SGPsychStud: Stereotypes vs Reality - Psychology Major

I happen to come across this Stereotypes vs Reality: College Major video by WahBanana last night, and I was quite glad that they did not do the example on psychology majors.  Purely for two reasons: a) otherwise, I would not have the idea and chance to write this post, and b) I am not too sure if they will actually get it right.

So for the sake of accuracy, rather than fun, here goes my version of Stereotypes v.s Reality of studying psychology:
Stereotypes:
1.  Studying psychology is going to be interesting and fun. (Try telling someone that you study psychology, one of the common one-word replies would be "interesting" or "fun")
2.  We learn how to read people's minds. (The other replies would be "Don't try to read my mind" )
3.  We will be studying a lot of methods to counsel and help people.
4.  Because psychology is an "arts" subject, we will be not doing maths-related or science-related topics.
5.  People who study psychology will be good in communication and relationships.
Reality:
1.  There will always be some modules which are not interesting or fun at all, and these uninteresting modules will be different for different people.  For those modules, unless you are a person who commit everything to memory, it will be quite hard to get an A.
2.  No.  That module is not in the syllabus.  Period.
3.  You will be studying a lot more on the theories regarding the therapies, rather than practicing the therapies.  Don't worry, as that will be covered more when you get to the postgraduate level.
4.  Dream on.  Talk to anyone who did a psychology undergraduate and they will tell you they studied statistics and about parts of the brain.
5.  Studying it does not mean that the application will be perfect.  Understand?
I believe these are purely teasers and some of the many stereotypes out there.  There will be many more out there.  What psychology stereotypes have you encountered when talking to people?  Tell me and I will add them into this list.

Comments

  1. Whenever I tell my friends I am studying Psychology, they go "wow, so you want to be a psychiatrist?" Not that it is not possible, but there is a difference between psychologists and psychiatrists.
    Also, forensic psychology is totally different from tv shows like CSI or any other criminal profiling related jobs.

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  2. Wow they had it but took it out..maybe because it was not good enough?? See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5tjx7s3uLM&list=UUAaiKcIfHEzUZl34U980sNA starting from 0:07

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