“What do I want to be when I grow up?” That question doesn’t necessarily lose it’s imaginative possibilities even being older now, but what ends up becoming a reality is the necessary interaction of people while trying to navigate the desirable behaviors of my own self. And there are two things that I wish to overcome in my new undertaking of being a graduate student in the field of psychology. Number one, understand more of the stereotypes of what or how my life is supposed to be based on social constructs through study of social psychology and personality theory. And number two, try to develop a bridge between theory and practice for my life-coaching practice.

More specifically the areas of research interest are in the behavioral patterns of people who work a traditional “9-5PM” job, and also how a person views their own fulfillment as a good citizen living in the United States of America. My goals are that of teaching in an academic sense and a professional counseling practice to be on both sides of the fence of theory and practice. 

In Stereotypes about the psychology degree: student sources and beliefs (Brinthaupt, T. M., Counts, V. E., & Hurst, J. R. 2012), it was shown that there are misperceptions of studying psychology. The studies revealed that most of the stereotypes were far from the truth of what people actually think. But there there is still a void portrayed in Opportunities in psychology careers (Super, C. M., Super, D. E., & Camenson, B., 2001), that suggests how most people can’t extrapolate from the study of a rat running around in a maze, to practical lessons in life based scenarios. This is a common challenge as a professional process engineer trying to also apply the relevance of my theoretical training in material science engineering. But this is an important skill I believe to being successful in not only in my professional engineering career, but also along with my personal development in life.

So it is in this disconnect of the process of theory and practical lessons revolving around the study of human behavior, where I find my vision of enrolling in a graduate level program in psychology to establish the credibility of a life coach. Similarly to how a sports coach takes the theory of good technique in athletic movement and incorporates drills into mechanisms of how the athlete and the team plays, I view my role similarly. 

This was first discovered after devoting nearly seven years to researching, writing, and publishing a book in the personal development category of self help. My book The Impression of a Good Life: Philosophical Engineering.

However, I recognize from Opportunities in psychology careers, (Super, C. M., Super, D. E., & Camenson, B., 2001) the APA has a code of ethics to follow and despite the underlying desire of applying the results of studying human behavior and sharing that to the world, self help can be frowned upon if cast in the wrong light. Figures like Malcolm Gladwell stick out for me though, where he is able to successfully bridge the intellect divide of what is studied in the science of human behavior (theory) to what can be practical to a human’s actual behavior, keeping the code of ethics seemingly intact.

This is exactly where I wish to pick up from and continue my education as well as contribute to the field of psychology. Casting my work in a light similar to Gladwell where I can take from his work the appreciation of scientific study, and also the promotion of the practical value attainable from it.

(Please excuse the lack of APA formatting! I’m still getting back into the swing of things and this was not required in the assignment)

Northcentral University. Professor Christopher Lichtanski. Course PSY5101-8 Foundations for Graduate Study in Psychology