RECENT TRENDS IN PSYCHOLOGY

Mrs. Rajni Babbar

Assistant Professor, Dev Samaj College of Education for Women, Ferozepur City

ABSTRACT
Psychology is a very broad discipline. Some psychologists work in schools. Some are
clinicians. Some conduct what many would consider biological research. Other psychologists
design software or instrumentation panels. The list can go on and on. Likewise, there is a
great deal of diversity in psychological thought. Therefore, the following comments present
some of the recent trends in psychology that I find to be significant. It is not a conclusive list
of current trends but should provide a good overview of the changes that are taking place in
psychology.
Several myths about the status of psychology have emerged in recent years. For instance,
there is a myth that there are fewer scientific psychologists graduating with doctoral degrees
than ever before. However, Fowler indicates that the number of graduating scientific
psychologists has actually increased over the last 25 years. An interesting trend is that the
rate of growth is greater in applied areas of psychology than in other areas. Fowler notes
that the applied areas of psychology have been behind in their development and that the
growth in those areas represents a “catching up.” In fact, the application of psychology has
created greater opportunities for psychologists. Being a psychologist no longer limits you to
clinical or academic work. Psychologists today are presented with a wide variety of careers
to choose from. An excellent resource to study the different areas that psychologists are
finding employment is the February 2001 issue of the Monitor on Psychology. In that issue,
21 psychologists are highlighted in careers ranging from marketing analysts to internet
developers to directors of various interest organizations. Another useful resource is the
Psychological Science Agenda which is published by the Science Directorate of the American
Psychological Association. A different career in psychology is highlighted in each issue of the
Psychological Science Agenda. The growing popularity of psychology and possibilities for
psychologists that have arisen from the growing popularity makes psychology an interesting
and exciting discipline. Below are some of the current trends in the field of psychology.

II. EMPHASIS ON CONTEXT

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One of the most important trends in psychology is the emphasis on context. Some of the most
highly valued personality traits such as compassion, mindfulness, forgiveness, and
agreeableness are predictably counterproductive in specific situations. Some of the most
highly valued aspirations such as happiness can be counterproductive and recent research has
pointed out alternatives. In the same vein, we are learning that so-called negative emotions
such as sadness, anxiety, guilt, envy, and anger are exactly what we want to experience and
express to get the best possible outcome in a given situation. We are learning how to express
negative emotions in the most effective manner. This research on the downside of positives
and the upside of negatives is allowing us to understand how to appreciate the full spectrum
of our personality and best navigate the complex, uncertain world that we confront each day.
Emotional and social agility is where the action is.....finally."

III. IMAGINATION NETWORK

I think the most important trend in creativity studies is the recent discovery of the
“imagination network”, which is most active when our minds are focused on our inner stream
of consciousness, daydreams, desires, and feelings. It turns out that these coordinated brain
regions are essential to compassion, perspective taking, and meaning-making, and that
these cognitive capacities provide grist to the mill for creativity and personal fulfillment."

IV. POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

Some of the trends in positive Psychology
 Growing evidence of the importance of “positive” phenomena in basic psychological
processes such as perception and memory.
 Great interest in understanding how to achieve and promote lasting behavior change
 An accelerated growth in the application of positive psychology in schools, that is,
positive education.
 A rapid growth in the clinical applications of positive psychology and the evidence that
can sustain them.
 Technology at the service of research on wellbeing and its promotion: big data studies
and apps that enhance happiness.
 A sustained growth and greater sophistication in the study of character strengths and how
to work with them in different contexts.

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 The consolidation of studies of organizations that work extraordinarily well and the
applications of positive psychology in work contexts.

V. TECHNOLOGY DEPENDENCE
Because technology is so woven into our daily lives, oftentimes users have no choice but to
spend hours online each day. Dr. Kimberly Young, a psychologist and author of Caught in
the Net, told The New York Times that technology dependence and nomophobia are similar to
other addictions. Technology is essential in today’s society, so those who exhibit disordered
online behavior can never entirely give up use. Instead, they must learn moderation and self-
control. This is why some experts suggest setting limits for how often you check your
smartphone, and even leaving it at home occasionally. Some restaurants and airport lounges
are making the choice for us, by implementing “no cellphone use” and “quiet zone” policies.
The trend toward such practices is reminiscent of how cigarette use has been banned in many
public (and private) spaces. For some, not having the distraction of a smartphone makes an
evening more enjoyable; for others, it may be stressful and anxiety-inducing. Clinical
characteristics of nomophobia or technology dependence are easily noticeable in social
settings. Individuals may considerably decrease face-to-face interaction with others,
preferring to communicate via technology as much as possible. Because users may lean on
smartphones and other technology to avoid feelings of discomfort, anguish or stress, they
exhibit extreme or irrational reactions when Internet use is restricted in airports, schools,
hospitals and workplaces. Signs of depression can occur when the user doesn’t receive digital
contact such as “likes” on a Facebook photo or replies to text messages. Attachment
symptoms include the urge to sleep with a device or have it at all times. When the device
becomes necessary for peace of mind and security, technology dependence could be the
cause. Nomophobia or technology dependence could also be related to other disorders.

VI. APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY

Applied psychology is enjoying a relatively large growth rate. Psychological principles are
employed in marketing. Industrial/Organizational psychologists are being used in varying
capacities in the business world. However, the area of applied psychology that is growing the
fastest is health psychology. Health psychology focuses on the promotion and maintenance of
health, the prevention and treatment of illness, the identification of etiologic and diagnostic

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correlates of health, illness and related dysfunction, and the analysis and improvement of the
health care system and health policy information. An important aspect of health psychology
is that is deals with both prevention and treatment. Thus, some health psychologists may help
people maintain a fitness program while others deal with life after diagnosis. Another area of
applied psychology is psychological testing. Our society tends to measure everything.
Baseball is a great example of our need to measure since there is a statistic for everything
associated with baseball. Educational attainment and intelligence are among the things we
like to measure. In fact, one of the first applications of psychology was the development of
the Army Alpha and Beta tests which were essentially IQ tests given to place solders in
positions appropriate for their abilities. Many academic accrediting agencies and insurance
companies have become very outcome oriented. Therefore, tests are in demand. Within
testing, an interesting trend in intelligence testing is to minimize the verbal nature of tests.
This has come about largely for two reasons. First, many have argued that intelligence tests
are written using assumptions from one social class and, therefore, are not generalizable to
people from other social classes and racial or ethnic groups. The second concern is that the
United States has an increasing minority population. It is recognized by test developers that it
may be unfair to test children or adults who speak English as a second language with a test
that was written for speakers of English. Although performance on these tests still tends to be
correlated with verbal ability, the trend represents the goal to develop a culturally fair test of
intelligence.

VII. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY

Different schools of thought have dominated psychology at different points in time. The
growing interest in evolutionary psychology may be an indicator that evolutionary
psychology will be one of the main schools of thought in psychology in the very near future.
Interestingly, Darwin himself predicted that evolutionary thought would provide a new
foundation for psychology emphasizing acquiring cognitive processes with the capacity to
graduate. Today, evolutionary psychology can be defined as an approach to psychology that
is “explicitly informed by evolutionary knowledge and reasoning).” This approach is
currently guiding research in empathy, conflict monitoring, cross-cultural psychology, and
emotion regulation. Only time will let us know the extent to which evolutionary psychology
influences all areas of psychology.

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VIII. RESEARCH METHODS
A key concept taught in every general psychology is that psychology is a science. For
example, Lefton (2000) defines psychology as “the science of behavior and mental processes
(p. 3).” Even the American Psychological Society defines psychology as “the study of mind
and behavior (APA, 2000).” Because psychology is a science, the scientific method is
stressed in a variety of psychology courses. Undergraduate psychology majors are also
required to take courses in statistics and research methods since those courses help build the
foundation for understanding and contributing to the science of psychology. There are several
trends in research that may either improve the science of psychology or detract from it. The
internet has provided greater access to research. Publishers have begun placing the table of
contents of journals online with the full articles available to subscribers. Several publishers
also use alerting services that send email updates about new publications. In addition, there
are several excellent databases (e.g., PsychInfo, ERIC) online which aid the literature review
process. The internet is also providing a new outlet for scholarly work. For instance, the
American Psychological Association has developed an online journal called Prevention &
Treatment. This is one of the few online refereed journals. Since this format provides a
relatively short submission to print time and potentially greater availability of research
findings, more publishers may move to an online journal format in the future as long as a
high standard of scholarship can be maintained. Finally, the internet is beginning to become a
tool in data collection. Researchers are able to place questionnaires online either on their own
or by using specially designed web sites or software. Online experiments are also possible.
Psych Experiments is an excellent site for online experiments that can be used as classroom
demonstrations or for actual research purposes. Various software packages also make use of
the efficiency of the internet. For example, Super Lab allows researchers to design a study,
save the experiment, and email it to another researcher from within the Super Lab window.
The internet allows researchers greater access to archived data sets for secondary analysis as
well. These benefits of the internet, along with political changes in numerous countries over
the last decade, the increased interest in cross-cultural psychology, and the influence of post-
modernism have helped initiate the globalization of psychology.

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IX. IMAGING AND COMPUTER MODELING
Technology has enhanced the research process beyond the dissemination of research findings
and increased efficiency in data collection. Technology has made it possible to obtain high
resolution pictures (i.e., MRI) of the brain that allow researchers to determine the areas of the
brain involved in certain cognitive processes. Computer modeling not only aids our
conceptual understanding of cognitive processes (e.g., using the computer as an analogy to
the brain when developing theories) but can also have practical applications. For instance,
psychological research on object recognition has been used in developing the scanning
systems for stores to keep track of inventory and cost of items. Research stemming from
neural network modeling, in which various cognitive processes are simulated using a
hypothetical network of processing nodes analogous to neural pathways in the brain, has been
used to increase the efficiency of mechanical systems by automating human decision making
regarding the operation of the systems. Perhaps my favorite example of this is using a neural
network model of decision making to adjust the jets which keep satellites in their proper
orbits. Failure of a single jet can disrupt a satellite’s orbit and a disrupted orbit results in
interrupted service, adjusting jets on the satellite to maintain the proper orbit while
compensating for a failed jet requires a series of complicated mathematical calculations.
Although people can do this task, this task is ideally suited for a computer which can perform
the calculations faster. The neural network model can guide the computer in determining
which jets to adjust in a manner similar to people while making the calculations thereby
producing the correct solution but in a significantly less amount of time.

X. QUESTIONNAIRES
Bornstein recently examined the types of dependent measures commonly used in
psychological research. He found that questionnaires were used in 65% of the studies
surveyed and that questionnaires were the only measure in 40% of all studies surveyed. In
comparison, behavioral measures were used in 27% of the studies surveyed and performance
measures were used in 30%. These three types of dependent measures were by far the most
commonly used. The next most frequently used measures, interviews, diagnoses, and
physiological measures, were each used in 9% of the studies. Although questionnaires
provide a relatively easy way to gather information, there are several problems associated
with questionnaires. For instance, questionnaires need to be psychometrically sound.

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Therefore, questionnaires should be properly developed before being used in research. This
may prolong the research process or compromise research integrity if it is not done. Further,
questionnaires often rely on participants recalling past information. The difficulty with this
aspect of questionnaires is that it is difficult to determine the accuracy of responses.

XI. SUMMARY
Psychology continues to grow as a discipline. The applications of psychology are also
becoming widely apparent. These trends are very favorable for new psychologists because
they offer a wide range of opportunities. Industrious students of psychology may find
themselves on the cutting edge of psychological development and application. The future of
psychology, however, may depend on how well psychology maintains its scientific roots
while meeting the needs of the public and adapting to a changing technological world.

REFERENCES
[1.] American Psychological Association. (2000). What is psychology? About the American
Psychological Association Retrieved from http://ww.apa.org/about
[2.] Boyes, A. (2015). The 3 Most Important Trends in Psychology Research Right Now
Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/in-practice/201501/the-3-most-
important-trends-in-psychology-research-right-now
[3.] Tarragona, M. (2015). 10 Current Trends in Positive Psychology retrieved from
http://www.ipositive-education.net/10-current-trends-in-positive-psychology/

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