Good Applied Psychology And Life Events Essay Example

Applied psychology refers to a branch of psychology that deploys the findings and methodologies of scientific psychology to solve real-world, practical problems related to human behaviors and experiences. Activities related to applied psychology are varied in nature that ranges from direct mental health services for troubled individuals to lab experiments.

EXAMPLE ONE: Social work case study

Brief Case Description: A woman named Angela came into the social work office in search of therapy services. Tina discussed with a social worker her difficult upbringing because he mother had abandoned her and her abusive and alcoholic father when Angela was only two years old. Angela’s father often neglected her and did not care to maintain certain hygiene standards in their tiny apartment. After neighbors were apprised of Angela’s family situation, she was taken by Child Protection services and was placed in a foster-care home. As a teenager, Angela reported that she dabbled in drugs and alcohol beginning at just twelve years old. She also became sexually active when she turned thirteen. She became pregnant and gave birth when she was just fifteen years old. Forced to give up her baby to child protective services because she, like her father, abused and neglected her baby, Angela was mandated to get help from social services. Angela, although she acquiesced to see a social worker, conveyed overt antagonism towards her.
Psychological Application: Psychological perspectives of animal and human development and growth are easily applied to case studies and quotidian activities witnessed in public. This example clearly exhibits how psychological theories are pragmatic in many cases, especially within the profession of social work. The social worker wrote in Angela’s file that Angela’s behavior can be explained if the psychodynamic theory articulated by Freud was applied in order to comprehend Angela’s behavior and emotions. Angela’s upbringing and childhood experiences related to her inability to adequately care for her own child. Freud categorized child development into five distinct stages of psychosexual development, and he contended that disturbances that took place in any of these stages undergirded abnormal behavior once an individual reaches adulthood. The phallic stage, which occurs approximately when children reach the age of three, is the most significant stage. Thus, the abandonment Angela faced by her mother around that age directly impacted Angela’s aberrant behavior (Freud, as cited by Myers &Myers, 2005, p. 461).
Full Reference: Myers, D., & Myers, D. (2008). Exploring psychology in modules (7th ed.). New York, NY: Worth.

EXAMPLE TWO: Soap operas and advertising

Brief description: while watching a Spanish soap opera mid-day in order to pass the time advertisements shown during commercials unequivocally were didactic in nature. Various advertisements encouraged women—especially Latino women who made up over ninety percent of the viewers—to seek medical help at family planning clinics and advice from public health officials regarding how to delay childbirth in order to procure a better education and/or jobs.
Psychological application: Television program clearly strategically juxtaposed the programming with certain advertisements that conveyed certain informational messages that would influence the behavior of certain viewers. Indeed, psychological principles were unequivocally applied to marketing strategies aimed at population control that limned such measures as not coerced and whole different from the forced sterilization of subaltern women that took place during the twentieth century. Advertisements and commercials conspired to encourage family planning and the importance of female literacy and education, especially within subaltern communities.
Full Reference: Bandura, A. (2006).”Going global with social cognitive theory: From prospect to pay dirt,” in Donaldson, B. & Pezdek (eds), Applied psychology (2006).

References

Bandura, A. (2006).”Going global with social cognitive theory: From prospect to pay dirt,” in Donaldson, B. & Pezdek (eds), Applied psychology (2006).
Myers, D., & Myers, D. (2008). Exploring psychology in modules (7th ed.). New York, NY: Worth.