Although a large number of psychologists work in the mental health areas (e.g., clinical and counseling), any psychology student is aware that there is much more to psychology. This section gives information on some of the largest and most well-established subfields.
One group of psychologists has always been interested in the study of the brain in relationship to behavior. These psychologists take a biological, or physiological approach. In fact, the title of the first textbook on psychology was "Principles of Physiological Psychology," published by Wilhelm Wundt in 1873. Today, graduate programs in this field have a variety of names, including physiological psychology, biological psychology, psychobiology, biopsychology, neurobiology, and behavioral neuroscience. You will notice the term neuroscience in the last of these names. Neuroscience is a larger discipline that emerged as a separate field of study in 1969, with the foundation of the Society for Neuroscience. Today, there are over 37,500 members of this professional society (www.sfn.org). Most neuroscientists, including biologically oriented psychologists, have positions at colleges and universities, where they are involved in teaching and research. Others are hired by government agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health, or private industries, such as pharmaceutical companies. The vast majority of such people earn a Ph.D. in psychology or neuroscience. A neuroscience program is typically interdisciplinary in nature, including faculty members from several departments, such as psychology, biology, chemistry, and medicine. Admission to such graduate programs is very competitive, and requires a strong background not only in psychology, but in biology and chemistry as well. It also is extremely useful to have a good working knowledge in computers and electronics. While nearly all Ph.D. programs stress the importance of participation in research at the undergraduate level, this is especially true for neuroscience-related fields. Therefore, you will want to seriously consider doing independent studies, an honor's project, and/or summer research if you would like to pursue this type of career.
For more information about pursuing graduate studies in this area, see Bruce Hetzler.
Social and Personality psychology are frequently considered two branches of a common line of inquiry: The study of the "whole person." This includes normative processes (what humans are like as a species), individual differences between people (personality), and how the person is influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people (social). Social and Personality psychologists study processes related to attitudes and cognition, emotion, motivation, interpersonal and intergroup relations, and self-regulation (among other topics). Although Social and Personality psychology have distinct histories, many graduate programs merge the two fields into the same training program. The merger of these fields is also reflected by the monikers of the fields' most prominent journal (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology) and professional society (Society for Personality and Social Psychology). Given the breadth of focus inherent to these subspecialties in psychology, Social and Personality psychologists are well-represented on the faculty of most colleges and universities, where they teach and conduct research, often with undergraduate students as participants. Social and Personality psychologists may also work for government agencies or private industries (ranging from the National Institutes of Health to eHarmony.com). Admission to Social and Personality graduate programs typically requires a strong academic record (including GRE scores and letters of recommendation), excellent writing skills, research experience (especially independent studies and honors projects), and a clear idea of one's professional interests and goals.
While some graduate programs put the social and personality specialties "under one roof," it is also very common for graduate programs to maintain separate specialty areas in social and personality psychology. In this case, you would need to apply to one or the other area group within the department of psychology. Keep in mind that the personality specialization sometimes is referred to as "differential psychology." For example, the University of Minnesota traditionally has had one of the top programs in the country in social and personality psychology (as two separate programs). They refer to the personality program as, "Personality, Individual Differences, and Behavioral Genetics" because the program emphasizes both personality and genetic contributions to individual differences (see http://www.psych.umn.edu/areas/specialization.htm). Notice that Social and Personality Psychology are two distinct area groups at the University of Minnesota. It also is instructive that the personality area is further specialized to emphasize the genetic contribution to personality.
For more information about social and personality psychology programs, see Matt Ansfield, Peter Glick, and/or Josh Hart.
Health psychology is a relatively new field that has flourished in the last 10-15 years, and is now evolving into one of the main areas of psychological science. As an area of study, health psychology explores the relationships between psychological and physical well-being, and how biological, psychological, and social factors affect health and illness. As a science, health psychology involves the discovery of such knowledge through special empirical methods to study the causes and consequences of illness and well-being. As a profession, health psychology involves the application of that knowledge to promote health and to prevent illness. Working in the field of health psychology generally requires a doctoral degree (i.e., 5 to 7 years of graduate study, including a doctoral dissertation of original research). There currently exists a nice selection of graduate programs dedicated solely to health psychology, however significantly fewer than those offered in the other primary areas of psychology. On the other hand, as health psychology touches on so many other areas of psychological inquiry, many graduate students pursue doctoral degrees in one of the primary areas (such as clinical, social, or developmental) with a research emphasis on the nature, function, and dysfunction of psychological factors related to health and well-being. Admission to all such graduate programs is very competitive, and requires a strong background not only in psychology, but in biology as well. Students interested in pursuing a graduate degree in health psychology might thus consider working toward a double degree in their undergraduate education in both psychology and biology. Health psychology programs will also be particularly interested in those who have participated in research at the undergraduate level, especially research that emphasizes the study of psychological factors that relate to health and well-being.
For more information about health psychology programs, see Matt Ansfield.
I/O Psychology is an applied field of psychology that examines issues relevant to organizations and businesses. Industrial psychology includes various concerns often associated with Human Resource departments in businesses, such as personnel selection and training, effective management, and ensuring equal opportunity on the job. Many I/O psychologists are employed in business settings and I/O programs may be offered through a business school (such as Northwestern's Kellogg School) rather than a Psychology Department. Organizational psychology is broadly concerned with how organizational structure affects communication and productivity, the impact of organizational culture on members' interactions, and how to design more effective organizations. The main society for I/O psychologists is SIOP (Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology). For information about I/O psychology, go to www.siop.org and follow the "What is I/O Psychology?" link. Although Lawrence does not offer I/O psychology courses, many of the principles applied in the field come from basic areas of psychology that are taught at Lawrence: social psychology, clinical psychology, personality psychology, health psychology, cognitive psychology, research methods. Courses in these areas offer excellent preparation for later specialization in I/O.
For more information about I/O psychology programs, see Peter Glick.
Cognitive psychology is both a content area and a particular approach to investigating psychological questions that has influenced many of the other areas of psychology. Cognitive psychologists believe that mental structures and processes can explain human learning, perception, attention, memory, categorization and concept formation, language, reasoning, problem solving, and decision-making. These are the main topics of investigation in cognitive psychology, and research on these topics fill the variety of journals in the field, including Cognitive Psychology, Cognition, the Journal of Experimental Psychology, Journal of Memory and Language, Memory and Cognition, and Perception & Psychophysics. Cognitive psychology is also part of the interdisciplinary field of cognitive science that investigates the nature and representation of knowledge, the structure and function of intelligence, and the relation of mind to brain and machine. Cognitive science takes its subject matter and methodologies from many disciplines, including psychology, computer science, linguistics, philosophy, anthropology, and neurophysiology.
Given its interdisciplinary and broad theoretical perspective, many kinds of graduate work are possible in the study of cognition. In addition to psychology and cognitive science programs (see http://www.cognitivesciencesociety.org/graduate/ for information about cognitive science), related study can be done in linguistics, computer science, and neuroscience departments (cognitive neuroscience is a rapidly growing sub-discipline that combines physiological and cognitive psychology research approaches). Considerable cognitive psychology is also used in schools of education, business, and law. One can study applied cognitive psychology in clinically focused programs (to use cognitive and perceptual research to treat various cognitive disorders); graduate programs in communication disorders, speech pathology, or audiology http://www.asha.org/gradguide/; music therapy http://www.musictherapy.org/; and clinical neuropsychology http://www.div40.org/. If your interests lie in the application of cognitive psychology to legal situations, graduate work in forensic (law) psychology would be appropriate, http://www.ap-ls.org/. Human factors psychology applies psychological principles to the design of computers, machines, and other human-made artifacts, http://www.apa.org/science/nonacad_careers.html.
For more information about cognitive psychology programs, see Terry Gottfried.
Developmental psychology is a very broad field spanning the study of development from the womb to the tomb, although most developmentalists focus on various periods of development such as infancy, childhood, or adult development and aging. In addition, developmentalists study aspects of development that represent all of the major areas of psychology (such as clinical, cognitive, health, social, personality, physiological) from a developmental perspective. Even large departments may not have faculty who cover all aspects of developmental psychology. A few programs are excellent in this area and offer a broad array of developmental graduate degrees (e.g., The Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota, http://education.umn.edu/icd/default.html). Consequently if you are interested in graduate study in developmental psychology, it is essential to identify programs with faculty whose specialties are consistent with your interests. This link to the APA's site (http://classweb.gmu.edu/awinsler/div7/cgi-bin/devgradprograms.cgi) will help you to explore graduate programs in developmental psychology. Careers in developmental psychology include academic positions or research positions, positions in a variety of applied settings as well as positions with social policy research firms, government agencies, or non-profit organizations. Admissions to developmental programs are competitive. Research experience in any area of psychology and coursework in developmental biology, gender and ethnic studies, advanced statistics, and biomedical ethics will help to prepare you for graduate study in developmental psychology.
There are many applied areas of developmental psychology, and some graduate programs specialize in applied developmental psychology. Applied programs generally provide a foundation in theory and empirical research, but then expand the training to include applications often in the areas of evaluation and intervention. If you are interested in working with special populations such as autistic children or developmentally disabled children, you might also explore graduate programs in special education or developmental disabilities. The field of school psychology may be of interest if you would like to work with children doing counseling and psychological testing in a school setting.
To discuss your ideas about graduate work in developmental psychology and related areas, see Beth Haines.