The influence of diversity on the major concepts of psychology The psychology field is a scientific field that deals with human emotion, motivation, behavior and cognition. It is subdivided into various specializations that are concerned with psychological science while others deal with the application of science in handling real world problems. According the American Psychological Association, there are over 54 unique subdivisions in the field of psychology. These areas focus on different areas which have numerous sub-disciplines. Such sub-disciplines of psychology often display a vast diversity through covering various inquiry areas. Some of the areas covered include; how genetics contributes to abnormal behaviors and how a person’s environment is likely to affect his or her personality. The major concepts of psychology on the other hand deals with varying aspects of people’s lives which are influenced by psychology’s sub-disciplines which in turn reflects the diverse nature of the psychology field (Helms & Rogers, 2010).
Sub-disciplines of psychology
Clinical psychology This sub-discipline of psychology uses psychological principles to attempt to predict, alleviate and comprehend the various aspects of human functioning. Some of the aspects that this sub-discipline looks at include; social, psychological, biological, intellectual and
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During the testing, employers aim at finding out whether the scores of the test correlate with requirements of the job. For this reason, it is important for the employer to choose employees on the basis of the scores from the test. This is because the employee with the highest score shows that he or she has the appropriate workplace skills and behavior the organization needs to achieve its both short and long-term goals and
The World of Psychology. (2002). A Pearson Education Company. Boston, MA: Samuel Wood & Ellen Green Wood p. 593
Psychology comprises of two words originally used by the ‘Greeks’, ‘psyche’, defining the mind, soul or spirit and lastly ‘logos’ being study. Both words define together the ‘study of the mind’. Psychology perspectives evaluate the normal and abnormal behaviour and how persons’ deal with different concepts of issues and problems. Psychology theories’ are based on ‘common sense’, but its scientific structure, everything needs to be evaluated and tested, therefore, promoting different psychological theories’.
Davis, S. F., & Palladino, J. J. (2003). Psychology. (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
The debate of nature vs. nurture continues today in the world of psychology. The effects of an individual’s genetics and the effects of their environment on their personality and actions is an age old debate that is still inconclusive. However, it is evident that both sides of the argument carry some form of the truth. It can be contended that the major characteristics of an individual are formed by their environment, more specifically, their past experiences. An individual’s past moulds and shapes their identity, if they do not make an effort to move on from it.
Psychology can be broadly defined as the scientific and systematic study of people’s behavior and mental processes.
As you can see, the field of psychology covers a broad scope which overlaps into many different fields. Though the area of social sciences has been questioned for its validity over the years, it is becoming more and more of a trusted tool in many different areas of society.
Gall, S. B., Beins, B., & Feldman, A. (2001). The gale encyclopedia of psychology. (2nd ed., pp. 271-273). Detroit, MI: Gale Group.
The birth of psychology was in December of 1879, at Germanys University of Leipzig (Myers, 2014, p.2). In 1960, Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener defines psychology as “the science of mental health” (Myers, 2014, p.4). However, two provocative American psychologists, John Watson and B.F Skinner, redefined psychology in 1920. They redefined psychology as “the scientific study of observable behavior” (Myers, 2014, p.4). The problem arose when psychologists realized people could not observe feeling or thought so they needed to come up with a new definition for psychology. We define psychology today as “the science of behavior and mental processes” (Myers, 2014, p.4). Psychology includes many subfields such as human development, social behavior,
The term psychology has many meanings to different people, even to those who work within the psychological field. The word psychology derives from two Greek roots; 'psyche' refers to 'soul' or 'mind' and logo refers to 'the study of'. A more update definition of the word psychology can be found from Atkinson, et al (1991) “The scientific study of behaviours and mental processes.” However on Google Definitions the definition of psychology is “the mental characteristics and attitudes of a person” [accessed 16 September 2011], which gives somewhat of a contradiction. In this assignment I will be outlining and evaluating four key psychological perspectives. The psychological perspectives I have chosen are the behavioural approach, biological approach, cognitive approach and the psychodynamic approach.
Psychology is an ever growing field in today’s job field. Psychology comes from the Greek words “psych” meaning soul and “ology” meaning logic, it translates to “the science of the soul” (Ferguson). It was founded by a man named Wilhelm Wundt, he founded experimental psychology which later led to others discovering more in psychology Psychology is both a science and a profession, it is counted as a science because it’s about understanding people's behavior (Ferguson). Psychology is a great and interesting career choice for many generations
Wood, S. E., Wood, E. G., Denise , B., Wood, E., & Desmarais, S. (2008). The world of psychology. (5th ed.). Pearson Education Canada.
Personality Psychology has two theories. The first from Sigmund Freud. His Psychoanalytic theory suggests that childhood sexuality and unconscious motivations influences personality, while the Humanistic idea focused on growth and self-fulfillment. Personality Researchers study the complexities of the personalities: biological roots and interaction between people. Along with those roots, they study bias, self-esteem and cultural influence. Freud’s point of view consisted of the idea that your emotional disorders originate from unconscious dynamics. He analyzed this through free association and dreams. His theory was called Psychoanalysis. Freud thought people defended themselves against anxiety by allowing their
Psychometric tests are designed to measure the behaviour and capabilities of possible employees. (Johnstone, 1999). Employers use these tests to measure two categories of qualities – abilities and preferences (Mills et al., 2011). This provides an effective and efficient way to find the best person for the job as the tests give a true reflection of how an employee can accomplish assigned tasks which is completed online as part of the application process. Candidates are chosen for the next stage of the process through the comparison of test scores, resulting in grouping candidates into high and low percentile scoring categories. The higher scoring applicants are put through to the next stage of the process. This would normally be the interviewing stage. The lower scoring applicants would be declined. This is a form of filtering down the number of applicants, although the interviewing stage provides the means of selection, despite its subjectivity the tests provide a uniform set of standards to measure one candidate objectivity against another (Johnstone,1999). Psychometric
There are many types of diverse people classified under various categories. Some people have different types of personalities. They could be classified as extremely manipulative, others as impulsive, and some may not show anything on the outside and have wonderful social skills. These categories help in the understanding of humans. This study is called Psychology and there are many different subfields in this diverse study of the people around us. One subfield that is particularly interesting is personality psychology. Personality psychology is a branch of psychology that studies personality and its variation between individuals.
The key issues and controversies in psychology are Free Will vs Determinism, Free Will is the idea that behaviour is primarily caused by choices that are made by an individual and Determinism is the idea that people’s behaviour are produced primarily by factors outside their control. Nature vs Nurture, Nature is about people’s behaviour due to their genetically determined nature and how much is due to nurture, the influence and social environment a child is raised. A third questions addressed from a psychologist is Conscious vs Unconscious Cause of Behaviour, it is about how much of our behaviour is produced by forces of which we are aware of and how much is due to unconscious activity such as mental processes that are not accessible to the conscious awareness. An additional key issues is Observable Behaviour vs Internal Mental Processes, Where do psychologists focus solely on behaviour that can be outside observes or on unseen thinking processes. Some of