Psychology

What makes people act the way they do? How do brain function and behavior go together? How do we react to our environment and how do we shape it? Psychologists pursue answers to these questions using careful observation, experiments, and analysis. What they discover helps those who practice psychology work more effectively with their clients and patients. Psychology is a varied field leading to career opportunities in health services, business, education, research and more. Many of our graduates go to medical or dental school, or they take a graduate program in counseling or clinical psychology.

Demand for clinical and counseling psychologists will increase as people continue to turn to psychologists for help with their problems. Psychologists also will be needed to provide services to an aging population, helping people deal with the mental and physical changes that happen as they grow older. Psychological services will also be needed for veterans suffering from war trauma, for survivors of other trauma, and for individuals with autism.

Salary

The median annual wage for psychologists was $77,030 in May 2017. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $42,330, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $124,520.

1. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding representing appropriate breadth and depth in selected content areas of psychology.
2. Design and conduct basic studies to address psychological questions, using appropriate research methods.
3. Use critical thinking effectively.
4. Identify appropriate applications of psychology in solving problems.
5. Seek and evaluate scientific evidence for psychological claims.
6. Tolerate ambiguity and realize that psychological explanations are often complex and tentative.
7. Demonstrate information competence in relevant areas.
8. Use information and technology ethically and responsibly.
9. Demonstrate effective writing skills in various formats (e.g., essays, correspondence, technical papers, note taking) and for various purposes (e.g., informing, defending, persuading, arguing, teaching).
10. Reflect on experiences and find meaning in them, including as they relate to their personal spiritual commitments and the Seventh-day Adventist orientation of the University.