 N ADDITION
to
clinical applications, other
applications of psychology with which I have experience are in the areas
of aviation
psychology, forensic psychology, psychological testing, and
research. Be advised that I am giving examples of ways that a
clinical psychologist such as myself in private practice might be of service
as a consultant. For information about many other fields of psychology, see
below under Additional Resources.
Aviation
Psychology
The use of psychology
in the field of aviation should be first set in context. The Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) has strict regulations about the health of pilots. These
regulations are so strict that a pilot could break the law just by flying
after taking an over-the-counter cold remedy. Aspects of mental health are
controlled just as tightly. Consequently, most pilots want nothing to do
with psychologists.
Actually, this
fear is an exaggeration of the facts. Aviation psychologists perform many
duties that have nothing to do with whether or not a pilot is
“crazy.” Below are some things a psychologist can help
with:
• |
Overcoming airsickness |
• |
Fear of
flying in general |
• |
A pilot’s loss of a desire to
fly, or a fear of flying after an accident |
• |
Managing anxiety during flight
training |
• |
Cockpit Resource Management |
• |
Air Traffic Control stress and
burn-out |
• |
Debriefing of crew and rescue personnel
after an incident or accident |
Scientific journals
in aviation:
|
This the official journal of the
Aerospace
Medical Association (AsMA). AsMA was originally formed because of early
aviation’s need for physicians with expertise in the flight environment.
The journal publishes scientific reports about the health and safety not
just of aviators but also of those who venture into many other challenging
environments of today’s world, such as outer space, under the oceans,
and underground. |
 |
 |
This journal, published by
Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates, reflects the work of the Biennial International Symposium
on Aviation Psychology to develop and manage safe and effective aviation
systems for human operators. Four academic disciplines contribute to this
work: engineering and computer science, psychology, physiology, and education.
For information about the journal, contact the publisher. |
Forensic
Psychology
The word
forensic derives from the Latin forensis, a public place, so
forensic psychology is psychology characteristic of, or suitable for, a law
court or public debate. One aspect of forensic psychology, criminal
psychology, is specifically concerned with the psychology of criminal
behavior.
Forensic applications
of psychology, therefore, refer to its use within the legal system
to
• |
Profile criminals |
• |
Provide expert testimony |
• |
Evaluate the mental health of persons
charged with a crime to determine their legal competence or incompetence
to stand trial |
• |
Provide debriefing to law enforcement
and rescue personnel |
• |
Investigate the possibility of
malingering in court cases seeking damages |
Psychological
Testing
Some psychologists
specialize in psychological testing, some use testing only occasionally,
and some never use it. I occasionally perform testing, usually in regard
to the assessment of the psychological effects of trauma. For more information
about testing in general, click here to go to my page on the subject.
Research
The science of
psychology is grounded in research. A psychologist with a Ph.D.
can
• |
Conduct original scientific
research |
• |
Provide consultation on methodology
for research projects |
• |
Serve on dissertation committees |
• |
Provide editorial assistance; i.e.,
provide grammatical and stylistic proofing and assistance with the expression
of ideas for dissertations, scientific papers, and general writing. |
If you are a
student working on a literature review in psychology, you could begin with
an Internet search. Be advised, however,
that material on the Internet is not necessarily scientific, nor is it
necessarily subject to peer-reviewed scientific scrutiny.
You have two
choices to locate published peer-reviewed psychological research in
English.
• |
To locate
medical research articles (and some psychology articles), you can
use
Medline
online. Medline will allow you to search for articles using keyword searches.
The search results will give you a list of articles that match your search
terms; some of the articles will also have their abstracts (a short summary
of the article’s procedures and conclusions) available. |
• |
To locate
psychology research articles, you can use PsycINFO, a database provided
by the American Psychological Association (APA). But the APA does not allow
free access to PsycINFO; you must either pay a registration fee to the APA
(through its website at www.apa.org) or go to a university library and ask
the research librarian to do a literature search for you—for a fee,
of course. |
But to read (without
a fee) any of the articles that you have located with Medline or PsycINFO,
you will have to go into a university library and find the journals in which
the articles were published—that is, if the library subscribes to the
journals you want. (Libraries usually have some sort of computer or microfilm
system to allow you to find the journals they do have.) Some articles are
available online, for a fee, through Medline, PsycINFO, or through the website
of the journal. You can also buy reprints of articles from the journals;
some libraries will order the reprints for you. All in all, getting copies
of published research articles can be time-consuming and expensive because
the major journals cannot afford to allow free online access to
articles.
WEBSITE
CITATIONS
Here is how to
cite pages from this website in a research paper:
PSYCHOLOGY
FORMAT (APA Style) |
Author. (Copyright date). Webpage
title. Retrieved [date] from, [webpage address] |
Example |
Richmond, R.
L. (1997–2017). Other applications of psychology. Retrieved July 4,
2017 from, http://www.guidetopsychology.com/othapp.htm |
|
MEDICAL
FORMAT |
Author. Webpage title. [Date retrieved
as DD MMM YYYY]. [Webpage address]. |
Example |
Richmond, RL.
Other applications of psychology. 1 Jan 2017.
http://www.guidetopsychology.com/othapp.htm. |
|
|
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