopsychology
Biopsychology is a branch of psychology that focuses on how the brain, neurons, and nervous system influence thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
This field draws on many different disciplines, including basic psychology, experimental psychology, biology, physiology, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience.
People who work in this field often study how brain injuries and brain diseases affect human behavior. Biopsychology is also sometimes known as physiological psychology, behavioral neuroscience, or psychobiology.
Clinical psychology
Clinical psychology is the branch of psychology that deals with the evaluation and treatment of mental illness, abnormal behavior, and psychiatric disorders.
Doctors often work in private practices, but many also work in community centers or in universities and colleges. Others work in hospital settings or mental health clinics as part of a collaborative team that may include physicians, psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals.
Cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that focuses on internal mental states. This area of psychology has continued to grow since it emerged in the 1960s. This area of psychology focuses on the science of how people think, learn, and remember.
Psychologists working in this field often study things like:
- Perception.
- The motivation.
- The emotion.
- The language.
- The learning.
- The memory.
- The attention.
- Decision making.
- Problem solving.
Cognitive psychologists often use an information processing model to describe how the mind works, suggesting that the brain stores and processes information similar to a computer.
Comparative psychology
Comparative psychology is the branch of psychology that deals with the study of animal behavior. The study of animal behavior can lead to a deeper and broader understanding of human psychology.
This area has its roots in the work of researchers such as Charles Darwin and Georges Romanes and has become a highly multidisciplinary subject.
Psychologists often contribute to this field, as do biologists, anthropologists, ecologists, geneticists, and many others.
psychological counseling
Counseling psychology is one of the largest individual subfields within psychology. It focuses on treating clients experiencing mental distress and a wide variety of psychological symptoms.
The Society of Counseling Psychology describes the field as an area that can improve interpersonal functioning throughout life by improving social and emotional health, as well as addressing concerns about health, work, family, marriage, and more. .
Cross-cultural psychology
Cross-cultural psychology is a branch of psychology that looks at how cultural factors influence human behavior. The International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP) was established in 1972, and this branch of psychology has continued to grow and develop ever since.
Today, more and more psychologists are investigating how behavior differs between various cultures around the world.
Developmental psychology
Developmental psychology focuses on how people change and grow throughout life. The scientific study of human development seeks to understand and explain how and why people change throughout life.
Developmental psychologists often study things like physical growth, intellectual development, emotional changes, social growth, and perceptual changes that occur throughout life.
These psychologists generally specialize in an area such as child, adolescent, adult, or geriatric development, while others may study the effects of developmental delays.
This field covers a wide range of topics ranging from prenatal development to Alzheimer’s disease.
Educational psychology
Educational psychology is the branch of psychology that deals with schools, the teaching of psychology, educational issues, and student concerns.
Educational psychologists often study how students learn or work directly with students, parents, teachers, and administrators to improve student outcomes. They could study how different variables influence individual student outcomes.
They also study topics such as learning disabilities, giftedness, the instructional process, and individual differences.
Experimental psychology
Experimental psychology is the branch of psychology that uses scientific methods to investigate the brain and behavior. Many of these techniques are also used by other areas of psychology to conduct research on everything from childhood development to social issues.
Experimental psychologists work in a wide variety of settings, including colleges, universities, research centers, government and private companies.
Experimental psychologists use the scientific method to study a wide ga
