Psychology as a profession expresses itself in differentfields, or domains of interest. There are a number of fields of psychology, such as clinical, experimental, counseling, developmental, physiological, human factors, and industrial.
Clinical psychology is the field associated with psychotherapy and psychological testing. A clinic is a place where sick people go for help: consequently, clinical psychologists try to help persons with both well-defined mental disorders and serious personal problems. The word psychotherapy, in terms of its roots, means a "healing of the self. In practice, a clinical psychologist who employs psychotherapy attempts to work with a troubled person by using various methods and techniques that are designed to help the individual improve his or her mental health. This is done without drugs. An informal description of psychotherapy refers to it as the talking cure.
Psychological testing is a process involving, in most cases, the administration of paper-and-pencil intelligence and personality tests. Test results can be helpful in both making an evaluation of the state of a person's mental health and suggesting a course of treatment.
A clinical psychologist should not be confused with a psychiatrist. A fully qualified clinical psychologist has earned a Ph.D. degree (doctor of philosophy with a specialization in psychology). Psychiatry is a medical specialty that gives its attention to mental disorders. A fully qualified chisirisi has earned an M.D.
degree (doctor of medicine). Although psychiatrists can and do practice psychotherapy, they can also prescribe drugs. Clinical psychologists, not being medical doctors, do not prescribe drugs.
Clinical psychology is the largest single field of psychology. About 40 percent of psychologists are clinical psychologists.
Experimental psychology is the field associated with research. Experimental psychologists investigate basic behavioral processes such as learning, motivation, perception, memory, and thinking. Subjects may be either animals or human beings. Ivan Pavlov's experiments on conditioned reflexes, associated with the learning process, used dogs as subjects.
The great majority of experimental psychologists are found at the nations universitie Their duties combine research and teaching. In order to obtain a permanent position and achieve academic promotion, it is necessary for the psychologist to publish the results of experiments in recognized scientific journals.
Experimental psychology is not a large field of psychology in terms of numbers of psychologists. Only about 6 percent of psychologists are experimental psychologists. On the other hand, experimental psychology represents a cutting edge of psychology: it is where much progress is made. The overall concepts and findings in a book such as this one have been made possible primarily by experimental work.
The remaining fields of psychology will be briefly described in terms of what psychologists associated with them do.
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A counseling psychologist provides advice and guidance., often in a school setting. Sometimes he or she will, like a clinical psychologist, attempt to help individuals with personal problems. However, if the problems involve a mental disorder, the individual will be referred to a clinical psychologist or a psychiatrist.
A developmental psychologist is concerned with maturational and learning processes in both children and adults. Although a developmental psychologist is usually thought of as a child psychologist, it is important to realize that a given developmental psychologist might have a particular interest in changes associated with middle-aged or elderly people.
A physiological psychologist, like an experimental psychologist, does research. Subject areas include the structures and functions of the brain, the activity of neurotransmitters (i.e., chemical messengers), and the effect that hormones produced by the endocrine glands have on moods and behavior.
A human factors psychologist combines a knowledge of engineering with a knowledge of psychology. For example, he or she may be part of a team that is attempting to redesign an aircraft control panel in an attempt to make it more user friendly in order to reduce pilot error associated with misperceptions.
An industrial psychologist usually works tor a corporation. The principal aim is to provide a work environment that will facilitate production, reduce accidents, and maintain employee morale. A theme that guides industrial psychology is the human use of human beings.
1. The primary subject matter of psychology is
a. the philosophical concept of the psyche
b. the behavior of organisms
c. the conscious mind
d. the unconscious mind
Which one of the following is a goal of scientific psychology?
a. To abstract behavior
b. To explain behavior
c. To predict behavior
d. To control behavior
What characterizes a school of psychology?
a. Its physiological research
b. Its stand on Gestalt psychology
c. Its orientation toward psychoanalysis
d. Its viewpoint and assumptions
Functionalism, associated with William James, is particularly interested in
a. introspection
b. the structure of consciousness
c. how the mind works
d. developmental psychology
Which one of the following is correctly associated with the German word Gesiak?
a. Neuron
b. Organized whole
c. Physiological psychology
d. Repression
What school of psychology indicates that it is important to study behavior itself, not the mind or consciousness?
a. Behaviorism
b. Structuralism
c. Psychoanalysis
d. Functionalism
. The principal assumption of psychoanalysis is that
a. habits determine behavior
b. human beings do not have an unconscious mental life
c. human beings have an unconscious mental life
d. all motives are inborn
2. The cognitive viewpoint stresses the importance of
a. learning
b. thinking
c. motivation
d. biological drives
What viewpoint stresses the importance of the activity of the brain and nervous system?
a. The psychodynamic viewpoint
b. The learning viewpoint
c. The humanistic viewpoint
d. The biological viewpoint
9. Psychotherapy is a work activity associated with what field of psychology?
a. Experimental psychology
b. Developmental psychology
c. Clinical psychology
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d. Physiological psychology
True or False
1. T F Modem psychology is defined as the science of the mind.
2. T F The goals of scientific psychology are to (1) describe. (2) explain. (3) predict, and (4) control behavior.
3. T F Sigmund Freudwas the principal founding personality of psychoanalysis.
4. T F The biological viewpoint assumes that most behavior is learned.
5. T F Clinical psychology, a field that stresses psychotherapy and psychological testing, is the single largest field of psychology.
Self-check
3. define psychology;
4. state the goals of scientific psychology;
5. identify the five classical schools of psychology and their founding personalities;
6. name and describe the sis principal viewpoints used to explain behavior;
7. name and describe seven important fields of psychology.
Think about the places in which you might encounter each of the specialties.
| Specialty | Places in which they work: |
| 1. clinical psychologist | |
| 2. counseling psychologist | |
| 3. developmental psychologist | |
| 4. educational psychologist | |
| 5. industrial organizational psychologist | |
| 6. environmental psychologist | |
| 7. forensic psychologist | |
| S. health psychologist | |
| 9. experimental psychologist |
Match the terms with their definitions
| a'l | ||
| applied science | the pursuit of knowledge about natural phenomena for its own sake | |
| basic science | discovering ways to use scientific findings to aocomplish practical goals | |
| cognitive | a general approach to gathering information and answering questions so that errors and biases are minimized | |
| hypothesis | having to do with an organism's thinking and understanding | |
| physiological | a set of assumptions used to explain phenomena and offered for scientific study | |
| psychology | having to do with an organism's physical processes | |
| scientific method | an assumption or prediction about behavior that is tested through scientific research | |
| theory | the scientific study of behavior that is tested through scientific research | |
| b'l | ||
| behaviorist | a psychologist who focuses on how we process, store, and use information and how this information influences our thinking, language, problem solving, and creativity | |
| humanist | a psychologist who analyzes how organisms learn or modify their behavior based on their response to events in the environment | |
| introspection | a psychologist who studied the basic elements that make up conscious mental experiences | |
| cognitivist | a psychologist who studied the function (rather than the structure) of consciousness | |
| functionalist | a psychologist who studies how unconscious motives and conflicts determine human behavior | |
| psychoanalyst | a psychologist who studies how physical and chemical changes in our bodies influence our behavior | |
| psychobiologist | a psychologist who believes that each person has freedom in directing his or her future and achieving personal growth | |
| structuralist | a method of self-observation in which participants report on their thoughts and feelings | |
| . 1 clinical psychologist | a psychologist who diagnoses and treats people with emotional disturbances | |
| community psychologist | a psychologist who may work in a mental health or social welfare agency operated by the government or private organization | |
| counseling psychologist | a psychologist who usually helps people deal with problems of living | |
| developmental psychologist | a psychologist who studies the emotional, cognitive, biological, personal, and social changes that oocur as an individual matures | |
| educational psychologist | a psychologist who is concerned with helping students learn | |
| experimental psychologist | a psychologist who studies sensation, perception, learning, motivation, and emotion in carefully controlled laboratory conditions | |
| industrial/organizational psychologist | a psychologist who uses psychological concepts to make the workplace a more satisfying environment for employees and managers | |
| psychiatry | a branch of medicine that deals with mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders | |
| psychologist | a scientist who studies the mind and behavior of humans and animals | |
| d) | ||
| case study | research method that involves an intensive investigation of one or more participants | |
| control group | the group of participants that is treated in the same way as the experimental group except that the experimental treatment (the independent variable) is not applied | |
| correlation | the measure of a relationship between two variables or sets of data | |
| cross-sectional study | research method in which data is collected from groups of participants of different ages and compared so that conclusions can be drawn about differences due to age | |
| experimental group | the group of participants to which an independent variable is applied | |
| hypothesis | an educated guess about the relationship between two variables | |
| longitudinal study | research method in which data is collected about a group of participants over a number years to assess how certain characteristics change and remain the same during development | |
| naturalistic observation | research method in which the psychologist observes the participantin a natural setting without interfering | |
| sample | the small group of participants, out of the total number available, that a researcher studies | |
| survey | research method in which information is obtained by asking many individuals a fixed set of questions | |
| variable | any factor that is capable of change | |
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