The Diverse Nature of Psychology

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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.

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