modmarcia: Hi everyone, welcome to your live Chat 🙂 I’m your moderator today. I’m here to make sure everything runs smoothly.
Jake: Good morning everyone!
modmarcia: We’ll just give the school a few minutes to log in .
modmarcia: Wow, what a way to start the morning!
modmarcia: Hello students!
Maxine: Hi everyone
feed459hub: Hi
Kareena: Hi everyone
Debbie: @all Hi everyone!
faux459hub: hello
Maxine: What questions do you have for us today?
fact459hub: @ Hi Jake, as a nutritionist psychologist does your work involve lots of biology?
Jake: @fact459hub: None at all! I’m hopeless with all that, I wouldn’t be working in this field if you had to know anything about biology to do it 🙂
fact459hub: @Jake: ohh thats great! How much do you get paid annually?
Jake: @fact459hub: Academics (scientists who work at universities) have a national pay scale. Most academics start their career earning about £42,000 and increase annually from there 🙂
fact459hub: @Jake: Do you do any work with athletes to try improve their peromfrance using psychological techniques?
Jake: @fact459hub: That’s not part of my job personally, but I work with sports psychologists who do that sort of thing. My only work in the sports area is developing a community tennis programme where children play tennis, eat a healthy lunch, and then (weirdly!) have a maths lesson haha
fact459hub: @Jake:
deny459hub: hi, @Jake as a nutritional psychologist what does your day-to-day routine look like?
Jake: @deny459hub: I work for a university, 3 businesses and the WHO, and I combine all of them together into one job, so it’s a big mix! I might do a bit of teaching, or research, or speak to employees over the phone, or have video calls with scientists at WHO in Switzerland… always diferent!
deny459hub: @Jake: can you give me more details about WHO?
Jake: @deny459hub: The World Health Organisation, part of the United Nations, is the leading global body for public health. It’s about working to create a healthy world, and psychologists can play a bit part it in!
fact459hub: @Jake: do you have any work experience available?
Jake: @fact459hub: We’re able to create work experience opportunities, although unfortunately you would need to be 18 years old and already a university student. And probably live closer to us to be part of our work 🙂
faux459hub: @Kareena when did you figure out you wanted to be a social psychologists?
Kareena: @faux459hub: HI. I’d finished my BSc and started working as an assistant psychologist in an addiction treatment service for offenders. I had a whole plan to go and be a forensic psychologist. But working in that service I realised that, as much as I did enjoy it, I missed research, and I was more interested in understanding how the group dynamic of individuals (like offenders) influenced how the rationalised their behaviours than I was in treatment and providing ‘therapy’ so social psychology was a natural alternative
fact459hub:@Kareena: Do you use psychoanalysis from Freuds theory to treat some of your patients?
Kareena: @fact459hub: I don’t treat patients – I am not a practitioner psychologist, I am a research psychologist. Practitioner psychologists will be qualified in a particular area – Clinical, counselling, Health, occupational, and be registered with the Health and Care Professionals Council as well has having BPS Chartered Status, as a research psychologists I don’t treat people and am only registered with the BPS
fact459hub: @Kareena: What intresting facts have you found out about how religion effects induvial psychology?
Kareena: @fact459hub: Our relationship with religion and faith is so interesting, especially how it relates to our health. There are lots of different ways that it relates….particularly how religious teachings indirectly impact our health through the behaviours they encourage or discourage. For example – people from Amish communities are less likely to die as a result of a road traffic collision, since they tent to live in communities that don’t have cars. Catholic nuns have a lower likelihood of developing cervical cancer – since they take vows of chastity, and don’t have sex. it’s not the religion itself that impacts health, it’s how much people engage with the ‘rules’ of that religion
fact459hub: @Kareena: Wow! that’s really interesting how religious communities espescially nuns have a higher life expectancy due to their chaisty thatsa really intresting view on psycholgy of how religgion effects your health
Kareena: @fact459hub: Well maybe not quite a higher life expectancy – there is some evidence of higher rates of breast cancer among this group, as having experienced a pregnancy can lower your risk for breast cancer….and no sex, means no pregnancy. So not a clear cut story. But yep religion and faith – how we practice them, and how other people treat us because of our faith impact on our health and well being in sometimes really significant ways
fact459hub: @Kareena: What is the field called that involves relligion and psycholgy called?
Kareena: @fact45hub: It really depends – there is a field or I suppose a specialism that is the psychology of religion but that is really just an umbrella term for research of that particular type. it spans a lot of the psychology disciplines though – particularly social psychology obviously, but is it studied by psychologists across clinical, health and counselling psychology as well as others.
faux459hub: @Kareena: was going to a Russel group university beneficial
Kareena: @faux459hub: I studied at the University of Ulster which isn’t a Russell group, but I went on to work at two Russell Group universities as a post doctoral researcher. Honestly in terms of degree all BPS accredited degrees have to meet a standard for their accreditation, so it’s more important that you find an accredited course at an institution that suits you, and that has a focus in it’s degree that interests you – for example at GCU we focus on the applied psychology areas of counselling, health and sport and exercise in particular. As a post doc being at a Russell Group was beneficial because of the intense focus on research – and learning good practices that I continue to use now
modmarcia: A few things from me to help the chat along…
modmarcia: 💻 Students, you can see who is here on the left of your screen
modmarcia: 💻 To ask a question, please click on the names below, or in the sidebar to @ the person you’d like to answer. This makes it easier for your question to be seen.
modmarcia: 💻 To ask everyone, click @all at the bottom of the screen.
modmarcia: 📢 To reply to a message, click Reply at the end of the line. Then, you can click the 💬 speech bubbles to see the conversation.
modmarcia: 💬 Clicking on the speech bubbles shows you the replies to a message, so you can see the conversation (as long as everyone clicks ‘Reply’ to messages).
modmarcia: That’s it from me
faux459hub: @Kareena how much do you get paid?
Kareena: @faux459hub: 😀 I’m a reader so I’ve been an academic for a fairly long time now, and been promoted several times, as well as moving to different jobs – so I get paid quite well. Over 50k a year – but it took a long time to get there, and it’s far far less than than when you start out
data459hub: @Maxine since you work in an experimental field, what type of experiments do you carry out and can you name some results you have found
Maxine: @data459hub: I research people’s eating behaviour so I try and find out how different people influence their eating. One thing we found was that if you eat we tend to copy what and how much other people eat
feed459hub: @Maxine what is the most interesting topic you teach and why?
Maxine: @feed459hub: I teach an eating behaviour module and this is my favourite because it’s the stuff I love
deny459hub: @Jake How long have you done your job?
Jake: @deny459hub: About 7 years 🙂
faux459hub: @Kareena how long did it take to gain all your qualifications?
Kareena: @faux459hub: It was a three year BSc (Hons) then a year and a half as an assistant psychologist, doing a post grad diploma at the same time, then a 3 year PhD – but I was able to do my PhD full-time as I was funded for that – for some it can be longer if they undertake their PhD part-time
faux459hub: @Kareena: when it comes to a levels, what experiences do you suggest taking or being part of in order to achieve becoming a social psychologist?
Kareena: @faux459hub: I did biology, chemistry and physics for my A levels and those really helped with the statistical side of a psychology degree, but really I was the exception in my year group. Lots of people had a levels in psychology, or sociology and that really helped them. Ultimately any a levels will help with a psychology degree – but those which are specifically in psychology or which help with stats can be particularly useful
modmarcia: @all any takers? We still need to to carry on here please.
deny459hub: @Debbie Have you got some tips or advice for work experience?
Debbie: @deny459hub: Yes absolutely. Be open to any opportunity that comes your way, it may surprise you how fascinating some areas are, or how good you are at them! I didn’t expect to enjoy the psychological aspects of preventing accidents, but I really loved working with the military on a small project that addressed it!
Debbie: @deny459hub: I would also say, don’t be afraid to ask – the amount of psychologists who are willing to help mentor and offer opportunities, but probably don’t have time to advertise a very last minute opportunity is surprising!
feed459hub: @Maxine what are three interesting facts about eating behaviour?
faux459hub: @Kareena would you have any advice when it comes to personal statements when applying to universities?
Kareena: @faux459hub: Be truthful obviously. But also don’t underestimate all the skills you have – there are lots of transferable skills that we develop in our day to day lives that we sometimes don’t think about – working in retail or hospitality, or working at all when studying shows an ability to manage your time, to prioritise tasks and to communicate effectively with people. And be enthusiastic about your future and why you want to study a degree
faux459hub: @Kareena: so, reading would be a accurate way of boosting your personal statements?
Kareena: @faux459hub: Absolutely – you are increasing your knowledge and your ability to think critically by engaging with literature
feed459hub: @Debbie what does your normal work day look like?
Debbie: @feed459hub: t’s difficult to give a typical day as each day is different. I am an academic and a practitioner so some days I am with my students, which is amazing, others I am going to organisations to help analyse and find solutions for a wide range of problems. That’s always fun because you can see a different kind of impact of your work
feed459hub: @Debbie: what were the most challenging problems you have looked at?
Debbie: @feed459hub: I worked with the RAF on a training initiative once, I can’t say too much about it but it was about encouraging what they were learning in a classroom to be more likely to be remembered quickly under tight timescales and applied to their work.
fact459hub: Would you consider yourselfs as scientists as there is a large debate whether psychology is considered a sceince?
Debbie: @fact459hub: Yes, I am a scientist practitioner – Psychology is a science as everything we do is based on solid, reproducible evidence and it’s a huge part of what we do that’s special as a profession and who we are.
Kareena: @fact459hub: Absolutely a scientist. The scientific method is the foundation on which psychology was built, and we are all held to a very rigorous standard, just as rigorous as scientists in the physical sciences
fact459hub: @Kareena: i partly believe certain aspects of psycholgy is a science as you said about standardised instructions and control variables. However not all psychgolgical research has had these scinetfic rules eg psycodynamic approach was unfalsible etc
Kareena: @fact459hub:Yes that is undoubtably a weakness of that approach – but we don’t construct our practice or our research in the same way now. Psychology research has to be undertaken in a scientific way now, or it will not be approved. We are subject to really close scrutiny of our research to make sure we meant scientific standards, as we should!
deny459hub: @Jake do you work alone or as part of a team ?
deny459hub: @Kareena how much do you get paid annually?
Kareena: @deny459hub: Hey, I already answered that one a bit further up the chat 🙂
deny459hub: @Debbie How much do you get paid annually?
data459hub: @all how did you find your PhD experience
Jake: @data459hub: I really enjoyed doing my PhD… it was hard work though! You mostly work alone so it can be quite lonely, but you learn a lot.
deny459hub: @Kareena Why did you pick A-Level Chemistry, did it relate to your degree in any way? 🙂
Kareena: @deny459hub: Nope I just really enjoyed the subject 🙂
modmarcia: 15 minutes left everyone!
modmarcia: 🏆 Don’t forget you can VOTE for your favourite person to win a prize! Head to the Vote page: https://psychologyj22.imascientist.org.uk/vote/
feed459hub: @all what was the most challenging obstacle to overcome when going into your specialised field? do you have any advice to avoid these challenges?
Debbie: @feed459hub: the most challenging thing is standing out in your field when you go for your first entry level job. You need a good degree, but you also need to make a positive impression as someone who is engaged with the profession & can go the distance. My advice? Get involved with the BPS while you are at uni, build networks in the BPS and at Uni.
feed459hub: @Debbie: Thank you for the advice, how would you recommend getting involved with BPS? is there anything specific or is it just taking opportunities?
Debbie: @feed459hub: No problem! If you go to bps.org.uk there are so many opportunities! First thing is to join as a student member, there are student societies and there are student memberships of divisions. Helping out with conferences is a really good initial role, and you will get asked onto specific roles from there 🙂
Kareena: @feed459hub: For me it was deciding what that field I wanted to go into was, and realising it was okay to change my mind along the way. Most journeys don’t go in a straight line, and you learn as much from the detours as you do from the final destination. Also agree with Debbie – get involved with the BOS and networks early
Jake: @feed459hub: People always think psychology of food and nutrition is about eating disorders only, when it’s actually about much more than that. Normal eating is important too 🙂
deny459hub: @Maxine How many hours do you work in a week?
fact459hub: @all what did you guys get in your biology A level? (:
Debbie: @fact459hub: I didn’t do Biology, it’s not needed for a Psychology degree so I just did subjects I thought I would enjoy
Kareena: @fact459hub: I did the three sciences (Bio, Chem and Physics) and got three C’s – which was disappointing at the time, but I still got to do my first choice degree, and it all worked out
Jake: @fact459hub: I didn’t do biology either, not necessary for psychology although it would have helped with the neuropsych part of uni!
faux459hub: @Jake as a student athlete do you have any advice in terms of nutrition for me? 🙂
data459hub: @Jake did you find it difficult to take a psychology about health, without doing any other science apart from psychology
modmarcia: 🕒 10 minutes left everyone! 😱
modmarcia: Remember to 🏆VOTE 🏆VOTE 🏆VOTE for your favourite person! https://psychologyj22.imascientist.org.uk/vote/
deny459hub: @Jake what grade did you get for A-Level Biology? and what was the entry requirement for the course you did?
Jake: @deny459hub: I didn’t take biology, I did psychology, sociology and music 🙂 I don’t remember what the entry requirements were now but hopefully I met them!
modmarcia: 🕒 5 minutes left everyone! 💥
modmarcia: Final day today! Remember to 🏆VOTE 🏆VOTE 🏆VOTE for your favourite person! https://psychologyj22.imascientist.org.uk/vote/
fact459hub: Thank you! BYe
deny459hub: @all Thank you, bye!
modmarcia: 👏🏻 A massive thank you to the psychologists for making time to come talk to you today! 👏🏻
modmarcia: ⭐️Thank you students for your questions today! We hope you’ve enjoyed the chat⭐️
Debbie: @all thank you for your questions, best of luck with your journey into psychology!
data459hub: @all thank you very much!
faux459hub: bye guys have a nice day
Kareena: Thanks folks – nice talking to you
feed459hub: @all Thank you for your advice and knowledge!
Jake: Thanks all for coming! Have a good weekend 🙂