FIELD AND BRANCHES OF
PSYCHOLOGY
•MAJOR FIELDS OF PSYCHOLOGY
•BRANCHES OF PSYCHOLOGY
FIELDS OF PSYCHOLOGY
Broad areas of orientation in psychology which
underlies particular perspective. These are:
Cognitive psychology: A field that deals with the way
human being processes, combines and organizes
information in the mind which help to solve
problems, memorize, understand, interpret and create
information.
 Psychodynamic: studies the causes of behavior within
the workings of personality.
 It emphasizes the role of unconscious past processes
and unresolved conflicts from the past.
Humanistic psychology: It emphasizes:
 free will, freedom and choice;
 innate tendencies toward growth;
 the role of internal personality processes;
 the importance of conscious motives.
 Behaviorism: It focuses on the role of external
environment (events, people’s actions, objects)
in shaping and governing human actions.
BRANCHES/SUB-FIELDS OF
PSYCHOLOGY
 Psychology is divided in to many branches.
 Divisions are caused by differences of:
 Methods
Aspects of behavior to be studied
Objectives
Interest, training and background of
psychologist.
Branches of Psychology
Some of the important branches of psychology for
our course are:
 Developmental psychology
 Personality psychology
 Social psychology
 Industrial /organizational psychology
 Clinical and counseling psychology
 Experimental and physiological psychology
 Educational psychology
Developmental psychology
It studies:
 how human being grows and changes
through the life span.
 domains of development; physical and
motor, intellectual, personal, emotional,
moral and social.
 sequences and rate of maturation, size and
ability in relation to age.
Personality
The definition suggests
that personality is
thoughts, feelings and
made up of:
behaviors that distinguishes
 combination of
one person from another
characteristics
and
and that persists over time
behavior.
and situations’.
 uniqueness of
characteristics
 consistency
Farres & Chaplin;1997:9),
a ‘pattern of characteristic
Personality psychology
 Examples of these traits: thinking, feeling,
acting, believing, self control, individual
organization of behavior, interpersonal
relationship skills and others.
 Personality psychology studies human
differences, factors that make the differences
and development.
 Understanding of personality is based on
many perspectives; psychoanalytic, social
learning, behavioral, humanistic, cognitive.
Social psychology
It studies:
 How the behavior of a person or a group
influences the behavior of another person or
group.
 how people learn attitude and emotions, skills,
actions, new perceptions, new ways of speaking
and of living with others.
 These behaviors are learnt through interaction,
communication and interpersonal relationships.
Social psychology

In school setting children learn new
behavior, perceptions, beliefs, thoughts,
actions and attitude as a result of interaction
and communication with teachers and other
children.
Industrial/Organizational psychology
It studies:
 behavior of workers at working places; industries,
companies, institutions or at any working situation.
 various aspects of behavior in relation to work
interest, efficiency, satisfaction, diligence and
commitment leading to maximum production and
profit.
 causes of low production as related to human
behavior.
Industrial/Organizational psychology
 Social, personal and counseling needs of
workers, supervision and training needs
 workers’ level of motivation, morale, working
schedules, working routines as related to their
attitudes and values.
 how conflicts affect commitment and diligence
of workers and how to resolve them.
Clinical and Counseling psychology
Clinical psychology
 It deals with behavior problems, emotional
disorders and behavior that indicate that the
person is abnormal.
 Specialists in this area are medical doctors but
they use psychotherapy in treating abnormal
behavior.
 Psychotherapy: a procedure of treating
abnormal behavior using interview
techniques.
Clinical psychology
Examples of abnormal behavior
 Phobic disorder: irrational fear of objects or
situations, fear of water, animals, insects,
darkness or rain.
 Mood disorders: depression; sadness,
discouragement, loss of joy, loneliness, loss of
appetite, dizziness. If this situation persists for
a long time it leads to inability to function in
life.
Counseling psychology
 It deals with helping people to make
decision about life; work, education or
marriage. This is applied in institutions,
schools or in society.
 Clinical and counseling psychology are
interrelated. They tackled almost the same
problems and use the same methods but
differ in degree of severity.
Experimental and Physiological
psychology
Experimental:
• Experimental method is used in understanding
behavior, for example perception, sensations, memory,
learning.
• studies basic causes of behavior, biological and social,
that cut across different species.
• formulate theories that can be applied in other
situations.
• Examples; closeness & attachment, pain and avoidance
Physiological psychology
It studies biological basis of behavior, the
function of the body and behavior. Example
the causes of anger, brain and memory,
secretion of hormones and emotional
arousal, genes and behavior patterns.
Educational psychology
 Educational Psychology is an applied branch of
psychology because it applies knowledge of
general psychology in teaching and learning.
 Every branch of psychology contributes
something in Educational psychology.
 Understanding the scope of other branches of
psychology is important for the teacher.
Linkage between Educational psychology
and other branches of psychology
Personality
psychology
Social
psychology
Organizational
psychology
Educational
psychology
Experimental
and
Physiological
psychology
Developmental
psychology
Clinical and
Counseling
psychology
Bibliography
 Coon, D 91988); Essentials of Psychology: Exploration and




Application.West Publishing. St. Paul.
Durojaiye, M. O. (1976); An Introduction to Educational
Psychology; Evans Brothers, London.
Elliott, S et al (2000); Educational Psychology: Effective Teaching,
Effective Learning; McGraw Hill, Boston.
Gutkin, T & Reynolds, C (1990): The Handbook of School
Psychology (2nd Edition). Wiley: New York
Kegan J &Segal,J (1995): Psychology: An Introduction, Harcout,
NewYok
 Malim, T & Birch, A (1998); Introductory Psychology; Palgrave,




New York.
Papalia, D et al (2001); Human Development (eighth edition);
McGraw Hill, Boston.
Passer, M & Smith, R (2001); Psychology: Frontiers and
Applications, McGraw Hill Boston.
Phares, E.J and Chaplin, W. F (1997): Introduction to
Personality (4th Edition). Longman: New York.
Vander Zanden, J. W (1997); Psychology (6th Edition) Boston
McGraw Hill.
Testing Questions
1. The school head teacher has been able to resolve conflicts
among teachers, the action that has made the school to have a
maximum learning environment. Which one of the following
branches of psychology has been applied?
Developmental psychology
B. Industrial/organizational psychology
C. Social psychology
D. Clinical psychology
A.
2. Educational Psychology is concerned with:
Studying growth and development of children
B. Finding ways of facilitating teaching and learning
C. Classifying children according to their behaviour
D. Treating people suffering with emotional disorders
A.
3. Explain how you can apply psychology in choosing and
using:
a) Learning materials
b) Managing classroom during teaching