Psychology is a vast field of study with several remarkable specialisation areas. Though, many of these subfield specialisations in psychology require a graduate study.
However, you can also get an insight into this field without a graduate course. You can enrol yourself in online psychology courses to learn about these psychological areas of study.
This article will give you a closer look at some of the few specialisations in the psychology field.
Clinical Psychology
This is perhaps the largest area of specialisation in Psychology. Clinical Psychologists diagnose, access and treat mental health illnesses and disorders.
Clinical psychologists perform a wide range of tasks and can be found in hospitals, private health centres and clinics. They interview patients, assess them, do diagnostics tests and provide treatment through psychotherapy and programs.
Clinical psychology is further divided into neuropsychology, health psychology and geropsychology.
Counselling
Counselling is another popular specialisation, second only to clinical psychology. The profile of a counselling professional is the same as a clinical psychologist. However, they tend to treat patients with less severe mental health illnesses.
This field of psychology is more focused on treatment to the patients: counselling psychology, particularly social, emotional, vocational, educational, health-related, organisational and developmental concerns.
Experimental Psychology
Experimental psychology specialises in the study and research of human and animal behaviour. Experimental psychologists are also known as research psychologists.
These psychologists often work at universities, nonprofit organisations, private research centres and government agencies. Major research areas in experimental psychology consist of motivation, substance abuse, neuroscience, genetics, and cognitive process.
Human Factors Psychology
Human factors is a specialty area of psychology that focuses on a range of topics. Human factors involve applying the principles of psychology in designing products and creating work environments that boost productivity while minimising safety issues.
Industrial Organisation
Industrial organisational psychology is one of the fastest-growing specialisation fields in psychology. This area of psychology focuses on the workspace environment of an organisation. The aim is to achieve organisational goals and promote a healthy workspace for its employees.
The rising demand for trained I-O psychologists has resulted in an increase in I-O psychology degree programs across universities. I-O psychologists perform a wide range of functions such as hiring, designing products, conducting tests, designing training courses and conducting research.
Social Psychology
Social psychology studies the impact of interactions between individual and group behaviour. A social psychologist works in applied fields of study such as organisational management, market research, systems design, etc.
Major areas of study in social psychology include group behaviour, attitudes, leadership and perception.
School Psychology
School psychology revolves around the educational system to resolve emotional, academic and social issues of children. This field is often mistaken for counselling; however, that’s not true.
School psychology promotes a healthy learning environment for students by collaborating with parents, teachers, and children. School psychologists work with parents and teachers to develop programs and solutions to deal with classroom and home behaviour.
Furthermore, it also deals with students training and how to manage critical situations such as substance abuse issues.
Psychology is truly a fascinating area of study and learning shouldn’t be bound by degrees. Therefore, if you have too developed a penchant for this subject, try exploring this field as much as you can.
Psychology allows you to develop an insider perspective of human behaviour, interactions, brain and personality. It also offers a unique view of a role, workspace and project.
So, if you’re just starting out, try various online psychology courses and see if it’s your calling or not.
