{"id":1018,"date":"2019-07-09T13:21:01","date_gmt":"2019-07-09T17:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/?page_id=1018"},"modified":"2026-01-28T16:11:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T21:11:05","slug":"different-types-of-psychologists","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/online\/resources\/program-resources\/different-types-of-psychologists\/","title":{"rendered":"Different Types of Psychologists"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Psychology is a broad field that can involve providing therapy to patients with behavioral health disorders, performing research, and applying psychological concepts in business environments to improve productivity and efficiency. Pursuing a career in psychology can be rewarding for you and for the communities you will help.<\/p>\n<p>An academic background in psychology is beneficial to many different kinds of psychology careers. Individuals who earn a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/all-programs\/b-a-psychology-online\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-gc-link=\"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/all-programs\/b-a-psychology-online\/\">bachelor\u2019s degree in psychology<\/a> can pursue jobs in human services as case managers, residential counselors, group care workers, behavior interventionists, and research assistants.<\/p>\n<p>Graduate education, experience, and licensure lead to positions as psychologists. Overall, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/ooh\/life-physical-and-social-science\/psychologists.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-gc-link=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/ooh\/life-physical-and-social-science\/psychologists.htm\">BLS<\/a>) projects that employment opportunities for psychologists will grow six percent from 2022 to 2032. Here are a few of the different kinds of psychologist specialties and the level of education and licensure necessary to pursue these careers.<\/p>\n<h2>Clinical Psychologist<\/h2>\n<p>To become a clinical psychologist, an individual must earn a doctoral degree \u2014 typically a Doctor of Psychology. Clinical psychologists work with patients to diagnose and treat mental illness and to conduct psychotherapy. Psychologists work in hospitals, private offices, outpatient centers, and government agencies. Licensing requirements for these professionals vary by state. In most states, a clinical psychologist is required to have a doctorate in psychology, one to two years of supervised professional experience, and a passing score on the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology.<\/p>\n<h2>Military Psychologist<\/h2>\n<p>A military psychologist works directly with patients who are in the military. The psychologist can either be a member of the military or work as an independent contractor. Like clinical psychologists, military psychologists need a doctoral degree and a certain amount of supervised professional experience. Becoming a military psychologist requires additional training that focuses on working with military personnel and practicing in military environments.<\/p>\n<h2>Child Psychologist<\/h2>\n<p>The American Board of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clinicalchildpsychology.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-gc-link=\"https:\/\/www.clinicalchildpsychology.com\/\">ABCCAP<\/a>, is a member board of the American Board of Professional Psychology. ABCCAP offers board certification examinations that focus on work with children and adolescents specifically. Child psychologists must have a doctoral degree as well as training and experience with children and young adults.<\/p>\n<h2>Forensic Psychologist<\/h2>\n<p>Forensic psychologists work within the legal and criminal justice system to help professionals understand the psychological background and aspects of their cases. To complete the American Board of Professional Psychology <a href=\"https:\/\/abpp.org\/Applicant-Information\/Specialty-Boards\/Forensic-Psychology.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-gc-link=\"https:\/\/abpp.org\/Applicant-Information\/Specialty-Boards\/Forensic-Psychology.aspx\">certification process<\/a>, prospective forensic psychologists must have a doctoral degree.<\/p>\n<h2>Industrial-Organizational Psychologists<\/h2>\n<p>As an example of the application of psychology in different fields, industrial-organizational psychologists operate by a completely separate set of rules than other psychologists. Industrial-organizational psychologists need a master\u2019s degree. They study employees and workplaces to promote efficiency and productivity.<\/p>\n<p>For those interested in making a difference in the mental health of their community, Rivier University offers numerous <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/programs\/?department=counseling-psychology\">undergraduate, graduate and doctoral<\/a> programs, including an on-campus Psychology degree offering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Psychology is a broad field that can involve providing therapy to patients with behavioral health disorders, performing research, and applying psychological concepts in business environments to improve productivity and efficiency. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":993,"menu_order":12,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1018","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Types of Psychologists | Program Resources | Rivier University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pursuing a degree in Psychology can be beneficial to many different fields of psychology. Learn about the role of different types of psychologists.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/online\/resources\/program-resources\/different-types-of-psychologists\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Types of Psychologists | Program Resources | Rivier University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pursuing a degree in Psychology can be beneficial to many different fields of psychology. Learn about the role of different types of psychologists.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/online\/resources\/program-resources\/different-types-of-psychologists\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rivier Academics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-28T21:11:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/online\/resources\/program-resources\/different-types-of-psychologists\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/online\/resources\/program-resources\/different-types-of-psychologists\/\",\"name\":\"Types of Psychologists | Program Resources | Rivier University\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-09T17:21:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-28T21:11:05+00:00\",\"description\":\"Pursuing a degree in Psychology can be beneficial to many different fields of psychology. Learn about the role of different types of psychologists.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/online\/resources\/program-resources\/different-types-of-psychologists\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/online\/resources\/program-resources\/different-types-of-psychologists\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/online\/resources\/program-resources\/different-types-of-psychologists\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Online Programs\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/online\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Resources\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/online\/resources\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Program Resources\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/online\/resources\/program-resources\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":5,\"name\":\"Different Types of Psychologists\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/\",\"name\":\"Rivier Academics\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Types of Psychologists | Program Resources | Rivier University","description":"Pursuing a degree in Psychology can be beneficial to many different fields of psychology. Learn about the role of different types of psychologists.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/online\/resources\/program-resources\/different-types-of-psychologists\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Types of Psychologists | Program Resources | Rivier University","og_description":"Pursuing a degree in Psychology can be beneficial to many different fields of psychology. Learn about the role of different types of psychologists.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/online\/resources\/program-resources\/different-types-of-psychologists\/","og_site_name":"Rivier Academics","article_modified_time":"2026-01-28T21:11:05+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/online\/resources\/program-resources\/different-types-of-psychologists\/","url":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/online\/resources\/program-resources\/different-types-of-psychologists\/","name":"Types of Psychologists | Program Resources | Rivier University","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-07-09T17:21:01+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-28T21:11:05+00:00","description":"Pursuing a degree in Psychology can be beneficial to many different fields of psychology. Learn about the role of different types of psychologists.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/online\/resources\/program-resources\/different-types-of-psychologists\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/online\/resources\/program-resources\/different-types-of-psychologists\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/online\/resources\/program-resources\/different-types-of-psychologists\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Online Programs","item":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/online\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Resources","item":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/online\/resources\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Program Resources","item":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/online\/resources\/program-resources\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"name":"Different Types of Psychologists"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/","name":"Rivier Academics","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1018\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rivier.edu\/academics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}