Input on Upper Division Psych

[deleted407021]

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Hey, y'all

I made the change from biology to psychology at the beginning of this semester and I have registered for my first upper division psych courses. Psych statistics for the summer and in the fall: abnormal psychology, principles of learning and research methods for psychology. I will be taking these alongside biochem I and Spanish.

I would appreciate some input from those who have taken these or similar psych courses and from any psychology majors. Any perspective you may have on what to expect, relative difficulty compared to upper division biology and any advice you may have.

Thanks for your time!

 

[Reckoner]

Generally speaking upper level psych courses are easier than upper level bio. Psych stats was basically an intro level stats class at my school. I liked it, but I also really like statistics, so maybe that's just me. Abnormal psych was one of my favorites. Not very hard, but extremely interesting subject matter. I had the opportunity to take a section taught by a practicing psychologist, and if you have that option I highly recommend it.

If your school has a class on perception I would recommend that. Mine was sort of halfway between bio and psych, and it was great. Probably the most difficult psych course I took in terms of subject matter and exams, but I enjoyed the material enough that it didn't matter. If your school has a more advanced research methods class that teaches electrophysiology or EEG that would be a good one to take if you're interested in neuroscience research. I also recommend a judgment and decision making class if any are available (anything that covers heuristics, biases, etc in detail). Mine was sort of a combination of psych, neurobio, and philosophy. It was an awesome class, and not terribly difficult.

Anyway biochem will most likely be your most difficult class. It required more time than any of my psych classes when I took it. Good luck!

 

[deleted407021]

Thanks, @Reckoner .

 

[IAhawkeye]

Abnormal psychology was very interesting and it helped me understand certain aspects of pharmacology better, I would agree that the upper level psych courses are easier than my upper level physiology courses. They are a bit different though, for most of my upper level physiology courses I would not read/buy the book and just go off lecture slides and did well. For upper level psych courses there is a lot more reading to do but the content is not as difficult.
Health psychology is a good class to take as well.

 

[Aerus]

I'm minoring in Psychology.

Upper division classes tend to be a lot more interesting than the lower division psych classes. I highly recommend taking classes related to mental illnesses, such as depression, OCD, eating disorders, etc. Very interesting and eye opening if you have not had to deal with them before.

 

[mehc012]

I did a really cool course on Personality. If that's an option I would totally recommend it.

 

[armybound]

I was a neuroscience major. Psych/neuroscience are not hard. This is why so many people are psych majors, imo.

 

[mehc012]

I was a neuroscience major. Psych/neuroscience are not hard. This is why so many people are psych majors, imo.

At our school, Psych was the only major with any substantial amount of multiple choice on their exams. You can imagine those courses were packed.

 

[pyrrion89]

Psych major here.

The only upper div psych courses that will be somewhat difficult are going to be cognitive psychology, biological psychology, and the research and data methods course. A good sign they will be challenging is if the course is cross-listed with another department (e.g., a bio psych course that is cross-listed as an upper-div biology department class, or a cog psych class cross-listed with comp-sci or cognitive science departments).

In general, psychology is a very cushy major. While I knew taking it would mean people would not take me seriously, I did it anyway because I love the subject and ultimately decided to major in what I liked the most. Good luck!

 

[deleted407021]

Great replies all around. Thanks!

What could I expect from the research methods course? Will it help me better analyze scientific articles?