Career Paths in Psychology: Where Your Degree Can Take You [Paperback]

Robert J. Sternberg (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 1997 | ISBN-10: 1557984115 | ISBN-13: 978-1557984111 | Edition: 1st

...14 prominent psychologists--each from a different subfield of psychology--describes what they do in their field and what led them to it...covers academic,clinical,and counselling careers, & non-academic & community positions.

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA); 1st edition (January 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557984115
• ISBN-13: 978-1557984111
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,102,380 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

221 of 244 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars For undergraduates only - others will be disappointed, September 18, 2000

By 

Peter A. Kindle (Kansas City, Missouri) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Career Paths in Psychology: Where Your Degree Can Take You (Paperback)

In this volume, the most current APA career guide available for psychology, Robert Sternberg lends his name to a collection of articles covering the fourteen major career options in psychology. Sternberg writes no more than a three page Introduction and a five page Epilogue. The tone throughout is moderately persuasive. Each contributor has been hugely successful in his or her niche, and accordingly, tends to downplay problems while elevating opportunities.

The articles are not of equal quality, but all tend to cover much of the same ground. A general overview of the career is offered. Entry requirements, including skills and personality traits, are discussed. Each addresses details such as potential compensation, "a day in the life of ...", and a short review of the advantages and disadvantages of working in the field. Those chapters not dealing with academia and counseling tend to have more detail. Some even have recommended reading lists. All have references.

The fourteen careers include academia (separate chapters on the different academic departments, i.e., psych, school psych, and business), counseling (private practices, schools, community organizations and hospitals covered in separate chapters), government research, public school work, industrial/organizational psych, consumer psych, human-factors psych, military psych, and health psych.

Those considering a career in psychology should note that a doctorate is considered the entry level education requirement. I am avoiding the temptation to capitalize every word of the preceding sentence. Without a PhD there are few, if any, career options available in psychology.

Acceptance into an APA accredited doctoral program is quite competitive. In the few programs I have personally evaluated, less than ten percent of the applicants are accepted. The head of one psych department warned me that it was easier to get admittance into medical school than it was into psychology.

Assuming a four year undergraduate education, immediate entry into a doctoral program, and a one year post-doctoral fellowship (generally required to compete for the best positions), a career in psychology is likely to be a nine to eleven year investment. If you are thinking of making this investment, read this book. Better yet, drop by the graduate psychology department of an APA accredited program and chat with a professor. Find a graduate student to interview.

All things considered, psychology is more of a calling than a career. If you can be happy doing something else, maybe you should.

50 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent resource book!!, September 8, 1999

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Career Paths in Psychology: Where Your Degree Can Take You (Paperback)

I can not rate this book more highly! It contains information on many different fields of psychology and includes, salary guidelines, whose hiring, what the educational requirements are. It is the perfect guide to introduce psy. students to what fields of psy. are out there. It even has a chapter on military psy. This is the best book anywhere on careers in Psychology! My hat is off to the author!

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for psych majors!, May 9, 2006

By 

Melissa Boone (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Career Paths in Psychology: Where Your Degree Can Take You (Paperback)

I definitely recommend this book for any undergraduate who is a psychology major and is planning a career in psychology. The authors of each article cover their fields rather extensively, outlining a day in the life, average/median salaries, the responsibilities and educational tracks to their jobs, and more information on related careers in the field. It has many traditional psychology careers (academia, counseling, clinical in a hospital) as well as non-traditional "different" subfields (community, health psych, i/o psych, government research).

However, I only recommend it if you already have an idea that you want to go into the field of psychology but are having trouble deciding on a subfield. The book is really for people who already have a sort of basis in psych and know that they are interested, but need more information. If you still think that all a psychologist does is "couch work," it's DEFINITELY for you.