Career As A Forensic Or Criminal Psychologist

In the same way that hope has colored the past, optimism and positive thinking has the ability to affect present situations. When enduring struggles or facing fears, hope can provide feelings of comfort. It can be used as a coping mechanism. Maya Angelou relates a tone of satisfaction when she weighs the conditions of her life

Chasing optimism in the face of challenges is a requirement that humans must conform to in order to live a fulfilled life. Studies prove that optimists tend to be healthier through the hardships they face no matter how severe. Even when in the face of challenges, being optimistic will lead you to be more successful in every aspect. Not only will you be healthier, being optimistic leads to great achievements in life. It also guides you to have better character. This essay will outline why you must always chase optimism even in challenges' face.

An article written by Kendra Cherry states, “By nurturing positive emotions, even in the face of terrible events, people can reap both short-term and long-term rewards, including managing stress levels, lessening depression, and building coping skills that will serve them well in the future” (Cherry). Optimism has allowed for people to deal with conflicts in a healthy way. Neuroscientist Tali Sharot in her book The Science of Optimism: Why We’re Hard-Wired for Hope argues that optimism provides an adaptive advantage. According to her, “Expecting our future to be good reduces stress and anxiety, which is good for our health. Researchers studying heart attack patients have found that optimists were more likely than nonoptimistic patients to take vitamins, eat low-fat diets, and exercise, thereby reducing their overall coronary risk” (Popova). Dealing with conflicts positively is better for your health and it decreases bad health

The career of interest that I will focus my report on is a career in forensic psychology. Specialties within forensic psychology include knowledge in the clinical and legal career fields. Two other occupations that do similar work are, of course, the two specialty areas of clinical psychology and law. Other careers I would consider if I did not decide to pursue a career in forensic psychology would be careers in clinical psychology, industrial and organizational psychology, and the legal system. Daily tasks and activities of a forensic psychologist include assessing offenders for risks, probability of re-offending, possible mental disorders, and self-harm.

Hi, I'm Judy and this is my first year at CSN. I'm a small child who can basically pull off being a middle schooler. The psychology careers that best matched to my personality and interests were industrial organizational psychologist, forensic psychologist, and sports psychologist. I believe industrial organizational psychologist would best fit my personality, as I like looking at statistics and interpreting them, but I have more of an interest in forensics. This is more in the forensic chemistry field, but forensic psychology seems like an interesting job, even if it would be incredibly stressful. I have no interest or understanding of sports, so I wouldn't look at being sport psychologist.

Optimism is to be confident and hopeful about the future. Being optimistic is not always a positive thing, especially in the matter of climate change. According to Gifford, optimism can produce personal outcomes, but it can be overdone. He also stated that optimism applies to risks from climate change. Frantz and Mayer contended that by stating that optimism is another factor that lead people to fail perceiving an event like climate change as an emergency. They explained their view by saying that people don’t think that

An admirable quality to have is being optimistic , when life hands you lemons you make lemonade. According to dictionary.com optimism is a disposition or tendency to look on the more favorable side of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome. One can define Over-optimism as an excessive belief that good will prevail from whatever situation one may be in. Charlotte Delbo’s piece Convoy to AUSCHWITZ told the story of her journey of when she was captured as a prisoner during Hitler's reign. Throughout this heart wrenching story over-optimism can be seen clearly in the actions of herself and the women close to her.

1) The types of work professionals in specialty areas within the larger field of psychology do

Forensic psychology is a varied field that can lead to more than one career option, and provides more than one path to get into the position you’re seeking. A master’s degree is required to work in the field of forensic psychology. With a master’s degree you could work as a correctional officer, a parole or probation officer, or as a counselor to criminal offenders, a counselor to victims of crime, or a counselor to people who abuse drugs and alcohol. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics correctional officers earned a median salary of $38,970 a year in 2012 (BLS1); while parole or probation officers earned a median salary of $48,190 (BLS2), and drug and alcohol abuse counselors earned a mean annual wage of $38,520 (BLS3) for the same year.

Dispositional optimism (DO) is a psychological construct defined as the tendency to have positive expectations about the future [CITE]. DO is considered a relatively stable trait, and is based upon the expectancy-value theory of motivation [CITE fishbein]. The theory suggests that an individual’s confidence in their ability to succeed (expectancy) and the predicted benefits of completing a task (value) determine the strength of their motivation. A person with a high score of DO (an optimist) is likely to exert effort when tackling a challenging task as they tend to be more confident when assessing their ability to complete a valued goal. The confidence in their abilities encourages the optimist to persist when faced with obstacles. Conversely, a person with a low score of DO (a pessimist) is likely to disengage from effort and give up easily when met with any resistance due to a lack of confidence in their ability to overcome the obstacle [CITE scheier2014].

Have you ever imagined yourself on Criminal Minds or maybe even Law & Order? I know I have visualized myself being a part of those television shows. There is a lot to mentally and physically do before you can actually become a forensic psychologist. Educational requirements are very precise unlike the physical requirements.

Upon researching careers that pertain to the field of Psychology, I have discovered that I do not exactly know what aspect of Psychology I want to pursue, but several of the careers on the Careers4Terps database appealed to me. One such career was that of a Forensic Psychologist. A Forensic Psychologist interviews family members of friends and of victims, and uses medical and psychological health records in order to create a psychological profile of both suspects and victims. Forensic Psychologists also may be called upon to consult during court cases and jury selection.

As a future Forensic Psychologist, I will be interacting with various types of people in the criminal justice system. Each individual will be different, and each setting and circumstance will cause some difficulty in relating to the offender. By learning about Adlerian, Existential and Person-Centered theories I got a better look at techniques to use while talking to people. These theories are all different but are unique in their counseling styles. I have thought about my life according to each of these theories and gathered similar information about myself from these.

Optimism is another trait or attribute displayed by Type Bs, Cs, and hardy personalities (see below). Optimists are more inclined to appraise situations as challenging, whereas Type A personalities will appraise the same situation as a threat. Optimists tend to focus on what they can do to change or improve a stressful situation, rather than what they are unable to do. They are content in what they do accomplish, and do not focus on their failures (Schafer, 2000; Morris & Maisto, 2005).

Optimistic and pessimistic attitudes constantly affect the outcome of people's lives. In my life, I try to keep an optimistic attitude about the things I do because I know it will help lead me to more desirable ends. There have been many situations in which optimism has helped me through difficult times. Two areas in particular have provided me optimistic experiences: athletics