Psychologists study how people make sense of the world, themselves, and each other. The resulting knowledge from this vast field of study doesn’t just sit in a library of research articles, a digital database, or a scientist’s head. It is communicated to a wide audience through books, blogs, news articles, movies and shows, parents, educators, and more. The psychological knowledge or principles that make up our understanding of how people think, feel, and behave also help us understand what happens when things go wrong for people. We can then design ways to prevent things from going in an undesirable direction (such as laws or parenting practices), or interventions to change what happens when things go wrong (such as psychological treatment or new policies). Psychology is found in the world in expected places, such as a therapist’s or counselor’s office, and unexpected places, such as government or nature.

In this chapter, you will read some examples of how psychological science is applied in the world outside of the research lab. Dr. Thalia Goldstein’s work with young children and theater games demonstrates how psychological research can impact our lives. Dr. Reeshad Dalal and Dr. Seth Kaplan’s research on emotion regulation shows psychological principles at work in organizations, and Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett’s research on the impact of words on our nervous system provides examples of how psychology can change our communities, and organizations.