Starting a Career as a Behavioral Scientist at Mid-Life
When thinking of a career in Behavioral Science, think about your end goal.
I am super-excited to be sharing the newest piece in The Human Condition’s new Ask the Psychology Professor series!
N. from Bahrain, who is a subscriber to The Human Condition, asks the following:
I'm about to be 40 years old, studying MA. Psychology. Is there any problem in aspiring to earn Ph.D degree and become a Psychological scientist in that age? This maybe looks a silly question, but there are colleagues of mine which are totally against my aspirations for several reasons as they claim.
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Dear N.,
Thank you so much for your question and for reaching out. I have guided hundreds of students (of all ages) over the years regarding questions like yours and am glad to provide some guidance—guidance that is hopefully helpful! Here is a link to my book, Own Your Psychology Major (APA), which provides a broader summary of content related to your question.
My guidance regarding your question addresses three main points—as follows:
1. Behavioral Science
First off, I think that it’s more important now than ever before that we start to utilize the term “behavioral science” as opposed to “psychology” or even “psychological science.” The tendency for laypeople to conflate anything that sounds like “psychology” with what is essentially “therapy” is simply too strong. Case-in-point: I have no background in therapy and have never provided therapy to anyone, yet to this day, my (beloved) mom still thinks that I am a psychiatrist!
The therapeutic and counseling-related professions (which I describe in detail in this Psychology Today piece) bear on using an understanding of research related to psychology and counseling to help provide emotional and advice-based support for people who may be struggling in life.
Behavioral science, on the other hand, is a fully scientific field of inquiry that uses experimental, correlational, and other methods to collect data to ask and address questions regarding the roots of human behavior. As you can see, in pretty much every single way, this is a markedly different enterprise from therapy altogether.
Your question seems to imply that you are more interested in the latter (behavioral science)—but first off, I suggest that you think carefully about this issue before taking any additional steps moving forward.
2. Trends in the job market
For both fields related to therapy and mental health, along with fields connected with behavioral science, the good news is that there are, based largely on my in-depth work in the field, more career and job opportunities than ever.
When it comes to a degree in behavioral science, it used to be that we would talk about how this kind of degree provides one with skills (e.g., statistical skills) that could potentially be transferred to a number of issues and topics. That’s a wishy-washy way of saying that there were not really many direct pathways to careers from a degree in behavioral science.
My how times have changed. People who can create quality surveys related to human behavior and psychology and who can analyze and report data effectively are, actually, now in-demand. Many of the large internet-based companies, such as Google and Facebook, regularly hire behavioral scientists and experts in data science to help them develop optimal algorithms connected with the goals of those companies. Dating sites hire behavioral scientists. Government agencies and private companies that work with such agencies need behavioral scientists. And, of course, universities need behavioral scientists for both the research and teaching domains. So the good news is this: There are lots of pathways forward from advanced degrees in behavioral science these days.
3. Is a PhD necessary for your broader goals?
This all said, I think that, as is usually the case with major life decisions, you need to carefully consider the question of your end-goal. I say this largely because there are two basic kinds of degrees in behavioral science. There are Maters’s-level degrees, such as the degree that is offered by my own academic department and university at the State University of New York at New Paltz—and then there are PhD degrees that usually focus on some specialty area within behavioral science (e.g., my PhD from the University of New Hampshire is a fully research-based degree, but it includes a strong focus on social psychology in particular).
As a general rule, the PhD will be more valuable and will open more doors for you. For example, in looking at the pathways of my alumni, I have found that students who have a PhD are more easily employable (in such areas as private industry, government, and more) relative to those with Master’s-level degrees. Further, the PhD sets one up to potentially obtain a full-time position as an academic within a university setting while a Master’s-level degree does not really.
That said, I have seen several students, especially in recent years, take a Master’s degree in behavioral science and turn up careers working for all kinds of agencies (including universities, governmental agencies, private companies, and more).
So I guess that you should think about your end goal. If you want an academic position ultimately, you will likely need a PhD. If you want a career path that utilizes behavioral science skills in a variety of settings, however, the Master’s degree is often truly sufficient.
A final point I’ll bring up here pertains to your age. You describe yourself as near 40. And you are seemingly asking if it’s a good idea to start a PhD program at that lifestage. First, let me say that if you choose to do so, you will not be alone. While you would not be the youngest member of a PhD cohort, it is important to note that many people at that lifestage decide to pivot in life and turn toward a PhD program. So if you do choose this pathway, you won’t be alone. And you won’t stand out due to your age—this idea is not all that outrageous.
That said, I do strongly suggest that you think very carefully about your end goal. If you want to be an academic in a full-time capacity, teaching and doing research in behavioral science, then you probably should strongly consider the PhD path. If, on the other hand, you are more interested in obtaining research skills and applying them in a potentially broad set of career paths working for a number of kinds of agencies—if you simply want to be a behavioral scientist and do research—a Master’s-level degree is likely all you’d need to get you to where you want to go.
Bottom Line
Starting a graduate program at mid-life is something that needs to be considered quite carefully. There are all kinds of graduate degrees in behavioral science and if your goal is to become a researcher of human behavior, then a Master’s-level degree may well be sufficient. This said, if you want more doors open to you—including the possibility of a full-time academic job in this field—a PhD may well be the right pathway for you. And don’t worry about starting such a degree at the age of 40—that is actually more common than one might expect.
Good luck with your deliberations, N. And thank you for asking the psychology professor!
References
Geher, G. (2019). Own Your Psychology Major! A Guide to Student Success. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. (AMAZON LINK HERE)