Psychology Major for aspies

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I am a senior in high school and either want to go into biochemical engineering or psychology, and I was wondering if any aspies here are psychologists/are psychology majors and if it is hard to do, i.e. lack of empathy for people a problem, or can you better evaluate with a detachment.

I took only AP Psych, but I enjoyed it. What do you wish to do in psychology? If you go the pre-med route, you can be a psychiatrist. If you get a PhD, you can be a psychologist. If you get much less than a doctorate, you can work at the local Denny's (psychology is one of the most popular majors, and a BS or BA in psychology isn't seen as a big deal). Depending on what area of psychology you go into, lack of empathy could be a problem, but I doubt it would be so great as to prevent you entering that career field.

I take it you're more interested in psych than in biochem, since you just asked about psychology? If you're really considering both of them, either double major or major in one with a minor in the other so you have more options open to you when you start looking at grad school.

Hey join the club as I am a psychology major. I think psychology is an excellent major for aspies as it teaches them about the different lengths of different behavior. I also think psychology is helpful to a lot of Aspies on the spectrum as it helps teaches about facial expressions.

I've thoroughly enjoyed the psychology courses I've taken as a brain and cognitive sciences major. I don't think having an ASD has posed any obstacles, since psychologists (at least the scientific psychologists) do not really use personal reflection to do their research anymore. The whole field as a whole is moving towards mathematical/computational modeling of the behavioral and/or physiological data they gather in their experiments, which is a very aspie friendly way to do research. Keep in mind that I'm speaking from the perspective of a cognitive science student, which means I've only taken experimental psychology courses (cognitive psych, psycholinguistics, biopsych, etc). Your experience may vary should you choose a pre-clinical psych track.

Oh, and I have a couple family members on the spectrum who are professional psychologists with doctoral degrees and I'm sure they'd recommend psych to you, too.

While I'm majoring in journalism, I have taken several psychology sources including an abnormal one. They are enjoyable to take because you can learn about all the different disorders and you can learn about yourself too. It helps you to try to understand the unwritten social rules in everyday life. For anyone suffering from a certain mental disorder, I'd recommend psychology to anyone whether they want to major in it or just take some courses.

No actually, it's just that I didn't bother to ask if engineering would be a good career for an aspie

Gotta love the Aspie stereotypes. Anyways, I've never heard of biochemical engineering before. I know that chemical engineers get the best salary of any field off a bachelor's degree. I have heard of biomedical engineering, though I've heard jobs in that field are pretty rare.

I have a Psychology major. I'm taking my intro Psych course this semester, and I can't wait. ^^

I don't think it's too hard. I mean, many of us have been trying to analyze people's behaviors since day one. I know I do, trying to figure out people.

Since most of the stuff that you're learning will be shown through either a textbook or notes, you should be fine. It's harder when you actually talking to people, you have to know all these social rules to fit in, but you don't know them. Psychology is easier, at least it seems so from my psychology course.

Are you attending college just for the sake of learning or do you hope to get a job in your field of study? If you are an Aspie and want to become a Psychologist or Psychiatrist its not a good job fit unless you are very mildly Aspie and able to comfortably talk, counsel and console patients. If you are one of these super shy Aspies that can't talk to strangers it won't work because patients won't come to you for a second visit if you aren't enjoyable to talk to; its that simple.

If you are insistant on psychology then go the Neuropsychology route where all you do is administer written and computerized tests. As my psychologist said the personality-impaired people become neuropsychologists since they don't really have to talk to people other than giving instructions.

Hi, I went back to school and got a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology in 2005. I found the subject to be both fascinating and great for social skills training in an academic setting. I do work in the mental health field although I will readily admit it doesn't pay very much. I am seriously considering going back for a Ph.D. in the field at some point.

However, although I am convinced I am an Aspie, I have not been formally diagnosed and not everybody takes me seriously when I tell them I believe I have the condition. Everybody is different. Of course, you could always work in a research setting in neuropsychology if the subject interests you.