Page 38 - Understanding Psychology

Psychology as a Profession
Reader’s Guide
Exploring Psychology
The Thoughts of a Patient
Everything seems to be contradictory. I don’t seem to know what else to tell you, but that I am tearful and sad—and no kick out of Christmas. And I used to get such a boot out of it. . . . It’s an awful feel- ing. . . . I don’t get a bit of a kick out of anything. Everything seems to get so sort of full of despair. . . . I feel so sort of what I call “empty”—nothing in back of you like when you’re feeling yourself. . . . You go to bed and you dread each day when you feel low like that. . . . And I try to keep saying to myself, like you say, that I haven’t been that bad that I should have to punish myself. Yet my thinking doesn’t get cheerful. When it doesn’t get cheerful it makes you wonder will it all end in sui- cide sometime. . . .
—from The Encyclopedia of Behavior by Robert M. Goldenson, 1970
s Main Idea
Psychologists are trained to observe, analyze, and evaluate behavior patterns, to develop theories of behavior, and to apply what they have learned to influ- ence behavior.
s Vocabulary
• psychologist
• clinical psychologist
• counseling psychologist
• psychiatry
• developmental psychologist
• educational psychologist
• community psychologist
• industrial/organizational psychologist
• experimental psychologist
s Objectives
• Explain the work of a psychologist.
• Summarize the careers and specialized
fields in psychology.
The thoughts above are the reflections of a patient. The patient is suffering from depression—an emotional state of dejection and sadness, ranging from mild discouragement to feelings of utter hopelessness and despair. Some psychologists conduct research to collect information and form theories about disorders such as depression. Other psychologists apply that information in the form of therapy to help peo- ple cope with depression. What else do people in the field of psychology do? Let’s start by defining a psychologist.
24 Chapter 1 / Introducing Psychology