The subfields of psychology can be likened to an extended family.
One way to identify the key subfields is to look at some of the basic questions about behavior they address.
Behavioral neuroscience is the subfield of psychology that mainly examines how the brain and nervous system determine behavior.
Experimental psychology is the branch of psychology that studies the processes of sensing, perceiving, learning, and thinking about the world.
Cognitive psychology focuses on higher mental processes, including thinking, memory, reasoning, problem solving, judging, decision making, and language.
Developmental psychology studies how people grow and change from the moment of conception through death.
Personality psychology focuses on the consistency in people's behavior over time and the traits that differentiate one person from another.
Clinical psychology deals with the study, diagnosis, and treatment of psychological disorders.
Social psychology is the study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and actions are affected by others.
Cross-cultural psychology investigates the similarities and differences in and across various cultures and ethnic groups.
Clinical neuropsychology focuses on the origin of psychological disorders in biological factors.
Evolutionary psychology considers how behavior is influenced by our genetic inheritance from our ancestors.
Psychology's roots can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans.
Wilhelm Wundt set up the first psychology laboratory in 1879.
Wundt presented people with a stimulus and asked them to describe what they were experiencing.
Over time, psychologists became dissatisfied with the assumption that introspection could unlock the fundamental elements of the mind.
The main perspective that came to replace structuralism as psychology evolved is known as functionalism.
Functionalism concentrated on what the mind does and how behavior functions.
Another outgrowth is Gestalt psychology, which focuses on how perception is organized.
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