I am a student of the mind and of the functions of the brain. I study the processes that make humans human and I study how and why we do the things we do.
I am a psychology major.
I’m pretty proud of the fact that I am able to delve deep into the epicenter of the human body and discover and understand things that many people don’t bother to take the time to consider. When you really break it down, the brain—whether it be animal or human—is pretty awesome.
I think there are, however, some misconceptions about psychology majors and what it is we study.
First of all…we are a science. Psychology majors tend to get lumped in with philosophy majors which is a liberal art. Psychology does fall under STEM and guess what? Most of the sciences (biology especially) wouldn’t have had a great start or have advanced if it weren’t for psychologists. What we do is scientifically based. And if you even venture into the realm of experimentation and research, it gets “worse” so to speak.
Second of all…we don’t sit around thinking that everything you do is somehow related to a sexual desire. While much of Freud’s theories are now taken completely out of context and are misunderstood, most psychologist don’t even like to talk about Freud. He is not particularly relevant in the world of psycho-theory anymore. So let it go.
Third…the world and major of psychology is immense. There are so many different avenues a person who majors in psychology can take. It also often takes a higher degree—such a masters or doctorate. There’s adolescent psych, aging psych, health psych, biopsych, cognitive psych, developmental psych, abnormal psych, ethology, behavioral…the list literally goes on and on and on. This gives majors the opportunity to pursue an avenue of science that they are really, truly interested in. This is pretty cool in my opinion. Also, not all of these will lead to counseling. A great deal of psychology students go into research or even community work like nonprofits.
Being a psychology major is pretty awesome. We are close community of people who are thirsty for knowledge of a complex organ. We want to know all about the part of the human (or animal) that literally drives and makes decisions for survival.
But remember, we are analyzing every single thing you do. Just kidding!
Or am I?
