Conference on Emerging Trends in Psychology

The discipline of Psychology has undergone rapid expansion and consolidation of its various areas in the past century. Modern Psychology, as we call it today, is a myriad of perspectives ranging from rigidly scientific and mathematical ones to those committed to their origins in philosophy and religion. However, the bulk of Psychology has remained inspired by the zeitgeist of modernity carrying notions of scientific progress and technological development. These perspectives when applied in post –colonial contexts as Pakistan, seem unfit as either explanations or solutions to our current crisis around identity, religion, culture and gender. Notwithstanding the labels of ‘third world’ and ‘developing countries’ imparted by the complex hierarchies of modern scientific world,  the recent departure from modern to postmodern psychology allows a more creative engagement with local knowledge forms and rethinking about modern social science itself.  Recent trends in Psychology hence consist in critical, culturally informed and gender sensitive paradigms with their accompanying new methodologies that need to be looked into especially at this moment in time when confusion over these issues is overwhelming. Simultaneously, advancements in empirical research in cognitive, social, developmental, clinical and neuroscience areas have gained a momentum where innovations are emerging at a pace unprecedented before. From cellular and neurological explanations of social behavior to new understandings of developmental psychopathologies to groundbreaking work on higher aspects of human life as spirituality and happiness, the information explosion in empirical research output is indeed challenging for those who wish to keep pace with it. 

The conference on “Emerging Trends in Psychology” would offer an exposure into these new paradigms and methodologies that mark most recent areas in psychology as developmental psychopathology, cognitive neuroscience, critical social psychology and psychology of happiness and coping but would also address unresolved issues around culture, religion, spirituality, gender, national and ethnic identities. It would also offer brief training sessions into new and more critical research methodologies besides academic sessions on work done in these new directions. The concluding sessions would then deliberate upon where do we stand in relation to modern knowledge and what practical changes can we produce in our curriculum and research to remain an active part of ever innovative scenario of the discipline of psychology.