Types Of Psychology
When we refer to types of psychology, what we usually mean are the branches of psychology. There are many different branches of psychology, the branch of knowledge that deals with the brain, brain processes, and behavior. All the branches of psychology are geared to an ultimate purpose: to understand individuals and groups through establishing generalizations as accurate as possible, as well as through examining specific cases. Psychology, for many, should benefit society; the types of psychology properly delineate its different benefits to society.
An expert in the field of psychology is called a psychologist, and psychologists are often classified under social, cognitive, or behavioral scientists. Some experts are called according to the type of psychology they specialize in (cognitive psychology, clinical psychology, etc.) Psychologists try as much as possible to ascertain the roles played by mental functions in group behavior, while determining the underlying physiological processes governing individual behavior, notably in the brain.
Psychology has merged successfully with many other different fields of knowledge to form different kinds of psychology now studied in the academe. Psychology has a vast scope that covers nearly the entirety of the human condition, and here are some of the more general types of psychology, followed by a brief description:
1. Clinical psychology is the branch of psychology that deals mainly with body conditions with underlying psychological causes, to understand, preclude, and treat psychologically-motivated dysfunction within the human body, as well as to promote personal mental well-being and development.
2. Cognitive psychology deals with all fields of human cognition. Cognition refers to the totality of mental processes that occur to individuals as they perform various activities. Cognitive psychology has the study of thinking, reasoning, emotions, problem-solving, perception, learning, attention, and language within its umbrella.
3. Biological psychology deals with the biological underpinnings of human and animal behavior. Biological psychology is also referred to as biological neuroscience, as the brain and its processes are the highlight in biological psychology. Biological psychology aims to find biological causes for abstractions such as perception, memory, and emotion.
4. Comparative psychology deals with the behavior and brain processes of nonhuman animals. Comparative psychology is linked with some branches of biology such as ethology (study of animal behavior) and sociobiology (study of the interactions between living things in a group). Conclusions gathered through comparative psychology could help us attain a deeper understanding of the psychology of human beings.
5. Social psychology aims to clarify how humans interact with each other in different settings.
6. Developmental psychology deals with the mental processes of human beings as they pass through different stages of development, from infancy to older adulthood. Developmental psychology aims to clarify how people belonging to different life spans perform mental processes, like thinking, problem-solving, and social interaction.
7. Educational psychology deals with how people learn in different settings. School psychology is a branch of educational psychology, dealing specifically with school settings. Educational psychology aims to elucidate learning behaviors and teaching methods that suit learning needs.
8. Industrial psychology deals with human behavior and thought processes in different work settings.
9. Evolutionary psychology aims to find out what specific behaviors are mental processes can be attributed to natural selection.
10. Personality psychology aims to clarify and develop theories of personality, consisting of unchanging attributes of thinking, behavior, and emotion in different people.
Many other types of psychology could be culled out, for each of these branches also have more specific sub-branches. Listed above are the most general branches of psychology. These types of psychology unify psychology as a field of knowledge worthy of careful and deliberate study.
