What Criminal Justice Jobs Can You Pursue With A Ba In Psychology
A bachelors degree in psychology can open up a lot of different opportunities in the criminal justice field, including probation officer social and human services assistant child, family, and school social worker and even police officer.
What Does a Probation Officer Do?Probation officers assist in the rehabilitation of law offenders who are in custody, on probation, or on parole by helping them follow the law and successfully reintegrate into society. A background in psychology can be helpful in this role, as it can give you a better understanding of why people commit crimes and how to best motivate them to change their behavior.
What Does a Social and Human Services Assistant Do?Social and human services assistants work with victims of crime to help them through the legal process and connect them with resources they need to heal and move on with their lives. If you are drawn to psychology with the goal of helping people, this role will give you both hands-on experience, and the tangible outcome of lives changed. Victim Support Services shares just how critical this role is. A degree in psychology can give you the skills you need to provide emotional support to victims and help them navigate the often-complex criminal justice system.
What Can You Do With A Masters Degree In Psychology
Masters degrees in psychology generally take about two years to complete and during that time, students build on the knowledge they gained during their undergraduate studies in order to have a deeper understanding of human behavior and social science research. In addition to taking core classes, students are able to choose a specializationlike health, industrial/organizational, and clinical psychologythat will enhance their knowledge of a particular subject based on their career goals. The following are some of the careers that students can qualify for when earning a masters psychology degree.
Requirements?
Voluntary certifications are available
These workers help to collect data by creating surveys based on their own research on the topic being studied, working closely with the survey interviewers, and analyzing and reporting data collected. Also, they analyze how effective surveys were at eliciting information and make changes as needed.
Less Typical Careers With A Psychology Degree
As a psychology graduate at bachelor level, there are thousands of opportunities for you outside healthcare and educational roles if you know where to look. This is due to the varied transferable skills you gain from your degree, as well as widespread recognition of the advantages of having psychological and analytical expertise. In broad terms, psychology graduates can be found working in all sectors of society, including media, criminal justice and rehabilitation, advertising, business and management, sports, public agencies and the legal sector. Some less typical careers with a psychology degree are outlined below
Media and advertising careers
It might not be an obvious choice for psychology graduates, but media careers are varied, with ample opportunities to apply the skills a psychology degree will hone. Psychology graduates can impart valuable insights into human behavior, as well as offering the ability to analyze problems, listen attentively, give considered responses and act with empathy and reason. Because of this, media roles within all departments including management, production, scheduling and writing are well within reach for psychology graduates.
Human resources and communications careers
Business and management careers
A psychology degree may also provide a good basis for careers in IT, finance, the legal sector, government administration and market research.
What Can You Do With a Psychology Degree? is part of our What Can You Do With series.
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If You Need Financial Aid
You may be able to get financial aid to attend both undergraduate and graduate school. Assistance comes in different forms: fellowships, scholarships, grants or subsidies, work study programs, federal loans and teaching or research assistantships. Graduate assistantships and work study require part-time work.
In many PhD programs, financial aid packages that include tuition, some benefits and a stipend are available. Students applying to PhD programs will want to check on the availability of such packages and their eligibility for them. For those accredited programs in professional psychology , the program must provide information on its website about cost, financial aid, time to degree, attrition and so forth.
Students seeking financial aid for a graduate degree should get advice as early as possible. Consult with both the psychology office and the office of financial aid on your own campus and also with the office of financial aid at the school to which you are applying. Students of ethnic minority background should also contact the .
Learn From Other Psychologists

Psychology majors may often network with other psychologists and graduate students from their respective fields of study. This can allow you to learn new treatments and counseling methods to assist with helping your patients. By networking with other professionals who study the brain, you can expand your knowledge by meeting and discussing new treatment solutions. With a network of other psychologists, you can benefit from having a support group that can be helpful when you encounter problems to which you might need answers.
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What Does A Clinical Psychologist Do
A clinical psychologist has various responsibilities based on their specific job position. In most clinical psychology positions, these professionals work directly with patients to provide individualized care based on their specific needs. Other common duties for clinical psychologists include:
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Identify behavioral, emotional or mental conditions in a client
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Perform assessments to further analyze a clients condition
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Diagnose conditions based on analysis and assessments
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Educate a clients family members on their condition and how to best cope with it
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Create individualized treatment plans related to the clients specific condition
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Oversee a clients progress and make adjustments to the treatment plan when needed
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Psychology Masters Degree Everything You Need To Know
A Masters degree in Psychology is the next step up from the Bachelors degree. As a result, a masters will open up a whole new world of possibilities and career opportunities for you, and will delve more deeply into the field of psychology.
See also: Masters in psychology jobs
This type of degree generally takes about 2-3 years to complete, and you can either choose to study a Master of Arts degree in psychology, or a Master of Science in psychology. With a master of science degree, you will take a closer look into the research and science behind psychological matters, whereas a master of arts in psychology will be a more liberal and theoretical approach to psychology.
Most masters programs are designed to give you the chance to dive into specific areas of psychology, so you may find Masters degree programs such as M.A. or M.S in Social Psychology, or Child Development, or Forensic Psychology. This can give you a chance to hone in on your particular area of interest, and decide upon a course of study that will give you all of the tools you need to be qualified and successful in specific areas of psychology.
With a masters degree, you can open the door to entry level positions in fields regarding mental health, colleges, universities, private business, industrial organizational psychology, forensic psychology and so much more.
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What Business Jobs Can You Pursue With A Ba In Psychology
Business is everywhere, which means business jobs including remote ones are everywhere. If youre looking for the best business jobs, you can pursue with a psychology degree, consider this short list: market research analyst, public relations specialist, event planner, fundraiser, management analyst, financial analyst, and marketing manager.
What Does a Market Research Analyst Do?According to the BLS, market research analysts use psychological principles to help companies understand their customers and the marketplace. design surveys and questionnaires, analyze data, and make recommendations to businesses about marketing strategies and product development. A bachelors degree in psychology is often helpful for this career.
What Does a Public Relations Specialist Do?Public relations specialists develop and maintain relationships between an organization and the public. They write press releases, plan publicity campaigns, and respond to media inquiries, advises Career Explorer.
What Does an Event Planner Do?Event planners coordinate all aspects of events like conventions, conferences, group meetings, and trade shows. They negotiate contracts, select vendors, manage budgets, and execute plans on event days.
What Does a Management Analyst Do?Management analysts help businesses improve their operations and run more efficiently by conducting research, analyzing data, and making recommendations to executives.
Median Salary Of Psychologists
In May 2020, BLS recorded the median annual wage for psychologists at $82,180. The lowest 10% took home less than $46,270, while the highest 10% earned more than $137,590 . The median salaries of psychologists based on the top industries they worked in were as follows:
- Government $100,360
- Elementary and secondary schools state, local, and private 77,560
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Earning Potential With A Masters Degree In Psychology
The earning potential can vary depending on your location, which area of psychology you go into and what your role is. However, the majority of those with masters degrees in psychology can achieve salaries ranging from $38,500 to $82,000. However, the top earners with a masters degree in psychology can earn up to $113,000 per year.
Nonprofit Agency Program Manager
As a program manager at a nonprofit agency, you would handle projects that an organization has embarked on to further its mission. You would likely work with anyone from volunteers to agency executives and ensure other employees and volunteers are appropriately trained to participate in the project you manage.
Nonprofit agency program managers make an average of $54,981 a year, according to Payscale.
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The Importance Of Accreditation
Accreditation is the mechanism used to ensure educational quality at the institutional and programmatic level, as appropriate. At the institutional level, there are regional and national accrediting agencies. There are six regional accrediting bodies that accredit colleges and universities in different geographic regions. National accrediting bodies accredit institutions or specific vocations. Specialized and professional accrediting bodies generally accredit at the program level. To ensure the accrediting body acts in a reputable manner, both the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation recognize or accredit the accrediting bodies.
requires that ones education and training occur in a regionally accredited institution. Accreditation of programs in psychology occurs only for the specific practice-related areas of clinical, counseling and school psychology . As such, most state licensing boards in psychology require, at a minimum, an applicant to have completed a program in a regionally accredited institution. Many also require graduation from an accredited program.
Gain Knowledge Of Applied Science

As a psychology major, you can benefit from learning applied sciences, which involves taking existing scientific knowledge and applying it to new theoretical discoveries. You can use this method to better understand how patients with mental illness interact with others, perceive the world and make decisions. While not every psychologist uses applied psychology, you can benefit from learning about theories that may later be beneficial to improving treatments and therapies.
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Advance Your Critical Thinking Skills
Psychology majors can learn and grow a career by using critical thinking skills to diagnose patients, run experiments and determine accurate conclusions. Critical thinking strategies include approving and disapproving theories and hypotheses. This may include continually asking questions, gathering data and analyzing evidence to help find treatments for those with varying mental health conditions.
How Can I Advance My Career In Psychology
Most high-level positions in psychology require postgraduate education. As such, you can advance your career by pursuing either a masters or doctoral degree. A masters degree typically takes one to two years to complete, while a doctoral degree can take five to seven years depending on your programs requirements. Both degrees may require students to complete a dissertation and clinical or field training.
If part of your career development plan is to practice as a psychologist, you will need to take the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology . This exam is one of the requirements of licensure for psychologists in the US. Others include your postgraduate degree and supervised clinical hours between 2,000 and 6,000 hours depending on state requirements.
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Psychologists Promote Physical And Mental Health
Psychologists as health providers span a large and diverse spectrum of subfields. Some psychologists work alone, with patients and clients coming to the psychologists office. Others are involved in health care teams and typically work in hospitals, medical schools, outpatient clinics, nursing homes, pain clinics, rehabilitation facilities, and community health and mental health centers.
Increasingly, psychologists in independent practice are contracting on either a part-time or a full-time basis with organizations to provide a wide range of services. For example, a psychologist can join a health practice and work with a team of other health care providers, such as physicians, nutritionists, physiotherapists and social workers, to prevent or treat illness. This team approach, which is likely to become more common in the future, frequently includes efforts to change unhealthy behaviors and ensure that patients follow the recommended treatment. The team also helps patients cope with stress.
Psychologists also instruct students who are training to become health care professionals, such as physicians and nurses, about the psychological factors involved in illness. And they advise health care providers already in practice so that illnesses with symptoms that have a psychological component can be better diagnosed and treated.
Dr. Daniel AbrahamsonClinical psychologist, administrator and advocate
Dr. Dorothy W. CantorClinical psychologist in independent practice
Career Opportunities In Psychology
These steps can lead to a range of possibilities for a career in the field, such as the popular roles listed below.
- Clinical psychologists assess, diagnose, and treat emotional, mental, and behavioral disorders. Their 2020 median annual salary was $79,820, according to the BLS.
- Counseling psychologists help patients understand and address problems in the home, at the workplace, or in the community. Their 2020 median annual salary was $79,820, according to the BLS.
- Developmental psychologists help clients process psychological progressions associated with life changes, usually centered around adolescents or aging adults. Their 2020 median annual salary was $82,180, according to the BLS.
- Industrial-organizational psychologists work in the business sector in areas such as employee training and assessment, human resources, and worker productivity. Their 2020 median annual salary was $96,270, according to the BLS.
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The Personal Benefits Of A Psychology Degree
In addition to preparing yourself for any number of careers, there are many other benefits inherent in earning your bachelors degree in psychology. It can give you insight into the behavior of other people and groups, as well as your own. What you learn can help you communicate and build more fruitful relationships at work and in your personal life.
basically going to learn what makes people tick, Lesniak said. Youre also going to be able to look into things like building relationships, what motivates people. You can use the degree directly in your work, but I think you can also use it to help understand yourself better.”
A degree can change your life. Find the SNHU psychology program that can best help you meet your goals.
Joe Cote is a staff writer at Southern New Hampshire University. Follow him on Twitter @JoeCo2323.
Three Career Paths With A Sport Psychology Degree
May 19, 2016
Competitive sports test the strength and agility of the mind as well as the body.
If youâre interested in the mental aspects of competitiveness, a career in sport psychology is worth your consideration. Hereâs a look at the sport psychology field and three potential career paths.
What is sport psychology?
While coaches will typically focus on the physical performance and well-being of athletes, sport psychology professionals focus on their minds and mental health. Individuals in this field can help athletes enhance their performance with mental strategies, deal with the pressures of competition, recover from injuries, and stay mentally motivated to keep up with exercise regimes and enjoy their sport.
Sport psychology professionals come from a variety of backgrounds, ranging from former athletes who want to stay involved in the game to sports enthusiasts who hope to combine this passion with helping others better their performance.
Three potential career paths in sport psychology
1. Team coach-focused
A team coach mentors whole groups of athletes rather than individuals. People who are passionate about using group dynamics to positively impact performance are good candidates for this focus.
Career settings may include collegiate or professional sports teams, school districts, or community-based sports programs.
2. Personal training-focused
3. Sport psychologist-focused
Career settings may include private practice or sports team psychologist.
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Associate Degree In Psychology
An associate degree in psychology is an undergraduate degree that introduces you to the subject of psychology. It typically takes two years to get an associate degree, which is why it’s referred to as the “two-year college degree.”
After earning the 60 credits required for an associate degree, you may decide to continue with a bachelor’s degree. Although, earning an associate is not required to pursue your bachelor’s.
Different Types Of Jobs In Psychology

Posted on – Last updated: August 5, 2022
William James, known as the Father of American Psychology, described the field as the science of mental life. This apt and concise description has not been surpassed. Psychologists study the inner workings, functions, and effects of thought processes, emotions, memories, dreams, perceptions, sensations, and other cognitive occurrences and the behaviors associated with them.
The field should not be confused with either neuroscience, which is the study of the brain, or psychotherapy, which is a specialized form of psychology.
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