Written by Hon Wing Huen (Vanessa) ‘So, you study psychology… do you know what I am thinking right now?’ This question pops up almost every time I introduce myself as a psychology student. This preconception of associating psychology with mind reading is not surprising – I went into psychology thinking that I would graduate with astonishing abilities to see through people’s thoughts and emotions, just to realise it is nothing like that. So, if a degree in psychology does not train students to become a mind reader, what is it actually about? Psychology, as defined by the American Psychological Association (n.d.), is a scientific study of the mind and behaviour. Therefore, instead of reading people’s minds in a single glance, psychology is more about understanding how the mind works. Its origin as a scientific discipline dates back to the 19th century when the German physiologist and philosopher, Wilhelm Wundt, distinguished psychology from philosophy. He wanted to investigate the human mind in a more logical and empirical way, introducing ‘introspection’ as an experimental method (Asthana, 2015), which involves participants observing and reporting their own inner thoughts (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2006). Wundt believed that through introspection, he could break down consciousness into its simplest form, like breaking chemicals into smaller compounds, asserting that behaviour is built upon these compounds (McLeod, 2008). This claim, however, was highly criticised for its unreliability. As an individual’s inner mental state is intangible and cannot be physically observed, not only is the possibility of ‘introspectors’ reporting false observation data extremely high, but researchers would also have no way to falsify the obtained data (Schultz ,1981). Nowadays, many disciplines of psychology have been developed to explain different aspects of the human mind and behaviour. The main disciplines include developmental psychology, which studies the physical, mental, and behavioural changes in a person’s life from childhood to old age (American Psychological Association, n.d.) and social psychology, which focuses on how an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and actions are affected by the actual, imagined, or symbolically represented presence of other people (Allport, 1954). With increasing branches of the discipline, functions of the human brain were further explored, and we now realise that the brain is much more than just a single structure. Many other factors such as the environment in which one was brought up in, or the education that one received, all contribute to the uniqueness of an individual’s inner thoughts and behaviour. Child developmental psychology, for example, looks at common behaviours in children who are later diagnosed with mental health issues as well as moral understanding in children. One finding arising from this branch was that children that were in institutional care such as orphanages were found to have lower levels of intelligence then those who grew up in a normal family, for instance. These not only help psychologists understand the stages of growth in children, but also to develop more advanced mental health treatment and child-oriented policies, etc. As a psychology student, I spend most of my time learning about these different theories, past and new discoveries in various fields, and methodologies to conduct research. The stereotypical psychologist might be portrayed as an expert reader of micro-expressions and body language, especially those portrayed in TV shows and movies. But in reality, these domains are not common topics taught in school. Although these might fall under the category of behavioural psychology, what interest researchers the most are behaviours that are easily observable, macro-expressions. Nevertheless, it is always possible to do further research into your own area of interest once you get a hold of the basics. All in all, it is evident that psychologists are not magicians who can read minds like those shown on the big screens. Instead, psychologists are sensitive to smaller changes in behaviour and emotions and take them as clues for further investigation through communication to fully understand a person. Psychology as a discipline is more about theories of how the mind works and their practical implications. Therefore, if you are looking into studying psychology, be sure to do ample research on psychological theories and degree curricula from different universities to make sure that this is a field that truly intrigues your mind! References Allport, G. (1954). The Nature of Prejudice. Addison-Wesley. American Psychological Association. (n.d.). APA Dictionary of Psychology. Psychology. https://dictionary.apa.org/psychology American Psychological Association. (n.d.). APA Dictionary of Psychology. Developmental psychology. https://dictionary.apa.org/developmental-psychology Asthana, H. S. (2015). Wilhelm Wundt. Psychological Studies, 60(2), 244-248. 10.1007/s12646-014-0295-1 McLeod, S. A. (2008). Wilhelm Wundt. Simply Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/wundt.html Mcleod, S. A. (n.d.). Developmental Psychology. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/developmental-psychology.html Schultz, D. (1981). A history of modern psychology (3rd ed). Academic Press. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2006, June 16). Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/wilhelm-wundt/
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