General FAQs | FAQs - Chinese | FAQs - Economics | FAQs - English | FAQs -Linguistics and Multilingual Studies | FAQs - Psychology | FAQs - Sociology 

1. What are the career prospects of Psychology Majors?
2. What skills and knowledge do I learn?
3. What are some of the important lessons that undergraduates learn?
4. What is the difference between applied fields in Psychology and non-applied fields in Psychology?
5. What is the difference between Clinical Psychology, Counseling Psychology, and School Psychology?
6. What type of training/preparation is needed to become a clinical psychologist or a counsellor?

Division-Specific FAQs

Psychology

What are the career prospects of Psychology Majors?

It has been well documented that the undergraduate degree in psychology does not prepare a student to be a psychologist, for the profession of a psychologist requires a postgraduate degree in psychology. It however prepares the student for (1) postgraduate professional training to be a psychologist, (2) postgraduate professional training in related fields such as law, medicine and management, and (3) enter the workforce to take on jobs/positions that involve human behavior. Since there are almost no jobs that do not involve human behaviors, a psychology graduate actually has a wide choice in terms of careers such as advertising, mass communications, education, management, marketing, and law and medicine.
A large percentage of psychology graduates do proceed to graduate schools to conduct research that lead to an academic career in teaching and research at tertiary levels. These are psychologists who follow the scientist stream of career path. Many however have gone to the practitioner stream of career path; these psychologists went for further training in professional psychology, such as industrial organizational psychology, counseling, clinical psychology and health psychology.

Top

What skills and knowledge do I learn?

We offer a well rounded training in the undergraduate psychology degree by offering the following knowledge and skills:

• A body of scientific knowledge of human behaviors.
• Critical thinking and reasoning.
• Precise and effective communication skills.
• Problem solving skills in information gathering and analysis.
• Effective interpersonal skills
• A conviction in personal growth and development.
• An understanding of human adjustment

Top

What are some of the important lessons that undergraduates learn?

Probably the most important lesson that an undergraduate student can take away from their training is an objective and scientific attitude towards the self, others, and the events around. This objective attitude, together with the problem solving skills learnt through the empirical research exercises required in the training, will enable the psychology graduate to become an effective learner in any professional fields.

Top

What is the difference between applied fields in Psychology and non-applied fields in Psychology?

• Applied subdisciplines in Psychology = those that apply/translate psychological theory and research to a particular population or setting. For example: Clinical Psychology, Counseling Psychology, School Psychology, and I/O Psychology.
  
  
• Non-applied (basic science) subdisciplines in Psychology include: Developmental Psychology, Social Psychology, Personality Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, and Biological Psychology.
  
  
• Applied subdisciplines in Psychology require a psychology license/certification/registration before the individual can practice in a particular state or country. (I am not familiar with I/O Psych and whether a license is needed.)
  
  
• (Note that different terminologies are used to refer to the psychology license. In the US, the term “licensed psychologist” or “certified psychologist” is used, while the UK uses the term “chartered psychologist”. In Singapore, the term used is “registered psychologist”. I believe Australia also uses the term “registered psychologist”.)

Top

What is the difference between Clinical Psychology, Counseling Psychology, and School Psychology?

• These subdisciplines are differentiated primarily by the population/clientele served and the degree of severity of psychopathology exhibited/presented.
  
  
• Clinical psychologists work with individuals who could be considered as the most severely disordered (e.g. Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder and Psychosis etc). Clinical psychologists, depending on their specific training, could either work with children/adolescents or adults, or both. They do mostly tertiary prevention work. Those clinical psychologists who work primarily with children/adolescents call themselves “Clinical Child psychologists”. Job scope includes both psychological assessment/testing/evaluation and psychotherapy (i.e. intervention). Typical work settings = mental/state hospitals, psychiatric facilities etc.
  
  
• School psychologists as the name implies, work with children/adolescents in the typical school-going age range (6-18). They typically do primary prevention or early intervention work in a population that is less severely disordered compared to the clients typically seen by Clinical psychologists. While School psychologists have training in both learning and behavioral/emotional conditions, School Psychology programmes differ widely in emphasis – some emphasize more on learning issues (e.g. dyslexia) while others emphasize more on behavioral/emotional issues (e.g. aggression, anxiety). Job scope includes both psychological assessment/testing/evaluation and psychotherapy (i.e. intervention). Typical settings = schools, community clinics, sometimes hospitals.
  
  
• (Note: “School psychologist”/School psychology is the terminology used in the US, while “Educational psychologist”/Educational psychology is the term used in UK. Singapore tends to follow the UK system. Those from Singapore trained in the US will still retain the term “School psychologist”.)
  
  
• While Clinical and School psychologists do both psychological assessment/testing/evaluation and psychotherapy, Counseling psychologists do mostly psychotherapy. Thus, they have intensive training in various modalities of psychotherapy. Counseling psychologists typically see mostly adults, but there are training programmes that equip Counseling psychologists to work with children/adolescents. Counseling psychologists would also typically be equipped with training in family therapy, couples therapy, amongst others. Counseling psychologists do not always work with clients with disorders – although this is not common, clients sometimes come for counseling for personal growth/enhancement of mental well-being. Typical work settings – counseling centers, sometimes hospitals.

Top

What type of training/preparation is needed to become a clinical psychologist or a counsellor?

• Clinical Psychology, Counseling Psychology, and School Psychology are all graduate degree programmes – i.e., you first need a Bachelor’s degree (preferably a degree in Psychology).
  
  
• For those going to the US for graduate studies: Need to enter an APA-approved programme (scientist-practitioner model) and subsequently an APA-accredited internship programme/site. For those interested in going to countries other than the US, do make sure that the Master’s degree or PhD degree (and relevant license/certification/registration) is recognized by the professional body in that country/jurisdiction. E.g. if one is going to an Australian university, make sure that the degree (and license) is fully recognized by Australian Psychological Society.

Typical duration/length of study = 5 years (4 years + 1 year internship) [range = between 4 to 7 years]. Internship cannot be shortened – it’s a full 12-month programme.

Top