Psychology Applications

CLINICAL AND COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY

Individuals: One of the first clinical psychologist roles in a counseling setting is to assess and diagnose the client. Part of this process involves actively listening to what the client is saying as well as discerning the client's true goals. If the psychologist suspects there are serious undiagnosed mental disorders in existence, he may recommend an assessment. If necessary, a clinical psychologist can recommend, but not prescribe, medications to assist in an intervention.

Couples: Couples seek the help of marriage counselors for premarital counseling, to deal with short-term and long-term problems and to decide whether they should continue with the relationship or get a divorce. It also depends on the issue that the couple is seeking help for in determining the therapist's role. For example, if a couple seeks help due to infidelity, the therapist would help the couple explore the reasons behind the infidelity, if they want to stay together, how to build the trust back up in the relationship and more. If a couple seeks assistance from a marriage therapist for premarital counseling, the therapist will assist the couple in exploring things such as future goals and finances. Most hold joint sessions with both partners and some also have individual sessions. They should focus on problem identification within the relationship and not on individual flaws of a client. Skill development--including open communication, collaborative problem-solving and holding rational discussions--should be a key component of the work accomplished with a couples counselor. A counselor can be expected to act as a mediator when partners fight during a session. He will guide clients, but won't supply solutions. He will help clients reach deeper understanding and insight through specific techniques, exercises and approaches. They may also use specific approaches like Client-centered therapy (also called humanistic or Rogerian therapy) focuses on emotional honesty and openness.

Families: A family counselor is an individual who treats married couples or family members in order to help them overcome mental or emotional problems that may result within the home. The family counselor will diagnose any disorders and provide effective treatment measures in which to help the family members resolve their issues. The general responsibilities of the family counselor are meeting with family members, diagnosing their mental and/or emotional problems and effectively treating them over a period of time. The family counselor must keep accurate and complete records for each client. These records include personal information, documentation from sessions and referrals or information received from other counselors and officials regarding the client. It is crucial that the family counselor keeps these records confidential and well organized so that they can be retrieved whenever they may be needed in the future.
Groups: The role of the group counselor involves facilitating interaction among the members, help them learn from one another, assist them in establishing personal goals and also provide continuous empathy and support to the members and also to check if the members have carried their learning experience from the group and practiced it in the outside world. Group counseling may have the following advantages:

* It caters to the needs of more than 1 student and the maximum being 8 to 10 students forming a group. * It also is time saving when compared to individual counseling as issues can be addressed simultaneously among the students. * It also provides a healthy atmosphere for sharing experiences and learning from the other group members so that the student doesn't feel left out and also is supportive.
Group counseling is really an effective form of learning experience as members can share their experiences, learn from others, and also come to know that everyone has similar problems and they are not the only one struggling with an issue.

Difference between a Clinical Psychologist and a Counselor:

Psychology can be applied in many different ways. Some persons who study psychology end up practicing as counselors, some practice as psychotherapists, and some practice as psychologists. To make it even more complicated, some psychologists use techniques of psychotherapy and some use techniques of counseling.

As clinical psychology grew, it became strongly influenced by the treatment principles of psychoanalysis which place a large emphasis on unconscious functioning. If a person wants to provide clinical services (such as psychotherapy) to the public as an independent practitioner (as opposed to teaching or conducting research), the person must receive a license. the degrees associated with clinical psychology are the traditional Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy) —which involves training in both clinical treatment and research—and the newer Psy.D. (Doctor of Psychology)—which emphasizes clinical training and minimizes training in research.

The concept of counseling (in British English it is spelled counselling) has actually been around for ages, and it reflects the need for one person to seek out help or advice from another person. Counseling as a professional occupation, therefore, derives not from the clinic but from more social settings. It focuses on helping persons resolve problems or role issues related to work or school or family matters. In this setting, the counselor is a “problem solver” who through direct advice or non-directive guidance helps the client make rational decisions. Counseling has traditionally been associated with the field of education (M.S. or M.S.E. or Ed.D.), although some counselors may have bachelor’s or master’s degrees in psychology.

The basic parameters by which one can differentiate between a counselor and a clinical psychologist are: • | It is concerned with “normal” problems rather than mental health problems. | • | It is concerned with role functioning, with choices to be made, and with actions to be taken. | • | It is more concerned with present events than with past events. | • | It is more concerned with conscious, rational thinking than with unconscious functioning. | |

INDUSTRIAL & ORGANIZATIONAL
These professionals apply psychological principles and research methods to the workplace. The purpose of this can be two-fold. On one hand, it serves to improve the quality of the working environment and the happiness of employees. On the other, it also helps motivate workers and improve productivity. There are several different specialties involved with industrial-organizational psychology. Some may choose to focus on analyzing and training employees, while others will want to evaluate potential hires to the company to determine their suitability, while others will be interested in improving workspace flow and productivity. 1. Well-being: Organizations want to maximize the well-being and satisfaction of employees in the company. The organizational side deals with how employees work together and react toward each other, the managers, and the work. The company benefits from the cohesion, understanding, and well being of the employees because the employees are more productive when employee satisfaction is present in the working environment. Organizational psychology can offer creative ideas from employees on how to make the company a better place to work. One can obtain information from employees on how to improve the life of an employee at work. 2. Efficiency: People will always be behind the companies that exist in the world, whether those people are laborers, supervisors, or investors the need to understand what drives them to work together successfully and proficiently will exist. Organizations are not a creation of chaos and confusion. Organizations, like the mind are complex and dynamic. Understanding organizations will improve the operation of a company. Paring the study of business organizations and human behavior will continue shaping the business world for years to come in the form of organizational psychology. 3. Profits: Organizations use organizational psychology to become more successful and efficient. Determining solutions to common problems can be made easier using organizational psychology. Organizational psychology also helps companies save money and increase stakeholder value because the information provided through these studies can help an organization run effectively and efficiently. This is beneficial because it increases employee morale and security; which, in turn, increases efficiency of employees and the organization. This impact will allow an organization to also provide better customer service and increase the organization's success financially. An organization can use organizational psychology to increase efficiency and effectiveness, and this will increase the success of an organization.

Organizational psychology also helps the following processes:
Recruitment: Organizational psychological principles help you identify ideal candidates, create an appealing workplace to attract and retain employees and maximize your recruitment efforts with effective outreach and interview strategies. Organizational psychological principles help you determine which university programs are likely to attract students compatible with your business and also what elements of the job to focus on when presenting your opportunity. For example, long hours are not likely to be attractive, but opportunities for creativity might be. Organizational psychology helps you formulate the right questions and organize your interview effectively. The principles of organizational psychology help you focus your interview on personality strengths needed for your team while avoiding questions that suggest stereotyping.

Motivation: motivating employees to work efficiently is the need of the hour. Organizational psychology helps identify certain motivations like Commissions, sales incentives and social praise are well-known motivators. The psychological concept is extrinsic motivation. These rewards can be extremely powerful when looking to motivate your staff to go above and beyond their current comfort zone of productivity. Another way is by the effects of praise and reward can be used to refine behavior. While this can be seen throughout life, you can apply the concept when motivating your workforce. The goal setting theory is somewhat common sense but it reinforces the fact that a worker’s motivation shares a direct relationship with their goals. This theory was developed by Edward Locke and illustrates that by setting specific and challenging goals for your team motivation will provoke extreme productivity.
Team building: Organizational psychology offers many techniques for team building. From icebreakers to bonding experiences, you can benefit from activities that help your employees see themselves as part of a group working toward a common goal. For example, involving employees in charity work can provide them with an opportunity to pitch in together to achieve a worthy goal. You can also encourage team building through rewards to departments intead of individuals, asking groups to set their own sales and production goals, and empowering groups to suggest solutions to employee problems.
Leadership Qualities: Leader-focused approaches look to organizational leaders to determine the characteristics of effective leadership. According to the trait approach, more effective leaders possess certain traits that less effective leaders lack. More recently, this approach is being used to predict leader emergence. The following traits have been identified as those that predict leader emergence when there is no formal leader: high intelligence, high needs for dominance, high self-motivation, and socially perceptive. Contingency-focused theories base a leader's effectiveness on their ability to assess a situation and adapt their behavior accordingly.[53] These theories assume that an effective leader can accurately "read" a situation and skillfully employ a leadership style that meets the needs of the individuals involved and the task at hand. Follower-focused approaches look at the processes by which leaders motivate followers, and lead teams to achieve shared goals. Understandably, the area of leadership motivation draws heavily from the abundant research literature in the domain of motivation in I–O psychology. Because leaders are held responsible for their followers' ability to achieve the organization's goals, their ability to motivate their followers is a critical factor of leadership effectiveness.
Marketing: Integrated research of organizational and marketing research bridges the gap between internal and external voices of the customers, suppliers, shareholders, etc. Culture, employee attitudes, and business processes directly and indirectly influence interactions with external stakeholders. And, of course, external stakeholders directly and indirectly impact employees' attitudes, business processes, and productivity. Organizational Psychology helps companies understand how these internal and external influences can be better aligned so voices are resonating rather than shouting over or at each other and effective marketing strategies are created.
Consumer Behaviour: Because businesses need to understand their consumers in order to develop products and marketing campaigns that appeal to their target audience, psychologists often spend a great deal of time learning more about what makes shoppers tick. This often involves first figuring out the target audience for a particular product including the gender, age and socioeconomic status of the typical shopper. Next, the psychologist might begin researching the types of products and marketing messages that appeal to these types of buyers. Psychologists often conduct research to learn more about buyer behavior. Common research methods used by these professionals include experiments, phone surveys, focus groups, direct observation and questionnaires. The study of consumers helps firms and organizations improve their marketing strategies by understanding issues such as how 1. The psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between different alternatives (e.g., brands, products, and retailers); 2. The psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment (e.g., culture, family, signs, media); 3. The behavior of consumers while shopping or making other marketing decisions; 4. Limitations in consumer knowledge or information processing abilities influence decisions and marketing outcome; 5. How consumer motivation and decision strategies differ between products that differ in their level of importance or interest that they entail for the consumer; and 6.How marketers can adapt and improve their marketing campaigns and marketing strategies to more effectively reach the consumer.

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 1. How it helps facilitate learning? Applied behavior analysis, a set of techniques based on the behavioral principles of operant conditioning, is effective in a range of educational settings.[18] For example, teachers can alter student behavior by systematically rewarding students who follow classroom rules with praise, stars, or tokens exchangeable for sundry items. The spaced learning effect, a cognitive phenomenon strongly supported by psychological research, has broad applicability within education.[26] For example, students have been found to perform better on a test of knowledge about a text passage when a second reading of the passage is delayed rather than immediate (see figure).[25] Educational psychology research has confirmed the applicability to education of other findings from cognitive psychology, such as the benefits of using mnemonics for immediate and delayed retention of information. Knowing the students' level on a developmental sequence provides information on the kind and level of knowledge they can assimilate, which, in turn, can be used as a frame for organizing the subject matter to be taught at different school grades. This is the reason why Piaget's theory of cognitive development was so influential for education, especially mathematics and science education. 2. Working with teachers and students:
Teachers: It can help when dealing with children because knowing their motivations and developmental levels will help you adjust and plan for lessons and plain old dealing with their attitudes and behaviors. It helps a teacher to make evaluation of his/her lesson. Also helps a teacher to solve different problems facing students. I think, when the teacher understands and applies these and other theories to teaching process he/she can increase child's achievement. That means she/he uses accumulated psychological knowledge that took ages from psychologists to improve.
However, each educational setting has got specific learning environment that requires specific way of applying these theories. The knowledge of Educational Psychology has a great relevance for the teacher, because it helps the teacher to realize his objective of effective teaching and educating the pupils properly. Psychology sheds great light on the fact that the teacher’s own attitude plays a fundamental role in the proper development and learning of the pupils. It is Educational Psychology, which can equip the teacher with necessary skills and competence to meet the various problems of the classroom successfully. The sound knowledge of Educational Psychology is quite essential for a teacher.

Students: The next time you're tempted to complain about pop quizzes, midterms or final exams, consider this - research has demonstrated that taking tests actually helps you better remember what you've learned, even if it wasn't covered on the test. One experiment found that students who studied and were then tested had better long-term recall of the materials, even on information that was not covered by the tests. Students who had extra time to study but were not tested had significantly lower recall of the materials. This vvague understanding of Psychology may help students learn better for tests. But their better learning is facilitated by the right application of psychological research by their teachers.

3. Individual problems: psychology helps deal with the following problems in a educational institution:

Learning differences: Each person has an individual profile of characteristics, abilities and challenges that result from predisposition, learning and development. These manifest as individual differences in intelligence, creativity, cognitive style, motivation and the capacity to process information, communicate, and relate to others. The most prevalent disabilities found among school age children are attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), learning disability, dyslexia, and speech disorder. Less common disabilities include mental retardation, hearing impairment, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and blindness. standardized instruments such as the Stanford-Binet IQ test and the WISC[10] are widely used in economically developed countries to identify children in need of individualized educational treatment. Children classified as gifted are often provided with accelerated or enriched programs. Children with identified deficits may be provided with enhanced education in specific skills such as phonological awareness. In addition to basic abilities, the individual's personality traits are also important, with people higher in conscientiousness and hope attaining superior academic achievements, even after controlling for intelligence and past performance. In general, there are three different approaches for dealing with individual differences among students. First, you can develop events of instruction that take them into account as part of the instructional process. This is the approach used by Bernice McCarthy, developer of the 4MAT system. The second approach is to provide some sort of grouping, either between classes or within the classroom itself, in order to reduce or accomodate for the variability with respect to student background, achievement, ability or some other characteristic. Leveling or tracking, classroom grouping, cooperative learning, and individualized instruction are examples of this approach. Third, you can modify the conditions within which instruction is taking place. This is the approach used in mastery learning.

Evaluation techniques: Educational psychologists have been instrumental in providing techniques that teachers can use to determine how successful students have been in attaining new knowledge and skills. Today, perhaps more than ever, assessing students' knowledge and skills is a central issue in schools. From a teacher's perspective, two of the most relevant purposes of assessment are (a) to identify students who need educational or psychological assistance, and (b) to provide information to teachers that will help them develop instructional programs to facilitate all students' functioning. Assessment involves the use of many tools and a basic knowledge of measurement. An educational psychologist working in a school may also be required to help evaluate the educational program and look for areas where the program can be improved. A school program needs to be evaluated for a number of reasons. A good program evaluation will look at how the program can be improved, if the program is effective as well as evaluating the usefulness of certain parts of the program. A program evaluation can also ensure that all governmental regulations and requirements are met.

School Environment: A substantial body of research shows that, for good or ill, a school’s social environment has broad influence on students’ learning and growth, including major aspects of their social, emotional, and ethical development. Educational psychologists help teachers to improve the school environment, recognising that this can influence young people's behaviour and ability to learn. The following are considered to be assets in school environments: 1. A caring school climate 2. Parental involvement in schooling 3. Clear rules and consequences in the school and family 4. High expectations from teachers and parents
When students find their school environment to be supportive and caring, they are less likely to become involved in substance abuse, violence, and other problem behaviors. They are more likely to develop positive attitudes toward themselves and prosocial attitudes and behaviors toward others.

4. Career Counseling:
Choice of a career: Psychology helps identify one’s aptitude, interest and achievement which helps an individual decide the right career for him. Vocational interests is a highly applied area of Psychology because it has implications for educators, employers, and counselors, as well as every individual hoping to improve their understanding of their "occupational fit". One such theory of psychology that is most widely used to determine one’s career is John Holland’s self-directed search.

Requirements of a job: Job analysis is the formal process of identifying the content of a job in terms activities involved and attributes needed to perform the work and identifies major job requirements. Industrial/organizational psychologists are often the professionals who perform job analyses. These professionals use either a task-oriented or worker-oriented approach. The task-oriented approach focuses on identifying each individual task involved in performing the job well. Task-oriented procedures focus on the actual activities involved in performing work.[2] This procedure takes into consideration work duties, responsibilities, and functions. The job analyst then develops task statements which clearly state the tasks that are performed with great detail. After creating task statements, job analysts rate the tasks on scales indicating importance, difficulty, frequency, and consequences of error. Based on these ratings, a greater sense of understanding of a job can be attained.[1] Task analysis, such as cognitively oriented task analysis (COTA), are techniques used to describe job expertise. The worker-oriented approach focuses on the attributes need in a prospective employee to perform the job successfully. Worker-oriented procedures aim to examine the human attributes needed to perform the job successfully.[2] These human attributes have been commonly classified into four categories: knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAO). Knowledge is the information people need in order to perform the job. Skills are the proficiencies needed to perform each task. Abilities are the attributes that are relatively stable over time. Other characteristics are all other attributes, usually personality factors.[1] The KSAOs required for a job are inferred from the most frequently-occurring, important tasks. In a worker-oriented job analysis, the skills are inferred from tasks and the skills are rated directly in terms of importance of frequency. This often results in data that immediately imply the important KSAOs.

Testing individual: Psychological testing and interviewing helps executives reduce surprises when hiring key people. Our structured approach to candidate assessment can help tell you how well a person may fit in your company and can help you see if the candidate has sufficient talent to grow in your organization. Since every executive wants the best people possible, it should not be surprising that many companies use psychologists to assess people and teams. We are usually asked to do psychological assessment and interviewing in the following situations: 1. Inventory a company's management talent and potential 2. Identify high-potential individuals for development opportunities 3. Look at an individual's readiness for promotion 4. Design individual development plans based on identified strengths and weaknesses

Assess possible reasons for poor performance and provide guidance
You need to hire the right people, develop them effectively, and prepare them for their future and the future of your company. Psychological tests give you important insights about your people and the people you may hire. They help you make better decisions. From an organizational perspective, there is no better growth strategy than using every tool available to hire and develop the best people.
There are two types of employee selection tests used to screen candidates before the formal selection and interview process. A psychological personality test measures such things as honesty in the workplace, ability to work in a team, motivation, interests and one's work ethic. An aptitude test measures one's skills and abilities. This is more of an objective testing method, measuring the potential employee's processing speed, math skills, reasoning and analytical skills, and spatial abilities.

CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY
The study of criminal psychology, also called forensic psychology, focuses on the study of the thoughts, intentions, motivations, and reactions of lawbreakers. It does not only study the reasons why people commit criminal acts, but also their reactions after doing the crime, either in court or fugitive.
Understanding criminals: The psychology of criminal behavior addresses the thought processes that result in deviant acts and the motivations that drive them. Both hereditary and environmental factors play a part in developing a person's tendency to engage in criminal activity. Criminal psychology examines the motivations, thoughts and intentions of those who defy the law on a habitual basis. The need to deviate from the norm plays a large role in the psychological make-up of a criminal. Defiance against authority and authority figures, to some degree, becomes the norm for someone inclined towards criminal behavior. Certain personality traits such as aggression and impulsiveness are characteristic of those who indulge in deviant behaviors.

Criminal psychologists develop psychological profiles of perpetrators to help police understand the nature, patterns and motives of criminals. They study the childhood background of serial killers, the psychological pressures people experience that led them to rob banks to solve their financial problems. They are also concerned in the methods how criminals deal with the outcome of a crime, including criminals who decide to run or misbehave in court. As mentioned above, heredity as well as environment plays a role in the motives of a criminal:

Hereditary causes are linked to chemical imbalances within the brain brought about by gene mutations. These mutations target certain neurotransmitters, or chemicals, that regulate aggression and inhibitions. Dopamine, MAO, serotonin, epinephrine and norepinephrine are the neurotransmitters affected. Antisocial personality traits are typically found in those who show a repeated disregard for the rule of law. Nonconformity, recklessness, aggression and deceitfulness are traits associated with antisocial behavior. As laws are set up to maintain social order and provide for the safety and well-being of others, antisocial behaviors work against these provisions. In the case of environmental factors, in most cases, an abusive and violent childhood upbringing is the training ground for this frame of mind to develop.

Rehabilitating criminals: the rehabilitation of former prisoners released from the places of imprisonment is the most complex and important part of the process of former criminals' re–integration into the society. Social and psychological rehabilitation of former prisoners will not loose its importance in the civilized society as long as such kind of criminal punishment as imprisonment is used. The isolation of criminals to some extent helps fight crime, but the effects of imprisonment on a person are contradictory. On the one hand, the isolation prevents antisocial activities, but on the other hand former prisoners have trouble acting independently when released. For this reason people released from prison need some relevant psychological assistance. most criminal psychologists use psychotherapy in order to rehabilitate criminals. Studies show that many incarcerated criminals have no more than an elementary school level of education and that some are barely literate. Some suffer from mental or physical illnesses and disabilities.
Psychotherapy refers to a set of procedures or techniques used to help individuals or groups alter their maladaptive behavior, develop adaptive behavior or both. Behavior Therapy refers to learning-conditioning principles which derived from well-controlled laboratory environments. Behavior therapy has a number of advantages. Its been shown to be highly effective in changing and developing specific behaviors under controlled, experimental conditions. It is also economical as it does not require expensive professionals and can be immediately beneficial for controlling unmanageable behavior. The prison system makes treatment and rehabilitation difficult because of “criminalization” and “ prisonization” . Criminalization, inmates exchange and support each others beliefs which creates a deviant culture. Prisonization is the process whereby inmates learn specific rules, general culture, and expectation of the prison community. These two learning processes are often in conflict with society. Reality therapy is based on perspective that offenders must face reality no matter what happened to them in the past and take full responsibility for their behavior now. The main focus is on the irresponsible nature of crime and delinquency, rather than viewing them as the result of psychological sickness or disorder. Constructive Therapy has emerged as a viable, rapidly growing approach across a wide area of cognitive therapies. The main idea is that individuals do not formulate static templates through which ongoing experience is filtered, but rather develop more dynamic constructs that are always subject to change as a result of new experiences. Criminal rehabilitation aims to lessen unlawful recidivism. In fact, it is the most cost-efficient form of crime prevention. Education is one of the means to successfully rehabilitate a criminal. The society is educated as a whole to uphold the significance of guarding the laws and guarantee that there is less prejudice against former prisoners. It ensures that former criminals have fewer tendencies to go back to a life of misconduct. In criminal rehabilitation, inmates are given the privilege to boost their knowledge because studies show that a lot of inmates do not have fundamental grade school education.
Preventing crime: there are a range of theories of crime which have to greater or lesser extent a psychological component. These theories seek to explain crimes in terms of biological, cognitive or behavioural or social differences between criminals and non-criminals. Taking this position it follows that in order to prevent crime it is necessary to change the criminal’s disposition towards offending.
Forensic psychologists focus not only on the motives behind a crime that was committed, but also on the reaction of the criminal. They work to create psychological profiles of those who commit offenses, studying the backgrounds and past issues of offenders. By doing this they work to understand the psychological triggers that contributed to the criminal's unlawful act. If forensic psychologists treat incarcerated offenders for underlying issues and work toward resolving them, these criminals stand a much greater chance at rehabilitation, which in turn reduces strains on the criminal justice system and makes the world a safer place.