Fields of Applied Psychology

            From the day Wilhelm Wundt established first psychology laboratory in 1879 to date psychology has come a long way. It started with Functionalism, Psychoanalysis, Structuralism, Behaviourism, humanism and established various psychotherapies. The psychology entered almost every aspect of human life. During this journey various theories, principles and laws of psychology applied in various fields such as health, clinical, education, sports, politics, economics, industry and organizations, counselling, forensic etc. with encouraging results.

1.         Cognitive Psychology – Investigates mental processes involved in acquisition, storage, manipulation, and transformation of information received from the environment along with its use and communication. The major cognitive processes are attention, perception, memory, reasoning, problem solving, decision-making and language.

2.         Biological Psychology – It focuses on the relationship between behaviour and the physical system, including the brain and the rest of the nervous system, the immune system, and genetics. Biological psychologists often collaborate with neuroscientists, zoologists, and anthropologists.

3.         Neuropsychology – It studies the role of neurotransmitters or chemical substances which are responsible for neural communication in different areas of the brain and therefore in associated mental functions.

4.         Cross-cultural and Cultural Psychology – It examines the role of culture in understanding behaviour, thought, and emotion. It assumes that human behaviour is not only a reflection of human-biological potential but also a product of culture.

5.         Environmental Psychology – It studies the interaction of physical factors such as temperature, humidity, pollution, and natural disasters on human behaviour. The influence of physical arrangement of the workplace on health, the emotional state, and interpersonal relations are also investigated.

6.         Developmental Psychology – This field studies the physical, social and psychological changes occurring in different ages and states, from conception to old age. Developmental psychologists try to know how we become what we are.

7.         Social Psychology – This area detects how people are affected by their social environment, how people think and how they affect others. Social psychologists are interested in such topics as attitude, conformity and obedience, mutual attraction, bias, aggression, social inspiration, inter-group relations etc.

8.         Health Psychology – It focuses on the role of psychological factors (for example, stress, anxiety) in the development, prevention and treatment of illness.

9.         Clinical and Counselling Psychology – It deals with causes, treatment and prevention of different types of psychological disorders such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders and chronic substance abuse. A related area is counselling, which aims to improve everyday functioning by helping people solve problems in daily living and cope more effectively with challenging situations.

10.       Industrial/Organizational Psychology – It deals with workplace behaviour, focusing on both the workers and the organizations that employ them. Industrial/organizational psychologists are concerned with training employees, improving work conditions, and developing criteria for selecting employees.

11.       Educational Psychology – It studies how people of all ages learn. Educational psychologists primarily help develop instructional methods and materials used to train people in both educational and work settings. They are also concerned with research on issues of relevance for education, counselling and learning problems.

12.       Sports Psychology – It applies psychological principles to improve sports performance by enhancing their motivation. Sports psychology is a relatively new field but is gaining acceptance worldwide.

13.       Other Emerging Branches of Psychology – The interdisciplinary focus on research and application of psychology has led to the emergence of varied areas like aviation Psychology, space psychology, military psychology, forensic psychology, rural psychology, engineering psychology, managerial psychology, community psychology, psychology of women, and political psychology, to name a few.