• Question: What inspired you to become a psychologist?

    Asked by anon-350969 on 7 Mar 2023. This question was also asked by anon-361748, anon-361755.
    • Photo: Hannah Fawcett

      Hannah Fawcett answered on 7 Mar 2023:

      I really enjoyed learning about psychology! Studying psychology at university helped me to see that I was learning a subject with real world applications – it allows us to make a real difference to the experiences of others. That is a hugely satisfying thing to do.

      My sister and I were the first people in our family to go to university, so working as a psychologist didn’t feel like a possibility to me when I was growing up – it just wasn’t on my radar. I was lucky to have some amazing teachers who encouraged me and inspired me to believe that a degree and a career in psychology were things that were available to me.

    • Photo: Joanne Cummings

      Joanne Cummings answered on 8 Mar 2023:

      As much as its a cliche, I fell in love with the discipline. I studied a module called Explaining Human Behaviour, and the rest was history. It was the most interesting subject I had ever been exposed to, and I’ve been curious about it ever since.

    • Photo: Eileen Xu

      Eileen Xu answered on 8 Mar 2023:

      I’ve been interested in mental health for a long time because of my personal experience with it. I also love analysing interactions and trying to find out what people think, and from reading about those things I became interested in psychology more broadly. What I love now is that there are so many things psychologists can do, and all these opportunities are so exciting.

    • Photo: Greta Defeyter

      Greta Defeyter answered on 13 Mar 2023:

      I am going to be honest and say that when I was young I was not particularly interested in psychology. So I did not start studying psychology at university until I was 31 years of age. I went back to university as a mature student to study psychology after doing some evening classes. These classes were taught by a really good teacher who got me interested in psychological theory. The rest, as they say, is history. Although some of you will have a burning desire to be a psychologist, some of you may not. I did not have any burning desire, but I found the subject interesting and I always think that jobs/disciplines that interest you are always better. So, in a nutshell, no burning desire to study psychology but it has enabled me to have a good career. Many of my friends who studied psychology do not work as psychologists but found their A-level and (for some their degree) really useful in getting jobs, as employers acknowledge the multiple skills acquired by psychology students. I hope this answer help.

    • Photo: Kirsten Russell

      Kirsten Russell answered on 15 Mar 2023:

      I wanted to become a psychologist because I really wanted to help other people. I started studying psychology when I was in high school, and found it fascinating, so applied to do a degree in psychology at university! One of the things I love most about it is that there are so many ways we can apply psychology to the real world to help people of all different backgrounds facing a variety of different challenges!

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