Introduction

As a student of Psychology, one of the words that I can use to describe my learning experience is “exciting.” In addition to this, I must admit that the journey of learning Psychology has not only been exciting but informative as well. In this particular reflective essay, I intend to discuss about various issues including the expectations that I had towards the Psychology class before the semester and whether these expectations were met. It will be necessary to also mention the kind of stereotypes that I had towards Psychology and whether they turned out to be correct or false. In addition to this, I consider it necessary to establish whether my view towards Psychology changed after I took the class, as well as, the chapter that I deem as the most interesting to me with reasons for the same. Lastly, it will be of great significance to offer an explanation on the benefits that I derived from taking the Psychology class at both a personal and a professional level.

Reflections on Psychology 101

As human beings, it is evident that most of the decisions that we make in life are influenced by some other people in one way or the other. As for me and the decision to take Psychology as a field of study, I must mention that my mother played a great role in influencing my decision. As a child, I used to admire my mother’s professional work as she worked in the Social Work field and I made up my mind that I would select a course that allows me to study Psychology. With regard to my expectations before the semester began, I had various expectations and this includes learning all there was about Psychology and to demystify some of the myths I had heard about the field. I would consider my expectations as having been met since I was able to learn many issues including those related to learning theories, human development, mental disorders, and therapy approaches among other key Psychological areas.

After becoming part of the Psychology class, my view towards this particular field changed in various ways. First and foremost, I discovered that the subject is not as tough as many describe it and that taking it seriously and studying ensured one’s success in the field. In a previous study conducted on the stereotypes associated with the Psychology discipline, Brinthaupt, Counts, and Hurst (2012) observed that most students reported of being unable to understand the field of Psychology and how it fits into various careers. However, this view also changed and I discovered that understanding or not understanding a particular issue has more to do with an individual’s attitude. In this case, I had purposed way before joining the class to embrace a positive attitude and I am grateful I did. In addition to this, I must mention that my mother was also very instrumental in working on my attitude not only towards the subject of Psychology, but towards my overall learning experience. This way, I was in a better position to make a more realistic assessment on the career option that I wanted to embark on.

Given the diversity of the field of Psychology, I deem it necessary to mention that there are those chapters in Psychology that I found for interesting than others. Given the difference in the level of interests, different people prefer different aspects concerning a particular issue. As for me, the chapter that I found as intriguing or interesting is that of Mental Disorders. In as much as I enjoyed going through other chapters like that of Learning Theories, I found that of Mental Disorder to be the most interesting one. One of the reasons that I can cite with regard to my interest in the chapter of Mental Disorders is that it assisted me in demystifying many false theories that I had heard about mental disorders like schizophrenia, autism, bipolar, eating disorders, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

As observed by Kermode et al. (2010), different communities have various misconceptions about the causes of mental disorders. For instance, I grew up believing that people that suffered from mental disorders were victims due to the fact that their parents had done something wrong and were being punished by a supernatural power. However, I attended the class of Psychology and learnt that there are diverse approaches or perspectives that may be used to understand the causes of mental disorders like bipolar, anxiety disorder, eating disorder, and schizophrenia among other mental illnesses. For instance, I learnt from an author like Gilmore (2010) that a mental disorder like schizophrenia can be explained using various perspectives like biological, cognitive, socio-cultural, and psychodynamic perspectives.

With regard to the lessons gained from the Psychology class, I can categorize these lessons into both personal and professional levels. From a personal perspective, I learnt very many lessons and one is on how to deal with various people based on their personalities. I also learnt that a human being has several elements in their personality, the id, ego, and super ego all which have an impact in the way someone behaves. I was also able to learn that most of the stereotypes that people have with regard to Psychology are a misconception and I got my facts right. From a professional perspective, I learnt that the field of Psychology is one that encompasses various careers and not just psychological or psychiatric fields. I also learnt that I can advance my learning to get even more advanced lessons on the field of Psychology. From an overall point of view, I can rate my learning experience in the Psychology class as amazing and informative.