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Skinner BoxUntil the 1970s, the heart of Experimental Psychology was in learning theory. Researchers used devices such as this classic Skinner Box to investigate the way rats learn. Pressing the bar (not visible) flips a switch that cranks a motor, ejecting a small food pellet into the plastic tube and down to a food tray. |
Psychology is the scientific study of mental and behavioral processes, and the application of the scientific knowledge to understanding, explaining and predicting human behavior, alleviating human suffering, and improving people's quality of life.
The scope of the present-day discipline of psychology includes many areas of specialization.
There are probably more kinds of psychologists than you realize!
Within the "helping professions", you can find clinical, counseling, family, health, and school psychologists who treat problems ranging from misbehavior in school to addictions and major mental disorders.
Industrial/organizational psychologists apply psychological techniques to personnel administration, management, and marketing problems.
Forensic psychologists offer an expert psychological opinion in courts as well as focus on criminal matters.
Personality, social, developmental, educational and cross-cultural psychologists perform research on complex behaviors in social settings.
Human factors and environmental psychologists do basic and applied research on problems involving the relationships between people and their human-made or natural environments.
Experimental psychologists perform basic research at universities and in industry on the underlying processes of complex behaviors and cognition.
While some cognitive psychologists deal with the brain's role in memory, thinking, and perceptions, others are involved with research related to computer programming and artificial intelligence.
Other area of specialization include psychometrics, psychology and the arts, history of psychology, psychopharmacology, and community, comparative, consumer, engineering, environmental, family, population, military, and rehabilitation psychology.
So, on any given day, while some psychologists are treating individual patients in a hospital/clinic, others are examining the effects of television violence on children in a university lab, coaching and training executives and a few are helping Apple or IBM design the next graphical user interface.
Still more info: You can learn more about what Psychologists do on the American Psychological Association student web site: