Working with Animals Careers that Require a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology
Working with Animals Careers--Research Laboratory Assistant
A Psychology degree can lead to a career as an Animal Research Lab AssistantWith your Psychology degree you can get a job as a research laboratory assistant. These research lab assistants work in animal research hospitals or research universities. Animals under their care are not typically pets (though they can be), but are animals studied to understand (through psychology research) and develop treatments for disease or other phenomena.
As a research lab assistant you will be required to deal with daily tasks such as receiving new animals, feeding animals, cleaning living areas, and monitoring the general well-being of the lab animals. As you can imagine, you really need to like animlas to take one of these positions. In addition, you will work under the supervision of one or more research scientists (often a psychology researcher) who typically have a PhD or MD, depending on whether you are located at a university or medical center.
Salary Informationglassdoor.com lists the average yearly income for an Animal Research Lab Tech (Assistant) at $35,000.
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Click on the links below to read about other Animal Care and Research Careers that only require a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology:
Animal Care and Research Careers--Wildlife Care and Conservation
Animal Care and Research Careers--Animal Training
Animal Care and Research Careers--Veterinary Technician
Click on the links below to read about other Animal Care and Research careers that require a graduate degree:
Animal Care and Research Careers--Master's Degree in Psychology
Animal Care and Research Careers--PhD Degree in Psychology
Animal Care and Research Careers--Veterinarian (DVM)
Working with Animals Careers--Animal Training
How can a Psychology degree lead to becoming an Animal TrainerSome individuals with a Psychology degree decide to become animal trainers. They will train various types of animals to follow commands in everyday interactions or during performances. This can include getting animals used to human contact so that an animal will behave a certain way when specific commands are given. Keep in mind that animals can be trained for various tasks: protection, detection, companionship, or entertainment. Many animal trainers work with land animals (e.g., dogs), but you may become a marine animal trainer. Marine animal trainers typically need to earn bachelor's degrees in marine biology or a related field. It is important to keep in mind that with your psychology degree a career in animal training is a natural fit, because you would have learned critical operant (instrumental) conditioning technques (e.g., reinforcment) that are so important to animal training.
Salary InformationThe Bureau of Labor Statistics lists the median yearly income for an animal trainer at $29,000.
Click here to read important steps for Working with Animals Careers with a Bachelor's Degree. Click here for valuable insight into becoming an animal trainer. Other links on explorecareersinpsychology.orgClick here to return to homepage of explorecareersinpsychology.org
Click here to return to the Careers by Category page.
Click here to return to the Working with Animals Careers page.
Click on the links below to read about other Animal Care and Research Careers that only require a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology:
Animal Care and Research Careers--Research Lab Assistant
Animal Care and Research Careers--Wildlife Care and Conservation
Animal Care and Research Careers--Veterinary Technician
Click on the links below to read about other Animal Care and Research careers that require a graduate degree:
Animal Care and Research Careers--Master's Degree in Psychology
Animal Care and Research Careers--PhD Degree in Psychology
Animal Care and Research Careers--Veterinarian (DVM)
Working with Animals Careers--Veterinary Technician
Using your Psychology degree to become a Veterinary TechnicianYou might consider a psychology-related career can be as a veterinary technician. Veterinary technicians look after animals in animal hospitals and veteranary offices. They care for the well-being of animals (typically household pets) and are responsible for routine tasks such as feeding, weighing, drawing blood, pacing catheters, assisting during surgery,and taking the temperature of animals. Veterinary techician may also provide nursing care before and after surgery and other medical procedures. Duties are performed under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian.
Your psychology degree can work to your advantage with this type of job, because it is likely that you learned a lot about how animals behave. For example, when you were taught about conditioning (classical and operant conditioning) in your psychology classes, animal behavior was likely a big part of the course. In addition, those of you who took courses in physiological psychology or brain and behavior probably discussed issues that pertained to animals. Finally, you may have worked in the lab of a psychology researcher who studied animals.
Salary Informationusnews.com lists the average yearly income for a Veterinarian Technician at $32,500.
Click here to read important steps for Working with Animals Careers with a Bachelor's Degree. Click her to find out more about a veterinarian technician career. Other links on explorecareersinpsychology.orgClick here to return to homepage of explorecareersinpsychology.org
Click here to return to the Careers by Category page.
Click here to return to the Working with Animals Careers page.
Click on the links below to read about other Animal Care and Research Careers that only require a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology:
Animal Care and Research Careers--Research Lab Assistant
Animal Care and Research Careers--Wildlife Care and Conservation
Animal Care and Research Careers--Animal Training
Click on the links below to read about other Animal Care and Research careers that require a graduate degree:
Animal Care and Research Careers--Master's Degree in Psychology
Working with Animals Careers--Wildlife Care and Conservation
What does Wildlife Care and Conservation involve?
Wildlife care and conservation involves the study of animals and other wildlife and how they interact with their ecosystems. Workers in zoos help threatened and endangered species by breeding them in captivity and sometimes re-introducing them into the natural environment. Others in this career area may work outdoors, gathering data and studying animals in their natural habitat. Park workers (including Park Rangers) and workers in nature centers are also considered part of this career domain. This is a great career option if you like working with animals, and you like some freedom in your work environment (e.g., working oudoors). It is likely that you will need to take some courses in Biology to be competitive for these jobs.
Salary Informationglassdoor.com.com lists the average yearly income for a Wildlife Care and Conservation worker (e.g., Park Ranger) at $36,000.
Click here to read important steps for Working with Animals Careers with a Bachelor's Degree. Other links on explorecareersinpsychology.orgClick here to return to homepage of explorecareersinpsychology.org
Click here to return to the Careers by Category page.
Click here to return to the Working with Animals Careers page.
Click on the links below to read about other Animal Care and Research Careers that only require a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology:
Animal Care and Research Careers--Research Lab Assistant
Animal Care and Research Careers--Animal Training
Animal Care and Research Careers--Veterinary Technician
Click on the links below to read about other Animal Care and Research careers that require a graduate degree:
Animal Care and Research Careers--Master's Degree in Psychology
Animal Care and Research Careers--PhD Degree in Psychology
Animal Care and Research Careers--Veterinarian (DVM)