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REFLECTIONS ON PSYCHOLOGY PROGRAM
Reflections on Psychology Program Experience
Jade Vega
University of Maryland University College
Continuing education is not only a gateway to careers—it is a learning experience that should, ideally, enrich your life and teach you lessons and facts that are applicable in your personal and social life. Fortunately, my experiences in the Psychology program at the University of Maryland University College have not only brought me closer to receiving a degree—I have gained applicable knowledge and been transformed by my learning. Knowledge pertaining to the study and history of psychology, research methods, ethics, and statistics will certainly benefit my future graduate education and career in psychology. The many studies of human behavior and diversity will positively impact my interactions with others. Critical and creative thinking was also necessary in this program, which is beneficial because those skills will be necessary, as well. The content and coursework completed in the Psychology program allowed me to meet the following program goals, in addition to gaining information and skills that will be useful in my future education, career, and personal life.
Goal 1: Apply major concepts, theoretical perspectives, empirical findings, and historical trends in psychology to prepare for graduate study or careers in which psychological training is relevant.
In my Theories of Personality (PSYC 335) class, I learned about the complex factors that influence individuals’ personalities and subsequent behaviors. Major concepts we discussed included measuring personality traits, environmental and genetic factors that influence our traits, and common behaviors associated with different traits. The extensive learning from this class required background knowledge of major concepts and historical trends in the field of personality study and psychology overall, as well as the ability to understand major theoretical perspectives and findings within the field. All of these will contribute to my future graduate study in psychology, as well as my future career. For example, in this course we discussed history and theory from Freud to Rogers to biological perspectives. One of the most important takeaways was to realize that, most likely, none of these perspectives is as complex and all-encompassing as it needs to be. I came out of this course understanding just how complex we all are, and how many factors influence who we are and how we act. Being able to understand that any number of factors can shape how a person thinks and acts is crucial to being able to work effectively with people in the future. The learning from this course will help me to interact with individuals in my future career, as well as providing a foundation for future graduate study in psychology. Realizing the complexity of personality will not only be useful in my future studies and career, but also in my personal interactions. As a result of this course, I have a much greater appreciation for the complexity of personality and a better understanding of why people are the way they are.
In Clinical Psychology, I learned about the history of psychology in-depth before delving into clinical practice education. It is important to know where the current thinking in a field is at, but it is equally as vital to understand the roots of psychology. The period that held the most interest for me in psychological history was from World War II to today. During World War II, post-traumatic stress disorder (at the time, it was known as being “shell-shocked) was first recognized and began to be diagnosed and treated. (Trull & Prinstein, 2012) Councils were developed during the War to help families and soldiers cope with wartime stress, and this changed the course of psychology in the United States and influenced the field in other countries. The knowledge and perspectives I gained through UMUC’s Clinical Psychology course enlightened me, and prepared me for future studies and my career in the field of psychology.
Abnormal Psychology, PSYC 353, is a course concerned with mental disorders. Understanding psychological disorders is a major part of the study of psychology, and the knowledge I gained in this course has prepared me for graduate study and future careers. This coming fall, I will be beginning a Masters of Social Work program, where I will focus on clinical social work with a concentration in mental health. The knowledge I gained about mental disorders will prepare me for required coursework in graduate school, such as courses that focus specifically on psychopathology and trauma. I will have part-time internships for both years of my Master’s program, all in the field of mental health. Prior knowledge about mental disorders and psychology in general is essential to be successful in a mental health setting.
One particular study impacted me greatly by providing a therapeutic perspective that resonated with me. In Carl Rogers’ article, “The Person-Centered Approach”, he describes an approach to promote growth in others. A person utilizing this approach must be genuine in order to promote constructive growth in the client. He also describes the necessity of therapist transparency. Rogers also describes a person utilizing the person-centered approach as showing unconditional positive regard and empathic understanding. (Rogers, 2001) Rogers' descriptions of therapist-client relationships inspired me to learn more about humanism and the schools of psychology as a whole. In Carl Rogers, I developed a genuine interest in the theories of psychology that I had not experienced before. The article, which I discovered through Clinical Psychology, made an impact on me and will prepare me for future career as a therapist.
Goal 2: Apply basic knowledge of research methodology, statistics, measurement, guidelines, ethical standards, laws, and regulations to design, participate in, and evaluate research in a variety of contexts.
PSYC300, Research Methods in Psychology, was instrumental in providing detailed information about research methodology, ethical standards, statistics, and so on. We started the class learning about the basics of scientific research in psychology, such as the difference between experimental and non-experimental research. Experimental research designs determine whether a causal relationship exists between two variables, one that may or may not cause changes in another. Researchers must manipulate the independent variable, control others, and randomly assign participants to conditions. Non-experimental research, however, does not have either independent variable manipulation, random assignment of participants, or both of these. Types of non-experimental research include correlational, qualitative, and quasi-experimental research. (Price, 2012) Other concepts we learned that will be particularly useful for me in the future include: statistical methods and tests, ethics, and research design.
The knowledge we gained in our text by Paul Price was applied in our final projects. The first phase of this project was to design a research question, given a set of class data on reactions, which involved the question of whether one variable affects reaction time. We all created a poster and a paper detailing this hypothetical research experiment. I chose to complete the final project on the subject, “The Effects of Psychological Stress on Reaction Time”. It was important to begin the paper by discussing available literature on the subject, describe the importance of the study, and detail suggestions for future research. (Vega, 2013) The paper was written like a journal article, and had to include as an attachment an IRB form for the study. This required extensive knowledge of the research proposal process. The poster communicated the most important aspects of the research process for our topic. In addition to research, ethics, and methods knowledge, we also needed to learn statistical computations and how to make appropriate graphics for research presentation.
Goal 3: Apply knowledge of human behavior to inform personal growth, communicate effectively, solve problems, make decisions, and interact with individuals, communities, and organizations.
A course that especially helped me to meet this goal was Social Psychology, PSYC 321. In Social Psychology, we learned about human behavior in a variety of contexts by analyzing popular case studies and discussing the complexity of factors that influence human behavior, especially in groups. One of the studies we discussed in this course that had the most impact on me was conducted by social psychologist Philip Zimbardo. In 1971, the Stanford Prison Experiment was performed. In it, psychology and physically healthy and “average” male participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups, prison guards or prisoners. The study revealed that the participants adapted to their new roles within the “prison” in Stanford University’s basement so quickly that Zimbardo and colleagues decided to shut down the experiment early. The experiment’s results clearly show the effect of roles on human behavior, and help to explain how atrocities can occur within systems, especially when one group has power and another does not. In an interview article forty years later, Zimbardo reflects upon the study and notes that not much has changed in the criminal justice system since then. (Scott, 2012) The Stanford Prison Experiment lent insight into human behavior, especially the importance of roles. The extensive discussion we did in Social Psychology about the prison study was educationally and personally valuable. The study me to learn more about the criminal justice system, and now as a result of Zimbardo’s work, I would one day like to provide mental health treatment in prison settings. The prison study and other knowledge I gained in this course will allow me to better interact with individuals within the criminal justice system, as well as operate more effectively within the system as a whole.
Another course that helped me to apply knowledge of human behavior to perform a variety of tasks was Clinical Psychology. The final project for this class required, similarly to abnormal psychology, a case study and DSM-V diagnosis with supporting evidence. This project, however, required more extensive research and knowledge of human behavior, because the subject of the project was not fictional. I wrote my psychological case study on Dylan Klebold, one of the shooters in the Columbine tragedy. In order to prepare for this project, I read many official documents and reliable accounts of the incident and Dylan’s life leading up to it (including excerpts from Dylan’s diary). After reading all of this and critically thinking about it in relation to prior knowledge of human behavior, I realized that Dylan exhibited symptoms of schizotypal personality disorder. He exhibited enough symptoms for a diagnosis, from what source material I was able to obtain. For example, Dylan had patterns of odd speech characteristics of those with SPD, such as making up words like “unexistable” in his writings. (Vega, 2013) I treated this project as a problem to be solved, deliberately choosing Dylan Klebold because I am especially concerned with understanding the psychology of mass shooters and preventing future tragedy. I could not have solved this “problem” of diagnosing Klebold without my existing knowledge of human behavior or psychology coursework at UMUC.
Goal 4: Value diversity and different perspectives, tolerate ambiguity, and act ethically to communicate appropriately with various sociocultural and international populations.
In Theories of Personality, PSYC 335, we learned that it is not only important to understand the major constructs, concepts, and ways to measure personality traits in our own culture. It is also important to assess how our measures and ideas do or do not translate into, or apply to, other cultures. In this class, I reflected upon how much of our personality is connected to the cultures in which we are raised. We also discussed variations in cultural norms that may be interpreted as variations in personality. Things that are acceptable in our society are not always acceptable in others, and it is important to be tolerant and aware of cultural differences in everyday life. We specifically learned strategies for being sensitive and tolerant of cultural diversity in the workplace. In order to do so, it is important to always respect others’ personal beliefs, and enhance communication by acknowledging and respecting cultural differences. (Funder, 2013)
In the final for Theories of Personality, we were to choose five chapters that were most interesting to us from Funder’s textbook and describe them in-depth, providing new information about the topics discussed from scholarly sources. One of the chapters I chose to expand upon dealt with cross-cultural psychology. Cross-cultural psychologists focus on viewing individuals in an accepting and non-judgmental way. The cross-cultural approach also stresses the importance of realizing that our reality is not the “proper” one; instead, we should try to get an idea of what others’ reality is. (Vega, 2014) Doing so will avoid many of the misunderstandings that can occur between members of different cultures. This class enabled me to apply the learning in improving my ability to communicate with diverse populations.
One study that impacted me in this area was performed by David Schmitt, Anu Realo, Voracek, and Allik. (2008) The study intrigued me because I am highly interested in diversity studies, especially those involving personality, and this particular study highlights personality differences as well as cultural and sex diversity. The study’s primary aim was to add to, or provide evidence to the contrary of, previous evidence that suggested sex-related differences in personality traits were larger in prosperous developed countries where women are more equal to men. The study found that there were actually greater differences in personality traits of men and women in societies with greater gender equality. In less developed and equal cultures, men and women exhibited very similar personality traits to each other. The results were described by the authors as being counter-intuitive, because one could easily assume that in societies with greater equality, men and women would have more similar personality attributes. The study had an impact on me because it showed that this is not necessarily the case. The authors provided detailed explanations of the results from different cultures was intriguing, and gave me greater insight to the uniqueness of each culture, the experiences and personalities of those who are raised in them.
The values related to this goal which I have learned in a number of classes at UMUC have allowed me to work better with members of different populations in the workplace. While working towards my degree, I have been working as a special education co-teacher and at a separate job. In both of my jobs, I work with a wide variety of individuals in many settings. At the high school, I have interacted not only with students who have autism and other disabilities, but also at-risk students, individuals with emotional difficulties rather than cognitive or developmental disabilities, and other members of unique populations. I always take into account the large number of factors that shape who we are and reserve judgment. The learning throughout my psychology program journey will certainly benefit my interactions with future clients.
Goal 5: Use critical and creative thinking, skeptical inquiry, and (where possible) appropriate technology and the scientific approach to solve problems related to current and emerging trends within the domains of psychology.