Psychologists are individuals who assess human and animal behaviors, feelings, thought processes, emotions, and neural functioning. While many individuals think of psychologists as “shrinks”, there is a wide variety of them, including:
Clinical Psychologist (i.e., they counsel, diagnose, and assess people; they are considered the “shrinks by which everyone names a psychologist)
Developmental Psychologist (i.e., professionals who research the developmental transitions from conception to death of all humans; usually they are professors and researchers at universities)
Biological Psychologist (i.e., persons who are concerned with the areas in which biology and psychology come together [e.g., sensations, hormones, neurological and abnormal behaviors, eating disorders, etc.]; they typically work at hospitals, universities, and research centers)
Social Psychologist (i.e., persons who look at the ways a person behaves, thinks, and feels around others; typically, they do research and teach at universities)
Cognitive Psychologist (i.e., individuals who do research at universities on how people think, perceive and interpret the world, use and develop language, solve problems, make decisions, etc.)
Behavioral Psychologist (i.e., individuals who assess how animals and people behave in the contexts of others and alone, using Pavlovian conditioning, Operant conditioning, and Modeling techniques; they are employed usually as professors at universities, where they do research)
Industrial/Organizational Psychologist (i.e., individuals who look at the ways people behave, think, and feel in workplaces; they are typically employed as H-R managers or professors at universities)
Thus, there are many types of behavioral scientists, and it is paramount for a person to know what kind he or she wants to become before exploring how to become a psychologist.
In becoming a psychologist, individuals will have to know the APA (i.e., American Psychological Association) guidelines well, as persons caught breaching any of the ethical guidelines can and will lose their privileges of being a certified psychologist, regardless of the type. Know that becoming a psychologist requires a good eight to ten years. It is necessary to do well in undergraduate classes, as getting into a graduate school is competitive; thus, shoot for a grade point average of at least 3.60 to have a shot.
First, though, choose a college with an undergraduate program in psychology that fits your likings (e.g., clinical psychology), and get the bachelor of arts or science in it. Next, apply to all the graduate schools you can that have the program you want to pursue (e.g., clinical psychology), sending transcripts, curriculum vitae, GRE scores, letters of recommendations, etc. Know that you will be rejected by many of them, but you will also have a good shot of getting into one eventually.
Once accepted, complete your master’s degree, usually by doing two to three years of school; the culmination of the master’s degree is the thesis. After getting your master’s, start the process again: apply for a doctoral program (many institutions allow individuals who got accepted into the M.A. or M.S. programs to finish their doctorates there). The finale of the doctorate degree is the dissertation: a publication written by you with hundreds of pages about an in-depth topic.
After getting a Ph.D, you may now teach, do research, and/or counsel (i.e., if clinical). The process of becoming a psychologist, then, is a difficult but rewarding journey.
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