Psychology Classes, Degrees and Colleges

1. Work less, earn more

A career in psychology often gives you flexibility with your work hours and client load. Many psychologists choose to have private practices which gives them the most control over their time, but others choose careers in educational psychology and various types of counseling where work hours are often not 9-5.

2. Psychology degrees are versatile.

A psychology degree comes in handy for any job where you work with people, because it’s the study of human and organizational behaviors. Many psychology graduates work in marketing research, social work, labor relations or management and productivity improvement. Some companies hire people with psychology degrees to staff their human resources and training departments.

3. You can help kids with only a Masters Degree

As an “educational psychologist,” you can be a school counselor and help children, their parents and teachers by providing insight into learning disabilities and behavioral issues. And, only a master’s degree in psychology is required.

4. Psychology degree holders make great teachers and great parents

When you have an understanding of child development, you’ll have a better idea of why children you teach, or children you have yourself, act the way they do. In fact, educational psychology classes are sometimes required for teaching degrees in some states.

5. Be your own boss. If you get your PhD in psychology, you could join the 34% of psychologists who are successfully self-employed in private practices, or as independent consultants. You can determine your own work hours, choose your clients, specialize in children or marriage counseling, it’s all up to you.

6. The skills you learn in psychology make you more marketable everywhere.

With all the education you receive about statistics, research methodology, scientific methods, and essay writing, you’ll have the tools to succeed in any career that requires you to understand data and write about it.

We can go through a lifetime, and we do in fact, trying to figure out people. Even our near and dear ones, the ones we’d swear that we know about can surprise us with their behavior should circumstances change. I kid you not. The old mother you think is as beautiful and serene like a church candle somehow manages to create a very opposite impression on your wife. How does that happen? And what about all the Freudian faux-pas that we unknowingly commit?

Here we present you with 9 blogs that won’t make you a mind reader but you’ll definitely learn a thing or two about psychology and maybe unlearn a few things as well.

1. PsyBlog – A good authentic authority blog on the subject of scientific psychology. The blog is written by Jeremy Dean, a researcher at University College London and he presents even arcane, hard to understand stuff in an easy to understand language and catchy titles. But then, the guy is a psychologist. If he won’t know how to catch our attention, then who would?

2. Advances in the History of Psychology – A steady “work in progress” the blog has nice evocative title. A testimony to its popularity is that its multitude of readers do not seem to mind that the blog uses the most basic of wordpress themes – they are there for the content. The blog aspires to bring news about events and conferences to the notice of students of psychology, particularly articles and meetings that are, as the blog puts it, “off the beaten track”.

3. Jung at heart – Cheryl Fuller is the excited Jungian here and her blog posts make for cool reading. Nothing didactic, but great writing that throws light on stuff we’d scarcely ever thing about and the deeper implications of such matter – for example the difference between “secret” and “private”.

4. ShrinkWrapped – Going by the names being thrown up on this post, I am beginning to feel psychologists are in best field to come up with great blog names; now throw in a naughty mind there and you could have a field day. Anyway, ShrinkWrapped is a blog by a suburban New Yorker who is a practicing psychoanalyst. The blog deals with heavy duty stuff and is more likely to appeal to committed psychology buffs trying to make sense of the unreality around us (that’s the blog’s objective, B.T.W).

5. The Splintered Mind – This blog, written by Eric Schwitzgebel, Professor of Philosophy at University of California at Riverside, delves into the mysteries of the mind – the splintered mind to be precise. So, if you think you possess one or wish to find out if you do, then head over to the blog for some enlightenment on An Empirical Perspective on the Mencius-Xunzi Debate about Human Nature, it’s a fairly representative post of the kind of matter you can expect here.

6. IQ’s Corner – The blog finds mention on Wikipedia and even an issue of the Scientific American. Here you can learn about the theories and measures that have evolved and are used to understand the capacities of human intelligence. Find out about theories and tests related to IQ-testing.

7. Everyone needs Therapy – Go here for your daily dose of feel-good therapy. The posts are extensive and you need to read them and absorb them, they relate to everyday people and real-life issues as seen through the eyes of the blogger, a lady who is a clinical social worker.

8. Mind Hacks – A blog that covers neuroscience and psychology. Learn how technology is helping scientists and psychologists learn more about the human brain and how the brain is yielding information on how the mind works.

9. Research Digest Blog – Managed by the British Psychological Society, the blog collects useful information on psychology from all around the web. You also get a British perspective on psychology-related issues and even useful how-to’s like how to get bigger tips.