What is applied psychology?

Psychology is often conceived as a large tree with infinite branches where we try to understand human behavior. Thus, and among all this set of derivations and leaves, one especially useful one stands out: we talk about the Applied psychology, that which tries to provide concrete solutions to the problems that occur in our daily lives.

It is very possible that more than one reader will feel somewhat surprised. Isn’t that perhaps what psychology has always done? Hasn’t this science focused since its inception on helping, responding and supporting the most common and complex needs of human beings? Well, it must be said that as surprising as it may seem to us, the answer is no, it was not always like this.

Psychology in its origins was more focused on the collection of information and the understanding of psychological processes. as elementary as attention, memory, learning or language… This entire exciting, immense and always expanding area makes up what is known as “basic psychology”.

For its part, it was not until the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century when, thanks to the German-American psychologist Hugo Münsterberg, a new leap was made in the history of psychology. This vast science was finally oriented towards the search for practical and real solutions for human beings., using all that knowledge generated by basic psychology to transform our scenarios, to enhance people’s learning, well-being and health. As we see, it is almost impossible to conceive both areas separately. Basic psychology and applied psychology are two fundamental branches of the same tree. A spectacular tree that will never stop growing to improve our environments and our quality of life.

Hugo Münsterberg: an objective man who laid the foundations of applied psychology

Biographers of Hugo Münsterberg say that he used to read Kant and that although at first he had a good relationship with William James after he proposed working in his psychology laboratory at Harvard University, things between them did not end too well. It is said that William James had a certain interest in investigating so-called paranormal phenomena, something that the disciple of Wilhelm Wundt could not conceive and accept as he was a staunch lover of the objective, and in essence, of the practical.

Münsterberg classified everything that escaped the logical and tangible as the “psychology of the hocus-pocus.”. Perhaps for this reason, and also knowing that his main interest was to increase productivity in companies, he always felt a certain tension with those academic colleagues who understood psychology from the laboratory, from the point of view of observation and experimentation in order to publish an article and perhaps demolish some theory preconceived by other colleagues.

If there was a reason why Hugo Münsterberg laid the foundations of applied psychology, it was for a very specific objective: wanted to improve the skills of workers in that context where industry and Taylorism were already demanding new profilespeople who are more suitable and trained for a more complex work environment.

Thus, and although Münsterberg died early at just over 50 years old, his contribution to the field of applied psychology was decisive, as well as immense. He established the origin of industrial psychology, He developed multiple tests on professional capacity and even laid the foundations of legal psychology by creating a scale to assess the reliability of testimonies.

The different aspects of applied psychology

We said at the beginning that a large part of the tools and knowledge used by applied psychology come directly from basic psychology. Now, it should be said that as always happens when we carry out any practical work, the very application and development of a task ends up generating new knowledge, new data and concepts. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand that Many times applied psychology can achieve a certain independence from that sister branch that is basic psychology and that tries to give it origin.

In this way, we also understand that applied psychology can have infinite fields of action, areas that cover many of our most everyday contexts and where thanks to its immersion we can find solutions, enhance skills, improve processes, innovate… etc. Let’s look at some examples below.

Health Psychology. Although this area has points in common with clinical psychology, it should be said that they are two different disciplines. Health psychology analyzes the relationship between behavior and physical disorders and seeks to prevent and treat different diseases.Clinical psychology. It focuses its field of work on preventing and treating dysfunctional behavior in order to improve our quality of life and our mental well-being.Sports psychology. It seeks to enhance the performance of athletes, for example reducing anxiety and improving group work in sports teams.The psychology of organizations. This is, along with clinical psychology, the two best-known aspects of applied psychology. In this case, what is sought is to improve the work environment, solve problems, train, enhance skills, manage the human resources of any organization…Educational psychology. We are facing another important area, where applied psychology makes use of basic psychology to improve teaching, methodologies, to understand how students learn and provide them with better resources and mechanisms in their daily lives.Environmental Psychology. In this case we have an area as essential as it is interesting where we understand how people relate to their environment and how the environment itself can affect our behavior.Forensic psychology. In this case, the work of the professional is not limited only to the investigation of crimes or any criminal act. The validity of testimonies, conflicts over custody, care for victims, etc. are also analyzed.Psychology of advertising. Something we all know is that advertising is an integral part of the consumer economy. Understanding what drives the buyer to choose certain products, knowing what unconscious processes regulate his desires and needs, are key aspects for this very interesting area of ​​psychology.

As we see, Each field of action gives rise to a differentiated profile in the exercise of the profession. They are aspects of applied psychology that are part of our society where we undoubtedly lack many more fields to detail, such as emergency psychology, road safety, aging, etc. They are just small examples that help us understand the multiple scenarios where psychology can be valuable, where good professionals will always try to respond to every need, every problem.

Bibliographic references

Münsterberg, Hugo (1914) “Psychology and Industry”. Psychology Press

Münsterberg, Hugo (2008) “Psychology and Social Health” Psychology Press

Muchin, Paul (1994) “Applied Psychology.” Paidós

Olivares Rodriguez, José (2012) “The exercise of applied psychology” Pyramid

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