Psychology Subject | Distance Learning Systems (DLSI)

Reasons To Study Psychology

There have been a lot of criticisms that Psychology has received over the years, as a college major and as a career path. Reasons ranging from “it’s not useful” to “It’s just easy and fun” as a college major. People also criticize Psychology as having a low pay and few jobs.

But there are many positive reasons to study Psychology, even if you do not plan to become a Psychology major or work in a Psychology-related profession. Reasons that go beyond career possibilities because it is all around you and touches on every aspect of your life.

One of the reasons to study Psychology is that it can help you better understand yourself and the people around you. You might find yourself gaining a deeper understanding of the many influences that have impacted your own life because you will learn more about how development occurs, how personality forms, and how society and culture impact behavior. Moreover, you might be able to understand the influences and motivations when someone behaves in certain way.

Psychology’s emphasis is on research methods and statistics. This will give you a good grasp of these methods that will contribute greatly on the success of your career, regardless whether you pursue a career in Psychology or somewhere else.

You will also develop your critical thinking skills by studying Psychology. A great deal of topics such as the scientific method, decision-making, and problem-solving are what you study in Psychology. These topics help hone your ability to think deeply and critically about different issues, which is considered to be essential to being an educated person.

There are still a lot of reasons to study Psychology. At best, it can help you better understand who you are, how you will be, and your interaction with your family, friends, and strangers. Aside from that, graduates with Psychology degrees end up in a wide array of occupations.

Psychology and Engineers

Simply put, engineers make things. But is discovering that “new” innovation, a large psychological leap from factor A to factor B, or are there scores of unseen advanced actions in between? The University of Pittsburgh’s Joel Chan and Christian Schunn say that not enough has been done to comprehend how engineers make. Knowing the procedure, they say, may offer a street map for boosting up advancement.

Chan, a graduate student in psychology in Pitt’s Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and his mentor Schunn, a professor of psychology as well as a senior researcher in Pitt’s Learning Research and Development Center, released a document online in the publication Cognitive Science that goes into the technicalities of the innovative technological advancement mind by analyzing the procedure in the real world. “Most organizations make all their money on new things,” Schunn says. “They hardly break even on old items. They have to innovate to be practical and that’s a hard direction to adhere to.”

In the desire of advancement, Schunn says, organizations pay big cash to professionals to help encourage creativeness. “But little of what they do is depending on research,” he contributes. So, along with Chan, Schunn used several hours of transcripts of an experienced technological advancement team’s “brainstorming” classes and split down the discussion consistently, looking for the direction by which thought A led to thought B that led to cutting-edge C. “We want to comprehend the characteristics of cognitive restrictions,” Schunn says. “Why do we get trapped (on an idea), what types of factors get us unstuck and why do they work?”

What they discovered in the classes they analyzed is that new concepts didn’t spring completely formed after large cognitive actions. Creativity is a stepwise procedure in which idea A spurs a new, but carefully relevant thought, which encourages another step-by-step step and the sequence of small psychological developments sometimes, gradually finishes with a modern concept in a team setting. Channeling Thomas Edison’s dictum that genius is 1% motivation and 99% perspiration, Schunn says that “inspiration makes some perspiration.”

Positive Psychology Studies

In An Introduction to Positive Psychology, Dr. William Compton depicts positive psychology as looking “to make typical life more satisfying.” It uses the scientific method to comprehend the positive and candidly satisfying parts of human behavior. It is the study of what actions, interests and inspirations best contribute to the good life. These interests are accessible to us paying little heed to our heritage, background or socioeconomic standing. They are uninhibitedly accessible to any individual who decides to commit their lives to them. Here are some interesting positive psychology studies done by researchers.

1. From Wealth to Well-being – Harvard Business School, 2009. While there does seem, by all accounts, to be some association between happiness and income when fundamental needs are not yet met, individuals have a tendency to overestimate the impact of riches on happiness by 100%. Money does not lead as much happiness that individuals think it will.

2. Purchasing Experiences, not Possessions, Leads to Greater Happiness – San Francisco State University, 2009. This psychology study shows that experiential buys, for example, a dinner out or theater tickets, bring about better well being than material belongings. These experiences have a tendency to fulfill higher order needs, particularly the requirement for social connectedness and a feeling of being invigorated.

3. The Science of Gratitude – University of Pennsylvania, 2005. One of the best contributing variables to general happiness in life is the amount of appreciation we show. Furthermore, an observable contrast could be experienced with as little as three words every day (“Thank you for… “).

4. Trust, Morality, and Oxytocin – Claremont Graduate University, 2011. In light of research discoveries, psychologists believe humankind’s trust, compassion and ethical quality expand as their levels of oxycotin expand.

5. For a Better Day, Smile – Michigan State University, 2011. Individuals who smile as a consequence of developing positive thoughts can fundamentally and promptly enhance their mood. Simply put, one easy approach to enhance your state of mind at this moment is to recall pleasant memories and smile about it.

Importance of Psychology in Nursing

Psychology has its origins distributed in every single industry. It has become crucial to study the human mind for the better result of operations carried out on a regular basis. It has affected many thoughts and is known to have a great impact on healthcare as well. Psychology and healthcare are leagues apart but at a certain level, they are connected. Nursing concentrates entirely on assisting individuals recover from serious and chronic diseases, while psychology concentrates on dealing with the emotional issues of individuals. Nursing staff have to understand the psychology of their sufferers and help them psychologically for a rapid restoration.

Nurses have to manage sufferers during severe healthcare concerns and deal with their emotions and actions. Patients begin to depend on nurses who try to reduce their emotional stress. It has been seen in many cases that physical sickness results in emotional interference. At this stage, nurses have to be sympathetic and understanding. Nursing staff are trained in a manner that they help sufferers psychologically by dealing with the emotional changes. Psychology in the healthcare industry is trained intentionally. The modern medical literary works on counseling psychology and clinical psychology helps nurses perform their everyday tasks. They communicate with sufferers on a regular basis and it is easy for them to recognize the signs of emotional disruptions compared to other healthcare employees. It guarantees proper care to sufferers and professional services are given to them.

Along the process of treatment, they create a strong relationship with the sufferers as away from home, they expect individuals to be helpful and sympathetic to them. And nurses are trained to do so. Nursing staff have to have some outstanding characteristics such as, tolerance, helpful characteristics, sympathy, love for others and the ability to feel the pain of others. In many ways, psychology has been assisting the healthcare professionals to serve a huge number of individuals.