Psychology
The study of the mind and behavior that explores how people think, feel, and act, and the mental processes that influence their experiences.
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Overview
This section provides a brief introduction to psychology that explores the questions, topics, and fields that shape the study of the mind, behavior, emotions, and human development. It also highlights related subjects and resources for learning more about the field of psychology.
What's psychology and what do psychologist do?
Psychology is the scientific study of the mind, brain, and behavior. It looks at how people perceive the world, process information, experience emotions, learn, develop over time, and interact with others. By examining both biological factors (the brain) and social influences (family, culture, and environment), psychology helps explain why people think, feel, and behave the way they do in everyday life. Psychology looks at what we can see, like actions and speech, and the mental processes of the mind, such as emotions, thoughts, and motivations.
Psychologists use research and experiments to better understand how the brain, personal experiences, and the environment all work together to shape behavior.
For an in-depth description of the field of psychology, read Section 1.1, What is Psychology? from the peer-reviewed OpenStax textbook Psychology 2e.
What are the main fields of psychology?
Psychology is a broad field with many subfields, each focusing on different aspects of behavior and mental processes. Listed below are the main subfields of psychology traditionally taught in most universities. Links to in-depth descriptions of each subfield and their concepts are provided by the American Psychological Association.
- Clinical Psychology - Studies the assessment and treatment of mental illness, emotional disturbances, and behavioral problems.
- Cognitive Psychology - Focuses on thinking, memory, perception, problem-solving, and language.
- Developmental Psychology - Examines how people grow and change over the lifespan, from infancy to old age.
- Educational Psychology - Studies how people learn and retain knowledge, focusing on instructional methods and learning environments.
- Environmental Psychology - The study of our environmental surroundings, natural and developed, and how they affect our well-being.
- Experimental Psychology - Using scientific methods to study the mind and behavior.
- Forensic Psychology - Applies psychological principles in legal and criminal justice settings.
- Industrial and Organizational Psychology - Applies psychology to workplace settings.
- Social Psychology - Studies how people influence and relate to one another.
- Sport and Performance Psychology - Understanding and applying psychological principles to enhance athletic performance.
What other subjects are important to psychology?
Psychology is an interdisciplinary field that draws on knowledge and insights from many other academic disciplines. These include neuroscience, sociology, anthropology, education, health sciences, philosophy, law, criminal justice, business, and economics.
Resources for new psychology majors.
If you’re thinking about majoring in psychology, these resources can provide useful background information and help guide your next steps. They explain what to expect from the major and the wide variety of career paths available to you:
- What You Need to Know About Becoming a Psychology Major - U.S. News & World Report
- A Psychology Major Opens Doors - American Psychological Association
- The Superpowers of the Psychology Major - American Psychological Association
Literature Reviews in Psychology
After choosing a topic, conducting a literature review is the next step of the writing process for every social science discipline, including psychology. The following resources provide literature reviews that help scholars learn about the key debates, theories, and major publications of a topic.
Oxford Bibliographies in Psychology
Oxford Bibliographies provides scholarly bibliographies in most social science disciplines, including psychology. Each bibliography includes authoritative books, journal articles, websites, and other materials selected and organized by academic scholars. These bibliographies can also help researchers begin building literature reviews by identifying important authors, major debates, foundational studies, and key publications on different psychology topics.
Annual Review of Psychology
The Annual Review of Psychology provides authoritative literature review articles that summarize and interpret major developments happening in the field of psychology. Each year, a new volume is released, consisting of articles written by leading experts in the field, providing overviews of the most important and influential research and scholarship in the scientific study of behavior.
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
When searching for literature reviews in your discipline, don’t overlook dissertations found in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. Doctoral students are typically required to write extensive literature reviews that examine major debates, theories, methods, and key publications related to their research topic. These literature reviews can help you identify important authors, foundational studies, useful keywords, and gaps in the existing research.
Psychology Reference
Reference sources can help researchers quickly learn about psychological theories, concepts, methods, disorders, and major areas of research. They provide reliable background information, explain unfamiliar topics, define key terms, and identify important scholars, studies, and debates within the discipline.
Bibliographies
A bibliography lists sources cited in research papers, such as books, articles, documents, websites, and other academic materials.
Dictionaries
Dictionaries are important for understanding words, concepts, and terminology. Anthropology dictionaries provide clarity when exploring complex concepts or theories, offering clear definitions of key anthropological terms.
Encyclopedias
Subject encyclopedias are specialized reference works that provide in-depth information on specific discipline topics. Unlike general encyclopedias, which cover a wide range of topics, subject encyclopedias focus exclusively on one field, offering detailed and comprehensive entries written by experts. For a list of general and specialized encyclopedia databases, go to Getting Started—Reference Resources.
Handbooks
Handbooks provide authoritative overviews, in-depth analyses, and critical discussions of a particular academic field, discipline, or topic. The most important series of handbooks in the field of psychology is the APA Handbooks in Psychology® — a major multivolume reference series published by the American Psychological Association. It provides comprehensive coverage of key psychology subfields, methods, theories, and applications in psychology. View the entire list of APA Handbooks in Psychology® here.
Listed below are other important handbooks in psychology.
Companions and Introductions
Companions offer concise yet comprehensive introductions to a subject. Written by experts, introductions present key ideas, theories, and debates clearly and understandably. The following books are ideal for readers new to anthropology, providing foundational knowledge without requiring prior expertise.
General Databases
Academic libraries subscribe to a diverse range of research databases of which EBSCO and ProQuest are two of the largest providers. Most colleges and universities offer access to one or both platforms. Here are some key insights about each:
- Both are multidisciplinary research databases covering multiple disciplines.
- Both provide access to dozens of subject databases with a single search interface.
- Both provide a varied mix of e-books, scholarly journals, peer-reviewed journals, trade publications, magazines, images, and newspapers.
EBSCO
EBSCOhost is a major research database platform that allows users to search multiple EBSCO databases simultaneously. The difference between EBSCOhost and Academic Search is that Academic Search can be searched as part of the EBSCOhost platform or searched separately if your institution has a subscription. To check if your institution subscribes to EBSCOhost, use EBSCO’s Find your institution page.
ProQuest
ProQuest is a major database vendor and platform that provides access to hundreds of database collections. The ProQuest platform provides a multidisciplinary search with access to scholarly ebooks, journals, video and audio, newspapers, and more, all searchable simultaneously. ProQuest is unique in providing dissertations and theses, historical newspapers, and other primary sources.
Scholarly Databases
Scholarly research databases provide peer-reviewed academic journal articles, book reviews, and other scholarly resources authored by scholars, researchers, or academics who are experts in their fields. Unlike magazines (Time, Newsweek, etc.) focused on current events, news, and general-interest stories written by journalists, articles in scholarly journals undergo rigorous review before publication. The following is a list of the most important multidisciplinary scholarly research databases.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a free academic search engine that helps researchers and students find scholarly literature across disciplines. It indexes journal articles, books, conference papers, theses, patents, and other resources from academic publishers, universities, and professional organizations.
- Unlike subscription databases, which publish lists of journals in their collections, Google Scholar does not provide a list of the journals, books, repositories, or conference proceedings it indexes.
- General databases such as EBSCO and ProQuest allow you to limit your results to peer-reviewed articles only. Google Scholar does not filter results for peer-reviewed articles.
- When off your school’s network, you must enable your institution’s Google Scholar library links (review process) to see full-text articles available in your institution. If Library Links are not enabled, you’ll only see paywalls, publisher links, and what’s available open-access in the public domain.
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences
The International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS), compiled by the British Library of Political and Economic Science at the London School of Economics, provides access to a vast collection of scholarly literature in the social sciences. Covering multiple disciplines, IBSS includes references to journal articles, books, newspapers, and dissertations, with records dating back to 1951.
JSTOR
JSTOR is an important scholarly research database for the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. It provides the full text of articles from thousands of influential academic journals. In addition to journal articles, users can access eBooks, book chapters, images, and primary source documents. JSTOR also provides an AI research tool that provides key points and arguments of articles.
JSTOR contains the full text of more than 2,000 journals from 1,000 publishers, with publication dates ranging from 1665 to 2015 (for certain titles). JSTOR also provides:
- Free access to Early Journal Content published before the last 95 years in the United States or before the last 143 years if initially published internationally.
- A collection of nearly 150 open-access journals covering the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.
- JSTOR allows anyone to register for a free personal JSTOR account and provides access to 100 free monthly articles.
Project Muse
Project MUSE offers online access to a vast collection of scholarly journals, books, and academic resources in the humanities, social sciences, and arts. As a leading provider of digital humanities content, it features high-quality, peer-reviewed publications from prestigious university presses, scholarly societies, and academic publishers.
ProQuest Dissertations
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses is a database of dissertations and theses from universities worldwide. It provides access to millions of full-text works across many disciplines, including the social sciences, humanities, sciences, and business. Each dissertation includes an abstract or summary that provides a concise overview of the research, its methodology, and key findings.
ScienceDirect
ScienceDirect is a leading full-text scholarly scientific database that provides journal articles and book chapters from more than 2,500 peer-reviewed journals and more than 11,000 books. It covers over 24 major subjects in the physical sciences and engineering, life sciences, health sciences, social sciences, and the humanities.
Social Science Full Text
Social Sciences Full Text provides access to a wide range of scholarly literature in the social sciences. It covers many disciplines, including sociology, psychology, international relations, political science, anthropology, economics, and education.
Web of Science
Web of Science is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary research and citation index that provides access to a wide range of scientific, technical, social science, and humanities research. It maintains rigorous criteria for the journals and publications it indexes, ensuring that only high-quality, peer-reviewed content is included. Web of Science includes 98 million papers dating back to 1900.
Core Psychology Databases
Sometimes searching general databases returns to many results. You may instead want to use a psychology-specific research database. The following list provides the top subject-specific research databases for locating psychology journals and articles.
APA PsycArticles®
APA PsycArticles® is a research database from the American Psychological Association (APA). It provides full-text, peer-reviewed articles from scholarly journals in psychology and related fields. Provides access to 119 journals back to 1894.
APA PsycBooks
APA PsycBooks is a research database from the American Psychological Association (APA) that provides full-text access to books published by APA and its partners. It includes classic works, handbooks, reference titles, and scholarly books covering many areas of psychology.
APA PsycInfo®
APA PsycInfo is a comprehensive research database produced by the American Psychological Association (APA). It focuses on psychology and related fields, including psychiatry, education, social work, sociology, and more. PsycInfo indexes journal articles, books, chapters, dissertations, and reports in psychology and behavioral sciences. It contains citations, abstracts, and some full text, depending on your library’s subscription level. PsycInfo is available through multiple academic platforms, including EBSCOhost, ProQuest, and OVID.
APA PsycExtra
APA PsycExtra is a research database from the American Psychological Association that focuses on psychology-related material you usually won’t find in academic journals. It includes reports, newsletters, conference papers, fact sheets, standards, and other practical documents produced by organizations, researchers, and practitioners.
PubMed
PubMed® is a free, open-access online database from the National Library of Medicine providing research articles about medicine, health, and related fields like biology and psychology. PubMed® provides over 38 million citations and abstracts for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, the National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) main bibliographic database. It includes life science journals and online books of medicine, health, biology, psychology, and more. Although the database is free to search, some articles link to publisher websites that require payment or institutional access.
PsychiatryOnline
PsychiatryOnline is published by the American Psychiatric Association and provides access to key psychiatry resources. It includes scholarly journals, reference books, and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in one search interface.
PTSD: National Center for PTSD
PTSDpubs (from the National Center for PTSD) is a free, online research database that focuses on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health effects of trauma. It’s produced by the National Center for PTSD, part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and was formerly known as PILOTS (Published International Literature On Traumatic Stress).
Psychological Tests
Psychological (or psychometric) tests are central to how the field measures, studies, and applies knowledge.
How to locate psychological tests.
It's important to note that while some tests may be found through your school, not all tests are readily available. Further, many are only available for purchase through a test instrument publisher to credentialed or licensed individuals.
The American Psychological Association does not sale or provide psychological tests or instruments. However, it does provide a helpful FAQ which provides a full overview of how to locate tests measurements, directing users to both print and online resources.
Core test measurement resources
APA PsycInfo®
APA PsycInfo is a comprehensive research database produced by the American Psychological Association (APA). It focuses on psychology and related fields, including psychiatry, education, social work, sociology, and more. PsycInfo indexes journal articles, books, chapters, dissertations, and reports in psychology and behavioral sciences. It contains citations, abstracts, and some full text, depending on your library’s subscription level. PsycInfo is available through multiple academic platforms, including EBSCOhost, ProQuest, and OVID.
APA PsycTest
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ERIC
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Health & Psychosocial Instruments (HAPI)
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Mental Measurement Yearbook
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Core test measurements organized by category
Most psychology majors will likely take classes related to tests and measurements. Therefore, knowing the different types available to you while studying psychology is an essential skill you should have, especially for graduate research. Below, we've listed the most used psychology-specific tests and measurements with links to their descriptions found in the APA Dictionary of Psychology.
Intelligence Tests
- Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV/V) — Most important standard adult IQ test.
- Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-V) — Child equivalent of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale.
- Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales — The original IQ test, still used today.
Personality Assessments
- Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2/MMPI-3) — Clinical personality/psychopathology measure of mental disorders and the selection of appropriate treatment methods.
- Big Five Inventory (BFI) / NEO-PI-R — Measurements of individual differences in personality.
- Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) — A personality assessment that categorizes people into 16 personality types based on four preference pairs.
- Rorschach Inkblot Test —A projective psychological test in which individuals are shown a series of ten standardized inkblot images and asked to describe what they see.
- Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) — A projective personality assessment in which individuals are shown a series of ambiguous pictures and asked to tell stories.
Clinical/Diagnostic Screening Tools
- Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) — Measures the severity of depression in adolescents and adults
- Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) — Measures anxiety in psychiatric populations
- PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire) — Screens for common mental health disorders.
- GAD-7 — Identifies and measures the severity of probable cases of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
- Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) — Measures the severity of depression.
Neuropsychological Tests
- Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) — Screens for cognitive impairment and dementia screening.
- Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) — Screens for cognitive impairment and dementia screening.
- Wisconsin Card Sorting Test — Measures attention and processing interference
Developmental Assessments
- Bayley Scales of Infant Development — Measures the development of infants and young children ages 1 month to 42 months.
- Strange Situation — Measures attachment in infants and young children.
Social/Attitude Measures
- Implicit Association Test (IAT) — Measures implicit bias.
- Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale — Measures self-esteem.
Psychology Journals
Journal Citation Reports (JCR) is widely regarded as the leading subscription-based resource for identifying high-quality, peer-reviewed journals and assessing the impact, influence, and quality of scholarly journals across disciplines, including psychology. To learn more about JCR and journal impact, go to Journal Databases.
To review the entire JCR list of highly cited anthropology journals, go to Journal Citation Reports (JCR) and choose Categories > Social Sciences, General > Psychology. Below are the ten most-cited psychology journals of the last year.
To review the entire JCR list of highly cited anthropology journals, go to Journal Citation Reports (JCR) and choose Categories > Social Sciences, General > Psychology. Below are the ten most-cited psychology journals of the last year.
Psychological Bulletin
Psychological Bulletin is an academic journal that publishes reviews of existing research in psychology rather than new experiments. It brings together findings from many studies to explain what is already known about a topic and where research is still needed.
Psychological Medicine
Psychological Medicine is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes research on mental health, psychiatry, and clinical psychology. It contains studies on topics such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and treatments for mental disorders. It covers a mix of biological, psychological, and social aspects of mental illness, including studies on causes, treatments, and how disorders affect the brain and behavior.
Psychological Review
Psychological Review is a scholarly journal focused on major theories about how the mind works. It publishes articles on broad ideas and frameworks that advance psychological science. It publishes theories rather than experiments, and new ideas, models, or frameworks that help explain how the mind works, instead of reporting fresh data from studies.
Annual Review of Psychology
The Annual Review of Psychology is a journal that summarizes and explains important developments in psychology, providing clear overviews of research findings and trends across different areas of the field. It covers major areas such as the biological bases of behavior, cognition, human development, clinical psychology, and social psychology. It comes out once a year, giving researchers a yearly snapshot of where the field stands.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience is an open-access journal that publishes research how the brain and nervous system influence human thoughts, emotions, perception, and behavior. It covers topics such as cognition, memory, language, and brain function, including how these processes develop, mature, and decline with age.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research and clinical studies on the mental health, development, and behavior of children and adolescents. Topics covered include emotional disorders, learning difficulties, neurodevelopmental conditions, and the factors that influence psychological well-being, helping to improve understanding and care for young people.
Psychophysiology
Psychophysiology is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes research on how the brain and body work together to influence thoughts, emotions, and behavior. It features studies using methods such as brain imaging, physiological measurements, and cognitive experiments to better understand the biological processes underlying human experience and mental functioning.
The Journals of Gerontology: Series B
The Journals of Gerontology: Series B is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes research on the psychological and social aspects of aging. It has two sections: one on psychology and one on social sciences. The psychology section covers topics such as cognition, emotion, neuropsychology, and personality as they relate to aging, while the social sciences section looks at topics like caregiving, retirement, and social relationships among older adults.
Psycho-Oncology
Psycho-Oncology is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes research on the psychological, social, and emotional aspects of cancer. It looks at how patients, their families, and caregivers respond psychologically to cancer, and how psychological, behavioral, and social factors might influence the disease itself. It examines how cancer affects patients, families, and caregivers, as well as ways to improve mental health, quality of life, and supportive care throughout the cancer experience.
Vision Research
Vision Research is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes research on how humans and animals see and process visual information. It covers topics such as perception, eye movements, color vision, visual attention, and the neural mechanisms of sight, helping researchers better understand how the visual system supports behavior and everyday experience.
Psychology News
Psychology news sources and magazines highlight emerging research topics and trends, sparking ideas for research questions and assignments. Remember that magazines are written for the general public and lack peer review, while scholarly articles are written by experts and reviewed by other scholars for accuracy and research quality.
Research Methods
Research methods are the specific strategies, tools, and techniques researchers use to collect and analyze information to answer questions or solve problems. Research methods can be qualitative ( interviews or observations), quantitative (numerical and statistical), or a mixture of both. Most social science students are required to take at least one research methods course as part of a department's core curriculum, which introduces the basics of how research is done in a specific discipline.
Sage Research Methods is a major subscription database that guides users in understanding research methodologies across different academic disciplines. It provides electronic access to reference books, journal articles, instructional videos, and other qualitative methods resources.
Psychology Research Methods
The following books offer clear, in-depth explanations of research design concepts, methods, and techniques used in psychology.
Note that some of the resources listed on this page require a subscription. Please refer to the icons next to each resource for access requirements.
The famous dogs in Ivan Pavlov’s experiments were not originally studied for psychology. Pavlov was actually researching digestion in the late 1800s when he noticed the dogs began salivating before food arrived. This discovery became one of the most famous demonstrations of Classical Conditioning, showing how animals and humans can learn to associate one stimulus with another.
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