Prompt One: Psychology Misconceptions

BY: SAVANNAH

Prompt 1: So there are many misconceptions on the field of Psychology that people are not aware of. A lot of it has to do with the idea of it being a “new science”. In this blog, I will talk about my three favorite misconceptions and try to debunk them using the textbook Psychology by David Myers and C. Nathan Dewall. I find this book really helpful and interesting to read, especially when it helps debunk some myths. This textbook is used in my Psychology 101 class.

1.     Psychology majors are mostly used for criminal profiling.

a.     Psychology majors differ in all sorts of jobs such as clinical psychologists, counseling psychologists, psychiatrists, community psychologists, school psychologists, and many more. Psychology just does not focus on criminal perspective. Psychology is the science of all behavior and mental processes. The seven main perspectives of psychology are neuroscience, evolutionary, behavior genetics, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and social-cultural. All of these perspectives deal with how the brain works in certain cultures and how the brain keeps changing due to natural selection. With a degree in psychology, there are an unlimited amount of jobs that you can get besides just in criminal justice.

2.     Psychology is an easy major.

a.     So a lot of people think psychology is an easy subject. Most believe it is common sense and self-explanatory. Well I am here to tell you that it is not an easy subject. To get any job with psychology, you must at least get your bachelors and even then it is highly recommended that you further your path and get your PhD. Let’s think about this for a quick second; if you ever need counseling because you think you may have a chemical imbalance in your brain that is making you feel depressed or anxious, wouldn’t you want someone who is a doctor and that knows what they are doing? I sure would. I personally would not like someone who just went to school for four years to prescribe wrong medication or diagnose me with the wrong disorder. I am happy and I am excited for my long journey with psychology and I am very happy I have to go to school for awhile just so I can assure my future patients that they are in good hands.

3.     Psychology isn’t a real science.

a.     A lot of people like to argue that psychology is more of an art than a science and that somehow makes it less of a science than everything else. Psychology is all about neuroscience. A huge portion of psychology is knowing what chemicals and endorphins change the brain’s natural state and seeing how it affects a human’s every day routine. For your bachelor’s degree, you can choose between getting your Bachelors of Arts (BA) or getting your Bachelors of Science (BS) but that does not mean you take all art classes or you take just science classes. A lot of classes mix in together because it is important to know and understand both sides of psychology. It is a necessity to understand the science behind psychology in order to do anything with this type of major.

I hope these three little misconceptions were interesting and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. This is all a learning process for everyone and I am excited to continue my path in this degree.

Photo Credit Due to imperial.ac.uk

Myers, David G., and C. Nathan DeWall. Psychology. 11th ed. New York: Worth, 2015. Print.