Sometimes a picture captures summarizes an entire sequence of events. It can act as a quick reminder of a setting, those present, and feelings you experienced.

Similarly, with a subject as broad and complex as psychology, it’s nice to take a quick look at it’s subfields. Each nutshell is a one-page description of a major area of psychology. The idea is to give you a head start. Think of it a quick guide to the who, what and why of each major area of psychology.

George John Romanes (1848-1894) collected anecdotal material on the importance of animals. A friend of Charles Darwin, Romanes collected animal stories and attributed human characteristics to animals (anthropomorphism).

C. Lloyd Morgan (1852-1936) took sort of a semi-experimental approach but is best known for his “cannon.” Morgan’s cannon is that higher level inferences should not be made if a lower level inference can explain the behavior. That is, scientific explanations should use the difficult explanations only when needed.

Best known for his work with apes, Robert Mearns Yerkes (1876-1956) was the premier psycho-biologist of his time. Prior to founding Yerkes Laboratories of Primate Biology, he taught at Harvard and the University of Minnesota. Yerkes also was responsible for testing army draftees in WWI and the creation of Army Alpha and Army Beta tests.

The fourth person to impact animal research was Willard .S. Small. In 1901, he invented the animal maze. It became the first practical way to systematically test animal responses, and has been widely used to study physiological and psychological issues (including motivation, learning, and memory).

Another innovation was presented by Walter S. Hunter (1889-1953). He designed an apparatus with allowed the study of memory in animals. Hunter’s delayed reaction device restrained the animal from immediately responding. Later, the animal’s memory is allowed to show what it has learned by making a choice.

Born in Germany but raised in America, Albert P. Weiss (1879-1931) attempted to explain behavior in terms of atoms, electrons and protons. His emphasis on physiological processes and an organism’s interaction with the environment helped establish bisocial behaviorism.

The German biologist Jacques Loeb (1859-1924) believed that behavior was the result of biological and chemical processes. Best known for inspiring his student (John Watson), Loeb proposed that animals are similar to plants; both react selectively to chemical and environment input.

Everyone is psychology has at least one idea about what should be excluded in a definition of personality. But nobody agrees on what should be included. Some say there are over 50 definitions of personality but I think that’s a major underestimate. About all everyone agrees on is that there are too many definitions of personality.

Since personality describes who you are as a person, there are a lot of possibilities available. You do, think, say, process, interpret and feel. But which, some, or all of these should be included? It depends on your approach.

Here are three questions you must ask when you study personality:

1. Are the characteristics of personality static or dynamic? Dynamic views maintain that personality is constantly changing. They point to the relatively poor test-retest reliabilities of personality tests. If personality is stable, why do people change from week to week? In contrast, static views of personality note that you tend to act pretty much the same. This fits with our internal view of ourselves as being constant. Static theories have the added requirement of defining when personality is complete: at 6 months, 4 years old, etc.

2. Are you interested in what we have in common (human nature) or what makes us unique (individual differences)? We can and do compare ourselves to others. We want to be sure we’re not strange or weird. But we also want to be special and different. So personality can be described by common traits, process or principles. Or it can be described by uncommon dispositions, goal and strivings.

3. Is your primary interest theoretical, practical or experimental? A theoretical approach requires nothing more than an armchair and your mind. You can create a definition or a complete theory of personality with nothing but your imagination. A practical approach to personality might focus on finding a quick (if not stereotypical) sketch of a person. You might want to know what is typical of this person. Experimental approaches to personality convert theoretical constructs into measureable variables. Studies can be conducted in a lab or in the real world.

Major Approaches

Every major area of psychology has a view of personality. The oldest approach is trait or type theory. A trait is something you have; a type is something you are. Trait theory says you are open to new experiences, introverted, agreeable, etc. Traits vary by degree: a little bit moody or very moody. Type theory says you are in one category and not another. You are moody or agreeable. You are brave or courageous. Types are often the result of being born in the year a particular year (ox, rat, etc.) or season (Gemini, etc.). Although it is possible to have a dynamic trait or type theories, they tend to be very static. Once you are assessed or classified, you’re stuck: you are either a Type A or a Type B personality.

Psychodynamic approaches (Freud, Jung, etc.) focus on the construction of personality (id, ego and superego), and the interplay between these components. Test based on these theories tend to be projective (inkblots, drawings, etc.) or lend toward trait theory (thinking, sensing, withdrawing, etc.).

Other approaches include humanistic, biological, behaviorist and social learning theories. Humanists see personality as growing toward good. Biological theories maintain that personality is defined as physiological processes or the result of those processes. Behaviorists would say that personality is simply an enduring pattern of behavior. You are what you do. If you want to change your personality, simply change your behavior. And social learning theories combine elements of the other approaches with an emphasis on interacting with other people. Your personality is formed in the context of relationships with others.

Major Theorists

            Allport = identified 14000 common traits.
            Beck and Ellis = cognitive theories
            Cattell = 16 primary factors and 5 secondary factors
            Eysenck = psychoticism, extraversion, and neuroticism
            Freud, Adler, Jung, Kohut, and Horney = psychodynamic
            Goldberg, and Costa & McCrae = Big Five
            Holland = vocational personality
            Kelly = personal construct theory|
            Murray = types, needs and presses
            Pavlov and Skinner = behavioral approaches
            Rogers & Maslow = humanistic theories
            Rotter, Bandura, and Dollard & Miller = social learning theories
            Seligman = attribution theory 

Common Personality Tests

            Big Five (NEO)
            Cattell’s 16PF
            Holland’s Vocational Codes
            Keirsy Temperament Sorter
            Kelly’s Repertory Grid
            MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory)
            Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
            Rorschach Inkblot Test
            Thematic Apperception Test

Additional Information
       10-Day Guided Tour Of Personality
       Ancient Trait Theory video
       Modern Trait Theory video

Psychology is about equally divided into clinical and experimental activities. The clinical side is the practical application of psychological theory to real life problems. In contrast, the experimental side tries to discover principles and processes, whether they are applicable in a clinical setting or not.

Although its name suggests a specific technique (experiments), experimental psych uses a wide variety of designs and approaches. It is best thought of as being any and all kinds of research.

What is research?

At its core, research is the search for causality. It is applying the rules of systematic observation to people watching. We want to know if A causes B. Sometimes we can manipulate or change the value of A and see what happens to B. But it is not always that simple.

The process of research is often described as a circle with four parts: theory, model, variable and definition. The premise is that research is a linear process, You start with a group of ideas (theory) and convert them into a cluster of observable variable (model). The model specifies the variables (what to manipulate and what to measure). The data from the study helps define the problem better, which leads back to the theory.

This cyclic definition of the research process can turn the other way. And you can begin anywhere on the wheel you want. Variables can lead to models and also to more questions to define. And defining the problem can lead to theory development and to the selection of variables.

The round model is a good explanation of how research works in theory. In practice, psychology is much more theory-driven. The process is more like a funnel than a ball. Theories drive everything. Your theory determines your model components, which variables to measure, and what you are trying to prove. Theory also determines which statistics to use and how to interpret them.

Your theory is the basis of all your deductive reasoning. But you can ignore theory completely if you want restrict yourself to inductive reasoning. If you don’t have a theory, or don’t like them, you can simply collect data until a pattern emerges. Skinner took this atheoretical approach to research because he wanted to find universal principles that weren’t limited to a particular theory.

Experimental psychology uses many approaches to research. Although it is primarily deductive, it also uses inductive reasoning too. The methodology includes laboratory experiments, naturalistic observation, and correlational studies. The topics include attention, memory, perception, personality, therapy, education, development, and neurological processes.

Additional Information

     For more on statistics, check out my 10-Day Guided Tour of Statistics.

Statistics is an area of mathematics, a collection of tools for analyzing data, and a way of thinking. As a subset of mathematics, statistics can be the study of multidimensional space, models of chance, or representational structure and change. For most people, statistics is more practical.

Most see statistics as a collection of procedures in a stat. program: you push the button and out comes the answer. Descriptive statistics helps summarize a variable by finding the most representative score (mode, median or mean). It also describes how diverse the scores are. Inferential statistics goes beyond describing. It uses patterns of numbers to infer the relationships between variables. Researchers predictions, forecasts and decisions based on these patterns.

But statistics is at its best as a way of thinking. We live in a world of freedom. Things are not set but can change. In a broad sense, this independence of events can be seen as uncertainty. We know the sun will come up tomorrow (certainty) but we don’t what our day will hold (uncertainty). This uncertainty doesn’t bother us because we believe we can handle the circumstances of life as they come.

In general, people are not good at handling uncertainty. So we generally ignore it, and assume that life is stable. We accept that we sometimes fall, run into things with our cars, and get sick. We accept, at least in ourselves, that these events are chance: they are not the result of goblins, dragons or unicorns.  But we’re less willing to accept that intelligence, running, and musical ability are randomly distributed. Statistical thinking is applying logic to life. It is using the scientific method to better understand life’s uncertainty.

Major Approaches

The three major approaches to statistics are formulaic, calculation and conceptual. The first approach tries to teach you how one formula is derived from another. Although presented as logic, it often relies more on authority (take my word for it). The calculation approach gives you a cookbook, doesn’t require you to think, and expects you to dislike mathematics. For many, this is their only exposure to statistics, and usually results in students being more convinced about the stupidity of statistics than before they began. The third approach emphasizes the importance of assumptions, the selection of procedures, and the application of logic.

Major Theorists

Bayes, Thomas
Cattell, Raymond
Fermat, Pierre de
Fischer, R.A.
Fourier, Joseph
Galton, Francis
Gauss, Carl
Gosset, William (“student”)
Graunt, John & Petty, William
Mann & Whitney
Pascal, Blaise
Pearson, Karl
Spearman, Charles
Stevens, Stanley
Tukey, John 

Additional Information
     For more on statistics, check out my 10-Day Guided Tour of Statistics.

If psychology had two arms, one would be research and the other counseling. In its simplest form, research generates the knowledge and counseling applies it. But defining counseling is not easy. It is primarily talk therapy but what you talk about varies widely. So the who, what and where of counseling is quite broad.

Who goes to counseling?

Although counseling is provided for couples, families and groups, most commonly it is individuals who go to counseling. Sessions are typically on the hour and last for 45-50 minutes. During the break, the therapist (another name for counselor) writes notes on your session, and prepares for the next individual. The sessions are confidential but not secret: you might see your friend or neighbor in the waiting room or entering the building (non-secret) but the content of your discussion with the therapist is private. Confidentiality is guaranteed, except for issues of public safety, such as child abuse or harm to others.

More women go to counseling than men. But the age of clients range from children, teens, college students, adults and seniors. Most people go to counseling voluntarily but some are mandated by the court.

What kind of problems are addressed?

There is no set topic for counseling. You can choose any part of your life for discussion. Frequent topics include drug addiction, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, phobias, coping, grief, post-traumatic shock, and anything having to do with people. People go to pre-marital counseling to prepare for marriage, to marital counseling to succeed in marriage, and to post-marital counseling to recover from marriage.

Where is counseling done?

Psychological counseling occurs in hospitals, clinics, schools and private practice. In hospitals, group and individual counseling are offered to psychiatric patients in conjunction with drug therapy. Hospitals and clinics also often provide rehabilitation services for drug and alcohol addiction. Counseling in school, college and university settings includes psychological and educational issues. In private practice, most psychologists rent space in commercial office buildings. Often counselors will form a small group that shares a waiting room and office equipment.

Major Approaches

Psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud provided the first major approach to counseling. His emphasis on free association and the analysis of psychological defenses formed the basis of modern psychiatry. Following his lead, Alder, Jung and neoFreudians theorists modified and expanded psychodynamic therapy.

Behaviorism. In contrast to Freud’s internal psychic processes, the next approach to understanding human behavior was an external explanation. Pavlov’s classical conditioning is used to eliminate phobias using systematic desensitization. Skinner’s operant conditioning, another behavioral approach, uses rewards and token economies to modify behaviors.

Humanism. Carl Rogers revolutionized therapy by making it accessible to normal people. Instead of negative psychic forces or external influences, Rogers emphasized the humanness of the individual. According to his view, we are inherently good, not inherently evil. We strive to grow, to understand, and to acquire self-esteem. The goal of counseling should be to achieve the client’s goals. It should be client-centered.

Gestalt & Existentialism. These approaches emphasized personal responsibility, immediacy of experience (Perls) and the striving for meaning (Frankl). In contrast to psychodynamic explanations for past traumas, both Gestalt and existential theory focused on the here-and-now.

Cognitive. Founded by Aaron Beck and extended by Albert Ellis, cognitive therapy insists that our main problem is how we think about a situation. Automatic thoughts lead to emotional distress. To counter these internal reactions, we need to reality test our assumptions and think logically about our lives.

Major Theorists (a very short list)

Adler, Alfred
Beck, Aaron
Ellis, Albert
Frankl, Viktor
Freud, Sigmund
Jung, Karl
Perls, Fritz
Rogers, Carl
Skinner, B.F.

Additional Information
       10-Day Guided Tour Of Personality

Social learning theories are an extension of behaviorism. They use an empirical approach but emphasize social influence and environmental adaptation. Think of them as behaviorism with a context.

Major Approaches

Dollar & Miller and a good example of cross-discipline research. Both were professors at Yale but in different departments. They came together on a simple premise: explain Freudian theory in behavioral terms using experimental methods. They explain internal conflict through external processes: drive, cue, response and reward.

Bandura viewed learning as an imitative process. He proposed that people need reinforcement (in the Skinner sense of the word) to exhibit a response but that reinforcement is not necessary for learning to occur. Learning is the interaction of the person, behavior and environment. It occurs naturally by observation of others.

Rotter expands behaviorism by incorporating expectations. He maintained that behavior is a function of two things: the likelihood of getting a reward and the size of it. People might keep a low paying job because the income is steady (likely), even though the reward in low. On the other hand, people engaged in behavior where the potential reward is huge but the chances are small (e.g., playing the lottery).

Major Theorists
     Dollard, John & Miller, Neal
     Rotter, Julian
     Bandura, Albert

 Additional Information
       10-Day Guided Tour Of Personality