Personal expectations and perspectives in psychology

¶ … Expectations of Psychology

Prior to attending my General Psychology I class, I had no tangible understanding of psychology, nor did I have any expectations. At the time I enrolled for the course, my only exposure to psychology was what I witnessed on such television shows as the Sopranos. One of the characters on the show, Tony, would see a psychiatrist, and their interaction was my only introduction to psychology. My high school did not offer any psychology courses and I did not have any formal opportunities to learn about psychology until I was in college. After my first week of attending General Psychology I classes, my expectations shifted from zero, and unsure, to an overwhelming feeling. I was not aware of the depth of psychology, its history, and its relevance to everyday life. Prior to my time in psychology classes, I did not know I would be learning about the physiology of the brain, the different specialties within the psychology field, or about the range of psychological disorders and illnesses. When I enrolled in General Psychology I, I had no expectations about the discipline of psychology, but after a few weeks of classes, I was able to appreciate the diversity of the field, and have been intrigued the most by concepts of abnormal psychology.

My first, academic, exposure to the field of psychology was during my General Psychology I class at Bergen Community College. Prior to this, I really did not know what psychology was, and therefore did not have any expectation about the field, what it meant, or what it included. I heard references to psychology when people said such things as, "They are a psycho," or "psychological breakdown," or "psychological thriller," but I had no appreciation for what psychology encompassed. I would watch the television show, the Sopranos, and the main character, Tony, would see his psychiatrist. The conversations between Tony and his psychiatrist intrigued me, and I knew that psychology was involved in counseling, but I did not know how it worked, what it was, or what was in effect.

My experiences with psychology were so minimal, I did not know what to expect during my first day of General Psychology I class. After being handed the syllabus for the class, I started to understand that psychology is more complex than I had ever realized. During the course of the semester we covered such topics as memory, learning, gender and human sexuality, personality, motivation and emotion, psychological disorders, and several more. Before taking this course, I did not know that so many areas of human thought, expression, and motivation existed in psychological terms, or that they had their own areas of study. Shortly into the beginning of the semester, I was eager to know more about psychology. I had gone from no expectation whatsoever, to being completely interested and enjoying the depth of psychology.

While at Bergen Community College, I also enrolled in Abnormal Psychology. I did go into this course with an expectation to learn more about personality disorders. The unit on psychological disorders in General Psychology I was my favorite, and I wanted to learn more about the variety of personality disorders, how they manifest and are diagnosed. All of the information I was gaining about a topic I had not previously understood was intriguing to me, and made me excited and ready to learn more. General Psychology I and Abnormal Psychology were my two favorite classes at Bergen, and I wanted to pursue additional psychology classes.

I transferred to Fairleigh Dickinson and enrolled in General Psychology II with the expectation that I would learn even more about psychology. I did not have an expectation as far as what topics would be covered in the course, but I did expect the material to be harder and more complex; I was right. I did not expect to study the biology and physiology of the brain, and I struggled with understanding and memorizing the material. Memorizing and understanding the parts of the brain and their function, such as the thalamus, cerebellum, brain stem, etc. did not appeal to me and it was hard for me to feel motivated to learn the physiology of psychology.

Despite struggling with some of the topics covered in General Psychology II, there was still a massive amount of material that fascinated me. Once again, my lack of prior knowledge of psychology showed itself as more aspects of psychology were presented in class that I had never heard of and did not know existed. For example, I was unaware of all the different areas of psychology, especially the research-only areas that include: cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and social psychology. I also had no prior knowledge of areas of psychology that were both research and clinically based, such as clinical psychology, counseling, and school psychology. In General Psychology II, the unit on psychological disorders still interested me the most. Learning about the 5 Axis System of diagnosis using the DSM-IV-TR was exciting because I did not know how psychological disorders were diagnosed before taking this class. I enjoyed learning about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and various phobias, and how to use Exposure and Response Prevention as treatment. The examples I have mentioned are only a few out of many aspects, concepts, and principles of psychology that I have learned about and have sparked my interest. The concepts of Abnormal Psychology have interested me the most, and is an area of study that I did not know existed until taking general psychology courses.