Author: Abhinav

In this article I try to cover the types of psychology degrees available in current academic structure for psychology aspirants. So let’s get started right away.

Types of degrees in Psychology

Worldwide, hundreds & thousands students enter in a psychology college with the dream of doing major/masters and becoming a psychologist. So, if you are visiting this page, then I believe that you too are interested in exploring the academic degrees and credentials allied with the fascinating field of Psychology. Before you continue, I suggest you to explore psychology facts, information & new approaches to acquaint yourself with the basic understanding of the discipline that is known for exploring human behavior and mental processes.

Different types of Psychology Degrees

The academic degrees in psychology can be best understood by dividing them into five categories:

1. Associate Degree: Associate degree program in psychology is a two-year course generally offered by community colleges and technical schools. The degrees awarded to students on completion of associate level program are titled as Associate of Arts (A.A.), Associate of Science (A.S.) and Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.). Though an Associate degree may not guarantee a formal career pursuit as a psychologist, it may help students to take up entry-level positions and work as a mental health technician, a data analyst or a vocational rehabilitator. Many students shift to state universities to complete their four year bachelor’s degree after earning an associate degree.

2. Bachelor’s Degree (Undergraduate Coursework): The Bachelor’s degree is a four year undergraduate coursework in which student can major in any one of the many sub-disciplines of psychology like health psychology, school psychology, forensic psychology, clinical psychology etc. Depending upon the general education coursework elected by a student, s/he may earn a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree or a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree. Earning a bachelor’s degree opens the door for a variety of career fields for a psychology student. S/he may work in schools, clinics, hospitals, vocational centre, career divisions, organizations etc.

3. Master’s Degree (Graduate Coursework): One reason that a master’s degree in psychology is a popular choice among students is due to the abundance of job opportunities available in the market in a variety of settings. Generally, it requires 2-3 years to earn a graduate master’s degree in psychology. Like Bachelor’s, a master’s degree may be titled as M.A. in psychology or M.S. in psychology. Masters in Psychology is a specialized degree in which a student excels in a particular field of interest like forensic, clinical, abnormal, school, business, health, psychoanalysis etc. Specialization provides a deeper understanding of the subject along with its practical application in day-to-day life.

4. Specialized Degrees (Ed.S. and Psy.S.): Ed.S. is a specialized degree generally earned by students aspiring to become a school psychologist. Ed.S., Education Specialist in School Psychology prepares professionals to work within the school settings. The program gives competence to students in building pupil-parent-peer integration with school and community. Psy.S., Specialist in School Psychology, is another degree that offers extensive training and competence in assessment, prevention and intervention of school–going students in terms of their mental, physical and social problems. Both, Ed.S. and Psy.S., can be pursued after doing Master’s in Psychology.

5. Doctorate Degrees: The two most commonly names associated with the doctorate level of degrees in psychology are Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (Ph.D.) and Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.). Both degrees require approximately 4-6 years of time to complete. The Ph.D. degree in psychology is an academic and research-oriented degree in which a student does extensive research on a particular topic of interest of a sub-discipline. The student must have a good hang of research methodology, research designs, and experimental psychology for pursuing Ph.D in psychology. In contrast, Psy.D is a professional practice of psychology in which a student learns the art of applying the practice of learned theoretical principles of psychology in a specific professional setting. Examples include: specializing in psychotherapy, psychological assessments, relationship counselling, diagnosing mental disorders etc. It is essential for students pursuing Psy.D. to pass the licensing exams so that they can gain professional license to practice. Besides, the coursework also demands a compulsory internship for a fixed number of hours under a licensed psychologist to have hands-on experience about the applied discipline.

The academic training in psychology is a rigorous brain-storming process in which a student’s mind is shaped to view the world in a novel and creative way. It helps a person to endorse individuality and develop skills of looking and solving psychosocial issues in a productive and efficient way.

A wonderful discipline that lets others grow with the return-reward of self-growth!!

I hope this article would have helped you in understanding the types of psychology degrees available for you today.

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Hello Readers, this will be like one of business psychology articles where I try to talk about the importance of studying business psychology degree and in fact how a business psychology course can bring in value addition to your career and opportunities.

What is Business Psychology? Business Psychology Definition – Business and Psychology

Organizations are built and made functional by leveraging on its human capital resources. No matter how workable business plan one may have with all the strategies to effectively implement it, the ultimate success of the plan rests upon the people who are going to execute the plan and work on it. From leadership to employee engagement or managerial roles and responsibilities to organizational change and development, the role of a business psychologist is enormous. They are the professionals who apply psychological principles of human behavior to understand organizations and its functional elements. They work directly with management and employees with the aim of accomplishing organizational mission, goals and vision and making the workplace productive. This gives us a clear definition of business psychology.

Importance of Psychology in Business Administration – Business Psychology and Organisational Behaviour

Business Psychologists, who have business psychology degree, can work in a variety of positions and titles in organizations. As Human Resource Managers or Chief Human Resource Officers, they are engaged in the processes of recruitment, selection, training and development of employees. They screen candidates through interviewing and psychometric assessments for the specific positions. They are known for building employee-management relations by dealing with effective or emotional aspects of working. Besides, implementation of equal employment opportunities and affirmative actions are also monitored by them.

Role of Psychology in Business – Psychology and Business

Rapidly changing business world with technological advancements and social progress make organizations go sick and non-functional if they do not comply with the fast-changing environment. The role of an Organizational Development (OD) expert, a specialized variant role of a business psychologist, is to tap this fast-changing external environment and make organizations evolve through the change. An OD expert is known to build, retain and forecast the talent pipeline of an organization that can help it to acclimatize through rapidly changing external environment. Another significant role of a business psychologist can be viewed in the fields of marketing and advertisements wherein they apply their skills of influencing people and appeal to a buyer’s mind, heart and intellect. Business Psychologists are also positioned in organizations as Organizational Research Scientists to carry out human factor research for efficient functioning. Another fascinating application of a degree is to establish oneself as an entrepreneur with sound knowledge of business acumen, leadership, managerial duties and handling emotional labor.

Business Psychology Jobs – Careers in Business Psychology

To become a business psychologist, in fact it requires 5-7 years of rigorous academic training in a best psychology school / college along with hands-on experience of industry in the form of internships and summer jobs. It is important to note that out of the different types of psychology degrees, business psychology is an applied psychology field like forensic psychology and school psychology that assists organizations to utilize the talent and skills of its employees to gain competitive advantage. The actual crux of the field can only be obtained by working in the industry and understanding the field in real world settings. Thus, internships, part-time consultant jobs and summer training are essential for a prospective Industrial Organizational psychology student apart from academic degrees. In terms of educational qualifications, one must hold a major and a master’s degree in Industrial Organizational psychology (or masters in business psychology) to be eligible to gain registered license to practice as an I/O expert. The doctorate degrees in Business Psychology (or phd in business psychology) can make one enter in research and university positions and generate theoretical and research-based knowledge of optimizing the workplace.

Business Psychology Salary – Growth Opportunities

If you have good business skills with the ability and interest to understand the functioning of human behavior, a degree in business psychology (Industrial / Organizational Psychology) can lead you to one of the most lucrative careers across the globe. On an average, Business psychologists salary range from $94,000 to $102,570 that makes it one of the topmost three trend careers in psychology. Further, the job opportunities in the field are expanding exponentially and the career in the field is considered quite stable. A combo of the technical and the human aspects of the workplace, a degree in business psychology can get you listed in the fastest growing occupation of the next decade.

I hope this would have given you some insight into business psychology. Do let me know if you have any questions.

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15 Top Psychology Colleges / Schools / Universities in the World

Psychology is one of the most popular subjects that students want to pursue as their career choice. With completion of the high school in excellent grades, starts the hunt for the best psychology colleges where one can go for higher studies to do psychology major. Among the top colleges for psychology where a prospective student aspires to go for doing a major in psychology are Harvard University, Cambridge University, Oxford University, Stanford University and Yale University. The rankings given by institutions like QS World University Rankings by Subject, US News Grad Compass and US News and World Report have rated these as five top colleges with good psychology programs with various specialization.

Source: QS World university rankings 2015: Top 15 Psychology Schools

5 Good Colleges for Psychology

Harvard University has a highly reputed and prestigious department of psychology founded by eminent psychologist Wiliam James in the late 1800s. Other distinguished and renowned psychologists associated with the Harvard include Henry Murry, B.F. Skinner, George Miller and Gordon Allport. The Department offers undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and post-doctoral programs to aspiring students in five major disciplines: Cognition, brain and behavior, Developmental, Clinical science, Social and Organizational behavior (business psychology). From time to time, the department opens psychology internships and research assistant positions for students to gain experience in the domain.

The Department of Psychology at the Cambridge University offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in psychological and behavioral sciences. The MPhill and PhD course programs are also offered in which a full-time research degree is awarded to a student on submission of dissertation work. Research staff is appointed from time to time to conduct researches with senior faculty in their specialized domains. The Department also has various centres and institutes like Behavioral and clinical neuroscience institute, Centre for family research, Centre for neuroscience in education, Centre for speech, learning and brain and Centre for ageing, meant for conducting research in their respective disciplines.

The Department of Experimental Psychology at the Oxford University is worldwide known for its path breaking basic and applied research and educational opportunities across all levels of education. The Undergraduate degree program gives specialization in core research areas of abnormal, biological, cognitive, developmental and social psychology. The Graduate degree (masters) course is offered by two courses: MSc in psychological research and MSc in neuroscience. The research degrees like DPhil and PhD are also offered in the disciplines of experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience.

The Department of Psychology at Stanford University, California, is one of the highest rank colleges in the world (colleges that offer psychology). It offers B.A in Psychology and M.A. in psychology in areas- Affective science, Cognitive, Developmental, Social and Neuroscience. The Department has a rich faculty directory including Emeriti like Albert Bandura, Barbara Tversky and Phillip Zimbardo, known for their famous experiments and psychological case studies taught at every undergraduate coursework.

The Yale’s University department of psychology is known for specializations in the disciplines of Clinical psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Social/Personality Psychology and Neuroscience. The Department offers graduate, post graduate and doctorate levels of programs to aspiring students. The Yale University is famous for its research work in brain-behavior linkages. Students interested in understanding the neural or biological basis of behavior prefer to pursue their university education at Yale.

Importance of selecting among good psychology colleges

Remember, choosing the university and psychology school according to your interest is extremely important for a subject like psychology that has more than 50 specialized sub-disciplines types. Taking the right school can help you prepare for your future career prospects.

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