According to the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI), the study of behavioral psychology, also known as behaviorism or behavior analysis, focuses on the actions of animals and people in response to positive or negative external factors. People that choose this area of expertise work in jobs that require the careful examination of specific behaviors and how they change according to the environment.
For example, many certified behavior analysts work in programs that help autistic children. Changes in the environment frequently propel the development of persistent behaviors in autistic children, driving the expansion of organizations like ABAI. In a specialized program for autistic children, the behavioral psychologist studies and analyzes behaviors through data collection and observations. The behaviorist then makes conclusions about the cause of the child's actions, determines methods of altering them, and presents the techniques to the child's teachers and parents.
The American Psychological Association notes that clinical psychology combines the study of all areas of human development into one field instead of focusing on a precise topic. For example, behavioral psychologists concentrate strictly on human behavior. Clinical psychologists, on the other hand, bring together the study of behavior along with scientific areas such as biology, societal factors, intelligence aspects and more.
Of all the areas of psychology, clinical studies offer the widest range of specialties. Different studies of clinical psychology include the examination and prevention of mental health disorders, the treatment of illnesses such as addiction, and counseling individuals in health care or organizational settings.
As the name suggests, the study of educational psychology revolves around the process of learning and the factors that affect it. West Chester University of Pennsylvania reports the key concepts of the study of educational psychology as being a combination of five main areas. Contributing focal points of educational psychology include the person's ability to learn, joint learning such as group work, consistent evaluations of the student, an appropriate curriculum, and testing and determining the intelligence quotient (IQ).
As the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology explains, the study of experimental psychology typically occurs in a laboratory or other type of research environment. Experimental psychology examines theories through actual research. Theories studied by an experimental psychologist include those developed by others as well as original ideas. This area of study in psychology uses animals to apply the theories and comprise the research data before comparing the results to human beings. Most journal articles are the published results of such studies.