Take a step back for a moment. No, not from your computer screen – take a step back and consider all the ways in which your brain and body interact.
When you read, your eyes scan a page and your brain deciphers all those many symbols, ultimately and instantly creating meaning from them. When you take a bite of a piece of pie, your tongue, through various physiological processes, sends signals to your brain, which in turn “makes sense” of the flavors and tells you that it is pleasant.
You knew this already? The whole idea fascinates you? Then you, my friend, are a superb candidate to enroll in a biopsychology curriculum on a graduate level.
Biopsychology courses explore the ways in which the brain and the body form a system whose mysteries can be unraveled, in order to understand and help people who suffer from a variety of biological or psychological maladies. Biopsychology may also be called physiological psychology, behavioral neuroscience and psychobiology.
Because of the nature of work in graduate biopsychology curriculums and the many directions students may choose to go, the coursework covers a wide range of topics and is designed to afford students the widest range of experience possible. From biopsychology courses on immunology, vertebrate and invertebrate evolution, and neurobiology, to those that focus on behavior, statistics and laboratory methods, the intellectual demands placed on biopsychology students are great.
Students will take biopsychology courses that include advanced statistics, neuropsychopharmacology, affective neuroscience and animal models in biopsychology. Other common biopsychology courses include cognitive and behavioral neuroscience, neuroanatomy and the chemistry of the brain. Biopsychology curriculums include courses that cover memory, learning and neurotransmitters, and their effects on human and animal behavior.
Aside from the basic courses that most, if not all, students in biopsychology programs must take, there is a great deal of latitude when it comes to the specific areas of focus that individual students may pursue. Therefore, it is possible to choose a professional direction to a high level of specificity. Some possible biopsychology concentrations include:
Other biopsychology concentrations focus on adolescent biopsychology or biopsychological disorders, among many other topics. All students will find themselves engaging in extensive independent research, and may enter biopsychology careers in the business, health, institutional, industrial and environmental sectors.
This is a growing field, and as the scientific understanding of human behavior continues to increase and improve, biopsychology professionals will remain in high demand. There are a number of biopsychology career choices, and all of them will set the graduate up for a lifetime of interesting and rewarding work. From laboratory research, clinical psychology and work with pharmaceutical companies, the options are many and varied.
The average salaries of biopsychology careers vary depending on degree, experience, job setting and location. A starting neuroscientist can earn about $69,000 annually, while drug abuse counselors can earn an average annual salary of $60,000. Animal behaviorists can command an annual salary of about $78,000, and rehabilitation psychologists may earn about $85,000 a year to start. Some with a masters or PhD degree in biopsychology become pharmacologists and earn an average of $90,000 each year.
Many biopsychology careers require a doctorate degree. A graduate with a biopsychology career as an immunologist can rake in about $150,000 annually. Researchers can command an average salary of $70,000 a year, while natural sciences managers may earn an average of $99,000. PhD degrees in biopsychology can lead to careers as professors, which pay an average of $120,000. Others may choose to be psychiatrists, who can earn a mean salary of $155,000, or become clinical neuropsychologists, who can make $127,000 annually.
Those pursuing a masters or PhD degree in biopsychology will be fascinated by the intricate relationship between the brain and the body. Completion of a biopsychology curriculum can lead to a variety of biopsychology careers. In whatever direction they ultimately decide to go, graduates in biopsychology are sure to find their professional careers rewarding, challenging and demanding in all the right ways.
Did you know all that, too? Probably – so start searching the GradSchools.com directory for the best program that matches your needs.
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