PSY 101: 心理学及心理学专业申请介绍（美国）

TedSnapeUID：3407206

挖个坑，慢慢填～～～

先偷篇文章镇个楼：

Advice for Graduate Students:

The 10 Suggestions for a Basic-Research Career

Mark B. Kristal, Professor of Psychology, University at Buffalo

1. Establish an independent line of research as early in your career as possible. If you can, do so even as a graduate student. Avoid the graduate student’s trap of thinking up experiments in other researchers’ programs that the other researcher has missed. Of course these are useful studies, but do not form the basis of one’s own independent line of research.

2. Be problem-oriented, not technique-oriented. Use a variety of techniques, methods, and orientations -- whichever are necessary to solve the problems at hand. Philip Teitelbaum used to recommend, back in the days of relay racks and electromechanical programming equipment that would take months to assemble for a single experiment, that whenever a study was completed, the equipment for the study should be dismantled, lest the experimenter be seduced into running another study with that equipment just because it was there. It is also painful to hear a major professor introduce one of his or her graduate students as “Jenny Green...she does c-fos” or “Tom Smith...he does meta-analysis”. This may interest potential postdoctoral sponsors who are looking to hire new Ph.D.s because of the skills they can bring to the postdoctoral sponsor’s lab, but this puts the new Ph.D. squarely into the role, perhaps forever, of technician rather than scientist. Remember, technology comes and goes, but the underlying questions are the meat of research. It is depressing to go to poster sessions at the big conferences year after year and see the same questions being asked over and over with different, more “cutting edge” techniques, presented by people enamored of the techniques rather than the research problems. If technology is so costly, in terms of equipment, learning time, and other resources, how does one avoid the trap of becoming technique oriented? The answer: collaborate.

3. Think beyond the next publication, or even the next grant proposal. Take the long view; look at the big picture. In other words, bite off a piece of question that may take a decade, or even a career to answer. There is a major difference between the scientist that wonders how to break the question into appropriate sized grant proposals, and one who wonders how to expand the question into a grant proposal. Furthermore, commit yourself to your question; given the time and energy it takes to answer an appropriate sized research question, pursuing a series of unrelated research questions in parallel rather than in series is often a sign of dilettantism.

4. If you do basic research, keep your eyes open for applications of your findings. On the other hand, if you find yourself doing applied research, keep your eyes on underlying theoretical implications. Often, the distinction between basic and applied research is arbitrary or fluid.

5. When conducting experiments, don’t accept answers or results simply because they are publishable. Keep plugging away at the problem until the answers or results make sense or satisfy you in terms of an overall schema. Most importantly, don’t accept other scientists’ answers; reputation is not a guarantee against being wrong.

6. Expect unexpected results. A great deal of research data is discarded because an experiment “didn’t work”. However, a well designed experiment should provide positive information regardless of how it comes out. Design experiments so that all outcomes yield something: a “no difference” finding is not the same as a “negative results” finding.

7. Don’t expect answers; expect more questions. Daniel Lehrman used to tell us that a good experiment will raise more questions than it answers. Perhaps non-scientists find this aspect of science strangely frustrating. However, the lack of a final solution distinguishes the scientist’s quest from the engineer’s.

8. Never stop asking questions. Questions are the stock-in-trade of the scientist. The corollary of this suggestion is “never make assumptions.” Of course, assumptions are a necessary part of hypothesis construction, but on an everyday practical level, and in terms of research design, assumptions can be disastrous. Many times I’ve located hiding escaped rats that my students couldn’t find because unlike my students, I did not assume that a rat could not “go there” or “do that”.

9. Choose a problem that excites you. It should excite you so much that you can’t sleep. It should excite you so much that when someone asks you the time, you blurt out your research topic.

10. Strive for elegance in research. The elegance of an experiment is in the quality of the thinking and the cleverness of the approach to answering the research question, not in the complexity of the design or the sophistication of the methods. Often, the most elegant experiments are simple, low-tech attacks at the heart of the problem. Study classic research in your field and appreciate the logic and thought that went into it. All too often students nowadays ignore older research because it isn’t available online, or dismiss it for using old-fashioned techniques. There is much wisdom and cleverness in some of those old papers. Reading them, learning from them, and citing them, is real scholarship.

© 2005, The International Behavioral Neuroscience Society

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另，再附几篇心理学的论文，有兴趣的可以读下，大概了解下心理学研究都在干些啥～～～

singaporeandyUID：3406918

大赞楼主！！！

轻松水上飞UID：3413973

怎么全是英文吖

TedSnapeUID：3407206

轻松水上飞 发表于 2013-2-25 10:33
怎么全是英文吖

懒得翻译了:p

arcyoungUID：2260045

轻松水上飞 发表于 2013-2-25 08:33
怎么全是英文吖

对 要多读英文

TedSnapeUID：3407206

楼主来填坑了！
楼主准备先来讲一下关于心理学专业申请的问题。当然楼主只会详细讲美国心理学PhD Program的申请，Master/PsyD/EdD也可能会顺便提到，但其他国家楼主由于不清楚，所以不会出来乱讲～～～
OK, let’s get started!

(1)        关于录取标准

录取委员会喜欢怎样的学生呢？ According to Keith-Spiegel & Wiederman (2000, p. 32):

The ideal student, seen through the eyes of graduate faculty, is gifted and creative, very bright and extremely motivated to learn, perfectly suited to the program, eager to actively pursue the lines of inquiry valued by the faculty, pleasant, responsible, and devoid of serious personal problems.

This statement indicates that applicants must convey these impressions to graduate school admissions committees throughout the application process to gain acceptance into graduate programs.

好吧，以上是楼主为了凑字数而抄来的废话。。。心理学graduate program录取和很多其他专业也差不多，都是看以下几个：Personal statement, Grades, Research experience, Letters of Recommendation, Test scores. 这五个方面一般是综合考虑，不会只看其中一个方面就决定录取不录取。当然，有一个原因会让申请者立即死（其他死法以后还会讲到）：mismatched interests!!! 比如，Umass Amherst网上是这样说的：All of these factors are taken into consideration in the application and no one factor (except mismatched interests) is usually fatal to chances for admission. 再比如，Harvard在网站上说他们的临床心理学是“a research-oriented program”，如果哪个申请者“seeking professional training for the purposes of clinical practice”，那只能“be advised to apply elsewhere”。“To be competitive, applicants should have excellent grades, GRE scores, recommendations, and must have research interests that are compatible with those of faculty members. ” 所以申请前切记要调查清楚，以免说错话直接被咔嚓了！！！

再来看其他几个方面。首先test scores。GRE有多重要呢？Well, it depends.

比如，University at Buffalo是这样说的：Every graduate school hopes to attract and select the most capable and most highly motivated students who are apt to become devoted to psychology as a profession and who will make major contributions to knowledge. GREs provide one independent and standardized method of assessing all candidates though the other areas of your application give further insight into whom you are and how you might be expected to perform. If your grades are low and you are lacking research experience, then your GRE scores should be high. If your grades are high and you have some research experience, then your GRE scores can be lower. In general, GRE scores under 50th percentile can present a problem unless there are other strong credentials. GRE scores above 80th percentile are very good.

大意就是，如果你其他啥都不行，那就好好把GRE搞好；如果你其他方面都挺牛逼的，那GRE成绩差点也OK。反正你总不能神马都差吧！！！

UMass Amherst也表达了类似的意思：If a student has lower than average GRE scores, but excellent grades and letters of recommendation, for example, the GRE scores will tend to be discounted. 不过这句后面还小贱的跟了一句：This said, our typical graduate student majored in psychology as an undergraduate, received about a 3.5 GPA, did a Senior Honors research project or the equivalent, and scored 600 or better on each subtest of the GRE. 哎，真是竞争激烈啊！！！

Harvard也差不多：GRE scores are an important part of the application, but equal or greater weight is given to other components, such as grades and letters of recommendation. While the average admitted applicant has a combined verbal and quantitative GRE score of 1350 or higher, candidates with lower scores will be given serious consideration if other parts of the application are extraordinary. We have admitted applicants with scores as low as 1200.

总之，其他方面越牛逼，GRE的作用就会越小。但是，对于国内申请者来说，有一些会缺research experience，有些没上过必要的心理学课程，所以GRE还是高点好！

TedSnapeUID：3407206

跟大家share一篇文章： Organizing Your Personal Statement，这篇文章讲了应该如何组织个人陈述～

arcyoungUID：2260045

TedSnape 发表于 2013-2-25 20:30
楼主来填坑了！
楼主准备先来讲一下关于心理学专业申请的问题。当然楼主只会详细讲美国心理学PhD Program的 ...

你这整理得非常好
非常宝贵

TedSnapeUID：3407206

楼主又来了。。。

今天说一下录取标准里的Grades以及对本科课程的要求。

关于Grades没有太多要说的。有些学校要求至少3.0，有些要求3.25，有些3.5。低于学校的最低标准肯定会有问题，除了其他方面特别强（比如很高的GRE，丰富的研究经历，牛推。。。）。

像UMass Amherst的Cognitive Psychology Program是这样说的：Generally our students have around a 3.5 or better grade point average based on a 4 point scale. However, we also carefully consider the difficulty of the courses taken and the general reputation of the undergraduate institution from which the degree was received.

但对于很多在国内读大学的申请者来说，外国大学可能并不清楚the difficulty of the courses and the general reputation of the undergraduate institution，所以这种情况下可能会更关注GRE成绩。

关于具体到每门课的Grades，学校会更关注那些心理学相关课程的成绩。当然每个program不同，关注的课程也会有稍许不同。比如UMass Amherst Cognitive Psychology Program：We particularly look at grades in courses such as statistics, mathematics, and hard science courses.

而就算不提成绩，很多学校也强调申请者在本科阶段上过心理学/科学相关课程。UMass Amherst Clinical Psychology Program是这样说的：Applicants should have majored in psychology. Exceptions will be considered for applicants with other majors who have taken a minimum set of psychology courses including introductory psychology, statistics, research methods, abnormal psychology, and at least three additional advanced courses in psychology. A background in statistics is required.

Harvard这样说：It is desirable but not essential to have majored in psychology; indeed, some breadth of training in biology, computer sciences, mathematics, philosophy, physics, or the social sciences is preferred to over-concentration in psychology. Some college work in elementary statistics or quantitative methods is advisable. In assessing the applications of candidates whose undergraduate training was in the arts or humanities, the admissions committee will need to place more emphasis on such things as general math and science grades, and the GRE scores.

一般说来，大部分学校要求申请者本科上过心理学入门、统计、研究方法三门课。而因为在美国心理学偏向于科学，所以学校也会关注理科方面的成绩，尤其对纯文科申请者来说。所以文科申请者除了在GRE数学部分要很好之外，最好在本科阶段上一些数学、生物、计算机等课程。

最后再提一下转专业申请者。转专业是绝对没问题的，但一般要达到上面说到的修课要求。

University at Buffalo关于转专业申请者是这样说明的，可作参考：

Q: I didn't major in psychology as an undergraduate. May I still apply to your Ph.D. program?

A: Yes. However, the admissions committee will expect that you have had an introductory course in psychology, a course in statistics, and a course in research methods (or similar courses). And you should have had enough experiences in psychology (courses, research experience, and fieldwork) to be sure that being a psychologist is what you really want to do.

TedSnapeUID：3407206

arcyoungUID：2260045

TedSnape 发表于 2013-3-17 14:05

辛苦了

ann880222UID：3037554

心理学神马的 好有意思~

慕晖UID：3405473

lz学哪个方向啊？

lizzybaiheUID：3425170

谢谢arcyoung！谢谢你的分享！:p

TedSnapeUID：3407206

慕晖 发表于 2013-3-28 00:12
lz学哪个方向啊？

psycholinguistics，关于semantic priming和sentence processing，也可能会搞下processing of referential expressions。。。