Psychology and Anthropology?

Question

I'd like to major in both, but I'd also like to get a job...lol

What options are avaiable to me in those two fields( at any level, BA, MA, PhD, etc...)

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks!

Answer 1

Why wouldn't you be able to get a job? If you want to mix both you could probably opt for a job in community service, or counselling, where it is important to take into account the social cultural background of people (anthropology), but also their individual traits (psyc). Anthropology is not all about going to remote communities or far away lands, you can practice within your own community: shelters, immigrant groups, single mothers, even the corporate world and marketing has a place for anthropologists and/or psycologists. In any case, in the long run you'd probably have to do further academic studies, as both fields tend tp require continous academic development (writing papers, etc)

Try and get an internship in some are of community service to get an idea of what you'd enjoy doing

good luck!

Answer 2

I'm not sure in terms of practicality of what kind of job you will get, but you should have a look at 'cognitive anthropology' and 'schema theory' (google etc.), both are ideas of culture that combine anthropology and psychology which you might find interesting.

I do know that with any study in anthrop (I'm doing Honours atm) the higher you study the more you can do with your degree,. if you want to work in a field related to psychological anthropology (probably mainly academic work) you will want at least a masters. Of course with the psych major you can do the usual psych stuff.

Have a good one. :)

Answer 3

I think i would only tackle one of those at a time,that way you could work and still have time for your studies. Other wise you would be overburdened.

Answer 4

ooooo! Great combo! I admire your taste.

Go ahead and do the double-major. Having both won't hurt, and may well help.

I'd think you'd be better off going all the way, as it were.

You've plenty of time to think about what, exactly, you want to do. (And it will change around, if you try to pin it down now, anyway.)

Pursue these fields, and over time, you'll figure out what you want to do. What's best is that there proabably aren't a lot of people working in both, so you could be an innovator, as far as developing ideas around how they shed light on each other.

With both, you can go in the direction of either, when you've finished school. I can't imagine someone refusing to consider you for a job in one field, simply because you have a double-major.

In fact, there will be someone who will love that you have both.

One thing that springs to mind is working with people's psychological problems in other cultures. That is, probably most people working in that area are therapists, who had no formal education in athropology, and so were more ignorant of how that aspect -- the different culture -- effects things.

Or you'd get anthropologists who are psychologically naive.

You'd be a great antedote.

We're a single thing, we humans. Those two fields (and others) each look at ONE aspect, but we're unified critters.

I'm not just a psyche, I'm also a creature of my culture. But I'm not only a creature of my culture, I'm also my personality, born into my specific family dynamic, etc.

Thus, using more than one field is RIGHT -- more so than thinking one field is "the answer" to understanding me.

Go for it.

Worry about the job year from now when you're nearing the finish of your schooling.

When you follow your passion (especially when it's unusual, but right), you never know where you'll end up, exactly. But both are useful things to have studied.

(Take some sociology, too; and a little economics would also be in order -- if you go into something that involves groups, especially.)

Don't let people discourage you, or make you fret about making a living. You'll land somewhere. And you'll be able to bring things that no one else can.

Someone will want to give you money for that.

Answer 5

If you take an accredited field school in archaeology, a subfield of anthropology, you can get a cultural resource management job, with a BA. That class will be an anthro class, so it will count toward the major. Its a good way to travel around and you get to be an archaeologist.

Answer 6

Psychology is a great field, with lots of different areas to study or work in.  The only drawback to psychology is that there is a sucide rate as not everyone is able to leave thier clients problems at the office.  If you can do this, it is a very rewarding and interesting field to spend your life in.  I have no opinion on anthropology.  By the way, if you can find the book, "Madness on the couch", read it, you will truly enjoy it if you have an interest in psychology.

Answer 7

You've definitely got options open to you with that combination of experience, though you'll want to develop focal areas for combining them.  Simply put, they're broad topics with a lot of overlap, and a lot of areas that really don't relate.

In research studies, a lot of work is done cross-culturally.  A considerable amount of research has been done to show how culture affects memory, perception, and other cognitive functions.  

In clinical work, knowledge of cross cultural factors can be very important.  The classic example of this is the difficulty experienced by social workers attempting to provide counseling services to asian immigrants living near the World Trade Center in NY.  Knowledge of cultural norms, and the justifications for those cultural norms can be essential in providing services.  

If psychiatric studies catch your fancy, consider the research done with native groups to identify plants that may have useful psychoactive compounds.  

If historical psychology is more your area, consider the topic of ethnic psychoses.  While they aren't something we really consider in clinical practice, they once were.