This comes up every now and again. A fresh-faced young guy comes in wanting to learn more about psychology thinking that it's the key to mental superpowers, especially so if he's interested in becoming a mentalist. Well I've been studying psychology in formal education and on my own for about 10 years now (seriously so in the last 5 give or take) and I'm here to tell you that's not going to happen. Here are four truths you need to understand.
1. Psychology is not the same thing as the physical sciences. In chemistry and physics, there is a right answer and a wrong answer. Either the math checks out or it doesn't. In psychology it's nowhere near so clean cut. Everything exists on a spectrum. Some people have an easier time getting their head around that than others, but the fact remains that it's a lot of data, number crunching and decidedly unsexy academic work.
2. Psychology is a very, very diverse field with many different applications in the real world. Narrowing it down to only the stuff that is applicable to what we do such as the psychology of persuasion requires a lot of research in order to isolate specific studies and even then you're going to research a lot of unrelated stuff anyway in order to provide the context necessary to make sense of it all. Get ready for a lot of medical jargon.
3. Most information about psychology is available only in academic journals, which are very hard to read because they're dry, impersonal, loaded with jargon, and frankly boring. You read this stuff because you want to learn, not because it's inherently engaging. Tests and experiments are rarely so dramatic as the famous Milgram or Zimbardo experiments.
4. Psychology is not a superpower. You are not going to turn yourself into a smooth-talking mesmerist just because you bought a Robert Cialdini book. You can use your knowledge to tip the scales slightly in your favor, but it does not have a 100% success rate. It's going to take years of work incorporating practical knowledge into your work to see noticeable results.
Any questions?
1. Psychology is not the same thing as the physical sciences. In chemistry and physics, there is a right answer and a wrong answer. Either the math checks out or it doesn't. In psychology it's nowhere near so clean cut. Everything exists on a spectrum. Some people have an easier time getting their head around that than others, but the fact remains that it's a lot of data, number crunching and decidedly unsexy academic work.
2. Psychology is a very, very diverse field with many different applications in the real world. Narrowing it down to only the stuff that is applicable to what we do such as the psychology of persuasion requires a lot of research in order to isolate specific studies and even then you're going to research a lot of unrelated stuff anyway in order to provide the context necessary to make sense of it all. Get ready for a lot of medical jargon.
3. Most information about psychology is available only in academic journals, which are very hard to read because they're dry, impersonal, loaded with jargon, and frankly boring. You read this stuff because you want to learn, not because it's inherently engaging. Tests and experiments are rarely so dramatic as the famous Milgram or Zimbardo experiments.
4. Psychology is not a superpower. You are not going to turn yourself into a smooth-talking mesmerist just because you bought a Robert Cialdini book. You can use your knowledge to tip the scales slightly in your favor, but it does not have a 100% success rate. It's going to take years of work incorporating practical knowledge into your work to see noticeable results.
Any questions?