Psychology’s Future

We have examined psychology’s foundations, but what does the future hold for the
discipline? Although the course of scientific development is notoriously difficult to
predict, several trends seem likely:
• As its knowledge base grows, psychology will become increasingly specialized
and new perspectives will evolve. For example, our growing understanding
of the brain and the nervous system, combined with scientific advances in
genetics and gene therapy, will allow psychologists to focus on prevention of
psychological disorders rather than only on their treatment .
• The evolving sophistication of neuroscientific approaches is likely to have an
increasing influence over other branches of psychology. For instance, social
psychologists already are increasing their understanding of social behaviors
such as persuasion by using brain scans as part of an evolving field known
as social neuroscience.
• Psychology’s influence on issues of public interest also will grow. The major
problems of our time—such as violence, terrorism, racial and ethnic prejudice,
poverty, and environmental and technological disasters—have important
psychological aspects.
• Finally, as the population becomes more diverse, issues of diversity— embodied
in the study of racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural factors—will become
more important to psychologists providing services and doing research. The
result will be a field that can provide an understanding of human behavior
in its broadest sense.