Resource 2B
As psychology is such a wide discipline, it can be classified in a variety of ways.
For example, it can be viewed either as a pure science or as an applied science. It can also be classified according to approach: process or person. Alternatively, psychology can be classed under several major theoretical principles: behaviourist, cognitive, psychodynamic, humanistic and social constructivist. In addition to these categories, psychology can be divided into specialist fields; for example: biopsychology, social, developmental, forensic and clinical psychology.
When its main function is to research basic principles, psychology is regarded as a pure science.
Although psychology may be classed as a pure science, it can also be an applied science.
The academic psychologist researches into theory, expands knowledge and lays the foundations for further research. Theoretical research is usually carried out under controlled conditions and is particularly relevant to the fields of biopsychology and neuropsychology. However, pure science can have wider, practical applications.
When research in psychology is used for practical purposes, to solve a social or organizational problem, for instance, it is called applied psychology. A psychologist working in this area either practises in a professional field, or carries out research into the practical applications of a theory. An example of this would be research into the effect of sleep deprivation on human behaviour.
As well as being classified as a science, psychology can also be divided into two main approaches: process and person.
An alternative method of classifying psychology is by its major theories.
The process approach, as the name suggests, analyzes the processes, both biological and cognitive, that constitute human behaviour. This approach is closely connected with laboratory research and does not necessarily distinguish between human and animal behaviour. In contrast, the person approach focuses on the interaction between people and the ways in which they understand their experience.
Behaviourists claim that human behaviour is almost exclusively determined by environmental, or external influences, and reject the belief that subjective factors, such as feelings, are valid means of explaining it. Cognitive psychologists, on the other hand, recognize the validity of subjective reporting to explain behaviour but combine this with analyzing mental processes, such as reasoning and language. In contrast, Freud took the view that the unconscious drives human behaviour. According to Gross (2007), humanistic theory, (popularized by Maslow during the 1960s) rejected determinism and asserted the importance of individual free will. In a further development, Gergen (1973) evolved a social-constructivist theory, claiming that individual behaviour is affected by its socio-historic context.
Psychology can also be divided into its applied fields.
An example of this is the work of educational psychologists, whose professional role falls within the field of developmental psychology. Although this field is classed under the person approach, an educational psychologist may also apply techniques from the process approach. For instance, in the case of a child with learning difficulties, the psychologist may use cognitive tests to identify limitations in attention or perception. Alternatively, they may need to refer to the child’s family background to investigate its affective development; the person approach. The fact is, that although research has provided the psychologist with a range of approaches and principles, the boundaries between them are neither fixed nor mutually exclusive.
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English for Psychology – Copyright © Garnet Publishing Ltd 2010
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