Best subject to study (Psychology in general)

Member Name: starshine35

Product:	Psychology in general
Date:	28/07/09 (21 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interesting and allows you to make up your own mind

Disadvantages: none

Ok as i'm studying psychology at uni i'm a little biased. In my mind this is an amazing subject and everything about it is truly fascinating. People usually have the wrong idea about psychology. Whenever i tell someone that i'm studying psychology the usual responses are: 'can you read my mind?', 'can you analyse my behaviour?' and 'ooo i better be careful what i say around you'. Let me clarify one thing studying psychology doesn't allow you to read people's mind and we don't analyse and judge your behaviour. The stereotype of psychology is probably someone laying on a couch while some guy in a beard with a pipe is listening and writing things down on a clipboard. This is only one form of psychology called psychiatry and you have to read medicine to become a psychiatrist.

Psychology is the scientific study of behaviour and mind of human and non human animals. You don't lean how to read body language and it's not as glamorous as the media makes it. You learn about theories and studies about human behaviour.

Topics include:

memory - how we remember things, different types of memories, how long memories last, problems with memory etc

Developmental psychology - why children are so dependent on their caregivers, what happens when they don't receive adequate care, development of self concept of gender etc

Individual differences - intelligence and what it is and how to measure it, different types of personalities, different factors which contribute to a persons overall personality, why there are difference between people

Social psychology - this looks at aggression, altruistic behavior, why we formulate stereotypes and groups and the consequences of this, our attitudes towards things and our impression of ourselves and other people.

There many more topics but these are a few of the main ones. When you learn about one topic you learn several theories and that's exactly what they are they are theories. There's nothing definite in psychology, and theories constantly change as new research is carried out and new findings are discovered. Psychology is based on research. Psychologists formulate a hypothesis, create an experiment which are run on real participants and then results will add to the knowledge of the behaviour in question. What i love most about psychology is this point. The fact that nothing is certain and that each topic has many theories. This allows you to make your own decision it allows you to think about what each theory is saying and formulate your own opinions. You can then use research to try and support your point. There is never a right or wrong answer as long as you can find empirical support for your argument then it's valid.

It covers such a broad range of topics and you are studying one of the most fascinating things on this planet- us. We are so complex and interesting how can the study of human behavior be anything but extraordinary. You begin to understand why we do the things we do and develop an appreciation for how amazing our brain is. The more you learn about it the more you realise how everything can be linked together and the more you want learn. A running theme throughout psychology is the nature/nurture debate. People are always want to know if it is our genes or our environment which determine our behaviour and traits and 9 times out of 10 it's both. Through the study of psychology you see how our genes and our environment shape our development and our behaviour.

Summary: A truly fascinating subject about human and animal behaviour