Over the past two years I've been in college, telling people I'm a psychology major has given me a variety of responses. Eventually, I started to notice a trend in common things people have told me, and I can't help but to roll my eyes sometimes.
1. "Ooo psychology! Can you read my mind right now?"
Ladies and gentlemen, here's a news flash: just because someone is majoring in psychology doesn't make them a mind reader. While psychology is the study of the mind and behavior, we don't claim to read minds.
2. "So do you not know what you want to study yet?"
A major in psychology is stereotypically seen as a go-to major for college students who don't know what they want to do with their lives, because it's an "easy major". Like every major, people have different motives that make them choose to pursue it: hopes for a high-paying job, family pressure, they're good at it, or maybe they just actually enjoy it?
3. "What can you even do with a psychology degree?"
Believe it or not, there are plenty of career paths into which a degree in psychology can take you. As stated before, psychology is the study of the mind and behavior, which includes mental processes and interpersonal interactions. That means that anything involving people can use psychology in some way, from being someone who helps a business hire the right people to someone who researches how a company can better advertise someone to increase the number of people buy their product, to being a lawyer or working for the FBI; jobs in psychology are not only limited to therapy!
4. "So do you want to be a therapist? I don't think I could sit in a room and listen to people's problems all day."
Again, jobs in psychology are not only limited to therapy. Besides, it would make sense why you would say that; you're not the one studying psychology to become a therapist!
5. "Do you psychoanalyze people? Are you psychoanalyzing me right now?"
No? We psychology majors are normal people. We may see certain aspects of life differently, because we know some possible explanations to why people do what they do, but we aren't psychoanalyzing people on a daily basis.
6. "Must be an easy major."
Every major has it's difficulties. It doesn't make any sense to compare one major to another, because to someone on the outside it may seem different as opposed to someone who actually experiences it.
7. "You know you'll have to go to grad school to get a good job in that field, right?"
Okay. Regardless of how true that may be, maybe graduate school was already in my plan? Some people may like the challenge!
If you're also a psychology major, comment other things you're tired of hearing below!
