A career in the mysterious field of environmental psychology?

[sam handwich]

First, a little background about me and my situation:
I am 26 years old and earned a BA in psych in 2011. I consider myself a strong candidate for graduate study based on a 3.81 gpa, letters of recommendation, strong background in statistics, research experience, blah blah blah. The one thing that has defeated me from entering graduate school is my inability to pick a focused interest or sub field of psychology. I went through a period where I continually changed my mind about what programs I wanted to apply to as I was applying to them... eventually it all ended in destroying my applications with the resolve that I wasnt ready to make such a decision at the time.

I have spent the last year and a half "soul searching" and enjoying some incredible activities such as travel, climbing mountains, and attending festivals while earning a living as a rock climbing supervisor (exciting job... crappy pay). I am still confused about what I want to do but have learned a little more about things that I would not enjoy. I continue to rule out options. Anyway, I have always had an interest in the implications of environmental psychology. The way that living in the suburbs has negative effects on health and exercise behavior, for example.

I am wondering if anyone here knows anything about the field or degree programs? My understanding from my preliminary research indicates the actual degrees for environmental psychology may not even exist and that despite it being a genuine field, they are not common programs amongst universities perhaps because it is still relatively new. There is obviously room for overlap between environmental and social psychology when it comes to the name of a degree, but I also think there is distinction among the two.
For a career I am looking for something that is applied and I thought it might be fun to educate the public in the effects of the environment on their behavior or work as someone who influences environmental design. Do these careers/degrees exist?

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[cara susanna]

Couldn't that just be classified as health psychology?

 

[roubs]

Couldn't that just be classified as health psychology?

Ha, it sounded more like a subfield of social to me

 

[wigflip]

I am looking for something that is applied and I thought it might be fun to educate the public in the effects of the environment on their behavior or work as someone who influences environmental design. Do these careers/degrees exist?

This does sound very applied. I wonder if the doctorate would really be satisfying (instead of perhaps an MPH or similar professional degree).

 

[wigflip]

Ha, it sounded more like a subfield of social to me

Embarrassed to ask, but I thought health psych was a subfield of social...? Or is that what you were saying, roubs?

 

[mewtoo]

Embarrassed to ask, but I thought health psych was a subfield of social...? Or is that what you were saying, roubs?

S/He could be referring to clinical health psychology which is (obviously) a subfield of clinical psychology. I think there is a specific health psychology subfield of social psych too. I know at one school I was looking at in their clinical program they had a health psych track as well as a separate, experimental health psychology doctoral program. Maybe its a just chalked up to different approaches?

 

[ClinicalABA]

There was just a conference held at Ohio State titled Behavior Change for a Sustainable World. You might want to search around for a contents or abstracts, and then research some of the authors. Many were from behavior analysis programs.

 

[Pragma]

Embarrassed to ask, but I thought health psych was a subfield of social...? Or is that what you were saying, roubs?

I can't speak for roubs, but health psych is usually considered a subfield of clinical. "Behavioral medicine" is one spin-off, and then there are also health psych programs focused on health promotion and prevention, sometimes at the community level.

While it may seem like it could be linked with social, it typically isn't, practically speaking, although I am interested to hear about the other program mentioned in this thread.

 

[Pragma]

This does sound very applied. I wonder if the doctorate would really be satisfying (instead of perhaps an MPH or similar professional degree).

Sounds more like it to me...

 

[wigflip]

I can't speak for roubs, but health psych is usually considered a subfield of clinical. "Behavioral medicine" is one spin-off, and then there are also health psych programs focused on health promotion and prevention, sometimes at the community level.

While it may seem like it could be linked with social, it typically isn't, practically speaking, although I am interested to hear about the other program mentioned in this thread.

Thanks, Pragma. The psych folks I know who are doing health-related research are all in social, but that makes sense given my interest in stigma.

 

[Pragma]

Thanks, Pragma. The psych folks I know who are doing health-related research are all in social, but that makes sense given my interest in stigma.

Yeah I think it is interesting what things get called. Most of the social psych folks I know do research on things like prejudice.

The people I know who do the kind of research that the OP is mentioning are usually a) public health or b) community psychology. As I have mentioned, the "health psych" people I know do more behavioral medicine (e.g., pre surgery evaluations, sleep hygeine, biofeedback), but I know there are some health psych folks that engage in more community level research as well.

I'd imagine that sociology could also have a stake in this type of research. We are just a big overlapping mess in the social sciences, right?

 

[wigflip]

I'd imagine that sociology could also have a stake in this type of research. We are just a big overlapping mess in the social sciences, right?

I think medical sociology and medical anthropology often overlap with health (social) psych in their focus on stigma/discrimination, but they also focus on how conditions become "medicalized," medical culture, communication in medical settings, etc.

Edit: And let's not forget "medical discourses" and moral panics. You folks from "that thread" know what I'm talking about.

 

[Pragma]

I think medical sociology and medical anthropology often overlap with health (social) psych in their focus on stigma/discrimination, but they also focus on how conditions become "medicalized," medical culture, communication in medical settings, etc.

I totally forgot about medical anthropology. What a relevant degree for the current times. But I bet people just get hired as consultants or something - it is so specialized.

 

[sunlioness]

I've heard of environmental psychology. I don't think it's really considered to be in the mainstream quite yet. I might check out Naropa in Boulder, CO.

 

[FadedC]

One of my professors was really interested in what he called urban psychology, it sounds like it would be considered a subset of environmental psychology that focused on the psychological effects of city life. Apparently Milgram was one of the big contributers to it.
The field was definitely considered to be part of social psychology.

 

[mcvcm92]

Not exactly sure what the degree offers in terms of employment, but a Ph.D is offered by CUNY Graduate Center... http://www.gc.cuny.edu/Page-Element...ology/Training-Areas/Environmental-Psychology

 

[sam handwich]

This has been a very interesting discussion. I think originally when I went into psychology I thought I would be doing clinical one-on-one work. I have since then discovered that I am more stimulated by teaching and working for groups. This is one field I am going to have to really delve into if I am going to learn what I can do with it. I am hoping for a career that is more than just straight up research.