math psychology

[psychmath924]

---

Members do not see this ad.

hello, my friend told me about math psychology since i like psychology and math (my two majors). Though after looking it up, I'm still having trouble deciding what it is exactly. Is math psych just like assessment with more math behind it? Also, how is math psychology involved in the clinical sense?If someone could provide a bit more clarity to this subject I would appreciate it!

Thank you!🙂

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I'm not quite sure what that entails....maybe he meant statistics? Depending on what kind of research you do, there can be quite a bit of math in that work.

 

[thewesternsky]

I'd never heard of it, and a google search didn't generate much. The fields of math and psych do intersect in various ways (mathematical modelling of cognitive processes, stats in just about all research), but "mathematical psychology" is not a common field on its own (you won't find many grad programs with official specializations in it, unlike clinical or social or developmental, etc.). If you're interested in mathematical/computational modelling of human perception and performance, experimental psych (likely cognitive) is probably your best bet.

After a little more research, it definitely seems like the subfield you're talking about is the branch of cognitive/neuropsych (NOT clinical) that is concerned with mathematical and computational modelling of human information processing. Basically, these researchers construct computational models of how the mind might work, and then compare their models with data derived from experiments on humans (usually reaction time data to various stimuli). There are some pretty cool models of how humans might perform various simple and complex tasks, like reading, decision making, recognition and recall, etc. These researchers are usually not clinical psychologists and are usually not primarily concerned with psychological disorders, though they will consider the disorders that might constrain their models. For example, researchers who model reading might study dyslexic patients to see if the model can mimic the reading behaviour of dyslexics when they knock out a certain pathway.

Hope this helps!

 

[JockNerd]

I think the OP i referring to Quantitative psych. There are lots of people who do this kind of work. Thinking in terms of my exposure--Quintana, MacCallum, Kline, Martens, Mallinckrodt, Kenny. Many of these folks have Quant psych degrees, and many others do stats work on the side of their other major research interests (in include myself in this category; I'm not humble).

 

[Ollie123]

My first assumption was also quant, but I could see a case being made for the computational modeling area. Computational modeling is actually probably closer to "Traditional" math - quant is primarily statistics (at least everywhere I see), which is a close relative of traditional math, but not quite the same.

Either way, you're looking at an area that scares the crap out of most psychologists and one that definitely needs more people going into it, so if it suits you than I say go for it!

I think its quite rare to find psychologists who REALLY know their stats. Even people who have been running all their own analyses for 20 years and done some pretty impressive things are often "functional" statisticians, and you can tell they know just enough to do what they want to do. If you really know your stuff in this area, you will be everyone's new best friend😉

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

My first assumption was also quant, but I could see a case being made for the computational modeling area. Computational modeling is actually probably closer to "Traditional" math - quant is primarily statistics (at least everywhere I see), which is a close relative of traditional math, but not quite the same.

Either way, you're looking at an area that scares the crap out of most psychologists and one that definitely needs more people going into it, so if it suits you than I say go for it!

I think its quite rare to find psychologists who REALLY know their stats. Even people who have been running all their own analyses for 20 years and done some pretty impressive things are often "functional" statisticians, and you can tell they know just enough to do what they want to do. If you really know your stuff in this area, you will be everyone's new best friend😉

So true.

I know enough to get by and do what I need, but there are definitely people I lean on. My stats prof has forgotten more than I'll ever know, and people definitely go to him for the most random and often complex issues.

 

[futureapppsy2]

I know someone who is going the quant psych route. PM me if you have questions.