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INTP Biology or Psychology?

Snowey1210

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Jan 10, 2008
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Ok, basically I'm at a stage where I'm feeling like I have to flip a coin to pick between studying Biology or Psychology at University.

On the one hand I have a definite interest in Biology, I like the idea of studying the complex system of life and exploring concepts such as evolutionary diversity, ecological influences etc. I also like the idea of having a job that contains both field observation and lab work, however I'm still don't completely know what this will entail exactly? (Any biologists out there?)

On the other side of the coin so to speak is psychology. I've previously studied aspects of psychology at Uni and find it really stimulating. I find I'm not so concerned so much with the abnormal aspects of it, but rather like exploring how it applies in everyday life, and determines a person's personality. I've been told by people that I'm a bit of a natural at counseling type things, as I invariably attempt to read people and offer insights into how they may choose to respond to a problem. However despite this, I do invariably find the feelings aspect of such situations to be quite difficult, and as such don't think I'd be suitable to a counseling type profession. Any thoughts on INTP's as a counsellor?

I've had thoughts that maybe I could attempt to combine the two disciplines in some way but I'm not exactly sure how that would work and whether it would be actually beneficial within a future career?

Any thoughts, perspectives, ideas, or questions would be a great help! What is an INTP better suited to in your mind?
 

Willfrey

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Nov 9, 2008
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IsTP
Biology would seem like the natural choice. My mom works with a lot of biologists at a research station. From what I gather it is about 20% field work 80% paperwork.

To me though Biology to an INTP would seem more enjoyable than Psycology, but then again I am not very big on other people or their feelings.
 

WithoutaFace

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Jan 19, 2009
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INTJ
Counseling is not the only aspect of psychology that you can get into. For example I am pursuing an M.S. in Human Factors Psychology. Basically it is a leveraged and concentrated form of cognitive psychology.

The goal here would be to design computer systems for safe and reliable interaction with humans during normal interaction as well as interaction under duress. Human Factors Psychologists (or more commonly called "ergonomists" or "human factors engineers") design for automobiles, spacecraft, the military, etc.

Another possibility would be marketing or politics. Marketing relies heavily on communication with others via advertisements and other means. This field can draw heavily from your insight if your field of expertise is in marketing psychology.

Industrial/Organization Psychology = Efficiency/efficacy in production and interaction withing the workplace. Psychology of organized industrious efforts and institutions.

Let us not forget that a lot of psychology has a biological/medical component to it. A lot of theories in psychology are aided by genetics.

Do your research on careers in psychology, as well as biology. I think you will find it much easier to make a decision then.
 

SilentStream

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Jan 14, 2009
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60
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INTP
I have been in the same dilemma myself, biology/ecology vs. psychology. But biology won out for me, mainly because of the feeling issues, I don't think I have enough personal connectedness to people to be a psychologist, and I didn't want to take the chance on getting into a research position. The only way I can think of combining the two fields, is to become an ecological/environmental psychologist - which I've studied a bit at uni, and it is quite interesting. Plus, it does not usually concern psychiatric pathology.
 

Orangey

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I've had thoughts that maybe I could attempt to combine the two disciplines in some way but I'm not exactly sure how that would work and whether it would be actually beneficial within a future career?

Neuroscience or cognitive psychology.
 

SolitaryWalker

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Ok, basically I'm at a stage where I'm feeling like I have to flip a coin to pick between studying Biology or Psychology at University.

On the one hand I have a definite interest in Biology, I like the idea of studying the complex system of life and exploring concepts such as evolutionary diversity, ecological influences etc. I also like the idea of having a job that contains both field observation and lab work, however I'm still don't completely know what this will entail exactly? (Any biologists out there?)

On the other side of the coin so to speak is psychology. I've previously studied aspects of psychology at Uni and find it really stimulating. I find I'm not so concerned so much with the abnormal aspects of it, but rather like exploring how it applies in everyday life, and determines a person's personality. I've been told by people that I'm a bit of a natural at counseling type things, as I invariably attempt to read people and offer insights into how they may choose to respond to a problem. However despite this, I do invariably find the feelings aspect of such situations to be quite difficult, and as such don't think I'd be suitable to a counseling type profession. Any thoughts on INTP's as a counsellor?

I've had thoughts that maybe I could attempt to combine the two disciplines in some way but I'm not exactly sure how that would work and whether it would be actually beneficial within a future career?

Any thoughts, perspectives, ideas, or questions would be a great help! What is an INTP better suited to in your mind?

Temperament is merely a set of natural dispositions. The fact that you are an INTP merely shows that you tend to be most comfortable with dispassionate contemplation (T) and abstract perception/imagination (N). Inevitably this suggests that you'd excell at fields that require such skills more than at others. However, this does not mean that you already have them, it only means that you have more potential to develop skill at this activity than at activities that do not emphasize those aspects of cognition as much. (T and N).

INTPs tend to be more talented at mathematics, the hard sciences and philosophy than at the humanities and the arts because they have distinct tendencies for systematic thought which is demanded in those fields. However, systematic thought is often frowned upon in the humanities and the arts because the more free-flowing, intuitive reasoning is preferred. (To exemplify this matter, consider the attitude of poets or novelists regarding the thought of physicists or mathematicians, almost doubtlessly they'd see their analytic approach to ideas as a straight-jacket.)

Note also, as a general rule counselling is more of an NF activity than that of any type because it involves intepersonal interaction with individuals to a notable degree. INTPs may excell at this due to their tendency to be good listeners and to solve the problems of patients in therapy, however, they are likely to find this field less enjoyable than the exact sciences (and studies related to them) because therapy requires exact thinking much less than those fields.

Biology is much closer to an empirical science than psychology and is for this reason to be preferred for an INTP. That is so because it is more objective in nature as it is concerned with studying matters that are clear-cut in nature rather than the amorphous entities psychology studies. The minds of people are not as clearly defined and investigated as biological organisms. But remember, this merely shows that you're likely more talented at biology than psychology, it does not mean that you would have an easier time in the field. It could simply be the case that the circumstances of your life were such that you have already developed more skills that are directly applicable to psychology more so than to biology and for this reason psychology may be easier.

So, in summary, biology is in closer affinity with the INTP's natural talents and in principle if you were to study both for a long period of time you'd likely excell at biology more than at psychology, yet what you'd excell at more at this moment has more to do with extra-typological factors than typological.
 

Randomnity

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You could always major in one and minor in the other. I'm in bio and I have a few friends with psych minors.

It might help to look at specific careers to choose a major. You can always switch though (at the cost of using up optional courses).

Animal behavior is one sort-of overlap in biology. Neurology/neurophysiology too.

On the other side, there's probably more bio-based psychology fields too. Neuropsychology? Something like that. Many behavior-based studies have a biological aspect and a psychological aspect.

edit: oh yeah, you shouldn't look at type for this. What if you're mistyped, or have atypical strengths? Look at your own, individual strengths and what you enjoy doing. Do you like watching people? nature? museums? etc.

edit2: field work is heavy in ecology and animal behavior branches of biology. Most of the others tend to be lab-based.
 
L

Lasting_Pain

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Psychology, there are so many different fields to it, you don't have to be the one who talks with patients, you can be the one who resides in the laboratory. I myself am studying to be a Forensic Psychologist/Professor/Novelist.
 

Orangey

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INTPs tend to be more talented at mathematics, the hard sciences and philosophy than at the humanities and the arts because they have distinct tendencies for systematic thought which is demanded in those fields. However, systematic thought is often frowned upon in the humanities and the arts because the more free-flowing, intuitive reasoning is preferred. (To exemplify this matter, consider the attitude of poets or novelists regarding the thought of physicists or mathematicians, almost doubtlessly they'd see their analytic approach to ideas as a straight-jacket.)

I would have balked at this before, seeing as how I'm in a humanistic field, but my experiences delving deeper into some of the material and being expected to produce the same kind of work has revealed to me that my natural style of thinking (whatever you want to call it, it's the thing that got me through countless tests and argumentative essays without much effort for a really long time) is not automatically suited to this pursuit. I am now often sneered at for employing any logical or analytical approaches to a lot of material that we deal with, which is annoying and de-motivating to say the least (and by logical and analytical I mean breaking ideas down into their correct constitutive parts, determining contradictions in the texts, mapping out the causal, analogical, or other logical connections between concepts and then analyzing what they mean). Have you ever had anyone ask you to consider whether or not you are privileging the oppressive Western construct of the law of non-contradiction?

Let's just say that if you're going to do any sort of critical theory work, hermeneutics, or literary analysis, then you have to turn off the deconstructive logic and turn on whatever intuitive process it is that allows for the almost endless integration of theories (take one crazy theory, find a problem with it based on your experience or intuition, and then patch it up by bringing in parts of another crazy theory that you detect a connection to, ad infinitum).
 

Snowey1210

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Joined
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Temperament is merely a set of natural dispositions. The fact that you are an INTP merely shows that you tend to be most comfortable with dispassionate contemplation (T) and abstract perception/imagination (N). Inevitably this suggests that you'd excell at fields that require such skills more than at others. However, this does not mean that you already have them, it only means that you have more potential to develop skill at this activity than at activities that do not emphasize those aspects of cognition as much. (T and N).

INTPs tend to be more talented at mathematics, the hard sciences and philosophy than at the humanities and the arts because they have distinct tendencies for systematic thought which is demanded in those fields. However, systematic thought is often frowned upon in the humanities and the arts because the more free-flowing, intuitive reasoning is preferred. (To exemplify this matter, consider the attitude of poets or novelists regarding the thought of physicists or mathematicians, almost doubtlessly they'd see their analytic approach to ideas as a straight-jacket.)

Note also, as a general rule counselling is more of an NF activity than that of any type because it involves intepersonal interaction with individuals to a notable degree. INTPs may excell at this due to their tendency to be good listeners and to solve the problems of patients in therapy, however, they are likely to find this field less enjoyable than the exact sciences (and studies related to them) because therapy requires exact thinking much less than those fields.

Biology is much closer to an empirical science than psychology and is for this reason to be preferred for an INTP. That is so because it is more objective in nature as it is concerned with studying matters that are clear-cut in nature rather than the amorphous entities psychology studies. The minds of people are not as clearly defined and investigated as biological organisms. But remember, this merely shows that you're likely more talented at biology than psychology, it does not mean that you would have an easier time in the field. It could simply be the case that the circumstances of your life were such that you have already developed more skills that are directly applicable to psychology more so than to biology and for this reason psychology may be easier.

So, in summary, biology is in closer affinity with the INTP's natural talents and in principle if you were to study both for a long period of time you'd likely excel at biology more than at psychology, yet what you'd excell at more at this moment has more to do with extra-typological factors than typological.

Wow great insight! I just want to clarify that I'm not basing this decision purely on my typology, but was curious whether either of these professions was deemed a "very good fit" for an INTP.

With regards to my cognitive functions I describe myself as currently having a greater ability with regards to my Ne, as I have quite extensively studied humanity and art type subjects previously at Uni to become a primary school teacher. However I do have a great interest in developing my Ti and hard science is something that has always interested me.

That being said I don't want my work to always being dealing with exacts, I need some element of intuitive reasoning within my work. I guess I'm saying I want to explore hypotheses, not simply tally facts. I'm liking this idea of ecology, it seems like it would be a good blend of both.
 

Venom

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Let's just say that if you're going to do any sort of critical theory work, hermeneutics, or literary analysis, then you have to turn off the deconstructive logic and turn on whatever intuitive process it is that allows for the almost endless integration of theories (take one crazy theory, find a problem with it based on your experience or intuition, and then patch it up by bringing in parts of another crazy theory that you detect a connection to, ad infinitum).

ahh humanities.... A degree in bullshit :D


as someone whose been down this road though.

honestly, being an academic sucks from all relevant data I can gather. If you major in bio, you go to medical school, period. Before the economy collapsed I would say get a PhD and then get the fuck out of academia and into biotech (but most venture capital money is dried up).
ive ended up double majoring in econ because i realized way late in the game that the only thing you can really do with bio is medschool... but then again, all you can really do with Psych is get a PhD in Psych...(i guess you could get a masters n council though)
 
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ahh humanities.... A degree in bullshit :D


as someone whose been down this road though.

honestly, being an academic sucks from all relevant data I can gather. If you major in bio, you go to medical school, period. Before the economy collapsed I would say get a PhD and then get the fuck out of academia and into biotech (but most venture capital money is dried up).
ive ended up double majoring in econ because i realized way late in the game that the only thing you can really do with bio is medschool... but then again, all you can really do with Psych is get a PhD in Psych...(i guess you could get a masters n council though)

I was going to do a double-major in psych and chemistry. I ended up with a double-major in biochem and chem. Even with my interest in psychology, I figured that I could read up on psych in my own free time and that my interest would not extend to actually working in that field.

Yes, academia sucks... (saying this as someone who's about to START grad school). I'm doing it precisely because the economy has died and finding a job would be tougher than milking a bull. It buys me another 3 years, and I hope that the economy recovers by then so that I can get a proper job in biotech. Otherwise it's teaching for me.

I love lab work and research, and I know quite a few INTPs in my field (biophysics). As far as I know, they like the work and the thinking part, but hate academia and all of its pretensions and politics.
 

Randomnity

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honestly, being an academic sucks from all relevant data I can gather. If you major in bio, you go to medical school, period. Before the economy collapsed I would say get a PhD and then get the fuck out of academia and into biotech (but most venture capital money is dried up).
Umm..there are lots of things you can do with a bio degree without going to med school. Most of the better jobs do require post-Bsc studies though.

You couldn't pay me to go to med school :sick:.
 

Venom

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Umm..there are lots of things you can do with a bio degree without going to med school. Most of the better jobs do require post-Bsc studies though.

You couldn't pay me to go to med school :sick:.

and all of those things involve a PhD. 400,000$ anesthesiology. 65,000$ working in academia, or even shit, as a lab rat in the private sector. If you want to make money with Bio, you go to med school :steam:
 

SolitaryWalker

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Wow great insight! I just want to clarify that I'm not basing this decision purely on my typology, but was curious whether either of these professions was deemed a "very good fit" for an INTP.

With regards to my cognitive functions I describe myself as currently having a greater ability with regards to my Ne, as I have quite extensively studied humanity and art type subjects previously at Uni to become a primary school teacher. However I do have a great interest in developing my Ti and hard science is something that has always interested me.

That being said I don't want my work to always being dealing with exacts, I need some element of intuitive reasoning within my work. I guess I'm saying I want to explore hypotheses, not simply tally facts. I'm liking this idea of ecology, it seems like it would be a good blend of both.


Like I said earlier, every INTP has greater potential regarding exact studies than the inexact, yet not every INTP has greater skill regarding the exact studies than the inexact.
 

nozflubber

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A lot of you seem to be under the assumption that psych is "more" feeling oriented, more about "loving others" plus Freud stuff or something, and that hard-nosed empirical minds have no place in the psych field. This is not so.

Trust me, an INTP can LOVE psychology once they have thoroughly studied William James and Skinner. Even if these scholars were too reductionistic about human minds, psyches what not, behaviorists do a very keen job of cleaning up the "muddiness" spoken of in psychology, leaving a pure empircal science behind. Cognitive psych is what remains of that sterilization done by the behaviorists in psychology.

If you want to abstract more (and shoot down abstractions more) often, go psych. Bio is extremly "hard" and unmoving - the principle abstract questions surrounding biology have not changed since Aristotle.


EDIT: actually, go both and go into Neuro like I am :) I am becoming.... SUPERNERD
 

auriel

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What if you're an INTP who prefers and (even in University) is very good at the humanities. I'm pretty sure I'm an INTP, but if that's so, why did I gravitate towards the humanities in High School even though I also tried math and the hard sciences? Why does analytical philosophy (no offense, Solitary Walker;)) bore me even though I am good at it? I really don't know. Maybe I'm just lazy and don't want to subject my ideas to the crucible of objectivity;). But whatever the case, I'm not all that big on the INTP cult of "logic" and "truth", preferring beauty, meaning, and personal experience (still, after taking a Drama course in university I quickly learned my toleration for the "inexact" did, in fact, have a limit;)) But INTP fits me quite well in many other ways (I identify as INxP currently because my views on life seem to be diametrically opposed to those of 95% of INTPs).

Even in univeristy, I have excelled at the humanistic subjects (when my P-ness wasn't so oppressive it prevented me from handing in papers;)). Would you reccomend staying on this path, or doing something more in line with the INTP skill set? Perhaps I just haven't found an "exact" subject I can get passionate about yet...

Edit: many apologies for the wanton excess of winks;)
 
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