Psychology is a real subject – don’t even try and say it isn’t

It’s about time uninformed subject snobs learnt a few basics about the subject of psychology instead of slagging it off 24/7.

Even at A-level there was always a pathetic stigma attached to studying psychology, a stigma that seems to worsen at degree level.

Please would everyone just shut up. Your degree is neither harder nor more impressive than ours.

Now is the right time, on behalf of every tortured psychologist in the country, to let the rest of the world know we don’t just doss about (at least not more than any other student anyway).

To clear up a few boring myths…

where’s my medecine degree @

We’re actually a science, and we do science-y things. Brains and stuff. We don’t just sit around and compare our feelings.

There’s biology. A shit load of biology – neurotransmitters, cells, synapses and all that. In fact, you could say we are medics of the mind (kind of), so medics, get off your high horse.

On top of all the biology, we do stats too. Really hard maths actually, and calculations and numbers and t-tests and so on.

So not only are we expected to become well-versed in complex science but handy with very large numbers too. Were any of you aware of this? Of course not.

And until you’ve endured a heavy dose of SPSS you can’t comment on how easy a psychology degree is. So just don’t.

Don’t even talk to me about p values.

Number + more numbers = sadness

Oh, and for the love of God, you can forgo reducing our subject to just “reading peoples’ minds.”

As cool as it would be to read your mind, we can’t. If only we could. But no, not something we do. Even if we could, we wouldn’t let you know about it. We’re far too busy.

Contrary to popular myth, we don’t purely study Freud and his “slightly” complex theories either. It’s not all about penis envy or the Oedipus Complex. (Though, if you don’t know what that is it’s definitely worth a Google if you’re ever bored and fancy feeling a bit weird)

Not fortune tellers.

Stop treating psychology students like aliens and carnival freaks. We don’t sit in dark rooms and make sense of crazy dreams. We don’t predict futures either.

We have to sit in the library and sift through hundreds of journals just like you. We use VITAL, and Discover, and all the other stuff which makes you feel professional and sophisticated.

So, please, leave your subject snobbery behind and give us a break. We’re proper students, not fortune tellers. Ignorance is never bliss and we’re just as hard-working as the rest of you.