Unknown Facts About Psychology
BY CANSU ORANÇ (PSYC/IV)
oranc@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
When I learned that I was accepted into the department of psychology at Bilkent University in the summer 2006, I knew two things: First, that was the best news I had received in my 17 years of life; second, I wasn't going to be a psychological counselor. Many people were telling me that they were waiting to be my first patient. First, I only smiled, but later on, I tried to explain to them why they could never be my patient. Now I'm a last year student and during the past 4 years, I felt myself like a "psychology department publicity agent." Below, I'm answering some questions I have encountered these past 4 years.
1. No, I'm not going to be a psychological counselor. I'm deeply sorry but I'll never lay you down on a couch and ask about your childhood. That image in your head is just a caricature. Don't imagine a psychological counselor with a pipe in his hand earnestly asking you questions about your childhood when you're lying down on a couch. It's been 71 years since Freud passed away and psychological counselors are not little copies of him.
2. No, Freud is no big deal.
3. Yes, there are tons of other possible "applied" career paths in psychology other than "listening to people" and doing psychotherapy. Have your ever heard about forensic psychology or industrial/organizational psychology? Use Google for many others. I'm not even counting the basic subdisciplines like cognitive psychology or evolutionary psychology.
4. No, we're not learning how to know ourselves better, and our course books are not personal development books, either. We're not trying to learn about ourselves but humans in general, although often this returns us as also learning about ourselves.
5. Yes, there's math in psychology. You may not have to use it through your career but as an undergraduate psychology student, you have to know statistics.
6. Yes, psychology is science. The Oxford English Dictionary describes science as "the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment." This is what we do. I can't argue that psychology is a physics-type science, but biology and math constitute a vital part of it, no one can deny this.
7. No, we can't read your mind.
8. No, we can't hypnotize you either.
9. Yes, as psychologists, we're different from psychiatrists but let's leave this for another time.
I wish I had more space to explain more to you. I just wanted to point few things that people don't know much about. If you've any further questions, I would be glad to answer.
Also, don't go to an undergraduate psychology student in order to get advice about a serious problem, go to a psychologist. We can only help you as friends, for now.