Anyone studying psychology?
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I took only the first year university course at the school I was going to and I absolutely loved it. I find it to be fascinating. I really don't like developmental psychology or child psychology though. I find it to be boring and obvious.
What I really find interesting is abnormal psychology. Now THAT is interesting. Learning about the different psychotherapy methods was okay I guess, but I just like getting to the meat and potatoes of it and learning about what's really going inside people's heads, what causes it, and that sort of thing.
What I really find interesting is abnormal psychology. Now THAT is interesting. Learning about the different psychotherapy methods was okay I guess, but I just like getting to the meat and potatoes of it and learning about what's really going inside people's heads, what causes it, and that sort of thing.
Likes: Research, data collecting and making inferences using statistics. Freedom of thought and a broad field to choose from.
Dislikes: Many scientists claim that psychology isn't a science which kind of irks me. Definitely not a hard science such as physics or chemistry, but I do think that you can be scientific with psychology.
Another dislike are the jobs available which isn't that many. Very competitive and you usually need a PH.D to be an actual psychologist.
I'm studying for engineering psychology which deals with cognitive and ergonomic mechanisms. Definitely something out of the mainstream for a psychology major lol
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Yeah, i've only taken the introduction course and although it was a large class, i enjoyed it. I'm interested in developmental or personality psych. But like cognition and neuropsych. *drools*
I see the value in developmental psych but for some reason it never grabbed my attention. I guess I shouldn't say it's boring necessarily, but there are other facets to psychology that really get my brain going.
- Aug 9, 2009
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I've taken a year of cognitive studies, which is full of psychology, though with a focus on cognitive psychology of course.
I like the focus on getting into what's going on 'behind the curtains', and finding random blips in our experience such as the fact that what we see can change what we hear (ex: if a person looks like he's saying "ga-" but he is actually saying "ba-" it alters what we actually hear). I like how what I learn is so much more personally relevant than, say, chemistry.
What I dislike is focuses on diagnosis, and I also dislike discussion of the more 'fluffy' or obvious stuff. Back when I was in psychology AP, we didn't really learn anything in the first month or two because it was all pretty much validation of common sense. Also, I haven't taken personality psychology, but I have no plans to because my brother and a friend of mine have pointed out how it's not focused much at all on individual differences and more on whether or not temperament theories in general would be valid or clinical/medical stuff, etc.
Overall, I like it quite a bit, but doing psychology research is a completely different beast (which I dislike).
I like the focus on getting into what's going on 'behind the curtains', and finding random blips in our experience such as the fact that what we see can change what we hear (ex: if a person looks like he's saying "ga-" but he is actually saying "ba-" it alters what we actually hear). I like how what I learn is so much more personally relevant than, say, chemistry.
What I dislike is focuses on diagnosis, and I also dislike discussion of the more 'fluffy' or obvious stuff. Back when I was in psychology AP, we didn't really learn anything in the first month or two because it was all pretty much validation of common sense. Also, I haven't taken personality psychology, but I have no plans to because my brother and a friend of mine have pointed out how it's not focused much at all on individual differences and more on whether or not temperament theories in general would be valid or clinical/medical stuff, etc.
Overall, I like it quite a bit, but doing psychology research is a completely different beast (which I dislike).
I minored in psychology when I got my business degree. I was initially interested in developmental psychology but i found it to have too much theory and examination of past psychologists work and how they differed from each other; which was boring.
Child psych was interesting; especially abnormal child psych and what are the fundamental roots and causes of childhood experience that usually results in abnormal behaviors in adulthood. But i thoroughly enjoyed the aspect of child brain development and how a child learns, etc
Abnormal psych was quite straightforward. Pretty much studied the latest DSM in depth. it detailed all the mental disorders; its root causes; treatment, symptoms, etc...but honestly you can learn all this from google.
I also took a personality psych class which was disappointing. it was a long lecture and focused primarily on topics such as nature vs.nurture, etc mbti was rarely mentioned. Studied the aspects of personality characteristics that do not change over a persons lifetime.
Overall, i decided not to continue with psychology on a masters level because i found the treatment for mental disorders and overall mental health very limiting. Very much focused on psychiatric and prescription focused with a heavy dose of labeling and categorizing. It really made the experience non human and unholistic.
I am however interested in a holistic approach of eastern and western medicine to help improve ones mental conditions and issues. but thats just a personal opinion.
Child psych was interesting; especially abnormal child psych and what are the fundamental roots and causes of childhood experience that usually results in abnormal behaviors in adulthood. But i thoroughly enjoyed the aspect of child brain development and how a child learns, etc
Abnormal psych was quite straightforward. Pretty much studied the latest DSM in depth. it detailed all the mental disorders; its root causes; treatment, symptoms, etc...but honestly you can learn all this from google.
I also took a personality psych class which was disappointing. it was a long lecture and focused primarily on topics such as nature vs.nurture, etc mbti was rarely mentioned. Studied the aspects of personality characteristics that do not change over a persons lifetime.
Overall, i decided not to continue with psychology on a masters level because i found the treatment for mental disorders and overall mental health very limiting. Very much focused on psychiatric and prescription focused with a heavy dose of labeling and categorizing. It really made the experience non human and unholistic.
I am however interested in a holistic approach of eastern and western medicine to help improve ones mental conditions and issues. but thats just a personal opinion.
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Yeah, never heard of engineering psychology. Sounds interesting though. What's it like?
I was always curious about psych research but i'm not sure how interesting it would be in the long run.
Good overview. I've always been more interested in theory than application but to make a living, being a clinician is better, which is why i guess the focus is on drugs, unfortunately. In the end, the theory should be useful/practical at some point.
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- Aug 9, 2009
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More objectively, I'd say there's a whole slew of types of work you can do, ranging from computer programming (on the cognitive psychology side) to observing children. You have to do a lot of reading, a lot of experiment design & preparation (including finding participants and getting your experiment approved), quite a bit of data collection, quite a bit of critiquing others' research, and some theory making, paper drafting, and data analysis. Occasional grant seeking I hear is a pain (didn't go that far), though a grant usually lasts for years.
I sometimes think maybe I should get back onto the research track, as it wasn't bad, but I certainly found it dull. Others usually complain about the fact that they don't have the freedom to research what they want (even professors are limited by what they can get funding for, and grad students can have it much worse).
I study as a hobby. Basically, I ask dumb questions and try to answer them myself. these days, the question is : "Is an ego-less, present minded state devoid of higher brain cognition. What are the similarities of misguided anarchism, libertarianism, flow, Zen and Dao"
Useless stuff like this.
Useless stuff like this.
Engineering psychology is about using human psychology to create machines that behave and operate like human beings with more efficient and cost-efficient models. It's like Artificial intelligence, except psychologists are more interested in creating human-like machines and leaving the mechanics to the engineers. It's related to mainly job equipment that may potentially injure employee's, so what we do is create models that do the same job without putting the person in danger.
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studying it now..
I like the majority of it. its really interesting and has taught me a lot about people.
abnormal psych and clinical psych can be either interesting or boring as I have had 2 teachers teach me the subjects. one was the most interesting teacher ever the other was as boring as a rock. no wait. i think the rocks more interesting.
The interesting teacher taught us out of the book stuff that were more real world and shared his experiences. A LOT of his experiences haha
I dont mind the research part too. Ultimately, I think this is a subject where the teacher must know how to teach it interestingly and know how to allow the student to retain the information.
on that subject, our child psych teacher was hell on us and kept giving us work. all his assessments were alternate assessments. We really hated it while doing it, but we all knew the benefits and I can still feel it now. I can remember most of the things he taught me.
I like the majority of it. its really interesting and has taught me a lot about people.
abnormal psych and clinical psych can be either interesting or boring as I have had 2 teachers teach me the subjects. one was the most interesting teacher ever the other was as boring as a rock. no wait. i think the rocks more interesting.
The interesting teacher taught us out of the book stuff that were more real world and shared his experiences. A LOT of his experiences haha
I dont mind the research part too. Ultimately, I think this is a subject where the teacher must know how to teach it interestingly and know how to allow the student to retain the information.
on that subject, our child psych teacher was hell on us and kept giving us work. all his assessments were alternate assessments. We really hated it while doing it, but we all knew the benefits and I can still feel it now. I can remember most of the things he taught me.
I think that's why i've become so interested in it. Whether it's my own stuff or reading about what other people are experiencing, it's all interesting to me. And there are so many insights i've learned here. It's all about understanding.
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i've heard that a lot too.. if psychology is a science it would imply that the human psyche is a predictable machine, a system like any typical reactor, and that controlling its output is just a matter of recognizing and accounting for all the different internal and external variables at play.
are people really so simple? can a mind studying other minds understand itself? so hard to say..
i think psychology is fascinating to study anyway~ if only for the novelty aspect
It is said that the human on average only uses a portion of it's brain capacity which would suggest that to understand the mind in all of it's complexity is an improbability.
But like you said, it's still an exciting subject with lots to chose from.
I haven't taken much psychology, yet from my one general psych class last year I seem to remember and know more of psychology than some friends of mine that have taken 3 or 4 psych courses.
My teacher in general psych was not actually a professor but a PhD candidate in the field of engineering psychology, like Seeker of Truth is studying.
My teacher in general psych was not actually a professor but a PhD candidate in the field of engineering psychology, like Seeker of Truth is studying.
If it's formal college education you're asking, No. If the question is a generic one, YESSS! I've been studying a bit on Child Psychology, and currently I'm reading through Swiss Psychologist Jean Piaget's Transductive Reasoning - an erroneous method of thinking where a cause and effect relationship is drawn between two events that are not logically connected.