If you’re not too familiar with the ins and outs of psychology, you could be forgiven for thinking that it’s all about nodding sympathetically while a patient lying on a couch pours out their life story. After all, that’s what we see on TV. But psychology is so much more than that. It’s a science fascinated by the human mind: how do our brains work? Is our behaviour influenced by our genes, our environment, or both?
That wide-ranging fascination with the factors that influence how we think, feel, and behave means that studying psychology can lead to a vast range of careers. Psychology graduates can choose from fields including counselling, psychology, teaching, the probation service, court services, human resources, business, and a whole range of health and welfare job opportunities.
Rachel Abrahart became a community youth worker after leaving school and later started an English degree, but decided it wasn’t for her. She went on to become a personal trainer, which made her realise that physical activity has a huge potential to enhance our wellbeing. That’s how she began to consider psychology, with a view to exploring that link further.
She knew that she wanted to study in London and was accepted on to London South Bank University’s (LSBU) degree in psychology. “I’ve lived my whole life in London and wasn’t ready to leave yet, or ever, so I only considered London universities,” she says. “I went to an open day at LSBU and loved the diversity in terms of age, race and ethnicity.” That commitment to diversity is reflected in action – last year, LSBU announced a £380,000 programme to directly address and reduce the inequality experienced by black students in higher education, through better mental health services and support.
Returning to studying was exciting and challenging but, now, in her third year, she can see just how far she’s come. “I’ve really found my feet and certainly have a better grasp of my subject – and how quickly three years pass!” The first two years, she says, were about figuring out exactly where her passion lies, as psychology is a wide-ranging field with numerous paths.
“I’ve learned not to dismiss subjects I think I won’t be interested in, because I’ve discovered that one thing feeds into another and everything is connected,” she says. “We’re taught from a variety of angles for a topic, which teaches us to critically analyse and look at a subject from every perspective. It opens your mind to different points of view.”
Some subjects, such as neuroscience, she found more challenging than others. “But the lecturers explained things in a way I could understand. The teaching at LSBU has been inspirational and I know from other students that there’s a lot of support available, both for academic and personal issues.”
Initially, Abrahart was keen to pursue her interest in health psychology. But through her studies at LSBU, she’s becoming more interested in gender and sexuality. “In the third year of this course you get to choose some of your modules, and one that I’ve chosen is sex, gender and relationships,” she says. “My final-year project focuses on sexual harassment of women in the commercial fitness industry, and I may want to extend this area of study and do a master’s looking at, say, postpartum fitness, and gender identity in fitness and body appearance.”
And it’s a science that never stands still. The psychology course at LSBU teaches the core curriculum from a holistic perspective. This means that students fully appreciate how different areas of psychology integrate, whether biological, cognitive, developmental or conceptual. In turn, this helps students to understand human behaviour better, by exploring themes such as feelings, behaviour with others, thinking and communication, and learning and memory. It also offers four potential pathways: psychology, clinical psychology, forensic psychology, and child development.
Employers place a high value on psychology degrees, as they enable students to develop key workplace skills such as report writing, data literacy, critical thinking, teamwork, written and verbal communication, and presentation skills.
In these difficult and complex times, understanding why we do what we do is more important than ever. Psychology is a subject that goes to the very heart of that. It gives you greater insights, challenges you, and forces you to think in a different way. All these skills will prove immensely valuable, whatever career path you choose.
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