The scientific study of mind and behavior, commonly known as psychology, is a widely offered subject in most educational institutions. It is notably one of the few subjects whose seats fill up the fastest because of its increasing popularity among students. And this popularity is certainly with good reason.
Studying psychology, whether as a major or a minor, or even an additional certification course, has numerous benefits for individuals looking to be employed in careers that may not directly have anything to do with psychology but have underlying requirements a psychology student can meet effectively. These said benefits are discussed in detail below so aspiring professionals looking for work in any sector can see how a psychology course would benefit them.
Working in the field of psychology
We live in an era of expansion in job markets, where companies are opening new positions every day in unconventional areas of work. This means that what was once a degree few people chose to do because of fear of lack of employment opportunities is of higher value now as psychology graduates are sought after and hold well-paying jobs.
Furthermore, if one does not want to take on the traditional roles of a psychologist or therapist, an online psychology masters can help them diversify their options. In this way, one can work in the field of psychology in a more out-of-the-box and innovative manner.
Developing interpersonal skills
Arguably the most important skill psychology teaches one is how to talk to people. Being the study of human behavior, it not only helps one understand the thinking process and patterns of different individuals but also how to approach and carry conversations with said individuals by paying attention to their tone, body language, facial expressions, and selection of words.
As a student aspiring to be successfully employed, you will continuously interact with people from all walks of life, no matter what stage of your career. From job interviews to dealing with clients, good people skills will benefit you immensely in knowing how to have constructive and fruitful conversations as well as how to deal with different kinds of people in different kinds of situations, and most of all, how to build useful contacts in the professional world.
Understanding market behavior
Aspiring professionals must thoroughly understand the consumer market, whether they are business owners, economists, service providers, or marketers. Do consumer market trends change according to the changes in the behavior of consumers themselves? What better way to understand consumer behavior than through psychology?
Take this as an example- You are a small business owner wanting to maximize profits and minimize losses. To do this, you decide not to spend capital on advertising your products and instead on the packaging. But if you had a better understanding of psychology and consumer behavior, you would know that advertisements affect consumers’ emotions. Human emotions like love and fear can be powerful drivers of consumer behavior and responses, and each of these emotions can be manipulated via neuromarketing. In this way, psychology can be extremely beneficial in helping maximize profits, attract clientele and run a successful business.
Adopting strategies
Success in any profession means achieving a perfect balance between working hard and smart. When it comes to smart work, strategizing is key. Building effective strategies means knowing how certain thought patterns and belief systems help productivity and success in work life.
Studying psychology helps one hack their brain and apply all the knowledge and insight they gain to themselves. Becoming your lab rat can help you know how you work most effectively. The psychological technique of positive reinforcement is one strategy that can be adopted to maximize workplace efficiency. This technique falls under the umbrella of operant conditioning, pioneered by psychologist B.F. Skinner found that, by adding a rewarding stimulus after a rat produced the desired behavior, the rat learned to repeat the desired action. The rats he studied learned faster from positive reinforcement than from any punishment.
Applying this to the workplace means rewarding co-workers when they perform a task well will create a pattern of producing the same output level each time.
Becoming a better thinker
As a social science subject, psychology expands the mind. It broadens the horizons of all those who take on the challenge of studying it. The main principles the subject is foundational on are thinking, questioning, and reasoning, better explained as “the why of it all.” Hence, students of psychology, much like scientists, become expert rational thinkers who are continuously coming up with questions and searching for their answers.
Psychology students also learn to back their research and findings with factual data such as case studies and statistics. This helps increase their analytical skills while making them unbiased, rational thinkers who always support their arguments with facts. It can be seen how these skills would benefit not just someone working in the field of psychology but also researchers, lawyers, and business people alike.
Memorizing like a pro
Something a psychology degree is bound to teach you is how to memorize and store hundreds of pages of text, articles, studies, research, and statistics within your tiny little brain you will need to access at any given moment. To do so, psychology students learn many different memorization and memory retention techniques.
Usually, they have at least one course dedicated specifically to neural bases of memory and how they are accessed. This makes them pros at remembering information and accessing it when needed, which is no doubt an exemplary skill to have while giving presentations at work, being in a managerial or human resource position, or even when planning on gaining further education at any point in time.
Conclusion
The abovementioned benefits of studying psychology prove that it is an incredibly versatile subject that gives each student a plethora of skills and knowledge to aid them through the rest of their life, whether it be professionally, even if the profession they choose seemingly has no relation to psychological study and practice, intellectually, or in their personal life and connections. Hence it is an excellent subject to study formally, or even if you’re bored during your spare time.
