Psychology and Social Sciences

[Kasper]

For those who have, are or plan to study psychology (those into sociology, social work or other social sciences can participate too):

Well first question I suppose, anyone here? Hands up!

Why did you get into that field?

What do you wish to do in terms of a career?

Most interesting, least interesting parts of study?

Toughest part of study?

Recommendations or words of wisdom for people looking at getting into the field?

 

[Kasper]

Really? =/

 

[Halla74]

^Trin, there are only two people I know who have a formal education centered on psychology, and one actually focuses on behavior analysis.

One guy got his phD in Chemistry years ago, got tired of working in a lab, then returned to school to get his doctorate in psychology/counseling, and is now working happily as a counselor.

The other is a good friend of mine who got his phD in behavior analysis/psychology and now teaches at UCLA in L.A. (California) and also works with kids who have autism spectrum disorders.

 

[Glycerine]

For those who have, are or plan to study psychology (those into sociology, social work or other social sciences can participate too):

Well first question I suppose, anyone here? Hands up!

Why did you get into that field?

What do you wish to do in terms of a career?

Most interesting, least interesting parts of study?

Toughest part of study?

Recommendations or words of wisdom for people looking at getting into the field?

Sorry I wish I could help but I am only in my second year of study in psychology....

 

[Kasper]

Sorry I wish I could help but I am only in my second year of study in psychology....

Oi! Come back!

Tell me about your experiences so far.

Why did you choose to study psychology? Have your reasons for continuing to study it changed since you started? What's the most interesting part of study?

 

[Glycerine]

Oi! Come back!

Tell me about your experiences so far.

Why did you choose to study psychology? Have your reasons for continuing to study it changed since you started? What's the most interesting part of study?

Well, the thing I like about the social sciences is studying people in the abstract... it's my passion. It also provides a place for my strengths. I analyze people and things a lot, look for patterns, have good research skills, good with numbers (stats). If you want to put it in MBTI terms, I probably theoretically use Ni and Ti a lot but mostly for academics.

The thing I like least about it is that a lot of it is just speculation. Person A believes this, no wait, Person B believes this, oh no both are wrong because new research says this, well, "five minutes later* newer research disproves the old research...person A was right in the first place, nevermind, we don't really know for sure. :steam: This means that the contemporary literature can get insanely frustrating because of the constant back and forth. Also, my teachers have told me you should plan on going to grad school and a doctorates program if you want to get anywhere in those fields.

I hope to do a job with some sort of people analysis (a therapist, behavioral analyst, etc), and maybe become a professor.

 

[Snow Turtle]

I'm in the 1st Year and going into the 2nd Year in September. So... *raises hand*

I've liked most of it so far but haven't really been able to touch much on the biological side since I was originally doing psychology with sociology. Like Pitseleh, I guess I'm also more interested in the social side... more specifically about the individual themselves than group psychology. Though that could be a given considering the website I'm on at the moment.

My least favourite part of it: It's actually reading up on the stuff for writing the work up. It's interesting the first time round, but it gets a little tedious reading about 6-7 journal reports and finding extremely similar results so that it can be written as point of reference. They don't really let us play with our own ideas and stuff without backing it up with evidence which can also be a little frustrating I guess. Perhaps this will change at the higher levels though!

I was looking at teaching originally. Now I'm looking at the educational sector of psychology. Mind you... I can't say I'm big on developmental psychology, but that's probably more to do with the fact that I'm more interested in a specific medium age group (8-15) than I am with extremely young children. It makes sense, since that's the area where they change a fair bit and are open to learning stilll (in my eyes)...

I have my own small parts of psychology that I think I'd love to learn more about as an individual, but doubt the course will teach much about.

Dreams and Lucid Dreaming.
Whether higher Dejavu also represents higher beliefs in the paranormal. Whether Si (SJs) are more prone to Dejavu.
Enhanced sensations from synsethesia. =/

Stuff that I doubt I'll ever actually look at... but it's nice to briefly touch the idea. xD

 

[mmhmm]

what: mpp public policy (ma public policy)

why: family business... but mostly because i'm one of
those legacy applicants... parents' siblings' alma mater

to do: consulting

studied: public economics, development economics,
economics of education. so basically the sweet spot
of public economics and political economy in developing
context...

toughest part: well, most of the people are amazing.
they are intense, creative and incredibly driven.
it fuels me to do well. the work load and other people's
stress... the vibe gets way too serious for me sometimes.
this is probably more of a campus culture thing...

recommendation: network, network, network

 

[Vie]

I'm a third year double major, one of them being Psychology.

I chose to go into it because I find it fascinating to study other people's behavior -- why they do the things they do. More particularly, the abnormalities of people -- I want to know WHY people do the things they do.

So far I have yet to be challenged with the classes for this major and I have been disappointed that I haven't really learned anything that I didn't know already.

 

[Alexia]

Why did you get into that field? I started out as a computer science major, programming was not my thing and it was mainly application based so no fun... I would have rather done things in the gaming area, which my school didn't offer. So after a little more than 2 years I switched to Sociology with a concentration in Criminal Justice, I was at the time taking a psychology class and one of my professors really like me so I added Psychology as a 2nd major. But, I'm really interested in behavioral analysis and criminal mentality. One of my favorite authors is definitely John E. Douglas. Oh and I've been a psych and soc-cj major for a little over 2 years now

What do you wish to do in terms of a career? Forensic Psychology, preferably. I plan on attended graduate school and maybe getting a clinical-forensic psych degree.

Most interesting, least interesting parts of study? Criminal mentality, criminal mentality haha, most people don't have logical or reasons for actually committing a crime, usually it's more of an impulse decision.

Toughest part of study? 400 law cases and 3 books in one class, in one semester haha. On top of senior thesis 2 for psychology, plus my other classes.

Recommendations or words of wisdom for people looking at getting into the field? Unless you really love it don't do it, you'll either hate you job or burnout and the schooling isn't cheap and the pay isn't great, read as much as you can about psychology and criminal justice ...also read the paper (online is a good way) everyday and know what's going on in the world.

 

[Octarine]

Recommendations or words of wisdom for people looking at getting into the field?

Make sure you aren't too attached to the scientific method.

NTs might be able to tolerate industrial psychology..

 

[Glycerine]

Make sure that you are good at something else like computer programming, math, or natural sciences if you want to get into a competitive grad school. That's what the head of the Psych department at my 4- year college told me.

 

[Octarine]

Australian schools are a little different in that regard. To get a PhD scholarship here, the major factor is undergraduate grades (heavily weighted towards the grade for the honours thesis), but relevant work experience (which demonstrates ability to research) and published papers also can give your eligibility score a boost. Number of positions are set university wide - so psychology students will be competing against science and law students etc.

You still have to convince a supervisor to take you on obviously.

 

[Blossom500]

I just started studying a Masters in Mediation and Conflict resolution. We do a lot of social work subjects with a strong emphasis on different psychological therapy theory and practice. We have to a lot about getting to know ourselves well in order at least be aware of our biases and emotional triggers. Very much centered on postmodern theory.

Not sure I want to always be a mediator but being rather adverse to conflict I am fascinated by it. I am also interested in helping people reach their potential as they view it/ be happy with themselves.

The more I get into all this the more I am fascinated but to be honest the more it also does my head in. Looking into Narrative and brief therapy kinda blows my mind away. Narrative was actually developed by someone in my home town of Adelaide. The basis is that our reality is constructed by piecing together stories that come from our culture, family and past experiences etc. Very often we create what is known as a "problem story". The aim of narrative therapy is to rewrite how we construct our "story" and thus our view of situations and therefore our "reality". The idea is to help them construct their own more positive script and understand the story they have been operating under. I was the only one to try narrative mediation in our practical exam last week. It involved highlighting the exceptions to the "problem story" and helping the participants to come up with a new story of how they wanted to things to be. It felt a bit strange but strangely it did work.

 

[Within]

Well first question I suppose, anyone here? Hands up!
:hi:

Why did you get into that field?
Personal curiosity.

What do you wish to do in terms of a career?
Not sure yet.

Most interesting, least interesting parts of study?
Psychopathology will probably be the most fun. Somatics will be pretty boring.

Toughest part of study?
Empathy.

 

[ClearHeartGreyFlower]

I just started college September 20th for the first time, but I am doing Human and Social Services...I love psychology and sociology and helping people, but honestly I hope I am going for the right thing, because I don't want to think I just stepped into this blindly.

So I can't really say much on how it is going so far...it's only October!

But I will let you know later