The Diverse Nature of Psychology

The Diverse Nature of Psychology

By James Thompson

PSY 490

Inst:

December 15, 2012

The Diverse Nature of Psychology

Psychology is a very broad field that has many sub-fields. Psychology has many specialties that deal with specific psychological problems. Psychology seeks to find the answers about how and why people behave and think the way they do. Psychology has grown over many years, and many people have made beneficial contributions. Psychology has much diversity, and as a result has found solutions to mental illness and treatment options because of the diversity. Diverse thinking has helped psychology become what it is today.

The Effects of Diversity on Psychology

Psychology used to be based on monocultural beliefs. The foundations and belief systems were not built to incorporate other cultures and differences. This was a limitation of psychology. Psychology was using this monocultural model to determine what was abnormal and using it to prescribe treatment methods. While it still helped many people, there were many people that psychology was unable to help.

During the last ten years psychology has shifted into the use of a multicultural model. According to Manesse, Saito, and Rodolfa (n.d.), "It is apparent that the "old rules" in psychology have moved away from a monocultural to a multicultural premise and that these "new rules" recognize both an appreciation of differences as well as an understanding of the inherent ambiguity and complexity in psychological practice" (P. 2, para. 1). This change opens more doors in the field of psychology.

This shift into a multicultural premise means that new approaches and theories are being developed that can help a far larger number of people. Diversity is an important factor in psychology. Not everyone thinks and responds in the same way. This can be due to diverse cultural, racial, and religious beliefs. Diversity has given psychology the ability to develop ways to help many different types of people regardless of their background. This change has had a major impact on the major concepts in psychology. The concepts expanded to include more open minded thinking. The concepts were able to embrace cultural differences. The concept of abnormality is less condemning that it used to be for many cultures. Behaviors that would have been considered abnormal can now be viewed on an individual basis and evaluated, keeping diversity in mind.

Subdisciplines within Psychology

There are many subdisciplines within psychology. Abnormal psychology and positive psychology are two of these among the many. Abnormal psychology is the specific study of abnormal behavior (McLeod, 2008). Abnormal psychology defines abnormal as any trait or behavior that is rare or statistically unusual (McLeod, 2008). An overly high IQ can be considered abnormal because of the statistical rarity.

Positive psychology is focused on what defines happiness (Psychology Today, 2012). Positive psychology is tasked with figuring out ways to make the lives of ordinary people better. Typical psychology focuses on people with mental illness and treatment options. Positive psychology was developed to think about the other half of the population. Just because an individual does not have a mental