Goals of Modern psychology 1-Description: how people think, feel and act in specific situation. Psychologists try to observe the behavior of interest, (collection of data) 2-Explanation: “ why and how” that behavior happened based on the different psychological perspectives. 3-Predication: The ability to say in advance how someone is likely to act.
Contemporary fields of Specialization 1-Experimental psychology: -Experimental psychologists frequently use animals rather than human as their experimental subjects. -Studies basic processes e.g. (hearing, perception, learning, and communication).
2-Neuro- psychology: Focus on study how basic processes are controlled by nervous system. Examples : * To explain why memory sometimes declines in old age, (breakdown in the network of nerve cells that involves in remembering). * Adults with history of hyperactivity had reduced activity in areas of the brain that control body movement &attention.
Goals of Modern psychology…cont. 3-Personality psychology: Personality: (relatively stable style of thinking, acting, and responding emotionally of a person). -Concerned individual differences in behavior
Goals of Modern psychology…cont. 4-Social psychology: Factors especially presence of other people, that affect personal response, thinking , motivation and behavior in a given social situation. - Show that behavior that not just the results of personality traits.
5-Developmental psychology: - Describe and explain the systematic changes that occur in people throughout the life cycle. -How thinking , perception, memory, intelligence, language, problem solving, motivation, and social interaction change as people grow older.
Goals of Modern psychology…cont. 6-Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Concerns with all aspects of behavior that relate to the work place. One aspect: How work can be made more satisfying and more productive. A major issue facing industrial and organizational psychologists now is findings ways to help working women deal with stress of handling their dual responsibilities at home and at office.
Goals of Modern psychology…cont. 7-Educational and school psychology: Specialize in analyzing and improving formal education, (concerned with all aspects of educational process) as: Factors affect performance in the classroom? How important is motivation? Using of reward and punishment. Size of classroom & the way in which students and teachers interact.
Goals of Modern psychology…cont. 8- A. Counseling psychology: helps normal people with milder problems of social and emotional adjustment like marriage and family life. B. Clinical psychology: Deals with diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders. (psychotherapy).
Goals of Modern psychology…cont. 10-Health psychology: Deals with the relationship between personality and health. Believe that psychological factors as (stress, hostility, and depression) plays a role in onset and progress of many physical disorders like peptic ulcer, heart diseases. Try to identify psychological strategies to cope with serious illness.
Goals of Modern psychology…cont. 11-Environmental psychology: Focus on the relationship between people and their environment (physical, social), air pollution, noise, overcrowdings, poverty, earthquakes, volcanoes, and tornadoes etc.. These environmental conditions play a big role as a risk factors in disturbing human psychological stability and lead to psychological distress.
Goals of Modern psychology…cont. 12- Peace psychology: Study how war, especially nuclear war, can be avoided. * Focus on personality of war leaders, negotiations and bargaining among political officials. * How people's fears and anxieties can be transformed into effective political action.
Goals of Modern psychology…cont. 13- Forensic psychology: Concerned with the application of psychological information to legal questions and issues. * Assessment of some specific psycho-legal question as if the criminal has an mental illness as psychosis which make him unaccountable for his actions.
Goals of Modern psychology…cont. 14- Sport psychology: Seeks to understand psychological/mental factors that affect performance . It deals with increasing performance by managing emotions and minimizing the psychological effects of injury.