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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.

Number of Doctorates Awarded by Psychology Subfield

Subfield 1976 1994 2012
Clinical 883 1,329 2,650
Cognitive --- 76 452
Counseling 267 464 420
Developmental 190 158 50
Educational 124 98 470
Experimental 357 143 110
Industrial/Organizational 73 124 130
School 143 81 260
Social 271 165 40
Other or general 387 560 1,548
Total 2,883 3,287 6,110

Note:  Data from National Research Council and National Center for Education Statistics (selected years).

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