Reasons to Study Psychology

1. Empathy

The knowledge gained by a psychology degree or by taking psych courses will induce you to think and perceive things from others’ points of view, to walk in someone else’s shoes, and put yourself in their situation. it also makes people more empathetic towards people’s struggles and suffering.

2. Understanding Yourself Better and Developing Self-Awareness

Studying psychology enables you to gain a deeper understanding of your personality and behavior, fostering self-awareness. This self-awareness is crucial for personal growth as it involves analyzing yourself and others, laying the foundation for further development. Moreover, through self-reflection, you can enhance skills such as active listening, effective expression of thoughts and emotions, empathy, and identifying your own needs and desires, all of which greatly benefit your daily interactions with others.

3. You Understand Others

By studying psychology, not only do you get insight into your own personality but also into other people’s personalities. If you’re considering a career in management and human resources, you’ll require skills in certain domains, including conflict management, collaboration, and leadership. This is where your knowledge in psychology would come in handy.

4. You Understand Human Diversity and Personality Types

While studying Psychology, you will learn all about the diversity of human experience. You will learn to identify different personality types, each with its advantages and challenges. This knowledge will help you understand different perspectives and build up your empathy. Not everyone thinks and feels the same way, and there are numerous ways of perceiving the world. This will help you not take your own perception of the world for granted and not judge others’ differences. While studying psychology, you will realize the diversity of human experience. You would learn the different personality types, each with its traits, implications, challenges, and opportunities. In a nutshell, by studying psychology, you will be more aware of yourself and everything around you and can gain emotional and social intelligence.

5. Improving Communication Skills and Becoming a Better Communicator

Studying psychology not only enhances your communication skills but also deepens your understanding of the transformative power of words and communication. By critically analyzing, writing, and reviewing research, psychology students unknowingly sharpen their communication abilities, a vital skill in various professional settings.

Additionally, delving into topics like emotion and body language within psychology equips you with enhanced interpersonal communication skills, allowing you to better comprehend people's underlying messages. Effective communication is indispensable in any workplace, and through the study of psychology, students naturally develop this skill without even realizing it. Furthermore, higher education fosters the ability to structure arguments and engage in clear and objective discussions, seamlessly transferring these communication techniques from the classroom to the professional environment.

6.Psychology Develops Critical Thinking Skills

A large percentage of psychological material requires one to focus and critically think and analyze material; so, psych courses develop students’ critical thinking abilities through the application of the scientific method and empirical approaches. Critical thinking is considered to be an essential skill. Psychology induces you to critical thinking to deeply comprehend its theories

7. You Can Explore Fun and Fascinating Concepts

From interesting optical illusions that reveal the inner functioning of the brain to shocking social and psychological experiments that expose how far people will go to obey an authority figure, there is always something fascinating and even mind-boggling to learn in psychology.

A big chunk of psychology is figuring out why we behave the way we do in stressful or certain circumstances. What are the unconscious processes that seem to overtake us when we least expect them? What are our dreams trying to say? What do we need to change to lead a more fulfilling life? By aiming at answering these questions for ourselves and for others, we would develop a more conscious way of living and aim to bring more meaning into our lives.

8. You Learn About the Stages of Human Development

Understanding how people evolve and develop throughout their lifespan can make it easier to understand people of all ages in your life. It can also help you better understand your own experiences as you face different challenges and opportunities as you grow. Main stages of human development and human needs at each stage. You’ll find out how important child development is, during which attachment styles are formed between children and caregivers that influence later life and behavior. This knowledge will help you evaluate and point out maladaptation and if obstacles are hindering normal development. Understanding how we develop and how people’s personality changes throughout our lives give us valuable insight.

9. You Would Have Excellent Job Prospects in a Wide Range of Careers

Studying psychology will offer you the proper repertoire to help heal the world. Psychology degree courses are multidisciplinary and cover a range of topics such as lifespan development, stress and happiness, personality, disorders, therapy and treatment, social psychology, and more.

10. You Will be Prepared for a Career as a Professional Psychologist

Psychologists work in a vast variety of contexts, including clinical, legal, organizational, educational, and research settings- in both the private and public sectors. The domains of psychology include clinical psychology, forensic psychology, industrial & organizational psychology, counseling psychology, criminal psychology, humanistic psychology, abnormal psychology, educational psychology, and psychotherapy. Furthermore, there is a growing need for mental health professionals, especially in recent years, with mental illness cases spiking and now in the post-Covid era.

11. You Could Easily Couple Studying Psychology as Another Major or Minor

If you don’t want to major in psychology but are still interested in it, you can always minor in it! Understanding people never hurts, and having any undergrad minor, especially one that’s about understanding human beings, only makes you more employable. Having a degree or minor in psychology can expand your career prospects and options and gives you a competitive edge, especially if paired with another major.

12. You Can Choose to Study What You’re Interested in

Depending on what you’re interested in, you can choose what psych courses to take.

Some of the options for psych courses are:

Cognitive psychology covers a wide array of topics such as neuroscience, memory, sensation, perception, motivation and emotion, learning, and much more.

Positive Psychology tackles how to cope with pressure and stress, and topics including mindfulness, flow, attachment styles, and well-being. Other topics include contentment, optimism, happiness, the capacity for love, courage, interpersonal skill, aesthetic, determination, forgiveness, creativity, and wisdom. Personality Psychology covers the biological underpinnings of personality, ‘The Big Five Personality Traits’, self-esteem, self-compassion, self-efficacy, narcissism, and self-regulation.

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13. You Improve Your Employability

You can improve your employability in the fields of management, business (advertising and marketing), education, human resources, public relations, social work, and community outreach. Studying psychology gives you an understanding of human behavior that is instrumental in the workplace. For example, if your aim is someday to become a business manager, understanding human behavior can enhance your ability to manage and interact with your employees. You should study something you’re interested in and make your niche for success there. Going after something because other people think it’ll lead to success won’t help with your own happiness.

14. You Can Complement Other Courses

Different areas of psychology encompass a range of topics including philosophy, neuroscience, biology, and physiology. So, taking psychology courses can help you gain a better understanding of these related areas. Complement learning by combining psychology with your other courses, whether you’re an engineering student or an English lit student, psychology will give you insight into social interaction, language and communication, human motivation and emotion, and the process of decision-making.

15.You Develop Research skills

Studies in psychology are based on empirical research. After your studies, if you decide that you don’t want to practice, there are plenty of opportunities for research in the field. You can also be a research assistant during your studies, and this is a great way to get to know and bond with your professors.

16. You Get Insight on Human Nature

At the end of the day, human nature will influence your life no matter what. Studying psychology teaches you how to think, how to better understand yourself and others, and how to handle/maneuver/steer through social interactions.

All these aforementioned reasons lead to explaining the importance of psychology and why psychology is important to study. If you’re passionate about psychology, consider studying it as your major or minor. It will be worth it, and you won’t regret it!

References: University of Essex. 7 Reasons to Study Psychology. (2017, May 12). Retrieved from https://online.essex.ac.uk/blog/7-reasons-study-psychology/

Pop, A. (2021, July 26). Top 10 Reasons to Study a Psychology Degree in 2021. Retrieved from https://www.mastersportal.com/articles/2866/top-10-reasons-to-study-a-psychology-degree-in-2021.html

The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. (2021, July 29). Why Study Psychology? Retrieved from https://www.thechicagoschool.edu/insight/psychology/why-study-psychology/

Cherry, K. (2020, December 13). Why We All Can Learn from Studying Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/why-study-psychology-2795149

Marbella International University Center. (2017, February 15). Why Study Psychology? Retrieved from https://miuc.org/why-study-psychology/

University of Sydney, School of Psychology. Why Study Psychology? Retrieved from https://www.psy.unsw.edu.au/why-study-psychology

Exploring Your Mind. 10 Reasons to Study Psychology. Retrieved from https://exploringyourmind.com/10-reasons-study-psychology/