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Psychology
How Are Psychology and Social Work Different?
Psychology versus social work.
Posted October 31, 2022 Reviewed by Jessica Schrader
Key points
- Psychology and social work are different but related disciplines.
- The names of the disciplines themselves help illuminate the differences.
- Both are rigorous academic disciplines ripe for application, and each has ethical guidelines and principles that point to differences.
“Should I take psychology or social work? Both? How are they different?”
Many students of psychology wonder how social work is different and vice versa. Given that I teach both, have degrees in both, and have to switch my psychology and social work hats daily, I thought I’d share a few key differences between the disciplines.
It’s in the Names
It’s social work and psychology. “Ology” is used to signify a field of study and while social work is indeed a field of study, the work should tell you something. Social work is focused on practice. An introductory social work class focuses on specific populations with which you may work, major social issues you may address in your work, and the like.
Introductory psychology, of course, can prepare students for work, but it’s more focused on understanding human behavior. Social work covers that too, but psychology will run you through biological, cognitive, social, and related underpinnings of human behavior whereas social work is going to focus on what to do to address and enhance social well-being.
I use an introductory social work textbook that just presented the first learning objective for a chapter as, “Explain why racism exists.” I couldn’t in any way come close to addressing that without bringing in some psychological concepts and theories.
I encourage everyone who takes social work to take psychology and vice versa. If you’re working with humans, it’s imperative that you understand human behavior. Master’s-level social work programs require that you take a human behavior course, and having a solid background in psychology will prove helpful.
Which One Is Easier?
If students often take introductory psychology because it sounds easy, they flood my social work classes because it sounds even easier. After all, isn’t psychology just about depression and serial killers? Isn’t social work just about helping people? Students in both classes quickly learn otherwise.
Here I’ll revisit an exclamation I heard while walking past the information table for a local university on one of my community college campuses: “Oh my God! Psychology covers so much! It’s so much harder than I thought it would be!” Indeed it does, indeed it is, and social work is no exception.
Psychology is a science. Social work is based on science. Both cover a broad swath of information and require a strong theoretical, evidence-based foundation. These are both rigorous academic disciplines; neither is easy.
Application
I’m tempted to suggest that social work is more ripe for application, but psychology can be, too. All of my courses focus first and foremost on application—applying the material to real life. While social work may, perhaps, lend itself to that a bit more easily—focusing on students’ future careers, and the work they plan to do—psychology provides endless opportunities for application, as well.
Both disciplines allow for use of the material in real life. Social work may provide more opportunities to focus on one’s future career, but remember that not every student in social work classes knows what they plan to do for a living, just like in psychology.
Values and Ethics
Both social work and psychology have formal ethical guidelines, like many professions. Social work has a particularly illuminating code of ethics. While the psychology code of ethics, as you would expect, applies to psychologists, the social work code of ethics stresses that it applies to social work students, as well.
The social work code of ethics presents six values that set it apart from psychology: service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence.
Am I saying that psychology doesn’t value the above? Of course not. Those values, however, say something about social work—especially service and social justice. Service is the “work” part of social work. Sure, I know plenty of people with Ph.D.s in social work who exclusively conduct social work research for a living, but even those “social workers” focus on serving the public, and communities, in that research.
And here's the most controversial thing I’ll say in this post: social work is grounded in anti-oppression theory whereas psychology ... is not. I have never used an introductory psychology textbook that introduces the concept of oppression. I always have to add that before we cover prejudice and discrimination. How can I not?
Sure, there are sub-disciplines of psychology—like community and liberation psychology—that are grounded in social justice, but psychology as a discipline simply does not hold that value to its core the way social work does. Social justice defines social work. Social justice, hopefully, informs psychology.
Both/And
During my tenure at Psychology Today, I’ve received countless emails about social workers taking psychologists’ jobs, psychologists taking social workers’ jobs, and any iteration of the two laments. In my estimation, however, it’s not a zero-sum game.
I encourage students to take both social work and psychology. They are different yet related disciplines that complement each other. While it may seem to students, due to the competition framing they hear outside of class, that they must choose either social work or psychology, that’s a false dichotomy and both disciplines challenge such thinking. It’s not either/or. It’s both/and.
