Career Profile: Psychology
 The field of psychology contributes theories as to why people behave the way that they do. Psychologists look to investigate if a person’s environment or neurological and biological processes are affecting them to cause them to act in a certain manner. Famous psychologists include Sigmund Freud who helped to develop the clinical practice of psychoanalysis and B.F. Skinner who is recognized as having invented the operant conditioning chamber. But these examples are just a few of the major contributors in the discipline.
As a profession, psychology contains many different career paths. These paths allow psychologists to work directly with patients and offer treatment, or pursue research in the field to advance the subject. Recently, private industry has been consulting with psychologists because psychologists can provide insight as to why a person is compelled to purchase certain brands overs. Traditionally, however, most people who work in the field of psychology are in a clinical or academic environment.
Similar to other medical professions, psychologists are required to attend many years of schooling, typically to at least the Masters level, and must become licensed by the state they wish to work in. Depending on the career goals of a person involved in psychology they may opt to get their PhD, which is typical of most clinical psychologists, their EdD if they want to be a school psychologist and their MD if they are looking to become a psychiatrist.
Psychologists typically settle in a private practice, working directly with patients, or working in businesses, hospitals, educational institutions, and government agencies. School psychologists work with children in grades K-12. Whereas psychologists who work for the government may treat inmates or work in state hospitals.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of available jobs for psychologists will grow at a faster pace than the average job in the U.S. economy.
Job growth in the field is related to a higher demand for psychology services in both the private and public sectors. School psychologists, in particular, will witness the greatest growth due to the fact that ongoing research in student mental health will lead to a greater demand for counseling services. Similarly, psychologists who work in the private sector, specifically with companies, will have opportunities available that include tailoring coupling psychology research and theory with marketing and advertising campaigns.
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