So I have a degree in psychology now…

Congratulations Jemy.
My favourite field of studies. Always wanted to study this, ended up somewhere else.

I wish you a succesfull career.
 
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Congrats Jemy. Promise me you listen to people before you try to figure them out? I met a couple of psycologists that seems to have completely missed what i said.

There's a rule known as the actor-observer effect that I believe most psychologists are warned about, which is our tendency to look for excuses in our environment when we judge ourselves but not when we judge someone else. We are reminded to instead look at circumstances when we analyze someone else's behavior.

That said, while a psychologist may be hasty and wrong, psychology tend to challenge our conceptions about oneself, a challenge that most people do not want to face.

I should point out though that I am not a psychologist, nor will I ever be. The difference is not obvious to people outside of the field, but a psychologist is kind of a "licensed doctor with the right to diagnose mental disorders". I am more of a scientist who aim to do research on the mind and brain.
 
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….. a simple education to become an engineer like everybody else.

Hey, that is borderline offensive to us engineering student!

There is no doubt that there is some malicious intent behind those carefully chosen words. Back in my student days, I would happily take this opportunity to reopen the social science student hunting season :).
 
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Good job! With 35, I assume you had a different career before you decided to go to university?
 
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Especially personality psychology helps you to judge people better since it allows you to stop comparing others to yourself. You can add extra layers and filters in your understanding of others behavior.

Sounds like a job sought by firms. They might be interested to get precise "readings" of the people who apply for a job.
 
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There is no doubt that there is some malicious intent behind those carefully chosen words. Back in my student days, I would happily take this opportunity to reopen the social science student hunting season :).
So true, and we could always pull better pranks than the "free thinkers".

We were particularly proud of moving the entire contents of an RA's room to the raft in the middle of Speed Lake. My personal favorite is still putting Professor Sherman's VW on the chessboard (a large table, about 2' high, in a student commons inside one of the academic halls).
 
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Thanks for the thorough reply.

Good to know that Freud's theories do not define such an important (in terms of understanding ourselves) science.

I was surprised that you found development(al?) to be existential than cognitive. While cognitive may be the most "dry" approach, from what little experience/knowledge I have it appears to be, along with neuroscience, the one with the most concrete evidence and the most interesting one in terms of self-awareness although I can could imagine that its accepted value may not be the same for each person.
 
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Dear Green Place
Six years ago when I begun my studies I thought I could least get some lessons and maybe a simple education to become an engineer like everybody else.
There is no doubt that there is some malicious intent behind those carefully chosen words. Back in my student days, I would happily take this opportunity to reopen the social science student hunting season :).

Right. Let me explain. When I said "I could least get some lessons and maybe a simple education to become an engineer" I referred to the shorter programs that give you a weak degree after 1-2 years and that's it. That isn't comparable with engineers who have 3-5 years of real education.

When I said "to be come an engineer like everybody else" I referred to my friends who are almost exclusively engineers, some with a years education, others with five years.
 
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Sounds like a job sought by firms. They might be interested to get precise "readings" of the people who apply for a job.

That's precisely what personality psychology is used for.
 
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Good to know that Freud's theories do not define such an important (in terms of understanding ourselves) science.

It should be noted that psychoanalysis and psychodynamic theory are two different subjects. It's not uncommon to learn at least some psychodynamic theory today, which is essentially the branches that evolved on top of Freud's theories and when Freud was cut out of the picture turned out to have at least some scientific evidence to back them up.

I was surprised that you found development(al?) to be existential than cognitive. While cognitive may be the most "dry" approach, from what little experience/knowledge I have it appears to be, along with neuroscience, the one with the most concrete evidence and the most interesting one in terms of self-awareness although I can could imagine that its accepted value may not be the same for each person.
Development psychology deals with different ages, having a child, children, abuse in school, gender, sexuality, identity, challenges in life, aging and death, essentially the kind of stuff that religions tend to speak about. And I agree that cognitive psychology can be dry, which is unfortunate.
 
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It should be noted that psychoanalysis and psychodynamic theory are two different subjects. It's not uncommon to learn at least some psychodynamic theory today, which is essentially the branches that evolved on top of Freud's theories and when Freud was cut out of the picture turned out to have at least some scientific evidence to back them up.

Cheers for the clear-up, mind giving the names of the parts that were kept so that I may look them up?

Development psychology deals with different ages, having a child, children, abuse in school, gender, sexuality, identity, challenges in life, aging and death, essentially the kind of stuff that religions tend to speak about.
I see what you meant now. Of course we have little power over most such things so the approaches and their analyses are complementary rather than opposing. I would however guess that from a cognitive perspective some of those are more results rather than causes and thus what lead to them is more important than their effects.
 
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Dear Green Place
Cheers for the clear-up, mind giving the names of the parts that were kept so that I may look them up?

I believe attachment theory, object relations theory and Kernberg's Three Psychic Structures are based on psychodynamic theory. Note that I will not defend their level of scientific support as I am just passing on what little have been told to me during lectures in psychodynamic theory.

I see what you meant now. Of course we have little power over most such things so the approaches and their analyses are complementary rather than opposing. I would however guess that from a cognitive perspective some of those are more results rather than causes and thus what lead to them is more important than their effects.
Reciprocal determinism means that we live in a direct and constant relationship with our environment and thus part of our own socialization. For instance, a child born with a bad temperament will effect it's parents to give it a different upbringing which in turn socialize the child accordingly. Such children are more hurt by dysfunctional families since they have less resources to handle them but may receive a normal upbringing in a wealthy home. To even begin to study an individual we must therefore always be aware of nurture, nature and their relation.
 
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