Filling out CAO. What does Psychology Entail??

Liam_Mellows

Im filling out my CAO in the next couple of weeks and even after speaking to some college reps i was really still wondering what it was that Psychology entails?? Any info at all on the subject of psychology (hours, items of study, interest) would be greatly appreciated.

Musefan

I study Psychology in UCD. I imagine the other colleges follow a similar course.

First year entails about 12-15 hours a week.
You complete 4 Psychology modules. You have the option to take further elective Psychology modules or you can take some other subjects from across the faculties of UCD, for example, I did English and German.

The four first year modules introduce you to Social Psychology (you learn about why people behave the way they do in certain situations), Brain and Behaviour (you learn about the role of the brain in behaviour, such as emotion, motivation, sleep etc.), Perception & Cognition (you learn about the perceptual system, visual perception, illusions, mental imagery etc.) and Child Development (which is being replaced for first years with Introduction to Psychology).
Expect a reasonable workload in first year- Lots of reading, but highly interesting.

In second year you are required to complete two laboratory modules. You will investigate visual illusions, stress, learning, mental imagery, and eye-witness testimonies (to name a few), by participating in experiments, and writing up laboratory reports. These reports can take a lot of work initially but you get used to the research methods after a while and they become enjoyable.

You have compulsory modules in the Psychology of Language: how we acquire language, what happens to those who are deprived of language etc.

History of Psychology: Investigating the origins of Psychology.

Basic Analysis and Design: A statistics module for Psychology. You learn how to use statistics in relation to data that is collected by psychologists to allow you to interpret that data etc. You take a further statistics module in semester 2, and a module on research methods of different kinds, like qualitative research.

You can take option modules in Biological Psychology, The Psychology of Work, Sports Psychology, The psychology of crime, Organisational psychology etc. There is a wide choice.

In third year you complete your own research proposal, by carrying out an experiment yourself. This is coupled with further statistics modules and you can complete other option modules. You also do things like lifespan psychology.

All in all, it is very interesting (I think!). The workload is quite heavy in second year, but manageable if you spread it out. I would advise you have a good enough grasp of biology for some of the modules, but not all. It is not a required subject, but it helps greatly. Also make sure you have a standard grasp of maths for statistics, but depending on the college you go to, you may just do your statistics on a computer program called SPSS.

Best of luck with the CAO, I hope you find something you will enjoy! And if you can't get Psychology on the first go, try again for a hdip perhaps

Liam_Mellows

Thanks that was exactly the kind of response i was hoping for! Any psychologists that want to give an idea of what the job entails? clinical or sports psychology especially? I appreciate your response very much though.. Might just have put psychology ahead of medicine so thanks.

Musefan

I myself had medicine down before Psychology, but fell just short of the points I needed for UCD by about 8. I will say that Psychology is actually a great fit for anybody who is medically inclined because you can go into areas like neuropsychology, or psychopharmacology which from the lectures, are so so interesting. I amnot trying to sway you here, but I see you are interested in clinical and sports psychology. I wont pretend I can give you a detailed account of what the careers entail, butI will say that UCD has two amazing, and world renowned lecturers on the subject (that's not to say the other lecturers aren't great, thier qualifications are just mind-boggling :eek:). Aidan Moran is the expert in sports psychology, in particular the mental imagery side of it. He is former psychologist to the Irish rugby team. Alan Carr is the lecturer for ClinicalPSychology here, and his c.v on the website is as long as my arm!