As we all know, psychology is the study of human thoughts, and psychologists study and deal with human beings.
Some students who are considering psychology after graduating from high school wrote to me asking what psychologists do, the scope of disciplines, and the difference between a bachelor of arts and a bachelor of science. So I have solved all the problems in this answer, so please read it carefully.
So, what have we learned in the psychology course?
I studied in India and can only speak for Indian universities. Each university has its own curriculum structure and designs its own curriculum. However, the same subjects in all psychology courses are general psychology (teaching you the basis of psychology) and developmental psychology (studying lifelong development (it has different names, such as' lifelong psychology, human development'). ), statistics, social psychology (studying the relationship between individuals and others), cognitive psychology (studying psychological processes such as memory and attention) and abnormal psychology (studying psychological disorders). Other papers vary from university to university. These are bachelor's degrees and master's degrees. You can choose your own major, such as clinical psychology, consulting psychology, industrial psychology,
You must do a research project at the end of the course. In some places, they may ask for internships to get some practical contact, while in some places, they won't. There is no compulsory internship in my university.
Besides, these subjects don't teach us to read minds, analyze people or give us some magical solutions to solve all the troubles in our lives. They are just ordinary theoretical disciplines, and you have a set of definitions and theories. Our content mainly includes the views of different theorists on human behavior. So basically, psychology teaches you to look at the same thing from different people.
However, in India, if you want to work as a psychologist, you need to get a master's degree in psychology. Even if your bachelor's degree has nothing to do with psychology, your master's degree must be psychology, and in most universities, even if you don't have a bachelor's degree in this subject or related majors, you can still study for a master's degree in psychology.
Only top universities such as Christian University, Bangalore and Tata College of Social Sciences need a bachelor's degree in psychology or related disciplines, such as biology, to enter their master's programs.
In Christian universities, they have very professional psychology courses, such as human resource psychology and educational psychology. If you have a bachelor's degree in human resources (such as BBA), you can join their master's course in human resources, and if you have completed a bachelor's degree in educational psychology or something, you can join.
Even if you have a master's degree in correspondence education from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) or public universities such as university of madras and Bangalore University, you can engage in psychology.
However, being a clinical psychologist in India requires a master's degree in clinical psychology. Clinical psychology is a branch of studying psychological diseases.
When it comes to the work of psychologists, it really depends on the branch.
But let me tell you something that psychologists don't do—
thought reading
Judge your character.
Just look into your eyes and you will know what you are thinking.
The fairy dust sprinkled on you will make all your problems disappear immediately.
Give you advice and solve your problems.
In fact, all of the above are against the ethics of psychology. Psychologists are not allowed to judge or jump to conclusions. In fact, to judge whether a person has mental health, psychologists must conduct standardized tests on that person. Just like how doctors do blood tests and scans to see how patients are doing.
Good psychologists will never give you advice, they will let you solve your own problems.
Therefore, here are some popular branches of psychology and what people do in this branch:
Clinical psychologists-they use various treatments to evaluate and treat mental disorders, such as depression.
Counseling psychologists-they provide counseling courses to help improve your mental health and enable you to solve your own problems and operate independently. They are everywhere, from schools to workplaces to universities. It's everywhere.
Sports psychologists-they are employed by sports teams. They design methods for athletes to improve their performance and provide them with motivation.
Cognitive psychologists-they study and discover factors that affect psychological processes, such as attention and memory.
Social psychologist-this is mainly a research-oriented branch. They study the relationship between people. Attitude, conflict, etc. This is my personal favorite branch. In the long run, I want to be a social psychologist.
Educational psychologist-helps design courses to promote learning.
Industrial/organizational psychologists-most of them are employed by organizations. They help to strengthen all aspects of the organization, such as the relationship between employers and employees, methods to improve employee performance, and an environment conducive to organizational productivity.
School psychologists-they help design a school environment that is conducive to students' mental health and promotes learning. Not to be confused with educational psychologists. Educational psychologists mainly deal with courses, while school psychologists deal with school environment.
Health psychologist-studies how psychological and environmental factors affect physical health.
Besides, there are many other branches, and psychology is not limited to these branches.
In India, clinical and consulting majors are almost everywhere. So can the industry/organization. If you want to do any other branch, you may need to go abroad, or you can specialize in general psychology and practice in any branch in India.
The disadvantage of choosing a very specific branch is that your practice is limited to that branch. Therefore, it is best to choose a branch such as consulting psychology or general psychology, which has a wider range of career choices than other branches.
Generally speaking, you can work in several other fields, such as human resources and research. I used to be a school teacher, and I have been doing some work related to school learning difficulties/special needs. However, I don't work independently. Similarly, unless I specialize in learning disabilities, I can't deal with this field independently.
I can't become a mature professional psychologist until I get the master's degree in psychology that I hope to get at some time in the future.
If you have any questions about career opportunities in psychology, you can take this subject or psychology course. Either write it in the comments or send me the question directly, so that others can benefit from your question.
In addition, please don't ask me for treatment of mental health problems, because I am not qualified to provide the same advice. I don't want to provide any misleading information that may have a negative impact on you. There are many doctors and full-time psychological/psychiatric practitioners who can guide you better.