Psychology Is Not Just About Clinical Psychology

For many people, psychology is is all about clinical psychology when it comes to the field of psychology. The origin of the word psychology is the combination of the Greek words 'psyche' and 'logia', and the whole state of the word means studying and examining on soul, heart and spirit (Kleinman, 2012). Of course, considering the linguistic origins, it is not surprising that the first sub-branch of psychology that comes to mind when talking about psychology is clinical psychology. However, psychology is actually a very broad science. Below are brief definitions and names of the branches. Especially, for students who want to study or are currently studying psychology, a piece of personal advice is to make a specialization choice by researching each of the fields in depth.

Abnormal Psychology - Deeply examines abnormal behavior and psychopathology. Clinical psychologists and psychiatrists often work directly in this field.
Biopsychology - Looks at how the brain and biological factors work and how they affect human emotions and behavior.
Neuropsychology - Looks at the effects of the brain and nervous system on people’s behaviors, feelings and thoughts. Specialists in the field of neuropsychology especially work with brain injuries and their effects on human emotions and behavior.
Clinical Psychology - Specialists in this field are teams working widely in the field in the treatment of mental disorders. The clinical psychology subdivision of psychology is concerned with the evaluation and treatment of mental disorders, abnormal behavior and psychiatric problems.
Cognitive Psychology - One of the subfields with perhaps the clearest and the most descriptive name is cognitive psychology. Although the topics examined in this subfield are extensive, the main focus is cognitive processes.
Experimental Psychology - Experimental psychology experts test hypotheses produced in a wide variety of subjects with empirical (experimental) methods.
Social Psychology - Based on research to understand how individuals' behavior is affected in/by interpersonal and social interactions, or the social environment in which a behavior occurs. Some examples of topics that covered by social psychology are: group behavior, conformity, prejudice etc.
Forensic Psychology - A relatively still maturing subdivision of psychology. According to the definition of APA, forensic psychology is the application of clinical specialties to the legal field (American Psychological Association, 2013).
Applied Psychology - Aims to turn theoretical and scientific findings into practical solutions for humans and animals.
Industrial and Organizational Psychology - Professionals in industrial and organizational psychology can use psychological theory, findings, and methods to solve problems in the workplace and to help employees to be happy. It can also be called a branch of psychology that opens to the business world.
Health Psychology - Psychological factors can affect physiological health, and physiological factors can affect psychological health. The field of health psychology works with the psychology of people in illness and health conditions.
Developmental Psychology - Is the sub-branch that tries to understand the continuity and change in all processes from conception to adolescence. Areas of development are physical, cognitive, social and emotional.
Cross-cultural Psychology - Just as social psychology looks at how interpersonal relationships affect the individual, the field of cross-cultural psychology examines the impact of cultures on human behavior.
Educational Psychology -  Is the sub-branch of psychology that develops in order to help students, teachers, principals and people in all educational positions to understand the psychological factors related to education and to be involved in the education of individuals with scientific methods applied.
Personality Psychology - Is the branch of psychology that examines how personality develops, how it affects the present moment, interpersonal personality differences and similarities, personality disorders and treatments for personality disorders.
Sports Psychology - Is the subfield that studies how sports and performance are affected by mental and psychological factors; and experts in this field usually work with athletes.
 
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REFERENCES
Kleinman, P. (2012). Psych 101: Psychology Facts, Basics, Statistics, Tests, and More!. Simon and      Schuster.
What is forensic psychology? (n.d.). Retrieved February 03, 2021, from https://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/psn/2013/09/forensic-psychology