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What does a psychology associate do?

Updated January 8, 2025
8 min read
Quoted expert
Dr. Jim Sliwinski Ph.D.
What does a psychology associate do

Provosts have a hefty set of educational requirements, including a master's degree in an educational field, tenure as a college or university academic professor, and, in some cases, the prerequisite of a doctorate: all necessary for the $151K yearly salary. Those who choose this career path will be called upon as the university's chief academic officer under the president to create and implement academic priorities as well as allocate resources that will support those priorities.

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Psychology associate responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real psychology associate resumes:

  • Provide comprehensive clinical psychological services in the form of provision of evidence based psychotherapy for mental health patients.
  • Provide psychological services at the largest AF clinic in the busiest DoD community in the command.
  • Administer psychological testing including ADHD, cognitive functioning, and psychoeducational batteries.
  • Connect with community service boards in reviewing rehabilitation reports for developmentally challenge individuals.
  • Develop person-centered, collaborative treatment plans with patients and document specific and measurable progress.
  • Work with a diverse array of clients including severely mentally ill, physically/learning disable, mentally impaired/handicap, and prisoner rehabilitation populations
  • Complete comprehensive psychological, autism, neuropsychological, attention- deficit/hyperactivity disorder and learning disability evaluations.
  • Complete comprehensive psychological, autism, neuropsychological, attention- deficit/hyperactivity disorder and learning disability evaluations.

Psychology associate skills and personality traits

We calculated that 16% of Psychology Associates are proficient in Social Work, Group Therapy, and Patients. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Integrity, and Patience.

We break down the percentage of Psychology Associates that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Social Work, 16%

    Coordinated services with other institutional programs including psychiatry, medical, custody, case management, addictions, and social work.

  • Group Therapy, 13%

    Conducted individual and group therapy sessions utilizing cognitive behavior modification techniques for a child/adolescent population.

  • Patients, 12%

    Handled coordination and delivery of mental health assessment and intervention to patients.

  • Crisis Intervention, 11%

    Provided individual psychotherapy, group psychotherapy, psychological assessment and evaluation, crisis intervention and suicide risk assessment.

  • Mental Illness, 8%

    Completed discharged planning for select individuals suffering from serious mental illnesses.

  • Mental Health, 7%

    Direct responsibility to evaluate inmates referred for mental health services by professional and non-professional staff and administration.

"social work," "group therapy," and "patients" are among the most common skills that psychology associates use at work. You can find even more psychology associate responsibilities below, including:

Analytical skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a psychology associate to have is analytical skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "psychologists must examine the information they collect and draw logical conclusions." Psychology associates often use analytical skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "conducted data evaluation of group and individual therapy in line with evidence based standards to determine outcome measures using spreadsheet software. "

Integrity. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling psychology associate duties is integrity. The role rewards competence in this skill because "psychologists must keep patients’ problems in confidence, and patients must be able to trust psychologists’ expertise in treating sensitive problems." According to a psychology associate resume, here's how psychology associates can utilize integrity in their job responsibilities: "provide all requested clinical psychological services within an ethical domain. "

Patience. psychology associates are also known for patience, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to psychology associate responsibilities, because "psychologists must demonstrate patience, because conducting research or treating patients may take a long time." A psychology associate resume example shows how patience is used in the workplace: "interviewed patients and their families to collect full information on patience's case. "

Communication skills. psychology associate responsibilities often require "communication skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "psychologists must have strong communication skills because they spend much of their time listening to and speaking with patients or describing their research." This resume example shows what psychology associates do with communication skills on a typical day: "designed and taught didactic programs on depression, stress management and couple communication. "

Interpersonal skills. A commonly-found skill in psychology associate job descriptions, "interpersonal skills" is essential to what psychology associates do. Psychology associate responsibilities rely on this skill because "psychologists study and help individuals, so they must be able to work well with clients, patients, and other professionals." You can also see how psychology associate duties rely on interpersonal skills in this resume example: "utilized dialectical behavior therapy approaches to help residents create internal structure, enhance emotion regulation abilities, and improve interpersonal effectiveness. "

Problem-solving skills. While "problem-solving skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to psychology associate responsibilities. Much of what a psychology associate does relies on this skill, seeing as "psychologists need problem-solving skills to collect information, design research, evaluate programs, and find treatments or solutions to mental and behavioral problems." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of psychology associates: "provided milieu interventions focused on crisis intervention, solution-focused problem solving techniques, and brief counseling. "

Most common psychology associate skills

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Compare different psychology associates

Psychology associate vs. Clinical fellow

Clinical fellows are doctoral-level health professionals whose interest focuses on biomedical research. They take part in protocol-based clinical research and laboratory research. Their significant role in research leads them to a higher academic degree. Usually, they conduct research for 2-3 hours. They have completed their general residency, and train in health specialties like oncology or cardiology. They examine and treat patients, execute medical procedures, and complete patient charts.

The annual salary of clinical fellows is $4,092 lower than the average salary of psychology associates.While the two careers have a salary gap, they share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both psychology associate and clinical fellow positions are skilled in social work, group therapy, and patients.

While similarities exist, there are also some differences between psychology associates and clinical fellow. For instance, psychology associate responsibilities require skills such as "mental illness," "release planning," "behavioral management," and "therapeutic interventions." Whereas a clinical fellow is skilled in "veterans," "surgery," "patient care," and "early intervention." This is part of what separates the two careers.

Clinical fellows really shine in the health care industry with an average salary of $72,607. Comparatively, psychology associates tend to make the most money in the health care industry with an average salary of $76,964.On average, clinical fellows reach lower levels of education than psychology associates. Clinical fellows are 7.1% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 12.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Psychology associate vs. Eating disorder specialist

On average, eating disorder specialists earn a $15,243 lower salary than psychology associates a year.A few skills overlap for psychology associates and eating disorder specialists. Resumes from both professions show that the duties of each career rely on skills like "crisis intervention," "mental illness," and "rehabilitation. "

In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, psychology associate responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "social work," "group therapy," "patients," and "mental health." Meanwhile, an eating disorder specialist has duties that require skills in areas such as "community organizations," "health professionals," "community health," and "community outreach." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

In general, eating disorder specialists achieve lower levels of education than psychology associates. They're 13.5% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 12.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for psychology associates in the next 3-5 years?

Dr. Jim Sliwinski Ph.D.Dr. Jim Sliwinski Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Assistant Professor of Psychology, Defiance College

Advances in technology have been making psychology more accessible. Virtual counseling sessions can be conducted over video chat. Students and researchers can quickly find access to the latest research information, right on their phones. In academia, students have even started taking online quizzes right on their smartphones. As we become more attached and accustomed to relying on our phones, I think we'll begin to see less use of other electronic devices, such as tablets and computers, and greater reliance on our phones to fulfill all of these roles.

Psychology associate vs. Clinical neuropsychologist

On average scale, clinical neuropsychologists bring in higher salaries than psychology associates. In fact, they earn a $16,780 higher salary per year.By looking over several psychology associates and clinical neuropsychologists resumes, we found that both roles require similar skills in their day-to-day duties, such as "autism," "rehabilitation," and "family therapy." But beyond that, the careers look very different.

There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a psychology associate is likely to be skilled in "social work," "group therapy," "patients," and "crisis intervention," while a typical clinical neuropsychologist is skilled in "brain injury," "tbi," "movement disorders," and "adolescents."

Clinical neuropsychologists typically earn lower educational levels compared to psychology associates. Specifically, they're 24.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 33.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Psychology associate vs. Licensed psychologist director

Licensed psychologist directors tend to earn a higher pay than psychology associates by an average of $22,176 per year.While both psychology associates and licensed psychologist directors complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like mental health, clinical supervision, and clinical services, the two careers vary in some skills.Each job also requires different skills to carry out their responsibilities. A psychology associate uses "social work," "group therapy," "patients," and "crisis intervention." Licensed psychologist directors are more likely to have duties that require skills in "product development," "ip," "apparel," and "litigation. "In general, licensed psychologist directors earn the most working in the media industry, with an average salary of $95,088. The highest-paying industry for a psychology associate is the health care industry.licensed psychologist directors reach lower levels of education compared to psychology associates, in general. The difference is that they're 22.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 2.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of psychology associate

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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