Psychology
Base Level: Cognitive Psychology
Key Focus: Mental processes such as perception, memory, decision-making, problem-solving, and learning.
Key Theories: Information processing theory, cognitive development (e.g., Piaget’s stages), schema theory.
Key Concepts: Attention, memory (short-term, long-term), perception, reasoning, and language.
Why It's Foundational: Cognitive psychology provides the groundwork for understanding how people think, learn, and process information, which is essential for higher-level psychology disciplines.
Second Level: Behavioral Psychology
Key Focus: Observable behaviors and the environmental factors that influence them, such as learning through conditioning.
Key Theories: Classical conditioning (Pavlov), operant conditioning (Skinner), social learning theory (Bandura).
Key Concepts: Reinforcement, punishment, stimulus-response, behavior modification.
Why It's Higher: Behavioral psychology builds on cognitive processes by showing how these internal processes manifest as observable actions and how external stimuli can modify these behaviors.
Third Level: Developmental Psychology
Key Focus: Changes in psychological functions across the lifespan, including cognitive, emotional, and social development.
Key Theories: Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, Piaget’s cognitive development stages, Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory.
Key Concepts: Attachment, critical periods, lifespan development, and identity formation.
Why It's Higher: Developmental psychology depends on an understanding of both cognitive and behavioral psychology to explain how these processes evolve over time from childhood through adulthood.
Top Level: Social Psychology
Key Focus: How individuals think about, influence, and relate to others within social contexts.
Key Theories: Social learning theory, attribution theory, cognitive dissonance, social identity theory.
Key Concepts: Group dynamics, conformity, persuasion, social cognition, prejudice, and stereotypes.
Why It's Highest: Social psychology integrates insights from cognitive, behavioral, and developmental psychology to explain how people behave in social contexts, influenced by both their internal mental states and external social environments.
