Rarely has there been a time when it has been more important to study human behaviour. All of us have been impacted by Covid-19 and the scientific study of psychology allows us to evaluate its unseen aftermath and understand its real footprint.
It seems clear that the ramifications of the past 18 months will be felt for decades. What are the hidden consequences of the pandemic? How does the virus impact our thoughts, feelings, behaviours, and relationships? Psychologists are in a unique position to uncover the effects Covid-19 has on all our lives.
Psychological scientists are uniquely placed to discover the pandemic’s impact on our everyday lives: the doom and gloom of social media pandemic stories, which lockdown policies work and why, or how conspiracy theories have undermined efforts to battle the virus. These are just a few of the topics that have already been investigated by my colleagues.
But studying psychology offers so much more than investigating the aftermath of the pandemic. Across the globe, people are confronted daily with new technologies, unfamiliar cultures, and ongoing challenges that affect every facet of how we live. The study of psychology allows anyone to embark on a journey into the thoughts, feelings, and actions of us all.
How do we understand relationships and interpret the behaviour of others? What drives people to act, respond, remember, and recognise things in the way they do? Is it possible to predict how someone will behave? Psychology is all about how our mind works and what drives human behaviour.
Why study psychology?
From love to train maps and obesity, the study of psychology covers all human experiences. Rather than being an insular exploration of our internal lives, psychology is a subject for the fearless, inquisitive, bold, and curious. We need bright minds to understand how everything from artificial intelligence, new laws, pandemics, and relationships truly impact individuals and change the world.
Psychologists study our mind and body, our thoughts and behaviour, our feelings, and our perceptions. They used numerous scientific methods to discover topics such as how people develop throughout childhood, the way in which we acquire language, and the behavioural changes following brain injury, disease, or life experience.
This means the skills you develop through your studies have many applications within diverse careers from frontline health professionals to policymakers and project managers. Its many applications mean psychology is widely seen as one of the fastest-growing career options and it can underpin any ambitious student’s future.
Many graduates fulfil ambitions to become trained psychologists, counsellors and therapists, and others pursue fulfilling careers in education, data analysis, health, marketing, advertising, public policy, organisational development, and human resources.
A degree offers students the opportunity to be at the forefront of human understanding. It helps develop important skills to think critically, analyse evidence, build complex arguments, and communicate effectively with others.
(The author is a lecturer at University of Essex)