Module 8: Applied Psychology
8.1. The concept, purpose and branches of applied psychology

Applied psychology is a general concept that is used to refer to all branches of psychology that use the principles, discoveries and theories of psychology in practice, including in related fields (in pedagogy, marketing, sociology, etc.).

The goal of applied psychology is to help people in difficult life situations. It helps to solve adolescent, child-parent or marital problems, issues of professional selection and competition in the business world. At the same time, the possibilities of providing psychological assistance and support to citizens were realized only a few decades ago thanks to the creation of psychological services.

Applied psychology is a branch of psychology that deals with specific psychological problems (questions). They arise in the practice of life (professional, educational, medical, and personal life). Problems can lead to both the direction and nature of research.

Applied psychology is a practice-oriented psychology aimed at specialists in psychology. For applied psychology, it is mandatory to rely on the scientific base and language of scientific articles.

Applied psychology refers to all branches of academic psychology that seek to apply the principles, discoveries, and theories of psychology in practice in related fields, such as education (pedagogy), industry (ergonomics), marketing, public opinion polling, sports (sports psychology), human resources (psych diagnostics), and so on. basic principles that can be applied in this way.

Applied and practical Psychology

Practical psychology, in contrast to applied psychology, is focused on a wide contingent of the educated population and their needs — both personal and business. Practical psychology relies not only on a scientific basis, but also on working metaphors that have proved themselves in practice, which do not have a scientific basis.

For example, the Parent — Adult — Child metaphor, introduced into practical psychology by Eric Bern, has shown its great usefulness in psychological counseling and psychotherapy work. However, there is no scientific basis for this metaphor, at least not yet.

Applied psychology — sections and branches of psychology focused on solving a variety of practical problems. These sections include pedagogical, economic, engineering psychology, psychology of work, sports, management, aviation and space, military, medical psychology, psychology of reading and library work, creativity, law, psychology of family and everyday life, etc.

In experimental psychology, researchers never ask themselves whether their work will yield practical results. He can deal with any problem if it leads to an increase in knowledge about psychic reality, about how the individual feels, perceives, feels, thinks and acts, and although the results of the experiment can find useful applications, this is not very important for theoretical psychology. The challenges facing applied psychology are the constant search for solutions to practical problems that arise in people's daily lives. The differences between fundamental and applied psychology can be shown in examples. In the first case, the psychologist examines how new skills are acquired, why a three-dimensional object is perceived as three-dimensional, although its display on the retina is flat, or how different people evaluate time intervals. The analysis of these phenomena gives the psychologist the opportunity to systematize the facts of human behavior. A practical psychologist solves other problems: what qualities should a taxi driver have and how to identify them, how long should a line of printed text be so that the reader is less tired, what should be the control panel of the aircraft, so that the instrument readings are easy to read, etc. A practical psychologist can conduct research at the factory, finding out the reasons for staff turnover, a professional guidance counselor at a school, and can give recommendations to the military on how to adapt sights to the features of human vision.

Applied psychology uses models and methods developed by theoretical psychology, for example, patterns of learning can be used in writing sales guides. On the other hand, applied psychology receives its own data, develops its own methods and develops new areas in psychology (for example, coaching as one of the methods of counseling and activating a person's potential, which emerged about 20 years ago and was developed by American Psychologists T. Leonard and D. Whitmore).

Applied psychology is a general term used to refer to all those branches of psychology that seek to apply the principles, discoveries and theories of psychology in practice in related fields, such as education (pedagogy), industry (ergonomics), marketing, public opinion polling, sports (sports psychology), human resources (psych diagnostics), etc. p. and / or discover basic principles that can be applied in this way.

The term "practical psychology "is not synonymous with the term" applied psychology".

Applied psychology is based on the use of theory in practice. Although this area of knowledge generates new theoretical ideas, its super - task is still the practical application of theory in schools, kindergartens, medicine, etc.

Applied psychology deals with the study of psychological problems that are characteristic of certain areas of life or professions. Among the branches of applied psychology, we can distinguish:

·        Psychology of education

·        Medical Psychology

·        Psychology of art

·        Psychology of religion

·        Family psychology and D.R.

The list of branches of applied psychology is constantly growing. The practical direction can also include legal, intercultural, political, economic, military psychology, labor psychology, sports psychology, psychology of old age (gerontopsychology), etc.

Comparative psychology examines the similarities and differences in the mental activity of humans and animals, the problem of the relationship between social and biological in human behavior.

Industrial psychology is a branch of applied psychology that examines the psychological aspects and patterns of work activity. The formation of industrial psychology took place at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries due to the growth of the industrial sphere and the emergence of new types of labor and mass professions.

An important area of labor psychology is represented by studying the variability of working capacity from the point of view of fatigue, circadian rhythm, and justification of the optimal mode of work. In this case, the indicators of labor productivity and quality should be subject to the least changes during the working day or working week.

Modern labor psychology develops special methods for measuring fatigue and the degree of disability. In this area, it is closely related to the physiology of work.