 Promote psychological health
○ Diagnose and treat people with emotional disturbances
 Help people deal with their personal problems
○ Examples: Depression, Personality disorders,
Schizophrenia
 Work in:
○
○
Mental hospitals
Prisons
○
○
Clinics
Private practices
○ Schools
○ Industries
○ Counseling centers
○ Government agencies

Counseling Psychologists
 Help people by advising and assisting with the problems of everyday life
○ Adjust to life transitions or make life-style changes
 Concerned with “normal” problems of adjustment or challenge
○ Academic stress, choosing a career, marital problems
 Work in:
○ Academic settings
 Schools
○ Community health centers
○ Private clinics
Focus on …
• Qualities of individual
• Surrounding environment
• Life span
• Gender
• Race

 Developmental psychologists
 Study how people change over time
 Interested in:
○
○
Physical changes
Emotional development
○ Cognitive processes
 Work in:
○ Academic settings
 Public schools
○ Day-care centers
○ Senior centers
○ Youth group programs
○ Hospitals
 Educational psychologists
 Study processes of learning, remembering, and thinking
 Topics related to teaching children and young adults
○ Intelligence, memory, problem solving
 Work in:
○ Universities
○ Schools
○ Education companies

 Industrial/Organizational psychologists
 Concerned with relationship between people and organizational structures
○ Study of people in the workforce
 Employed by businesses and government agencies
 Study and develop methods to boost production , improve working conditions , place job applicants, and train people
 Work in:
○ Government
○
○
Industry
Businesses
○ Colleges and Universities

 Experimental psychologists
 Perform research to understand how humans operate physically and psychologically
○ Learning, memory, sensation, perception, cognition, motivation, emotion
 Supply information and research used in psychology
○ Most identify with particular subfield of psychology
 Work in:
○ Research institutions
○ Businesses
○ Industries
○ Government agencies
○ Academic settings

 Community psychologist


Strengthen communities/organizations
Help provide access to resources

○
○
Examples:
○ Improving support for hurricane victims
Neighborhood crime prevention
Bullying prevention in schools
 Forensic psychologist


Apply psychological principles to legal issues
Examples:
○
○
Custody of children
Defendant’s mental competence to stand trial
○ Research on jury behavior
 Environmental psychologist
 Person-environment interactions
 Built environments, social settings, cultural groups, etc.
 Examples:
○
○
Effect of environmental stress on human effectiveness
Conservation behavior
– helping people adjust to the environment in which they live
 Social psychologist
 Interactions shape person’s mental life and behavior – focus on individual and group influences
○ Seek to improve interactions
 Examples:
○ Work in academic settings – teaching and researching
○ Advertising agency – study consumer attitudes and preferences
 Sports psychologist
 Focus on goals, motivation, dealing with failure/anxiety

2009 Doctorate Employment Survey APA

Other 15% Clinical and counseling 55%
Experimental 9%
Social and personality 5%
Developmental 5%
I/O 5%
School/Educational 6%