Psychology

What it’s about:

Psychology majors study the behaviour and mental (emotional, learning, and thought) processes of animals and humans. You learn psychology principals, facts, and theories about individuals and groups, using experimental, observational, and case study methods.

What the study of this major is like:

The psychology major most often begins with a required one-semester intro course; continues with several other required core courses, such as in research methods, statistic, and experiment psychology; and concludes with a fourth-year capstone experience – perhaps a research seminar.

Most departments divide the major into concentrations – such as development psychology (which may include infant and child psychology, adolescence, gerontology, and the life span) and experimental psychology (learning, sensation and biological psychology) – and require you can to take courses from each area. In addition, you can usually choose from range of electives. You earn either a Bachelor of science degree (which requires more math and science) or a Bachelor of Arts degree (requiring more humanities and a foreign language); otherwise, there may be little difference on course work between the two degrees.

The subject matter of psychology is diverse. An intro course may cover the basics of motivation, perception, learning, memory, social psychology, development psychology, abnormal psychology, counselling psychology, and language – topics that may also be covered, in depth, in intermediate and advanced courses. In undergraduate counselling psychology, you learn about psychotherapy. Clinical psychology adds psychological assessment (testing) and program evaluation and research skills.

Some courses features lecture and discussing, and some have research components. Labs may involve working with sophisticated equipment, or with a rat, pigeon, or other animal colony. Doing research allows you to learn scientific methods and to differentiate between common sense notions and research-based findings. In individual and group research, you may investigate attitude and beliefs through questionnaires; observe people in social situations; or explore differences in responses between experimental groups and control groups.

The challenges you may face include mastering statistics and becoming familiar with the methods of scientific inquiry. Learning the terminology and basic concepts of psychology will probably require some no-nonsense studying. Presenting research at a forum or conference can be a rewarding, if intimidating experience.

Departments may vary in whether they emphasize psychology as liberal arts or as pre-professional programs. At some colleges, the emphasis is on pure research. At others, which stress the practical application of research, there may be more opportunities to do internship in the mental health/human service and industrial/organization areas.

Career options and trends:

Social worker; school psychologist; clinical psychologist; lowers; counseling psychologist; physician (internist, psychiatrist, or other specialist); health care administrator; psychotherapist.

Psychology major also pursue careers in a wide variety of public, private, profit, non-profit, business and service organizations, working in administration/management, community relation, program development, research, human resources, public relation, military service, advertising, market research, retail, and sales.

Jobs in health care administration, social work, industrial/organization psychology, and medicine (including psychiatry) require graduate or professional degree. Job growth will be strong for positions in school psychology, clinical psychology, and human services/mental health which usually require either a master’s or doctorate degree, state certification or licensure, and sometimes a one-year internship. Physicians must pass the state board exams to be licensed to practice in a particular state.

Many graduate programs that teach clinical skills (such a psychotherapy, assessment, and program evaluation) are discontinuing such training at the master’s level; the doctorate is becoming the entry-level degree of choice.

Source: CollegeBoard 2012 Book of Majors