This
was too coincidental to be ignored: On the same day last week, two students
recommended the same PsychologyToday.com blog entry, published over a year ago!
Susan
Krauss Whitbourne developed an eloquent and persuasive case for the psychology
major. I want to look just a little more closely at this wonderful entry.
Whitbourne
cited a White Paper called “Are There Too Major Psych Majors?,” published by a
well-respected psychology professor in collaboration with the American
Psychological Association (APA) and the Florida Psychology Department Chairs.
The White Paper showed, in Whitebourne’s words, that “the undergraduate
psychology major is one of the best choices a college student can make.” I agree!
The psychology major is a great major even for those not wanting to go into
psychology!
Whitbourne
dispelled several myths that psychology majors (and perhaps some faculty!) seem
to believe. One myth is that you can’t get mental health jobs with a bachelor’s
degree. The reality is that you can get (entry level) jobs in the
field. Another important reality is that 60% of psychology majors do not go on
for advanced training, and most of them get jobs outside of
psychology, in management, sales, and other business areas as well as in the government,
education, and non-profit sectors.
Here’s
where I want to present a slightly different interpretation of something
Whitbourne wrote. She cited a 2010 Wall Street Journal report of a survey (done
by payscale.com) that found that “Psychology Majors Aren’t Happy.” The survey
found that only 26 percent of psychology majors reported being “satisfied” or
“very satisfied” with their career paths; the rates of satisfaction for the
other majors ranged from 40% (economics and environmental engineering) up to
54% (chemical engineering and management information systems).
Whitbourne
called these findings “potentially contradictory.” She took issue with the
implication that the psychology major was the reason for respondents’ low
satisfaction. She noted that the survey did not ask whether people regretted
their choice of major, and concluded, “Had the article’s authors taken a course
in psychological research, it’s quite likely they would have avoided this fatal
flaw in their logic.”
As
it turns out, my first-year seminar, called “How to Think Like a Psychologist,”
has read and critiqued this very Wall Street Journal report! Our class agreed that
the survey could have been better. As Whitbourne correctly pointed out, the
survey did not explore why psychology majors are dissatisfied. It could be, as
she stated, that some “chose psychology because they couldn’t think of a better
alternative, leading them to a less focused career path than students who
majored in engineering, business, or computers.” It could also be, as discussed
in the article, that some psychology majors were unpleasantly surprised that
there were fewer opportunities in psychology than they thought. Our class also
noted that the details of the survey were sketchy; for example, we don’t know
how the sampling was done. The original survey was not available.
(Our
class also looked up payscale.com, and found that they are in the business of
providing data to companies about salaries. Payscale.com has professional
researchers on their staff—maybe they were former psychology majors?—and they
didn’t appear to have an obvious bias against psychology majors—or in favor of
chemical engineers.)
The
survey was imperfect, but the fact remains that, for whatever reasons,
psychology majors reported being less satisfied with their careers than did
other majors. My class didn’t conclude that these data should be ignored just
because we don’t know all the methodology or all the reasons. Also, I
don’t believe that the data about satisfaction contradict the other data
Whitbourne presented about how wonderful the psych major is. For example, the
data are consistent with the idea that students continue to believe one of the
myths that Whitbourne discussed, that “you can become a therapist with a
bachelor’s degree.” One implication is that regardless of the actual number of
legitimately dissatisfied psych majors, advisors might be able to reduce that
number (with the help of Whitbourne’s blog entry!) by explaining to potential
majors that the opportunities with the major are very broad. The skills
students learn in the major prepare them to be professionals, not just
psychologists—skills such as communication, quantitative literacy, and critical
thinking.
In
the last paragraph of her entry, Whitbourne, said, “Call me biased, but it’s
hard to imagine a field that is more intriguing and compelling.” I wouldn’t
necessarily call her biased—especially because I share that bias! But I will
note a couple points that my first-year seminar class will probably make next
year, when we read Whitbourne’s piece. First, the authors and sponsors of the
White Paper were all psychologists, who have an interest in more majors. The
APA is, after all, a lobbying group in addition to being a professional
organization. Second, Whitbourne presented no data that the psychology major is
better than others. Third, when authors find “fatal flaws” in the
logic (or methods) of research that appears to contradict their hypotheses, it
is incumbent upon them to take an equally careful look at the logical (or
methodological) flaws in the research they present in their favor.
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