Major Specializations in Psychology

Specialization

General Interest

Example of Interest or Research Topic

Biopsychologist

Relationship between brain and behavior

What body signals indicate hunger and satiety?

Clinical psychologist

Emotional difficulties

How can people be helped to overcome severe anxiety?

Cognitive psychologist

Memory, thinking

Do people have several kinds of memory?

Community psychologist

Organizations and social structures

Would improved job opportunities decrease psychological distress?

Counseling psychologist

Helping people make important decisions

Should this person consider changing careers?

Developmental psychologist

Changes in behavior over age

At what age can a child first distinguish between appearance and reality?

Educational psychologist

Improvement of learning in school

What is the best way to test a student’s knowledge?

Environmental psychologist

How noise, heat, crowding, etc. affect behavior

What building design can maximize the productivity of the people who use it?

Evolutionary psychologist

Evolutionary history of behavior

How did people evolve their facial expressions of emotion?

Human factors specialist

Communication between person and machine

How can an airplane cockpit be redesigned to increase safety?

Industrial/organizational psychologist

People at work

Should jobs be made simple and foolproof or interesting and challenging?

Learning and motivation specialist

Learning in humans and other species

What are the effects of reinforcement and punishment?

Personality psychologist

Personality differences

Why are certain people shy and others gregarious?

Psychometrician

Measuring intelligence, personality, interests

How fair are current IQ tests? Can we devise better tests?

School psychologist

Problems that affect school children

How should the school handle a child who regularly disrupts the classroom?

Social psychologist

Group behavior, social influences

What methods of persuasion are most effective for changing attitudes?

Taken from James W Kalat Introduction to Psychology