Psychology signifies the scientific study of the human mind and mental states, and of human and animal behavior. It seeks to predict and control the behaviors while finding out the causes through observation and reasoning process. The sole purpose of psychology is to know and understand why people behave the way they do. The domain of psychology has, in course of time, emerged as one of the important disciplines while widening its scopes and being applicable to different fields of human endeavors, such as, employment, industries, education, personality development and being one of its popular branches, to the treatment of mental and emotional problems. A few of its branches may be outlined briefly in this.

Organizational Psychology: This branch of psychology is also known as Industrial or occupational Psychology. It is meant to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of business organizations while solving the organizational problems. It seeks to identify the leadership styles, organizational conflicts and the psychological characteristics of the workplace so that there may be considerable improvement in the functioning state of a business. Not only it’s concerned with business development but also the effectiveness and efficiency in terms of employees’ performance. The psychologist or the consultants of this branch are in great demands as they contribute greatly to the total organizational system and development.

Social Psychology: while dealing with the social behavior on the one hand, it is meant to help the people in solving their social problems on the other. It is focused on how the role of society and its culture influence in the development of one’s personality. This field of psychology is interested to identify the social situations and the attitudes of the people towards them so as to help the people in altering and improving their attitudes while trying to reduce tensions and making them better human beings.

Clinical Psychology: This area of psychology is much popular among other braches. It deals with mental, emotional and abnormal behavior of the people. It seeks to help the people come out of their mental disorders. Its practice involves psychological assessment and psychotherapy while various training programs and personality and intelligence tests are conducted under this branch of Psychology for the treatment of mental problems. Mostly, the psychologist of this field work with psychiatrists.

Counseling Psychology: Counseling psychologists are concerned with the problems of every day life, concerning academic, social, emotional, occupational and organizational. They acquire reasonable knowledge of their field and help their clients to overcome situations causing everyday stress. They are employed in colleges, universities and hospitals. Though the distinction between Clinical psychologist and the counseling psychologist may be difficult but primarily the area of counseling psychologist involves similar methods as those of clinical psychologist’s.

Educational Psychology: It deals with educational processes and practices and is focused on how individual learns through educational settings. It is concerned with teaching methodologies and processes. It is helpful to the students in the achievement of merits while providing required services and guidance to the physically handicapped students. The psychologist of this branch are appointed in schools and colleges.

Whatever the area of psychology it is, the ultimate objective is to know about human nature while helping out the individuals in various problems and becoming better human beings. Psychology seeks to understand and predict and control the behavior that the behavior may ultimately be such that lets one live peacefully by enabling him or her to overcome problems of life.

By: K.A.Fareed (Fareed Siddiqui)
Pursuing PhD-Management;
MPhil-Financial Management; MBA-Finance;
MPhil-English; MA-English;
MIMC-Member of Institute of Management Consultants of India