Areas of Psychology

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Psychology is the scientific study of a person’s thought and behavior. It can be broken down into more than 25 subdivisions, for example, cognitive psychology, behavioral psychology, developmental psychology, social psychology, personality psychology, biological psychology, and clinical psychology. Four of the major subdivisions of psychology include cognitive, behavioral, developmental, and social psychology.
Cognitive psychology is the study of the internal processes of the human mind including how people perceive, think, learn, and remember. This branch of psychology focuses on how people take in, process, and store information. This type of psychology is the complete opposite of behavioral psychology, which studies measurable and observable behaviors.
Two important concepts that go along with behavioral psychology are classical and operant conditioning, both result in learning but the processes are different. Classical conditioning involves learning through the process of association. A good example of classical conditioning would be Ivan Pavlov and his dogs. Pavlov presented his dogs with meat powder (unconditioned stimulus) which made the dogs salivate (unconditioned response). During conditioning a bell was presented before the meat powder. After doing this for a while the dogs began to salivate after just hearing the bell. The bell now becomes the conditioned stimulus and the salivation from hearing the bell becomes the conditioned response. Operant conditioning is a form of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for a certain behavior. Through this type of conditioning an association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior. An example of operant conditioning would be the Skinner ...

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...ring this therapy a therapist teaches the patient how to recognize unhelpful thinking patterns, how to recognize and change wrong beliefs, and how to relate to other people in a positive way. People with depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, and schizophrenia are the ones targeted with this type of therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy helps patients to learn how to cope, what triggers their episodes, and how to view events differently.

Works Cited

Feist, G. J. & Rosenburg, E. L. (2012). Psychology; Perspectives & connections (2nd ed.) (Vital Source digital version). New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Retrieved from: http://digitalbookshelf.southuniversity.edu/#/books/0077736494/pages/66380480
National Institutes of Mental Health. (n.d.). Psychotherapies. Retrieved from: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/psychotherapies/index.shtml

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