The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to psychology: Psychology refers to the study of subconscious and conscious activities, such as emotions and thoughts. It is a field of study that bridges the scientific and social sciences and has a huge reach. Its goal is to comprehend individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. Psychology is the study of people and the reasons for their behavior. It has grown in popularity in the last few decades and is now an undergraduate course at many universities. There are a variety of psychology branches that people specialize in, as outlined below. Fernald LD (2008)
''Psychology: Six perspectives''
(pp. 12–15). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Hockenbury & Hockenbury. Psychology. Worth Publishers, 2010.

Branches of psychology

Subdisciplines of psychology

List of psychology disciplines

Basic psychological science

Abnormal psychology Abnormal psychology is the branch of psychology that studies unusual patterns of behavior, emotion, and thought, which could possibly be understood as a mental disorder. Although many behaviors could be considered as abnormal, this branch of psyc ...

* Applied psychology *

Asian psychology Asian psychology is a branch of cultural psychology that studies psychological concepts as they relate to Asian culture. Psychologists studying these issue are often aligned with cross-cultural psychology. Asian Psychology is the study of countrie ...

Behavioral genetics Behavioural genetics, also referred to as behaviour genetics, is a field of scientific research that uses genetic methods to investigate the nature and origins of individual differences in behaviour. While the name "behavioural genetics" c ...

* Biological psychology *

Black psychology Black psychology, also known as African-American psychology and African/Black psychology, is a scientific field that focuses on how people of African descent know and experience the world. The field, particularly in the United States, largely emerge ...

Clinical neuropsychology Clinical neuropsychology is a sub-field of psychology concerned with the applied science of brain-behaviour relationships. Clinical neuropsychologists use this knowledge in the assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and or rehabilitation of patients ...

Cognitive psychology Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and reasoning. Cognitive psychology originated in the 1960s in a break from behaviorism, which ...

Comparative psychology Comparative psychology refers to the scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of non-human animals, especially as these relate to the phylogenetic history, adaptive significance, and development of behavior. Research in this area addr ...

* Conservation psychology * Criminal psychology * Critical psychology * Cultural psychology *

Developmental psychology Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult developme ...

Differential psychology Differential psychology studies the ways in which individuals differ in their behavior and the processes that underlie it. This is a discipline that develops classifications (taxonomies) of psychological individual differences. This is distingui ...

Evolutionary psychology Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in psychology that examines cognition and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify human psychological adaptations with regards to the ancestral problems they evo ...

Experimental psychology Experimental psychology refers to work done by those who apply experimental methods to psychological study and the underlying processes. Experimental psychologists employ human participants and animal subjects to study a great many topics, in ...

* Forensic developmental psychology *

Group psychology Group dynamics is a system of behaviors and psychological processes occurring within a social group (''intra''group dynamics), or between social groups ( ''inter''group dynamics). The study of group dynamics can be useful in understanding decision ...

Health psychology Health psychology is the study of psychological and behavioral processes in health, illness, and healthcare. The discipline is concerned with understanding how psychological, behavioral, and cultural factors contribute to physical health and illn ...

* Indigenous psychology *

Mathematical psychology Mathematical psychology is an approach to psychological research that is based on mathematical modeling of perceptual, thought, cognitive and motor processes, and on the establishment of law-like rules that relate quantifiable stimulus character ...

* Medical psychology *

Motivation Motivation is the reason for which humans and other animals initiate, continue, or terminate a behavior at a given time. Motivational states are commonly understood as forces acting within the agent that create a disposition to engage in goal-dire ...

* Music psychology *

Neuropsychology Neuropsychology is a branch of psychology concerned with how a person's cognition and behavior are related to the brain and the rest of the nervous system. Professionals in this branch of psychology often focus on how injuries or illnesses of t ...

Pediatric psychology Pediatric psychology is a multidisciplinary field of both scientific research and clinical practice which attempts to address the psychological aspects of illness, injury, and the promotion of health behaviors in children, adolescents, and families ...

Personality psychology Personality psychology is a branch of psychology that examines personality and its variation among individuals. It aims to show how people are individually different due to psychological forces. Its areas of focus include: * construction of a ...

Positive psychology Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living, focusing on both individual and societal well-being. It studies "positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions...it aims t ...

Psychopharmacology Psychopharmacology (from Greek grc, ψῡχή, psȳkhē, breath, life, soul, label=none; grc, φάρμακον, pharmakon, drug, label=none; and grc, -λογία, -logia, label=none) is the scientific study of the effects drugs have on mo ...

Quantitative psychology Quantitative psychology is a field of scientific study that focuses on the mathematical modeling, research design and methodology, and statistical analysis of psychological processes. It includes tests and other devices for measuring cognitive ...

* Rehabilitation psychology *

Social psychology Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the ...

Transpersonal psychology Transpersonal psychology, or spiritual psychology, is a sub-field or school of psychology that integrates the spiritual and transcendent aspects of the human experience with the framework of modern psychology. The '' transpersonal'' is defined ...

Applied psychology

Anomalistic psychology In psychology, anomalistic psychology is the study of human behaviour and experience connected with what is often called the paranormal, with few assumptions made about the validity (or otherwise) of the reported phenomena. Early history Accord ...

Applied behavior analysis Applied behavior analysis (ABA), also called behavioral engineering, is a psychological intervention that applies empirical approaches based upon the principles of respondent and operant conditioning to change behavior of social significance.S ...

Clinical psychology Clinical psychology is an integration of social science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and persona ...

* Community psychology *

Consumer psychology Consumer behavior is the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and all the activities associated with the purchase, use and disposal of goods and services. Consumer behaviour consists of how the consumer's emotions, attitudes, and ...

Counseling psychology Counseling psychology is a psychological specialty that encompasses research and applied work in several broad domains: counseling process and outcome; supervision and training; career development and counseling; and prevention and health ...

* Ecological psychology *

Educational psychology Educational psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of human learning. The study of learning processes, from both cognitive and behavioral perspectives, allows researchers to understand individual differences in ...

Environmental psychology Environmental psychology is a branch of psychology that explores the relationship between humans and the external world. It examines the way in which the natural environment and our built environments shape us as individuals. Environmental Psychol ...

Forensic psychology Forensic psychology is the development and application of scientific knowledge and methods to help answer legal questions arising in criminal, civil, contractual, or other judicial proceedings. Forensic psychology includes both research on various ...

* Human factors psychology *

Industrial and organizational psychology Industrial and organizational psychology (I-O psychology), an applied discipline within psychology, is the science of human behavior in the workplace. Depending on the country or region of the world, I-O psychology is also known as occupationa ...

* Legal psychology *

Media psychology Media psychology is the branch and specialty field in psychology that focuses on the interaction of human behavior with media and technology. Media psychology is not limited to mass media or media content; it includes all forms of mediated commu ...

Military psychology Military psychology is a specialization within psychology that applies psychological science to promote the readiness of military members, organizations, and operations. Military psychologists provide support to the military in many ways, includ ...

Occupational psychology Industrial and organizational psychology (I-O psychology), an applied discipline within psychology, is the science of human behavior in the workplace. Depending on the country or region of the world, I-O psychology is also known as occupation ...

* Occupational health psychology *

Political psychology Political psychology is an interdisciplinary academic field, dedicated to understanding politics, politicians and political behavior from a psychological perspective, and psychological processes using socio-political perspectives. The relation ...

Psychoneuroimmunology Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), also referred to as psychoendoneuroimmunology (PENI) or psychoneuroendocrinoimmunology (PNEI), is the study of the interaction between psychological processes and the nervous and immune systems of the human body. It is ...

School psychology School psychology is a field that applies principles from educational psychology, developmental psychology, clinical psychology, community psychology, and behavior analysis to meet the learning and behavioral health needs of children and adol ...

Sport psychology Sport psychology was defined by the European Federation of Sport in 1996, as the study of the psychological basis, processes, and effects of sport. Otherwise, sport is considered as any physical activity where the individuals engage for competi ...

Traffic psychology Traffic psychology is a discipline of psychology that studies the relationship between psychological processes and the behavior of road users. In general, traffic psychology aims to apply theoretical aspects of psychology in order to improve traff ...

Psychological schools

Psychological schools The psychological schools are the great classical theories of psychology. Each has been highly influential; however, most psychologists hold eclectic viewpoints that combine aspects of each school. Most influential ones The most influential one ...

– some examples of psychological schools follow (the most prominent schools are in bold): *

Analytical psychology Analytical psychology ( de , Analytische Psychologie, sometimes translated as analytic psychology and referred to as Jungian analysis) is a term coined by Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist, to describe research into his new "empirical science" ...

Behaviorism Behaviorism is a systematic approach to understanding the behavior of humans and animals. It assumes that behavior is either a reflex evoked by the pairing of certain antecedent stimuli in the environment, or a consequence of that individual ...

(see also

Radical behaviourism Radical behaviorism is a "philosophy of the science of behavior" developed by B. F. Skinner. It refers to the philosophy behind behavior analysis, and is to be distinguished from methodological behaviorism—which has an intense emphasis on ...

) * Cognitivism * Depth psychology * Descriptive psychology * Ecological systems theory *

Ego psychology Ego psychology is a school of psychoanalysis rooted in Sigmund Freud's structural id-ego-superego model of the mind. An individual interacts with the external world as well as responds to internal forces. Many psychoanalysts use a theoretical c ...

* Enactivism (psychology) *

Existential psychology Existential psychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy based on the model of human nature and experience developed by the existential tradition of European philosophy. It focuses on concepts that are universally applicable to human existence incl ...

Functional psychology Functional psychology or functionalism refers to a psychological school of thought that was a direct outgrowth of Darwinian thinking which focuses attention on the utility and purpose of behavior that has been modified over years of human existen ...

Gestalt psychology Gestalt-psychology, gestaltism, or configurationism is a school of psychology that emerged in the early twentieth century in Austria and Germany as a theory of perception that was a rejection of basic principles of Wilhelm Wundt's and Edward ...

* Humanistic psychology *

Individual differences Differential psychology studies the ways in which individuals differ in their behavior and the processes that underlie it. This is a discipline that develops classifications (taxonomies) of psychological individual differences. This is distingui ...

* Individual psychology *

Phenomenological psychology Phenomenology within psychology, or phenomenological psychology, is the psychological study of subjective experience. It is an approach to psychological subject matter that attempts to explain experiences from the point of view of the subject via ...

Psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might ...

Structuralism In sociology, anthropology, archaeology, history, philosophy, and linguistics, structuralism is a general theory of culture and methodology that implies that elements of human culture must be understood by way of their relationship to a broader s ...

Transactional analysis Transactional Analysis (TA) is a psychoanalytic theory and method of therapy wherein social interactions (or “transactions”) are analyzed to determine the ego state of the communicator (whether parent-like, childlike, or adult-like) as a b ...

History of psychology

History of psychology Psychology is defined as "the scientific study of behavior and mental processes". Philosophical interest in the human mind and behavior dates back to the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Persia, Greece, China, and India. Psychology as a field of ...

* Timeline of psychology * Timeline of psychotherapy

Psychology theories

* List of social psychology theories

Research methods

List of psychological research methods A wide range of research methods are used in psychology. These methods vary by the sources from which information is obtained, how that information is sampled, and the types of instruments that are used in data collection. Methods also vary by wh ...

* List of neurological research methods

Psychological phenomena

Cognitive biases A cognitive bias is a systematic pattern of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment. Individuals create their own "subjective reality" from their perception of the input. An individual's construction of reality, not the objective input, m ...

Emotion Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definitio ...

(

list A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...

) *

Memory biases Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...

Perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...

(

index Index (or its plural form indices) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Index (''A Certain Magical Index''), a character in the light novel series ''A Certain Magical Index'' * The Index, an item on a Halo megastru ...

) *

Psychological effects Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

Thought In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to conscious cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, an ...

** List of thought processes ** List of organizational thought processes ** List of decision-making processes ** List of creative thought processes ** List of mnemonics **

Emotional intelligence Emotional intelligence (EI) is most often defined as the ability to perceive, use, understand, manage, and handle emotions. People with high emotional intelligence can recognize their own emotions and those of others, use emotional information t ...

Psychological conditions

* DSM-IV Codes *

DSM-IV Codes (alphabetical) A * V62.3 Academic Problem * V62.4 Acculturation Problem * 308.3 Acute Stress Disorder * Adjustment Disorders ** 309.9 Unspecified Adjustment Reaction NOS ** 309.24 With Anxiety ** 309.0 With Depressed Mood ** 309.3 With Disturbance of C ...

List of mental disorders The following is a list of mental disorders as defined by the ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'' (DSM) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). The DSM is the American Psychiatric Association's standard refer ...

* List of mood disorders * List of neurological disorders * Outline of autism

Psychological treatments

* List of cognitive–behavioral therapies *

List of therapies This is a list of types of medical therapy, including forms of traditional medicine and alternative medicine. For psychotherapies and other behavioral and psychological intervention methods, see list of psychotherapies. * abortive therapy * a ...

* List of psychotherapies

Medicine

List of psychotropic medications This is a list of psychotropic medications that are on the market in the United States. A * Abilify ( aripiprazole) – atypical antipsychotic used to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and irritability associated with autism. * Adderall ( ...

* List of psychedelic drugs * List of psychiatric medications * List of psychiatric medications by condition treated *

List of neurosteroids This is a list of neurosteroids, or natural and synthetic steroids that are active on the mammalian nervous system through receptors other than steroid hormone receptors. It includes inhibitory, excitatory, and neurotrophic neurosteroids as we ...

* List of nootropics (smart drugs) *

List of drugs There are many hundreds of thousands of possible drugs. Any chemical substance with biological activity may be considered a drug. This list categorises drugs alphabetically and also by other categorisations. {{List of drugs-Top ---- List of li ...

Psychology education

List of credentials in psychology This list is of professional and academic credentials in the field of psychology and allied fields in North America, including education, counseling, social work, and family therapy. Degrees Although undergraduate (Bachelor's) degrees for ps ...

* List of schools of psychoanalysis

Psychology organizations

* List of psychology organizations * Evolutionary psychology research groups and centers * List of schools of psychoanalysis

Psychology publications

* List of further reading on Borderline personality disorder *

List of psychology journals This list presents a selection of journals in the field of psychology and its branches. {{compact ToC, side=yes, top=yes, num=yes A * '' Acta Psychologica'' * ''Adaptive Behavior'' * ''Aggressive Behavior'' * ''American Behavioral Scientist'' * ...

Scholars of psychology (and related)

; List of psychologists * List of comparative psychologists * List of clinical psychologists * List of developmental psychologists * List of educational psychologists * List of evolutionary psychologists * List of social psychologists ;Related * List of fictional psychiatrists *

List of cognitive scientists Below are some notable researchers in cognitive science. Computer science Linguistics Neuroscience Philosophy Psychology {{columns-list, colwidth=25em, * Edith Ackermann * John Robert Anderson * David Ausubel * Alan Baddeley * Paul B ...

List of psychiatrists This list is of notable psychiatrists. Additional lists of psychiatrists can be found at the articles List of figures in psychiatry (though not all individuals at that list are psychiatrists and medical doctors), List of fictional psychiatrists, F ...

List of neuroscientists Many famous neuroscientists are from the 20th and 21st century, as neuroscience is a fairly new science. However many anatomists, physiologists, biologists, neurologists, psychiatrists and other physicians and psychologists are considered to ...

* List of psychoanalytical theorists *

List of neurologists and neurosurgeons This is a list of neurologists and neurosurgeons, with their year of birth and death and nationality. This list compiles the names of neurologists and neurosurgeons with a corresponding Wikipedia biographical article, and is not necessarily a refl ...

References

External links

Psychology Library
Search Psychology articles by author's name, category and key word (Also Articles from the American Psychological Association) {{Outline footer

Psychology Psychology is the science, scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immens ...