TYPICAL QUESTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGY
- How do people think?
- How do children learn to speak?
- How does our brain work?
- How do human actions come about?
- How do people perceive their environment?
- How do people differ in terms of their personality?
- What happens in interpersonal interactions?
- How can we successfully pursue health prevention?
- What constitutes a mental disorder, how does it arise, and what treatment options are there?
- What is intelligence, and how can one measure it? How does intelligence affect success in school, studies, and work?
- How can companies choose qualified staff? Which tasks should an assessment center include?
- How can we successfully pursue personnel development?
These are just a few of the typical questions Psychology addresses.
The focus of Psychology is the description, explanation, and prediction of human experience and behavior. Therefore, establishing general laws and the scientific examination distinctions between "normal" and "deviating" experiences and behavior play an important role. Psychology is an empirical science—it is about the targeted collection of data in controlled experiments with constant reference to psychological theories that justify the scientific approach. One cannot assign Psychology to a single area: It combines natural, social, and human sciences elements.
Basic subjects
In the so-called basic subjects of Psychology, we deal with more general psychological topics and questions. These subjects comprise General Psychology (with its sub-areas of thinking, perception, learning, memory, emotion, and motivation), Personality Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Biological Psychology, and Social Psychology. Due to the high scientific standards of modern Psychology, well-founded methodological training is of great importance; this includes methodology, statistics, and psychological diagnostics.
Application subjects
On the other hand, Psychology deals with practical questions from numerous fields of application. These include, for example, Clinical Psychology, Educational Psychology, Health Psychology, and Occupational and Organizational Psychology. In recent years, the influence of Neuroscience on Psychology has increased, to which we pay special attention in training at the University of Bamberg.
Career prospects
The career prospects after studying Psychology are very diverse. Graduates work in different areas—from the psychiatric clinic to business, scientific research, and teaching. Here you will find an article [LINK] on the career prospects of psychologists.
The following list comprises some central professional fields for psychologists:
- Occupational and Organizational Psychology: e.g., personnel selection and personnel development in companies
- Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy: e.g., diagnosis and therapy of mental and psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, anxiety disorders
- Scientific research and teaching: in universities and universities of applied sciences, but also research institutions and independent companies
- Neuropsychology: e.g., working in a rehab clinic with stroke patients
- Educational Psychology: e.g., working in educational counseling centers, advising teachers
- Health Psychology: e.g., development of effective prevention programmes