The Diverse Nature of Psychology
The American Psychological Association has identified 54 divisions within the field of psychology (Plante, 2011). Each division has stemmed from one of the seven major perspectives: psychodynamic, behavioral, humanistic, cognitive, sociocultural, biological, and evolutionary. This diversity within psychology, allows psychologists the ability to expand in all areas of explanation, assessment, and diagnoses, which furthers the science of psychology through many different subfield specialties.
Influence on Psychology’s Major Concepts
Diversity is off great influence on the major concepts in psychology. The cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, and humanistic perspectives provide diverse explanations and solutions to psychological disorders. Each perspective offers a unique emphasis on human behavior factors such as cognitive and social factors. Seeing as no two people will have the same exact perception of an event, it is no wonder that two psychologists will bring a different perception of the field to the table.
Sub disciplines and Subtopics
Clinical Psychology
Clinical psychology “focuses on the assessment, treatment, and understanding of psychological and behavioral problems and disorders” (Plante, 2011, p. 5). Clinical psychology incorporates all aspects of human functioning, including but not limited to intellect, emotions, behavior, biology and social factors (Plante, 2011). These aspects assist a clinical psychologist in a way to understand and assist a patient with troubles that may occur throughout his or her life span.
Social context and culture have a huge impact on behavior. One must be familiar with cultural norms in order to efficiently understand symptoms and develop proper ...
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...res that the field of psychology can continue to blossom and expand. At the early stages of the field, it may have been inconceivable that there could be several different ways to assess a psychological disorder or to assess the simplest human behavior. Clinical psychology assesses human behaviors and emotions in everyday life whereas I/O psychology assesses human behavior in the workplace. Both of these fields have a unified goal to improve quality of life for those that may be suffering or having trouble in the workplace.
References
Plante, T. G. (2011). Contemporary clinical psychology (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Shackelford, W. G. (2003, 02). The changing definition of workplace diversity. Black Collegian, 33, 53-58.
Spector, P. E. (2012). Industrial and organizational psychology: Research and practice (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
The World of Psychology. (2002). A Pearson Education Company. Boston, MA: Samuel Wood & Ellen Green Wood p. 593
... for integration and the prominent position of psychotherapy, the evidence suggests that the field of psychology does not function in an integrated manner. The APA divides branches of psychology into separate divisions, each with their own specializations, journals, and goals. Educational institutions divide their programs into different concentrations. Often, different schools have different orientations and specializations from other schools, further increasing the divide. Therefore, while the arguments presented in the article should be self-evident, they apparently are not.
As doctoral students begin the process of becoming psychologists, many questions are posited to them during the first months of their academic studies; one of which is what theoretical orientation are you most drawn to? The question is simple, but only on the surface; the underlying complexity of the theories behind the orientations must be well understood. Therefore, the student must make the effort to research the history, the application, and the science behind each of the major orientations used within psychology, in order to determine which orientation is most inline with their preference and beliefs involving different treatments for psychological issues. The three main theoretical orientations include, the psychodynamic
Davis, S. F., & Palladino, J. J. (2003). Psychology. (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
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The birth of psychology was in December of 1879, at Germanys University of Leipzig (Myers, 2014, p.2). In 1960, Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener defines psychology as “the science of mental health” (Myers, 2014, p.4). However, two provocative American psychologists, John Watson and B.F Skinner, redefined psychology in 1920. They redefined psychology as “the scientific study of observable behavior” (Myers, 2014, p.4). The problem arose when psychologists realized people could not observe feeling or thought so they needed to come up with a new definition for psychology. We define psychology today as “the science of behavior and mental processes” (Myers, 2014, p.4). Psychology includes many subfields such as human development, social behavior,
Roger, Patricia R, and Stone Gerlad Counseling vs Clinical" Society of counseling psychology, n.d. Web. 13 Feb 2014.
Psychology comprises of two words originally used by the ‘Greeks’, ‘psyche’, defining the mind, soul or spirit and lastly ‘logos’ being study. Both words define together the ‘study of the mind’. Psychology perspectives evaluate the normal and abnormal behaviour and how persons’ deal with different concepts of issues and problems. Psychology theories’ are based on ‘common sense’, but its scientific structure, everything needs to be evaluated and tested, therefore, promoting different psychological theories’.
Clinical psychologists can treat a wide range of patients, from mental disorders to emotional problems. To get an easier and simpler idea of what a clinical psychologist does, Ferguson's Career Guidance Center's definition gives a good picture of a clinical psychologist’s job description, “Clinical psychologists concern themselves with people's mental and emotional disorders. They assess and treat problems ranging from normal psychological crises, such as adolescent rebellion or middle-age loss of self-esteem, to extreme conditions, such as severe depression and schizophrenia.”According to Careers in Psychology, a clinical psychologist has three main jobs, to assess the patient, diagnose disorders, and recommend a possible treatment. When a clinical psychologist assesses a patient it usually involv...
The study of psychology began as a theoretical subject a branch of ancient philosophy, and later as a part of biological sciences and physiology. However, over the years, it has grown into a rigorous science and a separate discipline, with its own sets of guidance and experimental techniques. This paper aims to study the various stages that the science of psychology passed through to reach its contemporary status, and their effects on its development. It begins with an overview of the historical and philosophical basis of psychology, discusses the development of the various schools of thought, and highlights their effects on contemporary personal and professional decision-making.
Waiten,W., (2007) Seventh Edition Psychology Themes and Variations. University of Nevada, Las Vegas: Thomson Wadsworth.
The term psychology has many meanings to different people, even to those who work within the psychological field. The word psychology derives from two Greek roots; 'psyche' refers to 'soul' or 'mind' and logo refers to 'the study of'. A more update definition of the word psychology can be found from Atkinson, et al (1991) “The scientific study of behaviours and mental processes.” However on Google Definitions the definition of psychology is “the mental characteristics and attitudes of a person” [accessed 16 September 2011], which gives somewhat of a contradiction. In this assignment I will be outlining and evaluating four key psychological perspectives. The psychological perspectives I have chosen are the behavioural approach, biological approach, cognitive approach and the psychodynamic approach.
The five major theoretical perspectives in psychology are biological, learning, cognitive, psychodynamic, and sociocultural perspectives. Each one of these perspectives searches for answers about behavior through different techniques and through looking for answers to different kinds of questions. Due to the different approaches, each perspective form their own assumptions and explanations. Some perspectives are widely accepted while others struggle for acceptance.
Psychology is the scientific study of the mind, brain, and behavior. In psychology, and all of the other sciences, relying on opinions is abandoned in order to find out which explanations best fit the evidence or data given. Science continually forces us to question our findings and conclusions. Over time, psychology has advanced greatly and a main reason for such progressiveness is because of the change in the research model used.