subjects and in knowing the limits of the applicability of its principles. On the other hand, this role has also been very helpful in popularising psychology as a subject in itself. Thus, several independent branches of psychology have emerged that try to use psychological theories, principles and facts to diagnose and resolve problems related to industrial and organisational settings, clinical services, education, environment, health, community development and so on. Industrial psychology, organisational psychology, clinical psychology, educational psychology, engineering psychology and sports psychology represent some of the areas in which psychologists are engaged in delivering services to individuals, groups or institutions.
Basic vs Applied Psychology It may be noted at this point that various areas put under the rubrics of “basic” and “applied” psychology are identified only on the basis of their emphasis on the study of certain subject matters and broader concerns. There is no sharp cleavage between research and application of psychology. For example, basic psychology provides us with theories and principles that form the basis of application of psychology and applied psychology provides us with different contexts in which the theories and principles derived from research can be meaningfully applied. On the other hand, research is an integral part of even those fields of psychology that are mainly characterised by or subsumed under the category of application.
Due to ever increasing demands of psychology in different settings, many fields that were regarded as primarily “research- oriented” in previous decades, have also gradually turned into “application-oriented”. Newly emerging disciplines like applied experimental psychology, applied social psychology, and applied developmental psychology indicate that in fact all psychology has the potential of application and is basically applied in nature. Thus, there is seemingly no fundamental difference between research and application of psychology. These activities are highly interrelated and mutually reinforcing.
Their mutual interactions and pervasive influences on each other have become so specific that several offshoots have emerged in recent years with very specific emphasis on their subject matters. Thus, ecological psychology, environmental psychology, cross-cultural psychology, biological psychology, space psychology, and cognitive psychology, to mention a few, have come up as