Psychology Department
Undergraduate Admissions
Contact Us:
- Psychology Department
- Scranton, PA 18510
- The University of Scranton
- Phone: 570-941-7630
Career Paths within the Major
Psychology is a broad and rich field that touches on all human behavior. Here are some of the avenues you can pursue within psychology proper. Of course, psychology majors also work within dozens of other fields, as seen on our Career Outcomes page. (All links within the following fields open in new windows.)
Clinical Psychology
Clinical psychologists work in both academic institutions and health care settings such as clinics, hospitals, community mental health centers, and private practices. Many clinical psychologists focus their interests on special populations such as children, minority groups, or the elderly. Others focus on treating certain types of problems, such as anxiety, eating disorders, or depression. Opportunities in clinical psychology are expanding relative to populations that have not been served well in the past: children, families, the elderly, inmates, ethnic groups, and rural dwellers.
People with master's and bachelor's degrees may not independently practice psychology. They may, however, work in clinical settings under the direction of a doctoral-level psychologist. In some cases, this work could include testing or supervised psychotherapy. For further information in this area, please refer to www.div12.org/, www.clinicalchildpsychology.org/, www.abct.org/Home/
Counseling Psychology
Counseling psychologists foster and improve human functioning across the life span by helping people solve problems, make decisions, and cope with stress. Typically, counseling psychologists work with moderately maladjusted people, individually or in groups, assessing their needs and providing a variety of therapies. They apply research-based approaches to help understand problems and develop solutions.
Counseling psychologists often use research to evaluate the effectiveness of treatments. Research methods may include structured tests, interviews, interest inventories, and observations. They also may be involved in a variety of activities, such as helping people adjust to college, consulting on physical problems that might have psychological causes, teaching graduate-level practica in counseling, or developing techniques that students can use to reduce their anxiety about taking examinations. For further information in this area, please refer to www.div17.org.
Developmental Psychology
Developmental psychologists study human development across the life span, from newborn to aged. Developmental psychologists are interested in the description, measurement, and explanation of age-related changes in behavior; stages of emotional development; universal traits and individual differences; and abnormal changes in development.
Many doctoral-level developmental psychologists are employed in academic settings, teaching and doing research. They often consult on programs in day-care centers, preschools, and hospitals and clinics for children. Other developmental psychologists focus their attention on problems of aging and work in programs targeted at older populations. For further information in this area, please refer to any of the following websites: www.apadivisions.org/division-7, www.srcd.org, www.piaget.org.
Environmental Psychology
Environmental psychologists are concerned with how humans affect, and are affected by, environments. Topics of interest to environmental psychologists include territoriality, personal space, crowding, cognitive mapping of places, effects of urban life, the restorative effects of nature, and the effects of weather and noise on human behavior. Conservation psychologists work in a related area concerned with the human impact on the environment. Conservation psychologists conduct research designed to understand and solve environmental problems, such as global warming.
Environmental and conservation psychologists can be found in a wide array of academic and nonacademic settings. Consultants and academics typically have a doctoral degree, but environmental psychologists can also be employed with a master’s degree in federal agencies, urban and regional planning agencies, and environmental design firms. For an overview of conservation psychology, please visit www.apadivisions.org/division-34/interests/conservation.
Evolutionary Psychology
Evolutionary psychologists study human nature. They are interested in discovering and understanding the information-processing mechanisms that evolved to solve ancestral adaptive problems. Knowledge of psychology can be gained by considering how our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors increased our ancestors’ reproduction. They use a multitude of methods to explore a broad range of topics, including language, mating, parenting, kinship, cooperation, altruism, aggression, and conflict between the sexes.
Evolutionary psychologists usually have Ph.D.s and work in academic settings where they teach, supervise undergraduate or graduate research, and conduct their own research. For additional information (including a list of graduate programs), see www.hbes.com.
Exercise and Sport Psychology
Exercise and sport psychology is the study of the psychological aspects of sport and physical activity. Sport psychologists examine topics such as the ways an athlete can use visualization techniques and ways sports teams can cooperate to work more effectively together.
Like other psychologists, some sport psychologists conduct research in academic, government, and business settings. Others help individuals and teams improve their athletic performance and train coaches to help them become more productive. For further information in this area, please refer to www.apa.org/about/division/div47.
Experimental Psychology
Experimental psychologist is a general title applied to a diverse group of psychologists who conduct research on and often teach basic behavioral processes. These processes include learning, sensation, perception, motivation, memory, thinking, and the physiological processes underlying behaviors such as eating, reading, and problem solving. Experimental psychologists study the processes by which humans take in, store, retrieve, express, and apply knowledge.
Most experimental psychologists work in academic settings, teaching courses and supervising students' research in addition to conducting their own research. They are also employed by research institutions, business, industry, and government. A research-oriented doctoral degree is usually needed for advancement and mobility in experimental psychology. For further information, please refer to www.apadivisions.org/division-3/index, www.apadivisions.org/division-21/index, www.cognitivesciencesociety.org.
Forensic Psychology
Forensic psychology is the term given to the applied intersection of psychology and law. Forensic psychologists might help a judge decide which parent should have custody of the children or evaluate the victim of an accident to determine if they sustained psychological or neurological damage. In criminal cases, forensic psychologists might evaluate a defendant's mental competence to stand trial.
Some specialists in this field have doctoral degrees in both psychology and law. Others were trained in a clinical psychology program and chose courses, research topics, and practical experiences to fit their interest in psychology and law. Jobs for people with doctoral degrees are available in psychology departments, law schools, research organizations, law enforcement agencies, courts, and correctional settings. Some forensic psychologists work in private practice. For further information in this area, please refer to www.apadivisions.org/division-41/index.
Geropsychology
Researchers in the psychology of aging (geropsychology) study the factors associated with adult development and aging. For example, they may investigate how the brain and the nervous system change as humans age and what effects those changes have on behavior or how a person's style of coping with problems varies with age.
Many people interested in the psychology of aging are trained in a more traditional graduate program in psychology, typically clinical, developmental, or social. While they are enrolled in such a program, they become geropsychologists by focusing their research, coursework, and practical experiences on adult development and aging. Geropsychologists are finding jobs in academic settings, research centers, industry, health care organizations, and agencies serving the elderly. For further information, please refer to www.apadivisions.org/division-20/index.
Health Psychology
Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Industrial/organizational psychologists are concerned with the relation between people and work. Their interests include organizational structure and organizational change; workers' productivity and job satisfaction; selection, placement, and development of personnel; and the interaction between humans and machines. Their responsibilities on the job include research, development, and problem solving. I/O psychologists work in businesses, industries, governments, and universities. Some may be self-employed as consultants or work for management consulting firms.
Jobs for industrial/organizational psychologists are available at both the master's and the doctoral level. Opportunities for those with master's degrees tend to be concentrated in business, industry, and government settings; doctoral-level psychologists also work in academic settings and independent consulting work. For further information in this area, refer www.siop.org, www.apa.org/about/division/div14, www.hfes.org
Neuropsychology
Neuropsychologists investigate the relation between physical systems and behavior. Topics they study include the relation of specific biochemical mechanisms in the brain to behavior, the relation of brain structure to function, and the chemical and physical changes that occur in the body when we experience different emotions.
Clinical neuropsychologists work in the neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatric, and pediatric units of hospitals, and in clinics. They also work in academic settings where they conduct research and train others. Most positions in neuropsychology are at the doctoral level, and many require postdoctoral training. For further information, go to www.apa.org/about/division/div6, www.cogneurosociety.org, www.apa.org/about/division/div28.
Psychology of Gender
The psychology of women and men is the study of factors affecting gender development and behavior. The field includes the study of stereotypes, the relation of hormones to behavior, and the development of gender roles, gender identity, and sexuality. Current research topics include reactions to rape, factors that promote managerial success, and factors that discourage talented girls from obtaining advanced mathematics training. Clinicians whose area of concentration is the psychology of men focus on psychotherapy with men.
Psychologists focusing on the psychology of gender are found in academic settings and sometimes in clinical settings. Consult for further information www.apa.org/about/division/div35.html and www.apa.org/about/division/div51.
Quantitative Psychology
Psychometric and quantitative psychologists are concerned with the methods used in acquiring and applying psychological knowledge. A psychometrician may revise intelligence or personality tests or devise new ones. Other quantitative psychologists might assist a researcher in psychology or in another field design to interpret the results of an experiment. Psychometricians and quantitative psychologists typically are well trained in mathematics, statistics, computer programming, and technology.
Doctoral-level psychometricians and quantitative psychologists are employed mainly by universities and colleges, testing companies, private research firms, and government agencies. Those with master's degrees often work for testing companies and private research firms. For further information, refer to www.apa.org/about/division/div5.
School Psychology
School psychologists help educators and others promote the intellectual, social, and emotional development of children. They do so by conducting psychological testing on children and creating environments that facilitate learning and mental health. They evaluate and plan programs for children with special needs or disruptive behavior in the classroom. They sometimes provide on-the-job training for teachers in classroom management, consult with parents on ways to support a child's efforts in school, and consult with school administrators on psychological and educational issues.
To be employed in the public schools, school psychologists must complete a state-approved master’s program and be certified by the state. Certification as a school psychologist can usually be obtained after 60 hours of graduate work and a one-year supervised internship. Please refer to www.apa.org/about/division/div16.
Social Psychology
Social psychologists study how people interact with each other and how they are affected by their social environments. Topics of interest to social psychologists include the formation of attitudes and attitude change, attractions between people such as friendship and love, prejudice, group dynamics, and violence and aggression. Social psychologists might, for example, investigate how unwritten rules of behavior develop in groups and how those rules regulate the conduct of group members.
Social psychologists can be found in a wide variety of academic settings and, increasingly, in many nonacademic settings. For example, more social psychologists than before now work in advertising agencies, corporations, and architectural and engineering firms as researchers, consultants, and personnel managers. Please refer to any of the following websites: www.spsp.org, www.spssi.org, www.sesp.org.
A Word About Salary Expectations
Psychologists earn a wide range of salaries, depending more on the nature of their job than on their particular specialty. For example, a person with a B.S. in psychology working as a Mental Health Technician might make $30,000 a year, while an academic psychologist at a university might make $70,000 to $180,000. Similarly, a psychologist working in research at a drug company or a management position will probably make more than one who is a university professor. A doctoral-level clinical psychologist in full-time independent practice will average $125,000 a year. More experienced psychologists typically earn more than the average, of course.
Master-level mental health professionals predictably earn less than doctoral-level clinical or counseling psychologists. School psychologists with a master’s degree average $75,000 per year. Masters-level clinicians, such as counselors and social workers, in agencies will earn between $40,000 and $60,000 and those in private practice closer to $70,000.
High-paying jobs in psychology per se are rare without a graduate degree. In general, people with graduate degrees earn more if they are employed by industry, the federal government, or in private practice. Jobs in public agencies and universities (with the exception of administrative positions) typically have lower, although still quite adequate, pay scales.
2017 Average Salaries for Psychologists
|
Type of Position |
Doctoral level |
|
Faculty Position – Full Professor |
$130,000 |
|
Faculty Position – Assistant Professor |
$60,000 |
|
Educational Administration |
$125,000 |
|
Private Practice |
$125,000 |
|
Research Positions |
$60,000 |
|
Management Positions |
$136,000 |
|
School Psychology |
$85,000 |
|
I/O Psychology |
$125,000 |
|
Source: 2017 National Survey of College Graduates, National Science Foundation |
|