Introduction to applied psychology

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Introduction to applied psychology

• Introduction to the module
• What is applied psychology?
• A brief early history of applied psychology
• The relationship between applied psychology and
  academic psychology
• Areas of applied psychology
• Career opportunities in applied psychology

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Introduction to the module

• For SS1 and PS1 otherwise masochists only!
• Provides a background to applied psychology
• This lecture and lectures by Kate Garland are
  examined
• See details at http//www.le.ac.uk/pc/acn5/ps1009.
  html
• Other lectures are not examined
• Show what it is like to actually work in the
  field
• Aim to provide a sense of how psychology has
  been and can be used

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What is applied psychology?

• The application of psychological knowledge,
  principles, and techniques in areas of everyday
  life
• Contrasts to academic research no matter how
  simple or basic
• In the former, understanding is the end why and
  how do effects occur?
• Applied psychology focuses on practical goals
  (i.e. doing and outcomes rather than knowing)
• Applied psychology does draw on academic
  psychology
• Major domains of applied psychology
• Clinical, counselling, educational, forensic,
  health, and occupational, plus others

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Brief history of applied psychology

• Applied psychology traditionally concerned with
  psychology in business and industry
• Journal of Applied Psychology (founded 1917)
  still mostly covers this (rather than e.g.
  clinical or forensic)
• Early textbooks
• Psychology and Industrial Efficiency
  (Munsterberg, 1913) and Psychology of Advertising
  (Scott, 1908) covered personnel selection,
  efficiency of work, and advertising
• First university appointment in 1915
• Walter Dill Scott appointed Professor of Applied
  Psychology at the Carnegie Institute of
  Technology
• In 1919, Scott founded The Scott Company, the
  first organisation dedicated to industrial
  psychology
• Majority of psychologists now employed in applied
  settings

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Relationship between applied and academic
psychology

• Applied psychology rests on bedrock of academic
  research
• History shows how applied work follows pure
  work
• Psychological testing and individual differences
  ? Personnel selection (e.g. IQ testing and the US
  Army)
• Experimental psychology ? Human factors
  engineering psychology (e.g. ergonomic design of
  nuclear power station control rooms, weapons
  guidance systems)
• Personality and social psychology ? Employee
  relations (e.g. team-building exercises)
• Abnormal psychology ? Clinical psychology health
  psychology counselling and psychotherapy (e.g.
  schizophrenia treatments)
• Developmental psychology ? Educational psychology
  (e.g. Piaget and skills expected of children in
  the National Curriculum)

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Areas of applied psychology

• Major areas in the UK are the big professional
  domains
• Clinical psychology (diagnosis and treatment of
  mental disorders)
• Counselling psychology (improve personal and
  interpersonal functioning focussing on emotional,
  social, and vocational issues)
• Educational psychology (improving learning
  processes)
• Forensic psychology (applying psychology to legal
  issues)
• Health psychology (health maintenance and patient
  education)
• Occupational psychology (work performance and
  organisational functioning)
• Covered in detail in subsequent lectures
• There are many more domains of applied psychology
• E.g. consulting psychology (including executive
  coaching), consumer psychology, engineering
  psychology, environmental psychology, military
  psychology

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Careers in applied psychology

• Fall within the big professional domains
• Clinical, educational, forensic, occupational
• All require further specialist training
• This usually requires you to have the Graduate
  Basis for Registration with the British
  Psychological Society (via e.g. BSc (Hons.)
  Psychology from Leicester)
• Then register for a doctoral degree (e.g. in
  clinical or educational) or a Masters degree
  (e.g. in forensic)
• Big current issue is pay parity
• Occupational (i.e. business funding) and clinical
  (i.e. training bottleneck) psychologists earned
  most
• Other career options
• Business and commerce (e.g., advertising,
  marketing) Organisational development (e.g.,
  performance coaching, human resources) Market
  research Careers advice and guidance Employee
  selection and training Military (assessment,
  training, evaluation) Sports (coaching for
  performance) Psychotherapy and counselling (but
  further specialist training is required)

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Recommended reading

• Bayne, R. Horton, I. (eds.). (2003). Applied
  psychology Current issues and new directions.
  London Sage.
• Coolican, H. et al. (1996). Applied psychology.
  London Hodder Stoughton.