Psychology

I love my major.

Psychology major.

I know, I know. . . the psychology field in the beginning had a very rough start from phrenology, to Freud, to people doing brain surgeries on human subjects while they were still alive and conscious. . . . etc, etc. . .
And today there is much discussion on the "diagnosing frenzy" as well as psycho-pharmacology and the ethics of administering drugs without knowing the exact causes of mental illnesses. . . .

But goodness, it's fascinating.

I'm glad I took an introduction course to Psychology (Psych 111 with Dr. Reber--he's amazing!) my freshman year. Originally, I was majoring in communications with plans of being some kind of journalist. In retrospect I realize that even then, I was much more interested in the influences and effects the media had on their audiences than I was in actually being a part of that "noisy machine".

Our lives are made of people.
The more I study psychology the more I understand the people that make up my life and its so neat!

Recently I've been working on an IRB proposal to study humor--HUMOR! How cool is that? We are looking at how humor can help people cope with stress and are analyzing different kinds of comedy. It's so much fun. Doing statistical analyses is also surprisingly therapeutic in a way. It just clicks for me.

I'm so thankful that I have found a passion for what I'm studying in school.
I'm glad that so many people have been able to benefit from people who specialize in this field.
Even the research work I do as a research assistant  is going towards a bigger and greater cause to help people find adequate, affordable, needed therapy. It's a good feeling to know that I'm contributing somehow to society (even if its just a small part in coding articles and writing summaries for a meta-analysis, etc.).

Psychology is not without its flaws. Its hard to take something like "love" for example and quantify it and measure it accurately--its hard to do that with a person too. . .
But I think its necessary to get an understanding of how people work. Why do we do the things we do?
Why is it that a smile is universally recognized as a smile. . . a happy thing. . .even in remote tribes who've never seen any other civilization or people. They smile. . .
What motivates people and why? How can one person commit to making huge life changes over long periods of time. . . while other people lose such a "drive" after a week?
Why do teenagers act so reckless?
What causes depression? Is it truly, "curable"?

And the list goes on and on.

Oh goodness and the brain. I think I would have definitely loved to have studied neuroscience as well. . . the brain is amazing. It blows my mind how much is going on inside our heads at one time and how all the connections work so smoothly (or not, depending on who you are). Each portion of our brain is in charge of something different but must communicate to all of the other parts by neurons firing and synapses and axons and dendrites and goodness, its good stuff.


The bottom line? Psychology is friggen shweet.
:)