Different Fields in Psychology

Psychology (derived from the Greek words 'psyche' meaning mind and soul and 'logos' meaning discourse), is the study of mental processes and behavior. It attempts to explore different facets of the abstractly complex mind. Theorists identify three broad categories of psychology, namely, the cognitive, the conative and the affective. For more on this, you can refer to this explanation - theoretical perspectives of psychology. What are the different fields in psychology? Let us find out.

Abnormal Psychology: It is the study of abnormal behavior. This field of psychology consists of the study of abnormal behavioral patterns and their causes. The study of abnormal psychology finds application in clinical psychology, which is used in the treatment of psychological disorders.

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

Psychology of Advertising: The principles of advertising are based largely on customer behavior. Advertising techniques are based on needs of the customers and focus on attracting them. The psychology of advertising analyzes the customer behavior in response to different advertising strategies.

Psychology of Altruism: Altruism is defined as a selfless concern for others. It is referred to as the concern towards the welfare of others. The psychology of altruism analyzes the factors that lead to feelings of selflessness. It studies the factors that contribute to a concern towards others.

Psychology of Ambition: Ambition is closely associated with the human 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 of the generation of ambition and the positive and negative factors associated with it.

Animal Psychology: It is believed that animals react to stimuli in a trial and error manner and their responses define their behavior. It is believed that animal behaviors are not intentional. The psychology of animals attempts to delve deeper into the minds of animals.

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 the person’s personality. The psychology of art tries to analyze the characteristics of art and its production.

Psychology of Atheism: This field analyzes the complex question of whether God exists. Atheism is defined as a disbelief in God. Various factors contribute to the formation of disbelief in God and this branch studies them.

Psychology of Attraction: What makes a person attractive to another? What forms the basis of friendships? What are the factors that make a relationship successful? The psychology of attraction attempts to answer these questions and analyzes the factors governing relationships between human beings.

Psychology of Beauty: The perception of beauty differs across different individuals. What appeals to one person may not appeal to another. What makes things beautiful? How does the human mind perceive beauty? What are the factors that make certain objects more beautiful than others? The psychology of beauty attempts to find an answer to these questions.

Psychology of Behavior: This is a very important field of psychology that deals with the analysis of behavioral patterns in human beings. It studies the factors that influence the different types of behaviors seen in individuals.

Psychology of Belief: Our beliefs form the core of our knowledge system and influence our personality. This field attempts to analyze the 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 controls behavior, the patterns of behavior can be derived from the functioning of the brain.

Neuropsychology: This branch of psychology tries to understand how the brain influences behavioral responses in human beings.

Child Psychology: This field of psychology analyzes the development of children. It studies the different stages of social, personal and emotional development in children, as they become adults.

Cognitive Psychology: This field of psychology analyzes the mental processes, which are responsible for behavior. It deals with the study of problem solving, information processing, memory and emotional abilities of human beings.

Color Psychology: This field of psychology analyzes the effect of different colors on the behavior and emotions of human beings.

Comparative Psychology: The study of the animal behavior falls under the category of comparative psychology. This field of psychology deals with the study of mental processes in animals in order to get better understanding of human psychology.

Counseling Psychology: This branch of psychology deals with the art of counseling people about their roles in personal or professional life. It focuses on the issues related to stress management.

Clinical Psychology: It deals with the analysis and treatment of health disorders related to psychology. It deals with the clinical management of individuals with respect to their neural and psychological functioning.

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 communications like verbal and nonverbal or direct and indirect communication.

Psychology of Creativity: Creativity leads to new discoveries. It results from understanding unique and complex relationships between various components of the environment. Creativity emerges from thinking differently. The psychology of creativity studies the factors that lead to the development of creative thinking.

Criminal Psychology: This field of psychology deals with the study of the thoughts and reactions of criminals. It analyzes the factors that lead to criminal behavior.

Developmental Psychology: This field of psychology attempts to analyze the behavioral patterns of individuals in different age groups. It analyzes the patterns of changes in behavior with ascending age. For e.g. the physical and psychological changes that take place 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’s unconscious wishes. Some theories say that dreams are the means by which the brain organizes thoughts. Dreams are also considered to modify one’s mental state. The causes of dreams, the different types of dreams and the significance of the content of dreams have always been the subject of curiosity and interest. The psychology of dreams deals with these subjects.

Educational Psychology: It deals with education and the behavioral and social development resulting from it. The much-debated issue of heredity versus environment is dealt with in this field of psychology.

Forensic Psychology: It is defined as an intersection between psychology and the criminal justice system. It is applied to the criminal justice system to evaluate the psychology of the defendants.

Health Psychology: This field is related to the application of psychology to health care. It analyzes a wide range of health-related behavior. The psychology of the body consists of three aspects, namely, the body image, the body language and the body awareness. Body image is one’s perception of his/her identity, body language helps the human beings communicate with the others and body awareness deals with the analysis of the connection between the mind and the body.

Human Factors Psychology: It is the analysis of how psychology affects human interactions with the objects in the environment. This field of 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 selection and evaluation of employees. The psychology of business is applied to gain a systematic understanding of the employees.

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 to understand and cure the 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 the formation of their mental setup are analyzed in this field of psychology.

Sports Psychology: This field analyzes the people’s behavior in sports. It studies the factors that affect an individual’s performance in sports or any physical activity. The skills built through sports are closely associated with psychology. Sports psychology studies this relationship.

Psychology is a very vast and a complex subject. It consists of several fields that deal with the different facets of the human mind. The different fields in psychology attempt to solve complex questions associated with the structure and functioning of the human mind. This makes psychology a fascinating field for research.