The Student Room Group
Reply 1
stokedasagoat
hello everyone. I am an 18 year old male student hoping to study psychology next year ...why is it that psychology is a female- dominated course? I have no problems with this, if anything I find it interesting...But for some reason I guess there many courses that are the same. English literature for example. Thanks.

Most subjects are at Higher / Further Level, it’s only usually the core sciences or mathematical based subjects where there tends to be more males than females, its just a fact of life.
Reply 2
I guess it's perceived as a very human-oriented & social subject by many people which would tend to put guys off, being more attracted to logical, 'hard-science' subjects....a massive over-generalisation I know! It's also a kindof vicious cycle, with it being thought of as a female subject, hence putting off guys who would otherwise go for it.

There's no real reason for it that i can see, it's such a broad subject with social bits, biological bits, physics bits, and statistics and practicals- something for everyone. About 15/80 are guys in my year at bristol I think...but then again the vast majority of lecturers & researchers in the department are men, so it clearly isn't the case in all areas of the field!
Hmmm I think guys think it's a 'soft' science, not like Physics or Chemistry (even tho it isn't). There are more guys than I expected on my course at York after seeing a lecture from Cardiff emptying - 20 guys and 200 girls! Still nowhere near equal tho
Reply 4
It depends on the Country too. I've heard it doesn't seem to be so much of a female dominated course in other Countries (was talking to someone on my course about this recently, I think in North America is about equal, can't remember exactly though).

But yes, it's mainly due to the stereotype people have of psychology as the social-soft science dealing with "feelings" and "motivations behind the actions" and for some stereotypical reason more suitable for females. It's the same stereotype that puts off girls from applying to courses like Engineering or Maths, although I think the stereotype for psychology is awfully superficial and pretty far from reality (I swear next time someone tells me "oooh you do psychology...I must be careful of what I say then!" or "Can you read minds?" I'm gonna start chopping heads off)