As the title may suggest, I'm about to go off on a rant, so feel free to stop reading.
I love being involved in Psychology and being a Human Development major. These two diciplines totally play to my strengths and are super interesting. They are really applicable to life in general...for everybody.
What I do NOT love about them is the reactions they elicit from people when you tell them what you are doing.
Typical reactions when people find out I am a Human Development and Family Studies major are:
a) Oh, so your going for your mom/Mrs. degree: No. I'm not. I am a social scientist who happens to be interested in families and thinks they are important.
b) So...what are you going to do with that when you graduate?: Lots of things! I could be a teacher, I could be a social worker, I could teach parent/family skills classes for the state, I could go to grad school, I could work for the dept of ed., ...the list goes on.
When people find out I am going in to psychology they usually say:
a) Oh, that is so interesting, I love watching people: That is not psychology...that is people watching and every one does that. Psychology is a science that people get highly specialized training in for YEARS in order to call themselves a psychologist.
b) Oh that is so interesting, You can diagnose me!: First of all, I am not going to be that kind of psychologist (there are more jobs in the field than just clinicians and councilors you know). Second of all, I don't want to diagnose you. I don't want to know your problems. If I did, I would be going in to clinical psych. Third of all, have nothing to diagnose; you are probably normal. Most people are...that's why it is called normal.
c) I love psychology, that was my favorite class in college.: There is a lot more to psychology than you learn in your intro class. Don't get me wrong, psych 1010 is a great class, and I highly recomend it to anyone and everyone. But it barely even scratches the surface of what psychology is.
I understand, really I do. Psychology IS super interesting. That's one reason I like it so much. And it IS super applicable to everyone. And it isn't completly obvious what a HDFS degree will do for someone when they graduate.
But please, please, PLEASE, think these things through before you talk!
Thank you, that's all :)
3 comments:
I loved my psychology classes and am in HUman Development right now too. My older sister just got her masters in Marriage & Family Counseling form ASU.I was going to major in Psychology but decided it wasn't for me; because I did want to be on the counseling end of it, but I realized my compassion and patience is great for my friends and family and I didn't think I could go for years and years of the traumas of other people's lives. So, now I'm a pre-communications major. Hopefully, one day I'll be able to right an advice column somewhere to stretch my psychology legs to a small degree lol
I will be a consultant for you :) Actually, I'm not going in to the counseling/clinical end of it either...I want to be a researcher. Or a school psychologist, which means I would just work with kids :)
You are so great. Are you sure you don't want to figure out my problems? :) I know what you mean for a totally different reason but really why don't people think before they talk. Love you!
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