types of psychology Flashcards
Developmental
Looks at human development across the life span.
Developmental psychology once focused primarily on child
development but today devotes a great deal of research to
adolescence, adulthood, and old age.
Social
Focuses on interpersonal behavior and the role of social forces
in governing behavior. Typical topics include attitude formation,
attitude change, prejudice, conformity, attraction, aggression,
intimate relationships, and behavior in groups.
Experimental
Encompasses the traditional core of topics such as
sensation, perception, learning, conditioning, motivation and
emotion.
Physiological:
Examines the influence of genetic factors on behavior
and the role of the brain, nervous system, endocrine system, and
bodily chemicals in the regulation of behavior.
Cognitive:
Focuses on “higher” mental processes such as memory,
reasoning, information processing, language, problem solving,
decision making, and creativity.
Personality:
Interested in describing and understanding individuals’
consistency in behavior, which represents their personality. This area
is interested in factors that shape personality and with personality.
Clinical:
Concerned with evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of
individuals with psychological disorders, as well as treatment of
individuals with psychological disorders, as well as treatment of less
severe behavioral and emotional problems. Principal activities include
interviewing clients, psychological testing, and providing group and
individual psychotherapy.
Counseling:
Overlaps with clinical psychology in that specialists in
both areas engage in similar activities – interviewing, testing, and
providing therapy. Counseling psychologists usually work with a
somewhat different clientele, providing assistance to people struggling
with everyday problems of moderate severity – they specialize in
family, marital, or career counseling.
Educational:
Work to improve curriculum design, achievement
testing, teacher training, and other aspects of the educational process.
School psychologists usually work in elementary or secondary schools,
where they test and counsel children having difficulties in school and
aid parents and teachers in solving school-related problems.
I/O:
Perform a wide variety of tasks in the world of business and
industry. These tasks include running human resources departments,
working to improve staff morale and attitudes, striving to increase job
satisfaction and productivity, examining organizational structures and
procedures, and making recommendations for improvements.
Psychiatry:
is the branch of medicine that deals with emotional
disturbances. Psychiatrists and clinical psychologists provide similar
services for most clients.
They listen, ask questions, and try to help. Psychiatrists however, are
medical doctors and can therefore prescribe drugs, such as
tranquilizers and antidepressants, whereas,, in most places,
psychologists cannot.
School psychologist:
are specialist in the psychological condition of
students, usually in kindergarten through Secondary school. Broadly
speaking, school psychologists identify the educational needs of
children, devise a plan to meet those needs, and then either implement
the plan themselves or advise teachers how to implement it.
Ergonomics:
in one field of psychology, an ergonomist, or human
factors specialist, attempts to facilitate the operation of machinery so
that ordinary people can use it efficiently and safely. The term
ergonomics is derived from Greek roots meaning “laws of work.”
Industrial/Organizational:
Perform a wide variety of tasks in the world
of business and industry. These tasks include running human
resources departments, working to improve staff morale and attitudes,
striving to increase job satisfaction and productivity, examining
organizational structures and procedures, and making
recommendations for improvements.
