{"id":1604,"date":"2016-10-03T13:13:06","date_gmt":"2016-10-03T13:13:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=1604"},"modified":"2024-05-17T02:13:06","modified_gmt":"2024-05-17T02:13:06","slug":"merits-of-an-education-in-psychology","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/chapter\/merits-of-an-education-in-psychology\/","title":{"raw":"Merits of an Education in Psychology","rendered":"Merits of an Education in Psychology"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Explain why an education in psychology is valuable<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\nOften, students take their first psychology course because they are interested in helping others and want to learn more about themselves and why they act the way they do. Sometimes, students take a psychology course because it either satisfies a general education requirement or is required for a program of study such as nursing or pre-med. Many of these students develop such an interest in the area that they go on to declare psychology as their major. As a result, psychology is one of the most popular majors on college campuses across the United States (Johnson &amp; Lubin, 2011). A number of well-known individuals were psychology majors. Just a few famous names on this list are Facebook\u2019s creator Mark Zuckerberg, television personality and political satirist Jon Stewart, actress Natalie Portman, and filmmaker Wes Craven (Halonen, 2011). About 6 percent of all bachelor degrees granted in the United States are in the discipline of psychology (U.S. Department of Education, 2013).\r\n\r\nAn education in psychology is valuable for a number of reasons. Psychology students hone critical thinking skills and are trained in the use of the scientific method. Critical thinking is the active application of a set of skills to information for the understanding and evaluation of that information. The evaluation of information\u2014assessing its reliability and usefulness\u2014 is an important skill in a world full of competing \u201cfacts,\u201d many of which are designed to be misleading. For example, critical thinking involves maintaining an attitude of skepticism, recognizing internal biases, making use of logical thinking, asking appropriate questions, and making observations. Psychology students also can develop better communication skills during the course of their undergraduate coursework (American Psychological Association, 2011). Together, these factors increase students\u2019 scientific literacy and prepare students to critically evaluate the various sources of information they encounter.\r\n\r\nIn addition to these broad-based skills, psychology students come to understand the complex factors that shape one\u2019s behavior. They appreciate the interaction of our biology, our environment, and our experiences in determining who we are and how we will behave. They learn about basic principles that guide how we think and behave, and they come to recognize the tremendous diversity that exists across individuals and across cultural boundaries (American Psychological Association, 2011).\r\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\r\n<h3>LINK TO LEARNING<\/h3>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=S2CdeuG1STE&amp;feature=youtu.be\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Watch this video<\/a> from The Psych Show about the benefits and value of studying psychology.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/32d2b5b5-5b85-41da-a7d2-4615a632d447\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Think It Over<\/h3>\r\nWhy are you taking this course? What do you hope to learn about during this course?\r\n\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Explain why an education in psychology is valuable<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Often, students take their first psychology course because they are interested in helping others and want to learn more about themselves and why they act the way they do. Sometimes, students take a psychology course because it either satisfies a general education requirement or is required for a program of study such as nursing or pre-med. Many of these students develop such an interest in the area that they go on to declare psychology as their major. As a result, psychology is one of the most popular majors on college campuses across the United States (Johnson &amp; Lubin, 2011). A number of well-known individuals were psychology majors. Just a few famous names on this list are Facebook\u2019s creator Mark Zuckerberg, television personality and political satirist Jon Stewart, actress Natalie Portman, and filmmaker Wes Craven (Halonen, 2011). About 6 percent of all bachelor degrees granted in the United States are in the discipline of psychology (U.S. Department of Education, 2013).<\/p>\n<p>An education in psychology is valuable for a number of reasons. Psychology students hone critical thinking skills and are trained in the use of the scientific method. Critical thinking is the active application of a set of skills to information for the understanding and evaluation of that information. The evaluation of information\u2014assessing its reliability and usefulness\u2014 is an important skill in a world full of competing \u201cfacts,\u201d many of which are designed to be misleading. For example, critical thinking involves maintaining an attitude of skepticism, recognizing internal biases, making use of logical thinking, asking appropriate questions, and making observations. Psychology students also can develop better communication skills during the course of their undergraduate coursework (American Psychological Association, 2011). Together, these factors increase students\u2019 scientific literacy and prepare students to critically evaluate the various sources of information they encounter.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to these broad-based skills, psychology students come to understand the complex factors that shape one\u2019s behavior. They appreciate the interaction of our biology, our environment, and our experiences in determining who we are and how we will behave. They learn about basic principles that guide how we think and behave, and they come to recognize the tremendous diversity that exists across individuals and across cultural boundaries (American Psychological Association, 2011).<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\n<h3>LINK TO LEARNING<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=S2CdeuG1STE&amp;feature=youtu.be\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Watch this video<\/a> from The Psych Show about the benefits and value of studying psychology.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_32d2b5b5-5b85-41da-a7d2-4615a632d447\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/32d2b5b5-5b85-41da-a7d2-4615a632d447?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_32d2b5b5-5b85-41da-a7d2-4615a632d447\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Think It Over<\/h3>\n<p>Why are you taking this course? What do you hope to learn about during this course?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-1604\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>What is Psychology?. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: OpenStax College. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/psychology-2e\/pages\/1-1-what-is-psychology\">https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/psychology-2e\/pages\/1-1-what-is-psychology<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em>. <strong>License Terms<\/strong>: Download for free at https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/psychology-2e\/pages\/1-introduction<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":29,"menu_order":17,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"What is Psychology?\",\"author\":\"OpenStax College\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/psychology-2e\/pages\/1-1-what-is-psychology\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"Download for free at https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/psychology-2e\/pages\/1-introduction\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"1526429b-fe3a-4ab9-920a-46df87a764ce, 014644a0-11af-43ea-9967-cbf21420bca8","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-1604","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":510,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8136,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1604\/revisions\/8136"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/510"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1604\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=1604"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=1604"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=1604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}