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FIELDS IN PSYCHOLOGY

Abnormal Psychology: It is the study of abnormal behavior. It is actually a branch of psychology that deals with the study of abnormalbehavioral patterns and their causes. There are various theories about what to consider 'abnormal'. Actions or behavior that is not incoherence with what an average human being would do are referred to as abnormal. The study of abnormal psychology findsapplication in clinical psychology, which is used in the treatment of psychological disorders. This is not a specialized field in psychologybut is definitely an important branch that interests many. Read more on abnormal psychology.

Psychology of Addiction: A complete dependence on a certain substance or drug is known as addiction. Both physiological andpsychological factors can lead to addiction. The psychology of addiction analyzes these factors and attempts to find ways of controlling

addiction. The study of this field of psychology is closely related to rehabilitation and community psychology, and is of help incounseling the addicts to start a new life.

Psychology of Advertising: Advertising is largely based on customer behavior. Marketing strategies aim at tapping the customers'emotions in order to make them feel compelled to buy the product. The psychology of advertising involves the analysis of customer behavior and how promotional techniques change it. This field involves the study of advertising techniques and how they affect markettrends. The psychology of advertising analyzes customer behavior in response to different advertising strategies, and thus is an excitingfield of psychology to study.

Psychology of Altruism: Altruism is a selfless concern towards the welfare of others. The psychology of altruism involves the analysisof factors that make an individual selfless. Psychologists believe that altruistic behavior is a part of how we evolved. They say, we areborn with this feeling, which, by nature, makes us feel concerned about others. If understanding the nuances of altruism interests you,venture this field of psychology.

Psychology of Ambition: Ambition is associated with one's need of achievement. Heinz Kohut developed the psychology of self,

which studies the system of ambitions and ideals. The psychology of ambition studies the process by which ambition is generated in anindividual and how it dictates the way he/she behaves. The study of this field can be of help if you aspire for a career in developmentalpsychology, school psychology or counseling.

Animal Psychology: This is another interesting field of psychology that deals with the emotional state and behavioral traits of animals.It is believed that animals react to stimuli in a trial and error manner and that their behavior is mostly unintentional. The study of animalpsychology aims at understanding how animals behave in different situations and how their emotions and reflexes vary.

Art Psychology: Art is the manifestation of human creativity. The art forms a person is interested in and the way he/she portrays them,is closely associated with his/her personality. The psychology of art tries to analyze the characteristics of art and its production. There isa lot published on the psychology of art and there are universities offering programs in art psychology. Though not a field inpsychology, art therapy is related to the psychology of art. It makes use of art making for physical and emotional healing.

Psychology of Atheism: This field analyzes the intriguing question of whether God exists. Atheism is defined as disbelief in God. Thepsychology of atheism tries to understand the factors that lead to disbelief in God. Opinions vary over whether belief in God is only

wishful thinking or there really exists a supreme power ruling us.

Psychology of Attraction: What makes a person attract to another? What role does attraction play in a lasting relationship? Thepsychology of attraction attempts to answer these questions and analyzes the factors governing relationships between human beings.

Psychology of Beauty: The perception of beauty differs from one individual to another. What appeals to one person may not appeal toanother. What makes things beautiful? How does the human mind perceive beauty? The psychology of beauty attempts to find ananswer to questions like these and tries to analyze whether beauty is an abstract feeling, whether it is based on personal judgment andhow it leads to joy.

Psychology of Behavior : This is a very important field of psychology that deals with the analysis of behavioral patterns in humanbeings. It studies the factors that influence the different types of behavior in individuals. Behaviorism is based on the principle thatbehavior is acquired. This field of psychology tries to analyze how behavioral patterns are acquired and which factors influencebehavioral change. Behavioral psychology studies observable behavior and is taught as a part of any introductory course in the subject

Psychology of Belief : Our beliefs form the core of our knowledge system and influence our personality. This field attempts to analyzethe belief systems of individuals and how they affect behavior.

Biological Psychology: This field of psychology analyzes the biological aspect of human behavior. As the nervous system controlsbehavior, the patterns of behavior can be derived from the functioning of the brain. Biological psychology also tries to analyze thebiological aspects of psychological disorders.

Child Psychology: This field of psychology analyzes the emotional and social development of children. This field includes the analysisof changing behavioral patterns in children and the different stages in their overall development. As a child psychologist, you may needto work with toddlers, children or teenagers and help diagnose and treat the cognitive, social or emotional issues they have.

Cognitive Psychology: This field of psychology analyzes the mental processes, which are responsible for behavior. It deals with thestudy of problem solving, information processing, memory and emotional abilities of human beings. If questions like how human beingsperceive things, how they remember and recollect and what is the process of thinking like, have intrigued you, cognitive psychology

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could be the field you should enter.

Color Psychology: This field of psychology analyzes the effect of different colors on the behavior and emotions of human beings.Colors are believed to affect human emotions and influence their behavior to a large extent. That's the reason behind use of specificcolors for specific purposes in advertising and otherwise. Colors carry different meanings in different cultures. The study of how colorsaffect human emotions, how they influence human behavior and how colors affect your mood and how they make you feel, is preciselywhat color psychology includes.

Community Psychology: This branch of psychology studies how an individual and his community affect each other. It analyzes theinfluence society has on an individual's behavior and also how individual behavior affects the society. If you are interested in carving acareer out of this field in psychology, you must read about a career in community psychology. Social work, social psychology

community development and cross cultural psychology are some fields of study, that are closely related to community psychology.

Comparative Psychology: The study of animal behavior falls under the category of comparative psychology. This field of psychologydeals with the study of mental processes in animals in order to get a better understanding of human psychology. The study of adaptations, reproduction and evolution in animals comes under comparative psychology. Here's an interesting read... Do pets haveemotions?

Counseling Psychology: This branch of psychology deals with the art of counseling people about their roles in personal or professional life. It focuses on issues related to stress management. Counseling psychologists deal with the psychological well-being ofan individual as opposed to clinical psychologists who focus more on the medical side of one's emotional health and well-being.

Clinical Psychology: It deals with the analysis and treatment of health disorders related to psychology. It deals with the clinicalmanagement of individuals with respect to their neural and psychological functioning. As a clinical psychologist, you are required tohave knowledge of medicine to be able to look at the clinical aspect of one's emotional health.

Psychology of Communication: It analyzes the different patterns of behavior that lead to the expression of different kinds of emotions. It deals with the study of the various types of communication like verbal and nonverbal or direct and indirect communication.It involves the study of how communication takes place and how expression and listening skills impact the way situations are perceived

Psychology of Creativity: Creativity leads to new discoveries. Creativity is God's gift. Plainly put, it is the understanding of unique andcomplex relationships between various components of the environment. Creativity emerges from thinking differently. The psychology ofcreativity studies the factors that lead to development of creative thinking.

Criminal Psychology: This field of psychology deals with the study of the thinking and behavioral patterns of criminals. It analyzes thefactors that lead to criminal behavior and involves understanding a criminal's mind . If this field of study interests you, gothrough criminal psychology careers.Developmental Psychology: This field of psychology attempts to analyze the behavioral patterns of individuals in different age groupsIt analyzes the patterns of changes in behavior with ascending age. For example, the physical and psychological changes that takeplace as a result of growing age are studied in the developmental psychology of aging.

Psychology of Dreams: According to the famous theory of Sigmund Freud, dreams are the means of expression of one'ssubconscious wishes. Some theories say that dreams are the means by which the brain organizes thoughts. It is also believed thatdreams modify one's mental state. The causes of dreams, the different types of dreams and the significance of the content of dreamshave always been a subject of curiosity and interest. The psychology of dreams deals with this. More on the psychology of dreams.

Educational Psychology: It involves the study of the education system and the behavioral and social development resulting from it.The much-debated issue of heredity versus environment and how it influences an individual is dealt with, in this field of psychology.More on educational psychology.

Evolutionary Psychology: It involves the study of various psychological traits through an evolutionary perspective. It focuses on thestudy of how psychological traits might have evolved through adaptations in living beings.

Experimental Psychology: More than a field in psychology, experimental psychology is an approach taken in the study of differentpsychology fields. Experimental psychologists conduct experiments to understand perception and behavioral changes in individuals.

They propose theories based on observations made through experiments in psychology. The Milgram experiment is one good exampleof an experimental approach to the study of psychology.

Forensic Psychology: It is defined as the intersection between psychology and the criminal justice system. It is applied to the criminal justice system to evaluate the psychology of defendants. More on forensic psychology.Health Psychology: This field is related to the application of psychology to healthcare. It analyzes a wide range of health-relatedbehavioral patterns. The psychology of the body consists of three aspects, namely, the body image, the body language and the bodyawareness. Body image is one's perception of his/her identity, body language helps human beings communicate with others and bodyawareness involves the analysis of the mind-body relationship.

Human Factors Psychology: It is the analysis of how psychology affects human interactions with objects in the environment. This fieldof psychology is also known as engineering psychology.

Industrial Psychology: It is used to analyze and improve the potential of human beings at their workplace. It finds applications in the

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selection and evaluation of employees in an organization. The psychology of business is applied to gain a systematic understanding of employees.Neuropsychology: This branch of psychology tries to understand how the brain influences behavioral responses in human beings, bystudying the structure and functions of the brain and their relationship with psychological processes. There are two approaches in thestudy of this field of psychology. One which analyzes the correlation between the nervous system and behavior and the other whichstudies the impact of brain injury or ailments of the brain on one's psychological state.

Personality Psychology: It analyzes the different types of personalities and studies the effects of behavior, thoughts and emotions of an individual's personality.

Quantitative Psychology: It uses mathematical and statistical data for the study of behavioral patterns in human

beings.Psychometrics is a branch of psychology that deals with the measurement of knowledge, abilities and attributes.

School Psychology: The principles of school psychology combine those of educational and clinical psychology. It attempts tounderstand and cure students with learning disabilities.

Social Psychology: It deals with the analysis of how human beings think about each other and how they react to different situations.Their understanding of social issues and their mental setup are analyzed in this field of psychology.

Sports Psychology: This field analyzes a person's behavior in sports. It studies the factors that affect an individual's performance insports or any physical activity. The skills built through sports are closely associated with psychology. Sports psychology studies thisrelationship.

RESEARCH METHODLab Experiment

• This type of experiment is conducted in a well-controlled environment – not necessarily a laboratory – and therefore accurate

measurements are possible.

• The researcher decides where the experiment will take place, at what time, with which participants, in what circumstances and

using a standardized procedure.

Field Experiment

• These are conducted in the everyday (i.e. natural) environment of the participants but the situations are still artificially set up.

• The experimenter still manipulates the IV, but in a real-life setting (so cannot really control extraneous variables).

Case Study

• Case studies are in-depth investigations of a single person, group, event or community.

• Case studies are widely used in psychology and amongst the best-known ones carried out were by Sigmund Freud. He

conducted very detailed investigations into the private lives of his patients in an attempt to both understand and help themovercome their illnesses.

• Case studies provide rich qualitative data and have high levels of ecological validity.

Correlation

• Correlation means association - more precisely it is a measure of the extent to which two variables are related.

• If an increase in one variable tends to be associated with an increase in the other then this is known as a positive correlation.

• If an increase in one variable tends to be associated with a decrease in the other then this is known as a negative correlation.

•  A zero correlation occurs when there is no relationship between variables.

Questionnaire

• Questionnaires can be thought of as a kind of written interview. They can be carried out face to face, by telephone or post.

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• The questions asked can be open ended, allowing flexibility in the respondent's answers, or they can be more tightly

structured requiring short answers or a choice of answers from given alternatives.

• The choice of questions is important because of the need to avoid bias or ambiguity in the questions, ‘leading’ the respondent,

or causing offence.

Observations

• Covert observations are when the researcher pretends to be an ordinary member of the group and observes in

secret. There could be ethical problems or deception and consent with this particular method of observation.

• Overt observations are when the researcher tells the group he or she is conducting research (i.e. they know they

are being observed).

• Natural: Here spontaneous behavior is recorded in a natural setting.

• Controlled: behavior is observed under controlled laboratory conditions (e.g. Bandura Bobo doll).

• Participant: Here the observer has direct contact with the group of people they are observing.

• Non-participant(aka "fly on the wall): The researcher does not have direct contact with the people being observed.

Content Analysis

• Content analysis is a research tool used to indirectly observe the presence of certain words, images or concepts within the media

(e.g. advertisements, books films etc.). For example, content analysis could be used to study sex-role stereotyping.

• Researchers quantify (i.e. count) and analyze (i.e. examine) the presence, meanings and relationships of words and concepts, then

make inferences about the messages within the media, the writer(s), the audience, and even the culture and time of which theseare a part.

• To conduct a content analysis on any such media, the media is coded or broken down, into manageable categories on a variety of 

levels - word, word sense, phrase, sentence, or theme - and then examined.

Pilot Study

•  A pilot study is an initial run-through of the procedures to be used in an investigation; it involves selecting a few people and

trying out the study on them. It is possible to save time, and in some cases, money, by identifying any flaws in the proceduresdesigned by the researcher.

•  A pilot study can help the researcher spot any ambiguities (i.e. unusual things) or confusion in the information given to

participants or problems with the task devised.

• Sometimes the task is too hard, and the researcher may get a floor effect, because none of the participants can score at all or 

can complete the task – all performances are low. The opposite effect is a ceiling effect, when the task is so easy that all achievevirtually full marks or top performances and are “hitting the ceiling”.

Interview

• Unstructured (informal) interviews are like a casual conversation. There are no set questions and the participant is given the

opportunity to raise whatever topics he/she feels are relevant and ask them in their own way. In this kind of interview muchqualitative (i.e. descriptive) data is likely to be collected.

• Structured (formal) interviews are like a job interview. There is a fixed, predetermined set of questions that are put to every

participant in the same order and in the same way. The interviewer stays within their role and maintains social distance from theinterviewee.