Misunderstanding Psychology

Source: GIPHY

I first heard a little bit about the field of Psychology when I was in secondary school and became more interested only when I started planning to enter college. I did not really know what to expect from studying Psychology at first but all I knew was that it was pretty much useful in most fields of work. Before I entered my first psychology class I had this thought that maybe psychology is about reading people's minds, changing people's thinking; something like Charles Xavier does to people but minus the shiny bald head and pimped up wheelchair. On the first day of college, I sat in a room with a small group of people for my very first PSY190 General Psychology class.

I guess from that day on, I was 'enlightened' and realized that my assumptions about the field of psychology was wrong. I learned that it's not all about reading people's thoughts and changing them. Psychology students are not necessarily all trained to become shrinks or therapists. Although we develop a certain set of skills, we are not all trained to listen to clients rant about their lives while they lie on a big couch. And to be honest, a lot of people still think psychology students will become like that. People still have very little knowledge about the field itself and have a conventional image of psychology major students. So here I am going to debunk some misconceptions about the field of psychology and of those that psychology students face.


"Psychology is easy lah! Just use your common sense!"

We often hear or read about latest psychological research in the newspapers, Facebook or on the web like this one which found that depression lowers the chances of women getting pregnant and what not. Some of us will be intrigued and will further read on about news like these ones. On the other hand, some of us will look at the headlines and say "Of course it does! Why do these researches waste their time and money when they can just use their common sense?".

But I would like you to maybe Google some of the most famous experiments in psychology history and tell me if you could have come to that sort of conclusion at that time. Many of the famous psychological experiments in the past and current time have proven common sense to be wrong.

For example, common sense will tell you to report that a house is on fire to the local fire brigade when you can see thick smoke rising from the windows. But a psychology experiment conducted by John Darley and Bibb Latané found that most people will not report a crime or an emergency if they know that other people in the neighborhood or others who witness the same crime will report it as well. This is call the bystander effect.

Common sense may or may not be true even if it seems like it should be. That is what psychology researches do. They take 'common sense' about human behavior and put them to the test. Just like the science experiments we conduct in our school labs, psychology researches use scientific methods to test our commonly held beliefs about ourselves. "Studying psychology is as easy as studying any other field of science".

Source: Quickmeme

"Are you studying about crazy people?"

Studying "crazy people" is one of the many fields of psychology and it is called abnormal psychology. Psychology is not all about studying people with mental health issues and abnormal behavior. There are many fields such as cognitive (study how people think, learn and remember), educational (study how people learn), developmental (study human growth, emotional changes, intellectual development and social growth), forensic (applies psychology in legal or criminal cases), social (study group behavior, nonverbal behavior, conformity, social perception), sports (study how psychology influences athletic performance, exercise and physical activity), industrial (study how to improve workplace productivity and efficiency) and many more. Each field represents a specific area of study focused on a specific topic.

Source: Memegenerator.net

"You're going to be a shrink when you graduate"

Well that is not really a myth. Some of us who study psychology can become shrinks. But to become a practicing psychologist in Malaysia and in mostly any other country, a psychology student has to further their studies and obtain at least a Master's Degree in a psychology field such as counselling or clinical psychology, then go through training and internship.

Although there are a number of jobs directly related to psychology but there are also many other jobs that have nothing to do with counselling people. A Bachelor's Degree in psychology can get you many places.

Psychology careers:

• Clinical and counselling psychologist 
• Psychiatrist
• Educational psychologist
• Child psychologist
• Engineering psychologist 
• Sports psychologist 
• Forensic psychologist 
• Industrial psychologist
• Neuro-psychologist
• Social psychologist 
• Gerontologist 
• Marriage and family therapist
• School / Grief / Substance / Domestic violence / Army counselor 

A Bachelor's Degree in psychology can also be useful in these jobs:

• Human resource officer
• Market researcher
• Career adviser
• Advertising account planner 
• Teacher 
• Social worker 
• Public relations executive 
• Management consultant 
• Marketing and sales executive   

Source: Quickmeme

"Hypnotize me!" 

Uhh, this one is a real joke. Not all psychology students are trained to hypnotize people with the snap of our fingers. But there are definitely psychologists who are skilled in the therapeutic use of hypnosis. Hypnosis is not something like in the movies where someone can just make someone go to sleep by saying a key word or make them wake up by the snap of their fingers. Hypnosis is actually used in therapy to help people with depression, pain and anxiety disorders. In some cases, it can help people recover from certain illnesses. It is important to understand that hypnosis is a specialized skill which requires training. Not all psychologists are trained in it. It is also important to understand that hypnosis requires voluntary participation and a person cannot be hypnotized against their will. Like I said, its not like in the movies.

Source: GIPHY

"You can read my mind now right?" 

Psychology students study the mind and human behavior. This does not mean we can read people's thoughts like Professor X. Psychology students are not trained to be psychics. Nor do we think we are born with that ability (although I wish to have it). It is true, psychologists are able to make fairly accurate assumptions or assessments about a person. Anybody with a strong background in the study of human behavior are able to do so (like Sherlock Holmes, haha!). Psychologists are also able to understand why people do certain things and make fairly accurate predictions about future actions and behavior. This means that student or psychologist has a strong knowledge of human psychology and excellent observational skills. Not a psychic!

Source: GIPHY

"Psychologists get paid shit loads just to listen to people talk" 

This is partly true. Some psychologists/ therapists are very well paid. But the idea that psychologists are just passively sitting back, doodling on a notepad while clients talk on and on is far from reality. The technique that you often see in movies is called the talk therapy or psychotherapy. This is only one of the many techniques used in therapy which follow one of more specific schools of thought such as cognitive, behaviorism, humanistic or psychoanalysis. There are many techniques used in talk therapy such as questionnaires, tests, exposure, reinforcement and modelling. There also many types of therapy such as group therapy, art therapy, music therapy, psychodynamic therapy and many more. The most famous therapies are cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and cognitive analytic therapy (CAT).

Well, throughout a psychotherapy session the therapist is actively listening to the client, asking specific questions, determining the goals for therapy and treatment plan. Psychologists perform a wide range of duties than just listen to their clients as we know now that there are also many types of careers in the field of psychology. Salaries are as varied as the number of professions. There are many factors that determine the salary of a psychologist such as specialty area, years of experience and educational background. Currently in Malaysia, clinical psychologists are more recognized but psychiatrists are able to earn more because they are licensed to administer medications and have undergone long medical training.

Source: Primogif

Finally

Psychology did not emerge as a separate discipline until the late 1800s. It is a relatively new field. Philosophy and physiology contributed to psychology's emergence as a scientific discipline as most traditional philosophical issues and physiological research on the brain and behavior helped ignite the spark for scientific psychological study.  A German doctor and psychologist named Wilhelm Wundt was responsible for creating the world's first experimental psychology lab that was established in 1879 at the University of Leipzig in Germany. That marked the beginning of psychology as a distinct scientific discipline.

From then until now the world has greatly benefited from the field of psychology and its research. We would not know the stages of development of a person if not for psychology. We would have not understand social responses and behavior if not for psychology. Even the strategic placement of advertisements are based on psychological research. The understanding of conflict, abuse, family communication patterns are the result of continuous psychological research. Efficient job design and employee selection in many workplaces have benefited from research in industrial psychology.

So give psychology students a little break. We're not all that crazy. ;) 

Source: Frabz.com

What are other common misconceptions about the psychology field and psychology students that you have or have heard of?


MY.



References 

Cherry, K. (2016). VeryWell.com. The origins of psychology. Retrieved from https://www.verywell.com/the-origins-of-psychology-2795245