The history of psychology has witnessed ever widening scope of its field. Psychology today does not only study the animal behaviour, but it also studiest that of man in all the stages of his development. Not only does it study differnt type of behaviour but it also compares them and finds out general principles useful in the understanding as well as the control of behaviour. In brief,where there is behaviour, there one finds scope of psychology. A survey of the different contemporary branches of psychology will give a rough picture of its presents scope. Roughly, the wide field of psychology can be divided into the fields of theroretical studies as well as applied psychology.
1. Animal Psychology - Psychology studies animal behaviour. This branch of psychology is known as animal psychology. Some-times it is calledc comparative psychology because it also compares human psychology and animal psychology. Animal psychology is useful for understanding the human behaviour, as well, because there is no absolute gulf between the two. Manye experiments which cannot be performed on men can be easily performed on animals.e.g.no one can study the effect of heredity as Weissman has studied in his experiments on mice. He cut down the tails of mice for generations and concluded that this defect is not inherited even after several generations.
2. Social Psychology- Psychology studies the behaviour of the individual asw well as his behaviour in social situations. The latter has been specialised by a branch of psychology, known as Social Psychology which studies the behaviour of men as members of crowd, groups and audience etc. Hence its knowledge is necessary for the leaders, the generals and the reformers. Social Psychology studies problems, finds out their laws and employs them for the solution of those problems. Thus Social Psychology has been proved to be useful in almost every branch of social life.
3. Folk Psychology- A branch of psychology which studies superstition, mythology, culture, music, art and religion in their psychological aspect,is known as folk psychology. This branch is gradually becoming important in developed countries.
4. Child Psychology - Psychology studies man from birth to death, thus child psychology is an important branch of psychology. It studies the child from the pre-natal stage upto the adolescent stage. It studies the development of the child its behaviour, as well as various aspects of its personality. Thus, it is very useful for the educationists as well as for the parents. It discovers the secrets of the child's world and so gives us an insight to control it as well as to mould it according to accepted social values.
5.Adolescent Psychology - Beyond the scope of child psychology is the adolescent psychology. It studies the man from the age of 12 to 21 years. It studies the physical, menal and social growth of the adolescent individuals. This stage is known as full of stresses and strains. It is a stage when man passes from childhood to adult stage. Hence the knowledge of its laws is very helpful for the guidance of clinics as well as for the parents, teachers and all others who havet to deal with the adolescent.
6. Analytical Psychology - Psychology not only studies the various stages of the development of the individual, but it also analyses his different activities. This field is known as analytical psychology. In this branch of psychology the psychologist analyses the various complex processes into their components, finds out their genesis and the general laws regarding them. One of the branches of the analytical psychology is known as genetic psychology, which studies the species of men and animals from the psychological point of view.
7. Psychology of Individual Differences -While psychology studies the general principles which are universally applicable to the behaviour of mankind, it also studies the individual differences. This field is known as psychology of individual differences. An important branch of this field is the individual psychology which is mainly concerned with the psychological types. An excellent example is the classification that has been attempted by Jung. The psychology of individual differences studies how individuals differ in their personality, intelligence and other important traits. It studies the role of heredity and environment in creating individual differences.
8.Abnormal Psychology- Psychology not only studies the normal behaviour but also the abnormal. It studies different types of psychoses, neuroses and other abnormalities, finds out their causes and general principles and utilises them to cure these abnormalities. This branch of psychology is known as abnormal psychology.
9. Psychology of normal motivation-An important branch of abnormal psychology and psycho-analysis is known as psychology of normal motivation. It studies the conflicts and frustrations and various types of complexes in infancy, childhood, adolescence and adult stage. It also finds how these maladies can be removed and the man becomes a normal and adjusted person in society.
10. Physiological Psychology - Psychology is very close to physiology. It studies physiological processes from the psychological standpoint. This particular branch of psychology is known as Physiological psychology. This includes the study of brain, spinal cord, sense organs, muscles etc. An important contribution of physiological psychology is finding of the relation between psychoses and neuroses.
11. Experimental Psychology - The most important method of contemporary
psychology is the experimental method and we find it to-day in a growing branch of psychology known as experimental psychology. This is one of the most valuable branches of psychology since it uses strictly scientific methods in its study. Experimental psychology studies.external behaviour as well as the internal processes of the different stages of human development as well as the animals. Only those phenomena fall outside its field which cannot be studied in controlled situations. But the scope of experimental psychology is gradually widening with the invention of new tools and instruments for experiments.
12. Developmental Psychology-Psychology is dynamic. It studies man as a dynamic and developing being. Developmental psychology studies the various stages of the development of man, compares the developments of different individuals finds out the causes of the differences and searches for general laws governing them. The study of the development process helps to find out ways to control and reform them.
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