Do you think you might regret choosing psychology?

People like you and me (I hope) have researched what the study of psychology really involves, including looking at the job prospects realistically, and have reached some sort of conclusion in our heads regarding whether this is the right choice or not for us.

From the people ive talked to it seems like its just because of the maths, but really how hard could the maths be. Im assuming it will just be mainly statistics they do.

ahh i hate people who say 'how hard can it be'.
at cardiff we were asked to calculate a 2 way ANOVA by hand for a statistics assignment, not even the students doing maths could help us as its such a ridiculous thing to do by hand as its about 4 pages of sums! when we asked our tutors for help they couldn't even do it as so many people just use a statistics programme so there was no need to learn how to do it manually.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/11024584/ANOVA-Between-Subjects-Formula-Summary-Sheet-%28formulas-with-example%29

if you can do all that ^^ you may be fine, but thats just year 1 stuff!

ahh i hate people who say 'how hard can it be'.
at cardiff we were asked to calculate a 2 way ANOVA by hand for a statistics assignment, not even the students doing maths could help us as its such a ridiculous thing to do by hand as its about 4 pages of sums! when we asked our tutors for help they couldn't even do it as so many people just use a statistics programme so there was no need to learn how to do it manually.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/11024584/ANOVA-Between-Subjects-Formula-Summary-Sheet-%28formulas-with-example%29

if you can do all that ^^ you may be fine, but thats just year 1 stuff!

The reasons I'm not happy studying Psychology:

1. Too many undergraduates. It's a great subject, but its the open access that is letting it down big time. Instead of the swelling departments that we have now, universities need to bump up their entry requirements and accept only the leading students.

Why? Not enough demand of Psych graduates to justify the supply. When everyone and their dog has a Psych degree, it looks bad. Even worse, when a large proportion of those representing the field are ditsy "i-wan-be-developmontol-clinukol-psychologost" types, it's even worse. I now cringe when I hear that someone is studying Psychology, and I hate telling people what I study. I'm actually embarrased by the choice I've made.

2. Not enough Biology. I'm a firm Materialist, and I strongly believe that one day the cartesian gap will be bridged by neuroscience and there will be zero need for Psychologists or the concept of "the mind". This is probably my own fault for choosing Psychology over Neuroscience and is something I can get over once I select my third year modules. However, this means I fundamentally disagree with the prevailing opinion within most undergraduates in my field whom appear to still be selecting higher-level explanations over more fundamental lower-level theories.

3. Not enough stats. I love stats.

4. Most of Psychology is not useful. I dread the day when someone asks me "So what has Psychology done for mankind?" if I am unable to refer to cognitive neuroscience instead.

5. The students are annoying 9 times out of 10. They all seem to think they're going to waltz into the D.Clin.Psych the September after graduation.

6. A-Level Psychology is a joke in its current state. It needs to either be reformed or scrapped completely. It makes the field look bad.

Good thread. I needed that rant. Now back to my essay/watching Evan Almighty.

Okay, you have given me quite a scare. I don't want to become a Clinical Psychiatrist or anything, in fact I cannot think of a worse thing to spend your life doing. Thats not true, being a Dentist must suck,

1. Anyway, I want to become a writer and maybe play around with shares and what not. I took Psychology and choose to do it at Uni to get a better idea of myself and those around me and get a better perspective of the world around me. Are you telling me that Psychology will not help me understand people better?

I find this hard to believe a, even after the two years of A level, I am developing skills such as not automatically judging people and realising no matter how evil or stupid someones actions are, there is a reason for it that stems beyond one word phrases.

2. May I also ask why you have continued with the course if you hate it?

3. Also would that statistics get me used back to numbers? I havent done maths since getting a B at GCSE and found it tediously hard my whole life. How much will I struggle?

For the sake of convenience, I have numbered your questions.

1. Psychology will give you new perspectives on human behaviour, but you're not suddenly going to be able to predict behaviour; only apply post-hoc explanations to why it happened. Whether or not you believe that is useful is a different matter. Personally, I don't.

2. I have continued it because I do actually enjoy some components of it such as neuroscience and statistics. I also want to apply for graduate entry medicine after I graduate.

3. There is a lot of statistical analysis in Psychology. About 1/3rd of your first and second years will be dedicated to statistics. Then in your third year, a big proportion will be putting those skills to the test when you do your research project.

1. Well actually this is why I originally took Psychology for A Level, but having realized what Psychology was really about I enjoy it far more now anyway. This common misconception about psychology annoys me, as when I tell people thats what I want to study at Uni, they automatically think I am sizing them up.

2. What particular career do you want to follow?

3. Would the Stats not help me if I went into marketing or even wanted to dabble in my spare time on the Stock Exchange?

ahh i hate people who say 'how hard can it be'.
at cardiff we were asked to calculate a 2 way ANOVA by hand for a statistics assignment, not even the students doing maths could help us as its such a ridiculous thing to do by hand as its about 4 pages of sums! when we asked our tutors for help they couldn't even do it as so many people just use a statistics programme so there was no need to learn how to do it manually.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/11024584/ANOVA-Between-Subjects-Formula-Summary-Sheet-%28formulas-with-example%29

if you can do all that ^^ you may be fine, but thats just year 1 stuff!

I've also been leaning more and more heavily towards neuroscience, but I didn't apply for it because I'm most interested in the higher level functions studied in psychology. I also prefer the variety in psychology and the, I imagine, greater opportunities for debate.

To be honest, I'm not particularly interested in the practical applications, just understanding the mind for its own sake, and I loathe things like consumer and sport psychology. I think I prefer asking questions and asking more questions than actually finding absolute answers. Hmm... perhaps psychology will suit me after all.

Difficulty is not the definition of a good A-level.

A-Level Psychology does not do the subject well. While good in some ways, it just focuses way too much on memorisation and regurgitation. It just expects students to remember a bunch of studies and spurt it back out. There is very little expansion of understanding, in that it treats every topic as if they are isolated cells of theory.

The exam questions are far too predictable and students take advantage of that.

It also needs to focus more on experimental design and statistical methods. The fact that AQA have pulled their coursework module is just stupid (if anything, coursework should consist of multiple lab reports), and their attempts to copy-cat Physics/Chem/Bio papers is not appropriate for the subject. It needs to be essay based. Bring back the 24 mark essays x3 per module.

It also needs to encourage students to use research databases like PsychINFO and MetaLib to formulate their own opinions. It presents Psychology as a clear cut field: "This is theory X, it has research A B and C supporting it, and D E and F against it", with no other existing research other than that.

It's not working well. Needs serious reform.

Yeah definitely but with most statistics its just simple maths, im not sure whether its just the endless formula or notation that scare people but i dont think any unis require A level maths for uni psychology hence it must be doable for those at a GCSE level with hard work of course.

Good to hear. Where do you study?

I agree with you there. In my A level course, there appears to be a determination to keep 'psychological' approaches very much separate from 'biological' approaches as if the mind and the brain are totally independent entities. It pisses me off because it leads to all sorts of logical inconsistencies.

To be honest, I've found the whole emphasis on biology and determinism rather off-putting in this degree.

It's these attitudes that stop psychology from exploring other 'softer' fields that can offer alot of insight if done properly imo. It's sort of like how supposedly the study of consciousness was swept under the carpet because psychology had to be 'scientific' and all that. It's a limiting factor.

To be honest, I've found the whole emphasis on biology and determinism rather off-putting in this degree.

It's these attitudes that stop psychology from exploring other 'softer' fields that can offer alot of insight if done properly imo. It's sort of like how supposedly the study of consciousness was swept under the carpet because psychology had to be 'scientific' and all that. It's a limiting factor.

To be honest, I kind of go the other way with that.

As a materialist, I fundamentally believe that consciousness, qualia and all that can, and will, be explained at biological levels alone and there will be no need for such terms that otherwise encourage dualism.

I don't think there is any other way to explain such phenomena.