MAJOR STEREOTYPES: Psychology
Most people like to talk about their feelings some of the time, but some people like to talk about their feelings most of the time. For the feeliest of the feeling their is psychology, which among other topics, is concerned with the scientific investigation of emotions, personalities, and reading minds.
Psychology, as a university major, has a mixed reputation. On the one hand, Pre-Med students look down on psychology as a 'soft science', comparatively easy to the likes of Biomedical Engineering, Cyber-genetics, and those really scary majors that have short names: physics, chemistry, biology, etc. On the other hand, these same Pre-Med students visit psychologists for therapy when the not-so-invisible hand of State intervention makes becoming a doctor such a pain in the ass that Big Pharma can't even medicate the hurt away.
Humanities students have a similar relationship with psychology students. Cognac sipping scholars of literature view psychology as scientism [1], attempting to bottle up the glorious human spirit into terms which are naively unhelpful at best and just plain dehumanizing at worst. These same students, however, may jump to quoting or referencing some social scientist that supports their ideological leanings before you can finish saying "Fyodor Dostoevsky".
Who are the psychology majors? What do they do? Can they tell you how you feel?
WEIRD People
The most studied populations by psychologists are students of psychology. Students in psychology courses are often asked to or required to take part in studies for course credit.
There is an acronym to describe the demographic group most psychology students belong to: WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic). This term was first brought to my attention by a professor concerned with methodologies in the social sciences.
I think that we can do a better job with a 'WEIRD' acronym for the 21st century. Here goes: WEIRD (Worrying, Eccentric, Irritable, Rationalizing, Democrats).
The worrying part is straightforward. Many people get into psychology because they have an interest in mental health. As such, there are many worrying, anxious, nervous types in psychology.
For similar reasons, psychology also attracts many eccentric types. The acronym 'WEIRD' is fitting here as a descriptive label. Many students of psychology want to know the workings of the minds of Normies, sometimes out of a desire to be like them, other times out of a desire to control them.
Psychology majors become irritable when their friends in STEM fields tell them they are not scientists.
At this point, they begin rationalizing. They may create strawman arguments about how engineering and business students only care about "things and money" and how they are deeply concerned with human beings.
They then proceed to equate caring with voting Democrat, emphasizing the need for more funding in education [3]. Give us money, because all those naughty bankers care about is money! Power to the people (as long as they agree with me)!
Marketing Psychology
Psychology majors study similar things to other fields such as marketing, design, and literature. Marketing researchers are concerned with what people's preferences are for the immediate practical concern creating successful sales campaigns. Likewise, designers want to make appealing designs. Many bloggers (like yours truly) want to please readers while expressing our thoughts & feelings [4].
Artists, salespeople, actors, and the like are direct competition to (institutional) psychologists who want to be the authorities on all things feelings and mind related. Religious teachers likewise are competitors with psychology students that tend to embrace secular, Darwinian worldviews of feel-splaining nihilism [5]. Why do (most) people continue to turn to art, music, literature, blog posts by randos on the Internet, (...and social media!), rather than (institutional) psychology for analysis of the feels?
Notice me senpai!!!!!!
Psychology majors must wrestle with their heads being filled with 'knowledge' and 'facts' that the more accomplished people around them regard as common sense (already intuitively known). While their artist friends get likes on their drawings, their musician friends enjoy improvisation sessions with one another, and their business friends land high-earning positions, the psychology majors sit morosely, sipping on room-temperature Diet Coke (the mini-fridge broke).
Journey to the West
The multicultural West is a challenging landscape to navigate, especially for the skeptically-inclined. Psychology majors study what is supposed to be a humanity-wide subject matter. In many ways, this is a very Western and very modern thing.
For most of recorded history, it appears nearly everyone grew up with some kind of belief system or other structure (e.g. organized religion, relatively homogeneous society) that lays out what people do, what to look out for, what is right and wrong, etc. The "how-to"s of lives well lived have been explored by philosophers, theologians, novelists, playwrights, etc.
Psychology majors, rather than going with a tried-and-true way of living life, choose to live dangerously on the edge, betting their (borrowed) money on the institutional re-invention of the wheel.
Naturally, this is very stressful.
God save the psychology majors
Thankfully, most psychology majors I've met have found some 'religion' outside of academic walls, whether this is an organized religion, a hobby/side-gig to seriously devote themselves to, or a family to care for.
The uncertainty in their own studies, citation of people that sound certain, and struggle to control reality inside and outside of laboratories leads to chronic bad feels among aspiring psychologists. Netflix, boxed wine, cats, and Tumblr are popular means of self-medication. Some healthier alternatives include yoga, indoor rock climbing, singing in choirs, and water color painting.
Psychology majors just want to express how they feel. They also need a work-life balance. So do you. Believe me. I'll get the citations. What–don't walk away!!! Some YouTuber can't explain what I'm about to say in 30 seconds...... NOTTTIIIIIICCCCCEEEEE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE >:(
Notes and References
[1] Excessive belief in the power of scientific knowledge and techniques
[3] I admit it, I voted Democrat in 2016 because psychologists told me to
[4] Check out my blog post "Controlling people with words: how minds obey the words we say" for a short introduction to the dark arts of persuasion
[5] As I see it, the work of Jordan Peterson has captivated many people because of its literary rather than psychological (in the sense of institutional psychology) appeal.