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Careers in Psychology

There is great diversity within psychology. Following are brief summaries of some of the major areas in which you can concentrate your psychology studies. You should view these as opportunities, not limitations, since new areas are constantly emerging. The last five areas of psychology described here: Family Psychology, Health Psychology, Geropsychology, Forensic Psychology, and Psychology of Men and Women, are either emerging or expanding and should provide an increasing number of jobs in the coming years. The following table shows the number of Ph.D.s awarded in psychology by subfield.

Major Fields of Doctoral-Level Psychologists and
Number of Ph.D.s Awarded by Subfield
Subfield 2002 2006  2011
Clinical 1312 1118 1236
Cognitive 121 131 203
Counseling 536 411 432
Developmental 173 202 218
Educational 54 60 62
Experimental, Physiological 201 220 224
Industrial/Organizational 154 173 202
Psychometric/Quantitative 22 20 35
School 89 123 112
Social and Personality 197 202 251
General and Other 438 553 619
Total 3199* 3263* 3594*

*Plus 1,500 Psy.D. degrees awarded annually.

Note:  Data from National Research Council (multiple years).

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