Do You Think Psychology Is secure?
I found this outpouring to be telling of two things: (a) not surprisingly, many people lovepsychology and there is much energy available to defend it (perhaps especially from a snide remark from a Republican candidate) and (b) the magnitude and nature of the responses were suggestive of a field that is a bit on the defensive.
One reason I say “b” because the majority of responses were from “psych majors” who were doing therapy or working as professors or researchers. The problem here is that responses from these folks completely miss the point of Bush’s comment. He was clearly referring to individuals who decide to major in psychology and end their education there. Does anyone really believe Bush meant people like me, which would translate into saying: “If you get your BA, your MA, your PhD, and your Post Doc degree in clinical psychology, you will end up working in a fast food restaurant!” Of course not. The reference was made to the utility of getting ONLY a BA in psychology (or philosophy, which he also referenced—it is worth noting that I have not seen an outpouring of replies from philosophy majors). Thus, responses from folks who have their doctorate in psychology should be considered a non sequitur.
So what does the reality look like for folks with only a BA in psychology? , the picture is mixed, and in general somewhat less rosy than the average major, depending on one’s values (i.e., it might help understanding self and others; but it is not that great for making money). It is the case that most psychology majors don’t work in fast food, but it is also the case that the job prospects for folks who major in psychology has been a concern for a while. Consider this 2009 AP Monitor article, which announces “the bad news” for newly minted psychology majors who are entering the job market:
If you’re hoping to get a psychology-related job, the odds aren’t in your favor. A 2003 survey by the National Science Foundation found that of the 122,800 people who graduated with BS degrees in psychology, less than 5 percent got jobs in the field.
With this fact in mind, we should return to Bush’s comment and see that he is making a potentially valid point, which is that if we think about psychology majors in market-commodity terms, then our honest assessment is that they are not all that great. Now, of course, we could engage in a serious discussion about whether degrees only have value in market commodity terms, but that is a different conversation. And, indeed, Bush notes that it is “great” to have a such a degree. But rather than a conversation about our values, what we had was an indignant rebuttal, largely from psychologists, even though Bush was clearly NOT thinking of psychologists when he made the comment (to be a psychologist in the US requires advanced degrees beyond the BA, usually the PhD).
I believe one of most valuable aspects of psychology is that it teaches us to be psychological minded, which means we can step back and analyze the dynamics that are driving human behavior. So, let’s step back and ask the question: Why the dramatic, emotionally charged response to Bush, many from psychologists, who were not really the focus of his comment?
First, when we see people get charged, indignant and proclaim their worth relative to some attack, we can say that the defensive system has been activated. when our core sense of security and value is threatened, which causes us to develop justifications as to why we are legitimate, correct or warranted. To my read, this is a pretty good description of the response to Bush’s comment. So, then we can ask, why did the psychological community react in such a defensive way? Here are some of the main reasons I think the response elicited the reaction it did.
1. A grain (or more) of truth. We respond defensively to things that threaten our security and often there is at least some truth to the thing we fear. And, yes, the data actually do exist that point to BA’s in psychology not being exactly “high value”, at least in terms of market-commodity value relative to many other undergraduate majors. Thus, Bush does have a point, even if he exaggerated it.
2. The political context is hyper-polarized and psychology is hyper-left; so folks in psychology are primed to attack anything a Republican says. The data are clear that we live in a time when Republicans and Democrats see themselves as more different and in more hostile terms than any time in recent history.
3. Our current systems of communication foster and reward indignant sound-bites far more than reasoned analyses of the issues.
4. The fourth and final reason has to do with the state of the field of psychology in the US today. A strong argument can be made that it is not doing well on several fronts. First, psychology is struggling with a deep-seated conceptual fragmentation, a profound crisis of identity , and economic troubles, in part because of managed care and also because of the influx of so many masters level degrees that allow individuals to practice as counselors and therapists.
Second, over the past year, the American Psychological Association, by far the largest and most important professional organization for the discipline, has been embroiled in a massive scandal involving torture and foundational disputes about the role of psychologists, our relationship with the military, and whether or not key members of the APA engaged in outrageously unethical behavior or are now the victims of an unjustified witch hunt. It is arguably one of the largest scandals any professional organization has faced and it will be many years before the full consequences are realized.
Third, the science of psychology took a serious hit with the publication of the replication study. One of the most foundational aspects of scientific knowledge is that the findings replicates across time and context. Psychologists have notoriously focused more on generating new findings than replicating old ones and an initiative was started to address that, such that a research team started the process of identifying a sample of major studies and attempting to replicate them. A report on this project found that only 36 of 100 studies replicated in a straightforward “statistically significant” way. That finding has sent shockwaves through the research community and reiterated many people’s belief that psychology as a science is basically a bunch of bs (although I don’t think this is a valid conclusion, I do think there is much about psychological research that needs alteration).
Every profession wants to “matter” and wants to make a positive difference. If is it seemingly belittled by an outsider, especially an outsider from an “enemy” political camp, it is only natural that such a comment will elicit a defense. But ideally, the size of the reaction should be proportional to the nature of the insult. If the reaction is excessive and we find ourselves “protesting too much”, then a psychologically minded stance is one that steps back and takes an inventory of what is going on. In this case, much of what might be going on is that we psychologists are not feeling all that secure about our position in the world.
BY
jagadeesh krishnan
Psychologist and International Author
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