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12 Exciting and Lucrative Careers in Psychology

Are you looking for a rewarding career that brings new challenges each day? Is it your passion to help people while still earning an excellent wage?

If this sounds like you, then becoming a psychologist is a great opportunity.

Because there are many different types of psychologists, you can choose which role is best for you. Each specialty gives you a chance to work with different groups of people who need help.

You may even find your qualification lets you work across many different industries.

Read on to find out more about the many types of psychology careers you can begin working towards today:

1. Clinical Psychologists

These psychologists firstly identify if patients have a mental illness or are in distress. They can then advise a treatment plan that can help the patient improve over time.

You can often find these professionals working in hospitals or private practice. If this sounds interesting, you can also specialize in treating specific disorders.

You could choose to work only with people who suffer from a substance abuse problem, such as alcohol or drugs.

2. Cognitive Psychologists

These professionals focus on the nature of human thought. They may work with patients who have memory problems or people who struggle with problem-solving.

It’s common for cognitive psychologists to work in universities and hospitals. Their findings often help other professionals to learn more about how the brain operates.

3. Developmental Psychologists

These experts study how people develop over time. They take many factors into account to examine why people change the way they do over a period of time. This can include personality traits, social factors, and physical abilities.

Some professionals study set periods of time, while others follow a person’s entire lifespan.

This career is an excellent choice if you would like to help people get over issues such a slow language development problems.

4. Forensic Psychologists

This career choice involves combining psychology with the law. You could be providing expert testimony in court or assessing a prison inmate.

Many prisoners see a forensic psychologist before a parole board can approve their release.

The job requirements are not the same as you see on television shows, but it’s a rewarding career choice.

5. Psychologists in the Community

You can study to become a community psychologist and work with people at a grassroots level.

One day you could be educating the community about health issues, or you might be pointing people in the direction of useful programs.

But, this is not the only type of psychologist who works in the community.

You can also find counseling psychologists working to solve behavioral and emotional problems. This may be part of a state practice or as a private practitioner.

At any time, you could find many different experts working together to improve the conditions in a given community.

Because so many different professionals work in the community, it a good idea to explore more psychology degrees before deciding which role is best for you.

6. Health Psychologists

If you love learning about influences on health and illness, this could be the career for you. A health psychologist studies many factors to identify how they contribute to a person’s physical and mental health.

You could work in a research department to find new solutions or treat patients in a face-to-face setting.

You can also learn plenty of information that can help you with your own healthy behaviors.

7. Educational Psychologists

These experts study how the brain learns and create strategies to help others. You could treat children or adults, and you could work in schools or workplace environments.

It’s possible to focus on particular areas such as language or numeracy if you are very passionate about a topic.

8. Industrial-Organizational Psychologists

As an industrial-organizational psychologist, you study the workplace environment.

Much of the role involves examining the relationships between co-workers. You also examine how management communicates with employees.

This can also be a very lucrative career because large companies can employ you as an executive coach.

You could travel the world helping top management executives learn how to work with their employees. This helps them enjoy their work and become more productive.

9. Environmental Psychologists

If you enjoy helping others for the benefit of the environment, this is an excellent career choice. These experts help people to understand how they impact their surroundings so they can be more responsible.

This is another opportunity to see the world while you work, and you could travel to areas affected by global warming as part of an educational group.

You might also go into government and help create policies that save natural resources.

10. Military Psychologists

People who serve in the military may need help coping with some of the situations they encounter during their duties.

People can suffer from trauma, and need a lot of help to learn how to deal with severe mental issues.

You can also help people who are leaving the military adapt back to civilian life. This can be a difficult ongoing process, and psychological support can be a great help.

11. Engineering Psychologists

As an engineering psychologist, you work to make machinery and devices improve human abilities. You could help design machines that help patients get better in a healthcare setting.

Alternatively, you might choose to work with companies that make everyday devices such as phones or computers.

Your input can change the design process and have a huge impact on hundreds of thousands of people.

12. Cross-Cultural Psychologists

These specialists study the effects of different cultures on how people behave. You could find that certain behaviors are unique to a specific region, or that many cultures share the same traits.

Your research can help people understand why some cultures behave in different ways to their own.

Start Studying Psychology Today!

Because there are so many types of psychologists, you have a huge amount of studying options. You can choose a career path that you are truly passionate about, and enjoy earning a high income.

The different situations you’ll encounter mean you’ll never get bored while helping others.

If you found this article interesting, be sure to browse more of our career articles to improve your job prospects.

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