Why is psychology by far the most common social science/humanities major?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s interesting and relatively easy

+1. It’s the easiest

And if you don’t got to grad school, you are basically useless. I know many who have trouble getting jobs.

It’s a lame major unless you go to grad school.

Personally, wouldn't go to one unless they have a PhD or MD AND 10+ years of experience. There are lot of quacks out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s interesting and relatively easy

+1. It’s the easiest

And if you don’t got to grad school, you are basically useless. I know many who have trouble getting jobs.

It’s a lame major unless you go to grad school.

Just like history English communications anthropology sociology etc.

My bosses always thought my English degree was useful. I'm the one who could persuade people through storytelling to give us millions in budget for marketing to help us meet organizational goals.

But yeah, I should have learned to program a computer, I guess? lol Actually, I did learn that on my own time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking at this list, psychology is far ahead of the others:

Psychology 103,801
Political science 33,845
English 32,098
Economics 29,275
Sociology 27,294
History 23,382
Anthropology 8,227
Philosophy 5,644

Why?

To be fair, these are some of the most interesting fields of study and can lead to a plethora of successful careers in academia, government and corporate sectors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s interesting and relatively easy

+1. It’s the easiest

And if you don’t got to grad school, you are basically useless. I know many who have trouble getting jobs.

It’s a lame major unless you go to grad school.

Just like history English communications anthropology sociology etc.

My bosses always thought my English degree was useful. I'm the one who could persuade people through storytelling to give us millions in budget for marketing to help us meet organizational goals.

But yeah, I should have learned to program a computer, I guess? lol Actually, I did learn that on my own time.

One example doesn't mean shit.
Typical english major I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s interesting and relatively easy

+1. It’s the easiest

And if you don’t got to grad school, you are basically useless. I know many who have trouble getting jobs.

It’s a lame major unless you go to grad school.

Just like history English communications anthropology sociology etc.

My bosses always thought my English degree was useful. I'm the one who could persuade people through storytelling to give us millions in budget for marketing to help us meet organizational goals.

But yeah, I should have learned to program a computer, I guess? lol Actually, I did learn that on my own time.

One can also learn the skills of persuasion and debating skills on your own as well.

[Anonymous]

I have a BS in Psych and a BA in Anthropology... I realized Anthropology was more appealing, but I had already put in so much work into the Psych degree that I just finished it too. I usually just tell people I was an Anth major.

I still read a lot of psychology books and it's an abiding interest, but Anthropology served me more in my career (Im a journalist).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A wider swath of the population is interested in human thinking than they are in the topics of other subjects. Many people have psychological problems & they enjoy learning about those problems.

+1

It's also a great, relatively easy major for pre-med students, and useful. psych courses are relatively easy to maintain a high gpa while interspersed with the premed prerequisites. And future doctors certainly can use the psych info in their jobs.

However, if you truly want to "use your psych degree" in straight psychology know that you need a MS or PHD really to do meaningful work. Otherwise you will be a grunt in someone lab. Also good to couple psych with data analytics, as the best way to use Psych with only a BA/BS or MA/MS is to use the statistics/data analytic side of it.

[Anonymous]

School psychology is an in demand career and not very well-known. The public education system is certainly not selling itself as a desirable sector to enter right now, but (as a former teacher) work life balance is way better as a school psychologist than being a teacher. I'll never get rich but I'm satisfied with my pay ($90k) especially when considering the other masters-level careers I could've gotten in psychology (i.e., social worker, ABA therapist, etc.) or as a teacher. It's a 3 year program with your last year being a full time internship (some districts offer full pay, some a stipend, some unpaid...but fortunately that's becoming less common).

Clinical psych PhD programs are harder to get into in medical school, and generally the career isn't all that high paying given the amount of education required.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s interesting and relatively easy

+1. It’s the easiest

And if you don’t got to grad school, you are basically useless. I know many who have trouble getting jobs.

It’s a lame major unless you go to grad school.

Just like history English communications anthropology sociology etc.

My bosses always thought my English degree was useful. I'm the one who could persuade people through storytelling to give us millions in budget for marketing to help us meet organizational goals.

But yeah, I should have learned to program a computer, I guess? lol Actually, I did learn that on my own time.

One example doesn't mean shit.
Typical english major I guess.

I work with statistics all the time, and I think you are overstating. One example can often matter. Black swan examples kill blanket arguments all the time. And every individual is an outcome, not an average. So hearing examples and seeing if their context aligns with your own can be very relevant to making good judgments--often more valuable than just seeing averages based on one or two relatively reductive variables (e.g., major and salary at one point in time).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s interesting and relatively easy

+1. It’s the easiest

And if you don’t got to grad school, you are basically useless. I know many who have trouble getting jobs.

It’s a lame major unless you go to grad school.

Just like history English communications anthropology sociology etc.

My bosses always thought my English degree was useful. I'm the one who could persuade people through storytelling to give us millions in budget for marketing to help us meet organizational goals.

But yeah, I should have learned to program a computer, I guess? lol Actually, I did learn that on my own time.

One example doesn't mean shit.
Typical english major I guess.

I work with statistics all the time, and I think you are overstating. One example can often matter. Black swan examples kill blanket arguments all the time. And every individual is an outcome, not an average. So hearing examples and seeing if their context aligns with your own can be very relevant to making good judgments--often more valuable than just seeing averages based on one or two relatively reductive variables (e.g., major and salary at one point in time).

Your data analysis is lacking. One example is just that. Statistically, a person with just an undergrad in English or Psych major doesn't get paid all that much.

Recall in scientific lab experiments, if you get an anomalous data point, you throw that data point out.

dp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking at this list, psychology is far ahead of the others:

Psychology 103,801
Political science 33,845
English 32,098
Economics 29,275
Sociology 27,294
History 23,382
Anthropology 8,227
Philosophy 5,644

Why?

Easiest major among them except for Sociology which is just as easy.

What makes psych and sociology easier than English, history and political science?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s interesting and relatively easy

+1. It’s the easiest

And if you don’t got to grad school, you are basically useless. I know many who have trouble getting jobs.

It’s a lame major unless you go to grad school.

Just like history English communications anthropology sociology etc.

My bosses always thought my English degree was useful. I'm the one who could persuade people through storytelling to give us millions in budget for marketing to help us meet organizational goals.

But yeah, I should have learned to program a computer, I guess? lol Actually, I did learn that on my own time.

One example doesn't mean shit.
Typical english major I guess.

I work with statistics all the time, and I think you are overstating. One example can often matter. Black swan examples kill blanket arguments all the time. And every individual is an outcome, not an average. So hearing examples and seeing if their context aligns with your own can be very relevant to making good judgments--often more valuable than just seeing averages based on one or two relatively reductive variables (e.g., major and salary at one point in time).

Your data analysis is lacking. One example is just that. Statistically, a person with just an undergrad in English or Psych major doesn't get paid all that much.

Recall in scientific lab experiments, if you get an anomalous data point, you throw that data point out.

dp

NP. Also an English major. I keep in touch with a few former classmates. We're all in our late-40s or early-50s now, and we're all making mid-six-figures and up across a range of fields.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s interesting and relatively easy

+1. It’s the easiest

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking at this list, psychology is far ahead of the others:

Psychology 103,801
Political science 33,845
English 32,098
Economics 29,275
Sociology 27,294
History 23,382
Anthropology 8,227
Philosophy 5,644

Why?

Easiest major among them except for Sociology which is just as easy.

What makes psych and sociology easier than English, history and political science?

What makes psych and sociology easier than electrical engineering, computer science, physics or organic chemistry? Same thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people who study psych are looking to fix something in themselves.

It's generally this. That's also why at the undergrad level, psych tends to be 70-80% female (versus 60% overall at the university). Men are less likely to care about fixing themselves.

As for being in-demand job-wise, there is some applicability in industry and those jobs pay well. Academia is pretty bad though -- way too many PhDs being produced and not enough jobs. Lots of people settling for adjunct positions hoping something more permanet will open up.