This book helped me get a better idea of psychology as a career, and am glad that I have read it.
So pretty much i'm sure this book was written to help somebody get a better understanding of what psychology is. Also maybe to help somebody out to see if they would be interested in a career in psychology. It might be aimed at people more of maybe 17 and older. It could possibly have words a little hard to read outside of that age area.
I found a lot of things to be interesting in Psychology for Dummies. For instance, a section is called Behaving Yourself. What i found interesting since I might be considering a career path, is that when you go to a psychologist they later on after your appointment, choose what category your under. The categories are, Biological, Psychoanalytic, Behaviorism, Cognitive, Humanistic and Existential, Sociocultural, Feminism, and Postmodernism.
Another thing that interested me was under the chapter called Conforming Like a Cartoonist, called Being Mean. Some people like to think they are civilized humans, always happy, don't usually show violence or signs of aggression. But truth is most people are not like that, and are mean towards others even when they don't really think about it. In which some of the most violent acts were committed during the twentieth century. Like Hitler, who wanted the perfect race, and killed millions of Jews and took over and forced Nazism upon many countries. Or the Vietnam War that was fought through the 60's and some of the 70's. Hundreds of thousands of Americans and Vietnamese were killed and most people didn't understand what it was about. But the truth is everyday we are confronted by little things that might make us upset on the smaller scale. In which can still be horrible acts of violence. The question is, Why do we act this way? Why must we be violent towards one another? Psychologists have been searching for an answer for a long time. But the closest way they can try to find a solution is by studying aggression, which is a form of violence. There are two types of aggression.
First there is Hostile aggression, which is driven by anger and is an end in itself. Then there is Instrumental aggression, which is used to serve intimidation or extortion. Most cases can be put into these two categories.
The last section that really interested me was in the chapter, "Modern Abnormal Psychology", under the section Deciding Who's Normal. Yes! there is four categories that separate weird things people do to other weird things people do. Of course we have to argue what is normal and what is not normal. Well there really isn't a normal in this world. But we tend to base it off of the behavior of a majority of people. Or things that this majority frowns upon. So when people act outside of those terms their considered "abnormal".
The first category is Normative Criterion, which is pretty much saying the people that do what the majority of people do. This is what a lot of people do. They live their lives doing things that are almost exactly the same as the common person.
Then there is Subjective Criterion, which is simply thinking we different then the average person, or think we are doing something that is different from the average person. Something this little can be considered "abnormal". Also another thing is if you feel that something is wrong with you then this is a case of one judging their own behavior as being "abnormal".
Next we have Maladaptive Criterion which can be described as one who cannot adjust to life's demands. So if somebody has trouble adapting and adjusting to survival or a successful function in society, their behavior can be considered maladaptive.
Lastly there is Unjustifiable or unexplainable Criterion. Which is where people act or do things in strange ways and can't be explained. The general public assumes that one must act in a certain way to be normal. So if we can't come up with a reason behind their behavior, then we label their behavior as abnormal.
These are just some of the many things in Psychology for Dummies that interested me. It has pushed me farther into wanting to become a psychologist. To understand what I will be studying in the future. It is interesting and hope to learn more on my adventure of growing up.
