I want to be a psychologist, but I'm interested in working in clinical psychology and research psychology in cognitive science, personality (not to be confused with social psychology), psychopharmacology, and maybe behavioral neuroscience. Is it possible to get a PhD that will enable me to do all of this or do I have to narrow down my career interests?
2007-05-28 10:21:45 · 6 answers · asked by Lady of the Garden 4 in Social Science ➔ Psychology
I think that it is possible, but things might change as you develop in the field.
I think that as a psychologist, cognitive science and personality seem appropriate.
Psychopharmacology seems more medical in nature in terms of doing specific research around that. If I were taking psych meds I would hope that the results and experiments were conducted by someone with a medical background. This sound more like psychiatry.
Behavioral Neuroscience is somewhere in between psychology and psychiatry.
I also think that it is good that you have a a broad array of interests, you may as you move on in your PHD program may become more specialized. Also your specialty in your research experience might be based on the opportunities your program have for you. So you having alot of things you are interested sounds great.
2007-06-04 16:11:53 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Did I answer this with someone else?
The American Psychological Association is not encouraging excessive specialization before the doctorate. If you choose a track (traditional ones are clinical, social, cognitive, etc), you can specialize near the end of the doctorate or after it. You can't do all of the ones you list, because it's impossible to master any one of them at a high level. It's good that you have interest in all of them, because the Ph.D. general requires that you take some of each as general advanced level preparation. Look at the web sites of doctoral programs in psychology, and check the American Psychological Association's book, "Graduate Study in Psychology."
2007-06-03 18:59:07 · answer #2 · answered by dr j 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
You specialize later. The longer you are in a PhD program the more you will be able to narrow things down. You can do clinical and researc and cognitive schemas are taught in most programs.
2007-06-04 23:07:20 · answer #3 · answered by TAT 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You could broaden your career by becoming a psychiatrist instead of psychology. This will enable you to work in the field your interested in. Good luck in your future!
2007-05-28 17:29:16 · answer #4 · answered by flower 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You will be able to narrow that down and will need to in order to specialize, but clinical psychology is where you should begin.
2007-05-28 17:30:11 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
yeah its possible
2007-06-04 18:48:11 · answer #6 · answered by Glass Mohajeri 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋