CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGY

1. BIOLOGICAL APPROACH FOCUSES ON HOW OUR GENES,

HORMONES AND NERVOUS SYSTEM INTERACT WITH OUR ENVIRONMENTS TO INFLUENCE LEARNING, PERSONALITY, MEMORY, MOTIVATION, EMOTIONS AND COPING TECHNIQUES.

2. COGNITIVE APPROACH

FOCUSES ON HOW WE PROCESS, STORE, AND USE INFORMATION AND HOW THIS INFORMATION INFLUENCES WHAT WE ATTEND

TO, PERCEIVE, LEARN, REMEMBER, BELIEVE AND FEEL.

3. BEHAVIORAL APPROACH

ANALYZES HOW ORGANISMS LEARN NEW BEHAVIOR OR MODIFY EXISTING ONES,

DEPENDING ON WHETHER EVENTS IN THEIR ENVIRONMENTS

REWARD OR PUNISH THESE BEHAVIORS.

PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH

THIS IS BASED ON THE BELIEF THAT CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES GREATLY INFLUENCE THE

DEVELOPMENT OF LATTER PERSONALITY TRAITS AND

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS.

HUMANISTIC APPROACH

THIS EMPHASIZES THAT EACH INDIVIDUAL HAS GREAT FREEDOM IN

DIRECTING HIS OR HER FUTURE, A LARGE CAPACITY FOR ACHIEVING

PERSONAL GROWTH, A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF

INTRINSIC WORTH, AND ENORMOUS POTENTIAL FOR SELF-FULFILLMENT.

CROSS-CULTURAL APPROACH

THIS STUDIES THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURAL AND ETHNIC SIMILARITIES

AND DIFFERENCES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL FUNCTIONING.

METHODS OF RESEARCH IN STUDYING BEHAVIOR IN PSYCHOLOGY

1. SURVEY2. CASE STUDY3. EXPERIMENT4. QUESTIONNAIRE AND INTERVIEWS5. STANDARDIZED TESTS6. OBSERVATION

LOCUS OF CONTROL

• INTERNAL LOCUS OF CONTROL- REFERS TO THE PERCEPTION OF AN EVENT AS DEPENDENT UPON ONE’S BEHAVIOR OR ONE’S PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCES.• EXTERNAL LOCUS OF CONTROL-

INDICATES THAT REWARDS OR PUNISHMENTS ARE RESULTS OF LUCK. FATE, OR CHANCE

BRANCHES OF PSYCHOLOGY1. ABNORMAL-is the branch of

psychology that looks at psychopathology and abnormal behavior. The term covers a broad range of disorders, from depression to obsession-compulsion to sexual deviation and many more. Counselors, clinical psychologists, and psychotherapists often work directly in this field.

2. CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY-uses the understandings derived from developmental and abnormal psychology to diagnose and treat mental disorders and adjustment problems. Some clinical psychologists work to develop programs for the prevention of emotional illness or conduct basic research on how individuals can better cope with the problems of daily life.

3. INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL-is concerned with people at work. Industrial psychologists investigate such matters as how to make jobs more rewarding or how to improve workers' performance. They also study personnel selection, leadership, and management. Organizational psychology is a closely related field.

4. BIOLOGICAL-focused on the study of how the brain influences behavior is often known as biopsychology, although it has also been called physiological psychology, behavioral neuroscience and psychobiology.

5. GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING-While the counseling psychologist may diagnose, assess, and treat adjustment difficulties, they often address problems which are more moderate than those encountered by the clinical psychologist. Clients of counseling psychologists are people who need help coping with the stresses of everyday life, and the focus is on strengthening their existing resources rather than overcoming disorders or defic…

6. FORENSIC-specialty area that deals with issues related to psychology and the law. Forensic psychologists perform a wide variety of duties, including providing testimony in court cases, assessing children in suspected child abuse cases, preparing children to give testimony and evaluating the mental competence of criminal suspects.

8. SOCIAL-seeks to explain and understand social behavior and looks at diverse topics including group behavior, social interactions, leadership, nonverbal communication and social influences on decision-making.

9. PERSONALITY-focused on the patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behavior that make a person unique. Some of the best-known theories in psychology have arisen from this field, including Freud's stage theory of psychosexual development and Erikson's theory of psychosocial development.

10. COGNITIVE-is the branch of psychology that focuses on internal states, such as motivation, problem solving, decision-making, thinking, and attention. This area of psychology has continued to grow since it began taking hold in the 1960s.

11. EXPERIMENTAL-that utilizes scientific methods to research the brain and behavior. Many of these techniques are also used by other areas in psychology to conduct research on everything from childhood development to social issues.

12. EDUCATIONAL-concerned with schools, teaching psychology, educational issues, and student concerns. Educational psychologists often study how students learn or work directly with students, parents, teachers and administrators to improve student outcomes

13. HEALTH- is a diverse area with a variety of emphases. Medical psychology focuses on the clinical treatment of patients with physical illnesses, offering practical advice people can use in order to improve their health. While there is special emphasis on psychosomatic disorders—those that have traditionally been most closely related to psychological factors—the current trend…

14. DEVELOPMENTAL-looks at development throughout the lifespan, from childhood to adulthood. The scientific study of human development seeks to understand and explain how and why people change throughout life. This includes all aspects of human growth, including physical, emotional, intellectual, social, perceptual, and personality development. Topics studied in this field include everything from prenatal development to Alzheimer's disease.

15. Educational-attempts to improve teaching methods and materials, to solve learning problems, and to measure learning ability and educational progress. Researchers in this field may devise achievement tests, develop and evaluate teaching methods, or investigate how children learn at different ages

16. SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY- IS DEVOTED TO THE ASSESSMENT

AND REMEDY OF PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED IN EDUCATION, INCLUDING BOTH LEARNING DISABILITIES AND EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS.