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Master the Art of Research: Topics and Tips for Your Psychology Paper

• by Psychologs Magazine
• May 14, 2024
• 6 minutes read

Writing a psychology research paper is a journey through the depths of human behaviour and mental processes. Therefore, choosing psychology research topics is crucial for a compelling paper. Before diving into your research proposal, a thorough investigation of journal databases like PsychInfo and ERIC can unveil a wealth of relevant studies. The importance of selecting the right topics for psychology research cannot be overstated. It sets the tone for the entire research paper, ensuring your work is grounded in innovative inquiry. A roadmap can be constructed by outlining your ideas of how to go about writing the paper in detail.

Topic Selection

It’s always best to identify general areas of interest in psychology such as cognition and social behavior or mental health. This broad area will help you to narrow down to more specific topics. Identifying gaps in existing research helps to identify areas of interest. This can provide a good foundation for your study and ensure a meaningful contribution to the field of mental health. 

It’s time to narrow down your broad interests to focus on a specific and manageable topic. Structure and organization become essential at this stage to follow. Just remember that the more a research question intrigues you the more it will help you to follow through with all the research phases. 

Also, when you are narrowing down your topic, it is important to select one which is not only in trend currently, but also well-researched. This will help you during the literature review phase of your research process. Lastly, it’s always best to keep in mind guidelines or criteria set by your research guide and educational institution. Your topic should meet academic standards and procedures.

Read More: 6 Reasons You Should Study Psychology

The Review of Literature 

When you begin conducting your literature review, you must refer to online databases like PsycInfo, Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), and Medline to search for relevant research literature.

Make sure to read the abstract, introduction, method, results, and discussion sections of each article. Discussion sections are also important since they highlight gaps in existing research. An Excel sheet must be made where you write down the summaries and key points of each research for your literature review. 

In your literature review, you must describe, compare and evaluate the research studies. The goal of evaluation is to identify gaps and inconsistencies in the literature, thus providing suggestions for solving the research problem. These tips help you develop a thorough literature review. It highlights significant studies as well as sets a foundation for your research paper.

Read More: The Depths of Indian Psychology: Traditions and Modern Insights

Adhering to APA Format

The general structure of the APA format includes the title page, abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion, and references.

The title page should have a running head, page number, title of the paper, author’s name, and institutional affiliation. The title should be concise including the key variables or the study’s focus. The abstract should be on a new page, limited to 120 words. It should summarize the research topic, methods, results, and significance. 

Your introduction should start with an exploration of your research question, including a brief history of the same. The introduction will also include a summary of the previous findings in the form of a literature review. Make sure to address gaps in the current research and how the current research will impact the field.

The method section describes in detail how the research was performed. It includes a description of the participants, the study design, the materials that were used, and the procedure of the study. It is essential to provide enough information for another researcher to duplicate your research.

The results section should describe the data that was collected through descriptive statistics as well as inferential statistics which is your t-test, ANOVA and other appropriate tests for your study. Your discussion has to interpret the results and address your research topic. It is essential to discuss the limitations and scope of future research surrounding your research. 

When referring to current research for your review literature, make sure to compile a list of all the sources . It’s also important to cite them throughout the paper wherever direct quotations are used. Refer to the APA format for in-text citations .

Read More; Do You Know About the Basic Principles of Psychology?

Analyzing Your Data

Descriptive statistics in research provide a summary of your data sets. Calculate the mean, median and mode of your data set. Thereafter, you calculate the dispersion of your data which includes variance, standard deviation and range to understand the spread of your data. 

Creating graphs and charts like histograms, bar charts and scatter plots helps visually present the data. Identify the skewness of your data to understand the asymmetry of your data distribution. Identify the techniques you will analyze your data with like t-tests, regression, or ANOVA. This analysis should help answer your research question. 

These tips help ensure that your data analysis is communicated which makes your findings understandable to other researchers and the psychology community. 

Read more: 10 Job Roles in the Field of Psychology

The importance of selecting engaging and significant topics, conducting comprehensive literature reviews, and adhering to the standards of APA format thus far has been highlighted. Researchers ensure their work helps in the understanding of human behaviour. The journey from topic selection to data presentation has its challenges, however, research papers tend to influence the scholarly community and societal perceptions of psychological phenomena. We encourage aspiring researchers to continually seek out new avenues for inquiry and adopt a critical yet open-minded stance toward their findings. The pursuit of knowledge in psychology research helps formulate interventions and policies that can help human well-being. 

1. What are the top topics for conducting Research in psychology? 

To select a psychology research topic, consider areas such as psychotropic medications for mental health, disorders like anxiety , depression , and bipolar disorder , schizoaffective disorder, accessibility of mental health services, the impact of systemic racism on mental health, and mental health concerns within the LGBTQIA+ community.

2. What are some essential tips for writing an effective psychology research paper? 

When writing a psychology research paper, ensure to support your arguments with solid evidence from scientific studies. Adhere to the appropriate academic format.

3. Where can I get extra help with APA style for my research?

You can find support online and offline to improve your understanding of APA style. The APA Publication Manual is a key resource for guidance on formatting, citations and other important aspects. 

• Chiang, I. A., Jhangiani, R. S., & Price, P. C. (2015, October 13). Generating good research questions . Pressbooks. https://opentextbc.ca/researchmethods/chapter/generating-good-research-questions/
• Paré, G., & Kitsiou, S. (2017, February 27). Chapter 9 Methods for literature reviews . Handbook of eHealth Evaluation: An Evidence-based Approach – NCBI Bookshelf. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK481583/
• Ratan, S. K., Anand, T., & Ratan, J. (2019). Formulation of research question – Stepwise approach. Journal of Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons , 24 (1), 15. https://doi.org/10.4103/jiaps.jiaps_76_18
• Chiang, I. A., Jhangiani, R. S., & Price, P. C. (2015, October 13). American Psychological Association (APA) style . Pressbooks. https://opentextbc.ca/researchmethods/chapter/american-psychological-association-apa-style/
• Chiang, I. A., Jhangiani, R. S., & Price, P. C. (2015, October 13). Conducting your analyses . Pressbooks. https://opentextbc.ca/researchmethods/chapter/conducting-your-analyses/
• Chiang, I. A., Jhangiani, R. S., & Price, P. C. (2015, October 13). Expressing your results . Pressbooks. https://opentextbc.ca/researchmethods/chapter/expressing-your-results/
• San José State University Writing Center, & Tablas-Mejia, I. (n.d.). Conclusion section for research papers. Fall 2021 . https://www.sjsu.edu/writingcenter/docs/handouts/Conclusion%20Section%20for%20Research%20Papers.pdf
• P, B. (2024, March 27). Learn how to write a psychology research paper here . https://www.sharkpapers.com/blog/research-paper-writing-guides/psychology-research-paper

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Research Topics & Ideas: Mental Health

100+ Mental Health Research Topic Ideas To Fast-Track Your Project

If you’re just starting out exploring mental health topics for your dissertation, thesis or research project, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, we’ll help kickstart your research topic ideation process by providing a hearty list of mental health-related research topics and ideas.

PS – This is just the start…

We know it’s exciting to run through a list of research topics, but please keep in mind that this list is just a starting point . To develop a suitable education-related research topic, you’ll need to identify a clear and convincing research gap , and a viable plan of action to fill that gap.

If this sounds foreign to you, check out our free research topic webinar that explores how to find and refine a high-quality research topic, from scratch. Alternatively, if you’d like hands-on help, consider our 1-on-1 coaching service .

Overview: Mental Health Topic Ideas

• Mood disorders
• Anxiety disorders
• Psychotic disorders
• Personality disorders
• Obsessive-compulsive disorders
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Neurodevelopmental disorders
• Eating disorders
• Substance-related disorders

Mood Disorders

Research in mood disorders can help understand their causes and improve treatment methods. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

• The impact of genetics on the susceptibility to depression
• Efficacy of antidepressants vs. cognitive behavioural therapy
• The role of gut microbiota in mood regulation
• Cultural variations in the experience and diagnosis of bipolar disorder
• Seasonal Affective Disorder: Environmental factors and treatment
• The link between depression and chronic illnesses
• Exercise as an adjunct treatment for mood disorders
• Hormonal changes and mood swings in postpartum women
• Stigma around mood disorders in the workplace
• Suicidal tendencies among patients with severe mood disorders

Anxiety Disorders

Research topics in this category can potentially explore the triggers, coping mechanisms, or treatment efficacy for anxiety disorders.

• The relationship between social media and anxiety
• Exposure therapy effectiveness in treating phobias
• Generalised Anxiety Disorder in children: Early signs and interventions
• The role of mindfulness in treating anxiety
• Genetics and heritability of anxiety disorders
• The link between anxiety disorders and heart disease
• Anxiety prevalence in LGBTQ+ communities
• Caffeine consumption and its impact on anxiety levels
• The economic cost of untreated anxiety disorders
• Virtual Reality as a treatment method for anxiety disorders

Psychotic Disorders

Within this space, your research topic could potentially aim to investigate the underlying factors and treatment possibilities for psychotic disorders.

• Early signs and interventions in adolescent psychosis
• Brain imaging techniques for diagnosing psychotic disorders
• The efficacy of antipsychotic medication
• The role of family history in psychotic disorders
• Misdiagnosis and delayed treatment of psychotic disorders
• Co-morbidity of psychotic and mood disorders
• The relationship between substance abuse and psychotic disorders
• Art therapy as a treatment for schizophrenia
• Public perception and stigma around psychotic disorders
• Hospital vs. community-based care for psychotic disorders

Personality Disorders

Research topics within in this area could delve into the identification, management, and social implications of personality disorders.

• Long-term outcomes of borderline personality disorder
• Antisocial personality disorder and criminal behaviour
• The role of early life experiences in developing personality disorders
• Narcissistic personality disorder in corporate leaders
• Gender differences in personality disorders
• Diagnosis challenges for Cluster A personality disorders
• Emotional intelligence and its role in treating personality disorders
• Psychotherapy methods for treating personality disorders
• Personality disorders in the elderly population
• Stigma and misconceptions about personality disorders

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders

Within this space, research topics could focus on the causes, symptoms, or treatment of disorders like OCD and hoarding.

• OCD and its relationship with anxiety disorders
• Cognitive mechanisms behind hoarding behaviour
• Deep Brain Stimulation as a treatment for severe OCD
• The impact of OCD on academic performance in students
• Role of family and social networks in treating OCD
• Alternative treatments for hoarding disorder
• Childhood onset OCD: Diagnosis and treatment
• OCD and religious obsessions
• The impact of OCD on family dynamics
• Body Dysmorphic Disorder: Causes and treatment

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Research topics in this area could explore the triggers, symptoms, and treatments for PTSD. Here are some thought starters to get you moving.

• PTSD in military veterans: Coping mechanisms and treatment
• Childhood trauma and adult onset PTSD
• Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) efficacy
• Role of emotional support animals in treating PTSD
• Gender differences in PTSD occurrence and treatment
• Effectiveness of group therapy for PTSD patients
• PTSD and substance abuse: A dual diagnosis
• First responders and rates of PTSD
• Domestic violence as a cause of PTSD
• The neurobiology of PTSD

Neurodevelopmental Disorders

This category of mental health aims to better understand disorders like Autism and ADHD and their impact on day-to-day life.

• Early diagnosis and interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorder
• ADHD medication and its impact on academic performance
• Parental coping strategies for children with neurodevelopmental disorders
• Autism and gender: Diagnosis disparities
• The role of diet in managing ADHD symptoms
• Neurodevelopmental disorders in the criminal justice system
• Genetic factors influencing Autism
• ADHD and its relationship with sleep disorders
• Educational adaptations for children with neurodevelopmental disorders
• Neurodevelopmental disorders and stigma in schools

Eating Disorders

Research topics within this space can explore the psychological, social, and biological aspects of eating disorders.

• The role of social media in promoting eating disorders
• Family dynamics and their impact on anorexia
• Biological basis of binge-eating disorder
• Treatment outcomes for bulimia nervosa
• Eating disorders in athletes
• Media portrayal of body image and its impact
• Eating disorders and gender: Are men underdiagnosed?
• Cultural variations in eating disorders
• The relationship between obesity and eating disorders
• Eating disorders in the LGBTQ+ community

Substance-Related Disorders

Research topics in this category can focus on addiction mechanisms, treatment options, and social implications.

• Efficacy of rehabilitation centres for alcohol addiction
• The role of genetics in substance abuse
• Substance abuse and its impact on family dynamics
• Prescription drug abuse among the elderly
• Legalisation of marijuana and its impact on substance abuse rates
• Alcoholism and its relationship with liver diseases
• Opioid crisis: Causes and solutions
• Substance abuse education in schools: Is it effective?
• Harm reduction strategies for drug abuse
• Co-occurring mental health disorders in substance abusers

Choosing A Research Topic

These research topic ideas we’ve covered here serve as thought starters to help you explore different areas within mental health. They are intentionally very broad and open-ended. By engaging with the currently literature in your field of interest, you’ll be able to narrow down your focus to a specific research gap .

It’s important to consider a variety of factors when choosing a topic for your dissertation or thesis . Think about the relevance of the topic, its feasibility , and the resources available to you, including time, data, and academic guidance. Also, consider your own interest and expertise in the subject, as this will sustain you through the research process.

Always consult with your academic advisor to ensure that your chosen topic aligns with academic requirements and offers a meaningful contribution to the field. If you need help choosing a topic, consider our private coaching service.

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Good morning everyone. This are very patent topics for research in neuroscience. Thank you for guidance

What if everything is important, original and intresting? as in Neuroscience. I find myself overwhelmd with tens of relveant areas and within each area many optional topics. I ask myself if importance (for example – able to treat people suffering) is more relevant than what intrest me, and on the other hand if what advance me further in my career should not also be a consideration?

This information is really helpful and have learnt alot

Phd research topics on implementation of mental health policy in Nigeria :the prospects, challenges and way forward.

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Social Psychology Research Topics

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Emily is a board-certified science editor who has worked with top digital publishing brands like Voices for Biodiversity, Study.com, GoodTherapy, Vox, and Verywell.

Choosing topics for social psychology research papers or projects for class can be challenging. It is a broad and fascinating field, which can make it challenging to figure out what you want to investigate in your research.

Social psychology explores how individual thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are affected by social influences. It explores how each person's behavior is affected by their social environment.

This article explores a few different social psychology topics and research questions you might want to study in greater depth. It covers how to start your search for a topic as well as specific ideas you might choose to explore.

How to Find a Social Psychology Research Topic

As you begin your search, think about the questions that you have. What topics interest you? Following your own interests and curiosities can often inspire great research questions.

Choose a Sub-Topic

Social psychologists are interested in all aspects of social behavior. Some of the main areas of interest within the field include social cognition, social influence, and social relationships investigating subtopics such as conformity, groupthink, attitude formation, obedience, prejudice, and so on.

• Social cognition : How do we process and use information about social experiences? What kinds of biases influence how we engage with other people?
• Social influence: What are the key social factors that influence our attitudes and behavior? What are group dynamics and how do we understand patterns of behavior in groups?
• Social relationships : What are the different types of social relationships? How do they develop and change over time?

To help ensure that you select a topic that is specific enough, it can be helpful to start by confining your search to one of these main areas.

Browse Through Past Research

After narrowing down your choices, consider what questions you might have. Are there questions that haven't been fully answered by previous studies? At this point, it can be helpful to spend some time browsing through journal articles or books to see some examples of past findings and identify gaps in the literature.

You can also find inspiration and learn more about a topic by searching for keywords related to your topic in psychological databases such as PsycINFO or browsing through some professional psychology journals.

Narrow Down Your Specific Topic

Once you have a general topic, you'll need to narrow down your research. The goal is to choose a research question that is specific, measurable, and testable. Let's say you want to study conformity; An example of a good research question might be, “Are people more likely to conform when they are in a small group or a large group?” In this case, the specific topic of your paper would be how group size influences social conformity .

Review the Literature on Your Chosen Topic

After choosing a specific social psychology topic to research, the next step is to do a literature review. A literature review involves reading through the existing research findings related to a specific topic.

You are likely to encounter a great deal of information on your topic, which can seem overwhelming at times. You may find it helpful to start by reading review articles or meta-analysis studies. These are summaries of previous research on your topic or studies that incorporate a large pool of past research on the topic.

Talk to Your Instructor

Even if you are really excited to dive right in and start working on your project, there are some important preliminary steps you need to take.

Before you decide to tackle a project for your social psychology class, you should always clear your idea with your instructor. This initial step can save you a lot of time and hassle later on.

Your instructor can offer clear feedback on things you should and should not do while conducting your research and might be able to offer some helpful tips. Also, if you plan to implement your own social experiment, your school might require you to present to and gain permission from an institutional review board.

Thinking about the questions you have about social psychology can be a great way to discover topics for your own research. Once you have a general idea, explore the literature and refine your research question to make sure it is specific enough.

Examples of Social Psychology Research Topics

The following are some specific examples of different subjects you might want to investigate further as part of a social psychology research paper, experiment, or project:

Implicit Attitudes

How do implicit attitudes influence how people respond to others? This can involve exploring how people's attitudes towards different groups of people (e.g., men, women, ethnic minorities) influence their interactions with those groups. For example, one study found that 75% of people perceive men to be more intelligent than women .

In your own project, you might explore how implicit attitudes impact perceptions of qualities such as kindness, intelligence, leadership skills, or attractiveness.

Prosocial Behavior

You might also choose to focus on prosocial behavior in your research. This can involve investigating the reasons why people help others. Some questions you could explore further include:

• What motivates people to help others?
• When are people most likely to help others?
• How does helping others cause people to feel?
• What are the benefits of helping other people?

How do people change their attitudes in response to persuasion? What are the different techniques that can be used to persuade someone? What factors make some people more susceptible to persuasion than others?

One way to investigate this could be through collecting a wide variety of print advertisements and analyzing how​ persuasion is used. What types of cognitive and affective techniques are utilized? Do certain types of advertisements tend to use specific kinds of persuasive techniques ?

Another area of social psychology that you might research is aggression and violence. This can involve exploring the factors that lead to aggression and violence and the consequences of these behaviors. Some questions you might explore further include:

• When is violence most likely to occur?
• What factors influence violent behavior?
• Do traumatic experiences in childhood lead to more aggressive behavior in adulthood?
• Does viewing violent media content contribute to increased aggressive behavior in real life?

Prejudice and discrimination are areas that present a range of research opportunities. This can involve studying the different forms that prejudice takes (e.g., sexism, racism, ageism ), as well as the psychological effects of prejudice and discrimination. You might also want to investigate topics related to how prejudices form or strategies that can be used to reduce such discrimination.

Nonverbal Behavior

How do people respond when nonverbal communication does not match up to verbal behavior (for example, saying you feel great when your facial expressions and tone of voice indicate otherwise). Which signal do people respond to most strongly?

How good are people at detecting lies ? Have participants tell a group of people about themselves, but make sure some of the things are true while others are not. Ask members of the group which statements they thought were true and which they thought were false.

Social Norms

How do people react when social norms are violated? This might involve acting in a way that is outside the norm in a particular situation or enlisting friends to act out the behaviors while you observe.

Some examples that you might try include wearing unusual clothing, applauding inappropriately at the end of a class lecture, cutting in line in front of other people, or some other mildly inappropriate behavior. Keep track of your own thoughts as you perform the experiment and observe how people around you respond.

Online Social Behavior

Does online social networking make people more or less likely to interact with people in face-to-face or other offline settings? To investigate this further, you could create a questionnaire to assess how often people participate in social networking versus how much time they spend interacting with their friends in real-world settings.

Social Perception

How does our appearance impact how people respond to us? Ask some friends to help you by having two people dress up in dramatically different ways, one in a professional manner and one in a less conventional manner. Have each person engage in a particular action, then observe how they are treated and how other people's responses differ.

Social psychologists have found that attractiveness can produce what is known as a halo effect . Essentially, we tend to assume that people who are physically attractive are also friendly, intelligent, pleasant, and likable.

To investigate this topic, you could set up an experiment where you have participants look at photographs of people of varying degrees of physical attractiveness, and then ask them to rate each person based on a variety of traits, including social competence, kindness, intellect, and overall likability.

Think about how this might affect a variety of social situations, including how employees are selected or how jurors in a criminal case might respond.

Social psychology is a broad field, so there are many different subtopics you might choose to explore in your research. Implicit attitudes, prosocial behavior, aggression, prejudice, and social perception are just a few areas you might want to consider.

A Word From Verywell

Social psychology topics can provide a great deal of inspiration for further research, whether you are writing a research paper or conducting your own experiment. In addition to some of the social psychology topics above, you can also draw inspiration from your own curiosity about social behavior or examine social issues that you see taking place in the world around you. 

American Psychological Association.  Frequently asked questions about institutional review boards .

Storage D, Charlesworth TES, Banaji M, Cimpian A.  Adults and children implicitly associate brilliance with men more than women .  J Exp Soc Psychol . 2012;90:104020. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2020.104020

Talamas SN, Mavor KI, Perrett DI. Blinded by beauty: Attractiveness bias and accurate perceptions of academic performance . PLoS ONE . 2016;11(2):e0148284. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0148284

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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100 Psychology Thesis Topics for 2023

Students know the importance of developing great psychology dissertation topics for a graduate assignment. However, many don’t have the time to brainstorm ideas that meet the requirements their professors expect. We’ve done a lot of the heavy lifting and have put together a list of 100 psychology thesis topics suitable for several situations. Feel free to pick a topic and start writing your thesis proposal .

General Psychology Topics for High School

• Give five top reasons why you would want to become a psychologist.
• What kind of influence has psychology research had in other sciences?
• Why are teenagers at higher risk of developing an eating disorder?
• How are phobias developed in children under the age of twelve?
• In what ways did Pavlov’s conditioning experiment contribute to our understanding of addiction therapy?

Child Psychology Research Paper Topics

• What are the major differences between psychiatry and psychology?
• Discuss mental tools that can be used to determine when children are lying to adults.
• What were the ethical complications involve 12d in the Little Albert Experiment?
• What does research suggest is the origin of intelligence in children?
• How does emotional intelligence in children affect their learning abilities?

Cognitive Psychology Topics

• How did Alan Turing’s suggestion that the brain is an organized machine lead to computers?
• Do the “seven chunks of information” still hold through in research?
• Can we develop working memory to retain greater long-term memory?
• Can a person that has been convicted of a felony charge change into a law-abiding citizen?
• How can cognitive therapy be used to help patients suffering from emotional disorders?

Developmental Psychology Topics

• How do our perceptions of our experiences affect development in teenagers?
• What are the four levels of development and which is most important in children?
• Can a moral judgment be taught to toddlers who have latent reasoning skills?
• How are our personalities developed through the influence of others?
• Are children naturally beholden to one parent or the other?

Social Psychology Topics for College Students

• How are a person’s original opinions influenced by the opinions of larger groups?
• What psychological effects does spending too much time on social media have?
• How do social psychologists deal with aggression and violence in young adults?
• What impact has social psychology had on our understanding of online bullying?
• How do family dynamics change when a member of the immediate family dies?

Sports Psychology Research Topics

• Does aging have a bigger impact on retired athletes’ mental health than head trauma?
• How is mental health affected by long recovery schedules for serious body injuries?
• How does neuro-linguistic programming in professional athletes affect performance?
• How do professional athletes mentally prepare for competitions?
• How have approaches to sports training and preparation been affected by developments in psychology?

Controversial Topics in Psychology

• How did the Milgram Obedience Experiments of the 1960s help us understand how we view authority figures?
• How did the Stanford Experiment help further our knowledge of situational variables on human behavior?
• How did Harlow’s experiments of affection (especially the lack of affection) lead to advancements in child development theories?
• Does the implementation of capital punishment on sex offenders prevent them from committing a crime?
• What is the link between criminal acts and teenagers that were bullied?

Health Psychology Topics for College Students

• What impact do regular exercise and healthy eating have on mental health in young adults?
• How have the media’s depictions of body ideals have negatively impacted how young adults see themselves?
• What are the most effective strategies for getting people to develop healthy eating habits?
• What can local governments do to help people maintain mental health after a disaster?
• How do stress management techniques help people cope with difficult situations in the workplace?

More Controversial Psychology Topics

• What did the “lost in a mall” study lead to a better understanding of how memories are formed and stored?
• Why was were the Voodoo Correlation studies of the 1960s so controversial and what did they reveal about human behavior?
• What did showing a lack of affection in infants reveal about the need to nurture one’s young?
• What did the Kirsch Anti-Depressant reveal about the impact that harmless placebos have on humans?
• What are the potential risks of taking part in multiple health studies throughout a given year?

Great Educational Psychology Topics

• How can different technologies help students perform better at school?
• Does working in a small group help students retain more information?
• How does physical activity help students perform better on standardized tests?
• What psychological factors should teachers consider as they develop each year’s curriculum?
• In what ways do psychologists help develop confidence in students with learning disabilities?

Excellent Cultural Psychology Topics

• What are some of the most difficult cultural situations young people face?
• In what ways does developing culture roots with one’s family positively impact social behavior?
• What stresses do young people feel when they return to their native countries?
• What impact does cultural learning have on students in elementary school?
• How does family support help young people cope with difficult decisions?

Psychology Topics to Write About

• Why are adolescents more at risk of developing some type of eating disorder?
• What are the negative effects of insomnia in patients being treated in a medical facility?
• In what ways does group therapy positively impact a patient’s ability to overcome addiction?
• Why should therapists refrain from prescribing ADHD medications to children?
• What are the most effective ways of treating PTSD without using prescription medication?

Abnormal Psychology Topics

• What are the psychological effects of telling either a truth or a lie among young adults?
• What are the major causes of borderline personality disorder in teenagers?
• In what ways does the level of insanity change in patients under specific treatment?
• Why are some people more prone to suffer from personality disorders?
• Can the Oedipus complex first introduced by Freud be used in treatment today?

Developmental Psychology Research Topics

• What role does television media play in promoting violence in adults?
• What are the major psychological characteristics in a child prone to aggression?
• What are the major factors in sociopathic behavior among youth?
• What are some traditional ways of parenting that have been proven ineffective?
• What environmental factors increase the chances of child abuse by a parent?

Biological Psychology Topics

• How are cognitive diseases related to the development of certain disorders?
• How are our perceptions of the world around us affecting the way we behave?
• Can alcohol addiction and other drug-related dependencies be tied to genetics?
• Does biology prevent humans from experiencing a pure sense of free will?
• In what ways does functionalism play into biological psychology?

More Sports Psychology Topics

• What are the negative effects on the mind of exercising to lose weight?
• How is having a network of supporters important for athletic performance?
• How does the attention of PHDs affect the way people feel about sports?
• What impact do sports role models have on a youth’s development?
• Is the NCAA giving an adequate education to its student-athletes?
• What are the most effective ways of dealing with school bullying?
• What are the major causes of psychopathic tendencies in teenagers?
• How does our modern society deal with gender roles?
• What are the key characteristics that improve the abilities to learn a new language?
• Do children require a good foundation to excel academically?

Forensic Psychology Topics

• How can psychology be used to identify and put suspects on trial for certain crimes?
• How has forensic psychology assisted in the way we look at death penalty cases?
• Can psychotic disorders be reevaluated as a result of better psych understanding?
• Should mental diseases be considered in capital punishment cases?
• How would you evaluate the mitigating effects of capital cases in people?

What did you think of our list of psychology thesis topics? Our professional dissertation writers keep our list of ideas up-to-date so that students are always pushing the envelope of research in every discipline. Check back for new general psychology topics or contact us to have a list custom-made for a specific research project.

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How to Get Started on Your First Psychology Experiment

Acquiring even a little expertise in advance makes science research easier..

Updated May 16, 2024 | Reviewed by Ray Parker

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One of the most rewarding and frustrating parts of my long career as a psychology professor at a small liberal arts college has been guiding students through the senior capstone research experience required near the end of their college years. Each psychology major must conduct an independent experiment in which they collect data to test a hypothesis, analyze the data, write a research paper, and present their results at a college poster session or at a professional conference.

The rewarding part of the process is clear: The students' pride at seeing their poster on display and maybe even getting their name on an article in a professional journal allows us professors to get a glimpse of students being happy and excited—for a change. I also derive great satisfaction from watching a student discover that he or she has an aptitude for research and perhaps start shifting their career plans accordingly.

The frustrating part comes at the beginning of the research process when students are attempting to find a topic to work on. There is a lot of floundering around as students get stuck by doing something that seems to make sense: They begin by trying to “think up a study.”

The problem is that even if the student's research interest is driven by some very personal topic that is deeply relevant to their own life, they simply do not yet know enough to know where to begin. They do not know what has already been done by others, nor do they know how researchers typically attack that topic.

Students also tend to think in terms of mission statements (I want to cure eating disorders) rather than in terms of research questions (Why are people of some ages or genders more susceptible to eating disorders than others?).

Needless to say, attempting to solve a serious, long-standing societal problem in a few weeks while conducting one’s first psychology experiment can be a showstopper.

Even a Little Bit of Expertise Can Go a Long Way

My usual approach to helping students get past this floundering stage is to tell them to try to avoid thinking up a study altogether. Instead, I tell them to conceive of their mission as becoming an “expert” on some topic that they find interesting. They begin by reading journal articles, writing summaries of these articles, and talking to me about them. As the student learns more about the topic, our conversations become more sophisticated and interesting. Researchable questions begin to emerge, and soon, the student is ready to start writing a literature review that will sharpen the focus of their research question.

In short, even a little bit of expertise on a subject makes it infinitely easier to craft an experiment on that topic because the research done by others provides a framework into which the student can fit his or her own work.

This was a lesson I learned early in my career when I was working on my own undergraduate capstone experience. Faced with the necessity of coming up with a research topic and lacking any urgent personal issues that I was trying to resolve, I fell back on what little psychological expertise I had already accumulated.

In a previous psychology course, I had written a literature review on why some information fails to move from short-term memory into long-term memory. The journal articles that I had read for this paper relied primarily on laboratory studies with mice, and the debate that was going on between researchers who had produced different results in their labs revolved around subtle differences in the way that mice were released into the experimental apparatus in the studies.

Because I already had done some homework on this, I had a ready-made research question available: What if the experimental task was set up so that the researcher had no influence on how the mouse entered the apparatus at all? I was able to design a simple animal memory experiment that fit very nicely into the psychological literature that was already out there, and this prevented a lot of angst.

Please note that my undergraduate research project was guided by the “expertise” that I had already acquired rather than by a burning desire to solve some sort of personal or social problem. I guarantee that I had not been walking around as an undergraduate student worrying about why mice forget things, but I was nonetheless able to complete a fun and interesting study.

My first experiment may not have changed the world, but it successfully launched my research career, and I fondly remember it as I work with my students 50 years later.

Frank McAndrew, Ph.D., is the Cornelia H. Dudley Professor of Psychology at Knox College.

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