Have you ever thought about what a degree in Psychology could mean for your child? Years ago Psychology was a social science primarily understood as training to be a clinician (a therapist). Today there are so many subfields or specializations within the discipline that a degree in Psychology doesn’t tell you much about what the person studied without having an understanding of the specialization or subfield of concentration.
The study of Psychology could result in a career in a laboratory studying the human brain’s neural connections and development. It could translate into working in a computer laboratory designing neural networks and analyzing how the networks take in and change information to form memories, mimicking the human brain and child development. Both of these options would likely stem from a specialization in Neuropsychology, a fun subfield of Psychology that is strongly interwoven with biology and human anatomy.
Perhaps your child is fascinated with the legal system and wants to pursue a career helping people in that venue, but maybe Law School is not an option at this time. Did you know there is a subfield of Psychology called Forensics Psychology? It is a specialization within Psychology where brain function, human behavior, and the legal system intertwine. Forensic Psychologists can be courtroom consultants, providing testimony and assessing people involved in a case. They can assist lawyers in choosing the right jurors for a jury trial. They can interview victims of crimes and offer assistance to the police and legal counsel as to how best to assist the victim. They can also be found investigating crime scenes and assisting the police by creating profiles of criminals to narrow the search for a perpetrator of a crime.
Did you know that there is a whole subfield of Psychology where human behavior and thoughts are studied with the goal being to help the person control behaviors or change behaviors that they engage in? Cognitive-Behavioral Psychology is a specialization where you can work with people of every age and ability to help them gain control over behaviors that they want to change or want to learn. This field has heavy ties to biology and human anatomy as it requires an understanding of the human brain and how humans learn as well as knowledge of thought processes and the instinctual and voluntary nervous systems.
And that is only three of many options for specialization within the field of Psychology. It is a social science that has grown tremendously in the last few decades as our desire as a human population has demanded a better understanding of why people do what they do, think what they think, and say what they say.
Interested in learning more? Excelsior now offers many courses in Psychology to help your child decide if this might be a career path of interest.
Link: https://www.verywellmind.com/major-branches-of-psychology-4139786
Jenn Buonincontri believes that every person that crosses her path has something to teach her and vice versa. Learning is life-long, and she embraces the opportunity to share with others her love of learning while challenging those around her to expand their understanding. Jenn graduated from Hartwick College with a B.A. in Psychology in 1998 and continued on to her first M.A. in Psychology focusing on Statistics and Neuropsychology in 1999. From there, she proceeded to the City University of New York and studied Developmental Psychology. Earning another M.A. in Developmental Psychology and a Masters in the Philosophy of Psychology in 2002, she then transitioned from her own studies to teaching others.
