Domains of Psych.

The five main psychological pillars are 

  • Domain 1: Biological (Includes neuroscience, consciousness, and sensation)

  • Domain 2: Cognitive (Includes the study of perception, cognition, memory, and intelligence)

  • Domain 3: Developmental (Includes learning and conditioning, lifespan development, and language)

  • Domain 4: Social and Personality (Includes the study of personality, emotion, motivation, gender, and culture)

  • Domain 5: Mental and Physical Health (Includes abnormal psychology, therapy, and health psychology) 

THE BIOLOGICAL DOMAIN

  • Biopsychology explores how our biology influences our behavior

  • Biopsychologists study how biological forces shape human behaviors

  • The fields of behavioral neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, and neuropsychology are all subfields of biological psychology. 

  • The research interests of biological psychologists span a number of domains, including but not limited to, sensory and motor systems, sleep, drug use and abuse, ingestive behavior, reproductive behavior, neurodevelopment, plasticity of the nervous system, and biological correlates of psychological disorders. 

  • This interdisciplinary approach is often referred to as neuroscience, of which biological psychology is a component

Evolutionary psychology

  • Evolutionary psychology seeks to study the ultimate biological causes of behavior

  • Psychological traits can also evolve and be determined through natural selection. (not only just genetics) 

  • Evolutionary psychologists study the extent that a behavior is impacted by genetics. 

  • Evolutionary psychology is based on the hypothesis that just like hearts, lungs, livers, kidneys, and immune systems, cognition has functional structure that has a genetic basis, and therefore has evolved by natural selection.

Sensation and Perception

  • Sights, sounds, touch sensations, and smells. THe feeling of the temperature of the air around you and maintaining your balance. Literally your sensations.. 

THE COGNITIVE DOMAIN

  • Cognitive psychology is the area of psychology that focuses on studying cognitions, or thoughts, and their relationship to our experiences and our actions. 

  • Cognitive psychology is BROAD in its scope and often involves collaborations among people form a diverse range of disciplinary backgrounds. 

  • Research interests include spectrums such as attention to problem solving all the way to language to memory. 

  • Cognitive psychology includes perception, thinking, intelligence, and memory

THE DEVELOPMENTAL DOMAIN

  • Developmental psychology is the scientific study of development across a lifespan

  • Developmental psychologists are interested in processes related to psychical maturation

  • They also focus on changes in cognitive skills, moral reasoning, social behavior and other psychological attributes. 

  • Early developmental psychologists focused primarily on changes that occurred through reaching adulthood, providing enormous insight into the differences in physical, cognitive, and social capacities that exist between very young children and adults. 

Behavioral Psychology

  • Behaviorism

THE SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY DOMAIN

Social psychology

  • Social psychology is the scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. 

  • This domain is concerned with the way such feelings, thoughts, beliefs, intentions, and goals are constructed, and how these psychological factors in turn, influence our interactions with others

  • Social psychology explains human behavior as a result of the interaction of mental states and immediate social situations. 

  • Social psychologists examine the factors that lead us to behave in a given way in the presence of others as well as the conditions under which certain behaviors, feelings, actions occur

  • Social psychology studies individuals in a social context and how situational variables interact to influence behavior. 

  • Sociocultural forces and societies that affect thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of others include 

    • Attitudes, child-rearing practices, discrimination, and prejudice, ethnic and racial identity, gender roles and norms, family and kinship structures, power dynamics, regional differences, religious beliefs, rituals, and taboos. 

Personality psychology

  • Another field of study within the social and personality domain is personality psychology

  • Personality refers to the long-standing traits and patterns that propel individuals to consistently think, feel, and behave in specific ways. 

  • Personality psychology focuses on

    • Construction of a coherent picture of the individual and their major psychological processes

    • Investigation of individual psychological differences

    • Investigation of human nature and psychological similarities between individuals

  • Research is focused on identifying personality traits, measuring these traits, and determining how these traits interact in a particular context to determine how a person will behave in any given situation

  • The big five includes

    • Dimension of conscientiousness

    • Agreeableness

    • Neuroticism 

    • Openness

    • Extraversion

THE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH DOMAIN

  • Includes the study of abnormal psychology, with its focus on abnormal thoughts and behaviors, as well as counseling and treatment methods, and recommendations for coping with stress and living a healthy life

    Clinical psychology

    • Clinical psychology is the area of psychology that focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and other problematic patterns of behavior. 

  • Freud and Rogers provided perspectives that have influenced the shaping of how clinicians interact with people seeking psychotherapy 

  • Behaviorism and cognitive revolution have shaped clinical practice in the forms of behavioral therapy, cognitive therapy, and cognitive-behavioral therapy. 

  • Clinical psychology receives the MOST attention from the media, and many assume that all of psychology is clinical psychology

  • CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGISTS MAY ASK WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF THE PERSON DEVELOPING THE DISORDER BASED ON GENDER, AGE, AND ETHNICITY. WHAT KIND OF THERAPEUTIC SUPPORT IS NEEDED FOR FAMILY MEMBERS OF THE PERSON WITH THE DISORDER?

Health Psychology

  • Health psychology focuses on how health is affected by the interaction of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors

  • This approach is known as the biopsychosocial model

  • Health psychologists are interested in helping individuals achieve better health through public policy, education, intervention, and research

  • Health psychologist might conduct research that explores the relationship between one’s genetic makeup, patterns of behavior, relationships, psychological stress, and health

  • The biopsychosocial model suggests that health/illness is determined by an interaction of biological, psychological, and social factors.  

Biopsychosocial model: Perspective that asserts that biology, psychology, and social factors interact to determine an individual’s health

Clinical psychology: Area of psychology that focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and other problematic patterns of behavior. 

OTHER PSYCHOLOGICAL SUBFIELDS

Industrial-organizational psychology

  • Industrial-organizational psychology (I-O psychology) is a subfield of psychology that applies psychological theories, principles, and research findings in industrial and organizational settings

  • I-O psychologists are involved in issues related to personnel management, organizational structure, and workplace environment

Sport and Exercise Psychology

  • Researchers in sport and exercise psychology study the psychological aspects of sports performance, including motivation and performance anxiety, and the effects of sport on mental and emotional wellbeing. 

  • The discipline includes topics that are broader than sport and exercise but related to interactions between mental and physical performance under demanding conditions, such as fire fighting, military operations, artistic performance, and surgery. 

Forensic psychology (LEGAL ISSUES) 

  • Forensic psychology deals with questions of psychology as they arise in the context of the justice system. 

SUMMARY

Wilhelm Wundt believed that the goal of psychology was to identify components of consciousness and how those components combined to result in our conscious experience. Wundt trained people to observe their conscious experiences. 

His view of psychology was known as structuralism. Structuralism provided the foundation for the experimental study of psychology

William James believed that psychology's purpose was to study the function of behavior in the world, and as such, his perspective was known as functionalism. Functionalism helped direct psychology toward a focus on solving problems. James was influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection

Key historical figures and theories 

  • Sigmund Freud

    • Founded psychodynamic psychology

    • Was an austrian neurologist who focused on the unconscious and childhood

    • In his view, the unconscious mind was a repository of feelings and urges of which we have no awareness of

  • Erik Erikson

    • Followed the psychodynamic theory but added the importance of larger social influences

    • His theory of psychosocial development has had incredible staying power

  • As a reaction to the focus on the unconscious, behaviorism emerged in the early 10th century. Championed by psychologists such as John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner behaviorism rejected any reference to mind and viewed overt and observable behavior as the proper subject matter of psychology 

  • Humanism is a perspective that emphasizes the potential for good that is innate to all humans

    • Abraham Maslow

    • Carl Rogers

    • The early works of humanistic psychologists redirected attention to the individual human as a whole, and as a conscious and self-aware being

  • By the 1950s, new disciplinary perspectives in linguistics, neuroscience, and computer science were emerging. These areas revived interest in the mind as a focus of scientific inquiry. 

    • This perspective was known as cognitive psychology

Psychodynamic psychology is primarily focused on the unconscious and childhood. Names to know: Freud and Erikson

Behaviorism is primarily focused on observable behavior, learning and conditioning. Names to know: Pavlov, Watson, and Skinner 

Cognitive psychology is primarily focused on the mental processes and internal mental states. Names to know: Piaget, Vygotsky

Humanistic psychology is primarily focused on the good be in humans and rejects a focus on disorders. Names to know: Maslow and Rogers