Own Your Psychology Major!: A Guide to Student Success

by Glenn Geher PhD

Overview

This book provides a roadmap for new psychology majors, and inspiration to help motivate students to make the most of internship, research, and service opportunities during their undergraduate years.

Congratulations on declaring your psychology major! Psychology is among the most popular majors in college today­—yet, it’s possible that you chose it without realizing how very broad and technical the field is. Not to worry. In this book, you’ll get a bird’s eye view of the whole curriculum, from rat mazes and statistics to abnormal psychology and psychotherapy, and you’ll dive into some of the field’s most enduring debates.
 
Beyond the what and why of the psychology major, this book provides you with tips you can put into practice from day one. These include:

• How to maximize your learning inside and outside the classroom
• Advice on landing a solid internship
• Where to find research and service opportunities
• Steps for applying (and paying) for graduate programs

When you finish this book, you’ll have a clear idea of why you’re learning what you’re learning, and how the skills you build in your psychology major will help you solve real-world problems. You’ll be able to take an active hand in your education—and own your psychology major.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781433830662
Publisher:	American Psychological Association
Publication date:	02/26/2019
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	136
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Glenn Geher, PhD, is a professor of psychology and founding director of evolutionary studies at the State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz. Glenn received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of New Hampshire in 1997 and has taught at SUNY New Paltz since 2000. He has won numerous awards for his contributions to the field and is widely published. Glenn is credited as the founder of the NorthEastern Evolutionary Psychology Society and is well known for his evolution-themed blog for Psychology Today (“Darwin’s Subterranean World”). Glenn lives in New Paltz, NY. Visit http://www.glenngeher.com, and follow @glenngeher.
 

Table of Contents

Preface: A Note for Advisors and Instructors ix

Acknowledgments xi

A Note to Students xiii

I Ethical and Social Responsibility: How to Use Psychology to Make the World a Better Place 1

1 What the Pros Hope You Will Learn in Your Psychology Major: Five Goals From the APA Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major 3

2 Making a Difference: How the Psychology Curriculum Cultivates Ethical and Socially Responsible Leadership 13

II Knowledge Base: The Content of Psychology 23

3 The Broad Nature of Psychology Content: How Do These Different Topics Relate to Each Other? 25

4 Human Diversity and Human Universality: How We Are All the Same and How We Are All Unique 33

5 Multifactorial Causation of Behavior: A Fact of Psychology 45

III Scientific Inquiry and Critical Thinking 59

6 Psychology Is a Real Science: Part I. The Many Joys of Statistics 61

7 Psychology Is a Real Science: Part II. Research Methods in the Behavioral Sciences 69

IV Advanced Research as a Psychology Student 83

8 Rolling Up Your Sleeves: Collaborating on Research Projects 85

9 Telling the World: Presenting Psychological Research Findings 93

V Professional Development: Internships, Graduate Programs, and Careers 101

10 How to Land (and Gel the Most Out of) an Internship 103

11 Thinking About Careers and Graduate School 111

12 Cheat Sheet for Owning Your Psychology Major 121

References 127

Index 131

About the Author 135

Interviews

Undergraduate psychology major students; Psychology faculty teaching undergraduate courses such as Introduction to the Psychology Major and Careers in Psychology

Editorial Reviews

Succinct, informative, and easily digested… Recommended.” —Choice

From the Publisher