Psychology’s Impact, Essay Example

As I see it, discussing the way studying psychology has had an impact on me, as both a student and in my life, is like discussing how studying humanity itself has influenced me. Psychology is at the core of everything we do, always. This is true whether we are aware of what is motivating us or not, and the study of psychology is never a closed occupation, either in what it can give or in what a person can learn.

This aspect of learning is, in fact, something that studying psychology itself has made clear to me, and I believe it has helped my growth as a person. It is very easy and nicely convenient, when you are young, to assume that a study can go to a certain point and then no farther. It is reassuring to believe that there are limits because this means that something can be mastered completely. I believe this attitude, as understandable and as ordinary as it is among young students, actually confines them and places borders around their own potentials. Also, seeing a field of study, especially one as complex as psychology, as a finite effort serves to underestimate the field. By understanding how psychology will never cease to offer opportunities to study, I gain a stronger awareness of how I myself can, and must, grow.

On a more specific level, the study of psychology has greatly influenced the way I see and think of personality disorders. In modern life, disorders are referred to everywhere and it often seems that a new one is coined or identified every day. I believe that people look to psychological definitions for personality or behavior problems they are experiencing because, as with the appeal of limited studying, nothing is as intimidating as it could be once it is set aside and given a name. Many genuine disorders are made more manageable to sufferers of them through this validation, the benefits of medications and therapies aside. People feel empowered when what they are dealing with is both recognized by the greater world, and given a clinical name. This is a “psychology” I have come to see at play in many areas of my life, with friends and family.

The less helpful side to this, which I also feel I have come to understand through study, is that many people are driven to identify a trait within them as a genuine psychological disorder. It seems that there is a fascination for people, or at least something attractive, in having a disorder; it can explain away behavioral issues and I think it makes people feel different, or special. Here, again, is a psychology within psychology, and one my studies have brought to my attention.

Disorders are a serious business, as we try to isolate, understand, and treat them. I have a stronger appreciation for this as well, if only through observing the strange “popularity” of them just mentioned. I have become aware that Attention Deficit disorders, for example, are not merely random episodes of a lack of focus, which most of us deal with regularly in our lives; they are chronic and sometimes disabling conditions. Along these lines, I might have been inclined to view eating disorders as nothing but a weakness in character, as so many people ordinarily view them. Through my studying, however, I have come to learn that these are also severe, specific illnesses, and often with life-threatening consequences.

Another instance wherein psychology has broadened my mind, in both study and in living, is in how I see the various ways different cultures manifest different aspects of psychology. This has occupied a great deal of my thinking on the subject because I believe I have too long made assumptions many Americans make; that is, we assume that behaviors we practice are universal to mankind, when they are in fact often conditioned by our own, specific society.

A large part of the wide field of psychology goes to what motivates us as people. This in turn relies upon what we are after, in any regard, and cultural conditioning drives us to want certain things, from material possessions to relationships. That in place, a culture’s influence does not end there, because we are also infused with ideas of how we should behave in order to succeed, or get what we want.

In the United States, paradigms of behavior are shifting, but certain aspects tend to stay in place. When it comes to relationships, male and female psychologies are directed to act within the borders of defined behaviors to attract a partner. These behaviors, however, are not necessarily built-in components within human psychology; they are what we have developed to achieve the ends we have also made possible, provided they are done right. That is, the man who responds to the woman seeking a relationship is rewarding her for complying with the behaviors he expects.

Other cultures, however, move in very different directions. It may well be that the underlying psychological motive of getting a partner is the same, but the “proper” behaviors may strike us as strange, or even self-defeating, because they are manifested to accommodate a cultural framework we do not share in. Studying psychology has helped me to understand that there are, in fact, psychologies which will seem completely alien to me. I have come to see that, even as I open my mind to possibilities, there are limits in myself I must acknowledge.

Ultimately, the study of psychology serves me in ways that are mutually beneficial. As I expand my knowledge of what the human mind is capable of, I cannot help but take a different view of the world as I move through it. More than anything, in reference to my earlier statement, I have learned that this field of study, like life itself, is as open to exploration as I am open to devoting myself to it.