Skills of a Psychology Major

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#.  $n%ironmental a&areness nowing how someone's environment can influence

their behavior helps us to understand people at work, at home, in education and at

leisure. Psychology graduates are familiar with this type of knowledge in many

guises, from traditional stimulusresponse perspectives to the direct study of the

environment, including such phenomena as nonverbal signaling, habit formation

and social appropriateness. 0any nonpsychologists do not particularly notice

environmental factors, yet few psychology graduates are unaware of their

importance.

'.  Interpersonal a&areness Psychology students also learn about the mechanisms

of social communication and the potential sources of interpersonal conflict. This is

not the same as being socially skilled oneself, of course, although it can contribute

to it. But such awareness can make a considerable difference to someone dealing

with everyday interpersonal problems. Being aware, too, of the sources of conflict

or misunderstanding can sometimes result in the ability to perceive ways through

difficulties that would not be readily apparent without such knowledge.

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)ro*lem-sol%ing skills  2rom their very first laboratory class, psychology

graduates are systematically trained in problemsolving skills. The ability to tackle a

range of different types of problems is probably the most distinctive characteristic

of the psychology graduate. Psychology graduates learn how to apply different

strategies and approaches to understanding problems, and how to identify the

practical steps to implement a solution. They can operate on a macrolevel,

applying different perspectives or levels of analysis to the problem, or at a more

basic level in terms of choosing appropriate methods and techni!ues. It is a

valuable skill, and one that psychologists should be more aware of.

1+. Critical e%aluation  Psychology students are also e#plicitly trained in critical

evaluation, an emphasis that appears to be particularly strong in 3urope. This set of

cognitive skills can be viewed as direct training in skepticism4 5tudents are

e#pected to appraise whether evidence for a phenomenon is really what it appearsto be% to evaluate, critically, the !uality of an argument% to identify the

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shortcomings and pitfalls of a particular line of action% and to anticipate problems

or difficulties. These skills are often devalued by psychology graduates, who

sometimes complain that everything that they have learned seems to be negative,

yet that same skepticism can be e#tremely useful to them in their later working life.

11. )erspecti%es "n the surface, the ability to e#amine issues from multiple points

of view or to e#plore phenomena using different schools of thought appears to be

a relatively esoteric one. 6owever, it is a skill that can be surprisingly useful in

many different conte#ts. The ability to identify different ideologies or paradigms

can clarify social issues and give us a better awareness of the implications of

particular arguments or positions. Psychology graduates are directly trained in this

skill, but they often do not reali&e how valuable it can be.

12. ,iger-order analysis  Psychology graduates are skilled at spotting recurrent

patterns in human activity, or noticing similarities between situations that seem on

the surface to be !uite different. This type of higherorder analysis involves being

able to e#tract general principles rather than becoming bogged down with the

details of the immediate situation. The psychology student's e#perience of sifting

through vast !uantities of e#perimental evidence and interpreting it in terms of

schools of thought and other general principles provides useful training in this skill.

13. )ragmatism It does not take much e#posure to psychological methodology for

psychology students to reali&e they are never going to achieve the perfect

e#periment, and that they will simply have to do the best they can with what is

practical. Their e#periences in this respect tend to give the psychology graduate a

pragmatic approach to work and problemsolving4 a valuable skill, and one that is

not particularly common.

-onclusion It will be apparent, I think, that this portfolio of skills is one that can be

valuable for many types of work apart from the profession of psychology itself. But this

is not the whole story. 7s 8ohn /adford argues, psychology provides its students withan e#tensive education, training them in thinking and reasoning skills, and encouraging

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skills that psychology provides are often difficult to articulate, but they are nonetheless

significant. It would be not a bad thing, in my view, if some serious psychological

research were to be devoted to the identification and measurement of these

distinctive but elusive skills.