Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior. It is multifaceted from the functions of the brain in humans and other animals. It comes from the Greek word “psyche” meaning mind, soul, spirit and the Greek word logia means “study of something”.

Knowing where to start the research process can make your writing a breeze. We have outlined a few tips to make writing your research paper manageable.

How to write a great psychology research paper.

First analyse type of paper

There are a few psychology papers which you might come across in your studies. Empirical paper, this details own research. The format of the paper follows the APA format including the title page, abstract, introduction, method analysis section,discussion section and references.

Literature review

Summarizes research conducted by other people. The latter is more has more pages in length. The format of the paper includes introduction, body and discussion/implication and conclusion.

Secondly select a fascinating idea for your topic

Avoid over-broad topics. Narrowing your topics allows you to research with focus. Fully explore your pertinent findings and include in your thesis statement. Develop an effective research strategy at this point.

Third write an outline

Develop a strong framework. Make sure your idea flows into logical paragraphs. The more detailed your outline the more easier your writing will get.

Fourth draft, refine and edit

With a solid outline, writing will be a breeze. Rule of the thumb in writing is never submit a first draft. It helps to give it to someone else to read  and proofread through.

List of 150 Great Psychology Research paper Topics by Subject Headings

Abnormal Psychology

1. Are twins at a higher risk of eating disorders?
2. Anorexia nervosa.
3. Binge eating.
4. Bulimia nervosa.
5. Which brain cell plays a key role in appetite?
6. Ways obesity can weigh in the brain.
7. Pica eating disorder.
8. How can we stop body shaming?
9. How to break free from addiction.
10. LGBT have a higher rate of drug abuse.
11. Is teen hacking an  addiction?
12. Does eating right ease symptoms of postpartum depression?
13. Why are depression cases rising among teen girls in the US?
14. Causes of post traumatic stress disorder.
15. Borderline personality disorder.
16. Can blood tests recognise mental illness?
17. Treatment of schizophrenia.
18. Antisocial personality disorder.
19. Is being a perfectionist a type of personality disorder?
20. Personality disorders.

Cognitive Psychology

1. What purpose do dreams serve.
2. Psychoanalytic theory  of dreams.
3. How does the activation synthesis model explain dreams?
4. What causes false memory?
5. How do mental sets impact your ability to solve problems.
6. What is the meaning of having a learning disability in applied math?
7. Difference between implicit and explicit memory?
8. Factors that determine intelligence.
9. IQ or EQ which is more important?
10. Discuss the stroop effect.
11. How does opponent process theory explain how we see color?
12. Motor theory of speech.
13. Telepathy.
14. Cognitive psychology in the middle ages.
15. Cognitive neuroscience.
16. The ego and the self.
17. A neuropsychological perspective of attention.
18. Creativity and divergent thinking?
19. Long term memory.
20. Verbal behavior.

Developmental Psychology

1. Psycho social theory of development.
2. Does your favorite climatic season say a lot about your personality?
3. Cultural nature of human development.
4. Piaget’s stages of development.
5. Should infants be taught sign language?
6. Do mental games help elderly adults keep their cognitive skills sharp?
7. Do birth order have an impact on procrastination?
8. How does self awareness develop?
9. How can parents help their kids develop social and emotional skills?
10. Does the style of parenting influence a child’s level of physical activity?

Personality Psychology

1. How are certain traits associated with heroism and altruism?
2. Does temperament relate to creativity?
3. Is it rare to marry a spouse with similar personality?
4. Do people who share same personality traits share same taste in music?
5. Is there a relationship between personality trait and the pet they would keep? Say dog or cat?
6. What are the factors that make up your personality?
7. Are leaders made or born?
8. In the military is the authoritarian leadership effective?
9. How does type A behaviour influence success in learning institutions?
10. Compare personality types of athletes and nonathletes.

Psychotherapy

1. What the potential risks of depression and the preventive strategies that can be used.
2. Investigate in depth adolescent mental health and peer pressure.
3. What are the long term effects of childhood trauma?
4. What is the impact of anxiety disorder on a person’s social life?
5. What therapy is effective in treating children’s behavioural disorder?
6. The effects of the global economic crises and depression in men.
7. Discuss the “boarding school syndrome”
8. Is group therapy more effective than individual therapy?
9. Discus the values of psychotherapy.
10. Who is a beneficiary of psychotherapy?

Behavioral Psychology

1. How does classical conditioning work?
2. Can learning occur through associations or through rewards and punishments?
3. What are the therapeutic techniques rooted in behavioural psychology?
4. What is secondary reinforcement?
5. From a psychologist’s point of view is punishment effective?
6. Can behaviour analysis be an effective tool for children with milestone delays?
7. Does our implicit attitude influence how we respond to people?
8. Which signals do most people respond to more? Verbal or nonverbal?
9. Does your appearance impact how people respond to you?
10. Does attractiveness produce “a halo effect”?

Largest Specialty in Psychology

Discuss in depth on this psychology specialties

1. Clinical psychology.
2. Experimental psychology.
3. Counseling psychology.
4. Human factor psychology.
5. Forensic psychology.
6. School psychology.
7. Industrial organizational psychology.
8. Social psychology.

Bio-psychology

1. What effect does neurotransmitters have on the body?
2. What is biopsychology?
3. Does prescribing dopamine in the early stages of parkinson’s disease help patients?
4. Is there a strong link between excessive amounts of dopamine and schizophrenia?
5. Discuss the central nervous system.
6. How is the endocrine and nervous system linked?
7. What is autonomic nervous system?
8. What is a neuron and what is its function?
9. What part of the brain deals with will power?
10. How does hypnosis induce change of specific patterns of the brain?

Comparative Psychology

1. Do animals adapt their vocal signals to social environments?
2. Discuss “baboons have voice and communication “ but not theory of mind.
3. Do animals share with humans conscious metacognition?
4. Do some non human animals like dolphins have conscious metacognition?
5. Is it prudent to have animal robotics?
6. Do animals have reflective minds?
7. What is the cognitive rift between animals and humans?
8. Can dogs recognise human emotions? Discuss.
9. Do large brain size animal have the capacity to solve problems better?
10. Expound how dogs respond to goal oriented behaviour similar to human infants.

Educational Psychology

1. Identify and define problems with autism.
2. Discuss achievement gap.
3. Investigate how people understand mathematics and how the exceptional maths genius brain works.
4. Adult learning perspective from educational psychology.
5. Critical thinking definition has changed over decades. Discuss from a psychologist’s point of view what critical thinking is.
6. Discuss the general rise of IQ in this century.
7. What is the make up of a gifted child’s brain different than others? Discuss Dyslexia.
8. Should the government give more funding to causes for the gifted and talented?
9. Is differentiated instruction an effective tool to teach gifted students? Discuss.
10. Discuss the techniques used in operant conditioning.

Experimental Psychology

1. Short term memory experiment.
2. Conformity experiment. How does a group size affect the conformity experiment?
3. Does eating breakfast help students perform better in school.
4. Create stroop effect experiment, with uncommon colors.
5. Are people who prefer complex music like jazz more creative?
6. Do assertive people like more aggressive music like rap?
7. Are female better in remembering words and numbers?
8. Female participants will score higher on memory tests.
9. Could the color of paper used in an examination affect the performance of the student?
10. Does using colored paper in schools boost memory?

Forensic Psychology

1. Is pedophilia a neurodevelopmental disorder?
2. What are the odds that child sex offenders have themselves been sexually assaulted as children?
3. What is causing an increase in homegrown terror groups?
4. What are the factors for higher rates of juvenile murderers.
5. What is the cause of mass suicide in cults?
6. Has the internet played a role in copycat crimes?
7. Does a serial killer have a mental disorder? Discuss.
8. Are aggressive people more likely to commit crime?
9. How does forensic psychology differ with other specialities like clinical psychology?
10. Evaluate the risk of reoffending and what unique patterns they have.

Health Psychology

1. What are the psychological strategies that can help one adhere to exercise and diets?
2. Is there a link between the “ideal body” portrayed in media and eating disorders?
3. Are there psychological strategies that bear long term outcomes in cases of coping with loss of a loved one.
4. Has the number of crib deaths gone down. Is there much awareness on precaution measures.
5. What is the psychological impact of a caregiver looking after a relative with a chronic disease?
6. Are suicide prevention programs effective? Why a rise in teen suicide tendencies?
7. Are women more likely to get depressed?
8. Discuss the dynamics of anxiety and hysteria
9. Which psychological strategies are effective to have a smoker stop the habit.
10. What are the natural remedies for seasonal affective disorder?
11. Are panic attacks a mental disorder?
12. In the recent spate of school shootings do the children need group therapy or individual therapy?

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