Psychology at University - FAQ

I'm pretty bored, so I thought I'd make a "What is Psychology like at University?" thread as I tend to get a lot of PMs about it anyway. It would probably be helpful to say that I'm currently finishing my second year, beginning preps for third year research and what not.

I'll try and break the thread up into sections, maybe include a few slides from some lectures I've had, a few paragraphs from some of my assignments perhaps. So:

Contents
A-Level versus University
Are the statistics really hard?
What do you actually study?
What are the essays like?
What is your timetable like?
What are lab reports?
How much work do you do?
Do you have to do much reading?
What are the exams like?
Multiple choice exams?
Workload and Socialising?
Should I do some reading over the summer in preparation for degree level Psychology?
When (and where) should I buy my textbooks?
What are the best A-Levels for Psychology?
Do I need work experience for Psychology?

A-Level versus University: The jump up
I personally think that A-level Psychology, while worth studying, is not good preperation for degree level Psychology. This is mainly due to the ethos that the course instills in the students; Topic One has x research supporting and x research against, then generic criticisms of both. At degree level, it's just not that simplistic.

At degree level, it becomes very clear that the subject is not just a cluster of isolated theory. Everything is related. The mind is one of the most complex entities in our known world and this is certainly reflected in the theory used to explain it. No theory has clear supporting and opposing evidence. It's not as simplistic or superficial as A-level suggests.

Other notable points worth mentioning is the use of literary searches. Most a-level students would never have used a database like PsychINFO or ever read an actual research paper. It's worth doing as it is a useful skill in searching for and selecting relevant papers. It also helps when you come to find the relevant information in a paper.

Here's an example of a research paper:
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=81977&stc=1&d=1267832240

Papers like this is what you will spend the next three years spilling your guts over. Get used to reading them.

Finally, referencing. During the time that you're not getting your head around needlessly complex experimental methods will be spent plucking your eyes out ensuring that every comma is in the right place in your references.

Are the statistics really hard?
Simply, no. If you can use BODMAS (aka PEMDAS) then you can do statistics. Most departments will start from scratch, I'm talking mean, median and mode. It will, however, progress very quickly and you'll soon be doing multiple linear regression in your sleep. The formulas might look complex, but they're essentially just recipes. Don't worry about it.

What do you actually study?
Biological, Developmental, Cognitive, Social Psychology, Research Methods, Statistics, Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuropsychology etc.
Psychology is dynamically broad. As a result, I have lecturers who have hugely competing views and regularly have arguments which is great. Social Psychology and Biological Psychology are just two completely different worlds. Thus, chances are, there are going to be topics you adore and topics you loathe. I don't know many people who enjoy the subject completely. For example, I can go from studying number representation in children to attribution theory to experimental methodology to Rogerian counselling to the functional architecture of the cerebral cortex to principal components analysis to neuroanatomy.

Example of one of our lecture slides discussing activation in the SMA a few seconds before activity in the primary motor areas:

What are the essays like?
Not too bad. They range from 2000-3000 words. To get a 2.1 you need to successfully use the research to support your argument, that means understanding what they did and the implication of their results upon your argument. It needs to be well structured and convincing. In order to get a 1st, it needs to be innovative and creative.

Here's an introduction to an essay titled "Why do people make errors in statistical judgement?" This got a decent 2.1.

Essay

Statistical judgement is the process in which conclusions are drawn about the probability of various hypotheses being correct, based upon the information available to us as well as inferences made using previous knowledge to bridge the gap of any uncertainties (Morsanyi, Primi, Cheisi and Handley, 2009). Our judgement of the likeliness of one hypothesis being higher than another is such that easily changes in the light of new evidence or the appearance of reasons to reject previous evidence; a concept manifested in Bayes’ Theorem. However, much research into judgement and decision making has identified the high frequency at which errors are made by either interpreting events in an overly deterministic way or over emphasis on the uncertain. Morsanyi et al. offer the suggestion that this may be the result of a failure to integrate the two contradicting ideas behind probability: that one event is essentially unpredictable, while in the long run a reoccurring pattern may be identified. For example, the gambler’s fallacy, or the negative recency effect (Cohen, 1960) offers an example of overly deterministic interpretations of random events. When under situations with constraints in time, information or cognitive freedom, we invite inference into our decision making through the use of seemingly rational heuristics which exploit the physical and social environment (Chase, Hertwig and Gigerenzer, 1998). Unfortunately, these cognitive shortcuts are subject to bias and often lead to ultimately incorrect decision making. This discussion will describe some of the heuristics and biases commonly used, and to provide evidence which attempts to offer reasons behind how and when these errors of statistical judgement occur.

The hardest part is actually fitting your essay within the word limit. It takes practice to condense your writing down to present the information efficiently.

What is your timetable like?
Pretty flexible. I essentially have a four day week, each day having 2-4 hours of lectures with the occasional tutorial thrown in. It's pretty independent in terms of the work that you do. This gives you plenty of time to work on your employability through volunteering, work experience, getting involved in departmental research etc. This naturally changes from year to year. In my third year most of my time will be taken up by the dissertation, lectures and essays due every week.

What are lab reports?
Essentially, you have to write a research paper. This would include an abstract, an introduction, a methods section, a results section, analysis and a discussion. You typically conduct an experiment with your year group and you are given the results to analyse and a general topic and asked to produce a piece of coursework ~2000-3000 words long. You tend to do about 3 or 4 of them per year.

How much work do you do?
This year (second year) I have had:
Six essays
Three lab reports
Three statistics assignments
And finally, summer exams.

Do you have to do a lot of reading?
Yeah. After each lecture we're generally given at least 3-5 papers to read, a few chapters in a book perhaps. This can take up a lot of your time.

What are the exams like?
They tend to be essay based and around two hours long. You often have your choice of questions. Here are a few examples from past papers:

Exam

1. H. Lau (Lau, in press; Lau & Passingham, 2006) claims that many reported results on the neural correlates of consciousness "may reflect differences in performance, rather than perceptual consciousness". Discuss this argument with reference to empirical studies.

2. Compare the visuomotor transformation and planning-control accounts of optic ataxia. What evidence supports each theory?

3. What are the implications of blindsight for theories of visual cognition?

4. Can Kelley’s covariation model satisfactorily account for how people make attributions in everyday life?

5. Discuss whether evolutionary psychology offers a useful way of understanding human behavior by critically presenting one psychological study that has been conducted within an evolutionary framework.

Do you have Multiple Choice exams? If so, what are they like?
If you have MCQ exams, they will probably only be in your first year.

They include things like:

A likely cause of Korsakoff's Syndrome is:
A: Alcohol dependency or poor diet
B: Stroke to the right parietal lobe
C: Poor grouping of object variables
D: Epilepsy

or things like

Transfer-appropriate processing is a model of memory:
A: That suggests the most important determinant of memory is how extensively information is encoded or processed when it is first received
B: That suggests new experiences change people's overall knowledge base, altering their understanding of the world.
C: That suggests the critical determinant of memory is how the encoding process matches up with what is ultimately retrieved.
D: In which information must pass through three stages in order to become embedded in memory.

They tend not to be like:

Corbett 1980 did what?
A: Blah
B: Blah
etc

Do you have time to socialise with your timetable and workload?
I would say that you have plenty of time to socialise, or even hold down quite a hefty part-time job.

In the later years this might become more of a challenge, but if you plan out your assignments in advance then you will have absolutely no problem. Come the last half of your third year (i gather), however, I don't think you will be seeing daylight because of the workload.

But in general, you have plenty of spare time that you can dedicate to reading, working, socialising, volunteering etc.

Should I do some reading over the summer in preparation for degree level Psychology?
Sure, if you would enjoy it. It certainly isn't required and wouldn't give you an advantage per-say as you probably won't cover common topics. If you think you would enjoy it, there certainly isn't any harm in picking up a general textbook to get a feel for the subject. I would recommend something broad like: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Psychology-Henry-Gleitman/dp/0393973646/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268002781&sr=8-2 Psychology by Gleitman. It covers a lot of topics very generally. Naturally, there are more specific books out there, but it depends on what you're interested in. Other good books include:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cognitive-Neuroscience-Michael-S-Gazzaniga/dp/0393977773/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268504215&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Introduction-Statistics-Psychology-Dennis-Howitt/dp/0132051613/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268504246&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Biological-Psychology-Introduction-Behavioral-Neuroscience/dp/0878937056/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268504263&sr=1-3

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Social-Psychology-Student-Access-MyPsychKit/dp/1405893648/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268504298&sr=1-1

Other good reading includes The Psychologist magazine found here:
http://www.thepsychologist.org.uk/ This includes a free digital taster on the right, and the editions can be bought online very cheaply.

When (and where) should I buy my textbooks?
AFTER you have started and as you need them! Secondly, ignore the lecturers who try and convince you to go out and buy this 20 long list of textbooks that will cost you hundreds of pounds. Chances are, you will only open them once. 99% of your resources will be online research journals. Textbooks are only good for general overviews which are good for starting an essay on unfamiliar grounds.

If you ARE going to buy textbooks, the Amazon Marketplace is your friend. I've picked up next to new textbooks for pennies. Don't buy them brand new. OR, you can buy them off previous year groups. When you get your uni email account, you will be spammed by second and third years trying to sell their textbooks.

What are the best A-Levels for Psychology?
Firstly, consult your chosen universities to ensure they don't have any specific requirements. Secondly, I strongly recommend
Psychology, Biology and Maths (Or even better Statistics). This is THE best combination for Psych. You cover the fundamental basics, you have a good foundation for neuroscience, and you're introduced to the fantastic world of statistics. You're also given basic essay writing skills from Psychology. Your fourth choice can be whatever really.

Do I need work experience for university?
Simple answer is no. It's not expected as a requirement. That said, if you are considering applying to the competitive universities, e.g. Bristol/Oxford for example, it might be worthwhile. The kind of work experience available to you as an a-level student, however, is limited. At best, you can obtain voluntary positions in a caring environment, for example a hospital befriender or an volunteer assistant in a neurorehabilitation centre. The best website to use for finding these is http://www.do-it.org . There is an alternative called vinspired, but it is literally the same content.

Voluntary positions such as these are typically involving vulnerable people and thus require a criminal records check (CRB). It is the organisation's responsibility to provide you with this application and for voluntary positions, it is free to you. These can take at least 3-4 weeks, but can take much longer if it is your first one, of if it is a busy period.

I can't really think of any other questions, so if you have any feel free to ask and I'll add them to the thread.

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Reply 80

GodspeedGehenna

darthbuttchin

Hi. Quick question. Obviously for the Stat's side of things, i'll need a calculator. Will a standard scientific calculator that one would use in school do or would a better one be more useful? In the argos catalogue there are a couple and the expensive one says it is most suited to degree work, whereas the other says it is usueful up to A levels. Is This just a marketing ploy or is there some truth in it?

Cheers,

db

Casio fx-85ES or similar.

Reply 81

rikkif1990

Thinking of studying Psychology and I found a first year Oxford pdf file here: http://www.celiagreen.com/charlesmccreery/statistics/anova.pdf

Seems interesting but complicated

Reply 82

Bluth.

rikkif1990

Thinking of studying Psychology and I found a first year Oxford pdf file here: http://www.celiagreen.com/charlesmccreery/statistics/anova.pdf

Seems interesting but complicated

Had a look and it looks fairly standard for a first year stats module- at least no more complicated than the stats we do at Warwick (in fact there are many more stats tests you have to learn than just ANOVA'S)

Reply 83

darthbuttchin

GodspeedGehenna

Casio fx-85ES or similar.

Casio FX-85GTPLUS Scientific Calculator

How bout that?

db

Reply 84

GodspeedGehenna

darthbuttchin

Casio FX-85GTPLUS Scientific Calculator

How bout that?

db

It's fine.

Reply 85

darthbuttchin

Cheers blud

db

Reply 86

star_guitar

I have a question! What's the 2nd year like? I've done my first year at RHUL, which I found extremely boring, so I was wondering if the 2nd year is much better.

Reply 87

GodspeedGehenna

star_guitar

I have a question! What's the 2nd year like? I've done my first year at RHUL, which I found extremely boring, so I was wondering if the 2nd year is much better.

Depends on what you're interested in, really.

You don't get any optional modules in 2nd year, and it's a bit of everything.

Reply 88

hg3

this threads helped me!
Was thinking of applying for Psychology this month but I'm still not 100% sure!
the only thing holding me back is whether there are career prospects after it? I don't wanna end up not getting a job after, and as interesting as Psychology sounds.. apparently thats the case!
Does anyone feel the same or am i completley wrong?? lol thanks!

Reply 89

GodspeedGehenna

hg3

It's as good as any other subject if you plan on applying to generic graduate steams.

However, on top of that, it provides accreditation to follow Psychology as a vocation, as well as building skills in research methodology and statistical analysis. Subsequently, I often see statistician jobs requesting Psych grads specifically.

Reply 90

ZZZZoe

Thanks a lot!
I'm not sure if here's the place to post it but I'll ask anyway..
What kind of things make a psychology personal statement stand out from the rest?

Reply 91

Interrobang

Same as any PS really - extra reading around the subject. Try and make it more unusual reading too, not things like 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat'

Reply 92

GodspeedGehenna

I agree. Read some decent material. Find yourself a recent journal of whatever area you're interested in and cite some interesting articles.

Don't quote Oliver Sacks ffs.

Reply 93

JPsycho

This has given me so much insight. Thank you man, now I am determined to do psychology in university even if it sounds bloody crazy LOL.

Reply 94

Pheebs1201

I was just wondering if anyone has any opinions on the psychology department at Bristol that they wouldnt mind sharing. Ive heard its meant to be good but would like to hear people's opinions :smile:

Reply 95

Jacke02

Wow i should have read this 2 years ago. That said, for A Level maths > stats

and surely chemistry would be better than biology for a level since you can easily read up on neuroscience and such but not chemistry...

just thoughts though, i did physics instead of either of them anyway :P

Reply 96

GodspeedGehenna

Original post

by Jacke02

I don't really agree. If you did Maths, the majority of it wouldn't be relevant. Ditto for Chem. Bio and Stats are far more precise for that is relevant for Psych.

Reply 97

Jacke02

Original post

by GodspeedGehenna

I don't really agree. If you did Maths, the majority of it wouldn't be relevant. Ditto for Chem. Bio and Stats are far more precise for that is relevant for Psych.

Doing maths would keep more options open though... quite alot of subjects require it. Just looking on TSR you see the amount of people having second thoughts about psych. In addition the core modules we do for maths are far more interesting than S1 module we did. If anything do Stats1 Stats2 and C1 C2 C3 & C4 in maths.

Not sure what universities think about statistics over maths. Having a broader knowledge base isn't a bad thing either... even though it may not be useful for psych.