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Psychology

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Jack-Reacher's picture
Jack-Reacher
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Well the science thread is kinda dead, and psychology is kinda more than just a science as well. Who else here has studied it or is interested in it?

I kinda have a dilemma, I have to choose between maths or psychology as my first major, with statistics as my second major. However maths just seems like maths for the sake of maths, I dont see where my career can go with it. I can see myself in Applied Mathematics, but its not as interesting to me as pure mathematics. Maybe PHI can help me out here.

Anyway back to psychology, one of my favorite experiements is the Stanely Prison experiment. Basically the kids were assigned roles randomly as prisoners and guards and were told to just act out the roles. After only 3 days the students were so engrossed in their roles that they really thought they were prisoners and guards, and treated each other that way. The most interesting part was that the psychologist in charge thought he was like a prison warden and didnt stop the experiment until someone from the outside ( i think it was his girlfriend) told him to stop. They made a movie with Adrian Brody based off it called The Experiment.

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They weren't kids, Jack. Tongue Other than that, it was a very interesting experiment. I've seen the German version of the film.

As for your major/minor, have you thought about dropping statistics and doing mathematics with a psychology minor? There are plenty of people doing it at my university. Statistics is on the mathematics curriculum anyway, at least here it is.
If you really only want to do pure mathematics, your options depend on the field you're working in. If you're working in something like computational mathematics, you could get a job at Google or Microsoft, or some other computer company that works with algorithms and whatnot. Plenty of choices there. If your area of expertise is somewhere else, there's bound to be a business that needs someone skilled in that area. Then there's also university, as a researcher/professor. That's what I'm aiming at.
And even if you don't have any jobs connected with mathematics, they'll usually be glad to have you in a management position, for you know how to solve problems and think creatively.

Now, what can one do with psychology? Become a psychologist? Tongue

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I've learned that Psychology is just professional common sense. I've taken two classes on it because I thought it was interesting. It is, but when you think about it, anyone can figure it out with some thinking.

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Hm. Psychology or Math as a major? Here's my opinion.

It's quite common knowledge that you won't get anything with a Bachelors in Psychology (in America). You're gonna have to get at least a Masters or a Doctorate to even be a psychologist, and even then the university you attended reflects on that.

My recommendation is that you focus your major in the math area while minoring in psychology. Math can be applied to various industries. You'll have so much options to choose from. Right now, there's an extremely high demand for high school math teachers that actually know what they're doing (dark joke there).

And as for the Stanley Prison Expeiment, it's one of my favorite experiments, too. When the entire world saw that footage, they were...shocked, to say the least. However, like any other experiements, it possesses many flaws, variables, and unanswered questions. Perhaps there was a biased selection on who was the guard and who was the prisoner. Perhaps the "prison conditions" weren't realistic. Or maybe that there wasn't enough evidence.

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Yeah I hear that even if I major with a psychology degree I wont even be able to be a psychologist, unless I get a masters in it.

Im not too keen on computer programming, research sounds a little bit more for me but it sounds like il have to dedicate a lot of time to maths to get anywhere. I also agree with you Joey, I have done one Psych course so far and everything they covered just seemed like common sense, but then again its kinda hard to judge it after only one paper which pretty much introduced the main topics.

Anyway I like most experiments that look at how Westernised culter is so much different from the rest of the world, it gives you a better perspective on life. Things like the above average effect, that 70% of Americans thought they were above average at driving, and in Japan it was like 50% ( what you would expect)

I also made a poll on an MGO forum asking if you thought you were above average, and 75% i think said yes.

Maths is sounding like a good choice because it is so diverse, I guess I will get a better idea of what I want to do as I progress in it, I have only done stage 1 papers after all.