Psychology Term Paper Ideas

Psychology, the study of behavior and mental processes, can be broken down into numerous subtopics. Within each subtopic are thousands of unique experiments, theories and ideas. Because of this wide variety of research, a psychology term paper should begin with an exploration of a student's own interests. Examining the largest fields within psychology is a good point to begin.

Development

Developmental psychology ranges from changes in infancy to old age. Term papers can focus on specific topics such as emotional development or changes in happiness over a lifetime.

Neuropsychology

Neuropsychology focuses on physical changes and structures within the brain. A term paper can focus on specific phenomenon, such as the effects of a single chemical on behavior.

Abnormal Psychology

Abnormal psychology refers to mental disorders and other issues of mental health. Disorders such as depression, bipolar and schizophrenia have been the focus of enough research to fill thousands of papers. More specific topics, such as depression in teenagers, are desirable.

Counseling

Papers on counseling psychology can be approached from several perspectives. One can examine the effectiveness of a counseling technique on specific groups of people, or instead create a comparison of several unique methods. Some prominent ideas in counseling include humanistic, behavioral and cognitive behavioral techniques.

Social Psychology

Social psychology refers to people and their behavior within a group. Several famous experiments provide great topics for term papers. The Standford prison experiment, where participants were labeled as either prisoners or guards and placed in a prison scenario with disastrous consequences, can be compared to real-life situations such as torture and police brutality.

References

• Social Psychology Network
• A Beginner's Guide to Abnormal Psychology
• Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy; Gerald Cory; 2008

Resources

• Stanford Prison Experiment