What do New Psychology Students Know about Psychology?

Abstract

There has been an ongoing debate about the content and purpose of undergraduate education in psychology in New Zealand and Australia, specifically about the balance between theory and practice, desired graduate attributes, and graduate employability. This study contributes to this debate by exploring new undergraduate students' beliefs about the discipline and study of psychology and the implications of these beliefs for curriculum design and delivery. Nineteen students were interviewed in two focus groups about their beliefs about psychology and expectations of what they would learn in the programme. Results suggest that students have contradictory ideas about psychology, sometimes describing it as a science and at other times as an extension of everyday knowledge or something mysterious. Students appear to believe that undergraduate Psychology involves personal and experiential learning and teaches practical skills to help people. Students express a need for skills that will facilitate their career prospects and emphasise practitioner‐related activities of psychology in contrast to theoretical knowledge. We argue that educators may need to show students more explicitly how the scientific basis of psychology can inform general psychological literacy and how this can contribute to vocational skills including and beyond those related to clinical psychology.

Key words:

• psychology as a discipline
• students' expectations
• teaching of psychology
• undergraduate curricula

Acknowledgements

The helpful comments from Dr John F Smith on draft versions of this article are gratefully acknowledged.