It is quite common to think that psychologists are dedicated to solving certain types of personal problems of “patients.” Behavioral problems, such as alcohol addiction; of an emotional nature, such as the pain caused by the death of a loved one, or related to pathologies also treated in psychiatry.
Definitely, Psychology is, for a large part of the population, the practice of performing psychotherapy if not directly something that has to do with couches, hypnosis and psychoanalysis in general.
The different specialties (branches) of psychology
However, if we stop to examine more closely what psychology is and what it has been throughout history, we will realize that the areas and fields in which it can be applied are much broader than it seems. suggest the iconic image of Sigmund Freud providing psychotherapy services. In fact, Psychology can have as many facets as there are activities carried out by human beings
That is what means that there is not a single psychology, but rather many branches of psychology that are oriented to different areas of application and different objectives. Psychology consisting of performing psychotherapy with patients is, therefore, just one of the many specialties that exist within the science of behavior.
So, if you want to know what the different branches of psychology and their career opportunities are, it will be good for you to read what follows.
1. Psychology of organizations and work
The psychology of organizations and work (the latter also known as industrial psychology) has to do with research and intervention on workers, with the aim of finding strategies to make their level of performance optimal, taking into account the needs of each of them and those of the organization as a whole. It is, therefore, the application of psychology to the world of work
People who are dedicated to organizational psychology usually work within the Human Resources departments of companies, or they can offer their services from agencies specialized in personnel selection, teaching training courses, creating more work dynamics. effective, etc.
As the activities carried out within an organization are very varied, this branch of psychology has, in turn, many aspects.
One of its facets, for example, It is oriented towards what makes each of the workers, individually, perform well in their workplace, whether intervening on the tools that each person has, studying their strengths and weaknesses, carrying out ergonomic studies to check whether or not they work comfortably, etc. This facet of specialization is usually called work, or industrial, psychology, since it has more to do with the performance of each worker and their immediate work environment.
The other facet of this specialty of psychology, however, It is oriented towards work dynamics and relationships between the people that make up the organization, and therefore has to do with the work environment, leadership studies, the resolution of conflicts of interest, the creation of effective communication flows, etc. This is organizational psychology.
The psychology of work and organizations is, in addition, the branch of psychology that usually has a greater job opportunity, and therefore it is usually a highly valued professional option. Inside of her, Recruitment tends to create the most jobs
2. Marketing and consumer psychology
Marketing psychology is born from the psychology of organizations, in the sense that it is aimed at meeting the needs of the productive machinery of companies In this case, these needs consist of providing an outlet for the products or services that are offered, causing the potential demand for these to be directed to the company’s supply.
In short, of all the branches of psychology, this specialization focuses on research aimed at creating attractive services and products for the customer Therefore, it intervenes in the creation of the marketing plan, advertising and product design.
Marketing and consumer psychology specializes in making what organizations offer as attractive as possible for the type of customer to whom the product or service wants to be sold, and also establishes which communication strategies are most useful to reach this This is a discipline that overlaps with what media and advertising agencies have traditionally done, and that is why this type of psychologists work together with professionals in these fields.
Among the most valuable assets of marketing and consumer psychology is neuromarketing, which applies neuroscience techniques to see how potential clients or consumers respond to pieces of advertising, packaging (the packaging of the product), etc. Advertising psychologists can also play an important role in these design processes depending on the way they interpret the reading of brain activation patterns, the tracking of gaze movement in front of an advertising poster, etc.
This is one of the most important psychology specialties in a context in which consumers are increasingly immune and skeptical of advertising.
3. Clinical and health psychology
This is one of the best known branches of psychology, if not the most, and consists of research and intervention focused on psychological problems more or less severe that affect people’s quality of life. If psychological alterations have to do with mental disorders, clinical psychologists will work together with other health professionals in the diagnosis, prognosis, intervention and control of psychological alterations.
People who belong to this specialty of psychology offer a service called psychotherapy and whose form, approach and procedures can vary greatly, depending on the psychological orientation you have and the tools you have. Due, Not all health psychologists work in the same way or have the same training although they may be included within the category of mental health professionals.
4. Sexology
The specialization of sexology within the field of psychology has to do withn the application of psychology to the resolution of sexuality problems It is a branch of psychology derived from clinical and health psychology but is aimed at treatments on the sexual life of patients.
Although psychology in the field of sexology is especially useful for treating sexual dysfunctions, it can also play a very important role in improving the sexual life of people without any disorder of this type.
5. Neuropsychology
The nervous system is the base of operations for everything that has to do with our behavior, our emotions and feelings and our ability to think and communicate, so it is normal that one of the branches of psychology is oriented towards neurosciences.
Neuropsychology is a specialization halfway between neurology and psychology, and Its reason for being is the study of mental processes and the functioning of the brain when there is some alteration in this
Neuropsychology is especially useful in the study of brain injuries, malformations, dysfunctions and diseases that affect the functioning of the nervous system. Thus, people who from all branches of psychology opt for this specialization will be able to dedicate themselves to the study of the relationships between mental (and behavioral) processes and what happens in the brain, to draw conclusions that allow a diagnosis to be made, prognosis, treatment and symptom control.
6. Forensic psychology
This specialty is aimed at covering needs that appear within the judicial system. A forensic psychologist collects, analyzes and presents psychological evidence that will be taken into account in judicial proceedings For example, it may evaluate a person under investigation to examine the possibility that he or she has mental disorders, or provide evidence that reinforces the hypothesis that a person has false memories.
Unlike what happens during psychotherapy, in which information related to the behavior of a specific person is also collected and analyzed, in the forensic psychological evaluation the interests of the psychologist and those of the person being examined do not coincide. In fact, among the tasks that the forensic psychologist has is to explore the possibility that the person being examined is lying to assert a version of the events that benefits him or her.
In addition to all this, the branch of forensic psychology is related to the creation of psychological profiles of criminals to help in search and capture tasks.
7. Educational and developmental psychology
Almost all branches of psychology direct part of their attention to learning processes, but the specialization in educational psychology directs all its attention to them. The objective of this branch is apply techniques and strategies to make learning happen in the most satisfactory way possible ensuring that there is a good fit between apprentices and teachers.
Furthermore, educational psychology understands the concept “education” in its broadest sense. It does not only have to do with what young people do at school, but it applies to all areas in which learning plays a leading role, whether in training courses for workers or within families and communities that must adapt to a new situation.
In fact, From the psychology of education, more and more importance is given to the need to conceive education as a network, which is exercised far beyond schools and academies. That is why part of the efforts of educational psychologists are aimed at bringing into contact different agents who, among themselves, have a role in the education of a group of people: teachers, social workers, family members, etc.
Developmental psychology is closely related to educational psychology and they are often perceived as the same thing. However, the first is more oriented to behavioral changes that have to do with the maturational development of people and their passage through the different stages of growth, from childhood to old age.
This is used in educational psychology to establish criteria that allow us to know what people’s learning capabilities and limits are, depending on what stage of development they are in. For example, the fact that a girl is five years old allows us to assume that she will not be able to learn content that requires the use of moderately elaborate formal logic.
The purpose of the branch of sports psychology is to implement strategies to ensure that the psychological and physical performance of athletes leads them to improve their results, both with regard to their individual performance and that which involves their cooperation and coordination with other people on your team (if there are teams in the sport in question). The objective is to ensure that the psychological dynamics, the learned strategies and the emotional state in which the athlete finds himself lead him to be in an optimal situation to make the most of his abilities.
Psychologists who choose this branch intervene in many of the processes that are addressed from clinical and educational psychology, such as following self-instructions, developing good self-esteem and self-image, conflict resolution, and the habits they have. to do with communication during sports sessions, etc.
9. Social psychology
This is one of the most interesting branches of psychology, since puts special emphasis on the dimension of the collective, the relationships between people in a context Thus, social psychology is aimed at investigating the way in which the presence of other people (whether real or imagined) affects the mental processes of the individual.
It is, therefore, a specialization that, although it belongs to psychology, is closer to sociology than the other branches. Furthermore, being one of the major areas of psychology, it can have an important role in the rest of the branches of this discipline: in organizational psychology, educational psychology, etc.
10. Community psychology
Community psychology can be understood as a derivative of social psychology oriented to research and intervention on problems that affect specific communities and localized groups of people.
Its objective is to generate both material changes in the context of these people and new dynamics of relationships between them that allow their quality of life and decision-making capacity to improve.
Furthermore, the research and intervention strategies of community psychologists promote the participation of community members in the entire process
11. Couple and family psychology
This branch of psychology can be understood as a specialization within clinical psychology that also takes ingredients from social and community psychology and, in the case of couples therapy services, from sexology. It focuses on conflict resolution within families, and the sessions offered are usually group sessions.
12. Basic and experimental psychology
Basic psychology is a branch of psychology completely dedicated to the investigation of the most general psychological processes that have to do with human behavior It is oriented to the study of the typical psychological processes of mature and healthy human beings, to discover trends and patterns that characterize the entire human population.
This specialty of psychology is, therefore, in charge of the study of basic psychological processes such as memory, attention, reasoning or decision making, placing much more emphasis on the mechanisms on which these are based than on the way in which the context influences them.
