61 intriguing psychology research topics to explore

Last updated

11 January 2024

Reviewed by

Brittany Ferri, PhD, OTR/L

Psychology is an incredibly diverse, critical, and ever-changing area of study in the medical and health industries. Because of this, it’s a common area of study for students and healthcare professionals.

We’re walking you through picking the perfect topic for your upcoming paper or study. Keep reading for plenty of example topics to pique your interest and curiosity.

  • How to choose a psychology research topic

Exploring a psychology-based topic for your research project? You need to pick a specific area of interest to collect compelling data. 

Use these tips to help you narrow down which psychology topics to research:

Focus on a particular area of psychology

The most effective psychological research focuses on a smaller, niche concept or disorder within the scope of a study. 

Psychology is a broad and fascinating area of science, including everything from diagnosed mental health disorders to sports performance mindset assessments. 

This gives you plenty of different avenues to explore. Having a hard time choosing? Check out our list of 61 ideas further down in this article to get started.

Read the latest clinical studies

Once you’ve picked a more niche topic to explore, you need to do your due diligence and explore other research projects on the same topic. 

This practice will help you learn more about your chosen topic, ask more specific questions, and avoid covering existing projects. 

For the best results, we recommend creating a research folder of associated published papers to reference throughout your project. This makes it much easier to cite direct references and find inspiration down the line.

Find a topic you enjoy and ask questions

Once you’ve spent time researching and collecting references for your study, you finally get to explore. 

Whether this research project is for work, school, or just for fun, having a passion for your research will make the project much more enjoyable. (Trust us, there will be times when that is the only thing that keeps you going.) 

Now you’ve decided on the topic, ask more nuanced questions you might want to explore. 

If you can, pick the direction that interests you the most to make the research process much more enjoyable.

  • 61 psychology topics to research in 2024

Need some extra help starting your psychology research project on the right foot? Explore our list of 61 cutting-edge, in-demand psychology research topics to use as a starting point for your research journey.

  • Psychology research topics for university students

As a university student, it can be hard to pick a research topic that fits the scope of your classes and is still compelling and unique. 

Here are a few exciting topics we recommend exploring for your next assigned research project:

Mental health in post-secondary students

Seeking post-secondary education is a stressful and overwhelming experience for most students, making this topic a great choice to explore for your in-class research paper. 

Examples of post-secondary mental health research topics include:

Student mental health status during exam season

Mental health disorder prevalence based on study major

The impact of chronic school stress on overall quality of life

The impacts of cyberbullying

Cyberbullying can occur at all ages, starting as early as elementary school and carrying through into professional workplaces. 

Examples of cyberbullying-based research topics you can study include:

The impact of cyberbullying on self-esteem

Common reasons people engage in cyberbullying 

Cyberbullying themes and commonly used terms

Cyberbullying habits in children vs. adults

The long-term effects of cyberbullying

  • Clinical psychology research topics

If you’re looking to take a more clinical approach to your next project, here are a few topics that involve direct patient assessment for you to consider:

Chronic pain and mental health

Living with chronic pain dramatically impacts every aspect of a person’s life, including their mental and emotional health. 

Here are a few examples of in-demand pain-related psychology research topics:

The connection between diabetic neuropathy and depression

Neurological pain and its connection to mental health disorders

Efficacy of meditation and mindfulness for pain management

The long-term effects of insomnia

Insomnia is where you have difficulty falling or staying asleep. It’s a common health concern that impacts millions of people worldwide. 

This is an excellent topic because insomnia can have a variety of causes, offering many research possibilities. 

Here are a few compelling psychology research topics about insomnia you could investigate:

The prevalence of insomnia based on age, gender, and ethnicity

Insomnia and its impact on workplace productivity

The connection between insomnia and mental health disorders

Efficacy and use of melatonin supplements for insomnia

The risks and benefits of prescription insomnia medications

Lifestyle options for managing insomnia symptoms

The efficacy of mental health treatment options

Management and treatment of mental health conditions is an ever-changing area of study. If you can witness or participate in mental health therapies, this can make a great research project. 

Examples of mental health treatment-related psychology research topics include:

The efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for patients with severe anxiety

The benefits and drawbacks of group vs. individual therapy sessions

Music therapy for mental health disorders

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for patients with depression 

  • Controversial psychology research paper topics

If you are looking to explore a more cutting-edge or modern psychology topic, you can delve into a variety of controversial and topical options:

The impact of social media and digital platforms

Ever since access to internet forums and video games became more commonplace, there’s been growing concern about the impact these digital platforms have on mental health. 

Examples of social media and video game-related psychology research topics include:

The effect of edited images on self-confidence

How social media platforms impact social behavior

Video games and their impact on teenage anger and violence

Digital communication and the rapid spread of misinformation

The development of digital friendships

Psychotropic medications for mental health

In recent years, the interest in using psychoactive medications to treat and manage health conditions has increased despite their inherently controversial nature. 

Examples of psychotropic medication-related research topics include:

The risks and benefits of using psilocybin mushrooms for managing anxiety

The impact of marijuana on early-onset psychosis

Childhood marijuana use and related prevalence of mental health conditions

Ketamine and its use for complex PTSD (C-PTSD) symptom management

The effect of long-term psychedelic use and mental health conditions

  • Mental health disorder research topics

As one of the most popular subsections of psychology, studying mental health disorders and how they impact quality of life is an essential and impactful area of research. 

While studies in these areas are common, there’s always room for additional exploration, including the following hot-button topics:

Anxiety and depression disorders

Anxiety and depression are well-known and heavily researched mental health disorders. 

Despite this, we still don’t know many things about these conditions, making them great candidates for psychology research projects:

Social anxiety and its connection to chronic loneliness

C-PTSD symptoms and causes

The development of phobias

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) behaviors and symptoms

Depression triggers and causes

Self-care tools and resources for depression

The prevalence of anxiety and depression in particular age groups or geographic areas

Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder is a complex and multi-faceted area of psychology research. 

Use your research skills to learn more about this condition and its impact by choosing any of the following topics:

Early signs of bipolar disorder

The incidence of bipolar disorder in young adults

The efficacy of existing bipolar treatment options

Bipolar medication side effects

Cognitive behavioral therapy for people with bipolar 

Schizoaffective disorder

Schizoaffective disorder is often stigmatized, and less common mental health disorders are a hotbed for new and exciting research. 

Here are a few examples of interesting research topics related to this mental health disorder:

The prevalence of schizoaffective disorder by certain age groups or geographic locations

Risk factors for developing schizoaffective disorder

The prevalence and content of auditory and visual hallucinations

Alternative therapies for schizoaffective disorder

  • Societal and systematic psychology research topics

Modern society’s impact is deeply enmeshed in our mental and emotional health on a personal and community level. 

Here are a few examples of societal and systemic psychology research topics to explore in more detail:

Access to mental health services

While mental health awareness has risen over the past few decades, access to quality mental health treatment and resources is still not equitable. 

This can significantly impact the severity of a person’s mental health symptoms, which can result in worse health outcomes if left untreated. 

Explore this crucial issue and provide information about the need for improved mental health resource access by studying any of the following topics:

Rural vs. urban access to mental health resources

Access to crisis lines by location

Wait times for emergency mental health services

Inequities in mental health access based on income and location

Insurance coverage for mental health services

Systemic racism and mental health

Societal systems and the prevalence of systemic racism heavily impact every aspect of a person’s overall health.

Researching these topics draws attention to existing problems and contributes valuable insights into ways to improve access to care moving forward.

Examples of systemic racism-related psychology research topics include: 

Access to mental health resources based on race

The prevalence of BIPOC mental health therapists in a chosen area

The impact of systemic racism on mental health and self-worth

Racism training for mental health workers

The prevalence of mental health disorders in discriminated groups

LGBTQIA+ mental health concerns

Research about LGBTQIA+ people and their mental health needs is a unique area of study to explore for your next research project. It’s a commonly overlooked and underserved community.

Examples of LGBTQIA+ psychology research topics to consider include:

Mental health supports for queer teens and children

The impact of queer safe spaces on mental health

The prevalence of mental health disorders in the LGBTQIA+ community

The benefits of queer mentorship and found family

Substance misuse in LQBTQIA+ youth and adults

  • Collect data and identify trends with Dovetail

Psychology research is an exciting and competitive study area, making it the perfect choice for projects or papers.

Take the headache out of analyzing your data and instantly access the insights you need to complete your next psychology research project by teaming up with Dovetail today.

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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

Research topic idea mega list

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

Research Topic Kickstarter - Need Help Finding A Research Topic?

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

Free Webinar: How To Find A Dissertation Research Topic

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

Research topic evaluator

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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Public health-related research topics and ideas

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

Ygs

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?

MARTHA KALOMO

This information is really helpful and have learnt alot

Pepple Biteegeregha Godfrey

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

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PSY 3550 - Health Psychology: Home

  • Journal Articles
  • APA Style - 7th Edition
  • Book Sections
  • Business Sources
  • Government Resources
  • Personal Interview
  • Web Resources
  • APA 7 - Direct Quotations
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assignment topics for health psychology

Learning Objectives

Course Learning Objectives:

4.   Critically examine current research in health psychology and apply health psychology principles and findings to health promotion, disease prevention, and treatment. (CG: 3)

5.    Develop professional skills through reading and integrating empirical and theoretical contributions of the field then expressing knowledge in both written and oral form. (CG: 3)  

Course Assignments

Innovate Healthcare Changes Poster Presentation : You are free to come up with a creative program to address where Psychology and Primary Care, Hospitals, Public Health or Schools may partner to develop integrated care services. You must first look at the current needs in our society. The goal of this project is to look at the needs of the public and existing gaps of care.

Health Research and Psychological Research : This assignment is completed in class in groups of 4. Each student is expected to prepare a research article and discuss both a disease and a comorbid psychological condition. Students are expected to describe and explain the disease state and why this psychological condition is more common with this illness. Each group is also expected to discuss the psychological treatment that is most commonly used to address the comorbid psychological condition. 

Details:  

Find 3-4 research articles on psychology principles as they relate to a health condition listed below.

Prepare a 5-10-minute talk at the beginning of class, discussing how certain psychological conditions, stress, or other principles complicate the health conditions.

Present a 1-2 page single-spaced summary statements and an APA style bibliography of the articles. The articles for this assignment can only come from peer-reviewed jouirnals. If a student submits an article for a general website, they will receive a failing grade for this assignment. (Topics marked with an asterisk (*) can be chosen by multiple groups but different articles are required.)

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Explore Psychology

50+ Topics for Psychology Research Papers

Categories Psychology Education

If you have ever had to write a paper for one of your psychology classes, then you probably know that choosing psychology paper topics can sometimes be tricky. Fortunately, there are plenty of great topics for psychology research papers to help you finish your assignment.

Keep reading to learn more about how to find topics for psychology research papers and find inspiration to help you get started.

Table of Contents

How to Choose Topics for Psychology Research Papers

If you are going to write a psychology paper, the first thing you need to do is pick a good topic. This is often easier said than done.

In some cases, your instructor might assign you topics for psychology research papers, or at least narrow your range of options by providing a general subject area on which to focus your paper.

But in many cases, choosing the topic of your psychology paper is entirely up to you—and that’s where things can get tricky. How do you choose a great topic? What if you pick something too specific and struggle to find sources? Or what if you go too broad and end up biting off more than you can chew?

Following a few simple steps can make the topic selection process a lot easier.

Choose a General Subject

Part of what makes picking a topic for a psychology paper so difficult is how overwhelmed you are by the information you feel. Make it easier on yourself by restricting your options to at least a general topic area.

Narrow Down to a More Specific Topic

Once you’ve chosen a general area, you can then narrow topics for psychology research papers down to something much more specific and manageable.

For example, you might start by deciding that you want to write your paper on a topic within a specific branch of psychology . From there you might further narrow your focus down to a much narrower subject area within that branch

So, imagine that you’re writing a psychology research paper in your general psychology course. Your instructor has given you free rein to select any topic you please, so you begin by deciding to write your paper on a social psychology topic.

Now that you have a general idea, you drill down further and decide to research and write your paper on how prejudice forms and ways to minimize it.

General Topics for Psychology Research Papers

Because general psychology classes cover such a wide range of topics, you have a very large selection of subject ideas to choose from. Start by choosing a general topic, and then narrow your focus down so that you can fully cover the subject.

Some ideas include:

  • An issue paper:  Tackle one of the current issues in psychology, such as parity in mental health care or involving psychologists in military interrogations.
  • Profile a famous psychologist:  Select a well-known  psychologist  and then write a profile exploring his or her life, theories, and career.
  • Explore a well-known psychology experiment:  Write a paper on a classic psychology study, such as the Milgram Obedience Experiment or the Stanford Prison Experiment.
  • Write about a topic within personality psychology:   Personality psychology focuses on the traits and dispositions that contribute to overall personality. This is one of the largest topics within psychology so there are plenty of fascinating research topics from which to choose. Some specific topics that might interest you include whether personality can change, different theories of personality development and the  Big Five theory of personality.

Specific Topics for Psychology Research Papers

You might also want to choose topics for psychology research papers that are related to a specific branch of psychology. Some options that you might consider include:

Clinical Psychology

  • How effective is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for treating specific phobias?
  • What is the relationship between childhood trauma and borderline personality disorder?
  • How do medication and psychotherapy compare in the treatment of depression?
  • How does social media affect teen mental health?

Developmental Psychology

  • How do parenting styles influence child development?
  • What are the long-term effects of early childhood education?
  • What role does play have in cognitive development?
  • What effect does having siblings have on developmental outcomes?

Cognitive Psychology

  • How does sleep deprivation influence the memory consolidation process?
  • What impact does aging have on cognitive functioning?
  • How does exercise impact working memory?
  • Does learning a second language have cognitive benefits?

Social Psychology

  • What effect does discrimination have on self-esteem?
  • How does self-presentation online differ from self-presentation in real-world settings?
  • How do leadership styles influence productivity in groups?

Okay, let’s just imagine that you’re having a bad case of writer’s block. You understand the basic approach for picking a good topic, but nothing seems to be catching your interest. You’re looking for some more inspiration to get you started.

Here are just a few great topics for psychology papers that you might want to consider:

Controversial Topics for Psychology Research Papers

The history of psychology is not always positive, and if you enjoy writing about controversial topics, psychology’s history is rich with material.

  • The use of lobotomies to treat mental illness
  • The history of mental asylums in the United States
  • The use and effects of electroconvulsive therapy
  • Conversion therapy and its damaging effects
  • Attachment therapy
  • Controversial experiments such as Milgram’s obedience experiment or Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison experiment
  • The debate over the nature of intelligence
  • The impact of the eugenics movement on psychology
  • Controversies surrounding the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)

Disorder Topics for Psychology Research Papers

Writing about the history, prevalence, and treatment of a specific mental condition can be an interesting topic for a psychology paper. Some options you might consider include:

  • Eating disorders
  • Anxiety disorders
  • Borderline personality disorder
  • Schizophrenia
  • Substance abuse and addictions
  • Developmental disorders

Other Great Topics for Psychology Research Papers

Here is a sampling of topics that you might consider:

  • How attitudes form
  • How bullying affects children
  • How people use nonverbal communication
  • Factors that can affect prenatal development
  • How media violence influences children’s behavior
  • How parenting styles influence child development
  • How does intrinsic motivation influence learning
  • How does mindset impact academic achievement
  • What factors influence IQ and is it possible to increase IQ
  • Factors that influence self-actualization
  • Is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs still relevant today
  • How does perfectionism impact mental well-being
  • Different theories of personality
  • How different leadership styles influence the success of groups
  • Profile a specific career in psychology

As you can see, your options for psychology paper topics are really only limited by your own imagination (and the specific guidelines issued by your instructor, of course). Spend some time thinking about topics that really interest you, then narrow your focus to hone in on a specific idea.

Finally, always be sure to run your chosen topic by your instructor. He or she may be able to offer suggestions that can help you during your research and make it much easier to write an outstanding psychology paper.

HelpForHomeWork

55 Best Health Psychology Research Topics

Are you looking for health psychology research topics? We understand how challenging getting an excellent research question can be a hassle. For that reason, we have formulated professional ideas for your next project.

Finding a great research topic is the first step in the research writing journey. By finding the best research idea, you distinguish yourself from your peers.

We understand the hassle of finding a research topic. This article informs you of the steps to take and refine your research after selecting a research topic.

Need help doing your assignment?

Writing a Health Psychology Research Paper

To write a good research paper, you need to select a health idea that interests you. Since research writing is always on a short deadline, you need to act quickly and get professional help.

At HelpForHomework, we get you all the assistance you need from topic selection, proposal, and research writing.

When writing a research topic, ensure you follow the following guidelines religiously:

  • Select a topic that interests you: After selecting a topic that interests you, conduct necessary research and data analysis.
  • Start writing: When starting a research, ensure you write a captivating thesis statement. Further, provide comprehensive background information about your research.
  • Write a Literature Review Chapter: Write an overview of the critical literature relevant to your research topic.
  • Write a Methodology Topic: In this chapter, you describe the methods used to collect data for your research.
  • Write the Results Chapter: In this chapter, present your research results clearly and objectively.
  • Discussion or Analysis Chapter: In this chapter, discuss the results comprehensively to support your research topic.
  • Conclusion Topic: Finally, wrap up your research. On this topic, summarize your methods, results, and analysis of your research.
  • Generate the Reference and Appendix Section: One this section, your list, the reference, and the extra information that does not fit in your main text.
  • Edit Your Work: Proofread your work, and check originality.

These steps apply to any research you have. However, it would help you find an excellent topic before starting your project. Fortunately, we have 55 health psychology research topics for you.

Interesting Health Psychology Research Topics

It is challenging to find the most exciting psychology research topics. Check out the list below:

  • What is the vital role of health psychology
  • The biopsychosocial perspective of the perinatal period
  • Your country’s perspective on health psychology
  • Early childhood development of emotion regulation
  • Current issues in emotion regulation research
  • The role of culture in the development of emotion regulation
  • Emotion regulation in early childhood
  • Development, factors, and difficulties in emotion regulation
  • Health psychology perspective of social-emotional processing in early childhood
  • Health perception towards parents with autistic children
  • Health psychology perspective towards friendship from early childhood to early adulthood
  • Impacts of the social-emotional curriculum in early childhood in your country
  • How do early childhood education programs impact children’s health?
  • Impact of parenting on early childhood education and health
  • Correlation between maternal socialization of child emotions and behavior

Great Health Psychology Research topics

Sometimes getting great health psychology research topics is mind-boggling. However, we have the best ones for you.

  • Health psychology: Workplace stress reduction
  • The role of organizational behavior in occupational health psychology
  • The role of job rotation in employee performance: Role of organizational behavior
  • Health psychology: How older adults cope with stress and aging
  • Stress and coping mechanisms: History, current status, and future
  • How do psychological factors influence football injuries?
  • The role of psychological health in cancer incidence and prognosis
  • Health psychology: Psychological factors and physical disease
  • Predictability of human stress
  • Psychological factors influencing abortion
  • The genetic perspective of human stress
  • Implications and management of surgical stress
  • The effects of weight management programs on self-esteem
  • Young adults’ attitude and perception of obesity and weight loss
  • Weight management in older adults

Excellent Health Psychology Research Topics

If you have been looking for excellent health psychology research topics, we have some for you:

  • Psychological factors associated with weight management in young adults
  • Mobile applications for weight management: Are mobile apps practical?
  • Public definition of weight management
  • Health psychology perspective towards nutrition and weight management care in family practice
  • Correlation of dating apps and risky sexual behaviors
  • Health psychology perspective of people living with grief
  • Psychology role in hospice care
  • Understanding the impact of stigma on people with mental illness
  • How does culture affect personal health choices?
  • Use of technology for diabetes management

Best Health Psychology Research Topics

Are you looking for health psychology research topics? We have some expert recommendations for you.

  • The history of biopsychosocial model: trends, prospects, and challenges for health psychology
  • biopsychosocial interactions: Your country’s perspective
  • Health psychology perspective of child psychology
  • The biopsychosocial perspective of mental disorders
  • The biopsychosocial perspectives of chronic traumatic pains
  • The biopsychosocial model of health and illness
  • The biopsychosocial model of pain communication
  • The biopsychosocial perspective of autism spectrum disorder
  • The biopsychosocial approach: Pets supporting human health
  • A biopsychosocial perspective of adolescent mental health and disease
  • The biopsychosocial perspective of gender identity development
  • The biopsychosocial perspective of vulnerable and oppressed people in society
  • Is biopsychosocial education important?
  • Biopsychosocial perspective development of emotion regulations
  • Health anxiety in children

Can We Help You With Your Health Psychology Research?

So can we help you with your research? Now that you have found the best health psychology research topics, we can assist you to write an interesting research paper. Our experienced writers are available 24/7 to help you with the best information for your project.

If you have not found a suitable topic, contact our support staff and let us help you. Remember, all our writers have extensive writing experience in any topic you can imagine.

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Also check out Cognitive Psychology Research Topics .

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Resources for Teachers of Psychology

The Society for the Teaching of Psychology (STP) curates and distributes teaching and advising materials to all teachers of psychology (e.g., 4-year instructors, 2-year instructors, and high-school teachers).  The resources available below are documents that can pertain to any aspect of teaching. (NOTE:  Syllabi have their own listings under Project Syllabus .)

Instructors have generously shared classroom activities, annotated bibliographies, film guides, lab manuals, advising aids, textbook compendiums, and much more. Notations indicate those that developed from Instructional Resource Awards .

Guidelines for Authors and Reviewers of Prospective Resources

All of These Resources are Peer-Reviewed

Did you know that all of the resources on this site are peer-reviewed before they are accepted for distribution?  In this way, STP attempts to encourage teaching as scholarship and to provide an endorsement of such work to heighten its value at the local level.  Our peer-review process requires all submissions to describe how the resource is based on evidence-based practices.

Please note:   Because we require all resources on this page to undergo our peer-review process, we do not include links to any resources available from other websites that have not first undergone our peer-review process.

Do you have an idea for a teaching or advising resource that we could distribute? If you are interested in discussing an idea for a possible project, please contact Ashley Waggoner Denton, STP's Editor of Best Practices in Teaching and Learning, at [email protected] .

Request for Volunteers

Would you like to volunteer to review new teaching resource submissions? Reviewing resources is a great way to contribute to STP with a modest time commitment.  If you would like to join the reviewer pool, please send the following information to  Ashley Waggoner Denton, STP's Editor of Best Practices in Teaching and Learning, at  [email protected] .  1) Complete contact information, especially e-mail address, phone number, and institution(s) where you teach 2) A list of courses you teach 3) Other areas that you feel competent to review (e.g., Advising, Careers, Ethics, Film, Practica/Internships, Technology)

Abnormal/Clinical/Counseling   Return to Index

An experiential approach to teaching counseling skills: instructional modules for undergraduate and graduate students in psychology (2020).

Note: 2019 Instructional Resource Award

Educating Students about Professional Licensure in Health Service Psychology (2016)

Dsm-5: using key changes to highlight critical teaching points for undergraduate psychology instructors (2014), why does johnny tantrum (2014).

  • Introduction to narration (Word)
  • Why Does Johnny Trantrum (PowerPoint)  

Author: Ennio Cipani Affiliation: National University Description: The PowerPoint file provides an introductory narrated presentation (under 8 min.) on a functional behavioral perspective on human behavior, especially explaining why challenging problem behaviors occur. Dr. Cipani contrasts this approach to understanding human behavior with a more traditional approach. The Word document suggests how to use the narration to stimulate class discussion.

Advising    Return to Index

Developing and enhancing students’ job search skills and motivation: an online job search intervention training module (2018).

STP Best Practices Author: Christopher J. Budnick & Larissa K. Barber Affiliation: Southern Connecticut State University & Northern Illinois University Description: This 47-page online training program provides a flexible, low labor, and low cost approach to implementing undergraduate student job search skills and motivation training into psychology courses. Designed to be easily modifiable, this module can be presented via online survey software (e.g., Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey) and housed/deployed using learning management systems. Although this resource should be useful for any instructor wishing to embed job search training in their courses, it will likely especially benefit internship advisors, psychology instructors teaching career-focused courses, and industrial-organizational psychology instructors discussing application and selection processes.

Note: 2016 Instructional Resource Award

Interpersonal Helping Skills Instruction in Undergraduate Psychology Internship Courses (2017)

  • Part 1:  Introduction to Resources and Background
  • Part 2:  Student Handouts
  • Part 3:  Instructor’s Guide

Author: Melissa J. Himelein Affiliation: University of North Carolina, Asheville Description: This 3-part resource advocates a curriculum focused on the instruction of interpersonal helping skills, defined as communication strategies that demonstrate a listener’s attention, interest, understanding, self-awareness, and ability to help. The resource provides instructors with the tools needed to integrate a helping skills curriculum into practicum-centered courses. Part 1 summarizes research establishing the theoretical and empirical basis of a helping skills curriculum. Part 2 provides a set of handouts, which can be distributed to students, summarizing each of 10 specific helping skills. Part 3 offers an instructor’s guide for faculty teaching internship courses containing background information, pedagogical strategies, and resource suggestions pertinent to the teaching of each skill.

Creating a Successful Career in Art Therapy: Advising Guide for Psychology Faculty and Students (2017)

An online career-exploration resource for psychology majors (2018).

For Faculty:  A Formal Introduction to the Resource For Students:  An Online Career-Exploration Resource for Psychology Majors For Departments:  An Online Career-Exploration Resource for Psychology Majors (Poster) - 2016.pptx  (Version for modifying to suit your needs) For Departments: A n Online Career-Exploration Resource for Psychology Majors Poster - PDF (Version for printing or viewing on a mobile device) For High School Teachers:  An Online Vocational-Exploration Resource for High School Psychology Students

Author: Drew C. Appleby Affiliation: Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis

Description: This resource is composed of the following four parts.

  • The first (for faculty) is a formal introduction containing ways to use the resource to promote student success and lists of printed and online sources to aid faculty in their career-advising activities.  
  • The second (for students) consists of more than 2,400 hotlinks psychology majors can use to explore 300 careers they can prepare to enter that have been organized into 15 broad occupational categories to facilitate searching.  Persons employed in 57 of these careers are psychologists who must hold the appropriate graduate degree. The remaining 243 psychology-related careers (i.e., those that require the demonstration of psychological knowledge and skills, but which do not carry the title of psychologist) are divided almost equally into two categories: those that can be entered with a bachelor’s degree and those that require a graduate degree.  
  • The third is a poster departments can print and post. Faculty, advisors, and administrators can use this resource in classes, advising sessions, and departmental websites to help psychology majors begin the process of accomplishing Goal 5: Professional Development of APA’s Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major: Version 2.0 by acquiring an understanding of the “settings in which people with backgrounds in psychology typically work,” thus helping them to “develop meaningful professional directions.” 
  • The fourth is a poster that high school teachers can use to help their students begin the process of accomplishing the Vocational Applications component of APA’s  National Standards for High School Psychology Curricula  by identifying “careers in psychological science and practice,” “careers related to psychology,” and “degree requirements for psychologists and psychology-related careers.”

Three New Ways to Bring Students’ Attention to the Kisses of Death in the Graduate School Application Process (2015)

Psychology career advice videos (2015), internship supervision resources for developing student employability (2015), educating prospective students of professional psychology about the supply-demand internship crisis (2013), a job list of one's own: creating customized career information for psychology majors (2009), doctor of psychology programs today: location, accreditation, administration, specialization (2007), undergraduate preparation for graduate training in forensic psychology (2006), so your students want to be sport psychologists (2003), a student's guide to careers in the helping professions (1999), position opening: professor--is college teaching a career you should consider (1992), writing letters of recommendation for students: how to protect yourself from liability (1991), what departments and faculty can do to assist their undergraduate students with their graduate school planning (1990), capstones   return to index, work-integrated learning internships in psychology (2023), child development    return to index, the benefits of incorporating a community project in a child development course (2021).

Authors: Jason McCartney and Rhyannon Bemis

Lev’s Research Legacy: A Developmental Psychology Research Methods Activity (2016)

Punishment on trial: a resource guide to child discipline (2009), curriculum guide for instruction in child maltreatment (2007), cognitive psychology    return to index, cognitive psychology games day manual (2024), conference hosting    return to index, how to host an undergraduate twitter poster conference (2021), how to host a student psychology conference at your college: a model from the national office of psi beta (1999), diversity    return to index, social justice pedagogy in psychology: advocating for access to mental health care for youth (2019), increasing inclusiveness and awareness: disability in introductory psychology (2019), presidential taskforce on diversity education (ptde)  (2012).

Author: Mary Kite, Ball State University, Chair, Rosemary Blieszner, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, James E. Freeman, University of Virginia, Ladonna Lewis, Glendale Community College, Jeffery Scott Mio, California State Polytechnic University Description: The APA Task Force on Diversity Education Resources was established by the 2006 APA President Gerry Koocher. The group’s mission was to provide support for instructors who want to address diversity issues in their classrooms. The Task Force compiled annotated bibliographies of teaching resources, including books, book chapters, journal articles, films, websites, and other media. Topics (noted on the navigational bar on the left of this page) included cross-cutting issues, such as assessment, institutional support for diversity education and, power and privilege and specific categories such as Race/Ethnicity, Religion, Gender/Sex, Sexual Orientation, and Age. The resources were developed for teachers of psychology at the high school, undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate level. The Division 2 Diversity Committee will continue the PTDE's work by making yearly updates to these resources.

Diversity Related Bibliography and Resources (2008)

Understanding and expanding multicultural competence in teaching: a faculty guide (2005), psychology of peace and mass violence -- genocide, torture, and human rights: informational resources (2004), psychology of peace and mass violence -- war, ethnopolitical conflict, and terrorism: informational resources (2004), psychology of peace and mass violence: instructional resources (2004), simulation of a world congress of sexology symposium on aids (2001), informational resources for teaching cross-cultural issues in psychology (1998), activities and videos for teaching cross-cultural issues in psychology (1998), including gay, lesbian, and bisexual students on campus: a short annotated reading list (1994), environmental psychology    return to index, teaching psychology for sustainability: a manual of resources (2006), ethical issues    return to index, plagiarism prevention tutorial: how to avoid common forms of plagiarism (2020, revised).

  • Introduction to Plagiarism Prevention Tutorial
  • Plagiarism Prevention Tutorial
  • Plagiarism Prevention Quiz Questions
  • Plagiarism Prevention Quiz Key (requires login)

Tutoriel sur la prévention du plagiat : comment éviter les formes communes de plagiat. [French translation] (2023, Revised)

  • Présentation du tutoriel
  • Tutoriel sur la prévention du plagiat
  • Questionnaire sur la prévention du plagiat
  • Corrigé du questionnaire

Auteure: Kosha Bramesfeld Affiliation: Humber College Description : Le tutoriel de 79 diapositives traite des erreurs fréquentes pouvant mener au plagiat, incluant (a) ne pas citer ses sources correctement; (b) copier les mots ou la structure du travail d’autres auteurs; (c) surutiliser le travail d’autres auteurs, aux dépens de sa propre contribution. Les étudiants apprennent comment corriger ces erreurs au fur et à mesure de leur progression à travers les cinq sections du tutoriel : (1) Qu’est-ce que le plagiat; (2) Citer ses sources selon les normes de l’APA; (3) Reformuler; (4) S’assurer que votre travail vous appartient; (5) Mettre en forme une liste de références. Les ressources disponibles comprennent une description du tutoriel et une banque de questions de type vrai ou faux et de questions à choix de réponses multiples. Le corrigé du questionnaire est accessible sur la section du site réservée aux membres ou en contactant l’auteure par courrier électronique. La traduction par: Marie-Claude Richard & Sophie Dubé (Université Laval) Note : La ressource suivante a été traduite du texte original en anglais vers le français avec la permission de la Division 2 de l’Association américaine de psychologie. La Division 2 ne garantit pas l’exactitude de la traduction qui n’est pas un produit officiel de la Division 2 de l’Association américaine de psychologie. Pour tout renseignement concernant cette ressource ou toute autre publication de la Division 2 de l’Association américaine de psychologie, veuillez envoyer un courriel à [email protected].

IRBs and Research on Teaching and Learning (2014)

Activities guide: teaching ethics in the introduction to psychology course (2013), beyond milgram: expanding research ethics education to participant responsibilities (2012), educating students about plagiarism (2012), scientific misconduct: an annotated bibliography of articles selected for their lecture development value (1994), sensitizing undergraduate students to the nature, causes, scope, and consequences of research fraud: preliminary report (1993), ethical issues in teaching and academic life: annotated bibliography (1993), faculty development    return to index, video clips of elements of master teaching (2013), peer review of teaching: an overview (1998), film in psychology    return to index, documentary films for teaching psychology (2011), films illustrating psychopathology (2009), films illustrating character strengths and virtues (2008), using film to teach psychology: a resource of film study guides (2006), history of psychology    return to index, women in psychology (2003), human sexuality    return to index, the development of sexual orientation: a teaching resource (2007 – module 8 added in 2009), industrial/organizational psychology    return to index, materials for incorporating i/o into an introductory psychology course (2013), international psychology    return to index, taking psychology abroad: resources for designing your study abroad course (2009), international psychology: a compendium of textbooks for selected courses evaluated for international content (2002), international psychology: annotated bibliography, relevant organizations, and course suggestions (2002), introductory psychology    return to index, the psychological myth project: research and application (2024), introductory psychology scientific reasoning modules (for small classes) (2019).

  • Table of Contents
  • ZIP file with Resources

Accessible Modules for Improving Scientific Reasoning in Large Introductory Psychology Classes (2019)

Game-based experiential learning in introductory psychology (2016).

  • Instructor's Guide
  • Student's Guide

Author(s): Jaclyn Spivey Affiliation: York College Description: This resource introduces a game-based approach to out-of-class activities for Introductory Psychology students. The 16-page instructor’s guide provides background and implementation advice; the 4-page students’ guide lists 9 individual and 6 small-group activities. Because of the asynchronous nature of the activities and required social media documentation, these activities can be used in traditional as well as online settings. Note: 2015 Instructional Resource Award

Writing to Learn, Reciting to Remember: Applying Learning and Memory Principles to Flashcards (2015)

Author(s): Mark L. Mitchell and Janina M. Jolley Affiliation: Clarion University Description: This resource is a tutorial (using PowerPoint®) for students to help them understand, retain, and apply both effective concept learning strategies and effective memory strategies, primarily by creating and then studying from flashcards.  Following the presentation of material, students can take a quiz and print out their results to turn in to their instructor.  In addition, a 5-page document summarizes for instructors what students will be learning.

Statistical Literacy in the Introductory Psychology Course (2014)

  • Psychology major learning goals
  • Introductory Psychology learning goals
  • Literacy resources

Author(s): STP Statistical Literacy Taskforce 2012

Description: The Taskforce created two sets of statistical literacy standards: one for Introductory Psychology at both the high school and college levels and one for undergraduates majoring in basic and applied psychological science. In addition they created a 40-page annotated list of resources that provides examples of the kinds of resources that might be useful for instructors who want to implement the learning goals. Those resources are organized around the topics of general statistical literacy issues, general teaching resources, specific activities and assignments, technology, assessment, websites with more general resources, and ethics/research methods.

Scientific Literacy in a Psychology Curriculum Module (2013)

  • Instructional Materials
  • Student Materials
  • PowerPoint Slides (If using internet explorer, ignore the username/password box that appears when you click on "open")
  • Undercover.pptx

Flashcards-Plus: A Strategy to Help Students Prepare for Three Types of Multiple-Choice Questions Commonly Found on Introductory Psychology Tests (2013)

  • Introductory Article
  • PowerPoint Slides  (If using internet explorer, ignore the username/password box that appears when you click on "open")

Author: Drew C. Appleby Affiliation: Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (Retired) Description: The purpose of this resource is to provide students with a research-based study strategy (creating flashcards) designed to help them understand, prepare for, and take multiple-choice tests more successfully. The 32 slides that accompany the introductory article familiarize students with three types of cognitive processes their instructors will commonly ask them to use in their classes and then invite them to model the behavior of their instructors by creating flashcards.  Their flashcards should contain verbatim definitions for retention questions, accurate paraphrases for comprehension questions, and realistic examples for application questions.

Integrating Mnemonics into Psychology Instruction (2011)

A compendium of introductory psychology texts (2003-2006) (2006), frequently cited concepts in current introduction to psychology textbooks (2006), principles of psychology: experimental foundations laboratory manual (2002), learning and memory    return to index, writing to learn, reciting to remember: applying learning and memory principles to flashcards (2015), learning and memory strategy demonstrations for the psychology classroom (2014), cases in negative reinforcement (2010), media psychology    return to index, teaching scientific literacy and public engagement with social media (2018), instructor resources for media psychology (2010), taking it to the streets: how to give psychology away and become a local media hero (2009), national standards    return to index, national standards for the teaching of high school psychology (2011), principles for quality undergraduate education in psychology (2011), apa guidelines for the undergraduate psychology major (2007), open educational resources    return to index, a primer on open educational resources (oer) for psychology instructors: background, resources, and materials (2017), outcomes    return to index, the employable skills self-efficacy survey: an assessment of and resource for fostering skill development (2017), an electronic workbook for assessing the dunn et al. (2007) “quality benchmarks in undergraduate psychology programs" (2008), measuring the varied skills of psychology majors: a revision and update of the academic skills inventory (2013), a guide to writing learning objectives for teachers of psychology (2012), goals and objectives for the undergraduate psychology major: recommendations from a meeting of california state university psychology faculty (2000), physiological / biological psychology    return to index, authentic assessments for biopsychology: encouraging learning and retention by applying biopsychological knowledge in real-world contexts (2019), enhancing the physiological psychology course through the development of neuroanatomy laboratory experiences and integrative exercises (2013), interactive teaching activities for introductory biopsychology (2012), positive psychology    return to index, positive psychology teaching tools: supplemental readings to core texts (2012), psychology and law    return to index, psychology and law: a teaching resource (2005), sensation and perception    return to index, build-your-own sensation and perception lab kits: a compilation of inexpensive, accessible activities (2022), sensation and perception: activities to enhance learning (2017), using the drawing and animation tools in powerpoint® to build your own visual perception demonstrations (2010), problem-based group activities for a sensation & perception course [english version] (2009), actividades grupales basadas en problemas para un curso sobre sensación & percepción [spanish translation] (2009), social psychology    return to index, “c’est la vie: the game of social life: a role-playing game for teaching about privilege, oppression, and intersectionality” (2015).

Author: Kosha D. Bramesfeld Institution: Ryerson University Description:  This resource is an empathy-based privilege and oppression awareness intervention that can be used to help students engage in difficult dialogues surrounding the issues of privilege, oppression, and intersectionality.  The materials include (a) 64 character profiles and game sheets that describe the demographic characteristics and resources assigned to each player’s character, (b) a strategy game that presents students with a variety of different decision scenarios that interact with their character’s resources (described in a 33-slide presentation), and (c) an instructor’s guide that covers the development of the game, its recommended uses, and a debriefing and discussion points that help students reflect on the outcomes of the game, its connections with real life inequality, and the role that privilege and oppression might play in the students’ own lives.

Activities for Teaching about Prejudice and Discrimination (2013)

Statistics and research methods    return to index, writing testable research hypotheses: a guided student activity (2023).

  • Writing Testable Research Hypotheses: A Guided Student Activity (DOCX)
  • Hypothesis Activity Instructional Slides: PDF
  • Hypothesis Activity Instructional Slides: Powerpoint Slides
  • Hypothesis Activity Instructional Slides: Powerpoint Slides (Accessible Version)
  • Hypothesis Activity Student Handout (PDF)
  • Hypothesis Activity Student Handout (DOCX)

Author: Kate G. Anderson Affiliation: Presbyterian College Description: This three-part resource describes an activity for teaching students how to write testable research hypotheses. Through this scaffolded activity, students are introduced to the structure of a testable hypothesis and are given the opportunity to practice writing operational definitions and testable correlational and experimental hypothesis. Suitable for use in an introductory research methods class, this activity can be also used by instructors looking to review these fundamental skills in any course. The resource includes an instructor guide, ready-to-use instructional slides, and a student handout.

Making Research Reproducible (2022)

  • Making Research Reproducible: Teaching Guide
  • Making Research Reproducible: Powerpoint Slides
  • Music and Room Color Data

Authors: Jason McCarley & Raechel Soicher Affiliations: Oregon State University Description: This 32-page resource (plus supplementary materials) provides instructors with the resources they need to teach analytical reproducibility to undergraduate students. It includes an introduction to the concept of reproducibility and its importance, a discussion of the challenges researchers face when trying to reproduce others' work, and an activity that teaches students how to prepare their materials in a reproducible way (with step-by-step instructions for both JASP and R users). Instructors will also benefit from a set of ready-to-use PowerPoint slides. Note: 2021 Instructional Resource Award

Evaluating Research Summaries (2021)

Answers & Explanations  (PDF)

Authors: Keith Millis 1 , Diane Halpern 2 , Katja Wiemer 1 , Patricia Wallace 1 Affiliations: 1 Northern Illinois University, 2 Claremont McKenna College Description: This two-part resource, geared toward undergraduate and high school students, provides students with opportunities to learn ways research may be flawed or limited. The first document includes 16 research summaries that contain one or more methodological flaws (e.g., no control group, small sample size). Students must identify which of the 12 possible flaws could be limiting the research presented. Answers and explanations are provided in the second document.

An Exercise to Assess Student Understanding of Bottleneck Concepts in Research Methods (2018)

Statistics that stick: embedding humor in statistics related teaching materials (2016), poker chip people: using manipulatives in a college level statistics course (2015).

  • Instructor Manual
  • Male Face Labels
  • Female Face Labels
  • Back labels:  Page 1   -  Page 2

Instructor Materials for Teaching Research Methods Using a Consulting Model (2015)

Increasing graphing literacy and graphing ability in undergraduate psychology majors through active learning based exercises (2014) .

Author: Meridith Pease Selden Affiliation: Yuba College Description: This 63-page resource is designed to increase students’ ability to read graphs and to create a variety of types of graphs in Microsoft’s Excel program. In-class activities and detailed instructions (including screen shots) are appropriate primarily for the graphing unit in a statistics or research methods class, but other instructors who want to help students read primary sources can select particular stand-alone activities from the set provided. Note: 2010 OTRP Instructional Resource Award 

Statistical Literacy Taskforce Learning Goals and Resources (2014)

Instructor's guide to using research methods and statistics concept maps (2013), research readings and statistical exercises using spss and excel (2012), statistics assignments using excel(r) (2010), factorial research design (2010), a template paper with comments for illustrating the 6th edition of apa style (2010), why and how to write apa-style citations in the body and reference section of your papers (2010), exemplar studies for teaching research methodology (2010), yes, you can write in a statistics class: an instructional tool to reduce anxiety and improve statistics performance (2010), statistics decision aids [english version] (2009), ayudas para la decisión estadística [spanish translation] (2009), assessing student learning: a collection of evaluation tools (2009), a self-scoring exercise on apa style and research language (2008), teaching statistics and research methods: a collection of hands-on activities and demonstrations (2008), a student-faculty research agreement (2007), guidelines for preparing posters using powerpoint presentation software (2001), an instructor's guide to electronic databases of indexed professional literature (2000), publication and award opportunities for undergraduate students (1998), teaching tools / programs    return to index, effective study strategies exercises in online or blended delivery (2023).

  • Powerpoint Slides (.pptx)

Authors: Sue Morris 1 , Jacquelyn Cranney 1 , and Carolyn Elizabeth Alchin 2

Affiliations: 1 School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 2 School of Psychology and Wellbeing, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia

Description: This 17-page resource provides instructors with resources and activities they can use to help students reflect on their own study strategies and understand which study strategies are supported by research and which are not. Task instructions, sample rubrics, PowerPoint slides, and links to additional instructional resources (e.g., videos) are provided. The resource also includes a helpful table for instructors wishing to connect the material to key learning and memory concepts.

Teaching Students to Synthesize Research Articles: An Online Interactive Tutorial (2023)

  • Powerpoint Lecture (.pptx)

Authors: Nikole D. Patson 1 , Emily S. Darowski 2 , and Elizabeth Helder 3

Affiliations: 1 Ohio State University at Marion, 2 Brigham Young University, 3 Augustana College

Holding Space for Reflection: Bringing Current Events into the Classroom  (2022)

Authors: Amy Maslowski

Affiliation: University of North Dakota

Description:  This 25-page resource provides guidance for instructors on how to incorporate the discussion of current events into their psychology classes. It outlines the potential benefits of addressing current events before the start of class and offers advice on how instructors can best structure and plan for these discussions. A sample syllabus statement is provided, as well as specific tips for facilitating these conversations and dealing with challenges that may arise. The resource concludes with a call for more research on the potential effects of including open spaces for discussion in the classroom.

  • Instructor Guide
  • Fillable PDF Form
  • Multiple Courses
  • Sample Final

Authors: Ashley Waggoner Denton

Affiliation: University of Toronto

Description:  This 12 page resource and accompanying documents is a resource designed to help psychology students better identify and understand how what they have learned within their courses will transfer to their career and life after graduation. More specifically, this resource helps students be able to articulate the professional skills they have acquired in their psychology courses and understand the competencies that are the basis of these skills. A sample worksheet is provided along with the worksheets that can be utilized with psychology students as they examine either an individual course or when examining multiple courses.

Note: 2021 Instructional Resource Award

Sequential Assignments to Critically Evaluate Psychological Journal Articles (2020)

Authors: Suzanne Wood and Vanessa Chan Affiliations: University of Toronto Description: This 24-page resource contains a series of assignments to teach students the skills needed to interpret and critically evaluate original psychological research (APA Goal #2: Scientific Inquiry and Critical Thinking.) There are five separate activities varying in complexity according to Bloom’s taxonomy. Each assignment includes an overview, guidelines, and a suggested rubric for grading. The individual assignments are hyperlinked in the table of contents to assist in navigation.   Note: 2019 Instructional Resource Award

Critical Thinking in Psychology (& Life) Workshop Series: Instructional Materials (2018)

Authors: Ashley Waggoner Denton and Thalia Vrantsidis Affiliations: University of Toronto Description: This 17-page resource describes the first workshop from a newly developed series of critical thinking workshops aimed at early undergraduate students. This initial workshop,  Setting the Stage: An Introduction to Good Thinking , introduces students to the notion of actively open-minded thinking and emphasizes the idea that critical thinking involves habits, skills, and mindsets that can be developed and continually improved with practice. The purpose of this resource is to offer instructors a brief, effective, and freely available guide that will enable them to incorporate lessons on critical thinking into their existing courses or allow them to run their own critical thinking workshop. The resource includes a list of learning outcomes for the workshop, corresponding lessons and activities, as well as potential assessment strategies. Throughout the resource, the authors also offer insight into which strategies or activities have worked particular well for them, and offer suggestions for alternatives or variations that may work well for others.   Note: 2016 Instructional Resource Award

A Guide to Incorporating Social-Emotional Learning in the College Classroom: Busting Anxiety, Boosting Ability (2018)

Authors: Kristel M. Gallagher and Shevaun L. Stocker Affiliation: Theil College and University of Wisconsin - Superior Description:  This 69-page comprehensive teaching manual describes a novel application of social-emotional learning in the college classroom. It describes an easy-to-implement and scientifically-driven intervention targeting the stress and anxiety experienced by students both within and outside of the classroom. The program includes 15 short, weekly activities that promote key mindfulness and anxiety-reduction practices. Included in the manual are all program materials (including a detailed narrative describing the implementation of the program), as well as an empirical assessment of the efficacy of the program, ideas for possible variations of the program, and a summary of key background research with accompanying references and recommended readings. Note: Note: 2017 Instructional Resource Award

This Class is a Joke! Humor as a Pedagogical Tool in the Teaching of Psychology (2015)

Authors: Dan J. Segrist and Stephen D. A. Hupp Affiliation: Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Description:  This 31-page annotated bibliography provides a representative and relatively comprehensive list of articles, book chapters, and books on the use of humor in teaching psychology, including using humor as a teaching tool, on exams, and in online teaching, and students' perceptions of instructor humor. Note: 2012 OTRP Instructional Resource Award

Instructor Resources for Psychology: Learning to Blog -- Blogging to Learn (2011)

Student Response Systems ("Clickers") in the Psychology Classroom: A Beginner's Guide" (2009)

Traveling psychology fair: learner-centered outreach activities to stimulate interest in psychology (2006), building community in the classroom through ice-breakers and parting ways [english version] (2004), construyendo un sentido de comunidad en clase a través de estrategias para “romper el hielo” y estrategias de cierre [spanish translation] (2004).

assignment topics for health psychology

  • Bipolar Disorder
  • Therapy Center
  • When To See a Therapist
  • Types of Therapy
  • Best Online Therapy
  • Best Couples Therapy
  • Best Family Therapy
  • Managing Stress
  • Sleep and Dreaming
  • Understanding Emotions
  • Self-Improvement
  • Healthy Relationships
  • Student Resources
  • Personality Types
  • Guided Meditations
  • Verywell Mind Insights
  • 2024 Verywell Mind 25
  • Mental Health in the Classroom
  • Editorial Process
  • Meet Our Review Board
  • Crisis Support

Ideas for Psychology Experiments

Inspiration for psychology experiments is all around if you know where to look

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

assignment topics for health psychology

Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital.

assignment topics for health psychology

Psychology experiments can run the gamut from simple to complex. Students are often expected to design—and sometimes perform—their own experiments, but finding great experiment ideas can be a little challenging. Fortunately, inspiration is all around if you know where to look—from your textbooks to the questions that you have about your own life.

Always discuss your idea with your instructor before beginning your experiment—particularly if your research involves human participants. (Note: You'll probably need to submit a proposal and get approval from your school's institutional review board.)

At a Glance

If you are looking for an idea for psychology experiments, start your search early and make sure you have the time you need. Doing background research, choosing an experimental design, and actually performing your experiment can be quite the process. Keep reading to find some great psychology experiment ideas that can serve as inspiration. You can then find ways to adapt these ideas for your own assignments.

15 Ideas for Psychology Experiments

Most of these experiments can be performed easily at home or at school. That said, you will need to find out if you have to get approval from your teacher or from an institutional review board before getting started.

The following are some questions you could attempt to answer as part of a psychological experiment:

  • Are people really able to "feel like someone is watching" them ? Have some participants sit alone in a room and have them note when they feel as if they are being watched. Then, see how those results line up to your own record of when participants were actually being observed.
  • Can certain colors improve learning ? You may have heard teachers or students claim that printing text on green paper helps students read better, or that yellow paper helps students perform better on math exams. Design an experiment to see whether using a specific color of paper helps improve students' scores on math exams.
  • Can color cause physiological reactions ? Perform an experiment to determine whether certain colors cause a participant's blood pressure to rise or fall.
  • Can different types of music lead to different physiological responses ? Measure the heart rates of participants in response to various types of music to see if there is a difference.
  • Can smelling one thing while tasting another impact a person's ability to detect what the food really is ? Have participants engage in a blind taste test where the smell and the food they eat are mismatched. Ask the participants to identify the food they are trying and note how accurate their guesses are.
  • Could a person's taste in music offer hints about their personality ? Previous research has suggested that people who prefer certain styles of music tend to exhibit similar  personality traits. Administer a personality assessment and survey participants about their musical preferences and examine your results.
  • Do action films cause people to eat more popcorn and candy during a movie ? Have one group of participants watch an action movie, and another group watch a slow-paced drama. Compare how much popcorn is consumed by each group.
  • Do colors really impact moods ? Investigate to see if the  color blue makes people feel calm, or if the color red leaves them feeling agitated.
  • Do creative people see  optical illusions  differently than more analytical people ? Have participants complete an assessment to measure their level of creative thinking. Then ask participants to look at optical illusions and note what they perceive.
  • Do people rate individuals with perfectly symmetrical faces as more beautiful than those with asymmetrical faces ? Create sample cards with both symmetrical and asymmetrical faces and ask participants to rate the attractiveness of each picture.
  • Do people who use social media exhibit signs of addiction ? Have participants complete an assessment of their social media habits, then have them complete an addiction questionnaire.
  • Does eating breakfast help students do better in school ? According to some, eating breakfast can have a beneficial influence on school performance. For your experiment, you could compare the test scores of students who ate breakfast to those who did not.
  • Does sex influence short-term memory ? You could arrange an experiment that tests whether men or women are better at remembering specific types of information.
  • How likely are people to conform in groups ? Try this experiment to see what percentage of people are likely to conform . Enlist confederates to give the wrong response to a math problem and then see if the participants defy or conform to the rest of the group.
  • How much information can people store in short-term memory ? Have participants study a word list and then test their memory. Try different versions of the experiment to see which memorization strategies, like chunking or mnemonics, are most effective.

Once you have an idea, the next step is to learn more about  how to conduct a psychology experiment .

Psychology Experiments on Your Interests

If none of the ideas in the list above grabbed your attention, there are other ways to find inspiration for your psychology experiments.

How do you come up with good psychology experiments? One of the most effective approaches is to look at the various problems, situations, and questions that you are facing in your own life.

You can also think about the things that interest you. Start by considering the topics you've studied in class thus far that have really piqued your interest. Then, whittle the list down to two or three major areas within psychology that seem to interest you the most.

From there, make a list of questions you have related to the topic. Any of these questions could potentially serve as an experiment idea.

Use Textbooks for Inspiration for Psychology Experiments

Your psychology textbooks are another excellent source you can turn to for experiment ideas. Choose the chapters or sections that you find particularly interesting—perhaps it's a chapter on  social psychology  or a section on child development.

Start by browsing the experiments discussed in your book. Then think of how you could devise an experiment related to some of the questions your text asks. The reference section at the back of your textbook can also serve as a great source for additional reference material.

Discuss Psychology Experiments with Other Students

It can be helpful to brainstorm with your classmates to gather outside ideas and perspectives. Get together with a group of students and make a list of interesting ideas, subjects, or questions you have.

The information from your brainstorming session can serve as a basis for your experiment topic. It's also a great way to get feedback on your own ideas and to determine if they are worth exploring in greater depth.

Study Classic Psychology Experiments

Taking a closer look at a classic psychology experiment can be an excellent way to trigger some unique and thoughtful ideas of your own. To start, you could try conducting your own version of a famous experiment or even updating a classic experiment to assess a slightly different question.

Famous Psychology Experiments

Examples of famous psychology experiments that might be a source of further questions you'd like to explore include:

  • Marshmallow test experiments
  • Little Albert experiment
  • Hawthorne effect experiments
  • Bystander effect experiments
  • Robbers Cave experiments
  • Halo effect experiments
  • Piano stairs experiment
  • Cognitive dissonance experiments
  • False memory experiments

You might not be able to replicate an experiment exactly (lots of classic psychology experiments have ethical issues that would preclude conducting them today), but you can use well-known studies as a basis for inspiration.

Review the Literature on Psychology Experiments

If you have a general idea about what topic you'd like to experiment, you might want to spend a little time doing a brief literature review before you start designing. In other words, do your homework before you invest too much time on an idea.

Visit your university library and find some of the best books and articles that cover the particular topic you are interested in. What research has already been done in this area? Are there any major questions that still need to be answered? What were the findings of previous psychology experiments?

Tackling this step early will make the later process of writing the introduction  to your  lab report  or research paper much easier.

Ask Your Instructor About Ideas for Psychology Experiments

If you have made a good effort to come up with an idea on your own but you're still feeling stumped, it might help to talk to your instructor. Ask for pointers on finding a good experiment topic for the specific assignment. You can also ask them to suggest some other ways you could generate ideas or inspiration.

While it can feel intimidating to ask for help, your instructor should be more than happy to provide some guidance. Plus, they might offer insights that you wouldn't have gathered on your own. Your instructor probably has lots of ideas for psychology experiments that would be worth exploring.

If you need to design or conduct psychology experiments, there are plenty of great ideas (both old and new) for you to explore. Consider an idea from the list above or turn some of your own questions about the human mind and behavior into an experiment.

Before you dive in, make sure that you are observing the guidelines provided by your instructor and always obtain the appropriate permission before conducting any research with human or animal subjects.

Frequently Asked Questions

Finding a topic for a research paper is much like finding an idea for an experiment. Start by considering your own interests, or browse though your textbooks for inspiration. You might also consider looking at online news stories or journal articles as a source of inspiration.

Three of the most classic social psychology experiments are:

  • The Asch Conformity Experiment : This experiment involved seeing if people would conform to group pressure when rating the length of a line.
  • The Milgram Obedience Experiment : This experiment involved ordering participants to deliver what they thought was a painful shock to another person.
  • The Stanford Prison Experiment : This experiment involved students replicating a prison environment to see how it would affect participant behavior. 

Jakovljević T, Janković MM, Savić AM, et al. The effect of colour on reading performance in children, measured by a sensor hub: From the perspective of gender .  PLoS One . 2021;16(6):e0252622. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0252622

Greenberg DM, et al. Musical preferences are linked to cognitive styles . PLoS One. 2015;10(7). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0131151

Kurt S, Osueke KK. The effects of color on the moods of college students . Sage. 2014;4(1). doi:10.1177/2158244014525423

Hartline-Grafton H, Levin M. Breakfast and School-Related Outcomes in Children and Adolescents in the US: A Literature Review and its Implications for School Nutrition Policy .  Curr Nutr Rep . 2022;11(4):653-664. doi:10.1007/s13668-022-00434-z

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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Faculty Resources

Assignments

The assignments in this course are openly licensed, and are available as-is, or can be modified to suit your students’ needs. Selected answer keys are available to faculty who adopt Waymaker, OHM, or Candela courses with paid support from Lumen Learning. This approach helps us protect the academic integrity of these materials by ensuring they are shared only with authorized and institution-affiliated faculty and staff.

If you import this course into your learning management system (Blackboard, Canvas, etc.), the assignments will automatically be loaded into the assignment tool, where they may be adjusted, or edited there. Assignments also come with rubrics and pre-assigned point values that may easily be edited or removed.

The assignments for Introductory Psychology are ideas and suggestions to use as you see appropriate. Some are larger assignments spanning several weeks, while others are smaller, less-time consuming tasks. You can view them below or throughout the course.

You can view them below or throughout the course.

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Curated list of psychology training opportunities specifically focused on adolescents and young adults (AYAs).

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Information from the Society for Health Psychology’s Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) special interest group about working with young adults.

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28 Mental Health Games, Activities & Worksheets (& PDF)

28 Mental Health Activities, Worksheets & Books for Adults & Students

Despite this, increasing mental health awareness is crucial as it can have many positive outcomes.

For example, one study examining a British anti-stigma campaign found that people who were more familiar with the campaign were more likely to feel comfortable disclosing mental health issues to family, friends, or an employer, and were also more likely to seek professional help (Henderson et al., 2017).

Fortunately, there are all sorts of ways to learn about mental health issues, whether one is an introvert, an extrovert, or somewhere in between.

This article will cover tools that can supplement mental health interventions, worksheets and activities that help people learn about mental health, books dealing with mental health for adults and children, Facebook groups for mental health issues, and finally World Mental Health Day activities and events.

Before you read on, we thought you might like to download our three Positive Psychology Exercises for free . These science-based exercises will explore fundamental aspects of positive psychology including strengths, values and self-compassion and will give you the tools to enhance the mental health of your clients, students or employees.

This Article Contains:

5 tools for mental health interventions.

  • 5 Mental Health Worksheets & Awareness Activities (PDF)

5 Most Popular Books About Mental Health

  • 5 Most Popular Children’s Books About Mental Health

Facebook Groups for Mental Health

World mental health day ideas for schools and workplaces, a take-home message.

Here are some tools that will help a psychotherapy treatment plan go more smoothly for both the client and the clinician:

1. Thought Record Worksheet

This PDF is a way to record one’s thoughts and reflect on them. It asks the user to log their emotions and thoughts as well as what was going on to make them feel that way, then has the user reflect on whether or not there is evidence to back up their automatic thoughts. This could be a valuable supplement to a psychotherapist-led CBT treatment, but could also help people teach themselves about CBT .

In fact, one study has shown that thought records are an effective way to modify beliefs, even when used by themselves and not in conjunction with a CBT treatment plan (McManus et al., 2012). Find the Thought Record Worksheet here.

2. The Feeling Wheel

The Feeling Wheel is a simple printout with 72 feelings sorted into 6 groups: angry, sad, scared, joyful, peaceful, and powerful. Represented as a colorful pie, it can be an excellent tool for psychotherapy clients who have difficulty articulating or expressing their feelings.

While this can make it easier for clients to describe their relationships and experiences outside of therapy, it can also help them give immediate feedback on how they feel during a session.

This technique is commonly used to help clients identify emotions, expand their emotional vocabulary, and develop their emotional regulation (Kircanski et al., 2012).

3. Daily Mood Tracker

This Daily Mood Tracker was developed for people dealing with anger management issues but can be helpful for anyone who wants to track their mood.

It splits the day up into several two-hour blocks and asks the user to track their emotions, as well as allowing for notes to explain these moods.

This can also be helpful for clients who have trouble expressing themselves but can provide valuable self-reflection opportunities for anybody. Interestingly, some research has even shown that depressed clients can improve their mood by tracking it (Harmon et al., 1980).

4. Self-Care Checkup

This worksheet is a self-report Self-Care Checkup that therapists can give their clients after each appointment, to fill in between the sessions. The client is meant to consider the activities they are engaging in to keep up good mental health and wellbeing.

While many could be considered routine, such as exercising or getting sufficient sleep, they can often be neglected when they matter most – during times of stress.

This way, the Self-Care Checkup invites clients to become more aware of the frequency with which they practice self-care, categorizing these activities into five groups:

  • Professional; and
  • Spiritual self-care.

By filling it out regularly, clients can compare their self-care practices from week to week, spotting areas for development and brainstorming more activities that might help them maintain their mental health.

5. Preventing Mental Health Relapse

This is a worksheet that can help clients learn more about possible mental health relapse. It can be used near the end of a therapy treatment plan to help the client recognize a relapse when it is coming, but can also teach strategies to avoid relapse.

This would likely be most helpful for mental health issues that flare up at specific times (as opposed to more chronic mental health issues), and can also be helpful during treatment changes.

For example, patients with anxiety disorders receiving both psychotherapy and antidepressants are at risk of relapse when they discontinue their antidepressant treatment (Batelaan et al., 2017).

Download and use this Preventing Mental Health Relapse activity here.

5 Mental Health Games & Awareness Activities (PDF)

5 Mental Health Worksheets & Awareness Activities (PDF)

One way to get around this is to have them complete worksheets or participate in activities related to mental health awareness, so they can learn in a more hands-on way.

These worksheets and activities are excellent for cultivating mental health awareness:

1. Mindfulness Exercises For Children

This article includes a huge collection of easy mindfulness exercises that children can do to learn more about mindfulness. It includes activities for teachers, parents, caregivers, and teenagers, along with a host of meditation scripts, books, quotes, and more.

Check out the following, too, for some great ways to get children thinking about mindfulness, while subtly introducing them to mental health issues more broadly: 18 Mindfulness Games, Worksheets and Activities for Kids .

2. Mental Illness: Myths and Reality

Mental Illness – Myths and Reality is a helpful lesson plan for teachers who want to educate students about mental illness stigma.

This activity requires less than 30 minutes and very little preparation – it’s also great for any class size and can be a useful talking point to start insightful discussions around mental health.

It includes 8 myths and 8 facts about mental illness for students to sort out in pairs, to distinguish between common misconceptions and objective facts about diagnosis and life with a mental health condition.

3. Exercise and Mental Health

Exercise and Mental Health  introduces younger children to the importance of exercise and physical activity, illustrating how they go hand-in-hand before giving suggestions for students who want to get more active on a daily basis.

This informational resource is a great handout as part of a lesson about mental health.

4. Understanding Mental Health Stigma

Introducing youths to the concept of stigma can be quite tough, but it’s important.

This Understanding Mental Health Stigma sheet can be used as an aid to help raise awareness of the stigma that surrounds mental illness , as well as what it looks like.

5. Mental Health Management Bingo

Mental Health Management Bingo  is a fun classroom game that can be played with slightly older students.

While it aims to raise awareness about the importance of positive coping strategies, it can also be a great way for students to bond with one another and discover new, healthy ways to look after their mental health..

To play, students require a copy of each sheet and a pencil, and each Bingo square worksheet contains 22 positive coping mechanisms that are related to maintaining good mental health. It’s easy for students to play, and just as easy for teachers or parents to join in!

3 positive psychology exercises

Download 3 Free Positive Psychology Exercises (PDF)

Enhance wellbeing with these free, science-based exercises that draw on the latest insights from positive psychology.

Download 3 Free Positive Psychology Tools Pack (PDF)

By filling out your name and email address below.

We suggest picking at least one of these popular to broaden your understanding of mental health.

1. Mental Health Emergencies: A Guide to Recognizing and Handling Mental Health Crises – Nick Benas and Michele Hart

Mental Health Emergencies

Written by a mental health associate and a social worker, this book aims to help people recognize mental health crises in the people around them.

This book also aims to teach the reader how to support people in the midst of a mental health crisis.

The authors targeted this book to teachers, human resources workers and other professionals who are concerned with the mental wellbeing of other people, but it can be helpful for anyone who wishes to know more about mental health.

Find the book on Amazon .

2. Ten Days in a Mad-House – Nellie Bly

Ten Days in a Mad-House

This book details investigative reporter Nellie Bly’s exposé of a New York City insane asylum in the late 1800s.

In the book, the author details how she checked into a boarding house, feigned insanity and was promptly declared insane and sent to an insane asylum.

Bly spent 10 days in the asylum, during which she uncovered the horrific conditions that patients were subjected to, causing the city and the country to reevaluate how they treated the mentally ill.

This book illustrates how horribly mental health patients were treated in the late 1800s, but can also cause the reader to think about how society treats mental health issues today.

3. Stigma: The Many Faces Of Mental Illness – Joy Bruce M.D.

Stigma

This book, from a doctor with a mood disorder, aims to educate people about mental health issues and ultimately destigmatize mental health issues.

The book describes various mental health disorders and the nuances of them, making it a great educational book.

The author also discusses a wide variety of people with mental health issues, breaking down stereotypes about mental health along the way. This is a great book for someone who wants to understand more about mental health issues in themselves or others.

4. Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s – John Elder Robison

Look Me in the Eye

This memoir discusses the author’s experience of living with Asperger’s syndrome.

The author was not diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome until he was 40 years old, so before then he just lived as someone who felt that he could not connect very well with others for some reason but displayed an affinity for machines and electronics.

This book is an excellent way to gain some insight into the world of Asperger’s syndrome and may help the reader better understand someone in their life who deals with Asperger’s syndrome.

5. Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat – Oliver Sacks and Jonathan Davis

Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

This book from Oliver Sacks is a pop psychology classic. In it, Sacks discusses a few different cases of mental health disorders, focusing on the person rather than the disorder the whole way through.

This is an excellent book for learning about mental health disorders in a way that doesn’t necessarily otherize people with mental health issues. The book’s scope also makes it a great introduction to mental health disorders.

5 Most Popular Children’s Books About Mental Health

Nurturing an understanding of mental health from a young age can be done with these great reads.

1. Can I Catch It Like a Cold?: Coping With a Parent’s Depression – Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and Joe Weissmann

Can I Catch It Like a Cold

This book from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Canada is aimed at children whose parents struggle with depression.

The book describes what depression is and is not, and gives the reader strategies to cope with the situation. It is aimed at children as young as five years old and can be a child’s first official introduction to mental health disorders.

2. Dear Allison : Explaining Mental Illness to Young Readers – Emma Northup Flinn

Dear Allison

This book discusses mental health in an adventurous, conversational way that can help children start to understand the subject.

Written from the perspective of the reader’s cousin (who has teamed up with an ant to explore mental health issues across parts of the United States), this is another excellent book for introducing children to mental health.

The book is partially a collection of letters from the narrator to her nine-year-old cousin, “Allison”, so this book is definitely appropriate for children as young as 9 to start learning about mental health.

3. Marvin’s Monster Diary: ADHD Attacks! (But I Rock It, Big Time) – Raun Melmed, Annette Sexton, and Jeff Harvey

Marvin's Monster Diary

This book is an excellent way to teach children as young as 7 years old about attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), particularly if they have it.

Aside from helping children understand ADHD, it offers a mindfulness-based solution the author calls ST4 – “Stop, Take Time To Think”.

This book is an excellent resource for children with ADHD to learn more about themselves and strategies they can use every day to focus.

4. How Full Is Your Bucket? For Kids – Tom Rath, Mary Reckmeyer, and Maurie J. Manning

How Full Is Your Bucket

This book was written by Tom Rath, an important author in positive psychology and particularly strengths finding (as he wrote StrengthsFinder 2.0).

It is a children’s adaptation of another one of his popular books, How Full Is Your Bucket?, which claims that people can either “fill your bucket” with positivity or “dip from your bucket” with negativity.

This is an excellent book to show kids how social interactions can affect their self-esteem and wellbeing, and how the way they treat people can affect the self-esteem and wellbeing of others.

5. Please Explain Anxiety to Me! Simple Biology and Solutions for Children and Parents – Laurie E. Zelinger, Jordan Zelinger, and Elisa Sabella

Please Explain Anxiety to Me

This book, co-authored by a play therapist and a child psychologist, aims to explain anxiety to children in a simplified but still accurate way.

This means describing the physiology of anxiety in a way that children as young as 5 can start to understand.

It also includes some actionable exercises that children can use when they are feeling anxious. This book can help children deal with their own anxiety and learn some concrete psychology along the way.

mental health activities kids

Sometimes, the best thing for someone struggling with mental health issues is the ability to reach out to someone who will understand them.

Facebook is great for this, as people can start community-based groups focused around mental health issues.

That said, as is always the case with the internet, anybody can contribute to these groups, which has the potential to be harmful to members of that group.

For that reason, we have only highlighted closed groups (as opposed to open groups), which require admin approval to join. This way, it is more likely that someone will find a group full of people who only want to help.

Someone looking for a Facebook group to discuss mental health should try joining one of these:

Adult ADHD/ADD Support Group… By Reach2Change

This is a support group for adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or attention deficit disorder (ADD).

Anxiety/Depression Mental Health Support Group

This is a support group for people (18+) who struggle with depression or anxiety .

Bipolar Disorder

This is a support group for people with bipolar disorder, people who know someone with bipolar disorder, or people who want to learn more about bipolar disorder.

Mental Health Inspiration (Support & Awareness)

This is a support group for people with all sorts of mental health issues, as well as people who wish to be an ally or learn more about mental health.

PTSD Buddies

This is a support group for people (19+) with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

30 Minute relaxing yoga for mental health – Jessica Richburg

October 10th is World Mental Health Day.

The objective of this important day is to spread awareness about mental health issues, express thanks to mental health care providers, and do more to make mental health care a reality for those who need it. Overall, the day represents a valuable opportunity to start a dialog about mental health with others in your life.

If you’re a teacher, manager, or principal looking for ways to start this conversation in your school or workplace, here are four ideas to get started.

Yoga and pilates have both been shown to reduce a range of mental health symptoms, such as fatigue and feelings of anxiety, while simultaneously increasing feelings of energy (Fleming & Herring, 2018; Hagen & Nayar, 2014).

To leverage these benefits, consider bringing in a yoga or pilates expert (or linking up with a nearby studio) to do a guided class with your staff or students.

Host a charity event

There are many charitable organizations around the world that are working hard to provide mental health support to those who may otherwise not have access to it.

To help, you can work with your students or staff to identify a cause they feel passionate about and run an event to raise money for a worthy cause. For example, consider hosting a raffle, games evening, cake stall, or fete open to the public.

Wellness gift exchange

A simple gift can do a lot to start a conversation, so consider hosting a wellness gift exchange.

To start, randomly assign your students or staff a ‘gift buddy.’ If you like, you can make the identity of gift-givers and receivers anonymous, much like a Secret Santa, by having your staff or students draw names from a hat.

Next, allocate a spending limit and have each person purchase a gift for someone else. The focus of the gift should encourage the recipient to relax and take some time out for him or herself. Examples of good gifts include movie tickets, a pampering face mask, or a soap and candle gift basket.

Information sessions

Teaching children how to start a conversation with someone about mental health is a skill that can serve them for a lifetime. At the same time, the stigma associated with mental illness may act as a barrier for adults to start a conversation with someone they’re concerned about or seek help.

To help, consider bringing in a mental health speaker or expert and host an information session. The aim of the session should be to connect your students or staff to resources and give them the skills to check in with the mental health of those they care about.

Further, you can take this opportunity to remind your students or staff about internal support services in your school or office, such as forms of personal leave or internal counselors.

In addition to the ideas above, it is likely that public spaces around you, such as libraries and community centers, will have planned events around World Mental Health Day. So consider linking up with groups in your local community to support this important cause.

assignment topics for health psychology

17 Top-Rated Positive Psychology Exercises for Practitioners

Expand your arsenal and impact with these 17 Positive Psychology Exercises [PDF] , scientifically designed to promote human flourishing, meaning, and wellbeing.

Created by Experts. 100% Science-based.

At the end of the day, nobody can know everything there is to know about mental health issues. The key is constantly being willing to learn, so that you know how to help when someone you love deals with mental health issues, and have the strategies to deal with your own mental health issues if and when they arise.

Some people prefer reading books, others prefer more hands-on learning such as worksheets, and still, others just prefer going out and talking to people. No matter what type of learning you prefer, the important thing is that you make an effort to make this world a better place for everyone, no matter what mental health issues they are or aren’t facing.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Positive Psychology Exercises for free .

  • Batelaan, N.M., Bosman, R.C., Muntingh, A., Scholten, W.D., Huijbregts, K.M., van Balkom, A.J.L.M. (2017). Risk of relapse after antidepressant discontinuation in anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder: systematic review and meta-analysis of relapse prevention trials. BMJ, 358(1) , j3927.
  • Fleming, K. M., & Herring, M. P. (2018). The effects of pilates on mental health outcomes: A meta-analysis of controlled trials. Complementary Therapies in Medicine , 37, 80-95.
  • Hagen, I., & Nayar, U. S. (2014). Yoga for children and young people’s mental health and well-being: research review and reflections on the mental health potentials of yoga. Frontiers in Psychiatry , 5.
  • Harmon, T.M., Nelson, R.O., Hayes, S.C. (1980). Self-monitoring of mood versus activity by depressed clients. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 48(1) , 30-38.
  • Henderson, C., Robinson, E., Evans-Lacko, S., Thornicroft, G. (2017). Relationships between anti-stigma programme awareness, disclosure comfort and intended help-seeking regarding a mental health problem. British Journal of Psychiatry, 211(5) , 316-322.
  • Kaduson, H.G., Schaefer, C.E. (Eds.). (2003). 101 favorite play therapy techniques. Volume III. Lanham, MA: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
  • Kircanski, K., Lieberman, M. D., & Craske, M. G. (2012). Feelings into words: contributions of language to exposure therapy. Psychological Science, 23 (10), 1086.
  • Lambert, M.J. (2015). Progress Feedback and the OQ-System: The Past and the Future. Psychotherapy, 52(4) , 381-390.
  • McManus, F., Van Doorn, K., Yiend, J. (2012). Examining the effects of thought records and behavioral experiments in instigating belief change. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 43(1) , 540-547.

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Health Psychology – a topic related to health and illness

Health Psychology – a topic related to health and illness

Health psychology is the study of psychological and behavioral processes in health, illness, and healthcare. It focuses on how psychological factors such as thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and social interactions affect health and well-being. The discipline is concerned with determining how psychological, behavioral, and cultural factors influence physical health and illness. It investigates how psychological processes influence physical health and how physical health, in turn, can affect psychological well-being.

Psychological factors can have a direct impact on health. Chronically occurring environmental stressors, for example, that affect the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis can be harmful to health in the long run. Behavioral factors can also have an impact on a person’s health. Certain behaviors, for example, can harm (smoking or excessive alcohol consumption) or improve (exercise) health over time.

A biopsychosocial approach is used by health psychologists. In other words, health psychologists believe that health is the result of not only biological processes (such as a virus or tumor), but also psychological (such as thoughts and beliefs), behavioral (such as habits), and social processes (such as socioeconomic status and ethnicity).

Health psychologists study a variety of topics related to health and illness, including:

  • Health Behavior Change: Examining the influences on health-related behaviors such as smoking, exercise, diet, and medication adherence. Health psychologists design and implement interventions to encourage healthy behaviors and discourage unhealthy ones.
  • Stress and Coping: Examining the effects of stress on health and the coping mechanisms that people use to deal with stressors. Chronic stress has been linked to a variety of health issues, so learning effective coping strategies is essential for overall well-being.
  • Chronic Illness and Disease Management: The psychological aspects of living with chronic conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer are being researched. Understanding how people cope with the emotional and practical challenges of living with a chronic illness is part of this.
  • Pain Management: Examining the psychological aspects of pain perception and developing strategies to help individuals manage and cope with pain, especially in the context of chronic conditions.
  • Psychosocial Factors in Health: Investigating how social and psychological factors, such as socioeconomic status, social support, and cultural influences, impact health outcomes.

Health psychologists work in a variety of settings, such as hospitals, clinics, universities, research facilities, and public health organizations. They work with other healthcare providers to create holistic approaches to health and wellness.

In understanding health and illness, health psychology emphasizes the integration of biological, psychological, and social factors. It is critical in improving overall healthcare quality by addressing psychological aspects of health and promoting behavior change for better health outcomes.

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Best Health Psychology Topic Ideas

Finding an excellent health psychology topic to work on is quite a hassle. Writing your paper using eye-catching and informative topics in health psychology helps you stand out from your colleagues. Every psychology student’s dream is to succeed in the academic journey, and using unique topics is the first step to a successful journey. Best Health Psychology Topic Ideas:

Before you throw in the towel, we have developed a guide for you highlighting the topics related to health psychology. We have also included a process that you can use to choose the best topic for your health psychology paper. Before we dive into details, let’s begin by defining and understanding what a health psychology research paper is.

Definition and purpose of a health psychology research paper

A psychology research paper is a document you write after conducting thorough research to present different ideas and points of view on a particular health psychology topic. It provides your reader with the techniques to achieve information, statistics, and a proper understanding of the topic.

Professors assign their students health psychology research topics to demonstrate their understanding and knowledge in the field. As a student, you must execute your top writing and research skills to secure an A+ grade in your psychology paper. We have made your work easier by providing you with a cheat sheet to ace your essay and improve your skills.

Tips for writing top-notch health psychology research papers

“How should I write an A+ health psychology research paper?” It is a common question among different medical students. It relies on various factors that we have listed below: 

·         Choose engaging topics related to health psychology

Keeping your audience engaged might be difficult, but with the help of a great topic, you can easily make your paper outstanding. Using an informative health psychology paper topic helps you stand out from your colleagues and increases your chances of securing a first-class grade. If you find this challenging, do not despair. You can also make your topics interesting by making connections and briefly developing your topic using the main theories used in the paper.

·         Developing the best theories and ideas related to your topic

This section is where you present to your audience what your paper entails. You can be subtle by using questions or opening up a debate related to your topic. Your main aim is to place them in a dilemma.

·         Conduct a thorough research

Use credible online sources to gather accurate data to support your arguments. Covey your ideas properly and copy-pasting the content. When working with academic papers, avoid journal impact factors or other citation metrics even for every article you use in your research.

·         Keep your content informative.

When working on your paper, always use appropriate language, proper precision, conciseness, correct professional use of phrases, a clear hypothesis, an engaging introduction, and a conclusion.

How to choose the best topics related to health psychology?

Are you looking for splendid topics to help you begin your psychology paper? Below are a few strategies that would likely prove handy:

Ø  Make use of ideas

Using your knowledge, search for your idea online using the relevant keywords. If the argument is a valid research hypothesis, it is very likely it has already been researched, so you’ll find links to academic articles on the topic. In practice, this is among the most effective and easy technique to develop original, fascinating topics in health psychology that matches your idea.

Ø  Make a list of topics.

Develop an extensive topic list and skim through it later. This latter strategy ensures you explore a broad selection of potential health psychology research topics rather than limit yourself to just a few ideas you might brainstorm or remember from your course.

Ø  Become best friends with internet sources

Browse through different websites and read different articles related to your discussion topic. There is a high likelihood of finding several interesting topics that can be explored in greater detail.

Ø  Choose the topic you are comfortable discussing.

After selecting the topics appropriate for your discussion, you can then choose the best one for your research by finding the one that will provide you with abundant information. Unless you buy your psychology paper online, you are always obliged to conduct your research. Choose the already well-researched topic and make sure you find it interesting to work on.

We have also made it easier by grouping different topics within their linked programs. Consider the list below more of a cheat sheet to help reduce the irksome journey of finding the best health psychology topics for your paper.

Top 100 health psychology topics for college students

Give your flowers to submitting the best psychology by using one or more topics from the list below. Take a look at some of the topics that will help ace your psychology and leave your progress with no option but give you the A you deserve.

Social health psychology research topics

  • Discrimination psychology
  • Tajfel & Turner’s social identity theory
  • Distinguishing the self-psychology
  • Factors that lead to dehumanization in the Stanford prisoner experiment
  • How is society modeling our behavior (from the perspective of Bandura’s social learning theory)?
  • How obedience to an authority figure can lead to cruelty (according to Milgram’s shock experiment)
  • The role played by the unfamiliar environment in Milgram’s shock experiment.
  • How group belonging can alter an individual’s behavior
  • Measures of controlling aggression during street demonstrations
  • Conformity, compliance, and obedience as a function of social status

Medical research topics examples

  • REM sleep physiology
  • Consequences of following continuous sleep disruption in the REM phase
  • Lucid dreaming physiology and neurobiology
  • Brain mechanisms underlying attachment/bonding
  • Physiology of a brain in love
  • Physiological differences in brains determined by gender
  • Anger/aggression physiology
  • The role of serotonin and dopamine in feelings of happiness and pleasure/reward
  • Hierarchy of neural “layers” involved in visual perception
  • Differences in sensation and perception across individuals

Neuropsychology health research topics    

  • How does the red color taste?
  • The role of temporoparietal junction in self-perception
  • Forms of amnesia following brain damage
  • An analysis of memory and cognitive processes in a patient with retrograde amnesia
  • What Primary Progressive Aphasia?
  • Brain structures involved in time perception
  • An autistic brain under Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
  • Functional imaging of a Buddhist monk’s brain during several types of deep meditation
  • Gene expression changes induced by meditation and their likely impact on brain function
  • Cerebral reorganization and neuroplasticity in patients undergoing hemispherectomy

Mental health psychology topic ideas

  • Circadian rhythm disruption as a characteristic depression symptom
  • Similarities and differences between sleep paralysis and cataplexy
  • Personality traits linked to higher post-traumatic stress disorder incidence rates
  • Current understanding of schizophrenia etiology
  • Factors contributing to multiple personality disorder onset
  • Top social factors and life events endangering mental health in the US population
  • Symptoms and impact of ADHD on life quality
  • Environmental factors’ role in triggering depression
  • Dementia types and associated symptoms
  • Variability in recurrent behaviors elicited by people with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Developmental health psychology research topics

  • Types of mirroring behavior in children
  • Amygdala’s role as an agent of change in adolescent brains
  • Short-term memory evolution from early to advanced age
  • How much discipline is enough for the harmonious development of a child’s personality?
  • Midlife crisis in men and women: similarities and differences
  • Children’s fundamental emotional needs (care, love, support, freedom, safety, being accepted and understood, etc.)
  • Child abuse as the causative factor for multiple psychological afflictions in later life
  • Impact of ignoring a child’s emotional needs on adult life
  • Mirror test in children and animals (similarities and differences)
  • Psychological changes associated with old age

Health psychology research topics

  • Psychological assistance role in managing eating disorders
  • Group therapy efficiency in palliative care
  • Managing chronic pain through meditation techniques
  • Most effective interventions to enforce abstinence in drug addicts
  • Lessons learned from the 12 steps listed by Alcoholics Anonymous rehabilitation programs
  • A psychological interpretation of the central role of belief in Alcoholics Anonymous Rehabilitation programs
  • Approaches used to manage stress and depression in cancer patients
  • A physical exercise is a valuable tool for controlling mood and stress
  • Effect of social interaction and physical activity on cognitive abilities
  • Communication strategies with patients to encourage regular screens (for breast cancer, heart diseases, etc.)

Forensic health psychology research topics

  • How reliable is an eyewitness’s memory?
  • Risk factors for unreliable eyewitness evidence
  • Justification for legal norms regulating minimum witness age
  • Famous cases from American jurisprudence involving false memory implantation in people with high suggestibility (Paul Ingram case)
  • Assessing legal competence to stand trial
  • Rules of verbal interaction with criminals/eyewitnesses in court to foster cooperation
  • Rules of conduct are essential for forensic psychologists in court
  • Assessing the reliability of evidence collected under various forms of pressure, excluding those mentioned by US constitutional law (the exclusionary rule)
  • Variations in the definition of insanity (which absolves one from legal responsibility) across various US states
  • Knowledge psychologists should possess when serving as expert witnesses in court

Educational psychology research topics

  • Social reinforcement vs. material rewards for encouraging learning in students
  • Parenting style impacts a person’s professional specialization later in life
  • Does playing complex instruments boost cognitive performance in students
  • What impact does self-worth perception have on academic achievement?
  • Consequences of bullying in school on self-perception
  • How much study effort is ok for different ages?
  • Does a no-homework policy (like in Finland) positively affect student performance? Is such a model applicable to the US?
  • Adapting teaching for dyslexic students
  • Importance of affection in teaching younger children
  • Strategies to generate learning motivation in students

Criminal health psychology research topic ideas

  • Key personality traits (neuroticism) that can serve as criminal behavior predictors
  • Typical psychological differences between juvenile and adult offenders
  • Is detaining adult and juvenile offenders together detrimental for the latter (in terms of reeducation)?
  • A serial killer’s worldview – are there any common patterns across cases?
  • A balance between criminal intentions and restraining factors
  • What the amount of planning in preparing a crime tells about criminals
  • Degree of control when committing a crime and its use for criminal profiling
  • Psychological afflictions that often cause criminal behavior
  • An analysis of the worldview of imprisoned criminals (What predominates, remorse, anger, disappointment, self-pity, feelings of injustice, fatalism, etc.?)
  • Emotional and social needs of criminals for effective societal inclusion/integration after release

Clinical health psychology research topics

  • Advances and limitations in clinical manipulations of neuromodulators for depression treatment
  • Cognitive-behavioral therapy vs. treating depression
  • Electroconvulsive therapy is a last resort in treating severe depression and bipolar disorder
  • Virtual Reality Exposure for treating post-traumatic stress disorder
  • Clinical implications of lucid dreaming research (for psychosis, nightmares, PTSD)
  • Role of emotional support for treating patients with addiction
  • Ways of enforcing adherence to regimens in patients with eating disorders
  • Innovative approaches to treating phobias
  • Cognitive-behavioral therapy for patients with autism
  • Neurofeedback and sensory integration/occupational therapy for kids with Asperger’s syndrome

Psychology research topics for students from different academic levels

If you wonder which is the most appropriate health psychology research topic for your academic, we have your back. Feel free to go through our list of topics below based on level.

Health psychology research topics for undergraduate students

  • The psychological effects of bullying on kids
  • Insecure men more likely to make sexist jokes
  • Health benefits of socializing
  • Hypnosis for quitting smoking
  • Relation between morality and law
  • How do mental health and obesity relate to each other?
  • What is the influence of divorce on children?
  • Types of social interactions
  • Postpartum depression and its effects on children
  • What is the relationship between aging and mental illness?

Health psychology research topics for high school students

  • Causes and consequences of teen dating violence
  • How does depression affects work productivity?
  • Effects of psychological torture
  • Effects of stress on the body
  • The problems of being attractive
  • Is divorce counseling helpful?
  • Factors affecting motivation
  • Things that affect memory
  • PTSD and quality of life
  • Types of bipolar disorder

Social health psychology research topics for college students

  • Psychological effects of hate crimes
  • Homelessness and mental health
  • Why do attractive people often get unfair advantages at work?
  • The role of the psychologist in military interrogations
  • How to quit a bad habit?
  • The health effects of a bad relationship
  • Effects of abortion on the mental and emotional health of women
  • Psychological effects of miscarriage on couples
  • Importance of sports psychology
  • Gut microbiota and significant depression

Psychology research proposal topics

  • Schizophrenia symptoms and coping mechanism
  • Gender role and identity in children
  • Effects of laughter on physical and emotional health
  • How can morality be enforced in society?
  • The role of the family in the socialization process
  • What is the link between obesity and television?
  • How to deal with stress?
  • Analyze the link between working memory and attention
  • What factors contribute to childhood obesity ?
  • Is depression different in males and females?

Good psychology research topics about dreams

  • Are dreams connected to our soul?
  • Do dreams mean anything?
  • What do dreams reveal about you?
  • Disturbing dreams: why they happen and how to stop them
  • How to turn your dreams into reality?
  • The impact of dreams on our social life
  • What do your dreams mean?
  • What happens when we dream?
  • The health benefits of dreams
  • What do violent dreams mean?

Experimental health psychology research topics

  • How do colors influence learning?
  • The psychological effects of colors
  • Effects of music on psychological response
  • Does smell affect taste?
  • What does your music taste say about your personality?
  • How do colors affect mood?
  • Do creative people see the world differently?
  • Excessive social media use is comparable to drug addiction
  • How does conformity influence behavior?
  • What does the Stroop effect say about our minds?

Exercise and eating behavior topic ideas

  • Best strategies for losing weight
  • How to deal with grief and loss?
  • Programs for the prevention of suicide among students
  • Why is depression more common in women than in men?
  • How do they ease seasonal depression symptoms?
  • What causes panic attacks?
  • What to know about meditation for pain relief?
  • How to manage stress in patients with breast cancer?
  • The health benefits of exercise
  • Effective communication techniques with patients

Abnormal psychology research paper topics

  • What causes suicidal thoughts?
  • Why are we becoming so narcissistic?
  • Effects of phobias on your emotions and personality
  • What is the difference between PTSD and PTSS?
  • Separation anxiety in adults
  • Stalking and mental illness
  • How does lying affect your mental health?
  • Causes of eating disorders in adults
  • Mood disorders in teen
  • What causes deviant behavior in the workplace?

Easy health psychology research topics on autism

  • Environmental risk factors for autism
  • Can you stim and not be autistic?
  • Autism in the workplace
  • Autism spectrum disorders in developing countries
  • Types of autism spectrum disorders
  • Is mainstream school good for autism?
  • Autism and gender identity
  • Is there a connection between vaccines and autism?
  • Educating family physicians to manage depression
  • The mental health of people with autism

Family health and safety topic ideas

  • How to cope with grief
  • Psychological adjustment to illness
  • What is the illusion of self?
  • The importance of a child’s social society
  • Role of identity in interpersonal relationships
  • How does the environment affect the person?
  • Types of learning difficulties and how to help
  • Signs of an effective co-operating relationship
  • How does addiction affect the family?
  • Genetic influences on social relationships

Psychology Research Topics on Covid 19

  • How has Covid 19 affected our mental health ?
  • How does WHO respond to covid-19?
  • Why should pregnant women be more careful about coronavirus?
  • Role of social media during the covid-19 pandemic
  • Fake News in the time of coronavirus
  • The impact of covid-19 on sports
  • How has coronavirus affected religious activities?
  • How businesses are adapting to a coronavirus pandemic
  • Will the world ever be the same after covid-19?
  • What is the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on politics?

Cognitive health psychology research topics

  • How do you improve memory and concentration?
  • Judgment and decision making
  • The concept of attention span in children
  • What do people believe about how money works?
  • The reality of repressed memories
  • Factors affecting the problem-solving ability
  • Color psychology in cognitive development studies
  • Speech and language development in children
  • How to measure critical thinking?
  • Implicit and explicit memory: What is the difference?

Personality health psychology research topics

  • Characteristics of heroism
  • The relationship between creativity and temperament
  • How does marriage change your personality?
  • What does your choice of pet say about your personality?
  • Factors influencing personality
  • Are leaders made or born?
  • Is authoritarian leadership effective?
  • Personality differences between athletes and non-athletes
  • The link between personality and prosocial behavior
  • Do opposites attract?

Political health psychology research topics

  • The history of politics
  • Relationship between religion and politics
  • Comparison of electoral systems in the world
  • Importance of political philosophy
  • Politics in wartime
  • Pros and cons of totalitarianism
  • The link between power and morality
  • Globalization vs. nationalism
  • Human rights and counter-terrorism
  • Advantages and disadvantages of democracy

Cultural health psychology research topics

  • Use of social media across cultures
  • Effects of cultures on internet buying behavior
  • Humor across cultures
  • The idea of beauty in the digital age
  • Impact of culture on multinational companies
  • Why is culture influential in psychology?
  • Perception of motherhood in different cultures
  • The relationship between education and culture
  • How various cultures deal with death
  • What is it like to live in multicultural communities?
  • Strategies to keep students motivated
  • The importance of showing affection to children
  • How to deal with students with dyslexia
  • Consequences of bullying in schools
  • Relationship between self-esteem and academic success
  • Does listening to music improve cognitive functioning?
  • Causes of the achievements gaps
  • What is learning in educational psychology?
  • How operant conditioning works?
  • Is adult psychology still in demand?

Controversial health psychology research topics

  • Is it ethical to have clients as Facebook friends?
  • Different attitudes towards homosexuality
  • Ethics of the Milgram experiment
  • Domestic violence in intimate relationships
  • Childhood trauma and its effects
  • The use of social sites among teenagers
  • Was the Stanford prison experiment ethical?
  • How do parents affect children’s mental health?
  • Fetishes and their associated behavior
  • Is homosexuality a psychological disorder?

Sports psychology research topics

  • Currents trends in sports psychology
  • Challenges faced by sports coaches
  • Why is team chemistry more important than talent?
  • The evolution of sports psychology
  • How to control your emotions in sports?
  • Why is building good chemistry in a team critical?
  • What is the role of a coach in developing confidence?
  • How do deal with stress in sports?
  • Importance of appropriate behavior for athletes
  • What are the attributes of a good football coach?

Child health psychology research topics

  • Psychological effects of adoption
  • Risks of obesity for children neglected by their parents
  • What causes childhood depression?
  • Introvert personality traits in children
  • How to prevent child abuse?
  • Common mental health problems in young children
  • Child development stages
  • How does birth order impact your personality?
  • Do video games cause violent behavior?
  • The psychology of parents who torture their children

Last but not least

The above guide and list of the best health psychology topic ideas are your excellent escape plan from poor grades. Let one of these topics guide you to writing a flawless paper of unmatched quality. Have a smooth academic journey in your psychology course by using these topics.

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May 27, 2024

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Five basic habits may hold the key to good mental health

by Macquarie University

man relaxing

Professor Nick Titov's professional goal is to make himself redundant. As a Professor of Psychology at Macquarie University and Director of the University's digital mental health service, MindSpot, he wants to empower more people with mild to moderate anxiety and depression to understand what they can do each day to care for their mental health.

As part of this mission, Professor Titov and his team developed The Big 5, an evidence-based program encouraging five broad types of activities that are strongly linked with good mental health when performed regularly.

Everyone's Big 5 activities look different, but large cohort studies in Australia and Canada found people who have healthy thought patterns, plan for the future, engage in meaningful activities, have healthy routines, and connect with friends and family at least four times a week have better mental health than those who do not.

Healthy thinking is one of the biggest individual predictors of good mental health. It includes thinking realistically about ourselves, the world and the future, and treating ourselves with respect, particularly in difficult situations.

Healthy routines might include cooking and eating a healthy meal, having a regular bedtime and getting regular exercise. Meaningful activities give us a sense of accomplishment, satisfaction or joy.

The results now include data from more than 20,000 people and show a consistent pattern: do more of The Big 5 and feel better; do less and feel worse.

To learn more about the benefits of The Big 5, Professor Titov designed a study in which participants would be asked to systematically reduce these activities under supervision, then resume them again so he and his team could observe their impact on symptoms of depression and anxiety. The study results were published in the journal Behavior Research and Therapy .

Why ask people to stop?

For physical diseases, researchers often understand the triggers and the trajectory of deterioration, leading to insight into how treatments work, but that isn't the case in the psychological sciences.

"Despite billions of dollars being spent on mental health interventions worldwide, psychological sciences have not built a robust model that predicts not only recovery, but also deterioration," Professor Titov says.

"If we are going to prevent mental health conditions, we need to know the triggers and mechanisms behind them. One way to do this was to ask mentally well people to give up or restrict how often they do things that we know are good for their mental health; in this case, their Big 5.

"I believe it's the first study in the world to do this with the aim of linking mental health status with measurable actions.

"It represents a new paradigm and a potential method for improving our understanding of mental health and mental illness.

"Designing it involved careful consideration of ethics and safety, as asking people to stop activities we know are good for them isn't something we would do lightly as mental health professionals."

Because of this, it was decided to carefully vet the volunteers, and keep the group very small so all the participants could be closely monitored.

Originally, Professor Titov aimed to recruit 26 mentally well people who would be asked in a systematic way to restrict their Big 5 activities for four weeks.

To monitor well-being, the volunteers would have regular phone calls with him or his colleague, registered psychologist, Victoria Barrett. They would also complete weekly self‑assessments that measured symptoms of depression and anxiety, and how many times a week the volunteers were doing their usual Big 5 activities.

However, the results were so pronounced that it was decided to reduce the sample size to 12 and cut the duration to two weeks.

"For those people who restricted their Big 5 activities by at least 25 percent, we saw a significant drop in mental well-being," Professor Titov says. "Nobody used the word 'depression,' but they all said to us, 'I'm struggling.'

"We were expecting to see a slight reduction in well-being, but we weren't expecting it to drop so rapidly, or for it to take as long as it did for some people to recover."

To take part, participants could not have any significant symptoms of depression or anxiety or be taking medication for mental health problems. All the participants completed assessments to establish their baseline levels of depression and anxiety, which were measured for two weeks.

Eleven were in the healthy/minimal range for symptoms of depression, with one classified as mild.

Routines in ruins

After only a week of restrictions, one participant had deteriorated so much that they were moved straight to the recovery phase.

At the two-week mark, just four participants remained in the healthy/minimal range for depression, with five moving up to mild and three progressing to moderate—the range that indicates increased risk of a clinical diagnosis of depression.

For the recovery phase, participants were instructed to return to their usual Big 5 activities, with the assistance of regular SMS prompts from the trial team.

Improvements began to appear straight away, but returning to their baseline took longer for some people.

After five weeks, 11 participants were back to the healthy/minimal range for depression symptoms, and one was in the mild range. The patterns for symptoms of anxiety were similar to those for depression, but the changes were not as pronounced.

Professor Titov says they noticed some participants were more vulnerable to the loss of their Big 5 than others, with those who restricted their activities the most showing the most significant impact.

"One person told me they felt their entire routine had been thrown out," he says.

"They said they noticed that they were tired in the afternoon, so they were taking a nap, which meant they weren't sleeping well at night. That meant they slept in the next morning and didn't have time for a shower.

"Also, the more they restricted their Big 5, the longer their recovery took.

"People reported that recovery was harder than they expected. One person described feeling like they had lost their mental fitness, and they needed to give themselves a talking to, to get back to their usual routines, habits and lifestyle.

"Everyone who took part said they had learned a valuable life lesson, but I have no doubt that had we continued, some of our participants would have been at risk of a full-blown depressive episode."

The next steps

Professor Titov has a series of additional and larger studies planned for The Big 5. And while this study focused on anxiety and depression , he believes the same model might usefully be applied to other high-prevalence conditions such as eating disorders, body dysmorphia, or even social anxiety and generalized anxiety disorder.

In parallel to the planned research, and based on the strong results, the MindSpot team is developing a free SMS prompt service that people can sign up for if they feel they are struggling mentally.

A simple intervention program based on The Big 5 is now being developed for use by therapists at MindSpot, and clinics in Australia and overseas have expressed interest.

"I think one of the really important insights this study gave us is that there are analogies between mental fitness and physical fitness ," Professor Titov says.

"They both take time to build up and if you don't maintain certain activities for whatever reason, you can lose that fitness, which then takes longer to recover than you might expect."

This content was originally published on The Macquarie University Lighthouse .

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ScienceDaily

Key differences in brain development between autistic boys and girls

Study shows more rapid rate of cortical thinning in autistic females across childhood.

A new study led by UC Davis researchers finds widespread differences in brain development between autistic boys and girls ages 2-13. The study, published recently in Molecular Psychiatry , found sex-specific changes in the thickness of the outer layer of the brain, called the cortex.

The findings are notable because so few studies have addressed cortical development in autistic girls, who are diagnosed with autism less often than males. Nearly four males are diagnosed with autism for every one female.

"It is clear that this sex bias is due, in part, to underdiagnosis of autism in females," said Christine Wu Nordahl, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the UC Davis MIND Institute and a senior author on the paper. "But this study suggests that differences in diagnosis are not the full story -- biological differences also exist."

The brain's outer layer, the cortex, is made up of distinct layers comprised of millions of neurons. These fire in sync together, allowing us to think, learn, solve problems, build memories, and experience emotions. Until about age 2, the cortex rapidly thickens as new neurons are created. After this peak, the outer cortical layer thins. Previous studies have found that this thinning process is different in autistic children than non-autistic children, but whether autistic boys and girls share the same differences had not been examined.

"It's important to learn more about how sex differences in brain development may interact with autistic development and lead to different developmental outcomes in boys and girls," explained Derek Andrews, lead author on the study and an assistant project scientist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and at the MIND Institute.

A changing cortex in childhood

The research team studied the brain scans of 290 autistic children -- 202 males and 88 females, and 139 non-autistic, typically developing individuals -- 79 males and 60 females. They used sex assigned at birth to categorize the children.

All participants were in the MIND Institute's Autism Phenome Project (APP), one of the largest longitudinal autism studies in the world. The project includes the Girls with Autism Imaging of Neurodevelopment (GAIN) study, launched to increase the number of females represented in research. The researchers took MRI scans at up to four time periods between the ages of 2 and 13.

They found that at age 3, autistic girls had a thicker cortex than non-autistic girls of the same age, comprising about 9% of the total cortical surface. Differences in autistic males when compared to non-autistic males of the same age were much less widespread.

In addition, when compared to males, autistic females had faster rates of cortical thinning into middle childhood. The cortical differences were present across multiple neural networks.

"We found differences in the brain associated with autism across nearly all networks in the brain," Andrews said.

He noted that it was a surprise at first that the differences were greatest at younger ages. Because autistic girls had a more rapid rate of cortical thinning, by middle childhood, the differences between autistic males and females were much less pronounced.

"We typically think of sex differences as being larger after puberty. However, brain development around the ages of 2-4 is highly dynamic, so small changes in timing of development between the sexes could result in large differences that then converge later," Andrews explained.

The importance of long-term studies of both sexes

These findings make it clear that longitudinal studies that include both sexes are necessary, Nordahl said.

"If we had only looked at boys at age 3, we may have concluded that there were no differences. If we had both boys and girls, but only investigated differences at 11 years of age, we may have concluded that there were very few sex differences in the cortex. We needed to follow both boys and girls across development to see the full picture," she explained.

This was why Nordahl, who now directs the APP, launched the GAIN study in 2014. "The APP had a wonderfully large sample of about 150 autistic boys, but only about 30 autistic girls. This was too few autistic girls to really examine how they might be similar or different to boys, so we worked to increase the representation of autistic females in our research," she said.

GAIN is unique, and Andrews said he hopes other researchers will follow suit in including more autistic girls in autism research. "Autistic females represent about 20% of the autistic population. Any successful effort to understand autism will need to include autistic females."

Co-authors on the study include Kersten Diers and Martin Reuter of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases; Devani Cordero of Massachusetts General Hospital; and Joshua K. Lee, Danielle J. Harvey, Brianna Heath, Sally J. Rogers, Marjorie Solomon and David Amaral of UC Davis.

The study was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH127046, R01MH128814 and R01MH103284), the National Institute of Child Health and Development (P50 HD093079) and the MIND Institute Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (P50 HD103526)

  • Children's Health
  • Psychology Research
  • Nervous System
  • Staying Healthy
  • Gender Difference
  • Learning Disorders
  • Child Development
  • Visual cortex
  • Excretory system
  • Electroencephalography
  • Psychometrics
  • Neocortex (brain)
  • Neuroscience

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of California - Davis Health . Original written by Marianne Russ Sharp. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference :

  • Derek S. Andrews, Kersten Diers, Joshua K. Lee, Danielle J. Harvey, Brianna Heath, Devani Cordero, Sally J. Rogers, Martin Reuter, Marjorie Solomon, David G. Amaral, Christine Wu Nordahl. Sex differences in trajectories of cortical development in autistic children from 2–13 years of age . Molecular Psychiatry , 2024; DOI: 10.1038/s41380-024-02592-8

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Strange & offbeat.

Stanley Goldstein, who helped build CVS drugstore empire, dies at 89

From a single store in Massachusetts in 1963, CVS had grown into a health-care giant with more than 9,000 locations.

assignment topics for health psychology

Stanley Goldstein, who helped turn a single store of health and beauty items — with a bag-your-own-purchases option to save a few cents — into the CVS retail and health-care empire whose annual revenue now surpasses companies such as Exxon and Microsoft, died May 21 at his home in Providence. He was 89.

CVS Corp., based in Woonsocket, R.I., announced the death but did not provide a cause. Mr. Goldstein had been diagnosed with cancer this year.

The idea that launched CVS was an experiment in early 1960s shopper psychology. At the time, items from shaving cream to Band-Aids to razor blades could be found in drugstores and, increasingly, on the shelves in groceries stores. Mr. Goldstein and his brother, Sidney , wondered whether people would come to a store with only health, beauty and grooming products — sold at discounted prices and set up like a self-serve supermarket.

Mr. Goldstein looked at the concept from two angles. He had a business degree from the University of Pennsylvania and was well versed in studies on competition and consumer behavior. He also had direct experience in the marketplace. He had left a stockbroker job to join his brother at the helm of a struggling family business, which included selling health and beauty wholesale to retailers.

Mr. Goldstein and his brother recruited a third partner, Ralph Hoagland III, a budding entrepreneur with Boston roots who had worked in sales at Procter & Gamble. “It’s as simple as listening to your customers,” Mr. Goldstein once told the Providence Journal. “Don’t think, ‘Let’s make a profit this way or that way.’ You satisfy your customers, you’ll do fine.”

For the first store, the founding trio picked a city facing hard times, the 19th-century mill hub of Lowell, Mass. The doors opened at Consumer Value Store in 1963. The layout was airy and bright. There was a self-service bag station with the sign: “Help yourself. Save money!”

The store logo was a shield with the initials, CVS. The co-founders soon adopted that as the name. The initials made putting up signs a lot cheaper. “All those letters cost a lot of money,” Mr. Goldstein said. “So we shorted it to CVS.”

The second store was opened in Haverhill, Mass., about 25 miles northeast of Lowell. More locations began to pop up across New England. By 1988 , through acquisitions and expansion, CVS had 750 locations, according to a company history .

A pivotal moment came in 1996. Mr. Goldstein was chairman of Melville Corp., which had purchased CVS from the co-founders in 1969 and included other holdings such as Thom McAn shoes, K-B Toys and the Marshalls clothing chain.

CVS, however, accounted for nearly half of Melville’s sales revenue by the mid-1990s. Mr. Goldstein led an effort to sell off each division, leaving only CVS. “We were fortunate in that the restructuring went according to plan,” Mr. Goldstein told the industry journal Chain Drug Review.

No longer tethered to smaller brands, CVS had more freedom to grow. When Mr. Goldstein retired as chief executive in 1998, the company had more than 4,000 stores.

Today, CVS has over 9,000 outlets across the United States and territories to anchor a heath-care conglomerate with revenue of more than $350 billion in 2023, placing CVS among the top-10 publicly traded U.S. companies and ahead of other giants including Ford, General Motors, ExxonMobil and Microsoft.

In one of the CVS group’s most transformative deals, CVS Health acquired the Aetna insurance network in 2018 in a $69 billion merger that created a major alliance linking patient care, prescription drugs and other services.

Across Rhode Island, the CVS corporate influence was on display in dozens of philanthropic initiatives and fundraising projects such as a $54 million sports arena that opened in 2002 at the University of Rhode Island. In 2004, disclosures of back-channel meetings between CVS and state officials over corporate regulations led to the resignation of the state Senate president and revisions that sought to bring more transparency to state government.

Once retired, Mr. Goldstein fully shifted gears. He was sometimes spotted digging for clams or on his boat off Martha’s Vineyard bobbing in the harbor and listening to Red Sox games on the radio. He remained on the CVS board until 2006.

“So he wasn’t fancy?” Providence Journal columnist Mark Patinkin wrote , recalling a question posed to Mr. Goldstein’s son, Larry.

“That’s a capital N and a capital O,” the son replied.

Stanley Phillip Goldstein was born in Woonsocket, R.I., on June 5, 1934. His father ran the wholesale goods company, and his mother was a homemaker.

Mr. Goldstein graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business in 1955 and then served in the Army. He planned to make a career as a stockbroker, but his brother persuaded him in the late 1950s to help run their father’s company.

After CVS was acquired by Melville in 1969, co-founder Hoagland was pushed out by the Melville board after they learned he made personal donations to protest and activist groups including Students for a Democratic Society. Mr. Goldstein replaced Hoagland as CVS president.

“Ralph was the wild man who’d push the envelope,” Mr. Goldstein said , recounting the three CVS founders’ work during the early years. “Sid was quite conservative. And I was in the middle.”

Survivors include his wife of 64 years, the former Merle Katz; two sons, Larry Goldstein of Providence and Gene Goldstein of Miami; and four grandchildren. His brother, Sidney, died in 1995; Hoagland died in 2020.

In Providence, stories abound about Mr. Goldstein’s unpretentious manner. The Providence Journal columnist Patinkin shared one incident he witnessed at a party at Mr. Goldstein’s Providence home. Mr. Goldstein took a grilled shrimp from the hors d’oeuvres tray but was unsure of what to do with the tail. When no one was looking, he dropped it into a decorative vase.

“I later tattled on him to his wife,” Patinkin wrote, “who laughed and said yes, that sounded like her husband.”

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    Health psychology is the study of psychological and behavioral processes in health, illness, and healthcare. It focuses on how psychological factors such as thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and social interactions affect health and well-being. The discipline is concerned with determining how psychological, behavioral, and cultural factors ...

  23. Best Health Psychology Topic Ideas

    Finding an excellent health psychology topic to work on is quite a hassle. Writing your paper using eye-catching and informative topics in health psychology helps you stand out from your colleagues. Every psychology student's dream is to succeed in the academic journey, and using unique topics is the first step to a successful journey. Best Health Psychology Topic Ideas:

  24. 70 Unique Psychology Dissertation Topics in 2024

    Exploring the impact of personality on physical health and well-being. Social Psychology Topic Ideas. These psychology dissertation topics are about the ways individuals behave within social contexts. If it's the area of your expertise, feel free to consider: The role of social influence on decision-making processes.

  25. Five basic habits may hold the key to good mental health

    Professor Nick Titov's professional goal is to make himself redundant. As a Professor of Psychology at Macquarie University and Director of the University's digital mental health service, MindSpot ...

  26. How family economic insecurity can hurt child mental health

    Economic difficulty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic led to a cascade of connected problems for some parents -- resulting in mental health problems for their children, a new study suggests.

  27. Key differences in brain development between autistic ...

    University of California - Davis Health. "Key differences in brain development between autistic boys and girls." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com / releases / 2024 / 05 / 240523112614.htm ...

  28. Stanley Goldstein, who helped build CVS drugstore empire, dies at 89

    The idea that launched CVS was an experiment in early 1960s shopper psychology. At the time, items from shaving cream to Band-Aids to razor blades could be found in drugstores and, increasingly ...