Psychology Research Paper Topics

The purpose of a psychology research paper, just like any kind of scientific writing, is to get the audience up to date about developments in the psychology field. Anything from new theories, experiments, ideas or arguments can fit in such a paper. When writing a research paper on a psychology-related domain your aim is to make those complex ideas filled with specific terms, more accessible to the broad audience and, at the same time, add your own experience in the field.

It goes without saying that any fact or a new piece of info introduced in your paper has to be supported by evidence and when it comes to research papers, practice really does make it perfect. One thing that could help you with your task is learning how to write an abstract for your research paper. We will go through the basics of creating a psychology research paper and also a variety of topics you can choose for your next assignment.

HOW TO CREATE A HIGH-QUALITY PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH PAPER

Composing such a paper is not such a draconic task as you may think. But, just like anything in life, you should do some research of your own and make some guidelines to follow. Here are some of them:

What Kind of Paper are You Writing?

When it comes to psychology research papers there are two main types. You can either go for an empirical paper for your assignment, or you can take the literature review approach instead. The difference is that empirical papers must have a lot of details on research, experiments and provable facts related to the paper. Opposed to the empirical approach, the literature review method is often a tool you turn to rather summarize the empirical activity someone else. When your assignment is a literature review, you are usually indicated with the maximum studies you can include in your work. This number is anywhere around five or twenty studies.

Research

The title of your assignment automatically determines the research you will have to do in order to be able to write the paper. Most of the students consider this part to be the most exciting one. And that’s very much true as doing your research for such a paper is pretty much like playing detective. You have to look all over the internet and your library to find reliable sources of inspiration and fact-checked examples you can include in the paper. Perhaps it will feel like a maze at times but that’s exactly why you should write everything down in chronological order. It's essential like knowing how many paragraphs is an essay. You will thank yourself later for that.

Sketch an Outline

You may think that the notes you took during research are more than enough to start writing your paper. Well, in some cases that might actually be true, if you are lucky enough to be attracted to the subject of the paper and have enough inspiration to just skip to writing it. However, that rarely happens so you might want to take some more time and do a proper outline of what you’re going to work on. You should know what is a thematic statement and where the work is going. This will act as a compass when you get to the actual writing part as you will always be able to come back to it remind yourself what’s the next step.

Begin Writing

Having completed all the above steps – you now have a title for your paper, you established what kind of paper you are going to write and also made an outline – it’s finally time to jump into action. Try not to lose too much time on spelling or minor grammar mistakes and instead focus on just connecting with your inner ideas and put them all down. Only after you have a first draft done you can worry about proofreading and editing to eliminate any mistakes that might have slipped through your fingers. Even with the first draft done, you’re far from being done. If possible, ask a colleague or a friend with a similar background to read it and tell you their unbiased opinion. Read the paper yourself again, even after proofreading to make sure it’s the absolute best you can produce. Only after all these steps are completed, you can turn in the paper and know that you gave everything.

Here are some ideas of psychology topics you can write about:

• The relationship between mental illness and ageing
• An analysis regarding the possibility of applying capital punishment for sex offenders
• Is there a link between bullied teenagers and law problems?
• Insecurity of own sexuality is what triggers homophobes?
• Socializing and its benefits on mental health
• Quitting smoking through hypnosis?
• Is morality influenced by harsh laws?
• A link between mental health and child obesity
• Are later mental health issues related to childhood trauma?
• Divorce – the influence on children
• Social Interaction explained
• Postpartum Depression effects on mother and child – explained
• Deviant behaviour of sex offenders could be treated through cognitive behavioural treatment?
• Teenagers and dating abuse and violence
• How depression affects work performance
• Morality through generations
• Effects of different kinds of torture
• How undealt-with stress affects our health and well-being
• Being attractive gets you a less-complicated life?
• Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why – Glorifying suicide?
• Can you build confidence by sexting?
• Is divorce counselling helpful?
• Senior citizens, abandonment and the link to mental illness
• Factors that influence your motivation
• What weakens your memory and how to stay clear of them
• Full overview of how PTSD changes quality of life
• Bipolar Disorder – everything you need to know
• Mental impact of hate crimes on affected individuals
• Mental health of homeless people
• Why attractive people get better treatment?
• Involvement of psychologists in the military
• Habits – how they form and how to change them
• Habits explained. When does a recurring action become a habit
• Mental health effects of failed relationships
• How is personality influenced by a birth affect?
• Abortion – effects on the woman’s mental health
• Miscarriage – effects on the mental health of the couple
• Ways Used by Sports Psychology to Promote Mental Health
• Bipolar Disorder – How it affects your health
• Is gut microbiota linked with depression?
• Genetics and environment and the influence on intelligence
• How is stress affected by individual differences?
• How mental illnesses affect our quality of life
• Evolution of torture methods through the years
• Narcissists – do they have an effect on our mental health?
• Mental health improved through tolerance
• Preterm delivery and the way it influences the mother’s health
• How social anxiety impacts the life of the sufferer?
• Consequences and Impact of teenage sexting on children
• Violent music – impact on children
• The work environment and its influence on self-esteem and motivation of workers
• Extrovert versus Introvert behaviour
• Does gender count in depression?
• School uniforms – are they important?
• Is monogamy a doable concept?
• Are child obesity and parental negligence linked?
• Mental health and junk food
• Long and short-term memory
• Mentally challenged children – a better understanding of mental development
• How winning or losing affects our brain?
• Social isolation and mental health
• Influence of music on mental health
• Social media behaviour and a negative body image
• What not saying “NO” to your child can lead to?
• How does peer pressure on first sexual contact impacts teen’s mental health?
• Financial, emotional and physical abuse of elderly people
• Postpartum depression: fact or myth?
• Spending time alone in nature and its benefits
• Stress and preterm delivery
• Prevalence of depression among vitiligo diagnosed among
• Hypnosis - Pros and Cons
• Terrorists – mental development and psychological profile
• Serial killers - Psychological profile
• Introvert behaviour at adults – Consequences and reasons
• Stress and sleep deprivation – what’s the link?
• Can stress cause physical illness?
• Myth of Fact – Suicidal contagion
• Human development and growth – the three main phases
• How phobias affect your personality
• Office issues and how do they affect the mental state of a person
• Gay adoption – religious and ethical concepts
• How is the couple’s health affected by abortion?
• How does schizophrenia changes quality of life?
• How does social media affect human interaction?
• Can the implication of transgender individuals in the military affect the morale of comrades
• Teenage suicide – how to understand and control it
• Studying schizophrenia in young women and men
• What are the effects of solitary confinement
• Americans and popular fast foods – understanding how it works
• Homeless people and their problems
• Learning about homophobes and their psychology
• Paying for sexual favours – understanding the individuals that do that
• Sex workers and their psychology
• Hyperactive children and the role of environment and biology
• Suicidal behaviours – understanding how it works
• Motivation theories – how they work?
• How can mental states be influenced by colours?
• Depression – psychological reasons behind it
• Durable marriages – how can they be obtained?
• Is there a link between TV and obesity?
• Hate crimes – effects on the victims and the community
• Is personality development influenced by environment?
• Is a child mental health influenced by having a narcissist mother?
• Depression and obesity – is there a link?
• Reasons why we generalize people
• Where do phobias come from?
• Struggling with stress
• Reasons for the rising of divorce rate

Conclusion

Psychology research papers with process papers topics are quite often assigned to students and that leads to a lot of sleepless nights. But writing such a paper doesn’t have to be that hard. If you choose a subject you are passionate about, half of the work is done. With a thorough research you complete the other half and wiring the paper will be a piece of cake. Feel free to use the topics suggested on our website to create awesome research papers.