What is Psychology? Lets start with the basics...

Psychology is the scientific study of people’s behaviour and their mental processes. Psychologists are concerned with how people act, think, reason, and feel. To investigate and understand these issues, psychologists use a diverse range of methods:

• Psychologists may study the action of chemicals on the brain in order to understand how people get addicted to drugs.
   
• Psychologists may study decision making processes in order to understand how people solve complex problems at work.
   
• Psychologists may develop survey or test instruments to assess the impact of psychological interventions on clinical populations, school children or populations of injured workers.
   
• Psychologists may design programs to help people communicate more effectively.

Common to all these approaches is the recognition that human nature and people’s behaviour is best understood by scientific means. At The University of Western Australia, you will acquire the skills required to pursue and enjoy this scientific approach to psychology.
Consider the little puzzle on the right:
A scientific psychologist might show pictures of that type (we call them "stimuli") to participants in an experiment and record their behaviour. In this case, the psychologist might ask some people in the experiment to look at the first drawing on the left before looking at the middle. Other people may be asked to look at the drawing on the right first, before looking at the middle. What do you think this experiment might find? What do you think people will "see" in the middle, depending on what they looked at first?

Psychology differs from other subjects in that most people think that they already know something about psychology before they begin to study it. We have all experienced anxiety, sadness, and many other emotions. We all have memories and most of us can see objects in the world around us. Although the things that psychologists study have been with us for a very long time, the scientific study of emotions, memories, perception and the other aspects of psychology is a relatively new idea.

Most people have also heard about the famous psychologist Sigmund Freud, who wrote about our deeply hidden unconscious impulses, and many think that Freud’s writings are representative of modern psychology.
However, modern psychology is much broader than that, as you will discover in first year. For example, you’ll learn of Freud, and of BF Skinner, who thought all our behaviour was a consequence of past experience. Skinner was a behaviourist and did not believe in the existence of the mind. You will also hear about Stanley Milgram, who showed that most people are prepared to inflict very severe punishment upon others when told to do so by an authority figure. You’ll hear about Roger Sperry who showed that the two halves of our brains have remarkably different functions.

Why should I choose The University of Western Australia to study Psychology?

Potential students can choose among a number of psychology degree programs in W.A. and around the country. The School of Psychology at The University of Western Australia is nationally and internationally recognised as one of the premier research schools in the nation. In a 1995 assessment by an independent U.K. expert, this school was rated as being of the same standard as the top British departments.

All academics in the School have been active in research throughout their career, from the time they earned their Doctorates through to the present. Most have made significant contributions to new knowledge. For you, the student, that focus on scientific excellence means that you can participate in the excitement of gathering new knowledge that will ultimately improve people’s lives.

Your research involvement will also teach you many skills that you cannot acquire through coursework alone:

• Critical thinking and analysis.
• Developing a coherent argument and putting it into writing.
• Leaning to devise experiments that will answer important questions.

Why should I study Psychology?

Many students choose psychology because they want to help others improve their lives. When you pursue a career in psychology, you may help people in many different ways.

There are many additional reasons to study psychology: In fact, there are few professions that do not, in one way or another, rely on psychological knowledge.
 

What are my employment options?

In 2002 The Commonwealth Department of Employment and Work Place Relations rated the job prospect for Psychologists as ‘very good’ and indicated that they expect ‘strong growth’ in the job market for Psychologists. Their analysis of recent psychology graduates illustrated this trend. Many of the Bachelor degree graduates illustrated this trend. Many of the Bachelor degree graduates in Psychology were working in fields directly related to their studies. Some were working in fields directly related to their studies. Some were working in the advertising or marketing area (Advertising Sales Executive; Marketing Consultant; Marketing Officer), while others were working in the welfare or education sector (Job Coordinator, School Psychologist, Case Manager Behaviour Therapist with Autistic children). Those graduates utilising the broad transferable skills from their studies were working full-time in a broad range of jobs including
Administrative Officer, Client Services Officer, Business Development Officer and Computer Programmer. Those with postgraduate qualifications from one of the professional programs offered by the School of Psychology at UWA were found to be predominately working as Clinical Psychologists in the hospital system but some within an education setting. Others with postgraduate research qualifications from the School of Psychology at UWA can be found in Universities all over the world: from Oxford and Cambridge, to New York University and Stanford.

Some of our successful graduates have agreed to share their career histories with you.

What is Psychology? | Why some Psychology is useful? | My Future in Psychology?