Looking back, the journey from freshman to senior year has me feeling sanguine. The impetus of my initial decisions that lead me here feel like distant memories. It raises several questions worthy of circumspect reflection. From my motivations to pick psychology as a major, my initial perceptions of it, and why I stayed in the major just to state a few.
As a freshman I did not have interest in any particular field. But I soon realized having a decided direction from the get go would be to my benefit. Of all the available majors psychology seemed like the best option. My initial interest in studying people came from my parents. My mother studied sociology and my father studied psychology. The complex interactions of people and their environment had always piqued my interest. Specifically making sense of things like personality and decision making.
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My thought was that no matter what vocational field I entered, people would be at its core. The same way you learn code to interface with computers, psychology seemed like the underlying system of people. Having a systematic approach and understanding offered the clearest window into getting other people. Another motivating factor was to better understand the people in my own life.
My childhood had a bit of adversity as a result of my father’s post traumatic stress disorder. Seeing the effects of a disorder first hand got me interested in the way the lifespan impacts people. After serving in the military, he was aggressive and easily angered. My day to day life became a case study of sorts. I was able to see him at his worst and his journey to recovery through counseling. Seeing how my siblings and I dealt with his hostility differently was also interesting. My formal education lead to a better understanding of these