Psychology Research Paper Topics: 50+ Great Ideas

Your professor will ask you to write a research paper in Psychology to test your understanding on human behavior and mind. As they read the final version of your work, the professor should see your deeper engagement to the subject and a construction of logical arguments that show you’re a critical thinker.

The professor may give you a topic to cover or they may leave it up to you to figure it out. In the case where it’s up to you to decide what to write, consider a Psychology theme that you find interesting enough to explore.

Don’t worry if you have no idea where to start. Below are 20+ interesting Psychology topics from which you can choose an idea to explore.

Key Takeaways

• Finding a topic doesn’t have to be challenging. Just read the assignment brief to understand your professor’s expectation and choose your title accordingly.
• You can only choose one topic. So pick a topic that interest you, develop a research question, and ensure your writing focuses on developing the question.

50+ Psychology Research Paper Topics

At the end of the day, your goal should be to choose a topic that you find interesting enough to research and write within the scope of the project.

Here are some ideas:

Social Psychology Research Paper Topics

Social psychology research examines how the presence of other people or an environment can affect your thoughts, feelings, and behavior. More often than not, the decisions you make and how you behave will depend on who is around you and on how many people are present.

Social psychology is a wide subject and therefore has many potential topic that you can investigate in your research papers.

Here are some examples:

1. The importance of the strange environment and Milgram's shock experiment
2. How a person's conduct may be affected by their involvement in a group
3. Milgram's shock experiment shows how obedience to an authoritative figure may result in violence.
4. How is society modeling our behavior in light of Bandura's social learning theory?

Physiological Psychology Topic Ideas

Physiological psychology is an area that examines the manipulation of the brain in controlled experiments. Your research has to take an empirical and critical approach to learn more about the mechanism of the nervous system.

Keep in mind that physiological psychology focuses entirely on nonhuman animal subjects, with the focus being to develop theories that explain the relationship between the brain and human behavior.

Here are some interesting research topics for this: 

1. The roles of serotonin and dopamine in feelings of pleasure and satisfaction
2. Individual variations in perception and feeling
3. The "layers" of neurons involved in visual perception arranged hierarchically.
4. Consequences of persistently interrupting REM sleep
5. Differences in the physiology of the brain due to gender

Related: Research Paper Topics on Environment

Neuropsychology Research Topics

A research paper in neuropsychology should focus on the relationship between human brain and behavior. Some of the topics that you can cover under this category are as follows: 

1. What flavor does the color red have? Synesthesia explained from a neurological perspective
2. Gene expression changes brought on by meditation and their possible impact on brain function
3. An investigation into the patient's memory and mental abilities when they are experiencing retrograde amnesia
4. What Primary Progressive Aphasia (progressive loss of language capacity) tells us about the parts of the brain responsible for processing language

Mental Health Research Topics

Mental health research focuses on thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Because mental health is a broad subject, there is no limit to what you can research and write. You can write about any condition that affect how human beings think, feel and behave, including depression, addiction, anxiety, and bipolar disorder. 

Here are some interesting research topics on mental health: 

1. Post-traumatic stress disorder risk linked to a variety of personality traits.
2. The main societal conditions and personal circumstances that affect Americans' mental health
3. What does Sensory Deficit Disorder (SDD) actually entail and how are you supposed to tell if someone has it?
4. Do young children fare better or worse than older kids do when their parents split?
5. Do people grow more mentally healthy and let out pent-up emotion because of video games, movies, and music?
6. How does the mental health of Americans compare to that of other nations?

Also Read: The True Cost of Writing a Research Paper

Developmental Psychology Research Topics

If you like, you can focus your research on examining how human beings grow and change throughout the course of their existence. You can focus on changes on social life, emotional wellness, and even cognitive development.

Some of the topics your research can cover are as follows:  

1. Risk factors for a number of psychiatric illnesses later in life, including child abuse
2. Adult repercussions of ignoring a child's emotional needs
3. How much training is necessary for a child's personality to develop in harmony?

Health Psychology Research Topics 

1. The significance of psychological help in the treatment of eating disorders
2. Most effective therapy for drug users to enforce abstinence
3. Physical activity as a beneficial tool for mood and stress management
4. Methods for dealing with stress and sadness in cancer patients
5. Strategies for communicating with patients in order to urge regular screenings
6. A psychological analysis of the important importance of belief in Alcoholics Anonymous Rehabilitation programs.
7. The impact of social contact and physical activity on cognitive capacities

Also Read: Should I Use Personal Pronouns In Research Paper? 

Forensic Psychology Research Topics 

1. In court, forensic psychologists must follow certain rules of behavior.
2. When serving as expert witnesses in court, psychologists should have the following knowledge.
3. Justification for legislative requirements governing the minimum witness age
4. Famous examples in American law involve fraudulent memory implantation in those who are very suggestible
5. To encourage collaboration, rules of linguistic engagement with criminals/witnesses in court must be followed.
6. evaluating the dependability of evidence gathered under various types of coercion other than those recognized in US constitutional law
7. Variations in the concept of insanity amongst states in the United States

Educational Psychology Research Topics 

1. Changing the way we teach dyslexic students
2. What effect does self-worth have on academic achievement?
3. Bullying in school and its effects on self-perception
4. Is a no-homework policy (as in Finland) beneficial to student performance? Is such a paradigm relevant in the United States?
5. How much study time is appropriate for various ages?
6. The significance of attachment in educating young children
7. Does playing difficult instruments improve kids' cognitive performance?
8. Social reinforcement vs. monetary rewards for fostering student learning
9. Strategies for increasing pupils' motivation to learn
10. A person's professional speciality is influenced by their parenting style later in life.

Emotional Health Research Paper Topics 

1. How do you know when you're ready to quit using antidepressants or anxiety medications?
2. Who is Sigmund Freud? What did he think? How significant is Sigmund Freud to modern psychiatry?
3. What are the phases of brain development in newborns between the ages of one and two?
4. Is a particular quantity required? How should dreams be interpreted? Are certain visuals symbolic of anything else?
5. What is the most effective strategy to maintain your brain healthy as you get older?
6. Are there any viable natural alternatives to medications used to treat mental illness?
7. What are the adverse effects of using Prozac or other antidepressant medications?

Women’s Mental Health Research Paper Topics 

1. How do women's shifting hormone levels influence their mental health?
2. Why do women attempt suicide at a higher rate than men?
3. How do women's friendships influence their mental health?
4. What differences exist between men and women when it comes to mental illnesses?
5. According to Dr. Wanda K. Jones, "women's mental health is vital to their overall health and the health of our nation." Whether you agree or disagree with this statement.
6. What causes some moms to become so mentally ill that they endanger their children?
7. What are the long-term effects of antidepressant usage on women?
8. What is the most effective method of preventing postpartum depression?
9. How do women's stress symptoms differ from men's symptoms?
10. What exactly is postpartum depression, sometimes known as the "Baby Blues?" Is it a mental disorder?

Clinical Psychology Research Paper Topics 

1. Cognitive behavioral treatment for autistic individuals
2. The Importance of Emotional Support in Addiction Treatment
3. Cognitive behavioral therapy vs. depression treatment
4. The clinical significance of lucid dreaming research (for psychosis, nightmares, PTSD)
5. Clinical neuromodulator manipulation advances and limits for depression therapy
6. Methods for ensuring regimen adherence in people with eating disorders
7. The use of virtual reality in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder
8. Approaches to addressing phobias that are novel
9. Neuro feedback and sensory integration/occupational treatment for Asperger's syndrome children
10. Electroconvulsive therapy should only be used as a last option in the treatment of severe depression and bipolar disorder.

Criminal Psychology Topics for Research Paper 

1. Psychological distinctions between juvenile and adult criminals
2. Achieving a balance between criminal intent and restraining factors
3. Is it harmful to jail adult and adolescent criminals together (in terms of reeducation)?
4. Key personality qualities (neuroticism) that can be used to predict criminal conduct
5. What the amount of thought involved in conducting a crime reveals about criminals
6. An examination of imprisoned offenders' worldviews (What prevails, guilt, wrath, disillusionment, self-pity, emotions of unfairness, fatalism?)
7. Psychological disorders that frequently lead to criminal conduct
8. Criminals' emotional and social demands for effective societal inclusion/integration following release
9. Controllability when committing a crime and its application in criminal profiling
10. The perspective of a serial murderer – Are there any recurring themes in the cases?

Research Paper Topics on Education Psychology 

1. Social reinforcement vs. monetary rewards for fostering student learning
2. A person's professional specialty is influenced by their parenting style later in life.
3. Does playing difficult instruments improve kids' cognitive performance?
4. What effect does self-worth have on academic achievement?
5. Bullying in school and its effects on self-perception
6. How much study time is appropriate for various ages?
7. Is a no-homework policy (as in Finland) beneficial to student performance? Is such a paradigm relevant in the United States?

Conclusion

With our list of psychology research topics, it shouldn’t be difficult at all to find a subject (or title) that you can start to explore in the field of psychology.

Really all you have to do is go through the ideas we’ve shared, pick a topic that seems interesting to explore, and start your research writing process.

It’s also important to check the guidelines put in place by your instructor, as writing your research paper based on their instructions will earn you the highest scores possible.