1Running head: TOWARDS A PSYCHOLOGY PERSPECTIVE 1
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Towards a Psychology Perspective
Jennifer Woodson-Kenon
PSYC-FP3002
Assessment 1
Capella University
August, 2018
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: My chosen field of study
The area of psychology that I am interested in is Clinical Psychology. Clinical Psychology focuses on diagnosing and treating mental and behavioral disorders. As a Clinical Psychologist, I could be involved in various activities like: Conducting research, help clients define goals, and help them to execute them, develop and implement treatment plans, meet with clients regularly to monitor progress, and identify and diagnose mental, behavioral, and intellectual disorders. All these activities are of extreme interest to me. Clinical psychology became a passion for me, because like many others, I have been diagnosed with depression and anxiety. Realizing that the thoughts in my mind are what caused me so many physical issues, it raised my curiosity about the power of the mind and inspired me to want to help people because I know the limitations that anxiety and depression can cause.
The Importance of Research in Clinical Psychology
Psychology is a branch of science; therefore, research is an integral part of this field. In psychology, the scientific process that we learned as children is used, which is, offering a theory and then constructing rigorous laboratory or field experiments to test the hypothesis (APA 2008). One must use a research to create a valid hypothesis, and the foundation of that research is quality and credible sources. Research is very important in clinical psychology. Although there are some arguments about the implementation of research into real life scenarios, one can still use the research to their advantage. The actual research findings may not be useful to practitioners due to specificity of each case, but they can be implemented tactics of the experiment to other scenarios (Smedslund, J., & Ross, L. 2014). Research help us to learn about psychological disorders, mental disorders, and different ways that a person’s well-being can be affected. Research also helps psychologist to test procedures, measurements, and treatment outcomes. We would not have this vital information without accurate research.
The Importance of Ethical Principles in Behavioral Psychology
Psychologists work to develop a valid and reliable body of scientific knowledge based on research (APA.1992). Psychologist help the public in developing informed judgements and choices concerning human behavior (APA.1992). In doing this, psychologist are required to follow the ethic code, which provides a common set of values upon which psychologists build their professional and scientific work (APA.1992). The general principles that a psychologist must follow is:
Principle A: Competence: Psychologist should always work hard to maintain a high rank of competence. They should understand their limitations in their field and only provide services that they are qualified for and should maintain a high rank of competence.
Principle B: Integrity: As with everything we do in life, a psychologist should have integrity. Psychologists should be honest, fair, and respectful of others (APA.1992). They should not make statements that are false, misleading or deceptive (APA.1992).
Principle C: Professional and Scientific Responsibility: Psychologists uphold professional standards of conduct, clarify their professional roles and obligations, accept appropriate responsibility for their behavior, and adapt their methods to the needs of different populations (APA.1992).
Principle D: Respect for peoples right and dignity: Psychologist respect the rights of individuals to privacy, confidentiality, self-determination, and autonomy, mindful that legal and other obligations may lead to inconsistency and conflict with the exercise of these right (APA.1992).
Principle E: Concern for others welfare: Psychologists weigh the welfare and rights of their patients or clients, student’s supervisees, human research participants, and other affected persons, and the welfare of animal subject of research (APA.1992).
Principle F: Social Responsibility: Psychologists apply and make public their knowledge of psychology to contribute to human welfare (APA.1992).
Critical Thinking in Psychology
In psychology, critical thinking is necessary because psychologist evaluate evidence by developing intellectual tools. Critical thinking has been described in many ways over the years, but there are certain recurrent themes: Avoid jumping to conclusions, examine assumptions, generate new ideas, evaluate evidence. Be cautious in generalizing from one context to another. Learn about common problems in research that can produce misleading results. Learn what constitutes evidence and look for multiple, independent sources of evidence for any important claim (introsych.2007). Critical thinking means making reasoned judgements that are logical and well thought out (introsych.2007). I look forward to improving and expanding my critical thinking skills while earning my degree.
Completing this program will help me to improve my critical thinking and decision-making skills because this programs offers me the unique ability to complete assessments that require me to use critical thinking strategies, such as, being aware of what I’m thinking, having the ability to focus, use evidence-based reasoning, identify what is missing and ask questions and provide your own answers (Klemm, W.R.2014).
References
American Psychological Association. (1992). Ethical Code of Psychologists. Retrieved from www.apa.org?ethics?code-1992.aspx.
American Psychological Association. (2018). Science of Psychology. Retrieved from www.apa.org/action/science/index.aspx.
Bartlett, Tim. (2016). Chronicle of Higher Education. Vol.62. Issue 25. Pb36-37.2p).
Introsych. (2007). Critical Thinking. Retrieved from www.intropsych.com/ch01_psychology_and_science/criticalthinking.html
Klemm, W.R. (2014). Analytical Thinking-Logic Errors 101. Retrieved from www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/201710.
MedicineNet, Inc. (2018). Medicinal Definition of Psychology. Retrieved from www.medicinenet.com/script/art.asp
