What do you suppose psychologists are really trying to accomplish? If you could ask any one question in Psychology and be sure of getting a completely correct answer, what would that question be?
A couple of years ago, a student in one of my classes asked, “when will we get to the kind of psychology we can ‘use’ on people?”. Psychologists do not seek techniques for manipulating or tricking people. What they do is to try to understand why people act the way they do and to try and help people to better understand themselves.
Psychology, broadly defined is the systematic study of behaviour and experience. The term psychology defines from the Greek ‘psyche’ meaning ‘soul’ or, ‘mind’ and ‘logos’ meaning ‘word’ or, ‘study’. Psychology began as the analysis of the mind or soul. As with most academic disciplines, it had its roots in philosophy. Although it has moved away from philosophy in its methods, psychology continues to be motivated by some deep philosophical issues. Three of the most profound questions are: -
1. Free Will vs. determinism 2. The mind-brain problem 3. The nature/nurture issue
1. Free Will – People make decisions not controlled by their genetics, past experience or environment. Determinism – the assumption that everything that happens has a cause or determinant in the observable world.
2. This dilemma provokes us to ask whether the brain controls the mind and if so, why? Or does the mind control the brain and if so, how could a metaphysical entity control a physical substance? Or, are the mind and the brain just two names for the same thing? Hence the mind/brain problem.
3. On average, little boys spend more time than little girls playing with guns as opposed to dolls – why? Are these behavioural differences a result of the disparity in the treatment of boys and girls or of their nature?
Psychology A-level also gives an excellent grounding for a degree in Psychology, which gives the student many skills including quantitative, qualitative and statistical analysis. These skills are suitable for many degree disciplines including: - Merchant Banking, Medicine, Marketing and Business Consultancy. Hence, it is viewed as a highly academic subject which can open the door for many different vocations.
This is a very popular subject at Duff Miller and the results are excellent.
