Over 40 million adults in the USA are seen suffering from mental illness every year. Rest may not suffer from severe illness but fights against regular stressors that leave them exhausted, depressed, anxious, or even a little panicky.
Mental illness is a very weighty problem in the United States and worldwide. As a result, the field of psychology is gaining immense importance. Psychology is a vast field with various specialty areas like education, forensics, research, and industry. Thousands of students starting their academic journey in the field of psychology cannot help but wonder about the top psychology jobs in the United States. Psychology is considered the leading major at many colleges and universities.
While some psychology careers lead to salaries below $45,000 annually, others reach skyrocketing pay of above $200,000.
Below you will find a list of the top high-paying jobs in the field of psychology:
Table of Contents
1. Outpatient Care Centre Psychologist
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the highest earning psychologists in outpatient care centres make an average salary of about $133,660. Psychologists practising in an outpatient environment perform tasks like creating medication management strategies, screening patients for depression, completing psychiatric evaluations and diagnostic tests and counselling family members.
Due to Affordable Act Laws and regulations, there is a high demand for psychologists in outpatient care centers. They are needed to acquire the same academic credentials and the same license as expected from clinical psychologists. It’s necessary to have a Doctor of Psychology degree.
2. Industrial-organizational psychologist
Industrial-organizational psychologists are quite in demand in corporations and businesses. They are responsible for making recommendations about the best practices for employee morale, productivity and work styles.
As per the B.L., they make an average salary of $96,270 a year. They require a master’s degree and not a doctorate. If you want soar high with your grades, you can take help of online psychology assignment writing services.
3. Forensic psychologist
As a forensic psychologist, you will have to work alongside attorneys, judges, witnesses, crime victims and other legal specialists within the legal systems and criminal justice. Their job responsibility includes explaining and analyzing the psychological aspects of individual cases.
They are allowed to testify in court as expert witnesses where they can help with family, criminal and civil coursework. They must have a doctoral degree in psychology. Some forensic psychologists choose to pursue legal training as well. As per PayScale, the average forensic psychologists are around $71 382.
4. Counselling psychologist
Counseling psychology mostly focuses on teaching how to cope with physical, emotional and mental health issues. They mostly focus on daily life triggers and help patients find a balanced approach to overcome their stress via proper assessment and diagnosis.
As per the specialization and licensure, counseling psychologists can work in rehabilitation centres, hospitals, nursing homes, businesses and schools. You have to complete a BSc followed by an MSc in psychology, and then preferably a P.G. Diploma in Psychology. However, during the course if you need help with psychology assignments, you may look for a good psychology assignment writing service online in the USA.
5. Military psychologist
The military psychologist works with healthcare personnel or provides psychiatric and psychological treatment to service members and their families. They work with patient-service teams in military medical environments on bases in combat or other military-related environments. Due to their academic accomplishments, they are ranked as officers.
The salary of average military psychologists depends on their rank, military branch, and service record. The salary in the profession is above $70,000 as per the American Psychological Association.
6. Social psychologist
Social psychologists study the relationships between social interactions and human behaviour and well-being. Degree program curricula reflect this, offering coursework in social psychology and research. They work in various settings and at different levels. So, the educational requirements vary.
Research and academic institutions seek candidates with doctoral degrees, while marketing firms, public and private industries, and the government may hire those with master’s degrees alone.
7. Sports psychology
This is a growing area in the field of psychology. Sports psychologist focuses on the athletes’ mind and mindset. They happen to be working closely with athletes of all levels to clarify, identify, and achieve their goals. Athletes seek help from sports psychologists when they cannot work alone or with a coach.
For example, losing a match may increase anxiety or loss of focus from their game. Other examples include having difficulties with effectively communicating with teammates, being unable to control their temper or not fulfilling exercise requirements. The annual salary for sports psychology is $55,000. Most sports psychologists will require earning a clinical or counseling psychology degree.
Some of the major responsibilities of sports psychologists include:
- Recovering from an injury
- Enjoy sports
- Enhance performance
- Keep up with an exercise program
- Cope up with the pressure from the competition
8.Research psychology
A lot of students enjoy participating in active psychological research, and if you are also one of them, then this is the perfect fit for your career. After graduation, psychology researchers see employment inside a classroom or in a laboratory setting. Psychology researchers can be a part of a collaborative team, alone or participate in collective research on a national or global level. Research psychologists are university professors who conduct research and spend their time in the classroom.
They are responsible for the following:
- Use computers and statistics
- Design questionnaires
- Give psychological tests
- Conducts interviews
- Carry out ethical and appropriate experiments
- Propose new theories and conduct experiments
- Apply for grants
- Attend relevant conferences
- Give psychological tests
- Write and publish completed experiment results
- Ensure experiments meet ethical guidelines
SUMMING UP,
A psychology degree can be a great starting point for a science and art career. The degree equips you with a vast range of skills and offers plenty of opportunities. It is a combination of science and art. So if you are interested in pursuing your career in the field, take a look at these career opportunities.
AUTHOR BIO: Jonathan Spencer is a counselor at one of the most reputed schools in the USA. He is also associated with Assignmenthelp.us, where he offers psychology assignment help solutions to students.