Careers in Psychology

Careers in Psychology
Kelsey Reed
BEH/225
Ainsley Hendricks
January 25, 2014

We see a doctor when we are feeling ill and go to the hospital for emergency care or surgery. But what about our emotional and mental health? We would see a psychologist but that type of psychologist would we see because each of us suffer from emotional or mental health differently. Some of us are lucky we have minor problems and some of need extra help. Psychology is the best method to use to treat psychological problems. In this essay I will briefly go over three branches of psychology that help many people in today’s world and they are child psychology, school psychology, and social psychology. The first psychological therapy is child psychology. Child psychology is a specialized branch of psychology that focuses on the development and behaviors of children from birth to adolescent. They generally work with children and their primary care givers and treat a whole array of kids. You can be a good child, troubled, autistic, violent, or suffer from a severe mental or emotional trauma, child psychologists work with them. While seeing a child psychologist, they monitor how you behave, you milestones, social skills, and mental and emotional well-being.
But in order to be a child psychologist, you will need to get a Bachelor’s degree in child and adolescent psychology which will take about four years. You can also further your learning by getting a Master’s or your Ph.D. as well for an additional six to eight years. Child psychologists are typically in high demand and finding one is simple yet finding the right one is hard. Child psychologists typically work at schools, orphanages, child welfare offices, hospitals and mental health clinics.
Next we have is school psychology. School psychology is a branch of psychology that concentrates on students and how to make the best of their education. School psychologist’s main goal is to create a happy, healthy, safe, supportive, and effective learning experience for all kids. School psychologists work with mainly students, but also teachers, parents, and the school administrators to ensure that you’re getting the best learning experience.
School psychologists need to obtain a Bachelor’s degree in school counseling, educational counseling, or general psychology. School psychologists can obtain a Master’s or their Ph.D. in school psychology for an addition six to eight years. Now where do they work> Well like their name, they typically work at schools. But school psychologists have been found to work at day care centers, juvenile detention centers, and orphanages.
Lastly, we have social psychology. Social psychology is a branch of psychology that studies how the presence of people can influence a person’s behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. Social psychologists create replica environments or real world environments to monitor the behaviors or people. Social psychologists typically solve problems or prejudice, bullying, criminal activity and more. But I think the main goal of social psychologists is to research the behavior of the situation or replica situation is. Analyze the behavior and work together to empower a person or change the view of the situation.
Social psychologists need to obtain a minimum of their Bachelor’s degree in general or social psychology. They can also get their degree in general psychology, development psychology, community psychology, and or social psychology. They can get their degree in social science, anthropology, and sociology too. They can also obtain their Master’s degree in the above for an addition two years totally to 6 years in college. Or they can go for their Ph.D. in the above degrees for an additional two to four years totaling to eight to ten years. Social psychologists typically work at private research facilities or organizations and or government research facilities and or organizations. They can also be found working in laboratories, or natural environments, schools, correction facilities, and social welfare offices.
Now you must be wondering why I like child psychology, school psychology, and social psychology. It’s quite simple. The reason I like child psychology because a child is a precious thing and as a parent, you want only good thoughts in their minds. Not all the time that happens. Also seeing kids with autism and violence is sad too because we want them to be a member of society. But I connect with them because I had some issues as a child and it has affected some aspects in my adult life and it sucks sometimes. But we deal with what we can.
Now the reason why I like school psychology because I am a success story of school psychology. Fitting into school is difficult and I am a slow learner. I also am a hands on learner. So my psychologist and teacher would help me understand the work so I could excel. I knew the work but it was hard for me to understand especially since every week is a different topic. I also found being in smaller classes like this class and all the other UOPX classes helped me understand my work.
Lastly, the reason why I like social psychology is because I like the fact that there is a study in changing the way we view the world and it can empower us. It is hard to change some of the things we were born to do, even as adults. But having social psychology changed me into being more open with the world because it doesn’t make sense to hold onto fictional things.
In conclusion, this past nine weeks has been a true and good learning experience. I learned more about different mental health problems, the solution to these problems, and how the success rate is. I was surprised I utilized some of the programs because at the time, I didn’t know and I just wanted to get better.

References
American Psychology Association. (2015). “Becoming a Child Psychologist”. Retrieved From: http://careersinpsychology.org/becoming-a-child-psychologist/.
American Psychology Association. (2015). “Becoming a School Psychologist”. Retrieved From: http://careersinpsychology.org/become-a-school-psychologist/.
American Psychology Association. (2015). “How to Become a Social Psychologist”. Retrieved From: http://careersinpsychology.org/becoming-a-social-psychologist/.

References: American Psychology Association. (2015). “Becoming a Child Psychologist”. Retrieved From: http://careersinpsychology.org/becoming-a-child-psychologist/. American Psychology Association. (2015). “Becoming a School Psychologist”. Retrieved From: http://careersinpsychology.org/become-a-school-psychologist/. American Psychology Association. (2015). “How to Become a Social Psychologist”. Retrieved From: http://careersinpsychology.org/becoming-a-social-psychologist/.