Psychology as a Tool for Social Problems

Diverse Nature of Psychology Psychology has not been around a terribly long amount of time, dating back only a century or two. However, the diverse outgrowths and subsets of psychology that have emerged and flourished in the years since is nothing short of extremely wide-ranging and fascinating all at the same time. Just a few examples would include health psychology, forensic psychology and educational psychology. Those three spheres are commonly used for cardiac rehabilitation, child custody evaluation and IQ testing, respectively.

Broadly, the diversity and depth of psychology will be evaluated in terms of their impact on motivation, behavior and cognition. How and whether new disciplines (and what they are) should be applied to society will be posed by the author of this report. Finally, the sub-disciplines noted in this report will be related to the theoretical perspective in play. The author will also offer personal contributions to the psychology sphere.

While psychology should typically be supportive and empathetic, there are situations where a little reality and "tough love" need to be taught. Analysis Two examples of psychology that were not offered by the assignment would include counseling for mental health disorders like anxiety, depression and so forth. While many interventions for these disorders are pharmacological in nature, drugs can only do so much. The rest of the work has to be done through cognitive behavioral therapy or something else along those lines.

Another realm of psychology that is commonplace nowadays is couples counseling for married people, engaged couples or even people in committed relationships that they wish to maintain and salvage if at all possible. As for what new realms of psychology could be created or used to help better society, the author of this report has a few ideas that are very much worth supporting and looking at. When it comes to addressing social problems, there are a lot of sad stories to tell and see.

Indeed, it is hard to see people in poverty, people that are homeless and children that suffer due to any number maladies, both created and thrust upon them, forced upon their parents. However, what seems to be passed over a lot is the human motive and behavior that is leading to these problems. For example, nearly half of all children born in the United States right now are born out of wedlock. This is stratospherically high as compared to what it used to be in prior years and generations.

One need not thump a Bible to make the point that this is an alarming trend that needs to be reversed. Indeed, if one looks at minority children, the rates are even higher. With black mothers, the rate is three out of every four births being out of wedlock. Further, many of the people that are having children are having them too early or they are otherwise not ready for the financial and psychological burdens that parenthood will force upon them (Hayford, Guzzo & Smock, 2014).

Certainly, the government and social service agencies should not get into a game of who should have kids and who should not. However, just like community and other educational services are geared towards social/medical problems like obesity, diabetes management and so forth, the same thing should be done for proper family planning, the use of contraception AND birth control when having sex and so forth (Kelly et al., 2012).

Helping out people in poverty is all well and good once the people are there but simple cash/resource assistance will not get them out of that mess. It is far better to head this off while it can be and fully address the issues at play when it does happen including going after biological parents for support, getting the custodial parent educated so he/she can support the child and themselves and so forth.

Much the same logic can be used when speaking of the homeless or people in prison. Rather than just warehouse people in jails or just give money to the homeless, the general root of the problems should be addressed. So often, this is caused by mental illness, drug use or a lack of knowing how to properly live and behave to achieve a stable life or a combination of the three. This obviously would not work for all people.

Criminals that insist on reoffending even with offers of help should be jailed. However, those that truly have medical/mental issues and that want a second chance should be given the chance to do so. Psychologists could and would play a huge part in this (Kretschmar, Butcher, Kanary & Devens, 2015). As far as all of these sub-disciplines go and so forth, the focus needs to be on addressing the root problem.

Rather than lament the plight of kids in inner city schools, we should instead address the psychological abuse and/or poverty issues that are causing the real problems to exist. Teachers can only do so much, for example, when kids are hungry, abused, tired or otherwise in distress. Rather than treat the symptom, psychological experts (and other professionals such as the police, the jail system and so forth) should be geared to telling people that there is help if they want it.

If they answer in the affirmative, it should be given. However, psychologists and such should also be prepared to deal with deviants that have no interest in getting help. When it comes to drug abuse and mental illness, people that refuse to get help will not get better. If this leads to them being a danger to themselves or others, they need to be confined to a mental hospital or in a jail cell .. whatever is more appropriate. There needs.