Psychology as a career

_Aaron_ SG

Anyone has any idea how to become one in Singapore?
What's the pay like? Heard its quite low.
What Uni and what course to get in, requirements?

Thanks for the help~

spaded SG

too many people studying psychology already. esp females whom i think are better with mind matters.

heard that being a child psychologist can earn much more tho.

_Aaron_ SG

Not that interested for a career ba.
Just want to become full time AA person. lol.

Hmm~ Oh well. See how it goes ba.

DeadPoet SG

This thread may help click me Very Happy

Gedanken SG

OK, the other thread was a bit tangential. In direct answer to your first question, you will need to following to be a registered psychologist in Singapore:

1) A Master's degree or Doctorate and;
2) at least 400 hours of supervised practice and;
3) full membership of the Singapore Psychological Society

Those requirements are fairly relaxed. I'm registered in Australia, and I needed a minimum of 960 hours of supervised practice to qualify. I eventually got 1600 hours as part of my doctorate - the Master's students got 960. Also, the degree had to be vetted to ensure that it met the registration board's requirements.

Singapore is not the most psychologically-aware country in the world, so you will probably find that pay scales are behind other countries. When I graduated as an organisational psychologist, I was worth A$72,000 (about S$90,000) a year - I seriously doubt you would find the same deal here. Also, pay varies according to the field of psychology in which you practice - as a comparison, a counselling psychologist with a doctorate would probably be worth A$40,000 on a good day.

Ultimately, you will find that, pay wise, breaking out on your own serves you much better than being employed as a psychologist. Now that I'm running my own show, 72 grand a year is an unacceptable figure.
As for what university to get in, I'm not sure about Singaporean universities - perhaps one of the other guys here might know the state of affairs in Singapore. What I can tell you about is the distinction between undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Some universities are better at one than the other - I did my undergrad at Swinburne University, which gave me a very good grounding in the basics but could not offer adequate academic support for postgrad research. On the other hand, I did my postgrad at Melbourne university, which provided great support for research but sucked at undergraduate training. The Honours students I tutored while I was a postgrad were very weak in their basic skills, and I had to start teaching them from the ground up.

Jazzytunez SG

How about getting a degree on Sport psychology?

How the prospect in Singapore?

Where it is oftered locally and a good oversea uni? How much?

Gedanken SG

Interesting question, given how the Singapore Sports School has been set up.

I'm not sure what's offered locally, but I do know that Monash University has a pretty well-developed Sports psych program. Expect fees to be in the A$20,000-per-year neighbourhood (I believe it's a 2-year postgrad program).

DeadPoet SG

If I am not mistaken MOH is the main employer of psychologists in Singapore. Can check with them.

dumbdumb! SG

waht do u mean breaking out on your own?

Gedanken SG

I mean setting up your own consultancy instead of working for someone else. Psychology is often a corollary function in any organisation, so while the work's important, the people who do the work don't get as far as, say, someone in production or finance, which are directly related to the organisation's bottom line.

cornyfish2000 SG

Just wondering, how different is the work of a hospital-based psychologist from a psychiatrist? Other than the fact that a psychiatrist is medically-qualified and can prescribe medication.

Had the impression that the psychiatrist first sees the patient, decides on the plan of management, then subsequently refers the patient to the psychologist to carry out the actual psychotherapy in accordance to the plan.

Gedanken SG

That’s one thing. Test administration and interpretation falls much more into psychologists’ roles than psychiatrists’. If you had to run the MMPI on someone, a psychologist would be better qualified to do the jon than a psychiatrist (unless, of course, the psychiatrist has been specifically trained in testing).

bismarck SG

ok...it means it's out of the question for me... Sad

Gedanken SG

Biz, that's just to qualify as a fully-registered psychologist. If you want to work in a related field, but not specifically as a psychologist, you can still pursue it at the undergraduate level.

bismarck SG

but what differences between a fully reg and 1 at undergrad lvl in the kind of jobs i can take ?

call me weird, somehow when i think of putting psychology as my first choice of course for uni intake, there's something holding me back... Neutral

Gedanken SG

It all depends on what field you go into. As a very general rule of thumb, you would need to be qualified as a psychologist to work on a strategic level (e.g. designing policies), but I can't be specific without knowing what specific area you want to go into.

If there's something holding you back, the safest thing to do is to research the practice of psychology and get a reasonably clear idea of where you want to go before applying.

bismarck SG

if i say BA ?

where else can i find info on the practice of psycho in sg ?
because i've exhausted the place here Embarassed

[email protected] SG

what do u need? i have several friends who are in my uni's psychology course, i could probably ask for u if u need to know what they r learning in general.

Gedanken SG

BA’s a technique rather than a job – what field do you want to practice BA in?

Gedanken SG

Okay, one thing to be aware of is the distinction between practicing as a psychologist and using psychology as part of your work.

If you're going to practice as a psychologist, you have the following fields:

Clinical psychologists
These guys deal in mental health issues, usually in a hospital or clinic setting.

Neuropsychologists
Neuropsychologists deal with specific brain functions, especially brain related to injuries or neurological dysfunction, also in a hospital setting.

Health psychologists
These guys work with other health professionals in clinics and hospitals, to attend to the psychological aspects of treatment, e.g. getting patients to follow their treatment regimens.

Counselling psychologists
Counselling psychologists, um, well, counsel. Smile

Educational psychologists
Educational psych deal in school-related psych issues, covering both learning and social/emotional problems. I'm not sure if you also need to be a qualified teacher to be an ed psych in Singapore.

Social psychologists
Social psychologists specialise in the interactions between people and their social environment.

Organisational psychologists
Org psychs deal with business-related psych issues. The vast majority of the work is related to HR, but it also covers things like industrial relations and organisational behaviour. Organisational psych is usually paired with industrial psych, which covers areas like ergonomics and human factors.

Note that the above list is a very broad description of the fields. You can also see that the different fields can interact with each other - for example, counselling can be part of clinical practice, and social psych is part of organisational behaviour.

The above are all fields where one practices under the title of "psychologist". On the other hand, you have jobs in which psychology comes in handy. The obvious examples are HR and advertising. If you're in HR or you're an advertiser, you can use what you've learned in psychology without having to practice as a psychologist.

Hope that starts to clear things up. Smile