Essay on My Interest in Psychology Careers

Introduction

Psychology careers not only will offer the opportunity for personal growth, but I believe it will also open up a vast range and variety of other career opportunities. Psychology is indeed not one size as it fits all career choices and one of the greatest strengths of a psychology degree is the enormous variety of career paths that are available to graduates (Mausner, 1956). I also consider the job outlook involved in this career field to be good. According to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment of psychologists is expected to grow at a very high rate in the coming years, and this increases my interest in undertaking psychology careers. The demand for psychological services in various places such as in schools, social services, and hospitals has also fueled the demand for trained professionals creating much interest for the need to major in the field as there are many available opportunities in wait.

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I also consider psychology careers to be an excellent opportunity and chance for me to complement other learning by combining psychology with other courses. Many courses in the Faculty of Social Sciences and as well as those in San Francisco State University (SFSU) school of business would benefit from an understanding of human behavior, be it social interaction, human motivation, and emotion. It also increases the process of decision-making. Am also interested in psychology careers because they enable develop sound analytical skills through the application of scientific methods. This is because I believe that psychology is a science and the defining feature of any science is the objective approach that is used to advance our knowledge. What I think is my primary interest in psychology careers is because they provide excellent training in analytic thinking and scientific research methods that apply to a broad range of jobs.

Extracurricular Activities in Psychology That Interest Me

Psychology is a broad field of study and practice is comprised of several different yet complementary areas of specialization. The study of psychology I believe will offer a foundation in the analysis and critical evaluation of psychological literature, the communication of psychological concepts and facts both orally and in writing, and the development of mental research (Chisiu, 2013). Through psychology, I can also involve in extracurricular activities most of which are voluntary. One of the extra-curricular activities that am interested in psychology and I consider it to be the simplest thing I should do is read a few psychology books. I believe they are an excellent way to show that I have furthered my interests beyond what I learned at a level. Besides reading the books, I would go ahead to subscribe to journals and magazines on psychology, reading them and also commenting on the ones that I felt I liked a lot.

In psychology, there is not much of a focus on extra-curricular activities, and most of my concern is therefore on science itself and finding out on the areas that am interested in primarily reading journal articles. Reading journal articles shows my interest in scientific research and social outreach. Besides reading books and articles as an extracurricular activity, I also display interest in actual activities, such as working as a volunteer in a mental health hospital or as an assistant in a psych department. I also voluntarily get involved in community-centered outreach programs that focus on helping people who are in need and even the homeless. Another essential extracurricular activity is deciding to take an additional course in my free time in school or evening classes that complement my career. An example of such a course would be a motivational and emotional class towards advancing in my career to becoming a professional psychologist.

Eligibility Requirements for Participating in The Special Opportunities Honors Program

Honors in psychology program create an opportunity for the psychology majors to undertake a research project for course credit. At San Francisco State University (SFSU), participation in the Honors program is strongly recommended for students who plan to go on to graduate school in Psychology. The eligibility requirements for participating in the Honors program include having a written recommendation and statement of commitment to supervise the honors project by a Psychology Department or a related field faculty member. The faculty supervisor must also meet various requirements such as agreeing to hold a supervision meeting with the student each week during all the semesters of the academic year. The student should have a GPA of 3.5 or higher in all upper-division coursework, have at least 12 units of upper-division psychology coursework complete at SF State, and completion of at least one upper-division research methods and statistics course with a grade of "B" or better or equivalent preparation for independent. In case any student lacks a research method or statistics courses, they must describe their research preparation in detail.

Describing Active Minds and Other Health and Wellness Resources on Campus

Under Active Minds, health and wellness resources on campus focus on the residential life of the community of people living on the campus. Suburban life continually works to promote a sense of community among residents and enhance learning even beyond the classroom. Programs involve counseling that mainly focuses on the health and well-being of the students. The people and online mental resources available to the students include such as Clinical counseling appointments, consultation, and Groups. Under clinical counseling appointments, students are given the opportunity of scheduling a meeting with the residential life clinical counselor by calling an emergency number provided. You can also call the suburban life clinical counselor through the number in case of any concern about the mental health of a student living in suburban life.

Different Psychology Masters of Science and Masters of Arts Degrees Offered At SFSU

The graduate programs in Psychology are offered under an M.A. and an M.S. each with three different unique concentrations.

M.A. programs include:

• Concentrations in Development Psychology
• Social Psychology, and Mind
• Brain and Behavior

M.S. programs include:

• Clinical Psychology
• School Psychology
• Industrial/Organizational Psychology

Different Active Research Labs in The Psychology Department

Many of the institutions are involved in conducting research studies, and among them, I would be more interested in getting involved in The Stress, Trauma, and Resilience Lab and Motivation & Emotion Lab. In the Motivation & Emotion Lab, I would be interested in working on a project that focuses on the basic science of emotion and motivation in the general population using measures of self-report, psychophysiology, and behavior. It is a project that would help in applying the findings to other studies, especially of individuals with various disorders and also including schizophrenia and depression (Drennam, 2011). In The Stress, Trauma, and Resilience Lab, the project that would profoundly interest me is that of childhood adversity that has a critical impact on the development of mental and physical health problems through the lifespan.

Conclusion

Based on the analysis, I would, therefore, take an interest in studying a Social Psychology course under the M.A. programs to explore the sub-field of dealing with childhood conditions and their adversity. I would aim to identify the mechanisms that underlie the effects of early trouble to design effective interventions for children, and that is why I also got interested in involved in The Stress, Trauma, and Resilience Lab to be able to undertake the project.