(no subject)

[serindrana]

I talked to Prof L about switching majors today, and he was more supportive than I could have hoped for. Of course, now that I've talked to everybody involved, changing majors has moved from "Cool idea, let's do it!" to "HARD DECISION OMG". Anth is new and a bit scary and intimidating, and involves changing what I've been doing for two years. Psych is still seductive in that I know I can do it, it hasn't always been this unpleasant, and who knows, maybe it'll get better now that I've considered doing something else?

I can also envision myself working in a psych lab, and I can't envision whatever I'd be doing with an anth degree. Of course, the question is do I want to work in a psych lab, and I'm still not sure. Anth has a better recent track record of owning up to privelege and trying to deal with how to relate to the peoples being studied with respect than psych does. And psych is so fraught with "Are we or aren't we a hard science?" whereas anth is content to work within what it's good at...

Ffff.

So glad I have the whole summer to decide.

ETA: Clarification time!

Psych is made up of a lot of diverse schools of thought, some of which want to be purely quantitative (like cognitive psychology) and some of which want to be very semiotic and qualitative (humanistic and existential), and a whole lot in between. Within psych, my questions tend to straddle different schools, making asking them very difficult. There also can be a lot of distrust between schools, making integrative research across schools (like my current personality/cognitive thing) difficult as well.

However, Psych is very good at what it is; it's failings are fairly understandable, though I wish there was a stronger movement to do more integrative research, even if it is harder.

Anth, while it has a lot of branches, talks between branches fairly well from what I've seen. Also, my own personal interests don't run into conflicts as often. So!

Comments

[gallifreybebe.livejournal.com]

One of the things that really made me like anth was that you can't just silently observe someone--you have to respect them enough to inform them that they are being studied. But that's something that pulled me to it. You may be different.

Think it over well. you can probably imagine yourself in a psych lab because that's what you've been doing for the longest time. Anth is new and scary and uncertain, because people don't go around pursuing it all the time. I'm actually going to try to dig up for you a link to a government website that listed a bunch of stats for anthropologists.

Ah, found it! http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos315.htm

Anth is such a wide field. I know I'm going to focus on globablization/development and health issues, because that's where my passions lie. You may chose an entirely different subsection of it--there's just so much you can study.

I do know that a popular thing for anthropologist to be employed in is market research--those surveys and testings of new products/services. That's the most prominent example I can think of, outside of archaelogy and teaching.

But you have a whole summer. Make a big pro v con list, but most importantly, do what you feel would make you happy to be pursuing for the rest of your life.

*hug* good luck.

[pseudomachine.livejournal.com]

And psych is so fraught with "Are we or aren't we a good science?" whereas anth is content to work within what it's good at...

..what?

[serindrana.livejournal.com]

Bad wording. It's more "OMG I WISH WE WERE A HARD SCIENCE," at least in my areas. The physics envy gets to me. :/

I meant good as in (pointless) value judgment on the style of research carried out.

[shanaqui]

I have no idea what you should do, but good luck with making a decision...

[epiic.livejournal.com]

Psych minor?

I think pursuing anthropology is a useful thing if you decide to return to psych for grad school. It's not like you're straying super far (from my perspective)

[serindrana.livejournal.com]

There's no official psych minor at my school, but Prof L is willing to write me recommendation letters based on me having an effective minor and research experience if it ever comes up. :) And yeah, anth and psych bump into each other a lot. For instance, some of the foremost disordered eating specialists? Are trained as anthropologists, but engage with psych since that's where the conversations are happening within academia.


Off-topic, but no Vincent costume for David. :( I'll still have my cleaned up Sophia, if you're interested. We'll also be in steampunk one day, so again, if interested, let us know. :)

[epiic.livejournal.com]

I'm still up for taking pictures.

[serindrana.livejournal.com]

Cool. :) How do you want to set up times? We can wait until we get closer to, obviously