Of the many branches of psychology, one of the most interesting is behavioral psychology. Starting a psychologist career takes several years of schooling and training. If you get your psychology degree through an accredited online school, you’ll be well on your way to a career in this exciting field.
If you want to be a health care professional, and offering psychological services sounds interesting to you, check out these tips to help you learn more about behavioral psychology careers.
- Behavioral Psychology Explained: Behavioral psychology, or more popularly known as behaviorism, is a theory that claims that most of the behaviors that people exhibit are results of training. In other words, behavior is something that is inoculated into people, or something that people learn from their social groups and the environment in which they live. Some of the key proponents of behavioral psychology are John Watson and B. F. Skinner. In behavioral psychology, certain traits and behaviors are learned through association. Association occurs through the use of well-timed punishments and rewards.
- Training: The easiest way to start a behavioral psychologist career is by obtaining a Bachelor’s of Science degree in psychology or school psychology if you are interested in working with children. The next step is getting a Master’s of Science degree in behaviorism. The Bachelor’s of Science degree will usually take four years and will provide you with the basic education about psychology, while the master’s degree will provide you with the specialization on behavioral psychology and take about two years to complete. Finally you will need to continue your education and receive a doctorate degree in behavioral psychology.
- Licensing: All psychologists who work in a clinical setting or council patients must be licensed in the state where they practice. In addition, some states have continuing education requirements to maintain their license.
- Credentialing: For those who go on to achieve their PhD, board certification is available. The American Board of Cognitive and Behavioral Psychologists (ABCBP) conducts a competency-based exam and those passing the exam can display ABPP (American Board of Professional Psychology) behind their credentials.
- Education Sector: There are a number of work opportunities for behavioral psychologists. One is to work in universities and in schools. In these educational institutions, your task is to improve the quality of education that the students receive by formulating methods based on behaviorism and behavioral psychology that will compel the students to study better. You will also work to unlock the reward mechanisms that encourage students to engage in bad study habits. Once these mechanisms and factors have been identified, you will need to provide alternatives that the school administrators can pursue to encourage good study habits. Behavioral psychologists also formulate strategies to improve test scores and graduation rates.
- Health Sector: There is also a pressing need for behavioral psychologists in the health sector, specifically in the field of mental health. You can apply for licensed psychologist jobs in mental health institutions so that you can help psychiatrists in determining the reasons why the mental health patients act the way they do. Keep in mind, however, that working in mental institutions requires you to work under the supervision of the psychiatrist. The psychiatrist is a doctor who specializes in mental health care and has prescriptive power. Psychologists do not have this capability.
- Private Sector: As a licensed behavioral psychologist, you will be able to set up your own practice. You can choose which age group you would like to work with. For instance, your practice might be limited to only school-aged children and their parents. You might help the family develop strategies to cope with emotional problems, correcting behavior problems and providing the parents with parenting strategies. Or you may choose to work with all age groups who have eating disorders or addictions. There is a wide range of choices.
- Salary Range: The median salary for behavioral psychologists is around $83,000 per year. Salaries can vary significantly depending upon the size of the facility and where it is located.
- Job Prospects: The job growth for psychologists as a whole is expected to grow about 12% in the next ten years.
This is only a brief look at the job opportunities for those who are trained as behavioral psychologists. Some behavioral psychologists are employed in researching the behavior of consumers and buyers, and are sometimes hired as a part of marketing and promotions teams for major companies. Here they may research elements such as why certain colors used in packaging a product are better than others at getting the consumer to make a purchase. Whichever field you’d like to work in, make sure that you attain the necessary education first so that you can qualify for a behavioral psychology career that you enjoy.