Human Behavior Affects Everyone
If you’ve taken a high school history class, your standard university psychology course, or really enjoy reality TV, you’ll likely have come across one branch of psychology or another. Humans are obsessed with thinking about ourselves and how we interact with our environment. Take a look at this list, and you might find a new way to think about how you move through the world.
1. Abnormal Psychology
Abnormal psychology focuses primarily on the study of patterns of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that are linked to psychological disorders. Back in the day, this branch of psychology dealt with anyone deemed too ill to be a part of society and was subsequently thrown into mental asylums. Today, there is a greater emphasis on treatment rather than sequestration.
2. Psychohistory
Psychohistory draws on psychology, anthropology, and sociology to analyze the factors that influence human behavior. Their approach tries to explain why a particular historical event happened by focusing their research on the emotional and interpersonal aspects of individuals.
3. Biosychology
Also labeled as behavioral neuroscience, or psychobiology, biosychology studies how the brain and nervous system influence human behavior. Their study focuses on environmental and genetic factors, electrical stimulation, neurotransmitters, hormonal influences, and chemical components in the human body.
National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
4. Animal Psychology
Animal psychology, shockingly, refers to the study of animal behavior. Also called comparative psychology, an animal psychologist’s job is to examine the interactions between animals, the relationship to their environment, and how their behavior relates to human evolution. If you’ve ever watched Dog Whisperer with Caesar Millan, you’ll have a pretty good idea of how animal psychology works.
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5. Cognitive Psychology
This field of psychology focuses on the study of how humans acquire, process, and store information. They examine attention, perception, memory, reasoning, and language. A good example of this study in action is with Alzheimer's patients. With over 7 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s, this field of Psychology attempts to understand, diagnose, and manage the disease.
6. Developmental Psychology
This sector of psychology studies why humans grow and change throughout their lives. While most of us focus on this type of psychology when tracking an infant’s growth and development, the field of developmental psychology attempts to understand how internal and external factors play a part in physical, cognitive, and social development across all ages.
7. Forensic Psychology
If you’ve ever watched Mindhunter, The Alienist, The Mentalist, or any other crime drama, you’re probably familiar with forensic psychology. This branch focuses on combining their studies of human behavior and knowledge of the legal system to solve crimes. Forensic psychologists are also called upon in judicial proceedings to provide expert testimony, victimology, and mental health evaluations for criminal cases.
8. Health Psychology
Health psychology explores how our biological, behavioral, and social systems influence our health. Commonly, groups or campaigns related to weight loss, quitting smoking, and advocacy for individuals experiencing economic and health inequalities are all part of health psychology.
9. Industrial-Organizational Psychology
While this one sounds like a subset of urban planning, industrial-organizational (I/O) psychology is the study of human behavior in the workplace. Their main goal is to evaluate, understand, enhance, and improve employee performance, job satisfaction, productivity, and effectiveness in the workplace.
Arlington Research on Unsplash
10. Social Psychology
Social psychology studies how the presence of others influences people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. The “presence” of others can be imagined, real, or implied. In simple terms, social psychology explains why we play into conformity, develop stereotypes, and succumb to peer pressure. Avid Survivor and Big Brother fans can watch social psychology in action on a week-to-week basis.
11. Sports Psychology
This field studies how the human mind is influenced by athletic performance, exercise, and other physical activities. Professionals in this field may work hand-in-hand with kinesiologists, trying to better the mental well-being of professional athletes, coaches, and that one guy benching 250lbs at your local gym.
12. Theoretical Psychology
This broad-spectrum branch of psychology studies the profession’s theoretical and philosophical aspects. Typically non-experimental, theoretical psychologists incorporate new and existing theories on psychology to further their research.
13. Cyberpsychology
We should all be familiar with this one. Cyberpsychology is the study of how technology affects human behavior, emotions, and cognition. If your mother has ever blamed how you’re feeling “because of that phone,” or you’re concerned with your (lack of) attention span, this may be a field to check out.
14. Imaginal Psychology
This sector of psychology is a bit newer than some of the others on this list. Imaginal psychology focuses on the importance of images and the soul’s creative expression. This branch stems from Jungian psychology, which explores how humans can foster personal growth through conscious and unconscious processes.
J. Balla Photography on Unsplash
15. Moral Psychology
A trolley is heading towards five people tied to the track… just kidding. But if you’re a moral psychologist, this scenario has likely come up more than once. Moral psychology studies how people think, feel, and act when it comes to ethical situations.
16. Parapsychology
Famous for its many appearances in the horror genre, parapsychology is the study of mental phenomena that can’t be explained away by science. Hypnosis, telepathy, clairvoyance, near-death experiences, and ghost sightings all fall under this sector.
Georgi Kalaydzhiev on Unsplash
17. Quantitative Psychology
This field attempts to apply mathematical and statistical methodologies to human behavior and cognition. They model, develop, and design research methods to test intelligence, social networks, and genetics, among other areas.
18. Community Psychology
While most psychological fields study one individual, community psychology studies how communities function. This can include addressing community-related issues, interpersonal relationships between community members, and how to better the quality of life for members within communities.
19. Peace Psychology
This field of psychology studies how peace, conflict, violence, and war affect human behavior. This sector plays into psychological warfare, propaganda, and how conflict between social groups affects society as a whole.
20. Traffic Psychology
You guessed it! Traffic psychology is the study of traffic. More specifically, this discipline studies the relationship between psychological processes and the behavior of road users. Their aim is to improve traffic mobility, prevent crashes, and educate road users on proper road behavior.
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