simple question about “what psychologists do?”, the usual answer will be that they do several things while working in a variety of settings. However, if you try to analyse their work, you will notice that they basically engage in two kinds of activities. One is research in psychology; the other is application of psychology. What are some of the themes which provide direction to research and application of psychology?
There are several such themes. We will focus on some of them. Theme : Psychology like other sciences attempts to develop principles of behaviour and mental processes. In research, the main concern is with the understanding and explanation of behaviour and mental events and processes.
Psychologists, who choose to engage in research, function more like other scientists. Like them, they draw conclusions which are supported by data. They design and conduct experiments or studies under controlled conditions on a wide range of psychological phenomena. The purpose is to develop general principles about behaviour and mental processes.
The conclusions drawn on the basis of such studies apply to everybody and are, therefore, universal. Experimental, comparative, physiological, developmental, social, differential and abnormal psychology are generally regarded as domains representing “basic psychology”. The themes of research in these fields differ from each other. For example, experimental Think about the areas of psychology that you have read in the text.
Go through the list given below and rank them from (most interesting) to (least interesting). Cognitive psychology Biological psychology Developmental psychology Social psychology Cross-cultural and cultural psychology Environmental psychology Health psychology Clinical and counselling psychology Industrial/Organisational psychology Educational psychology Sports psychology After going through this textbook and completing the course you may like to return to this activity and mark the changes in your ranking.