Pros and cons of a Psychology degree?

How much of a meme science is it? I am kinda interested in the subject and don't care that much about the salary or career prospects other than possibly doing research.

>Pic hopefully wont end up related

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A general criticisms of psychology is that it doesn't it doesn't work with empirical data most of the time. Again, it depends on what kind of psychology you're interested in. Psychoanalysis doesn't work with empirical data at all and in a lot of countries that approach of psychology isn't even taught. In most places you'll be taught behaviorism, which is what's been proven to be the most effective.

But if you're more interested in the brain itself and working in a more ''sciency''(in a lab and with hard data) way study neurology.

Psych has a bad reputation as a pseudoscience, but it's actually been changing a lot lately and is well on its way to being more respectable. They're still infamous amongst statisticians for misusing stats though, and with good reason. If your interest is in research rather than clinical or industrial there's plenty of work available, but expect to be in academia forever and to spend a lot more time than you'd like applying for funding. If you're concerned it's too pseudoscientific you may want to look at neuroscience instead.

what if you want to do clinical or industrial work as you say. Instead of research. I'm not OP but still curious. Hoe good/bad is the job market there and what can someone expect to br a stsrting salary (if you know that information)

I don't have any personal experience in the field but my ex got into health psych research and recently got her PhD (we have a kid together so are still in regular contact). Also I should probably mention this may be specific to NZ, but she's never struggled to find work, and actually made a decent living (slightly below average earnings) while doing post-grad thanks to scholarships and research grants. No idea what she's earning now though sorry. She's really worked her arse off though, and it always seemed pretty competitive since there are way more applicants than available post-grad positions.

OP here, any way to find out if I really am interested in Psych or is this just a whim?

An undergrad degree in psych? You aren't going to be doing research in it and won't be working in it. What does it matter if it's a meme science?

Take a couple courses. Even if you change your mind later you can switch majors and get a minor in it. Or double major in it and something else.

Just recently got my master’s in Applied Behavior Analysis and am making 95K right out of school, with a $10,000 raise each year im certified. I’m the only dude in my entire company, so my career is looking amazing already.
OP, definitely take some survey courses and try it out. I immediately found many of my Psychology classes infinitely fascinating.

Anyone who says psychology has a reputation as pseudoscience is literally fucking retarded and clueless.

With that said, don't just get an undergrad degree in psychology. If you go down this route then you should plan to attend grad school as well.

>Anyone who says psychology has a reputation as pseudoscience is literally fucking retarded and clueless.

It does though.

It actually doesn't. First-year STEMlord kiddos and clueless retards on Jow Forums don't count.

So what you're saying is that it does in fact have a reputation as pseudoscience, just among people you dislike. I don't pretend Ed Sheeran doesn't have a reputation as a talented musician just because the people who promote that view are morons.

Thank you. People take a Introductory to Psychology course and assume they know everything

>With that said, don't just get an undergrad degree in psychology. If you go down this route then you should plan to attend grad school as well.
Definitely. You'll need at least a Masters.

That's not what they're talking about...

What do you do at work? How does your workday look?

Those people I "don't like" don't count not because I don't like them, but because they know nothing about psychology specifically or academia in general. They do not count because their perception is based on ignorance.

It's not a meme. It's a weird science in that you can study it, do double blind studies, arrive at results, and establish general trends that can be extremely useful, but in an individual it's tough.

You can't say to anyone why they are the way they are. Got someone with such and such a problem? Well most people like this has this experience in childhood.

Did the person you're talking to have that experience? Not entirely likely..


You do learn a lot about how the brain works, and that gets pretty objective (classical conditioning. If a behaviour or thought is rewarded, by an internal or external source, it will repeat. If it yields a loss or nothing, it will not). And that information honestly is extremely useful even in your own life.

You might even learn things that'll calm you down about yourself like how intrusive strange and/or even violent thoughts are extremely common and actually don't mean much.

You may learn all about how to control anxiety better.

It's my opinion that Buddhists and hinduists are the original psychologists. They've been grappling with the ideas of objective reality and what it really is and what we really are all spirituality removed for millenias.

And if you've ever seen a real therapist, not a psychoanalyst (those bitches are unacientifix and full of shit) you'll notice the thought patterns and skills and techniques they teach you to help manage and cope are things the Buddhists have known forever.

Actually doing research and/or clin psych requires, at the very least, a Masters and, more realistically, a PhD.

These aren't really the only choices, however. If you play your cards right, corporate psych and human factors and ergonomics are both potentially lucrative fields.

>My whole Buddhist thing.
..not to undermine psychology as a field. I just find the parallels extremely interesting.

Take the course.
I did. I didn't like it as a field but I learned totally invaluable information I've used and applied for life.

Taking intro alone helped me through a lot of shit and what I know from what little I took has come in handy since.

It can't hurt. Whatever you do you'll need an elective anyway.

I hope you enjoy decades old, outdated software for data analysis my man

Psychoanalysis is to psychology as the classical greek elements are to modern chemistry.

No, because those people don't know what they're talking about. If the majority of people in a room were children you would not ask for the majority's advice on how to manage finances.

You can succeed at anything if you are near the top of the field. Unfortunately psych is very over saturated so you need to be at the VERY top to get gainful employment. That means you need to do postgrad studies.

Luckily, the reason psychology is oversaturated is because every below average intelligence teenage girl who doesn't know what to do with their life pursues a psych degree out of highschool so getting the top mark in a psych class isn't that hard if you're smart, hardworking, and interested in the material.