How Does Psychology Benefit Society?
Examples of Psychology's Advances
Educational psychology allows an insight into learning patterns and helps to shape students' school experience to be easier and more comfortable.
1.
2.
Health psychology helps diagnose and treat those who have disabilities and mental illnesses so they can have a better lifestyle.
3.
Positive psychology's studies in achieving happiness can assist individuals with grief problems and anxiety/depression, so they can live a healthier, easier life.
this includes other subfields to explore!
Links
American Psychological Association: includes information on psychology and multiple subfields one might consider when choosing a career.
What about the main subfields?
Biopsychology: This subfield focuses on human biology and how it relates to psychology, namely in terms of brain chemistry. It studies the cause-to-effect that goes on with behavior and understanding, e.g. how the brain receives and interprets sound as music. This could relate to any of the three examples; how the brain learns, its reaction to environments that trigge emotions, or any genetic mutations that inhibit it.
Clinical: The most commonly-associated subfield, clinical psychology uses principles and methods to evaluate and treat people with psychological disorders or diseases. This refers very plainly to the second example, as psychologists in this field conduct research and experiments to better understand mental illness and find treatment to improve patients.
Developmental: Tying in with all three examples, developmental psychology studies the growth of a human being throughout their life emotionally, mentally, and physically. It can be used to evaluate learning patterns, the way mental illness grows over periods of time, and how the mind copes throughout its lifetime.
Forensic: This subfield deals with psychology in a legal setting. It's often misconstrued as a fast-paced career by crime show media, and usually deals with recommending unbiased jury members and assisting legal experts. For instance, a forensic psychologist may evaluate whether or not a parent is stable enough to have custody of a child. This ties in with the second example, as their conclusions may better individuals in court cases.
Industrial-Organizational: These psychologists assist businesses, doing research or conducting personality tests on potential or current employees to gauge their stress levels or see if they're suited for the job. This follows the third example in the fact that they are strengthening the corporate teamwork and office atmosphere by finding the most productive and stable employees.
Personality: These psychologists help people as the third example does, but by examining similarities and differences in people with their personality. As it influences their thoughts and behavior, they can map out personality types and identify someone's, allowing them to be conscious of their own patterns and improve upon their weak points, such as someone who has a weak work ethic learning to strengthen it.
Social: These psychologists can fit any of the above examples. They evaluate behavior within groups, whether it be a society or a school setting. They make comparisons between the influences of a group and someone who is alone, including reactions to stimuli like emergencies or announcements. It can also help classify behavioral disorders such as sociopathy.
School: A perfect subfield for the first example, school psychologists work to study patterns in education and with students. They may give assessments to struggling pupils to see whether or not they have a learning disability, or advise education boards on teaching methods so students can retain the information more easily.