If you get a psychology degree, there are all kinds of things you can do with it. However, before you go in that direction, you should be sure that’s where your interest lies. The human mind and what makes it tick is the purview of the psych major.
In this article, we’ll talk about five of the top reasons why you should consider becoming a psych major. It’s one of the more fascinating study areas that exist, and many individuals gravitate toward it.
You want to know why humans behave the way they do
Learning about the human mind is one of the significant reasons you would want to become a psychology major. For example, you might want to know about:
- What makes a person a serial killer
- What makes an individual obsessive-compulsive
- What fuels a person’s phobias, and how they can combat them
Human behaviour is fascinating, and we have always wondered as a species why we behave the ways we do. There are infinite mysteries about who and what we collectively are.
You should become a psych major if you want to hear what the greatest minds have said on the subject. You can learn about Freud and Jung, about the nature versus nurture argument, and you can figure out how to turn your passion into a career.
You might want to become a therapist
Therapy is something that assists so many people. They might need it:
- To get over deep-seated childhood traumas
- To get over a violent car accident or natural disaster
- To cope with a loved one’s death
Individuals require therapy for all kinds of different reasons. Some of them are unhappy, but they’re not even sure why. Only with a therapist can they delve into their psyche and figure out what’s happening with them and how to resolve it.
If you want to become a therapist, you should want to help people, because that’s what it’s all about. Hopefully, you will be able to guide a person through a rough patch in their life. Getting your psychology degree is generally the first step along that road, and then this can lead to more specific areas such as business change through psychology.
You can understand yourself better
Psychology is all about human mystery. You might have a particular career goal in mind, and you want your psych degree for that reason.
However, even as you learn about humanity as a whole, you will also learn about yourself as an individual. Maybe over the years, you have behaved in certain ways that baffled you. Perhaps you wanted to change particular behaviours, and you were not able to do so up to this point.
As you learn about humans and why they are the way they are, you’ll also learn about yourself. It’s true that you can never be completely objective, but you should be able to identify some of your behavioural patterns and what has caused them.
If there are aspects of yourself you want to change, getting a psych degree can help you do that. By the time you graduate, and you’re ready to figure out what comes next, you should be a stronger and more well-rounded individual.
You can help humanity
Part of getting a psych degree and choosing this major is learning how to record, analyze, interpret, and organize data. You will learn about people using theory the disciple already recognises, but you will also form your own opinions.
The psych community is always coming out with new theories and ideologies. You can be at the forefront of that. You might be the one to get a condition named after you, and you can become a part of history.
We, as humans, are always learning more about ourselves because there is always more to learn. You might figure out a new treatment methodology or contribute to this niche in a profound way.
You can pursue different careers with a psych degree
You might also want to go in this direction because you can enter all types of career fields with a psych degree. For instance, you might go into health psychology, clinical psychology, or forensic psychology. Maybe industrial-organizational psychology interests you.
Psychology intersects with many other fields and disciplines. There is no one-size-fits-all psych career. You can stay in academia, or you can join a think tank.
Many people find psychology fascinating, and if you’re one of them, becoming a psych major makes all the sense in the world. Start looking at the different programmes and figure out which one sounds attractive to you.
Tommy Williamson did his degree in psychology at the University of Edinburgh. He has an ongoing interest in mental health and well-being.
