People who are studying/have studied psychology

speedy2007

Ive been studying psych now for a year and while i find it really interesting, the sheer volume of theories, research, methods, perspectives and names of so many researchers just has me overwhelmed :eek:

Does all this eventually come together at some stage??

hotspur

Nope. But hopefully by the end of your undergraduate degree you will have any overview of the nature of science and of knowledge creation. You are being equipped to apprehend topics from a variety of perspectives. You may be able to explain behaviour from perspectives such as cognitive , learning theory, social psychology, psychoanalytical, evolutionary, neurophysiological, developmental, various personality theories etc.

This never coheres together. You are not finding out some objective truth about "how things work" and you will realise that at some point. It may help to spend a little time studying some philosophy to give you a better shape to situate yourself in what you are engaging in. Try a good introductory textbook such as John Hospers Introduction to Philosophical Analysis. You will benefit from it. And if you are inclined you would benefit from going on to read some more philosophy if science.

It's more about picking a team like with football than you might think.

Also don't let yourself get overwhelmed, it's about picking and choosing what you want to attend to. Nobody who is clever tries to take it all in. Follow up what interests you and just do what is necessary for the stuff which doesn't for the exams etc. It should be enjoyable, don't turn it into something stressful.

Where are you studying it?

Valmont

hotspur wrote: »

Try a good introductory textbook such as John Hospers Introduction to Philosophical Analysis. You will benefit from it. And if you are inclined you would benefit from going on to read some more philosophy if science.

Now that I've finished my undergraduate, I'm more aware of this than ever. I'm looking into some books on the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of science so that I can better understand the greater context of all I have learned.

Any other books of a similar vein that you would recommend?

Cinful

speedy2007 wrote: »

Does all this eventually come together at some stage??

At first it's miscellaneous overview. Many things are simply an elaboration of the obvious. If you stay the course, you'll increasingly move towards specialization. With that, things will narrow in focus.

r3nu4l

Cinful wrote: »

If you stay the course, you'll increasingly move towards specialization. With that, things will narrow in focus.

However, you will always find divergence of opinion. This is the same in most sciences too. While there is general agreement on some topics, people will always develop their own 'take' on the more contentious issues.

As hotspur said, the degree equips you with background knowledge and in my opinion should never be mistaken for assuming one is 'qualified' to speak with authority. The degree + experience + further learning + research allows one to speak with authority.

speedy2007

hotspur wrote: »

Where are you studying it?

Im studying in the Open Uni (UK) - distance learning.
I enjoy it, but if im ever browsing a forum, like here for example, and trying to read the discussions it always seems to be about something i havent covered yet or dont understand.
And i have an exam coming up next month, so just trying to go back over everything covered has my brain fried, cos there is so much to learn. I already have a previous degree in computers and there was much less material to cover for the exams.

But its a relief to see that everyone who posted is agreeing with the fact im not expected to be a psych expert by the time i get my degree:D

hotspur

Valmont wrote: »

Now that I've finished my undergraduate, I'm more aware of this than ever. I'm looking into some books on the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of science so that I can better understand the greater context of all I have learned.

Any other books of a similar vein that you would recommend?

A good book, among the many, to introduce a serious person to the field of philosophy of mind with good historical background to it is this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Mind-Classical-Contemporary-Readings/dp/019514581X

And David Chalmers, who edited that, maintains a great online resource for philosophy of mind materials here:
http://consc.net/chalmers/

In particular this is a good resource:
http://philpapers.org/
For a good introduction to philosophy of science I recommend is this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Science-Central-J-Cover/dp/0393971759/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252870895&sr=1-1

Valmont

speedy2007 wrote: »

I enjoy it, but if im ever browsing a forum, like here for example, and trying to read the discussions it always seems to be about something i havent covered yet or dont understand.

That's the fun part! There's always something interesting to learn about.

Thanks for the links Hotspur, I've placed my order on Amazon.