Areas of Specialization in Psychology

Areas of Specialization

|Number |Subjects of study in psychology |Areas of specialization in |Definition and key points of this |Rationale (reason why you matched |Possible research method of |
| | |psychology (match with below |specialization (be sure to use |this subject of study with this |study (experimental, |
| | |options) |professional sources) |specialization in psychology) |correlational, observational, |
| | | | | |case study, interview) and why |
| | | | | |this one may fit the best |
|1 |Studying the causes of aggression in |Social |Study of how people behave in |Social Psychology would help |I would say experimental, |
| |reaction to others in their environment. | |social environments, study how |explain why someone would become |because it is a preferred way to|
| | | |friendships develop, what causes |aggressive in their environment. |study behavior. |
| | | |aggression and how prejudices are | | |
| | | |formed.(Argosy University, 2013) | | |
|2 |Studying the period when a newborn child |Developmental |Study of human development. |When a child recognizes their |Naturalistic method because |
| |recognizes his or her parent. | |Study factors that shape human |parent would be considered a |really the only way to see when |
| | | |behavior from birth to |developmental behavior. |a newborn recognizes their |
| | | |death.(Argosy University, 2013) | |parent is to observe them. |
|3 |Sharing some research about the best |Industrial and organizational |Study of factors that affect |Work place stress would affect |Questionnaire because it can |
| |strategies to manage work place stress. | |people in organizations. Identify |performance at the work place, |handle and works well for any |
| | | |factors that affect performance. |which would fall under this |large group of people. |
| | | |Development of employee skills. |category. | |
| | | |Job analysis. (Argosy University, | | |
| | | |2013) | | |
|4 |Determining which chemical or |Neuropsychology |Attempt to study the human brain |Seeing what neurotransmitter |Experimental will help show |
| |neurotransmitter might be activated when | |and its impact on human behavior. |coffee would affect would have to |cause and effect between |
| |people use coffee as a memory or | |Would try to figure out what |do with studying the brain and the|variables |
| |performance “enhancer”. | |chemicals or neurotransmitters |effects of certain chemicals on | |
| | | |were responsible for our emotions |chemicals or neurotransmitters | |
| | | |or something like anxiety.(Argosy | | |
| | | |University, 2013) | | |
|5 |Reviewing the thought process of someone |Cognitive |Study and work with how each |Seeing how someone has come to |Experimental because it can show|
| |who has difficulties remembering things | |individual stores, transforms, |have difficulties long-term would |the cause and effect which may |
| |long-term. | |uses and communicates information.|fall under the category of |be beneficial. |
| | | |Works with how we remember things |communicating or storing | |
| | | |, and how we decide(Argosy |information. | |
| | | |University, 2013) | | |
|6 |Methods to gain possible diagnoses in |Clinical |Work on diagnosis, understanding, |In order to understand and help |Case study because one could |
| |efforts to understand emotional problems.| |and treatment of severe emotional |diagnose emotional problems one |gather a lot of information on a|
| | | |problems, mental problems, and |would need to study emotional |case to case basis that would |
| | | |behavioral problems but have no |problems. |aid in understanding emotional |
| | | |medical degree. Don’t rely on | |problems based on people’s |
| | | |medicine. | |individual experiences |

Use these as the possible specializations to use in the above chart:

Clinical psychology or Clinical Psychologists
Health psychology
Biological psychology or Neuropsychologists
Developmental psychology
Social and personality
Cognitive psychology