Question by royalflushster: What is the field of psychology relating to consciousness?
I am currently a psychology undergraduate student, and I have the most interest learning about consciousness (levels of consciousness, sleep, dreams, drugs, hypnosis, etc.).
I was curious what branch of psychology this would be in.
I want to go to graduate school and I would like to one day become a psychologist.
Also, is a sociology minor good for this field? (because that’s what I’m currently in) If not, what should I change it to?
Please also let me know about the minor and/or other courses to take
Best answer:
Answer by Reveille
Cognitive Psychology is probably what youre looking for but not every college has this as a major. It all depends on what your ultimate goal is. Cognitive Psy explaines what we know that happens in the mind; but if your trying to become a therapist then I would lean more towards Counseling psychology (although it wouldnt go into detail about (levels of consciousness, sleep, dreams, drugs, hypnosis, etc.).
Grabbed this list from wikipedia:
Subfields
3.1 Fields of research
3.1.1 Abnormal psychology
3.1.2 Biological psychology
3.1.3 Cognitive psychology
3.1.4 Comparative psychology
3.1.5 Developmental psychology
3.1.6 Personality psychology
3.1.7 Quantitative psychology
3.1.8 Social psychology
3.2 Fields of application
3.2.1 Clinical psychology
3.2.2 Counseling psychology
3.2.3 Educational psychology
3.2.4 Forensic psychology
3.2.5 Psychology and Law
3.2.6 Health psychology
3.2.7 Human factors psychology
3.2.8 Industrial and organizational psychology
3.2.9 School psychology
Sociology is probably the most relevant but again this depends on which college you go to and what minors/courses are offered.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Since different levels of consciousness and drugs and its effects the brain/ behavior…deals with neurological activity… best bet might be Biological Psychology, Neuropsycology and cognitive psychology.
It is an highly interesting field and most useful in helping people grow to higher reaches of human endeavor,congratulations to you on your interest!
The modern study of consciousness in the West began with a neurosurgeon,W. Penfield’s work and little later on Roger Sperry, a ‘Psycho surgeon’ brought new dimension to it-Split Brain/Right and Left brain studies.Charles Tart’s book on Altered States of Consciousness, and Studies in Consciousness; Robert Ornstein’s books on Psychology of Consciousness are other landmarks in the field.
Transpersonal Psychology is the branch of Psychology which deals extensively with Consciousness,especially the higher states of Consciousness and Spirituality. While continuing your advanced study in Psychology,you may specialize in Transpersonal Psychology. You can also study them along with Clinical psychology. All the three are great combinations, both for teaching/research and practice.
Most previous replier got it with cognitive psychology, psychobiology (AKA biological psychology/AKA neuroscience.
Sociology major? I personally think statistics minor would be more useful, since you’ll impress the graduate admissions committe far better and you’ll get useful background in order to perform and understand psychology research (that utilizes statistics). Is there a neuroscience minor? Or can you make up a minor, as some (usually private liberal arts) colleges allow you? To me, sociology is so easy and it proves nothing to the graduate admissions committee, unless you’d like to be a social psychologist. It’s better in your case with a specific interest already in cognitive psych to try to mimick courses in this area by taking biology courses that deal with anatomy, more specifically the brain—as psychobiology does. I took that class and it was nearly all about learning the anatomy of the brain and its function.
Transpersonal Psychology is what you are looking for. Check out Ken Wilbur’s work. The main schools are ITP and CIIS. Also check out ATPweb.org