Sociology vs. Psychology

I'm going to be starting college this September, and I go for enrolment next week to finalize my A level choices. The college I'm going to force everyone to do Critical Thinking, and I've chosen English Lit and History, but I'm torn between Psychology and Sociology as my 3rd subject ("soft" subjects, I know, but the college don't offer much choice). I want to study English at university, so with that in mind does anyone have any idea whether one or the other could be better/more interesting/more useful when applying to university, or whether they're both seen as pretty much of equal value? The college didn't even offer much information on what you'd study in Psychology or Sociology either, so if anyone could enlighten me in any way, shape or form, that would be very nice!!!

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Reply 1

UltimateJ

Sociology ftw. Don't be like every other 17 year old and do Psychology A-level.

Anyway, sociology is good. I just finished an AS in it and you learn so much interesting, eye-opening stuff. My modules included mass media, education and research methods with the latter, admittedly, being a bit boring...

Reply 2

Sian_01

UltimateJ

Well I do think Sociology sounds a lot more interesting in general, just I read another post in here with someone saying they made a load of stuff up in their exam and got an A?! So, what kind of topics do you cover in the AS? In the college's prospectus, it just said "a range of topics", which isn't exactly useful...

Reply 3

Em_maK

Sociology, duh :biggrin:

Reply 4

kokiri

Do NOT call psychology (or sociology, actually) a soft option before you've even studied it. What the hell would you know?! Jeez, don't adopt other peoples' opinions as your own just because they exist, you have your own brain.

Reply 5

Sian_01

kokiri

No no! I wasn't saying I personally think they're soft subjects, just with a view to applying to university, I know they're not looked on as favourably as others. Sorry, didn't mean to cast aspersions on anyone studying them :frown:

Reply 6

laura_0409

Psychology...it's fantastically interesting! :biggrin:

And if you want to do english, it'll idefinately mprove your essay writing skills, ive definately found that and i do english literature too :smile:

Reply 7

kokiri

Sian_01

Sorry, that came out a bit harsh... it's just that it was results day today and I worked bloody hard these two years to get a good grade in psychology, so it just got to me in the heat of the moment ^^;

Oh and in regards to your original question, I definately recommend psychology :smile:

Reply 8

Sian_01

kokiri

Haha, that's fine :smile:

I don't understand this whole idea of soft options anyway, you'd have to work hard to get an A (or A*, when I sit my A level exams) in any subject, and they all deserve respect if you ask me.

Would you say one or the other would help an understand of Literature more? Or possibly look better when applying to uni? I kind of thought Sociology would since I imagine that to possibly be a less Sciencey subject than Psychology, and more kind of essay and opinion based, but I really don't know. Like I said, my college were useless in giving out information regarding subjects so I'm having to mainly guess what I think you'd study in each one...not good :s-smilie:

Reply 9

orangebanana

Sian_01

I just finished the full 2 years of sociology a level with an A today and I would definitely recommend it. There is a lot to learn but once you get the hang of it, its not too bad. You need to learn a lot of studies as well as evaluation etc but it is quite interesting. In my first year I did education, mass media and research methods. We did stuff like the history of the education system, education and social class like working class children doing worse in education due to various reasons etc. Mass media was like the effects of the media and whether they can be harmful ie video games and violence.

The second year I did world sociology, crime and deviance and coursework you just do loads about different types of crime, who commits them. Also world sociology you do about big companies and how they control poor countries. My coursework was quite fun because I got to do research about eating disorders which I thought would be useful for me to do as it is such a big problem.

I think the syllabus is changing i'm not sure though! But what i know of sociology is good, some people may find it boring though.

Reply 10

orangebanana

Sociology is not really opinion based. I thought that at first but you get penalised for it. It's about coming to a judgement once you have weighed up all the evidence you have to accept the evidence you can't say it is false etc. It's like looking at all viewpoints and making comments on them.

Reply 11

Sian_01

orangebanana

Aha

well, do you get to express your opinion at all, so long as you can find facts and figures to back it up? i know you're not going to be able to say anything you like, but would it be like in English where so long as you can find evidence to support you, you're free to express what you think?

Also, is there much essay writing involved? It's geeky, I know, but I love writing essays...

Reply 12

kokiri

Sian_01

Would you say one or the other would help an understand of Literature more? Or possibly look better when applying to uni? I kind of thought Sociology would since I imagine that to possibly be a less Sciencey subject than Psychology, and more kind of essay and opinion based, but I really don't know. Like I said, my college were useless in giving out information regarding subjects so I'm having to mainly guess what I think you'd study in each one...not good :s-smilie:

I did English literature as well and I can't speak for sociology, but I found psychology complemented it well, as we had to write loads of huge essays! BUT, apparently they're changing the syllabus for next year to make it more like a science exam, so it might not include so much writing anymore.. don't know too much about that though! But in all the exams, we had to employ the 'point, evidence, explanation' technique as used in English. And plus, it's dead interesting :wink:

Reply 13

UltimateJ

Sian_01

just I read another post in here with someone saying they made a load of stuff up in their exam and got an A?!

What? Either the examiner was on crack when s/he marked it, or that person is lying.

Reply 14

UltimateJ

kokiri

Do NOT call psychology (or sociology, actually) a soft option before you've even studied it.

Seconded.

Reply 15

aviii

SOCIOLOGY

is amaze =]

you'll learn soo much more, because everything you learn is happening in real life

if your good at memorising and essay writing than deffo go for it

Reply 16

Sian_01

UltimateJ

What? Either the examiner was on crack when s/he marked it, or that person is lying.

Well I do have my doubts as the whether it's to be believed, but lots of people have said "oh I made things up in the exam and got an A" which I really don't like to think could/would/should happen, I'm one of those rare people with a lot of faith in education and I'd hate to think it could fail like that...

Reply 17

UltimateJ

orangebanana

Very true. At no point should you state your opinion and justify it in an exam, its all about looking at the good/bad points of a sociological argument/theory.

Reply 18

Sian_01

kokiri

Hm, I'm not sure I'd like it so much if it got a really scientific leaning. Not that I fear science or anything, just...I'd rather avoid it :biggrin:

Reply 19

umbrellahead

I do both Sociology and Psychology, I would recommend Sociology but it is up to you! Depends which exam board you have for Psychology, but OCR AS Psychology is boring as hell. I often wondered if there was anything Psychology based in what we were taught, or whether it was just common sense.... Apparently it gets more interesting in A2 though :smile:

However, I switched from Maths to Sociology at the last minute, and I haven't looked back! You get a lot out of it, thoughtful interaction with your class members, you will all have different opinions and our discussions have ranged from things like racism in education to whether single parent families provide children with a good building block for the future, or whether two parents are needed! I mean, it's totally up to you, both are subjects with a lot to remember, lots of essays, and I guess doing both has made me realise they compliment each other

If I had to pick one though, Sociology all the way! (sorry for rambling :P)