Basic science in psychology I m still confused over the appropriate subheadings for the sidebar on all the psychology pages We need one or two umbrella terms that contains the main areas of psychology Traditionally psychologists have identified themselves as having a primarily research or applied focus The problem I have with basic science applied science dichotomy is that psychology is rarely pure and even the areas that have been identified as basic in the sidebar often have an applied focus Even in the basic rodent work there is most often an intention to apply it to some human condition or to test a treatment If there is no such intention the researchers probably would not get ethical consent to run the research The funding for research in social and developmental psychology is often driven towards applied outcomes I m just an undergraduate psychology student I am out of my depth