1.4 Subfields within Psychology
Debbie Magreehan and Odessa College
Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Learn about the various professional associations that reflect the diversity of interests and foci within psychology
- Learn about the areas of emphasis within PSU’s Psychology Department
- Appreciate the racial/ethnic diversity of psychologists as reflected in the five APA-recognized Ethnic Minority Psychological Associations
- Identify a number of subfields within the field of psychology
Contemporary psychology is a diverse field that is influenced by all of the historical perspectives described in the preceding section. Reflective of the discipline’s diversity is the diversity seen within the American Psychological Association (APA). The APA is a professional organization representing psychologists in the United States. The APA is the largest organization of psychologists in the world, and its mission is to advance and disseminate psychological knowledge for the betterment of people. There are 54 divisions within the APA, representing a wide variety of specialties that range from Societies for Clinical Psychology to Sport, Exercise and Performance Psychology to the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race. Reflecting the diversity of the field of psychology itself, members, affiliate members, and associate members span the spectrum from students to doctoral-level psychologists, and come from a variety of places including educational settings, criminal justice, hospitals, the armed forces, and industry (American Psychological Association, 2014).
Table 1.4.1 highlights the five areas of emphasis within Portland State University’s Psychology Department, the APA divisions with which they affiliate, and a recent research study from a Portland State University faculty member within each field. You can learn more by following the links to each area’s page.
Table 1.4.1: Portland State University Psychological Areas of Emphasis and Affiliated APA Divisions
| Areas of Emphasis | Affiliated APA Divisions | Research Examples |
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| Applied Social Psychology | Division 8: Society for Personality and Social Psychology | “For minority students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, attending university and succeeding despite social and academic stressors is often considered the ultimate marker of resilience. However, a growing body of work suggests that there may be health costs to upward mobility for such students. This study investigated whether believing that the social system is fair simultaneously promotes psychological health while undermining the physical health of Latinx students experiencing frequent discrimination.”
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| Community Psychology | Division 27: Society for Community Research and Action: Division of Community Psychology | “In Portland, Oregon, advocates lobbied for a new model of emergency response for 911 calls involving unhoused community members and people experiencing behavioral health crises. To ensure the program reflected the needs and perspectives of people experiencing homelessness, teams of researchers, community volunteers, and people with lived experience interviewed 184 people in camps, shelters, and parks….This article describes the methods, findings, and recommendations from our collaborative survey process aimed at ensuring that the voices of people experiencing homelessness informed the development of the Portland Street Response pilot program.”
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| Industrial/Organizational Psychology | Division 14: Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology | “The present study evaluates the effectiveness of a supervisor support training program on both supervisor attitudes and employee sleep and stress outcomes by drawing on a multi‐level rigorous randomized controlled trial in 35 organizations. Utilizing theory from the social support and training literatures, the purpose of the current study was to understand ways to improve the transition, and ultimately the health and well‐being, of military veteran employees in the workplace via a supervisor support training intervention.”
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| Applied Developmental Psychology | Division 7: Developmental Psychology | “Recent research emphasizing disciplinary identities in the classroom indicates the importance of social interaction and inclusion in the classroom, yet only limited work focuses on how peer-initiated exclusion impacts learners. This study addresses that gap by examining the role of microexclusions, or affronts to sense of belonging and competence, in collaborative groups in 7th grade inquiry science classrooms.”
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| Applied Quantitative Psychology | Division 5: Quantitative and Qualitative Methods | “A Monte Carlo simulation examined estimation difficulties and parameter and standard error bias for mean and variance estimates of binary latent growth curve models using mean and variance adjusted diagonally weighted least squares (WLSMV) and robust maximum likelihood (MLR).”
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The Association for Psychological Science (APS) was founded in 1988 and seeks to advance the scientific orientation of psychology. Its founding resulted from disagreements between members of the scientific and clinical branches of psychology within the APA. The APS publishes six research journals and engages in education and advocacy with funding agencies. A significant proportion of its members are international, although the majority is located in the United States.
Other organizations provide networking and collaboration opportunities for professionals of several ethnic or racial groups working in psychology. Most of these groups are also dedicated to studying psychological and social issues within their specific communities. The APA recognizes five Ethnic Minority Psychological Associations: the American Arab, Middle Eastern, and North African Psychological Association (AMENA-Psy); the Asian American Psychological Association (AAPA); the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi); National Latina/o Psychological Association (NLPA); the Society of Indian Psychologists (SIP).
American Arab, Middle Eastern, and North African Psychological Association (AMENA-Psy)
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Asian American Psychological Association (AAPA)
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Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi)
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National Latina/o Psychological Association (NLPA)
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Society of Indian Psychologists (SIP)
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Links to Learning
Please visit this website to learn about the divisions within the APA.
Student resources are also provided by the APA.
Follow this link to learn more about the five Ethnic Minority Psychological Associations recognized by the APA.
CLINICAL AND COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY
Clinical psychology is the area of psychology that focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and other problematic patterns of behavior. As such, it is generally considered to be a more applied area within psychology; however, some clinicians are also actively engaged in scientific research. Counseling psychology is a similar discipline that focuses on emotional, social, vocational, and health-related outcomes in individuals who are considered psychologically healthy.
As mentioned earlier, both Freud and Rogers provided perspectives that have been influential in shaping how clinicians interact with people seeking psychotherapy. While aspects of the psychoanalytic theory are still found among some of today’s therapists who are trained from a psychodynamic perspective, Roger’s ideas about client-centered therapy have been especially influential in shaping how many clinicians operate. Furthermore, both behaviorism and the cognitive revolution have shaped clinical practice in the forms of behavioral therapy, cognitive therapy, and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Issues related to the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and problematic patterns of behavior will be discussed in detail in later chapters of this textbook.
By far, this is the area of psychology that receives the most attention in popular media, and many people mistakenly assume that all psychology is clinical psychology.
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Social psychology focuses on how we interact with and relate to others. Social psychologists conduct research on a wide variety of topics that include differences in how we explain our own behavior versus how we explain the behaviors of others, prejudice, and attraction, and how we resolve interpersonal conflicts. Social psychologists have also sought to determine how being among other people changes our own behavior and patterns of thinking.
There are many interesting examples of social psychological research, and you will read about many of these in a later chapter of this textbook. Until then, you will be introduced to one of the most controversial psychological studies ever conducted. Stanley Milgram was an American social psychologist who is most famous for research that he conducted on obedience. After the holocaust, in 1961, a Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann, who was accused of committing mass atrocities, was put on trial. Many people wondered how German soldiers were capable of torturing prisoners in concentration camps, and they were unsatisfied with the excuses given by soldiers that they were simply following orders. At the time, most psychologists agreed that few people would be willing to inflict such extraordinary pain and suffering, simply because they were obeying orders. Milgram decided to conduct research to determine whether or not this was true. As you will read later in the text, Milgram found that nearly two-thirds of his participants were willing to deliver what they believed to be lethal shocks to another person, simply because they were instructed to do so by an authority figure (in this case, a man dressed in a lab coat). This was in spite of the fact that participants received payment for simply showing up for the research study and could have chosen not to inflict pain or more serious consequences on another person by withdrawing from the study. No one was actually hurt or harmed in any way, Milgram’s experiment was a clever ruse that took advantage of research confederates, those who pretend to be participants in a research study who are actually working for the researcher and have clear, specific directions on how to behave during the research study (Hock, 2009). Milgram’s and others’ studies that involved deception and potential emotional harm to study participants catalyzed the development of ethical guidelines for conducting psychological research that discourage the use of deception of research subjects, unless it can be argued not to cause harm and, in general, requiring informed consent of participants.
COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY
Community psychology is a subfield that focuses on strengthening the abilities and resources of communities, organizations, and broader social systems, to encourage thriving of the individuals within those settings. Rather than focusing on how individuals cope with negative circumstances (e.g., trauma, poverty, discrimination), this area focuses on empowering people and members of the affected community to change those circumstances, prevent problems, and develop stronger networks and communities. Examples of community psychology interventions include partnering with neighborhoods to prevent and address racism, improving support for natural disaster victims, collaborating with schools to prevent bullying, and helping change policies to improve health outcomes for individuals experiencing homelessness (APA, 2008).
INDUSTRIAL-ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Industrial-Organizational psychology (I-O psychology) is a subfield of psychology that applies psychological theories, principles, and research findings in workplace settings. I-O psychologists are often involved in issues related to leadership, teamwork and communication, diversity in hiring, performance appraisal and management, stress and burnout at work, work-family conflict, training at work, organizational structure, and workplace environment. Businesses and other organizations often seek the aid of I-O psychologists to make the best hiring decisions as well as to create an environment that results in high levels of employee productivity, efficiency, and health. In addition to its applied nature, I-O psychology also involves conducting scientific research on behavior within workplace settings (Riggio, 2013).
HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY
Health psychology focuses on how health is affected by the interaction of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. This particular 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 psychologists might conduct research that explores the relationship between one’s genetic makeup, patterns of behavior, relationships, psychological stress, and health. They may research effective ways to motivate people to address patterns of behavior that contribute to poorer health (MacDonald, 2013).
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
Developmental psychology is the scientific study of development across a lifespan. Developmental psychologists are interested in processes related to physical maturation. However, their focus is not limited to the physical changes associated with aging, as 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. For instance, research by Jean Piaget demonstrated that very young children do not demonstrate object permanence. Object permanence refers to the understanding that physical things continue to exist, even if they are hidden from us. If you were to show an adult a toy, and then hide it behind a curtain, the adult knows that the toy still exists. However, very young infants act as if a hidden object no longer exists. The age at which object permanence is achieved is somewhat controversial (Munakata, McClelland, Johnson, and Siegler, 1997).
While Piaget was focused on cognitive changes during infancy and childhood as we move to adulthood, there is an increasing interest in extending research into the changes that occur much later in life. This may be reflective of changing population demographics of developed nations as a whole. As more and more people live longer lives, the number of people of advanced age will continue to increase. Indeed, it is estimated that there were just over 40 million people aged 65 or older living in the United States in 2010. However, by 2020, this number is expected to increase to about 55 million. By the year 2050, it is estimated that nearly 90 million people in this country will be 65 or older (Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.).
PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY
Personality psychology focuses on patterns of thoughts and behaviors that make each individual unique. Several individuals (e.g., Freud and Maslow) that we have already discussed in our historical overview of psychology, and the American psychologist Gordon Allport, contributed to early theories of personality. These early theorists attempted to explain how an individual’s personality develops from his or her given perspective. For example, Freud proposed that personality arose as conflicts between the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind were carried out over the lifespan. Specifically, Freud theorized that an individual went through various psychosexual stages of development. According to Freud, adult personality would result from the resolution of various conflicts that centered on the migration of erogenous (or sexual pleasure-producing) zones from the oral (mouth) to the anus to the phallus to the genitals. Like many of Freud’s theories, this particular idea was controversial and did not lend itself to experimental tests (Person, 1980).
More recently, the study of personality has taken on a more quantitative approach. Rather than explaining how personality arises, 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. Personality traits are relatively consistent patterns of thought and behavior, and many have proposed that five trait dimensions are sufficient to capture the variations in personality seen across individuals. These five dimensions are known as the “Big Five” or the Five Factor model, and include dimensions of conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extraversion. Each of these traits has been demonstrated to be relatively stable over the lifespan (e.g., Rantanen, Metsäpelto, Feldt, Pulkinnen, and Kokko, 2007; Soldz & Vaillant, 1999; McCrae & Costa, 2008) and is influenced by genetics (e.g., Jang, Livesly, and Vernon, 1996).
BIOPSYCHOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY
As the name suggests, biopsychology explores how our biology influences our behavior. While biological psychology is a broad field, many biological psychologists want to understand how the structure and function of the nervous system is related to behavior. As such, they often combine the research strategies of both psychologists and physiologists to accomplish this goal (as discussed in Carlson, 2013).
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. Given the broad areas of interest falling under the purview of biological psychology, it will probably come as no surprise that individuals from all sorts of backgrounds are involved in this research, including biologists, medical professionals, physiologists, and chemists. This interdisciplinary approach is often referred to as neuroscience, of which biological psychology is a component (Carlson, 2013).
While biopsychology typically focuses on the immediate causes of behavior based in the physiology of a human or other animal, evolutionary psychology seeks to study the ultimate biological causes of behavior. To the extent that a behavior is impacted by genetics, a behavior, like any anatomical characteristic of a human or animal, will demonstrate adaption to its surroundings. These surroundings include the physical environment and, since interactions between organisms can be important to survival and reproduction, the social environment. The study of behavior in the context of evolution has its origins with Charles Darwin, the co-discoverer of the theory of evolution by natural selection. Darwin was well aware that behaviors should be adaptive and wrote books titled, The Descent of Man (1871) and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872), to explore this field.
SENSATION AND PERCEPTION
Scientists interested in both physiological aspects of sensory systems as well as in the psychological experience of sensory information work within the area of sensation and perception. As such, sensation and perception research is also quite interdisciplinary. Imagine walking between buildings as you move from one class to another. You are inundated with sights, sounds, touch sensations, and smells. You also experience the temperature of the air around you and maintain your balance as you make your way. These are all factors of interest to someone working in the domain of sensation and perception.
As described in a later chapter that focuses on the results of studies in sensation and perception, our experience of our world is not as simple as the sum total of all of the sensory information (or sensations) together. Rather, our experience (or perception) is complex and is influenced by where we focus our attention, our previous experiences, and even our cultural backgrounds.
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
As mentioned in the previous section, the cognitive revolution created an impetus for psychologists to focus their attention on better understanding the mind and mental processes that underlie behavior. Thus, cognitive psychology is the area of psychology that focuses on studying cognitions, or thoughts, and their relationship to our experiences and our actions. Like biological psychology, cognitive psychology is broad in its scope and often involves collaborations among people from a diverse range of disciplinary backgrounds. This has led some to coin the term cognitive science to describe the interdisciplinary nature of this area of research (Miller, 2003).
Cognitive psychologists have research interests that span a spectrum of topics, ranging from attention to problem solving to language to memory. The approaches used in studying these topics are equally diverse. Given such diversity, cognitive psychology is not captured in one chapter of this text per se; rather, various concepts related to cognitive psychology will be covered in relevant portions throughout this text.
SPORT AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY
Researchers in sport and exercise psychology study the psychological aspects of sport performance, including motivation and performance anxiety, and the effects of sport on mental and emotional wellbeing. Research is also conducted on similar topics as they relate to physical exercise in general. The discipline also includes topics that are broader than sport and exercise but that are related to interactions between mental and physical performance under demanding conditions, such as fire fighting, military operations, artistic performance, and surgery.
FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY
Forensic psychology is a branch of psychology that deals questions of psychology as they arise in the context of the justice system. For example, forensic psychologists (and forensic psychiatrists) will assess a person’s competency to stand trial, assess the state of mind of a defendant, act as consultants on child custody cases, consult on sentencing and treatment recommendations, and advise on issues such as eyewitness testimony and children’s testimony (American Board of Forensic Psychology, 2014). In these capacities, they will typically act as expert witnesses, called by either side in a court case to provide their research- or experience-based opinions. As expert witnesses, forensic psychologists must have a good understanding of the law and provide information in the context of the legal system rather than just within the realm of psychology. Forensic psychologists are also used in the jury selection process and witness preparation. They may also be involved in providing psychological treatment within the criminal justice system. Criminal profilers are a relatively small proportion of psychologists that act as consultants to law enforcement.
Link to Learning
The APA provides career information about various areas of psychology.
OER Attribution: “Introduction to Psychology” by Debbie Magreehan, Odessa College is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Minor edits were made to this chapter by Tori Crain and Zeinab Hachem. Additional written material (Table 1.4.1 and information on the Ethnic Minority Psychological Associations) by Zeinab Hachem is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.