Psychologists can focus on many aspects of the human mind and behavior. These different focuses form the sub-branches of psychology. In the following, we will briefly touch on the various sub-branches of psychology and the main areas of interest of these sub-branches.
Biological Psychology
Biological psychology or otherwise known as physiological psychology, is the sub-branch that uses physiological processes in the body, hormonal systems and the functioning of the brain to explain behaviors and mental processes. In particular, issues such as the connection of genetic factors with our personality and behaviors, and the role of our organs in coping with stress are of interest to biological psychologists. While working on these issues, biological psychologists examine the human brain using devices such as high-tech scanning devices; tries to establish connections between brain activities and mental processes.
Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive psychologists are concerned with mental processes and abilities such as perception, learning, memory, intelligence, and consciousness. One of the interesting issues that psychologists working in this field focus on is that people experience some illusions while perceiving the information around them. For example, when we look at pictures containing illusions, we may not perceive the same image even though we are looking at the same picture each time. This indicates how our brain can mentally change stimuli during perception. Cognitive psychologists try to understand invisible mental processes through observable reactions and behaviors. For example, cognitive processes that occur between hearing and responding to a question posed to oneself and cannot be directly observed are among the research topics of cognitive psychologists.
Developmental Psychology
Developmental psychologists study how people’s mental processes and behaviors change throughout life. They try to understand why and how people’s mental abilities change from birth to advanced ages and what kind of results these changes lead to. Studies in this field cover a wide range of topics, from attachment, child care, changes in adolescence to memory changes in old age and care for the elderly. The results obtained from the studies can be used in applications in many fields. Developmental psychologists are particularly interested in the childhood period and the effects of experiences in this period on a person’s adult life. For example, developmental psychologists ask questions and conduct research on issues such as how the attachment between mother and child during infancy is reflected in the child’s relationship after adulthood.
Personality Psychology
Personality psychology focuses on personality traits that distinguish individuals from each other. Personality psychologists develop various personality tests to understand people’s character traits. These tests enable it to be understood at what level each individual has many personality traits such as extroversion, openness to innovation, and emotionality. In this way, they examine the relationship of these personality traits to many issues such as approaching others with prejudice, coping with stress, and the risk of depression. Concentrating on interpersonal differences, psychologists also conduct studies on intelligence. Personality psychologists, who are interested in the field of positive psychology, are also investigating what are the characteristics that enable people to reach optimism and happiness.
Clinical Psychology
Clinical psychologists conduct research on the causes and treatments of mental illness and assist patients in overcoming their problems. Researching the relationship between many problems and diseases from depression to schizophrenia with genetic and environmental factors is used to develop the most effective treatment methods.
Educational Psychology
Educational psychology is a sub-branch of psychology that focuses on teaching and learning processes. Educational psychologists work on issues that have important applications such as improving teaching techniques, reducing dropout rates, and providing the most effective education. It also conducts studies on IQ measurement, identifying learning difficulties in students and increasing students’ satisfaction at school.
Social Psychology
Social psychology studies how people influence each other, their relationships with each other, and their behavior in groups. Topics of interest to social psychologists range from the influence of groups on people’s attitudes and behaviors to prejudice, interpersonal relationships, and persuasion. For example, social psychologists working on persuasion may conduct research on the messages and campaign patterns that will have the most impact on people on issues such as quitting smoking. Social psychologists, who are interested in intergroup relations, can investigate how groups such as nationality and gender, to which people feel belonging, affect their behavior and approach to others.
Cultural Psychology
Cultural psychology deals with how culture shapes people and how it is reflected in their thinking and behavior. Lifestyles, norms and traditions in different cultures, psychological processes of people differentiate their lives and are reflected in their behaviors. With the emergence of cultural psychology, the relationship between culture and psychology has been given importance, and studies have begun on the psychological phenomena of people who grew up in cultures different from the American and European cultures.
Industrial and Organizational Psychology
Industrial and organizational psychologists study people at work. It conducts research on topics such as leadership, efficiency, performance, job satisfaction, motivation, and teamwork. Workplaces benefit from the work of industrial and organizational psychologists in many areas such as increasing performance and productivity, providing effective training to their employees and increasing employee satisfaction.
neuropsychology
Neuropsychology investigates the role of the brain and the nervous system in general in human behavior by concentrating on the relationship between the brain and behavior. Neuropsychologists, who work with individuals who have damaged certain parts of their brains as a result of various accidents or illnesses, are also involved in the creation and implementation of rehabilitation programs.
Quantitative Psychology/Psychometry
Quantitative psychology focuses on topics such as measurement, research design, and statistical analysis. Quantitative psychologists are interested in developing various methods for measuring human characteristics, mathematical modeling of psychological processes, and data analysis. Quantitative psychologists also work on the development of new and effective research methods.
Applied Sub-branches of Psychology
Fields such as psychological counseling, justice and health can be counted among the fields in which psychology is applied. Counseling is a field close to clinical psychology and includes dealing with people within the framework of therapy. Psychologists working in the field of justice are concerned with the psychological aspects of forensic processes. Psychologists working in this field especially focus on criminal behavior, criminal psychology and crime research. They can concentrate on the psychology of convicts and prison staff and work on litigation processes. Health psychologists, on the other hand, work to support public health and reduce unhealthy behaviors. From reducing the use of harmful substances to increasing regular health checks and combating health risks such as cancer and heart attack, public health Various issues related to health are in the interest of health psychologists.
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