Majoring in psychology helms pdf

BIOPSYCHOLOGY AND PERCEPTION 1

BIOPSYCHOLOGY AND PERCEPTION 4

Biopsychology and Perception

Cassandra Howery

Professional Careers and Education in Psychology

June 14th, 2015

Biopsychology and Perception

Biopsychology and perception are specialities in the larger field of psychology. Biopsychology merges the disciplines of biology and psychology. It focuses on the interactions between the environment and the mind, body and the consequent behaviour. It studies the effect of the environment on the brain and behaviour and with the ways individuals interact and respond to stimuli. On the other hand, perception is a speciality of psychology that deals with how sensory information is perceived from the environment. It entails memory, cognition and perception and how the stimulus is perceived and the processes involved in the interpretation of stimuli into meaningful data (Pinel, 2009).

There are various careers for students studying Biopsychology and perception. One can become a teacher and teach the field of biopsychology. Markedly, teaching can be done at all levels including high schools, college, or the universities. Similarly, one can become a research assistant and work depending on the interests of the researcher or supervising professor. One can do teaching and work as a research assistant concurrently. There is the career of being a scientific researcher. It involves neuroscientists who study the brain. Scientific researchers study the various causes and effects of brain and mental illness and the effectiveness of drugs. Additionally one can embark on the profession of being a mental health counselling and work in clinics, hospitals or mental institutions. Such a career deals with counselling, monitoring and advocating for patients with mental disorders.

The salary for such professions is approximately 39460 dollars for a research assistant. For the teaching profession, the salary ranges around 68690 dollars per month. On the other hand, researchers such as scientists in the field of biopsychology have a minimum salary of 75600 dollars monthly. Counsellors have a minimum salary of 40850 dollars. Notably one has to be qualified so as to engage in the above career. Such qualifications include; having a bachelor's degree in the field of biopsychology for the career of high school teaching and a beginner in the career of a research assistant. Seemingly, college and university teaching requires one to have master’s degree in the field of biopsychology (Norwich, 1993). Researchers and counsellors must have a doctorate in the relevant fields for them to embark on their respective careers.

Worth noting is that thorough research was done on the speciality of biopsychology and perception within the field of psychology. The careers are really capturing. The profession of doing counselling and research captured my attention. Such careers will enable me to be in the field and discover more interesting facts in the field of biopsychology (Helms & Rogers, 2015). This has made me gain interesting information and facts that were unknown to me before. There are various careers that one can embark on when specialising in the above disciplines. I had initially thought that the speciality of biopsychology only allowed me to do the profession of teaching of the high school. However, my assumptions were proved wrong as I have come to realize that there are diverse, exciting professions that I can do (Jensen, 1970).

One of the interesting facts derived from the hot topics is about depth perception and how the brains see what there is is how the brain. I have learned how the brain synthesizes and processes ambiguous information. Similarly, I have learnt about the psychology of success. This explains how the environment, our perception of success and positive thinking are great factors that necessitate one to become successful. Watching the episode about brains games enabled me to realize how the simple critical thinking done on a daily basis are influential in enhancing memory and help in preventing brain decline.

References

Helms, J. L., & Rogers, D. T. (2015). Majoring in psychology: achieving your educational and career goals. John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=v0qVBgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA3&dq=Biopsychology+and+Helms,+J.L.,%26+Rogers,+D.T.+(2015).+Majoring+in+Psychology:+achieving+your+educational+and+career+goals+Perception&ots=bqKloi-SPy&sig=XuXShulIsS-aeA6DZSd5ksp5qzM

Jensen, D. D. (1970). Polythetic biopsychology: An alternative to behaviorism. Current Issues in Animal Learning, JH Reverse, Ed, 1–31.

Norwich, K. H. (1993). Information, sensation, and perception. Academic Press San Diego. Retrieved from http://biopsychology.org/norwich/isp/cc.pdf

Pinel, J. P. (2009). Biopsychology. Pearson Education.

The Psych Files. (n.d.-a). Ep 199: Depth Perception – How Your Brain Sees What’s Not There. Retrieved June 10, 2015, from http://www.thepsychfiles.com/2013/08/ep-199-depth-perception-how-your-brain-sees-whats-not-there/

The Psych Files. (n.d.-b). Ep 235: Want to Swap Bodies? Retrieved June 10, 2015, from http://www.thepsychfiles.com/2015/01/ep-235-want-to-swap-bodies/