If I had a quarter every time someone asked me why I chose such an easy major, I would have more than enough to pay those people to shut up. Unfortunately, so many people feel the same way, since psychology is regarded as one of the easiest majors to get a degree in. But without psychology, where would we be today?
Psychology has helped us to understand so much of who we are as humans, and people don't realize that. Through neuro and cognitive psychology, we were able to discover that the brain has localized function, which means that different parts of the brain do different things in terms of mental processes. Experiments such as the bobo doll experiment revealed that children learn not only through experience, but also through observations. The famous Milgram experiment showed how far humans are willing to go if they have an authority figure telling them what to do. Studies into abnormal psychology have helped come up with effective treatments for mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder.
Psychology has shown us how we think and why we think how we think. Yet, whenever someone brings up psychology, all anyone can think of is Freud and his psychosexual stages of development.
One thing that I agree with when people talk about psychology is that it's a soft science. Within psychology, there is a replication crisis, meaning that experimental results are hard to replicate, which is an important part of the scientific method. In hard sciences such as chemistry and biology, experiments tend to always produce the same results. For example, if you run an experiment where burn different chemicals to find the amount of energy they produce in calories, the results will be the same if replicated exactly. But if you run an experiment where you test reaction times or memory among a population, the results will vary when replicated. This is because no two people are the same. There are so many factors when it comes to people, and because of this, most of psychology is just theory rather than laws. Some of the most important laws of perception(such as the Gestalt laws) are just considered heuristics, since they can lead to incorrect perceptions in rare cases.
But this replication crisis does not mean that psychology is irrelevant. Psychologists and psychiatrists are especially important right now, since depression is rampant among teenage populations and suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States, according to the CDC Leading Causes of Death Reports. As said before, psychology has lead to the development of different treatments to these disorders, such as cognitive behavioral therapy and psychoanalytic therapy, which are proven to improve the quality of life of these individuals. This is a huge reason as to why psychology is important in this day and age.
People claim that there are no more jobs in psychology, but some areas of psychology are just blossoming and are in need of researchers. One such growing field is neuropsychology, since the brain is one of the least understood parts of the body. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that this branch is predicted to grow about 11 percent through the year 2022, creating a demand for more careers in neuropsychology. There is also a growth in demand for applied psychologists, the BLS reported in 2018.
Psychology is one of the most important sciences, yet people don't recognize that. For me, I want to study to become either a child psychologist or a behavioral analyst in the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI. Unfortunately, all people can see when I tell them I'm studying psychology is me sitting in a chair asking someone how they feel. Psychologists can really change how people view the world, and that is what I want to do.
When people tell you to choose a harder major, fellow psychology majors, plug those ears and turn off your temporal lobes. Don't get discouraged by people who know nothing about your field of study, and keep on studying the field that you want to study.
