Specialty Areas of Psychology

The conscious mind may be compared to a fountain playing in the sun and falling back into the great subterranean pool of subconscious from which it rises.
~ Sigmund Freud

If only we could fathom the depths of the subterranean pool that is the sub conscious human mind and swim those deep undercurrents that form the basis of our instincts, perceptions, inherent personality and innate idiosyncrasies! That would make the understanding of the human psyche and unraveling the complexities that lie hidden in its obscure abscesses a much easier task, making way for more accurate handling of psychological disorders and behavioral abnormalities. Human beings are strange creatures - the more a thing eludes their understanding, the more they are attracted to it. It is as if the tendency to investigate is programmed in the human DNA and a few years down the line, scientists may actually be able to identify the curiosity gene and its various types of mutations that lead to different people exhibiting varying levels of curiosity in different aspects of life and the cosmos.

That being said, the field of psychological studies offers a lot of opportunities to take a peek behind the veil of the conscious mind in order to root out deep-seated psychological problems and issues in subjects from different walks of life. The following segment briefly lays out the various different specialty areas of psychology for those who are intrigued by and drawn towards the mysteries of the mind.

Psychology Specialties

Check out the precise details of the following different fields in psychology that you can opt to major in depending upon what niche area of psychological studies appeal to you the most.

Clinical Psychology
In this area, you get to deal with all sorts of people who are psychologically weighed down by the trials and tribulations of their mundane lives, leading them towards stress, depression, chronic behavioral and psychological disorders, etc. Clinical psychologists are general practitioners, physicians dealing with issues of the conscious and subconscious mind. Counseling psychologists or psychological counselors also come within the purview of clinical psychologists.

Developmental Psychology
The way the personality of an individual develops in terms of intellect, social interactions and emotional maturity is the scope of investigation for developmental psychologists. In other words, they concern themselves with the study of and investigation into the overall personality development of a subject with reference to his behavior towards himself and other animate and inanimate subjects and his understanding, opinions and perceptions regarding the same. Educational psychology is a more focused sub group of developmental psychology where the spotlight is placed upon the learning ability, teaching techniques and academic development with regards to a subject. Significant aspects of child psychology also draw considerably from developmental psychology.

Industrial/Organizational Psychology
This specialty area of psychological studies focuses upon studying the interactions between a working subject and his work environment by investigating into the workplace stress factors and how they can be managed to free the work environment of mental pressure and make it more conducive to positive vibrations to enhance individual as well as organizational productivity.

Cognitive Psychology
This branch of psychology deals with studying the various biological aspects of memory, perception, information retention and processing by the brain, etc. Neuropsychology is a more narrowed down approach of cognitive psychology that focuses on the biology of the mind, concerning itself with the study of the brain and the nervous system and how they affect behavior and personality.

Experimental Psychology
This field is all about research in various fields of psychology to come up with improvements and breakthroughs through constant findings and discoveries.

Social Psychology
This is, by far, the most foggy specialty area of psychology as it deals with the behavior of a subject with relation to other members and aspects of the society. Each subject's reaction to and interaction with the other social variables can vary tremendously, making the nature of this field extremely unpredictable and the findings radically random.

Forensic Psychology
As exciting as it sounds, the job of a forensic psychologist is equally challenging and often daunting. Reading the twisted minds of criminals and understanding the thought process that goes behind planning and committing a crime isn't a fluke and a forensic psychologist often helps give form to the personality of the suspect by investigating the crime scene and various other related issues.

Human Factors Psychology
This specialization focuses attention towards man and his interaction with machines to help create such instruments, gadgets and pieces of mechanic utilities that can be most optimally used and are easy to handle. The concept of ergonomics in designing furniture, gadgets, vehicles and the like springs from intensive investigations into human factors psychology.

Sports Psychology
Coping with failure, fear of failure, motivation and attitude - these four emotional aspects hold great significance in the field of sports and the performance of an athlete or sports person depends as much on these psychological pillars as on physical power and stamina. As a result, counseling takes up the most significant part of a sports psychologist's job description.

Physiological/Health Psychology
Oh yes, before those biceps show up on your arms, they have to be conceived inside your mind first! Psychological motivation is the strongest driving force that can make you stick to those grueling workout regimes to get those dashboard abs. Also, psychological conditioning and orientation therapies also play an extremely important role in rehabilitation of addicts and help subjects quit such habits and obsessions that are detrimental to their health and wellness. Physiological psychology is a narrower branch that focuses more on studying the effects of matter over mind such as how consuming a particular drug or chemical can affect the behavior by tampering with various biological factors such as hormones, neurons, the brain, etc.

That was a brief overview of the 10 primary specialty areas in psychology. These broad specializations can be broken down into narrower, more specialized fields of study and whether or not you get an option for more narrow specializations depends upon whether the institute to which you plan to apply offer them or not. Still think careers in psychology are restricted to a limited niche? If the obscure recesses of the mind beckons to you, then psychology is your thing. Make up your mind regarding the specialization and you're on your way to justify your investigative streak.