Why I Love Psychology by Madeline

Why I Love Psychology by Madeline - February 2024 Scholarship Essay

One of my favorite subjects is psychology. I want to pursue a degree in psychology, and as a career I want to do psychology research and possibly become a psychology professor. I want to major in psychology because of the classes I’ve taken, books I’ve read, and my desire to understand myself and others better in order to make the world a better place.

The first psychology class I took was high school level psychology during my junior year. The three topics we covered were learning, memory, and consciousness. I really liked learning about psychology, and I talked about that class so much that when I eventually decided on psychology as my major, one of my friends said that she saw it coming. This year, I’m taking two psychology classes through my community college. The first class I took was Child Psychology. Some of the most interesting topics from that class were attachment and personality. The class I'm taking right now is Introduction to Psychology. Some of my favorite topics from this class so far are emotion, motivation, and personality. I enjoyed learning about those things so much that I’ve begun to think about doing research in those areas.

After my junior year ended, I asked my psychology teacher for some books to read over the summer. Not all the books he gave me were about psychology, but some of them were. Out of the psychology books, my favorite was Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. I read the entire book in less than two days, and it’s one of my favorite books I’ve ever read. Blink is all about how we can use a very small amount of information to make judgments and decisions in seconds. It was after I read Blink that I decided on psychology as my major. The real world applications of psychology presented in Blink cover everything from diagnosing heart attacks to determining the authenticity of art pieces. Throughout the book, Gladwell references many different researchers, such as John Gottman, who is a leading researcher on predicting divorce. I hadn’t realized that it was possible for people to devote their entire lives and careers to learning and research. After reading about Gottman’s work and learning more about his work on my own, I started to think that research might be a good career for me. I love learning, and with my newfound interest in psychology, I decided that majoring in psychology and becoming a psychology researcher would be a great way for me to continue learning throughout my life.

Taking psychology classes and reading books based on psychology has made me want to understand myself and others better. Since learning more about psychology, I’ve been able to identify reasons for my own actions as well as those of others. I’ve realized that psychology can help me become a better person and can help me to understand other people better. Through learning about psychology, I’ve been able to better understand how my childhood experiences have shaped me into who I am today, and I hope to use this knowledge in the future to one day create an environment for my family that encourages growth and love. I want to use psychology to help others understand and become better versions of themselves, and I hope that through majoring in psychology, I can accomplish that goal.

As I’m preparing to start college in a few months, I’m continuing to learn as much as I can about psychology. I’m continuing to take psychology classes, read psychology books, and think about how psychology can impact others. I love psychology, and I hope that I can use it to make a difference in the world.