Psychologist Interview Questions And Answers

As a Psychologist, attention to detail is needed from charting to counseling patients. Explain your skills and use examples. Tell the interviewer about your patience, determination and proactive attitude.

This question provides you insight into the applicant's personal experiences and motivations. Some people enter the field of clinical psychology due to their own experience with a psychologist or other mental health professional as a child or youth. Some have an inherent yearn to help to others. Some exhibit a curiosity about how the mind works and wish to better understand human behavior. Their response give you a window into their background, personality and work ethic. What to look for in an answer:

Personal experience with psychology
Motivation and passion for the field
Communication of work ethic and habits

In the event that a candidate fails to offer the counseling a patient requires, the candidate should recommend the patient to a specialist who they believe is better suited to deal with their problem. It is important that candidates do not create the impression that the patient's problem is unsolvable, but rather that they require care beyond the candidate's professional capacity.

acupuncture a treatment in traditional Chinese medicine in which sharp needles are inserted in special places on the skin and twirled rapidly to affect other parts of the body, this technique is used to suppress pain and to treat other bodily problems

An effective clinical psychologist will not only be listening carefully to a patient's answers to questions or evaluating the direction a client chooses to take, but they will also be aware of nonverbal cues. You'll want to assess your candidate's ability to observe things like body language, tone of voice, eye contact and nervous habits. These nonverbal cues are important when assessing and treating a client. What to look for in an answer:

Ability to observe nonverbal cues
Experience in interpreting nonverbal cues
Effectiveness in using cues to help in assessment and treatment

altered state of consciousness a condition r state that is considered outside the realm of normal consciousness, resulting from any number of different conditions, such as sensory deprivation or overstimulation, hypnosis, meditation, or the use of psychoactive drugs

associative learning the learning of associations between two stimuli or between a stimulus and a response based on repetition, includes classical and operant conditioning

beauty principle the tendency for individuals to like physically attractive persons more than physically unattractive persons, especially in first impressions

brightness contrast the perceiver’s tendency to exaggerate the physical difference in the light intensities of two adjacent regions, as a result, a gray patch looks brighter on a black background and darker on a white background

cohort effect age-related differences among people who grew up at the same time attributable to cultural or historical differences while growing up rather than real developmental change

This question is being asked to gain insight into your self-awareness and communication skills. Have a short term and long term goal in mind. Make all goals relevant to your career field. Be confident in your answers as they are your goals and no one else's.

The applicant should exhibit an experience-based knowledge of the specific duties a school psychologist performs. Their response should include psychological analysis, developing and implementing programs to help students meet educational needs and achieve their educational and personal goals, including making vocational program referrals. They should also exhibit an understanding of the paperwork required and confidentiality needs. What to look for in an answer:

Understanding of psychological analysis
Knowledge of program planning and management
Experience with records keeping and report writing per district requirements

Candidates should describe how they identified a unique problem, made the patient aware of something they did not yet know and in doing so provided the patient with successful counseling. Look for stories where candidates identified a problem and found a creative solution to it.

In this case, you're seeking to match your candidate's experience with your organization's current needs. For example, if your clinic treats many patients suffering from anxiety and depression, you'll want someone with familiarity in those areas. However, if you see many elderly individuals who are struggling with mental health issues in combination with physical challenges, you may want to hire a psychologist with more experience with this age group. What to look for in an answer:

Experience in areas where you have need
A broad understanding of common mental health issues
Specialty with particular age groups

amphetamines drugs that stimulate the CNS putting the body into a hyperenergized state, amphetamines block the reuptake of dopamine into nerve cells while directly causing the release of dopamine from the cells

attribution theory the theory that seeks to explain how we decide, on the basis of samples of an individual’s behavior, what the specific causes of that behavior are

behavior therapy a general approach to psychological treatment which hold that the disorders to which it addresses itself are produced by maladaptive learning and must be remedied by reeducation, proposes techniques for this reeducation based on principles of learning and conditioning, and focuses on the maladaptive behaviors themselves rather than on hypothetical unconscious processes of which they may be expressions

central traits according to Allport, the core traits, usually five to ten, that best describe a person’s personality, they are generalized across situations and readily noticeable by others

compliance techniques persuasive techniques used to induce people to behave in a requested way, many are based on the social-psychological principles of consistency, reciprocity, attraction, social validation, scarcity, and authority

diathesis-stress model a model based on the belief that many organic and mental disorders arise from an interaction between a diathesis (a predispositions toward and illness) and some form of precipitating environmental events

This is a great question to turn the tables on the interviewer. Tell the interviewer that you'd like to tackle any projects they need someone to take the lead on if there is an inspection or accreditation coming up you want to be a part of it. This is your chance to ask the interviewer what they currently have in the queue to accomplish. This will give you an idea of what else the job entails.

The applicant's answer to this should reveal an inherent understanding of the skills used by psychologists on a daily basis and why they are important. The appropriate answer reflects both hard and soft skills. It includes decision making, collaboration, learning, instruction, research, crisis intervention, mental health counseling, policy development, technology standards and developing student diversity. What to look for in an answer:

Data analysis and decision making skills
Crisis prevention and intervention experience
Psychology practicing skills

Along with patience, candidates should cite empathy and emotional intelligence as key skills in a Counseling Psychologist.

adrenal glands, adrenals the endocrine glands responsible for secreting the hormones adrenaline (epinephrine) and noradrenaline (norepinephrine), which regulate bodily functions and affect mood and emotion, blood pressure, blood sugar level, and redistribution of blood between internal organs and voluntary muscles

You'll be able to assess the psychologist's level of experience as well as obtain a glimpse into the candidate's approach to a difficult client. Be sure that you understand the outcome of the case, the treatment time window and the correlation between treatment and results. If the candidate offers a routine case example, he or she may not have the experience needed to treat more complex psychological disorders. What to look for in an answer:

Experience level with difficult or complex cases
Case conceptualization and approach
Level of focus on positive outcomes