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Samantha
Student
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
1
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What field of psychology would be best for me?
I am a second year college student majoring in psychology with a minor in criminal justice. I am unsure of where I want to go with my career. I am interested in mental disorders and the affects they have on the brain. As well as figuring out why criminals commit crime. If you have any advise on what I could pursue, balancing both of these topics that would be extremely helpful. Thank you. #psychology #criminal-justice
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2 answers
Linda Ann Robinson, Ph.D.
Industrial-Organizational Psychology & HR Consulting
199
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Linda Ann’s Answer
Samantha,
I think it would be best for you to have several conversations with your academic advisor (who I assume is a psychologist). I would also recommend volunteering your time with at least one psychology faculty member at your school who is doing research. I say this because one cannot really practice psychology without an advanced degree. Getting into graduate school is very competitive; research experience at the undergraduate level is a "must have" for consideration for graduate school!
Go to the website of the American Psychological Association (www.apa.org) and go to the Divisions tab. Explore each of the divisions paying particular attention to clinical psychology, health psychology and forensic psychology.
I wish you the best.
I think it would be best for you to have several conversations with your academic advisor (who I assume is a psychologist). I would also recommend volunteering your time with at least one psychology faculty member at your school who is doing research. I say this because one cannot really practice psychology without an advanced degree. Getting into graduate school is very competitive; research experience at the undergraduate level is a "must have" for consideration for graduate school!
Go to the website of the American Psychological Association (www.apa.org) and go to the Divisions tab. Explore each of the divisions paying particular attention to clinical psychology, health psychology and forensic psychology.
I wish you the best.
Misty Miller
ISM Rep @ AT&T DirecTV
123
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Huntsville, Alabama
Updated
Misty’s Answer
Samantha this is a great question.
Have you thought about Criminal Psychology or Forensic Psychology? These sound like they would be a great starting point for you based on what you said you are interested in. Criminal Psychology you could work with criminals in like a prison setting as a therapist or as a base line for why they act the way they do or finding correlations in childhood trauma to criminal. I personally think this one would be fascinating to pick the brain of some of these people just to see what on earth makes them do what they do.
Forensic Psychology is another one. It would still be on the basis of why but would all be done post mortem for the most part.
Another one to think about could be Sociology with a concentration in Psychosis. Studying people in groups and finding out why 1 not all of the group acts a certain way or has a certain mental psychosis could be fun as well.
Hope this at least gives you a start. Good luck on your journey.
Have you thought about Criminal Psychology or Forensic Psychology? These sound like they would be a great starting point for you based on what you said you are interested in. Criminal Psychology you could work with criminals in like a prison setting as a therapist or as a base line for why they act the way they do or finding correlations in childhood trauma to criminal. I personally think this one would be fascinating to pick the brain of some of these people just to see what on earth makes them do what they do.
Forensic Psychology is another one. It would still be on the basis of why but would all be done post mortem for the most part.
Another one to think about could be Sociology with a concentration in Psychosis. Studying people in groups and finding out why 1 not all of the group acts a certain way or has a certain mental psychosis could be fun as well.
Hope this at least gives you a start. Good luck on your journey.