Physiology vs. Psychology

[Leefa]

Hey
I'm deliberating over which should be my major. Here's the deal: I have a very keen interest in the study of how humans think, such as philosophy, and from a book that I'm reading right now, it seems like I take interest in psychology as well. The only problem is that most people I talk to all have this same interest, and when giving me advice over this topic, say that along with justification that it is a reason NOT to be a psychology major.
On the other hand, I can foresee physiology being helpful in my years as both a doctor and in med school (or will it?). Therefore I also see it as being the most relevant, and I think I would be able to keep interest in it.

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[RySerr21]

Hey
I'm deliberating over which should be my major. Here's the deal: I have a very keen interest in the study of how humans think, such as philosophy, and from a book that I'm reading right now, it seems like I take interest in psychology as well. The only problem is that most people I talk to all have this same interest, and when giving me advice over this topic, say that along with justification that it is a reason NOT to be a psychology major.
On the other hand, I can foresee physiology being helpful in my years as both a doctor and in med school (or will it?). Therefore I also see it as being the most relevant, and I think I would be able to keep interest in it.

your undergraduate major absolutely, positively, 100%, DOES NOT matter. Major in whatever you want....if you truly enjoy pscyhology, then major in psychology. Don't choose a major b/c you think itll help you get in to med school. It wont. Med schools dont care and residencies could care even less (if thats possible). Major in religious studies, sociology, anthropology, WHATEVER it is that you enjoy learning about. Dont worry about it being "cliche" or "easy" or anything like that and dont listen to anybody else. Major in what it is that YOU enjoy. And you dont need to declare a major right away, you can take a few courses freshman year in physiology and in psychology. If one doesnt jump out at you and you are truly fascinated by both, then be a double major! Seriously, it doesnt matter if a lot of other people have the same interest is you (thats probably one of the stupidest reasons ive heard for why NOT to major in something), if you know that YOU enjoy learning about, thats all that matters.

 

[howelljolly]

Ha! Ill give you the same advice. I started taking psychology classes because I am interested in ways of thinking, and all that other jazz. I'd also read cognitive psych books for fun (the Damasio or Sacks types of books), or pop-psychiatry books on transactional analysis, or humanistic psych. I ended up majoring in it, and minoring in philosophy. If I could do it over again, I would NOT major in psychology.

At least on the undergrad level, it does not deal with what interested me. It didnt really address thought processes, or any of the things I was interested in. Rather, it seemed to consistently deal with putting people or behaviors into classifications, and generalizing individuals. So, if you already have an interest in "interesting" psychology, you might be disappointed like I was. I really struggled through many psych classes just to get to a few of the upper level courses that I did like (strangely, Industrial Psych was one of my favorites). And I didnt actually appreciate, or maybe even understand, Freudian theory until medical school. Whether thats a product of my professor, or the educational mess in my mind taking shape... Im not sure... Maybe it was both.

Physiology would be helpful in med school, but then so would Biochem... So if you are looking for something that would help you in med school, there are a bunch of majors (psych being on of them). So in that regard, Id tell you to major in whatever you really like, regardless of if it will help you in med school.

 

[tennisball80]

Less than 10 universities offer an undergraduate degree in physiology

http://www.physiology.arizona.edu/index.php/undergraduate

I would go for it.

 

[gabeybaby]

your undergraduate major absolutely, positively, 100%, DOES NOT matter. Major in whatever you want....if you truly enjoy pscyhology, then major in psychology. Don't choose a major b/c you think itll help you get in to med school. It wont. Med schools dont care and residencies could care even less (if thats possible). Major in religious studies, sociology, anthropology, WHATEVER it is that you enjoy learning about. Dont worry about it being "cliche" or "easy" or anything like that and dont listen to anybody else. Major in what it is that YOU enjoy. And you dont need to declare a major right away, you can take a few courses freshman year in physiology and in psychology. If one doesnt jump out at you and you are truly fascinated by both, then be a double major! Seriously, it doesnt matter if a lot of other people have the same interest is you (thats probably one of the stupidest reasons ive heard for why NOT to major in something), if you know that YOU enjoy learning about, thats all that matters.

lmao. i wonder how many times you have typed this sort of answer.
if practice makes perfect, you should be damn close to it by now

 

[Maygyver]

You could probably major in Psychology but take some Physiology courses. And perhaps minor in it. Or the other way. I would just pick one to start with and see if you can take any GECs in the other so that you can then pick which you like better. Good luck!

 

[RySerr21]

lmao. i wonder how many times you have typed this sort of answer.
if practice makes perfect, you should be damn close to it by now

haha. copy and paste is magical.

 

[Leefa]

lmao. i wonder how many times you have typed this sort of answer.
if practice makes perfect, you should be damn close to it by now

I've gotten the same reply numerous times. I appreciate your advice, but I'm very well aware that major does not matter. I would just like to do something that is relevant and that will give me an advantage (i dont mean over others) in taking my mcat and in med school.


Howelljolly, I can somewhat relate to you right now. The book I'm reading deals with the place of belief in psychology, and in the begining chapters, it points out some fault in modern psychology, such as it being simplified to a chain of chemical reactions, and, like you said, generalizing people into groups. Personally, from what little I know, I think freudian psychology is perverted and backwards, but that is an ignorant assumption on my part.

In terms of physiology, how much blatant memorizing is involved? Is there some conceptual understaning involved, so that I can base answers on a test, for example, on the concept instead of just having to know a word?

At this point, I'm going to go undeclared as a pre-med, take some geneds and prereq classes. I may minor in a liberal art, such as polsci, just to expand my view of the world; while majoring in a sci like physiology.

 

[Maygyver]

When you go to orientation you should get a hand out of available classes for GEDs. Just check on those and look for Psych 100 and Soc 100. I would take them both and see which you prefer. That way you don't waste any time no matter what you pick.

 

[howelljolly]

I've gotten the same reply numerous times. I appreciate your advice, but I'm very well aware that major does not matter. I would just like to do something that is relevant and that will give me an advantage (i dont mean over others) in taking my mcat and in med school.


Howelljolly, I can somewhat relate to you right now. The book I'm reading deals with the place of belief in psychology, and in the begining chapters, it points out some fault in modern psychology, such as it being simplified to a chain of chemical reactions, and, like you said, generalizing people into groups. Personally, from what little I know, I think freudian psychology is perverted and backwards, but that is an ignorant assumption on my part.

In terms of physiology, how much blatant memorizing is involved? Is there some conceptual understaning involved, so that I can base answers on a test, for example, on the concept instead of just having to know a word?

At this point, I'm going to go undeclared as a pre-med, take some geneds and prereq classes. I may minor in a liberal art, such as polsci, just to expand my view of the world; while majoring in a sci like physiology.

My much forgiving take on Freud is that he actually made very good objective observations, and then ruined everything with generalizations, and by forcing everthing into his psychosexual framework. And why did he do that? My forgiving take on that is that he may have drawn of the paradigms of physiology and that new-fangled genetics and natural selection. The drive to reproduce is an automatic (unconscious) process, which is strong enough to populate the world in the face of disease and famine. So, maybe Freud forced that to be the center of his theory to tie biology to psych..... anyhoo.
I actually can't remember what I learned as the rationale behind Freudian psychtherapy. All I remember is that when it made sense to me, it was like getting hit in the head with the DSM-IV... I think it had something to do with the idea that you cant think of X, if you dont already have the vocabulary to to define and describe X. I.e. we can only think within the constraints of the words we know.

Physiology.... My favorite subject ever since I discovered it in the first year of med school. So folks will tell you that its all rote memorization. Honestly, I cant figure out where that is coming from. Maybe you have to memorize some terminology, but once that's down... its all concepts. Physiology is one of the main (if not THE main) reasons for my likely choice of specialization.

 

[RySerr21]

I've gotten the same reply numerous times. I appreciate your advice, but I'm very well aware that major does not matter. I would just like to do something that is relevant and that will give me an advantage (i dont mean over others) in taking my mcat and in med school.

physiology and psychology are both relevant to a career in medicine. Physiology more relevant in terms of direct knowledge you will need to know and psychology more relevant to understand the doctor/patient relationship, learning about how peope think, mind/body and that kind of stuff.

In terms of physiology, how much blatant memorizing is involved? Is there some conceptual understaning involved, so that I can base answers on a test, for example, on the concept instead of just having to know a word?

Physiology is very much conecptual understanding and reasoning. Yes, you will need to be memorizing things (if you are tkaing a class on teh human body you are going to have memorize, period) but physiology is all about how the body works (as opposed to anatomy where its just basically memorizing names of organs, landmarks, veins, artiers, etc) so you will have a solid basis of stuff you need to memorize but the majority of the things you will be learning is conceptual stuff, how the systems interact with each other, etc. etc.

 

[seelee]

Since you understand that major does not matter, I will give you my opinion.

I majored in chemistry and got a minor in philosophy. I also took a year to focus on biology. I took molecular bio., genetics, human anatomy (with a cadaver lab), human physiology, and biochemistry. Now, do you need to take all those classes? Not at all. Do I regret taking them, not in the slightest. If anything, I got some exposure to different fields and ideas, and when it came time to take the MCAT, i didn't need to study the bio side at all. (Scored a 12 on the bio section).

Personally, I would avoid a psych major like the plague. It has been posted above that the undergraduate level consisted of trying to fit human behavior into little categories. That has been my experience as well. I know that I am going to tick of somebody by saying this, but my IMHO psychology is mostly made-up, and unless you want to be a counseling psychiatrist (which you don't need a psych major to do) I can't see how psychology would help with the MCAT nor with med school curriculum.

As far as majors being useful for medical school. Picking a major that incorporates the necessary prereqs is nice. Bio and chem are the most popular, at my school a lot of people do neuroscience. If you really like science, then I would recommend chemistry. Primarily because if you don't get into medical school, you can do a lot more with a chem degree than with a bio degree (I know that I am going to really piss someone off now). If you have any more specific questions, pm me.

 

[Leefa]

Since you understand that major does not matter, I will give you my opinion.

I majored in chemistry and got a minor in philosophy. I also took a year to focus on biology. I took molecular bio., genetics, human anatomy (with a cadaver lab), human physiology, and biochemistry. Now, do you need to take all those classes? Not at all. Do I regret taking them, not in the slightest. If anything, I got some exposure to different fields and ideas, and when it came time to take the MCAT, i didn't need to study the bio side at all. (Scored a 12 on the bio section).

Personally, I would avoid a psych major like the plague. It has been posted above that the undergraduate level consisted of trying to fit human behavior into little categories. That has been my experience as well. I know that I am going to tick of somebody by saying this, but my IMHO psychology is mostly made-up, and unless you want to be a counseling psychiatrist (which you don't need a psych major to do) I can't see how psychology would help with the MCAT nor with med school curriculum.

As far as majors being useful for medical school. Picking a major that incorporates the necessary prereqs is nice. Bio and chem are the most popular, at my school a lot of people do neuroscience. If you really like science, then I would recommend chemistry. Primarily because if you don't get into medical school, you can do a lot more with a chem degree than with a bio degree (I know that I am going to really piss someone off now). If you have any more specific questions, pm me.

Thanks for the opinions; that's what my original goal in starting the thread was. As far as chem and bio go, I don't think I like either of them enough to major. I'd have to, from impressions, agree with your "humble opinion" that a lot of psychology is rediculous.

I'm leaning toward majoring in physiology and minoring in a less scientific subject, like philosophy. I'm also considering a bio or chem minor. We'll see when the time comes.

 

[RySerr21]

Personally, I would avoid a psych major like the plague. It has been posted above that the undergraduate level consisted of trying to fit human behavior into little categories. That has been my experience as well. I know that I am going to tick of somebody by saying this, but my IMHO psychology is mostly made-up, and unless you want to be a counseling psychiatrist (which you don't need a psych major to do) I can't see how psychology would help with the MCAT nor with med school curriculum.

I'm not angry, nor am i offended (i'm not a psych major nor do i have any connection with psych other than the classes i have taken), but if you think about what you just said......its pretty damn stupid.