 You may recall from your General Psychology course that psychology is a very broad and diverse field encompassing: › Behavioral › Emotional › Cognitive › Social › intellectual and › spiritual processes in living things  According to The Insider's Guide to the Psychology Major (Wegenek & Buskist, 2010), Psychology is "the scientific study of behavior and mental processes "(p. 3). It is "a broad field that encompasses the study of many different types of behavior other than those related to mental health" (p. 8).

 Aesthetics, creativity, & arts Aesthetics, creativity, & arts  Addiction Addiction  Applied Experimental and Engineering Applied Experimental and Engineering  Adult Development and Aging Adult Development and Aging  Behavioral Analysis Behavioral Analysis  Behavioral Neuroscience & Comparative Psych Behavioral Neuroscience & Comparative Psych  Clinical Clinical  Consulting Consulting  Consumer Consumer  Counseling Counseling  Community Community  Child & Adolescent /Family Child & Adolescent Family  Couple & Family Couple & Family  Culture, Ethnicity, & Race Culture, Ethnicity, & Race  Developmental Psych Developmental Psych  Educational Psych Educational Psych  Environmental, Population, and Conservation Environmental, Population, and Conservation  Experimental & Cognitive Experimental & Cognitive  Exercise and Sport Exercise and Sport  Group psychotherapy Group psychotherapy  Health Health  Hypnosis Hypnosis  Industrial/ Organizational Psych Industrial/ Organizational Psych  International International  Independent Practice Independent Practice  Law Law  Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender (LGBT) Issues Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender (LGBT) Issues  Neuropsychology Neuropsychology  Military Military  Men and Masculinity Men and Masculinity  Media and Technology Media and Technology  Pediatrics Pediatrics  Peace, conflict and violence Peace, conflict and violence  Personality & Social Personality & Social  Pharmacotherapy, pharmacology &substance abuse Pharmacotherapy, pharmacology &substance abuse  Psychoanalysis Psychoanalysis  Public Service Public Service  Quantitative & Qualitative Methods Quantitative & Qualitative Methods  Rehabilitation Rehabilitation  Religion/ Spirituality Religion/ Spirituality  Theoretical and Philosophical Psych Theoretical and Philosophical Psych  Trauma Trauma  Teaching Teaching  School Psychology School Psychology  Social Issues Social Issues  Women Women

 Between 80,000-90,000 college students graduate with a major in psychology each year (National Center for Education Statistics, 2008a). › Most students major in psychology because they fall in love with their General Psychology course and/or because they want to help people (or themselves).  But it takes an additional 5-9 years AFTER completing your Bachelor's degree to become a clinical or counseling psychologist (the types that help people with emotional & adjustment, and phase of life issues.)  There are also other graduate programs/career paths that can prepare you to help people including: Clinical Social Work Mental Health Counseling Marriage/Family Therapy Guidance Counseling Behavioral Analysis School Psychology Nursing and many more…

 According to the American Psychological Association's Center for Workplace Studies (2008b), almost 95% of psychology majors enter the workforce immediately upon degree completion. Only about 5% go immediately on to graduate school. Where do these individuals who enter the workforce upon completing their undergraduate degree work? › 61% work in business and industry › 30% work in education › 9% work in government agencies  Psychology majors find themselves doing many different kinds of jobs. That's because there is a diverse set of skills acquired my psychology majors. Psychology majors tend to be very well skilled in: communication, information gathering, interpersonal issues, research methods and ethics (Wegenek & Buskist, 2010).

 Psychology Majors often pursue their Bachelor's Degree for one of two reasons: › to seek employment and begin their careers or › to go on to graduate school to complete additional training.  This course will cover both of those options in detail. Interestingly, research suggests that those students who went on to graduate school found their courses in Statistics and Research Methods to be the most useful. Those individuals who went on to employment found them to be least useful. Instead, they found courses in Developmental Psychology and Social Psychology to be most useful to everyday life (Lunneborg & Wilson, 1985).  Why do psychology majors tend to fall in love with their General Psychology course? Research suggests that the students who fall in love with General Psychology are higher than others on the personality trait of Openness which involves being open to new experience, ideas and perspectives, having intellectual curiosity and imagination. The students who fall in love also are higher than others in empathy towards others.