12 professional outings of Psychology
Psychology is a profession that arouses much interest at present, and although many students when they decide to pursue a career in psychology think that practically all the options of being a psychologist happen to be a clinical psychologist, the reality is very different. Psychology is a profession with many fields of application .
In this article we do a review of the 12 most common professional outings .
The professional outings of psychology
And it is that the mind is everything for people. This makes psychology fit into many disciplines. For example, education, sports or organizations.
But, What exits does psychology have? What professional work can psychologists do? Below you can find a list with 12 professional outings of psychology.
1. Organizational psychologist
Organizational psychology is a field of application of psychology in which many recent graduates find work, because there is a great demand for psychologists specialized in this field. Generally, people associates the work of organizational psychologist with that of the Human Resources professional , something that is not exactly like that.
- Maybe you're interested: "Psychology of work and organizations: a profession with a future"
The Human Resources department is one of the options to devote to organizational psychology, but there are others. For example, you can work in the marketing department or market research, discovering formulas to better access the class of customers and consumers with whom the organization wants to contact.
You also have to be clear that the professional profile of Human Resources is varied . Psychologists usually fit in areas of this department such as personnel selection, training and even, in some cases, the prevention of occupational risks in topics such as occupational health.
However, a human resources professional can also dedicate himself to the administration of personnel (for example, taking the payroll), to labor law or to the work of compensation and benefit, tasks that they are not precisely the domain of a psychologist .
It is important that you know this difference in order to guide your curriculum in one direction or another. In our article "The 10 best Masters in Psychology of Organizations and Human Resources" you can find all the information you need to specialize in this field.
2. Educational psychologist
In education, the figure of the psychologist also fits perfectly . And it is that, from practically its beginnings, psychology has been interested in how we learn people or how we develop.
The science of behavior brings a lot of knowledge and many tools to education, for example, on how we can perform better or how we can counteract the learning difficulties that some students present.
- If you want to go deeper into this topic, you just have to visit our article: "Educational psychology: definition, concepts and theories"
3. Social and community psychologist
The professional of social psychology investigates and intervenes in the collective dimension , the group and the relationships between people in a context. In reality, the social psychologist can perform multiple functions and can work in other fields such as organizational or sports.
Now, this type of psychologist is also an expert in some fields of action such as community intervention, gender violence, youth (sexual orientation, drug problems, etc.) or the family and minors, among others. In addition, they can practice as researchers or teachers.
4. Clinical psychologist and health psychology
Clinical and health psychology enjoys great popularity and, generally, most people associate the figure of the psychologist with this role. However, clinical psychology and health psychology are not the same.
While Clinical psychology focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of mental problems (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, paranoid disorder, etc.), the health psychologist deals with the cognitive, emotional and behavioral aspects associated with health and physical illnesses . For example, improving the quality of life of a patient with cancer.
- To know more: "The 10 best Masters in Clinical and Health Psychology"
5. Sexologist
The sexologist is a professional psychologist specialized in sexology , so it has acquired skills and tools to improve the quality of the affective-sexual life of the people.The problems of sex are not treated as purely physiological phenomena, but also the cognitive and emotional aspects of these are taken into account in order to achieve a more complete vision of what should be treated from the intervention.
These professionals deal with topics such as erectile dysfunction, the sexual education of people or the restoration of sexual life after an illness, or offer advice to improve the intimate life of couples.
6. Psychotherapist
Psychotherapy is a space for reflection with a psychologist in which the patient faces the problems that assail his life. In other words, the latter goes to the therapist to reflect together and find out what is happening in relation to certain non-clinical problems .
The psychotherapist uses a set of knowledge, techniques and methods to help the latter discover himself and begin a process of cognitive restructuring and habits to improve their quality of life and interpersonal relationships.
Unlike the clinical psychologist, who can work, for example, with schizophrenic patients, psychotherapists treat problems of an emotional nature, day-to-day difficulties or family or couple problems.
7. Coach
Coaching is a very popular discipline in recent decades, which usually addresses more superficial problems than those usually treated by a psychotherapist .
Generally, the work of the coach is focused on improving the quality of life of people through self-discovery, planning realistic goals, correct communication and confrontation with limiting beliefs . In this way, people can maximize their potential not only in their daily lives, but in different fields such as work, education or sports.
However, we must be clear that although all psychologists have the training of a coach, not all coaches have the training of a psychologist or, in fact, they have to be psychologists.
8. Sports psychologist
The profession of sports psychologist also is booming in recent decades , because the athletes, coaches and managers of sports teams, have realized that in this sector the psychological variables are just as important as the physical, technical or tactical aspects.
Sports psychologists work mainly on variables such as motivation, emotional management, stress, self-confidence, attention or activation level.
- You can learn more about the functions of the sports psychologist in this article: "10 reasons to put a sports psychologist in your life"
9. Forensic psychologist
A forensic psychologist collects, analyzes and presents psychological proofs that are going to be taken into account in legal proceedings . Therefore, in addition to having competences as a psychologist, he also dominates concepts, norms and dynamics of the legal system in which he finds himself.
The forensic psychologist evaluates, for example, the psychological state of a defendant to determine if his criminal act is the result of a psychopathology; or performs a psychological evaluation of one of the parents of a minor to determine if he or she is fit to have custody of the child. Unlike other professional opportunities, in this area the interests and intentions of the person evaluated are not the most important thing to consider.
- Related article: "Forensic Psychology: definition and functions of the forensic psychologist"
10. Neuropsychologist
Neuropsychology is a specialization that lies between neurology and psychology, so it deals with the study of mental processes and the functioning of the brain when there is any alteration in this .
One could say that it is useful, for example, to know the scope and treatment of brain injuries, malformations, dysfunctions and diseases that affect the functioning of the nervous system.
These psychologists perform their function in academic, clinical and research environments, and are present in neuropsychological rehabilitation programs. In addition, they can apply psychotherapeutic techniques and rehabilitation procedures so that the patient recovers the level of normal functioning after the illness or injury or, in some situations, so that he enjoys a correct quality of life.
11. Researcher
Psychologists, moreover, can devote themselves to the field of research in different fields related to psychology , whether clinical psychology, social psychology or sports psychology.
One of the advantages of this professional field is the incredible variety of topics that can be addressed from research in Psychology: personal relationships, cognitive biases, decision making, differences in the personality and intelligence of individuals, effects of educational methods. .. and the list goes on and on, given that everything related to human behavior and mental processes is practically impossible.
In addition, there are different research methods depending on the approaches and the preferred subjects of each one. For example, there is a qualitative approach, based on interviews and observations in situ, and the quantitative approach, which starts from the conversion of the behavior observed in numbers and categories defined from the beginning. Beyond this classification of types of research in Psychology there are other criteria for differentiation, such as experimental research and the one based on correlations of data.
- Related article: "The 5 most common study methods in Psychology"
12. Teacher
The psychologists also they can practice as teachers in various contexts . Some can opt for university education and others, however, can do training in coaching, mindfulness or stress management.
