Gruesome moral dilemmas are big in some humanities classes, like psychology. Psychology focuses on mental disorders and empathy within students. Vivien Mogyoros, a student at Woodland who enjoys ECE psychology has learned about how empathy impacts the way you think of someone.
“I’ve learned about conditioning yourself, which is how to study better, and my perception of people has changed,” Vivien Mogyoros commented.
“I’ve learned how different people perceive the world in different ways. It makes it easier to problem solve because I can put myself in other people’s shoes.”
Psychology students are equipped to look at these situations, understand how the brain works, and recognize possible mental illnesses like Aspergers and BDD. With an understanding of the way the brain works, and how people react for different reasons, these students gain a better understanding of those around them.
Psychology students learn about how other people think and how that affects the decisions made. They also look at what motivates someone to make this decision and how different people might act. Psychology also allows students to make their own decisions and control how they think in a situation.
Understanding someone else’s point of view is something that could help many people in the long run, especially today in society, where some people can be more accepting than others.
It’s important to think about others and how words affect someone because people don’t think the same. Having different perspectives of the world, and understanding the brain gives students, like Mogyoros, a chance at being more accepting of others. Many disabilities also can be better understood from studying the brain. When studying the brain, many can easily learn how people with certain disabilities or mental disorders act. Because of this, there is a better chance at understanding them, which can help students who are struggling know they aren’t alone.
Robert Murdy, psychology teacher at Woodland, has taught many students with mental disorders when teaching at his old school. He believes figuring people out is the most interesting thing in psychology.
“Having worked at a school for the emotionally disturbed, I found I had unique knowledge about abnormal psychology that was something I could play into,” stated Murdy.
He is able to connect his lessons to interesting stories of his time at the school and really helps students get involved and understand what is happening. The most interesting part of psychology to Murdy is reading people and figuring out how they think.
“I personally like figuring out why people are the way they are,” Murdy comments. “I like to figure out why I am the way I am and why students the way they are.”
Murdy thinks students can really learn something from psychology. He hopes his students learn more empathy and understand about mental illnesses and other issues going on in the world today.
“I’m just hoping that people from my class view things with a wider view. Not everything is black and white. I hope students develop some sort of empathy and have a more open and better understanding the challenges that people face.”
Mogyoros enjoys psychology as well, but also argues it can be hard at times.
“The hardest part about psychology for me personally is the science part of it, like connecting the parts of the brain to how a person functions,” Mogyoros added. “Because everyone functions differently, it’s not going to be the same for everyone.”
Mogyoros’ viewpoints show the level of complexity between the brain and how someone thinks/acts. With the proper teaching, anyone can become empathetic and understand where others are coming from. It takes patience and time, but it could be what helps a student focus on schoolwork, become more social, and overall be healthier.
