Psychology Sonoma State University

Overview

Psychology is the study of the mind, behavior and experience. The historical roots in humanistic psychology of the Psychology program at Sonoma State University have evolved to include contemporary topics such as health and wellness, mindfulness, ecopsychology, optimal development, and multi-cultural competence. Psychology is an extremely diverse field that attracts people with a wide variety of backgrounds, interests, and skills. 

The department, founded in 1960, originally emphasized the humanistic and existential traditions in psychology. The department offered the first graduate program in humanistic psychology and helped to pioneer that field, with four faculty who served as president of the Association for Humanistic Psychology, an international organization. Department faculty pioneered work in such areas as somatics, client-centered therapy, expressive arts, biofeedback, organization development, ecopsychology, Jungian and archetypal psychology, transpersonal psychology, student-directed learning, experiential learning, and learning-community approaches.

Careers in Psychology

A career in psychology opens opportunity—opportunity to break new ground in science, opportunity to better understand yourself and others, opportunity to help people live richer and more productive lives, and the opportunity for ongoing personal and intellectual growth in school and throughout your career.

Some psychologists find it rewarding to work directly with people—for example, helping them to overcome depression, to deal with the problems of aging, or to stop smoking. Others are excited by research questions on topics such as health and well being, decision-making, eating disorders, brain functioning, parenting skills, forensic work, and child development. Still others find statistics and quantitative studies to be the most fascinating areas.

Traditionally, psychologists have been employed in universities, schools, and clinics. Today, more than ever before, they can be found working in businesses, hospitals, private practice, courtrooms, sports competitions, police departments, government agencies, private laboratories, and the military, among other settings.

Psychologists fill many different roles. For example, they work as teachers, teaching the discipline of psychology in universities, four- year and two-year colleges, and high schools. Psychologists work as researchers employed by universities, government, the military, and business to do basic and applied studies of human behavior. Psychologists also work as psychotherapists, helping people to individuate and resolve conflicts. Psychologists work as counselors in school settings, working with students and their families to provide support for the students’ social, cognitive, and emotional development. In addition, psychologists work as administrators, functioning as managers in hospitals, mental health clinics, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, schools, universities, and businesses. Psychologists also work as consultants hired for their special expertise by organizations to advise on the subject or problem in which the consultant is an expert, including such tasks as designing a marketing survey or organizing outpatient mental health services for adolescents.