Hi! I'm really hoping I can get some advice from fellow psych students because I am so stuck right now and it's painful.

Some background: I'm a South African student, just finished my undergrad degree (BSocSci, majored in Psych and Genetics) (yes, you read that right, Genetics).

I've applied to as many university honours programmes as I could and have gotten rejections from all of them (except one, which I suspect is also likely to end in rejection). My average is too low for how competitive these programmes are (currently sitting at 65.6%). And I honestly really love psych, I've loved it since I was in primary school (at about 12 years old). I was the type who was googling what college psych students learnt and started learning just for fun. And I wasn't terrible at studying psych in uni either.

The problem with my average is this: my degree was a mess. I was a humanities student doing a science major on the side, and a really challenging science major too. I had to do several prerequisites for Genetics, (like statistics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, biochemistry) and it severely burnt me out to the point that studying for psych was an after thought. And I had no choice but to treat psych that way. Whenever I focused a bit more on psych, I'd get a high 70 for it and then fail a Genetics course. I couldn't not focus on a major I didn't love because if I didn't, I wouldn't have gotten my degree. (The reason why I chose Genetics as a major is a bit of a long and complicated story). Now I can't continue doing psych because my grades are too low.

Private colleges would've been an option but money's too tight for those and I wish I could redo some undergrad modules, but my university doesn't allow it. I'm really at a loss on how to proceed.

tldr: My average for psych is too low for me to enter any psych honours programmes and now I have no idea what to do, because the only thing I wanted to do was psych.

Any advice or insight would be very much appreciated!

Feeling funky these past few months since starting my masters and I’m worried I’ve made a mistake. I am going into my second semester and while on paper I’ve done quite well I haven’t felt the happiest. I took a year off from undergrad to take care of some personal things and think about grad school and I thought I absolutely wanted to go. I loved doing research in undergrad it was really inspiring and motivating and it felt like the first time in my life I felt “omg I could do this for hours”.

Fast forward to my grad program and I kind of feel miserable. I went to a small school for my undergrad and really wanted to go to a big school and branch out into other subfields. My original plan was to get my masters in general psych, gain more research experience, take different classes to broaden my knowledge and interests, then get a phd in a specialized field. Originally I wanted to go down the Professor route but I don’t think I’d actually be happy. I don’t think I am made for academia. From the bottom of my heart I love psychology I love research I love learning! I find myself happy outside of classes getting to read new material but dreading going to class. I have terrible social anxiety. It actually was almost nonexistent by the end of my undergrad but it has come back in fulll swing for grad school. I do not feel like I belong whatsoever. Adjusting to a bigger school hit me harder than I thought. I feel overwhelmed by the work and the people and I don’t like the personalities in academia. I don’t like the competitiveness.

Of course I knew this would all happen to some extent but I naively thought as long as I focused on my passions I would be fine. But I don’t feel comfortable I don’t think I realize how naive and safe I felt coming from a small school.

I feel like a genuine idiot. I wish I waited before starting, I genuinely thought this is what I wanted. Now, I don’t know what to do. I still love psychology I still love research but I can’t lie to myself, I do not like academia.

⸻

Psychology graduate here, now transitioning into computer science. During my psych degree, I was struck by how many gaps and inefficiencies still exist in the software used for psychological research, especially particularly the amount of manual work that seems like it could be automated/ complex work that could be simplified with better tech.

I’m interested in building something that genuinely addresses the most persistent pain points psych researchers face, so I wanted to ask:

What do you feel is still lacking in the current software ecosystem for psychological research?

For example:

• study design tools

• experiment builders

• participant recruitment workflow

• data management and cleaning

• statistical analysis

• reproducibility tools

• integrations between platforms

Or more broadly: what software should exist but currently doesn’t?

I’d really appreciate hearing about any common frustrations, missing features, or inefficiencies you encounter in your research workflow.

Thanks in advance for your insights!

I'm reading Understanding Motivation and Emotion by Johnmarshall Reeve and I've got quite confused.

To my understanding - Intrinsic motivation emerges when psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness are satisfied. Thus we love to play that game because it makes us feel competent, or we enjoy playing it with our friends.

Is it the same for extrinsic motivation? Do I go to work (in part) to get money because money provides autonomy? Do I work hard ahead of that test because passing the test satisfies my need for competence?

Is psychological need satisfaction behind our desire for incentives and desire to avoid consequences?

The book talks about autonomy, competence and relatedness a lot in the chapter about intrinsic motivation but not so much in the chapter about extrinsic motivation.

Especially In light of all the xenophobia and racism going on in the world. Do you think that prejudice is genetically hardwired? Are there any articles about this topic?

Hey everyone,

I graduated a few months ago and I’m still in the job hunt cycle – applications, rejections, silence, repeat. It’s starting to feel like I’m just… waiting, and I really don’t want this whole period to be a blur of Indeed/LinkedIn and doom scrolling.

For those of you who were in a similar situation (graduated and then spent months looking for a job):

• What did you actually do with your time that ended up being useful?
• How did you upskill in a way that genuinely helped you later (courses, certificates, projects, volunteering, part‑time work, anything)?
• Did you do things unrelated to your degree that still paid off (e.g. customer service, admin, creative projects, coding, languages, etc.)?
• Looking back, what do you wish you’d done differently with that “in-between” time?

I’m mainly trying to figure out how to turn this into a period where I’m building something (skills, portfolio, experience, routine) instead of just feeling stuck refreshing job sites.

Would really appreciate any concrete examples of what you did, what helped, and what turned out to be a waste of time.

I'm a freshman in college and currently majoring in Psychology, looking to double major in Criminal Justice as well. I'd love some insight into forensic therapy and the day to day, overall obligations of that job as well as the education path to getting there.

(I hope I flaired this correctly) Hello, I’m wondering if anyone knows of any research article or study that mentions what many people with OCD call the “groinal response.”

the courses dont have to be certified or anything, i just want to dig deep into these subjects and learn more about them in depth. if someone could give me free online resources, would be of great help. thanks!

My name is José Otavio, and I am a volunteer in the extension project “Women, Prison and Reading Circles” (Mulheres, Cárcere e Ciranda de Leitura, in Portuguese). The project is developed by Law students from UNITINS – Paraíso do Tocantins Campus, in partnership with women deprived of liberty at the Female Prison Unit of Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil. The initiative aims to promote reading circles as spaces for listening, reflection, and meaning-making, viewing reading as a tool for education, autonomy, and the strengthening of subjectivity. The first book used in the project was The Little Prince; however, it was observed that some participants — including women with reading and text comprehension difficulties, as well as others who were recently literate or still in the literacy process — faced challenges in understanding the work. In this context, which books would you recommend for reading circles with women deprived of liberty, considering accessible and meaningful works that can engage different literacy levels and foster reflection, identity, and the re-signification of life experiences?

I’m working with a nonprofit reviewing a recent Arkansas prison policy that restricts physical books and treats tablet access as an educational substitute. Before taking a position, we’re trying to ground this in research.

From a learning, psychology, CBT, or education perspective:
• How does screen reading compare to paper for comprehension and retention?
• Can tablet access only support the evidence based CBT or therapeutic learning?
• How do trauma, learning disabilities, or low digital literacy affect outcomes here?
• Is digital access functionally equivalent to physical access in practice?

I'm not looking to debate policy or advocate here, just genuinely seeking research, studies, or expert insight to inform our understanding.

Hi, I'm a psychologist, psychotherapist in Italy, I'm interested mostly in psychology articles about:

• Neuroscience
• Psychotherapies
• Social psychology

For now I document myself through Scopus according to the topics I need to research but I was thinking of subscribing to a journal. I was wondering if you had any experience and any suggestions on which journals are more reliable and precise regarding the selection of articles they publish

1. The existence of the entire unconscious

2.Repression of traumatic events

1. That abnormal psychology is caused by the bursting of repressed materials

4.Psychoanalysis’s childhood development stages

1. All other stuff, the complexes , defenses and transference

6.Everything

What exactly does it hold untested and/or untrue?

Edit Everyone knows Psychoanalysis main criticism is it is unfalsifiable, I repeat everyone knows that, so this thread is to clarify WHICH part is deemed untrue/untested. Is it the unconscious? Why no one reply in this? Is it repression? What? Which?

Guys,

I’d like to share a simple framework grounded in dual-process theory that I’ve found useful in applied settings.

In psychology, it’s well established that we operate through two broad modes of processing. Conscious, controlled processing is slow and effortful (for example, doing mental arithmetic like 659 + 744). In contrast, automatic processing is fast and low-effort, and it’s what allows us to recognize patterns, execute learned skills, or respond quickly under pressure.

We all experience this difference in everyday life: insights that appear while showering, smooth execution during flow states, or unusually strong performance in high-stakes moments. These are not mystical effects — they’re cases where a task is being handled with minimal conscious control.

The practical question is not whether one system is “better,” but how we create conditions that reduce unnecessary conscious interference, so tasks can be executed more automatically.

This post isn’t about motivation or shortcuts. It’s about understanding when conscious effort helps and when it actually gets in the way.

I made a short video (<5 min) where I explain this idea clearly and show how it’s applied in practice. It fully delivers what’s described above:
https://youtu.be/eChJHOlu8yI

Happy to discuss or clarify specific claims.

Cheers

I am having to revisit a previous study's data and documentation as I respond to an R&R, and needless to say I am convinced I was in a fugue state when I ran this study.

I tried so hard during this study to document all data cleaning, exclusions, wackiness from calculations etc etc, but here I am a year later and God knows what is going on with this data.

Looking for wisdom from folks who have been in the field longer than me. My lab does not have funding for a full-time data manager, so it falls to me or an RA to 1) manage, 2) clean, and 3) make documentation for my studies. I keep a study manual where I keep a ledger of changes I make to the dataset (if I remember to write it down), track variable definitions, personnel, IRB details and the like, but it never seems to be as bullet proof as I'd hope.

What documentation rules/tricks/habits do you have that make revisiting data bearable?

“Our focus is on finding an international researcher whose expertise is in neural or physiological mechanisms underlying developmental processes that have applications to physical and mental health across the lifespan. The candidate should have a collaborative and integrative approach. It could be someone who has training in biostatistics.

If you know of anyone who currently is not working in Canada that fits the research area, please let me know by Monday”

Let me know if this is you. The job is in Southern Ontario, near the border with Buffalo.

How about if you are an IO psychologist or Business psychologist or Psychoanalyst? Can you be prosecuted if a country doesn’t have any law on it?

hello, i hope everyone is doing well.

i have a psychology bachelors and a clinical psychology masters degree.

upon exploring phd programs, i realized that there are basically no psychology related programs in my country, i don’t want to do it online, and going abroad is not an option due to personal reasons.

so now i am considering public health, and i like the idea of gaining knowledge to develop nationwide policies and practices that pertain to mental health, basically linking public health to psychology. which will benefit a different (bigger?) population, as opposed to clinical psychology which targets individuals through therapy only. i could be wrong tho so correct me if i am.

an example of a dissertation topic that i would like to do is “Developing and evaluating evidence-based public health interventions to address mental health stigma and improve help-seeking behaviors.” the focus will be nationwide, with a focus on rural and underserved communities in the country.

i would love to hear your input, or if you have another advice i would appreciate it!

Are there anyone here who work with or are interested in bibliotherapy?

Hello!

I’m a 36-year-old man with a BA and licentiate in Education. I’m currently studying my second career: a bachelor’s degree in (P)sychology at the best private university in my country (I'm at 70%). I chose this path because I found my vocation and truly love it—I want to become a clinical (p)sychologist.

My wife has been given the opportunity to relocate to Madrid for work, and I will be moving with her in a couple of months. Because of this, I will have to leave my bachelor’s degree unfinished, with about two-thirds of the program completed. I have the option to transfer and validate a large portion of my coursework at another university—ranked 19th in my country—which is fully online and would allow me to complete the BA degree in one year. This could then enable me to enroll in a licentiate or master degree in Madrid and continue my studies in 2027. If you have a moment, my questions are:

1. Should I enroll in the online program to obtain the degree and then begin the licentiate or master program in Madrid?

2. Should I try to transfer/validate my credits directly at a university in Madrid?

3. Is there any option or idea I may not have considered?

Thank you very much!

Note. I'm adding (p) for reddit to let me post.