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Introduction to APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY

Dr. Subhash Meena

Asst. Professor,

Deptt. Of Psychology,

Vasanta College for Women,

Rajghat, Varanasi

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Overview

  1. Psychology Defined
  2. History: Timeline

III. Branches of Psychology

a. Pure Branches

b. Applied Branches

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�I. Psychology Defined

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I. Psychology Defined

  • Psychology is the science of human behavior and mental processes.

  • Behavior is anything we do
    • overt actions and reactions

  • Mental processes are our internal experiences
    • thoughts, feelings, memories…

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II. History: Timeline

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II. History: Timeline

  • Founder: Hugo Munsterberg
  • First American Applied Psychologist
  • Moved from Germany in 19th century
  • Originally studied philosophy
  • He started with writing magazine articles
  • Later wrote a book called On the Witness Stand

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A. Pure Branches �of Psychology

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A. Pure Branches of Psychology

  • Behavioral Neuroscience

-mainly examines how the brain and nervous system—as well as biological processes—determine behavior

  • Experimental Psychology

-studies the processes of sensing, perceiving, learning and thinking about the world

-typically involves laboratory research in basic areas of the discipline

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A. Pure Branches of Psychology

  • Cognitive Psychology

-focuses on higher mental processes including thinking, memory, reasoning, problem-solving, judging, decision-making and language

  • Developmental Psychology

-studies how people grow and change from the moment of conception through death

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A. Pure Branches of Psychology

  • Personality Psychology

-focuses on the consistency in people’s behavior over time and the traits that differentiate one person from another

  • Cross-cultural Psychology

-investigates the similarities and differences in psychological functioning in and across various cultures and ethnic groups

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A. Pure Branches of Psychology

  • Social Psychology

-study of how people’s thoughts, feelings and actions are affected by others

-includes human aggression, liking and loving, persuasion, and conformity

  • Abnormal Psychology

-study of the etiology or cause of mental, emotional or personality disorders, or the individual’s behavior deviates from the norms

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A. Pure Branches of Psychology

  • Evolutionary Psychology

-considers how behavior is influenced by our genetic inheritance from our ancestors

  • Behavioral Genetics

-studies the inheritance of traits related to behavior

  • Clinical Neuropsychology

-unites the areas of biopsychology and clinical psychology, focusing on the relationship between biological factors and psychological factors

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B. Applied Branches �of Psychology

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B. Applied Branches of Psychology

  • Health Psychology

-explores the relationship between psychological factors and physical disorders

-concerned with health-related behavior including healthy eating, the doctor-patient relationship, a patient's understanding of health information, and beliefs about illness.

  • Clinical Psychology

-deals with the study, diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders

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B. Applied Branches of Psychology

  • Counseling Psychology

-focuses primarily on educational, social and career adjustment problems

-Counseling psychologists are employed in a variety of settings, including universities, hospitals, schools, governmental organizations, businesses, private practice, and community mental health centers.

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B. Applied Branches of Psychology

  • Educational Psychology

-concerned with teaching and learning processes, such as the relationship between motivation and school performance

  • Environmental Psychology

-considers the relationship between people and their physical environment

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B. Applied Branches of Psychology

  • Forensic Psychology

-focuses on legal issues, such as determining the accuracy of witness’ memories

-Typical issues include child custody disputes, child abuse or neglect, assessing personal capacity to manage one's affairs, matters of competency to stand trial, criminal responsibility, personal injury, and advising judges in matters relating to sentencing regarding various assessment of future risk.

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B. Applied Branches of Psychology

  • Industrial/Organizational Psychology

-concerned with the psychology of workplace

-applies psychological principles to improve productivity in business, industry and government organization

-Industrial Psychology focuses on improving, evaluating, and predicting job performance while Organizational Psychology focuses on how organizations impact and interact with individuals.

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B. Applied Branches of Psychology

  • School Psychology

-devoted to counseling children in elementary and secondary schools who have academic or emotional problems

-School psychologists collaborate with educators, parents, and other professionals to create safe, healthy, and supportive learning environments for all students that strengthen connections between home and school.

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B. Applied Branches of Psychology

  • Sports Psychology

-applies psychology to athletic activity and exercise

  • Consumer Psychology

-deals with the consumer’s activities directly involved in selecting, obtaining and using products, services and ideas to satisfy needs and desires, including decision processes that precede and follow their actions

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B. Applied Branches of Psychology

  • Engineering Psychology

-concerned with man and machine system that is fitting man and machine together so that both can function with efficiency and effectiveness

  • Community Psychology

-provides psychological services for unprivileged client groups like homeless, poor and others who have stressful conditions of life who need help but tend not to seek it, and offers changes for prevention from psychological disorders in the community

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B. Applied Branches of Psychology

  • Psychology of Women

-focuses on issues such as discrimination against women and the cause of violence against women

-This class explores the female experience within the world

-This class looks at how women differ from the baseline and how the female experience is also valid in its own right, not as just an "other."

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���Thank You! ☺���