psychology?

Question

i'm about to go back to school and i'm going to be taking a psychology class...what should i expect?

Answer 1

Sounds like you havent had a psych course yet, so you'll be taking an intro course. If you're introspective and like thinking about people and why they act the way they do, then you'll enjoy it (like many people do!). You'll learn about biology and psychological development...about learning and emotions, and how people deal with problems. You'll learn the most influential thinkers in the field, and the most iimportant terms and ideas. It really is a broad course that covers tons of information, but if you're interested it wont be any harder than other classes.

Psych is fun and many people enjoy all the topics they cover in intro....but realize, there is so much further you can go into any of those topics...and many universities offer individual classes in many of these special areas. I took psych courses in:

statistics and methods - math and research related stuff...not for everyone, but I liked it

counseling - learning different approaches/types of counceling, and the pioneers in the field...we tried some counceling stuff in class too

psychological testing - how do we measure intelligence, personality, etc? what are the most popular tests? we took some of them and analyzed results, etc

adult aging and development - studies the development of adults and older adults...what are issues they face, common emotions...how does society treat older people

brain and behavior - the specific biological stuff going on when people behave....the biology of people with disorders

Plus psychology departments really have some cool internships...for example, I did a school psychology internship and worked with preschoolers in rough neighborhoods....other people worked with counselors...some worked at group homes or juvenile facilities.

As a final note, if you enjoy psych classes you should try some other classes in the social sciences, for example, sociology and criminology. Right now I'm doing my PhD in sociology and I love it!

Answer 2

Your answer from jenNdan18286 above was somewhat comprehensive. She gave good advice and information. One more thing, though, is that you should consider checking out the available psychology experiments going on at your school. These are great ways to earn extra credit for your psychology class (especially if you want to stand out from the crowd), find out more about the social scene in the psychology department, maybe find opportunities to earn a few dollars (depending on how poor you as a college student are, and whether or not the school has paying studies), and see also if you might be interested in psychology for grad school or a career. The classroom can be pretty dry, but participating in experiments can show you the "other side of the coin," as it were. Ask your professor about where to go, or walk around in the psychology building and look at the signs.

BTW, most studies are fairly straightforward and even-keeled. But if you want to see how way out some can get, check these out:

Stanford Prison Experiment (by Zimbardo)
Milgram Experiment
Little Albert Experiments

Answer 3

It depends. If it is an intro. class, expect a wide/hollistic view of psycholgy. You will learn about the founders of psychology, the different fields (humanistic, cognitive, etc.). A lot of it is more history and theories than anything else.

Answer 4

If it's Intro to Psych, I enjoyed the class. We learned about "pioneers" in psychology and their ideas. You will learn different forms of therapy and psychosis. It's not that hard if you read the text and study. Good luck.

Answer 5

Expect to really pay attention during lecture. Usually, if you pay enough attention to the lecture, you won't have difficulty understanding the material. If you're still confused, be willing to read the book and ask questions in your discussion section. Don't be shy. Reading about experiments will really complement your learning, so be ready to do that too.

Answer 6

Reading, Essays, Theories, Experiments, etc.

Answer 7

well depends on what kinda psy u are taking ......but it's a lot of reading. well it's my major and i have never had to do a paper so u might not have to...oh know your psy terms/ vocabulary!***

Answer 8

alot of essays, having to try to think like a patient and alot of hours.

Answer 9

psychotic people. JK.