Applied psychology

Applied psychology can be defined as “the use of methods and findings of scientific psychology to solve practical problems of human and animal behaviour and experience.” A more specific definition is not possible for the reason that the activities of applied psychology range from laboratory experimentation through field studies to direct services for troubled persons.

The fundamental premise of applied psychology is the use of psychological principles and theories to prevail over the problems in other areas, such as mental health, business management, education, health, product design, ergonomics, and law.

Applied psychology includes the areas of clinical psychology, industrial and organizational psychology, occupational health psychology, human factors, forensic psychology, engineering psychology, as well as many other areas such as school psychology, sports psychology and community psychology.

Hugo Münsterberg was one of the founders of applied psychology. Münsterberg had a lot of interests in the field of psychology such as purposive psychology, social psychology and forensic psychology. In the year 1907 he wrote quite a lot of magazine articles with reference to legal aspects of testimony, confessions and courtroom procedures, which in the due course developed into his book, On the Witness Stand.

In the early hour’s emphases in applied psychology incorporated vocational testing, teaching methods, evaluation of attitudes and morale, performance under stress, propaganda and psychological warfare, rehabilitation, and counseling. The educational psychologists began directing their hard work towards the early recognition and innovation of talented persons.

Their study complemented the work of counseling psychologists, who wanted to help persons clarify and attain their educational, vocational, and personal goals. There was a great improvement of aviation and space exploration fostered quick growth in the field of engineering psychology.

Despite the consequences of applied psychologists’ professionals focus, their job description is liable to overlap with those of other areas. The applied psychologist may perhaps or may not teach or engage in unique research. In addition to drawing on experimental findings gleaned from psychological research, the applied psychologist uses information from numerous disciplines. The capacity of the field is continually broadening as new types of problems arise.

Questions:

• What was the tremendous growth in engineering psychology?
• What was the work done by Alfred Binet?