If you are a psychology major then you have heard the classic "Oh...are you sure about that?" when you tell relatives your major during the holidays. I myself am tired of hearing the uncomfortable silence after I tell someone my major; it is time to bust some myths.
1. We all do not end up at Chick-Fil-A
If you work at Chick-Fil-A I mean no offense, but I once read that a former president or politician of some sorts claimed that all psychology majors end up working at Chick-Fil-A. I guess we can take this as a compliment because Chick-Fil-A is high-end fast food, I mean they will bring you refills of your drink to your table and their breakfast is top notch. However, as good as Chick-Fil-A may be, we actually do not all end up at Chick-Fil-A. I do not know what the employee base is there but I do not think all of them were psychology majors.
2. Psychology is a Science
Psychology is a science because it uses the scientific method to study the behavior of humans. Just like Jane Goodall studying the behavior of chimpanzees. Yes, a lot of psychology is based on theory but so is chemistry (quantum theory). So while people do not consider psychology a "hard science" think about what subjects you have that are completely concrete... not many.
3. You Won't Find a Job
While Chick-Fil-A may have awesome benefits, after four years of school, psychology students do look into getting jobs in their fields. Yes, they do get jobs and yes, those jobs are real and tangible. You would be surprised to find that huge companies like Google and Apple actually hire industrial organizational psychologists in order to learn how to keep their employees happy and have a more productive company. Human behavior is important and understanding it can be imperative to the progress in our society whether it be how to better a company or how to help those with ADHD.
4. We Can't Read Your Mind
Okay... I kind of wish this myth were true, but no we cannot read your mind. There is not much to say about this myth besides that it is ridiculous.
5. Psychology is An Easy Major
I do not think any major is "easy." Everything takes work and college itself is not "easy" and never will be. You have to know a lot about statistics for psychology and all the f-test, t-tests, and z-tests get confusing after a while.
6. Psychology Students are Crazy
Actually, all college students are crazy. We eat ramen; what even is ramen, is it a noodle? Is it plastic? I have no idea but we all eat it so that makes us all crazy. If that doesn't make college students crazy then I guarantee you many students have examples of things they have done to label themselves as crazy so maybe rather than using the word "crazy" we could replace it with normal.
7. So I Can Come Get Therapy From You for Free?
No, I did not spend four years and a lot of time and money, not to mention super long nights reading crazy long case studies, so that you could get free therapy from me. Also, not all psych majors become therapists. You could go to Lucy from the Peanuts and get psychiatric help for 5 cents, although I doubt that covers the cost of medicine.
